by Dan Davis
“Sir,” Stirling said. “What about the Hex aircraft? We got to take it out and get away before it’s too late and we can’t do that using all our ammo on that tank.”
“Fury, do you think you can hit that Hex craft with your AP rounds?”
She did not hesitate. “Only if it’s low and slow. Not at this distance.”
“Alright, Flores, think you can immobilize that tank from here?”
“Just give me the order.”
“Alright do it but relocate after every shot, understand?”
“Sir!”
“Fury, stay at the southwest and provide cover. If the Hex craft comes in range, take out an engine with your AP rounds.”
“Yes sir but no guarantees I can make that shot and I might only get one.”
“Understood. Stirling, you’re with me on the north wall. Let’s kill these bastards quick, at least.”
Ram and Stirling ran along the east wall, over the ruined gateway, and on through the corner tower to the north wall. There were at least twice as many on that flank as on the south and already most were just fifty meters out. Ram took a position, as did his sergeant, and they shot down at the advancing raiders. Over a dozen were almost at the wall and they shot and killed them with ease. But more were coming.
From her position on the east wall, Flores fired a grenade round that arced up and down across 400 meters to explode on the front of the tank.
Flores swore as she ran to the nearest tower. “Goddamn wind caught it.”
After the blast, the tank slowed almost to a stop, its turret swiveling, before firing at the wall where Flores had been standing.
The blast shattered the top of the wall in a great shower of dust, spraying everyone with pieces of stone. Debris showered down everywhere and even pinged off Ram’s armor as he shot down at the attackers. Taking careful aim at the next target, Ram’s large caliber round hit the man in the throat and just about took his head off his shoulders as he dropped.
“Red? Are the assets safe?”
“They are safe inside the northwest tower and I am using my body as a shield with which to protect them further from any potential blast or shrapnel damage that might be—”
“Thank you, Red,” Ram said, cutting him off. “Cooper? How’s the truck coming?”
“We’ll never have it finished in time, sir but we’re welding an area that the subject can shelter inside, along with the doctor and the AP. The rest of us will have to trust our suits.”
“That’s great work, Cooper. Let me know when you’re done. Sergeant? Use your—”
Flores let out a whoop. “Got him!”
Ram checked her feed and saw, through a cloud of dust, the tracks fall off the left side of the tank and the vehicle slewed to the side and stopped as pieces of earth fell onto it. The turret turned back to point at the gate.
“Flores, get out of there,” Ram shouted just as the tank fired. The top of the tower erupted in a cloud of stone. “Flores!”
“I’m alright,” she said, breathlessly. “I wasn’t there.”
“Glad to hear it. Cover the southern assault.”
“What about the gate?” Stirling asked.
“We’ll relocate when they reach it. The gate is already down but there’s a kill zone between the outer and inner gates, right? We’ll take them then.” Ram wanted to drive away the assault on the north first but there were so many that a handful of the raiders had reached the walls and were throwing up their ladders. “Use grenades, Sergeant.”
“You said to reserve—”
“I know what I said,” Ram replied, pulling a grenade from the compartment on his thigh. “If we don’t hold them off, we won’t be able to get away at all.”
He threw his grenade down at a group of men raising a ladder to the wall. The blast killed or injured all five of them and Ram shot at the men behind them who tried to reach the ladder. More explosions killed others further along the wall as Stirling’s grenades took out other groups. The attack on the north wall was already slowing as the attackers took cover and stayed put and the walls were clear for the moment. It seemed the tide was turning on that flank, at least. Surely, those attackers, no matter how desperate they were, would only put up with so much before they fled.
“Sir,” Fury said. “The Hex aircraft is now circling at five hundred meters about a klick away. I can’t make a shot.”
“It’s just watching the town?” Ram asked, glancing that way, the black outline and blue glow from the engines just discernable through the swirling snow.
“Gonna see us at that distance,” Stirling said, turning to look at it. “They’ll see our armor, they’ll know we’re not from around here. They’ll attack.”
“Maybe they’ll call reinforcements,” Ram said. “We should go before then.”
“But if they just came to watch the firefight,” Flores said, “maybe they’ll go away if we win.”
“I doubt—” Ram started but a massive explosion behind him cut him off.
The tank had blasted through the east wall in an enormous cloud of dust that was thick like white smoke. Through the swirling smoke and with his suit enhancing his vision, Ram could make out a section of the wall crumbling into a mound of rubble on both sides. Beyond, the raiders swerved away from their assault on the gate and instead charged toward the new breach in the wall.
“Flores,” Ram said. “With me to the east, cover the breach. Sergeant, stay here and keep them off the wall.”
Ram moved through the northeast tower along with dozens of others and took up position on the undamaged section.
He shot at the advancing raiders, killing them as they pressed forward on either side of the tank. Half were heading toward the gate and the others were coming for the newly made breach in the wall.
“Sir!” Flores shouted. “The tank—”
It fired.
Ram saw the incoming shell before he turned to run. But the ground seemed to disappear from under his feet and then he was falling and tumbling, the world around him turning to a swirling cloud.
13.
The impact knocked the wind from him and his suit flashed and pinged warnings. He rolled to get up but slid down again, rolling until he came to a stop in front of a dead body, crushed beneath a large stone.
Half of the dead woman’s head had been crushed, distorting what remained of her face horrifically. Still, he recognized her as the one who had chided him earlier.
It’s us or them!
Ram scrambled away and got to his feet. Someone was shouting at him.
“Sir! Sir!”
“I’m alright,” he said, though his voice sounded strange. “I just fell off the wall.”
“You’re injured, sir.”
“No, I’m alright, I just…” Ram’s suit was flashing at him. He pulled the strap around him and found that his rifle was attached, intact and appeared operational.
“You are injured, sir,” Stirling said. “Your leg.”
His team could see the reports from his suit just as he could and Ram’s AugHud snapped into focus once more.
“My leg… it’s broken? My suit’s ruptured.” He looked down, wiped the dust off his visor, and saw that the armor around his left leg was in tatters. It was a twisted mass of material. “The fibula and tibia are broken and the patella is… gone.”
Ram took a step and fell down again, rolling over to look at his leg. He was aware that his suit had immediately injected him with analgesics along with prophylactic antibiotics but he must have hit his head or lost a lot of blood, too, because he seemed to be in an altered mental state.
Then he caught a glimpse of his foot.
“I think I lost some toes.”
“Sir, you have to get out of there,” Stirling said.
Ram got to a knee and realized he was halfway up the pile of rubble where the section of wall used to be. Climbing over the top and down the rubble came a group of raiders, bulky in their winter clothing. Snow swirled amongst the falli
ng dust. One man pointed at Ram, shouted, and raised his weapon.
Still on one knee, Ram pulled his rifle up and fired at them. His large caliber rounds ripped the first man apart and burst through the head of the man next to him. Ram fired in bursts, killing a half dozen before the rest fled beyond the top of the rubble and Ram changed his magazine.
“Sir?” Flores said. “I’m coming to get you.”
“No, cover the assault.”
“I’m coming to save you, sir,” Red said. “Almost there.”
Ram turned to see the giant wheelhunter emerge from the garden of the nearest house and roll up to the base of the rubble with his weapons whirling in each long alien hand.
“I’m fine,” Ram said, making his way down the rubble in a series of hops and slides, wincing with every half-step. “Go and cover the assets.”
Red aimed his pistols at Ram’s head and fired while Ram threw himself flat. For a moment, Ram thought the alien had tried to kill him before he realized Red was shooting at the raiders swarming over the top. The men fell dead and the others scrambled away beyond the breach again.
“Thought you couldn’t kill humans,” Ram said, limping to the wheeler.
“I have broken my solemn word to the human authorities. I will accept any punishment that you or they deem suitable.”
“No, it’s… thanks, Red.”
“Merely doing my duty, sir, to the best of my ability, which is quite considerable, as you are now able to appreciate.”
“Come on, we have to find cover and protect this breach, and the other further along.”
“You appear to be badly injured in the lower leg area, sir.”
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
“Sir?” Stirling said. “They’re breaking off on the north, sir.”
“And the east,” Flores said, though she kept firing at the fleeing men.
“South, too,” Fury said.
“Thank God,” Ram said. “What about the Hex?”
“Circled away to the east,” Fury said.
“They’re gone?” Ram could barely believe it.
“Two klicks southeast, holding position right now.”
“Must be our lucky day, sir,” Red said.
“Don’t say that, Red, for God’s sake,” Flores muttered. “Don’t jinx us.”
“I would never knowingly jinx us, Private Flores, and I can only apologize for my thoughtless jinxing of the entire team.”
Ram limped toward the house and leaned his back on it.
“Don’t worry about it, man.”
“I must reiterate, Lieutenant Seti, that you appear to require urgent medical attention,” Red said.
Ram gritted his teeth. “Are you a medic, Red?”
“I am terribly sorry but I must admit that I unfortunately find human physiology to be equal parts revolting and perplexing, sir.”
“That’s a no, then.”
“I’m coming to you, sir,” Stirling said, breathing heavily.
“I’ll just wait here,” Ram said, flicking through his team’s feed.
Cooper was still welding sheets of steel to the trailer of the truck along with a group of men.
From her elevated position atop the southwest tower, Fury scanned the tree line all around and the air above. Flores watched the tank closely and Ram wondered if it was out of shells entirely or if it was waiting for another assault to begin before firing.
Stirling arrived, moving quickly despite his size. Behind him, Mayor Fraser approached.
“My God, you’re hurt, Lieutenant.”
“I’ve had worse,” Ram replied. “Looks like we’ve sent them running for the hills, at least.”
“For the moment but I’ve never seen an assault so determined.”
“How are your people?”
“We lost some and we have many injured. But it would have been far worse if not for you and your team and for that I am grateful.”
“So you don’t think it’s over?”
“Don’t know. We killed a lot of them and there’s more out there, wounded. Maybe they’ll ask for a truce to take their injured men off the field and if that’s what they want I’ll demand they withdraw. They might accept or they might come again. We have three breaches on the east wall now and one badly damaged tower. I can’t believe they brought a tank. Must have brought it on a barge upriver, maybe? Damn them.”
“What the hell do they want so badly in here? What could possibly be worth losing so many men?”
“Women, probably,” Fraser said, shrugging. “They want to kill us and take our women.”
“Your women?” Ram shook his head. “How have things fallen so far so quickly?”
Fraser brushed it off. “This is the natural state of things. Civilization holds this at bay.”
“I can’t believe that. I just can’t believe it.”
“Before the invasion I wouldn’t have believed it either but after a while you can’t deny reality and stay sane.” He turned to one of his people behind him. “Get the most vulnerable to the outpost elevator and start sending them down in batches.”
“Are you sure?” she asked him.
“I’m told there’s supplies that will last decades and infinite power, plus all kinds of drugs and medical equipment. If we all die out here, some of us will survive. The town will go on.”
His people nodded and rushed off.
Stirling slapped Ram’s shoulder. “I’ve stopped the bleeding but we’ll have to get you proper medical attention or you might lose that leg.”
“We have to get out of here,” Ram said. “The weapon has to get out of here, that’s all that matters. Cooper? How’s the truck coming?”
“It’s ready, sir.”
“Alright, we’ll be on our way now, Mayor Fraser. I hope that the—”
“Incoming!” Fury shouted.
Ram cursed and scanned his Hud. “What flank?”
“It’s the Hex!” Fury said. “Three aircraft, coming in fast from the east.”
“Three?”
Ram patched into her feed and watched the three Hex aircraft coming in low through the swirling snowstorm.
“That one’s going for the tank!”
The foremost aircraft swerved low for a moment and fired a chain of white plasma fire at the tank. The plasma smashed and burned through the armor, turning the surface of the turret to molten slag and blasting the interior with liquid fire. It erupted in a shower of plasma and glowing shrapnel and white smoke, destroying it utterly. The men around it fled in full panic as the Hex craft flew through the debris cloud toward the town.
“What are they doing?” Stirling shouted.
Ram grabbed Mayor Fraser’s shoulder. “Have the Hex ever attacked you before?”
“No!” Fraser said, his eyes wide. “Never!”
“Then they’re here for us,” Ram said. “Fury, start shooting. Aim for the engines, if you—”
“Sir?” Fury said. “They’re landing.”
Ram checked her feed and watched the three crafts land in formation just fifty meters beyond the wall. Behind them, the shattered ruin of the tank spewed smoke into the sky as its fuel burned. There were no human attackers in sight and Ram imagined they would be running back to wherever they had come from as quickly as they could.
“Do we fire?” Stirling asked.
Getting unsteadily to his feet, Ram snapped out his orders as he limped up the rubble slope. “Everyone, your AP or HE rounds. Sergeant, you target the left aircraft. Flores, the center. Fury, you target the right. The engines are the most vulnerable. If we can ground them, we might have a chance. But hold your fire until I give the order.”
“Enemy units disembarking,” Fury said. “Four from each craft.”
Two hex in their grey-black suits emerged from each side of all three landed aircraft with weapons in their hands and slowly advanced.”
“I see them. Still target the engines first.”
But just as Ram spoke, so did the enemy.
An amplified voice called out, surprising them all.
“UNOP Marine forces!” the human voice projected from the grounded Hex craft. Even through the howling wind, it was incredibly loud. The townsfolk winced. “UNOP Marine forces, you will surrender to us immediately or we shall open fire on the town. We shall leave no survivors.”
Mayor Fraser turned to his people. “Get as many people as you can into the shelters.”
“What about—”
“Do it!”
“Movement, sir,” Fury said. “Center craft.”
The figure stepped out and the two hex soldiers there moved aside to allow him to come forward in front of the aircraft. He wore long robes that flapped madly in the wind.
“It’s a human,” Flores said. “That traitor asshole from before.”
“The collaborator,” Ram said. “The Wayfinder.”
“He’s…” Stirling started. “He’s holding a white cloth. A white flag.”
The flag whipped and snapped in the air as the collaborator approached the town on foot, alone. Behind him, the six hex soldiers stood beside their vehicles.
“Didn’t he demand our surrender?” Flores said. “Now he wants to surrender to us?”
“He wants to talk,” Ram said and hesitated for a moment while weighing his options. “Cooper? You and Red load up the package and make for the target site.”
“Now, sir?”
“When you’re ready.”
“We’ll leave through the back door in a few minutes, sir.”
Limping, Ram stepped up to the top of the pile.
“You can’t be serious?” Stirling hissed. “Sir, it’s a trick.”
“You take out those craft first, do you all hear me? And then those hex. Whatever happens to me or anything else, you must protect the assets all the way to the target site.”
“You’re going to get killed, sir.”
“All that matters is that the assets launch on schedule. None of us matter except to protect that launch. You all know that, right?”
“Yes, sir, but you could stay up on the wall and speak using your suit to amplify—”
“I’m just buying what time I can,” Ram said. “Buy time for the assets to get away and maybe for the townsfolk to get to safety.”
