Now, firstly, this is a novel project I work on in my spare time between school and 3d modeling.
Tales of a Confederacy: Phoenix Falling
Chapter One: Under Siege
0900 Hours: January 19, 2975
Almirra, Char Dustbowl
66th Mech/Armor Division “Sandhounds”, Confederacy of Free Stars Marine Corps 6th Fleet A column of tanks and armored vehicles charged across the deserts of Almirra, throwing up a vast cloud of dust. The enemy installation lay far off in the distance, lightning already beginning to flash in the clouds above. The wind began to pick up, carrying dust and sand with it. The dust began to swirl around a column of air, heated by a focused ray of light. The wind grew stronger, and more dust began to flow in. The column’s crew shut their hatches and retracted their radiators. The tanks thundered over a sand dune, skidded to a halt, and deployed their stabilizers.
Lieutenant James Kamirhan targeted an enemy emplacement. The turret turned to face the target and the barrel elevated. At a range of twenty seven kilometers, it was nearly impossible to miss. He nodded at his gunner. The railgun let loose with a thunderous crash. The 56 millimeter high-explosive-penetrating slug traveled at velocities more commonly found in interplanetary flight and bored through a meter of concrete reinforced with titanium plate and then detonated. The turret emplacement was vaporized by the resulting explosion. Thirteen other guns followed suit.
Chaos brewed as the confused enemy tried to return fire, shots straying by more than a hundred meters. A few managed to make their mark, doing minimum damage against hardened CF-ceramic composite armor. The tanks mobilized and drew closer as the APCs charged towards the gate, RM-19s spitting a hail of rounds at the solid titanium door. A trio of tanks added their guns to the mix and the gates crumbled, meter-thick titanium folding like aluminum foil. The dust storm obscured their sensors, and thus reduced the engagement range to just beyond visual.
A pair of tanks blew a set of blast doors open, revealing a tunnel that lead underground. Several of the enemy’s M-198 Crusader MBTs opened fire from the tunnel, damaging a Wolf’s main cannon and punching holes in its armor. It let loose with its rotary accelerator and retreated. The other T.MB-35 opened fire, gutting one of the Crusaders and damaging another. Kamirhan maneuvered his tank towards the mouth of the tunnel and let loose another slug, reducing yet another Crusader to scrap metal. With the threat eliminated, the APCs rolled into the tunnel.
The column consisted of fourteen T.MB-35 Wolf main battle tanks and eight APC-10 Antelope armored personnel carriers. The nature of the terrain decreased the efficiency of their hover units and negated the damage done by their standard armament of electrolaser cannons and particle projectors. The modular nature of these vehicles allowed these to be replaced with standard tracks, R-56 railguns, and RM-19 rotary magnetic accelerator rifles.
---
Major Victor MacMillan polarized his visor and set his DIV system to combat mode. He let his squad disembark from the APC and went out himself. He checked his rifle and sidearm briefly and issued orders to his troops. They formed up, waited for the demolitions team to blast the door open, and went in. The DIV highlighted his squad in green, friendlies in blue, and hostiles in red. It also displayed the calculated trajectory of the shots he fired and the amount of ammunition he had left.
“Miller, take Malkovich and Al-Mirani. Then go around the corner and see what’s there.”
“Right, Sir.”
The three soldiers moved around the corner. Their rifles barked briefly and there was the sound of an armored body hitting the floor.
“All clear. Poor sucker must have been on break.”
“Right. Squad, let’s move up.”
The squad spent the next half an hour moving deeper into the facility, eliminating resistance as they went. The other squads moved in separate directions, spreading out to increase their chances of finding the prisoner.
Al-Mirani took a few hits as she rounded a corner, but her powered assault armor absorbed them with little difficulty. She threw a grenade into the room and waited for the explosion. The shockwave reverberated down the hallway and she opened fire. Malkovich lifted his rifle and fired, blowing fist sized chunks of flesh out of an enemy officer. MacMillan was tackled by a hostile soldier; he smashed the soldier against the wall and fired a high-explosive fragmenting round into his skull. And then there was silence. There was a door ahead, marked in block letters: INTERROGATION.
Tech Specialist Ganning hacked into the door controls, bypassing several firewalls and lockouts with difficulty. The door finally opened and the squad slipped inside. The clinical white walls were a stark contrast from the motted gray of the main facility. A pistol report echoed down the corridor, followed by a scream of pain. The owner of the voice was male. MacMillan sent out a fireteam to secure the prisoner and continued his search for the VIP.
Ganning unlocked another door. They slipped inside, avoiding the large glass window set into the wall. Speakers revealed what was transpiring in the other room.
“Goddamnit, *****! Answer me!”
“Senior Lieutenant Selene Lyra Parker S’vas Samakyev, serial number Alpha-Romeo-one-one-niner-charlie-niner.
Poshol na khui, yob tvoiu mat’!”
They had just found the VIP. The sound of a fist striking flesh echoed throughout the chamber.
“Now, now. Miers, is that how you treat a lady?” Another voice said, “You should show her pleasure. Isn’t that right, Senior Lieutenant Parker? You all relish pleasure, one way or another. I will break you.”
“Why don’t you take that dick of yours and shove it in your mouth?”
“What a dirty mouth, young lady. I’m sure your mother would be horrified.”
“**** you!”
“No. You will.”
A shiver went up MacMillan’s spine. Just as he was about to give the ‘go’ signal, the sound of tearing cloth slid out of the speakers. He jumped up, fired rounds through the glass and leapt through. Al-Mirani blew who she presumed to be Miers’ head off while Malkovich shot the guards down as they drew their sidearms.
MacMillan punched the lecher in the face while Ganning unlocked Parker’s restraints. Parker dove for Ganning’s sidearm and pointed it at the stunned interrogator’s face. She pulled the trigger. A 12.7 millimeter round shot from the weapon’s barrel at just under five-hundred kilometers per hour, the microcomputer embedded in its base parsed the range data transmitted to it from the pistol and activated a powerful micro-rocket thruster. The round broke the sound barrier a tiny fraction of a millisecond later and entered the interrogator’s skull. The round fragmented into tiny fletchettes and spread into his cranial cavity, reducing his brain to a pulp as the fletchettes ricocheted off the skull’s interior.
Parker spat on the corpse at her feet, “At least that ****er’s dead. Can we mess some **** up before we leave?”
“You’re in luck, Ma’am. Secondary mission parameters state that we can do as much damage as possible to this facility. But we’ll have to get you back to EVAC.”
“Damn shame. Get me there and good luck.”
“Right.”
Parker put on an LCU jacket and stuffed the sidearm in one of the interior pockets. Ganning unlocked the door and moved out. MacMillan updated the mission parameters stored in the Combat Net and watched Parker take a drink from Al-Mirani’s external water store. Parker thanked Al-Mirani and tied her silver hair into a bun.
The squad made its way back to the designated rendezvous point, fighting through thin resistance with ease. Parker took a few hits to the chest, but the advanced material the cloth was woven from stopped the bullets in their tracks. Parker would be bruised, and very pissed for quite a while, but she was otherwise unharmed. She shot an enemy officer in the chest twice, the body dropped limply to the floor. Rifles barked around her and the area was clear.
“Al-Mirani’s been hit!” The team medic barked.
2240 Hours: January 19, 2975
Low Orbit over New Villasis, Hope Colony
94th Battlegroup, Confederacy of Free Stars – Colonial Defense Force engaging 165th Assault Group “Berserkers”, Earth Federation Stellar Navy “Fading Light to New Villasis Control, be aware of inbound debris. ETA in six standard hours. Recommend you raise your shields--”
“We’ve lost the station Fur Eleise. 94th Battlegroup, disengage.”
“Fading Light to all 94th Battlegroup elements, we are taking command. Regroup and prepare to push forward. Hold the Feds at bay.”
“We’ve been hit! There are fires on all decks… we’re losing pressure! The fusion generators are destabilizing! We’re going--”
“**** it. All elements, solidify your position. Prepare to launch Infernos on my mark… Mark! ECM to full power. Main cannon to full power. All ships select targets and fire at will.”
“This is New Villasis. Fed ground pounders approaching our perimeter. They got past the ARTEMIS grid somehow. We’re trying to hold them back.” 2245 Hours
Approaching Town Square, New Villasis
166th Mech/Armor Division “Wolverines”, Confederacy of Free Stars - Colonial Defense Force A quartet of T.HA-25 Wolverine heavy assault tanks hovered down the avenue, accompanied by two and a half squads of Militia troopers. The temperate climate of New Villasis allowed the refit teams to use the tanks’ energy based armament and hover pods.
“Alright. Wolverines, spread out but remain in box formation.” Captain Carl Stryker said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Launch recon drone.”
A hatch on the turret popped open, revealing a disk shaped device. The disk launched into the air in a puff of smoke and deployed its rotors. The advanced sensor suite mounted on the drone gave the Wolverines and their attached squads a sense of security and a bird’s eye view of the surrounding area.
“This is Wolverine Alpha-Alpha to Housekeeping; we are approaching the town square. Do you copy?”
“Loud and clear. We’re kicking Fed ass.” The transmission disappeared in a hiss of static as the particle cannons fired. “Air cover’s all busy. Can you still take the town square?”
“Affirmative. Have replacement caps for our shields ready.”
Confederate shield systems could shrug off any amount of damage and stay intact to a certain threshold. Once that threshold is exceeded, the shield overloads and the resulting energy flux would burn out the capacitors.
“Infantry at six.”
The turret on the rear tank swiveled around, energy collecting in the main cannon’s capacitors. The particle projector whined briefly and thundered. A ray of charged particles slashed at the enemy infantry, burning through their cover, and then their armor in mere milliseconds.
“Threat eliminated.”
They advanced into the town square, a nature park surrounded by mid-level apartments and office buildings. The infantry took cover around the tanks, keeping an eye on their sensors. Stryker felt his heart pounding. He expected red contacts to appear on his TAD any second.
“Enemies spotted. Two light vehicles and a squad of groundpounders.” One of the snipers said, “They’re headed towards your position.”
“Everyone, spread out and prepare to ambush.”
The Milita troopers scattered as the tanks moved to less conspicuous positions. One of the light vehicles, an LCV, rolled into visual range. Carl selected it as his target and let loose with the particle projector. The particle beam gutted the light vehicle, detonating its fuel cells and ammunition stores. And then all hell broke loose as the Confederates opened up with their electrolasers, scything through the Federation infantry with ease.
A scant minute passed and the silence fell again, broken only by the crackling of fires. A firefight erupted somewhere in the city, punctuated by a set of explosions. Another plume of smoke rose to join the ones already billowing into the blood red sky. Another quartet of tanks and two squads of Marines linked up with the detachment. The Confederate troops spread out and established a perimeter.
"We've secured the town square. Sighting for surprise package now."
"Coordinates received. Package inbound."
---
Second Lieutenant Jade Wyatt peered through her LRPPA’s optics, listening to her spotter designate contacts with her helmet mounted sensor suite. The long range personal particle accelerator had a killing distance of twenty kilometers, and could incapacitate five kilometers past that. The added SC-11 scope allowed Wyatt to see a paperclip in full detail at twenty kilometers should she wish to do so.
“Contacts, 30 degrees to the right. Five Feds, one personal walker.”
Wyatt placed the red dot over the personal walker’s cockpit. Her suit’s targeting computer automatically adjusted the rifle’s output to anti-materiel settings and placed a red ring around the dot. This was known as the ‘red ring of death’ to many sniper teams. Wyatt held her breath, an unnecessary action as her suit automatically compensated for the tiny vibrations of her body. She tapped the firing stud.
A lance of crackling energy burst from the particle accelerators barrel. The beam took a minute fraction of a second to close the ten kilometer distance between Wyatt and the walker. The highly energetic particles of hydrogen seared through the walker’s cockpit, tearing through inch-thick ceramic composite and then vaporizing it. The walker’s pilot never had the chance to scream as the beam severed fuel lines and breached the shockproof casing of the fuel cells. The resulting explosion was enough to wipe out the Federation squad in a burst electromagnetic radiation.
One of the walker’s hands landed right Wyatt with a ‘crack’ as it hit pavement. Smoke rose from the red-hot ceramic. The woman didn’t even look up from her scope.
“Sniper team Two-Six, take our position. Three-Zero is relocating.”
Wyatt got up and deactivated her particle accelerator, letting it fold into a more compact configuration. She removed her S-92 LERfrom its holster on her thigh and moved towards the penthouse door. She saw a shadow move in the darkness and snapped her weapon up. And then she was knocked to the ground by a sudden tackle. Her recon armor’s plates thudded on the carpeted floor and she heard a knife try to force its way between the armor’s composite shell.
A sidearm barked twice and one of the bodies on top of her fell limp. Wyatt punched the other soldier with a satisfying crack as the armored gauntlet shattered the Fed’s faceplate. Wyatt drew her combat blade from its sheath and brought the tip down on her assailant.
The knife’s edge was around fifty molecules thick, allowing it to cut through almost any form of body armor with ease. The eight-inch knife sliced through the standard issue Earth Federation Urcom suit and into the wearer’s chest. Wyatt pulled the knife back, severing veins and arteries, slicing a lung in half and nicking the aorta. The man choked on his own blood and expired. Wyatt shoved the Fed off her and removed the knife stuck in her chest piece. The three-man sniper team moved down the hundred-storey skyscraper in relative peace. It was only when they had relocated to an adjacent apartment block did the fighting pick up.
Wyatt fired her light electrolaser, puffs of ceramic and vaporized flesh exploded from the Fed’s chest, gaping holes punched into the armor. The sniper took cover immediately, readying her combat blade. Another Fed jumped over the barricade. Wyatt lashed out with a horizontal stroke, disemboweling the Earther. Another slash severed his head from his neck. Her spotter’s rifle clattered noisily, she had lost her electrolaser some floors down.
“This is sniper team Three-Zero. We’ve been compromised, requesting assist.”
“This is dropship Charlie-One-Zero-Niner, we’re vectoring to intercept. ETA, ten minutes.”
---
Admiral Lukas Cherenko strode onto the bridge of his carrier, the Poseidon and took a seat. A multitude of displays materialized around him. He skimmed over the status displays and tapped an icon on the holographic console.
“Battlegroup, prepare to surface.”
Cherenko felt the floor tilt slightly as the Poseidon emptied her ballast tanks of water. The superstructure broke the surface several minutes later, followed by the flight deck, and then the top quarter of the main hull. The rest of the battlegroup slowly emerged from the ice cold water, their particle lance projectors projecting steam as the weapons warmed to fire. The Federation battlegroup they had surfaced in the middle of was caught in sheer shock. A mayday broadcast was silenced by the ECM ship’s jammers.
The heavy cruiser Alexei Petrovic fired her main battery, bisecting the Federation supercarrier Enterprise. The Poseidon fired her SAM and AAA batteries at the Federation aircraft while launching her own flights of interceptor gunships. The Federation cruiser Birmingham fired her railguns. Her salvo skipped harmlessly off energy barriers. The electric discharge from the barriers electrocuted the crew of the Enterprise. All hell then broke loose.
The wreckage of a downed Fed bird smashed into the Poseidon’s PDB. Electric arcs cascaded down the barrier and into the water, electrifying it once again. A battery of heavy railguns thundered, sending a dozen rounds screaming into the carrier’s shield. The barrier flickered wildly, but remained cohesive. A particle lance sliced the offending ship in half along its length, ammunition and fuel cells exploding as the ship sank. The carrier finished launching her VTOL craft, and descended once more into the deep.
The rear deck of one of the heavy cruisers was covered in smoke as it launched a salvo of cruise missiles. The sight of the smoke trails arching into the atmosphere would have been beautiful, if only it weren’t several micrograms of antimatter within those warheads. The resulting explosions would level whole city blocks and irradiating areas far larger than ten kilometers. Admiral Cherenko whispered a silent apology to the defenders of New Villiasis.
---
The Federation troops cheered as their enemies withdrew from the city, not even bothering to remove their top secret technology. They didn’t see the fusion reactors powering the city reach critical temperatures. Control rods within the secondary fission plants began to melt, followed by concrete and titanium blast plate. The fury of the fire of a thousand suns ripped through the city center, obliterating everything within its path. Several ships in orbit added their main particle lance batteries to the firestorm. It was as if God himself had poured all of his wrath onto the city. Pillars of energy burned their images onto unguarded retinas just before the radiation boiled human bodies from the inside out.
The cruise missiles landed. New Villiasis disappeared in a flash of light.
---
Wyatt felt the dropship shudder as the shockwave caught up with the sleek craft. She didn’t dare to look outside. Instead, she just stared into her helmet. A tear fell from her eye. Her face contorted into an expression of rage and sorrow. She sobbed.
“**** it! Why do the Feds always have to wreck everything we try to build? Why do we have to even fight this pointless war? It's not fair!”
Wyatt’s helmet crashed against the bulkhead, the visor shattered into a dozen pieces. The only noise to be heard was the rumble of the dropship’s engines. A Federation SAF-95 Eagle unloaded the last of its ammunition at the lone craft. Charlie-109 broke apart in the stratosphere, the debris left a glowing trail in the dust filled sky.
Poll
