THE ROAD TO NEW EXETER
EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
8 APRIL 3150
0020 HOURS
The road to New Exeter Spaceport was dark and empty of traffic. There were no patrols Jasper could see. Still, the Ostsol’s ECM was active, and all of them looked for signs of activity. They would split up before the ’Mechs made the turn toward the spaceport proper. The ’Mechs ran in tight formation in the middle of the convoy. The Goblin and the Fox were in the front, the Vedettes in the rear.
To his right, Delany piloted a fifty-five-ton Griffin. She had an ER PPC in her right arm, two ER medium lasers—one in the center of her torso, one in her left arm—and the only missiles the ’Mechs carried. The LRM 15 mounted in her ’Mech’s right shoulder had sixteen volleys of live ammo. Not flash-bang training rounds. The goal was for her to come home with as many missiles as possible. The Griffin also had jump jets that would serve her well in the urban terrain of the spaceport.
To his left, Claire was in a forty-ton Watchman. It also had jump jets, and was the most mobile of the three in rough and urban terrain. Her weapons consisted of a particle projector cannon and two medium lasers, the PPC in her left arm and the lasers in her right. One of the Watchman’s benefits was its double heat sinks: the “freezers” were twice as effective as normal ones, but took up three times the space. Still, they allowed the Watchman to fire its lasers far more often than those without enhanced heat sinks.
The Ostsol was a little different than the one he used in the simulations. It was still equipped with lasers and an ECM suite, and didn’t have jump jets. A medium pulse laser was in his ’Mech’s head, an ER large laser was in his left torso, and a snub-nose PPC in his right torso. ER medium lasers sat above those on both sides of the other weapons. It was this heavy laser power that made it so easy to overheat if he didn’t use his weapons appropriately. The MASC allowed him to move in quick bursts of added speed, but only for short times. Too much and his leg actuators would seize. Still, it was enough to keep him on par with the other ’Mechs’ jump jets.
Delany’s job was to provide cover fire for the rescue team. She had the range to do it while keeping close to the rest of the lance. Claire’s job was to take out as much of the radars, sensor arrays, and communications equipment as possible. His job was to oversee it all and also provide cover fire, then lead all the ’Mechs away when Nadine gave the word. Providence willing, all the other vehicles would be with them, too.
The main difference Jasper felt, between the ’Mech simulations and the real thing, was the sense of height. In the simulator, while you knew you were supposed to be meters in the air, it didn’t feel like it. The simulators rocked and swayed and crashed like real ’Mechs, but they didn’t make you feel tall. In the real thing, he felt a giddy sense of towering over the world around him and the need to make sure he didn’t accidentally crush something underfoot. It was a sense of power he could get used to. He now understood when senior cadets complained that simulators were good, but not as good as the real thing.
The Fox Armored Car peeled off first. Benjamin Delamere drove, and Henry Cobb manned the bola turret. Two klicks later, the Goblin II Infantry Support Vehicle peeled off. It was driven by Nadine and supported by Lyric and James Radcliff. Four klicks later, both Vedettes peeled off together. The first was driven by Harper Estbury, the second by Victor Ross. Pontus Wolke and Meeri Panula manned the harpoon launchers, respectively.
He didn’t know most of the cadets on this run, but it struck him that while it was a mixture of Blooded, Patroned, and Sponsored cadets in the field, none of that mattered now. They were all soldiers trying to do their collective best for a common goal. Part of him wondered if Goodryke would’ve realized this, had he been along.
Jasper left that thought behind in the dark and focused on the present.
The lance was alone, running for the spaceport, knowing they had to reach it at the appropriate time. Now that the vehicles were out of safe comm range, timing was everything. They needed to attack the spaceport at 0100 hours—no matter what.
Sergeant Major Vale Auger took every back road he knew through the countryside to reach New Exeter. He’d realized halfway into his journey that he was going to have to ditch his jeep someplace safe and spend a lot more time than he wanted running between darkened buildings and abandoned streets to get to his goal. While the outlying roads were clear, he suspected the capital city, with its enforced curfew, was not.
He was right.
It’d been a couple years since he traversed the back alleys through New Ex, but he still remembered the hidden paths as if he’d just run them a few days ago. Almost nothing had changed. In truth, change on Emporia, especially construction, was rare, slow, and well thought out before it was enacted. This was both a boon and a detriment.
While he could see down the evenly gridded streets from one end of the city to the other, it meant the roving infantry patrols could see down the streets as well. In a city under curfew, all movement was suspect. Vale kept to the shadows and slowed his step to keep from being caught.
Most of the journey was a series of quick darts from shadow to shadow, punctuated by moments of terror as an enemy patrol vehicle, usually an armored car, paused to shine a light down the road or alleyway. These were random, and heralded only by the sound of brakes grinding and engines idling. It wasn’t much, but it allowed him to hide. As long as he didn’t move, it didn’t matter if part of him was exposed. The patrols seemed to look only for movement, not heat signatures. A failing on their part.
Then again, as far as Vale knew, before Emporia, the Draconis Combine hadn’t “peacefully” occupied a planet with the intent to…do what? Move in and take over with as little destruction and death as possible? Perhaps it was nothing more than a lack of experience on the part of the patrols. Quiet didn’t always mean complicit.
The New Exeter Communications building had no such lack. Two Mk. II HCV Scimitars, designed for close-combat infantry support, sat in front of the partially lit building. He saw four soldiers in Draconis Combine infantry armor on the front stairs, all armed with various pistols, rifles, and machine guns. There was no way he could take them on. Going in the front wasn’t an option. Not that it ever was. This was just recon.
Vale headed around the back of the NEC building from one building over to the right. He looked down the alleyway to see two soldiers standing there, also in infantry armor and festooned with weapons. As he considered his options, a patrolling soldier in Kishi battle armor came around the far side and stopped to talk to the two guards.
For one brief moment, Vale had considered taking on these guards. With the commando on site, it was out of the question. The Kishi was armed with a heavy machine gun and a heavy vibro battle claw. It was clear the Combine meant to keep control of the NEC building. It was equally clear that he had to get inside.
Remembering that his world had three dimensions, Vale looked up and around. It was rare for the enemy to remember to put patrols on the top of buildings. Doubly so with infantry in battle armor that could jump thirty meters. He climbed the outside drainpipe of the four-story building.
Once on the roof, he hunkered down. This rooftop was a garden, complete with a greenhouse. Several benches dotted the rows of potted trees and foliage. A quick look in the greenhouse showed herbs and vegetables. He didn’t remember it as a garden. It was a nice change.
From the cover of the trees, Vale scanned the rooftop. It was filled with satellite dishes, antennas, and several comm towers. But no people. Not as far as he could see. It was almost like looking at a technological garden. From the edge of the building, he eyed the distance between where he was and where he needed to be. It couldn’t be more than a meter or two.
In his youth, he could’ve jumped that distance with ease. That was more than a couple decades ago, old man. You think you can still do it? Vale shook his head. It wasn’t a question of if. He had to make it.
Jumping wasn’t really an option.
But improvisation was. The shed on the top of the building was both an entrance to the building below—through the open stairway—and a tool storage. Tools that included a ladder and rope. That was a makeshift bridge right there. He laid the ladder down between two benches and tested it. The ladder held. It would do.
He anchored one end of the ladder to the largest, heaviest tree and one of the concrete edge stones. Without thinking too hard about what he was doing, Vale walked across his makeshift bridge with steady steps. He looked back and saw it was still anchored. He could use it as an escape if needed.
Of course, if any of the soldiers looked up, they would see it, and that path would be closed forever. No use dwelling on it. He’d anchored it too well to remove it from this side. Also, if he were chased, he suspected adrenaline would help him leap the space between buildings.
He moved through the rooftop equipment to the stairwell door. The Black Box, his primary mission, was housed on the top floor. The emergency broadcast system, his secondary mission, was on the ground floor. Looking at his watch, he saw he had five minutes to get into place. Vale opened the stairwell door.
A young Combine soldier sat cross-legged on the floor at the top of the stairs, shocked and slack-jawed.
Nadine had worried about the engine noise from four vehicles descending on the spaceport until they got to the outer wall, a four-meter-tall, solid, soundproof composite material designed to look like wood. It did a good job of protecting the nearby land from the takeoff and landing noises of DropShips, aerospace fighters, and VTOLs.
She hadn’t been back to the spaceport since they’d arrived on Emporia, so it was no surprise that she didn’t remember the wall. There was little she remembered about that trip and her arrival except for a lot of fear, uncertainty, and an unending parade of unfamiliar faces.
The dirt road to the spaceport fence showed some recent usage, but Nadine couldn’t tell how old the tracks were.
Henry jumped out of the Fox, followed by Meeri Panula from Vedette One. The two of them dragged open a section of fencing that crossed the dirt road. It was clear that this section of fence was designed to open and close, that the hinges were a well-made afterthought, and that Meeri had done this before. She couldn’t remember if Meeri was Patroned or Sponsored, but it didn’t really matter.
As soon as the fence swung open, everyone could hear the sound of the spaceport. Vehicles drove around, and buildings were lit. Nadine motioned for Henry and Meeri to get back into their vehicles.
“Should we close it after we’re through?” Henry asked.
“No,” Nadine said. “If we need a quick exit, I’d rather not have to stop to open it again.”
Henry nodded and hurried back to the Fox.
She keyed her comm. “We’re going in. Either word from Jasper or the sound of the ’Mechs firing is our cue to get to the target bay. Suppression fire with machine guns as needed. Get our people out, get the MechWarriors to the ’Mechs, and protect them until they get the ’Mechs going. Everyone else is targeted for the Goblin, but shove as many people in your vehicles as you can, if needed. Remember to tell the MechWarriors we’ve got an ECM bubble going, and friendlies will have comms, but the enemy shouldn’t. Within 180 meters of the Ostsol, that is.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cadet Delamere commed, followed by a “Yes, ma’am” from Cadet Ross and Cadet Estbury.
Lyric grinned at Nadine. “Yes, ma’am.”
Nadine tried to smile back. The bald truth was she thought she was going to wet herself at the first sound of weapons fire. She hoped she wouldn’t, and shrugged. “Scared.”
Lyric’s smile disappeared. “Scared keeps you alive.”
She looked at her watch. “Let’s go get our people.
“Yes, ma’am.”
This time, Nadine did smile.