Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (28 page)

On Winfrey’s
HUD, two of his marine’s icons suddenly turned amber. “Return fire!” he yelled
as he dove for cover behind a large tree. As he glanced at the tree, he noticed
the leaves had a sick yellowish tinge to them and were covered with long sharp
spikes. He was glad he had his battle suit to protect him.

“Lieutenant
Taylor!” Captain Stevens yelled as he saw the missile launcher was preparing to
fire with his HUD. “Take out those three vehicles with your suit explosives,
now!” Mark knew that if that missile launcher fired a barrage of missiles he
could lose a lot of marines.

Seconds later,
explosions began going off around the three vehicles. The rocket launcher began
firing, sending twelve small, deadly missiles toward the marine’s position,
then it was hit by an explosive round. A massive explosion shook the spaceport
as the launcher was blown apart, leaving a deep hole in the blastcrete. Black
smoke poured into the air and then the two small tank-like vehicles were hit.
The rocket rounds struck just behind the marines, cutting a wide swath of
destruction where they hit and showering them with dirt and debris.

Mark knew if
the rockets had hit twenty meters closer, he would have lost a lot of his
marines even with the heavy protection of the battle suits they wore. They had
gotten lucky that the enemy’s aim had been thrown off by the explosive rounds.

“Continue to
advance,” he ordered, waving his marines forward as he stepped around a large
tree and fired off three explosive rounds in the direction of the enemy forces.
He saw the rounds explode and two enemy conscripts fall to the ground.

He quickly
changed his helmet setting to show the current status of the one hundred
marines under his command. Four were showing amber and one was a glaring red.
He let out a deep sigh, knowing he had suffered his first casualty.

The first
three platoons were nearly to the edge of the spaceport complex and the level
of resistance was growing. More Strell conscripts kept pouring out of the
buildings on the spaceport hiding behind vehicles, buildings, and stacks of
cargo and supplies, firing upon the advancing marines.

Winfrey saw
one of the marines near him go down, grabbing their shoulder. On his HUD,
another icon turned amber.

“Where are you
hit?” demanded Private Morris as she rushed over, firing her RG rifle in small
quick bursts at the enemy positions.

“The
shoulder,” groaned Private Dora Parker.

“Give it a
moment,” Morris said, knowing the suit would be injecting Parker with
painkillers and stimulates. She could see a small, jagged hole just below
Parker’s shoulder. The suit was sealing it shut and soon no damage was evident
other than a slight blemish on the suit armor.

“It’s starting
to feel better,” Parker acknowledged as she staggered back to her feet. “I can
go on now.”

“Let me know
if you need anything,” Morris said as she turned away from Parker and began
advancing once more.

“Mother hen,”
muttered Turner from a few meters away.

“Shut up!”
Morris replied as she fired a quick burst into an armored conscript that had
just stepped out from behind a small building. The conscript slid to the ground
and stopped moving.

“We’ve reached
the perimeter of the spaceport,” Lieutenant Davies reported.

Moments later,
all five platoons were in position along the periphery of the spaceport and
still under heavy fire from the defenders, who had retreated back to the more
stalwart buildings. Railgun rounds, explosive rounds, and occasionally light
blue energy beams were pretty well keeping the enemy conscripts pinned down.

Captain
Stevens paused as he gazed at the enemy positions. To reach them, his marines
would have to cross several hundred meters of blastcrete with very little
cover. In their current location, there were only a few trees and a couple of
small structures providing meager protection from incoming fire. Fortunately,
the enemy didn’t seem to have any more heavy weapons.

“Use of suit
explosives is authorized,” Mark spoke, knowing there was only one way to end
this and satisfy the mission objectives. “Rounds are to begin at two hundred
meters and then every fifty meters after that. I want this entire section of
the spaceport leveled.”

The different
platoon leaders confirmed his orders and quickly positioned their marines to
begin firing. The heavy explosive rounds in a Type Three battle suit were ten
times more powerful than a grenade and contained in two tubes on the back of
the suit. Each tube contained twenty of the deadly explosives and the advanced
targeting systems in the suit could put them within a meter of the designated
target.

Captain
Stevens took a deep breath and then gave the order to fire. His eyes focused on
the spaceport in front of him, knowing what was about to come.

A line of
massive explosions suddenly slammed into the spaceport and began marching
slowly across it. When the explosives struck a building, it simply ceased to
be. Strell conscripts threw down their weapons and began running away from the
advancing explosions as quickly as possible. From other buildings closer to the
center of the spaceport, hundreds of the birdlike aliens took to the air and
began flying away.

“Don’t shoot
any of the Orvions,” ordered Mark hastily, seeing several of his marines
hesitate for a moment as if they were going to fire on the fleeing aliens.
“We’re not here to kill civilians, merely to eliminate the Strell forces
holding the spaceport. Captain Winfrey, have your marines save five explosive
rounds each in case we need them later; everyone else continue to fire.”

Winfrey gazed
in awe at the destruction the marines were laying out in front of him. This was
the first time he had ever seen the horrific damage the mass firing of
explosive rounds from the Type Three battle suits could cause. Buildings were
being blown apart, smoke and fire was everywhere, and all armed resistance had
come to a stop. It was at that moment that he saw additional explosions begin
on the far side of the spaceport. The marines attacking from that direction
were now beginning their part of the demolition of the spaceport facilities.

A horrendous
explosion suddenly shook the ground. From near the center of the spaceport a
huge fireball rose up into the air. Debris began to fall around the marines and
for a moment, they paused in their firing.

“A cargo ship
exploded,” Captain Stevens informed everyone as he checked quickly with the
Fire Fox. Colonel Andler was monitoring the ongoing battle from the troop
transport and had reported on the massive explosion.

“Crap, I hope
whoever is firing from the other side of the God damn spaceport doesn’t hit
another one,” Private Turner complained as he wiped the dirt carefully off his
RG rifle with his metal hand.

“Just hope
they don’t blow you up instead,” laughed another marine. “You’re a big enough
target to be mistaken for a cargo ship.”

Turner whirled
around, but he couldn’t tell which of his fellow marines had made the
wisecrack. Letting out a deep breath, he looked back toward the spaceport and
continued to fire his explosive rounds. He still had six more he needed to find
targets for.

-

From high
orbit, the Fire Fox was behind the sixteen assault ships that were
participating in the attack. It was also sending out short-range jamming
signals to block any intrusive scans of the vessel. The Strell didn’t need to
know there had been a strange, unidentified ship involved in the attack.

“That was one
hell of an explosion,” commented Captain Stockwell as he stared at the main
viewscreen, showing a pillar of fire and a rising pall of black smoke above the
spaceport complex. He hadn’t managed to tear his eyes away from the screen when
a second massive explosion occurred, followed by a half a dozen more only
slightly smaller.

“Another cargo
ship and some large shuttles just got it,” Ensign Bryan reported from the
sensor console. “That’s all the ships that were on the ground.”

“Spaceport is
pretty well destroyed,” spoke Colonel Andler with satisfaction. “Do we have any
reports of any Strell being encountered?”

“No,” replied
Captain Stockwell, shaking his head. “We think they were located in one of the
larger buildings on the spaceport. At least that’s where their original signal
came from and that building’s been destroyed. If there were any Strell inside,
they surely died in the explosions.”

“What about
our secondary objective?” asked Colonel Andler, referring to a smaller
spaceport on the far side of the planet.

“It’s been
destroyed and the marine commanders are requesting immediate pickup,” Ensign
Brill reported from Communications where she had been monitoring the ongoing
battles over the com system. “I’m now receiving the same request from the
marines at the primary target. They report mission accomplished and to send
down the drop ships.”

“Make it so,”
ordered Colonel Andler, pleased that the mission had been accomplished. He
wanted to get all of his marines picked up and leave orbit before any Strell
warships showed up. While the assault ships could be easily mistaken for
Kleese, the Fire Fox was obviously not. It might raise some unwanted questions.
“Make sure every one of our marines are accounted for.” It wouldn’t do for the
Strell to find a human body inside a left behind battle suit.

-

Captain
Winfrey looked around him at all the death and destruction the marines had
caused. There was burning and smoking rubble everywhere and a large number of
bodies. Many of the Strell conscript’s armored suits had been torn apart by the
power of the suit explosives. Dylan estimated there were over one hundred in just
his immediate area.

“We caused a
lot of damage,” Private Morris spoke from his side as she watched several
marines checking the rubble for anything they might have missed.

“They were
caught in the middle,” responded Winfrey, gesturing to a nearby dead conscript
with a mostly intact suit of armor. It was obvious the conscripts had been a
humanoid race. “They serve the Strell and we’re just trying to survive. There
will be other battles like this one in the future.”

“Drop ships
are coming!” yelled Private Turner, hearing a loud noise above them. Looking
up, he could see ten of the small ships coming in to land around the spaceport
to pick up the marines.

“Everyone load
up as soon as the drop ships are down,” ordered Captain Stevens over the coms.
“Make sure everyone is accounted for, including the dead. We leave no one
behind!”

Mark sighed as
he took another long look at his HUD showing the current status of the company
of marines he and Captain Winfrey were in charge of. There were eight amber
icons and four conspicuous red ones. He sadly suspected many of the marines had
felt invulnerable in their battle suits and several had paid for that folly
with their lives. He knew from speaking to Major Nelson they'd fought far
tougher battles and suffered fewer casualties when they were conscripts for the
Kleese.

However, the
first battle of Operation Insurrection was now over, and Mark strongly
suspected there would be steady improvement from here on out as his marines
became better acclimated to using their suits in combat situations. There'd
been a lot of videos shot by the suit cams of all the officers and they would
be used for training purposes. Even as he thought about what needed to be done,
a drop ship landed a few hundred meters away followed quickly by four more. They
had zeroed in on the homing beacon he had activated in his command suit.

“Let’s load
up,” he ordered as he began striding toward the opening hatch.

“Ride’s here,”
Private Turner said as he slapped Private Morris on the back with his powerful metal
arm, nearly knocking her over.

Olivia turned
to glare at Turner, knowing he couldn’t see her face through her protective
helmet. “Slap me one more time and I’ll put you on your ass!” she threatened as
she began walking off angrily toward the nearby drop ship.

Turner only
grinned; he enjoyed irritating Private Morris. Of course, if she ever became an
officer she would probably make him regret his actions.

-

Thirty minutes
later, all of the drop ships were safely back aboard their respective assault
ships and the Fire Fox. The fleet turned and began accelerating away from the
Orvion’s planet, heading back toward the rest of Fourth Fleet.

“Send the
message,” ordered Colonel Andler, looking over at the communications officer.

“Yes, Sir,”
ensign Brill responded as she sent the prerecorded message.

The message
was short and to the point. It informed the Orvions that they were now a part
of the Kleese Empire and that shortly an occupying force of Kleese conscripts
would be arriving to ensure the planet stayed obedient.

“I guess
that’s finished,” Captain Stockwell said as the Fire Fox jumped into Fold Space
to rendezvous with the Independence and the rest of the fleet.

“This one’s
done, but the next target has already been selected,” Colonel Andler replied.
“We’ll give our troops a few days off and then we’ll begin reviewing the battle
footage to correct what we did wrong. This battle was easy; some of the future
ones won’t be.”

-

Admiral Rivers
watched as the Fire Fox and attending assault ships took up their assigned
positions in the fleet formation. The first mission had been accomplished.
“What’s the casualty report?” he asked, knowing that some marines had died and
many others had been wounded.

“More than
expected,” Colonel Greerman said as he looked at a data screen next to him. “We
lost nine dead and twenty-two wounded.”

“They’ll
learn,” Rivers sighed. “Colonel Andler will get them straightened out.”