"Boot size?" the medic asked.
Tomi told him and sat on a hard plastic chair.
A doctor in a prisoner's uniform stumbled in. His face was a mass of bruises that put Sergeant Nikov's to shame. Dried blood was crusted beneath his nose and at the corner of his eyes.
Tomi wanted to get right back up and run.
"Socks off, feet in the tub," the doctor said. His voice was raw, raspy.
Tomi peeled what was left of his socks off and set his feet into the tub. A cold liquid streamed in and he gasped. Why was it always cold? Everything in a doctor's office was cold.
"This is going to sting."
Tomi remembered what the medic said. No painkillers.
The top of the tub slid shut and clamped onto his ankles. The doctor punched a few keys.
Tomi felt a tickle at first and the water grew warmer. He let out a breath and thought, just for a second, that maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Then a fire slammed into his feet and he cried out.
The doctor watched with indifference on his face. "Don't kick."
Tomi gritted his teeth and squeezed his hands. It was hot, boiling hot, like his feet were on the surface of the sun. Blue light blared out from the edges of the tub. He was sure that the doctor was totally incompetent and had done something terribly wrong.
The blue light blinked out and the doctor yawned. He flipped up the top and the liquid drained out. "Get up."
Tomi could barely breathe. The pain slowly slipped away. He looked down expecting to see charred stubs and instead was greeted with a set of suntanned feet. The burning was still intense, but the hot nails of agony were gone. He looked up at the doctor.
"Your epidermis was flooded, electrified, and baked with ultraviolet light," the doctor said. "Now get out."
Tomi stumbled out the door and into the arms of the medic.
The medic handed him a pair of crisp gray toned boots. "Go easy on it for a few days, you're on light duty 'til Saturday."
Tomi sat down on a crate of supplies and squeezed his still burning toes into the boot. "It, well, it's too tight!"
The medic shook his head. "No, you're too fat. In a few weeks they'll be perfect."
Tomi laced them up as tight as he could and stepped out into the afternoon mist. The tents were rising up like mushrooms on the gravel plain and he rushed off to help. Or at least as quick as his tender feet would allow.
#
Chapter Sixteen
Lishun Delta - Mackinof Front
"Get ready!" Karl shouted down the line. He ran behind the soldiers and hopped over crumbled bits of wall and snowdrifts. His lips burned and his teeth chattered. Where was his relief? Son of a bitch, he thought, probably sleeping.
Men and women huddled just below the top of the trench. The booming rumble of the distant artillery was never ending. The bombardment hadn't stopped in two days. It ebbed in intensity before slamming back later, like waves rumbling onto the rocks.
"Hey! Sebinski, up, e2h?" Karl said, helping a man to his feet. "Get your mask on, your nose'll freeze off."
He looked down the line. He recognized the details of his squad. A bullet hole in Sedan's helmet. Pachinski's black face mask. Delles's hunched shoulders. The cut of Wallas's jacket in the Palov style. Farther down he saw a group from the planet Kamchatka in their longcoats with high collars. Mixed through were soldiers whose names he didn't know yet. At the end of his trench was Corporal Ivanov, in two overcoats, staring around the corner at the remnants of the 67th Guards.
The wind kicked up and a wall of white flowed over the top of the trench. Everyone huddled low, Karl tucked next to soldier and waited. The gritty snow was in his mouth, his ears. He held his glove over his mouth just so he could breath.
He wanted to sleep, to close his eyes and just get a couple of minutes. They were beyond tired, he could see it on how they moved. Worst of all was the hunger. You can bear the cold, he thought, with food in your stomach. But now a cold pit grew in his stomach and the shivering was worse.
The wind stopped. The line of soldiers brushed off. The drifts in the trench steeped higher.
"Sergeant Sigorski! Sigorski!" a voice called from down the trench. More voices echoed the call.
"Here!" Karl called out.
Sergeant. He still couldn't get used to the promotion. Nor did he particularly like it. They'd lost so much of the command structure that he had command of a full combat platoon. Well, as full as it could get filled with half-frozen wounded soldiers.
A private stumbled through the snow and saluted Karl. "The Colonel says you're to watch for an opening. Send a runner if you do and seize the contents immediately."
"An opening? A gate opening?" Karl asked. Relief. Food. Escape.
"Yes, Sergeant, we received a ping from LISCOM, they said to be ready. But without a gate on our end it could pop out anywhere nearby."
"What's coming? Men? Supplies?"
The private shook his head. "I don't know."
Gunfire rattled off down the line. Heads popped up for a quick look and more stepped up to fire.
"They're coming in!" a soldier called out.
"Thanks," Karl said to the private and jumped up on the edge next to Private Delles. He gave one look to his commset and jammed it back in a pocket. Still jammed.
Private Delles scanned from side-to-side with a set of telescoping thermal binoculars. One tube was cracked and broken. "One hundred meters, they're coming in clusters."
Karl hopped down and cupped his hands to his mouth. "One hundred meters and closing! Free fire! Watch for a stargate link!"
The word passed down the trench and heads turned toward Karl. The soldiers took position with the rifles.
Karl hopped up on the edge and lay his rifle on the parapet. The visibility was barely fifty meters. His eyes ached from the white. Only clumps of brown broke the landscape, soil churned up in the artillery barrages.
Private Sedan spoke without taking her cheek off her rifle. "A hole out, Sergeant?"
"Hmm." Karl scanned with his rifle. He didn't even know what it would look like. If it came any farther than fifty meters the teams on Vasilov would find Kadan pouring through.
A few rounds popped off. Then more. A machine gun team opened fire in rapid bursts. Brass hissed into the snow.
Karl looked down the trench at the line of hooded heads. No bared faces, good, all have helmets, good, god it's cold. We should drop down, do twos, no, he thought, can't, gotta watch for that damned stargate link.
"Contact!"
Karl broke out of his thoughts and snapped his rifle up tight. He sent a three round burst into a cluster Kadan and soon they fell.
More Kadan surged up. They wore gray-studded armor with snow and clumps of frozen dirt. They stumbled ahead, almost oblivious to the fire coming at them. One stopped and heaved a belt of grenades. It fell to the ground before completing the arc and detonated short of the trench.
Karl fired faster, more brass fell to his feet. They, luckily, had more than enough ammunition. At least for the rifles, he thought. He wanted to call for artillery, but he knew that the surviving batteries were low.
"Break!" a voice shouted, and a soldier dropped down. Then another called out, and another.
"Runners! Ammo!" Karl yelled.
Soldiers raced out of the dark holes with crates of ammo. They stumbled through the drifts and lumped out the ammunition. Calls came for supplies and they darted off.
Karl snapped off a round into a Kadan and tried to keep an eye on his soldiers. Was everyone okay? He hadn't heard any cries yet.
Fifty meters away there was a massive circle of light hovering a dozen meters above the ground. Inside was a gray drizzly sky with construction lights blaring. Crates and containers flew through the gap. They tumbled into the craters of the wasteland.
Soldiers surged over the trench. They sprinted through the craters and strings of wrecked barbed wire.
"Cover!" Karl shouted. There were more than enough troops already ove
r the line. Thank god for the umbrella, he thought. Otherwise the artillery would eat us up.
The Kadan halted, as if unsure of how to proceed. Soldiers crouched behind the mound of crates and fired into at the Kadan. Overburdened troops bumbled through the snow, wide grins on their faces, and tossed the crates into the crater.
"Keep moving! Every third, get up and give cover! Secure those supplies!" Karl hopped down and grabbed one of the ammo runners. "Hit the next trenches, tell them we need more support, now!"
The soldier nodded and raced off.
The rate of gunfire dropped away until only random cracks shattered the wind.
More soldiers raced down the trenches. There was a sizable group huddled on the edge of supply dump. Soldiers ran back and forth, they didn't even wait to get to the edge, they just threw the cases and crates. Then back out with grins on their masked faces.
Karl helped drag it into the trench then sent the ammo carriers down into the dark shelters with it.
"Sergeant, where'd they go?" Private Sedan asked.
"We've got plenty of covering fire out there, they fell back," Karl said. He hauled another crate to the side. The crates came faster than he could move them.
"I got a bad feeling about this," Sedan mumbled.
"Well, time to work that feeling off, go get some crates."
Sedan lowered her head, slung her rifle over her shoulder, and crested the wall.
Bad feeling, ha, this whole thing is a bad feeling, he thought. This is the first good thing to happen. We finally have some supplies.
Karl grumbled and kicked a crate. "Bad feeling, she says."
A massive roar shook the ground followed by a screeching hiss. Every bit of fresh snow exploded into the air like a raging blizzard had just settled.
"Everyone in!" Karl bellowed. "Move, move!" He climbed up onto the edge and peered into the white. "Move!"
More cries came from down the line as those in the trench yelled at those outside. The roar dissipated and was gone.
Karl pointed his pistol into the sky and snapped off three rounds. Good god, he thought, what was that? The umbrella never went off, it couldn't be artillery. It definitely wasn't an orbital. Oh shit. "Air raid! Everyone down!"
An orange cylinder appeared out of the clouds and tumbled to the ground. It was almost a lazy fall until it was just a meter above the ground. It exploded in a brilliant cloud of orange and speckled white. The cascade of violence ripped out in a haze, then orange flames followed.
Karl screamed. He leaped down into the trench. His back was, for the first time in days, warm. The shockwave slammed into him before he landed and he crashed against the back wall of the trench.
The air roared and burned above the trench. The expanding gases erupted until finally the combustibles were spent. The roar echoed into the snow and finally there was silence.
The landscape was completely different. Every single bit of snow for a hundred meters was completely melted. The barren gray and brown soil looked even more horrible as it smoked and steamed. Bodies lay at odd angles, some still clutching crates and boxes. Nothing remained of the opening to Vasilov Prime, the bulk of the supply depot was gone.
"Oh god," Karl groaned and rolled over. The bottom of the trench was wet and his first thought was to get away from the water. He sat up and stumbled to his feet. His eyes wouldn't focus and he kept swallowing, his ears were choked with sound and overwhelmed into a roar.
An ammo runner raced over and helped him up, while at the same time patting the embers on the back of Karl's jacket. All down the line soldiers stood in shock and crawled back up to the edge of the trench. The water froze solid and any steam drifted away into clouds of snow.
"I hear you!" Karl screamed at the ammo runner. He fell forward and braced himself on the wall. I should have known, son of a bitch, I should have known. My fault, dammit, my fault. He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Hey! Hey! I told you!" Sedan yelled in Karl's ear.
Karl snapped open his eyes and stared at Sedan. "Good god, you made it!"
Sedan's face was sunburned and raw with a few blisters on the edges of her cheek. Her hair was singed and her creased helmet missing. "I told you!"
"I know," Karl mumbled, and pulled himself up to the trench edge. He took in the full extent of the airstrike. This was now an entirely different fight. The Kadan didn't have any air assets, there was someone new here to fight.
Karl unslung his rifle and set it on the edge of the trench. "Get ready!"
The Kadan came once again.
#
Chapter Seventeen
Vasilov Prime - County of Essen, Training Camp
"Everyone take a seat," Colonel Clarke said. He looked out at his Officers and recognized faces from the personnel files. Or at least some of the faces, others were gaunt, thin, bruised in the face, or worse. He stared at Doctor Keniski for a long moment and shook his head. The Doctor looked like a train wreck.
"Yesterday the Kadan launched what we think was an orbital strike on the Mackinof front." Colonel Clarke turned and keyed up a digital map on the screen behind him.
The map showed the topography of Lishun Delta. The Mackinof Front was in the North holding a chokepoint, Lishun Delta Command in the center, and finally the Reach in the South. Mountains bracketed Lishun Delta Command while the Reach was an isthmus surrounded by slushy, impassable oceans.
"Eight hours later another strike hit LISCOM, and eight after that they hit Reach. Of all the strikes, Mackinof took it worst, they had mostly cleared out Reach and LISCOM by the time the strikes came. But they're hurting."
The Officers mumbled among themselves. Only the Sigg cadre in the rear said nothing. The ranks of Vasilov Officers were separated in two camps, on one side was those in prisoners' uniforms. On the other, as if an invisible line traversed the room, were the rest of the Officers.
"Vasilov Prime has recalled all reserve units and is preparing to reestablish stargates with LISCOM and attempt to hold the fronts. If either Reach or Mackinof falls, the Kadan will have a straight line through the passes and will eventually crack LISCOM."
The screen panned to the side and the Mackinof front zoomed into view. In the rear craggy cliffs rose up with the central command fortress in the middle. Concentric rows of trenches cycled out until they reached the scarred lands between the lines.
"VASCOM pieced together the drone feeds and it looks like this." Colonel Clarke keyed the display.
The clear image was replaced with a mass of destruction. The entire command complex was gone. All that remained was a snow covered ruin and a jumbled crater. The inner rings of trenches were broken in places, and intact in others. The umbrella positions were highlighted along with a pack of artillery.
Someone whistled in the crowd. Another person swore loudly. They all had a look of shock on their faces.
"The Kadan never had any orbital assets. Nor did they have the ability to jam our comms systems. We face a different enemy than we have all these years. In one week we'll move the majority of this unit to VASCOM and deploy to the Mackinof front. I'll lead those soldiers, and the XO, Commander Arap, will remain behind to receive the armored units. Once we have the armor, then they too will deploy."
"But Colonel—" a Captain in a prisoner uniform said.
Colonel Clarke raised a hand. "If Lishun Delta falls, the Kadan can assault Vasilov Prime. Not only must we hold our positions, but push ahead and strike at the Kadan line and drive them off the planet. Then, and only then, can we be assured of our ability to hold the planet."
The Officers blinked. One man laughed and bowed his head.
Colonel Clarke could feel the disbelief in the room. Could see the shock on their faces. Not only was he asking the impossible, to hold a fallen line, but he wanted them to strike out and win a war that was unwinnable for the last thirty-five years.
"Brief your men, get your gear, and get chow. Training will begin at 0500." Colonel Clarke snapped off the displa
y. "Questions?"
"How can we, a bunch of, well, look at us Colonel, a bunch of drunks and drug addicts and cowards, win this war?"
"We will not be fighting like Vasilov, but like Sigg. They just won their war with the Boben. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and technologically behind, but still came out on top. We're going to do the same thing."
Oh god do I hope, Colonel Clarke thought.
"And everyone, get out of those prisoner uniforms. I don't want to see that outfit again. I'll forward you all your command packets this evening. Dismissed."
The Officers stood, snapped to attention, then walked out. The Sigg remained in the back.
Colonel Clarke waited 'til the last of his line Officers walked out and the door flap sealed shut. There it was, those who would lead his soldiers. When he first assumed command he had hoped for the wrongly charged, spurned by the system, or just rebels. Now he saw broken soldiers, drunks, addicts, the idiotic and the suicidal. But almost all were at least infantry, his ranks of civilians were mercifully thin.
"Is the training plan ready?" Colonel Clarke said.
Commander Arap snorted and glanced at Umi. "We just boiled down three months of basic maneuvers into two weeks. But Colonel, we just can't cram it all in."
Umi shrugged. "We'll do what we can with the time, but they're gonna be run raw by the time we're done. Colonel, we just can't turn them into an elite unit. Not with two weeks."
"We can't operate like we've always done."
"How did it get like this?" Umi asked. He waved a hand and shook his head. "How can you fight a war like this for thirty-some years and not make progress? I've seen the Vasilov, you have the forces to do it."
"It became an institution, Umi. In the Vasilov Protectorate, you move up in society by serving, and you move higher by serving with distinction. So, through history, the different planets would skirmish and gain a few nobles every time."
Colonel Clarke stepped over to his tablet and changed the screen to show the Vasilov Protectorate planets. Lishun Delta hung on the very edge with gray space on the other side. "Our charter gave Stefan Vasilov the systems up to Lishun Delta. We held a garrison there but saw no value. It has some mineral wealth, but it's a frozen wasteland. Or was until the Kadan came. And then the war started. Commander, you know some of that history, would you please?"
Steel Breach Page 10