Sergeant Kurka walked over and waited for Colonel Kuhr to finish. He reported, “Sir, the regiment is ready to move.”
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
“Sir, what of our aerial transports and ground support vehicles, shall I order the crews to make ready?”
In the rush to get on top of the situation, Kuhr had forgotten about their integral fighting assets. “A wise idea, Sergeant. Have my adjutant pass the order for crews to prepare their equipment for battle. We may not need them, but I’d feel better if I knew that they were ready to move on a moment’s notice.”
“It will be done, sir,” replied the old sergeant as he ambled off to find Captain Kazar.
With the orders given, Kuhr could only wait. Once more he turned his head and stared up at the stars. He spotted a bright light racing across the night sky. It looked like a meteor, but he knew better. It was one of the planet’s communications satellites that he had spotted the night before. He watched it streak past only to vanish in the blink of an eye. How odd, he thought to himself. It shouldn’t have reentered the atmosphere and if it did, it would have left a bright trail behind it as it burnt up. For now he let it go. He had more important things on his mind. When the dust settled, he could ask all the questions he wanted. He looked away and walked to the front of his tent. In the low ground, he could see the warriors of the Fourth Battalion running in step toward the train station. Colonel Kur didn’t expect things to take long. His soldiers were more than a match for any escaped prisoners. He looked forward to getting the ritual back on track and enjoying the dawn ceremony.
Above him, another satellite quickly followed by another vanished. As did his ability to communicate with anyone outside of his camp. Colonel Kuhr did not know it yet, but his troubles were just beginning.
Chapter 31
Smoke clouded the air. The sound of automatic gunfire in the enclosed space drowned out the voices of the dead and dying that littered the floor of the train carriage.
Sheridan dropped his empty pistol and picked up a Chosen soldier’s discarded rifle. The second train car filled with prisoners had fallen quickly. However, the enemy soldiers in the last carriage were not as easily surprised and were selling their lives dearly. Caught in the deadly crossfire were the prisoners who could do nothing more than lay down with their hands over heads and wait for the nightmare to be over.
With a long burst, Sheridan killed a Chosen sergeant who was trying to haul a terrified woman up off the floor to use her as a shield. Standing beside him was Sergeant Lee. Hit three times already, the indomitable Marine refused to step back and let someone else join the fray. Through the smoke, Sheridan could see that there were only a Kurgan officer and one Chosen soldier blocking the way to the train’s engine compartment. He had had enough. With a flick of the arming switch, Sheridan activated the grenade launcher on his rifle.
“Everyone down!” hollered Sheridan as he pulled the trigger. In the blink of an eye, the high-explosive shell struck the Kurgan officer in the chest. With a loud boom, it exploded, killing him and the warrior next to him. A shard of shrapnel flew back and hit Sheridan on the cheek, digging a deep groove into his flesh. He was so worked up that he never felt the blood trickling down his face.
Sheridan edged forward over the bodies of several dead Chosen soldiers until he came to the front of the carriage. The Kurgan officer was nowhere to be seen. Blood and gore were splattered on the walls. He opened a door and saw that they had finally arrived at the engine compartment. It had cost at least a dozen lives and twice as many injured personnel to get this far. Sheridan turned his head and called out, “Next team up.”
Through the haze, Tarina and Crewman Jones made their way through the debris-filled car to link up with Sheridan and Lee.
Sheridan stepped out of the way to allow Tarina and her partner to place the explosives on the final door barring their way. As soon as the devices were set, Tarina pressed the arm button and hauled Jones back to avoid the coming blast.
In his mind, Sheridan counted down the three-second delay. Right on time, the grenades exploded shattering the door leading to the engine. Sheridan was first one inside and saw that aside from a terrified engineer sitting behind his computer console, the compartment was empty. He let out a deep breath. The fight was over.
Sheridan walked over and jammed the still hot barrel of his rifle into the man’s side. “Stop this train and then take us back toward the prison.”
The Chosen shook his head. “I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I can’t do what you want.”
“Why not?”
The man, his hand shaking uncontrollably, pointed to the computer built into the wall of the carriage. “The outgoing route is fixed as is the return one. I just ensure that the train does not go too fast and fly off its track.”
Sheridan swore. “Okay, when do we arrive at our destination?”
The Chosen checked the time on the computer screen. “In four minutes and twelve seconds.”
They had spilled so much blood to get this far; Sheridan couldn’t believe that there was nothing they could do. He looked over at the screen before asking, “Once we stop, can you activate the return trip without waiting to be told to do so?”
“Yes, but why would I?”
“Because if you don’t the sergeant standing behind me will rip your head off with his bare hands, that’s why.”
When the engineer saw the blood-stained visage of Sergeant Lee staring down at him, he gulped and nodded. Any thought of resistance evaporated in under a second.
Sheridan turned and filled in Lee with what was going on.
Lee smiled, stepped over to the train’s engineer, and put his rifle up against the man’s temple. “Hello,” he said in Kurgan.
“Hello,” replied the engineer, positive that he was looking into the eyes of the devil himself.
Sheridan moved back to the last train car and met Tarina and Jones waiting there for him. Both were covered in sweat and blood.
“Michael, you’ve been hit,” said Tarina as she reached over and wiped the blood from his cheek.
Sheridan saw the blood and shrugged. “I hadn’t noticed. How are we?”
“We lost fourteen people during the fight,” said Tarina, her voice was tired and sad. “A couple more are on their way out. There are plenty of injuries, but most are superficial or light wounds. Aside from that, the remainder of the freed prisoners seem to be doing okay.”
He smiled. “We’re not out of the woods yet. In only a couple of minutes’ time, we’re going to arrive at the Kurg camp. Hopefully, we can get this heap of junk moving back the way we came before the Kurgans manage to put a stop to our little rebellion.”
“Michael, I doubt anyone here wants to go back into that godawful prison.”
“None of you will. When we’re about fifty klicks from the mine, I’ll disable the train’s engine. We’ll head for the hills and hunker down until the task force arrives.”
Tarina put her hand on his shoulder. “No matter what happens next, I’m happy that you’re here by my side.”
He placed a hand over hers. “So am I, Tarina, so am I.”
Chapter 32
Private Snow spat out the food he had been chewing, scrambled to his feet, and ran over to Lieutenant Toscano’s side. She was lying on the ground with a blanket wrapped around her “Ma’am, . . . ma’am, please wake up. I’m picking up chatter, a lot of chatter on the radio!”
Toscano sat straight up, pulled off her lightweight blanket, and looked up at Snow. “Are you sure? The task force isn’t due for another twenty-four hours.”
“I’m positive, ma’am. I’ve got comms traffic from several fighter groups. I think they’re busy blasting the Kurg satellites to pieces.”
Toscano nudged Urban with her boot. “Game on, Sergeant, it’s time to guide in the assault force.”
Urban got right to his feet. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he checked the time. “They’re early.”
“Early
or not, we’ve got a job to do. And one thing’s for sure, we can’t do it from in here. Let’s grab the comms and laser-marking gear and get up on top of this butte.”
With their arms full of weapons and equipment, Toscano, Urban, and Snow climbed out of the cave, ran to the edge of the rocky hill, and set up an observation post.
Toscano grabbed a handset and keyed the mic, “Trident Six, this is Ghost One, over.” With her heart beating like a drum, she waited for someone high above in orbit to answer her call.
Within seconds of one another, all of the task force’s ships ended their jump right above the prison planet. Admiral Sheridan stood with his hands behind his back and watched the tactical screen as his ships spread out and got to work. The Saratoga launched one of her fighter squadrons to destroy all of the Kurgan satellites and any ships unlucky enough to be in orbit. Another squadron took up position around the task force ships to protect it. The last two waited for the order to begin their attack on the planet’s surface to clear away any enemy opposition before the landing craft went down. The missile cruiser, Ford, had already launched her first salvo of missiles at the communications sites around the mine to prevent the enemy from calling for help. The destroyers, Churchill and Algonquin, maneuvered to cover the landing craft that would be used to bring the freed prisoners home, while the support ship, Arctic, stayed close to the Saratoga, ready to assist as needed.
“Sir, Colonel White wants to know if he can begin his descent,” said Killam, looking up from his console.
Admiral Sheridan shook his head. “Has there been any word from the reconnaissance team? I don’t want White’s ground force going in blind.”
“Yes, sir. They just came up on the means,” replied the communications officer.
“On speaker.”
Toscano’s voice came in loud and clear. “Trident Six, this is Ghost One, do you read me, over.”
“This is Trident Six, we hear you loud and clear, over,” replied the admiral. “What is your status down there?”
“We crash-landed but have managed to set up an OP overlooking the mine. We have already sent to you the coordinates for five possible LZs and have also identified several Kurgan heavy weapons positions.”
“Got ‘em,” said Killam as he rushed to relay the info to the task force.
“Any word on the status of the prisoners?” asked Admiral Sheridan.
“None. We have men inside but have yet to hear back from them.”
Robert Sheridan didn’t have to be told that it was undoubtedly his son and Master Sergeant Cole who had entered the mine. At least he knew that his son had survived the crash. “Ghost One, good work. Keep your heads down, the fighter-bombers and the Marines are on their way down. Trident Six, out.”
“Sir, the assault force is entering Klatt’s atmosphere,” announced Killam.
“Time to the objective?”
“Fifteen minutes for the fighters and twenty-three for the landing craft.”
Admiral Sheridan turned and looked back at the tactical screen. “Have the long-range scanners detected any Kurgan ships in this sector?”
“None so far, sir,” replied a young lieutenant from her workstation.
“Keep a close eye on the scanner, Miss Seward. If you spot anything, and I do mean anything, even if it’s a lowly shuttlecraft, I want to know about it.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Sir, when do you want to dispatch the additional landing craft to the surface?” asked Killam.
“Keep them up here for now. I don’t want them going down until I know that Colonel White has secured the LZs and the mine.”
“Very good, sir.”
Robert Sheridan returned to his pacing. It was out of his hands now. Until Colonel White gave the order to begin the evacuation, there was nothing he could do but wait and hope that their raid was still a secret. They had enough firepower to protect the landing craft and that was it. If a Kurgan fleet were to jump into orbit, his small task force wouldn’t last long. He would be compelled to abandon the people on the surface of Klatt, and that was something he was not prepared to do under any circumstances. Their fate would be his as well.
Chapter 33
“She’s been gone nearly an hour. I doubt she’s ever coming back,” whispered Cole to Wendy.
“Yes, she will. She wants to get off this rock as much as, if not more, than many of the people here.”
Without warning, all of the lights came on in the mine and a loud siren sounded.
Cole ducked down. He half-expected to see a squad of Chosen warriors with weapons drawn coming to take him prisoner. Instead, he saw Angela sprint into the cavern. She ran past several inmates and came to a sliding halt at Wendy’s bunk.
“Did you cause this?” Cole asked.
Angela shook her head and fought to catch her breath. “No. Something else is up. I thought I heard explosions in the distance, but I couldn’t be sure.”
“Thunder perhaps?” offered Wendy.
“No, the sky is clear. There isn’t a cloud in sight.”
“Quickly, before the guards get here, what did you manage to bring back?” Cole asked.
Angela dumped the contents of a small bag onto Wendy’s bed. Right away, Cole scooped up the pistol and spare magazine. He rummaged through the rest of the stolen equipment until he found an explosive charge with its detonator still attached. He picked it up and saw that it looked to be in perfect working order. “How the hell did you get your hands on this?”
Angela smiled. “The guards aren’t that observant. It really wasn’t that hard to do. It’s pre-set for ten seconds before detonation.”
A voice boomed through a speaker on the wall of the cavern. “All prisoners are to remain in their cells. Do not attempt to leave or you will be shot.” A couple of seconds later another announcement was made, this time in Kurgan.
“What did he say?” Cole asked.
“All of the Chosen soldiers have been ordered to report to their duty stations,” said Angela. “I think the mine is under attack.”
“I thought you said we had another day to wait,” said Wendy to Cole.
“Things change. Come on, we’ve got to keep the Kurg bastards off this floor.”
Angela said, “How do you propose we do that?”
“First, we take out the guards and then we disable the elevators.”
“I’m a navigator, not a soldier,” protested Wendy.
“Wendy, I know that you had to pass basic marksmanship training in the academy. Soon enough, there’ll be plenty of Kurgan weapons laying around. They’re not that different than ours. Just pick one up, make sure the safety is off, and pull the trigger,” replied Cole as he bent down and pulled out a ceramic knife from a sheath hidden under his pants leg. He handed Wendy the knife while Angela picked up one of her own from the pile on the bed.
“Okay, Angela, how many guards are there on this level?”
“There’s usually around one hundred around during the day and only about fifty at night.”
“We’ll never take on fifty soldiers with one pistol and two knives,” said Wendy.
“You forget, most of them will be pissed out of their minds,” said Angela. “They’re probably scrambling about right now trying to find their weapons and gear before a sergeant or a Kurgan officer gets down here to take charge.”
Cole liked the sound of that. “Where is their duty station?”
“It’s down the hall and to the left,” replied Angela.
“How far?”
“At least five hundred meters.”
“Okay, let’s get to work.” He took one last look around at the other prisoners and saw that many had already gone back to their bunks as if nothing was happening. A handful of others stood there staring at Cole and the two women. Their faces were a mix of suspicion and curiosity. Cole checked that his pistol was loaded, moved to the tunnel entrance, and looked both ways before stepping out.
The noisy alarm switched off. An uneasy silence
gripped the passageway. With Wendy and Angela close behind him, Cole led the way to the guards’ quarters. When they were halfway there, Cole stopped and raised a hand telling the others to freeze in place. On the other side of the tunnel was an elevator shaft. Cole could hear the sound of an elevator descending from above. With his pistol raised, he walked straight at the opening and waited. Less than ten seconds had passed before the elevator came into view. In it was a Kurgan officer with a couple of Chosen soldiers by his side. Cole never hesitated. He shot the officer dead with one shot to the head before turning his pistol on the two warriors trapped inside the cramped elevator. By the time the elevator came to a stop, it was over and all three lay dead. Cole moved the safety bar aside, grabbed the two rifles lying on the floor, and tossed them behind him. He turned and waved for Angela to come to his side.
“Which button is for the top floor?” he asked as he dug out the explosive charge from a pocket in his pants.
“This one,” she replied, pressing the button.
Cole activated the timer and tossed in the explosives. He watched as the elevator began its return trip to the surface.
“Hey, you, what are you doing out of your cell block?” called out a voice from farther down the tunnel.
Cole hid his pistol behind his back, turned his head, and saw a man in prison clothing walking toward him. Behind him were four Chosen soldiers with rifles in their hands.
“Who is that?” Cole asked Angela.
“He’s another collaborator.”
Cole waited a few seconds. He wanted the Chosen to get closer before he opened fire.
The traitor opened his mouth to say something when the elevator exploded. The sound of the explosion rocketed down the shaft, surprising the Chosen warriors, who were now less than ten meters away. Cole dropped to one knee, whipped his pistol from behind his back, and shot the closest soldier in the chest before firing on the next man.
Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) Page 18
