Thunder & Lightning

by Christopher Nuttall

  “Aye, sir,” Morse said. “I ...”

  He broke off as his console chimed an alert. “Sir, I’m picking up a FLASH signal from Terra Nova,” he said. “Sir ... the embassy is under attack. All hell is breaking loose!”

  Stephen swore. In hindsight, perhaps he should have terminated the exercise and set course for Terra Nova. It had been the right decision, given what he'd known at the time, but he was grimly aware that not everyone would agree with him. Hindsight was always clearer than foresight, particularly when applied by an armchair admiral twelve light years away.

  He shook his head. “Helm, set course for Terra Nova,” he ordered. The escort carrier would have to accompany them. He didn’t think there was enough firepower orbiting the planet to stop him from entering orbit, if necessary, but he knew better than to take unnecessary risks. God alone knew what was going on down there. “And ramp up the drives as much as possible.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Chapter Two

  “Keep your fucking head down!”

  Captain Alice Campbell cursed under her breath as bullets - and the occasional plasma bolt - snapped over her head. It had been sheer dumb luck that they’d managed to vacate the convoy vehicles before the ambushers actually found their bearings and blasted them to flaming debris with plasma weapons. The diplomatic vehicles could drive through a hail of bullets without so much as a scratch, but plasma bolts could burn through their armour like a knife through butter. Alice gritted her teeth as she caught hold of Ambassador Rupert Crichton and dragged him towards the nearest alleyway. The Royal Marines had walked right into an ambush and, if they weren’t careful, they were not going to walk out again.

  She glanced from side to side, keeping her rifle raised and ready. The alley was apparently deserted, but that was meaningless. There simply wasn't any other cover within eyeshot. The enemy would have to be inept indeed to guess that the marines would go somewhere - anywhere - else. She might have risked it, if she and her platoon didn't have to babysit the ambassador, but now ... she had to hole up and hope that someone would come to rescue them.

  A dark shape appeared at one end of the alleyway, already raising a weapon. An insurgent, trying to catch the marines, or a civilian trying to defend his property? Alice didn't know, but the figure was clearly hostile. There was no way she could take chances, not when Crichton wasn’t wearing body armour. She shot him through the head and watched his body crumple, expecting to see more insurgents entering the alleyway. But the darkened passageway was clear.

  “Captain,” Corporal Glen Hammersmith snapped. “I can't get a link to the embassy!”

  Alice felt the ambassador flinch next to her and sighed, inwardly. There was no shortage of Foreign Office diplomats who’d had genuine military experience, so why couldn't one of them have been assigned to Terra Nova? The wretched shithole rarely went a year or two without yet another round of the endless civil war. Surely, someone would have anticipated a diplomatic convoy being attacked. The Royal Navy would take a terrible revenge if insurgents attacked the embassy - it wouldn't be the first time some barbaric rogue state had been taught a sharp lesson - but that wasn't always enough to deter terrorists or religious fanatics. Or maybe even people who thought Terra Nova’s odd position would be enough to keep the navy from carpet-bombing the attackers into dust.

  “Keep trying,” she snapped, trying to keep the dismay out of her voice. It wasn't her first combat engagement, not by a long chalk, but it was the first when she’d been in overall command. The platoon had expected a milk run, not a bloody ambush. Two of her subordinates were already dead. “And sweep for hostile communications.”

  She forced herself to think as the rest of the platoon secured the alleyway, Corporal Singh scrambling up a pipe to the roof while Sergeant Bert Radcliffe emplaced mines at the nearest end. They’d give anyone who came charging after the marines a nasty surprise, although Alice suspected they wouldn't be anything like as effective as she might wish. Terra Nova’s various factions weren't short on manpower to absorb bullets. She’d seen human wave attacks before, in the Security Zone. There had been times when they'd come far too close to simply overrunning the defenders when they ran out of bullets.

  If we can’t get in touch with the embassy, we might not be able to summon help, she thought, grimly. And that means we might have to beat feet out of here ourselves.

  Her mind raced. There was a company of Paras on permanent QRA within the embassy compound, but they wouldn't be sent out on spec. She’d sent an alert the moment the shooting started, yet she had no way of knowing if it had reached its destination. The plasma weapons had been a nasty surprise. It was quite possible that the enemy had modern jammers too. That was unusual - and worrying. Terra Nova’s factions seemed to be quite capable of producing basic assault rifles and RPGs, but plasma weapons had to be shipped in from off-world. Someone was playing politics ...

  She shook her head as the sound of shooting grew louder. It sounded as though there were at least two factions fighting it out over the remains of the convoy, although she knew better than to take that for granted. Landing City was dominated by a multitude of factions, everything from political and religious movements to street gangs and thugs. It said a great deal about the former that the latter made better governors. The moment one of the political factions gained an advantage, it tried to enslave or exterminate its enemies. Terra Nova’s history was one long endless liturgy of horror.

  “Still nothing,” Hammersmith said. “But I am picking up a modern drone overhead.”

  Alice looked up, scanning the sky through her visor. The drone would be invisible to the naked eye - either too small or too high to be easily visible - but her visor would probably pick it up. She sucked in her breath as she saw it, floating high overhead. There was no way that had come from Terra Nova. It was outdated, by modern standards, but still well ahead of anything that could be produced locally. The chances were good that it had either been purchased on the black market by an independent trader or, worse, supplied by one of the Great Powers in a bid for influence. She looked up and down the dark alley, silently noting the lack of maintenance and the signs of public urination. Terra Nova wasn’t worth the effort.

  The ground shook as one of the mines detonated. Alice cursed under her breath as she locked eyes with the sergeant. The enemy faction - or one of them - was starting to try to root the marines out of hiding. There was no way they could stay in the alleyway, particularly when there was no help on the way. They’d sell themselves dearly - there was no way she could surrender to a bunch of insurgents - but it would be ultimately meaningless. They had to move.

  And that fucking drone is going to watch us, she thought, grimly. She’d seen enough drones in operation to know just how hard it was going to be to escape the robotic voyeur. Someone sitting in a trailer on the other side of the city - or the planet - was going to be directing the insurrectionists after them. The asshole had probably already played a major role in setting up the ambush. We didn't tell anyone which route we planned to take, did we?

  “Roger, take the drone down,” she snapped. It would be a diplomatic headache if she was wrong - if one of the other embassies had launched the drone to watch the city sink into chaos - but there was no choice. “Sergeant, take point. Dennis, take the ambassador!”

  She motioned for them to hurry forward as she checked the man she’d shot. He was a dark-skinned man, probably South American rather than Arabic ... although that meant nothing on Terra Nova. The different factions denied it, loudly, but there was quite a bit of interbreeding where two factions shared a city. His outfit was pretty clearly a paramilitary uniform - she couldn’t help a flicker of amusement at just how little camouflage or protection it actually provided - yet he lacked anything that might identify him. She allowed herself a moment of relief - she hadn't shot a civilian, after all - then stripped his body of weapons, ammunition and ration bars. The marines might need them if the shit got deeper.

  A se
cond mine detonated. The wall shuddered. Alice hoped that meant it wasn't going to collapse. Terra Nova’s building codes were substandard, where they had them at all. The constant fighting probably didn't help either. There were bullet holes in the wall that were probably older than her. God alone knew how many times the building had changed hands in the last fifty years. She shrugged, then nodded to the sergeant. He led the platoon down the alleyway and out into the street. Behind them, a third mine exploded. Alice heard someone scream, a noise that rose higher and higher as the victim realised just how badly he’d actually been hurt. Hopefully, the prospect of being crippled would slow his friends down. The planet’s medical facilities were primitive, by modern standards. There was little hope of reconstructive surgery on Terra Nova.

  “Street’s clear,” Radcliffe called. “Move out!”

  Alice nodded, feeling a flicker of sympathy for the ambassador. She’d been in combat zones before, but he clearly hadn't. The marines raced down the street, weapons moving from side to side as they searched for threats. Shops had been closed, iron shutters slammed down to protect the shopkeepers from stray bullets. Not that it would be enough to save them if one faction seized undisputed control of the region, she knew. Their shops would be looted, their sons would be conscripted, their daughters claimed as war brides ... she shuddered, despite herself. She’d often found Britain to be dull, but Terra Nova was worse. Who in their right mind would want to live in a war zone?

  You decided to join the Royal Marines, she reminded herself, dryly. Did you think you’d never be sent to war?

  The thought made her smile, even as she kept moving. It hadn't been easy to get into the Royal Marine Commando Training Program, not when she was both a woman and the daughter of a man who was both famous and infamous. She had the feeling, based on what she’d read when she’d finally managed to access her file, that there had been some pretty high-level discussions before she’d been allowed to sign up. And then she’d been put through absolute hell on the darkened moors and the trackless wastes of the lunar surface, just like the boys. It would have been easy to switch tracks and join the Royal Navy, or even the Home Guard, but she’d persisted. It was the only way to win respect.

  And I figured a posting to Invincible would be relaxing, she reminded herself. And we thought this was going to be nothing more than a dull deployment to provide cover while the local bootnecks got a rest.

  Singh loped up beside her. “Captain, there’s smoke all over the city,” he reported. “I think this is serious.”

  Alice nodded, calling up a map on her visor as the platoon paused for a moment. Landing City had never been mapped properly - it changed too frequently for anyone to bother - but it was clear they were quite some distance from the embassy. And there was no guarantee that the embassy would be safe, either. Singh was right. This was no simple exchange of fire between factions, but all-out war. Someone was risking everything in a desperate bid to secure control of the city.

  The embassy is supposed to be secure, she thought. But if modern weapons are involved ...

  A burst of fire splattered over her head. Someone was on the rooftops, pouring fire down into their position. She ducked down, returning fire instinctively. The remainder of the platoon joined in, aiming a pair of grenades towards the enemy. Alice braced herself as the grenades exploded, then darted forward as the enemy fire fell silent. A body tumbled down, hitting the pavement hard enough to make her wince. The impact smashed the lower body, but the face was surprisingly intact. Chinese, she thought. They were some distance from the Chinese-dominated parts of the city, but that was meaningless. The various communities were also more intermingled than they cared to admit.

  And the Chinese are the only Great Power who have a sizable presence on the ground, she reminded herself, as she checked the body. No weapons, no identification ... nothing, but a grim awareness that the body was too fit to be a civilian. They might have supplied the weapons to the faction.

  She took a handful of snapshots for later use - the various intelligence agencies would want to have a look at them - and then sneaked back to where the remainder of the platoon was waiting. The ambassador looked to have zoned out completely, not even noticing that he was practically hanging off Dennis’s arm. Thankfully, the platoon seemed to be holding up alright. They’d taken a beating - and they would have to mourn their dead mates later - but they were still in high spirits. They hadn't given up hope of getting out before it was too late.

  “I’ve still not been able to raise the embassy, Captain,” Hammersmith said. “I even tried to call the Yanks and the Frogs. Nothing from either of them.”

  Alice nodded, curtly. It was hard to believe that every embassy had been overrun - she’d exercised with both the United States Marine Corps and the French Foreign Legion - but it was starting to look as though her platoon was on its own. And that meant ...

  We don’t dare try to sneak back to the embassies, she thought. And we can't stay in the city.

  She studied the map for a long moment, wishing - not for the first time - that the various intelligence services attached to the embassies had actually been able to keep track of which faction controlled which part of the city. Some parts were marked as Arabic or Mexican or Chinese, but others kept changing hands so frequently that the intelligence services hadn't been able to keep up. Not, she supposed, that it mattered. The Chinese might help the marines - at least until they could be repatriated to Invincible - but they were on the other side of the city. None of the other factions would help. The marines would be captured, then brutally murdered. She had certainly no intention of allowing herself to fall into enemy hands.

  “We need to get out of the city,” she said, catching the sergeant’s eye. He had more experience than her ... and, besides, she trusted his judgement. “If we get out of danger, we can hole up and wait for the ship to return.”

  Radcliffe nodded in agreement. “And how do you propose to get out?”

  Alice checked the map, again. No close-protection team worthy of the name would risk escorting the person it was supposed to protect through a war zone, at least unless there was no other choice. But there was no way to avoid it, as far as she could see. Unless ... she altered the map, noting the position of the Harmony River. If they could steal a boat, they could get onto the water and head downriver. It wasn't much of a plan, but it would have to do.

  “We take the river,” she said. There were risks, but ... they were short on options. “Let’s move.”

  The sound of shooting and explosions grew louder as they hurried towards the nearest dockyard, a tiny installation that looked more like a canal pier for barges than anything more formal. She felt sweat trickling down her back as she looked from side to side, expecting to be jumped at any moment. Waves of conflict were flowing over the city, yet they were leaving the marines untouched. She hoped the civilians were smart enough to keep their heads down and pray, although she doubted it would help. If one of the factions was making a real bid for power - and succeeded - the mass exterminations would begin shortly afterwards. There was too much hatred on Terra Nova for a peaceful resolution to their problems.

  They should have just divided up into different countries, she thought, sourly. Surely, the problems with forcing different cultures to practically live in each other’s pockets had been evident a hundred years ago. Had they forgotten the Troubles so quickly? At least that might keep them from slaughtering each other.

  She winced as the river came into view. Harmony River - the name was bitterly ironic - was a sickly orange colour, thoroughly polluted. It stank so badly she had to force herself to breathe through her mouth, even though she shared a bunkroom with an entire platoon of Royal Marines. There were logging farms and factories upriver, according to the map, pouring their wastes into the river, but that wasn't the worst of it. What passed for a sewage system in Landing City poured its wastes into the water too.

  They should be turning their shit into fuel, she thought, as th
ey located a barge. It looked cumbersome, but they could handle it. Instead, they’re killing themselves.

  “Get the ambassador into the barge,” she ordered. “And then try and raise the embassy again.”

  She scrambled onto the barge herself and stood on top of the cockpit. There were explosions - and plumes of smoke - all over the city, a number in the direction of the embassies. Singh had been right. This was serious. She hoped - prayed - that the countryside was quieter, although she suspected it would be just as dangerous. The communities might be more spread out - and centred on farms - but they were more inclined to shoot first and ask questions later. And she knew very little, beyond vague generalities, of just what she might expect to find outside the city.

  But the ship should be on her way back now, she thought. She found it hard to believe that Invincible’s crew wouldn't have realised that something was wrong. They had orders to keep a watchful eye on Terra Nova as long as they remained in the system. They’ll come pick us up.

  It wasn’t much, she acknowledged as the barge was slowly pushed away from the pier. But it would have to do.

  Coming soon to Amazon!