‘They don’t care. They only want to open the door and throw something in, then they will go.’
Mr Moore frowned, ‘Throw what in?’
‘A state of the art military programme produced by the Union,’ Klaus explained, ‘A virus designed originally to be used against Chinese ships, stolen from the Citadel by the rebels. It will give them control of any Union ship it gets into - just for a limited time - maybe as little as five seconds. But five seconds is a very long time inside a computer!’
‘My God…’ I gasped, ‘Does it only work on that ship?’
‘No, once the programme is in, it automatically instructs the host ship to send it to the others.’
I looked at the boss, my eyes wide with fear, ‘Boss, we need to order our ships away!’
‘But what about the Chinese?’
‘There are no Chinese, Boss, don’t you get it?’ I shook my head in dismay, ‘Ruckheim left that code for us to find. He wanted us to bring in our ships. He’s going to turn our own guns on us!’
Klaus raised an eyebrow, ‘You have called in all of your ships? Then this is far worse than I thought…’
#
We quickly formed the platoon up along the trench, ready to go into the assault. We didn’t have much time.
The commanders of the platoon huddled around the boss to hear his plan, regarding Klaus wearily. We all distrusted New Earther’s, but we knew that if what Klaus said was true, then the rebels were already preparing to release the virus onto our ships – with consequences that didn’t bear thinking about.
‘As soon as we are in position, the assault will be initiated by the smart missiles and fire support from Two section,’ Mr Moore explained to us, ‘When that happens we will punch downwards. One section will take the lead, followed by me and Three section. Corporal Johnston will bring his work party down, but he will leave the launchers on the high ground.
When we go noisy, your restrictions on comms are removed, since my signaller will be firing up a situation report straight away anyway - with an immediate instruction to NEJOC to withdraw all ships from orbit.’
He took a deep breath, ‘If I should go down, the lead section commander is to take over from me until the situation allows for Corporal Johnston to get forward. Everybody needs to understand the main effort, so that the platoon can continue to fight even as the commanders perish. The main effort is as follows; fuck them up.’
We shared a nervous laugh as the boss continued.
‘Fuck them up, and don’t stop, even when your ammo’s running low. We must stay on the offensive until the cavalry arrives. The first unmanned craft should arrive within minutes after our message for help, but the first boots won’t hit the ground for a while longer. We must remain on the offensive. Pick out targets you assess to be of high value, anything that looks like communications equipment, buildings, bunkers and anybody who looks like he’s in charge. I want to cause maximum chaos and confusion. We must sacrifice ourselves, if necessary, to stop the rebels unleashing that virus. The lives of thousands of our fellow Europeans depend on it.’
We nodded gravely, understanding what had to be done. We were on a conventional battlefield, in our own element, but we were going on the offensive against an enemy of unknown strength with no fire support other than what we carried in our hands and on our backs. There was a very good chance that we weren’t all going to survive. We were drop troopers, though, and facing unfavourable odds was what we did best. The fate of our comrades across New Earth depended upon us.
‘Gents,’ the boss regarded us all as though this were the last time he would see us all together, ‘It's been a wild ride. I know I can be a pain in the arse, and we haven’t always got on,’ he was looking at me when he said that, ‘But it has been a genuine privilege to lead this platoon, and it has been an honour to have known all of you. I wish you all the very best of luck,’ he paused… ‘For the Union,’ he said softly.
‘For the Union,’ we chorused quietly.
‘For peace,’ the New Earther whispered instead. We ignored him, having convinced ourselves that he was mad; there would never be peace on New Earth…
I saw my section further along the trench, watching us expectantly. They knew what was about to happen - we were going over the top - into the unknown.
Drops of water landed on my visor, and we turned our heads up to the sky as the heavens began to open up.
‘Right on cue,’ Westy joked, ‘Nothing like a battle in the rain, eh?’
‘I’ll see you down there,’ I said to him.
‘Hopefully! I’ll be the one without any kit!’
Sensing that enough time had passed already, Mr Moore nodded to us respectfully, ‘Let’s do this.’
The rain was beginning to fall steadily when I returned to my section, the wind driving it hard against the side of my visor. I closed the section in together so that I could pass the plan down to them. It didn’t take long, since there wasn’t much of a plan at all. All Klaus could tell us was that there were a number of occupied bunkers along the high ground either side of the valley, and numerous rebels lurking in the garden below.
Satisfied that my men knew what they needed to know, I sent them back to their positions, catching Konny just before he left.
Konny eyed me nervously, bracing himself for me to either strike or insult him. I remembered the speech the boss had given, and I remembered what Okonkwo had told me. It had been an honour to command my section, and Konny was part of it too.
‘Konny, I know you can do your job,’ I said, ‘What happened to Geany, it wasn’t your fault. You were only trying to do what you thought was right.’
Konny said nothing, but then nodded. His eyes glistened.
I patted him on the arm and smiled, ‘He’ll live, Geany will. Judging by our odds, you probably saved his life!’
He laughed, though his eyes were still filled with sadness. He knew that at least some of us were likely to die. Beneath all of his false bravado I could see that Konny didn’t belong in the dropship infantry, but not because he was a bad person. He simply loved life too much.
‘Work with me Konny,’ I urged, my eyes burning into his, ‘We can get through this.’
‘Okay.’ He smiled.
I patted him on the arm, and turned to make my way back to my fire team. It was time to go.
‘Andy.’
I stopped and looked back, ‘Yeah?’
‘Your man Evans,’ Konny said, ‘I hope you find him.’
I smiled, ‘Me too.’
#
We returned to our fire teams, and as I moved into position Okonkwo gave me an approving nod.
‘Now we’re a section,’ he said wisely.
Mr Moore and Westy were to my right. I gave them a thumbs up, we were good to go. The boss nodded, and he held up his hand slightly above the top of the trench for all of us to see. Behind us the two smart launchers pointed skyward, their operators poised to fire. Fingers twitched nervously over triggers, and bayonets were quickly checked to make sure they were secured correctly. The platoon was set.
The boss took one last look around him, and his arm fell.
With a loud bang and a puff of smoke the first pair of smart missiles launched from their tubes. They hung for a second in the air, before the main rocket ignited and they screamed into the sky.
‘Go!’ I heard Two section on my right flank as they emerged from the trench and opened fire upon an unseen position on the other side of the valley.
One section clambered out of their trench at the same time, and they charged over the top of the ridge with the boss close behind.
I wasn’t going to leave it for too long. I looked along my section line and shouted, ‘Prepare to move!’
The section powered up their rifles, repeating the order as they did so.
‘Move!’
We scrambled over the top of the trench, just as the two launchers released their second volley. Trails of vapour snaked across the valley as t
he smart missiles sought out their targets on the escarpment beyond.
‘Contact front!’ Jimmy announced over the platoon net, breaking our radio silence.
‘Seen!’ The boss replied, ‘Roll it, don’t allow yourself to get fixed on this rock face!’
Okonkwo disappeared over the top of the ridge with me close behind.
As I dropped into the valley I saw the garden for the first time. I had never seen anything like it. Even inside the endless sea of greenhouses that covered much of the plains of New Earth, I had never seen anything so lush and green. The valley wasn’t a garden; it was a forest, completely exposed to the New Earth atmosphere and somehow surviving.
We were on a steep rocky slope, too steep to run directly downwards. Instead I could see that Jimmy’s section had followed a narrow path that traversed the slope, meandering downwards until it disappeared amongst the trees.
Jimmy had dropped off one of his fire teams further along the path, using the rocks as cover and the elevated position to his advantage. The fire team rained darts down into the forest and the enemy hiding within it. Above us two section had moved some of their weapons to give additional fire support, and the path of their rounds was marked clearly by my visor. The ground thumped as the two smart missiles struck at pillboxes on the other side of the valley.
Darts struck the rock around us we ran along the path, and small chips and stones clattered off our armour and helmets.
The enemy fire was inaccurate, they hadn’t been expecting us, and I guessed that they were firing wildly onto the ridge in the misguided belief that it might slow us down.
‘Corporal Moralee,’ Mr Moore sounded breathless over the net, ‘Keep your men moving down! Bypass One section’s fire support! I want your section off that slope and down with me!’
‘Roger!’
I watched as Jimmy’s fire team as they disappeared into the forest below me, their weapons spitting death into the undergrowth.
Okonkwo and O’Leary launched two grenades into the valley as we ran, without bothering to identify a target. The grenades would do that for them anyway, and we were more interested in getting off the high ground.
We passed Jimmy’s fire support. I took a quick glance downward to see what they were engaging, seeing a scattering of red crosshairs across the forest. To my north I noticed a building of some kind, its roof spiked with antennae. I quickly marked it with an outstretched finger as I ran.
‘Corporal Matthews,’ I panted, ‘Get the launchers to hit that building!’
‘Yeah, seen!’
I heard the third volley of smart missiles, but I didn’t turn to look.
We reached the forest and I quickly scanned around me to take in my new surroundings. One section had already pushed into the trees, the bottom half of their bodies concealed by the dense vegetation that carpeted the forest floor. The trees hissed angrily as the rain hammered against the forest canopy above our heads. It was weird to be surrounded by plants that didn’t need the protection of greenhouses or domes, but I had little time to think about it, we were under fire.
Someone in Jimmy’s section was struck by a dart, and I heard the cry of ‘Man down!’ echo across the battlefield.
‘Corporal Moralee,’ the boss shouted from where he knelt in cover behind a tree, ‘Take the left flank!’
I followed his arm as he drew with his finger an imaginary line around to the left of Jimmy, and I saw a line of red crosshairs where the rebels were attempting to form a defensive line on our left side.
I beckoned my section to follow, and crashed forward into the wet undergrowth, trampling over ferns as high as my chest. I ignored the enemy darts that whipped past my head, cracking and hissing as they did so; I was in the zone.
I didn’t bother to take a knee, the vegetation was too high. Instead I lowered my body so that I was no higher than I needed to be to get a clean shot. I fired several rounds into a rebel attempting to fire from behind a tree, snatching him backward like a rag doll.
Holding my arms out either side of me I signalled for my section to form up into extended line so that I could bring all of their weapons to bear. They quickly ran into position, and seconds later the forest roared with the sound of our firepower. A nearby rebel collapsed as a dart struck him in the face, spraying blood behind him.
‘Konny, give cover!’ I screamed, then looked to my fire team.
‘Move!’
We sprinted forward, zig-zagging as we went to make ourselves difficult to hit. Plant life danced around us as it was struck by passing darts. Whether they were aimed at me or not, I couldn’t tell.
After ten metres we dropped back to the ground. I brought my rifle back up into the aim, picked out the nearest target and fired.
Our visors worked in conjunction with our rifles to make us devastatingly accurate, but it wasn’t absolutely necessary for us to hit. Suppressive fire was about terror, about filling your foe with such fear that it compelled him to hide on the ground and weep for his mother. Our enemy feared us that day, because we believed that we were as good as dead. All we wanted to do was to make as much mess as we could, and kill as many rebels as possible before we died.
‘Konny, move!’ I ordered over the net.
The order was unnecessary, Konny was already moving, bounding his fire team forward whilst we gave him cover. My section was nothing like it had been two days ago - it was now a well-oiled killing machine.
We continued our push into the forest, cutting down anything that moved with a deadly swathe of darts that quickly overwhelmed the small pocket of rebels before us.
Sensing that there was no hope in remaining where they were, several of them broke and ran, their positions marked by sporadic crosshairs on my visor as they weaved through the wet ferns, trying to make themselves difficult targets for us to hit.
‘Grenades!’ I shouted, ‘Give them something to run from!’
Okonkwo and O’Leary popped off a string of grenades toward the retreating rebels, and they screamed through the forest in search of their targets. Clods of earth were hurled high into the sky as they detonated.
At the same time a series of explosions along the escarpment to our east announced the arrival of the first Union saucer. Darting across the sky at incredible speed, its twin thirty millimetre cannon roared as it spat death upon the enemy positions.
‘That’s the cavalry,’ the boss announced, ‘I will be directing all of our air assets against targets on the high ground!’
With the trench systems above us preoccupied by the saucer, the platoon punched deeper into the forest, wading through the undergrowth in a long extended line. My section took up the left, while Jimmy’s spread itself along the right with his second fire team returned to him. He left his casualty behind to be collected by Johnno’s work party.
Our magnets screamed with fury as we engaged the fleeing rebels, churning vegetation and sending chips of wood and bark flying into the sky.
I came across a fallen rebel, his entrails hanging out of a gaping hole in his stomach. The ferns were slick with his blood.
I swore in disgust and jumped over the gory mess, taking care not to land on one of his organs.
Something moved to my right whilst I was preoccupied with avoiding the corpse. A woman had emerged from behind a tree where she had hidden in wait. She held a Chinese machine gun at her hip, pointing right at me.
I gaped. Shit.
I didn’t have the time to shoot her. I threw myself forward in shock just as she opened fire.
I didn’t have a chance, I knew it as I fell. The first burst of darts missed me because she had no targeting system and she wasn’t holding the weapon properly, but that made little difference. Once I landed on the ground I was a dead man.
Nothing happened. I looked up to watch her fall to the ground, a smoking hole in her respirator visor.
Westy knelt nearby, his Chinese rifle still aimed at the dead rebel. I breathed out a colossal sigh of relief.
‘
You’re welcome,’ he said with a smile.
As we cleared forward, the rebels continued to withdraw, running back to occupy hastily prepared defensive positions along the valley floor. The trees had just begun to part when we were forced to the ground by a sudden onslaught of enemy fire.
I hugged the ground as the fresh barrage of darts whipped over my head. I cursed myself for hiding from enemy fire, but the air was thick with darts and I knew that if I stood I would surely be shot.
‘They’re doing something!’ Westy shouted from where he lay behind me. He had grown fed-up with the boss and was trying to stay close to the action.
‘What?’
‘They’re putting down rapid to allow them to do something!’
I understood what he meant. As long as we remained suppressed the rebels could do what they wanted, like set up new positions or assault, just like we did. I wondered if Ruckheim was nearby, controlling their tactics.
‘Okonkwo!’ I shouted through the ferns, ‘Get a grenade up!’
Okonkwo rolled onto his back and fired a grenade blindly into the sky. The rebels must have had good eyes onto us, because their fire stopped as soon as they saw it launch, probably to take cover themselves.
I lifted myself back up to see the grenade detonate uselessly against a rock. It didn’t matter that it was wasted, it had stopped our enemy from firing.
‘Rapid fire!’ I screamed, and the section emerged from their cover, their magnets screaming like banshees.
My visor identified something moving behind a rocky knoll on our left flank, and I turned just in time to see a trio of rebels moving something heavy into position. One of them was carrying an unmistakable barrel over his shoulder, and I realised instantly what they were doing. It was another automated gun, and they were going to assemble it on the knoll.
‘Shit,’ I exclaimed, ‘Boss, position on my left flank!’
I quickly dropped a cursor on the knoll so that the boss could see what I was talking about, but I wasn’t going to wait for him to let me attack. It was no more than fifty metres away from me and if I didn’t act fast it would make a mess of my section.
LANCEJACK (The Union Series) Page 27