It was peaceful, mostly, her people were safe behind new trenches and not decisively engaged, she loved this time the most and the least.
The most because they were safe for now, not because it wouldn’t last long and it felt like she lost the edge she had when everything was going to hell.
Rounds cracked through atmosphere, making many cover their ears and people hunker down. Gajos bent her knees as the first rounds hit.
It was like being on a surfboard and going on a wave, except the water was the ground, and the waves were closer together and much more violent.
Maybe Gruben was right about us having a mini-ice age. War might give us a new opportunity to stop some of the damage we’re doing, she shook her head as the last rounds made contact with Earth.
Maybe I do need to get some sleep, she thought, sighing.
***
Carsickle looked up from his trench as soon as the front line was in their trenches his people had left their open perches to join them.
Bok Soo found him soon enough and they slumped against the wall of the trench and a box of ammunition.
Carsickle saw the cuts on Bok Soo’s armor as they took their helmets off, smelling the wet and earthy trench mixed with armor and the odd ozone. It was from the heat and dryness of an orbital strike. There was nothing quite like it.
“You should get that patched,” Carsickle said, tilting his large snout at Bok Soo’s shoulders.
“Yeah,” Bok Soo said, leaning against the trench wall. The first shots could be heard along the line, some of the Kalu were pressing forward to see if it was safe to resume their attack.
The Kalu swarm were probably taking a large loop, sowing destruction on anything they found. Another swarm would cross the line again, but for now they were clear.
“Do you want some soup?” Someone asked with a wheelbarrow, bread, cups and a steaming tankard of soup.
“You might be my new favorite person,” Bok Soo said tiredly.
“I don’t know if you will be able to...” The man asked, looking to Carsickle.
“I have enzymes in my system that will convert it. I will be fine,” Carsickle assured the man.
“Okay,” he said, grabbing some bread, two cups and giving them to Carsickle and Bok Soo.
They gave their greetings and off the man went with his warm food, passing it out along the line.
“To making the bastards pay for every inch,” Bok Soo said, holding out his cup.
Carsickle tapped his cup to his in agreement.
Bok Soo took a large mouthful, immediately trying to blow out of his mouth to cool his mouth but not trying to loose the tasty soup.
“Fuck that’s hot!” Bok Soo said, Commandos and military personnel around laughing at the display.
“He did say so,” Carsickle said, taking a much more measured drink from his cup.
Bok Soo turned his gaze on the laughing people, but couldn’t hide his own smile.
“I guess he did,” Bok Soo grumbled, just loud enough for those around him to hear.
People laughed, and smiled.
It was little moments like this that grounded people. Allowed them to unwind, no matter the situation, clear their mind, remove the stress and focus.
Carsickle wondered if Bok Soo had burnt his mouth on purpose, or because he just wanted to take people’s minds off of what was going on.
Carsickle sat back and nursed his warm soup for the sweet ambrosia it was.
All too soon thoughts of soup and laughter would be the last thing on his mind.
Chapter And They Held
“Nice and smooth Peck, we don’t want to scare the residents,” Whorst said looking over his screens.
“Arfo, have the Commanders been advised of our arrival?” He asked glancing to the man.
‘They have, connecting into the battle net right now. In Sook is running it from our side, requests for fighters are in high demand both flying and the replacements,” Arfo said.
“Flek, see if you can’t free up some boys and girls for some hunting. Richter see about shifting our excess fighters to the other ships. Get numbers from Shrift on production. Start putting the small craft factory on engineering's highest priority. Frankeuw, are we good to take orbital bombardment request?” Whorst rattled off, not waiting for answers, trusting his people to be working on them already.
“Devastahli is ready for support missions. Gunners will be ready once we are in geo-sync orbit before having firing solutions,” Frankeuw reported.
“Firing on bombardment requests, up to eighty percent of computing capacity,” Devastahli reported as batteries started firing, their massive rounds entering Earth’s atmosphere.
“First MEF wings are launched, taking primary control of all MEF coordination from In Sook,” Flek reported. It was a big task and responsibility but his people didn’t complain or argue, they got down to work. Their friends and in some cases, family’s lives might be saved by their actions.
“Very good,” Whorst said, wishing he had something else to do, his people were on it. He had started the ball rolling, now he just had to sit back and see what the results were.
He sent a message to In Sook, providing his services at her disposal. He was a higher rank than her, but she was on site and he was just coming in.
He got a list of information, growing by the section.
His holographic sphere appeared around him. He had work to do.
***
Egypt’s President was not happy with the reports he was getting, no world leader was.
The Kalu had dropped all across the globe centering on China, Iran, Belarus. In the middle of Russia, the Congo, Brazil, America and Canada’s East coast and in the Center of the United States.
Commandos and militaries around the world were trying to do everything they could to slow the rate with which the Kalu traveled. His own forces were opening up the Suez Canal, mining it for when the Kalu reached it.
People were fighting the Kalu across the length of Israel.
It was hard going but they were giving them pause.
“The hell is that?” The President asked as a massive object moved over the scanners, it made the Free Fleet ships look like tadpoles next to the behemoth.
“War-Station came on station a few hours ago Mr. President,” one of the aides said.
“We have incoming ships on the long range sensors,” one of the military types in the room called out.
“How many?” the Minister Defence asked.
“I’ve got Four hundred ships on the scopes at least. There’s Kuruvian Empire, Chaleel, Avarian, and Free Fleet ships. All of them are headed for Earth,” the one who’d yelled out the warning continued.
The number of ships climbed as the President sat down heavily.
And we tried to go to war with them.
“Get me a link to the other nations, I want to confirm the readings,” the president felt himself saying.
***
Emile Star Gazer Cook was nervous, hell everyone around her was, it was the new thing.
She had been born on Hachiro, she’d lived there for two years before the Free Fleet got their act together, told people to screw off and allowed them to start taking testing for schools and joining the Free Fleet.
She’d joined the Free Fleet, primary as Commando, secondary as helm.
She looked around at the hard faces of veterans, the scared faces of newbies. They all had the same training but only a fraction of them had seen action. Most of them had come from Hada, training to defend their planet, now they were travelling through Sol to Earth.
She looked at her brothers and sisters from Hachiro, and the Commandos she saw as close cousins.
There was nothing to do but sit back in her HAPA and wait for the announcement.
“This is Commander Monk, run final checks and prepare for drop,” Monk said, his voice calming rather than nerve-wracking.
Emilie checked over her gear again by touch and diagnostic check.
> This is that shit I live for, she thought her nerves not disappearing but pulling back as she focused on what she knew.
***
Monk looked down on Earth, Free Fleet ships held the orbitals and were raining hell on the Kalu below.
Yet it wasn’t any constant fire.
Six million Kalu had made it to the surface of Earth, fighting had been waging for weeks, the Kalu/Chinese border had been pushed back from Dongying to Yancheng.
It was estimated that some one point seven billion people had died so far. Monk closed his eyes thinking on them for a moment before continuing on. Afterwards he could mourn. He needed to focus on making sure his people didn’t add to that number.
The Kalu in China seemed to be getting smarter, ranging down the line a network of snipers had been put in place where the troops and Commandos couldn’t be spared.
More forces had moved to India and the border of China and Kazakhstan. That was a political mess, not even including the battles going on.
Kalu were pressing through Israel and onto Egypt. Israel had denied help from Commandos so they had moved past the country to add help to Egypt that had requested it.
The rest of the middle East except Saudi Arabia had been thrown into chaos. The Kalu didn’t care about borders and they could track down anything living, no matter where it hid. Some of the countries had heavy weaponry, but it was few and far between.
The European lines were doing better, but not much. The line ranged through Germany, Austria, and Italy. There at least people had pulled together.
Brazil and south America was a mess, old feuds had opened up and the Commandos had pulled all their forces. Everyone was angling to get their bit and Salchar had come down on it himself.
Africa was also a mess, a mix of South America and the middle East, again the Commandos had pulled their forces and moved to the southern areas of Africa that were willing to work together to survive.
America was a mess. People had guns yes, but they had egos. A lot of backyard militias were running across the country.
They didn’t understand that their guns were useless against Kalu armor. Still many that hadn’t seen combat were excited to put what they’d seen in video games or talked about with their friends into action.
They weren’t organized and a lot of them were bullying the people trying to retreat instead of giving them protection.
Thankfully America had built massive bunker complexes much like Daestramus did and most people were hiding in them, getting away from the militia bands and the Kalu.
Commandos were acting to slow the Kalu with support from Mexico, America, and Canada’s forces.
Artillery and machinery were brought in to arm the people there, much like the Free Fleet were doing in the rear areas of the European lines.
It was an almighty mess, but Monk’s orders were to go to the United States as regional Commander and kick the Kalu off the planet.
Ahh, sometimes the easier said things are much more complicated, he thought looking over the maps.
His eyes turned to the system map which showed all of the Free Fleet ships coming in from three separate directions.
Every system with traders had freighters out there. HCD’s were transiting in-system coming from as far as Drvntrni and the Kalu Empire.
Merchant freighters which had been moving for three weeks, just days after the first Earth force landed on Earth, were now on the last leg of their journey.
There were over a thousand ships heading for the green and blue marble in the sky.
Inside their hulls, nearly two and a half million Commandos waited to be released.
Monk could feel their tension and fear as if it was a physical thing. He could also feel the pride and strength of those ships.
The battle was not yet decided, but no matter what, they were in good company.
“Fifteen minutes until shuttle launch,” Commander Drux said right into Monk’s ear.
“Thank you Commander,” Monk replied, opening another channel with the forward elements of the fleet that would be landing with him.
“This is Commander Monk, run final checks and prepare for drop.”
It seemed to take forever, but time didn’t like to stand still for long.
“Looking green across the board, powering engines and moving to insertion point,” Monk’s pilot said, the shuttle powering through the electrostatic field of the hangar bay. The atmosphere was already drained from the bay in case they came under fire.
Even if the Kalu were on the ground, no one was going to start forgetting to take every precaution. These people were spacers, death covered them like a fuzzy blanket.
The shuttle’s acceleration pushed Monk back into his harness, they were coming in as fast as possible, the shuttle fighting to bleed off the excess speed.
The AI’s and navigators had figured out the operation, with so many damned ships it looked hellish.
Monk’s HUD flashed a plot of space around him, the freighter he had just left was already moving away from Earth, containers were following the shuttles their massive heat shields turning to face the oncoming atmosphere.
Orbital bombardment stopped as freighter and warships passed, releasing a new flood of supplies and shuttles. MEF’s spat out of carriers, they looked like shiny dust rising from War-station, cones of fire marking their entry into Earth’s volatile sky.
They passed through the network of ships that covered Earth. Monk spared another glance back at the sea of shuttles following, the black of space now filled with the blue halos of in-system engines.
Sometimes it’s hard to not stare, he thought, the atmosphere buffeting the shuttle as Monk changed his view. Earth’s atmosphere was getting quite a few new entrants today, cargo containers without such issues as passengers streaked past shuttles, hammering into atmosphere, their heat shields blackening.
They needed supplies if they were to hold. Each of those containers would have to be collected but they would be vital to holding the lines that had been drawn across all of the American continent.
The pilots talked to one another in calm tones, adjusting their flight plan, scanning for incoming supplies behind them and changing over to inter-atmosphere engines. Another cargo container coming in, off flight plan. A touch of thrusters, clear line to the ground.
It was a careful dance done by hundreds of shuttles with thousands of supplys converging on the same areas.
Monk took a deep breath, calming himself, letting himself be jostled by the shuttles movements and the atmosphere fighting them.
The hammering stopped as they bled speed and made it through the upper layers of atmosphere.
“Guns are unlocked!” Cargo master barked, the Commandos manning the turrets powered their cupolas and started searching for targets. Without the ships above able to fire for fear of hitting their own, the shuttles were now receiving calls for fire support.
The Commandos just aimed at the painted target area on their HUD’s and let loose with their quad-barrel rail cannons.
“Seven minutes till pay dirt,” one of the pilots called, getting a green light from Monk and the direct commander of the Commandos in the shuttle.
Monk looked to the region he was getting, America. They were making noises about not having a higher Commander in their area of operations. While Monk would be basing himself out of the United States he was more interested in the southern areas of the Americas.
“We have fighters on approach, American,” the shuttle pilot said, Monk didn’t need to see the Sarenmenti to know they weren’t happy.
“MEF’s moving into defensive posture,” they said moments later, sounding rather happy.
There were over a hundred shuttles and fifty MEF’s moving in formation. It made for one hell of a display.
“The Americans are requesting that we settle down in chosen areas and that they pass flight plans to air control,” the pilot said, relaying right to Monk.
He tapped his harness in thought.
“Yes Commander!” The Pilot sounded rather pleased with that.
Hmm, who would be better, Bok Soo, or Yasu? He would confront the Americans if he needed to but he needed their cooperation not their anger. If he started treating them like idiots, then they weren’t going to be the best sort of allies.
Best not get James in on this, he’s liable to come over here and start planting boots in a few choice officers rear ends. Monk smiled at that thought but made his decision.
“Yasu, I was wondering if you had a moment?” He asked, opening a channel to her.
“Always got a few for you Monk, what do you need?” She said.
“I’ve got some American fighters coming at me for my ‘escort’ and they want me to file flight plans. I was wondering if you would be able to talk to them. I don’t want to start butting heads with them right away,” Monk said.
“Very well I’ll see what I can do,” Yasu said.
“Thank you dear, and you’ll be happy to know that Henry is looking healthy. He looks to also have his father’s mischievous side,” he smiled as he remembered the little bundle of energy.
“Joy, just what I needed, two terrors!” She said but Monk could hear the smile in her tired voice. “We’ll talk soon,” she cut the channel.
MEF’s moved out to meet the American fighters and proceeded to do circles around them. Literal circles. They could handle massive gravitational forces and so could their craft. They snapped into straight lines, rolls and spins with ease.
The American pilots were good, but their craft weren’t anything like the MEF’s and their training had all been on Earth instead of the higher gravity facilities the MEF’s lived in.
“I swear I’d go cross-eyed if I watched those fighter boys for too long,” Commander Moriel complained over the shuttle’s channel.
Yasu pinged Monk for a chat, he opened it, setting his suit to accept all communications with her without needing confirmation.
War's Reward (Free Fleet Book 6) Page 21