Marine Raiders: Strike Back (Blood War Book 2)

by Rod Carstens

  Desperately both Lee and Odaka pulled back on the control sticks together. Pulling as hard as they could they weren't able to pull the nose up. The angle was too steep. He would never be able to land unless he could get the angle

  "Odaka, give me some retros. Pulse them."

  "What?!"

  What Odaka was about to do was in no flight manual, but there was no flight manual for flying a ship from space into an alien planet.

  "Pulse the retros while I pull up on the stick. If we slow her forward speed I should be able to get more control."

  "Say when?" Odaka said.

  "Now."

  Odaka pulsed the retros and Lee pulled back on the stick. Lee pulled back on the stick with all his strength. It began to work. Their decent slowed, and the nose came up.

  "Good. Good. Again."

  Odaka began to pulse the retrorockets watching their speed and angle of approach as he did.

  "Keep up those retros."

  "Got it."

  Working together they slowly regained control of the ship. The planets surface was rushing toward them now. Until Lee had a visual on the landing zone. It was tight, but they didn't have much choice. Tracer rounds were crisscrossing the landing zone. The green tracers began to pick up strike their ship and gunners got their range. The rounds bounced harmlessly off the armor, but it didn't do Lee’s nerves any good to hear the thud, thud, thud against the hull. The gunfire was coming from a huge outcropping of black rock that was just visible in the blowing snow and ice. If he didn't need Odaka on the controls, they could’ve at least fired back at them, but it was too late to worry about that.

  "I'm coming in fast. When I flare, give me a good pulse on those retros."

  "Check,"

  They were now low enough that Lee could make out individual Marines. He came in from the south trying to keep his nose into the wind. He had to fight every second to control his altitude, the wind was changing direction and speed with every adjustment Lee made. The ground grew larger and large in the windshield. A downdraft pushed them toward the ground. Lee pulled the nose up knowing it would soon reverse again. When it did he knew it was now or never. With ground rushing toward them as if they would crash after all Lee pulled back on the controls to flare.

  "Now." Lee shouted.

  Odaka hit the retros and the ship settled down with a huge bang.

  "Hey, Chief, not a bad landing if you consider a controlled crash good," Toland, their gunner, said from the rear with more than a little fear in her voice.

  Lee cut the engines to idle and opened the rear ramp. Lee reached overhead and turned on the positive pressure system to keep the atmosphere out, and then punched the drop seat retraction button. All the seats that were used during a drop retracted into the bulkheads, turning the rear of the ship into a large open compartment that could hold casualties. The big problem would be securing them for the flight out.

  Snow and ice blew into the interior of the ship as the first of the casualties were carried aboard. The casualties’ armor became rigid when they were wounded. It allowed them to be carried as if they were on a stretcher. He could see each of the casualties medical systems’ lights blinking yellow or red, depending on the severity of the casualty being carried inside the ship and laid carefully on the deck. A corpsman came up to the cockpit.

  "We almost got a full load. Another five minutes should do it"

  "Good. We had a helluva ride down, and I suspect we’ll get the same going back. Make sure you secure them. I don't want to lose them on the way."

  "Way ahead you there, Chief," the female voice behind the armor said.

  She held up an ancient device that every Marine carried in quantity: the old carabineer. Every Marine worth his salt carried a number of them in a drop pouch for the thousand and one jobs they could do.

  "They all have a bunch of these. We just snap them on the carry handles of the armor and through the little latches you've got all over the deck of your ship. Works like a champ."

  "When did you guys come up with that one?"

  "We got drunk one night, and you know how things come up. I gotta go."

  Lee looked over Odaka. "God bless the corpsmen."

  "No, shit. They're the best."

  The corpsmen secured the casualties.

  "When they’re ready in the rear," Lee said, "I think it’s best for a balls-to-the-wall takeoff. Just punch it through this shit weather and get out of the atmosphere as soon as we can."

  "Yeah, I think so, too."

  "How we doing on thruster fuel?"

  "We're good."

  The corpsman stuck her head in the cockpit again.

  "All set, Chief."

  "Listen, we’re going to bust through this weather with our rockets. No flying. Just a launch. I want you guys to be secure back there or we’ll throw you all over the place."

  "Check."

  A couple of minutes later, Toland reported in. " Chief. I'm going to leave a few calling cards on our way out."

  "Be careful of friendlies."

  "I networked with them. I got the fucking hybrids’ positions. They're going to be sorry they ever saw us."

  Lee eased the throttle forward until they were off the ground. Then he brought the nose up and rammed the throttle to the firewall. The ship leaped upward with a roar. Toland was firing as fast as she could at the hybrid positions. The SOC shot through the winds like a bullet. Sure, they weren’t exactly on trajectory back to the Tarawa, but Lee could easily compensate once they were free of the atmosphere. Well, that was one down and who knew how many more to go. It was going to be a long night.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Xotoli Outpost

  Exoplanet 1123.567

  Von Fleet Planet 703

  Geosynchronous Orbit

  Landing Ship Dock

  Tarawa

  Hangar Deck

  Flight Petty Officer Zenos Lee gently brought his SOC to a touchdown on the hangar deck of the Tarawa. The hangar bay doors slammed shut, and the flashing red landing notification lights turned green. A rush of air blew the few loose objects by the cockpit window as the hangar was re-pressurized. They were back with another load of Marines from the planet surface. Lee relaxed for the first time in hours. He was too tired to celebrate the rescue of the Marines. In fact, with the number of missions he had flown today, he was almost too tired to move. He somehow managed to reach up and lower the rear ramp so the Marines could disembark. Then he reported to the flight control officer, "This is Dragon Eight. We’re down and unloading."

  "Roger, Dragon Eight. Welcome home," flight control replied.

  Lee pulled his helmet off slowly. His hair was plastered to his head, and his flight suit was stained with sweat. He took long deep breaths of the cool, fresh air of the hangar deck. It always tasted better than the recycled air on Dragon Eight. He knew it was the same recycled air, but it was in the hangar deck, and that meant he had made it back safe. Lee thought that had a lot to do with it. He just sat there, taking deep breaths and relaxing for the first time that day. He was finished. That was the last of the Marines. He had lost count of the number of insertion, close support, and extraction missions he had run today. He wondered how many flight hours he had gotten credit for today. He tried to stand up, but simply fell back into his seat, too tired to stand. The pressure and adrenaline of combat flying had drained him. He glanced over at Odaka. His copilot hadn’t even taken his helmet off. He was leaning back against his seat, and his eyes were closed.

  A Marine leaned into the cockpit and said, "Thanks for the ride. We were up to our ass in kaking hybrids."

  Lee looked over at the marine. His helmet was his hinged back, and he looked as tired as Lee felt. His armor had been patched in several places where he had been wounded and the nanos had gotten him back in the fight. Lee couldn't imagine how he must feel.

  "Call anytime. No charge for pickups."

  The Marine smacked him on the shoulder and said, "See you next time, there SWCC
. When we make port, I owe you a drink."

  "Sounds good to me. See you then, Ironhead."

  The Marine laughed, turned away from the cockpit, and exited out the rear ramp. He moved slowly, the combat adrenaline let down slowing his gait. Lee glanced back and watched as the Marines stumbled off the ship. Some needed help from other Marines, and a line of stretchers was waiting for those that needed immediate medical assistance. It felt good to watch them disembark. If he hadn’t gotten them, they might not have left that rock. It was over; he could relax now. Lee smiled and laughed.

  "Fuck me," Odaka said.

  "Yeah, it got real festive a few times there, didn't it?"

  "Festive? I think I would use a stronger word," Odaka said with a laugh.

  "Hey, Toland, you alive back there?" Lee said to his rear gunner.

  "Yeah, no thanks to you, Chief. On that last extract, I must’ve looked like a bull’s-eye on a target to them," she said.

  "Quit your complaining. You got your licks in. Besides, we’re down. You can sleep as long as you want now."

  "Don't tease me, Chief. Check the showers later. I may not make it out of there to my bunk."

  Before Lee could answer, Flight Control said, "Dragon Eight, are you still hot?"

  Lee glanced over at Odaka. Normally, he would’ve shut down the systems by now, but they had both been too tired to go through the shutdown procedure. Odaka glanced at his panels, flipped a couple of switches, and touched a floating display. He nodded yes.

  "Roger, Flight. We haven’t gone through our shutdown."

  "Are you all green? From here, you look awfully torn up."

  Again, Lee glanced at Odaka. He checked the systems. There were several in the red, none of which appeared critical.

  "Can we fly?" Lee asked.

  "Yeah, if we have to," Odaka said, staring at his panels and rechecking their readings.

  "Flight, this Dragon Eight. We are in the green," Lee confirmed.

  "Dragon Eight, we lost two birds and their pickups are waiting. Can you extract?"

  He didn't know where it came from, but he suddenly felt the adrenaline of a mission wash away his fatigue. He could and would fly another mission. If there were Marines still on that rock, he would get them out.

  "Check, Flight, just give us the GPS locations," Lee snapped and pulled on his helmet, tightened his shoulder and waist belts, and began to switch on the main systems.

  "Are you sure, Dragon Eight? You look awfully banged up."

  Lee wished Flight Control would stop saying that. He knew how many hits they had taken, but he hadn't seen what his ship looked like. They only saw the readouts from the systems. That was enough. He didn't want to see how badly they were damaged. It might get into his head. Enough systems were green that he could make the mission.

  "Are we the only one that's hot?" Lee asked.

  "Check. We have two other ships spinning up now, but you’re the only one that can leave immediately."

  "Looks like we win the prize."

  Odaka snapped his helmet shut and began to spin up his engines to takeoff speed.

  "Toland, how are you fixed for ammo?"

  "Chief, I got enough if I'm careful."

  "Good. Unless we get in the deep shit, pick your targets."

  Lee looked over at Odaka.

  "We good on fuel for the reaction control system for this?" Lee asked.

  "Yeah, everything that’ll work is up. We're as good as we’ll ever be. I got the GPS locations in the computer."

  "Flight, this is Dragon Eight. Permission to take off."

  "Permission granted, Dragon Eight. Deck is clear of personnel. Hangar bay doors opening. Good luck."

  Red lights flashed as the hangar doors opened and the atmosphere in the hangar deck was sucked into space in a hurricane wind with the occasional forgotten piece of paper. The hard blackness of space seemed to beckon them back out into its beautiful and dangerous arms.

  "We’ll have two additional ships behind you as soon as they can spin up."

  "Roger, Flight. This is Dragon Eight, launching."

  Lee slowly lifted the ship off the deck and spun toward the hangar bay door. The SOC skimmed across the hangar, two feet off the deck, until it reached space and exited the Tarawa. As soon as Dragon Eight was clear of the Tarawa, Lee dropped the ship toward the small planet below. He was all too familiar with its black, white, and brown surface by now. The weak atmosphere formed a thin blue line along the planet’s horizon. Dozens of communications, GPS, and other operational satellites floated about the atmosphere, providing the communication and electronic infrastructure for the operation. Other SOCs were rising out of the atmosphere headed to the Tarawa with more Marines, who had just been extracted. Lee had seen this a dozen times today, but it didn’t fail to thrill him yet again. The complexity of a planet landing was amazing. Lee pushed the stick forward and dove the Dragon Eight toward the surface of 703.

  "We’re in luck. The last two platoons are on this side of that piece of shit planet. I’ve set a course for the closest," Odaka said.

  "Roger."

  Lee reached over and punched his pilot assist system. A green envelope of squares appeared in his flight display. They led down to a point on the GPS location on the planet, giving Lee his window of approach to the platoon. He put the SOC in the middle of that green box and put the throttle to the firewall.

  #

  Lieutenant Taro came over the platoon’s all hands frequency and said, "All first platoon members be advised, our extraction bird is inbound at this time. The last of Bravo and Charlie companies have been extracted. Squad leaders, we'll leapfrog back through the control center. You have one minute to organize your troops."

  Hu and the rest of first squad had been holding the line with the help of the third platoon for what seemed like days. Every time they thought they had the hybrids beaten, reinforcements would show up. They had fought off so many attacks that the hybrid bodies were now literally stacked on top of one another all the way across the open space between the Marine barricade and the first, still-intact dorm. One of the things that had struck Hu as strange was that the dome and the dorms were exactly like the one he had grown up under. It was as if he were fighting the battle on Von Fleet 69 and not 703. Apparently, if you’d seen one Von Fleet facility, you’d seen them all.

  The dome arched close to six hundred meters over their heads. Two rigid membranes, one with a reflective coating and the other clear, stretched out above them, forming the roof. Between the two membranes was a water barrier that served to protect them from radiation. The heat produced in the dome was circulated through the water to keep the temperature stable. The soft blue reflected light from the dome was a constant reminder of his childhood. It was also a constant reminder of the fear he felt for his family after seeing the experiments the Xotoli had done to the kids here. He couldn’t get them out of his mind.

  "Hu, get your fire team out of the left flank. You’ll be the tail-end charlies as we leapfrog back through the control center," Nani ordered.

  "Roger that."

  Hu led his team out to the left flank as ordered. He realized that he was lucky to have only lost one of them. Other teams had lost so many members that they had to be reorganized. Lieutenant Taro had ordered a fighting retreat back through the control center. The plan was to funnel the hybrids into a kill zone as they entered the control center. Hu, with the rest of the squad, was now standing with his back to the control center’s rear wall as the other squads moved through the control center to the LZ. Hu and Nani stood side-by-side, firing at the armored hybrids moving among the dorms and outbuildings as the squad retreated. The hybrids weren’t rushing them yet; they appeared to be organizing, preparing for another assault.

  "They’re forming up at the PX again," Nani said, firing her rail in that direction.

  "Got it," Hu said.

  Gras and Bien were to their left, firing at their own targets. The rest of the first and third squads were scattere
d around them, behind whatever cover they could find.

  "Hey, LT, where’s our pickup?"

  "It was shot down," Lieutenant Taro said. "They’re sending a replacement. Hold tight."

  "Boy, I wish I was a tech geek. They went out with the second platoon. It's getting fuckin' lonely down here," Retig said.

  "Stow it," Lieutenant Taro snapped. "They carried the data we came here to get. Now shut up and focus on staying alive long enough for the extraction ship to get here. They are inbound so just hold tight.

  Hu knew how Retig felt. He wanted off this damned rock, especially after what he’d seen. He had no desire to let the kaks take him alive.

  "Here they come!" Nani shouted, firing furiously at the group near the PX.

  Armored hybrids were jumping over the last line of dorms while others raced from both ends of the row. The hybrids knew they were trying to extract and would be falling back. Hu got one and then another, but there were too many of them this time. They were going to take their position. All of the remaining squads were dropping hybrids as fast they could, but they were being overrun. Hybrids were pouring out of the row of dorms in numbers they hadn’t seen previously. The heavy weapon to Hu’s rear was pounding fifty caliber rounds into the line of rushing hybrids, blowing apart one after the other, but even its deadly fire didn’t slow their charge. The hybrids were just on the other side of the barricade now.

  "Fighting pairs!" Nani snapped.

  Hu dropped his rail, and it automatically snapped to his chest in its harness. He grabbed his pistol and shovel. He felt Nani bump him to let him know she was there. The first hybrid jumped high, trying to land on them. Hu fired his rail pistol into the hybrid's crotch and then its chest as the force of his rail twisted it in mid flight. It fell at their feet.

  Another appeared in front of Hu, he swung his shovel hard at its head, trying for a killing blow. It ducked and caught the blow on its armored shoulder. The shovel bit deep into the hybrid’s armor. Blood splattered the hybrid's helmet and Hu's faceplate, but even a shovel buried in its shoulder did not slow it. He twisted the shovel so it couldn’t move its arm. The hybrid struggled to get away from the shovel. Before it could, Hu brought up his pistol and fired twice into the hybrid’s faceplate. Blood and brains blew out the back of its helmet. It fell backwards and was still. Marines and hybrids were in desperate life and death hand-to-hand fights all around Hu. Another hybrid appeared on the barricade. Hu fired his pistol into its chest. It spun around disappeared behind the pile of hybrids and debris that was growing higher by the moment with hybrid bodies. There seemed to be no end to them. They just kept coming. Nani drove the pick head of her ax into the head of a hybrid that had fallen at her feet. It convulsed and was still. Hu and Nani were covered in blood from the hybrids. There were too many.