Johns took remote control of the drone through controls on the arm of his combat suit and sent it down into the opening.
As hoped, the drone entered a large room unnoticed and transmitted a video feed to the Marines’ visors showing a group of Kemmar soldiers waiting to cut down anyone coming down the stairs.
The stairway was wide enough for two troopers to descend at a time. The enemy waiting down there would open fire the moment they saw boots coming down the stairs.
Henderson examined the opening at the bottom. There was enough room for two to leap in. They didn’t need to use the stairs. Their combat suits could easily handle a jump from that height.
“Ok, we need to move in fast and hard. No stairs. We jump in two by two. The Kemmar will open fire once they see us but if we move fast enough, we should overwhelm them. Patel, and Daniels, you go in first. Stanis and Krukov, you follow right behind them.”
“Yes, Sir.”
With any luck the Kemmar wouldn’t react fast enough to stop them. Speed was vital.
The first two Marines jumped in and rolled as soon as they hit the ground. They immediately took fire.
Seconds later two more Marines dropped in, and they continued to drop two by two. Each time the Marines rolled as soon as they hit the floor and opened fire while seeking cover.
Henderson watched on his visor as their combat suits took hits, but the defenders seemed confused by the tactic and kept changing targets, shifting fire from one attacker to another. The result was that no Marine took enough fire to cause more than some minor damage.
Patel was the first to take advantage of the confusion jumping out and running for a pillar in the middle of the floor. One of the Kemmar fired at him but Daniels forced him to stop with his own deadly accurate covering fire.
Once Patel took cover behind the pillar, he opened fire on the Kemmar positions. Daniels jumped out and ran for a closer position behind some equipment. He took more fire than Patel but made it with only minor damage to his combat suit.
Then it was Stanis and Krukov, who each took turns advancing and gaining ground. Behind them troopers continued to drop in through the stairway.
With each Marine’s entry the rate of fire multiplied, offering more cover for the lead Marine to advance, while more troopers leapfrogged forward.
Henderson hit the ground himself and rolled away to the left while his men continued to lay down covering fire. Red energy bursts still shot out from the defenders, but it was more sporadic now as the Marines forced the defenders to keep their heads down.
They were in a relatively large room and from its layout it looked like it was used for large meetings, perhaps presentations, or training. The open room had several supporting columns, equipment and furniture providing useful cover for his troops.
The defenders had created a makeshift barricade out of some large equipment and used it for cover, but the sustained Marine rail gun fire now began shredding it, creating gaps in their defenses.
There were only a handful of Kemmar and they didn’t have enough firepower to defend against Henderson’s Marines. They also didn’t appear to be as well trained and couldn’t exploit any of their early advantages. Soon the advancing Marines overwhelmed them.
As their defenses fell apart a Kemmar stood trying to return fire more effectively. The Marines shot him down so quickly that Henderson was sure he didn’t even have enough time to realize his mistake.
Recognizing the hopelessness of their cause some tried to retreat, but were cut down while fleeing, the Marine rail guns perforating their backs.
Surprisingly not one Kemmar surrendered. Death seemed preferable to capture. After the way they treated their prisoners it was no surprise that they expected the same in return.
Eventually all resistance was quashed, and the Marines secured the room. There were no fatalities and only minor damage to some of the combat suits.
“Perimeter secured,” Daniels said, standing at the front of the room. Ahead of him was a long corridor.
“Excellent work,” Henderson said. “Let’s keep moving.”
They raced down the corridor with Henderson leading the way until they reached a corner. There Henderson held up a fist telling everyone to stop.
“Johns, we need eyes around that bend.”
“Coming right up Sarge.”
Johns ordered the mosquito drone to round the corner. It transmitted its video feed to the Marine visors just as before. The video revealed a large energy weapon battery mounted on the ceiling.
Luckily, the gun’s targeting systems didn’t recognize the drone as a target.
“Can you take that gun out?” Henderson said.
“I think so, Sarge,” Johns said.
Private Johns carefully maneuvered the drone remotely and it flew closer and closer to the gun, until it landed right on top of it. Once in place the Private Johns sent a destruct command and the drone exploded, destroying the energy weapon right along with it.
The threat safely removed, the Marines turned the corner and raced down the adjoining corridor.
This hallway was much tighter than the last and it made for slow going, with barely enough room for two Marines at a time. This stretched the group out like a train with multiple cars being pulled down a track.
Henderson knew they had to rely on speed to get through, but his fears were realized when his display showed the Marines in the rear taking fire.
“What the hell is going on back there?” Henderson said.
“Some Kemmar got behind us, Sir,” Private Martinez said from the rear.
“How many?”
“Looks like five, maybe six.”
The team tried to turn around and lend support to the exposed soldiers, but the tight corridor made a coordinated counterattack difficult.
From his position he couldn’t even see the attackers let alone get a firing solution on them. He clenched a metal fist and cursed when Martinez disappeared from his display. He then watched in horror as Private Lee fell as well.
A quarter of his team in the rear had now stopped and were trying deal with the Kemmar threat from behind. He knew he couldn’t help them and that the priority was to move fast. So, he ordered the rest of his team to continue advancing.
Ahead they were reaching the end of the long hallway where there were another set of doors. As they approached the doors slid open and a group of Kemmar in combat suits rushed through.
The three Marines in front fell almost instantly and disappeared from Henderson’s display as red lightning streaked over their heads hitting the Marines behind them.
Henderson ducked and cursed. They were caught in a crossfire.
CHAPTER 59
Kevin’s Marines dropped to the ground while the shuttles pounded the entrance to the building with heavy energy weapon fire. The onslaught had a dual purpose. It provided cover for the troopers hitting the ground, and it softened up the entrance so that they could advance without opposition.
The seven shuttles floated only a few meters off the ground, all of them firing as the Marines jumped off.
Kevin hit the ground and his combat suit immediately compensated for the icy surface. The ice under his feet was so hard that it didn’t even give an inch under the weight of Kevin’s combat suit.
Above him the shuttles continued to pound the building, their blue bolts melding with the icy landscape and clear sky.
Many of his Marines had already hit the ice and the rest continued to drop from the shuttles above.
With the heavy fire from the shuttles the troops did not meet any resistance and were able to all disembark without problem. Nonetheless, the troopers all spread out so as not to give the enemy an easy target.
“Ok, listen up. We do this by the book. No heroics. We move in, take the atrium, secure it and wait for further orders.”
“Yes, Sir,” the Marines said over his comm.
“Move out.”
The shuttles were still pounding the front of the buildi
ng. It was hard to imagine that anything could survive such a barrage. As they got closer Kevin could see that the front of the building had been turned into a mangled mess of melted steel and perforated mortar.
The shuttles had hollowed out the entrance, leaving no signs of resistance. No defenders could withstand such a powerful assault.
When they got close enough the shuttles stopped firing, allowing the troops to move in. With the shuttles floating behind them, ready to destroy any new threats, the troopers flooded through the front of the building.
“Damn, what a mess,” Reynolds said.
“That’ll teach them not to mess with humans again,” Burke said.
“Good thing we have our own air supply. Can you imagine smelling that shit?” Patel said.
Inside there were dozens of bodies, or at least what resembled bodies. The shuttles had obliterated everything, leaving armor covered body parts strewn throughout.
The atrium was massive, and the Marines fanned out, establishing a perimeter and insuring there were no surprises.
Kevin surveyed the room. It was connected to numerous hallways snaking out in a dizzying array of directions. It could take days before they found where the prisoners were held.
“We need access to their systems. Find me a way in,” Kevin ordered.
“Got it, Chief. I’ve found an entry point to the prison’s network,” Chen said over the combat suit’s comm. “It appears it hasn’t been damaged by the attack.”
“Good. Initiate a network takeover.”
“Initiating,” Chen said, attaching a device to a podium shaped unit with a clear, glass like top. “There’s a problem, Sir. The device can’t communicate with the Hermes AI.”
“Must be that damned interference again. Is there a workaround?”
“Maybe. We can only transmit up to a certain range and then the signal loses strength. If we send one of the shuttles higher up in the atmosphere we can use it as a relay to amplify the signal. The device should then be able to link with the Hermes AI.”
“Good. Hang tight while I get a shuttle in position.”
On Kevin’s orders one of the shuttles floating in front of the building broke formation and rocketed up into the sky. When it reached an altitude where it could both communicate with the ground team and the Hermes it acted as a repeater, allowing communication between both groups.
“It’s working, Sir. We’ve linked up with the Hermes AI. Initiating takeover of enemy network.”
The Hermes AI used the relay to attack the Kemmar network, unleashing a powerful electronic attack. The team waited as the AI broke through the myriad defenses setup to protect the prison systems from intrusion.
The AI’s electronic warfare capabilities were unrivaled, and Kevin knew it would soon take control of the prison’s systems. They would then not only know where the prisoners were held, but also where the Kemmar were hiding.
“Mayday, mayday, taking heavy weapon fire from multiple bogeys!” the relay shuttle pilot said over the comm. “Taking evasive action.”
Thousands of meters above the prison Kemmar fighters swarmed the shuttle, painting its hull red with energy weapon fire.
CHAPTER 60
“Enemy system takeover terminated,” announced the AI.
Jon watched with dismay as the Kemmar fighters destroyed the assault shuttle. “Where did those fighters come from?”
“Uncertain. Preliminary data indicates they were stationed on the far side of the planet, Sir,” Petrovic said.
“Why the hell didn’t we see them?”
“The same interference that is disrupting our communications and targeting also concealed the fighters from our scans.”
“Target fighters. Energy weapons only.”
“We can’t get a lock on the fighters, Sir.”
“Then fire in their direction. Full spectrum array.”
“The fighters are descending on the prison, Sir. If we fire, we risk hitting our troops.”
“Goddammit!”
CHAPTER 61
The assault shuttles hovering in front of the prison and above the roof turned and raced into the sky to meet the attacking Kemmar fighters. The fighters screamed downward racing for the prison.
The fighters were outnumbered, but their speed and agility made up the difference. Coming into range the shuttles let loose a round of missiles and the fighters scattered firing decoys behind them. When the last of the missiles exploded the Kemmar fighters were still in the sky and now coming around for a run at the shuttles.
The sky lit up in a blue and red laser show as both sides tried to gain the advantage. The Kemmar fighters danced and sidestepped around the blue bursts, but the shuttles were heavier and slower and took numerous hits.
The heavy armor plating protected the shuttles, allowing them to withstand more damage, but that protection had its limits. As the shuttles took more hits their armor plating weakened, and it seemed inevitable that it would eventually fail.
The Kemmar fighters changed tactics and now focused their attack on one shuttle. Acting like a pack of wolves they worked to isolate their target and separate it from the protection of the group. They hit it from all sides with sustained fire. The Kemmar energy weapons soon burned through the shuttle’s plating and the sky lit up with the white flash of the exploding shuttle.
The shuttles regrouped and worked to counter the Kemmar strategy. The dog fights continued, and the shuttles tried desperately to use their superior numbers to gain an advantage.
One Kemmar fighter flipped and swayed and raced in all directions imaginable trying to shake the two shuttles chasing it, the shuttle pilots displayed incredible skill and continued to give chase, yet the killing shot continued to elude them.
The reality was that there was only so much the shuttle pilots could do with the heavier and less maneuverable ships.
Soon it became clear that the Kemmar fighters had the upper hand and that it was only a matter of time until the shuttles were wiped out. That conclusion became even more certain when the fighters painted the sky white for a second time.
CHAPTER 62
Sergeant Henderson dropped down on one knee and fired on the advancing Kemmar. The Marines beside him did the same, while those behind him stayed standing. The combined rail gun fire sent a torrent of bullets ripping through the enemy, shredding their suits and stopping their advance.
To the rear his Marines were getting control of the situation and now coordinated their fire more effectively, forcing the Kemmar to retreat.
As the Kemmar fell back the Marines followed, determined to terminate the threat. Their attack, however, served to stretch the team even further leaving them even more exposed.
The Kemmar had to be dealt with or they would continue harassing their rear flank. On the other hand, they needed to keep pressing forward and couldn’t afford to stop and wait. They also couldn’t afford to lose more soldiers.
Sergeant Henderson had lost almost a third of his team in the crossfire. Nine Marines dead. And now five had gone after the Kemmar attackers behind them. If they advanced now, with those on the rear giving chase, they would be down to a team of sixteen.
In the end, standing still was not an option. They had to press on and not lose any momentum. The Marines chasing the Kemmar would have to catch up.
“OK we’re moving out. Krukov and Daniels, ready your grenade launchers and lob a few through that doorway. We charge and glass whatever’s still alive behind those doors.”
“Yes, Sir,” the two Marines said.
They slid open the doors, launched a volley of grenades into the adjoining room, and took cover again behind the wall. The ground shook from the force of the concussions.
The Marines again slid the doors open and they all charged into the room. They immediately took fire and scrambled to find cover. But there was none.
The Kemmar defenders had a superior position and now unleashed a relentless barrage of energy weapon fire on the exposed Marines.
In the first frantic moments several Marines blinked off Henderson’s display while the rest showed heavy damage to their combat suits. Left with no choice Henderson ordered the rest of his men to retreat to the other side of the doors.
They continued taking heavy fire as they bunched up in front of the doorway trying desperately to get to safety. They tried returning fire to cover their retreat, but to no avail and more Marines died in the process.
Only eight Marines made it to the other side. The rest had simply vanished from Sergeant Henderson’s visor. What was worse, he couldn’t see the other five who had given chase to the other Kemmar soldiers. He assumed they were dead as well. He knew this was true when Kemmar soldiers rounded the corner behind them and opened fire.
The doors flew open in front of them and more Kemmar soldiers pushed into the corridor firing their energy weapons at the trapped group of Marines.
CHAPTER 63
Kevin’s stomach hollowed out as he watched the last of Henderson’s team blink off his visor. He stared at the blank display in disbelief. Thirty Marines, gone. His friend, gone. He fought against the grief. Fought to keep his composure. There would be time to grieve later.
Henderson knew the risks. He was a veteran. A lifer. He had accepted death long ago, and was lucky enough to meet the reaper in the thick of battle. It was a warrior’s death. A good death. He would have approved.
Kevin clenched an armored fist. He wouldn’t let the Sergeant die in vain.
The shuttles were not doing well against the Kemmar fighters, so taking over the prison’s systems wasn’t an option. Neither was standing around and waiting. But searching blindly for the prisoners would take too long. That left only one option. They would have to split up.
The Pike Chronicles - Books 1 - 10 Page 22