39
Cattle Trail Pass, McDuall Mountains, Hoover District
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system
Angel had watched the battle, moving slowly down from her position. She didn’t have an assault rifle like the other marines, just the Tragger 51, which was more of an enhanced pistol than a long distance weapon. She also only had two extra clips pinned to the front of her ARC suit, so she waited. The aliens were packed so tightly into the pass that there was little for her to do at first. She had watched hundreds of the insectile creatures die under the careful fire of the special forces team. And then more dropped as the airmen under Chief Warrant Officer Beemus’ command opened up the big .50 caliber machine guns. The pass fell into chaos, but Angel continued to wait. Her instinct told her that a time would come when she would have an opportunity to make a difference, so she bided her time.
When the marines started complaining about the aliens dodging their shots, she felt her chance approaching. Angel said a silent prayer. She wasn’t religious, but she had always prayed. It was a private thing, just the petition of a woman to something bigger than her. A few seconds later Beemus reported his guns were out of ammunition and Angel ordered him away from the fight. The airmen didn’t have armor or mechanized battle gear. They wouldn’t be a help to anyone in the pass and she felt good about sending them away. If her efforts failed, it might all be for naught, but Beemus was smart. If the aliens broke through the pass, he would get Petty Officer Daniels out of the compound and move them all to safety.
It crossed Angel’s mind that she should do the same. With their ARC suits the marines could scale the mountains and live to fight another day.
“Staff Sergeant,” Angel said over the command channel. “I’m moving in.”
“No, it’s too dangerous, lieutenant.”
“Just listen to me,” Angel snapped. “If this doesn’t work, take your marines and climb out of this pass.”
“That’s not what we’re about,” Cash said. “We won’t stop fighting.”
“That’s an order, Staff Sergeant,” Angel said. “Those suits you’re wearing are too valuable to waste. Now hold your fire and let’s see what happens.”
“You heard the LT,” Cash said angrily. “Hold your fire.”
Angel was already moving. It felt good to be doing something besides sitting and watching the action. She jumped down from her position, bounding from rocky outcropping to whatever ground looked stable. She always marveled at the ARC suit’s ability to make the impossible seem easy, but in the open air of the alien world, with a bright sky above her and an enemy horde below, she felt like an avenging angel as she jumped high, drawing her Tragger 51 with one hand as she tucked her knees to her chest and flipped through the air.
There was just enough room in the pass for the aliens to maneuver out of Angel’s way. She landed on her feet, fired two shots straight ahead, which opened a channel through the throng. She started sprinting forward, her feet flying along. The gun fired shot after shot at the aliens so close to hand they had no chance of evading. Angel sprinted up the pass until her gun was empty, then she jumped in the air, and fired her left side thrusters. Her body shot sideways and she just managed to turn as her feet came down where an alien had been.
It felt to Angel like she was in a game of tag with the swarm. They were desperate to stay out of her way, out of reach. She dove for the ground, rolled over her shoulder and jumped backwards, twisting in the air before landing and then used the thrusters to shoot sideways again. The chatter of the aliens intensified.
“Try your weapons,” Angel said over the command channel as she continued to flip and wheel through the throng of aliens.
The fire team on the mountains to either side of the pass took well aimed shots. Aliens fell to their bullets, but their ammunition was running low.
“It’s working,” Cash said.
“But we’re low on ammo,” Bolton complained.
“Use whatever you’ve got,” Angel said. “I’m going after the queen.”
“How the hell does she know which one is the queen?” Ruiz asked.
“She’s the LT, man,” Jones said. “Just look at her.”
Angel was in constant motion. She had always loved gymnastics, the self control, the extreme limits of what a body could do, but it was nothing compared to the high she felt as she flipped, tumbled, and dashed through the crowd of aliens. The truth was, she had no idea which of the aliens was actually the queen, but she felt indestructible as she raced up toward the crest of the pass.
The swarm was focused on Angel, they moved closer, conserving their movements and opening gaps in front of her. Whenever she saw them anticipating her movements she changed direction, bounding along, flipping and jumping. They began to try and trip her, or make her slow down, but Angel used the thrusters on her ARC suit to fly up and over the masses of aliens. Some began to jump toward her, either intending to ram her with their bony head shields, or kicking at her with their long hind legs. They were fast, but Angel was faster. She saw everything they tried, anticipated each move.
From above she heard different types of weapons firing. Some loud, booming reports, and others small pops, but she was confident they were making a difference as she jumped to the side of the mountain where the pass crested and started a downward grade. Her feet ran several steps along the crumbling shale, her body almost horizontal to the ground, before she jumped, adding a boost from her thrusters, and landed a perfect handspring.
When she came down, the aliens made room. They were scurrying back from her, and Angel assumed it was fear, but she quickly realized they were climbing back up on themselves, forming a wall.
“Lieutenant,” Cash said with a note of urgency in his voice. “The aliens are doing something different.”
“I see it,” Angel said, flipping from a cartwheel into a round off with perfect balance.
“They’re building up behind you too,” Cash warned.
Angel stopped moving. She was in the center of the pass, just past its narrowest point. The aliens had created a living wall nearly ten meters tall. She swiveled her 360 degree smart helmet camera to see that another wall was building up behind her.
“Lieutenant, get out of there,” Cash said, his voice straining with urgency.
Angel knew she could dash for the mountainside and use her thrusters to bound up the steep cliff face to safety, but she knew that if she fled to safety, all their work would count for nothing. The swarm would continue on, unfazed by their attack, despite the drones that had been killed. The co-op would be lost, the dead marines in Port Gantry would be unavenged, and the aliens would continue to believe that humanity was not a threat.
Her decision made, Angel stood her ground, ignoring the calls of the fire team to flee. The wall of alien creatures hesitated for a moment, and Angel felt fear take hold of her spine in its icy grip. It took all her willpower to stand her ground as the aliens loomed high above her. She pursed her lips, bringing up the menu screen of her smart helmet and selecting the ARC weapons system.
While her eyes moved quickly through the menu of available options, her hands were busy with the Tragger 51 that was fastened to her stomach via the small cluster of magnets that had been sewn into the liner of the suit. She pulled the weapon free, popped the magazine and let it fall to the ground. The chatter of the aliens was so loud she didn’t hear the metal hit the rocky soil. She pulled a second clip free and rammed it hard into the grip of the weapon, then flicked the charging lever.
“You want me?” Angel shouted, her voice projected by her helmet’s external speakers. “I’m right here!”
“Lieutenant, what are you doing?” Cash demanded.
Angel, heard the roar of a thousand aliens about to strike, and she selected her suit’s firing trigger. There was a puff of compressed air, and over a hundred razor sharp flechettes were launched from every direction off her suit. Her attack happened so quickly and quietly that Angel was nearly caught up in the dest
ruction. There were far more aliens than her suit’s emergency weapon system could hit, but many of the aliens who were ripped to bloody tatters by the attack were on the lower section of the towering wall meant to trap her. They collapsed, pierced by the razor sharp, finger-length flechettes. And the wall wavered.
Angel ran hard to her right, letting the thrusters boost her speed so that each step she took was nearly three meters in length, her body essentially flying just a few centimeters off the ground. She jumped for the mountainside just as the walls of aliens fell in a writhing heap in the center of the pass.
“Now!” Angel ordered. “Give them everything we’ve got!”
40
Cattle Trail Pass, McDuall Mountains, Hoover District
Neo Terra, Tau Ceti system
The aliens were in disarray, and Angel ran along the side of the mountain, two meters above the mass of alien bodies struggling to regain control. She moved her gun to her left hand, firing indiscriminately into the mass, before jumping into a triple front salto and landing in a tiny clearing the size of a hula hoop. She fired again, this time in a level shot that opened a corridor through the sea of alien creatures. The trail was downhill which made her charge even faster. She jumped, igniting her thrusters to boost her as high as she could go.
Below, Angel saw the aliens were slightly smaller, their head shields were underdeveloped, and their movements more erratic. She fired her Tragger 51, shooting in several places as she arced through the air, finally seeing a creature jump up in front of her shot. The drone was sacrificed to save the queen, and when Angel landed, her momentum carrying her forward into a diving roll through the mass of aliens, she came up to find a cluster swarming around the queen.
“I’ve found her!” Angel shouted.
“I see it,” Cashman called out.
Angel hit her thrusters, diving to her left into a cartwheel toward the side of the mountain.
“It’s about damn time!” Hays said.
“Hold it there,” Bolton added. “We’re coming.”
Angel jumped again, landing in a clump of scrub bushes and grabbing hold to keep from sliding back down into the pass. She turned her weapon toward the cluster of creatures covering the queen with their bodies. She knew firing at the mass of aliens would be waste of ammunition, since the creatures would willingly die to protect their queen.
“I wish we had more ammo,” Ruiz said.
“Just keep the pressure on,” Angel said. “She’ll flee if we do.”
Turning her head, Angel could see the other members of the fire team, running and sliding along the mountainside. They fired their weapons toward the mass, letting the drones sacrifice themselves as the queen slowly moved back.
“Hays, Vancini, get down in the throng,” Angel ordered. “Follow me.”
“You’ve got it, LT,” Van said.
“On your six,” Hays said. “Here we come.”
Angel fired the last four rounds in her Tragger before diving to the ground, rolling onto her feet and popping the magazine from its place in the handle of her weapon. She was moving toward the queen, the hive instinctively opening a corridor in front of her. Running past the mass of swarming aliens, she jumped onto the far side of the mountain, while Hays and Vancini were still in the horde.
“Move to opposite sides,” Angel ordered. “Then fire your suit’s default weapons. We’ll target the gaps from the fallen swarm.”
“On it,” Hays said.
“Roger that,” Van replied.
Angel didn’t bother to try and find the other fire team members. Hays released his flechettes and dropped scores of aliens all at once, then he ran for cover while Angel and the rest of the special forces squad fired at the queen. Vancini triggered his weapon a second after Hays, and immediately the swarm broke into a panic. Angel had replaced her clip and was firing intently but slowly, very aware that she was using the last of her ammunition, but hoping something might find its way through the mass of aliens and impact the queen.
As if an audible retreat had sounded, the aliens broke and ran. They moved in all directions, some continuing down the pass toward McDuall Station, others turning back the way they had come, and even more scrambling up the mountainsides. Angel had to shoot several that were trying to climb the mountain toward her.
“Did we do it?” Ruiz said. “Did we get the queen?”
“I don’t think so,” Angel said, watching as the mass of swarming aliens that had been trying to protect their leader continued to grow. “She’s on the run though.”
“And only worried about covering her own ass,” Cash said. “Most of the drones are out of control.”
“Time to mop them up,” Angel said. “Bolton, take Jones and head back toward the ambush site.”
“Affirmative,” the gunnery sergeant said.
“The rest of you stay on the queen,” Angel ordered.
She was low enough on ammunition that she opted to direct the fighting from her perch on a small outcropping of rock. Cash, Hays, and Ruiz, jumped to the pass. As long as they didn’t flip or change directions too often, they had no trouble using their suits. They looked like super soldiers, bounding through the crazed aliens, focusing their fire on the queen. They jumped and dashed, using their suits’ thrusters to carry them high into the air, or to run along the mountainside. They ignored the aliens in their path. The highly organized hive mind had failed. It looked to Angel as if they were trying to fight their way through a busy street full of confused and frightened animals. Hundreds had managed to get up the mountains or flee ahead of Cashman’s fire team, so there were empty spaces to move through, the marines just had to maneuver carefully. The ARC suits gave them abilities they wouldn’t have possessed otherwise, and the warriors moved at unheard of speeds, firing their weapons in a rapid succession.
“ARC platoon actual, this is Captain Reynolds, November platoon, do you read, over?”
“November Platoon actual, this is Lieutenant Murphy, we’re a little busy at the moment.”
“The swarm has reversed course and appears to be fleeing,” Reynolds said. “Is that your work?”
“Yes sir,” Angel said. “We’re targeting the queen, but she’s scrambling to escape.”
“The drones aren’t dodging our fire,” Reynolds said. “It’s like a shooting gallery.”
“Be aware, I have four marines in ARC suits among the aliens,” Angel warned. “Watch out for friendly fire.”
“Roger that,” Reynolds said. “Keep pushing them this way.”
Suddenly, and without warning of any kind, the swarm changed directions. Angel was jogging at a rapid pace down the mostly empty pass, staying well back from the frenzy closer to the queen where Cashman’s fire team was assaulting the swarm. The mass of aliens charged toward Ruiz who was between the mountainside and the queen’s thick barrier of aliens.
“Damn, I’m out,” he called. “Firing suit weapon now.”
“Jump clear,” Angel ordered. “Use your suit.”
Ruiz did jump, but lost his balance and crashed into the side of the mountain, which wasn’t as steep as it had been further back, but between the upward grade and the loose rock he landed on, it was enough to sending him rolling down into the throng.
“Wayne!” Cashman shouted. “Corporal talk to me!”
“The queen is fleeing,” Hays said. “I’m almost out of ammo.”
“Hold your position,” Angel said.
“I’m almost to Ruiz,” Cashman called back.
“What’s going on, ARC platoon?” Reynolds asked. “The swarm is fleeing in all directions.”
“The queen is making a run for it and we are out of ammunition,” Angel reported.
“Lima, November, and Oscar platoons are moving your way, ARC platoon. We’ll mop up what’s left.”
Angel ran to where Cash was bent over Ruiz. Hays had taken position ten meters up the opposite hillside, keeping a watch on the alien queen’s swarm. Fatigue hit Angel like a physical blow. She wan
ted to bend over and catch her breath, or better yet just collapse in the dirt, but instead she walked over to Cashman. She knew instantly that Corporal Wayne Ruiz was dead. His body was dismembered and it appeared that several chunks of flesh had been ripped from his body.
“Are you okay, staff sergeant?” Angel asked.
“He was a damn fine marine,” Cash said.
“I’m sorry,” Angel said.
“Lieutenant,” Hays said. “We have friendly vehicles approaching.”
“Thank you, Corporal,” Angel replied.
She put a hand on Cash’s shoulder as the staff sergeant stood to his feet. They both turned toward the Zephyr driving toward them. Twelve marines with TA 71 assault rifles hung from the outside of the carrier compartment. They dropped to the ground when the zip stopped and the engine shut off. The newly arrived marines formed a wide perimeter, a few even took shots at the queen’s swarm that was nearing a ridge nearly two hundred meters above from the pass.
Captain Malachi Reynolds stepped from the cab and Angel came to attention, saluting. Cash did the same. Reynolds returned the salute then chuckled.
“Which one is which? I can’t tell who’s who in those suits.”
Angel knew that wasn’t true. Her ARC suit didn’t have insignia or a name, but they were forming fitting. She was certain he could tell which one of them was a woman, but she popped the seals on her smart helmet and pulled it off.
“It’s good to see you, sir,” Angel said.
“Likewise, lieutenant. To be honest I can’t believe my eyes. Is it just the three of you?”
Hays had come down from his perch as soon as the queen dropped out of sight on the far side of the ridge. He was ambling toward them, his lanky body had a distinctive gait as he walked that reminded Angel of classic westerns with John Wayne.
“My fire team is down one man, sir,” Cash said. “Corporal Ruiz was KIA.”
“That’s a damn shame, but he can’t be your only casualty,” Reynolds said.
“We got lucky, sir,” Angel said. “They didn’t see us coming.”
ARC Angel (ARC Angel Series Book 1) Page 22
