“We can’t leave Seeton. This place will be one of their first objectives.”
“Are you going to carry him? It’ll be ugly out there.”
“I’ll carry him as far as I can.” Seeton was not a large man, but Trexler was tall and spare: muscles had never been an important part of his job. Nevertheless, he got Seeton into a fireman’s carry and staggered out of the office behind Waverly.
They met up with Waverly’s four men huddling inside the front entrance. Waverly passed out weapons and grenades, they held a brief consultation, then Waverly came back to him.
“We’re moving out. About half of my guys are on the ground at the port. We’re going to work our way toward them.”
“I’m just a grunt here, out of my element, but can we hold the building? We know what the Chessori do to the men they find, and there’s probably a lot of sensitive information in here. Seeton wasn’t expecting this. I doubt if his guys had time to destroy much.”
“I’d like to, sir, but this will be a prime target. There’s no way six guys can hold it.”
“What if we got some help from my ships? And it’s got a big roof. Maybe we can bring a ship in to the roof and unload your guys there.”
“I’d love to, but that frigate isn’t a helicopter. Your guys are pretty new to this spaceship stuff. Is it possible?”
“Depends on what’s on the roof, how close the ship can get. We don’t want broken legs.”
“Get on the horn and see what support you can get. I’ll check out the roof.”
He detailed the lieutenant to check the roof, then sent a sergeant back into the building while Trexler spoke with his frigate. “Tom, did you guys make it out?”
“We did, sir, but we took some hits. Nothing serious. The rest of the squadron will be here in an hour or two, maybe sooner. They’re bulling their way through a bunch of Chessori traders. It’s not much of a contest, the Chessori are pretty thin-skinned, but there are a lot of them, and we can’t leave any behind us – if we did, they’d be free to work on Waverly’s guys. Our goal is to clear the port so we can finish our delivery and pick you up.”
“I’m in the sector headquarters building. We’re thinking about trying to hold it, but there’s only six of us. We’ll need some help. Once we’re secure, I want you to try to drop your Raiders off on the roof.”
“Okay. I’ll get started back.”
“Tom, you’re not an attack vessel, you’re a troop carrier for the moment. You can’t take any chances with your passengers. Send someone else.”
“Uh, sir, there are a lot of Chessori out here. They’re lifting from all over the planet and heading this way. We’re only one squadron at the moment.”
“Pass the word, then. The gloves are off. Another squadron can fast ship in.”
“Aye, aye, sir!” Trexler couldn’t see the grin on Tom’s face, but he could sense it.
It was surprisingly calm, Trexler thought to himself as he waited. He was huddled next to Waverly who was on his communicator. He quickly got bored and slid sideways to the door. He stared out toward the port looking for advancing troops, his blaster held at the ready. Nothing moved.
Suddenly a hand grabbed his belt and pulled him away from the door.
“Hold on,” he heard Waverly say into his communicator. Angry eyes stared at him. “What are you doing, Admiral?”
“Looking for the bad guys.”
“You want to get yourself killed? That’s not how you do it. You take a quick look, then duck back under cover. Then you think about what you saw, got it?”
“Uh… yah… sure.”
“Okay. If you saw something you want to shoot at, you now have a pretty good idea of where it is. Raise your weapon, then take a quick look, aim, and fire. Three shots every time, and only three, each one aimed, then get back under cover. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, what are you looking for?”
“Chessori.”
“No you’re not. You’re looking for movement, and you’re looking for parts of the Chessori. They’re not going to stand up and let you shoot them. Look for motion, and look for part of a head looking around from cover. You won’t see the whole head, just part of it. Got it?”
“Uh, sure.”
“And what are you doing with that pop gun? Get a real weapon. Here,” he said, giving Trexler his own assault rifle.
Trexler looked at it, then studied it.
“Have you ever used one of these before?” Waverly demanded.
“No. I’ve never even held one.”
“Sheesh!” Waverly put the weapon to Trexler’s shoulder, positioned his hands, arms, and head, then showed him how to fire the weapon.
“Every shot is aimed. Every single shot. I won’t have any of this wild firing, understand? Use the sights. If you don’t have time to aim, don’t bother shooting because you’ll miss. Are you getting all this, sir?”
“I think I need to practice some.”
“That you do. Practice looking, then practice aiming. Do not fire unless you are certain of your target, and make sure it’s not one of my men. You’re right handed. Get on the other side of the door. Use it and the window.”
“Okay. I’m Ray, not Admiral. Got it?”
Waverly smiled a grim smile. “I’m a colonel, and you’re a four-star admiral, sir. Now leave me alone. I have work to do.”
He went back to his communicator, and Trexler practiced his looking, then he practiced snapping the weapon up at things inside the building. He now had a much healthier respect for not showing himself at the door. He managed to get the window open, so he alternated positions between it and the door.
On one of his brief looks, he saw motion. With the next look, he discovered a small tank approaching with a squad of Chessori behind it.
“I have motion out here, Jim.”
“If it’s not one of my guys, shoot it.”
“I don’t think so. It’s a tank.”
Waverly didn’t even take the time to look. He closed his communicator, gathered up a spare weapon, and yelled, “fall back!” He scuttled across the lobby to a stairway. The sergeant who had been sent on an errand met him there, carrying two large weapons in his arms. Trexler picked up Seeton, then realized he’d have to leave his weapon behind. A sergeant picked it up for him.
Waverly split up the men. He took Trexler, a sergeant, and one of the heavy weapons and quickly climbed the stairs. Trexler struggled up the stairs, stopped half way to rest his legs, then decided he didn’t want to get left behind. He reached the top on rubbery legs and discovered Waverly far down the hallway to his right. He followed as Waverly set up at the corner where he could watch the front and side of the building. The other three men took the other corner of the front of the building, about a hundred feet away. Trexler dropped Seeton in an unoccupied, inner office where he would be out of the line of fire, then he hurried to join up with Waverly.
The sergeant had the big gun set up well back from the window and was taking aim. Trexler moved off to a window down the front hallway and waited for the gun to fire. The moment it did, he opened the window and took a quick look outside. The canopy of the tank had been blown off, and a second series of shots blew the tank up.
Trexler took quick aim at a Chessori and fired three shots, then moved to another window and did the same. The squads of Chessori had been caught by surprise and took up defensive positions behind benches and trees. Trexler saw a foot sticking out from a bench and, figuring he had nothing to lose, shot at the bench itself. The second or third shot managed to get through the bench, and the Chessori collapsed.
The fighting drew more Chessori, then lots more. Return fire started exploding against the walls of the building, many of the shots coming through the windows to wreak havoc on the interior walls. Trexler looked to Waverly who was calmly firing away, moving to different firing positions from time to time.
Their situation looked pretty bleak to Trexler, and he got on his communicator. “
Tom, is anyone in position to help us? It’s getting grim here.”
“How grim? I’m the closest, and I’m free at the moment. Most of the fighting has moved into space.”
“We have tanks and troops about a hundred meters in front of the headquarters building. We’re holding them off, but we won’t last long.”
“I’ll take a look.”
“Do not risk your passengers. And don’t shoot Waverly’s men.”
“Understood, sir.”
Trexler kept up his peeking and shooting, and he actually hit two Chessori. About a minute later the frigate hove into view. It only stayed for a few seconds, then raced away with two Chessori traders on its tail, but what a few seconds! The ground in front of the building simply erupted. When Trexler lifted his head, he saw a couple of Chessori wandering aimlessly, their hands held to their heads. They fell quickly to shots from Waverly and the sergeant.
“You still there, sir?”
“I’m here, Tom. Are you in trouble?”
“No. I think we got a couple of the tanks. More are moving toward you. There were a bunch of guys moving on the rear of the building, but they’re not a problem for you any more.”
“What about the two traders behind you?”
“One’s gone. Uh… now the other one is. They’re really not a problem, sir. Their shields are pretty weak. The squadron is working its way toward the planet, but it’s taking longer than I thought. You won’t have fighter cover for a while.”
Trexler decided the first wave was done. They probably had a brief spell before the next one arrived. Waverly was sitting on the floor with the communicator to his head and papers spread out around him on the floor. The sergeant was moving from window to window, looking for targets.
“What’s your name, Sergeant?” he called across the room.
“Walters, sir. You doing okay? Do you need anything?”
“Just out of here.”
“Not to worry, sir. That frigate was great, wasn’t it?” he said with a grin, continuing a never-ending scan through the windows.
“I’d rather it parked right on top of us.”
“All in due time, sir. Keep your eyes peeled. They’ll be back.”
“The captain of the frigate said there were some Chessori working their way towards the back of the building. He took them out.”
“Okay.” Walters got on his communicator. “Lieutenant? They made an attempt on the back door. The frigate took care of them.” He listened for a moment, then said, “He’s pretty busy right now, sir. I think we should stay here.” Pause. “Okay, will do, sir.”
He looked at Trexler. “Lieutenant Stevens and his two guys are moving left to the next corner. That will put them kitty corner to us. Our lines of fire are now extended. We have to cover the whole front of the building and this whole side. He’ll cover the other side and the back. Understood, sir?”
Trexler nodded and went back to peeking and moving from window to window along the front of the building. Walters covered the side. Waverly never lifted his head, just stayed on his communicator non-stop.
“Sir, would you come over here for a minute?” Walters called.
“Uh, wait a minute. I see a tank, and more guys.”
“Okay. There’s one over here, too. They’re coming at us from two directions. We only have one gun, so we’ll deal with them one at a time.”
Trexler gulped and hurried over. Walters didn’t hesitate. He fired three quick shots at the tank, traversed the gun and fired at the Chessori behind it as the smoke cleared, then went after the tank again to finish it off. Trexler took several shots, as well, while Walters dragged the gun and its tripod to the front corridor. While the gun was being moved, Waverly got up from the floor, peeked out the side window, and loosed two short bursts, then returned to the papers spread about him on the floor.
“Here we go, sir.” Walters sent a long stream of bolts at the second tank, then moved closer to the window with his assault rifle, and both he and Trexler took out the attackers of the second wave.
Trexler heard heavy firing from the back of the building and looked at Walters. “Do you think they need help?”
“No, sir. They’ll call if they do.” He leaned sideways for a moment and loosed a burst. “Looks like a skirmish line coming this way.”
Trexler took a few peeks out his window and saw movement far to his left. “More out here, far to the left,” he called to Walters.
“Move down to that corner. You’ll have a better field of fire, sir.”
He looked at Waverly who was engrossed in a conversation on his communicator. “Hey, Jim!” he called. “Want to help out here a little?”
Waverly looked up. “Do what you can. If you need help, call.” He dismissed Trexler and went back to his conversation, moving some papers around on the floor as he looked for something.
Trexler hustled down to the far corner where he was joined by Lieutenant Stevens. They spent a lot of time dodging blaster bolts coming through the windows and returning fire, but eventually there was no more movement over the smoky ground.
“We’re moving up one floor, sir. Let Walters know,” Stevens ordered, then he hustled back to his corner in a crouch, almost on hands and knees as he went by windows.
Trexler gulped. He’d run the full length of the front of the building without even thinking about the windows. He peeked out a window again, saw no movement, and crawled the whole hundred feet back to Walters. Waverly glanced up from his papers but immediately went back to his communicator.
“All clear there, sir?” Walters asked.
“For the moment. Lieutenant Stevens asked me to tell you he’s moving up one floor.”
“Good idea. We’ll do the same when the colonel is ready.”
Trexler went back to his wall, then got back on his communicator. “How you doing, Tom?” he called.
“Are you in trouble, sir? I’m a little out of position, but I’ll head back your way.”
“No, we’re fine at the moment. I wouldn’t mind a short reconnaissance flight over us when you have the time.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“What’s going on up there? Are you guys okay?”
“Fine, sir. Just busy.”
“Why isn’t the port secure yet?”
“It’s secure, sir, but the airspace above it isn’t. I’d love to drop these guys off with you, but I can’t afford to be stationary that long.”
“What’s the problem? Can’t a cruiser just hover over us? No one will get by it.”
“Uh, well sir, one squadron is spread out in high orbit dealing with the Chessori, and the rest of our ships are spread out around the planet at low altitude.”
“Spread out around the planet? Why?”
“Colonel Waverly is trying to protect a number of important installations: power plants, armories, financial centers, and so on. I just finished dropping off four squads at an armory after we spotted Chessori there trying to break in. The other frigate has actually dropped most of its load already, small groups here and there.”
“I thought we were trying to secure the port, Tom.”
“It’s mostly secure on the ground, sir, but they’re still clearing buildings and ships to make sure. As soon as I can get my load in, they’ll start working toward you and the rest of government center.”
Just then, a tremendous explosion struck near Trexler. He hit the floor on his back, hard. When he looked up through the dust, he looked out through a great, gaping hole some ten feet away. Four tanks and lots of Chessori raced toward the building.
“Tom, you’d better get back here. We have four tanks in front of us and closing quickly.”
“Two minutes, sir.”
Waverly was picking papers up out of the dust. Walters already had the big gun packed up. They headed towards the stairwell at a trot, passing by Trexler. He fell in behind them and followed them up the stairs to the next level. They went to the same corner, and Walters set u
p the gun as far back as he could get from the nearest window. Waverly took his own window near the corner, and Trexler decided he’d move down the hall to the far corner.
On his knees again, of course.
Walters opened up with the big gun, and Waverly shot his widow out, then started firing. Trexler followed his example. The tanks were about 50 meters away and stopped. The corner of the second floor they’d just come from was taking a terrible beating. Walters took out one tank, then started on another, then the Chessori ground troops suddenly started running pell-mell for the building.
Glancing right, Trexler saw why. The frigate was upon them. It hesitated for just a moment, positioned directly over the building with its rear shields glowing. Trexler looked out the side window and saw three Chessori traders coming in behind the frigate, firing continuously. All the guns on the frigate opened up, some firing toward the Chessori ships, the rest firing at the Chessori ground troops. The ground near the building erupted. Windows, those that were left, blew out, then the frigate was off at high speed. Two fighters swooped in from above the building, and Trexler just got a glimpse of them before two of the Chessori traders exploded a few hundred meters from the building. Wreckage and heat pounded the building as they crashed nearby. He thought one of the defensive positions at the port might have fired at the remaining Chessori, but with all the noise and confusion, he wasn’t certain. When he next looked, the ships were gone.
Waverly and Walters took the stairs at full speed, headed down. Trexler searched for targets, even leaning out the window a little and loosing shots at the Chessori huddled against the building. He heard firing and grenades from down in the stairwell and leaned farther out, shooting at any Chessori he could locate. He was afraid to use grenades since he didn’t know where Waverly and Walters were.
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