by D. J. Holmes
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
29th October, Haven
As he got to the point in the forest he had been aiming for, Johnston ground to a halt and raised his fist into the air to signal those behind him to stop as well. After receiving Captain Somerville’s message, he had ordered the evacuation of the resistance camp he and his men had set up. Then, taking one of the last working COM units, he had sent his pre-prepared message to Endeavour. Within a minute of sending the message a number of howitzer shells had rained down on the resistance camp, destroying anything that hadn’t already been evacuated.
As he ran to avoid the Indian fire, he sent an encrypted message to the rest of the resistance camps. Every man and woman who was able to, was to rendezvous with him near the main Indian supply depot. While Councilwoman Pennington led many of the refugees and wounded away from the city to safety, he and what was left of the resistance were going to make sure they were in the forefront of the battles that would finally signal the defeat of the Indian invasion force.
“No sign of a landing yet?” Sergeant Briar asked as he came to stand beside Johnston. All the resistance fighters but the British special forces marines had thrown themselves to the ground in complete exhaustion. Johnston had run them hard for the last three hours. If they were to be in position to help the British landing, they had to get to the supply depot quickly. For the first two hours of their journey the sky had been lit up like a Christmas tree as tungsten spears and hundreds of heavy plasma bolts rained down all across the terrain. Johnston and the resistance had meticulously mapped out as many of the Indian bases, weapons installations and anti-air emplacements as they could. He had no doubt they had missed some, but the vast majority of them would now be nothing but smoldering rubble.
“None that I’ve seen,” Johnston replied. He had stopped his group of resistance fighters just before a small clearing in the Havenite forest. Through the clearing, Johnston was able to look into the sky to see what was going on. The distant shapes of a number of large naval vessels in high orbit were clearly visible, yet there was no sign of any shuttles approaching the planet.
“What are they waiting for?” Briar asked. “They stopped their orbital bombardment more than an hour ago, the longer they wait, the more time the Indians have to prepare.”
“I’m thinking Endeavour, being as stealthy as she is, was sent in ahead of the fleet to hit the Indians before they knew what was happening,” Johnston explained. “It may have taken the rest of the fleet a few hours to get into orbit. It looks like they are here now though,” he pointed up through the clearing.
“I see,” Briar replied. “Well I’m not complaining too much; the delay gave us time to get here. I’m sure the men would appreciate a few more minutes rest before the action kicks off.”
“I’m sure,” Johnston said.
“So,” Briar probed. “How do you see this playing out? What is our role going to be?”
“As soon as the shuttles begin to land we’ll contact the British forces and let them know we’re here,” Johnston explained. “The marines will have plenty of weaponry to cover whatever forces they land from those damned Indian howitzers. Until then, we’ll have to keep our heads down. Once the men get a little rest, we will move up slowly and take positions near the edge of the main clearing in front of the supply depot.
*
On the command bridge of the marine assault transport HMS Albion, Lieutenant General Hawker stood looking down on the 3D map of Liberty and the surrounding countryside. An entire section of Hawker’s command bridge was taken up by a large holo projector on the floor. It allowed Hawker to stand over a 3D map of the battlefield. His focus was on two points of interest. First, there was the Indian supply depot several kilometers beyond the edge of the city in a large clearing. Then there was his main goal, the Havenite Council Chambers. From the overhead images his ships were able to capture, it was clear the Indians had heavily fortified the Chambers and there were hundreds, if not thousands of ground troops spread throughout the city holding key locations. Only once the Indians had been driven out of the city could he say that Haven had been liberated.
However, the supply depot was a thorn in his side. If he didn’t neutralize it first then the Indians could launch sorties from the depot into his flank. Despite repeated efforts to bombard it from space, even with the addition of more ships to aid Captain Somerville, the Indian base had repulsed every attempt. That left only one option, it would have to be stormed from the ground. The clearing itself was also vital to secure as it would allow Albion and her sister ship to land on Haven and disgorge the main bulk of the British invasion force.
“Begin the landings,” Hawker ordered.
His subordinates sprang into action. From both assault transport ships, Albion and Bulwark, sixteen shuttles full of marines took off. A further twenty shuttles took off from the other British warships in orbit. In total, Hawker’s first wave of troops would number seven hundred. As soon as he could, he would have another seven hundred on the ground backing them up. The first wave would land several kilometers away from the Indian supply depot and storm the Indian defenses. Hawker planned for his second and third waves to land around the edge of Liberty and secure the perimeter of the city. As much as he didn’t want to get his men involved in what would likely be a vicious and deadly street to street and house-to-house battle for the city, he didn’t want large formations of Indian soldiers to escape into the Havenite forest and cause him trouble further down the line.
“We’re detecting a number of radar emitters coming online, and other heat sources are powering up from within the Havenite forest,” one of his subordinates reported.
“Take them out,” Hawker ordered. “Don’t wait for target confirmation, if anything looks threatening, destroy it.”
Tens of heavy plasma bolts rained down onto the planet, destroying numerous hidden Indian anti-air installations. Even so, as the British shuttles entered Haven’s atmosphere a number of plasma bolts raced up to greet them. Almost as soon as any one Indian weapon opened fire, plasma bolts descended from orbit to destroy it. Nevertheless, two British shuttles were destroyed in the attack. Another one took enough damage that it had to break off and accelerate back towards the safety of space.
“Air superiority fighters,” Hawker’s subordinate announced. “The satellites we seeded in orbit are detecting six of them approaching from the south, they’re closing at two thousand kilometers an hour.”
“Only six?” Hawker asked. He had been expecting far more, in fact he had been expecting them to hit his shuttles as soon as they entered Haven’s atmosphere.
“I’m not detecting any more as yet,” his subordinate answered. “They could be hiding somewhere using their stealth capabilities.”
“Engage them as soon as they come into range of our missile pods,” Hawker ordered.
Since he had received Johnston’s intelligence report, and the details of the Indian’s new Hal Tejas fighters, he had been seeking a way to neutralize the threat. The fleet’s R&D department had come up with a number of solutions and Hawker had finally settled on the missile pod idea. Coupled with very expensive satellites that had been placed in orbit around Haven to detect the stealth fighters, the simulations suggested that the missile pods should be able to deal with many more than six of the Indian fighters.
“Engaging in thirty seconds,” one of the weapons officers on Albion’s bridge informed Hawker. “Engaging now,” he said when the time came.
*
The six Hal Tejas pilots had almost no warning of the attack. The missile pods were coated in the same stealth coating as Endeavour and Discovery. Sitting just above Haven’s atmosphere, they were in prime position to launch a number of air to air missiles at the six Indian fighters. As soon as the fighters came into range, the missile pods spewed out twelve missiles, two for each of the Indian fighters. The weapons officer on board Albion had waited until the Hal Tejas were almost directly below the missil
e pods. With a closing time of only five seconds, the Indian pilots barely had time to register the threat warning before the missiles exploded among them. Five of the six fighters were destroyed. The sixth managed to pull off an impressive evasive maneuver and dodged both missiles aimed at it.
Realizing if the British secured the planet she would have nowhere to go, Ananya Saanvi, the final Indian pilot, continued towards the descending British shuttles. As soon as she came into range she fired all six air to air missiles her fighter was carrying. Then, she threw caution to the wind and accelerated her fighter to its maximum airspeed. No longer using her stealth capabilities, she was trusting in speed alone to get into range of her opponents.
Before Saanvi realized how close she was to the British shuttles, the air around her filled with green plasma bolts as the shuttle’s point defenses tried to shoot down her missiles and fighter. She jinked and dove randomly to avoid their fire. She cursed as three of her missiles were blown up by plasma cannon fire. Two more missiles evaporated in explosions and then the final one was intercepted before it could do any damage.
Yet, she had managed to get her fighter just close enough. “Eat lead,” she shouted as she pushed the trigger of her joystick. The phrase was a holdover from an earlier era for as she watched, a string of small plasma bolts shot from her fighter and traced their way along one of the British shuttles. It disappeared as the plasma bolts burnt through its almost non-existent armor and exploded its fuel supply. Switching targets, Ananya took out another shuttle before an AM missile finally got close enough to her fighter. It blew off a wing and one of her engines, sending her into a steep nosedive as her ship spun round and round, out of control.
At the last moment, Ananya overcame the g-forces pushing her into the seat and pulled her ejection lever. She felt weightless as she flew through the air, then a sudden jerking pulled her towards the sky as her parachute deployed. As her vision stopped spinning she twisted to look over her shoulder. In the distance she managed to make out the squadron of British shuttles as they flew low over the Havenite forest looking for a secure landing spot. I’ve done all I can, Ananya said to herself. It’s up to the rest of you now, she thought to her comrades.
*
“Perimeter secure,” Lieutenant Stromboli reported as he jogged over to his Colonel. “We are two and a half kilometers away from the supply depot. Within easy striking distance.”
“Have we unloaded and set up all our anti-air weaponry?” Colonel Sanders asked. “The Indians have howitzers and who knows what else ready to strike us as soon as the shuttles take off.”
“They’re ready to go Sir,” Stromboli replied. “Unless the Indian fleet returns to bombard us from orbit, we should have no problems from the air.”
“Very good, signal the squadron pilots and let them know they can head back to pick up General Hawker’s next wave,” Saunders ordered.
Just before Sanders could turn and survey the disposition of his men as they took up defensive positions, an alert on his combat armor’s HUD drew his attention. “Yes, what is it?” he asked the signals officer of his marine brigade.
“I’m getting a COM message from someone claiming to be Major Johnston,” the officer reported. “He says he’s one kilometer from the Indian supply depot with a group of Havenite fighters ready to join the fight. He wasn’t able to provide any active recognition codes however, what do you want me to say to him?”
“Put him through to me,” Sanders ordered with a grin. “I’ll check his identity.”
As Major Johnston’s face appeared in a corner of his HUD Sanders grin widened. “Johnston you old dog, I’m glad to see you’re still alive.”
“I don’t have time for niceties Colonel,” Johnston said hastily. “You need to order your anti-air gunners to cover my position. As soon as the Indians pick up this transmission they will target it for bombardment with the howitzers.”
Realizing the danger, Sanders switched COM channels to his gunners. Checking the coordinates from which Johnston was contacting him from, he sent them to the gunners and ordered them to cover that area of the Havenite forest from any howitzer fire.
“Done,” Sanders said after switching back to the channel Johnston was using. “Now, I need to check you are the real Major Johnston. Tell me, what happened on my first run through the Argyll simulation?”
Sanders knew he was talking to the real Major Johnston as soon as the weather-beaten soldier’s face cracked a grin. “The Argyll simulation?” Johnston repeated with a chuckle. “That was the first training simulation I had you run as a Lieutenant. If I recall correctly, you tripped and ended up shooting yourself in the leg with the simulated plasma cannon. One of your sergeants had to carry you off the battlefield before you even managed to engage the opposing force. The other instructors and I had a good laugh at your expense that day boyo.”
“I guess that’s good enough,” Sanders laughed. “Now, care to tell me what you’re doing so close to my target? From the rumors I’ve heard back on Earth, you’ve gone rogue, thrown yourself in with these Havenite resistance fighters. From the look of you, you’d give old Che Guevara a run for his money when it comes to looking like the stereotypical rebel.”
“Che Guevara has nothing on what we’ve done here over the past several months,” Johnston replied. “We’ve made the Indians bleed. They’ve been ruthlessly dealing with any resistance here. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of civilians and non-combatants have been killed. Their actions have given me little choice, I’ve been fighting them as best I could since Endeavour left the system.”
“Well,” Sanders said. “I have no doubt you’ve been giving them hell. I have almost seven hundred marines in my battalion ready to advance on the supply depot. Lieutenant General Hawker is in charge of the invasion force. He wants me to secure the depot before he can land the assault transports. Then we're going to make a push on Liberty. You know the Indians better than anyone else, you have any advice for me?”
“Make sure you secure your flanks,” Johnston said. “This forest is so thick and dense, it’s easy to hide a large number of troops. The Indians could have several small forces hidden in the forest ready to strike at you as soon as you launch your frontal attack.”
“Thank you,” Sanders said. “I’ll take that under consideration. Now, pray tell, just what role do you expect to play in the coming battle?”
“I have more than sixty fighters with me,” Johnston said. “And more are coming in every minute. We don’t have combat armor, but we are used to fighting the Indians without any. We’ve never tried to hit the supply depot before because their defenses would tear us apart. However, once you begin your assault, I’ve no doubt the Indians will be focused on you. If we can, were going to strike at the depot as well. We may not be much help, but at least we will be a distraction. Either way, there’s no way you’re stopping these Havenites getting stuck in. They’ve been fighting and dying for months now. They’re not going to sit back and let you guys finish the job on your own.”
“Okay,” Sanders said as he thought through Johnston’s words. “We will proceed with our attack as planned. If you manage to break through the Indian’s first line of defenses, find some good cover and lie low. Either the Indians will try to repulse you, or my men will have already broken through their defenses. I don’t want your fighters getting killed in the crossfire. We’ll secure the main sections of the depot. And whatever you do, make sure you stay clear of the north side of the depot, we have something special planned there.”
“That sounds just fine to me,” Johnston said. “Good luck Colonel, I’m sure we’ll get a chance to see each other face-to-face soon enough.”
“Good luck to you to Major,” Sanders said as he switched back to his brigade’s COM channel. “Lieutenant Richards, I want you to take two platoons and spread out deeper into the Havenite forest. Do a sweep through the forest along our angle of advance and further back along our flanks. Make sure there is no sign of any
Indian troops getting ready to ambush us.”
“Yes Colonel,” Richards said. “I’ll take platoons four and five, they haven’t yet been assigned positions in the advance.”
“Good,” Sanders said. “Get to it Lieutenant.”
Sanders had chosen to land his forces just over two kilometers away from the Indian supply depot. Crucially, they had landed around a bend in the clearing, this meant that most of the two kilometers between his force and the supply depot consisted of thick forest. His troops would be able to advance under cover, avoiding any direct fire until the time came to launch the attack.
“Lieutenant Stromboli,” Sanders said over his COM channel. “Prepare your men to advance. Your platoon is going to take point. Keep at least fifty meters from the edge of the forest when you get to the supply depot, but send forward scouts to see what the Indian defenders are up to.”
“Aye Colonel,” Stromboli replied. “We’ll move out momentarily.”