"As we can see from the map, the rebels have dropped supplies in three clearings in relatively close proximity. Their camps are all beneath tree cover, but infrared scans show they're distributed over the entire area. The clearings contain incredible stockpiles of ordnance, so they must have taken every weapon in the ship other than the torpedoes and laser arrays. We're safe from lattice weapons and primitive weapons in our armor, but these suits won't withstand a direct hit by a mortar round or having a grenade land in our lap. And the rebels have significantly more powerful weapons than mortars. I saw a stockpile of shoulder-mounted missile cases larger than our MAT. As I see it, we have two options. We can either try to destroy their ordnance stocks, leaving them to rely only on light weapons, or get the hell out of here before one of their patrols ventures out this far."
Kennedy paused as if expecting dissenting views, but noncoms don't offer opinions to a commanding officer unless asked for it, and Kennedy didn't ask. Sydnee was an officer, but she wasn't a Marine, and it wasn't her place to speak up in the meeting.
"As you've probably heard," Kennedy continued, "the Perry is not responding to hails. When we entered orbit around this planet, the Perry dropped an IDS jamming satellite so the rebels couldn't make outside contact. That restricts us as well, but before leaving the area, Captain Lidden said they would drop a relay satellite out beyond the jamming range. We can send an encrypted RF signal in the three-to-thirty-megahertz range and the relay will pass it on to the Perry on a set IDS frequency. Signals will return via the same route. Since we're not receiving any responses to messages, we must assume that either the Perry is incapable of responding, or the relay has been damaged or disabled. Without the MAT, we can't go up and check, so we have no communication with the outside.
"Our standing orders were to perform recon activities until the other platoon reached the surface, so I don't want to initiate an action without specific orders, but we have to face the fact that we might be on our own down here. I'll wait another forty-eight hours before I make a final decision on this matter. I don't believe we can afford to wait any longer than that. Dismissed."
Sydnee waited until the CP tent was clear before making direct contact with Kennedy. Most of the features of the personal armor were available by optical activation since a wearer's arms might be otherwise engaged. She stared at the 'activate' link on her helmet's heads-up display and winked. The full display popped up and she selected the 'communicate' option. When the display listed everyone within transmission distance, she selected Kennedy's name. As she stared at it and winked, a signal appeared in his helmet with her name and facial image. When he accepted the call, her helmet indicated that he was online and the connection was private.
"Rett," she said, "I think we should attempt to free the MAT while we're waiting for the Perry to contact us."
"It's a waste of time and effort, Syd. As soon as the Perry returns, a tug will lift the MAT out of that sinkhole."
"But what if the Perry doesn't return? We need to get away from this location."
"The Perry is going to return. They're just in a dead zone or something and can't contact us."
"Rett, there are no dead zones with IDS unless the signal is being jammed."
"Maybe that's it. They've jammed the signal around the ship so the rebels they're chasing can't call for help."
"But why would they begin jamming during a transmission."
"Perhaps the rebels jammed the signal to stop the Perry from calling in more ships."
"And perhaps the Perry was destroyed. The last message indicated that they were about to attempt an envelope merge. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? One tiny little error on the part of a helmsman and the ships could collide. That's why helmsmen are required to practice that maneuver religiously in the simulators to keep their certification current."
"I refuse to believe that the Perry has been destroyed," Kennedy said.
"A commanding officer cannot afford to ignore any possibilities. Surely you must have heard that at the Academy."
"What I remember hearing is that a commanding officer cannot afford to take his people into battle when they are bone weary, as they would be if he allowed himself to be talked into committing them to a worthless cause just before an attack."
"Worthless cause? Uncovering our transportation so we can get out of here, not to mention protection from the enemy and this planet's hostile environment, is a worthless cause?"
"Yes, because there's no way we're going to dig that ship out by ourselves. We'd need massive earth-moving equipment before I'd even attempt it. Have you been out there in the past couple of hours, Syd?"
"No."
"Well, I have. The ship is now completely covered with dirt that's fallen from the side walls."
"That doesn't matter. We know it's under there. We just have to dig it out."
"With what? All we have are a few small trenching shovels."
"The dirt is loose. We can make some simple shovels and buckets from the local flora. We fill the buckets, raise them to the top of the hole using vines for rope, then dump the dirt in the jungle so it can't fall back in."
"No, I'll need my people fresh if we're to attack the rebel camp and destroy their ordnance supply in two days. End of discussion, Lieutenant." Kennedy switched off his connection as a statement of finality.
Sydnee left the tent and walked to the sinkhole. In the moonlight she could see that Kennedy had been truthful. More loose dirt had fallen into the sinkhole and covered the small section of the MAT's roof that had been protruding above the dirt's surface since the initial collapse.
"We are so screwed," she said to herself. "We're outnumbered ten to one by armed rebels on a hostile planet, the Perry must have been destroyed, and we don't even know if they reported dropping us off on the surface here. If they did report it, it could be months before anyone comes to look for us. If they didn't report it, we could be here for years. I wonder how many of us will survive if that's the case. I wish I'd paid more attention in Alien Anatomy classes. I don't even know which of the local animal life and vegetable matter is safe to eat. Or what might be looking at us as its next meal. Hmm, I wonder if that info is in the planet database file I was reviewing in the MAT."
Chapter Fourteen
~ Feb. 21th, 2285 ~
"Here's the situation," Captain Lidden said to the senior staff assembled in the bridge deck conference room aboard the Perry. "As you know, we struck the rebel destroyer we were pursuing. Both of us are seriously damaged. Originally, I believed that their FTL generator hadn't been struck, that their collision damage was less serious than ours, and that they had gotten away. But Lieutenants Weems, Caruthers, and Stiller walked the hull, taking images of our exterior damage and surrounding space. A portable DeTect unit has indicated that the rebel ship is floating some fifty thousand kilometers from here. If we had damaged their FTL generator, they would be very close, so I'm speculating that while we didn't damage their generator, other damage, such as an inability for an envelope to remain coalesced, has caused it to shut down. If the envelope cancelation wasn't an automatic response to serious damage, they certainly would not have chosen to stop so close to us. But as close as they are, they're out of our reach.
"The Marine hanger bay and our larboard shuttle bays were both destroyed in the collision, along with all shuttles, MATs, and tugs. Our only intact MAT is back on Diabolisto, which is another serious problem. Those people have been left without support in a highly dangerous situation. Our communications are down, so I can't even contact them to amend their orders. My last instructions were for them to perform recon duties until the other platoon joined them. I can only hope their commanding officer, in response to loss of contact with the Perry, pulls back out of danger until we can get the ship repaired and return to the planet. Speaking of which, Lieutenant Knudsen, where do we stand with repairs?"
"We've completely sealed off the lower three decks to minimize loss of atmosphere, but we still have n
umerous leaks we're attempting to plug. My people are currently working to seal punctures in the larboard hull and to minimize life support depletion in those areas we're unable to seal quickly. This ship is about as badly damaged as any ship that has been through a major battle and survived. We can't turn our attention to other issues until we've stopped the loss of atmosphere."
"And when will that be?"
"I don't know, sir. It could take as long as a month for a full halt. We're naturally attacking the worst leaks first and will work our way down the list until the ship is once again sealed."
"At what point can you put some people to work on propulsion and communications work?"
"When we reach a point where I know the leaks are sufficiently under control to ensure the crew will survive. We're still a long way from that point."
"Without communications we can't call for help, either from Space Command or even a passing ship," Lidden said.
"As you know, sir, this destroyer class had two communication arrays mounted on the hull— one at the bow and one near the stern. They were in protected depressions on the keel and very safe during normal interdiction operations, but both were completely crushed in the collision. Our most serious problem on this ship has always been a lack of spare parts for most repairs, so we've gotten pretty good at fabricating whatever we need from newer and older similar systems. But repairs sometimes take ten times as long as they would on a new vessel where parts are immediately available. Plus, recently fabricated units don't have the reliability of new and fully tested components. Further, this ship is so far past its prime that new components won't always work with the older equipment in which we try to install them, and sometimes they cause even more of the older components to fail because of tolerance disparities."
"Best guess, Lieutenant. When we will have communications restored?"
"The absolute earliest would probably be forty-five days, sir, but it's more likely to be sixty days."
"So the bottom line is that for two months we'll be adrift without communications?"
"Yes, sir. I'm afraid so. At least I can almost guarantee that life support will function properly during that time. For a while I wasn't so sure."
"There's another issue that must be considered, sir," Commander Bryant said.
"What's that, XO?"
"The rebel destroyer might not have been the ship sent to help the disabled destroyer. Its captain might have simply decided to lend his support to the effort. Another ship entirely may have been sent to help the first destroyer. It may even be bringing equipment to repair or replace the oxygen-generating equipment with the intent of getting that other ship operational. The first ship was only put out of action because of a loss of interior atmosphere. Its propulsion and weapons are still fully operational. Not only would our people on the planet face a worse situation with additional rebel support personnel, but we might also lose the first destroyer to the rebels."
"Or," Lieutenant Milton offered, "the ship tasked to help the rebels on the planet might divert to help this one first. If the second destroyer gets operational before we do, they might just decide to finish us off."
"Or," Lieutenant Weems said, "we might even be spotted by a Raider ship. I know the Raiders aren't attacking shipping anymore, but one could decide that a helpless SC target is too tempting to pass up."
"Yes," Lidden said. "We're not in a very enviable position here. We'll just have to prepare as best we can and hope our repairs are completed in time to defend ourselves and help the people we left on Diabolisto."
* * *
During the two days Kennedy allowed before making a final decision regarding an attack, scouts moved into the jungle in the morning and didn't return until nightfall. They reported seeing mammals, amphibians, and reptiles in the jungle, but none attacked and, unless venomous, they appeared to pose little threat. Most scurried away when approached, but some just stood their ground or remained perched in trees, staring at the strange two-legged creatures.
"We'll move out as soon as images from the observation vid unit show that the camp has retired for the night," Lt. Kennedy said to his noncoms and Sydnee as the briefing began. "During the past two days, our scouts have mapped the best approaches to the target and everyone has downloaded those images into their helmet's storage memory. We'll travel as a single group until we get within a klick of the rebel encampment, then divide into attack teams and proceed to our targets. The jungle between here and there is thick and the going will be hard, so stick to the mapped route.
"By the time we arrive, most of the rebels should be asleep. We know from observation that their military discipline is lax. They've only been posting a few sentries at each of the clearings, and several of them have fallen asleep within an hour of the nearby camp going quiet. We suspect they still believe themselves to be alone on this planet, so they haven't been very alert to the possibility of an attack.
"Each attack team will move to their forward position near their target and await the signal to proceed. When everyone is positioned, I'll alert you to have your people move in and neutralize the sentries. When they give the 'all clear' signal, the rest of the team will move in and place Corplastizine charges on the designated ordnance stockpiles. As soon as your charges are placed, pull back to the team's attack point and wait for the rest of the team to join you. Once all team members have reassembled, report in and head for the designated rendezvous point.
"When all teams reach the RP, I'll blow the charges and we'll hightail it back to our camp. With luck, the rebels will be in complete disarray and won't pick up our trail. If anything goes wrong, notify me as soon as your people are clear of the stockpiles. I'll blow the charges in your clearing and we can use the explosions as a diversion to cover our escape into the jungle.
"With two hundred eighty-six of them and just forty-two of us, we're seriously outnumbered on this planet. I want this operation to remain as stealthy as possible until the detonations. If you're cut off, do your best to get to the RP or back to camp. Even if they have night vision equipment, they'll have a tough job trying to find us in the jungle and will probably wait until daybreak to try to pick up our trail. Any questions?"
Sydnee did her best to hold her tongue, but in the end, she couldn't. Her mouth had gotten her into trouble with instructors more than once during her first year at the Academy, and she had finally managed to rein it in. But Kennedy wasn't an instructor. Even if he was in command here, he was still, like her, just an O-2. "Are you going to strike this camp and move it to a new location much further away before the attack?"
Kennedy looked at her, surprised that she had spoken up in front of the noncoms. "We're five klicks away from their camp. That's five klicks of dense jungle. It will take us several hours to reach their camp and several more to return. We'll have plenty of time to strike the camp and move further away when we return if we think they'll following our trail."
"When we return from an exhausting, six-hour trek through five klicks of almost impassable jungle?"
"We'll have plenty of time."
"What about the fighter craft?"
"There's no sign of any fighter craft in the holo images."
"That's just it. We don't see any sign of tugs or shuttles either, but we know they had to have them in order to bring their supplies and all that ordnance down to the surface. They certainly didn't bring it down with hot air balloons. Their ships have to be under camouflage somewhere, perhaps well away from the camp."
Being a pilot, Sydnee tended to think of ships first, where Kennedy, as a Marine, thought of enemy troop size, ordnance, and supplies first. He'd been so pre-occupied with planning the attack that he'd never even given the absence of spacecraft a thought.
"I doubt they have any fighters," Kennedy said. "When ships go into a yard for repairs or refits that require the crew to be taken off, the fighters are sent to planetary locations for storage or maintenance activities."
"That's the way we do it, but it may be differe
nt for the Clidepp military," Syd said. "As an example of our differences, we also clean out the armory when the entire crew is taken off the ship and the ship is turned over to a civilian workforce. I doubt the rebels would have had access to the amount of military ordnance they brought down with them if it hadn't been aboard the destroyer they stole."
"You might have a point, Lieutenant," Kennedy admitted. "What's your suggestion?"
"Take an extra day to strike the camp. Bury what we can and camouflage the rest in areas where the rebels are unlikely to look. Following the attack, head off in a different direction than this camp so we don't lead them back here where they might find our supplies. Once they know they're not alone on this planet, we can't operate in the open anymore. They will be hunting us, and they'll be searching for us from the air. And if the raid is successful, they're really going to be pissed. If they don't pursue, we can circle around and come back here, but if they do pursue and pick up our trail, we won't be leading them to our lifeline on this planet."
"Okay, good suggestions, Lieutenant. We'll delay for an extra day and use the time to break down the camp. We'll bury as much of the supplies as we can and cart the rest off to a ravine we discovered where it can be stored and camouflaged. Each man will carry a thermal blanket for immediate use. Any other suggestions? Anyone?"
No one spoke up so Kennedy said, "Okay, let's get started tonight so we can get some sleep before we head out tomorrow."
Within ten minutes, the camp was alive with activity as Marines began hauling cases and boxes to the ravine while others began digging trenches to hide the ordnance that wasn't needed for the upcoming raid. Sydnee wished she had been able to convince Kennedy to devote this kind of effort to uncovering the MAT. They could have raided the rebel camp and then been a hundred kilometers away before the rebels managed to quench the fires. On foot, they'll be lucky to make several kilometers in that time.
Citizen X - BP01 Page 16