Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) (28 page)

“Are you right skipper?” asked her gunner.

“Been better” she admitted. She spat out another bit of residue. “Sorry” she apologised.

“No need skipper. I would have done it myself but you beat me to the hatch.”

She laughed.

“Warning. Fighters inbound. Missiles away. Take cover.” She heard this second warning from Ivan and prayed they would get ‘em all this time. She checked the COP (common operating picture, which displays where all the friendly and enemy forces are on the map). “Fuck it, there’s even more. Looks like forty still coming our way” she hailed her troop. She checked the ammo states of her vehicles. They had used up 20% of their main gun ammo. “We need to conserve ammo everyone. Only one follow-up per vehicle. They …”

Her voice stopped as she got sight of the enemy column two and half clicks away. “Here they come” she hailed. But so too were the 96 anti-armour munitions. Jess rapidly switched her sights back from thermal to visual as the enemy beam weapons fired in unison at the incoming missiles. She was temporarily blinded by the flashes. When she recovered she could see flames, smoke and dust forming this huge milling cloud above the freeway. She switched to thermals again looking for the moving bright spots.

How they survived she did not know but she hailed “Looks like fourteen still running. Heading our way. Get ready.” She switched channels “Sir I count 14 enemy runners still coming. Can we have some fire support on the kill zone in 3 minutes?  As much as you got.”

“OK confirm 14 AFVs, kill zone in 3. Out” hailed Ivan. He switched to Sue’s direct channel. “Sue kill zone in 3, 30 missiles.”

“We’ll only have four left after that” advised Sue.

“Understood.”

“Wilco.”

“Jim, are you in position and ready to engage?” hailed Ivan.

“Sure are, but it’s going to be at extreme range.”

“I realise that. Just fire half when they enter. Keep the rest if you need to close.”

“Right” said Jim not relishing the prospect of having to cross the open to close with enemy AFVs and warriors. “Here they come now. Out.”

“On my command wait for it…” hailed Jim to his marines. He only had 16 Rizstorms in the group with him. He wasn’t feeling confident about this but he knew they were committed.

The leading enemy AFVs were grinding their way down and around the off ramp. The leading AFV would have caught sight of three burning AFVs in front of him about two hundred metres not to mention a couple of dozen bodies strewn across the field. It stopped about twenty metres shy of the end of the ramp and disgorged its warriors. The two behind it did likewise. Twenty four warriors moved forward and then jumped off the ramp and scrambled into the culvert of the road below. They began setting up their launchers, completely unaware that human eyes were watching them from only 300m behind. Jim’s marines and the fifty lightly armed warriors of Group Kaant were deployed in the rubble ready to fire.

Jim realised that the AFVs were not going to move ahead. He guessed rightly that more warriors would come down and deploy to support the AFVs.

Jess came to the same conclusion. “Hold that strike” she hailed. Ivan relayed the hold order to Sue just in time.

Sure enough more Imperialist warriors began moving from the off ramp and spreading along the culvert which afforded good cover from sight to Jess’s battlewagons.

“Incoming mortar fire” warned Val. “We’ve got a fix. Do you want us to deal with it.”

“Affirmative” said Ivan just as the first round came down short of the hangars where Jess’s battlewagons were deployed. The enemy only bothered with the one spotting round before firing for effect.

“Pull back” ordered Jess as the shells hit.

“Tango 3’s gone” hailed someone. Jess was being jostled as her driver was gunning the big beast backwards at maximum revs. Big 150 mm  shells were smashing through the hangars. The enemy commander on the freeway saw her three surviving battlewagons pulling back and radioed the adjustment.

The battlewagons were not designed to be reversing at such speed but they were being tested right now. The engines were whining at high revs. The next salvo of shells overshot. The enemy commander ordered his AFVs to assault. They pushed down onto the road and began to reorganise into line facing south west directly at the terminal.

As the Resolute’s barrage of ten missiles silenced the enemy mortars back in the city, Jim gave the order to fire. The enemy AFVs were facing with their backs to this latest threat. The range was on the long side but they would have little defence.

Five of the Rizstorms hit their target, which was pretty good for the range. But now the remaining nine AFVs began turning their turrets. ‘Fuck keeping a reserve’ said Jim to himself. He ordered the remaining rizstorms fired. But by this time the AFVs were firing their beam weapons. The 300m gap between the forces was being filled with an immense quantity of pulse fire from quanto and rifles, grenade launchers, rockets and beam weapons.

A lot of the imperialist foot soldiers were cut down in the back before they realised what was happening. Many recovered well though, turned and returned fire. Another three AFVs were knocked out but the surviving six used their beam weapons to devastating effect. Marines and Kaant warriors were being killed around him. Jim had no weapons to deal with the enemy AFVs. “Pull back” he ordered. The whole action had lasted only a few minutes.

The enemy saw the humans retreating north westward but did not opt to pursue – that would be heading away from their objective. Buoyed by their success the warrior remounted their vehicles. These changed facing towards the south. They began accelerating and shook out into a wedge formation as they assaulted.

By the time Ivan realised what was happening the enemy was accelerating across the field. He knew it would be very hard to hit them with a bombardment while they were moving so fast.

Jess’s three battlewagons were still reversing to their next position which was the south east corner of the terminal building. She had 500m to go. Her vision of the off ramp was masked by the remains of the hangars and the angle caused by the slight depression they had entered. She was now coming back out of it. As the off ramp came back into view she could see six enemy AFVs not heading straight toward her but due south across the open field on her right. She knew they would turn westward once they skirted the hangars, which would be real soon. But that suited her fine. She would enfilade them from their left.

Emilio was watching all of this play out from his command droid located under the main concourse in the service area. He was waiting on the command from Ivan to commit his 2
^nd
Droid Coy to a counter attack. He wasn’t happy about this. He thought it a big waste. Yes a droid was metal but it melted real quickly when subjected to a beam at close range. He agreed with Ivan that they would probably take out some of the enemy AFVs before they were despatched. But he still didn’t like it. Perhaps Ivan was right that he was getting attached to his ‘metal monsters’, but throwing them away like this went against the grain even if they were not flesh and blood.

“We can take them” hailed Jess to Ivan. Her blood was up now. She hated losing people and she hated losing… full stop.

Ivan was at the window looking through his sight. He had his console on a small table he had dragged over to the window. He glanced back down to the console and saw the icons for Jess’s tangoes He looked back through his sight and could see the lead enemy AFV coming past the hangars. He could see the clear line of sight Jess would have. The real question is whether or not they could despatch them quick enough. He did not want to lose another battlewagon with four people in it. He would rather waste a platoon of droids. 

“Engaging” advised Jess.

As the first shots were fired from the tangoes he realised the decision had been made for him. ‘I’ll have to be quicker than that next time’ he chastised himself.

The range between the tangoes and the enemy AFVs was 700m when the first shot was fired. A minute later two AFVs were knocked out and four had closed to 500m and begun firing their beam weapons. Her tangoes were taking it in turn to duck back and then come forward from around the corner of the terminal building. It was snap shooting but it meant they stood a chance of surviving.

They bagged another AFV over the next 300m dash. The surviving three AFVs unloaded their warriors at 200m from the terminal. The warriors were pumping their legs to shake out into a line formation and assault west to the terminal building. As they did so Argha’s 3
^rd
Platoon opened up on them. His marines fired off all four of their Rizstorms but only took out one AFV. Thankfully the AFVs were more worried about the battlewagons as they kept ducking out and peppering them. They were no longer moving forward but firing their beam weapon in bursts at the corner of the building which was only 150m away.

But the marines were taking a heavy toll on the dismounted warriors. Out in the open they were being cut down. They tried advancing in rushes but that soon petered out. The survivors were now all prone and trying to seek what cover they could from the minor undulations of the ground. Slowly they were being annihilated from pulse, grenades and sniper fire.

Like cornered rats with nowhere to go, the two remaining AFVs desperately kept firing. Then there was one, its mate going up in flames from a direct hit from Tango 4. The driver of the remaining AFV panicked and began reversing. As he did so the few remaining warriors turned and ran too. None got across the field to the hangars.

Emilio sent out one of his droid platoons to sweep the field. They took no fire and reported all clear when they reached the far side of the hangars.

Argha was covered in blood as he tried to save the life of the marine writhing on the floor next to him. He had been shot in the stomach. Argha and one other marine were trying to hold him down so they could give him a shot of opiate but that was proving difficult. His innards were oozing out as he struggled. Suddenly all effort stopped and he died.

“Fuck!!” yelled out the marine assisting him. He looked into Argha’s eyes and began crying. He was covered in blood and entrails too. In that moment it struck Argha that this was a shit of a way to earn a living.

Satisfied that there were no more enemy threats about, Ivan ran down stairs to check up on Argha. He found him kneeling over a body supporting a sobbing marine all covered in blood. There was a touch of déjà vu in the scene he was now witnessing; only the roles were different. A year ago he had been the inconsolable soldier weeping for the loss of his lover Sheri, struck down in the assault through the Pluton tunnels on Klaster. It was Emilio instead of Argha holding him tight and doing his best to comfort him while the pulse fire ranged down the tunnel and it had been Dave witnessing it from the other side of the tunnel.

He had been inconsolable then but time and good friends had helped. He would never forget that experience and he knew that this marine here and Argha would not forget this either. In that detached state that sometimes occurs under extreme stress he asked himself ‘how many times has this scene been played out through the ages. Will it always be thus?’

Argha stared straight at him from across the room strewn with debris. There was a question burning in that gaze and it brought Ivan back to the present. He looked around and saw there were more bodies. He cursed himself for not committing the droids sooner. ‘Better a bot than a body’ he remonstrated to himself.

Chapter 17. Lewista 0715, 15 August

Madge noticed it straight away when she came out to the living area to get some breakfast. Both Felis and Evie were already up. They were talking together in quiet voices trying not to disturb those still asleep. There was something not quite right. She stopped near the corridor and listened. She then realised that the tone of their voices was different. There wasn’t the edginess she was used to hearing. It was almost convivial.

“Morning Madge” said Evie as she noticed her.

“Good Morning” said Madge in a quiet voice conforming to the current mood in the room. She hadn’t seen Evie smile since they landed but here she was having conversation that brought an easy smile to her face. ‘Something’s shifted’ she concluded.

Madge made her way to the kitchen and rummaged in some of the bags of groceries that Erkum had deposited last night. She was looking for some cereal to have for breakfast. She held up a sealed foil bag all brightly packaged. She could not work out the text. Holding it high she asked “What’s this?”

Felis glanced over and gave her a smile. ‘That was definitely a first’ she thought. “It’s um….it’s good…not too sweet…you’ll like it?” He went back to his discussion with Evie. Madge tried to open the bag. She assumed there must be some tag to pull or some perforated strip to tear but on closer examination she found none. In frustration she asked “How do I open this?”

Evie chuckled as she stood up, came over and with her thumb and fore finger of each hand gripped the top of the bag at the centre and then, maintaining the grip, ran her fingers to the edge. She then tapped the side of the bag at the top and it popped open.

Madge gave an expression which said ‘so that’s how it’s done.’ Evie smiled at her again and returned back to the dining table. Felis began talking to her again. Madge found a bowl and poured out the yellow and orange flakes into it. She opened the fridge that masqueraded as a wall panel unless you knew otherwise. She saw a bottle of wine and a plastic container with pea green liquid in it. Again she turned to Evie “Milk?” she asked and held up the container.

Evie smiled at her for the third time. “Not really but close enough. Use it.”

“OK” said Madge and poured a little on. With a spoon she took a taste. “Not bad” she said out loud and poured more. She took her bowl and sat down at the table at the far end, where Felis had sat last night. It did have the best view. The sun was up though she found it a softer light than on Polaris. “I didn’t see any juice” she said.