Authors: Max Feinstein
Running past all these defenses Dexter finally ended up at his intended destination. The
building itself was nestled inside a small cleared area and sunken completely into the ground, making it almost unnoticeable to anyone passing by or scanning the area. What gave away its strategic nature were the four Centaur IFVs and two Chimera tanks surrounding the facility. However, even these were hard to detect in the early morning thanks to their engaged adaptive camouflage. Dexter saw them shimmering slightly like a distant mirage as he changed angles during his approach towards the command center.
Slowing down to a brisk walk he slipped in between two of the guarding Centaurs and stepped down the dugout stairs to gain access to the blacked out TacOps rooms. The Tactical Operations room seemed to only be lit by the light coming fro
m the rows of monitors lining the inner walls of the bunker as well as the holographic Tactical Information Display table. This large eight sided table was located in the center of the room and dominated the surrounding space. It wasn’t just the TID’s sheer size, but also the fact that around it stood the top commanding officers from every military unit in the surrounding area.
Normally Dexter would have been out of place in
such a high profiled operations meeting, but General Stelle encouraged junior officers to participate whenever possible. It was the general himself that stood at the head of the table, leaning forward with both hands on its edge as he studied the map displayed there. Beside him stood newly promoted Colonel Benjamin Hofens and Lieutenant Colonel Markus Carbera. Dexter knew the Lt.
Colonel by reputation only and was glad to see that the officer had survived the initial alien assault. News had spread, however, that Markus’s regiment, the 98
th
Armored Cavalry, had not been so luckily spared. The Reapers had supposedly suffered an atrocious casualty rate of almost 40% in both men and equipment when their base was bombarded from orbit during one of the enemy’s opening salvos. Being one of the only half dozen such units in existence throughout the Federation, the ACR’s reduced strength was a sever detriment to the war effort on Frontiera.
Taking a further look at the other individuals around the TID his eyes settled on the tall, large, and statuesque like figure standing closest to him on the left side of the holographic display. The
man stood with his arms crossed over his chest, resting on top of a rather thick armored chest plate. Unlike the other officers at the table he wore a full armored suit, one that seemed to have seen better days, with dents and scrapes all over its outer casing. Dexter did not recognize the armors design, but did notice the Federation Naval insignia on its right shoulder and wondered what an officer from the navy was doing here.
“…
completed the pull-out from Destona and the surrounding area. Colonel Hallsworth has taken command of all sector forces and conducted a strategic evacuation to Bastion. Civilians left behind have been seen being rounded up into what seem to be containment areas. At the same time the enemy presence within the city is being reinforced through SP Mironia as well as another makeshift landing area within the city proper, located here,” Captain Karina Paitel reported and pointed on the map, which caused it to zoom in on the capital city.
The floating holographic representation of her report rotated and zoomed in on each area discussed.
This allowed Dexter to, for the first time since the start of the war, witness the horrible destruction that had been unleashed on the once beautiful city of Destona. Being the commander of the specialized Tactical Reconnaissance unit, Delta Company, 2
nd
Infantry Battalion, 23
rd
Brigade Combat Team, her unit was now a more precious commodity than ever before. With the loss of most other surveillance assets on Frontiera, Captain Paitel’s company had the pressing task of scouting out and locating enemy movement throughout the entire continental region. At the moment, as Karen explained, their main focus was the occupation and subjugation of Destona and its civilian population.
Dexter guessed immediately, from the subject matter, that General Stelle was thinking about launching a counter-attack against Destona to free as many people as possible from the capital. Standing
in the way of this task were two concentrations of enemy forces. One was the city’s large spaceport and the other was in Elton Field, a large grass clearing just outside the city. It was this location that Captain Paitel reported on at the moment and on which the holographic display finally focused on. It revealed a large circular formation of vessels of unknown designs sitting high on the ground. Below each one was a cargo lift that seemed to lower from each ship’s midsection to unload equipment and soldiers. Every tonnage of cargo was then assembled at an expansive depot still under construction nearby. From what it seemed, the enemy was trying hard to establish a beachhead on the planet and at the same time within the Federation.
She continued to explain the observed operations at each site before the image enlarged further to show the surrounding area more clearly, “each site is heavily defended with multiple gun batteries and
battalion sized security units, along with heavy armor units. They have constant air patrols, which increase whenever a dropship comes down.”
“Any luck locating more units or contacting Lokra?” Ge
neral Stelle inquired, wondering about the status of the planet’s other equatorial continent, Westera.
“Negative sir, every attempt to reach Lokra’s mainland has failed. None of the units dispatched have returned.”
“That’s most unfortunate, we knew the risks beforehand,” Brinek said as he let out a breath and stared at the floating map, “please captain, go on with your report.”
“Well sir, we have been following an increase in the number of enemy scouting parties. They seem to be scouring the entire continent for any remaining military units. It appears that they are trying to
clear all opposition from…” her voice trailed off as one of the private’s manning a communications station yelled out.
“
New contacts coming in fast from orbit!”
“Enemy?!” General Stelle questioned immediately.
“Negative, system authenticates friendly IFF challenge…” the private paused slightly, “incoming transmission! Naval frequency.”
DUNTAN
Slaige was studying a copy of Lieutenant Iorns’s military profile within his visual field while at the same time listening to Captain Paitel and was slightly more than surprised when he heard the news of the naval transmission. He made sure to keep his face expressionless, but at the same time a wave of hope swelled up within him. The Colonel began to imagine that perhaps some of Frontiera’s naval assets survived the planetary assault. He quickly triggered his internal comm and wordlessly connected to the base’s data network to send the update to the rest of his team.
Just as quickly, Duntan’s hope shattered when the TacOps speakers let out an alarmed and unfamiliar voice, “
this is Razor One to any friendly unit, repeat this is Razor One to any friendly units! We are escorting Federation CTG dropships and are being pursued by multiple enemy fighters. Request immediate assistance.”
From that last word the entire operations room burst into fr
enzied, but coordinated activity. Razor One’s identity was immediately double checked against the military database and quickly confirmed to be Captain Serti Alokow of the
Federation
Carrier Group. No one knew why the captain and his fighters were in the vicinity of Frontiera, but many guessed that FRINGCOM had dispatched the group. Whether they had done it in response to the launched courier drones or simply to investigate the planet’s disappearance from the Federal Communications Network, it didn’t really matter. The only thing that did matter was the fact that the Federation knew of their plight and would hopefully send reinforcements.
“Razor One, this is FRONCOM Actual
. We are transmitting a new flight plan for you,” the General relayed as new icons began to appear on the TID to signify the four new Cyclone class interceptors and two Albatross class dropships that just descended through the atmosphere, “follow the plan and we’ll provide as much support as we can.”
A
quick acknowledgement from Captain Alokow came through the comm and Duntan watched the six craft change direction slightly to follow a newly projected route colored in green. At the same time, as the base’s air defense sensors focused on that portion of the sky, five other ships appeared on the map. Each one turned red when the system designated them as enemy forces, most likely Alphas by their size and cross-section.
“
Chief,” started Brinek while turning towards Duntan.
“On it, sir,”
Duntan replied to his superior, completely knowing what he meant without the commanding officer having to finish the order.
He transmitted the new orders to the rest of Echo team and turned quickly from the holographic table.
The team’s six remaining members were already waiting for Duntan, with Captain Porter in the formation’s center as usual, when he stepped out of the command center. Malory turned to follow him as he walked past them and the rest fell in behind them both. Silently the squad of Marines accelerated into the dense forest beyond at a fast jog. Their armored suits allowed them to reach the superbly hidden airfield complex, almost a kilometer away from the base itself, in record time. There a newly modified CT-76S Buzzard transport craft was already idling and waiting for them on one of the field’s ten landing pads when they arrived. Already fully geared up and ready Echo team wasted no time and followed Chief Slaige up the transport’s lowered rear ramp. When the last of the marines stepped into the fuselage its powerful engines powered up and lifted the special operations modified Buzzard into the air. The rear end sealed up tight just before the engine nasals tilted forward, propelling the large craft through the air just above the thick forest canopy.
CROSSBOW
Three was one of the five SA-241M1 air defense batteries ringing Secturo Base at a distance of ten kilometers in a pentagonal pattern. These five Adino Surface-to-Air batteries were the base’s first line of defense against all aerial threats. Each one was heavily concealed through the use of natural terrain features as well as low powered electronics. In their current standby tracking mode, each forty-five missile strong battery, was almost undetectable. These missiles were in turn supported by a trio of particle beam projectors.
Like the others, Crossbow Three’s triplet of tube launchers w
as set up in a triangle formation with a command and control vehicle within the very center. This six meter long armored vehicle not only housed the unit’s support staff, but also its sophisticated sensor array dome. At the moment even that powerful array was only of limited use against the stealthy enemy aircraft. Whatever materials those craft were made from, it prevented them from being detected at long ranges. The only saving grace was the sensor’s Laser Detection and Tracking system. Even though the LADET had a substantially decreased interception range it was still able to monitor and engage alien ships thanks to their still physical nature. By saturating the surrounding airspace with invisible beams of laser energy the system was then able to detect any bounce back of those beams if something solid came into contact with them.
Specialist Inikus Spencer
sat inside the Adino command vehicle and watched the LADET at work on the glowing screen in front of him. All the while he wondered how he had ended in this horrible situation. Years ago he had joined the Army Reserves for the sole purpose of getting preferred placement for the engineering university program he wanted. At heart he was an academic, not a warrior, which was why he had felt that the reserves would be a perfect match for him. They would allow him to get what he wanted in terms of schooling and also help to build some confidence within himself, while at the same time highly limiting the prospect of him having to deploy into a warzone.
Now here he was, however, in the midst of something he had told himself would never happen, manning a
defensive battery that protected some of the last surviving forces on Telfor. The importance of this unit and the entire Crossbow Air Defense Regiment could not be measured. Crossbow Regiment had the unfortunate distinction of being one of the only active Wide Area Air Defense units. There were of course other surface to air systems, but those Sentinel equipped units had much more limited operational profiles than the Adinos. Unlike their smaller cousins the WAAD units were able to protect the airspace around entire continents and their missiles had enough range to strike targets even in low planetary orbit.
The enemy must have somehow known
the importance of these weapons systems to the Federation military because some of the first orbital strikes had been on the only two Adino installations on this side of the planet. Those regiments had been made up of more modern Mark III or SA-241M3 systems and updated Block 2 missiles, giving them even more capability than Crossbow’s Mark I Adinos. The loss of those systems had been a devastating blow, but it was also a small measure of relief for Inikus. Being a reservist he had been stationed at a much smaller facility and had probably been overlooked during the enemy’s planning. To him this was the very reason why he was still alive.