(UEC)

"What are they doing?"

"I don't know and I don't care. Press the attack!" A Changeling says from his command chair slamming his fist into the armrest. All around them these human's ships are fleeing the human fighters streaming back to the Fat Manitoba. The Behemoth and her escort slowly lumbering towards deep space on a parallel heading away from the planet, but not before firing a shot and disintegrating a Gryphon destroyer in its way.

"This is our chance, target the behemoth." Commander Polar orders over the fleet radio.

"Hive mind complies. Fire tubes twelve through twenty-two."

"Firing."

Threw the window the captain watches ten missiles streak through space joining others launched by the remainder of the UEC fleet. Then to their shock they watch as one of the human ships move into the way to shield the Behemoth. The damaged ships countermeasures are quickly overwhelmed and the ship diapers in a brilliant explosion.

"Behemoth is out of fleet weapons range." the tactical officer reports.

"SIR radiation bursts!"

"What?"

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

(Space)

"Sir the Lankies have gone for turnaround burn."

"This is our chance, Manitoba actual authorizing nuclear fire mission. Lankie ships are designated Ugly one through four. Available ships lock onto Ugly one and fire." Captain Packers Orders.

All across the tactical plot all NAC ships currently in weapons range and disengaged from the UEC begin Firing their nukes at the lead Lankie ship. The inverted blue V's of friendly missile icons fill the tactical plot as Nukes leap from the launch tubes of the Manitoba, Leathy, Acheron, and Saber. Eight, twelve, twenty-three, thirty-six multi megaton missiles streak into deep space toward their target. The Lankies don’t even deploy countermeasures as enough nukes to turn a moon to slag streak toward their three mile long siege ships. Then in a brilliant flash the Trappist-A star system has a second sun however briefly as one hundred twenty megatons detonate fifty million miles from Camelot.

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

(UEC)

"Dear Celestia..." Commander Polar says as windows all around the fleet facing the explosion immediately dim to protect the vision of those on the bridge.

"Those were Nuclear."

"They must not have wanted to use them against us to not irradiate the planet, but if they are using them now..." The comm officer reports

"SIR! Contacts, they just popped up on the plot, if it wasn't for the glare of the detonation we wouldn't have seen them." the Sensor operator says from her station mild panic in her voice.

"How many?" Polar asks shaking himself from his stopper and trying to understand what the humans are up to.

"Four sir. Decelerating towards the planet, they appear to be unaffected by the humans attack."

"Thats impossible that was enough to turn this entire fleet to..."

"Sir, the Human Behemoth is moving."

https://youtu.be/HAYPkVeWjXM?t=1m46s (Open in new tab)

"Visual on the Incoming... look at the size of those things!" All around the UEC fleet the crews of the ship’s watch as four ships so big that they dwarf the largest of the Humans, comes into sensor range. Shouts of alarm, rage, and excitement fill the channels as the human Behemoth moves to point itself at the incoming ships.

The front of the human ship begins to glow spanning the different colors of the heat spectrum as three ribbed vents slowly open near the tip of the barrel like the gills of a fish. Arks of electricity began to dance along the hull before condensing and focusing on the three obvious heat sinks as they too begin to glow ominously. Then there is an explosion at the end of the huge ship like a nuclear detonation in miniature, there is another blinding flash of light even brighter than the nukes the humans had fired.

"Sir one of the Unknown ships has been completely vaporized."

"What How?"

"I don't know sir. But the computers detected a ninety metric ton projectile leave the barrel before they overloaded we could tell it was moving at relativistic speed."

(Stop music)

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

(Fallon)

"What was?"

"Miiora, shut up and move!" I yell as I push the reptile forward. We round a corner and come face to face with a squad of UEC soldiers in an intersection currently in a firefight with first squad. I Raise my weapon only for the entire squad to be ripped to shreds by the combined firepower of two squads with NAC weaponry.

"Fallon. What the hell are those!?" The LT asks seeing the three aliens with Forbes and I.

"Didn't you hear there is a rebellion!" I laugh out as the ship rocks as a missile slams into the shields and the lights go out.

"Well I’ll be dipped in shit. Can they speak?" the LT asks.

"Yes human." The Kleese named Durge says clearly perturbed about being talked about like he isn't here.

"Well I’ll be. You three just became the most important parts of the mission. Come on, third squad is just up ahead."

We rush through the passageways of the Alien ship torching or gunning down any UEC squad too brave or stupid to get out of our way. When we find Third squad I immediately know there's a problem, their icons are flashing. Our squads rounds a corner to some kind of atrium. Then I see something in the distance near where the entrance to the hanger as the booming reports of heavy gun fire reaches my ears.

"Incoming!" I shout and dodge to the right were a passageway offers some cover. My helmet display flashes as the computer updates threat vectors and enemy positions on the tactical plot.

The Tracers reaching out from the balcony look like laser beams in the darkness, the fake red beams of old science fiction movies not the invisible high energy pulses of Real laser weapons. The first burst rains down in front of our squad skipping red hot tracers off the deck, in front of me the squad rushes for cover. but there's precious little to be found in this atrium and nothing that will stop a heavy machine gun round. The LT and two SI grunts drop to one knee sight their rifles and fire back at the source of the incoming rounds. The heavy machine gun stops firing for a moment and then opens up again. This time the burst is right on target I watch in horror as the stream of tracers reaches out and touches Lavoy who falls backwards, his Mars launcher clatters on the ground in front of me. As I snatch it up, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and turn to see the edge of a rifle barrel poking over the edge of a balcony to our rear. There's movement on that balcony People shuffling into position and my guts contract as I realize the UEC Defenders aren't that dumb after all, it's an ambush but we ambled right into it.

The heavy machine gun opens up again, the gunner has good fire discipline, he fires his weapon in short bursts whoever's working that weapon isn't new to the task. Miiora pushes me into a doorway to my left and then falls on top of me just as the new flight of tracers from the machine gun racks the deck in front of us. I bump into an interior window the impact of my armor clad bulk rattles its pains, the mars launcher slides off my back and I land on top of it. We scramble away from the hallway as the tracer rounds land just a few feet to our right, one of the tracers hits the corner of the doorway and knocks off chunks of bulkhead. which rains down on us in bits and pieces, I look up and do my best to shield her with my bulk as I feel an impact like someone hitting me in the back with a sledgehammer. I turn around and put three round burst into a UEC trooper. On the tactical screen i see two more of our squad icons flash brightly with the red icon that shouts Medic Needed, our squad medic Mery is one of the medical emergencies. The rest of the squad is moving forward towards the mouth of the nearest passageway but the machine gunner has our little group dialed in now, the next burst drops another one of my squad mates but I can't tell which one. Miiora is back up on her clawed feet and her tail slaps the deck as she exchanges fire with a UEC trooper out of sight.

"Avery Fallon open the door." she says conversationally nodding to indicate entrance door to my left.

I don't have any buckshot grenades left and using a HE grenade would mean stepping out into the atrium to avoid getting caught by the blast of the explosion. I switch my rifle to manual fire set the selector to continuous burst and aim at the center of the door as I pull the trigger. The muzzle flash illuminates the doorway as my rifle burps out the contents of its magazine at two thousand rounds per minute, thirty-three needle pointed high density tungsten flechettes per second. The storm of flechettes chews into the door with ease and after two or three seconds the entire upper panel of the door disintegrates in a shower of plastic shards. I shoulder the door open grab Miiora by around the waist, pick her up and pull her into the doorway out of the line of fire. I guess she ways close to one hundred ninety pounds with the bits of scavenged armor and gear but I’m so pumped on adrenalin that a yank her into the dark room without even letting go of my rifle with the other hand.

"You ok?" I asked and she only groaned in response.

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

(Space)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi5EiCgQKuw

"This is Leathy Actual. Splash one."

"Sir the Lankies will overtake us before we can fire another shot."

"Prepare Atmospheric..."

"Lankie ships in weapons range!"

"Vampire, Vampire, Incoming missiles from the UEC fleet."

"Countermeasures! BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!" The skipper of the Leathy yells over the intercom grasping a railing as the two icons on the tactical plot marking the Leathy and Ugly 2 overlap. Then Nothing happens, no instant death, no hard vacuum nothing.

"Sir two of the UEC ships are heading straight for us!" the Tactical officer yells confused

"Sir the Lankies blew right past us!"

"Fuck they're going straight for the planet."

"No sir they took the hit. Lankie siege ships moving into support formation.!?" On the tactical plot the three remaining Lankie Siege ships move into positions around the now thoroughly confused NAC fleet.

"UEC ships engaging Ugly 2. Sir we have lost the Wolf, and Pollocks."

The two UEC Destroyers with scale like markings and dragons painted on them move towards Ugly 2 at full burn, who responds in kind. All across the hull of The siege ship holes dilate and yard long penetrators shotgun out of the Lankie and towards the UEC Destroyers. The shields of the two ships flair for a second before stabilizing after taking a hit that would turn a NAC ship into scrap. The Lankies fire again getting the same result before one of the UEC destroyers is close enough to use its energy weapon which slices threw the hide of the Siege ship with ease, but the sheer size of the ship negates some of the damage.

"Damn,........ Fuck, I know I'm gonna get a court martial for this. This is Manitoba actual to all retreating NAC ships, come about to point one eight zero, Reengage the UEC fleet. Execute."

"Sir?" the captain of the Leathy asks over the comm.

"Desperate times."

"Never thought I'd see the day. Leathy actual out."

"This is Leathy actual to Acheron move to Ugly 2, covered pincer maneuver, follow 3 second delay. Execute"

===============================================================================
(UEC)

"Now this is a fight!" the Dragon elder in the bridge yells getting a rawr of approval from the other dragons in the bridge.

"Rake them again!" Finally the humans were proving a good fight until they decided to run away but these new creature, their ships are tough outrageously so and big. Another Lance of Energy traces the hull of the massive ship before a tactical officer turns in his seat.

"Sir Human behemoth is coming around from three o'clock high."

"So the humans have a spine after all. Bring us about charge Rake and missiles." The Dragon elder grins

"Sir! Human ship coming around from seven o'clock low!" The other tactical officer shouted.

"Outsmarted by humans, I never thought I see the day." The elder says sitting down in his chair resigned to his fate. As the shields of the Brimstone are shredded and the ship is torn apart by the combined rail gun fire of the Leathy and Acheron, and the Lankies finish it off with another salvo of penetrators. Meanwhile the second dragon ship doesn't even get the satisfaction of the same death as its comrade. Instead it is nearly smashed and smeared against the hull of the Siege ship that is Ugly 3, not even scratching the carapace of the ship or slowing it down.

(Stop music)

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

(Fallon)

The magazine in my rifle is nearly empty again and I eject it and slap in a new one from the stash tucked into the side pocket of my leg armor then I hand the rifle to Miiora.

"Take this one for a minute." I step back out of the doorway and pick up the Mars launcher Out in the Atrium I hear the hammering of the heavy machine gun again.

My tactical screen shows nothing but blinking carrots flashing in alternate shades of blue and red, medical emergencies. Across the hall there are a few heads poking over the edge of a balcony I hold the launcher with my left and pull the pistol I had stuffed into my hairs back in the drop ship. The side arm feels odd and unfamiliar in my hand I've only ever fired one back in basic during small arms familiarization. The computer in my armor immediately recognizes the weapon switches aiming modes and displays the remaining ammo count at the bottom of my screen. The pistol only holds twenty five rounds a tenth of a rifle's magazine capacity, but at close range it beats fighting with bare hands. I draw a bead on one of the heads on the balcony and squeeze the trigger, the pistol barks its sharp report and the head underneath my aiming reticle disappears suddenly.

There are shouts on the balcony and another head pops up this one behind the barrel of a rifle, I briefly register that the weapon aimed at me looks a lot like an older military issue M66. I squeeze off three more rounds in rapid cadence and the rifleman on the roof disappears his weapon falls off the balcony to the deck below where it lands with a hollow clatter. For the moment there are no more heads coming up on that roof. I stuff the pistol back into the harness and shoulder the Mars, the machine gunner on the balcony has switched to very short bursts two or three shots at a time undoubtedly to preserve ammo while making us keep our heads down. My tacklink display shows my M66 moving farther into the room to my left and rest of the squad huddled in a side passage thirty yards ahead more than half their number are out of the fight, according to the symbols on my screen.

The operation of a mars Launcher is dead symbol we've drilled the deployment of the mars a dozen times and for some odd reason I hear Sargent Grayson's voice in its unforgettable drill instructor twang, as my fingers perform the necessary steps to ready the launcher for action. I point the center of the reticle at the muzzle flashes and pull the trigger the rocket leaps out of its launch canister with shocking speed. The tail end of the rocket glows with the heat of its internal booster and the whole thing shoots off into the distance only a little slower than a tracer round. I expect the rocket to leisurely rise skyward like the Surisas back at the embassy a few months ago, but the mars streaks down range in a blink covering the distance in just a few seconds. My aim was a bit off as the rocket hit the balcony two floors below the machine gun that is still spitting tracers our way. There's a bright flash that cuts through the red tinged darkness as the thunderclap of the explosion rolls across the atrium. When I saw Lavoy grab the launcher back in the dropship he took a high explosive and a thermobaric out of the rack and loaded one of them into the launcher to be less encumbered the one he loaded was the thermobaric missile.

The Mars Launcher fires ninety millimeter rockets, It's designed to take out enemy fortifications and reinforced structure an Atrium balcony is a very light structure, it's a steal skeleton with thin plastic sheets for partitions. The missile hit twenty feet below the balcony with the heavy machine gun, but the bunker buster warhead is rather forgiving of aiming errors. The entire wall between us and the hanger blows outward turned into debris from the pressure. All around us shooting the ebbs as the smoke clears and the distinct whine of a drop ships engine fills the air. Then through the hole I made we see banshee two-five's bulk hovering in the air.

"Thank you for the hole sergeant Fallon." I hear over the Drop ships intercom.

I know what's coming next and sprint back into the room and dive on top of Miiora and pin her down with my armored bulk. There is a cacophony of noises as the Dragonfly opens up with its anti ground weapons, the zipper sound of its multi-barreled machine gun and the slow authoritative "pom pom pom" of the auto cannon on its belly. After three seconds in the seventh circle of hell what's left of the atrium falls quiet. I move out into the hallway holding Miiora by the hand keeping my weapon raised. I see the two Kleese are still alive along with Forbes, LT, and five other men. They nod at me as the four men we left behind to defend the drop ship run over and begin dragging bodies to the Drop ship.

"How the hell are we going to get out of here in a drop ship?"

"Banshee this is Carson actual We are inbound for extraction."

"Come again Carson actual did you say Extraction?"

"That's a positive we have an opening right now the Fleet and the Lankies are holding off the UEC ships but we need to get you out of there before the lankies get to this ship first."

"Come again Carson actual, It sounded like you said the Fleet is helping the Lankies?"

"Thats right the big uglys must have it out for new species."

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

(Miiora)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgKMF6btVFU

"LT there is no way we can get the Kleese into the drop ship with the bodies. No disrespect but you just won't fit." One of the SI corporals says and I notice that he the LT and the rest of his four man group are injured the only ones who aren't are Forbes and the two kleese. My heart's still racing from the short but very violent ending firefight, on top of that my snout and chest have a dull ache from having what must be over two hundred pounds of armored human dive on top of me.

"None taken human." Poggel says gingerly handing a fallen marine to one of the uninjured TA troopers.

"I’ll take them to the Carson." The human Avery Fallon says getting a nod from the "LT".

"Do it, Forbes go with him." the two humans nod at one another before gesturing for us to follow them.

We run through passageways and pass windows out of which I see the three biggest ships I have ever seen in my life, big oblong shaped Goliath with scars from energy rakes across their hull. fighting alongside comparatively minuscule human ships working together to blow away UEC ships that stray to close. All across the UEC Fleet hundreds of Shuttles are launching from their ships and heading down to the planet, Thousands of UEC soldiers and no doubt hundreds of UEC vehicles and fighters. The planet will be impregnable once the forces land and I doubt the humans will be able to take it back even with the aid of their allies. Their is a thunderous clang from the air lock up ahead as we see a squad of UEC soldiers approach only to be ripped to pieces when the hatch opens and two humans in the insectoid armor step out.

"Your drop ship is aboard the Defiant! GO, GO,GO!" one of them yells gesturing the five of us inside of the airlock and once we are inside the two follow us inside and immediately close the hatch behind.

"They're aboard Detach!" I look around for a window once on the other side and I’m surprised to see not a single window.

Avery Fallon must have seen my quick survey and pulls out a some kind of data pad and holds it up for us all to see. It must be an external camera feet but the ship we are in is quickly accelerating away from the Dragons breath as it's shields are overloaded and point defenses are overwhelmed. Then suddenly two missiles slam into the ship resulting in two bright flashes of light, one detonating against the hull and the other flying inside of and detonating inside of the hanger destroying the ship from the inside out. I notice that the human ships lack the sound synthesisers inside their ships and so the ship dies silently in the cold vacuum of space.

"Damn we're using the nukes on'em the gloves are off." One of the humans say before he walks off. Two of the UEC ships are moving away from the fight and toward safe jump range while the rest of the UEC fleet is being reduced to expanding clouds of debris, gas, and nuclear fire. There are a group of Human fighters dog fighting the escorts of the dropships and the red streaks are viable as debris and body enter the atmosphere.

As the Last UEC ship turns to follow its fleeing brethren its aft section is blown in a way that looks like it was his by a giant shotgun and the kinetic energy of the weapon sends the ship spiraling to burn up in the planet's atmosphere. In an instant the faster of the two ships enters the warp bubble and disappears followed by the second. To my amazement two of the Black ships turn immediately in that direction and begin following before after what seems like hours they two disappear.

"So you use alcubierre too." Forbes asks.

Author's Notes:

Wdyt?