Blood War 1: Last Stand of the Legion: Rift (36 page)

LYTEN SYSTEM

REFERENCE POINT 233.490

BATTLESHIP
PEREUS

COMBAT INFORMATION CENTER

The CIC was strangely quiet as everyone stared at the situation board. The Task Force
was in attack formation. Every Legionnaire in the Task Force had been launched and now showed up as division in line abreast. The formation stretched the entire width of the board. Tamara had never seen so many fighters in space at the same time in her long career, no one had; this was the first time.

Next the larger symbols of the Swift Boats formed a second line as they too
, sped toward the enemy. Finally the rest of the task force arrived in three lines behind the Swift Boats. The destroyers Lupus and Lalande were slightly ahead of the rest in a screening position. The cruisers New York and Tokyo came next slightly behind the destroyers. Finally came the battleships Pereus, Rigil Kent, and Groombridge. They were all on a direct heading for the carrier at full speed.

The Combat Information Center had listened to communications from the Capella and the Bernards as they attacked the carrier. It had gone as Tamara had suspected it would. She had the communicators turn off the communications when they heard the abandon ship order given by the Capella. The Bernards had been there one second
, then nothing the next, but she knew its fate. Now it was a matter of waiting for the battle to begin.

"Commander
, how much longer?" Tamara asked.

"Any time now
, Admiral."

"Switch to the Legionnaires frequency. Let me hear the traffic."

The communicator switched the frequency and suddenly the CIC was alive with the chatter between the Legionnaires.

"Havel
, close it up, you’re drifting."

"Friel
, you have anything."

"Nothing yet Sergeant I've got to be close. I'm getting all sorts of emissions but no hard targets. It must be one kaking big battle up there."

"Focus, Friel you’re our lead scout. Find us some targets."

Tamara leaned forward in her command chair willing them on, the faster the better. Once the Capella and Bernards had attacked the alien carrier it had to be screaming for some help. Tamara knew if she were the carrier captain she would be calling for destroyers and cruisers for screening while trying to recover her fighters for what she had to believe would be a
follow-up attack. Tamara could only hope that the sacrifice of the Capella and the Bernards had been enough to catch the aliens scrambling to organize the next launches, repair the damages and prepare for another attack. This would stretch any ship’s crew no matter how well trained or experienced.

"Stand by
," Friel the lead scout suddenly said.

"What have you got?"

"I have two targets on the edge of my sensors. They are squawking Swift Boat I.D's. We don't have any boats out there, do we?"

"Negative. They in comm range?"

"Check."

"Make contact but
be ready for tricks."

"Unknown Swift Boat
, identify yourself. This is Ranger 10."

"Ranger 10
, this the Swift Boat TS 111 and TS112."

"TS 111 advise your intentions."

"We are the only survivors of D50. The aliens killed the rest. We are the vessel that gave the first warning. This is Chief Warrant Officer Rajendra Kim in command."

Tamara stood. She knew him
; she had served with him on several deployments years ago.

"If they are who they say they are then tell them to encrypt using today
’s code," Tamara said. They waited until the Swift Boat came up on the encrypted frequency.

"This is the TS 111 on today
’s encrypted frequency."

The comm officer looked at Tamara and nodded. They had used the proper code.

"Put me through," Tamara said to her comm officer.

"TS 111 stand by for the Ultimate 6."

"Go ahead Ultimate 6," TS 111 said.

"Kim
, is that you? This is Admiral Lule."

"You've go
t to shitting me Admiral. I thought you had too many stripes to talk to a Chief."

"Except when that Chief is out on a limb and maybe messing up something we have in the works."

"Understand but we were off course. We were headed for the Fleet Anchorage when we discovered our mistake. We've stumbled onto readings of a major battle. We are now within sensor range of whatever is going on out here. I can forward my readouts to you. We are ahead of your little friends. Things look dicey up ahead and you are going to need everyone to come to the party."

"Forward your tactical displays of what you've got there Kim."

The display was quickly filled with TS 111's readouts. The carrier was so large it looked like an asteroid surrounded by thousands of smaller bodies. Fighters moved throughout the space around the carrier mixed with debris that had to be the remains of the Capella and the Bernards. Then two ships much larger than the fighters appeared to be moving as if they were on station around the carrier.

"What do you make of the two larger targets Kim?"

"They register as frigate sized vessels on my target designator with active defense sensors lit up like a Christmas tree."

"Did you get a bearing on their origin?"

"Negative. They just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No idea how they got there and there are no other vessels on our display prior to them suddenly showing up."

A couple of frigate size ships providing active counter measures screening for the carrier could be just enough to disrupt the timing of the attack. All of the torpedoes and missiles needed to strike at the same time or the impact of the attack would not be nearly as effective as she needed. If the initial strike was not as effective then the whole operation could be put in jeopardy.

"Kim, this is Tamara. What was your intention?"

"We were going after the biggest target we could find."

"Kim, I need you to take out our new friends that showed up out of nowhere. We got the rest."

"Roger that. Just make sure your little friends know we are out here."

"Relay your solutions as soon you have them."

"TS 111 aye, aye. We will also mirror our sensor as we begin our attack. It should be of use to you."

"Roger 111. Good hunting."

"Thanks this
is the TS 111 out."

Tamara watch
ed as the two small ships on the very edge of the screen accelerated and disappeared beyond their sensor range.

Lieutenant Maxwell Steiner was beginning to get antsy. Their sensors should have found the aliens by now. The scouts should be in sensor range any minute. He knew it was too late to help the Capella but he could not help but to hold out some hope that when they returned he would find his old ship still fighting off the aliens. The voice of Commander Grogen echoed in his ears. He was returning with the force needed for a real battle with that damned carrier. No, this time the carrier would be the one to be destroyed. He almost physically shook himself, something not possible while floating in oxygen plasma, to refocus on the coming battle. The best way was for him to remind the Legionnaires of the tactics that could save their lives. He switched his comm to division wide frequency.

"
Steiny Man to division. Remember your gaggle tactics. Define your own threat sector. There are no wingmen; everybody is everybody's wingman. Focus on your own targets. Drive through the gaggle before you make a turn, and always watch your 360 - they will be everywhere. Take your shots of opportunity. If you miss, do not try and pursue, just drive on through and look for other shots. Once outside the gaggle, don't blindly drive back into the fight, check your 360, pick out a target and then reenter the fight."

To an extent i
t was every man for himself, at the same time it was every man for each other. If they could get a jump on the aliens with a salvo of torpedoes they really had a chance of getting through the carriers cover.

"Stand by."

It was Chan the scout who was the furthest out.

"I have multiple targets at the extreme range of my sensors. I don't have a solution yet
, standby."

Steiner glanced at his bearing and distance indicator. Chan was barely on his display. If he had a solution it would be at extreme range of their torpedoes. There would be a number of misses. They should wait.

"I have a solution, I am sending it now."

Steiner saw the solution on target designation screen, the target was flickering it was so far away. Steiner knew it was too early. Another couple of minutes and they would be well within range. He waited for the command to
fire; he just hoped the Commander of this thrown-together mass of Legionnaires was smart enough to wait. There was a long pause before he answered.

"Top Kick to Chan
, are you being scanned?"

"Negative. They don't seem to be actively scanning this sector at this time."

"Top Kick to all division commanders. Hold fire. I repeat hold fire. We will wait until we have better solutions."

Steiner knew it was the right strategy but it didn't make it any easier to do. He watched his threat indicator began to fill with more and more alien fighters and all sorts of debris. They flew
on; everyone was keeping their station. This thrown-together wing of Legionnaires was flying with the precision and discipline that normally took years of flying together to attain. Steiner was proud of every one of them. The targets on his scope were solid now and within range of the torpedoes. Any second now.

"Top Kick
to Chan, send the solution. All divisions wait for my command."

Steiner watched as his targeting computer found a fighter no other Legionnaire had found. It calculated and programed the torpedo. The firing light went green. He was ready.

"Top Kick to all divisions, remember to save some of your weapons. This is only the first part of the fight. We want to get our licks on those ships around Rift. On my mark fire. Three, two, one. Fire. Fire. Fire."

Steiner's ship rocked and the torpedo left the tube. It joined the hundreds of other
torpedoes; some ships had fired more than one torpedo. They must have had multiple solid targets. Steiner had never seen anything like it before. Hundreds of torpedoes streaking toward an unaware enemy.

"Steiny Man to all units. Remember your tactics and watch your six and your mates six.
Guerre à mort
. Remember the Capella."

It was then the aliens detected the incoming torpedoes. Some exploded before reaching their target as their defenses began to detect the incoming threat but it was too late. Alien ship after alien ship disappeared as the torpedoes found their targets. Formation after formation came out to meet the Legionnaires. Steiner pressed on
his division on in perfect formation around him. With the closing speed of the aliens it was only seconds until the battle became a cloud of fighters twisting, turning and firing. This was the largest fighter-to-fighter battle in human history.

RIFT

SPACE PORT

ALAMO

CHARLIE COMPANY

WARDOGS

2
ND
PLATOON

FIRETEAM 3

Somebody grabbed Hu from behind
, pulled him off of Nani and onto floor.

"Get out my way
Private, and let me work."

It was a corpsman. His helmet was hinged back and Hu could see how concerned he was about Nani. She lay next to him
, blood pouring from wounds on her head, mixing with blood leaking out of the legs of her suit.

"Corporal you are a mess but I'm here now
," The medic said as if Nani could hear him.

"She can't hear you
," Hu said.

"The last sense to go is hearing. She may very well be able to hear me so let me do my job and why don't you do yours."

When he glanced over at Hu he saw his shoulder.

"Hey
, Borges. I got two here."

The corpsm
an was bent over Nani hooking his suit up to hers to begin to treat her wounds.

"Hi, there I'm Borges and I will be your corpsman today so if you will just lay back I will begin to make you all better."

Hu looked up at the corpsman.

"What the fuck?"

"I thought that might get your attention. Now lay back and let me get a good look at you. Kant is good he will take care of your friend. So lay back and let us work."

Hu laid back as Borges began to work on him. Borges was a female with corporal stripes on her armor. She hooked lines from her suit to his and pulled down a screen from a panel on the chest of her armor, it gave her the readouts from his suit. She looked at the readouts for a moment.

"Not too bad there Private, I'll have you up and going strong soon. Now I need to do a few things that are going to hurt. I'm going to give you as much pain med as I can and keep you conscious but it still going to hurt like a bitch."

Kant worked setting readings on her screen and getting some equipment ready. She had dark hair that fell into her face, dark serious eyes and a wide generous mouth. Hu watched her face as she worked, she was not as pretty as Nani but the intensity with which she worked seemed to transform her face into a very pretty one.

"Look Hu, they got you pretty good in the shoulder. It's not going to work too good until I send in our little nano friends so they fix that break and repair the arteries. Your suit has done a good job of controlling your B/P and keeping you on your feet but if you’re going to do any fighting we've got to fix that shoulder."

Hu looked up at her.

"Ok. Let’s get this done. I don't want to be sitting in the corner waiting for one of those fucks to come and kill me. I need to get back in the fight," Hu said.

"You got it
Private. You've got a lot of muscle up here and it is going to make fixing it worse. First here is some nice dope."

Hu felt the pain killer course through his body. For the first time all day he didn't hurt anywhere. In fact he felt great. He noticed that Kant was better looking than he first thought. He smiled and said
,

"You know anybody ever told you that
you’re very attractive when you’re treating a patient?"

Kant smiled at him and said
,

"Good
, looks like my best stuff is working. Now hold on Private, it is about to get real."

Kant injected the nano's into Hu bloodstream. At first it just felt funny
, like something tingly moving through his arm, then they reached his shoulder. When the nano's reached his shoulder it felt like someone was inside his body trying to break his arm and pull his shoulder out of its socket, all at the same time. He said nothing at first but his body arched with the pain. Then it got worse.

"Shittttttt."

"We’re getting there Private. Hold on. It is going to get a little worse now,"

Kant said as she stared at the picture of the nano's at work on her display. That is when the real pain hit Hu. He pounded the floor with his fist trying his best not to pass out. After what felt like an hour but was only a few minutes the pain began to subside. Then the pain fell away to something bearable.

"A little worse?" Hu said with a smile.

"Well I may have understated it a bit
," Kant said watching Hu closely.

Hu smiled up at her.

"Maybe a little doc," Hu said.

"You did good
Private. The pain will continue to subside until it feels normal. You will eventually need some surgery to fix that shoulder permanently, but my little nanos friends will work until then. I've refilled your painkillers, go juice and volume expanders so you are good to go. Lay here for a few more minutes. Let my little friends do their thing."

"Thanks
, Doc."

"No sweat. Let me help Kant with your friend now."

Borges had Nani's helmet off and her face had been cleaned of the blood. He and Kant were working on her legs now. One on each leg. They both had their displays out and lines running from their backpacks to her suit. She looked like she was sleeping.

"Is she...is she going to be all right?" Hu said.

Borges looked up and said,

"Yes. I think she is going to be fine. Give us an hour and she will take a position beside you. Head wounds bleed a lot. Hers was minor it just knocked her out. Her legs are another story but we'll have
her up and going soon."

Hu laid his head back down on the deck. Suddenly he was no longer wrapped in his pain and concern for Nani. He became aware of the sights and sounds around him. Legionnaires were at murder holes they had blown in the concrete walls and were firing furiously. Snipers were lying in cable racks along the ceiling firing through their own murder holes. Empty magazines, mini canisters, and grenade drums littered the floor. Several Legionnaires were lying off to one side their red critical lights pulsating
silently; signally the only thing keeping them alive was their suits. They had been put into status by their suit and could be salvaged as long as someone was able to get them to the proper medical care before their suits batteries and medical systems ran down. Hu suddenly felt very lucky, and bad for lying down.

He rolled onto his side with one good shoulder and realized it hurt but not too much to bear. Kant glanced over her shoulder.

"Careful, I don't want to have to redo your shoulder."

Hu smiled.

"No shit Doc."

Hu slowly stood and found he could
stand without getting dizzy or passing out. He stood for a few seconds letting his body adjust then found a rail, slammed a magazine into the chamber and closed his helmet. A sergeant seemed to organizing the defense. Hu walked up to him and asked,

"Where do you need me?"

The sergeant turned to look at him. He saw the blood on his armor and his patched shoulder.

"You sure
you’re ready?"

"Yeah."

"Good. That wall to the left - we need more rifles over there."

He pulled a murder hole explosive out of the pouch he carried them in and pressed it against the concrete wall. When he set it off it blew a perfect hole for his rail and sight. It always amazed Hu at how precise the hole was and the fact there was no
blowback at all.  Hu tried his left arm. It was still not quite ready, so he rested the barrel of his rail on the edge of the hole and took a sighting.

A
Spike alien just happened to be moving to what it thought was better and closer cover. Hu fired and the alien crumpled to the ground in a heap. Hu put more darts into the alien, until pieces of its suit were flying off. He turned as another tried to move closer, and he missed this one. Explosions struck the wall outside his murder hole in reply. Hu ducked when one hit so close it opened the murder hole wider.

He reached down and slammed a new magazine into his rail. Before he went back to his murder hole he looked around the Alamo. It was some type of service facility. No windows and only a couple of metal of doors. The ground floor was just a big concrete room with machinery and some readout panels scattered around on the walls. A set of metal stairs led to a second story. The lights were flickering on and off giving the room a strange video like appearance. The only continuous lighting was the lights the corpsman had set up. They were using an area beneath the stairs as a treatment area. A number of Legionnaires were laid out there
, including Nani.

He glanced at his situational readout and saw there were two more floors above the ground floor. All the floors were filled with green and yellow arrows at the walls in firing positions. There were yellow and even black medical symbols in clusters on each floor. Hu then saw red symbols of the troops in status mode. He turned back to his murder hole.

Hu could see the aft portion of a huge shuttle just past the column on his side of the building. On his heads-up display the shuttle had a mixture of red and green arrows throughout its interior. It was the main focus of the aliens. They were attacking it in force. Red arrows were moving quickly towards the shuttle with the column that had given him and Nani cover was now giving the aliens cover from fire from the Alamo. The Spike troops were leading the attack; some began to drop as fire from the shuttle found the attackers. Armored troops followed the lighter armored Spike troops. As aliens got close to the shuttle they emerged from the cover of the column, Hu finally had a shot. He fired burst after burst into them bringing down both Spike troops and the armored troops behind them. Despite all the fire from both the shuttle and the Alamo, some Spike troops made it to the open hatch. They jumped into the shuttle and the fire from the Shuttle was quickly diminished as the fighting went room to room in the interior of the craft. Armored troops poured into the shuttle. Hu began firing at the armored troops as they entered the shuttle. Soon there was a pile of aliens in front of the hatch but they continued the attack. Hu was working on his fifth magazine when someone slapped him on his bad shoulder.

"Goddamn, shit. That thing is held together with just a bunch a nanos and they haven't stopping working. You stupid shit
," Hu said.

When he turned he saw it was Nani. Her helmet was hinged
back; she looked pale and not her usual tough self.

"Shut up there private before I put you on report
," Nani said.

"Haaaa!
You’re up. Man, you look good," Hu said.

"Well I don't feel worth a shit. You could have carried me more gently
, you know."

"The fucking aliens were shooting at me
," Hu said.

"That
’s no excuse private." Nani said. She gave him her first real smile ever and those beautiful eyes were soft when she looked at him.

"I will do better the next time I save your life
," Hu said.

"Save my life. Who do you think was keeping them off our ass?"

They both just smiled at one another for a moment.

"Hu I can't bend my legs yet. Can you get me a rail or something while I make my own murder hole."

Hu found another rail and more magazines for both of them. Nani had the murder hole blown and her helmet down when he returned. They stood side by side and began to fire at aliens.