The Void War (Empire Rising Book 1) (29 page)

*

Major Samuel Johnston could feel his anger growing as
Ghost
got closer and closer to the mining facilities and the Chinese inside. During the time it had taken
Ghost
to get close to the third planet of the Reading system he had been briefing the marines from
Raptor
. Initially, he had planned to fully brief them when he had visited
Raptor
back at Excalibur but in the end he had only stayed long enough to give them the barest details. He hadn’t expected to see Captain Somerville there let alone Lieutenant Gupta and Sub Lieutenant Becket. Seeing so many familiar faces had brought back memories of the mission to Excalibur and his fateful decision to leave Earth. Only Captain Lightfoot knew of his loss and he hadn’t wanted to speak to any of the old crew members of
Drake
.

Every morning he woke up, he regretted his decision to agree to Becket’s request that he be temporally reactivated in the marines. For days his anger had been directed at her and the RSNI spook Mr. Jones. Yet seeing her again had softened it somewhat. She had done well on the Excalibur mission and he respected her. He knew she had only been following orders when she had turned up at his house. In fact, he knew that ten times out of ten he would have accepted the Marines call to be reactivated and carry out his duty. But hindsight was sometimes a cruel mistress. Now, all he wanted was to go back and change his decision. And yet he couldn’t. He couldn’t change his decision and he couldn’t change his current circumstances. So now he focused all his anger and rage on killing any Chinese he could get his hands on. They had killed his wife and now he was going to kill them.

All the marines were crammed onto the five shuttles in both of
Ghost’s
shuttle bays. The shuttles themselves were packed closely together as two were from
Raptor
. As the commanding officer Johnston sat in the cockpit of the lead shuttle with the two pilots. He had a direct line to the bridge and was able to watch the holo image of
Ghost
and the third planet as they made their approach.

When they were close enough, visuals confirmed the presence of a Chinese ship in orbit. It had turned out to be a Chinese frigate. Some of the marines were placing bets on whether or not it would stay and try to fight or would turn tail and run when they spotted
Ghost
. Johnston hoped its Commander would be foolish enough to stay and fight. He was looking forward to seeing the frigate gunned down. The logical part of him not driven by his anger realized that it was very unlikely. The frigate could never hope to match itself against
Ghost
.

At the prearranged time a power fluctuation erupted from
Ghost’s
number three fission reactor. It was so strong, it set off minor warnings on the control board of the shuttle Johnston was in. The Chinese couldn’t miss it. Indeed, as Johnston watched, it only took the Chinese frigate seconds before it began to send out powerful beams of energy using its main search radar. Almost immediately
Ghost
went to full power, charging straight for the frigate. With luck it would look to the Chinese like
Ghost
had been trying to sneak up to the frigate and had been given away by a faulty reactor.

Now the Chinese Commander would know what he was up against. Would he stay or run? Johnston only had to wait thirty seconds to find out. After a brief flurry of electromagnetic radiation suggesting a signal was sent down to the mining facilities the frigate began to boost out of orbit, away from the approaching British destroyer. Someone on the bridge plotted the frigate’s likely rout of escape given its current vector. At present speeds
Ghost
would be able to get off a few shots from her two bow tubes but then the smaller frigate’s better acceleration would allow it to escape. Of course,
Ghost
had more acceleration up her sleeve but the Chinese weren’t to know that.

As the frigate began to break orbit and head away from the third planet
Ghost’s
vector took her gradually away from a direct approach to the mining facility and her speed continued to increase. Without knowing the route of escape the frigate would choose, it had been impossible to plan the next part of the mission precisely, but now that the frigate had begun to move someone on
Ghost’s
bridge updated the shuttle with their flight plans. On her new vector
Ghost
would pass closest to the mining facilities in another five minutes sixty seconds. Three minutes before this point the shuttles would launch and immediately begin to decelerate in order to drop down into the planet’s atmosphere and, hopefully, surprise the Chinese defenders. Unless the Chinese had shipped in expensive sensor packages for the mining facility, they wouldn’t be able to detect the small shuttles. All they would see would be
Ghost
passing by the planet in pursuit of the escaping frigate. At the same time
Ghost
would turn on her jamming equipment to prevent the frigate from warning the planet. Johnston didn’t know if Somerville or Lightfoot had come up with the plan but he was suitably impressed. He would be even more so if it worked.

When the timer hit zero, the shuttles began to launch from the two shuttle bays. One part of being in the marines Johnston hated was that he spent most of his life being a passenger. Now that the mission was a go he still had to wait and watch as the pilots guided his shuttle to its destination. Each shuttle had its own target and as they began to descend through the atmosphere the shuttles separated as the mining facilities covered an area of more than thirty square miles. Johnston and his first platoon would be leading the assault to recover the prisoners in conjunction with second platoon on board the shuttle keeping station with them. The other three platoons would secure the main control facilities, the landing zone and the equipment store. Details on the facility said there was enough explosive in the equipment store to blow up the entire facility. Johnston didn’t want some suicidal Chinese taking out his entire assault party.

With their targets already identified, the other three shuttles began their final swoop down to land. A hail of fire sprang up from the ground at the shuttle making its way to the landing zone but it was cut short as the shuttle fired a hyper velocity missile at the defenders. Johnston ground his teeth as he waited for the co-pilot to work the shuttle’s thermal scanners. “There,” he shouted. “The greatest concentration of bodies is in the secondary housing unit, that must be them.”

Johnston only had to glance at the holo display to confirm the findings. “Take us in,” he ordered.

As the shuttle zoomed in towards its target, an alert had obviously gone out from one of the other objectives for men in combat armor began pouring out of one of the side buildings. The marine gunners aboard the two shuttles began to fire at them but the shuttles weaving through the mining equipment that towered into the sky put most of their shots off. All the same, three or four Chinese fell to the ground with gaping holes where plasma cannon fire had punched through them, armor and all.

While all this was going on, Johnston was reviewing the tactical scans of the area. Tapping his command console he spoke into his COM unit, “put us down over there, we’ll take it from here.”

Switching between channels, he continued, “ok Marines, our objective is coming up. Once we disembark the Chinese positions will be at our three o’clock. First and second squads, you are to lay down covering fire. Third squad you’re with me, we’re going to flank round to the right.”

After a series of affirmatives from the squad leaders Johnston switched the COM channel again, “Lieutenant Albion, my men are going to lay down covering fire and flank to the right. Our flanking maneuver will only be a feint. I want you to give us thirty seconds and then take your men down the left flank, punch through the defenders and get into that building. Leave any stragglers to me.”

In the Royal Marines each squad consisted of six men and three squads made a platoon. Destroyers carried a total of three platoons and, with one left on
Raptor
that gave Johnston a total fighting force of ninety men. He was confident that if he could get a full platoon of marines in combat armor into their target building, any defenses inside would crumble. They just had to get past what was waiting for them outside.

Before the shuttle hit the ground, Johnston was jumping out, trusting his power armor to cushion the fall. He had ordered the shuttle to put down behind some mining equipment so his men had a screen protecting them from enemy fire while they disembarked. As soon as they were out the first and second squads spread out through the mining equipment and began to fire at the makeshift barriers the defenders had set up in front of the building holding the hostages. Once third squad had formed up around him, Johnston sprinted off at an angle away from the barricade. He was constantly scanning his surroundings but was confident the defenders would be focused on the attack coming from their front. After sixty seconds, he slowed the pace of his sprint and turned back towards the enemy with third squad behind him. When he got to the point he could see the green flashes of the plasma cannons he crouched down and signaled the rest of the squad to fan out. Slowly they maneuvered around the various mining equipment until they all had good firing points.

When he saw that everyone was in position he gave the command. “Fire!” Suddenly, the defenders found themselves taking fire from two directions. The first three plasma bolts from his men all found their targets. After that the defenders ducked behind cover that would protect them from the new angle of attack, popping up occasionally to return fire. When Johnston heard a click over the radio to signal that Lieutenant Albion’s platoon was in place he sent an acknowledgment back.

Peeking out from his cover, Johnston saw eighteen marines in heavy combat armor break out of cover from almost directly behind the new positions the defenders had taken. Assisted by the combat armor a marine could sprint at sixty miles per hour over short distances. Each marine had his plasma rifle aimed at a defender but they were holding their fire. It wasn’t until the first defender had spotted them and began to turn to open fire that Lieutenant Albion gave the order to open up. At almost point blank range a hail of plasma bolts rained down on the defenders, killing more than fifteen of them. The rest abandoned their now useless cover and dove away from the secondary living quarters to find safety. A few fell to shots from his platoon while about ten escaped.

The gap in the defenses was all the encouragement Albion needed, he immediately ordered his men to alter their angle of attack and make straight for the now undefended entrance to the living quarters. Quickly, explosive charges were fastened to the large doors and the marines stepped back as they detonated. Before the smoke began to clear Albion and his squad were rushing through the door. Plasma bolts rained out the door past the entering marines. One struck Albion and blew him backwards to land in the dirt in front of his objective. Another marine fled clutching his leg but the sheer weight of return fire from the marines silenced the defenders and the rest of the marines were in the building in seconds.

Satisfied that second platoon would soon have the objective under control, Johnston switched his focus back to the defenders who were left outside. Over the COM he ordered first and second squads to move up while he took third squad round to flank them again. This time he made sure they were able to work their way right behind the enemy. Slowly, he crept closer and closer to the Chinese positions and then he jumped from cover and charged, ordering his men to follow as he ran. He had picked out two Chinese defenders who were in a smaller recon version of the Chinese army’s combat suits. With his plasma riffle he sent five bolts into one of his targets, almost turning him to dust despite the armor plating of his suit. With his left hand he whipped out his long marine combat knife. As the second Chinese soldier began to turn to face the new threat he plunged the knife into his chest. The monomolecular blade easily cut through the armored suit and slammed right into the soldier’s heart. As blood spurted out the gaping wound in the armor, Johnston savored the moment and the look of shock on the dying man’s face. Shutting down any sympathy he felt, he summoned the image of the approaching tsunami crashing over the beach and the buildings where his wife had been staying. With a grunt he twisted the knife extinguishing the life force of the man whose people had taken the only thing he cared about.

After wiping his knife, almost ceremonially he returned it to its sheath and then began to refocus on the battle. Three of the remaining defenders outside their objective had surrendered, the rest were dead. As he was giving orders to restrain the prisoners, a voice came on the COM channel. “Major, this is Sargent Anderson.”