Guard at the Gates of Hell (Gladius Book 1)

by George Olney

  //"Strike 4-6, Strike 2-6. Tom, patch me into your platoon band. I need to talk to everybody."//

  //"Done, Shana."//

  //"Listen up, guys,"// she said on both platoon bands. She didn't bother identifying herself. She was a woman. What other woman was here? //"They're coming. We know it. We are going to be here waiting for them for one and only one reason. We have the Emperor in stasis, but I don't give a shit about that asshole. If it was just him, I'd blow the building and get the hell out, but we can't do that. There are a quarter of a million innocent babies down there, and that's why we're here getting ready to kick hell out of the Guard. If we don't hold, the Guard will take them and make them into the same sort of hard core, mutated, fanatic bastard we're about to start killing. We're here to give those kids a future, people. There are forty two of us, a quarter million babies, and a couple of thousand fanatic motherfuckers trying to steal those kids. We aren't going to let that happen. We're Gladii. Our job is to hold the fucking Gates of Hell and protect innocents. We're going to do that job. We're going to kick ass and hold this place in our hands until the 5th Cohort gets here. Before the 5th arrives, the Guard will know by the Lord Above that they've been in a hell of a fight. A fight they're going to lose. We're going to pile those bastards high and deep. If there's only one of us left fighting when we're relieved, we've still done our job. We've honored the Oath."//

  She shifted her B-42 into her left hand and slowly hand-drew her arm dagger. She threw it point first into the street surface at her feet. The molecular shear field of its blade let it slice into the street like butter, hilt standing above the surface. //"This far and no farther people. Here we stand. We are the Gladius. We can do no other. Gladio alieyo. Ettranty out."//

  Shana wondered how her men would take her declaration. She needn't have worried.

  From somewhere in the defenses, a voice took up a song on the still open All Hands band.

  //"Aaaay... eyn mol, eyn mol, eyn mol -

  Eyn mol tu ikh zikh banayen..."//

  In a moment, both platoons were singing, clapping their hands and stamping their feet in time to the jaunty music. The old, old song, sung in a language long dead except in obscure parts of the former Empire, was about a farmer getting drunk after a hard week's work. But there was an undercurrent. The undercurrent spoke of proud soldiers and a grim willingness to do unto others - with relish. It was sung on the way into a big jump, flinging the Gladius willingness to do battle straight into the teeth of an enemy. Now it was a declaration. Let the Predator come. Her men were ready.

  She walked back into the warehouse with a steady tread, the song ringing in her helmet earphones, her outer mike picking up the steady thump of boots and the clapping of hands. The first trickle of attackers was down at the other end of the street. She didn't have them in line of sight, but she knew they were there. Time to go to work. She wished she could see Karl one more time.

  #####

  In Ground CIC, Khev was studying his monitor carefully as the situation evolved. The Guard resistance was proving stubborn, but there were cracks appearing, often caused by Guard units easing back out of the fight. Now was the time to find a pattern in the midst of the confused swirling maelstrom of the battle around and within Imperial City.

  Khev finally thought he saw something forming in the monitor, but wasn't sure. //"9-6, Ground. What is the situation with your two Strike platoons?"//

  //"Ground, 9-6. They've thrown back two attacks with minimal casualties. I have Scout 9127 watching Guard in vicinity of attack. He says those characters are getting more worked up by the minute. Something's pushing the Guard. Pushing hard. 5th is still enroute, but they're chopping their way through some stiff resistance. They'll get there, but it's taking time."//

  //"Karl, the Guard has to have the Emperor and those fetus tubes. Shangnaman's the reason they exist. We've taken care of the evacuating units and their base, but the Guard still wants the Emperor and those fetus tubes. I expect someone feels whatever's left can still find a way to come back as long as they have that crazy bastard and those kids."//

  //"I'm getting heavier resistance in the main battle, Khev, and they're trying to lock in place to try and hold us down. Delaying tactics. I'm also having a harder time keeping a corridor open between the rest of the legion and the 5th. My guess is they're trying to cut off access. Thanks for the Faire battalion, by the way. Al's going to use the elves to punch through."//

  Khev studied his monitor for a moment. //"Understood. They want to keep us away from the attack on the warehouse. As soon as they can roll over the Strike platoons - and they're getting ready to try a brute force and ignorance move according to your scout's report - they'll grab the fetus tubes and the Emperor then get them to some evacuation point at all costs.

  //"Go ahead and push the rest of your legion up behind the 5th Cohort. I'm going to slide the Ferrata and the Valeria in on your flanks and help you shove. We've got to get to that warehouse before the Guard does. It's the central focus of the battle.

  //"Note Guard's also looking disorganized. Their operations aren't as well coordinated as they were a little while ago. Sensors detected a major explosion in the palace sometime back. Makes me wonder if something hit their main CP. In any case, keep driving a wedge towards the warehouse. Ferrata and Valeria will help you keep it open. Once we split them, we can roll these bastards up before we get completely into the city and have to do it the hard way."//

  //"Understood, Khev. I've got Al Lumis and the Faire battalion kicking and slugging their way through whatever's in the way. They'll get there. We all have to hope they get there in time."//

  #####

  A Gladius was the product of a thousand years of Darwinian selection through the brutal process of combat. With a life spent entirely as a soldier, the Gladius was both suited to, and trained in, every aspect of conflict from physical to political to economic. Defense of a static position was both the simplest and most dangerous form of battle. Static defense wasn't the way a Gladius preferred to fight, but the two platoons had to do it here and now. They intended to accomplish their mission.

  Shana considered what was coming and how best to handle it. They'd beat back the first two attacks and done it well. Her mind skittered away from the three bodies lying in an empty niche near the control room. Two more were badly wounded. Two dead in Tom's platoon. Her first combat losses. Her perfect record was broken. She had led her men here and committed them to this battle, a battle she was afraid she was going to lose. She was commander. It was her responsibility.

  But she still had thirty four combat capable Strike dogs defending this position. And her. Behind them were a quarter million unborn children whose future they were committed to save. That was the job of a Gladius. That was enough to keep her and her men here.

  That was enough for her. It had to be. There would be sleepless nights and bad dreams in her future if she survived. That, too, was part of the Gladius Price. She was prepared to pay it, if they could only hold this position long enough.

  The bunker where they'd taken their positions - there was no outer warehouse shell left - had been designed with thin firing slits for their weapons, but she'd learned fire could come in those slits as well. Two of her men were proof enough of that. So far, she'd only used one of the Ma Deuces. The enemy didn't know her full firepower. They also didn't know how heavily the approach to the building was booby trapped. She was saving both surprises for when they'd do the most good and kill the most Guards.

  The weak point was the door. They'd blasted in the armored hatch taking the building and there was only a jury rigged block keeping anything out. One good push by the attackers and they'd be inside. Then it would be a matter of pistols, axes, and far more Guards than her men could handle.

  She was still worrying when she got the call from the scout. //"Strike 2-6, Scout 9127. They look to be massing this time, Lieutenant, getting ready for that human wave attack you told me about. Appears to me that somebody wants in
that building as fast as possible and doesn't care about casualties. Next attack will be maximum push, probably everyone they can bring. I estimate 1-0 mikes before main attack commences. "//

  //"Understood, Zak. 1-0 mikes. We have air support on the way. I need you to act as air-ground control. Can do?"//

  //"Can do, Lieutenant. It's going to be messy because there's still a lot of AA out here, but some of those birds will get through. When do you want it?"//

  //"They'll pile up sooner or later, Zak. Hit 'em then. We'll be holding the front door. Kick the whole bunch in the ass."//

  //"Understood. If nothing further, Scout 9127 out."//

  Zak was out there watching what was going to happen. The Corps would know how they died, even if they all went down. That made her feel better in a way. Ten minutes. Better get busy.

  #####

  It started just like the last two times, individuals drifting down the street, hugging cover and professionally dispersed. By this time, her entire platoon knew they were facing trained soldiers, but soldiers with a difference. The Guard had learned military operations from a book. The Corps was trained by battlefield survivors. Big difference.

  It didn't matter, Shana thought. Those bastards could replace every Guardsman she killed with ten more. Get on the all-hands band. //"Okay, guys, they're coming at the front. We'll respond with individual weapons only. Crew serves to fire on my command. Gun Two, you'll be the sole responder, but One and Three stand by. I think this is the big one. They don't have time for another attack before the 5th Cohort gets here. Fire on my order. Break. Tom, what's your situation?"//

  //"Same as yours, Shana. We get fewer than you because you have control of the only door inside. They just want to keep us busy. I've got crew serves on Weapons Tight until the major attack is identified. When you hear our Ma Deuces, you'll know we're in the shit."//

  //"Understood shit,"// Shana replied. //"Just try to stay alive. The Victrix is coming, somewhere out there."//

  She opened the All Hands band. //"Okay, guys, fire when you get a target. Individual Weapons Free."//

  She turned to look at Sergeant Stauer standing with her in the control room. "I intend to be on the line, Sergeant. That means you have the control room. I'll call for the two booby trapped walls when I want them. Use the booby traps to best effect. I want maximum casualties."

  Sergeant Stauer nodded. He wasn't all that happy having his Lieutenant out in front of him, but, at this time and place, that was where she belonged. The men had to know she was with them, in control no matter what. "You'll get them, Lieutenant." He paused for a second and looked her squarely in the eyes. "You know booby traps aren't going to stop them. That's half a legion or better out there and they'll just soak it up and keep pushing troops at us."

  She returned his look and gave him a little smile. "I know, but damned if I'm going to let these bastards think it bothers me."

  She stopped and thought for a moment then her face got a slightly surprised expression. "You know, Sergeant. It really doesn't bother me. I feel like I was born to do this."

  Sergeant Stauer snorted. "Well, Lord Above, Lieutenant, welcome to the Corps!"

  He stepped closer and his voice got low. "Nobody in the Victrix ever doubted you were a Gladius, Shana. You shouldn't. You're right. This was what you were born to do. It's what we were all born to do. Now go and make us proud. Make that damned old bastard of a Sergeant Major proud. And I'm proud to have served with you, Sim. You're a damned good combat officer. Now go."

  Shana's eyes widened and she felt herself blushing. Blushing! That was a hell of a thing for the commander of a besieged fortification to do! "Thanks, Sergeant. Now, someone out there is going to rue the day I joined the Corps," she said with an evil grin.

  She lowered her helmet visor and headed out of the control room to the firing positions. Smythe materialized from somewhere and fell in behind her. "Got my back?" she shot over her shoulder. Old question, by now.

  "Aye, Lieutenant!" Good enough.

  The first trickle of Guardsmen was swelling into a stream flowing towards the warehouse. To an untrained or unaided observer, the growing mass of refractive armor camouflage in the street would create a strange shimmer that began to slowly fill the area between buildings like an invisible wave. To Shana and her men, looking out of upper level firing slits, individual Guards were obvious, as much by what wasn't there as by what was. As Shana watched, the stream became a flood. //"All right, everyone,"// she said on the All Hands band, //"this is the big one. They're coming. Break, Gun Two, commence fire."//

  The stream of heavy bolts headed down range at the 600 rounds per minute cyclic rate of the M2. The gun was deliberately targeted along the right hand side of the avenue of approach, causing the oncoming Guards to drift left. That wasn't something veteran troops would do, but these guys weren't veterans. Unless they survived this day. If they did, she wouldn't. Best make sure the Guard didn't get veterans from this little meeting.

  Sergeant Stauer was reading her mind. Piles of rubble in the street suddenly detonated their concealed loads of demo, further packing the attackers to the left, up against one of the booby trapped walls.

  She watched carefully, trying to judge the moment. It was hard, given Guard refractive armor and the fact her position was already taking incoming fire. The Guard was starting to fill the entire street, not from tactics but simply because so many of them were using the same avenue of approach. They couldn't use other streets. Those would channel them away from her. Shana snorted in disbelief. This was something she never thought she'd see. A real honest to Heaven human wave attack. Those were supposed to be impossible with modern weapons, but that was a book the Guard had never read. She knew the logic. Lose a cohort - or two - or three - and kill two platoons worth of defenders. Guard wins. It was just that simple.

  Time to make it complex. //"Blow Alpha wall, Sergeant."// Immediately, the complete wall of a warehouse behind the head of the attack wave blew outward, spreading blast, flame and shrapnel in a huge fan shaped area. Another rubble pile full of demo took out the lead group. The street was clear for a good ways back, but more were coming. The booby trapped wall was one of the Guard's defensive measures, not hers, and she only had one more like it.

  The folks out there didn't seem to know about their own defenses. Possibly whatever CP did have the information wasn't available to get it to them. Or they just didn't care. Shana suspected it was both.

  Suddenly, the outer wall of the bunker shook as a 4 CM bolt hit it. There was a little dust, but not much damage. The damage would start when that gun began chewing through her walls. Where was it and how the fuck did those bastards get it into firing range without being seen? Two more heavy bolts hit just to the left of her position, opening cracks, but just spreading dust and minor fragments. Ignore it. By now, the street was starting to fill. //"Gun Two, center of mass, oncoming troops."//

  The M2 crew was moving from position to alternate position after every few quick bursts. That created a gap in her fire, but they had to do it. Every time they fired from one location, they'd get a 4 CM bolt back thirty or forty seconds later. It was getting noisy and dusty up here on the firing line.

  The street was full again. //"Sergeant, Bravo wall."// Again, hundreds of oncoming Guards were converted to bloody flying fragments, those that weren't crisped. Another period without Guards in sight, then a whole new group filled the street. These guys were determined. Any other military force would have stopped after those losses, if only to regroup. It had to have shaken them, but they were still coming.

  "Rocket!" Shana dived for the floor as the rocket hit somewhere off to one side and blew a hole in the wall. Two 4 CM bolts slammed in through the rocket hole. Missed her. A quick check and her mouth tightened in a grim expression. Another of her troops dead. Time to do something about that 4 CM.

  She didn't bother to stand up. //"Strike 1-9-6, Strike 1-2-6. Request air support. Many Guards in open. 4 CM in operation against my posit
ion. Need you to get that fuckin' gun, Captain!"//

  //"Already on the way, Shana,"// Captain Gldblum answered. //"The Guard's retargeted all available AA to keep us away from the attack. They're leaving other forces uncovered so they can get to you."//

  //"Wonderful, Captain,"// she sent back. //"Just love the idea of being important. Not all that egotistic. Wish someone else was more important, far, far away."//

  Zak broke in. //"All, Scout 9127. Attacking troops are dispersed back to the jumping off point. No good targets in the attack stream unless we can hose the whole thing. Units are starting to bunch as they assemble. Will target assembly area. Notify incoming birds, will transmit target and coordinate strike."//

  //"Aye, 9127."// It was Captain Gldblum. Thirty seconds later, he added, //"Alert sent to birds. They're ready for data."//

  //"Target sent."//

  Shana stood up and looked out the firing slit. About a half kilomeasure away, rubble went skyward over a large area. Cluster bomb. Then she saw the flash in the sky. The fighter that had dropped the bomb was gone. AA. The 4 CM gun was quiet. They must have gotten it. For small favors...

  There were starting to be more eruptions in the area around her building, and more of her air support dying. The air strike was killing Guards before they could be launched at her, but that still left the little problem of a thousand or so very active and determined Guardsmen that were out there and still coming. Coming very close, in fact.

  //"Guns One and Three, Weapons Free. Open fire."//

  Another rocket hit. //"The door's gone!"//

  //"Keep up the fire, all,"// she said in terse, quick words as she headed to the now wide open entrance to her position. //"Team one with me. Six, back us up. Everyone take firing positions to protect entrance once you get there."//