Star People
Chapter 33
Ground Pounders
Day 1 of Operation Star Point, Zedan Capital, 0800 hours…
“Grand Leader! Grand Leader!” The Prime Minister cried out as he ran toward the Emperor’s bedchambers.
Emperor Vargil Zendara let off a groan of annoyance as he heard the insistent pounding on his door. He was a late riser in general and had left instructions not to be disturbed until at least 10 am unless it was an emergency. Heads were going to roll if he had been roused from his slumber without good cause.
“This had better be important, Terrax.” Vargil said in a menacing tone.
The Prime Minister nodded as he replied in a humble matter. “My liege… I beg to report… our home continent of Zedan is now being invaded by the Kingdoms of Naran, Atlans and Free Land.”
“WHAAAAAAAAAAATTT?!”
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0900 hours, the Zedan Imperial Bunker…
“How could this have happened?!” Zendara roared as he stood at the head of a long conference table. His highest ranking officers sat before him in with subdued attitudes as they tried to figure out a way to respond without angering their leader even further.
General Himro took a deep breath before he replied. “My lord, I must admit that we had greatly underestimated the military capabilities of our foes, especially those of Free Land.”
“What do you mean?! We are Zedan! There was no one in our old world or in this new one that could stand up to our military might!”
“Begging your pardon Your Majesty, but… I’m afraid that is no longer true.”
“Were we not prepared for this invasion?”
“We had taken all possible measures after the failed Merdov and Bisra operations. We had fortified all of our coastal defenses and every base was put on alert. We had our remaining naval forces on 24-hour patrols and our aircraft were flying constant sorties around the clock. Unfortunately…”
“Unfortunately?”
“The Free Land forces were able to break through with seemingly little effort. It was especially bad on our western coastline as they practically annihilated everything in their path and established a beachhead as of now. Two more fronts were opened up on our eastern coastline and we are doing a bit better at slowing them down, but we cannot hold them back for much longer.”
At this point, Emperor Zendara went into a furious rage and began blaming everyone present for their incompetence. He then made a series of orders to all remaining forces to stop the invaders at all costs. These orders included the usage of the Ender Bomb as a last resort.
The assembled generals, admirals and other high-ranking officials shuddered at the thought of using the ultimate weapon on their own home soil.
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1015 hours, 10 miles from Omaha Beach…
Colonel Herza Krikes wiped his brow as he rode in his Xeranto tank. He was currently leading the 505th Armored Division towards the Free Land beachhead, with the aim of engaging of the enemy, thereby preventing any further incursions into Zedan territory. He had a formidable force at his command, which included 200 Xeranto heavy tanks, 150 Xeria light tanks, several dozens of self-propelled guns, supply trucks and over 25,000 infantry. He was fairly confident that he had more than enough to drive back any normal enemy into the sea.
However, according to the reports from the failed Bisra and Merdov invasions, Free Land was anything but normal. They had proven to have an overwhelming navy and air force, which defied all common sense. Since when did ships fly? And their fighter craft were stated to easily surpass the speed of sound and could destroy fleets from beyond visual range.
However, the Zedan had yet to encounter the Free Land ground forces. Furthermore, the 505th Armored Division was the strongest tank force in the Zedan continent. Surely they would succeed where the navy and air forces failed. They were fighting on their home territory, supported by long-range artillery batteries and nearby air bases. Herza looked up from his commander’s hatch and felt reassured to see squadrons of Rekerat fights flying overhead as air support.
The Xeranto Mark II tank was nothing to sneer at either. It was Zedan’s best armored vehicle with a top speed of 40 km/hr and was armed with an 88mm main gun. It also sported two 7.62mm machine guns. Its most striking feature was that it had at least 130mm of frontal steel armor. There was no other weapon, aside from a shot from another Xeranto tank that could pierce that armor in a head-on confrontation. The Xeranto was basically a 55-ton mobile fortress and a single shot from its main gun would tear apart any enemy tank at over 2,000 meters.
Scouting ahead of the main Xeranto tanks were their lighter-armored counterparts, the Xeria Mark IV tanks. Each weighed in at 17 tons and sported a 50mm main gun. They were capable of speeds up to 55 km/hr. They too were armed with two 7.62 machine guns apiece. They were faster and more nimble than the Xeranto tanks, but the tradeoffs for speed were less powerful main guns and thinner armor. Normally, they were used for scouting, close-quarters combat and infantry support.
The Xerias would be the first to be targeted when they encountered the Free Land Battle-Mechs.
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Two miles away from the Zedan scouts…
Commander Jerry Vandelin let off a sigh as he and the 71st squad of the 472nd Battle-Mech Division moved through the dense foliage. He was still getting used to his new Star Gladiator as it trudged through the forest. So far, they hadn’t encountered any enemy forces since their departure from Omaha Beach. Behind him and spread out in standard formation were his subordinates in their Hunters.
“Commander!” Lieutenant Gracs said as he spoke to his superior through the communications systems.
“What is it Lieutenant?”
“I’m getting some signals from coordinates Alpha-Tango, 4, 3.”
Jerry directed his mech’s sensors toward the indicated coordinates and activated the optical enhancements. He nodded as he saw the image of several armored vehicles heading toward their position.
“It looks like we’ve got some enemy light tanks on a scouting mission.”
“Sir!”
“What is it, Corporal Wizer?”
“I’m getting a few airborne signals heading toward our position from coordinates Gamma-Epsilon, 14, 10. It’s either a patrol or air support for those tanks.”
“I picked those up too.” Corporal Vanx stated. “Plus, I picked up a very large number of enemy ground signals on my long-range sensors. They’re at… Delta-Beta, 18, 8… nine miles further inland.”
“How many?” Jerry asked as he released the safety locks on his weapon systems.
“We’re looking at over two hundred heavy tanks and dozens of lighter-armored vehicles. I think they’re either self-propelled guns or infantry transports.”
“I see. So they’re probably on their way to engage the forces at Omaha Beach.” Jerry surmised with a shrug. “Of course, we’re not going to let that happen, are we?”
“Your orders, Commander?” Gracs asked as he too took his weapons off safety. Both corporals did likewise.
“Corporals Vanx and Wizer are to shoot down all enemy air support. Lieutenant Gracs and I will neutralize the scout tanks. Once we’ve eliminated those threats, then we’ll move on the main force of enemy tanks and mobile artillery. Signal to all nearby Battle-Mech squads in the area to converge on that main group of tanks. We should be able to wipe them all out in one concentrated strike.”
Fifteen seconds later, Coporal Vanx spoke. “Commander, I’ve sent the transmission out, and I received responses from the 42nd, 53rd and 67th Squads. They’re close enough to engage that main force of tanks with us, and they’ve detected a few scouting elements as well. They’ll deal with them first, and then join us on the assault.”
“Hmmm… the 67th Squad is a Scrapper Unit, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sir! Commander Kraits says that he and his men are ready to rumble.”
“Yes, Lieutenant Gracs and I fought alongside the 67th on Sirius Nine. His squad was also quite effective during that Planet Ravager incident.”
“Personally speaking, I pity those Zedan bastards.” Gracs stated.
“Why is that, Lieutenant?” Wizer asked.
“Kraits and his men normally don’t take prisoners.”
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In the lead Xeria tank, Lieutenant Croplin was on high alert. Ever since the Free Land forces had set up a foothold on the western coastline, the entire 505th Armored Division had been sent out to push back the invaders. According to the reports, the Free Land navy had plowed through the coastal defenses with little to no effort and their ground troops were steadily making their way inland.
There were some rumors of metal giants roaming the countryside, but he had dismissed those to be the ravings of defeated troops, enemy propaganda and deserters. As if such a weapon existed! There was no war machine that compared to his Xeria tank, aside from the bigger, heavier Xeranto. And he had a dozen tanks in his platoon. With their combined firepower and the air support he had at this command, there was no enemy he couldn’t face and lose to!
KA-BOOM!
The sudden explosion from above, immediately grabbed hold of Croplin’s attention, as well as the attention of his tank crew. This caused the Xeria tank to stop suddenly. The other tanks followed suit as all eyes looked toward the skies. They all beheld the flaming wreckage of a Zedan fighter as it plummeted towards the ground a kilometer east of their position. The other planes in the area scattered in confusion as one of their number had suddenly been shot down. A few seconds later, a barrage of energy bolts shot up from a dense area of forest and quickly began picking off the remaining fighters with deadly accuracy.
At that moment, the entire scouting party was thrown into chaos as the tank crews began losing their air cover.
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On the ground, Corporals Vanx and Wizer calmly and methodically shot the Zedan planes out the air. Although their Hunters were equipped with guided, anti-aircraft missiles, they had decided to save their ordinance and use their Beam Rifles on low power. Both mech-pilots were accomplished marksmen and had participated in the last month of the Cryterian War. They didn’t have as much experience as the veterans, but they could certainly handle a few squadrons of World War 2 aircraft.
As the Zedan air support was being erased from the skies, Jerry and Gracs began circling around to attack the scout tanks on their left flanks. Since the enemy was focused on the direction of where the anti-aircraft fire was coming from, the commander and lieutenant easily got within visual range and prepared to mow down their targets.
Jerry decided to aim for one of the tanks in the rear of the column. After his sensors informed him of the thickness and composition of the tank’s armor, he determined that both the Beam Rifle and 100mm Machine Gun would be too excessive. He signaled to his partner to switch to using the Secondary Beam Guns and Vulcan Guns.
“On my mark in 3… 2… 1… ATTACK!”
Both the Star Gladiator and Hunter mechs opened fire with small blaster bolts and 65mm Vulcan rounds.
The two rearmost tanks in the column were enveloped in twin explosions as high-velocity rounds and plasma beams tore through their armor like tissue paper. The crews inside them were instantly slaughtered. This immediately got the attention of Lieutenant Croplin as he frantically ordered his remaining tanks to take up a defensive formation. As he scrambled down into the turret and shut the hatch, his driver shouted out as he spotted two enormous things emerging from the dense foliage.
“HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS?!”
Croplin looked through one of the periscope viewports of the turret and his eyes widened in complete shock and disbelief.
“Oh my God! They’re real!”
Two metal, humanoid beings came into view and began advancing on the platoon. He estimated them to be around 60 feet tall and they were sporting what appeared to be rifles that were the size of field artillery pieces. The ground trembled a bit every time they took a step. When their heads turned toward them, Croplin felt as if he was an ant that was about to be squashed underfoot.
“SHOOT! ALL TANKS OPEN FIRE!”
Each tank swiveled their turrets toward the approaching giants and began firing their main cannons and machine guns. Dozens of 50mm shells and hundreds of 7.62mm rounds flew toward the Battle-Mechs. However, they all proved to be useless as both machines raised their shields to deflect the majority of the barrage.
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In his cockpit, Jeremy nodded as he assessed the enemy counterattack. Technically speaking, he and Gracs didn’t have to raise their shields as the shells and bullets had no effect on the hyper-durlenium armor of both the Star Gladiator and Hunter.
Seeing that they needed to get to that main force of heavy tanks as soon as possible, the Battle-Mech pilot motioned to his partner to finish off the light tanks quickly. Again they began firing off 65mm Vulcan rounds and plasma bolts, destroying three more tanks in rapid succession. This caused the rest of the Zedan scouts to panic and they tried to back off and retreat.
The light tanks tried to desperately warn the main force of the metal giants through their radio systems, but both Battle-Mechs used their ECM emitters to jam their communication wavelengths and prevent them from reporting back to their superiors. Soon the number of Xeria tanks were whittled down to six, and then to two. Finally, the last tank still standing after the one-sided slaughter was Lieutenant Croplin’s.
The Star Gladiator then stepped forward to deliver the coup de grace. Commander Vandelin made his Battle-Mech pull out its melee weapon and ignited the blade. Turning the beam saber until its blade pointed vertically towards its target, the Star Gladiator stabbed into the tank and clear through it. Croplin and his tank crew inside were instantly vaporized by the intense heat of the ionized plasma blade.
Jerry surveyed his surroundings for a few moments, making certain that they had eliminated all the enemy forces in the area, before signaling to his men to rendezvous with the other Battle-Mech squads.
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Five miles east of the 71st Squad…
“That just about does it, Commander Kraits.” A Scrapper pilot announced as he and five other Mini-Mechs grouped together behind their superior. The landscape was strewn with the burning and mangled remains of a Zedan light tank platoon that they had run into. There were also several crashed planes and a few smoking craters where several mobile artillery crews had met their demise.
Commander Virgil Kraits was a veteran of the Scrapper Regiments since their inception during the Cryterian War. He preferred the smaller, more nimble Battle-Mechs and the 67th Squad was often the first ones engaging the enemy and the last one to pull out. Despite their smaller size and power, the Scrappers of the 67th made up for it in sheer ferocity. They were often called the Mini-Monsters and were credited with taking down four Cryterian Dreadnoughts on their own. Once they were unleashed upon the enemy, there was just no stopping Kraits and his men as they tore apart any opposition that stood in their way.
“Status report, Corporal Gates?”
“All enemy forces in the area have been neutralized, Commander.”
“All right, you Monsters! This was just the warm-up! We’re to meet up with the 71st , the 53rd and the 42nd Squads at Bravo-Sigma, 4, 14 and take out that Zedan heavy tank division! All units… move out!”
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The Zedan 505th Armored Division…
“Colonel Krikes, I’m feeling very concerned right now.”
“What is it, Captain Vernust?” Krikes as he spoke to his subordinate through the radio.
“We haven’t heard back from any of our scouts for over an hour now.”
“I know and I agree. It is most disturbing. We’re being invaded by enemy forces. I would think at least one of our scouts would have reported sighting the enemy by now.”
“It could be that our light tank battalions and their air support have been wiped out. Perhaps it would be wise for us to turn back?”
“We can’t do that! To do so would leave our homeland to the invaders! With or without the light tank battalions, we must do our utmost to defeat the enemy and drive them back into the sea!”
“But without any reconnaissance reports, we’re practically heading towards the enemy blind!”
“There’s no helping it. Therefore, we shall adopt the Number 17 formation. I don’t want all the tanks bunched up in a large mass. We’d be too easy a target for ground-attack craft. Have a few tanks move on ahead and act as our eyes and ears.”
“Yes Sir!”
“Remember, we are the 505th Armored Division! We have never been defeated, nor will we ever suffer defeat!”
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Less than eight miles from the approaching Zedan tank division…
Commander Vandelin nodded as the 71st joined up with the other Battle-Mech squads on a ridge that overlooked the forest. He took overall command as he began laying out the general battle plan over the communicator, to the other pilots.
“All right, the Zedan tank division that is approaching our position, numbers at over 200 heavy tanks in the 50-ton range. Those tanks are our main objective. The goal is simple. We wipe them out.”
“So how do we go about this operation?” Lieutenant Varksa asked. She was one of the few Kyteeri Battle-Mech pilots in the Star Alliance. Most of her people normally piloted Byatta starfighters or commanded starships. She was the second-in-command of the 47th Squad, just under her husband Commander Joshua Reeds.
“You have a couple of Slammers in your squad, right?”
Battle-Mech squads numbered between 4 to 10 units, depending on their mission assignments. For example, the 71st and 53rd Squads only had four Battle-Mechs each, as they were considered as light support and attack-oriented. The Forty-Second Squad had 10 Battle-Mechs, including two Artillery Mechs for long-range bombardment. The Sixty-Seventh was intended for close-quarters and urban combat, hence the reason why all of their members piloted Scrappers. In total, there would only be 24 Battle-Mechs to face off against over 200 Zedan heavy tanks and their support.
“Yes, Sergeant Younger and Corporal Bezor are the artillery units of our squadron.” Joshua stated. “Oh, and we also have a Bullseye on our team.”
In Battle-Mech terms, a Bullseye was a pilot who operated the sniper version of the Hunter. The Sniper-Hunter or Killshot Mech was equipped with specialized, long-range targeting systems, Instead of the regular Beam Rifle that most Hunters carried; it was armed with a rapid-fire, long-range Pulsar Rifle. It was basically a handheld, Battle-Mech version of one of the Missouri’s pulsar guns.
The Bullseye in question made his mech move up a bit as his superior introduced the Catian pilot.
“This is Lieutenant Corli. During the Cryterian War, he picked off a lot of high-value targets and even took out an entire battalion on his own.”
“Good.” Jeremy said as he addressed Corli and the two Slammer pilots. “We’re going to start this operation with a bombardment. Put enough firepower on them to throw them in disarray. And I want Lieutenant Corli to begin taking out key enemy artillery and any high-ranking targets that you can see. I want the entire tank division to be thrown into chaos. I want you to ‘Chicken Little’ the Hell out of them.”
“Chicken Little, Sir?” Corli asked.
“It’s an old children’s story from Earth. The main character became so panicked that he thought that the sky was falling.”
“Don’t worry about that, Commander.” Sergeant Younger assured.
“When we’re done, the Zedan are going to believe that the sky is falling.” Corporal Bezor added.
The leader of the 71st then addressed the others. “We’ll be split into two forces and we’ll trap the tank division in a pincer maneuver after the bombardment. My squad and the 42nd will come from the right while the 53rd and the 67th will come in from the left. We should be able to take them all out in under 10 minutes. Any questions?”
No one replied.
“Oh and if any of the enemy surrenders, then yes we are expected to take them prisoner.” He gazed toward the 67th Squad for a moment before signaling for everyone to move out.
To be continued…
Zandaran will start rambling like Hitler in Downfall soon
More! I Need More! Thanks for the Chapter!
Thanks for the chapter.