The War for Profit Series Omnibus (25 page)

Galen discreetly reached over to stop the recording of the office and folded the small screen back into the arm rest. Major Ross didn’t seem to notice, or didn’t care. Galen couldn’t tell. He made his way over to Tad’s side and then sat at a conference table chair and stared at the main screen. The Mosh fleet approached. Without changing course, it shot the projectiles out of its path. The debris had a nominal effect on the hulls of the light cruisers. Tad fired the laser batteries, which lost most of their energy from passing through thousands of kilometers of atmosphere. The angle of attack was still too low to be effective.

“Cease fire and put up the shield,” said the Major. “Guns, stand down your lasers and divert their power to fill the reserve banks, then use it to hold up the shield after we take the first plasma hit. Now give them a few minutes. As soon as they hit us with plasma, shoot back with projectiles. Battery three.”

The Mosh took longer than expected, probably wanting to fire through less planetary atmosphere by holding their first volley until they could attack from an acute angle. Or, thought Galen, they just wanted to put on a good show, did not want to destroy their pre-arranged booty. The first blast of plasma fire came from six cannons, two from each light cruiser. The lights in the TOC flickered and Galen felt tazed for a moment as ions washed over and through his body.

“Shield down to forty two percent,” said the fleet commander, impressed with the effect of the enemy weapons. Tad shunted power into the shield and it went back up to ninety three percent. The sky battery technician returned to the bunker and relieved Tad at the terminal. The technician made a few keystrokes and flipped a switch and the shield went right up to one hundred percent. Then he switched the main screen view to zoom in on the light cruiser on the right, entered a command and the 240mm guns rumbled.

A full minute later the light cruiser fired point defense lasers to stop the incoming rounds and was able to hit the first twelve before the small defensive lasers lost power. The remaining six artillery shells slammed into the light cruiser simultaneously, one shearing off the bridge, two more destroying the front particle cannon turret and the other three making large dents along the hull. The thin vapor of venting atmosphere showed the hull breaches that slowly expanded as the force of escaping gas pulled them apart. Finally, two dozen escape pods popped out and headed toward the main battle cruiser.

“Good show,” said Major Ross.

“That shouldn’t have worked,” said the technician. All business, matter-of-fact.

The fleet commander jumped in to explain, “I think they were using most of their power to recharge their particle cannons and maintain shield. That left only reserve battery backup for the defensive lasers, which ran out of juice before the threat was neutralized. They won’t make that mistake again. But it means they will fire less often because...”

The Major interrupted, “We get it. Nice shooting anyway, Guns Tech. Good job.”

The two remaining light cruisers came to a halt. The main battle cruiser stopped long enough to retrieve the escape pods and then took up a position in between the light cruisers. It fired its four plasma cannons in a ripple, five seconds between shots. The shield took the hits, dropping to sixty six percent before coming back up to full power. The sky battery technician said, “With your permission, sir--”

“Jus do it,” said the Major.

The technician pressed a single key. The rail guns fired a sustained burst, followed by the 240mm guns, with another sustained rail gun burst. “That ought to annoy them.”

The light cruiser to the left was showered with sparks caused by the impact of thousands of rail gun projectiles. Confused, the ship’s fire control wasn’t able to stop all the incoming artillery shells. This time, the shells were armor piercing. Three made it through to punch holes right in the front of the ship. The follow-on burst of rail gun rounds sparkled as they hit solid hull; others went right into the holes made by the armor piercing shells. Atmosphere vented for a moment, then stopped. The light cruiser turned broadside to prevent further attack on the damaged area.

The fleet commander said, “Looks like that skipper has his craft back under control.”

He was proven right when the damaged cruiser fired both its plasma cannons. One shot hit the base shield; the other went wide and hit the ocean near by. Major Ross switched the view of the main screen to a playback from a surveillance camera of the plasma shot that missed. The particle beam glared bright white as it came from the sky at a low angle and gouged into the water for a brief moment, as though both were a solid mass. Then the bolt of plasma disappeared, followed instantly by a huge bubble of boiling sea water that burst from the surface as a blast of steam, followed by a column of water that fell back in an enormous splash. Water vapor hung thick over the area in an opaque fog, obscuring the camera’s view.

“That’s what it looks like with no shield, gentlemen.” Major Ross switched the main screen back to the tactical display.

The Mosh drop boats detached from their transport ships and entered the atmosphere. They quickly dropped to the surface to get below the horizon and flew along at ten meters above the sea as they approached. The light cruisers and the battle cruiser continued to fire their particle cannons singly at the base defense shield, at a slow, randomly timed rate, to force the defenders to keep the shield up. The Mosh fleet learned from its earlier mistakes and used its defensive lasers so effectively against further projectile fire, the Major ordered the guns to stop firing.

Colonel Theil came out of the office and stood in front of Major Ross, who immediately stood and moved to the left of the command chair. “Where are my interceptors?”

Sevin spoke up, “Sir, they are moving to attack the boats and will do so as soon as they are also in range of our rail guns, so that the attacks are coordinated, augmented immediately with 240mm gun fire. My estimate is--”

“I want them back here right now. Order them to come back and land and put them in their bunkers.” The Colonel sat in the command chair and stared at the main screen, which showed the approaching drop boats. “Give me a view of the Mosh fleet.”

Galen moved to the office, opened the door just a crack and peeked inside. The Mosh prisoner was back to being chained up in his chair, slumped over. Galen caught a whiff of strong whiskey and saw a bottle on the desk, about two thirds full with the lid screwed back on. He closed the office door and made his way over to Tad, who sat with his elbows on the table, balled fists supporting his chin. Galen tapped Tad on the shoulder and leaned in to his ear and said, “Let’s get some fresh air.”

Tad stood and followed Galen outside and around the command tank and into their shared tin shack. Galen sat at the desk and turned on the flat screen and logged on with his personal account and brought up the recording he had made of the Colonel conspiring with the Mosh Chief. He stood, pointed and said, “Check this out, I recorded it about thirty minutes ago.”

Tad watched and slowly stepped closer to the video and placed his palms flat on the desk and leaned forward and watched. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s tell Sevin.”

A knock came at the door. It was Major Ross. “What are you two clowns up to? Don’t you know there’s a war on?”

Galen knew that the longer he waited the worse things would get. He decided to take a chance. He re-started the video and stood behind the Major, prepared to subdue him if necessary. “Watch this.”

The Major watched, jaw dropping, shoulders slumping. Finally he turned to Galen and said, “You know the terms of your contract, the difference between commissioned officers and enlisted?”

“I know my first duty is to the unit’s mission and taking care of its troops.”

“Well it’s different for commissioned officers. Our highest loyalty is to the Colonel. But this violates that loyalty. I have no choice but to buy back my contract and resign from the unit.” Ross sat at the table, logged on and did just that. He stood, removed his pistol belt and handed it to Galen. “Good luck.”

“Now what?” Tad said.

“Well if I were you, I’d get control of this battle. The Colonel’s plan right now is to let the Mosh land unopposed, on the pretext the Mosh fleet will stop firing to avoid hitting their own warriors, so that we can drop the shield and knock their ships out with laser cannons. I thought it was a stupid plan, but it makes sense if you plan to surrender.”

“Right.” Galen sat at the desk and drafted his assumption of command orders. Right after the other three officers resigned and the Colonel was taken into custody he would invoke them. “Let’s get back in the TOC and show this video.”

Tad said, “What do you want me to do?”

“Move in quickly and shoot the Mosh prisoner and then as soon as the video starts you shoot the Colonel with your tranq gun. Go inside the TOC, I’ll come in a few seconds later.”

Tad left. Galen took a deep breath and locked eyes with Ross for a moment, spun on his heel and marched off to the TOC. His pulse pounded, his breathing was deep and fast, huffing a bit. He hardly felt in control of himself as he entered the conference room and pushed the Guns technician aside so he could use the terminal to put the incriminating video on the main screen. Quite by accident, the volume was louder than necessary.

Tad stepped out of the office and shot the Colonel in the base of the back of his neck with the tranq pistol. Colonel Norbert Theil, former commander of the Jasmine Panzer Brigade, slumped forward in the command chair. The leaders in the conference room watched the video, first with disbelief and then awkward comprehension. Galen still had a high level of adrenalin coursing through his body and fought it for enough self-control to take charge of the situation. He stood in front of the main screen and said, “I understand that you officers have to resign and buy back your contracts. The rest of you, we have a battle to fight.”

Galen went to the command chair, grabbed Theil by the collar of his jacket and pulled him to land face down in a heap on the floor. He sat in the command chair and said, “If you former officers would, do me the favor of getting the Mosh Chief and Mr. Theil out of here and take them to the brig.”

The former infantry commander said, “You got it, Smaj.”

Galen invoked his assumption of command orders and gave Sevin a nod, knowing Sevin would send his interceptors back up to attack the boats. The Guns technician was already typing furiously at his keyboard and the public affairs Chief began drafting an official statement for Galen to read to the troops to explain the events leading to the change in leadership. The former infantry officer dragged the unconscious Mosh Chief by the length of chain shackling his feet and the resigned public affairs officer carried Mr. Theil slung across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Galen felt better with them out of the TOC.

The fleet commander said, “What do you want from me, boss?”

It took Galen a moment to realize that the fleet officer was not part of the brigade, but was still contracted to support it. He wouldn’t resign and was still obligated to this mission’s contract. “Take the command jump ship, get back up to your battle cruiser and coordinate the space battle from there. And see what you can do about that Mosh jump point, I really don’t need any more of them showing up.”

The fleet officer nodded with a smile and left the TOC.

Galen lost his color vision, felt weak, and fainted.

***

Galen woke up feeling refreshed and warm all over. He sat up slowly and realized he was stretched out on the couch in the office. Then he remembered and wondered how long he’d been out. He got up and went out to the conference room and saw Tad sitting in the command chair. Galen sat in the chair to his right.

“How long was I out?”

Tad switched the main screen from a view of the Mosh fleet to a view of the north beach. For as far as the view showed, Mosh drop boats were sloppily lined up, belly down on the sand, some of their cargo ramps with their ends in the water but most on dry sand.

“About an hour.”

“Tell me what I missed.”

“The interceptors went after the boats and targeted the heaviest ones first. The sensors can estimate mass and Sevin figured the heaviest ones would have infantry support vehicles and larger weapons, so he took out about half of those in one pass. Things got hot for the Interceptors but not before they had mass estimates on all the boats. Then the sky batteries used that information to knock out the rest of the heavily-loaded drop boats. As they got closer, fire control ignored the boats that were obviously empty. Still, those bastards managed to land over nine hundred troops.”

Galen looked at the screen and saw evidence of combat in the distance.

Tad swiveled the camera to face the buildings. Mosh warriors lay on their stomachs in the sand, occasionally firing a weapon at a building. “They’re working their way in slowly. In the first ten minutes they attacked aggressively but our troops stuck it to them pretty well.”

Tad swiveled the camera some more and zoomed in. Where a street met the beach, the sand was littered with at least a hundred Mosh bodies. “That’s a typical example of Mosh tactics. A ground-mobile rail gun tore them up. They might have five hundred warriors left and they can’t get past simple choke points because they don’t know how. Eventually they’ll figure it out, which will put them in the kill zones of our second defensive phase line.”

Galen felt dizzy and leaned forward, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Are they accomplishing anything?”

“By accident I’m sure, because we were using a mobile defense withdrawal, they managed to get control of the Mandarin construction company’s administrative building. Now they might just be able to force us to take offensive action.” Tad switched the view to another camera. It showed two dozen Mandarin men, office workers, standing in a line. The Mosh troops held weapons on them. Their leader paced up and down and occasionally poked one with something that shocked the prisoners, like a cattle prod would. Galen looked up and watched as the Mandarin men were ordered to strip naked. One refused and was put to the ground by the cattle prod. Two warriors drug him out of the line and centered him so all could see. The leader shocked him again and used his foot to roll the prisoner onto his stomach.

A Mosh soldier walked down the line of naked men and handed each two pieces of cloth. Then the leader gave a command and the men put the items on. Black Spandex skirts and tube tops. Another warrior handed out wigs of straight black hair for the men to put on, the hair long enough to reach the small of their backs. The Mandarin on the ground was shocked again. The prisoners stood on their toes. A fat one was pulled out of line and ordered to change back into his regular clothes. Then a warrior moved down the line handing out pairs of high-heeled shoes.

Galen stared. “That’s sick.”

Another warrior moved down the line with a bandolier of auto-injectors, sticking one into the shoulder of each prisoner for ten seconds before withdrawing it, each in turn, all down the line.

“What the hell are they doing?”

The public affairs Chief said, “I think he’s my counterpart, their civil affairs guy. I’d guess they’re lining up some entertainment for later. Those guys are being shot up with synthetic female hormones.”

The sky battery technician said, “It is good, to serve the Mosh.”

“Not funny,” said the public affairs Chief. “This is the first step. After three months their genitals and their brains will be surgically altered. They will be mindless bar girl sex slaves.”

Galen stood. “Re-take that building, liberate those prisoners and kill every one of those Mosh!”

Tad said, “Take it easy, you’re still weak. We have a plan.”

“Last I checked I’m in command here.” Galen felt dizzy again and sat down.

“As your second in command I declare you unfit for duty. Really, I got this. All you need is a couple hours rest. You’ve done more than enough already.”

“What do you mean? I’ve done nothing but pass out.”

“You fainted like an old lady, but that’s not the point. Stop being so modest. It took more guts than I’ll ever have to pull off a coup like that. And if you hadn’t, we would be the ones getting converted into mindless drinky girls right now.”

Galen leaned back in his chair. “Okay, you can command things for a while but I get to watch.”

The view shifted back to the Mosh fleet. Only the battle cruiser and the troop transport ships remained. Galen realized the plasma cannon strikes had stopped. He looked closely at the battle cruiser. Its forward turret was blackened and distorted, aimed slightly to the right.

“What happened to their fleet?”

Tad smiled. “The fleet commander coordinated an attack. He brought his battle cruiser and the command ship in with the interceptors. To support them, we dropped our shield and hit them with the lasers. That was done at the same time as the Mosh troop landing. Their commander was caught off guard with too much to think about all at once. If you give your enemy too many options at the same time they will always pick the worst one.”

“Well how about this? How about you go ahead and finish off their battle cruiser, kill those Mosh before they get off the beaches, and use their drop boats to carry boarding parties up to capture their troop ships so they don’t have anything left to block our jump point.”

Tad’s face lit up. “That’s what I like about you, you’re decisive. Okay. The hard part is getting enough firepower onto the beach to kill them. The ground mobile rail guns are too slow and don’t have enough armor.”

“Do we still have that tank?”

Tad smacked himself in the forehead with the palm of his left hand. “I forgot all about that. Okay, here’s the deal. I get things started with your battle plan. You go lay down and when it comes time to send the tank to beach I’ll get you up and you can command it.”

Galen looked at Tad. “You’d really do that, instead of leaving me asleep and taking the tank out yourself?”

“Normally I would but you’re my commander now. I can’t pull pranks on you any more because it would violate my contract.”

Galen stood and went through the office to the Major’s bed—his bed now—and let himself fall asleep. It seemed like only moments had passed when Tad shook his shoulder.

“Your chariot awaits.”

“Quit kissing my ass, that’s an order.” Galen sat up and rubbed his eyes. In a moment of clarity he realized something, expressing itself in the back of mind. Mission first, people always. “Where’s Sevin?”

Tad tilted his head to the left. “Why?”

“He’s the best tank commander we have. This mission is too important to use it as an excuse to satisfy my ego. Where is he?”

“He’s sitting in the command drop ship, supporting his four Interceptors, guarding our jump point so our battle cruiser can block the Mosh jump point. Now get dressed, get out there, and command your tank.”