‘Good. Rockets will be quickest. The road lies out there. We could follow this track back to where it turned off but that might take too long. We’ll go across. Find their road and return. We don’t have much time. No more than ten minutes out; then back. What will that give her Bethane?’
‘Three to four kilometres.’
‘Cut it back then. Six minutes then return. The road can’t be too far out.’
The big man was staring at her. What?
‘If that is fine with you, send her, Commander.’
He is ordering me? He turned from her to bellow at the marines and she did as she was told.
‘Break out your rations. Eat and drink now. You have twelve minutes at the most then we move.’
Roli and Collin came up, tipping their hands to let fall a cascade of shiny bits of rock. ‘Good,’ shouted Steamsetter over the wind, clapping them both on the shoulder. ‘Once the Amazon locates the roadway, you and the other scouts make a run for it. Find a way for us to go west, fast, unseen. We need to make time.’
Bethane sipped from her bottle and stared at the big man. So all that time he had been standing quietly behind the Armourer had not been wasted. He had soaked in tactics and leadership the way the Armourer soaked in drink. He is a Commander now.
Steamsetter caught her eye. ‘Bethane. Rockets on. Your lot goes from here back up this track. It will be quickest and sure, as you said.’
She barely had time to pass the command before Sian returned, gliding in through the marines to come out of the air two steps in front of Steamsetter. My, she is good, thought Bethane. Maybe I will have to change my rating. La Mar, then Rhone, now Sian, then me. Shit, fourth! Well at least I can out fly them all and I have Gati.
‘The road is there, less than a kilometre north,’ said Sian as soon as her helm was off. ‘Black shiny rock, scarred by the tracks of carriers. Many of them.’
Steamsetter handed Sian his water bottle and called orders over her head. The Amazon was almost up against his chest as she turned and drank.
She doesn’t mind being close to people, thought Bethane.
‘Scouts away! Marines, on your feet!’ shouted Steamsetter. ‘Tane, take charge. You know how to do this better than me.’ The last was said to all of them.
Steamsetter turned and stepped closer to Bethane, apparently not realising he had Sian tucked under his arm. For her part, the new Amazon seemed especially content and made no move to alert him.
‘Commander Bethane, the Armourer never specified what he wanted you to achieve with your strike on the enemy near their Passage. Disrupt, hold? I don’t know. I don’t think he knew himself. We will come as soon as we can, if we can.’ The big man hung his head, found Sian and gently moved her out from under his arm. ‘The Armourer said that the Amazons were the best for this, out of all of the Guard, out of all the warriors he had ever seen.’ He lifted his eyes to Bethane’s. ‘It is sad when we use our best this way.’
CHAPTER 73: BACK
Spaced by ones. Mike had never done that before, outside of training. Shoulder to shoulder. The contact gave some comfort but it was also scary. Spaced by two’s at least half the enemies’ shots could miss. This was how marines thought, regardless of the reality.
The enemy should have rolled over them by now. The pressure was enormous. The only thing saving them was the Rim itself. The fields were very strong where the marines lay tucked up on the ridge top just under the sky. Most of the enemy fire aimed at them was sucked up or slammed down. Only the lasers held true and the suits could handle that, for a while. The marines’ fire was unaffected. The charges were strong coming out of the barrels of the weapons, and aimed nearly down as they were, they got away from the influence of the sky. If the fields swung them a bit it did not matter with the enemy massed so tightly below. Nevertheless, Mike couldn’t quite bring himself to be thankful. It was as if the Rim could calculate the setting for the greatest slaughter, then enact it. It could just as easily be us, down below. It might be, later, if they push us off this ridge.
Mike tapped the man on either side of him twice on the shoulder of their suits to let them know he was moving off the line. He slid down and across, toward the gap. Seca met him on the slope. She was blood to the knees and dry retched as soon as her helm was off.
‘Sorry. It’s getting hard to get across … all the blood.’ She grimaced and spat to clear her tongue. ‘Delaney is holding. Everyone on the line. No reserves. No rest.’
‘Same here on this side,’ said Mike. ‘Casualties?’
‘One in five. Bugger-all wounded. We can’t save anybody with everyone on the line.’ Something big hit the other side of the ridge. They both pulled their heads down. ‘How much longer Mike?’
‘Less than an hour, maybe only half.’ He hoped his face did not look as dismayed as hers. The ridge was hit again. Above them, right at the top. This time accompanied by a blinding white flare. Damn! Light cannon!
He slapped his helm on and scrambled up the slope. The last strike had dished out a hollow right on the knife edge of the ridge. There was a marine already lying in the dip firing down the far side. Mike threw himself in along side the prone figure. He felt Seca land beside him. Light flared on Delaney’s side of the gap as Mike eased his head up over the lip for a look. The broken ground was smooth now, a sea of suited men, lapping at the foot of their ridge. Back under the sky, way back on the rise, there were large things moving. Mike hunched down and took his helm off. He couldn’t slide further back. Seca was leaning across his body to pull at the marine’s arm.
‘Penter. Get your head down! You don’t have a helm on.’
‘Hey, Seca! It’s okay. It never hits the same place twice. That’s what they told me in training.’ There was a concussion and flare to their left to prove his point.
Mike put his scope to his eye and eased up to the lip again. The heat from the fused rock they were lying on roasted his cheek. Damn. Two light cannon. No! Four! Two more were coming down off the rise around the two that were firing. They can’t come forward. The uneven ground will stop them, and the massed men in front. Might just give us enough time.
‘Penter, are you hurt?’
Mike heard the concern in Seca’s voice. He pulled his head down and glanced at the marine. There was a thin line of blood on either side of Penter’s mouth.
‘Hi, Mike.’
‘Penter!’ Seca demanded.
‘Yah, okay, I been hit, but I don’t feel it much.’ He smiled, the blood accentuating his grin. ‘I never did have much luck around light cannon. Used to drive Tommo spare. Had my hand down the breach of one while it was still sequencing once.’
The ridge was hit hard, multiple strikes that lit the sky from below. When the light faded, Mike slid up with the scope and his guts froze. Way back, the light cannon were coming forward, driving over their own men, taking advantage of the human infill. Men trying to get out of the way raised a ripple in the packed surface of suits that would soon become a wave. A wave that would wash over the ridge. Who are their commanders that they could order this?
Mike slid down, right out of the hollow and on to his knees, head up, signalling to his men to fall back from the ridge top. Not only for speed. Stars know, they would need the seconds. But more because he didn’t want them to have to watch what the enemy was doing. No fighting man should ever see something like that! Further down the slope he saw Seca trying to relay the signals across to Delaney. He hadn’t noticed her come past. She is a good one, that Seca.
‘No luck, Mike,’ she yelled into the wind. ‘They can’t see us clear, too much dust. I’ll have to go over.’
‘Tell Delaney to drop back. Once the light cannon finish their barrage, the foot will swarm the ridge. No way we can hold them. It will be a full out panic on their part. We have to run for the far side of the low, now. No suits, too slow. Carry any wounded. Leave the dead. No heroes. No one stops until they reach the other side.’
On her affirmative, Mike turned and ran to tap out his
line. With casualties so high, he couldn’t count on the squads being together or for all the squad leaders to be alive. The book said that when it got this bad you did it personally, touched each man you had left to give new orders. He had finished the line when he remembered Penter. Damn, he was up above me when I started. He turned and headed back. It’s okay, gives me a chance to check the dead. Some of the suits he had tapped hadn’t moved. Not enough time to check them properly. Maybe only unconscious. He couldn’t bear the idea of leaving a man out here. Marines didn’t do that.
He had scrambled about forty metres when he noticed men following him. Mike stopped. ‘Where are you lot going?’ he asked when they drew close. ‘The low is that way.’
‘You are alone, Sergeant. We thought we’d go with you.’
It was the Good Squad, what was left of it. ‘I’m on my way back for Penter. He is still firing down this end.’ Wounded, probably worse than he has let on. I could use some help. ‘I could use your help if you want to come along. It will make your run harder though.’
‘We’re the best at running. Tollen made sure of that back on Base. You should know that, Mike.’
‘Okay. Spread out a bit. Check any suits you pass.’ He didn’t have to tell them why, not this squad. ‘Whoever is highest, toss a grenade over on delay every thirty metres or so. Let them know we are still here.’
Three quarters of the way along, their search paid off. ‘Got one! He’s alive!’
Mike kicked down the slope to the gathering men. One had popped the chest plate on a half buried figure and was checking for wounds.
‘Damn,’ said the shocked marine. ‘His dick’s been shot off!’
Mike quickly studied the suit legs. No welds. It isn’t Seca.
‘You fool. That’s Corie. She’ll kill you when she hears about this,’ said one of the others with a laugh.
Mike was still thinking about Seca. He hadn’t ordered her to leave with Delaney. She would come back. Penter was from her old squad, maybe the last one left. ‘Four of you take Corie back. The other three with me. We may have to do the same for Penter. Let’s go. We’re running out of time.’
Penter was calmly firing over the edge when they reached him. Doesn’t look like he has moved at all, thought Mike. The marines hit the ground next to the hollow. Mike went in beside Penter on his elbows. He slapped the wounded man’s shoulder to get his attention.
‘Penter, we have to go now.’ Mike slid down out of the hollow and rolled to yell to the others. ‘Everybody out of your suits.’ He was on his back half out of his when Seca stepped past. Blood up to the thighs this time, shiny where it dripped over the welds below her knees.
Mike kicked out of his suit and crawled back into the hollow. Seca was kneeling next to Penter. ‘Come on Seca, Penter, let’s go. Got plenty of help here.’
The sergeant turned her head away. Penter lifted his slightly to look back over his shoulder at Mike. ‘Sorry, Mike. I should have told you. I can’t go. I can’t move.’
‘There’s four of us, five with Seca,’ said Mike. ‘We can carry anything.’
‘No, Mike. I’m stuck here. The cannon damn near cut me in half. I’m welded to the rock. It’s what’s keeping me alive. Lift me up and my guts will fall out.’
Mike sat back. Oh no.
Penter looked past Mike to the waiting marines. ‘Thanks for coming for me boys. Sorry. Hey, I know you!’ His face lit with a bloody smile. ‘You’re the Good Squad. We knew you were good when Tollen brought you in off the plain on the run, singing. Sorry I can’t run with you. Not much of a singer either.’
Mike didn’t know what to do. Can’t leave him. Can’t take him.
‘I have to stay too.’ Her voice was quiet but somehow they all heard it. ‘My legs are shot.’ Seca stretched her legs out in display.
One of the marines behind Mike whistled when he saw the blood on the suit. But that’s on the outside, thought Mike. That’s from the ground below the mag cannons. It’s not hers.
‘I can’t run without the suit,’ said Seca. ‘My legs are no good without support. There is no time to get across in a suit. They would cut me down. No time. Here is best for me.’
‘We can carry you,’ said one of the Good Squad, almost pleading.
Mike said nothing. Seca held his eyes. No pleading there, only resolve.
‘No. There is no time. Even as fast as you are, unencumbered, it will be close. Mancine has to get back. This fight isn’t over yet.’ She swung her weapon around toward them. ‘Go now. Penter and I will be here when you come back.’
Mike kept his eyes on them all the way down the slope. Two marines from the Good Squad dragged him along, each with an arm up under his shoulder from the back. At the bottom of the slope he shook them off and turned to the low. My back to those at risk, those I care for, again. So I can command. He started his run. I better make it worth it. He wondered if the Armourer felt like this all the time.
CHAPTER 75: NEWS
‘Captain. We’ve got the fort! Just came on. Repaired a cut in the cable. They were hit. Black Hands!’
Chalkley scuttled across the loose rock. The scout passed him the headset and caught his shoulder so that he wouldn’t slide further. They were on the slope below the saddle, chewed up by the passage of Mike’s group earlier. The view would have been better from up in the saddle but with the sky so low they didn’t dare.
Chalkley had contact with Tonno and could see Mike’s men streaming back across the low. It was bad. The flare of the light cannon had stopped. The enemy was flowing over the shoulders of the ridge on either side of the gap. Soon they would be through there too. If they had the sense to stop now and fire from the heights, they could cut down all the marines on the plain. No sense left. I don’t blame them. It is coming down soon.
‘Chalkley here. Give me Tollen.’
‘The Sergeant is hurt, bad,’ returned a worried voice. ‘We need a medic.’
‘Commander Johnson, then.’
‘Him too.’
Damn. Who was that young fellow Tollen was training up? The one that fed us. He was good. ‘What about young Barry, the supplyman?’
A swallow this time, no words.
‘Sorry, son. What’s your name?’
‘I’m Louie.’
‘Okay, Louie. You are in charge now. Until I get there. Got that?’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘Okay. Now I will ask you a series of questions. You give me the answers quick. If you don’t know, say so. Okay?’
‘Yes’
‘Is the fort secure?’
‘Yes.’
‘Do you have men on the walls with weapons?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is the enemy still in contact?’
‘No, Sir.’
‘When was the last contact?’
‘Hours ago. More than twelve hours, Sir. Sorry, we just didn’t think about the comm lines at first. Then they wouldn’t work and we thought they were still out there. The Black Hands.’
Settle him down. ‘No problem. You have done well. This is how I want you to go from now on. One third of your men on the wall, one third working and one third resting. No one goes outside, not even if the comm line goes down. Understand?’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘Have the work party break out any heavy guns you have in storage and mount them on the walls.’ Chalkley tried to envisage the setting of the fort. ‘Make sure the guns can elevate, cover all the ground, high and low on all sides.’ Tollen had built well. They should be able to hold the fort, if they have enough men left. The stars know, we will need it. ‘Give me your count.’
‘Sorry, Sir. I don’t know what you mean.’
‘How many fit for duty?’
‘Fifty-two.’
‘Fifty-two?’ Fifty-two is great. ‘How many did you lose in the attack?’
‘Seven with injuries that put them in the infirmary, and … and, um, three hurt bad, and one… um, one …’
‘That’s fine,
Louie. Okay now. Mancine said there were thirty to forty in that Black Hand raiding party. They may try again. We need that fort. You have to hold for us. Just keep driving them off until we get there.’ They could be anywhere. I better send the scouts back. I don’t want our wounded to walk into those bastards again. ‘They may split up so try to keep track of their numbers. Okay?’
‘We can account for twenty-eight of them. Twenty-seven and the prisoner.’
‘What?’
‘We killed that many, we think. When the ridge blew, it tore some of them apart, so we are not sure. But we counted boots and divided by two. So twenty-seven, unless there are a lot of one-legged ones. Oh! Sorry Sir.’
Twenty-seven! Chalkley turned to the scout beside him, punched him in the arm. He couldn’t help himself. ‘They took out almost all of the Black Hands!’ Pushing the chin mike back into place, he said, ‘Louie. That prisoner. If he is a Black Hand, his life is forfeit.’
‘We know, but he was too woeful to kill. Wounded and crazy. He begged us to take him. Said there was a ghost killing them out in the badlands for what they had done to the Red Suits. That it would get him. He was more afraid of it than anything we might do to him. Still is. Thinks it will come through the walls for him.’
‘Be careful. Don’t trust -’
A blast sounded through the headset then it went dead.
‘Louie!’
Nothing but static. Then a scraping noise.
‘Louie!’
‘Here, Sir.’
‘What was that?’
‘Two ships, Sir. Two ships flew by. Flat out. On the deck. The wash blew me off the wall. I think I broke my arm.’
‘Get it strapped but stay in charge. Got that? Hold that fort. We are going to need it.’ Another transmission cut in across him.
‘Trahern here. Do you read?’
What the hell was this? ‘Chalkley, marines. Got you, Grey. What the hell are you doing down here? There is no air, no space to fly!’
‘Captain. There is going to be a third collision that will affect the whole of the surface. There is no need to press combat at this time. The Rim will close itself. Disengage, if possible, and pull back into the northwest valley. All your units. Terminate the deep penetration operations and withdraw. The Rangers will pick you up from the western low after the second collision. You must preserve our people until then.’
The Return of the Grey Page 42