by Chris Hechtl
“Right,” Nia said as she shouldered her box launcher. “Last one,” she warned.
“Let them fly,” Jethro ordered.
“Roger that,” Nia murmured as she sighted down the line, plotting way points for the missiles. They would have to hug the ceiling, then come down again on the attackers. She wasn't certain how effective they'd be this time around since forewarned was forearmed.
She squeezed the trigger and let the dice roll.
<)>^<)>/
Sng's fire team finished setting up the sentry gun. They stepped behind it as the gun went through its initial startup procedure, checking the servo action with smooth motions, then sharp jerks on all axis, then using its sensors to map the area designated as it's fire lane.
As the two PFCs finished that, a female private finished strapping bombs to the last six robotic dogs. When the last was completed, they stepped aside to let the dogs vault one by one over the barricade, then move off at a lope up the hallway to the enemy.
“That'll keep them busy and give us some INTEL,” the lieutenant said.
“Incomin …!” one of the privates said just as the sentry gun swung into action. The sentry gun fired up at the incoming missiles, but they were coming in too fast and were too close. The first was hit on the warhead and detonated spinning the others out of control before they too detonated.
The explosions in the confines of the stone walls swept over the sentry gun taking it out. The explosions also took out two of the lead troopers. Lieutenant Sng was behind two of the suits. He was knocked back and shielded by them. He hit his head hard on the back of his padded helmet, hard enough to daze him for a moment.
<)>^<)>/
The dogs saw the missiles pass overhead momentarily pausing them before they kept moving. Jasper saw them and took them out with covering fire as Nia backed up to clear the way for him. By the time she was clear, the last robotic dog had been torn apart.
<)>^<)>/
“Lieutenant Sng is down, sir,” Mackie reported.
“I see that,” the captain muttered. “Frack,” he growled. “Pull the others back. Tell Jensen he needs to stall them in corridor six.”
“Yes, sir,” Mackie replied in a subdued voice.
“I'm okay,” Rick replied after a moment. “I got knocked out for a second. I'm good,” the lieutenant said.
“You might be, but you are it. Get your wounded and ammo and get out of there, Rick,” the captain ordered, leaning forward.
“Shit. Roger,” the lieutenant replied.
“Order a fallback beyond his position.”
“Sir, they will be able to break out. We'll have problems with them,” Private Askdall said.
“As if we don't already?” Mackie snarled sarcastically.
“We can't take them on in big clusters. That's just bunching our people up. Keep it at pairs or at most a fire team,” the captain said as he studied the camera in the intersection. He noted there were no more suits, just the ones there. He felt a slight thread of hope. “We've still got numbers on our side.”
“Yes, sir.”
“When James is done with the armors, tell him to pull the weapon packs off the air drones. Tell him to rig them for manual fire,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Mackie replied dubiously.
<)>^<)>/
James swore as he got the order. He was too busy to acknowledge or follow it though. He got the next series of robots powered up, armed, and out the door, then went back to trying to patch up the wounded suits. “I just donna have the parts!” he said in exasperation as more wounded came in the morgue. “Or the bloody time and hands!” he snarled.
<)>^<)>/
Lieutenant Sng yanked on the private's arm, but the arm fell off. He snarled as blood gushed. He looked around and then found a still red-hot piece of metal. He grabbed it with his gloved hand and then shoved it into the arm. “This is …” the girl screamed in pain.
“Going to hurt. Stay with me. Suit, give her a wake the dead,” he ordered.
The suit's primitive computer system recognized the voice addressed to it and administered a cocktail of amphetamines, pain killers, quick heal, and coagulants. They wouldn't do the host good though unless she received real medical help.
“Go on. Get out of here,” he growled, pulling her to her feet with her good right arm. “Get to the Doc,” he ordered as he gathered up what he could. There wasn't much; the gun had been taken out and the ammo crates with it. As he grabbed a grenade satchel and ammo belts, he felt movement. He fired down the hallway and then retreated.
<)>^<)>/
“That's it, I'm out of missiles,” Nia said as she set the box launcher aside and pulled her rifle. “I've got some toys tucked away but no more can openers like that.”
“Roger that,” Jethro replied. “Jasper, take Nia and head up the center behind Roarack and Dave. Look for the command center or power supply of this dump,” Jethro ordered. “Cocoa, cover the first intersection they come to. We'll be along shortly.”
“Letanga, split your fire team. You take one and follow Pam, have the other two go after Lobo.”
“Roger,” Jasper and Letanga replied.
“About time we get to have some action,” Blue Eyes muttered. “Pam's group has been hogging all the fun up till now,” he said in a pouty voice.
“Oh shove it,” Pam growled at him over the radio.
“Oops,” Tamamo-no-Mae said with a grin.
“You did that on purpose,” Blue Eyes accused, eying the spirit fox with scant favor.
<)>^<)>/
Omri scouted as he moved in a crouch. When he got to an artificial wall, he stopped. His sensors told him there were four enemy units lined up on the other side, all facing to the left. Most likely they were stacked up and ready to go down the corridor to flank the other Cadre units. Can't have that.
He knelt on one knee and pulled his rifle off his back. He leveled it, still cloaked, and then rehearsed moving from left to right. As he moved Houyi highlighted vulnerable spots on their armor. He nodded once. “Ready?” he murmured.
“Ready,” the Asian archer god avatar replied.
“Let's do this then,” Omri growled as he pulled the trigger on the first target, and then moved from left to right, taking them out.
<)>^<)>/
PFC Neco Daughtry was at the rear of his fire team when fire began to hit the point man. It wasn't until the second man went down did he realize that the fire was coming from their left through the wall.
“There!” he snarled, turning and firing into the wall as another shot came through and hit Private Ramses. The private had started to turn so the round hit him in his left torso plate not the vulnerable spot. He went down anyway. A second shot hit him in the left leg and a third hit him in the arm at the elbow. He swore and returned fire on his ass.
Neco fired as well, sweeping his fire.
<)>^<)>/
“Frack you,” Omri said as he dropped to the deck face first. He rolled away from the sweeping fire and fired at the unharmed target, this time aiming for the face mask.
<)>^<)>/
Neko snarled as he reloaded. He knew he hadn't gotten the bastard, hell, he couldn't even see him. His weapon cleared, and he seated a new cartridge just as a round tore through the wall and hit him in the face mask right between his eyes. The mask was made out of bone and it shattered. The visor behind it shattered as well. The round had been fired from an extremely low angle upwards and had been deflected slightly by the impacts so it creased further upwards, hitting him in the forehead high, knocking him down and out.
<)>^<)>/
Ramses saw the PFC go down, swore, and then crawled out of there. He felt one last round hit, right on his ass. He managed to limp around a stalactite and relative safety.
<)>^<)>/
Shiku found his tunnel opened in what could only be described as a bubble with a high ceiling. So high someone had installed a false ceiling four meters up for some reason, most likely to co
ver the ductwork for some poor schmuck who didn't like the sight above. In a small way, it made sense; the stalactites up there would make you feel like you were in a giant creature's mouth. Besides, why light and heat what you don't need?
The room was definitely some sort of recreation room, a multipurpose room given that he saw a line of tables on one side and a bunch of games on the other. There was an opening to a light-up galley off to his left and dark corridors forward and to the right.
He grinned and climbed until he got to the false ceiling, then slipped through a panel. He even put it back to cover his tracks. Once inside the false ceiling, he clung to the rock ceiling as he picked his way through the hangar wires, pipes, wiring, and stalactites. He tapped into the power lines Zenko pointed out. They led him to the left, so he followed that direction. His sensor picked out an enemy fire team up ahead. He smirked in the confines of his suit; they had no clue he was there. He was going to go right past them. Hell, he could drop a grenade or breaching bomb … no, it was better to find the damn objectives. Cut the head off the snake or secure the reactor so they couldn't blow it.
One good thing he noted was that there were no further signs of explosives. That was a sign of relief; the enemy wasn't prepared to drop the ceilings everywhere.
He sent out probes as he moved to map the space around him. As he moved along the ceiling, digging his claws into the cracks and wood, he occasionally disturbed the soil.
<)>^<)>/
Pebbles and debris rained down on the false ceiling alerted the Horathians below that something was going on near them. Lieutenant Sng looked up at the sound. At first he thought rats, but then he realized what might be in there. He raised the barrel of his rifle and fired up into the ceiling.
<)>^<)>/
Shiku saw the guy below him raise his barrel to the ceiling and knew he was in trouble. He tried to hug the wall but there was no time to move. Weapon fire shredded the panel ceiling. Rounds hit the metal, showering him with sparks. He took hits, then did the only thing he could. He let go of the ceiling and dropped to crash through the remains of the ceiling as Zenko switched from cloak to shields.
<)>^<)>/
“They are in the ceiling!” Lieutenant Sng snarled as he fired on the suit. He fired directly at it but something made his shots bounce back. “What the frack?” he demanded as a tail swiped out and hooked PFC Harry Chow's legs. The private went down as the gray suit recovered on all fours, tail thrashing angrily.
“It's a fox. Kill it,” Lieutenant Sng growled as he hip shot.
<)>^<)>/
Shiku felt his shields spin up, but they cascaded downward almost as fast. He was taking fire from all sides. “We're in trouble here! We need an exit plan fast!” he said, but the comms were out due to his shield. Zenko looked around worriedly. Shiku darted forward, shouldering through the rain of fire directly at one of the enemy and between his legs.
His energy shields caught the guy by the legs and knocked him onto Shiku's back. The added weight to the already crippled shields proved too much. They fell just as Shiku slipped out from under the Horathian.
He managed to bound a few steps, but the other pirates kept firing into his back. Rounds hit him in his spine and left side, breaching his armor. He threw himself to the right, curling around his left side instinctively as Zenko whimpered. He tried to get around the corner, but more enemy suits were waiting there. They fired directly into his face.
<)>^<)>/
Lieutenant Sng held up a closed fist when the enemy suit stopped moving. He scanned it, but there were no vital signs. He held up four fingers to signal code 4, all clear, and then keyed his microphone. “We've got one Tango down this location,” he said once they were sure the fox suit was dead. He went to poke it, but then it sparked and started to melt. “Don't touch ‘em, they are booby-trapped,” he snarled over the radio.
“Understood,” the captain replied. “Good job. Now go bag another,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir. With pleasure,” Lieutenant Sng said with a grin in his voice. He motioned the two fire teams to keep an eye on the ceiling as well as the walls and corners, then had them move out to secure the room's far entrance.
<)>^<)>/
“Shiku is down. Shiku is dead,” Bast pointed out, highlighting a flatlined vital sign.
“How'd that happen?” Jethro demanded. Bast ran the feedback and showed him. He grimaced in pain. “All right. Let Nia know that the enemy is concentrated in that location. See if we can take them out with what we've got and what Shiku and Zenko left behind,” he said.
“We are limited on missile packs,” Bast warned him. “Nia is out. Cocoa has one.”
“Just do it,” he growled. “Have Cocoa pass her missiles to Nia.”
Bast realized Jethro was stressed over the situation, and it was not the time to argue. She realized that Jethro had lost soldiers in combat under his direction, but this was the first time he was managing an entire assault on his own. The responsibility was suddenly weighing heavily on him. Also, multitasking to keep track of everyone was hard on an organic. She would need to step up and help him more.
But all she said was one simple word. “Roger.”
<)>^<)>/
Pamplona stopped what she was doing when she got the update. She closed her eyes in pain at the news of Shiku's death. Her artificial ears went back. Zako whimpered softly, and then sent a phantom caress down her cheek. She leaned slightly into it, and then exhaled a long breath. “Not now,” she told him and herself. “Not now. We'll grieve later,” she said, returning to her job.
She got to the next intersection. There was an open door to what looked like a darkened barracks on her right and a closed door to another room. The door was steel with concrete in-between. The frame of the door was also steel as were the walls. Something therefore had to be in there.
She swept the barracks again, but there was nothing in there except bunk beds. She turned to the door when she put a finger to the door to use Zako's microphone to listen and probe the other side; she was in for a rude surprise. Something sent a hundred amps raging into her gauntlet.
<)>^<)>/
“That's the signal,” Corporal Ung said as her HUD dinged. The opposite door was rigged with an electric trap, springing the trap alerted him. “Move! Move!” she said as he yanked open the door on the other end of the barracks and charged through. She saw something shimmering near the opposite door and began to fire into it.
<)>^<)>/
Zako saw the incoming suits and broke the connection to the door as he sent a signal to spin up the gravity nodes and shift from cloak to shields. Pam dodged, jumping back and zigzagging as she did to get clear of the weapons fire. She wasn't as successful as she hoped, but a moving target was better than a stationary one.
<)>^<)>/
Corporal Ung saw the weapons fire hitting its mark. “Pour it on!” she roared, reloading with her free hand. She cut through a support, then swept fire as the suit danced just ahead of her. “Learn to anticipate. Lead the damn target!” she swore, checking her fire, then moving forward. But the bastard zigged the other way, throwing her aim off once again. Then the suit started to dance up and down, bouncing off the walls and ceilings.
“Frack it. Full auto!” she said, letting her gun rip as PFC Wackovia came up behind her and shouldered her aside. He opened up with the chain guns mounted on either hip and both shoulders.
<)>^<)>/
Blue Eyes followed Letanga down the corridor. When they heard weapons fire and their A.I. reported that Pam was engaged, they charged forward to the corner and then stopped. “Grenades,” Letanga ordered, pulling a grenade out. He primed it and then tossed it around the corner. Blue Eyes did the same, banking his grenade off the far wall.
Pam ran around the corner right under Blue Eye's grenade. They heard the explosives go off, then a loud creak and groan.
“Too many supports have been cut,” Satet warned. “The ceiling is collapsing,” she warned just as the
ceiling collapsed around the corner, cutting them off. The trio backed away lest the ceiling above them caved in. They looked up at it, probing with their active sensors. Dust and debris dribbled down but it held.
“Well, we're not going that way,” Pam said. “And to hell with digging them out. They dug their own graves,” she said.
“Maybe. Something tells me it ain't that easy though,” Letanga said.
“Yeah, I know. There was a back door to that barracks come to think of it,” Pam said.
“Lovely,” Letanga drawled. “Fall back on the first intersection.” He radioed the report in.
<)>^<)>/
Jethro got the report from Letanga and agreed. “Fall back to the first intersection. Pam, hit Lance up for a fuel pack and recharge. You are low,” he said. “Letanga, go after the bastards who took Shiku out but watch your back. Blue Eyes, follow Jasper as he plays hey diddle diddle.”
“He better not be diddling on company time,” Pam quipped as the three RECON suits trotted back the way they had come.
“I heard that,” Jasper growled.
<)>^<)>/
Corporal Ung grimaced as she saw the cave-in. That had scared the piss out of her, literally. She inhaled and then exhaled a shaky breath, then scanned the rubble. It was a good ten meters thick; there was no way they were going to dig through that. “Delta Baker One this is Delta Seven Niner. This way is closed; the ceiling caved in. They aren't coming in this way. Nor can we assault this way either.”
The captain nodded. “Understood Delta Seven Niner, fall back to point Lima and regroup.”
“Roger that. Delta Seven Niner out.”
<)>^<)>/
Lt Sng heard Delta Seven Niner's report and nodded once. So much the better, it meant the enemy had only two fronts to assault down. They couldn't flank him on that side anymore. That was good, but the reverse was also true. Undoubtedly, those suits that had been engaged would be coming to take on one of the corridors. But they would be ready for them he thought.
