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

  The bit on her leg where the major damage was wouldn’t split apart as needed, so she had to pull her leg out of it like a massive boot while several Protovic were around the locker room-style chamber doing much the same thing. Once out of all of it and standing in her sweat soaked casual uniform, she disconnected the damaged segment of her armor and picked up the rest in her left arm. She carried the damaged boot over to the quartermaster, laying it out in front of the unarmored Rammus there with a look of frustration.

  “I don’t think you can repair this one. Need to call me in a replacement before I head back out again. I don’t want to bother with a generic suit if I don’t have to,” she said, referring to the ‘one size fits all’ Archon armor sets that adjusted to a user’s dimensions rather than being custom designed to her body.

  The Rammus pulled the armor piece across the table to him with stubby arms, then twisted it around in his hands with claw-like fingers picking at various points. “Are you hurt?”

  “Just my pride,” she admitted.

  “I’ll call for a replacement from orbit, highest priority,” the shorter Rammus said, looking up at her with its narrow, snout-like face and speaking fairly good English, though it still sounded like he was coughing with every word. This one, she knew, hadn’t been born into Star Force, but one of the early converts that she hadn’t been able to stand back then. Now the Rammus were always a welcome sight on the battlefield so long as they stayed within their support role, which they took to with great pride and efficiency.

  “Thanks, Vrita,” Jaina said as she left the Rammus to deal with Protovic armor issues and headed for one of the few personal pods on the Portal. They had a Rammus design aesthetic to them, but had been configured to work for Humans and other Star Force races, though larger ones had to use other customized Portals. As was normal, everything worked for Humans though, and she locked herself inside one of the small rest room/changing/shower compartments.

  After cleaning up and donned a new casual uniform she checked herself out of the pod and a waiting Protovic took her place as she found one of the small but private sleeping bunks set into a wall like a honeycomb. She climbed into an empty one head first, then tapped a small control panel near the pillow at the far end. A one-way panel slipped past her feet, closing off the sleeping area from view or sound, though she could still see out of it.

  It was a tiny bunk that she couldn’t fully sit up inside without tipping her head slightly, but putting even the smallest of quarters in a mobile facility like this wouldn’t have made sense. What she needed was a place to sleep with the addition of the unnecessary but welcomed privacy. Knowing that the Rammus would be handling security for them and would wake them the moment there was a threat sighted, she let her head hit the pillow and not worry about anything else.

  The Portal was far better than sleeping in her armor in the forest or having to ride a dropship back to a firebase or a ship in orbit. They had to make sure the Portals were protected, for they made good, if not quite helpless targets, but so long as they had sufficient air cover and distance from the enemy they would allow her unit to stay in the field indefinitely without getting wore down from fatigue, limited food, or lack of equipment/ammo.

  Jaina fell asleep almost immediately, drifting off to dreamless sleep as her body finished digesting those food cubes and a sugar stick that she’d taken out of her own pack before setting it on a rack in the equipment room to be recycled and refilled for her use tomorrow.

  But right now it was time to recover, and snugged up in the confining tube she didn’t hear a sound or feel a vibration from those outside or in the bunks beside, above, and below her. She was alone in her little island of serenity in the middle of a war zone, and the Archon knew she would be safe here until morning, as would the rest of her unit. The Rammus might not be that good in combat, but they made for loyal and attentive sentinels.

  When she woke, Jaina filled up on a big breakfast then armored up with the rest of her unit, grabbing her refilled pack of ammunition, equipment, and a bit of foodstuffs and water. Enough to last her a few days if needed, for while the Rammus Portals were very welcome, you never knew when they’d be able to get to you, and if there was any real threat against them Jaina would not allow them to come in.

  The mobile supply depots were another matter. They were as well armored as the Rammus were, and as Jaina joined her unit outside and began running with them through the forest she saw a new Rammus transport flying in from afar. It landed nearby the Portal as it was disconnecting its augments and packing up. By the time Jaina and her unit were on their way to the next known lizard outpost the Portal and its transports were flying away from danger and back to the nearest Star Force surface base where they would wait until they had an opportunity to aid a field unit again.

  The depot, however, was staying put and would be conserving fuel on the ground as it tracked the Protovic, occasionally leap frogging across the terrain to stay close but safely behind them. If it had to deal with wisps it could run and survive long enough to get to help thanks to its thick armor, but it was meant to resupply the unit rather than engage in combat, though it too was decently armed.

  Later in the day, when combat was deplenishing the ammo counts of her troops, that depot sprouted a number of offloading ramps out of which the Rammus themselves rolled in several lines of cargo carriers, all of which were headed across considerable distance to the front lines to supply the field unit with ammo, weapons, and whatever other supplies had been requested or assumed to be needed.

  It was tricky for the Rammus to pull off without being ambushed or directly targeted by the lizards, but tricky was one thing Star Force’s new little ward was, for they’d been tricking and surviving against the lizards far long than anyone else had been able to, and now they were applying those skills and Star Force tech in new and devious ways, keeping their heads down and enabling the frontline units to become even more effective and efficient than before.

  The Rammus might not be killing the lizards themselves, but they were seeing to it that they died in greater numbers and at a faster rate than otherwise, and were quite knowledgeable and proud of that fact.

  And as far as the front line combat troops were concerned, they loved the little guys.

  8

  April 9, 3201

  Ivataru (lizard territory)

  Inner Zone

  When Jaina got to the bridge of the Warship-class jumpship the fleet had already emerged at the destination star and was transitioning around to the jumpline for the known lizard planet of Chammtre, but as she’d been told via comm and could see now for herself on the long range sensors, they were not the first ones to get here.

  There was already an ongoing conversation via holo with a waiting beacon for her, so when she sat down in a secondary command chair next to the Captain’s she hit a button and four meter-tall images appeared around her, three of which were Archon mages on other ships in this fleet, but the other was a mage not assigned to them and apparently the commander of the Lacvamat fleet that they were picking up on sensors around the distant planet.

  His image was apparently a recorded message being played out, while the others were realtime. She caught the last bit about them needing to survey five sites on the planet for possible survivors, then the rogue mage’s image disappeared.

  “What’d I miss?” Jaina asked.

  “Apparently we’ve got word from independent sources that there might be an indigenous population on this planet that the lizards haven’t discovered yet,” Arron-44920 explained. “The Lacvamat fleet was sent to investigate but they’ve not had much luck on the ground. They’ve cleared out orbit of lizard warships and begun some ground bombardment, but so far they can’t find any of these hidden outposts. They need ground assistance for the search.”

  “Why Lacvamat?”

  “Looks like they were the only sizeable unit available. They’re holding down the airspace over the designated regions, but we’ve got to go to
ground to investigate. Jaina, you’ll knock out this lizard base,” he said as a zoomed-in planetary hologram popped up with a waypoint on it a fair distance from the nearest of the marked exploration zones. “Get us a solid foothold.”

  “What about anti-orbital defenses?”

  “The nearest ones have already been knocked out. If we stay within the brackets we’ll be fine. Madi, you’ve got search zone 1. Knock out the lizard outposts in the area then do an extensive search. Trevor, zone 2. I’ve got 3. We’re told these guys are amphibian, so if you see any water down there that’s probably a good place to start.”

  “What water?” Madi asked, seeing a planet full of vegetation but only a scattering of tiny lakes and rivers.

  “Doesn’t make much sense to me, but these guys have been running some smuggling routes off this planet. They know how to hide.”

  “Smuggling past the lizards?” Jaina said, doing a double take. “Are you sure?”

  “That’s what we’ve been told. Not a lot, but an occasion ship in and out.”

  “How?”

  “Good question. We’ll find out when we find them.”

  “Are we working with the Lacvamat or keeping our distance?” Trevor asked.

  “They’re going to keep the skies clear and assist where able. When we make orbit begin immediate deployment. For some reason our contacts believed the locals were under some sort of time constraint, so let’s not delay…and keep your eyes open. Something about this feels weird.”

  “A trap?” Madi asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Did we get a name at least?” Jaina asked.

  “No. Whoever these guys are they like to keep a low profile.”

  “Then what was the rush…to us anyway?”

  “Yuri didn’t say. He just got orders to come out here and investigate and pave the way for us.”

  “I wonder what was worth smuggling?” Trevor asked.

  “One way to find out,” Arron said. “Let’s get to work.”

  The holograms in front of Jaina disappeared, save for Madi’s. “Looks like you get to take the biggest crack this time.”

  “I don’t mind that. At least I know the lizards.”

  “This doesn’t feel right to me either. There must be something really important down there.”

  “Let me know when you find it.”

  “Will do, sister. Happy hunting,” the mage said as her hologram also vanished.

  “Nearing the jumppoint, Archon.”

  “Make the jump as soon as possible, Captain. Apparently we’re in a rush.”

  “What do you want opened?”

  “Give me cover as you see fit and coordinate with the Lacvamat so you don’t accidentally shoot any of them,” she said with a touch of frustration.

  “They’re Star Force, so what’s the issue?”

  “I’ve never worked with them before.”

  “We’ll be careful,” the Protovic captain promised. “You going down first?”

  “Duh,” she said, giving him a stupid look.

  “Would you like a landing zone flattened for you?” he said, his voice going heavily sarcastic.

  “No, we’re taking theirs. Signal our ships to prepare for hot drop,” she said, getting up out of her chair and heading for the hangar bays.

  “Could have made credits on that,” one of the Protovic crew muttered after she’d gone.

  “Assuming someone would have been stupid enough to take that bet,” the Captain said with a smirk. “As soon as we make orbit, pull up all the records from the Lacvamat and double check their kill history. Let’s make sure the clear zones really are clear before we send our people down. We’re assuming ground control, so let’s make sure we get everything squared away. No mistakes.”

  “We’ll make sure the bats got it right,” another crewer said as helm signaled that they were ready to make their microjump as other ships were visible doing so ahead of them.

  “Big ass bats,” the Captain corrected. “Execute jump.”

  Jaina road down to the planet in the back seat of a two person mech, being dropped off near their target base by dropship as she controlled her remote star of mechs while her Protovic pilot handled their own. Three other stars assembled with them and marched across the grassland towards the craggy rocks that surrounded the lizard base. It wasn’t a city per se, but rather a military fortification that contained a variety of buildings, which was odd on a planet like this. Perimeter turrets were plentiful and it also had decent anti-air capability, prompting the land assault.

  It also had a single anti-orbital battery, which had meant the dropships had to come down to the surface far away then skim overland to get to their LZ, but now that they were below the big gun’s range Jaina was going to bust up this base, take it down, and work on securing a proper foothold for a much larger invasion heading north while the search teams were located on one of six continents in the southern hemisphere outlined by mountain ranges and a handful of rivers.

  With her mind plugged into the mini nexus software, Jaina drove four mechs simultaneously, each of which was outfitted with additional weapons, armor, shields, and anything else they could squeeze into the space that otherwise would have been reserved for a pilot. That made them tougher and, above all else, expendable if need be, while the other 15 mechs out there were all piloted by Protovic.

  As they came within range they began a sniping exchange, the phaser turrets crossing the distance with badly aimed shots while a few of the mechs returned fire with baby cleansing beams. Jaina made sure two of the turrets were down before she gave the order to charge, then all 20 mechs began running across the grass up towards the rocks that ringed the base. As distances closed more weaponry opened up on both sides, but with that pair of turrets down the exchange was tolerable to cross the distance up to the base wall.

  Before they got here they had to pass the rocks, some of which were building sized. Keeping an eye on depression angle of the really big gun, the mechs with jump jets floated up and over them while the ones that did not climbed and mechanically leapt over the hazards, fighting their way up to the nearest turrets and taking them down before the mechs began getting hit too hard.

  The group of them took refuge against the lizard wall, spreading out both directions to begin stripping the nearest turrets away with overwhelming firepower one at a time. Meanwhile Jaina’s star began pounding on the wall, not wanting to jump up and over it and into the fire zone of the anti-air batteries. It took a while, but eventually they pounded enough of a hole that they were able to press through…right into the guns of a huge tank formation.

  Jaina pulled back the drone mech she’d sent in first as it was getting hammered, coming back out through the gap with ample armor damage.

  “We’re going through phalanx style,” she told her pilot. “Put us fourth in line.”

  The four drone mechs in her star lined up beside the eastern wall, leaving a gap for the control mech to slide in. Once in place all of them sidestepped to get out from the wall and make a less sharp angle to the gap, then the five bunched as close together as they could and Jaina shifted the lead mech’s shields full forward and charged the formation into the lizards’ firing line.

  Her mech came through safely, but the first one lost its shields and an arm before the other four spread out and savaged the surrounding tanks. They’d been arrayed in a hemisphere with their full attention on the breach point, maximizing their firepower, but now that the Star Force mechs had gotten within melee range they were at a disadvantage and suffered the consequences.

  When Jaina got those mechs cleared out she put her two wounded ones in the back of her star and proceeded through the base knocking out whatever shot at them and working their way towards the big gun in the center as the other mechs made their way back around to the breach point and followed them in in ones and twos. Jaina waited for them to catch up before she pushed too far, then the twenty mechs worked together to force their way up to the big g
un and began chipping away at it with their weapons.

  They got counterattacked four times and had to fend off lizard tanks, wisps, and infantry before finally being left more or less alone to chew through the thick armor of the turret tower. When they did Jaina sent a mech almost all the way inside to trash the interior. It blasted away at point blank range until their sensors determined the tower was inoperable.

  When that happened Jaina tagged it as out, then recalled that mech and brought all of them together into a small opening within the base. It looked like a courtyard but the lizards didn’t have such niceties in their cities, at least not for the sake of mingling anyway. The 20 mechs clustered there and put themselves back to back in a defensive posture as they waited for the orbital bombardment to begin.

  The shield tower they’d not bothered with, so the now low flying naval drones were hammering it as they came down through the atmosphere so they could get into better range and not worry about hitting the mechs accidentally. When the shield finally came down the triangular wedges that were the Protovic drones hovered over the city looking like tiny birds in the air, but birds that were raining down precision weapons strikes against the remaining turrets and any other large defenses that could be identified.

  The mechs waited it out, then when the ‘all clear’ was signaled they broke up by stars and began to roam the base looking to clean up whatever else was left as the infantry were on approach in more dropships. When they arrived they’d do a room by room search with sensors and psionics to make sure that every last inch of this lizard base was clean of the vermin.

  With a replacement mechwarrior taking over her control of the drones, Jaina got down dirtside with the rest of the infantry and helped them clean out the buildings in the base, including the subsurface structures, then got back to the surface in time to see a huge flock of Lacvamat flying overhead a few kilometers up.