Final Conflict

by Raymond L. Weil

  “If we need to,” replied Kelly. “The attack against the Zaltule hives must take precedence over everything else.” Kelly knew if they didn’t neutralize the Zaltule they would someday overwhelm everything the Solar System and the Alliance were trying to build.

  -

  Sergeant Thomas Nelson was in his Type Nine battlesuit running along the path which led completely around the inside of the large dome that housed the training facility. The rest of his platoon were with him keeping pace. It was nearly twelve kilometers to complete one circuit. The battlesuits made it relatively easy but Thomas wanted all the members of his platoon able to run in the suits for a considerable length of time. This was a one hundred kilometer run and they were currently on the fourth circuit of the dome.

  “I hate running,” muttered Brian over the comm. “It’s boring.”

  Kinsley laughed. “It’s just training. If we’re ever in a combat situation where we need to get away fast this is good practice.”

  “Or if we need to move quickly to take an objective,” added Leah. “Besides, the suits are doing most of the work. We’re not even sweating.”

  Thomas agreed with Leah. The suits had their own environmental systems and were resistant to both heat and cold. They could even function as a spacesuit for a limited amount of time. They also held water and other nourishment to allow a Marine to function for nearly forty-eight hours without removing the suits.

  “We finish our training in another few days,” said Corporal Coyle. “Have you heard anything about our first assignment?”

  “No, not yet,” replied Thomas. He thought that was strange. Normally when Marines finished battlesuit training they were sent into a combat situation immediately to test the success of their training. Lieutenant Adams hadn’t mentioned anything about where they might be going.

  “I heard Fourth Fleet and Eighth Fleet were sent to fight a Zaltule fleet heading for Alliance space,” said Private Lindsey Graham. “My cousin is a communications officer with Eighth Fleet on one of the heavy battlecruisers. I hope she’s okay.”

  Thomas had heard the same thing though he hadn’t been briefed on what was going on. The only thing he knew for sure was their training was nearly over and they would soon be going on an actual combat mission. “Lieutenant Adams has set up some special training for us in another dome tomorrow.”

  “I wonder what that can be,” said Brian, sounding nervous. “I hope it’s nothing like Charring. I’m getting tired of going up that damn mountain every other day.”

  “I hate being stunned,” said Leah, who was right behind Brian. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been hit by stunners.”

  “We all have,” added Kinsley. “I’m ready for something different.”

  So was Thomas but knowing Lieutenant Adams whatever the special training was going to be it wouldn’t be easy.

  -

  The next day they found themselves standing on the parade grounds in another training dome. Like their own training dome, there were the standard training facilities and what looked like another Charring Mountain.

  “I can’t believe this,” said Brian, staring at the tall mountain. “I bet we’re going up that mountain and it will be completely different from what Charring is.”

  “We’re all going to be stunned,” proclaimed Leah in a distressed voice. “I can’t believe we came to another dome just for that.”

  “Attention everyone,” ordered Lieutenant Adams, who was standing on a small podium in front of them. “We have a new drill to run today and we’ll be doing it every day for the next several weeks.” She paused as her eyes roamed across the assembled Marines. All four platoons were present. “You can see the mountain behind me. It’s not a normal mountain and does not resemble Charring in anyway whatsoever. Inside that mountain are a series of tunnels which represent a Zaltule hive. Inside is a hidden Queen chamber you must locate and destroy. The hive is full of programmable pop-up weapons in a much higher ratio than anything you’ve faced before.”

  “We’re going underground,” muttered Brian not sounding happy with the scenario. “They’re probably going to bury us alive.”

  Thomas turned his attention back to the lieutenant. He wondered if this new drill had anything to do with their first mission.

  “The drill will not end until all of you have been neutralized or have succeeded in taking out the Queen. The use of explosive rounds and energy weapons will be allowed as we want to make this as realistic as possible. In addition there will be more pop-ups with explosive rounds as well.”

  “How many tunnels are there in the mountain?” asked Private Stout. “How will we know where the Queen is located?”

  Lieutenant Adams turned slightly to face the private. “The mountain is a honeycomb of tunnels. Some lead to dead ends while others lead to food storage chambers, egg chambers, and other storage facilities. In all likelihood, the Queen’s chamber will be the one that’s the deepest underground. We can’t confirm that but knowing the Zaltule it’s a logical assumption.”

  “Does this have anything to do with our first mission?” asked Private Stout.

  -

  Lieutenant Adams let out a deep sigh. Private Stout always asked the most questions. One thing she did have to admit: he never seemed afraid to speak up. “I can’t say at the moment. All I can say is there is a reasonable chance that sometime in the future we may be called upon to assault a Zaltule or even a Kleese hive. We need to be able to do so and survive if that time ever comes.”

  “Will all four platoons be going into the mountain at the same time?” asked Corporal Coyle.

  Lieutenant Adams nodded. “Yes, in this scenario all four platoons will be needed for there to be any possibility of success.”

  -

  Thomas frowned upon hearing that. To him it seemed to indicate if they ever did go into a Kleese or Zaltule hive most of them were not expected to survive. He felt uneasy as he listened to the lieutenant give a more detailed description of what might be inside a hive and how it would be defended. This sounded more and more like they were preparing them to actually go into a hive to kill a Queen. He wondered if this had anything to do with the increased Zaltule activity being reported. With a cold feeling he had a strong suspicion that somehow Fleet Command had learned the location of a Zaltule hive and were preparing them to take out the Queen. Thomas hoped he was wrong but deep inside he felt he was probably right.

  -

  Thomas took a deep breath as he gazed at the large dark tunnel in front of him. All four platoons were at the entrance to the hive in their battlesuits and fully armed.

  “In a real life scenario an assault ship will have already cleared the entrance,” explained Lieutenant Adams. “All I can say is there are no pop-up weapons for the first one hundred meters. After that, all bets are off. Sergeant Welch, your platoon will enter first followed by Sergeant Nelson’s. Sergeants Cain and Hudson you will follow immediately behind. To make this scenario more realistic I will command but I have not been informed of where the pop-ups are or where the Queen’s chamber is located. Sergeant Welch, move out!”

  Into the tunnel Sergeant Welch’s four squads marched followed by Thomas and his squads.

  “Activate infrared sensors,” ordered Lieutenant Adams.

  “Damn it’s dark in here,” complained Brian as he peered ahead with his suit’s sensors. “I wonder why we don’t use our suit lights.” Brian was referring to the bright lights located on their shoulders, which would illuminate everything around them.

  Leah looked over at Brian, shaking her head. “It would make us too visible. It would be like painting a target on your chest.”

  Brian was about to make a retort when loud explosions erupted ahead of them where Sergeant Welch and his platoon were located.

  “Spread out!” ordered Thomas.

  Thomas was using his sensors to see and was disappointed about what they were showing. Taking a deep breath he made a decision. “Suit lights on. Fire on any
target you see.”

  Instantly bright lights lit up the tunnel, illuminating everything for several hundred meters. Several side tunnels were visible as well as the main one they were in. Flashes of light indicated pop-ups firing nonstop at the advancing Marines.

  Sergeant Welch’s Marines were being knocked down by explosive rounds as he shouted frantic orders. Then the sound of stunners began to echo through the large tunnel.

  “Fire explosive rounds!” ordered Thomas. It was the only way he could think of to take out so many weapon emplacements. They seemed to be everywhere.

  Almost instantly explosions started to fill the tunnel as explosive rounds began to take out the pop-ups. Smoke began to fill the air and even small fires were burning where some of the pop-ups had been destroyed.

  “We need to go faster and deeper,” called out Leah as she fired an explosive round at a distant pop-up. “If we go too slow we’re all going to be picked off.”

  “Forward at a run,” ordered Thomas. “Fire on any pop-ups you see.”

  “Let’s go,” ordered Brian to his squad. “Keep firing explosive rounds in front of us as we go.” At least with the explosive rounds they didn’t have to hit a target directly to disable it.

  The platoon began moving forward faster and Thomas saw most of Sergeant Welch’s platoon was down. The tunnel was filling with smoke and there was the steady drone of explosions. An explosive round struck Thomas directly in the chest, driving him to the floor of the tunnel. Fighting to catch his breath he stood back up and saw an amber warning light on his HUD indicating his suit was damaged. Even as he watched he saw the amber light fade away to be replaced by a green one. The nanites in his suit armor were hard at work.

  As they continued down the tunnel Leah signaled Thomas. “There’s a tunnel to our left about forty meters ahead. My sensors indicate it goes down at a sharper angle than this one.”

  “We’ll take it,” replied Thomas. He intended to find the lowest level of the tunnels. That was bound to be where the Queen’s chamber would be located.

  Reaching the tunnel the platoon entered, continuing to fire in front of them. Watching his HUD Thomas was concerned to see the other two platoons continue down the main tunnel. “Lieutenant Adams, this is Sergeant Nelson. My platoon’s entered a smaller tunnel with a more downward slope.”

  “I saw that,” replied Adams. “Continue on. I want to see if there are more tunnels up ahead that do the same.”

  Thomas’s platoon continued forward and after about twenty minutes reached a large chamber with a number of what looked like giant egg sacs in it. The eggs were rippled and about a meter in length.

  “Talk about realistic,” commented Kinsley as she stepped over to examine one in more detail.

  “We can’t go forward any further,” reported Leah. She had been examining the walls of the chamber searching for an exit. “We’ll have to go back. There were several smaller side tunnels we passed.”

  Thomas nodded. “Pull back and set some explosive charges in this room. I want everything destroyed.” Even though this wasn’t the Queen’s chamber it was still important. Destroying it should at least give them some points in this crazy mixed up scenario.

  Thomas watched as several members of his platoon removed explosive charges from satchels they were carrying. After the charges were set they pulled back and set them off. Several bright flashes and fire flashing through the chamber indicated the dummy eggs had been destroyed.

  “Let’s head back down the tunnel and try one of the smaller ones,” ordered Thomas as he motioned for Corporal Coyle’s squad to take the lead.

  -

  In the Control Center Major Reed was watching over a dozen different viewscreens, displaying scenes of the Marines in the artificial hive. Only Sergeant Nelson’s platoon had achieved any success as they had destroyed one of the three hatching chambers.

  “They’re getting wiped out,” said General Timmons who was watching the scenario play out.

  Major Reed nodded. “We were expecting this. That hive is filled to the brim with pop-ups. This will give us an idea of potential casualties and what we will need to achieve mission success.”

  “Have you reached any conclusions yet?”

  “Yes, it’s evident we’re going to need more explosive rounds if we want to penetrate through hundreds or possibly thousands of Zaltule. I’m going to recommend we double the power of the rounds. We’ve used hover tanks in the past which carry chargers for the suits as well as extra munitions. The tanks also have small cannons on them that might be useful.”

  “How many different types of battlesuits are you suggesting we use against the Zaltule hives?”

  “At least two, maybe three,” replied Major Reed. “The Type Nines obviously because they give us greater maneuverability and speed and possibly the Type Sevens. They’re a larger battlesuit and can carry more weapons.”

  “What about nukes?”

  Major Reed shook his head. “I don’t want to send any into the hive. If we set one off it will probably wipe out our Marines as well as the Zaltule.”

  “I think we need to have one or two in case that’s the only way to take the Queen out.”

  “I’ll discuss it with Lieutenant Adams later and see what she thinks.”

  “Speaking of Lieutenant Adams, how far into the hive has she made it?”

  Major Reed adjusted several of the viewscreens. There were hundreds of cameras scattered throughout the artificial hive. On one of the screens, Lieutenant Adams and the platoons with her were blasting away at dozens of pop-ups hammering her Marines with explosive rounds. “She’s lost over half of her Marines and by now they should be running low on explosive rounds.”

  General Timmons watched as the pop-ups gradually reduced Lieutenant Adams’ platoons to less than two squads. “If this is anything like what they’ll encounter in a real hive we’re going to suffer very heavy losses.”

  Major Reed took a deep breath and then replied. “Unless I’m mistaken, a real Zaltule hive will be much worse.”

  -

  Thomas was becoming aggravated with this drill. It seemed as if there was no way to win. He had long since lost contact with Lieutenant Adams. The last report from her indicated she was pinned down with her remaining Marines at a junction where several tunnels met. Thomas and his platoon had continued down a number of winding tunnels trying to remain going downward. They had found one more egg chamber and destroyed it using nearly the last of their explosive charges. The charges left he was saving for the Queen’s chamber if they ever found it.

  “What now?” asked Corporal Coyle. She was down to three squad members. All the squads had taken losses as they advanced down the narrow tunnels.

  “My sensors indicate a junction up ahead where a number of tunnels meet,” reported Leah.

  “Brian, send a couple of scouts up ahead. I don’t want to be taken by surprise. Tell them to be cautious as there may be pop-ups at the junction.”

  A few minutes passed and the scouts reported they were in a large chamber with six tunnels radiating out. Two seemed to descend toward a lower level.

  “We have to be getting close to the Queen’s chamber,” said Kinsley, holding her assault rifle in her armor encased arms.

  “We’re nearly out of explosive rounds,” added Leah. “We still have our suit explosives but they’re too dangerous to use in these tunnels.”

  Thomas looked down the dimly lit tunnel. “Let’s go on to the junction and then we can decide our next move.”

  It didn’t take long for the four squads to reach the junction. The chamber they found themselves in was large with a high dome.

  Thomas examined each of the tunnels which connected to the chamber noting the two that seemed to descend. He had a tough decision ahead of him. He strongly suspected one of the two tunnels might connect with the Queen’s chamber. They had descended so far it had to be close. He could split his platoon and send two squads down each tunnel. It would increase the odds of
at least some of his Marines reaching the objective. He was about to issue the order when dozens of pop-ups descended from the ceiling. Explosive rounds and stunners began firing. In less than twenty seconds all of the Marines were down and unmoving.

  -

  “They came close,” commented General Timmons. “Another two hundred meters and they would have reached the Queen’s chamber.”

  “But they failed,” pointed out Major Reed. “We’re bound to face traps like that one when we send our Marines into the Zaltule hives. We have to figure out a way to survive.”

  General Timmons looked back at the viewscreens showing the down Marines. Already Marines in other battlesuits were moving in to take the stunned Marines out of the artificial hive. “It’s a learning process. That’s why we built this artificial hive. We’ll keep running our Marines through it until we understand what the best tactics will be to increase our chances of success.”

  Major Reed looked worriedly at the general. “If Sergeant Nelson had two nukes with him and fired them down those two tunnels it would have destroyed the Queen’s chambers. I think I have to agree with you it might be necessary to take nukes into the hive. They may have to be weapons of last resort.”

  General Timmons looked over at Major Reed. “Those hives must be destroyed no matter what the cost. We have two weeks to come up with a viable plan and begin gathering the assets we’re going to need to make this happen.”

  Major Reed looked back at the viewscreens showing the first of the stunned Marines being brought out. “Two weeks is not a lot of time.”

  “I know,” replied Timmons. “But it’s all we’ve got.”

  -

  Admiral Kelly was busy going over the list of potential ships that would be going on the mission to the Zaltule System. Tomorrow he had a meeting with General Wade Nelson, Colonel Ryan Nelson, and Marken as well as a few others. He had already sent several messages to Lanolth, the capital of the Alliance, describing what he was wanting to do and requesting whatever ships the Alliance worlds could send to aid in the mission. He had stressed the importance of destroying the Zaltule before they could create a force which would threaten the Alliance as well as the Solar System with annihilation.