Captain's Resolve, page 5
part #1 of Luke Sky Series
He brought his axes down in a cutting motion, slicing off one arm while dodging another, whirling around and burying an axe right in the machines ‘face’ before pulling back, grabbing another of its arms and yanking. Having read the reports, and been in a fair number of fights in his life, he knew he didn’t dare let the machine get its bearings back or dictate the pace of the fight. Whether a man, an animal, or a machine, when fighting close, keeping the opponent off balance and scrambling was a good way to stay alive.
And to win, but those two generally went hand in hand in most fights, in Jones’s experience.
He pulled it off its feet before slicing that arm off as well, then he quickly moved in close, brought his foot down hard on its main chassis, and began hammering at its head with his other axe. Again and again he sliced into it before it finally sputtered, sent sparks shooting everywhere, and then fell silent and still. Looking around he saw two of his boys down, being tended too by some of their brothers, while the rest were standing, keeping an eye on the slave droids or watching for reinforcements.
“Thank you sir,” one of the Lancers who the Overseer had originally been charging said, once Jones had had a moment to catch his breath.
“It’s all good son, just remember to keep an eye out for bushwhackers in ship combat. Lots of places to hide for a quick ambush.” Jones replied before looking over to the rest of his men. They all showed signs of having been hit by the Warrior Droids to various degrees, but were all still standing and manning their positions. Clearly, the droids hadn’t expected a close range fight, and had been caught off guard.
Otherwise, Jones suspected his men would have been a lot worse off. “Report.” He called out to his sergeant; Sergeant Vilmay.
“Two down, alive but barely,” the Sgt. Vilmay replied, sounding more weary than angry, a feeling Jones knew all too well when it came to losing their men. They’d had a long, hard set of fights ever since they’d come out to these Sectors after all, time enough for the anger to dull, but not the weariness of the loss. “The Warrior Droids focused fire on them during the charge. Otherwise, just lots of beat up armor, and a lot of droid prisoners. Not sure what to do with them. And we’re just about outside of the bridge.”
Sgt. Vilmay gestured to the doors behind them that the droids had been guarding, and glancing at them, Jones saw that they were indeed the doors that would lead to the bridge. They were close to the goal, but the next part had to be handled right, or all they would get was a beat up droid destroyer with no engines or life support, and no critical Intel. Considering the investment Captain Archibald had made in this mission, and the cost it had already taken on Jones’s boys, that outcome was absolutely unacceptable.
But how best to breach? He wondered, walking up to the doors and looking around the corridor that branched to either direction, the walls on either side of the doors obviously a part of the bridge bulkhead walls on the other side. In true MSP Lancer tradition, we could breach the walls with explosisives or Vibro blades, but that would depend on placement, and again, we couldn’t be sure of the prize. Looking for a solution to the problem, he glanced over at the droid prisoners, who were huddled together in a large group, all watching the armored Lancers carefully, with whatever passed for optics on their odd looking faces snapping back and forth between the various armored soldiers.
I wonder? He walked back over to the group of odd looking bots, noting that few of them looked uniform in design or model. A true collection of random, sentient machines.
“Can any of you speak?” He asked, looking them over through his orange tinted crystal-glass face plate. He’d met a few of the ‘friendly’ droids that had come back with the Admiral, and they’d all been able to talk.
“We can Great One, please do not destroy us!” A little spider droid that only came up to his knee stated, stepping forward before plastering its face to the ground in what Jones realized was a bow.
“It’s not our policy to destroy those who surrender, unless they try and attack us or otherwise physically endanger our ship or personnel.” Jones was impatient to get to the meat of the conversation. He couldn’t believe he had to reassure a droid! It reminded him of the end of the battle on the Lucky Clover at Second Tracto, when he’d been skewered by Marine Bugs, after fighting and capturing several ‘Parliamentary’ Caprian Marines. The ones who’d betrayed the MSP at the Battle for Omicron. They’d been going on and on about Parliament this, Royal brat that, and voting rights like whiny, hysterical children who got caught doing something they knew was bad.
It had been pathetic really, from Jones’s perspective.
“Truly?” The little spider droid lifted it’s head, and it’s camera eyes focused on Jones. “These units here are hard workers with an efficiency rating of 99.98 percent. We do not mind hard labor, and can work long hours without fatigue. How may we serve?”
In other words, what can we do to survive? Jones mentally translated the little droids statement. We don’t mind being slaves, and can be worthwhile workers, so please don’t kill us. Behind his face mask, he smiled. Simple enough.
“I need to know what sort of defenses they have set up inside the bridge.” Jones replied, gesturing behind him. “Do they have more Warrior droids? Another Overseer? Something else?”
“They have three of the Warrior Class Security models, and two roving plasma defense turrets.” The little spider droid immediately replied. Inwardly, Jones groaned. Roving defense turrets were brutal, especially the plasma kind. He knew the droids would be set up and waiting for his men, but damn! Still, he could make this work, he just had to be clever about it.
“Thank you,” he told the little droid, which reacted in what Jones figured was the droid version of a double take as he turned to address Sgt. Vilmay. “Leave two to guard them, the rest prepare to breach.”
“The turrets will tear us up something fierce sir,” Sgt. Vilmay answered, gesturing to the two Lancers looking over the wounded to keep an eye on the droid prisoners.
“Which is why I have no intention of fighting fair.” Jones sighed, looking over the doors and bulkhead walls. “Go ahead and put some breaching ordinance on the main doors, just to keep the droids focused on that, but we’re going through the walls. I want two holes on either side of the doors. Breachers for the ones closest to the door, with some extra bang to keep their eyes focused on them. Then further down I want vibro cut holes, and our best shots to wipe out the turrets and warriors. Then we move in and take the bridge, quickly.”
“Yes sir!” Sergeant Vilmay replied, sounding enthusiastic as he turned and began getting everyone up to speed and set up. Jones took position by a far breach point, considering he was an excellent shot, after retrieving his Ion Rifle, and got ready to breach.
“Clear!” Sgt. Vilmay shouted, as soon as they were ready to begin the more explosive, and certainly more showy breaches. Several controlled, directed, powerful explosions followed in rapid succession. The ones on the door didn’t get through, though the door definitely warped from it, however, the second set breached the walls, creating a large hole that a powered suited man could fit through, or fire through.
The Lancers immediately opened fire from cover, before taking cover as rapid fire plasma blasts and heavy blaster shots answered back. They returned fire as best they could from cover, but it was obvious the droids had them pinned. Which was what the second set of breachers, using vibro blades, was waiting for. Slicing through the walls as fast and precisely as they could, they carved two new openings, and got out of the way for the shooters to line their shots up.
Focusing as he quickly took in the view of the hole, he lined his shot up and opened fire on a heavy plasma gun attached to a pole sticking out of the ground; one of the wretched roving plasma turrets. He hammered it while it swiveled around to aim at him, but it was too late as it started sparking and shooting out smoke before it shut down. One down! He turned his focus more inward to the bridge, and saw the other turret down, along with one of the warrior droids. Seeing another warrior type aiming for the hole across the bridge where one of his boys was at, Jones focused fire on that one, dropping it with repeated precision strikes to its head.
Then he took several blasts to the chest, getting flung back against the bulkhead in the corridor they were in!
“Colonel!” He heard someone shout, followed by rapid blasts and shouts of anger. At the moment though he couldn’t focus on anything, his vision was filled with stars, he could barely breathe, and he was in enough pain to wish he would just pass out.
Ouch. That was about the only coherent thought going through his mind, before he felt the familiar cold, and nerve bitingly painful feel of combat heal moving through him. His vision and mind cleared up enough that he saw a Lancer standing over him, pulling the vial away from his suit.
“Subdue this bridge!” Sgt. Vilmay shouted, and after a few seconds of noise, there was suddenly silence.
“Get me up!” He snapped, struggling to pick himself up. He had to get in there and see to the recovery of the nav coordinates, or this was all for nothing! The Lancer helped pick him up just as Sgt. Vilmay came clomping over to him.
“Are you good sir?” He asked, concerned. Jones didn’t feel good at all, but he’d been in a lot scrapes over the years, in and out of the militia and Lancers, and knew he was still functional.
“I’m good to go Sergeant, now report.” He didn’t want to be abrupt, but his chest still hurt like hell, and he needed to know if they’d gotten what they’d came for.
“Well, after we dropped the last Warrior droid that, well, dropped you, we took the bridge with no further resistance or casualties. Their computers were trashed, but we did capture the droid navigator intact. He says he knows where all these ships have been going, so unless he’s lying, we got what we came for sir.”
“Excellent news!” He breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t perfect, but if the navigator droid proved reliable, then they’d achieved their primary mission. All the effort had been worth it. “Get what you can out of their computers anyway, then begin setting scuttling charges, and let’s clear out of here.”
“And the prisoners, sir?” Sgt. Vilmay glanced over at the droids huddled up by the wall. Jones noticed idly that their numbers had actually grown.
“They come with us.” He wasn’t going to leave them to die after they’d surrendered, droids or no.
“Yes sir.” Sgt. Vilmay acknowledged as he moved off to begin the work. Standing on his own, Jones made his way over to the hole that led into the bridge, to take a look around. Most of it was scrapped, other parts untouched. The ‘corpses’ of the warrior droids where by the door, and a odd looking droid in the center of the room. It had a round, cylinder-like head with bulbous, black camera ‘eyes’ poking out in every direction, a small, cone body and a dozen legs coming down ending with pinchers, claws, and a few other technical devices.
The droid captain. Jones realized, taking a look at the gray and black droid. With all those eyes and appendages, I bet the thing was the ultimate micromanager. I wish I’d been there to see it shot. Looking over he saw a small looking droid with treads instead of feet, a smooth oval shaped main chassis, several arms with almost delicate looking appendages, and large cameras for its face, giving it the impression of a big eyed child, considering it only came up to the waist of the Lancers around it. Must be the navigator. Jones mused before turning away from the hole, wincing at the pain.
“Lieutenant Rhett, report,” he called over the comm, wanting a status update. They may have gotten what they came for, but if the droids had reinforcements coming, they were in trouble.
“Lieutenant Rhett here sir,” the young man reported in immediately. “We took Main Engineering with minimal casualties. Several wounded, only one critical, no fatalities sir. We’re placing scuttling charges in strategic area’s while awaiting word to withdraw.”
“The word is given Lieutenant,” Jones replied, a weight on his shoulders easing a little bit. “We’ve acquired what we came for, or near enough, and are beginning to pull out.”
“Understood sir, I’ll oversee the withdrawal of my men.” The young Lieutenant replied professionally.
“Very well,” Jones replied before switching to the other Lieutenant in his comm frequency. “Lieutenant Sigrunn, report.”
“We have finished clearing the gun decks of this citadel, War Leader.” Sigrunn replied, sounding out of breath. Jones suspected the crazy gung-ho Tractoan woman had gone through most of the battle at sword range, again, after she’d helped Rhett take Engineering. “Our losses were light; only injuries, no fatalities, but we encountered many Warrior droids, and most of my warriors are now little more than walking wounded at this point.”
So that’s why their defenses here were so light. Jones mused as he took in Sigrunn’s report. “Understood Lieutenant, well done. We’re pulling out, so lay down whatever scuttling charges you have, and then pull back to the shuttles. We got what we came for today. And bring whatever prisoners you have with you.” He didn’t want to risk her leaving the droids behind simply because they were former enemies. With Tractoan’s, nobody ever really knew till after the fact, and he wanted to avoid having to find out.
“As you command War Leader,” she replied before signing off. Crazy redheaded teenage brat is gonna be the death of me! He sighed, shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts. He’d given up trying to get her to call him Colonel, and to stop challenging him to duels of leadership, when she wasn’t beating people up in sparring practice anyway. Thus far, only himself, Commader Estrella, some of the better trained Lancers, including the Tractoans, and surprisingly, the Captain, had been the only ones to be able to beat her routinely on the mat.
Everyone else, including half the Lancer corps on Gamer Gate, lost.
Repeatedly.
Sighing in relief as the fact that he hadn’t lost any Lancers this time around sank in, he turned to his men and the assembled droid prisoners.
“Job well done boys!” He spoke loudly, pride filling his voice. “Now round up whatever’s left to get, and let’s go home. We’re done here!”
His men cheered as they started moving out, some carrying the wounded, the others following the collection of droids as guards while they made their way to the closest hull breach point so they could get picked up for a ride back to their ship.
All said and done, that was a fun dance. Jones smiled as he walked down the corridor, leading an odd group of beings behind him. Then winced when his breathing caused a twinge, a painful one. Right up until I stumbled on that last note anyway.
Chapter 5: Tour of Resolve
Archibald sighed in relief at the two most important parts in the reports he had before him on his desk; no fatalities, and a droid prisoner with likely knowledge of their ultimate destination. So, playing with the lives of that entire convoy didn’t amount to nothing. Thank heaven for that! He sat back and tried to relax a little as his First Officer and Lancer Colonel did the same in his office.
Thanks to the success of the mission, they now had the coordinates of where the droids were taking their captured ships, assuming the droid navigator wasn’t lying. Archibald was going to be smart about it, and jump far enough away from those coordinates, and then drive in under sublight power to see what was there before making any moves, but he’d already decided to go.
The issue now was when, and the reasons for that were simple enough.
“We can head to the droids coordinates immediately, but it’s pretty remote from any main route, so it’ll take time to get there, then there’s what we do with whatever we find there. If they have another set of Destroyers and fighters, even just three or four, we’re sunk.” Commander Estrella listed off, looking unhappy. The loss of McKnight and her ship was being felt more and more of late, Archibald noticed. “And if there’s another boarding action, even a medium sized one, we’re still in trouble, since nearly half of our Lancers are in medical, and several will be there for weeks. And we can only supplement the missing Lancers with soldiers from the Armory Department so far before we’re tapped.”
