Blood War 1: Last Stand of the Legion: Rift (24 page)

Hu had locked his servos
and relaxed into what was  the closest position to sitting you could get in an armored suit. The words of Colonel Sand rang through his thoughts as he stared out at the port.

"Guerre à mort."

No quarter asked or given. His stomach had knotted with fear. The others had simply repeated the order. No one had said a thing; their faces had simply turned grim.  They knew what that meant, he could only imagine. Then on Dolan's order they all buttoned up their helmets and went into full combat mode. 

Without warning a huge explosion shook the building. It came from inside the facility not outside. The rest of the fireteam was up and on their feet. Hu looked around but could see nothing.

"What was that?" Hu said.

They all scanned out the windows onto the port and looked at their heads up displays. Nothing. What could the explosion have been?

"
Gan ni ni
ang!" Dolan said.

"What?" Hu said.

"Look at your HUD," Dolan said.

Hu had forgotten his situational awareness training. His suit would provide the information he needed
, if he just used the systems. One explosion that had so startled and scared him, he had forgotten to check his HUD.

"Which view?" Hu said.

"The Company view," Dolan said.

When Hu switched to the company roster he saw that all of the officers were black. That meant they were dead.

"What the fuck?" Sim said.

"They got to the officers meeting somehow. All the officers and most of the senior enlisted are down
," Dolan said.

"How..."

"Something like we saw on the video from the Colonel. Fuck if I know. Take your positions; it looks like this is real. It is about to get festive," Dolan said.

They each had just manned their assigned position
s when there was an air burst over the Port, high enough overhead that Hu was unable to see it. What followed horrified Hu as he watched. Thousands of secondary devices were released by the airburst. Each of the devices sought out someone working on the field. Some of the ground crews ran for cover at the sound of the explosion but the devices targeted each one of them individually. Everyone on the ground was killed as a device tracked them down and blew them to pieces. The carnage  was horrifying.

"Get ready
," Dolan said.

Hu was standing next to Nani. Sim had found a place in the ceiling that had a small window that overlooked their section of the Port. It gave him a better field of fire from a slightly elevated position.

"More coming," Sim said calmly.

Hu could see what looked like large spikes plunging from the sky toward their position. The spikes had sharp noses and flared out to a thick body. Hu
’s suit was picking them up now.

"Incoming. Incoming. Unknown type munitions," it said. "Altitude three hundred, two hundred, one hundred."

Suddenly retro rockets fired slowing their decent. The sides of the spikes exploded and five troops were ejected in a circle. The troopers landed with the spike in the middle. The spike immediately began to fire some sort of beam weapon at anything that moved from a rotating dome on top of it. A beam caught a ground maintenance man who had been missed by the first airburst running for the Terminal. It vaporized him.

"Tangos, many tangos," Hu's AI said.

The five troops from each spike quickly formed up and began to move toward the Terminal. Just like in the video the Colonel had sent them, they looked human but were moving much faster than a human could. They would jump over small buildings or other equipment. They wore what appeared to be light armor yet they ran as fast as Hu did in full armor with its amplifying servos helping him; that could only mean they were that fast without artificial help. Hu was not sure he could believe his heads up; it showed some of them running close to forty miles an hour.

The
aliens moved forward using bounding overwatch. Five would move while five others covered their movement from behind cover. As they got closer the aliens behind cover began to give those moving forward covering fire. Rounds began to hit the building; as each round struck the building there was an explosion. Their rounds had mini explosives in them.

"These guys know what they are doing," Dolan said. "Hold your fire. I'll start the party."

"Check."

"Roger
, corporal," Hu said.

"Check."

The aliens continued to advance more quickly than Hu thought possible. Their armor was just helmets, chest armor, and leggings, like the Legions Light Infantry. As they moved they fired their weapons from the hip. Hundreds of small explosions began to pepper the terminal. The glass in front of Hu disintegrated when a round exploded against it. He instinctively ducked even though his armor protected him. None of the outposts had opened fire yet; their orders had been to draw them in close before firing. Make every shot count..

More rounds were entering their position through the windows exploding behind them in the terminal. Shrapnel rattled off Hu
’s armor adding to the din of the explosions and weapons firing. As the aliens got closer he could see many had what appeared to be decorative crests or badges in gold and silver on their chest armor. Their helmets seemed to have been individually decorated. They all had a red crest of metal that looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon. Some wore what appeared to be animal skins over their helmets and down their backs. Faceplates hid their faces and Hu imagined they gave the same type information his suit did.

Hu and
the rest of the fireteam were far enough back in the building that it was hard to target them on the run but the explosions inside the terminal became more numerous. Suddenly, much larger explosions began to strike the wall in front of them. Large chunks of concrete and steel were being thrown into their position. The wall was being blown apart.  A heavier weapon had been set up and had their position targeted. Sim's rail coughed three times and the larger explosions stopped.

"Got the fuckers
," Sim said.

"Sim
, do a sensor plant as far out as you can."

On Hu's heads up he began to see the readouts from the sensors
Sim planted with his 50. It showed spikes and troops landing all the way to the edge of the sensors range. The aliens showed up in his heads up display as red triangles. There seemed to be hundreds of them.

The
first of the aliens to land had reached the final cover before they had to cross a quarter mile of open ground to get to the Terminal. Other fireteams in the Terminal were already firing at them. Dolan waited until they began to cross the open ground as a single wave.

"Ok, boys and girls on me. Wait. Wait. Now!"

The rest of the fireteam began firing as quickly as they found targets as one. Aliens were going down across the wave of attackers but it did not slow them. They simply jumped over the dead and wounded and continued their race toward the Terminal through the combined fire of all the outposts.

Hu had not fired his weapon yet. He was still trying to get himself oriented to the shock of seeing aliens, and being in his first firefight. Just then an alien  made it close to the terminal and jumped. It was ten feet in the air and about to enter the floor below them when Hu fired. It was thrown back in a red cloud of blood and lay still. He had killed it without thinking. Suddenly like everyone else he was firing as rapidly as he could target a
n alien. Each time he fired, an alien went down, his suits targeting system was working to help him. Hu was not sure if he was aiming very well as his hands were shaking so badly.

"Sim
, the ones with horizontal crests are leaders. Nail them."

Aliens with horizontal crests began to fall each time Sim's rail coughed. The
fire from their position and the other strong points was not slowing the onslaught they continued to flood across runway 23L toward the Terminal. There now appeared to be hundreds of aliens flashing across the open space and headed directly for the terminal; their crested helmets flashing in the sun. The red crests seemed to form together into a red wave moving towards them. All the fireteams on Hu's fireteam's side of the Terminal were firing as fast as they could. Alien after alien went down or simply disappeared in an explosion yet they continued to come. 

Suddenly an alien's head popped up directly in front of Hu
, but before he could fire it was blown off the windowsill by fire from Terminal 8. Each terminal went out several hundred feet so each outpost could cover the other. Two aliens were crawling up the wall into Terminal 8 like some sort of lizard seeming to defy gravity. Hu put two rounds into each and they fell off the wall leaving large red splotches of blood. He turned back to the onrushing wave. 

Dolan was firing air burst grenades as fast as he could fire then reload. Each round would explode over the aliens and drop three or four with every shot. Nani's mini rail was cutting
three and four at a time. Sim's sniper rifle coughed less frequently as he was targeted the aliens with the horizontal crests of the leaders. Hu just fired at anything that moved that wasn't human and continued to pick off any that were trying to assault Terminal 8. He missed sometimes but hit most of the time. They moved so fast it was hard to track them even with his rails targeting system.

Then there was a huge crash above them. The arrow
-shaped tip of one of those spikes burst through the ceiling behind them. They heard five thumps as the aliens it carried landed on the roof of the terminal. They would come for them now.

One swung down to come through the window in front of Nani. She fired her mini and the alien was cut in half.

"Fighting pairs!" Dolan said.

Shaking
, Hu turned and stood back to back with Nani his fighting pair partner. She faced outward firing her mini while Hu faced into the terminal, his rail at the ready.

"Danger, danger. Tangos closing from above. Danger," Hu's suit said.

LYTEN SYSTEM

RIFT

ENROUTE TO FLEET HEADQUARTERS

COMMAND GROUP

ARMORED EXPEDITIONARY  BRIGADE

FIVE KILOMETERS FROM DESTINATION

"Colonel Sand
, are you monitoring the Space Port frequencies?"

"Yes
," Dasan said.

The aliens had gotten the command group at the Space Port with either a suicide bomber or pre-planted device. They must have had plants in the Space Port the way they had at Fleet Headquarters. Dasan could not imagine one of his Legionnaires being an alien. It would have shown itself through training and the selections. It had to be a Navy type, that way they could have taken control of the Port before the attack. The Legionnaires showing up must have made them change their plans and attacking them first became the priority. Cutting off the command of an enemy was always a top priority. These aliens were showing planning and improvisation when needed. They
were going to be a very difficult foe.

Dasan had trained every Legionnaire to act both in teams
and individually  when the situation changed. He had planned on the troops fighting in small teams because you could not depend on the officers or senior enlisted on surviving a battle. So every Legionnaire was trained to assume command should it be necessary. Aijuba had suggested this approach; it was the way of the Wolf warriors for centuries. It would now be tested under the stress of combat.

"Fuck," Aijuba said over their private frequency
when she saw the command group at the Space had been taken out. "We need to be prepared for anything from now on."

"Your Fire Team leadership training will be put to the test."

"They are up to it," Aijuba said.

"I know
, but I would prefer an intact command structure in such a large battle."

"The death of a thousand cuts."

The Fireteams were trained to swarm to large targets of opportunity then retreat and wait until the next target presented itself. In the meantime they were to continue to strike the enemy individually. With no center of resistance the enemy could not concentrate their firepower or troops for a decisive blow. The object was to slowly bleed a stronger opponent to death with hundreds of small actions while never allowing the enemy to inflict large-scale casualties on your own troops. It was a classic tactic for guerrilla warfare. It had worked against stronger opponents for centuries. Now it would have to work against an alien enemy.

"I hope the Xotoli know that."

"War is war," Aijuba said. Dasan could almost see her face when she spoke. They had fought many battles side by side in the Light Infantry. In battle her face changed into a hard mask when she fought, her now dark eyes would be intense with a desire to kill. Dasan was glad he had her at his side.

"Combat alert. Drones up and sensors on max scan," Dasan said. "Combat evasion movement."

The two Hovers increased their speed and began to randomly change direction in hopes of making it more difficult for anyone to target them.  Their current position was five miles from Fleet Headquarters. The fight at the Port sounded like a take and hold operation. It is what he would have done, Dasan thought. Take the Port first; use that to land your heavy equipment and troops, then move from there.

The Command Groups intelligence
officer released three drones to fly above them and one in front and two behind. They had eyes in the air as well as sensors reaching out much further. The two gunners began to make slow 360 turns watching the terrain and the sky for any possible threat.

Dasan had hoped that speed and their small size would not attract attention. He could see the Fleet Headquarters Complex on the horizon. The Complex was the tallest visible object on the horizon. Built with traditional Rift stone
, the Mega structures rose over a hundred stories each. They housed the tens of thousands of military and civilian personnel that supported the Fleet. The Confederation, in an agreement with the Rifts, had constructed them as pyramids to meet their standards and their reverence for their planet. The complex looked like a small cluster of mountains from this distance. Dasan could see nothing nor did any of the electronic sensors show anything but normal activity.

Dasan was
almost there. If he could just get to the Complex and set up his CP he would feel a lot better. Right now all he could do was watch the battle at the Space Port on his HD on his visor. The number of aliens kept rising as more and more landed. The outposts would have to scoot soon if they were going to survive.

As they neared the Complex Dasan could see dozens of civilian and military vehicles of all types loaded with personnel speeding away from Fleet Headquarters as the non-essential were evacuated to pre-arranged shelters. He could now see his armored troopers as they sped toward their positions in the Complex. Dasan never tired of seeing them speed across open ground at almost forty miles an hour, some even faster depending on the Legionnaire.

Through a lot of trial and error Dasan, Aijuba and his Training Command had found to run normally was the best way to use the suit magnification of each individual’s strength.  The only difference was by pushing off more than usual then the suit would magnify that movement and the trooper would take enormous strides. Each stride would also take them up off the ground so they looked like videos of gazelles they had seen of videos from Earth. Long graceful strides combined with occasional controlled jumps. The troopers moved easily under the weight of their weapons and equipment. With their communication and squad networking the units together, they moved quickly in coordinated formations. Even with his naked eye Dasan could see the teams moving together. Only one would jump while the others ran. They had come to call this type of movement peeking, that way one Legionnaire was always high enough to have maximum visual and sensor readings on the terrain and any enemy ahead.

He glanced at his situational readout on HD and saw that all the units had flankers out and scouts ahead. It was an excellent tactical movement. They were well trained and led
; they were as ready as they could be.

"Spike!" The electronic warfare
officer yelled.

The Spike struck the ground almost directly in front of the lead hover, Elias swerved to miss the Spike as the five aliens landed in a circle around the device. The hover was moving too fast, when Elias swerved
, it tipped over throwing Dasan and the rest of his staff in his hover into the sand. Dasan hit the ground hard and rolled several times. The second hover could not stop in time and flashed past them before another Spike flipped it. The first Spike flashed and one of Dasan's bodyguards went down when the beam burned through his armor. The top of the Spike disappeared as Aijuba fired her rail. Two more Spikes landed in the area, their tops destroyed as soon as they landed as the Legionnaires fired their rails. Aliens surrounded Dasan and the command group.

Dasan was trying
to gather his senses as he stood, when he was struck from the side by an alien. It drove a knife into his side. Pain exploded throughout Dasan. Instead of slowing him, the pain released twenty-five years of frustration and guilt. Finally he was a man with the enemy he had been chasing his whole professional life in front of him. With a roar of rage he threw the alien off.

The alien had a horizontal crest of red on
its helmet. Warrior markings were painted on its helmet. It crouched and came for him thinking it had the advantage. Dasan grabbed his fighting axe and ran toward the alien screaming.

"Come on you motherfucker!"

The alien never got a chance to use the knife again. Despite its speed when it raised its arm to strike, Dasan cut the alien in half with a single swing of his axe, armor and all. There were three more in front of him rushing toward him; with a growl that came from deep within his being Dasan ran toward the three pulling his rail pistol as they closed.

"Dasan!" Aijuba screamed when she saw him rush the three aliens by himself. She knew
a killing rage had overcome him and he would not be stopped.

"Taro, Elias."

It was all she had to say - both of the sergeants had taken care of their aliens and saw their Colonel charging head long into a group of aliens. More aliens had joined the first three in the seconds it had taken Dasan to begin his charge. Aijuba, Taro and Elias turned and ran to the defense of their Colonel.

As Dasan and the aliens neared one another
, Dasan suddenly jumped and swung down with his axe catching  one alien in the head as it was jumping to meet him. He took another out with his pistol. He landed behind them and stood to take their charge. He was no longer thinking - he was in a rage that had overcome all reason. He wanted to kill for the children, for those on Gaxola and the rest of the humans killed by these things.

The aliens stopped for a moment at the sight of a lone man standing and waiting for their charge. They dropped their rifles and pulled laser
like knifes and swords. They wanted to kill in close hand-to-hand combat. They must have thought that this lone human would be an easy target.

With a smile they could not see behind his armor
, Dasan dropped his pistol and pulled his own knife. An axe in one hand and a knife in the other - he wanted to feel the alien die. He wanted to face them one on one. The pain in his side only spurred him on, forcing him to focus even more on every move. The first three rushed Dasan.

He killed the first with a strike to the head but a second was able to stab him in the arm. The laser knife had gone through armor like it wasn't there.
Instead of pulling it out, the alien held it in place in his arm, and with its other arm it swung a long bladed laser weapon much like a machete. Dasan ducked under the blow and drove himself into the alien, knocking them both to the ground.

Dasan
landed on top of it. The alien pushed and twisted the knife in his arm. The pain was exploding through his body but it only spurred him to an even greater fury. Each time Dasan tried to get away from the knife the alien pressed it harder into his arm. It was a seasoned fighter; normally it would have been a paralyzing move to an opponent but Dasan was no ordinary opponent. The pain brought out a strength he did not know he had, he still had one arm free, the one with the axe. He could not swing it but instead brought the axe up and drove the handle down into the faceplate of the alien, driving the shards into its face. Blood flew everywhere. The aliens face was torn to pieces by the razor sharp plastic and it screamed in pain. He drove the axe handle down again, this time it went through the alien's skull until it reached the back of its helmet. The alien convulsed under him. Dasan staggered to his feet, bleeding out of his armor, the laser knife still buried in his arm.

Dasan prepared himself for the next attack from the third alien, the arm with the laser knife hanging limply at his side. His armor was covered with the blood of the aliens and his own. He stood ready for his death that he knew must be coming but he had had his blood revenge. He was ready.

It was only then he became aware that he was standing in a small circle of his own men and women. Aijuba stood in front of him, her axe in one hand dripping alien blood, a rail pistol in the other. The four sergeants stood around him covered in alien blood. Aliens lay around them all. There were two armored troopers down but even they had aliens down around them. Dasan did not say anything; he just turned looking for more aliens to kill.

"Colonel!" Aijuba said.

When Dasan did not answer her she said,

"Dasan
, enough!"

"Uh Sergeant...."

"Dasan, enough. You have a command in combat. No more revenge. No more."

When Aijuba said 'command in combat' it cut through all the killing lust and adrenaline. He looked around the scene of carnage. He had given into a personal vendetta when he was in command. That was unforgivable. He was supposed to be the example and he had lost his bearings.

"Report Sergeant Major."

"Both hovers down. We have three blacks and you
’re a yellow," Aijuba said.

He turned and staggered but remained on his feet.

"Salvage what you can, we need to get to the Fleet Headquarters."

Dasan slowly sat down.  Aijuba and the four sergeants stood around him as the rest of the command group and bodyguard gathered what communication and electronic equipment they could. Padma the command medic knelt beside Dasan
. She was covered with blood and it was obvious she had her own battle.

"Sir, I am going to take the knife out. Even with pain killers this
is going to hurt like a bitch."

"Go."

With one swift pull she pulled the knife out. After it had been plunged into Dasan’s arm it had formed a hook on the end. So it tore more flesh and muscle as she pulled it out causing more damage. It had been designed not only as a stabbing weapon but as a weapon that could be used to hold an enemy in place.

"
Kak
!" Dasan groaned.

Padma threw the knife on the ground and hooked her medical systems to his. He felt the stronger pain killer take
effect as she squirted nano paste through the opening in his armor onto the wound itself. Next she did the same to the wound in his side. When she finished it slapped an armor patch over both openings the laser knives had created, then tuned his suits repair system higher to close the holes in the armor faster. She flipped down a screen from her chest plate and it showed a scan of Dasan's wounds with the status of his vital organs. She dialed a few changes into her system and Dasan felt various changes in his medical system.