Commander Fitzpatrick’s team had convinced the high command that this might be bait in order to destroy the legion and possibly the space cadets as well. Intel had identified a world The People had vacated and the lizards took without a fight. It appeared to be more a supply facility than a built up defensive position. The legion would attack it instead.
After it was taken down, the legion would make no attempt to hold the world. The navy boys would be hiding out in the fringes of the star system in Grey star jump ships. When the enemy counterattacked, they would be pounced upon out in space where the Human Grey alliance held the advantage.
Denver had been successful in getting Fitz to offer a training plan to his admiral, and he sold it to the general staff. Fitz was able to get them to conduct battalion sized practice runs while Smith and his officers briefed the battalion and company commanders on an electronic version of a sand table. By the time the attack was launched every legionnaire knew exactly what he was supposed to do.
Denver was going in with the first wave, ostensibly to gain firsthand knowledge of how this tactic worked. He suspected the higher ups were just trying to get him killed. No matter, he was going in.
His ATAC lurched out from the troop carrier making him feel negative G’s, but he had practiced this. It was okay he told himself. Besides the heads-up display kept him updated as to what was going on, a tremendous thing for the troops to actually see what is going on around them.
It maneuvered, more stomach churning, but soon he began to feel heavy. Atmospheric entry had begun. He could see the pilot but had no idea what he was up to other than he was only a backup, probably to make us feel better.
It had taken months to get this far; new designs to be built and tested, and then integrated into the legion along with training, not an easy task. Through it all Lt. Commander Fitzpatrick’s team had provided direction. If this failed, it would be the end of the lot of them. With any luck, he would be dead. Smith forced it from his mind.
The counter wound down. The craft had been twisting and turning as necessary, and now he and his seat were about to be spit out. Even watching the counter, it came as a shock. His seat dragged him out into the slipstream then separated and tumbled away. His training took over; he spread out and got his body under control, oriented himself in the right direction as per his heads-up display, then made like a flying squirrel. Darndest thing, he was flying without an aircraft.
Some of the guys did this for kicks. Denver never understood why. He could see the missiles fired at the incoming troop carriers. The heads-up display showed the fighters coming in from over the north pole. They should be over the missile sites soon.
His onboard computer, which worked off a number of satellites they had put into orbit, sent him a message. He was going to overshoot the LZ so he went to a less efficient mode.
As strange as it might seem, it was hard to keep his mind from wandering. He felt as though he was floating over some alien world, relaxed and surveying it from high up. He wished it could go on forever, just him and his pressure suit exploring strange and wonderful planets.
“Smith, what the devil are you doing? You’re falling behind!”
“Sorry boss.” He resumed the flying squirrel position and concentrated.
A particle weapon hit one of the unmanned entry vehicles behind him. They missed one. It would be targeted and taken out. He was now beyond the missile launchers and coming up on the LZ. The display showed there were chutes open. The LZ was over the horizon from the enemy’s built up area. This should give them time to dig in. So far … so good.
Smith popped his chute and glided down to the ground this time managing to stay on his feet. Each company had been given an area of responsibility on this hill about a kilometer across. An attack would be uphill from any direction.
While it looked as though they were running in all directions, each man’s heads-up directed him to where he should go. It was as carefully orchestrated as a ballet.
Back the way he had come the sky was full of chutes carrying artillery, supplies, and prefabricated pillboxes. These were to land near where they were needed. If not, the engineers had equipment to move what was needed to locations marked by the platoon leaders.
Already men were digging in. The engineers would quickly dig trenches the men could move through back to secondary fighting positions, should it become necessary. Everything was going smoothly. The only question was how long would it take the lizards to respond?
He did not have to wait long, but this time, instead of charging madly at their defenses they landed flying craft right in the middle of their position. They dropped in almost without a sound until they were on top of the legion. The flying craft skidded to a halt and disgorged troops.
Some of the landers plowed down men as they skidded along. There was no discernible pattern to the battle, just find something to shoot at and shoot. It did not take too much effort.
One almost took Smith’s head off as it shot overhead. It stopped maybe seventy-five meters away. He got down behind a rock, and as soon as the ramp dropped, he started firing short burst. They fell over one another as the first lizards took the brunt of the fire. Two other men came up beside him, and they raked the landing craft with deadly fire.
Arriving landers began skidding into others already on the ground. Lizards were everywhere, only this time, they were using their rifles. They were firing only one shot at a time which put them at a decided disadvantage.
More legionnaires were dropping in now right in the middle of the firefight. Some had the presence of mind to land outside the combat area, while others were firing even as they floated down. One bounced off a lander that had turned over on its side and was now on fire.
The legionnaire struggled to free himself from his chute and strip off his pressure suit. As he did so, a lizard came at him from behind. It took precious time to bring out its crooked blade. Smith ran over and pumped a few rounds into him. The startled soldier spun around in time to see it drop.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Don’t mention it; get down. Who you with?”
“Engineers; you were supposed to have the area secured.”
“It was secured; they just unsecured it.”
Suddenly there was a loud explosion from above. Smith spun around in time to see one of the lizard transports burst into flames and rollover to crash into the ground. From behind him came the unmistakable sound of the attack aircraft. Someone must have had their carriers land short, and now they were coming to the fight. The last of the landing craft quickly reversed course and went to ground about half a kilometer away.
The aircraft chewed the landers up, some in the air, some on the ground, but now they were taking ground fire from the disembarked troops. One aircraft was hit and started smoking. The pilot ejected just in time.
“We’ve got to get to that pilot, come on.”
Smith and the engineer headed off toward the parachute stopping only to fire at any lizard that popped his head up. Quickly they were behind the firing line, which was beginning to form. The chute was almost out of sight behind a small rise.
The two men topped the rise and could hear the report from the pilot’s sidearm. It was clear the lizards were going to get to him first. Smith’s range finder indicated another four hundred meters to the enemy. He fell to the ground and took up a prone firing position.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to slow them down a little.” He aimed just ahead of them and squeezed off a round.
“You were low; I saw the dirt kicked up.”
Incredibly, the lizards stopped to see who was shooting at them. They just stood there. That was a mistake. Smith let out a deep breath and squeezed off another round. This dropped one of them.
“Sir, the pilot is running this way.”
“Think you can meet him halfway?”
/> “I’ll try sir.” Off he went.
The lizards had taken cover and were opening up on Smith with their giant elephant guns. Not even close, they were terrible shots.
It is an interesting thing to be shot at and missed. You can hear the rounds passing overhead but always missing you. Smith got the craziest feeling of being high.
He focused; see if he could do better. Now there were only three. Quickly the engineer and the pilot got down behind Smith.
“Thank you, both of you.”
“No problem, not a bad bit of rescuing for a couple of down-earthers.”
The pilot looked a bit sheepish. “No, it wasn’t, in fact, it was stupendous.”
“I don’t see any need to sit here and trade potshots; let’s get back up on the ridge.”
“Right.” The three set off for the comparative safety of the, hopefully, secured area.
The LZ was a tangle of smoking lizard landers and bodies. An interesting tactic but the enemy had better go back and rethink it. Smoke and flame were everywhere; just let them burn. The legion returned to the task of digging in. They would pick up the dead later. A temporary aid station had been set up between two lizard landers and the injured were being attended.
“Sir, I need to find my unit.”
“Go ahead.” Smith began to take images of the battlefield, both stills and motion. He even inspected a couple of the lizard landers. Engineers were bringing up the pillboxes, and tracks were moving into positions the engineers had dug for them. In the distance, you could see the vanguard of the enemy, waiting, but waiting for what?
* * * *
“Commander where is he?”
The officer turned around to address his superior. “Sir, he was in the middle of the fight, but left and returned with one of our downed pilots.”
The man sighed, “More heroics? Where is his mate?”
“She is still with Lieutenant Commander Fitzpatrick to my knowledge. Do you want me to inquire?”
“No, just keep me informed of any changes.” He turned away and returned to his desk.
He mused to himself. It seems such a waste to get Smith killed. Better to spread his seed around. He knew his people needed new blood. They had gone on too long, not enough variety. Too many years of regimentation had drowned out any independent thinking. They had managed not to become too genetically inbred, but they had become culturally inbred, and that presented a danger as great as the lizards. Still there was something wrong with this whole thing, but as high as he was, the admiral was still out of the loop.
* * * *
Suddenly the sky darkened in the distance. “Smith, are you getting this?” It was Fitz.
“Getting what?”
“This.”
“Uh oh.” The dark cloud he saw were landers from the small supply base.
“Here they come!” The warning blasted to each legionnaire.
“Sir, I think we’re in trouble.”
“We’ve patched the situation on to higher ups; the attack craft are on the way.”
“Where are they coming from?”
“I don’t know,” responded Commander Fitzpatrick.
“Do we have anything over the enemy installation?”
“Negative.”
“Sir they’ve got to be coming from the base. How long before you are overhead?”
“Stand by; three more orbits.”
“That’s no good.”
“Sir, is there a scout aircraft not tasked to anyone nearby?”
“I’ll get one of your people on it.”
It occurred to him that he had rather have his people with him right now. “Sir, they’re setting up about a half a klick away.”
“Yes, I know; you think they are going back to a frontal assault?”
“Maybe, but let’s not underestimate these guys. They’re not stupid. What are the spacecraft that took out the pulse weapons doing?”
“They’re back aboard the stardrive jump ships, why?”
“Do you think you can get them flushed out again?”
“I can ask; what do you have in mind? Wait a minute; thanks, we got you a scout craft. It will be at your location in less than three minutes. What’s your plan?”
“I’m going to find out where these things are coming from and if you can get me some air support, see if I can put a stop to whatever they’re doing. Right now they’ve got so many troop carriers that I can’t even estimate how many there are.”
At that moment, the ground attack aircraft screamed overhead and began to bombard the lizards before they could completely form up for the attack. To Smith’s surprise, the lizard troop carriers lifted up and headed directly for the approaching attack aircraft. They had no guns; they just attacked head on. The attack aircraft were so busy knocking them down before they had head on collisions that they were not effective in blasting the lizards. With a shout that could be heard over all the other noise, they came.
At that moment, the scout craft landed next to him. Smith jumped in and plugged in. “See if you can get close.”
“No sir, I’ve been given a limited vector to fly.”
“Why?” asked Smith.
Artillery rounds started landing in the open area between the two armies. “Oh, that’s why.”
“Where do you want to go?” asked the pilot.
“Once you can turn, I need to find out where those troop carriers are coming from. Use this vector.”
“Aye aye, sir.” They were off.
Smith began to record as much as he could from his position. There were so many of the lizards they blackened the ground, and there was something else. The troop carriers, that had not gone suicidal after the attack aircraft, were flying directly at the legion’s line, no guns just driving hard at the line. The tracks were taking most of them out, but some would get through. The scout turned in the direction he had been given, and Smith could see where the lizards had formed up. More troop carriers were coming. There were now so many they got in one another’s way, and there were collisions.
A troop carrier would land, troops would storm out, and the craft would lift up and make a suicide attack on the legion. He could not see the lizards now, as the artillery was throwing up so much dirt. The ground attack aircraft were now concentrating on the troop carriers still on the way in with more troops.
Smith recorded the chatter and kept making a visual record. Intel would need as much as he could provide.
“Smith!” radioed Fitz.
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ll have the spacecraft on the way in less than twenty minutes. I’ll need to give them a vector, but before I can give them that, I’ll need target coordinates.”
Suddenly as they came over a rise they started taking ground fire. “Turn us around and put me down behind that hill.”
The scout shook as it was hit. Smith could see right through the holes. The pilot quickly sat it down. He hit the ground running. At the top, he could see the installation.
“It’s so small; where in the blazes are all these troops coming from?” he said to no one in particular. He pulled out his binoc’s, and there in the middle of the small compound he could see it. There was a hole that had opened up in the middle, and he could see the lid slid over to the side. He quickly got the coordinates.
“Sir, I’ve got it.” Denver sent the picture and the coordinates up to his superior.
“I don’t believe it,” said Fitz. “They have buried the base. It must be gigantic.”
The rush of troop carriers had slowed now, but every half minute one or several would come shooting out. “Sir, if we can blow up the entrance, we might be able to turn off the flow.”
“Stand by.” While he was waiting, he looked around just to make sure his position was secure.
“Sir?” it was his pilot on
the com.
“Yes.”
“They need me back at the LZ; I’ve got to take out the wounded. We’ve got to go.”
Strange, the whole place seemed deserted. Was no one minding the lizard store? Were they all driven by blood lust?
“Okay, get out of here. I’m releasing you.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me; get out of here.”
“Smith we can’t attack the site. Enemy spacecraft are inbound from the planet’s moon. We’re in for a fight up here. You will need to get back to the LZ.”
This plan is going all wrong. Intel’s got it wrong again. Now not even the navy can evac us. He was beginning to get a really bad feeling; why was Intel so bad?
“Sir, I can’t get back. They needed my pilot back at the LZ to haul out the wounded,” said Smith.
“What did you do that for?” asked an incredulous Commander Fitzpatrick.
“I had to direct the attack if necessary.”
“Now you’re useless to us. Stay put; if anybody’s left, we’ll get you out.”
Then he was alone. He could see the scout craft quickly getting smaller in the distance.
Okay, tactics; I don’t see anything stopping me from going down to that base and seeing just how much mayhem I can create.
“What the heck, I’m probably in for it already.”
He backed up and found a defilade, which would hide his approach, and then he headed off. Soon, he was duck walking, trying to stay as small as possible. There was a trail to a lizard-sized gate, which he hoped would not have any hidden landmines. He kept the recorder going, just in case.
The gate was locked, but he was able to pry it open just enough to crawl in. Two more troop carriers shot out. It was going to be bad back there, but maybe he could cause them some trouble where he hoped they least expected it. He soon found what he was looking for.
The door to the hangar opened easily, and there was one of the vehicles he and Argie had used to escape. It was up on some sort of lift, but the gun was there and loaded. He went and found what looked like a lizard version of a forklift. He used this to drag the inoperative vehicle over to where the troop carriers kept coming from and moved it into position.
Hell Fighters from Earth Page 34