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Post by Floyd Looney on Dec 28, 2009 17:26:53 GMT -5
I had forgotten earlier in the story that there were around 1200 men and 8 Beasts under Marco Rubin. I don't know how that got halved. I have corrected it on my Word file but we will just pretend here.
The situation is that on the other 4 Beasts, the weapons systems were locked. These were where the miners and such were staying, so they would have no access to the ship weapons.
I don't know how I could have forgotten that. Anyways, they are being worked on by computer techs. Right now they're like giant APC's. So Marco still has three Beasts to play with while the other went with Stacie Marsh to find other "rebel" Beasts.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Dec 28, 2009 17:55:11 GMT -5
“Do we have any idea where the Viceroy was going?” I asked the guy who had unlocked one of the satellites orbiting Cochrane. He was cross-referencing the communications traffic between the base and the Viceroys vessel. After a few minutes he pointed to the map, it was a rather large island on the other side of the planet.
“Have they tried to contact us yet?”
No, apparently they had not. The Viceroy was the boss, why would he need to check in with inferiors? Maybe he didn’t even care what was going on. Maybe he was on some kind of vacation.
After Graf and Boris were dealt with, the Viceroy would be found.
It would all be over and he would either accept the way things were or he wouldn’t. As far as could be determined he had a very small group with him, he would offer no resistance.
My little war council included a Computer Tech named Pom, a Weapons Tech named Tate who still had four Beasts weapons systems to unlock, Commander Roy who was passing orders down to the Beast commanders and the Colonel who had been a soldier for years before he was forced into working the mines. He was in charge of preparing the dragoons.
“Once all of the Beasts are operational, I just do not see how they will stop us” Commander Roy said with a glance at Tate.
Tate shrugged off the implication that he was not doing a good enough job getting the weapons systems online for the other Beasts. “I guess they can still move and carry dragoons, that is something at least”.
“We’ll have to come up with a plan just in case we can’t get their weapons unlocked” I told them, “Pair up one to each armed Beast maybe, or send a team of them carrying Dragoons behind the enemy front”. Commander Roy and the “Colonel” would work on that together.
After the meeting broke up I went back to the tech who had unlocked the satellite, what else could we determine from it? We could not locate the Beasts unless they were in direct radio contact, which they would not be when there was hostilities. From the radio silence we could determine that everyone knew there was hostilities.
Maybe I should some type of message to the Viceroy? Nah, what could that possibly accomplish?
Instead I told the tech to concentrate on one of the other satellites, they might have more useful capabilities.
“What about other mining complexes? There were dozens of Beasts on the vessel that brought us here. Where are the others?” I once asked an officer who had worked in the headquarters building but who now worked for me.
“As far as I can determine, there were other worlds in nearby solar systems that are also colonized. I’m guessing they all have mining operations like ours did. Earth is getting all those resources from somewhere, and they aren’t digging at home anymore” then he shrugged “We never had direct contact with other worlds”.
Even the Viceroy didn’t have any real power in this system, he was as much a prisoner as anyone else. If things went really bad they’d just nuke the place from orbit and start over after blaming the attack on “aliens”. They wouldn’t stop to rescue their “government” or anyone.
“How long before another ore/supply ship comes along?”
“The Viceroy had all that information kept to himself. We could guess because they were pretty close to regular.”
“How long?”
“Any time now, really”
Well, that is just great. That is the last thing we needed before we were able to stop Graf and the troops loyal to the Czar. A ship that big would be heavily armed and would probably make things very bad for our side. We knew some of the right codes and stuff, we might be able to fake it for a little while once the ship came into contact range.
I walk over to the window and look down on about a hundred and fifty armored Dragoons running a drill. We might even take control of this planet, I thought to myself, but what is the value in that if we get vaporized for it? Sure we would die free, but I’d rather live free.
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Post by Attero Dominatus on Dec 31, 2009 9:53:04 GMT -5
This story just gets better and better. Dealing with the ship without surface to orbit weaponry can be accomplished by attacking when it is over the horizon. If it is only a single ship, it would likely be on a low orbit that takes it over most of the mining camps to minimize the flight time and fuel/reaction mass consumption of dropships. For an Earth-size planet, this would give them a ninety to one hundred twenty minute window to attack the loyalists.
The loyalists would be aware of this and would likely use satellites, but satellites are predictable, and could be shot down by anti-missile missiles if they are sufficiently long ranged.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Dec 31, 2009 13:41:22 GMT -5
What did you think of "Crashed"? so far anyway, its just barely started.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 1, 2010 3:52:55 GMT -5
I am working on the next portion right now. 2:53AM.... oh crap! I need to get some sleep.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 3, 2010 17:56:36 GMT -5
There were dozens and dozens of large greenhouses on the far side of the man-made valley, this is where some of the prisoners had volunteered to spend their time. They and the specialists were told that their rations would be cut first if food production fell. Truthfully, no one knew if this would last much longer than it already had. Marco contemplated this as he bit down on a fresh melon.
Less than two days I was a slave working the mines. Now I am leading a fight to free ourselves and possibly to bring the truth back to Earth. Tomorrow I could easily be dead at the hands of Graf, the Viceroy, a military supply ship or any of a number of factions on my own side. Talk about sleeping with one eye open.
There had been discussion of what should happen at the main building and the greenhouses should the predicted mass battle take place between two dozen Beasts. What an awesome sight that would be, although probably scary. No, I told myself, it would be a nightmare.
I saw in my minds eye that the battlefield would be dark, every Beast using their belchers at full capacity would produce a dark fog that even tracking lasers and radar could not penetrate. The Beasts would lay down mines behind them, they would fire off missiles and their heavy guns at any target that presented itself.
Few would though. Indeed any electrometric signature in the darkened battlefield would likely be a false one designed to confuse the enemy. Combat would be close quarters with Beasts coming up alongside each other and pounding each other with their CIWS guns and missiles that exploded after impact.
Beasts would deploy their dragoons on foot to sabotage enemy Beasts, get up close with their man portable lasers and take out vital systems. In fact a lot of the fighting would be done on foot as dragoons from both sides fought each other. They would have to get very close, both sides would be wearing the same uniforms. It would be a bloody, hellish and confusing battle.
“Incoming messages” said one of my assistants entering the room and rousing me from my disturbing thoughts. “Commander Marsh got through with a coded message. We have decoded it down to ‘Got Six’, sir”. Six more Beasts would give them a total of twelve, leaving somewhere between twelve and fourteen for Graf and Boris.
“How did she get a message through to us through all the jamming?” I ask standing and stretching. Including our jamming.
The messenger thought about it a moment “The computers were able to detect variations in the background static, they must have broadcast the same message several times.” the man said followed by “I bet that Graf picked up that message too”
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 3, 2010 20:12:07 GMT -5
I know its short. I forgot the time. Needed sleep.
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Post by Attero Dominatus on Jan 3, 2010 20:44:22 GMT -5
Good description of what a beast-on-beast battle would look like. Look forward to seeing it.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 3, 2010 21:12:27 GMT -5
I think its a pretty good description but actual combat will be very bloody. Soldiers could even be run over by a Beast because visibility will likely be very minimal.
Of course the unexpected and unplanned for will always happen.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 14, 2010 1:14:41 GMT -5
Twelve Beasts and more than twenty two hundred men and women were gathered in front of the impromptu stage. I am feeling a little nervous but we had no time to waste, I needed to inform of what was about to happen. My “cabinet” was standing around me and Stacie Marsh stood close but back a couple of feet. Everyone had their attention on me.
“Some of you have spent the last few years forced into hard labor in the mines underground or the processing centers. Some of you were forced to guard us, no matter how you felt about the situation. Today we are all on the same side, our enemies are gathering for an all-out assault as we speak.” I pause and there was silence.
“Many of them, no doubt, would rather be on our side but have no opportunity. In this battle our real enemies are those leading them. Our goals will be to disable their Beasts, capture their leaders and force their troops to declare their loyalties.” I decided not to detail what happens to those who’d declare loyalty to the Czar. This was going to be a very nasty war.
“After a few years in the mines, it is good that we still remember our training because its that training that is going to liberate us!”
They cheered. I wonder how many of them thought they would even survive this. Trained, years ago, but with no real combat experience, I wonder if we really had a chance, just for a moment. Of course we do, because we want to stay free.
“For Liberty!” I shout. They shout it right back “For Liberty!”
I would try and command the battle from the combat information-sensor center aboard Beast #277, which had just recently had some of its heavier weapons unlocked. It had been used as a barracks by miners, now those miners would be soldiers again.
An image from a tiny UAV peeking over the horizon of the valley saw a dust cloud in the distance.
“Here they come” said the Commander of #277, I could hear him in my earpiece. He was fifty feet ahead of me in the Beast, he would command it while I had, technically, overall command.
“In formation now, all Beasts out of the valley” I order. Eight of the Beasts would head to the western exit, towards the coming dust clouds. Four would exit the eastern side and attempt to flank the enemy formation. They were likely to meet enemy flankers.
Our Beasts were now flying red battle emblems and the enemy Beasts were likely still flying the official blue and silver Czar emblems. There would be very little else to distinguish one fleet of Beasts from another. The image from the UAV vanished, it had been shot down. They never seemed to last very long.
“Leading elements should be in missile range in four minutes” one of the people huddled over the animated, holographic battle map said.
“If they’re in range, so are we” said one of the weapons control officers from his perch, everyone chuckled at the ice breaker.
“Prep the Seeker missiles” I ordered the entire fleet, except the two Beasts without unlocked weapons systems. Those guys were packed with Dragoons. They would also prep the low flying skimmer missiles at the same time. The Belchers were already prepped to send up a cloud that would soon obscure the entire battlefield, even from sensors and tracking lasers.
Standard procedures. Standard for the other guys too.
“Within missile firing range in thirty seconds” came the report. What was that seventy kilometers between us?
“Prep intercept missiles and counters. All jamming begins at launch.” I looked at the holographic battle map. “Open fire!”
Each of the eight Beasts, spread out across a mile and a half of dirt, each fired a Seeker missile and seconds later each launched a salvo of eight Hammer missiles. The Seeker missiles flew very high and scanned downward, visually to avoid the jam, for the enemy Beasts. As soon as it located them it informed the Hammer missiles of their exact location.
The enemy had probably done the exact the same thing, I had the entire fleet fire intercept missiles as soon as these were detected. We survived but some of the Hammers had gotten through the intercept screen. Those were dispatched by the CIWS guns or lasers.
The closer we got the faster this would go and the more likely one side was to get hit hard, before they were close enough to use more deadly weapons the “Belchers” would lay a blanket of darkness over them.
At least four times we launched our salvo of missiles high into the air, hoping they would slam through an enemy Beast. At least four times we had to hustle to knock down incoming enemy missile volleys. The jamming devices were doing their job at distance but it would be the sensor blocking black smoke that would obscure the ground itself very soon.
“They are within nineteen miles” said one of the men at a console. That was Skimmer missile range and sure enough the entire fleet was launching them in bunches.
“Launch a second and third wave of the Skimmer missiles” I ordered and they were launched in quick succession. There were now at least a hundred missiles in the air from our side and probably from their side as well.
They were closing in with us very fast.
“Engage all Belchers”. I hoped this would even block whatever
Skimmer missiles were on their way to us. The ink black cloud spread out and soon covered a dozen square miles and I wondered if the enemy was doing the same thing. It was a bit earlier than they were trained, so it was possible they might surprise Graf.
“Change course to due North, for 8 kilometers” I ordered, eight Beasts were turning as if in formation. “Drop mines, second level concentration”. Personally, I doubt they’d drive over a mine but it was always worth a shot.
“Mines away” I heard Stacie break in. Our Beasts would be paired up in the next phase of the planned operation.
After a few seconds of silence she broke in again. “Bug Bear is getting anxious, he’s almost ready to get out there now”.
“He can wait” I responded. Bug Bear and the other Dragoons would play a big role in the coming battle. Bug Bears man-packed heavy laser would be a real asset in potentially disabling the enemy Beasts. Assuming he didn’t get run over by one of them or get too close to one of the enemy Smart Mines.
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Post by Attero Dominatus on Jan 15, 2010 0:56:59 GMT -5
Great battle so far! Cannot wait to see how it ends.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Jan 15, 2010 1:14:49 GMT -5
Thanks. Me either. I'll be working on it tomorrow if I am not too busy.
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Post by Floyd Looney on Feb 1, 2010 0:51:35 GMT -5
The two armies were closing on each other but the jamming and the belcher-produced smokescreens soon made it impossible to target and locate enemy Beasts. CIWS guns and dragoons ready to deploy were now the main weapons.
Our Beasts had been lined up in a row and I hoped they stayed that way, but knew it was impossible to know for sure where each other was. Our sensors were almost totally useless at this point, once in a while a magnetic reading but more often than not it came from the ground below.
I was trying to make sense of another magnetic reading on the main monitor when I was thrown across the floor. There was a loud sound at the same time, at first I thought we had been hit by a missile. The Beast had been rocked sideways but it now came back down onto its tracks.
We had been bumped hard, traded paint with another Beast-there was nothing but flat land for anything else. "All stop I ordered" of course the only Beast Commander who could hear me was the Beast I was standing in.
"Are the dragoons ready?"
"Seventy heavily armed dragoons are ready, sir" I heard back.
"Tell them to walk towards the back of the Beast straight west, there may be another Beast there" It was the best guess I had. I was assuming the other Beast had stopped too and was sending out dragoons as well.
It was possible they were on our side but I would bet against it.
Now we waited. We also watched the sensors, we could see the IR of our troops as they exited the Beast and moved towards it rear. As soon as they were mere feet from the vehicle, the sensors had no hope to detect anything through the black fog produced by two dozen belchers.
A good gust of wind could clear it some, give us a glimpse and maybe allow enough time to launch a few missiles. It would also give the enemy the same opportunity.
I order the dozen guys and a woman in my command room to put on some of the Tac-Armor, standing still in battle always gave me the willies. It was something I was never really good at. Combat was movement, standing still never seemed like a good plan.
The Tac-Armor was much like what the Dragoons were wearing but lighter and not as protective. The masks would filter out any chemical that might intrude, including the black fog of the belchers. It was only dangerous in heavy concentrations though.
"We got something!" one of the sensor monitors was showing something. Wind! We watched to see any sign, soon we faintly saw some human signatures-I presumed they were our Dragoons. The thinning of the black fog was closing again but moved. There was definitely a Beast a few hundred meters back of us and it was almost on its side.
"Weapons fire detected!" someone yelled as the fog closed back up, I didn't see it but I was going to trust this person.
"Commander, pivot, prepare CIWS guns"
The other Beast wasn't going to be moving any time soon, so our computers had it dead to rights.
"CIWS guns are ready"
I nodded at the Weapons Two officer and opened my mouth to order fire when my whole world erupted into bright light and threw me into the air. I could hear grunts and screams through the roar of an explosion.
The whole side of the command deck had been ripped off in the blast, I was soaring through the gap. I landed on my side and tried to roll, wrong way. My breath was knocked out of me, I might have blanked out, but how would I notice when the whole world is black?
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Post by Floyd Looney on Feb 3, 2010 11:02:48 GMT -5
Hand to hand combat of foot soldiers, I guess it had to come to this. With two dozen Belchers operating its hard to see something right in front of you. Sensors are nearly useless, even IR would only penetrate a few feet.
It was a struggle just to sit up, my side was screaming in pain. I hit a switch on my helmet, it would overlay any heat signature detected on my visor. Nothing.
Wait, there was a faint signature. I crawl to it. Just a few feet away lay the prone body of one of my command staff. The fall had broken his neck. His body was fast losing heat, without the Tac Armor he'd been cold by now.
The Beast I fell out of was probably to my left. But if I go in the wrong direction there is no telling where I would end up. No, I am going to try to find the Dragoons. They should be, um, that way. The walking hurt, but it seemed to hurt less if I didn't think about it. Nothing feels broken at least.
The Dragoons had been in battle somewhere over here, I just notice I had no weapon at all. Well, that is great.
I hear a beeping noise in the distance to my right, then a loud explosion and shouts. Someone had tripped a mine laid down by a Beast. By the time you saw them in this soup, it was probably too late. You had to run in the opposite direction just to have a shot at getting away.
If your far enough away dropping flat to the ground was a good idea, better than not at least. Those mines leave craters, they don't leave much else, but their range is purposely designed to be small. They're really aimed for disabling Beasts. They pulverize humans.
Another thing you could do is to stop totally still and try to fool it into thinking your just background noise. Of course is a soldier is alone, he might not trigger it at all. It depends on the sensitivity they are set to.
My orders were for the least sensitive setting to be used, I wanted the Beasts killed, not the humans if we can avoid it. Most of the humans on the other side were just dupes, or they had no loyalty to their side, just fear.
"Sir!" someone touched my shoulder from behind "What are you doing out here?"
Oh I had some comebacks for that one run through my head but I answered "My Beast was hit. Whats going on here?"
"We think we have some of their soldiers pinned down in a small rocky outcrop. I have guys ringed all around it, we were about to start moving in on it"
Don't let me get in your way. If they aren't there then we don't have a reason for a standoff with a rock, do we? If it were easier to see things might be different.
"Where is that other Beast? It was leaned over sideways wasn't it?"
"Sure was. Its probably about thirty-nine meters that way. It's looming over us, we just can't see it"
So at least two Beasts were less than a third of a kilometer apart in this black mess. If they could see each other, they'd be blasting away. Maybe things are less deadly in the Belcher fog, but accidental deaths were probably higher.
"Troops, forward. Close in!" I heard the Dragoon Commander order. That was followed by sounds of shots and a scuffle, finally I was able to find them. I could barely see several reddish shapes in my visor, thanks to IR, even though were a few feet apart.
"Was anybody there?" I asked.
"We found two, one was killed. One was captured unhurt"
I can see the shape of someone sitting on the ground and I kneel, a gun was pointed right at them. I knew this because I bumped into it.
"Whats your name soldier?" I asked, after a bit of silence I added "If your nobody, then I guess I can let them practice..."
"Tarsis. Sari Tarsis. I'm just a COM operator, really!" She said. You couldn't tell by the fuzzy IR reading it was a girl, just by the voice coming from the suit.
"Sara Tarsis, why are you fighting us?"
"My Beast commander remains loyal to the Czar, everyone else seems too scared to take any other side. We'd get killed. There is only a few who really wants to fight at all, but we have guns to our backs!"
People were dying for this? We had very few real enemies on Cochrane, and we're killing their slave army? I have to think of something. Something had to change.
"Did anyone happen to plot where my Beast was on their helmets mapping system?" I asked. My hadn't survived the fall. Actually the things were notoriously unreliable and faulty, especially without satellite GPS, which we did not have in the best of times. The silence in response wasn't good.
"No, but I know which direction its in"
"Then you can escort me and Sara Tarsis back to my Beast" I just hope the rest of it is intact. Some kind of plan was formulating in my mind, it would involve clearing the air.
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Post by Attero Dominatus on Feb 5, 2010 21:08:15 GMT -5
Very good! Especially the second part of the ground battle. Very suspenseful. I look forward to how this battle concludes.
Avoiding or countering the retaliation from orbit, and maybe taking the Czarist ships are some other challenges for your characters, if you plan to take it that far.
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