“Just under fifty kilometers. The field will shrink by more than half before we reach it, though.”
The colonel took a deep breath and knew the time had finally come to act, “set CON Red-One and initiate Romeo-Alpha. Have Archer Three and Four target the enemy patrol, but hold for my order and put the Wildcats on standby.”
Having gone over the Romeo-Alpha plan many times over the past two days it didn’t take long for the orders to get carried out. The internal lighting within the command vehicle changed to crimson while both soldiers instantly split up the assigned tasks and transferred the given commands to their intended recipients throughout the entire convoy. Acknowledgements of the orders appeared on the tactical displays almost immediately as the entire military contingent switched to the highest military readiness level and prepared for the coming battle.
Military police units redeployed within seconds and started to readjust the convoy’s formation in order to maximize the effect of the shrinking field. At the same time other military units readjusted their positions and closed all of their open hatches. The Wildcats, a flight of four Dragonfire fighters that survived the initial attacks, powered up as soon as their pilots scrambled into them and began to levitate off their two transporters. These heavy flatbed transporters had been repurposed during the evacuation and served as the fighters landing pads, holding a pair of Dragonfire’s each. Each of the four fighter craft slide sideways off of their designated transports and held position in a lower hover, waiting for further orders.
These preparations for combat were quickly noted as being out of the ordinary by the civilians within the convoy and panic among a number of them ensued. Unaccustomed to the stressors of war, certain people began to act irrationally and Jonathan watched as a small group of vehicles broke away from formation. They raced towards the northern edge of the cloak field, probably assuming that they could reach Bastion on their own by using speed to their advantage. The group was already close to field’s edge, managing to cross the boundary even before Colonel Hallsworth could transmit a warning message.
“Enemy patrol Alphas coming around, sir, fifteen kilometers out. They have most likely detected the civilian vehicles. Intercept ETA, five seconds,” Specialist Helvik called out just a second later, Alpha being the code designation assigned to the alien assault fighters by the command staff. It also helped that the craft resembled the English letter A when looked upon from the rear.
“Detecting new separation from both fighters!” Ahron Ceasaris shouted in slight surprise and the computer squeaked out in alarm to call attention to the matter.
The Electro-Optical Sensor Suite, EOSS for short, was found to be the only system capable of tracking the stealthy enemy aircraft. By tracking the craft visually instead of electronically it was not affected by whatever jamming or material the enemy used to defeat every other sensor system in the Federation’s current arsenal. There was, however, a sever limitation to the EOSS. It did not have the detection range of other systems and was therefore not entirely effective as an early warning system. As such, most detected enemy ships were already within the engagement range of their weapons systems or close to it.
This fact was demonstrated once again as the enemy Alpha fighters unleashed their missiles. These as of yet unclassified weapons accelerated linearly to hypersonic speeds almost immediately. After a long second of flight each missile arched down towards its target. The civilians in the fleeing transports had no way of knowing that they had just sealed their fates and just seconds after their launch the two weapons detonated just meters above their two separate targets. The resulting blasts were unlike anything those watching had seen before. Both started as bursts of bright white light that quickly coalesced into tiny spiraling singularities, imploding the initial target before pulling in the nearest surviving vehicle and crushing it into nothingness. The only evidence of the assault that remained was a small symmetrical crater at the site of the blast. Throughout the whole ordeal only a loud sonic-boom gave any indication of something going wrong to the twenty-five men, women, and children inside those four vehicles before they all ceased to exist.
“They are pressing the attack Colonel. Our gig is up it would seem,” Ceasaris announced and turned back to look at Colonel Hallsworth for new orders.
Jonathan leaned closer to observe the tactical display, horrified at the destructive power of the new weapon he has just witness. He continued to watch as the fighter pair preceded on their course towards the convoy. The pilots weren’t stupid and mostly likely knew something wasn’t entirely right when the four transports appeared out of thin air. Their suspicions were confirmed moments later when the cloak field shrank once again, exposing twelve armored infantry vehicles from the 76th Regiment’s Charlie Company 2nd battalion. This group of IFVs comprised the convoy’s outermost defense perimeter and was therefore the first to lose the protective cover.
“Archers, engage those fighters at will,” Jonathan ordered with his hands clinched into tight fists in an effort to control the emotions that began to boil inside him from watching the senseless slaughter of unarmed civilians, “deploy the Wildcats as soon as those fighters are down and reinforce the defense perimeter. I’m sure the enemy knows where we are now. Our mission now is to get everyone to Bastion as fast as possible.”
A red stream of laser bolts, from two different locations, raced up from the surface in acknowledgement of Colonel Hallsworth’s order and drove head on into the left most enemy fighter. The two Sentinel Air Defense vehicles termed Archer Three and Four had been tracking the both of the fighters from the second they had been detected and as such their aim was perfect. Both salvos of laser fire stitched across the fighter’s sides from their initial impact points, causing the enemy craft to falter in its course and its shields to shudder.
Another laser barrage ascended towards the ship, but missed as the pilot quickly recovered and began a series of avoidance maneuvers. In focusing on this attack against him, the pilot failed to notice the two missiles racing towards him. The cloak field shimmered and rippled as the missiles pierced through it and slammed into the enemy craft seconds later. One exploded against the shields protecting the left side wingtip, while the second sliced through the now weakened defensive barrier and detonated over the dorsal hull. The resulting blast broke the Alpha’s back, causing it break in half in the middle of a high G turn. A number of secondary explosions followed the first from within the two broken sections to complete the ship’s destruction.
The fighter’s wingman was not detoured, however, and pressed the attack further with the release of four more hypersonic missiles. With these projectiles launched craft nosed down at a steeper slop and let loose with its own energy weapons. The missiles were targeted at some of the military vehicles exposed by the diminishing cloak, while the energy beams were directed into the cloak field, towards the estimated locations of the air defense systems.
These launched warheads quickly found their military targets to be more of a challenge than the previous civilian ones. Three of the vehicles targeted were IFVs and one was a Chimera battle tank, but all began evasive maneuvers immediately upon detection of the incoming projectiles. Along with the maneuvers, each one fired off their own defensive weapons. A hail of laser fire burst forth from the Chimera, while the Centaur IFVs let loose with missiles of their own. One of the missile interceptors managed to strike its target dead on, causing the projectile to disintegrate in midair, while another missile exploded with proximity of its target. That damaged projectile veered off course and slammed into the earth and detonated twenty meters away from another Chimera tank. The resulting micro singularity was strong enough to slide the heavy tank towards it and slam it into the ground, crumpling its entire right side in the process due to the tremendous amount of gravitational force unleashed.
Missiles three and four were more effective at causing damage. Number three missed its target by only a fraction of a second as the Centaur’s slid aside at the last mo
ment. A pair of automated resupply vehicles following in the IFV’s wake were less fortunate and disappeared in a brilliant explosion as their cargo holds full of spare munitions detonated from the primary missile impact. This massive explosion and its accompanying plume of smoke dissipated almost as quickly as the triggered micro black hole stabilized for a fraction of a second, pulling in whatever matter remained in the surrounding area and obliterated it into nothingness. The Centaur armored vehicle was caught in the first explosion, however, causing its shields to flare brightly before the pull of the singularity caused it to flip over and crash into the ground on its back and side. One soldier was killed on impact and six others were injured to various degrees of severity.
The assault ended when the Chimera’s defensive fire failed to destroy the missile aimed it at. It was quickly apparent that the missile’s body had been designed to defeat incoming laser fire. Every laser bolt that struck the projectile got deflected in another direction without causing the weapon any noticeable damage. At the last moment the tank’s driver tried to avoid getting hit with a series of rapid turns and accelerations, but it was to no effect. The enemy warhead fell on top of the tank and triggered its detonation just above the heavily armored vehicle. As with the previous IFV, the shields flared for a moment when the initial burst of energy erupted from the core of the missile’s warhead. They proved useless in stopping the singularity that formed milliseconds later and swallowed the Chimera whole. In a second the swirling black hole collapsed into itself, leaving only a symmetrical crater in its place. The entire crew of three would never be seen again.
While this was all happening the alien fighter flew closer and closer to the cloak field boundary, firing its energy weapons without pause. Most of these slammed harmless into the grassy plains below, but a lucky few actually hit a number of military and civilian vehicles. Being unshielded the civilians suffered the only casualties when some of their transports were strafed. The attack ceased immediately an anti-air missile caught the Alpha from underneath and exploded against its heavy shields. It was not enough to destroy the craft, but caused it to start an evasive pattern as more defensive laser and particle cannon fire raced up towards it.
The fighter struggled to avoid the endless amount of fire directed at it and finally pulled up onto its tail to gain more altitude. It was the pilot’s second and last mistake, the first being forgetting the redistribution of shields after transferring entirety the field to the front during the initial attack. This mistake allowed two particle beams to slam into the fighter’s exposed rear, destroying both of the ship’s propulsion units and its shield generator. Defenseless and tumbling out of the sky it was an easy target for a single MAP-365 ‘Avenger’ multirole missile, which struck the Alpha on one of its sides and shattered it into pieces.
With this last obstacle overcome the entire convoy, still shrouded within the cloak, surged forward. Jonathan reached out to grab the seat in from of him as the command carrier accelerated forward with the rest of the civilians. This was another part of the Rapid Action plan, in which the civilians were shepherded to Bastion at the fastest pace possible. Being in command, Colonel Hallsworth would proceed with the convoy while a shielding force followed behind and kept any enemy pursuers at bay. At top speed the convoy would only take fifteen minutes to reach the emergency underground complex, but it would take twice that amount of time to get every person inside it.
The Bastion complex was a large command and control bunker built under a dense mountain range similar to its much larger cousin, the Kalka Command and Control Center. Over the years Frontiera’s civilian population expanded rapidly and the bunker was in turn adapted to house a sizable portion of the nearby population in case of an emergency situation. What had begun as relatively small command center had turned into a sprawling underground city. It descended over a hundred meters down and stretched out over half a kilometer in certain directions. Worst case the complex could house almost fifty thousand people for a year’s time.
Jonathan held the overhead hand grip to keep from falling as another strong gust of wind hit the Beacon command vehicle. At its present speed the winds seemed more forceful than they would normally be. The civilian transports had an even rougher ride, however, and some were starting to slow down from their top speed in order to keep from getting tossed around. It was tough job keeping everyone moving together in good order, but his troops seemed to be doing a fine job of the task laid out before them. Every soldier knew the importance of this mission and was more than ready to lay down their lives to protect the unarmed civilians they were charged with.
Having already lost four soldiers and more than two dozen civilians, Jonathan hoped upon all else to not lose any more men, women, and children, but there were still ten more minutes left in their tumultuous journey. Behind them, large clouds of smoke and ash rose into the darkening sky above from a half dozen craters of various dimensions. These craters were evidence left over from a failed orbital bombarded that had taken place only minutes after the convoy departed that part of the mountain passage. That bombardment also affirmed the fact that the two patrol Alphas had transmitted their findings to their commanders prior to being shot down. Jonathan knew it would not be long before more alien ships were sent to investigate the matter further.
“Colonel, EW Three is detecting a Gamma on approach. ETA ten minutes. Flight path analysis shows a direct trajectory towards out rear guard elements,” Charles stated while monitoring the tactical display.
The holographic tactical screen zoomed out to show a more pronounced view of the surrounding area. At first only the valley and a few mountains surrounding the pass were visible with representations of the entire evacuation convoy situated between them with most of the forward most vehicle already disappearing into Bastion’s large entranceway. Soon more of the mountain range appeared on the screen, stretching out from the southeast to the northwest to create a natural continental boundary line. The entire length of the mountain valley appeared in the next second with three triangular icons glowing atop a similar number of mountain tops at the valley’s entrance. These icons represented a series of early warning sensors installed there to keep rear watch on the convoy. Finally, as the display stabilized, an image of a single alien gunship appeared. Codenamed Gamma, the heavy armed ship was shown to be flying towards them at a medium altitude from the direction of Destona.
Jonathan acknowledged the data and cursed inside at another thing going wrong. They were so close to their destination, but the enemy was not making it easy on them. There was only one thing left to do now, stall the gunship as long as possible so that the civilians could get inside the bunker complex and into relative safety. With no time left to lose the colonel contacted what remained of his command staff and together they set to work on devising another plan to help the mission succeed.
“Transmit the orders to Rear Guard, Mr. Ceasaris,” Jonathan commanded when the gunship was only five minutes from Bastion, “Wildcats you are clear for launch. Good hunting.”
A battle cry screamed out over the carrier’s interior speakers as each Dragonfire pilot tilted their craft’s nose and punched the throttle forward. The four assault fighters rocketed upwards and through the cloak field at high speeds. Once outside the still shrinking deception cloak they split off into two pairs and accelerated towards the incoming gunship. Each pair of fighters flew as close together as possible in the hopes of fooling the enemy sensor systems into thinking they were single ships. As the fighters settled into their flight path they locked onto the ovoid alien craft with both lasers and optical sensors and transferred this information to their onboard missiles before initiating the preplanned launch sequence.
When initiated the missile launch proceeded automatically. A set of bay doors popped open along the underside of each fighter and two warheads were ejected one second apart. The first were DP-75 Starburst directed pulse weapons, while the second were MS-230 Arinna TMWs, Tactical Multipurpose Warheads. Each one fel
l towards the ground below before finally igniting its thruster at a low altitude of just fifteen to twenty meters and accelerating ahead towards the target. They all used internal maps and sensors to guide them across the uneven terrain in order to stay hidden as long as possible. One missile from the first wave suffered a mechanical failure, mostly likely due to age and improper handling, and slammed into the side of a mountain.
As the remaining seven warheads proceeded to their target, elements of the Rear Guard opened fire on the gunship from behind various forms of cover. Red laser bolts flashed across the purple hued sun setting sky and were joined seconds later by familiar bluish particle beams from each of the four Sentinels. Scattered across this intense defense barrage were tiny puffs of missile thruster ignitions as a number of surface-to-air rockets joined the sustained attack. Detecting the weapons fire almost immediately the large fifty-six meter long gunship began to slide sideways evasively, but it was already too late. Traveling at almost the speed of light most of the energy based weapons struck the ship before its maneuver was even initiated, triggering a distinct ripple effect along the Gamma’s forward shields.
The heavy shields held for the most part, but as most of the particle beams found their marks small holes began to form. A few beams would slip through these failures before they would seal and glanced along the Gamma’s thick hull armor. One managed to strike a sideways jotting projection of the hull and exploded against it, sheering that piece of the craft clear off. The rest of the laser fire missed a little wide as the gunship undertook more evasive action, but the guided anti-air missiles had no trouble matching the maneuver. They were instead met by a wall of yellow-orange energy beam fire. The long beams of deadly energy sliced through the sky in an effort to knock out the incoming missiles. Two high explosive shaped change warheads were successfully intercepted and exploded early when struck, but the rest continued ahead unscathed. With only a hundred meters to go until the Gamma’s shield boundary, however, a large energy surge was detected emanated from the alien craft and the entire flight of four interceptors got pushed away in all directions. It was almost as if they had hit a wall and were made to bounce away. Not only did they get pushed away, but all of their systems shut down within seconds of the energy surge, as such they fell out of the sky dead and powerless.
Con-Red: Recourse Page 22