Empire Rising Box Set

by D. J. Holmes

  Waiting for a moment to look around, Johnston led Clare into the clearing between the last building in the city and the edge of the forest. It was forty meters wide and it would be the furthest they would be from cover all night.

  They were two thirds of the way across when a voice boomed out from a nearby building, “Not so fast marine.”

  A large search light placed on top of the same building switched on and panned around to illuminate Johnston and Clare. “That’s right, we know who you are,” the voice bragged. “The Havenites don’t have any plasma pistols and we know a British ship was in this system a couple of days ago. Now you have two choices, either you die here and now or you come with us. You have five seconds to decide.”

  Johnston thought quickly. He called me a marine, maybe they haven’t realized yet, it’s our only chance. “Brace yourself,” Johnston whispered to Clare.

  More loudly he called out, “You have made a critical mistake soldier. I’m not a marine.”

  “Stop stalling,” the voice broke in. “We know that you are.”

  “I’m a special forces marine,” Johnston finished as if he hadn’t been interrupted. He waited less than a second for his words to sink in. Then he gave Clare a shove towards the forest with one hand while spinning around to face the searchlight, plasma pistol already drawn.

  Before the Indian soldier even had a chance to blink, three plasma bolts blew out the searchlight and a fourth hit the soldier standing beside it in the chest. As soon as he saw the first bolt hit the light Johnston turned and raced towards the forest. Stooping as he passed Clare, he picked her off the ground where she had fallen. Behind him, the entire clearing erupted as multiple plasma bolts rained down on where they had been standing. From the sounds of the plasma rifles firing, Johnston guessed there were more than ten Indian soldiers trying to hit him.

  As soon as they entered the forest Johnston turned and ran at an angle away from their entry point. Though the trees provided cover from the Indian soldier’s sight, their plasma bolts could still burn right through the foliage. They weren’t safe yet. Luck was on their side however, for despite the forest coming alive with plasma bolts, none hit them.

  After a couple of hundred meters Johnston set Clare down. “Can you run?” he asked her quickly.

  “I think so,” she groaned. “Did you have to shove me to the ground so violently? I think I cracked a rib or two.”

  “It was that or take a plasma bolt. I didn’t have time to stop and ask you,” Johnston said. “You can thank me later,” he added as he pulled her to her feet. “There is no time now.”

  As more plasma bolts burnt into the forest around them, Clare needed no convincing to start running. Desperately, she tried to keep up with the marine but after more than five minutes of full on sprinting she had to grab Johnston’s arm and drag him to a stop.

  “Please, I need to catch my breath. Just give me a couple of seconds,” she begged.

  “Ok, ok,” Johnston said reluctantly. “Don’t talk, just breath.”

  After waiting as long as he could, Johnston nevertheless had to force Clare back into a run while she was still panting heavily. He had heard the distinct sound of shuttles approaching. Less than a minute later the sound was unmistakable even for Clare and several seconds later large search lights beamed down into the forest.

  Straining his ears, Johnston thought he could make out four of the damned things flying about over the forest. Their search lights would be illuminating the forest for the Indian soldiers pursuing them on foot and all of their sensors would be diligently looking for them.

  Johnston had no time to worry about whether their combat suits would keep them hidden from the patrolling shuttles or not. They either would or they wouldn’t. The suits were designed to absorb radar radiation and to severely limit the amount of thermal radiation they gave off. With luck they would blend in with the rest of the lifeforms in the forest. Yet they could just as easily be standing out like a sore thumb. With all the exertion they were doing their suits would be struggling to contain all the heat they were giving off.

  There was nothing they could do though and for another ten minutes they ran at a slightly reduced pace so that Clare could keep up. Twice they had to break towards a new direction to avoid the flight path of one of the searching shuttles. Then Johnston heard the sound he had been dreading. Above him a faint whistling noise grew louder and louder.

  “Down,” he shouted.

  As he and Clare dove to the ground, eight explosions erupted along a line in the forest half a kilometer from where they were.

  “We’re ok,” Johnston said as he pulled Clare to her feet. “I don’t think they know where we are yet.”

  Running on again the pair barely made it another hundred meters before the whistling noise returned and before they could dive for cover another eight explosions blew through the forest.

  “Wait,” Johnston said this time. Mentally he began to count the seconds. Right on cue eight more howitzer shells burst into the forest, this time far off to their left.

  “They are trying to herd us,” Johnston said.

  “What do you mean?” Clare asked.

  “They are using the howitzers to funnel us in one direction. They are firing incendiary shells. Look at the forest, it is ablaze. I’m guessing they have a shuttle full of soldiers waiting for us in the one direction it’s safe to run,” Johnston answered.

  “So what do we do?” Clare said.

  “We don’t have a choice; we need to move through their firing line.”

  “Of the howitzers,” Clare said in bewilderment.

  “Yes,” Johnston said. “Now get on my back,” he added turning around. “I can’t carry you for too long, but we can run faster this way. It will give us a chance.”

  Clare knew better than to complain. When Johnston ducked down she jumped on. Rising to his full height he turned around and gave a small jump to get used to the extra weight. Just then another eight explosions rippled through the forest, again far off to their left.

  Johnston started counting under his breath, one, two, three...

  When he reached twenty-five he charged off into the forest at right angles to where they had been originally headed. Clare was stunned by the speed that Johnston was able to reach; he had been holding back to stay with her. He could have easily escaped on his own.

  Five seconds after Johnston began his sprint a wave of fire descended on the forest less than four hundred meters in front of them. Clare screamed when Johnston kept on running and the flames reached out towards them. He had timed it perfectly though for they stopped their advance just as Clare began to feel their heat on her face. Instead of incinerating them the flames pulled back in on themselves. Yet after the initial explosion cleared, a wall of fire now blocked their path as the Haven forest burnt.

  Whilst the flames stopped, the shockwave from the explosions still buffeted them and Johnston stumbled and almost fell. Before Clare had time to fear they would hit the ground, he regained his balance and orientated his path towards the edge of the flames and was back to full speed in seconds.

  Clare could still hear Johnston counting under his breath. He had begun at zero after the explosions in front of him. When she heard him say twenty-five she heard another series of explosions off to their left. Johnston reset his counting to zero and Clare knew this was it. They had to clear the Indian’s firing line before the next round of shells came in.

  As Johnston approached twenty-five Clare closed her eyes. Over the din of the shuttles and the fires now burning in the forest where the howitzers shells had landed, she heard the whistling noise of a new batch of shells falling towards their position.

  It seemed to her that time must have slowed down for the whistling went on and on until it felt like the shell was right above her head. Thinking the same thing Johnston spun Clare off his back and dove to the ground, throwing her under his body for protection.

  Even before they hit the ground the howitzer s
hells exploded, the closest one less than two hundred meters from where they were lying. A wave of fire burst out across the forest and Johnston closed his eyes as it washed over him. He tried to scream in pain as the fire licked at his face and ears. Yet as soon as he opened his mouth his cry was cut off as the flames sucked the air out of him and threatened to burn their way down his throat. Shutting his mouth, Johnston buried his face in his armpit.

  No sooner had the flames arrived than they left, falling back in on themselves. As soon as she felt them leave Clare struggled to get Johnston off her, she then turned him over to look at him.

  “Are you ok?” she asked frantically.

  Johnston shook his head and slowly opened his eyes. His mouth felt like it was on fire but the look of concern on Clare’s eyes forced him to try and speak. What he thought was a, “I’m fine,” came out as a mumbled croak. The pain on his tongue and lips hampering his efforts to articulate his words.

  Seeing his difficulty, Clare reached down to the water canteen attached to her combat suit and lifted it to Johnston’s lips. “Take a drink,” she insisted.

  The first sips caused Johnston more pain but as he kept drinking it eased. “I’m ok,” he croaked.

  “No you’re not,” Clare said. “Your face is a mess!”

  “It will have to do,” Johnston said, all too aware of the throbbing pain coming from almost all of his face. To appease Clare and help the pain he pulled a cream from his utility belt. “Here, apply this to the burnt areas, it will quicken the healing process.”

  Once Clare had applied the cream she helped him to his feet. “We need to keep moving,” Johnston said. “As soon as they realize they haven’t caught us in their trap they will begin searching the forest beyond the burning areas. You can set the pace.”

  “That’s ok with me,” Clare said, relieved.

  As she set off at a brisk jog Johnston made to follow her. A piercing pain in his right leg made him pull up short. Looking down he saw a stream of blood flowing down his leg. At its source a large splinter almost ten centimeters long jutted out of his flesh. Gritting his teeth, he reached down and yanked the splinter out. His combat suit closed over to seal the hole. Sensing his wound, it tightened around his leg to restrict the flow of blood and an antiseptic cream was released onto the area to dull the pain. Before Clare was aware of what had happened he caught up and was jogging beside her.

  Two hours later they had slowed to a fast walk. Keeping up a run had proved impossible for Clare. At one point, when they had to climb a steep hill, Johnston looked out over the forest below them through a break in the trees. He clearly made out a single shuttle moving back and forth over the forest, coming in their general direction. Far off in the distance he could see three other shuttles seemingly working independently to search their own section of the forest.

  “I think they have split up,” Johnston said. “They may have found a few different trails to track.”

  “Probably old trails used by other rebel groups. Do you think that the nearest shuttle will follow us?” Clare asked.

  “I think so. They are probably following the valley that leads to your base. That is how I found you guys after all.”

  “Then what do we do? They are gaining on us aren’t they?” Clare said.

  “They are,” Johnston said. “We could split up. I could take them on a wild goose chase while you make it back to Pennington’s base.”

  “But you are the one who needs to get back to your men. They need you to lead them if they are going to get our information back to your superiors. You can’t take that risk when you are already injured,” Clare argued. “I’m the one who should try and lead them away.

  Johnston didn’t answer right away. The idea of Clare trying to outrun Indian soldiers in combat armor was absurd. But he knew that in his present condition he probably wouldn’t last long against them either. He needed another plan.

  “Maybe we don’t need to try and hide,” Johnston said. “My cover is already blown. It might even prove impossible to escape Haven in our stealth shuttle. The Indians will be looking out for us.”

  “How does that help us?” Clare asked confused.

  “It means my men can join the fight,” Johnston said.

  Without explaining any further, he opened his secure COM link and contacted Lieutenant Moony. The Indians would be sure to pick up trace emissions from the COM channel. It would likely draw the search party in their vicinity towards them. However, that would actually work into Johnston’s plan.

  *

  Johnston and Clare were desperately running through the forest. The Indians had picked up Johnston’s COM signal but they had been slow to triangulate it. To speed things up Johnston had put in a second unnecessary call to Lieutenant Moony to give the Indians more of an idea of his location. He was beginning to think he should have held off on the second COM message; the Indians were right behind him.

  A shuttle had buzzed over their position just a couple of minutes ago. The stealth capabilities of his combat suit must have been damaged in the fire for no sooner had it flown past than they heard Indians in power armor closing on their position.

  Johnston let out a breath of relief when two clicks came over the COM channel he had open to the rest of his men. They were in position. Three more clicks give him a new heading. “This way,” he said to Clare as he grabbed her hand. “This is the last thing we need to do, I need you to give me everything you have,” he added as he picked up the pace.

  For two minutes they ran as fast as they could along Johnston’s new direction. All the while the sounds of the Indian soldiers increased. All of a sudden, a string of plasma bolts flashed through the forest around them. Johnston picked up Clare and increased his pace. He grunted from the pain in his leg but the plasma bolts that continued to explode all around him kept him going.

  The firing stopped. Over the COM channel Johnston heard another two clicks. With another groan he came to a halt behind a thick tree, set Clare down and fell against the tree for support.

  “Are we safe?” Clare asked him.

  Without the strength to answer Johnston only nodded.

  *

  Moments earlier Lieutenant Moony had watched his commanding officer struggle to run past the defensive line he had set up. He looks a mess, Moony thought before switching his mind back to the task at hand.

  “Fire,” he said over the COM channel to the other five special forces marines around him.

  Within seconds, tens of plasma bolts reached out from their positions and cut down the first wave of Indian soldiers who had been just about to gain on Major Johnston. Then a rocket lifted off from the launcher one of his men had been aiming at the shuttle. The shuttle had been flying so close to the forest’s canopy in an effort to detect Johnston that it didn’t have time to dodge. The heat seeking rocket struck one of the shuttle’s engines, sending it into a nose dive into the forest. The shuttle exploded as soon as it hit the ground and the fireball perfectly illuminated the second wave of Indian soldiers. Again a flurry of plasma bolts reached out from the British marines to take them out.

  “Advance,” Moony called out.

  As one the marines stood up from the cover they had been hiding behind and charged through the forest towards the remaining Indian soldiers. Still not fully aware that the hunters had become the hunted, the Indian soldiers were overwhelmed in seconds. Equipped with the Type Two Marine Combat Armor units, the special forces marines moved far faster than anything the Indian soldiers had believed possible. The Type Twos made full use of the physical enhancements special forces marines received, allowing them to move faster than anything a normal human could withstand.

  “Check the perimeter,” Moony ordered his men once the last Indian in sight was gunned down. “You have sixty seconds, then we are out of here.”

  While the rest of his men followed his order, Moony returned to the spot Johnston had run to. “Are you ok Sir?” he asked.

  “I’ll survive,” John
ston said. “You guys got into position just in time. Can I assume you have an Evac plan in place? If the Indians are in any way predictable there will be howitzer shells falling all around us as soon as they figure out what happened.”

  “I do indeed Sir,” Moony said. “I borrowed your plasma lance. Samuels has it now. She is cutting us a path through the forest roughly in a south easterly direction. We’re going to use it to get the hell out of here. Then we will double back to Pennington’s cave.”

  “Well let’s get on with it,” Johnston said.

  “All clear,” Sergeant Brier said as he approached his two commanding officers. “The men are ready to move out.”

  “You take Clare,” Johnston said to Brier. “I’ll hitch a ride with Harte.”