Sisterhood of Suns: Pallas Athena

by Martin Schiller

  Kaly and Lena exchanged worried expressions. This is it, Kaly thought anxiously. The real thing, what their training on Hella’s World had been all about. What it really was to be a Marine. Once again, she recalled Troop Leader Alika’s words to her back on Persephone and reflected on them. Maybe I am a crazy girl just like she said, she thought, but here I am.

  She gave Lena’s hand a quick squeeze as they stood. “We’ll get through this,” she said with a confidence she didn’t really feel. “We’ll get through it, and we’ll be all right.” Her battle sister nodded, but it was obvious that she was terrified.

  On the way to Five-Bar, they passed the Ship’s Temple. A long line of troopers were waiting in the corridor, using the brief down-time to visit it, and receive blessings. Lena halted as they reached the tail end of the queue.

  “Can we go in?” she asked. “Please? I’d like to. It would make me feel a little better.” Kaly assented and they took their place with the others.

  Inside, the High Priestess and her staff were doing triple duty, but both of them managed to get themselves blessed. The change in Lena’s mood was marked; the moment that an Assistant Priestess placed her hands on the young woman’s head and uttered a benediction, her tension seemed to completely disappear. Seeing the transformation, Kaly realized that she hadn’t really known until just then that her lover was so devout. The subject had simply never come up, and now she was glad that they had taken the time to come there. The simple ritual had given the young woman comfort, and as they left, Kaly had to admit that she even felt a little better herself.

  Back at their racks, everything narrowed down to a process of checking and rechecking their weapons and gear. After that, there was nothing to do but wait.

  When the word finally came, it came suddenly and without any warning. One moment, they were seated on the edge of Lena’s cot, saying nothing and holding hands. The next, and they were running with everyone else out of Five-Bar to the nearest lift, and crowding inside. At the Hangar Bay, they dashed out to one of the gigantic assault shuttles and pelted up the ramp. There, they were directed by the shuttle’s crewwomen past a group of hovertanks to the rear of the cavernous cargo bay, where a row of Armored Personnel Hover-Carriers sat with their sally doors open.

  The inside of their APHC was cramped, and the only concession that it made to comfort were padded benches to either side of the troop compartment. The moment that everyone had boarded and taken their seats, the sally-doors closed and they were sealed off from the rest of the universe.

  Corporal n’Darei made her way over to them. “Make sure to buckle in securely,” she cautioned. “The ride might get rough when we hit atmosphere. And also make sure to undo the chin straps on your helmets before you exit. If you step on a mine while the straps are still on, the blast will take the helmet and your head right along with it.”

  Sobered by this, the two women hastily buckled themselves in. Snapping the last strap into place, Kaly noticed that Jon had taken a seat directly across from them.

  From the way that he was fumbling with his own harness, Kaly could tell that he was as nervous as they were, and more than ever, he seemed like everyone else; just another poor ground pounder who was wondering if he would be sitting there on the return trip, or riding back upside in a body bag.

  Kaly decided that she would support Lena after all. If her battle sister wanted to object about the way the neoman was being treated, she would back her up all the way. Lena was right. It wasn’t fair. Not when he was there in the troop compartment right along with the rest of them, taking the same risks.

  Just then, the transport hit an air pocket as it entered the atmosphere, and lurched violently. When the craft stabilized, she made a point of meeting the neoman’s eyes, and smiling at him. Glancing around to see if anyone else was watching, he carefully returned the expression. It was a small thing, shared wordlessly between them, but it felt right to Kaly. It felt good.

  The minutes passed, and the shuttle continued to descend. Finally it landed, and when the AHPC’s ramp opened, it was onto absolute chaos. Energy bolts and spent uranium tracer rounds ripped through the air and Kaly’s ears were immediately overloaded with a cacophony of shouts, screams and explosions. A hovertank was settling down right next to them, blowing sand into the troop compartment as its main gun fired at something ahead of them and out of view.

  Corporal n’Darei was the first one out of her harness, and waved towards the open sally port, but no one needed any encouragement. Everybody was tripping the release catches on their restraining straps and running down the ramp to take cover behind the shuttle and any handy pile of rocks.

  Whatever it was that had attracted the hovertank’s interest came to bear on the troopers. Kaly had just enough time to see two Marines get blown apart in a spray of blood and steam before she felt someone push her head down. It had been Jon, she realized, and the three of them hunkered down along the shuttles armored body.

  “Yes!” she heard Troop Leader da’Saana shouting, “That’s affirmative. The enemy is attacking from emplacements just west of our LZ. We have at least two confirmed KIA. Requesting close air support on my mark. Advise.”

  Kaly heard the low rumble of a Valkyrie fighter coming in for an attack, and then she felt the wind from its passage as it flew above them, only a dozen or so meters off the ground. A loud whoosh and a sharp bang followed its passage. Simultaneously, the landscape ahead of her turned into a sea of pure, elemental fire and Kaly’s eyes stung from the smoke and the stench of burning chemicals.

  The gunfire stopped.

  “Ganz fekking tal!” Da’Saana hollered. “That got the Aasnaslaaken! Okay, fly-girl, we’ll call you back when there’s some more real work for you to do.”

  The Valkyrie, which was now more than a kilometer away, replied with a saucy shake of its wings, and then it peeled off to find other things to murder.

  “Come on,” the Troop Leader urged, “we have a base to secure.”

  They formed up behind her and ran through a tangle of rocks and twisted debris until they reached a platoon of Marines that had taken up positions facing a large, squat structure. Corporal n’Darei was there, and quickly briefed Da’Saana on the situation.

  “That’s where we think the C and C is,” she stated, “but the shovelheads have at least two emplacements covering the approach. They’re shielded from IR and bio-detection, so we can’t be sure of their numbers. I’ve asked the Valkyries to come in and carpet-bomb the area.”

  Right on cue, two fighters thundered by and dropped their ordnance on the strip between the Marines and the building. Everyone ducked down as rock and other debris rained down, and when it subsided, a few troopers rose up and cautiously surveyed the landscape.

  “Nothing” one woman reported. “They may have taken them out.”

  “Maybe,” Da’Saana replied doubtfully. “Maybe not. Send out a couple of battlebots to make sure.”

  Corporal n’Darei relayed the request, and presently, a pair of troopers came up, hauling a large grey case. They opened it, and two battlebots unfolded themselves from the interior and clambered up over the rocks. The images that they sent back indicated that the Valkyries had managed to destroy one emplacement, but that the second position was still manned and active.

  While the ‘bots engaged the Hriss gun-crew and pinpointed its location, Da’Saana called in another air strike. The Valkyries returned for another pass and this time, let go with their rockets, making short work of the gun and its crew. When the smoke cleared, one of the battlebots scurried up over the lip of the emplacement and confirmed that there was nothing left except a few shredded body-parts.

  “Zum Betz!” Da’Saana announced with satisfaction. “That’s more like it. All right, let’s move in. Keep a sharp eye out! There could still be more of them out there.”

  The squad got up and started towards the distant building. A quarter of the way there, a hovertank joined them, and took the point.

  Kaly di
d what everyone else around her was doing, and kept her Mark 7 at waist level, panning its barrel back and forth to cover the rock field around her. The landscape wasn’t completely flat, and what might have been a dry wash created by what little water the planet had, cut across their line of march.

  There was also a small dirt hill on the other side of the wash, covered with rock. For a moment, she thought she saw the reflection of something coming from the hill, and as her mind began to process this information, the Hriss who had hidden themselves there fired an anti-armor rocket at the hovertank.

  It hit the vehicle in the left hover pod and the tank nosed into the sand, belching smoke. A second rocket found its mark and the machine exploded. Another rocket took out the two battlebots.

  With their covering armor destroyed, the Hriss opened up on the troopers with everything they had. Everyone dove for the ground, and as Kaly lay there, she managed to fire off a few blind shots from her weapon.

  Off to her right and behind her, Lena and Jon were doing the same thing, and Troop Leader da’Saana was alternating between talking on her com and urging everyone to move forwards into the gully. As one, they began to crawl from rock to rock as the Hriss kept up a steady stream of gunfire. Finally, after an infinity of terror, the troopers reached the lip of the wash and rolled down into it.

  At the bottom, Kaly realized that they had not reached safety after all. Tiny wire antennae poked up out of the sand. They were in a minefield.

  “Don’t move!” Da’Saana yelled. “Stay close to this side!” The Troop Leader got back on her com and requested armor and air support, but the news she received was not good.

  “What the fek do you mean you don’t have any air units available?!” Kaly heard the woman growl. “We’re stuck in this fekking wash and it’s a kekking minefield! No, I don’t want fire support from space. We’re too close to the target for that, you stupid can-scrubbie. We’ll get fried. Fine! We’ll just lie around here and wait until you’re not too busy.”

  The Hriss, however, had other plans in mind. Kaly caught movement at the top of the little hill, and then saw something small rolling down into the wash.

  “Grenade!” she cried. With nowhere to go, she rolled herself up into a little ball and hugged the dirt wall behind her.

  The grenade went off, detonating a mine at the same time. The combined blast slammed into her like a sledgehammer, knocking the wind out of her lungs, but absent a few cuts from the shrapnel, she realized that she was still alive. So was everyone else.

  The Goddess had smiled on them. The Hriss Warrior had failed to roll the grenade far enough, and thanks to their aversion to bioplasmic technology, it had been a conventional munition.

  Then the Warrior at the top of the hill realized his mistake and sent another grenade tumbling down at them.

  Thankfully, this one also fell short. “Fek!” Da’Saana shouted as it went off. “All right, Marines, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a bad situation. The only way out is for someone to get up there and take out those fekking Shovelheads! I need volunteers.”

  At that instant, it was as if all of Kaly’s life had compressed down to that one point, and had paused, waiting for her to make a choice. A strange calm descended over her, and she knew what that choice was going to be.

  “I’ll go,” she said.

  “No!” Lena pleaded. “You can’t! They’ll kill you!”

  “Someone has to,” Kaly said flatly. “Or we all die.”

  “Then I’m going with you too!” Lena replied fiercely. “I won’t let you go alone! I’m your battle sister. If you try to leave without me, I’ll follow you! I swear I will!”

  “No,” Kaly insisted. “I want you to stay here.”

  Another grenade landed near them, and this time, it managed to wound one of the other troopers. The woman screamed in pain, and while her companions crawled over to her and applied a field dressing, Da’Saana ended the debate.

  “Both of you are going!” she said, “Just get your asses up there! I can see a small draw to your north. If you work your way over to it and climb up, you should come up behind their position.”

  Kaly glared warningly at Lena, but the young woman was resolute. “You heard her Kaly. We both go. Together!”

  “Okay, together.”

  Jon nudged Kaly. “It sounds dangerous,” he said evenly. “Mind if I tag along?”

  “Fine,” Kaly sighed, shaking her head in resignation. “The three of us then.”

  She looked at Da’Saana, and the Troop Leader nodded. “Go ahead and take the Neo. The three of you have a better chance of making it and who knows? Maybe he’ll do something useful. We’ll give you what covering fire we can. Now move out!”

  Kaly crawled forwards, watching for the deadly little wires in the sand. The Hriss grenades had cleared the mines ahead of them, and she could see that the ground was safe all the way to the opposite wall of the wash, and she made for it. Lena and Jon followed, and the rest of the squad began firing up at the hill and throwing GSG’s that had been set for dumbfire. None of them did any damage, but they did manage to pin down the Hriss long enough for the trio to reach safety.

  Once they were up against the dirt embankment, it was a matter of staying close to it, and working their way down the wash. The mines were only centimeters away, and the loose sand that had gathered near the embankment made the going slippery. Kaly chose her steps with care, knowing that to slide sideways would spell the end of them all.

  At last, she reached the draw that Da’Saana had indicated, and took up a position that covered the top of the channel. Lena and Jon joined her and then they started up the slope, keeping as low as possible. When they neared the summit, Kaly peeked up over the lip.

  The Hriss were just a few meters away from her, manning a heavy energy cannon. They were behind a protective barrier of earth and steel plates, and visually camouflaged from the air by netting that mimicked the desert vegetation.

  They’re up there, she thought to her companions. When we come up out of this wash, we’ll be in the open until we reach their position. It’s not good.

  GSG’s in bio mode? Jon offered.

  We can try them, but with all that steel, we can’t be completely sure they’ll do the job, Kaly replied. I say GSG’s in dumbfire, and then we charge them. The gun is facing away from us and the entrance is on our side.” She looked at her companions for confirmation.

  I can’t come up with anything better, Jon admitted.

  You’re right Kaly, Lena agreed, it’s the only way.

  Kaly suddenly recalled Troop Leader n’Teri’s lesson to them back in Basic. “The bayonet is the weapon of last resort for the Marine,” she had said. “When your Mark 7 has run out of battery charge, malfunctions, when you need to make a silent attack, or must engage your enemy at extremely close quarters, then you will employ the bayonet."

  “Fix bayonets,” she said, snapping her RB-22 into place. She pulled out a pair of grenades from her pouch next. “We’ll throw together, and then come over the top.”

  Lena attached her own bayonet, and looked into Kaly’s eyes. “I love you, Kaly,” she said.

  Kaly stole a moment to reach over and caress her cheek. “I love you, too, Lena.”

  She switched on the grenades and let them fly. Then she was charging over the top, with Lena and Jon right behind her.

  After that, everything became a confused blur of gunfire, screaming, shouts and explosions. The chaos ended with her pulling her bayonet out of a Hriss Warrior’s chest, and realizing that everything except for her and her friends was either dead, or wounded beyond the capacity to offer any resistance. Blinking away the fierce red haze that had filled her vision, she went over to Lena.

  The young woman was trying to discharge her Mark 7 into a Hriss who was lying on the ground. The Warrior’s face had been blown off, and the blaster’s battery pack was completely drained. Kaly gently pulled the useless weapon from Lena’s grasp and drew her into her arms.
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br />   Then Jon walked up and gathered them both in. Neither resisted his embrace and they stood together in silence.

  “The squad’s coming up,” he finally said, but Kaly didn’t care. They were still alive and the Hriss weren’t. That was all that mattered.

  Da’Saana was the first one to reach their position, followed by the rest of the squad. If she, or anyone else, had any reservations at finding them standing together, they kept it to themselves. Instead, the Troop Leader speculatively probed one of the dead Hriss with the toe of her boot, and then ordered the squad’s medic to come up and give the trio a quick once-over.

  They received a clean bill of health, and while the wounded Marine was evacuated by an AHPC from the wash below, Da’ Saana signaled for the squad to move on. Air units had become available again, and would be able to provide them with close support.

  Although they met some light resistance on the way, they swept it aside with the aid of the Valkyries, and finally reached the building that they had fought so hard for. Da’Saana had everyone take up covering positions, and then signaled for two Marines to move up to the entrance.

  The troopers had just taken their places, when there was a loud explosion from deep inside the structure, followed by a huge fireball that forced everyone to duck. The thick black smoke that billowed out after this told the whole story of what had just happened.

  Da’Saana spat on the ground in disgust. “Well, ain’t that just fekking grand? The Shovelheads just blew the place up. Guess they couldn’t stand losing to us, eh girls? I’ll contact Command and let them know we’re guarding a building full of junk. Might as well stand down.”

  ***

  Kaly, Lena and Jon were seated together on a piece of broken concrete, waiting for someone to tell them what to do next. They secretly hoped that no one would, and that they would get a chance to enjoy some time off their feet, but when a Navy officer walked up, their brief respite was over. Kaly rose slowly, her muscles protesting from overwork, and gave the woman the crispest salute that she could.