Guardian (War Angel Book 1) by David Hallquist (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

Another squadron is going down with the Marine transports to take the roof of the pyramid, then fight their way inside. Finally, another squadron gets the dirty job of flying in low, taking on the ground fortifications ringing the tower, guarding the Marine landings, breaching the armored entrances, and assisting the Marines in taking and holding the Tower’s lower levels.

That’s our job.

Looking at the map, I know it’ll be heavy fighting all the way, but at least I won’t have to fight alone.

Our squadron will have to hit the various fortifications built into and around the base of the tower. Particle beams, missile clusters, x-ray laser cannon, defensive laser clusters, and banks of railguns will all have to be gone by the time our Marines show up. Most of that should have already been taken out by orbital beam weapons and drones, but then we have to go down and make very, very sure the Marines can land. The good news is the whole setup down there is a layered defense of fields of fire to prevent a ground attack by other Terrans. It’s not optimized against an armored aerial assault like ours.

Once we’ve neutralized the defenses, we’ll land or hover and make sure the area remains clear. Then the first Marines will come down—orbital jump-troops to secure the landing zone—then the transports and gunships will follow. The Marines will pick the door, and we’ll get it open and barge inside.

We’ve got the armor and firepower to back up the Marines inside, and the main entrance hallways and railyards should easily accommodate a Guardian-class frame. Once we’ve gotten the Marines inside where they can take the hallways and corridors, our job’s done, we just need to guard the front doors.

Easy, right?

No, it won’t be.

* * *

Time is critical; we’ll be swinging around to attack in about fifteen minutes or so. My squadron leaves the briefing room already in our flight suits, and we hustle down to the bay to strap into our frames. The crews pack “eggshell” WEAP pods all around us, along with clusters of defensive drones, decoys, countermeasures pods, and other things to make life easier and longer lasting in hostile skies. My whole squadron is quickly packed into deadly eggs that will hatch a swarm of Angels in battle.

Then the various crane arms load us all into one of the carousel launchers for the magnetic launching gun. We don’t always launch this way, and it takes a lot of preparation. Still, when it’s ready, a carrier can scramble all their Angels in under a minute.

While we’re being prepared, I open the comm net and address my squadron.

“We’ll be launching into considerable opposition. We can expect ground fire from the surface and sides of the tower and the surrounding terrain, as well as from the fortifications at the base of the tower. Return fire immediately; everything that’s shooting up is going to be a deadly hazard to the landing teams following us later on.

“If you have to fire outside our designated area, try to limit it to laser or rail weapons. We don’t want to bomb the towns surrounding the tower and make the locals any angrier with us than they already are. That’ll make the Marines’ job harder, and we’re supposed to make their job easier. Besides, we’re also probably going to need all our missiles and SPGs to clear out those fortified structures near the tower base.

“People are counting on us. If there’s anything or anyone in that base area still firing up when the Marines come down, we didn’t do our jobs, and people are going to die. We’ve got to get this right, whatever it takes.

“While the other squadrons and drone commanders have their own jobs, we’re the ones responsible for opening the front door and keeping it open. If anyone’s overwhelmed, and there’s something we can’t handle immediately, I don’t want you to delay in requesting fire support. We need those defenses shut down fast; that’s our priority.

“The Marines asked the Angels to guard their landing because we’re the best, and we’re not going to disappoint them. Now let’s go take that tower!”

It’s good to hear the cheers coming back over the network.

Ten minutes. I can feel the acceleration of the Weston as the host carrier makes her last-minute course adjustments.

The task force is now orbiting in a tight ellipse, with the closest approach over the target. All the ships are strung out in slightly different orbits. Cruisers and destroyers are in the highest and slowest orbits, arriving first and leaving last, spending the most time over the target area. They’re out front right now, firing on enemy fortifications and launching swarms of drones. Our host carrier will be over target soon, on a faster and lower orbit. We’ll launch, and she’ll be gone over the horizon. The Marine transport is coming in last in a high-speed orbit, scraping along just above the atmosphere, and will launch their Marines on an atmospheric entry path with enough gravities to kill an unaugmented man. While we’re descending, the carrier and transport will be safely away, and we’ll still have cover from our warships higher above.

Five minutes. The Westie makes another adjustment. We’re under light fire now. The first squadron is launching. The carousel containing our frames rotates, getting us closer to our launching gun. We’ll need to separate from the carrier as fast as possible, so we’ll launch via magnetic accelerator, or “the Gun,” for this one. It’ll also give us a boost in the right direction to cancel out some of Westie’s velocity before we hit the atmosphere.

One minute. Wham. Wham! WHAM! The squadron ahead of is us launching. We’ll be going soon…and…now…

The launch gun fires, and pressure crushes down on my chest as I’m blasted out into the ongoing battle.

* * *

Weight crushes down for an instant, then I’m