Audacity (Warner's World Book 5)

by Dave O'Connor

  She pulled back a little on the throttle – just enough to clear the top of the cliff. She eased off on the main thrusters and engaged the verticals. She only had a few metres to descend. She hit the door release.

  “Go, go, go!” she commanded.

  Ginty had them out fast. Parinya sealed the hatch and waited till her sister craft reported they were ready. She hated this part, just sitting there vulnerable. But so far there had been no reaction. A green light appeared next to the icons of all craft in the stick.

  Parinya applied thrust to the verticals. At 10m above ground level, she rotated the craft 180 degrees using the lateral thrusters. She made a visual check to confirm that the two black shapes ahead of her were also ready, then she increased the main thrust and as soon as she was clear of the headland descended back down to 30m.

  In a few more minutes she would be climbing back up to the Resolute leaving Force Chen to do their bit.

  Chapter 11. Portuscu Headland 2210, 14 August

  Ginty was counting her lucky stars as she realised they had not triggered any reaction from the defenders. There was quite a light show across the bay and she could hear the sound of some large calibre ordnance off in the distance. ‘Definitely some show going on over there’ she said to herself.

  She checked the status indicators on her visor. It was a cool 17 Celsius. Gravity was .93Gs, a little less than on Earth. There was a breathable atmosphere with a little more oxy and a lot less CO2 that on Earth. There was a fresh 23K cross wind blowing in from the east.

  On top of the headland it appeared at first look to be dead flat. But as she peered through her thermals she could see that in fact there were a myriad of shallow undulation as the sandstone had been weathered.

  All her marines were on deck now and they were prone taking advantage of these little undulations to lower their targetable area. She had two teams up – Alpha on the left, Charlie on the right. Bravo was behind Charlie. She, Chen, her platoon sergeant, Sgt Maurice ‘Kong’ Renoir, and his support section were behind Alpha.

  The display on her visor told her the droid pod was arriving now. She turned back to see the pod arrive a lot slower than the last time she had seen one land but she knew that was because Julian was on board. Being human he was the weakest element in terms of being able to take the Gs. She also suspected that he might be the weakest link in the entire force. She couldn’t believe it when the boss assigned him to control the droids. To her he looked like a boffin and behaved like a nerd. Yes he could be very funny but this was not a stand-up comedy act. ‘Chen’s bad enough but now this joker’ she thought.

  The pod doors opened immediately on landing and the droids disembarked smartly. They formed up in three lines behind her in almost parade formation. But that didn’t impress Ginty. One of the droids looked like it was coming straight at her. She instinctively brought up her rifle.

  “It’s just me” hailed Julian.

  “Right” hailed back Ginty. “You’re in there?”

  “Sure am. Ready when you are.”

  “Right” said a taken aback Ginty. She turned back to face the objective. “Bel, Jock you ready?” she hailed her Alpha and Charlie Team leaders, Sgt Bel Rickets and Sgt Jock Taggert.

  “Yep” came back the clipped reply from Bel.

  “Yeah let’s get this show on the road” replied Jock.

  “Kong, let her rip” she ordered. The first of four Rizstorms lit up the night sky from their position on the left of the assault line. Each tower was hit and destroyed. “OK Bel, Jock you’re on.”

  Two members of Alpha team and two from Charlie team stood up and fired launchers that propelled their harpoon about three metres above the ground. They travelled about 100m before the first sensors were activated. Some flechette pods rose from the ground and began firing at the metal harpoons but with little effect. Their weight carried them forward to the far side of the battery site, in the case of the two fired through the centre of the site. The two fired from Charlie Team angled towards the structure they took to be the entrance to the underground.

  Once they hit the ground they began retracting the wire that dangled from behind them and this pulled the bangalore tubes over the site. A few popup grenades fired but they too were less than effective against the armoured sheathing of the bangalores.

  Bel gazed out through her thermals. She activated the zoom and inspected the handiwork of her team. It looked like two long pipes had just been placed 200m across the site. It looked pretty good to Bel. “You good Jock?” she hailed.

  “Too right.”

  “Take cover. Firing in three, two, fire.”

  A ripple of blasts shot along each bangalore followed by a plethora of secondary explosions as the poppers were detonated out to twenty metres either side of the bangalores. Together they had cleared two paths one down the middle of the site and another one towards what they hoped was the tunnel entrance. Bel had the remaining bangalore ready to follow up but it wasn’t needed.

  “Julian you’re up next” said Ginty. I want you to send one of your droids down that path to the entrance.

  “What, where the bangalore just blew up?” asked Julian.

  “Yes that’s right” said Ginty.

  “Why just one?”

  “You’ll see. Make sure you record what happens.”

  Julian issued the commands from within his command droid and a single droid advanced towards the entrance. He was duly recording the event when five different flechette pods popped up and began engaging the droid with little effect. But the four beamer pods that popped up destroyed it in short order.

  “Shit” said Julian in shock. He regained composure pretty quick and hailed “I suppose you want me to take out each of those now?”

  “That’s the idea.”

  “OK. Give me a minute or two.”

  “We have visitors” hailed one of her marines. The marines from Charlie team opened up on a group of rogan warriors fanning out from the entrance. The range was over three hundred metres but even so a few rifle grenades burst nearby to Ginty. She went scurrying to the ground.

  One of the droids exploded nearby when a rocket hit it. The nearby droids reacted under automatic protocols and began laying down a fierce volley of fire over the heads of the marines in front of them.

  “Fucken ‘ell” hailed Jock, as he hugged the hard rock with fire above him coming from both directions.

  Julian in his command droid stood out the most but he also had a better vision of what was going on. He could see that there were in fact two groups of rogan warriors. Apart from those in front of the entrance there was another group of grenadiers behind it. He assessed them as the biggest threat.

  He had already targeted his first section to deal with the beamer and flechette defences. But without asking for directions he ordered his second section to follow the first, pass through them and then flank right to take out the grenadiers. He held the third section back in reserve. The droids received his orders and began shaking out. As they started manoeuvring through the prone marines in front of them there was much swearing from the marines but inside his command droid Julian was all smiles.

  “What are you doing” hailed an annoyed Ginty.

  “Assaulting of course” responded Julian. “Don’t worry I’ve got this in hand.”

  The first section had pushed through the lines of marines in front of them and morphed into an open staggered column with 20m between each droid as they advanced through the main central path created by the bangalores. As the remaining defensive weapons systems activated they were engaged by the phalanx of droids. Three droids were destroyed but the path was cleared before the rogan near the entrance realised what was happening. They shifted their weight of fire onto the second section of droids which had followed behind the first and was now at their flank. The droids were giving more than they were getting in the firefight. Grenades were popping, rockets firing and pulse shot twanging across the open ground.

  The marines in
Charlie team added to the firepower against the rogan defenders. Many of which were already casualties. The speed of the move by the droids was the telling effect. The second team, which had advanced in single column, reached its waypoint and immediately changed facing to the right. It was now in a line formation. Julian knew that he would lose some to the poppers and beamers yet to be cleared but he saw no other option. He ordered the assault to the entrance.

  “Way to go Julian” hailed Ginty as she scampered across to the right to come up to Bravo team. “Can I have your other team of droids clear that other path? Bravo team will back them up.”

  “Oh right. Very good” said Julian. He issued the commands.

  Chen made a dash to close up behind Ginty. “I’ll lead this bit” he hailed emphatically.

  “OK but you stay with Bravo team Sir. No rushing ahead. There’s still a lot of shit ahead that needs to be cleared by the droids. Is that clear?”

  Chen nodded.

  The droids of the third section were already moving into their staggered column, having pushed through Charlie Team who now stopped firing. Chen was on his feet, albeit at the crouch waving Bravo team to form up on him.

  Ginty had to admire that he wasn’t flinching. She saw him move forward at a steady walk, which impressed even more. She had feared he would just charge forward at the run.

  A beamer pod popped up and took out two droids with the one sweep before it was destroyed. The droids in the second section had 100m to go to the entrance. They were coming under intense fire. A salvo of four rockets was fired that took down two more droids from this section. There was only four of the original ten left.

  More rogan were coming out of the entrance and bringing more fire to the exchange. Julian realised that this group needed reinforcement. He ordered the remaining five droids from the original first section to assault behind the second.

  While he was focussed on this three more droids from the third section were destroyed. The remaining four were strung out now as their individual AI protocols cut in and they began to return fire more than advance.

  Chen on the other hand was advancing at a steady pace and not stopping at all. “Fire and Move” hailed Ginty but Chen didn’t really understand what that meant. “Paddy, fire and move” she hailed ordering the Bravo team leader, Sgt Paddy Maguire directly. Paddy started to order but his face was taken away by a flechette round, one of several that stitched across his suit and into his helmet. A nearby droid destroyed the flechette pod but it was too late for Paddy.

  Chen turned left in time to see Paddy go down. He went to him to offer assistance – another no-no in the middle of an assault. It was then that Ginty saw his helmet rock from the right side to the left and Chen went down. “Shit” exclaimed Ginty. “Bravo take cover and return fire” she hailed. Another droid was destroyed by a rocket and two more marines on the right of Bravo went down when a group of about ten rogan started to counter attack from the entrance.

  Ginty pushed off in a crouch making a dash to Charlie team. She needed to get up there fast. “Stay down” hailed Julian as he came past her in his command droid at 10 kph. He was firing the 25mm cannon of the command droid as he moved. It cut down the counter attack with several bursts. Two rogan fled back.

  Julian reached the position where Chen had gone down and propped the command droid so it was lower and less of a target. The night sky was now not so dark. Pulse shot was flying across the open ground and Julian knew he was exposed. He ordered the four remaining droids from the third section to form a line in front of him and to lay down fire on the enemy up ahead.

  He checked his screen to confirm that there were now only seven droids left out of the other combined assault group. But two of these were up to the entrance. A group of rogan had pulled back towards the edge of the headland. Their backs were literally again the cliff. They had nowhere to go.

  Another group of enemy were this side of the entrance and they were still returning fire. But it was dwindling. Julian was still pondering about what to do, when he heard Ginty hail him “Pour it into them Julian. Alpha will move through the central path and assault those guys in front of you from your left. Stop firing on my command. Do you understand.”

  “Of course” replied Julian.

  “Come on Bel follow me” hailed Ginty. “Kong you slot in behind Alpha.”

  “Roger” said the deep voice of her platoon Sgt.

  Bel was already running behind her troops and patting them on the back. They were falling in at the crouch behind her. Bel led them up to where Ginty was crouched. “100m prop and turn right, single line ten paces apart, assault on my command.”

  “Got it” acknowledged Bel and she pushed on past Ginty. Ginty was pleased to see Kong’s big frame. He had a reassuring presence about him. “Show time, Kong. We’ll be the second line behind Bel.”

  “OK” he said and turned to his support section and simply said “Follow me.”

  The firing had dropped off a lot by now. The enemy must be low on ammo assessed Julian. That made him check his own. ‘Heavens’ he said to himself as he realised he had only four rounds of 25mm left. He switched to the pulse rifle and limited his fire to single shots.

  Three minutes is all it took Alpha team to shake out. “Ready” hailed Bel. Ginty was a little puffed. She took in a few gulps of air and as soon as Kong went past her with his support section she hailed “Let’s go Bel.”

  They moved at a slow, steady pace. Ginty looked left and saw the next figures. She knew Kong was at the end of this line about twenty five metres. Ten paces ahead was Bel’s right flank, one of her quanto gunners by the look of it. She could see the sporadic flashes of fire coming from her right. That was from the droids. She estimated they would soon cross their line and she hailed “Julian cease fire.”

  “Affirmative.” And the fire stopped.

  “Weapons free Bel, Kong” she hailed. But Bel’s troops in the front line did not fire. They held off, to close with the enemy. A few paces later the quanto on Bels left opened up. “Thirty, quarter right” advised the firer and the rest of the front line opened up on the target. This set off a scurrying of bodies up ahead as the rogan realised they were being flanked. But as they rose to move they were engaged and cut down. With thermals at 30 metres it was death to move.

  They advanced another thirty metres over several bodies until the marine in front closed up to the entrance. At this stage a volley of fire came from the group with their backs to the cliff. Two marines in the line ahead of Ginty went down. Everyone else went prone and began returning fire.

  Ginty was mightily sick of taking casualties. She needed to commit more troops to hit this new enemy from a different flank. That would mean Charlie team. “Jock can you push forward and aim for those flashes.”

  “Right O” he hailed.

  “Excuse me” hailed Julian “No point in losing more lives. Will you allow me to finish this off.”

  Ginty chuckled. “Be my guest. Jock, stand down.”

  “You got it” replied Jock.

  Julian issued the commands for his remaining 12 droids to assault the remaining enemy. One group was coming from the west and the other from the south. He fire and moved them so that when the southern group were moving the western group were firing and vice versa.

  A couple of rockets were fired from the enemy. One hit and damaged a droid. The other whizzed by some 20m from Ginty. The firing increased in tempo as the range closed. Several grenades went off and then the tell-tale hiss and tearing sound as the droids stepped over the enemy figures and rezzed them with their electric shock devices. One rogan jumped to his death rather than suffer that. None surrendered.

  Julian got to witness much of that and he felt sick to his stomach. As an intellectual and technical exercise it was a consummate performance. Courage wise he had faced down the elephant but emotionally he was revolted. “It’s finished” is all he could say.

  “Right” hailed Ginty “Kong, take Charlie and the charges and
clear downstairs. If you run into any more trouble, holler. When she’s ready to blow let me know.”

  “Jock, with me” hailed Kong.

  “Bel, secure this area. Be careful not to step into the uncleared area. I need your medic with me now.”

  Ginty led Cpl Harry Myers over to where Chen and Paddy had fallen. She came across Paddy first. He was lying face up. His face was a bloody pulp, masticated by the flechette round. She was known as a hard arse but no one could see that and not be reviled by it. She instinctively turned away but then forced herself to focus on the status indicator on the helmet which confirmed that the occupant was indeed dead.

  She had only known Paddy a few months. He was one of the draft of replacements absorbed after the carnage on Beta Phi. He was competent and a nice enough guy, but if truth be told she didn’t really know him. After the losses on Beta Phi she hadn’t been as active in getting to know her troops as she had been before it. It hadn’t been a conscious decision. It just sort of happened that way. ‘I need to watch that’ she thought to herself.

  “Over here” hailed Harry. He’d found Chen. Harry turned off his thermals and used his helmet light to see. Ginty reacted as the light blinded her. She switched her thermals off too. Harry turned over Chen’s body. He could see the side of his helmet where the pulse shot hit him. It didn’t look that bad. “Help me will you?” asked Harry and Ginty lent down and helped him reposition Chen.

  Harry noted the status display on the helmet but he didn’t trust it. He hit the helmet release and gingerly started easing it off. The beam from his helmet light played across Chen’s face. There was dried blood all around his ear but otherwise he looked OK. Harry felt for his pulse. “Shit he’s alive” he hailed. He immediately took off his own bum bag, extracted his med kit and began a more thorough investigation.

  “He’s out cold and lost half his ear but he’ll live” said Harry, now working fast to clean up the wound.

  Ginty shook her head. “Talk about the luck of the Irish.”