“What are you getting just past Robin,” Esther asked Captain Montoya.
“Looks like there could be a good-sized force up there. Nothing clear.”
“Spoof or real,” she asked the S2.
“I don’t know. I don’t think their spoofing capabilities are very sophisticated. We know they’ve got Gentry gear,” he said as if that answered her question.
Gentry was the universal depot for cheap military equipment, available to anyone with the credit to buy them. The planet’s weaponry was basic, but capable. Their reputation for surveillance and countersurveillance was not nearly so complementary. In most cases, that gear was merely thrown in a deal to sweeten the pot.
“What’s your analysis?”
“Somebody’s up there, ma’am. How many, I don’t know. But there’ve been people in the hills above us since we left Jaipur.”
Esther considered what she’d just said. There were AA fighters up there, but were they spotters or fighters? The site was decent enough for an ambush, but not the best.
But they wouldn’t pick the best!
A tsunami of certainty flooded over her.
“Stop the battalion!” she ordered Major Kutzman as she sprinted for the command trac. “Digger-Three,” she passed to Charlie Company on the command net, “halt in place and set up a hasty defense. Send a squad forward to check around the bend. I want them visible. Charlie-One, wait two minutes, then I want you to send both PICS platoons up here,” she ordered Captain McLamb and swiping a route up the near side of the slope. “I think you’ll find a force there oriented to the west. Crush them.”
She bolted back inside the Hot Shot as all eyes swiveled to her.
“Lieutenant Creighton, can you give me the cannon at 5 megajoules and wide dispersion?” she asked the Mount Fuji’s naval gunfire liaison officer.
“Uh . . . yes, ma’am. But five megajoules and wide dispersion, that’s pretty survivable to protected troops. And, uh, we can’t keep it up for long. We’ve still got the ARG, though.”
Esther took a moment to consider that. Creighton was reminding her that atmosphere dissipation was the bane of space-based energy weapons, requiring huge amounts of power to get that energy focused on the target on the ground. The Atmospheric Railgun got around that by sending shells at amazingly high speeds through the atmosphere, each shell being a self-contained pulse generator which energized into a plasma sphere upon detonation. At one kilojoule, though, they didn’t have a large effective casualty radius, and the battalion was probably opposing dispersed troops.
“No, I need a wider brush. And I don’t think they’re too protected. I’ll have PICS Marines there, and I can’t have you knocking them out or degrading them, so keep it at five megajoules. I want the Fujiyama to fire here at my command,” she told him, touching the spot on the screen.
“Do you think this is it, Colonel?” Major Kutzman asked.
“Yeah, I do. If I’m wrong, though, no harm, no foul.”
“XO,” she passed on the P2P. “We’re initiating an assault on what I think might be the ambush. Monitor what’s happening and keep an eye on the flanks. We know we bypassed AA fighters, and I don’t want them converging on us.”
She pulled up the overhead and zoomed in. A squad of Charlie Marines was creeping forward as if trying to keep anyone from the west from spotting them. Of course, if Esther were correct, then the “L” in the ambush would be the AA to the east, the ones she wanted Alpha’s PICS Marines to take out. Hopefully, when they saw the Charlie squad, they’d focus on them for the few moments it would take the PICS Marines to scale the hill and hit them.
“Let McLamb know we’re going to spray his Marines with the Fujiyama,” she told Creighton.
“And make sure he doesn’t send any straight leg grunts, including him, after the PICS,” she told Major Kutzman.
Knowing McLamb, he’d run after his two platoons to be able to command them, but without the PICS armor, the Mount Fuji would cook him.
Esther scanned the overhead view for a moment before the Three said, “Digger-One’s PICS are on the way.”
Esther switched her view to one of her dragonflies. The PICS were at full countermeasures, but the combat AI meshed the systems, and she could easily see the PICS as they charged up the near side of the hill, climbing almost 400 meters in 35 seconds, which was a pretty respectable feat. PICS were great on flat ground, but steep terrain was more problematic.
They crested the hill and started down on the other side. For a moment, Esther thought she’d been mistaken, which was not a lethal mistake but might reveal how she intended to fight this battle. But then, a single kinetic round reached out, impacting on one of the Marines. A moment later, the hillside opened up with fire, both energy and kinetics.
“Now, Creighton!” Esther shouted.
A moment later, her display went red as the meson beam hit the hillside. If she’d been at the scene, she might see some wavering in the air as it ionized, but that would be about it. The AI turned the beam red on the battalion monitors, though, for easier identification.
That diminished but did not stop the incoming fire as the Marines rushed the ambushers and started rolling up their flank.
“We’ve got anti-armor,” Sergeant Jeff shouted out.
Esther switched her display just as two missiles slammed into the Marines, taking out one PICS.
“Send Kingery up the west slope as fast as he can and get fire on the far side,” Esther told Major Kutzman.
“Creighton, what do you have for me? I need something on the hills.”
“We’ve got a Tungsicle loaded and ready for bear. The standoff is 500 meters, though.”
The Gravity Dropped-1905, the “Tungsicle,” was a simple, four-meter long column of crystallized ceramic-covered tungsten. It could be boosted with strap-on motors or shot from a modified rail on the Mount Fuji, but gravity took over to get the round to the surface. At 80 centimeters wide, it was a hefty 155,000 kg of unstoppable penetration power. It was designed to take out hardened targets, but hitting with the equivalent of 15 tons of TNT, it would wreak havoc on troops as well. It was the very embodiment of the Navy gunners’ motto Velocitas Eradico, or “I, who am speed, eradicate.”
That’ll sure get their attention.
She selected one of their pre-planned targets where she guessed AA fighters would be.
“How long for impact?”
“If we rail it, four minutes. If not, ten.”
Too long! Alpha’s PICS Marines would be within 400 meters of impact, but they were built to take it. Charlie’s Marines would still be climbing for the next several minutes, but at four minutes, the first of them would be at the crest and only 300 meters or so from the impact site.
“Canc’ the Tungsicle. Just give me whatever the ship can put out all along here,” she said, swiping a broad line along both sides of the valley beyond the bend.
“I can give you 30 more seconds before we have to recharge the cannons.”
A cruiser could fire in space almost indefinitely, but even a cruiser was more limited firing through an atmosphere. The Mount Fuji was a nice firing platform, but she was no cruiser. Her two cannons needed cooling and recharging after sustained fire of any length of time.
“Do it! Then give me the ARG when the cannons are offline.”
Esther sat back a moment, gathering her thoughts. Around her, the quiet murmur of the Alpha Command Marines as they subvocalized into their headsets reached her. A strong part of her wanted to jump into each of their comms, to make sure they were doing their jobs, but as Noah was so fond of reminding her, she couldn’t let herself get trapped in the weeds. She had the proverbial “big picture” to worry about.
She turned to her command display which offered the same data as her face shield, but over a larger footprint, so it was easier for her to comprehend. McLamb’s two PICS platoons were sweeping through the “L” of the ambush. Lieutenant Weisskopf’s shielding was down to 82%, which was the lowest
of any of them; whether that was from enemy action or the ship’s meson beams, Esther didn’t know. Two Marines were down, both WIA. Sergeant Trotter’s PICS had initiated shut-down procedures to stabilize him. PFC Corina West was unhurt, but her PICS was down hard.
A moment of panic hit her, but just before she called West, she saw that Weisskopf had already hit her up with a P2P. A quick replay, and she saw that he’d ordered her not to combat molt, to stay inside her ruined PICS until the Mount Fuji stopped firing.
Let them do their job, Lysander, she reminded her self. They know what they’re doing.
Despite her own admonition, she pulled up Weisskopf’s feed. She watched for a moment as he pushed over the rough ground, directing his Marines. Twenty meters in front of him, one of his Marines lowered his 20mm and blasted at an unseen enemy. With reluctance, she reduced the feed and sent it to the top right of her display.
The Mount Fuji’s meson cannon was offline, and the ARG was peppering the hillsides with rounds that bloomed like deadly flowers on her display. She wasn’t confident that they’d have any significant effect. They could take out point targets, but against area targets, it was more a matter of luck.
And then, other detonation blooms started appearing on her display, these indicated by the yellow of enemy fire. Intel knew the AA had received tubes, and there’d probably been enough time to get them operational. Most of the rounds were targeting Alpha’s PICS Marines, but others were being lofted over the hills to land among Bravo—and the command trac. Major Kutzman immediately gave the order to the Hot Shot’s commander to move to the left where they could get into defilade.
“Do we have a location on their tubes?” Esther asked Montoya.
“I’m getting it now. Looks to be 32 klicks to the northwest.”
Which was well beyond the reach of the militia’s artillery back in Jaipur and beyond the reach of any of her organic weapons.
“Lieutenant Creighton, shift fire of the railgun to the target at . . . eight-four-three-six, four-four-seven-nine. Then give me a Tungsicle, railed in, at the same coordinates.”
“I can’t do both. We’ve only got the one rail.”
Shit, of course. Think, Lysander!
“Tungsicle first, then ARG rounds.”
“Roger that. I’m on it.”
She didn’t bother to shift the targeting for the two cannons. The G-298’s the AA received were hardened against energy weapons. A direct hit with an ARG round might have an effect, but not the ship’s cannons.
Esther looked over her options. She had three line companies, weapons company, the militia infantry and arty, and the Mount Fuji. She could pull up Captain Gill to become the point of main effort, but her distrust of the militia infantry’s readiness and willingness to fight held her back. The AA they’d bypassed were maneuvering, and her instincts told her they’d be attacking the battalion’s rear. She needed Bravo and the arty to blunt any attack from that direction.
At the base of the L ambush, Alpha’s two PICS platoons were advancing readily. Esther didn’t know how spread out the AA forces were, but they didn’t seem too concentrated, at least those along the high ground. With Charlie now reaching the high ground on the south side of the valley and Alpha on the north side, she could push the battalion forward, sweeping up the flanks of the AA. They might outnumber her, but if they had lined both sides of the valley, they had limited supportability, and Esther could concentrate her forces against relatively smaller numbers of AA at any given time. And if she could get Weapons forward to the bend, then she could start getting heavier weapons to bear.
A blast rocked the Aardvark, but the trac didn’t falter. The avatars of two Marines behind the command trac grayed out. She pulled up the names—and felt guilty when she felt relief that neither of them was Noah. Cortez and Willis were still her Marines, and both had just been killed by the incoming arty.
“We need that Tungiscle!” Esther yelled at Lieutenant Creighton.
“Ten seconds,” he responded, followed a few moments later by, “Weapon away. Time of impact in two-four-eight seconds.”
“Colonel, Charlie is taking fire. Looks like full contact, not a probe,” the Three said.
Esther studied her display for a moment, then pulled up Captain Kingery on the P2P to ask, “What’s going on, Fred?”
“Third Platoon is in heavy contact,” Captain Kingery said. “I think this is part of the main body. I’ve requested fire support, but they’re in close.”
“What’s the status on Charlie’s fire support?” she yelled across the compartment to Top Yunci, her fire support coordinator.
“Can’t reach them with arty or mortars, and Lieutenant Creighton’s working on the Fujiyama,” the Top replied.
Esther looked again at her display. “In close” was an understatement. They were almost on top of each other. She understood the AA commander’s intent. Despite the AA arty, which was about to be destroyed and knocked out of the equation, the Marines had better weaponry, so he or she was trying to negate the efficacy of those weapons by closing in with the Marines and slugging it out, man-to-man.
If he wants a barroom brawl, I’ll give it to him.
The Hot Shot dipped down into a streambed, and Esther almost smacked her head against her display. She pushed her feet out under her bench to brace herself. The Aardvark had decent enough stabilization, but it couldn’t compensate for everything.
“Ralph, if we catch their tubes, that’s going to throw a wrench into their plans. What if we push Alpha forward to take advantage of it?”
Major Kutzman spun 90 degrees in his seat and looked at her for a moment before he shook his head and said, “That’ll be 32 klicks away. Yeah, we can take out their tubes, but I don’t think it’ll do much to shock the ground troops. We’ll need something closer.”
“Like another Tungsicle, danger close?”
“Exactly.”
“OK, do it,”
A wicked smile came over his face as the Three spun all the way around to tap Lieutenant Creighton on the shoulder.
He’s right. We need something closer with more immediate shock.
She pulled up Captain McLamb and said, “Wes, we’re dropping another Tungsicle, this one much, much closer. We’ll give you a heads up, but I’m going to want everyone to take cover. This will be danger close. The moment it hits, I want you in full assault mode. Take advantage of the confusion to push forward. I want you abreast of Charlie and giving him supporting fires.”
“Roger that, Colonel. Just give me a head’s up.”
Major Kutzman swung back to her and said, “The Fujiyama’s got two Tungsicles left. I’m thinking of dropping one right here.” He used his finger to point at the map readout on her display. “We’re seeing concentrations of AA moving through here.”
“That’s about 1300 meters from Alpha’s lead elements. That’s more than enough.”
“And 1200 meters from Charlie.”
The impact point he selected was on the north of the valley, same as Alpha. Charlie, while on the south side, was also farther west.
“Do we have a go?”
“Do it. And get word to Alpha and Charlie in time for them to get their heads down.”
“We’ve got movement from the tubes. They’re displacing,” Captain Montoya said.
“What’s the time until impact?” Esther asked as she fed in the Two’s display to hers.
“Twenty-six seconds.”
Esther watched on her display as the six artillery pieces started to scatter. A Tungsicle hit with a tremendous amount of force, but it was designed for hardened targets. It was not an area weapon. It was going to boil down to whether the Azaad Andolan arty had enough time to get out of the primary blast zone.
The timer ticked down agonizingly slow while the arty pieces moved like ants on meth crystals. Esther gripped the edge of the bench, her knuckles white.
“. . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . impact!” Creighton said.
; A quick flash lit up the northern horizon.
“I want a BDA,” Esther shouted out.
She knew that without people or drones on the scene, she couldn’t get anything firm, but she needed to know what happened. The Mount Fuji should be able to get something on them.
The ground shook a good ten seconds after impact. Even 32 klicks away, the power of a Tungsicle was awe-inspiring.
“There’s too much dust in the air over the impact site to be sure, but it’s looking good. Four confirmed kills, and two more look damaged.”
Could be worse.
The AA arty had KIA’d four Marines, wounded another ten, and slowed the battalion down. The Cutting Edge needed to regain the momentum. Hopefully, she’d have that momentum after the second Tungiscle hit.
“Where we at, Creighton?”
“About a minute until launch.”
Up above them in orbit, Esther knew the gun crews were rushing to get the Tungsicle on the rail, but she needed it now.
“Ralph, let’s make sure we’re on the same page here. As soon as that big boy hits, I want Alpha to push west along the high ground to the north and provide a base of fire across the valley for Charlie. After Alpha comes abreast, I want them both to push west together providing mutual support. Take it to the AA and roll up their flanks.”
“And Bravo?”
“I can’t bring Gill into the fight yet. I want Bravo to follow us in trace, but oriented to the rear. I think they’re going to have their hands full with probes. We’re almost out of arty range, so tell the battery I want them to displace forward in echelon.”
“Out of the city? I don’t think they’ll be too happy with that.”
“I don’t give a shit if they’ll be happy or not. Just get them to do it. They’ll still have their infantry between the AA and them to protect their pampered asses.
“And get Creighton to figure out the best use of the ship. I don’t want the AA to be able to maneuver and mass. I want the Fujiyama to keep their heads down.”
“Roger that. I’m on it.”
The United Federation Marine Corps' Lysander Twins: The Complete Series: Books 1-5 Page 117