"Are we in contact with KALCOM?" Captain Janke called.
"Yes, but not through the gate. We're receiving basic updates from KALCOM via radio." Colonel Clarke was thankful for that little bit of information. At the very least, he knew that Carco and Karling still held the Squire-Kali gate.
"Should we prep to pull back, sir?" Captain Draco, the Support Company CO, said.
"Negative," Colonel Clarke replied. "Have maintenance get ready as soon as the wind dies. I want to get us operational immediately. This storm is giving us a hell of a beating. Questions?"
The officers fielded some and asked others. Mostly sharing strategies for dealing with the dust and maintenance issues.
"One last thing. I'd like a squad of volunteers to recon the pillars on foot. They'll leave the moment the winds break. These storms typically blow for a few days, but the worst should be done soon."
Lieutenant Torori keyed up. "I've got a gold-letter squad that would love to volunteer."
"Very well, Torori. Arap will brief them on the specifics. Everyone else, get ready. We're either moving in or moving out once this storm breaks. Clarke out."
#
Chapter Twenty-One
Planet Squire, Kalivstok System
Vasilov-Kvinsk Xeno-Archaeology Research Camp
Tomi sat up suddenly. He was in the midst of shifting Bulldog in the dust when he heard the PING. He'd learned long ago that any mechanical noise outside of the norm is bad. Mechanical things don't happen unless things change, and when things change, it means they're broken.
Mick was awake behind him and chattering on the command channel. The rest of the crew was either asleep, watching porn, or gambling. They'd settled into a rut after two days of storm. No one spoke of Bosovitz.
Tomi released the controls and let the tank settle. Sweat ran down his back, and he had that nervous feel.
The dust was packed up on either side of the unit, and he'd side-steered to push it out a bit. He'd heard the strain on the drive, but his last tank could take it. So he tested the controls again; only one track moved.
"Tomi?" Mick said. "Hey, hey?"
"Uh."
"Don't fucking 'uh' me. What happened?"
Tomi was staring at the diagnostics. "We sheared the final drive pin."
Mick was silent and then broke out into a string of expletives.
Vinovy clinked the change jar.
"Shut the fuck up!" Mick snapped back. "Everyone up! Get your gear ready. Full dust masks, goggles, keep the plastic on the rifles. FEP loadout."
Tomi sat and stared at the maintenance display. He couldn't believe it. Any tank that had broken down had been cannibalized for spare parts. His tank, cannibalized? Good God.
"You too, Tomi," Mick said. "Get suited up."
"What's up?" Kallio said. She pushed Veriha out of the way and pulled out her med pack.
"The LT volunteered us because of our 'gold-letter skills.'"
There was a collective groan from the back.
Tomi keyed off the reactor. His hands shook. His fault. All his fault.
"But we've got another problem. We sheared the final drive pin."
The crew went silent. They all knew what it meant.
"Mueller, Wellington, Hess, you're staying behind," Mick said.
"But there's no spares?" Wellington said.
Mick threw an arm around Mueller. "There's always spares. Isn't that right, Mueller?"
Mueller squirmed a bit under Mick's arm.
"You two show him what he needs," Mick said to Wellington and Hess. "And Mueller, I only want that pin. Don't. Get. Caught. I want this fixed by the time we get back. Understood?"
Hess grumbled. "It'd be easier to steal a tank. How the hell we supposed to get that pin?"
"Figure it out," Mick said. "We meet the commander in that complex. Now let's go."
Tomi pulled up his dust mask and seated the goggles. The taste of dust was in his mouth and nose. Even worse, he could feel it running down his face.
It brought back a memory of swimming with his parents. His mother always told him to squeeze his nostrils shut. He didn't miss his parents often, but right now he did.
They cracked open the hatch, and the dust blasted in. The cabin was filled with a yellowish haze. Then they were out. The storm was still raging, but the wind had died down to a manageable level. They could see about fifty meters—far enough to follow the safety flags to the research facility.
It took a minute to dig out the door, and then they were inside. Commander Arap was waiting next to a flat console, with a woman by his side. He grinned at the crew of Bulldog and waved them over.
Sergeant Mick saluted. "Bulldog, reporting as ordered."
"I do love volunteers. Love 'em, absolutely love 'em," Arap said. His normally bald head was half covered in stippled black-and-white stubble.
A map laid out on the console showed an orbital view of the pillars. There were eight, arrayed out like spokes on a wheel with about a dozen kilometers between them. Smaller pillars moved out away from the rest. It all looked clean and simple from that view.
"We need a close-up recon on those pillars. Something is happening. You guys are going to move up here"—he pointed at the map—"and get us a good look. If you run into massed hostiles, boogie. We need to know if we're getting attacked, or what the hell is going on. The Kadan should be shitstomping us right now. We need to know why they aren't. This is Doctor Sokoloff. She's our expert."
Doctor Sokoloff cleared her throat. "We have data logging units here and here," she said as she pointed at the map. "They're right near the pillars in sealed containers. We know something is happening, but I need that data to know more."
"That's the secondary objective. Primary: scope it out, see what's going on. Questions?"
"When do we go, sir?" Kallio said.
"Grab a bio, a drink, top off, and then roll. Alpha is covering that expanse; they'll point you in the right direction. Damned proud of my volunteers, damned proud."
The squad topped off, pissed into the dust outside, and walked through the dunes. They passed Alpha's fighting positions without anyone coming out. One of the tanks spoke to them via the radio. "Follow the draw down, then you're in a dry riverbed that'll give you cover almost the entire way."
Hutchins led the way at first, but his manner of travel, a straight line, didn't work well in the rising dunes. He plowed through each one and in fifteen minutes was soaked through with sweat. Then Private Sophia took the lead and picked an easier line that zigged and zagged.
The draw had a giant drift coming off the windward side. It was like a snowdrift about to fall. The bottom of the draw was hard, windswept, and covered in cracks and grooves. Darkness was on them, and the space felt oppressive—downright claustrophobic. They paused for a few minutes and took a brief break, though there wasn't much point as they couldn't see far, nor could they drink. Instead, they huddled together in silence.
Tomi listened to the sound of his own breath and felt like an idiot. Again. He felt that he should have known. He was the best driver in the entire regiment. But the more he stewed, the more he realized he was driving a glorified tractor, and they handled straight loads beautifully. Side loads, not so much.
They left the draw and came to the riverbed. It was a rocky slope down. Veriha went first and then climbed back up. He shook his head and then tried another route, then another, before finally settling on a path. The soldiers carefully climbed down and waited in the bottom.
Winds whipped over the eroded bottom, and it was mercifully clear of dust. They took another brief break.
Kallio tucked in next to Tomi. They were under the cover of stone.
"It's easier here," she said.
"Eh?"
"It's tough when I know I can get the drugs. But here, I know I can't, so it's different."
Tomi turned to look at her but couldn't see beyond the goggles and dust mask.
"I don't know what I'll do long term, when this is done
. It's a lot to handle."
"You'll get through it," Tomi said. He wasn't really sure how to respond.
"I was a shitty addict, Tomi. I mean bad. I miss home, I miss a nice bed, but I get all that and I hit it again."
"You can stay in the army, right?"
"Yah, for now."
"But it won't get easier, will it?"
"No."
"Will it get better, though?"
Kallio was quiet for a moment. "No. Maybe. I don't know."
"One day at a time."
"One day at a time," Kallio replied.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, and then the squad set out.
***
Puck took the lead and hung to one edge. A smudge of light grew on the horizon. Slowly daylight came and with it a new view. Instead of fifty meters of visibility, they could see a dusty hundred or so. But above the ground-level dust rose the pillars.
The closest was a kilometer off. Wires, cables, and gantries hung from it. A large mechanical beam swung in the wind and banged off the sides. The bottom reaches disappeared in the dust.
Puck stopped further on. He crawled up the edge of the riverbed and slid down again. There, a hundred meters away, was a line of Emflife armor. The tanks were almost touching, side to side. The tops of the tanks were covered with plastic sheeting. They looked to be in storage.
They continued down the rise and halted at a bend. A bridge crossed the dry bed. Mick crawled close and watched it before waving everyone ahead. They sprinted beneath it and took cover around the next corner.
Winds whipped up again, and the dust devils grew in the fields of freshly blown dust. The riverbed channeled the winds, and it was almost impossible to keep standing. Mick waved them up, and they lay on the edge.
The largest pillar closest to them was only five hundred meters away. Bits of it came into view through the gusts of wind. Construction equipment hung from the sides. Great metal plates were being attached. Humanoids in climbing gear swung from the pillar and struggled to secure the equipment. Already the bottom was coated with massive electrical conduits snaking into it.
Mick crawled over to Puck. The two touched face masks and yelled in the dust. They pointed from side to side and then back again. Mick crawled on the edge and tapped people as he went. He tapped Tomi. "Follow me!"
As they crawled ahead, the winds slammed into them. They dropped flat and waited. When it passed, they sprinted into the cover of a boulder. That last gust seemed to take the strength out of the storm. Dust poured down from the sky, and the air cleared.
Mick pulled out a recon camera and started recording. "The fuck is it?"
Tomi stared around and didn't have an answer.
All eight of the pillars were in view. Metal plates were being attached to all of the bases. Cables and lines snaked from each to the shorter ones behind it. In the center was a cleared pad with hundreds of massive cylinders. Above it, as if the eye of a hurricane, was blue sky. The winds and dust swirled around it.
"Woah, look at this," Gous said. He raised his mechanical arm; the dust was caked on in clumps. It crackled with static electricity.
One of the cylinders rose up into the air. From a half-dozen kilometers away, it still looked big. It slowly rose a few hundred meters, wavered in the wind, then slowly backed down again. Somewhere far off, a cable snapped with a gunshot crack.
"Go get the data pods," Mick said. "Weapons red. Don't shoot unless you have to."
***
Tomi followed after Hutch and Gous. Within seconds, they disappeared in the dust. They crawled along the edge of a run of conduit before Hutch pointed out the lonely data station. They crept up to it, and Gous worked on removing the protective housing.
Hutch looked up at the pillar. "It's impressive, like a—"
A Vek in a complete climbing suit slammed into Hutch. The massive man bowled over and sprawled onto the ground.
Tomi leaped up and rushed at the Vek. He raised his weapon and then remembered not to shoot. By then it was too late, and the Vek leveled him with a punch to the stomach.
Gous kicked the Vek and slammed down his metal arm. The Vek growled and hissed before tackling Gous's legs.
Tomi struggled to stand. He gasped and fought to breathe. A meter away, the Vek wrestled with Gous. The two rolled in the dust.
Finally the Vek gained enough leverage and jammed a hand into Gous's neck. It started shouting, yelling into the wind.
Tomi raised his weapon. His hands wobbled and shook, and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't stop the Vek quietly—there was no way. He'd left his trench knife back in the tank.
Gous's arms thrashed and tried to pry the Vek's arm away. It kept yelling, louder. There was a crack, and the Vek snapped Gous's cybernetic arm.
Finally, Tomi got a breath, and then he fired. The round slammed into the shoulder of the Vek and it exploded away in an orange mist. The creature tumbled and flopped next to Gous.
"Up, up!" Tomi said. He pulled at Gous and managed to get him on his feet. Then he shook Hutch, and the big man sat up like a drunken giant.
"Oh God. Oh God," Gous kept saying. He stumbled to the data station and pried at the cover. He finally freed the data pod.
Hutch struggled to his feet and swayed, even with Tomi helping him. They started running and then Gous yelled, "Wrong way!"
Tomi spun him, and they ran into the dust.
Gous led the way. In his good arm he cradled the data pod. His cybernetic arm flopped at his side like it wasn't even attached. Hutchins kept falling. He'd long since lost his grenade launcher. When they finally reached the riverbed, they all tumbled in.
Everyone else was waiting.
"I shot one!" Tomi said excitedly.
"We heard," Mick growled back.
Kallio was at Hutch's side. She peeled off his mask and wiped blood from his face. Fresh blood ran down from his nose. Neither of his eyes could focus. She snapped the mask back up. "Concussion, skull fracture maybe. He needs help and now. We gotta go."
"No shit," Mick said. "Tomi, Sophia—grab him, we swap off. Puck, take us out."
Then the sirens started.
The air continued to clear as they raced down the riverbed. They halted at the bridge and watched as transports rolled past. By the time they reached the draw, the dust was almost gone. Now it whipped around their feet. To make matters worse, the sun, for the first time in a week, popped out.
Puck scanned behind them. "They're sending Kadan infantry up!"
A ragged line of Kadan soldiers swept up the slope. They marched at a steady pace with weapons at ready.
"We can't get clear, not here," Puck called back.
"Leave Hutch?" Veriha said.
"Fuck that," Waslinski said. The others agreed.
Mick ran down the draw fifty meters and then beckoned everyone to follow.
They ran up and hunched on the edge.
"Everyone get tight to the edge!" Mick said. He pointed them all underneath the hanging dust drift. "Lie still and wait, and I mean fucking wait, until one of us pulls you out. Just clear your face and chill. Got it?"
Tomi laid himself down next to Veriha. The ledge extended out over him. Further down it had already crumbled and fallen. It was like the pressure of the wind underneath it was the only thing keeping it up. He stared up and placed his hands over his mask.
Mick ran down the line and slammed the butt of his rifle into the drift. It fell in chunks and clumps. Slowly he buried the squad. He looked down at Tomi, gave him a thumbs-up, and then dropped the dust down on him.
At first, Tomi struggled to push the dust away from his face. It kept coming in like sand at the beach, but finally it started to compact. The only sounds were his own breathing and the thumping of his heart. The darkness was total. Bits of light danced in his eyes, and he waited.
Thoughts of suffocating or worse, being bayoneted, kept going through his mind. It felt like hours went by, and still he waited. His legs cramped, sweat poured down his
face, and eventually he pissed his pants. He kept wondering: How long? What if Mick was dead? What if he was the only one?
Fear was the only thing that kept him still. It was the most horrific time in his life. He felt completely and totally alone.
Something grabbed at his foot and pulled. He scrambled to escape it. Then, suddenly, he was free. The weight was gone from his chest, and it was totally dark.
"Shh shh," Mick said. "Help me get the others."
Tomi shook. He stared into the sky and saw the pinpricks of stars. He'd survived.
#
Chapter Twenty-Two
Planet Q’daq, Q’daqi System
Harris-Eikkili Corporate Orbital Station
"My clone-brother tells me that they caught the famous Captain Umi Matsuo. I told him it was not possible! Not the same who struck and ran so infamously on XXC774. Not the same who massacred a thousand Boben on WES219." The Boben swayed as he walked but kept the shotgun on them. "Then he says that famous captain escaped, and a few days later was shot dead on Terra!"
Umi glanced at Kelly. He waved two fingers low. It was the "not now" hand motion. He listened to the Boben ramble; he could tell the squat alien was nervous, very nervous.
"But I knew it was not so. When I saw you enter that door I staked my fate that you, you were still alive! Many clone-brothers did you slay. Now you shall pay! Mark my words! For your deeds you will—"
"Do nothing. I'll walk free."
"You will not!"
"Prove it."
The Boben seemed at a loss for words. "I don't have to prove anything!"
"So now you're a criminal kidnapping me over a war that's finished?"
"But you—"
"I what?"
The Boben stammered again.
Umi flexed his hand into a fist and then released it. He glanced at his team and saw the proper response. Rachel caught his eye, and he gave her a wink.
The Boben had steered them through narrow corridors for most of the trip, but now they were coming to an open area. There was no option but to cross the main thoroughfare. Aliens and cargo haulers moved in front of them. Vendor stalls lined the passage. Loud voices announced the wares.
Steel Storm (Steel Legion Book 2) Page 15
