Firestar
Copyright© 2009 by Prince von Vlox
Chapter 27
Marine Lander 6-3
Marine Third Officer Robbie Sinclair watched the scan, fascinated with what she was seeing. The fight in the outer system was a boiling mess of ships, explosions, and gas. It was a savage melee compared to the more calculated combat nearer at hand. That was a combination of PSK and Families ships fighting several Imperial battleships. And yet there was something about the more distant fight that fascinated her. The Families ships were heavily outnumbered, but they were winning. Some Families commander was dancing around the Idenux, constantly massing and shifting her forces to outnumber the Idenux in each little fight. Robbie didn’t know how that distant officer was doing it, but she had seen a lot of battles in her years, and she could admire the skill she was seeing.
“All shuttles, four minutes-30 to drop.”
Reluctantly, Robbie turned her attention back to her own part of the fight. If they lived through this little exercise in applied violence, she wanted to study that distant fight in more detail, but right now she had her own part of the war to deal with. In a little over four minutes, 16 shuttles were going to drop the first wave of Marines on their target, a large sprawling base the Idenux and Empire had erected on the virtually airless planet below them. The shuttles weren’t going in directly on the target; with unsuppressed ground defenses, that would be suicide. Instead, they were dropping short so the Marines could make an overland assault. The good news was that there was plenty of bad terrain to cover the Marines’ approach. The bad news was that there was plenty of bad terrain to cover the defenders.
The other piece of bad news was that they had never done an assault of this size before. Almost every action before this had been with squads of Marines, or at most a Section. Nobody had ever tried coordinating several companies before. Today was going to be interesting for quite a number of reasons.
“Just like a drill,” her second-in-command, Fourth Officer Liz Elia, said over their private channel. “Just like we rehearsed.”
“I know,” Robbie said. “I’ve done a dozen combat drops, but I’ve just never taken the waiting well.”
“Three minutes,” said the Strike Commander. “Final checks.”
“All troops,” Robbie ordered. She hoped the relief at finally doing something didn’t show in her voice. “Commence final checks.” She double-checked the gear on the trooper next to her. When the count rolled to her, she replied, “Two--Ready!”
“One--Ready!” said the girl from the lander crew who checked Robbie’s gear.
“Into the blisters,” Robbie ordered. “Command and Weapons troops, prepare for drop.”
This was the time she hated the most. The hull of the lander was built out of a very tough alloy that could resist most laser shots from ground defenses. The blisters were openings in that protective hull, openings covered with a very thin layer of ceramic and plastic that would protect anyone inside from the heat of re-entry. It would not protect the Marine in the blister from a shot from the ground defenses.
When the time came to leave the dubious protection of the lander, the cover of the blister would blow, and the Marine inside would be dropped directly into combat. In the few seconds she had between the blister and the ground, the Marine had to orient herself, ready her weapons, and land on her booster rockets. Once she survived the drop, the only defenses she would have would be her suit, her intelligence, and her mobility. Most Marines preferred to be on the ground, fighting, than waiting in a lander. The blister was just the way to get there.
The suit was the second-most important element of the Marine’s assault method; her attitude was the first. The idea of powered armor was not new. In one form or another, it had been tried many times since the Great Diaspora. Every attempt had failed because powered armor was notoriously underpowered. Besides the bio-support technology and weapons, a great deal of computer power was consumed in coordinating the arms and legs of the armor. The Families had simply run everything through their shunts. That had been the key. Without having to spend resources on computing power, the other problems of powered armor had become relatively simple engineering problems that had been easily solved.
In appearance, a Marine in her powered armor was a little over two meters tall and proportionate across the shoulders. The armor was of an alloy that gave off a faint dark green hue. A great variety of lethal hardware was draped on and around her. In her armor, a Marine was equally at home in a vacuum, atmosphere, and underwater. She could run faster, jump higher, and do all manners of things that a person not wearing the armor could do. And she could do it in a hostile environment with people actively trying to kill her.
Most of the combat the Marines saw took place as boarding actions on disabled Idenux ships. But every so often, the Powers-That-Be arranged a little trip onto the surface of a planet, and this was where the Marine concept of Shock came into the equation. The idea was simple: Speed plus Firepower equaled Shock. And with powered armor, the Marines were well-equipped to deliver Shock.
Robbie helped Liz into her blister, then double-checked the other troopers in the lander. Satisfied, she let the Navy crew seal her in her own blister. She monitored the scan provided by the lander. It was small comfort. Here she was just a passenger, unable to do anything. Out there, away from the confines of the lander, she would be a one-Marine army, able to fight and maneuver on her own.
“Thirty seconds. Coming up on the Initial Point.”
Robbie fingered her weapons. Nobody was sure if they would have to make a contested landing or not, and she wanted to be ready. She could see the fighters swarming around the wave of landers. They would provide the final covering fire as the Marines emerged. The theory was that for the few seconds the Marines were vulnerable, those long few seconds before they hit dirt, any opposition would be too busy ducking to worry about shooting anyone coming down on top of them. It was a nice theory. She wondered if it would actually work.
“Ten seconds!”
Robbie took a deep breath, held it, and released it. Her first drop as the Officer in Tactical Command; the first time she had been in charge from the initial planning all the way through to hitting the dirt. This was the first time the responsibility was all hers. She had wanted this, she had worked hard for this, and now she had it. The only question was--
“ ... and three! ... and two! ... and one! ... and Go!”
The blister blew out with a slight flash. Robbie’s boost kicked in and she was away from the lander. She cut it, then spun and hit it again, providing a randomly moving target. The theory was simple. The people on the ground suddenly had a sky full of death, fighters, landers, falling missiles, falling Marines, and falling decoys. Everything was maneuvering independently and the missiles, fighters, and landers were searching for any ground fire. The decoys were trying very hard to look like better targets than the Marines who were dropping alongside them. The Marines were just trying to get to the ground in one piece.
Robbie used her passive scan to pick out a landing spot. She also checked the deployment of the troops that had emerged on either side of her. Satisfied, she timed her drop and hit her boost at max to come to a bumpy landing. Automatically, she had her main weapon out. She favored an accelerator rifle for landings because it worked in both an atmosphere and a vacuum and it was extremely rugged. She might be in command, but for the next few seconds, she was just one more Marine hitting dirt.
Fire kicked up near her. She eyed it for a second as she ducked into a shallow crater. Little puffs of dust walked back and forth through the area, the same places being hit with each pass. Somebody was giving them pre-planned fire on a fixed axis. It was probably fire the Marines were supposed to descend through, and did not represent a real danger now that they were down. She noted it for the debrief and kept looking around.
They had landed on the dark side of the planet, and any infrared sources should stand out. There was nothing except the residual glow from the recent daytime, and the lazy spouts of dust from enemy fire. Well, she hadn’t expected to see anything. They were supposed to be far enough from the active defenses that they could get organized.
The ground around her was hilly with plenty of soft-edged rocks and dust. This planet had a minimal atmosphere and, like most nearly airless rocks, the constant cycle of heating and freezing along with micrometeor bombardment had produced plentiful amounts of dust. Robbie rose and advanced towards their objective at a dead run.
“Sections report,” she ordered as she ran.
“1st Section--all troops down as briefed, no losses.”
“2nd Section--all troops down as briefed, no losses. We’re taking some fire from my first objective and I am attacking.”
“3rd Section--all troops down as briefed, no losses. I’m approaching my first objective.”
“Weapons Troop--all down as briefed, no losses.”
“Scout Troop--all down as briefed, no losses. Scouting the first two objectives. So far, flanks are clear.”
“Command Troop--all down as briefed, no losses.” That was Liz right behind her. Robbie could see the other two girls in her fireteam, her “escort” moving into position behind her.
Robbie checked her map overlay from the scan. She could see the icons for her company. They were within 100 meters of the briefed line of attack. That was better than she had expected, almost as good as they’d planned. That made her next set of orders easy.
“All Sections--continue the advance on first objectives as briefed. Weapons, Fire Plan 2.”
Their stated first set of objectives was a set of defense positions overlooking the dome complex three kilometers from their landing zone. Their real first objective was to simply gain enough ground that additional landers could come in behind them and off-load the rest of the troops.
“Contact,” Sherrilynn Rodrigues said moments later. “Enemy fixed positions to the south of the first objective. I am taking them under covering fire.” Scouts sacrificed firepower for speed, sensors, and stealth. She didn’t try to engage the defenses she had found. Instead, she split her fire teams into two groups to bypass the objective and sweep the flanks.
“Scout Report,” Sherrilynn reported moments later. “Resistance is a pair of heavy weapons bunkers, no other ground troops in the area. Approaches are heavily damaged from landing bombardment. North flank is secure.”
“Plan is good,” Robbie added, confirming the assault order they had worked out a tenday before. “Skyanne, press it. Damaris, take the south side. Deal with those bunkers.”
Skyanne’s 2nd Section had landed just out of sight of their first objective. It had been a risky maneuver. The landers could have been easily smashed, but the last-second strikes by the fighters had sufficed to get the Marines down intact. Now all they had to do was press through with their initial assault.
Damaris’ 1st Section, which had landed to the left of Skyanne’s section, raced to the south of the objective to deal with the bunkers the scouts had found. In seconds, both bunkers were being smothered by a wave of fire from the 1st Section. In less than a minute, the Marines were close enough to use demolition charges. Two fireteams ducked through the resulting holes to find and kill any defenders who were still alive.
Skyanne’s objective was a small metallic dome with several turreted weapons ports. Those weapons could fry any lander that came near them. Taking this position would allow the landers to come in with the really heavy weapons and a lot more troops than could be dropped.
Skyanne’s fireteams went in with a blaze of weapons. The shots from their energy rifles were invisible in the vacuum, but their impact wasn’t. The near edge of their target erupted repeatedly from all the hits. Two of the girls tossed demo charges onto the edge of the shielding. When those burst, the girls with accelerator rifles fired through the opening, letting their rounds ricochet around on the inside. Additional charges opened fresh holes, and those were also taken under fire.
“Over and in,” Skyanne ordered. In seconds, her Marines were up to the domes, then through the holes they’d created. The fighting inside was brief and one-sided. The weapons crews were in vacsuits, but they had no protection from the weapons of the Marines. At this stage of the assault, they were not after prisoners and didn’t leave any defenders alive behind them.
A pair of Idenux fighters popped over the horizon. At the moment, there were no Families fighters in range. The Weapons Troop opened on them with missiles. They didn’t expect to hit them, but they forced the enemy fighters to change course, and for the moment, that was enough.
“Second Company--Overlook Two.”
“Second Company--aye,” Robbie replied.
“We’re reading those fighters as recon, not strike. We’re trying to target any support fire, but we’re a little busy up here.”
Robbie took a quick glance upward with her scan. The sky was still a snarl of ships, fighters, missiles, and explosions. “It looks like it,” Robbie said. “First objective is secured, and we are advancing.”
“Understood. Overwatch Two out.”
“All Sections--Overlook is expecting some heavy weapons fire. Section Leads--keep that in mind. Plan is still good.”
She checked her map again. “Liz, status?”
“Landing area is secure for the follow-on landers, and we’re closing on your position.”
“Boss--Sherrilynn. North is clear, and we are in sight of the main objective.”
“Candace. Support Sherrilynn directly.”
Robbie mentally moved her units around for a moment, trying to find what she wanted. She would move Skyanne into reserve. Damaris was already well to the left of the main line of advance and in position to flank any resistance they met short of the main complex. She could move Weapons up to the right of Damaris and use that as a line of support fire. They might not hit much, but they’d draw plenty of return fire, which should let the real assault, Candace with Skyanne in close support, to assault the main dome.
“Damaris--Robbie. Scout out weapons positions. Weapons, slide in to the right of Damaris. Liz, take charge of Weapons and Damaris. I will be right behind Candace followed by Skyanne. Acknowledge.”
Everyone checked in, and she could see the icons moving as the troops took their positions. Robbie reported that to Overwatch.
“Understood. Landers in three minutes.”
“We’re probing the main defenses now,” Robbie said. She wanted her girls out of the area around the first objective as soon as possible. She didn’t know how the Imperials and Idenux would do things, but if she was running the defenses, she would have something unpleasant targeted on any area where she lost coverage.
“Candace--Robbie. Report.”
“Nothing new. I have no indications they’ve detected us.”
“They’re just fooling you. All teams--my plan. Weapons will prep the target. Candace and Skyanne will break in. Then, Liz, you take Damaris supported by Weapons and hit them from the other side.”
“Once we’re in, what then? As planned?” Everyone was eager to get into the complex. Their kin were in there somewhere, and they wanted to rescue them.
“As planned. Candace and Skyanne will make for the Control Center. Damaris will support. Second task will be power center. Then we hunt vermin. Understood?”
Everyone acknowledged. Robbie took a look at the fight upstairs for a moment. The landers were approaching, covered by most of a squadron of fighters.
“Weapons--when the landers are at the IP, hit the objective with everything. Candace, when the landers hit dirt, go.”
Fighters, backed by a cruiser and three escorts, made a pass over the complex. Dust fountained into the sky. Under the cover of that barrage, the landers made their approach. Just on cue, the Weapons section opened up, blasting the targets directly in front of them. They drew a sharp return fire. Bolts from energy weapons were visible through the dust, helping the girls in Candace’s section pinpoint their location.
The landers touched, and Candace’s girls attacked, using their rocket boosters to close. They fired at the bunker positions at point-blank range, using missiles to blow them open. Two fireteams disappeared inside, followed moments later by the rest of Candace’s section.
Skyanne’s girls followed hard on their heels. Reports tumbled by so fast Robbie couldn’t follow them. Her experience told her everyone was advancing. Opposition was stiff, but they were engaging people who had little or no experience with this sort of combat.
Robbie ducked through an opening in the bunker. The place was silent, littered with bodies and broken equipment, and filled with the haze of burning equipment. None of the dead were in Marine armor; that was good. There were entrances lower down—both showed considerable blast damage.
“Candace—Robbie.”
“Going well. Opposition is lighter than expected. Main power switches already destroyed.”
“Skyanne?”
“Same. Just about to break into the main dome.”
Robbie hopped back out of the bunker. “Liz—Robbie.”
“Aye.”
“Go! Overwatch Two—Sinclair.”
“Overwatch Two.”
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