“The rest of you get up here—now!” Rippa screamed over the comms. “Atlas, aim for the engines!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy weaponsfire filled the cave tunnel, echoing off the walls and making it sound like an entire army of mechs were fighting in the large underground space.
Riot forced her legs to pump harder under her body. Her muscles burned, but she ignored the pain. A second later, she rounded the corner. Her jaw dropped.
In front of her was the largest spacecraft she had ever seen. The cavern it rested in was barely large enough to hold its impressive size. Larger than either the Dreadnaught or the Karnayer destroyer, the ship’s size was a wonder.
The Zenoth ship was made for one reason, and one reason only: to transport as many Zenoth from point A to point B. The ship looked like an oversized whale had mated with a blimp. Along the bottom, thrusters hummed, coming to life. On the opposite side of the ship sat ready another grouping of engines ready to propel the behemoth forward once it reached space.
“We can’t let this thing break through to the surface!” Riot screamed into her comm as she skidded to one knee, aiming down her rifle barrel. “Light it up! Fire everything!”
Rippa’s voice took over as soon as Riot’s ended. “Spartans, firing line, weapons hot. Bring out the laser beams. Focus fire like Riot said. Ragnar, give us a target.”
Rizzo appeared on Riot’s left with his Vulcan SP101 that was for all intents and purposes an alien adaptation of a mini-gun. Ketrick leveled his war hammer blaster. Wang readied his pulse rifle, and Vet took a knee with Riot to aim down his Longshot 1000 sniper rifle. Doctor Miller took up a defensive position behind the unit.
“The engines are what’s pushing them higher,” Ragnar answered Rippa’s question. “It’s a small target, but that will cripple their ascent for sure.”
Riot was already aiming down her sights. Ragnar was right; the lower thrusters pushing the giant ship high were extremely wide, but not very tall. The circular outer rim of the thruster made for a target no more than two feet in height. Still, it would have to do.
“Do they think they’re going to break through to the surface?” Vet asked as he let another shot off through his rifle.
As if the Zenoth heard his question, they answered. Their ship was free of any weapons, but that didn’t stop the very top of the ship from striking the cave’s ceiling and beginning to push through. Stalactites the size of the mech units began falling from the ceiling. The entire cavern rumbled and shook.
“We can’t let it get away!” Riot screamed over the weaponsfire and the sound of crashing rock. “Pour it on ’em!”
A stalactite as large as a Volkswagen bug crashed down next to Riot. She looked up to see another one falling on an unsuspecting Wang.
There was no thought process for her own well-being. One of her own was in harm’s way—that was it. With a grunt, Riot dropped her pulse rifle. She lunged to her right and slammed into Wang just in time.
Riot bulldozed Wang out of danger, but wasn’t successful in saving herself. Hundreds of pounds slammed into her left leg with all the weight that velocity had added to the overgrown rock icicle.
“Ahhh!” Riot roared into her helmet, more pissed about allowing herself to get hit than actually feeling the pain. Riot focused on crawling out from the boulder.
“Captain!” Her unit was by her in a second.
“I’m fine.” Riot waved them away with a boldfaced lie. Pain like she had never experienced before told her something was very wrong. Grunting past the discomfort, Riot ordered her men back into action. “Don’t let that ship get away.”
VOOOOOOM!
Riot wasn’t sure if her pain level was taking her into unconsciousness and making her see things, or if Rippa’s mech units were really firing blue laser beams from their helmets.
It seemed the helmets on top of the Spartan mechs were for more than just looks. The blue light that usually remained dull under their helmet cracks now shot blue laser beams at the Zenoth ship.
“Your leg’s broken.” Wang knelt by her side. “The nanites running through your bloodstream should fix it.”
“How do you know it’s broken?” Riot fought for her consciousness past the pain. Something told her that adrenaline was playing a large part in her being able to withstand the discomfort racing up her leg.
“Trust me.” Wang grabbed her left wrist and punched a command into her suit’s armor. A second later, a sharp prick pierced the skin on her left arm. “This is for the pain. I’m going to have to reset the bone so the nanites heal it correctly.”
Riot nodded along with the words, the effects of the drug already taking effect. A warm swimming feeling enveloped Riot as she looked down at her left leg. It was definitely broken. The bottom of her left boot was facing up at her. Her shin and knee had to have been demolished.
“This is going to hur—”
“Just do it!” Riot screamed, bracing herself for the pain.
“Are you sure?” Wang asked, holding her leg in both hands. “You don’t want a countdown or some—”
“Wang, you son of a—Ahhhhh!” Riot bellowed into her helmet as Wang took the opportunity to reset her leg. The pain was something even the drugs he had applied couldn’t mask.
Riot was sweating so much in her armor, the cooling system was having a hard time keeping up.
“There.” Wang came to her side again. “You should be good to go in no time. The nanites are already hard at work.”
Riot nodded.
VOOOOOOOOM!
Rippa’s Spartans leaned their mechs’ helmets into the act as four laser beams focused on the engine closest to them.
“You’re seeing these mechs go all cyclops on the Zenoth ship, too, right?” Riot asked Wang, who handed her her pulse rifle. “I thought it was the pain at first, but now it might be the drugs you pumped into me.”
“No, they’re going full-out,” Wang responded back. “Riot, you shouldn’t have tried to save me. Not if it mean—”
BOOM!
Heat exploded across the cavern as the Zenoth ship’s thruster exploded in front of them. A shout went up from all in attendance. Thus far, the blimp-like craft had managed to force half of its bulk through the cavern ceiling and toward the surface. As the first of the giant thrusters exploded outward in a ball of blue-and-orange flames, the ship hesitated and dipped a few feet in the air.
Now that Riot’s head was clearing and the ship was high enough in the cavern to get a complete view of the underbelly, Riot could see that there were six of the gargantuan thrusters hefting the colossal craft skyward. They looked like six massive circles lined three by three, almost like the bottom of a six pack of beer.
“Hell, yeah!” Ragnar yelled.
“Focus on the engine next to the one we just blew up,” Rippa commanded her unit over the comms. “We’ll celebrate when it’s on the ground.”
From her spot on the cavern floor, Riot hefted her pulse rifle and pumped round after round of her weapon’s red blaster fire into the bottom of the engine. Along with Ketrick’s war hammer shooting yellow blaster fire and the blue laser beams coming out of the four mech units, it looked like the world’s greatest light show was taking place inside the cavern.
Out of the smooth surface of the ship’s forward bulging dome, a crease appeared. Riot wasn’t sure what she was seeing at first, she was so concentrated on firing on the next engine. The craft hovered thirty feet in the air, a quarter of its bulk still lost in the ceiling as it compensated for the lost thruster and still pressed through to the surface.
The Zenoth must have realized they did not stand a chance of escape as they tried to make their ascent. The crease in the front of the ship widened.
Riot understood that what she was seeing were doors opening.
Ready or not, you gotta make this happen, Riot said to herself as her intuition kicked in once more. She didn’t know how, but she already knew what was about to take place. Come on,
tiny nanite super bugs. Do your work.
Riot wobbled on her feet. Most of the pain was already gone. Her left leg still ached, but it was more of a dull sensation now. Every time she applied her full weight on the leg, it wobbled.
“Bubbles.” Riot tossed her sidearm to the doctor who, thus far, had remained behind the main assault. “You’re going to need this.”
“Oh, I’m a non-combatant.” Doctor Miller fumbled with the weapon.
“There’s no such thing today.” Riot looked back to conform her worst fears.
The Zenoth had realized what they all had by now, and it was only a matter of time before the next engine blew, and the next engine after that. The ship wasn’t rising fast enough to escape the fire from the Marines and the Grovothe.
The ship’s bulkhead door was wide open now, and thousands of Zenoth warriors poured from the craft. They fell more than jumped the remaining way to the ground. The exoskeletons were enough protection on the insect-like race to pad their fall and get them up on their feet and running in no time.
Riot got her first live look at the Zenoth. What she saw inspired fear and sickness at once. The Zenoth reminded her of five-foot-tall, stocky ants. A three-part segmented body with six legs held a massive head with black orbs for eyes and deadly pincers over a mouth full of sharp teeth.
A wave of Zenoth, too many to count, raced toward them, some on all six legs, others on the back four legs with the front two up and reaching for the Marines.
Rippa and the others broke off their assault on the next engine to deal with the oncoming horde of enemies. Riot understood this was exactly what the Zenoth wanted.
“Rippa, you have to focus your fire on that ship.” Riot took a moment to look up at Rippa’s armor unit, whose helmet smoked. “You know your unit is the only chance of taking that ship down. Trust my team to hold them off you long enough.”
A moment’s hesitation.
“Hold them back, and we’ll take care of the ship,” Rippa said into the comm. “Spartans, gauss rounds and laser beams. Everything you’ve got. Let’s go!”
Rippa and her Spartans resumed the assault on the next engine. Bright blue laser beams erupted from their helmets once more. Each unit pointed their arms forward as well, pumping round after round of heated steel rods from the gauss barrels mounted on their forearms.
Riot had seconds before the Zenoth wave broke against the defense she would mount. The stalactites that had fallen in front of them made for perfect cover. The more firepower they could muster at once, the better.
“Wolves, on me!” Riot shouted over the booming gauss rounds being fired at the ship.
Her Marines paused for a moment, directing their attention to Riot. Ketrick came to her side with concerned eyes toward her leg, but remained silent.
“We hold this line!” Riot roared at them as she pointed out placements for her men, creating a half-circle around the Spartan mechs. She made she sure she was up front, the first to meet the Zenoth if they reached their defenses. “Rizzo, far left, then Vet. I’ll take center with Ketrick on the right, and Bubbles attached to Wang’s hip far right. Boomballs first, and then everything you’ve got. Molten blades if it comes down to it. No surrender, not for anything. We hold this line no matter what!”
“Oohrah!” the shouts came back to her loud and clear. Rizzo even managed to press a button on his armor’s control panel that sent a OOHRAH! flashing across all of their heads-up displays.
“Come on!” Riot screamed at the Zenoth. “You want some? Come get some!”
20
Riot grabbed the two Boomballs on her belt and placed them on the stalactite in front of her. The Boomballs were nothing more than glorified grenades. One was a concussion grenade; the other, an explosive. Riot pressed the safety, and then jammed her finger on the black circle’s red button sitting on the top of the sphere-shaped explosive. First, the concussion ball, and then the explosive ball arced high into the air.
The Zenoth were fifty yards and closing fast.
Riot’s heart was beating like a drum. Her senses were on overdrive as she pumped round after round at the oncoming alien ranks of Zenoth. She took one in the head and another in the mouth.
All around her, the cave was alive with the sounds of combat. From the Spartans’ booming gauss weapons to Rizzo’s mini-gun and Ketrick’s war hammer blaster.
Riot moved from one target to the next, her trigger finger never wanting for action. As soon as she lined up a shot, she took it, and moved on to the next. Blaster fire lit up the air between the Marines and the Zenoth. Dozens fell as the Boomballs went off.
BAM! BAM!
The Zenoth’s green blood ran free on the ground. Hundreds were falling now, and still they came. Crawling over their dead comrades’ bodies, they charged ever onward. Twenty yards away from Riot and her line, they stumbled. It seemed like the Marines may have even had a chance.
The light chatter the Zenoth whispered that sounded like a million low-talking cicadas suddenly stopped. The luminescent blue light that glowed over everything, the various colored blasts from their weapons, reminded Riot of a rave.
The Zenoth were forced into a bottleneck as they approached Riot and her unit. The Spartans stood at the mouth of the cave, with Riot and her team a few yards in front of them. The Zenoth were restricted to a distance of about a hundred yards wide where they could attack.
Weaponsfire battered their lines, every Marine, along with Ketrick and the doctor, pumping round after round into the horde. For a moment, it seemed like the Zenoth had come to a standstill.
“I think we’re holding them!” Doctor Miller said over the comm. “They can’t get any clo—”
As fast as hope had swelled in Riot’s chest, it vanished. Doctor Miller also sensed something was wrong. The incessant chatter coming from the Zenoth grew in volume.
Their ranks parted to allow something through.
Green blaster fire erupted from some massive figure moving toward the Marines. The unexpected fire from the Zenoth caught Vet square in the chest, throwing him backwards through the air. Vet smacked into the ground, the back of his head striking the rock cavern floor so hard, everyone could hear it despite the noise of war.
“Vet!” Wang yelled over the comm. “Captain?”
“Go!” Riot said, understanding Wang’s request to leave Doctor Miller and rush to Vet’s side.
Riot tore her eyes away from Vet’s smoking armor. His body was limp. She focused on what enemy still lit up Rizzo’s position with green blasts of fire. Rizzo hunkered down behind a fallen stalactite. How long the rock would hold under the pressure of the green weaponsfire was anyone’s guess. With each blast, chips of rock flew up into the air.
Finally, the Zenoth creature wreaking havoc on her unit appeared. It was a Zenoth, or at least at one time had been one. The same pincers sprouted from the front of its face, the same six legs carried it forward. This is where the similarities stopped. This Zenoth was twice as large as any of its counterparts. Nearly ten feet tall with a bloated body, it walked slower under a harness of steel armor and twin cannons. The cannons were held on either side of the armor by steel arms.
BAM!
A second massive explosion rocked the cavern as Rippa and her team of mechs took the second engine. More stalactites dropped from the ceiling as a hot wave of air threatened to knock down everyone on the battlefield.
Riot looked up to avoid any of the falling debris, as did her team. Ketrick rolled out of the way as a stone icicle as big as his torso crashed to the floor where he had once stood.
“Hold them off a few more minutes,” Rippa said over the comms. “One more engine should bring the whole thing down.”
Riot looked up to see what the Grovothe had noticed. Now with two engines down, the Zenoth craft was failing to remain in one place. It shuddered and shook as fires raced across its frame. Its ascent was not only held now, it seemed even staying in the air was a challenge.
“He’s not breathing!” W
ang’s voice brought Riot back to the current situation.
The Zenoth were making a push again. Now, with their new weapon pinning down Rizzo and his Vulcan mini-gun, and Vet and Wang out of the picture, victory fell on Riot’s shoulders.
“Bubbles, Ketrick, hold the right flank,” Riot said, tossing her pulse rifle to Doctor Miller. “We need you on this one, Doc.”
Doctor Miller nodded, trading the handgun she had used to fend off the Zenoth for the much larger pulse rifle.
“I’ll take care of our new friend.” Riot looked over to Ketrick. “Hold the line!”
There wasn’t time for any further instruction. Riot reached behind her and pulled out her own war hammer. The heavy weapon felt like power incarnate in her hands. She jumped up on the stalactite in front of her and raced to meet the Zenoth juggernaut.
The Zenoth were holding in line with their new weapon and closing fast. The Zenoth were ten yards from Riot and her crew when she popped up and made her move. Riot jumped from stalactite to stalactite as she raced to close the distance.
The rock Rizzo hid behind was all but demolished under the onslaught of the green blasts from the Zenoth Goliath. Rizzo hunkered down, fragmented rocks bouncing off his armor. Every time he tried to look up or get his Vulcan around the rock and firing once more, he was buffeted back by the enemy weapon.
The Zenoth Goliath reacted to Riot’s charge much too slowly. It seemed what the giant Zenoth lacked was a sense of speed. It tried tracking Riot with green blaster fire, but it was too slow. Its weapons spat death at her, always a second behind.
A plan so ridiculous erupted in Riot’s head it made her smile, even as she jumped from rock to rock. Finally within striking distance, Riot gathered herself and pushed off a stalactite, arcing as high into the air as she could. She grasped the war hammer’s hilt at the base, swinging the weapon back so far it almost touched her own lower back.
Riot brought the swing down onto the giant Zenoth’s head as she landed on the creature’s back. The war hammer’s tooth opposite the sledgehammer head dug in so deep, it disappeared into the back of the Zenoth’s skull.
Click Click Boom (War Wolves Book 2) Page 13
