The War Across the Stars (12 page)

You’ll be going in using drop pods.  There are about ten landing zones for the teams.  Captain O’Connell’s Sigma Company will be striking targets Alpha through Delta.  You and his Second Squad, led by Sergeant Peterson, will hit targets Epsilon and Digamma.  Captain Morrow and Alpha Company will take targets Iota through Zeta.  You will be transferring the intel to this data chip,” Miller said, holding up a small chip.  “Fergensen, since I doubt  anyone else in this group even knows how to translate encrypted data, I’ll put you in charge of that.” 

“Yes sir!” Phil’s deep voice bellowed. 

“Dunkelman!” Miller said. 

“Yes, sir?” Ryan responded, “I know you’re good with Eupholium, blow the place as soon as you have the intel on the chip.” 

“Understood sir!” Ryan acknowledged.

“Once both objectives are secured and you’ve destroyed both labs you need to fall back to the L.Z. and several Corsair Heavy Assault Dropships will pick you up and transport you to our planetary foothold.  Major Kohl’s 2
nd
Battalion should have captured an area and established a base by then.  If he doesn’t… well we’ll have a problem.  However, I trust that he will.  You boys have to do great to show Colonel McVane, and more importantly, the Senate, that you can handle the challenge of being the Rangers.  To help prove that, we’ve decided to turn you into an all-purpose unit.  Within a revolution you will be using SR’s, AR’s, SMG’s, LMG’s, heavy weapons, and more,” Miller informed us. 

“Wow, curve ball…” Nevin sighed. 

“Yup,” Phil agreed. 

“You’ll get on the shuttle for your ride to
Euphola’s Sentinel
in half an hour.  There you will get acquainted with 2
nd
Squad.  So… good luck.  Dismissed,” Miller concluded.

The thirty minutes passed rapidly due to our anxiety of this raid to Vorga itself, the capital of the Vorgian Empire. Soon the base’s COM announced that it was time.  We grabbed our items; I had my SR-4, SMG-56, and H-81 with me.  We ran out to the shuttle and hopped on.  The Carrier-Class shuttle’s engines fired up and soon we were on our way to the assault cruiser.

Ten minutes after our departure from Euphola, I could see
Euphola’s Sentinel
in orbit.  It was large for a cruiser, yet shorter than a battleship.  I only saw two weapon batteries.  There was also tons of small Elonium-Jericonium alloy plated circles, likely covering the drop tubes.  There were hundreds of them lining the hull. 

It wasn’t long before we found ourselves in the massive hangar bay of
Euphola’s Sentinel
.  It had several Magnum Squadrons inside.  In addition, there were five Carrier-Class Shuttles not counting ours, and seven Cavalier Heavy Lift Shuttles.  Lining a far wall were nine Paladin Main Battle Tanks.  They weren’t very long, but they were fairly tall in design.  A fusion cannon was positioned above the driver’s cockpit.  Its controls were simple allowing one well-trained person to aim the dual 100-millimeter cannons and drive.  In the back was an armored compartment that could comfortably transport three people.

We walked for about a minute to get access to the door from our shuttle.  Then a Marine armed with an AR
-
27D escorted us to a briefing room.  There were several officers in the room.  From the name patches it looked like Captain O’Connell and Captain Morrow were both present.  The highest rank I could identify was a Major.   One was called Kohl, while the other was Powell.  Major Powell was a tall, thin man with dark hair.  I assumed he was in charge of the battalion that Alpha and Sigma Companies belonged to. 

We were then instructed to sit, so I sat down beside Ryan.  Major Powell soon started the meeting.  It ended up taking around twenty minutes, basically turning into a more detailed version of Miller’s explanation.  As we rose from our chairs I knew I was ready for this.

Our next stop was the techs in the armory.  They would introduce us to our powered armor.  We arrived in the armory minutes later. 

“Hey!” a cheery man in a white uniform said.  “You must be the Rangers.” 

“Yep,” Ryan replied. 

“Welcome, I’m Specialist Wheaton.    I’m in charge of prepping your armor.” 

“All right,” Ryan said. 

“You will each be paired with me or one of my team.  You will get some one-on-one time with one of us so you can get used to the armor and learn its systems.  So… let’s begin,” Spc. Wheaton said happily. 

As he said, we each were paired with one of his men.  I was paired with Wheaton himself.

The armor was an onyx black with a clear, though partially tinted, visor.  The face of the wearer was partially obscured, but you could still make out most of their features. 

“You see,” Wheaton said. ”You could look at a grenade explosion without any blinding effects.  That also works for other bright things, sunlight, normal lights, flood lights, you know.”  

“Yeah…” I said. 

The visor was essentially a large square that wrapped around the front of my face.  It stretched from just in front of one ear to just in front of the other.  This served to reduce visibility obstructions.  It spanned six centimeters above my eyes and four centimeters below. 

“Now the armor is rather heavy, but with the extra strength provided by the suit’s systems, you should be just fine,” Wheaton said confidently.  

The armor was mostly metal alloy, except at key joints where it was a softer flexible material.   These parts were also a deep black, likely to avoid becoming perfect targets.  It also had a pair of gauntlets.  Most of the gauntlet was made of the flexible material.  Only the back of the hand had the hard metal alloy plating.

I glanced over at Ryan’s suit.   It had a yellow stripe around each arm, just below the shoulder.  

“What does that stripe mean?” I asked Specialist Wheaton. 

“It shows that he is a squad leader,” he answered. 

“Oh…” I sighed. 

“Here are your controls for the Heads Up Display,” Wheaton said, pointing to a column of buttons beside the left side of my visor. 

“Each one is a simple activate/de-activate button.  On top engages additional visor tint, for situations that you know you'll be dealing with bright light.  Below that is whether or not you want the motion tracker displayed on the bottom left of your visor.  This final one is your primary tactical display.  It shows a rough idea of the terrain around you.  It also displays friend or foe locations.  Objectives are displayed as a white orb.  But that only covers twenty meters.  Other friendlies in battle armor will have their name and rank superimposed on your visor to appear to be above their heads.  That’s only when you look at them though.  All of that can be disabled with the bottom button I mentioned,” Spc. Wheaton explained.

“Wow,” I sighed, “That’s a lot.” 

“So... let’s get it put on you and we’ll take you to the shooting range to get used to it,” Wheaton offered. 

He took me down a deck to the shooting range, the others following right behind me.  It only took me about three hours to get used to the armor and its power.  It was indeed rather simple.  Max seemed to disagree though.  He was still struggling after five hours had elapsed in the range.  After about four hours of additional in-suit training we were escorted to our quarters where we would stay for the rest of the day.  The raid on Vorga would be within the next few days.  We had until then to practice.

Before long it was time… We stood in a room with drop pods lining the wall.  Our armor was on.  Sergeant Peterson held an LMG-97 firmly in his hands.  It held one hundred and fifty rounds per belt and had an excellent rate of fire.  The belt was held in a box that attached to the light machine gun.  Thanks to the recoil dampener built into the gun its recoil was minimal, but apparently, in powered armor it was almost nonexistent.

“You are clear to enter the drop pods,” Wheaton announced over the intercom. 

I walked forward stepping into my assigned pod.  Then I turned around and strapped the restraining belt around my waist. 

“Sealing pods…” Wheaton said. 

The opening in front me vanished as the metal plate sealed me in.  I glanced over at a glowing red button beside the plate.  It was the release button.  It was for popping the metal seal off the pod after impact. 

“Drop is in fifteen minutes,” Spc. Wheaton murmured. 

“Ten minutes,” he said later.

“Five … we’re jumping, be ready.”  Things started to get noisy as the two fleets clashed. 

“Five... Four… Three… Two… One… Now!” he bellowed as a sudden jerk launched us from the tubes.

We descended toward our target with increasing speed.  Things hummed slightly and I began to decelerate.  I must have hit the atmosphere.  Each pod had a heat shield to avoid burning up during atmosphere entry. Then, an explosion erupted nearby.  One of the pods must have been destroyed.  My pod was vibrating maniacally.  Suddenly, there was a thump and inertia put me down hard.  Thanks to the restraint I had I kept my balance.  I must have been on the surface.  I heard bullets ping off my pod. I looked around my pod and decided it was time. I swapped my SR-4 with my SMG-56.  Then I reached forward and slammed the red release button.  Bullets zoomed by as the seal ejected.

I leaped out and darted for a rock.  One of the Marines went down.  I looked frantically around.  I fired well-aimed bursts at several enemies, dropping them.  Then I continued for some cover.  I dove for the ground and slid behind cover.  Then fire came from my side of the rock.  The Vorgians had us surrounded.  I hastily dealt with the Vorgians that I could see.  More bullets pattered the ground around me.  I searched the area.  The closest Marine was Corporal Metternich.  I dashed in his direction when a Vorgian Sparker rocket erupted on top of him.  I noticed a machinegun position on a surrounding hillside.  I blasted the position with the rest of my clip.  Then I slapped forty more rounds into the SMG.

I saw a drop pod that was still closed, that meant either its contents were dead or it was Max.  As I approached within twenty meters the words PSC Maxwell Pippin appeared over the pod. 

“Great,” I mumbled turning and silencing another Vorgian. 

Finally I saw a hole in the Vorgian blockade.  I charged for it.  My tactical display showed a friendly behind me.  I turned my head back as I climbed the side of a five-meter cliff.  It was Nevin Poffinbarger. 

“Hurry Nevin!” I called. 

“I’m coming James, hold on.” 

My head reached the top of the cliff and I pulled myself up.  I crouched down to one knee and fired, several Vorgians dropped.  I was getting better… I could feel it.  My hit/miss ratio had improved dramatically since Enphuerzo.

Then, Nevin’s head popped over the cliff and he pulled himself up.  I scanned the area looking for our path to Epsilon. 

“I think it’s that way,” Nevin said pointing straight ahead. 

“Agreed,” I answered as we charged in that direction. 

As we ran, Ryan’s voice came on the power armor’s built-in COM link, “Rangers! Get to target Epsilon, I repeat, regroup at target Epsilon.”

Nevin and I continued to run for two minutes.  Then, our path narrowed because of two tall cliffs.  The canyon descended about fifteen meters from ground level and it had a gradual decline.  At the far end of the canyon were at least two machinegun positions.  They were rather far away. 

“Nevin…you see that?”

“Yup,” he said. 

I lay down to avoid detection. 

“Lets surprise ’em,” I ordered. 

“Kay,” he responded as he also lay down.  I pulled out my SR-4 and took aim at the target on the left. 

“You get the gunner on the right,” I whispered. 

He nodded and we both checked our targets.

“Now.”

Two shots rang out.  Both gunners fell over simultaneously.  I swept the area with my Oracle Long Range Scope.  The SR-4 worked well with many scopes.  I had a 20x Oracle Long Range Scope, two-tier 6x/12x scope, and a three-tier 2x/5x/10x scope on my person, but often preferred the Oracle to any other.

“Looks clear…” I mumbled. 

“I agree,” Nevin said.  We crawled forward several meters and then rose.  We hurried through the canyon, halfway through, machine gun fire opened up.  I jumped backwards and fell on my back.  I dropped my SR-4 and whipped out my H-81.  I saw the gunner hidden in a small cave. I popped off nine rounds as fast as I could and the gunfire ceased.

“Phew...” Nevin sighed as he stood up. 

“Hidden in that cave, we couldn’t have seen him from back there,” I said pointing a thumb at the canyon’s entrance. 

I picked up my SR-4, brushed it off, and then reloaded and holstered my H-81. 

“Let’s go,” I ordered. 

We resumed our trek towards target Epsilon.  Ryan’s voice once again came over the intercom, “Our ETA is in twelve minutes.  It’s me, Max, and most of Second Squad.  We lost four guys in the drop and the fight directly after landing, Phil… James… Nevin…” He paused, “ I hope to see ya there.” 

I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t.  Most COM units were bulky, but Ryan’s armor had a smaller prototype COM unit.  It was expensive and there were few in existence.  Hence they were only issued to the commander’s armor.