The Lost Aria (Earth Song Book 3) Read online

  “Orders?” Gregg asked.

  “Shadow them, do not engage.”

  The mounted Recon unit followed the Tanam from a safe distance, only drawing an occasional stray shot or two from the retreating cats. The broomstick’s camera feeds began transmitting to Gregg’s tablet: The Tanam’s armored transport rode nape-of-the-earth, heavily shielded and weaving among the modest terrain features with computer precision.

  "Type eleven, basic transport" Gregg noted on the screen. Minu just nodded. They were similar to the ones her people were modifying into the new Lancers. No tanks or assault transports. This had to be a feint.

  Minu moved outside, now that the perimeter was secure, and B Company began deploying through the Portal. "I'd like some answers from these cats," she told Gregg, "send third platoon in a pair of transports to do a force recon of the garrison. Tell them to stay alert, I don't want them doubling back here and punching through to escape."

  "Makes me nervous," Gregg said, pointing to the body of a Tanam lying nearby. The shock rifle had punched through its personal shield and armor like it wasn't there. The alien’s chest was exploded like it had swallowed a bomb. "They're higher order species," he said almost afraid the dead Tanam would hear. "We've spent decades running from their like because of the ROE."

  "The Rules of Engagement don't apply in this case," Minu reminded him, "they attacked a Tog holding, and we are legally entitled to fight with them, and kill if necessary."

  "Still," Gregg said and pulled his eyes away with some effort, "all the same I'd rather be shooting Kloth. At least they can't declare a vendetta, or worse." Minu shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really care who she shot at, as long as it served humanity.

  I thought you were Chosen to serve the Tog? A voice whispered in the back of her head. "We have to serve ourselves eventually," she answered the voice.

  "Huh?" Gregg asked.

  Minu hadn't known she was speaking aloud. She shook her head and made a dismissive gesture. Gregg gave her a sidelong look but turned back to his tablet. They both carried bulked up computers serving as tactical interfaces. Eyepieces rested in pockets in case things got hot and they needed both hands.

  The garrison was twenty-five kilometers to the east. She watched on a little tactical map as third platoon raced around the retreating Tanam, taking advantage of the superior speed of the souped up transports. The cats were going by the book, the Concordia book on warfare that is. Never retreat too quickly so you can be fully ready for what lay in your path. Minu found their rules too cumbersome and inflexible when teaching her soldiers. It didn't take into account such things as home field advantage, or those times when you must take a chance in desperate situations. Her men easily out distanced the cautious cats and swept within radio range of the garrison.

  "Beezer garrison to the human Chosen," their secure radio link came alive. The translated voice sounded like rocks rolling down hill, the distant speaker a huge Beezer soldier.

  "This is Chosen Minu Alma, in service to the Tog. We are here to assist you."

  "We are glad for it. Your Chosen already here are keeping us from being overrun. Now can you hold this insufferable lot of screaming cats at bay while we retreat? I fear this world is lost to us."

  "We will not retreat."

  "Excuse me, I misunderstand?"

  "I have a hundred soldiers just outside the Tanam lines. We are here to give these Tanam a much needed thrashing."

  "But you barely match their number."

  "That is only a small percentage of my force. Rest assured, we can easily deal with these flea bitten cats."

  “We will hold, for now.”

  Minu switched tactical channels and spoke. “Chosen scout Christian, come in.”

  “Chosen Christian.” His voice was familiar and it brought a pang of regret to her heart. Minu could hear the sound of high energy weapons fire and suspected his squad of scouts was now manning the defenses of the garrison.

  “What’s your SITREP? We’re here to lift the siege.”

  “We’ve been hoping to get the Beezer into the fight. Jacob thought with our help they’d dig in and we could take it to the cats. Didn’t work out that way. We’ve got six squads of Tanam dug in around the garrison working on deploying heavy weapons. Looks like they’re taking their own sweet time about it. Looks like another five squads are mounted on heavy transports and are probably the breaching team they’ll use once the shields are down.”

  The unspoken part was his hope that she didn’t have to be there at all. At least he was professional enough to keep it out of his voice. “Got it, beam me whatever tactical maps you’ve assembled and we’ll start talking ways of taking these felines down a peg.”

  Once the entire battalion was through the Portal and the remainder of their vehicles as well, Minu mounted them up in order. The craft weren’t Lancers, they were still several months from completion in more than small numbers, but they also weren’t the clunky old models she’d used for drills. These were new looking units with a little armor, shields temporarily installed, and more powerful impellers. Cherise called them ‘light combat transports’, and Minu agreed it was as good of a description as any.

  In the air she formulated her battle plan. Company B and C would deploy on opposite sides of the Tanam position, just out of sensor range. They’d move as close as possible and engage the enemy with precision Shock Rifle fire. Once they began to reposition their forces in response, Minu would bring in Company A and exploit whatever breach was then presented to them. Two platoons from 2nd Battalion, B Company were deployed from Bellatrix to guard the Portal. It was a simple plan, but she didn’t really think they could land unopposed.

  The Tanam forced to retreat from the Portal had set the rest of their forces on the lookout for an attack. Only they were expecting a Concordia style attack. A flying wedge of combat craft with dueling shields and waves of bots. Instead she regrouped with Company A and orbited the battlefield for a half hour, briefing her teams and letting the cats stew in their own juices. When the two waves of five transports set their companies down over a kilometer from the garrison, no Tanam moved to intercept.

  “I know they’re cats,” Minu said and scratched her chin, “but they’re acting like pussies.”

  Gregg laughed but quickly shushed the nearest squad of men in the cramped transport. The boss was thinking. “Maybe we have them confused.”

  “You don’t have to think much to use standard Concordia tactics. It’s more like a religion to them.” She grumbled to herself and thought. Could this be a trap? Could they possibly be expecting a larger assault? The cats didn’t know about the soldiers, no one did. “Have 1st platoon, Company B swing out an extra five kilometers and perform a full orbit around the combat zone before deploying. Look for any EM radiation or maybe solar screens.”

  “Think it’s an ambush?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Another ten minutes passed before the platoon reported. “No sign of additional forces out to seven kilometers, commander.”

  Gregg noted it, ordering the unit to rejoin the other transports of Company B and turned to Minu. “Orders?”

  “Finish deploying as planned.” Minu watched on the tactical screens of the transport as the little red arrows number B-1 though C-4 moved steadily towards the Tanam's position. She forced herself to breathe against the knowledge that those icons each represented twenty lives. It felt like an eternity before the radio came alive again.

  “Company B is position.”

  “Company C is in position.”

  Gregg turned and looked at her where she sat in the command chair watching the screens, biting her lip and thinking. “It just isn't right,” she said aloud, giving voice to her thoughts. She flicked the channel over to the garrison. “Christian, do they have those heavy weapons up yet?”

  “Not yet,” he replied immediately, “but it has to be very soon. Are you in position?”

  “Stand by,” she said and changed back to t
he soldiers’ tactical channel. “Company A, Company B, withdraw, I repeat, withdraw to your LZ and stand by for orders.”

  “What's up,” Gregg asked.

  “They're waiting for us.”

  “How's that possible? No aliens have ever seen the soldiers in action. As far as they know, all we have is a hundred or so Chosen.”

  “I know, I know, but every bit of my being is screaming that this is a trap. Somehow they know about the soldiers.”

  On the monitor the arrows began to creep back from the ambush point. No sooner had they moved only a few meters then motion sensors picked up activity at a dozen new points. “Heads up all platoons!” Gregg warned over the channel, “we show multiple mechanized units coming on line.”

  The display showed all six new units were between the retreating soldiers and the dug in Tanam with their unprepared heavy weapons. She leaned close and watched as the sensor data began to resolve the new units. It took several seconds because the data was relayed from the less than ideal sensors on the besieged garrison bunker. “Tanks,” Minu said even before the results appeared to confirm her suspicion. “All units, we have Tanam heavy armor deploying, check your tacticals, data is being relayed. Do not attempt to take off, establish defensive lines at your LZ and hold tight!”

  “So that's why the heavy weapons aren't done,” said Gregg, his eyes wide as one screen showed the model and type of the Tanam tank. They were beasts of the first order. Seventy tons each, gravitic impeller powered, heavily armored, with both shields and forcefields, and sporting duel heavy beamcaster turrets. As if that wasn't bad enough, it also could hold a squad of soldiers.

  “Yep,” Minu said, “the incomplete heavy weapons were bait.”

  “Damn good thing we didn't storm over into them. We would have been pasted.”

  “We still might get creamed,” she reminded him.

  “Orders?”

  She thought for a precious second as the monster tanks finished coming to life and emerging from their concealed cover. “I need to know if those heavy weapons are real.”

  “We aren't close enough,” Gregg told her, “and if we try to get closer those tanks will tear these tin cans to pieces.”

  Once again she cursed not having the Lancers operational. The ground attack mode was designed with this scenario in mind. Four of them would clean the lumbering tanks from the battlefield with ease. “Order Recon in to find out.”

  He looked at her soberly. “They won't stand a chance against all those soldiers dug in there.”

  “They'll have surprise on their side. And the fact that our survival may depend on the data they gather on that run.” She took a breath and let it out, maintaining eye contact with her old friend for a long moment. Finally he sighed and nodded, relaying the order that would send men to die.

  “Acknowledged,” the improvised Recon team replied instantly, “we'll find out.”

  Six little icons that looked like lightning bolts raced towards the forces surrounding the garrison bunker. They were labeled R-1 to R-6, and they were moving in blurs. “Come on,” she urged them, “fly those things!”

  Minu had flown broomsticks from time to time and found them both exhilarating, and horribly dangerous. They were the first Bellatrix manufactured flying vehicle, built decades ago from scavenged parts. Yet they still stayed in the inventory because they were simple, cheap, and effective. A flying bicycle minus wheels, a wind screen, gravitic impellers, and duel saddles. The original version lacked even rudimentary avionics. These newer ones were much more sophisticated, but essentially the same vehicle. The top speed was essentially unlimited, though most users kept it under two hundred KPH.

  “They're insane,” Gregg whispered as they watched the readout. All six broomsticks were exceeding three hundred KPH, and as they came within range of the field of combat, they accelerated further to nearly four hundred. Minu blinked, trying to imagine what it was like crouching behind the minimal wind screen of the broomsticks as the screaming wind tore at them.

  The Tanam anti-aircraft systems warned them of the approaching craft and instantly engaged them when in range. But the tiny craft were so small, the computer controlled beamcasters of the anti-aircraft batteries were hard pressed to score a hit.

  With a flash, R-2 disappeared, followed an instant later by R-4. In less than a second, four soldiers were the first human casualties of the battle. The four remaining Recon broomsticks split up, each overflying a different heavy weapons site. At four hundred kilometers per hour, they were over the targets and gone in three seconds. R-5 flashed from existence as the last three surviving units cleared the combat area, and Minu exhaled. The only thing that could have been worse than losing six lives just to get the data would be losing them and not getting the data. “Good job men,” she told the broomstick pilots, swallowing the pain she felt at the loss of half their number.

  “Checking the data,” Gregg said. One of the monitors showed ultra-high speed images frame by frame, complete with surprised Tanam technicians interrupted in their jobs of assembling real working heavy energy weapon field pieces. “They are real, no doubt about it. And by the looks of it, now that the tank trap is sprung, the crews are busting their furry asses to get them on line.” Minu looked over his shoulder and nodded. “Companies B and C report contact with the enemy armor in five minutes, max.”

  “Okay, here's what we're going to do.”

  Chapter 12

  Octember 23rd, 521 AE

  Planet Amber, Tog Leasehold, Elysium Sector

  The three broomsticks swept in again, from the opposite direction this time and even faster. The Tanam manning the anti-aircraft battery snarled and licked her lips with a long flexible tongue, unable to believe the foolish human would come back in such a predictable way. She coordinated with the other anti-air units and opened fire. This time the enemy was not trying to evade and all three were quickly destroyed.

  “Crazy apes,” she laughed and glanced out of the shielded enclosure around her portable battery and towards the nearby heavy energy weapon where the crew was finishing its setup. Soon they would crack the garrison bunker open and feast on the skulking Beezer, then the annoying humans. Her second set of motion sensitive eyes caught movement to her left and she turned just as five transports came in for a hasty landing and began disgorging a horde of humans! “Where did they come from?” she wondered a second before a Shock Rifle tore the life from her.

  “Hit them hard!” Minu yelled over the radio and Company A opened up with everything they had. Beamcasters cracked and Shock Rifles zapped as fast as the soldiers could fire them. In moments the two closest anti-air units were overwhelmed and the adjacent heavy energy weapon. “Gregg, get a team on that thing, quick!”

  “You got it boss.”

  As Gregg cut out a squad of men, she turned back to the transport. Its pilot stood in the doorway, a beamcaster cradled in his arms. The weapon was linked by a cable to the crafts substantial power cells allowing him to fire many times more than a normal beamcaster.

  “It worked, good job!” Minu called over the clamor of men running towards the next heavy energy weapon. “I would have never thought to mess with the shields that way.”

  “No problem, ma'am,” he said, his cheeks turning red under his face shield. “It’s from a shield operations manual written by Chosen Pipson Leata. It’s tricky, and usually jacks up the shield controls, and doesn't make you completely invisible.”

  “But with those broomsticks on automatic...”

  “Exactly,” he said and nodded, “who would notice five transports coming in low and slow when three broomsticks are flying down your throat!”

  “How are the shields?”

  “Down to forty percent efficiency, but they'll hold up for now.”

  Minu gave him a thumbs up and made a mental note to ask Ted if redundant shield generators could be installed to allow this to be a regular tactic. She took shelter just inside the doorway to the transport and flicked down the eyepi
ece linked to the tablet on her waist. Her personal squad covered the transport as she evaluated the battle’s progress.

  Second platoon was overrunning the heavy weapons battery to the east while third platoon had split into two squads to assault the heavy weapons battery to the east and the nearby anti-air unit at the same time. She bared her teeth to see both squads heavily engaged. A man was down in each squad but no KIA marks showed up. “Gregg, send a squad from First Platoon to help Third Platoon take their objective.”

  “You got it boss.”

  Now she had to hope they weren't spread too thin for their own good. Just over a rolling hill were hundreds of Tanam soldiers. None of them had come rushing over the hills, so she knew they were unaware of the battle taking place here. But that wouldn't last, especially with Third Platoon bogged down.

  “Gregg, what's the story man?”

  “Five minutes.”

  “Shit,” she snarled and ran towards the gun battery. Her squad jumped in surprise then raced after her, struggling to keep up. She might have lost her regular martial arts workouts with Cherise, but she still ran every day. By the time she reached the heavy energy weapon, they were twenty meters behind. “Gregg, come on!” she said as she jumped up into the control cab.

  Like all Concordia made equipment, the heavy energy weapons battery was designed to be transported through a Portal. In this case it was moved in three pieces. The main part carried the weapon’s focusing barrel and particle beam generator, the second held all the massive EPC and targeting equipment, and the final was the command truck where it was aimed and fired. Three of the soldiers Gregg brought were desperately trying to figure out the final stage of setup while he was yelling at the computer controls. “I'm trying,” he growled at her.

  “I'm sorry,” she said and none too gently pushed him aside. The displays were configured for a Concordia script she didn't recognize. But like all Concordia equipment, it was designed to be versatile. She found the main computer control screen and isolated the configurations. A couple of quick taps on the screen and the script changed to the same one the Tog used. “We don't have time to lose.”