Chapter 4: What Lies Beneath

The scattered fleet was six months out of Truman when the Hurst Castle reported finding a heavily polluted planet with no sign of recent Sa'arm activity in planetary system reference number 749.4, also known as Sa'Triste. Colonel Murphy ordered a polar orbit of the planet and an initial mapping of the surface.

The Hurst Castle had been in a high orbit of the fourth planet for ten days when the Lancaster Castle was detected entering the system. It took the Lancaster Castle two days to maneuver into a low altitude polar orbit and begin detailed radar and thermal imaging of surface features. The surface of the planet was totally obscured from the visible spectra by a dense haze of sulfur dioxide, water vapor, and hydrocarbon particulates.

About the time that the Lancaster Castle began the high-resolution mapping, the Farnham Castle announced her arrival as she transitioned from hyperspace and engaged her sub-light engines. She was on-station in two days.

The Hurst Castle had been in the system for over a month when the last ship of the intrepid fleet arrived. It took an additional four days for the Sir Galahad to enter into a synchronous orbit above Sa'Triste after surveying nearby rocks to see if anything was hiding under them.

Lt. Timmons entered the fleet CIC aboard the Sir Galahad and approached Commodore Achord. "Commodore, I've read a report that the Lancaster Castle has located a heat source on the surface that's also releasing radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere. I've check with Ensign Wallace who's convinced by his analysis of the emissions that they're from a fission reactor. This sounds like a promising objective for a landing party. How soon do you think it will be before it's safe to deploy my platoon to the surface?"

"We're shifting orbit to be in a position to drop the shuttles at that location shortly after local sunrise," Achord responded. "That's about nine hours from now. You should have your troops ready to drop at that time."

"Sir, we've only been monitoring this system for a little over four weeks," Timmons observed before cautioning the Commodore. "It was sometimes six to eight weeks between the arrival and departure of Sa'arm ships in Tulakat. Shouldn't we continue monitoring the area for another month before committing ground forces?"

Commodore Achord was ready to wrap up this mission and head for home. "Nonsense," Achord replied. "It'll take hours for a Sa'arm fleet to get here after exiting hyperspace. We'll have plenty of time to recover your people from the surface and make our escape. At normal drive speed it'll take us more than three months to get back to. We've already been away from there for seven months, and you'll probably need at least a month to thoroughly explore this one power plant. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can all go home."

Timmons stopped in to spend some time with Wallace before retiring for the night. After their passions were satisfied the two exhausted lovers spoke of the future.

"I really wish I were dropping with you guys in the morning," Wallace commented.

"Nonsense," Timmons replied. "You could become a very capable platoon leader, but your true strength lies elsewhere. You were telling me about an unusual ice planet in a pristine planetary system here in the midst of the Sa'arm. If you really believe it can be a useful outpost; then sell the idea to General Thornberry. You've worked with Major Wilson and Major Bronson, and they've given you a feel for how to work the politics of general headquarters were these kinds of decisions are made. Use that knowledge and your contacts. Accurate intelligence can be far more devastating to an enemy than a single platoon can ever hope to be."

"I don't know," Wallace was unsure, "I'm just an ensign. Why would they listen to me? How can I get their attention?"

Timmons stroked the flaccid tube of flesh resting on her hip, "I'm not sure about Wilson, but I'm sure you can find a way to get Bronson's undivided attention. Hasid could well be out of a job if she ever gets to sample your talented ... self. Maybe ... AI, if anything happens to me I want Mark Wallace to have my concubines. Rush is almost as good as you, and I have it on good authority that Bronson likes it rough when she pulls a train."

The disembodied voice went unnoticed when it responded with, "Noted."

"Oh really, and you're such a timid soul." Wallace folded Timmons into an unlikely wrestling hold that left her crotch incredibly vulnerable. "What do you know about pulling trains?"

Wallace hadn't remained flaccid for long. "I've got to get some rest," Timmons complained ten minutes later as she energetically met Wallace's thrusts.

The atmosphere-capable Galileo class shuttles were never intended for use as assault craft. They would only accommodate four battle-ready Marines behind the pilot and copilot, but the shuttle did have enough headspace to permit the use of a transporter nexus. A transporter equipped Galileo had replaced the aft Leopard aboard the Sir Galahad, and it was made ready for launch along with the remaining Leopard.

Lt. Timmons, SSG Carson, and three Marines secured for departure in the Galileo. MGS Budzinski waited aboard the Sir Galahad's Leopard with Second and Third Squads and the platoon's heavy weapons. The weapons pylons on the Leopard were fully loaded with a selection of rockets and a pair of cluster bombs. They were to hold their launch until the L-Z was marked and secured by First Squad.

The nanites could reverse the radiation damage caused by the hot emissions from the vent, but with only eight med tubes among the four ships it wasn't their first choice of ingress. Ground features were not clearly visible until the shuttle was within 800 meters of the surface.

Lt. Timmons did a quick aerial survey and located some surface structures that were about three klicks west of the vent. She directed the pilot to circle the cluster of buildings and then land the shuttle in a depression that was a klick south of the structures.

As soon as the shuttle settled onto the ground Timmons yelled "Go!" The rear hatch swung down and the four Marines took defensive positions on either side of the small craft. Everyone was wearing medium armor that gave them about four hours of air. Lt. Timmons, who had ridden down in the copilot's seat, grabbed her gear from the transporter nexus and headed down the ramp to the planet's surface.

The balance of First Squad emerged from the shuttle's transporter pad and expanded the defense perimeter around the Galileo. Timmons established an observation post on a small rise just south of the structures. From this vantage point she could monitor the road going east-west among the buildings. No movement was detected after an hour of vigilance.

Timmons opened communications with the Sir Galahad, "Beacon established for Shuttle Two."

The Leopard dropped SSG Fohner and Second Squad at the edge of the cluster of buildings north of Timmons' position. Timmons ordered Second Squad to immediately begin a recon of the structures. Finally, Sergeant Budzinski, Corporal Miller, and the six-man fire support Third Squad unloaded near Timmons. Budzinski set up three mortar pits in an arc facing the abandoned town, even though the undermanned squad could not effectively use even two of the weapons at the same time.

Timmons ordered the Leopard pilot to orbit the structures and look for any sign of activity.

Second Squad had reported nothing of interest in the structures that they had searched when they switched to their reserve LOX bottles at the end of four hours.

"Okay Fohner, bring your squad back to my pos," Lt. Timmons ordered. "First squad, chow down. You'll take recon duty when Second Squad relieves you." She turned to Budzinski, "Gunny, maintain this defensive position. I'm going to take First Squad into the middle of this settlement and start working outward. If there's an underground facility, I'm guessing these buildings are centered on the access portal."

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Budzinski responded. "We've got your back."

The AI aboard the Farnham Castle had deployed a drone over the structures, but the poor visibility made it unlikely that it would spot the approach of the cold blooded Sa'arm unless they were in mechanized transports. When second squad had re-supplied and eaten, Budzinski approached SSG Fohner.

"Fohner, take three men from your squad and setup two observation posts." Budzinski stood with his back to the township and pointed at his ten o'clock and two o'clock. "I want one a klick in that direction and the other a klick out there."

"Right, Sergeant," Fohner acknowledged the orders. "Smith, Coxwain, Szczygiel, you're with me!" The four Marines headed out toward the first position Budzinski had indicated.

"Miller," Budzinski directed his attention to his Third Squad leader. "Deploy the rest of Second Squad between the mortar pits and the settlement, inside the edge of town if it's defensible. Get a spotter on top of one of the taller buildings in case we have to cover First Squad with suppressive fire. It's just too damned quiet here, I don't like it!"

"Can do, Sergeant," Miller replied. She began sprinting toward the buildings, "Alright! You dirt bags heard the man. Let's go looking for trouble!"

Budzinski just shook his head, but he was smiling. Miller may be a seductress aboard ship, but she was one hundred percent Marine in the field.

The planet had a nineteen-hour rotation. Lt. Timmons had kept searching even after First Squad had changed to their reserve LOX bottles. As light from the local sun was fading they found a spiraling ramp off the basement of one of the larger buildings. As anxious as everyone from Commodore Achord down to Private Smith was to continue the search, good sense prevailed.

The Galileo and Leopard shuttles were moved to an open square that was two blocks from the building that appeared to house access to an underground facility. New observation posts were established on 120-degree radials and a kilometer out from the edge of the settlement. The original lookouts were called in, and the platoon began rotating back to the ship at four-hour intervals for hot chow and rest.

First Squad was assembled and ready as the sky above the abandoned city began to glow a dirty orange color. Timmons insisted on leading the descent over Budzinski's objections.

The spiraling ramp could have been contained within a two hundred meter diameter cylinder. Each circuit of the five meter by twenty-five meter ramp descended about fifteen meters in a modest 3% slope. The first obstacle was encountered seventy-five meters below the surface and fifty meters from the base of the ramp. The tunnel ended at the face of a massive blast door.

The First Squad 'circumvented' the locking mechanisms with a few shaped charges. They loosened the stiff door hinges and seals with satchel charges and pushed the overlapping pair of doors all the way open. About a hundred meters beyond the first door was a second door that was identical to the first. To the left and right of the large chamber were recessed doorways that were also four-and-a-half meters high by twenty-four meters wide like the one they had just entered.

Recessed in the meter thick doorways they found a control panel that opened two of the four blast doors leading in and out of the chamber. These two recessed doorways opened away from them and led to tunnels that were considerably longer than the one they had entered before spiraling upward.

Explosives were used to open the pair of doors that blocked the fourth doorway. A four hundred meter tunnel led to a ramp that spiraled downward. They encountered two more chambers similar to the first except that the next one had two passages leading up and two leading down. Timmons chose one door to force open and disabled the other from being opened by closing the manual isolation valves on the hydraulic cylinders that operated the locking pins.

When more explosives were brought down to deal with the door that blocked the descending passage from the third chamber, First Squad encountered a tunnel that was at least a kilometer long before spiraling downward.

This time the blast door opened into another long tunnel, not into an open chamber. About three hundred meters beyond the first door on this level was another door that opened toward them. The heavy doors were on their side of the doorway to keep a blast from their position from passing into whatever lay beyond the doors. There were no other doors between this last pair of doors. When the locking pins on this last door were blown off of the door facing the doors swung open a few meters without assistance. First Squad finally had access to a vast underground chamber. A significant breeze of fresh, clean air blew through the disabled doors and up the spiral ramp. The equipment that processed the atmosphere for the underground lair they had found on this abandoned rock appeared to still be functioning.

The out-rushing air was noticeable to the troops guarding the entrance even before the thin cloud of smoke and light debris from the explosion reached the surface. Budzinski didn't like it even before the sensors indicated that the air on the ramp was now perfectly safe to breathe.

"Fohner!" Budzinski shouted after requesting a direct channel to the squad leaders. "Make sure our watchdogs are awake. Miller! I want all three mortars manned. Carson! I've got a bad feeling about this. Try to talk the L-T into heading toward the surface. It's at least seven klicks uphill for you guys. We can pick up where we are tomorrow if we're not hip deep in dickheads. Whatever's down there'll still be there tomorrow!"

The Marines who were underground didn't have a transporter nexus with them. Transporter technology was to be protected at all costs. There was a five hundred pound bomb sitting next to the pad in each of the shuttles to insure that no trace of it could be found if a shuttle couldn't be flown back to the assault ship.

Budzinski opened his Navy communications channel, "Shuttle One, Budzinski here. Launch and come to my position," Budzinski was inspecting a five by twenty-five meter door in the side of the building with the descending tunnel. There was a ramp behind the sheet metal doors that went down to the opposite side of the basement from the spiral that went down to the underground warren.

These doors were on tracks much like old style aircraft hanger doors. Budzinski had one side open and was working on the other side when the shuttle arrived. He asked the Galileo pilot, "Do you think you can fly your shuttle down this ramp, across the basement and down the spiral ramp at the other end?"

The pilot took a quick look and figured he would have at least a meter of headroom if he were a meter above of the ramp. He answered, "Sure, no problem."

Budzinski asked the pilot to open the rear hatch. He scrambled in and took the copilot seat as the hatch swung closed, and they began their decent into the basement and down the spiral. He told the pilot, "If the shit hits the fan, give me a ninety-second delay on your destruct package and get out through the transporter."

The pilot blanched as he glanced at the bomb strapped down in his shuttle. He looked back at Budzinski and warned, "Sergeant, that thing will take out this whole area."

"Right," Budzinski acknowledged. "If you get overrun, we won't last ninety seconds anyway."

Budzinski keyed his connection with Timmons. "Lieutenant, I've got Shuttle One on its way down. Send someone out to show us where to park it."

"You're fucking crazy, Budzinski!" Timmons answered back before connecting to Carson. "Sergeant Carson, step out to the blast door and show Budzinski were to park the shuttle that he's bringing down."

Carson shut off the microphone and muttered, "What am I, the fucking parking valet now?"

Lt. Timmons had noticed that the telescoping bridge across a two-meter gap in the floor just inside the second blast door separated the rigid tunnel and dome from a shock mounted structure that was as large as the old Superdome. The spiraling tunnel had been completely dark, but there were light sources within the huge building. Whatever was here, the Sa'arm had gone to a lot of trouble to protect it.

"The last Sa'arm didn't turn off the lights on its way out of this place." Lt. Timmons looked around in wonder. "Lock and load, spread out, and grab anything that looks interesting."