by Don Foxe
The next two hours were spent eating, mainly roasted wild vegetables, which were tasty and filling, and listening to war stories. The chief story teller turned out to be one of the resistance fighters who had been among the group that had gone to rescue the downed Demon crew, who ended up protected by Elie.
After Rain decimated the Zenge ground units on their trail, two dozen of the lizard-like soldiers continued to track the nine Fellen resistance fighters and the three Space Fleet flyers. The resistance sent a small squad to collect the downed flyers, believing they would attract less attention, and move more stealthily through the heavy forest.
The heavily armed Zenge, rededicated to the task of overtaking the escaping team, following the elimination of so many of their fellows.
AShaanart, the story teller used a stick to draw in the dirt.
“We were here, maybe a half-mile in front of the Gadiles.” (Gadiles were large lizards that lived in swamps on Fell. They were considered ugly, bad tempered, and inedible. The Fellen resistance fighters called Zenge soldiers Gadiles as a show of contempt.)
He made deep grooves between two lines. “The deep ravines with steep slopes made it difficult to move quickly through the forest. We tried to stay quiet, but the Gadiles did not care about moving silently. They followed, using laser rifles to down trees in their way. Screaming in their high-pitched voices that shatter glass. Catherea [Elie’s new moniker among the resistance.] would disappear. Each time she did, those following lost one or two of their number. She had only the two blades she wears on her belt.” He pointed at the rubber grips of the sheathed knives.
“I personally witnessed her cross over a ravine by climbing and running along branches of trees that created a canopy over the coulee Over three hours, Catherea single handedly slipped around and through the Gadiles. She killed all of them, without one of them getting off a shot at those she was protecting.”
At the end of the meal and tales, Storm’s father and two others, a male and a female, motioned for Elie, Mags, and Folly to stand and join them in front of the fire. Each Fell placed a necklace over the head and around the neck of the two humans and the Bosine.
Sky joined them. “Each necklace has the emblem for a tribe inscribed on a stone native to each tribe’s homeland. The AS, the CH and the TR tribes have made you honored members. You are now as much a citizen of Fell as anyone else here.”
Soon after that the party broke up, guards were set, and others left for tents and shelters to rest. Folly was provided a private shelter made of logs with a thatched roof and comfortable bedding. Sky and Storm left to join family and tribe. Elie decided to bunk in Angel 7 where she could be alerted by com-tac if needed.
Mags left with Sparks.
CHAPTER 49
PHASE 2
Angel 7, with Elie, Sparks, and Folly also aboard, docked with Star Gazer. After greeting the remaining Angel Wing members, and a few sad moments remembering the crew of Angel 6, they walked together to meet with Anton. They were joined by his top officer, Captain Cynthia Shah, along with Hiro and Senait in a conference room set aside for them by Commander Cornitsch.
Lt. Commander Sonoritsch and Captain Hollisvey joined them a few minutes after they sat.
“Sorry to be late,” the Bosine said on entering. “I was compiling the last of the data from the surface scans. I have everything loaded for the wall monitor,” he said, pointing at the front wall, which came on displaying an image of Fell in two dimensions.
“We cannot be sure how many Zenge troops or Mischene advisors began the invasion of Fell, but we have an accurate count and location on what is left of their forces,” he said and began to highlight areas on the global map.
“The six space ports located across the planet still have eight Parrian cargo ships parked at each landing field. Each location is the base of operations for an average of 5,000 Zenge soldiers.”
“That’s quite an increase from the five hundred we counted during the initial recon,” Elie interrupted.
“We believe operations have changed for these bases,” Anton answered. “They were transport hubs and prisons before. Now they have become the centers for search and destroy missions.”
Sonoritsch resumed the briefing. “The 5,000 represent fighters and support personnel. As Colonel Gregory says, they appear to be replacement divisions for groups sent in-country seeking civilians and resistance groups. The three coastal ports have 15,000 additional troops in the field within 1,000 miles of their base. The three inland ports have 20,000 additional troops. Again, they operate within 1,000 miles of their bases.”
Gregory added insight. “The armies are sweeping the immediate geography around the base camps. Once they have cleared these areas of Fell, I believe they will begin to mount forays deeper into the continents.”
The Bosine LCMD had the six ports circled with red rings indicating the 1,000-mile radius from each camp. The number 135,000 in the bottom right corner of the display, noted the number of total Zenge fighters located within those six circles.
He continued by highlighting the large island of SCoslene. “On SCoslene there are four armies of 15,000 each. They have established support bases on the Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern coasts of the island and are working inward. Their plan is to herd and then capture people as they move to meet in the center of the island.”
The number 60,000 appeared in green, and 195,000 in red.
“There are 5,000 in the Northern Crown. I believe these are remnants of the larger force assigned the tech lab you destroyed,” Sonoritsch said to Casalobos. The red number changed to 200,000.
“There are 20,000 in the Southern Crown,” he continued as the red number changed to 220,000. “These support the plasma cannon installation and are attempting to breach the tech lab located there.”
“Finally, we have located six divisions of 5,000 soldiers each. These are dispersed on the three major continents, and appear to be in pursuit of resistance parties.” The number reached 250,000.
“I have been rounding off to make it easier, but the exact final number of Zenge on Fell is 248,932. However,” Sonoritsch waited a moment for everyone’s attention, “Fell has some very dense rain forests, and some deep valleys in the Crowns. If there are Zenge in those areas, we may not be able to see them, even with deep penetration scans. Because of their cold-blood, if they have polar bases that are not emitting heat sources, or have hidden heat signatures, we could be missing some in those areas as well.”
“Mischene?” Col. Gregory asked.
“I cannot give you an exact number. We see warm-blooded heat signatures mixed in with the Zenge. Analysis of activity has tried to separate those we believe are captives. It leaves a total of 12,122 mixed around the planet. Most located at the space ports, but at least a few with each Zenge troop.”
“261,054 enemy combatants,” Gregory said aloud. “Phase 1 removed the majority of their space support, and a majority of their air cover. With the surface-mounted installations destroyed, and the mothership with 50,000 Zenge on board, we estimate nearly 130,000 enemy combatants were eliminated. Otherwise we would be facing 400,000.”
Mags spoke. “We have 50,000 ground assault personnel, and another 50,000 support personnel.”
“Plus two billion Fellen willing to fight and die to save their home,” Sky added.
“Makes you feel sorry for the Zenge,” Mags joked. “Maybe we should send some guys home so it’s a fair fight.”
“Enemy aircraft?” Elie asked.
“They haven’t put anything high in the air since their spaceships were taken out,” the Bosine officer replied. “We have visual on several hover craft being used to transport troops and supplies. From the report on the one Angel 5 shot down when covering for Demon, they have a single small laser cannon and a chemical-fire multiple-projectile weapon.”
“A machine gun,” Shah translated.
“We’ve counted a total of twenty-three, with each major encampment having two each, with only
one at the Northern Crown.” Twenty-three dark blue dots peppered the map.
“They have a half-dozen surface-to-space launches used to shuttle small numbers of personnel. They have a single laser cannon and are capable of creating an electro-magnetic force field for defense. One at each former space port.” Six blue dots with yellow rings appeared.
“And, of course, they have the Parrian cargo vessels. Currently all off line and used as ground storage for supplies and captives, but could be activated. Unless they’ve added weapons since your last encounter, they are simple haulers with wormhole capability.” That completed Sonoritsch’s overview.
“Sparks, how are they communicating?” Gregory asked.
“They are linked into the satellites over Fell,” the communications engineer said. “They had been using their spacecraft to bounce signals to relay orders and information as well. Now they only have access to the satellites Fell already had in orbit. On the ground they use line-of-horizon communications among the separate groups. Depending on terrain or atmospheric interference, they might have an effective range of two to three thousand miles. As little as line of sight in the mountains, or deep in the forests.”
“Can I assume that you have the ability to prevent them from using Fell satellite for world-wide communications?” Elie asked.
Sparks smiled and replied, “You can so assume. When you give the order we can kick them out of the link leaving them unable to communicate between their locations on the planet beyond their surface systems.”
“Did they recover the cargo ships we hijacked from that initial raid when we recovered Sky’s sisters?” Mags asked Sonoritsch.
“Yes. Those eight are back at the CHangoria 2 and again used to hold captured Fellen. We show heat signals from every cargo ship on the surface,” the LCMD responded. “On average they keep a half-dozen Zenge guards aboard each ship, rotation is every six hours, so they are running three shifts per Fell day. Bases use multiple roving guards in teams of two, and fixed guard locations every 500 yards around the entire camp. We assume they have motion detection and artificial automatic defenses installed as well, but we cannot locate those until they come online.”
“Captain Shah,” Gregory said. “First orders of the day?”
“We need to place crew-served communication teams with every resistance group we currently have contact with. The ion-based channels kept us in the loop without warning the Mischene, but depending on the weather is dangerous. After we set up world-wide connections, we disable the satellites and force the enemy to act as separate units.”
“Our first target after that will be that base,” Gregory said, highlighting CHangoria 2. “We’ll insert eight nine-man kill and recover squads. Each squad enters and takes over a cargo ship. Elie as operation leader. Hiro, Sindy, and Noa will be assigned to those squads. I want Space Rangers on the ground, inside the perimeter of that camp. Sky will join them. Rachelle and Fitz will handle air cover.” The display wall morphed from the planet, to a diagram of the CHangoria 2 space port. Icons represented enemy, structures, ships, and good guys.
“Capt. Shah will be direct ground commander for the remaining troops to be stationed outside of the target. Sparks will run communications from the Star Gazer. Storm will be with Shah as her coms control.”
“When the squads are ready to be dropped, Mags and Folly will fly one of the hover-launches we brought. It’s designed for low altitude insertions, but only thirty-six special operators at a time. For all seventy-two squad members plus add-ons, they will need to make two trips, and squeeze a couple extra bodies onto each load. Insertion via LALO [Low Altitude - Low Opening parachute drop]. Everybody in their METS.
“When the first team boards the hover-launch, Sparks will kill access to satellite communications. No other locations will know of the attack. The hover-launch will pick up three additional teams, twenty-seven operators, in case they need to be delivered somewhere fast.”
“Fox and Huard will have Demon 2 on the ground outside the furtherest line of Zenge troops. Be prepared to respond to any threat, ground or air,” he told them.
Gregory turned to Shah and said, “Captain, you will need to position your troops to handle the 15,000 Zenge on the outskirts, and have a division set to enter the port directly. You’ll be fighting two fronts; one out and one in. Once Elie gives us the go, Rachelle and Fitz will strafe the space port with extreme prejudice.”
Cindy Shah took the lead. “We’ll have Star Gazer land on the surface beyond the 1,000 mile mark east of the port. Sparks tells me he can mask the ship from their scans, even though it’s the size of a mountain. We have the best and brightest from Earth on board, Skip. 20,000 soldiers will insert between their outer forces and the base camp without them realizing we’re in the neighborhood. I’ll place another 20,000 on the outside of their external line. After you hit the camp from the air, I’ll detail several companies to mop up and protect the cargo ships. We’ll hammer and anvil the outer ring of Zenge troops between ours.”
“That’s a lot of people and firepower within a very small field of operation,” Fitz said.
“Better for us, worse for them,” Gregory said. “We have fire discipline and the best communications gear in the universe, thanks to our Fellen allies. Besides communicators, every trooper’s METS has night-vision with head’s-up. Good guys will light up as blue. Everybody else is a target, so make sure any Fellen resistance fighters are kept clear, and captives stay on board the cargo ships. For us this is just target practice. For them it will be hell on Fell.”
Casalobos turned to his friend and said, “You’ve been wanting to say that for weeks, haven’t you?”
“Hell on Fell,” Gregory repeated straight-faced. “I think that’s what I’ll title the after action report”
“The Zenge and the Mischene are fanatics,” Gregory reminded the people in the room. “They will fight to the death, and do not put suicide past them. If they carry explosives they might try to take your people out with no thought to blowing themselves up. Make sure the troops know who they are fighting. They may not be sophisticated, but their weapons will kill you. They will most likely not retreat nor surrender. Once you engage, you are engaged to the end. We have several more locations to hit before this war is over, and we cannot afford a war of attrition. We need as many of our people alive at the end of this battle as possible.”
He displayed the globe once more. “This first mission is a test for the overall strategy to divide the enemy forces into bite-size pieces. They vastly outnumber us in total, but we can change those odds dramatically with the right plan as long as we implement perfectly. You let every man and woman going down there know if they get killed I will personally, and severely punish their lazy ass.”
“Speaking of,” Elie interrupted, “make sure we have transport vehicles and on-site triage ready. Dr. Singh and Dr. Coptonitsch will have the medical facilities aboard ship ready.”
“And Captain Hollisvey will have Morgan ready to resupply and support anyone in need,” Gregory added.
To Sparks and Storm he ordered, “Contact resistance groups. When you have locations, verify who they are, that they can be trusted. Assess their capability of assisting. We will drop communication crews and have Captain Hollisvey deliver arms and supplies from Morgan in the next few days. Advisors and specialists will be sent with the weapons.
“Once we complete a successful operation, the next one will be where we have the greatest number of Fellen resistance fighters available to assist. I want the people of Fell to have as much to do with reclaiming their world as us. Questions?”
Clear on their responsibilities and expectations, everyone rose to handle their business. Phase 2 had begun.
CHAPTER 50
Night on Fell, with persistent clouds, light rain and a cool breeze to help cover the first ground actions of Operation Crossroads. The sister moons were dropping off the far horizon, and Travus had yet to rise. It was the fifth hour of the guard shift. Zenge abo
ard the cargo ship would be thinking about getting off the ships and replacements would be trying to get that last thirty-minutes of sleep.
Ex-Ethiopian special operator and Space Ranger, Senait Kebede led the first group off the hover-launch and into a short free-fall. In less time than it took for Mags to retreat and pick-up the second group, the double-taps started coming in to confirm the teams had successfully landed on top of their designated target ships. Hiro Kimura, Space Ranger and everyone’s favorite ninja, led the second group out of the rear hatch. Twenty-minutes into the last hour of the Zenge guards’ shift, seventy-two special operators with silenced assault weapons, one ninja with a very sharp wakizash (short sword), and three exo-metahumans, and one angry Fell female needed a total of twenty minutes to clear the cargo ships of enemy combatants.
When the replacement guards arrived, they were quickly dispatched, bodies piled to the sides. Each team repeated their double-taps to indicate success. No SOS needed. No alarms sounded.
Hours before the SO’s jumped from the hover craft, Shah had her troops exit the Star Gazer under orders of complete silence. While still on board, 40,000 soldiers completed hands-on checks with buddies on either side to assure no one carried anything that might rattle or scrape.
The Star Gazer’s silhouette rose high into the new night sky, but not a single light shone to mark her position. She was an eerie monster with a gaping maw. Every trooper and support person used the advanced optics and night-vision fitted within the METS helmets, showing the nocturnal world in a pale sunlight.
20,000 soldiers from more than one-hundred military and para-military forces on Earth, behind the lead of their current officers and NCO’s, mounted shielded and silenced transport vehicles that had been rolled out of the cruise ship’s hangar.
These transports would take them to positions beyond the lines of the enemy surrounding the space port.