Fernix (Harmony War Book 4)

by Chatfield,Michael

  Each were sixteen feet long from head to rear, eleven feet tall when they stood up. Though there were always exceptions to that rule, and as Nerva had been fighting the Maraukians they had only gotten bigger, stronger, and faster.

  His rounds ripped into Maraukians, but even as he tore chunks off the creatures they survived. As far as the doctors and geneticists could tell, the Maraukians were near perfect weapons. They had been raised with high-density bones concentrated over their vital organs, and used ultrasound, smells, heat detection, and sight to find their prey. They could eat nearly anything organic and their immune system defeated any poisons humanity had come up with.

  Nerva watched as legionnaires’ fire concentrated on the king that was running through the pack. They took a few hits, firing back, and killing some of their own, but taking out four more turrets before they crashed to the ground, vibrant blue blood pooling around them.

  “Here they come, legionnaires!” Centurion Pullo cried.

  Nerva watched as the Maraukian horde went ape-shit. The higher-ups were revered like kings, and from them they were given sentience and the ability to fight.

  They charged, battering against the defenses. The legionnaires only stopped to reload, just inches from the Maraukians that were trying to cut and claw their way inside. The weapons on their backs were useless.

  Turrets whined and rail-guns fired. legionnaires screamed, covered in blue Maraukian blood from being so close to the enemy.

  Nerva ran out of rounds, and pulled his sword. He stabbed through his murder hole, and the mono-molecular sword sliced through the Maraukian on the other side. Nerva fell into a rhythm that had been beaten into him by his very first file corporal.

  His blade ran with blood as he stabbed and twisted, a new wound opening up in whoever was too close to the murder hole.

  It seemed to last forever, yet be over in seconds. Another Maraukian leader, a duke by the looks of it, took control of the horde, and other leaders came in, asserting their control and pulling the Maraukians into ordered lines. This turned them from vicious beasts into ordered combatants.

  Accel tubes were called in on the dukes and their lords’ positions. The fertile fields of Goulag were turned to glass in the wake of The Legion’s artillery.

  Techs continued to rush around, pulling and replacing turrets that were part of the defensive wall. Others worked with armorite forges to patch up weakness in the outer wall.

  “Nerva, we need you back at command,” Legate Harold said, his voice firm.

  “Coming,” Nerva said, sliding his blade home and checking his M19. An ammunition bot came close, offering magazines, and picking up rifles, magazines, and other useful items that had been dropped.

  There were red patches on the ground and medicos were tending to wounded legionnaires as automated stretchers waited to take them to the medical bays and their nanite wards.

  “Was wondering if you got soft up in the command center,” Pullo said, his face unreadable through his helmet, but Nerva could hear the former EMF sergeant’s smile.

  “Ahhh, plenty of coffee, donuts, and comfy chairs here,” Nerva replied.

  Pullo laughed. “Ah, I don’t think the higher-ups would let us have those luxuries. Ain’t no corporatocracy round here.”

  “Damn straight. Look after this part of the wall and I’ll see about getting some warm food up here,” Nerva said, slapping Pullo’s red shoulder pauldrons which denoted him as centurion.

  “Thank you, sir,” Pullo said, meaning it. “Now, I have some more idiots to get sorted out.”

  Nerva looked at his own blue pauldrons which had a gold stripe on them, marking him as the prima legate of the forces on Goulag.

  The armored hatch that led from the Section of wall opened as he came close. He moved through other hatches, past weapon emplacements that were ready in case the Maraukians made it through the exterior walls.

  He followed NIDenise’s route, while checking on the reports of the other walls. Two other sectors had been hit enough to warrant repairs, but none of them had needed reinforcements like Pullo’s people did.

  Damn, king was testing our strengths and weaknesses again, Nerva thought.

  “Reports from other cities,” Nerva asked.

  “All are secure and engaged with Maraukians, we are tracking several hordes that have finally crossed natural barriers,” NIDenise replied, showing him maps of the Maraukian horde’s advance.

  Once the Maraukians landed they didn’t use their ships to move around. They spread out across a planet at rapid speed, and once they made contact with a civilization, they attacked it until they won or were destroyed. The other hordes would group together once they had searched the rest of the planet, piling their own combat strength on top of what was already fighting the legionnaires.

  Nerva had already put the auxiliaries that were born, raised, and trained on Goulag on the rotating schedule to man the walls and fighting corridors against the Maraukians.

  They weren’t as well equipped or trained as the legionnaires, but they could still point an M19 and shoot. Nerva’s people were tired and needed rest before the new hordes engaged them.

  He hadn’t yet got a good feel for the auxiliaries, and more than once auxiliaries had broken and run, opening up a base for a Maraukian advance. Legionnaires had done it as well, but it was a rare occurrence. They had fought from planet to planet, and their training ingrained it into them to hold the line. If they fell and crumbled, then the wall would fall and crumble. It was much like how their ancestors had fought with shield and sword.

  They were a hardy group and Nerva knew them well. They would do what he asked without question, well, maybe a few comments and jokes, but they’d get the job done.

  Nerva moved out of the way of a stretcher bot that was hauling a Trooper away; they’d got plasma burns on their chest and stomach. Nerva’s face became cold as he saw the damage.

  “In other news, the EHC found out that Harmony was sending a fleet at Earth. They’re now mobilizing to defend Earth,” NIDenise said.

  What’s their plan?” Nerva asked, knowing that NIDenise was trying to keep his mind off those who had died carrying out his orders.

  “They’re going to pull the best Troopers off Fernix and send them to help out Earth. Once there, they will be the center of any defenses. They will attack the Harmony fleet and hopefully whittle them down. Wherever Harmony lands, the Troopers will follow, trying to pin them into small areas and hold them there.”

  “How the hell are they going to pull the forces off Fernix? That’s going to leave a major hole in their defenses.” Nerva made it past the defensive corridors and into the legion and auxiliary areas, which extended around the city that lay past them. The people were going about their lives as best as possible to create some normality. Having people panicking was hell to deal with.

  “They’re pulling everyone off the Blue Moon. The Carriers are going to stop anything from leaving the planet and then bomb anything that looks remotely like a Chosen facility. It looks like Nivad isn’t worried about the breakage and losses that the Fernix Partnership is going to see. Though they do still have their unused and untouched yards just floating around.”

  “Hopefully, this time the collection team can extract the Victors - all of them,” Nerva thought-spoke. “Have you put in an order for warm food for Centurion Pullo’s people?”

  “Already done.”

  “Good,” Nerva said. He wanted to look into the events going on in Earth and Her Colonies. It felt like he was giving up on the people he had left behind by not looking, though he needed to focus on his own battle. Once his fight on Goulag was done, then he could look into what was happening in the EHC. Right now he didn’t need distractions.

  He sent a silent prayer up to the Gods, asking for them to look over the people he had left behind in the EMF, and those who were fighting alongside them. He sent another one for his people on Goulag. Every bit of luck and good fortune was welcome.

  Cha
pter 64

  Factory Complex Three

  Blue Moon, Fernix System

  3/3296

  The plan was written up, the orders had been given, and the preparations were complete. The Combat Shuttles had continued on their normal routes, though now they only brought down the basics and were taking up camp equipment and supplies.

  The camps were becoming bare as the first Troopers were flown away. Those that were left behind made it appear like there were more people in the camps than there actually were.

  I just hope it continues to go this smoothly, Tyler thought.

  The plan was to pull out the Troopers slowly, so that the Chosen were none the wiser. When the last forces on the line were left, the Carriers would start hammering the hell out of pre-marked targets; every Chosen target that the EMF knew about.

  Combat Shuttles would come in to pull the people off the line. They were to bring everything they could and pile on, heading up to the Carriers.

  The camps would be bombed into oblivion, denying the Chosen use of them.

  Once everyone was secured up in the Carriers, the four Carriers intended for Earth would set out on their journey, adding armor panels and weapons from the Harmony vessels.

  Tyler didn’t know how Moretti had got the go ahead, as it would cost Earth’s Military Forces a pretty penny to get all of that armor mounted, the power plants installed, and the weapons systems integrated. It would also take years off the EMF personnel’s contracts on the four Carriers.

  Well, if you’re desperate enough, you’ll agree to anything as long as you survive, Tyler thought, looking out over the line from his pillbox.

  He heard Repulsor fire down the line and the whistle of mortars. It missed the line, hitting somewhere in the camp. Moments later, the ground shook as a Carrier fired on where the mortar had fired from.

  There was a crack of a bolt-action Chosen rifle as Tyler saw one of his people’s green markers go red.

  He followed the noise of the round, swinging his own AMR up. He watched and waited, then movement caught his eye as he shifted his aim, and he stroked the trigger.

  A bloody red mark showed on a pipe in the upper rafters of the factory to his front. A bolt-action rifle dropped to the ground; its user wouldn’t be needing it again.

  Medics were stabilizing the Troopers, while stretcher-bearers carried them back to the camp’s bunkers.

  Seven days, we just need seven days and we’ll all be gone, Tyler thought. The mounted Repulsors fired, twin streams of tracers pinging off some sheet metal, and shredding two Chosen scouts that had been behind it.

  Tyler yawned. When he thought about it, he was disturbed by how much he had become desensitized by death. He’d been dealing with it ever since he was born. People died, and he just hoped he killed those that intended him or his people harm before they got the chance to carry out those intentions.

  ***

  “Shit,” Ortiz hissed, looking at the sensor sticks, which were showing Chosen moving towards three different camps. It looked like they were going to try for another concentrated push.

  Ortiz could only watch as the Combat Shuttles’ orders were changed to pull out; the camps that would come under attack were getting evacuated first. It was the right call.

  Well there’s a first time for everything, he thought as he looked at his own lines. If the Chosen were looking to attack the other camps, then they might try something at his own.

  “Alright, it looks like the Chosen are fucking about. I want everyone on the line who’s not getting pulled out immediately. I’m putting a request up to higher to pull out our forces as fast as possible,” Ortiz said, getting lines of green lights from his captains and lieutenants. “Be ready for incoming Chosen; I will advise you on what the Carriers say.” Ortiz closed the channel and started calling up Moretti. It took a few minutes before he was connected.

  “Wondered how long it would be till you called me,” Moretti said.

  “Well, looks like you’re the boss of this whole mess.”

  “Don't tell me about it,” Moretti said, confirming what Ortiz had been thinking for a long time. He couldn’t think of many of the generals coming up with inspiring plans such as Moretti had been fielding out through Ortiz and other Fearless commanders on the ground. The fact that the plans didn’t look for political gain between EMF leadership and generals was also telling.

  Either the generals had been lobotomized and become real humans, or there was someone bashing them over the head and using their political whims against them.

  “What’s the plan looking like?” Ortiz asked.

  “Pulling out of all the camps that are definitely getting engaged first. I’m sending all of the Combat Shuttles that can fly onto the flight deck, and rousing every last crew to man them. We don’t have the lift capacity we once had, but it should make the extraction a matter of hours instead of days. I’m going to give the camp officers the ability to call in direct fire from the Carriers. The camps are to hold only as long as it takes for the Combat Shuttle to pull everyone out,” Moretti said.

  “What about the bomb making facilities?”

  “I have Carriers moving into position to turn them into craters. Captain Hall is handling that side of things, but none of the Carriers will be coming close to the Blue Moon. I want at least a minute’s flight time between the Blue Moon and the Carriers. We only have a finite number of Carriers; we can’t be losing any.”

  “Understood, that’s going to make the close targeting annoying.”

  “These guns can hit something millions of kilometers away, so that won’t be a problem, but the tumble and the angle’s going to be weird I’m told. We need to watch where a Carrier’s firing from in case they shoot, hit the ground and the blast wave hits your forces on the other side,” Moretti said.

  “Well, shit, this gets better and better,” Ortiz mumbled.

  “Let the other officers know what’s going on, general. I’ve got Carriers and officers to beat into place,” Moretti’s voice was cold with promised violence.

  “General?” Ortiz asked.

  “Well, I need to give you a rank with the authority. I can’t be handling everything on the ground while I’m sorting out officers. You deal with the ground. I’ll deal with the brass, Hall will deal with the Carriers, and flight control are sending you their Combat Shuttles,” Moretti said.

  “See them, thanks,” Ortiz said as rail cannon started firing down on the Blue Moon, and their impacts could be felt even in Ortiz’s bunker.

  “Good luck,” Moretti said, closing the channel.

  “You too,” Ortiz said over the dead line. There was little he could do, other than make sure people followed orders and got their asses on a Combat Shuttle and the hell off Blue Moon.

  He looked around his bunker. The view screens were gone, his staff was just five people and all of them were wearing their helmets or using surfaces to work on empty crates around the room. They looked up at him, realizing that he was done with whatever he’d been doing.

  “Let’s get armored up, our people might need some help,” Ortiz said. Surfaces were stowed and people started to head out of the bunker’s command center.

  He followed, heading into an armory. There weren’t many rounds left over, and the charging cradles for the powered armor had been all ripped up, except for a few dozen. There were a few batteries left, but that was it.

  Ortiz got into his powered armor and signaled his implants to lock him into the metal beast. It locked around him, and he started to walk for the airlock out of the bunkers and into the tunnels.

  Time that I got into the fight for real, Ortiz thought. He hated being a damn commanding officer. It meant sending out orders, knowing that people were going to die without any of the risk to himself.

  He wished he was out on the lines fighting the enemy face to face, knowing that if he was going to send people into hell he would be right alongside them.

  Chapter 65

  EMFC Fearless
/>   Fernix Prime’s Orbit, Fernix System

  3/3296

  Captain Hall looked at his screens, which just a few hours ago had been sedate and slow. He had been reading reports and checking on the repairs that were still ongoing across his ship. He was going to have a conference with the other ship captains to see how their own repairs were doing.

  Now, his screens were filled with Combat Shuttles rushing out of Carriers and hauling the remainders of camps out. The Chosen had caught on all too quickly that something was up. For two hours they’d kept their peace.

  “I’ve got Chosen moving in force against all of the camps, it looks like. Seems that there are also groups going to the bomb factories,” Rasalov said.

  Hall nodded to himself, taking his time before giving the order that they all knew was coming. It would distract the Chosen, but it would still take another four or so hours to lift everyone off the Blue Moon.

  He needed that distraction to come as late as possible in order to mess up the Chosen. Now, it looked like he would have to give it earlier than he would have liked.

  “Lieutenant Guy, send the order to the Carriers that they are to hit their pre-selected targets. Celik, once all of the Carriers are ready, I want you to coordinate simultaneous strikes. I want to hit them so hard they forget what day of the week it is,” Hall said. Over time he cared less about the pompous relationships on his bridge and more about the fact that they got work done. He found that letting the standards slide at times made them better fighters.

  “Yes, sir,” Celik said, and Guy gave a thumbs up as he worked his microphone, talking to the rest of the fleet.

  Hall waited a few minutes, then the EMF fleet seemed to shift, the rail cannon firing as thrusters on the opposite side fired to stop the Carrier from moving.

  The entire fleet opened up as Fearless shook with the bellows of her massive cannon. They moved from target to target, saturating the areas where every Chosen facility that the scouts had found were located. They fired enough rounds to crack any possible bunkers and tear anything apart that was down there.