As she stood and looked for any reaction from the troopers, she saw one of them point up. The telltale boom of the sound barrier being breached echoed through the air and she quickly shot her gaze toward the sky to see four Valkyrie dropships rapidly descending through the clouds.
“Thanks for the heads up, ass,” she said with a laugh. Pork gave her a thumbs up and she could see him laughing in his armor. He had kept his visor open as he had no use for the suit's user interface while playing lumberjack.
It took the ships a few minutes to make it to the surface and they all landed as gently as can be. They touched down almost wing-tip to wing-tip, their heavy turbines shutting down while perpendicular to the ground. Valkyrie dropships were designed to be 'vertical take-off and landing' craft, or VTOL craft, before all else – their combat, bombing, and reconnaissance capabilities were all just an added bonus.
As the heavy square cargo doors broke their hermetic seals and folded to create ramps, armored troopers marched out and immediately began unloading crates containing medical supplies, ammunition, weapons, and everything in between.
“Wow, really pulling out the big guns, eh?” Mel said into the microphone she had strapped to her shirt. She wasn't trained in powered armor, like several of the other crew, but refused to stay behind. She had two plasma pistols holstered on her hips and was confident in her abilities with them.
“This must be the entire Husk cadre,” Cairenn replied. She went over to greet the new arrivals, and saw that several of them were already eyeing her box of poppers.
“Want us to set up a grid of these in the jungle outside the walls?” the armored woman asked. Their faces were all obscured with their opaque shields.
“Go for it, we shouldn't be outside the walls without armor anyway,” Cairenn replied.
The trooper gave her a thumbs up, then grabbed two more troopers and headed off.
“Well, I feel a hell of a lot safer now,” Mel said. She was starting to miss Alistair, but was glad he at least had some backup now.
Two squads of ten troopers each formed up and filed out from the makeshift fortress, heading in the direction of the town.
Mel smiled as they ran off and heard Cairenn let out a sigh of relief as she watched their reinforcements help establish the camp.
“They'll be back soon,” Mel said, and Cairenn nodded.
Chapter 73
“Hark, the sweet sound of friendly troopers marching. Never have I heard such a glorious cadence!” Trip said after receiving a notification that reinforcements have landed. His face shield was open and he could see the relief of the survivors standing beside him.
Trip was, among many other things, a smart ass. His reputation among the Husk cadre was that of a man who could make light of any situation, regardless of its dire nature. He was also the premiere sharpshooter of the cadre, having beaten Reaper on numerous occasions with and without the targeting systems provided by their armor. His light hearted exterior was a mask for the ruthless killer underneath, but Trip didn't revel in violence. In truth he abhorred it, but had seen it as a means to an end. He hated having to take a life and was the first to question orders when doing so was inevitable. He doubly hated how proficient he was when it came to violence.
“So is there a Republic fleet in orbit?” one of the women asked him. She was particularly attractive with long dark hair, vibrant green eyes, and a sultry voice. Trip noticed how closely she stood as they walked and he didn't mind the company.
“Uh.. about that,” he responded, unsure of what to say.
“It's fine Trip, they need to know anyway,” Reap said over comms. The man was fifteen yards in front and yet he still heard everything. His name was more fitting than ever.
“What's your name?” Trip asked. The woman tried to take stock of him, but only his face was visible inside the armor. His chiseled good looks and full blond hair betrayed his combat prowess, but her attraction to him helped her open up a bit.
“Aiko,” she said with a smile.
“Aiko,” Trip replied, “we're not Republic. We disobeyed orders to fire on a civilian ship, and are now branded as traitors.”
She gasped and broke eye contact.
“Then why are you even here helping us?”
“Because no one else is coming. We've got two ships here to take away survivors, but there is no other help on the way. The navy is too busy shaking down suspected secessionists and defectors.” Trip sighed.
Aiko stared forward, not sure how to process this information. The other refugees around her had similar responses.
“So what about the virus? Where did it come from?” one of the men in the crowd asked.
The group was about a kilometer outside the town and Reap put his hands up to stop the group so he could fill them in.
“Listen up,” he started. “What Trip said is true, we're not Republic. We saved a civilian ship from being destroyed by corrupt naval forces and have most likely been disowned by our government by now. And no, the Republic is not coming to help. We're it, but we're also more than enough.”
Gasps and complaints echoed throughout the crowd, but Reap went on.
“The virus that royally fucked this colony was deployed by the Republic themselves. They were testing a biological pacification weapon and needed a testing ground. Unfortunately, your planet drew the short straw.”
Some of the crowd shouted in response, clearly unhappy with the news. Others voiced their doubt by hurling profanities at Reap.
“Hey, if you don't like it you can go right back where we found you. But I estimate we killed about a thousand of those things, which means there are only fifty thousand left.”
He turned around and continued on down the path.
“So all those people.. the things. That's all because of the Republic? Why would they do that?” Aiko asked.
Trip, at first filled with lascivious thoughts, now only felt sorrow for the woman. He put his arm around her in an effort to comfort her and the group kept marching forward.
About two kilometers outside of town, the infiltration team met up with Reap's reinforcements. They offered to hand off the survivors so Reap and Alistair could get their squads back into town, but they needed to restock on ammo and rethink their weapon options.
“You bring the kit I suggested?” Alistair asked to a stern faced woman who had her face shield open. Her fiery red hair was tied into a ponytail and her eyes constantly scanned her surroundings as she spoke.
“Yes sir, we don't get to use this stuff much,” she said as she patted the enormous flamethrower she had bolted to her left arm.
“Alright. You've seen the recordings, so you won't get caught with your pants down. Good luck captain,” Reap said. The woman saluted and led her compatriots back toward Kalys. They were all carrying plasma rifles except one exceptionally large trooper with a squad automatic weapon, or SAW. SAWs came in different varieties and this one seemed to be a heavy plasma cannon. It wasn't quite as powerful as those used for point defense on The Ubik, as the power generating capabilities of the fusion plant on a suit of powered armor was significantly lower. It would give the squad an enormous advantage over using railguns, however.
“Your crew set up camp, Alistair,” Reap said as they resumed their march to the landing zone.
“Sounds like them. They're resourceful, to say the least.”
Reap laughed. “It'll definitely come in handy. After today, I have the feeling we're just getting started cleaning up messes.”
Alistair let out a short chuckle before really thinking about Reap's words and what the future held. Both men walked in silent contemplation the rest of the way to the camp.
Chapter 74
“Alistair!” Mel shouted as she saw the team lead their first wave of refugees into the camp. She ran over to give him a hug, but saw the discolored viscera covering him and decided against it. “I'll settle for a high five.”
He laughed and offered up his clean left hand - the shield had kept it out of the fig
ht.
“I saw the videos. It was disgusting. But the way you fought made them seem a lot less scary,” she said. “I've got my handguns and I'm ready to deal with whatever they throw at us.”
“I want to say that I wish you weren't out here, but also I'm glad you are. We're doing good work here.” Alistair smiled. Despite the absolute horror visited upon the city of Kalys, people still survived. And now they could continue surviving.
“Plus you know I've got your back,” she replied with a smile. “Oh, here. I meant to do this before you left.”
She took a cigar from her pocket, stuck the pre-cut tip in her mouth, and lit it. After a valiant attempt to stifle her coughing fit, she gasped for air and handed it to Alistair.
“Hah. I figured you'd be used to these by now considering you're always following me around.”
Mel was a little blue in the face, but still managed a grin.
“I don't.. I don't see the appeal,” she said through labored breaths.
“I've got to get back out there, Mel. There are still a lot of people who need help. You're fine here?”
After overcoming the worst of her coughing fit, she said “Yeah. These troopers mean business.”
“Thanks for the cigar,” he said as they high fived again. Alistair turned and walked to meet Reaper at the gates.
“She even lights your cigars, eh?” Reaper said with a shit eating grin and Alistair responded with a laugh. The two men enjoyed their moment of peace before leaping back into the living hell that has become Kalys.
Chapter 75
Eight hours after their first contact with the infected, Alistair and Reap led their team back to the evacuation point from Kalys for the fourth time. The various squads moving from street to street had learned quite a bit about their new foe, but the loss of three troopers was disheartening. It was rare for kill teams to lose a single member and three on a single mission was unheard of. They were the elite of the elite, however, and learned valuable lessons from every loss.
The plasma rifles fared very well against hordes of infected, but they also overheated relatively quickly in the dense atmosphere of Kalinar II. SAWs were being deployed more liberally, however, as they had substantially more rigorous cooling systems. The tactic of creating overlapping fields of fire with heavy weapons and drawing in hordes proved an effective one. Melee weapons and training regimens were already being designed aboard The Vide, courtesy of Cairenn and Garcia's initial prototype. Both ships were operating under the assumption that while Kalinar II was the first planet to face this bio weapon, it would not be the last.
Stewart had proven his worth time and again during the missions, having saved Swan when a pack of infected descended upon her from a previously cleared alley. She was stabbed through the leg by one before Stewart ripped it off of her and tore it in half with his hands, having maglocked his weapon after it ran dry. In return he was stabbed through the chest, his right lung completely destroyed in the process. He was rushed to The Ubik and placed in a medical regeneration tank, as was Swan. Rachel watched over them both as Achilles slowly stitched their broken bodies back together.
Alistair and Reap were relentless in their drive to continue purging the streets of Kalys, however, and methodically rescued droves of civilians. In total they led their two slightly under strength squads on rescue missions that resulted in over three hundred refugees. Reap had even resorted to using his old combat knife several times as his weapons ran dry and overheated. He'd only carried it as a lucky memento inherited from his father, who was also a marine.
The fog had cleared shortly after daybreak and The Ubik was able to more reliably determine any holdouts on Kalinar II. This data was then fed to the squads on the ground, who worked in tandem with one another to occupy hordes and rescue civilians, leap frogging from street to street in an elegant pas de deux that resulted in tens of thousands of slain infected. There were still an estimated 12,000 remaining, however, so the groups remained vigilant. Decades of training and combat experience supplemented with military stimulants kept their eyes open and their minds sharp.
In total, Reap's Husk cadre and the crew of The Ubik were able to save over a thousand total souls from the blood soaked hellscape that was once a vibrant and growing city. Two dozen would remain on The Ubik, while the rest were air lifted to The Vide. Any more and they would have had to establish a permanent presence on Kalinar II, as The Vide's life support systems could only provide oxygen and water for 2,200 total passengers. They were extremely cramped for space, however, and had resorted to setting up tent cities inside the cargo bays.
As Reap lead the group of soldiers and refugees back to the evacuation point, now nicknamed 'Kalinar's Hope', he laughed at the wooden sign hanging over the main entrance with the camp's name scrawled in white paint. His troopers had fortified it heavily, reinforcing the wooden walls with wooden supports and placing sharpened spikes all around. Poppers dotted the landscape, waiting for their chance to contribute, and several heavy turrets were brought down from The Vide. They were fully automatic plasma cannons that dwarfed those from The Ubik and added an additional sense of security to everyone still staying in Kalinar's Hope.
Alistair had taken up the rear of the team since they were short a few members, and it had saved them on at least one occasion. Swarms of infected stumbled on the group as they traveled from Kalys to Kalinar's Hope and three of the largest monsters yet rushed to devour the meal they saw in front of them. Plasma weapons burned through their flesh and carapace with ease, but their immense mass made them difficult to take down – unless they were met with another large body of mass, which Alistair gladly provided. He was making a habit of charging the enormous monstrosities with his shield and tearing them apart limb from limb while his team fired on in support. The tactic of providing a heavy distraction proved invaluable and the other squads on Kalinar II were already sending in requisition requests for heavier armor and close range weapons.
The group slowly made their way into the fort as soldiers fanned out and covered their entry. Mel broke protocol and rushed out to greet Alistair. No unarmored personnel were to leave the fort, as the infected had already stumbled upon it several times throughout the day.
“Are you finally done?” she asked.
“I think so,” he replied, clearly fatigued.
“Good. I'm starting to feel jittery here, like we've overstayed our welcome, you know?”
“Yeah.. I feel it too. The last two squads are on their way back now. Then we just hold out while the survivors are evacuated.” Alistair smiled. Seeing Mel always had a calming effect on his nerves. His smile was short lived, however, as he saw her jaw drop.
“Oh shit,” she said. “They're coming.”
Alistair turned around and saw two of the giant three legged abominations running at the camp from down the road. He closed his visor, unhooked his hammer, and stared off into the distance. His scanner started picking up thousands of signatures in the jungle. They were barely registering as fast as he could track them with his eyes, a fact that made this mission all the more difficult. Their bodies were changing so rapidly that the scanners had a difficult time picking them up.
“Infected horde incoming!” he shouted into the cadre wide comms channel. Within seconds troopers were lining up and taking shots with magrifles, plasma rifles, and SAWs. The hail of nuclear fire immediately set the jungles ablaze while tungsten spikes smashed through their targets and toppled trees behind them.
Alistair looked to his right at the jungle wall only 20 meters away and saw another giant leap toward him and Mel. The troopers who had moved to back them up were caught off-guard but managed to dodge the monster's scything claws. Mel was simply too fast as she drew her plasma guns and hurled a dozen small infernos at the beast. Alistair simply watched as Mel, his fourteen year old friend, expertly filled the beast's body cavity with glowing plasma. It toppled over before it had the chance to strike anyone else and Alistair stood in astonishment.
&n
bsp; “I guess that trooper training really paid off,” he said in amusement after he rushed to check on her.
“Y.. yeah,” she said, visibly shaken.
“Get inside the fort, get on The Ubik, and man the guns,” Alistair said as he looked at the wave of thousands of infected surging toward them.
“Okay, yeah,” Mel said. “Be careful, Alistair.”
She gave him a hug, ignoring the dried bits of gore that still dotted his armor.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too, Mel. Now you have to go.”
She nodded and ran off after awkwardly holstering her weapons.
Alistair squeezed his hand around the handle of his hammer, looked over to Reaper, and, even though they couldn't see one another, they both knew the other was nodding in agreement. This is going to be a shit fight.
Chapter 76
The two airborne Valkyries strafed the infected horde, using the plasma cannons attached to their under wing pylons with devastating effect. The infected wave had almost reached the fort and the pilots were doing everything they could to thin the herd. As they made their second pass, they saw The Ubik take off and immediately mow down an entire wave of infected with its point defense cannons.
“Watch friendly fire, track greens at all times,” Reaper said in the cadre wide comms. The final two squads were almost back from Kalys and would be coming up behind the horde.
“Lili, you need to go support those squads,” Alistair said.
“Roger that,” she returned. Achilles was doing what he could to scan for hostiles while still firing three of the four point defense autocannons full bore.
Fire rained down from The Ubik as it slowly lurched toward the last two squads of the Husk cadre, determined to not lose any more troopers.
Just outside the walls, Cairenn's poppers lived up their namesake and struck with ruthless efficiency. They detected life signs tainted with an unknown infection and hopped 8 feet into the air before their compressed air jets forced them toward their targets. Each mine, about the size of a softball, contained two dozen steel pellets that would explode in the direction of multiple enemies at over a kilometer per second. They thinned the brunt of the attack briefly, but more infected quickly filled the ranks of those slain.
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