Shaitan Wars 2: Wrath of the Shaitans (37 page)

However seeing the dust storm high in the atmosphere he had felt that there was more than a fair chance that a large dust storm was brewing over the horizon, which could engulf Valles Marineris in the next few days. Yusuke had meant that weather prediction as a warning to the marines. After all visibility goes down drastically in a dust storm, while infrared is not hampered that badly.

Humans were partial to light. They use vision as their primary sense to navigate around and fight. Shaitans on the other hand being creatures of the dark had no particular affinity to light. They could work with infrared and sound echolocation just as well as with light. This put the marines at a disadvantage in a dust storm.

Ed however had seen an opportunity in that adversity. If the Shaitans were going to be dependent on infrared, then Ed would give them exactly that and feed them what they wanted to see. The marines had discarded the outer layer of their suit used for jumping when they had landed. The outer layer was specialized for reentry into the atmosphere and was essentially a hard insulated shell with heat tiling to resist the burn of reentry.

The outer shell was meant to be discarded once used. Most of the hard shell would have ablated way during entry into the atmosphere and its seams once opened would not seal back. Ed however had other plans for it. He got each of the marine to retrieve the outer shells.

The small rocket thrusters on those shells had more than 4 times the rocket fuel needed for a typical landing as a measure of safety, just in case a marine had to thrust for longer or harder than required. The rocket’s nozzles which were fed by a thin pipe to the boots of the shell were redirected and inserted inside the shell. Then using emergency epoxy glue carried by the marines, the two halves of the outer shell were sealed back. The glue would hold the two halves tight enough for the purpose that Ed had in mind.

They had each hauled their shells on their backs through the treacherous climb down to the plains, and then placed them at chosen spots near any type of cover that might be available like a boulder or a ditch. The shells were placed in a sitting position to give them stability and present a small enough profile, and yet be targetable.

Then they had set the control of the retro rockets on the shell to the slowest possible burn and let the exhaust simmer inside the shell, while they went off to sabotage the Shaitan shuttle. By the time the marines had returned, the insides of the shell were toasty warm. The shell was heavily insulated, so it took some time for the heat to conduct out to the surface.

That very insulation though was going to keep the shell warm for a long period of time even if it got punctured and the cold Martian air went inside the shell. The warm shell was glowing in the infrared against the cold of Mars like a lighthouse. Each marine took up position next to a ghost behind cover. The relative warmth of the shell partially masked the relatively lower heat of the marines’ suits.

The marines were hidden in plain sight, using the heat of the shells as a mask and a lure to encourage the Shaitans step into their parlor. Close enough for the marines to shoot and then scoot. Sometimes they would take their shell ghosts along with them and place it at another point. At other times they would simply run and find another ghost and hide nearby.

The Shaitans were attracted towards the shells like a magnet. To their senses the shells must have looked like fiery ghosts through the haze of the dust storm, who had to be investigated and terminated. Whenever they did come near the ghosts, there was a marine waiting somewhere nearby unnoticed, to send the Shaitan back to its maker, whoever that might be.

It was good going for a while. The marines harassed, confused and killed over a hundred Shaitans this way. However all good things must come to an end. So it was with Ed’s ‘Fiery Ghost’ strategy. There were still four hundred or more Shaitans left who had gotten wiser. They regrouped, fanned out and formed a wide line that approached en masse.

The Shaitan line stormed in at a fast clip. Sniping at individual Shaitans from behind cover was no longer a viable option. Even if they killed a few of them, the others would overwhelm the marines. Ed sounded the retreat and the marines ran for their lives. The fiery ghosts performed one last duty by drawing out a large part of the fire as the marines retreated. There were casualties on the marines’ side though. Not all were able to extract themselves from the Shaitan charge alive.

Ed knew that this was one race the marines would lose. Humans could not run as fast as the Shaitans. He desperately radioed Kormas base hoping against hope that somehow they would be able to miraculously listen to his cries for help over the jamming of signals. After a few seconds, he realized the hopelessness of the situation and realized that the marines would have to make a last stand and take as many Shaitans with them as possible instead of getting shot at the back.

There was a small depression in the ground just ahead. Ed realized that this would have to do. There was no time to look for better cover. “Marines halt and take cover behind the dune at my position. Third platoon converge on me. We make our stand here. Semper fi marines.” There was a tone of finality in his voice which put the men around him in a similar state of mind. The marines were now prepared for what was to be their fate. They would however makes sure that the Shaitans paid a heavy price before that.

The Shaitans were probably not aware that they had an advantage in being able to detect human IR signature before the humans could detect them. If they had been aware of this fact, they would have stopped the moment they detected the entrenched marine line and shot from that point. The marines would have been forced to shoot blind into the veil of dust.

The Shaitans instead continued their pursuit, coming closer and making themselves visible to the human IR sensor, and even sometimes close enough to be seen visually. The marines started picking the Shaitans as they appeared inflicting heavy losses, but one by one the marines were also being picked off. Seven or eight Shaitans would die before they managed to hit one marine, but even with that favorable ratio, there were not enough marines to be able to stop the overwhelming number of Shaitans.

Ed did not believe in miracles, but a miracle did arrive. It arrived in the form of a shuttle buzzing over the advancing line of Shaitans at high speed strafing the line with the heavy caliber mounted machine gun. The radar had been destroyed, and humans had the only shuttles in the battlefield. They had air superiority.

They were still vulnerable to SAMs if they got near where one was deployed, but the shuttles could no longer be tracked and targeted from far by radar. That reduced the operational range of the SAMs drastically. It gave the shuttle the freedom to come here to the open plains some distance from the camp where it was unlikely anyone was carrying a SAM. The shuttle was still vulnerable to fire if they moved low and slow, which is why it buzzed by low but fast, strafing its machine gun.

The gunner of the shuttle had targeted using infrared and managed to hit a few but not enough to cause any substantial dent in the number of Shaitans. The effect on the line of advancing Shaitans however was to throw it into confusion and bring the advance to a halt.

The IR signature of the hot shuttle exhaust was visible for a much longer distance even through the dust storm but not long enough for any of the Shaitans to get off an aimed shot at the shuttle. Effectively the shuttle had ghosted in through the dust storm, shot a few Shaitans and ghosted out. The psychological effect on the Shaitans however was profound.

Most of them were no longer looking ahead towards where the marines were hidden behind a small dune. They were keeping their eyes above, knowing that the shuttle would buzz by again and take a few more Shaitans. This was the opening Ed was looking for. He ordered all his marines who could move to retreat and run like hell.

Most of the Shaitans stood still, keeping their attention on the air, although they could see in all directions equally well simultaneously. They would have surely seen the marines make a run for it. A few of the Shaitans however gave chase to the marines.

“Eagle 2 to third platoon do you copy. I am getting your IFF signals, do you copy mine?” Ed heard inside his helmet. It was the sweetest sound he had heard in a long time. “Major Bassinger to Eagle 2 we copy you loud and clear. We owe you a drink for being our guardian angel, but right now a little bit more help would be appreciated. We have hostiles on our tails which we would like to lose as we flee.”

“Copy that major. We have your radio IFF tag, so we must be close to you. We will get closer to pick up the IR signature of your pursuers and buzz them. I have a message from the colonel however. The Kormas base is now engaged in a full-fledged battle with the 1500 Shaitans laying siege. She would very much appreciate if we could somehow hold these 500 Shaitans here and not allow them to reinforce the 1500. Eagle 2 is at your service for that task.” The pilot said.

“Copy that Eagle 2. I reckon there are only 400 or less left here now. I will figure out how to hold them here while you get these bastards off our tail.” Ed replied back. He had a germ of an idea forming in his mind.

Chapter 23

Escorting the enemy

Outer Solar system

September 2083

True to his reputation, Capt. Hamid Dar was taking chances galore, but he was moving fast. The three surviving ships of the Third Fleet were at just one kilometer separation from the dead Endurance. Six shuttles from the three ships were buzzing around. Three of the shuttles were carrying with them the standard complement of Marines assigned to a Nautilus class of ships – 20.

The other three shuttles were performing a detailed survey of the external hull of Endurance. Everything was recorded for study later. This data would be invaluable to military intelligence and planners. When the first 15 minutes briefing to the Admiral was due, Capt. Dar reported that the first Marines were just entering the Endurance from the gaping holes in the Hull.

The next 15 minutes report was grim. The ship was compartmentalized by design, as are all human ships in space. All the compartments that had opened to space were charred and the crew dead. They had not died due to loss of atmosphere, since they were all wearing suits. They had been burnt along with their suits.

More than half the ship though appeared to have no damage to the hulls and the bulkheads. Even with loss of power and atmosphere, it was possible to find survivors there. These compartments were sealed and inaccessible to the rescuers. The manual override were not working since the hatches had melted and sealed at the seams due to the heat.

They had tried tapping, knocking and hammering on the bulkheads and hatches in hopes of getting some response from the other side from possible survivors. However they had not gotten any yet. It was possible that the atmosphere had escaped on the other side as well, in which case the survivors would not hear any sound. The marines were starting to cut through the hatches, but it was slow going.

“Hamid, I know saving the crew is the highest priority, but I would however like you to dispatch some marines to the missile holds. We need to know the condition of those missiles and salvage as many of them as possible. They may be critical to the survival of the rest of the fleet.” Fabi said grimly. It might sound insensitive, but an admiral had his job to do, and the first and foremost job was to win the battle, whatever the cost.

“Understood admiral. All the 60 marines cannot work on rescue at the same time anyway. There isn’t that much opening and space anyway in the destroyed sections. I will immediately dispatch the marines from Shiva for this task.” Capt. Dar replied.

“Thanks Hamid. There is more I am going to ask of you. I know you are not going to like this, but we all have our orders. Mine is to stop that Shaitan fleet at any cost. You have another half hour to cut through and rescue any survivors. We switch on our engines on the 31
^st
minute. We will not wait a minute longer.

The next order is very painful for me to give. I hope it does not come to you having to choose, but if it came to it, then the retrieval of missiles is a higher priority than the search and rescue. I hope you understand captain.” Fabi said grimly.

There was a silent pause from Capt. Dar as he looked straight into the eyes of the admiral. He saw the pain but also the ruthless determination. This was a side of the jovial Russian he had never seen. “Yes sir, I understand what needs to be done. It will be done, and there would be no need to choose.”

Fabi had deliberately given Capt. Dar an aggressive timeline. The calculations they had done showed that they had at least a 40 minutes time window. After that time, the Third Fleet would not be able to start comfortably ahead of the Shaitan fleet as it started heading towards Earth. If the fleet was not comfortably ahead at the beginning of the long trip inwards into the solar system, it would become difficult to constrain the Shaitan fleet within a tight corridor.

Capt. Dar authorized free use of charges to blast through the bulkheads at the discretion of the marines. He also shifted priorities and ordered the marines from the Qūzhújiàn to join those from Shiva in the salvage of all surviving missiles. There was good news on the missile front. None of the missile holds, which were tucked deep in the heart of the ship had been damaged.

Salvaging them in the given time was another matter altogether. The missiles stored near the missile ejectors that exited from the undamaged portion of the hull, was simpler. The marines had to muscle those one ton missiles and push them out of the openings meant for missile ejection. In the zero G environment lifting and pushing the missiles was not hard, but turning and stopping them from moving was.

Once the missiles drifted into space, it could be given a retrieval command, and it would automatically home in on one of the three ships it had been assigned and dock with the retrieval bay. This new feature of missile retrieval came handy in salvaging the missiles fast from a dead ship. The missiles next to the ejectors that ejected from the damaged side of the hull was more of a challenge, as the opening had mangled. The marines had to blow holes liberally to be able to get those missiles out.