Merkiaari Wars Series: Books 1-3

by Mark E. Cooper

  She disembarked from the shuttle carrying her rifle and pack. Her pack was stuffed with extra ammo including grenades, and her rifle was fully loaded. As was her custom, she had chosen to load her grenade launcher with all HE rounds. The P100 could take a maximum of ten. She had loaded it to capacity and had enough loose extras to load it fully twice more. She strongly doubted she would need so much firepower, but it was better to have too much than not enough.

  She slogged through the snow carrying the pack in her left hand, and her rifle slung across her chest. She couldn’t wear the pack on her back as designed because her PLSS was there. She kept her right hand free for her pistol. It was holstered over her environmental suit, and it felt wrong, but there was no choice if she wanted to use it. When she needed to fight, she would discard her glove for access to her weapon’s bus, and wondered if perhaps there might be a way to design a glove that would allow the connection while maintaining suit integrity. The gloves she sometimes used in combat had an open window in the right palm, but that wouldn’t work with her suit.

  Hmmm.

  With sensors at max trawling for hostiles and their emissions, she spent her time imagining a suit mod that would work. If she came up with an answer, she would submit it to General Burgton with her report. He was always looking for ways to improve the regiment and its gear.

  The snow was deep in places. It forced her to keep to the centre of the streets. That wasn’t where she instinctively wanted to be, especially when the sun was up and the sky clear. The weather was fine, the day a balmy -25° and should the enemy be looking her way she would stand out like a beacon. She wanted to hug the buildings for cover but couldn’t. Snow drifts had mounded high and deep there. She jogged up the middle, but was ready to take cover.

  Her sensors reported in when she came within range and TacNet updated itself. She found a side street with less snow built up, and used it to take a break. She crouched behind the crumbling wall of a fallen building, brought TacNet up on her display and interrogated sensors. She drilled down into the data, and began making notes on the map to make it easy to recall information at a glance. She really did love TacNet, and knew her old friends in the Marines would be envious.

  It was obvious right away that Eric had been discovered. A large group of hostiles marked in red now on her map were attempting to gain entry to the ship. He must have locked it down and sealed the cargo bays and airlocks. Another group, smaller but still numerous, was doing something in one of the buildings. Salvage operations maybe? Were they that confident of regaining the ship? It confused her because if she had been them, she would have had all hands attacking Eric. Maybe they felt the crew inside could deal with him. Good luck with that! Eric was a lethal SOB, all vipers were, but they probably didn’t know what he was. She watched both groups for a minute or so, noting a few strays wandering between the groups. She had no idea what they were meant to be doing, but she was glad to see both shuttles grounded and seemingly of no immediate interest to anyone. The strays were going to be a problem, she realised. Not because they were inherently more dangerous, but because they had bugger all to do and might notice her arrival. Still, there weren’t many of them. She could probably avoid detection as long as she watched them and took measures to evade them.

  “Eric? I’m in position,” Gina said over viper comm. “I’m ready to get the party started.”

  “Bit busy here,” Eric replied. Gina heard his pistol and the sound of return fire in the background. “I need you in here sooner rather than later.”

  “Okay, hold on. Fuentez out.”

  “Hurry.”

  The urgency and stress in his voice made her pulse speed. She had never heard that in his voice before. He must be seriously hard pressed in there, and that changed things for her. The slow careful approach she preferred was out of the question now. She needed to smash the opposition outside the ship, access an airlock, and relieve Eric before something happened she would regret.

  She moved out again.

  Her preference would have been clearing the outside before entering the ship, but now she was in a race against time. She decided to ignore the hostiles in the building if they would let her and engage those trying to enter the ship. No doubt the strays would attack as soon as they saw her. If they did she would deal, if they didn’t, she would deal with them later, after she rescued Eric.

  She entered the open area that the raiders had used for their landing site. She realised it was a plaza or square. It was lined on all sides with buildings, but it was a big one. The shuttles were to one side, the ship was in the centre, but there was plenty of open space left. Too much. It seemed as if she had oceans of empty space to cross, and she felt naked as she did so. She pulled off her glove ignoring the cold and the warnings on her display as contaminants entered the suit. Her PLSS kicked into high gear trying to adjust and compensate for her suit’s loss of integrity.

  She charged toward the ship, her legs pumping. She brought her rifle around and selected her grenade launcher. She skidded to a stop on the ice dropping her pack and pumped grenades toward the ship. She sent all ten arcing high. They came down amidst the raiders and detonated throwing bodies and pieces of bodies high in the air. Shrapnel pinged and clanged off the ship’s hull, but caused no damage. Ships were far too tough.

  Movement.

  She spun to her right going to one knee. Her targeting reticule locked on, spun redly and she fired. The raider was blasted back. She ducked away as return fire flooded in from other locations in the square including the ship. Her grenades had killed most of the raiders there, but not all. She grabbed her pack and sprinted toward the ship, firing short controlled bursts one handed toward the survivors. One died, and another. The third one tried to scramble away from her as she arrived. She butt-stroked him and he went down.

  Incoming fire toward her strengthened as some of the group in the building emerged. She kept low and tried the airlock controls. They were locked down as she had guessed earlier. She was about to try a code that Eric might have used, but had to throw herself flat as the raiders saturated the air with pulser fire. It was getting bloody dangerous out here! She returned fire forcing them to go to ground, and took a chance. She entered the regiment’s motto, but the code was refused.

  “Code, Eric, dammit,” she snarled. “What’s the override code?”

  “Alpha-three-niner-niner-Charlie-one”

  Gina entered the code keeping down and reaching high to stab the keys above her head. She flinched when more pulser fire splashed against the ship as the airlock door shot open. She hurled herself inside and closed the hatch breathing a little hard with adrenaline rush. She liked excitement as much as the next girl, but that had been a little too exciting.

  She reloaded her rifle and grenade launcher, though she had no intention of using grenades within the ship. They needed it to get home. Only then did she open the inner door.

  She threw herself prone as a crewman hosed the airlock with railgun fire. It was only a handheld, not an AAR, but the hail of slugs it threw was more than enough to shred her into blood and screams. There was only the one man, but he laid down a barrage fit for a squad. She rolled out of the open hatch, keeping him targeted, and fired one round. He collapsed holding his belly screaming at the pain. Pulser burns hurt like a bastard. She knew from experience. Her second round put him out of his misery.

  Gina stood and advanced toward the body where it sprawled at the junction. TacNet had already reached out to the only other viper unit in range, Eric, and linked up with him to share data. She had the latest tacsit in a small window on her display as a result. She knew where he was, engineering level 2, and his situation, dire. What the bloody hell was he doing in engineering? The last she knew he had been in control of the bridge and in a good situation to hold it. Why take on so many when he knew she was on the way? She didn’t know, but the answer was with Eric.

  “Let’s go ask him,” she muttered.

  She considered removing her
suit but decided against taking the time. Eric had sounded desperate but she didn’t really know why. He was a viper. A dozen armed raiders might give him a decent fight, but they shouldn’t be beyond him if he was careful.

  She called the elevator, stepped over the body, and entered the car.

  The ride took only a few moments. She slung her rifle and drew her pistol. She held it aimed and ready as the doors opened letting her out on engineering level 1. She had chosen the level above Eric because there were raiders using it to pin him. She targeted those she saw upon entering engineering. She gave each of them a three-round burst in the back. Two men fell off the catwalk to thud solidly on the deck of level 2. The third sighed and slumped against the rail.

  She ducked back into the car as the remaining raiders targeted her, but then edged carefully back out and to the right when they reloaded. She kept low and crept along the catwalk, trying for a better position. She could probably kill some of them with grenades, but she didn’t want to risk the ship. They were already taking a chance shooting up the place as it was. Hit the wrong thing in here and the drive could either be damaged beyond use, or worse, it could lose field containment entirely and cause a sun to be born and die on the surface of the planet. She looked down over the safety rail and found Eric below her, using one of those important and sensitive bits of equipment as cover.

  “What the hell, Eric? Stop playing with them.”

  “I’m nearly out of ammo!” Eric snarled back on viper comm, sounding pissed off at the accusation. “If you’d moved your arse like I told you, I wouldn’t be sitting here like a target.”

  Aha! That explained a few things. “Look up. I have a present for you. Catch!”

  She dropped her pack down to him, and ducked back as railgun slugs reached for her life pinging and ricocheting of the rail and bulkhead. She fired back giving Eric cover while he reloaded. She knew the moment to move had come when he went all Zelda on the raider’s arses, and laid down a barrage to make Fleet proud. She surged to her feet and leapt the safety railing. Her pistol barked twice as she fell. Two targets were blasted back before she landed. The raiders turned their attention to her, and Eric rushed them. She joined him and the fight ended with her emptying her pistol on full auto into the space between two control stations shredding the enemy hiding there.

  Eric stood among the bodies targeting them one after the other and putting a single shot into each of their heads. Gina watched. It had to be done, but his emotionless face disturbed her. It was one of the things she didn’t like about him. Her thoughts flashed back to the elevator shaft and remembered finding him hanging from his rope zoned out with something... odd, something not Eric looking out at the world using his eyes.

  She shivered.

  “You done?” she asked a little harshly. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t clear the ground before coming aboard. You sounded a bit harried.”

  Eric snorted. “How many left?”

  “Ten, twelve maybe. I’m worried about those shuttles. If they take it into their heads, they could attack alpha site.”

  “They could, but they won’t. They’re too fixated on getting in here to deal with us, but let’s make sure.”

  She nodded, glad he saw it as she did, and headed for her pack where Eric had left it. She reloaded her pistol and took the opportunity to swap its power cells for fresh ones. The old ones still had plenty of charge, but no need to run them down to nothing and get stuck for power at the wrong time. Eric saw what she was doing and took the opportunity to do the same.

  “Where’s your suit, on the bridge?”

  “Cargo bay,” Eric said heading for the elevator.

  She hefted her slightly deflated pack and followed him into the car. “Let’s get it and finish this. I’m sick of snow.”

  Eric grunted.

  After reclaiming his suit, Eric separated from Gina. They chose different exits from the ship for strategic reasons, neither choosing her entry point. The cargo bay ramps were also out. Those huge pressure doors were too slow in opening and closing; much too tempting for the remaining raiders to try retaking the ship. Gina gave half of her spare ammo to Eric and all the loose grenades. Her rifle was fully loaded, and the fight outside was ideal for its use. She holstered her pistol not expecting to need it anymore today.

  She chose the airlock opposite the one she had used to enter the ship. Her reasoning was simple really. The airlock was on the portside of the ship, which put the bulk of the ship between her and the building the raiders had found so interesting. She doubted they were still there, but that was their last known location. They might be moving from there or back to it, they might all be trying to enter the airlock where she had killed so many. She was betting her safety on her guess that they wouldn’t round the ship to enter on the portside, but would try entering on the starboard side closest to the building. Less of a walk.

  She cycled the airlock on one knee with her rifle up ready to fire. TacNet updated itself as soon as her sensors swept an area in front of her. The cone shaped region on the map lightened, updating itself and building upon the map as it had been before she entered the ship. There were no hostiles in the vicinity of the lock. Eric must have exited the ship at that moment, because his icon blinked into place close by surrounded by a circle of live sensor data. His map would have her cone of data on it, and it was time she added something more to it.

  She left the airlock and locked it behind her. Without the code, no one would enter this way short of dismantling the lock or cutting the hatch open. With sensors running continual sweeps in all directions she rounded the ship in a bent kneed jog with her rifle up looking for targets. Sensors reported Eric moving around the ship in the opposite direction. She kept TacNet open in a small window on her display and its map updated as soon as the first hostiles came within sensor range. Eric was closest, and he opened fire first. Gina sprinted forward, needing to close the range a little and take advantage of the distraction he provided.

  She knew the moment that she reached optimal range. Her targeting reticule appeared and spun pulsing red over one of the raiders. She fired, re-targeted, fired again. Both raiders dropped, one rolling from side to side hugging himself probably screaming. She was too distant to hear while wearing her helmet. She ran to a new firing location and Eric did the same. Return fire started up, but it was poorly targeted. Snow and ice flashed to steam around her, but nothing more dangerous came close. She switched to her grenade launcher and fired just once at the open ramp of a shuttle the raiders had been moving toward. It exploded just inside the ship. She wasn’t attempting to take it out, just deter entry. Exploding fuel tanks wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interests. Such a thing would kill everyone nearby. Liquid hydrogen tended to do that.

  Shuttle reactors were actually safer than their fuel source, because the reaction was so precise. Interrupting the fuel supply or unbalancing the reaction in some way causes the plasma within deuterium-tritium fusion reactors to cool within seconds. The reaction simply ceases. No risk of runaway reactors or chain reactions. Safety is one of the main reasons to use such reactors aboard ships that routinely entered atmosphere.

  Her strike upon the shuttle ramp had the desired effect at first. The raiders pulled back. Unfortunately it had two side effects that she didn’t appreciate. One: they scattered but chose her as their main target. Two: they were pulling back toward that building they had found so interesting. She ducked and fell prone trying to return fire, and managed to take out two more raiders, but the others were panicking and firing blindly in her direction. She became the eye of a storm of pulser blasts.

  Eric of course took advantage and sniped away almost unnoticed, the lucky bastard. As the hostiles died one by one, Gina was able to advance again, but she wasn’t able to stop the last half dozen or so raiders ducking out of sight into the building.

  “We can’t leave them I suppose?” she said hopefully. “We could wreck the shuttles and take the ship back to orbit. Maroon them as the
y would have done to us.”

  “No.”

  “But—”

  “I said no,” Eric said again, this time in his command voice. Gina straightened a little at hearing it. An instinctive reaction she had yet to shed. “They murdered our people. Everyone aboard Hobbs. No one does that to us.”

  She agreed with the sentiment, but marooning them was a death sentence. She didn’t need to kill them with her own hands to feel that justice had been served. Eric obviously didn’t agree and he was senior. He led the attack.

  She covered him as he went into the impressive looking building. She wondered if perhaps the raiders had been after data of some kind, because impressive though it was, it wasn’t somewhere she would look for money. She would have blown every bank vault on the planet and raided the factories for precious metals. Even the jewellery stores would have made more sense to her than this imposing edifice that reminded her of a major library or government admin building.

  Eric ducked inside, but didn’t find a target. He gestured and she flew up the steps to join him. She ducked into cover and interrogated her sensors. Hostile icons dotted around the building appeared on her display. It was every man for himself now by the looks of it. Good for Eric and her, bad for them. They weren’t backing each other up at all. She glanced at Eric; he waved her to the left. She advanced alone, while he disappeared down a corridor on the right. Sensors and TacNet made this an unfair contest. Yay for the good guys, she thought cynically. This was so unnecessary.

  She made her way toward the first of her targets. He had gone to ground. Hiding from a viper was hard to do. If she had been a Marine still, her old helmet with its sensor package might have missed him. Might. Standard Alliance gear was pretty good even without the advantages of a viper’s extra processing power. She probably wouldn’t know where he was, but she would have rotated between infra and motion sensors regardless and as soon as she opened the door she would have found him. She didn’t do either here. She simply aimed at the wall and killed the idiot. He had chosen to hug the wall beside the door, obviously expecting her to barge straight in and have the door hide him from sight. Her rifle on max settings blew a hole right through the wall and his torso. Something she had learned she could do from Eric when they fought together on Thurston. She poked her head through the wall to be sure he was dead, and then pulled back. She shook her head wishing she was killing Merki again, not her own people, and picked her next target.