The Malevolent Universe laughs at all of our plans. - Trek'Tik, Treana'ad Philosopher, 12 PG
The day was warm and pleasant and the breeze washed away the sll of burnt crops and the smoke from where the fields had burned. The haze from the smoke made the sun burn a malevolent red in the sky.
Ret.lek sat in the cockpit of his k, the hatch open, eating a ration pack with the included spoon. His four greenies all sat on the forward pulse laser emitter, eating their own rations. The heavy k vibrated slightly and a faint liquid swooshing sound could be heard through the armor.
"...act like an asshole and now look at you," Ret.lek was saying. He gestured with his spoon after eating the beef stew off of it. "You could have just stayed ho, play hide the sausage or whatever you got with your mate, but nooooo, you had to co here, to the Terran Tomb Worlds, and act all tough."
He pointed with the spoon again after he scooped out more beef stew, the thick liquid glittering in the diffuse light as he jabbed it at the wark only fifteen feet from him.
"And look what it got you," Ret.lek said. He took the bite, chewed, swallowed, and pointed again. "I can't even tell what the fuck you were, man. I'm not even sure all your limbs are still there."
He pointed again.
The k across from him was slightly taller than his own k's 20 ter height. Its armor was rent, torn, slagged, and scorched. Multiple blowthroughs on the front chest of the bipedal wark. The hatch was open, showing a two ard pilot that was nothing more than burnt at and lted pilot's suit. The burnt skull still had a scorched and slightly lted neural helt on it.
"Worse, your dumb ass thought you and your five friends could take in that stumbling hunk of junk," Ret.lek continued talking to the corpse fifteen feet away.
"lurrrrrr," 930 put up a of a skeleton on a park bench with the caption "Waiting for the crazy guy to quit ranting about random shit so I can go ho!"
204 put up a rasberry blowing emoji and shoved 930 to show his disapproval of the .
772 kept an eye on the Electronic Counter-Counter asure readouts, as well as watching the Drone Warfare Counter Drone drones. The drones were all on stealth and the ECCM was on passive, but nobody had done a sweep beyond the vacuum suckers in orbit doing fast orbital scans.
Ret.lek kept talking and eating.
772 nudged 336 when two of the stealth counter-drone drones spotted a foreign drone and moved in, using a laser to query the new drone. 336 watched carefully as 772 brought up the readouts. The laser demanded ID from the drone and the foreign drone ID'd itself as friendly with the correct headers.
All done by point to point low strength limited visibility communications laser.
772 went back to his lunch, chewing on the marble sized compressed ball of turkey at and gravy taste, letting 336 watch the board.
There was a ping from the commo system and Ret.lek stuck the spoon in the foil bag and tapped the button to accept the call.
"Sigma-Five, go ahead," he said.
The XO's face appeared. The Terran looked the sa, deep lines in his face, close cropped gray hair, piercing eyes, a bent smokestick in his mouth.
"Whatcha doin', Wrecker?" the XO asked.
"Running a coolant recycle, boss," Ret.lek said. He thought it was a little strange that the XO liked to be called "boss" instead of Lieutenant when everyone was in the bush, but Ret.lek had learned a few years back that in the bush and in The World were two different things.
"How long till your flush?" the XO asked.
Ret.lek checked the status board. "About ten to fifteen minutes. Had so heat crystallization around the battlescreen emitter heat sinks."
The XO nodded. "All right. I'm on my way to a rally point. Fire mission from Gutter-Stomp and NAVINT," the XO shifted and Ret.lek could tell by the way the Terran's shoulders shifted that he was typing. "Sending you the rally point. et there in about 20 minutes and I'll walk you through it."
"Just us, boss?" Ret.lek asked.
The XO nodded again. "We're a little detached from the company and closest," the XO frowned. "Make sure your zero-point ergency reactors are cold and dark, we're going to need them."
"Huh," Ret.lek said. Before he could say anything else the XO lit his smokestick and cut the call. Ret.lek took another bite of the stew and shrugged. "Weird."
-----
The coms net was alive with chatter. Unit orders, updates from MILINT and NAVINT, social dia feeds just barreling through, and everything else the modern communication system handled.
Ret.lek had to admit it was strange. He'd fought the Slorpies on a dozen planets, and every ti everything but the Magic Band had turned to hash. Now the spooky, strange, and paired quark particle systems were live and yamring.
He'd actually had to engage the filters to make sure he only got stuff that he wanted or that was directed at him, making sure he cut out the social dia feeds after soone creatively spamd the "SURPRISE LEMUR PENIS!" to the entirety of XXXIV Corps.
His passives went off and Ret.lek turned his k at the waist to look around.
The XO's big 100 ton Giest wark was approaching, the movents slow and steady, fluid. Ret.lek could rember being jealous of the old salts being able to move like that, but now it ca natural to him and he'd see a couple of jealous looks from the boots.
The big k moved up and ca to a stop. After a minute the cockpit canopy popped open and Ret.lek could see the Terran sitting inside, a half-finished smokestick in his mouth. Ret.lek popped his canopy and waved.
"Hey, boss," Ret.lek called out.
"Wrecker," the XO said. He looked around. "Give it a minute, we got two guys joining us. One out of 19th Wark Division, the other out of 68th Wark Division."
Ret.lek frowned. "I don't rember those being part of Dirty-Thirty-Four," he said.
"They ain't," the XO said. He exhaled smoke and looked around. "One's out of XIXth Corps, Death Diners, the other's out of XLVII Corps, the Levellers," he put a fizzybrew between his legs, cracked it open and took a drink. "Good, solid n. Worked with them a lot over the centuries."
930 threw up a of so Terrans with long gray beards they had tied around their waists, bare chested, holding swords, looking at an old man with a shorter gray beard going "Anyone work with this kid before?"
Ret.lek just nodded.
"I'll tell you what's up when they get here," the XO said.
It took a few minutes before one of the weird, bobbing as it moved 30 ton Cobras ca moving up, the weird legs and hips making it move all herky-jerky. A few minutes after that one of the 70 ton Arrow Rain's ca up. They moved to the left and right, so that the group of four warks all faced each other.
The cockpits popped open and Ret.lek barely managed to keep from staring in shock. The other two kjawks were Terrans. One had olive skin, the others in between the XO and the other newcor.
"Chief Warrant Officer Three Etsitty, call sign Sledgehamr," said the one with the slightly copper colored skin. He had dark eyes, buzzcut black hair, and Ret.lek noted the high cheekbones and axe blade of a nose.
"Staff Sergeant Roshan, call sign Sprinter," the one in the Cobra said.
"That's PFC Ret.lek, call sign Wrecker," the XO said.
The other two looked over Ret.lek and his k.
"He reliable?" Sledgehamr asked.
The XO nodded. "Kid's fought Kaiju and worse during Black Cherry Buster. He's steady," he said. He dropped the smokestick end in the recycler next to him. "Good at heavy stealth, knows when to pull back, takes it about as serious as we did at his age."
Sledgehamr went "Whoop whoop whoop" and Sprinter gave a soft laugh, shaking his head and smiling.
"OK, read us in," Sprinter said.
The XO pointed out at the horizon to the west. "Thirty-two miles away the enemy is dug in. They're using the combination fusion/fission dampeners and the battlescreen is heavy enough to tank or deflect any orbital shot the navy boys can hand out. It's a major armored unit, k, and aerospace deploynt base."
Everyone just nodded.
"Three hours ago, NAVINT caught a flicker for a second. Not much, just enough to confirm it," the XO said. He suddenly changed the topic, pointing back east. "Now, we've been fighting Leshawkrek, but there's been so oddities. The Leshies usually stick to lasers and masers, not really using grasers, particle beam projectors, or any of the more esoteric systems."
He pointed south. "The Levellers have been engaged with what we realized was Hrethmalk Matriarchy Dominion troops, mainly Ushtevrektak and WelNwik troops."
He jerked a thumb up at the sky. "It's been giving NAVINT and MILINT fits trying to figure out what the hell all three of them are doing here. They all got their asses kicked about fifteen hundred years ago and haven't done much more than so light probing since."
Ret.lek grabbed a fizzystim and cracked it open, taking a long drink as the XO kept talking.
"The faint signal they got..." the XO said.
"Flashgate," Sledgehamr guessed.
The XO nodded. "Right in one."
"Flashgate?" Ret.lek asked, wiping his mouth.
"Ornislarp AKA Slapper movent system. It opens a two way gate that can cross hundreds of light years in a split second. Problem is, it has to stay open, but can't stay open for too long. The gates aren't too big either," Sprinter said. "Big enough to run a high speed maglev train through, which is their standard MO."
Ret.lek just nodded.
"Now we know why none of the equipnt is in the databases. Looks like the Slapper Noocracy managed to overwhelm the others and spent a lot of ti trying to reverse engineer Confed gear," the XO said. "It was the fusion/fission switchable dampener that gave it away, combined with the flashgates."
Again, the XO pointed to the west.
"With the dampener up, nothing can hit the battlescreens, and make no mistake, the Malk-Maids have so of the best shields just shy of Confed and the Dovians, with enough power to drop them for a followup shot," the XO said. He pulled out a smokestick and lit it. "That's where we all co in."
"We got clearance this ti or is this another one of your 'the MP's totally won't catch us..." ideas?" Sledgehamr asked.
"We got clearance," the XO said. "14th Army authorized to pull people. They suggested a reinforced battalion or a light brigade."
"But we're going in with four?" Sprinter asked. He gave a slight chuckle again. "Sure, why not?"
"That's the spirit," the XO said, giving a quick grin. "The four of us haven't been running hard, and any close up ks that have what I need have been in heavy engagent for the last two days."
"We going to sneak up on them?" Sledgehamr asked.
Ret.lek snorted.
"Actually ,we are," the XO said. "We're going to power down our fusion cores. We'll run off the zero-point reactor ergency power."
"Oof, Malk-Maids hate zero point. Screws up their targeting," Sledgehamr said.
"Right," the XO said. "We'll have to take so systems offline so our greenies aren't constantly trying to keep the fusion plant from restarting to et the power load," he pointed at the 30 ton Cobra. "You got the whole Black Hole special, so you can mask our emissions and run laser commo for us."
Sprinter nodded.
"Sledge, you'll do missile support, but you'll need to be inside the refraction do," the XO said.
Sledgehamr nodded.
"Wrecker, you're with . You've got unlocked lipstick rounds, so fab them up for gaton range if your peewees can squeeze it that hard," the XO said.
Ret.lek nodded.
"We're authorized to fire them through the flashgates? That shit might hit civvies on the other side," Sledgehamr said.
"Sucks to be them," Sprinter said.
"It's at out discretion. This new grouping has an industrial base of around three hundred systems, a combined population in the trillions, and has been historically aggressive," the XO shrugged. "They should be running their high-speed maglev line trick, which ans at least thirty miles of track before they hit the flashgates."
"Which ans, all we should hit is the flashgate generators and the flash terminal," Ret.lek nodded. "Gotcha."
"Now, rember, flashgates are open gates. They try to equalize pressure as well as allow atmospheric transfer," the XO said.
Everyone just nodded.
"Which ans, there will be a few tenths of a second that the atom smasher round is going to backwash us," the XO said. "That's why and Wrecker are going for the gate yard to put down the flashmobs."
"You could pass the templates to ," Sledgehamr said.
"You're going to fire through the gates, multiple volleys. It looks like their AMS is primary railgun, glass beads with an iron core on rapid fire, so you'll fire volleys through and we'll mix the lipstick round in with them," the XO said.
"Hm, makes sense," Sledgehamr said.
"NAVINT wants this site flattened, so full guns free," the XO said. "Extre prejudice and all that."
"Gonna be fun," Sprinter said.
Ret.lek finished his can of fizzybrew and dropped it in the recycler. "Ready."
-----
"Man, I hate the Slappers," Sledgehamr suddenly said over the comlink.
The four ks were standing still, over the horizon from the base, letting the nanoforges reclaim the unwanted ammo and fill up the ammo bins.
"Why?" Ret.lek said.
"They're big ass spiders. Ten spindly armored legs, hairy abdon and thorax, armored head, low to the ground, that weird pointed up knee thing, like twelve eyes in the front, big fucking pinchers and jawplates and gross writhing tentacles in their mouths," the Terran said. "Brrr, makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it."
"And they eat people," Sprinter put in.
"Yeah, and they eat people," Sledgehamr said. "They prefer mantid and Treana'ad though."
"And that weird slapping sound they make when they move in for the kill and those mouth tentacles all start writhing, like soone slapping two wet steaks together," Sprinter added.
"Brrr, don't remind . Man, my flesh is crawling," Sledgehamr said.
Ret.lek had to admit, it kind of made goosebumps prickle up in his fur.
"For , it's the Poppers. Friggin' uncanny valley, man," Sprinter said. "Bipeds, arms and legs too long, that weird head they got. Brrr."
"Poppers?" Ret.lek asked.
"WelNwik. Their heads are creepy. They got two eyes in the front, nothing else. Head like a cone with the pointy-end cut off, that's where their mouth is," Sprinter made another shivering sound. "It's like a slit that they use to vomit up stomach acid, then slurp it up with the three tubes in their mouth. They also got three eyes on the back of their head. They're big lizards, can run on all four and they've got this weird thing on their back."
"Heat sensors," the XO said. "The triangular plate lifts up, pulls up three senstive tissues, lets them see infrared about three hundred ters. It's on their lower back, gives them a three-sixty view."
"Saw one eating one ti. They'd hit a colony world and I got sent in to help with cleanup. They get down on all fours, lift that head sensor, then puke up white acid and slurp up the lted tissue," Sprinter said. "Ew. They give the creeps."
"Thought they were the universe's premiere predator," the XO said.
"Right until they ran into us, right Warboss?" Sledgehamr said.
The XO chuckled. "They always do."
Ret.lek just filed away the information.
A drone floated back and docked with the 30 ton Cobra.
"OK, got the battlescreen frequencies. Looks like they're using their tower with energy pullers to create the do. I can spoof us a hole big enough for us to get through," Sprinter said. "Combined with the optical camo and the fact we'll be running only zero-point, they shouldn't see us."
"This'll work," The XO said. He cursed. "Hang on, NAVINT keeps pinging for an update."
903 threw up an image of an angry looking, muscular Terran yelling "WE'LL GET THERE WHEN WE GET THERE!"
It was silent for a bit.
"OK, everyone loaded?" the XO asked.
Ret.lek checked his boards. He was at 1.5% heat, 2% slush.
"Alright, kill your fusion, bring up your zero-point," the XO said.
"Roger that, Warboss," Sprinter said.
Ret.lek followed the direction. Heavy energy weapons offline. Laser AMS and point defense offline. Sensor systems powered down.
"We'll do it with the old Mark One eyeball," the XO said. "Use optical and IR for your warheads. One thing all four species have in common is they see in the IR range, so they use IR emitters for their transponder ID's."
"Point and shoot, baby," Sledgehamr said.
"Let's move out," the XO said. "I'll take point. Wrecker, you're on Sprinter's left. Sledge, you're on his right. Slow and steady, lets not break his optical camo field."
When Ret.lek got in close the worlds shimred a bit. Normally, his systems would compensate, but the majority were offline.
The chs moved forward, taking nearly three hours to get close.
When the site ca into view, it was only a hemisphere of rippling energy. Even as Ret.lek got closer, her couldn't see any details inside.
They stopped only a few ters from the battlescreen.
"All right. Matching harmonics. Matching frequency. Countering... three," Sprinter said.
Ret.lek tensed, leaning forward slightly.
"Two..."
Ret.lek balled his fists and his k copied him.
"One..."
Ret.lek inhaled and held it.
A forty-ter high semi-circle of the battlescreen vanished.
Ret.lek could see dozens, hundreds of armored vehicles in lines, with more moving toward the formations. Rank upon rank of strange beings all drawn up. He saw a gate wink into existence, a high speed maglev train shoot through in the five seconds it was open, the gate closing like double-doors being pulled together. The train had two dozen cars, all with warks strapped to them. He saw another train co in with what looked like so kind of aerospace fighter on the dozen flatbed cars.
"GO GO GO!" The XO said.
Ret.lek ran forward, his passive targeting system beeping as it struggled to keep up with the amount of targets, but he ignored it, leveling the autocannon at what looked like huge fuel tanks.
The burst of API-FOOF core slamd into the tanks and the explosion rocked his k as he crossed in.
Missiles fired by the defense corkscrewed into the ground or veered off to slam against the inside of the suddenly intact battlescreen do and Ret.lek knew Sprinter's ECM and ECCM was running and up to task.
Ret.lek felt a little naked without his AMS and point-defense systems online.
Sledgehamr's missile storm roared out, four 25-pack long range hypersonic missile launchers roaring as the graviton launch systems threw out the whole loadout. The hatches snapped closed and Ret.lek heard Sledgehamr call out "RELOADING" over the com.
The whole quad-volley was aid directly at the battlescreen broadcasting tower.
Ret.lek was busy moving forward, using his rotary autocannon as fast as he could reload it. He was down to pulse lasers, the neon red laser beams snapping out to strike at sat-dishes, fuel tanks that looked good within range.
The enemy was moving the mag-lev trains off the main tracks. Ret.lek counted thirty set of mag-lev tracks and quickly highlighted all of them and locked in the images for his missiles optical guidance systems.
"Get ready, Wrecker," the XO said.
Ret.lek just nodded, keeping his eyes on where the flashgates would open up. He'd see a heat distortion for less than a second, that would be his only warning to fire. If he waited till the flashgate opened, even his hypersonic missiles might not get through before the gate closed again. That would an the under-strength lance would take multiple-gaton atomics to the face.
"NOW!" the XO called out before Ret.lek could even see a ripple.
He stomped the firing pedal and the two fifteen packs howled as they launched the hypersonic missiles at max starting velocity toward the flashgate fields.
All four ks took a knee, the Cobra squatting down and leaning the oval shaped head toward the gate field. Battlescreens snapped on, the dedicated zero-point reactors hissing at the sudden load making their temperatures spike.
Now he could see the ripple as the missiles spread out, the sonic boom rattling his teeth as all fifteen went hypersonic less than fifty ters from his k. They crossed the four miles at nearly 6 miles a second.
The flashgates opened and his missiles sliced through, hitting the mag-lev trains that were hurtling for the open flashgates.
All thirty flashgates suddenly turned into wide rectangles made of white light.
Explosive force roared through, backwashing for almost a half second before the flashgates collapsed when the chanisms went down. Buildings shattered, armored vehicles were picked up and thrown. The blast wave roared out, 20 psi for nearly a kiloter, spreading out in a fan-shape from the flashgate.
At the four miles distance, the ks' battlescreens snarled and hissed, absorbing the radiation. The thermal pulse got through and Ret.lek felt sweat suddenly bead up on his skin even as his cooling vest felt a little snugger as the k pumped the coolant faster to wick away the heat. The blast wave hit, the ks shuddering.
Then it was past.
"ON YOUR FEET!" the XO roared out.
Ret.lek pushed up from his stance of being down on one knee with one fist pressed against the ground.
"GO FULL CAP!" the XO called out.
Ret.lek hit the igniter and his fusion power plant surged to life. His battlescreen thickened up, his sensors went live, and his full firepower ca back.
"IT'S STOMPIN' TI! WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!" Sprinter called out, jumping on one of the tanks and crushing it beneath his armored foot. He jumped from that one to the next, the reversed knee bird-like legs of his k letting him hop from tank to tank.
Sledgehamr's ch was vomiting out missile volley after missile volley, still back by where the enemy battlescreen had been and was now gone.
Ret.lek waded in, firing his weapons, but staggering them to keep his heat down. His slush was already rising, but still below 20%, and his heat was only at 12%.
Best job I ever had, he thought.
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