Salvation: The Globur Incursion Book 7 Read online

  Salvation

  The Globur Incursion

  Book 7

  D. Rebbitt

  SALVATION: The Globur Incursion Book 7

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Copyright © 2022 D. Rebbitt

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13: 979-8808558014

  DEDICATION

  As some readers have remarked, I am a military veteran. Army mostly. Much of what occurs in the books is a real reflection of military life, albeit in the far future.

  Being in the military means putting up with a lot, most of the time. Sometimes wearing a uniform in public does not garner the respect and admiration one would think.

  Military life is not easy, and it is not easy for the families of people in the military. On a personal level, when I was in the infantry, you were probably doing it wrong if it did not suck.

  My own experiences were during the cold war, where supplies and new equipment were not exactly rolling in. We often had to make do, which is reflected in the Fleet as they make do with fewer ships and outdated systems but are still expected to do a job.

  The people really laying on the line are the marines. They guard the ships and destroy the enemy. Sometimes they are annoying, but so very handy to have around when things truly go sideways.

  People in the military deal with a lot. Veterans do not talk about the military with very many people. They know that civilians, other people, simply cannot understand. They rarely open up because of that. It is a shame because veterans are some of the finest people I know.

  Sometimes people say to me, “Thank you for your service.” I appreciate that, especially when it is sincere. Sometimes they say things less kind. Consider that any veteran has worked with, eaten with, and slept with people of many nationalities and ethnic groups. The military is the ultimate melting pot.

  Sometimes veterans don’t get the respect they have earned. I say earned because they have truly earned it. Even those who served in peacetime carry the scars of unpleasant experiences. They do difficult things that no one in their right mind would. They do not have to ask for respect. They really have earned it.

  This book is dedicated to those who have served their country. Politicians have always sent young people off to fight and serve in far-flung places. The military accept the burden and do it for each other. They share misery, discomfort, and joy. They bear the burden because someone must. They, and their families, often pay a price in a leger that can never be balanced.

  No one yearns for peace more than a veteran. No one understands the cost of conflict more. We owe so much to the generations who have gone before us and the ones who are serving now. They protect our values and freedoms that always seem under attack these days.

  When you thank them for their service, think of their sacrifice.

  Foreword

  The conflict is focused on the liberation of the Mongolia system for the time being.

  The marines will not have any easy time as they assault the major city and capital Ulaan. The city sits astride the Tuul river, and the marines hope to size the spaceport to get in some needed reinforcements.

  The Fleet is still spread thin, and some units are withdrawn for repairs. Gateway base has a new shipyard and a new problem in the form of a Senate delegation that seems to believe the Fleet personnel are hiding something.

  On the planet Khan, the marines will find things the Globur have been hiding and even they will recoil at the horrors that await.

  The Globur have not tried to retake the Mongolia system again. They have other plans and stopping them might cost everything as the rim teeters on the brink of disaster.

  Political intrigues continue to plague the efforts of the Fleet staff to get support for the conflict. However, the new weapons are a game changer. It remains to be seen if they will be enough.

  In their own way, the Fleet, marines, and the people of Khan each seek Salvation. Enjoy the book!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  A word from THE AUTHOR

  GLOSSARY

  Chapter 1

  Sanderson moved forward through the rows of crops in the early pre-dawn light. The marine division was executing a plan to assault Ulaan and secure the spaceport. It was a hasty plan made as they landed their supplies and quickly moved out towards their jumping off points.

  A low haze drifted from the tops of the crops. Alpha Company of the first Marine planetary assault division was arrayed in line. Advancing to contact the enemy. Each battalion advanced with two companies up and two behind in reserve. Delta Company deployed the umbrellas to protect the Marines on the ground.

  The umbrellas gave the Marines extra punch. The system consisted of drones that charged a high-powered laser on an antigrav sled that held a small fusion reactor. Once charged, they could lift off and be guided on target autonomously or by a nearby Marine. They moved in an evasive pattern in the air, making them hard to take out.

  Umbrella systems were a direct-fire weapon, and they had the power to take down anything the Globur had. They were also handy for intercepting incoming missiles and other projectiles. They were even better at taking down Globur shuttles.

  Overhead, Fleet warships held a dancing geosynchronous orbit, constantly shifting in an evasive pattern. The fleet was still being harried by the odd Globur pod. Less so now, as the numbers were finite and TF17 had successfully destroyed almost all of them. But there had been no confirmation of the destruction of any surface batteries or missile emplacements.

  It had been almost a week since the fleet had finally made orbit, and the transports had made their supply drop. Any Marine division was a formidable force. But now they were a force of veterans. Colonel Shaka had made sure they had consolidated their position on the plains before setting out for Ulaan, the capital and only major city on Khan.

  Every damaged suit had either been repaired and certified or replaced outright. The addition of the battalion of Marines from Khan’s garrison had been a welcome one. It had taken the sting out of some of their losses, and the old man Colonel Shaka had not rolled any companies or battalions together.

  Shaka had been named to command the first division without any combat experience. Of course, very few officers had lived through combat and no very senior ones. He had been handpicked by the commander of the crops, general pullman. It had turned out to be a good choice. Shaka was a good leader. He listened to the veterans and m
ade sound tactical decisions.

  Everyone had taken casualties. First Division had hit dirt with 8,000 Marines. Only 6,000 Marines remained combat capable, including the almost 500 Marines from the Khan garrison.

  The dead and the badly wounded had been lifted to assault transports for transit back to Gateway or Aradin for treatment. Most would be months regrowing limbs and getting repairs to their augmentation.

  The Marines had not been attacked again after the Fleet warships had wiped out the remaining advancing Globur on the plain outside of the main city and their objective, Ulaan, with an orbital strike. That remaining force had been attacking the First Division had then wiped out by tactical nukes and thousands of Khanian warriors led by the much-reformed governor.

  Governor Jamyangiin had risen to the challenge. He had been fat, soft and an administrator. There had obviously been a harder core there. Now he was a lean and ferocious warrior leading his bodyguard against the aliens when they were foolish enough to venture into the high grass of the plains.

  Now, the entire division was poised like a knife to strike at Ulaan. Their approach had taken days and remained undetected, as far as they knew. For a good portion of the way, they had been in full stealth.

  They had walked four and sometimes five abreast on the bottom of the river system winding their way closer to Ulaan, which sat astride one of the major rivers. The Tuul river got wider and deeper as they got closer to Ulaan and further from the river’s source far off in the mountains.

  The Marines could see well enough in the river using a form of ultrasonics to show a three-dimensional representation of the environment. They had only left the river about 20 klicks short of Ulaan. The Marine garrison used the trick to move around undetected since the Globur had occupied Khan.

  The governor’s Kheshig—bodyguard—could move easily through the grassy plains astride their taracz, creatures that had evolved to move through the grass, leaving no trace. They had been left behind at the supply base. They wanted to take no chance at their approach being spotted and no taracz could run on the bottom or a river.

  As they approached Ulaan, there was no hiding that almost 6,000 Marines were about to hit the city like a sledgehammer. Sanderson worried about the local population. No one had been able to get in or out of the city since the Globur had landed. There had been no transmissions. The status of the civilians was unknown, and no one had any idea what to expect. Almost a billion imperial citizens were stranded and trapped in systems now controlled by the Globur. Their fate - a mystery.

  Today the First Division was going to start solving that mystery. They hoped to catch the Globur by surprise. Hoped to, but no one really believed that. The Globur had proven to be a resilient, remorseless, and resourceful enemy. The heavily damaged Fleet ships in orbit and the heavy casualties the Marines had suffered attested to that all too well.

  The grassy plain had given way to fields, tall in crops that did just as good a job of hiding the advancing Marines. Ulaan was in sight, its low-rise buildings appearing in the first flashes of morning light as a ground mist clung to the tall crops. The buildings near the city’s edge were only four or five floors tall. Sanderson’s company reached the final hold line before the assault on Ulaan. The stealthed Marines all went to one knee, lowering them below the tops of the waving crops in the quiet early morning.

  Dawn was always the best time for an assault. The Globur relied somewhat on thermal vision, and the dawn made detection less likely. Sanderson scanned the buildings using his rifle sight, so he did not have to rise above the tall crops around them. He only had to hold up his rifle slightly above the top of the waving rows of the crops.

  A countdown clock appeared on his display. Jump-off time for the assault. They were going in quick and quiet to establish a bridgehead in the city. The southeastern edge of the city was still smoking, courtesy of Task Force 17. The Globur jamming had been based there. Now there was a smoking crater. The jamming had lifted some, but there was still a considerable amount.

  Sanderson watched the timer spin down towards zero. First assault on a city. Today we will see something new. The counter hit zero, and Alpha Company moved forward as one. Sanderson has a nagging feeling they were missing something.

  ***

  Grand Admiral Medici sat pensively as he waited to speak to the oversight committee. He was in a nearby conference room with his aides. He sat at the only table, running over the current fleet disposition in his head, pulling in the data they had received from the lone destroyer that had been dispatched to the Chard system. The destroyer had sent news on the Mongolia system, but not the planet Khan. That had not yet been secured.

  The battle on Khan was about to start in earnest as the Marines prepared to assault Ulaan, the largest city. Other smaller cities had been verified as having some occupation by the Globur. They had kept to the built-up areas. Doubtless, they realized that the human ships in orbit would be reluctant to bombard the cities or towns that still contained millions of inhabitants.

  The relief at Fleet headquarters had been palpable when the news finally came in that the three Fleet task forces dispatched to liberate the Mongolia system had managed to hold it. It also came with an urgent requisition for more capital missiles and quantum torpedoes.

  The first full shipment of quantum torpedoes had been en route, and it should have arrived by now. Every remaining destroyer in the Mongolia system would have a full magazine of the newest torpedoes. They had been surprisingly effective when used by Rear Admiral Pang in ambushing the Globur battlegroup that was obviously sent to assist the system defenders.

  A freighter was also en route to the system with a Fleet relay, the newest design. That would give them real-time communications with the forces in the Mongolia system. The Fleet strength there represented the total combat power of the empire at the moment.

  In the Albion yards, some new ships were nearing completion. They would be dispatched as quickly as possible to try and make good the losses suffered by TF16 and 17 in the fighting. The new class destroyers had performed well and proved much more survivable in battle against the Globur.

  There were ships in the Mongolia system that needed a yard to complete repairs. The closest yard was at Gateway. The reports on the condition of Rear Admiral Brown’s flagship, Wallachia, did not look promising. It was likely they would need to scrap her. That would delay the formation of TF18 if the Fleet needed to use that carrier to make TF16 whole.

  It would take precious time to replace the losses in the Mongolia system. Particularly the battleship lost by TF16. Frigates and cruisers were already nearing completion, but capital ships just took more time. Medici shrugged mentally. Perhaps Wallachia can be saved. The damage assessment report should come back soon from Gateway. There is just no room in the yards here.

  Medici was keenly aware the cost in the Mongolia system was still rising. The Marine division had lost a quarter of its strength. Now they would assault built-up areas where the Globur had had time to prepare. General Pullman, the brooding commander of the marine corps, had assured him that would be very messy, and the division could be bled dry by the assault on Ulaan alone.

  Casualties had begun to arrive at Gateway and at Fleet Outpost 24 above Aradin, in the Vandenyno system. Those casualties were months away from returning to duty. General Pullman was grabbing Marines from wherever he could, trying to put together a few brigades to bulk out the forces on Khan. He had ordered four transports be dispatched to Albion to take on reinforcements, although he might have to settle for freighters. New transports were still under construction. A brigade had already been dispatched aboard some commandeered freighters. It was sure to be an unpleasant journey, but they needed boots on the ground.

  Additional freighters had been dispatched with supplies and heavy weapons. If there was anywhere Operation Liberation - the plan to free the Mongolia system from Globur occupation - was short, it was Marines. Recruiting had gone well initially, but the propaganda from the People
For Peace, the PFP, and the depiction of Marines as freaks and mindless cyborgs had seen recruiting drop off. It was hard enough getting volunteers for the Fleet as it was. The PFP were still agitating, claiming the Fleet had started the whole conflict. They also used every opportunity to remind people of the Cyborg Wars. That made recruiting that much harder.

  Medici’s augmentation told him that the oversight committee was ready for him. It had only taken a few days for the glow of victory to evaporate. The senators now wanted to know when other systems could be liberated. The Fleet had barely held the Mongolia system and had taken - were taking - serious losses. They also had virtually no intelligence on any other systems lost to the Globur. Getting too close to a system meant being intercepted and those ships never reported back. Operation Liberation was the first operation to free a system under Globur control. The recon prior to that had been long range and out of date. They had gone in almost blind.

  Medici stood up from the desk, smoothing his tunic, and his aides automatically followed his lead. Another mountain to climb, he thought as the hatch opened to let him into the passageway.

  Chapter 2

  John Forest was elated. The latest news was that the Fleet had successfully liberated the Mongolia system. It had conveniently left out that the planet Khan was still under enemy control and so the system was not technically liberated at all. In fact not a single person had yet been saved. The Fleet held local space, but the marines had yet to win the dirtball inside it. The official news release referred to “newly developed weaponry” as being key to keeping the system.

  He felt proud of his part in testing the quantum torpedoes. John had done some research and was surprised to discover that the new quantum torpedo was a radically different approach than the weapons that had been in use. That felt wrong. He had thought that this was an improved version and not an entirely new type of torpedo. He had just assumed all torpedoes phased in and out of normal space.