Star Force: Rammus (SF83) (Star Force Origin Series) Read online

  As the tank puffed with a little smoke when the insides got junked, she ran off nearly taking a large phaser shot to her armor. As it was the near miss crackled on her shields thanks to the ionization of the air around the beam and she ducked behind the nearest bit of building as soon as she could, only to have that wall blasted apart by another pink beam.

  A chunk of wall hit her in the head, another in the legs, and knocked her off her feet and into a pile of debris, pinning her for a moment as the tank lifted up on its anti-grav to clear what was left of that wall as dozens of little plasma streaks hit it as her Protovic infantry opened fire from numerous positions, but it didn’t deter the tank from going after the Archon.

  “Aaahhh!” she yelled, summoning up as strong of a telekinetic bubble around herself as possible and pushed everything laying on top of her off…then she was on her feet again, scrambling up a wall and jumping over top of it as another phaser beam hit near her feet. A few seconds later and she was gone, scampering off through the debris and out of sight.

  A little too close there, boss, one of the Protovic thought as she caught up to him.

  No shit, the Archon replied, not bothering to slow down and chat as she ordered the retreat to continue as a Keema beam struck down from orbit and hit something in the distance. On her battlemap was a set of rings indicating firing range, and even at a glance she knew they were too close to most of the tanks for the orbiting starships to target.

  The tanks knew it too, for they were chasing the infantry over the crushed buildings and able to move faster given the fact they could just float up and over the walls and debris piles, forcing the Protovic to either run or try to hide, neither of which was a good idea at the moment, so they just ran and hoped the skeets would get close enough to provide air cover, but there were still so many little missiles shooting up into the sky.

  One of them streaked laterally towards the Archon. She barely saw it in time, diving to the ground and creating a telekinetic wall over top of her at an angle like her Master had taught her. The missile hit it and deflected ever so slightly, not enough to trigger it to explode, but enough to get it far enough away from Jaina before it hit a wall and blasted it apart, hitting two Protovic with bits of rubble and causing them to stumble, but they managed to run on.

  A new icon lit up with a pulsing signature to get everyone’s attention. It glowed green, meaning it was a safe haven, and she immediately directed the Protovic towards it just in case they didn’t notice it on their own. It was more than a kilometer away but all of them were running fast and not making the mistake to slow and try fighting the tanks, of which there seemed to be far too many for a subsurface bunker.

  Jaina stayed behind the Protovic, able to move faster than them but knowing that she needed to provide them cover with a distraction, and lizards always liked going for Archons when they could…plus she had psionics to use that the Protovic did not, and their telepathy wasn’t strong enough to deal with these tanks.

  She could have taken out a few of them on her own, but there were too many with overlapping lines of fire. At least the lizard missile launchers couldn’t keep up with her infantry retreat, so they didn’t have that hazard coming at them as they all ran as fast as they could, knowing that Jaina wasn’t going to leave them and not wanting to get her killed with their sluggishness.

  At the ‘safe’ marker ahead there were Rammus, already more than 20 of them there with more rolling in rapidly, each carrying a bit of machinery, some of which were so large it was visibly slowing them down. They carried it across the middles, making it look like a big bone they were cradling and rotating around, for they had been designed with a central ring that rotated so the big pieces didn’t have to.

  With each one arriving another puzzle piece was added to the construction they were assembling in an open area. Bit by bit it was growing and already partially online. Once sufficient power cells arrived the Rammus activated the shield bubble over an area about the size of a basketball court. It wouldn’t block against missiles, but it would stop phaser hits. It was weak right now, as far as tanks went, but the more pieces that the Rammus brought in would upgrade it with no limit. They’d been designed for specifically this task and could grow to whatever size or strength necessary so long as they had enough of the pieces delivered.

  Other Rammus were bringing different gear, flowing into the area like a river of fast moving wheels. The ones that didn’t head to the central generator went to the perimeter, some inside the shield boundary, others outside it. The pale blue dome was visible so everyone knew where it was, friend and foe alike, and would allow the Protovic to run through it given that they were physical rather than energy…though they’d have to drop their shields to do it, otherwise those would bounce off.

  Two of the Rammus ran outside the front of the shield and unfurled, setting down a small device that they cobbled together from the two pieces they carried and suddenly there was a new wall across an open area between rubble piles. It looked real enough at a glance, sufficiently torn up to match the surrounding topography as new little wrinkles were added to it as the sensors got a better feel for the location.

  The holographic wall was identified on the battlemap so the Protovic would know it wasn’t real and would appear highlighted on their HUD with an overlay…but to the lizards they wouldn’t know the difference.

  Other Rammus moved even further ahead, setting up a few more fake walls while others placed turrets and mines, all of which were combined from multiple pieces of equipment given the fact that one Rammus couldn’t carry very much. The genius of the design was that they didn’t have to, and with hundreds of Rammus flowing out to the waypoint on the battlemap they were able to assemble a makeshift base within minutes that the first of the Protovic were now finally getting to.

  Missiles streaked overhead, angling towards a skeet that was trying to sneak in over top the base but the lizards were not out of ammunition yet. It took several hits then dove down behind a building where it sat and began recharging shields. The lizards couldn’t keep this up for long, but it seemed like they were intent on killing this Protovic unit and the skeets knew they had to get in there as soon as they could.

  When the first three Protovic got to one of the fake walls they ran right through it like ghosts, then were soon inside the protective shield bubble and sucking air as they took cover behind a debris pile as more scattered troops began trickling in. They didn’t hold position long before they started planning out their defense, knowing they’d only have a minute or two at most before the tanks got here.

  One of the Rammus pinged a Protovic nearby, then rolled up to him and unfurled with a brand new rocket launcher held up in his hands.

  “I owe you one little guy,” he said, picking it up and immediately running to the front edge of the shield.

  The Rammus turned around and jumped into a roll as he headed back towards the distant supply outpost, glad to have been of service and rushing to get in another supply run as fast as he could.

  With phaser strikes audible behind him he ran through a predetermined course that he was following on his HUD, using his internal balance to keep him aware of where he was without getting dizzy and disoriented with the rolling. It was a natural part of their biology, and even though he only got a brief snippet of the view ahead each time he rotated around it was enough to give him a means to navigate by. The Protovic and Humans couldn’t do that, except for the Archons with their special abilities, but even they couldn’t rotate as fast as Rammus without losing control.

  It was a fact that he and the others prided themselves on, training themselves to go faster and faster to increase their usefulness in making multiple runs. He was focused on that when a phaser hit him from the side, blasting into his shieldless armor suit and knocking him off balance for a few turns. He got under control again then saw a bunch of lizard infantry pop up out of nowhere and jump in front of him to block his path in an ambush.

  With a sense of fear
and adrenaline the Rammus didn’t slow down and plowed right into the group with a tiny jump at the very end by stretching and snapping his rotating circle as much as he could to clear the ground.

  When he hit one lizard the green armored wheel sparked with light as a sphere of stun energy was released. The Rammus hit the ground unfurled, then scrambled over the incapacitated bodies and jumped back into wheel mode, continuing on for a few seconds while marking the location on the battlemap of the ambush so others could divert around it.

  7

  March 13, 3193

  Unnamed System (lizard territory)

  Planet 12

  Jaina sat on a half burnt log in the smoking forest outside what had been a lizard bunker. Barely 100 meters deep into the ground, it had some 5,000 lizards or more in it that her Protovic team had to go in and clean out. The entrance on the surface was small, but had been decently defended and was now little more than a boxy building with chunks of wall blown out where weapons batteries had been.

  The entrance had plenty of booby-traps in it that she’d had to find and disable, fortunate enough not to have missed one and gotten some of her people killed, with the rest of the battle having been ground out by the ‘never say surrender’ attitude of the lizards. She could have called down orbital bombardment on that site but had chosen to go in hand to hand in order to make sure they got all of them killed. In previous engagements it had been found that some lizards still survived after orbital bombardment of subsurface structures, and it made it damn hard to get down to them after the pathways were blocked by rubble and dirt. Better to just do it the old fashioned way so you could sign off on an area and move on to the next target.

  This was the fourth assault of the day for her unit, some 123 Protovic strong. The missing two had been taken back for medical treatment this morning after getting a bit too close to a lizard with a det pack. Both had survived, but their armor was a mess and their bodies just slightly less so. They’d live, but would be out of action for a while.

  The rest of them needed a break, so she’d decided this bunker would be the last offense on the day and logging it as such in the battlemap while posting sentries in case the lizards tried a sneak attack. They’d get some rest then keep pressing forward against the small lizard infrastructure spread throughout the planet’s forest and other wilderness areas. Finding all of the sites was tricky and the lizards were learning how to hide them better, but the one thing they couldn’t do was cleanse a planet and miss some of them, so they had to be thorough and that involved a lot of low flying aircraft with sensor modules and Archons out and about looking for minds where they shouldn’t be.

  Her Protovic helped with that, but their telepathic ranges were far shorter than hers. She trusted the Admiral in orbit to find targets for her and feed them either directly or through the commanding mage. At this point Jaina could be commanding some of these ‘small’ planetary invasions herself, but she preferred leading the elite Protovic teams personally rather than staying back and playing planetary strategist. She could, and had done that many times, but had passed up opportunities for more recently when offered.

  That wasn’t a big deal with Archons, for they all had their preferred niches. They just had to be able to do any duty when necessary, and Jaina preferred getting involved in taking individual objectives and allowing herself to not worry about anything beyond them. It was when leading a planetary assault she’d have to keep the big picture in mind, with her more than willing to follow someone else’s lead in that regard.

  She just wanted a target and a challenge…then to be let loose against it.

  As she sat catching her breath a little green armored Rammus rolled up to her and unfurled, walking the last few steps over and opening up his cargo pouches. She saw that he had a bit of ammo, but most of his items were food or water. Jaina reached into two of them, pulling out a bottle of water and a couple of food cubes, both of which were designed for maximum volume use in order to keep them small enough not to interfere with the Rammus’ carry motion too much.

  “Thank you,” she said, with the Rammus nodding in typically silent reply and closing his pouches before turning and rolling off elsewhere.

  Jaina opened her helmet but kept her armor’s shields up, pushing them out in a bubble around her so she could eat and drink without interference. She took an opening swig of water, then popped one of the dense food cubes into her mouth and slowly chewed, looking around the area with her eyes but taking a moment to rest her Pefbar and trusting in her Protovic sentries to alert her to any surprises before they could get to her.

  She looked down at her left leg, seeing the hole in her armor that had started oozing gel in a few tiny places, meaning it had punctured all the way through the tough material. The gel both cushioned and cooled her body within the armor, making the sidewalls of the interior safe to her legs rather than being just as dangerous in an impact as they were on the exterior to whomever she was kicking. Within that gel was a myriad of other things, including biosensors, healing packs, and whatever else the techs could work into it. Whenever it leaked, you knew a shot had hit home.

  Fortunately her leg hadn’t been damaged, but that piece of her armor was going to have to be replaced and the Rammus didn’t carry such things in battle…at least not directly.

  A few minutes later a pair of skeets flew by overhead preceding an aerial convoy of small transports. Each was outfitted as a light gunship, able to offer ground support or self-defense if needed, but these transports were meant for battlefield logistics assistance rather than combat, especially the large central one. It was bigger than a Dragon-class dropship by far and had the smaller transports flanking in proper formation held so rigid that it was almost comforting to see.

  She could have offered a waypoint for landing if she wanted, but knew the Rammus onboard could handle the site selection themselves. That and it didn’t really matter where they set down around here, for there wasn’t anything of value or danger to maneuver around.

  Staying put and watching as she finished chewing and began to gulp down half of the water bottle, the six smaller transports spread out into a flying perimeter as the big boxy centerpiece began transforming as it floated about a kilometer away from her. The compact ship expanded greatly, unfurling internal compartments that had been compacted down for transport. The cabin of the craft contained the Rammus crew while the bulk of the transport was inaccessible during flight, packed down so tight not even an Irondel could climb back into it.

  Eventually the giant plate spread out and landing gear dropped from it, extending out in a length that would keep it overtop the trees, smoking or otherwise, then the whole assembly lowered and settled itself onto the ground looking like it was standing on stilts. Those sunk in a bit, then lights on the underside turned on despite it still being daylight.

  Jaina glanced over her shoulder, seeing the twin suns on the horizon getting low to the ground. Night fighting didn’t bother her, but she hadn’t realized they were that close to losing daylight. She often lost track of time when fighting, but hadn’t expected this planet’s 39 hour day to be over just yet.

  When the main assembly was set, the other six transports flew over top of it and landed, connecting to it in order to add the customizable modules needed for this mission. The central assembly was what the Rammus called a ‘Portal,’ for it was a way for field teams to access a bit of civilization no matter where they were. The modules were known as ‘Augments,’ each of which carried more rooms that would be added on top of the Portal. They could be warehouses, factory units, defensive weapons, shield generators…anything and everything that you could possibly imagine up until you found yourself lacking in something.

  Then the Rammus would design and build a module for that the next time.

  One of these augments, once docked and expanded into a tree-like add-on, dispensed a number of tiny drones into the air that spread out in patrol patterns, both for surveillance and anti-personnel missions as ne
eded. They would monitor the airspace above the trees and give the Portal a heads up of anything coming in from afar, but they didn’t work down in the forest very well, despite having sensors to see through the trees.

  Fairly soon she saw the scout armor of the Rammus coming out of the Portal and heading across the semi-clearing in front of her. They rolled through the smoke in a group of six, then dispersed when they got past her. They carried no pouches or supplies of any kind, rather outfitted with sensors and weapons so they could hold and monitor the ground perimeter in addition to the security drones.

  This wasn’t the first time Jaina had worked with them and she knew she and the Protovic could now stand down from guard duty, allowing everyone to get some rest while their allies watched over them. She sent that order out, then picked herself up off the log as she finished off her second food cube and headed in the direction of the Portal.

  When she got beneath it and walked past one of the thick support pillars that was keeping it aloft without burning fuel on gravity drives, she spotted three different ramps that had been lowered to allow access to the giant portable treehouse. She walked to the nearest one then scaled the stairless ramp as she passed through an energy shield and into the internal air.

  Jaina dropped her shields and the armored gloves on her hands, breathing in deeply while flexing her fingers. The planet wasn’t bad, but the crisp air in here felt and smelled a lot better…though she probably didn’t. She headed for an equipment bay and shed her armor there, with bits and pieces contracting down while others split apart. As the decades went by their armor continued to improve, though the outward appearance had stayed much the same. It was the transformational technology that kept getting added, allowing them to put on and take off the armor far faster than in the old days.