Chapter 4: The Battle of Aphadus Part 2

“Come on!” a marine master of arms yelled at the series of military staff members. “They could get here any minute.

Things were in an orderly panic. Over fifty personnel were at one of the armories of the base. Other arsenals were responding in the same fashion.

Javier was just one of the many officers and enlisted as he watched the marines handing out firearms to the personnel. One by one, the armory military staff was handing out assault rifles and other various military weapons to the personnel. Basic body armor was also handed out, but there was one problem. The base only had so much of this armor to hand out.

Javier knew this was one of the biggest problems of the UHN. The glorified united military of the United World’s Alliance was one of being flashy. People reveled it, but in the end, it was mostly unprepared against the Itrean threat. If it weren’t for the T’rintar clan, the UHN would have been smashed to pieces by now. Aphadus wasn’t the biggest colony, but it wasn’t the smallest either. Even with the T’rintar’s help, the Shal’rein still managed to get through.

It was a joke that some officers like Javier could clearly realize. Warships were old and needed to be replaced. Weapons were outdated and needed to be upgraded. There wasn’t even enough body armor for the personnel to try to repel a land assault of one of the more frightening soldiers on land. They might as well send the unarmed personnel out naked.

The armory was not that big, to begin with. It was almost the size of a restroom. It had one person who worked inside that was busy tapping the display of his augmented hand as he handed out a gun and armor vest to each person. Inside the armory was a rack of different military personnel equipment. Different guns were housed, including even grenades. Javier was near the end of the line when he had arrived. The passageway was filled with every person who was struggling to get the armor put on properly. A few had helmets before the armory ran out.

One by one, a person would receive a gun. Javier already knew some of the weapons the military used. The one he was most familiar with was the PDW-20. It was a large fat carbine for most people to handle. The ability of the gun was the ability to store three magazines into the small rifle. This allowed the weapon to continue cycling caseless rounds into it until it simply ran out. One magazine could then be replaced or all three to keep firing. It wasn’t as heavy as it should be, though, and even most women and people like himself could still wield it properly.

“Javier? There you are!” a familiar voice could be heard behind him.

Javier turned around to the voice and knew it was his friend.

“Cason... , how is your staff?” he asked him as he stepped into the line behind him.

“They are alright. Scared but alright.”

“You can say that again...” Javier said with a sigh. “Hijo de puta...”

“Hey man, we are going to be alright,” Cason said as he patted him on the shoulder. “The Shal’rein are not going to conquer Aphadus.”

“How much damage are they going to be doing, though? For all we know, the warships are going to be preparing to shell us from orbit.”

Cason had nothing to counter that. He shrugged. “I don’t know what else to say. Try to look at the positive side. What is it that you are good at?”

“History and logistics...”

“I also remember somebody that was really good at firearms. One that outshot me ten times over. They should hand you an anti-material rifle.”

Javier and Cason continued stepping forward in the line. Despite the line, it wasn’t taking long for everyone to get geared up. The fifth person in front of him received the news. He wasn’t receiving any body armor. They ran out of helmets and handed the person a small link of visor and headpiece.

“Shit... , “ Javier said. “We are just getting a gun, and that’s it.”

“They won’t land...” Cason tried one last time to ensure him.

Javier wasn’t going to yell back at him. Even he understood what his friend was trying to do. It was pointless.

“We are fighting the Shal’rein...” Javier said to him. “Have you seen one up close?”

“Honestly, no. I only heard of them though or seen pictures.”

“I saw one that was working here. The T’rintar have Shal’rein families that live with them. Their people work as soldiers and warriors. Even the T’rintar are wise enough to employ them to fight against their own clan. The Shal’rein clan are nothing but Shal’rein. They have the best ground gear ever. Their people are taller than us. They are stronger than us, and they use weapons that can easily punch through our armor. Honestly ... why am I even worrying about not getting body armor?”

“Hmmm ... maybe, you can still surprise them. Maybe you can still get a lucky shot off.”

Javier looked at the rifles. He had a questioning look on his face.

“Try to cheer up,” Cason said. “I mean, look at those marines.”

Javier turned his head to look at the sets of marines. The marines themselves were in the best positions when it came to the gear that they had. While it was true that the other military personnel had something or nothing, the marines were an impressive sight. Dressed in brown power armor, the men and women decked out were nothing but walking tanks. The armor completely covered them from head to toe. Capable of operating in zero-g environments, these suits were rumored to handle almost all small arms fire. The marines were practically a legend in their own right. Trained to operate in the worst of weather, they carried a heavy machine gun arm attachment to their main arm. Javier had even heard rumors of some marines with augmented arms that carried additional weapons that accompanied the armor. Augmented eyes could even be used to see the spectrum that others could not. The armor was thick but flexible enough to allow the simplest of movements. The guns also had cameras to enable it to see other sections of walls to even through walls. For the UHN personnel, the marines were the best of the best at ground or small arms combat.

There was only one problem, of course, and it was an obvious one at well. It was something that Javier had noted to Cason as he was nearing the line to receive his gun.

“The marines are great,” Javier replied. “I just wish we had more of them. For every marine, there is three other personnel that have almost nothing. I still question if they can stop the sharks or not.”

It was Javier’s turn as he stepped up to the window. A man with a thick mustache looked at the officer.

“Name?” he said as he clicked on his augmented hand.

“Ensign, Javier.”

The master of arms looked through the list real quick. He picked up a PDW-20 rifle and tossed it to the officer to catch. He then threw a spare magazine for him to put in his pocket.

“It’s fully loaded and set to condition three,” the MA said. “Make sure to rack it and take the safety off before you fire it. Next!”

Javier had little room to comment as he picked up the spare magazine. He had nothing but a rifle available. It was pathetic in his mind as he stepped aside and looked at Cason as he received a similar gun.

Cason followed the same steps as he took his rifle and held it. He put the spare magazine in his pocket as he looked at Javier.

“Ugh ... I wish we had our jumpsuit uniforms instead of our former dress uniform,” Javier noted.

“Dressed to kill,” Cason replied with a smile.

“Well ... let’s hope the sharks will be dazzled by our uniforms that they will surrender the moment they see us.”

“That’s it,” Cason applauded him. “That is the way to think.”

The line ended as all personnel was given their equipment. It was now or never. A marine stepped up in her power armor as she addressed everyone in the passageway.

“Attention all personnel!” a blond woman in power armor with a Russian accent called out. “My name is Sergeant Karine. All personnel in this passageway will be under my jurisdiction. All of you will get to have the fun mission.”

“Alright!” one of the military personnel reacted.

“Hurrah!” yelled another staff member.

Javier looked at Cason as he shrugged before he looked back at her.

“In about a few minutes, the Shal’rein assault carrier is about to detach from its engine module. It will fly down and deploy troops. Most likely, their goal is to capture the base. We have the fun of flanking the troops as they come towards the base.”

“We are going to be outside and in the opening?” Javier noted quietly to himself.

“Officers ... enlisted. The Shal’rein won’t hesitate about who you are. They will kill us without question. It is our job to stop the soldiers from getting into the building. Besides ... we might be safer from where we will be compared to where everyone else will be.”

What did she mean by that? Javier was in deep thought for a few seconds. It was apparent when he considered it for a few seconds. Perhaps she was right.

“Everyone follow me!” Karine called out. “We don’t have much time!”

Up to hundreds of personnel followed the set of marines as they ran to their acquired destinations.

In orbit, the two Shal’rein battleships had rotated their hulls to ensure that both turrets could fire onto the ground. The assault carrier had commenced with its disconnection. The large shuttle-like warship used its rotatable thrusters to push itself away as it left the sizeable centripetal ring and connected engine module behind. As the carrier broke free, the engine module carried onboard a massive railgun that was attached to the carrier’s superstructure. It was apparent that the carrier warship was actually two vessels in one and had three railguns instead of the twin turret on top of the carrier lander.

As the carrier was completing its disconnection, there was a massive set of power surges coming from both the battleships. Their rear power modules began to emit a wave of glowing power and energy that seemed to flow in the center portion of the ship. The energy went straight towards the railgun turrets as the turrets themselves began to take aim at their intended targets.

“Move, move, move!” Karine called out at the top of her voice. She ran at her fastest speeds possible as the hundred personnel ran outside. “The Shal’rein are about to conduct a death volley!”

Javier had no idea what she truly meant by that. It was something about the Shal’rein and the warships that they could divert their emergency power to their railguns. Perhaps this was a way to amplify their ability in combat?

It didn’t matter. It merely translated to one thing. The Shal’rein were about to continue shelling the base, and this time, they were much closer to the surface than before. The rain was going to be much worse.

The sky was lit up with activity. The outside was beautiful as before. The unending horizon of red light lit the surrounding landscape as the hundred personnel had exited from the massive garage of vehicles and into outside.

Javier could feel the adrenaline surge in his veins as he ran at his fastest speeds possible, trying to keep up. His boots hit the dirt and grass hard as his goal was to get as far from the base as possible. He could see a planetary defense aircraft fly overhead, creating the sound of roaring engines.

Inside the garage were the rest of the other military personnel. Entire divisions of various armed men and women had gathered as they watched the made division that Javier was in ran out into the open. A few military vehicles were readied at the garage. They pointed their guns outside and waited for the events to transpire.

Javier had run past the large railgun turrets that encircled the base. The turrets had adjusted their aim as they pointed straight up at the Battleships. Suddenly, Javier was startled when the railguns began to open fire. The massive barrels recoiled a little bit as smokeless hypervelocity rounds were expelled and shot directly into the air. The guns were so powerful that the shells could be fired into space itself.

In front of Javier were the distant mountains of Aphadus. The scene was beautiful in its own outright. The mountains consisted of red and brown colored rocks and black forests. The dark-colored plants had a distinct color to try to absorb any possible light from the star. On his right was the shoreline and purple colored beach that the base was near. The sands alone were like a trail to the far mountains and hills.

There was an alcove of rocks and dirt near the water that formed a perfect vantage point to flank the assaulting force. This was the intended location of the division of personnel to use as cover in shooting and covering behind.

It was a hopeless cause that Javier already knew. The railguns were attempting to shoot at warships that could continually move to dodge the incoming shots. The orbiting ships still had enough room to maneuver, and it would most likely be the first set of targets to destroy. He continued running as he saw a female enlisted stagger in her run. She was carrying an anti-material rifle with her as Javier reached and took her arm to help her back up.

The sounds of hypervelocity rounds were huge. It echoed to the city and the far mountains. As soon as Javier had helped the woman, they just neared the alcove. Personnel were huffing and puffing as they got behind the rocks. They had gained enough ground that they could still see the huge dome of the military base. They could watch as the railguns were attempting to delay the inevitable.

Javier was breathing hard as the woman nodded and nodded to him. She slammed her back to the rock in exhaustion. He turned to look at the base as well. He could see the garage doors were beginning to close. The other armed people and marines of the base were going to make a standoff against the Shal’rein forces. Javier recognized the vehicles. The rarely seen UHN tanks were little more than the M30 Armored Personnel Carriers. They were eight-wheeled armored vehicles and the evolution of humanity’s military vehicles in general. They looked very much like the APCs of the 20^th and 21^st century but had vast improvements to it. The vehicles could traverse almost all-terrain of any planet. They could operate in zero-g environments and even had the ability to house the people in zero atmospheres. They could cross and float in water and also had thrusters to help in aerial drops and to move over obstacles. In lower gravity, the vehicles were insanely good. They carried a high powered anti-personnel cannon on a rotational turret with smaller machine guns on the rear and front hood.

For the marines, this was their vehicle. It wasn’t seen often because ground combat was considered a low priority for the UHN. The M30s were generally looked at as security vehicles more than actual assault machines. Debates always raged if humanity would ever face alien invasions on the ground. They were partly right and partly wrong. In this case, the vehicles might help.

Javier looked up at the base and could see the outer dome’s sides began to open. It was a seemingly rare sight. Large doors that were often closed had opened up to reveal a broad set of tunnels that connected into the structure. As the doors had opened up, he could watch the base as it began to launch a series of aircraft straight into the air. Like the catapult aircraft of former Earth’s VTOL strike craft, these were the UHN planetary F-167 Hawks. They were gray delta-winged aircraft with a large VTOL engine strapped into its center. The hawks were old and dated but could still help defend the ground of the air in case an assault like this. Designed for a variety of roles, the aircraft was equipped with guided missiles and a Gatling gun on the nose to strafe ground targets.

Wave after wave of hawks was launched from the base to join the other military aircraft in orbit. In all, Javier could count almost fifty of these planetary defense aircraft being launched before the doors of the base closed up.

In orbit, it began. The Shal’rein warships used their vectoring thrusters to avoid the railgun rounds being fired from the surface. The two battleships, power modules glowed with intensity, and suddenly the power fell silent again. The dual railgun turrets began to unleash a salvo directly down toward the planet. Almost like a constant stream of blue and purple particles, the guns turned into a rapid-fire weapon of hypervelocity rounds. Trails were being left behind as the turrets would fire a salvo of shells, and then the turrets would make small adjustments and continue firing more shots. The barrels would turn a slight red as the railguns were in a state of almost overheating. Space itself and its shallow temperatures were the only way that the guns were not melting on the warships.

The assault carrier had fully separated as it was using its thrusters to enter into the atmosphere of Aphadus. A set of massive wings extended from the hull of the carrier. The friction of the atmosphere began to cause the underside of the carrier to get hot.

On the ground, the Javier and the division began to watch in horror of what was about to happen. They could see the faint red dot of the carrier that was approaching, but they didn’t have long to look at it.

“Everyone get down!” Sergeant Karine called out.

Javier had only a short few seconds to observe what had happened. As the last planetary fighter flew out of the large hangar doors, the heavy rain began. It was a constant barrage of hypervelocity tungsten slugs that was being fired from orbit. The battleships were commencing their death volley. Diverting all their emergency power into their weapons, the Shal’rein had turned their prime weapon into almost a machine gun. Every second, one or two rounds slammed down into the dirt. The first thing struck was the planetary railgun turret nearest to the division. Javier barely had any time to observe the turret itself being ripped apart by rounds that smashed it into pieces. The remaining rounds cut into the dirt, throwing rocks and sand everywhere.

The rocks were flung into the air as the barrage was then focused on the adjacent missile silo doors. The doors immediately began to get smashed open. Round after round hit the doors until it crumbled apart in the inside. The shells ripped up the launcher entirely as additional shrapnel was being thrown about.

“Ahh!” Javier could hear from a random person as he tried to cover his head. The shattered debris was flying in all directions. While they had some space between the shelling, the division was getting hit by the falling debris. One of the metal pieces cut into a man’s face as he fell to the ground screaming in pain. The people next to him were doing what they could to cover their faces.

The sound was deafening, the Shal’rein were trying to obliterate each defense weapon around the base. One by one, the rounds would cut each turret. Occasionally, one of the rounds would hit the edge of the military base. The shell would cut into the dome’s side, causing further havoc. It was like the Shal’rein were drilling the surface and edges of the base.

“Why were they doing this?” Javier struggled to ask. “They have us ... they have us ... we are beaten...”

His voice was utterly drowned out. He lifted his head momentarily as he saw the assault carrier was entering orbit. It was a precision-based attack. The Shal’rein appeared to be operating under a stringent time limit, and the reasons were obvious. The delay of the UHN defense fleet was temporary. The ships were struggling to get back to Aphadus to stop the Shal’rein warships, but conventional drives would take long. Opening a gate to reach Aphadus would take even longer.

Four railguns destroyed ... two missile silos ripped to pieces ... another turret is obliterated. It sounded like lightning striking the ground. Rounds were flying so fast that they were breaking the sound barrier. It looked like constant explosions in the sky.

“God, stop it! Please!” a woman called out. Javier didn’t know who it was, but it was somebody near him.

Javier had thought about Cipra. It was another colony that faced a similar fate. The Aksren clan had long conquered the planet from the UWA. The last feed from the planet was the Aksren fleet closing in as they used their missiles and railguns to bombard and shell the cities. Siege warships with massive cannons would fire rounds so large they tumble down the tallest buildings in one hit.

The Shal’rein clan seemed to be the masters of the railgun. They were conducting specific damage to the right places. Like a knife in the sand, the shelling continued as they reached all around the base.

Finally, the last railgun turret was ripped to pieces. In orbit, the Shal’rein battleships ceased their bombardment. They seemed to be done with their shelling. The railgun turrets fell silent. The ships immediately began to activate its forward thrusters as they started to move in reverse. The engine module and centripetal ring of the assault carrier also used its thrusters to initiate a turn. It began to use its own thrusters to follow the battleships. It seemed the battleships had accomplished whatever task they were out to do. Their course was heading back to the dark side of Aphadus.

The thunderstorm had ceased. Javier had a light ringing in his ears as he could barely feel the dirt and ground underneath him. He tried to get his bearings in order. He was running on pure adrenaline. If the Shal’rein had altered their bombardment any closer to the division, they wouldn’t be talking. Warships were the true gods of warfare. A few missiles would have been all they needed to incinerate the division completely. The question of Javier’s mind was, why didn’t they?

Instead, he turned his head to see a grizzly scene. The man that was struck by debris bled to death, not that far from him. His screams had fallen silent. His heartbeat began to increase. It was the first death up close he ever witnessed. The man barely saw it coming. He felt blurry and dazed. He caught a glimpse of other military personnel that reacted in almost similar ways. Javier was aware of the events. Mud, dirt, sand, and debris clustered the division. Javier’s uniform was covered in loose sand as he held his rifle tight.

“Be ready!” Karine called out. “That was just their way of saying hello to us!”

Javier looked up to watch the events that were transpiring next. The assault carrier had broken through the ozone layer and was high in the sky coming down. It would take a minute or two to accomplish this task. It had turned into a falling brick with wings. The hawk fighters that were launched from the base were swarming closer and closer to intercept the carrier. Like tiny wasps going after a large bird, it was the only hope to try to take the ship down before it landed.

For the few individuals that were watching, some hope had kicked in. It seemed that sheer numbers would win the day. Fifty fighter craft were converging on the carrier. Even Javier felt some sense of hope. Even a pack of wasps can still kill a large bird if they went after it.

But the hope was soon shattered. As the carrier continued to do its glide down to the surface, they watched as the ship began to fire its short-range missiles towards the pack of fighter craft. Another event had also transpired as well. The carrier’s top structure that was seemingly flat had a series of tubes that connected underneath it. It began to fire out small objects from its sides. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be Shal’rein planetary fighter craft that was being deployed into the air.

These fighters appeared to be large interceptors that were painted in purple. They had two sets of wings on them. The first set had two twin-barreled cannons at the wingtips. The interceptors’ rear wings were even more prominent and had eight small thrusters that jutted from it. The nose of the aircraft had four missile tube launchers of some sort near the cockpit of the plane.

It was evident that these aircraft were larger. They had twice the mass than the hawks. The carrier deployed up to sixteen of these interceptors as they turned to go straight at the hawks. The squadrons of UHN fighters were having to dodge the missiles being fired from the enemy carrier. Javier could see the first set of casualties in the air. Three of the planes were blown to pieces by the first wave of missiles being fired. A few had managed to fire off their own weapons at the carrier, but the ship responded in kind by firing its gun turrets. The missiles were being destroyed in the air before they hit.

The interceptors banked hard in the air as they went after the UHN aircraft. From the noses, a series of missile salvos were being fired. The missiles would scatter in the wind and converge on the groups of fighters. Each fighter was fighting for its very own life. A few could dodge the missiles or deploy their own countermeasures, but it seemed evident that the Shal’rein fighter craft was very advanced. One interceptor alone could easily take on two or three with ease. One by one, hawks were exploding in the air, but a few had managed to fight back. While there weren’t enough numbers, the numbers that were present were taking its toll on the Shal’rein as well. The hawks would fire a spread of missiles as they would seek out one of the interceptors. While the enemy aircraft was fast, enough missiles could take one out. Javier watched as one of the interceptors exploded in the air.

It was a mixed aerial battle. Hawks and Shal’rein fighter craft were fighting for dominance in the air. A hawk had gotten a chance to fire its Gatling gun at one of the interceptors but missed. Another interceptor got behind it and used its four cannons to tear it apart in the air. The sky was lit with multiple explosions. The falling debris began to rain down to the city of New San Antonio.

This was what war was like. Javier felt like he was in hell. War had finally fallen on Aphadus, and it had hit it like a sledgehammer. He had only hoped that it would be like Cipra. The UWA couldn’t handle another defeat like that. Aphadus must survive.

He was reminding himself of his duties. He turned to see that the carrier was getting very close. It was casting a shadow down to the city as it was nearing the ground. As it got closer, Javier could see the immense size of the ship. These were massive landers devoted to being troop carriers. The UHN had similar designs that operated like this as the space carriers were the outgrowth of the former Earth surface amphibious carriers. All in one, these carriers would land and deploy troops and vehicles. As space warfare evolved, the ships would even bring in planetary aircraft and bring their own planetary defense weapons. Effectively, the carriers were aerial strategic battle platforms that could dominate the ground with simplicity and ease. Have enough of these, and you could control a planet.

But it was only one ... the goal seemed elusive to Javier. The Shal’rein clan had planned this with significant effect. What were they trying to accomplish? Why were they doing it?

The division was struggling to watch the incoming carrier. The roaring engines filled the air as the vessel made a swift turn in the air. It was nearing the military base. Even the large dome of the base seemed to be somewhat small when compared to the carrier. The base dome had almost a radius of eight hundred meters in length, but the ship was about a quarter of that size.

With the railgun turrets destroyed and silos knocked out, the carrier was coming in unattested. The base itself had kept the massive garage door closed, waiting to see if the vessel was going to land near it. Smoke and ruins covered the knocked out weapons emplacements. Siren alarms were ablaze near the edges of the base. The shells fired that missed the emplacements and struck the base caused its own damage. The sides of the base had holes and smoke that went up into the air.

Everyone could hear the roaring engines of the carrier. Javier could see in the far above it as the airforce was getting decimated. The UHN fighter craft was scoring some lucky hits here and there on the interceptors, but for each one that was taken down, six hawks were destroyed in turn. Explosions that littered the sky was starting to calm down more and more. The flaming debris was raining in New San Antonio. It had almost turned into a meteor storm. The debris would crash into the dome of the city and slowly fall down the long sides to the ground below.

Javier watched as the carrier began to adjust its heading. From where he was, he had a full view of the scene. The purple-colored carrier spun as it neared the ground as its eight rotational thrusters were working overtime to ensure that the warship didn’t crash into the ground. The sound was near deafening. Javier and most of the people that didn’t wear helmets were blocking their ears as the carrier slowed its descent.

The ensign turned to see Cason had gotten near him. In the pandemonium, he had gotten separated from him. He was alright as he inched his way to him. Javier could see the faces of the division. It didn’t matter who they were; the reactions were expected. Adrenaline, fear, and courage were in the hearts and minds of the individuals around him. Marines were harder to read since the helmets blocked some of the views. They had the best vantage point and were in front of everyone else. The hope at least was that if the shooting started, they could try to take the incoming fire first and maybe body block a few shots here and there against the individuals that had less equipment.