The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (22 page)

“
I intend to launch all of my space fighters to support the station. I
’
ve spoken to the Chinese and they
’
re in as well.
”

It won
’
t work. Eulenburg thought. Hampton Roads was the wrong weapon in the wrong place. The Americans could do the maths just as well as he could, but then the fort couldn
’
t run, couldn
’
t hide and the Nameless couldn
’
t afford to simply leave it. But with a little luck, the fort might delay them for a few hours.

“
We
’
ll launch in support.
”
Eulenburg looked at the Major and wondered whether would be an insult to wish
‘
good luck
’
to a man who was about to die.
“
Both you and your crew have my gratitude Major.
”

Eulenburg returned to Four C
’
s main chamber,
“
Prepare the fighters, recall all off-base planes and personnel and send an FTL transmission to Earth:
‘
Planet being approached by enemy task group. Enemy intentions unknown. Will engage any starship that enters range
’
.
”

“
Yes sir,
”
Gillum replied, and then hesitated.
“
Admiral what about Mister Wyman and the rest of his people?
”

“
Have we anyone close?
”

Gillum tapped the query into his computer.

“
There is a party with two planes out close to the New London settlement. It
’
s the group recovering those old fighters. One of them would be enough to carry all the people at New Lexington, but it is about seventy minutes flight time from their current position, almost directly away from us. That would put them over three hours flight time from us. If they don
’
t get fuel at Lexington, sir we
’
re going to have to put up a tanker.
”

Contact the Americans at Endeavour and find out if they have anyone closer. If so let them pick up their own people,
”
Eulenburg grunted,
“
The last thing we need is that man back here.
”

“
If they don
’
t sir?
”

“
Then we have to. Inform the pilot he is to have left Lexington no later than 1pm. However he has my authority to leave early or abort if he judges it necessary.
”

“
Yes sir. Is there anything else?
”

“
Not yet anyway,
”
Eulenburg replied heavily as he looked up at the main holo, with its single blip showing the orbital fort preparing its first and last stand.

___________________________

The drone of the Cleveland transport plane
’
s four engines was quite soothing, and Alice usually tended to go to sleep almost as soon they took off. Not this time however. They
’
d just watched the last of the Typhoons take off for Douglas and finished loading the spare parts for them onto the transports, when the news of the Nameless
’
s arrival reached them. They lost nearly an hour emptying parts out of their plane and putting them onto the other. Finally while the other plane - dangerously overloaded - took off for Douglas, they headed for Lexington.

“
Damn those bloody idiots.
”
Rob said for the umpteenth time.

“
Yes, I know.
”
Alice replied, also for the umpteenth time.

“
I mean seriously. Why did they think we took them to Douglas in the first place? For fun and giggles?
”

“
Yes, I know.
”

“
We
’
re still going to be airborne when the Nameless arrive you know.
”

“
Yes,
I know
.
”

Rob gave her a sour look.

“
Are you listening to me or are you just saying
‘
yes, I know
’
?
”
he demanded.

“
Well what do you want me to say?
”
she responded in an equally sour voice.
“
That you
’
re wrong, that they aren
’
t idiots?
”

“
Well this sucks. It sucks!
”

“
Try seeing it from my point of view. I
’
m not a soldier…
”

“
Marine.
”

“
Whatever! The only military training I got was
‘
stay out of the way
’
.
”

“
Yeah. Pity we couldn
’
t fit you onto the other plane.
”

“
Yes I know.
”
Alice replied with a sigh.
“
What do you think the Nameless are planning?
”

“
Don
’
t know. Didn
’
t get much detail.
”

“
Taskforce of ships, not that big,
”
said Lieutenant Avedon, suddenly standing over them.
“
That
’
s not our problem though,
”
he added before shouting down the length of the plane at the rest of the squad.
“
Listen up! We
’
re twenty minutes out from Lexington. We haven
’
t managed to raise anyone on the radio. First order of business once we hit the ground is to find any fuel available and get it into this tin can. There probably isn
’
t going to be enough to get back to Douglas but every drop we do get allows us to crack on a little extra speed on the way back. I don
’
t know what the situation in Lexington is, so we
’
re going out with full kit on. You,
”
he nodded at Alice,
“
stay close to the aircraft and stay out of the way. Any questions?
”

There were a collection of replies or grunts indicating a negative and the Lieutenant headed back to the cockpit.

“
Stay out of the way,
”
Alice muttered,
“
story of my life.
”

The Cleveland circled Lexington
’
s small airport twice trying to raise the tower before landing. Marines spilled out the rear ramp, weapons in hand, almost before the plane stopped moving. At a shouted command from Avedon, half the squad peeled off and headed for the small terminal building while the rest formed a skirmish line around the plane.

There was a shout from the terminal as a young man with a mop in his hand came into view. Alice wandered close enough to listen as the startled man was hustled over to the Lieutenant.

“
Who are you?
”
Avedon demanded without any preamble.

“
Erm
…
erm
…
Alan Jagg, err, sir.
”

“
Where the hell is everyone? We
’
ve been trying to raise the tower for the last half hour.
”

“
Erm
…
there
’
s just
…
there
’
s just me. Mister Swets, the controller, he stayed at the shelter. I was
…
I was doing the cleaning, y
’
know.
”
Jagg stuttered as the Lieutenant glared at him.

“
You mean to tell me that
no one
has been monitoring the radio.
”
Avedon pulled off his helmet and ran his hand through his hair.
“
Holy mother of God!
”

“
Well y
’
know the cleaning…
”
Jagg started to whine.

“
Shut up! Where the hell is everyone?
”

“
They
’
re back in the town and the farms…
”

“
Right, Sergeant Sharm. Take numbnuts here into the terminal, find a phone and start calling.
”
Avedon spun round, taking Alice by surprise.
“
Peats, ask the pilot how long we have. Corporal, that looks like a fuel truck over there. Go see what
’
s in it.
”

Alice and the rest of the squad scattered in response to the Lieutenant
’
s stream of orders. The two pilots looked up with surprise when Alice burst into the cockpit. She stopped abruptly when she saw one of them start to reach for his sidearm.

“
Sorry
‘
bout that,
”
he said.
“
What
’
s up?
”

“
The Lieutenant wants to know how long we have.
”

“
Maximum forty minutes and we
’
re out of here.
”
the pilot replied.

“
What happens if they aren
’
t here by then?
”

“
Then they
’
re walking,
‘
cos in forty minutes we
’
re out of here. With or without
‘
em.
”

___________________________

“
Contact separation,
”
the call echoed across Four C as a fresh set of blips appeared on the holo and accelerated away from the enemy task group. Major Paterson was working his command as cleverly as possible. He
’
d altered Hampton Roads
’
orbit to keep the station behind the planet relative to the Nameless, forcing the Nameless to either split their force or carry on into orbit and accept action at short range.

Against a smaller force it might have worked. But the Nameless task group could split in half and still have overwhelming advantage.

The salvo of missiles came curving down on Hampton Roads. As it passed through successive layers of fighters they whittled it down to nothing. The Nameless methodically threw out more. As the range dropped, the Nameless began to fire their smaller missiles as well as the big cap ship missiles, trebling the number of incoming projectiles. Fighters started to drop away as their ordnance was exhausted and missiles began to get through. Hampton Roads
’
point defence blazed frantically, swatting small missiles while the fort
’
s big lasers burned down the larger ones.

Eulenburg watched impassively as the fort desperately defended itself. The first missiles to impact were small. Many burst ineffectively against the armour, but others damaged systems. Sections of Hampton Roads
’
point defence grid went down, letting more through.

The first direct hit by a cap ship missile was devastating. It tore open the fort
’
s port side. It must have killed much of the garrison but still they fought. The last of the fighters fell away, leaving the fort alone, but still they fought. One after another the laser batteries were silenced, leaving only one or two point defence guns to desperately flail away. Finally a missile found her heart and in a flash of nuclear fury Hampton Roads was gone. The Nameless continued into Landfall
’
s orbit. In Four C Eulenburg could only watch as grim inevitability bore down on them

___________________________

Brigadier Chevalier ran his hands through his close-cropped hair as he looked out across the base at the great snaking lines of humanity. The tent city had originally been put up around the main entrance to the shelter. The autumn rains had flooded out that site, forcing a repositioning to the closest piece of high ground. But that had brought problems of its own.