by Chris Hechtl
All of them had stepped up and had eagerly helped out around the farm. During the early part of winter, he had them trudging to the greenhouse, doing chores, or cutting and moving firewood and water. When winter finally started to ease its grip on them, he had them out working the tree line to tap the sugar maples for their sap and then showed them how to distill the final product.
Fortunately, the winter was short on their world—short but hard and bitter. The greenhouses and all the extra food they'd managed to accumulate beforehand, plus Vanessa's strict rationing, had made all the difference. By the time they'd had the first start of thawing, they still had a few weeks of food left.
He set the cousins up in the old Desmond place since they'd made noises about it. They would rent, and they both knew they'd have to work hard to keep up with him, but they had seen what he'd done and were proud enough to want to pay off their debts to him.
<)>^<)>/
Jean Claude Debois took a firmer grip on leading his people. Twice he'd dodged an assassination attempt over the winter. Each had only helped to broaden his appeal to his people. It had also reminded them that the Horathians were still there.
Losing his family home to the bastards had been especially embittering to him. But they'd only burned an empty shell; the family had gotten a warning of the airborne craft and had gotten to shelter in time. News of the strike had been spread far and wide by his former friends and neighbors who had taken his kin in. That inflated his reputation further. The enemy feared him so it was wise to listen to him was the main message.
So, perhaps losing his home, as hard as it was, wasn't a total loss he thought.
He did what he could to manage the domestic side while also trying to gather intelligence on where the Horathians had gone … not only to pass on to people like Harambe to hit back, but to also alert his people in the area so they could avoid them.
Getting supplies to the fighters was tough; he practically had to beg to get the mills and farms to relinquish some of their hoarded surplus in order to do so, then find a way to get it over the snow covered hills and fields to where it was needed.
“Only an idiot would want this job,” he muttered as he drank a bottle of raspberry wine by the firelight.
Chapter 35
The entire team had been looking forward to their latest round of training. Jethro had steadily amped up the realism and had gotten devious in some of the scenarios he'd put them through. But this latest, a squad versus fire team in an augmented field test, would be the real crucible for them. The test was the most realistic and the costliest to date. It was a mix of real world, robotics, and virtual reality. The weapons were stepped down, but everyone knew that the robots and quite possible their armor would take damage in melee or other scenarios. Training scenarios might be without live weapons, but that didn't mean someone couldn't be hurt or killed if something went wrong.
Jethro and his fire team controlled the op force; the major had Squad 1 and Fire Team 2 and 3 of Jethro's squad. Each of Jethro's fire teams, controlled a squad of twelve robots for a total of thirty-six. A fourth squad of robots were also with them, but they formed a reserve or at least did so on paper. Jethro had stuck them inside the objective as the final layer of defense.
Each robot could be used three times with a manual reset for each of the other two lives unless it was taken out of action permanently. There were also virtual long-range resources Jethro could call on if he desired, but it would mean a radio call and potentially exposing his position.
The robots and Jethro's team had no shields or cloak, nor could they use the full abilities of their A.I. or their suits and drone packages. It meant theoretically the opposing Cadre A.I. could hack them or their information network. That just meant they had to get creative.
Major Lyon had thought that he had the edge given Jethro had quantity but not quality. Jethro was limited to what they knew the enemy had. But he'd decided to throw in a few wrinkles of his own. He'd gone around the major to get permission from Admiral Irons to use four plasma weapons, mortar fire, and shoulder-fired SAMS—all simulated of course.
The four 250 mm single barrel plasma weapons were usually vehicle or aircraft-mounted machinery. In a vehicle, they served as a mortar or the main gun of a tank. They could also be fired from fixed positions but were nearly impossible to be carried by a squad due to their weight. They required a lot of power, usually in the form of a hyper capacitor pack or a separate small Class 1 fusion generator to power the plasma bottle and gravity linear actuators.
He'd disdained the offer of ion cannons for the firepower of the plasma weapons. The ion cannons would take down a target's shields and do electrical damage but wouldn't kill the target. The plasma cannons could take out even shielded Cadre with a direct hit. And like horse shoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons, a bolt of superheated plasma tended to do splash damage as well.
But they would only kill with a direct hit. Getting the Cadre into the kill box, therefore, was going to be tricky.
Each side knew the players on the other. He knew the abilities of the other, and they knew his. What they didn't know was his numbers nor his complete force mix.
“Winchester One to Charlie Two. Lidar sweep reports we've got a pair of Karakter's coming in,” Tikaani reported. She was the furthest out of the three Cadre members. She had her own squad of robots with her as well as the plasma weapons. “They are coming in west out of the sun, bearing nine o'clock. Twenty-eight kilometers out and closing at 482 KPH.”
“This is Charlie Two. They probably think they've got it made. Let them fly over, then pop the robots up to make life interesting for them,” Jethro ordered. It felt weird using a command call sign over a RECON call sign. Just another thing that he had to get used to.
“Aye aye.”
<)>^<)>/
It was a simple scenario of capture the objective and hold it. A realistic game of capture the flag. Major Lyon knew that Jethro's best chance laid in the defense; once his people took the objective they'd have to hold it while beating off any counterattack. They were brutal on the offense, but their shields and sniping ability let them pick off any attempts at retaking the objective.
He expected resistance when he landed, which was why his troops would do a drop in the air from just above the trees. Their suits would be able to handle the fall easily enough. He looked out the open bay door as Tungulria stepped up next to the load master. He had swapped Letanga's RECON fire team for Tungulria's since Letanga's fire team was relative light and balanced out Jasper's heavy weapons and their extra toys.
“I'm looking forward to cleaning a certain black kitty cat's clock,” the wolf said with a growl.
“Don't get too cocky. Remember, he's had a week to dig in and some pretty hefty resources to use to make this interesting,” Lobo warned.
“We're the gods of war! How hard can it be?” Roarack demanded.
“Damn it, now you've gone and done it,” Lobo swore, glaring at the black wolf.
“What?” Roarack asked, turning slightly to look at the coyote.
“You jinxed us,” the coyote said in disgust.
“Lidar sweep! They know we're coming. Prep for a hot LZ!” the pilot warned over the intercom as the troops locked and loaded.
“Two minutes to the LZ!” the load master said, holding up two fingers. They could see the trees moving under them. The LZ was a clearing, a rocky outcrop; one of three that he could land at safely. He didn't intend to land though, not even a hot drop.
“He's still going to get his ass kicked,” Roarack growled just as an alarm klaxon went off.
“We're being painted by lidar on our six! It's close!” the pilot said over the intercom just as there was a flash, then three more.
“We're being hit by SAMS! Firing chaff and sunbursts! Get your ass off!” the pilot said over the intercom just as the load master urged them to go with hand gestures.
“So much for that,” Tungulria said with a laugh as he jumped into t
he trees.
<)>^<)>/
“Now?” Tikaani asked as the assault shuttles bobbed, waggled, and weaved about the sky. Ghost-like figures could be seen coming out of it. They instantly faded, but the jet wash from the partially tilted engines gave them away. The Neowolf had a plasma weapon mounted on one of the robots next to her. The plasma weapons were each good for six shots. The other three were mounted on other robots spread out in a 100-meter-wide line all facing the rear of the spacecraft coming in.
“Not quite.” Jethro noted where they were landing. Something hit a pine tree, smashing into it with incredible force and mass. It cracked, bowing under the load, then it's truck exploded, giving way, and it and the Cadre who'd hit it fell to the forest floor below. “Wait … now!” Jethro ordered.
“About time,” Tikaani growled as she used the buried ODN cables to order the robots open up. The tips of the barrels glowed white and blue as they fired off simulated plasma bolts into the sky.
<)>^<)>/
“Frack me,” Lobo said as a shuttle took a simulated hit. The Cadre within were judged damaged. They still managed to get off the bird and right into the concentrated fire of the four plasma weapons. Letanga's and Jasper's fire teams were torn to virtual shreds. They landed on the ground, then began to cuss as their A.I. put up red skull markers on their HUD. Only one heavy suit, Cocoa's, got to the ground, but it was judged damaged. Cocoa had to sit on the ground since her right leg was judged as gone.
“Well! That well and truly sucked!” What am I supposed to do now?” she demanded. “Get into a butt kicking contest?”
Jasper snorted as he sat down next to her. “Well I agree; that sucked. Anyone got a deck of cards?”
<)>^<)>/
“Charlie 1 to Ogres, counter battery fire on those positions!” Major Lyon growled as he picked himself up off the forest floor. He brushed pine needles and branches off him to clear his armor, then triggered the first cloak stage. “They were waiting for us,” he said as his only remaining heavy weapons suit opened up with her simulated mortars. He grimaced; Cocoa was limited to where she was firing from, which meant she had range issues beyond that point. With the high trees around them getting her weapons in would be tricky for the bear.
<)>^<)>/
“Can you hit it?” Jasper asked.
“Hush. I'm working here,” Cocoa replied as she fired another volley.
“Seriously …”
“Does a bear shit in the woods? Trust me, whoever I'm firing at is going to be shitting themselves more when I'm through with them. Besides, aren't you supposed to be dead? Zip it!” the bear growled.
“Okay,” Jasper drawled as he laid back and tucked his arms under his helmet.
<)>^<)>/
Tikaani had the robots drop their plasma cannons after their sixth shot and then OD just as the incoming rounds came arrowing in towards them. “May we be ever thankful for what we are about to receive,” the Neowolf cackled gleefully as she dropped to all fours and then zigzagged between the trees out of the area. She hadn't even noticed when her ODN cable had snapped. That had gone far better than planned she thought with a savage grin. The others knew they'd been kissed.
<)>^<)>/
Jethro noted that even though there was only one suit firing, Cadre mortars were fiendishly accurate. Each suit had two, and each fired a small 2-centimeter ping pong-like ball that emitted a kill code. They took out two of the robots, then a third. They were getting perilously close to Tikaani and her dug-in position. She had little air cover he knew.
Well, two could play that game he thought.
“Charlie Two to Ogre One, Artillery barrage. Cover them,” Jethro ordered as he watched the take from the fixed sensors around the area. Some were passive, but many were electronic. Any that had a betraying electronic signature were being taken out by the Cadre as they moved.
That was okay by him. It told him where they were.
“Ogre One to Charlie Two. We can't quite get overhead coverage with the tree line. It is too steep in either direction like I warned,” Sylvia warned.
“That's fine. We knew that going in. The counter fire will make them divide their fire,” Jethro said. “Keep them dancing to our tune and on defense,” he said.
“Aye aye, Warrant,” Sylvia said as the mortars puffed off.
<)>^<)>/
“Artillery fire incoming from the south. Mortars,” Mars warned.
The major looked up to the sky. He could just make out the small puffs of objects lobbed his way. Mars put a karat around each, then backtracked their arcs to the firing position. “Guided or unguided?”
“Unguided,” the A.I. stated in disgust.
That lowered the threat level significantly the major knew. “Ogres, take them out. All units, disperse people,” he ordered. He knew using the radio was unwise; it could be tracked. He pulled out a relay and slapped it onto a tree at shoulder height. Mars immediately locked onto it. As long as he was line of sight, Mars would shoot a laser to the relay that would then broadcast his radio transmissions. If he set up others in line of sight, they could daisy chain his orders as they went. “How are they seeing us?”
“Romeo One here. We are Level 1 cloaked and are taking out their eyes; they shouldn't be able to see us at all,” Tungulria reported.
“No, but they know where we are in general just from the eyes we take out,” the major cursed. “Keep the radio chatter to a minimum,” he warned. There was a click in response.
Cadre were the gods of the battlefield for a number of reasons. One was their synthesis of A.I. organic, suit tech, and nanotech. Another was their view of the battlefield. Each suit transmitted to his using wireless communications or a whisker laser if they were line of sight. It allowed Mars to build a god view of the battlefield. Couple that with whatever pre-intelligence material they had, it allowed them to quickly adapt to the changing battlefield faster than anyone else.
With an A.I. to filter and support him, he was comfortable with the scenario. That was, right up until Jethro had torn his Plan A to ribbons.
Oh well, they'd just have to do it the hard way he thought grimly.
<)>^<)>/
“Charlie Two to Winchester Two, pop smoke,” Jethro ordered. He'd wanted to start a fire, but the parameters of the exercise prohibited it. “White phosphorous,” he said as smoke began to billow out. He wasn't quite having it all his way though, the prevailing winds were not quite perfect. But it would crowd the RECON suits away from the smoke.
<)>^<)>/
As the suits moved to the objective, the RECON suits of Romeo 2 took the point and flanks in an arrowhead around the command fire team. Their job was to gather information about the terrain and possible hostiles before they came into contact with them.
Tungulria noted the old fashioned trip wire and claymore charge. He snorted. “Romeo Two to all units. Traps in the area. Watch where you step,” he warned as he cut the wire.
Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that the wire had been holding up a counterweight. When it was cut, the weight dropped and yanked out the pin on a series of claymores all pointed to his position.
Fenrir noted the click and sudden discharge and switched the suit from cloak to shields just as explosions went off all around them.
The resulting puffs of yellow weren't enough to destroy his suit; the shields and surrounding area turned a lurid yellow. But Tungulria's shields were judged as knocked out for a short time until they could recharge and repair.
<)>^<)>/
“We've got sensor targets all around us, sir. Smoke discharges. Also, Romeo 2 just set off a trap. His shields are down but recharging,” Mars reported. He flashed a status on the HUD. It wasn't good. The major was down to eight effectives and one casualty including himself, and they were just starting out.
“Charlie One to all units, proceed with caution. This is tricky,” the major said. They weren't even halfway to the objective yet, and he'd taken half casualties and was getting hounded.
“Artillery units destroyed,” Mars reported a moment later.
“Really?” the major asked as he paused to stare at the HUD. “That was easy. Too easy,” he growled.
“Ogre Three fired a pair of remotes along with the range fire. It allowed her to see where they were scooting to and take action accordingly,” Mars replied. He didn't point out that the units had been simulated.
“Good.”
All of his spare gear, ammo, and power packs had been left on the birds. One bird had been judged shot down, the one that Letanga and the others had been on. Jethro was definitely making it as realistic as he could he thought in grudging approval.
“Charlie One to all units. Release drones. Tell the RECON suits to let the butterflies fly,” he ordered.
“Aye aye, sir,” Mars replied.
<)>^<)>/
Tungulria got the order to release the butterflies and then nodded. He stood still as Fenrir opened ports in his armor and kicked off small pellets. The pellets unfolded in the air. Gossamer thin memory fiber wings unwrapped and then began to beat just as each pellet reached the top of its arc. They spread out in different directions.
Each drone would send back a Wi-Fi image of its slice of the battlefield but that radio signal betrayed its location to the defenders. And each time he and his people sent signals to the drones to change course, they gave away their own position.
He took out a couple sticky relays and stuck them to a pair of trees as high as he could easily reach. He oriented on them as Fenrir put them up on his HUD.
“Bounce the control signals to them. The same for their return,” the wolf ordered.
“Done and done,” Fenrir replied with an answering growl.
<)>^<)>/
“We've got sensor readings above the smoke. There is at least a squad, possibly two on the other side of it,” Mars reported as he received the take from the widening sensor network.
“Ogre Three, fire on them,” the major ordered. He heard the chuffs of the mortars firing but turned away.