“Yes sergeant,” they said while other similar agreements came back. “Huang, Dooks, your fire team two, Bair with me, move!” Jerome pushed through the opening in the barrier, Bair on his trail.
Jerome held down his trigger, the advancing Harmony rebels were caught off guard as the enemy advanced on them.
Fifteen dropped under Jerome and Bair’s fire as if they had been punched by bloody battering rams.
“Covering!” Jerome called the rebels off balance and reeling.
Keep the pressure up no matter what, when the enemy is attacking they only expect you to defend. No plan survives engagement with the enemy, make the enemy regret ever hearing that rule. Nerva had pressed that into them as they went through his tactical lectures.
Dooks and Huang moved to Jerome’s left, firing.
“Covering!” Dooks yelled.
“Moving,” Bair yelled as Jerome reloaded, then he was up running, but then falling back down onto the bodies of dead rebels.Jerome fired a burst from his gun, sending a grenade around the corridor.
Jerome didn’t need to say anything as soon as he and Bair were firing, Dooks and Huang were moving up.
A few brave rebels tried to get a bead on them.
Blue and red blood flew from them, holes appearing in their thin space suits.
Zukic and Mark rushed up next to Jerome’s right.
“Zukic, Daniels, high-low on that corner,” Jerome said.
Zukic and Daniels got up and moved to the corner, another rebel peeked out, rounds smashing through their helmet, gore flowing back out of it.
Daniels kneeled as he went around the corner, Zukic stayed high, right above him.
Red Haloes filled the corridor and started disappearing.
Daniels was hit on his plates a few times, but they were there for this very reason. He didn’t even pause as a ricochet hit his inner forearm, cutting a groove in it.
“Dooks, Huang, Bair, stack up behind,” Jerome said, getting to his feet and moving behind Zukic and Daniels, the red halos were in chaos.
Zukic switched from shooting the E-12 to it’s grenade launcher with a pause so slight that Jerome barely believed it to have happened. The halls shook and red halos evaporated.
“Got you covered, move past,” Zukic said, he and Daniels watching the hall to make sure no surprises followed.
Jerome flowed around them, Bair, Huang and Dooks flowed with him.
Huang’s gun was also up and searching for threats while the other’s eyes searched for anywhere a threat might come from.
They moved through the dull grey painted and utilitarian hull. Handholds were on the walls and ceiling, and on the rubberized decking and various systems below their feet.
Explosions had blackened the dull walls, warped it in places and opened a hole into what looked like a storage closet to the right.
“Huang, Dooks, right, simo,” Jerome said as they closed the distance to the end of the corridor that turned into a T-junction.
“Rog,” Huang said, moving off of Bair’s back and pushed to the left wall.
“Set,” Jerome said.
“Set,” Huang agreed.
“Three, two, one!” Jerome called, they stepped out, facing down their respective corridors, no reds appeared.
“Okay we’ll pull back, throw mines into the bodies and the fucked up decking,” Jerome said, pulling back into the corridor.
Mines were thrown over the ground as they pulled back.
Daniels had a strip of sealant on his arm, as soon as the foursome were to their side, their weapons came up, covering their backs.
They sowed mines all the way to the corridor that ran outside the bridge.
Techs were covering their rudimentary defenses with spray-ite, a sprayed on version of cermite that bonded to everything. It turned tables into bullet proof walls, as long as someone didn’t hit it with something frequent or powerful enough to crack it.
Like a repulsor or E-12 grenade launcher.
Just like that shipment they’re supposed to have.
***
On the outside Nerva looked as calm and collected as ever, on the inside he was in the mind to walk up to the bridge and deck the Captain in the face. Maybe it was easy for him to get his people and his ship under control what with their cryo-pods being so close to the bridge, but it took considerably longer for troopers to get up, get into their gear and start moving. It took about a day for the after-effects of being in cryo to wear off.
Apparently Fearless’ troopers were up a few days ago, though it looked like they assumed the crew of Reclaimer were already awake.
Now’s not the time to be thinking of how we got here, it’s time to figure out how the hell we’re going to keep this ship, let the navy pound the fuck out of Harmony ships and then move to secure the facilities within the gas planet. Sure Nerva was just a Major in the grand scheme of things but Colonel Nyugyen would back his plan, and unlike other Colonels he was right with his troopers getting them into armor and moving.
There was also the minor fact the Nerva was the reason they had all got extra training. If there was something that the staff didn’t understand they went to Nerva. He might be a Major, but one that all the others looked to for the go ahead. The colonels other than Nyugyen were too far away for them to truly respect.
Thus Nerva was the effective commander of all Reclaimer’s troopers.
Thankfully a few words in the right medic’s ears and the higher ups were feeling like they had just come to after a month long binge. None of them were going to be very effective in the near future. Giving Nerva the time he needed to set up a defense.
The flight deck was becoming a mess; thankful the Captain had got his shuttles out in record time.
Open battles raged there, shuttles that hadn’t been deployed or were waiting on the deck were used as cover or more likely wreckage as troopers and Harmony fought across the large expanse.
Ortiz was acting as Nerva’s eyes and ears in that situation. Majors set to the task of moving their forces through to secure the deck.
That took up the bulk of the troopers, the second largest grouping was over the rest of the decks that were next to the hull, they were roaming, cutting off any intruders that made it inside the hull.
Then there were the special teams which were looking over the vital areas of the ship, from engineering to the spine where troopers were still emerging to the bridge.
Which was his current problem, he’d sent techs up there to help Kim’s platoon, they’d added fortifications but the techs on coming back had run into a new group of Harmony that were now heading towards the bridge.
Nerva had sent word but he didn’t have the forces he wanted to push through to the bridge.
They’re just going to have to hold out for another forty minutes, he thought, his face showing none of the guilt he felt.
“Reactor three is engaged,” Division Sergeant Major Dalton said from his side, they were using the mess as their command room, screens that showed television or sports now showing maps of the ship.
“I want to pool all our troopers coming out together right now. Get them organized and detoxed, once we have a Company strength I want them moving to the bridge and the rest being used as reserve forces. We’ve holed up most of the positions, I want to get their reinforcements in the best state possible,” Nerva said.
Giving them just a handful of minutes to get themselves sorted out more would make them much more effective than their brothers and sisters already fighting.
“So what are you going to do?” NIDenise said inside his mind.
“Going to fight, now help me figure out where those bastards are going to land so I can move my forces to hit them as they get on board,” Nerva said, talking without saying a word or moving a muscle.
Information overlaid his eyes, being beamed right through his optical nerves.
“Major Jeon, I’m getting reports of a ship coming in at this location,” he heard NIDenise say in his ear in
his voice. She used his voice to relay information to various people, sometimes multiple at once while Nerva looked over the battle plan.
Between his visor being down and the mess lighting no one could see he wasn’t sending messages even though he was transmitting on four channels.
The Captain might have fucked them, but it was still up too Major Nerva to engineer some of their own luck.
Chapter 20
Tower
Earth, Sol System
9/3240
Nivad looked over the information coming in from the two carriers now in Masoul. They had done well to catch the freighters off guard, fueled with the information from the highly placed source in the Harmony delegation.
It was a big risk and play, but it looked like it might pay off.
Even if the source died Nivad was taking away their freighters and a good portion of their lift capacity.
The carriers’ cannons bellowed, metal storm tracers reached out to oncoming missiles and small craft.
Combat Shuttles mixed with Harmony forces and it now looked like a good number of the ships were just trying to flee instead of return to the beleaguered freighters.
It wasn’t all good, the Captain of the Reclaimer was a good Captain, he knew his ship, but he didn’t know the troopers within his hull.
They were still doing better than all of the other troopers Nivad had at his disposal, their training and gear was proving its worth. The fact that they had been woken just hours before the first shuttle tried to breach the carrier however was fucking them over.
If the Captain was able to pull off this little action, then he would forget his idiocy and make sure that someone reminded him to think of more than just his ship.
Nivad looked over the situation and Dalia’s personal reports.
Someone was backing this, it was too big of an action to be taken by simple colonists, he would find them and he would destroy them and everything they held dear.
This small uprising was already having ripples across the area. Nivad was diverting carriers towards the system.
The people of the EMF served for thirty-five active years. If he didn’t have anything for them to do then there wasn’t much use of having them up, walking around, earning money and eating food when they had no purpose.
Nivad had husbanded his strength, holding it back, having entire veteran carriers filled with troopers, pilots and all the rest, then stuck them in some out of the way location.
As new weapons and gear came along he would find a reason to send them to a station to be trained up on it, or better yet, learn how to use it in an actual uprising.
On paper he had twelve active carriers, in reality there were five times that in ‘limbo’.
Earth’s Military Forces were in the process of sending the four closest carriers towards Masoul and moving in another twenty to support.
Nivad liked to play with his targets, to have a battle of wills, but he was not one to let his simple enjoyment cloud the necessities of his position.
If his games failed, then he would use the EMF to grind Harmony into nothing.
He stood, checking the time and putting his suit jacket on. Meetings populated his time more than they had before Masoul, people were scared. Harmony had blown up Strike station.
When the dilutes information was released in a week that tension should calm down. Nivad’s feelers were out looking for answers.
Nivad allowed himself a small smile, he so did love the hunt.
Chapter 21
EMFC Reclaimer
Gas Planet, Masoul System
9/3240
Alexis was not happy, she was pissed. If that Captain ever showed his face down in trooper country, he would not be in for a good time.
Everyone was feeling like varying degrees of shit.
People were getting go-go juice they’d be up and running for nine hours, after that they were going to crash harder than if they slammed Reclaimer into an asteroid at full speed.
Minus of course the fact that when this whole ordeal was over, their headaches, cramps and pains would be there to stay.
Alexis wasn’t just pissed because Captain fuckhead fucked up, hell that was expected with the navy bags.
No she was pissed that she was armed, armored and ready, but they were all waiting until more troopers got out of the cold and were at least somewhat functional.
Oh, plus her boyfriend and the closest thing she had to brothers were up and trying to protect that same Captain dumbass.
Sometimes it just fucking sucks waking up, she growled, looking to her people.
There was concentrated moment and Alexis’ anger was filled with anxiety at the unknown, her senses telling her that orders were coming down.
“We’re heading for the bridge to support. Everyone on your feet, break down into sections and move. We’re not going to be pausing for anything, those boys and girls are getting hammered and they need our help.”
That didn’t make Alexis feel better but she got to her feet, checked her rifle, made sure there was a round in the chamber anyway. She was ready to kick some Harmony ass.
***
Captain Conti watched as holes were ripped into his ship as Harmony ship after Harmony ship scored hits on Reclaimer’s hull.
While the armor side rang with impacts, the unarmored side was getting holed up badly. The EMF in all of their economic bean counting had deemed every carrier to only have one side armed and armored. Saved half the cost, but fighting someone in space. Well no one had done that for centuries.
Shuttles and ships barreled into the flight deck from the unarmored side, plowing into waitign Combat Shuttles.
He had underestimated the number of fighters Harmony had and the troopers were paying for it.
Explosions rippled through the view screens which were showing the outside of the carrier.
Conti gripped his armrests with white fists ad one of the freighters finally get power to it’s main engines.
Something must have given way as explosions ripped through the massive craft.
“Concentrate fire on the second freighter and the fleeing Harmony forces,” Conti said, looking to the troopers as the two that had been looking out of the hatch dropped to the floor and the main door opened.
Tracer fire rushed past the doorway, troopers firing back into it.
Half of the group rushed out of the bridge and headed to support their fellows.
“We need them here!” Conti said, getting nervous about that hatch and people coming up from behind. He knew how to fight with his ship, but he didn’t know how to fight people up close.
“Don’t worry, we’re still here even though we don’t want to be, wouldn’t have this problem if you allowed us to wake up and get acclimatized.” The large one with Victors on his chest growled as people moved around, a few covering the hatch, the others prepared to rush out of the bridge’s door if needed.
Conti didn’t need to see the man’s eyes to feel the anger that was part of the young man.
He was the first to look away, he might be the Captain of Reclaimer, but he knew when it was better not to argue with the people that were looking to keep him and his bridge crew alive.
***
Mark looked away from the Captain, he might have added to his already growing list of problems with higher-ups, but right now he needed to focus on the immediate threat to his people.
The weapons detail had been hammered, the mines were still going off occasionally as rebels found one buried in the attackers that had come before them.
Warrant Wen was taking charge and Sergeant Haas had taken over the responsibility of the casualty area, freeing up Jerome to work with Zukic and watch both sides of the corridor.
Now they were fighting on two fronts and it was not going well. People on those lines were a mishmash of one or two greens with a sea of yellow and reds being hauled to the adjoining room.
Alvarez’s fresh section were being put to work, she worked Jerome’s side
while Tyler helped out Zukic’s.
From the red halos that were disappearing they had killed more than their weight of rebels a few times over.
“Mark, going to need your ammo,” Wen said, Mark had been expecting the order.
“Understood, half or all?” Mark asked.
“Half, for now,” Wen said.
“On it,” Mark said.
Wen clicked off, the action showing his trust in Mark implicitly. Mark wasn’t a boot anymore, he could be trusted. Wen was putting his life and that of the rest of the platoons on his shoulders.
“Drop two ammo packs per fire-team, the rest of the platoon needs it,” Mark said, holding onto his as Dominguez and Ko pulled their packs off.
“Alright, those with ammo packs covering fire, those without, toss them to our people, ready,” Mark said, looking over them all as they moved to the door, throwers ready to toss and move for those behind them. Those with their packs still on their backs with their weapons raised. Three, two, one!” He hit the command to open the door, packs were thrown towards the two lines on either side of the doorway.
Mark opened up with his E-12, the recoil thudding into him as he let out quick short bursts centered on red halos in his vision. Even without atmosphere he ‘heard’ the battle through the decking, grenades went off amongst the rebels as rounds thudded into the sprayed barriers.
It was hell, it was brutal and terrible, and it was the biggest adrenaline rush that Mark knew to get. It was his drug, what he had trained for and lived to do for most of his life.
This was where warriors lived.
His gun jammed he ripped the bolt back, there wasn’t time for anything fancy as he ducked behind the wall for cover.
A round came tumbling out and he was shooting again.
“Ammo out!” Dashtund Tal said, as the last back thudded into the deck. Mark and the other shooters pulled back, the door closing them off from the rest of the platoon.
“Shit,” Lieutenant Tamm said on the channel that linked Mark’s section and the bridge staff together.
Mark was looking to his tactical overlay, seeing that two of his people were now yellow instead of green.
Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) Page 14
