AMP Siege (7 page)

I looked over the long, sleek Gonta blaster as I spoke. "Why do the Targs fight between themselves and then butcher the losers like they do?"

The major replied, "We aren't entirely certain, Mr. Grange. They have been doing that same thing for as long as we have been observing them. I would guess that it is their way of controlling their population or settling long-standing cultural arguments or something. There are many strange cultures out there, Mr. Grange. Now with you, I am certain we will be adding one more to our list."

The major gave a half smile with his final remark before turning back towards his officers. "Sergeant Greaj, take your squad to that row of shrubs and set up a macro shield. Juuils, set up just to the right of Greaj."

I turned back to find York, Frost, and Goddard heading for the outcropping. "Hey, wait up!"

York replied as I caught up, "Sir, we have some scouting to do. Frost and I are going to comb the area in front of those rocks for any position that the Targs might take that would be advantageous to them. If we know how they are going to be coming at us, Sir, we will be better prepared to defend ourselves."

I nodded my head in agreement. "I will have to defer to you and Frost this go-round, York. I can storm down a hallway, but tactics and strategies aren't my strong suits."

Frost smacked me on the ass as she trotted by with a smirk. "We'll keep you safe, Chief. Not gonna let anything happen to you before you have a chance to wise up, take me in your arms, and plant a big wet kiss on me!"

I replied, "Keep dreaming, Frost. But, if you can get us out of this, I might just help you live the dream!"

Frost let out a squeal as she disappeared behind the first boulder.

I turned to Goddard as we stopped just short of the outcropping. "You climb up on the left, and I'll take the right. Watch for York and Frost out there, as they will likely be marking positions. Take notes of anything you see on your arm pad so we can talk about it later."

I turned and stepped from rock to rock, climbing the face of the thirty-meter-long outcropping on the right. The highest point offered a position that was mostly protected in front and to either side. I felt guilty that Goddard's boulders did not offer the same. After a ten-meter climb, his outcropping turned into a flat face that angled slightly downward away from our position. Every location on the top was exposed.

The terrain that led out and away from our position was largely flat, with the occasional shrub and gully. The soil, which was red from the high iron content, baked in the hot afternoon sun. I looked down and was happy that our hybrid battle suits had built-in climate control. I could see no such controls on the Gonta soldiers, many of whom had their helmets off as they wiped their brows of sweat.

As I turned back towards the others, I was startled by a blast on Goddard's rock. Three more blasts followed before Goddard raised his head.

I flipped open my helmet mask and yelled, "What are you doing over there? You scared the crap out of me!"

Goddard replied, "Just making myself and whoever else is going to be over here a nice cubbyhole. There was no way I was going to lay out on top of that rock. Just needed a space to sit down in."

I shook my head and replied, "Well, good thinking, and please let me know next time before you are going to blast something. I thought we were under attack already."

Goddard waved an affirmative response as he chuckled to himself. Several minutes later, York and Frost returned. We worked on our defensive strategies using the information they had gathered.

The captain sent over a message. The Targs were expected by nightfall. Large contingents of Targ were converging on our position from the eastern and southern directions. A long, hard fight was coming our way. I settled into my rock crevasse with Frost by my side.

As her hand slid down my back to just above my waist, I turned to face her. "Really, Frost? You just don't give up, do you?"

Frost replied, "This may be my last chance, Chief. Don't you want to help out an old vet like me by granting her a dying wish?"

I nodded my head as I turned back towards the coming threat. "You start dying and then we'll talk about it. Until then, just keep your hands on your blaster there and off of my person. This is why I picked you to be over here with me, so you wouldn't be over there harassing the lieutenant."

Frost chuckled and spoke. "Goddard's a good kid, Sir. But he is far from ready for the likes of me. I'm more of a sucker for the ones who have already been ruined by life. They give in easier. Might be why you keep resisting, Sir."

I replied, "Because I haven't been ruined yet? Really?"

Frost placed her blaster on the rock in front of us. "Just sayin’, Sir. Now, if you were to—"

A shrill whistling sound was followed by a large explosion. Dust and rock were thrown high in the air behind our position. Gonta soldiers could be seen scrambling in every direction. A second round then hit, the concussion sending two nearby Gonta crewmen five meters into the air. Their hard suits had saved them, but they were slow to recover.

Meecha yelled at his troops. "Get that shield up now! Major Geera, I want a fix on where those rounds originated!"

Several seconds passed before an answer was shouted out. "Four kilometers east, Sir. Those were conventional mortar rounds. We don't have a counter as of yet."

I took the opportunity to hop down from my rock. I was soon at the captain's position. Four flat Tantric-armored plates sat connected in a semicircle. The same defensive walls dotted the landscape for every fifty meters in a circle surrounding our camp.

I spoke. "Captain, can we send out a small team to knock out those mortars? We aren't going to stand a chance if they start dropping those rounds on us nonstop."

Meecha replied, "We should have our laser shield operative anytime now, Mr. Grange. It should be adequate to stop those rounds. We have clear sight to strike them right after they are launched."

I gestured towards the rock formation. "If they have mortars at four kilometers, how long before we see troops?"

The captain replied, "They are as active at night in their cities as they are during the day, Mr. Grange. They will be here within the hour, which is almost exactly when that sun begins to drop over the horizon. The day on this planet is eighteen of your hours. Complete darkness will come quickly. The Targs, they will mostly come at night."

I spoke. "Tell me you at least have night vision on your helmets, Captain."

Meecha turned with a worried expression. "Our equipment has been compromised thanks to your virus, Mr. Grange. Our comms, as well as all the electronics on our helmets, our suit coolers, gravity assist, it's all unusable. If you have that technology still available to you, be thankful."

I replied, "Our comms are separate from the rest of our gear. Not sure who designed it that way or why, but I'm happy they did. Our comms are still available, but I've shut them off in case we have a future need. How is it you are going to see them coming?"

The captain pointed towards a small black box just out from his Tantric wall. "Those torchlights have a transparent Tantric lens on them. When darkness comes, those fields out there are going to light up like it's midafternoon."

I nodded in approval. "Any chance of a rescue ship pulling us out of this?"

The captain sighed. "We will have three more days and four nights to defend ourselves, Mr. Grange. If protocol is followed, a rescue ship won't be sent for another three, and it will take a fourth day to arrive. Go back to your rocks, Mr. Grange. I will send Sergeant Homita and his squad to place a Tantric wall behind your positions, and an ion inhibitor device to protect your rocks from cannon fire."

I replied as I began to turn away, "I appreciate that, Captain; we will do our best to protect that flank."

The captain spoke loudly as I walked away. "May the luck of Urga be with you this night, Mr. Grange! We will need it."

As I picked up my pace, three more shrill whistles could be heard. Two mortar rounds were instantly incinerated as the third impacted in an empty spot within our compound. Dirt flew high, and a smattering of pebbles snapped as they impacted my hybrid battle suit. The Gonta laser shield was active.

As I climbed back to my perch, the laser began to fire repeatedly, each time at a lower angle to the horizon. The Targ mortars were no longer a threat.

I sat down with my back facing the rock. "Gonna be a long night, Frost; take a rest for a bit while you have a chance."

I yelled over to York and Goddard. "York, you are on watch until our friends arrive! Goddard, rest up!"

Frost spoke. "I can stand watch, Sir. Tell York to have a seat."

I replied, "With those prosthetics, York can sleep standing up if she wants. Her legs won't get tired; yours will. Get your rest, Frost. Action is coming soon enough."

The Targ sun turned from an almost-white yellow to a deep orange and then a fiery red as it began to fall over the horizon. The sky was nearly cloudless, with a brilliant display of pinks and oranges for the high clouds that were visible. As I looked around at the Targ landscape, I thought about Jarhead and wondered how I would receive a similar sunset if still there. I was certain that the night that followed would not be as inviting.

The Gonta laser shield had been hard at work for most of an hour. Every few seconds, a laser bolt sizzled through the otherwise clear Targ air. The bright beams shattered the incoming mortar rounds as they were launched.

The sight reminded me of several music concerts that I had attended as a young man on the Grid. Even with our struggles to survive against the continued onslaught of the Milgari, the youth somehow found time to celebrate. It was one of those traits that had kept us sane in an insane situation.

A Gonta soldier yelled, "We have infantry movement to the east! Set those blasters to sweep mode and work those beams from right to left and back! We need maximum damage from every round, as our ion charge supply is limited!"

York yelled out, "We have incoming, Sir! And wow, my sensors are showing about thirty thousand Targs will be coming over that far rise any second now!"

I yelled back, "Wait for them to reach midfield out there. We can't waste any shots!"

As the first of the Targs came into view, I took note of their color. The green fur made them Fergie. I zoomed in with my helmet view and was taken aback at the different appearance of these furry little creatures as compared to when seen from above. Their eyes were angry, and their expressions ones of hatred and loathing. A ferocious set of canine fangs rounded out their bloodthirsty appearance. They were far from being the cuddly fluffballs I previously thought fondly of and had empathy for. The ravenous little beasts were coming our way.

As I stood to take aim, the first of the metallic rounds from their mini cannons exploded over their heads as the Gonta laser system did its work. I glanced back in time to see another Gonta crew constructing a second laser tower beside the first. It was only a matter of time before the first system would become overwhelmed.

I jumped as a mini cannon round whistled just over our heads. "Crap! Fire!"

We opened up with a sweeping spray of ion bolts. Parts of Fergie soldiers flew in the air as the first bolts cut into the advance wave, but they continued to come.

Frost yelled, "Focus on our right flank, Sir! I will knock them back up front!"

I turned to the right just as another mini cannon round whizzed over our heads. A second round sent shards of rock into the air as it impacted the front of our position.

York yelled, "Mix in an ion grenade round every twenty seconds or so. Drop it behind the front-runners! Should slow down their advance!"

I flipped a switch on the Gonta blaster and sent three such rounds into the swarms of Fergies coming my way.

Frost yelled, "Use those sparingly, Chief! Will suck the power out of your cartridge a lot quicker than you would like!"

Wave after wave of Fergie fighters continued to advance. The field in front of us was a slaughterhouse, but the Fergie did not care. For a moment I was shaken as the thought of a ravenous Milgari that was bent on our annihilation was transposed onto the Fergie soldiers as they approached. It was a fear that I had not felt in some time. I wondered if my run of luck was coming to an end.

For half an hour the occasional mini cannon round slipped through the Gonta laser net. Our stone fortress was beginning to show signs of battle fatigue. With two major pushes, the Fergie had closed within fifty meters of our position. My finger was beginning to feel numb from the constant pull on the trigger.

York yelled, "Mr. Grange! How you doing on ammo?"

I glanced down as I continued to fire. "We have two cases up here with us and a dozen on the ground below!"

York replied, "I'm expecting a third wave coming at any time now! If we push them back, one of you needs to drag a few more of those cases up to your perch! We can't be running out when they are coming full bore!"

Frost yelled, "Here they come, Sir!"

The third wave was the longest ten minutes of my life. The endless hordes of Fergie pushed hard, several scaling the face of our rock tower. Their weapon of choice was a metal bludgeon with a spiked ball on the end, much like the image of a morning star that I had once seen in the archives. I had taken three blows to my left leg before realizing a Fergie was waling away at my thigh. My hybrid battle suit had absorbed the blows before a bolt from my Gonta blaster splattered the attacker's body over the ground below. In the end, the third wave failed to achieve their goal.

As the Fergie moved back to regroup, Frost jumped to the ground. "Stack these for me as I toss them up, Sir! We probably only have a few minutes before they come at us again!"

Eight cases of our dozen remaining were passed up during the lull. York and Goddard did the same. I looked over at the ammo stockpile in the middle of the compound. It was showing noticeable signs of depletion.

After Frost had climbed back to our perch, I turned to survey the killing fields. "Wow, I bet there are fifty thousand dead or severely injured Fergie out there. And I don't see any efforts being conducted to save them. They just keep coming to the slaughter without hesitation."

Frost again hopped down to the ground, this time walking around to the front of our rock formation. When she had returned and climbed to the top, she was holding a squirming but injured Fergie by the nape of his neck.

As she held the Fergie out at arm’s length, she spoke. "I know you can understand me, you little space rat! Why are your people attacking us? Why not talk first?"

The Fergie snarled and remained otherwise silent.

Frost shook him violently. "I asked you a question! Now answer me or I'll blast you to bits!"

Again the Fergie snarled, this time attempting to turn his head enough to bite into Frost's battle suit.

Frost looked at me and spoke. "You can't reason with the insane, Mr. Grange. I don't think we are going to get anything out of this one."

With one fluid move, Frost slammed the creature hard against the rock and flung him back out onto the field. We were at war, fighting for our very lives, but this was still a somehow shocking and barbaric action.

Frost looked at the startled expression on my face. "What? I just put him out of his misery, Sir. They aren't going to help him, and if you had given him a weapon, he would have killed us on the spot!"

I shook my head. "I just wasn't expecting that, that's all."

Frost replied, "What would you have me do, Sir? Splint his legs and give him a comfy cot to rest on? This is war, and sometimes war gets nasty. You get your hands dirty. You can't dwell on it, Sir. You just have to take the actions that will prolong your existence and move on."

I leaned back on the rock. "Nothing against you, Frost. I've seen plenty of death now for a number of years. Lots of barbarism and sometimes disgusting behavior from what you believe to be sentient, rational beings. But, there always seems to be a new twist to it just around the corner that is equally shocking."

Frost put her hand on my shoulder. "Sir, let me know the moment it is no longer shocking, because that's the moment you have gone over the edge. I've seen it in combat, Sir. And it ain't a pretty sight. The Marines I've known that went there, they never fully returned. So, be happy that it still shocks you, Sir. You still have some Human left in you."

York yelled, "Next wave coming in!"

During the lull, the Gontas had completed construction of a fourth laser tower. Mini cannon rounds no longer squeezed through the laser net, and excess laser power was used to sweep the hordes of incoming Fergie, permanently blinding hundreds at a time. The onrushing fields of furry beasts were becoming chaotic and much less effective in their attempted assaults. Only a handful of their soldiers were able to close within a hundred meters. They were easily repelled.

A new display of barbarism then entered the field of battle. Each new wave of Fergie attackers would bludgeon their own now-blind soldiers as they steadily moved our way. There was no hesitation in their actions. The lives of their fellow Fergie seemed to have little value or meaning. I continued to fire a near-endless stream of ion bolts as each new wave appeared. As the first twinklings of dawn began to show, the fatigue in my legs was fully evident. I had taken to leaning over on the rock in front of me.

Frost spoke. "That sun is going to be up in a few minutes, Sir. Let's hope the captain is right and they like to attack at night. You look like you could use a good rest. I know I could."

As the first rays of the emerging sun shone over the horizon, the Fergie assaults quickly ended. They were pulling back to positions that were just out of the line of sight of the Gonta laser towers.

As I sat down and turned back towards the compound, the Gonta captain was standing on the ground just below. "You fought well. I was concerned that a breach in your section of our defensive wall would lead to our downfall."

I replied, "I noticed you had that laser crew manning one of your curved walls over there, facing our way. A good captain makes extra plans to cover areas that he believes are weak points. We take no offense, Captain. We would have done the same."

The captain nodded. "Good, Mr. Grange. Tonight those extra forces may be needed elsewhere. We have nine hours to rest before this all starts up again. They will likely be probing our defenses during the day in an attempt to craft new strategies for their assaults tonight."

I replied, "I've only seen Fergie fighters out here, Captain. Is that the same on your side?"

The captain looked back at his Tantric wall. "It has been all Fergie at this point, Mr. Grange. I would suspect that is because we are in Fergie territory. But make no mistake. The Hargets are coming. They may or may not be involved in tonight's action, but they will be involved soon enough."

I spoke. "Captain, I don't get why they are all using those little bludgeons. If they were armed with conventional weapons, they would have overrun us within the first twenty minutes of fighting. They obviously have the technology with those mini cannons. It would only seem logical to have handhelds as well."

The captain replied, "They are a strange species with strange habits, Mr. Grange. That war you say you witnessed between them, they have been conducting that war every few months for hundreds of years. Who knows, perhaps it is their way of dealing with their cultural differences. Perhaps all other weapons are outlawed. I would only be speculating at this point as to why they act as they do."

I nodded and raised my hand in a gesture to the captain that I was indeed ready for a rest. My knees ached and my other joints were stiff from the nightlong continuous surges of adrenaline. I leaned back against the rock and let out a sigh.

York stood on the ground below me. "Why don't you and Frost get some shut-eye, Sir. I'll keep watch over our section. With those laser towers still active, I'm not expecting any surprise attacks."

I replied, "OK, we have about nine hours of daylight; you take the first two hours, and then I'll swap out with you."

Frost spoke. "That's a negative, Sir. I saw your knees shaking a while ago. York, Goddard, and I will take care of the watches. We've been training for this stuff our whole adult lives. You take the downtime today, Sir. I need you giving it everything you've got once this starts up again. If you are fatigued, that puts the rest of us at risk."

Before I could begin to argue for an equal share of the responsibilities, Frost pointed towards the ground. "Hop down and find yourself a soft, shady spot, Sir. You are junking up my post."

I selected a side of the rock that cast a morning shadow. After flinging several dead Fergie bodies back out into the field, I settled into a fetal position and was soon fast asleep. I awoke to the hot midday Targ sun beating down on me; the environmental system in my suit had kept my temperature constant. I sat up and looked at two Gonta soldiers working on another laser tower. They had shed their suits in an attempt to stay cool, as their suit systems no longer functioned.

Frost looked down at me from up above. "Three hours, Sir. Not bad. I just swapped out with York; Goddard is sleeping just behind his rock. I think the shade is better over on this side now, if you want to move over here. I know the suit is taking care of the heat for you, but no sense in running down our power packs if we don't have to. We may need these suits to last us for more than the week or so they are designed for."

I replied, "Well, hopefully we will only have three more days until the Gonta ships arrive."

Frost squatted in an attempt to get closer as she looked down. "I've got news for you, Sir. These suits, they only function if they have power. The more systems that are being actively used, the faster that power drains."

I looked up with an expression of mild confusion. "Well, how were we able to spend all that time with the Duke without changing out our packs?"

Frost smiled. "We were in a friendly environment, Sir. The suits weren't constantly drawing power to keep us cool. Environmental, gravity assist, and in-combat hardening are the three big power hogs. All three of those were used sparingly. The captain has his engineer working on constructing sunshades for his men as well as for our positions. We will be the last to be outfitted, Sir, so move over to the shade and save a bit of power for later. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be more intense than last night was. And tomorrow night may be even more so as they learn from their failed attempts and try new things. Get some rest, Sir. We are going to need it."

I slowly stood to a stiff back and legs. I wondered if the captain had taken note of my old man's waddle as I walked to my new spot. I checked the power draw as I sat down in the shade. It had quickly dropped by 40 percent.

I grabbed a nutrient bar from a side pocket on my suit and popped open my mask. The searing heat felt like I was suddenly thrust into an oven. As I quickly chewed on the bar, I looked around at the captain's men. Most had found shade of their own and were sleeping, although I wasn't sure how. The 110-degree heat was stifling.