by D. J. Holmes
“Commander, I’m picking up something else,” his officer reported. “Further down the shift passage. It’s faint and intermittent, but I think there is a ship out there.”
“Bring us to a halt,” Hx-amon ordered immediately. “The Humans might still be about. Send all the data to my command chair. Keep a keen eye on that sector of space.”
For nearly an hour Hx-amon carefully watched the weak signal his ship’s passive sensors were picking up. Though the sensor data wasn’t one hundred percent conclusive, given the other evidence floating all around his ship, he was sure. Whatever force had ambushed the Karacknid squadron, it was still here. “Back us up slowly,” Hx-amon ordered. “We’re going to slip out of here quietly and then head back to Holstein at maximum speed. Kiskheck needs to know about this.”
*
Argyll, Föhr-Holstein shift passage. 27th December 2481 AD (three days later).
Though it had happened many times during his career, Lightfoot still groaned when he was woken from his sleep by his COM unit blaring. “What is it?” he asked as he tapped it.
“Sorry to disturb you Admiral,” Rivers voice said. “But one of the Varanni scouts has returned. You’re going to want to see its sensor data.”
“Okay, I’ll be there momentarily,” Lightfoot replied. As he swung his legs out of bed, he couldn’t help but groan again. Then he rubbed his eyes, looked around for his uniform and forced himself to his feet.
When he got to Argyll’s bridge, the sensor data was already being displayed on the holo-screen. “Ninety Karacknid ships broke orbit three days ago. They are on their way here. Fortitude’s Captain reckons they are three to four hours behind her.”
“They know,” Lightfoot realized immediately. “I don’t know how, but they know about us. Signal the fleet, we are jumping out of here immediately.”
“Where to?” Rivers asked.
Lightfoot thought for a moment. Ninety ships were nearly all the fully operational warships the Karacknid commander had. We’ve been more of a thorn in their side than I realized. “The Beta system, if not Earth. I think that force has one goal. Our destruction,” he said to Rivers and Argyll’s bridge crew. “Only Earth’s defenses can stop them.” He didn’t want to lead another Karacknid fleet to Earth, but if they did follow him that far, he suspected they would get a warm welcome. Somerville and Gupta were bound to have more ships repaired by now and Earth’s defenses hadn’t been completely wiped out. “Pass the word to our fleet. We jump in sixty seconds.” There was no time to waste. Even with their upgrades, Karacknid warships were still slightly faster.
*
Argyll, New Berlin system, 6th January 2482 AD (nine days later).
As Argyll exited shift space into the New Berlin system, Lightfoot couldn’t help but feel a depressing sense of déjà vu. Five months ago he had jumped into the system leading a squadron of ships in full flight ahead of the massive Karacknid invasion force that had been destined for Earth. Then, as he suspected would be the case now, the governor of New Berlin had loudly berated him for abandoning her colony to the mercy of the Karacknids. Knowing he would have to do the same now, Lightfoot wasn’t looking forward to the inevitable COM message she would send his way when she saw his ships running.
“There are ships in orbit around New Berlin,” a sensor officer reported. “I think they are warships. They are Human.”
Lightfoot’s thoughts of New Berlin’s Governor evaporated. The Karacknid fleet was right on his heels. They had followed him through three systems already. His eyes darted from the projection of new Berlin to the Ulm shift passage. The ships in orbit around the colony wouldn’t be able to make it to the shift passage before his ships. If they tried, the Karacknids would catch them. Yet if they remained in orbit, the Karacknids could attack New Berlin and destroy them there anyway. They are either more UN ships that have been in hiding, or reinforcements from Earth, Lightfoot knew. If they were UN ships, they would be woefully under powered compared to Karacknid warships. Yet if they were reinforcements, they would be fitted with the most advanced weapons technologies Humanity had available. Lightfoot made a snap decision. He couldn’t just abandon them. “Set course for New Berlin. Maximum speed.” The German colony had twelve Peacekeeper battlestations and quite a few defense satellites. The battlestations had the equivalent firepower of a pre-Mindus technology Human battleship. With his fleet, the additional warships in orbit and whatever Spitfire fighters New Berlin had, it might just be enough to hold off the Karacknid fleet. If they want to attack us they might win, but it would cost them dearly, Lightfoot thought. But we will be trapped, there will be no way to break out. Not without being gunned down. At least we can give them a good fight. He was sick of all the running.
*
“Stalemate,” Lightfoot said, his voice full of frustration. The additional ships had turned out to be reinforcements. Commodore Dechert, their commander had spoken of three massive Kulrean ships arriving at Earth that had freed her ships to come to the German colonies. That was all well and good. But the Karacknid fleet had now fully surrounded New Berlin. “We are stuck,” he said to Rivers. “There’s no way out, and there’s no more ships coming from Earth. Not for months.”
“At least we are alive,” Rivers said as he shrugged. “And if those Karacknid ships want to waste their time circling New Berlin, at least they’re not attacking other colo…” Rivers broke off midsentence.
When Lightfoot turned to the holo-projector he saw why. Two squadrons of eight ships had just broken away from the main Karacknid fleet. One was heading to the shift passage to Ulm, another for the passage to Leipzig. They were going to carry out more raids! Lightfoot smashed his command chair and swore. There was nothing he could do. The Karacknids still had a powerful enough fleet to destroy his ships if he tried to break orbit. He punched his command chair again. He was stuck!
Chapter 11
When a new imperial colony is opened up to settlers there is almost always a rush for land. As a general principle the division is made by a lottery system. It protects prospective settlers from nepotism or bribery among the colonial administrators. One exception is made however, retired marines always get their choice of land. They are the settlers the Empire wants at the forefront of all of its colonies.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Holstein, 6th January 2482 AD.
Major Jeffers eyed the column of Karacknid troops heading north warily. She was two hundred meters deep inside one of Holstein’s thick forests. Even so, she knew the Karacknid troops would be on high alert. They always were. Her contacts in Landung City had informed her about the planned troop movement three days ago. One of the six regiments that formed a garrison for the colony’s capital was being re-deployed to bolster the troops hunting down the marines hiding in the northern mountains. The Karacknids had obviously decided Landung City was firmly under their control.
It had been three weeks since she had last launched any kind of operation. Even then, the last attack her special forces marines had carried out had been the bombing of a small Karacknid outpost in a minor settlement. They had killed perhaps four or five Karacknids. That was what she had been reduced to. With all of the marine’s sensor dampeners captured or destroyed, any attempt to move openly risked kinetic rounds raining down from orbit. Several marine platoons had been wiped out that way. When news of the reassignment of an entire Karacknid regiment had come in, Jeffers had jumped at the opportunity. It was a chance to finally hit the Karacknids hard. Foolishly, the Karacknids had chosen the same route north their last regiment had taken. She was about to make them pay.
Unconsciously, she rubbed her thumb over the detonator in her hand. The forward screening elements of the Karacknid regiment had already passed over the charges her marines had set eight hours ago. Another sixty meters and the head of their main column would be well within the blast radius. As soon as the explosives detonated, her marines had orders to open fire with everything they had for thirty seco
nds. Then they would bug out. A fraction of the regiment’s strength would be killed at best, but their journey north would be severely delayed. It will buy the marines fighting up there some time, she knew. That was all she could hope for.
Jeffers’ thumb stopped when the Karacknid main column halted. Something was wrong. They know, Jeffers thought. Before she could open a COM channel to her marines, the long column of Karacknids pivoted. Half turned towards her side of the gravel road. The other half in the opposite direction. Then, a very familiar whistling sound was detected by her combat armor’s sensors. A split-second later, explosions erupted all around her position. Kinetic strikes were wreaking havoc among the forest. “Bug out,” she screamed over her COM channel. In the distance, beyond the Karacknid regiment, she could see more strikes raining down on the opposite side of the road. As they bathed everything around her in an orange hue, Jeffers froze. The kinetic strikes were trying to drive her marines towards the Karacknid regiment. Every Karacknid soldier had a weapon raised and ready to mow down any marines that fled their way. Thumbing the detonator, Jeffers detonated the charges. The explosion knocked down many Karacknids. She hoped it would confuse the orbital gunners. They might think they had hit their own troops and pause for a few seconds. Turning away from the enemy formation she had failed to ambush, Jeffers burst into a sprint. As she did, the sight in front of her almost made her pause. Flames were everywhere. The forest had been ignited. Squinting, Jeffers ran straight into the swirling inferno. Within seconds her combat armor began to beep warnings at her. The heat was quickly rising above temperatures it could tolerate. Jeffers ignored the warnings and focused on moving as fast as she could. The shockwave from a nearby orbital strike lifted her off her feet and smashed her into the trunk of a burning tree. Pain shot up her left forearm. She gritted her teeth together. Her old wound was supposed to have fully healed, yet it still gave her problems. The pain focused her mind though. As flames from the tree flicked around her, she sprang to her feet. In the blink of an eye she was racing away again. A part of her, the part where she held her responsibly for her marines, wanted to reach out with her suit sensors and locate them. She hoped they were all still running. Yet she knew that if she activated her sensors a kinetic round could land on her head within seconds. It was every marine for themselves. It went against every fiber in her body, but it was the only way any of them would survive the counter ambush.
For what seemed like an eternity, Jeffers sprinted through flames and explosions. She kept zigzagging in case an orbital ship or aerial attack craft was tracking her. Sweat from her exertions and the rising temperature of her combat armor ran down her chest, back and legs. She kept running and running. Eventually her body began to groan under the strain. Her mouth was parched, and she could feel the beginnings of a thumping headache coming. She was badly dehydrated. Slowing slightly, she extended her senses beyond just focusing on picking a path through the forest. Quickly she realized the aerial bombardment had stopped. In the distance, she could hear the whining of Karacknid troop shuttles. They were searching for whatever marines had escaped. Pulling up a map of the local area on her HUD she was surprised to see she was a full six miles from the initial ambush site. Something else on her HUD caught her attention though. The temperature of her combat armor was still dangerously high. Its stealth technology was struggling and failing to dissipate the heat. If she didn’t cool down quickly she would light up whatever infrared sensors the Karacknid shuttles had. On her map she searched for somewhere to hide. No known safe spots or caves were anywhere nearby. Something else caught her eye. A medium sized river. It was just another mile away. Despite her groaning muscles, Jeffers broke into a sprint again.
Soon she was at the river. Without a moment’s hesitation she dived in. Letting the weight of her combat armor pull her down, she sank to the bottom. She paused to allow her combat armor to quickly dissipate its excess heat into the water. Then, using her arms, she lifted her body off the river bed and allowed the current to take her downstream. The river headed in almost the opposite direction to the rendezvous point she had arranged with her marines. At the moment she didn’t care. She would get to the rendezvous point eventually. Now her focus was on getting out of the Karacknids’ search zones. Her marines had known they would have to scatter even after a successful ambush. It was expected that the survivors would trickle into the rendezvous point over the next week. If I’m last, I’m last, Jeffers thought as the current picked up speed. As long as I’m not the only one. The ambush had been a disaster. She had been outsmarted. It was obvious now that the troop movements had been leaked. They were waiting for us! Jeffers berated herself. It’s not just a disaster, it’s my disaster. How many have died under your command now? Jeffers had to blink back tears of shame. She knew the answer to her own question. One hundred and six normal and special forces marines had died in operations she had led since the Karacknid invasion. She knew that when she got to the rendezvous point, she would be adding to that number.
*
17th January 2482 AD (eleven days later).
Jeffers led what remained of her special forces marine platoon through the dark cave system with a weariness she had never felt before. Six days ago she had made it back to the rendezvous point. Only thirteen other marines had been there. Four of them had been badly injured. Eight had not made it at all. They were eight men and woman she had come to know well. Faces she could easily picture when she closed her eyes. In dismay and defeat she had led what remained of her forces from the rendezvous point into one of Holstein’s many cave systems. Major General Johnston had sent word for her to meet with him. She had hoped to arrive at their meeting point with a victory to report. Instead she was arriving with only a shell of her force left. Whatever Johnston wanted her special forces marines for, she wasn’t sure he would be able to find a use for them now.
Movement up ahead made her freeze. Switching on one of her combat armor’s lights, she blinked it in the prearranged pattern. A hundred meters further down the cave, a similar light appeared and returned the pattern. “We are here,” she said to her marines. “We should have food and supplies. You’ll be able to rest.” She doubted it would lift the spirits of her soldiers, but it was all she could offer them.
“Major Jeffers?” A marine in combat armor asked as she approached.
“Yes, Major General Johnston is expecting me,” she replied.
“I am Captain Higuaín, please follow me. My surgeon will see to your platoon,” the marine replied.
Jeffers wanted to correct him. Her special forces marines barely numbered more than a couple of squads now. She held her tongue. They would find out about her failure soon enough. “Lead on,” she said instead.
“Major Jeffers,” Johnston said as she entered the alcove in the cave system Johnston had obviously taken as an office. She saluted him and Johnston returned the gesture. “Your reply to my message spoke of an attack. How did it go?” Johnston asked.
Jeffers kept her face taunt. “It was a failure General. The Karacknids anticipated our plan. They were ready for us. I positioned my marines on either side of the route the Karacknid regiment was taking. I had explosives planted as well. The plan was to catch the head of their column in the explosion and then hit their troop trucks with hypervelocity missiles. Neither happened. They stopped before reaching my explosives and then all hell broke loose. There must have been hundreds of kinetic rounds sent down on our heads. I lost eight marines. Two more are badly injured. My force has been halved. We were defeated.”
Johnston bowed his head. When he looked back up Jeffers was surprised not to see disappointment in his eyes. “I’m sorry for your losses. You have proven yourself to be one of the most competent commanders of marines I have ever met,” he said as he held her gaze. “Don’t let this get you down. None of us can win every battle. It does confirm what I have been thinking though.”
Jeffers hesitated. She had been expecting a grilling. Instead Johnston was changing the topic. S
he knew what he was doing. He was trying to take her mind off her losses. Though she didn’t appreciate the effort, she took his bait. “What is that?” she asked, she didn’t want to dwell on them either. That was all that she had been doing for the last week and more.
“We need to end our resistance efforts,” Johnston said as he sat down at his makeshift desk and motioned Jeffers towards one of the seats.
“Surely not?” Jeffers asked, her own problems forgotten. “We cannot be defeated yet. What about our forces in the north?”
“They’re still fighting,” Johnston confirmed. “But they’re down to just a handful of dampeners. Sooner rather than later the Karacknid forces there will capture or destroy them and then our forces will be bombarded into surrender. The mountain passes have severely curtailed the Karacknids’ ability to outmaneuver our forces there, but our losses have been steadily rising. If I don’t pull our marines out now, they will be trapped up there.”
Jeffers turned away from Johnston as she tried to picture what it would be like. Three regiments had fallen back into the mountains in the north of the continent. There they had been fighting a slow retreat for months. The narrow valleys and high mountains had negated the Karacknids’ numerical advantage. Though if the dampeners were taken out, the same geographical features would trap the marines. Taking them out with orbital strikes would be like shooting ducks in a barrel. “What about our efforts to carry out raids and ambushes?” she asked when her mind returned to the many hundreds of marines who were hidden all across the southern part of the continent.