A fierce fire fight was occurring on the right flank of Jelka’s group. “Chalker, ten rogan ahead. Need help.”
“Roger. Can you bypass them?”
“No. They are in main building, firing down onto us. Need help.”
“Steff hold where you are” ordered Sue.
“Roger. We can see transports 200m ahead.”
“Right. Fowlsit we need to commit the reserve.”
“Understood. I will commit.”
Dan saw Jim Teller being briefed by Fowlsit and then the rest of his team and the command group moved off to the right and the sound of gunfire. He was all alone now.
Sue was there with Jelka to meet Fowlsit and Jim Teller about 100m from the main entrance building. They were in dead ground courtesy of the rubble from the destroyed bunker. Every now and then some pulse fire went over their heads, matched by a similar number of shots going the other way from 30m in front. Ammo must have been low for both sides.
“I need you to attack from here Jim and drive into the building from the north west. Try and force them out in front of Jelka’s group. Do you understand?” asked Sue.
“Yep.”
Sue could see that he was afraid and why wouldn’t he be. He would have no flank protection on his right and he was going to have to get close and personal with an enemy behind cover.
“Let me know when you are ready and I’ll have the grenadiers lay down a short barrage onto the building. But you need to get in fast. Don’t get caught out in front. Alright?”
“Yep.”
“OK” and Sue looked to Fowlsit but he shook his head to indicate he had nothing to add. “Off you go. Good luck.”
Just as Jim was leading his team to their forming up place Art arrived. He had left Val and his group down near the runway behind Steff’s group. “Why don’t we use this attack as cover for us to go and grab the transports?”
“No good” said Fowlsit. “You can see the transports from the main entrance building. You will be cut down. You must wait.”
“OK but we could push Steff’s group up and allow us to slot in behind her. That way we won’t have far to dash when the time comes.”
“Alright” said Fowlsit and Sue nodded her concurrence.
Art came up to Steff’s position and told her the good news. She had been quite happy to stay put but reluctantly accepted the task. “Wait until Jim’s assault begins” said Art.
It took Jim another ten minutes before he was ready. “Assault underway” he hailed. His troops did not go in firing. The enemy looked preoccupied with Jelka’s group who began lifting their rate of fire. Jim’s group covered the 100m to the building in three minutes. He was jogging at the end. He jumped through the hole in the wall and went to ground covering down the corridor. His gunner followed shortly behind.
Steff had her group up and moving forward. They had advanced 50m before they came under fire, not from the main entrance building but from a position on the edge of the runway near the transports. She saw one of her marines fall on her left. Hit by a spray of automatic fire. She started barking orders and fire and moved her group in two teams.
Jim pushed into the building along the connecting corridor he had gained entrance. It came out into the main circular space at the centre. He was leading from the front. “Get down” his gunner yelled from behind him. Jim dived to the floor and his gunner let loose a burst of fire that impacted on the entrance at the far side of the main space. He saw a rogan warrior fall clutching its stomach. Jim was trying to work out what to do next when his team mates started running over his body and breaking left and right into the space to form a line. They started firing down the opposing corridor as more rogan tried to intervene. Jim joined the fire fight.
Steff was puffing strongly. She didn’t know how many more of these gruelling runs she could make. She lifted her head took aim at what she thought was a body and fired. She saw Sophie up on her feet firing a burst from the hip into the enemy position. Her mate next to her did the same while two more in the left team stormed over the body of a fallen rogan. It was then that a grenade went off and one of the two marines was propelled back with a great thud as his body hit the ground.
“Sophie stay put” hailed Steff. She ordered her right group to angle toward the enemy position. A rogan started running south away from the attackers. Jans aimed and fired bringing the warrior down. Another made a dash for it and Jans fired again but missed.
The sun was up full and bright now and Steff could see two figures about 150m away making a run for the transports. She fired but missed. Sophie on the edge of the runway saw them too. She fired and one was hit. The other helped the wounded figure and they were able to make it to the nearest craft.
“Someone’s just made a run for one of the transport” hailed Steff.
“We have to go now” hailed Art.
“Jim, hurry up” hailed Sue.
Jim was too busy to reply. There were at least four dead rogan in front of him and still more fire was pouring out from behind them.
“We need to go now regardless of the main entrance” hailed Art.
“Go Simons” said Fowlsit.
“Follow me” hailed Art to his group and they took off at a trot hugging the edge of the runway. He could now see one of the figures securing the hatch. They were about 80m away now.
A minute later the craft started to move. “Freddy we can’t let ‘em get away” said Art.
Freddy barked out an order and one of his marines shouldered their surface to space missile launcher. It had to power up and it seemed to take forever. Art was still jogging. He looked back to see why the missile hadn’t fired. “Come on” he hailed.
The transport’s retroes had fired strong and lifted the craft sufficiently high enough for it to engage thrusters. It was picking up speed very quickly. It had cleared the runway and was in a steep climb when the missile finally fired. It accelerated and climbed seeking its target.
Art glanced up and saw the contrail of the missile. He focussed ahead. The transports were only forty metres away now. He glanced back up to the sky but could not see the missile or the transport. “What happened?”
“A miss” hailed Freddy.
“Blast. Dan let the Chicago know that the transport that just took off is hostile.”
“WILCO” said Dan. “How many troops on it?”
“Just two, we think” said Art. He switched all of his focus forward now. He aimed for the nearest transport. A shot twanged over his head. He ignored it and kept running. Val who was about ten metres behind him wasn’t so sure about that. But she felt compelled to follow Art. She glanced behind her to see Freddy and Evie. She was surprised Evie could keep up.
Chapter 28. Chicago over Fulmar 0655, 5 February
Mick Riley had expected this news. He looked to his offensive specialist and gave him the nod. But it was the defensive specialist who called out. “Incoming light ship Charlie 1 bearing 756482, range 9,000.”
“Shit” said Mick. “Friend or foe.”
“Unknown.”
“Engage transport. Hail incoming.”
“2 Missiles launched against transport.”
“They are not responding Sir.”
“Engage Charlie 1, ten for one.”
“Engaging Charlie 1. Ten missiles launched.
“Charlie 1 launching missiles.”
Mick was impatient but he knew better, so he waited.
“4 missiles at ours heading for transport and 16 at ours heading for Charlie 1.”
“Can we get any ID on this craft?”
“Transport heading to RV with Charlie 1.”
“Of course” said Mick. He was furious now. He’d been caught napping.
“No runners left going to Transport.”
“4 runners to Charlie 1. ETA in 2.”
“Transport docked with Charlie 1.”
Mick shook his head and prayed that his four remaining runners would be enough.
“Two hits against Charlie 1….Charlie
1 warping away.”
Mick slumped back in his chair. He’d been bettered again and he was hating the taste it left in his mouth. “Damm it!....Let Soln know.”
Chapter 29. Chester February 0700, 5 February
“Oh shit” said Matt Turiq as he read Art’s signal about the presence of a rogan resistance leader. “It just keeps getting better.”
“I don’t think this is bad news Sir” said Jack Malawi. “Whether we like it or not we are now in a shooting war with an empire that stretches over how many start systems?”
“Seventy wasn’t it.”
“Yeah seventy. I think it’s good that they have problems don’t you. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Yeah you’re right Jack. Fleet are going to need to hear this asap. Get the Admiral in, now! Better get the whole team in.”
Chapter 30. Soln 0710, 5 February
Art took the news badly. He had a fair idea who those two figures were and what that ship was. But he had to leave that now. Evie was giving him a crash course in rogan piloting. Val had secured the other craft with two of Freddy’s marines. Freddy was outside with the rest, returning the odd shot being fired at them from the main entrance building.
“Jim SITREP” demanded Sue. She was getting impatient. Still no reply. She grabbed Tpr Brie Fontaine her medic and made her way via a circuitous route to where Jim had gained entrance. The noise of a desultory firefight could be heard not far away. She looked back to ensure Brie was still with her. She was but Sue could see that she was petrified.
Sue entered the breached wall and went to ground till Brie did likewise. She stood back up and made her way forward. The entrance to the main space was about ten metres ahead. A pulse shot impacted the wall ahead. She stopped. She couldn’t see any marines but she could see the traces of pulse fire emanating from them on either side of the entrance.
She went to hail Jim but received an ear piercing whine when she opened the channel. She quickly shut it down. They were being jammed. It was incredibly local. ‘Just here’ thought Sue. Well there was nothing for it. She held up her hand to Brie. Brie got the message and went prone.
Sue went back a few paces and then with a run up dived out into the space. She rolled left immediately after impact. A burst of fire tore into the wall above her but otherwise missed. She ended up a couple of metres from a marine who was behind a large section of the roof which had fallen in. She rolled again closer to take cover.
She took a deep breath in and turned to face him. He looked pleased to see her. She mouthed ‘Jim’ and he got the message for he pointed to the soldier on his left. She squirmed her way over his legs and sidled up next to Jim who gave her a smile. He put his hand to the side of his helmet and tapped and shook his head. Sue nodded hers. She mouthed ‘How many?’ He didn’t understand. She tried again slowly. He held up his left hand with three fingers extended. He pointed to the opposing corridor. She edged her head up to briefly look over towards the entrance. Pulse fire targeted her as she ducked back down.
They were in a stand-off and needed help. It was impossible to just hail for it. The chances of going back were next to none. That’s why Jim had not got word to her. She pulled out a grenade from her belt pouch and held in front of Jim. He got the idea. He pulled his out and then held up one finger. ‘So he’s only got one left. This will be all or nothing then.’
She mouthed ‘Ready’. Jim nodded and then tapped his buddy on the shoulder. His buddy got the idea too. Sue turned to her right and got the attention of the two marines 15 paces away. She held out the grenade and then gave the hand signal for fire support. They nodded.
She armed the grenade, saw Jim do the same. She nodded to the two marines and they popped up from behind their cover and started firing. The rogan began returning fire. She popped up and threw the grenade. It hit the wall rather than go down the corridor. But Jim’s did go through. The two explosions deafened them. Jim’s hit pay dirt. The rogan fire stopped.
Sue jumped up and charged forward. Jim was surprised but realised that he should do so too. He followed as did his buddy. The other two fire support marines stopped firing as soon as Sue was close to the entrance. Sue fired a long burst down the corridor. There was no return fire. She poked her head around the corner to see. All she saw were bodies, blood and goo. She called for the two fire support marines to push on down the corridor.
They got to what had been the main entrance and began firing. Sue rushed up with Jim and his mate but it was all over. Two more bodies were now on the floor. She gave some more hand signals for Jim to deploy there and she went back and collected Brie. She made her way out the way she had come in. She tried hailing but it was still jammed. It wasn’t until she was a good 50m away that she could finally get through to Fowlsit and tell him the building was theirs.
Fowlsit breathed easy for the first time that morning. He ordered Jelka to sweep the area south of the main entrance. As the tall sleth troopers stormed past the main entrance building six rogan soldiers came forward to surrender. One was shot immediately by a trooper not far from Jelka. He moved quickly to the trooper and smacked him on his helmet.
Once Jelka had cleared the area, Fowlsit ordered a sweep forward from S3 to link up with Jelka’s group. A few shots were heard but the surviving rogan knew they were surrounded and surrendered en masse. The 17 rogan prisoners were secured in the S3 complex. After some interrogation they found the jamming equipment and turned it off. It was 0810.
“Hoyle” hailed Fowlsit “we have won. Tell Chicago.”
A big smile came across Dan’s face.
Chapter 31. Chester 0750, 5 February
“You were right” said VAdm Rose McCubbin.
“About what Maam?” asked Matt.
“About this not being what an Admiral wants to hear. Mmm. Well we can’t change what has happened. It’s not all bad. You were right, Rihan, about requesting backup from Fleet. Have we got any response yet.”
Rihan smiled though this was not something she would ever gloat over. “No Maam, not yet” she replied.
“Matt, go ahead and send your signal to Fleet. The sooner they know about the rogan resistance the better. It also adds weight to the argument for sending reinforcements.” Rose was lost in her own thoughts.
Matt hit the send on his console.
“You know if the Chicago had its own fighters we probably wouldn’t have lost those marines” said Rose. She hit the table with her open palm. “Those fossils at Fleet HQ. When are they going to learn. Rihan I know I’ve been harping on this for some time now but I want you to draft up a position paper citing this battle report and once again making the case for a change in policy.”
“Will do Maam.”
“When do you reckon we’ll hear about the outcome of their attack?”
“It got underway two hours ago” said Jack. “May have already finished. Allow another 12 hours, so early tonight.”
Chapter 32. Drakush over Fulmar 0830, 5 February
“So what” said Chief Emil Faruk “they’re coming to reinforce us?”
“Not straight away” said Mick Riley.
“Why not?”
“Our drives are down. We’re trying to get them repaired. So we can’t get close enough to support another boarding operation with our beam weapons and we’re not going to use missiles lest we hit you.”
“Terrific, Sir” said a less than impressed Emil. “How long’s that goin’ to take?”
“I’m not sure Chief. But the Hermes and Rio are due in soon. With their help we can launch another boarding attempt. Just hang in there. Has there been any activity at your end?”
“No, no activity. They don’t need to, we’re all going to suffocate before too long and they know it.”
“I hear you Chief. We won’t let that happen.”
Chapter 33. Chicago over Fulmar 1015, 5 February
Whisky 1 landed in the Chicago’s hangar, which was empty except for its surviving but damaged warthog. Mick Riley was t
here to greet Dave and Chase. They went into one of the smaller briefing rooms where Mick told a sorry tale.
“So let me get this right” said Dave. “The rogan cap appears to be disabled or it’s prepared to wait presumably for reinforcements to arrive.”
Mick nodded.
“You’ve got how many marines in its hangar?”
“Twenty.”
“Right and you’ve lost three of your warthogs and the fourth is damaged and unserviceable. Plus you’ve lost my Streamliner.”
Mick nodded.
“Your Captain, XO and Marine Commander have been killed along with 30 of your marines and another 26 ship’s personnel on board.”
Mick nodded.
“You’ve only got modest impulse power and no warp capability.”
“We are working on that but we lost a lot of our engineers.”
“And to top matter off an unknown craft warped in and was able to dock with an escaping transport and warp away and Lt Simons reckons this was most likely Bane escaping.”
“Yes” said Mick “It’s been a disaster from the get go. I’m sorry Sir. But all is not lost. We have secured Soln. We have three transports on the deck, two with pilots and they can be fully loaded with troops to assist another boarding operation. And the Rio is due in this afternoon. Not sure what time.”
“Are the beam weapons working on that rogan cap?”
“I can’t be sure. I think they were taken out in our missile attack. We got 29 hits on her. They didn’t fire at our incoming warthogs but then they wouldn’t have seen them till late with the cloaking.”
“Twenty nine hits is a good strike” said Dave. He recognised the discomfort Mick felt and if his story was true then he knew that the blame was not all his. “Do these transports have cloaking?”
“Not according to Evie?”
“Who’s Evie?”
“The rogan that was with the sleth. She’s the daughter of some big shot in the rogan high council. She’s pissed off at them and is trying to lead a resistance. I don’t know much more than that but she’ll be flying one of the transports and is teaching Art Simons how to fly the other.”
Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World Page 31
