by CN Stoesen
The firing from the mech stopped. In the reprieve, she heard squad leaders shouting for their men to move. Men climbed from shell holes and ran for the safety of the station. Duncan saw as the mech walk backwards to break contact with her militia. She had seen this before. The FUP didn't like to lose walkers. They were less frugal with the lives of their infantry or civilians but they didn't like to recklessly risk expensive mechs. As such, they would often disengage, even if they had the upper hand after being hit a few times.
This was happening now. The infantry made a mad rush for the entrance. Duncan followed and watched as the mech turned and moved faster backwards. She knew they only had a short amount of time before an air-strike was called in on the subway terminal.
Duncan ran down the building and was joined by a few trailing members of the rescued platoon. By the time she vaulted the barricade, she could hear the overhead whump of the discharger's as an assault shuttle dropped air-to-surface bombs.
The infantry that hadn't made it below made a mad dash for the stairwell. Several men tripped and fell down as they were pushed from behind. Duncan was the last one to enter the stairwell when the first of the bombs exploded. It must have hit in the street as it shook them but didn't do more damage. She reached the bottom of the stairs. The train had been called in by Jenkins. Third squad was covering the south stairwell.
She ordered everyone on the train. Troops piled in as another bomb exploded up on the surface. This one was much closer as dust and debris fell from the ceiling. Duncan was the last to board. The doors hissed shut, and the train moved out. As the subway pulled out of the station, a bomb landed in the stairwell. The explosion blossomed out and cracked the glass of the train's windows.
The train had been reinforced for military transport. An explosion like that would have shredded a civilian car. Instead, the train held to the tracks and sped off. This station would no longer be the end of the line. The tunnel to it would be collapsed and the infantry would have to walk further to get to battle.
Chapter 7
In the debriefing that followed the mission, Duncan learned that the platoon they were to rescue had taken to the sewers after losing five men. They traveled the tunnels under the enemy force and came out on the other side of their plaza in the basement of a building. From there they were watching the FUP command post when Duncan had ordered the strike.
Duncan learned that the other platoon had lost seven men including the five previous and the one she saw in the street. The last man killed volunteered to stay behind to cover their retreat through the sewers. Critically wounded, he knew he would slow down the group. He had plenty of explosives and did whatever it took to save his friends.
Battalion command was pleased with their performance. They reprimanded the lieutenant in charge of the other platoon but he wasn't suspended from duty. They were all congratulated on a job well done. The militia cyber unit picked up radio traffic they had destroyed all three of the command mechs and wounded a fourth mech. They had also eliminated the battalion headquarters, causing over eighty percent casualties. The entire FUP force pulled back after the aerial bombardment began.
Duncan's company remained behind after the meeting ended. She hadn't lost a single trooper in her command in the last action. They sat in the debriefing room silent as Lieutenant McCloud and the battalion commander checked their tablets for updates.
The door opened and their divisional commander appeared. He walked in and waived them back to their seats.
"Please, sit. We have too much to do to stand on ceremony," said General Mathis. He continued, "Duncan, what do you know about our strategic position?"
"Not much, sir. I know our fleet was decimated in the first days of the conflict and they have been hiding in the asteroid belt since then. There are three planets in our system inside the belt. Ours is the only one in the Goldilocks Zone. The planet closest to the asteroid field is Glasgow secondary. We had a munitions factory there before the war and a dry-dock for our vessels. There are at least one hundred mining operations in the asteroid field. Under FUP law, we're allowed to send supply ships up there with food and non-military supplies to them. Each ship is boarded by their navy and inspected before being allowed to continue. Some of the mining operations get inspected but they are too spread out for policing by the FUP to be effective."
Smiling, the division commander said, "Very good. The FUP currently maintains a fleet of fifteen ships in our system to carry out the war. It is too large for them to police it effectively. They have a super dreadnought as a command vessel. Their ground forces are run from a troop transport ship that is nearly the same size as the dreadnought. Then they have a heavy-cruiser, three destroyers and a small carrier with three fighter squadrons and an assault shuttle squadron. The rest of the fleet is a light cruiser, a fleet maintenance vessel, a fleet oiler and six fast long range patrol craft."
He looked at the faces of Duncan's platoon. They all registered a mix of boredom. They didn't understand why they were getting a history lesson on things they could do nothing about.
The division commander continued with disappointment evident in his voice, "Of our navy, we only have a single destroyer, four fast patrol boats and twelve fighter craft. The rest of our navy perished in the first week of the war. We received word that Admiral Dugal requested a unit of marines to one of the mining stations."
He paused for dramatic effect. It was lost on the men as the platoon continued with their blank stares. In all honesty, Duncan thought they were purposefully trying to be a pain in the ass to the commander.
"I've recommended your platoon to serve as those marines. You will join the navy at the mining station and be a boarding party. The admiral wants to resume offensive operations."
That got the platoon's attention. They were going to space.
Jenkins raised his hand, "Sir, who is Admiral Dugal? I've never heard of him."
That forced the division commander to chuckle.
"Dugal was a junior captain at the start of the war. He has been in direct negotiations with foreign powers since then and promoted himself so he could claim to have the rank necessary to engage in agreements. The admiral has been successful. He has negotiated and received a large amount of supplies and he acquired a warship disguised as a freighter. The admiral's plan is to run it as a Q-ship and counter board enemy vessels. All the FUP marines in their force were reassigned to ground duty. They are busy hunting us down here. Sending you up there will put a much more heavily armed force against simple sailors."
The platoon started to react. They were smiling. This was sounding like the adventure they wanted. They could inflict real damage to their enemy.
"When do we leave, sir," Duncan asked.
"Tomorrow. Get your affairs in order. You will leave in civilian clothes with no weapons. You are new volunteers for a mining colony. Once on Beta Epsilon 5, you'll be picked up by the navy and taken to their base. Your story is that you are trying to escape the war. Any more questions?"
There always were questions but anyone who had been in the army as long as her platoon knew not to ask. It just invited trouble. Best to deal with these things as they come up.
The meeting broke up and her platoon scattered to address what they needed to do before leaving planet. She saw her troop's faces. Most were looking forward to it. But the new people looked anxious. She had no idea how to reassure them. She would have to ask Lieutenant McCloud for advice on that.
For her part, Duncan just wanted to sleep. She sought out her rack and dropped into it fully clothed.
Chapter 8
Major Dietler moved through a checkpoint to the one civilian space port left on the planet that allowed civilians and non-military goods to move to and from the surface. He was taken by the doctor who had been treating him. The doctor's off system ID would ensure he wouldn't be harassed.
The spaceport was a large open field. All the major buildings were destroyed early in the campaign but several had been rebuilt
and tents served for the rest of the space port's needs. A huge grassy plain allowed for shuttle craft and small cargo vessels to land and take off. The ground had been burnt black by the blast of the engines. A retaining wall protected them from the ship's engines as they ascended and descended.
The doctor insisted that Dietler remain in his wheelchair. He had been assigned a number and had a lanyard around his neck coded to his DNA that identified what vessel he was to board. The FUP was sending a military shuttle to take him off planet.
Dietler was bored with nothing to do. There were no operating restaurants or entertainment venues in the ramshackle complex. Those hadn't been deemed worth replacing. The spaceport was all business.
Sailors from the FUP ran the space port. They inspected every piece of luggage and passenger that came through to ensure New Glasgow militia members weren't leaving the planet or that weapons or military aid didn't make it down to the surface.
There were long queues of people waiting for inspection and to be tagged the way he was. People watching didn't help as the civilians were all so dejected and beaten down. Anyone with money was fleeing the planet for better circumstances. Many were applying for refugee status to other FUP worlds. It was a depressing sight.
There was another queue of civilians that were going up to the mining companies in the asteroid belt. That was the one safe profession within this system. The mines were operational but were only selling to the FUP. And they were buying all the raw materials they could get. The material needs of the fleet were tremendous. To repair equipment, the service ship could fabricate most of the parts and equipment needed, but it had to be fed raw materials.
This was the one sticky point of the war. The FUP needed the raw materials. New Glasgow was in need of money to fight the against the Union. In some respects, the two opposing sides were supplying each other. The cost associated with bringing in materials from outside the system was prohibitive. The Federation had stopped all trade to New Glasgow during first year of the campaign. They did allow emergency relief supplies to be brought in for the civilian population. The mines could operate but not sell their produce. Then as the cost of the war was mounting, they started to purchase the raw metals from the miners.
The whole thing made Dietler's head spin. He sat there and stared across the queues when he noticed something. There was a young lady standing in line for the mining queue. The woman looked familiar. She looked better fed and stronger than the other women in the queue. He couldn't quite place her face as she had on a set of miner's overalls and a hat that was pulled low over her eyes. The woman also wore sunglasses. She was talking to several of the surrounding men who were similarly dressed. They were all young but looked experienced and competent.
Before he could think any longer on it, his name was being called. The doctor rolled his chair forward, and a sailor stepped up and saluted him.
"Sir, I will take you aboard and get you up to the command ship. Is there anything I can carry or get for you?"
Major Dietler returned the salute, "No, I don't have anything. Let's get moving."
The doctor stepped back and let the sailor push him aboard the assault shuttle.
"Can we have the wheelchair back when he is loaded?" The doctor asked of the sailor.
The sailor turned and snarled at the doctor, "Just be glad we didn't take you as well."
Hearing the harsh response to what the major deemed a reasonable request, he felt sorry for the doctor. So much of this war was unfair to the people who were suffering. Surely, there had to be a better way.
Chapter 9
Out of the corner of Duncan's eye, she watched as Major Dietler was wheeled into the enemy assault shuttle.
"Holy crap. I thought he would bust us. He was staring at me for a long damn time."
"Well now, maybe he was just admiring the view. After all, you are in those extremely flattering civvies there Duncan."
She turned to Jenkins and made a vulgar hand gesture to him. It caused him and the other two squad leaders to laugh. They were in several groups. Hoping they would seem like normal clusters of friends returning to work after some time on-planet. Even with the war that was a regular occurrence.
The soldiers felt naked with no weapons. They couldn't take them up as they would be caught in the scans. She had to shake down all of her troops to make sure they didn't sneak something onto the inner-system transport they were boarding. That would result in jail time and possibly end their mission. Second squad's heavy gunner was the problem child of the platoon. She removed four knives, a small pistol and some brass knuckles off of him during the inspection. That he hid the weapon in the crack of his ass was particularly revolting. By common agreement of Duncan and the squad leaders, he would get the shit details from now on. They almost didn't take him with them if it wasn't for the fact that the man was extremely competent at his job.
They were inspected by a rather bored and indifferent FUP sailor. Obviously, they hadn't been reported by the former POW as they were waved on to the transport. Issued their ID lanyards, that were keyed to their DNA, the ID's would be removed when they got to the mining station.
They were all seated and their one bag each was stored in the small cargo compartment on the underside of the transport. Once all passengers boarded, they watched a standard safety video. Nobody paid attention to them. There were the comments about oxygen masks would deploy in case of an emergency. It displayed the directions for finding the transports escape pods. It was a joke. If something bad enough happened to necessitate the deployment of an oxygen mask in a small vessel like this, they would all be dead, anyway. Duncan heard stories they had these same videos on old earth vehicles in the time before space travel and that they were equally worthless.
They were aboard for about an hour before they heard the announcement from the cockpit they were ready for takeoff. All the passengers checked their restraining harness. The entire ship vibrated with the start of the engines. The transport rumbled as it began its lift off.
This was the dangerous part of the trip where all the accidents had happened in the past. Duncan looked around and saw many of the passengers gripping their seats with white knuckles. Within five minutes, they had broken free of the planet's gravity. Now the long portion of the journey began. It would be another twelve hours before they would reach the mining center and they could move on to the next phase of the operation.
Duncan regretted leaving behind her tactical tablet. But that would have blown their cover to have an obvious military communication device. Instead she settled in to watch whatever entertainment they had on the built in screens on the seat back in front of her.
Chapter 10
Upon reaching the mining space dock, they had to go through a second inspection by FUP forces. This was conducted by equally bored sailors who barely verified her lanyard matched her DNA. Security was loose as there had been no troubles for the Union out here in the asteroid belt in years.
The platoon regrouped in the only bar the space dock had. But most of the passengers headed for the pub so no one would suspect anything of it. There were several mining company representatives waiting on the new arrivals. Many were gathered up before they could order and were shuffled off to their next job.
No one was there to greet Duncan and her platoon. They all settled down to tables and waited. Each man nursing a single drink as something distinctly felt off about this. Their last-minute briefing mentioned that someone would be waiting for them. Yet, here they were for over an hour. No other passengers from their transport remained. Now, they were beginning to stand out.
None of the men and women of her platoon spoke but she could feel the tension in the surrounding air. Another fifteen minutes passed. Duncan stood but before she said anything, a man walked into the bar. He was smartly dressed in a civilian business suit with an ID lanyard around his neck of a permanent station resident.
"Ah, you are here. Good. I was afraid that you had missed your flight. With t
he security these days and random inspections, one never knows about space travel anymore. Welcome to the employ of Wellsworth Mining Limited. If you will all please gather your belongings and follow me, I'll escort you to our offices to get you registered. This way, please."
And with that, the man walked out of the room. None of her folks felt good about this. This had the feel of a setup. The problem was they were all disarmed.
Duncan and her troops followed the suited civilian out the door. They walked in resignation as each assumed that they were being led to an FUP prison hulk or worse. She eyed her platoon. The only one with any appreciable resistance was Jenkin's heavy gunner. He had a stern face. Eying him, she saw his right hand was oddly cupped. She moved next to him and caught his eye. He gave her a lopsided smile. He revealed a synthetic blade that he was palming. Duncan stifled a laugh and patted the man's shoulder. She had learned his name was Gordon MacCormick. His friends called him Gordo. She sped up to walk up to the stranger.
He turned his head and spoke softly to her, "I'm glad I finally caught up with you. We were raided yesterday. Your contact was killed in the raid. I'm to get you out to the company. Your mission will begin from there. Make no mention of anything outside of mining."
The whole time he was holding something in his right hand and that to his face.
He then dropped his hand and spun around to face the platoon. He walked backwards.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you will be pleased to note that we are keeping our contracted agreements and be receiving your first week's pay up front. Once we have you registered, you'll be able to check your balances from any public terminal. We've secured top of the line equipment for you at the mine. As well as additional sets of miner overalls since you have traveled so light to get here."