Portsmouth Orbital: Citadel Defense Barricade
18:58
"A----! G-- -p!" Aleks's eyes shut hard, his eyelids squeezing them against the back of their sockets. The ringing in his ears and the figurative nails in his brain weren't a good sign. The deck was spinning too.
"Aleks!"
He understood that one. Aleks opened his eyes and saw the wall/floor of the habitat above him. He began to pull himself up, still disoriented. This is worse than when Thaddeus gave me his "Favorite drink." Absinth, spiced rum, mouth wash and vodka. Waste of good vodka. Becca unceremoniously grabbed his other arm and dragged him behind what was left of the barricade. He could stand, albeit unsteadily.
Looking around, he saw blood and bodies inside the ruined barricade. Whatever hit them hit hard. The prefab walls were designed to hold off rioters and insurgents. There was pool of blood seeping from one pile of rubble, an arm missing a person, and the sounds of multiple pained screams and moans. Aleks turned back to Corporal Pederson. Better not to think about it. He had a job to do.
"The hell happened?"
"No time! Order's are full retreat. You both ready?"
Aleks forced himself to focus and, after a moment, nodded.
Gordon, the squad's techie, formed up with them. "Athena says vulpine are forming up in the rail station. We need to go now." An explosion rocked the barricade sending more pieces of the wall inwards.
Becca nodded. "Gordon, I want a flash over the wall. I'll cover us with smoke." Gordon grabbed a cream canister from his belt as she grabbed a black one.
"Flash out!"
"Smoke out!"
With practiced motions, both of them tossed their grenades over the wall. A bang too loud to hear properly exploded on the other side of the wall accompanied by the insane flash of combusting magnesium powder. Becca's smoke grenade landed where the gate used to be spreading shimmering clouds of blue-grey between them and the enemy. It would obscure the Vulpine's view, but they were by no means safe.
Aleks didn't wait for the order. He may be green, but he had enough common sense to begin running as soon as the flashbang went off. The trio ran up the stairs as fast as their legs could carry them. They weren't as fast as vulpine, but with the smoke and flash, they should be able to make it the twenty five meters to the stairs and up the steps of the Citadel.
The squad reached the doors which slid shut behind them. They were the last to enter. The large entry hall provided a nice kill box with balconies, deployable cover, and reinforced mounts where machine guns could be set up. But for some reason it was empty.
"Fall back to the inner defense line. Main Atrium."
"Why the inner line?" Aleks kept moving even as he asked. He might question orders, but he'd still follow them. Athena projected an image onto the corner of his In-head-display. It showed a vehicle of some kind, built like a spider with eight, wide set legs and an angular chassis with aggressive lines. On the top was a cannon barrel with two smaller guns on each side. Of course, smaller still meant they were the size of heavy machine guns.
"It's called a szarvasbogár. The Vulpine name is unpronounceable, but it's an infantry fighting vehicle. 83.4mm plasma railgun, and two 9.4mm multi-lasers. That's what almost killed you earlier. They've deployed several."
Aleks gulped and nodded. Even with the armored shutters, they weren't exactly meant to defend against that kind of fire power.
The Citadel spire was a block of glass and titanium at the base of the O'Neill cylinder. The station itself was large enough to have its own weather and water cycles. It reminded Aleks of an old science fiction his brother liked. Babylon something?
In the plans, the Citadel would serve as the administrative control center and offices for station management, city council, and a hub for emergency services. The clinic, station security and fire department will all be housed in the Citadel. The whole thing is equipped with armored shutters of titanium and could be environmentally sealed in case meteorites or other hazards punctured the outer skin. On top of that, the whole thing had a secondary hull entirely of high strength titanium. This was their fortress and their last bastion.
Would this be our Alamo? Our Thermopylae? Aleks shook his head. Better to focus on what he could control. Passing into the inner hull, Athena sealed the blast doors behind them. A series of balconies rimmed the chamber four stories high. Like the entry hall, this atrium would work as an excellent kill box. The trio joined what was left of the other squads on one of the balconies. Would it be enough? The fleet better be here soon.
---------------
Portsmouth Orbital: Citadel Entrance
19:21
Bloodseeker grinned a vicious smile. These humans were putting up a good fight. The hunting party had been surprised at the lack of resistance in the first atrium. Then again, given the fact they had multiple szarvasbogár on their side, it made sense to fall back deeper inside. They'd tried firing on the inner wall, but the thing seemed to be clad in battleship grade titanium armor. In the end, they had resolved to advance by squads through the corridors.
Fighting deeper inside had been fierce. The humans love of kinetic weapons had caught them off guard at first, but the flak armor he'd had his men don had at least helped with glancing shots and completely stopped the scattergun rounds. Still, it didn't take the humans long to switch to rapid fire long arms. Against automatic slug guns, the flak armor was insufficient. Even so, careful advance with plenty of stunner bombs had proved effective enough.
Bonesplitter pulled him from his thoughts by shooting a camera in the corner. He turned to his friend. "Huntmaster, looks like they've sealed themselves in the room ahead. We'll need to carve through or blast it open."
"Use the chrząszcz. Set them to breaching mode."
Bonesplitter let a deep chuckle resound from his large frame. "If the primates think they're safe, they are sorely mistaken."
"Use caution, Bonesplitter. We underestimated these humans once and it cost us dearly. We shouldn't make the same mistake again." The memory of his pack, his hunters being cut down due to his lapse in judgement still stung fresh in his mind. He'd lost some of his best veterans. He'd lost friends.
Bonesplitter tilted his head to the side in acknowledgement. They'd both seen enough battles to know. You didn't get to their age as a hunter without learning when to be cautious. And cornered prey had a way of being the most dangerous. They had nothing to lose. "I'll have the hunters use smoke as soon as we cut through the door. We have no idea what's waiting for us after all."
A few minutes later, the toolhandlers had finished, their fusion torches white hot from cutting through the thick blast door. The humans had to know they were coming. "Ready when you are."
"Do it."
A six legged beetle robot the size of an ATV approached the door. The seams and frame softened and melted, the drone proceeded to bash it with a pile driver in it's "mouth." Once, twice, thrice, and finally, with a final effort, the doors collapsed inwards with a deafening clang.
Immediately a loud series of buzzes filled the air as tracers filled the doorway. A pair of Browning 12.7mm heavy automatic railguns spat bursts of platinum death where the door had been pulping a quartet of hunters too eager to gain glory and suppressing the rest. Their bodies fell to the deck a pulped mess of cupric blood and gore.
The 12.7mm, affectionately called "Ma Duce" in honor of its venerable ancestor, was a heavy automatic railgun capable of firing a variety of ammunition. Classified as an anti-material machinegun, for general use, the gun fired steel jacketed platinum rounds; the abundance of platinum in space allowing for it to supplant lead decades ago.
The vulpine drone wasn't concerned as it launched six small canisters into the room. They exploded mid air scattering smoke and chaff into the room with a deafening bang and the tell tale flash of burning magnesium. It advanced into the room opening its shell into solid sheets of armor each "wing" large enough for a hunting pair. Three more beetle drones entered the room spreading their wings in turn and fanning out each with four vulpine hunters sheltering behind them. Smaller drones, the size of humming birds, flew into the corners of the room providing spotting despite the smoke.
Bonesplitter hefted the plasma caster to his power armored hip, aimed and fired. One of the human soldiers manning the left machine gun died as his chest was vaporized. His charred arms hung from the gun's handles. Another hunter lobbed a grenade at the other gun. The gunner dove out of the way in time, but the gun itself was ruined as a ball of plasma melted its mount and fried the circuitry. A petite woman tossed a grenade of her own. It landed behind one of the beetle drones the blast killing the two hunters behind it immediately. The other pair, shielded by the drone's body and wearing flak armor survived but were stunned. A young man with chestnut hair and eyes like agate loosed a burst of slugs from his assault railgun pulping a vulpine that was taking aim at his female companion.
A human soldier on the balcony readied a grenade and stood only to be vaporized by Bonesplitter's plasma caster. But he wasn't in time to stop the grenade which landed at Bonesplitter's feet. The massive cannon, normally mounted on a tripod or vehicle, required powered armor to heft for a normal person vulpine or human. This same armor, while providing excellent strength and durability, came at the cost of mobility. And there was no way Bonesplitter could avoid the blast.
Shielding his face with his armored gauntlet, he survived with superficial wounds, but the plasma caster's power feed was cut by shrapnel. The weapon dead in his hands, Bonesplitter shed the harness as he fell back behind a support pillar letting the useless scrap fall to the deck. He proceeded to use his armor's wrist mounted laser to fire on the human troops. Even without the powerful cannon, Bonesplitter scored another three kills.
It was clear the humans were on their last legs. Bloodseeker could taste victory. His beam rifle claimed his 12th kill of the day. His instincts screamed for him to rush them. He wanted to shred the monkeys with his claws, feel the life ebb from their bodies, taste the metallic blood tinged with that sweet adrenaline the humans produced. But he was a seasoned hunter. There would be time enough for tasting later.
"Huntmaster! Starslaughter to Huntsmaster, come in!" A sudden call of alarm sounded through his headset.
"This had better be important, Starslaughter!" Vulpine captains adopted the name of their ship in addition to the names of their deeds. And ships names, like those of vulpine, could change based on their achievements.
"[Cherenkov] radiation spikes a two light-seconds out!"
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Bloodseeker's cupric blood iced as he ducked back behind cover. "Starslaughter, I want confirmation NOW!"
"Confirmed! Both Greendrinker, and Preystalker detected the signatures! Identifying now!" There was a pause that felt like an eternity to Bloodseeker. He didn't even hear the sounds of his soldiers cheers as the prey retreated further into the station.
"Human ships! Two frigates, a destroyer and a heavy cruiser! All military markings! Estimated time to contact, 20 minutes!"
In theory, Bloodseeker's fleet comprised of four frigates and a heavy destroyer. In reality, as a sanctioned pirate, his mercenary crew had access to antiquated, third hand ships over a century old. While they were military built and designed, they were far from a match for the human squadron now bearing down on them.
"Acknowledged! Hold position! Use the station as cover if you have to! We'll be back as swiftly as we can!"
Bonesplitter viewed his friend with concern. "Trouble?"
"Human ships. The light ships aren't a problem, but they have a heavy cruiser. Call the retreat."
Bonesplitter nodded. He didn't like it, and he knew the younger hunters would protest, but his training and experience overrode his instincts. He knew as well as Bloodseeker that if they didn't make it to the shuttles in time, they were all as good as dead. "ALL RIGHT HUNTERS, LISTEN UP!" Bonesplitter's voice boomed through the chamber. "Grab what corpses and wounded you can and get back to the szarvasbogár! Those who don't make it to the hangar in 20 get left behind!"
"Retreat?! But we just pushed them back! They're almost done!" Greenlegs had done well, and the bloodlust was clearly written on his face. Bloodseeker walked up to him and stared him down. Greenlegs glared back, defiant until a clawed fist clocked him in the side of his head.
"Listen up, Hunters! There is a human fleet out there! Human Navy troops, marines, are sure to board this station. If they fight like these security forces, we don't have the numbers to take them, and if we don't leave now, we'll be caught between them and the security forces! Stay if you want, or cut your losses!"
With that, the hunters fell in line grabbing what corpses and prisoners they could before boarding their szarvasbogárs. The vulpine-oid combat drones and automated turrets covering their retreat.
---------------
UNV Renown: Bridge; 0.2 light seconds from Portsmouth Orbital
20:01
"Five minutes to combat range!"
Captain Bright chewed his pipe. He didn't even smoke anymore. It was just a habit that helped him with nerves. He'd been hailing the station since they entered system 15 minutes ago, but Mika hadn't given any response. He knew that she'd have grabbed her gun and joined the final defense lines with her troops. He could only pray she was alive. No, he had a job to do. Time to focus. He mentally clicked a button in his IHD and called up Major Ahmed Park. "Major Park, how are your people?"
"My men are ready and rearing to go, sir. If the fox's are hungry, we'll happily serve them up some cold vengeance!" A man of mixed Arabic-Korean descent, Park was a jovial, aggressive man perfect for leading marine assault teams.
"Our primary task is ensuring the safety of the station's inhabitants. We'll send assault shuttles with marines to the military access hangars. If the Vulpine run, let them run. Focus on repelling boarders and protecting survivors, am I clear?"
"Aye, sir! We'll push them off our lawn!"
Bright turned his attention to his bridge crew. "Specialist Johnson, patch me through to the flotilla."
"Y-yes sir! Right away, sir!" Nikosi Johnson was another fresh faced academy graduate. This shake down cruise was supposed to be a quiet opportunity to give some rookies on the job experience training. Of course, this wasn't what anyone had in mind. "You're good to go, sir!"
"This is Captain Johnathan Bright to all ships. Our goal is liberate this station first and foremost. That means protecting our assault transports is our only goal. Once our troops land safely, then we can see about bagging ourselves some kills, but the safety of the fleet and the station come above all else. Let's bring our people home!"
"Aye, Aye!" rang out through all the ships. Determination and steel in the hearts of all his crews. An expressive man, it almost brought a tear to Bright's eyes. "Commander Sarma?"
"Yes captain?"
"Showtime."
"Aye, sir! Attention all hands! Attention all hands! Set condition Red throughout the fleet! Close emergency bulkheads! Switch Indradhanus to auto-intercept mode! Load tubes 1 through 20 with Mauls and tubes 21 through 50 with Swifts, and charge the Rhong!"
"Two enemy ships breaking formation! They're moving to intercept! 30 Seconds to contact!"
"Target the lead ship with the Rhong. Follow up with Mauls on the second." Bright clutched his pipe. His knuckles white.
"Target's locked!" Tactical reported.
"Fire!"
Even with her engines burning at combat acceleration, the ship still bucked against the force of the recoil as a glowing object flashed from Renown towards her target. The spinal weapon of the ship, the Rhongomyniad was a very powerful railgun. It fired a six foot long, one inch diameter depleted uranium spear at 750km/s. It pierced through the plasma shields of the enemy frigate coring it from stem to stern. The unlucky Vulpine ship began to tumble as she lost power. Plasma may have far better range and ship-killing power, but heavy ballistics were harder to deflect with shielding.
Even as the missiles closed, the second ship fired a barrage of ballistic fire at the incoming missiles, but couldn't stop them all. It too died as multiple fusion missiles bypassed the plasma shields and detonated against its hull. Both vulpine ships tumbled wrecked in space, but not before firing their own barrage of missiles at the human ships.
"Vampire, Vampire, Vampire! Incoming missiles!" The sensors tech, Jay Garson, was a little panicked. Another of the fresh faced recruits.
Commander Sarma put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Fire Swifts! Intercept those missiles! Status of Indradhanus?"
"Aye, sir, firing Swifts. Target: enemy vampires. Indradhanus operating normally. Shouldn't be an issue." Lt. Karl Ritter, the tactical officer was already designating the cluster of munitions as a priority threat. Streaks of fire flew from the flotilla as multiple point defense missiles closed with enemy munitions. Numerous enemy missiles were intercepted by the Swifts, but a second volley shot towards Bright's ships.
As the missiles continued to close, the Indradhanus system activated. Numerous turrets each with their own integrated radar, ladar, and dumb-AI swiveled towards the fore of the ships taking careful aim as their quad barrels ripple fired continuously and rapidly. 100mm shells flew out in front of the fleet each detonating at a preset distance and shotgunning half inch platinum spheres towards the offending missiles. The wall of predictive shotgun blasts and flak did the job detonating most of the missiles at a safe distance. But it didn't get all of them. Fighters moved to intercept the rest. 8 missiles left. 5 left. 2 left. One got through.
58 megatons of nuclear fusion bloomed against the shield of the frigate Farragut. For a moment the shield flared and seemed like it might hold. But it was not to be. As the shields collapsed, a shaped jet of plasma hot as a coronal mass ejection tore through the small ship melting it more easily than butter on Venus.
"Farragut's hit!" Park reported. Frames 1 through 12 are just, gone! 13 through 15 have suffered damage. She's venting fuel and atmosphere!"
"Message from Farragut: Sorry, John, we're out of the fight. Godspeed!" Franklin Thatch was a good man, and a Commander with a bright future ahead of him.
Bright bit his lip. "Send reply: Stay alive, Frank. We'll hit them for you."
"Sir, the other ships are moving to use the station as cover!"
Bright slammed his fist on his arm rest. They could easily nuke the station with impunity now. "What's our range to the station?"
"20,000 KM and closing. At this speed, we'll be in support range in two minutes." Grayson was doing a good job, even if she was nervous.
"Close enough. Have all the fighters abandon the combat air patrol. We'll rely on our Swifts and Flak for missile defense. Have squadrons Alpha and Beta move ahead to protect the station. I want Gamma to protect our assault shuttles. Deploy marines!"
"Aye, sir." Sarma quickly relayed the orders to the relevant departments. "Shuttles are away, sir. Squadrons are moving to position."
Most of the fighters accelerated hard towards the station followed by the lumbering shapes of the assault shuttles and their smaller nimble escorts. A company strength marine detachment spread across the whole fleet was crammed into those eight shuttles.
Time ticked by as the flotilla approached behind the strike craft. Please, God, let us be in time.
"Sir, Alpha is reporting ships leaving the main cargo hangar! There are Vulpine assault shuttles evacuating the station!"
"Tell the fighters to ignore them! Their mission is to protect the station from any missile strikes!"
"Aye, Sir!"
"This is Major Park, We're landing in the military hangars now. No sign of Vulpine. We're moving deeper into the station."
"Enemy just bugged out, Major, but look out for automated traps and drones."
"Aye, aye!"
The flotilla approached close to the station. This close it became obvious how massive it was easily dwarfing even the largest ships in the UN fleet. Captain Bright indicated a spot on the tac map. "I know it's risky, but we need to protect that station!"
"Helm, signal the fleet to maneuver between the enemy and the station! Tactical, shunt all power from the Rhong to the deck guns! We'll be too close for reliable spinal shots! And load Swifts into all tubes!"
"Aye, Ma'am! transferring power!" Ritter shifted the capacitors to feed the deck guns instead of the spinal railgun. "Ready for close quarters combat. Loading all tubes with Swifts. 10 seconds 'till ready."
"Enemy fleet is maneuvering!"
"On screen!" Bright braced for the worst. They still hadn't interposed themselves between the enemy and their objective. If they fired nukes now, it would be on the station's guns and the fighters to intercept. But instead of firing, the vulpine ships turned and accelerated, hard, away from the station and the gas giant it was orbiting. Bright blinked twice.
"Ensign Grayson, confirm enemy movements."
"C-confirmed sir! Enemy is charging for Alcubierre warp! Scratch that, enemy has warped away! Plot is clear, all hostiles dispatched or fled."
Bright breathed a sigh of relief. "All hands, stand down to condition yellow. I want search and rescue boats out there looking for survivors and flight recorders. Good work people."
Now they could focus on cleaning up. And mourning their losses.
---------------
Chicago, Illinois, USA, Earth
One Month Later
"And now the latest on the attack on Portsmouth Orbital last month: Princess Makoto Windsor presented Captain Mika Mori with the UN Medal of Valor for her role in the defense of the station."
The screen showed Makoto Windsor, ceremonial monarch of the Atlantis City State, and Secretary General of the United Nations. She was a descendant of both the Yamato and Windsor Families. As the two biggest financial backers for the independent city state south of Iceland, the descendent of Prince Walter Windsor and Princess Michiko Yamato continued to hold immense influence within the UN capital. The city was officially a technocratic democracy, but the founding families still held prominent positions in essential bureaus. And as the most prosperous and technologically advanced city on Earth, the floating city of Atlantis had become one of the most important cities on Earth.
"Captain Mori's dedication to the people under her care is a shining example that any of us could aspire to. As a security officer, she was trained to help maintain peace and order, not fight off invaders. Her resourcefulness, determination and courage have earned our respect and our deepest thanks. On behalf of the many who owe her their lives I would like to thank her for her service, and personally congratulate her on a job well done."
The scene shifted back to the Global News Network studio. The Atlantean Orbital Elevator was prominent in the background. "When asked for comment, Captain Mori had this to say: I just did what I had to in order to survive. The real heroes are men like Lt. Thaddeus Harper who died to cover his team or Corporal Rebecca Pederson who sacrificed herself saving a comrade from an enemy heavy weapon. All I did was give orders from the back ranks."
"The Emperor of the Vulpine Autocracy continues to deny any responsibility for the attacks calling them the work of 'rogue elements and pirates.' The Emperor expressed sorrow at this terrible atrocity. The UN Ambassador to the Autocracy criticized the Emperor citing reports of human slaves taken in previous raids and so called "Blood Wine" which is reported to be made with Terran hemoglobin, especially that of humans, as a primary ingredient.
Public protests continue outside the General Assembly demanding action be taken to bring the culprits to justice. Some extreme groups continue to advocate for a declaration of war or even genoci--"
Mika shut off the TV.
John looked up from the carrots he was chopping. "Hey, I was watching that." He turned to his companion, his eyes taking in the sight before him. As he examined her, his smirk faded as he reached her shoulders the stitches still across her neck and forehead. "I was afraid I'd lost you."
Mika waved a hand. "I'm fine, John. Just a little scratch."
"You got hit with a grenade!"
"I was moving wounded back from the atrium. I wasn't in the line of fire."
"And you say you didn't earn that medal? You ran in front of that plasma caster!"
"Shut up and finish making breakfast. I'm getting hungry." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him from behind. They'd both decided to take desk jobs after the ordeal. Mika would be teaching at the Sky Guard academy while Bright was being promoted and put in charge of navy procurement. As a result, the two could finally settle down.
"Aye, Aye, Ma'am." Bright smiled as he turned back to the stove, and poured pancake batter on the griddle. I may not know what's ahead, but right now? This is all I need.