The Colonel acknowledged of the officer’s comments and then returned to his position. His body language suggested he was trying to inspire but it looked more like he was preaching. It wasn’t helped by the fact that of all the officers in the room, he was the only one that had yet to face the enemy in battle.
“As you know we have been given the order to stand. This is a Confed base and we are not handing it over to insurgents, religious fundamentalists or some Kerberon nutjob who thinks he is the second coming of Christ. This base has already been given a final ultimatum by representatives of this Church of Echidna who say they are operating as intermediaries on behalf of the Kerberos government. That’s bullshit, as you already know there is no government here anymore! They are just puppets for this religious cult that will not stop until every colony does the same. I’ve received word from the Fleet and they confirm that since the deadline passed every base in the System has been waiting. So far nothing has happened. Return to your units and recheck their readiness. Something is coming, I can smell it and when it does we need to be ready to act.”
A chorus of salutes and agreements echoed inside the small room and was followed by the removal of the men as they rushed to check on their troops. The first planet to secede had been Kerberos and it was generally considered to be the second planet in the System. Since the rise of the Church it had taken on greater importance to the level that it was now seen as the hub, the centrepiece of the new secessionist movement.
As the officers streaked out a grubby looking soldier rushed in carrying a map. His uniform was that of one of the scouting units with tiger stripes camouflage pattern and light equipment optimised for speed and discretion.
“What is it, Corporal?” asked the Colonel.
“Our patrol in Sector Five has come under attacks from colonial units from Yama City. Our unit made it back but we lost a squad out there, Sir.”
“What the hell! Why did you leave them?” he shouted as he stormed to the doorway leading to the open compound. The young soldier chased after him.
“We were ambushed by almost hundred people. Rocket fire destroyed our first APC, we were lucky any of us made it out alive!”
Colonel Towers stopped and looked down at him. His face was contorted in anger and worsened as he spotted the patches on the soldier’s arm indicating his last two tours of combat.
“Let me tell you, son. Just because you’ve been out in the dust getting your ass shot off by some local bushwhackers, it doesn’t give you the right to abandon your men out there.”
“But, Sir!”
“Don’t ‘but, Sir’ me, soldier! I know my duty and we never, ever leave our men behind. Now come with me, we have work to do!” he shouted as he continued onwards. As he stomped off a solider leaned over from the top of one of the watchtowers.
“Colonel, there’s a vehicle heading towards us!”
The watchtower was located in the corner of the barracks and was the tallest structure in the entire base. It was raised about five metres higher than the perimeter wall, but like the rest of the compound was only recently built and lacked the thicker walls and strong defences normally seen on military bases. The entire compound was initially only supposed to handle up to a thousand personnel. Now it was overpopulated, containers and vehicles were packed into the smallest of spaces as the units posted to smaller camps had flocked to this larger site. A sergeant, recognisable by his beret and shoulder stripes, marched out into the open parade ground near the walls and started barking orders. He was quick and efficient, in less than two minutes the walls were manned and the troops were ready. From one of the concrete bunkers rushed a four-man squad to the reinforced gateway and took up positions around it. They were not like the frontline combat units that had been fighting the insurgency the last months. They lacked the close fitting armour of the Marine Corps or even the heavier, more old-fashioned carapace suits still used by regular army units. These men and woman wore their standard combat fatigues with basic protective armour vests and plating over the key body parts. Two hundred years ago this kind of gear would have been considered common, now it was barely adequate for riot control. The Colonel stood fuming as the combat units waited for the inevitable fight. He had work he wanted to do and dealing with another non-issue was the last thing he needed. Two of his guards moved out of the command centre and took up positions behind him. Sergeant Wilkinson stopped in front and saluted.
“Sergeant, what is it?”
“Sir, a small group in an armoured vehicle. They’re flying a white flag and approaching our gate.”
“Why are you wasting my time with this nonsense, Sergeant? Captain Erdeniz is in charge now. Find him! I have more important things to do than chasing locals waving flags!”
“Where the hell is Captain Erdeniz?” he demanded, only for the young man to appear before him from the weapon stores. It was obvious he had been collecting gear as on his shoulder he carried a standard issue L48 carbine. He was a naval officer who, along with hundreds of navy crew, had been sent to the surface for leave while the warships were repaired and patched up. Though the fighting had ceased for some time the troubles were far over. Following the epic space battle at Prime there were hundreds of dead and wounded personnel. Far more than could be managed in the space docks and stations operated by the Navy. The sporadic bases and barracks on the colonies were still officially Confederate territory and like foreign embassies they were considered sovereign soil.
“I’ve just received word that a unit has been hit out on the lower checkpoint. Watch the walls and don’t let anybody in, I will deal with the checkpoint incident and bring back our boys. I am leaving you in charge, don’t let me down.” He tapped the officer on the shoulder and then marched off.
Captain Erdeniz was stunned and forgot to even reply. As a naval officer he was used to commanding groups of gunners, or assisting in engineering and technical operations. Commanding the potential defence of a major fortified base on hostile territory was something he had never trained for. This Colonel must have something of a death wish. Rumour on the base was that he had missed out on the fighting and had something to prove. From the shouting display he heard it seemed the man had a real chip on his shoulder.
“Asshole, it’s people like you that get people like me killed!” he muttered as he chased after the officer.
“Colonel!” Erdeniz shouted, but the Colonel was already too far away to hear him as he approached the landing pad where three Cobra Transports sat with their engines running.
From the outside the Cobra MK II looked like an angry bug. The wings lifted up high with four powerful engines fitted on rotating mounts to provide vertical take off and landing capability. It had no obvious weapon systems fitted and could easily have been a civilian craft if it wasn’t for the camouflage pattern and military markings. The craft was only capable of atmospheric flight and had a range of just a few hundred kilometres. It was small, barely big enough to carry eight men, but its speed and agility made it perfect for rapid insertion and extraction of troops. The front of the craft was bulbous and appeared to contain more glass than metal. The looks were deceptive though and this craft more than any other was the favourite vehicle used by Army Special Forces for the last twenty-three years. The engines were already powered up when the Colonel arrived and the sound was high pitched, almost screeching. The Colonel jumped inside to be given an intercom headset so that he could speak and hear over the noise of the engines.
“Sir, we’re heading to the checkpoint now. Last contact was three minutes ago. According to the radio operator multiple vehicles hit them and rocket fire has destroyed their transport. The unit retreated to a depot building where they are trying to hold back the attackers. The last message was on an open channel and said they were being overrun and needed immediate assistance,” explained the co-pilot.
“Come on then, they haven’t got time and neither have we!” barked the Colonel as he strapped himself in, the pilot turned to speak to him.
>
“Uh, Sir, it isn’t necessary for you to come with us.”
“Did I ask your opinion, Lieutenant? I will not let any of my boys be taken by those snake obsessed bastards, now move it!”
”Sir!” The pilot hit full power. “What about support, Sir? Transmitting on an open frequency is against regulations and could indicate their position has already been overrun.”
“Bullshit. Are you trying to scrub the mission? Either you get me there or get out!”
The co-pilot looked over to the pilot who gave him a whimsical look before turning back to continue on the flight.
As the craft blasted away Captain Erdeniz was left covering his face from the dust. He looked about, trying to assess the situation and quickly walked over to the Sergeant who seemed to know what he was doing. Fort Hood was certainly no vacation spot but it did provide a relatively quiet place for over six hundred injured men and woman to rest and nurse their wounds. The fort was positioned on the outskirts of Yama City on the planet Kerberos and over twenty kilometres from any other settlements, yet the young Captain felt thousands of kilometres from the calamity that had been taking place in recent months.
“Good work, Sergeant, I’ll take a look,”
“Be my guest, Sir.”
Captain Erdeniz moved up the rough steel ladder near the main entrance much more quickly than the local enlisted men would ever have expected, taking a high position so that he could examine their immediate surroundings. As he stood at the high point he felt like a commander on an ancient Earth battlefield waiting for an unruly horde to come rampaging towards them. In his hands he held a pair of image-stabilised binoculars. They were low tech but in this area the highly magnified image was just what he needed. Through their lenses he watched the approaching vehicle at close magnification. The vehicle was six-wheeled and looked like one of the transports used by the Marine Guards unit on the planet.
“Sergeant, get ready, this could be trouble! I want the perimeter sealed and get air support on standby. This is probably just another scouting party but it could be something much bigger!”
Erdeniz looked very different to the rest of the infantry on the base. He was slight and until recently had been a mere lieutenant on board the flagship of the Confederate Battlefleet in the Proxima sector. His posting aboard the Battlecruiser Crusader had given him ample opportunities to indulge his interest in unconventional weapon systems. Prior to their action at Titan he had successfully tested a form of canister rounds for the ship’s railguns. He was far from ordinary, though due to his exemplary service and bravery he had been promoted to captain and put in charge of the primary gun decks on the warship. In theory this was a major achievement, but he was still convinced it more likely substantial losses suffered retaking the Titan Naval Station made it inevitable that many officers would be promoted to replace those killed or wounded. His two weeks leave on Kerberos however had been anything but relaxing.
“Captain, shall we get a drone up?” shouted the Sergeant.
Captain Erdeniz paused for a moment. The base was already low on ordnance. Zealots had destroyed a large number of the unmanned robotic drones in a raid three weeks earlier, leaving just four. It was just too risky not to use them though so he gave the order before turning back to his view through the binoculars. The vehicle was about five kilometres away now and kicking up a dust trail behind it. As he examined it more clearly he spotted a number of other small vehicles following behind it.
“Put me through to the Colonel!”
Before he could be answered a great flash from the centre of the base indicated one of the rocket-assisted drones was being launched to around a thousand metres. As it hit its preselected height the jet engine kicked in and the robot raced off into a circular path over the base. In less than ten seconds a series of pulses on the Captain’s electronic datapad signalled an active video feed. The device on his belt was standard equipment for officers in the military and was a ruggedised version of the common computer and communications kit used on many colonies. It combined an encrypted communication system along with live video feeds, encryption tools and command control for many of the base’s automated systems such as fire suppression and surface to air weapons.
He pulled up his pad and entered his hex based security code to gain temporary access to the system. It was a nuisance but after several risky operations it was deemed critical that no digital systems stayed connected and authorised for more than twenty minutes to avoid their use by the enemy. The display flickered as several windows appeared with maps, videos feeds and tactical overlays for the entire area. On the right hand side an icon flashed from command, he tapped it to reveal a full size video link to the Colonel.
“Captain, I’ve only just left. What’s the problem?”
“Sir, we have multiple targets converging on the approaching vehicle, I recommend you return to the base before they are able to bring portable surface to air weapons within our deployment zone.”
“I don’t see the problem. If they are hostile then open fire. If they are friendly, look after them. Don’t call me again, Captain, unless you have actual news to report, out!”
“Asshole,” muttered Erdeniz under his breath reviewing the video feed from the drone.
“Sergeant, you getting this?”
The Sergeant had his datapad resting on the wall as he surveyed the distant dust patterns. He looked down before turning back to the Captain.
“Yes, Sir, it looks to me like the lead vehicle is being chased.”
“How can you tell?”
“Well, I’ve been chased before and if you look at the speed they are moving they aren’t worried about taking chances.”
As if to emphasis the point a series of cracks from rifle fire echoed through the open and quiet valley.
“Stations, keep your heads down, boys!” shouted the Sergeant as he lowered himself, keeping a careful eye on the vehicle.
Captain Erdeniz double-checked the drone feed and with a deft tap brought the video camera in for a closer look on the nearest vehicle. The truck filled the screen showing about a dozen people, as well as masses of boxes and crates lashed to the bed at the rear. There were no obvious weapons though no doubt the boxes could conceal all manner of evil. He double tapped and then pulled the zoom back into a wide-angle mode. He quickly spotted over twenty vehicles, some were just small three-wheel affairs, others were much larger and all carrying armed citizens.
“This isn’t good.”
From his position along the wall he could see half of the base. To his left the wall went back several hundred metres until it rose up slightly on a small hill. Behind him was the main command centre and barracks building and to the side of that the motor pool where around twenty armoured vehicles waited. Although some were fully operational, most were being worked on by the engineers. To the side of the command centre was the landing pad for light aircraft. The walls were now manned by an entire company of soldiers, mostly Army but with a smattering of Navy and Marine units mixed in with them. A second company was split between working on the vehicles and patrolling the rest of the perimeter. A small contingent from the Army manned the mortars and base defences. Turning back to the approaching trouble he tapped the intercom unit on his ear.
“Platoon commanders check in,” he ordered, waiting for confirmation of the tactical deployment of his perimeter forces.
“2nd Platoon in position, light machine guns ready to go, Sir.”
“3rd Platoon, we have two squads on the walls, third will be ready in less than a minute.”
He waited for a moment, waiting patiently for 1st Platoon, nothing happened though.
“1st Platoon, where are you?” he demanded.
There was still no reply and for just a second he worried they may have gone rogue. This had happened on two other bases, where combat units had defected to the local forces. This was usually down to money or pay but some just didn’t have the stomach for what could be a bloody last stand. As he tapped
the intercom to call again an apologetic voice was on the comms channel.
“Sir, 1st Platoon is now on the wall, we had a slight, ah, ammunition problem.”
“Really? Well, check your feeds and watch your angles. We’ll deal with this later.”
“Captain, they’re in range!” shouted one of the men from the tower.
On the datapad the perimeter of the base showed up as a green vector image with triangles indicating friendly units and small circles showing automated or sentry controlled weapon systems.
“Standard rules of engagement, fire if fired upon. Watch for friendlies and keep an eye on your buddies,” he said, trying to be as calm as possible.
“Launch the floaters!” called one of the lieutenants.
The unflattering nickname was for the special artillery shells that were launched up several thousand metres and then loitered in a shallow glide for up to fifteen minutes. A simple tap on a command datapad would send the shell back to the ground with an accuracy of a few centimetres vaporising the target with a precision high explosive warhead. It was a simple system giving the forward commanders the closest thing to their own air cover but with immediate availability. A series of low thuds signalled their launch though they were impossible to see or even track as they hurtled skywards. The clatter of bullet impacts spread along the outer wall as a burst of fire from the approaching vehicles struck the reinforced concrete and metal structure.
“Shall we respond, Sir?”
Captain Erdeniz wasn’t convinced though.
“Hold fire. I repeat, hold your fire! That might not have been aimed at us. Wait until the truck is inside our fire zone. If anything else passes the three hundred metre barrier you are clear to respond,” he said as he moved along the wall.
Star Crusades Uprising: The First Trilogy Page 39