“All right, move out!” Wade ordered as he came down the ramp and pointed toward a large building a few hundred meters in the direction they needed to go. It looked as if the drop ship had landed them in a small park. Even as he spoke, the ramp closed and the drop ship rose up in the air and then accelerated back up toward space. A second drop ship a few hundred meters away was doing the same. He could see two others a short distance from them and knew those should contain Lieutenant William’s marines.
“Lieutenant Williams, are you down?” asked Wade, hoping the other drop ships were hers.”
“Yes, we’re down,” she answered promptly.
“Head to the large building toward the west; that’s the direction we need to go.” Captain Jenkins had placed Wade in charge of this operation.
“On our way,” she replied.
Wade checked his rifle one more time, satisfied that he had done everything he could to prepare his marines for this situation. “Move out!” he ordered. “Staggered formation; scouts ahead. Privates Russell and Dawson, you have the scouting duty. The city is supposed to be evacuated, so anyone you come across will probably be hostile. Sergeants Stern and Perry, keep an eye out for enemy forces.”
Everyone began moving through the park-like area. Wade noticed immediately that the trees and bushes were much different from those back on Earth. There was a silver tinge to the leaves, and the leaves themselves seemed to be more of a grayish color.
They were not quite out of the park when firing broke out. What sounded like light weapons fire was coming from the left side of the line where Lieutenant William’s marines were.
“Report!” Wade barked over the com as he checked his HUD. It showed all eighty combat suits in a ragged line with four scouting ahead.
“One of my scouts has encountered enemy troops,” Williams replied. “We are moving up to give assistance.”
Over the next ten minutes, resistance stiffened as the marines continued to advance. Weapons fire became constant as more enemy troops arrived to attempt to stop the invaders in the dark battle suits.
Wade winced as automatic weapons fire stitched itself across his chest. He instantly dropped to the ground and rolled several times until he was behind a protecting building wall. Checking his display, he was relieved to see that the suit had not been damaged, just scratched a bit. He knew from the material it was made of that it should be impervious to small weapons fire. He stood back up and checked his rifle one more time.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped back around the corner and fired his rifle in the direction where he thought the shots had come from. An enemy soldier fell to the ground and didn’t move. Wade paused for a moment. This was the first time he had ever killed someone. All this humanoid was doing was protecting his home. Wade shook his head; he couldn’t look at it that way. They had an objective to take, and if any of them ever wanted to see Earth again they had to complete this mission. The humanoids they were fighting were in this planet’s military, so it wasn’t as if they were fighting defenseless civilians.
A sudden explosion suddenly went off on his right side, and he heard one of his marines swear over the com system. At the same time, one of the battle suits on the HUD suddenly turned orange.
“They’re tossing some type of grenades,” Private Gonzales reported in a strained voice. “My right shoulder’s been injured, but I can still move.”
More explosions began going off all across the marine’s slowly advancing line. Several more icons turned orange. The enemy had realized that their weapons fire was not being effective so they had switched to explosives instead. Dozens of small explosions rang out down the line, and the air was becoming filled with drifting smoke.
“Enough of this!” Wade barked not wanting to lose any of his people. He had hoped to hold enemy casualties to a minimum. “Switch to explosive rounds and let’s end this.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Beth asked on their private communications channel. “It will cause the enemy troops to suffer lots of casualties.”
“I don’t think we have a choice,” replied Wade, evenly. “The sooner we get this over with the better, or we’re going to lose some people to those damn explosives.”
Switching his own rifle over to the deadlier rounds, he began firing in an arc ahead of him. Grenade-like explosions began rolling across the small buildings and streets ahead as all eighty marines began laying down a deadly hail of explosive rounds. Thick smoke began to fill the air as buildings caught fire, and some collapsed from the intensity of the weapons fire. The firing from the enemy troops began to lessen, and then it stopped.
“Let’s go,” Wade ordered as he began moving forward. “I want to increase the speed of our advance. Use explosive rounds to keep the space ahead of us clear.”
For the next thirty minutes, the marines steadily advanced behind a powerful wall of explosions as they leveled everything in front of them. They cut a swath nearly five hundred meters wide through the heart of the city. Behind them, they left burning buildings and rubble, very little remained standing. Finally, they reached their objective; a large plant that furnished power for the entire city.
“This is our objective,” Wade said over his suit’s com. “I want it leveled so we can get out of here. Pick your targets and let’s get this over with.”
Wade had his marines spread out and then passed on the order to fire. Explosive rounds began landing all over the plant complex in resounding explosions. Several large tanks burst into flame, shaking the ground and sending mountains of fire high up into the air. Wade guessed they must have contained some type of fuel for the plant’s generators. It only took a few minutes and the plant was demolished with all of its structures reduced to burning and smoking rubble.
A warning alarm sounded in his suit and looking down at his weapons display, he saw that he was down to ten percent explosive rounds remaining in his rifle. “Switch back to penetration rounds,” he ordered, wanting to conserve the deadlier ammunition in case it was needed later. “Let’s head to the extraction point.”
“I haven’t seen any enemy troops recently,” Private Dawson remarked over the com.
“It’s been quiet,” Lieutenant Williams confirmed.
“I think they’ve pulled out,” Sergeant Stern added. She hoped that was true. It had been difficult to fire upon the enemy troops knowing they were only defending their planet from invaders.
At a quick jog, they set off across the city. Resistance had come to a standstill, and Wade wondered if Jamie was right and the enemy troops had withdrawn after realizing they couldn’t bring down the deadly battle suits. He hoped so; he didn’t want to kill anymore of them if it wasn’t necessary.
Looking around, he could see other areas of smoke rising from different sections of the sprawling capital. Wade knew that these were the results of strikes by other units. This was a show of force to make the leaders of this world understand that they had no choice but to bow down and follow the wishes of the Kleese. Wade felt a pang of guilt knowing they were being used as pawns to help the Kleese to bring this world into their Empire. He also knew that they had no other choice. They all still wore the explosive collars around their necks, and all of the marines knew what disobedience to the Kleese could bring.
It took about twenty minutes and they finally arrived at the airport. Wade saw that a few other units were already there and had secured the facility. He could see several large aircraft that vaguely resembled the airliners of Earth. The craft had long fuselages, but instead of a single swept back wing the planes had two wings on each side of the fuselage and what looked like some type of rocket motor attached between them.
“I guess we’re here,” Private Russell called out over the com as he strolled over to stand next to Private Dawson.
“At least the fighting’s over,” responded Dawson, cradling his RG rifle in his suit’s arms.
“I think I’ve had enough for today,” Russell commented. “The enemy troops never real
ly had much of a chance against these battle suits we’re wearing.”
“Cut the chatter,” Lieutenant Williams ordered. “Keep an eye out; the drop ships should be arriving shortly.”
Wade had his four platoons spread out and take cover behind what appeared to be hangars for the aircraft. He didn’t see any reason for them to remain out in the open as tempting targets for any enemy snipers that might be around.
Lieutenant Williams walked over and then spoke in a flat and disconcerted voice. “Does this make us murderers now?”
Wade was silent for a long moment. “No,” he finally answered. “We’re in the Kleese military, and we’re just doing our jobs just like the soldiers we killed in the fighting. We did this to survive, and that’s how we have to look at it. We mustn’t second guess ourselves.”
“I guess you’re right, but I still don’t like it.” Beth knew she would have a hard time sleeping. Turning, she went back to her two platoons to await the arrival of their drop ships.
-
From orbit, Marken looked at the viewscreen, which showed a close up of the Jalton’s capital city. He was stunned at what the Humans had done. They had marched through the city eliminating opposition and destroying their objectives in record time. Marken guessed that a good twenty percent of the city was now in ruins. The Jalton leaders were requesting an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Marken let out a deep breath; he knew that if these Humans could be turned against the Kleese someday many things might change. Before that could happen, Marken and his group had much planning that needed to be done. There would also be more battles to be fought as they honed the Humans into the deadliest fighting force the Kleese had ever seen.
-
Four days later, the marines were back in their barracks on board the station. They were all pretty shook up from the fighting on the Jalton’s planet. Wade knew that before they had even left orbit the Jaltons had surrendered. Wade had watched from the Command Center of the assault ship as one of the Kleese’s large ships arrived and went into orbit around the planet. Wade knew that, with the arrival of the Kleese ship, the Jalton’s civilization would never be the same again.
They had talked about it on the way back, with everyone voicing an opinion. Wade had decided it was best to let his marines speak and get all of their misgivings out of their systems. Even after all the talking they had done, it continued even after arriving back in the barracks.
“How many more times are we going to have to do this?” Private Dawson grumbled. “They had no chance against us. It was almost like they were throwing firecrackers at our battle suits.”
He was about to say more when Captain Jenkins stepped into the barracks. The captain looked around and gestured for everyone to remain sitting. “I know this op was hard on everyone,” he began. “In all, twelve hundred marines and army troops were dropped on the Jalton’s planet. From what I have been told, we achieved our objectives in record time and the Kleese are quite pleased. The Jalton planet has surrendered and agreed to become part of the Kleese Empire.”
“After we murdered them!” Private Lisa Hayes choked out.
Captain Jenkins turned his attention to the young woman and could see she was extremely stressed by what they had done.
“You actually saved lives,” he replied in a steady voice. “If the Kleese ship had gone into orbit and engaged the Jaltons, the first thing they would have done would have been to completely destroy the Jalton capital city and others, killing millions. From what the Kiveans have told me, the Jalton military suffered less than one thousand casualties in our attack upon their capital.”
“Millions,” mumbled Private Hays, finding it hard to grasp the number. “So you’re saying that by allowing us to scare the Jaltons to death we actually saved lives?”
“Yes,” replied Jenkins, calmly. “In future engagements that’s how we must look at this. If we can achieve our goals and hold the enemy combatant casualties to a minimum, we are saving millions of lives on each mission.”
“I guess I can accept that,” replied Private Hays softly, looking at the others. “I don’t like it, but it might make this more bearable.”
Jenkins eyes swept across the group one more time before he continued, then he spoke in a very serious and somber voice. “There was one army platoon that refused to attack the Jaltons. They wouldn’t move from their embarkation point. A drop ship was not sent to retrieve them, and when the Kleese ship went into orbit it sent out a signal, detonating all of their collars. All twenty died immediately. The Kleese then sent the Kiveans down to retrieve the remains and the battle suits.”
The room was silent as they thought over this ghastly revelation. It reminded each and every one of them about the deadly collar they all wore around their necks. It was a grim reminder of what awaited them if they ever disobeyed the Kleese.
Later, after the captain left, Sergeant Stern stood and walked over to Lieutenant Nelson. “What do you think, Sir? Is this all going to be worth it?”
Wade let out a deep breath. He saw that nearly everyone was waiting to hear what he was going to say. “As the captain said, by attacking the Jaltons the way we did we may have saved millions of lives. From now on we will do everything we can to achieve our objectives as swiftly as possible. If we appear as frightening and as deadly as we can to the enemy and make them realize we can’t be defeated, perhaps we can hold their casualties down even further.”
“We become so frightening that they are afraid to fight us,” Private Dawson spoke as he thought the idea over.
“I can live with that,” Private Hays spoke as her right hand went up to touch the thin metal collar around her neck. “If it means fewer casualties for the people we’re fighting I will do anything.”
“That means more intensive training,” Wade added as his eyes swept over all of the marines in the barracks. “We learn to use the battle suits until they feel like they are a part of us. We become the fiercest fighting force the Kleese have ever seen.”
Everyone nodded in acceptance; they all knew they had no other choice. What Wade didn’t tell them was that someday he hoped to turn that fighting force against the Kleese and take his people back to Earth.
-
Marken was meeting with his small group of conspirators, discussing the recent deployment of the Humans.
“It was astonishing to see how they fought,” Marken said as he looked at the others. “Once they came under fire they tore right through the defending military forces and annihilated all of their objectives in record time.”
“I have seen some of the videos of their attack,” Kalarn added with a nod. “Almost every group resorted to using explosive rounds to annihilate their opposition and clear a path to their selected targets. It was almost gruesome to watch as they wiped out their opposition.”
“Only one group refused to fight, and the Kleese eliminated them as soon as their ship went into orbit,” Taalon commented.
“Why did that group refuse to fight?” asked Larnell, looking at the others. “Were they afraid?”
“No,” replied Marken, shaking his head in denial. “I think they were refusing to kill other humanoids. From talking to various Humans, I know they greatly resent being used this way by the Kleese.”
“Our own race feels much the same way,” commented Kalarn, nodding his head in understanding. “However, after what the Kleese did detonating the collars I doubt if the Humans will have that problem again.”
“It will only make the Humans hate the Kleese even more,” added Taalon, knowing how he would feel if he were in their situation.
“How are we coming with our plans to escape and take the Humans with us?” asked Marken, looking over at Taalon. Being a computer specialist, they were depending on him to carry out the careful sabotage of the station’s computer systems.
“The virus is ready, as well as the false information we will be feeding into the mainframe,” Taalon replied. “All traces of the location of the Human�
�s home system will be eliminated.”
“There will be pursuit,” Kalarn informed them with concern in his eyes. “They will follow us with every assault ship they can muster in an attempt to destroy us.”
“Those assault ships will have to be destroyed if we want to keep the location of the Human’s home system a secret,” Marken spoke in a grave voice.
“We have a method of temporarily jamming hyperspace transmissions,” Kalarn responded. “The same method will also disrupt all the assault ship’s star drives as well. The only problem is that it will also disable the drives on our own ships.”
“I may be able to use the station’s computers to lock down all of the flight bays except the ones we’ll be using,” Taalon commented slowly. “It will take some effort, but I think I can prevent them from using the other assault ships against us.”
“Work on that and let me know if it can be done,” Marken said.
“It would make things less complicated,” Kalarn spoke.
“What about the new weapon?” Marken asked, his eyes focusing on Larnell. He knew the new weapon they had been working on in secret was essential to their long-range plans.
“It’s ready, but we can’t build it,” Larnell responded his eyes focusing on Marken. “All the research has been hidden, and the Kleese have no clue as to what we’ve developed.”
“Will it destroy a Kleese ship?” Marken pressed.
If they didn’t have an effective weapon against the Kleese, they would all die when the Kleese eventually found them. Marken knew that, at some point, the Kleese would eventually find them. While they wouldn’t have a clear idea of where the Human home system was, they would have a general idea of the area of space in which it was located. The Kiveans just needed enough time to build and install the new weapon on their ships.
“The particle beam weapon will cut right through their shields as well as their ship’s armor,” Larnell informed them, letting out a deep breath. “It’s a great development by our scientists and one the Kleese have no knowledge of.”
Galactic Empire Wars: Destruction (The Galactic Empire Wars) Page 17