The Recruitment: Rise of the Free Fleet (31 page)

“Commander what do we do?” Henry asked, his voice calm, ready to do what needed to be done. I wish I had the surety that he had.

“Have sharpshooters take out vehicles. Then have secondary shooters hit those that come from the vehicles with stun rounds.”

A speaker crackled to life from the grounds vehicles—General Carsickle’s voice coming from it.

“Surrender and you will be tried in a court of law, if you don’t you will be killed by our forces.”

“Operate as seen fit, I will contact if situation changes.” I said cutting the command channel

“Turn back or you will be destroyed, even if you kill me and my people here on the ground those above us will not hesitate to bombard you into oblivion.” Turek said as he lowered himself, beckoning me to do the same as he raised his rifle sight to his eye.

“I doubt that Commander, if they wanted us dead they would’ve killed us off. The Syndicate enslaves the population of a planet to do their bidding, much as they have probably done to your planet and makes them do whatever they want to gain more wealth. In our case they’re probably after our harvests and our raw materials. Neither of which we are inclined to give to them without a fight.”

I knew that if the roles were reversed that I would be doing exactly what Carsickle was doing. Now I needed to keep my people alive, this planet alive, and inspire a revolt.
 
When did my life get so damned difficult!

“Minute up,” Turek said shaking his head as he crunched in on his rifle lining up his shot. “Fire.”

“Take out their drives; stun those that are out of the vehicles.” Leaders flashed their acknowledgement as their people were firing.

I had been sighting on a floating craft, hoping they worked like a grav cart I thought as I fired into were the grav drives should be. For a minute my heart was in my throat as I saw the menacing ordinance tip forward with the craft as if coming in for an attack run. Then the ship continued to buck in every direction as it became clear it couldn’t support its own weight as it tried to pull back in the direction it had come.

I switched targets, the extra training coming to the fore as I sighted another armoured vehicle driving towards us; with an exhale and a stroke of the trigger the vehicle looked as if it had met a wall as the kinetic forces of the round pulverized the forward section. I had no time to think of my actions as I changed targets. The machine gun teams kept anyone that jumped out of the vehicles down. Sharpshooters stopped the vehicles in their tracks trying to disable rather than kill. The others dropped the aggressive Chaleelians that seemed determined to rush forward with stun rounds.

“They’re retreating.” A gun team called out, other reports of the enemy running away coming in.

“Officer Turek I propose we have a small force advance on them attacking them and pushing them back and also capable of taking prisoners, it seems that our act of good will has been over looked.”

“James how are our forces going to advance, they’ll get picked off.”

“We have a tactic for that.” He studied me as if he could see through my polarized visor for a minute.

“Alright, go for it, no more than twenty five percent casualties.” After reading Min Hae’s reports on what the personal crew said of the troops, this kind of callous talk was the norm. It still made me think how badly the past troops had fared that such casualty percentages were common place on the front lines.

“Yes sir.” I said shaking the thought free, time for that later.

“Reserve Leader!”

“Yes sir?”

“We’re going to advance on them by leap frog. Should be fine as we can get cover from the gunners. Questions?”

“Are we using live or stun?”

“Stun.”

“Sir,” Then without missing a beat. “Everyone change to stun and hold those mags high for inspection. Section commanders check.” I heard the squad commander say as I changed channel again.

“Yasu we’re going out.”

“I’ll be there momentarily.” She said. I launched myslef backwards with my arms. I tucked into a roll, landing on the ground between the shuttle and the plant. Yasu dropping from the power plants roof. The reserve piled out of where they’d been waiting in the building, gathering around us.

The Mechas armour plating scratched and groaned with the accompanied noises of gears moving and the pneumatics and hydraulics of the exoskeleton.
 
They don’t just look deadly, they sound like it too.

And they did look deadly, the added armour made us look like giants, the bulky shoulders which were extended for the exo-skeleton so they were level with our head made us all look like ominous line backers.

I changed magazines for stun as I studied the scared and nervous faces of those hidden behind their visors.

“Let’s snag us some aliens!” I said in a hillbilly accent eliciting a few grins and nervous laughs as I saw them visibly relax.

“You know what to do people, spread out arrowhead formation.” It took them some time to get set up in a satisfactory way with me mentally reminding myself that most of these people hadn’t even used a real weapon until today, having only simmed with it for a few days.

I foresaw more training in the future if I was alive to see it, as I took my own place in the formation.

“Alright move in sections and then by teams. If it goes to shit I’ll tell you to do individual.” I said looked over everyone as I saw nods. I changed to the reserves leaders’ channel.

“It’s your show. I’m just here for the ride.”

“Uhh.. Yes, thank you sir.”

“Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be a leader unless I had faith in you.”

“Yes sir!” He said, more confident as he talked to the support leader co-coordinating a fire plan as we moved forward, every Mecha scanning for enemy.

Some—the brave, stupid, stunned or scared were still huddled around the vehicles. Dust flew up around us as we dove for the ground. Support replied in kind with their hammering fire.

“Move in sections!” The reserves leader barked as training took over. In sections people fired as the others launched themselves forward. With the Mechas power we didn’t have to stand to move forward. Just bunch our legs under us and hurl ourselves forward in one explosive push. We looked more like dogs as we lied down, firing as the other section moved, then once they were in position we lurched forward, no higher than a few feet. It had been Henry’s idea when we’d been discussing the power amplification of the Mechas. Though it was even more tiring than normal leap frogging.

We’d been going for five minutes as I saw people starting to get complacent.

Some were still popping their heads up like lemmings—in an attempt to find the enemy.

“Pick your targets people. Two section stay down! This is not a fucking drill!” The squad leader said as more than one had taken a knee to get more power, their legs getting fatigued.

I was feeling drained as I knew everyone else was. We were just fifty metres now from the disabled trucks.

I heard an engine roar as transport jumped from its hiding place behind a sand dune less than fifteen metres in front of me.

I dropped my rifle loaded with a magazine of stun rounds as I pulled the pistol and stroked two rounds into the engine block. The front of the truck flattened as if hit by an invisible wall, it’s inertia so much that the back end of the transport flipped into the air shuddering as it came back down. Instead of facing us it was now turned away at an angle.

“Team five and six take the transport. Everyone else clear your area and get some cover.” The Leader said as two teams picked themselves up covering the distance in seconds.

“One team cover, the other search.” I said suggestively on private channels to them as they stood at the back of the truck.

“Squad Leader, we have troops here.”

“Stun them!” I said as they quickly raised their rifles I could hear the automatic chatter of rail gun rounds as I holstered my pistol and grabbed my rifle.

“Sorry Squad Leader.”

“None taken Sir, would’ve been my call anyway. Could you look after that transport, I’ll give you one section and provide cover and security.”

“Good thinking.”

We changed channels dealing with our separate squads.

“Move to the mid-section of the transport, third team clears the crew cabin.” I said to the remainder of my squad not at the rear of the transport.

“Yes Salchar!” They rushed to the cabin. “How are the ones in the rear?”

“Stunned. We’re removing weapons of any kind and binding them.”

“Good, make sure that they don’t die.”

“Salchar this is team in the crew cabin. The two up front are alive, but badly wounded.”

“Shit, are they able to move.”

“No Sir, I would say that without medical assistance they’ll die.”

“Fucking brilliant.” I muttered to myself.

“What was that sir?”

“Nothing.” I looked at the transport, thinking. “I have an idea. Two section get behind the transport. Squad leader can you have your people create a line off of the transport.”

“Sir.” He moved to do so, barking orders as he got people in position quickly. I changed to the commander I put in charge of the people at the power plant.

“We’re going to use this transport as cover pushing it ahead of us and piling the unconscious and wounded in.”

“Understood Commander, we’ll give you the best possible covering fire.”I cut the channel as I fired off orders to collect all wounded and stunned.

They did so as stunned natives were unceremoniously dumped into the back end of the transport. I wrote a message in the sand people glancing at it as they came by.
 
Keep as many pistols as possible.
 
I didn’t know how linked in the Sarenmenti Officers were and I didn’t need them to know about our extra weaponry…

I took up position on another disabled vehicle as more enemy troops were piled in the transport. Yasu stayed with me I watched Yasu shoot with growing jealousy.
 
Shit she could shoot now too! At least I’m taller still
 
I consoled myself as the last solider was placed in the back of the transport.

“Alright brace the truck, seventh and eighth team you’re on the sides, fire and give back sensor data.” I slung my rifle as I put by hands against the armoured transports side. Hands slammed into it on either side of me.

“Three two one, PUSH!” I said as the multi-ton truck shifted the armour bending from our applied force.

“Left, right left.” I said rhythmically as we pushed the truck forward I saw the sensor read back from the teams on either side as they fired away at the force which was staying back with their vehicles outside of the determined perimetre.

“General cease fire we’re going to return your injured people to you, we don’t have the facilities to heal them.”

“Why should we believe you? We saw you shooting them before you put them into the truck, it’s filled with nothing but dead.”

“Have we lied thus far?”

“You knowing that word means that you have the ability to speak falsely.” He did have me there.

“These men’s deaths will be on your conscious.”

“No they will be in yours, you attacked us.” I thought of some colourful words.