From outside he could hear a rizstorm being fired and the sounds of pulse rifles engaging in a firefight that sounded dammed close. Tammy was leading two marines, one with a launcher to the corner of the office. She fired a shot at the window and then used the butt of her rifle to smash it out.
Trooper Elroy Ray pulled the rizstorm to his shoulder, took aim and fired. He then lunged to the right as pulse fire came through the gap he had just been in. Trooper Darlene ‘Darl’ Caputo smashed another window out three windows down and began engaging two figures that were now no more than 200m down the street.
“Scratch one AFV” said Meg “but we have another two. I need back up now.
“Tango 4” hailed Jim “Go around the block and onto Maudlu Rd and enfilade those AFVs as they try to cross the intersection.”
“Wilco” said Sgt Sully Muldoon “can we have some grunts with us?”
“Jamie” ordered Jim “Get a section onto Maudlu now and have them support Tango 4.”
“Right boss. But we have some rebels infiltrating through the building opposite. Alpha team is engaging now.”
Elroy popped off another launcher, Darl was firing shot after shot at rogan warriors hugging the doorway of the office block down the cross street.
“Sir” yelled Tammy “we need to get Ginty back here now.”
Jim was reluctant. That would cancel or postpone their planned attack for 1400. “Let’s wait and see if Tango 4 can restore this.”
Jim was listening to the 2nd Pl channel and the chatter between Tango 4 and his section of supporting marines that Jamie had managed to scratch together by pulling out a couple of troopers from each of his teams. The grunts were working their way up Maudlu ensuring no surprises for Tango 4. Cpl Kali Chada finally gave Sully the all clear. Jim could hear that she was puffing.
Sully ordered his driver to round the corner onto Maudlu and then halt. Kali had her marines pushing down Maudlu towards Denstri Drive the next cross street. The rogan AFVs were approaching along Denstri from the south. Two rogan warriors pushed across the intersection and went to cover on the northern side as they came under intense pulse fire from the 30th Coy HQ building.
A rogan AFV rolled forward, with its low silhouette and small beam turret, positioned on top towards the front. It fired its beam weapon down the street toward Coy HQ. It never saw Tango 4. A single 80mm pulse shot ripped into its side armour. It stopped and no one bailed out.
“Scratch one AFV” said Sully.
“There’s another Sully” warned Meg “about 60m south of Maudlu”.
A rogan foot soldier came to the corner and looked down toward Tango 4. He got peppered with pulse fire from the marines and withdrew.
“Right” said Sully “well this bunny isn’t going to pop its nose out onto that intersection, that’s for sure. Kali can you get your section up front and take it out from that corner building on the left?”
“Alright but can you put a couple of rounds onto those grunts on the ground on the right?”
“You got it.” The Trojan main cannon barked twice and brought down the facade and all manner of debris from the building on the far northern corner where the two rogan soldiers had taken cover. One of them tried to run back and was shot down by Sully with the on board quanto. “I think the other one’s KO’d Kali. I got your back, let’s move.”
Kali ordered her five cohorts across to the south side of Maudlu. They made their way westward using fire and movement in short 20m rushes. It was tiring work. They entered the corner building and worked their way up to the second floor. Kali could see the enemy AFV. It was now below them and about 40m south along Denstri. She took the rizstorm off the shoulder of her buddy and told him to knock out the window on her command.
“Now” she ordered. The sound of breaking glass was overwhelmed by the sound of the rocket. It hit the top of the AFV, gaining entry just past the turret. A figure fled out the back of the hatch clutching its head and then collapsed on the ground writhing in obvious pain. Another figure escaped but did not try to assist its comrade. A marine next to Kali fired a single shot which decked the fleeing warrior. He then fired another shot that stilled the writhing figure.
“Fuck” yelled out Jamie Cooper. He and his Bravo team had been engaged in a fierce exchange of fire across the street with a team of rebels. A rocket had just been fired into their space and exploded behind then blowing out an inner wall. The open area office was now a little more open and full of smoke and debris.
A rizstorm was fired back tit for tat and a great ball of smoke could be seen within the enemy’s office space. But their pulse fire stopped. The rebels had withdrawn. Jamie wiped away some ash from his eyes and peered across the street before he was satisfied they had scarpered. He hailed Alpha team on the ground floor but got no answer. He forced his way through the debris to the corridor and made his way down the flight of stairs.
His alpha team had been in the corner room but it was now a gaping hole. He picked up Trooper Danny Mills who was lying under some rubble coughing and fighting for breath. He propped him against the far wall where he found two other bodies face down. He checked their pulse on their necks. Both dead. He rolled over one to ID them and realised it was Sgt Gene Shimbu his alpha team leader. He could feel the emotion coming over him but fought it. He hailed “Alpha team sound off.” Only Danny responded.
“Sir” hailed Jamie.
“Yes Jamie” responded Jim.
“The enemy’s buggered off. Alpha team’s gone bar Mills.” Jamie slumped to the ground and sat next to Danny, who was no longer coughing. Instead he was balling his eyes out. This had been Danny’s first active operation, his second fire fight and he had just lost everyone in his team. They had been his world for the last 9 months and he couldn’t believe they were all dead. Jamie knew that survivor guilt would kick in later but right now he needed a shoulder to cry on.
Meg and Kali confirmed that the attack was over. Jim came down to see Jamie. He put out his hand and pulled up his 2nd Pl commander. “You did well Jamie. Secure the area. You need to do that right away.”
Jamie was trying hard not to bite his lip. He nodded his head and picked up his rifle and was about to walk out. But Danny obviously didn’t want to be on his own. “Sarg what about me. What do I do?”
Jamie beckoned him to follow and he did. Jim gave Danny a pat on the back and then went back up the third floor.
“Sir, have a look at this” said Tammy. Jim came over and looked at the news report his XO was showing him. It confirmed what Art had predicted that the Alliance column had turned back to Assam. But it also stated that rogan fighters have attacked the force and burning AFVs can be seen along the highway for seven kilometres.
Jim slumped his shoulders and then slumped even further grabbing the arms of the nearby chair as he fell back into the seat. “Christ” he exclaimed “how could that happen. How could McGorbi Barracks fall…to a mob? It’s the biggest Alliance Army base in Assam and it’s been overrun by a mob of civilians…what is happening?”
“Contact” hailed Ginty. “We have four rogan AFVs and about 20 grunts attacking us from the south. I need two Tangoes here pronto.”
“Ginty” ordered Jim “pull back to Coy HQ. We’ve been attacked and taken losses. Break contact and get back here asap. I’ll send Tango 1 and 2 to the intersection of Fallstaff and Hide to cover your withdrawal. Do you copy?”
“All right boss. Just get those tangoes there now.” She terminated the call. She had never heard her boss sound so rattled. But there was no time to worry about that. She had a fight on her hands.
Jim ordered Tango 1 and 2 to support the withdrawal of 1st Pl. He sat down on his chair with his big beefy hand supporting his head. His ginger hair was covered in all manner of ash and crap. He wiped it away partially with his other arm.
He turned to Tammy. “Get a message off to Klaster for the boss. Tell him Assam is in revolt, McGorbi barracks fallen, Alliance column destroyed, we are under attack and in tro
uble. Need reinforcements or extraction. Ask him to hurry. And also send a copy to India One and Delta One.”
Tammy was removing a glass splinter from her forearm. A trickle of blood was running through the fair hair on her forearm. She looked up at Jim, nodded and then looked back down at her arm. She pulled down the sleeve without applying a dressing. Then she pulled out the interstellar comms terminal from her backpack that was under the desk. She had it setup in a couple of minutes.
“You know 1st Bn is not going to respond to this message” she said.
“I know.”
A minute later she said “Done.”
Chapter 10. Niku 1300, 22 May
Art received Jim’s message and thought hard about whether they should call things off and bunker down somewhere. Everyone else in India One was doing something at that moment, so he had no one to confide in and he didn’t want to pull them away from their duties.
It was clear that Jim thought he had no chance of achieving his mission now and that may be the case. But if they could hold on he knew Dave would be back and his reserve could make all the difference to securing Niku.
‘Even if Assam falls if we hold Niku we have a firm base for a fight back when the Ark Royal arrives’ he thought. Then an idea came to mind. He hailed Sue and explained the situation to her.
“Do you want me to call off this diversion?” asked Sue.
“No I want to escalate it to a full blown attack” said Art. “I reckon that there can’t be too many rogan soldiers left defending the spaceport – a company at best. If we can secure the spaceport, then even if the rest of the city becomes untenable we have a firm base.”
“OK that makes sense provided we succeed in the assault. If we fail, we’re screwed.”
“What is the point of conducting this diversion and freeing the hostages if we end up being overrun in the city. With the battlewagons we can cover all this open space around the spaceport very easily and free up the deployment of our droids and marines for the built up area along the cordon.”
“Have you discussed this with Jim?”
“Not yet. I wanted to run it past you first.”
“I appreciate that but I think we should ask Jim’s advice.”
“OK I’ll hail him now. Stay on the line.”
But Jim was engrossed in stitching up his perimeter defence and coordinating the withdrawal of his 1st Pl. “Not a good time Art, can it wait” he asked.
“No I don’t think it can. I want to ask your view on a big decision” said Art.
That got Jim’s attention. “Give me a second” and he switched channels “Tammy I need you here now.”
“On my way” responded Tammy and she climbed the stairs in bounds two steps at a time. As she came into the HQ space she asked “What’s up?”
“I’ve got Ivan and Sue on the other channel. They want to discuss a big decision. I want you in on this conversation.”
“Right Oh.”
“Art” said Jim “OK I have Tammy on line with me too. What’s this big decision?”
“I want to take over the spaceport and pull everyone back into it. We bunker down there where we can use the long range firepower of your battlewagons to our advantage over all that open space.”
“Mmm” said Jim “How are we going to take it over?”
“With the 1st Bn and as many of your troops as you can give us. You’ll still need to put up a screen to the south of the spaceport.”
“But the droids are only going to mount a diversion not a full blown assault?”
“I can change that” said Sue.
“How?”
“I have already taken control of the Bn command mech and slipped the timings. I can do it.”
Tammy looked at Jim with an expression that said ‘well how about that.’
“So what, we attack with the entire two droid companies?”
“Yes I think so” said Art. We use the force already assembled on the western perimeter to launch a full blown assault into the old fighter terminal. That will draw most of the defences westward. Then we launch a subsequent assault with the forces in the east. If you could give us two tangoes and say another team of marines. I reckon we can overrun them up into Terminal 2 where we reckon they have the hostages. In any event that will put any remaining enemy in an untenable position.”
“High risk Art” said Jim. “We could just hole up in the city.”
“Yeah but we don’t have the manpower to hold much of a perimeter. I reckon we’ll last longer at the spaceport. Besides we deny the rogan its use and we take back something they had. That will send a message to the people here that the rogan can be beat.”
“I agree Sir” said Tammy “the last point alone is worth it. We beat off that last attack but we won’t last too much longer if they hit us again and we have no support. At least this way we have all our assets together providing mutual support. If Sue can control the Bn Command mech then we can get some fire support from the droids.”
“OK I’m sold” said Jim “So how and when?”
“How long will it take for you to get 2 tangoes and a team up here?” asked Art.
“Ginty’s still withdrawing. It looks like the rogan are content to just see them off from around Council Chambers. Her platoon should be here in about thirty minutes. But I don’t want to send anyone before that. We’re too thin here.”
“It’ll take about an hour for the marines to high tail it up to you but the tangoes could be there in short order” said Tammy.
“I’m going to need some time to set things up with the droids” said Sue “at least half an hour.”
“I can then have the overall plan to you by say 1400 Jim. If you can have your marines Oscar mike by then we can aim for a HHour of say 1530.”
“We can work with that.”
“All right then let’s do it.”
Chapter 11. Resolute in warp to Klaster 1410, 22 May
Dave turned over for about the fourth time and decided to follow Nelson’s advice and turn out. He went to the bathroom and came back and sat for meditation.
For the first ten minutes thoughts of guilt about Rihan, their lost baby, this mission, they all kept coming. He wrestled with them continually trying to refocus on the mantra. Eventually they subsided and he gained peace, peace in the void. He just rested there. It was so nurturing.
The next thing he was aware of was coming out of meditation. He checked the time. It was 1450. He couldn’t believe he’d been meditating for 40 minutes. But he felt fresher, lighter. It wasn’t that his worries had gone but that he felt bathed and supported. ‘Yes supported’ he thought.
He looked across to their bed. Rihan was still asleep. He decided to leave her be and instead got dressed and made his way to the mess.
It was empty except for Mary Chernside. He got himself a coffee and joined her. “Good afternoon Sir” she said.
It took Dave a bit by surprise. “I suppose it is. I’m afraid my sense of time has been thrown out of whack.”
“Long night…big morning” said Mary with that knowing expression of hers. Apart from Gunter, Mary and he were the oldest people on board. Not that there was that much of a gap between the likes of Jim Bucknell and Li Nahn. But somehow there was a little more life experience and perhaps a little more wisdom within them.
“Mary, Rihan’s having these nightmares about the nuke attack on Klaster. They are getting more frequent.”
Mary nodded. “It’s not surprising - being subjected to that horrendous violence.” She paused and could see that it wasn’t the violence. “It’s about the baby isn’t it?”
“Yeah she wakes up yelling ‘Why?’.”
“It’s just a form of grieving.”
Dave took a sip of his coffee and they sat in silence for a while.
Finally Mary spoke “Did she want to have another?”
“Yes and no. We talked about it but I half suspected she wanted the child to please me.” He paused and Mary left it hang. “But I thin
k that deep down she really does want a child and I and this mission are preventing that.”
“You need to talk it through Dave. That’s what husbands and wives do.”
Dave nodded. “Yeah they do, don’t they.”
Mary smiled that knowing smile of hers.
“Thank you Mary.”
Chapter 12. Niku 1529, 22 May
In the end Sue reorganised the whole droid attack. Instead of the mixed group from A and B Coy attacking north east into Terminal 3, she now had the 1st and 2nd platoons of A coy performing that role. 3rd Pl A Coy was providing a base of fire south of the gap between terminal 3 and 2 west of the freight terminal. It also doubled as the Bn reserve.
B Coy was now formed up at the eastern end of the freight terminal ready to storm the main entrance and drive up the main road into the ground terminal and from there into terminal 2. India One and India Two (a composite team of marines from the 2nd Pl, 30th Coy under Cpl Kali Chada) were in the centre and western sections of the freight terminal.
A salvo of eight rockets fired from the support droids heralded the attack. Akos from his perch on the roof of the freight terminal saw the impacts. Two of the enemy shuttles to the west of Terminal 2 were hit as were the 2 AFVs, one at the western end of terminal 2 and the other at the eastern end.
A platoon of droids provided a base of fire from inside the bus workshops on the south side. Their quantos began engaging those rogan warriors visible along the southern side of Terminal 2. At a range of 800m it was really only suppressive fire. But that was its intent.
Fifty droids from 1st and 2nd Platoons of A Coy, arranged in two lines 50m apart, began advancing north east across the runways from the south west perimeter.
The rogan were slow to react. One of their AFVs was immobilised from the bombardment. It was at the eastern end of Terminal 2 and its range to the nearest assaulting droid was about 1500m. That proved beyond its effective range. It would have to wait till the droids closed.
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 22
