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Chessville
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Mirror Mirror - Part Three by S.D. Tortorice
25. Rxh4 a3
Leng was persisting with an attack on his
queen side of the board in a desperate attempt to regain the initiative.
Slova must not allow him any chance to do so. He still had a
significant material advantage. However, against an opponent of Leng’s
caliber such an advantage could quickly disappear. Slova launched his
own attack, attempting to coordinate his pieces as best he could.
In a flurry of captures, Slova found himself in an endgame with Leng. This is where chess becomes deceptively easy. Fewer pieces can create the illusion of safety, or even victory. Yet many a chess player had lost after succumbing to the illusion by making an ill-considered move. False perception was not the only problem. Time was often a factor as well. Slova glanced up and saw that he had fewer than nine minutes left on the clock to score a decisive victory. And Leng was counterattacking with 31...Ra6. * * * * The last few minutes of the battle were awesome to behold as infantry, artillery, and armor clashed on an epic scale for control of the center of the battlefield. This was the culmination of all his strategizing and tactics. Victory or defeat was very close at hand. Lenowski called up a SITREP, or situation report, on his available units. It was a grim report, as many units no longer existed, their place in his electronic order of battle occupied by grayed-out unit designations. Of those that did survive many were approaching the critical mark in supplies. It never failed to amaze Lenowski at how fast modern armies devoured fuel and munitions. Was it any surprise that most battles were now decisively concluded in under two hours? There simply wasn’t the capacity to fight any longer using contemporary logistical capabilities. Clearly the battle had reached its climax. Now was the time to issue the command that would unleash Mother Russia’s new secret weapon. Lenowski used his interface to access the secure land-line. There was a pause as the command tank’s AI interrogated the connection to verify that it was still intact and secure---if it failed the test, all was lost. Lenowski held his breath as the analysis was conducted. Much to his great relief a new interface appeared, spartan in nature like AIRNET had been. It had only one query: what was the authorization code? The general, with the relief of a successfully discharged obligation, entered it.... * * * * Jixi, China, 325 kilometers northwest of the FEBA The four Chinese guards paced lazily around the perimeter of the nondescript, six story building, struggling to stay warm as the mix of ice and snow pelted their uniforms. One guard, Corporal Xin, a forty-three year old recent conscript recovering from a battlefield injury, hobbled over to the most junior member of the four man detail, Private Jing, who had just passed him patrolling in the opposite direction of Xin. Without warning, he slapped him on the back of his head. Startled, the younger guard turned to face his brutish superior, ready to be chastised for yet another imaginary infraction of the rules. Instead Xin told him to make himself useful and get him his routine mid-watch cup of hot tea. The younger guard trudged across the ankle deep snow and allowed the main entrance scanner to analyze his retinas prior to unlocking the armored door which guarded access to the interior of the building. The scanner blinked green, and the door hissed open on its automated hinges. It was then that Jing felt the ground rumble as if a strong earthquake was about to unleash its wrath upon the city. He quickly turned and found himself watching in stunned disbelief as, 15 feet to his front, the ground seemed to explode and fountain towards the sky, covering him with mud, snow, and frozen soil. Inexplicably, a reddish hole in the night appeared to expand over the crater with the hulking black figures of ...armored infantry occupying the center of the breach! As Jing struggled to get his assault rifle off his back, he saw Xin’s head suddenly explode as a bullet found its mark. Before Jing could bring his weapon to bear, he felt a vise-like grip crush his left shoulder, forcing him to drop his weapon. Turning, he found his pained visage reflected in the polished visor of a battlesuit. From within, a dour Russian gazed back while he held Jing’s shoulder with his right gauntlet and brought a large bladed weapon up with his left. The last thing Jing saw was his attacker’s nationality—a Russian flag was enameled on the armored breastplate. As Jing breathed his last, Russian armored infantry leapt from the red-lit interiors of their cloaked vehicles. Four state-of-the-art and previously unknown burrowing assault vehicles, know as Diggers, boxed in the besieged building. To conserve power, their captains shut down their cloaking systems, revealing long, black tubular bodies resting on massive treads. Their slowly rotating conical prows and sterns were studded with the telltale bulbous lenses of mining lasers. Warfare had entered a new era, one of subterranean strategy and tactics. Troops from the four vehicles, an armored battalion altogether, set up a cordon. So far the only shooting had been done by them, the soldiers of the 1st Special Terrain Attack Command, as the enemy clearly still had no idea of what was transpiring. If everything went according to plan, and it rarely did, they would be exfiltrating before the ChiComs ever figured it out. It all depended on Major Frenev. Major Ivan Frenev had taken the enemy completely by surprise. His fifth Digger had burst right through the sub-basement floor, exactly one level below his target. His troopers quickly disgorged from their vehicle and ascended the partially damaged staircase that was located just to the left front of the Digger’s prow where the smuggled plans said it should be. With Frenev at the front of the line, they burst onto the next level and proceeded to cut down anyone and anything that crossed their gun sights. When the smoke cleared, 10 or so bodies littered the floor, mostly of the technicians who serviced the enemy battle computer that was housed within the building. However, a few ChiCom security soldiers were felled as well. Frenev was glad to see that none had managed to unsling their weapons before being dispatched with Russian caseless ammunition. Frenev and seven of his men took the leftmost corridor, while part of the remainder took up blocking positions to prevent anyone interfering with the major and his team’s task. Meanwhile, the other section assumed defensive positions within the stairwell, preventing the descent of enemy soldiers from the upper levels. As Frenev rounded a corner, a security soldier guarding a large, armor-plated door at the far end of the corridor opened fire with his rifle. A round ricocheted off of Frenev’s right shoulder armor as he returned fire. Almost simultaneously with the flash of his weapon’s large stubby muzzle, the enemy soldier was thrown back against the door, his chest riddled with holes. Frenev ceased firing, allowing the body to slide to the floor. His men ran to the closed steel doorway and tried to pull it open to no avail. It was sealed tight until the security alert, triggered most likely by one of the now deceased Chinese staffers, was canceled. No matter, thought Frenev, we aren’t here to capture it anyway. Yet Frenev was still disappointed that he wouldn’t at least get to see the enemy Tactical AI that had caused so much trouble for his countrymen. The major turned and indicated with his index finger to bring up the special equipment. As he did so, he was somewhat startled to see the prostrate armored form of one of his men prostrate upon the floor. “Bullet through the visor, comrade major,” answered sergeant Damozin. “Can’t make everything bulletproof I guess.” Quickly, two technicians, encased in armor like the assault force, brought up the suitcase sized device, followed by two soldiers carrying collapsible auto-cannons. Frenev and the techies set the 5 kiloton, high EMP fusion bomb close to the armored door and began to program it, while the two soldiers each set up one auto-cannon to cover the far end of the corridor. In a matter of five minutes, the two tasks were complete. Frenev radioed Major Chernika, the exterior force commander, that he and his men achieved their objective and were leaving. Through the sound of intermittent small arms fire, Chernev acknowledged the message and indicated that he too was preparing to pull out. Frenev and his now six assault soldiers left the corridor and rejoined the others. The major marveled at how passively the ChiComs were reacting. Only a handful of security personnel had attempted to respond to the alarm on this level, and others were easily beaten back by the detachment in the stairwell. Clearly, the enemy planned for an attack from outside the building but had no contingency plan for an assault from within the structure. As a result, the ChiCom forces were dumfounded as how to best proceed, with the result being a piecemeal response. Frenev activated his battlesuit microphone and ordered all but the stairwell detachment to exfiltrate immediately. He was the last to leave the level, and as he did so, he removed a small remote control unit from his utility belt around his armored waist and pressed two keys. One activated the timer on the bomb, the other, the two auto-cannons guarding the corridor. If anyone tried to assault the corridor, they would meet a wall of steel as the cannons would spray anything that moved. Also, if anyone attempted to tamper with the bomb, or even move it, it would now detonate immediately. Finally, if anyone from behind the steel door that guarded the enemy Tactical AI attempted to open it, the bomb would be jolted, causing an immediate detonation. Needless to say, Frenev hoped nobody fooled with the bomb until he had a chance to leave. Major Chernika smiled to himself. The lateness of the hour, the inclement weather, and the unprecedented attack method had caught the enemy completely off guard. With the exception of the northeast quadrant, only token resistance had been met. The northeast quadrant, the one he currently was occupying with his troopers, was under more pressure as some 100 yards away was the barracks for the local security detachment. Fortunately for Chernika, some fool decided to gate the barracks, effectively limiting access to the street via one gap in the gating. Chernika and his troopers had that area under intense scrutiny. As he watched via enhanced vision projected onto the inside surface of his visor, the Chinese made another effort to rush the gate and flood out onto the open street. “Hit them again,” called Chernika on the area communications network to the dorsal gunner on the nearest Digger. The gunner acknowledged the order, aimed .50 caliber Gatling gun from atop the vehicle and depressed the triggers on the dual grips. The three barrels spun quickly, but noiselessly, as a huge gout of pink flame left from the spinning business end of the weapon. As Chernika watched, a hail of bullets raked the entire gate area, causing a shower of sparks as bullets ricocheted off the metal bars surrounding the compound. The unfortunate infantry caught in the hail of lead was virtually torn apart in a matter of seconds, leaving only a very lucky few to retreat out of sight, dragging whoever they could with them. Chernika grunted in satisfaction. Three electronic beeps signaled an incoming transmission on the battalion command network. “Alpha Two Niner, this is Alpha Three Zero.” The hoarse voice of Major Frenev sounded loud and clear over his interior body armor speakers. “Ready to exfiltrate. Acknowledge. Over.” A final beep indicated an end to the transmission. “Alpha Three Zero, this is Alpha Two Niner. Acknowledged. Pulling out all Two Niner elements now.” Chernika passed the word over the battalion net to begin pulling out and boarding the Diggers for the mad retreat out of China before the EMP wave could trap them underground in powerless vehicles, or worse, blast them into atoms. We should have enough time, but just enough, thought the major. As he shifted his armored bulk around to begin a walking check on his Digger’s efforts to get underway, a bright flash followed by a rolling boom threw him face down on the ground. With great effort, he rolled over onto his back and was horrified to see his Digger in flames. Many of his men had been knocked to the ground by the blast, just like him, and were just getting to their feet. Suddenly, a FIZZZZZZ could be heard growing in volume as a streak of smoke, dimly lit from the light thrown off by the burning digger, zipped into the side of the vehicle once again. Another blast rocked the large vehicle, again flooring his men. Chernika knew what must be happening—the ChiCom security detachment had an unexpected supply of self-guided anti-armor missiles and were using them to blast his vehicle, the cornerstone of this quadrants security perimeter. He regained his composure and began issuing orders. Accessing the battalion net once again, he issued a pre-arranged distress call. “All Alpha Two Niner elements, Phase Shock, repeat, Phase Shock!” Chernika got to his feet, helped a few uninjured nearby troopers to do the same, and drew his sidearm. With a reassuring click, Chernika released the safety and pointed with the muzzle of his gun towards the enemy barracks which was mostly hidden by the bulk of the burning Digger. “Men, prepare for battle!” That was all he needed to say. His men knew there was no retreat allowed in this type of operation; the survivors quickly re-occupied their defensive position around, under, and over the digger, hoping no more missiles were on their way. Throwing all caution to the wind, Major Chernika pulled himself to the top of the Digger, whose flames, having since consumed the little flammable material on the exterior of the vehicle, were nearly extinguished. He was soon confronted with an on-rushing hoard of Chinese security personnel with their small arms blazing in every direction, shooting at anything that moved. He calmly took aim at what appeared to be an officer of some rank at the vanguard of the attacking force some 70-odd strong. Chernika slowly pulled the trigger. The weapon fired with a BAM, expending one casing out the side ejection port, followed by a puff of smoke. The enemy officer went down, followed by a half dozen more of his men as the remaining Russians, some 11 in all, opened fire with their assault rifles. Despite the toll he and his men were taking on the advancing enemy, the math was unfortunately clear...without the heavy fire support afforded by the Gatling gun, which now lay wrecked beyond repair on top of the vehicle, along with its gunner, they would be overrun in a matter of minutes. An anguished cry sounded from Chernika’s left. He quickly glanced over in that direction and saw one of his men who had also climbed on top of the Digger grab his faceplate with both his gauntlets and fall over the front of the vehicle, hitting the ground with the loud clang of body armor striking concrete. He remained still. Ten men left. Chernika’s pistol ejected its ammo clip from the rear, leaving a rectangular, smoking abyss demanding to be reloaded. The major, with practiced ease, retrieved one from his utility belt around his waist and slammed it home. The pistol was ready to go again despite the heat-induced glowing muzzle. He took aim once again, amazed that he had yet to be knocked down. As if in answer to his thoughts, a loud grenade explosion to his rear nearly knocked him over the front of the digger into the arms of the enemy who had now reached his position and were swarming around the Russians, encircling them. Chernika was swinging his arms in an effort to regain his balance when a Chinese soldier fired a blast from his rifle directly at the major. The bullets stitched their way up his armor, denting but not penetrating the breastplate. However, a bullet did shatter his faceplate and graze the side of his head, serving to knock Chernika over the back edge of the digger. He hit the ground with a dull thud, crushing an enemy soldier underneath his hefty bulk. His vision was fading, first with red blood—his own—then with blackness. He was losing consciousness, and as he did so, he saw his men losing a desperate, close-quarters battle. The unarmored Chinese were more nimble, and as a result, able to outmaneuver the Russians. Before Chernika blacked out, he prayed that he had bought enough time for the rest of the attack force to have gotten away…. * * * * 32. Rf6 Ke7
The end was near. Either Slova would win the game, or the sudden death time controls would end it for him. Now was the time to unleash everything he had. Slova was confident that when the smoke cleared, his material advantage would seal the fate of his opponent. * * * *
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