Foothold For A Loner

“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.”