Two Worlds – Chapter 219

Mark “Coop” Cooper

Location: Pooler, New Savannah System, United Commonwealth of Colonies

“Crossing Nile now.” The front squad leader sent over TACCOM.

“Roger, keep your spacing. Bobcat Six out.” The LT leading the exercise directed his subordinate.

Coop listened to it all over his suit’s coms while striding roughly two hundred meters to the advancing company’s east. This was the third day of the joint training exercise, and the second iteration of the day. Part of the Commonwealth’s duties was to assist in the training and development of the local defense forces. The Fleet and Infantry were large entities, enough to take the fight to the enemy, but even with their manpower they couldn’t be everywhere at once.

The Fleet and their Infantry counterparts were strategically stationed throughout the Commonwealth at permanent bases like the Asgard System, New Washington, and even New Savannah to a degree. From those bases, units and ships forward deployed to hotspots and other locations where admirals thought they were needed. Coop had been deployed from Thor to New Lancashire, and would have been there for the duration of the tour, or until the locals were more established. It was up to the system’s defense forces to provide the bulk of a planet’s protection on a more permanent basis.

Coop knew if it wasn’t for the R&D presence on New Savannah there wouldn’t be a Commonwealth fleet presence. Since that R&D was kind of a big deal, the Fleet had a small anchorage on the moon Pooler with a few ships assigned to the anchorage as their home port, as well as three infantry battalions to protect Commonwealth interests. Three thousand soldiers might sound like a lot, but on a planet populated by billions they weren’t even a drop in the bucket. Still, as far as assignments went, New Savannah was a cushy one. The training with the locals were the toughest conditions they’d had yet, and that wasn’t saying much.

Pooler was a military moon, unlike the corporate moons of Richmond Hill and Pembroke. It was a barren hunk of rock whose only sign of human civilization was a small domed town. A giant umbilical ran from the town up to the main space station above. That was where the cradles for the warships sat. The infantry on the moon was billeted in the domed town when they were on maneuvers, but for the most part the town was home to the military and civilian tech who kept the ships supplied and running. When the SRRT, along with a company of Commonwealth infantry and an understrength battalion of system defense arrived to use the large swathes of barren landscape for training exercises, the residents hadn’t been very welcoming.

Coop knew that was a trend. People who tended to live on moons or in asteroid habitats tended to be more independent of the problems plagued by planetary authorities. Since they were represented in the Commonwealth government by the planetary elected officials, who usually didn’t know or care about the fringe needs of those people, there tended to be a little animosity. That animosity had started to boil over during their stay with more than one fight breaking out at the local watering hole.

“Cooper, keep your head in the game.” GYSGT Cunningham snapped over a person-to-person channel.

Coop snapped himself out of it, and saw the company had advanced almost two hundred meters without him. “Sorry, Gunney. On it.” In his V4 LACS, Coop was easily able to catch up.

The mission was simple. The locals and infantry were taking turns swapping sides on a simple movement to contact mission. In terms of actual training value, Coop had his doubts. Both sides knew where the other was by virtue of having played offense and defense. Everyone knew that the defenders were set up three kilometers away, that they were dug in along the edge of a crater, and there were certain avenues of approach available to a company-sized force to maneuver and win the day.

Coop didn’t give a shit about their little war games. He was here to test out his V4, but even then he was limited. First off, everything was simulated. It was more about going through the correct procedure and maintaining his JTAC status at first. At least that was how it started off. Coop checked all those boxes on day one, fired live rounds on a different range, and did his own call for fire on a destroyer orbiting above them in support. He was good to go, as was most of the SRRT. Only a few were still qualifying at the other ranges, which unfortunately left Coop and the others taking turns on babysitting the grunts and shooting blanks.

“I’m getting some weird readings,” the front squad leader sent back to the LT.

Jamming on the battlefield was normal, but it shouldn’t be ignored. Coop had seen the same tactic used by the defense on most of his iterations.

“Ballboy, this is Bobcat Six, request fire, over.” The LT passed over the specific fire-direction net. Coop was tapped into the company net, so he wasn’t sure why the LT was switching nets to talk to him.

<I’m only an E5.> Coop told himself for the tenth time. <Let the officers do what they want.> It didn’t help his mood that they were using his call sign that he didn’t like and couldn’t change.

“This is Ballboy, send it, Bobcat Six.”

“Sending grid,” the LT passed the coordinates where he wanted the indirect fire. Coop was just thankful the LT didn’t spell out the ten-digit coordinate over coms and waste time. “Give me three smoke, fifty meter horizontal dispersion.”

Coop plugged everything into his fire-control systems. He knew how to do everything manually, but the system just made it so much easier. Once everything was set, and the rounds were chambered, which only took a few seconds, Coop got back to the LT. “Authenticate Fire mission, Bobcat Six.”

Coop’s V4 neural net did a handshake with the LT’s Dragonscales command version, and a green light signaled the mission was confirmed. “Confirmed, Bobcat Six. Shot over.” Coop didn’t even have to think about getting in a proper firing position. He did it instinctually.

“Shot out.”

“Splash over.” Coop sent when the three rounds were five seconds from impact. Per SOP, these were smart rounds that were going through preloaded counterfire procedures, so they didn’t just go up and fall back down on the target.

“Splash out.”

As a non-lethal, the smoke rounds were real, and if experience was anything, it was the only real rounds he’d be firing during the iteration. Coop’s Buss was magnetically stuck to his side where he hadn’t drawn it since qualifying on the range on their first day.

Coop saw the puffs in the distance as the smoke rounds exploded just before hitting the ground. The “smoke” which blocked not only the human eye but sensors as well, spread quickly throughout the entire area in front of them. At twenty five meters spacing, the Company’s front stretched over a hundred meters. The smoke made sure the enemy couldn’t see them, but it also meant they couldn’t see the enemy…usually. Everyone already knew where everyone else was.

The LT must have communicated with one of his squad leaders, because one of the squads moving at the rear of the formation surged to the front and to the left . They’d pass right through Coop’s position, and probably wouldn’t ever see him. The polychromatic armor on the V4 was awesome; the best humans had ever developed. It worked the best when he was standing still, but the R&D guys had increased its effectiveness while in motion. Coop could run at full speed, and the blurring that had occurred with the V3s was gone. Eve said it was a great improvement.

Instead of moving, Coop just stood still and watched the ten-man squad stream past him. One guy came within two meters and didn’t even spot him. Coop considered reaching out and tapping the guy on the shoulder, but he didn’t want to poor kid to shit his pants. He only had the single chevron of a PVT, and was probably just out of Basic.

The squad humped it five hundred meters up to a small dune that gave them a slight overwatch over the planned avenue of approach. It allowed them to see above the smoke, but not by much. Coop tapped into their feed, but the view was still filled with static.

“Ballboy, Bobcat Six, adjust fire, over.” The LT sent.

Coop went through the motions of adjusting fire, which just had him putting more smoke downrange closer to the enemy’s supposed position. Coop expected it to be to cover their advance, but then the LT did something different. Three squads abruptly left the formation and headed nearly a kilometer to the right. Their movement was blocked by a line of dunes the comprised Phase Line Mississippi, the final line in the operations order before assaulting the objective.

Coop brought up the map to see what the hell the LT was doing. The only thing to their right was a five hundred meter deep ravine. No one had done anything in that direction before. The natural terrain anchored the Company’s right flank, so no one could get around them without going nearly twenty kilometers out of their way.

<Unless.> Coop pulled up the Company’s latest logistics dump. <Son of a bitch.> The latest table of equipment showed enough anti-grav climbing gear for about thirty soldiers. <Sneaky bastard.> Coop grinned.

The ravine was an advantage to both the attacking and defending force. It anchored their right and left flanks respectively, and allowed for the concentration of their forces along the other avenues of approach. <But if the LT’s plans work, he’ll be able to roll up their left flank while the main body of the company advances and fixes the enemy in position. Along with indirect fire, he’ll wipe out the enemy force.>

Coop thought it was a solid plan, and more outside the box than previous iterations by the system defense force leaders. Still, no plan survived contact with the enemy, and Coop knew the guys dug in along the crater ahead of them would take issue with it.

“Ballboy, Bobcat Six, commence fire missions on TRPs one, two, and three,” the LT ordered.

The target reference points were already inputted into Coop’s system during the operation’s planning phase, so he didn’t have to go through the whole call for fire process. All Coop did was confirm the order and send the rain. Twelve rounds total, four per TRP, went downrange, but this time Coop didn’t just stand there. He hauled ass.

“Counterbattery fire.” He stated calmly across the company net as simulated round reached out from the enemy’s positions. Rifle and laser fire also started to pour from the enemy’s defensive line. The V4’s neutral net projected the incoming fire on Coop’s HUD. Nothing was actually being fired at him, but the computer scored hits and kills like it had.

As more enemies fired, the more data streamed in and highlighted their positions. The LT left Coop to fire on his own accord, but since this was mainly an force on force exercise, Coop kept his indirect fire to a minimum unless the enemy did something really stupid.

Coop was about to take a group of soldiers who stupidly jumped out of their foxholes and ran along the edge of the ridge under fire, when his sensors started screaming. His railgun automatically launched into action and destroyed the incoming shell that would have landed right on top of his head. His shield still registered hits as shrapnel from the round would have hit him, but it was still at ninety-seven percent efficiency.

“Watch your ass, Coop.” Eve’s haughty voice relayed over a direct channel. “I’ve had you dialed in for a full minute.”

“Wow a full minute to get off a shot,” Coop teased, all while computing counterfire. He wasn’t going to let a Ranger get the best of him. He was HI, this was what he did. “I’m surprised you qualified.”

Coop backtracked Eve’s round, and examined the terrain in her immediate vicinity. He spotted two likely hiding places, so he sent a few rounds to both. He staggered the rounds to see if he could pinpoint Eve and redirect. His sensors picked up railgun rounds from the second hiding position, so he redirected all the remaining rounds on that point.

Eve didn’t say anything else, so he wasn’t sure if she was a confirmed kill or just playing possum. It would be like the woman to feign being dead and then come back and bite him in the ass when he least expected.

<It happens to me often enough.> He kept an eye on the three squads traversing the ravine.

They’d made it across, reconsolidated, spread out, and were advancing with a sense of urgency. The enemy was just starting to realize their presence, but the three squads had surprise and violence of action on their side. Another ten minutes and the thirty men would have swept aside a force twice their size, but Murphy decided to rear its ugly head.

On the opposite side of the Company’s lines, the LT had two squads anchoring the flank from cover behind a few dunes. Fire teams were on those dunes engaging the enemy, but not anymore. Half were streaming down the dunes in full retreat.

“Ballyboy, fire for effect on…” the LT’s transmission was abruptly cut.

Coop enlarged his display and saw the LT’s position had taken a direct hit from indirect fire. <Fucking Eve,> Coop sighed. There wasn’t a lot he could have done. If the LT had requested and deployed swatters it would have caught those incoming rounds, or he could have simply kept his head down. Both were viable options. The LT didn’t do either. <Good tactician, lousy common sense.> Coop concluded, and turned his attention back to the fleeing fire teams. He’d taken up a position about a hundred meters behind their position, so whatever was coming was headed right towards him.

Coop wanted to start a fire mission on what the LT had been trying to tell him, but the SGM had reiterated several times that they weren’t here to turn the tides of the battle. They were support fire to give the infantry a hand if they asked for it. It was up to the maneuvering units to fight and win the battle. Coop followed through and reestablished comms with the Company NCOIC, but that GYSGT was leading the three squads that were rolling up the flank, and she didn’t know what the LT was going to ask. So Coop just waited, and he didn’t have to wait long.

<What the fuck is that?!> Something floated into view between two of the dunes the fire teams had just abandoned.

Coop knew a lot about modern weaponry. He had to as part of his job. He needed to know the best rounds to put into something to kill it. What he was seeing right now he couldn’t identify. Well…he could identify what it technically was, but beyond that it was a crap shoot.

A fucking tank had just emerged between the dunes and was advancing forward at about five kilometers an hour. Coop caught movement behind it, and knew infantry was trailing in its wake. Since they were headed right toward Coop’s position, he was positive he wasn’t going to get reamed for taking action.

<All or nothing.> Coop was going big. And it only took him a moment to devise a battle plan.

It was simple. As far as he knew, the tank still hadn’t seen him. There was a reason tanks weren’t used anymore: they weren’t as maneuverable as LACS, and they were an easy target to spaceborne weapons. Today, there weren’t any spaceborne assets available, but Coop had a nearly full arsenal to work with.

There were two targets he needed to consider. First was the tank itself, and next was the infantry moving in behind it. They were trying to do the very thing the three friendly squads were doing on the other side of the battlefield. With a tank, they’d quickly roll up the flanks, and with the LT gone, communication wasn’t as effective. Sure, there were contingences, but the unit just wasn’t as effective with their leader down.

Coop’s plan took both of those targets under fire and he used multiple weapons systems. First, he unlocked his Buss and got it ready if he needed to engage directly. Second, he dialed in a combination of shots from his 250mm cannon. The first was smoke to put between him and the enemy. Since they were so close, and he knew where they were, he wasn’t worried about follow-on shots. Three rounds of anti-personnel would follow the smoke round. They were aimed over the tank and set for a downward dispersion. At the same time those three rounds were being fired, Coop was going to launch four of his shoulder-mounted missiles right into the tank’s grill. That should immobilize the old war machine and stop the attack.

It took a few seconds for Coop to sequence everything but then it was good to go. The live smoke round went first and detonated with a much louder THUMP since it was only seventy five meters in front of him. The simulated follow-on rounds and missiles flew directly after that. Coop only held position until the 250mm rounds were away and then he started to move.

He didn’t get an immediate battle damage assessment because of the sensor-disrupting smoke, but he moved quickly to get around the tank and enemy infantry. If on the off chance he’d missed, or the tank had survived, he wanted to take a shot up its ass and get it for good.

Coop had leapt about twenty meters away when alarms screamed in his suit. His shield dropped to zero and its left side locked up.

“What the shit?” he yelled inside his suit as it registered a proximity detonation that broke the integrity of his LACS.

Since they were on a moon with an inhospitable environment, the LACS automatically went into shut down mode and locked off the damaged area. Coop was left with half a working suit. He couldn’t engage, and with half his systems offline, he wasn’t even hidden anymore. He returned fire with his Buss as the tank and infantry moved through the smoke, but no one dropped.

“This is bullshit!” Coop yelled to anyone who was listening when the tank’s turret turned toward him and a simulated round ended the exercise for him.

Coop had to spend the next hour lying in the dirt in his shut down V4 while Eve talked shit until Endex. When his suit finally powered back up, he wanted answers.

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