by G. P. Hudson
The two Chaanisar mechs strode up the street and inspected the fallen machines. Breeah warily came out from behind the wall and scanned her surroundings. The street filled with soldiers as the Reivers advanced again.
Jon’s voice came through on her comm. “Breeah, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Where are you?”
“I just hit the ground a few minutes ago. Stay with the mechs. I’m coming to your location now.”
Eyeing the two giants that saved her life, Breeah had no problem staying right where she was.
Chapter 43
Colonel Bast stood on the bridge of what was now known as the Ronin. Prime Minister Sallas stood beside him. The last of the ground assault force had just jumped out of the hangar bay. On the viewscreen he watched the battle taking place in a higher orbit between the coup forces and General Calledonius. The coup forces had more ships, but Calledonius had a carrier. Normally the only carrier would be a big advantage, but in this situation the extra ships would offset it.
As he watched a coup destroyer broke away from the group and headed toward them. Since the coup forces were larger than the forces of General Calledonius, they felt they could spare one of their ships. They were fools. Fools for sending only one ship, and fools to destroy each other in this ridiculous civil war. The destroyer opened fire and hit the Ronin with an energy blast. The ship shuddered and Bast accessed his tactical display. The ship’s armor held.
“Prepare to jump,” said Bast. “Place us directly above the attacking destroyer’s stern.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The destroyer fired into open space as the Ronin disappeared. They landed as expected, just above the destroyer’s stern.
“Fire all weapons,” said Bast.
Energy weapons and rail guns hammered the coup destroyer, while missiles raced toward it, homing in on their targets. The coup destroyer returned fire, but it had clearly been caught off guard. The missiles struck causing explosions and hull breaches throughout the enemy ship. Dozens of people streamed out of the gashes and into the certain death of space.
Sallas looked horrified.
“This is war, Prime Minister,” said Bast. “These are the people who overthrew your government, and who now attack us.”
“I understand war, Colonel. It is just very wasteful.”
“Of that we both agree.”
“Most of those casualties are just people following orders. They do not necessarily support the coup. Yet they are the ones dying for it.”
Bast nodded in agreement and looked back to the viewscreen. The destroyer still returned fire but began to list. The next wave of missiles would finish it off. “Do not destroy the enemy ship,” he ordered. “Target weapons and propulsion only. I want it disabled, but not destroyed.”
“Thank you, Colonel,” said Sallas.
“I see no need for further loss of life on that vessel,” said Bast. “You are correct, Prime Minister. Those soldiers are following orders, and they’ll be needed after this civil war is over. Why kill good men and women unnecessarily?”
The Ronin began picking off the destroyer’s turrets and took out the ship’s propulsion system. In short order the threat was eliminated, but the ship itself had not been destroyed. It merely floated helplessly in space.
Bast turned his attention back to the raging space battle. “Your General Calledonius is not doing well,” said Bast, almost to himself.
“Do you think he will be defeated?” Sallas said in a worried tone.
“Most definitely. He is outnumbered and outgunned. His forces fight bravely, but the odds are against him.”
“Then all is lost,” said Sallas, lowering his head in defeat.
“Nothing is lost.”
Sallas looked up at Bast and said, “I don’t understand. You just said the odds are against him.”
“I did, but I intend to even them. Helm, jump us directly above the last coup destroyer on the right flank. Get us as close as you can without colliding. Once landed, initiate a second jump one light day away.”
“Yes, Sir,” said the helmsman.
The Ronin jumped, landing on the far side of the coup armada, practically on top of a coup destroyer. The destroyer was busy firing on Calledonius’s ships and hadn’t noticed the ship hovering above it. That would soon change, but it would be too late. The Ronin jumped again landing one light day away, in empty space. The destroyer had tagged along and remained directly beneath the Ronin.
“What just happened?” said Sallas, a bewildered look on his face.
The ship shook as the destroyer opened fire. “Jump us back to our original position in low orbit around New Byzantium,” ordered Bast, and in seconds they were orbiting the planet again. Bast turned to Sallas and said, “Our jump system works in part by creating a field around our ship, similar to a FTL bubble. We discovered that the field can be stretched around other objects in very close proximity to our position. When close enough, the other object, in this case the destroyer, makes the jump with us.”
“That’s incredible,” said Sallas, looking awestruck.
“The destroyer will no doubt plot a course to return to the battle, but that will take some time, even at FTL speeds. The battle will be over by the time it returns.”
“That’s brilliant,” said Sallas. “But can removing one ship from the battle turn the tide?”
“Actually, we have removed two ships from the battle, Prime Minister. But perhaps we should tip the odds a little further in our favor,” said Bast. “Helm, repeat the maneuver, but this time land above the last ship on the left flank. On your second jump take us one light day away in the opposite direction.”
“Yes, Sir,” said the helmsman.
They jumped, landing just behind the warship on the far left flank. As before, the enemy ship didn’t notice them until they jumped again. They landed one light day away and the Ronin jumped back to low orbit around New Byzantium. Seconds after landing the ship shook under the weight of enemy fire.
“It seems our friends do not like playing our little game,” said Bast. “Helm, repeat the maneuver. Target a ship near the center now. For the second jump take us to a different location from the other two.”
They started taking fire within seconds of landing.
“They’re adapting,” Bast explained. “They know we have a delay between jumps. It gives them time to locate us.”
They jumped again and landed in a different region of space, again one light day away.
“Helm, jump us back outside the armada’s weapons range,” said Bast.
“Yes, Sir.”
“No point in taking unnecessary damage.”
“Sounds reasonable,” said Sallas.
They landed and Sallas said, “That’s four ships. Is that enough?
“It’s better, but we can try a little harder I think.”
The Ronin performed the tactic three more times, taking each ship to different locations. They succeeded in removing a total of seven warships from the battle, significantly degrading the coup’s effectiveness. The tactic came at a cost, however, as the coup fleet continued to adapt. The Ronin now took heavy fire each time it jumped into the armada’s ranks. Bast knew that the tactic had been used up and it was time to change.
“Randomize our jumps,” said Bast. “The only thing I want constant is that we land at the edge of our weapon’s range. Focus on one target at a time. Time the jumps so we have enough time to fire two volleys at the enemy before we jump again.”
“Isn’t it better to keep jumping ships away?” asked Sallas.
“They have adapted to the tactic. We have to jump into their ranks which allows them to hit us hard. Now we have to adapt. By keeping our distance it will be harder for the enemy to locate us, and even when they do, by the time they target us we will have already fired and jumped away. Since they cannot jump we can continue to harass them, diminishing their effectiveness.”
“Does that mean General Calledonius will win?”
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“Perhaps. The odds are certainly more even now, and we will continue to help. The rest is dependent on the ground assault. Unfortunately, while we are engaging the coup fleet, we cannot support our soldiers on the ground.”
Chapter 44
The battle thundered in the distance, and Jon knew they were getting close. They were encountering stiffer resistance as they advanced, and had to deal with more entrenched forces. Fighters attacked in increasing numbers too. Their three mechs effectively dealt with most of them, but the odd fighter still managed to break through and strafe their ranks. The moved in three columns with one mech each, advancing down three parallel roads. Up ahead the sky blazed with the flashes and explosions of battle.
He had ensured that Breeah was okay when he landed, but had to leave her to command his own men. Breeah fought with the Reivers, who were commanded by Jonas, her father. Jon commanded the Hermes Marines, and Lieutenant Jarvi commanded the Chaanisar. The best he could do was to have Breeah’s vitals and suit statistics displayed on his HUD. Of course, he could also communicate with her if necessary. But his responsibility right now was to his men.
“Fighters,” yelled Henderson.
Jon looked up to see a squadron of fighters streaking across the sky towards them. His mech responded instantly with missiles streaking off its back up into the sky to greet the fighters. Anti-aircraft missiles were also launched by the two other mechs as well. The fighters broke formation and immediately launched countermeasures. To Jon’s dismay, the first missiles were already going after the decoys.
The mechs continued launching missiles and the fighters launched more countermeasures, but they were also streaking down to attack their positions.
“Take cover,” ordered Jon, and his men scrambled to get out from the open street.
The fighters didn’t try and strafe the soldiers this time, however. Instead they targeted Jon’s mech, firing missiles of their own at it. The mech broke into a run and launched its own countermeasures. As it ran it continued firing anti-aircraft missiles, but also turned its massive guns toward the sky. The mech’s torso swiveled around furiously as it targeted the attacking aircraft. Its guns blazed into action spewing forth blinding white light as it fired a torrent of heavy ordnance into the sky.
The countermeasures proved to be somewhat effective against the missiles, but they did nothing against the powerful mech guns. Between the missiles and its guns, the mech successfully shot several fighters out of the sky, but more came.
“Chan, Reynolds, Burke, Patel. Support that mech!” said Jon.
“Yes, Sir,” said the men and sprang into action. Their team was equipped with handheld anti-aircraft weapons. The weapons fired smart projectiles which behaved almost like missiles, but were intended for use against lower flying attacking aircraft instead.
The four men shouldered their weapons and let loose a rapid fire barrage against the attacking fighters. As each aircraft swooped down to engage the mech the Marines backed it up so that the fighter had to face four anti-aircraft guns instead of just one.
The other two mechs now ran into Jon’s street firing their own guns into the sky, along with their missiles. A fighter coming in for a close assault was shredded by the combined firepower and lost control, crashing into a nearby building and breaking apart, spraying the street with hundreds of smaller pieces. The fighter fragments turned into shrapnel, causing Jon to duck as a large shard narrowly missed his head.
Lifting his head he heard something coming not from the sky, but from the ground. “Shit,” he muttered, and yelled out to his men, “Tanks!”
Chapter 45
At the top of the street a group of four hover tanks glided in. They came to a stop and swiveled their massive barrels into position.
“Incoming!” Jon shouted as their long guns exploded into action.
The shells crashed into the first mech, knocking it backward. Its machinery moaned as the mech toppled to the ground. The hatch in the mech’s belly opened as the Chaanisar pilot crawled out. The man’s helmet had retracted and he had obviously been wounded. He struggled to get to his feet only to collapse. He was in no position to pilot the mech. One of the Marines seized the man pulling him off the street to safety.
“I have a mech pilot down,” Jon said over his comm to Lieutenant Jarvi. “I am taking control of the mech. Repeat, I am taking control of the mech.”
“Do you know how to operate a Chaanisar mech?” said Lieutenant Jarvi.
Jon took off running toward the fallen metal giant. “How hard can it be?” said Jon.
“Captain, you can sync up your combat suit with the mech. It will make operation much simpler. Use the access point located on the back of the suit’s neck.”
“Understood,” said Jon, reaching the downed behemoth. He climbed into the open cockpit, sitting securely in the pilot’s chair and connected his suit. His HUD instantly came to life with a myriad of new information. A diagnostics display flashed on his visor and he noted some system damage. The integrity of the suits armor had been drastically diminished. Nonetheless, it was nothing that couldn’t be bypassed.
As Jon gripped the mech’s twin joysticks another overlay appeared, showing him what each stick did and what options he had at his disposal. Upon activation the cockpit door closed. With a loud metallic bang the door locked into place. Accessing the arms and legs Jon maneuvered the joysticks to stand the beast up. It turned out to be harder than he thought.
He had piloted mechs before and had received some training on Juttari models, but that was some time ago. Besides, it wasn’t so much how the controls worked, as it was having an experienced hand. Indeed, Jon discovered to his dismay that a slight nudge in the wrong direction could send the mech tumbling forward. Attempting to right the fall he overcompensated, and crashed harder still.
While Jon struggled, the other two mechs had wheeled around, shifting their focus from the fighters to the tanks, and charged. The two giants raced down the street, firing their heavy guns at the armored beasts. Remarkably the anti-aircraft missiles continued to stream off their backs into the sky.
The tanks responded by breaking formation. They went wide and rushed in to fight the mechs. Jon was getting the feel for the mech controls and was able to get the giant up onto its feet. The mech’s cameras piped a video feed of the street to Jon’s HUD. He realized that he could access a multitude of views in any direction. His focus remained on the tanks. Watching them rush in he could see they were trying to encircle the two other mechs. The mechs had other plans.
The lead tank took the brunt of the initial mech onslaught. The large shells hit the tank but its armor withstood much of the attack. But not enough. Fissures started appearing in its armor and it changed direction. It tried to move the weakened part away from the mechs, but the giants were too close.
A mech leapt into the air sailing over the weakened tank, pummeling it with its guns from above. The mech hit the ground. The tank tried to swing its giant gun around toward it, but didn’t have enough time. The mech stepped into the tank, inside the length of the gun, denying it a target. From close range it pointed its guns directly at the fissure and fired. The mech sprang away just as the tank exploded.
The other tanks fired. The mech danced, jumped and rolled. The tank shells pummeled the surrounding buildings. Walls collapsed as the buildings began to crumble. Jon hoped no one was left inside.
Jon’s HUD lit up with a warning. More fighters flew into range. He accessed his ant-aircraft system, to find it offline. The message asked him if he wanted it back online. Goddamnit, thought Jon, “Affirmative!” A grid flashed on his display indicating the aerial targets, accompanied by a warning to take defensive action. Another message indicated the anti-aircraft system was restarting.
“Chan, I hope you guys have those bogeys.”
“We see them, Sir,” said Chan.
“Keep them off me, my anti-air missiles are offline.”
“Leave it to us, Captain.”
On his grid one of the fighters disappeared as his men took it down. But there were more coming. As good as his Marines were, he didn’t know if they could handle the rest with just their handheld weapons.
His HUD flashed a new message, ‘Anti-Aircraft System Online’. Finally. Another message followed, asking Jon to select between ‘Manual’ and ‘Automatic’. Jon yelled, “Automatic, you stupid machine!” Suddenly crosshairs appeared on the aerial targets on his grid, and he felt a hard, fast push from behind as his missiles streaked into the sky.
One by one the fighters blinked off his display. “Outstanding,” he said to himself, moving his attention to the tanks. The mechs were doing well and had incapacitated a second tank, leaving two. Jon felt it was high time he joined in the fray. He switched to his gun display and the onboard tracking system immediately identified the enemy tanks as potential targets. He isolated one, and opened fire.
The tanks had disregarded Jon’s mech, focusing only on the two with which they were currently engaged. Jon’s attack must have come as a surprise. His shells struck the tank’s heavy armor plating and its big gun quickly spun around toward Jon.
“Shit,” said Jon. He manipulated the controls. The mech move sideways, laying down continuous fire. The barrel seemed glued to him and matched his movement. Shells hit the tank from its side shifting its focus off Jon. One of the other mechs had taken the distraction Jon provided to charge in on the tank, blasting the turret at point blank range.