One Good Soldier Part 18

"Ground boss likes the plan, but can't be certain when we'll get top cover. Apparently, things are tough all over up there," Roberts communicated back to him. "I tried to convince them that things were tough all over down here, too. They said they would try to get us some FM-12s for backup."

"Air cover would be nice," Warboys replied.

"How long will it take you tankheads to walk ten kilometers underwater and against a current?"

"Uh, my AIC says eighteen point six minutes. Let's shoot for twenty-five," Warboys answered the Marine colonel.

"Got it. I'll work the plan. a.s.suming we get approval, let's be ready to move in five minutes. Pick your team and start moving them to the river without looking like you're moving them to the river."

"Roger that, Ramy. Let's do it."

"All right, folks, listen up!" Warlord One broadcast to all the tanks, AAIs, and AEMs. "Our mission is to take the governor's mansion. That is where the controls for that QMT facility are supposed to be, so we can't just blow it up from s.p.a.ce. We have to march in there and take it away from the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds standing there. Let's go show them how the United States of America plays king of the hill."

"Hoowah!"

"Oorah!"

The Warlords totaled twelve state-of-the-art M3A17 transfigurable tank mecha. There were two squads of AEMs and three squads of AAIs. Warboys's DTM view of the battlescape showed him at least fifty enemy tank mecha and more than a thousand ground troops, and that was just in the near vicinity. His long-range sensors showed a much larger ma.s.s of troops just beyond the main line between them and where the control center for the orbiting QMT facility was.

"Warlord Two, you and the rest of the even numbers will stay here and lead this attack. I'll take the odd-numbered Warlords and a few AEMs for a swim," Warboys ordered his second-in-command.

Chapter 23.

July 1, 2394 AD Ross 128, Arcadia Orbit Friday, 3:38 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time The Utopian Saviors had been ordered to hit the Seppy supercarrier closest to the planet with all they had. The Demon Dawgs were backing them up and drawing the enemy s.h.i.+p's AA. Deuce and Goat, and Jawbone and Popstar had their FM-12s in bot mode, bouncing across the side of the hull of the giant armored s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p that was presently facing the planet like fleas on a dog. These fleas were packing armor-piercing railgun cannons, DEGs, and a s.h.i.+tload of missiles, not to mention the hands and feet of their mecha. As they ran across the hull, they dropped HE grenades into any devices, protuberances, antennas, or any other parts of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p that jutted beyond the structural integrity field that protected the hull. The strategy behind the battle plan was that the s.h.i.+p might be forced to die the death of a thousand cuts. The mecha attack on the one enemy supercarrier freed up the already overwhelmed fleet s.h.i.+ps to focus their attack elsewhere. The problem was that the AA of the supercarrier was focused on the mecha, but the DEGs kept blasting toward the Madira Madira and the and the Tyler Tyler. Deuce had already noted several hits. But that wasn't her mission right now. Skinny had taken several of the others around to hit the DEG battery. Deuce's team was tracking to the SIF-generator power conduits that ran along the underside of the supercarrier. And like any squad of good marines, they were creating mayhem and blowing s.h.i.+t up along the way.

Deuce clanked at over seventy kilometers per hour across the hull and flipped her mecha behind an AA box that was pumping out green tracer rounds into the fray around them. There was clearly some U.S. pilot in the targeting solution of the box. One of her buddies, most likely. She rose to her feet, bringing her DEG to bear on a Seppy Gnat that had been trying to lock her and Goat up. Goat flipped his mecha over her sideways and atop the AA box. Then he bounced to cover somewhere out of her visual several tens of meters behind her.

"Guns, guns, guns!" Deuce tracked across the horizon at the enemy fighter as it flew over the horizon of the s.h.i.+p's hull. "s.h.i.+t, I missed!"

"Don't worry, Deuce," Goat said. "There's plenty more where that one came from! Fox three!" He let go a mecha-to-mecha missile that careened around a radome in front of him and twisted upward into the tail section of a Seppy Stinger that was pulling away from him. "s.h.i.+t!" he shouted as the Stinger burst into a fireball.

"G.o.dd.a.m.n, Goat, quit complaining. You got the Seppy b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Popstar noted.

"I was aiming for the f.u.c.king radome! The G.o.dd.a.m.n sensor pulled off and locked up the fighter!" Goat replied.

"Don't worry, Goat," Deuce grunted. "There is plenty of s.h.i.+t to shoot at!" She ducked for cover behind an exhaust vent that jutted out of the deck behind the AA box as the Gnat that had vanished over the horizon of the s.h.i.+p screamed back up, going to bot mode. The Gnat hit the hull running at top speed and serpentined across the hull of the enemy s.h.i.+p toward her. The Seppy splashed her with DEGs but missed. The directed energy beam cut through empty s.p.a.ce and kept on going and continued to track onto Deuce right up until she took cover. Then the Seppy Gomer cut the DEG off just in time to keep from blasting a hole in his own s.h.i.+p.

This Gomer has a hard-on for me.

Yes, ma'am! Her AIC started plotting possible trajectories for the enemy mecha. Her AIC started plotting possible trajectories for the enemy mecha.

And I still want to take out this f.u.c.king AA gun behind me.

Well, then, do it!

Right.

"Deuce! On your six!" her wingman warned her. Another enemy Gnat was starting to get a drop on her.

"I got it, Goat! Guns, guns, guns!" She leaped backward, firing both shoulder cannons and the giant DEG gun she held in her left armored mechanical hand into the AA box. She held the trigger in place until she saw the AA barrels stop firing, and then she carried her motion through a backflip with her feet thrusters at full throttle over the second enemy bot-mode mecha that had snuck up on her. Deuce went to missiles for it, and guns for his wingman that had been putting the pressure on her. "Fox three! Guns, guns, guns! Take that, you Gomer motherf.u.c.kers!"

She hit them both, but only took out the one in front of her. The Gnat that had been behind her managed to break out of her firing solution, and it got off a round of mecha-to-mecha missiles that were tracking in on Deuce's position way too fast at that short distance. The missiles arched upward from the mecha just as her guns had taken out the enemy fighter in front of her. As the missiles arched up and then back over, they acquired a radar lock on Deuce's FM-12, and the enemy fighter that had been behind her gave her the slip.

"f.u.c.k! G.o.dd.a.m.nit to f.u.c.king h.e.l.l!" She rolled onto her back, firing at the incoming missiles with her DEG, triggered her electromagnetic countermeasures, burst some chaff, and then kicked her bot up into a full run using the s.h.i.+p's structural features for cover. "Eagle mode!" she cried as the missiles twisted and turned around the structural outcroppings of the Seppy supercarrier's hull. Deuce's fighter rolled over into eagle mode with the forty-millimeter cannons above and below the fuselage of the fighter and the DEG still in the left hand. The main drive of the fighter now was capable of flying the vehicle at top speeds and to outmaneuver the missiles. But just as she jinked around an outcropping on the s.h.i.+p's hull and was about to go full throttle and out of the missile's lock, an enemy Stinger twisted overhead and exploded, throwing fragments in her path that slammed into her nose. The impact of the unexpected explosion tossed her eagle-mode fighter tail over nose toward a sensor-array platform just ahead of her, and the missiles still had her locked up. Twice she managed to soften her tumble by putting her hands down, but the fighter was spinning beyond recovery.

"Hold on, Deuce! Fox three! Fox three! Guns, guns, guns! I got you." Jawbone's voice came through the net just as Deuce felt her eagle-mode mecha jerk into a completely different direction, throwing her against her restraints painfully.

s.h.i.+t, I think that broke some ribs!

Stay with me, Colonel! Breathe! Hit the bite block! her AIC told her. Deuce chewed her TMJ bite block for a fresh load of stims and oxygen. her AIC told her. Deuce chewed her TMJ bite block for a fresh load of stims and oxygen.

Jawbone had dived in between Deuce and the incoming while letting loose two missiles. Just as the missiles pulled out from her mecha, she gunned them down herself, creating a fireball of hot plasma and shrapnel between their mecha and the enemy missiles. The enemy missiles exploded behind them, as Jawbone then used the momentum of her jump and the force from the explosion to carry her into Deuce's path to knock her free of the sensor array.

"s.h.i.+t! What the-" Deuce attempted to shake her head clear, but her mecha still spun wildly. Jawbone held fast to the right leg and arm of Deuce's eagle-mode mecha with both hands of her bot-mode FM-12.

"Just hang on. I'm spinning you down. Letting go in three, two, now!" Deuce could see Jawbone's mecha breaking off and bouncing back down on the deck, firing its DEGs into some other part of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

"f.u.c.k!" The Marine lieutenant colonel grunted and bit down on her TMJ bite block again, this time even harder, as the eagle-mode fighter steadied itself out of the spin. The effect of the stims washed over her, boosting her energy level from beyond exhausted to just really f.u.c.king tired.

Then suddenly she was thrown back and forth from incoming cannon fire-the G.o.dd.a.m.ned Gnat that she had missed had managed to stay on her through all the s.h.i.+t. The armor and the SIFs held as Deuce shook the previous second's mess out of her mind and accepted her current predicament. That was what mecha pilots had to do. Forget the past and watch the present.

She had a Seppy Gnat trying to lock her up as she was climbing up into the gray area between the supercarrier's bowl and the bigger engagement ball. The enemy version of the Navy Ares fighter barrel-rolled around her trajectory line, trying to get a good shot at her. And she had pulled so far away from her wingman that there was no way he would get to her in time to help. She was on her own.

Deuce pulled the HOTAS back to her stomach and pushed full throttle forward, sending the FM-12 into a full-speed high g-load dive toward the enemy supercarrier and back into the bowl. She left her stomach somewhere at the top of her direction reversal, and she had to choke the bile back down as best she could. Her suit soaked up the rest fairly quickly. She managed the vector reversal just in time, as she was about to slip into a swarm of Gnats and Ares-Ts going at it above her.

She recognized several friendlies whizzing by as she pressed downward into her dive. A U.S. Navy Ares-T in bot mode pa.s.sed by her so close she could read the pilot's helmet. It said "Poser."

"Watch out, Marine! You've got a Gomer on your six!" Poser warned her.

"I see him, Poser!" Deuce replied. She pushed down on the right foot pedal and pulled up on the left one, throwing a hard yaw into her flight path so she could target with her DEG as well as her cannons. She was flying backward and upside down, facing the Seppy fighter accelerating into her flight path. She rolled the nose around, trying to keep the enemy in view. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to lock up the b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"Warning, enemy targeting radar detected. Warning, enemy targeting radar detected," her b.i.t.c.hin' Betty warned her. The cannon tracers flying by her in every direction were a bit of a hint as well.

There he is, Deuce! her AIC alerted her, already downloading the vector to her DTM. her AIC alerted her, already downloading the vector to her DTM.

Got it! Deuce yawed another thirty degrees and pitched up. Her missile-guidance sensor sounded a tone, and the yellow X in her mind turned red. Deuce yawed another thirty degrees and pitched up. Her missile-guidance sensor sounded a tone, and the yellow X in her mind turned red.

"Warning, enemy targeting lock imminent. Warning, enemy targeting lock imminent."

"Fox three!" Deuce shouted. "Not any f.u.c.king more! Aaaaaahh, woo, hoo!" She grunted through the bone-crus.h.i.+ng maneuver, trying to force more blood and oxygen back into her brain. The missile flew out from under her wing toward the enemy fighter and into the thing's c.o.c.kpit. Just before the missile hit, the canopy blew and the ejection seat launched into s.p.a.ce. The Seppy Gnat exploded into a white and orange fireball, almost engulfing its pilot.

Great shot, Deuce!

Let's get back on the deck. Deuce toggled to fighter mode and corrected her flight path back into a strafing dive toward the enemy supercarrier's hull. Deuce toggled to fighter mode and corrected her flight path back into a strafing dive toward the enemy supercarrier's hull.

"Goat, where the h.e.l.l are you?" she shouted out to her wingman as she pulled up over the hull of the s.h.i.+p. Her DTM mindview showed him close by, bouncing on the deck, but she couldn't find him visually.

"Great flying, boss. Now see if you can help me get this Stinger off my a.s.s!"

"Roger that, Goat. I see 'im!" Deuce increased her acceleration to the deck until she reached the point that she wouldn't be able to flare out of the dive if she didn't back off. "Guns, guns, guns!"

Tracer rounds tracked out of the cannons and pounded against the SIF-reinforced hull of the Seppy supercarrier on either side of the enemy Stinger. The enemy fighter was in bot mode and chasing Goat around and about the hull. Goat was diving for cover as best he could and running about trying to stay ahead of his pursuer. Deuce kept pouring the rounds into the deck at the enemy bot but couldn't lock up on him. Her speed was such that she was going to overtake the bot and Goat in about two seconds. She'd have to bleed off most of her speed in order to get behind the enemy Stinger.

"Goat! Go to eagle mode now and pull out at full throttle!" She hoped the Stinger would take the bait. The Stinger's cannons started tracking at Deuce and firing.

"Warning, enemy targeting radar detected! Warning, enemy targeting radar detected!"

"h.e.l.l!" Deuce rolled about her flight path, still holding the trigger of her guns. She caught a glimpse of Goat's mecha launching from the hull out and up, away from the enemy bot. The enemy transfigured to fighter and took off after him while still firing its topside cannons backward at Deuce.

She rolled around and around the firing solution of the rearward cannon fire, taking a few tracers into her nose plating. Her armor and SIFs held. As Goat screamed away and the enemy pursued hot on his tail, it pulled their vectors out in front of Deuce's really hot approach. She pulled the throttle full back, slamming her forward into her restraints.

"Unh! G.o.dd.a.m.ned f.u.c.k!" she screamed at the negative g-load. "Faster, Goat! Faster!"

Deuce continued to roll and adjust her trajectory so as not to overshoot the enemy fighter. She managed to control her kinetic energy just enough that she pulled up right on top of the Stinger. As she rolled c.o.c.kpit toward the enemy fighter, she could see him looking up at her only meters away. The two of them bounced around each other several times, the Stinger in fighter mode and Deuce's FM-12 in eagle mode.

"f.u.c.k this," she muttered. Deuce pulled out away from the enemy fighter far enough to roll one hundred and eight degrees over, putting her eagle-mode talons and hands toward the enemy fighter. She stomped at the c.o.c.kpit with her claws and gripped them. The two mecha locked together and pitched forward madly. The nose of Deuce's mecha slammed into the empennage of the enemy fighter. Then she used her right fist and punched it through the armor of the fighter repeatedly until she hit the power core. Finally, the c.o.c.kpit tore free, and she spun off of the fighter, still gripping it in her talons. Sparks and air vented from the enemy plane, and then the ejection seat blew just as the fighter exploded from within, throwing the wings off in two different directions. One of the wings ricocheted off her canopy but did no damage she could detect.

"Savior Team One, we have got to get our focus back on to those SIF generators!" She straightened out her flight path and pulled her trajectory back around to the supercarrier. "Jawbone, Popstar? You with me?"

"Roger that, Deuce," Jawbone replied.

"I'm on Jaw's wing," Popstar added.

"Good. Goat, wing up with me, and let's get back down there and get those d.a.m.ned SIFs knocked out!"

Other than the enemy supercarrier and the hauler that the fleet s.h.i.+ps had managed to knock out of commission at the start, the battle had not gone that great. The Roosevelt Roosevelt and the and the Madira Madira had managed to catch one of the supercarriers in a cross fire just above the QMT facility and did overtax that s.h.i.+p's SIFs and armor briefly. The sensors had shown that they were ablating the hull and that atmosphere was venting from the enemy s.h.i.+p into s.p.a.ce. Then RADM Wallace Jefferson realized that the d.a.m.ned Seppy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were pulling the same trick on him. The lone s.h.i.+p advancing on them from the rear was just bait. had managed to catch one of the supercarriers in a cross fire just above the QMT facility and did overtax that s.h.i.+p's SIFs and armor briefly. The sensors had shown that they were ablating the hull and that atmosphere was venting from the enemy s.h.i.+p into s.p.a.ce. Then RADM Wallace Jefferson realized that the d.a.m.ned Seppy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were pulling the same trick on him. The lone s.h.i.+p advancing on them from the rear was just bait.

As soon as the Madira Madira and the and the Roosevelt Roosevelt pulled away from the pulled away from the Lincoln Lincoln and and Tyler Tyler, three enemy battle cruisercla.s.s s.h.i.+ps jaunted into position, splitting the fleet into two groups. Now they were in a mix of two enemy supercarriers at thirty-thousand kilometers alt.i.tude above the planet in non-Keplerian hover orbits. Just above them were the Lincoln Lincoln and the and the Tyler Tyler. Above the Lincoln Lincoln and and Tyler Tyler were the three enemy battle cruisers that had just jaunted into position. Then came the were the three enemy battle cruisers that had just jaunted into position. Then came the Madira, Madira, with the QMT facility off to starboard. Above the with the QMT facility off to starboard. Above the Madira Madira was another enemy supercarrier, and beyond that enemy s.h.i.+p was the was another enemy supercarrier, and beyond that enemy s.h.i.+p was the Roosevelt Roosevelt. There were still two battle cruisers, a supercarrier, and one hauler that the enemy was holding in reserve, way out around two hundred and fifty kilometers or so. Wallace wasn't quite sure why they were waiting to swoop in for the kill. But at the moment he had too much on his mind to worry about the s.h.i.+ps that were not not engaging him and the fleet. engaging him and the fleet.

"CO! CHENG!".

"Go, CHENG!" the admiral answered from his captain's chair. The Madira Madira was rocking left and right and up and down from the overwhelming punishment she was taking. Wally kept his seat belt pulled tight against his midsection. was rocking left and right and up and down from the overwhelming punishment she was taking. Wally kept his seat belt pulled tight against his midsection.

"Admiral! We're gonna lose the SIF generators in three minutes if this pounding continues. They just can't take it any longer," Commander Joe Buckley Jr. warned him.

"Keep them running, Joe! If those SIFs go out, we'll get boarded for certain!" the admiral ordered. He turned to his executive officer off-mike. "XO, better get marines stationed at all critical systems of the s.h.i.+p, and I want everybody carrying a sidearm or an HVAR."

"Aye, sir." The XO turned and started sending orders to onboard security details.

"Sorry, sir," the CHENG continued. "There will be nothing we can do unless we can jaunt out of here and cool off for a few minutes. The DEGs and AA systems are running full bore and have taxed the coolant systems to the max. Which would you rather lose first, sir, the SIFs or the DEGs or the AA guns?"

"I don't want to lose any of 'em, CHENG! Figure it out!" the admiral ordered his new chief engineer.

"Yes, sir. But I just wanted to advise you, sir, that if the SIFs go, everything is gonna go quickly, sir!" Commander Buckley's voice sounded pretty certain. Wallace was fairly good at determining if his officers were exaggerating a situation due to fear, and he didn't think Joe was that type of officer. h.e.l.l, he knew Buckley wasn't. The kid had already d.a.m.ned near killed himself to protect the s.h.i.+p. Wallace figured he'd better take his advice.

"Very well, CHENG." Wallace thought for a second or two, trying to figure out what tactic to take. "Keep at it, Joe."

"CO!" the ground boss called for his attention.

"Go, James."

"Sir, we desperately need to get some air support dirtside. Our tanks and AEMs are taking a pounding. The Robots, the Warlords, and the entire AAI battalion are constantly calling for support, sir. Casualty rates are growing beyond acceptable rates, sir." The one-star Army general also sounded certain that things were getting rough downstairs. This battleplan wasn't working worth a d.a.m.n, and Wallace knew he needed to make a change in his tactics quickly or s.h.i.+t was going to get even worse.

"Admiral, this might be a good time to do a strafing run and turn this d.a.m.ned s.p.a.ce ball into a bowl," the XO suggested.

"Air Boss concurs with the XO on that, Admiral!"

As it stood, the battle was filling a three-dimensional sphere or "ball," and it was a common trick for fighter pilots to pull a fight down close to the surface of a s.h.i.+p or planet to take out half of the sphere, turning it into an upside-down bowl. That way bad things couldn't sneak up from underneath. Well, there were mountains, AA fire, and such, but another fighter couldn't get under you if you were hugging the surface. Another good aspect of going to the atmosphere would be that Seppy haulers were no good there. That would limit at least one of the s.h.i.+ps that hadn't attacked them from way out in deep orbit yet. Since the other Seppy s.h.i.+ps seemed to perform as well or better than the U.S. supercarriers, Wally had no choice but to a.s.sume they operated in atmosphere just as well.

"I think you're all correct." Wallace studied the mindview battlescape closely and then sighed. "I hate running from a fight just to get into another one."

"Yes, sir," the XO grunted. "We'll get back to them in good time. Or, h.e.l.l, sir, they'll probably just follow us any d.a.m.ned way."

"Nav! Prepare for treetop strafing runs on the enemy positions near the governor's mansion. Gunnery Officer Hall, I want you taking h.e.l.l to those enemy tank lines!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Fleet, this is the Madira Madira! Pull out of the current engagement, and let's put this battle near the surface. If the Seppy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds want to fight us, they'll have to come down to the atmosphere and do it. I want all s.h.i.+ps to jaunt out of this fight in two minutes, to these coordinates. Starting now, I want all s.h.i.+ps running the QMT site-to-site algorithm teleporting the fighter squadrons to twenty kilometers above the engagement zone below. If we haven't finished teleporting all the fighters, we still jaunt and will take back up the QMT effort as soon as we materialize back into normal s.p.a.ce." He DTMed his battle plan to the other Navy supercarrier captains. "Once we are out of the fray and in normal s.p.a.ce, we'll lick our wounds for two minutes, and then we hit the deck, blasting away. All fighter squadrons are to take it to the Seppy line in standard layered protection zones and cover the groundpounders and our strafing runs. Air bosses will be sending our flight plan soon."

"All hands, all hands, prepare for hypers.p.a.ce jaunt in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..."

Chapter 24.

July 1, 2394 AD Tau Ceti, QMT Facility Friday, 3:42 PM, Earth Eastern Standard Time "I never thought I'd see you again, Penzington!" DeathRay was so glad to finally do the twist and pull, taking his helmet off. Finally he could rub his neck where it hurt like h.e.l.l. Penzington had dragged him into the Seppy Lorda that she had commandeered and was running the s.h.i.+p through a take-off cycle.