Ellie frowned. “But how? They have air superiority and control the orbitals.”
“They don’t control them. They destroyed them,” William said. “We have nothing left up there. Even if the Merki jumped outsystem right now, they’ve won this one.”
“They won’t,” Ellie and Sir Harry chorused. Ellie continued, “Their strategy says to me they’re thinking long term.”
“I agree, Sire. This is about the future of the Alliance, not just us. They’re taking Faragut out of the game. They could leave right now and still call this a win. We’ll take years to recover.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that,” William said and sighed. “The Alliance will have to get along without us. Kalmar will take up the slack.”
The Kalmar Union was Faragut’s direct competitor for defence contracts. There were others providing ships and munitions for the military, but Kalmar and Faragut jointly owned the lion’s share of the market.
Until now.
“Do we have an ETA for Admiral Fischer?” Ellie said.
William shook his head. “Tentative at best. We have to hope a few of our drones reached him but we can’t know their drive settings. Assuming the standard eighty-percent of max, we’re talking maybe five weeks after launch to reach him, and another five back. So around the middle of next month.”
Ellie hissed. “That’s a long time under siege, Sire.”
“The Shan fought them for more than two years. We’ll hold,” Sir Harry said.
“Five more weeks if the drones reach Admiral Fischer today, and he’s ready to respond immediately,” William warned them. “No way to know if that’s true.”
Ellie was going to ask for more, but the distant thunder of explosions had her bodyguard instincts kicking in.
Hard.
She launched out of her seat, grabbed William, and bundled him into a corner. Sir Harry gasped at her sudden move and started to rise. William’s guards reacted but too late. The king was already in the corner, completely hidden by Ellie’s armour. She braced herself over him with arms straight and elbows locked. With her hands flat against the wall, she tucked her head to cover more of him.
“Ellie?” William gasped.
She ignored him and the yelling behind her. “Take cover you idiots!” she roared.
Sir Harry finally heard it too. “Down!” he shouted, and dived under the table.
“Don’t hold your breath, Sire. Mouth open and lean into the corner,” Ellie said calmly.
She counted time. The explosions were advancing toward them. Instinct and training had assured her they would. She opened her mouth in anticipation of the over-pressure if it came.
It did.
William gasped as the Merkiaari tried to obliterate Silver Bay Castle above them. The floor heaved and the ceiling cracked. A huge chunk of plascrete crashed through to collapse the table. The chairs saved Sir Harry. They propped the table top at an angle, and the debris slid off to hit the floor with a heavy thud. The general scrambled clear, heading for the doorway. Ellie grabbed him as he neared and yanked him into her corner.
More of the ceiling came down as the blasts sent millions of tons of plascrete falling. Lumps of masonry pelted Ellie, pinging off her armour. She locked her knees expecting to be killed any moment but determined not to collapse even in death. William remained outlined in green on her HUD. She stared down into the fear-filled eyes of her king’s brother, the last piece of her Nicky. He held her gaze as she took hit after hit for him. Blood trickled from her hairline and onto his upturned face. He would watch her die, but at least he would be alive to see it.
* * *
21 ~ Contact
Silver Bay, Duchy of Longthorpe, Faragut
Screams of agony told the tale of crushed limbs and death behind Ellie. The mobile infantry captain’s piercing screams abruptly ceased. Ellie regretted his death. She couldn’t recall his name but he’d seemed nice. Doctor Michaels had liked him. Finally, the explosions died away into the distance, but not the yelling. And not the screaming. And not the death.
Those were just beginning.
Ellie straightened and pushed away from the wall to allow William and Sir Harry to ease out of the corner. They had to climb over the rubble piled around her, but once they’d vacated the corner it allowed her the room she needed to turn around.
She climbed out of the rubble crater she’d created by shielding William, and took stock. Her injuries were minor. A quick diagnostic proved her cybernetic systems were at 100%, and her IMS had already dealt with her contusions. Scalp wounds bled a lot but her skull wasn’t fractured. The bleeding had already stopped.
The room was dimly lit. Power had failed, but battery-operated emergency lighting had kicked in to reveal the situation. The door was blocked and it was the only exit. She had the king to protect and very few resources to use. Only one of William’s bodyguards had survived. Wolfe she thought his name was. He looked uninjured.
“Collect their weapons and pass them out,” Ellie ordered.
Wolfe looked at his dead comrades and nodded. “You think we’ll be fighting Merki down here, Major?”
“I’m not saying that, but we have the king to protect. More guns in our hands is better.”
Wolfe nodded. He began the grisly task of looting the crushed bodies of his friends while Sir Harry and William investigated the rubble blocking the door. Ellie left them to that for the moment and surveyed the hole in the ceiling. It seemed to her a better exit. The castle above them must be heavily damaged for the collapse to reach down this far. It seemed unlikely to her the corridor outside would be clear.
She climbed atop the rubble beneath the hole and peered into the darkness.
Bunkers on Faragut were designed as redoubts from which to launch retaliatory strikes against an enemy. This one should’ve been proof against a Merkiaari air-strike. They must have used the Merki equivalent of Atlas bunker buster bombs, or some other deep penetrating munitions. Either that or the contractors had cut major corners.
Her sensors probed the darkness overhead, but the cavity was only a few tens of metres deep. Her cybernetic left eye pierced the shadows using the low-light amplification systems built into it, and confirmed the bad news. There would be no climbing out of here.
“Any luck Major?” Sir Harry said.
Ellie looked down at his dust covered face. His red-rimmed eyes peered hopefully up at her. She glanced at the king, but he was oblivious. He was working with Wolfe now to clear the door. She shook her head and watched the hope fade from his eyes. He backed away as she climbed down.
“Let me, Sire,” Ellie said as she reached his side.
William stepped away to join Sir Harry.
Ellie surveyed the rubble. The largest chunks of plascrete would be too heavy even for a Reaper to move. William had succeeded in clearing a shallow tunnel but it was too narrow for anyone to navigate. She began digging in an effort to widen it.
A few hours and much cursing later Ellie had burrowed deep into the rock pile, but they were still trapped. The largest chunks of plascrete were immovable. Too heavy or simply wedged in place made no real difference. She had only one option left. A dangerous option. She was fully loaded but trying to blast a way through might cause further collapses.
She reported her thoughts to the king.
“Try,” William said and raised a hand to prevent Sir Harry’s incipient protest. “We can’t wait for rescue. We don’t know if anyone survived up there. Go ahead Major.”
Ellie nodded. “All of you take cover the best you can.”
They moved as far away as they could.
Ellie ripped the sleeves off her tunic to clear her weapons, and found a good vantage to target the cleared tunnel. She was hoping to confine the explosion within it. With luck that would amplify the effect while reducing the risk to William and the others. She raised both arms and made fists. Her rocket launchers descended from the undersides of her forearms, and she fired twice from each arm.
Four mini-rockets screamed across the room and detonated as one deep inside the pile of rubble. The room shook with the blast, and more debris rained through the ruined ceiling. Dust billowed back into the room obscuring the results of her fire.
William raised his head and gave Ellie a thumbs up. He was uninjured. She stowed her weapons and they waited for the air to clear. The dust settled after a few minutes to reveal the blockage had slumped in the doorway. The largest chunks of plascrete had shattered and settled. The top half of the door was clear.
Wolfe climbed the pile first and slipped outside followed by William and Sir Harry. Ellie brought up the rear in case she got stuck. She successfully dragged her bulk through the gap but her uniform paid the price. By the time she rejoined the others, her trousers were little more than rags. She took a moment to strip down.
William raised an eyebrow.
“Doctor Michaels made me wear it, Sire. I’m a warrior goddess. We fight naked.”
“I see.”
The Human side of Ellie’s face reddened. It had sounded funny when Doctor Michaels said it. Trying to avoid their stares she took point and chose a direction. The others moved to follow with weapons in hand.
Their destination was the armoury.
Ellie had built in weaponry to use, but a few rifles would be nice. Maybe she’d pick up a pistol or two with it. Some grenades would be good. Maybe an AAR? She snorted as she imagined herself weighed down with enough firepower to take out an armoured division. While she was wishing she ought to wish for a division of her own. A Marine division! She knew exactly where in the armoury to find what she needed.
But.
A blocked corridor stymied their advance. She scowled at the inconvenient impediment to her plans for marshal dominance. She couldn’t clear this with a few rockets. She looked back at the others. They shrugged. No help there.
“We are not impressed with the resilience of your bunker, Sir Harry,” William said dryly. “You should sue your building contractor.”
Wolfe snorted.
“Silver Bay has been in my family for centuries, Sire. My grandfather had this built after the Merki War.”
“He did a poor job of it!”
“Unfair,” Sir Harry said. “He could hardly bomb his own castle to test it.”
William frowned. “If we live through this I’m going to send a trade delegation to the Shan.”
“Oh?”
“They have a lot of experience with surviving Merki incursions. We could use some of that expertise.”
“Keeps in exchange for...?”
“Warships perhaps,” William said. “Not that we have any, but we’ll think of something.”
Ellie tuned out their speculations to consider her options.
They could backtrack and look for another route. They could try and fail to clear this corridor. Or... her good eye narrowed as she considered the closest door. She opened it and peered inside. The room was full of stacked shelves. Rations not munitions unfortunately. She wasn’t interested in anything but the far wall. She hammered a fist into it and punched straight through.
“We’re in luck,” she called to the others as they entered behind her. “It’s only a partition.”
She hammered her fists into the dry wall and broke through easily. She added a few kicks to create a bigger opening, and stooped to pass through. The room on the far side had rows of unkempt beds. A barracks.
Ellie quickly crossed the space, noting the cracks in the ceiling. A huge chunk had broken free, but it hadn’t fallen. It remained wedged precariously in front of the door. Praying it would stay put long enough, she ushered everyone through and back into the corridor.
“Where is everyone?” William said.
Ellie had been trying not to think about that. She didn’t know many people living here. Only those currently with her and Doctor Michaels. She hoped he was well. It was all she could do for him right now.
“They evacuated is my guess,” Ellie said. “This place could collapse at any time.”
“You’re a bundle of joy today,” William said sourly.
“This way,” she said.
Ellie led them to the armoury, and there were no further obstructions. She claimed a rifle first, and found something to carry extra magazines and power cells in. The others buckled on holsters for their pistols before taking and loading a rifle each from the racks on the walls. Ellie loaded her grenade launcher, and urged the others to do the same with theirs.
“Ready?” she said.
Everyone nodded and they moved out.
They made good progress and weren’t blocked on their way to the emergency stairs. The walls were cracked and the ceilings fallen in a few places, but none of it slowed them. They left the worst damage behind them, and met no one on the way.
They heard rather than saw the first signs of battle. The sound of prolonged pulser fire punctuated with the crump-crump of grenades being deployed. Ellie wanted to make William hide, but she’d be wasting her breath if she tried.
William checked his pistol and holstered it before hefting his rifle again. “Now we know where everyone went,” he said.
Sir Harry nodded, firming his grip on his rifle. “My men will hold them, Sire. They’ll die before letting you fall.”
William grimaced.
Ellie beckoned Wolfe aside. “You stick with the king no matter the provocation. No matter what he orders. You. Don’t. Leave. Him. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Wolfe growled. “And Sir Harry?”
“He’s a big boy. Let him get killed if he wants to fight. Stay with William no matter what. Knock him out if need be.”
Wolfe regarded her doubtfully.
Ellie addressed William. “Hold back a little, Sire. Let me recon the situation.”
William nodded.
Ellie shoved the door open and stepped into chaos.
The castle was in ruins as expected. Sir Harry’s men were hunkered down using the rubble and broken walls to snipe at the enemy. Fires still burned, but no one cared. They were too busy killing Merki, and dying in their turn.
Ellie cleared the door and slammed it behind her to prevent William from following. She had no confidence in Wolfe deterring wrong thinking. The king was just as impulsive as Nicky had been. If he saw her fall, he might charge to the rescue.
A single sweep of her sensors found targets aplenty. The Merkiaari troopers were firing on the remnants of Sir Harry’s men, and keeping their heads down. There were maybe a few hundred men and women left alive using the castle’s ruins for cover. The din of battle and the screams of the dying filled the air. Pulser blasts crossed the courtyard back and forth. AARs thudded, grenades detonated, and RPGs were deployed as the defenders desperately fought for their lives.
Ellie added her fire to theirs.
Merkiaari died.
Humans died.
By the score.
The Merki were on foot. Probably the only reason there were any defenders left alive. Ellie poured fire into them, and emptied her grenade launcher at them as she advanced. She dropped her rifle when it ran dry, not wanting to waste time reloading, and went Reaper on their asses.
Ellie deployed her rocket launchers, and advanced again, firing as she moved. Her targeting reticule danced from target to target as she nailed each one. Her rocket icons turned red as ammo dwindled, but she maintained rapid fire until they both ran dry. No time to reload. She deployed her gatling cannons and hosed the Merki where they sniped at her people.
Ellie heard cheers as she advanced into the open, but she didn’t have time to discover why. She hoped it wasn’t the king making his appearance already. She’d skin Wolfe alive if he’d let William join this mess.
She staggered as she took a hit to the chest. Her armour wasn’t penetrated but she staggered back a few steps. Her gyros took over for the seconds it took to stabilise her. She let her body do what it had to, and returned fire.
Another hit, this time to her left should
er. A gauss cannon round. The mass of the slug hammered into her. It could have taken her head clean off, but the angle was wrong. It spun her around, ruining her aim, and she hit the cobbles on her back.
Ellie’s cybernetics whined and pushed her into a sitting position. Her target reticule found the gunner using a wrecked car as cover. She hosed him and blood sprayed. Another gauss slug hit her chest, and she was suddenly glaring up at a cloudy sky. Damage alerts were flashing on her HUD. Her cybernetics whined and she sat up like the machine she was.
The defenders cheered.
Ellie ignored them and sought more targets. She found what she needed and fired, but her ammo warning flashed for the cannon in her right arm. She didn’t want to run it dry, so used her left. Armour piercing needles screamed, and the Merki troopers splashed away in a spray of gore.
More whining of cybernetics. Her gyros did their thing, and Ellie stood tall. More cheers from behind her made her look. William had arrived. She glared at Wolfe but he didn’t see. He was adding his fire to William’s and Sir Harry’s attack.
Ellie ran for cover.
She ducked behind the car she’d targeted earlier. The ammo stores in her thighs popped open at need, and she took the time to reload all her weapons. She stowed her reloaded cannons for the moment, and used her vantage to rain destruction on the Merkiaari with her rocket launchers alone.
She checked, but Wolfe had the king under control. Both men were fighting but they had good cover. Sir Harry had advanced ahead of them to join his men and was directing concentrated fire. She went back to her own war.
Hit again. Right leg this time, but plasma only. Her nanocoat changed in a flash from its default gloss black into a mirror bright surface. A halo of light bloomed around her as her armour shrugged aside the hit. It didn’t slow her.
She fired while on the move. Her HUD and targeting allowed her to take out multiple Merki at the same time. She chose what she thought of as easy-mode, and let her left arm handle targets within the left quadrant ahead of her. Her right arm was up and tracking Merki in the right quadrant.
Incursion: Merkiaari Wars Book 5 Page 16