The remaining KzSha fled before them, running away from the Human lines.
The APCs followed them for another few seconds, each firing another three rounds into the fleeing warriors, before turning and driving up to where the defensive line stood cheering.
A hatch popped on the top of the lead vehicle, and Sergeant Ballou stuck his head out. “Hi, Chief!” he called. “Looks like we got here just in time.”
“That you did, Sergeant, and I am damn glad to see you,” Taylor said.
“Lieutenant Ruiz called down from the Osyrys a little while ago,” Ballou added. “He said it looked like someone was fleeing from the dome, so we thought you might like a ride. When we saw you were under attack, we came even faster.” He scanned the site of the fighting. “Not sure we’re gonna get everyone in the APCs, especially with all the casualties, so some folks are still probably going to have to hike out of here.”
“As well as those of us who are too robust to fit,” Haju said. He’d picked up another couple laser burns in the fight that the River Hawks’ medic was treating.
“Better hurry and get whoever you can out of here.” Torrio pointed to the dome. “Looks like they’ve finally assembled the A-Team.”
Taylor turned. Some 250 KzSha in CASPers were marching out of the broken gate. As he watched, they spread out. These were going to be a lot harder to stop. The APCs would give them some additional firepower…until the CASPers wrecked them. They’d be better off taking the wounded back to where the dropships would meet them, although that would leave the rest of them even worse off. Things had looked grim before; now there was no light at all at the end of the tunnel.
Taylor shook his head. He didn’t see any way he could pull this one off.
“What the heck is that?” Reigns asked.
Taylor looked where she was pointing. A weirdly-shaped ship with far too many sides was descending from the sky. Its three landing legs were extended. Whatever it was, it was coming to stay.
“It’s an icosagon,” Jack said.
“A what?” Taylor asked.
“An icosagon,” Jack said. “It’s got 20 sides.”
“How do you know that?” Reigns asked.
“Had to fight off a Tortantula assault one time,” Jack said. “That’s what they use as troop carriers.”
“Oh, shit,” the sergeant exclaimed.
“Yeah.” The cowboy flashed a wry grin. “Things are about to get real interestin’ here.”
“Who’s gonna eat us first, you mean,” Reigns added. “The Tortantulas or the KzSha?
“Like I said,” Jack added. “It’s about to get interestin’.”
The KzSha advance stopped as the ship touched down, but whether that was because they were waiting for the Tortantulas to join the attack, Taylor had no way to know.
“Should we send the APCs with the wounded while we have the chance?” Reigns asked.
“No,” Taylor said. “We’ll stay grouped up until we see what’s goin’ on here. We’re gonna need every gun we’ve got to stop the Tortantulas if they come running over here.”
“Guess we’ll know in just a second,” Jack said.
The ship’s ramp was already in motion when it touched down, and Tortantulas—with Flatar riders, Taylor saw—began running down the ramp before the ramp reached the ground.
“Just can’t wait to come eat us,” one of the Hawks said.
“Probably trying to beat the KzSha to the easy meal,” another guessed.
Within a couple minutes, there were over 200 Tortantulas milling in the vicinity of the ship. The way they moved made them look like a mobile black stain on the white landscape. At some unheard command, all of them surged forward, while more continued to pour from the ship.
As one, they turned toward the KzSha and charged across the intervening space. The KzSha stood in place momentarily, then turned and fled toward the safety of the dome. Even in the suits, though, they were no match for the speed of the Tortantulas, and the giant spiders quickly ate up the head start the KzSha’d had as they chased them across the snow-covered plateau.
With 50 meters to go, the black mass caught up to the wasps. A number of CASPers turned to fight, but they were ridden down and overwhelmed. A handful made it to the safety of the gate, where the Tortantulas veered off and went back to the CASPers they’d already downed. Pieces of the metallic suits flew into the air as the giant spiders tore into them.
Repulsed, Taylor looked away to find a Human-sized CASPer on its way toward his position from the Tortantula ship. The CASPer used its jumpjets to close the gap quickly and arrived in front of the improvised barricade in just a couple of minutes.
The cockpit clamshell rose to reveal the smiling visage of Michael Genovese. “Looks like I almost missed the party.”
* * * * *
Chapter 24: Revenge
Taylor’s jaw hung open for a solid three seconds before he was able to form a rational thought.
Jack and his rifle were faster. “You’re dead, asshole.”
Before he could fire, though, a freakish blur of silver hair and tattered clothes flashed in front of his barrel and was up the ladder and into the cockpit. “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!” Torrio roared, his vice-grip hands clenched at the other’s throat. He threw Genovese from the cockpit. “I’ll fargin kill you for what you did to us!”
“Paulie, wait!” Genovese gasped as he tried to catch his breath.
Torrio jumped down next to him and, in that instant, unleashed every bit of rage he’d harbored toward his longtime friend and former XO in a hailstorm of brutal closed-fist punches. Torrio struck the captain again and again and again until soon it was Genovese who looked like he’d spent the last eight weeks being tortured.
“I’ll fargin kill you!” Torrio screamed again and again as he beat Genovese.
“That’s enough, Paulie.” Taylor grabbed the colonel’s arm, only to be thrown back with a snarl. “I said enough!” This time when Taylor pulled, he did so with the aid of House and two other troopers.
“What the hell is your problem, Van Zant?” Torrio pointed at Genovese. “You do remember he’s the one responsible for what happened to us, right? For what happened to Stan back in Akoya’s office?”
Jack took a step.
Not yet. Taylor stayed the cowboy with a look. “I know that’s how it looks, yeah. I also know Genovese had a free ticket to ride back to Earth with a fat payday that would’ve allowed him to vanish without a trace if he’d wanted. So why is back here now?”
“He’s right,” Genovese said past a fat lip. “I can explain.”
“Tell it to your undertaker, you prick.” Torrio stormed forward.
“Stand down, Colonel,” Taylor said firmly. “That’s an order.”
A fresh shade of red blistered across Torrio’s face as a stream of expletives flew from his mouth like gunfire.
“Talk,” Taylor said. “Why’d you turn on us?
Genovese rolled over on an elbow and spit a glob of crimson saliva into the snow. “I was in deep cover, that’s why. We needed to know the extent of Akoya’s operation here, and when it became clear on Emza that he wanted you specifically, I saw an opportunity to get the intel we needed.” A fresh round of fluids bubbled to the captain’s mouth, causing him to cough and then spit again. “I’m sorry about your man, by the way. I didn’t know Stan well, but from what little time I got to spend with him on the Osyrys, he seemed like good people.”
“He was,” Jack said. “A word of warning. Proceed with caution when speakin’ his name. One misstep, and I swear by everything holy in this universe I will cut your tongue from your fargin skull and feed it to you on a rusty butter knife. Ayew?”
Genovese swallowed. “Ayew.”
“A moment ago, you said we needed to know the extent of Akoya’s operation.” Taylor shifted his stance. “I presume the others you’re workin’ with are the ones who put you under?”
Genovese nodded.
“I need n
ames,” Taylor said.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why?”
“Because I honestly don’t fargin know, all right?” Genovese rubbed his temples. “Listen, fellas. There are answers to all of these questions, and we’ll have time to find them—later. Right now, the real culprit responsible for all that’s happened is likely makin’ a break for two things: a gun and a ship. Are we gonna stop him, or aren’t we?”
Torrio snorted and crossed his arms. “Gimme one good reason why we should trust you.”
“How about I give you several hundred instead.” Genovese motioned to the black horde of Tortantulas at the entrance to the dome.
Jack tugged at his silvery whiskers, then shot a look at his CO that said, The guy’s got a point.
Taylor heaved a sigh. “Tell me your plan.”
“I always preferred show over tell.” Genovese crawled gingerly back into his CASPer. “If you’ll follow me back to the ship?”
The other troopers followed Jack to the Tortantula ship, while Taylor and Torrio raced ahead with the River Hawks’ captain.
“Why’d you really come back, Mikey?” the colonel asked.
Genovese stared the colonel straight in the eye as he answered. “Because we’re street survivors, Paulie. Me and you. We always have been…and street survivors don’t let go of shit without a fight.”
“What about all that stuff you said about Emza?” Torrio asked. “About me and all the people we lost?”
Genovese shook his head. “Saying those things sucked for both of us; believe me. Still, Akoya thought I’d turned, and I needed to keep him thinking that so I could get free of the dome to bring back help. Truth is, you were right to take the Zuparti gig on Emza. That contract would’ve made the Hawks. You had no way of knowing the KzSha would hit us in those kinds of numbers. Hell, even the Zuparti didn’t know. Otherwise, we’d have read that in their intel when we reviewed the contract.”
Torrio bowed his head.
“What happened on Emza was not your fault, Paulie.” Genovese pointed to the swarm of wasps that filled the snow between them and the dome. “It was theirs. Now are you gonna help me kick their bug asses for it or not?”
A flood of emotions raced across Paul Torrio’s grizzled expression in an instant. He seemed to settle on redemption. “Yeah…yeah, I think I can do that.”
“Good.” Genovese glanced to Taylor. “Let’s go play fumigator, boys.”
* * *
Genovese had brought along 30 Mk 8 CASPers, which were unloaded and waiting for them when they arrived at the Tortantula icosagon. They quickly mounted up, fired up the mechs, and raced to the dome. The Tortantulas near the dome parted as they jogged up.
Walking through the giant aliens was one of the creepiest things Taylor had ever done. The hair stood up on his arms and shivers ran up and down his spine with every mandible that clacked as he passed. Every spider had ten eyes…half of which appeared to be staring at him the whole time. The Flatars also watched the CASPers through suspicious eyes, as if they considered the Humans the enemy every bit as much as the KzSha. Before they should have made it to the end, though, they were past the Tortantulas.
“Wait. Weren’t there more of them earlier?” Taylor asked.
“Yeah, there were,” Genovese said. “I sent some around to the other exits and to watch for anyone trying to flee. There are too many innocents inside the dome to send the Tortantulas in while they’re in a slaughtering mood; if we want Akoya, we’ll have to do this ourselves.”
“Well, I’ve got some things I want to discuss with Akoya, so I’m all for doin’ this,” Taylor said.
“As do I,” a high voice said.
Taylor turned in time to see what he assumed was the aliens’ commanding officer emerge from the crowd. “In exchange for our assistance with the KzSha, we get custody of the renegade Sumatozou when the Battle for Droxis is over,” said the Flatar riding the largest Tortantula Taylor had ever seen.
Taylor wasn’t sure how to address the Flatar, so he went with colonel for lack of anything better. “I’m grateful for the help, Colonel; I really am. That said, my people have earned first crack at Akoya when we find him. We’ve spilled blood for it, in fact.”
“You would have spilled far more blood without our help,” the colonel said. “My contract clearly stipulates that Akoya Vello is to leave this planet in our custody, dead or alive. It is non-negotiable.”
Taylor arched an eyebrow. “Your contract with who? Genovese?”
“That is not important,” the colonel said. “Do you accept these terms, or do you not? Decide now.”
Taylor hated being backed into a corner. Screw it. We can argue about this later. “Fine. Let’s get to work.” He glanced to the dome exit. The guard post was recessed into the dome so it couldn’t be seen by overhead imagery. That also meant—once the cameras mounted nearby were taken out—the KzSha stationed there were completely unable to see anyone coming at them from the sides.
They quickly destroyed the cameras, split into two groups, and approached from both sides. Taylor gave the signal, and they assaulted through the guard station…but it was empty.
“This is the worst guard post ever,” House noted.
Motion on Taylor’s Tri-V caught his eye. “Hey, Mike, is that dome panel moving?” He pointed to a spot farther into the dome.
“Yeah, it is,” Genovese said. “Akoya must have a ship in here. We need to get there fast, or he’s going to get away!”
“All right, Eagles, you heard the man!” Taylor ordered. “The bastard who had Stan killed is gettin’ away. I say we put an abrupt halt to that plan. Ayew?”
“Ayew!” the others shouted in unison.
Taylor turned and sprinted toward the moving panel in the dome. He didn’t know how far it had to open, but a sick feeling in his stomach told him he was going to get there too late. Not happenin’. He ran faster, and the rest of the company stretched out, as not everyone could maintain his speed.
“Not gettin’ away,” he chanted, forcing himself to run faster. “Not gettin’ away.”
The panel was about halfway open when he rounded the corner of a building and drew up short. There on a landing pad was a corvette, surrounded by about 60 KzSha in CASPers.
Several rounds passed by in front of him as he braked, then he dove back behind the cover of the building. The rest of the CASPers arrived.
“What have we got?” Torrio asked.
“There’s about three platoons of KzSha in CASPers between us and the ship,” Taylor said. “There’s about 50 yards of killing ground between us and them.”
“I’ll take a group a block south and we’ll hit ‘em with a two-pronged assault,” Torrio said.
Taylor nodded. “House, take a squad north a block, and we’ll turn this into a three-pronged assault. Set your timers. We’ll go in one minute. Mark.”
Torrio and House’s groups departed.
“I’ve got an idea,” Jack said after a few seconds. “We’ve got plenty of time to set it up, too.”
* * *
“Go, go, go!” Taylor transmitted as time ran out. He didn’t know if comms were still being jammed, but it didn’t matter. He toggled his jumpjets and blasted off from the roof of the building, with Jack and three others in trail. From the roof of the building next to them, five other Swamp Eagles lifted off.
With the other two squads racing toward the KzSha at ground level, they didn’t see the aerial troopers at first, and Taylor covered over half the distance before the first shot ripped past him. He returned fire as more and more of the KzSha began firing in his direction.
Leaving the troops on the ground unhindered to take the KzSha under fire. Several dropped as the Humans’ MACs ripped through the aliens’ formation.
Then Taylor was landing. He picked a KzSha who raised its MAC toward him and crashed down on top of the mech. Blue blood ran from the cracks in the mech as he flattened it to the ceramacrete. A KzSha attacked from bot
h sides, and he had to toggle his jumpjets to escape as four blades swept through where he’d just been.
Hand-to-hand with four-armed aliens sucks, he decided.
Jack crashed down on the KzSha to his right, and Taylor raised his MAC and blasted a round through the alien on the left. Motion on the left caught his eye. His blade snapped out from his left arm as he spun and blocked a KzSha blade that would have impaled him. He swept it up and away, but then the alien’s other blade swept in.
He blocked it with his right arm, and the blade sliced into the MAC mounted there. As he jerked it up and away, the KzSha came along with it, pulled closer to him. Before the alien could regain his balance, Taylor stabbed it through the thorax, then threw his right arm to the side violently. The blade in his MAC broke off as the KzSha was slung to the side.
The MAC registered as inop on his display—and there was no telling what would happen if he tried to fire it with the alien’s blade jammed in it—so he toggled his jumpjets and slammed into the closest KzSha, using his momentum to knock the alien mech over. He jumped up as the alien swung a blade at his leg and landed on the alien’s head. The alien spasmed, then went still.
Taylor looked around; there were no additional targets close by, except for one that had been behind the mech line, halfway to the ship. This one wasn’t in a CASPer, and it was slightly larger than the rest, with blue-black wings. Even if Taylor hadn’t recognized her, the fact that she still carried Stan’s fedora as a trophy would have instantly given her away.
“You are so mine.” Taylor started toward her, but a CASPer arm blocked his way.
“No she’s not,” Jack said. “This one’s mine.”
The cowboy advanced on the queen, who threw the fedora aside like a piece of trash.
“I don’t need your metal contraptions to fight you,” the wasp said. “I can kill you just like this.”
The Street Survivors (The Guild Wars Book 12) Page 19