by Charles Lamb
It wasn’t terribly important in what order they left the hangar as far as the attack was concerned. They would have 23 plus hours to reform before they encountered the defenses on the planet. It was more an issue of control, trying to insure no one ran over or otherwise trampled the smaller craft.
All too quickly, Kola could see the entire attack force headed away from her hangars and on toward the target world. It was now time for her to take up a defensive position, guarding against inbound NeHaw ships that may be dispatched to counter the human aggression.
----*----
Jason was alerted the moment the Earth ship appeared at the edge of the system. Seconds later, he triggered the burst transmission containing all the information they had been gathering since being informed of the pending attack. Once he received the acknowledgement, it was then quickly followed by instructions to retreat to an extraction point, where one of the transports would collect them once they had offloaded their troops.
He wasn’t sure he was happy with those orders. His team had invested a serious part of their life in setting up this op and now they were being pulled out just when the fun was starting. Pulling out his map, he surveyed the notes on the various locations they had occupied until he found what he was looking for.
“Let’s go here for now,” Jason said to his corporal as he indicated the spot on the map.
“Didn’t they say pull back?” she asked as she noted the move placed them closer to the primary target.
“Depends on how close they land the Chinese,” Jason said.
“Besides, how can we shoot anything from back here?” he said as he pointed to a place far in the rear.
The corporal looked confused for a second, and then the light turned on.
“Good point,” she said with a smile as she started to gather the others and move out.
----*----
Leftanant Daniel Atkins led the small unit through the winding maze of gullies and eroded the earth as they closed in on their objective. While currently devoid of any liquid, it was easy to tell that these were once water passages, and recently used. The plant life overhead grew so thick that were one to look straight down from above, you would not likely see any of the team as they stealthily moved along.
He was aware that his teams were slightly ahead of the Chinese attack force on G-43578, but their intent was to be in and out undetected before the Chinese landed their attack. Using the Phantom to slip on planet unnoticed, his was one of four units deployed. All four units had specific instructions for search and destroy missions on K-82734. This was to be a coordinated attack, a hit and run sort of thing.
The NeHaw had been using this planet as a staging area for resupplying their fleet. Deep in NeHaw held space, the planet was at the edge of a small solar system and had earth like atmosphere and environment. The slight difference in the atmospheric makeup had them all in full face masks, but helmeted combat suits were not required.
The planet was the only orbiting body around a small, dying sun. The lack of a strong gravity field made the location ideal for ships dropping from FLT to travel the short distance and resupply. The travel time from the edge of the gravity well, caused by the star, to the planet’s surface was a bit over 8 hours, making it an ideal location.
The weak sun did however provide only the minimal amount of life giving warmth, making for temperatures in the daytime just above freezing. At night the thermometer dropped to -50 C, which made things quite uncomfortable for anyone without suits. The plant life seemed to have some form of antifreeze in its makeup, and the heater function in their undergarments provided enough warmth to keep Atkins and his people from freezing.
The new combat suits Jacob and Gemma had dreamed up for them were amazing. Besides the expected visual camouflage capabilities, the bloody things made his people almost invisible to the naked eye. Adapting some of the technology learned in creating the Phantom, they incorporated the technology in the weave of the uniform materials.
There had been just enough time to get a limited number produced for this mission. They were unable to field test them beyond the time spent on the way to the edge of the system. So far Daniel had no complaints.
In addition to those properties, they reflected both the heat and electrical signatures, preventing detection in other spectrums. To avoid giving themselves away by other means, Atkins used hand signals to direct his team as they neared their objective.
Arriving at the jump off point for entry into the compound beyond, Daniel waited until his entire team was clustered nearby. Popping his head up just enough to get a look at what lay ahead, he couldn’t help but react to what he saw.
“Oh bugger!” he whispered to himself.
----*----
Jake was in the command center with Linda and Sara as he tried to track all the ground operations they had in play. Between the SAS and the Chinese, he had more troops off world now than ever before. With the SAS on the ground and the Chinese soon to be, he was anxious for information on their progress.
At the moment they were going over the data provided by the Scout/Sniper team on G-43578, code named Rest-Stop. The data was surprisingly complete, and the team there had done a great job of assessing the threat.
He noted that the commander of the people on site had ordered the team to retreat for extraction, he privately wondered how well that went over. His curiosity was soon satisfied as the team had requested permission to act as sniper cover for the invading force.
Caving to his internal emotions, Jake quickly approved the request, a clear violation of his non-interference rule. His inner Marine just couldn’t let that team miss out on a chance to actually perform the function they had trained for. He was sure he would hear about it later in one form or another.
“Jake, we have word from New York,” one of the communications personnel announced.
Moving over to the console, he scanned the message Five had forwarded.
“All gangs have agreed to stand down. Medical treatment requested immediately for several individuals. Central Park designated a Neutral Zone for all gangs to allow centralized access to services and supply drops equally.”
Jake laughed at the Neutral Zone reference, but stopped laughing as he considered the concept.
----*----
Daniel had his team pull back slightly as he considered the new information he had just received. His short peek at the perimeter fence had revealed a new security force distributed at regular intervals along the energy barrier. The aliens were all in full combat suits and carrying energy weapons familiar to the Leftanant and his team.
Their original plan had been to reach the barrier fence, a partition of energy that incinerated anything that touched it, and breach it, undetected. One of the new toys Jacob had invented for the mission would create a void in the fence without disturbing its function and alerting the occupants. Daniel had expected to pass his people through the void, where they could then plant the charges they carried.
Rethinking their strategy, Daniel did a quick transmission to the Phantom, warning them of his discovery, and then receiving the data he requested. Reviewing the images they had taken just before landing on a small display attached to his forearm, he could now see the guards they had missed earlier. Their suits disrupted the visual spectrum, so in the image they appeared as nothing more than objects along the fence line, indistinguishable as individuals.
Scanning the rest of the sizeable compound, he could see nothing indicating roving guards or any more posted on the interior. Satisfied on the viability of his new strategy, he relayed the information for Phantom to pass on and informed his team of the change in plans.
Once everyone was briefed, he led the group back to a spot near the fence, but out of view of the sentries. Removing the tool he had intended to use on the fence, he gently but firmly pressed it into the side of the bank. Triggering the device, he watched as the dirt all around the rod vaporized, leaving an opening about four feet in diameter in the bank
.
Jacob had cautioned Daniel, when demonstrating the device, that it was intended to temporarily disrupt the energy field of the perimeter fence, leaving about a six to eight foot void in the barrier. However, any solid matter within the area of influence vaporized into thin air as the wand disrupted the atomic bonds that bound them together, just as the fence did.
The energy fences were actually a weave of energy streams that interwove into a blanket of disruptive force. Any solid mater that came in contact would have its molecular bonds disrupted until it became free molecules, destroying the physical form. The energy the rod projected had the same properties, but operated in a reverse fashion, destroying the energy weave of the fence, leaving a void until the fence fabric reassembled.
In a demonstration, Jacob placed the rod on a table top, the end only reaching the center of the table. Holding the handle, he activated the device and instantly the middle section of the table disappeared, leaving the far half as the only solid matter holding the two ends together.
Careful to insure he was always behind the handle, its bell guard protecting his hand, he made sure he did not let it slip past the safe zone. In that fashion, he continued to extend the rod before him as he created a tunnel toward the fence line. One by one, the troopers behind him, followed in the darkness as Daniel tunneled his way under the fence and into the depot above them.
----*----
Robert Jacobson was on the bridge of one of his transport ships as he checked on the formation. In the lead and only minutes ahead of them were the two combat patrol ships surrounded by the eight fighters of the VMFA-232 Red Devils and VMFA-323 Death Rattlers.
Besides all that firepower, the three transports had undergone a partial refit adding guns positioned to cover the landings. All three were now sporting additional energy and railguns to supplement the basic firepower each was provided during construction. Robert liked to call the upgrades his assault transport model.
Inside each ship was a combination of Chinese tanks and assault vehicles that were updated to reflect the new type of fighting they expected. Spread among them were two platoons of Colonel Bo’s best infantry.
Each transport had been loaded with a mix of troops, tanks and fighting vehicles, that was specific to their mission and target. The transports were supposed to cover their area unless called upon to assist in a more critical situation. While they were still a good 20 hours from the planet, he was anxious to get the ball rolling.
----*----
General KaLob was traveling to inspect the cruiser recently repaired on G-43578 and enhanced with a new weapons system. He had seen the images of the battle with the humans off Wawobash and wanted to see for himself how the repairs had gone. The cruiser was recently returned to the NeHaw home world on KaLob’s request after the weapons upgrade.
“General, Sir. We have an urgent message from G-43578 that I think you want to see,” an orderly advised.
Taking the display from the orderly, KaLob started scanning the contents. He then flipped to the images, one showing a significant number of inbound ships and another depicting the massive ship, stationary just outside the system.
“When did this come in?” KaLob asked as he scanned the additional information in the report.
“Just a few subcycles ago. I verified the contents before coming to you with it. The closest ships capable of responding are cycles away,” was the reply.
“What of the four cruisers on the planet?” KaLob asked while referring to the data in the report. It was stated they had four ships currently under the upgrade process on the planet.
“Due to the upgrade process, none are space worthy at this time,” the orderly replied cautiously.
“Get me back to my office,” KaLob ordered the pilot on the other side of the ship.
----*----
According to Daniel’s display, he was about 100 feet inside the perimeter fence and just below an open space between stacks of storage containers. The problem was the instrumentation was not so precise underground and if they came up under one of the stacks of containers they might flood the tunnel with who knows what as they breached the object.
Laying on his back, he pressed the rod into the ceiling and began the effort of tunneling up into the depot itself. While the troopers behind him we silent as the grave, the body heat and lack of airflow did make for a less than comfortable experience. Thankfully, the facemasks helped greatly in providing breathable air.
As Daniel worked, he tracked his progress until his proximity display alerted him to distance from the surface above. Set to notify him once he was within three feet of the ground, Daniel passed the word for his team to get ready. Once they breached the surface, they were the most vulnerable as they exited the tunnel.
As he eased the rod forward removing the last obstacles above him, he suddenly stopped as the bottom edge of one of the containers appeared in the dim light. Shifting the rod out slightly, he continued until they had an opening sufficient for the troopers to exit their underground passage.
By now the sunlight was fading, the temperature was dropping, and Daniel had returned his faceplate display back from Night Vision mode needed in the tunnel to normal mode. The cold air rushing in the opening was startling against his exposed skin. The undetected opening in the tunnel itself was a relief, a hole allowing him to scan both directions in the alley created by the stacks of storage containers.
Similar in size to the containers he had seen in earth history books, these containers were rectangular in size only significantly larger than the ones humans had used. A dull gray in color, each had unintelligible markings that Daniel assumed to reference the contents. Stacked a good twenty feet high, it allowed the entire team to exit the tunnel unobserved.
While darkness was descending on the group, no one took for granted that they would be completely invisible to the alien guards. With that in mind, the team split up, each member tasked with depositing their charges unobserved, and then back through the tunnel to rendezvousing on the other side of the fence line.
Prior to beginning the tunneling, Daniel had been able to adjust their equipment to alert the wearer should an alien in combat gear come into view. Blooming as a red halo in their display, it would help the wearer quickly identify threats as they neared.
Taking the farthest objectives as his own, it took Daniel some time to safely traverse the significant distance from one side of the depot to the other and back without detection. Several times he had to hold in place as an alien worker performed some task nearby.
He was almost to the tunnel when he saw the area suddenly light up in extra lights. His RF meter also started bouncing in what he assumed were pulsed broadcasts.
“Leftanant, target two just went up early,” came the message in his ear from Colonel Banks back on the Phantom.
“Bloody hell,” Daniel replied as he ducked into a small opening. As he watched, the alien sentries were scrambling around in all directions making his exit impossible.
Chapter 20
Jake was watching the holographic image relayed from Kola, depicting the attack force closing in on G-43578. He could see the ships forming as planned, with the Combat Patrol ships and fighters leading the way. Separately, the Scout/Sniper team had relayed in a video stream of the flurry of activity at the primary target location.
The aliens were doing everything they could to prepare their defenses, including directing the guns of the four cruisers skyward. It was a move one expected for an assault from above. It was for that reason that the Chinese assault would be coming on the ground from the sides.
Early on the analysts had determined that the defensive ring each of the alien locations had constructed consisted of gun towers that covered from the horizon to the sky. Only in the sky could all the towers be brought to bear on an assaulting force.
By bringing in the tanks and the troops in at ground level, they removed a significant number of the towers from being able to target them. The combination of ass
ault troops on the ground and low level strafing runs from above, the objective was to neutralize as much of the defensive capability as possible without destroying the facility itself.
Once the area was secure, a team of technical analysts would sweep the facility, gathering as much information on what the NeHaw were doing as possible, to either counter the technology or mimic it for Earth’s own use.
Checking the display, Jake verified the ship with the specialists was preparing to depart, if not somewhat reluctantly.
----*----
“Yes, sir, I do see your point. However, we are paying a substantial sum for this service,” Brian repeated for the third time as he tried to get the Wawobash to depart for G-43578.
“You must understand kind sir, that our people are not prepared to engage in hostile activities. We were assured that we would not be required to perform our work in a battlefield,” the Wawobash Captain replied in the display.
Brian had become used to seeing the canine face speaking, their facial abilities more capable than their terrestrial look-alikes. While they were incredible builders and technically brilliant, their bravery was not what one would call heroic.
They would risk life and limb, all six limbs that is, to work in space as they constructed ships for other racers. But heading into a combat zone, so they could determine what the NeHaw were up to, was something entirely outside of their comfort zone.
“It will be a day before you are able to land on G-43578. By then my people will have the planet secured and you will be quite safe,” Brian replied.
“How can you be sure?” the Wawobash Captain asked pointedly.
“I was in the Battle of Klinan,” ALICE-3 voiced into the conversation.
The Captain paused, turning to look off screen before responding.
“We will depart immediately,” the alien replied before cutting the connection.