“That's one hell of a heal-job,” Tyler said, looking at Mark's leg. Mark looked down at it, Gupta had been right of course, it was hard for him to think that he had lost his leg just a few hours ago. There was only a small pencil thin line to show where his old leg had ended and this one had been grown. It was white like the rest of his leg and he quickly stuffed it into pants to get his mind off of it.
“Yeah, how you feeling?” Mark asked Tyler who was still lying on the ground.
“Fine, just had some shrapnel in me. Someone grabbed our packs and dropped them off sometime ago, they're refilled as well,” Tyler said pointing his chin at two packs waiting in the middle of the balcony.
“Where's Jerome?”
“His section is up clearing the tower. As soon as Nerva got in here, he started clearing out floors with weapon emplacements and as many populated floors as possible. It looks like we're going into the meat grinder now.”
“How did the other attacks on the different towers go?” Mark asked.
“Not very well. It looks like one other tower was secured but there's about a platoon and a half in there. If the colonists try what they did here against them, from multiple lobbies they might have a chance.
Mark started putting his good armor back into place and swapping in new pieces from the pile. The helmet was a bit tighter than the old one but it made a solid seal with his suit and came online with his information after a few seconds.
“Shall we?” Tyler asked, throwing Mark his gun and getting to his feet.
“I guess we should.” They got their packs on and headed down to the control centre, grabbing two heated ration bowls from the small area that had been turned into a semi-mess. All they needed were the heater units that were as big as a person's hand and about five minutes to work their magic.
“Alright, most of the tower has been cleared, but the sections up there have been at it for four hours. We all know how shitty clearing rooms gets after that long. We're going to replace them and clear out the remaining three floors. The rest of the Platoon will be accompanying us and we will be under the command of Second Lieutenant Pullo. We're not going to give Pullo anything he needs to correct us on there's a lot of eyes on him and us.” Gupta looked around the room, his eyes resting on Mark and Tyler for a half second longer than the others.
“Simmons and the Victors have returned from their little vacation. Simmons you'll be my second in command. I want you all ready to go in five minutes.”
Ten minutes later and they were on top of two elevator's, Mark and Tyler were with Simmons and Xiao. Gupta was with Dolche and Utkin. The other platoons were following up in other elevators and the weapons detachment were keeping an eye on the other towers and making sure no one tried to rush the lobby.
It was still night time but Sacremon's sunrise wasn't too far away.
The elevator stopped on the twenty-third floor, putting them on the twenty-fourth floor. Tyler and Mark cranked on the manual door mechanism, opening it for Xiao who had his gun up and ready.
His repulsor lit up the elevator as he fired from side to side, cutting down the welcome party outside the elevator. The floor was at waist height for them in the elevator, giving them cover but also making it hard to get out of.
Xiao looked for new threats as Mark got on his hands and knees, Simmons and Tyler used him as a step covering the corridor.
Xiao's weight made Mark grunt, then he was the last man. It was only about mid-thigh on him, he used the elevators door to pull himself onto the floor.
He fell in beside Xiao checking the main corridor.
“Let's move to Gupta,” Mark whispered. Shooting tailed off as they moved around the elevator bank.
The elevator banks made a triangle, rising from each of the lobbies on the first floor. At the centre there were living spaces and offices, the rest of the building was similarly covered in identical rooms.
Each section had come up through a different elevator bank and split their forces between them. One section still had nine people, two had just five. They had taken casualties on the run from the tree-line to the tower. They'd made sure others had gotten to the tower, paying with their lives.
They found Gupta and the rest of the section had opened up into an empty corridor.
Markers started appearing on their HUDs as the controllers in the command station on the bottom floor updated them on where enemy combatants were hiding.
“Time to clean up,” Gupta said, his voice harsh, it wasn't even a fair fight.
They moved past walls, aiming through them to shoot the people on the other side, the markers disappearing as people died.
“Walls are reinforced,” Simmons said as the markers weren't going down but shifting as the towers sensors tracked the inhabitants.
“Take it, use grenades,” Gupta said. He fired into a room with five people in it, stabbed his gun through the resulting hole and fired off a stream of grenades from his launcher.
None of the markers were moving anymore. The section had split so that Gupta, Utkin and Dolche were now clearing rooms by themselves. Simmons, Tyler, Mark and Xiao doing the same.
Xiao set up in a living quarters opposite the one they needed to clear. His gun pointing from his doorway right into the other room.
“Mark, kick the door down, Tyler, you and me will throw grenades, Xiao, make sure no one runs out,” Simmons said, checking everyone was nodding and agreeing.
She and Tyler dropped their rifles on their slings and grabbed grenades as Mark fired into the locking mechanism.
The door which had been rigged with explosives fired out into the hallway, throwing and turning a yelling Mark.
Tyler and Simmons didn't pause in throwing their grenades and getting the fuck out of the way as Xiao fired into the room.
“Fucking shit!” Mark said, pushing himself backwards with his feet as he cradled his right side.
The grenades went off, dust and shit blowing out of the room. Simmons and Tyler followed up the explosion of the grenade, their guns letting loose as Mark looked at his injuries.
“Clear! Mark, how you looking?”
“Like something took a fucking bite out of my side,” Mark said, coughing blood as pain made him contort himself into a position to try and alieve it.
“What is with you and…” Tyler was cut off as shooting erupted on the floor.
“The colonists are moving out of their rooms and trying to counterattack. The floor from above and below are helping out, there's apparently a way to get between the levels that the people in the command centre missed.”
Mark looked over himself, his right side was peppered with shrapnel and burn marks, but his armor hadn't let anything through.
The armor was cracked and split, showing the red of opened flesh underneath.
Mark pulled out a spray, he didn't have time to pull the shrapnel from his body. The spray sent cool relief over the wounds, making him shiver in pain and cold.
He doused himself liberally with the spray, the red turning to a pink as skin and muscle re-knitted itself.
Mark's breaths were coming out in hisses as the first Colonist rounded the corner of a living pod.
Mark fired his E-12 in their general direction, making them duck back as he started kicking his way towards Xiao.
Simmons and Tyler ran from their room, grabbing Mark's shoulder straps and dragging him into cover.
“Thanks,” Mark said, the skin he'd partially sealed opened once again. He sprayed it again as Simmons moved to the door.
“Get him sealed up,” Simmons said, running back out of the room.
Xiao's repulsor was now firing in a series of bursts, reports were flying over the communications channels.
Rebels were rushing out of buildings, charging the one that fourth regiment occupied.
Gas was fired at the building, covering it as machine guns from other towers raked the building.
The EMF troopers used the gun emplacements that they'd cleared and turned them a
gainst the other towers.
Charlie company's first platoon was engaged on all fronts with colonists coming up from the floor below and the floor above. Weapons fire filled the air. A cermite shard found its way through where the plate's on Tyler’s side met, his forward facing plates went down in a sprawling mess.
“Tyler, spray the damn thing!” Mark said, his brother followed his words as Mark got a better hold on his rifle with his left hand.
Tyler got to spraying the wounds, Mark looking up at the ceiling, his augments would keep him going, but damn if his side didn’t hurt.
That was when they found out that the rockets that had been fired at their shuttles could also be fired into other buildings. The tower shook violently as missiles carved holes into the tower.
An axe appeared in the wall, trying to carve a hole into the room to get behind Simmons and Xiao who were hammering oncoming colonists.
Mark used his left knee to push his gun into his shoulder and fired into the wall, he didn't hear a scream but whoever was on the other side stopped swinging the axe.
Tyler got to his feet as the world turned into white noise. An explosion ripped through the building's floor, missiles had hit thirty meters from their position.
For the second time that day, Mark went flying from an explosion.
Tyler did as well, his wound had made him push back a few meters from Simmons and Xiao. They simply disappeared as Tyler went through the wall behind him.
“Mother fuckers!” Mark yelled, his armored ass had been picked up and thrown into a wall. Now his augments dulled his pain and gave him the energy to stand.
“Tyler?” He called out, there was a fire going on in a nearby room, light flickering into the room.
A groan came back over the channel, Mark tore his eyes from the readings on his HUD, Simmons and Xiao were gone. Utkin was down and the cobbled together one and two section were also engaged. No one was coming for them.
Mark saw a new hole in a wall behind where Tyler had been.
“Ah shit,”
Mark turned to the wall, taking a few steps backwards before running full-tilt and slamming his good shoulder into the wall. It gave way and he was sliding onto the other side. He saw a colonist recovering from the blast, he fired a burst, putting them down. He held his gun awkwardly in his left hand, tucking it into his armpit, his right arm was still weak.
“Tyler, what's up?” Mark asked, dust and the wall coming around him as he looked for more colonists.
“Got a fucking hole in my side, my fucking left leg is broken and I have one hell of a headache,” Tyler groaned.
“Alright, I'm going to hook you up to my back and we'll go see Gupta and the medics,” Mark said.
“Sweet, been a while since you gave me a piggyback,” Tyler coughed, it was a wet thing and sent a fresh pang of panic through Mark who pulled the straps on his backpack. Tyler put down three colonists as Mark pulled Tyler's pack off and took his sling, he looped them together and used the clips to secure them, he got it over Tyler's shoulder and under his one arm, doing the same to himself.
“Mines,” Tyler said.
Mark grabbed the mines from the pack's activating them and throwing them, putting the last two under each pack and stuffing his pockets with extra magazines.
A colonist group moved into the corridor in front of Mark. He let himself fall sideways, grabbing his rifle that had been lying across his knees, he pulled Tyler with him.
“Corporations!” Tyler swore as Mark pulled the trigger on his weapon spraying the colonists who were turning the hallway the two brothers were in, into a debris filled mess.
Mark wasn't that accurate but he made them try to scramble, their rounds embedding shrapnel in his forward armor, and adding to the collection of exposed skin from his side.
He fired three grenades, raking the group. Nothing was left after that.
Mark made angry noises into his helmet, as if they would relieve the pain he now felt.
You don't have time, get to a medic they'll put you back together, need to get Tyler to safety.
Mark pushed himself up, checking the number of rounds in his gun on his HUD the display was flickering some because of the damage visited on it.
Tyler started firing and Mark saw that as his que. He drove himself to his knees and then feet, moving onwards as Tyler's firing faded away.
“Think they're hiding now,” Tyler sounded as tired as Mark felt. It felt like it had been a day when he woke up downstairs.
An explosion blew in a section of the tower up ahead, sunlight blazed in through the new window as Mark fought to stay upright.
He eased his rifle from his left arm to his right.
It was painful but he needed to put down anyone that he saw, he was a big target and giving anyone time would be a bad idea.
A colonist eased out of a corner, Mark, hyped up on artificial battle hormones twitched in their direction, a grenade flew behind the colonist, hit the and ripping the corridor apart. The colonist's simple clothing could do nothing to protect them.
Tyler fired a burst off, followed with a few grenades.
“Out of 'nades, changing out,” Tyler said. Mark turned the corner that the colonist had come from, the walls showed the insides of the housing units behind them. Fires flickered from combustibles which had sparked a flame.
Mark dragged Tyler on.
“Mark, I think I need some aid,” Tyler said.
“We'll just go in one of these rooms and get you patched up,” Mark said pushing into one of the housing units with its walls still somewhat intact.
He lowered himself and Tyler, grunting with effort. Tyler wasn't the lightest man, add in his armor, weapons, ammunition. And he was damned heavy.
Mark got him on the floor and pulled out his med-kit, he used Tyler’s can of sealant to spray the wounds he could see.
Tyler's medical computer was saying, to get Tyler to a med-bay as soon as possible.
Mark put as many healing drugs he understood into Tyler and gave his own side a new spray.
“Pull back to the elevators! Let's get the fuck out of here!” Pullo yelled on the Platoon-wide net.
“Alright Bro, we've got to move,” Mark said.
“Okay.” Tyler's voice was weak and tired, the normal happy demeanour replaced by the tone of someone trying to hide their pain.
That fueled Mark as he hooked himself back into the harness, putting his full strength behind it. He needed to get Tyler to the medics as soon as possible.
He came out of the housing pod, turning and finding what looked like ten or so Colonists around a holographic map of the tower. Mark fired two grenades right into their middle, the destruction was enough to turn anyone's stomach but Mark trudged on, he would endure the hell he now walked through for his brother. Tyler fired as people turned down the corridor.
The tower had turned from it's clinical clean outlay into a dust covered mess, holes were ripped through rooms, bodies lay on many surfaces and growing fires colored the walls and roofs with thick smoke.
Weapons fire could still be heard and Mark had to pause every so often as the tower shook from a new explosion.
Mark simply reacted as people showed up in front of him, his gun letting out the deadly vrrt of electronically triggered rounds.
“We need help, we're pinned down and we've got enemy pouring in from everywhere!” Gupta said, his voice nearly panicked.
“Second Lieutenant Pullo is down, Warrant Drashkov is dead and we're not going to last long.” That admittance made Mark grit his teeth harder as he reloaded.
“You good to go?” Mark asked.
“You know it,” Tyler said. Mark could hear he was switching out his magazines as well, a new fire filling his voice.
These people had saved their lives when they had been trying to hold the lobby, now they were going to repay that favour, fuck these colonists.
Mark kept moving forward, finding colonists running towards the sound of battle.
&nbs
p; He held off shooting, getting closer until he found them milling around, rounds ripping down the corridor in front of them as they popped rounds in the direction of the fire.
Mark remembered an old song, one of his old boss's favourites.
“You'll take my life but I'll take yours too. You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through. So when you're waiting for the next attack. You'd better stand there's no turning back,” he muttered the lines as he fired precise burst after burst into those in front of him.
Mark's mag clicked empty and he slammed a new magazine in with the precision of someone whose life depended on the process.
There were about twenty bodies in that hallway. The hallway continued on the other side of the corridor which was filled with repulsor rounds.
Mark's gun bucked in his shoulder again. Tyler was firing as well. He could feel the recoil of Tyler's weapon on his back. The repulsor fire and the exploding rounds from the colonists 'shotguns' blocked out all other noise and thought.
Mark felt whine of the vrrt vrrt vrrrt's more than he heard them. He saw their effect just fine.
“MOVE IT! CORRIDOR CLEAR AT MY POSITION!” Mark yelled popping grenades across the corridor to make sure nothing else was moving.
“Turning,” Mark warned Tyler.
“Got it,” Tyler said as Mark pushed through an office, he reloaded his rifle, pointing it at a new wall and stroking the grenade launcher's trigger. The wall blew apart and Mark carried Tyler through it, turning so they faced different directions. Mark fired as soon as he was out, this hallway was less packed, but there were still about ten people in his way, threatening his friends.
Cold eyes watched as his rounds struck home, cutting colonists down, their fire abated.
“Moving up, we're going to the elevators,” Gupta said.
Mark grunted agreement. Going into another pod, this one a home, blowing a hole into another housing pod and going out of that door. He could see that the remainder of the platoon were hustling their wounded out as fast as possible.
Dolche and the two other repulsor gunners didn't fuck about, the corporation’s rules be damned, they fired through walls, making anyone seriously re-think trying to stop them.
Sacremon (Harmony War Series Book 1) Page 19