by Mark Barber
“Understood, sir,” Clythe swallowed.
“Make sure you get plenty of rest whenever you can. We can’t control pauses in operations, so make best use of them and keep yourselves fit and rested. Any questions for me?”
Tahl paused, his brow raised as his stern eyes fixed on each trooper in turn. Nobody spoke.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Tahl said as he turned to leave. “I hope you all have a good evening.”
***
“Wait up!”
Van Noor ran through the dark, chilly corridor cut into the subterranean stone to catch up with his commanding officer. The younger man half turned to look at him as he caught up; Van Noor had known him long enough to know when he was less than fully content.
“I’m sorry, Ryen,” Van Noor offered genuinely. “It’s not my place to go talking about your personal life to the troops. Momentary lapse, bloody stupid, it won’t happen again.”
“I know, I know,” Tahl nodded. “Just… see that it doesn’t. We’ve all got a past, and I’m not proud of mine. I’d rather leave it in the past. It doesn’t matter, let’s just forget it and move on. We need to pick up where Squad Wen left off and scout out Hill 512 as a potential transmat station site. Now that we’ve hopefully put their stealth technology to bed, I’m confident that we can scout that route with just the four of us in the command squad, plus a couple of drones. What do you think?”
“Maybe worth taking a C3D1, just in case we need a bit more firepower,” Van Noor offered. “If we’re having a long night, it makes sense to lean a bit heavier on the drones rather than the troopers to save on tiring out our assets.”
“They’re noisy,” Tahl thought aloud as he rounded a corner in the rocky corridor, “but we’ll see them before they hear us.” Tahl paused to consder the option for a few moments. “Okay, let’s take one with us. Just in case.”
Chapter Three
Northern Hemisphere
Settlement Urban 218
City Center
L-Day plus 12
The deep rumble of a battery of x-howitzers from somewhere to the south announced an acknowledgement of Tahl’s orders, only a few moments before a series of spectacular explosions lit up the northern horizon. Through the lower left quadrant of his visual display, Tahl saw the impact of the shells patched across from Squad Jai’s spotter drone as a tall, grey apartment building crumbled at the foundations and collapsed in on itself to be replaced by a towering plume of dust and smoke. The dust blossomed up into the air, a little slower than normal due to the increased gravitational pull of the planet. The noticeable difference briefly reminded Tahl of the acid rain clouds of Prostock, the poisonous smog and half gravity of Vira 9, the thick viscous waters and deadly giant lizards of Maritanian. The list of planets assaulted and defended was near endless. At least now he needed only worry about his own company; the previous planetary assault at Prostock had seen Tahl temporarily promoted to Strike Commander of the entire Formation due to the mounting casualties.
“Beta Battery from Squad Jai,” Rall transmitted across the shard, “correct fire, alter aim to updated marker.”
“Beta Battery, acknowledged.”
Content that Rall had the situation to the north under control, Tahl surveyed his immediate surroundings once more. Hunkered down behind the cover of a ceremonial stone fountain in the main town square of Settlement Urban 218, Tahl had positioned his four man command squad centrally a few dozen yan behind a defensive line made up of the strike troopers of his company. A pair of C3M4 combat drones assisted the left flank whilst a larger number of the much smaller C3D1 drones provided fire support to the right. The sprawling, grey city was now devoid of civilians. Many of its buildings had been destroyed by the pre-assault orbital bombardment and by artillery fire called in against the areas of resistance that had been encountered during the assault itself. The skies above were relatively clear, allowing rays of sunshine to light up the thick clouds of dust which hung over the entire city.
Tahl changed his view to survey the entire battlescape again, updating his awareness of the rapidly evolving situation with a fresh update from his squads’ spotter drones. A platoon of six enemy armored vehicles – archaic looking things which moved across the ground on tracks – were attempting to outflank to the left whilst a concentration of enemy infantry was attempting a similar maneuver to the right. Meanwhile, Rall’s Squad Jai held strong against a push against the center of the company’s defensive line.
“Squad Teal from Command,” Tahl addressed Strike Leader Yavn, “hostiles, six armored vehicles, moving to the northeast of your position. Engage with M4s.”
“Command, Teal, copied,” Yavn replied calmly. “M4 Alpha, move to my marker and engage hostile armor.”
“M4 Alpha, acknowledged,” came the deep, metallic response from the sentient combat drone as it led its fellow C3M4 against the manned enemy vehicles.
Tahl paused for a moment to consider his options. The main threat from enemy infantry so far had been when they managed to get in close – their firearms were like rain drops from far away, but up close they could and sometimes did penetrate the strike troopers’ hyperlight shields, although the physical armor they wore was then normally sufficient to ward off the shots which made it through. Their armored vehicles were a different matter entirely; whilst the scientists of Markov’s Prize had not yet progressed onto making magnetically accelerated weapons small enough to be handheld – let alone plasma weapons – they had at least managed to fit magnetic cannons to their vehicles, and these were a very real and very modern threat, capable enough even to destroy Concord battledrones.
Van Noor crawled over, keeping cover behind the shallow wall which ran around the fountain.
“Boss, we’ve got something moving in toward us. Spotter drone’s picked up movement near marker echo,” the senior strike leader informed him. “We’ve still got a gap somewhere in our line because these bastards keep on trickling through.”
“Understood,” Tahl nodded. “Probably just a probing move, but get some markers selected for Beta Battery in case it’s anything substantial. In the meantime, we hold position. It looks as though the main counterattack is coming in against the left flank.”
“Yeah, concur,” Van Noor replied before turning to relay a series of orders to the troopers and drones which made up the remainder of the command squad.
***
The red diamonds projected onto Sessetti’s viewscreen remained stationary as the enemy soldiers held position behind the cover of the semi-destroyed hospital to the north. Sessetti shifted in position in an attempt to relieve another bout of cramp entering his right leg. He remained prone in the cover of a collapsed residential building, his plasma carbine held at the ready and pointing across the playing fields to the north toward the hospital. At the far right of the company’s defensive position, they had experienced sporadic resistance, but judging by the snippets of conversation relayed to him across the shard, things were far worse off to the east of the line.
“C’mon, little piggy,” Jemmel murmured under her breath, “just poke your head up and take a look around…”
Sessetti looked to his right. Clythe lay next to him, plasma carbine at his shoulder; whilst a little higher on what remained of the first floor, Jemmel crouched over her plasma lance and urged the enemy soldiers to give her an opportunity to fire.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Gant reminded from his position to the left of the line. “Spotter drone’s got movement to our right.”
Sessetti could not help but wonder why these pearls of wisdom were issued from another trooper and not Rhona, their leader. The young woman crouched behind cover to his left, her helmet removed and her back to a wall between her and the enemy, her dark eyes fixed on a cloud up above.
“Two hours,” Clythe whispered from next to him. “Two hours laying here and I had to pick a position with the corner of a brick pointing right between my balls…”
Qan sniggered.
&n
bsp; “Stay focused, children!” Gant snapped.
“Hostiles, thirty plus, moving south of marker indigo,” the squad’s spotter drone suddenly announced.
Rhona sprang into action, dragging on her helmet and dashing over to the right hand side of the squad’s line.
“D1 Alpha, Squad Wen, move to marker indigo,” Rhona commanded, watching as a trio of disc shaped C3D1 light combat drones responded to her command and shot off at head height across the playing field toward the reported enemy position.
As soon as they were in the open, muzzle flashes danced along the windows and rooftops of the hospital building as a group of enemy soldiers opened fire.
“Enemy fire, marker alpha!” Jemmel shouted, not waiting for a command to return fire herself with her plasma lance.
“Squad Wen, marker alpha, open fire!” Rhona ordered, raising her own carbine to her shoulder and firing off an aimed shot.
Sessetti could only see the two dozen red diamonds on the far side of a playing field and the vague outline of the hospital building whose crisp lines were blended into a blur by the smoke and dust. He took aim, held his breath, and squeezed off a series of slow, deliberate shots at the enemy positions. After his third shot, one of the diamonds faded to nothing. Unless he had selected the same target as one of his comrades, he had just killed another panhuman. He lifted his head away from the weapon’s sighting system and raised his helmet’s faceplate, taking in a deep breath. He instantly felt the soothing embrace of the shard’s external assistance wash over him and the numbness and nausea associated with the action dissipated.
He took aim again and resumed firing.
***
“There’s a push on the right flank,” Van Noor reported. “Looks like one group dug in at the hospital and another moving to flank.”
“Yes, I see it,” Tahl replied as he surveyed the battlefield, fighting the urge to pick up his carbine and sprint over toward the fighting. “They’ve moved the D1s in to fire; I’m content they have the line held.”
A whizz like a loud insect suddenly shot through the air and Cane, one of the command squad troopers, span around where he crouched and fell to the ground screaming, clutching at his arm pit as blood spattered across his armored chestplate.
“Sniper!” Van Noor yelled.
The squad – even the drones – dropped to the ground. Tahl crawled across to his wounded trooper and grabbed him by one leg, yanking him from the position where he fell to the comparative safety of the cover behind the fountain. A projectile had struck him in the vulnerable arm joint of his battlesuit, easily penetrating the thinner armor and half severing his limb in the process. With analgesia already issued from his battlesuit, Cane’s agonized screams had eased off to grunts and groans. Tahl grabbed at the medical pouch from his utility belt and took out the small cauterizing tool, quickly burning the wound shut to stem the flow of blood. He flipped his faceplate back so his wounded soldier could see his eyes.
“You’re good, Dez,” he smiled. “Just stay down and we’ll get you proper care as soon as we can.”
“Medi-drone, Command,” Van Noor called. “Casualty, return to our position.”
The medi-drone acknowledged through the shard as Tahl looked at his immediate surroundings. The enemy shot had come from the northwest, judging from how the impact had spun Cane around. Glancing up, Tahl saw only one colossal, towering building some two hundred yan in that direction.
“He’s in there,” Tahl declared, “tall, spired building at marker sierra.”
“Got it, Boss,” Van Noor acknowledged as he hugged his carbine in to his shoulder. “If you’re happy, I’d recommend you stay here with Cane and keep the battle management going. Me and Kachi will go clear out the cathedral.”
“That’s not a good way to clear out a sniper, Senior,” Tahl exhaled. “You know the standard drill.”
Van Noor crawled back over, giving Cane an encouraging pat on the back as he passed, and then removed his faceplate to speak face to face with Tahl.
“That building’s a thousand years old, Ryen,” he urged, “it’d be a crying shame to do that to these people.”
“I know, Bry, I know,” Tahl murmured his response, as the medi-drone buzzed over from the west. “And it looks like a building of faith which makes this even more heartbreaking. But I’m not losing two of my soldiers to save an old building, especially when, for all we know, there’s an entire squad in there waiting for you.”
Tahl mentally activated his shard communicator and opened a channel to Beta Battery.
“Beta from Command,” he spoke, “we’ve been engaged by a sniper at marker sierra. Fire for effect, over.”
***
Squad Jai’s position in the center of the line was amongst the rubble, debris, and carnage of the heaviest of the pre-assault bombardment. An industrial site had been flattened by the barrage into a sea of broken concrete and twisted metal. A sheet of broken grey covered ground that was once dozens of huge buildings and interconnecting roads.
Three waves of ten or fifteen enemy soldiers, their grey uniforms and black body armor well camouflaged against the debris, had attempted to cross the industrial ruins; but on each attempt, Rall’s squad had beaten them back. However, the planet’s military had managed to make their mark, and Rall already had one dead and one critically wounded.
“Enemy movement at marker ghia,” their spotter drone reported. “Thirteen hostiles.”
Rall checked his visual display and saw the familiar red diamonds picking their way through the rubble ahead, only moments away from a clear field of fire. The drone spoke again.
“Second enemy group, marker tare, ten hostiles.”
“They’ve gotten around the side of us!” Pendel, his plasma lance gunner, seethed.
“They wanna get in close?” Rall growled, his brow twisted in fury. “They think that’s where we’re weak? Squad Jai, follow me!”
Leading his five remaining strike troopers through the treacherous rubble and thick, acrid smoke that poured from still burning fires all around, Rall closed with the second enemy group to the east. He dropped to one knee and held a hand up to signal for his squad to hold position as they drew closer to the enemy squad. The red diamonds crept closer until panhuman shapes could be seen crossing the ruins up ahead. Ten men, their primitive looking rifles held across their chests and their useless black helmets and body armor jackets standing out from their grey combat fatigues, moved into view.
“Squad Jai, rapid fire!”
On their leader’s command, the six troopers opened fire with their carbines and lance set to automatic, painting the space between the two opposing groups with crisscrossing lines of boiling blue matter as their projectiles cut into the enemy group. With a bravery that impressed even Rall, the enemy soldiers screamed and charged at the Concord troopers.
“On me!” Rall screamed, sprinting forward to meet them.
His carbine tucked into his hip, he fired a long burst of scatter plasma fire which cut into the abdomen of the lead soldier, dropping him to the rubble. Two more men stepped over to meet Rall; he ducked low as one man attempted to tackle him around the neck and sprang back up on the other side, clubbing the second man around the face with his carbine and knocking him to the ground.
To his right, a tall enemy soldier tackled Pendel whilst a second planted a grenade on his torso which detonated on impact, tearing the Concord soldier in half at the waist and killing both of his attackers. With a cry of rage, Rall threw aside a bulky enemy soldier who lunged at his face with a bayonet before dropping back to the assailant he had knocked over with his initial attack, smashing his carbine butt into the soldier’s panicked face again and again until he had split open the man’s head.
He looked up for another target but found only dead bodies strewn across the rubble, some butchered savagely in the hand to hand combat, and others torn asunder by the enemy grenades. Three of his men lay dead amongst the enemy squad of ten.
“Enemy g
roup, thirty yan north, closing!” The spotter drone reported with a tone of urgency which nearly humanized it.
“Get your act together, guys!” Rall growled at his three troopers. “They’re coming in again! Chian, grab the lance!”
Rall was unafraid of hand to hand fighting, but even in the short moment’s contemplation open to him, he had to admit that he was surprised by how many troopers he had lost in the last engagement. That was not the way ahead.
“Get in cover!” He barked at his troops. “We’ll take them down with rapid fire on the way in!”
“Squad Jai, Command,” Strike Captain Tahl’s voice spoke through the shard, reminding Rall to check his position relative to the others on the company shard. “Hold position, you have friendlies moving to your east and west.”
A sudden feeling of weariness washed over Rall as he saw blue diamonds on his display to his left and right. He was keen to return to the fight, but orders were orders, and he respected that. Patching in his squad’s drone to the spotter drone of the command squad, he watched as Tahl and Van Noor caught the second enemy squad in a withering crossfire between their own weapons and a pair of C3D1 droids, cutting down the enemy in a hail of plasma before the battlefield fell silent once more.
***
Muttering a prayer under his breath, Tahl watched as the bodies of his eight dead soldiers were loaded into a C3T7 transport drone for ferrying to a transmat sight. Only two head wounds; that meant six of his dead men and women had a chance at least of full regen – having new body tissue grown for them. A fresh company of strike troopers had arrived in the early evening to take the line, and now his men and women were heading back to the south to rearm and reequip. Fires still burned in the city center and columns of black smoke punctuated the otherwise hazy yellow atmosphere.
