Steel Breach

by Casey Calouette

Vasilov Prime - Stargate

  The armor sat just before the blank stargate and waited. Thousands of soldiers were arrayed on either side. They were bundled up like snowmen with heavy jackets, fur lined caps, and mittens. Great packs rode on their backs. The armor was covered in equipment, crates, barrels, cloth sacks, metal replacement parts, anything that would fit. One vehicle had a coil of sausage hanging off a spare wheel. They looked more like gypsy wagons than fighting vehicles.

  Tomi stifled a yawn. He turned his head from side-to-side and stared at the column around him. The camera feed on the outside of the tank made it look like he was sitting on top of the tank. Distances overlaid onto other vehicles and landmarks. Diagnostics data sat on the corner of his screen, a flick of the eye would bring it all down. A map was barely visible over what he saw.

  Then he looked straight ahead. The stargate stared back at him and he felt a funny twinge in his stomach. Fear. He would be the first one in. He keyed the camera view and looked directly behind Bulldog. Two of the anti-aircraft tanks waited. Their barrels floated on a slab of super-chilled graphite. They were so fast that the barrel itself was in a vacuum otherwise it would overheat just from the friction of the air around it.

  A hand tapped him on the shoulder.

  "What?" Tomi said.

  "Hey, uh," a voice said behind him.

  Tomi pulled the helmet off and set it on his lap.

  The smells of the vehicle hit him, hard. Oil, propellant, gunsmoke, cooked food, pickles, body odor, piss, all mixed into the air stream and shot throughout the cabin. It was warm and the smell was not pleasant.

  Private Mueller stood behind Tomi. He looked down at the floor and his hands fidgeted with something. "I, uh, I took this." He handed an ID pack to Tomi.

  Tomi took it and set it on his lap. He glanced over at the little cubby hole. Empty. That was right there, he thought. "Did it fall out?"

  Mueller shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "No, I stole it."

  "Why?"

  Mueller shrugged. "I kind of steal things. Ya know, like, a lot."

  "Uh. Thanks?"

  Mueller shrugged and climbed back into the crew compartment.

  Tomi watched him go and stuck his credentials into the drivers suit pocket. The fabric was stiff, slightly rough, and totally fireproof. Or so they told him.

  Mueller sat down between two soldiers, Hess and Wellington.

  They were both compulsive gamblers. In the short few days of training time they'd managed to win, and lose, their accumulated earnings. Now they were in a stalemate and wagering future meals.

  "Look at that!" a pudgy faced Private named Gous said. He waved a tablet around with a buxom blonde winking back. A totally nude blonde.

  Tomi stared back at the crew and tried to suppress a smile. There were the gamblers, Hess and Wellington, Waslinski, who hadn't admitted any crime, Gous the porn addict, Mueller the kleptomaniac, Mick, Sophia, Hutch, and Puck, the drunks and brawlers and Nikov, Bosovitz and Kallio, the drug addicts. It all rounded out with Veriha, the lone murderer still alive in the entire company.

  At first no one wanted to talk, but as they spent more time riding in the back while Tomi ran gunnery exercises, they all opened up. Those with the minor crimes confessed first. Those with addictions spoke last, the weight and the addiction, was still too fresh.

  Half had served on Lishun Delta before. The other half were fresh and showed it. They fidgeted, yawned, tapped their feet, and had a tight razor stare. The adrenaline had strung them out for too long. The veterans took on an air of nonchalance, like it was all old hat.

  Now they were all part of Bulldog. Each had a special role, Mick led the infantry squad. Only Tomi and Sergeant Nikov would always remain with the tank. Others had specialists roles, though for now it was mostly a paper title. They hadn't had the training. Kallio, the medic. Hess and Wellington, mechanics. Gous, digital specialist. Veriha, demolitions. Everyone else, infantry.

  A foot pressed on Tomi's shoulder and he reached up and set it aside. Sergeant Nikov snored loudly in the commander's chair.

  Tomi stretched as best as he could. He set the helmet onto his head and listened to the comms chatter. His heart fluttered and he heard the call. The units were signaling the ready. He turned his head and saw Commander Arap storming up to his vehicle. "Wake up! The Commander is coming!" he yelled into the intercom.

  The crew shuffled into order in the rear of the vehicle.

  Sergeant Nikov still snored noisily behind him. Tomi grabbed one of her boots and yanked it.

  "Wah, wah?"

  "'Rap is coming!"

  "Shit," Sergeant Nikov mumbled and slid down out of the commander's area.

  Tomi called out a warning and punched the door open. Cool wet air flooded into the vehicle. The crew sat up straighter, locked elbows to the side, and everyone tucked their feet in tight.

  Commander Arap rushed through the vehicle dripping water the entire way. He said nothing and climbed up. "Comm check," he said quickly.

  "Driver check," Tomi echoed back.

  "Squad Check," Corporal Mick replied.

  One-by-one the infantry rolled through the comm check.

  "Rah! Right, everyone ready?" Commander Arap barked.

  "Ready sir!" came a half dozen nervous replies.

  "Louder! I want 'em to hear us outside!"

  "Ready sir!" The reply shook the armored walls.

  "That's what I like to hear," Commander Arap said. "They're priming the gate right now, we've got a five minute countdown."

  Tomi exhaled a deep breath and looked all around the outside of Bulldog. The layout of troops crept closer. And all of them would be right behind him. He checked his diagnostics again and verified everything was right.

  "Commander, may I ask a question, sir?" Sophia asked.

  "Ya already did!" Commander Arap said.

  Tomi could hear the smile in his voice.

  "Go ahead, whatcha got, soldier?"

  "Sir, why don't we gate in to LISCOM and drive across the plain?" Sophia said.

  "That's a good question, soldier. You ever been to Lishun?"

  "No sir," Sophia replied quickly.

  "Now I ain't pickin on ya, I just wanted to know. Ya see, the winds they come down off the mountains like a jackrabbit on a sugar rush. In the summer the winds draw back, but right now that whole plain is filled with snow, hurricane force winds, and there ain't no way we can punch through. Even with this fancy armor. Understand, son?"

  "Thank you, sir," Sophia replied.

  "Now don't be ashamed, that was a good question. Same goes for down south, but this time it's winds off the ocean. But we gotta hold 'em all, those are the only chokepoints before LISCOM. At LISCOM is the focal point for Lishun Delta to Vasilov Prime. If they want to invade us, they have to take LISCOM. Got it?"

  "Got it, sir!"

  "Tomi," Commander Arap said. "Colonel's got a broadcast coming any second, put it live for the crew."

  "Yes sir," Tomi replied and set the comms chatter live.

  A few moments later the command tone sounded and the idle chatter dropped away.

  "Soldiers of the 19th Armored Cavalry Squadron, this is Colonel Clarke." The words hung and the soldiers in the unit perked up. Not penal battalion, but Armored Cavalry Squadron.

  Tomi swelled up a bit with pride. His sentence felt a little lighter.

  "I'll keep this short. We need to make a hole and we need to hold it. If we fail, there's a few thousand infantrymen who won't make it to that line. If we fail, that entire front will freeze to death. The Kadan will, without a doubt, strike at us from the air, with artillery, and on the ground. Do it just like we've been training for."

  There was another pause and a mumble of words in the background. "Right, here we go. This isn't bullshit folks, this is for the survival of our families."

  Tomi clicked the comms off.

  "Lock and load," Commander Arap said.

  The echo of weapons being loaded echoed through the tigh
t space. A heavy mechanical chunk echoed through the wall. A secondary target indicator appeared on Tomi's view. He slid his hand down and verified the safety was on and the weapon on commander control.

  "Yellow line," Commander Arap said. He lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "Once the gate fires you punch the pedal down and get us through. Give me fifty meters straight ahead and then we'll find us a nice hole. Don't worry if you get sick, we're all gonna get sick. Just get us through. Got it?"

  "Yes sir," Tomi replied. A smile grew on his face, an involuntary thing, a nervous smile, an excited smile. He wiped his hands on his pants and had the urge to urinate.

  The thought of going through an unprimed gate made his stomach turn. He knew that without a link on the other end he'd get overwhelmed as every electrical signal in his body shorted out. If he was lucky, all he'd do was get sick. If he was unlucky, he'd suffer convulsions like an epileptic and be totally useless.

  "Thirty seconds!" came the call.

  Tomi heard his heartbeat loud in his ears and felt fear. Fear of failure, fear of injury, fear of death. Was it normal?

  The gate steamed and glowed. The ground trembled and the air currents shifted and danced. There was a hollow blackness and then a pristine white exploded into view. Snow blasted through and a touch of dirt piled through the bottom of the gate. It was as perfect of a connection as could be made.

  "Go, go, go!" Commander Arap yelled.

  Tomi twisted the grips and the tank accelerated. Poorly stowed gear rained down from the cubbies and cabinets in the crew compartment. An ammo locker burst open and there was a crash followed by the sound of breaking glass and then a hint of whisky.

  "Oh no," Hutch groaned over the sound of the electric motors.

  Tomi didn't hear or notice any of it. He was absolutely and completely focused on the gate in front of him.

  The tank ripped across the concrete pad and sailed through the stargate. All the rest of the armor surged into action just behind Bulldog.

  His body was hit with a spasm and every muscle burned with an intense fire. Vomit exploded out from his mouth and he tried to direct it down, but with the muscle spasms it all shot straight ahead. Then as quick as it came, it was gone.

  Tomi blinked and was blind. Everything was completely and totally white. He cried out and then the display settled down and contours, features, and terrain came into view. He turned the tank hard and dropped down into a crater. Frozen clumps of dirt rocketed into the air. He engaged the drivers cannon. Nothing responded for a minute then the tank came to life.

  Groans, retching, and screams echoed from behind him. The only person that didn't vomit was Commander Arap.

  Targets appeared like snowy ghosts in the distance. Tomi's view was overlaid with digital tags marking potential targets. Hovering above was a question mark.

  "Firing on infantry!" Tomi called out.

  "Hold, hold!" Commander Arap yelled. "180, bring us about, that's our line!"

  Tomi gritted his teeth and slammed the safety down on his weapon. A wave of nausea rolled over him and he fought back a mouthful of bile.

  The tank pivoted in the bottom of the hole and rocketed out and slammed back down into the next. Tomi felt the landing right in his ass and it almost took his breath away. Behind him came cries and screams. Oh shit. He plunged the tank through the bottom of the hole, checked his view, and crested the next. This time he moved a bit more gently.

  "Bring us up, expose the main gun, but keep us below the rise," Commander Arap said.

  Tomi crawled the tank up and waited.

  The main gun deployed and the slender barrel slid from side-to-side.

  "Going free-fire," Commander Arap said.

  Tomi exhaled. The weapon would now fire upon anything that came into its view screen.

  Around him more tanks crawled through the snow drifts and craters like giant armored beetles. They all took on the same look. Dirty, vaguely white, and already frosting up.

  "Spread out everyone! Jailbird, you on the field?" Commander Arap called.

  "Jailbird is on the field," a voice replied. "Moving toward the trench."

  The lightly armored command tank that contained Colonel Clarke was, affectionately, referred to as Jailbird.

  All around the gate the armor stopped and took position in a fan. The only thing that stuck above the craters was the slender high-velocity cannons.

  A sound ripped out like a sheet of steel being ripped in two. It was a horrible crackling and popping. The air vibrated and shook. A trail blasted through the falling snow and disappeared into the sky.

  "Incoming air units!" someone called out.

  Tomi felt it in his stomach and was afraid. He had an impending feeling of doom, that there was something above him he couldn't see. Like a giant bird of prey waiting to pluck him away. He looked all around but saw nothing but drifts and dirt.

  "Aircraft down, prep for artillery!" Colonel Clarke called.

  Tomi called up his onboard radar and watched it. He had nothing to do now but wait, wait and hold. A blip appeared to his west.

  A black smudge rocketed out of the sky. Orange and yellow flames trailed behind like a fiery asteroid. It blasted into the earth and cartwheeled through the torn landscape until the wedge shaped aircraft was mangled and torn. The wreck stopped about a hundred meters from the stargate. Steam billowed off as flames engulfed the rear of the aircraft.

  Troops poured out of the gate and raced through the craters. A heavy tracked bulldozer creaked through with a boxy trailer behind it. The reactor rocked perilously as it drooped into a crater but luckily didn't roll.

  Alarms blared inside of the tank. Then the first of the artillery rounds landed. Massive geysers of black and brown exploded into the sky. The ground shook and more shells landed.

  Tomi wanted to hunch down. He could feel his teeth rattle. Lights flashed on his display and the anti-artillery system fired in staccato bursts. It almost seemed random as the interception system peppered a salvo here, a salvo there. The radar screen came alive with the tracers of artillery shells and it seemed most were heading toward the main line. Right toward the reactor and the infantry.

  The bulldozer surged ahead and dropped into a crater. The driver waited in the bottom with the reactor totally exposed.

  "Move, you son of a bitch!" Commander Arap screamed.

  Tomi would have heard him even if he wasn't wearing a headset. He felt helpless. The artillery hammered down and he just waited. He took his hands off the controls and clenched them together. "Come on, hurry up," he said through gritted teeth.

  "Delta two and three," Colonel Clarke called. "Support that crawler."

  Two of the tanks appeared on the crests and then disappeared into the next shell hole. Each rose up and down like a ship floating at sea. One drove into a fresh hole and emerged with smoking dirt all over it.

  Tomi watched with his head turned. He held his breath. The pair fired anti-artillery rounds almost nonstop.

  The bulldozer stopped again. The shelling intensified. Infantry still poured through the gate. Some raced ahead while others dropped into craters and waited.

  One company rose, charged out of the hole, and disappeared in a geyser of black. When the steam and smoke cleared, there was nothing left but another crater.

  Tomi felt the urge to vomit and held it in. The fear bit him in the gut and he trembled under the weight of the bombardment.

  "Contact," Commander Arap said in a low voice.

  The radar display blinked once, twice, then a line of new contacts approached.

  Tomi focused into the shimmering wall of snow. His ears rang. His hands were wet. Then he felt a pulsing against his back. It took him a second to realize that the main cannon was firing.

  The rounds sailed off into the white. Firing solutions appeared and the cannon thumped off round after round. A steady clacking announced every cycle of the autoloader. The gun was silent for a second and the firing solutions came in faster than it could proce
ss.

  "Assign, right flank, zero to thirty," Commander Arap called. "Bravo, Left flank, Charlie, Right flank, Delta, reserve. Here they come!"

  Tomi poked at the keys and zeroed in the firing solution. He slapped engage and the main gun fired rapidly. He grinned to himself and felt almost giddy. They weren't even getting close.

  The wind shifted and the Kadan line came into view. They were a mass of chunky armored vehicles and line after line of troopers. They crawled over the craters, disappeared below, and came on like a wave of bodies. The tanks teetered on edge and one tumbled over with black smoke pouring out.

  It was then that Tomi realized the main gun wasn't firing at the infantry but at the approaching mechanical behemoths. Though he felt a bit better to see that the Kadan armor wasn't doing well.

  The bulldozer crawled up a bit, then disappeared in a flash. The trailer rolled back down into the bottom of a crater and wobbled.

  "Delta two-three, tow it!" Colonel Clarke called.

  Tomi focused on the approaching troops and felt a knot in his stomach. The main gunfire was shattering into the front slope of the Kadan tanks but it looked like only a few of the shots were getting through the armor. One tank creaked to a halt and fired.

  The edge of the shell hole exploded in a spray of frozen dirt.

  Delta two rolled to where the bulldozer was and backed up so quick it rammed the trailer. It moved ahead a few meters and the rear hatch opened. The crew raced out, hooked up a tow line, then hooked up Delta three. The two tanks pulled and the trailer crept ahead at a painfully slow pace.

  Tomi tried to watch it all but couldn't take it all in. All around him tanks were firing, infantry was dying, and artillery was raining down. An alarm flared. One of his camera banks had taken a hit. He had a dead spot on one side where his view was fish eyed.

  Still the tanks approached and now the Kadan infantry was firing.

  Two smoke trails sailed out of the clouds and a pair of the Kadan tanks exploded. Another missile streaked farther down the line and one more hammered into the Kadan armor. A Sigg gunship appeared out of the clouds, then dropped back and disappeared.

  "Ready line, engage infantry!" Colonel Clarke called.

  "You heard the man, Tomi, bring us up," Commander Arap said.