Marine Raiders: Strike Back (Blood War Book 2)

by Rod Carstens

  "Backs to the wall." Hu screamed to Nani.

  Hu and Nani began to walk backwards side-by-side firing as they went, until the bumped the wall of the control center. Now there was some distance between them and the barricade. Hu had time to pull his 48 off his chest begin firing into the hybrids coming over the barricade.

  The heavy weapon on the roof of the control center stopped firing. Hu glanced up and saw the firing crew in a hand-to-hand battle with three hybrids. Without that heavy, things were going to go bad quick.

  Nani had been pressing her shoulder against Hu to let him know she was there when suddenly her weight disappeared. Hu whirled around to see a hybrid raising her above its head. Without thinking, he swung his shovel at the hybrid’s midsection. It bit deep into its armor. It doubled over, dropping Nani to the ground. Hu put his pistol to the hybrid’s helmet and fired three rounds. It collapsed in a heap. Nani was still down and moving slowly. Hu stepped over her and straddled her body with his back to the wall of the control center. He fired his pistol into the faceplate of a hybrid as it swung a laser sword. It's head snapped backward by the force pistol rounds and it dropped to the ground.

  Lieutenant Taro, leading the rest of the platoon, burst through the rear entrance to the control center. He had realized that Nani's squad couldn’t hold this hybrid rush without help. Taro and the rest of the Marines fired into the wave of attackers, finally slowing the rush. When the attack slowed it allowed Taro and the others time to fill the holes in the line created by the casualties. The heavy weapon on the roof began firing again. Hu glanced up and saw a Marine kicking a hybrid’s body off the platform. The Marine gunner poured fire into the hybrids. The remaining attackers were torn to pieces by the combined fire of the heavy weapon and Taro's reinforcements. Once again rushing head long into concentrated fire had allowed the Marines a chance to regroup. There were only a few hybrids left. Two here one there but they continued to attack even when doing so meant certain death. They went down one by one until only one was left. It jumped on top of the barricade raised its arms in defiance. It disappeared in a hall of fire from the Marines. There was no more movement. It was quite. Hu's still rang from the din of the fighting.

  Suddenly, there were no more hybrids, only mounds of bodies on the barricade and amongst the marines. Hu managed a quick glance at his heads-up display; all of the hybrids were down. There was no more movement. It had been a very near thing. If the lieutenant hadn’t brought the rest of the platoon back, they couldn’t have held. Retig and Fluvia were down. Both were yellows, wounded but not out of the fight. The hybrids were forming up again for another rush. The heavy weapon above Hu fired at them, chewing up a dorm, trying to slow them down.

  "By squads into the control center. First Squad," Lieutenant Taro ordered.

  "First squad," Nani repeated.

  She led the way through the back door into the control center facility.

  Hu, Gras, and Bien followed. The other two fire teams were right behind, carrying Retig and Fluvia. Hu with Gras and Bien took up positions on either side of the door. The third squad came through, entered the control center then turned to cover the door. The heavy stopped firing, and three crew members dove through the door.

  "More coming," one of the heavy weapons crew managed to say.

  Hu, Gras, and Bien ducked through the door as hybrid rounds began exploding against the wall and door behind them. There was an explosion on the roof. The heavy crew had blown up their weapon to keep it from the hybrids. Hu heard more firing, and then Lieutenant Taro dove through the door. He had made sure everyone was in before he left the position. Nani slammed the door and sealed it.

  "Out. They’re right behind me. First squad, provide cover," Taro said.

  Nani, Hu, and the rest of the squad walked backward toward the front of the control center, waiting for the hybrids to come through the door at any second. Hu grabbed a handful of mini mines and tossed them on the floor. Bien had a directional mine and slapped it on a wall facing the control center's back door. They had reached the door that lead into the server farm. They each walked backward through it their weapons aimed at the back door. Nani was the last one through. She stopped and stood in the doorway.

  "Nani, we've got to go!" Hu said.

  "You go. I want to surprise our friends."

  Hu ignored the order and knelt beside her with his rail aimed at the back door. Gras and Bien were on either side of him.

  "I told you to leave!" Nani snapped.

  Before Hu or the others could respond, the hybrids blew a hole in the wall several feet from the door. They came through the hole, three abreast firing as they charged. The combined fire of the four Marines tore into them, their fire throwing them back through the hole. More hybrids followed. Again, they dropped them. No more appeared. Instead, covering fire from outside began to blindly tear up the room they had just vacated.

  "Haul ass now! The kaks think we’re defending the room!"

  The four Marines turned as one and raced for the front door to the control center. They ran through the server farm and then the control room itself. Hybrid bodies covered the floor in the control room and were draped over consoles. Hu never touched the floor as he ran for the exit. He was able to leap from body to body until he was outside. Once through the door, they found that Lieutenant Taro had the rest of the platoon formed into a fighting line across the parking lot from the control center. The mini mines began exploding inside the control center. Nani's stand had done its job. The hybrids had slowed down. They didn't know where Hu and the rest of the Marines were, so they were carefully working their way through the control center instead of rushing after the platoon.

  Just as Hu reached a position in the line facing the control center, hybrids appeared on the roof. He could see dozens of them with more coming up behind them. They were jumping on the roof and rushing across it to attack the platoon. There were far too many of them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Xotoli Outpost

  Exoplanet 1123.567

  Von Fleet Planet 703

  Geosynchronous Orbit

  Captain Ririsa Grogen watched as the Tokyo was eased into orbit around 703. Now came the hard part, she thought. The Xotoli were still coming. She had hurt them, but certainly not enough to stop them. She reached forward to her comm button.

  "Tokyo to the Pollux and Castor."

  "Pollux here."

  "Castor here."

  "Take up your former stations, and be prepared to fight from those stations. If the Xotoli are able to take a geosynchronous orbit over the Marines, they’ll pound them into dust as they land their infantry. You are not to leave those stations until the last of the marines have been extracted. Do you understand?"

  "Pollux aye. Stay on station until the last of the Marines are extracted."

  "Castor aye."

  Ririsa knew what she was asking. She wasn't sure either ship would survive that kind of battle. To ask two destroyers to go toe-to-toe with other destroyers and a cruiser with no maneuvering room was an order that could very well mean their destruction. In addition, she was going to have to perform just as dangerous a mission by protecting the Tarawa. Without the Tarawa, the Confederation had no capability to transport infantry and land them on a planet. It was the first ship of its kind. Sure, there were a lot more in the pipeline being constructed, but they took time to build. She had to protect the Tarawa and the Marines. Their loss would be a staggering blow to the Confederation. The loss of a couple destroyers and a cruiser was easily absorbed.

  Ririsa was getting tired of being expendable. She and the Cappella had been expendable at Rift, and now she found herself in the same position again. She looked over at her young helmsman and said, "Looks like we’re going to earn our pay again today, Petty Officer."

  He laughed and said, "Captain, is it too late to put in for a transfer, ma'am? I’m getting tired of earning my pay."

  They laughed together as the rest of the bridge crew could only s
tare in amazement, clearly missing the inside joke.

  "No, Petty Officer, you’re stuck with me again. Now, ease me into station on the port side of the Tarawa."

  "Aye, ma'am."

  Now it was time to test how the re-purposed Tokyo performed. She had been completely refitted to serve as an anti-fighter screen for Tarawa class ships. She had also been fitted with the sixteens and other bombardment sized scrams to support the Marines. To assist her with these new roles, the Tokyo had been up armored and her redundant systems had been increased. All of this had been done to make the Tokyo as tough and dangerous as possible. This new class of ship was about to be put to the ultimate test.

  "CIC, give me a full sphere of drone coverage for both us and the Tarawa.. I want the mix to be 50-50, energy drones and explosives.

  "Aye, Captain. I repeat 50-50 on the drone sphere."

  "Very well. Do you have a fix on the Xotoli?"

  "Yes, they just crossed the sensor picket line. Before they destroyed it, we were able to get a good heading and speed. They’ve slowed considerably and have a large fighter screen out front. Looks like they’re feeling their way here. We've got them confused."

  "Very well," Ririsa replied. Then she reached over and changed to the Tarawa frequency.

  "Tarawa, this is the Tokyo."

  "Tokyo, go."

  "Tarawa, looks like we’re going to have company soon. What’s the word on the extraction?"

  "It’s going slower than we’d hoped. The marines are heavily engaged and are having a hard time disengaging to move to the extraction points. We’re using the SOCs for close support to help the Marines disengage, but the Xotoli are dug in deep and have armored infantry defending the facility instead of security. We’ve received an emergency request for naval gunfire support while you engaged the Xotoli task force. We’ll be passing it on to the Pollux as soon as they’re on station."

  Ririsa didn’t like what she was hearing. There were too many factors lining up that could spell disaster for both the navy and the Marines.

  "Good. Advise the Pollux before they reach the station as they may be able to provide support. Tarawa, are there any problems with your defensive systems?"

  "Negative. We’re all in the green. I saw you deploy the drones. We’re as ready as we can be," the Tarawa replied.

  "Agreed. Good luck."

  "Good luck, Tokyo."

  Now all Ririsa could do was wait.

  #

  "CIC to Bridge."

  "This is the Bridge. Go," Temesgen replied.

  "Sir, a naval gun support mission was requested while we were off station. Do you want me to contact Raider Actual?"

  A knot formed in Temesgen’s stomach as he thought of those Marines needing help and not getting it. No matter what the reason, it didn’t feel good, leaving them hanging on the ground.

  "This is Raider Actual. Go."

  "This is the Pollux, Raider Actual."

  "Where the fuck were you? Never mind. We’re pinned down and under heavy fire from a series of positions dug into the side of a cliff. We need five-inch support."

  "Roger. We’re not on station, but give my CIC the GPS coordinates, and we’ll fire as soon as possible."

  "Roger, Pollux. Be advised this is danger close for your five-inchers, so make them good."

  There was a pause of a few seconds as the data was transmitted to the ship’s targeting computers and a solution was reached.

  "CIC, give me a view of the situation," Temesgen ordered.

  A new display popped up in front of his chair. It was a clear representation of the battle with red triangles representing the Xotoli and green triangles representing the Marines. Temesgen reached forward and twisted the holo until he had a ground level view in the 3D display. He could see the cliff reaching hundreds of feet in the air with Marines trapped at their base, the Xotoli had a perfect plunging fire position. The Xotoli were firing down onto the Marines’ position with little cover or concealment available for the marines. The Marines couldn’t escape or effectively return fire. They were slowly being butchered.

  "Give me the guns commander."

  "Captain, this is Guns."

  "Fire as soon as you think you can get a good solution. These positions are tearing those Marines to pieces."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Temesgen waited for what seemed like an eternity as the Pollux moved into the proper position for her guns to be effective. He couldn’t hurry the physics of orbital mechanics, but Temesgen desperately wanted to, just this one time. He watched as one and the armor of another green triangle went from red to yellow. Then another went black.

  “Goddammit, come on!”

  He felt the ship shutter as the first five-inch came to bear. The first round struck the cliff about halfway up. A large portion of the cliff disappeared and was replaced by a huge crater. The angle of the shot propelled most of the debris away from the Marines. Another five-inch fired and another crater was created next to the first one.

  "Good shooting, Guns. Keep it up."

  The Pollux shuttered again and again as she fired her five-inch scrams into the Xotoli positions. He saw the green triangles begin to move away from their positions. They moved quickly, and luckily, none of them were hit while they were exposed. “Go, go, go!” Zula said to himself as he urged the Marines a thousand miles away from the hybrids.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Xotoli Outpost

  Exoplanet 1123.567

  Von Fleet Planet 703

  1st Marine Raider Battalion

  Alpha Company

  1st Platoon

  Nani fired her mini into two Xotoli hybrids that had just jumped down from the roof. They were thrown backwards and slowly slid down the wall of the control center and were still. It seemed like hours since they had left the control center. Hybrid bodies covered the ground between the control center and their position. Some were less than ten feet away, yet the hybrids continued to press the attack with wave after wave of armored infantry. They needed that extract soon or there would be no one to extract. Hu and his fire team were to her right, and what was left of her other two fire teams were to her left. The rest of the platoon was scattered in a rough line in front of the control center behind whatever cover they could find.

  "All hands, extract is inbound. ETA ten minutes," Lieutenant Taro said.

  Nani was afraid that they didn’t have ten more minutes. Just then, they began to take fire from the crystal refining center to their right, and two troops went down. They were flanked.

  "First squad, take on those kaks," Taro ordered.

  "Hu, take that flank get those shits under some suppression fire." Nani shouted.

  Hu and his fire team hinged back keeping contact with the rest of the platoon but changing their front so they faced the crystal refining center. They immediately began firing at the huge building, frantically trying to identify where the enemy fire was coming from. The building had more nooks and crannies along its exposed side for hybrids to hide in than Nani could count. Yet Hu's fire team had to find where the fire was coming from and take them out or the hybrids would chew them up from the flank.

  "Where are they?" Gras asked as he raked the side of the building with fire, blindly trying to pin them down.

  Hu and the rest of the team continued to fire at the building, but the hybrids continued putting rounds into the marines’ positions. Nani saw Hu stop firing and slowly begin to search the building’s side with his scope, looking for flashes. All of their electronic warfare personnel were down, or they could have back traced the rounds with their equipment. Now they had to do it the old fashioned way, visually spotting the enemy.

  "Second floor toward the front of the building," Hu said.

  "Got ‘em," Bien replied

  Concentrated fire from Hu’s fire team began to tear into the building where he had spotted the hybrid positions. The fire from their flank slackened as Hu’s fire team’s rounds found their targets. Nani hoped that woul
d keep their heads down.

  "Cover me."

  "What?!" Nani said.

  Borges, their corpsman, was racing toward two downed Marines, wearing only the light armor corpsmen wore. She was incredibly fast, but had little protection. The downed Marines were alive, but they couldn’t move. She was trying to bring them back into their little perimeter.

  "What is she doing here?" Nani demanded, firing furiously.

  "She refused to leave with the second squad," Taro replied.

  Borges ran, jumping over stacked construction materials and parked vehicles, until she reached the two downed troopers. The ground around her exploded as the Xotoli tried to keep her away from the two wounded Marines. Borges was covered in snow and rocks as explosive rounds tore up the ground around her as she grabbed each Marine by the handles on their suits. She turned and began to drag them back, exposing her back to the hybrids. She had only moved a few feet when a round struck her and knocked her to the ground. Before anyone could react, she was back on her feet, dragging the two Marines behind her. The rest of the platoon poured covering fire at any hybrid position they could see. Nani glanced up at her status; Borges was a yellow. The light armor the corpsmen wore didn't protect her as much as normal armor. Corpsmen chose to wear it because they could do their job more effectively. Borges knew the risk she was taking when she’d decided to wear it. She was hit again and went down again, but she was tenacious. She was immediately back on her feet and dragging the Marines.