Reaching up to the physical countermeasures package, he threw a series of switches, locking them to fire one at a time, directly behind him. Not a normal distribution pattern, and the system gave him several chances to change his mind before he threw in the final override.
“I’m going to need extra power as soon as I fire a package,” he said. “Just for a microsecond, quite literally. We’ll have to get out of the blast range.”
“Are you doing what I think you are doing?” she replied. “You realize that they could…”
“Fire the laser at any time, yes, I know, but they haven’t done it yet, and I think there might be a reason.”
“That’s a hell of a risk.”
“We lose the Zheng He, Alamo’s facing two-to-one odds. We’ve got to keep them in the fight, one way or another.” He held his hands over the controls, and said, “Fifteen seconds to contact. Hang on. This is going to be fun.”
A swarm of protests were streaming from the navigation computer, alarms blaring that suggested he was doing something terminally stupid, but he ignored them all as the shuttle swung into its place in the missile stream. They were flying tightly together, using their proximity to strengthen their electronic defenses and targeting solution, an advantage he intended to turn to his favor.
“Abort!” Marshall’s voice yelled, Harper having evidently broken through his signal discriminator. “Salazar, damn it…”
Nineteen seconds to go. More than enough time for him to get out of the way, if he chose. He didn’t. Swinging in front of the nearest missile, the acceleration high enough that he felt as though he was on the verge of blacking out, he tapped a control and released a decoy, the brief kick of the engines throwing the shuttle clear of the resultant explosion as the proximity sensors detonated.
His fingers danced lightly on the thruster controls as he swung around in front of the next one, dropping the throttle just enough to take him within range. At any second, he expected the not-men to fire the laser, to wipe out the shuttle with a single shot, but the next missile exploded behind him.
Now they were beginning to notice, the two remaining missiles swinging out to either side. He still had a luxurious twelve seconds to go, and he swing right, burning his thruster fuel with abandon to get the shuttle onto target, the navigation computer struggling to keep up with the missile’s hasty maneuvers, but after five seconds, he got into position, and the decoy slammed home.
One left. Now quite far distant, and only seven seconds left to finish the job. The Zheng He loomed large, now visible in the viewscreen without magnification. He dived right for it, not worrying about a maneuvering edge. Either this would work, or it wouldn’t. Erickson watched with horror growing across her face as the sirens screamed a collision alarm, but at the last second, only a handful of miles before impact, he tapped the control to send the decoy swinging forward, using the extra thrust from the engine to toss the shuttle up, over the missile as it detonated.
“Just enough fuel to put us into a high orbit,” he said with a sigh, setting up the maneuver.
“Zheng He to Drone Leader.”
“I read you, Zheng He.”
“You are one of the craziest pilots I have ever seen. Also one of the best. My thanks.”
“My pleasure, Zheng He,” he replied. “Salazar to Alamo.”
“Nice show, Salazar,” Marshall said. “You hang tight in orbit. We’ll do the rest. Good work. Alamo out.”
“Now what?” Erickson asked.
“You heard the Captain,” he said, as the shuttle burned pro-grade to bring it up to a safe orbit. “We hang tight, and watch the show. And hope no-one shoots at us.” The engine sputtered to a halt, the last of the fuel gone, the emergency reserve expended. “And that, Spaceman, is how we do that.”
“Can I ask a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“No promises,” he replied with a grin, turning back to the sensor display. If all he could do was watch, at least he could take full advantage of the best seats in the house.
Chapter 25
Sliding the communicator into his pocket, Cooper yelled, “Grab your kit, everyone! We’re going in!”
“Now?” Morton asked. “Three days early? We’ve hardly made camp.”
“To hell with all that stuff,” Cooper said. “Leave it behind. We won’t need it any more. Listen up, everyone. Alamo just flashed down a tactical alert, code word ‘Caesar’. Immediate attack, regardless of risk. We’re going ahead with the plan as outlined.”
Shaking his head, Morton replied, “I don’t like it, sir. Are we sure that this isn’t some sort of trick, a trap set by the enemy? It’s the sort of thing they would do.”
Gurung said, “We don’t have time for a debate. Let’s move!”
“Who put you…”, Morton began, but Cooper broke in, snatching his plasma carbine from his side and running up the charge cycle. Stealth didn’t matter now, just speed.
“Third squad, Gurung, with me. We’re going right in. Fourth squad thirty seconds behind us, take up a position on the edge of the dome, covering fire. You read me?”
“With you, sir,” Vaughan said.
“Then come on, damn it!”
Cooper raced down the tunnel, leaping over the barricade and sprinting into the forest. Just under a mile and a half to the domes, ten minutes with a little luck if they pushed it, though he didn’t expect to get anywhere near all the way. With all the noise they were making, someone was bound to come out and intercept them part way there.
None of this was according to plan. This daring charge was taking place under cover of broad daylight, at full speed crashing through the jungle making enough noise to alert everyone for ten miles, with plasma carbines charging at a fast enough rate to be detected from orbit. The orders from Alamo left him no discretion, though. Immediate attack, regardless of the tactical situation.
Only one explanation made any sense. Something had gone wrong up in orbit, terribly wrong, and they had to provide some sort, any sort of distraction. He longed for a mission update, to send a signal up to the ship to find out what was going on up there, but the jamming was too intense. Maybe after the battle, after they had taken out the domes.
He glanced behind him for a second, watching third squad chase after him, Gurung unsurprisingly in the lead, flashing a grin at him. Fourth was moving out as well, Morton at the rear. Eighteen of them against eighty, reasonable odds.
Movement, up ahead. It might just have been an animal, but Cooper was in no mood to take chances, and there was no point even trying for stealth at this point. He fired off a plasma pulse, a ball of green fire racing forward to vaporize its target, the only evidence of what it had been a brief scream as it died. A human, moving forward.
Doctrine called for him to pause, to survey the situation, but they weren’t going to be following the book today. He made a sweeping motion with his hand, sending Third Squad fanning out behind him to cover more ground, but continuing the speed of their advance. One of the others fired, Vaughan, perhaps, taking out a target of his own.
Still almost a mile before they reached the dome. The nearer they got, the easier this was going to be. Pulling the enemy forces forward out of their fixed defenses might actually be to their advantage, taking out the cover that was their only defense against the Espatiers’ plasma weapons.
“Up ahead,” Gurung said. “Four of them.”
Following his arm, Cooper saw a pack of figures charging towards them, slamming a heavy machine gun into position, ready to fire. He snapped off a quick shot, Gurung a half-second behind him, but both of them went wild, crashing into trees and sending thick plumes of smoke slamming up into the sky, giving the troopers enough time to get into position.
Bolts of white hot flame spat out of the barrel of the gun, sending the squad diving to the ground. Dirt ripp
ed up all around Cooper as he slid behind a tree, firing a shot blind in an attempt to distract them, this time up into the sky.
“No time for this, damn it,” he yelled, tossing a grenade towards the enemy troopers. Not waiting to see if he’d been on target, he leapt to his feet again, sprinting forward, firing a follow-up burst. Whether it was the grenade or the plasma shot, the gun was silenced.
The delay had allowed Fourth Squad to catch up, and Cooper redoubled his efforts, Gurung on one side, Vaughan on the other, three veterans leading the advance. Over to the left he heard more shots, followed by screams, another machine gun opening up by Stewart’s fire team. No time to deal with that now, he’d have to leave that to them. There was a gap in the enemy lines, and he was taking it.
Through a gap in the trees, he could see the domes, and two full platoons of troopers were hurling themselves into defensive positions, ready to rain down a hail of fire from a dozen fixed emplacements. Even without plasma weapons, this was a fearsome fortress, and the three of them only managed a pair of shots each before having to dive back behind the tree line, leaping for safety.
“Need some fire support,” Gurung said. “No chance of anything from orbit?”
Waving his communicator, Cooper said, “Can’t get any signal. Too much jamming. Even if I could, I think they’ve got problems of their own.”
The situation was crazy. Old-fashioned infantry charges with plasma weapons. Someone had even suggested a bayonet attachment, and Cooper wasn’t sure whether they were joking or not. They’d been promised the whole range of weapons for ground warfare, close air support, assault vehicles, rugged drones. Tomorrow, and he needed them today. Always another priority, something else needed more urgently in some bureaucrat's opinion.
Corporal Hunt raced forward, crashing down into the undergrowth next to Cooper. He pulled his helmet off, the top of it neatly pierced by a bullet that had somehow passed through it without even touching him.
“Heard that round, I thought my head was gone,” Hunt said. “There are two machine guns over to the left. Morton’s trying to rally Fourth and the rest of Third to take them, but they’re too well dug in. I’ve got my fire team here, ready to move.”
“I count ten emplacements,” Vaughan said. “We knocked out two.”
“That’s two machine guns each, if anyone’s counting,” Gurung replied. “We need the rest of those troopers up here.”
“Damn right we do,” Cooper said. “What’s holding them up?”
Hunt shrugged, and said, “Sorry, sir, I was too busy to look.”
Turning back, Cooper said, “Rhodes, try and work around behind those guns and knock them out with grenades. At least distract them to give Morton a chance to take them out.”
“By myself, sir?”
“Keep down low, and stay in cover,” Gurung said. “They won’t be looking in your direction, and as long as you don’t cross out of the tree line, you should be able to get into position.”
“You heard the man,” Cooper replied. “On your way, trooper.”
“Yes, sir,” Rhodes said, sprinting back towards the guns, crouching half over as he melted into the trees.
“I don’t see any sign of support from the not-men,” Vaughan said. “They could have infiltrated into the trees and taken us all out by now.”
Shaking his head, Cooper said, “Be thankful for small mercies. I doubt any of them are out here.”
Nodding, Gurung added, “Why risk themselves when they have plenty of expendable minions to take the fire for them?” Looking back, he said, “What the hell is taking them so long?”
Glancing at his watch, Cooper said, “We haven’t got time to worry about that right now. On my signal, I want smoke grenades over on the left.”
“Ensign, they’ve all got filters,” Gurung said. “They won’t work.”
“They might see through the smoke, but they won’t see through the ruse,” Cooper said. “We feint left with smoke and plasma fire, and then make an end run to the right. If we move quick and place our shots, we’ll make it.”
“You want to charge ten machine gun nests?”
Smiling, Cooper replied, “If we do this right, they’ll hardly have time to pull the trigger. Two volunteers to come with me.”
“You need to ask?” Gurung said, and Vaughan clapped the Ranger on the shoulder, nodding.
“Right. Hunt, get the rest of your fire team ready. I want suppressing fire, the first shots on the left, then the rest on the right. Fast on the trigger, minimum reload cycles. We need rapid fire rather than high yield for this one.” He flicked the switch on his own carbine to match. “I hope you can both fire on the move. We can’t afford a single miss.” Looking up again, he said, “We go on the count of five. Grenades first, count five more, then run for it. When you run out of machine guns, shoot at anything that moves that isn’t on our side.”
“Nice, clear orders,” Gurung said. “Guess you do a few things right in the Confederation.”
“Five,” he began, pulling out his grenade. “Four. Three. Two. One. Now!”
He hurled the bomb clear, watching the smoke spew out of it, smothering the battlefield and enveloping the terrain. All attention would be focused on the thickening fog, barrels turned to expect the attack from that direction. Tensing for the charge, he hefted his carbine, taking a last, deep breath.
“Rangers lead the way!” Gurung yelled, sprinting from cover first as Hunt’s fire team began its suppressing fire. Cooper, cursing under his breath, charged after him, Vaughan just a heartbeat behind him, firing his gun from the hip in distinctly non-regulation fashion. As he’d hoped, the machine guns were a second later in turning around, a combination of the smoke and the first plasma barrage drawing them away, and three of the crews died before they could react.
Then the ground all around him erupted as rounds slammed into the ground. There was no cover, and even if there had been any, the crossfire would have rendered it pointless. His only safety was speed, and that it was easier to hit a fixed target than a moving one. Hunt’s fire team was turning his way now, more balls of green flame shooting around.
Someone dropped ahead of him as one of the machine gun crews found their mark, and as he fired, a near-miss that still showered flaming mud on two of the enemy soldiers, he saw the four guns on the left turn into the jungle, taking down three of his people that had unwisely emerged.
He’d deal with that later. Now he had to finish off the defenses. His world had shrunk to his gun and the bullets raining down around him, the one being the only answer to the other. Every heartbeat was a slow eternity, another chance for him to shoot his way out of this nightmare. More cries to his rear, but they were breaking the back of the enemy now, more of them dead than alive.
Four plasma bolts slammed into the same nest at once, leaving nothing but a crater and the stink of burning flesh behind. Just two guns left now, a couple of dozen more scattered guards opening up with ineffectual small arms fire. He took out three of them with a well placed shot, then almost crashed into the dome, turning to see Gurung dodging down behind him.
“Almost there,” he said, picking off one of the remaining nests while fire from the jungle took down the other. The few remaining troops started to scatter, but now they were suffering from the lack of cover, and the Espatiers far out-gunned them. Looking down at one of the bodies, Gurung said, “What the hell?”
“Problem?”
“He isn’t a soldier. That was one of the cooks.” Glancing at some of the others, he said, “Non-combatants. Most of them. Maintenance, all sorts. Just enough troopers left to put up a fight.”
“Damn it!” Cooper yelled. “We saw them taking out the plasma weapons, it never occurred to me that they might have already taken off the soldiers as well. You know this place, Sergeant. How many left?”
“Rough guess? No-one. They’ve thrown eve
ryone into the battle.” Stepping out onto the now-empty ground, he added, “I recognize some of them. A Corporal from my platoon, a few of the others. Ensign, they’ve probably got a good forty, fifty people up there.”
“God,” Hunt said, stepping out from the trees. “What have we done?”
Gurung looked up at him, pained resignation in his voice, and said, “What we had to do. Trust me, Corporal, they were already dead in every way that counted.”
“They had guns, and they were shooting at us,” Barnard said. “We didn’t have a choice.”
“Jackson, Robertson, you up?” Cooper asked.
“Robertson’s dead, sir,” Rhodes said. “Caught at the tree-line.”
“Jackson, see to the wounded.” He looked across at Vaughan, gasping for breath, blood running down his side. “Gurung, if that base is empty, we just need the jammer killed. See to it.”
“On it.”
“Hunt, secure the shuttle.”
“We’re going ahead?” Morton asked.
“Damn right we are, Sergeant,” Cooper said. “To coin a phrase, we have just begun to fight.” Behind him, another plasma ball erupted, Gurung waving over his head.
“Go ahead, Ensign. That should have dealt with it.”
“We’ve lost three dead, four wounded,” Morton began.
“Which leaves us with one squad, just about,” Cooper replied.
“Not to mention that this base isn’t secured.”
“You know, in the Rangers, when the officer gives an order, we usually just follow it,” Gurung said.
“That’s supposed to happen in the Espatier Corps as well,” Cooper said, looking out across the battlefield at the dead, the dying, and the wounded. “Damn it, we know there are sixty troopers up there planning to attack Alamo. The only way we're going to stop them is to hit them before they can move. Which means we have no time to waste! Understood, Sergeant?”
Battlecruiser Alamo: Not In My Name Page 21