“I reckon we should go left.”
“Find some lifts, sneak through a room filled with Raggers and drones, more lifts, and then out,” said Berg hopefully.
The Raggers approaching from the left ran by and Conway was about to step into the passage when he sensed others coming. He stepped back quickly and felt a whisper of displaced air going by, along with a slight distortion of the opposite wall.
“Stealth Raggers,” he warned.
He waited for the enemy to pass and entered the corridor again, half expecting another squad to collide with him. It didn’t happen and he advanced quickly, close to the wall and making more noise than he intended.
At the next intersection, both directions ended in doors about fifteen meters away and Conway pointed to the right. He took a first step and then the right-hand door opened. Conway wasn’t too concerned with the room beyond, so much as he was with the stealth Raggers he was certain were heading his way.
“Incoming!” he hissed.
Faced with a choice between opening fire and pressing himself into the wall and hoping to escape notice, Conway went with the tried and tested. He fired his Gilner on automatic, aiming right where he expected to find the enemy. Hacher was next man in the line and his reactions were blindingly fast. The Fangrin’s chain gun spewed out noise and death, and an acrid, sulfurous odor of propellant filled the air.
Against the precision of the Gilner and the brutality of the chain gun, the Raggers stood no chance. They were cut to pieces, leaving gobbets of flesh and greasy fluids on the floor and walls. At the same time, their stealth suits failed, allowing Conway a perfect view of the results.
“Quickly, before the door closes,” he said.
Conway set off with confidence, only to stop short again when he saw movement in the next room. He growled angrily to himself when he realized it was nothing more than a moving image on a viewscreen.
Getting jumpy, Tanner.
He entered the room, not paying much attention to the six big pieces of tech attached to the floor. Three exits had him pondering the best way and he pointed south. As if on cue, the door opened and Conway emptied his magazine into apparently empty air, as did several members of his squad.
When it was done, he swapped in a full magazine and tested the heft of his drop bag. It was light and he’d need to ask for spares soon.
“South it is,” he said.
The teleporter activated again and Conway thumped his fist against the edge of a console in anger at the pounding in his head.
“Maybe we should escape that way,” said Warner.
Conway looked at him sharply. The soldier showed no outward sign of his earlier injury. “What?”
“Use a Ragger teleporter?” asked Kemp, catching on. “I rather take my chances with these stealth assholes.”
“We’re going out the way we came in,” said Conway firmly. “Besides, the Raggers must be bringing in reinforcements through the teleporter. I doubt we’re going to reach it easily. And we have no idea where it leads.”
“Just thought I’d suggest it,” Warner finished lamely.
The exit passage was slippery with blood and Conway did his best to avoid stepping in the worst of it. Lieutenant Atomar didn’t care and the Fangrin crunched with apparent satisfaction over the bodies of his enemies.
“Give me a field of their corpses and I would spend a week doing the same,” he snarled, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
“Whatever floats your boat, Lieutenant,” said Kemp.
Conway reached the next intersection without stumbling into any Raggers. He checked both directions and saw two more intersections. The door to an offset room was open and contained a panel covered in archaic-looking levers and dials.
“This place is like a maze,” he said angrily.
He decided to put faith in his sense of direction for another five minutes, after which he’d order someone else to make the guesses. First, he went left and then right, his eyes searching for signs and his ears listening out for Raggers.
Conway was close to despair when he spotted a naked Ragger carrying a rifle walk past the end of the corridor.
“That way,” he said. “Quietly.”
He crept to the place where he’d seen the enemy and there it was, a little way along and in no apparent hurry. Even better, it seemed to know where it was going. The Ragger went left and out of sight.
“Follow it,” said Conway.
“What’s it doing down here?” asked Torres. “Did it get lost or something?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. It’s going to lead us to the way out.”
“Softly, softly, catchy Ragger,” said Berg.
“Someone shoot that man.”
The Ragger lacked urgency, but its gait was deceptively fast. Two more turnings and it entered a room containing four lift shafts. Conway rewarded it with a single bullet in the back of the head and then called two of the lift cars.
“Thanks, my man,” said Kemp to the Ragger as he stepped over the body. “Much appreciated.”
The squad split between the two cars. Conway activated the panel and the door wouldn’t close.
“Not moving.”
“Locked down?”
“Warner’s ass is sticking out,” laughed Torres. “Must have broken a safety beam or something.”
“Shit, sorry.”
Warner got his ass inside and the door closed immediately. The thought of the lifts being disabled had made Conway’s heart thump in his chest, but he made no mention of it and kept his face impassive.
“This one seems cleaner than the last,” said Kemp. “Smells better too.”
“Just watch out for Raggers at the top,” said Conway. His earpiece hummed and Lieutenant Kenyon came into the new channel.
“There’s some activity up here, Captain Conway. We thought it might blow over, but we’ve had to call in assistance.”
“Vipers?”
“They’re inbound – every assault craft from the Juniper’s bay. Plan is they wait off world until you reach the surface and then they’re coming in to draw away the Ragger spaceships so we can pick you up.”
“Ragger stealth ships? The Vipers will get ripped apart.”
“And you thought your boys and girls had all the fun. That data cube is our future, Captain Conway.”
“We’ll look after it. See you topside, Lieutenant.”
“Good luck to us all.”
Kenyon cut the channel, leaving Conway picturing the coming sacrifices. He didn’t know what kind of force the Raggers had stationed over Hul-J5 – if it was significant, the Vipers wouldn’t stand a chance. He explained on the squad open channel. Rivalry existed between ground and air arms of the ULAF, but the soldiers understood.
“The sooner we get this cube to the surface, the sooner we can be on our way,” said Lockhart.
The lift came to its destination and the door slid open. Any Raggers waiting would have found themselves facing multiple gun barrels and multiple pissed off soldiers. Instead, the chamber outside was empty and the squad assembled.
“Same arrangement of rooms as when we came down,” Conway observed. “Should be some steps this way, a landing and then a room with Raggers.”
The steps were near to the lift exit passage, exactly how he expected. A couple of Raggers were heading along the corridor in the opposite direction and Conway held onto his bullets. The lower section of stairs was clear so the squad went to the landing, where Conway chose the right-hand stairs which he anticipated would lead to another bunch of Raggers that would require slaughtering.
Conway hadn’t started upwards when the door at the top opened. A Ragger stepped into sight and Kemp put a bullet into its chest, the sound of the part-suppressed discharge echoing peculiarly. With any chance of surprise gone, Conway charged towards the door with Kemp alongside. He didn’t turn but could hear the heavier footsteps of Lieutenants Atomar and Rembra right behind.
They made it to the top before the door
closed. Conway didn’t want to waste an opportunity and he sprinted into the room, breaking left to clear the doorway for the soldiers coming after. He found himself in a seemingly perfect copy of the last scanning room, with rows of naked Raggers and two drones overhead.
Three shots knocked out one of the drones and Kemp put paid to the second. Neither Atomar nor Rembra bothered with the delicate work. Instead, they fired into the massed Raggers, cutting them down with a torrent of bullets. Other members of the squad arrived and poured gunfire into the enemy.
Same as it was last time, the Raggers had no chance and their bodies were torn apart. As he watched it happen, Conway felt strangely like a passive spectator, as if his mind was protecting him from what it thought he might become.
I am Tanner Conway, he thought angrily. The same Tanner Conway as I’ve always been.
The final Ragger toppled and the gunfire ended. The scene was something out of a nightmare, with steam rising from mutilated bodies and hunks of gore-soaked flesh everywhere. Silence lasted for less than a second until it was replaced by the clack of a seemingly synchronized change of magazines. Conway held out a hand and Corporal Brice obliged him with two of her spares.
“Thanks.”
Conway’s feet were moving before his hands had completed the mag change. He came to the passage that he knew would lead to a door and from there to the huge construction of growth cylinders. His approach wasn’t interrupted by the arrival of new Raggers, though he didn’t drop his guard. A glance over his shoulder reassured him that his squad were in place and Lieutenant Rembra surprised him with a thumbs up sign.
Beyond the door, everything was like it had been previously, with maybe a few more newly grown Raggers going up and down lifts.
“No sign of an alarm,” he said. “I wonder if this area and the teleporter are treated like two separate facilities.”
He got his eye on a descending lift and strode towards it, with the squad following. They stood a short distance from the target lift, to give the Ragger passengers plenty of space – there was no point in wasting ammo killing them.
The lift took longer than Conway expected and he cast his eyes along the perimeter wall of the shaft containing the growth tube structure. He spotted a group of Raggers to the left, stepping off a different lift. Elsewhere, other enemies – these with guns – waited for a chance to ascend. Conway glanced at the door through which his squad had emerged. It was still closed.
Further away, another door on the inner wall opened and Conway watched carefully. No Raggers went in or out and then the door closed.
“Stealth troops came through that door four along,” he said.
The third door along opened at the same time as Conway finished his sentence. Once again, no Raggers appeared and then it closed.
“They’re expanding their search,” said Lockhart.
The lift came to a halt with a bunch of Raggers on the platform. Without delay, they strode towards the door adjacent to the one the soldiers had exited. To Conway’s dismay, the door opened early and three armed Raggers walked into the central area. With tooth-grinding predictability, they diverted around the larger group and approached the lift.
“What do we do, Captain?” asked Warner.
“We should wait for another lift,” said Freeman.
“Screw that,” muttered Conway. “This place is going to be filled with stealth Raggers any time from now. Assuming it isn’t already. Get onto that damn lift!”
The soldiers got.
“Those Raggers will know we’re here the moment they join us on the lift, sir.”
“Not if I can help it, soldier.” Conway pointed at three members of his squad. “Lieutenants Rembra, Atomar. Gundro. Kill those Raggers quickly and quietly. Don’t let them fall to the ground.”
The Fangrin grasped the subtleties of the plan immediately and the grin on Atomar’s face was distinctly unpleasant. Without another word, they slunk off, heading left and right in order to circle behind the Raggers. Conway climbed onto the lift without taking his eyes off the unfolding events.
It was a close-run thing and the Raggers were only a few paces from the lift when the Fangrin struck. Gundro stepped in close and wrapped an arm around the neck of his chosen Ragger. A tight, crushing squeeze held for several seconds was enough for the enemy to slump. Atomar and Rembra didn’t have it so easy and their targets thrashed violently for a second or two before succumbing to the strangulation.
Having completed their task, the Fangrin carried the dead bodies towards the lift, doing their best to hold them upright. From five meters away, the act was less than convincing.
“Listen carefully and be ready,” Conway ordered his squad. The attack had been as well-executed as he could have expected, but any stealth Raggers watching from close by couldn’t fail to notice something was wrong.
Rembra, Atomar and Gundro climbed onto the lift and the soldiers shifted so that the Fangrin could stand towards the rear of the platform where the artifice would be less apparent to any Raggers watching.
“Looks like we’ve got another group wants to use our lift,” said Berg.
Sure enough, a further six Raggers exited the same door as the previous three and headed in the same direction.
“Think this lift is programmed to wait for them?” asked Kemp.
“Don’t ask me, soldier.”
Maddeningly, the lift didn’t ascend and the Raggers came closer, leaving Conway with no option other than to act. He ordered the squad as far back on the platform as possible and shifted the Fangrin to the front.
The first Ragger stepped onto the platform and walked towards the rear. Conway saw what he took to be an expression of confusion appear on its face at the sight of three clearly dead other Raggers dangling in the air. Then, Darax grabbed it around the neck and dragged it towards him. The enemy soldier was dead before it could raise its gun.
It was too crowded on the lift platform and the result was a messy, short-lived brawl. The Fangrin were much stronger than the Raggers. Even so, a clean, bare-handed kill was hard to accomplish and the enemy soldiers gurgled and kicked as they were throttled. The last to die got off a single shot, the bullet harmlessly striking the lift platform, whilst the gun’s retort made Conway wince.
“That’s done it,” said Brice.
The lift didn’t care if its passengers were alive or dead, as long as they were onboard. It juddered once and began its ascent, climbing steadily from the floor. Instead of being reassured, Conway felt more vulnerable and would do until the lift was high enough to cut out the firing angle from below.
“Stay low,” he ordered.
It was difficult for the soldiers to keep their heads down with so little room and with the nine unwanted passengers taking up valuable space. The moment he heard a bullet clunk against the underside of the platform, Conway knew the game was up.
“Get those bodies off my lift.”
The squad jettisoned the dead Raggers, pushing their corpses over the lift’s edge and onto the floor beneath. At that moment, the inbound fire turned from a single shot into something much more threatening. Bullets clattered against the platform and others hit the growth tubes on the main structure. One of the tubes shattered, covering the rear of the platform in a foul-smelling liquid. Mercifully, the part-grown Ragger stayed where it was.
Conway twisted his neck to see how far away they were from the top. It wasn’t looking good – he could make out the upper railing, way above. Thin, pale figures leaned over, evidently searching for the squad.
This was going to be a longest lift ride of Conway’s life.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Luckily for Conway and his soldiers, the Raggers weren’t communicating well. Several empty lifts were ascending the side of the growth tube structure and the enemy at the top weren’t sure which the soldiers were hiding on. Consequently, they divided their fire. Meanwhile, the soldiers did their best to shoot any Raggers who were aiming their way.
Conway
got himself into a braced crouch and shot one Ragger in the head. A second appeared with a gun in both hands. He shot that one as well. This precision was something the Fangrin chain guns couldn’t match and though the dogs raked the upper level with a stream of bullets, they weren’t nearly as lethal as the human Gilners.
The fire from below faded rapidly as the lift gained height. The stealth Raggers had been too slow to respond and their firing angle was gone. Eventually, they’d think of another way to cause problems, Conway was sure.
“We ain’t making it all the way up there,” said Torres.
“I thought you liked whack-a-mole.”
“Only when the moles look like you, Calvin.”
Conway didn’t like to admit it, but Torres was right. The Raggers on the platform above weren’t dividing their firepower so much and instead aimed at only two of the lifts. Five or six bullets struck the platform in front of Conway, each producing a scuff on the metal. The enemy soldier who’d fired them stepped away from the railing and out of sight. With his eye against his gunsights, Conway waited for the Ragger to reappear.
A different one stepped forward and he shot this one instead, along with a second who lingered carelessly. The number of Raggers didn’t noticeably diminish - with every death a new one appeared.
Unexpectedly, Conway’s earpiece fizzed into life. “You’ve got incoming Captain,” said Lieutenant Kenyon. “I hope you’re not in the way.”
It wasn’t much warning – far too little for Conway to take meaningful action.
A massive grey shape punched clean through the dome’s roof, leaving irregular daggers of metal ringing the hole. The shape raced towards the ground, trailing intense flames and heat. Conway dimly recognized it as a Viper and the spaceship spun as it fell, causing untold damage to the central structure. Glass, metal, cables and fluids spilled and plummeted in a rain of shattered technology.
A second later, it seemed like thunder filled the interior of the dome and the Viper dropped past the lift, missing it by less than ten meters. Heat and displaced air buffeted the squad, threatening to sweep them from the edge. Instinct took over and the soldiers grabbed onto one another, keeping their squadmates safe.
Scum of the Universe (Fire and Rust Book 7) Page 18
