Wrath of the Shaitans

by Sudipto Majumdar

  “Surely you are not suggesting that we exhaust our emergency acceleration rocket fuel captain. We would be left with no recourse to avoid Shaitan missiles. This is not as per prescribed regulations.” Capt. Xhin Zhu exclaimed.

  Rest of the men smiled. Capt. Xhin Zhu’s proclivity to stick to the letter of the regulations was well known. Hamid answered. “That is exactly why I am suggesting we use the emergency thrusters, because just like us, we have observed that the Shaitan warships have emergency chemical thrusters, which they have used to try and avoid missiles. I am sure that they have a similar doctrine of using the chemical rocket thrusters only for avoiding missiles.

  I am in fact counting on them sticking to that doctrine and not using their chemical rockets to get away from us. I am hoping that the Shaitan captains are not rule breakers. And you are right that by expending our emergency thrusters, our options in avoiding Shaitan missiles would get limited. As I had indicated at the outset, this is an ‘all in’ plan as they would say in Las Vegas.

  To get back to explaining my plan, if things go as described, then Tango 1 and Tango 3 would get caught in a pincer move from two fleets approaching from opposite ends at a distance of about 3 million kilometers from Earth. The exact distance Admiral Cloutier had wanted us to confront these Shaitan warships.

  Now however with the extra firepower of the Second Fleet, not only do we stand a better chance of completely destroying both the ships, but the survivability of both the second and the Third Fleet increases dramatically. Tango 1 and 3 would have to target 11 individual ships. Each one of us would have a lot less missiles coming our way.

  This gentlemen is the most sure shot bet of stopping the Shaitan warships from reaching Earth. As far as TC-2 is concerned, even in the worst case scenario I do not see it surviving a battle with 4 Friendship class ships. At the worst TC-2 may be able to destroy all of them, but more likely most of them would survive due to better missile killers that they have compared to Titan.” Hamid finished his presentation.

  Fabi spoke up. “We have heard some of the objections from Capt. Xhin Zhu, I would like to hear Capt. Shannon’s thoughts on the plan.”

  Gerald had be quiet throughout the presentation, not having spoken a word. He spoke up slowly and thoughtfully. “I have been evaluating the plan on the basis of what all could go wrong. I agree with Capt. Dar’s conclusion that four Friendship Class ships should be able to stop TC-2, although I am not as confident about their survivability as him. I would think of leaving one or even two Resolute class ships from the Second Fleet to fight along with the Friendship class ships.

  There are two things that I can see that can go wrong with the plan, one benign and the other would be a disaster. First, as I see through Capt. Dar’s calculations that he has sent, it is possible for Tango 1 and 3 to call off the attack run towards Earth the moment they see the Second Fleet approaching. If that happens, we would not be able to carry out our plan, but we are no worse off than right now and hence no harm done.

  Second is the more worrying possibility that the Shaitan captain disappoints Hamid and turns rule breaker.” Gerald smiled at the thought of a perpetual rule breaker like Hamid being disappointed by someone else breaking the rules.

  “If the Shaitan warships turn on their emergency chemical rocket thrusters, then our whole plan goes awry. Worse, it will give the two Shaitan warships the opportunity to try and smash past the Second Fleet and have an unchallenged run towards Earth. In my mind gentlemen, this is the only weak point in the entire plan, otherwise I like the plan.” Concluded Gerald.

  They discussed the details, and it kept boiling down to the risk Gerald had mentioned to which there was no answer in the plan, otherwise even Capt. Xhin Zhu could not come out with any objections other than the fact that it was a rash plan. Fabi did not mind a rash plan. He had put Hamid as the lead captain for this chase expecting him to come up with a rash plan, and he had not disappointed.

  “There is one way we can mitigate that particular weakness in the plan. It is unfortunately as rash as the rest of Capt. Dar’s plan. Let me put forward the plan to the command HQ first. It would need to be ordered by Admiral Cloutier himself. Let me see what he has to say about the overall plan. If he does not blow it away as a harebrained plan, then we can discuss my idea.” Fabi said and brought the conference to a close.

  He was going to have to have a very long conversation with Daniel about the plan. It would not help that there would be a significant delay, which would hamper real time conversation.

  Chapter 34

  Shackleton

  South Pole of the Moon

  May 2084

  “Lt. General, there has been a change in my orders. I think there must be a modified orders for the marines as well sir.” Alex heard the voice say. He was still groggy from sleep. He had been crashing out on his seat strapped securely. When he was woken up, he thought that he must have overslept and was been woken up for deployment, but that not the case.

  He checked his wrist comp and confirmed that they were still many hours away from Moon orbit. Sure enough there was a priority message as well that was flashing on the wrist comp. He preferred to check it on the bigger screen of his scroll, which he took out from his pocket and rolled it out.

  In his younger days, he would have been flush with excitement reading the order, but now with age he could think of a million things that could go wrong. He started planning contingencies for everything that he was apprehensive about going wrong. That was the burden of age, one thought too much. A young warrior is a happy warrior, and old warrior is always brooding.

  Despite trying to keep himself professionally focused, he could not but help worrying about Cuifen out there on the Moon. He had been sickened with worry when Kormas base and Leanna were being held hostage in Mars. Daniel had categorically refused his request to lead the Marines rescue team.

  At a professional level he understood that Daniel had been right. The last thing that a mission needed was a leader who was emotionally clouded in his judgment. While Daniel had joked that Alex was getting too old for such a strenuous fight, Alex knew that he was right. Nutcase had not just been younger and fitter, he was the best person for the Mars job, and he had proved it on Mars.

  Yet here he was going off to rescue Cuifen, even though he had not asked specifically for the job. There was going to be no end to Leanna’s jibes after this. She was not going to stop reminding him how he never came to her rescue but flew off to the Moon without a second thought, to the rescue of Col. Cuifen Ma. Alex wondered for the millionth time whether he had been lucky in his love life to have two women who cared and loved him so much, or whether he had been cursed to have led such a complicated love life.

  The best way to get over those thoughts for Alex was to dive into business, and that is what he did. His ship was 8 hours ahead of the rest of the three ships that were heading towards the moon. There was an irritating half a second delay in communication, but he would be doing most of the talking, so it would not be that bad. He got all the officers and NCOs into conference mode in his ship as well as the trailing ships.

  “Gentlemen, I trust you have seen the orders that were sent to you. We need to evacuate the ships before they reach the Moon. Your ships are soon going to be a very hot place. Make sure your wish the brave crews staying on board to fight, good luck. Believe me, they are going to need it. It is a sense of déjà vu for me. I have seen this exact fight between this exact classes of opposing ships over Titan. As you know it didn’t turn out well for either parties. Let’s just hope that these crews enjoy a better fate.

  In the meanwhile we have our job cut out. The marines are to take the shuttles and get themselves on to the surface of the Moon. The problem is that the ships cannot wait and get into orbit for us to do that. They will eject us as they approach the Moon and then get on with the task for chasing TC-2. The bigger problem for us is that there is not enough space for all of us in the shuttles, and obviously the shuttles can’t come
back for a second sortie. So some of us will have to jump.” Alex paused for that to sink in.

  There were groans all around. Marines were nothing if not macho, but they were not usually crazy or suicidal. “I know. I know. This jump is probably going to make Nutcase and his third company’s jump look like a jump into a kiddies’ pool, but we don’t have any more option than Nutcase and his marines had. We are marines and we marines do what we have to do.

  This jump is going to be tougher in some respects, but easier in some respects as well. We will be released at slower speed than the marines on Mars, and we don’t have to worry about burning up in the atmosphere like those two Marines did. That is the good news.

  The bad news is that you will be rocketing all the way through, with wafer thin fuel margins. Your computers will keep you guided but only if you keep yourself oriented properly at all times. The amount of fuel you waste will depend entirely on how well or badly you can keep your suit oriented at all times. You and your marines have practiced this enough, and hopefully none of you will run out of fuel. I am not keen on seeing a new crater on the Moon.

  I will leave the choice of who jumps and who goes by shuttle to the respective platoon commanders. Try to make it a volunteer affair if possible, and remember Marine officers always lead by example. I for one will be jumping and not going by shuttle.” As Alex said this, a few officers protested, saying it was not a good idea to lose the commanding officer at the very beginning of an operation due to a jump accident.

  “Thank you gentlemen for that vote of confidence in my jump skills.” Alex said with a smile and a sarcastic tone. “That brings me to the chain of command issue. I am here in the first ship simply because the change of shift on the orbital command center left us in the awkward situation of not having a regiment level commander or even a company level commander at hand when this ship needed to leave.

  This operation is under the command of Lt. Col. Xhu. He is your commanding officer for the operation, and if there is someone you want to protect, my fellow marine officers, you worry about him as your commanding officer. I am going to perform my duty in laying down the mission parameters and then leave the commanding to Lt. Col. Xhu.” Alex paused as Xhu acknowledged from the other ship with a time lag with a ‘Thank you sir’.

  “Ok. That brings me to the destination on the surface. TC-2 is aiming for a polar orbit, and the shuttle released from TC-2 have made no significant change in trajectory. That suggests that the target for the Shaitan shuttles is likely to be the Shackleton base on the lunar South Pole.

  As you gentlemen might know, other than our training base, there are extensive research habitats and underground facilities on this sprawling base. The Shackleton crater also represents the largest source of water on the Moon. So the Shaitans seem to have chosen their target well. They seem to have a thing for the south poles of planets and moons for some reason, in any case.

  We will have the shuttles available to us for the duration of the operation. It would come in especially handy if we have misread their intended target and end up in a different part of the moon than where the Shaitans land. With that I will hand you over to Lt. Col. Xhu for operational instructions.” Alex finished and handed over.

  They discussed and debated the plan for half an hour before everything they could think of was discussed and decided. Alex and his ship would arrive before the Shaitan shuttles reached the Moon, while the rest of the ships would arrive after the Shaitan shuttles. Their tasks were divided accordingly.

  When Alex stepped out of the airlock, it felt surreal and quiet. There was no hint of the tremendous speed at which they were travelling. The Moon looked stationary, and without any nearby object to give perspective, its distance and size looked deceptive. It seemed as if one could just jump and hop on to the surface.

  Alex squeezed his control interface inside his gloves to activate the navigation routine. He was not a tech-head, and didn’t intend on being one ever. He did not know of anyone from his generation who was keen at that idea. Unfortunately navigating a suit was a cumbersome and slow process when you are not a tech-head, amongst many other things.

  He was operating his suit navigation through the touch interface built into his gloves. It was manageable but neither fast not elegant like the ones that were being handled by the tech-heads. Unlike the two layered suits used by the marines for their jump on Mars, equipment used for jump on moons without atmosphere was simply and attachment to the normal armored marine suit.

  It was basically a solid fueled rocket attachment strapped to the suit, but unlike common pictures in comic strips, it was not a jet pack strapped on the back of the suit. Not only would such a contraption have burnt the suit, mechanically it is not the right position to provide a balanced propulsion. The jet would have been impossible to control with body movements if placed on the back.

  The marines’ attachment was strapped on to the front of the suit, centered close to chest level where the weight of the body would be evenly balanced on both sides. The padded platform attached to the body extended from under the chin, all the way down to the pelvis level. Even when the rockets were at full thrust, it pushed the padded platform at only 1.3 G, which made the marines feel like they were lying chest down on a padded platform without much discomfort.

  The marines could easily maneuver the direction of the thrust by tilting their bodies, and had a clear vision towards the area they were landing. The entire contraption was designed to attach as a snap on to the front of the suit, so that the backpack of the suit, which housed the life support systems were not affected in any way.

  The navigation program of the suit was guiding the marines bang into the Shackleton crater. How close they would get to the Shackleton base depended on the skill with which the marines maneuvered their bodies to pilot themselves. Alex kept tab on his faceplate screen the positions of all the marines who had jumped with him. He realized that he was the outlier.

  Most of the marines were handling themselves perfectly and would land right on top of the base, while he would land a few kilometers away. Alex sighed. This is why fighting was done by young men and women he guessed. Thankfully his landing was smooth enough not to have broken anything. That would have been double embarrassing.

  As he detached the jump attachment from his suit, he saw a buggy approach him. He waved and the driver who was the only occupant waved back. It was not until the buggy was right next to Alex that he realized who was driving. It was the commandant of the training base, Col. Cuifen Ma herself.

  “I thought that an old warhorse might need some help getting back to the camp.” Ma said with a slight giggle. “Seriously Alex, we oldies should be leaving the fighting to the young ones now.”

  “Hello Colonel. Nice to see you too, and thank you for the warm welcome to your facility.” Alex said officiously and sarcastically.

  “Don’t get cute on me Alex Parkinson. Why the hell did you have to jump? I was worried sick about you. You men have to prove your macho self all the time do you? Why couldn’t you act your age and come down in the shuttle? Why did you have to come here at all? You were supposed to be at the command center, directing younger marines in the fight!” Ma’s outburst paused for a while, before she said softly.

  “Wait a minute! You are here to rescue a damsel in distress, riding on a white horse! You came here for me! How romantic! And here we are standing all by ourselves not looking at the moon but standing on the moon itself on a dark night.” Cuifen stood next to Alex and hooked her arm around his arm.

  Alex sighed. “It is not like that Jojo. I was worried about you, but I was following orders.” Alex said calling her by the private nickname only Cuifen’s family and Alex used.

  Cuifen burst out laughing. “The commandant of the entire USC-GCF was following orders on who had to command an operation. Your excuses are totally lame you know Alex. But I love you anyway. Come let us head back to the camp before the marines send out a search party for us. It would not do for the comm
andant to be seen fraternizing with a junior officer.” Cuifen said in a naughty voice and tugged Alex to the buggy.

  Alex opened his mouth to protest but thought better of it. He had never won an argument with Cuifen, and it was not going to change today. Technically on the Moon, Cuifen was not in his chain of command, but they all knew that it was a mere technicality.

  As she started driving back, Cuifen was in no mood to let up her teasing. “You are going to have a hard time Alex when Leanna finds out that you came to my rescue, when you did not go her rescue. I would love to see the grief she give you. Ooooh! I wish I am there when she gives you the cold treatment. I would not like to miss it for anything.”

  That was another thing that Alex could never wrap his head around. The two women had no issues of discussing each other with Alex, when he himself had a tough time bringing up anything to do with one woman with the other. It was some kind of strange relationship that the two women shared other than their love for him, which he could not fathom.

  He decided to change the subject. “What do you think of the defense plan made by Lt. Col. Xhu? I am assuming that the Shackleton base has been making its defense preparations accordingly.”

  Ma decided to go easy on Alex and let him change the topic. “Lt. Col. Xhu has had good teachers. I see the imprint of both Gen. Takamori and yours in his planning. It is as good as it gets. You will find everything in order and ready for inspection on your arrival chief.” Ma ended playfully.

  “I am not here for an inspection Jojo and you know it, and by the way ‘Chief’ is an informal designation used for a very different rank in the US Navy. I am not the ‘Chief’ as you put it.” Alex retorted.

  “In china, the boss is always the ‘Chief’, and you are the boss. Except in the bedroom.” She said with a grin that could be seen even in the darkened vista of the moon through her helmet. They reached the base and it was obvious that the two companies in training currently on the base had been busy, as had been the fifty odd civilians in the adjoining scientific base.