DISCOVERY!

by

Lof'ek Ben
(written by George Minde)

PART I

NOTE: this transmission has been cleared by KZK military censors and has been subject to 140 TU tape delay for security reasons.

start transmission...

Shortly after we loaded on the transport, our suspicions were confirmed. T-Snit it was.

Our handlers took us into a small room lined with a dozen acceleration couches and lockers built into the walls. After stowing our carryalls, we belted into the couches and then the 'briefing boards' dropped down. Definitely a good setup; someone could video conference even as they were being pressed back in their chairs during takeoff. Felt kind of odd getting a briefing about an upcoming mission while lying flat on your back, though.

We were part of the second wave of the assault. The first wave had come from bases in out-of-system, with Kommercia providing the follow-up. Rumor had it the first wave was mostly aircraft, and that fit with the situation we found developing as we landed--waves of bombers flying overhead with fighters in escort, streaming towards Tir-na Nog'th, as the guidance teams off-loaded our craft and sent us to staging areas to prepare for the ground assault.

I was assigned to travel with the (censored) Regiment, Petroom Guard as part of the main thrust into the city center. We had been given the objective of the city starport. Within an hour after we had landed, the column had formed up and was moving off into the city--troops riding on the pulsar tanks spread out in three inverted battalion wedges, while the attached MEK fanned out to the sides, bounding across the surface of the Snit towards Tir-na Nog'th just over the horizon.

Opposition was light to begin with, and was essentially nonexistent after the initial air sweeps. We transitioned to a series of company columns abreast as we hit the edge of the city and kept on moving. There were more delays due to people milling about the streets watching us than due to enemy resistance. Tir-na Nog'th was essentially an open city.

When we reached the starport, it looked almost abandoned. The facilities were commodious, with large shipyards for a group not known for needing them. More surprising, though, were the dozen cargo carriers laid up on the docking pads. Almost the entirety of Marshall Whispers' merchant marine was sitting in dry-dock, all in a state of disrepair. Temporary facilities nearby housed the crews, who seemed to be spending more time catching up on their hologaming or taking advantage of the amenities portside than they were in taking care of their ships. A token guard was found on some of the ships and quickly subdued; most of the crew watched us from their barracks, taking only the dimmest interest in what was occurring, or else acting as if they were totally aloof from the whole affair.

The ships were all top-of-the-line, for two years ago--full thorlium coating, most had visited KAS Rubis to install their special landing equipment and received jammer coating at SSL Ax or Arkham; all specialized, whether as merchants, troop carriers, or colonial transports. Maintenance had been allowed to slip, however. The isotopes powering the Sodom Thrusters in each ship had long since decayed past the point where they could loft a ship into orbit, and a cursory examination of the engine compartments showed gaskets and hoses in need of replacement. The ships were over three months past due for overhaul; the logbooks showed that most had been beached here for a year, and the most recent hadn't moved in over ten months. Marshall Whispers hadn't wanted to trade with anyone...he had been determined that T-Snit become an island.

The troops soon secured the starport, interning the crew in their temporary quarters--it wasn't as if the cargo carriers were ready to try to lift off anywhere. After a few hours, when the message traffic from other units made it clear that the colony had been secured-HQ recalled the unit back to assembly areas to prepare for the next part of the operation. A battalion of infantry was left in control of the starport, and the rest of us headed out onto the surface of T-Snit, towards where we had landed.