Lunar Assault: Mechanized Warfare on a Galactic Scale (Metal Legion Book 4) Read online

And those weapons dug deep into the Jemmin dreadnought’s seemingly impregnable hull.

  Carving off great shards of the enemy vessel’s outer armor, the ripple of torpedo impacts blinded even the Bonhoeffer’s sensors. When the Bonhoeffer was no longer blind, the wave of fire had abated, and the Socrates drifted backward from the wormhole gate as it gently tumbled stern-over-bow. A few dozen escape pods flew from its hull, but there was little doubt that only a tiny fraction of the Socrates’ crew had survived the exchange.

  For a moment, it seemed as though the Jemmin warship might have suffered the same fate as it, too, was tilted off-axis as it started to tumble. The Marcus Aurelius’ mass drivers continued pouring slug after slug into the Jemmin warship’s hull, but the Terran dreadnought’s rate of fire had slowed to a snail’s pace compared to its earlier output.

  As the Jemmin weapons turned their fury upon the last remaining Terran dreadnought, it seemed as though the beleaguered Marcus Aurelius would be unequal to the task of ending the unthinkably durable Jemmin warship. Despite Terran fire rendering its shape no longer remotely symmetrical (the irony of which was not lost on Jenkins), the Jemmin dreadnought had lost no more than twenty percent of its firepower.

  Then the Zeen entered the fray.

  Eighty-one Zeen warships lashed out with perfect precision, stabbing 324 laser beams into the Jemmin dreadnought’s badly-damaged flank. Jenkins had seen Jemmin capital-grade lasers in action, and they generally persisted for between two and three seconds before cutting out.

  The Zeen lasers poured their energies into the Jemmin hull for nine seconds before, with unerring unity, cutting out as the offset diamond of Zeen warships split into three groups of twenty-seven ships apiece.

  For a moment, brief though it was, Jenkins saw something akin to hesitation in the movements of the Jemmin void fighters. It was almost like a palpable chill had run throughout the Jemmin force.

  A clearer example of fear sweeping through a fighting force would be difficult to imagine.

  Energetic eruptions blew apart the Jemmin dreadnought’s hull where the Zeen had poured their fury, sending hundred-meter-wide chunks of the warship’s multi-layered hull spinning off into the void. The Marcus Aurelius hammered its mass driver slugs into the Jemmin dreadnought from the other side of the devastating pincer, while the mixed interceptors split off into dogfights and other increasingly broken and frantic engagements.

  Some Terran pilots survived the maelstrom, but Jemmin interceptor superiority was now on full display as they seemed to abandon their guard duties in support of the Jemmin dreadnought. The Jemmin super-ship focused its fire on the Marcus Aurelius’ mass driver ports, which remained shut between shots and were comprised of hundreds of layers of interlocking reactive armor. The Jemmin behemoth seemed focused as it ponderously reoriented to put as many guns on Wallace’s flagship as possible. To Jenkins, it almost seemed like a desperate move.

  With a killer instinct rarely matched in human history, Admiral Wallace unleashed a storm of missiles similar to that which preceded the Socrates’ death throes. Counterfire sniped dozens of them from the void, but dozens subtracted from hundreds made little difference to the outcome.

  One after another, digging into the deep rents in the Jemmin dreadnought’s hull, multi-megaton explosions tore into the guts of what had been the most impregnable warship ever to visit Terran space. With each successive strike, more energy was delivered into the enemy ship than was wasted into the dead of space. And then, like dynamite set off inside a slab of granite, the Marcus Aurelius’ storm of ordnance blew the enemy vessel apart.

  Dozens of explosions rippled across the Jemmin hull as the nukes touched off like a string of firecrackers under a pot. Each eruption spewed hundreds of tons of molten minerals and armor fragments into the void, and then Jenkins was greeted with the most satisfying sight of his entire life.

  Like an egg cracked on the lip of a bowl, the Jemmin warship split apart in two roughly equal halves, with its flaming entrails belching into the blackness as the last of the Terran missiles finished the job of cleaving the mighty warship. Improbably, the Jemmin guns of both halves continued pouring fire into the Marcus Aurelius, as well as striking out at the Zeen warships as they approached at flank speed.

  A dozen Zeen warships were destroyed in the ensuing seconds, succumbing to the extraordinary arsenal of the dying warship. In reply, each Zeen sent railgun bolts into the dying gate-crasher’s hull. Just as the Jemmin had done to Socrates, now the plague of Zeen warships scrubbed the surface of the broken super-ship’s hull until not a single capital-grade weapon remained.

  The Marcus Aurelius continued to pour mass driver fire into its Jemmin counterpart until, finally and without fanfare, the enemy dreadnought fell silent. At that point, Admiral Wallace conserved his ammunition and recalled his fighters.

  But the Zeen were far from done.

  Expending vast amounts of energy in the process, the Zeen stabbed beam after beam, bolt after bolt, and plasma ball after plasma ball into the dead Jemmin warship’s hull. The wormhole gate once again fell dark as the Zeen forces tore the dead ship apart, but the Zeen seemed heedless of anything but the destruction of their nemesis’ carcass.

  For a full hour, they expelled ordnance at a terrifying pace while the Terrans could only look on with mixed approval and trepidation. The Zeen were certainly acting in defense of Terran interests by securing the star system against the most dangerous enemy to ever cross into Terran space, but it was clear that the Zeen’s motives were just as Xi had intimated.

  They hated the Jemmin, and it was such a profound hatred that Jenkins sincerely hoped he never understood it…or found himself the target of it.

  “This is Admiral Wallace,” the now-familiar voice came over the CAC’s speakers. “On behalf of everyone in 8th Fleet, I appreciate the assist. We couldn’t have fought our mutual enemy without Vorr and Zeen help.”

  Several seconds passed before Deep Currents replied with an unmistakable hint of challenge in her synthesized voice. “We trust that this will suffice as a meaningful gesture of good faith in Admiral Wallace’s estimation?”

  The delay was significantly longer this time than when Deep Currents had replied, but eventually Wallace said, “Let’s say it was an encouraging first date. My intelligence officer recognized your code-word ‘encore,’ and while I’m not used to being kept in the dark on joint military exercises of this nature, I trust you’ll forgive any insult I previously offered?”

  Jenkins’ brow rose in surprise at hearing that bit about “joint military exercises.” His mind raced as he tried to recall who the intelligence officer aboard the Marcus Aurelius was, but he was unable to remember the name.

  “General Pushkin,” Li muttered wryly as if reading Jenkins’ mind. “His daughter is the Marcus Aurelius’ intelligence officer. He must have been in contact with Deep Currents and somehow got a coded message to Wallace’s flagship before things went tits-up back at HQ.”

  Jesus. Jenkins closed his eyes in silent reflection. No wonder Kavanaugh pushed him out. Pushkin wasn’t going to go down without a fight, and he’s obviously better-connected than I thought.

  Jenkins knew a thing or two about playing with political fire, but it seemed that Pushkin was a grandmaster. He and Akinouye had made a formidable team, but Jenkins was only now realizing just how formidable. Either the whole “joint military exercise” line was a red herring—which meant that Pushkin’s daughter was potentially throwing her career and freedom away just to back her father’s play—or it was real, and Pushkin had managed to secretly secure high-level allies in Terran Military Intelligence (an agency affectionately referred to by their acronym ‘TMI’ by pretty much everyone).

  Such allies would have been able to not only craft, push through, and disseminate fleet-wide contingency plans for situations like this, but also keep those plans secret from all but the top brass at TMI.

  Jenkins found his appreciation for the ousted Pushkin growing by leaps and bounds.

  “Your reticence was understandable,” Deep Currents assured Wallace. “If you permit them to do so, the warships that helped neutralize the Jemmin ‘gate-crasher’ will now reinforce your defensive position at the gate. If you prefer not to incorporate them, they will return to their worldship at this time.”

  This time Wallace replied as promptly (and humbly) as he could. “We could use the help holding the gate. We’ll work up a revised formation and forward the details in ten minutes.”

  “Very good, Admiral,” Deep Currents agreed, and a few seconds later the blue icon flashed at the priority comm station.

  “Colonel Jenkins,” Li said after receiving a private communique at that station.

  “What is it, Colonel?” Jenkins asked.

  “I’ve got the Vorr ambassador on the line,” Li replied. “She says the Zeen will need another hour or so to complete the Bonhoeffer’s modifications, and she’s requesting permission to accompany us to Sol. This is your op, so I’ll defer to your judgment.”

  Jenkins quirked a brow and saw both Trapper and Moon seemed as perplexed by the request as he was.

  Ultimately, he wasn’t about to refuse an offer to help with what was undoubtedly the most important mission he had ever undertaken.

  “Aside from my concerns about her not being present to coordinate between Wallace and the Zeen,” Jenkins allowed heavily, “I’ve got no objections. Does anyone else?”

  Not a single person voiced dissent as the rest of the CAC’s occupants shook their heads in solidarity.

  “She says she’s not the only Vorr aboard the Zeen worldship, so Terran-Zeen coordination will proceed uninterrupted,” Li replied, and although it surprised Jenkins to hear it, he knew he shouldn’t have been. This was too important of
an operation to entrust to any one person. “She’ll arrive in thirty minutes.”

  “Good.” Jenkins nodded approvingly, momentarily amazed that he didn’t feel the least bit shaken by the epic engagement he had just witnessed.

  Frankly, the stakes here were peanuts compared to what lay in store for his people on the Moon, and that particular thought managed to rattle him enough that he had to physically shake it off before re-focusing on the task of prepping for launch.

  4

  Refit

  “That thing was purpose-built to crash a Terran-fortified gate,” Moon declared. “Nearly all of its weaponry was rear-facing and perfectly positioned to engage any Terran fleet, and it didn’t seem to have any motive thrust of its own. Simple inertia carried it through, and attitude-control engines adjusted its orientation during battle.”

  Li nodded. “Agreed, but I have a hard time believing it could have taken down a whole Terran Fleet. What if instead of Wallace’s two dreadnoughts, there had been six holding the NA2-Nexus gate?” He shook his head skeptically. “They could have torn it apart. They might have lost two more dreadnoughts in the process, but Jemmin victory was far from assured had they faced a full fleet.”

  “You seem to be operating under false assumptions,” Deep Currents intoned. “Jemmin does not engage in conflicts it cannot win, nor does it engage in conflicts where victory is less than highly probable. The most important tactical variable in determining whether an engagement is to one side’s favor or the other is information. Jemmin prides itself on operating with superior information at all times. It did not anticipate the Zeen presence, which is why we were able to trap it here in the New America 2 star system and halt Jemmin’s advance deeper into Terran territory. It will take Jemmin quite some time to recover from this disturbance in its plans.”

  “Jemmin didn’t count on the Zeen being here,” Jenkins mused. “Moreover, it knew there would only be the two dreadnoughts here.”

  “That is probable,” Deep Currents agreed.

  “Do they use the gates to gather intel?” Trapper asked.

  “That is also probable,” Deep Currents replied. “Although, if Vorr theoreticians are correct on this point, that capability is nonfunctional whenever the gates are offline. Another point I must insist upon clarifying is that Jemmin is not as numerous as you likely think. The fleet we just defeated might have only housed twenty or thirty individuals. It is difficult to determine with certainty given Jemmin’s reclusive and xenophobic nature, but the force you engaged on the world you call Shiva’s Wrath likely featured a single Jemmin.”

  “One?” Xi blurted in surprise.

  “Almost certainly,” Deep Currents replied serenely. “Using a combination of limited but extremely robust adaptive intelligence systems, lone Jemmin operators are capable of conducting planetary-scale invasions.”

  “Like a fucking video game?” Styles shook his head in amazement. “You’re saying that we were fighting drones back on Shiva’s Wrath?”

  Podsy shrugged. “Hey, we’d do it if we could work out the virtual architecture and security issues. Who wants to actually ride a vehicle into combat when you can do the same work from the safety of a bunker or better yet, from high orbit?”

  “It makes sense,” Jenkins said as he recalled how the Jemmin vehicles on Shiva’s Wrath had seemed to be thrown into disarray following the destruction of the Jemmin Poltergeist. He shook his head to clear it before addressing Deep Currents. “Why do you want to accompany us to Sol?”

  “We Vorr consider the issue of Solar security to be an internal one,” Deep Currents explained. “We would therefore refuse to actively intervene during that operation for philosophical reasons. But in the operation’s aftermath, we believe it might be beneficial to have a representative of my people present to provide as much information to your Solar cousins as possible. If you disagree, I will recuse myself.”

  “No, you’re probably right about that,” Jenkins allowed. “But it’s going to be dangerous down there.”

  “I am aware of the risks,” Deep Currents assured him from the confines of her egg-pod, which was unquestionably superior to the unit she had been within during his first meeting with her on Durgan’s mobile HQ. “Remember, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Jenkins, that we Vorr are not adventurous risk-takers by nature. That I am willing to accompany you on such a dangerous expedition is thus a more significant gesture of solidarity on behalf of my people than you likely realize. We sincerely wish for humanity to survive this conflict.”

  “And we appreciate that because we want to survive, too,” Jenkins said earnestly, although he still didn’t understand the Vorr’s angle in all of this. It gave him no pride to harbor ongoing and growing suspicions about the Vorr’s motives in safeguarding humanity against the Jemmin apocalypse.

  “Good,” the Vorr declared. “Then let us complete the preparations to your ship.”

  “Agreed.” Jenkins nodded before turning to Podsy. “I think it’s time for Jem to walk us through the plan one last time.”

  Podsy produced the sixty-centimeter long, five-centimeter diameter ruby-red bar of crystalline material. After some work, he and Styles had crafted a wired linkage system that permitted Jem to access devices like data slates and translators. Jem claimed to be incapable of remotely interfacing with technological devices, but this self-described limitation had done little to assuage Jenkins’ concerns about the potential security risks posed by the alien entity.

  “Jem?” he urged when the entity failed to speak through the translator Podsy had connected to it.

  “My apologies,” Jem finally replied. The device worked as they had hoped. “I am still unaccustomed to military protocol governing information transmission at gatherings such as this one.”

  Jenkins’ eyes flicked to the Vorr ambassador, whose tentacles had splayed out from its vaguely octopus-like body in what he now knew was a display of heightened interest. He suspected that one of the main reasons the Vorr had requested to join the expedition was to more closely observe Jem. Jenkins continued to watch the Vorr watching Jem.

  “Walk us through your plan, Jem,” Jenkins requested, refocusing his attention on the bizarre, seemingly sentient piece of mineral.

  “According to the technical schematics the Vorr have provided that pertain to Solar humanity’s technology,” Jem began, causing hackles to rise around the room as Jem matter-of-factly described Vorr espionage efforts, “I have deduced that this operation requires two objectives to be achieved. The first is to access a direct communication line integrated into Luna One’s primary virtual systems. The second is to secure one of twelve Moon-based transmitters that has access to Earth’s orbiting virtual architecture. These objectives must be simultaneously achieved in order to reduce the risk that they will discover our true objective. Using the Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s communications array shortly after our arrival, I should be able to transmit and infect Luna One’s sensor grid with a ‘blind spot’ similar to the one Jemmin employed against your forces on Shiva’s Wrath. Once that is done, there is a high degree of probability we will remain undetected long enough to deliver the insertion team to the Lunar surface.”

  “Stupid question.” Podsednik raised his hand, looking very much like the class dunce as Jenkins suspected was his intent. “Why don’t we just touch down on Earth to do this? If we inserted into a heavily-populated area, the Solarian military would be limited in their response options.”

  “Earth-based uplinks are essentially inaccessible.” Styles shook his head firmly, sounding as though he and Podsy had already gone over this point.

  “And Luna One isn’t?” Podsy retorted.

  “Luna One,” Deep Currents smoothly interjected, breaking the two from their pending argument, “is formidable, but its defensive systems are relatively limited. The installation relies extensively on mobile assets to provide sensor coverage and to intercept inbound threats.”

  Jenkins nodded grimly. “Luna One was originally developed as a veritable Sword of Damocles. With Chinese interests seizing functional control of the Moon, they were able to erect bombardment platforms that rendered all Earth-based countermeasures ineffective. And given the distance between Earth and the Lunar surface, the only weapons that could possibly engage were ground-based lasers, which humanity has still not perfected.”