Prominence - Redemption

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  Del flicked backwards and forwards between the various holographic tactical overlays as he sat in the command node of the assault ship. Everyone else within the command node was noticeably quiet as they each dealt mentally with the fear and apprehension that was common to soldiers before combat. The tension had been growing for the past few hours as they watched the assault play out before them. Unfortunately the battle for Plorus was not going well and it was frustrating the hell out of him that he was not already down on the ground with his commando battalion.

  A few days earlier the task force had landed on the outer edge of the Plorus system to scout out the enemy. It was clear from the very beginning that they were facing the biggest Orlak fleet ever seen since the start of the war. This was not going to be a fight won by taking things head on so the Rear Admiral had decided to use hit and run tactics with the task force during each assault.

  The first wave of ground troops had landed three days prior, during the first punch and had been able to establish a solid bridgehead on the ground, but the second wave had been badly mauled as the Orlak adjusted to the Rear Admirals tactics. A third attack had be attempted and aborted so now the ground forces already on Plorus were floundering even with the help of what was left of the local population.

  The Rear Admiral had stubbornly not allowed Del to deploy to the ground with Alpha until the situation was more secure. Unfortunately by Del's estimate that was never going to happen. In frustration he forced the Rear Admiral's hand by delivering him an ultimatum that he and his entire commando force was going attempt a landing on Plorus in the next 24 hours with or without his help. It was something he did not really have the authority to do, but it was enough for the Rear Admiral to see the desperate nature of the situation and relent.

  All Del had to do now was wait for the right moment to jump into low orbit and start his surface landings. As he watched the fleet engage the Orlak blockade he had to admit that the Rear Admiral was a master of the three dimensional battle field. Unfortunately his Orlak opponent was almost his equal and made up for any deficiencies in sheer numerical superiority. The Rear Admiral had planned to draw the Orlak into what looked like a direct assault in orbit directly above the bridgehead on the ground. It was the most logical way forwards because landing fresh troops outside the defensive zones would simply split the offensive and make logistics even worse.

  The real plan was however to do exactly that, land on the opposite side of the planet and right into the enemies control zones. Del had done it before and it was a risky tactic even for his experienced commando's, but if executed well and exploited quickly before the Orlak could adjust, it would result in the exact type of chaos needed to breach enemy lines and try to communicate with the Orlak through Alpha.

  Initially it was looking like the Orlak were not falling for the bait, but as the Rear Admiral poured in more ships so did the Orlak. Soon they were swarming in like a feeding frenzy. Del's neck communicator crackled to life.

  "You are green to go!" ordered Ibek. "You have a 2 minute window before we pull the fleet or we risk losing the entire task force."

  "Affirmative," replied Del as he turned to the Captain of the assault ship. "Deploy for assault for the far side of Plorus!"

  With the wheels finally in motion for the ground assault he left the command node and raced to his drop ship where his most experienced and loyal commando squad were waiting for him, with Alpha safely strapped down in rear compartment with them. His squad consisted of two team of four men plus their medic and each member was handpicked by him. They were literally the elite of the elite forces. If anyone was going to get this job done it was going to be them. Normally he would have deployed with his command team to oversee the deployment of his entire battalion, but in this case getting Alpha behind enemy lines safely was paramount so he had delegated deployment of the battalion to his second in command Captain Ello Bargi.

  He reached his drop ship and climbed up the access ladder and in through the narrow hatch in the side. The hangar crew then locked it shut behind him. The drop ship was very cramped and he had to squeeze down into the main troop compartment. It was heavily armored to survive a drop under heavy hostile fire so every inch inside had to be put to good use to keep it as compact and as small a target as possible.

  His squad was already strapped in and waiting. They had all been briefed at the last hour about their cargo and their real mission, but they were still looking unusually tense. He knew exactly why and he craned his neck so he could see into the rear of the drop ship where several of the combat seats had been removed and a makeshift harness installed to accommodate Alpha. He could not blame them really, but he had to push past it if he was to keep them focused and on the top of their game.

  "It's time to earn your pay boys and it's time to show those marines that winning a fight is all about the toughness of your stomach plates not how short you prune your head plumage!"

  "Yes sir!" was the chorus of replies. Del smiled and jumped into his own seat and strapped himself in.

  Just as he did so the compartment lighting changed to alert red and a moment later they were all experiencing mild disorientation from the short gravity wave jump that would land them in close orbit around Plorus. A small holographic image of the captain dropped down from the roof.

  "Alert all drop ships prepare for auto release. Good luck."

  The hologram disappeared again and without further warning the drop ship propelled itself out of the assault ship and began is automatic supersonic combat descent.

  "Let's get this overgrown tree back to his people and stop this war so we can all go home!" yelled Del above the roar of atmosphere as it turned the outside of the drop ship red hot. Del listened for any signs of incoming ground fire, but there was none he could detect which was supported by the lack of defensive maneuvers the drop ship was doing. As far as combat drops were concerned it was relatively smooth notwithstanding the rib crushing deceleration just prior to landing.

  The moment the ship touched the ground Del grabbed the manual controls in front of him and fired the shield pods. Four small temporary shield generators were ejected from the top of the ship at each of the compass points. They were designed to create a small protected perimeter around the ship in case the passengers had to dismount under fire.

  As soon as they were active he then put the drop ship into disembark mode and the its armored side walls dropped to the ground allowing his team and Alpha to exit rapidly. The shield generators only had enough power to run for a few minutes so Del surveyed their surroundings with urgency as other drop ships landed nearby.

  They had come down as planned towards the edge of a major city which had seen some heavy fighting previously. The place was now as much rubble as it was standing buildings. It was also completely deserted by its locals and fortunately still devoid of the Orlak. It looked like the plan had worked and they had caught the Orlak napping. That wasn't going to last forever so Del located the direction of their rally point.

  Del contacted his second in command via his neck communicator. "Ello report!" he ordered.

  "Command team has landed and is green to go."

  "The package is also green to go so we are heading to the rally point. You had better beat me there because I want your command team in place and all your raiding parties and ambush details active before nightfall!"

  "The way you run Del that won't be too hard."

  "Funny, if I recall correctly it was my speed that saved your ass back on Doruel when you were under sniper fire."

  "Wow that was our second ever mission and you are still going on about that!"

  Del could hear by his heavy breathing that Ello was already on the move so he ended the communication and turned to his squad.

  "OK men let's get to the rendezvous and start digging in like a bunch of sarsi bugs!" he yelled.