They would strike without warning, wreck infrastructure, poison the wetlands the Enemy loved so well, kill whatever they could catch, and slip away to do it again on another planet just as they were beginning to marshal resistance. Let them have a taste of what we’ve been dealing with for as long as I’ve been fighting.
Trooper for trooper he knew his Mei marines were better than anything the Enemy could muster. They just had numbers and space superiority so they could usually land reinforcements whenever they pleased. Take away those advantages and they’d crumble in short order, he was sure. Yes, the Void Dragon was perfect.
The Captain was an all right sort too, for a Ren, even listened to him once in a while. Too bad she wasn’t with them anymore.
When they entered Harbin’s airspace they experienced some strange turbulence followed by sustained interceptor attack. Zhamisce supposed they had come in too high and tripped the planetary defense grid. That was bad, but not unsalvageable. He was just about to scramble their own interceptors when Captain Wen herself had come down and demanded one. It wasn’t his place to refuse her (but she could have left him his datapad) so he stepped aside and let her go.
Whatever she did must have worked because the Enemy interceptors had been driven off and they’d managed to land unmolested and set up a fairly defensible base camp in the foothills south of the mountain range that contained their ultimate target. The ship was shot up to all hell, though. It looked like they might be here a while.
And so there he was, trying to set up a perimeter and organize repairs at the end of a very long day. Harbin was all dirty brown and sickly yellow, with dust that bit at unprotected eyes, jammed equipment, and baked by a hot sun that made him miss the Void Dragon’s climate-controlled sterility.
He caught sight of Colonel Xia marching by and scrambled to catch up to her, curse those long Ren strides.
“Still planning to go through with this?” he asked.
Xia snorted. Of course she was. This was her plan all along and now there was no Captain Wen around to interfere.
“I’ve already told you, Major, our hot landing makes a swift strike all the more imperative. We must not give them time to move Montjoie or fortify the Mountain Stronghold. My troop specializes in infiltration. We’ll be in and out before they know what hit them.”
“And us?”
“You will sit tight and dig in. Our strike might provoke a counter-attack and we’ll need a strong point to fall back to. And you will carry out my orders.”
“Of course, Colonel. The demolition charges will be set. The Enemy won’t capture the Void Dragon intact if it comes to that.”
“I should hope not. That’s just the sort of thing we came here to prevent. This technology must not fall into Enemy hands. My team is just about suited and booted. We’re ready to go.”
And they looked it. The Ren marines were sleek in their black infiltration armor, rangy and rapid. Still, they seemed a little sluggish in their carriage to Zhamisce. This planet’s gravity would be just outside their comfortable range. He hoped they’d made appropriate adjustments to their jump jets. That was a mistake he wouldn’t be making again.
“Gravity and dust control?” he asked.
“You should know better than to ask me that. I don’t know how some other units operate but my troop is always squared away. See you soon, Major Zhamisce.”
She walked off and her unit fell in behind her. Good luck.
Now it would be up to him to take care of the boring, unglamorous work while Xia was out raiding the Enemy base. Such is life.
They had some fabricators that would allow them to machine spare parts, and the Void Dragon would need a lot of spare parts. Her whole starboard side looked chewed on and Lieutenant Tian was beside herself when she got a good look at those nice new quantum energy sinks. Those would be beyond their ability to fully repair, but getting them in good enough working condition to make it home was still possible. For that, they would need raw materials.
Zhamisce detailed three squads to fan out with a massive light sensor package to prospect for ore. He didn’t think it would be too difficult. The mineral wealth was the original reason such an inhospitable planet had been settled in the first place.
The prospecting sensors were similar enough to their military equipment. In fact, long ago, on the old home world of Earth, Dr. Gao had first developed massive light in order to map the ocean’s floor, all in search of hydrocarbons which were used as fuel at the time.
The photons were smashed together in a quantum configuration that allowed solid semi-permeability. From there it was a simple matter of broadcasting them into the ground and seeing what turned up. It was fairly easy work compared to chasing dangerous and volatile clouds with xinium traces on gas giants.
Major Zhamisce’s own parents had been mining engineers. They had left the stifling, cramped, Tiandao floating city on Saturn in order to set up an asteroid mining operation, struck it rich, and managed to buy property on an inner colony world with decent living conditions. He found himself thanking them for the extra half-a-head in height he had on his high-gravity raised peers. He knew very well he was one of the lucky ones, the New Mei that had managed something resembling equality in the aftermath of the rebellions and before the war. That was why he was the officer here, or was before Colonel Xia had taken over.
His troopers were a good sort, by and large. Mostly, they were kids who enlisted to escape the crowded Tiandao slums. Zhamisce himself had never spent any length of time in such a place but the little he had, well, he didn’t blame them. The Marine Corps was a fine life compared to where they could be. He himself had chosen it for a different reason. The memories of his childhood, of being the only Mei in his classes, being looked down on, underestimated, every day this pushed him forward and filled him with a desire to prove himself, as much as it broke his parents’ hearts.
“We have money,” they said. “There’s no need!”
It wasn’t about the money. It was never about the money.
Zhamisce decided he had wasted enough time and went to check if the prospecting detail had anything for him.
“Sergeant Toryn, talk to me,” he said.
Sergeant Toryn was a brick wall of a trooper with dyed blond hair and more tattoos than were strictly within regulations, but he was one of Zhamisce’s veterans and good at his job, so the Major decided not to notice.
“Yes, sir. We’ve got high quality iron for sure, cobalt and tungsten too, plus some trace elements.”
“Very good, Troop. Go talk to Lieutenant Tian and tell her we’ve got her iron. She’ll be able to handle the extraction.”
“As you say, sir.” Toryn saluted and got a move on.
Mining was something that massive light made infinitely simpler. In the proper configuration it was as thin and hard as you pleased, and would cut through anything. Once a shaft had been dug out the ore could be encased in force fields and levitated right up with a differential gravity oscillator, which came standard on any massive light generator worthy of the name.
They would need that ore to repair the ship, but it wasn’t their most immediate concern. Colonel Xia was launching her raid even as they worked, and he had no idea how that would turn out, if she would return with friends, or return at all. With the exception of a few foraging parties he had the rest of his company suited up and standing to.
Their gear was unpacked quick as anything, with plasma flak batteries deployed and dug in to deny the Enemy the air. In light of the planet’s breathable atmosphere their suits were worn in the unsealed configuration for greater visibility and tactile awareness in an environment where massive light sensors would almost certainly be blinded with dust and light-noise. He had them check and double-check the jump jets.
This was a Mei planet, with higher gravity on their side, and Zhamisce didn’t envy any Enemy that might try to reckon with them on such friendly ground. Even so, if they had managed to drive Xuanwu out of the mountains they might be
trouble. We’ll see, he thought. But I’d bet on my marines any day.
They waited, for something, anything to happen. Xia’s marines were up north, no Enemy unit or Xuanwu survivor had been found, and Captain Wen was still missing, presumed dead. He didn’t like the look on Commander Nima’s face when they lost contact with her, not one bit. At least he had the good sense to stay on the ship and out of the way. There wasn’t much Navy people could do down here anyway, save for Lieutenant Tian’s technicians.
Speaking of which, it looked like Tian was already back with the ore if that floating train of dark colored blocks following in her wake was anything to go by. He decided to check in.
“How are things, Lieutenant?” he asked.
“About as well as could be expected, Major. Our starboard energy sink is torn up but not unsalvagable. We lack the capacity to produce nano-engineered replacement parts so it’s just going to be a matter of sealing the leaks and not pushing the ship too hard. I’ll probably have her in a state that can limp home before the end of the day.”
“Outstanding. Looks like you’re about to start neosteel production?”
“That’s right. It won’t take long; we only need a few tons, after all. It’s not like we’re working with a dreadnought here. That was be a real nightmare.”
They fell into silence as Tian programmed their unpacked mobile fabricator for rolls of neosteel. Neosteel was made by packing a lot of massive light infused deuterium and tritium into a small area to create a partial fusion reaction, which would impregnate the purified iron ore with special photonic particles. The photonic particles strengthened the steel and the steel stabilized the particles, producing neosteel, roughly twice as strong as conventional but a quarter of the weight.
“She’s a good ship, seen us through a lot already,” he said.
“Yes, but I’d prefer she didn’t have to take this much damage. If Captain Wen hadn’t...”
“Hadn’t what?” he asked, genuinely curious.
“You don’t know?”
“Know what? Is this about her cutting her way out of the cargo hold?”
“No, no, she came in with our shields up, made the Void Dragon entirely too heavy. I blame myself; I should have foreseen the problem, should have warned her.”
So that was what the turbulence was. “Now that you mention it, we always lowered shields before going down to a planet for drills, didn’t we?”
“Yes, every time. I suppose the whole operation has been rushed. We’ve made mistakes,” Tian said, powering down the reactor on the mobile fabricator. “And that’s it. We can start patching up things now. If you’d excuse me?”
“Of course, I didn’t mean to keep you.”
“It’s no trouble, Major, see you.”
“See you.” To think it was something simple like keeping the shields up when they oughtn’t that nearly brought us down. Always the little things that trip you up in the end.
Zhamisce was getting a bit antsy about Colonel Xia so he detailed some strong pickets around their perimeter and chanced a few short scans for activity further out. It might tip off the Enemy to their location, true, but it might also give them advanced warning of the Ren marines retreating with wounded.
Nothing came of it, though. It was getting dark, and they were beyond tired. He was just about to break his troopers into separate watches so a few could get some shut-eye when, as often happened in Zhamisce’s experience, the worst thing happened at the worst possible moment.
He jumped at the sound of his communicator making a high pitched pop and Corporal Yimran hurried message, “Major, bejya iru, bejya iru!”
Bejya iru. Incoming contact. Here we go.
“Hostiles?” he asked.
“Unknown,” Sergeant Toryn joined the channel. His squad was detailed closer to the signal as shown on the object tracker built in to Zhamisce’s visor. “Want me to check it out?”
“Negative. Withdraw the pickets and form up. Wake up anybody who’s been dozing and get them sorted out quickly. Looks like it’s all from one direction. Captain Ogun will retain a ready reserve for anything unexpected, and to guard the ship.”
His XO wouldn’t thank him for being held back but he didn’t want any unpleasant surprises in his rear. That wouldn’t do at all, and he could trust Ogun to spot anything untoward quickly.
“Pop the shroud?” Toryn asked.
“Negative, not until we know what’s what.”
Damn, I don’t like this. If things went well Xia would come back quietly, not like this where the sensors caught them right away. “On second thought, don’t withdraw just yet, Sergeant. Think you can get eyes on them?”
“With pleasure, sir.” Toryn closed the channel.
Zhamisce exhaled slowly and braced himself for bad news.
Toryn was quick with his report. “It’s Xia all right, her unit looks to be either divided or decimated. That’s not the worst of it, either. The Enemy’s right behind, battalion strength or I’m not a Mei.”
“Any indication of air support or knowledge of our position?” Zhamisce asked hurriedly.
“Don’t think so. Looks like they keep trying to pincer in Colonel Xia but those specialized infiltration suits are too fast. Not especially durable though, ouch! Looks like a lucky shot got one of ours.”
“Try to raise her.” Zhamisce was rushing to the rally point as fast as his jump jets could carry him. He’d been caught out checking on pickets. Still, it didn’t take too long. Captain Ogun had pretty much everyone ready for action and formed up by the time he joined them.
His company looked tired. They were tired, but the Enemy didn’t care.
“Our priority is Colonel Xia,” he said. “She might have Montjoie with her, we couldn’t confirm it, but if we can drive the Enemy off that might just be mission success and we’ll be out of here within hours.”
“And if it’s not?” one marine asked.
“Pray that it is. What we’re about to face is probably only a fraction of the Enemy’s assets on planet. We’re outnumbered, but not impossibly. We can win this if everyone does their jobs. Form a nice tight skirmish line, ten to twenty meter spacing.”
There was a bit of concerned shuffling of feet and tightened posture at that command, but it was necessary. For the way they moved, ten meter spacing was very close indeed. They’d be outnumbered and surrounded, true, but they needed to concentrate their firepower if they wanted to give Xia some breathing room.
“We’ll hit them hard and fast, secure Xia’s unit and any wounded, then fall back to the flak belt. Don’t worry about being surrounded. We can punch out of an envelopment just as easily as we can punch through their lines. Now move out!”
“OORAH!” they shouted.
They fanned out into a skirmish line and began moving by fireteam. With long, jet-assisted strides, they could maintain a steady rate of advance of ten meters a second without much fatigue at all. When observing maneuvers from the air Major Zhamisce thought it looked like a swarm of extremely organized hornets skimming the ground. They’d be a bit slower in these foothills, but the cover would definitely be welcome.
On the way Zhamisce checked in with Sergeant Toryn, taking up his accustomed spot as left anchor. “Any word from Colonel Xia?”
“Afraid no, sir. Could be jamming, could be damage to their communicators from dust or Enemy fire, could be they’re too busy to reply.”
He didn’t mention that Colonel Xia could be dead and all that remained were survivors running for their lives, but the both knew it was possible, even likely.
“I wanted to take one last chance,” Zhamisce said. “Oh well, if she’s alive we can speak face to face. Pop the shroud.”
The shroud was their own little equalizer, a bugout burst of massive light designed to blind sensors, disrupt communications, and most especially interfere with computer assisted targeting. Generally, it was a huge advantage over the Enemy, who often seemed overly reliant on their officers to direct them, but they’
d have to give up some coordination as well, and once deployed it couldn’t be taken back. They would have to wait for it die down or withdraw from the battlefield to reorganize themselves.
Rockets burst in the skies overhead, scattering tiny drones, each giving off their own multicolored laser light show. Zhamisce allowed himself to enjoy the beauty for a moment before his sensor package and communications channels cut out. It would be nothing but verbal orders and hand signals from here on.
He skipped easily across the surface of Harbin in an elliptical motion, his jump jets artificially lightening and lengthening his stride. It took some time to learn the trick of it, even with the controls interfaced with your own nervous system, but once mastered you could do it all day, even up nearly vertical surfaces. The hills and valleys they traversed now were no obstacle at all. They’d be upon the Enemy any moment.
He checked the ammo spool on his flechette gun and kept his eyes peeled for targets. The magazine was an ingenious design of copper wire, photon stabilized and spun to mono-molecular dimensions. When fed through the firing chamber a nanoblade cut the wire into fine flechettes that were then propelled down a fairly standard acceleration chamber. With easy recoil control and a withering rate of fire one magazine could last hours. The flechette gun was their best friend.
The company sped along until they made visual contact with Colonel Xia’s Ren marines.
A single squad with no formation to speak of was making a break towards them. The black infiltration suits were unmistakable, even at this range. He skidded to a halt and tried to get a bead on their pursuers for some covering fire.
No targets immediately presented themselves. Must have been tipped off by the shroud. They know we’re waiting for them.
The Ren doubled their pace and about a hundred meters out the Enemy struck. A mob of them cascaded over the ridgeline. His company opened up.
Their flechette fire, individually small though it was, churned the earth and kicked up one hell of a dust storm. Small hills were leveled and valleys cut deeper. The Enemy troopers, about mid range in size between Ren and Mei, lithe and predatory, fanned out in a well practiced motion, avoiding much of their firepower. It kept them from offering much return fire, though.
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