by T. D. Wilson
Toronaga’s voice crackled over the MACE’s intercom. “I feel like I just went fifteen rounds with a heavyweight boxing champion. I might have dislocated my shoulder and cracked some ribs, but I’ll be okay.”
The other Cilik’ti body still had the legs of the Toronaga’s MACE trapped.
Sanchez leaned closer to the black-and-yellow blood-coated armored unit. “You need a hand?” he asked, hoping his sarcasm would help ease the Marine’s weariness.
The blades on the MACE unit’s arm retracted, and Toronaga raised it straight up toward Sanchez.
“Funny, Sergeant,” Sanchez said and smacked the armored hand with his own.
The other Marines managed to remove the second body, allowing Toronaga to bring his MACE to its feet. Toronaga disengaged the armor interlock and stepped out of the unit after it opened. Sanchez and Maya caught his arms as he stumbled, but his legs steadied and he assured them he was okay. “What’s the casualty count, sir?” Toronaga asked. “How many did we lose?”
“I don’t have a full account, Sergeant, but it’s not good,” Sanchez replied. “We need to make contact with Major McGregor. There was too much interference...” He let the last part trail off. He caught a glimpse of the western horizon. Flashes sparked over the darkened sky, and neither man required Maya’s advanced hearing to pick up the rumbles of the huge explosions in the distance. The trio stared in awed silence at the display. Their battle was only a skirmish, and the real fight for the Magellan colony was already underway.
Chapter Thirteen
Magellan colony site
Marine battle zone
Cygni 4
Saturday, February 1
Earth Year 2155
McGregor concentrated on the voice of his Force Recon Platoon Leader over the comm channel. “The main force has split, sir. The enemy’s got a spearhead of armor and support coming into the valley, but you’ve got a large group of APCs and fast-moving infantry headed at your right flank.” McGregor checked the map on the wall of the defensive platform’s command center while the report continued. “The forest might shield them on the approach, but there’s a large open area before the ridge to the valley. I mark it as grid one-one-eight by three-two-zero.”
McGregor jogged over and tapped the location on the map. “Roger that, Corporal. Move your teams into position on this side of the ridge. I’m going to need some visual reconnaissance for fire support.”
“Roger. Redeploying to new position now,” the Marine acknowledged. “ETA two minutes.”
McGregor turned back to Searcy after the comm channel closed. “Lieutenant, contact Condor flight. Tell them primary kill box is grid one-one-eight by three-two-zero. Have ’em sync with Corporal Gorran’s platoon. They’ll have the visual. The Tikis are trying to make an end run on us, lass, and I want ’em stopped before they reach that ridge. Go code is Scorch.”
“Roger, sir,” Searcy replied and opened a new channel to the Marines’ assault shuttle group.
The assault shuttles were superb ground support craft and their high speed at low altitudes, coupled with a wide range of armaments, made them a favorite among the Marine troops on the ground. McGregor’s scorch assault was one he’d planned for when he’d first arrived on planet. The shuttles would strike with high explosive missiles and drop large incendiary munitions over the target grid. On Mars and the other Earth colonies the Cilik’ti had trampled, the lack of atmosphere had limited the use of some of the EDF’s more effective weapons, but McGregor intended to let the Cilik’ti get the full dose this time.
The sound of a large concussive explosion outside brought McGregor to the door of the command center. The blast struck just about twenty meters short of the bunker positions on his left flank, and he heard the whistle of another round approaching. The Cilik’ti had opened up with the artillery. The next blast fell short as well, this time closer to his center, but he recognized the weapon. The Marines called them blast waves. The large concussive weapons made normal artillery munitions look like a popgun at a toy party. Even at the current distance from his men, he knew their ears would already be ringing from the strikes. When the Cilik’ti walked the rounds in closer, the rounds would wreak havoc with his forward positions.
Jonathan Hood was outside next to the railing, gazing through a pair of field glasses when the next rounds landed. “Major!” he called out. “I’ve got Cilik’ti tanks in the valley.”
McGregor grabbed his glasses and joined him. McGregor could make out two Shredder tanks moving into view, followed by a string of others. He felt the urge to use artillery on their position, but the tanks were still three hundred meters from his predetermined grid. He gritted his teeth and cursed. He knew he had to wait.
Across the battlefield, an unexpected explosion rocked the lead Shredder tank, and McGregor’s grimace turned into a smile. He’d nearly forgotten the team of Gauss rifle rovers he’d deployed on the lower part of the northern ridge. The rovers, more affectionately named Mongooses, were wide-bodied vehicles with large wheels built around a long-barreled high-energy rail gun.
Speed was the name of the game for the wheeled vehicle, and the Mongoose got its name for being fast, highly maneuverable and able to strike a deadly blow to its target. McGregor watched the pair of rovers speed along the ridge and fire again on the approaching tanks. He could see the spouts of blue flame burst from vertical stabilization thrusters on the forward corners of their frames.
The neutronium armor-piercing slugs slammed into two more tanks and knocked them out of commission, but the Cilik’ti already had identified their position. Blue particle energy blasts exploded around them. The two Mongooses reversed direction and sped along the trails that lined the ridge, attempting to get out of range. The northern ridge had several wide stone ledges that were fairly even and devoid of trees, but the slopes held enough soil to support thinly trunked tangle trees. The trees, though small, offered good camouflage for the Mongooses, but many burst into flames at the touch of the Cilik’ti particle weapons. As the Mongooses made their way closer to the Marine positions, the ridge curved into a small eddy formation deep enough to shield them from the view of the tanks.
Two more particle energy blasts struck in front of the Mongoose on the upper trail, ripping a huge hole in the ground. The Mongoose’s front wheels fell into the hole and caught the far edge. The rover tumbled out of control and landed on its top. The other Mongoose never saw its partner fall and sped on toward the Marine defenses. McGregor pounded his fist against the railing in helpless anger as the downed vehicle exploded.
“Sir!” Searcy called from inside the command center. “Corporal Gorran’s team is on station, and Condor Flight is airborne.”
“Any sign of the enemy?”
Searcy conversed for a brief moment on the comm channel and then muted it once more. “Corporal Gorran reports no activity.”
“Good. Tell him to sit tight. Keep Condor Flight behind the mountain and on ready alert. I want the Tikis to commit and then hit ‘em.”
* * *
Caris’s skin was ghostly pale and his eyes were glazed. Tears flowed down Gina’s cheeks, and he turned his head toward her. “Oh, Gina...” He coughed. “I, uh, seem to have taken a bad spill.” Blood started to dribble from the corner of his mouth.
“Caris, don’t talk,” she whispered. Her hands were shaking. “I need you to stay still.” She struggled to load the jet gun with the injector but managed to get it in, then pressed it against his left arm and pulled the trigger. The medicine flooded into him and his breathing relaxed. She turned to a few of the colonists who’d just finished treating some of the other wounded. “I need some help over here!”
Four colonists rushed over, including one of the women Gina knew was a doctor at the colony’s medical clinic. The doctor moved in beside Gina and pulled out a handheld medical scanner. She watched the readings and
shook her head. “We need to get this rock off him so I can stabilize him.”
“Keep him calm. I’m going to help,” Gina told the doctor. She stood and directed the other helpers around the boulder. Each of the colonists bent down around the rock, placing their hands underneath it. “Okay,” Gina said, “on three, we lift and walk it to my right.”
Two more colonists joined them. “Do you want us to pull Dr. Caris out from underneath?”
The medical doctor shook her head. “No, I don’t want him moved.” She looked at Gina. “The rock has got to come clean, and don’t roll it free or it’ll cause more damage.”
Gina nodded. “Okay. Everyone ready. Remember lift with your legs and keep them under you so we can distribute the weight. One. Two. Three.”
Gina and the other three colonists strained but managed to lift the boulder a half meter above the ground. Her fingers ached and she was afraid she might let go. She nodded to the others, and the group carried the rock out of the way then lowered it to the ground.
Gina moved back to Caris’s side but had to avert her eyes from the area where the rock had crushed him. The sight was more than she could bear. Instead, she grasped his hand and tried to keep him calm while the doctor worked.
The doctor provided quick instructions to the colonists around her. The group rushed off and returned with a makeshift stretcher made out of a modified bed cot. “I’ve done what I can. He’s stable for now and we can immobilize him for transport, but we have to get him back to a medical facility.”
“We need those rovers,” Gina said. “Be right back.” She patted Caris’s hand, and he managed a weak smile. She walked over to the blocked exit that led west toward the geologists and the next cavern. The collapse was smaller than the one that led to the surface, but without the powerful winches on the rovers, moving the huge boulders could take days. Time Caris and the other wounded didn’t have.
She climbed on the first rock and managed to make her way to the top of the pile. The rocks on the top were smaller, and she shifted one to the left and found a gap. It wasn’t much, but it was something and from the look of it, the rocks around it weren’t wedged in place. If the rocks were free, then they wouldn’t be supporting the ceiling and there was a lower risk of another cave-in if they cleared the lower boulders.
Gina hopped down from the rock pile and moved back to the crates of supplies. “Everyone, please listen!” she shouted.
The colonists not treating the wounded stopped what they were doing and turned their heads toward her.
“We need to make it to the next cavern and get our rovers to help clear a path back to the surface.” She pointed to the collapse she’d just come from. “The rocks on the top of this pile are loose. If we can move them, we can send for help, but I need any free hands over here to help.”
Waving her hand toward the rock pile, Gina led several of the colonists toward the collapse. She formed two lines. Teams of two worked to move smaller rocks off the pile and passed them back to the others to be placed out of the way. The process worked well for the smaller rocks, but as more of the pile was cleared, her hopes sank. Huge pieces of reddish brown stone were stacked almost to the ceiling. After a quick inspection, she knew they were almost impossible to move and there wasn’t enough room for anyone to crawl over the top.
Undaunted, Gina climbed back to the top of the pile with the steady hands of a few of her helpers. Another colonist joined her and together they tried to free one of boulders, but after a minute of straining, the pair gave up. There wasn’t any leverage point for either of them to even budge the rock.
A small tremor shifted the boulders underneath Gina, and she struggled to keep her balance. With an exhale of disgust at their lack of progress, Gina jumped to the cavern floor, and everyone moved clear. She hoped there wouldn’t be another cave-in.
The tremors paused then started again, but the vibrations seemed to be in the floor and not on the surrounding walls or ceiling of the cavern. Gina took a few tentative steps back to the rock pile. The vibrations began to vary in intensity and to her surprise, they moved from one side of the rocks and then to the other. The cavern floor shifted in front of the pile, and the lowest boulder cracked in two.
A sleek black creature crested the surface of the cavern floor and moved closer to her amid a chorus of gasps from the colonists behind her. “Max?” she uttered.
The creature moved through the cavern floor with ease, and its vibrations loosened the dirt and rock in its path. More of the land whale’s body surfaced and it stopped at Gina’s feet.
She bent down and stroked her hand along its long scaled back, and the creature wiggled back and forth in obvious pleasure. “Max, it is you!” she exclaimed, excited to see her friend from the canyon. “How in the world did you find me?”
Many of the colonists stood dumbfounded as Gina was reunited with her alien friend, but she didn’t waste any time explaining her relationship with the creature to them. Instead, she moved closer to the rock and patted the ground. Max sank back into the cavern floor and resurfaced again next to her hand. “I don’t know if you understand, boy, but we need your help. Can loosen up these rocks for us?”
She patted the cracked boulder with her hand and pointed to the rock, hoping her subterranean friend would understand, but Max didn’t move. Gina tried again, but he still remained motionless at her feet. Gina sighed and searched for something else to use. Desperate, she picked up a small rock and pounded it several times against the boulder. This time Max shifted below the floor, and Gina could tell by the vibrations in the ground that he’d moved under the rocks blocking the passageway. The vibrations intensified, and more cracks in the boulder appeared. Gina watched in amazement as the once solid reddish-tinged ground beneath the pile shifted, and the lower rocks sank into the floor.
“Yes!” she yelled in excitement. “That’s it, Max. Keep it up.”
The boulder on the bottom crumbled, and more of the huge rocks fell free. Gina jumped back out of the way of the falling rocks and stood on her toes to see if the gap above the rocks had opened. The gap was nearly a meter high now, plenty of room to get through.
The vibrations stopped, and Gina bent down to the ground and patted the floor once again. Moments later, Max reemerged next to her as members of the colonists scaled the rocks and began to crawl to the other side. Several of the other colonists cheered behind her.
“Good boy, Max!” Gina yelled to the subterranean creature. “First thing when we get out of here, I’m getting you the biggest pile of bugs I can find.” She petted Max’s back again, and the land whale arched upward, eager for her to rub him again. She didn’t disappoint him.
Shouts came from the other sides of the rocks. “We’re through!” Moments later, someone added, “We’ve got lights headed our way.” Followed by, “It’s our rovers! The others came looking for us!”
Relief flooded over Gina. They were going to make it, she was sure of it now. She turned and looked back at Caris. The doctor and another colonist held him still, while two more people slid the stretcher underneath his broken body. Even if they couldn’t get back to the Magellan, there was more medical equipment at the canyon they could use to treat him.
Gina patted Max’s back one last time and walked over beside Caris as the colonists raised his stretcher. She grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. They had come a long way together and although they didn’t always agree, she held a deep respect for the man. Patiently, she waited for the rovers to pull out the rest of the rocks to clear the entrance. As the sound of the rocks being dragged away consumed the cavern, she closed her eyes and thought of Jonathan. If they could make it through this, she was sure he could too.
* * *
The Armstrong continued its latest string of high-speed evasive maneuvers. The deadly game of cat and mouse Hood had engineered with the much-larger Cilik’ti mo
ther ship continued in high orbit above Cygni, and neither side could gain a definite upper hand.
The tactics Hood used had saved his ship from serious damage, but the hits were beginning to add up. The Cilik’ti ship had been unable to score another direct hit on the Armstrong, but each glancing blow ticked off armor and weakened the already over-performing defensive shield. Unfortunately, the Armstrong had been unable to cause any serious damage of her own, even with the new particle cannon. He’d hoped for some sign of secondary explosions inside the vessel, but the sheer mass of the opposing ship seemed to absorb damage and showed no ill effects. Hood gripped the edge of his chair hard. Frustration and fatigue of the battle were already beginning to mount, and the pain in his cheek made it hard to think. He worried it was only a matter of time before the enemy ship would strike a decisive blow and force his ship into a desperate situation of fighting to the bitter end or abandoning the planet altogether.
As Hood ordered each new set of maneuvers for the helm, he never took his eyes off his screen that was now zoomed in close on the enemy ship’s hull. His gunships, fighters and point defense weapons continued to swat the enemy drones from space, but as each group was eliminated, more emerged from the mother ship’s hangars. There seemed to be an endless supply.
The battle was getting long, but at least Hood had managed to keep his ship in position to thwart any more of the Cilik’ti troop drops. At the same time, he’d turned the tails on the giant warship. Without its cruiser escort, the mother ship couldn’t stay too close to the planet or it would risk being pinned against the gravity well and unable to maneuver. Hood had slowly but surely lured it farther away.
“Aldridge, reconfigure gunship stations to rotate to the Percival. I don’t want her to get overwhelmed,” he called out. Moments later, the three other gunships moved from their previous flanking positions to ones closer to the damaged gunship. The change in configuration placed his port side defense in the hands of his port defensive weapons, but it was a risk he had to take and one he hoped the Cilik’ti would see. “Launch Delta Squadron and keep them close underneath us,” he instructed. “I want them ready to go on my command.” Hood had been patient in not using his bombers and he was confident the opening he needed was at hand.