by P. A. Piatt
* * *
The test tubes milled around aimlessly. Ystremski was tempted to break cover and blast his way into the middle of them, but he didn’t want to risk getting shot by his comrades.
He watched the Space Marines throw smoke grenades into the gathered test tubes. Smoke billowed across the compound and Ystremski heard Fortis’ unmistakable voice bellow an order.
“Charge bayonets!”
* * *
“I don’t believe it.”
Trenas stared at the display in shock. It happened so quickly she wasn’t sure what she’d seen. One second she was struggling to maintain a level flight, and the next the drone rolled over and her screen went blank.
“The bastard shot it down.” Strickland sounded as incredulous as Trenas.
“Where’s the other drone?”
“Still orbiting to the west. You want me to bring it in?”
Trenas nodded and gave her a grim smile. “Yeah. I have an idea.”
Strickland steered the second drone over the GRC compound. “You want me to flush him out again?”
“No. I want you to drop your first bomb right here.” She indicated a building on the main display.
Strickland chuckled when she understood Trenas’ plan. “Roger that.”
* * *
The Space Marines shouted and leaped up from their fighting holes. They charged the test tubes obscured by the smoke. Fortis hauled himself to his feet and hobbled behind them, grimacing in pain every time he put weight on his injured leg. The Marines disappeared into the blanket of smoke, and it wasn’t until he entered the smoke himself that he could make out any of the action.
All around him, shadowy figures battled with rifle and knife. The scene had a surreal, dream-like quality to it; the pall of smoke muffled the clash of arms and the screams and shouts of the combatants.
Fortis saw Lily spin away from a textbook thrust and shove his bayonet deep into his bewildered opponent. Another test tube leaped forward and thrust his weapon at Lily, who sidestepped the attack and stabbed with his own weapon. The test tube recovered and attempted to parry, but Lily’s bayonet slipped under his defense and plunged into the test tube’s belly.
Deeper in the gloom, Fortis watched as a Space Marine was surrounded by a group of test tubes. They thrust their bayonets at him from all directions, urged on by one of the few remaining mercenaries. Fortis bellowed and limped toward the action, but a figure rushed past him to charge the group.
* * *
Beck heard an explosion from the direction of the test tube barracks. A second blast, followed closely by a third, piqued his curiosity, and he cracked the back door of the headquarters building to see what was happening.
The entire block of GRC buildings and tents behind the headquarters was on fire. The additional bombs had served to spread the burning remains throughout the area, and the flames were greedily consuming everything. Even with no wind, burning embers rose into the sky and floated down on adjacent buildings helping the flames leap from roof to roof.
They have another drone!
Beck searched the sky and strained his ears trying to detect the second aircraft, but the shimmering heat, wafting smoke, and crackle of flames left him blind and deaf. He went back inside and discovered smoke gathered along the ceiling. The roof of the building he was in was burning. He needed to gather whatever supplies he could and evacuate before the entire thing collapsed.
He stuffed handfuls of hydration packs and prepackaged rations into a satchel, grabbed his rifle, and went out the front door. The headquarters building was the last to catch fire, and black smoke stained the sky high above the compound.
Low on the horizon, just over the trees, he spotted the other drone. It banked and steered straight at him, lining up for another bombing run.
Beck set down his pack and raised his rifle.
* * *
Ystremski watched the Space Marines charge and instantly understood what they were doing. Low on ammunition and facing extreme odds, their best chance of survival was to close with the enemy and fight at close range.
Down to his last round, the corporal fixed his bayonet and left the cover of the tree line. He was extremely vulnerable without his armor, but win or lose, his place was alongside the other Space Marines. He trotted through the smoke, slashing at any test tube unfortunate enough to come within range.
Ystremski came face to face with a blood-spattered test tube who immediately assumed the posture of a soldier at the start of a bayonet training drill. Ystremski closed the distance and the test tube immediately started walking through the drill. Thrust, recover, parry, recover. It didn’t seem to register the threat posed by Ystremski as it performed the drill. The corporal waited, and when the test tube parried left, he struck from the right. A quick slash across the arms caused the test tube to drop its weapon. He followed with a slash across the neck that sent blood spurting high into the air.
A familiar voice to his left grabbed his attention. He saw Lieutenant Fortis limping heavily toward a knot of test tubes who had a Space Marine on the ground. Ystremski charged forward, intent on engaging the test tubes, when he saw a mercenary urging them on. He shoved past Fortis, dropped to a knee, and aimed at the mercenary.
The round struck the mercenary in his left ear and his body somersaulted like a rag doll. Ystremski jumped to his feet and charged the group of test tubes. He hacked and slashed at them, and the ground was soon covered in blood and gore. When the last test tube fell, he dug through the mess and dragged the Space Marine free.
“I’ll be okay,” the Marine, a private named Modell, protested. “They poked me a couple times, but it’s not so bad.”
Just then, Fortis lurched out of the smoke and sank to the ground next to Modell.
Ystremski crouched and slapped him on the shoulder.
“LT, what took you so long? What the fuck’s going on here?”
* * * * *
Chapter Forty-One
“There he is!”
Trenas and Strickland stared at the large display. They watched Beck exit the front of the building as the fire spread across the roof. The rest of the buildings had collapsed and burned, and there was nowhere left for him to hide.
“I’m out of bombs,” said Strickland. “What do I do?”
Trenas and Strickland locked eyes.
“Hit him.”
“Are you serious?”
“This is all his fault. He deserves to die.”
Strickland piloted her drone into a long sweeping turn and lined up on the man standing in front of the headquarters building. She increased power to the maximum and the airspeed indicator climbed. They watched as Beck deliberately set his satchel down and raised his rifle. Strickland twisted the aircraft control joystick left and right as the drone shuddered from the impact of the high-velocity rounds and pieces of the control surfaces were torn away.
Beck filled the main display as the drone got closer and closer. Suddenly it went black and the flight status indicators zeroed out. The drone had crashed.
“What happened?”
“A bullet must have hit the camera. Do you think we got him?”
Trenas shrugged. “He couldn’t have been more than fifteen meters away when the display went out. If he got out of the way, it was by a whisker.”
“Now what?”
Trenas grabbed a rifle and passed another to Strickland. “There’s a battle going on outside. Let’s get in it.”
* * *
Lily chopped and stabbed at every test tube that came in range as he blazed a trail through the smoky battlefield. He hadn’t done any bayonet training in years, so he relied more on brute force than technique. He was so absorbed in the fight that when he emerged from the smoke, he was surprised to find himself on the far side of the clearing. Dead mercenaries and test tubes blanketed the ground where they had formed up to charge the Space Marines, and many of the bodies showed the ravages of both gunfire and grenades.
Lily turne
d to reenter the fight still going on behind him when he heard someone shout. He turned and saw a small group of mercenaries approaching. They all fired at once and Lily was driven backwards by the impact of the bullets on his armor. The mercenaries advanced and continued firing. The bullets tore past the armor plates into Lily’s body.
In his dying moment, as the mercenaries stood over him and their leader prepared to administer the coup de grace, Lily managed one final word.
“DINLI.”
* * *
Brinks stood over the dead Space Marine for a long moment before he signaled to his troops to advance.
Metal clashed, and men shouted as the hand-to-hand battle raged. Brinks cautiously led his men through the compound. When the smoke lifted, they saw a blood-spattered Space Marine standing alone among the dead.
“Hey!” Brinks shouted, and when the Marine turned, the mercenaries shot him down.
* * *
Doc Weinberg set up a triage point where he found Fortis working on Modell’s wounds. There were surprisingly few Space Marine casualties from the bayonet charge, and most of those were minor cuts and abrasions. Ystremski was laying on his stomach and complained as Weinberg dug pieces of shrapnel from his back and treated him for infection.
Trenas and Strickland joined the group and surveyed the battlefield. The smoke had begun to dissipate, and the scale of the carnage shocked them all. Broken bodies littered the ground. Fortis was gratified to see that the vast majority were test tubes and mercenaries.
Space Marines wandered out of the smoke in ones and twos and joined the group. Fortis counted nineteen including himself, but he hoped there were more somewhere beyond the smoke.
A burst of gunfire from the smoke at the eastern perimeter scattered the group. Ystremski and a few of the less wounded scrambled to collect rifles from dead test tubes and assume defensive positions. Trenas and Strickland crouched next to the wounded and tried to see through the smoke, searching for targets.
A sudden breeze blew the smoke away, and they saw a group of five mercenaries standing in the open, frozen in mid-stride. The Marines opened up with everything they had left, and the mercenaries jerked and twitched as round after round tore into their bodies. When they were all down, Fortis ordered the Marines to cease fire.
An abrupt silence fell over the battlefield, and the acrid smell of gunfire hung heavy in the air.
Eventually, Fortis was able to get an accurate muster. There were twenty-two Space Marines remaining from the original ninety-one that had landed eight days ago. He gathered Trenas and Ystremski together to figure out their next step.
“Where’s Hawkins?” asked Ystremski.
Fortis shook his head. “Sniper. He took a bullet meant for me.”
“Damn.” The corporal took a deep breath to steady himself. “He was a good Marine.”
“A lot of lives have been wasted here,” remarked Fortis. “Right now, we need to focus on the living.”
“DINLI,” said Ystremski.
“DINLI,” echoed Fortis and Trenas.
Ystremski debriefed them on the ill-fated patrol to the GRC compound.
“I stopped to report to Command, and when I looked up those fuckers were shooting our guys. Beck was one of them.”
“Beck’s dead,” interjected Trenas. “At least, I think he is. Strickland crashed her drone into him.”
Ystremski snorted, and Fortis held up a hand. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What happened with you after they murdered the patrol?”
“I hauled ass back into the jungle. One of them shot me in the shoulder and blew out the cooling loop, so I had to ditch my armor top. The jungle was full of test tubes, and I ran into the head mercenary. The big guy, Nesbitt?”
Fortis nodded. “Is he dead?”
“Yeah, he’s dead. We were having a knife fight when grenades started falling everywhere. One of them blew his legs clean off. That’s where I got all the shrapnel.” He shrugged. “After that, I crawled around in the jungle until I got back here.”
“I’m glad you made it.”
“Me, too, sir. Me, too.”
Fortis laughed. “Maybe not after you hear what I have to tell you. You’re the new company gunnery sergeant, effective now.”
Ystremski stared. “What?”
“The new company gunny.”
“But I’m a corporal.”
“And I’m the commanding officer of this Space Marine installation. I can appoint a new senior enlisted leader in the event the current one is killed or incapacitated.”
“Are you serious?” Ystremski motioned to Trenas. “She’s senior. Make her the gunny.”
Trenas laughed. “I’m a mech operator. I can’t be the gunny of an infantry company. Congratulations, Gunny.”
The trio laughed, and Fortis knew that even though Ystremski was protesting, he was secretly pleased with the promotion.
“Okay, Trenas, what’s this about Beck?”
Trenas and Strickland recounted their drone attack and how they sparked fires throughout the GRC compound.
“I thought I killed him, but he played possum and shot down my drone when I got close enough. Strickland did a great job bombing the compound to flush him out. She dove at him and wasn’t more than fifteen meters away when the camera went dead. I think she got him, but we won’t know until we search the debris.”
Fortis went next and told them about Gunny Hawkins’ determined defense of the compound.
“He’s the one who used the grenades to turn the swarm into the test tubes. He saved my life.”
Suddenly, the stress, fear, and grief that Fortis had suppressed bubbled over. He took several deep, ragged breaths and fought back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.
After a moment of silence, Ystremski said, “What’s next, LT?”
Fortis wiped his eyes and cleared his throat. “We’re going to the colony to free those people.”
* * * * *
Chapter Forty-Two
What followed was a spirited discussion about their next course of action.
“LT, there’s no way in hell you’re hiking through the jungle with that leg of yours,” declared Weinberg. “It’s never going to heal if you don’t stay off it, and I can’t guarantee you won’t end up with an infection like Kilfoy.”
“There are wounded and dead Space Marines we need to tend to,” said Trenas. “I don’t know what the status of the mechs are, either.”
“We’ve got to secure this base,” added Ystremski. “The northern and eastern perimeters have been totally compromised. It’s going to be dark soon, and we don’t know if there are still test tubes running around out there. Besides, those people have been locked in there for a long time. A couple more nights won’t make a difference.”
Fortis listened to his advisors and weighed their advice against his own evaluation of their situation. He recognized that his instinct, to free the colonists as soon as possible, was the right thing to do, but the sound militarily course of action was to first secure their base of operations and consolidate their position.
He remembered Gunny Hawkins’ admonishment about taking a vote before making a decision, and he resisted the urge to do so again. It was obvious from their advice what the vote would be, and after hearing them out, he was inclined to agree.
“We’ll stay here tonight. Our first priority is to establish a new perimeter we can defend and get sensor and mine fields set.” Weinberg raised a hand to speak, but Fortis cut him off with a wave. “Our other first priority is to patch up the wounded and get everyone fed and watered. Gunny Ystremski, handle the perimeter. Staff Sergeant Trenas, you’ll assist him. Doc, Strickland, see to the men. Report back to the command mech in one hour and let me know what your status is. We only have a couple hours until dark, so move with a purpose. Questions?”
The group shook their heads.
“Let’s get it done.”
* * *
Fortis sat in the command mech with his injure
d leg elevated and watched as Ystremski and Trenas secured the compound. The 20mm guns on the mechs made up the bulk of their defenses, but the guns were also a last resort because the noise attracted the bugs.
The Space Marines had collected a mix of small arms from the battlefield. The test tubes had carried shoddy rifles stamped from scrap metal that were simple to operate and maintain. They were heavy and inaccurate, and at first the Marines scoffed at the simple, rough weapons. Their attitudes soon changed after they subjected the weapons to dirt, mud, and water and the rifles continued to operate. In the hands of skilled infantrymen, they would be effective.
The mercenary weapons were far superior even to the rifles the Marines were issued. Several Marines claimed the rifles, only to discover ammunition for the high-quality weapons was scarce. Ystremski divided up the rifles and available ammunition to the sniper-qualified Space Marines in their small force. One of the ammo bunkers they’d dug earlier was uncovered and everyone filled bandoliers and restocked the ammo boxes in the fighting holes.
The mechs became the center of their defenses, and Trenas parked them in a circle facing outward. Sandbagged fighting positions were built atop each of them, and they were connected to the network of holes Ystremski had chosen for their new defensive posture.
Once the mechs were set, she rebooted the command mech’s computer system which had crashed at some point during the fight. That’s when they discovered the entire sensor system along the northern and eastern perimeters had failed. Under Ystremski’s direction, teams of Space Marines pulled sensors from the south and west to contract their perimeter and free up resources to cover the gap created by the bugs and test tubes. By the time they completed that task, it was dusk. Ystremski decided to leave the minefields in place until morning so the Space Marine sappers could see what they were doing.
