Ershue needed people and they would get them.
Hopefully it’ll be in time, Fal wished, staring at the screens which showed the approaching reinforcements.
The hours didn’t go by quickly. Fal took Kurft’s position out on the defenses as people rotated around, building new habits to deal with the Kalu’s new attacks.
He came back in decent shape. Kurft and him watching as the ships finally reached orbit and the shuttles started dropping. They weren’t trying to be pretty with this drop, supplies were thrown out in their special cargo crates.
The skies of Ershue were filled with the third massive meteor shower since the Kalu had arrived.
“Oh fuck,” Kurft said, turning and running for the door.
“Secondary’s on me, Fal, you’re in command, keep this base standing!” Kurft said rushing away.
Fal saw what he saw. The Kalu knew what those meteors probably meant.
They must have taken it as some signal any forces not on the front-lines started racing through the forests.
They were going to win, or die trying. This was their chance.
“Poj I want a full artillery spread, all weapons are cleared hot, use nukes if they need to. I want everyone up and supporting, walking wounded and anyone that can fire a rifle to the front lines now!” Fal said, wishing to run out after Kurft and the other personnel leaving their stations to join the fight.
Kurft’s orders kept him rooted in his position. He tucked his data pad away, grabbing his rifle and checking it was loaded. He had detested war and violence, he still did. But now he understood that sometimes you couldn’t do anything but use it to defend those you cared for.
“Get a request to those ships to add their fire support to our own and tell those shuttles to hurry the fuck up,” Fal said, his eyes flickering independently as he looked at three screens of information at once.
“The fleet is linking in, they are unable to bring down fire as they release shuttles, will be able to move in seven minutes, should take two minutes to have clear eyes on for lead ships, another five minutes for the rest of the fleet,” Poj said as the Kalu met the front-lines of the Commandos.
The battle turned from streams of lights and drops of light being thrown at one another to the flash of plasma blades, grenades and Kalu claws.
He needed to draw attention away from the camp, he needed to give the shuttles time to land and the Commandos to deploy.
The Kalu threw themselves into battle with abandon.
“Get me a line to our people,” Fal said.
“Commander?” Isaz asked in clipped tones, his anger clear.
“Isaz, you need the people to be ready to run, the Kalu are attacking us and all our forces are deployed. We have more coming in but I do not know if we can hold,” Fal said.
“Poj get fire on sector three, move reinforcements into the area, prepare pullback to the second line.” Fal didn’t even close the channel to Isaz.
“Very well I will see to it,” Isaz said, his voice hard with responsibility.
“Good luck,” he said after a pause.
“Thank you Isaz,” Fal answered, cutting the channel, unfortunately he’d need more than training, he’d need Commandos. “Poj clear the shuttles to unload their racks, update the Commanders with our sensor feed.”
“Elkrit, get the Commandos their feeds, I’ll work with fire support.”
“Good!” Elkrit said, bent over his console, muttering into his microphone. His thick Avarian arms moving quickly through the holographic sphere that surrounded him.
It took coordination to use the sphere, Fal’s eyes flicked away, gripping the tac-table as he watched the holographic representations and main screen inputs.
“Call them back to secondary positions they can’t hold. Get ammunition handlers out there, I want full loads for everyone Elkrit!”
“On it!” Elkrit barked back, the screen changing to show movement orders.
“Poj what’s the status of the cargo crates I want drop zones!”
“We’ve got a few in the forest most should be around the base,” she snapped, the Ershue’s ability to multi-task coming to the fore.
A plan formed in Fal’s mind, it wasn’t a pleasant one, but a glance at the map showing Kalu engaging Commandos in hand-to-hand combat was all he needed.
“Poj, contact the scouts, see if you can get those crates closer to their positions. I want volunteers only, but they’re to harass the rears of the Kalu. We need to divert attention away from us and give those shuttles time to drop Commandos,” Fal turned to Poj, eyes connecting. “Volunteers only,” he said waiting for her stony nod.
“Yes Commander,” she said, he knew only too many would volunteer, they had volunteered for their given positions.
He was sending them to poke a wolf, a Kalu wolf. Without defenses and only the supplies they could pull from the crates. Not many would be making it back.
He watched the main map as it showed the crates landing areas and scouting parties moving out of their hides towards the crates.
“Kalu are firing on the shuttles, we’ve lost a few,” Elkrit said, his voice harsh his hands and eyes flicking through information.
“They’re through the worst atmosphere and firing their weapons,” Poj added.
The Artillery strikes were hitting every second per gun, never stopping as they moved to cover more ground. There were just three cannons left and they weren’t enough. The rail guns on the shuttles ripped lines into the ground, occasionally hitting the spread out Kalu. Missiles, of the nuclear multi-warhead variety, added their destruction to the mounds scarred surface.
These surviving Kalu had made it through more than one nuclear blast, those that weren’t killed, picked themselves up and kept charging. Spreading out helped them immensely, less died in a given blast or line of fire and others weren’t being stopped by the dead in the front, they had time and space to maneuver.
There were only four hundred thousand left on the planet. There were less than half of that in Commandos and they were all injured and low on ammunition. A Kalu in close-combat was honestly probably better than most Commandos, everything they did tried to kill a person.
“Push plasma shotguns to the units,” Fal said.
The guns didn’t have many rounds but in close combat they were hell, pulling them out pretty much admitted that they were in a close-combat fight.
“Sir,” Elkrit said, rushing new orders to the front lines.
“Close combat,” Fal ordered seeing the Kalu were almost on top of the lines, plasmid blades came free of their scabbards. These were not the crude devices that the Free Fleet had begun with, these were a modified version of the kukri.
When Salchar had gone to gather units from across Earth to turn Commandos from not just a fighting force but into an elite fighting force, he had gathered many special forces groups from the planet. Included with them were the Ghurkhas, famous for being damned deadly with a blade as they were with a rifle or no weapon at all.
The Kukri had been adopted by the majority of Commandos and now these historical blades met Kalu armor and flesh underneath.
Fal winced but didn’t dare to look away as the ragged yellow dots showing the injured along the front lines turned red or black as the Kalu dove in for close combat.
Commandos lived up to their deadly heritage, they were still a young unit, but they had taken the lessons from special forces operatives that had been around for hundreds of years. Thousands of years stood at the back of the Commandos backs.
They only pulled back if ordered to, taking down Kalu with moves that had been driven into them since training, moves that were more instinctual than actually thought.
It was a bloody fight and the Commandos were exacting a toll from the Kalu, but the Kalu had numbers on their side.
“Sent,” Elkrit said.
“Lock down all areas leading into the underground and open the armories down there,” Fal said, not noticing his hands were bending the ma
terial of the tac table.
“Come on shuttles, come on,” Fal said, the Kalu were actively trying to take them out, the crates thankfully helped to give them more targets.
“Ships are on station,” Poj reported.
“Get them firing, give them areas, have them run firing solutions,” Fal said, his eyes roving over information, the first scouting parties were getting to the crates, he brought up the information on the crate, nodding in satisfaction.
The crates fell apart and HAPA’s were revealed from one crate, the other held ammunition and bare else, another, medical supplies and ammo.
Other scouting parties had been too far away from the crates for it to be of use.
They moved as fast as they could towards the mound.
“Moving back to third line,” Elkrit said. Fal winced, there were just two more lines to fall back to before they reached the corridors of the mound.
“Civvies are moving down the exit tunnels,” Poj reported as hell was unleashed from the heavens above, the mound shaking after the fleet’s guns hit the ground below.
The shuttles started to land, one was hit in the engine, diving into the ground nose first. Commandos rushed out in HAPA’s a few clawing through the sides of the craft, someone got on a side gun and fired into the Kalu heading at the shuttle a few hundred meters from the front lines. Commandos stood their ground and fired at their enemy, launching missiles into them.
More shuttles were landing, their ramps opening and their guns blazing as HAPA’s and Commandos jumped out, as much as thirty feet up in the air.
They dropped right into the front lines, their cannons, firing and plasmid blades driving into the all too close Kalu.
“Scouts are engaging Kalu rear,” Poj said, her voice tight.
Fal nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
He watched, hearing the sounds of guns, the yells of defiance through the halls, hearing the rumble of close artillery fire. There was nothing he could do, his commander had given him an order and he would follow it.
It had to be the hardest thing he had ever done.
“Scouting parties are having an effect, the Kalu are again focusing on them,” Elkrit said. “The Kalu must realize them for the great enemy they are,” Elkrit said, his voice low. Giving the high praise by Avarian standards.
“Yes,” Fal said, watching the Kalu advance slow. He had gained the base some relief, but the cost, that would follow him to the deathbed.
The Kalu and scouting parties fought hard, the scouting parties used every trick they had to lure the Kalu back, planting tricks and traps in their wake, making the Kalu work for every scout they killed.
They called in artillery strikes from the Fleet and rushed from contact to contact to confuse their quarry, but in the end they ran out of places to run to, and people to do it with.
Like those that had been hunted down by the Kalu before, they called artillery down on their positions, showing their defiance to the Kalu, their mere hundred taking out thousands of Kalu with their actions, and giving the Commandos time to deploy around the mound.
“Line four,” Elkrit said, even as more Commandos joined the fight.
These Commandos were coming out from their shuttles right into battle, they were good at their job but it was always a hellish change.
They were doing better than Fal had hoped, but only a third of them had dropped.
He was all out of tricks, artillery was pounding, the scouts were spent and every person capable of fighting was on the line.
The last Kalu made it up the mounds’ sides and onto the plain the base was located on.
A shuttle turned into a flaming fireball from Kalu fire, shaking the base and rattling the large command tree behind Fal.
He didn’t shift from his position, too many shuttles were dying and not enough Commandos were able to get into the fight.
“Wesom suggests that forces pull back inside the walls, create kill tunnels and have the shuttles land outside. The Kalu inside won’t be able to shoot the shuttles,” Poj said.
“Elkrit, you hear?” Fal yelled.
“Yes Commander, working on the orders,” Elkrit said, his hands moving.
“Good, pass the plan to Wesom, on his say our forces will pull back,” Fal said.
The artillery was dying down, the Kalu and Commandos were locked in close fighting, hammering one another with everything they could, fighting for life.
“They’re pulling back,” Elkrit said a handful of minutes later, Commandos rushed through the trenches to the walls, covering the lead units that rushed away from their enemy, using the trenches to break line of sight, getting away from the Kalu lasers.
Fal’s hands turned to fists, watching active lights go to red and black.
It took twenty minutes and it wasn’t clean but the Commandos were now fighting the Kalu in the halls and were keeping them back with firepower.
Shuttles dropped off their people relatively unmolested.
“Get those new Commandos formed up, I don’t want them going in half-cocked, pass word to the Commandos in the halls. When our reinforcements engage the Kalu to the rear then it’s going to be down to plasmid blades and fists,” Fal said.
“Yes sir!” Poj said.
He could see Commandos forming up outside the base changing their HAPA’s cannons to blades, those without armor checked their plasmid blades.
The hallways were hell, lasers and weapons fire crossed, wounded were strewn across the floor. The Commandos couldn’t do anything but pull back or grab those closest never stopping their fire unless to reload. Even then they would dive out of the way, another fresh Commando coming into place as they changed magazines.
Killing the Kalu before their lasers could punch through armor was their best defense.
Fal’s eyes noted the Commandos outside had built up decent numbers, about a quarter of the remaining reinforcements were still making their way to the planet.
“Order the forces outside the base to engage the Kalu, have our forces inside pull back into the corridors, it’ll be tighter quarters, less room for the Kalu to build up momentum and bring their lasers to bear,” Fal said.
His orders became motion. Sixty thousand HAPA’s and Commandos took off at a run, staying in their squads, the HAPA’S building up some terrifying speed with their ground-loping run.
The Commandos inside threw grenades into the Kalu, using the explosions as distractions, pulling back into the base through the armories and into the corridors.
“Close bulkheads in the Kalu regions,” Fal said.
Massive doors slammed shut, sealing the Kalu into small sections of the base, usually killing a few in the process. Fal didn’t give them any notice as the reinforcements slammed through the Kalu ranks. Only a few had turned to see them, now they were met with HAPA’s barreling through them, plasmid blades wild and free.
Powered armor wearing Commandos followed their brethren.
Killing anything that had survived the HAPA’S passage.
These Commandos had fought on Oolta the gravity a whole Earth standard more. Powered armor didn’t just increase the power of the user, it magnified it.
Commandos threw the three hundred Kilo Kalu, their blades biting deep and fast. They were used to choreographing their motions, thinking about every move before acting, one fuck up and they could seriously injure themselves on Oolta, here it meant a Kalu in their face.
Their new found power and speed turned their movements into devastating blows and attacks.
Fal’s face contorted in a way that no peaceful Ershue would.
“It’s not us stuck down here with you, it’s you locked down here with us,” Fal said, his brothers and sisters had come to his and his other siblings aid. The battle had changed and the Kalu were met by an enemy that had not only trained for this for nearly a year, but for once had equaled the disparity of forces at least in most areas.
“The Kalu are cutting through the doors,” Poj said.
“Have the exterior forces pull back and make a firing line. We’ll open the doors behind the Kalu,” Fal said.
“Yes sir,” Elkrit said. Fal could hear the bloody agreement in his voice.
Fal was no pacifist anymore. No he was a Commando more than Ershue anymore and right then and there, it didn’t matter. It’s what his people needed from him, both Ershue and the Free Fleet.
“The forces have disengaged. Moving to position,” Poj said.
Yeah, they smashed the ever living shit out of the Kalu forces outside, Fal thought, looking at a sight that would have made most release their meals.
“In position,” Elkrit said.
“Give them a few seconds to settle,” Fal said, his hand flicking through feeds, he knew them by feel now.
“Alert the exterior units, open the doors,” Fal said.
“Opening,” Elkrit confirmed.
“Poj, warn our interior forces about the Kalu cutting through the doors. I do remember something in our training about making new doorways, see if our people couldn’t stuff a few grenades through some new holes,” Fal said.
“Yes Commander,” Poj said.
***
Wesom had Poj close the channel with Fal’s advice.
“Grab some grenades, follow me!” Wesom said, pulling his plasmid blade free as he checked blueprints.
“We’re going to cut holes into the areas the Kalu occupy and give them a good old fashioned surprise,” he said, holding up a grenade for emphasis.
“If there isn’t a door cut your own!” Someone said, getting yells of agreement, blades slammed into the wall, cutting through the armor.
Wesom pushed the block he’d cut into the wall into the Kalu filled room, not that he gave the room more than a glance as he primed a grenade and palmed it through the hole. A Commando on the other side threw their own grenade as Wesom got another grenade ready. So it went on.
“Room looks clear, updating with new targets,” Poj’s voice came over Wesom’s channel, his HUD highlighting red rooms.
“Split up and grenade the rooms!” Wesom ordered, acting like any other Commando, a short jog taking him to a new wall, he buried his blade in it, dragging it around.
War's Reward (Free Fleet Book 6) Page 16