By William S. Frisbee Jr.

Corporal Walker tried to clear his eyes and mind as buzzers screeched in his ears. It was always like this after a drop. Waking up with a groggy disorientation, knowing your life was in danger and you had to respond quickly, but unable to think clearly.

"Reese, sit rep," Walker mumbled through unresponsive lips but it sounded more like 'eese, seetrup'.

"Uhkay," Reese mumbled back from behind him. She wasn't doing much better. Drugs coursed through their veins trying to restore them to combat readiness as their buggy's AI drove the contragrav craft quickly through the red, celery like trees.

Glaring at the flashing lights Walker finally began to make sense of them. There were no Notaro assault craft in pursuit, no fighter drones streaking overhead and nobody was firing at them from orbit.

"Reese?" Walker asked, his speech more intelligible.

"Clear," she replied also sounding better.

"Sensors show any prior activity?"

"No activity Corporal,"

"Damn."

The diagnostics of the buggy reported everything was operational. The grav buggy was tough though. It wasn't the buggy he was worried about, it was the Electronic Countermeasures of the buggy. If they failed they would both be dead. Right now the Notaro would be scrambling search teams to investigate the thirty-eight assault transports that just speared the atmosphere around their planetary fortress. Then again, they might be under the impression that seventy-six Marines were of no threat to them in their military might. In orbit, they had five battlestations with several thousand fighter drones. Operators hidden in bunkers on the planet below controlled the drones. The battle stations in orbit were heavily armed and armored but it was the racked fighter drones that were the real threat. The stations were present to absorb heavy damage and berth the fighter drones. The massive Tacblasters they were armed with made them more formidable too. There was not a single Notaro on any of them; the stationmasters were also groundside in hidden bunkers.

Fifteen years ago twenty thousand humans had lived on the planet. Now they were dust in the wind and the rich mines were now producing Notaro warmachines. There were hundreds of thousands of Notaro troops on the planet protecting the mines and factories from Commonwealth. Seventy-six Marines were going to bust the fortress planet wide open.

Near the top of a hill the Marine's buggy came to a rest where it's sensors could watch the skies and surrounding lands. The buggy was far enough away from their landing point as to be relatively safe from retaliation. Now it was time for the Marines to wait and watch, it was the hardest part because there was too much time to think and reflect.

"I'll take first watch," Walker said.

"Aye Corporal."

Reese lay back and tried to sleep. It would probably be easy for her, Walker thought. Stasis was never good on the body but it was necessary in order to avoid the incredible grav forces required to avoid Notaro weapons as the assault shuttles slashed through the atmosphere. Once they were within the lower atmosphere, within a mile of the surface they would be safe if their ECM were working properly and since they were alive, well, it worked.

Watching the skies around him Walker remembered his father, his thoughts always turned back to his father when there was time. His father had always been opposed to him joining the Military. The Military was changing he said, it was now a worthless tool. In three hundred years of space exploration and five encounters with peaceful races, people believed any space faring race would have to be peaceful. Warlike races would kill themselves off before reaching the stars, like humanity had almost done. Scientific studies supported his father's and most of humanity's opinion. The Military was out of date, his father said. It was obsolete, a politician's tool for conquest, a waste of taxpayer's money. There was no enemy that could defy the great human Commonwealth. His father agreed a small military was good enough. There were always smaller nations that would cause trouble but a large military? The Commonwealth's Military was ten times larger than any other military and more technologically advanced than any known force. Every year cutbacks decreased the size of the Military, and fewer recruits were accepted.

That was before the Notaro.

Sensor's beeped as they detected a faint gravity disturbance. Walker gave the commands to the buggy's computer, focusing the sensors in the direction. About time, he thought noticing it was a fighter drone. It wasn't hard to get a passive lock on because the vehicle was flying high, trying to get attention. As soon as it was fired on or attracted attention more fighters would appear.

"Target acquired," Walker said.

"Roger, powering Marker," Reese said awakening instantly.

"Lock-on acquired."

"Marker online. Slaved to your sensor."

Walker boosted magnification and smiled. Yep. It was an atmospheric model.

"Firing Marker," Walker said.

"Solid hit. Signature acquired. Estimated duration three days, Corporal."

"Roger that, should be more than enough."

Walker fired a sensor spike into the ground and gave the buggy the command to follow the drone. With an undetectable sensor lock-on, it was easy to keep the fighter within tracker range and outside the fighter's sensor range.

Every ten kilometers he would fire another sensor spike into the ground. Finally the fighter drone turned and dropped lower to the ground, which wasn't a problem for the Marines. The lock was a good one and they were able to track it as it slipped in and out of the valleys and gorges returning to its base.

"Movement halted," Reese reported.

"Aye, movement halted," Walker echoed.

The buggy came to a rest in the bottom of a gorge.

"Tachyon echo?"

"Negative Corporal. Their control center must be elsewhere."

"Ok, Reese. I'll go first, you get the next target."

"Aye Corporal. If you need back up don't hesitate to call."

Walker smiled. "Believe me I won't hesitate."

With the buggy hovering inches above the ground Walker disconnected from the buggy's systems and grabbing his rifle slipped off the buggy onto the soft, reddish grass. A beacon on his heads up display showed the direction and distance to the fighter drones position. Carefully watching his sensors and surroundings Walker approached the fighter drone's location. The Notaro had installed a multitude of defensive devices to detect intruders and attackers but Walker was able to circumvent them and get within sight of the Notaro base.

For more information please contact me at warcat@usmc.net