As they approached, she rose and saluted. “Admiral,” she said.
“Lieutenant, I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you brought medicine.”
“Yes, of course.”
Fitz advanced with the two bags he was carrying and passed them to the medics. “There will be more.”
“What are the plans?” she asked.
La Force could not get over the determination in her gaunt face. She was changed; they all were changed.
Smith interceded. “We will have a briefing of all commands in thirty minutes in the mess hall. Sir, would you like to see our growing areas?”
“Growing areas?”
“Yes, where we grow our food.”
“How did you get anything to grow?”
“We hobbled together what we could, made some beds, and put what lights we had on them. The lights are run by our nuclear generator.”
“That’s not what I meant, though I am sure that is a fascinating story in itself. How did you come up with seeds?”
“This way sir, I’ll explain as we walk.”
* * * *
The teams assembled in the cargo bay of the jump ship. Dmitri commanded the strike team that was to plant explosives on the orbiting ship. His men had been spoiling for a fight ever since being briefed on the mission and had walked through it a dozen times. They were ready.
Smith would lead the team to destroy the Reptilian launch tunnel. As soon as Admiral La Force received the all clear, he would direct the evacuation.
It all sounded simple enough. After the orbiting ship was beyond line of sight, Cee would streak in and drop off the strike team in spacesuits right under the belly of the Reptilian spaceship. They would use compressed gas packs to move the short distance to the enemy ship and attach the charges using an adhesive. Then they would back away a safe distance and blow it to pieces, simple enough.
There is a saying in battle, something to the effect that plans are perfect until they meet the enemy. Then the craziest things happen.
Dmitri turned one last time to his men. They were suited up; each man had checked his buddy’s suit, and Dmitri had inspected all of them.
“All right, follow me,” was all he said as he turned to open the airlock.
The first time one opens the airlock to empty space, there is a certain trepidation, no matter how trained the novice is. He had switched off the hot mike so no one could hear him gasp. The others had not done the same, and Dmitri allowed himself a self-satisfied smile.
He switched back to hot mike, “Let’s go.”
The enemy ship was huge as it seemed to float above them. Dmitri could not see, but from the gasping, he took it his men were behind him.
Then he saw Orlov leading his teammate past him to where there was a sharp bend in the ship. They would place a charge there where it appeared the Reptilians had hung the star drive engine. At the very least they would not be able to jump out of the system and alert their command to the operation.
Dmitri yawed left and could see Romenko and his man heading over the craft to where it was thought the bridge would be. He then rotated right and could see Korsicov leading his three men back to the aft end where the nuclear engines were located. He and two others hung out where he could keep an eye on what was thought to be the airlock, just in case they could get into spacesuits more quickly than humans could.
The first team reported in. “Dmitri, the explosive charge is in place. Everything is in readiness.”
“Good, join me.”
What is taking Romenko so long?
“Romenko, status report.”
“It looked much easier on the photographs, but I think we’ve found it.”
“Do not look further; attach the charge and get back here.”
“Yes, we will do so.”
Then over his headband he heard, “Friend Dmitri, do not place the last charges!”
Smith had Dmitri practice communicating with Cee before the mission. He found it strange at first, but like a good soldier, he was getting used to it.
“What do you mean Friend Cee?”
“A second Reptilian battleship has entered the system.”
For a moment, Dmitri’s mind went numb as he fought down the shock. “Does the Admiral know?”
“Yes.”
“Romenko, do not place the charge.”
“We are already applying the adhesive.”
“Stop what you are doing, and get back here at once.”
“But …”
“No buts, do it!”
“Korsacov, only place one of your charges. Bring the other one back here,” ordered Dmitri.
“Understood, we have had some trouble getting through the plumbing, but we have one placed. We just need to manage to get out. What has happened?” asked Korsacov.
“Another enemy ship has entered the system, hurry,” insisted Dmitri. “Cee, inform the Admiral, I am saving two charges. We must attempt to destroy the other ship as well.”
“But how?”
“We will destroy it the same way we are destroying this one,” said Dmitri.
“Yes, I will do so at once.”
“Boss, look; the airlock is opening,” said one of the men with Dmitri.
Dmitri maneuvered around to look. “Open fire on the airlock.”
The Russian did as they had trained; he jetted at the target and opened fire. The attitude stabilization was only partly successful. He rolled backwards head over heels spraying bullets as he went.
“Take your finger off the trigger!” someone screamed.
He did so as he began his second backflip. He made one-half turn before the unit automatically stabilized.
“You okay?” asked Dmitri.
There was no answer as he was busy with the vomit tube.
“Let me try,” said his sergeant.
“You’ll just spin up too,” warned Dmitri.
“No, I see what he did wrong.” He began to jet at the airlock, but held the weapon roughly above his solar plexus and squeezed off a short burst. He bounced around but managed not to go head over heels.
“What did you do?” asked Dmitri.
“I held the rifle lower. Quick come alongside; they are getting out of the airlock.”
They did so and opened fire. The short burst only drove them back a bit before they started moving forward again, and no one tumbled backward. The only problem is that it was almost impossible to tell where the rounds were going.
The Reptilians, four in all, spread out in front of the airlock and opened up with what appeared to be small rockets. Fortunately, they were unguided.
Without warning, Romenko and his partner open up from a different angle catching the Reptilians in crossfire. Suddenly one of the enemy spacesuits spun wildly out of control. The others advanced. A rocket found one of the Russians. He exploded and spun off spilling blood and gasses, which only made him spin faster.
A second Reptilian was hit in the face shield. It exploded into space causing him to flip over backward at terrifying speed. Korsacov came around from behind the engines. He was much farther out and closing fast.
Dmitri’s men must have hit one only slightly for he stopped firing and put his hands over his midsection. It was no use; he began to spin lazily around. He panicked and began to kick and scratch at his face. Soon he floated lifelessly.
The third managed to get back to the airlock. Korsacov got the last one. Dmitri noted that their bullets hadn’t really missed. The bullets, with steel inside the jacket, had punched tiny holes in the spacecraft, and it was beginning to leak atmosphere in many places.
“I have an idea,” said Dmitri. He moved closer to the still open airlock. He fired several short bursts at the airlock. At first, it leaked, then the porthole gave way and the whole hat
ch came loose. Any part of the ship not protected by a bulkhead explosively decompressed. Dmitri just managed to get out of the way of the expanding debris field.
“Get back to the ship,” ordered Dmitri. “Cee, we’re on our way back; get us out of here.”
Moments later, after the men were aboard and the ship scooted away from the doomed battleship, Cee lifted the switch guards and pressed both buttons.
The charges went off one after another. Secondary explosions followed the charge back by the nuclear drive engines. Fire leapt from various parts of the ship and went out as vacuum replaced atmosphere.
“Nice work,” Dmitri said to Cee. Cee just stared transfixed at the sight. “Cee, hey you with me? We need to get after the second ship.”
The other ship had entered real space in such a way as they would have seen the destruction of their sister ship. Cee’s flight crew threw the ship into an arc around the planet so that they would approach right up the enemy’s tailpipes, hopefully undetected.
This time Cee dropped them off just below the engine nozzles. Dmitri and his men were out of the airlock with lightning speed.
“Get the charges placed,” he told Korsakov as he led the rest forward. Next time we do this, I’ll load everybody up with tracers.
After the charges had been placed, Dmitri ordered, “Find you a good spot and try not to shoot each other.”
Everybody reported when he was in position.
“Let them have it!” The Russians peppered the ship, emptying an entire magazine.
“Now the other side.” Dmitri led them around to the other side of the ship and repeated the same thing. The ship was leaking precious atmosphere into space.
He thought that it would be interesting to be on the Reptilian’s bridge as damage reports came in. For no reason, their ship was leaking atmosphere. Soon that would seem a minor problem.
Chapter 35 - Get Them Out
Smith waited with the in-system ship hidden under the rock ledge he had been using. His handpicked unit was ready, and each man knew his task in the mission.
“Captain, you have the go-ahead,” ordered Admiral La Force.
“Yes sir; we’re on our way,” replied Smith.
“Colonel Blackstone, we’ve been given the green light.”
Blackstone grinned like a feral animal, “Hold on.”
The ship shot to the northeast at low altitude until the target lay directly south of their position. Blackstone then turned the craft back south toward the Reptilian position.
From space, they had been able to discern the outline of the compound. Apparently, the Reptilians built them all about the same, so it was easy to figure out where the launching tunnel would be located.
Blackstone was quickly over the wire and set down next to the entrance. “Come on,” Smith shouted as the ramp dropped.
Four men spread out to form a perimeter around the ship. Smith led the rest into the launch tunnel. About 50 meters down the incline he stopped.
“Here, we’ll set it up here,” ordered Smith.
They had practice setting up the forms to hold the explosives. Not a movement was wasted. Two men held the upright pieces in place, and two others climbed each upright. The rest fed him the cross member which would hold the charges.
They heard shots from outside. Soon an alarm sounded down the tunnel, and Smith heard the sounds of running. He was surprised they had gotten that far without detection. Now the fight was on. He wanted to get outside where his men were engaging the enemy, but he had to oversee the deployment of the explosives.
One legionnaire stood on the shoulders of another, and a third tossed explosives up to him. The whole operation took only three minutes. He could hear a flying craft start up its engine.
Smith ran another fifty meters down the incline, took out a grenade and flung it with all his strength. It hit and was rolling farther down when it went off.
“Sir, come on!” shouted his sergeant.
Smith whirled and saw that preparations were complete. He took off up the incline and led his men to the entrance.
“Take up firing positions while I blow this thing,” instructed Smith.
As the men moved out, he stepped around the edge of the opening and walked right into a squad of Reptilians. He fell back and tossed a grenade before getting his rifle into position.
A legionnaire came running back, “I knew one of us should have stayed with you, sir!”
“I’m in no position to argue. Keep them busy till I blow this thing.”
“You got it boss.” The legionnaire rolled over into a shooting position, which afforded some cover and opened up with short bursts.
Denver opened a small pouch on his belt and removed the detonator. He thumbed up the cover and jammed the button down.
The explosion was deafening as a ball of flame shot out the entrance. He could hear the roof caving in as smoke and dust obscured everything near the entrance.
As soon as some of it cleared, Smith entered to check the damage.
“Nobody is using this for a while.”
He ran back outside just in time to see the legionnaire by the entrance fall. He had been hit.
Smith ran over and lobbed his last grenade. He fired into the smoke at figures he could scarcely see. His radio was alive.
“Captain Smith, we’re taking heavy fire,” said Blackstone.
“I need help up here evacuating a wounded man.”
“We need to get out of here Captain.”
“Understood!”
Momentarily, two men ran up and together carried the wounded man toward the ship with Smith bringing up the rear and providing covering fire.
“Here give me a grenade.” He flung another grenade and opened fire. Smith ran up and grabbed two more off the wounded man.
“This should give them something to think about.” He let fly, then turned and ran after the others.
Once near the ship, he could see the Reptilians coming out of holes in the ground like giant two-legged ants, angry fire ants.
They were fearless; they just stood up and ran, firing as they went. His men dropped them as fast as they could pull the trigger. He caught up to the men he had been covering and got off a couple of bursts at a big knot of them.
Soon they were back at the ship.
“Colonel, I’ll have the men on board momentarily,” radioed Smith.
He heard the power unit spin up as the field projector came online. He blew his whistle. That was the signal to get back to the ship.
As they made their way back, another man went down. Smith ran out and began dragging him. Another soldier joined him, and together they dragged the stricken legionnaire up the ramp. The rest laid down a base of fire.
“Get inside!” Smith ordered. Once the last man was on the ramp, he hit the button to raise it.
He shouted over the radio, “Get us out of here.”
Blackstone lifted the ship straight up out of the range of small weapons fire then shot off back to the north. He did not begin to drift down until he was kilometers away from the Reptilian base.
“Sir, let me in here,” said the team’s medic.
Smith had been holding onto the wounded legionnaire.
“Don’t worry sir; I’ll make it.”
“How about the other one?”
The medic answered, “He might lose the leg, but I think the bone is intact. If it is, they might be able to save it.”
Smith went over and knelt beside the other man. He had been given some of the morphine La Force brought and was feeling no pain.
Smith got up and began to secure gear. “Sir, you don’t have to do that; I’ve got it,” offered one of his men.
“Okay, I’ll check in on Colonel Blackstone.”
As Denver left, he looked back over his shoulder, and the men were ma
king the wounded as comfortable as possible while others secured the equipment. He had chosen well.
Arriving at the flight deck, he was shocked at the speed at which they shot through narrow mountain valleys. The world suddenly turned sideways, but he did not feel it in his gut. Smith fought down the nausea caused when his eyes told him one thing and his inner ear another.
He started to speak to Blackstone but thought better of it. Better not disturb his concentration right now.
Blackstone had veered off to the northeast for reasons Smith could not understand. He came aware of the Captain as Smith stumbled forward and took the seat next to him.
“It appears that they had a couple of troop transports outside before you blew the place up. I’m making us real hard to follow. Did we take casualties?”
“Yes, two wounded.” Then he remembered to call in his report.
“Admiral, the target is destroyed,” Smith said into his radio.
The radio came alive. “Good work Smith. How about your men?” inquired La Force.
“I’ve got two wounded. We’ll need medical as soon as we arrive. The Colonel advises me that two enemy troop transports were outside when we struck. They might become a problem.”
“Understood, we will begin the evacuation at once.”
That sounded good; Smith had not imagined how good it would sound. Though he told no one, he had about given up hope.
“Actually, I used the term ‘couple’ a bit too loosely. There might be more,” confessed Blackstone.
Smith thought feverishly before answering. “We need to drop off the wounded, then make sure no one gets near enough to gum up the evacuation.”
“How you going to do that?” asked Blackstone as he slipped over a low spot in a mountain ridge. He then settled low over the plain and headed back toward the hideout.
“I wonder if Cee could help.” He dug into an inside pocket until he found his headband.
“Cee, can you hear me?”
“Yes friend Denver; have you been successful?”
“Yes, but there is a potential problem.”
“What manner of problem do you mean?”
Hell Fighters From Earth Book 2 Page 34