The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (12 page)

It took a moment for her to place him. It was the marine who’d been on guard duty when she’d come back to the base on the last day of her leave.

“
Yes, we were about to take off when
…
this all happened.
”
She hesitated before memory threw up another note.
“
I’m sorry about the ones in your unit that were on
Harbinger
.
”

“
Yeah, poor bastards,
”
he replied shortly.

“
Rob! Would you stop chatting yer woman up and get a move on!
”
the corporal called out.

“
Yes Corp,
”
Rob replied. Alice thought there was a slight colour in his cheeks when he pushed the shovel into her hand.

After her first gaff Alice didn’t speak much for the rest of the day, although the work didn’t leave her with much breath with which to talk anyway. The specialist digging machine was doing the lion
’
s share of the task. It dug out a two metre wide by two metre deep groove in the earth, grinding its way through both soil and tree roots with equal ease. It didn’t dig one continuous trench however. Every ten metres it would stop, lift its cutting head and move a few metres to the left or right before recommencing. A mix of civilians and marines were left to dig the connecting passages between these grooves.

After spending the morning as one of those guarding the workers, Rob swapped duties with a marine who’d been digging. Somehow he managed to find his way over to work beside Alice and once there, seemed to view it as his role to give her an elementary education in fieldworks. The reason the digger wasn’t doing one long trench, he informed her, was due to high explosive. By breaking the trench line into short lengths or bays, connected at right angles by short passages called traverses, the effect of an explosive bursting in the trench would be limited to one bay. It would also prevent an enemy who entered the trench from firing down the entire length. Traverses weren’t their only work: the sides had to be shored up, plus a firing step and parapet built.

They prepared just over a kilometre of trenches that first day, and it took absolutely all of Landfall
’
s extended day. As the sun dipped towards the horizon, Alice leaned on her shovel and looked back along their handiwork. She was bone tired and her hands, shoulders and back were all aching from the unaccustomed labour. Several of the civilians had been forced to drop out of the work during the course of the day but she’d made it to the end of Landfall
’
s extended working day. That felt good. In a small way.

“
A good day’s work,
”
she said to Rob.

“
Yep,
”
he replied. His uniform was muddy but he looked much fresher than she felt.
“
Of course the total perimeter is going to be, oh
…
about twenty K.
”

Alice closed her eyes and dropped her head until her forehead rested on the top of the spade handle.

“
You really couldn’t have just kept that one to yourself?
”

“
Should have been obvious to a bright spark like you,
”
he replied disapprovingly.
“
Of course after that, we then have to dig the inner loop of the support trench plus the communication trenches that link the two, plus the bunkers and dug outs that will be needed. Finally, we
’
ll have cut down God only knows how many acres of trees to clear firing lanes.
”

“
You know, I am getting
really
tired of this,
”
she said with feeling.
“
I am not a soldier and I’m not about to become a soldier. I don’t need to know all this stuff. When this is over, I’m going back to Earth!
”

“
If it’s still there, Doc,
”
Rob replied as he picked up his rifle and shouldered the spade.
“
Only if it
’
s still there.
”

Alice hurried after him.

“
What do you mean by that?
”
she demanded as she drew level.

“
Just what do you think has happened Doc?
”
he replied evenly.

“
I’ve listened to the reports that have been released.
”

“
Yeah well, I’ve listened harder,
”
he replied.
“
The Third Fleet didn’t make an orderly retreat Doc. It routed. That means it ran for its life. Every man for himself type of thing. They reckon the Nameless fleet is now moving towards Earth.
”

“
But the Home Fleet
…”
she said quietly.

“
The fleet here, it didn’t even slow them down. There’s nothing magic about the Home Fleet, no guarantee that it will succeed and if Earth falls,
”
he waved back towards the trenches,
“
well, all this won’t make any difference.
”

“
You
’
re saying this is pointless? Is that what you’re saying?
”

“
We’re awaiting developments, Doc. If Earth falls they’ll sweep us up in due course. If Earth stands, then we still have a chance. But unless the Home Fleet gives
‘
em the mother and father of all spankings, we’re going to be a long way behind enemy lines. Now if we’re really lucky, they’ll see this as a sideshow and ignore us. If less lucky, they want the planet but they want it in working order. That means a siege, which means they
’
ll have to come down here and root us out the hard way. If we’re flat out unlucky they
’
ll see this place as a weakness in their support areas and as they don’t give a rat’s ass about the planet, then we’re back to being royally boned. They’ll lob enough nukes at us to saturate the defences or if they want to do it in style, simply bolt an engine onto an asteroid and use it as a planet cracker.
”

His voice never altered in tone all through his monologue. If anything he sounded slightly bored.

“
Is that really what you believe?
”

“
I ain’t selling a religion here Doc. Belief don’t come into it. I’m talking military probability.
”
They reached the truck while he was speaking. The other civilians were already in and waiting impatiently.

“
Be seeing you, Doc,
”
Rob said as he helped her up into the truck.
“
Just keep your wits about you.
”

She was reunited with the rest of the
Harbinger
crowd back within the base proper. For the night they were sent back to the civilian accommodation they
’
d vacated days earlier, in anticipation of their return to
Harbinger
. There wasn’t much conversation, people just wanted to eat and sleep. But Alice and Leah stayed awake long enough to talk for a while.

It seemed that Leah hadn’t spoken to any member of the military. Whoever it was she
’
d talked to, had seemed to take a far more upbeat view of things. According to this unknown individual the trenches and fortifications were a precaution. They were a distraction to keep people busy and things would soon be back to normal. After her conversation with Rob, Alice found such a view naive. But Leah was happier than she had been in days. It was a terrible thought to have in relation to a friend but as the conversation went on, it struck Alice that Leah wasn
’
t good at handling harsh truths. But she didn’t say anything to shatter her friend’s illusions. It wouldn’t have been fair to do so. As Rob had put it, they were awaiting developments.

___________________________

9
th
August 2066

Message start: ++
To Commander Ground Base Douglas - On First August Home Fleet engaged two enemy fleets in the region of Alpha Centauri - Enemy advance checked - Enemy sighted retreating back along supply lines - Estimate they will not retreat as far as Landfall - Intelligence indicates Nameless jump drives are, repeat are, subject to constraints by mass shadow - to what extent though unknown - Report any sightings ++
Message End. Coding: G FIFTY-ONE, CORRECT. Frequency: CORRECT. Authorisation code: CORRECT. Conclusion: MESSAGE CONFIRMED AUTHENTIC.

Eulenburg blew across his coffee as he considered the message. It was a real mixture of the good and the bad but at least they’d finally remembered Landfall back on Earth. Rumours of the worst kind had started to circulate and at least those could now be laid to rest. The lack of detail was maddening but the limitations of FTL transmitters, plus the security implications, meant he wasn’t surprised Headquarters wasn’t going into fine detail. Still if the Nameless couldn’t drop back into real space directly in orbit around Landfall, that at least removed one nightmare scenario. But the crisis was by no means over. There was no mention of any sort of relief force coming to Landfall. The fact that it was a week after the end of the battle before the transmission had been sent, very clearly indicated that Landfall was not high on the fleet’s priority list.

Still their window of maximum vulnerability had been closed. The evacuation to the shelters had been completed a week ago now, although there were still plenty of people out among colonies, working to bring to the shelters whatever might be useful, anything from military equipment to food. Douglas Base was now almost unrecognisable. On the surface, trench works snaked around the perimeter, while below ground, caverns that hadn’t seen a human being since they were converted to shelters years earlier, were now teeming with one point two million people.

As an exercise in logistics, the evacuation had been an outstanding success. While the early days had been characterised by ragged confusion, the whole process had got into gear quicker than Eulenburg had hoped. Still, although he
’
d barely had time to blink, the time had dragged painfully.

At the end of that first day he’d reviewed the data from
Valkyrie
. Every night since, he’d dreamed of Nameless ships blinking into existence above them and missiles raining down.

But in the waking world the Nameless had not come. Not yet anyway. Sky watch had observed some kind of activity in orbit around the fourth planet of the solar system. L4, a relatively small gas giant that orbited around the system
’
s sun two light hours further out than Landfall. Whether this was any
…

The buzz of the intercom on his belt interrupted his thoughts.

“
Eulenburg here.
”

“
Admiral sir,
”
Lieutenant Casta’s voice came through.
“
Just to remind you, you
’
re due to meet the combined forces commanders in fifteen minutes.
”

Eulenburg looked slowly around his office. It felt comfortable in here, making it possible to forget that the base beyond was teeming with refugees and defended by soldiers speaking a dozen different languages. It was safe in here, far removed from the dangers and demands that were just beyond the office door.

“
Sir? Sir, are you still there?
”

“
Yes Lieutenant, I’m still here. I’ll be there shortly.
”

Chapter Four

Scarecrow

2
nd
September 2066

Commander Faith Willis, commanding officer of the Battle Fleet cruiser
Hood
, looked unhappily around the personnel receiving area of her ship, noting a myriad of imperfections. Paint was peeling from every bulkhead, sending small eye annoying fragments drifting around the chamber. There was something black and unhealthy looking growing down one of the water pipes and even by the closed-loop standards of a starship, there was a strange smell in the air. Her Chief Engineer, David Guinness, noticed her inspection and visibly winced. He needn’t have worried, as she wasn’t about to take it out on him. Prettying up the ship hadn’t exactly been a priority before or after Alpha Centauri. Just trying to keep the bloody thing running was a fulltime job. It would have helped if the side party could have distracted from the assorted signs of dilapidation, but in all honesty they added to it. Since the ship didn’t run to much in the way of laundry facilities, the personnel waiting in the receiving area looked more like a collection of survivors than a ship’s crew. Their captain didn’t look much better. It was the first time Willis had a reason to wear her dress uniform since taking command and it had developed a lot of new creases. It didn’t seem to fit as well as it had either - definitely looser round the waist. A woman of average height and slender build with auburn hair cropped short, Willis was pretty in a delicate sort of way that people didn’t expect in a military officer. Still, anyone who had served with her soon learnt that this was a very competent officer, who didn’t suffer fools.