by Rod Carstens
“We have to pin on your Raider patch and your new stripes,” Hu said with a smile.
“I don’t understand.”
“Step up and we’ll show you,”
Fenes stepped between Sergeant Hu and Sergeant Wakiza. They each hit his arm as hard as they could.
“Now your stripes and patch have been pinned on,” Hu said.
Fenes stepped forward to the next pair waiting for him. By the time he reached the end of the long line of Raiders, he couldn’t lift his arms they were so bruised, but he was proud he was now a Raider and a sergeant.
Chapter 11
Sol System
Earth
City-State of New York
Operations Center of the Secretary General
Istas and Netis stepped into the CIC.
Admiral Usiche looked up from the situational 3-D display of the solar system when she saw them.
“So I hear we had a couple of our hybrid friends tried to join us,” she said.
“Ma’am, I don’t think they will be the last to try. I should stay close,” Netis said.
Raurk looked at the two. Both had risked their lives to save hers on more than one occasion. They were two of a very small number of people that she truly trusted, but she was surrounded by more security than anyone except the secretary general.
“Why? I have more security than I know what to do with.”
“Because the passageway was lined with security and it didn’t stop them. We were trained to go after the command and control. More will try.”
Raurk looked at her for a long moment then said, “Very well, but I’m not going to have you just standing around. I’m putting you to work. You were one of the best battle captains I’ve had. Join the battle desk and assist with your old duties.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Netis said, walking over to the battle desk. Istas came over and stood behind Raurk.
“Do you think she’s right about more attempts?” Raurk asked Istas.
“Yes, I do, and we are both lucky to be alive. If they had gotten through the security there is no telling how far they could have gone. Only a hybrid can protect you now that I’ve lost my enhancements.”
Raurk glanced at Istas. She had lost her enhancements taking rounds meant for her. There was a tang of guilt, because Istas could no longer perform as an Anjin without her enhancements. She was not an assassin feared across the Confederation anymore, but her knowledge and intelligence-gathering skills almost made up for her lack of physical prowess. She had already proved that with her questioning of Netis.
“You have a number of other skills that I am sure will come in handy in the coming days. So remain at my side.”
Istas seemed pleased by her answer and simply nodded in response.
A holo of the battle captain on duty popped up in front of her. “Ma’am, I just received this from the headquarters of Asteroid Quadrant Four. They are under attack by a Xotoli task force.”
Usiche’s stomach tightened. She couldn’t stop a concerted attack with the forces she had scattered in the system. She desperately needed Grogen’s task force.
“Put up what you’ve got so far. Get Kitmura down here, now.”
The situational display switched to the asteroid belt and quadrant four. The secure stream from their CIC was put into a 3-D representation on the display. The Xotoli task force had been designated Battle Space Alpha with numbers and ship designations beside each of the symbols depitcting Xotoli ships. She quickly counted and only came up with fourteen ships. Six destroyers, three cruisers, four of what were designated troopships, and one battleship. There were no more ships emerging from the wormhole.
Usiche actually held her breath as the task force formed up and began to move toward the asteroid belt. Finally, seeing no more ships emerge, she let out a long breath. Where the hell were the rest of the ships? This was not enough to invade a fortified system. What were they thinking?
Kitmura came running into the room. “What have we got?” he barked. Then, realizing his tone, he said, “I’m sorry, Admiral. What do we have so far?”
“We’ve got fourteen ships just emerging from a Xotoli wormhole headed for Asteroid Quadrant Four.”
“Fourteen? Is that all? What the hell?”
“My question exactly.”
They watched together as the task force moved inexorably toward the asteroid belt. Nothing happened. The commander of the asteroid belt was taking no action. The battle captain put up the light-second line. The task force approached, then passed it. Still no fire from the asteroids.
“What’s he doing?”
“Who’s our commander in that quadrant?” Usiche asked.
“Commander Tepuruan.”
Usiche smiled. She had picked the quadrant commanders carefully. She knew they would face serious combat decisions out where waiting for orders could cost them a battle. Tepuruan was aggressive and tough. He had been at Rift. It was one of the reasons she had picked him.
“They’re going to wait for the tenth-of-a-light-second line before they open up. It will make the scrams and the rails more effective.”
They both watched as the Xotoli ships crossed the light-second line and continued forward with not attempt to hide their intentions.
“What are they doing, Admiral? There’s not enough ships to invade the system, and they are not firing,” Kitmura said.
Usiche didn’t say anything for a moment then said.
“It’s a reconnaissance in force. They are testing our defenses. If I was him, I would do the same, but not with this size of force. It seems a waste of ships.”
“Unless they make it through.”
“You’re right. It’s going to be up to how Tepuruan uses his weapons.”
“No Cube. So those ships may hold troops, but not enough to invade Earth.”
“Good observation. I do wonder about that,” Usiche said.
The Xotoli approached the tenth-of-a-light-second line. Suddenly the asteroid belt’s sensors lit up. The Xotoli immediately targeted them and then fired a salvo at the sensors and decoys.
“Nice move. He’ll fire the next time he lights up his decoys,” Usiche said. “He’ll have good solutions for the weapons then.”
The asteroids lit up the decoys again. Again the Xotoli reacted with another salvo of missiles, scrams and everything else they had. Then Tepuruan fired his weapons systems.
“Good, good,” Usiche said.
Tepuruan was making the best possible use of his weapons systems. They had not discussed firing the scrams and rails at the same time, but with the difference in velocities it could make a hell of a one-two punch.
Usiche and Kitmura watched as the scrams and the rail-canister shots began to hit the Xotoli ships. It was working. Both were causing serious damage to the Xotoli. When she had designed the weapons systems for the asteroid belt, she had given the individual commanders as many tools as she could. She had preached creative use of the weapons systems with no firm doctrine. This use of scrams with a follow-up of the ship-killing canister shot by the rails was an excellent use of the available systems. While the Xotoli task force continued to move forward, it was taking serious damage. Then Usiche saw what amounted to a cloud of missiles appear out of what the computer had labeled a troopship.
“Missile boats, not transports,” Kitmura observed.
The swarm of Xotoli missiles was effective. Sensors and weapons systems were being knocked out as asteroid after asteroid was hit.
“Ma’am. Look,” the battle captain said.
She had highlighted three missiles. They were headed directly for Vesta.
“Can you get me any closer?” Usiche said.
“Negative, ma’am.”
Usiche and Kitmura watched as one, then another, and finally a third missile struck Vesta. The 3-D image flickered then went dark.
“Did we lose the signal?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Put it back up as soon as possible no matter how deg
raded it may be,” Usiche said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Usiche looked at Kitmura. Their eyes met.
“Vesta is a damn big asteroid, and the old Von Fleet facility was deep.”
Usiche simply crossed her arms and began to pace. She had forgotten how difficult observing a battle was when you were not in it, but watching from a command far away. All they could do was wait. Kitmura was right, but you never knew. There was no telling if they had identified Vesta as the command center and used three nukes.
Chapter 12
Asteroid Fortifications Command
Quadrant Four
Headquarters
Combat Information Center
Vesta
Chief Jakob Petrussen stared at his display feeling frustrated as he watched the battle. He desperately wanted to be hands-on at one of the stations doing the targeting and firing his own weapons systems instead of coordinating the various systems. The Xotoli had been waiting for them to begin firing again, because as soon as their scrams fired, the Xotoli were firing another a salvo from one of the last two missile boats. Hundreds of new red triangles representing individual missiles appeared on the screen, spreading out as they raced for the fortifications on different asteroids. The rail operators had fired at the same time as the scrams this time. Their canister rounds were already spreading into a wall of tens of thousands of armored ball bearings in an effort to destroy the incoming missiles.
It wouldn’t stop them all, but it would destroy some. One missile, then another, then ten at once exploded on the screen. But it wasn’t enough. Hundreds were getting through. Jakob watched as one after another of his scrams, sensors, and rails winked off as the missile barrage destroyed them.
He close to fifty scrams left, and they were firing as fast as they could reload. One then another scram round slammed into the cruiser designated as number one. It seemed to take the hits with no change in speed or direction. In training they had shown what a scram strike was like in the interior of a spaceship. The heat produced by the round when it entered the ship overcame its lack of explosives by turning the skin of the ship into molten shrapnel. It was a devastating hit on any ship, yet the cruiser continued under power, racing for the asteroid belt.
“Scrams, stay on BSAC One. Let’s take him out,” Jakob said.
“Aye, Chief,” the operator replied.
Jakob watched as the cruiser took hit after hit from the scrams. At this range there was little time between the scrams firing and the hits on the cruiser. It fired a missile that showed up larger on the screen than the ones from the missile boats. Could be a nuke, Jakob thought. If they thought they had detected the control center for this area, it would be worth risking a nuke.
He watched as the missile raced toward the edge of the asteroid belt. It ignored them and continued deep into the belt, passing one asteroid after another with a live system on it. It was close now. It appeared to be headed right for them. Jakob actually closed his eyes, expecting to see the searing white light of a nuclear explosion through his eyelids before he died. Instead the missile passed them and struck one of the decoys. It had been a nuke. The asteroid was blown into pieces.
“That was too close,” Tepuruan said.
“No shit, sir.”
“They may be close to having our position nailed down.”
“Afraid so, sir.”
One of the destroyers suddenly blossomed into a red smudge and disappeared from the screen. The rest of the Xotoli task force continued to move forward. The battleship was now firing with its huge rails. They had to be at least twenty inches, and the rounds were much faster than Confederation rails.
“Are you seeing the speed of those big rails from that battleship?” Jakob said.
“I am, Chief. They’re big enough to have a missile-motor assist. Fire it as a rail then the motor kicks in. That thing will have quite a wallop when it hits something.”
They watched as the huge rail struck one of their sensor asteroids. It was simply turned into thousands of small rocks. The fire from the Xotoli task force was taking out more and more of their sensors and weapons systems, but they were giving as much as they were taking. Target BSAC Two, one of the cruisers, seemed to have lost power and was just drifting now. But there was still that battleship, a missile boat, another cruiser, and a destroyer. They gave no indication of stopping despite the pounding they were taking.
“Sir, what’s their endgame? They just keep coming.”
Tepuruan didn’t immediately answer.
“They know we’ve done a good job of fortifying the asteroid belt. If they were just a recon in force to test the strength of the defenses...”
The commander paused, then said, “They could back off, but they’re not. He’s not going to stop. He’s willing to die to test our defenses. Let’s see if we can help him with that.”
The rail-canister shot was reaching the last destroyer now. The symbol on the display seemed to actually lurch as thousands of steel balls tore into its hull. You didn’t need a big explosive to kill a spaceship. All you had to do was let its forward speed take it into a cloud of debris. And the canister shot from these rails had its own velocity, so its impact was magnified.
One of the rails had malfunctioned and instead of a spread of shot the display showed a compact cylinder of shot strike the remaining destroyer. The destroyer took the hit, seemed to shudder, then disappeared in a huge explosion. All of the Xotoli ships were being hit by the canister shot now, but the cruisers and battleship that were left seemed to be able to take the shot with little effect. They were going to make it through. The cruiser and battleship continued to move through the wall of canister shot and scram shots. Missiles raced from their weapons systems, and the battleship’s rails continued to fire. Weapons system after weapons system was knocked out as the brutal toe-to-toe battle took its toll.
“Chief, contact Quadrants Three and Five and see if we can network our weapons-systems solutions before we lose the secure comm,” Commander Tepuruan said. They were fighting the battle alone because they didn’t want to reveal the positions of any other headquarters. The plan had been for each quadrant to fight alone if it could hold the Xotoli off. It looked like they weren’t going to make it.
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“I got that, Jakob,” Bak said.
Jakob had been concentrating so much on the battle he had forgotten he had a backup and wasn’t using him the way he should.
“Thanks, buddy.”
Jakob worked the weapons system targeting the cruiser. Of the two ships left, the cruiser seemed to be affect most by their weapons . Two more scrams tore into the cruiser, and it was skewed off course by the power of the scram hits.
“Chief, the battleship has got us,” the counterelectronic-warfare operator said.
“You sure?”
“Afraid so. Looks like they managed to find our laser comm somehow. They’re sweeping us with all sorts of targeting systems.”
Jakob watched the battle display closely. The battleship fired a salvo of its huge rails. The sensors showed the trajectories of the rounds. They were all headed for Vesta. Vesta was an awfully big rock though. With some luck they might survive.
“Jakob, both quadrants have the battleships in their weapons systems and have solutions.”
“Chief, tell them to use their nukes. I don’t think anything else will slow it down,” Commander Tepuruan ordered.
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Chief, we have five, four, three, two, one.”
A huge explosion stopped the countdown, and then there was another and another. Then the ceiling in the amphitheater collapsed with a roar of ceiling materials and rock. Jakob watched in horror as most of the operators were crushed under the collapse. No one was going to survive that one.
Then another explosion actually rocked the asteroid, and the ceiling came down on Jakob and the others on the command platform. Jacob’s last thought was that he hoped the other quadrant got th
at damned battleship.
Sergeant Marga Mathis used her armored suit to search for survivors in the command center. She and the other DAT team members were desperately trying to find survivors. The facility had been compromised and they were rapidly losing atmosphere, something Marga had not thought possible. But the Xotoli had been able to crack the asteroid almost in half with their weapons. She was working her way through the operators on what had been the CIC operations floor. The ceiling had pancaked down, which left no voids for any survivors. Everyone had died instantly.
She glanced up at the command platform and saw that it had not pancaked but had voids. There could be survivors up there. She jumped over the debris and landed on the platform. It was much easier that way.
Marga landed on top of part of the ceiling. The number of breaches was increasingly pulling the atmosphere away. In fact, paper and other small items were beginning to be pulled up as the atmosphere was pulled out of the room. Then she saw movement.
“I got one,” she said over her suit’s comm.
“On the way.”
“About time.”
Marga lifted a large slab off of another and saw that the movement had been the cute chief she had been flirting with earlier. He groaned.
“Easy, buddy. I got you.”
His eyes opened. His face was covered in blood from a large laceration across his forehead.
“How is Bak and the commander?” Jakob mumbled.
“Easy, let’s just worry about you right now. My partners are working on them.”
Marga could see that while Jakob was under a slab, its weight was not completely on him but was held up by what was left of one of the control stations. It had been crushed down to almost nothing, but it supported enough of the weight to have saved him from being killed.
“Hey guys, anybody else?”
“Negative.”
“Nope, he’s the only one. Can we get him out?”