Homeworld: A Military Science Fiction Novel (16 page)

It was either psychosomatic or it was just good to have a clear course of action to follow, but Dinah’s pain was beginning to lessen and the world wasn’t spinning as much. She also began gathering supplies from those who would never need the tools of war again.

.

A few moments later, Abigail called out, “Got all you can run with?” At Dinah’s nod, she continued, “Good, now follow me and remember, we stick to as much cover as we can. No sense making it easy for them.”

They set out in the direction they had last seen the Coalition combat cars heading. Their weapons were at the ready and adrenaline coursed through their veins as they weaved down the road.

Through the Breach

Taskforce Gamma II’s main body was beginning to converge on its primary target, the truly massive Tereshkova Memorial Spaceport. As a prime target in a ground war, the spaceport had been heavily fortified long ago. Any doubts about that fact were removed by the heavy defensive fire from the tri-barrel, fully automatic, armor piercing, high explosive round firing turret emplacements, mounted at intervals of one hundred meters along the spaceport’s ten-meter tall reinforced plasticrete walls.

Several Coalition tanks had already been reduced to smoke bellowing slag by the heavy defenses, but Rachel had few doubts that the spaceport’s defenses would soon fall as more and more of her taskforce streamed from the urban zone surrounding the ‘port.

Melzer gave out a “Woop!” of pure joy as he worked his magic, slinging the 80-ton hover tank all over the street at 72 KPH, allowing it to dodge the bulk of the incoming enemy fire. The mighty vehicles reactive armor took care of the few rounds that did manage to get through but the scars they left in the Brightside’s reactive armor were more than a scratch to the paint job.

Rachel took aim at the wall just under the turret that was currently paying close attention to the Brightside. As soon as the target was lined up, her foot slammed down on the pedal that fired the Brightside’s main gun. Her heavy tank jerked from the recoil of the shot as it began slipping sideways the low yield fusion shell, that had just left her main gun, reduced a good section of the wall and the turret that had been perched on top of it to rubble.

“There’s our door!” Rachel shrieked over the com system. “Herc, take out those fragging turrets before they cut us to shreds!”

“Yes, ma’am,” came the big man’s reply as fire from the Knight’s secondary guns raked the top of the remaining wall to the east and west of the breach ahead of them. The turret to the east vanished in flames as the Knight’s chattering weapons found the tri-barrel’s power cell and ruptured it. Parts of soldiers fell and hot metal rained from the sky from turret to the west as Herc continued his merciless onslaught.

Even through the cacophony of the battle and the sound dampeners in her helmet, Rachel heard the Flame Slinger’s main gun thunder as Michael added to the destruction she had already inflicted upon the wall itself which would give them a smoother ride as they entered the breach.

The Knight powered past the Brightside, plowing ahead through the opening they had just carved. “Herc is not the kind to miss out on a chance for glory,” Rachel thought as she was pushed back in her seat. Melzer punched it and the Brightside sped forward following the Knight inside the spaceport with the Flame Slinger not far behind.

The Knight and its crew never had a prayer.

Two armor piercing high explosive rounds, complements of the main guns of the Earth Republic Infantry tanks that had been waiting amid the rows of docked starships just inside the wall, simultaneously opened fire, their twin rounds ripped into the Knight, reducing it to a twisted mass of slag.

The remains of the Knight’s front end struck the ground with tremendous force as the impact of the enemy fire created a chain reaction, causing the Knight’s power supply to explode, sending it to tumble end over end into the side of a stationary transport vessel. The explosion that followed, as whatever had been loaded on that transport was apparently flammable, only added to the chaos of the battle as Rachel fought to bring the Brightside’s main gun around for a shot at the Earth Republic tanks as the Brightside flew past their position. Her foot worked the Brightside’s main gun firing pedal over and over as she pumped off three “from the hip” shots at them.

One shot ripped a hole in the unarmored side of a passenger liner, while another streaked over the two Earth tanks. With the third shot, Rachel got lucky. It struck the left tanks turret, penetrating the armored hull and igniting the high explosive rounds in its ammo feed. The ensuing explosion blew the turret off the tank, and slamming it into the barrel of the second tank, knocking it off target just as it prepared to fire.

Spinning her turret towards the second tank, Rachel pressed her foot down again, sending another tungsten penetrator into the second tank. Finding a chink in the Earth armor, it struck the tank’s power cell, causing it to erupt in a bright blue ball of light and sparks.

Rachel had no time to do anything but curse as her HUD alerted her to a fresh trio of Earth tanks sailing at them from between the rows of civilian ships. Michael was on his game though. The Flame Slinger had come through the breach in the wall last and it was able to engage them quickly.

Its main gun fired in such rapid succession, Rachel knew Michael had to have burnt out its barrel in the process. The Earth tanks broke their formation attempting to dodge the Flame Slinger’s fury, but the range was too short and Michael’s arc of fire too wide for anything to save them.

The right tank took a direct hit to its side, sending it spinning away as its power readings on the Brightside’s sensor display dropped by seventy percent as Rachel watched and smiled. The left tank took a glancing blow to its rear quarter as it veered at the last second before coming back onto its original intercept vector. The middle tank drove head on into Michael’s attack unable to veer of its present course without slamming into the side of some heavy transports to either side of his tank.

The first hit on it turned it into a fireball that continued to streak forward as the ones that followed nearly vaporized the entirety of what little of it remained. Return fire from the tank that had veered off, escaping heavy damage, blazed at the Brightside. Rachel heard Melzer screaming something indiscernible but clearly terror filled as the Brightside’s forward anti-grav units gave way and the massive tank’s bow dropped sharply to make contact with the metal of the spaceport’s tarmac.

The Brightside flipped, hard, onto its top and it went skidding as sparks flew in every direction as metal ground on metal. Only Rachel’s seat harness spared her from being thrown against the tank’s roof but even so, it wasn’t enough to save her from the jarring impact as the Brightside clanged into the landing support of a heavy freighter and her world went dark as her head snapped pack into her headrest.

When Rachel regained consciousness, she saw everything through a red haze as her eyes opened and her own blood flowed into them from the numerous cuts that scarred her face and forehead. Her primary tactical display looked to have been blown out from some kind of system wide power surge and tiny shards of it were embedded in her cheeks and lips. Only a miracle of blind luck had spared her eyes.

She could smell smoke and cooking flesh as she struggled to get her harness loose, but she already knew Melzer was dead. Finally giving up on the buckles that kept the harness strapped in, she pulled a knife from its sheath on her thigh and cut through the harness. She toppled onto the metal of the Brightside’s roof as the final strap of her harness gave way to her keen edged kabar.

Though the tank’s communication system was offline like everything else, the short-range com gear in her ear was still functional. “Michael! Report!” she screamed. Then her lungs coughed with the smoke that was quickly filling the interior of the Brightside.

Silence answered her as she realized just how trapped inside her own tank she was. The genius engineer team of the Mark IV had placed all the crew escape hatches on the top of the vehicle that now rested on its roof. The smoke would quickly kill her even if the tank’s power cell didn’t overload and blow long before any help could reach her. That is, unless Michael and the Flame Slinger were able to act quickly. Rachel had no idea how long she had been out. For all she knew, the Flame Slinger had already moved out of the range of her weak communication signal.

“Michael, report damn it!” she screamed again.

Her whole body slumped against the interior of her dying tank in relief as Michael finally answered.

“Hang in there, boss. The rest of our support just showed up and the Earth Republic tanks bugged out. We’re working on getting you out of there right now.”

United by Blood

Xarn’s whiskers twitched as the lift doors opened down the hall and outside of his ambassadorial quarters. He gracefully stood from where he had been meditating and sheathed his ceremonial da’kiva, a straight half meter long blade with an edge on one side, ending in a triangular tip, at his hip.

The da’kiva was the first weapon a Darian warrior was given by his clan and served to remind him of his duties to clan and empire. While he turned towards the entrance of his quarters, he fluidly grasped his rifle and took cover behind his richly appointed, and heavily reinforced, divan, that he had moved to provide cover as he prepared himself to kill whatever came through his door.

He was surprised when the chime which alerted him that someone wished to enter sounded. He had been expecting the reinforced doors just to blast open. Either his attackers were courteous or the person requesting entry was an ally. “Come in, Kal, and be welcome,” he called as the door slid open at his greeting.

The Human ambassador entered, his appearance transformed. Gone was the courteous smile and non-threatening body language. In its place, the determined and grizzled look of someone who had seen too much combat but was ready for more glanced at the rifle Xarn held at low ready and asked, “Seems that the brass don’t know what to do with an old diplomat right now. Do you still have a divan I can crash on?”

Xarn smiled widely as he smelled the musk that his people associated with the smell of a warrior just before entering battle emanating from the heavily armed and armored human at his door. “Of course, my old friend, come in.” Xarn’s greeting was broken off as his ears twitched forward towards the door. “And you had best do it quickly. It seems we are about to receive more guests.”

As Kal ran to take a defensive position next to Xarn behind the divan, he brought his own rifle up to bear. He had always fought against other species and never beside one. “First time for everything,” he thought as he prepared to kill his fellow humans who were so determined to decimate the Earth Republic, he was ready to kill or give his life for, whichever came first.

“Twelve of them and they have just exited the lift doors,” hissed Xarn. “Were you followed?” Xarn inquired. “Not by any friendlies. All our ground troops are too tied up at the moment to see to your security, my apologies ambassador,” Kal answered with a wry grin as he wracked his A453 grenade launcher. “How far down the hall are they?” Kal asked in a low voice. “They are about 30 meters from our position,” Xarn answered with a twitch of his ears. “Then in three seconds, would you be so kind as to close your front door?” Kal asked in a low drawl as he aimed his rifle mounted grenade launcher towards the door. At Xarian’s nod, Kal began to count three, two... Then he fired his weapon, sending a grenade out into the passageway. “Close!” Xarn barked.

As the dulled sound of an explosion rocked Xarn’s quarters, Kal smiled and said, “Air burst grenade, when you care enough to send the very best.” Xarn grinned showing all his teeth. Then quickly said, “I believe there are survivors.” His far more acute ears heard the dull slap of someone hitting the doors to his quarters. “I suggest we duck,” he said, flattening against the floor behind the divan. Kal quickly emulated his action just in time to hear the bone jarring explosion that sent the reinforced doors exploding inwards sending them flying over the heads of the two esteemed ambassadors and shattering the window behind their position sending before tumbling one hundred and twenty stories to ground level.

Xarn could hear Kal’s warrior roar building over the sound of air rushing out of the shattered windows equalizing the atmospheric pressure inside the building with that outside. They rose up as one from behind the divan and began filling the first Coalition soldier; brave enough to enter the perfect kill zone of the doorway, full of human and Darian created holes. The next met a similar fate while Kal yelled, “Down!’ He fired off another gift from his grenade launcher and collapsed to the floor alongside Xarn.

The resultant explosion was much louder, with shrapnel flying through Xarn’s quarters and striking, but not penetrating the divan. The quiet that followed after was rather eerie. Kal looked at Xarn with a silent question in his eyes. “Yes, my friend, the threat has been eliminated for now.” The Darian gracefully leapt to his feet and offered the human a hand up.

As he heaved Kal to his feet, Xarn said with a smile, “It is good to take advantage of any opportunity to get to know more about you humans. You were free to take your stand anywhere, Kal, alongside your own kind. Why did you choose to come die with me?”

Grinning as he reloaded his grenade launch with extra ammunition from his vest, Kal answered, “Two reasons. One, you have fought by my side on more occasions than I can count at the conference table. Two, you decided to stay on a doomed world and kill as many of our enemy as you could? Now why was that, Xarn?”

Xarn grinned, as well, saying, “Three reasons. One, your people are noble and know the meaning of honor. Two, I have come to know very many good people here worth dying for.” He clasped Kal by the shoulder. “As for the third, well I am expecting a very important call. I do hope your last grenade did not overly damage my communications equipment.”

At that moment, a silvery chime of bells began gently ringing from Xarn’s vid screen. “Ah, this must be the call I was expecting, if you will excuse me?” Xarn asked while Kal curiously slapped a fresh mag home into his rifle.

“Answer,” called Xarn and the vid screen was instantly filled with the ebony furred visage of an immense Darian. It appeared that we has sitting on the bridge of one of their warships as crewmembers went about their duties at stations of strange design, Kal was unfamiliar with, behind the large Darian.

“First Warlord Sattar,” Xaran said with a graceful and low bow, “It is a welcome pleasure to see you again.”

The apparent First Warlord Sattar returned the greeting by standing from his command chair and mirroring the low bow. Kal could tell this surprised many of the Darians visible on the screen behind him. He mentally noted that a First Warlord must outrank Xarn in the Darian hierarchy.

“First Partas Xarn of the Ka’tta and my old and honored teacher, it is a welcome pleasure to see you again,” came the bass booming voice of the Darian on the vid while the white gleam of his sharp fangs clearly showed that he meant what he said. There was something else Kal noticed. The bloodlust in Sattar’s eyes clearly burnt bright. Kal shifted his position and was glad that it was not directed at him.

“Needless to say, First Partas,” the First Warlord said resuming his seat, “we are all grateful for your wise counsel to the Emperor. For too long we have sat idly by and done nothing as the filth of the Coalition has grown and festered across the universe. We who serve know all too well of their covert aid given to the Ra-tids as we encounter them in skirmish after skirmish. We owe you a debt of gratitude for convincing the Emperor to free us from our unnecessary shackles, and allow us to strike back against the Coalition that has been behind so many of our own troubles.”

Xarn cocked his ears outwards and smiled as he said, “Officially, this taskforce does not exist, First Warlord Sattar. Please do not fail to keep that in mind as you crush our enemies.”

First Warlord Sattar chuckled. “Of course, First Partas Xarn, of course. I do hope to arrive in time to be able to greet you in person and that you do not single handedly dispatch them all yourself before we arrive,” Sattar said as he pointed behind Xarn at the mangled bleeding corpse on the floor. “Now if you will excuse me there is much to be done.” The Darians inclined their heads at one another and the screen went blank.

Xarn turned to Kal and smiled. “I believe the Emperor is considering your offer and would like more time in which to do so, Ambassador Kal.”

Kal just leaned against the shrapnel ridden divan and smiled. “Thank you, Xarn,” was all he could manage to say as the deep emotion of gratitude crossed his face.