"Very good, Colonel," she said. "I believe your plan might work. Take all the Jaegers you need and capture that ship. I'll send the Marines to the factory to find out what's there."
Horacio nodded. "Ma'am. I'll get to work immediately. I need two days--Arash days--to plan the attack."
Jiao nodded and Horacio left the bridge.
"Jeffery, go and plan the attack on the surface with the Marines. I want both teams ready at the same time."
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.
***
As Jeffery walked away from the bridge, he thought about his feelings. He'd known, even feared, this moment when he'd have to send Ellen to face the unknown.
At first, he thought of reassigning her to other duties--but he decided against it. He knew how she'd react to any suggestion like that. After all, he'd react the same way as he knew Ellen would: he'd be furious.
He sighed and went to plan the attack with the Marines.
***
Two Arash days later, the plans for attacking the Kaitian frigate and the factory on the surface were ready. The scans had revealed a Kaitian presence on the surface, but not the exact numbers of them. This meant there was an uncomfortably large unknown variable in the plans to attack the factory.
"Impressive, gentlemen," Jiao commended both Jeffery and Horacio. "Most impressive."
"I agree," said Jeffery, looking at the plans to capture the Kaitian frigate. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were out of your mind."
"Thank you, Commander," said Horacio. "Your own plans are also excellent. Especially since we don't know how many Kaitians there are."
"How much time you need to prepare?" asked Jiao.
"This day," said Horacio, "but I'd like people to rest before the attack. So I suggest we attack in sixteen hours."
Jiao looked questioningly at Jeffery, who nodded.
"Good," said Jiao, "Go on and prepare. The final briefing is just before the attack."
***
"Ready?" asked Caleb once they were all inside the shuttle.
He got only nods as answers. They had just been briefed by the commander and within minutes would start the orbital drop.
They'd drop on the other side of the planet to minimize detection by the Kaitian frigate. Once on the surface, they'd first have a ten-hour flight, then a three-hour march on foot to the factory entrance. Fortunately, the planet was suitable for humans, so they wouldn't need environmental armor.
"Ten seconds!" shouted the pilot.
Marines tightened their grips and made final checks to safety belts before the shuttle started its rough descent to the planet. Caleb noted how quiet everyone was. Typically, there would be shouts going back and forth, but now they were silent. It must be because of the unknown they were facing--not only the Kaitians but a five million-year-old factory, built by sentient machines. Caleb shook his head; he, too, was quiet and thoughtful, but managed to fell asleep.
"Five minutes!" shouted the pilot. Caleb awoke with a start. Most of the squad had been asleep and that surprised and pleased Caleb; they needed strength for the three-hour march.
"Check your gear!" ordered Caleb and the Marines made final checks before landing on the surface.
All three Marine platoons were part of the ground assault, and the Jaegers were to assault the frigate in orbit together with the remaining soldiers of the Arash Auxiliary Support Regiment. Caleb's squad would go inside the factory right after the 3rd platoon and the rest would follow. Two squads from the 5th platoon would guard the entrance. The Arash Colonel had made floor plans of the factory to ease the planning, but it was a huge factory and he didn't know all the details. And they didn't know how many Kaitians there would be.
"One minute!" shouted the pilot.
Caleb straightened his helmet. "Savor this moment, ladies and gentlemen! We are the first humans to set a foot on this planet and we are the first humans to see something far older than the entire human species! I love this job!" he yelled and the Marines smiled, all looking a little more relaxed.
"We hear you, Sarge!" said Karl.
The shuttle landed smoothly and the Marines hurried outside. Caleb glanced around. All the Marines were already on the ground and the shuttle lifted off to hide away from the landing site.
Sergeants from the other squads signaled their readiness, and they started their march toward the factory entrance.
The ground was barren, nearly void of any flora. Gravity was slightly below Earth normal and that made the march easier. The temperature was fair; together with the crisp air, the march seemed like a Sunday jog in the park.
The Arash colonel had warned about indigenous life forms, but the Marines saw nothing and heard nothing.
The forward squad stopped when they had the factory entrance in sight. Caleb ordered his squad to take cover and opened his tactical computer and communications device.
The pad showed the location of all the Marines; as the observers began to see the enemies, they started to appear on the pad, too.
There were five enemy shuttles on the surface, but the scans from the orbit had only detected two. Each was much larger than their own shuttle, and they'd hold easily two or three platoons of Marines, sixty to ninety soldiers, in each.
The Kaitians were larger than humans, so Caleb assumed that one shuttle held two platoons of Kaitian soldiers--meaning three-to-one odds, ten enemy platoons against three Marine platoons.
At least two squads, twenty or so Kaitians, were at the entrance and patrolling the perimeter. The plan was to silently knock out the guards and patrols, but it might be easier said than done. Caleb chatted with other squad leaders using his pad, and they decided to snipe all the guards at the entrance and then knock out the patrols. Caleb waved Karl to him. "When I give the signal, make a run for it and knock out that patrol."
Karl looked at the pad and then toward the enemy. He was standing with his back to the factory entrance, looking at the barren landscape.
"I can crawl closer," said Karl, and moved his finger across the screen and drew a path. Caleb tapped the screen and the screen showed assumed line-of-sights of the enemies.
"Okay, you can go a little closer," said Caleb and pointed on the pad. "Here. The enemy won't see you. Snipers are ready. Get ready!"
Karl crawled silently closer to the enemy and crouched behind the rock.
Any moment now, he thought, and tensed.
"Go!" said Caleb and Karl sprinted toward the enemy.
He knew that the snipers pulled the triggers at the same time Caleb had given the order to him. Karl didn't see it, but the snipers killed twelve guards simultaneously; before even the first enemy had fallen dead to ground, Karl jumped toward a Kaitian and knocked him out.
All the Kaitian patrols were knocked without a fight. They hurried to secure the factory entrance, the shuttles, and the perimeter.
"Girard, Smith! Make sure that perimeter is secure!" ordered Caleb. "Hamilton! Check that shuttle, I want an exact number of how many enemies came with it!"
Ellen and Henry went to check the perimeter and Kyle ran toward the nearest shuttle and carefully entered. It was empty. There were seven rows of seats, each row with seven seats, total of forty-nine. Kyle was turning back to door when he glanced up.
There were another seven rows of seats in the ceiling.
"Oh, hell," said Kyle and called Caleb.
"What is it?" asked Caleb and Kyle pointed toward ceiling.
"Damn," said Caleb. He called to other squad leaders and told what he was seeing. Soon, others confirmed that all shuttles were the same--meaning that there might be nearly five hundred enemies on the surface; not three-to-one odds as he'd estimated earlier, but five-to-one odds.
"Girard, Smith!" called Caleb in his intercom.
"Sir?" asked Ellen.
"Widen the perimeter," said Caleb, "and make sure that there are no enemies within half a kilometer."
"Acknowledged," said Ellen.
"Sarge!" called Ka
rl, who was guarding the Kaitians. He'd taken away the Kaitians' weapons, armor, and any devices he'd found.
"What is it?" said Caleb.
"What do we do this Kaitian?" asked Karl. "Or these Kaitians? We have ten live prisoners now. We could call it off and go home."
"Yeah, we could." Caleb grinned. "But not yet."
He walked to Karl and his unconscious prisoners.
"Let's use their own shuttle as prisons. Take him in and tie him to the seat. Use the wire--around wrists, ankles, and neck. Make sure that he can't get away."
Karl nodded and lifted the Kaitian. "Damn, he's heavy!"
He carried the Kaitian to the nearby shuttle and Caleb crouched beside a large rock. He and other squad leaders coordinated their activities using the tactpad. They decided to enter the factory after the perimeter had been secured.
"Sarge!" called Ellen after a few minutes. "The area is secure. Nothing living within half a kilometer."
"Excellent," said Caleb, and updated that in his tactpad. Other squad leaders acknowledged immediately and confirmed that there were no enemies present within half a kilometer.
"We go in," he informed his squad, "right after the 3rd Platoon. Rendezvous at the entrance in one minute. And remember, as many live prisoners as possible."
***
As the Marines descended toward the planet, the Arash soldiers and three platoons of Jaegers were approached the Kaitian frigate, carefully maneuvering in their space suits. Four Jaeger platoons were held as reserve.
The approaching soldiers were in the same orbit as the enemy frigate. One by one, the troopers landed on the exterior hull of the frigate.
"Unbelievable!" Jeffery exclaimed when the first Arash troopers made contact with the hull. He'd expected the frigate to fire upon the approaching soldiers, but nothing had happened.
From their own scanners, the soldiers were as visible as stars, but only because they knew what to look for. Horacio had commented that it was nearly impossible to detect individual soldiers, unless one knew what to look for.
The first task of the raiding party was to disable sensors and communications. They accomplished the task on schedule, so that the Marines on the ground could engage the Kaitians outside the factory entrance without the frigate knowing about it.
***
"The Marines are moving inside the factory," said Tricia. "The Arash and Jaegers are breaching through the hull. Sensors shows increased, even hectic, activity aboard the Kaitian frigate."
"That's expected," said Horacio, "The loss of sensors and communications is not taken lightly. I don't believe, however, they know why they lost them. We still have the element of surprise. When we breach the hull, we'll make sure that the communications will stay disabled and then we methodically eliminate the opposition. Or disable them." He looked at Jiao. "We'll get the prisoners soon enough."
"And more," said Jeffery, smiling, "A Kaitian frigate. Command will drop their jaws and eyes when they see it."
Horacio laughed. "I'm sure they will."
"Ma'am," said Tricia, "they've breached the hull and are entering inside."
"The fight starts," said Horacio. "They've registered the hull breach and they send troopers to investigate. Now the enemy knows they've been attacked."
"The fight starts," said Jiao quietly to herself, "and blood will flow."
***
"Girard! Thornton!" said Caleb. "Secure that room!"
Ellen and Karl hurried to the door. Karl nodded to Ellen to open the door.
The room was dark and silent. Ellen opened the door slowly and stepped inside. Nothing happened and the room stayed dark.
"Nothing," said Ellen, relieved.
"Ah, here's a switch."
She pressed the switch and the light turned on. The room was totally empty.
"Empty?" wondered Karl. What was the purpose of an empty room?
"Sarge, the room is empty."
"Okay," said Caleb and he, too, wondered why all the rooms they've seen so far had been empty. They were in the fourth underground level. The 3rd platoon were in the upper levels, but no one had yet encountered the enemy. That meant that the Marines were still facing hundreds of enemy soldiers and the bloody fights were yet to come. Caleb sighed. "Move forward. Smith! Hamilton! Take point!"
Henry and Kyle hurried to point and slowly moved forward in a dark corridor.
The corridor was long and straight, and silence surrounded them--except for the quiet footsteps of the Marines and the constant humming of the fusion factory.
Suddenly, Henry raised his hand, and Kyle signaled the rest to halt.
"What is it?" whispered Kyle.
"Listen," whispered Henry.
Footsteps! Many footsteps. "Tell the Sarge," said Henry, and Kyle hurried back to inform Caleb, who came back to Henry to listen the footsteps.
"Find out where they are and come back," said Caleb to Henry. "And be careful!"
"Yes, sir," said Henry and moved ahead, listening to the footsteps. The corridor ended at a wide hall, and that's where the footsteps were coming from.
Unsurprisingly, the hall was empty--except for the faint light at the far side and several humanoid shapes around it. Henry saw at least five Kaitians, but he didn't dare to go closer; there was no cover in the hall.
The Kaitians seemed to be building something--perhaps a command post.
After a few minutes, Henry decided he had seen enough, and went back to tell Caleb.
"At least five?" asked Caleb. "But there could be more?"
"Yes, sir," said Henry.
Caleb thought about what to do. Their mission was to take prisoners, but there were many enemies in the factory, and they didn't have to capture all the enemies.
"Townsend!" called Caleb and Kate hurried to him.
"Sir?" she asked.
"There are at least five enemies in the hall ahead," said Caleb. "Take a team of four and get the enemy in your sights. The rest of us move closer, and we try to capture them. But if you think that they've seen us, take them all out. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," she said.
"Good," said Caleb. "Let's move."
The squad went to the entrance of the hall. Kate, Tommy, Ellen, Silvio, and Raquel stayed behind and were ready to take the Kaitians down if they detected the other Marines. Caleb and the rest moved closer to the Kaitians, very, very carefully.
They were almost upon them when one of the Kaitians stood up and took a step toward the Marines. Caleb's heart pounded. Did he see them? Another Kaitian came beside the first one and said something. Caleb expected Kate to shoot at any second now, but no shot came. The Kaitians relaxed and went on to continue whatever they were doing.
The Marines moved ahead, even more carefully, until they were behind the crates the Kaitians had been carrying to the hall. Caleb signaled to get ready to knock the Kaitians down.
But before they could do anything, the hall was lit. Somebody turned the lights on and in the center of the hall stood half a dozen Kaitians looking directly at Caleb and the other Marines.
There was a second's pause as everyone was greatly surprised--but the Marines recovered first.
Kate's team shot the Kaitians before they could raise their weapons and Caleb's team killed all the Kaitians they could see--fifteen Kaitians altogether.
"Where the hell did they come?" Caleb cursed, and ran to the bodies in the center of the hall.
"Find the switch and turn the lights off!" he ordered. "And find out where these came from!"
"Sir!" called Kate and pointed up. "Look!"
There was a hatch on the ceiling.
"Damn!" said Caleb and used his pad to inform other squads. No one else had encountered any hatches on the ceilings or floors.
The lights went out in the hall.
"Finally," said Caleb and walked to the Kaitian command post.
"Come here!" he ordered the Marines. "We need to cover our backs. Cortez and Chandler, you stay here. If any enemies c
ome from that hatch, kill them. And search the dead Kaitians, take their weapons, and find out if they carry anything interesting."
"Yes, sir," said Tommy and Silvio.
"The rest, we'll move forward," said Caleb. "We need to get some prisoners. Thornton, Girard. Take point."
Karl and Ellen moved ahead to the corridor at the other side of the hall. The corridor was again long and straight, but there were many doors on both sides of the corridor.
"Oh, hell," sighed Ellen. "We need to secure them all."
***
"Fall back! Fall back!" shouted Howard to the Jaegers of the 6-Alpha-1 Platoon of the Jaeger Brigade. They had to retreat. The Kaitians fought fiercely and he'd already lost half a squad.
The 6-Alpha-1 was one of three Jaeger platoons assigned to capture the frigate together with the platoon from the Arash Auxiliary Regiment. The four platoons had breached the hull in different sections of the frigate; two platoons breached the lowest decks both port and starboard and two platoons breached the upmost port and starboard decks.
The plan was to secure the ship deck by deck from bottom up and vice versa, and meet at the middle, or at the bridge. The 6-Alpha-1 Platoon had breached the lowest starboard deck.
"Hold this position!" Howard ordered the Jaegers who'd made a barricade of the dead Kaitians and the debris in the cross-section of a passage way.
"Sergeants!" he called. "Come here!"
Sergeants Pauline Vaughn of the 1st Squad, Kenneth Price of the 2nd Squad, and Richard Evans of the 3rd Squad hurried to Howard.
"Sir?" said Pauline.
"We must get through," said Howard. "Suggestions?"
"Yes, sir," said Kenneth. "We can burn through the walls and flank the enemy."
"Good," said Howard. "Have it done."
Kenneth turned to order his squad to do it.
"Other suggestions?" asked Howard.
Pauline pointed upward. "The ceiling, there should be opening where we can fit. We can strike them from above."