Once through the lock, we were led down several flights of stairs into a crudely constructed mini-warren. It was nothing more than a collection of caves and tunnels dug into the rock, with rounded, ribbed walls - an effect caused by the robotic laser drills that had made them. It reminded me of the warrens I had fought through during the invasion, and I shuddered at the memory.
‘Makes Lash look like a palace,’ I noted out loud.
‘No shit,’ one of the troopers in my section replied with a smile. My visor identified him as Private Jackson, a mammoth gunner who was a good head shorter than me. It made the size of his weapon all the more impressive, ‘They had to move down here when the threat went up.’
‘So it’s just conscripts here?’
‘Yeah. They hold the ground, we’re just the cavalry if it all goes tits up. They’re alright, to be fair. They’re not as good as us but they still know their stuff. Not sure about their major, though. He’s a bit odd.’
We were assembled inside a small cave to be briefed on our patrol by the conscripts. A holographic projector sat idle in the centre of the cave next to a grey haired conscripted officer dressed in full combat equipment, minus his respirator and helmet, which he held under his arm. The only difference between us and the conscripts was a slightly different shaped helmet - older models, I presumed. They also wore large blue Union flag shoulder badges on each arm, whereas we only wore a single smaller Union flag on one arm and drop trooper wings on the other.
‘You will need to keep your respirators on,’ the officer said with a strange voice that wasn’t in sync with his lips, ‘Unless you can speak German!’
I realised that my headphones were translating for me. We unclipped our helmets but left our respirators on so that our headphones could translate. Mr Moore was the only one to remove his respirator.
‘Smug bell end,’ somebody whispered. Half of us could barely speak our own language properly, never mind those of the other Union states. Officers didn’t need to be from a privileged background but they needed to be well-educated, especially in languages, but a good education was expensive.
With a gesture of the German officer’s hand, the holographic projector came to life and a rotating image of Nieuwe Poort appeared at his feet, bathing the cave in bright blue light.
‘My name is Major Ruckheim,’ the middle-aged conscript began, ‘And I am the Officer Commanding 2nd Company, 23rd Motor Rifles. Welcome to our home, Forward Operating Base Eindhoven. We have been here now for a year, after taking over from the Dutch.
Those of you who have not been here before should know that this base is on the eastern edge of the city - here,’ he pointed at a location on the projection that appeared to be one of the very few parts of the city not encased in domes of glass, ‘It is a quiet location. Until recently, we have had little to deal with apart from minor public order incidents in some of the areas more sympathetic to NELAs cause. Most of those have been little more than small demonstrations against the fighting to the north. We have known about enemy infiltration into the region, but until now we could not pinpoint anything.
Yesterday was different. When one of your platoons came under attack, our Electronic Warfare team here in Eindhoven picked up a spike in encrypted data from two locations within the city - here and here.’ This time as he pointed, two red crosshairs appeared on the hologram, both a kilometre away from Eindhoven in different directions.
‘Those little fuckers,’ Jackson whispered under his breath. The attack on two platoon had been launched from within the city itself, from one of its residential districts.
‘This has the potential to be an important breakthrough for us here,’ the major continued, ‘And so we are going to seize the excellent opportunity that we have been provided with.’
The platoon bristled visibly, and somebody within the ranks spoke up, ‘We lost a bloke to give you your ‘excellent opportunity’, mate.’
The boss and Johnno looked around angrily for the source of the outburst.
Clearly the major hadn’t known, because he instantly bowed his head, ‘I apologise for my words, they were not meant to offend. But this is an opportunity for you as well, then, to make sure that the people who killed your man are brought to justice.’
The platoon settled to those words. They wanted revenge, and the major was going to give it to them. They listened intently as the major went through his plan, lusting for blood and willing death upon anyone stupid enough to get between them and their prey. I hoped that they weren’t about to do anything stupid.
The company were going to conduct a simultaneous arrest operation onto the two separate locations using a platoon of conscripts for each, with us and a third conscript platoon providing an ‘outer cordon’ to each of those locations - a reserve force tasked with protecting and assisting the operation where required. They had a fourth fire support platoon in their company, which would remain in Eindhoven for the unlikely event of the base coming under attack.
‘I had told your battalion that none of your troops would be required for this operation,’ the conscripted major said, and I caught a hint of irritation in his voice, ‘However, your OC demanded that drop troopers take part, and so therefore I have had to alter my plan to accommodate you.’
I didn’t know why Major Ruckheim and his conscripts didn’t fully appreciate our presence. We had lost a life, but still we had come to help them. I decided to cast the thought from my mind, remembering that I would be working closely with them for the remainder of my time on New Earth.
‘Your platoon will move out with our first platoon by Light Support Vehicle,’ the major continued, ‘Once in location you are to provide protection to the south and west. You will have LSVs assigned to you for the duration of the operation, and so in the event of contact you are to act as a mobile reserve.’
The boss nodded, ‘Understood,’ he said in German, ‘What are our air assets?’
‘No change. Your dropships will remain nearby on call, and the two saucers will remain in over watch. Between them and the orbital weapons platform we should have a constant live feed from above of any developments within the city. Electronic Warfare will also be looking out for any malicious data communication and will attempt to block it if necessary.’
A few troopers fidgeted nervously. ‘Malicious data’ could turn our own weapons against us, and had already cost one of their screws his life.
‘Where will you be during this?’
‘I will locate myself with first platoon,’ the major replied, ‘The main effort lies with their target, which we believe to be a NELA commander, hence the reason you have been tasked to provide them with protection, rather than the platoon going to the second target. If the enemy respond to our activity, I believe that it will be there.’
Johnno raised an arm, ‘Who is the target? Have you got a description?’
The major paused to read the translation on his datapad and finally shook his head, ‘No. The enemy net traffic is extremely sophisticated, so very little information could be taken from it. We are lucky that we even have the locations.’
‘Can’t we just get the police to do the arrests?’
‘No, the Nieuwe Poort police are not aware of this operation.’
‘Why not?’
‘They just aren’t.’
Johnno nodded. Fair enough, I thought, we didn’t need to fully understand the intelligence aspect of our operation, so long as it didn’t affect us on the ground. All we needed to know was - there they are, so go get them.
‘Anything else?’
Silence. We were happy. The commanders quickly downloaded the target locations onto their datapads and marked up their paper maps, and I did likewise. The map contained within the datapad I wore on my wrist was better than anything that could be printed onto paper, but it was vulnerable to hacking and could easily be scrambled. We used both, and never relied solely upon one or the other.
‘Konny, Andy,’ Johnno called us into a corner of the c
ave once we were finished, ‘What was that all about earlier?’
Konny shrugged.
‘It was nothing,’ I said, ‘Just a misunderstanding.’
Johnno shook his head, disappointed with us both, ‘Konny, everyone’s upset, mate, but you need to pull yourself together. It’s not Andy’s fault that Gaz got it, and we need him right now more than ever.’
He looked to me, ‘And you need to calm down, mate, you’ve only just got here and you’re already close to swinging punches. The blokes are scared as it is, you’ll only make things worse.’
He was right and I knew it, ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry, Andy. Just think next time.’
‘We’re squared, Johnno, mate,’ Konny said, ‘No dramas.’
Johnno didn’t look entirely confident that the issue was resolved, but we didn’t have the time, ‘Screw the nut, lads,’ he warned before calling out to the boss, ‘How long have we got?’
‘One minute,’ the platoon commander answered, ‘Get them upstairs again, kit on.’
There was no rest for the wicked.
‘You heard him, boys! Let’s go!’
#
The Light Support Vehicles were anything but light, I realised. The largest ground based vehicle we used in drops was the support buggy, which was nothing more than a means to ferry kit and casualties to and from the frontline in the absence of the dropships themselves. Even that had to be partially disassembled in order for it to fit into the tiny crew compartments. But the LSVs were massive, truck-sized vehicles laden with weapons and armour. Strangely windowless, I quickly realised that they were unmanned.
‘They’re robots?’ I wondered aloud.
The rest of the section ignored my question as we approached the row of vehicles close to the entrance to Eindhoven, but Jackson nodded excitedly, ‘Yeah. We can control them directly by remote, though. We’ve used them a couple of times in the city. Beats walking!’
‘Fair one.’
‘Wait till they get going, you ain’t seen nothing yet!’
Before I had a chance to board the waiting LSV with the rest of my section, the platoon commander grabbed me by the arm, pulling me to one side. He glared at me, ‘You argue with my commanders again, and I’ll have you up on a charge. Do you understand me?’
I nodded. There was nothing else I could do but agree, ‘Yes, Sir.’
He wasn’t finished, ‘I don’t care how good you may think you are, Moralee, here you obey my rules, and you respect my men.’
‘Sir.’
‘Good. Now get on the vehicles, and hurry up!’
My cheeks burning red with embarrassment, and my body trembling with rage, I jogged over to my waiting vehicle. The section were loading in reverse order so that they could exit the vehicle in the correct order of march, and so they had been waiting for me, watching me getting a telling off from their boss.
‘Off to a good start I see,’ Geany sneered as I boarded, ‘Maybe we’ll see what you’re really made of today, Corporal!’
My blood boiled. Fucking bell ends, I thought in fury, I’m in a platoon of fucking bell ends.
Fortunately I was sat at the very rear of the crew compartment in order for me to ensure that everybody exited at the other end, plus I had Patterson sat across from me and Jackson to the side of me. Jackson seemed alright, although he was a little over-energetic and Patterson was a crow, so unless he did something stupid or asked a ridiculous question, he wouldn’t cause me any bother. I needed time and space to calm down.
Sensing my anger, Jackson gave me a calming tap on the arm as he took his seat beside me. As a mammoth gunner, he had probably served as long as I had, but Jackson clearly wasn’t bothered by my early promotion. He struck me as a friendly trooper who didn’t care for seniority, just like my old friend Climo, and I made a conscious decision to nurture that attitude.
‘Door closing,’ a computerised voice told me through my respirator headset, and sure enough the rear ramp to the LSV raised and sealed itself with a thud, ‘Exchanging atmosphere.’
I could get used to this, I thought. The compartment was spacious and the seats were comfortable. I enjoyed the cool rush of air against my neck as the toxic atmosphere was quickly exchanged for something we could safely breathe.
‘Exchange complete. Initialising visual feed.’
My visor display flickered, and then suddenly the compartment became transparent. I gasped, it was as though we were simply sat in a large open topped trailer, looking out at the vehicle park.
‘Shit the bed…’ I whispered to myself. Patterson looked similarly surprised.
Jackson gave me a nudge, ‘Mad, ain’t it? These things are mega! Don’t let the wheels fool you!’
‘Thank God they don’t have this in the dropships,’ I said, ‘Blokes would be puking all over the shop!’
‘Bet you were anyway, weren’t you, back then?’
I chuckled at the memory, ‘My mate did.’ A hard drop onto a hostile surface from orbit was stomach churning. Some troopers had even soiled themselves during their perilous landing.
Jackson laughed, ‘I bet you rag him for that all the time, don’t you?’
‘He’s dead.’
‘Oh. Sorry.’
‘That’s okay, mate. You didn’t kill him.’
The LSV began to manoeuvre itself toward a growing line of vehicles that queued at the main entrance to Eindhoven, a massive archway built out of marble.
Eindhoven was a square compound several hundred metres in length, blocked off from the city beyond by walls tens of metres high and lined with concrete sangars, raised fortifications, that bristled with weapons. It was unlike any military base I had ever seen. It was built - at least originally - entirely above ground and it wouldn’t have looked out of place a thousand years ago.
‘This place looks like a Roman villa,’ I observed, considerably impressed.
‘A what?’
‘A Roman villa. You know… The Romans?’
Jackson looked back at me blankly, ‘Romanians?’
I sighed and waved it away, ‘Don’t worry, mate.’ Sometimes I wondered if I was the only man in drops who’d actually listened in school.
The convoy of LSVs exited the base and accelerated along a wide street lined with warehouses toward the first of the city domes. One-by-one, the vehicles passed through a series of airlocks built into the dome, and I saw that the LSVs were built just small enough to fit through. The convoy waited until every vehicle had entered the dome, and I used the time to again marvel at the classical architecture of the city. Even apartment blocks had been built with grand entrances flanked by pillars that towered high above our vehicles.
‘It’s all like this,’ Jackson commented, pointing toward the buildings, ‘You’d have to be loaded with cash to live in a place like that on Earth, but to these guys it’s standard!’
‘Not bad living.’ I agreed.
Jackson went on enthusiastically, ‘Don’t think Nieuwe Poort’s all about old buildings though! It’s all about the tech here! The whole city lights up with holograms in the evenings, just before midnight. I’d love to spend a night out here on the drink. Shame we’re not allowed.’
‘So is that where everyone works?’ I asked, pointing through the countless domes toward the glittering skyscrapers at the centre of the city, one of which must have been a kilometre high. There were some tall buildings where I lived in Portsmouth back on Earth, but nothing like what I saw in Nieuwe Poort.
He shook his head, ‘No, not everyone. A lot of the factories are underground, and the buildings above them are their offices. Those towers are where the corporations run their business in the province.’
‘Well, business is certainly booming.’
Jackson nodded furiously, ‘No shit! See that massive tower in the very middle? They call that one ‘The Citadel’. It’s the headquarters of a massive software company or something.’
We lurched slightly as the convoy began to move again a
long a wide street that cut through the dome, in the direction of the towers.
‘What kind of software do they make?’
‘Everything! Military programmes like the robotic AIs for our saucers - all the way down to holograms for kids to play with.’
‘Wow. That’s one corporation you want to keep on your side!’
He laughed, ‘Yeah. Otherwise they’ll send your kids porn!’
We drove on deeper into the city, the convoy splitting toward its two separate targets. There was no doubt that we were being watched, and so we accelerated toward our objective, making several turns onto different streets to make it difficult for an observer to predict where we were going until it was too late.
We passed through several domes on our journey, many of which were interconnected by tunnels of glass suspended by marble arches and beautiful buildings. Finally the conscripts broke away from us as we drew close to our objective.
‘That’s the conscripts moving into position,’ the boss confirmed over the platoon net as our four vehicles continued on without them, ‘We will take up our own position to their south, as per our orders. Once we go firm, keep the noise to a minimum and spread your sections out. We should be in and out in less than ten minutes, so don’t try to get comfortable.’
Nieuwe Poort still slept while we dismounted from our LSVs into a quiet residential area close to the target. The sections were spread around what appeared to be a major crossroads lined with tall five or six-level apartment blocks, each of the commanders placing out their men under the direction of Mr Moore. They needed to ensure that the platoon could protect itself from all directions, but wasn’t so thinly spread that individuals became isolated. Troopers were placed out so that they had eyes onto not one, but two of their comrades as a minimum, and where necessary they were doubled-up together. Although it had never happened before, there was a real danger of ‘man away’, where a trooper would be snatched away by the rebels. Nobody knew what the result of that might be.
Konny had tasked my fire team to cover a pair of alleyways connected to an open courtyard, one running south and another east. I split the four men of ‘Delta’ fire team, with Patterson and Okonkwo together on one alleyway, and myself and Jackson on the other. I wanted to be close to Jackson, so that I could direct his mammoth onto targets with ease in the event of contact, but also because I wasn’t sure if Okonkwo - who had cried and then glared at me in the Lash airlock - shared the anti-new-guy attitude; I wasn’t in the mood for another argument. Jackson seemed like an alright lad, though as I had previously observed - overly energetic. I preferred that to the cold shoulder I seemed to be getting off everybody else in the section though.
LANCEJACK (The Union Series) Page 5