A Fistful of Credits: Stories from the Four Horsemen Universe (The Revelations Cycle Book 5)

by Chris Kennedy

  He was pointing at a spot on the Tri-V.

  “This we will call the Borana Trench,” he continued. “Named thusly because Captain Borana has decided we will approach through the trench to hit the outpost. The trench should keep us hidden long enough to get through any defenses they have.”

  “Trevos, your squad will be on point.”

  Lieutenant Trevos, my squad leader nodded, “Yes, sir.”

  “Everyone will form up on Lieutenant Trevos and his squad.”

  Our squad numbered 14. Lieutenant Trevos, Sergeant Goros and three fire teams of four. Each fire team was led by a corporal and the three others were privates. There were nods along the lines as my squad mates acknowledged our orders.

  “Now we suit up and prepare. Less than two hours until separation. Then we get to go for a hell of a ride. You’ve never lived until you’ve ridden a dropship down.”

  Commander Jessop was grinning widely, “Don’t worry boys and girls! The wings hardly ever fall off these birds!”

  My stomach felt jittery again.

  “That’s not true, is it, Corporal?” Bailey asked. “The wings won’t fall off the dropship, will they?”

  Trevos grinned and cinched the straps across his chest. “Hardly ever, Private.”

  She gulped and cinched her straps, as well.

  The dropship was eerily quiet over those few hours. Except for the snoring of Sergeant Goros.

  “How does he sleep like that?” Bailey asked. “I would give half my pay to sleep like that. I didn’t get to sleep much at all last night.”

  “A few drops and you’ll sleep like a baby, Private,” Trevos answered. “The sergeant’s been with the Legion close to ten years, now. This is just another day.”

  Trevos cocked his head to the side as he heard a message through his comms, “Separation in…Three…Two…Now!”

  The hull shuddered as the dropship separated from the cruiser.

  “Here we go kiddies!”

  Sergeant Goros opened his eyes and looked around the bay to see if everyone was settled. He grinned at me as his eyes crossed mine. Then the dropship hit the atmosphere.

  It’s hard to describe the ride in a dropship. The whole ship shakes, and you can hear the metal groan. It feels like the whole thing could disintegrate around you.

  “We have a winner!” Corporal DeLacroix yelled as Private Hearney threw up. “Hearney buys the drinks at Carvel’s!”

  We had been warned. You puke in the dropship, you buy a round for the squad. You get puke on a mate, you owe him a bottle. Hearney would be buying bottles for a week.

  My hands gripped my weapon with white knuckles, and I swallowed to keep my stomach from the same sort of reaction. I looked at the sergeant again, and he was chewing on a ration bar. How could this become so normal you could have a snack? I was terrified.

  Then the drop jets ignited, and it felt like a horse had just settled his hindquarters on my chest. The ship slammed to the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

  “Unhook! Out you go!”

  My straps fell to my sides, and I lowered the visor on my helmet. Gripping my weapon tightly, I followed Sullivan, my fire team leader, out of the ship, and I stepped onto my first alien planet.

  The trench was just ahead, and we moved forward.

  “Something’s wrong,” Goros said.

  Then everything went completely off the rails.

  Laser fire erupted from ahead of us.

  “…under fire!”

  The dropship opened up with her guns. Moments later there was a massive explosion behind us, and I glanced back to see the fireball that had been our ship.

  A laser ripped across our position and Lieutenant Trevos went down. Some of the enemy used flechette weapons. I tasted copper as the pink mist that had been Private Bailey sprayed across me.

  The trench ahead of us erupted with forms. That mind numbing fear settled over me again, but this time I didn’t black out. It was like something else was in control, and I was only a passenger. I could see what I was doing, but as if it were someone else. I ran.

  I ran straight into the charging enemy, my weapon firing, screaming at the top of my lungs. I ran into that mob of aliens. They had superior weapons, but they couldn’t use them because I was in their midst. The laser is a magnificent weapon at a distance, but up close you are just as likely to hit your own.

  I didn’t even know what race these mercs were. They were about five and a half feet tall with rodent-like features. Bipedal, they held the lasers in hands that appeared to have two large fingers and an opposable digit of the same length. They wore a shiny sort of combat armor that seemed to be designed as a defense from lasers. It wasn’t as good at blocking bullets.

  My weapon ran out of ammo so it became a very expensive club. It was designed for hitting, with a reinforced butt and a bayonet attachment. Searing pain lanced through my left leg, as one of the Rats shot at me with his laser. It grazed the back of my leg and burned one of his fellow troopers. Then my bayonet slammed into his chest.

  Out of that mob strode a figure that was at least seven feet tall and had dog-like features. He snatched the weapon right out of my hands and grabbed my harness. It lifted into the air like a toy; I was pulled from the mob. His fetid breath filled my nostrils as he pulled me close to rip into me with his fangs, but I slammed my combat knife to the hilt in the side of his neck, and thick blood spewed from his throat into my face.

  There was a loud shriek from the Rats around me as the giant toppled. They charged in, trying to get me, as I landed on my back with the giant on top of me. The huge form was the only protection I had. I jerked the knife from its neck, and slashed at anything that got near me.

  Then everything seemed to go silent. The Rats stopped trying to get to me. My helmet was gone, and I felt blood running down my face, though I wasn’t sure if it was mine or the Dog’s. I felt a tug at the big form on top of me, and it slowly flipped over sideways. I lashed out with my knife, but my wrist was caught in a solid grip.

  “It’s over, Private,” Sergeant Goros said.

  I sat up, my whole body shaking with adrenaline. The trench was littered with the bodies of Rats and Humans. There were a couple of Dogs in there, as well.

  “Someone leaked our mission,” Goros said into his comms, “but the job is done.” Goros dragged me to my feet, “There’s a medivac incoming, Private. Be on it.”

  He turned to the remaining Legionnaires, “Round up the prisoners! We have incoming forces to take care of the cleanup.”

  I joined the rest of the wounded awaiting the Medivac.

  “That was some legendary shit, man.”

  I turned to find another private behind me.

  “Kalvin Turner,” he said with an outstretched hand. The other arm was wrapped in a field bandage. “Friends call me Kal.”

  Chapter 3

  “Who does that kid remind you of?” Kal whispered.

  I chuckled. “Looks a lot like Jonesy.”

  “Yep,” he returned. “Has that same farm boy look.”

  “Was a sad day when we lost him.”

  “Hardly ever had a drop when we didn’t lose someone,” Kal muttered. “Now we’re losing the Legend because his contract is running out.”

  “Seriously? Quit with that ‘Legend’ shit.”

  “I can’t,” he grinned. “You earned the name, fair and square, with that mad charge into the Peterii Mercs.”

  The Peterii were the “Rats” on the outpost world where we landed with the 230 men and women in Obsidian Company. They were a race that due to their overpopulation were about as cheap as a merc company could hire. Life is cheap on a world where they used to kill an allotted amount per year to control the population. A lot of rogue mercs hired them as cannon fodder. The commanders had been several Zuul. We landed with 230, we left that world with 80.

  “Whatever,” I muttered.

  “Come on, Marty,” he continued. “It wasn’t just that one. Who was it that got both actio
n and injury bonuses on that training op?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “It was a little place in the Crapti Region. Te’Warri, if I remember correctly. I’m sure you remember it.”

  He was grinning from ear to ear as I was shaking my head.

  Te’Warri was a company-sized mission working with the new police force in the capital city. We were part of a training cadre that would help get the Torvasi Enforcers up to the standards of an official police force. The Torvasi were one of the three major races that inhabited the world. They were humanoids averaging about five and a half feet in height, with a dense bone structure and a wide stance. The average Torvasi was at least four feet wide at the shoulders. They were squat and powerful, but they had little experience with the whole idea of squad movements. They were brawlers who tended to think in singular paths.

  The second race was the Sirra’Kan, which looked like six-foot-tall bipedal cats. While they had many cat-like features—soft thin fur covering their bodies, prehensile tails and pointed ears—they were surprisingly similar to Humans. They were the “Royalty” on Te’Warri, which had been established by a Sirra’Kan mining company. They brought in the Torvasi as a police force and the Zeewie, a small race with rodent-like features, as the mining workforce.

  The mines produced well and the capital city of Sinn’Ra created wealth for the company. The city also attracted other races who filled the city as entertainers, barkeeps, and any other thing you could think of that would help a thriving workforce part with their credits.

  Thus we were hired to train the Enforcers to work more closely as units. These training opportunities usually lasted six months to a year, depending on the contract. Our initial contract was for six months.

  The training cadre didn’t fill out the company-sized force required by the contract, so quite a few of us were sent along to work directly with the patrols on the streets. My squad drew that straw. Lieutenant Sammon and Sergeant Goros were our squad leaders. I was a Corporal by then and headed Fire Team Delta, Third Squad, Obsidian Company.

  “Damn you, Marty,” Kal mumbled.

  “What was that, Private?” I returned.

  “Nothin’ Boss.”

  “I can’t help it if you drank too much last night,” I said with a chuckle.

  “You hoomans can’t take the Looda,” Orto laughed.

  Orto, Solarsi, and Trebo were our Torvasi unit. We were working with them as they patrolled their assigned blocks.

  “Hoomans need to leave the heavy drink to us,” said Solarsi, joining in the laughter. “Not fault of Martee for the change in schedule.”

  “I don’t care whose fault it is.” Kal groaned. “He’s the one who woke me up so he’s the one gettin’ blamed.”

  “I’ll try to live with the guilt.” I laughed.

  “I still can’t figure why we have to carry these things,” Rillen said. She held up the stun baton.

  “Cause that’s what we’re allowed to carry,” Portes answered. “Didn’t you listen to the briefing back when this started? You’ve been bitchin’ about the damn things for a month.”

  “If they let you carry a real weapon, you’d probably shoot your foot off,” Kal added.

  “Screw you, Kal,” she answered. “It was just once, and I didn’t hit anyone, much less my foot.”

  Kal turned to the Torvasi, “You really don’t want to give that one a gun. There’s no telling what she’d hit with it.”

  Zaapppp!

  Kal yelled.

  “Keep it up, and I’ll turn the juice up on this thing!”

  Kal limped forward with his hand rubbing his left buttock.

  “Damn vicious chicks,” he muttered.

  “What was that?” the stun baton whined as the charge was turned up.

  “Nothin’.”

  “I thought so.”

  Glancing back, I saw the three Torvasi grinning.

  Smiling, I turned back to look ahead of us, down the street where three black Sirra’Kan transports wheeled toward us. My peripheral vision caught movement on a fourth level balcony as someone leaned against the railing.

  “Incoming!” I screamed and dove for the cover of a parked transport. My team was quick to find cover, but the Torvasi reacted more slowly.

  Solarsi was still in the open when the hand-held rocket slammed into the side of the lead Sirra’Kan transport. The explosion shook the street and a piece of the transport ripped her nearly in two.

  “Frak me,” Kal muttered, eyeing the stun baton in his hand.

  I stared at the mess that had been our friend and felt the fear clawing its way out again. This time there was another emotion accompanying it. The rage was as potent as the fear, and I slipped into that state where I was watching my body do its thing.

  “Orto, Trebo,” I barked. “Call in backup. Delta, break in four directions and get across the street. We need to get inside that building.”

  “Sir!”

  “On my mark! I’ll lead to draw fire. Three…Two…Mark!”

  I launched myself from the cover of the transport just as the third Sirra’Kan transport went up in a fireball. I heard the bullets whine as they passed through the space I had just been occupying. It took seconds to get across the street.

  “Tell me again why we’re carrying these things,” Rillen said as she joined me under the cover of the door stoop.

  “Character building,” Kal answered as he slipped into the stoop.

  “Well, my character is just fine,” she said. “Give me a rifle!”

  “You’d just shoot yourself,” Portes said as he entered the stoop.

  “Why, you…”

  “He’s got a point,” I said. I grinned and pushed the door open.

  Kal dove through the door and rolled left coming up with his baton.

  “Clear!”

  We charged into the foyer of the apartments. The stairs were directly in front of us so I sprinted up the first flight. We didn’t have guns so we had to get close to them as quickly as possible. There was no resistance until the platform leading to the fourth floor. I threw the baton at a startled Blevin, who ducked to the side. He straightened back up to bring his gun to bear, only to be slammed to the ground as I hit him at full speed.

  My foot crunched down on his throat with finality, then I retrieved my baton and charged through the door. I would love to have grabbed the Blevin’s gun but, after seeing men lose hands to booby-trapped weapons, I chose not to risk it. The hallway was clear. My team joined me.

  “This one?” I asked, indicating a door.

  “Hell if I know,” Kal answered.

  “Shit,” I muttered trying to remember what the building looked like from the outside.

  “Hell with it,” I grumbled and kicked in the door. There were two Zeewie huddled in the corner so I charged across the floor to the balcony, only to find it empty.

  “Damnit, man!” Kal yelled. The balcony to our left held a tripod-mounted machine gun and another Blevin.

  The gun began to swing toward us. I charged the edge of the balcony and hit the rail with my right foot, then I was sailing across the ten-foot gap between the balconies. Landing just as the first burst ripped past me, I rolled forward to slam into the Blevin and the gun.

  He blocked my first punch, but the baton slammed into his chin with a loud zap. As he tumbled backwards, I grabbed his shirt front and threw him off the balcony. Bullets whizzed past my head as I charged forward to launch myself across the gap to the next balcony.

  “Son of a bitch!” I heard from behind me as Kal reached the balcony I had just vacated.

  As I slammed into the Blevin on the next balcony, he dropped his weapon. Tumbling back, he drew an ugly dagger that looked a lot like a Kukri knife used by the old Gurkhas. I hoped he wasn’t as deadly with the damn thing as the Gurkhas had been.

  He wasn’t. The knife fell to the floor as I slammed him against the masonry then spun and threw him over the edge. The scream was sho
rt-lived and ended with a crash as the Blevin slammed into a parked transport.

  There was one more manned balcony, so I hit the rail and jumped again.

  “Shit,” I said in mid-air as I saw what waited on the other balcony.

  A frakkin’ Oogar. What the hell was an Oogar doing here?

  I was already regretting my actions, before the eight-foot-tall purple behemoth rose up on its hind feet, its clawed arms outstretched. Still, I was 200 pounds of muscle and bone with another 50 pounds of combat armor. I hit his chest, barely missing the clawed hands as they struck at me.

  His immense roar was cut short with a thud and a gasp as my weight slammed into his chest, and my baton impacted his throat with a strong zap. He jerked a little as he staggered from the impact, but his hand slammed into my back. I felt his grip on my armor and lost my baton as he jerked me backwards.

  His breath was horrible as he roared in my face. Then three batons hit him at the base of the skull. He staggered, and I dropped to the floor. I pushed myself up, hit him in the chest with my shoulder, and the Oogar toppled over the rail and plummeted to the ground. Glancing over the edge, I winced. One of the pickets from the iron fence below protruded from the top of his skull.

  “What took you so long?” I asked.

  “What?” Kal answered.

  “You’re supposed to follow my lead.”

  “Only safe way to follow your lead is from a distance, Boss.”

  “Hmph.”

  I staggered a little as I stepped into the apartment. “Clear it.”

  We spread out and entered different rooms. The bedroom I entered had an occupant. A female Sirra’Kan lay bound to the bed. The ropes were tight, and the girl couldn’t move anything but her tail which was twitching rapidly. There was fear in her gaze.

  “You’re okay now,” I said.

  “There…is…Oogar,” she said in halting English.

  “Not anymore,” I said with a grin.

  I worked loose the knots. As soon as her arms were free, she grabbed me and pulled me to her chest in a crushing hug.

  “Tank you so much, Hooman.” She felt a great deal like a Human woman as her body was against mine. Her tongue, raspy like a cat’s, trailed from my neck to my cheek.