A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1) (34 page)

“Is this not what the cruiser, destroyers, and other vessels are for? Did you not convince me to expend precious state resources on acquiring new engine assemblies for that very same cruiser so that it could be space-worthy again?” Pavel demanded.

“Of course sir.” Sukin said carefully. “However, the cruiser has not been finished.” He didn’t mention that the orbital dock was all but lost and that they were tracking enough inbound missiles to put the station’s survival in question.

I think it is time to move to Plan B
. He thought looking about the room and noting that his men had taken up positions accordingly.
Good, it is almost time.

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“Heavy fire in the south corridor. I think they’ve got a tripod mounted gun set-up there.” Corporal Winters reported over the comm. Captain Kim frowned inside her suit.

“Fire a rocket down the hallway and clear them out, Corporal.” Sergeant Hawkes ordered. “But make sure you set it to minimal blast and fragmentation. Don’t want to open everything up to space.”

“Yes, Sergeant.” He responded.

Captain Kim waited, she liked to think it was patiently. They had swiftly secured most of the station, but the control room turned out to be much more heavily fortified. Her casualties had still been light, but their rapid advancement had turned into a slow slog. Even the cruiser had been taken easily, with just under two dozen engineers and yard workers aboard her. Ava had left a fire team in engineering and on the bridge before pulling the rest back to assist in taking CIC.

“Sergeant Hawkes.” Ava commed the sergeant.

“Yes sir?” Hawkes responded at once.

“The control station overlooks the dock yard, yes?”

“Yes sir it does.” Hawkes began but trailed off. “Yes sir it does indeed and if you don’t mind the air getting a bit thin, I think I’d take a walk outside.”

“That is precisely what I was hoping you’d say. I’ll meet you at this airlock.” Ava pushed the location onto Hawkes’ map.

“Uh sir, meet me there, sir?” Hawkes stumbled for a moment.

“Yes Sergeant. I fancy a walk myself. Haven’t gotten a chance to stretch my legs for quite a while now.” Ava said, not backing down.

“Yes sir.” Hawkes sounded somewhat dejected by it.
At least she knows a losing battle when she hears one
. Ava thought with a satisfied smile.

Sergeant Hawkes beat her to the airlock in question and stood, managing to look uncomfortable even through her armor. Ava looked at the network tags of the fire team she had brought with her. They were all veteran RASATs, all with EVA combat experience.
Good
.

“Shall we take a walk?” Kim gestured to the airlock.

“Yes sir.” Hawkes responded.

The six Marines made their way out the airlock and onto the hull of the station. Each was careful to hook a safety line to the rings outside the hatch, lest they accidently push off from the station and drift off into space. After making sure each was appropriately secured, Hawkes led the way across the outside of the station. The airlock they had exited was ‘above’ the control room, so they approached it from out of sight. As they reached the lip of the overlook windows, two of the Marines withdrew charges and linked their detonators together. After that they looked at the Sergeant and waited. Hawkes looked at Kim.

“Do it.” She said. Hawkes motioned to the two Marines and they gently pushed their charges downward in front of the window. As the small computer brain detected the window and computed its position from dead reckoning, it calmly counted down the meters until it calculated it had reached the appropriate point. As it did so, a small vectored cold thruster pushed the charge against the thick ballistic window. As it made contact with the glass, the high-powered explosive jetted plasma cleanly through the window.

Because the station was a civilian construction, not a military one, there was no blast door to close over the ruptured window. The two holes quickly vented the compartment to space. Additionally, since the window was rated at far beyond anything that the designers ever expected would hit the window, it was not normal procedure for the control room crew to be suited up. While there were suits and oxygen tanks, these would take time to put on. This issue was compounded by the fact that there were nearly as many Czar security personnel in the control room as operators, meaning that the oxygen masks were in short supply. It became a mad scramble for them, leaving the hatches out of the space unguarded. Captain Kim, watching through a fiber optic periscope, commed Lieutenant Ramirez.

“Go.” The Marines burst into the room, shooting anyone with a weapon who didn’t immediately throw it away or raise their hands. A Marine did take the time to apply quick patches to the holes in the window, temporarily restoring integrity to the station and preventing the technicians and security personnel from suffocating as the rest of the RASAT bound their hands and herded them together.

“Connect me to Admiral Harper.” Ava ordered her AI. When the AI indicated she was connected. “Admiral, the station is ours. Would you like to see how the repairs to that cruiser are coming?”

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“Sir.” Sukin had known it would come to this. “The last of our ships have been neutralized.”

“Do we have any missile platforms left?” Pavel asked, knowing Sukin had already told him they did not.

“No sir. Those have all be expended.”

“Very well. What will they do next?”

“They will likely enter orbit, eliminate our remaining orbital sensors and communications. They have several options at that point, depending on their goals.” Sukin said, knowing that the Czar would likely not react well to what he was about to say.

“And what might those options be?” Pavel’s voice was wavering between fear and anger.

“If they simply want to punish us, they may simply bombard the planetary surface, targeting key installations like spaceports and this building.” Sukin gestured around. “If they intend to take the planet, the bombardment will be more restricted and then they will land troops to secure key locations and population centers. They will overwhelm us with troops in short order.”

“We shall fight to the bitter end.” Even Pavel couldn’t deceive himself into thinking they could fend off a determined assault. “We will teach these American dogs how true men fight.”

Sukin’s stun pistol responded first. Pavel only got out a short gargled scream before the high voltage took him down. He was left a quivering ball on the floor.

“No sir, we will not.” Sukin placed a derisive emphasis on the ‘sir’. He motioned to the guards who had rushed into the room at the scream. “Place him in one of the cells and guard him. We need him alive.”

“Yes sir, we’ll see to it.” The corporal responded.

“Use whatever means necessary to make sure he stays alive. Shoot anyone you need to, anything. Do you understand?” He stepped in close to the corporal and placed a hand gently but firmly on his shoulder. Sukin’s voice was firm and insistent, but not angry or imperious.

“Yes sir. No one will harm him.” The private responded this time. Sukin nodded and stepped back.

“Now then, I need to be connected to the commander of the American incursion force.” Sukin announced as more guards loyal to him entered the room and took up positions both inside and outside the entrances. Sukin didn’t want to take any chances that someone would do something stupid. Several of the officers and technicians were still sitting in stunned silence. “Now people, before they begin bombarding the planet and kill us all!” He boomed angrily.

“Yes sir, on it sir.” A logistics officer responded, stepping forward quickly and shoving the cowering technician away from the communications station. After about two minutes the officer turned back to him. “Connected with Rear Admiral Harper, sir. She commands the orbiting battle group.”

Sukin nodded at the man. He would ensure this man was included in his bargain. “Admiral Harper, I wish to discuss surrender terms.”

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Six hours later, Sukin assembled an honor guard in full dress uniform, the old Russian ones. He had selected the military base closest to the command bunker. While Sukin had purged all of the bases of those he did not trust, either assigning them to other commands or having them executed, this base had been the most loyal from the start. It helped, he supposed, that it had been the base he had commanded before taking over as the military commander of the system under Czar Yakimenko.

Now he had arranged to surrender to a representative of Admiral Harper. He had been surprised to get most of the terms he had wished for. He and a list of men he had provided were to be immune from prosecution for previous offenses in the system. He would remain the military governor of the system, having only to submit to annual inspections by an international authority to check for human rights abuses and the like. They were to have full and unquestioned access to the population. He was also being allowed to field a defensive military force, even being allowed to keep the cruiser in the dock. None of his military ships were allowed to leave the system for a period of not less than five years, with repeal after that subject to a review of his government. He could deal with that. In exchange, all he had to give them was Govenor Yakimenko and his associates. He noted that the American Admiral had consistently referred to Yakimenko as the Mister Yakimenko, not evening acceding to his former status as a regional governor. Sukin couldn’t help but approve. Of course, she had also insisted on a full investigation, to begin immediately with her onboard JAG personnel and a follow-up by the civilian authorities.

At least I know I have surrendered to a competent and capable commander
. Sukin reflected. He had seen her tactics in space and while not a sailor himself, his advisors who were had been very impressed. His reflection was interrupted by a small commotion behind him. He turned to see a six guards, also in dress uniform but equipped with stun batons and stun guns, leading twelve shackled men. In the lead with Pavel Yakimenko, followed by the only uniformed official in the bunch. Major Ilya Dubasov had been the commander of the ground garrison and Sukin’s superior under Russian control. He had joined with the Governor early on and even helped to suborn Sukin. He had, however, failed to prevent an assassination attempt from nearly claiming the new Czar. Sukin’s timely arrival had dispatched the last of the assassins and he had whisked the Czar away to safety. Of course, having known the timing of the attempt had helped greatly. Sukin had been very careful, using several intermediaries and killing two birds with one stone. The men he had indirectly hired had been several whose loyalty remained in question at the time. The Czar had declared on the spot that he had been promoted to colonel and was to assume command of all military assets. Major Dubasov had been furious, but Sukin was beyond his reach. He had turned his anger on the populace of the mining region he had been left in command of. Sukin had seen the reports and even he had felt pity for those people.

“Colonel Sukin, please, I beg of you, do not do this to me!” The Yakimenko wailed as the group was brought to halt just to the left of the honor guard. Sukin ignored him. The governor moved to step forward and approach Sukin. He was rewarded with a sharp jab from the lead guard’s shock baton. After a yelp he ceased trying and jumped back.

A new sound caused all to look upward. The booming noise was an obvious telltale for those who had experience with powered infantry assault landings. Sukin couldn’t help but smile to himself, despite the small corner of his mind that recoiled in fear from the sound. He had faced Marine powered infantry before and it had not been pleasant. This Admiral truly took no chances.

It took another minute before the shuttles were clearly visible, twelve landers coming down in a light evasive pattern. Sukin realized that the Americans were landing shuttles, not just launching powered Marines into the atmosphere. He frowned, he could have sworn that was the noise he had heard. They had no inbound fire, but they still made certain they were not easy targets. After several more minutes, the shuttles touched down all around the pad, but not on it. Two of the shuttles remained in the air in constant random motion. Sukin could see that they were outfitted for close-support, missiles and guns dangling underneath the dark grey shuttles. The chin turret repeatedly swept over those assembled, a silent warning. The landers disgorged their powered infantry in a sudden burst. The Marines moved forward quickly and took up positions that were mutually supporting all around the area. They covered Sukin and his people, in addition to forming a perimeter. Sukin saw his guards tense and hoped they would stay calm.

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“Lt Ramirez, status?” Captain Kim inquired as she exited her shuttle and moved forward towards the waiting Russian delegation.

“Down and moving, sir. Command bunker is in sight. We’ve already hacked its security systems and have remained undetected.” Kim was thankful for that. She had landed two squads from her RASAT on the other side with a stealth insertion, the only giveaway being their sonic boom as they streaked down through the atmosphere. Admiral Harper had ensured that all the ground tracking stations would be in standby as they came in. That had made detection practically impossible. She wanted to secure that command bunker. Intel reported that all commands to the entire system were routed through there. Controlling it meant controlling the planet, no matter what. She had been ordered to take it with minimal casualties and damage to the structure, so that had hamstrung her somewhat. While the Admiral had wanted to make this work, she didn’t want to send her people into a trap either. Kim glanced around to ensure that her people were in position. She normally wouldn’t have checked at all, but because of the detachment of two platoons she had borrowed nearly every power-armor qualified Marine from the fleet to put together this little landing party.