by Rod Carstens
"Comm, get me Major Aijuba. I want a visual too."
"Aye, sir."
"Tarawa, this Raider Actual."
Sand couldn’t see her face, only the visor of her helmet. There was a patch on her side where she had been wounded. Snow swirled around her, and explosions could be seen in the background. Her voice wasn’t as strong as it usually was. She sounded tired.
"Raider Actual, be advised there are no more SOCs capable of flying. We cannot extract you and your team."
There was a long pause.
"That is no surprise. The clock has run out."
"Give me a private line," Sand ordered.
Sand walked back to his command chair and a display switched on, showing Aijuba.
"My Wolf ... I...." Sand tried to begin.
"No sadness, my heart. We have survived so many battles, I many more than you. It is my time. As a warrior, I knew this day would come. I celebrate the years we’ve had and of course wish for more, but it’s not to be. I’ll always be with you, my heart. Do not grieve for me. I die as any Wolf would want to, in battle."
Sand had to clear his voice several times before he could answer.
"Goodbye, my Wolf."
"Goodbye, my heart."
Sand paused then asked, "How will you do it?"
"I think we will charge the position and call the naval gunfire down on us."
Sand could barely speak when he said, "It’ll be quick."
"Yes. We will not be taken prisoner. This is Raider Actual out."
#
Major Axec Aijuba stood behind the black rock outcropping for a moment. The wind swirled the snow and black sand around her. So this was where it ended. So many years in the legion and now the Marines, fighting any and all enemies and her life would end on a small black rock of a planet. Was there ever a good place to die in battle? Aijuba didn’t think so, only good battles in which to die, and this was a good battle against a formidable enemy. It had been a good life, spent as a Wolf should spend her life: in service to her planet and the Confederation. She took a deep breath and then said over the react team’s comm frequency, "Comrades, there will be no pick up for us. This is where we will make our stand. I thought we would expend the last of our scrams and charge the hybrids. Some of us might make it to their positions and make them pay for our lives. I am going to time the naval gunfire so it hits just after we make contact."
There was silence on the network for a long time until Wakiza said, "Ah, fuck it. Let's make these kaks pay for Rift and our brothers and sisters here!"
There were murmurs of agreement, and Aijuba thought she heard some soft prayers.
"I consider it an honor to die fighting with my brothers and sisters," another voice said.
All of the react team were veterans of the legion and Rift. All had signed up for additional tours. They had no illusions about how they would most likely die. They had chosen a life of service like Aijuba and knew what that could mean.
"When we attack, do not leave a wounded comrade who might survive. Am I understood?" Aijuba instructed.
They all knew what she meant: Make sure to kill your friends so hybrids couldn’t capture them. There was a quiet murmur of agreement from the team. She could see them readying themselves for the attack. Hybrid fire was increasing as they returned to their positions. Aijuba switched her frequency to naval gunfire.
"Tarawa, this is Raider Actual. I need the Pollux."
"Roger. Stand by."
Aijuba waited the few seconds it took for the Pollux to come on the comm frequency. She was acutely aware of the way the wind was blowing the snow around the black rock and how it landed on her boots. All of her senses had increased. The knowledge that she would soon die seemed to have made every moment even more precious.
"Pollux to Raider Actual."
"Pollux, are you aware of our situation?"
"Negative."
"We cannot be extracted. We are going to attack the hybrid position in front of us. We cannot be captured. Do you understand?"
There was a long pause as Temesgen absorbed what the major was saying.
"I understand, Raider Actual,” he said gravely. “How do you want this to go?"
"Pollux, we would like to try to reach their positions. We hope to have some personal contact if you understand."
"I understand. What do you want me to do?"
"Hold your fire until you see if we are able to make contact, but the primary goal is for none of us to be captured. Do not stop with a single salvo. I want this area pulverized."
"You've got it, Raider Actual." Temesgen paused, trying to think of something to say. "We have your back, Raiders."
"Good. This is Raider Actual out."
Aijuba pulled out her ax and snapped it open. She pulled her pistol out and snapped her 48 onto her chest. She was ready. She looked around. Each marine had his or her favorite hand-to-hand weapon.
"Raiders, it is an old legion saying, but I think it’s appropriate now. Guerre à mort," Aijuba said.
There were a number of others who softly repeated the saying. No quarter asked or given.
"On my mark, scrams."
Aijuba paused and took a deep breath. She called on her Wolf training and pulled forth the beast that lay within every warrior. She let fury and lust for the blood of her enemy course through her until she was shaking with battle rage. There was no need to control it any longer. She was no longer a leader; she was simply a warrior.
"Three, two, one. Now!" she screamed.
The scrams fired, one after the other, blowing huge chucks of rock and buildings into the air. Scram after scram fired until they were all expended. The fire from the hybrids had almost stopped.
"Raiders, forward!" Aijuba ordered.
As one, the Raiders were up and running for the cliffs. The adrenaline rush was giving them even more speed as their suits magnified their muscles’ strength. One Marine went down and then another. Both were now blacks. Staying low, Aijuba jumped over a large piece of concrete that had been blown from the cliff. She could see a position. There was movement indicating the occupants had been injured and were just now coming to. It became her target. A round tore into her arm, but she did not slow. More Marines were going down around her. She saw someone stop to put a round through the head of a wounded comrade and then run on. Enough of them were going to make the hybrids’ position to make them know who they were fighting. She jumped for the gun position. She was a good twenty feet in the air, but she made it easily. She landed on her feet. A hybrid was just standing up when she fired her pistol into its face. Another rose up from the floor, and Aijuba took its head off with a single swing of her ax. More reinforcements were rushing through a door at the back of the position. She killed the first two before she took another round in the chest. She stayed on her feet and managed an ax blow to another hybrid’s head. Then she felt a laser knife enter her side. She growled and swung her ax, catching the hybrid in the side. Another jumped on her back, and she went down. She continued to fight. The she screamed, "Now! Now! Now!"
There was no time between her scream and the first explosion. Aijuba's world went black.
#
Sand sat back in his command chair as he watched five-inch round after five-inch round tear apart the cliff and hybrid positions. He could no longer see any of the icons representing the Raiders, which meant their armor had been completely destroyed. Aijuba was gone. He doubted he would ever be the same. She had taught him how to be a warrior. She had been at his side from the beginning. It was she who had taught him how to become an officer. It was she who had pushed for the new Armored Infantry as part of the legion on the enlisted side. She had fought by his side through the first years of the infantry, as they both learned the tactics for a branch of the service that had not existed for hundreds of years. It was she who had been by his side on Rift and taken over command of the battalion when he had gone down. Now she was gone. She would never be by his side again.
Aijuba
had shown him how a real woman, an equal, could still give herself to a man. She had taught him how to love someone. Overwhelming grief washed over him, but before he could give in to the loss, he heard a voice in his head say, “Enough! You will not dishonor her memory by giving in to emotions when you’re still in command.” His face hardened, and he stood straighter. Everyone in the CIC was staring at him. He would not forget everything that she had been and had taught him.
"All stations, report. Are our troops off 703?"
Each of the stations in the room reported that all units and personnel were accounted for except for the react team.
"Very well. Let the combat log show that Major Axec Aijuba and her team lived up to the finest traditions of the legion and the Marine Corp. All will be put in for awards for courage above and beyond the call of duty. Now, get me Captain Grogen."
Dasan stood tall on the command platform, still in his armor. He was glad he had left it on. It made him feel that much more a warrior, the warrior Aijuba would have wanted him to be.
"Captain Grogen here."
"Captain, be advised that all of the Marines are accounted for or on board the Tarawa. We are in your hands now."
"Very well, General. We will proceed with the bombardment for as long as we can before we leave orbit."
"Thank you, Captain. This is Sand out."
Dasan stood for a moment before he said, "All stations, make sure your data is backed up before you shut down. I want to tell you all that you, too, performed at the highest levels today. Mistakes were made in planning, but we will learn from them. They will not happen again. Each and every one of you should be proud of your performance. Now, see to the official shutdown of the CIC. We will begin the Lessons Learned sessions in forty-eight hours, while they’re still fresh. Get some rest."
With those words, Dasan marched off the command platform and headed for the armory to get his armor removed. He would not give into his grief again. Aijuba wouldn’t have and he would live up to her Wolf example. “Goodbye, my Wolf. I will see you again someday, when my time comes,” he thought.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Xotoli Outpost
Exoplanet 1123.567
Von Fleet Planet 703
CC Tokyo
Captain Ririsa Grogen was carefully watching her feed from the CIC. The Tokyo was bombarding the Von Fleet facility with her sixteen-inch guns as well as her five-inchers. It was the first time she had witnessed the destruction that all of the combined force of the Tokyo, Pollux, and Castor’s kinetic energy weapons could deliver. With each sixteen-inch round, huge craters were formed on the planet’s surface. The plan was for four sixteen-inch rounds per square mile. Nothing would be left standing in that square mile. So much dust and debris had been thrown up into the atmosphere by the bombardment that it was almost impossible to see the surface. The Von Fleet facility had been completely destroyed as well as the hybrid garrison that manned it. The Xotoli may someday be able to use Von Fleet 703 again, but it would take years to rebuild the facility. The Marines and Navy had accomplished their mission.
"Captain, the Tarawa just reported. She is buttoned up and spinning up."
"Thank you."
"CIC, what is the position of the Xotoli?"
"They’re still closing slowly, Captain. Looks like we hurt and confused them enough to make a difference."
Ririsa switched to the long-range sensors. The Xotoli were feeling their way forward. She wouldn’t have to fight them around 703 after all. Luck had been on her side today. It felt good. She smiled as she thought of the old naval lesson she had been taught so many years ago at the academy: Swiftness is more deadly than the best targeting computer and surprise beats them both. Today, that lesson had been true.
"CIC, this is the bridge. Cease the bombardment. Advise Pollux and Castor of the same."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
"Bridge to engine room. Make all preparations for getting underway."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Ririsa Grogen sat back in her command chair. It felt good to be leaving a battle with all her ships. She looked over at the young petty officer.
"Did we earn our pay today, Petty Officer?"
He smiled and looked at Ririsa.
"Easy day, Captain. Easy day."
She smiled back. Compared to Rift, it had indeed been an easy day, but she could use a lot more easy days.
"Helm, set a course for Rift."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
Task Force 53 formed up with the Tokyo in the lead and the Pollux and Castor flanking the Tarawa. They made straight for the wormhole to Rift.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Landing Ship Dock
Tarawa
1st Marine Raider Battalion
"Everyone, make sure you hook your armor up so it can download the mission and the armorers can make repairs. Then you can clean up," Lieutenant Taro instructed.
Nani walked beside Hu as they slowly made their way toward the armory.
"You heard the man. Everybody to the armory," Nani said.
The rest of the squad surrounded Nani and Hu. No one was saying anything. Some of them had their helmets hinged back with sweat streaming down their faces and their hair sticking out in different directions. Exhaustion etched their faces, making them appear years older than they were. Nani put her RC 48 in its rack and moved down the room to her armor's cubicle. She backed into the cubicle until her armor snapped into its rack. She heard the whirring of the system as it connected to the armor. Her head's up flashed “system connected,” and she hit the drop button on the display that floated in front of her on her heads up. The armor separated as the nanos opened and folded back and away from Nani’s body. She stood there in just her sweat soaked skivvies. It was hard to ignore the number of empty cubicles around the room. So many were dead or wounded.
"Oh shit! That feels good," Nani said, closing her eyes and reveling in the feeling of being out of her armor.
To be free of the armor always felt good, no matter how well it was fitted. The cool air from the compartment washed over her sweat soaked skin. She shivered, even though it felt wonderful. Hu's armor cubicle was across from hers. She heard him groan as he stepped out of his armor. She looked over at him and saw several red spots on his skin where the armor had rubbed it raw on his huge shoulders.
"You need to get the armorers to adjust your nanos," Nani said
"I did. They can't seem to get it right."
"You’re too big."
"Tell that to Von Fleet. They engineered me this way."
Nani was glad to see that Hu's muscles were returning after his rehab. He looked like someone who was beyond physical and mental exhaustion. His eyes were dull and unfocused. He was just moving through muscle memory. Wearily, the two walked out of the armory and down the corridor to the showers. They tossed their skivvies into the laundry chute and stepped into the showers. The hot water felt wonderful. Soon, the whole squad was in the shower, standing under the steaming water, letting it relax their weary muscles. No one said anything for a long time, they just let the hot water take away some of the left over tension of the raid.
"Anybody hear how Lena’s doing?" Gras asked.
"Yeah, doc said she would be fine. Got her bell rang, but the armor took most of the damage. A little surgery and she'll be fine," Bien said.
Finally, Nani said what they were all thinking.
"The major and her react team didn’t get extracted."
"Yeah. She called fire down on their position."
"Fuck!"
"She was a Raider."
No one said a word for a long time. Finally, Hu said, "What the fuck was all of this for? I mean, what the fuck!"
No one said anything for a long moment. Then Nani said, "You want answers, Hu, you had better go to the chaplain because you won't find any in this shower. We all feel the same, but you know as well as I do that we volunteered for the legion, for the Marines, and for the Raiders. It comes with the terr
itory. You want answers, get in another line of work because in this universe, things rarely make sense. Deal with it, and if you can't, shut the fuck up because none of us want to hear it."
Nani knew she had to reach through his physical fatigue and the mental images of those children. If she didn't, she thought he would be lost in a world with no way out. He had to face up to some terrible things, but everyone did. She had managed to survive sexual slavery and all that came with that as a child. It was time Hu found his own toughness. There were things harder than combat.
Hu stood there, staring at Nani for a long time. The other men and women in the shower said nothing. They just kept busy, cleaning their weary bodies. Then Hu's face changed. Finally, he said in a quiet voice, "You’re right."
That was all he said, but Nani knew things had changed, or at least begun to change, for him.
"Good," Nani said.
"How about Borges? Man, her running out there under fire in that fucking light armor the corpsmen want to wear. That took balls!"
"I talked to the doc. He said she would be fine. She’s got some damage that’ll need to be fixed, but he said she’ll be back up in no time," Elias said.
"Good to hear."
Then it got quiet again. With the mention of Borges, they were all thinking about the children. Nani looked over at Hu. She knew what he had to be imagining his own family. She knew she would never forget the sight of what the Xotoli had done. She considered saying something, but thought better of it. The men and women in the shower returned to silence that was only broken by the occasional groan of pleasure as the hot water washed away the sweat and soreness of hours in armor. Lieutenant Taro stuck his head in the shower.
"The general wants to everyone who was in the room with the children. Now. So hustle up. Meet me outside of his compartment soonest."
The three NCOs hustled out of the shower and threw on the jumpsuits they wore onboard the Tarawa. Soon, they were all standing outside of General Sand's compartment. Lieutenant Taro was waiting for them. He knocked on the door.