"Ya all right?" Mick said over the comms.
"Yes, yes, Sergeant," Tomi replied quickly.
Mick was quiet for a minute, and then he started talking. "I never thought I'd survive my first tour on Lishun Delta. Then I did, barely. When I went back the second time, I literally pissed myself waiting to transit the gate. I mean, I'd done it once and lived. I could do it again, right? Then I look around and see I'm not the only one. Next to me, a grown man, white hair and all, piss running down his legs."
Tomi sighed and steered the tank over a service road. The tracks rumbled and groaned, and they dropped back down. He cast a glance at the traffic that crawled on the highway.
"You didn't piss, did you?" Mick said.
"Negative, Sergeant."
"Good, 'cause it'll stink in here."
Tomi smiled and chuckled a bit.
Mick leaned over and tapped on Tomi's helmet. "You'll be all right."
***
They crested one last hill, and it appeared that a new sun was rising on the horizon. Earth-moving machinery climbed over the ground while engineers swarmed into newly created embankments. New turrets were growing everywhere like squat mushrooms. There, in the distance, sat the stargate. The road zigzagged with kill points, defilades, defensive positions, and pillboxes the entire way.
Thousands of troops swarmed on the hillsides. Columns marched on the sides of the road. Cargo trucks were parked everywhere and anywhere. The armored column snaked through as best it could. Almost every single army group on Kalivostok was either here or on its way.
Tomi felt better for a second. Then he remembered—they'd be going to Squire. His stomach knotted up, and he drove on.
Colonel Clarke came onto the comms. "Everyone prep for transit."
"We're shooting the gap!" Mick said.
The crew clattered to life in the back. They stripped off jackets, blankets, and sleeping bags, and settled into tactical gear. There was a loud clang, followed by Veriha yelping.
"Sorry!" Sophia said. He apologized over and over.
"Shut up!" Mick yelled. "Get my main gun loaded."
Diagnostics rolled across Tomi's view, all overlaid on top of what he saw. It kept getting tighter the closer he drove to the stargate. Everything was concrete, steel, and corners. Curious soldiers watched as they drove past. Cargo rails were shut down with massive granite blocks sitting on the tracks.
Bulldog followed after Alpha Company and took position in a wide-open expanse just before the stargate. An area a quarter kilometer square was clear. All around it was built the bulk of the Kalivostok defense complex.
An alarm flared for a second, and the tank slowed. Tomi slapped at the override and studied the warning. "Uh, Sergeant, we just got a furrow depth alarm."
"What?"
Then the alarm dropped away, and the speed picked back up.
Mick called back to Gous, the digital specialist, but he didn't know anything.
"Keep an eye on it," Mick said.
Steam rolled off of the stargate. Sheets of hoarfrost tumbled down off of the carbon-black surface.
"Transfer in five," First Sergeant Palich called. "We are not free fire on arrival. Squire is clear. I repeat, Squire in gate is clear."
"Umbrella loaded?" Mick said.
The call came back that the antiartillery system was operational.
"Ready, Tomi-boy?"
"Yes, Sergeant." Tomi's heart thumped in his chest. His palms were wet, and he felt the adrenaline chill set in. He wanted to go, to go first, to go now.
A loud thuk-thuk sound came from the back. Hutchins steadily loaded his grenade launcher.
"By ranks, keep it tight," Lieutenant Torori called.
Alpha Company pulled out of formation and ran into a straight line. The lead tank sat on the edge of the ramp. All of the 19th ACR's armor fell into line. Somewhere, stuck in traffic behind them, was the supply train of the unit.
Sirens sounded, and a second later the stargate glowed a harsh white. Then a new world appeared inside. A great gust of air howled through the gate, and sand poured through. The lead tank plowed into the sand and disappeared on the other side.
Finally it was time, and Tomi hammered the throttle through the gate. There was an odd feeling for a second, and then his visuals blinked on and off. He was used to it; it happened like that every time. He was just thankful for the inbound gate, otherwise he'd be vomiting uncontrollably.
The air was thick with dust. It came in waves like a bad snowstorm, but now everything was a hint of yellow. Bulldog drove off to the side and followed a soldier in a full dust suit. He waved two bright batons and steered them next to a concrete wall.
"Welcome back," Mick announced on the comms. "Drop the cards, Hess. Get that armor going."
"Door open!" Hess yelled.
A blast of cold air surged inside. The hydraulics labored for a second in the wind. Dust tore through the crew compartment. Half of the crew exited.
"Clear!" Kallio said.
The door closed.
"Keep an eye on them, Tomi. See how that spectrum looks too."
"Yes, Sergeant," Tomi said.
He scanned around and saw nothing but sand and dust. Bastard came into view for a second, and that tank was just a few meters away.
Hess struggled to drag a hose up to the armor. Wellington snapped on a coupling. Both of the men wore dust masks and goggles. Sophia and Veriha climbed up onto the armor and started unscrewing the fill points.
Tomi adjusted the spectrum to night-vision and was greeted with nothing but static. He swapped it once more to the composite view, and things suddenly came into focus. It wasn't perfect, not by any means; it was like looking through cloudy water. There were tanks everywhere, almost all butted up tight next to a line of concrete walls. Higher above, the defense complex disappeared into static.
Refugees swarmed through the gate. People struggled to stand and walk. Empty carts, crates, trucks, and gear blew in the wind.
One of the walkers lumbered down the road. It pulled a flatbed trailer covered in people. They climbed off and raced for the gate. The crush struggling to get through was immense.
Tomi watched it all and fiddled with the sensory adjustments. He took a sip of water and immediately tasted dust. It was gritty in his teeth. That was the thing he hated most about Squire: the dust got into everything.
The stargate flashed closed. Soldiers struggled to push back the crowd of refugees.
Armor fill indicators flashed online. A countdown timer started to tick on each of the panels. Twenty-seven hours till the armor was fully primed. Until then they were driving in a tin can.
"Can we get inside, Sergeant? Sure beats sleeping in here."
"Hold on," Mick said.
The rear hatch opened. Wind howled in, and the crew came inside. They slapped the soldiers down and swept up the dust. Already a patina of yellow coated everything.
Alarms blared inside of the compartment. ARTILLERY flashed on Tomi's headset. A second later, the umbrella let loose. Explosions roared out far above the stargate. Flares of light danced through the sand. Shrapnel rained down and clattered onto the top of the armor.
"Get ready to move!" Mick yelled.
Tomi swapped to the spectrum view. His heart slammed down. The fear was on him. The adrenaline was the only thing that kept him afloat. He remembered the Mackinof Front and prayed to God that the Kadan didn't have an orbital platform up.
"Oh God!" Vinovy said.
The roar of distant guns rumbled like thunder. More shrapnel rained down. The crowd of refugees fled in every direction. Dead civilians littered the ground.
"Hey," Puck called from the back. "Who wants a beer?"
A new route appeared on Tomi's map. The route snaked through the complex and out the edge of the defensive emplacements.
"Bulldog, this is Bastard. Take us up and out. You got that route?"
"Confirmed, Bastard." Mick stretched out and sighed loudly.
"Move out
," Lieutenant Torori called.
"Hold on back there! Tomi, hit it!" Mick said.
Tomi slammed the tank into reverse. The motors groaned, and the reactor alarms flared for a moment. It moved much slower, almost sluggishly. "Woah!"
"And that's our armor," Mick said.
Tomi hammered the throttle and led Bravo Company out of the transit area.
The umbrella system finally stopped firing. The road was covered in dust, debris, and chunks of shrapnel. Armor from the other companies moved up different routes. The only people outside were refugees without anywhere else to go.
Bulldog came to the edge of the complex. Mick pointed out a defensive turret, and Tomi tucked the tank in on the side. The rest of Bravo followed shortly after and backed into position. Almost immediately, the dust started drifting up in front of the tanks.
Tomi stared out into the dust and calmed himself. Pace yourself. We could be here all day.
The distant hill was barely visible. The spectrum mode resolved it, and then lost it. Target errors materialized and disappeared as the automated tracking system struggled. Mick shut it down. They were left with manual targeting.
"Contact!" Bucyrus called. They lit up a section of hill and opened fire. The rounds slammed downrange and disappeared into the spectrum.
"Hold fire!" Lieutenant Torori said. His voice was loud and angry. "Resolve the targets, then fire."
Tomi squinted and tried to pick out shapes in the distance. The wind would swirl and something would appear only to turn back into dust. A second later, the entire ridgeline disappeared only to come back again. It was hypnotic to watch.
"Maybe they aren't coming," Mick mumbled.
The winds buffeted the tanks. The grit swirled into every crack and crevice. The dull paint faded and took on a yellow hue.
There was a massive roar. The turret right next to Bulldog flipped off its base and tumbled to the ground. Flames danced up from the base, and a moment later the ammunition cooked off. A geyser of yellow-and-white flame shot straight into the air.
"Fuck! Get us behind that turret!" Mick yelled.
Bulldog hopped over the sandy berm and spun next to the remains of the turret. The turret's concrete skin was pocked and shattered where a high-velocity round had thundered through. Tomi drove it so the front was tight and only the main cannon showed.
"There we go," Mick said softly.
A target flickered in the distance before disappearing again. Tomi saw it. He saw it clear for just a second. He keyed up a target marker. "There!"
Bulldog fired a half-dozen rounds downrange. A split second later, a white flash burst through the swirling dust.
"Bingo!"
"Get ready!" Lieutenant Torori called.
Tomi leaned ahead, grasped the controls tight, and waited for it. He could feel it coming, like a summer storm.
An explosion rocked out down the line, then another, and another. Tanks opened fire all around. Comms exploded to life as tanks reported contact further down the line.
Mick fired at any shape that appeared in the distance, but nothing else exploded. The cannon clunked and popped as one ammo magazine shifted out and a second was engaged.
"Delicious is down!"
"Elephant is burning, permission to regroup?"
"We can't see 'em. We're pulling out!"
Tomi squeezed the controls and waited. "Come on, come on." The waiting was getting to him. All he wanted was for the view to clear. Just for a second. He could tell things were going poorly down on the opposite flank, but he didn't know how bad.
A turret thirty meters away opened fire. The blast shook Bulldog as the muzzle fired directly over them. Someone yelled from the back of the tank.
More of the turrets swung to the side and peppered the opposing hill. White flashes appeared and then were gone.
The battle raged for fifteen minutes as one flank was hit with everything they had. Firing orders came in, and Bulldog sent shells downrange to where they couldn't even see. It felt like a blind man shooting ducks while someone else told him where to shoot.
Finally, the firing orders slowed and only the hefty roar of the friendly artillery rang out.
Lieutenant Torori came onto the comms and spoke slowly. "Check your positions. Infantry out and add sandbags. Call out contact. Let the turrets engage first. It, uh, Echo Company is gone, but the line held."
Tomi swallowed hard and started to shake. He squeezed his eyes closed tight. One entire company of armor down. Eleven tanks. One hundred and forty-three soldiers. All because the bastards wanted deployable armor. The fear shifted to anger and finally into resignation.
He'd have armor soon enough; he just felt bad for the poor souls that didn't have it when they needed it.
The rear hatch opened, and the grit blasted inside. Tomi hunched down and settled in to wait for his armor to set.
***
9.4 GHZ
ECHO SEVEN ENCRYPTION
NEXT TRANMISSION TO FOLLOW IN SEVEN DAYS
CONTINUE TO REINFORCE THE SQUIRE GATE. IF WE MOVE THE FEWER TROOPS ON THE KALIVOSTOK-KVINSK GATE THE BETTER. CONTINUE TO RECRUIT OFFICERS TO OUR CAUSE. WE WILL NOT MOVE UNLESS KALIVOSTOK IS IN CRISIS.
#
Chapter Ten
Planet IXC-776
Umi snapped awake in the darkness. He felt like he was falling, always falling. He had no dreams. Now all he could see was darkness. Safe. Were they safe? He didn't dare move, so all he did was listen. The air was thick inside of the transit container.
Outside was a clunking sound that grew louder. The container rumbled up, then down. A high-pitched whine sang out, and a minute later the container started to move.
"Here we go," Vik said.
"Where are we?" Umi said.
"Still alive, eh?" Kelly said.
"I think we're getting ready to transit," Vaughn said.
"Are we safe?" Umi asked. The pain was growing in his legs; his pants felt stiff, crunchy, and he realized it was dried blood.
"Almost, Cap. Almost."
The container accelerated and banged into the next one. It rolled slightly. Clunking sounded from underneath.
Umi tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
Someone spoke from outside. There was a clanking noise. A sliver of light pierced through the mounds of spiderweb. More voices spoke, louder. There was an argument and a noise further off.
Umi lay as still as he could, his heartbeat so loud in his ears that he was sure someone would hear it.
The light went away.
Then they were moving again. The speed grew, the thud-thud from underneath picked up pace. The container rolled a bit more.
"Here we go," Vaughn said.
There was an unmistakable shift as the canister transited through a gate. They dropped violently on the opposite side.
Umi cried out. He slid a hand to his leg. It felt wet. He almost wanted to laugh; he'd get off the planet and die sitting in a pile of spiderweb. "And there's not even a spider."
"What?" Kelly said.
Then it stopped with a sudden clattering sound, followed by silence that was almost overwhelming.
Heat started to seep through the walls. The gravity was a touch less. The smell of grass wafted in.
Voices spoke on the outside, and someone banged on the container. The sliver of light was back. There was a sucking sound as a high-powered vacuum pulled out the spiderweb.
Umi shielded his eyes. The light was growing; it was too intense.
The sucking sound became a roar. Then suddenly it stopped.
Umi tried to squirm away from the light. His legs burned, and pain shot through them.
There was movement outside of the container.
"We request sanctuary," Vik said.
A Lokeen in combat armor stepped into the container. He blocked out most of the light. Behind it more Lokeen watched.
"You're under arrest. This is an illegal entry." One of the Lokeen stepped over to Umi. It squatted down close. "Do
you require medical assistance?"
Umi tried to crack a smile. "Yes, that would be nice."
The Lokeen nodded and snapped a set of shackles onto Umi's wrists. He stood, stripped their weapons, and shackled everyone else. "Your request for sanctuary is acknowledged."
They brought out Vik, Vaughn, and Kelly first. They left Umi with a single guard until the medical teams arrived. They lifted him carefully out of the spiderweb and laid him onto a gurney. Out in the light, it was hot and humid with fields of verdant green.
He gave a glance behind him at the stargate and felt relief when he saw the link was closed.
A Lokeen medic leaned over and attached something to his arm.
"Ouch!" Umi felt a tiny pinprick of pain. Then he slid into darkness, and sleep took him again.
***
When he opened his eyes next, the pain was dull and his legs itched. The bed he lay in was two sizes too big. He'd have to scoot to get out, if he wanted to. But for the moment he thought it just felt nice to lie where he was.
"You awake?" a man's voice asked. The man sat next to him, wearing a high-collared jacket. His hair was mostly gray, and he spoke with an accent.
Umi turned his head. Bureaucrat was the first thing that popped into his head. Then lawyer. Diplomat maybe? He wasn't sure. "Yes."
"Are you Sigg?"
"Where are my troops?" Umi regretted using the words almost immediately. They weren't soldiers anymore.
The man stared at Umi and let out a long sigh. "They're in detention. Are you Sigg military?"
"Who are you?"
"I'm the person who's trying to save your ass. You play ball, or the Lokeen are going to send you back. You don't want the Lokeen to send you back."
Umi tried to sit up and felt shooting pains in his legs. He winced. "I kind of figured they'd have me fixed up."
"The locals won't touch you. They're waiting on a specialist."
Umi nodded and lay back. Made sense—how often would they need to operate on combat-wounded humans? "I'm Umi Matsuo, ex-Sigg military. We were on our way to Earth and tried a shortcut."
"One hell of a shortcut."
"Yah, I've heard."
The man sat back. "I'm Claude Larsen, the nearest thing to a Terran diplomat on the planet Caleb. Now, what the hell happened?"
Steel Storm (Steel Legion Book 2) Page 7
