Steel Walls and Dirt Drops

by Black, Alan

  Ottiamig said, "It is not just a squad. That looks like we got almost a dozen squads in armor."

  "Can the chatter, you APES. Slezak, can you read IFF?" The Identity: Friend or Foe was an active scan and would alert the new contact to her squad's presence and let any enemy know who was there.

  "Roger, blipping now. Oh, shit! We are taking fire. Damn, get me out of here," Slezak shouted.

  "Stay put. I can't analyze what I can’t see. Tag your signal to the squad net. Tuamma, confirm under fire from APES," Misha said. Her HUD interpreted the incoming fire at Slezak and Ottiamig as red streaks with definite overtones of angry.

  "Yes, sir, it is max range for mass driver fire. We aren't taking any damage and won't for a minute or two yet. But, I don't think they are APES. Check this magnified image," Ottiamig said.

  Misha stared at the visual. "What do you think, Singletary?"

  "The kid is right. That ain't our suit configuration. Look, the legs are too long and the arms are too short," Singletary replied.

  "Sir, DeLaPax here. That is an Orion Confederacy suit. I've seen scans on them in the armory repair bay."

  "Are you sure, Peace?" asked Singletary.

  "Damn right. I am an excellent armor repair tech. I know my scoobies. They are more mobile than our old v 2.0A, but they are not as well armored. Our mass drivers will punch a hole through two at a time, if we can get close enough," DeLaPax said.

  Misha used the conversation between Singletary and DeLaPax to lay in a new battle plan. She quickly uploaded it onto Able Squad's net. "Okay, APES. I have a new tactical plan. Follow what is on your HUD. Break into teams one, two and three as marked. Slezak and Ottiamig, hold there until I give the word."

  "Come on, Third," Slezak whined. "That is going to expose us to more fire. Hell, that puts us in H.E. range."

  "It is barely within H.E. range, Aimee," Misha said. "I don't see any indication they have skid plates. Your skid plates will move you out of range before you get hit. You are the bait. We need you to draw them in and draw their fire until we can catch them in the open. Now enough chatter people. This isn't up for debate."

  Misha watched as Singletary slid his skid plate along at grass top height as he moved into position with Park and Cutler on the left flank. Qualls skirted wide to join up with Juarez and Metzler as they scooted up the back of a sloping hill on the right. She wasn't happy about using skid plates after Guinjundst. But, she had been assured that Bambi and Boozer, infected with Binder biological and chemical agents, drove their plates into the ground on Guinjundst and not the other way around.

  A single comm request blipped on her HUD. It was Singletary asking for a one-on-one. She toggled her comm unit.

  "Okay, Singletary. What’s up?"

  "Look, Third. Are we supposed to fire on humans? I mean, we are not at war with the Orion Confed, are we? Besides, there are too damn many for one squad to handle. That must be a full second sized unit."

  Misha toggled her comm to the squad's open channel. "Okay you APES, our IFF marked the incoming suits as hostile and they fired at us. I don't need any more justification than that to shoot back. We are going to draw these A-holes into a trap and pound them into mush."

  De Le Pax shouted, "Incoming, check your upside, eleven o'clock high. I am reading what looks like rocks with those weird Binder markings."

  "Hold your positions, APES," Misha commanded. The trajectory of the incoming was definitely unguided. The signal showed it to be native chunks of rock. Sure enough, there was evidence of Binder activity. Peculiar and unreadable vegetation marked the edges of the rocks. The rocks were arcing toward them as if tossed from a long distance away, yet still coming in suborbital.

  "Slezak and Ottiamig, take off now. Lead the hostiles to us," Misha ordered. "Team one, keep it cold you APES, and stay in position." They would expose her ambush if they moved to avoid the incoming rock barrage.

  Misha watched the indicators on her HUD grow closer as the rocks curved toward her. She felt the ground complain as large rocks and boulders began to rain out of the sky. One rock the size of a two-seat flitter smashed into the ground a few meters from her. The shockwave flipped her thirty meters before she plowed back into the dirt. Keeping as low as she could, she crabbed backward to the crater caused by the rock's impact. Now she had cover.

  She heard a high-pitched scream over the comms. It sounded like Qualls. However, checking her command HUD, she saw a large boulder hit Steinman. His telltale on her HUD showed severe damage to his legs. They were probably crushed. Even a hardened combat suit can only provide protection from some levels of damage. These rocks were coming down with less than terminal velocity, but they were hitting the ground with force enough she could feel the ground quake and churn.

  "Hold steady, APES." She hit the command override on Steinman's voice comms. She checked his vitals. He was still alive, but the suit had automatically sealed off his legs and pumped him so full of meds that he was unconscious. She noticed Able Squad medic Cutler's comm signal also logged in to check on Steinman. Misha thought, "Good check for a rookie. I need to remember to give him an attaboy."

  Misha was tossed out of her crater with the thump from another near miss. She ducked back just in time to miss being smacked by Slezak's skid plate as the trooper zipped past. Ottiamig dove off his skid plate as it shot by. He flew into Misha's crater. Without a rider to guide it, his skid plate slowed to a walk and furrowed its way into the ground.

  "Welcome to my hole, APE," Misha said.

  "My, my, my, sir. I do love what you have done with the place." Ottiamig's voice cracked in a smile.

  By way of reply, Misha called, "Hostiles in firing range. Team one, fire at will. Make sure you use plenty of tracers, so they know where we are. Keep them bunched up and coming through that little valley. Shoot any high bouncers moving up the slopes of the hills. I want them coming straight at team one. Teams two and three, check fire until they are well and truly cornered."

  She stepped up to the edge of the crater and opened fire with high-explosive rounds that fell on the rear of the Orion troops. It had the effect of pushing the Orions forward into her mass driver fire.

  Ottiamig took careful aim with his mass driver at an individual target. The figure blew backwards and crumpled to the ground. Misha toggled her comm for one-on-one with him and slapped the side of his helmet to get his attention.

  "Negative, rookie, this isn't sniper school. Open it up. Fire controlled bursts of one to two seconds. Shift and fire again. Point at clusters, don't aim."

  An H.E. round exploded in their faces, knocking both Misha and Ottiamig backwards into the hole. Misha could not tell if the red was the HUD interpretation of hostile fire or the explosion itself. She rolled with the blast and came up on her feet. Bounding forward she targeted the back side of the enemy troops and let loose with another barrage of return H.E. She sprayed the oncoming forces with a long sweeping burst of mass driver fire.

  Misha's suit showed no damage. She quickly checked Ottiamig's vitals. His telltales didn't show any extensive damage, although he appeared to be in distress.

  "Tuamma, report," Misha ordered.

  "Sir, can't breathe. It feels like someone is sitting on my chest. I’ve got to open up to breathe."

  "That is a negative, APE. You stay sealed. You're okay. Get on your feet. You can breathe if you can talk. We need your firepower." She reached down and grabbed his suit. With a grunt, she set him upright and tossed him onto the crater's lip. "Shoot, APE. Or they might as well bury us in this hole."

  Ottiamig rolled into a prone position in the grass just outside of the crater rim and began firing controlled bursts. Misha nodded. He would do all right. She shot a barrage of electro-magnetic pulses, comms and heat jammers skyward.

  Misha could see by her HUD that team one was pouring fire into the advancing armored enemy, but at this distance, they were barely making a mark. She recognized both mass driver fire and H.E. coming from Slezak's position. DeLaPax was als
o pouring fire into the opposing forces. Only Steinman wasn't firing.

  "By the numbers team one, sitrep," Misha ordered. "Command is fully operational." Although her HUD showed her the location and status of each APE from all three teams, she wanted to hear from each trooper.

  "Trooper Four DeLaPax, still firing. No damage. I have half magazine of H.E."

  "Trooper Six Slezak, same-same, Third."

  "Trooper Eight Ottiamig, I got a dent in my chest, but I am still loaded for bear, sir. My mass-driver ammo is showing low."

  "Ottiamig, get back in this hole and on your feet. Set your suit to convert dirt and rocks to ammo. Move it, APE!" Misha shouted.

  Misha didn't hear from Steinman. "DeLaPax, are you close to Steinman?"

  "Not now, sir. I was when he got hit. Huge rock just smashed his legs to liquid. I think the suit sealed him up."

  "Yes. He is medicated and his vitals are still not red. He will be fine if we can get dust-off out of here in the next day or so."

  "They're almost on us. Damn it, Third. Do something!" Slezak shouted. Misha could hear the rising panic in her voice.

  The enemy forces channeled neatly into the gap between the two hills. Misha knew either the enemy commander was an idiot or his suit didn't have the scanning capabilities to detect her trap. Either way she was not going to leave a wrapped present under the tree.

  "Singletary and Park, you may open fire at your discretion, but listen APES, I want team one to snag at least a couple of prisoners out of this mess. Other than that, leave nothing but a brown streak in the dirt."

  Singletary's team two opened fire on the left flank of the enemy and Park's team three opened up from the right. H.E. rained on the enemy forces blowing wide gaps in their ranks.

  "They are starting to fall back," Park shouted.

  "Team two, push at 'em," Misha shouted. "Watch your cross-fire zone. Team three, go airborne. Team one, move into them, I want those prisoners."

  Misha bounced up from her crater and shot forward, putting all her momentum into a loping motion, hugging the ground. In the middle of one leap, an explosion pushed her feet out from under her. Two more explosions rocked the ground around her. She hit the ground rolling and came to her feet. Her HUD highlighted the explosions in green.

  She launched herself forward again and crashed into the collapsing enemy front. Bodies scattered and broke as her more powerful armor impacted against the Orion suits. Misha's HUD tagged an Orion suit. It was emitting a high volume of comm traffic. It was broadcasting with enough power to push through her still active jammers. Logically, this must be a command suit, or at least a communications suit. She sent another barrage of jammers skyward.

  She plowed her way through the enemy forces. Two suits reached out to grab her arms, while a third suit swung a hand carried mass driver muzzle toward her chest. Misha kicked her right foot forward. The foot impacted on the stock of the weapon and sent it sailing away.

  She continued the kick on upward and slammed her boot heel into the faceplate of the man. Then, taking all the weight off her feet, she crashed to the ground on her back, breaking the grips on her arms. Rolling onto her shoulders, she whipped her feet into the mid-sections of the two men next to her. The man on the right collapsed backward as his armor buckled. The man on the left rolled with the kick. He leapt into the air bringing both feet together to come down onto Misha's helmet. She rolled. Instead of rolling away, she rolled into the man. When he came down his feet caught the edge of her twisting armor, knocking his feet out from under him. Misha, still on the ground, whipped her left leg around and impacted against the enemy soldier's helmet. Even through the armor, Misha could feel the blow. The helmet's inferior armor collapsed.

  Misha flipped to her feet. She located the enemy command suit by her HUD's targeting and dashed after it. The enemy was in full retreat. She dove forward, becoming airborne. Her shoulder hit the torso of her target, driving him to the ground.

  "Teams two and three, go airborne, pursue and destroy, except Trooper Cutler. Team one, consolidate any prisoners. Everyone meet back at point one minus one K south in twenty-five. Do not take any longer, or we will leave you behind,” Misha ordered. "Cutler, find Steinman's locator on your TAC. He needs a medic. Call if you need assistance."

  "Hey, Trey, I grabbed two prisoners," DeLaPax called over the comms. "Do I get to keep them both?"

  "Good job, APE. Slezak, Ottiamig, prisoners?" Misha asked.

  "Ottiamig here, sir, I grabbed one, but he is pretty busted up."

  "That'll do. If he lives and if we can peel him out of his suit, we can see what Doc Cutler can do for him," Misha said.

  "I am negative here, Third," Slezak reported. "Uh, mine just died on me."

  "Roger that, trooper. Grab a hold of one of De La Paz's captures. Let's get them to the rally point."

  Twenty-five minutes later, Able Squad stood at one kilometer south of point one. Misha did a mental tally. Only Steinman was seriously injured. Cutler said the man was stable, but needed to get to a med-bay to treat the leg stumps or the new legs might not attach. There was only so much physical trauma their combat enhanced med-nanites could repair.

  A few troopers, including Ottiamig and herself had bruises, but when you are inside a suit, bruises don't show, so they don't matter. Three skid plates were non-functional due to the rock bombardment. The vitals on Slezak's suit were showing some redlining of non-critical systems. That is non-critical unless you are in combat and need them. They had three and a half prisoners.

  Misha would have to keep a double dose of comm jammers in the air to block the prisoners from sending signals until they peeled them out of their suits. They also seriously depleted their stock of H.E. All in all, a very good outcome against ten to one odds.

  "Sir, can I ask a question?" Ottiamig asked over the open squad comms.

  "Sure, fire away, trooper." Misha was glad to see he used the open comms instead of the one-on-one comm with her that was available. It showed he wasn't shy about asking questions. And if you don't ask, then you don't know. This way on open comms everyone might learn.

  "Why one kilometer south of point one? Why not just go to point one?"

  "Good question. Anyone else want to field this? No takers? Okay, you APES, it is because it was raining rocks at point one. Does anyone know where those rocks were coming from? It sure wasn't these dung-for-brains grunts in the cheap off-the-rack combat suits. Whoever was throwing rocks knew where we were. One kilometer moved us far enough to get out of the rain. And south? Well, that was just the first direction that came to mind."

  Misha continued, "DeLaPax, peel these cretins out of their suits without too much damage. I want to send them back to HQ for intelligence review."

  "Roger that, Trey. What about any bio or chemical reaction on the prisoners?"

  "It's their stuff if there is any here. I would call that poetic justice," Misha said. "Besides, scans don't show anything, so the best next test is on human subjects. We can go back to breathing something besides canned air if they live. However, we will still stay sealed up until we get to the squad bay for complete scans."

  Misha continued. "We have to get the prisoners out of their suits to shut down their comms. We can't take them back to drop point with us if we can't peel them. Anyone tracking them would eventually locate them because of the dead air around our jammers. The quicker we get them peeled, the quicker we get back to drop point and into our bunkers.

  "All right, you APES. Let’s use standard squad stagger for movement and move by the numbers," Misha ordered. "We don't leave any of our equipment, or any captured Orion equipment behind. Double up on skid plates. Let's get this show back on the road."

  She toggled the command switch deactivating the tri-wave simulation. One second they were fighting on an unnamed backwater planet in combat that felt, smelled and tasted as real as any action. The next second the squad lay in reclining lounge chairs in the training bay.

  Misha checked her time and s
ighed wearily. The past three days took less than forty minutes. However, the whole ordeal felt as if it took three days worth of energy and she needed a rest. "Even so," she thought, "I still need to brush my teeth. Nevertheless, first I’ve got to take down Slezak.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Misha felt drained from the tri-wave sim. Last night’s sleep had been fitful and it had been a rough morning. She pushed her entire unit almost to the dropping point in the past six hours. Each squad had run physical exercise where the seconds tested and probed for weakness. She insisted as many squads as possible spend time in the tri-wave simulators. Each trooper checked and rechecked, fitted and refitted their combat armor.

  Only recently, she ordered the squad leaders to send their cooks off to prepare lunch. Her squad's cook was Steinman. He was still a bit shaky from having 'lost his legs' in the sims, but he looked eager enough to get back to the kitchen. The rest of the unit was humping excess cargo to the proper holds.

  She saw Sergeant Forrester sitting on the deck by the hatch. She had been watching him off and on throughout the day as Second Takki-Homi's Charlie Squad ran him ragged. She even noticed Takki-Homi took him with his squad through the sim training. She smiled at the memory; Forrester came out of the tri-wave sim pale and sweating, but with a smile and eager to do it again.

  Misha expected their cooks to call lunch break at any moment. Even though she remembered her lunch date with Forrester, she didn't need a shower as everyone smelled like fresh sweat. She planned on having him sit with her squad for lunch. Steinman's record indicated he was exceptionally well gifted in the kitchen. But she still had one task remaining before any break for lunch.

  "Slezak, come here a minute." Misha waved the woman over to a quiet corner.

  "Yes, Third, what can I do for you?" the woman said.

  "I ran a computer check of our time in the sim. In fact, Trooper Slezak, I ran it twice. I will also tell you that I am recording this conversation on my glass-pack."

  "I don't understand," Slezak said with more than a little unease.