Angela dropped to the ground, picked up one of the rifles, and pulled the trigger without aiming. She had never fired a gun in her life. Rounds flew everywhere as she sprayed the Chosen soldiers. One man fell right away, the other was killed by Cole. The only survivor was the human traitor who stood there with his mouth agape.
Cole brought his weapon around and fired off one shot. The collaborator fell back onto the ground. Cole bent down, picked up the other rifle, and tossed his pistol at Wendy. He looked into the faces of the two women and saw fear. He was scared too but would never admit it. After checking that the Kurgan rifle’s safety was off, he said, “Follow me.”
They began to jog the last couple of hundred meters to the Chosen duty station. A soldier with his hand on his aching head stepped out into the tunnel to see what all the ruckus was about. His curiosity cost him his life.
Cole leaped over the dead body and kicked in the door to the quarters. He brought his rifle to his shoulder, and with merciless intent, he shot down everyone he could see. He was so focused that he never heard Wendy and Angela join him. For the drunken Chosen, staggering about the room, it was as if the Kurgan version of the Grim Reaper had appeared to take their souls.
In less than ten seconds, the deed was done. The guards’ bodies lay sprawled about the room. Rivers of blood flowed along the ground. Cole lowered his rifle and saw Wendy still looking through her weapon’s sights. He put a hand on her rifle and gently pushed it down toward the ground. “It’s okay. It’s over. Now, Wendy, I need you to guard the door while Angela and I look for ammo and any more explosives.”
Wendy nodded and stepped back to cover the entrance.
A few minutes later, they all stood in the tunnel with their rifles in their hands and their pockets full of grenades.
Cole said, “Okay, we need to split up and disable the rest of the elevators. Angela and Wendy, you go to the left and I’ll go to the right. We’ll meet up back here when the job is done. Also, look for anything that could be used to block the tunnel at both ends so the Kurgs can’t get to the prisoners before the Marines get here.” With that, they parted and rushed off to find the nearest elevators. Cole wasn’t bothered by what he had just done. It was his job. He, however, doubted that either woman would ever forget the sight of the Chosen dead until the day they died.
Chapter 34
Sheridan felt the train begin to decelerate. He took a fleeting look into Tarina’s eyes before leaving her with the other prisoners. He joined Sergeant Lee in the engineering compartment.
“How long until we come to a complete stop?” Sheridan asked the engineer.
“Less than a minute,” replied the man without taking his eyes off the computer screen in front of him. A digitized speedometer raced down toward zero.
“The very second this train stops, I want you to input the code for the return trip. I’ll be watching you, so don’t try anything foolish.”
“Just keep your sergeant away from me and I’ll do whatever you say.”
Lee chuckled when he heard the translation.
The engineer began to count down. “Ten-nine-eight.”
Sheridan leaned forward to see out of the compartment’s front windows. At first he couldn’t see a thing in the dark, then ever so slowly he began to see a long line of torches spread out in front of the track.
When the engineer said zero, the train came to a smooth halt. Lee jammed the barrel of his rifle against the man’s temple to encourage him to type faster.
“My God,” said Sheridan when he realized that he was looking at hundreds of Kurgans formed up in three ranks across the tracks. He saw an officer with his sword in his hand move in front of the formation and point at the train. A loud growl erupted from the throats of the Kurgan soldiers as they drew their swords and held them above their heads. The razor sharp blades gleamed in the light of a hundred torches. As one, they began to chant. Sheridan’s mouth turned dry when he recognized that they were repeating the words ‘no prisoners’ over and over.
“Get us the hell out of here, now!” yelled Sheridan at the engineer.
“I’m going as fast as I can. I’ve typed in the command, but I’m getting no response from the station back at the mine.”
“Call them and tell them to input the return code from their end.”
The engineer picked up a phone from the console and tried to reach the duty engineer back in the prison. He shook his head and looked up at Sheridan. “There’s no signal. It’s as if the prison has disappeared.”
The sound of the chanting from outside grew louder.
Sheridan ground his teeth. There could only be one explanation: the task force had arrived and destroyed all of the comms towers around the mine. There would be no return signal coming for their train. He was glad that they had arrived, but their timing could have been better.
“What’s going on, sir?” asked Lee.
“We’re going to be attacked by a battalion of Kurgans in the next few seconds if we don’t get this piece of crap moving again.”
Lee dropped his rifle, drew a knife from behind his back and jammed it against the engineer’s throat. “Do something or I’ll slit your throat.”
The terrified man did not need Sheridan to translate for him. The message was clear enough. He turned in his seat and pointed to a panel on the wall. “Please don’t kill me. The manual override is in there.”
Sheridan opened the box, saw a switch and flipped it down. For a second the lights inside the compartment went off and then came back on again. The engineer’s fingers hurried to type in the necessary commands to get the train moving.
Outside the chanting stopped. With a loud, lusty cry, the Kurgans surged toward the train.
With a slight shudder, the locomotive’s engine kicked in. Far too slowly for Sheridan’s liking, the train began to pull back from the onrushing mass of soldiers. He flipped his rifle around and smashed open the glass windows at the front of the compartment with the butt of his weapon. The Kurgans were barely ten meters away when Sheridan brought his weapon to his shoulder, flipped the selector to automatic, and opened fire. Several soldiers fell to the rocky ground while others, although hit, kept on coming.
“Give me your pistol,” said Sheridan to Lee.
“What’s up?” Lee asked as he handed over the gun.
“The train isn’t moving fast enough. We’re going to be boarded.”
“I can fight.”
“No. I need you to encourage our friend to get this thing out of here before we all die.” Sheridan drew his own pistol and moved to the back of the engine compartment. There were doors on either side of the carriage that led to the outside. He brought up both pistols and waited. Within seconds, the door to his right was yanked open and a Kurgan jumped inside. Sheridan turned at the waist and fired off both weapons into the stunned soldier’s face at point-blank range. His body fell backward knocking another Kurgan off the train. Sheridan dashed over and closed the door just as the one behind him opened. He spun about and opened fire. His first couple of shots went off to the right of the Kurgan, but the next two hit the soldier in the neck. Blood sprayed the wall of the compartment as the dying Kurgan dropped to his knees before falling face-first to the floor.
The train began to pick up speed. Sheridan saw a Kurgan reach for the outside railing by the open door but was too slow. His gloved hand couldn’t grab hold in time before the train was moving too fast for the armored warrior to catch it.
Sheridan warily edged to the door and pulled it closed. Out of a small window, he could see dozens of Kurgans give up the chase and yell impotently at the escaping locomotive. He bent over and paused to catch his breath when he heard gunfire in the next carriage.
Tarina watched in horror as one of her fellow prisoners was cut down by a Kurgan soldier. Behind the Kurgan, another one appeared. People screamed and pushed at one another to get back from the murderous-looking soldiers. Tarina had no idea where the Kurgans had come from, nor did she care. There
was nowhere to run. She could fight or die. She yelled at the top of her lungs as she pushed a man out of the way and brought up her rifle to her shoulder.
The closest Kurgan saw her and hissed loudly. It went to lift up its blood-stained sword when Tarina pulled back on the trigger of her rifle. The first burst struck the Kurgan in its chest. It staggered back but was unharmed as its body armor had stopped the rounds from penetrating. The enraged warrior took a step forward only to be hit in the face by Tarina’s second burst. The Kurgan died before it could take another step. Its body tumbled to the floor of the carriage.
“Look out!” hollered Crewman Jones as the second Kurgan threw its sword at Tarina. She turned to her side and watched the blade strike the wall beside her. The Kurgan fell to its knees and reached for a pistol dropped on the floor. Tarina saw the move and fired her weapon. With a hole blasted through its skull, the Kurgan leaned to one side before collapsing in a bloody heap.
With adrenaline coursing through her veins, Tarina looked over her weapon’s sights and saw that there were no more targets to engage. She lowered her rifle and turned to thank Jones when another Kurgan soldier forced its way into the carriage. It hissed at Tarina and brought up its sword to strike her in the chest when a shot rang out. The Kurgan staggered forward a couple of paces before dropping to the floor, dead.
Sheridan lowered his pistol, walked past the dead Kurgans, and strode to Tarina’s side. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. How about you?”
He let go of her and nodded. “I think this is it. I don’t think anymore Kurgs got onboard. However, just to be safe I think it we should search the train from the front to rear.”
“I’ll come with you, sir,” said Jones.
“Me too,” added Tarina.
Sheridan smiled. “Okay then. Keep behind me and if we see a Kurgan don’t hesitate to shoot it in the face. It’s the only way to bring them down using small arms.” They moved warily to the next carriage and pulled open the door. They were met by a crowd of worried-looking faces, but no Kurgan warriors. It was a good sign as far as Sheridan was concerned.
Colonel Kuhr stood with his jaw clenched tight as the train filled with the prisoners he needed for the bloodletting ritual pulled away. Inside his blood boiled at Lieutenant Colonel Kulk’s failure. He had told him not to waste time and to act quickly and decisively, neither of which he had done. He would have words with Kulk but not until everything had first been set right.
“Sir, I think there may be a problem at the mine,” said Captain Kazar, Kuhr’s adjutant.
“What is wrong?”
“I can’t reach them on any frequency.”
Kuhr looked over at his adjutant. “So the two gunships they dispatched are still coming to intercept the train?”
“As far as I can tell, that is correct, Colonel.”
Kuhr shook his head. Things just kept going from bad to worse.
“Sir, that’s not everything. The GPS and long-range communications signals are also gone. It’s as if the orbiting satellites had just vanished.”
“No, Captain, they haven’t vanished; they were destroyed.”
“Sir, I don’t understand.”
“Captain, there can only be one logical answer, the mine is under attack. The Terrans are here to rescue their people. Get the regiment mounted up in its transports. I’ll take three battalions with me to the mine. Lieutenant Colonel Kulk with his battalion and the one hundred Old Guard inductees will pursue the train and kill every last human inside of it.”
Kazar hesitated. “Sir, without the GPS signal to help guide the pilots, how will we reach the mine?”
“The old-fashioned way. They will fly in loose formations and use their eyes. They have a co-pilot who can read the map for them. No more talk, Captain, get the regiment loaded up.”
“Yes, sir.” Kazar hurried to pass the order.
Kuhr’s despondent mood began to lift. If the humans knew where he was, they would have destroyed his camp by now. He had never seen combat before. With three airmobile battalions at his disposal, he was more than confident that he could defeat whatever force had just landed. A victory here would all but guarantee him ascension to the ranks of the Old Guard. No Kuhr had ever been accepted into the empire’s elite fighting force. He intended to ensure that in a few hours from now, he would be the first.
Chapter 35
Killam stared down at the image on the computer screen and swore. At the furthest reach of the task force’s sensors, a small Kurgan freighter had been detected. When its calls to the mine had gone unanswered, it had to have surmised that something was wrong and jumped away.
“Her last transmission was intercepted and decoded, sir,” explained Roy. “She sent a warning before jumping.”
Admiral Sheridan sat down in his chair and looked over at the tactical display. Colonel White’s force had just landed and was already in contact with the enemy. He had confidence that the Marines could destroy whatever opposition they came across. His greatest concern had always been the amount of time it would take to evacuate the prisoners from the mine.
Killam brought up a star chart on the main screen and studied it for a minute before turning to face the admiral. “Sir, if the Kurgans have any combat vessels in this sector, I believe that it will take them about four hours at maximum speed to get here.”
Admiral Sheridan looked over at the chart. “What makes you say that, Captain?”
“Their nearest habitable star systems are four hours away from Klatt. They will undoubtedly react to this incursion into their space. What they can muster to send against us, I have no idea, sir. But something is coming our way.”
The admiral nodded. “Pass the word to the task force that the enemy knows we are here and they should be prepared to jump back to our side of the disputed zone in four hours’ time.”
Roy brought up a timer set for four hours on the screen and activated it. It began to count down. Time was already slipping through their hands.
“Captain Killam, contact Colonel White and inform him of this new time constraint. Let him know that I won’t abandon him, but the sooner he can accomplish his mission, the better it will be for everyone involved.”
“Aye, sir.”
The sound of small arms’ fire filled the night. The Kurgans had been mercilessly pounded by incoming missile fire and the task force’s fighter-bombers. All of the mine’s outer buildings were on fire.
Colonel White received the information from Killam with considerable sangfroid. If it bothered him, it did not show on his face. He glanced down at his watch and shrugged. He’d always planned to be in and out in just over a couple of hours, regardless of the tactical situation. His small battle staff consisting of his communicator, an aerospace, and fire effects officer kept their distance so they wouldn’t draw any unnecessary enemy fire.
“Sir, Viper Six reports that he has established a blocking position to the west of the mine along a rocky ridge,” said Sergeant Bowen, the colonel’s communications specialist.
White nodded. Viper Six was a mechanized combat team in fast attack vehicles that had skirted the mine and rushed forward to prevent any potential Kurgan counterattack from interfering with the evacuation. Built low to the ground with eight wheels, the team’s vehicles could negotiate even the toughest terrain at speeds of over one hundred kilometers an hour. Armed with anti-tank weapons, machine guns, and mortars, White knew that the combat team could easily hold off a force several times its size. To augment their considerable firepower, three UAVs armed with missiles had been placed under Viper Six’s command.
“Has Guardian Six sent a report?” White asked. Guardian was the name he had given to the reinforced battalion whose mission was to seize the mine and evacuate the prisoners.
Sergeant Bowen nodded. “Sir, they report that they have entered the mine but have not yet found any prisoners. Resistance so far has been light.”
White stood up a
nd cradled his standard issue M5A2 assault rifle in his right arm. A lightweight and sturdy weapon that fired 4.22mm caseless ammunition at a rate of six hundred rounds per minute. Built into the forestock was a grenade launcher capable of reaching out to three hundred meters. White looked over at his staff and said, “Okay, let’s push onto the edge of the mine and see what we can see.”
It did not take long for the signs of battle to become visible. Several Chosen soldiers’ bodies lay facedown on the ground. White and his people paid them no heed. He did, however, stop for a minute at an aid station to check on the men and women who had been brought there for medical care. Most had non-life-threatening wounds, but two dead Marines lay off to the side on the ground. They were covered by blankets so no one could see their faces.
“Who were they?” White asked a corpsman.
“Second Lieutenant Ireland and Private Dioli, sir,” replied the medic.
“I want their remains moved back to the landing ships right away.”
The corpsman nodded and rushed to find a couple of people to carry out the order.
At the mine’s entrance, White caught up with Major Altonen, Guardian Six’s XO. “How goes the fight, Andrew?”
“Casualties have been light so far. By the looks of it, we caught the Kurgs by surprise. Many of the Chosen warriors we encountered on the first floor were drunk.”
“Unbelievable. Drunk, you say?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Where is Guardian Six?”
“He’s just behind the lead company,” replied Altonen, showing White the location of the company on his tactical tablet. “Sir, Guardian Six has just reported that resistance has stiffened on the second level. The Kurgs aren’t backing down. They’re giving as good as they are getting.”
“Can’t have everything our way, now can we? Tell him to keep up the good fight and push on. We must find and rescue those prisoners as soon as possible.”
Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) Page 19