"What do you need Sir?" he asked as he came to stand before his superior. The Major looked incredibly irritated, and even a little angry.
"Lieutenant Cyrus is pinned down on the right flank with the new platoon he was assigned to. He has hit booby traps and his tanks are not functioning. He is pinned down between two buildings in a crossfire. I need you to take your platoon and reinforce him. We cannot advance here. If he is overrun we could end up being outflanked and surrounded" he stated before squatting on the ground. The man pulled out a crude map and unfolded it onto the ground.
"We are here, not far from the beach. If we advance further, we will hit a number of shipping containers, ones that have been turned into crude bunkers. The Imperials have arrayed them with cranes and cut holes in them. It’s a tough fight, but only one we can win if the right flank comes around behind them from the main entrance to the port. That was Cyrus's goal, but as I said, he is pinned down. Here" Major Irwin stated and jabbed a finger on the map. Victor looked it over and scowled. From the map he could see the planned route for Cyrus, and it took him straight through a number of small streets flanked by warehouses and outbuildings. That was the only way other than the main street that ran parallel to the Imperials main defensive line and beach.
"Got it sir. Just my platoon?" Victor asked and looked up to stare the Major in the face.
"Yes Sergeant. We cannot spare more troops from this section. We have asked for reinforcements, but they are not coming. I need you to get Cyrus moving. We need this port taken by nightfall, and that is only hours away" the Major stated before standing up and folding the map back up, putting it into a breast pocket.
"Now get going and best of luck Sergeant" the Major stated before offering the Sergeant a smart salute.
"Got it sir. On my way" Victor replied, replying with his own salute before turning to his platoon and noticing their grim expressions. They all disliked Cyrus and had been relieved when he had been given charge of a platoon that had lost its officers. Victor had been pretty much ecstatic as well. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he beckoned the platoon with a wide gesture of his arm.
"On me marines. We go to rescue our comrades" he barked and they all got into line with not a hint of fuss and followed after him.
Victor led them past the other tanks and platoons, all looking at them with resolution, nods coming their way. He passed through the gap between two buildings, stepping over a half dozen corpses of Imperial's. They had most likely died under fire from one of the other platoon's when this area had been secured.
Hearing the zaps of fire not far ahead of them, Victor grimaced. The fight was most likely less than a hundred meters from them. As Victor led his men further, and skirted around a warehouse, he came face to face with a unit of Federation soldiers, a half dozen of them pressed up against the wall. As they saw him, their eyes widened, even more as the platoon came in behind him.
"Lad's. What are you doing?" he asked, looking at them, his eyes dropping to look on a woman, badges of a corporal on her uniform.
"Ah, Sergeant. We have our order's to stay put. The next warehouse over is full of Imperials. They have heavy weaponry. A tank unit is pinned down next to it I think" she stated, rather nervous. Victor looked around, taking in his surrounds. They were crammed into a side street, not two metre's wide. Rubble was positioned at the end towards the port, and would be hard to climb over. There was a massive hole in the wall of the building in the direction they needed to go.
"Alright Corporal. You come with us. We are reinforcing that unit, and could use the extra manpower" Victor grunted and then turned away, the corporal nodding to him.
"Marines. We are going through that hole. Some of you find a way to the top story. If there are Imperials in the building next to us, I want you spraying them through the windows" he stated.
"Rest of us, we are going into the ground level. Don't know how many there are, but that doesn't matter" he stated, feeling a little downcast. For all he knew, he was leading these marines to their deaths.
Without any more words, he pushed his way through the platoon and made his way to the hole in the wall, peeking around its edge. The inside of the building was filled with what looked like a workshop. A number of benches, industrial saw's and drill's filled its expanse. Other than that, the room appeared to be a single storey, with a metal staircase running up the left wall to a raised office of some sort. He scowled. He stepped around the corner then and heard others follow.
Making a gesture with his hand, holding out three fingers, three of his marines made their way to the steel staircase and vaulted up it, their footfall's causing clangs and slight echoes. Thankfully any noise they made was drowned out by the noise of shouts and gunfire nearby.
The workshop had a number of windows along its wall, and Victor caught glimpses of the warehouse on the other side, and flashes of movement inside the building, which had its own windows along its wall as well.
As his platoon spread out through the building, rather quiet, taking up position, Victor moved to the side of the building, and a small side access door. The workshop had a massive roller shutter that was closed and only the hole in the wall and this single door as entry points from what he could see. It was essentially a death trap. He surmised that the warehouse next door had a similar set up.
Grimacing, he crouched down behind a window and looked through it, his head only high enough for his eyes to peer over. The sound of shouts and gunfire was loud in his ears and he scowled. Turning around, he looked into expectant faces of his platoon. They had steeled themselves by their expressions, prepared for the conflict.
"Alright boys and girls. Anyone who has grenades, once we are in the pathway, throw them through the windows into the Imperial stronghold, and then we follow. That’s all there is to it. It ain’t going to be easy" he murmured and watched as they nodded. Victor then turned back to the window, pulling a grenade out of his belt, his thumb through the pin as he got ready to throw it. Hearing creaking above him, he assumed the three he had sent upstairs were in the office, and hoped they could lay fire into the warehouse through any window they could see. Sucking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and murmured a quick prayer.
"Charge!" he yelled suddenly and he was up, vaulting through the window and onto the concrete of a pathway. He felt glass crunch under his feet as he pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it through a window directly in front of him. As he slammed up against the wall to the warehouse, waiting for the grenade to go off, Victor heard surprised shouts as more of his platoon followed him through as well, vaulting through other windows in the workshop. Four of his men burst through the single door as well, their rifles pointed straight up, firing up into windows on the second storey.
The grenade Victor threw bounced into the warehouse and after a few seconds exploded, its contents spraying out over its immediate vicinity. Hearing screams of pain, he smiled grimly and turned around the corner, being the first to vault through a shattered window of the warehouse. His rifle unslung, Victor brought it up to his shoulder, the stock pressed to its familiar position. He cast his gaze around as more of his men ran past him and into the building. The place was one large room, but looked to have an actual second storey, and there was a massive staircase in the centre of the ground floor. Filling the expanse were rows and rows of cupboards and shelves, all stacked with boxes and crates.
The marines split up into groups of two and three, clearing out isle after isle. Hearing more gunfire from above, he guessed his men in the workshop were assailing those on the top floor through the windows. Continuing down an isle himself, he turned around it and came face to face with two Imperials, both youths with their eyes wide and rifles held low.
Victor felt a twinge of regret as he opened fire on the men, barely two metres away from him. They did not even have time to scream as the energy beams ripped into their heads. As they crashed to the ground dead, Victor sucked in a shuddering breath and moved on.
It w
asn't long before he arrived at the staircase and found two of his marines there, both dead. He hissed and crouched, looking up the stairs from between the shelves. He could just see the tips of rifles pointing out between makeshift barriers and he hissed again. They had fortified themselves at the top of the stair case.
Sensing something not quite right, Victor cast his gaze to the other side of the staircase and saw three more Imperials coming from the other way. The leading one saw him and raised a rifle, letting off a shot at Victor. Cursing, the sergeant dropped to the ground and returned fire, laying down flat. As a bolt of energy flew over his head, gunfire erupted from the left, behind the staircase and ripping into the shelves the Imperials were behind.
Victor returned fire again, this time aiming true, and the first Imperial went down, even as their position was peppered with gunfire from two directions. The boxes and crates stacked upon the shelves offered no cover and they disintegrated under fire. The remaining two Imperials went down, screaming in pain, the gunfire continuing. After a few moments it stopped, and then everything stayed silent. Even outside seemed to have quieted down.
Everything seemed as if frozen, no one else was moving now. Getting up slowly, Victor retreated back the way he had come before skirting around the back of the staircase and finding a half dozen of his marines crouched down there.
"Lads. Is the bottom floor cleared?" he asked of them. There was a quick murmur before one nodded in reply.
"Pretty sure it is Sarge. Could be some imps about the place still hiding though" the marine replied and Victor sneered a little at the nickname many of the marines used to describe the Imperials.
"In that case lads, get to the windows overlooking the street, support Cyrus if he is still alive" he ordered and watched as the group nodded and moved off to do just that.
"Sergeant. What are we going to do about those above us?" came a question from behind Victor and he turned, looking into the face of the female Corporal he had seen before. He looked down to her name tag and then back to her face.
"Corporal Blair. We may just have to lob a few grenades up there and see what happens" he stated, not really seeming overly convinced by his own answer. The woman raised an eyebrow but chose not to call him out on it.
"Alright. Well, I suppose we do that" she stated and yanked a sole grenade off of her belt, eyebrow raised again as she looked at the Sergeant.
"That we will" Victor muttered and then turned away, making his way back to the staircase. He beckoned more marines as he passed them, until he was in a group of a dozen. Arriving at the staircase, he turned back to the marines, noting the hard looks on their faces. He heard gunfire pick up again, and looked up, noting flashes and shouts coming from the windows near the road. He guessed his marines had started firing on Imperials from their positions there. He ignored it and turned back to his group.
"Alright Marines, listen up. We are charging up the staircase, it looks to be wide enough for two people on each side of the dividing rail. That’s four abreast. Grenades go first and hope to hell we take out a few of the bastards" he stated and turned away. He wasn't really one for rousing speeches. He chose to lead by example. And that is exactly what he did.
Sucking in a breath, he broke out of cover and ran for the staircase, rifle at his hip even as he pulled his second and last grenade from his belt, the pin coming out as well. He passed into view of the makeshift fortification at the top of the stairs, and the faces of Imperials behind it, their rifles resting on what looked to be overturned tables.
Their energy rifles lit up and Victor felt his heart slow, that familiar feeling of adrenaline making everything go at a snail’s pace. He swore he could see a blast coming straight for his head and he cursed, his life practically flashing before his eyes. The blast hit a barrier then and shimmered out of existence and Victor blinked in surprise. He moved still though, and as soon as he was at the foot of the staircase, he lobbed the grenade hard, watching it sail up and above the fortification. He heard it land with a thunk and then shouts from the Imperials nearby. He wasted no time then and ran forward, energy blasts still being fired at him and disappearing or bouncing off as they hit that same barrier. He could hear chanting behind him and knew there must be a mage in his group. And yet he knew no mage was in his platoon.
Lifting his rifle he started firing blindly into the barricade, other blasts of energy sailing past him as well, as the marines behind him opened fire themselves. He saw two more grenades fly even as his own exploded, a white flash erupting from behind the barricades. Screams tore through the air and the Imperials stopped firing from over the barricade. The other two grenades landed and then blew as well, one of the barricades actually disintegrating in the blast and sending splinters of wood at the charging Marines.
The debris bounced off of the barrier even as the marines reached the barricade. Victor burst through it and let loose a salvo of shots in random directions right before the energy crystal in his rifle fizzled out. Pulling the trigger to no avail he swore and dived to the left even as more Imperials appeared before them, firing from further in the top storey. There were no shelves here. It was just open with tables and desks everywhere, like this building had been used as a makeshift office.
Reaching for his ammo pouch to pull out another crystal clip, his eyes widened as Corporal Blair appeared, chanting loudly with a palm outstretched, held before her, even as she clenched a chunk of glowing orange crystal in her other hand. A plume of fire erupted from her open palm and surged out over the Imperials in front of her, setting them alight and filling the air with screams. Marines piled in behind her and opened fire wildly, shooting at anything in sight, in all directions.
The entire room was lit up with energy fire, shots dissipating on the Corporals shields or bouncing straight off. Victor shook himself out of his shock and ejected his used crystal clip, sliding in the new one to his rifle. As it clicked into place, he stood back up and turned around, doing a full three sixty turn. He saw a handful of Imperials now and all of them were now shouting, dropping their rifles and lifting hands into the air in surrender.
"Stop! Cease fire!" Victor yelled as loudly as he could. For the most part his marines listened a few letting off a final shot or two.
"They have surrendered. Secure them!" he ordered and a half dozen of the marines obeyed whilst the others kept their rifles pointed at the Imperials. Victor then turned his gaze to Corporal Blair, a look of anger on his face. He stalked up to her, noting a much deflated look on her face.
"Why the hell didn't you say you were a mage! We could have saved lives by deploying you earlier" he erupted at her angrily and she looked up at him, startled.
"Whoa Sergeant. I apologize. You didn't really give me an opportunity before the attack to tell you. And, I am not exactly an official army mage. I just happen to know a few tricks" she stated, her hand being held up in some sort of defence.
Victor just looked her over and saw her torso shaking a bit, her face pale as chalk and a sheen of sweat on her skin. He bit the inside of his cheek and scowled. The woman had just saved their lives in a suicidal charge no doubt, and he was being an ungrateful prick. He could see she was exhausted as well.
"Apologies Corporal. Didn't mean to sound ungrateful" he muttered and scowled again before turning away and counting the rounded up prisoners. There were seven of them, and he guessed there had been a full strength platoon holed up in here before the surprise attack.
Hearing a shout from downstairs, Victor turned and bolted down the stairs just as one of his marines made their way towards him. He looked past the man and saw Lieutenant Cyrus, a bandage wrapped around the side of his face, covering one eye. Cyrus stopped as he saw Victor and seemed to sag in relief.
"Thank the heavens Sergeant. Never have I been so glad to see you" he stated and then stepped forward, grasping Victors right hand with both of his own.
"You got us out of a pickle there. You taking this building opened a chance for us to rush the other wi
thout getting shot in the back. We took it, as most of the Imperials pulled back. But I have lost nearly half my men hear. I started with one hundred and twenty and four tanks. Disastrous. Are you here to help me push forward?" the man asked, desperation quite clear on his face. Victor just felt his heart sink. Perhaps this is why the Major sent him. Because he knew that Cyrus needed all the help he could get to push forward.
"Yes Lieutenant. I am. We have orders to take our objectives, and the port as a whole by nightfall. But first. I would see to our dead and wounded" Victor growled, feeling pretty damned tired. This was one hell of a first day.
Chapter 25
* * *
Cursing to himself, Niall stood on the bridge of the Harlaus as the airship slowly rocked from side to side. Phidel and her commanders had left Pagua as soon as they had heard that the other half of Clovis' fleet had flown over Kernow, but as the two battle fleets had met above the countryside, a powerful storm had rapidly blown in from the north.
The storm continued to rage across the countryside, effectively keeping all fighters in their respective airships docking bays and lashing the airships with heavy rain.
The Sky is Endless Page 23
