Lieutenant Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 6) (10 page)

The Stork’s 30mm gatling was its most effective weapon for close-air support.  Even with the Storks keeping within Ataturk airspace, the guns could reach most of the Regis positions, but their effectiveness diminished the greater the range.  The Storks’ air-to-ground rockets were decidedly less accurate and were more susceptible to counter-measures, and their air-to-air defense missiles were pretty useless against ground targets.

On his display, the leading Marines crossed over the border and entered Cennet territory.  The die had been cast.  There was no response from the mercs, but that could change in an instant. 

Both tanks and PICS could cover ground quickly, so more and more of the battalion made the crossing.  Two minutes later, Ryck and Çağlar reached the border.  Ryck glanced up at his sergeant as they crossed over into Cennet.  This was the sergeant’s home country, but he hadn’t shown any signs that it bothered him.  Ryck didn’t know how he would feel if the Marines landed on Prophesy.  He’d had a hard life on the planet, and it hadn’t treated him kindly, but still, that was his home world, and that was where Lysa and her kids lived, his only blood family.  That was where Hannah’s family was, too.  If the order came to take action there, what would he do?  He fervently hoped he’d never face that situation.

The battalion was moving without any prep-fires, something that was an anathema to Marines conducting offensive operations.  But their orders were simply to march forward and return fire only if fired upon.  They were not to initiate any firing on their own.

That wasn’t to say that the Marines were just advancing complacently.  Every 155 tube, every tank gun was already locked on to high priority targets.  Each tank had coordinates locked in its targeting AI, ready to rock and roll.  At any given time, as the Storks did their racetrack turns, two storks had their gatlings locked on their assigned targets. High above them in orbit, the
Derne
had its own target list.  The
Derne
might not be as responsive, but it packed a much bigger punch.  If the mercs were stupid enough to open fire, Hell’s own fury would erupt back at them.

The problem was, these mercs were probably stupid enough, Ryck knew.  And he was right.

Ryck knew that only some of the Regis positions were on his display.  Others were shielded.  But it was the 125mm guns that opened up first.  Ryck’s AI immediately began tracing a line of shells as they arched up from the positions.  Immediately, from behind him, Ryck heard the buzz of two of the Storks as their 30mm gatlings spit out their 900 rounds per minute.

The three Regis guns started to pull back immediately, but two were taken out within seconds as the third gun disappeared from Ryck’s display, probably into a tunnel.

No orders had to have been given.  The battalion was on a weapons-free status, and each component had orders to return fire based on different actions by the enemy.  In this case, the Storks had jumped on it.  Up until Phase Line Snow, the Regis tubes were their targets, and they needed no orders to open fire.

The Regis Victrons were slaved tubes, so no merc would have been hurt by the two Storks, but two tubes had been destroyed, and one was in a shielded tunnel or bunker.  If it poked its muzzle out again, it would be destroyed before it could get out a round. 

With the battalion in the assault, all of the point defense systems were up and running, and the three rounds that passed over Ryck’s head were destroyed before they could impact on the Marine 155s.  The Regis battalion had to have known they would not be effective, so this was a simple message.  They were not going to roll over and give up.  If the Marines wanted them, they would have to come and get them.

That was OK with Ryck.  If they wanted a fight, they had it.

“Sandy, let’s get our big sister on where that tube disappeared.  Maybe she can drop a tungsicle on it and seal it up,” he passed on a P2P.

“Roger that.  Lieutenant Phyun’s already got it targeted.  Do you want to turn in the request?”

Ryck took a quick look at his display.  The location was between the two tank platoons line of advance, but Joab Ling’s platoon would be marching right over the position.  He compared the distance and asked his AI for a time to position.  Sixteen minutes.

“If they can drop it within ten, then yes.  Give Attleman a head up, and that’s Joab’s platoon, so key him in, too, when you pass the word.”

If the
Derne
could drop the tungsicle within that time frame, it made sense.  But that was a lot of kinetic energy hitting the deck, and Ryck didn’t want any of his Marines, in PICS or not, close to it when it hit.

That was the big problems with orbital support.   In space, the ships could pinpoint the effect of weapons.  Even a hadron beam passing within 10 or 15 meters would not affect a Marine.  On the ground, the weapons’ effects were not as concentrated, and what the ships had packed big, big punches.  Just being near the impact of most weapons could be downright dangerous.

Ryck kept moving forward, picking his way, but concentrating on his helmet display.  His Marines were surprisingly in line, with Golf and the two tank platoons leading the way here and Echo essentially on line further north.  They weren’t all abreast, of course as each company had its own depth.  The trailing platoons of both line companies were actual behind Ryck and the Alpha Command.  But the lead elements of the companies and seven of the tanks were advancing together across the entire five-klick frontage.  The rear unit, Fox Company, mounted in the Armadillos, had just crossed the border, so the entire assault force was in Cennet territory.

The Regis battalion was quiet in front of them.  Since the firing almost two minutes ago, they might as well have been asleep.  That confirmed to Ryck that the volley had not meant to hurt the Marines, just give them the message.  The battalion’s continued advance, though, should also give a return message that they weren’t backing down.  The Regis battalion had to either fight or stand down.

Ryck knew they would fight, given their rep.  And they would probably fight past where logic would dictate.  So at any moment, he expected something else to happen, and that’s when he would unleash his Marines.  He would have done it as soon as their arty fired, but the distance had not been conducive to either tanks or PICS.  That distance was rapidly closing.

That meant they were getting within range of the enemy, too.  Regis units were heavier with energy weapons than most mercenary units.  Most were very short range due to the huge amounts of power needed to fire them, but there were several longer-range weapons in their armory that could almost reach out to them.  They wouldn’t be very effective at this range against either tanks or PICS, but still, no one wanted to be targeted for any length of time.  The good thing was that each of the weapons in their arsenal would take a few moments to power up, and then they would be visible to the Marine and
Derne
sensors.

“Gunny, if you see any sign of energy weapons coming online, let me know immediately,” Ryck told Gunny Kinongee.

“Roger, that,” the gunny said.

Of course he will
, Ryck thought. 
That’s his mission.  Stop telling the men how to do their jobs, Ryck!

He instinctively turned around to look at the command trac 50 meters behind him where Gunny Kinongee would be monitoring his displays when there was a flash to his right and slightly behind him.  A thin streak of fire reached out and hit the Armadillo, which erupted in a violent explosion.  The commander’s hatch blew off to rise impossibly slow into the air before falling back to the earth.

What the . . .

A line of tracers flew in between Ryck and the burning Armadillo to impact not 30 meters away.  Ryck brought up his own M77, but the Regis rocket gunner was already down, cut in two, his upper torso outside his spider hole.

Six blue avatars turned to gray on his helmet display.

There was another explosion about a klick or more away, and 14 avatars changed color.  One of the Fox Company Armadillos had been hit.

“All hands, out of the tracs!  Combat offload!” Ryck shouted into the open net.

“Now, now, now!” Captain Eric Koske was yelling into his company circuit.

There was a burst of an Armadillo’s 25 mm chain gun, then another.  Ryck could see blue avatars beginning to move away from the tracs when another Armadillo went up.  Eight avatars went gray and two turned light blue.

“Liam, get out now!” he passed on the P2P when he saw the Bravo Command’s Armadillo turn towards the fight.

“We’re not near the fighting, and they need sup—” the XO started before being cut off.

Five more avatars turned gray.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“Gunny, what’s on your, ah, shit!” he said, looking at the burning hulk.  Gunny Kinogee would not be answering.

It was pretty obvious what had happened, though.  Suicide mercs had hidden in spider holes with nothing that gave off an emission.  With a basic masking cloak, it would have been difficult for the Marine sensors to pick them up.  Then they’d popped up to engage the tracs with simple kinetic rockets.  The Davises would have shrugged off the rockets, but the thin-skinned Armadillos were no match for them.

“Six, what do you want us to do?” Sandy asked.

Ryck hesitated only a moment before ordering, “Continue the assault and crush them!”

He wanted to turn back to see what had happened, but he knew his position was forward, as was Sandy’s and Christophe’s.  He checked his display, toggling names.  Koske was light blue, probably out of action.  Lieutenant Pulver was dead. 

“Sergeant Major, fall back. Clear this fucking area.  I want every one of these grubbing assholes dug out.  No one, and I mean no one gets back into the tracs, and that means the drivers and gunners, too.  If I want them, I’m going to call them forward.   When you’ve got things under control, turn it over to Lieutenant Minerva, if he’s OK.  Got it?”

“Roger that.  I’ve got it.  You go forward.”

“I think they’re going to need another corpsman.  Doc Tikilot’s one of the KIA.  I don’t think Doc Douglas can handle it alone,” Sams cut in.

“Take care of it, Sams,” Ryck said before turning around and locating Çağlar, the muzzle of the sergeant’s M77 sweeping the area, looking for a target.

“Let’s go, Hans!” he ordered over his externals.

He broke into the loping, ground-eating PICS trot until he was back in his trailing position in trace of Golf’s Third Platoon.  Just up ahead of him, he could see the backs of several of the Marines as they marched forward.

He had briefly considered holding up Golf and the tanks until Fox could get organized for a foot march, but he didn’t want the mercs to have more time to prepare.  No, it was better to keep up the momentum.

“Gunner, can you slave the
Derne’s
sensor sweeps to the Alpha Command?” Ryck passed back to Chief Warrant Officer 4 Barnhouse, who was back at the CP at the school.

“Roger, that.  Give me a minute or two,” the gunner responded.

Without either command track, Ryck couldn’t slave off of them, so he needed the direct feeds from the
Derne
.  He had to know what was ahead of him.  For the moment, it was quiet, but as they advanced, something would break loose, and he wanted as much warning as possible.

He fumed as he strode forward, waiting for the feed.  The grubbing fuckers had used a very primitive tactic, and it had worked.  The thin-skinned Armadillos, while providing some degree of protection against energy weapons, had fallen to not much more than cavemen with spears.  They were nothing more than mobile coffins.

“Mother fucking shit!” he yelled out, off the net and off his externals.

Get it together, Ryck.  Don’t let your anger consume you
, he told himself, trying to will his heart rate down. 
Focus on the mission!

A new icon appeared on his display.  He blinked it on, and the array of orbital sensors appeared.  There was a slight degree of overload, but it was worth it to be able to detect energy weapons powering up or any merc leaving his shielding.

“Manny,” he called to Captain Quezon, his fire support coordinator.  “I want the Storks to move forward to ACOA
[8]
  3.  Guns free.”

Moments later, the lead Stork crossed over in Cennet air space and took up their new CAS
[9]
position right over the Marines.  If the pilots saw a target of opportunity, they would engage.

As they got closer to the Regis positions, Ryck kept waiting for the other shoe to fall.  They’d been hit twice now, one time pretty hard.  So why the silence?  What were they waiting for?

At a klick out, Ryck was about to tell Christophe to fire a few tank rounds into the known merc positions when his display blossomed with blooms of energy.  The mercs were ready to engage.

He started to order “Fire,” when the net was flooded with commands, most of which were not needed.  His Marines knew what to do.  The
Jolly Killer
, one of the Davises from Second Platoon was the first to open up, and immediately, one of the energy blooms disappeared.

Within moments, the fight was on.  Energy beams reached out for the Marines as the Marines fought back with kinetics.  Overhead, the Storks opened up with their buzz saw gatlings.  They stayed out of the artillery corridor as the 155s started firing.  Big sky, little bullet would lose its meaning if a friendly 155 round blew off a Stork’s tail assembly, so the big birds kept out of the way.