Authors: Max Feinstein
The timing of the second barrage couldn’t have been better and just as the shield failed the last two missiles streaked down for the kill. With the Jayhawk laser providing precise guidance each of the missiles hit almost the exact same spot milliseconds apart from each other. Each one smashed through whatever armor plating covered the installation with its hardened nosecone before detonating internally. They were so tightly spaced that it seems to Dexter as one massive blast, ripping the rounded weapons platform apart. Something very similar happened to the other three enemy installations, littering the area around them with scorched remains. One had even been dislodged from the ground it had been embedded
in; causing what remained of it to fall over on its side.
A loud roar of jubilance erupted inside the Centaur as the entire squad cheered in victory. They had all been watching the action unfold through their TacLink with the ATES sensor system. Dexter watched them rejoice and allowed himself a quick smile as they patted each other on the shoulders and back.
“Way to go LT! Notch one for the good guys!” one of the men yelled out before getting quiet again as the Sergeant eyed their enthusiasm.
“Get ready everyone, we’re going in
,” Dexter called out as he scanned the area in front of them once more, feeling the IFV level out from the stoppage of the enemy attack.
“Tak
e us down on that landing field,” Lieutenant Iorns ordered the pilots of his platoon. It was time to personally get in the fight, Dexter thought to himself as the Centaur changed its vector and accelerated towards the LZ.
The hot landing zone insertion went off exactly as practiced many times before.
Coming in fast and steep, the four Centaurs that composed 1
st
Platoon quickly decelerated and leveled just before hitting the pavement of the landing field. As they fell into a hover just above the field armored doors swung open on both sides of the vehicles and disgorged an entire squad of warriors. These heavy armed soldiers ran forward one after the other to quickly secure the immediate area, forming an almost complete semi-circle with the Centaurs at the center. During their execution of the defensive formation another panel opened at the rear of the each IFV and let a single SUT drop to the ground. The robot’s four heavy legs unfurled from beneath it in a flash before it hit the ground and dug into the syncrete slightly on impact.
Dexter, being the commanding officer, made sure that everyone had made it out before jumping out of the vehicle himself as it hung a few meters off the ground.
He landed gracefully just behind the last soldier, his powered combat uniform easily absorbing the force of the jump’s impact, and watched the large warrior run towards the establishing frontline. Muscle memory instilled within him over the year took over immediately, causing him to reach across his chest and unclip his battle rifle. The BR-112 promptly activated from his touch and opened to allow the barrel to slide forward into the firing position.
Lieutenant Iorns was already in steady jog before the weapon even completed the activation process. He quickly glanced forward at all his men and watched them complete the defensive formation. The majority were in the kneeling position, rifles moving side to side, scanning for any targets that might emerge.
Others were moving behind them, surveying the formation and at times making quick adjustments. One of these men, however, stood back from the rest. His weapon held steady across his chest in both hands, but his head moved slowly from one end of the line to the other. This was Sergeant First Class Langus Ibrami and he had more combat experience than any of the other soldiers, including Dexter.
“
2
nd
Platoon present and accounted for, sir. Ready to proceed on your order,” Sergeant Ibrami reported without turning around as Dexter closed the distance between them.
A couple distant explosions from his right caught Dexter’s ears through his suit’s external mic
rophones and caused him to look over in that direction. Through his night vision system plumes of smoke could be seen rising into the night sky from various locations. Dexter instantly queued up a sitrep and the incoming information on his visor confirmed his suspicion. The other platoons had launched similar attacks to his own against the remaining hostile weapons platforms and were now executing their own landings on the other sections of the long landing field.
The incoming information also let him know that the medical team had arrived to assist the two crashed Centaurs and that almost everyone involved had survived. Two soldiers were KIA and another was injured, but the rest were actually being flown to their platoon’s LZ. That news made Dexter sigh with relief as he slowed his pace and came to a stop beside his Sergeant First Class.
At the same time he heard the heavy pounding of feet again the hard syncrete surface as the last SUT got into position behind its assigned squad. Like a loyal guard dog it stood motionless, only its turreted gauss cannon moving side to side from on top of it.
“Very well,
let’s get this mission started. I’m sure the enemy already knows we’re coming.”
Not even a second passed since issuing the command did Dexter hear a
wurr
sound front overhead and felt his body compress slightly as a repulsor field pushed down against him. He looked up in time to see a Centaur push forward, flying low over their heads, and unleash a quick barrage of particle beams into the darkness ahead of them. The other three IFVs seemed to respond similar, establishing a protective perimeter ahead and above the gathering soldiers of 1
st
platoon.
“Enemy’s inbound! ETA Ten Seconds
,” called out one of the Centaur pilots just as the other IFVs opened fire towards the horizon as well.
New icons appeared in the lieutenant’s vision at the same time to indicate the four enemy transport craft on approach towards his position. His eyes shifted to the closest one, while looking up over the numerous rows of fighter hangers that lined either side of the street ahead of them. The combat helmet quickly read his thoughts and eye position to start zooming in towards the location of his gaze. At first Dexter saw only darkness over the blacked out military base
, even with the help of his NVS, but then a maroon flash erupted from the right side of his vision. He turned his head slightly just in time to see the outline of a large low flying craft. It was of the same curved and flowing design as the transports he had observed flying throughout the base only minutes ago.
By his previous estimates about those ships it meant that the force coming to oppose them consisted of approximately eighty soldiers. If that was so, his force would be outnumbered almost three to one. After having seen those brutish bear-like alien soldiers, Dexter was not convinced they could hold off such an attack, at least not on their own. To a regular human being the situation would have been mentally crippling, however, with years of constant training Dexter’s mind instantly started to go through various engagement scenarios in order to put together a plan of action.
His new objective was crystal clear, he had to try and even the odds stacked against them. On his order a total of sixteen missiles accelerated into the air from the Centaur IFVs and pitched towards Tango 1, the target code assigned to the closest enemy transport. As they closed the distance, Dexter watched a shimmering bubble form around each of his squads. The defensive shield emanated from the SUTs that stood behind each squad and was designed to allow soldiers to shoot through it, while protecting them from incoming fire. Dexter saw two of these bubbles overlap as Alpha and Delta squads moved closer together on the forward most part of the arch-like defensive line. This overlapping of shields would provide them with a higher level of protection, allowing them to absorb more damage than normally.
Dex shifted his view back towards Tango 1 just in time to watch that transport’s forward section erupt with laser fire. These orange-red bolts fired off quickly to try and intercept the missiles racing towards the ship. Most were misses, but then the night lit up with a single small explosion, followed by two more milliseconds later. The three remaining missiles of the first
group made it through the defensive countermeasures, though, and went off just at the outer edge of the transport’s shield perimeter.
If it ain’t broke, don’t go fixin it.
Dexter’s father’s words sounded through his head as his plan unfolded. The previous plan against the weapons emplacements had succeeded so he chose to give it another shot only on a larger scale. The three remaining magpulse missiles had a rather meager explosion, barely visible at this distance, but then again brute force was not the intent of such ordinance. Their intended effect was instantly apparent as the enemy craft’s shields flickered quickly, the maroon colored field wavering across the entire surface, but ultimately failed to completely collapse.
There was no time to lament the fact that only three such missiles survived and think that the outcome could have been more favorable had they all reached their target. Such thought never had time to cross Dexter’s mind as the second barrage of ten missiles slammed into the flickering shields.
The first of these exploded on impact against the shields, straining them enough to cause sudden failure, allowing the rest to punch through. These detonations were clearly visible from afar and consisted of various intensities as certain ones exploded on impact with the transport’s hull, while others punched through to do so within the ship itself.
Through his visor Lieutenant Iorns watched the entire forward section of the craft explode out, raining down debris in all directions.
At the same time he saw the force of the blast push the large transport sideways, causing it to strike a nearby rooftop, a direct consequence of flying at such a low altitude. It also didn’t help that the pilots of the ship had died within the destroyed portion of the ship. With no one left to correct the sudden descent the craft plowed into the building’s roof at full speed. It dug into the roof and flipped end over end as part of that building disintegrated from the collision. The tumble caused it to slam into the next building along the street on its side. Half of that building crumbled under the impact and buried the transport in a pile of fresh rubble.
The three remaining troop transports were undeterred, however, and accelerated towards Dex and his platoon.
At the same time the sky ahead of them light up with beams of laser energy in a deadly exchange of fire between his Centaurs and the enemy ships. Shields ignited on both sides as particle beams and laser bolts slammed into their respective targets. Some of the incoming fire, either directly or indirectly, hit the syncrete around the platoon, causing the top layers to boil away or explode in superheated fragments. The IFV hovering above them actually absorbed most of the damage, rocking side to side under the impact of each laser blast.
“Everyone get ready! No engagement until my command
,” Dexter called out as he looked over the nearby hangers and storage buildings.
“Brevos, Forlia
, take two and get me some cover from those rooftops,” the Lieutenant ordered while tagging each rooftop with a destination marker.
The response was instant as the two platoon snipers moved away from the defensive line, followed by two other soldiers each, and ran towards their objectives. They were halfway
across the landing field to both of their structures before everything turned upside down. First the ground around the two sniper teams exploded out with weapons fire from both of the buildings, causing the soldiers to jump and zig-zag out of the way to avoid it. One of the soldier’s didn’t respond quickly enough and Dex watched him get thrown back as a large laser bolt smashed into the man’s chest. The soldier’s erratic vital signs appeared on Dextor’s visor right after and showed that by some miracle the man had survived, but just barely, with only his powered suit keeping him alive.
The second thing to happen at that very moment was a sustained attack on 1
st
platoon’s defensive line, causing Dextor to desperately fight the natural urge to run out and extract the wounded soldier. Intense laser fire impacted the shield barrier, making it vibrate and radiate in a transparent blue. One of the other weapons being used against them was something the lieutenant had never seen before. It launched a volley of three glowing orbs in rapid succession and instead of exploding on contact with the shield, they all stuck to it as if attached with glue. These orbs seemed to hang in midair before finally detonating in a brilliant flash of light, followed by a concussive blast. One of the SUTs actually stumbled back from the intense force exerted against it from the explosion. This assault told Dex that sending anyone outside the protective field would be almost suicide.
It took all of a second for
the platoon to respond in kind to the attack. The SUTs were the first to initiate counter-fire as their software instantly calculated the origin of the attack. Dextor heard the transport beside him bark as the first burst of ten 14mm armor piercing rounds left its barrel. With the targets presenting at difficult to engage angles the smart ammunition proximity fuses went off as soon as each round passed the edge of the rooftop. The raining fragments and explosive blast actually ejected one of the alien soldiers from the rooftop, causing it fall multiple stories. When the creature actually started to get up from the big fall was when Dex gave the command to open fire.