Their odd shapes did not touch his mind.
He rushed through Kalu making their way to the great front, a great seething mass of Kalu might.
Their calls and paths did not reach him. They recognized him for Orshpa’s aide and parted for him, their manes moving in interest. All wanted to know if a new hunting ground had been found.
They closed with their enemy but before they could claim a hold the clouds of white and invisible waves pushed them back.
Daskil made it into Orshpa’s camp a day later, something that should have taken twice as long.
His body near his endurance he pattered his way to Orshpa’s feet falling into supplication.
“What do you have for me Daskil?” Orshpa asked.
“New open hunting grounds above the lines in the ground, three days in the cold, I have two battle-brothers that confirm,” Daskil said, his body heaving foam around his mouth and over his body from his run.
Orshpa got to his feet turning around his den, his eyes filled with fire.
“Daskil, eat and water, you will take me to these new hunting grounds. Stand by my side and we will clear these open dens the Commandos live in from the ground,” Orshpa said.
“Yes war leader,” Daskil said, his energy returning to him at the great honor his battle master gave him.
“Go, prepare yourself we leave in one cycle of the dark. Eishkar, assemble the primes and my war party, we make for the cold with the new cycle of light.”
Daskil moved to the water and food holes, primes moving to give him best spot. The finding of new hunting grounds meant a great battle was to begin.
***
Monk was pulling the lines together in America, the influx of people and equipment had mostly canceled out the issues that Commander Joel was dealing with.
People were getting basic classes on the powered armor and rail guns, the results were showing, the Commandos had stopped the lines and stopped falling back, finally holding firm. Scouts went out and mapped out the old lines they had left and plans to reoccupy them were made.
Europe had taken sometime to grind the Kalu to a stand still. The line from the North East across Germany, along Switzerland’s border and curved into Italy.
They had lost land and they had lost people, but now they were actually holding, they were preparing for the push everyone knew was coming.
Russia’s military was one of the few superpowers to not get slapped by the Kalu. It seemed the Kalu’s tendency was to go south, which was fine for the northern nation.
Though they weren’t about to let this battle go past. They were a proud and strong nation. This was one of the first times in recent history where Russia could show off their military might.
They also didn’t screw around, they wanted to try our tech and we needed help.
So Russia, out of the Kalu’s sight trained with powered armor, upgraded their armor and learned how to board shuttles.
I heard a rifle crack in the distance, at first I had jumped looking for a target. Now I was used to the snipers that were located across the half-complete line through China. Orshpa was still prodding us for weaknesses, so we made sure that none of his scouts got back to report our weaknesses.
One sniper was a hell of a lot better than stretching our man power over one and a half thousand kilometers with three million Kalu at our door.
We’d got less reinforcements than America and Europe, but we had some of the biggest militaries in the world backing us.
China and a smattering of Commandos as well as other neighboring forces had halted the Kalu advance on their Western border.
The Kalu swept through the middle East with relatively little opposition, the military forces were too scattered and without the weaponry to stop them, smashing them right into India who had adopted all the Free Fleet had to offer and asked for more. They listened and worked well with Commandos and while they gave ground until the reinforcements, they were already taking back portions of it.
“It looks like some of them finally got back to Orshpa and reported a weakness up here, we’re picking up Kalu moving to the north behind their lines,” Rick said the holographic map illuminating the officer’s eyes around the table, looking at the real-time images of Kalu warriors rushing across the ground with speed that would make Earth’s super cars look like they were out for a stroll.
There was a reason that the Kalu clans claimed planets, they could damned well run across them with terrifying speed.
“Do we know where they are going to try and cross the line?” Lee asked, one of the Chinese officers that looked like he could stare at a rock and make it piss itself. He turned that gaze to Rick who sighed and shook his head, taking a seat on the kitchen top behind him.
“Our plan is to move more of our sniper teams into the area and increase the sensor grid. I was thinking we try something a bit more proactive than digging another set of trenches and holding our positions,” I said, all eyes looked to me as I sat in the dining area.
“I have heard of a few of your, ‘tactics’,” Lee said, and I thought I might have almost saw a twitch at the corners of his mouth.
“We will hear you out, though if we choose them or not,” he left that hanging in the air as I shifted from my position, the couch we’d broken days ago, still complaining.
I moved to the holographic and threw on a new plan.
“I know that Russian Division wasn’t supposed to be down here for another week, but my people tell me that they’re pretty damned ready. We have the transport to move them to say, Xi’an. We harry the Kalu, get them all pissed off and angry, then we start leading them where we want them. We pick the terrain and we see how effective your newly trained units and the Russians work,” I said looking to the officers. They looked to Lee.
“What do we do once we have the Kalu following us?” Lee asked, leaning on the dining room table.
“We take a lesson out of Commander Ursht’s book and we pull them into an ambush. We’ll have to get them coming through one of the mountainous regions around Xi’an and use one of them as an ambush site. The combined artillery clears the region, we lock them in, and we walk death up and down their lines,” I said looking into Lee’s eyes as I spoke.
There was tense silence as people in the room looked between Lee and myself.
Then he started nodding slowly until it became firmer.
“Yes, it is a risky plan, but a good one. Less ‘creative’ than some of your plans,” Lee said.
“Oh, you haven’t even seen the artillery pieces yet,” I said, feeling the dark satisfaction of my plan coming together.
Now I just needed to make sure my forces were in position for when the Kalu came charging up the mountain valley.
Chapter Time to change tactics
Tension hung in the air, even on War Station, it seemed to hang over Earth and the flotilla that surrounded it. There had never been so many ships in one location at one time. Occasionally rail gun rounds rained hell on the Kalu controlled areas of Earth.
“How are we looking Wasta?” Foshunti asked his second in command looking at those ships, waiting.
“All ships are green. Whorst has confirmed receipt of latest updates, In Sook is coordinating with the ground. Operation Reclaimer looks to be a go,” Wasta said.
“Very well,” Foshunti said, flexing his fingers in anticipation.
***
“Come on, another day in the Commandos,” Carsickle said, pushing Bok Soo’s shoulder so as to wake him. It had taken direct orders from James, Yasu’s threats and Gajos agreement to also get some downtime before Bok Soo submitted to a detox and a sleep.
He’d been out for fourteen hours but it felt like he’d barely laid down.
“One time I’m going to be woken up by some pretty little thing, not your alligator snout,” Bok Soo complained, cracking what he could, but the powered armor keeping him from getting all the kinks out.
“How are we looking?” Bok Soo asked seriously.
&nb
sp; “We’re ready, from America to here in Europe. China’s lines are holding. Salchar is expecting enemy action in the next day or two,” Carsickle reported.
Bok Soo grunted his understanding and walked out into the main command center. It had been part of a library but it had been hastily opened up, desks shoved out of the way to make room for the tac table and the various displays the command center relied on.
People moved while quiet conversations determined lives as people bent to their task.
Gajos and Gruben looked to Bok Soo as he clanked into the room with his powered armor.
“Let’s start taking back your homes,” Bok Soo said, looking at the two officers from different countries and militaries, yet connected by their duty and purpose to keep their people alive, their soldiers, their civilians, their humans.
Gajos gave a terse nod, she had aged decades in weeks, Bok Soo felt that same age on his soul. He grabbed his rail gun and marched behind Carsickle, out of the command center and to the large courtyard beyond.
Ranks of Commandos rose from their positions, HAPA’s moved and powered up.
“Wakey wakey boys and girls, it’s time to go on a walk,” Bok Soo said, his voice carrying through the courtyard and the streets beyond where Commandos had waited, had lived for the past weeks.
Along their ranks stood Militaries from across Europe, East west north and south, their eyes had seen things no one should have. Many now hid those same eyes behind the opaque face shields of powered armor.
Bok Soo swung up into his waiting HAPA and looked over the ranks on ranks of HAPA’s powering up, their engines blowing heat out of their armored vents, Cannons shifted and tracked.
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light” Bok Soo said, remembering an old poem, it seemed fitting in the face of all this rage, this war, this inability to give up. Maybe it was the way of the universe, a struggle, forever and always. To give up, to give into melancholy, to give up the rage of life, that was death.
Bok Soo powered his HAPA rising up as his harness locked around him.
They waited, listening and waiting for the order, his people, his Commandos.
“Here, today, this very moment we fight the oldest battle since creation. The battle of survival, the battle of Freedom. The freedom to choose to do as we desire, the freedom to celebrate life, to mourn death and see the universe for it’s beauty as well as it’s power.
“We, here are the guardians of that freedom, the ones who stand against the abyss and grin. We are from all known races, we are from all religions and beliefs, but we are one, we are Sentients, we are survivors, we are the Free Fleet and its Armored Marine Commandos!”
A roar rose from the Commandos, Bok Soo was swept up in the noise, in the voices of his brothers and sisters, their defiance in the face of anything.
“Together we are United, together we can beat anything! Division is what destroys us and Division makes us weak. Through your training you have removed that weakness, hammered into oblivion, into weapons and shields that you would hold in protection of the creature to either side. Today we will fight, today some will die, but today as always, know you are of the Free Fleet, know that we stand side by side and I could not be a prouder man for it!” He yelled his eyes misting as he gritted his jaw against the emotions that rose up.
He could feel the energy that ran through them all, he looked around, seeing them, seeing the creatures that were his own.
It tore at his heart and put fire in his belly.
“Now let’s get this show on the road. Roll out Commandos!” Bok Soo said, his visor slamming shut. The courtyard and the roads beyond turned into chaos as Commandos headed for their positions. Battle had come and they were ready for it.
Across the European lines troops and Commandos moved to their starting positions.
They had trained together for a short time, but they had spilt blood together, both their own and the Kalu’s. They respected one another as only soldiers could.
Today they would fight at one another’s shoulders with no regrets.
Bok Soo made it to the line looking over the scene of destruction, taking in the machine guns’ tracers firing across the city of flattened houses and buildings catching Kalu in the distance. Artillery whistled through the air, punctuated by the cracks of rail gun fire.
It was time to test their preparations.
“All forces this is General Gajos.” Someone had finally promoted her to a rank due her position.
“Commence operation Reclaimer, heads down!” She said, across the line missiles rose from launchers, these ones much to large to fit on a HAPA’s back.
Streaks arched into the sky, heading over the line and over the ground the Kalu continued to race across.
Lasers lashed out and a few of the missiles were hit, but that had already been taken into consideration as part of the plan.
All eyes watched those missiles.
Suddenly they split, one missile became thirty, spreading out across the over two hundred thousand kilometer frontage of defenses.
“Impact in ten!” Someone yelled, helmets darkened and people ducked.
The seconds ticked away, Bok Soo looked at the bottom of the trench, his HAPA bent forward under the lip.
The Earth rebelled as suns flashed into destructive glory.
Air rushed towards the explosions, pulling at everything in it’s path. Then it was gone and it returned tenfold. Heat was on that exhale.
“Good impact,” Gajos reported.
Bok Soo rose, dirt falling from his HAPA’s the rest along his line doing the same.
“MOVE!” Bok Soo barked, putting his words into action as he rushed up the ramp leading to the top of the trenches.
“Incoming Kalu fighters, MEF’s moving to intercept,” In Sook said.
Bok Soo saw the intervening symbols on his map as he jumped in his HAPA going from the secondary trenches over the front lines. Commandos flowed over the lines with him.
“Contact!” Bok Soo said, his cannons blaring as his sensors targeted Kalu that had been far enough ahead of the blast to not die.
Their luck was short lived as HAPA’s and powered armor moved forward. Powered armor moved from building to building, using cover as HAPA’s trundled through the muck, their cannons tracking targets and hunting them down.
Only Commandos manned the HAPA’s the massive machines moving with a grace that belied their huge size and purpose.
“Once we get to line Alpha I want everyone to check people and positioning. We are the line; we cannot let there be any holes. Commanders check your units to either side as you move,” Bok Soo said, moving from one large crater to another.
Across the line weapons illuminated the growing dust that the nukes had thrown up into the air.
Bok Soo’s HUD adjusted automatically, removing the dust from his view. He could see for only about fifty feet or so before things fuzzed out.
“Kalu movement coming, four hundred meters and closing,” In Sook reported.
“Get those lines connected now! Hold your positions and prepare for Kalu counterattack,” Bok Soo yelled.
HAPA’s found suitable holes or cover to crouch behind. Commandos jumped into the muck, going prone or finding cover of any kind.
They waited, nothing happening for a few moments as reports came in that the line was solid.
Then there was movement in the fuzz.
“Contact, Kalu moving in!” Someone reported as Cannons opened up to the South.
Then there were Kalu coming out of the fuzz in front of Bok Soo. He fired, his HUD unable to get a firm lock. He fired his cannons at anything that moved through the fuzz.
Rail guns’ cracks filled the air as Kalu stumbled.
“Advance by Sections!” Bregend said, prompting the Platoon Commander her was embedded with to move up. They did so, advancing onto the Kalu, flopping into any cover they could find and firing again.
The other platoons to either side rushed forward forming a solid line again.
Bok Soo’s platoon ambled forward and ducked into new cover.
“In Sook, I’m in the want for some artillery,” Bok Soo said, glancing to his HUD, above the dust and crap left by the nuke, MEF’s were encircling the Kalu swarms, pounding them with missiles. They were jinking, diving and shifting to screw the Kalu’s aim up while firing their own cannons.
It wasn’t one-sided, all too often the Kalu lasers combed the sky leaving the fighters nowhere to escape. Though the MEF’s had been training to fight the Kalu, they had the experience and flexibility to make their hits hurt.
While the ground forces had changed their tactics, there seemed to be none of that thought process affecting the Kalu fighters.
“Incoming,” In Sook said. Artillery batteries fired over the advancing line. Bok Soo grabbed new cover and fired into the spread out Kalu.
It was harder to kill many of them in one go now, but it also meant there were less targets for the mobile line.
They could take their time, pick their targets and move forward whereas the Kalu didn’t really have a concept of aiming. Their lasers also didn’t aim below their head, lest they shoot themselves.
Making lying in the dirt or in a crater a pretty safe position.
The Kalu weren’t the only ones that had been studying tactics.
***
“By God they’re doing it,” Gajos said, watching as the HAPA wearing Commandos and the powered armor wearing draftees moved forward, the line breaking apart, rushing forward a few meters and dropping down as the second half rushed forward, forming a new line only for it to once again go leaping forward.
It was a constant maelstrom of fire.
Artillery that had been storing their ammunition and checking their guns ranges for the last week opened up, giving the platoons cover.
People were getting caught with lasers as they ran, or having Kalu jump from behind cover onto them, but the attackers were quickly dispatched and the line continued.
Communications kept the lines together and moving like some slow avalanche.
War's Reward (Free Fleet Book 6) Page 23