Charley’s breath was visible as she addressed her crew.
“Soft march, single file,” she said, feeling compelled to whisper. “Listen out for further instructions.”
Kovacs indicated that he would stay behind to organise the rest of the rebels.
“I’ll transmit waypoints as I receive them,” he promised.
Charley took her first tentative steps down the tunnel. The ground felt squelchy and soft. There was some kind of moss visible in the near-dark but she couldn’t really tell. After a mile or two of straight tunnel it dog-legged to the south. Groundwater had risen to the surface here, shin-deep in some sections. As the tunnel bore south the water deepened. Charley felt slick, scummy water to her waist and the crew’s progress slowed considerably. The muck clung to Charley’s suit and felt uncomfortably cold.
“Wait, Charley,” Harry said at her shoulder. Charley froze. There was something moving in the water. Harry pulled her back sharply just as a set of elongated jaws burst from the water. The jaws found nothing but air as they snapped shut and the reptilian beast disappeared again. Harry tracked the ripples carefully and fired three shots. The ripples subsided and the water resumed its slick face.
Harry stepped forward and continued down the tunnel. “Mind if I take point for a while?” he asked Charley.
“If you must,” Charley said, a little annoyed to be patronized, but she was momentarily shocked by the encounter and Harry was only trying to protect her.
The party continued south through the water, which mercifully dropped to knee level after a while. The tunnel turned to the west and solid ground greeted them once more. The width of the passage also increased, opening out to around twelve yards. Off shoots began to appear to the north and south, but Charley stuck to the main tunnel. Kovacs would’ve advised Charley if he wanted her to deviate. The crew made good ground over the next two hours. Kovacs’s voice pierced the gloomy dark, instructing them to turn north in three hundred and fifty yards. Charley found the narrow, crumbling passage and took it without question. The crew passed through a number of larger chambers, some of them containing pellets of gear covered in waterproof tarpaulins. There was no time to investigate the goods, and it wouldn’t be prudent to anger the local scrappers.
Another hour was spent negotiating a twisting, turning labyrinth of tunnels. Charley occasionally thought she heard the bellowing exhaust typical of a major port facility. Could they have reached the spaceport? She hoped so, as her crew’s speed had dropped slightly and everyone looked beat.
“Affirmative.” Charley looked around. There were no doors. But there was a hatch in the roof. It didn’t look like it’d been used for years. Charley was tempted to let Gronko rip it free but she didn’t want to compromise the mission. If the Imperials detected them the whole operation was a bust.
“I guess we wait,” Charley shrugged. She wished she had something more positive to say but everyone just wanted to sit against the wall and eat a protein bar anyway. In the tunnel silence that followed it was easier to discern the distant noises above them. A cruiser launching, the rise and fall of the ‘clear the decks’ warning tone.
Charley tuned into the coded com channel Kovacs and the Tinker were using. From their dialogue she gleaned that the rebels were just about in position. It struck that there hadn’t been much planning to this operation. It was more an attack of opportunity than anything else. But Charley’s instinct told her that such an attack had a solid chance of devastating success. It made sense for the rebels to attack before the Emperor’s forces had a chance to consolidate their defences and wait for reinforcements.
What Charley felt uncertain about was the lack of details. How many rebels were there in total? She doubted even Kovacs or the Tinker would know for sure. There might be thousands of rebels crammed into these dank tunnels. And where exactly was Charley positioned? It would help a great deal if her crew knew what to expect when they ascended to the surface. It was clear that Kovacs believed they could handle themselves without too many reinforcements. Just what did he have in mind?
“I’m here,” Charley said. “We’re waiting at the last waypoint.”
“Copy that, Kovacs,” Charley said. “Good luck out there.”
Charley lowered her wrist pad and took a deep breath, finally preparing herself for battle. The others readied their weapons and looked tense.
Charley smiled at Kovacs’s theatricality as she signaled Gronko. The big renki yanked on the hatch handle and pulled it clean off in a shower of rust. Luckily, removing the handle also removed the hatch underneath it. Charley waved the dust away and received a leg boost from Harry. She athletically clung to the edge of the hole and hauled herself through. From there she was able to help the others. Once everyone was through she found that she stood at the bottom of a vertical shaft that ran twenty yards to a trapdoor at the top. Charley was the first up, eager to lead her crew into battle. She pushed open the trapdoor with a little difficulty as it was covered with a layer of snow. She pulled herself through and was buffeted by a cold wind from the south. She stood in a small, fenced enclosure that housed the generator powering the barracks immediately to the north. The mesh fence was opaque enough to provide a modicum of cover from the marine parade marching forty yards away on the other side.
The barracks wall thankfully didn’t have any windows, but nor did it have any obvious entry points.
“Which way?” Charley asked her crew as they positioned themselves along the barracks wall. Harry replaced the trap door and covered it with snow.
“Through the roof,” growled Gronko, looking at the building like a feral beast eyeing its prey.
“Boost me,” Charley commanded the renki. She grabbed hold of the edge of the flat building and hauled herself up. As long as he remained prone she had cover from a low balustrade around the roof edge. There was a skylight set in the northeastern corner of the roof. Charley shimmied towards it as her crew climbed up behind her.
“This is a stupid plan,” FIGJAM complained from her waist. “How the fuck do you think you can -”
“Shut up,” said Charley, lifting the PalBot and hurling it straight into the skylight. The surprisingly heavy chrome robot went straight through, shattering the brittle material with a resounding crash.
Charley was vaguely aware of explosions across the tarmac as she followed FIGJAM into the breach.
15
Her blasters were raised before she hit the floor. Thankfully she didn’t land on anything awkward, instead dropping straight into a shower recess. She hustled through a closed door, stepping over an indignant FIGJAM. The central barracks chamber was long and wide, but before Charley could process further detail she spotted two marines at close quarters. As expected they were sans armor but still looked swarthy and powerful. Charley pumped plasma into both of them, not needing her targeting computer at such close range. She flipped it down over her eyes as the marines crumpled to the floor leaking blood. There was a third marine bending over a foot locker, no doubt reaching for her weapon. Charley gave her the same treatment, sending multiple plasma bolts into her head.
Anticipating return fire from further down the barracks, Charley tumbled into low cover behind a military issue cot and fired over the top. She managed to drop another marine as Gronko charged through with his heavy flak gun rotating madly. The far wall was shredded in a blizzard of plaster and gobs of blood as marines were thrown backwards like rag dolls. The chaos subsided and the on
ly sound was Gronko’s spinning gun. Harry rushed forward to check adjoining rooms, pumping plasma into a marine hoping to lay ambush. Two more marines were found in the galley and were dealt with by Molly, who then ran a security perimeter.
“More marines inbound,” she reported from the window. Charley and the others assumed defensive positions behind cover and waited for the attack. Two grenades rolled through the front door. Gronko leaped forward and sent the little packages of death flying back from whence they came with his weapon’s push function. Two blasts resounded from outside, rolling a heat blast through the barracks. Charley wasted no time in rushing to the door and firing at the survivors from cover. She dropped two marines before the rest tried to withdraw. They were cut down by the rebel pincer movement Kovacs had mentioned. Charley watched as a band of ragtag rebels knelt and fired their plasma rifles into the retreating marines, dropping them through concentrated fire. Beyond that firefight, an enormous hangar was on fire, lending the dull, late afternoon sky an angry, orange hue.
“Copy that, Jack,” Charley said, using the familiar name without even realizing it. The truth was she wanted him by her side. Not for the protection, but because she felt drawn to him at that moment. She realized her feelings might be running a bit wild when it came to Jack Kovacs. Could have been the adrenalin of battle, but she’d been feeling the same over the last day or so. She was curious to see if it remained after the battle. If they both survived.
Right then, as the last of the marines caught on the tarmasc were being slaughtered by the rebel riflemen, a warning klaxon drew Charley’s attention. She could see the foredeck of the great Imperial warship beyond the burning hangar. Huge portals were opening at ground level, spilling entire platoons of marines onto the tarmac.
“They’re giving us everything they’ve got!” Harry exclaimed. “This’ll be a battle to the last!”
Charley swallowed. Those marines were wearing power armor like the ones up at Ghost Fort.
“Over here!” yelled Gronko, sitting astride a quad with a turret on the back. “Let’s break through their ranks.”
Charley agreed it might serve to unsettle the enemy, even if it resulted in her death. Despite Harry’s warnings, she climbed up to the turret and told the crazy renki to drive. Molly leaped onto the back seat just in time, presumably determined to keep Charley alive.
The quad surged across the airfield, the distant marine battalion in her sights. The enemy infantry and formed a phalanx, a defensive stance that had stood the test of time. Charley fired indiscriminately into the throng. The turret fired heavy pulse bolts that could vaporize sections of power armor on a direct hit. The power armor was designed to turn such bolts away if the aim was slightly off. They were the very best in military gear for this reason. Still, Charley had no time to be delicate. In seconds she’d been in range of the pulse rifles carried by the marines. She pumped out heavy pulse fire at a rapid rate, not worried about overheating the unit. Several marines in the front tier of the phalanx fell. The disciplined soldiers behind them raised their weapons. The phalanx fired as one as the quad came within range. Pulse fire buffeted the front of the quad, one or two bolts glancing off Gronko’s thick armor. Charley was thin enough to enjoy a modicum of cover behind the turret, but if the quad changed direction she’d be completely exposed. A blizzard of pulse fire pounded the quad as they got closer, and Charley wondered how much they could withstand. Her life flashed before her eyes as Gronko turned the nitro booster and the quad surged toward the waiting phalanx.
“Yes!” she cried above all the noise. “Do it, Gronko!”
The quad ploughed through the marine ranks, knocking marines left and right. Charley kept firing at point blank range, disintegrating entire sections of armor and eviscerating limbs and organs alike. Although the quad had plenty of momentum, it could only go so far through the marine ranks. Eventually it flipped over and spun several times on its side. The roll cage protected Charley and Molly but they were still buffeted and brutally knocked around. The quad finally came to a stop near the open portals at the base of the Imperial warship. Charley crawled from the smoking quad and considered her position. Gronko was firing from the driver’s seat, determined to go out fighting. A cheer rose from across the tarmac and Charley realized over a hundred rebels were rushing toward them, plasma rifles blasting. She and Gronko had succeeded in scattering the phalanx and exposing the marines - the impossible had been achieved.
But Charley’s position was vulnerable. She could hear marines moving toward her position from the other side of the quad. She didn’t have the ability to best them all in combat. She looked at Molly, who was clearly thinking along the same lines. Molly’s eyes flicked over to the open warship portal. There was cover in there. It made sense to use it. Now that they’d survived their kamikaze run, why not take the chance to stay alive?
“Let’s go,” Charley said with authority.
The women made a direct beeline to the open portal. Inside they found the interior of some kind of pod with straps on the walls to hold marines in place. It was an infantry pod, able to withstand orbital entry and release in a planet’s atmosphere. It was designed to drop troops into battle quickly, even from orbit. In this case there was clearly no need for the pod to be detached from the warship’s hull. For now the pod was empty and the door at the other end was shut. Charley was comfortable enough to turn her back and kneel behind the edge of the portal and fire at the marines now rushing around the side of the flipped quad. Luckily Gronko saw the threat and cut down three of the marines before they could cover the distance to the portal. That dissuaded the enemy from running that particular gauntlet, but it also exposed Gronko to fire from behind. He turned and continued firing into the phalanx, rolling from the quad as he did so. Four marines renewed their attempt to get at Charley and Molly in the portal. There was no other choice but to close the pod doors. Charley hit the button and breathed a sigh of relief as the portal closed over. Molly waited, gun poised, but there was no sign that the marines had the ability to reopen the pod from the other side. An explosion rippled through the spaceport and Charley wished she had a visual on it. Was it good or bad for the attacking rebels?
“Let’s just wait till reinforcements arrive,” Charley said to Molly. “There’s no point throwing our lives away.”
“There were too many of them,” Molly agreed. “It takes a real leader to read the odds.”
“All it takes a leader who wants to survive,” Charley said, but she was secretly chuffed by Molly’s words.
A slight hum seemed to grip the walls of the pod.
“Did you feel that?” Charley asked.
“I did,” Molly said, looking around nervously. The hum became louder, and a persistent digital klaxon opened up somewhere out on the tarmac.
“Maybe the rebels have torched another target?” Charley said hopefully.
“No ma’am,” Molly said in alarm. “This ship is taking off!”
It made sense, in a way. No matter which way the battle fell, the warship was far, far more useful in the air. Using sophisticated targeting systems, the warship might even be able to turn the tide of battle without undue collatoral damage to people and property.
Charley’s stomach lurched as the warship began to lift into the air. It felt surreal to be launching within such a leviathan of the sky. She could only imagine the power it would take to the lift the floating fortress off the ground.
Molly looked at Charley with professional calm. “Should we strap ourselves in? She asked.
“It might be a good idea,” Charley said, securing herself to the wall. Molly took the next wall recess, watching the hull door intently.
“Do they keep life support running to these infantry pods?” Charley wonde
red aloud. Molly frowned - they were about to find out. The pod shook as the warship gained rapid altitude. The steady thrum of heavy lasers punctuated the grumble of the propulsion drive, but it sounded like the warship was retreating and retreating quickly. The pod rocked savagely, then all was calm.
“We’ve broken orbit,” Molly said, unstrapping herself.
“You don’t think we’ll go into warp?”
“The rebels can’t really touch the warship from the planet’s surface,” Molly said. “It’s likely the Emperor will wait until he has reinforcements.”
“I bet he wasn’t expecting that shitstorm,” Charley said with a chuckle.
“No, anyone with brains would fuck right off back to the core worlds,” Molly said, laughing.
“Maybe we can still encourage our fine emperor to do just that,” Charley said thoughtfully.
“What have you got in mind?” Molly said suspiciously. “I was thinking we could just steal an escape pod and that would be that.”
“You know what we have, Molly?” Charley asked. “A golden opportunity.”
“I’m listening,” Molly said with a smile, crossing her arms theatrically.
“Well, I know a little about engines,” Charley said hesitantly. “The gangs at Sandflower Downs used to race their damned speeders every other day.”
“A speeder is kinda different to an Imperial warship,” Molly said.
“I know that fuel cells and coolant don’t mix at all,” Charley said defensively.
“I’m listening,” Molly said, her eyes narrowing.
“So we get a couple of uniforms and head down to the engine house,” Charley said. “You cause a distraction, I cripple them where it hurts. Do we have a plan?”
“I think it’s crazy,” Molly said. “But I’d follow you anywhere.”
16
There was something in Molly’s eye that Charley had never noticed before. There was a light there that suggested something other than professional or even friendly devotion. Charley sighed. She didn’t really need another romantic entanglement. That part of her life was complicated enough as it was!
The Pirate Commander (The Space Pirate Chronicles Book 3) Page 9
