Blood War 1: Last Stand of the Legion: Rift (23 page)

"Captain Grogen
, it is Admiral Lule for you."

"Put her through."

The holo opened in front of Ririsa's command chair.

"Admiral
," Ririsa said.

"Commander
, I just received orders from Admiral Rauark. We are to form up and begin sortieing against the alien fleet. I fully expect the aliens to attempt to prevent us from forming up. So they will be pursuing us. I am going to set a missile trap for them. I am ordering you to go dark. The rest of what we are going to call Task Force Rift, will light up with everything  we have. If we have any luck the aliens will fire on us;  you stand a good chance of getting a bearing on their location. If you are able to do so, I want you and the Bernards to attack and destroy any alien vessel you are able to target. Understood?"

Ririsa understood all right. They would be alone ahead of the fleet
, darkened with nothing but passive sensors on, while the main body of the Task Force would be lit up like a Christmas tree with every active sensor on and scanning the space around them. It would be normal for a fleet forming up to be active in their searches. The idea of the tactic was to wait for the aliens to fire on the main body and this would give the Capella and Bernards  a clean firing solution. With a clean solution and being much closer to the enemy fleet, ideally the two destroyers would be able get off good torpedo launches and take out a ship or two before the aliens knew what was happening. Of course once the aliens figured out their strategy they would be all over them. It was up to the rest of the fleet to come to their aid before they were overwhelmed.

"Yes
, Admiral. How many ships have been able to sortie?"

"Currently I have the
Pereus, Capella, Lalande, Bernards, Rigil Kent, Lupus, and Groombridge. I expect more to get under way but at this point we must assume the current ships are what we will have at our disposal."

That was certainly a short list, Ririsa thought to herself.

"Yes, Admiral."

Admiral Lule paused for a moment before she
continued.

"I think you know the gravity of our position. Inflict as much damage as you can no matter what the cost
. I need time to get the Task Force organized. You are buying that time. Understood?"

Ririsa understood all right. The Admiral was telling her that losing her ship was not out of the question if it meant that she could inflict enough damage on the aliens.

"Understood, Admiral."

"Good luck Ririsa
, you’re going to need it."

"Thank you
, Admiral."

"This is the
Pereus out."

The holo blinked off. Ririsa sat there for some moment
s. Everyone on the bridge had heard the order. Ririsa glanced at her helmsmen.

"What do you think there
, sailor?"

"Like you said Captain
, we're about earn our fucking pay this month."

"You ain't said shit there Petty Officer."

They both smiled at each other. Ririsa pushed her comm button to CIC.

"Lieutenant Isaias
, we have just been ordered to be the lead element in a missile trap. I want to put the ship in the dark with only passive sensors on, nothing and I mean nothing, offensive is to be active. Am I clear?"

"Aye, aye Captain."

"Isaias, we have to buy the rest of the fleet time to reorganize and begin attacking the alien fleet. So find us a target."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Window," Ririsa said. The bridge screens changed to a panoramic view of the ship. The ship had changed dramatically in the last hours. The main deck was scared; something was venting from just behind the forward turret; debris was floating out of a breach on the starboard side. Her ship was hurt but she was still in the fight and had gotten her licks in, but it was going to be a long day. Robotic repair walkers began to emerge from their storage areas and began to tackle the damage. Her Damage Control was on top of things. Ririsa looked away from the damage, it did not matter - she needed to find the aliens. Space was beautiful as always with tens of thousand of stars visible but now real danger hid among the beauty.

"Helmsmen assume a race track course from our present position. Come to course 90.39. All ahead slow."

"Course 90.39 all ahead slow, aye," the helmsmen replied.

"Order all Legionnaires to return to the ship."

"Recover the Legionnaires. Aye ma'am."

The stars moved as they began the slow
racetrack course between the aliens and the other Confederation ships.

Lt. Steiner heard the recall of his platoon. He knew they would not be recalled unless they had something else in mind for the aliens. It was normal to do a combat patrol around a vessel so to recall the platoon either meant the Capella was leaving the area to form up with the main body or had been ordered to another station.

Steiner felt more alone than ever. He still had a strong back trail left by the alien fighter. It was strong and the fighter
’s course never changed. It was straight as an arrow, it was a wounded bird headed for home for sure. What and where that home was, was still a mystery. Steiner hoped it was worth it.

LYTEN SYSTEM

RIFT

K.V. BARICCO SPACE PORT

TERMINAL 7

CHARLIE COMPANY

WARDOGS

2
ND
PLATOON

FIRETEAM 3

Private Ja Hu was still getting used to being in his full combat
-loaded armor. Some of the servos were already chafing his back and down his left leg. The armorers had not had time to fine-tune his suit yet. Nor was he used to the suits magnifying his strength - he had pushed the terminal door off its hinges when he simply meant to open it.

He
had spent enough time armored-up in training but it still felt different walking through the Terminal in his full armor. When he and his fireteam had first walked through the doors, personnel were still scrambling to finish up preparations. The loudspeakers, as well as personnel communications text, video, everything was repeating the warning.

"Take shelter. Repeat take shelter. Report to your designated shelter or combat station. This is not a drill. Repeat this is not a drill
. The Anchorage is under attack. Take shelter."

Personnel of all ranks were scrambling around trying to get to their assigned shelter or combat station. As Hu and the rest of his Fire Team walked through the Terminal everyone stopped
and stared. No one has seen them in full armor, much less in public walking through the Terminal. Some actually ran away thinking they were part of the attack until Dolan the Fire Team leader said over his loudspeaker in his suit,

"Relax, we are Legionnaires here to protect you."

Then over the fireteams circuit,

"Dumb shits can't see the Confederation symbol on our helmets. Fucking Navy swabbies."

In full armor the fireteam looked like behemoths from another world. They were taller and larger than they were unarmored. You slipped on your uni suit before armoring up; it was a form-fitting elastic metal mesh with thousands of tiny electronic connectors. This allowed the suits nano’s to form-fit to your body down to the  tolerance of millimeters. Then the armorers helped you into your armor. The armor was thin sheets of plastic metal filled with a sheer thickening material whose viscosity increased with pressure of a round or shrapnel. Once armored up, the suits nano's connected to the thousands of connections on your uni suit and the nano's custom-fit your armor to your body. The nano's shaped your suit into a second skin even with all the servos and sensors embedded in the plastic metal of your armor. The exoskeleton that gave them all their strength rode on the outside of the armor along their arms and legs, connecting with their back and hips at the waist.              

There was no learning how to use the armor
; you simply wore it like a suit of clothes. The trick came in integrating your new strength, enhanced sensors and the other combat systems of the suit, into your actions. As the instructor said the smart guys tried to make it grunt proof so all you had to think about was staying alive and killing the bad guys. But the suit still required practice to move and fight in while monitoring all the information you had at hand that could save your life. Easy in concept but it took a lot more training and practice than Hu had expected. He was still clumsy at times when he was armored up. 

The armor's helmet
was not really a helmet; instead it was fitted close to your head. It looked like someone's nightmare of a robots face with layers of armor, sensors, and servo's formed over your face and head. The "eyes" were two small round lenses that were perfectly aligned with your own. The "nose" had sniffers for biologicals and other hazardous environments embedded. The "ears" were round armored sound sensors that were a thousand times more sensitive than your own hearing. Speakers were where their mouths should have been for communicating with those not armored up.                            

In training they had been told the designers had deliberately tried to make them look as frightening as possible, in an attempt to give them every advantage they could design into the armor
, including a psychological one. So the instructors had someone in full armor come out a darkened room. The effect, even when they knew what was coming, was truly scary, Hu could only imagine what people who had never seen it before were thinking, their response made Hu feel a little better. He hoped if any aliens came then they would feel the same.

Hu had a rail pistol strapped to his right leg in a thigh rig
; a rip away med kit on the front of his right leg; a  cargo pocket full of mini mines and three extra clips for his pistol. As the assistant gunner he carried on his back the three extra canisters of rounds for mini rail with six rotating barrels. The mini rail could go through the ten thousand round canisters in seconds if the gunner wasn't careful. In addition, to the extra mini canisters, his suits’ batteries, air supply and retro's were all strapped to his back, locked into his suit.

His own rail rifle was slung across his chest with five extra clips in his tactical combat vest. He had his preferred close fighting weapon strapped to his left thigh as well as a second cargo pocket full of mini mines. What no one could see was that he was plugged into his suits AI through the plug behind his ear. His suits medical system was plugged into him through the lock into his subclavian vein so it could administer the drugs needed if he were wounded, to boost his energy or medicate him in any number of ways to assist him in combat. In other words
, he was the suit and the suit was him. He felt alien and knew to others he looked alien. As they moved down through the terminal they appeared to be large fierce robots based on the human body.

Not only did they look strange to others but the world looked very different to Hu. His HUD filled his visual field with information about his mission, the positions of the other fireteams in the Terminal, their scoot
fallback positions, radio frequencies and more information than he could take in at this point. But his suits targeting readouts were what made him feel so different.

Everyone had a range friend or foe. Civilians he passed in the terminal, even his own team members. His suit recognized his own team members as friendlies to prevent friendly fire incidents in a firefight but they still had a range. If he had his rail in his hands all he would have to do was look at one of them and pull the trigger. The suit link in his right palm would snap into the targeting connection of his rifle sending the target data to his suits computer. The computer would take care of the rest. Hu felt as if he were suddenly living in a different world than those around him. Only his fireteam mates lived with him on this plane of existence. It was a very strange feeling
, walking among others who did not live where he did anymore.

Hu was not sure if he was scared or excited. He had been through Legion selection, then the selection process for the Armored Infantry. He had not seen combat of any kind as a Legionnaire and now he was about to repel an invasion by aliens. It did not get any stranger than this, he had signed up for adventure and to escape the servitude of a company
-owned planet, but he was not sure if he was ready to  be a member of the first humans to fight aliens. To save the human race as the Colonel had said.

Hu had been born on a Von Fleet owned desert planet. In fact it did not even have a name
- just Von Fleet 69. He had been engineered to work in the mines from the time he was old enough to man a position. Von Fleet owned the mines, the stores and the food. They were paid in Von Fleet currency that was only good on Von Fleet-owned planets. He had grown up with no prospects except mining ore on the bleak cold desert of Von Fleet 69.

He had been selected to be a foreman when he reached the proper age. So he
was educated in a Von Fleet school, which they added to the debt his family had already incurred just trying to live day to day. All school meant was extra debt to Von Fleet but his family was proud of his selection and insisted he do well in school. None of them had had the opportunity. His selection turned out to be a blessing. It gave him enough education to enlist and get off the planet. It was the only way off the planet and Von Fleet could not stop him as long as he passed the entrance exam. His family encouraged him to enlist even though they were still working off the money they owed Corporation for his education. They did not want him to end up living a company owned life as they had.

Engineered by Von Fleet doctors to be a miner
, Hu was short, stocky and very muscular. Being the shortest member of his fireteam and its junior member had not made his assignment easy.  The other members of his fireteam were all veterans of both space and infantry battles. He was the FNG of the team and they treated him that way. Dolan the fireteam leader and grenadier was a Rift - tall and muscular with his hair in the long braid of a warrior. Sim was their scout/sniper and he was a Ceti, even he was taller than Hu, yet slim and athletic. Finally there was Nani an Ahiga from the Autonomous Zone who, like Dolan, towered over Fu. She was simply the most beautiful and wildest woman Hu had ever seen. She wore her hair buzzed on the sides and long on top like Sergeant Major Aijuba. Tattoos covered most of both arms and when she turned them on they flashed all manner of different hues, depending on the angle. The word was she had the choice of life in prison or a life in the Legion. No one knew what she had done but it must have been something terrible to get that choice. She never smiled and if she did it certainly wasn't at Hu. He was tongue-tied around her, not out of fear but out his attraction to her. She was so different from anyone he had ever met. Dolan's orders had been short and harsh when he assigned Hu to be her assistant gunner.

"Hu
, your an FNG. A Fucking New Guy. We don't talk to new guys; especially ones that don't even have a Tear. They get dead a lot and we don't waste our time on them until they prove to us they can stay alive long enough to be useful. Now you are Nani's you do what she says and follow her around like a puppy following his mama. If you’re very lucky you may live long enough for us to remember your name."

Nani had hardly spoken to him except to give him orders
; as her assistant gunner it was his job to carry her extra ammunition and assist her in anything she needed. She had made him practice switching out the ammunition canister on her back again and again until he could do it in seconds. When she was finally satisfied she only nodded and strode away.

Dolan
led the fireteam through the Terminal to their position in Terminal 7.

"Corpora
, do you really think there is going to be an invasion by...aliens?" Hu said.

"Hu,
shi
if I know. All I do know is this is where we are supposed to be. Now the first rule of a grunt that you need to learn is that you never know anything other than what you and your mates can see. If we needed to know anything more they would have told us," Dolan said.

"Yes, Corporal."

"Now you got first watch."

"What should I do if I see an alien?"

"
Cao
. Hu if you see an alien or what you even think is one; you empty your magazine into the damn thing and wake us up. We'll figure it out from there."

"Wake you up?"

"Hu this is your second combat lesson. If this dance starts there is no telling when you will get to rest next, so we go by the old grunt rule that still applies. Never stand up when you can sit down, never sit down when you can lay down and never stay awake when you can go to sleep. We are going to get some Z's. You've got the first watch. Wake Sim in two hours, he will take the next watch."

The others were now sound asleep as
he stood guard. Hu glanced at his HUD, the first units of their battalion were scattered throughout the Port at various vantage points waiting for the rest of the battalion and their final assignments. His fire team had been assigned to the top floor of Terminal 7, a busy hub of shuttles and larger craft landing and taking off for the Anchorage. Their mission, along with the other fire teams strategically scattered through the Port, was as fighting observation posts. If the aliens landed they were to inflict as many casualties as possible before scooting back to the next prepared position. There were three rings of prepared positions centered on the Ports Control Tower in the middle of the Terminal.

The Space Port was a Mega structure. A hundred stories high and over a kilometer long
, it was too much to take in. Hu’s fireteam was on top of the structure in the Terminal, the highest part of the building. Vast landing strips and landing pads stretched out before him. The vessels from the fleet would land on the top of this huge flat plain. It was so big - plain was the only word that came to Hu's mind as if it were a natural place instead of a manmade one. The passengers and cargo would unload and enter the vast structure to a myriad of different offices, commands and supply depots contained within the Port structure. He looked out over the runways and landing pads in front of him and he could not see the end, even with his magnification on in his suit. For a kid from a planet with no name the view only added to his feelings of being overwhelmed.

The Terminal
’s tarmac was frantic with activity as Port personnel tried to get shuttles up and to secure equipment and facilities for an attack. Now all Hu could do was wait. All the officers and senior enlisted were in a command meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Masafaro who was giving last minute orders and Intel.