Battleground Mars (24 page)

“We’re all set, just say the word.”

“Do it.”

Two seconds later they were running back to the transport. They leapt aboard and he fed power to the engine and they charged out of the cave. Rahm kept his speed up as he threaded the transport along the narrow passages. The lights once more came on and switched off again with their passing. He breathed a sigh of relief as he rounded the last bend and saw the cave entrance framed in the distance. His sigh turned into a hard ball of dread in his stomach. The alarm had triggered a portcullis that had slammed down across the cave, part of their automated defense system. They were trapped. He sat in frozen shock. It was hard to believe that it was all about to end here, trapped by a primitive alien gate that they had insufficient time to open. He realized that Kaz was climbing out. He clutched a thermite charge.

“I’ll plant the charge, so make sure you reverse back enough to stay out of the blast area.”

“Kaz, no, you’ll be fried.”

But he was already running. He shouted back, “if it is God’s will that I die here, so be it. Go back, Rahm, get out of the blast radius!”

He reached the portcullis and started to set the detonator. With a heavy heart, Rahm reversed back down the tunnel. He drove around the first corner and two hundred yards along the tunnel, then the Tauron reinforcements arrived.

“I see them,” Saul said calmly.

Rahm heard the sound of the laser rifles as they opened fire. He looked around, he could see that all of his crew were shooting, Gabi, Kacy, Saul, and Nathan. In front of him, Kaz had finished and walked part way back. He came around the corner and checked his watch. Rahm watched him stand up, then kneel down and prostrate himself on the floor in prayer.

“Saul, close the hatches, it’s about to blow!”

There was just enough time to hear the clang as the shutters slammed down, then the thermite erupted and another fireball scorched the rocks around them. Their transport was lifted up and slammed back down, but they were safe inside its armored hull. The Taurons were thrown back down the tunnel, torn apart by the superheated explosion. Kaz had vanished, he was much nearer the thermite charge, and his body disappeared. But so had the portcullis. Rahm started forward and built up speed. Seconds later they charged out of the cave mouth. Dan and Pete were waiting in the buggy with the doors open, watching for signs of the enemy. Rahm called them on the radio.

“Dan, get moving, hurry, it’s going to explode. Get out of there, you’ve only got seconds.”

They slammed the door and followed as Rahm drove at top speed along the mountain track. They’d perhaps gone a half a mile before the charges blew. A vast tongue of flame spread out of the cave system and reached greedily along the track to consume them with its fiery breath. It came nearer and nearer, Rahm cursed that the buggy had no armor to protect them. Nearer and nearer the flame came, the crews held their breath as the vehicles attempted to outrun it. It hadn’t reached the buggy but they saw the smoke rising off the hull as the intense heat came closer. He could see the frightened faces of the two men urged their vehicle on, the beginnings of despair on their faces at being able to escape the devastating fire. For long seconds it was neck and neck and Rahm could almost share their acceptance of imminent death. But the Grim Reaper had not decided to call their names on this day. Gradually, inch by inch the buggy started to widen the gap as the fireball started to slow and the vehicle hurtled forward at top speed.

“They’re clear!” Saul shouted.

“Thank God. Let’s get back to Mars Base, they’re going to need us as fast as we can get there.”

“Have you forgotten that Tobin Ryles said that he won’t let us through the airlock? Are you planning for us to fight our way in?”

“If necessary, yes. No matter what Ryles says, we need to put our resources together to keep alive until the relief arrives. But that’s not what I’m thinking. That Tauron transport was heading out somewhere, they weren’t carrying drilling equipment. My guess is that it’s a war party, they’re on the way to Mars Base.”

“There’s no way they’ll hold of a Tauron warband. Jesus Christ, Ryles will be totally out of his depth, now that Damian Hacker is dead.”

“Exactly.”

They drove fast across the Martian plain, their war against the aliens was about to reach a climax. They were skirting the Cassini Crater, more than half way back and there was still no sign of the enemy.

“There’s something we haven’t thought of,” Saul said, breaking the silence. “We’re pinning our hopes on the relief ship. The Taurons get periodic relief flights, if they have one due soon, we’ve have a pack of ugly aliens fresh on the planet, gunning for our asses.”

“We have records of alien landings back in Mars Base,” Kacy said from in back of the transport. “I can look them up and form an estimate of when it’s likely to happen.”

“That’ll give us time to prepare,” Rahm nodded.

“If we can get into the base,” Saul reminded him.

They drove on, gloomily aware that if Tobin Ryles was still the panicked wreck they'd left behind, they'd find their problems were far from over. They were only ten miles away when a call came in.

“Mars Base calling mobile unit, this is the Base Manager. Please respond, over.”

They smiled at Ryle’s punctilious use of correct radio procedure. Rahm keyed the microphone.

“What is it, Ryles?”

“We’re in trouble. The Taurons attacked again, they managed to blast a huge hole in the side of the main building. They’re outside the base now, so I think they may be preparing another attack.”

“You think? They’re not out for a stroll, Ryles. What about casualties, was anyone hurt?”

“No, we were lucky. But we lost most of our remaining air supply.”

“How much is left?”

There was a silence for almost a minute. They heard Ryles arguing with one of the base technicians. Then he came back on the radio.

“Our best guess is twenty four hours.”

Rahm shuddered. It meant that they were close to death on Mars. Without air, or the means of scrubbing what they used, death would come sooner rather than later.

“Understood. When we get close, prepare to let us in through the airlock.”

“But, that’ll use four hours of our remaining air. We can’t do that.”

“You have to, Ryles. I’ll ask Dan to go to the cave to continue work on the scrubbers, he can take this transport and get everything up and running. That’ll take care of the worst of our life support problems. We need to enter Mars Base to re-equip and resupply.”

“What are you going to do then?”

“We’re going to go out and finish those monsters.”

Before they crested the last rise before Mars Base, Rahm stopped and they switched vehicles with Dan Weathers. The old engineer wished them luck.

“If you don’t stop those bastards, our work on the scrubbers will be pointless. We may as well all lie down and die.”

Rahm grimaced. “You’re on my team now, both of you. Ask my people, they’ll tell you that I don’t allow anyone to die until I say so. We’re going to live, all of us. We’ll kick these nasty bastards of the face of Mars, and get the trevanium mining back on course.”

Dan held out his hand. “Whatever happens, good luck. I’ll be happy to get home, trevanium or no trevanium.”

“We don’t need any luck, Dan. If we do our jobs, we’ll be fine.”

He shook hands with Pete and watched as they climbed into the Tauron transport and drove away to the cave. He turned to his crew.

“Let’s mount up, time to finish this.”

They climbed to the top of the rise and looked down at Mars Base. The damage was clearly visible, a hold ten feet across ripped into the side. The automatic airlock doors would have closed as soon as the air started to escape, otherwise the entire base would have become an air-starved vacuum within minutes. The Taurons were camped in full view, four of them stood next to their transport, gazing at the base. One of them was the giant.

“How the hell do we deal with something like that?” Saul asked. “He’s invincible, nothing seems to hurt him.”

“You’re right, he’s a big bastard. Cunning, too. Even though they’re looking away, I’ll bet they know we’re here, they’re waiting for us to attack. They’ll have something prepared for us, a surprise.”

“Like what?”

“Like I don’t know. That’s why it’ll be a surprise.”

“We could go straight in, head for the airlock.”

“And if they rammed us just as we went in, it could damage the airlock and no one would ever get in or out.”

“We could do what they want us to do,” Gabi said. “I mean, drive straight down there at speed and head for the base.”

“They’ll cut us off before we get anywhere near,” Rahm countered. “We’ll have to do battle with them, but we need fresh supplies from inside the base before we do.”

“I was thinking of an ambush, let them see what they want to see and lead them on to our own little surprise.”

“Tell me more,” Rahm said, beginning to smile as she explained what she had in mind.

They hurtled out from cover and straight down towards the Tauron transport. The four aliens looked around and jumped into their vehicle. The buggy swerved to avoid it as if they’d seen it at the last moment. Rahm brought the buggy in a looping, one hundred and eighty degree turn that took them away from the base and back up to the top of the rise where they’d come from. The Tauron followed, they were shooting at them now, determined to stop them before they could get lost in the endless craters and valleys that formed the surface of the planet. Four blasts flew past them, the fifth smacked into the back of the buggy. One of the girls squealed in alarm.

“Not long now, just a few more seconds.”

Rahm fought the wheel as they hit a rock, and they almost took off as they crested the top of the rise. He brought the buggy in another curving turn. Around the rock pile that concealed Brad and Saul with the laser cannon, unmounted from the vehicle and positioned behind a wall of heavy stones. They jumped out fast and waited behind the defensive pile with their laser rifles. The transport came at speed over the rim and headed straight towards them. Brad opened fire at point blank range, and they saw holes appear in the bodywork and piece of alloy fly off. The alien vehicle appeared to slow, as if they wished to give battle, but the withering fire of the humans was too much, they were out in the open, attacking a prepared defensive position. Whoever was in charge gave an order and the wounded transport limped away.

“Score one for the good guys,” Saul exulted.

“Yeah, well done, everyone. Let’s get that gun remounted and carry on to Mars Base. They may not be so eager this time to play games with us.”

The journey to Mars Base was uneventful. The Taurons were in full view, clustered around their damaged transport. They watched them go past at a mile distant, but made not further effort to attack. Rahm could feel the eyes of the huge alien boring into him. He had the uneasy feeling that one day soon he’d have to face that monstrous creature. There was something that seemed to link them together, some primeval warrior instinct. There would be no doubt about the outcome if it ever happened. Unless he could even up the odds somehow. But how?

Ryles was reluctant to open the airlock door.

“We’re on lockdown, Rahm, we’re conserving our air. I can’t afford to lose any more.”

“Ryles, you’ve got a pack of bloodthirsty monsters out here baying for your blood. Your only chance is to let us in so that we can re-equip and go out to finish them for good.”

“Or until their relief ship arrives,” Saul muttered beside him.

“Alright, I’ll open the airlock doors. I hope you’re right about this, if anything goes wrong I’ll hold you personally responsible.”

“So I guess I’d lose my contract,” Rahm replied.

“Oh yes, you can count on that,” the manager replied. “You’ll be finished here.”

They were still laughing as they entered the airlock. When the inner door opened and they drove into the garage they stopped laughing. The air was foul, barely breathable. The surviving crew was waiting for them to return. Some glanced enviously at the portable air scrubbers that they were still using. Rahm’s crew took off their helmets but left their suits on, they would not be here for long. Ryles bustled through the crowd and stood in front of them, he managed to look both belligerent and comic at the same time.

“Well? What’s the situation our there?”

He left it to Brad and Nathan to explain what had taken place at Elysium. The rest of them had more important things to do. Gabi led the way to the stores while Kacy went to check the records of alien landings. They had to almost kick the stores technician who was almost asleep. When he awoke his breathing was hoarse as he sucked in the foul air.

“We need supplies. Our laser rifles are almost completely depleted.”

The man waved at the racks of equipment. “Take what you want, I don't care. None of it matters now.”

Saul lifted him up by the collar. “Damnit, is this the way to fight? Don’t you want to live?”

“Live? Whatever we do, we’re done for, we’re almost out of air and the Taurons are camped outside. What’s the use?”