War's Reward (Free Fleet Book 6)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Welcome to Daestramus air. Today we will be invading Ekal city-chimney. It’s currently cold as fuck with a side of icicles. Expect some turbulence because this planets air flow is about as predictable as a Orvunut’s feelings,” as the pilot was talking the shuttle dropped slightly. “As I was saying, we’re going to have some turbulence. Don’t puke on my ride or Cargo Master Telly is liable to give you one hell of a dirty stare. That shit is hard to get out of the carpets. The other shuttles are now in formation and we are on our way. Please enjoy the in house entertainment of whatever the hell you can think of and prepare to be thrown right into the teeth of the Kalu. On behalf of the crew, I hope you fuck their day up and stay safe!” The pilot said, cutting the channel.

  People laughed others shook their heads sighing.

  The Free Fleet was truly filled with a colorful bunch of people.

  Bregend hid his smile inside his helmet, watching as the shuttle powered into the nasty storm, shaking from the turbulence but heading for their target.

  It wasn’t long until they got past the storm and Ekal could be seen in the distance, the city was the tallest object for miles around. Bregend looked at a map overlay, seeing several other shuttles flights all heading for the city from different directions.

  He looked to the timer he had running on the reinforcements, there was just an hour and a half left.

  Bregend reduced his screens, he had one job, make sure the HAPA’s cleared out the main areas and supported the powered armor Commandos efforts to clear the tower.

  Easy, yeah right, he thought to himself snorting in amusement.

  “Fifteen minute from touch down, secure all belongings and thank you for not throwing up on my craft,” the pilot said, their voice light but now tighter as battle and their target was so much closer.

  They continued on and alerts started showing on Bregend’s HUD. He opened the reports.

  “Looks like they’re actively shooting at us, going to be a bit more interesting. Commandos in the turrets, we have been given weapons free,” the Pilot said. Bregend heard the whirring of heavy machinery the turrets rail cannons thumping away moments later.

  The shuttle picked up speed and started darting across the skies erratically. All of the shuttles were now working to get to their landing positions and not get hit by the Kalu hiding in the warmth of Ekal.

  Bregend sat back, rolling with the shuttle, knowing there was nothing that he could do but hope that he wasn’t hit by enough lasers to send the shuttle and himself plummeting to the ground, or turn them into a very short-lived fireball.

  “Three minutes, landing struts down, ramps ready, prepare for drop,” the pilot said, concentrating on something else. the Cargo master was up and checking various items.

  The ramps lowered and harnesses snapped open. The Commandos grabbed their weapons and piled out of the craft, knowing just what an open target they were.

  HAPA’s were pushed out of the ramps both forward and rear.

  Bregend jogged out of the hold, dropping a dozen feet, his HAPA taking the impact, he moved out of the way of the next HAPA.

  “I want a perimeter. Tul, start moving people into the building, we need to secure this area!” Bregend yelled. HAPA’s were taking a knee and firing at the Kalu across the surface of the building they keeping their heads in.

  Other shuttles were coming in, their ramps opening as more Commandos jumped to the landing pad below.

  “We’re inside,” Tul said. “Multiple offices and living quarters, we’re fighting into the main area of the tower, Kalu seemed to be below us more than above. Got regulars moving through the offices and living areas to secure them.”

  “Good, you coordinate the HAPA’s in there. I’ll coordinate out here,” Bregend said, contacting another HAPA company commander.

  “Escokafra, I’m going to call you Kaf. I need you to move your people out to the edges of the landing pad. I want your people linked to one another and keeping the Kalu’s heads down to make it easier on the shuttles,” Bregend said.

  “On it Commander,” Kaf replied, cutting the channel. HAPA’s that had just landed started spreading out over the landing pad, their cannons up and roving over the higher reaches. Rounds turned the sides into falling debris as they chewed through to get at the Kalu shooters.

  Shuttles were coming in faster and faster from all across the skies, their turrets flashed and hit the cities walls as Kalu’s poked their heads out.

  Red dots showed the Kalu moving up the tower, there was ongoing fighting to take the level and secure the Commandos hold.

  Bregend saw a laser shoot from the building, his HUD highlighting the point of origin, his rounds ripped into the side, exploding within, there wasn’t another shot from that position.

  “Bregend I’m routing more people to your position, your pads getting the least fire. I want you to get your people moving upwards and clearing the floors above,” Narvu said.

  “Got it!” Bregend opened a channel to Frix, the regular commando commander.

  “I need yo u to start looking at clearing the floors above us. We need to get these damned shooters off of us so those coming behind us aren’t getting smoked by the same bastards,” Bregend said.

  “Understood, going to need rolling support,” Frix said. Bregend looked through his screens another laser flash coming from his area was rewarded with a few dozen rounds.

  “I’ll detail you a platoon of HAPA,” Bregend said, accessing the said platoon and giving them orders to support Frix’s company.

  “Seen commander,” Frix said, bouncing off of the signal.

  “Tul, how is that main area coming?” Bregend asked.

  “Minimal resistance, waiting for the regular powered armor Commandos to clear the sides, don’t want to move past Kalu and get shot in the ass,” Tul said.

  “Good work, more Commandos are coming to help them. I’m moving people through you to take the upper floors, cover them as much as possible. As soon as this floor is cleared I want you to start moving downwards. I’m going to sort out a casualty collection point and ammunition dump on this floor. I’ll have it going in a few moments,” Bregend said.

  “Yes commander,” Tul said.

  Another flash, another burst of rounds. A Kalu body fell with the debris from the tower.

  “Hope you enjoy the landing fucker,” Bregend said under his breath.

  He looked over the incoming commanders.

  “Lopez, I need a Casualty area and you’re my man, round up the medics already on the ground. Find me somewhere defensible and with easy access to the landing pad,” Bregend said, glancing to his side where shuttles were coming into a hover and continuing to dump Commandos as fast as possible, then they were moving the hell out of the way as more shuttles came in.

  Four shuttles were dropping people at all times.

  “Yes Commander, you’ll have it,” Lope said.

  “Good work,” Bregend replied, cutting the channel and looking over his area.

  Tul requested a channel with Bregend, he accepted it.

  “We’re on the other side of the main area, the floor is ours, moving to the lower floors, Commander Frix is moving to the upper floors,” Tul reported.

  “Good work, run the advance to the lower levels, stay back from the front lines and route any requests to me. Once we have everyone down I’m going to move to the upper floors, make sure they are secured and then link up with you,” Bregend said.

  “Yes Commander,” Tul said.

  Bregend had been on the ground for twenty minutes, his people had adapted and reacted with a fluidity few people of any race were capable of.

  “Zoka, how long do I have until the last shuttle touches down on this pad. I need to get my people inside,” Bregend said. The Kalu seemed to have gotten smarter and a few people on the landing pad had died as Bregend had been organizing.

  “Twenty more minutes. I’m holding the rest in reserve, they can be there in twenty. As per the plan, once the landing pads
are secured by the first force then the second will come in,” Zoka said.

  “Gotcha, we should have this one sorted out soon,” Bregend said, looking at the alert from Lopez. The casualty point was up, running and unfortunately taking customers. Medics were on site treating injured and medical chairs were being brought online.

  Ammunition was being dropped out of the rear of shuttle’s ramps, people policing it together and dragging it inside with them.

  “Understood, getting a lot of fire from the opposite side of the tower fifteen floors down,” Zoka said, sending a link. Bregend opened it, seeing the red overlay of the area the fire was coming from, he sent it to Tul.

  “Thanks for the update, we’ll see if we can do something about that, Bregend out.” Bregend was looking to the other landing areas as he cut the channel.

  The first shuttle loads had gained entry but the further down a landing pad was the more fire they were attracting from on high and below. One landing pad had broken away from the tower, people falling down the side. Most of the shuttles were getting routed to higher landing pads like Bregend’s to drop their people off.

  “Last flight!” Commander Kaf said, people just touched the landing pads rubberized surface before the shuttle powered upwards and away from the landing.

  “Pull your forces inside. I want you moving in support of the units above us. We need to secure this landing pad for reinforcements and casualties,” Bregend said.

  “Yes commander!” Kaf said, cutting the channel, a plan came back to Bregend who saw another laser flash, he fired on it as his HUD beeped. He followed the plan, the HAPA’s collapsing to the doors that led into the tower like a deflating balloon.

  They rushed inside, the HAPA’s moved on as Bregend moved to the casualty area, an ammunition dump was now completed and people were running ammunition to the upper and lower floors to make secondary positions behind the lines of advance.

  The doors sealed behind Bregend as he looked out onto the main area of the tower; offices and buildings lined the walls of the city. There was a great large open area in the center tower that disappeared down to the bottom floor and reached up to the top of the tower. Around this ran a large walkway and every few floors there was netting stretching across. The city was an array of hues all reddish orange, probably from all the rusted metals that made up the buildings. It looked like a shanty town had been folded into a triangle, squished at the bottom with a great big open chimney running through the center.

  “Well that is pretty cool,” he said looking over it for a few seconds and then hugging a wall as Commandos rushed past. They were heading for one of the accesses that would take them up or down. The people of Ekal and Daestramus led the way because there was so many different routes that would take you up or down differenet levels, some of the houses actually had stairs in them so they spanned a number of floors.

  They moved quickly, hitting the Kalu from multiple directions, across the main areas, yellow lines of rail guns were met with the red lights of the Kalu lasers.

  It was destructive light show occurring across the main areas and in close quarters no less. The regular commandos cleared every office, home, and building they could reach.

  It took control to make sure lines didn’t race ahead and guts to go up against Kalu that lived to fight in close combat.

  Not many got the chance as multiple rail gun rounds broke through their armor. The Commandos knew how to clear buildings of all kinds in their basic training, that training took over as they flowed through the tower.

  People went down and people were killed, but the Commandos didn’t pause or stumble, they continued with their missions.

  Bregend was proud of every damned one of them.

  “Commander, Lopez here. I have commander Hui, she’s in charge of the medics, shall I link you across?” Lopez asked, eager to get into the fight.

  “Do so, good work commander. Help clear out the tower,” Bregend said.

  “Thank you sir,” Lopez said.

  “Commander Hui here, what is the situation with evac. With this close-in fighting we’re going to have quite a number of casualties, most will be minor injuries, but quite a few will have a whole lot worse,” she said.

  “Once we clear the upper floors I’ll give the go ahead on evacs and supply drops,” Bregend said.

  “Understood,” she said, cutting the channel.

  ***

  “The Commandos have a foothold in Ekal. The first wave is linking together, moving to clear the floors above and below them. Once they have the higher levels clear the second wave will move in and start shipping us their wounded,” Kyle said, looking to Mills who was commanding the ship as well as the fleet around Daestramus.

  “Do we have a time estimate?” Mills asked, looking at the incoming HCD’s that had their engines pointed at Daestramus to slow their acceleration, so they wouldn’t just simply fly past the planet.

  “Within an hour, they’re concentrating on clearing the higher levels. Though Bregend wants to check every room to make sure the Kalu aren’t hiding. It takes time and people to clear out an area that big,” Kyle said.

  “Understood, relay that information to the incoming forces,” Mills said.

  “Will do sir,” Kyle said.

  “I am reading Kalu fighter swarms heading for Ekal,” Qurv said from sensors.

  “Zoka, have our MEF’s move to intercept. I don’t want one fighter getting to Ekal,” Mills said.

  “Yes sir,” Zoka started issuing orders, MEF’s were launched within minutes, the pilots and craft were on standby for just such an event.

  They dove into Daestramus’ atmosphere, searching out Kalu swarms.

  More MEF’s followed them a few minutes later.

  The first fighters announced their arrival to Daestramus’ atmosphere with a barrage of missiles, nuclear fire ignited in Kalu fighters, turning their swarm into a chaotic cloud of falling debris and broken fighters.

  The surviving Kalu fighters fought nature and the nuclear explosive blasts to bring the MEF’s under fire.

  The MEF’s weren’t making it an easy event, ripping through the tumbling Kalu, paying no attention to the broken and falling, their rail cannons connecting them to the survivors with red tracer light.

  Kalu fighter exploded and the MEF’s passed through, arcing through atmosphere to line up another run.

  The MEF pilots had fought against the Kalu for nearly a year, their tactics and discipline showed with the brutal efficiency they used to cut down the Kalu numbers.

  Mills watched his eyes grim as one of the MEF’s on the second run was hit by laser fire, the fighter smoking and turning to get free of the Kalu fire. Laser bolts ignited the air around them.

  The MEF’s engine was hit, making the fighter swerve and tilt, black smoke following it.

  An icon showed the pilot had ejected, the fighter continued on it’s path exploding a few minutes later.

  Come on, come on, Mills thought silently, hoping to see a chute open. Sensor readout in the area after the fighter’s explosion couldn’t track the pilot.

  A white parachute flared into existence.

  “I want a shuttle picking them up as soon as they’re on the ground,” Mills heard Zoka say.

  A number of other MEF pilots weren’t as lucky as their friends, there was no parachute from them, only a fireball that marked the end of their existence.

  Mills watched as the last of the MEF’s entered Daestramus’ atmosphere, hunting down the last Kalu fighter swarms.

  Soon only Free Fleet forces would fly in Daestramus’ skies.

  ***

  Bregend saw the alerts on his HUD. He gave them a glance as he kept moving, looking for any Kalu that might try to shoot him or the other Commandos as they crossed through the contested level’s main area.

  A HAPA’s guns blared off to his right, more weapons fire could be heard from the lower levels. Fighting was fierce, quick and brutal.

  “Contact!” Frix said as Kalu a
ppeared across, the open circle that rested in the center of the floor. Every level had them extending from the first floor and up into Daestramus’ sky.

  HAPA’s fired at the Kalu now pouring out of the buildings opposite and to the sides of the HAPA’s extended line.

  Commandos were working their way through the buildings. Their efforts sped up to hit the Kalu in the sides.

  Angry red laser bolts flew across the open area, red tracers flew back as HAPA’s ambled for better cover, their cannons up and firing. Bregend brought a halo into view, firing in it’s direction as he crouched behind what looked to be an air car.

  Laser bolts flew around him, punching through his cover.

  “Shit,” Bregend said, getting up and running from the car, one of the Kalu’s laser bolts seemed to have got the engine, quickly turning the air car from a decent covering position into a bomb. Bregend was thrown, thumping into the floor, his face just feet from the passing floor. He came to a stop. His HAPA giving him reds and yellows.

  “Take to armorer, take to armorer,” it reported.

  “Oh shut up,” Bregend said, using thrusters to get himself the right way up and on his feet.

  He ducked behind a stall, firing his cannons at the Kalu that had taken the explosion as a sign and were now running around the open area to close with the HAPA’s.

  Four hundred rail cannons fired, stopping the Kalu push dead.

  “Move forward!” Bregend called out.

  Teams of two worked to cover one another, HAPA’s bounding forward, tracers and lasers ripping through the air.

  With the Kalu’s charge broken the Commandos pressed their advantage home.

  “Watch to make sure you don’t bound beyond the cleared buildings to your sides,” Bregend said.

  The powered armor wearing Commandos were doing their best to speed up clearing the rooms as HAPA’s slowed their forward progress, moving only when the teams hidden in the buildings declared the area clear and ready to move.

  Rounds shredded buildings, exploding outwards as penetrators rippled through the building.