AN: Well, now the real war is finally starting. Not sure how happy I am with my writing in some of this chapter but I may just be over-critical. Let me know. Also, there will be another "chapter" coming in the next few days, but it'll be more of an extended Codex entry on Alliance military vehicles than any continuation of the story. Just a heads up.
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16-05-2157
Unknown time
Unknown alien ship
Lovell System?
"Dios Mio Serviceman! Will you cut that out?!" she all but shouted at the positively grating weapons operator who froze with his fingers millimetres away from another round of incessant tapping.
"S…sorry Ma'am" spluttered the young Terra Novan. "I was just…sorry Ma'am."
"Look, I get it. I do. You're bored out of your skull and frustrated. Well news flash Sanders, we all are! But if you think that gives you the right to drain our remaining sanity, then you're very sorely mistaken. ¿Entiende?"
"Aye Ma'am! Won't happen again Ma'am!" Sanders recited, snapping to attention as the conditioned response to the dressing down from superior officer.
"Good. Make sure it doesn't." She quietly said before closing her eyes to make yet another attempt to get some sleep.
Lieutenant Commander Raquel Martinez didn't particularly enjoy losing her temper or snapping at subordinates, but she had a remarkedly low tolerance for bullshit and skirting/breaching regulations. Some of her crew might call her a tyrant, sure, but she was never unfair. She simply favoured a disciplined and professional ship. But if there was one thing that would make her snap, it was pointless, aimless and annoying human noise!
Then again, as she'd said, Martinez did understand and almost couldn't blame Sanders…almost. They'd been locked up in this damn cell ever since their escape pod had been boarded, what? Three days ago? Four? The aliens had not-so-kindly confiscated all their wrist pads, data pads etc, which compounded by the fact that the cell didn't have any day-night cycle, made determining how much time had passed almost impossible. They couldn't even judge by meal times, considering they hadn't had any.
Occasionally the boredom was briefly interrupted by one or more of the spiky bird-like aliens coming in to at least bring them water or to seemingly take scans of them with some type of orange holographic wrist computer. One time after a brief scuffle that ended in Sanders and one of her Lieutenants being on the receiving end of shock batons, they even forcibly took blood samples from the six of them. Martinez really didn't want to think what they'd do with human medical data. Maybe it was something as innocuous as trying to determine what humans could eat so they wouldn't starve, or maybe they were trying to work out how to kill the entire Human race with biological weapons... Then again, sometimes the aliens would simply just try to establish communication with their prisoners. Such conversations were understandably limited given that Humans can't speak bird. That and the fact that Martinez' crew had very little desire to chat with the bastards who'd murdered their comrades.
Ultimately though, communication would soon be vital whether the survivors liked it or not. That is if they wanted to actually express that they did in fact need food to survive. Unless of course, the birds were intentionally trying to starve them to death, but what would be the point of that? For science? It would be easier for them if they just lined them up against the wall and put a bullet in the back of each of their head! Or better yet, just space them. Those and a hundred other theories and potential fates had been bouncing around the cell for days already, if only to curb the boredom. It really wasn't working.
Regrettably, Martinez' latest attempt to sleep was also interrupted, this time by the now familiar sounds of the cell door beeping and what she presumed was a decontamination airlock cycling. By this point it was common enough that the biggest reaction it prompted was a few glances at the door. Even she couldn't be bothered to get up to meet whatever spiky murderer had come to annoy them today. A lazily turned head in their general direction was the best they were going to get.
But when the door finally slid open, Martinez' eyes were met by at least some fresh stimulation. Two of the regular looking guards were as she would have expected: Full (presumedly) military-grade hardsuit with a fully enclosed and opaque visored helmet; carrying some kind of angular alien assault rifle. But there was a third alien, who stood in the centre of the three. Now it? It was definitely new. Clearly still the same species but unlike the other two they'd seen bereft of helmet; this one had a narrower waist and was generally more lythe in general. Instead of the cranial spines extending over the top and back of the scalp, they stopped on the forehead, leaving the top of the head as well as around the eyes with exposed skin. Sexual dimorphism was the most likely explanation. Would that make this a female of the species then? Or were all the others female and this was a male? It's not like it's rare for female animals to be bigger than males in the animal kingdom. But she wasn't sure if that stretched to birds, especially sentient bird people.
Whatever the facts, this new alien's bright green eyes swept over each of the beleaguered occupants of the cell before focusing on the Lieutenant Commander, fixing her with a stare. A stare that could honestly mean fucking anything. But Martinez wouldn't be left guessing long as it soon spoke in the two-toned voice they'd all come to expect, although with a noticeably higher pitch.
"Come." It said whilst gesturing towards the cell door. The word coming relatively firmly but seemingly free of aggression.
Wait what?! English! That was definitely English! Had they really already started translating their languages? That was both incredible whilst simultaneously being potentially very dangerous. Not having your enemy be able to understand your comms or data if they managed to intercept it, was a useful tactical/strategic advantage. Losing that advantage so soon? That was not good news.
The surprise on all their faces must have been evident, even to a species which probably expressed themselves in completely different ways. Because the damn bird covered it's mouth and let out a short warbling noise that Martinez could only interpret as a sign of amusement. She immediately sat up and glared viciously at the creature.
"Don't you fucking dare laugh at us, you beak-faced bastard!" She positively growled, noting that every other of her fellow prisoners had equally tensed up at the supposed mockery.
The beak-faced bastard in question clearly sensed the sudden aggression, quickly taking a step back and raising both it's three-fingered hands in a similar disarming gesture to what humans would use when they attempted to calm down an angry spouse. The two guards both reacted quickly, shouldering their angular weapons and aiming them at Martinez, who refused to show weakness and stared them down. The helmetless alien looked between the two guards and spoke rapid intelligible words whilst gesticulating towards her. A few very tense moments passed before the guards relaxed and the alien made an effort to try again.
"Come," it said again before its head darted down to the holographic display on it's wrist to look at something. A few seconds and it looked back up and locked eyes with her again. "Pleece?
"I think that was meant to be a 'please' Ma'am." Interjected Staff Lieutenant Reiley.
"Yeah, no shit." Muttered Sanders.
"Oh woopdy fucking do! They think they can just be polite now and we'll all be chums. Makes up for everything doesn't it? Murdering cunts!" Came the angry outburst from Leading Serviceman Murdoch.
"Stow it, Killick!* Apologies Ma'am" The Lieutenant said turning back to his captain.
"Sorry Ma'am" muttered Murdoch.
Martinez gave the three of them a dangerous withering stare but stayed quiet. She instead looked back towards the alien's outstretched hand. What would happen to her if she went with them? What would happen if she refused? Sigh She didn't really have much of a choice did she? So she made a decision and swung her legs over the side of the bunk and stood up, before walking towards the trio of alien soldiers.
"I'll see what buzzard face here has to say. Maybe I can even get us something to eat." She said, addressing her crew without turning back round.
"But Ma'am! What if…" started Reiley.
"I'll be fine Lieutenant. Don't cause any trouble whilst I'm gone."
"Aye Aye" he said, defeated.
The alien seemed much happier, maybe even excited given how it was almost bouncing on it's toes. And it repeated "come…please." This time the pronunciation much closer to correct, although it still sounded disconcerting from the vocal cords of a creature that was never meant to say it.
The two of them were then escorted out of the cell, through the decontamination airlock and out into a wide corridor painted white with red panelling. "The two of them" because she was starting to suspect that she wasn't the only one who seemed to be under guard there. The two, armed aliens had been met by another outside and they were quite obviously keeping an eye on Mr/Ms Talkative as much as they were looking at her. That was definitely weird. She'd presumed that the alien had been an officer or something, but maybe not, but least it didn't have it's wrists locked in a pair of electronic handcuffs…
Regardless, they began walking down the brig's corridor, that was lined with identical cell doors complete with monitors depicting the cell's unfortunate denizens. At least now she knew that more of her crew had survived and been 'recovered'. After a short distance they came to a sliding door on the opposite bulkhead that led into some kind of interrogation chamber containing a faux wooden table with a very spartan metallic stool positioned in front of it. The tallest of the guards grabbed Martinez' shoulder and very roughly forced her down onto the stool, much to the audible alarm of the other bird.
"Ooph! That wasn't fucking necessary now was it?! I was already going to sit down, pendejo!"
Of course, it didn't understand and if it did, she doubted it would give a fuck. Instead, it grabbed her wrists and connected the handcuffs to a metal pole that rose from the floor in-front of her. At which point the other two guards left the room, leaving just Martinez, the polite bird and the pendejo bird standing by the door. Polite bird looked at the cuffs and entered a brief conversation with the dickhead who gave little more than sharp single word answers to whatever was being asked. The discourse evidently didn't go in Politey's favour as they visibly slumped a little, letting out a weird, almost inaudible hum. Picking itself up, it looked down at it's holoscreen again and read, what Martinez now presumed was a list of words the aliens thought they'd translated. A theory that was vindicated when the alien looked back up at her and slowly spoke in barely pronounceable English;
"Me…sorry" gesturing to the cuffs straining her arms forward. Was it truly sorry, she wondered. Or was it simply the tired fucking cliché of Good Cop, Bad Cop. Wouldn't surprise her to be honest. Not willing to believe it's sincerity, she just glared.
That seemed to make it a bit nervous as it proceeded to wring its hands as it glanced at the guard and back to Martinez. So, it decided to try a different approach: placing both hands over the centre of its chest, it slowly said, "Nextra." Then pointing at the guard, back at themselves and then gestured all-around before saying, "Turian." The meaning of that being pretty damn clear: Personal name followed by the name of their species. 'Turian' huh? So they finally had a name to pin to the crime.
'Nextra' then gestured to her hopefully and then to a holographic image of her cellmates that had materialised in the centre of the table. The intent of action obvious. They'd given their name and now they wanted her to reciprocate. That much she could do, but she'd have to be careful not to divulge anything that could harm humanity. This one might seem nicer than the others but Martinez still hated it as she hated all of them. She damn well wasn't going to trust it, that was for sure. So, not without an ounce of reluctance, she gestured to herself and bitterly declared, "Raquel" before pointing at the hologram, "Human".
'Nextra' very slowly repeated the words, making half a dozen attempts to emulate the pronunciation with their flanged alien vocals. Once they were content that they'd got it right, they checked their holoscreen again.
"Sorry. Attack…Mistake."
A mistake?! "Well, if it was such a fucking mistake then why are we being held like WE'RE the criminals, when YOU attacked US! You won't even give us our food for fuck sake!" she exploded, knowing full well that this 'Nextra' was unlikely to understand even a tenth of what she said considering the limited extend of the her translated vocabulary.
Nextra was clearly startled by the venomous anger of the response but like Martinez presumed, she didn't seem to grasp the actual meaning. That was apart from one word that they clearly recognised and latched onto.
"Food? Raquel…no food?"
Martinez found her anger rapidly cool at the obvious confusion (at least she thought it was confusion) in Nextra's voice. Had they presumed that the Tours' crew was being fed?
"No, we have not been fed…umm…Humans no food. Please food."
The response to Martinez's answer was unexpected to say the least as it was now Nextra's turn to be angry, just not at her. The Turian's crest constricted and its mandibles flared before it stood up and marched towards Sergeant Pendejo by the door, shouting right in his face. The taller Turian actually visibly shrunk under the verbal bombardment, showing the first signs that Nextra might have at least some authority. After a solid minute of this, the guard glanced at Martinez before making a rapid retreat back out into the corridor.
"Nextra sorry. Raquel…ship, food?" Nextra asked, walking back to the table.
"Yes. Our ship had food." Martinez replied before adding under her breath, "fucking obviously…"
If Nextra understood or even heard the snide comment, they didn't react to it, simply saying, "Turian bring."
"That's…a relief to hear. We were really starting to get hungry in there."
Once again, Nextra showed no signs of comprehending what she said but seemed at least mollified. That was until a new, distinctly unhappy voice came over an intercom system. They appeared to have a brief but impassioned argument, but it was obvious that the voice was that of a superior officer by the way Nextra flinched under it's tone. When the voice ceased, Nextra looked, deflated? Letting out that annoyed hum from earlier, they manipulated the haptic display on her wrist. The image of her crew vanished and was replaced by a number of 3D images: a rough chart of the Hua Mulan system; a map of their spiral arm of the galaxy; two Alliance warships (a light cruiser and a frigate) and a representation of Shanxi.
"Ships, soldiers, colonies…number? Where?" they asked seemingly reluctant.
Aaaand there it is! Mistake my ass! The fake apologies, the faux concern, the food! It was all just to build a rapport before probing her for information. Some tactics really are universal it seemed. Well, if the beak-faced sonsabitches thought they were getting a fucking thing out of her then they had another thing coming. But she knew exactly what she WOULD do and that was fall back on the old PoW mantra:
"Raquel Martinez, Lieutenant Commander Systems Alliance Navy, Service Number Romeo Mike 0042981."
Nextra's was clearly confused by the answer which obviously failed to come even remotely close to answering their question. They tried again…and again…and again. Sometimes the same question, sometime they were more 'innocent' and innocuous. It didn't matter though; the answer would always be the same now that they'd shown their true colours (not that that had been particularly surprising).
"Raquel Martinez, Lieutenant Commander Systems Alliance Navy, Service Number Romeo Mike 0042981."
She estimated it took roughly half an hour before Nextra, who had been previously pretending to be on her side (definitely the good cop), finally lost their patience, shouted something and then deflated again, covered their face with hand. They spoke sharply into their comm and seconds later, the pendajo guards burst through the door, and dragged her back to her cell. Hopefully her defiance wouldn't prevent the promised food from being delivered, but if it was between her crew starving to death for the safety of humanity or giving these bastards the keys to kill thousands (maybe even millions) of innocent civvies and fellow servicemen, she knew which choice she'd make.
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*Killick - Naval slang for a Leading Serviceman. A "Killick" being a type of fouled anchor used in rank insignia for Leading Seaman in multiple Earth terrestrial navies.
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[AIS Central Database]
[Observation Log SSV AUDACIOUS (R-05) / Week 22 / 2157]
[Security Clearance: COBALT 4]
[+]
[Enter ID]
[FREDRIKSEN-H/FH0000121]
[Enter Password]
[*************]
[Enter Authentication Code]
[********]
[+]
[/ACCESS GRANTED\]
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[162300AMAY57]
[23:00] – Battlegroup SITREP 3-2 reads "Ship status reports: / Cruisers KATHMANDU, LVIV, LHASA (main group) – Operational / BRISTOL (patrol/escort Group) – Minor damage, FTL inoperable / TRIPOLI (withdrawn) – Major damage / Frigates: SATSUMA, AUSTERLITZ, GETTYSBURG, RIVER PLATE (main group) – Operational / ALAMO, CORAL SEA, ISONZO (patrol/escort group) – Operational / ISANDLWANA (patrol/escort group) – moderate damage, manoeuvrability degraded / KALINGA (withdrawn) – Critical damage /
[23:12] – Repair tender APIS transits Shanxi-Alpha Relay with KALINGA and salvaged alien cruiser under tow. Escort ALAMO heads back towards Shanxi.
[23:37] – Civilian evac convoy Echo-07 [Auxiliaries GULF OF ADEN, HUDSON BAY and TOKYO BAY with escorts CORAL SEA and ISONZO] departs Shanxi orbit en-route to Shanxi-Alpha.
[23:40] – AUDACIOUS completes reposition burn inside outer asteroid belt.
[23:44] – AUDACIOUS deploys next stealth reconnaissance satellite (C19) into predetermined position.
[23:49] – KATHMANDU completes reposition of main group 100,000km further from Shanxi-Theta.
[23:54] – Activity detection from Shanxi-Theta relay. AUDACIOUS interrogating.
[23:55] – Shanxi-Theta activity confirmed. Relay preparing for multiple large mass transits. Estimate between 30-40 high tonnage vessels. Report relayed to KATHMANDU.
[23:55] – KATHMANDU transmits system-wide order. Reads: / FLASH / FLASH / FLASH / To all ships from the Battlegroup Commander. Heavy enemy presence reported preparing to transit relay. Initiate DELTA Contingency and avoid contact. All civilian and auxiliary traffic is to evacuate the system at the earliest opportunity. In absence of further orders, independent action is authorised. Good luck! / - Message ends.
[23:58] – Battlegroup initiating DELTA Contingency: Main group begins conducting fast withdrawal to Shanxi-Alpha relay. BRISTOL, ALAMO and ISANDLWANA moving to hide within the inner and outer asteroid belts.
[23:59] – 62x fast objects transits Shanxi-Theta and proceed to detonate after a short period. High levels of gamma radiation detected moments before Recon Satellite C14 was destroyed. Immediate analysis suggests a preliminary trans-relay assault using nuclear warheads meant to clear exit corridor of mines.
[170000AMAY57]
[00:01] – Convoy Echo-07 along with 8x assorted civilian vessels burn towards the relay at maximum speed. Immediate assessment is that they should reach the relay before any enemy force can enter effective firing range.
[00:02] – Hostile fleet completes relay transit into Hua Mulan system. High levels of directed radiation/electronic emissions suggest powerful active scanning suites in operation. Unlikely powerful enough to detect most of the escort group as they attempt to hide within the asteroid belts between the hostiles and them.
[00:03] – AUDACIOUS' passive sensors combined with active data from the main group, confirm the presence of 39x warships. Classifications denote 1x dreadnaught battleship, 2x "pocket dreadnaughts", 12x cruisers and 24x frigates.
[00:08] – Hostile fleet has split into three elements. The first and largest element (20 ships including the dreadnaught) has begun pursuing the withdrawing KATHMANDU's main group towards Shanxi-Alpha. Second element (8 ships) is further splitting into pairs and fanning out into the system, likely searching for hidden ships or stragglers. Third element (11 ships) on direct course for Shanxi.
[00:22] – Battlegroup Commander has relayed warning to Commander Ground Forces Shanxi, BGEN L. Williams, that the loss of orbital supremacy over the colony is imminent and that hostile air and/or ground action may soon follow.
[00:30] – Recon Satellites A09 and A17 indicate that both the BRISTOL and ALAMO have reached the relative safety of the inner and outer asteroid belts respectively. Rapidly reducing emissions suggests both are rigging for silent running.
[00:35] – CORAL SEA breaking off from escorting Echo-07 to rendezvous with the BRISTOL. ISONZO continues with the convoy.
[00:47] – Additional group of 10x large vessels transit through Shanxi-Theta. All are of unknown classification and do not fit the emissions profile of any the previously encountered alien vessels. This fourth element follow the third and head straight for the Shanxi colony.
[01:21] – Convoy Echo-07 arrives at Shanxi-Alpha without issue and begins to transit out-of-system.
[01:25] – As directed per Contingency DELTA, ISONZO, does not follow Echo-07 through and instead rabbits away to FTL. LT CDR J. Higgins has been ordered to conduct hit-and-run attacks from unpredictable out-of-system vectors.
[01:35] – ISANDLWANA fails to reach cover of the belts in time and has been detected and intercepted by two enemy frigates of the enemy second element. Recon Satellite B18 indicates she has powered down after a brief exchange of torpedoes and main battery fire. At this time, it is unknown if the ISANDLWANA has been destroyed, scuttled or surrendered.
[02:04] – Main group arrives at Shanxi-Alpha without casualties. All begin transit procedures bar AUSTERLITZ who FTL's away to rendezvous with the ISONZO. Hostile first element's estimated time till within effective firing range still 20 minutes. Chances of main group failing to evacuate – very low.
[02:10] – Main group completes transit. All surviving Alliance space assets are now running silent and operating under independent command. AUDACIOUS' tight-beam satellite network should allow for levels of co-ordination undetected if used sparingly. CDR E. Norris of the BRISTOL, is now the senior naval officer in-system.
[02:28] – Hostile third element has arrived in orbit of Shanxi.
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17-05-2157
0035 [Arcturus Time] – Late morning local
SPDF Headquarters Bunker, New Taiyuan (OP AREA 1)
Shanxi
"General, Sir! Flash alert from the Navy." The comms tech suddenly said, sounding more than a bit alarmed.
"Read it Corporal." Williams replied with an affirmative hand gesture.
"Sir...From Captain A. Habib, Commander Battlegroup Kathmandu, to Commander Ground Forces Shanxi - / FLASH / FLASH / FLASH / Threat Condition Sabre 3. All Marine and Colonial Guard forces deployed to Shanxi colony, be advised; Heavy enemy naval presence in system. Friendly space-borne assets forced to withdraw from contact. All vessels remaining in system as per the Delta Contingency will conduct hit and run operations when possible, but will be unable to contest orbital control over the colony. Significant enemy detachment en-route to Shanxi, ETA 0230 Arcturus Time. Allah be with you all/ - Message ends Sir"
The Brigadier General looked to the heavens, which unfortunately looked suspiciously like concrete from where he was standing and closed his eyes. "May God have mercy on our souls."
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17-05-2157
0450 [Arcturus Time] – Early afternoon local
1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 95th Light Mobile Infantry Battalion
Hill 13, New Taiyuan (OP AREA I)
Shanxi
"INCOMING" came the shouted warning from a marine somewhere to the right of him as the shrieking of inbound missiles hurtled towards their position. The well-drilled marines didn't waste a second and dived into whatever cover they could find; be it behind a piece of farming machinery, a civilian vehicle or in one of the makeshift fox-holes they had still been in the process of digging.
Not even five seconds would pass before the ground shook with the force of half a dozen near simultaneous explosions, soil, metal and rock being blasted into the air. One missile must have struck home on one of their M-010 Light Armoured Mobility Vehicles (LAMV) because Gunnery Chief Sergeant Zaeed Masani narrowly missed being crushed by an errant flying wheel. Jesus fucking Christ… He popped his head up just in time to witness the alien fast-movers who'd fired at them disintegrate from an unseen attack as it attempted to turn away. That Brightlance crew needs to work on their fucking timing! Leaping out of his most recent shell scrape and sprinting over to the L.T.s position in the prefab farmhouse he'd taken as a Platoon command post. As he ran, he shouted into the platoon channel, ears still ringing despite the noise-dampening effect of his helmet. "Squad commanders! Casualty reports, now!"
"First Squad – No casualties." Came the almost instantaneous reply of Sergeant Theo Andropolous.
"Third Squad – O'Brian's down. Al-Wasa and Schmidt have shrapnel wounds but still combat effective." Followed Sergeant Pablo Milani.
"Second Squad – We've got three dead and a tier one wounded. They were behind the LAMV…" said Sergeant Linda Osmond, clearly trying to hold back her emotions. Well she better! We don't have time for that shit right now. She can process it later.
"Fire support – We're all good Gunny. No casualties! One of our remote mortars is toast though." Last but not least, the fire-support section's I/C, his good mate, Chief Sergeant Josh Onwalda.
Ughh. Could be worse. Still shit though! "Massani copied! Huertla! Get your arse over to Second Squad's position and sort out the Tier 1 casualty."
"On it Gunny" the platoon medic acknowledged
As he ran, Zaeed took stock of their position. Their platoon had been assigned the northern flank of Hill 13, Bravo company's position on the western outskirts of Shanxi's one and only city. It wasn't a particularly tall hill but it still gave them a commanding field of fire over the extensive vineyard that accompanied the farmhouse Second Lieutenant Victor Emmerson had requestioned. And as long as the aliens didn't use amphibious units, the ocean bordering them to the north would limit any angles of approach. They'd only actually been redeployed there the day before, previously stationed at the spaceport where they'd been assisting with the evacuation efforts. As such their defensive works were limited at best. Something they were trying to remedy anytime there was a lapse in the relentless waves of alien air-strikes that were responsible for more than a few burning and burnt-out buildings in the city. The 134th and the SPDFs air defence units had done an admirable job so far in protecting the air-environment, already chocking up dozens of shoot downs of alien fast-movers. But they always seemed to have more and more, so the attacks just kept on coming. So it was inevitable that attacks would penetrate their air-defence bubble on an increasingly regular basis. At least some of the munitions that made it through created some ready-made shell scrapes they could use. Now if they could just avoid killing marines in the process, well that would be fucking great.
The small pre-fabricated building that housed Emmerson's command post was situated next to a small copse of trees and a large barn. A barn that currently had a gaping hole in the roof and flames flickering among the debris. If that wasn't sorted out quickly, the barn was going to go up like a bonfire.
"Oi Giles, Jemile! If you got time to dick around with that antenna then you have time to put that fucking fire out! Priorities people." He shouted at two techs from the support section.
"Ah...yeah, we're on it Gunny. Come on Jay!" The two dropping their equipment and running to grab fire extinguishers from their nearby M-080.
He found the L.T. and the drone operators in a reinforced safe room that most of these colonial prefabs came as part a parcel, so that farmers could stay safe from dangerous wildlife, inclement weather and even pirates. Whether it would hold up against military grade munitions was another thing entirely. In fact, if Zaeed had his way, the young Lieutenant would set himself up somewhere far less bleedin' obvious. The fact that it hadn't been hit yet was very much down to luck over any anything else.
"Sir, sitrep. We lost four marines in that last strike. One from 3rd Squad and three from 2nd."
"Shit!" He exclaimed whilst slamming his gauntleted fist on a table, knocking over his water canteen in the process. "If only those Brightlances had got into position quicker."
The 'Brightlance' or officially the M-086/AAL, was a powerful short-range air-defence system (SHORAD) based on the universal M-080 Bison hull, that utilised a phased-array laser to down incoming aircraft and munitions. As long as it had line of sight, it could track and destroy a dozen different targets simultaneously. The problem being that its emissions meant that pinpointing the Brightlance was remarkedly easy, so they had to be constantly on the move to avoid be eliminated by enemy SEAD missions. Unfortunately, that often-left units on the frontline temporarily bereft of short-range air cover, which would cost lives as 1st Platoon had just experienced.
"No use worrying about that now Sir. We can't change shit that's already happened. Just keep moving forward." Zaeed said, trying to reassure the man. The last thing they needed was a damn butter bar panicking and getting them all killed. A tale that was all too common in the annals of military history.
"Yeah… yeah, you're right Gunnery Chief. I…" He was interrupted by a priority alert coming down from Battalion, that flashed up on his wristpad. "Large formations of probable dropships conducting atmospheric entry. Brigade believes they're attempting a landing and to prepare for imminent contact….Fuck, here we go."
"Orders Sir?" Zaeed asked.
Emmerson paused for a moment before tapping the comm, "Platoon, LT Emmerson. All squads assume assigned defensive positions. Chief Onwalda? Get our drones in the air and mortars readied. Squad leaders report when in position." He received the four acknowledgements he needed to confirm his order had been received, before turning to Zaeed. "Could you fire them up Massani? I'm no good at motivational speeches."
"Ha, yeah, I've got 'ya Sir." Wouldn't being motivational be a pretty big part of an officer's repertoire? Whatever, he'd handle it.
Unfolding his M-7 rifle attached to the mag-points on the rear of his armour, Zaeed jogged back out of the farmhouse. He huffed in approval to see that at least the fire on the barn had been extinguished prior to even getting going. That was something at least. Moving past the tree copse, he eyed the support section unpacking their variety of combat and reconnaissance drones with the necessary urgency. Turning the corner around another small outbuilding, he emerged behind the rough centre of their hastily prepared perimeter. After activating his comm, he used a function of his helmet to magnify his voice, allowing as many marines as possible could hear him directly.
"Once again Marines, it's up to us to finish what the flyboys started. ET's leaving his ship platoon and engaging us on solid ground, where think they have Humanity beat...BUT THEY HAVEN'T MET THE 95TH! SO WHEN WE MEET THE ENEMY, WE WILL TEAR THEIR SKULLS FROM THIER SPINES AND TOSS 'EM AWAY LAUGHING! … AM I RIGHT MARINES?"
"OORAH!" The whole platoon shouted back in unison. Ah, it was enough to bring a tear to any Marine Corps sergeant's eye.
The battle cry was perfectly punctuated by the roar of long-range anti-air missiles streaking overhead to give the hundreds of descending dropships as warm a welcome as possible. Hopefully warm enough that the bastards would burst into flames as they plummeted to their deaths. Zaeed had to wonder how long their missile stocks would actually last in a prolonged engagement, especially if they tried to down every one of the buggers. Brigade had received a decent supply of extra of materiel from a few strategic lift ships that had been sent in the last couple of days, but there was no chance of any more getting through without the Fleet securing the system first. Undoubtably there were better men and women than him who were deliberating the inevitable shortages. They'd have to triage priority targets very much on the operational and not tactical level. In simple terms, at some point in the future, poor Johnny Marine on the front line was going to get massively shafted.
Zaeed slid down feet first, into an irrigation ditch that was forming part of 2nd Squad's firing position and nodded to the five Marines lying prone with rifles down-range: Corporal Baker, two riflemen, a grenadier, and Lance Corporal Kyle. The latter had a well dug in M-220 general purpose machine gun pulled into his shoulder with the accompanying replaceable heat sinks, spare batteries and ammunition boxes that came with sustained automatic fire weapons.
"Don't mind me Corporal, you're still commanding this position. Just looking for a front-row seat is all." He jovially told the marines.
"Haha. Well, we're honoured to accommodate you, Gunny. Should be helluva show." Shot back the fireteam leader.
"Here's hoping! Can't wait to give the ol' girl a spin." Proclaimed Kyle, slapping the top of his machine gun.
"That's the fucking spirit lads! Now keep your eyes sharp." Replied Zaeed.
They didn't have to wait too long, maybe 10 minutes, before tiny dark shapes could be seen high in the sky and growing steadily larger. Hopefully, the air-defence boys had managed to thin their numbers somewhat but there was still a mighty few of them. As if they'd been reading his mind, another missile salvo launched somewhere kilometres in their rear and this time they'd get to see the results first hand. Fingers crossed.
"Platoon! 11 o'clock, range 12 kilometres. Inbound troop-carrying aircraft! Stand by." Came the L.T. over the comm.
The rapidly growing dots had clearly seen their death flying towards them at hypersonic speeds because they started moving around erratically, many diving to try and hug the terrain. For a quite a few of them, the tactic worked. Others were presumedly saved by the kinetic shields the AIS had warned them about. But a good number took too much heat and disappeared in fireballs that could be seen even kilometres away on Hill 13. But their were still dozens and dozens of surviving aircraft that were now approaching the city at a fair old lick, the ETA would minutes at most.
Zaeed, made a final check of his dear girl Jesse, named for a childhood sweetheart, who he was sure would get him though this alive. All good! Come and fucking get it ya cunts!
What started as the distant hum of engines soon became a roar as the alien craft thundered towards the Alliance line at little more than treetop level. Explosions and missile plumes blanketed the air but the aliens would not be deterred. Zaeed quickly identified six of the craft that were clearly beelining specifically for their position and updated Emmerson on the comm.
He saw a succession of flashes from the leading two aircraft as they loosed a barrage of their own missiles at Zaeed and his marines. Presumedly they must be gunships, the equivalent of the Alliance A-36 Dragonfly. Something they could do with right about now.
"INCOMING!" Zaeed shouted into the comm for what had to be the 20th time that day.
Another wave of pressure and explosive violence rolled over 1st Platoon but no one in his ditch appeared any worse for wear. The same couldn't be said for the other squads as Zaeed could hear the screams of injured men and women relatively close by, a fact correlated by a fresh flooding of casualty reports. Vengeance was not far away though as of the gunships had clearly offended the Brightlance back near the Company HQ. One second it was barrelling towards them and the next, what he presumed to be a stabiliser on its port side erupted into flames. The resulting loss of control put the aircraft into an uncontrollable spin that ended when it slammed into the side of it's wingman, bringing both the bastards down in a twisted fiery heap.
In the confusion of the attack, the combat shuttles successfully made their combat drops and started disgorging armoured alien troops into the vineyard below them. The shuttles' side-mounted autocannon turrets were firing non-stop, their hypervelocity rounds slamming into the ground around Zaeed and his men. Another of the Platoon's LAMVs was taking heavy fire, penetrations perforating its hull, but it's remote weapon station had opened up with an autocannon of it's own and actually managed to shoot down one of the dropships before it to fell silent. Emmerson hadn't needed to provide the order to open fire as the signal had been pretty fucking clear. Instead, he was busy directing their organic fire-support and likely trying to call in some of the big guns from back in the city.
He may have been the Platoon Sergeant but that didn't mean he wouldn't help hold the line when he had to. He was lying prone next to 2nd Squad's GPMG gunner as the LCPL lay down a deadly hail of fire that had already caught three aliens in the open as they tried to advance, overloading their shields and tearing right through their armour. Zaeed, saw one alien about 50 metres to his 1'O Clock that was hefting a large angular weapon that could have been anything from a machinegun to an anti-tank missile. He took aim, the integrated targeting software projecting predicted lead of the sprinting enemy into his scope. He squeezed the trigger and was partially satisfied to see the alien's shield's drop as it dived into cover, only for the explosion from a mortar bomb bracketed his hiding spot, blasting the weapon and their whole arm up into the air. The blue blood that splattered the ground was clearly visible through Zaeed's scope and proved without a shadow of a doubt that these were aliens, if their appearance hadn't already given it away. Regardless, he kept on firing, chocking up two and definitely injuring another.
With mortars and masses of automatic fire already going to town on the vineyard slopes, the situation wasn't looking great for the attackers who looked like they may have underestimated the human defences. Made worse by another dropship that had been trying to line up for an attack on the fire-support section, being struck by an anti-tank missile fired by a combat drone. The pilot veered violently and tried to regain control, but it was too late: the craft banked hard before flipping over and crashing into the hillside, crushing six unfortunate alien soldiers who'd, just minutes ago, been flying in that very aircraft. But you could never say the damn things weren't built solidly as this one didn't explode, instead rolling down the slope before coming to a rest after crashing into a large boulder.
The cacophony of war was absolutely deafening and blinding. The air was clogged with explosions of dust and debris. The sound of gunfire, shouts and screams was overwhelming and the smell of blood was ever-present. It was beyond disorienting but as long as his marines remembered that the enemy was below them on the slope, they'd be fine.
Content that the Corporal had his fireteam on lockdown, Zaeed gave him firm pat on the shoulder before crawling backwards out of the ditch and starting to run between the squads to check on their condition with his own eyes. That of course meant running through the hail of gunfire, but given that he was far back enough from the line, he didn't prove to be major target. Especially if he kept low as he ran.
He was glad to see that most of the squads had gotten away with only injuries, some pretty damn bad, but at least they were still alive. That changed when he arrived at 1st Squad to find a bloody scene that would make many lesser people hurl. 1st Squad's Bravo Fireteam had been all but wiped out by what must have been a pretty big explosion, leaving mostly disembodied limbs, charred lumps of meat and shredded metal. Only a single damn lucky rifleman survived, weakly holding onto life as the medic tore off his lower armour so that she could get a tourniquet around what was left of his mangled leg.
"GUNNY! I NEED MORE HANDS! I CAN'T GET TO THE GUYS IN THIRD WITH FIRST LIKE THIS!" shouted the Corporal over the noise.
"I'LL TRY AND GET THE COMPANY MEDICS OVER" he shouted back.
She just nodded her head in thanks and went back to focusing on her casualty. Zaeed tried to raise the Platoon Commander on the comm but couldn't get an answer. He legged it to the L.T.'s command post and promptly got an answer to why Emmerson was radio silent. Where the prefab had stood, only a burning hell of twisted metal remained. He shouted down two of the drone operators who'd miraculously escaped (although not without significant damage to their armour and burns to their faces) and were now trying to pull a dead comrade out of the rubble. He asked them if they knew the Lieutenant's status but they confirmed that he hadn't made it out. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Fuck! I told that fucking butter bar that he'd set up shop in the stupidest fucking place. Look where that got you? Young damn fool!
"Platoon, this is Massani! L.T.'s down so I'm taking command." He spoke as calmly as possible. If he seemed panicked, then that would only make the men panicked and that was the last thing they needed. Switching to the Company channel he spoke "Victor-Bravo-Zero, this is Victor-Bravo-One-One, over."
"Go ahead One-One" answered the Company signaller.
"1st Platoon suffering heavy casualties. Platoon Commander is KIA. Request Company medical support, over."
Ten seconds elapsed before the reply came. "Understood, One-One. Medics en-route, out."
Grabbing the two drone operators, he dragged them to the edge of the copse that had a commanding view of the battlefield. He then patched into one of their recon drones and surveyed the top-down view. The vineyard was an absolute mess. Craters perforated the landscape all the way up the slope and onto the plateau of the hill. Dead and dying aliens littered the hillside but many more were still tactically bounding up the hill under heavy fire. Fortunately, most of the enemy air had either disengaged or been shot down by this point, which was at least some of a relief. However, Zaeed could see from the Battalion tacmap, that continued air-assaults were still attempting to penetrate into other parts of the city, principally the spaceport.
But it wasn't long until the enemy assault finally lost all their momentum. Without air-cover and against an elevated and dug in (even hastily) positions, they simply didn't have the manpower or tactical flexibility to take the hill. The remaining forty or so enemy soldiers eventually stopped trying to pick their way up the slope and instead conducted an impressive orderly withdrawal under fire. Zaeed had to give it to them, they were fucking disciplined and well trained. If their commander hadn't rushed into this attack and bombarded them for more than a few hours, then he'd hate to say it, but they might have broken through with such an aggressive air-assault.
But just because he admired their martial prowess, didn't mean that they weren't a bunch of spiky blue-blooded cunts that had picked the wrong species to fuck with. As such, he ordered the platoon to not let up their fire and his fire-support to focus on the centre of their formation. He watched as the fast-firing automatic mortars blew the bastards apart as they fell back. Despite being under fire from his surviving marines the entire way, they still fell back in good order and soon reached the forest that bordered the far side of the vineyard. It was then that two of the surviving dropships screamed in over the trees from wherever they'd flown off to, before touching down just long enough to extract the survivors of their assaulting units. The pilots of the squat winged craft must have had balls of steel and reflexes of lightning to pull off an extraction like that without suffering so much as a dent. Damn impressive! The last alien soldiers had barely even got aboard before the two dropships lifted off and high-tailed it off into the distance, dodging fire as they went. And with that, Zaeed could finally allow himself to let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. That had got to be the most whirlwind half an hour of his life.
It was horrible to dwell on how many good men and women they'd just lost, the Lieutenant included. But he could honestly say that his marines had really done him, themselves and the Corps proud. Damn proud! But this wasn't the end and he wouldn't allow them to let their guard down. This was only the beginning.
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GROUND FORCES SHANXI (Operation Shanxi Safeguard) - Order of Battle
I/C: Brigadier General L. Williams
2I/C: Colonel Z. Kravchenko
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Units - Systems Alliance Marine Corps
134th Marine Brigade – Brigadier General L. Williams
- HQ Company (M-0812/C Baron)
- 1x Light Reconnaissance Company (M-05 Weasel ATV, M-013/R Oculus)
- 2x Light Mobile Infantry battalions (M-010 Ocelot, M-080/APC Bison)
- 1x Field Artillery battalion (M-084/GRS Broadside, M-083/SPG Broadsword)
- 1x Combat Engineering battalion (M-089/CEV Badger)
- 1x Logistics battalion (M-087/U Buffalo)
- 1x Air Defence company (M-085/AAM Bowman, M-086/AAL Brightlance)
- 1x Electronic Warfare company (M-0813/EW Buzzkill)
201st (Air Cavalry) Marine Brigade detachment – Lt. Colonel P. Schmidt
- 1x Air-Assault Infantry battalion (UT-47 Kodiak)
- 1x Attack Aviation battalion (A-36 Dragonfly)
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Units - Shanxi People's Defence Force
1st Shanxi Guard Brigade – Colonel D. Liaping
- HQ Company (M-012/C Olympus)
- 1x Light Reconnaissance Company (M-05 Weasel, M-013/R Oculus)
- 2x Light Infantry battalions
- 1x Protected Mobility battalion (M-080/APC Bison)
- 1x Combat Engineering company (M-089/CEV Badger)
- 1x Logistics battalion (M-087/U Buffalo)
2nd Shanxi Guard Brigade – Colonel T. Nao
- HQ Company (M-0812/C Baron)
- 1x Light Reconnaissance Company (M-05 Weasel ATV, M-013/R Oculus)
- 1x Mechanised Infantry battalion (M-28 Grizzly, M-081/IFV Barracuda)
- 1x Combined Missile Artillery battalion (M-084/GRS Broadside, M-085/AAM Bowman)
- 1x Combat Engineering battalion (M-089/CEV Badger)
- 1x Logistics battalion (M-087/U Buffalo)
SYSTEMS ALLIANCE OFFICIAL CODEX
[ENTRY: CDX_M0087 – Small Arms Technological Evolution in the 22nd Century]
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For thousands of years the primary weapons of war in use by mankind were the sword, the spear and the bow. Centuries would pass and these weapons would go through many different variations and refinements, but at the end of the day, little could be done to improve their sheer killing potential. That changed with the invention and introduction of the black powder musket. Unlike with the sword or the spear, the gun had massive potential for evolution in parallel to the advancement of technology to bring us from the unwieldly single-shot weapons of the late medieval/early modern period that could fire 2-3 rounds a minute, to the modern Element-Zero based select fire assault rifles of the 2150s.
However those most recent innovations would have seemed all but impossible a mere decade before, prior to fortuitous discovery of the Prothean Archives on Mars in 2148. In the years preceding, small-arms technology split into two divergent paths.
The first path was a continuation of the chemical propellant based weapons that traced their way back to the humble musket. Whilst the late 20th and early 21st Centuries saw somewhat of a stagnation of weapons design around a few outstanding models, the perfection of caseless ammunition combined with powerful new propellant formulae, propelled the conventional firearm into a new age. New advances in material science combined with the new compact ammunition (often fin stabilized) has meant that chemical firearms are lighter, longer-ranged, and hit harder than ever before for a fraction of the price of the alternatives. As such. chemical firearms still find substantial niche with poorer governments, militaries or armed groups that can't afford the next step up.
The next step in question is the infantry portable coilgun, more commonly refered to as a "coil rifle", despite the barrel having no actual rifling. An evolution of the early 21st Century railguns. A coil rifle uses rings of powerful electromagnets, or "coils" to propel a solid slug down the barrel at very high velocities. This results in a rifle that can fire at distances and penetrate levels of armour that would be unthinkable to any equivalent chemical projectile. They also have onboard computers and integrated ranging systems that can help the operator predict everything from fall of shot, effect of wind and the lead required on a moving target; All to make the soldier a more effective killing machine. This capability does however, come with not unsubstantial drawbacks. Coil rifles are far more mechanically and electronically complex compared to other firearms. The massive power requirements necessitate either regular swapping of batteries in the weapon itself or the carrying of back-mounted power sources along with all their regular kit. Understandably this often resulted in the most success wielders of coil rifles being troops that were able utilise exoskeleton loadbearing equipment. All this heavily affects the weight, ergonomics and cost of each rifle, to the point that only the most well funded militaries and PMCs can afford to equip them on a large scale.
That changed in 2148 with the discovery of Element Zero (eezo). The miraculous physics-defying element allowed gunsmiths to use a tiny amount of eezo to lower the mass of every round to almost nothing whilst in the chamber. They could then use scaled-down coils and far less power to accelerate the negligible mass to even higher velocities than a traditional coil rifle. The result was the mass-accelerator rifle. A weapon that had all the advantages of a coil rifle with almost none of the drawbacks. They still relied on battery power, but the massively reduced power draw of a mass-accelerator rifle increased the number of shots that could be fired before a recharge/replacement from hundreds (in a coil rifle) to multiple thousands. Cost was and still is an obstruction to many customers, with both the technology and the eezo itself, still very expensive, but the advantages will outweigh that in many potential operators calculations.
As of 2155, most Tier 1 armed forces on earth are in the process of procuring mass-accelerator rifles to either complement or flat out replace existing models. The biggest proponents being the UNAS, EU, the Chinese Federation and of course, the Systems Alliance themselves. In fact the SAAF have used their unique control over extra-solar eezo extraction to ensure that every single Alliance Marine has been issued with the new technology.
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Listed example of a mass-accelerator rifle:
M-7 "Lancer" Individual Weapon System
Manufacturer: Hahne-Kedar Armouries
Calibre: 3x20mm SA
Length: 0.8m
Weight: 4.5kg (with battery and full magazine)
Effective Range: 800m
Magazine Capacity: 60rds
Battery Life: 2500rds
Fire Rate: 600rpm
The first truly successful mass-accelerator rifle to enter service, the M-7 Lancer is the current pinnacle of weapons development. Whilst heavier than most conventional rifle, the M-7 is far lighter than any coil-rifle on the market and is praised for it's handling characteristics, accuracy and ergonomics. Its range of features include: Side-mounted 60 round magazine; Ranging laser; Smart targeting computer; Integrated standard and IR flashlights; Integrated smart scope; attachment sites for under-barreled grenade launchers, shotguns and laser designator pods. It has found fame as the standard-issue service rifle of both the Systems Alliance Marine Corps as well as the UNAS Army since 2153.