They all felt the slight shaky and dizziness that came with entering real space again.
While the different leaders had been talking, the crews aboard the freighter and the carriers had not been idle. The carriers were lined up so that they were on the port and starboard side of the freighter’s hold. They’d opened their acceleration rails, and readied their drop-ships. The spare drop-ships that were meant to come after them or were facing into the freighter were flown out and moved into the cavernous hold of the freighter. The combat shuttles were also loaded up, all of them facing the armored doors of the freighter that would be facing Indalia.
The idea was that they would all move out in one shot. Instead of multiple waves, they’d launch in one storm, swarming the planet and getting down before Hesra or his minions could try to hold them up.
The Bellona tanks were also pulled out from their storage and prepared for transit.
“Commander McDougall, this is Captain Isalz. Ready to lock you in. Are you guys ready?” Captain Isalz said through McDougall’s NIAI.
McDougall checked all of the feeds and information one more time. “We’re thermalled up and ready to go,” he confirmed.
“Very well, coming down,” Isalz said.
McDougall used the sensors of the tank, watching on his screen as the drop-ship lowered itself down. It lined up perfectly with the latch points on the Bellona. With the sound of sliding metal, the blow away pins were locked into place as the Bellona and drop-ship attached to each other.
“Looking good on our side. What about you guys?” Isalz asked.
“Robert!” McDougall yelled.
“Looking good on our side, sir!”
“Ten by ten. Looking like a solid connection,” McDougall reported.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Isalz said. “Comm me if you need anything.”
“Will do.” McDougall sat back in his chair. Now they were hooked up to the drop-ship. They could only wait until they were dropped on the ground to do anything.
Isalz kept his engines warm but reduced power, the drop-ship resting on the Bellona.
The Bellona’s systems rumbled slightly. McDougall tapped his armrest, feeling the power of the tank around him, a beast waiting to be unleashed.
Outside the Bellona, troopers, legionnaires, other tanks and supply crates were being loaded.
The troopers moved in their massive and rudimentary armor. But with a force of four hundred thousand, they were nothing to laugh at.
McDougall’s NIAI broadcast information on the mergers as they were being pushed back once again. The fight was quickly deteriorating. Most of their original traps and systems had been already destroyed and Maraukians were pouring in from every direction.
He checked the plot from VCF Osdal to the launch point. It would be nearly two hours until they could launch, then up to an hour before they reached Ducharev and could move into support positions.
“Just a bit longer,” McDougall muttered.
Chapter 61
Edani
Indalia, Otarvi System
8/3555
“Moving!” Dodger yelled out. As he jumped, his anti-grav rushed him backward.
“Covering!” Polwell yelled. His guns flared for just a moment before his words as tracers shot past Dodger.
They were now under solid contact. The Maraukians were pouring in through their defenses and there was little that they could do to stop them.
They were, however, close enough to support one another in pairs now.
There wasn’t much more room until they made it into the maze that they had created in the middle of the city. The maze was made with dead ends, explosives, traps, and everything that the mergers could think of adding. In there, the mergers would be able to cover an entire hallway by themselves, be free to move between the trenches, and fall among the Maraukians and push them back.
There they’d be able to regain some mobility and get down to facing tens of Maraukians at a time instead of hundreds in one go.
Dodger got his feet under him. They were retreating and firing as the Maraukians had advanced faster than they thought, bringing them under fire before they reached the next layer of bunkers.
He experienced pain the same as someone on the net was hit. They felt shock, then pain and fear, then nothingness, and so did Dodger. One of theirs was dropped from a merge, without even a trace left behind.
Dodger gritted his teeth. The emotional backlash of losing someone was incredibly difficult to deal with when directly merged with everyone. Difficult to separate oneself and your feelings. He knew he stood out more than the others for that.
Reese caught a round to the neck joint; it had gone in and killed him. The mergers could only be thankful it was a clean death instead of having a round rebounding inside their suit, killing them from the massive damage internally.
Reese’s body dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Still his M20s kept firing. The leftover orders from the NIAI and user kept the armor fighting. The ghosting armor kept reloading and firing even as the Maraukians attacked. Their rounds struck the armor, making it shake from the impacts but it was unwilling to give up. Reese’s last orders were still being carried out by his armor, covering Andreas, his fire team partner, as he pulled back to the bunker.
Dodger fired his cannons into the Maraukians that were closest. “Covering!” His voice was hoarse even over the net, unable to contain his emotions.
“Moving!” Polwell yelled, rushing backward on his anti-grav, shooting as he flew backward, just to kill a few more Maraukians.
***
“Mark, we’re going to need to pull back to the maze soon,” Chyna yelled. Nearly all of the traps in the outer city defense had been activated: weapons systems, mono-wire—all of it had been used now. Weapons systems all over the city were cutting down Maraukians but the Maraukians, although dumb, were also destructive as they quickly eliminated the hidden traps and blew up the different weapons.
They were at the final bunkers. From here they could see one another’s weapons fire, the silver-like tracer effect of the M20s.
Once they left this system of bunkers, then they would be up close and personal with the Maraukians. The ant-like maze was mapped out in their heads and it would allow them to face fewer Maraukians. They might even push them back, but there were no more set defenses, only ammunition and parts, positions for people to re-arm and fix themselves to get back into the fight.
“Reese’s armor is moving!” Andreas called out.
“What the hell did he program his armor to do?” Mark yelled. He locked onto the armor even as he kept firing out of his own bunker.
Reese’s armor was covered in holes and burns, being the target practice of the Maraukians as it kept reloading and shooting. Now it had finally run out of rounds as it shot into the sky, climbing higher and higher. Its anti-gravity systems were all fucked as it was unable to keep a straight trajectory but kept on going, pushing to its peak and finishing its arc.
Time seemed to slow as the armor came back to the planet. The stifling loss and emotions filled the net as they watched the fall of their brother, their fellow merger, Reese.
Then it started falling. The anti-grav systems piled on the power, forcing it downward as it started to turn red from the heat as vapor trails streamed off it.
There was nothing that they could do but watch as Reese’s armor turned kinetic missile ignited its anti-matter core.
What?
Sensors were overloaded and the mergers had to look away from the light that closed them off from the world, even as they kept firing, kept holding their ground.
The shockwave of the blast slammed into the ground, emitting light and clouds as the blast zone was invisible under the intense light.
The Maraukians cringed away from the blast as the mergers fought. Shockwaves tore through thousands of Maraukians, increasing the strength of one another as they rushed outward. The ground was scoured away and thrown up. Marauki
ans’ breath was stolen from them as they exploded under the pressures. Wind reaching Mach speeds threw Maraukians on their asses and turned pebbles into shrapnel.
A second sun eclipsed that of the Otarvi system. The clouds illuminated and then were thrown back, disregarded by the force of the explosion. Buildings were stripped apart and tossed away, nothing but a pile of matchsticks against the might of anti-matter.
The shockwave tore through the trenches and the city, hitting all in its path like a punch as the half-flattened sun started to dissipate in the sky.
The mergers paused for only half a second and then continued to fire on the Maraukians, many of which were blind and deaf under the explosion as the noise finally hit them all like a physical slap.
The mergers kept shooting, few of them with clear eyes as they knew that Reese must’ve input those commands into his armor before the battle. He left no corpse behind, not even his armor; those things didn’t matter to him anymore as he chose to have his armor destroy as many Maraukians as possible to hopefully save a few more of his brothers and sisters.
Mark could only fire his weapon, proud to have served alongside such a man.
“Move back to the maze at your own discretion.”
In close quarters, they would be able to display the reaction time of the mergers and their ability to work together flawlessly. Facing two or three Maraukians with a blade was no problem to the mergers. With more Maraukians or if they were surrounded, then they needed to escape.
Chapter 62
VCF Osdal
Indalia Orbit, Otarvi System
8/3555
“The Moby is heading back up to orbit. They’re requesting supplies,” Guy said from his position at communications.
“Understood. Agree to their request. Make some space in our hold. How long until we’re ready to launch?”
“Three minutes, sir!” Yeltsin checked over the different information screens around him.
“Very well. Guy, connect me to all of the comms systems,” Admiral Hall said.
“Yes, sir. You’re connected,” Guy said.
“Launch in three minutes. Bring our people back. Good luck.” Admiral Hall’s words were short and concise but to the troopers and people of the Victor Corporation, it was clear to them the care that Hall had toward his people. Even if they were on the ground, he would do everything in his power to see them safe.
“Hangar doors are opening,” Celik said.
***
“Here we go.” Jerome was jacked into the sensors of the combat shuttle as the shuttle accelerated forward.
There was a sea of combat shuttles and drop-ships as they surged forward out of the VCF Osdal toward Indalia.
Drop-ships carried ammunition crates and massive Bellonas as well as deployable artillery.
The carriers fired out more ships from their rail systems. All of them accelerated out of the freighter’s massive hold like a swarm of bees leaving a hive.
They grouped together into their different flight patterns that were meant to reduce the stresses of atmospheric re-entry.
Jerome looked out over the planets, remembering the other times he had left a ship behind, on board a combat shuttle, mentally gearing himself up to deal with what was coming.
“Once more into the fight,” Ortiz said.
“Yep.” Pullo’s voice was quiet, filled with memories. They had all lost people on these drops. In the back of their minds, they were even wondering whether they would make it through this fight.
The shakiness of entering atmosphere made the combat shuttle creak and groan with the pressure as the pilot calmly and easily adjusted their profile and maintained their flight path.
***
McDougall rubbed his head as they finish atmospheric entry. The shaking reduced as his NIAI updated him on the condition of his Bellona.
“Green across the board—that’s what I like to see.” McDougall checked on his people. All of them were okay, though they were complaining about being thrown around in their tank.
The only one moving about and checking on the tank was Robert, making sure there was no damage to his precious baby.
“Ground in fifteen!” McDougall yelled. He looked over the information. The mergers were being pushed back into their maze and were fighting with their melee weapons due to the close range. There were now so few paths that they were able to partner up to kill more Maraukians and have support that McDougall worried for them.
McDougall tasted sour. For it to get to this stage was horrendous and he wasn’t even on the ground yet. If it was any other group, he didn’t think they would be able to last this long, let alone be able to survive till he got there. With the mergers, he wasn’t sure, but he had some hope for them.
The time went quickly as the combat shuttle brought them down toward Edani on a least-time vector. The Bellonas would be one of the first forces down. He was glad of that.
The artillery-carrying combat shuttles had been launched at the same time and they were just ahead of the Bellonas. Due to their reduced weight, they were much easier to fly.
McDougall watched as the artillery parks deployed struts underneath. The whole metal container dropped, sinking deep on the supports as the combat shuttles moved away and started to drop off personnel.
The park’s metal housing opened up, revealing artillery guns, which pointed to the sky and then orientated in the direction they were meant to be firing.
The weapons techs rushed to the artillery park, checking on the different systems as the combat shuttles dropped them off, powered up their engines and shot out over the land, angling up and away to exit atmosphere once again and meet up with the freighter in space.
“Drop in thirty!” Captain Isalz yelled over the channel linking the Bellona to the combat shuttle.
McDougall checked his belt once again and pulled it tight.
The reactors in the Bellona started to come alive as Valentine started moving the tracks.
McDougall slammed a button to the side of his console. The thermal foam that had turned from gray to black blew away, the Bellona finally revealed underneath the combat shuttle.
There was still ten seconds to go. McDougall could finally see Ducharev with his optical sensors.
“Drop! Drop! Drop!” Captain Isalz said.
The explosive bolts securing them to the combat shuttle were released. The Bellona dropped twenty feet, her massive suspension system taking the impact with ease.
The engines fired up as Valentine started to get the Bellona moving. They landed on a highway that stretched through Ducharev and right to the city of Edani.
Behind them, other Bellonas were being dropped off in open parks and in different pre-set locations. Artillery parks were being deployed with them.
There were medical and service tents along the highway as people were now walking away from Ducharev toward the next city.
Most of these people looked haggard. They were probably from Edani, but with so many people in the city, Ducharev was unable to look after them all.
There was a sea of combat shuttles and drop-ships coming from the heavens, stopping any of the civilian flights from leaving or entering Ducharev airspace.
People stared at the mighty Bellona tanks as they slammed into the ground and surged forward.
“Load!” McDougall yelled.
The weapon loading systems all fired up, ammunition locked into place as they prepared for full battle readiness.
“Fire sensor round!” McDougall hit the firing button. The tank shook slightly as it kept advancing.
The tanks, once clear of the drop zone, started firing into the sky. They were shooting out a full spread of sensors so that they could finally understand what they were fighting beyond Ducharev.
Limited engagements were pitted along the wall that had been put up outside of Ducharev.
The sensor shells spat out sensor gliders and parachutes, covering the sky as they fought to get an idea of what was below them. It would ta
ke hours for them to come back to the ground.
The defense wall was still being built but the contractors and engineers were doing their best to build it as fast as possible.
The legionnaires here weren’t enough to defend the wall and were working in reaction forces, suppressing the Maraukians as they appeared, but it meant they weren’t able to rest and re-arm properly.
It was a mess but confidence spread through McDougall. Ducharev wouldn’t fall.
After meeting with the leaders of the troopers, and being in the presence of Nerva for a long time, he had come to understand that these people, true war heroes, wouldn’t lose easily.
After looking up more information on them all, he was left in shock from what they had lived through and needed to do to assure victory.
He noticed as some of the Bellonas moved away from the highway, taking the off-ramps to move to higher ground positions. There they would have better fields of fire to support the entire length of the Ducharev line.
With the sensor readings, some of the drop-ships moved closer, directly landing their forces on the line to create areas of strength that could support one another.
The combat shuttles opened their hatches as the troopers dropped down. They hit the ground in force and started jogging toward the wall that cut off the main road from Ducharev to Edani.
McDougall watched this all going on as his force advanced up the highway, looking unstoppable as they rolled on.
More troopers, legionnaires, ammunition, and supplies were being dropped in a massive force of nearly half a million people. They were all moving, bringing with them a force to reckon with and a hope for their people.
McDougall nodded to himself and made himself comfortable in his seat, checking all the systems of his tank. They were ready.
Chapter 63
Edani
Indalia, Otarvi System
8/3555
Chyna fired with both of his M20s as he retreated into the maze. The walls were sheer, making it impossible for the Maraukians to escape and only three of them could move together.
The Vanguard Emerges (Maraukian War Book 2) Page 28
