There was a roar from the far side of the plateau, and three small mushrooms raced into the sky. Evidently Dixon had been busy throwing supporting fire at the Legionnaires in the compound. Reaching into the shuttle's weapons locker, Orlova pulled out a spare plasma rifle and strapped the power pack onto her belt; she looked like a post-technological barbarian wearing the equipment over the ragged remains of her improvised camouflage jacket.
"Damn it!" Corporal Forrest yelled. "Ensign! We've got incoming! Looks like some sort of APC!"
"Get your sorry butts into position now!" Kozu shouted at the men, who frantically began to dive for whatever cover they could find as the jagged chorus of machine gun fire started again. A few green bolts started to race towards the horizon, wild shots by men hoping to buy themselves time to get to safety. Ahead, a pair of APCs rumbled up, both of them with familiar lines – UN combat transport vehicles, obsolete almost by the start of the last war.
The Legionnaires rolled up to the foot of the runway, periodic blasts of fire from the two deployed squads, while the third continued to hurriedly unload using the shuttle itself as expensive cover. Zabek looked nervously around, then reached for a plasma rifle of her own from the weapons locker, gingerly testing the weight in her hands. Machine-gun fire was still spilling around; but Riley had managed to creep a little closer to the transports than the others.
"Grenade!" the trooper yelled, hurling herself at the dirt as the small sphere sailed towards the first transport. It hit the side, bounced, but before the coming curse to escape Esposito's lips it exploded, a focused charge that tore through the hull like a knife through butter, leaving death and devastation where the vehicle had been a second before. A couple of shapes staggered out of the ruins, rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames on their uniform; one of them was charred to a crisp, the other seemed to have escaped largely unscathed, but lay on the ground panting, staring up at the sky.
The occupants of the second vehicle weren't going to wait to suffer the same fate, and hurriedly deployed, the machine gun on the roof providing covering fire as they charged towards Second Squad; by now they had established a killing field at the edge of the runway, and the bravery of the charge ended with a dozen twisted bodies lying in the sand, some groaning and moaning from the tearing wounds bullets had ripped through them, others lying still. Orlova looked across at Zabek; her gun tip was hot. She'd fired during the last action.
"Zabek? You with us?" Orlova said at the dazed midshipman.
"Yeah," she said with amazement, then with more certainty, "Ready to go, Sub-Lieutenant."
The squad moved forward cautiously, medics racing ahead to quickly evaluate the wounded, medikits out. Esposito pulled a pair of binoculars out of a picket, holding them up to her eyes, shaking her head. She passed them over to Orlova; there were three plumes of smoke rising from the compound ahead where guard towers had been standing a few minutes ago, but there were a lot of troops milling about, and she could clearly make out several machine gun nests strategically positioned on the perimeter. A tall flagpole stood on the highest building, a white and gold flag fluttering proudly in the breeze.
With a loud roar, the fighters skidded down onto the runway, improvised landing gear barely holding as the four machines slowed to a stop, their engines still a dull red. The pilots slid out of their ships, pistols in hand, and raced over to Esposito at Shuttle One, smiles all over their faces.
"We hit 'em hard, Ensign," Dixon said.
"Time for us to finish the job, then. Sergeant?"
Kozu jogged over to the Ensign, "Ma'am?"
"Let's get First and Second on the move. Third to follow in reserve, just as planned."
Zabek looked out at the carnage, then up at Esposito, "I'd like to go with you."
Frowning, Orlova replied, "You sure you want to see more of this?"
"I need to be where I am needed."
"Hell, I can use the extra gun. Go with Second Squad, Midshipman. Orlova, you're with me and First."
"Right."
"Let's move out!" Esposito yelled, hefting her gun as she ran towards the compound. Orlova raced after her, the two squads behind in jagged lines, dodging back and forth to defend themselves, staying in loose clumps. After a minute's steady jogging, the unit fanned into two formations, splitting in half down the middle to advance on the compound from different directions. A thin whistle filled the air, and there was an explosion behind them, smoke rising up; the troopers didn't pause. The safest place to be when artillery was firing was in the middle of the enemy. As they drew close, machine guns began to rattle, and there was a loud cry from the head of her formation as Flanagan spilled out onto the ground, swearing, grabbing her leg as she rolled into cover.
"Take them out!" Kozu yelled, and a barrage of green balls flew over the landscape towards the enemy, saturating them with fire. Soldiers began to run behind cover, leaving the machine-guns to be destroyed by well aimed plasma fire, just twisted metal.
"Cease!" Esposito said, turning to Orlova with a grin, "This is the easy bit. It's going to get a lot tougher when we get to the buildings."
"Can't wait," Orlova replied.
Another burst of machine gun fire rattled across the desert, this time towards the other squad – there was no intent to shoot, they were just trying to keep them pinned down, but some vicious cursing saw Forrest sprawling on the ground, blood pouring from his shoulder as the squad's medic, Ballantine, raced forward to treat him. Esposito looked up and around for a second, then threw a savage grin at Orlova before bracing herself to run.
"Charge!" she cried, jumping out of cover and spilling shots at the enemy as her men followed her. Orlova was hot on her heels, firing a couple of shots to keep the enemy pinned down; out of the corner of her eye she could see Zabek leading Second Squad, shouting at the troopers to advance.
The machine gun fired another burst until a lucky shot found the building it was coming from, blowing a hole in the wall with a pair of bodies falling out of it. Small-arms fire was coming at them now, and Orlova really began to wish she was wearing combat armor; the bullets would bounce off the heavy plating, but she would be less fortunate. Having said that, it made her a lot more agile, and she was beginning to pull ahead, despite still dodging from side to side. Another pair of troopers fell on the last sprint towards the perimeter trench, one groaning in pain – one not.
Rolling into the trench, Orlova fired a shot on instinct before realizing that it had been abandoned near the start of the battle when the plasma started raining down; there were scorch marks everywhere. She knelt into the welcome cover as the rest of the troopers leaped into the trench, hugging the ground carefully as bullets continued to fly overhead. Kozu was up at the far end, directing fire on the far corner; Orlova crawled over to Esposito.
"What next?"
She looked at her watch, "We've got about twenty minutes to knock out that antenna. Third Squad came down with enough explosives to do the job; I'm holding them in reserve until we've got a path secured for them."
"So we've got to make that path, and quickly. What happens in twenty minutes?"
"The defense satellites turn back on again and blast Alamo to atoms." She shook her head, "It was Harper that managed to crack the firewalls. The kid did good after all."
Orlova smiled, "Knew it." She looked over at the perimeter; six buildings, the nearest two increasingly in a state of disrepair from the sustained fire, surrounding the antenna complex. There were a few trucks parked around at the back, currently abandoned, near a trail that led deeper into the desert – the escape route for the garrison. Esposito gestured over to Zabek and Lance-Corporal Reed at Second Squad, pointing at the buildings on the left.
"Let's go!" Esposito yelled, sprinting from the trench towards the nearest building. Half the squad followed her, the others remaining in the trench to give fire support, but a series of well placed shots took down two of Esposito's troopers. Swearing, Orlova raced into the fire, swerving from left to ri
ght as bullets ranged down on all sides, not stopping for anything other than getting to the crumbling wall ahead of her. On the left, Reed stormed forward with his men, more shots spilling out; his assault managed to reach the nearest building, but he was obviously stuck, shots ringing around all about him.
"We're pinned down!" Esposito said.
"Third Squad?" Orlova said.
"I wanted to get further before we brought them in."
Rubble crashed down beside them, smoke beginning to billow out of the building they were hanging behind, "There won't be anything left of the first two squads at this rate!"
Zabek ran out of the trench, a fire team behind her, trying to cross to the far side of the compound to set up a crossfire; it was a good idea, but ran into the same problems as before. The Legionnaires had managed to get into defensible fire positions scattered around the compound, and their plasma weapons were beginning to become a problem; their enemy had a faster fire rate. Shaking her head as her platoon began to falter, Esposito reluctantly pulled her communicator out of her pocket."
"Corporal Nishiyama? Get Third Squad in right now!"
"Already on the way, Ensign," the corporal's cold voice replied; Orlova saw a cloud of dust heading down from the landing field and grinned, punching Esposito on the shoulder; the fire began to concentrate on the approaching vehicle.
"He and his boys must have bundled everything onto the APC!" she yelled at the Ensign.
The captured APC rolled on, pushing towards the trenches. The fire around the two of them began to ebb as the enemy concentrated on trying to find a weak spot. The rattle of machine-gun fire started again, this time on their side; a trooper was sitting in the domed turret, waving his left hand as he fired burst after burst at the enemy. Esposito tapped Orlova on the shoulder and they sprinted towards their goal, the antenna complex, sending bursts of plasma left and right as legionnaires ducked out in both directions.
A loud explosion send them both diving back into cover again, rolling behind a pile of smoldering debris; the APC had been hit by something heavy, and the squad was milling about behind it, trying to salvage the equipment while bullets rained down from all sides around them. On the far left, Zabek was racing forward with a fire team, dodging from cover to cover, continuing to fire at the enemy.
Esposito looked over at Third Squad, then over to Orlova, "Link up with Zabek, launch a diversionary attack. Keep them pinned down until I can bring up Third Squad."
"Got it." Firing another burst, Orlova dodged around, bullets tearing holes in the ground around her as she raced towards the remains of Second Squad. Reed popped up out of cover, firing two quick bursts over her head that came so close she could feel the heat on her neck, and she gladly dived into position behind Zabek, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She looked up at Zabek and Reed.
"We're going to attack." She pointed at a tallest building, just across the compound. "No cover fire, just a charge. We're to provide a diversion for the main attack by Third Squad and buy them time to get themselves organized."
"Right," Reed said, pulling a pair of grenades out of his pocket. Orlova looked down at the power levels on her plasma rifle, and shook her head, dropping the new-empty weapon to the ground; she must have used her last couple of shots on that charge. She slid a new clip into her pistol, hefted it in her hand, and braced herself for the last charge, counting down from five in her head.
"Here we go!" she yelled, running forward, her gun in her hand barking away at careless targets up ahead. An explosion tore up the ground to her right, one of Reed's grenades kicking smoke and dust up to conceal their charge, and the troopers advanced behind her, bursts of green flashing through the haze towards their target. A pair of Legionnaires were attempting to set up another machine gun by the building, but another blast of plasma ended their hopes.
Third Squad, on their left, began to charge with a yell, and the incoming fire split ineffectively between the two. Orlova leaped over a burned body – she couldn't tell which side it had been on – and fired a trio of quick shots toward the nearest window, rewarded with a yell of pain from inside. Another grenade followed her shots, and a thick cloud of black smoke burst out of the room, shards of glass sweeping out over the attacking troopers, shrapnel tearing down her arm.
Ignoring the pain, Orlova concentrated on getting her attack home, ducking into the Legionnaire's position at the base of the building, smoke now lapping out of the door. A pair of men ran out, hands over their eyes, screaming in pain; Orlova let them run. Third Squad was now pushing forward again, fanning out on all sides as two troopers moved forward with heavy backpacks on their back, charging directly for the struts of the antenna. The gunfire was becoming sporadic now, but what was left was concentrating on the mass moving forward in the center, three troopers falling down to the ground with blood spilling from various wounds.
Swinging the backpacks down to the struts, the two troopers pulled out detonators with practiced ease, threw a pair of switches, then started to sprint away as fast as they could, heading for cover. Taking their cue, the rest of the squad followed, fanning out in all directions, the occasional burst of green fire leaping from their weapons. Orlova looked around at the rest of her team – all of them, miraculously enough, still seemed to be standing.
"Heads down! This one's going to be big!"
It was quite a day for explosions, but as Private Lopez slammed his hand home on the detonator a bare second before Lance-Corporal Shiotani, the one that blew forth beat them all. Her ears were ringing and the smell of cordite filled the air; every unbroken window shattered from the blast as two pillars of fire raced up to the sky, twisting together as the smoke settled out, bits of metal raining down from the sky.
The only noise was the licking of flames from some of the burned-out buildings as the smoke slowly dispersed to reveal a jagged, twisted pile of blackened metal. Engines began to sound from the rear; evidently the surviving Legionnaires had decided to execute the better part of valor and live to fight another day, and none of the espatiers had any desire to prompt another battle by following them.
The medics began to move out, looking at the dead and the dying scattered across the compound, and the surviving troopers clambered to their feet, looking at the devastation they had wrought. There didn't seem to be any unwounded Legionnaires left in the compound; they'd put up the hardest fight they could. Behind her, Zabek was throwing up in a corner, the reality of what she had just done beginning to hit home. Orlova left her alone; right now she didn't need anyone, wouldn't want anyone to see her.
Esposito walked over to Orlova, shaking her head, her gun limp in her hand, "Your outfit?"
"All fine." She looked up, "Did we do it in time?"
"Nine minutes to spare. Not even exciting." The Ensign grinned, "I've got work to do, you want to call home?"
"Sure." She caught Esposito's communicator with her wounded arm, grimacing at the pain. "Orlova to Alamo, come in please."
The response was instant; Marshall's anxious voice on the line, "Sub-Lieutenant? Report."
"Installation secured, antenna complex destroyed, enemy in retreat." She paused before finishing, "Regret heavy casualties and fatalities, number unknown."
Regret tinged Marshall's response, "Understood. Medical bays ready to accept casualties. Pass on my congratulations to everyone."
"Will do. Orlova out."
She placed the communicator in her pocket, then turned as she heard a cheer coming from the flagpole; Kozu had managed to pull down the enemy flag, and was pulling up the flag of the Triplanetary Republic, the black and green fluttering in the sky as the troopers cried out in victory; at least one of them was filming it on his communicator. The enemy flag was carefully folded and placed on the ground – no doubt it would end up decorating the barracks on Alamo before long. Walking over towards Esposito, she looked around the compound, shaking her head at what they had done, and started to bandage up her arm, then looked up again at the flag waving in the
breeze, and the other one lying in the dust.
Chapter 28
Marshall shook his head as he looked down the beds in the medical bay, Duquesne, her orderly, and the three medics going from patient to patient, adjusting monitors and applying injectors. One of the troopers looked up at him, struggling to raise her hand; giving up on saluting him, she winked at the Captain instead, and he returned it with a quick smile. If it wasn't for the name 'Voldinski' scrawled over the bed, he wouldn't have known who it was. Duquesne walked over to him, shaking her head.
"This is victory." She shook her head, "There are ten more in Cargo Bay 1 right now; they lost."
"What was the count?"
"Of our people? Three dead, twelve wounded." She sighed, "Nothing we can't take care of, though. We can do wonders. We've certainly had too damn much practice. Six dead of Caine's suicide squad on the surface, the rest wounded." She gestured over at one of the beds where a young man – hardly more than a boy – writhed in pain before the orderly gave him a new shot. "That kid is sixteen, damn it. He kept muttering that someone had promised him a tour as the shuttle brought him up here."
"That must be the tinkerer Orlova told me about. If he's half as good as she says, I'm tempted to offer him a job."
"I think you did that when someone put a gun in his hands and told him to charge the enemy." She sighed, "Fifteen years I've been patching people together. It's getting old."
"Sorry, Doc."
"If you were you'd stop bringing these kids into my surgery."
Marshall looked over at the door; Caine was standing beside it, looking in, her face blank. Her eyes were a different story; they traveled from person to person, horror flickering with every blink. He walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder, stepping out into the corridor.
"Don't put me in that position again, Danny. I mean it." Fury raged across her face.
"It's part of the uniform. I can't stop that. I won't make a promise I can't keep."
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