The Battle of Titan Read online

  Index

  An ode to the fallen

  How did we come to this?

  A whisper across the void

  A mystery and a friendship discovered

  Petty politics

  The Spy

  A double date

  Sedna – 1

  Expression of Love

  The Sentinel and the Curious

  The Scout

  Houston, we have a problem!

  Surprise! Surprise!

  Aggressive Tackle

  Thou shalt not pass

  Shaitan

  Declaration of war

  Prometheus

  An early winter

  The opening move

  Approaching Titan

  The landing

  First Contact

  Second Contact

  The battle over Titan

  The Nest

  Fight to the death

  Will we be together?

  The calm before the storm

  Battle of Stirling Bridge

  Battle of Thermopylae

  For Humanity

  Battle of Shiroyama

  The Aftermath

  Preemptive strike

  Survival of the fittest

  Warmaster’s report

  An ode to the fallen

  From Major Hideo Takamori’s personal audio logs (translated from Japanese)

  I, Hideo Takamori stand on the ridge, surveying the valley below with the river snaking down into the plains. The rain pours incessantly, dripping over the faceplate of my helmet. The eternal twilight of this place, and the frequent rains makes the human spirit sink. Yet as I survey all below through the dim light, my heart soars with pride and joy.

  I want it known that never has a commander been more proud of his people as I am today. I say “people” and not “soldiers” because many came here as scientists, chemist, biologist and engineers; but soldiers they were all, and they gave a good account of themselves and of human kind. Let it be known to all that they fought and died well, and shall meet their ancestors with their heads held high.

  This is a strange yet beautiful place, dark and depressing and yet we are filled with hope now. There are mountains, yet they are not really mountains. There are rivers and lakes that flow and feel like home, and yet there is not a drop of liquid water here. I survey all of those rivers, lakes and mountain below in front of me with a reverence, for they now flow with the blood of my fellow humans – heroes and martyrs all of them.

  I grieve not for them, that honor I leave for their families; I sing an ode to their bravery & courage. For every drop of blood they shed, they made the enemy bleed a hundred times more. And yes the enemy does bleed, and we found out that we can really make them bleed. That thought fills my heart with hope and joy. For every human that fell to the ground, he or she felled a mountain of enemy bodies, and I survey those mountains of bodies now.

  Let it be known to our ancestors, that the first battle that humankind fought in a faraway place outside of their birth planet of Earth, was won not by guns or bombs or modern weapons, but it was won with swords and shields, spears and pikes – and our blood. Let our ancestors know that we did them proud.

  We, their inheritors used their knowledge passed on over hundreds of generations, from the hunters in the grasslands of Africa, to the archers of Asia, the pike men of Europe, and me personally to the Samurai of my homeland.

  Let it be known to the people on earth living today and all those who will come henceforth; that my people, and all of them here in Shiroyama were “my people”, bled and died together as humans first and humans only. Never did they give a thought to their comrade’s origin, and willingly sacrificed themselves for the other. There were no Americans, Europeans, Chinese, Indians or Japanese who fought and died here. There were only humans.

  Chapter 0

  How did we come to this?

  6 Hours earlier

  Lieutenant Leanna McGraw stood at the mouth of a narrow pass facing a vast open plains, in a light drizzle. To her left was a sheer cliff of ice almost a hundred meters high. To her right was a fast flowing river that had cut its way through the ice below their feet and the mountain to the right.

  The river bank fell down vertically as one would expect a fast flowing fluid to cut through ice. It was two meters deep at the shallowest. Good enough she thought. That left the narrow pass as the only way into the valley behind. She stood there with her “platoon” of 30 humans. It was a hodgepodge of 15 regular soldiers and Astronauts, Biologist, Engineers of various nationalities.

  She could see the enemy Horde approaching over the horizon. They looked a dark blur through her Infra-red binoculars, spread across the horizon as far as she could see in every direction over the plain on the left side of the river. It was good that only she could see them. They were invisible through the eternal orange twilight of Titan.

  She could not see individual forms, but she knew that there were just too many to count. She felt strangely calm, her internal fear and panic seemed to have given way to something else. A resolute determination seem to fill her. If this was going to be the day that she was to die in this beautiful but desolate moon, then she will make sure that the enemy pays.

  She flicked open her public channel. Her communication gear was civilian exploration grade, not military grade, so there was no way to address just her platoon, it was being heard by all the human defenders.

  “Steady people, they are just over the horizon. Visibility is poor, which works well for our strategy, but it also means we don’t know their numbers or their formation. It matters not how many they are, what matter is how many we kill. We shall hold steady, never loose courage, no matter how big they turn out to be, no matter how many they are. We fight here for our fallen comrades that those bastards have murdered, we stand here for humanity. We are the first line of defense, let those bastards know what humans are made of.”

  Someone from the line shouted “Oorah!” Probably one of the American marines, for it was their battle cry. It did not matter who shouted first, the channel was filled with everyone, not just in their platoon but other soldiers, scientists and engineers all shouting at the top of their voice. “Oorah! Oorah… Oorah!” There was an edge of bloodlust in their voices.

  Good she thought. The toughest part of the tactics she was given to lead in this opening sequence of the battle, was to do with her men holding their nerves. What she and her platoon were trying did not require skill, just holding their nerves, brute strength and brutality. She needed their bloodlust to make them forget their nerves, especially with half of them civilians. Many a soldier had lost their nerves in history, trying what she was about to try, in far less intimidating circumstances.

  It was another 5 minutes before the enemy front line came into view. They were not close enough yet that their distinct forms could be seen, but you could make out rows upon rows of them. Despite her earlier determination, Leanna’s heart sank.

  She realized that every man on the line must have a similar feeling, going through them right now. She needed to fortify their courage further. It would be a disaster if even one of them ran now, for it will create cascade of fear, leading to complete desertion of their best defense position. The best way to take their minds off the terror stampeding towards them is to get them doing something.

  “Platoon battle stations. First line, McCoy check your release mechanism. Cho check everybody’s escape trench. Roberts weapons check on the civilians” All three were redundant orders. They had checked the release mechanism and the escape trench many times over in the last hour, and there was not much to check with the weapons they were going to fight with, but it gave all of them something to do rather than mull the terrible fate
that awaited them all.

  “Second and third line you are on an elevated position, more vulnerable to projectile weapons if they have any left. Make sure that you are completely behind the battlements, no peeking. There is nothing for you to see till the First line hands over to you. If any idiot gets themselves killed with a puncture in their suit or helmet from a bullet before killing an enemy first, I will personally kick them alive and shoot them again. Now go through your own checks.” That should keep them from seeing what is approaching them.

  The enemy line had approached closer and she could make out individual forms. They were the B-type aliens, all of them. Her heart sank again. “My god! We are so screwed!” Where did so many of them come from? The defenders held the high ground, the alien horde was climbing up a gentle slope, so she could see from above, row after row of the type – B aliens, slowly converging from their wide formation into a narrow one as they approached the pass.

  Type-B are much bigger than their Type-A cousins, if they are related in any manner at all. No one knows. They share their broad body plan with type-A.

  The front line was almost there, and even in this mild 14% gravity of Titan he could feel the rumble of the horde. After giving a courageous speech to her platoon, she had none left for herself, and started feeling the nerves. In panic she decided to talk to Major Takamori, to give herself something to do and not dwell on the terrifying sight ahead. “Sir, McGraw here. I am sure you are watching the situation… any last minute orders sir?”

  Takamori knew that this brave woman was going through her time of self-doubt and nerves. It was only human to be afraid in such a situation, all she needed was what she had given to her men, someone to tell her that she will fight well.

  “Leanna you are a scot, as are many in your platoon, you have illustrious ancestors like William Wallace. Most of your platoon is European, all of your ancestors have fought and mastered this type of battle. Their spirit lives in you all, you have this type of warfare in your blood. You will know what is to be done, and you will fight well. Just remember no heroics today, stick to the plan and exit in an orderly manner in face of the chaos you are about to face. That is your challenge, and burden of command.”

  “Yes sir, I understand what needs to be done sir… and sir… thank you very much.”

  “Good luck Lieutenant, I will see on the other side.” Takamori concluded and switched to another channel. He understood McGraw’s burden, but he had much more. There were other positions he needed to shore up. This was turning out to be worse that his worst case scenario.

  Leanna looked up again at the advancing horde with a new steely determination. She thought to herself. “Charge like a horse do you? Let me show you what William Wallace did to a charging cavalry.”

  Perhaps all the terrible wars mankind had fought killing each other, may yet have some use to their descendants. Let those long dead warriors’ blood not go waste. Let us take those lessons to these alien bastards.

  “All right men, steady now. Hold steady, no one pulls the trigger before I give the word. Timing is everything. First line remember, you are there for show right now. Those aliens can see you and they are charging towards you. Lay still and keep your profile low. You are upslope, lying down. They do not have much of a target for projectile weapons if they have any, but if you move or get up before time, you can bet your ass you will get shot, for I will shoot you.

  Do not panic, you will not get trampled. Your escape trench is one body roll away, and you will have 4 seconds window at the least, hold your nerves.” Leanna watched proudly as 10 men in the First line lay prone as thousand legs/trunks/hooves, whatever you call them thundered towards them.

  Thinking about hooves, he suddenly noticed the feet, rather the sole of the feet of the marching aliens. On the sole of the suit on each feet of the aliens was a set of blades! She could not count how many, probably 3 or 4 on each foot. They looked curved inwards slightly like the talons of a bird or the claws of a lion. She guessed they were about 3 inches long. They dug into the surface ice, which had a consistency of sand and acted as spikes for firm footing, but she had no doubt what their primary function was.

  So that solves the mystery of how they intend to fight, they had been wondering what weapons the aliens would use now that all the modern weapons of both the warring parties were exhausted. There was no more time the first wave was almost upon them. Oh god, how did we come to this?

  Part 1

  Chapter 1

  A whisper across the void

  Many Decades earlier

  Scent of Harmony was feeling disturbed today. On days like these he wondered at what had prompted his nest seers into giving him such an ironical name. Of all the beings he had met in his nest and beyond, few seem to be in lesser harmony than him. He had gotten used to the idea of him and those of his caste being cursed with a life with little harmony, or perhaps the better word would be contentment.

  He envied the vast majority of the beings who lived their lives in blissful contentment. Perhaps he did not envy them that much, for he was blessed or cursed (depending on your perspective) with something very rare amongst living beings... Curiosity.

  The seers gave him and beings like him a special place in the society. His nest's eldest seer, who was his personal favorite would let him know on every occasion they met, as to how special he was. The seer's aroma would turn to resemble eclectic and rare foods symbolizing Harmony’s uniqueness and importance to society.

  The seer's skin slime would taste electrifying when Harmony would tell about the work he was doing, symbolizing his pride in Scent of Harmony's work. The seer would always end his interactions by reminding Harmony that it was beings like him that had enabled them to survive despite all the atrocities meted out by Ka.

  Those thoughts were now pushed aside, as Scent of Harmony contemplated the problem that vexed him. This business did not feel right. It neither appeared natural nor normal. He secretly dreaded, and hoped it was not the sign of some new mischief started by Ka.

  The stories handed down by the seers, of the genocides caused by Ka in the past made him involuntarily expel foul smells of death and despair as he moved towards the outer tasting banks. Passersby emitted odors of disapproval and even flashed their skin bright white to chide him for his break in etiquette.

  Oblivious to all these, Scent of Harmony moved towards his usual tasting station on the largest tasting bank pointed at the void in this entire world. This bank had access to unparalleled senses which could taste the vast void in ways no being could do with their body. It had access to unimaginable quantities of memory, so it never forgot any taste.

  Scent of Harmony had access to all the tastes this bank and all the other banks like this had ever tasted for as long as they had been in this world. They had long learnt to pay good attention to the void. The desolation of Ka can arrive from anywhere and anytime, but usually gives the first signs somewhere in the void.

  What Scent of Harmony was playing back right now, and what he had been tasting for the last many cycles over and over again was a segment of recording from a certain sector of the void on a certain radio frequency. It was very handy frequency to use in space for communication, or to use across the world on the other side as it bounces on the edge of the atmosphere.

  Harmony knew that this frequency was used for communications by his beings in antiquity when they knew so little and had been innocent beings; ignorant to the dangers of Ka. However this frequency was rarely used these days, as far more efficient means of communication exists. There are many large planets which emit this frequency, but the nature of those emissions is always random.

  Now he was tastings recording that started a few thousand cycles ago till the current time. This was not random, although he could not make out any simple pattern in it. This was a signal and it contained communication, he was growing certain of it. He needed to compare it with something similar his beings made, to find if there is any correlation.

  H
e had called for recordings of signals from some of their outlying posts in the void, which still needed to use this frequency for communication. However they tasted nothing similar. In an epiphany of sorts, he realized that the signals from the outposts tasted in only two levels… 0 & 1, as it should be, for that was the way all the beings communicated over machines.

  This was not the case with these anomalous signals. These signals varied from tasting nothing to the strongest and every possible value in between. It was almost as if two beings were tasting each other directly and yet they were not in physical touch but doing it over machines, which has never been done! Or has it been?!

  One of the advantages of his curious caste was that they have almost instantaneous and unfettered access to any other member of the caste. He had contacted Scent of Fraternity and explained as best as he could, his findings and the mystery behind it. He was not sure how much a gifted in history would understand about the intricacies of his subject on signal processing, but Fraternity seemed to be gifted enough to grasp the essence of the issue quickly.

  Further Harmony explained that he had consulted the memories in the general archives as well as various caste archives, but had only got vague answers there. It was these archives that had pointed towards Scent of Fraternity as the foremost authority in ancient languages, linguistics and forms of communication.

  What Fraternity conveyed after tasting the signal recordings himself gave him both hope and despair on his ability to solve the puzzle. He confirmed that ancients did use the un-encoded form of communication (that did not use 0s & 1s) over that particular frequency. However it was in such antiquity that even he does not have exact time period of its use.

  It was definitely only ever used in their planet of origin, and that too for an extremely short period of time in their history. As is obvious to any being barely out of a spawn now-a-days, this is an extremely inefficient and error prone form of communication.