(Fallon)

We spent the time to alcubierre transition doing maintenance, Training, and the kind of recreational pursuits common among those about to go into to battle. During the days we are at the firing range, in the shipboard gyms, or in our unit briefing rooms. In the evenings were in the mess hall, the NCO club, and the makeshift gambling parlor some of the Grease monkeys have set up clandestinely in a quiet corner of the storage hanger. I feel bad for Trombley.

Joining a unit means being the new guy all over again. And having to earn everyone's respect. He only has a few days to get to know the troops that will soon rely on him in battle. I suppose some people would keep their distance knowing that five days aren't enough to really bond with anyone. And that some of them most likely won't come back from that mission anyway.

He doesn't keep to himself because he wants to know as much as he can about people whose asses he might have to save, or who may have to save mine. Still, he drinks and jokes around with us and I know that when the time comes he will suit up with us and drop into battle alongside us. We will all do so terrified but on our own free will and maybe even with a measure of gladness.

"Combat stations, Combat stations. All hands Combat stations this is not a drill. I repeat..." I'm already suited up and fully armed.

I stand on the bottom step of SD's Cockpit and the announcement holds no added urgency to me. Or to the rest of the Battalion lined up on the hanger deck. We have been gearing up for our drop for the last two hours and we are ready for combat. In front of us in hangar B-1 Flight deck of techs swarm all over the drop ships lined up to ferry us into battle. Moving safety caps from ordnance fuses and auto cannon muzzles.

I check my kit for the thirtieth time Armor integrity, weapons status, Comm gear function, Oxygen levels, filter condition. The flight decks are cavernous halls that take up the entire bottom half of the ship almost from bow to stern. And they are packed end to end with drop ships and troops. Each drop ship can fairy a platoon and we are dropping with a full regiment today, one hundred dropships are revving up their engines throughout the ship.

The most I have ever seen parked wingtip to wingtip in one spot. As scary as it is to be part of an operation that actually requires the deployment of this much brute force. It's also sort of exhilarating im a cog in a machine but on days like this. I'm reminded of just how large and powerful that machine is.

"Your President, is watching! The UEC, is Watching! The Commonwealth, is watching! The World, is watching! Make no mistake! There will be no Heroics. THERE. WILL. BE. NO. FUCK. UPS! MARINES FROM ALL AROUND HUMAN SPACE WOULD GIVE UP ANY PUSSY, TO BE WHERE YOU ARE! ANYBODY NOT WANT TO GO!?" Sergeant Major Andor walks down the line of battle ready SI troopers patting the polymer shell of his M66 for emphasis.

"NO SERGEANT MAJOR!"

"I WANT YOU TO REMBER THAT NOBODY EVER WON A WAR! BY DIEING FOR HIS COUNTRY. WERE NOT JUST GOING TO SHOOT THE FUCKS WERE GOING TO CUT OUT THEIR LIVING GUTS, AND USE THEM TO GREASE THE TREADS OF OUR TANKS! WERE GOING TO MURDER THOSE SLAVING BASTERDS BY THE BUSHEL. MARINES! KILL ON THREE! ONE...TWO...THREE!"

"KIIIIIIIIILL!"

"BAAAATTAAAALIOON, BAAAATTAAALIOON. ATTEEEEEEEEN-TION!" We snap to attention as one, the sound of our boots echoing loudly in the hall.

"DISMISSED!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIGHCoVzqtk

Ninth company is in the first attack wave and is tasked with pinning down and destroying the garrison company. That is entrenched in the third largest settlement on Bagmare. Ninth company is the sharp point of the spear so we are going in first. That's why they get one of the fleets few Combat controllers, and two of the thirty ATLAS's along for the drop. The grunts carry, rifles rocket launchers, and anti-armor missiles. We combat controllers carry radios and integrated taclink computers that can practically remote control Shrike attack birds and orbital ordnance. On the hole the grunts are about as protective of their embedded combat controllers as they are of their medics.

The bottom of our drop ship opens with a soft hydraulic whine and the ship's crew chief steps out onto the ramp. He uses both arms like signal sticks for taxiing aircraft and waves us into the cargo hold of the waiting ship. I wait for Miiora to step onto the Dropship in her new Hardshell armor before entering SDs cockpit.

"Saber one-one on the move." I report before attaching the A-001 to the Ikarus pylons and stepping forward. The drop ship opens its bottom and the internal docking clamps attach to SD's chassis and lifts us into the cargo hold. I look out of the Viewscreen and see that Miiora is sitting in front of the eye between Forbes and Trombely.

The armor she is wearing looks almost exactly the same as ours only with different heating elements, the boots are different to allow for her clawed feet, her tail is also encased sections of armor, and her helmet is elongated to allow for her snout and has very slightly larger sensor bulbs at the back to allow for her horns. At this point everyone's helmet visors are lowered in case the ship suffers a sudden hull breach. With the polarized filters of the visors our faces are invisible to the others, nobody has to pretend not to be nervous.

When I drop out of a ship in a bio-pod I shut down my sensor input and go completely dark until I hit atmo. on drop ship ingress, I do the opposite, as our ship gets picked up by the docking clamps to be lowered into the drop bay I turn on my tactical network computer and tap into the Annihilators Taclink.

By the time we have settled in the bay to wait for the drop signal my three-dimensional display shows me exactly what the main tactical plot in CIC is projecting. A warships battle plot looks like a tapestry of abstract symbols and vector lines to the uninitiated. But I have worked with tactical plots for so long that I can interpret the data while half asleep, or fully drunk. It's a completely alien way to see the world but once you know how to read it you become almost omniscient.

When I bring up the main tactical plot on my helmet display the attack is already under way. We are half million kilometers Bagmare and the distance to the planet is shrinking rapidly Annihilator and her task force rush into drop position at top speed. In front of our force the display shows only two enemy fleet units. One moving out way in an intercept trajectory the other moving in the opposite direction. The Transponder we captured when we boarded the UEC ship Dragons Breath shows that the ship is a Zebra supply ship and it is currently is running for their alcubierre shoot. And the dominance Destroyer is going on the offensive to cover the retreat. It's a valiant move but one griffin destroyer fighting it out with our strikeforce is merely a noble form of suicide.

My fellow dropship passengers are unaware of the short and sharp clash of arms that is about to commence. Their world is limited to the windowless hull into which we are neatly packed like meal trays in a box of rations. When the Destroyer meets the outer edge of our antiship weapons envelope our own destroyer the NACS Alaska begins firing her missiles.

I see first eight then sixteen then thirty-two blue missile icons emerging from the Alaska and rushing toward the enemy ship. one or two of them would be enough to put the destroyer out of commission. But the UEC have pretty good point defense systems on their ships as well as shields. So fleet doctrine now says to saturate their defenses with the first strike. It's a costly way of doing business but even three dozen antiship missiles are a good trade for a Dominance Destroyer.

====================================

"Vampony, Vampony incoming Missiles."

"Engage countermeasures and Deploy shields. Launch missiles."

=============================================

(Fallon)

The UEC don't intend to roll over without putting up a fight, when our missiles have covered half the distance to the lone UEC ship a swarm of Missile symbols emerge from the enemy unit. Crimson V's to meet our blue ones, they fan out from the Broken tooth to meet our incoming barrage. then the Broken Tooth fires her own antiship missiles her commander determined to make sure he won't show up in hell alone today. Our two linebacker ships take up the challenge and begin launching and start pumping interceptor missiles into the intervening space. Until the Tactical display is littered with Red and Blue V symbols rushing to annihilate each other.

The outcome of the battle is never in doubt there are two or three blue missile symbols for every red one and the UEC destroyer has emptied her magazines while our linebackers are just getting warmed up. One by one the red missile icons on the plot converge with blue ones and disappear along with them until there are only blue V shapes left. The Broken Tooth dies silently and without drama on the sterile plot display. Ten or twelve of our cruisers antiship missiles converge on the red "Enemy Hostile" icon and snuff it out of existence. Just like that, we have turned thirty thousand tons of starship and three hundred people into a cloud of orbital debris.

"The UEC Destroyer just bit the dust" I inform the platoon in my dropship. There is whooping and hollering as if they have just heard the score of a sports event and their favorite team is in the lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpIpPXaF8So

With the cruiser out of the way, the Strike force moves in to begin the ground bombardment. Bagmare is a small planet but it's still two-thirds the size of earth. And even with all the ordnance, we brought along on twelve warships we wouldn't be able to subdue the entire planet from orbit. Unless we used a hole mess of hundred megaton metroplex busters. Since we want to seize the place not turn it into a radioactive wasteland, we need to apply our firepower more judiciously. The size of the planet works against the defenders as well. They can't put a missile battery on every square kilometer of ground down there. And our Indie ships and Recon drones have had seventeen days to map out the defensive grid on the surface.

The second stage of the assault commences as we coast into orbit above our landing zones. All the ships in the strike force begin unloading their space to ground missile silos to hit the hundreds of priority targets identified by the CIGENT drones. All we can hear in the drop ship is the muffled roar of the igniting missile mortars in their silos well above our heads, or back in my case as the Annihilator discourages her Land attack ordnance.

After a few minutes, the tac display looks like an air commander's worst nightmare. Swarms of missiles that streak into the atmosphere at thirty times the speed of sound, and then multiply their number twenty fold when the missiles open slots and launch their independent warheads. All those MERVS carry halftone conventional explosives or high-density bunker busters instead of nuclear payloads. But with the sheer number of warheads raining down into Bagmare’s atmosphere I imagine this will be a small consolation to the troops we are targeting.

Then an early silence falls over the ship and i know it is our turn to be launched at the enemy. I don't see the drop hatch opening beneath the ship but i know the little jolt as the docking clamp drops us the last few meters into launch position. All along the bottom of the hull four dozen drop hatches have just opened. Leaving nothing between our bodies and open space but the armored bottom hulls of our battle taxes. I hear the Dropship pilot begin counting down in a monotone and deliberate tone.

"Stand by ten seconds. . . . Stand by to initiate relief sequence. On my mark, 10. . . . 9. . . 8. . ."

"ONE EXPRESS ELEVATOR TO HELL! COMING DOWN!"

"3 . . . 2 . . . 1, mark." And with a violent shake, the forty ATLAS company are falling through towards the planet.

Half of the infantry units are dropped alongside us as well as two wings of shrikes. And the rest along with our armor is deployed forty seconds after. There's complete silence and weightlessness before we slam into the atmosphere and are buffeted by the winds. And instantly know something is up there is a rain storm below us.

I link to the external cameras of the dropship and see a Blackfly ahead of us open its rear hatch as it descends ahead of the assault. They are the Hell Divers elite advanced recon, the first microns of the first molecules on the tip of the spear but the life expectancy of a Helldiver is nine missions. I zoom in and see ten men in HEBA suits the color of old blood with small backpacks leap out of the dropship and descend into the distance. before twenty red lights and trails of smoke ignite ahead of us. The crazy bastards are going to guide us in.

"This is Blood one, incoming, move to 36. 92. Lima, 43." a calm voice comes over the radio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knzhpu12wmg

The ships move to avoid the incoming and I see it burst up through a storm cloud. It looks like some kind violet mirror the size of a car coming at us. Bravo 2 the last dropship in the first wave fails to adjust in time do to engine failure and the shot Tears the drop ship to pieces as the Violet pulse of energy continues into the sky. The thing makes it to within five meters of the first dropships of the second waved dropships who are just now entering the atmosphere.

Then there is a blinding flash of light and a shock wave that rattles the drop ships. when I look again I see that the first half of the second waves dropships have been vaporized, and to my horror, to their velocity, most of the others slam into a rapidly expanding sheet of purple and explode. Some of the shrikes that were with them Goose their engines and jink through the expanding energy field. Then we are cut off from the fleet as the shield expands over the horizon.

==========================================================

(NAC Fleet)

“Sir computer shows ninety percent loss of second wave.”

“Damn it.”

“Sir ships popping up on the tactical Plot.”

“How many?”

“Ten Cruiser class and twenty Destroyer class UEC ships. And one ship about the size of one of our hammerhead cruisers.”

“Show me.” a Video screen, One of the viewscreen change to show a close up of a streamlined UEC ship that was turning to show its port side. On the port side is a kind of lens that stems from the top to the bottom of the hull. On the side of the ship near the bow was what looked like two overlapping six-sided stars surrounded by five more six-sided stars. All across the enemy formation shields flare to life. What looks like Violet and Golden streams of smoke begin to stream into the center of the lens. Beside the Annihilator a siege breaker Launches its fighters and swings about.

“This is the Stomper we are engaging the enemy.” one of the siege breakers says over the comms, it Lumbers forward lightning crackling between the heatsinks as it charges its main gun. The Stompers escort of two heavy cruisers begin discharging volleys of antiship missiles. Fourty, eighty, one hundred, one-twenty blue missile icons appear on the plot and keep appearing as they streak toward the UEC ship. Then the Streams of glowing dust condense in the center of the lens and glow.

“This is Stomper Actual. Firing for effect.” In a Flash the Projectile fired by the ship slammed into the UEC ship’s shield. For a moment there is a small localized sun in the star system. But to our amazement, it visibly warps like someone throwing a rock into a still puddle. That ship just shrugged off an attack that would turn a lankie siege ship to scrap. The stomper and her escort begin launching nukes at the ship only for the missiles to be trapped in purple, cobalt, and gold spheres containing the explosions. Then in a flash of color, a massive spiraling beam of purple and gold reaches out and touches the advancing three ships.

The Stomper Fires its retros in an attempt to sidestep the oncoming attack It is however, unable to do so and takes the attack straight down the centerline.The two heavy cruisers acting as her escort are caught in the resulting explosion and are destroyed. Behind the Stomper the Manitoba was able to fire her retros and slightly avoid the attack which by now has died down.The attack splashes into starboard section and boils away parts of the hull. And just like that thirty billion tones of starships and ten thousand soldiers and sailors are now finely dispersed organic matter around Bagmare.

“My god.”

“Siege breaker Stomper has been Destroyed sir, all hands lost.”

“All ships this is Annihilator actual, Engage.”

Author's Notes:

Here we go people. Are you as exited for this as i am?