Battle ARC

by Toby Neighbors

  “We’re ready,” Cash said, his voice tight.

  Angel realized he sounded angry, but appreciated his willingness to fight through his fury and remain disciplined.

  “Good. We’ll use their tactics against them. If someone falls, charge forward firing. Make a straight line for whoever goes down, and maybe the Swarm will avoid the weapons fire. It could give us enough time to get to our people, and get them out of harm’s way. I leave it you, Staff Sergeant. I’ll be at the command center.”

  Cashman saluted, and Angel returned the gesture. It wasn’t until she was making her way to the command center on her own that she realized she was shaking. She wanted to pull off her helmet and breathe in the cool, clean air, but she couldn’t take that chance. It was more important that she stay attentive to the command channel, in case the Swarm attacked.

  “Lieutenant Murphy, I presume,” Major Hammond said as she approached.

  She came to attention and saluted.

  “Yes sir.”

  “You need some identification on your ARC suit,” he suggested. “At the very least an indication of rank.”

  “We’ll look into that sir,” she replied. “I was hoping to speak to Colonel Goldman if he isn’t too busy.”

  “He’s out doing an inspection. The bugs are an hour out. He gets antsy if he has to wait around too long. I guess we all do. What’s up?”

  “Well sir, he told me to come to him with ideas.”

  “And you have some?”

  “I have a couple. Well, I have one, and Commander Mercer of the Ramses enhanced it. It’s mostly her idea, if I’m being honest.”

  “Maybe it would be better coming from her,” Hammonds said. “She’s a damn fine officer. Her work in the EAS was superb.”

  “She believes that Goldman doesn’t care for suggestions from the Navy.”

  Hammonds laughed, a loud belly laugh that caught Angel off guard and made her smile. They moved over to the portable command center. Hammond, still chuckling looked at the topographical map on the table’s embedded desktop video screen. Angel could see each phalanx. They were all designated, with platoon numbers and call signs. Each of the ARC pilots were registered too, although they had no names or numbers.

  “While we wait, why don’t you get each of your people’s names and ranks put into the system,” Hammonds said.

  Angel did as she was told, and Hammonds confided in her.

  “The colonel doesn’t like ideas from outside the Corps. I can’t blame him either. His career is riding on the outcome of this war. If he fails, he’s finished. If he succeeds, everyone will try to claim the victory for themselves. It’s a vicious, dishonorable system, but it’s all we’ve got.”

  “Politics?” Angel said.

  Hammonds nodded.

  “I’ve seen it. The Air Force wants control of the ARC program.”

  “I’m not surprised. Not after your victory in the mountains. In all the years of the CSF, we haven’t really had much opportunity to show what we can do. Not that peace is a bad thing, mind you, but other than putting down a few paltry disturbances or chasing a few outlaws, the Marine Corps has been purely ornamental. With the Swarm, that’s beginning to change.”

  “But we haven’t had much success,” Angel prompted.

  “Not until you came along,” Major Hammonds agreed. “Hell, everything’s been theoretical up until this point. We study tactics and strategy from the past, but we’re dealing with something entirely new. And no one is ready. Cannis One may have been the pissing post of the colonial network, but it was our pissing post and the Swarm took it away from us. We dropped the ball, partly because we weren’t prepared, and partly because we couldn’t stop fighting for control within the Fleet.”

  “So what now?” Angel asked.

  “Now, we have to defeat this enemy. For the moment, nothing else matters.”

  Angel nodded in agreement. As they waited for Colonel Goldman to return, Angel checked in with Petty Officer Daniels.

  “We’re in place,” she said. “We have all our gizmos up and working.”

  “Any problems?”

  “Not yet. Alpha squad is in position. Bravo squad, minus yourself, is in reserve but spread out in case they need to move in.”

  “And Captain Nance?”

  “His heart rate is up, but he looks to be okay. I’m guessing the patch did it’s job.”

  “Okay, let me know if anything changes.”

  “Roger that,” Daniels said.

  A few minutes later, Goldman returned. He had another major, two captains, and a lieutenant in tow. Angel snapped to attention.

  “At ease,” Goldman said, walking past Angel and observing the map. “What’s taking the eye in the sky so long to connect, damn it?”

  “They’re up there,” Hammond said. “They’re giving radio reports at the moment and waiting to start their data download in case it somehow spooks the Swarm.”

  “That makes sense. Where are they?”

  “Half an hour out,” Hammond said. “Marching straight for us. We should be able to see them soon.”

  “Shouldn’t we be able to see the dust they kick up?” asked one of the Captains.

  “Locals here say the ground stays moist,” Hamonds replied. “They have a pretty healthy water table, and the fields are cultivated for several kilometers in every direction.”

  “Well, they aren’t going to be able to sneak up on us,” Goldman said. “Not with a high altitude surveillance bird overhead. But I want constant radio contact. If we lose our eye in the sky we’ll be fighting blind.”

  Angel listened for several more minutes while the colonel checked and rechecked everything he had carefully planned. She understood the hard work that went into preparing for a battle, and what it felt like to have to wait to see if all one’s preparations paid off, or fell flat. She remained out of the way and quiet until he summoned her.

  “Lieutenant Murphy, you look almost as frightening in that ARC suit as one of the aliens. I would prefer, when battle isn’t imminent, that you remove it in my presence.”

  “Of course, Colonel,” Angel said.

  In her mind, battle was imminent, and she left the helmet on.

  “Major Hammond says you have an idea for me,” he said.

  “Well sir, I have an idea, just an untested theory really, but I believe the Swarm knows better than to engage us,” Angel said, feeling a little shaky as she spoke. She wanted to be heard, for her ideas to be respected, but she had no idea how Goldman would respond. She didn’t expect him to like what she had to say.

  “They should,” said the talkative captain.

  “If they know what’s good for them,” said the lieutenant.

  “You don’t think they’ll engage? Why not?” Goldman asked.

  “Because they respect the firepower you’ve amassed here, sir. They recognize overwhelming force and as powerful as their Swarm is, they would lose too many of their numbers in a straight on assault.”

  Goldman looked distressed and Angel pressed on.

  “Their advantage is in their mobility. I think they’ll get close, then veer away from us.”

  “And we won’t be able to pursue because it takes us too long to mobilize such a large force,” Goldman said.

  “They’ll sense the trap,” Hammond said. “And rather than falling for ours, they’ll spring one of their own.”

  “Damn,” Goldman said. “The canny bastards.”

  “It’s just a theory, sir,” Angel said. “But they gave up much too easily at the lake.”

  “I’d say so,” Goldman replied. “I thought we had them by the short hairs. But wait, they didn’t run away when you attacked them in the mountains. What was different there?”

  “A variety of things,” Angel said. “But I think mainly it was the fact that there only a handful of us.”

  “They didn’t see one special platoon as a threat,” Hammond said with a frown.

  “No,” Angel continued. “And normal
troops wouldn’t have been successful in turning them away, even three or four times our numbers. In that terrain, we can’t maneuver fast enough. It was only due to the ARC suits that we could hit them and run, keep moving, keep them reeling long enough to get within range of their queen.”

  “You’re saying you think the terrain is wrong?” Goldman said.

  “No sir, I think our strategy is wrong. I was talking to Commander Mercer of the Ramses, and she suggested—“

  “You mean Lieutenant Commander Mercer in the Emergency Alert Station,” Goldman interrupted.

  “No sir, she’s been promoted and reassigned,” Angel explained. “She mentioned a medieval hunt.”

  Goldman looked confused, but Major Hammond slapped his forehead and smiled.

  “That’s genius,” Hammond said.

  “What is? What is a medieval hunt?” Goldman demanded.

  “Oh, you know sir. Drive the animal to the hunters,” Hammond said.

  Goldman stood up, his eyes staring off into the distance for several seconds.

  “We have to drive them into our trap,” he said, staring back down at the display on his command table.

  “Yes sir,” Angel said.

  “And you think you can do that? You have a plan?”

  “An idea, sir,” Angel said.

  “Hammond, when this is over,” Goldmand ordered. “If she’s right and the cowards run, I want the two of you to flesh this plan out. Get the damned Navy involved if you have to. I want to hear a solid plan. We can’t keep running around like idiots out here with nothing to show for it.”

  “Yes sir,” Hammonds said, winking at Angel.

  “With your permission, Colonel, I’ll return to my squad.”

  “Fine, Lieutenant, but don’t do anything foolish. I want you back here as soon as the battle is over. Is that understood.”

  “Yes sir,” Angel said.

  There was more than a spring in Angel’s step as she jogged out to where the rest of her squad waited. They were several hundred yards back from the groups of Marines in their prearranged positions. Angel couldn’t remember a time when she felt more satisfied. Even winning in gymnastics hadn’t felt as good as being heard and having her ideas respected by her superiors. She couldn’t wait for the battle to end so she could rejoin Major Hammond and share her strategy.

  “Just in time, Lieutenant,” Cash said. He was standing beside Daniels.

  Angel looked up and saw movement in the distance. Her helmet cameras zoomed in, like powerful binoculars, and she could see the Swarm approaching. All thoughts of strategies and success fled from her mind. Just the sight of the strange aliens made her feel weak, and inconsequential.

  “Do either of you ever feel like this is madness,” Daniels asked. “Why are we fighting these creatures like we’re stuck in the nineteenth century?”

  “What would you suggest?” Cash asked.

  “I suggest we use our superior technology and bomb the dirty bastards from orbit,” she said.

  “We tried that, remember?” Angel said. “They evade our bombs.”

  “We didn’t use bombs that had enough reach,” Daniels suggested.

  “You mean nuclear weapons?” Cash asked.

  “Damn straight. This world is bigger than earth and it’s eighty five percent dry land. It would take centuries to fill half of it with people, even if colony migration from earth tripled. One nuke, takes out the Swarm, problem solved. We isolate the radioactive area and reseed it in a hundred years. It beats the hell out of running into a horde of aliens who want to eat you for breakfast.”

  Cash laughed. “Can’t argue with that logic.”

  Angel didn’t laugh. She felt a shutter of fear at the very thought of using nuclear weapons. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps the petty officer was right.

  35

  Battle site B, Belaire District,

  Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system

  The battle, if it could be called that, happened fast. Goldman ordered the Alpha Squad of the ARC platoon to move forward. Angel felt tense as she watched the six Air Force pilots run forward. Their speed was breathtaking as they sprinted toward the enemy, and then, to everyone’s surprise, the Swarm rose up like a tidal wave. They formed a living wall, and to Angel’s horror, the Air Force pilots stopped.

  Goldman was shouting for them to engage, but they were unresponsive. For a moment, Angel feared that the Swarm had used some type of mind control and frozen the pilots in their tracks.

  “What are they doing?” Daniels asked.

  “They don’t know what to do,” Cashman said sadly.

  “Alpha Squad,” Angel said into the platoon channel. “Fire, fire, fire.”

  The pilots pulled their rifles from their magnetic clamps on their ARC suit and opened fire on the alien wall. The creatures didn’t bother to flee, or even try to avoid the penetrating bullets aimed at them. The wall fell in sections. It reminded Angel of a sandcastle dissolving as the tide came in. It was hard to see beyond the immediate carnage, but when she was finally able to see surprised her.

  “They’re gone,” she said.

  “How?” Cash asked. “There were too many of them.”

  “Did they flee?” Daniels asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Angel said. “The Colonel will have visuals from the surveillance plane.”

  Nance and his group continued to fire their weapons into the wall of aliens, emptying multiple magazines. Angel couldn’t be sure, but it seemed to her that many of the creatures fell dead without being hit by any gunfire. Finally, the ARC squad pulled back.

  “This makes no sense,” Cash said.

  “We have to stop thinking of them like they’re humans or even animals from earth,” Angel said. “They can do things we can’t.”

  “Like burrow into the ground,” Daniels said.

  “Damn, this whole plain is verdant soil,” Cash said. “The bedrock has be twenty, or thirty klicks down, at least. I’ll bet the Colonel didn’t even take the geology into consideration.”

  “With each failure we learn,” Angel said.

  The entire skirmish was anti-climatic. Nance and his squad returned to the battalion like conquering heroes. Angel’s worst fear was that the Air Force pilots didn’t have the courage to charge into the Swarm, and she felt her fears were validated. There was nothing she could do, however. The only casualties of the engagement were the drones shielding the larger part of the Swarm. Angel thought it was possible that once the queen burrowed underground her link was broken with the Swarm and without it, the creatures didn’t live very long. She had no way of knowing for sure, and she couldn’t deny the possibility that she was simply jealous Nance’s squad had succeeded when she was certain they would fail.

  At the command center, Angel found Colonel Goldman sitting on a camp chair. His face was scowling and hands were clenched. Angel removed her helmet and came to attention.

  “At ease, Lieutenant,” he said. “We’re making camp here for the night. I won’t move again until I have a strategy for getting the Swarm to fight me.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  “Get your people settled, then find Major Hammond.”

  She nodded, but didn’t speak. Turning, she found Nance swiftly approaching with his helmet under one arm, his back straight, and his smile gleaming like a neon sign.

  “Another victory!” The Captain declared as he approached Angel. “Did you see it? We wiped the floor with the Swarm.”

  Angel knew he was exaggerating, but she also knew the reports would read different than the reality. His hesitation would be regarded as foresight, his volley into the alien wall would be seen as a decisive victory. That was what everyone wanted to see. In an official debrief he might be raked through the coals, but the brass will hold the action of the ARC squad up as proof of human superiority. They needed a win, and they would take whatever they could get.

  “Listen, about that little misunderstanding at the drop ship...” he said, pau
sing so she could tell him what he wanted to hear.

  “It was nothing,” Angel said, trying not to clench her teeth as she spoke.

  “Excellent. I’ll just see the Colonel now,” he said.

  “We have orders to make camp,” Angel said.

  “You can see to that, surely. Marines are always playing outside. What do you call them? Exercises?”

  “Field exercises,” Angel said, trying not to let his patronizing attitude make her angry.

  “That’s right,” he said with a wink. “See you in a little while.”

  When Angel got back to the Battle ARC she found that Cashman’s team already had two portable shelters up. They were simple tents, but large enough for six people.

  “You won’t mind bunking with a bunch of roughnecks, will you, Lieutenant?” Hays asked.

  “They’re six-person portable shelters,” Cash said as she looked at the tent. “One for the Air Force officers, and one for the techs. That leaves you with us. We’re the only ones with room.”

  “I prefer it, actually,” Angel said. “Nance has started gloating already.”

  Cash frowned but didn’t respond.

  “What are our orders?” Bolton asked. “Perimeter security?”

  “Actually, let’s run out and take a look at the battle site,” Angel said.

  “The techs are already collecting bodies,” Vancini said.

  “I’m not interested in the Swarm that were left behind,” Angel said. “I want a closer look at where they burrowed underground.”

  “Can I tag along?” Daniels asked. “I wouldn’t mind getting a closer look.”

  “We would welcome your opinion,” Angel said. “I’ll get us a transport.”

  Angel drove the hovercraft out of the camp, which had quickly popped up. The white tents were everywhere, and there were Marines forming a perimeter, with more setting up watch stations on top of the tallest transport. They passed the mess tent and saw a dozen Marines working hard to prepare food for the entire battalion. Angel didn’t envy their job.

  At the battle site, the carcasses of the Swarm drones were being carefully placed into containment bags and loaded onto a wheeled cargo hauler. Angel slowed as Major Hammond approached.