TOW56

Chapter 56 - The Other War
Sinclair
Babylon System
Pentagon Worlds
3062
“Mission Commander Freelander, we are five minutes out of Sinclair Delta.”
Faye looked out of the Scarab gunship's viewscreen to see their escorts. As she focused on them the smart screen enlarged the faint contacts to show Batu and Jagatai fighters from different Kindraa who were increasingly working as one. Sinclair, the terminal planet of the Babylon system, loomed over them. Its placid blue-green atmosphere was full of important gases but Clans had established Enclaves on or around its seven moons to mine their ice and ore.
Their target was Delta, a world similar to the moon of Triton in the Sol system and innumerable others throughout the universe. An icy dwarf planet with active cryovolcanoes powered by tidal heating that sustained the faint rings around Sinclair. It offered little but privacy and easily obtained water ice. “Executing a probe run. Hang on Marines.”
Twenty Marines checked their kit as the Scarab completed a flyby using its active probe. The Sensor Operator made his report using their local Battlenet. “No sign of dangerous radiation. Fission reactor is in low power mode. I am not detecting emissions from the comm array or movement from the garage.”
“Is the door open?”
“Neg. There are rovers outside, no pattern evident. Looks like they were locked out and dark, probably dead batteries.”
Faye disengaged her comms whispering in her own helmet, “Probably more than a few dead things.”
Remote Clan enclaves often went dark, sometimes it was not even reported until their resupply ship arrived. Almost always it was faulty equipment these enclaves skirted the edge. It often was only a technician's skill keeping everyone alive without proper support. A desperately needed component could be taken in a Trial and not replaced before there was a catastrophe. Sometimes there were signs of Bandit attack but that was less common and particularly rare in space.
Well except for the one they did of course.
“Pilot, drop us off near the farthest rover. I want a twenty kilometer orbit, Jagatais are to land and cover the Scarab.”'
All three Point Leaders marked their approval with a green light in her HUD. She lowered the blast shield providing another layer of protection to the ferroglaz visor of her Combat Space Suit. Her force lacked Elementals, the mighty Warriors still deployed to Lang Zhenzu supporting ongoing FireNewt training. She looked across the way at the five man FireNewt team deploying with her to replace the now returned Harvesters. This was deemed a low risk operation but so had Circe.
Thrusters from the dark red Mandrill Scarab sublimated the white icy surface of Delta. A Point of Jagatais followed their noses pointed North/South while the gunship was aligned East/West. Faye stormed down the ramp with two Fireteams who took up defensive positions next to the rovers. Ten Marines followed them rifles shouldered, some carrying a large cylinder marked with chemical hazard logos, while others moved the hydraulic cutter and its separate APU from their handles.
FireNewts were Technicians first, Warriors second so they were first into one of the multi-segmented ice rovers whose design and operation was reminiscent of millipedes. The lead cab contained the engine for the jaw like harvesting apparatus that crushed ice, turned it into a slurry, and passed it to storage tanks in the rear. Faye watched them work, they ordered the trailers detached while refueling it with hydrazine from the gunship and a brief charge of the battery from their APU. After about twenty minutes the tractor came alive, its spotlights reflecting off the super cold ice of a dark moon at the far edge of a system.
The leader of the FireNewts came in over the BattleNet. “We are operational. If the door will not open for this rover at least we do not have to walk far.”
“Roger that Gao. Everyone load the heavy equipment into the cab and hang on.”
Faye's Marines kept their rifles at the ready but hung onto the outside of the tracked rover. It moved painfully slow but it was better than bounding across the 'cantalope' terrain, named after an extinct Terran fruit, marked with undulating hills rising from the subsurface ocean that fueled the cryovolcanoes on which the surface ice floated.
Delta's largest Enclave loomed large before them, a forest of microwave and radio transmitters grew from the East. To the West were large landing pads and handling equipment dropships collecting refined products to trade back to Babylon. The largest and most evident component was to the North on the other side of the surface access. An immense drill rig rose as tall as a dropship tapping through the glacier and into the subsurface ocean.
Something was up to the South however, as they passed the rovers they saw signs of damage to the silent darkened machines. “Stop, Gao. I want to inspect this rover.”
Tracks halted and the riders dismounted while one of the spotlights was moved across the rover. Lightweight industrial grade plate was melted and recovered in rime. “Looks like a laser burn, possibly a Micro. Fan out and use the spotlights.”
She looked up at the From the Ashes, “Captain Tai, I am sending you a data upload with our findings. Looks like there was a battle here. Lighter forces, possibly just infantry using lasers. No bodies.”
“Should I send the other team down?”
“Aff. We might need the help. Tell them to bring the heavier lasers. We have all the forced entry gear.”'
“Heading down in ten.”
Rover A-8 trundled toward the access point, standard procedure was to always keep Rovers in vacuum so there was no airlock outside. The door did not open when it came within proximity. Alpha team dismounted and the FireNewts got to work trying to force entry with the easiest methods first. Failing that there was enough firepower in Bravo to cut a hole through the armored doors large enough to enter.
Faye watched Bravo Point's shuttle land nearby its thrusters bright against the dim starlight of the rim. Dropping on the established pad was risky particularly when there was potential for radioactive or biological contamination. She was in no rush to see what was inside without those heavier weapons. “Tai, do another scan with the ship sensors.”
“Roger, coming back into position in twenty minutes.”
Gao hammered on the access panel, his suit was equipped with an advanced cryptocomputer that should have been able to unlock this facility like one would flip a switch. "Savasri! Someone put decent encryption on this facility and wiped the interface computer.”
“Can you get it open, Gao?”
“Neg, we are going to have to use more forceful measures.”
Bravo team was just rolling in aboard their own rover, their 'heavy' combat space suits were augmented with greater lift capacity but no maneuver thrusters. This allowed them to carry heavier weapons and equipment than the standard version but only on planetary surfaces, not really in orbit or aboard a Warship, and they still had to be careful it had no additional armor but a Warrior could still use a heavy shield to protect themselves.
Their squad leader Silvestri 'Silver' stepped forward, the freeborn Mandrill Elemental was tall, not immensely so but, his bulk was more evident when compared to the lithe Jaguar. “Thermite or lasers?”
“There is lots of ice out here. Start with lasers.”
he man portable micro laser still packed twice the power of their Mark 39 Laser rifles but more importantly it contained a water-ammonia SLV phase shift cooling system occupying most of its 25 kilo mass. Their recently acquired rovers were loaded with the stuff and the Mandrills packed the snow around the large radiator fins surrounding the octagonal 'barrel' keeping the weapon cool.
'Silver' marked the area with a less powerful etching laser from the salvage gear lined his Warriors up in firing line. This maneuver was one of the first learned so the Mandrills marked their quadrants, switched the lasers to steady state, and held the trigger down.
Four lasers burned through the armored door as the radiator heat sublimated the ice packed around the barrel before it started to vaporize the liquid coolant circulating within the heat jacket. Their barrels glowed slightly red as the vacuum failed to transfer the heat contained within faster than it could be generated, “Should be weakened enough now. We have to cool down and change out.”
“Silver, smash it open.”
He stood to the side of the damaged area readying the 20 kilo sledge in both hands his shadow dancing along the icy metal. “Stand clear.”
With a myomer enhanced swing the sledge shattered the brittle metal made weaker by the heat treatment and laser separation. A brief rush of vapor refroze within a meter joining the dry snow of this glacial wilderness. “Ladies first, Faye. We cannot fit through this hole.”
She activated her rifle light and looked within the empty un-pressurized bay, the airlock indicator was blinking red. “Airlock was closed on alert.”
Silvestri crouched as best he could trying to look inside, “You determined that they were under attack.”
“However we do not know if from within or without. No bodies and the rovers were outside facing in.”
Gao leaned out of the rover. His red and gray suit contrasted to the icy wilderness beyond. “We should get inside to prep for an expedition its too open out here.”
''
“Gao, you are with me. Lets get inside and open this door.”
The FireNewts and Mandrills entered through the hole and searched around with their suit and rifle lights, Gao measured the room with his enhanced sensors, “This bay is too small for all those rovers outside.”
“This is just an antechamber the real garage is probably behind the airlock, but the Burrocks that built this place might have expected at least a few of them would be away at any time.”
“Or there is another installation.”
“Aff,” Gao plugged into the system and focused on the task of opening the airlock which would allow them access to the rest of the facility. “They could also have been left behind by the attackers.”
Faye hadn't considered this, each of the rovers was the generic type in use by all the Clans. Her Mandrills activated the manual override and used their APU to open the door allowing the salvaged rovers access to the garage. Their drivers backed them in and kept them on low power mode dimming the lights but still fully illuminating the space, “They might not have the black box or radio but each still has all their life support mixes.”
“Good.” She breathed a sign of relief, the oxygen in their rebreather system would last for about 12 hours of activity before it needed to be replaced but she would freeze before that happened if her battery wore out. There were now forty individuals that would need power and air on a mission that might take time. “Bravo, use the rovers to recharge your weapon packs. The APUs only have a limited amount of fuel that we will have to draw from them as well. We know the reactor is still online but who knows what is in there.”
One of her commandos closed the door and patched the hole with a panel torn off the rovers outside and his laser rifle. “We are secure, might even be able to hold an atmosphere.”
A FireNewt chimed in, “Too cold, it would just turn to liquid. Best we can hope for is some conduction from the reactor in this zone. Its fifty here, only ten K warmer than outside. An Enclave like this averages two eighty inside if it follows the old protocols, just enough to keep the ice stable.”
She looked toward Gao still intensely focused on opening that airlock, “Sounds downright balmy.”
Team Leader Gao through a crowbar down in frustration, “Damn, still cannot open it.”
Faye looked over to Silver, “Burn it open.” He nodded and pulled out a string of thermite carefully attaching it to the airlock door before getting out of the firing line. The Mandrill triggered the ignition creating a shower of brilliant white sparks aligned in the circle large enough for the standard suits to fit through, a small door in a much larger one.
After the magnesium bright fire faded the steel circle fell inward pulled by the atmosphere inside. Faye looked at it confused, normally there was a positive blowout when you forced open an airlock except in one circumstance, “No positive pressure. Bio-security protocol?”
One of the Newts peered in, “This was supposed to just be a mining outpost. Although that would explain the lack of thermal plume. Everyone there at least froze to death unless they found a secure compartment.”
Silver looked over his assembled Warriors, “Clearly it was more than what Khan Drake told us.”
Faye entered and manually cycled the rover sized airlock walking down the ferrocrete ramp to the turntable, where rovers and their crews would be readied only to link up with trailers outside. The overhead lights came on illuminating a site of extreme violence. A major infantry action to keep something inside had happened here and left its mark on the environment and machines. One rover with three flatbed trailers formed a makeshift barricade similar to circled wagons curving inward. “If he knew.” 
She didn't know if it was fear or just the chilly environment that made her shiver as she leapt up into the flatbed to give it a closer look. Upon closer inspection she determined that the remains were that of a support PPC and heavy support laser. The weapons bore the carbonized mark of the Widowmakers but that meant they must have been from some long last Pentagon cache kept in decent repair. Faye peered toward the yawning abyss of the furnicular leading deeper into the station. 
“With this much firepower what were they fighting? A tank, mech, or something else. And why did it want to get out?”
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