He saw the flashing red reticles within his field of vision turn solid a few seconds later as the enemy in front of him grew in size and let him know that he was now within firing range of the DPP. The same was rapidly confirmed by Griz, allowing him to commence the attack just shy of eight hundred meters. Serti squeezed down on the trigger and felt the interceptor adjust itself ever so slightly before firing what appeared to be a single beam of almost white light. In fact the beam itself was made up of multiple pulses discharging in rapid succession. Before he could witness the effects of the disruptor the three fighters all banked left without warning and accelerated into a tight turn. Their quick turn caused Razor Nine’s pulse beam to go wide and smash into the treetops below, erasing a small batch of purple leafed trees from existence. The pulse beam shattered the bonds holding the tree molecules together, causing them to crumble from the assault into a fine powder.
Cursing to himself once again Captain Alokow brought the Cyclone around to pursue the enemy in their turn. He figured that they had spotted something on the ground as well and were going back to investigate, meaning he didn’t have a lot of time to bring them all down. Serti wondered if he had actually hit his intended target, but that thought was quickly answered when a line of debris began to detach from the rear of his previous target at the junction between the starboard wing and the fuselage. For a moment everything seemed fine with the fighter, except for the trail of disintegrating material, but as the group of three leveled out once more and accelerated Serti saw the struck craft start to wobble in midflight.
He quickly reacquired the fighter at the end of his own turn and saw it began to decelerate in order to regain control, but never got the chance as Serti triggered another burst. Another disruption pulse beam fired out and slammed into the top rear of the ship after slicing cleanly through the fighter’s shields. Unlike before the effect of the impact was instant. The material that made up the fuselage weakened at first and finally shattered milliseconds later as the bonds that held it together disappeared. Serti held his position in time to watch the entire right wing tear from the fighter, causing it to spin out of control towards the ground. To his dismay the entire ship began to disintegrate along its trajectory directly over the Federation Army base. Both of its engines detached from their support frames and tumbled end over end into the trees below before the entire body pitched over after striking the tree canopy. When Serti overflew the crash site and pulled away to go after another target a large explosion erupted from below.
To his left another blast caught his attention. Unlike the last this one occurred still in the air. Serti looked over just in time to see Griz’s dart shaped interceptor fly through the expanding debris field and come out the other end surrounded in a blue haze from the growing shields. He looked away before the scattered and falling wreckage had a chance to slam into the forest and began to concentrate back on getting the last remaining fighter of the alien group. It was at this time that the ground scanning array began to pick up new objects and buildings on the ground that had not been there previously. That event was most unfortunate given the effort Serti and Ashia were putting into destroying the enemy. It was also apparent that the last fighter had detected these previously hidden structures as well when four missiles dropped from beneath the craft’s body and sped towards the forest below.
Reacting quickly, almost completely on instinct, Razor One switched over to missiles and clicked the trigger twice. He felt the last two of his stock release from his spacecraft before taking off towards the fighter in front of him. Serti flicked his eyes side to side, eyeing the enemy warheads descending towards their separate targets below. He mentally marked those two for destruction and watched his two missiles adjust course to intercept them. At the same time the enemy began to conduct evasive maneuvers, something they hadn’t done since their breaking pursuit of the dropships. In a way the colonel welcomed the renewed challenge and pushed the Cyclone to close the distance between the two ships. His sensors informed him of two successful interceptions from his missiles seconds later as he rolled his craft side to side, trying to match and anticipate the actions of the enemy pilot.
Trusting his own honed instincts, hardened after many years of training and combat, Serti held back on pulling the trigger until he could gain the upper edge. He knew full well the capabilities of his craft and a good estimate of those for the enemy fighter. As such he was able to put those strengths against the alien’s weaknesses. A cunning hunter, Serti knew that sometimes you just had to guide your prey into the proper position for a death blow. Using the Cyclone’s particle cannons he unleashed a series of blue beams to the enemy’s starboard wing causing the less experience pilot to turn to port in order to evade. He then purposefully over corrected and fired another set of shots over the port side wing. As hoped the pilot pulled up into the climb, leading him straight into Serti’s sights and the disruptor beam he had triggered not a second before. The enemy fighter crossed the destructive beam almost along the entire ship’s top profile. Captain Alokow saw in adrenalin fueled slow motion as a line of material almost evaporated from the top of the fighter, from the cockpit to the tail. For a second the craft continued its climb like nothing had happening, but within a second it rolled over on its back and tumbled towards earth as if out of control. Hitting the cockpit would have most certainly killed the pilot, Serti thought, just as the large sections of the fighter began to break away from the weakened understructure. Razor Lead pulled away before ever seeing the last enemy fighter detonate just above the forest canopy.
Finally relieved, he allowed himself a moment’s rest for the first time since entering the star system. His sensor network also began updating him on the status of the dropships and their two escorts, indicating their reaching of their designated landing coordinates. With Griz back on his wing and that aspect of his mission complete he banked away in a lazy turn and began a wide CAP, Combat Air Patrol, of the surrounding area. It was during this slow turn that he registered a single Infantry Fighting Vehicle rising from the forest’s surface. The Cyclone quickly classified the armored vehicle on the secure datalink as ‘Zedock’, which happened to be FRONCOM’s codename and meant that the IFV was carrying the Lieutenant General himself.
A large flash of light ignited adjacent to the ascending transport a second later and Serti watched from above as the blastwave hammered into the vehicle. The power of the blast lifted the Centaur higher into the air, but at the same time caused it to flip end over end before dropping back down into the trees below. It disappeared from the sensors and view for a moment before the craft picked up a new signal. This time a distress indicator flashing brightly within the cockpit replaced the lost IFV. In response to this new development Serti triggered his area wide TacNet connection and began relaying the emergency beacon information when he cause a number of metallic looking objects drop out of the sky. One of them screamed down between Griz and himself. They looked like large missiles, but unlike orbital strike weapons these bodies actually slowed down before impacting into the forest.
“Markus, Ben,” Brinek addressed the two remaining commanders standing at either side of him at the TID, “get your men to Mirjian on the double. Don’t take any chances either, understood? We’re going to need those men when the time comes.”
Sergeant Logwari watched the now slightly more tired looking general gaze back down at the holographic table, “we postpone Retribution until another time.”
Felix observed the entire exchange from his dark corner in the makeshift command center. His partner, Specialist Velarsk, did the same from another location within the room. Together they stood silent and motionless, but ever hyper vigilant in their guard duty ever since the start of the invasion. Felix’s eyes constantly scanning the room for any sign of danger even along these esteemed and well known unit commanders he could never drop his guard. Now, more than ever the need to keep the general alive and well was most necessary.
As he glanced over the hologra
phic display he saw that it was focused on the air battle going on above the base itself. A pair of the recently discovered Cyclones was engaging a trio of enemy fighters that had overflown the nearby treetops moments ago. Two of these fighters instantly disappeared from the sensor display, one right after the other, over different parts of Secturo Base. They were quickly replaced by numerous new sensor returns as they disintegrated into many pieces and fell out of the sky on different trajectories. To Felix’s dismay every one of these new objects came down within the base’s perimeter. Crashing through the trees they couldn’t help but shred the protective netting that secured Secturo from the enemy’s prying eyes.
A thunderous blast erupted somewhere outside as one of these sections of debris slammed into the forest floor. He felt the ground trembling underneath the entire bunker and quickly calculated the approximate impact point. It was also at this moment that a red warning message appeared within his helmet to confirm what he had already suspected. An alarm blared out from the room’s speakers as soon as the tremor ceased to mark the base’s exposure to the outside world. With no time to waste the Staff Sergeant reacted immediately at this new situation.
“CC is compromised, sir, we have to get you out of here,” Felix yelled out as he ran forward and put his armored hand on General Stelle’s shoulder, softly pulling him back from the table.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw his partner move out of his own dark corner and start checking to make sure the emergency egress tunnel was still operational. For a second Felix felt the general hesitate in leaving the bunker, perhaps ashamed to abscond for a second time in almost as many days. After a long moment, however, he relented to the suggestion of his protector and turned one last time to look at Colonels Carbera and Hofens. Exchanging nods of acknowledgement both of the other men turned away and ran for the bunker’s main exit. It was then that Felix was finally able to pull Brinek away and guide him towards the evacuation tunnel.
At the tunnel’s entrance the general paused and looked back towards the other soldiers still manning their separate stations, “everyone out! Get to the IFV. We’re done here.”
With those last orders to what remained of the command staff General Stelle turned and rushed through the passage towards the Centaur IFV waiting on the other end. Nolan ran first, ahead of the general, while Felix brought up the rear. Following behind them hurried five other men and women. Each one carried a pair of rectangular shaped individual computer terminals, folded up into small handheld containers. They were not Felix’s concerns, though, and as such he did not keep tabs on their progress. His only concern was for the safe egression of the general.
The three of them reached the parked IFV without trouble and ran into the already open side hatch. Sergeant Logwari left Nolan and General Stelle in the cabin as he made his way through the vehicle to check on the pilot. The female pilot sitting there turned to look back at Felix and nodded to signal an all clear. She was no rookie and already had the IFV ready for flight since the enemy had overflown Secturo. After the quick acknowledgement she turned back towards the control panel just in time to see the side hatch warning light turn green from red. With that armored door finally sealed she waited not a second longer before pointing the Centaur up and accelerating through the layer of forest floor overhead. It was so sudden that Logwari almost stumbled backwards through the open cockpit doorway before quickly steadying himself against the bulkhead.
They were all on their way to safety when the whole transport experienced a bone-jarring collision from the rear. Right after that impact a wall of fire sped past the craft, enveloping it thoroughly before receding just as quickly. Felix was only able to form a single question inside his mind before the whole vehicle pitched down and onto its back, sending the sergeant’s heavy armored body propelling forward into the back of the pilot’s seat. He stayed coherent just long enough to watch through the forward viewport as the vehicle hit a thick tree trunk before veering away to flip sideways and slam into another series of trees. It was at this point that Felix was tossed around hard inside the small cockpit. His body hit the various walls with enough force to knock him completely unconscious.
REACHING the medical center at a dead run Dexter Iorns emerged through a thick cloud of dirt, dust, and remains into an area filled with sheer devastation. The center he had visited not an hour before was completely gone. It was in turn replaced with a burning pile of rubble surrounded by a heavy layer of settling debris that had once been the medical building. Parts of that building had been vaporized and scattered by the force of the explosion through the whole area. Only two of the primary walls were still stationary and he saw a large portion of fuselage sticking out from the center of the ruined structure.
Rescue vehicles and damage control personnel were already at the scene and were extinguishing the last of the fires. Dex slowed to a walk as he approached the wreckage and began to see a pair of armored medical transports sitting off to the side of what used to be the med center’s courtyard. Each one had their rear hatch completely opened, allowing Dexter to take note of the stacks of black rectangular boxes laying one of top of each other within their interiors. He knew right away without a second though that each one contained a deceased person. As he stood there looking around for an eternal second he was able to witness half a dozen soldiers in white and red armor moving around the site collecting various strewn body parts that had been sent flying in all direction by the explosion. The scene was horrible and made the situation that much more real. Dexter had only experienced something like it during simulated training exercises, but as intense as those had been they were not enough to fully prepare one for the real thing.
His emotions were quickly dulled, however, as the combat suit slowly administered a dose of medication to help control the emotional state. A sudden proximity alert signal helped to further root him into the reality of the situation and caused him to step aside reflexively as a tan and brown colored Army Engineering Corps vehicle sped by towards the crash site. The transport vehicle stopped abruptly and turned in midair so that the rear faced the rubble of the hospital before settling to the ground on its repulsors. Dexter started forward again as the transport rocked slightly side to side before a large MTES robot emerged from the rear. Nicknamed Sleip, after an eight limbed children’s cartoon character of the same name, the semi-autonomous Modular Tactical Engineering Systems was able to follow commands on its own or mount an operator should the need arise.
Stepping down the large robotic system unfolded its four massive arms, each ones with a different appendage, and proceeded to the demolished building on two sets of limbs. Dex came up alongside of the transport just as a group of army engineers hopped out of the same rear hatch as the Sleip and ran to follow it. One of the men stood off away from the others and was obviously the one in command. The soldier pointed to various sections of the medical center to let the others know what to do. Those men and women went to work immediately trying to excavate the ruins, but what helped them most was the MTES. It was equipped with a specialized detection unit that scanned deep into the wreckage for any signs of life. Once located the system would automatically try to retrieve that person.
Dexter let the engineers do their job for the given moment and took a second to look back over at the Army ambulances. He scanned over each of the casualty transfer vessels in an effort to find out if any of those bodies were from his company or regiment. It surprised him that he no longer felt the same sort of emotional pain as he had moments ago. Attributing this to the drug infusion Dex actually felt grateful for the assistance and instructed an automatic search of the CTVs. The profile of each soldier casualty cascaded down his heads-up-display before finally stopping without any search results, letting him know that those men were still inside the rubble somewhere.
With renewed resolve Lieutenant Iorns looked back to monitor the engineer squads work. He was watching them move about through the thick haze still floating in the air when all of the sudden
that dirt and dust fell to the ground. The surrounding air cleared up immediately and Dexter’s helmet readjusted back to normal vision. His investigating gaze settled on the large MTES walking across what remained of the medical center’s perimeter and saw a section of the unit’s rear light up. The attached Static Field Generator had ionized floating particles, causing them to get attracted to the ground and in turn settle at a much faster rate than normal.
By the time Dex reached the engineering crew, the Sleip had already moved away to another location. It must have found someone inside because the unit stopped its scan and gestured one of its arms towards the debris. Activating an FGMS beam into the wreckage pile the unit began to lift a section of rubble slowly into the air. The Focused Gravity Manipulation System was one of the many different attachments designed for the MTES’s multiple appendages. Commonly referred to as a tractor beam by most people, the system was able to lift and move heavy objects from a short distance away. It now heaved the slab of fallen wall off the ground and began to levitate it away from the collapsed structure to expose what was beneath. Moving in tune with the robot’s limb, the slab was repositioned in a pre-designated area and released from the beam’s grasp causing it to slam onto to forest floor and shatter into multiple smaller pieces.
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