SHU'KAN

by Martin Durst

  He could see their acknowledgement indicators on his tactical screen. Situational Reports were flooding his network. Company Commanders were already running critically short on munitions and were requesting to be resupplied by higher.

  A massive explosion suddenly rocked the Amphitheater. Dirt and debris choked the air. The comm screen with his tactical display shimmered with static but didn’t fail.

  ‘What the hell was that? We shouldn’t be feeling anything like that this far underground!’

  He switched to the drones. Of six, four were still flying. He chipped from each looking for the source of the explosion. What he saw was disheartening, and for the first time since arriving in Sydney, he was almost certain they all were going to die.

  Admiral Cook held to his command chair as the explosion nearly threw him to the deck.

  ‘Put some distance between us!’ he hollered to his navigation officer. ‘She can’t take this pounding much longer!’ His Bridge was a mess. Fire had erupted from several of the data consoles, and the bulkheads were beginning to crack from the concussive force of the Hiver missiles.

  For thirteen hours he’d unloaded bombardments of well coordinated attacks while out-flanking the enemy. He’d destroyed nine of their ships. –But the cost had been high. Six of his battleships were now hulks of wreckage floating in orbit around the planet. He could see the life-blood leak from them as they sparked and fumed small clouds of combustible material into cold space. Dozens of corpses floated in tandem silence giving the dark deathly hulls an eerie appearance. Even from this distance, he could see that some of his men were frozen in grotesque shapes from the unforgiving coldness. The sight of his men dying weighed heavy on him. Only his anger and hatred for the Hiver’s kept him focused on the battle that waged around him.

  The Hiver’s no longer sought to get past them. The moment they’d divided their forces, the remaining ships attacked with everything at their disposal.

  His Wing of Attack Pods fought bravely. By combining their attack patterns, the Attack Pods were able to penetrate the Hiver shielding. Twice his battered Squadrons rotated through the hangars to resupply and refuel. Five Pods and fifty crewmen were lost when a Hiver missile struck the open hangar door with uncanny luck. The explosion destroyed every Pod with any pilots still inside. The secondary explosions ripped through the pressure walls killing every crewman dutifully waiting for the Hangar to pressurize. Thankfully the emergency blast walls protected the interior of the ship.

  He quickly scanned his Bridge. His crew looked fatigued. But he was proud of them. They fought with tenacity. They all knew what was at stake. This was the line. Humanity’s future hung in the balance. He rubbed the rough bristles on his chin. It was time to change tactics.

  ‘All ships, this is Admiral Cook. Lay in a course for the moon at maximum thrust. Keep a wary eye on our guests. I want to keep some distance between us, but I also want them to follow. We won’t survive another three hours, so we’re going to use the moon to shield our ships and at the same time push ourselves closer within firing range of the surface-to-atmosphere cannons. Recall all Attack Pods. Have them lock down in the Hangars as we adjust our line. Moon base has no defenses so we’ll set an orbit that keeps them out of range of the Hivers ships. –Admiral Cook, out.’

  He watched the entire Wing break off their attack patterns and head back. Over half were missing. He counted forty on his comm screen.

  So many dead, he thought. The best and the brightest Earth Fleet had to offer. –Giving everything to protect their home. He felt guilty for still being alive. He knew his thoughts were irrational. This was the nature of war. Casualties were measured in numbers and then weighed to see if the engagement had been cost effective. It was a necessary calculation as men, supplies, and equipment determined the outcome of battles. It didn’t make it any easier.

  ‘Admiral, we have an urgent call from Captain Wilkes!’ his comm officer bellowed.

  ‘Patch it.’

  ‘Admiral, I’m afraid we’ve reached the end of the road. We’re hitting critical temps. –Not going to make it.’

  ‘We’ll slow down for you. What-

  ‘No Sir. We both know without the moon as a shield what’s left our ships won’t survive.’

  ‘Sir,’ the Admiral’s navigation officer interjected, ‘they’re slowing down their ship. The Hiver’s will be on them in seconds.’

  Admiral Cook wanted to scream in frustration, but knew above all else, he had to remain strong for his men. They depended on his level calmness.

  ‘We’ll buy you some time, Admiral,’ Captain Wilkes continued. His visual link wavered and went to static. The Hivers were already attacking like vicious dogs. ‘Overload- our engi- take wit-

  The comms channel went dead. The communications officer silently switched to aft view. All seven Hiver ships were unleashing on them. Small fires erupted from her hull. –Then a blinding explosion as the ship tore itself to shreds. A Hiver ship that was too close exploded with it. Typically cheers would follow the destruction of an enemy ship, but this time there was only silence.

  Sir,’ his tactical officer said softly, ‘that was an internal explosion. They blew up the ship.’

  ‘I know. –I know.’

  It had been a long time since she’d strained this heavily. The surface defenses were unexpected. Perhaps she’d waited too long to return. Clearly this species had prepared.

  The decision to break orbit and accompany the surface incursion may not have been prudent. While encased in an atmosphere environment, and with her brood on the surface collecting specimen, she could not deploy the shields. The intense radiation would kill them. The decision was costing her.

  Above this planet she pushed her ships to chase after the enemy. She’d all but destroyed them. Now they ran for cover as they did during their first engagement. They would use this planets natural satellite as a shield. It was an expected move.

  Here at the surface, six of her ships were destroyed, but she was able to eliminate most of the nuisance that pelted them. Now her collection holds were filling. One by one her brood returned the lifting platforms. Some resistance was still holding part of her attention and had destroyed several of the lifts; so she sent reinforcements. It shouldn’t be a problem for much longer.

  As she struggled to maintain her mental control of both engagements, she became dismayed over another development. A large group of the small, but effective attack flyers just came into her sensing range. This was not agreeable at all.

  General Christensen knew he was running out of options. A massive electrical type charge had just exploded over the entire city. And whatever those charges were, they functioned like a type of EMP. Dozens of his assault Pods ground to a halt as the engines refused to operate. He could see multiple SITREPs coming over his comm screen. The situation was getting dire.

  Pressure at times could handicap a man. But he was in his element. Making quick decisions was part of commanding. Almost all his anti-aircraft batteries were out of commission. The Hiver’s executed an impressive coordinated strike against them. But you could only move a Negrav platform so fast. And against air strikes that have freedom of mobility, it was just a matter of time. To make matters worse, all but one of his aerial drones were destroyed. His view of the city was now limited. Hundreds of his men littered the streets as corpses while others had been captured and added to the drop ships.

  He quickly scanned his tactical display assessing the situation. With the losses of men and equipment mounting, this battle was going to be over soon. He chipped his command channel. ‘This is Eagle One. All inoperable Pods are ordered to dismount. All Battalion elements have your Companies regroup and try to regain the initiative. The following grids have large clusters of Hiver’s operating drop ships. Concentrate on the drop ships. Minimize civilian casualties and disrupt their activity. –Attack in teamed assaults to maximize fire power! Continue mortar strikes on any drop ship that tries to take off! –Regardless of civilians!�
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  He turned to one of his aides while slapping a charge stick in his heat rifle. ‘Grab a weapon, son. Time to earn your pay! There’s nothing more we can do standing here!’

  ‘Y –Yes, Sir!’

  He walked up the stairwell and out of his Command Post. The sound of battle raged just outside the entryway. Sounds of explosions reverberated everywhere. Dirt and debris rained down on him as he vaulted up the last step into hell.

  A woman ran past him screaming as a bi-pedal Hiver chased her. He swiftly pulled his rifle to his shoulder and fired. The thing fell on its face screaming. Blood pooled on its back as the wound spewed its life fluid. ‘There’s one for the home team!’ He pulled a fresh cigar from his tunic to chew on and moved out. He noticed his aides huddled behind him nervously looking around. ‘-One of you yellow-belly sissy’s shoots me in the back, I’ll personally get up and kill you before I die!’ Paper-pushers, he thought, rolling his eyes.

  He ran across the street towards the sound of weapons fire. Pressing his shoulder against a building, he peeked around the corner. One spider and two bi-pedal Hiver’s were trying to close the hatches on a drop ship that was packed with civilians. Every time one climbed up to secure the hatch, sniper fire tried to pick them off.

  He observed the direction of fire. There were two snipers taking shots. One on the opposite side of the street the other to the rear. From their positions, they couldn’t get clean shots. But from here, he could take them out. He leveled his heat rifle and took aim.

  A scream nearly shattered his ear drum. Wet spray pelted the side of his face. Ducking just in time, he narrowly missed having his head severed from his torso. The largest Spider-Hiver he’d ever seen stood over the bodies of his two aides. Their heads, now severed, lay several feet away. He backed up slowly into the street keeping his heat rifle leveled at the creature. It hissed and lunged trying to get him to panic and run. From the corner of his eye, he could see the snipers keeping the others busy. –No going that way. He quickly wiped the blood from his eyes so he could see. The Hiver continued to hiss and flex its mandibles ready for a quick strike. The thick bristly fur on its legs stood on end showing its excitement. He squinted an eye and squeezed the trigger. As he did so, he stumbled backwards on a piece of rubble causing his shot to go high. It struck the beast in the face pulverizing one of its mandibles. It screamed and leaped on him. He hit hard losing his weapon. The weight of the thing was suffocating. It pushed against his chest trying fruitlessly to bite him. Frustrated and confused, it slashed and slapped its legs against him in a fit. He struggled to get the knife strapped to his thigh. Finally reaching it, he drove it deep into its abdomen. It cried in pain as he drove the blade in again, and again. Pushing the jerking carcass off, he rolled to his rifle happy to have its firm shape in his hands again. Free from the Hiver, he doubled timed back to a debris pile. He leveled his rifle and fired three quick shots at the remaining Hivers. Hitting at least two, they panicked and exposed themselves. The snipers made quick work of them.

  He sat on the pile to rest a moment and tried chipping his TOC. –Unbelievably, it was still functioning. He could still see the data his last drone was sending. The reorganized pockets of resistance were keeping some of the drop ships grounded. –For now.

  ‘Any element, any element, this is Eagle One. Maintain pressure on the drop ships. We ha –Wait one.’ He looked at the data from his drone –What he saw was a God send.’ We have in-coming support!’ He smiled at the cluster of blue blips on his tactical display. ‘The fly boys are here!’

  Chapter Eleven

  Lieutenant McConnel was sweating like never before. The entire Wing just completed a sub-orbital jump. An old trick of aviation, sub-orbital jumps allowed ships to get to their destination far more quickly than standard atmospheric flight. –It’d been his first outside of a simulator. Several of the Attack Pods now carried fresh burn marks as green pilots re-entered the atmosphere with improper alignment. It was fortunate that the Pods were dual atmosphere and space capable.

  Now, with Sydney minutes away, he prayed that they weren’t too late. Their flight trajectory was bringing them in from the Northwest. As he watched the horizon, a scene of horror unfolded in front of him. Sydney was being ravaged. As hell was being unleashed, he could hear audible gasps and whispers through his comms. ‘Alright ladies, this is what we get paid for!’ Captain Tork barked through the comms. ‘On my mark, we break and lock-synch into Squadrons. Intel initially reported twelve to fourteen Hiver ships, satcom is confirming eight. Judging from the debris, it looks like Ground Forces have been successful taking a few out. Objectives are the ships. Civilians are secondary. –Yes that means if there are humans already on board they are now considered collateral damage. You are to destroy those ships at all costs. Move to your assigned targets on three, two, one, mark!’

  The large Wing formation broke into smaller Squadrons and zeroed on their targets. –Each Squadron Commander lock-synched to their group on a sub channel. Lieutenant McConnel flew wingman to Captain Tork.

  ‘Alright men, we’re targeting that large bastard. It’s the Harvester ship. Let’s take it down. –Attack pattern Tango.’ Lieutenant McConnel chipped his Attack Pod for the desired pattern and made his run. He pushed in hot and targeted a gun turret. It sensed his approach and unleashed a barrage of flak. As the projectiles exploded around his Pod, he felt it pepper his fuselage. He let loose a rocket and pulled his stick in tight. He gritted his teeth as hard gravity crushed him to his seat. He pushed into a steep climb looking out the side of his canopy. He’d scored a direct hit obliterating the turret. ‘Woo-hoo! That’s one for Momma!’ he chipped over the comm.

  ‘Cut the chatter, Lieutenant!’ Captain Tork was riding his six. ‘If you’re done, patting yourself on the back, we have a job to do. Let’s finish it!’

  ‘Yes, Sir!’

  His Squadron strafed their assigned ship repeatedly. On each run they attempted to take out its defense systems, but they were taking casualties. However, each run was taking a toll on the ships. Slowly, their target was starting to succumb. It finally exploded into a massive ball of flame. The entire comm net erupted in cheers. Even Captain Tork, who usually reprimanded for disruptions, seemed happy. ‘By God, that harvester is down! Good work men! Let’s team up and take out the rest of them! –Break. Bravo leader, this is Alpha. We’re coming to support your six. Charlie-Delta-Echo, do the same as your targets are neutralized. Let’s keep the hammer down!’

  McConnel was elated. For the first time, he felt like they had a chance. He couldn’t help smiling as he toggled his rapid fire cannon sending a hailstorm of lead at the ship in front of him. It was already bellowing dark smoke and losing altitude. As he watched, it dipped nose-first slowly dropping to its doom. Seemingly in slow motion, it finally struck hard; digging a jagged swath of destruction as its massive weight collapsed onto itself. A full city block disappeared under it as it pulverized dozens of buildings into a cloud of dirt and debris.

  ‘-All Pods, All Pods. This is Alpha Leader. –Permission to break and engage! –Fire at will!’

  McConnel broke his attack pattern and pushed his Pod vertical. He leveled out and looked out his canopy for a battle assessment. Six Hiver ships now struggled to return fire with little success. Unshielded they had no choice but to engage on even terms. But because Earth Fleet Attack Pods were smaller and more agile, the large menacing ship turrets seemed cumbersome. As he watched, another two ships exploded into debris and slag.

  He spotted a group of Hivers trying to retreat on drop ships. He pushed his Pod nose into a steep dive and strafed them. Two exploded and slammed into buildings while a third remained unscathed. He circled around letting a rocket lose. He watched it hone in and find its mark. Pulling out of a tight turn, he almost bought the farm when debris from another exploding ship nearly ripped his tail off.

  Three ships remained. He did a quick scan of the city. Hundreds of Hiver’s littered the streets. Some were dead, but many
still wandered freely. Pockets of Ground Force Troops could be seen engaging them.

  McConnel put his Attack Pod into a wide turn. As he did a concussive force slammed into him causing his Pod to roll. As he struggled for control, his system alarms screamed in unison warning him of failure. He leveled his Pod and regained control. As he turned and looked, he was horrified. The entire city was almost gone. In its place a massive crater now existed. The three remaining ships floated at its center. ‘Alpha Leader, Alpha Leader! This is McConnel. Do you copy, over?’ The comms were silent. Only nine Pods registered on his display. The rest were destroyed with the city. ‘All Wing elements, this is McConnel. Regroup to my location.’ He looked at the Hiver ships that now hovered in place. ‘I think those things just raised their shields. –And took out most of the city and our Wing with it. –How copy?’ He slowed to a rest position and allowed his Negrav to level him off. One at a time the remaining pilots acknowledged his transmission. They fell into formation near him. –Each of them stunned at the sheer savagery of the Hiver ships.

  ‘My God, those things just took out a hundred of their own,’ one of the other pilots chipped. ‘I don’t believe it!’

  “Believe it,’ he replied. ‘All of First Brigade was down there too.’

  ‘-But now the city is freaking gone!’ another said panic stricken. ‘How are we supposed to engage an enemy that has absolutely no remorse!? –Not even for its own kind!’

  ‘Just like Captain Tork would have wanted us to: We suck it up and do the job regardless. He’s gone, and I haven’t heard any volunteers to take Command. So unless anyone objects, I am.’

  The comms stayed silent so he took it as agreement.

  ‘Ok, then we still got a job to do. We’re going to organize into-