Blood War 1: Last Stand of the Legion: Rift (27 page)

LYTEN SYSTEM

RIFT

FLEET HEADQUARTERS

BRIGADE COMMAND POST

ARMORED EXPEDITIONARY  BRIGADE

COMMAND GROUP

Colonel Dasan Sand was staring at video from one of the many security cameras that Fleet Headquarters had strategically placed throughout the Complex. The images were of the outside of the buildings in the complex and  gave him a unique view of the battle.

The Fleet Headquarters Complex was made up of six major buildings with a number of "smaller" out buildings. Smaller meant not
a hundred stories tall, instead they were support structures for the larger buildings and specific commands. The six major buildings were named after the first six systems where humans established colonies outside the Sol system. Sirius was the largest at two hundred stories and was where the Admiral and her staff had their offices, as well as the Emergency Combat Information System. Rigel Kent and Ly were the next largest with one hundred floors each. Ceti and Wolf were next at seventy-five floors each and finally there was at Bernards at fifty floors. The buildings were arranged according to their actual positions in relation to Sol and Earth. They were connected by wide elevated boulevards at a number of different levels for walking and electric move a-bouts. The main level was called Sol Plaza. Shops lined each boulevard with all manner of goods, services and food for the hundred thousand occupants. It was a small city before the battle had begun; now it was an ever-increasing mound of rubble as both sides tore the buildings and everything in them into debris as they fought.

The exterior of the buildings were not the sleek modern construction he had seen in most colonies. Instead each side of the building was a complex of flat and pitched roofs over offices that extended out of the building all the way to the top floor. It appeared as if a child had randomly placed block after block on top
of one  another to make the pyramid. There were square offices jutting out, rectangular offices with large landings and overhangs, decorative friezes, arcades, and projecting balustrades with stepped flat roofs covering the side of the building in what appeared to be a completely random confusion.

Yet the roofs and balconies had been planned carefully and built of the native red stone of Rift. The building had been constructed to meet Rift's rigid building codes to appear as natural as possible from afar. When viewed from any distance these protrusions, roofs, and projecting balustrades appeared to be the natural landscape of a mountain. The apparent random placement of every architectural detail was
, in fact, carefully planned to give the impression of the rugged side of a natural feature. Using a basic pyramid shape for the buildings, the seemingly random details made the Complex with its exterior cover in the red stone look for all the world like an office building had been somehow placed inside a hollowed out mountain. These exterior complexities of the building were giving his troopers an advantage. Defending against an attacker with so many places to hide with unexpected corners and cover gave any defender an advantage. Dasan needed every advantage he could find.

As Dasan studied the image from Sol Plaza he could see red and green tracers constantly being exchanged between the buildings. Explosions and rounds were combined into a colorful moving visual representation of the battle. It was almost beautiful if it had not been so deadly. An alien flashed across the boulevard
; Legion rounds bounced off the concrete but the alien made it. It was almost a metaphor for how the battle was going.

Most
of Dasan's 2
nd
Battalion was spread between Wolf, Sirius and Ceti; the three buildings that formed something of a line along the northern part of the complex. He only had a platoon in Rigil Kent. That platoon it was out on a limb because the aliens also had troops in the building. The aliens had strong holds in Bernards and Rigel Kent and were making frequent attacks to try and capture Ly. The Spike troops had completely disrupted the planned disposition of the battalion. The first hours of the battle had been a long bloody fight as both sides tried to consolidate their positions. When aliens landed their armored troops it had been a desperately close thing but Dasan had been able to consolidate his units into supporting positions but it was at a high cost.

Dewitt's engineers had done a tremendous job under fire in building strong points where they could in the complex. The
aliens had singled out Dewitt's engineers as priority targets. They knew just how much more difficult it would be to capture the complex if the engineers were able to finish their projects. Sand had lost Dewitt in the fighting as well as a number of the engineers’ senior enlisted.

Dasan's
3
rd.
Battalion at the Space Port had been crippled from the beginning after losing its entire command officer structure. Yet they were fighting as individuals and small groups throughout the Space Port massive complex. Despite being badly outnumbered he had seen the aliens pulling units from Fleet Headquarters to reinforce their effort at the Space Port. The 3
rd.
Battalion was putting up a heroic fight.

For the exercise Dasan had
the S3 shop break down opposition force into squad and fireteam size units and train them to act individually without direction from a overall command. Now 3
rd.
Battalion was showing how well they had been trained down to the individual trooper. The battalion was now surrounded and under attack by an ever-increasing number of aliens who were landing more and more troops using the Ports landing strips and landing pads. Yet 3
rd.
Battalion continued to inflict tremendous casualties on the aliens, but they were not slowing the alien attack. Unless Dasan could reinforce the Battalion they would eventually be overrun.

Dasan was standing in his makeshift command post in the lowest part of the building in the parking garage of Sirius
, surrounded by his command staff. Men and women knelt over their various communication and sensor equipment, monitoring the battle working constantly to update the battle situation hologram. Once they had made it inside the building it was the closest defensible space and in an ideal position. His command post was directly over the Admiral’s command center fifty floors below him. Dasan the command group set up next to an equipment building that gave them some protection from the rounds that were finding their way into the garage.

Dasan glanced at the list of dead and wounded that scrolled to one side of the holo. He recognized most of the officer
’s names and some of the enlisted. Most had been with him since the beginning of the Light Infantry Company. Corporal Sinic a Groombridger like himself, always smiling; Rodin, a taciturn Wolf; Nast, a Rigil Kent; Seurat, the old hand who should have retired but wanted to stay to be part of the new AI; Paz, a Ross that was widely felt to be the best looking female in the Brigade; all gone. The list went on and on. He could not allow himself the luxury of grieving for these men and women. That would come later but the list was too long.

The Xotoli were already landing larger troop
-carrying ships at the Space Port. That meant heavy infantry Dasan's Armored Infantry. The fighting outposts at the Port were already moving to their first scoot positions. They were cut off and surrounded with more aliens on the way. There was no way Dasan could reinforce them.

Dasan desperately needed the1
st Battalion, the Swift Boats and the Tarawa but after repeated requests the ECIC they had been unable to raise them on any type of comm. He was beginning to think that the Xotoli had found them and destroyed the Tarawa and the whole 1
st
Battalion. Without those reinforcements he was not sure they could stop the invasion. The Navy must be having just as bad a time given there was no slowdown in the invasion. If the Navy had been able to sortie any ships at all he expected them to have some effect on the invasion but he had seen none.

Nothing was looking good but they were not losing what ground they did hold.. What were the Xotoli up to
?  If he were the alien commander with the upper hand, he would be working to organize the units he had into some sort of coordinated attack but where? And with what? That made the boulevards between the buildings the most likely avenues for a large attack. If Dasan's troops could control those boulevards they could control the battle. Sand switched to his command frequency that would connect him with all of his battalion commanders and their staff.

"This is Rift 6 to all sixs. Repeat this
is Rift 6 to all sixs. Move your units to defensive positions covering the boulevards entrances into your buildings. The boulevard entrances are vital. The main attacks will come over those connectors. It is vital that we control them in every building we occupy."

Dasan listened as his
commanders acknowledged his order. The battle situation holo almost immediately showed troopers moving to establish defensive positions overlooking boulevards. At this point in the battle, with as little knowledge on what the opposition might be up to next, at least do the obvious.

"Sir
."

Dasan turned to see Aijuba standing next to him hold
ing a report. Red and green symbols moved across its surface as the battle raged. It showed the Ceti building and the Legion units’ positions and aliens attacking that position.

"Yes, Sergeant
?"

"Another alien wave is making an attack on the fiftieth floor of Ceti.
They are moving down the stairs now. There are reports of some sort of heavy weapons being unloaded."

Dasan looked over at Aijuba, their armor helmets  hinged back so they were not dependent
on communications. She looked concerned.

"I'm not sure heavy weapons will be of any use in this fight."

"They have surprised us before. If they are able to control the upper floors of Ceti they could set up support for their attacks."

"Does Gass have enough troops to push the aliens off the upper floors?"

"He just advised he was using a platoon-sized element cobbled together from various units and was moving up the stairs."

"Good. Gass is proving to be quite a combat leader. What was his rank?"

"He was one our new Lieutenants."

Dasan turned back to the holo and stared
as more red arrows began to move down Ceti as the green arrows of Gass's troops moved up to meet them. Aijuba turned to leave when Dasan said,

"Aijuba."

"Yes, sir."

"I remembered what those Spikes reminded me of earlier. Do you recall in our
history studies something called airborne troops?"

"Of course
. I should have remembered, they jumped from aircraft when wars were still fought in a planet’s atmosphere, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, they were used before the main force landed. The idea was to capture critical crossroads, bridges etc. Their other main job was to sow confusion. When they were dropped behind enemy lines they would regroup and attack anything they could find prior to the main force landing. That is what those Spikes were
- they were light infantry paving the way for the heavier armored troops."

"The troops from the Spikes were very good troops who do not seem to fear death. They are formidable."

"Yes, it was the same with the airborne troops. They were all elite volunteers. We will need to develop the same type of troops before our first invasion."

Aijuba stared at Dasan
as he studied holo, and his face was bathed in the red and green light of the symbols. It was as if he was absorbing the battle and its lessons learned through the light.  He was already thinking past this battle to the next one and the future needs for that conflict. She was amazed. All great leaders thought ahead and were supremely confident of their own success no matter how dark the outcome might appear. He was growing into the great leader she had always thought he had in him. Now he was becoming that leader right before her eyes.

Dasan turned and met her eyes.

"I have learned much from you and your Wolf training old mate."

Aijuba was startled
that he knew what she was thinking. She smiled a small smile and said,

"Oh, I think I just helped a little along the way."

"Since when has My Wolf been modest."

Aijuba lost her composure when he called her My Wolf
, she actually flushed with a sudden sexual desire for him. He only called her that in bed. She had been taught from early in training that war and sex brought out emotions that were very similar and equally as strong. It is why Wolves had such strong desires when not in battle - it was the closest thing to the high of war that one could attain without battle. Dasan was becoming a true leader to have the confidence to tease in the midst of commanding a battle.

A massive explosion broke the calm of the Command Post
throwing concrete and metal throughout the garage.

LYTEN SYSTEM

RIFT

FLEET ANCHORAGE

BATTLESHIP ROW

BATTLESHIP PHOENIX

Lt. J.G. James Hiroshi could only stare at the battle going on in the harbor. He had the Phoenix fighting with what few weapons were operable. The aliens' fighters had realized there were bigger and better targets in the harbor than the Phoenix. Their attacks on the Phoenix had slackened as they concentrated on the other ships still in service.

Hiroshi thought that against
the dark side of Rift, the battle was almost beautiful with all of the colors of the explosions and various types of weapons. He could see the cruiser Mexico City take another hit by a torpedo. Debris was thrown out into the harbor by the explosion. As the debris came closer to Hiroshi,  he realized, to his horror, that it was not just metal and equipment from the Mexico City, but bodies mixed with the debris. Bodies. He touched the display screen and said,

"Magnify."

Hiroshi could see more bodies in the large hole that had been blown in the Mexico City but they were in their red evacuation suits. Crewmembers were jumping into space with no idea how or if they would be rescued. How bad must it be in the interior for experienced sailors to take that chance instead of staying with their ship? That is when Hiroshi realized the role that the Phoenix could play. He turned to other sailors manning the bridge and said,

"We might not be able to get into this fight but we can damn sure save as many of our sailors as possible. I want all launches, Swift Boats, tugs and anything else that
can fly to launch and begin picking up all survivors they are able to find. Notify the infirmary we are going to be receiving wounded from other ships."

"Aye, aye sir."

"Put out over 'all ships' comm that the Phoenix is accepting all launches from any ship in the harbor. Advise the hanger decks to prepare to recover any and all launches other ships in the harbor."

"Aye, aye sir."

"Next, put on the Legionnaries 'all-hands' channel that we are accepting any Legionnaire without a ship or who is damaged."

"Aye sir."

"Sir, if we notify the Harbor Master they could help direct vessels to us."

Hiroshi turned. It was the youngest
tech on the bridge.

"Excellent suggestion
, sailor. Put me through to the Harbor Master."

The young
tech turned to his comm set and raised the Harbor Master.

"Phoenix
, this is the Harbor Master."

"Harbor Master
, be advised we are fully powered up and all critical spaces are manned. We are ready to accept any and all survivors from other ships. In addition we just put out a message that we are also accepting all Legionnaires without a ship or damaged. Our Hanger Bays are manned and ready. We are also launching any and everything that can pick up survivors in the harbor."

"Roger Phoenix
, that is good to hear. My rescue crews need an additional facility for the wounded. I will advise. Do you need any assistance?"

"Negative at this time
. I will advise. This is Phoenix out."

"
Harbor Master out. Good luck Phoenix."

Hiroshi turned to the rest of the bridge personnel. Everyone was now busy with the myriad of communications. They were back in the battle even though they could not fight
; they could damn sure help save lives.

Petty Officer Akule Chen heard the announcements from the bridge. Now like everyone else on board, it was his job to help carry out those orders. He was staring at the situation board trying to think what and where he could find the power and life support to open additional space for the extra personnel and vessels that would be heading their way.

"Ski
, did you hear that announcement. We need more spaces with life support and more power to the Hanger Bays."

"Yeah, we do..." Padereswski said.

Neither man had the answer. They both stared at the board trying to find ways to could squeeze out more power and reroute it to the spaces.

"We could start with Legion birthing and their ready room. There are no Legionnaires on board and when we recover them those spaces won't be needed
," Ski said.

"No, I thought of that. One
, not both. I think we will find a need for the ready room. Let's just take out the birthing compartment and keep the ready room."

Ski glanced over at Chen
; he had come a very long way in a very short time. He was already ahead of him with that last decision.

"You
’re right. Should I begin to make the switchovers?"

"Yeah Ski
, make sure there is no one in those compartments before you reroute the power and life support."

"Got it."

Chen stared at the board trying to figure out how to support what he knew would stretch their power and life support. In the Hanger Deck five decks high on the aft side, was the Primary Flight Control, the Maintenance Division as well as the flight deck personnel’s spaces between launches. He had to keep those at full power no matter what. The Flight Balcony was the only continuously manned space on the Hanger Deck, the primary Flight Control Officers and Assistant Flight Officer ran things from that balcony and the spaces immediately aft. The Flight Balcony hung into the Hanger Deck so the flight control officers and their staffs could coordinate the take offs and landings by sight as well as by display.

He searched for spaces in the battleship for non-essential operations that he could cut off for more power to the Flight deck and
its operations. It was going to be a real juggling match to find the power needed, but he Akule, never doubted that he could do the job. The stresses of the last hours had changed him. He was now a real sailor with a ship to save.