Marine Raiders: Strike Back (Blood War Book 2)

by Rod Carstens

  One and then another Marine jumped on the Xotoli from behind. One sank the pick head of the fighting ax deep into its chest. The other smashed the butt of his ax into the front plate of the Xotoli's helmet. They looked like two children attacking a parent; the difference in sizes was so great. The Xotoli staggered under the onslaught, stepping away from Sand. A light in Sand’s helmet suddenly flashed green. The armor had temporarily repaired itself. He was able to move his one good arm. He grabbed the rail with his good hand and raised it until the muzzle was in contact with the Xotoli armor. He pulled the trigger, releasing a full burst. This close, the rail’s rounds blew through the Xotoli armor and drove it back, where it fell. The two Marines focused on its head until it was an oozing pulp of armor and flesh leaking pinkish-white blood onto the floor.

  Sand slowly stood and surveyed the room. All three Xotoli were down, but six Marines were down as well. All the Marines were blacks according to their armor readouts. Sand and the remaining Marines stood there, physically exhausted and swaying with fatigue. More than one leaned against equipment to stand. Sand slowly sat down, too weak to stand. The nanos were working on his arm and his broken ribs. It hurt like hell until the temporary treatment was finished, and the painkiller flooded his blood stream.

  When he was finally able to stand, Sand walked over to the Xotoli he had killed. He stood over the giant carcass. He had given so many years and sacrificed so much for this moment. He felt a strange mixture of feelings. He took great satisfaction in killing a Xotoli. Sure, he had killed one, but that changed nothing. They still occupied Ceti and were expanding their presence throughout the Confederation. He realized just how selfish he had been. He could have a much greater impact by fielding the 1st Marine Division and striking back at the kaks in a much larger way. Aijuba had been right: the time for revenge was long past. The war had escalated far beyond his personal feelings. He truly did possess the knowledge that was needed to fight this war. He needed to start acting like it.

  Sand straightened up and looked around the room. Several of the Marines were examining the large crystal-like piece of equipment in the middle of the room.

  "Sir, I think this thing is a Xotoli server. All of these lines are connected to the various servers that run the whole facility."

  "They sure didn't want us to get this fucking thing," another said as she looked closely at it.

  Sand had been so blinded by his thirst for revenge that he hadn’t taken the time to consider how important this room was to the Xotoli. But his Marines hadn’t missed the importance.

  "Look, sir, there are displays."

  Sand walked over to the crystal-like machine. The lights inside of the crystal blinked incessantly. As Sand watched, a Marine touched it and a display appeared with a keyboard with unknown letters on it. The whole crystal glowed a bright blue, as if it was waiting for instructions. This was some sort of Xotoli computer or server. The IT types would go crazy over this thing! Sand walked around it. He didn't see where it was bolted or attached to the floor. It was just connected to the other Von Fleet servers.

  "Can we carry it out of here?" Sand asked.

  A couple of Marines grabbed each end. They lifted it easily with their armor’s servos.

  "Sure, sir. With this new armor, it’ll only take a couple of us to disconnect it and carry it out of here."

  "Get it done. Bring as many of those cables as you can. Since they connect to the Von Fleet computers, the IT intelligence types should be able use them."

  "Roger, sir."

  The remaining Marines quickly began to prepare the crystal computer to be moved while others wound up the cables. Gunfire began behind them from the floor below.

  "Sir, we got more hybrids."

  Sand glanced up at his battlefield display on his heads up. Hybrids were trying to push into the first floor of the facility.

  "Can you hold?"

  "Roger, sir. But I wouldn't take my time. I think they got more hybrids than we got ammunition."

  Sand and the rest of the Marines worked quickly to disconnect the server and get it downstairs while the rest of the raiding party fought off the hybrids. With the majority of the raiding party providing cover, they were able to exit the facility. The SOC was waiting, and all of the Marines were loaded on board. They were even able to bring out the dead. When the SOC took off, Sand breathed a long sigh of relief. He had been stupid and selfish, but he had ended up with valuable intelligence, which was the whole point of the raid to begin with. It was the result of the sacrifice of one lone Marine, who had died to make sure he had gotten vital information back to the rest of the force.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Sol

  Planet Earth

  City State of New York

  Confederation House

  Secretary’s Office

  Secretary General Anddan Monnetal was sitting with his feet propped up on the desk as he did when only his oldest and most trusted advisors were in the room. Meir Fohlnm of the Office of Military Operations; Cheven Dunain, head of political affairs; and Salim Blan, head of legal affairs were briefing him on the latest power play by the Rigel Kents and their allies in Congress.

  "Mr. Secretary, Rigel Kent and Sirius are pushing for Von Fleet’s newly formed navy to replace the Aegis Fleet for the protection of the home systems. As you know, this is an issue that cuts both ways. Raurk desperately needs more ships to protect convoys from the outer planets and to patrol the border between the Confederation and Xotoli space. If we allow Rigel Kent and Sirius to push us into letting Von Fleet take over the security for the two of the home systems, it’ll lead to more pressure to use private military to replace all Confederation military units. I think we both agree that’s something that the private military isn’t capable of providing. At the same time, it would free up the ships of the Aegis Fleet and give Raurk the ships she needs to properly patrol and protect the convoys from the outer systems," Meir Fohlnm explained.

  "How long before enough Confederation ships can be built to be able accomplish both goals with Confederation ships alone?" Secretary Monnetal asked, staring at the ceiling as he tried to make another impossible decision.

  "At least another year, if not more. According to our latest estimates from procurement, we’ll need the same timeframe to have enough trained men and women to man those ships. Ships and trained personnel to man them take time, as you well know," Fohlnm replied.

  The corporations and the inner systems were trying to leverage their way into the private military supplanting the Confederation’s military. It would mean countless billions for both the corporations and for the Rigel Kent and Sirius systems, where the corporation operations were located. The inner systems still saw the universe through their own self-interest. They still felt immune from the threat, even a threat as powerful as the Xotoli. It was as if the centuries of peace had blinded them to a real threat to their very existence.

  "You know, sir, they’re going to try and use Admiral Raurk's testimony today as proof of the corporations’ ability to better protect the Confederation," Cheven Dunain said.

  Anddan chuckled.

  "Good luck with that. I wish I could be there to see her testimony. She’s going to take them apart. I talked to de Bolton and he assured me it was going to come out our way."

  "What about Kago? He’s a tough sell."

  "No, Kago will go his own way, but if I read him right, he’ll back Raurk. She did a brilliant job at Rift and any military mind will recognize that. That old Wolf… If he’s one thing, he’s a good military mind," Anddan said.

  "And Carroll of Von Fleet?"

  Anddan said with a smirk, "I wouldn't want to be him if he follows a Von Fleet script. Between Raurk and Kago, they’ll take him apart. So unless something unknown happens, this first salvo of theirs is going to backfire on them. But there’s too much money at stake. They’ll be back and soon. That doesn’t change our dilemma if we use the corporations’ naval vessels as a stopgap measure until we can get eno
ugh Confederation ships online. It opens the door damned wide for expansion of their responsibilities in the future."

  Anddan was between another rock and a hard place. He was going to have to play this one very carefully until he had the Confederation military up to a war footing. The private military corporations were an interim measure and he wanted to make sure they remained a secondary choice. He no more trusted them than he would trust a Xotoli. Sure, they had them on the number of ships, but their ships were automated to the point that they required few personnel to man them. Anddan had been in enough battles as a young lieutenant to know that in a fight, the first thing guaranteed not to work was your tech. So if you depended on technology too much, you would end up a drifting target for the Xotoli. Like it or not, Rift had shown how the Xotoli were going to fight this war, and the Confederation needed tough, well-trained troops, not corporate ships and troops dependent on technology.

  "If we use the Von Fleet units, they’ll have a year to convince other systems they’re the military answer to our problems. A good military decision becomes a big political problem and vise versa," Secretary Monnetal said, staring at Cheven Dunain.

  "Yes, sir, that is true, but the latest polls show more and more voting citizens beginning to move to our side. They’ve seen the success the Confederation has had militarily, and they’re beginning to understand the value of having a military made up of Confederation men and women and not forces whose allegiance is to the logo."

  That was the biggest sticking point that Anddan had been fighting since his first day in office. The Confederation was a loose alliance of individual systems and breeds. They still didn’t see the Xotoli as a common enemy to everyone, to the human race, to every single breed. They still viewed the war through their own self-interest.

  "A year is an eternity in politics, as you well know, Cheven," Monnetal said.

  "Yes, sir...."

  The door to the secretary's office suddenly burst open and four members of the Secret Service came running into the room, armed with automatic weapons.

  "What--" was all Monnetal was able to say before one of the SS detail said, "Sir, hybrids have attacked the Senate committee meeting. We believe they will also try to assassinate you."

  "Casualties?" Monnetal snapped.

  Just then, four of the Marine Corp Guard contingent came rushing into the room. They wore helmets and light armor with rail rifles up and ready.

  "You weren’t called! This is an SS matter. We’re the secretary general’s protection detail. You’re here for ceremonial reasons only."

  "Think again, asshole," the biggest Marine snapped.

  The Secret Service was contracted with Von Fleet, and relations between the Marines and the SS detail weren’t the best. The Marines took up positions on either side of Monnetal, each one towering over the smaller man. Sand must’ve chosen Rifts and Wolfs for the detail. No other breeds were so uniformly big. They were all veterans of Rift. They were some of the best fighters in the Marine Corps according to what Admiral Raurk had told Anddan.

  "Von Fleet has the contract for protection of the secretary general. Now, unless you want be responsible for violating a binding contract with the largest corporation in the Confederation, I suggest you stand down," the head of the SS detail said.

  "Fuck you, salary man. I work for the secretary general, not some corporation. I have my orders," the big Marine spat.

  More SS men and women poured into the room. Instead of taking up positions with the others SS officers, these new officers fired at them, dropping two immediately. Fohlnm, Blan, and Dunain dove to the floor as the new SS officers continued to fire. The largest Marine had stepped in front of the secretary general the moment the new SS officers had burst into the room. He took three rounds meant for the secretary general. Staggering, he pushed Monnetal to the floor and knelt above him. He took cover behind Monnetal’s desk, his rifle up and firing. The first SS officers were all down. The Marines were the only ones standing. All of them had taken hits, but their armor had allowed them to take the hits and still return fire. One of the hybrid SS jumped into the air, trying to get to the secretary general. A Marine’s rail cut him in half. There were three more hybrids left against the four marines. Another jumped and clung to the wall, high enough up to get an angle down at Monnetal. The big Marine covering the secretary general was able to move to take another round and return fire. He missed the hybrid. It jumped, trying to cross the room, but the other Marines didn’t miss. It was thrown against the far wall, leaving a long bloody streak on the expensive wallpaper as it slid dead to the floor. There was more gunfire at point-blank range, and a Marine went down. The hybrids were moving so quickly now that they were missing some of their shots. The two hybrids remaining jumped at the same time, trying to overwhelm the Marine covering the secretary general. That was when the rest of the Marine Reaction Squad burst through the door. The combined fire of the three remaining Marines and the four Reaction Squad Marines literally tore the hybrids into pieces. Their lifeless bodies dropped to the floor.

  The Marine who had been covering the secretary general with his body slowly sat down. Blood seeped from his armor in several places. Secretary General Monnetal slowly stood, stunned by the violence that had happened so quickly. Another of the original four Marines fell to the floor, wounded. The room was littered with the bodies of the original SS detail and the bodies of the hybrid SS men and women. Then two Marines approached Monnetal, each grabbing an elbow and lifting him off the ground.

  "Sir, we have to take you to your bunker," one marine said.

  "Not without those wounded Marines!" Monnetal snapped and struggled out of their grasp.

  "Sir..."

  "Do it. You’re wasting time. I can walk on my own, thank you."

  The other Marines grabbed the three wounded Marines, and the group moved down a back hall toward the elevator that would take them down to the underground bunker that held the emergency situation room.

  "Are their corpsmen waiting for us?" Monnetal asked.

  "Yes, sir. We already called for them."

  After two hundred floors, the elevator slowed to a stop. The doors opened and the corpsmen stepped aside, waiting for Monnetal to exit first.

  "Take care of the wounded. I can wait," Monnetal ordered.

  They quickly moved the wounded Marines onto the waiting stretchers and hustled them down the hall to a fully equipped infirmary and operating room.

  "I want to be kept up to date on their conditions. Understand?" Monnetal said.

  "Aye, aye, sir," a female corpsmen said over her shoulder as she pushed one of the stretchers down the hall.

  Monnetal strode out of the elevator toward the underground situation room at the end of the corridor. They reached the door, and a Marine stepped in front of him.

  "After what just happened, let us clear the room before you enter."

  "Good idea," Monnetal agreed with a nod of his head.

  Two Marines entered the room while two others stood on either side of him. Monnetal was still trying to absorb the fact that men and women on his protection detail were hybrids. How long had they been in place? The Xotoli couldn't know who would be secretary general. They had been placed there as a second wave of attack along with the attack on the Senate committee.

  A Marine stepped in front of Anddan and said, "All clear, sir. No one’s here yet."

  "Good, how many more Marines are in my guard unit?"

  "Twenty, including us, sir. They're already on the way."

  "Good. I don't want anyone in this room but military. Understood? That means no SS until we can find a way to vet them."

  "Aye, aye, sir."

  "Is your lieutenant on the way?" Anddan looked at the stripes on his armor, "Corporal?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Good. When he gets here, I want him to find me a Marine who can operate the systems in this room. I'm blind now."

  "Aye, aye, sir."

  Anddan strode into the room. It wasn’
t a big room, but it was filled with every imaginable form of communication and information management. There was a big U-shaped desk with stations along each side for various technicians or personnel. He strode to the head of the desk and pulled out the chair. Then he realized there was no way he could sit down now. He stood and took a deep breath, trying to slow his heart. It had been a very near thing. Too close. A Marine stuck her head in and said, "Sir, I have Mr. Dunain, Mr. Fohlnm, and Mr. Blan out here. Are they permitted entry?"

  "Yes, let them in. Any more SS come down here?"

  "Yes, sir. We had a discussion with them and communicated in the most forceful way what you had said," the Marine replied.

  "You didn't kill them, did you?" Anddan asked. With their blood up after a fight with what appeared to be hybrids disguised as SS, he could understand if things had gotten out of hand.

  The Marine chuckled then she said, "Oh no, sir. But several did have to be taken to sick bay."

  Dunain, Fohlnm, and Blan were each at a position, working the system and trying to get information.

  "Do we know about the Senate attack yet?"

  Blan looked up from his display.

  "Only that there were casualties. We don't know who yet."

  "Sir, I have the head of the Secret Service on the line for you," Fohlnm said.

  "Put him through."

  The image of the head of the Secret Service appeared.

  "Mr. Secretary, I’m so glad to see you’re safe. The Marines aren’t letting my personnel into the bunker. I cannot protect you if my people aren’t there."

  "Ember, you do know what happened, don't you? It was your people who attacked me. They were sleepers for who knows how long. So until we can vet every one of your people, I’m going to trust the Marine contingent with my safety. They’re all veterans of Rift and have proven their loyalty as well as combat abilities."

  "But sir--"

  Anddan turned off the display and Ember’s image disappeared.

  "Sir, all the news outlets have video of the attack on the Senate committee. It seems the hybrids were disguised as a news crew."