El Tercio Corazon Negro
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I don't own Castle as I don't own many things. Rating: K Time: An AU future
Author's note: This story is set in the same fictional universe as my story Vengeance, but none of the characters from that story appear here.
"A Catholic!" Shrieked Thomasina. "They're nothing but idolaters, worshipping saints."
"We venerate saints. We do not worship them. And young Thomasina is likely to be filled with bullets quite soon and not the Holy Spirit."
"Do you have any evidence that this Captain Pi will actually attack us?" Elder Wachter said.
"We have communication intercepts given to us by the Pomeranian Navy. These show that Pi intends to attack you."
"Then why does not Pomerania defend us, if we actually need defending?" Von Demming demanded.
"The Pomeranian Navy amounts to eight pretty good frigates, of which two or perhaps three, are in for yard maintenance at any time, and they need at least three to protect Pomerania itself. That only leaves two or three to look after Pomerania's interest elsewhere. They are not interested in you."
"I am curious as to how a ground combat force could attack a pirate who has a spaceship?" Elder Wachter said.
"Enough!" Barked von Demming. "If this Pi arrives, and I do say if, we will greet him with Christian meekness and allow him to take what he needs. Certainly, once we talk to him, he will see that we are no threat to him and perhaps we can convince him to give up his sinful ways" He stood up. "We have heard what you have to say, sir. We will not allow you to profane our planet with your violence. We have treated you politely, but now you must go. Now!"
Esposito and his officers rose. "I thank you for your hospitality, Elder von Demming, and Elder Wachter, and the other Elders. We bid you good bye."
"We should stone them, father!" Shouted Thomasina, getting some muttering support.
Von Demming, perhaps realizing what stoning Esposito might bring down on his colony, shook his head. "That is not a Christian thought, daughter. They will depart in peace."
Once back aboard Valeria Victrix the ship rose in the air and soon was back in orbit around the planet. Esposito called together his staff, his battalion commanders and the commanders of his separate companies.
"Gentlemen, as we thought, they did not accept our offer. That means we go to plan B."
The ship left orbit and settled down on the furthest of Eden's three moons. Being tidally locked, the moon showed the same face to Eden. They were on a large ridge that had a fine view of the planet below them which was just what they needed. All non-essential systems were taken off line and all essential systems were reduced to the minimum. No active sensors were used and the neutrino emissions from the fusion plant would be lost in the neutrino emissions of the sun.
They waited for five days.
"Ship coming out of FTL, sir." Called a sensor rating to his commander. Esposito and the captain were soon watching the ship as it sped towards Eden.
"That has to be Pi's ship." Esposito said.
"It matches what we got as intel from the Pomeranians, sir. And he's headed straight for the colony. He's not broadcasting now, but I'll bet he will once he's on the ground. If it's in clear, we'll know who it is and why he's there."
An hour passed and then they began picking up radio transmissions from the planet.
"They're sending out scouts to make sure Eden is as defenseless as they thought. The rest of the traffic is getting everyone ready for a raid. It's Pi or someone just like him."
Esposito grinned wolfishly. "We'll wait until tomorrow to let them think Eden is undefended, then move." He checked his watch. "Say, seventeen hours from now?"
At the appointed time, Valeria Victrix left the third moon and did its best to keep the other two moons between it and the pirate ship, although there was no indication that the pirate's radar or lidar was operating.
Once on the other side of the planet, they dipped into the atmosphere and headed for the colony, landing ten miles from the pirate craft.
The troops began to debark. The first vehicle off was the regiment's only helicopter, a small thing only capable of carrying two fully armed and equipped passengers in addition to the pilot. Corporal Chen and his radioman were taken to a small clearing that was several miles from the center of the colony towards the west. Then the two soldiers had to wait for the other two men of their four man stick. The stick consisted of a leader armed with an assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher, the radioman with an assault rifle, a rifleman with a heavier marksman's scoped rifle, and a machine gunner.
"Okay, people." Chen growled when his stick was ready "let's get our asses in gear. Regiment is gonna want to know what's happening. The chopper is gonna take forever to go around the colony and set up the other team on the east side."
They moved rapidly, but cautiously, through the forest that surrounded the colony until they came to a hill that overlooked Eden. Below them was a scene of destruction. Buildings were on fire, corpses were strewn about, and the living were gathered together in terrified bunches.
"Cholo, "Chen whispered, although there was no need to, "send the code. We're in place and Eden is under attack."
The radioman nodded and sent a string of clicks that should pass unnoticed by anyone listening in. Then the stick settled down to watch and wait.
Most of the regiment was just foot mobile. Such vehicles as the regiment had were formed into a convoy and headed towards the pirate ship. Colonel Esposito, his staff and a small tactical headquarters led off. Next was the regimental surgeon and the aid station. Last was the 75mm infantry gun company, towing trailers with their ammunition. Hanging onto the vehicles wherever they could were the remaining members of the reconnaissance company.
Spaceships need to be sturdily built, but even if they expect combat, they are not armored. Any conceivable amount of armor would be vaporized by a nuclear tipped missile. Accordingly, the infantry guns could penetrate the hull of the pirate ship and render it immobile.
Any soldier from two centuries and more previous to this time would easily recognize the weapons the regiment and all other armies used. When the Triple Alliance of the United States, China and Russia had decided that wearing themselves out competing with each other made less sense than combining to run Earth and the Core, the wealthy early colonies of Earth, they forbade any research involving weapons. They wanted no other country to make some sudden breakthrough that would lessen their own overwhelming military power. In addition, none of the three really trusted the other two.
The guns were dug in and camouflaged, the regimental tactical headquarters set up a hundred yards behind the gun line, and the regimental aid post behind that.
Private Colon walked over to Surgeon-Lieutenant Marroquin, who had encouraged him to study medicine. "Lieutenant, why did the pirates land their ship here? It's kilometers away from the colony."
"They landed here because they wanted to be sure they could get away if someone like us was at the colony waiting in ambush. First, they sent out a small scouting party. When they found no danger, the pirates left their ship and attacked."
"Why not move the ship and land where we did once there was no danger?"
Marroquin shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps they are lazy."
Meanwhile the second battalion began the long march around the pirate ship to place themselves to the east of the colony and the pirates. The third battalion had an easier march to get to the west of the colony and the pirates. The first battalion was the reserve and would get between the pirates and their ship if possible.
The troops marched through the forests of Eden and it was well after dark before everyone was in position. By that time the once peaceful colony of Eden was the scene of murder, rape and looting.
Corporal Chen watched the colony from his vantage point.
"We need to send a message to command. They apparently had some sort of communion wine down there and the pirates are into it and are starting to party. Good for us 'cause they'll be drunk or hung over when we hit 'em. Bad for the people down there, but they had their chance. "Chen pulled out a one-time pad and began to compose as short a message as he could.
The two larger moons were down by the time everything was in place. Colonel Esposito looked at Captain Llannes, the commander of the reconnaissance company. "Okay, Juan, time for your boys to kick this thing off."
Llanes had wanted to lead the assault on the pirate ship himself, but Esposito had said no. He tapped his senior platoon leader on the shoulder. "Go."
The recon company was fully equipped with stealth suits and tonight they all carried suppressed pistols and submachine guns. They would be invisible to the naked eye, very hard to spot with infrared light and very quietly deadly.
Two platoons headed for the ship while the third, minus two recon teams, got between the ship and the village to stop any pirates who might escape from the ship.
Lance Corporal Ebro had been a soldier for over thirty years and had no desire to be anything more than an infantryman. He was the first soldier at the bottom of the lowered ramp of the pirate ship. He could see no crewman and so ran up the ramp. No one was there. Ebro turned and flashed an infrared light three times, the signal that they were aboard the ship. The rest of the two platoons were aboard before he was finished sending his message.
They went up one deck and found the engine room. There was a guard of sorts there. The man was passed out on an old, dirty mattress with a young, naked girl passed out next to him. Corporal Sanchez injected them both with something that would keep them out for hours.
"Okay, kid," He said to Private Doyle, "use the flexicuffs to secure both of them to that stanchion there."
As Doyle dragged the man away, he spoke. "How come we knocked the pirate out rather than just slit his throat? He's a pirate, so he'll get executed later, right?"
Sanchez shook his head. There was always one dumb troop that never got the word. "When we go back to civilization, people are going to want to know how we ended up with this ship. We want to have some nice live pirates around so we can show everyone who we took the ship from. Otherwise we gotta tell them that these dead bodies we have were all really nasty pirates whose ship we took and not a bunch of honest people? Comprende? Now go tell Sergeant Blanco my team has the engine room and then get your ass back here."
The next deck up, Sergeant Moreno opened the hatch and was almost overpowered by the stench.
"What the hell is that?" Lance Corporal Marin asked, moving backwards.
"Slave quarters. There most be three or four hundred all jammed together in there. No damned pirates are going to be in there. Not with that smell. It'd gag a maggot."
The next two decks were similar, but had far fewer people and the deck after that was completely empty of slaves.
TBC