Gods of War (Jethro goes to war Book 5)

by Chris Hechtl

  “But … it's got to!” Lieutenant Sng said almost desperately.

  “It ain't gonna. No way. We canna make it fit, not right. And if'n I make relief cuts on the backside,” he used his callused index finger to draw lines on the backside of the armor plate the lieutenant had pulled from one of the androids. “It defeats the purpose doncha know?” he asked looking up.

  “But it worked with the leg …,” the lieutenant indicated his suit's left leg.

  He had been sidelined by the damn river. He'd taken some damage in the fighting, most of it light. But his suit had lost the left shoulder pauldron and shoulder plate as well as the left greave when he'd hit some rocks while tumbling in the current. He'd hit hard enough to pop the pieces off.

  James had managed to cobble together a replacement greave out of pieces from an android but had been stymied by the shoulder armor for some time. Since the left shoulder servo motors, gears, and some of the underlayer had been bent or shorted out on that side in the water, it hadn't been a priority, so the lieutenant had been sidelined.

  Now with combat looming again, it was. He'd figured out how to rig the shoulder servos and even gotten the underlayer straightened with a dolly and a dent puller, but the armor itself was an issue. The captain had ordered him to get every suit functional.

  “I canna get it to work. Not as is. What I canna do is tack it here and here,” he said, pointing to points on the armor and then the armor. “I canna bend it without cracking the ceramic outer coating, so I can maybe backfill with a piece of metal and tack here and here,” James said. “It ain'ta gonna be pretty,” he said, tisk tisking.

  “Just do it. I need to be in the fight.”

  “Oh, I know that,” James said as he started to measure the gaps. “Get me a piece of that three-quarter stock. The square tube, I've got a piece left about a centimeter long … call it nine millimeters …”

  “Okay,” the lieutenant said with a note of relief in his voice as he went over to the rack of dwindling metal stock and fished through it until he found the right piece. “This?”

  “Yes. Cut it on the nine mil mark. The other … make it four and a half mil. Use the bandsaw and make sure you use a vice to mind your fingers or you'll lose ‘em,” the armor warned.

  “Okay,” the lieutenant said as he went to work.

  James watched him for a moment, then went to work grinding a couple spots on the armor so he could tack weld the armor plate to it. He did the same to the underside of the armor. If he had time, he'd make it so he could remove the piece, but there wasn't time.

  He got the first two tacks in when he heard someone else come into the shop. He turned to see another private with a damaged suit, anxious about getting back into the fight.

  “Go on, get on your suit. Do what you can,” James said going back to his work.

  “Got it,” Lieutenant Sng said, holding the pieces up.

  “Bevel the edges so the welds will have a place to go. I'll get ‘em in,” James said as he checked the articulation of the shoulder joint and then flexed the arm up and down. The range of motion wasn't constricted, but he didn't like the great gaping holes around the armor plate. “Maybe, if'n I've got time I can add some plate around it. Patch it in …,” he murmured just as the klaxon started to warble.

  “Bugger,” he muttered as he took the first piece tossed by the lieutenant and then went to work wedging it in and then tacking it in place. They'd just ran out of time.

  <)>^<)>/

  “Okay, RECON has given the signal,” Jethro said as Bast waded through the first dump of data. There was a second set a few seconds later, this one from Zenko and Shiku. “Damn, they hacked the enemy network?” Jethro asked.

  “Not entirely. Just enough to get a sniff. The enemy had too many firewalls or they air-gapped the systems. We didn't get a map, but we did get some idea of the other defensive rings,” she warned.

  “Broadcast an order for the teams moving in to take them out,” Jethro ordered. “We're moving in,” he said to his team and the others.

  “About damn time,” Jasper growled.

  <)>^<)>/

  Mackie was the first to join the private in the communication's room, but others weren't far behind. “What have you got?” Captain Zhukov demanded as he entered the communication's room. He'd expected a nighttime attack, not an attack in broad daylight. Well, in the late afternoon he thought, looking at the clock.

  So much for switching up shifts to be well rested he thought. Something told him he wouldn't have much time for Morpheus … or any time at all ever again.

  “Something took out the widow-makers and is now taking out our sensors and some of our sentries in the outer zone, sir,” Private Askdall reported, pointing to the map just as the other officers arrived behind the captain.

  “Damn,” the captain said as he checked the status board. It wasn't just the widow-makers; something was now systematically taking out his eyes and ears in the outer defensive zone.

  “Transmissions detected. Millisecond broadcast, it looks like data.”

  “Okay target that site with the nearest sentry guns that can hit it. Spray the area, let's see what comes up,” the captain ordered.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  <)>^<)>/

  The sentry weapons in the interior layers of the defensive zones were a series of pop-up guns, directional mines, and a couple Gatling guns set up along the main path to the caves. Most of the pop-up guns were light caliber weapons Sergeant Scornlan had rebuilt for the task. They were useless against armor.

  The nearest pop-up weapons came out of the ground and began to fire in the general direction of the broadcaster.

  Shiku saw the incoming fire and dropped to the ground instinctively. He laid flat for a moment and then took shelter behind a rock.

  “What are you doing?” Zenko demanded.

  “I don't want to get hit and give myself away,” Shiku replied. “Do you have those locations fixed?”

  “Yes,” Zenko said.

  “Can we take them out?”

  “Not with them firing like that,” Zenko said.

  “So, we go around,” Shiku said as he took to moving on all fours to get clear of the engagement zone, then circle around. When he had the pop-up guns in sight, he fired and took each of them out.

  “Those weren't on the map,” he noted.

  “Apparently not,” Zenko said.

  “Great,” Shiku sighed.

  <)>^<)>/

  The other RECON team members received the fresh update from Zenko and Shiku. Those that were close immediately went after the location of the nearest sentry pop-up guns and sensors. Not all were found easily. A few of the team were not sure where to look; the dusting of snow and dirt made it hard to find them. They couldn't use sweep gear without going active and giving themselves away. A few guns popped up or out of trees giving themselves away. They were immediately taken out while the RECON team members looked for more.

  <)>^<)>/

  “Where the hell are they?” Lieutenant Zevaya demanded. “How are they doing that? Do they have more of those RECON Marines in there?”

  “I don't know. We can't see them; the sensors are picking up too many ghosts from the damn wind,” Mackie snarled, pounding an impotent fist on the edge of the desk. “Every time we fire on a ghost, we're potentially wasting ammo and giving the sentry gun's location away,” he growled.

  “We've got movement, heavy metal and multiple tangoes coming in,” Private Askdall reported, pointing to the long-range sensors. All eyes turned to the long-range plot. They could see two forces coming in from opposite directions.

  “Roll out the rest of the welcome mat,” Captain Zhukov ordered.

  <)>^<)>/

  Jethro nodded as he went over the data Zenko had appropriated. It meant more than just an edge; it meant they could conserve some ammunition while also conserving some of their probes for the caves.

  “Time for the butterflies, Bast. Tell them half,” he said.


  Bast nodded and broadcast the order as he jumped over a fallen tree trunk and kept moving. Behind him, his fire team jumped or swung over the tree and kept moving as well. If he was right, the enemy would be focused on him and the suits they could see. They would pop up defenses to take them out, but the RECON teams were already inside their perimeter. Each time a pop-up came up they would take it out.

  His people just had to survive the first volley before then. Bast flashed a red alert and an icon on the right of his HUD. Flashes told him what he needed to know as he threw himself to the left and energized his shields. “Incoming!” he snarled as branches and trees shattered around him and his fire team.

  <)>^<)>/

  Pamplona and the other RECON suits received the release order and let the butterflies fly. They took wing, but the strong winds batted them around a bit, drawing down their power. The fox realized it would be a problem, so she cut her release short and ordered her fire team to do the same. “Release them as we go, people,” she said as she moved to her assigned watch point.

  It sucked that they had to broadcast like they were, but she knew why. They needed to conserve their communications relays and other gear for the real main event.

  <)>^<)>/

  Letanga received the order to release his butterflies but countered it. He had Satet transmit a hold order to Roarack. “We'll keep ours in reserve for the main event,” he said.

  “Roger that,” Roarack replied.

  <)>^<)>/

  “Use ‘em or loose ‘em. Order the weapons to deploy.”

  “Sir?” Mackie asked.

  “Do it. Order the airborne drones up. See if we can get a look down at what we're up against,” the captain said.

  No sooner had the drones been launched when one by one they were knocked down by a laser. “Not so easy I see,” the captain murmured as he checked the feed for what the cameras had picked up. “Set off the mines,” he said.

  “S … okay,” Mackie drawled as he keyed the set-off sequence, then pressed his thumb to the activate button setting the mines off.

  <)>^<)>/

  Pamplona felt the ground rumble as explosions went off nearby. She instinctively crouched and then dropped to the ground and rolled next to a tree trunk as debris flew around. “What was that??” she demanded.

  “Directional mines. Fortunately, not pointed in our direction,” Zako reported.

  “Yeah, she said as she got up and dusted herself off.

  <)>^<)>/

  Jethro heard the explosions and instinctively knelt. But they were too far away. He saw a few trees topple, and fires break out. “They are getting punchy,” he murmured. So far everything they'd seen would have torn a conventional force up. But for the Cadre, it was more of a nuisance.

  <)>^<)>/

  Dimitri crossed his arms as he studied the surviving cameras, moving from one to the next. He didn't see a single body. There was smoke and debris obstructing a few, and some had electronic snow before the electronic techs switched to a different view, but no bodies.

  He started to get his first inklings that they are up against something more powerful than the norm. Something he could only barely understand, let alone find a counter to.

  <)>^<)>/

  The fire team pairs leap frogged each other while moving through the shattered trees. One suit would take up a defensive position and hunker down to play over watch and reserve as the other moved forward drawing attention to get to its prechosen defensive position. Two of the RECON team members had set themselves up along the path of the heavy weapons and Alpha team's line of assault as snipers to cover them. However, the trees made it almost impossible to get good firing lanes.

  They didn't need to snipe. If any suit was engaged by a sentry, the other came in to support while the nearest RECON suit pinpointed the guns and took them out. Not many of the pop-up guns were left; they had been damaged by their own side's explosives or buried in debris. It only took a branch or rock to stop a gun from coming up and deploying.

  If a fire team got to its designated spot without getting engaged, it took up defensive positions briefly as the next team moved in. It was a well-rehearsed act, one they took to even though they had limited numbers.

  As they moved, any remaining active sensor was taken out. ODN cables that had been exposed by the explosions were ripped apart. No one attempted to repeat Zenko's hack attack for the time being; they were too intent on getting through the gauntlet and to the cave entrance.

  <)>^<)>/

  Mackie grimaced when he saw the inner layer had been breached. “They are in the final engagement zone, sir.”

  “Get the Gatlings ready,” the captain said.

  “They won't do much,” Mackie muttered as he stabbed the keys on his board.

  “They'd better,” the captain snarled.

  <)>^<)>/

  Letanga noted a stump move, shaking off the dusting of snow it had on it. It unfolded and a branch tip dropped off to turn what was left into the barrels of a Gatling gun. “Neat,” he muttered, lining up on the gun with his sniper rifle.

  “Got another,” Roarack murmured from his side. Letanga checked the wolf's data feed and noted the sighting. A rock had moved and swiveled about to expose a false shell and Gatling gun on the other side of the path up to the cave entrance. As he watched, Roarack unfocused enough to see two more pairs of Gatling guns deploy.

  “I'll take the left; you take the right. On three,” Letanga ordered. He lined up on the first target. Satet picked out a few nice places to hit it that would hopefully disable or destroy it. He waited a beat, then rehearsed moving to the next target, checked it, then went back. He did that two more times, noting the wind each time before he settled into the first shot.

  “One, two, three engage,” he breathed as he squeezed the trigger twice.

  Two rounds went down range as he swiveled on the next target. The first tore through the belt feed to the gun. The second hit the main servo and bored in. The heavy caliber round tore the servo up. The gun shook and then the barrel dropped inert.

  While it was going down, he'd lined up on the other gun and fired. Two similar shots took that gun out too. He checked as Roarack finished firing on his last gun.

  “Guns down,” Roarack reported.

  “Guns down,” Letanga said. “They know we're here. Let's see if we can get in before they slam the door shut in our faces,” he said, releasing a quartet of butterfly drones.

  He watched the drones wing in the air, flying like they were drunk before they got to the cave. They went under the lip and inside about two meters before they ran into a pile of rocks and a door.

  “Nope,” Letanga said in disappointment.

  <)>^<)>/

  “Frack! Something just took out all four of the inner defense guns on the road!” Mackie said, pointing to the screen.

  “How?” Askdall demanded.

  “I don't fracking know!” Mackie snarled, throwing his hands up in defeat. “Do I look psychic to you?”

  “Settle down,” the captain said mildly. Things were definitely not going as planned he noted. He noted the white butterflies in some of the camera feeds. A few of the butterfly things went to the cameras and covered them. “What the hell?” Mackie demanded.

  “They are probes of some sort,” the captain grated. Pass the order to squish them when you see them,” he growled as Lieutenant Sng stomped into the room. The captain turned to check the suit out. The left shoulder was bare of a pauldron exposing the motors and hardware underneath, the breastplate didn't look pretty, nor did the greave, but he was at least functional again.

  “Go suit up and then relieve me,” he said, turning to Lieutenant Zevaya and the others. They nodded and took off at a trot. “Pass on the order for everyone to suit up,” he said, resting a heavy hand on Mackie. Mackie looked up and then nodded. He picked up a microphone and issued the order over the intercom.

  “Get everyone who isn't in a suit armed and near the back exit. They wi
ll just get in the way,” the captain ordered. He turned as a familiar scent entered the room. “That includes you Lieutenant Robinson, Lieutenant Singh,” he said, pointing to the two officers. “Doc, get your sickbay prepped for wounded, but you'd better set up near the door.”

  “Yes sir,” the doctor said as he took off at a trot.

  Lieutenant Kinoshita came in, pushing his way past the others to do so. “The entrance is buttoned up tight, but I don't know for how long. I've got all the doors in-between shut and welded shut or barricaded.”

  “Understood. Prep the mines and cave-in explosives in that area. As soon as they send enough of their forces in, we'll blow the roof down on top of them,” the captain growled. He turned when he noticed that Robinson and Kinoshita were still there. “What are you waiting for? Go!” he ordered, motioning them to leave.

  <)>^<)>/

  Sergeant V'n'r didn't like his mission but he understood it. Once he was halfway to his final position he signaled the rest of his fire team to spread out to points around the cave. Alpha plan was in play, so they were going to be the rear guard to watch for any back doors.

  He knew they were covered. There was air cover above and around them; he could see their IFFs in the distance. But the boss wanted them on the ground to hit any back door when it was opened, so he and his people had to sit out the main event.

  <)>^<)>/

  “Not one. Not one fracking … we didn't hit anything, did we?” Mackie demanded, turning to his partner. Askdall shook his head silently. “Is it even possible?” the PFC demanded, turning to the captain.

  “I'm as in the dark here as you, Mackie. Obviously it is since they just did it right in front of us. How, I have only a slight clue,” the captain mused.

  “Sir? Care to share?” the PFC asked when nothing more was forthcoming.

  “Cloaks. How they are doing it … I mean, I've seen the cloaks; the Reapers have been modifying cloak blankets for their armor. But an entire soldier …?” he shook his head. “And we don't know about their numbers … we know little other than we're being attacked,” he said.

  “Well, we know a few things, sir,” Mackie said, pointing a stylus at the screen. “All six widow-makers were taken out at the same time. That means they've got six of the suits.”