The War for Profit Series Omnibus (92 page)

Galen stood on top of his Lion tank and studied the eastern skyline as it brightened a few minutes before sunrise. The clouds were gone and it seemed a bit chilly for mid summer. The thick, humid air clawed at his skin where it was exposed. He looked around at the encampment of his task force. Most was lost in the morning haze, separate camps set up in different areas to make the best use of the terrain for concealment. The entire task force was larger than what most professionals would call a division. Big, certainly, but the Mandarin military had mobilized more than a hundred and fifty four divisions and the Mosh were estimated to have more than three hundred division-size units. It would be a long fight.

The small city of Cherry Fork was to his north, on his left as he looked around. Crew shelters and vehicles spread out, a hundred meters between them. Hard to discern under their camouflage netting, the units didn’t show on sensors. Shielded from detection and powered down to standby mode, they were quiet. And the Capellan Marine infantry, detecting them would mean getting close enough to touch them.

The temporary air field was just a long patch of grass, the Marine assault boats parked at its end, camouflaged and powered down. Galen climbed down off his tank and went to the chuck wagon for a plate of bacon and a cup of hot chocolate. He carried his food into the extension of the Brigade ops track and sat next to Tad. “Morning.”

“It is.” Tad drank the last of his cocoa and got up and tossed his chow residue in the bag tied to the frame support by the vestibule. He sat back down and said, “It’s looking like the Mosh might land today.”

Galen said, “Really? After two weeks of nothing, I thought maybe they planned to bore us to death.”

Tad laughed. “I wish. Time is on our side. We have a whole planet to sustain us indefinitely. The Mandarin stealth boats have the Mosh cut off from their jump point. They need to get this show on the road or they’ll be the ones getting bored to death. Literally.”

Galen pointed at the battle screen. “What’s that?”

“The Mosh fleet, coming around the gas giant. Zoomed in on them, the big gray planet is off-screen. But it’s real-time.”

“And there?”

Tad said, “That string of fuzzy crap is a flight of bombers. It think it’s all of them, coming in to pound the defenses to the east of the Skeleton Desert.”

“A big ball-shaped ship came forward of their fleet.”

Tad said, “Yep. Their battleship.”

Galen stared. “That’s huge.”

“Not for long.” Tad zoomed out. The big, gray gas giant planet filled the upper right corner of the screen. “The Mandarin space force is moving to coordinate its attack with their ground-based space guns.”

Major Koa came in through the vestibule and said, “You all watching the fight?”

Galen said, “Damn right. Pull up a chair.”

Koa sat next to Tad and watched the screen. Tad’s comms Chief took his place at the display controller table and searched for feeds from various sensors. Satellites, probes, war ships and fighters. Whatever he could hack.

The screen showed a Mandarin fleet, a large group of about two hundred space fighters in formation with nine destroyers and a line of sleek, aerodynamic craft behind them. Galen pointed and said, “Interceptors?”

“Yup,” said Tad.

“Not any of ours, I hope.”

“No,” said Koa. “Mandarin has some. About fifty. I think that’s half of them.”

Galen shrugged. “They should save them for later, to support the ground war.”

The Mandarin spacecraft stopped, changed formation. A portion of the Mosh fleet moved ahead of the rest, the spherical battleship and two dozen egg-shaped light cruisers, with a dozen boxy-looking space fighters as escorts. The bombers that were making their way toward the planet had an escort of fighters that outnumbered the bombers two to one.

Laser and particle cannons on the surface of Mandarin fired at the Mosh fleet, the beams hitting the shield of the battleship. The bubble of shielding that protected the ship from energy weapons shimmered and exposed its egg-like shape. Tad said, “That’s some serious shielding to take hits like that.”

Koa said, “The Mandarin guns are firing through the atmosphere at an acute angle. They have to burn through a lot of air before they get to their target, which cuts their effectiveness by at least eighty percent. Let that battleship get straight overhead and the gun fire jumps to ninety five percent effectiveness.”

Galen said, “Why are they going after the battleship?”

Tad shrugged. “Morale?”

The Mandarin fighters darted ahead and fired on the battleship, ignoring the other craft. A full third of the fighters were picked off by defensive fires from the Mosh, with the one dozen Mosh fighters in pursuit as they ran out and turned back toward the battleship for a second run. The ground fire sent another volley at the battleship and the Mandarin destroyers fired as well, the shield of the battleship shrinking; finally its shields collapsed. Laser and particle gun beams tore at its hull. Ground lasers cut into it with sustained beams while blasts of laser bolts from the destroyers punched holes. Particle cannon shots made bright green splashes on the hull of the battleship.

The return fires of the battleship tore through one Mandarin destroyer after the other, each in turn, slowly and methodically. The Mosh light cruisers and fighters were picking off the Mandarin fighters. Less than half remained. The last of the Mandarin destroyers burst apart.

Then the Mandarin interceptors made a run on the battleship, targeting its flank. The battleship rolled to expose fresh hull to the attacking interceptors, but the Interceptors kept up with the rotation and poured twenty millimeter rail gun fire into the hull breaches. The last interceptor launched a bomb into a hull breach and peeled off at top speed. The other six surviving interceptors followed. The Mosh battle ship shuddered and its rear third split apart from its forward section. The rear part bulged and then burst. The forward section began to tumble slowly, end over end.

The surviving Mandarin space fighters and interceptors fled to link up with the main body of the Mandarin fleet, safely waiting on the other side of the planet Mandarin. Eight Mandarin stealth boats suddenly appeared, their images shimmering into solidity behind each of the Mosh light cruisers. The stealth boats fired, the Mosh light cruisers vented atmosphere and their escape pods popped out. The stealth boats shimmered out of view. The forward Mosh group was now just four fighters and one light cruiser. They moved back to join their main fleet.

Galen said, “Well, they got what they wanted. They took out that battleship.”

Koa said, “Brilliantly suicidal.”

Galen smiled and said, “I think I get it! The battleship could detect their stealth boats, so they had to get rid of it first.”

Tad nodded, pointed at the screen. “The Mosh bombers are moving down.”

The space-fighter escorts turned away. The Mosh bombers spread out in eight V formations of twelve bombers each. They turned nose down and dove into the atmosphere right above the skeleton desert. They leveled off at fifteen hundred meters altitude and slowed to below the speed of sound. The V formations lined up side to side and then the Vs straightened. The bombers approached the mountains in a long, ragged line and gradually came closer to the ground. They flew independently now, each with its own specific target. Ground fire from the mountains met them, disabled a couple. But the bombers struck their targets, the hardened positions of the Mandarin defenders.

Jasmine Panzer Brigade interceptors met the bombers head-on, each of the twenty four interceptors destroying a bomber. The bombers pointed their noses straight up and accelerated, left the atmosphere. The Interceptors returned to their base.

Thirty Mosh heavy cruisers moved into position and bombarded the mountain range. They dropped their shields to fire their particle cannons, ignored the return fire from the Mandarin space guns of Cherry Fork. The ground-based laser and particle cannons managed to damage most of the heavy cruisers, destroyed two of them. One drifted gradually, the other fell into the atmosphere and became a ball of flame that broke apart into thousands of smaller bits of flaming debris. The Mosh heavy cruisers withdrew while Mosh landing boats dropped in to fly across the Southwestern Sea, came in low and fast to land on the Skeleton Desert.

Galen said, “That answers that question.”

Tad said, “What question?”

Galen said, “Where they’ll land. They landed toward the southern end of the desert. High Command thought they’d land in the north end.”

Tad said, “The defenses aren’t as strong in the south and it’ll take longer for the Mandarin armor to counterattack.”

The defenders in the mountains still made a fight of it. They managed to destroy some landing boats before they got on the ground, spewed grazing fire across the desert at extreme range. The Mosh were able to disgorge from their landing boats and organize under direct fire, their greater numbers overwhelming. Soon they had armored vehicles in position to return fire. Over the next hour, fires from Mandarin defenders were met by Mosh tank fire. The Mosh maneuvered up to the mountains and destroyed the defensive positions, cleared out any resistance that could fire on the desert.

Galen said, “They lost fifteen percent at least.”

Mandarin artillery fired over the mountains. Many of the shells were swept from the sky by Mosh anti-aircraft guns but some rounds got through, killed some more Mosh. But it was just a nuisance at that point of the battle. The landing area and the western slope of the southern half of the mountain range was secured by the Mosh. More landing boats came, disgorged more tanks and support vehicles, artillery and flak guns. The bombers made another run and took out the Mandarin artillery that had been harassing the landing area. The Mosh had achieved a firm foothold. A Mosh engineering unit set to the task of establishing a temporary space port.

Galen said, “I don’t think the High Command will commit three armored divisions to attacking them across the desert now.”

Tad said, “That would be a futile gesture.”

Koa said, “Kind of like taking out their battleship?”

Tad said, “It’s been fun but I need to get back to work. Their choice of a landing area means I have to re-work most of our assumptions. Plans section will be busy tonight.”

Koa said, “I’m sure there’s tons of intelligence for me to sort through now.”

Galen stood, “I’ll leave you to it.” He stepped out of the operations track extension and made his way over to the chuck wagon, took a plate of meatloaf and sat on the turret of this tank and ate and watched the sun set.

Capellan Marine Captain Scott sat to the right of the pilot of the assault boat and watched the navigation screen, glanced out the transparent armored windscreen, looked back over his shoulder at the Marines of his company’s heavy weapons platoon. This mission was all his. He briefed it up the chain and got approval to take his company into the mountains and show the Mosh what it’s like to fight with Marines.

Three more assault boats followed, carrying a rifle platoon each. The entirety of India Company, third bat of second brigade, CapMarForMan. Best of the best, as far as Captain Scott was concerned. First to fight. So far all they’d done since being attached to the Panzer mercenaries was sit and spit. They could have fled with the fleet; there is no dishonor in choosing not to get involved in a useless fight. But the Capellan Marines decided to drop in and fight. There had been peace, a lot of it, and it was rare for any Capellan Marines to get any action during their careers. They were reduced to bragging about how a grandfather or other distant relative had been in combat.

But today that would end for the Marines of Captain Scott’s India Company. They would endure the ultimate crucible. They would join the ranks of those who risked their lives, took lives, in combat. Captain Scott tapped the navigation display. “Right there. Set ‘em down and stand by.”

“Roger.” The pilot slowed and eased to the ground. The assault boats had vertical takeoff and landing capability, as well as a pair of forward-facing medium lasers in the nose and a bubble turret in the top with a pair of 40mm rail guns. Otherwise, they were not too different from regular drop boats. They landed in a tight diamond formation in a gravelly level spot off to the right side of the mountain road.

Captain Scott checked the charge on his battle armor: 97%. While the assault boat was flying, it didn’t have much juice left over for charging suits. Captain Scott waited until his armor was charged to 100% and disconnected the cord. Then he waited another minute, to ensure his Marines had a chance to get a full charge as well. The suit was good for 12 hours of continuous operations under normal conditions, could last up to twenty hours if the wearer sat perfectly still, but rigorous combat could drain the suit’s power in as little as four hours. Even faster if the Marine used the laser weapon built into the forearm.

Captain Scott climbed out of the assault boat and raised his right hand and moved it in a circle. The platoons formed up on the road, a column of twos along each side. Captain Scott began jogging up the middle of the road and the Marines kept pace with him. After two kilometers he stopped and went to the right, walked up in a draw and then climbed up the slope to the top of the spur. First platoon moved a hundred meters ahead on the left side of the road and went to ground about two hundred meters back from the road. Second platoon stayed five hundred meters back from first platoon and bunched up behind a spur on the left, the curve of the road hiding them from the road itself.

Heavy Weapons platoon set up their four mortars in the draw on the right and the laser gun crew set up its weapon on the crest of the spur fifty meters to the right of Captain Scott. They also sent their heavy machine gun crews forward, two with first platoon and three with second platoon. Third platoon moved in to provide security for the mortar crews.

The laser gun had four batteries available, meaning it could fire four times before the juice ran out. The laser gun crew had used up 30% of their battle armor’s charge carrying the heavy weapon and its batteries, so Captain Scott sent them back to the assault boat to recharge. He checked his tactical overlay; plenty of time.

He wondered how his Marines would do. Sure, they were trained and disciplined and well-equipped. Certainly there was no lack of courage. But none of them had any combat experience. Captain Scott had met with Colonel Baek and Colonel Raper the day before and they sat with him and talked about it, the need for courage to overcome fear and that brief period of time between the fear and then the courage. And it wasn’t predictable. A fighter might perform well and then suddenly freeze up, the fear finally coming after the courage wore off. And the ones who run their first time out. There is no way to understand their thought process because they don’t understand it either. Just try to collect them up afterwards and assure them they’ll do better next time.

It was tacit jealousy on the part of the Capellan Marines, their resentment of the Mercenaries and their combat experience. Nearly all of the mercenaries had faced the real likelihood of death, had killed in cold blood, had survived combat. But man for man, the Mercenaries were no match for the Marines, on paper. Hell, a full third of the mercenaries were women! The Marines had a broader base of individual combat skills. But there was a point where the specialization of the mercenaries began to multiply combat power. The tipping point, determined by Colonels Baek and Raper, was at the company level. Any one Marine company could reasonably expect to defeat any mercenary company, but beyond that, with a battalion-sized unit on each side, the mercenaries would wipe the floor with the Marines.

And Captain Scott liked that. He commanded a company. He also appreciated the privilege of taking his unit out to face the Mosh with no Mercenary support. The lessons learned from this experience would resonate and raise morale for all the Marines. He just hoped they wouldn’t embarrass themselves. That little problem with each and every Marine under his command having to face that part of their humanity that made them not want to kill other people, that basic survival instinct that made them want to avoid danger, flee, that was the real enemy.

The first Mosh arrived, three medium tanks. Over-confident, they drove along at thirty kilometers per hour, right into the kill zone of the ambush. The laser gun crew fired at the second tank and caught it right in the base of the turret, right in the bullet trap below the gun mantle. The laser shot burned through and the hatches on the top of the turret blew off and black smoke billowed, but the tank kept driving along in formation. The laser gun’s second shot caught the lead tank in its right track and it ran into the ditch on the left side of the road. Its turret swung and its coax machine gun swept the area near the laser gun.

The Mosh tank commander popped his hatch and stood behind his machine gun and fired to the right, looking for targets. The Marine laser gun fired again, hit that tank in the side of the turret. The tank exploded. The damaged second tank moved beside it and used it for cover. The third tank moved off the right side of the road and snuggled down in the ditch to reduce its exposure. Its main gun drew a bead on the Marine laser gun and fired. The gun and its crew were blown to bits. Captain Scott was fifty meters away but was blown another twenty meters sideways by the blast, his medium powered armor pelted with high-velocity debris.

His face piece was scratched and his right arm immobilized. His XO ordered the mortars to fire. They finished off the first two tanks and were bracketing the third tank. Then Mosh artillery landed on the Marine mortars and turned their position into a smoldering crater. Captain Scott stood and looked toward the Mosh tank that remained, fully functional. The company’s First Sergeant gripped Captain Scott by the shoulders and pulled him back, tossed him to the ground. “Stay down!”

More Mosh artillery came, landed all along the back slope of the spur where Captain Scott lay. More Mosh came, carried on trucks. The trucks stopped outside the kill zone and the Mosh warriors dismounted. Captain Scott crawled up and looked ahead, saw that the Mosh wore conventional body armor and carried assault rifles. No match for Marines in powered armor, certainly. The Mosh dropped and crawled forward slowly, using individual movement techniques at times. Then they stopped. Mosh mortar fire landed in the general vicinity of first platoon.

Captain Scott called, “Fist Platoon, you better do something.”

The Marines of first platoon moved forward to attack. Some had flamethrowers, some had missile launchers, but half of them had anti-personnel rifles and all of them had vibro-blade swords as secondary weapons. The Mosh had secondary weapons as well, rocket launchers of their own, specifically designed to destroy powered body armor. Scott ordered second platoon forward as well.

First platoon lost half its strength but did mange to render the Mosh company of dismounts combat ineffective. Second platoon ran through and finished off the Mosh and began caring for casualties. Some Marines had gone the wrong way, had run from the fight. But they stopped and were collected up by third platoon.

The Mosh tank was still there in the ditch, fully functional. Soon that tank commander would figure out that all his comrades were dead and that he should begin firing into the Marines. The third platoon leader moved with his platoon and closed within rocket firing range of the Mosh tank. More Mosh artillery landed in third platoon’s old position and Mosh mortar rounds were landing behind second and first platoon, a clear signal that the Mosh tank commander was about to make things real ugly for the Marines.

The third platoon leader grabbed his XO and First Sergeant and the first squad leader and said, “Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to capture that tank and swing it around to cover the road.”

“Hooah,” in unison.

A Marine with a rocket launcher rolled into the ditch right in front of the tank and fired a rocket that knocked off its right track. The tank returned fire with its main gun and blew the Marine to bits. A second Marine used a flame thrower on the tank from the side, a short blast of flame followed by a second; just enough to let the crew of the tank know he meant business.

The third platoon leader stood in front of the tank with a rocket shoved right down the barrel of the main gun. He yelled, “Come out or die!”

The coaxial machine gun of the Mosh tank pelted the third platoon leader with rounds, the aggregate force of the rounds pushing him back a step. As soon as the rocket was out of the muzzle the main gun fired. The third platoon leader’s body armor took the round right in the center of the chest. The round left a clean 100mm hole right through him. The third platoon leader looked down at the hole, the last thing he ever saw, and then fell dead on his back.

A Marine fired a rocket into the side of the Mosh tank and the Marine with the flame thrower bathed the tank in fire. The tank rocked and popped and burned. Mosh mortar fire landed all around the Mosh tank and across the road ahead of it. Another platoon of Mosh tanks was approaching. Captain Scott ordered a retreat back to the assault boats. His company boarded them and was lifted out of the area, back to the camp near Cherry Fork. A full third of the Capellan Marines of India Company died that day.