Con-Red: Recourse (7 page)

Not only was it immune to extreme environments, its nanofiber weave construction allowed it act as an exoskeleton for the wearer, enhancing all their physical attributes many times over.  The
previous generation armors of this class were rather bulky units and had certain movement restrictions, but these new units were made from an improved material that gave similar protection in a more comfortable package.  Stag Combat Armor, or SCA, was in a class by itself and was currently only issued to special operations units, whose work required all the advantages they could get in order to survive and complete their missions.

His moment of satisfaction passed as quickly as
it began, however, when a voice resounded within his helmet.  “Colonel Slaige, Avenger One.  ADS just detected incoming bandits.  ETA three minutes.  We’ll try to buy you as much time as possible, but you better hurry.”

The Atmospheric Disturbance Scanner was actually a much older technology that had been revived and updated in the past thirty years, when military spending had been immensely increased to deal with alien threats beyond the United Planets Federations borders
.  It was designed to detect any object or craft travelling through a planetary atmosphere solely on the principle that anything moving through a medium, such as air, would create certain turbulences in its wake.  These turbulences could in turn be monitored and tracked, allowing the system to determine a very accurate location and flight path of the object.  The ADS could therefore detect any object within the atmosphere, whether it be stealth or not, but said object had to be traveling at speed.  A slow moving entity or one designed to specifically to slice through the atmosphere would not register because its wake would be minimal.  For this reason, the system was a single part of a layered planetary sensor network in which feeds from different sensors could form a complete picture.

An icon on the Colonel’s heads up display flashed quickly and drew his attention, notifying him that one of the ACAVs, autonomous combat air vehicles
, had moved into a position to receive and transmit laser datalink signals from the area.  He was sure that more were being converted and flown out as they became available, but for the moment, this was the only one around, a precious commodity that could not be squandered.  Duntan decided he needed to get the most intel he possibly could while he still had access to it.

One of the perks to being in any of the special operations branches was almost unlimited access to military networks.  Special operations commanders could login to these n
etworks personally and gather any information they needed.  Usually these networks contained tremendous amounts of data, from military and civilian communications to the tracking of all craft in space and planetary atmosphere.  This time, however, most of the sensor feeds were empty.  Some were down and not communicating, while other simply saw no signs of enemy activity.  There were still a few civilian ships flying around, most moving towards ports throughout the continent, as well as an increasing number of military craft taking up defensive positions.  He saved all the data he felt relevant into the suit’s internal memory before finally calling up the sensor feed from the ADS. 

The image instantly zoomed towards his location and the sky surrounding them.  It quickly located the two Dragonfires from Avenger flight and through their IFF readings designated them green friendly units.  After a moment the ima
ge moved away and focused on a yellow pulsing circle around an empty hole in the sky, however, from this emptiness waves of turbulence were projected in all directions behind it.  The turbulence also told Duntan much about the craft coming towards it, most importantly that it was large, gunship sized at least, moving at very high speed, and was poorly designed for atmospheric flight.  This later assumption came from the amount and type of turbulence coming off the craft as it moved through the atmosphere.

A tremendous boom range out from the sky and caused Colonel Slaige to glance up as the ground beneath him shook slightly.  He didn’t even have to check the ADS to know that both of the Dragonfire fighters had accelerated past the speed of sound in order to intercept the enemy as far away from the ground team as possible.  Duntan wished them as much luck as he could while at the same time noting the stealth nature of the large ship coming towards them.  If not for the ADS, they would never have detected it until it was already too late.  Dragonfire’s also had nothing like the ADS onboard and so they would have to rely on
the relay feed to guide them towards their target.  Without long range sensors to help detect the enemy, the Army Air and Space Command pilots would have to get within visual range in order to launch their weapons.  His role as a commander made him wish for more knowledge about the enemy’s capabilities, but that couldn’t really be helped at the moment.

Duntan looked back down over his troops and saw the combat engineers getting up to start packing up some of their loose gear quickly.  The relay was just about ready and they all needed to hurry before the hostiles showed up.  With a minute left and nothing else to do Duntan
changed the frequency filter on his laser receiver in order to get communications signals, both military and civilian.  He needed more information on what was going on in the large residential zones, most notable Destona. 

The answers to his request overwhelmed his helmet speakers like water flowing from a destroyed dam.

“Darling, I’m not sure if you get this message.  I have tried to contact you earlier, but it seems like all communications are down.  Probably another military exercise.  Anyways, I just thought you would enjoy this video of your son taking his first steps.  I do hope it reaches you and that you come home soon, we all miss and love you.”

“Lani, please contact us soon and let us know what is going on.  Your mother and I are starting to worry.  First the communications get turned off and now the local authorities are telling us to stay indoors until
told otherwise.  I sure hope this is another drill.  Please call…hold on, something is happening outside…”

“…something came out of the sky just past midnight.  Reports suggest multiple impacts in and around the Mironia Spaceport
as well as the UPF Balaravi Military Base.  We must restate that as of this moment these are unsubstantiated claims.  FNN has been unable to contact any military representatives for comments of these reports or to discover the origin of communications network failure.”

“This is the freighter
Bright Star
on approach to SP Mironia!  Mironia control please respond!  I have multiple onboard system failures and request immediate assistance!...Come on damn you!  Hold together just a little longer!”

“Colonel
Goh to HQ, counterattack against SP Mironia ineffective.  Second battalion sustained heavy casualties and was ordered to conduct a withdrawal.  Major Levnova reports most casualties resulted from intense radiation…”

“
This is Captain Rasik requesting immediate evac.  Hostile forces have gained control of Mironia and surrounding areas.  They are heavily fortified and using unknown weapons.  Estimate enemy strength to be company sized and expanding.  We have observed multiple unknown ships landing within the SP’s perimeter as well as directed fire support from possible fighter or bomber contacts.  Enemy soldiers seem nearly immune to BR-112 fire as you can see from engagement video….There have also been unconfirmed reports of soldiers committing intentional friendly fire.”

“Sarge…Sarge what are you doing?!  Enemy is downrange…Oh hell! Celia! Medic! Medic! Celia is down!  Sarge put it down or I’ll drop you!  What hell got into ….”

With that Duntan cut off his speaker.  There were way too many transmissions to get through.  It seemed like the military or civil engineers were routing all normal network traffic through the laser relays and flooding them with signals.  All of them seemed to be the same in terms of confusion as to what was happening.  Some indicated witnessed accounts, while other contradicted those same accounts with other interpretations.

The last transmissions
, however, sent shivers down his spine and confused his mind as to what was really happening down there on the ground.  There was fighting happening within a densely populated area and that did not bode well for anyone.  And what was happening with the friendly fire?  It was confusing, but he did not have the time to go over it all at the moment.  The Colonel instructed his suit to download the video of the engagement mentioned by the Captain in the hopes of going over it whenever they had a spare moment.

In the meantime
he had a job to complete and they were running out of time.  The chrono floating on his HUD blinked a little faster now and progressed into a yellow hue as it counted down the remaining seconds before the enemy craft was finally in proximity to them.  Beside the countdown timer another icon appeared and started to pulse faster and faster.  Duntan looked east and saw the shimmering outline of their transport closing towards them just as the bright sun peeked over the horizon and sent its rays towards them.  His visor dimmed instantly to preserve his vision and dissipate any glare coming from the surrounding snow that might have affected him.

“Alright peo
ple, time to get out of here!” Colonel Slaige commanded with a slight hint of satisfaction at the completion of their assigned mission.  The relay stations were up and running and ready to contribute the continued war effort of the UPF military forces.

“Chief, one-six-six high,
” came a short burst from Gage, his heavy weapons expert stationed close to the edge of the outcropping.

Duntan turned quickly and glanced up where indicated.  At first there was nothing to seen, but when he zoomed in closer a fireball could be seen streaking across the sky towards the ground.
  To be sure he checked his bearings and confirmed his suspicion.

“Avenger One,
sitrep,” the request went out only a second before the streaking object impacted the ground below and disappeared within a cloud of dirt and debris.  “Avenger flight come in.  What’s happening up there?”

A static filled reply came a few seconds later from a pilot that seemed to be struggling wi
th something and breathing hard, “sir, Avenger Two here…barely.  One bought it on the first pass.  Interdiction mission failed, repeat, target still on approach to your location.  I have sustained multisystem failure and had to break off for AREP.  Sorry Echo, you’re on your own.  Suggest evac out at the soonest.”

“Copy that Avenger Two,
thanks for the try.  We are on our way out,” Duntan replied with his well wishes and hoped the Dragonfire’s automatic repair systems allowed the fighter to return to base, just as the CT-76 transport flew over them and settled into a hover.

The rear of the transport was already opened wide
like the warm inviting embrace of a loved one waiting to take them to freedom and safety.  Unlike before, though, the ramp actually touched down against the snow covered ground to make the boarding easier as the pilots continued to fight the heavy winds in an effort to keep the Buzzard as stable as possible for all of the soldiers.

“Move out! Now now now!”
Duntan yelled out as he raced towards the ramp and stopped short against the side of the transport.

He looked back and watched the rest of his team running up the ramp in their combat suits as the snow swirled around them and the wind howled while coming down the mountainside.  The timer in his helmet had turned to red a few seconds before
and the Colonel knew they were cutting it very close.  Finally, with the last of his people running up the ramp, he took one last look back before jumping into the transport.  As he landed on the reinforced deck Duntan saw the ramp smoothly rising and felt the transport vibrate as it accelerated into the air quickly.

Something in the sky caught his eyes as the craft turn
ed away from the outcropping they had all just evacuated.  The colonel reached up and gripped the overhead support rails as he leaned towards the narrowing slit created by the closing rear doors.  As he watched, the rolling patch of cloud above them disintegrated when multiple large projectiles punched through it.  His eyes grew wide at the realization of what was happening and he only had time to brace himself and send out a mental warning to everyone before the shockwave slammed into the CT-76, tossing the large transport through the air as if it were a small bird.

Between the blaring alarms and the tumbling of the transport Duntan was able to catch a glimpse of what remained of the ridge they had all been working on seconds before.  In his mind he knew that the fireball and rising debris could be seen for kilometers, but what really caught his mind was further away.  As the transport’s automated systems started to regain control of the unyielding craft the side viewports pointed into the direction of
the planetary Headquarters where General Stelle was coordinating the Frontiera military forces.  The helmet over his head covered the expression of horror and shock on Duntan’s face as the entire perimeter surrounding the complex exploded in a brilliant flash of high explosive light.

At the same instance the transport shuddered again and everything went dark for Colonel Slaige.  He’s body seemed weightless for a moment just before his back slammed into the ceiling of the transport.  Duntan thought he heard someone screaming in the background, but it could have just been his imagination as the world disappeared around him.