by Ben Winston
"Major Eischens, what about the cargo line? Wouldn't that system be ideal for evacuation?" a tech asked "It even has a gate in the shield for moving troops in emergencies."
Eischens nodded his head. "Awesome idea. Set-up a camp midway and unload the trains there. Make it happen! Rivera, Peters, help Ensign Dawes."
"What's so special about the rail system?" Ian asked.
"Nothing really, except that there is one route that was designed and built to haul huge amounts of cargo between Rominy and Starlight. A standard rail line has one rail for the train. This turkey has four. Two rails for each of two trains that usually move constantly between the two cities. It's built to move heavy weights very fast. They're shut down for the moment, but we can get a hell of a lot of people out of the city on those." Eischens explained.
"How long does it take each train to get from one city to the next?" Ian asked.
Major Eischens had to ask the computer, but replied. "Six hours one way. Twelve hours, plus load time, round trip. Figure thirteen hours."
Ian shook his head. "Too long. Start setting up camps one hundred klicks from each city, more camps every twenty k after that. Have each train take a load out, then return to the city for another load. Try to set that up for the any other trains as well."
Eischens nodded and looked to the tech that was busy making it happen. He nodded back indicating that he had heard the Admiral.
Checking the tracking screen, he saw that only three inbound tracks remained but they would arrive in system in thirteen minutes. As he watched, another trace stopped, indicating that ship making it had been destroyed. That left two; the same number he believed Jenny saw in her vision.
Either the resistance had the same idea, or the tech setting it up was really fast, because Ian saw that they were already moving to secure the rail depots. "Ensign Dawes, assign two platoons to assist at the cargo yards and one platoon for each of the passenger terminals. Make sure they take their shuttles; they may need the replicators," Ian ordered.
"On it, Sir!" the young man replied.
Ian and his team then returned their focus to fighting the battles. Only to be interrupted a few minutes later. "Sir! The Imperial troops are… Sir, they're helping to evacuate the city!"
"Excuse me?" Ian asked.
"I got a report a few minutes ago of one bus convoy getting ambushed by Imperial troops. As soon as the enemy troops realized what was happening, they not only stopped firing, but withdrew. Now, I just received another report of one of the convoys being flagged down on its way out. Sir, they say they were brought there by Imperial soldiers," Ensign Dawes reported.
"The evacuation will help them as well as us," Eischens replied. "Still, it's surprising they would go this far."
"Well, maybe they'll be willing to let us evac the hospitals we can't get to yet as well," Chloe said.
"Be alert for traps or deception. Make sure everything and every person is scanned before getting on that train. All we need is for one of those people to carry a bomb onto one of those trains," Ian replied. "Comms, please get me Admiral T'rolith."
"We're expecting those ships to drop out any minute Admiral, what can we do for you?" T'rolith asked.
"Have you ever heard of Imperial soldiers assisting in the evacuation of civilians from a battle area?" Ian asked.
T'rolith looked surprised. "It's not unheard of, but it is rare. I believe it mostly depends on the enemy commander. Is that happening on the planet?"
Ian nodded. "We have reports from Starlight as well as Rominy of the Imperials guiding civilians to a place where we can pick them up for evacuation. Have they ever tried to slip bombs or other devices into the refugees?"
T'rolith shook his head. "Never. Up until the start of the terror attacks, I'd believed their sense of honor prevented that. Perhaps the ground forces have a different code of conduct than the naval forces. Still, it is good to be wary."
"Thank you Admiral. I'll try not to interrupt you further," Ian replied.
T'rolith shook his head. "It is not an interruption. I would have sought advice as well in this position. I should have known you would not have called were it not important. It is our duty and honor to assist."
Ian smiled at the being and nodded as the channel closed. "There you have it guys; there is precedent, but it's rare. Stay on your toes everyone."
CHAPTER SEVEN
TDF Raptor Damocles
City of Starlight
Hyperion, Aurigae system
As they flew Cindy, could feel the Raptor shudder slightly as the weapons fired. Nothing was said over the comms during the trip until finally Sasha broke the silence. “Major, we will be dropping you in about a minute. Things seem pretty chaotic out there right now, people are streaming out of the city on whatever kinds of vehicles will carry them. The roads are getting clogged, but the area near the capitol building looks clear. There are still fighters in the area, as well as ground missile batteries, so be careful.”
Cindy could hear the rear door open. In the position the Rails were in, with the front of the vehicle lifted to the ceiling, she couldn’t actually see it.
“Thanks Sasha,” Cindy said, enabling the weapons and scanning systems on the rail.
She felt the nose of the craft come down and could see that Rail One had rolled forward to the end of the ramp. Looking past them, Cindy saw the low skyline of Starlight scrolling out from under the Raptor’s belly.
“Fifteen seconds to drop, stand by.” Lissa’s voice said in her ear.
The buildings were replaced by a scattering of the bluish trees, as the Raptor dropped lower into the large park near the center of the city.
“Three, two, one. Go!” Lissa called.
Jerry and Sam, in Rail One, shot forward. The rear tires of the open wheeled vehicle throwing small roster tails of dirt into the air as the wheels hit the soil and then turned right sharply, When the first rail left the Raptor, the nose of her rail dropped to the deck and Cindy also accelerated rapidly out of the belly of the Raptor. She turned to the left and accelerated to her assigned route as the Raptor rose into the air behind her. They were across the park and shot between two rows of residential buildings in seconds.
“Rail Two is clear, and on route green. No resistance,” Cindy reported.
“Rail One is clear, proceeding to route yellow, minimal resistance,” Sam’s voice followed hers.
They rounded a corner with the tires squealing on the smooth pavement. They’d gone just a short distance when alarms began squealing at them, followed shortly by a missile impacting next to them.
“What the fuck was that?” Cindy said over the noise of the alarms.
“That would be a tank, sweet-thing,” Ben replied calmly as he opened up with the rail gun and lasers.
“They got fuckin’ armor?”
Ben chuckled through the headset, “They’re ground troops; duh!” He barely got those words out as another missile hit close enough to push the rear of the rail sideways. ““Another hit like that and we’ll lose the shield generator!”
Cindy had slowed somewhat and was swerving as much as she could on the narrow street. “Damocles, we have a tank blocking route green. We could use some help.”
“Sorry Two, can’t right now, more fighters have shown up and they are not playing nice. You’re on your own for a few minutes,”” Lissa replied.
“Shit.” A glance at her monitors for an alternative route showed two more tanks moving down side streets. “Computer, identify target to our front.””
A moment later a picture of the tank appeared on the screen. ‘Imperial medium tank. Weight: 34 tons. Propulsion: antigrav/magnetic. Armament: One class three medium bore laser cannon (Anti-armor), four small bore medium class laser cannon (Anti-missile/anti-personnel), One medium-range multi-objective missile rack – 10 missiles (Anti-armor/anti-aircraft). Armor: Unknown composition. Mirrored surface reflects lasers and is strongly resistant to projectiles. Deployment: Any. Crew: 2.’
&nbs
p; “Well, that was really fuckin’ helpful.” Cindy said to herself.
“Rail gun rounds and lasers are being deflected by the armor.” Ben reported as he fired a missile.
“So increase the round velocity!” Cindy yelled back to him.
“I’m already at the highest velocity I can go in atmosphere. I need a command override to increase it more.” They both saw the missile hit the tank, the explosion blew the windows out of the buildings near it. A large sheet of what Cindy guessed to be armor was thrown into a nearby air car, destroying it. Seeing this, Ben opened fire with the rail gun again and was rewarded with an even bigger explosion as the tank blew up.
"Rail Two, this is One," Sam called. "I have a clear run on the target, but could use assistance getting back. Can you jump over before those tanks do?"
"Sounds like a plan Sam," Cindy called. "Take out the control center and we'll be there as soon as we can. Chances are, we will be bringing friends."
"We might be able to do something about that if you can get them into the open park, Major." Lissa called. "They're hugging the buildings and making it very difficult to target them. Remember, they can move just as fast as you can."
"Understood, Damocles. We'll double back and see what we can drag with us," Cindy replied. She stomped the brakes and cranked the wheel hard to the right. The tires screamed as the rail slid around on the pavement, almost rolling over. She pressed as hard as she could on the accelerator and headed back the way they had come relying on the burst of speed to shake any weapons locks.
Coming to the intersection they needed to turn at, Cindy again stomped on the brakes to slow them for the corner. That was the only thing that saved them from ten missiles that would have utterly destroyed the land rail. As Cindy turned the corner, a hail of missiles blasted the street apart only a few yards farther down. If they had continued, they would have been in the middle of it.
Again, Cindy pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor. Missile and laser blasts chased it down the street and Cindy tried to swerve as much as she could to avoid a missile lock. A laser blast hit the rear of the land rail and almost flipped them. She heard Ben cry out in pain and then swear a blue streak.
"What happened Ben? You alright?" Cindy asked, not daring to look behind her to see for herself.
"That last hit took out the shield generator. When it blew, I caught a piece of it. I think the armor stopped it, but I know I'm gonna have a nice bruise at least," Ben replied.
"Well, hang on and keep your damn head down!" Cindy replied. "If you see that fucker that shot us, kill him!"
"I'm working on it, Cindy," the man replied. "That's how they did it! Cindy, we have three of those assholes shadowing us. One of them looks to be a heavy missile launcher though."
As he finished talking, Cindy saw another hover-tank pull out to block their route. "Fuck! Hang on!" she warned as she engaged the anti-grav unit to jump the tank instead of ram it. The tank tried to fire at them, but because of their speed missed. Both Cindy and Ben knew they were in trouble.
"Rail One get off that street, now!" a voice she didn't recognize called over her comm. Without looking where she was going, Cindy cut hard right, into an alleyway between buildings. Behind them, the street exploded into small chunks of ferro-crete and armor plates as a shadow fighter hammered it from the air with missiles and mass drivers.
"Thanks, whoever that was," Cindy called.
"Don't thank me yet, I only got one of them from the looks of it. Two others are damaged, but that missile launcher is still moving," replied the pilot. "If you can lead them to the park, we'll have a warm welcome waiting for them."
"We're working on it!" Cindy replied.
"Rail Two, this is One, objective destroyed. We're on our way back. We'll cut over to the east and see if we can help you out any," Sam replied.
"Negative, One. By the time you get here, this little party will be over. Head for the rendezvous," Cindy ordered.
"Understood, heading for point delta-three," Sam replied.
Cindy turned left out of the alley and once again headed for the park. The arrival of five missiles let them know they hadn’t lost the tanks. One of the missiles impacted near the rear of the rail and threw it sideways.
Cindy got the vehicle back under control as they emerged once again into the park. Cindy opened up the land rail and shot across the open ground for the relative cover of the buildings on the far side. A hail of missiles announced the arrival of the missile launcher into the park. Cindy and Ben made it half way across the park when a missile blew the front of the land rail apart.
The blast drove the nose of the rail into the ground causing it to flip. The speed they had been going lifted them into the air. When it came down it continued to flip, end over end, until it finally slid to rest against a tree.
The tanks that had been chasing them emerged into the park to be met by fire from the Damocles and four Shadow fighters. The larger caliber slugs from the mass drivers pounded into the heavily armored craft and pushed them to the ground. Missile impacts shattered the armor and the heavy craft exploded before any of them made it twenty feet into the park.
Jerry and Sam, had been passing close to the park on their way to the rendezvous, saw the crash and headed in. Bailing out of their rail before it stopped moving; they pulled Cindy and Ben’s unconscious bodies from the twisted metal.
Without waiting for Jerry and Sam to use the jump packs in their suits, Lissa used a tractor to grab them off the ground. Once they were in the cargo bay, she set the rails for self-destruct, closed the door, and did a full burn for the sky.
“Operations, this is Damocles. We are returning to base with wounded. Request emergency approach and a medical team standing by.” Lissa called.
“Affirmative Damocles. Transferring you back to Flight Control. Medical has been alerted.”
“Thank you, Operations,” then changed channels. “Flight Control, this is Damocles requesting emergency approach. I have wounded on board.”
“Damocles, emergency approach granted. Turn on heading one-one-three. Reduce speed to one-seven thousand. E.T.A. three minutes. Beacon activated.”
“I see you, Flight. We’re coming in,” Lissa replied.
TDF Star Dancer
Assault Orbit
Hyperion, Aurigae System
Commander Jennifer Williams, Commanding
Ian had just gotten confirmation that the civilians at the spaceport were being moved to the cargo tram station by Imperial troops when he heard Lissa's call to operations. He was tempted to run back to the Raptor bay to meet them, but knew he couldn't. The incoming ships had just passed their projected interface point and were still in hyperspace. He was in the process of pulling ships back to the planet when he heard the call.
Chloe looked at him worriedly as he closed his eyes for a moment to pray that Cindy was okay. She turned to one of her aides. "Get down there and find out what's going on with the Damocles ASAP. Verify Major Williams' condition."
The aide nodded and ran from the room.
Ian opened his eyes and got back to work. "Ops, take the Damocles mission to the starport off the board. Since the Imps are already moving the people, they won't be needed there."
"Enemy vessels dropping from hyper! Four hundred MK from the planet!" tracking called.
"All ships! There's your target!" Ian called. "Don't let them get close to the planet."
"Admiral, message for you from Commander Williams," the comm officer said.
Ian nodded, and a recording from Jenny was played for him. She was jogging down a hallway as she recorded it. "Ian, Beth let me out of Medical and I'm cleared for duty. However, I heard the message from the Damocles before I left medical and Beth and I are on the way there with the trauma teams. I know you probably can't get there, so I'll make sure you know what's going on." She paused. "Hang in there and know that we all love you." The message ended.
Ian looked up and wiped a tear from his face. "What's the st
atus of those ships?"
"The bastards couldn't have slowed much before dropping out. They're heading straight in at speed and seem to be ignoring the pounding their taking," Major Eischens replied. "They are every bit as tough as the commander said they'd be. They have to know that once they get here, they won't be leaving."
"Suicide troops. The mission above all else. The only thought they have for their own safety is the impact it will have on finishing their mission," Chloe said. "Sounds like fucking suicide bombers back on Earth."
"Tracking, project their plot and make sure our fighters know where they'll be needed," Ian ordered as he watched the plot being projected in the tank. Ian nodded. "Star Dancer and Prometheus, they're coming right at us. Let's go give them a warm welcome to Hyperion."
Chloe handled the ship's maneuvers while Major Eischens kept up with the ground battles. The incoming Imperial ships would, if they lasted that long, be heading straight into the two battle cruiser's teeth. Unfortunately, if they did make it that far, it would also mean that they had gotten close enough to the planet to deploy their deadly cargo.
"What I want to know is how those assholes are managing to survive the pounding we're giving them?" Chloe asked.
"Missiles are all but ineffectual against them. It's like their entire hull is covered with point-defense guns, but the shields are insane! Every time we think we knock them down, they come right back up," a tech said from near Major Eischens. "They’re really odd looking ships, too, we have nothing in the Alliance database that is even close to these things."
"What do you mean?" Ian asked.
The tech brought up an image of one of the inbound ships, froze the frame and removed all the visual 'static' of exploding weapons, laser flashes and shield impacts, then turned the craft so the view was side on. The ship almost looked like an ear of corn after it had been shucked. The tech explained his observations. "As you can see, it seems to have armor attached like a dragon's scales. As near as we can figure, each scale has its own shield generator and weapons. We have not yet been able to identify a central command area and assume it's positioned deeper in the ship…"