The Conscripts: Fight or Die (Blood War Book 3) (11 page)

“Hey, Mai, what are you doing?” Zula said sleepily.

“Just checking my messages. I couldn’t sleep.”

“You should have woken me up. I can think of a better way to pass the time.”

Mai stood and faced him, nude in the soft lights of the dimmed overheads. “What in the world could we do?” she said, teasing.

“Get over here.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

Mai slipped into the bunk with him and held him with all her strength, as if this were the last time she would ever hold him in her arms.

“Hey, babe, what’s wrong? You’re about to crush me.”

“Nothing. I was just thinking how long it will be before we get to do this again.”

“Let’s focus on the next few minutes. Nothing else matters.”

Mai kissed him and gave herself to him in a way she had never done before. It very well might be the last time they had a chance to make love.

Lyten System

Von Fleet Troopship VF 11213

135th Penal Battalion

3rd Company

First Platoon

“Goddamnit, Fenes! You’ve got to get your squad in position quicker than that or we are dead!” Striker screamed. “Once we make contact, you’ve got to get your squad on line with the rest of the platoon. You need to anticipate when to switch from covering fire to direct attack. Watch for my signal but learn to anticipate. I may be too busy trying to stay alive to give you orders. Now let’s do this again!”

Fenes turned and ran back up the hill, or at least his avatar did. The platoon were all sitting in a huge compartment, linked together in a virtual Chika landscape. They were all plugged in to a computer that recreated Chika. It also recreated the physical exertion of training. Despite being in the best shape of his life, Dieter was out of breath, and his legs ached as he climbed back into position on the only “high ground” on the barren landscape in his armor. They had been practicing infantry tactics all morning. The training ground was an exact 3D representation of Chika. It was flat, with escarpments and craters dotting the barren sandy landscape. On the plains where they were now positioned, there wasn’t a rock or crater to hide in as far as Fenes could see. The high ground was a sand berm a few feet above the flat plain.

“Fenes, relax. Let your armor do the work. You're still working too hard. Your vitals are off the charts for someone wearing full armor. All of you, relax and let the armor do the work. It takes time to get used to it, but unless you do, you’ll never make it in combat.”

Fenes did try to relax, but he still felt the weight of the armor. He struggled to reach the top of the berm. When he did, the rest of his squad spread out around him.

“Keep your intervals at seventy-five yards. You’re in armor. You can cover ground faster than without it, so you can spread out more. You bunch up, you become a target, so keep your distance. Okay, everyone return to the phase line and we will try this again.”

Fenes watched as the rest of the platoon turned and moved back to the phase line. The spot was nothing more than a line on the map in his heads-up, but it was what they had been using as a jumping-off point for this exercise. They had been at this training for two days now, and they were still lousy at it. The armor was the biggest problem. It was the oldest armor around, and using it was a real skill that took practice. Von Fleet kept the latest tech for their military units, and the penal battalions only got the leftovers. Striker had said as much. It sucked, but it still worked—it was just a matter of learning how to use it. So that was what they had been doing—working on how to use the armor and armored-infantry tactics for Chika. Fenes checked the positioning of his squad. They were all in place with the proper intervals.

“All right. First platoon, move out. Second squad, take the lead, wedge formation. Third squad, on line behind. Now move like you got a purpose, people,” Striker barked over the platoons’ comm.

Fenes watched Ardan move his squad out in a wedge formation. They were keeping their proper intervals and maintaining the formation as they moved swiftly forward. Striker and the counter-electronics-warfare and drone operations formed their own small wedge behind the larger one. Minga had her squad one hundred and fifty yards behind Fenes, spread out in a line. The formation was moving well, keeping their pace and varying their movements. Striker had taught them the way to move was to alternate randomly between “running,” which amounted to taking huge, armor-assisted steps, and popping up using long jumps. The idea was to never make it easy for hybrids by getting into a pattern that could be deciphered. Fenes reminded himself he was overwatch and should not be looking at the platoon but at the horizon. He saw a tiny dust cloud on the horizon and increased the magnification on his heads-up. Sure enough, a column was moving their way. He squawked a recognition signal. The target did not respond.

“Target ahead. Speed fifty miles per hour. Ten thousand yards. Heading zero degrees. First squad, fire.”

Fenes and the rest of the squad began to fire their rails at the approaching column. At first they were just kicking up dust around the targets. They were at the extreme range. Fenes pulled out a magazine of smart rounds that the squad leaders had been given. He took aim again. This time a tiny, dark figure dropped after his shot.

“Second squad, extended line and take cover. Third squad, halt and fire. Drones, send the coordinates to the third squad.”

The second squad’s lead member stopped and the two arms of the wedge came forward and into an extended-line formation. Minga’s third squad halted and spread out. They carried the platoon’s heavy weapons. Their rails had grenade launchers whose caliber approached that of a mortar. Soon small explosions began to bracket the column. More and more of the tiny black dots went down, but they didn’t stop. They continued to move at a frightening speed toward them. Suddenly there were several flashes of a laser, and the drones dropped out of the sky. Fenes could see the column clearly now. It was much bigger than theirs. The firing was taking its toll, but it would not be enough.

“Fenes, L-shaped ambush.”

“Roger. First squad, follow me.”

Fenes used the sand berm and led his squad down its reverse slope. Their job was to form a line at a right angle to the rest of the platoon before the hybrids got there. He checked his heads-up. The hybrids were almost on top of them. The firing from the first two squads had increased in intensity. The trick was to move behind cover or get around just as they came into range.

“I’ll take the lead. Remember, keep those intervals or we'll get slaughtered.”

He watched as the range decreased.

“Follow me!”

Fenes made his first move—a big jump just skimming the surface. With his second jump he was close to three hundred yards out. He turned and fired into the column of hybrids. The rest of the squad did the same. Their intervals were perfect. In the crossfire between the other two squads and his squad, the hybrids went down in groups. Several of the second squad went down, and Fenes saw one then another of his squad go down. Striker was standing, directing fire from the third squad’s heavy weapons. The hybrids turned and ran.

Suddenly the world went dark. Fenes pulled the plug from the I/O port behind his right ear. He was lying on a couch with the rest of the platoon around him. He was dripping sweat. The virtual reality had taken its toll. He closed his eyes and let his breathing return to normal.

“All right, people, get your asses out of those couches!” Striker bellowed.

Fenes and the rest of the squad stood on shaky legs. He glanced over at Ardan and Minga. They looked as tired as he felt.

“Believe it or not, that was actually not half bad. Moving into a hasty ambush while on the move is one of the hardest evolutions to pull off, and you did it. But don’t feel too good. We still lost five people. The goal is to make the other fuck die for his cause, not for you to do the dying. That is the last evolution for now. We’ll pick up from there in one hour, after chow.”

There was some moaning among the squad. They had been at this since reveille, and that long in VR was exhausting.

“Shut up. We don’t have time to waste. The more you sweat in training, the less you’ll bleed in war. Now get some chow and get back here.”

Lyten System

CVN Phoenix

Admiral’s Briefing Compartment

“Admiral on deck,” the yeoman said.

Admiral Ririsa Grogan strode into the compartment as everyone rose to attention. She walked up to the podium, turned, and faced the assembled men and women. The captains of every capital ship in the task force stood before her—all one hundred of them. The commanders of the marine, Wolf, Rift, and Von Fleet infantry units were present. It was now time to explain their mission. She wondered how they would react.

“Be seated, ladies and gentlemen. Please.”

The men and women sat almost as one.

“I want to thank you for the effort it took to be here on the Phoenix for this briefing. Some of your launches are not designed for this long a trip. This is the largest military fleet ever put together by the Confederation. We have Confederation naval and infantry units, Wolf infantry, Rift infantry, and of course, our friends from Von Fleet Corporation with naval, construction, and infantry units represented. This is the largest, most complex operation ever undertaken.”

Ririsa paused before she continued, “Our objective is the binary system of Sui-Ren. Our orders are simple. We are to seek out and destroy all Xotoli and hybrids in the system, then fortify the system for the Confederation.”

A murmur of surprise filled the room.

“The operational security for this campaign has been the tightest ever. Most do not know that the raid on 703 was compromised by a leak. So for this operation the security has been extraordinary. The specifics of the operation and each of your roles, with timetables and objectives, have been sent to your pads and your ships. The messages are ‘eyes only’ security level, so no one can access them but you through biometrics.”

Ririsa waited as the assembled officers glanced at their pads or leaned over to their neighbors and compared roles.

“As simple as the objective is, the operation itself will be the largest and most complex ever undertaken by any human military organization. The human race has never attacked a fortified system. As we saw on Rift, even when surprised, defenders can repel such an attack. We will not be stopped. Sui-Ren is too important to the Confederation. The Sui-Ren system sits at the entrance to the only wormhole to Ceti. By occupying Sui-Ren, the Xotoli are attempting to cut us off from ever recapturing Ceti and the other Confederation systems in that quadrant. So we will take this system no matter the costs. We will fight to the last man if necessary.”

Ririsa waited as her words were absorbed by the men and women in the room.

“I think we can expect the Xotoli not to give this system up without a fight. I think we can expect naval engagements as well as stiff resistance on the planets. This will not be a quick battle. We will invade and hold this system. It will become part of the Confederation.”

Ririsa touched the podium, and a holo of the Sui-Ren system was displayed.

“The Sui-Ren system is a binary system. Sui is the roughly the same size and a quarter of the luminosity of Sol. Ren is a red dwarf, about one-third the size of Sol and less than a tenth of its luminosity. The only planet in the habitable zone is Chika. It is approximately the size of Earth, with approximately the same gravity. But it is much older than Earth and very dry. For those of you who study your planetary history, think of Mars before terraforming. The atmosphere is thin but breathable. The troops on the surface will need to carry additional life-support systems for the amount of work they will be doing. Chika has a few plants but no known animals. It’s just a big, rocky desert planet. The Xotoli have begun construction of a spaceport. They have not yet completely fortified the planet but are in the process of doing so. Intelligence thinks that we have caught them early enough in the fortification process for an invasion to succeed. They do have a significant number of troops and construction workers on the planet, so there will be resistance to the landing. They are in the final stages of construction of the port here.”

Ririsa pointed to a location on Chika.

“They are in the beginning stages of constructing a harbor in a geosynchronous orbit over the port as of our last drone flyby. If they finish that harbor and port, they will be able to move large numbers of troops and the equipment needed to fortify the planet rapidly. Our mission is to stop them, take the port, and establish our own harbor.”

Ririsa paused as the various captains, admirals, and generals studied their pads with their individual unit and ship assignments in the operation.

“The next structure out from Chika is the asteroid belt. The planetary guys tell us they think it was an Earthlike planet that met a catastrophic end. The Xotolis have a number of sensor stations scattered throughout the belt. We will destroy them on our way to Chika. Then comes a frozen rock of a planet that the planners have named Whiskey. It is a frozen rocky planet two and half AU’s from Sui-Ren with a large moon. Its gravity is slightly stronger than Earth’s and its year is about four of Earth’s. Next comes Tango. It is another rocky ice planet, approximately five AUs from Sui-Ren. It too has gravity that is approximately the same as Earth’s. Finally, we have Foxtrot, the last planet in the system. It is approximately nine AUs from Sui-Ren. Its gravity is approximately half of Earth’s. It has five small moons and two large ones.”

“Admiral, you do know that the planners have named the three planets with the initials of WTF.”

“Yes, I do. When they came to me with the plans, they thought it was funny. They had other code names, but I made them live with WTF, so feel free to give my planners as hard a time as you want. You have my permission.”

Ririsa spun the holo around so Chika was closest to the audience. She pointed to a location on the surface and spread her fingers. The holo zoomed in to the planet. You could see the crater-covered surface and large mountains with deep valleys in-between. She reached out and touched a point on the planet, and an overhead view of the spaceport under construction expanded.