Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire

by Michael G. Thomas

“They’re getting away, follow me!” he cried.

  Without even considering his own safety, he leapt up from the cover of the stonework and ran out into the open. Jack and the others didn’t wait and chased after their Corporal. With the lower gravity than normal, they ran and bounced in a slightly elongated arc that seemed almost comical. They were quickly over the perimeter wall and halfway to the building. Jack spotted a face looking toward them that vanished in a cloud of blood from a carbine shot. He didn’t even bother checking who had fired and kept moving ahead. As they reached the dusty wall of the three-story building, a flight of Hammerheads screamed overhead and moved out of view, leaving nothing but their roaring engines for them to even know they’d been there.

  “All here?” asked Corporal Frewyn.

  He looked at them, making sure Jack, Riku, Callahan, and Jenkell were all there before leaning out and checking the building.

  “Looks clear to me. The drones show a doorway at the rear, lower level.”

  In the distance, the rest of the marines continued to inch forward and made up half the distance before the clatter of machine gun fire forced them to take cover. The automatic weapon’s rate of fire was much lower than equipment used in the Alliance, and the thermal charges burned black holes in anything it struck.

  “Nasty,” Riku muttered.

  Frewyn looked at each of them and thumbed toward the building.

  “We need to fix this and fast.”

  Jack checked the ammunition marker on his overlay, and he still had an almost full magazine. There was no need to change it, certainly not when in such an exposed and dangerous position.

  “Get in and rush the place before they can cause any more trouble. Now!”

  There was no time for discussion, as once again their Corporal led from the front and along the side of the building. The gunfire continued, but it didn’t stop him. The man didn’t even wait for the drones to move into a better position. As they moved closer, Riku pulled out a stun grenade, one of the three types each of the marines carried. It was smaller than the usual fragmentation grenades and colored with yellow and black stripes along the top and bottom. She threw her body around the corner after the others and hurled the grenade with perfect precision. It spun through the air, landing right in the small doorway fifteen meters away.

  “Flash!” she shouted, but Frewyn was not holding back.

  The other marines were already around the next corner right on the heels of their Corporal and heading for the small doorway, when the metal door flew open and out ran a trio of Helions. All carried weapons, and their heads were covered in thin helmets with a ventilator unit that looked more like a gas mask on their faces. One spotted the marines and opened fire as the grenade activated. A bright white flash pulsed and blinded anybody not looking away or wearing the marine helmets. Like welding equipment, the visors blackened for just long enough to beat off the flash. In less than half a second, they returned to their normal slightly smoked look. Jack lurched to the left, hugging the wall and ran at them with all the speed he could muster.

  “Spread out!” shouted Frewyn, but it was much too late. The first two rounds hit his collar and bounced off the armor. The third and final round struck his arm in the joint and managed to penetrate the outer layer before embedding in his bone. He cried out and dropped his carbine. Private Jana Jenkell dropped down next to him, covering him with her carbine while the others continued forward. Callahan and Riku automatically moved to one knee and opened fire on the group, keeping their fire to the right to avoid striking Jack who was almost upon them. One was killed outright, and another of the Animosh staggered about, temporarily blinded. The Helion had already turned away from them, and instead of running, aimed his gun in the direction of the marines and held down the trigger. Thermal rounds clattered everywhere, and then Jack was amongst them. He ducked under the blow of the last remaining insurgent and struck with the butt of his carbine. Incredibly, the lithe and agile fighter pulled back his torso to avoid the strike and fired a shot at Jack.

  “Bastard!” he cried, stumbling back.

  The burning round left a scorch march along his flank where it had almost burned through. Another few centimeters, and it would have stuck his chest straight on. Even so, he stumbled and found himself falling before crashing onto his back. The insurgent was on him in a flash, but even he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the charge by Private Callahan. The man was like a bull and shoulder barged the alien. His bulk and strength sent the Helion flying through the air and crashing onto his side in the dirt.

  “Stay down!” snapped Riku. She chased after him, her weapon pointing at his head. Only then did it occur to her he probably had no idea what she was saying.

  Callahan helped Jack to his feet and looked over to Riku.

  “Don’t worry, he understands. And if he doesn’t, you know what to do.”

  Frewyn groaned from the pain of his injury, and Private Jenkell was already busy seeing to the damage. That left just the three of them plus the two prisoners waiting outside the doorway. Movement came from the corner of the building, and three marines charged around it with their weapons raised.

  “Lieutenant,” Jack said with a slightly raised pitch to his voice.

  The adrenalin was now pounding through his body, and he could feel a violent rage starting to build up inside him. He tried to focus on the data from the drones, anything to try and stop his blood from boiling inside.

  “There are more inside the building. We need to secure it, and fast!”

  Lieutenant Elvidge nodded in agreement.

  “Good work, marines,” he said, turning to speak with Sergeant Stone who had only just arrived with another four marines.

  “Sergeant Stone, secure this position and the prisoners. Guard this door, and make sure they don’t double back. Morato, Riku and...”

  “Callahan, Sir,” answered the marine.

  “Yes, the three of you come with me. We have work to do.”

  Jack was surprised to see the green officer to be so fit and keen to get stuck in. The run across the open ground from the ambush location had been significant, yet the officer showed no obvious signs of fatigue. Even better was the fact the man stopped at the entrance and checked carefully before entering.

  So, he isn’t just a pretty boy from Terra Nova, he thought optimistically.

  Then they were inside and moving through a narrow corridor. There were no lights, and so as not to give away their position, the four marines used their thermal and infrared overlays to allow them to see in the darkened structure. Callahan went first with Jack following. The Lieutenant came next, and Riku brought up the rear with her L48 rifle now slung on her shoulder.

  “Can you hear that?” asked Jack.

  The sound amplification unit built into their suits was capable of identifying discrete sound and located them in both direction and distance. His suit had amplified part of the sound, and he could hear what sounded like something heavy being dragged across a floor.

  “I hear it, sounds like equipment,” suggested Riku.

  “Maybe, it could also be an attempt to barricade themselves in,” Jack added.

  The Lieutenant cut them off.

  “It doesn’t matter either way. We have to get in there and stop them. The last two ambushes failed, but they still managed to escape. We need prisoners and a successful counter-operation. This will be it.”

  Jack wasn’t so sure, but they moved on until the passageway widened the split with the hall on one side and a staircase leading up on the right. Callahan lifted his carbine slightly and aimed up the staircase.

  “Up, Sir?”

  “Affirmative.”

  It didn’t take long for them to reach the next level up in the narrow stairwell. The doors were all missing, and refuse and debris filled the hallways. They ignored it all and moved on to the next and final level. Halfway up the stairs, Callahan stopped and lifted his hand. The group stopped and automatically dropped down to one knee.

>   “What is it?” asked Riku.

  There was silence for perhaps three seconds, and then an insurgent appeared and looked down at them. The breathing apparatus hid his face, but his body language suggested he’d been caught by complete surprise. Even the Helion’s rifle was hung low as though he had not expected to see a threat on the stairs at this point. Jack leaned forward, grabbed his lead arm, and yanked down. The insurgent lost his footing, and they stumbled down the steps until he reached Riku. Although slight, she had no problem in dropping her knee down onto his chest and pinned him to the step.

  “Stay,” she whispered.

  Callahan moved his carbine around the corner at the top of the steps and watched the video feed from the sight directly on his helmet overlay. It showed a short passageway of six to seven meters and then a broken doorway leading to a long passageway that must have run for the entire length of the building. He nodded and went ahead with Jack and the Lieutenant right behind. Their footsteps crunched on the flaked paint and dust that seemed to litter the place. Jack slowed his breathing, but his pulse continued to race as he watched for signs of the insurgents. He spotted the green shapes on his overlay; it was a group of Hammerheads that had landed near the Bulldogs.

  Good, the Medevac teams are here.

  There was little worse than the idea that you might be left injured on a battlefield, with no chance of help. They reached the broken doorway and fanned out, but it was clearly almost entirely deserted, but for one place, a large room with two doors that looked like a machine room. The door was missing, and Jack could see large pieces of machinery lined up, presumably refinery machines or tooling of some kind. He almost missed the twinkle of a gun sight and then dropped to the floor.

  “What is..” started Riku, but a large caliber round burned a fist-sized hole in the wall exactly where Jack’s head had been.

  Lieutenant Elvidge ducked to the left away from the doorway and toward the smaller entrance off to the left and further down the passageway. Riku followed in the same direction and was about to enter when Jack spotted something like a fine, silvery line, almost like a spider’s web.

  “Stop!” he cried.

  The gunfire from the machine room was light, but every single round was aimed through the larger doorway.

  Yeah, they want us to take the other door.

  “Looks like a booby-trap, Sir.”

  Riku squeezed past the officer and bent down to check. It only took a few seconds for her to confirm Jack’s fears.

  “Yeah, you’re right, it’s a trap all right. Tripwire and a thermal wall charge, we were lucky!”

  The Lieutenant nodded politely to Jack, a modest gesture but one that meant a lot under the circumstances. He pointed to the doorway that Jack and Callahan were watching.

  “Yours?”

  Callahan was on his knees and checking the frame but staying back to avoid defensive fire. He finally lifted himself back up and spoke quietly.

  “This one’s clear.”

  Lieutenant Elvidge inched back with Riku in tow.

  “Very well,” he considered his options for just a few seconds, “we have to clear this place. Suggestions?”

  “Stun and run,” Jack said without even thinking.

  Callahan looked at the Private, nodding in agreement.

  “Yeah, it worked outside. They’re not prepared for a direct rush.”

  “Okay, good. Two grenades, then we move in and fast, but I want prisoners. Shoot to wound, not kill.”

  Callahan looked at Jack incredulously.

  “Understood?” repeated the Lieutenant.

  “Yes, Sir,” they answered in perfect unison.

  Riku and Jack each pulled out a stun grenade and activated the timers. With a nod from Lieutenant Elvidge, they tossed them inside at opposite sides of the room. The countdown progress indicator showed up inside their helmets, so they could time it to the second. One second before the charges activated, they moved. Jack was through first, and then Callahan, and the rest close behind. As Jack passed through the doorframe, the grenades burst, and for a brief moment he lost his vision as the visor blackened. Then he was moving along the right-hand side of the machine room with his eyes wide open and his carbine at his shoulder and ready. Riku followed behind, and the others took the left-hand side of the room.

  “Move it!” growled the Lieutenant.

  An insurgent appeared ahead of them and opened fire. The stun grenades had done their work, and he sprayed gunfire in the rough direction of the doorway. Jack rushed to his side, slamming his carbine into the Helion’s chest. With a groan, he fell down. Riku knelt beside him to bind his hands. Two more insurgents remained, and both were waiting behind a long machine with dozens of static robotic arms extending upwards. Bronze colored rust covered the edges, and like the rest of the place, a thick layer of dust covered the rest. One pointed at Jack, and the second lifted up a heavy weapon onto the machine and opened fire.

  “Watch out!” screamed Riku.

  Both rolled to the ground and vanished from sight among the myriad of machines and pieces of heavy equipment. At this height, it looked more like a maze than a workshop or refinery, and they were able to crawl along the floor while the heavy weapon continued to tear chunks from machines and the thick walls. Jack and Riku stayed down low. Callahan and Lieutenant Elvidge tried to move around the left flank.

  “Morato, can you flank them?” asked the Lieutenant.

  Jack crawled a meter and looked around the base of the machine. Another identical unit, turning ninety degrees back in the direction of the insurgents obstructed his view.

  “Maybe, see what we can do.”

  He slipped around the corner and slid along the floor. The slow thump of an L52 carbine firing came from the other side of the room.

  Good work, Callahan, keep them busy.

  It seemed an age before he reached the end of the next machine. Jack pushed out his carbine, using it as a viewing device to see around the corner. He could see the two remaining fighters loading a box onto the mounted weapon.

  I have to go for it!

  He didn’t bother with a grenade this time and instead lifted himself and hurled forward. His foot caught on the base of the machine, and he stumbled at them. He was on them before Riku even knew what was happening.

  “Jack!” she shouted and chased after him.

  Jack crashed into the nearest insurgent; the second flipped out a sidearm and shot twice. All three fell to the ground in a heap. Private Riku was on them as the second lifted to his feet. The other continued to grapple with Jack, but this fight was between the masked insurgent and her. He fired a shot with his sidearm that struck her carbine and tore off the pistol grip. She looked down at it, swore, and then threw the shattered frame at the Helion. He beat it aside; firing another shot that glanced off her armored pauldron. Her fist struck him in the chest, and she grabbed his arm. It was a classic lock, and although the Helion was strong, he was betrayed by the slight physiology of his race. Riku was also no weakling and twisted his arm so that he cried out in pain as she forced him to the floor.

  “Got you!” she said triumphantly.

  Callahan and the Lieutenant were now there and moved in to secure the prisoners. Meanwhile, Jack and his opponent were engaged in a violent fight and had moved from the floor and toward the open window.

  “All units, building secure, hold your fire!” called out Lieutenant Elvidge as the two crashed out onto the balcony. The Helion was surprisingly quick and a good bit taller and larger built than the average. As they fought, the insurgent seemed to have even greater speed than Jack. They pushed apart and circled each other, just out of striking distance. The Helion muttered something and pulled back his cloak, revealing a gold colored armored breastplate with unusual marking running down it. Jack found himself staring at the design while his hooded opponent moved around him. The cloak remained around his head and shoulder, and the plated respirator and mask covered the alien’s face, making it impossible to m
ake out any kind of facial expression.

  “If you’re trying to sound tough, you’re wasting your time!” laughed Jack.

  The alien struck three times in quick succession and managed to hit Jack on the shoulder blade with a hammer strike that dropped him to a knee. It wasn’t enough to slow the young marine down, and he locked the Helion’s arm and hurled him past. Anybody would have fallen, but not this one. Instead, he hit the ground, rolled, and landed back on his feet.

  “Impressive.”

  The other marines had already secured the machine room, but no one intervened with the personal fight between the two of them. Even so, Riku and Callahan kept their carbines ready, just in case. Jack would win one way or another. Now it was Jack’s turn to launch into a flurry of attack. He kept his guard close and his elbows tucked in while closing the distance. Each time the alien tried to defend himself, Jack struck out at his opponent’s limbs. It was slow, almost mechanical work but in less than thirty seconds, the alien fighter was suffering from the strikes to his unarmored arms. Finally, he managed to kick against Jack’s stomach and separated for a few seconds.

  “Not bad, I think you can give up now.”

  The alien simply laughed at his words, clicked his neck, and stretched. Jack’s face changed from amusement to annoyance, and then they were back at it. This time the alien was much more cautious, and Jack was forced to not over extend and leave himself vulnerable. The two moved about each other as they tried to strike with their hands and feet. Jack managed to land a number of blows, but each time the Helion leaned away and hit back. After a particular heavy miss by Jack, the alien slammed his knee into Jack’s stomach and followed it up with bringing his arm down onto the marine’s back.

  “Enough!” roared Lieutenant Elvidge.

  The Helion looked at the human officer with confusion, and Jack took the opportunity to jump back up and deliver a single powerful uppercut into the Helion’s chin. This time the alien staggered and collapsed to the ground. Jack pounced on him and rested his knee on the alien’s throat. Within seconds, the Helion was unable to breathe. Riku moved in beside him and fitted the bindings to his wrists before he could try to escape.