There was a pause. ‘Confirm walking wounded? I was told that you were high priority …’
I shook my head, though the sergeant major wasn’t there to see it. ‘I am walking wounded. I would know, after all!’
‘That’s good, crack on for now. When there’s a suitable lull we will re-assess. One-One-Delta acknowledge.’
‘One-One-Delta, roger,’ Puppy replied, sounding slightly annoyed at his sudden step back down from command.
Yulia was still staring at me. I asked Puppy over the net where he was, trying to ignore her interest.
‘I’m just at the second burrow entrance,’ Puppy replied. ‘Reference my mark …’
A blue crosshair appeared ahead of us, and Puppy waved his arm as additional confirmation. I gave him a thumbs-up.
‘Roger. We’ll wait here until One-Zero wants us again.’
‘No worries.’
I ordered Skelton and Myers to spread out, and then turned to Yulia, seeing that her eyes were still fixed on me.
‘What?’ I asked her irritably.
‘You are badly injured,’ she said quietly, so that the other two troopers couldn’t hear. They were more interested in the battle, as the platoon assaulted the last burrow.
‘I can see that, thank you.’
She persisted. ‘Your injuries are worse than what you told them. They couldn’t read your datapad in the smoke, but you have seen it.’
I frowned. ‘How do you know what my injuries are?’
Her eyes, cold and harsh, pierced through her darkened visor and into mine. ‘I can see you, Andy. You are in great pain, in here.’ She patted her armour where her heart should be. ‘You don’t care if you die.’
A missile whooshed through the trees nearby, momentarily lighting us with the glow from its rocket engine. It detonated somewhere under the ground, and somebody shouted a string of commands in the distance.
‘I’ve seen enough death in this world,’ I said at last, meeting Yulia’s gaze.
I could swear that her eyes glistened for a split second, as though she lowered her guard just long enough for me to see what remained of her soul, locked in beneath her hard exterior.
‘We both have,’ she agreed, ‘and yet, here we are.’
‘Yeah. Here we are.’
‘You wish to fight until you die, alongside your men. It will not happen today, though. Your fight here in the Bosque is over.’
I remembered that Yulia expected for us to withdraw after our attack onto the burrows, which then gave the army of Presidential Guard hidden amongst the highlands the opportunity to sweep into Dakar to do their dirty work, whilst the FEA still struggled to break into the city.
‘Yeah,’ I replied, ‘it’s time for you to do your bit now.’
She looked at me dubiously, before nodding her head. ‘I must go soon. It has been interesting to fight alongside you and your men. You are better than I had expected.’
I wasn’t sure whether to take her words as a compliment or an insult, but I cast them aside, instead thinking about the upcoming move to the city roof.
‘Just remember this,’ she continued. ‘No life is ever worthless. We all have an important part to play in this world.’
My blood boiled at the hypocrisy of Yulia’s lecture, and I was about to explode when the platoon commander spoke up on the net.
‘All call-signs, objective complete! Withdraw north to the rendezvous! Be aware of Loyalist forces approaching from the east!’
Now that the initial shock was over, the Loyalists were sending forces out from the city to counterattack against our platoon. Like in the marsh, they probably thought that we were a far larger force, and had mistaken us for the main FEA attack. Such an error in judgement would cost them dearly when the first infantry companies struck.
I spoke onto my section net, alerting every one of the need to move. Every trooper quickly checked himself over, making sure that he hadn’t left anything behind.
Yulia noticed the sudden flurry of activity. ‘What are you doing?’
I looked at her briefly, and gritted my teeth as I stood. ‘Loyalists are approaching. We need to move.’
We broke and ran, weaving through the trees in our hasty extraction from the burrows. Plants and twigs cracked and crunched beneath our boots as we stormed through the undergrowth, eager to leave as large a space between us and the Loyalist counterattack as possible.
‘Why are we going north?’ Yulia asked from behind, but I ignored her questioning, increasing my pace instead. If she was out of breath, then she had less time to think.
My wounds burned as I ran, as if somebody was sticking a knife into them. The quick clot administered by my combats wasn’t designed to handle movement, and every time I moved I was probably making my injuries worse. Something hurt inside my chest, but I knew that nothing was wrong with my heart or lungs - if there was I wouldn’t be moving at all. I ignored the pain, setting a fast pace as I led the way to the rendezvous.
Our bolt through the trees lasted for several minutes, until finally we came to a halt less than a kilometre to the west of the city. Gunfire sounded in the distance to our right, indicating that the first FEA units had arrived on the southern end of the river. The battle would be intense, as the main body of the FEA took on the Loyalists head-on, hoping to seize at least one of the many bridges before the Loyalists destroyed them. Dropships would already be hurtling across the river, placing out entire companies of FEA to the north of the city in their effort to cut it off.
‘What are we doing?’ Yulia demanded again, puffing as she joined me in the platoon rendezvous. She was as fit as me though, having spent her entire life fighting in the Bosque, it was my section that trailed behind us, desperately trying to catch up.
‘I don’t know,’ I lied. It was the easiest answer, and the one that took the least time explaining. Not only did I want to keep our actions secret to her for as long as possible, I was in pain and didn’t want to make it worse by talking to her.
I gazed out into the forest, noticing that the sky had turned dark blue as the sun approached the edge of the horizon.
Yulia began to grow agitated. ‘You do know! What are we doing?’
‘I don’t know!’ I yelled back. ‘I received a grid to move to, that’s it!’
My section closed in, all eyes focused onto the liaison officer. They had all heard her angry questioning as they approached, and they all knew that if there was any time for our allies to turn on us, it was now.
Yulia appeared to notice the sudden hostility, and her voice lowered. ‘You are going into the city?’
I sighed, infuriated. ‘I don’t know, Yulia.’
The remainder of the platoon arrived, quickly forming-up into a square, with each section facing outwards. The two command groups met in the centre of the square, the troopers facing outward, whilst Mr Barkley and the sergeant major quickly discussed their plan one last time. Like Yulia, the liaison officer in the sergeant major’s multiple looked around him in confusion, wondering what we were up to.
After no more than a minute, the sergeant major stood, running directly toward me.
‘You alright?’ he asked, looking me up and down. My combats were stained with blood, though I doubted that he could see it in the approaching dark.
‘I’m alright,’ I lied. I was in a lot of pain.
‘Good. We’ve got three casualties in total, and all three are walking wounded. Not bad for a platoon attack! It shouldn’t be long until extraction now, anyway.’
I nodded grimly, wondering if I would make it that long. ‘No worries.’
The sergeant major glanced over the formation, raising his voice just loud enough for our headsets to pick it up. ‘Well done, men! Your work here is almost done. Keep your chins up, and your eyes peeled. You know what’s coming next!’
Mr Barkley then stood. ‘My multiple, close in!’
My section and Corporal Abdi’s trotted over to the platoon commander, separating ourselves from
the other half of the platoon.
‘Any final questions?’ he asked, sweeping his gaze across us all.
Nobody said a word; we all knew the plan.
The noise of the battle intensified, and I imagined the first dropship company crossing the river, seizing the other end of the bridges under a hail of darts. Soon they would be headed toward the city, and they needed all of the help they could get. The child soldiers, armed with little more than rifles, would take horrific casualties in the face of the Loyalists holding onto the city.
After a long pause the platoon commander nodded respectfully, and turned to me, ‘Corporal Moralee, lead us in, if you will.’
‘Roger,’ I winced as I moved, beckoning for my section to follow.
We would patrol toward the city initially, for we weren’t in a great hurry. Not only would more running wear us out before we even started, but if we reached the city too soon, then the FEA wouldn’t have arrived anyway.
‘You’re going in to the city …’ Yulia repeated as we left.
I regarded her for a second, and smiled. ‘Who knows?’
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Dakar
We reached the edge of the city just as the sun broke over the Bosque, dissolving the veil of mist that hung over the trees and in between the hills.
It was an awesome sight, the four great spokes, painted pure, brilliant white, arching across the crater before they met the single towering spire at its centre. Like the blade of a knife thrust up toward the sky, its metal panelling glittered in the morning sun, threatening to blind us with its intensity. Beneath the spokes that suspended the roof, the magnificent city below was testament to a time when the people of Eden worked together toward a common goal; the creation of a paradise world free from war and suffering. But their dream had mutated into something awful.
The thumping of Loyalist artillery reverberated across the city, and even from the edge of the forest, hundreds of metres above the base of the crater, we could hear the sounds of soldiers shouting and civilians screaming. Occasionally we heard a single gunshot, presumably as the Loyalists tried to control the population.
‘Two priorities,’ Mr Barkley reminded us as we looked out across the road that separated the city from the forest, and onto the massive spoke, ‘the guns, and the vehicles. I want the snipers to work together independently along the length of the spoke, looking for Loyalist commanders. Corporal Abdi, take the length of the spoke. Lance Corporal Moralee, head for the hub. Happy?’
We nodded. Yulia said nothing, crouching near to me. I wondered if she had sent word to her Presidential Guard masters, and when the order to execute us would arrive.
I nudged Skelton, catching his attention, and then subtly tapped my visor with two fingers where my eyes would be, and pointed toward Yulia. Watch her.
Skelton nodded his understanding.
There was a sudden string of explosions from within the forest to the south of the crater, announcing the arrival of the first FEA Company. Although we couldn’t see the battle, the noise of gunfire roared as it echoed about the crater, increasing in its intensity as more companies struck at targets around the outside of Dakar. It wouldn’t be long until they made their first thrust into the city itself.
‘Looks like our friends are finally getting stuck in,’ Mr Barkley observed over the net with a dark smile, and he waved for us to launch.
My section was first to move, bursting out of the forest and running across the road toward the spoke. At least twenty metres wide, and designed to take vehicles, the spoke provided us with good cover as we began to run along its length toward the spire almost a kilometre away, our boots pounding against its metallic surface.
Searing pain spread across my chest as I ran, but I kept going, maintaining a speed that I knew the others could keep up with. At the rate I was going I knew that soon it would be too fast for me, though, my wounds were rapidly sapping at my strength.
I glanced over my right shoulder, seeing the first section of the sergeant major’s multiple charging along the other spoke, like a mirror image of my own.
It was a race against time - we needed to get into position as quickly as possible, so that all of our weapons could fire at once. As soon as we opened fire, the game would be up, and we wouldn’t have long before we had to extract from the roof.
‘Hurry up!’ I hollered back, spurring my men onward.
Peering over the edge of the spoke as I ran, I could see Loyalist soldiers moving through the streets of Dakar, hurriedly preparing to repel the FEA assault. It would be a bloody battle, but the FEA had to win. If they didn’t, then the people of Dakar would pay the price, most likely at the hands of the Presidential Guard. Even if the FEA lost the battle entirely, the Loyalists would be so badly weakened, that the Guard could simply sweep them aside, before beginning their mindless slaughter.
As I passed the midway point between the crater edge and the spire, the platoon commander ordered Corporal Abdi’s section to stop, allowing them to spread out and prepare to fire down into the city. Corporal Abdi would keep his men out of view, whilst he and his 2ic searched for targets for them to engage. We had very few smart missiles left - my section had only three - and so the targets we engaged needed to be worthwhile.
‘That’s the main FEA thrust into the city underway,’ Mr Barkley panted over the net. ‘They’re using ropes to enter on the southeast edge.’
I squinted as I ran, just making out the shapes of soldiers roping down the edge of the crater. I hoped that they had plenty of fire support, because I knew without it they would take massive casualties trying to get to the ground.
We reached the central hub just before the sergeant major’s multiple. There was a huge, saucer-shaped platform that surrounded the spire, with impressive views down into the city. It provided a perfect vantage point to rain missiles and grenades into the streets below, but I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to remain there once the Loyalists knew where we were.
I quickly assembled my section along the edge of the platform, giving them time to set up their weapons as I scoured the city for targets. After only a few moments, I identified several Loyalist railguns, firing at an angle out of the city. Massive, wheel-mounted weapons that were designed to be disassembled and carried by dropship, they were devastatingly powerful at both close and long range. There were four of them - too many for our remaining smart missiles - but not for our guided grenades.
I gauged the distance, wondering if the tiny missiles fired by our grenade launchers could reach the target. The furthest gun was four to five hundred metres away, even further if you took elevation into account. I decided to stick with the grenades, gravity would do much of the work for them, and we could save our smart missiles for something meatier.
Yulia stood by, watching as I gave my instructions to the riflemen in preparation for the order to open fire.
‘You plan to attack the city?’ she asked, looking as though she still couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
‘Not attack it,’ I corrected. ‘We’re helping you to attack it, or should I say the FEA?’
‘Why? You have achieved your aim - the city will fall with or without you.’
‘We’re more interested in how it falls,’ I replied. ‘Now do you want to help me or not?’
Yulia looked at me blankly for a moment, and I wondered what was going through her head. My hand tightened around my pistol grip.
‘Of course I want to help,’ she said at last. ‘Where do you want me?’
My hand relaxed, and I pointed out to the edge of the platform. ‘Just go there with Skelton. The aim is to create panic and confusion, so go for commanders and high profile targets, rather than regular soldiers.’
‘I know what I am shooting at,’ she replied harshly, before moving to join the section.
I wondered if she might start shooting at civilians running around in the city, but then cast the idea aside - her friends would be doing all that for her in a few hours
, if the FEA attack failed. Her mind must be racing for solutions to her predicament, I thought, like how could she scupper our attack now, and get away with it?
The platoon commander centred himself on the hub, halfway between my section and the sergeant major. The two commanders exchanged a nod, indicating that they were happy with their positioning, before Mr Barkley spoke up on the net.
‘All call-signs, I want a back brief and a mark on the targets you can see.’
One by one the section commanders dropped red crosshairs onto the targets they could engage, ranging from the four guns I had identified, to a couple of Light Support Vehicles being used for fire support against FEA soldiers on the edge of the city. We had to mark our targets, because we were so spread out it was easy for two sections to engage the same thing at once, wasting valuable ammunition in the process. Once we had expended all of our missiles and grenades, our use on the roof would become extremely limited.
‘Happy with that,’ Mr Barkley said finally. ‘Engage targets in five, four, three, two, one … FIRE!’
Grenades and missiles rained down into the city in one single, massive volley, and at the same time, two loud bangs echoed across the crater as the four platoon snipers opened fire on their selected targets. I watched as a suit, marching along a street toward the battle, collapsed to the ground, its torn knee severing the occupant’s leg. Even though I was half a kilometre away, I grimaced at the thought of his bloodcurdling wail.
There was no hiding our presence up on the roof anymore, and all of the platoon rifles and mammoths opened fire at the same time, peppering the streets with darts as each individual trooper went for a target he had spotted amongst the buildings.
‘Don’t waste your ammo on regular soldiers!’ I hollered over the deafening noise. ‘If you haven’t got a decent target, search for one!’
There was no hope for resupply, once we ran out of darts then that was it - time for extraction. Each of our magazines held sixty-five of the tiny steel rounds, and we still had plenty of them, but in such a large-scale attack they wouldn’t last long.
EDEN (The Union Series) Page 26
