POLITICS AND SOLDIERS THE SIEGE OF FARSCAPE PART I

By Griffin Vengance

3rd Dec 2005

The landing door camd down with a resounding thud, and silver clad troopers stormed out of the small lander. Colonel Thomas Wyatts breathed in the supposedly fresh air with a flourish.
He nearly gagged at the stench of death.
"Sir! No activity reported from search teams, perimeter is being set up. You okay sir?"
"Fine Leuitenant, fine. Get me a comn link to the Saviour."
His wrist comn beeped in answer.
"Status Colonel?"
"Quiet as the halls of Valhalla here sir. No sign of life either human or alien so far. My men are making their way up to the command circle as we speak. Still got a bad feeling about this op though sir...like Pentruis V."
On the other side of the comn link, the Captain winced; on Pentruis V the Saviour had led some troops to investigate a supposedly abandoned LTC outpost, only to find it swarming and the landing team to fight their way out to the waiting transports.
Over 60% of the forces deployed never returned.
"Watch it my old comrade. Saviour out."

The Colonel nodded to himself, and with an inaudible mutter..."Well one of us has to be careful..."

Seargant Jenkins shifted uneasily in the lift. It was perfectly functional, but it had the same smell as the rest of the base-that of decaying corpses. When the doors opened, he was glad to get out of the confined space.
"Sir, Alpha Search reporting. Command Center seems uninhabited-same smell as the rest of this stinkhole though."
"Understood Seargant. Get your techs to power up the base...filters and sensors first."
The two young technicians didn't need to be told; they were already fiddling with the boards.
"Terpuos, Seminkins, gaud the lift. Rest of you, check your weapons and sit down. We're in for a loooong wait."
Five minutes later, the main screen began to power up, and the search team foudn what they had been looking for.
A million fold.
On the screen, there were over 10,000 red dots...10 in that very room.
The Seargant's hand raced for the comn, but an energy bolt stopped it.

"Seargant Jenkins, report! Repeat, report!
The normal noise of atmospheric radio answered.
The Colonel scowled.
"Captain, I just lost contact with one of..my..."
He stopped because the screens had just come on...including the sensors.
"Enemy contacts! Everyone inside the lander! Move it move it move it!"
Troops raced for the pod.
"Delta Squad, last perimeter guard!"
He ran to the lander's nearest access port, and typed in some quick fire commands.
Small cannons dropped down noiselessly from the lander's wings.
With a fumble, he clicked off his rifle's safety and looked around for something to shoot.

The Captain growled.
"I want that lander up here ASAP. Deploy the combat ships in a bombardment orbit, and warm up the guns. Get the sickbays on full alert for mass treatment."
"Aye sir".

Energy razed through the human lines, cutting down dozens at a time. Blood turned from spalts to puddles to rivers, and rifles fired in cold vengeance. There could be no doubt though-they had fallen for the trap, and were being massacred.
The Colonel threw a grenade into the darkness, and was rewarded with the satisfying sound of a half-dozen alien deaths. Without pause, he pivoted and opened fire on a clumsy enemy squad, forcing them into cover. There were always more though-sensor numbers didn't lie.
Men were cut down by the dozen now, and the path to the lander was like a wall of fire.
With a growl, the Colonel blew an aliens fat head off and threw his last grenade, again rewarded with death.
'There’s no hope,' he realised.
'We're all doomed.'

Ki-Jaun Hee smiled at the carnage displayed in front of him. The devious defilers were beiung obliterated, and with style.
"Ser-pee, prepare t-"
He stopped as he stared into a rifle...and literally put his mouth where his money was.
Cannons dropped down from the ceiling, catching the enemy by surprise. Phase fire of the best power ripped the aliens to shreds, and they were so well done that the aliens were corpses in less then a minute.
The amazed human survivors stared at the victorius one armed Seargant.
"Well, what did you expect from a techno junkie?"

"How are you Tom?" The Captain said in a sympathetic voice. Thomas Wyatts was the most hardcore man he knew...and to see him tired shook him to the bone.
"As well as you'd expect from a half-strength battalion sir. We've taken full control of the base, but the aliens are just too damned entrenched in their camps outside. I respectfully request we get extracted and you blow this piece of rock to hell with these alien ******** as an extra.

The Captain winced.
"Tom, they shielded the area around the base...you need to get out on your own."
The Colonel heard his unspoken words.
'Or die trying.'
"Then I guess we have to stick around and kill 'em all. Could do with some help though."
The Captain nodded.
We've killed every single alien outside that shield Tom, but you still got another 5,000 to go. How many troops do you have again?"
"Nearly 200...but this happened before at the Battle."
"Did I say there was no hope? Enjoy your victory Tom-they'll probably promote you to Brigadier for this one."
With a chuckle, the Captain signed off.

The enormous guns of the outpost had been silent for 7 years.
Not for much longer though.