Victors

by T. R. Cameron

  “Show me the colony,” she said as she hit the ventral thrusters and sent the Pandora into a climb. The main display gave an aerial view of the still-intact base.

  “Diaz, guard against the other three ships.” An external view that Pandora trained on the rammer was added to the information on the screen. Kate’s maneuver had deflected it from its target and sent it careening into the rear of one of the four sets of alien soldiers. Charred remains of bodies littered the ground in its wake, and the rammer itself had come to rest against a large hill, driven sideways into it. She hit the buttons to magnify the screen and saw that the front section of the ship had been mostly detached from the back—only a few points of connection remained. She gave an exhausted smile.

  “Well, that worked. What’s the damage?”

  “We’ve taken significant injury to the hull, to both broadsides, and to some internal components, Commander,” her tactical officer said.

  “Estimates on repair, Pandora?”

  “If we avoid combat, I estimate the ship will be seventy-five percent repaired within two point three days, Commander. However, some of our weapons components will need to be re-manufactured. Unfortunately, we don’t have the raw materials to replace all of them in our ship’s stores.”

  “That’s less than optimal,” Kate said.

  “I concur, Commander,” replied Pandora. “Therefore, I suggest a detour when this battle is over.”

  Diaz interrupted. “Commander, the Marine shuttles are inbound, but the enemy ships are strafing the colony.

  “Do we have comms?”

  Lynda Peterson answered, “I’m attempting to boost the signal now using the drones from the Washington.” The jamming intensity seemed to decrease as a result of her actions.

  A moment later, Saint’s voice chided her, “It’s about time, Red, we asked for support quite a while ago.”

  Kate smothered a curse and said, “No time for pleasant formalities, Saint. Peterson will connect you to the colony. Coordinate as a short of a shield drop as you can, and we’ll cover for you against the strafing runs.”

  “Acknowledged,” Saint said, and switched off.

  The Pandora swooped around and blocked the enemies one by one as they closed, accepting shield depletion to keep them from interfering with the Marines’ arrival at the colony. A few minutes later, it was done, and the shield flickered back to life atop the colony, now with added Marines. Kate blew out a breath.

  She opened a channel to the entire ship and said “All right people. Who wants to go play in the dirt?”

  Chapter Nine

  The ramp unfolded in front of her, and Sinner led the six Marines of her squad out of the shuttle. To her right, St. John strode at the head of his troops. The two sergeants stopped in the center, and their subordinates fanned out to create a loose perimeter with rifles down but ready to react.

  They’d landed in the town square, a crossroads where six streets came together in an open space. One- and two-story structures predominated, with a few that rose higher, and were made of brick and something that looked like wood, presumably harvested locally. They were well-maintained and showed the pride the colonists felt for the lives they’d created on this planet.

  The lives the damned birds were trying to snuff out.

  She removed her helmet and let it dangle from a strap attached to her armor. Saint did the same. “What do you think?”

  Saint gave her a grin. “I think this is much more attractive than the last colony we fought in.”

  Sinner laughed. “Hopefully, the people in charge aren’t quite as stupid this time around.”

  “Looks like we’re about to find out,” he said, and pointed over her shoulder.

  She turned to see a group of civilians advancing toward them. The front two, a woman and a man, projected an aura of confidence and responsibility, despite being dressed in the same functional working clothes as those around them. They stopped at a polite distance, and the woman said, “Thank you for responding to our distress call. How can we help you defend our home?”

  She looked back over her shoulder and spoke just loudly enough for Saint to hear. “Now that’s a proper reception, right there.” She turned to the colonists. “We have extra rifles in the shuttle for any of your citizens who are unarmed. Get as many people outfitted with weapons as possible. Whatever armor you have, strap it on. Send us whoever’s in charge of your defense, and we’ll coordinate with them.”

  “That’d be me,” said the other man, who looked like he’d been a bodybuilder once but was now just strong from hard labor. “Stevens, Army, retired, and while we don’t have a militia as such, we do have a bunch of people that deal with the local predators whenever they become an issue.”

  “Big?” Sinner asked.

  The colonist shrugged. “They range from about the size of a wolf to about the size of a grizzly. The only time they’re a problem is when the entire pack gets their blood up for some reason. We try to stay within the walls when that happens.”

  “That’s a starting point, and not a bad one at that.” She pointed off to her right and said, “How about you give me a tour while Saint organizes these Marines?” The man gave her a nod, and they walked off to inspect the colony’s defenses.

  Three quarters of an hour later, Sinner had rejoined the team. They were still fully armored but were taking the moment of downtime to prepare weapons and take the edge off their hunger. She crossed to where Saint was sitting and lowered herself beside him. A box of ration bars sat open nearby, and she freed one from its container and chewed as she spoke. “The birds will be in range shortly. The colony has guns on the corners—good-sized laser cannons with spreaders on them.”

  “That’s handy,” Saint replied. The spreaders would take a solid beam and reshape it into a cone. Less intensity, but wider coverage, perfect for anti-personnel actions. “Do you think they’ll be adequate to cover everywhere?”

  “I think we can focus on two areas instead of four, if that’s what you mean. I’m not sure they’ll be able to hold off the birds from those directions forever, but they should be able to for a while, unless the enemy gets some lucky shots in.”

  Saint frowned. “We should put colonists up there with rifles to assist in case the aliens manage to get under the weapon’s deflection.”

  “Agreed,” Sinner said, and motioned for the team’s sniper. “Time to get to work, Easy. Grab some civilians who have rifles and position them up next to the heavy weapons, at least one on each side. Then you and your spotter find a nest.” Isabel Styler snapped off a salute that somehow managed to look sarcastic and dashed off to make it happen.

  With a shake of her head, Sinner sat down again. “So, that leaves us with two. I have a thought on that. How about we do the same thing we did on the planet of idiots and allow one group to breach before the other? That way we can thin them out before we have to deal with the rest.”

  “It’s risky. I take it you don’t think the walls will hold?”

  Sinner shook her head. “If there’s one thing we know about the birds, it’s that they’ve got good gear, and they know how to use it. They’ll have come prepared to break through the walls.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense. All right, let’s get it done.” He stood and walked away. Sinner moved to where Gordon “GeeWhiz” Wilkinson sat, surrounded by equipment crates. A long power line ran to a nearby building to supplement the kit’s batteries. “What do you see?”

  “I give it ten minutes, tops, Sergeant. They have a good sense of how far our heavy weapons can shoot, and they’re gathering a few meters beyond that range. They look to be working themselves up and making final checks.”

  “It’s too bad we don’t have any armed drones for this battle, eh?”

  “Who knew we’d be fighting out in the open air? That certainly wasn’t the plan when we set out for the Xroeshyn system.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get your chance to fight indoors before we’re done with this little adventur
e,” she consoled him.

  “In the meantime, time to lock and load, Sergeant.”

  “Spread the word,” she said, and donned her helmet. The comforting whirr of servos reassured her it was locked and sealed.

  Saint came pounding back to the town center. “We’re set for them to breach to the east. The guns will focus on the north and south, and we’ve got colonists on the wall to the west to discourage the birds as much as possible. We’ve got a few up on the east, too, for appearance’s sake. They plan to retreat quickly as the enemy advances.”

  “Sounds great. Shall we take these people east?” She waved to indicate the surrounding Marines. Saint replied with a nod, then secured his own helmet.

  “Set us up, GeeWhiz,” she ordered. A moment later, their displays were populated with standard combat deployment content. In one corner she could see the health readings from the six Marines under her command. The take from the primary drone, showing the advance from the east, appeared in a small block on the lower left. The rest of the display was devoted to the 360° view around her, supplemented with overlays monitoring her suit’s status, ammunition remaining, and a host of other vital details.

  Wilkinson’s voice sounded across the channel that linked them all. “The birds are moving. I’ll monitor the other walls and call out problems. Four drones are up and watching. Our other surprises are ready to deploy.”

  Sinner reached the area Saint and the colonists had prepared and grimaced. It was well designed with blockades and fallback positions to provide cover and keep the enemy in a tight column as they breached. The problem was the blockades were made of wood, rather than stone, and would be scant protection. They’d be in a running battle from the first moment of bad luck. She triggered a connection to Saint. “It’s far from perfect,” she said.

  “Best we could do with what we had, Sin.”

  “Story of our lives. Just once, I want to go into one of these battles with full intel and in full gear.”

  Saint laughed. “Now you’re sounding like Army.”

  “That’s an evil, evil thing to say, Saint. I’m going to personally kick the daylights out of you at our next training session.”

  He laughed, then killed the channel. She shook her head with a snort. Army. As if.

  She activated her suit’s jets and leapt to the top of the wall. Two of her Marines followed her, then moved to create space between them. She crouched and sighted her rifle on the lead enemy elements. “Just a little closer,” she said, her trigger finger carrying all the tension of the moment. Finally, they were close enough, and death reached in both directions. Her team took down three enemies in the first second, but the lightly protected colonists were forced from the walls by a hail of projectiles from the enemy’s long guns. Explosions marched along the wall, signaling yet another new twist from the aliens: detonating rounds. Again, she shook her head, annoyed at the constant rediscovery that the enemy had new ways to kill them.

  “Stay alert,” she said. “If they’re close enough to be accurate, get off the wall. We don’t need to see what that ammunition can do before they arrive.” She followed her own advice as a bullet pinged nearby and blew off a section of the wall.

  She landed smoothly behind a barricade and leveled her rifle across it. The take from the drone overhead showed the enemy setting explosive charges at the center of the wall. “Think they would’ve gotten through without our help?”

  “These walls are pretty thick. Our satchels would require a couple rounds.”

  “Let’s hope, because the more time we get on the ones to the west, the more time we have to get rid of these guys.”

  The enemy’s explosives detonated, demolishing part of the wall, but failed to penetrate. Saint triggered their own munitions immediately after, creating a meter-wide fissure. The Marines poured fire through the opening, taking out the lead elements that had been waiting to attack under cover of the explosions. Enemy soldiers returned fire into the gap and the surrounding walls in an effort to widen the breach.

  The wall was largely immune to their efforts, and they abandoned that plan in favor of an all-out rush. More fell to the defenders as they ran into the kill zone, but their return fire destroyed the protective barricades, and the Marines and colonists were forced to fall back.

  “Keep it up,” Saint yelled, then asked, “GeeWhiz, status?”

  Sinner killed two Xroeshyn soldiers with head shots, ejected her spent power cell, and rammed another in place while she waited for the reply. “They should be through the west wall in less than two minutes. Their first explosives didn’t get through, but they’re providing enough cover that the second team of breachers is placing their devices now.

  “Dammit. I’d hoped for longer. Oh well,” she said with a sigh, then followed up in a happy tone, “Execute surprise one.”

  Saint’s team had preset the area with the modern version of Claymore mines. At a signal from GeeWhiz, they armed themselves and shot out from small holes they’d drilled in the ground. They hovered in the air for an instant before firing in ranks, starting with those nearest the wall and marching back toward the defenders. Each released spherical objects with a sharp edge running along the longitudinal and latitudinal axes. The force of the explosions drove the tiny projectiles into, and in most cases through, the enemy’s armor—the combination of dense core and bladed exterior shredding the enemy soldiers.

  “Fall back,” Sinner ordered. “My team, run and gun if needed back to the town square.” Additional civilian reinforcements waited there to safeguard their retreat.

  “My team, hightail it to the west wall,” Saint added, and his group sprinted away. Sinner followed her people, heading back to oversee the full battle with GeeWhiz. As she ran, she said, “Execute surprise two.”

  Before the smoke had cleared from their vicious counterassault, battle robots rolled in from hiding places nearby and created a semi-circle around the breach to the east. Each time they sensed an enemy, they concentrated fire on it until it was no more. Their cover fire to protect one another was highly effective, and the center one, which was the most vulnerable, was protected by the sniper team. Sinner grinned as the breach stabilized. The birds, at least for the moment, were unable to find an answer to the mechanical defenders.

  “I love those things,” she said over the main channel. “We need more of them.”

  “Do you know how much those things cost?” GeeWhiz asked.

  “Take it out of Saint’s pay,” she replied. “He doesn’t need it.”

  “Friendlies incoming,” came a welcome voice over the comm, and Sinner looked up to see the bulk of the Pandora position itself over the colony, slightly tilted toward the starboard. A hatch in the side opened, and a figure jumped out, quickly followed by several others. The shield dropped just in time to permit them access and shimmered back to life above them. The armored figures landed on the ground, quick blasts of suit thrusters slowing them to a safe velocity and throwing dust and debris around the town square. “Pandora’s almost got the signal block figured out,” Kate said. “So, we should be able to find out what’s going on upstairs shortly.

  Sinner walked over to Kate and put a hand on her shoulder in greeting. Kate’s helmet bobbed in acknowledgment.

  “Kate?” Sinner asked.

  “Yes?”

  “You seem to have most of your crew with you.”

  “Yes,” she replied. “All of them, in fact.”

  “Who’s flying the ship?”

  “Pandora.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

  The ship’s amused voice joined the conversation. “Of course, she does, Gunnery Sergeant Murphy. Why else would she have done it?”

  Sinner was momentarily at a loss for words.

  “We have a lot to catch up on,” Kate said.

  “Seems like it,” Sinner replied. “How about we get rid of these birds and break open a case of beer?”

  “Sounds great.”

  “West w
all breach,” Wilkinson reported. Kate and her troops took off in that direction.

  Murphy shook her head at their departing backs. “Battle robots, ships that fly themselves, bird people with heavy weapons, what is this universe coming to?” she said to herself, then turned to see what other mayhem she could inflict upon the alien attackers.

  Chapter Ten

  “Get some eyes up,” Kate ordered, and Santiago Diaz and Shaun Wickrens launched tiny devices that had been attached to hardpoints on their arms. The thin cylinders unfolded as they flew to reveal stubby wings with built-in rotor fans. They started to spin as the miniature vehicles shifted into hover mode.

  The take from each flowed into the team’s combat displays according to a preset set of instructions included in the armor’s computers.

  “Sensors,” Kate said, and Trey Winstel ran close to the wall and fanned out his arms. His suit was outfitted for the battle with advanced detection modules, and tiny circles dotted every surface of his armor. A backpack provided computing power, and the sensor take flowed into their heads-up display as well.

  “Okay, we have between sixty and eighty heat signatures in the range of Xroeshyn normal out there. Chemical and metal sensors have identified that most are carrying standard issue weapons, but there’s also an abundance of things we can’t identify from the suit’s records.”

  “Lovely,” observed St. John. “It’s too bad the science folks couldn’t interface our displays.”

  “We’ll figure it out eventually,” Kate said. “In an ideal universe, during a long and enduring time of peace devoted to exploration and scientific research.”

  Saint snorted. “Sounds frightfully boring. I’ll truly have to open that bar.”

  They finally reached the center of the wall and saw the alien soldiers darting into view to take occasional shots at the defenders, but not pursuing their advantage by progressing through the breach.