A Pale Dawn Read online

  He gave her his favorite pre-battle smile. “I will let the others know.”

  * * *

  Conference Room, Golara Command Center, Golara System

  The conference room within the command center was abuzz as the various commanders filled it. It had the capacity to hold 50 Humans, but as the last commanders began to arrive, it was crowded with over 100. Alexis, Jim, Nigel, and Sansar entered together, a planned move on their part, to a resounding wave of applause. All four Horsemen commanders were brought up short.

  “The Four Horsemen!” somebody yelled, and the applause turned to a roar of cheers. They stood together in the battle-scarred room until the applause died down. Then Nigel faced the room, came to attention, and saluted the attendees. In a moment, the others did the same. The room fell silent as everyone came to attention and returned the salute. Most mercs weren’t much for saluting, so it wasn’t the best-executed maneuver, but every man, woman, and alien present did their best.

  “We are only four men and women,” Sansar Enkh said.

  “We all fight for freedom,” Jim Cartwright said.

  “No matter what world we come from,” Alexis Cromwell said.

  “This victory belongs to all of us,” Nigel Shirazi finished.

  Alexis waited a moment then led her fellow Horsemen to the head of the conference table. “Before we begin, I wanted to ask for a moment to remember those who came with us to Golara, and who will never leave. The following ships were lost with all hands:

  “EMS Citation, EMS Laban, EMS Mercy, EMS Offering, EMS Empress Jito, and EMS Skofung. Casualties totaled 440 officers, enlisted, and technicians. In addition, EMS Sleipnir lost twenty-nine crewmembers; EMS Stonewall Jackson, fourteen crewmembers; EMS Secretariat, nineteen crewmembers; EMS Hrunting, thirty-one crewmembers; and another seventeen on other ships. In total, the Winged Hussars gave 550 lives with 114 wounded in the taking of Golara.” The mood of the room was as somber as could be as Alexis nodded to Sansar.

  “Trooper losses total forty-nine,” Sansar said. “The brunt of those were in Ragnar’s Reapers, who lost all hands. They were tasked with holding the space dock against stiff opposition. The last to fall was Sergeant 1st Class Amunson, who held until my unit relieved them.” She saluted again, and the room followed suit.

  “Ragnar’s Reapers!” Sansar roared, and the room echoed her call.

  “These are not the last casualties we’ll suffer,” Alexis said. “Let’s make sure the price they paid is worth it.” She sat, and everyone did as well. “Now, thanks to Colonel Cartwright and his little friend, Splunk, we have some intel,” she said, nodding toward Jim whose neck was grew red with the attention. The little alien watched the proceedings quietly, as she had the ceremony moments before. Alexis used her pinplants, and the crowded room’s Tri-V came alive with a map showing the Cresht region of the Tolo arm—their home in the Milky Way.

  After establishing the location, the map zoomed in to center on Earth. Those familiar with celestial maps knew the range was less than 500 light years. Right next door, in galactic terms, eleven star systems were illuminated blue—the various colonies either completely or partially Human.

  “Peepo’s assault encompasses every Human presence within the Cresht region, which is every significant Human interest in the galaxy.”

  “Fuck,” someone spat, and set off a wave of exclamations from others.

  “We’re going to kick them off, right?”

  Alexis glanced at the speaker, linking the face with a name through her pinplants: Colonel Shane Gries, commander of the largest merc unit rescued from Earth, Tom’s Total Terrors, aka “Triple T.” Colonel Gries had a lot of sway among the units assembled, and heads bobbed in agreement around him. She spoke: “No, Colonel Gries, we cannot relieve them all.”

  “And why not?” he asked. An imposing man, Gries was pushing 60, with mostly grey hair and a jaw square enough to help in carpentry. His eyes flashed in accusation.

  Alexis dug into his file a little further. Ah, there it is. His family was settled on the tiny colony of Valais. On the tactical map, four of the Human colonies had red rings around their icons. He’d come to the correct conclusion that the ones not in red were not going to be relieved. Valais was one not so ringed.

  “We don’t have the assets,” Sansar explained.

  Colonel Gries made a show of looking around the room. “Fourteen merc companies,” he said. “We got about twenty battalions. About two-thirds of that is CASPers, and the rest is armor, infantry, and some arty. We can kick a lot of alien ass with that.”

  Alexis glanced at the line of her commanders at a table near the back of the room. Sixty-six ship commanders and their XOs. Quite a few of them were aliens, and they looked uncomfortable with Gries’ sentiments. For that matter, it looked like a lot of the merc commanders and their XOs weren’t too happy with the aliens, either.

  “Colonel Gries,” Alexis said, “we do have a good-sized force; this is true.” The older commander smiled and nodded at her acknowledging his point. “How do you advise we defeat all of their naval assets?”

  “The same way you did here,” he said. “The Hussars’ prowess is well known.” Several people yelled their agreement.

  “I appreciate your confidence,” Alexis said, “however, I simply do not have the numbers.” The room fell silent again. “We prevailed here because they were not expecting an attack. The ships here were destined to reinforce those four worlds,” she said, and pointed to the key planets. We know which forces are where. We also have full knowledge of their strategic importance to Peepo and to us. We’ve picked targets based on that, and the colonies’ populations.”

  “And the smaller colonies? Are they just to be left on their own?”

  “For now, yes.” That same grumble of discontent.

  “We must be patient!” Nigel’s strong Persian voice cut through the room like a gunshot, bringing instant silence. “Few have lost more than I and my people. Few.” He looked around the room, his piercing brown eyes picking individuals out of the crowd and staring them down. “If I can wait and do my part, the rest of you can, too.”

  “We’re not abandoning anyone,” Jim Cartwright added. “We just need to act in the most prudent way now, so that we can free all the others later.”

  “Thank you, Colonel Cartwright,” Alexis said. “Getting back to the plan we’ve put together, here are the target packages.”

  The Tri-V showed each of the four targets. The Hussars fleet was broken into four task forces, each intended to sufficiently counter enemy fleets in each system. Those systems were Talus, the largest Human colony, Canopy, Frost, and Paradise.

  Talus was allocated to Cartwright’s Cavaliers. The largest of the worlds, Talus had always tried to suggest it was independent, even calling itself the Independent Republic of Talus. Its government was closer to that of the old Soviet Union than anything else. However, the planet was a prime weapons contractor and possessed modest strategic materials deposits. Mostly, it produced lots of food and was home to over one million people. In addition to the Cavaliers, the Red Lancers, Gitmo’s Own, Triple T, Hellcats, Dood Wrack, and the 1st Highland Regiment would join them.

  Canopy would be the Golden Horde’s target. A jungle planet, its extensive cover played well into the hit and run tactics of the Horde. They would bring the Roaring Saints, Daredevils, and MMD (Maddox’s Mad Dogs).

  Alexis expected the hardest orbital battle to be either Talus or Frost. She’d decided to take on the fleet at Frost. She was bringing the marine-specialized Mickey Finn to aid in any orbital battles. For the ground assault, she had the Copperheads, Muerte Negra, Titty Twisters, Laut Yang Tanang, Flambeaux Calais, and Espade Sangrenta.

  Finally, it was Asbaran Solutions who would take on Paradise. To assist on the desert planet, Nigel would bring Drake’s Rangers, an infiltration specialist, Taint Nothin, and Derniere Legion.

  Detailing everything took a total of two hours. Alexis was somewhat surprised to see a fe
w of the merc commanders casting glares at each other. There was bad blood between some of them, and it seemed that not even an apocalyptic war could get them to put it aside. Sansar’s help proved instrumental in avoiding particularly caustic pairings; as the leader of a space naval unit, Alexis wasn’t nearly as aware of the squabbles as the other woman was.

  “I am taking command of Task Force Frost,” Alexis said. “Task Force Canopy will be led by Commander Stacey aboard Shadowfax. Task Force Talus will be commanded by Commander Jormungd aboard Phaeton, and Task Force Paradise will be led by Captain Eshek on Franklin Buchanan.” To her surprise, Nigel didn’t flinch at finding out his fleet component would be commanded by an alien Sidar. She felt a small surge of pride for him. The man was changing before her eyes.

  “Thank you and Colonel Enkh for handling all the organization,” Nigel said. “We’ll all do our best to free these planets and take the fight to Peepo. And, once we do, I’m hoping we can then take it to Peepo on Earth!”

  A cheer from the crowd showed their general approval, although Alexis could see that many of the leaders—and most of the non-Human mercs—didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic for trying to make that assault as Nigel was. It was sure to be bloody, and many of the leaders thought it unnecessary. She shrugged internally. An assault on Earth would have to wait until they saw how the assault on the colonies turned out. If everything went as she hoped, the way to Earth might be clear. If not, though…they would have to re-evaluate their strategic options.

  “Very well,” Alexis said. “My fleet logistics people are going to be handing out chips to each unit commander and fleet captain with details of your task forces. I’ve allocated carriers for systems where we expect heavy space resistance and transports to help move units which do not have their own ships. If all goes well, we’ll be back in New Warsaw to plan the next step of the operation in one month.”

  The meeting broke up and left the Horsemen alone once more. “I’m sorry for saddling you with Colonel Gries,” Sansar said to Jim. “He’s a capable commander and Triple T is a tough unit. You’ll need them on Talus.”

  “I can handle him,” Jim said, though she could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t completely convinced. The young commander was full of surprises, so who knew? He was bringing his Raknar, and the very sight of the massive war machine might well compel the aliens occupying the planet to surrender.

  “Well, we leave in twenty-four hours,” Alexis said. “Let’s finish up and get going.”

  * * *

  Command Center, Underdeep, Paradise

  “You’re just in time,” Mayor Meredith McGee said as Walker and Ferguson entered the Underdeep Command Center. “The fleet just called.”

  “What did they say?” Walker asked.

  “They asked us to surrender.”

  “No surprise there.”

  “Dixia Cheng has already surrendered.”

  Walker nodded. “No surprise there,” he repeated. Although the other city was close by geographically, the two cities had very different outlooks. While Underdeep was a commercially-driven enterprise, Dixia Cheng had started as a religious enclave—much like the commune where he’d grown up—and their council of elders was known to have a very “live and let live” mentality. Fighting of any kind just wasn’t in their natures.

  “What did you tell them about Underdeep?” Ferguson asked.

  “I haven’t told them anything yet,” McGee replied. “I wanted to get your opinion first. What do you think? Can we hold?” Her eyes bored into Ferguson as if trying to burn the truth out of him.

  “I don’t know, ma’am,” Ferguson replied. “I was just going over our defenses with Lieutenant Colonel Walker here, and he thinks we can make it costly enough that they might give it up.”

  “And what are they going to do then?” McGee asked, turning to Walker.

  Walker shrugged. “No telling. They’ll do whatever Peepo ordered them to do. I suspect they want us brought in alive, and if they can’t do that, they’ll try to kill us.”

  “I’ve heard rumors of entire systems being destroyed,” McGee said. “That’s what I’m guessing, too.”

  “Admiral Jarkyl just called back,” a young technician said. “He wants an answer.”

  “Put him on the Tri-V,” McGee said.

  “What’s it going to be?” Walker asked. “Dead or slave?”

  The mayor didn’t have time to answer as the screen lit up with the visage of a Maki admiral in his CIC. Walker immediately wanted to tear the look off the little creature’s face. He hadn’t realized the aliens could look smug. It turned out he was wrong—they could.

  “Can I assume you’ve called back to surrender?” the admiral asked. “You have no space-based defense, nor do you appear to have any anti-space weapons. We hold your orbitals. What’s it going to be?”

  “Admiral, have you noticed the surface of our planet?”

  “Yes, Mayor, I have. It is a lousy world full of sand.”

  “Great. Then you will know how big a job it is when I tell you to go pack sand.”

  “I’m sorry, I do not know what that means.”

  “That’s a euphemism that translates into me telling you to fuck off.”

  “I’m sorry! Did you just decline to surrender?”

  “No, I told you to fuck off, but, since you obviously weren’t smart enough to pick up on it, the implication was yes—we are declining to surrender. If you want us, come and get us. You know where we are. My people tell me that you only brought three transports, though, so you didn’t bring enough troops to do it. Perhaps you ought to just start the bombing now. You’ll waste a lot less of our time if you’d do so. Or just leave. That’s a better use of resources for both of us.”

  “We’ll see if you’re so disrespectful when my troops have dug you out of that hole you’re hiding in.”

  “Hey, Jarkyl?” the mayor asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Why don’t you shove both your tails up your ass? You think you can beat us? Come down here and try.” She motioned to the tech, who cut off the transmission while the admiral was still spluttering and turned to Walker. “I think you have some defenses to improve. If you’d go see to them, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Walker said with a smile.

  McGee nodded once. “I’m nobody’s slave.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Three

  EMS Pegasus, Standing off Stargate, Golara System

  Alexis watched Task Force Paradise go through the stargate with mixed emotions. It was the smallest contingent of warships by ship size. It had been difficult for her to send only a salvaged Izlian battlecruiser as the heaviest ship. The task force also had four cruisers, two newly acquired Maki light cruisers, a couple of escort frigates, and four frigates. There were plenty of ships, but most of them were smaller ones. She also didn’t have a carrier to spare. She had to send two transports because Taint Nothin and Derniere Legion didn’t have their own ships.

  You know why you’re really bothered, she thought. Nigel. They’d managed another couple of hours together before returning to their own commands. Now he was gone—the first of the four task forces to leave, because they guessed Paradise would be the most likely to have the aliens bog down. If so, it was a good bet he could fuck up their plans.

 

  “Then he dies,” she replied.

 

  “Why do you care?”

 

  “Are you thinking about leaving?” Alexis tried to imagine how long the one second pause was to a machine that could process a trillion times faster than she could. A day? A week? A year?

 

  “I’m relieved.”

 

  Alexis’ head spun ar
ound to the big Tri-V in the CIC’s center. Two blips appeared near the distant emergence point. “Flipper, report!”

  The Selroth sensor tech looked at her in surprise, then scanned his displays. “Sensor drones report two Hussars ships.” He paused for a moment. “It’s the Excalibur and Capricorn, returning from New Persia.”

  The Tri-V updated the two ships as friendly and showed them boosting toward the stargate where nearly all the Hussars ships were standing to; the stargate and emergence point were two light minutes apart. Alexis scowled, annoyed at the lag the conversation would have. Two minutes later, right on cue, Excalibur’s report arrived.

  “Commander Cromwell, Captain McQuay reporting. As you can guess, our being here means we ran into trouble. New Persia is gone. The entire population has been annihilated by orbital nuclear bombardment.”

  “Bastards!” Abby Smith said. She had replaced Glick as SitCon when he went to be the XO on EMS Lubieszów, one of their two new battleships.

  “Quiet,” Paka snapped, and Abby’s cheeks turned red.

  “As we were unable to load as ordered,” Captain McQuay continued, “we followed contingencies and came here. It looks like we’re just in time.”

  Good thing Nigel is already gone, she thought. New Persia was an attempt by his people to get a new start. The planet was a shithole in many ways, yet it had resources and industrious people. Binnig had built a factory there—the only non-Earth factory—to make their much-lauded Mk 9 CASPer. It sounded like that was now gone, too.

  “SitCon?” Alexis said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Abby replied.

  “Assign Excalibur to Task Force Frost, and Capricorn to Task Force Canopy. The Horde is next to last to leave, so they’ll have time to move forces off their overcrowded warships. We now have the transport capability to spare.”

  “Right away,” the SitCon replied.