Lieutenant (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 3) (8 page)

“OK, call it in,” he told Doc. 

He wasn’t just going to call a timeout in the battle, though.

“Staff Sergeant Mourka, can you get parole from the two Code 3s, then stand by with the Code 1 until he can get casevac’d?” he asked the First Platoon sergeant.

Ryck knew a Kracivik merc would honor his parole, even if he wasn’t wounded.  The two Code 3’s would pose no problem. 

“Roger that, sir,” SSgt Mourka responded.  “I’ve got the rest of Second Squad providing security now, and I’ll leave two Marines in here with the mercs.”

It would still be crowded inside the office, but that freed up Ryck’s Third Squad and Joshua.  Ryck called them in.  The AIs kept trying to firm up the intel, but things were still hazy.  They estimated that there were between eight and 15 mercs inside the two main QC labs.  They seemed to be pretty spread out, probably around the major pieces of equipment.  The mercs would have guessed that Killington would try and protect its assets and make sure the ROIs were limited.

Ryck needed to keep up the momentum.  He couldn’t let the mercs adjust to the flow.  But Capt Portuno had given him a direct order to get into the building, then assess the situation.  This screamed against all of Ryck’s instincts, but orders were orders.

With his four key Marines, he quickly went over the newest intel, sparse as it was, and their original plan.  Not much of the plan had to be adjusted, which was both surprising and frustrating.  It was surprising because no plan survives the actual start of a battle, and frustrating because they could have flowed right into the second phase of the assault without hesitation. 

Ryck’s “assessment” took all of 45 seconds.  The captain may have wanted a more detailed assessment, but Ryck had at least obeyed the letter of the law.  The only change Ryck made was that after First and Second cleared the two main labs on either side of the building with Third in the middle acting as a reaction force, he tasked Third, with Joshua, to clear the environmental lab at the far end of the building.  The sensors were not picking up anything from that area, and Ryck thought that might be a safer opportunity to see how Ariana—and Joshua—would react.

He was about to give the order to blow the doors into the lab floor when he had a change of heart.

“SSgt Mourka, I think I need two of your Marines for a little breaching.  Can you spare them?”

The staff sergeant readily agreed, and a few moments later, two PICS Marines lumbered up, their heads almost touching the ceiling.  Ryck told them what he wanted, and both moved into position.  Ryck put First and Second Squads right off the PICS Marines’ hips.  At his signal, both PICS Marines simply punched out two entries into the lab, then stood aside as Ryck’s two squads poured in.

Always make your own entrance was the rule, and with simple, non-structural walls separating the office from the lab floor, Ryck knew the PICS Marines would have no problem creating new entrances, and that with no real resistance, there would not be damage to any equipment on the other side.

For a moment, as the Marines poured in, there was no response.  For only a moment, though.  Just as Ryck was following First in, the mercs opened up.  An automatic weapon opened fire from an elevated position and in back of the lab.  Several Marines were hit before they could get in among some of the bigger pieces of equipment in the room, but no one was taken out.  Their bones had worked as designed. 

Shadows flitted between the testing equipment as his Marines took them under fire.  Ryck could see sparks as darts rebounded off of plate armor, but enough found their way through, and several mercs went down.  One was down hard in the middle of an opening, yet at least one Marine continued to pour fire at the merc.  Ryck checked his display to see who that was, but Sgt Watson cut in on the net, telling PFC Julian to cease fire.  Ryck held no love for the mercs, but he hoped the man hadn’t been killed after being put out of action.  Marines weren’t supposed do that kind of thing, but Ryck was also experienced enough to know that in a firefight, some things just happened.  Julian was a newbie, and as Ryck saw when he checked Julian’s bioreadouts, was hyped up on adrenaline. 

“Sgt Timothy, I want someone on that automatic weapon,” he passed.

Now that they were in among the huge pieces of testing gear near the entrance, the machine gun was more of an annoyance than a danger, but as they progressed to the smaller banks of equipment, they would move back under the gun’s fields of fire.  Someone had placed the weapon well, and it had to be taken out.  Unfortunately for the gun team, the Marines had the means to do that.

A few moments later, a HGL off to Ryck’s right fired.  Ryck caught a glimpse of the grenade as it arched to the far back, then exploded low on the far wall.  The gunner adjusted his aim, and fired again.  This time, though, the grenade hit the overhead as it arched up, exploding right there, only half way to its target.  Maybe the merc commander had been smarter than Ryck had initially thought.  The low overhead precluded anything like a grenade launcher from traversing the length of the lab.

“M76, Timothy,” Ryck passed. 

The M76 Bunker Buster had a flatter trajectory.  It would also cause more damage.  But grub that.  Ryck was not going to move his Marines forward into a line of automatic fire before he could employ an HGL.  He didn’t care if it brought down the entire far side of the lab.

A round of some sort ricocheted off the pulling arm of the machine Ryck was using as cover.  He felt a small piece of something hit him in the chin, stinging him.  Jumping back, he had to remind himself that the mercs were still out there, trying to bring him down.  He wasn’t invincible.

“Watson, Timothy, get ready.  As soon as the machine gun is taken out, I want you two to move itt.  Rush the bastards before they can react,” he passed.

He turned around and caught Joshua’s eyes.  With Third Squad, he’d moved up and was right in back of the other two squads, ready to go.  He leaned out to give Ryck a thumb’s up, only to jerk back as two rounds impacted on his bones.

Stupid shit!
Ryck thought. 
Hannah will kill me if I let you get hurt!

He had to laugh, though, when Joshua made an exaggerated face, holding his forefinger up to his temple, mimicking shooting a handgun.  The near miss hadn’t even fazed him. 

There was the sharp report of the M76, then a second later, a blast reverberated from the far side of the big lab.  A huge hole appeared where an office or storeroom had been and from where the machinegun had been firing. 

Immediately, the two Marine squads rushed forward firing as they went.  Ryck got caught up in the moment, and he rushed as well, his M99 in the assault firing position.  He didn’t have a target, but simply by firing, he was helping keep the heads down of any mercs.  On his display, one of his Marine’s icons went light blue.  Cpl Keisen was down, but not KIA.  Keisen was only a couple of meters to Ryck’s right, but out of Ryck’s line of sight. 

Ryck made it across the open area in the middle of the lab where overhead cranes and rails carried larger items to be tested from the loading bays to the test machines.  Ryck wasn’t sure why his mind noted this.  To a Marine, it was simply an open area.  Its purpose was really immaterial. 

Ryck stopped to kneel beside what he recalled was a tensile strength tester, something that came unbidden to his mind from the list of equipment he’d studied before the assault.  Running and firing interfered with his ability to process his display.  He focused on what was happening.  Two Marines were down, but not seriously hurt.  At least one merc was KIA, and another three looked to be WIA.  That was not counting the automatic gun team.  AI’s were notoriously inaccurate in assessing enemy information without more sophisticated sensors than infantry Marines carried into combat, and the gun team was not registering yet.

There was a flicker of red in his display which corresponded with a position just off to his left.  Timothy’s squad had just passed through that position, so Ryck figured it had to be another merc casualty, only now showing up on the sensors.  He glanced over his shoulder and was shocked to see a merc who had obviously just climbed out of the base for a mandrel bend tester.  He had a smile on his face as he leveled a Diablo rocket at Ryck.  From this distance, the merc couldn’t miss.  Ryck tried to spin around to take the merc under fire, but he knew he would be too late.

A line of darts hit the merc just as he fired, jerking him up just enough so the Diablo blew over Ryck’s shoulder, the heat singeing his cheek as it passed.  More rounds impacted the merc, who dropped his launcher and fell to a sitting position, one hand raised up in surrender, one arm rapidly become a bloody mess.

Ryck touched his chin which tingled from the rocket’s blast past him, his heart pounding from his close call.  He looked back up to see Joshua covering the merc while he sent Pvt Gilliard forward to disarm the man.  It wasn’t until the private signaled the all clear and zip-tied the merc’s hands, wounded arm and all, that Joshua looked over to catch Ryck’s eyes. 

He had a huge smile on his face, and he pointed at his chest, then at Ryck.  He had Ryck’s back, he was saying.  Ryck had been so concerned about keeping Joshua alive, so concerned about Hannah and Hope and little Ester, but it had been Joshua who’d saved Ryck’s life.

Ryck gave Joshua a little salute, then got back to the task at hand.  He’d thank Joshua later.  He’d almost gotten killed because he’d reverted to being a fighter, not a leader.  He’d gotten caught up in the fight, and he’d lost sight of his job.  When he’d tried to get back on track, it had been too late.  He’d been targeted.  Gunny Meader would have his ass on a plate if he knew what had happened. 

Time to act like a leader of Marines, not some grubbing super warrior!  Shitcan that ego!
he admonished himself.

He motioned for Third Squad to move up, giving him a bit of security as he brought his display back up so he could take control of the platoon again.  But suddenly, more and more red icons appeared on the display.  For a moment, he thought they were under a counter-attack, and he got ready to issue orders.  But then it became clear.  The mercs were surrendering.  They had turned off their shields and were coming out.  They had done enough to honor their contract, but now it was over. 

Nine mercs walked forward, hands in the air.  Coupled with three KIA, two being the automatic gun team, and seven WIA, they had only started with 18 men to face a better-armed Marine platoon.  Make that 14 men and four women.  Ryck had been surprised to see that one of the WIA, two of the ones who surrendered, and the merc leader were all women.  Ryck knew that many merc companies had women in their ranks, but as a Federation Marine, he was not used to the idea.  Yet the mercs, as they were both given medical treatment and giving their parole, treated each other, men and women, seemingly without regard to gender.

The merc captain had thanked Ryck for their treatment and accepting their surrender and parole.  She asked about the three who had been in the outer office.  She acted as any officer would.  And if Ryck was honest with himself, given her resources, she had actually led her company quite competently.  The only difference was her gender.   

“Well, Ryck, looks like we got out of this one pretty light,” Joshua said after the merc captain took her leave of Ryck to rejoin her men.

“Two wounded, neither one pretty bad.  Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty light.  It could have been worse, you know, if not for you.”

“I’ve got your back, Ryck.  I promised Hannah, that I would.”

The two Marines, brothers-in-law, fell into silence.  That was all they said about the incident.  That was all they needed to say.

Zephyr-Hadreson

Chapter 8

Ryck took a long swig of Poison Amber Ale, draining his bottle.  The O-Club had Poison both on tap and in the normal pressure packs, but the last CG
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had a liking for his beer in real bottles, so the O-Club started stocking them.  Ryck really liked the bottled beer, too.  He knew the taste was the same, but the feel of a cold bottle in his hand made drinking a more visceral experience for him.  True, the pressure packs were more practical and could cool a beer within five seconds of activation, but they never felt as good in his hand.

He let out a loud burp and said, “Well, I’m off.  You guys take it easy.”

“You leaving, you lightweight?” Donte asked.  “We’re just getting started.  Let me get you another round.”

“No, I really have to go,” Ryck protested.  “Hannah’s got this dinner thing going, and she’ll kill me if I’m late.”

“You are so whipped,” Cal Anderson said, taking a slow sip of his cider.  “That’s why you’ll never see me tied down with a wife.”

Cal was the Third Platoon commander.  He was younger than both Donte and Ryck, having gone straight to the Academy without serving as an enlisted Marine first.  Ryck thought he had a pretty high opinion of himself, but Ryck was honest enough to realize that might just be his personal opinion of officers who had never been enlisted.  Donte, Jeremiah Benton (the weapons platoon commander) and Unger Tately (the company XO) had all been enlisted before being commissioned and had fought in the last war.

Most of the lieutenants in the battalion were there at the club.  The battalion had just had their new star on their battle streamer awarded at a ceremony an hour before, and the officers had gathered at the club to hoist a celebratory drink (or two).  The action on Killington had barely deserved a star, Ryck thought.  Of course, to LCpl Godfrey of India Company, or more correctly, to his family, dying during a quick police action or in a major conflict didn’t make much difference.  Dead was dead.

“That’s assuming you could ever find anyone who’d want to marry you, dickwad,” Donte told Cal.

“They all want to, and can you blame them?  I mean, look at me,” Cal said, one hand sweeping to take in his frame.

“Well, I’m outta here, guys.  Don’t get too plastered.  We’re still the secondary alert battalion,” Ryck interrupted their trash talk, knowing he could be there for hours if he waited for it to subside on its own

He ignored their cat calls and walked out of the club.  It was a brisk evening, making him feel invigorated.  He felt even more invigorated as he walked up to his brand new Hyundai Vulture.  It might not match his brother-in-law Barret’s Tonora, but it was more car than he’d had ever hoped for.  Hannah had surprised him with it when he’d gotten back from Killington.  He’d balked at the price she’d paid, but only half-heartedly.  Hannah had gotten a job at the Federation lab on base, and as a FS-15, she not only outranked him, but she made almost twice as much as he did.  Besides, the Vulture was one sweet ride.

The Vulture recognized him and the driver’s door swung up.  Ryck slid inside, the nanos in the seat molding it around him.  He’d only had one beer, so the hover allowed him to take control.  The hover was almost silent as it rose off the deck, only the low, almost subsonic rumbling giving any indication of the horsepower under the hood.

Ryck eased the Vulture out of the parking lot.  He carefully kept to the speed limit on base.  The MP’s were extremely strict, and they seemed to like nothing more than to give officers, especially lieutenants, citations.  Once out the gate, he opened the Vulture up a little.  The hover leapt forward like a racehorse released from the bit.

Ryck almost wished he lived further away.  He was in base housing, though, in Januzek Manor, only three klicks from the main gate.  He slowed back down, passed through the gate, and barely puttered down the street to his home.  With Hannah’s new job, they, as a couple, rated a single home with the senior officers.  But they’d decided to stay in the junior officer housing.  Hannah and Ryck had half of a duplex.  It wasn’t large, and Hannah had been used to better back on Prophesy, but for Ryck, it was fine, more than fine, actually.

He carefully pulled the Vulture alongside Hannah’s Creighton B50, then set it down.  It looked like he was the last one there.  Joshua’s old Ford Flamingo was parked in front.  Joshua had been at the same ceremony, yet he’d obviously not stopped for a drink, first, before heading over.  Score one for the brother-in-law.

“’Bout time you made it,” Joshua said from the couch as Ryck entered.

Joshua was in his civvies, a cider in one hand, the other reaching into a bowl of chips.  Technically, there was nothing wrong with him being in officer country.  Ryck and Joshua were brothers-in-law, after all.  But still, he always came over in civvies if it was a social call.

“Duty calls,” Ryck responded, reaching for his own handful of chips. 

“I thought I heard you,” Hannah said, coming into the room followed by Hope, Joshua’s wife. 

Hannah was a very competent, independent woman who had a pretty high-flying job.  But Ryck was sure that she appreciated having Hope around.  They were both Torritites from Prophesy, and that common background kept Hannah grounded.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” Ryck asked, putting his arm in back of her, pulling her close for a kiss.

“Not be often enough,” she responded after coming up for air, playfully reverting to her Torritite speech pattern what with her brother and sister-in-law there.  “But you sayin’ that now won’t be getting’ you out of trouble.  I be smellin’ the beer on your breath.  Joshua and Hope be comin’ more than 30 minutes ago, and I be left with entertainin’ them.”

“Well, it was worth a try,” Ryck said with a laugh.  “But you are beautiful.”

“Why be you not more as Ryck,” Hope asked her husband, her Torritite patois much more pronounced than Hannah’s.  “He be havin’ the best sugar mouth around.”

“Thanks a lot, Ryck,” Joshua said with an overacting tone before turning to Hope.

“Thou be the fairest maiden in all the land, love of my life,” Joshua said, one hand sweeping towards the floor as he bowed his head.

“OK, OK, it be getting’ deep in here,” Hannah said, trying not to laugh.  “If you two gentlemen can set the table, Hope here has prepared somethin’ special for us.”

“You heard the ladies,” Ryck told Joshua.  “Let’s get at it.”

“And what will you be doing?” Joshua asked when Ryck didn’t join him.

“Let me get out of this uniform, and I’ll be right back down.”

The two men quickly set the table after Ryck returned, and a few minutes later, the two women brought in the food.  Hannah was right about the meal.  She had bought a real prime rib, and Hope had spent the day at the house slow-roasting it. With fresh veggies, mashed potatoes, and a garden salad, the meal was prime alpha.  Ryck stuffed himself to bursting.  He stayed to clear the table as the other three went to the front room where Hannah had prepared a pitcher of sangria.

Sangria was not really an after dinner drink, but Ryck was pleasantly surprised to find it was a nice, crisp balance to the heavy meal.  He had three glasses before it was gone and he switched to cider.  The four sat around, mostly listening to Hannah and Joshua telling tales about each other when they were kids.  At one point, when Joshua was relating when an eight-year-old Hannah had gotten her hand stuck in a toilet, Ryck laughed so hard that cider came out of his nose, burning as it came.  That made all four of them laugh even harder.

It took a few moments for Ryck to realize the recall was being sounded.  The four of them were singing a love song popular when they had been in high school, and it wasn’t until Joshua’s wrist PA started chiming in with its own recall that the singing stopped.

“What’s going on?” Ryck asked stupidly, more than a little tipsy.

“Oh, man.  We’ve got to get back to battalion.  It’s the sergeant major, I know it is,” Joshua slurred in disgust.

The sergeant major was a reformed alcoholic, and his opinion of Marines who drank was well known.  Ryck thought it was within the realm of possibility that the sergeant major had convinced the CO to sound a recall.  The battalion was the secondary alert battalion, and technically, they should be ready to take off on a moment notice.  That had never happened without prior warning, though, at least as far as Ryck knew. 

Ryck shook his head, trying to clear it. 

“Baby, can you get us both a cup of coffee?” he asked Hannah.  “If it really is just a drill, we’ll be back in a couple of hours, but we should sober up a bit if we can.

“Well, Joshua, you ready?  Get some water on your face, and we’ll head on back.”

Hannah came back with the coffee, and both Marines drained the cups.  It really didn’t help.  Ryck kissed Hannah before he noticed Hope seemed worried.

“Nothing to it, Hope.  It’s probably just a drill, and we’ll be back in a shake.”

The two men went to Joshua’s Flamingo.  The hover’s AI detected the level of alcohol and refused to relinquish control.  Joshua keyed in the battalion, and the hover lifted off in automatic mode and took them back to the gate where a line of hovers slowly made it past security.  It looked like the entire division was on the recall.  Whatever this was, it wasn’t the sergeant major checking to see how many Marines had been drinking.

When they finally pulled into the battalion area, Ryck told Joshua to go check on the platoon to see if everyone was making it back.  Ryck made his way to the battalion CP to see what was up.  Donte, still in uniform, saw him and motioned him over.

“All officers are supposed to be in the conference room in ten.  You hear anything yet?” he asked Ryck.

“I just got here.  What about you?”

“Nothing.  We were still at the club when the recall came,” Donte said.

They both made their way to the conference room where most of the officers were already gathered.   The majority of them were in civvies.  Capt Yu was even in coat and tails.  Ryck knew the captain and his wife were champion ballroom dancers, and he figured the suit had to be related to that.  There was surprisingly little talking as the Marines waited.  The sheer number of people streaming back onto base was indicative that something, probably something big, was up.

“Attention on deck!” the XO shouted as he and the CO burst through the hatch. 

The CO was in PT gear, so this had evidently caught him unawares as well.  He strode to the head of the conference table before putting them at ease.  He nodded to Terry Olney, the commo
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, to start the holo.

The image was only 2D, obviously from a security camera.

“This was just received at Franklin Station from G.K. Nutrition Six about an hour ago,” the CO intoned.  “I have not seen it yet, but I’ve been briefed by the CG.  I will withhold comment until I see it with all of you first.”

Ryck shifted his position from where he was standing behind the company commanders and senior staff so he could see the display better.  The image seemed to be a gathering of some sort, a picnic or fair.  People were eating, kids were darting back and forth.  It was a scene probably repeated hundreds if not thousands of times each day throughout the Federation—nothing remarkable.

Then things changed. People started falling to the ground while others started screaming and running.  More fell, and the panic grew to encompass all the people.

“What the hell?” someone said from the far side of the room as they watched. 

“Who’s attacking them?” Capt Yu asked, voicing something each of them was probably thinking.

The CO held up his hand, palm out, and the muttering ceased.  He focused on the screen.

When the attackers appeared in view, even the CO couldn’t quiet the gasps.  Shockingly, the attackers were not human.  They looked like something out of a scifi flick.  Standing about five or six feet tall, the, well,
creatures
were bipedal, walking upright.  Covered in hair or fur, they looked like odd, vaguely familiar teddy bears.  There was no mistaking the weapons in their hands, though.   The short, squat guns had glowing balls at their fore, and the creatures launched the balls forward at the few people still left alive.

Then it hit Ryck why the creatures seemed familiar.  They were walking upright, were larger, and had weapons, but it was unmistakable.  They were larger, deadlier versions of the capys, the smaller creatures that the farmers had been trying to exterminate. 

Humanity had finally run into intelligent life, and the capys’ big brothers were back for revenge.