Alpha strike, p.27
Alpha Strike, page 27
He made an ambivalent gesture. “It’s possible a few could be repaired, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Sadly, we’re going to need some structural repairs as well. It’s best we don’t have full acceleration right now because I’m not certain our stern would hold up under that kind of thrust. We’re going to have to baby her for a while.”
Alan nodded. “And I assume that’s the kind of repairs that won’t be possible in this system since they have no facilities left in space after the invasion. We’ll have to build something from scratch. Something of a chicken and egg problem. Unfortunately, the quantum gate we brought with us was destroyed. If it was still intact, someone in Port Royale could’ve brought us the parts we need.”
“All too true. If that’s all, Professor, I need to get back to work.”
“Actually, it’s not. Again, I apologize for disturbing you, but I need you to walk with me because I may have an answer to our biggest problem.”
“If you have an answer to any of my problems, I’ll happily spend some extra time with you,” he said, focusing his full attention on Alan. “What do you think we can do?”
Without saying anything, Alan headed toward the alien hyperdrive.
“This thing?” Ferraro asked, a hint of incredulity in his tone. “I hate to break this to you, Professor, but we don’t know anything about this thing.”
“Perhaps not, but that is a solvable issue. Not today, not tomorrow, but perhaps in a few weeks or months. We have prisoners that may be willing to give us insight into how this mechanism works. I can see the computers that ran it from here, and they look intact as well.”
“You’re serious?” Ferraro demanded. “Don’t you think that’s a little crazy? These aliens have no reason to help us.”
Alan smiled. “You weren’t there when the original group met the ones we brought over from that other ship. Our first set of prisoners is gravely displeased with their comrades. As they gain the ability to communicate with us, they might be more willing to cooperate than you’d imagine.”
“God save us from optimists.”
That made Alan smile. “In any case, we have to focus on what’s possible. We can’t create an independent quantum drive out of whole cloth, but we have this hyperdrive. If we intend to ever move this ship from one system to another again, that’s what we’re going to have to use. Everything else leads to waiting here for the Locusts to come kill us. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Ferraro looked like he wanted to argue, but Alan knew his logic was irrefutable. They had no means of getting away from New Copenhagen. The alien drive was their only option.
“Okay,” the engineer said. “Let’s say that’s true. How can we trust these aliens not to bugger the system? Hell, how do we even know that they know how to use it? None of them is guaranteed to be an engineer. Even if they are, who’s to say that they know how to navigate a ship while using it? We could turn the thing on and find ourselves headed in the wrong direction or explode. It could literally twist us into a pretzel.”
Alan put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Everything you’ve said is true, yet failing to use this technology means waiting for the Locusts to return and hoping for the best. Is that the course you think we should be following?”
Ferraro sighed. “No, but that doesn’t mean I think this is a great idea. Personally, I think you’ve lost your mind.”
“As a former academic, there may be something to that. Nevertheless, it won’t hurt to pursue this. Maybe we’ll get lucky, and Kelly will figure out something to fix the independent quantum drive and save us from my mad plans.” He looked over toward the wreckage of the quantum drive and shook his head. “Not that I think that’s very likely.”
“Sadly, I suspect you’re right,” Ferraro said, turning his back on the work being done there. “No matter what course of action we choose, we might get screwed. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can salvage a fusion drive. Good luck.”
“And to you as well.”
Alan took a walk around the hyperdrive to make sure it wasn’t damaged, and then he walked around the computers from the alien vessel. Everything looked intact.
That particular mission accomplished, he left engineering, stripped off the vacuum suit, and made his way to where they were keeping the prisoners. If they wanted to get out of here, he’d have to form a personal connection with the aliens. There had to be some level of trust, and to get that, they needed to know who he was and be able to speak with him.
When he reached the makeshift prison, he informed the Marines on duty that he wanted a table and chairs on either side of the divider. The aliens’ backsides were somewhat different from a human’s, but the chairs still worked for them.
Since he wasn’t going to be directly in the presence of the aliens, the Marines could watch over him remotely to make certain someone didn’t somehow get through the divider. Considering how strong the partition was, Alan found that unlikely. The Marines apparently agreed because no one argued.
Ten minutes later, tables and chairs had been set up. When the Marines opened the hatch leading into the alien prison, it only took a few seconds for one of the aliens to stick her head into the compartment and see him waiting on the other side. She blinked her large eyes rapidly and then vanished.
Seconds later, the alien reappeared with a male right behind her. Alan thought it might be the same one that had spoken earlier. If so, that was just what he wanted. The two aliens examined the chairs briefly and then sat.
Alan placed his hand on his chest. “Alan.”
The male alien made an identical gesture. “Regex.” He gestured at the female. “Pastan.”
So it was the same male they’d first woken. Interesting. Alan was relieved the names were comprehensible and repeatable. In fiction, authors always thought alien names needed to be unpronounceable and filled with hisses and clicks. For once, reality seemed more straightforward.
While he hoped the rest of this little talk would be as useful, he was sure it would also be frustrating. At best, the alien grasped what a child knew of their language. Complex terms would be impossible, and they’d just have to build trust while he taught them how to speak his language. And there was no time like the present to get started.
36
Mac watched the personnel carriers come in low over the waves and circle the island with more than a hint of relief. The wounded and the dead had already made their way back up to Hunter, so all that was left were almost six hundred people guarding the area. He felt exposed, but the incoming reinforcements would help with that.
Before they deployed, however, he and whoever was in command would have to figure out how to work together. He had no business sticking his face into planetary affairs, and whoever was in command was probably going to insist this island was in their purview. It was his job to make sure they knew that wasn’t the case.
Mac didn’t expect that task to be easy, especially since he’d need a lot of assistance digging the nuclear warheads out. There could be a turf fight, and while he had experience with those, they typically didn’t have the kind of importance that this one had.
He couldn’t afford to lose this fight, but he also couldn’t offend whoever was in charge of the planetary defense forces. He needed to be diplomatic, and while that wasn’t as difficult for him as some, it still wasn’t his natural inclination.
As a single personnel carrier settled to the rocky ground, Mac stepped forward with Beth at his side. Together, they represented the leadership of Hunter’s Marine forces. There were a few senior instructors from the Marine Academy left on the island, but they were overseeing the defenses, and he didn’t want to distract them from their tasks.
When the ramp came down, he was surprised to see two men in battle armor assisting an elderly man with a cane down the ramp. The older gentleman was black and sported the same uniform as Captain Dufaux, though he had four stars on his collar, and he wore a holstered pistol at his hip. It was definitely not what Mac had been expecting to see.
As they were in a combat zone, he didn’t salute, but he did stand just a little straighter. Whoever this person was, whether they deserved respect or not, he would give it.
“I see that my appearance is not in line with your expectations,” the older man said when he reached the ground. “Needs must when the devil drives. I thought my days of serving were long past, but it turns out my planet needed my experience one last time.”
The older officer extended a frail hand. “I’m General Robert Nagle, and I command the New Copenhagen planetary defense forces. I was living out my final days on a farm when the invasion came. My predecessor and many of our senior officers died defending the capital, so the president requested that I return to service.”
Mac shook the officer’s hand gingerly. “Lieutenant Colonel Mac Turner, commanding officer of the Marine detachment aboard the battleship Delta Orionis. We refer to her as Hunter. I was retired from Marine Force Recon when this got rolling, but Commodore Romanoff brought me back into the service. This is Major Beth Cassidy, my XO. She’s also retired Marine Force Recon.”
“While I’ve never served in space, everyone has heard of Marine Force Recon, and that type of background commands respect, Colonel, Major. As does what you’ve done here.”
The older man looked at the ruined volcano and then swept his gaze over the battlefield. “I served during peacetime, so even though we trained for something like this, I’ll admit to never thinking I’d see the day. I almost didn’t. Another few years and I’d have been gone, but then I wouldn’t have a way to share the experience I’ve gathered over four decades of service with the young folk that need it so desperately now.”
The older man grimaced and shook his head. “We’ve got a lot of things to work out, Colonel Turner. To begin with, I’d like to land my people and begin setting up defensive positions to help relieve some of yours. Your people have been through hell, and I think they could use a break, don’t you?”
“I’m not going to argue with that, General. We have a lot of things to settle, but I won’t turn down anyone who wants to help us defend this place. Call your people in.”
The general made a gesture toward his escort, and one of them spoke into a communicator. Within a few minutes, the orbiting personnel carriers found places to land and started disgorging troops. They didn’t come racing out looking for places to set up but found the Marines and began coordinating with them to complement what was already in place.
“I’d ask you to walk with me, Colonel, but I’m afraid walking isn’t as easy as it used to be. Let’s go back inside my personnel carrier and take a seat. We’ve got a lot of things to discuss, and I don’t want to waste my energy marching around this frozen island.”
“Of course, sir. After you.”
Nagle turned around, and the two soldiers helped him back into the personnel carrier. Mac followed with Beth at his heels. Once they were inside the utilitarian vehicle, they all took seats along the side while the escort buttoned the vehicle back up. The general gestured for Mac to take the seat on his right and Beth to take the seat on his left.
“There’s no need to stand on formality here. We don’t have time to deal with that if we’re going to get the Locusts off this planet while I still have any say in the matter. I’ve got some people picking up our new president and his staff. They’ll be here in about an hour, and if you could have someone get him up to orbit, I’m sure he would appreciate it.”
“I’ve already got a cutter standing by, sir. Before then, we need to discuss something that might be a bit delicate.”
“You’re talking about the weapons, right? If you think I intend to fight you for possession of the nuclear devices that might free the cluster, you’re wrong. I’m going to claim a share of them if we can get missiles and launchers to use them, though. I understand that’s not going to be an issue if we can get down to where they’re stored because there are so many. Is that correct?”
Mac nodded. “There’s something on the order of a hundred million small nuclear weapons down there. I haven’t got the slightest idea how much work it will take to get at them, but I believe there’s more than enough to go around. The problem is that the Locusts don’t want us to have them. They hit this place pretty hard, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they made another go at it at some point. They’ve got two fortified positions, and we need to make certain they aren’t in a position to leverage them.”
“Digging everything out isn’t going to be an easy process, but there are construction companies with equipment that would be very helpful in the matter,” the older man said. “Honestly, the remnants of the cone are almost certainly unstable, so it might make more sense to blast it before starting the excavation. I’m sure making it fall outward would be preferable.”
Mac thought about the shape of the cone and shook his head. “It’s straight up on the inside and sloped inward from the outside. We might be able to get the topmost portions of it to fall out, but I suspect the innermost portions will be joining the pile inside.”
“Pity, but we’ll leave that for the professionals.”
“We also need to discuss the chain of command,” Mac said. “This is your planet, but I’m not certain if you’ve got what you need to assault the enemy positions. They’ve got captured people and technology we’d like to get our hands on, too. There are also aliens in there that we’d like to ask some very pointed questions to.”
The old man blinked. “Aliens? As in biological beings? I’d assumed these were all mechanicals. I think I’ll need an update on this before I have a meaningful response.”
It took about ten minutes for Mac to go through everything he knew about the aliens. He made sure to specify that there seemed to be at least two different groups based on the antipathy the prisoners had demonstrated, but since they couldn’t speak the alien language, there was no way to be sure.
Nagle stared off into the metaphorical distance for a few seconds after he’d finished. “Of all the potential causes of the second invasion, I didn’t anticipate something like this. Perhaps I should have. After all, someone had to be behind the Locusts, and now they’ve revealed themselves.”
He focused his attention on Mac. “The Confederation was a peaceful place, and our planetary defense forces weren’t meant to fight a real war. That’s why we got our butts handed to us when we tried to confront the Locusts. Based on the number of people you’ve got here, you’re in a similar state, are you not?”
“Pretty much.”
“If we’re going to make this work, we’ll have to find a means to work together, Colonel. You’ve got more experience at fighting than anyone on this planet. I suppose we have a few retirees with comparable experience, but by and large, we’ll have willing hands with little know-how.”
Mac sighed. “Almost all the Marines around us were recruits at the Marine Academy before leaving Faust. They had to learn to fight the hard way, those who made it through. We started with roughly twelve hundred people, and now we’re down to just under a thousand, including our wounded. Less than six hundred effectives. That’s not enough to do any real ground fighting. Once we finish what we’re doing here, I’ll have to replenish our ranks before moving to the next system.”
“I think you’ll find people willing to volunteer their services, though they’ll be as ill-trained as your recruits were to start,” Nagle said. “But first, we need to do something about the aliens themselves. They’ve been taking humans prisoner, and as you might imagine, there are quite a few theories about the despicable things they could be doing. We’ve got an obligation to save those people, which means we need to find a way to work together.”
“Since we’re in the middle of an invasion, fighting the aliens should be under the command and direction of Commodore Romanoff,” Beth said. “That means Colonel Turner should be directing what happens regarding those facilities, at least until we’ve settled what’s going on inside.”
The older man smiled a little. “President Scazzosi might have a different opinion on the matter, but I’m not going to dispute that. So far as I’m concerned, since we’re in the middle of a war, the Marines are the primary service, and the planetary defense forces will do whatever we can to support you. We’ve got basic weapons—including heavy weapons—and some old personnel carriers like this one, but nothing fancy. If you’ve got more weaponry that we could use during the assault, I can find hands to put them in.”
“We can help with that,” Mac said. “We brought along a number of weapons with the expectation of fighting on the planet’s surface. We lost more pinnaces than I expected, which will cripple our ability to fight. We might be able to get more working aboard the ship, but that will take people with mechanical ability to help get them operational. Another instance where cooperation would prove beneficial.”
The old general pursed his lips and nodded. “And to attack them, we need to get through those mechanical war machines. The blasted things are lethal, and they’ll shoot at anyone, soldier or civilian. There are a lot of them scattered throughout our two major metropolitan areas, and they’ve made them kill zones. I’m not sure how easy fighting our way through something like that with normal weapons will be.”
“One of my people may have found a weakness we can exploit, but that still leaves us a tough fight ahead,” Mac agreed. “Once we’ve finished getting to the two facilities, we’re going to have to find a way to get inside to capture the aliens while at the same time freeing our own people.”
“At least we haven’t seen any more aircraft since this attack, so we might be able to achieve air dominance,” Nagle said. “We have some atmospheric craft, but they would’ve been meat for the grinder if we’d sent them out before this battle. Now they might prove useful.”
The older man considered Mac for a moment. “I think we aren’t going to have any trouble coming to a suitable arrangement, Colonel. When the president gets here, I’ll go up to speak with your commodore at his side. I understand the fighting up there was a bit too close for anyone’s liking, and I’d like to take a look at your ship.”
