The Conscripts: Fight or Die (Blood War Book 3) (27 page)

“Okay, continue.”

“LZ Rift is perhaps the most established of the three LZs. They have made significant progress and are now attacking the ridge.”

The captain switched to another view on the display. Sand could see that some of the troops had managed to make it to the fortifications in the ridgeline and were attacking them. He watched as a fire team entered the fortification after blowing it up with what had to be handheld weapons. They reappeared and moved to the next position. Leave it to the Wolfs and Rifts. At least something on the ground was beginning to make progress.

“Sir.” A young lieutenant at one of the drone stations was standing.

“Yes,” Sand said.

“I need to break into your BUB for this. It is a flash priority. I need to put it on the display.”

“Do it, Lieutenant.”

The display changed to the west in the dunes. He saw at first tens, then hundreds of tiny figures moving rapidly toward the beachhead. Between LZ Sol and the Von Fleet LZ. There were more and more of them appearing out of the base of the ridgeline.

“Sir, the Xotoli are making their push to split the LZss with this counterattack.”

Sand was stunned. He'd known the Xotoli would counterattack as soon as possible, but he had not expected it so soon and in such numbers. None of the intel had given him a hint of this many troops. As he watched, the wave of Xotoli continued to grow. Then he saw some of them drop, then more.

“Who’s out there doing that? Zoom in on those troops.”

The lieutenant zoomed in on a small group of troops in a U-shaped position firing into the approaching horde, standing alone against overwhelming odds, not retreating but making a stand. As they continued to fire into the Xotoli, he saw that more of the enemy were changing direction to attack the small unit that was taking out more and more of their troops. They were actually slowing the huge wave. The Xotoli couldn’t leave a unit in their rear that would continue to fire as they passed. Numbers didn’t necessarily stop a determined unit from damaging a much larger force. He continued to watch in amazement. That unit was giving him time to warn the Marines and Von Fleet.

“Advise LZs Sol and VF to reinforce their flanks immediately. Flash them this video. Now!”

Sand watched as the various communicators worked frantically to get the information to the units. He began to see movement in both LZs as they shifted their units to the proper flanks. The Xotoli were still coming, but they would now be attacking through fire from both flanks. All thanks to one small platoon that had stood when they could have retreated.

“Who is that? Who is making that stand? Do we have any Mike boats that could help them out? Something?”

“Sir, we’ve been having problems contacting the Mike boats since they began their runs on the ridge. We think the Xotoli have found that frequency and are jamming it. We can’t get them up on comm.”

A buzz erupted in the room as men and women tried to identify the small unit that was making so much of a difference at a critical time. Finally the Von Fleet captain stood and said, “I think that is a platoon from the 3rd Company of the 135th Penal Battalion. It was the 3rd’s assignment to take that flank. None of the other platoons are answering, so it has to be one of them.”

Sand stood there watching young men and women, conscripted because they were poor, make a stand that could very well save the invasion. They wouldn’t last much longer. Someone went to change the display.

“No, leave them up. We owe them the honor of watching their bravery.”

Sol System

Earth

Naval Headquarters

Admiral Raurk’s Office

Istas sat across from Usiche in her office. She had come directly from her questioning of Netis. She had just finished briefing her on what she had learned. Usiche sat back in her chair.

“That is a lot to absorb, Istas. Everything from the motives of the Xotoli to Raina Carroll being one of the leading hybrids,” Usiche said.

“Carroll left his first wife for her after Rift. That means she knew him before Rift, so Von Fleet was compromised even before Rift.”

“That is a big assumption to jump to. Von Fleet is the most powerful corporation in the Confederation. How could they have been compromised before Rift?”

“I don’t know, but Carroll was appointed as their senator immediately after Rift. So he became their conduit for information. He’s read in as a senator on some of the most sensitive information in the Confederation, and he tells Raina.”

“What makes you think that he would tell her anything? It would make him a traitor, not only to the Confederation but to his race.”

Istas told Usiche about how Raina had used Netis, and as she told the story Istas could see Usiche realize what that meant for Carroll.

“She either used sex, threats, real violence, or a combination of the three to control him. Remember he still has a former wife and children who can be held over his head.”

“The children?” Usiche asked.

“Of course. They would be the biggest threat,” Istas said.

Usiche stared at Istas for a long time before she said, “You’ve done something similar, haven’t you?”

“Yes, Usiche, I have.”

Istas could see her face change as she realized what that meant about who Istas was and what she was capable of should it be necessary. She also knew that realization was going to change their relationship from this point forward. Few outside the clan understood what being an Anjin truly meant, and those who did come to understand the real nature of their craft were rarely unaffected by the knowledge.

Usiche was silent for some time before she said, “What do you propose to do now that we know that Raina is definitely a hybrid?”

“For the time being, we watch and wait—”

Suddenly the display on the admiral’s desk popped up. Usiche frowned. “I told you that I was not to be disturbed!”

“Ma’am, he insisted that he must see you immediately. It is urgent. He won’t take no for an answer.”

“Who is it?”

“It’s Dr. Moses, ma’am.”

“What could the chief scientist for the Navy possibly need to talk to me about that could not wait another hour?”

“Ma’am, I don’t—”

Then a male voice shouted, “Our wormhole to Chika is disappearing!”

Usiche’s face changed dramatically. She exchanged a glance with Istas. “Send him in.”

Dr. Darryon Moses came charging into the room, a long printout in his hand. He did not look like a typical scientist. He was huge, with broad shoulders and a tough broken nose of a face that made him look more like a rugby player than a scientist. Rugby happened to be his hobby, and he had had to choose between science and rugby for a career after school. He had chosen science.

“What the hell are you talking about, Darryon? What do you mean the wormhole to Chika is disappearing?”

He dropped a printout covered with sophisticated data on her desk. “It’s right there, Admiral. We first noticed a change in the dark matter in a routine sweep by one of our sensors. We thought it was a faulty sensor, so we checked all of the other sensors and they were reading the same. We thought, ‘Well, some sort of event corrupted all the sensors,’ so we sent out another set. The same readings came back with the new sensors. Something is closing the wormhole.”

“Is it natural?”

“No, definitely not. It’s the Xotolis. They are closing the wormhole to the Sui-Ren system and therefore to Chika.”

Dr. Moses was one of the few read in on the Chika operation.

“What happens if they close off that wormhole?”

“We lose the route to Ceti and therefore to Ross, Groom Bridge, Cygni, and the rest of the systems out there permanently, and they trap the majority of our Navy and Marines in a system with no way to get home in the foreseeable future.”

Istas had not thought she would ever see Usiche completely at a loss for words, but she looked absolutely lost as to what to say. Finally she looked at Moses and said, “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Admiral, we’ve known each other for decades. You know I would never come into your office like this if I wasn’t sure.”

Istas could see Usiche shift gears in front of her. She was now working the problem instead of being stunned by the news.

“Do you have any idea how? Could we slow it or stop it?”

“No to both questions. I have my whole staff working on it. As you know, we’ve been working the artificial-wormhole problem since Rift. We are still analyzing the data your Marines brought back from 703. It has helped tremendously, but we are nowhere near developing anything that could stop or even affect the closing.”

“Sit down, Darryon. I need to think.”

Usiche stood and began to pace. Istas knew there were no good solutions to this problem.

Usiche looked at Istas. “Could there have been a leak about the operation?”

“It’s always a possibility, but I do not think so in this case.” Istas had worked closely with the planners on security during the run-up to the operation. The security had been airtight this time. She honestly did not think there could have been a leak.

Usiche stared at her for a moment before she said, “Does Admiral Grogan know?”

“Unknown. You know better than I do that she would have patrols throughout the system. They might have noticed the change.”

“How long do we have, Darryon?”

“Days at most,” Darryon replied.

Admiral Raurk sat down at her desk and pulled up a mission spreadsheet for the operation. She stared at it for some time. From her face, Istas saw that the news was not good.

“The last communication I had from them said that they were meeting stiff resistance on the planet. Grogan reported they had not encountered any Xotoli naval activity. So her primary mission was support of the invasion and patrolling the system. Sand felt confident he would take the planet eventually. If he hasn’t committed his reserves, only a portion of his troops will be on the surface.”

Usiche paused. Istas knew what she was about to say, and it was something no commander ever wanted to say.

“We could order them out immediately and leave the troops on Chika. If we don’t try and get as many ships and troops out of Sui-Ren as we can, they’ll all be trapped there. We cut our losses to those left planetside.”

Usiche seemed to age years with the weight of this decision. She turned and looked at Dr. Moses.

“Do you have even the faintest idea how we might stop it or give ourselves more time?”

Dr. Moses’s shoulders sagged, and he rubbed his face with a big hand before he answered, “No, Admiral. I’ve got nothing.”

Usiche stood there for a moment, her head down as she made her decision. She looked up at Dr. Moses and said, “Doctor, get back to your work and find me something so I don’t have to leave those Marines.”

Dr. Moses immediately stood, turned, and went to the door. He paused and looked over his shoulder and said, “I wish to God I never had to bring you this news.”

“Me too, Darryon. Now go.”

Usiche sat down at her desk and quickly typed out the message ordering Grogan to leave the system immediately. She hit send and it was transmitted over the most secure lines in the Confederation.

“We need to find out if there was a leak or if this is just good strategy,” Usiche said.

“Good strategy?” Istas said, puzzled.

“Yes. If you know you have engaged the main body of your enemy and you can keep them engaged while you move around their flank, leaving them cut off, without reinforcements or resupply they will eventually wilt on the vine. You don’t try and defeat them. Just leave them out there without supplies while you move onto a bigger prize.”

“The bigger prize?” Istas said.

“Sol.”

Istas was shocked she had not put this together. It was a classic strategy of war.

“If there was a leak, then they will be here sooner than if this was good war fighting on the fly. We need to find out which it was. We need to pay a visit to Raina.”

“She won’t talk, but we may get a read on what she knew,” Istas replied.

“Correct.”

“Where are they now?”

Istas touched her bracelet, and a holo from her agents keeping track of Raina’s movements appeared. Istas looked up at Usiche before she said, “She is at Kat Von Fleet’s for a private dinner.”

Istas watched the admiral’s face harden as she realized just how far this Von Fleet connection was going to go. Usiche reached down and touched her desk.

“I want my car and a squad of Marines immediately. We leave in five minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Usiche looked at Istas for moment before she said, “Give me a cigarette. We’ll pick up Netis on the way to Kat’s.”

Istas gave the admiral a cigarette then lit one herself.

“There are days I wish I had never put this uniform on,” Usiche said.

Istas knew how she felt.

Sui-Ren System

Chika

Naval Special Warfare Squadron

Mike Boat 79

Chief Petty Officer Zenes Lee pulled the Mike boat up hard out of its guns run on the dry riverbed when another destroyer five-inch round exploded in front of them, sending up a huge plume of sand and rocks. Lee could not miss the plume, and as they entered it, sand and rocks were sucked into the engines.

“Goddamn those destroyer guys! Would they fuckin’ coordinate their fire with us for once?” Lee yelled as he banked the Mike boat away from the plume.

“In the briefing they said they would. I've lost comm with them again,” Odaka replied.

“Well, tell them if I see him later I’m going to—”

“To what, Chief? What should we tell the commanders?”

“That we better comm with them next time. Now shut up. I’ll think of something when I’m not trying to keep us from crashing.”

Lee glanced through his display at the Von Fleet landing zone. It was a hellscape of burning APCs, tanks, and robots mixed with downed troopers. He had no idea if they were going to be able to hold. LZ Rift with the Wolfs and Rifts was still under attack, but they were making some progress, and now that the dry riverbed had been cleaned out, they didn’t have to worry about their backs.

It had taken a combination of the Mike boats and the naval gunfire to finally silence the riverbed. He had no idea if it had just been a robotic fortification or if it had been manned, but it had been hugely effective against the Von Fleet LZ. They had been at it for over an hour before the Von Fleet APCs could begin to land additional troops and equipment. With the reinforcements, they were beginning to make progress into the huge crater that had been their objective all along. He had no idea how far behind they were on the mission timetable. His mission clock didn’t go that far into the red—it had stopped trying to recalculate the new timeline. He heard Toland firing.