The first camouflaged figure turning to look across the soldiers before him, the eyes in the helmet glowing red as the Morgon Infiltration unit established itself at the far end of the valley.
Tregan pulled the flap to the large tent open, stepping inside. As the others looked up at him, he smiled grimly, dusting the snowflakes from his shoulder armour. Squatting down next to Shino as she handed him a mug of warm soup, ‘I have completed the final inspection of the day with the unit’s commander…’ He sipped from the mug, the steam rising up over his face, ‘The unit is well positioned, their tanks dug into emplacements and the self-propelled guns behind them. The infantry trenches and foxholes should prevent any Morgon breakthrough.’ He sat back, yawning, ‘As we completed our walk round, the tank we met earlier and the armoured carriers returned carrying ammunition and a request from Captain Dugachard.’ He glanced across the three members in the tent as they looked up at him expectantly, placing his assault rifle on the ground next to him, ‘We leave at first light with the tank, three quad cars and a jeep…first to the village, then onto the mine to get the soldiers there. It will be a busy day, so best get some sleep I think.’
Debra nodded, seeing the tiredness on Riaz and Shino’s faces, ‘I am for that…let’s turn in and see what tomorrow brings.’ She leant forward and dimmed the lantern in the centre of the tent, the others lowering themselves onto their individual military bedding, inflatable rubber mattresses.
Tregan lay back, looking at the roof of the tent, his mind struggling with the day’s events. His helmet vibrated softly, the sensors recognising his need to sleep. He closed his eyes, his thoughts drifting to his dead comrade as his consciousness drifted…within seconds he was asleep as each figure in the tent drifted into their own deep slumber.
Tregan was breathing heavily, the nightmare running through his mind as his body twitched. Mrin was running towards him, his body seeming to struggle up a slope, the surface sand. The harder he ran, the more he struggled, the more sand that dislodged. Slowly he drifted away, back down the slope…red piercing Morgon eyes looking up from the darkness below.
He awoke suddenly, the sweat covering his face, his muscles tense. Crouched over him was the sergeant from the checkpoint, his hand on Tregan’s shoulder, gently shaking him. The man leant forward, his voice a whisper, ‘Wake your squad…you need to leave now!’
Tregan shook his head, pushing away the grogginess, ‘How long was I asleep?’
The shadow above him smiled grimly, ‘A couple of hours…the snipers have seen movement through their infra-red sights. The Morgons are spreading across the valley...lots of them. You need to move out now, before we are cut off. We are digging in and will hold the ravine.’ He thrust a small despatch case into Tregan’s hands, ‘Take this…Captain Dugachard will know what to do once she reads it.’ He rose to his feet, raising his voice, ‘Now…get up soldiers!’
Tregan moved quickly, shaking the others awake. Riaz and Shino bolting upward as he prodded their shoulders. Debra struggled, her deep sleep difficult to break through. Tregan grabbed his rifle, ‘Get up and move quickly, we need to head out to the village!’ As he pulled the tent flap back, stepping out into the darkness, he saw the marines running silently, moving their equipment to face a new foe. Several were hastily digging new defensive positions facing the rear, one tank turning on its axis to face a new threat.
The sergeant approached him after organising the crews, his expression grave, ‘Take two quad carriers and the tank…we cannot spare any more if we are to hold. Once you have got the men from the mine, come for us…if we are still here!’
Tregan nodded, ‘We will be as quick as we can.’ He turned as Riaz and Shino emerged from the tent, both yawning, his voice rising as he realised it had stopped snowing, ‘Riaz, man one of the quad guns…we will be moving fast! Shino and Debra, with me in the other carrier…Now move!’
Riaz nodded, his startled expression becoming stern as his adrenalin flowed. He lunged forward towards one of the carriers, the rear doors open. The startled Shino pulled Debra towards the other, following Tregan’s outstretched arm, his finger pointing at the chosen vehicle. They ran across the track, the hover tank’s engine whirring into life as it sat next to the checkpoint, the tanker waving at Tregan to hurry.
The crack of rifles above them made Riaz instinctively look up, the sniper positions placed high on the rock face on either side. He ducked inside the open rear doors of the carrier, the crew member closing them behind him. His body swayed as the armoured vehicle immediately started to move backwards, Riaz grasping an overhead handrail to steady himself. The quad carriers had limited seating down either side, the central section removed, a compartment situated in the middle of the vehicle for a gunner to stand in if required atop the central seating section. The crew member indicated to the small door of the compartment, ‘Get in, I need to go and help the driver!’
Riaz lowered his rifle, placing it on one of the benches and slipped through the narrow door, the crewman indicating for him to lean against the padded section inside. As he did so, several straps were extended across him by the soldier, the padding adjusting to his frame. The man glanced into his eyes, ‘I haven’t got long to explain…’ He slapped the compartment sides, ‘Lean to either side and the compartment will rotate in that direction.’ He indicated to the large headpiece in front of Riaz, ‘Place the front of your helmet into this section, the aiming system will then familiarise itself with you and hold your head in place…’ He indicated to the handles either side of the open headpiece, ‘These are to steady you and are your firing mechanisms…all you have to do is apply limited pressure…understand?’
Riaz nodded warily, his nervousness rising, ‘Where will you be if I can’t get it right?’
The crewman glared at him, his voice harsh, ‘I will be defending the driver…if you get it wrong, we won’t get far…so concentrate! Start moving the guns around as soon as I close the door to familiarise yourself with it, I will remotely activate the gunnery system from the front as soon as we pass through the checkpoint. The ammunition boxes are already in place and are changed automatically.’ He stared into Riaz’s frightened eyes, a brief smile crossing his lips, ‘You will be fine, your helmet will do most of the targeting…make sure you take down as many as you can, this is a powerful weapon!’ He slapped his shoulder and closed the compartment door, moving round the gunnery position to slip through the hatch into the front.
Tregan slipped into the compartment on the other quad carrier, adjusting the straps across his chest. He smiled at Shino, her eyes wide with fear as the carrier lurched backwards to follow the first, ‘We will be fine…now go and help the driver, take extra ammunition clips with you…Debra will bring you more!’ Shino nodded obediently, scrambling to the front of the carrier and squeezing through the forward hatch.
As the barricades were removed, the tank swept through the opening, the armoured cars accelerating after it, dust propelled into the air in their wake. The barricades were quickly replaced behind them, the defenders dropping into their positions as the sergeant walked the line, hissing commands in the darkness.
Riaz thrust his helmet into the headpiece, his vision initially swimming as the sights adjusted to his helmet. The lights flickered across his visor as it slipped down, then the terrain burst into view across his vision as the headpiece whirred into life. The rocks slowly focussed in his visor, the shades of grey and darker colours indicating the lifeless terrain. Slowly his visor synchronised with the headpiece, a small number of red dots appearing at the sides of his vision alongside the four lines of the cannons as they stretched out before him. He leant to the right side, feeling the compartment and turret above turn in response to his body. Repeating the process to the left, he smiled briefly as he felt more comfortable with the equipment. A voice sounded in his ear, the intercom system now synchronised with his helmet, the familiar tones of the crewman, ‘Targeting and weapon system now live, good luck soldier. Your time is now!
’ The system beeped as the message ended, Riaz adjusting his back against the padding behind to gain a more comfortable position.
He swung the turret slowly round, seeing the armoured carrier in front and the tank beyond it, the speed increasing as the vehicles accelerated along the track. Moving the turret back to the right, he concluded this must now face into the valley and slowly began sliding the cannons from side to side, searching for the enemy.
Shino nodded to the driver, his eyes on the track ahead as he accelerated to keep up with the hover tank. The driver wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, clearly nervous, his voice shaking, ‘Push the barrel of your rifle through the armoured manifold to the front of you, it will move as you alter position!’
Shino looked forward in the dimly lit cabin, the computer screen in front of the driver showing the track ahead and the tank before them. She glanced across to her side, seeing the cone in front of her. Lifting her rifle, she pushed it into the hollow, the mechanism drawing her weapon forward as she lowered the right side of her face to the sights. Her visor slipped down, the small screen above the cone flickering into life as it synchronised with her targeting. Shifting her position, she moved the weapon to point to the right of the tank, a forty five degree angle with the front of the carrier.
They jumped as the cannons above them opened fire, the high velocity shells sweeping across the landscape towards their targets. The flashing lights from the guns illuminating the back of the tank in front as its large turret slowly swung round.
Riaz jumped against the shoulder padding behind him, the projectiles from the cannons in front glowing as they shot across the terrain, bouncing against the rock and obstructions. He swung his turret round to the left, seeing the two lower barrels recoil backwards as they fired followed by the upper cannons. Swinging his turret back to the right, he strained his eyes through the sights, his eyes unable to see any targets. White hot projectiles flew back towards them, the clunks against the sides of the carrier as they impacted. The voice burbled into his headset again, ‘Fire at targets only…just firing blindly will show them you are inexperienced, they will then target us first. Check your rear, they may try and come behind!’ The earphones beeped as the intercom was cut off. Riaz swore to himself, not having considered looking behind as the armoured carriers sped forward. He jerked his body to the right, the turret swinging round in the darkness to face the rear, his breath held.
As his vision swung round, he froze, his heart beat rising dramatically as he glimpsed the green outline of six figures approaching rapidly from the rear of the carrier, the exoskeleton armour restricting their body glow. The turret continued moving and he lost his vision on the figures. Cursing his inexperience, he pushed his body back to the left, the turret turning again as his fingers desperately sought the firing buttons in the handles. He steadied his body, the turret facing directly at the oncoming Morgons, his fingers now frantically looking for the buttons he needed. Feeling his forearms slip into two semi-circular rests, his fingers pushed upwards, the green outlined figures running closer to the back of the carrier. He sighed in desperation, the sweat running down the insides of his chest, then he felt one button on the right, his left arm immediately matching the position.
The green figures were now within three metres of the back of the vehicle as he pushed forward with both fingers hard. The screen lit up as the lower guns fired first, the flashing from each side almost blinding in the close confines of the headpiece. His eyes widened as he saw the impact of the cannon shells on the Morgon soldiers, the first two simply disintegrating as two shells hit each approaching figure. Arms and legs were shattered and smashed from the bodies as the cannon shells found their mark, two more bodies falling into the track. One decapitated, the other split in two. The remaining soldier lunged off to the right, avoiding his line of fire. Bullets pinged against the side and back of the carrier, the noise almost deafening inside the hull.
His body jerked as he heard the clank on the back doors, the remaining Morgon soldier grasping at the rear entrance, below the arc of his guns. His heart was beating hard as the sweat ran down his face, swinging the turret back round to the left as he sought further targets. The clanking on the rear doors continued, Riaz’s heart missing a beat as he swung the turret from side to side. Seeing some more figures between the rocks, he pushed his fingers down on the buttons again, seeing the rapid flashes as the cannons fired one after the other, the glowing shells streaming off into the darkness as the armoured carrier continued forward, the view through the rocks disappearing as they sped forward.
Bullets peppered the front and sides of the first carrier, Shino attempting to see targets through her sights. Firing blind, her bullets ricocheted off the rocks next to the path, the burst useless. The flashing from the turret above was dwarfed as the tank fired ahead of them, the flash of the two mighty guns turning night into day as the drivers and gunners screwed their eyes up against the glare. Machine gun fire spewed from the tank’s turret as the gunner engaged targets in the distance, the flashes alongside the main barrels casting eerie shadows across the rocks.
Riaz glimpsed a group of figures in the distance, moving his thumbs to the firing buttons and depressing hard, the guns flashed again as red hot cannon fire flew out into the darkness. Then he felt the turret shift against him, the Morgon soldier having mounted the roof. He fought against the padded backrest, pushing the guns from side to side as he felt the resistance, the Morgon wrestling against him with all his weight. The Infiltrator’s shrieking filled Riaz’s ears as the soldier grappled with the barrels of the quad cannon on the roof.
Riaz felt his muscles tense and strain as he tried to shake off his attacker, the enemy’s armoured gloves now visible on the barrels of the cannons. Pushing his weight from side to side, he tried to unbalance the assailant, hearing the soldiers armour grind against the outside of the carrier. Twisting to the right, the barrels swung round to the back of the vehicle gain and he depressed his thumbs on the firing buttons, seeing more figures in the distance. He grinned as the scream of fear from above could be heard, pushing the buttons again and twisting his body back and forth violently, the sweat now running down his face.
The armoured Morgon soldier leapt to the left side of the carrier, dropping between the vehicle and the rocks and lying still on the track as the car accelerated away. The eyes in his camouflaged headpiece glowing red in anger, his radio message transmitted across the valley.
Riaz breathed a sigh of relief as the turret felt free from restriction, swinging the barrels back to the left and firing out over the jagged rocks at figures in the distance. As he stared through the sights, more bullets hit the side of the carrier, a shaft of light shot overhead, the explosion on the rocks above shaking the vehicle violently. Debris fell onto the roof of the vehicle, the loud crashing noises within shaking Riaz as he depressed the buttons again, the cannon spewing shells across the terrain.
Swinging the turret back to the right, he fired again at the figures behind the vehicle, the soldiers now some distance away. He felt the carrier lurch further as the vehicle accelerated along the track, the incoming shells increasing the driver’s panic to escape. Further explosions just behind them shook the vehicles as they sped forward, swerving round a bend and beginning to rise up the slope towards the village.
Sam stared out through his binoculars, his heart beating hard in his chest as he heard the almost constant firing getting nearer. As he saw the tank sweep round the corner, he breathed a sigh of relief, his fear rising again he saw more figures in the distance through the infra-red glasses, their bodies bent low and moving quickly across the terrain. He swallowed as he realised their intent, the figures moving from his right to left.
They were running quickly towards the mine.
Chapter Nineteen: The darkness closes in…
Sam looked over the balcony of the tower as the barricades on the track were pulled to one side, the tank and armoured carriers sweeping into the hamlet. Pul
ling abruptly to a halt, the rear doors opened, his heart rate rising as he saw his three colleagues pull their tired bodies from the vehicles.
Light cascaded into the darkness as doors opened around the small square the armoured vehicles pulled up into. The opening bordered by the two towers on either side, smaller buildings of one or two stories lining the area. Captain Dugachard walked briskly out from the centre buildings at the foot of one of the towers, her armour darkening as it adjusted from the lit room, an assault rifle in her hands. She nodded a greeting to Tregan as he climbed from the back of one of the carriers, ‘What is the situation?’
Tregan shook his head, ‘Morgon specialised infantry are in the valley…we are running out of time.’ He handed her the despatch pouch, ‘This is a message from the Armoured Brigade’s commander…I think the road behind us is closed now…they are cut off.’ He wiped his hand across the sweat on his face, ‘We need to try and get to the mine as fast as possible if they are to escape. The valley will be crawling with Morgon infantry soon.’
Captain Dugachard sucked in air unfolding the despatches before her, touching the side of her helmet to illuminate the paperwork in front of her. She looked down slowly, her eyes narrowing as she read the message, then she looked up at Tregan, ‘I will give you soldiers for the forward hatches on the carriers…move as soon as possible, we cannot afford to lose or allow the personnel at the mine to be captured.’ She spun round, indicating to the officer behind her, ‘Place machine guns on the forward hatches, they are in the brigade’s storage building. Assign two men extra per vehicle to keep the guns firing.’ She hesitated, seeing the man nod, ‘I want extra personnel on the north and north west outskirts…the enemy should be here very soon!’
The Last Marine in the Galaxy (Galaxies Collide Book 1) Page 18