Max Glebow
Brigadier General. Foothold For A Loner
Prologue
“Report to my office.” Major Weber’s voice resounded in the radio communicator of Lieutenant Alexey Egoroff, who was training with his group at the firing range simulator. The new missile system, Storm-M, had just been deployed, but they were still trying to master these new weapons during the downtime between military operations, and so they continued to go on missions with the usual guns.
“Yes, Sir, in five minutes. I’m at the shooting range,” replied Alexey, breaking off the training exercise with regret. “Continue without me. Ivan, you’re in charge. Practice shooting at lightly armored targets a few more times. When I return we’ll continue training how to fight in settled areas.”
“Yes, we’ll do that, Commander,” answered Ivan without any additional questions.
Major Weber’s headquarters was located about 100 meters from the bunker dug into the earth. While Alexey was on his way he had enough time to decide that it was necessary to remind the Major that his group was no longer complete. Sergeant Trenton had been wounded during a previous operation; hence, their team had lost one of its most skilled universal commandos. That was common.
As a rule, casualty rates were highest among these top paratroopers because they often had to cover their group’s retreat in extreme situations. It was truly a miracle that Trenton, even though wounded, had managed to lead the adversary on a wild goose chase. More than that, he outran his pursuers and reached the meeting point. Usually, tricks like that didn’t work, but still, it was clear that he wouldn’t soon return to the game.
The Major’s office door was open.
“Permission to enter, Major?” asked Alexey while appearing in the doorway.
“Come in and close the door. New orders just came through. Sit down.” The Major touched his finger to the screen of his tablet and over the table appeared a holographic map of some semi-desert region with sandy hills, rather shallow ravines and couple of small and partly ruined buildings.
“This is the western edge of the New Wasteland. No Man’s Land: 350 kilometers from the area under our control. Our recon fly-car was shot down there. It was carrying our guys on their way back from a successful raid. Presumably, it was a quarg interceptor that shot down the fly-car. We can only presume this since there’s been practically no communication. A part of the group managed to survive, however. At least, we got their signal. They’re somewhere here now,” said the Major, highlighting in red the region of forthcoming searches on the map.
“We got to retrieve our recon men. They found something very important there. Since this isn’t a standard rescue operation two interceptors will accompany you. You start in 20 minutes. Is the mission clear?”
“Yes, Major, Sir! But I’d like to remind you that I’m undermanned and of our two highly skilled universal commandos we currently only have one. Trenton was wounded; he’s in the hospital and it looks like for a long time.”
“I remember, but it’s not that easy to find a qualified professional in this neck of the woods. However, I’ve got a man for this mission, but I don’t know if you’ll be happy. His fly-car arrives in several minutes.”
“But, Major, Sir, how can I take a totally unknown fighting man on a mission? Without a sense of unit cohesion, and without getting him acquainted with the details he’ll be a burden even if well-trained. And that remains to be seen.”
“You don't think I know that? But the colonel wouldn’t listen. He just made a reference to orders from the top and said to follow it. This means you’ll have to sort things out. Flying time is about 40 minutes, enough to get a closer look at the cadet and clarify his combat role. I’ll transfer his file to your tablet.
“A cadet? Is this a joke, Major, Sir?”
“Not at all, Lieutenant, it’s an order. Do I have to put it in writing? The cadet is seconded to your group for one mission. Probably for two or three, depending on the results. That’s all. Carry out the order, Lieutenant!”
“Yes, Major, Sir!”
Alexey left the headquarters confused and shocked. One can expect some pretty appalling things from the top brass, but this time… A cadet! Had it ever happened before: a cadet in a special forces team sent on a mission to No Man’s Land? Do they want him to be killed? And the entire group as well?
Despite these grim thoughts, Alexey followed the standard mission preparation plan: let the guys know the time and place for the group gathering, as well as the requirements for gear and equipment. Next, he was going to get his own equipment, but then someone called out.
“Lieutenant, Sir, may I address you?”
Alexey turned around. He was approached by a tall and very young guy in a cadet’s uniform on whose sleeve was only one single bar, to Alexey’s dismay. The cadet! Nevertheless, he stopped and turned to face the man approaching him.
“Go ahead.”
“Lieutenant, Sir. Cadet Igor Lavroff reporting as ordered.”
Alexey looked his new subordinate over more attentively and understood that the surprises were just beginning today. The first thing that caught his eye was a holster with a Grot automatic handgun; that was quite a rare model and certainly not for cadets. Then he looked at the cadet’s military decorations. Beside the emblem of the Planetary Commando Academy there were Expert and Unique Specialist badges. That didn’t at all fit into the usual pattern. These two badges were rarely awarded and Alexey had never even seen junior officers with them.
The Expert badge was, as a rule, awarded to a unit commander who had secured a victory against the worst possible odds in a major battle. What on earth could a cadet do to be awarded this – that was clearly beyond all imagination. The Unique Specialist badge signified that the person possessed some very important and rare skill that allowed him to earn a victory for at least a regiment, or even for a division. Just what kind of battle was this so that the division’s victory depended upon a cadet’s fighting ability?
Alexey looked to the left side of the cadet’s jacket which had a qualification tab. The stripe designating the cadet’s theoretical background was gleaming green just a little more than one third of its length, which was only to be expected from a freshman. It should gleam in its entirety so the cadet could become an officer. The stripe designating combat experience as a soldier and/or sergeant was also necessary to become an officer; it was black, which didn’t surprise Alexey at all. That meant this guy hadn’t served in the army before entering the Academy, and as a rule freshmen are not sent into battle. But this freshman appeared to have officer’s combat experience in abundance.
His score was more than 16,000 while the usual one for a graduate was around 100. And that was five times as much as Alexey had himself. This could only raise questions. Besides, the cadet had battle experience in senior command positions that was absolutely unexplainable. So it seemed that the cadet had fought a lot and successfully, but all the time performing officers’ duties! It became clear that’s how he managed to get this gun. With an Expert badge one had a right to choose his own weapons and equipment. Though, it was the same with the Unique Specialist badge. And that badge meant a lot of other nice perks as well. But going on a mission with a gun, even with one like this, was kind of…
“Cadet, is it all you have for a weapon?” Alexey glanced at the holster.
“No, Lieutenant, Sir. Most of my equipment is in my fly-car. “
That was one more peculiarity. Cadets, even the best, are not supposed to have individual fly-cars. But this was insignificant when compared with the rest.
“Well, Cadet, time marches onward. Take your things and go to the tarmac, third sector, in ten minutes. Don’t get into the landing ship. Wait for me. I’ll introduce you to the group. While on board we’ll discuss everything in detail and check your gear. Welcome to my detachment.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant, Sir. May I have permission to go?”
“Yes, go.”
The Cadet quickly left for the tarmac, and Alexey hurried to get ready. Now he had even more unanswered questions. Who the hell is this guy who doesn’t have to abide by the usual introduction procedure of a novice to the team? Moreover, a cadet. And yet, he is very advanced judging by his military decorations and experience. That’s nonsense! One can’t do that – even a very, very tough cadet. Stop. Enough. I’m gonna have to read his file. But when? Not now, that’s for sure.
When Alexey reached the tarmac’s third sector Lavroff was waiting for him. And he looked rather unusual. To begin with he had chosen a very exotic modification of the Storm complex to be his primary weapon. Normally, Storm was intended for heavy infantry. It was very heavy, and to use it effectively required an enhanced exoskeleton that was part of a heavy infantry rig and combined with strong armor. But this huge mass restricted mobility and shortened the combat time while using a standard battery. This is why Alexey’s guys, for whom secrecy and mobility played a crucial role, had never even thought about using it.
The Cadet, however, clearly understood that so much mass will negatively effect his mobility, which is why all his exoskeleton’s armor plates with heavy infantry gear were replaced by light composite protection. This allowed to reduce the overall mass and dimensions to the extent that you could install a second battery pack and an additional box for ammo. That didn’t seem to be superfluous because the Storm, which includes a 30 mm automatic gun, long-barreled sniper rifle and a rotary machine-gun, had a great appetite for ammo. At the same time, the exoskeleton’s lifting capacity was large enough to provide good mobility.
After carefully watching his team’s new member for a while, Alexey said to the Cadet with a tint of doubt in his voice:
“Well, move around a bit. Jump, show me a change of positions.”
“Yes, Sir,” answered Lavroff, jumping up three meters almost instantly. Having hit the ground he rolled 20 meters to the left, and he was almost immediately under the technical service car, pointing the barrel of his automatic weapon toward an imagined enemy.
“Hmmm, that’s enough.” Alexey’s voice sounded neutral, but any of his team’s older members understood that the Lieutenant at least wasn’t disappointed by what he’d just seen. “We’ll see how that's gonna look in real combat. Let’s get on board.”
When Alexey and his new subordinate ascended the dropship’s ramp into the drop bay, the rest of the team was already there. Having glanced at the novice, they turned their puzzled gazes to their commanding officer.
“This is Cadet Igor Lavroff, who is replacing Trenton,” Alexey calmly informed his soldiers, immediately spotting the bewilderment and confusion on their faces. Ivan, who was senior in rank only after Alexey, expressed what all of them felt:
“A cadet? Did we hear that right, commander?”
“You heard it right.”
“But…”
“We got an order and can’t discuss it. Lavroff is going with us.”
“Yes, Lieutenant, Sir.” Ivan’s answer sounded extremely formal, which made it perfectly clear that the members of the group still didn’t understand how that could be possible. “Let me ask a question, Sir.”
“No, Ivan. I see all your questions written on your face and I don’t have any answers. We must take off. I’ll introduce him once we get under way. Cadet, take your place opposite the sergeant,” said Alexey, nodding towards Ivan.
Literally a minute later the ramp went up, and the turbines started buzzing. The dropship took off from the tarmac and set a course for the destination. The escorting interceptors caught up with the ship almost immediately.
“So, Cadet, across from you is Sergeant Ivan Kelt. Deputy commander and pathfinder. To Ivan’s right is Private First Class John Zeit, sniper. Next, Private Anton Gnezdoff, a universal commando and your colleague. On my right is Private First Class Kay Shefferson, communications and equipment specialist. And, finally, Private First Class Ilia Kopytoff, physician. Now, about our mission. There’s already a map on your tablets with our destination indicated.
The border of the search area is marked red. A fly-car with our long-range recon patrol was shot down there. We have to find the survivors, provide necessary assistance and evacuate them. Just as usual, we’ll disembark, comb the area thoroughly, find our guys, grab them and get out of there. The meeting point to board the dropship is on the opposite border of the search area. Any questions?”
“May I speak, Commander?”
“I’m listening, Anton.”
“Who will be the hen to fuss over this chick of a cadet? With his crazy outfit and his cannons he’ll give us away and slow us down. Besides, he doesn’t know our code signals and tactics. We’d have to give him a lot of extra voice commands, and you know how that goes with our communication systems.”
Alexey looked at Lavroff, at how he’d react. But the cadet sat perfectly still and waited for the Lieutenant to answer. He was clearly interested to hear the answer despite the sarcastic question. Alexey rubbed his chin and looked at Anton.
“I’ve already told Ivan that I’ve got no answers to many questions. We’ll show our code signals to the cadet now, and as for the danger of giving us away we’ll find that out only on site. I hope Lavroff won’t need any special care.”
“Where did he get this equipment from? Who chose it for him? It doesn’t fit in well with the bulk of our equipment,” asked Shefferson.
“Cadet, explain,” said Alexey.
“Yes, Lieutenant, Sir. I chose and prepared this equipment myself. Since I didn’t have the chance to match it with the group’s armaments I assumed it has to meet the basic task of a universal commando, namely to provide fire support for the group and, if necessary, provide cover for a withdrawal. Besides, I focused on the probability of acting alone, hence I maximized mobility, ammunition and power availability at the expense of protection.”
“You did it yourself? Who trusted you with this? What about camouflage? You’ve got a huge ‘barn’ with cannons. How are you going to move discreetly?”
“Unfortunately, camouflage only protects from visual detection. And so I had to give it up, as I did with my protection system. But my gear is well protected from electronic surveillance equipment: there’s a special scattering layer on the armor and a built-in electronic warfare device with an additional noise and decoy generator that can be adjusted so it won’t bother our guys.”
“Stop!” Lieutenant raised his arm in order to prevent new questions. “We don’t have time. We must brief Lavroff on our group’s tactics. Look here, cadet, and try to remember everything the first time I say it…”
* * *
Trouble started the moment they entered the No Man’s Zone. The escorting interceptor that had flown ahead to do recon disappeared from the scanners. Generally, there was nothing unusual in that. The electronic warfare systems used by both sides in the conflict were much more advanced than the communication equipment, and so both faced awful communications. The interceptor, however, didn’t return at the appointed time. Still, the group had its orders, and their ship continued towards the missing plane’s last known location.
And this is where the enemy hit them.
The interceptor had been attacked by a ground-to-air missile – the dropship pilot’s voice could be heard in Alexey’s helmet. The Lieutenant noticed the interceptor make a sharp evasive anti-missile maneuver, but then it disappeared out of sight. There was no sound of an explosion.
“He evaded it,” said the pilot. “He’s lucky. Stop! One more missile. And one more…”
A siren’s scream let the group know that their dropship was also under attack. The large and slow aircraft, unlike the interceptor, couldn’t evade a missile, and the interceptor couldn’t help because that pilot had his own problems.
The dropship’s pilot shot off a bunch of thermal and radio-location decoys, and directed his sluggish craft downward. But the missile didn’t fall for the trick. The siren continued to scream, and on top of that was the loud clanking of the ramp going down and the noise of incoming air.
“Jump, Lieutenant!” the pilot was almost shouting. “A ground-to-air missile is gonna hit us in about 20 seconds.”
Alexey saw the missile coming from the back; its contrail clearly visible in the opening above the ramp that was drawn down. The missile’s nose could already be seen. It approached steadily despite the decoys and the anti-missile system. Alexey understood they weren’t going to make it and jumping from that height would be suicide. But then something heavy struck him on his helmet and he couldn’t even see straight. He noticed it was the Cadet’s armored elbow, and then a wild roar filled the compartment. The buzzing of the rotary machine-gun was unbearable, even with a helmet on, though Alexey didn’t have time to pull down his visor. This hellish sound continued for just under a second. Then it all went quiet except the rattling of hundreds of cartridge cases rolling around the bay floor. Alexey heard them as if through a layer of cotton wool. The siren ceased and the ramp started closing. The dropship descended at full speed.
“Lieutenant, Sir,” the pilot was still in shock, his voice trembling, “Your soldier brought down the missile. That’s impossible, but he did it. We’re making an emergency landing. The interceptor wasn't so lucky: he had almost evaded the missile when it was blown up remotely, and pieces from it hit his plane and the pilot had to return to base. It remains to be seen if he can do so.”
Alexey’s gaze focused on the cadet who had fired while on his knee and now he was getting up to return to his seat.
“How did you do it, Cadet?” Ivan’s voice sounded more firmly than their ship’s pilot, and it seemed he had been in similar situations more than once. Alexey always liked his calm self-restraint, and he turned to the Cadet again, concerned with the answer no less than the Sergeant.
Lavroff sat down on his seat, secured his equipment, which was obviously not superfluous before the emergency landing as Alexey remarked to himself. Then he raised his helmet visor, which had been pulled down in time, and explained:
“My helmet’s data processing system has a special co-processor for calculation of deflection that’s used while firing on quick moving targets, and it’s interfaced with the visual recognition system. Then it’s connected to the exoskeleton’s pseudo muscular system that helps to aim the machine gun or the cannon. I just took up a position for shooting, identified the target, chose the weapon and pointed the machine gun at the missile. The equipment did the rest.”
“Have never heard about gear like that before…” began Shefferson, but he had no time to finish his sentence. The dropship touched down and it shook. There was no time for talking. The ramp went down abruptly and the landing started.
Chapter 1
Long before that…
“So, Colonel, how do you feel?” there was clearly tension in General Clay’s voice.
“Just the same for now, General, Sir,” I smiled joylessly. “The doctor thinks there’s a bit more than one month of normal life left for me. Then my brain will start deteriorating at an increasing rate. As far as I understand nothing can be done.”
“Hmmm,” the General clearly struggled for words, but then gave up and sat down on the bed's edge. “Let’s put aside ranks. You’re right, Dean. They don’t know what to do. This is a new weapon. The enemy used it for the first time. Those who were at the epicenter saw their brains fried and fail immediately, and irreversibly. Your troop carrier just nicked the edge. At first, no one had any symptoms at all, some light-headedness at the most, but…”
“Clay,” addressing the General without ranks felt more appropriate. I’ve got a request…”
“Go ahead. I can deal with it.”
“I’ll be fine for one more month. I saw the guys from the Hawk while I was on the rescue operation after the attack. I know what awaits me. I don’t want to die slowly in a hospital like a vegetable. I’m not just a planetary commando. I’ve got experience commanding a squad of assault robots. A major counter-offensive was launched in the 17th sector. Let me land with the first wave of commandos on one of the planets occupied by the toads. I won’t be able to command any human, that’s understood, and I’d never ask men to follow me to certain death. But to lead ten autonomous assault robots and to rage one last time – that’s another story. A warrior with no fear of death can save many soldiers.”
My words got the general thinking. The look on his face didn’t change, but there was a gleam of understanding in his eyes and, as it seemed to me, approval.
“Fair enough. Although your case is unusual. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I’ll do my best to make it happen.”
* * *
For three days I was left alone except for the standard daily check-ups and medical procedures that were unavoidable for patients at the hospital. Doctors averted their eyes from me, and so everything became quite clear. On the fourth day the General came again.
“Get dressed. Quit warming up your ass here,” the harsh words were an attempt to cover the awkwardness that Clay felt. “There’s no point for a brigadier general to hang around here in the rear ward when his army has been assaulting Delta Kirsani for the second day already.”
“I don’t understand,” I looked at the General raising my eyebrow.
“Ain’t nothing difficult to understand. For the recent operation you've been promoted to brigadier general earlier than planned. My congratulations, Sir. At the same time your new insignia is an extra headache for me. Your request has been considered in Fleet Headquarters. The Imperial Technological Consortium has just delivered 10 brand-new assault robots to the Armed Forces. They have to face testing under the most difficult conditions. This task was entrusted to you by headquarters. I had to rack my brains on how to appoint a brigadier general to a lieutenant’s post and not to seem as if I was fucking with the brains of all the captains, majors and colonels who will be your immediate supervisors.”
“So, you managed to do it, General, Sir?” I gave him a little smile.
“What else was I supposed to do? Here’s the deal: you and your robots will form a strike platoon reporting directly to me as before. These assault robots are new and a secret weapon, so they’re not to be tested on the level of a battalion or even a regiment. I’ll wait for you at the flyers’ lot near the main entrance. The hospital staff has been notified. Your new uniform will be brought here.”
I won’t say that I was very happy to know what lay ahead, but I was relieved. After all, death in battle – that’s honorable for a soldier, as well as for a general. It’s much better than dying in a hospital, slobbering and wetting one’s bed.
* * *
Nevertheless, I couldn’t get everything done without messing with the minds of some officers. When I arrived to take command of my strike platoon I saw that the assault robots, which were still in their shipment packaging, were stored in a separate hangar under the guard of two boarding robots. I had to ask the technicians for assistance. Despite my rank those in charge of the logistic base clearly had enough of their own concerns, and had no time to bow and scrape before a visiting general, who with all due respect, is neither their commander nor inspector. I had a job to do, so I tended to it myself. The head of the local technical service, who appeared to be an elderly major, was extremely surprised to see a commando general at his office. Rather amused by the situation and keeping a straight face, I was the first to salute the major who came towards me from behind his desk.
“Major, Sir, this is Brigadier General Dean reporting. I arrived to get 10 Quantum-C assault robots and a small Cuirassier troop transport. I need your assistance to make the machines combat-ready.”
“Eh… General, Sir.” The head of technical service was clearly dumbfounded. “Why have you come in person? You’d be better off sending the robots’ pilot, and we’d give him everything as best as we could. Or his company commander could come in case of the need for a special inspection.”
“I’m the pilot, Major.”
“You? Eh… I beg your pardon, General, Sir, that’s probably not my business, but it’s very unusual. In my many years I’ve never seen a brigadier general in command of a platoon of assault robots… Not even a colonel, not to sound too…”
“Just relax, Major. There's a first time for everything,” I smiled. “Just get them prepared, and I won’t inconvenience you any more with my presence.”
“We’ll do that in a jiffy, rest assured, General, Sir. Probably four hours, tops. I've already called the guys to the 16th hangar. I’ll oversee everything personally.”
“I have no doubt, Major. No doubt.”
Delta Kirsani greeted me with the commotion following a major battle that had ended. The toads had dug in very well here. Everybody calls them ‘toads’. Our enemies have another name, an official one, but after seeing these oversized frogs at least once you could only call them ‘toads.’ They’re just toads.
Within a year after our fleet had left this binary star system the toads gained a foothold on all three planets that supported life, deployed orbital defense systems and built many bases within the asteroid belt. That's not to mention numerous minefields and automatic gun-missile platforms at the most strategic directions. Also, a fleet was stationed here. How could they manage without it? Orbital fortresses alone can’t provide flexibility for a proper defense.
Our side took this matter seriously, and I can’t even imagine how many star systems were deprived of additional forces in order to build this invasion armada. No less than 10 aircraft carriers, 14 battleships, nearly 100 cruisers, as well as a host of destroyers and corvettes. All this power came pounding down on the toads, and after busting through the mines and pilotless battle stations they hit the orbital fortresses over the fourth planet. No orbital defense could withstand such an assault. The toads’ mobile forces did their best to hold onto their battle positions above the planet, plugging holes created by destroyed fortresses, but that didn’t last long. Once our fleet had finished off the enemy orbiting the system’s main planet, it proceeded to the neighboring planets and by now there were no enemies left in the space.
That was a glorious victory but a very bloody and costly one. You couldn’t look at the victorious ships without choking up: pierced boards, gun turrets crushed by enormous explosions, gnarled and twisted flight decks. And these were the survivors – less than a half of the forces had arrived here. The toads are able to fight hard even outmatched, even when caught unawares…
Well, the orbital defense had been neutralized. It was now up to the commandos.
I piloted the Cuirassier myself. Essentially, this small troop transport was designed to be steered by the pilot of assault robots aboard. The Cuirassier was created for intersystem flights and for landing troops directly on a planet surface under favorable conditions. It can’t make a hyper-jump, so I arrived to this system on the outer hangar of a large troop carrier that transported heavy assault tanks. Its captain wasn’t at all happy to make a center-of-gravity recalculation before the jump and nearly told me to bug off, but then he compared his shoulder straps to those of the ballsy Cuirassier pilot and refrained from any objections.
After emerging from hyper-jump I reported to General Clay about my arrival. The first wave of commandos had already left for the fourth planet, and General Clay was too busy to say the least, but he nevertheless found the time and showed me the waiting area. The guys were clearing a foothold for a heavy equipment landing and the General ordered to be ready to join the commandos in an hour or two.
That landing order came earlier than I expected. Besides the coordinates for the landing point and short notification of safe passage, there was also Clay’s comment: “Don't you dare launch any suicidal attacks. Remember the mission. You may sacrifice all your robots but give them a chance to fight well, and so that your module has a chance to send a report to the Technological Consortium”.
In general, I understood that. When translated into normal language it means the following: “Don’t hurry your journey to the afterlife. I still need you here, at least until the mission ends. Or almost to the end.”
The landing passed without any surprises. When I landed on the surface I saw the price that the first wave paid to provide me with a smooth landing. The landing point was already cleared, but as far as the eye could see the entire area was covered with fragments of fighting vehicles, still emitting smoke. Many of the toads’ tanks were still burning, but then things got really hard for us. If things continued like this then the first wave would be drained in a couple of hours.
There was a loud rumble of powerful planetary engines. The first carriers with troops and equipment started their final approach.
On the second day I realized that we were really bogged down. Our troops couldn’t expand their foothold no matter how hard they tried. The toads unhesitatingly continued to send new forces into combat that had been hiding in well-disguised underground shelters. I managed to help stop an enemy tank breakthrough and beat back an airstrike of atmospheric attack planes. The hotshots from the Imperial Technological Consortium clearly knew their stuff.
My assault robots acted above and beyond my expectations, compared to the previous models. I only coordinated their actions while sitting in my heavily armored command module that was really a walking tank similar to my robots but almost twice as massive. My robots did a fine job with aerial targets. Flaming debris from three toad assault planes fell to the ground battered by explosions. The remaining two planes that sustained damage couldn’t provide precision fire and hurriedly retreated by hedgehopping over the nearby forest.
It was worse with the tanks. They had strong armor, as well as force shields. An assault robot is not supposed to fight tanks head-on along flat land. They’re more suitable for battle in difficult terrain, in tight conditions when it’s possible to sneak up on the enemy and go for the jugular. Nevertheless, my tiny ‘roaches’ managed to incinerate two tanks. But they paid a great price to achieve that.
No matter what, however, tank cannon is a really a wicked thing. A robot can’t survive a direct hit, and it just obliterates. Only seven of my ten robots were left, and two needed repairs. They stumbled: their scanning and navigating systems were damaged. Again I said a mental ‘Thank you’ to the development engineers for their great work. As soon as my robots were united in one battle network the damaged ones were given targets by their serviceable neighbors.
Soon, we realized that these adventures were just a prelude, a kind of delicacy to whet the appetite before the main course that the toads were going to serve without any delay. The toads waited until the main bulk of their troops had landed and then launched the operation. They hit us from where we didn’t expect it.
Terrestrial batteries with anti-orbital cannons were always considered to be desperate weaponry, a kind of last trump card to stop attacks on troops and infrastructure from enemy ships hovering over a planet. But this time the toads demonstrated that quantity can morph into quality.
From under the surface bluster cannons appeared, mushrooming like after the rain. Well camouflaged, they previously went undetected. Hundreds of lightning strikes darted into the sky, annihilating ten troop carriers that were starting their final approach using corridors considered to be secure. Our orbital group was completely shocked, and orbital support suffered a major setback. Atmospheric planes had to stop their flights. When our battleships, with their long-range cannons, moved closer in order to neutralize the terrestrial batteries the toads counterattacked. Everyone was really shocked and depressed.
But I had asked to be here for this very moment, and it was time to do my job. I indicated the motion vector to my tiny roaches and we briskly ran to the nearest enemy battery that had just appeared out of the ground.
Quickly it became clear that I had overplayed my hand. The toads today were throwing out unpleasant surprises, one after another. As soon as the anti-orbital cannons arrived they sent out a swarm of atmospheric destroyers and attack planes. Until that moment the toads spared these swift but vulnerable machines, trying hard to shield them from orbital attack, but now it was time to use them.
The battle quickly fell into separate sectors where isolated ground units tried to fight off the air forces pressing down hard. In some places it worked pretty well, but there were too many in the sky. My assault robots started to run low on ammo. Plasma guns – that’s good, but to obliterate an enemy by a guided missile is much more pleasant: the distance is greater and target accuracy is better. Only a few missiles were left, however. Two previously damaged robots were finished off rather quickly, and only five remained.
As it turned out, my small problems were nothing in comparison with what was happening in space. Almost simultaneously with the toads’ attack on the planet, their ships started to appear out of hyper-jump. First, there were just a few, the fastest ones, but before long their number was equal to that of the Empire’s ships. By and large, those higher up in headquarters quickly became aware of the kind of cesspool our invasion fleet had fallen into.
A counteroffensive could well result in a catastrophe. The Admiralty didn’t want to push the situation to the point where it would be an irreversible clusterfuck, and so the order was given for an urgent evacuation and to leave the system.
Despite all this, I wasn’t going to evacuate. For me, this was almost a perfect situation. I’d be most useful by covering the evacuating troops; that’s what I was going to do. I altered the task for my robots and started to move them to the landing point while shooting our way out and taking cover behind the smoldering remains of equipment.
The orbital force continued to hold. In just the last hour our ships in orbit considerably reduced the number of enemy terrestrial batteries that had harassed them so much, and now cannon fire from the cruisers and battleships pounded the wave of armored vehicles rolling toward the ring closing around the commandos. A continuous stream of carriers landed on the cleared ground behind the troops. People quickly embarked and loaded the most valuable equipment and headed back to orbit where they started to accelerate for a hyper-jump out of the Delta Kirsani system.
New robots were added to my platoon. When a considerably battered assault company was evacuated, only the pilots and their command modules were taken into the carrier. Their robots were handed over to me. There were only seven, but now I had more robots than before. I wouldn’t say that these new ones were equal to those I’d lost. The previous generation of robots was far inferior to the latest developments, but I had no reason to complain. I had gotten a generous refill of ammo because they didn’t need to take it with them to orbit.
Still, the toads didn’t let our commandos quit the system quietly. They regrouped their ships within the system and tried to intercept the carriers accelerating for hyper-jump. Our ships naturally rushed to defend them. A battle ensued, and soon all the big ships in the system were involved. Therefore, the remaining troops on the surface couldn’t rely anymore on support from orbit.
We felt the impact immediately. The insolent atmospheric planes pushed forward raining missiles down on us, as plasma poured from cannons. Enemy tanks started a new attack, pushing aside the debris of equipment knocked out of action. Few of us remained since the main body of troops had been evacuated. As the senior officer among those on the surface, I ordered to abandon the equipment and make a run to orbit in my Cuirassier that stood on the edge of the landing site.
They tried to make me fly with them, but I repeated with a certain pleasure some colorful figures of speech used by a sergeant at the military school where I was a cadet. All the subordinates evidently had a similar experience, so they obeyed, jumping into the Cuirassier, and with an enviable swiftness rushed into the sky.
The equipment was not just left behind but was hooked up to my command module. Thanks again to the engineers, my module was able to control this motley crew, although at first I doubted it. I now commanded almost a battalion comprised of 50 assault robots, a couple of heavy assault tanks, two launchers of short range missiles and even three armed unmanned atmospheric planes.
The toads immediately took an interest in the Cuirassier’s take-off and were about to shoot, but I didn’t let them. My motley crew made a frontal attack, imitating a breakthrough of the defensive ring. I told half of my robots to shoot down the missiles launched at the Cuirassier, and the rest they destroyed at point of launch.
My attack fizzled out almost at once, however, as was expected. After all, we were greatly outnumbered. In just 90 seconds both of my assault tanks were burning with smoky fire, only one-third of the assault robots remained. The launching racks were now a useless heap of junk since no one was left to reload and the ammo was gone. Atmospheric planes were shot down while covering the transport ships. Still, I bought the Cuirassier 90 seconds; they had a chance.
Generally speaking, I should have been dead by now. I was still alive, but I had no idea what to do next. I completed my mission but I couldn’t be evacuated. I could go on fighting, of course, but there was no point.
I continued to direct my robots while trying to find a solution. My thoughts were interrupted by a call. We had agreed with General Clay that there would be no farewells and no ritual verbiage, hence I was caught off guard by this call. Since it was the top brass, I had to respond.
“This is Brigadier General Dean, you have my full attention,” reverberated the words in an official tone in my helmet telecom system.
“Stop this fucking circus, Dean. Why the hell didn’t you answer my call? Get out of there. Now!” General Clay used approximately the same words that I’d used some ten minutes prior to convince my subordinates to board the Cuirassier.
“Well, Clay,” I responded tiredly, ignoring protocol. “We agreed upon everything.”
“Brigadier General, when was the last time you were in solitary?! Have you forgotten how to address a senior officer?” screamed Clay, which was unusual for him, changing the subject right away. “There’s a message from headquarters. Doctors demand you return, we need you intact. They’ve found a solution, and not only for you, but for all of us, for the whole Empire. And it’s all to do with you. Exclusively! You understand? What’s with your theater show?! Turn the beacon on immediately and stop trying to be a hero!”
“I have no way out. I’m completely encircled, and the toads are finishing off my robots. There’s only 10 left. Fuck…” my module’s force field was hit from above and was thrown about, but wasn’t severely damaged.
“What happened?”
“Nothing serious, yet. Some operational issues. I turned the beacon on.”
“I see. Wait. And don’t you dare die. You’ve got it, General?”
“Yes, Sir. My mission is not to die. Do I have permission to carry it out?”
“Once you reach my ship, I’ll show you!”
I didn’t listen. Behind the thin chain of my robots was a small relatively vacant patch of space in front of a heap of burnt iron debris. That’s to where we were slowly moving back, snapping shots at the toads’ most impudent flyers and terrestrial drones. Good thing they had run out of heavy tanks, otherwise I’d quickly been screwed. There was no good news in my situation.
The medium-range scanner buzzed, and 19 small high-speed air targets appeared on the screen. That was a missile salvo. How fortunate that there was almost nothing left to deal with them. Just guns. I had run out of guided missiles seven minutes ago, and I directed my module to the enormous pile of burnt heavy machinery.
On top of this heap of wreckage our heavy tank stood with its hull side split open and the turret smashed. Hiding behind it, I sent my robots to the opposite side where they began to shoot at the approaching missiles. The toads became quiet, and didn’t want to get hit by their own missiles. My robots performed very well and managed to shoot down nine missiles… Then an explosion!
The tank behind me, where I was hiding, was knocked over by a shock wave, but I managed to get out of the way. As I’d hoped the incoming missiles were aimed at targets that were actively fighting back.
“General, do you hear me?”
“Yes, Dean, I hear you well.”
“I’m alone now, the robots have been blown to bits.”
Before Clay could answer, a toad drone appeared, jumping on the tank that was on its side. We fired almost simultaneously at each other, the enemy was blown away from the tank and disappeared behind a heap of debris. My module’s force shield repelled the intense plasma strike, but the generator burnt out from overload and only my armor could protect my vulnerable module.
“Lie down!” I heard the general shouting in my helmet’s headphones.
I fulfilled the order without thinking, and I did so right in time. The area around me became a fiery inferno. The main battleship’s cannons ain't no aircraft gun. I’ve already seen something like that… The air above me was filled with howling pieces of armor flying in all directions, as well as pieces of concrete and various debris. You don’t want to get caught in the way of these projectiles. Heavy blows banged the module’s armor, but lucky for me the shards couldn’t pierce it.
When the dust settled I saw an approaching corvette. Usually, space warships don’t enter the atmosphere, but this was clearly a very special case. The battleship above continued shooting while taking on fire from 800 meters away. Clearly there were no worthy targets left in my vicinity. I didn’t wait for an invitation and rushed to the corvette as fast as I could. My module tumbled into the ship’s hold while general Clay urged me on, hollering with such great skill that even the legendary sergeant from military school would have been envious.
Chapter 2
“General, Sir…”
“You can put ranks aside, Dr. Silk.”
“Ehh… yes, of course. So, Dean, have you heard anything about mental fields?” The medical colonel glanced at me questioningly.
Our conversation was informal. General Clay brought me to the Admiralty’s central clinic and handed me over to the local vanguard of medical science who were going to explain everything. Clay also wanted to attend and brought along two generals whom I had caught a glimpse of before at headquarters.
“I only know that your department is working on this matter; nothing more.”
“Well, I see no reason to go into detail, but there are a couple of points that I really want to make clear. Until recently the physical nature of this substance wasn’t certain. Plenty of empirical data attested to the existence of mental fields and to the fact that such fields allowed for the instantaneous transfer of information from the brain activity of intelligent beings across a very large distance. At the same time, the principles of controlling these fields were, and still are, beyond our comprehension. Strangely enough, the enemy attack that you were a victim of, along with 1,500 members of our military, has led to a breakthrough. Whatever was used by the … ehh, toads, which so it seems, that’s how you call them – functioned on the basis of mental fields, but it definitely used their vibrations as one of the harmful effects. In general, the details aren’t important, but we’ve found the key to a partial understanding of this phenomenon while studying the changes in victims’ brains. Bear with me a little longer, I'm coming to the main point. We’ve modernized one of our experimental units and now we have a kind of scanner allowing to study the extent of mental fields at great distances from us. I’m talking about millions of light years. At lesser distances signals merge, unfortunately, and are distorted by interference, but that’s secondary. The important thing is we’ve discovered a human civilization. It’s very far from us, and we can’t even indicate the precise direction. We’ve been lucky with this coincidence of circumstances, and we’ve managed to gain access to the mental field of a comatose man. He’s sick. At their medical level he’s terminally ill, but we know this disease and are able to cure it. Their civilization is significantly less advanced than ours – some 200 years behind, at least. They recently discovered hyper-jump and started launching interstellar flights, and almost instantly they bumped into a hostile race, a humanoid, but not a human one. There’s a war on there, just like here. I wouldn’t say they’re loosing, but this war is all-consuming with apparently no end is in sight.”
“And how could they help us?” this question from my mouth was clearly written on the faces of all those present who still weren’t in the know.
“Generals, Sirs, tell me honestly, will we be able to win this war?”
There was a long silence in the doctor’s office. Eventually, it was broken by Clay.
“This is a very difficult question, Dr. Silk. Let's say, if there won’t be any great innovation in the field of armaments, we'll lose.”
“And how long can we keep going? After all, we're not the only ones with possible breakthroughs in new weapons; our enemy might as well.”
“The war has been going for almost 100 years. For now, we still have somewhere to retreat, but this can’t last forever. We have 20 years, probably 30 if we’re lucky.”
“And what happens next?”
“It gets pretty grim after that, doctor. We’ll be chased out of the developed worlds system interconnected by a network of stationary hyper-portals, and we’ll have nowhere to go except intergalactic space. But I don’t think they’ll let us go. They’ll catch up and destroy us. The toads can manage hyper-jumps as well as we do.”
“Here’s an answer to your question. We need a place to run to in case things turn out bad. You have this place. We found it for you.”
“But how do you expect to get there? You can’t even point in the right direction. Even if you knew it, what’s the point? A linear motion that far in hyperspace will take thousands of years. What we need is a stationary portal, a couple of gates at our side and theirs. Besides, we must know the exit’s subspace coordinates.”
“That's why you plucked our heroic Brigadier General out of that mess in Delta Kirsani. The thing is that the General’s brain was exposed to radiation from the toads’ artifact and has been altered. Now it can harmoniously resonate with the brain of a young man lying in a coma millions of light-years away, and that means we can transfer General Dean’s mind into that man’s brain. Moreover, we can download much knowledge into it, and that can be of immense service to the general when he’s there.”
“Excuse me, doctor,” I was amazed. “But I wasn’t the only man exposed to radiation. You’ve got at least a thousand patients like me at your hospitals.”
“We’ve examined all of them. Unfortunately, they’re not suitable because of the individual peculiarities of their brains. We’re lucky to have you. Your experience will be extremely helpful there.”
“But that man is incurably sick and in a coma…”
“This alone has enabled us to connect to his brain. Coma and his disease – these are undoubtedly problems, but there is a solution. While transferring your senses we’ll download an enormous amount of information into your brain, including the means of treating this disease. Your brain won’t make it, however. If it had been possible to instruct everyone in this manner then we’d have defeated the toads long ago. Alas, a human brain can’t bear a direct data download. Your case, however, is very special. Your brain will die, but it won’t matter. Your senses, including the downloaded information, will be transferred into a new body.”
“And what if I die while still in a coma?”
“It’s highly unlikely. Transfer of senses stimulates brain activity and the immune system of the recipient. You will almost certainly have two or three weeks of remission. Within this period of time you’ll have to solve the problem.”
“After that you’ve got a military career ahead of you, general,” said General Filt, the highest-ranking officer among those present. “You’re used to it. You’ll have to strive to a high position in the power structures of our potential allies and provide for the construction of the second gate of a stationary hyper-portal. Your brain will hold all the necessary knowledge and hyper-coordinates. And we’ll construct our gate here. We’ve already found a god-forsaken place on the periphery of the galaxy for the gate, and if things turn bad we’ll still have a chance to survive as a species and to start all over again.”
“And what about that civilization? They may be reluctant to accept us.”
“That’ll depend on you in many ways, General. Actually, there’s much common ground between us. Both of us are humans, hence, we’ll be able to come to an understanding. We’ll provide technological advances and help them to win the war. They’ll help us develop new territories for our settlements or invite us to their planets if they wish. Anyway, we won’t impose ourselves. In case they don’t want to collaborate we’ll go into unexplored space and start all over again.
“Dr. Silk, are you ready to do it, from the technical point of view?” I was highly excited and couldn’t control my feelings.
“Practically, yes. We have to do a little fine-tuning of the equipment, and that’s not possible without your participation. What we need is your consent.”
“My consent?” I made a half-smile. “You have it.”
* * *
Behind the open window of the nurses’ room a light wind blew the poplar’s twigs. It was early June and the smells of summer covered the specific hospital odor of the furniture and the walls. Olga sat in the armchair having crossed her legs, and looked through the news of the day on her tablet. Upon hearing the equipment beep she jumped up and rushed to look at the patient’s monitor. Her hand automatically pushed the call button.
„What happened, Olga?” asked the doctor on duty via the communicator.
“Ilja Sergeyevich, the patient in the sixth emergency room has regained consciousness.”
* * *
I awoke with a terrible headache; my head was hurting so much that I wanted to be unconscious again. I didn’t even try to open my eyes because I knew that the light would just make things worse.
A door opened with a slight click, and someone entered the room, or maybe the ward. I made an effort and slightly opened my eyes. Despite my worst expectations the pain didn’t intensify. Quite the opposite: I was lying on a narrow bed around which were cumbersome medical devices standing on tripods and supports, flashing with dozens of lights of many colors. My body was connected to these contraptions via transparent tubes and cables. Also, I was covered from head to toe with sensors, injectors and other devices that electrically stimulated the muscles, judging by the occasional light pricking that I felt.
Two people entered the ward: a middle aged man with a flat device in his arms and a young attractive woman behind him. They came towards me.
“How do you feel?” asked the man looking at me attentively.
