by Brown, Ryk
Having performed their task, the two shooters tossed their expended launchers over the side and pulled out their energy rifles as the shuttle continued to slide backward toward the garrison. From the far side of the garrison, they could see the narrow beams of energy being exchanged by the defenders and the Corinari attacking from the front of the base. Ta’Akar troops began to spill out into the yard on the backside of the garrison, their weapons raising toward the shuttle as it approached. The two shooters still kneeling on the ramp opened fire, cutting down the imperial troops that were spilling out into the rear courtyard.
The shuttle quickly slid over the rear of the garrison and beyond the rear courtyard, taking fire along its underside from the few imperial troops that had been smart enough to remain inside until the weapons fire raining down from the shuttle above them had ceased. The impacts were few and passed quickly as the shuttle slid in over the building.
Two more Corinari tossed thick ropes over either side of the ramp, the top ends of the ropes secured to the inside ceiling of the shuttle, the opposite end dragging slightly on the rooftop directly below. The men who had tossed the ropes over the sides were the first to go, sliding quickly down the ropes onto the rooftop below and immediately raising their weapons to open fire on the two doorways at the opposite end of the roof from which imperial troops had begun to emerge. One by one, the other eighteen men followed, including Lieutenant Commander Toral. The crew chief in the back of the shuttle released the ropes as the shuttle accelerated forward and away from the rooftop firefight, its cargo ramp closing up as it departed. Seconds later, the shuttle’s cargo ramp slammed shut, and it disappeared in a blinding flash of blue-white light as it jumped away.
“I already have three dead and two wounded, sir,” the corporal informed his commander as soon as his boots hit the rooftop. “There’s no way we’re getting through those two doorways, sir!”
“Fire teams one and two, engage the hostiles at the doorways! Teams three and four, rope it over the sides. We’ll cut them off from below! We’ve got ten minutes to secure this end of the garrison so we can land the next wave inside the perimeter. If we don’t put some serious pressure on these fuckers, they’ll cut our guys out front to pieces! Now move!”
As the colorful yet deadly energy weapons fire continued to fly back and forth across the rooftop, men tossed ropes over the sides of the building. Without hesitation, men went down the ropes on either side to the ground below, scurrying into the cover of the building as soon as their boots hit the dirt.
Lieutenant Commander Toral watched his combat information display on the inside of his visor as his men below moved into the building and began working their way up the stairs under the imperial troops with which he and the others on the rooftop were still exchanging fire. He felt a sudden wave of heat against his right leg, followed by the weight of his corporal as he fell against the lieutenant commander, a gaping hole burnt through the left half of the man’s head and face. The dead corporal’s helmet had done nothing to protect him, having melted instantly away when struck by the enemy’s overwhelmingly powerful energy weapons. For a split second, he wondered how tough those simple utility shuttles they were using as jump ships must have been to have withstood even a few hits from such weapons.
The Lieutenant took cover behind a piece of rooftop machinery along with the last two surviving Corinari still fighting on the rooftop. They continued to take turns popping up and firing on the two open doorways from where the enemy fire was originating. If they allowed any of the Ta’Akar troops to get out onto the rooftop, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“We’re moving up the stairs now,” a Corinari voice announced over the lieutenant commander’s comm-set.
“Move it!” Toral ordered. “We’re down to three up here!” The sergeant next to him popped up and fired several more shots into each of the doorways, killing at least two imperial troops before he took a hit in the shoulder and was sent tumbling backwards. “Sergeant!” Toral yelled, but the man wasn’t moving. Muffled energy weapons shots were heard, and the shots coming from the doorways suddenly stopped. “Now! Forward!” he ordered the wide-eyed trooper squatting next to him.
The two of them jumped out from behind their grossly inadequate cover and charged forward screaming, their weapons firing madly at the doorways. Ta’Akar troops came pouring out of both doorways, being driven out into the open by the Corinari troops charging up from beneath them. They stumbled out directly into the unyielding fire of the lieutenant commander, and the last remaining troopers were cut down without mercy. A few of them managed to get shots off as they exited the doorway onto the open rooftop, but their wild attempts were way off target, all except for one.
Lieutenant Commander Toral felt a sudden burning pain in his lower left abdomen. His left leg suddenly crumpled under him, sending him falling to his left. Ironically, as he fell, another wild shot whizzed past his right ear, passing so close he could feel the heat of the energy blast as it just missed him. The pain in his abdomen exploded into new heights as he struck the rooftop, screaming out in agony. His ears rang and his vision blurred. Then everything went silent. He could see the amber and pink sky of the morning dawn above him. The shooting had stopped, and the trooper’s face was hovering over him, frantically asking him something as his eyes closed and his world went dark.
The two jumpers carrying B company’s first platoon jumped in on either side of the airfield just inside the perimeter fence. They had jumped in only a few meters off the ground and had descended, dropping their aft ramps to the dirt as they touched down. The men quickly unloaded from the shuttles, running down the ramps and fanning out on either side. Within thirty seconds, both shuttles were unloaded and were lifting off, their cargo ramps closing as they sped away, jumping back up into the safety of orbit above Ancot.
Lieutenant Waddell and his platoon advanced quickly and without resistance toward the cluster of buildings at the airfield for nearly a full minute before enemy troops emerged from between the buildings and opened fire on them. He listened to the firing patterns coming from the imperial defenders. They were erratic, uncoordinated. “Those are not imperial regulars,” he said to the corporal next to him. “They’re probably flight line or maintenance personnel.”
“Bravo one, Bravo two!” the voice called over the comm-set.
“Go for Bravo one,” Lieutenant Waddell answered.
“We’re taking heavy fire, sir! They’ve got us pinned down in the open. I’ve lost two men already!”
“Are they regular troops? Are their firing patterns regular and coordinated?”
“Hell yes!” the voice reported. “These are imperial regulars, sir. I’d bet my life on it! Request instructions!”
Lieutenant Waddell looked around. Sporadic fire continued to splash about them from in between the distant buildings. He looked at the morning sky behind him, hoping that his jumper was still in the area, but it was long gone.
“Bravo two, is your jumper still in the area?”
“No, sir, they already jumped out!”
“Then dig in and hold your ground, two. One out.” Lieutenant Waddell turned to his corporal. “Pass the word. Odds use grenade launchers. We launch ear-busters on my go.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Orbital altitude in ten seconds,” Josh announced.
“They’ll be in firing range in twenty seconds,” Loki warned.
“How far to the Aurora?”
“At least a minute,” Loki answered.
“Shit! Where are they?”
“I’ve got them!” Loki announced. “Twenty kilometers ahead, just inside the upper atmosphere.”
“Falcon one, Talon one. Ten seconds out, just below you hiding in the ionization layer. Continue on present course, and do not break until we engage the hostiles.”
“Copy that, Talon one,” Loki responded. “Glad to see you. Continuing on course.” Loki switched off the transmit button and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God t
hat’s over with. Now let’s get back to the ship and let the fighters handle the dirty work, shall we?”
“What’s the matter, Loki?” Josh teased. “You don’t like flying with me anymore?”
“No, not really.”
“Jumpers two and three are landing now,” the flight boss reported to Cameron. “Three and four just jumped in and will be landing in a few minutes.”
“Let’s have them stand off until the first two are cycling out,” Cameron stated. “That deck isn’t set up to be a troop loading facility. I don’t want to tie it up with too much confusion at this point.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Command, Bravo one! One and two are pinned down in the fields. Two cannot advance. One can move a little using sonics, but we’re going to run out of them before we make our objective. Request close-air support.”
“Sir, Talon one reports they have engaged the first six enemy fighters pursuing Falcon one. They have already taken out three enemy fighters and are engaged with the other three.”
“How far out is the second wave of fighters?” Cameron asked.
“Two minutes, sir.”
“Launch Talons seven through twelve to intercept the next wave.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How long will it take us to get air support down to Bravo company?”
“Ten minutes,” the flight boss answered.
“That’s too long,” Cameron decided. “Get me Falcon one.”
“Yes, sir,” the comm-operator next to her answered.
“What are you thinking?” the flight boss asked.
“Go ahead, sir,” the comm-operator told her.
“Falcon one, XO.”
“Go ahead, Commander,” Loki answered.
“Do you have guns in that ship?”
“Uh… yes, sir. We’ve got a rail gun in our nose, but I’m afraid to ask why.”
“I’m not!” Josh added over the comms.
“Bravo one and two need air support back at the airfield, and it will take us ten minutes to get a flight down to them.”
“Well, we can jump back down there in less than a minute, sir,” Loki stated over the comms, “but you do realize we are not trained for this sort of thing, right?”
“Now’s your chance to show us what you’ve got, Josh,” Cameron said, knowing full well that Josh would never let an opportunity like this get away.
“Command, Talon one,” Major Prechitt called over the comms. “I can send three of my flight down to the surface. We can handle the last three on our own.”
Commander Taylor looked at the flight boss.
“I can do this, Commander!” Josh pleaded.
“It will still take Prechitt’s birds at least eight minutes to get down there,” the flight boss admitted.
“Negative, Talon one,” Commander Taylor ordered. “Stay on task.”
“Talon one copies.”
Cameron took a deep breath. “Oh my God, I cannot believe I am doing this,” she muttered.
“Neither can I,” the flight boss agreed.
“Falcon one, XO. Jump back to the airfield. Contact Bravo one on arrival and provide air support as needed.”
“Falcon one copies!” Josh answered exuberantly.
“Don’t blow up everything, Josh,” Cameron reminded him. “We need most of the stuff down there.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Josh answered. “Don’t blow up the pretty planes.”
Eight sonic grenades detonated along the row of buildings on Bravo one’s side of the airfield. Just as they had done the last two times, the disorienting effects of the grenades allowed Lieutenant Waddell and his men to advance a bit more before the men defending the airfield would regain their senses and open fire again. The first time, they had lost another two men when the defenders continued firing. The second time, the lieutenant had anticipated their recovery time and had ordered everyone to hit the deck just before the enemy regained their senses and continued their barrage of energy weapons fire.
He was down to twelve men, however, and the sonic grenade trick would only work one last time as they were nearly out of grenades. If they didn’t get air support very soon, they would have to rush the buildings on the next sonic grenade blast and hope for the best. Unfortunately, by the lieutenant’s estimates, rushing them had a high probability of failure.
“One, two! They’re rolling four more fighters out. If they get in the air, we’re screwed!”
“Shit!” Lieutenant Waddell cursed. “Command, Bravo two! We’ve got birds lifting off over here! We need that air support now!”
“Bravo two, Command. Support inbound, arriving momentarily,” command reported over the comms.
A flash of light appeared to their right out beyond the distant fence line, followed by a thunderous triple-clap as the jump interceptor broke the sound barrier upon its arrival.
The interceptor streaked over the airfield at only ten meters above the ground traveling at twice the speed of sound for Ancot. Just after it arrived, it banked slightly to the right, barely missing the two fighters that were hovering only four meters above the ground as they began their launch cycle. The shock wave created by the interceptor as it rushed past the fighters caused one of them to yaw uncontrollably to port, smashing into the one beside it. Both the fighters fell to the ground and exploded. The other two fighters that had been rolling out just behind the first two crashed into the exploding hulks and were also destroyed.
“Holy crap!” Bravo two called over the comms. “That guy just took out four fighters without firing a single shot!”
“What?” Lieutenant Waddell asked.
“He just buzzed the birds that were taking off at twice the speed of sound, I think. I lost track of the sonic booms. He knocked all four of them out!”
“Who the hell was it?”
“It’s the jump interceptor! Falcon one!”
“Falcon one, Bravo one!” Lieutenant Waddell called over the comms.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to blow up any pretty planes?” Loki said as the interceptor pulled up and away from the airfield.
“Uh… I may have come in a little too fast,” Josh admitted as he eased the nose up and backed off on the throttles to allow their airspeed to bleed off as they climbed.
“Bravo one, go for Falcon one,” Loki answered.
“Falcon one, we need rail gun fire along the backside of the buildings on the south side of the airfield. Come in from the east and fire over our heads, twenty degree down angle.”
“Copy that, Bravo one. We’ll come in from the east and lay down twenty degree fire in thirty seconds,” Loki answered. “You heard that, I’m assuming,” he said to Josh.
“Coming about,” Josh answered as he banked hard and continued to climb, bringing the ship around.
“Everyone get ready,” Lieutenant Waddell yelled out. “As soon as our air support opens up, we charge their position.”
“Bravo one, Falcon one. Inbound on target. Coming in slow. Will hover and fire at twenty down until you call us off. Firing position in ten seconds.”
Lieutenant Waddell looked behind him. Squinting hard, he could barely make out the interceptor against the morning sun as it closed in on their position. He seriously doubted that the enemy even realized they were about to die.
“Five seconds,” Josh reported. “Speed down to one meter per second.”
“Targets acquired through thermal imaging,” Loki announced. “I count twenty warm targets, and I’ve locked them all.”
“In position and hovering,” Josh announced.
“Engaging,” Loki announced, depressing the fire button.
Josh looked out the front of the canopy as rail gun fire erupted from their nose turret. Sparks flew from the sides of the buildings in the distance as the thousands of metal slugs spewing out of their rail guns struck the building at various angles, some of them piercing the metal while others ricocheted off. Bodies fell as blood and tissue splattered in all directions alo
ng the building. “Oh fuck!” he gasped. “Jesus! Cease fire, Loki! Cease fire!”
Loki pressed another button to disengage the rail guns, and they fell silent. He looked at his targeting display. All twenty of the thermal images that represented the Ta’Akar defenders were gone. Instead, there were at least three times that many targets, although they were smaller, irregularly shaped, and a little less warm than the original targets. “Original targets are gone,” he reported.
“Yeah, I’ll say,” Josh agreed. “You cut them to pieces.”
“Falcon one, Bravo one. Nice shooting. We’ve got it from here. Go to the opposite side of the airfield and contact Bravo two for instructions.”
“Falcon one copies,” Loki responded calmly. It had all been just like one of the many video games he and Josh had played together over the years.
Josh moved the flight control stick, twisting it to the right and increasing his forward airspeed. The nose of the ship swung to starboard in response and began to climb slightly. “Do yourself a favor, Loki,” Josh warned. “Don’t look down right now.”
“What?”
“Trust me on this,” Josh insisted.
Loki had never heard such a serious tone of voice from Josh. He chose to heed his friend’s warning.
“Commander,” the flight boss began, “the second wave of fighters are turning back. I believe they have figured out our ploy and are returning to protect their base.”