There was nothing left to do but watch and pray. She could do both at the same time.
49
Command Position, Nero’s Temple, Augustan Desert,
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system
“We’re half an hour from action,” Goldman said, after summoning Angel, Captain Nance, and Lieutenant Raven. “I want the three of you in position and ready to engage the enemy on my command.”
“I’m still a bit fuzzy on how we avoiding getting gunned down,” Nance said.
Angel couldn’t tell if the stress she was hearing in his voice was real or imagined.
“We will be targeting the Swarm, Captain. Every Marine in this battalion knows to give your platoon a wide berth.”
“Why doesn’t that reassure me,” Nance argued. “I’m beginning to think this entire strategy is ridiculous.”
Angel realized the issue. It wasn’t that Nance was afraid. He clearly was, but what he really wanted was to take a stab at the strategy that she had initiated. He probably assumed that the entire battle plan had been hers, when in reality she had only played a tiny part. Yet, his inexplicable hatred toward her drove him on.
“I somehow doubt that putting three of the fleet’s most valuable assets into harms way is what the command staff had in mind when they promoted you to CIN on this mission, Colonel.”
“Do we have a problem, Captain?” Goldman asked.
“No sir,” Nance said. “But I wanted my objection to the mission to be implicit.”
“Consider it so, Captain. Now, if you would take your positions, the enemy will be on top of us very soon.”
Angel could see the anger in Goldman’s eyes, and she understood it. Nance was acting like a spoiled child. It seemed the height of unprofessionalism to complain about one’s part in a battle plan right as you were being called into action. Angel was actually embarrassed and wanted to apologize for Nance’s behavior, but decided that keeping quiet was the wiser option. As Nance and Zilla marched off, she reluctantly followed.
At the base of the hill designated Gladiator One, Zilla went to the left, while Nance and Angel went to the right. They had each been assigned target areas and would attack from three sides simultaneously once the Swarm was in position. Angel, as the junior officer, was assigned the position farthest from the command post. She was just moving around Nance when he turned suddenly and grabbed her arm.
“Once this farce is over,” he said in an angry tone, “we have some business of our own to complete. You’ve been working against me from the beginning. Admit it.”
“That’s not true, Captain,” Angel said, trying to pull away from him.
He refused to let go of her arm.
“Don’t lie to me. You think this just a game. Another stupid competition. I’ll tell you something. I’m not dying today. This entire strategy will undoubtedly blow up in your face. You can kiss your career good-bye, if you survive.”
“Sir, please let go of me,” Angel said, trying to control her anger.
“You could have had the time of your life, Angel. Instead, you turned up your haughty nose made an enemy when you could have had a friend.”
“What I needed was a leader,” Angel said. “You need to take this seriously.”
“What I need is for an upstart bitch like you to know her place.”
He reached out for her with his other hand, but Angel moved faster. She pushed him with the palms of her hands, activating the thrusters on the front of her suit at the same, so that she was propelled backwards. She felt him grip, stronger than she expected, but not strong enough to hold on as he was pushed away from her. Angel turned as she was flung backward. Staying on her feet was impossible, so she tucked her shoulder and let her momentum carry her into a dive roll. She came up on her feet smoothly and perfectly balanced.
Angel had no idea what Nance was doing. She didn’t bother to look back. Instead she kept moving forward, breaking into a run that carried her around three of the large, looming hills that were covered with Marines. She could feel the pressure shared between every person involved in the ambush. They were anxious to see the Swarm laid low, but concerned the plan might fall apart.
When she reached her position, she dropped onto a large boulder and spent several minutes trying to regain her composure. She could feel fear stalking her like a giant spider. Caught in its web, she was powerless to break free, or shake the emotion off. Each minute that passed brought the danger closer and made the fear more real. Her chest felt tight, and something deep in the back of her mind was telling her to run away. She knew she couldn’t. Half the Marine battalion was counting on her to break the Swarm’s hive mind. And yet one of Angel’s biggest fears was that she would fail. The entire mission might be an exercise in futility if the Swarm had adapted to her ability to infiltrate their ranks. The aliens were smart, but perhaps their reluctance to fight was simply a ploy meant to lure them into a sense of security. What if the Swarm wasn’t affected by her rapid, unpredictable movement? What if instead of avoiding her, the Swarm simply attacked her from every side?
Her gut felt watery and her legs trembled. She was grateful for the rock she was perched on as she began doing carefully controlled breathing exercises. The last thing she needed was to get tight and pull a muscle or lose her balance and fall as she charged into the Swarm. Years of gymnastics competitions had prepared her to face fear and given her tools to calm her mind before she was sent into action. She could hear the lookout on Gladiator Three announcing the arrival of the Swarm. The first drones would enter the trap at any moment, which meant Angel had to put her concerns away. She stuffed them way down inside her, letting the uncertainty she felt fuel her desire to see the strategy through. It wasn’t until she could hear the chatter of the alien creatures flooding into the bowl-shaped valley between the five hills, that the thought occurred to her Nance might not do his part.
It seemed insane to even contemplate, but he had declared his intention to survive. He had also shared his feelings about the viability of the battle plan. Angel knew it was essential that Zilla and Nance join her efforts to break the Swarm’s hive mind. Without their coordinated movement, the aliens wouldn’t be vulnerable to the weapons fire from the Marines. If Nance refused to charge into the Swarm, would she and Raven be enough to disrupt the hive mind?
Angel feared the answer. She couldn’t help but remember how Nance and his squad had faltered when the Swarm threw up a barrier to shield their escape underground. She had to admit, the response of the creatures was not what she had imagined during that short skirmish. Yet, the objective of the ARC platoon had not changed. It wasn’t enough to get close and fire their weapons at the aliens. The had to get inside the Swarm’s ranks and force the aliens to avoid them as they careened in wildly unpredictable patterns. Nance and Zilla had both stopped their charge before reaching the enemy. What were the odds they might do it again?
“ARC units, stand by,” Goldman’s voice was icy above the chatter of the thousands of alien feet clattering through the valley.
Angel pulled the Trasker 51 from where it was held to her chest by magnets. The gun was light and sleek. Even though it was a rifle, she had removed the folding stock and could fire the weapon one handed. There was a reassurance holding the weapon, her fingers flexing on the pistol grip. She checked to ensure the safety was off and charging lever had been pulled to feed a round into the chamber. A surge of nervous energy forced her to bounce on her toes. Dust from the Swarm’s march was starting to waft around the hill where Angel was hidden. The wait for the colonel’s order to attack seemed to be taking forever.
She couldn’t worry about Nance any more. Whether the mission succeed or failed was no longer her concern. Even the reassuring memory of Staff Sergeant Cashman had to be put out of her mind. Her focus was solely on her role in the battle, and nothing could distract her from that.
“This is it, Marines,” Goldman said. “Hold your positions and do not fire until I give the order. ARC units you are a Go.
Move, move, move!”
50
Nero’s Temple, Augustan Desert,
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system
Angel raced around the hill. The Swarm was almost instantly in sight. She pointed her Trasker straight ahead and fired three short bursts. Two drones fell, the exploding penetrator rounds ripping through their bodies and sending the creatures flying. Then, as predicable as the sunrise, the ranks of the Swarm opened to avoid the deadly hail of bullets. Angel raced into the gap.
There was no time to think about Nance, or Zilla. They were either fighting along with her, or they weren’t. She dove to the ground, rolling over her shoulder and cartwheeling in a diagonal direction. The Swarm scurried to avoid her. A few of the insectile creatures were too slow, forcing Angel to leap over them. Spying a gap to her right, she fired the thrusters on her suit, using her core strength to turn her body in mid-air and landing gracefully on her feet. She fired the Trasker again, blowing one drone to pieces before the Swarm reacted to the danger.
Once more she ran forward, then used her thrusters to suddenly shift to her left, slipping past the cranial shields of several drones. Angel flipped the switch on her rifle from burst mode to fully automatic with a twitch of her thumb. The Swarm was responding to her presence, spreading out from her, trying to avoid contact. Angel dropped into a shoulder roll and came up firing the Trasker in a raking spray before jumping high into the air with a controlled burst from her thrusters. She flipped and saw something strange that caught her eye.
Not far away was a larger creature, similar in body shape to the Drones. But where their coloring was dull gray, the larger beast had glossy exoskeletal sections covering it’s body with streaks of red. Almost as soon Angel saw the creature, it turned toward her. Driving through the horde of aliens, the warrior drone rose up on the backs of the smaller creatures, leaping through the air toward her, it’s shovel shaped forelegs extending. Angel had just enough time to land and jump again. This time she flipped backward, somersaulting through the air, using the thrusters to move her away from the creature pursuing her. As she came down to the ground, she boosted herself to the side, twisting her body so she was moving backwards. The warrior drone roared. It was a strange sound, one Angel hadn’t heard before, a rage filled wail that reverberated through the valley and echoed off the hills around them.
Angel brought the weapon to bear and fired a quick burst. The drones scattered out of the way, but the warrior lowered it’s cranial shield and rumbled forward. The explosive rounds slowed the beast, but didn’t harm it in any noticeable way. Angel turned and raced into the Swarm, diving and rolling, constantly changing direction, hurtling the drones who were the size of large dogs. They looked like smaller creatures wearing heavy armor, but Angel knew the exoskeletons that covered their bodies were organic, like their bony cranial shields.
The Warrior creature with red streaks pursued her relentlessly. It wasn’t as fast as she was, nor as agile. Sometimes it jumped over the drones around it, and sometimes it barreled through them. Angel fired her Trasker and was surprised when the bolt locked back after only one round fired. She popped the empty magazine while she ran forward. Her heart jumped into her throat when she bobbled the replacement, nearly dropping the magazine full of explosive penetrator rounds. She managed to get hold of the metal block-shaped magazine and ram it home.
Pulling the rack lever felt good, as did turning and firing again at the warrior drone. The creature was in the middle of jumping toward her, and the bullets hit the body. The drones’ exoskeletons wrapped all the way around their bodies, and acted almost like a funnel when they burrowed. The Warrior’s cranial shield was thicker and harder than the drones’, but its exoskeleton wasn’t strong enough to repel the bullets. Three found the mark, cracking through the exoskeleton that covered the first body segment of the large creature. Blood and organs erupted as a hole blew out of the alien’s chest. It fell in heap, clearly dead. The nearest drone used one of its shovel shaped forelegs to hack off a section of the fallen warrior. The drone gobbled as is passed by the fallen protector drone, and others continued devouring it.
Angel was revolted, but didn’t tarry. She jumped again, boosting herself forward and firing several shots as she dove back toward the ground. In the distance she saw creatures starting to rising up together, like living pillars. One bunch dropped toward Angel, causing her to abruptly halt her momentum in mid dive. If not for the ARC suit’s thrusters she knew she wouldn’t have been able to avoid the creatures, who fell like a tree, the group bursting apart and leaping at her. She shot three while she flipped to the side before diving into a roll and shooting two more. The Swarm was reacting to her presence, but there was no sense of panic. Angel found it surprising that the aliens were able to deal with her without losing the hive mind as they had in the McDuall Mountains.
There was no time to contemplate the situation as another red streaked warrior drone charged at her. Angel ran toward the beast, which was the size of a bull. The drones between them separated to give the warrior a clear path at her. Angel used the space to race forward. At the last possible second, she jumped, flipping forward in a front salto, using the thrusters to propel her up and out of reach of the creature. Angel twisted in mid air, landing facing the rear of the warrior, who was still charging. And fired her weapon.
To her dismay, two drones jumped into the path of her shots. The unfortunate creatures blew apart, but the warrior was unscathed. It turned, but Angel was already leaping away. She cartwheeled into an aerial before sliding to the side and diving forward as another massed pillar of drones dropped toward her. She realized that her time was running out. If the Swarm didn’t break soon, she would run out of ammunition and be helpless to fight the huge warriors who were pursuing her. In the back of her mind she knew something had gone wrong, but there was no time to ponder the situation, and absolutely nothing she could do to fix it. She was in the fight of her life, and if she lost her concentration, even for a second, she would die.
51
C.S.F. Ramses, close orbit,
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system
Paula watched, hardly daring to breath as the ARC units were called in. The swarm was three quarters of the way into the trap. If they bolted, a large portion could escape without coming under fire from the Marines on the five hills. Commander Mercer wondered at the wisdom of the order but there was nothing she could do about it.
Two warriors in the ARC suits raced around the hills on either side of the Swarm and attacked. One plowed deep into the throng of aliens. Mercer had the big screen on the wall of the Bridge split into three feeds from the surveillance planes over the battlefield. Two showed the valley close up from different angels. The third was further back, and included the hills where the Marines lay in wait.
It was impossible to tell who each of the ARC units were, but Mercer guessed correctly that the most daring was Lieutenant Angela Murphy. Whoever was attacking on the opposite side of the Swarm engaged, but remained near the edge of the horde of creatures. At the front came a third person. From the aerial footage Mercer could see the individual jumping and dodging even though they hadn’t reached the Swarm. And then to her horror the individual at the front slid to a stop and began firing into the horde.
Mercer’s mouth went dry. The ARC units has specific orders: charge into the swarm, and use their suit’s rapid movement to disrupt the hive mind. Stopping before reaching the aliens wasn’t part of the plan.
“Commander?”
It was the space combat officer and she knew what he was asking without any need of clarification.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Something must have happened.”
Gaps in the swarm opened. From a distance the coordinated movements of the Swarm seemed natural. Up close, it was clear the horde was responding to multiple threats simultaneously, yet it didn’t seem to be disrupted in any noticeable way. Several of the forerunners jumped high into the air, before diving toward the lone person at the fron
t of the Swarm. Utilizing the ARC suit, the person managed to avoid the drones diving toward them, but they were very clearly retreating before the massive horde.
“Damn!” Mercer said. “Who the hell is that? Why are they retreating?”
“I can try to find out,” the communication officer said.
“No, don’t waste the time of the commanders on the ground,” Mercer growled.
Suddenly the Swarm’s behavior changed again. From different places throughout the herd the drones began climbing and jump up on top of one another, forming pillars before toppling toward the two remaining ARC warriors. Mercer couldn’t control her fury as the second ARC member, the one lingering by the edge of the horde, pulled back.
“What the hell are the doing?” Commander Mercer said. “This entire strategy depends on them.”
“I’ve never known Marines to run away,” the space officer replied.
“Nor have I,” Paula said, leaning forward in her seat. “We’re down to one.”
“The Swarm is reacting,” the navigation officer said. “Their progress has slowed.”
“They’re almost completely in the valley between the hills now,” the space combat officer added.
“That’s because they’re attacking the last ARC unit,” Mercer said. “Damn, we needed reserve units who could assist.”
“Can’t the first two go back in?” The SC officer asked.
“They can,” Mercer said in a low voice. “They should, but I doubt anyone could force them to now.”
“What’s that?” Lieutenant Commander Brown asked.
“Where?” Mercer asked.
“Near the center of the Swarm,” he explained.
“Looks like they’re building up,” said the comms officer.
Battle ARC Page 24