Saint (Gateway Series Book 2) (11 page)

“Is this for manual control if it fails,” added Stone.

Mori gave him a quick smile. “Looks like you’re good to go,” she said as she shoved the control console for the comms equipment into a pouch on her vest.

“Oh, almost forgot,” added Mori.

Stone felt a sharp pain in his right arm and a sudden rush of energy. He looked over to see Mori pulling an ejection pen from his arm.

“What the hell?” he asked.

“That’ll purge some nitrogen from your body and give you an oxygen boost for the jump…You’re welcome.”

“Six minutes ’til contact. Over target in three.”

Mori activated the comms toggle switch again. “Katalya, is the pod ready?”

“Ready and loaded into the jettison bay. Good hunting, tanka” came the reply.

“Stay safe, c’uwé,” said Mori before she disengaged the toggle.

Stone slid the mask over his face and tightened the bands. Once tight, he checked the seal and quickly connected the hoses.

“Over target in two.”

“Let’s get to the boarding compartment,” ordered Mori to the group.

Stone and the others rushed toward the compartment. Despite the added bulk, they made it in thirty seconds. Inside the compartment, Mori turned to speak.

“Stack up!” she ordered.

Stone took his position behind Mori and Henry, with Sandwick and Thay behind him.

“We’re in,” Mori reported to Orion over the intercom.

“Roger. Depressurizing,” replied Orion. “One minute until green light.”

Stone felt the air fill his suit as the compartment depressurized. Holding his left wrist to his face mask, he verified the data screen read the correct data.

Altitude: 84 km

Temp: -90C

Suit Temp: 22C

Press: .04 ATM

Suit Press: 1.00 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 5

“Opening outer hatch,” warned Mori.

Stone looked out of the hatch into the void and saw the darkness of space mixing with the atmosphere of Echo 2. Looking over the curvature of the planet, a pang of excitement ran over his body—excitement he hadn’t felt since he was a young lieutenant. Maybe he did come out of the ceremonies a new man.

“Standby for go,” reported Orion as the light in the compartment turned red.

He looked up toward the counter above the hatch: 5, 4, 3, 2…

Stone took in a deep breath of the canned air flowing through his mask and the light turned green.

Mori stepped forward and disappeared. Then Henry. Stone stepped toward the opening and fell forward. He instantly felt the acceleration of the planet’s gravity and the airflow of the suit adjust to his rapidly decreasing altitude. He placed the data screen to his face:

Altitude: 79 km

Temp: -85C

Suit Temp: 21.5C

Press: .03 ATM

Suit Press: 1.02 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 2

After a second, Stone turned on his back to look back toward
Hydra
. Blue haze encompassed the ship as
Hydra
initiated a jump, disappearing in a brilliant, bluish-yellow line heading into deep space.

Falling toward the planet, Stone shifted his body to keep himself on target for the pinned drop zone.

Altitude: 25 km

Temp: -34C

Suit Temp: 21C

Press: .4 ATM

Suit Press: 1.00 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 1

Stone continued his rapid descent. To the north he could make out fires lighting up the night sky and to his east, what looked like a large city.

Altitude: 10 km

Temp: -5C

Suit Temp: 22C

Press: .68 ATM

Suit Press: .98 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 1

Looking toward the ground below him, he saw only darkness. Orion had definitely picked an out of the way drop zone.

Altitude: 2.5km

Temp: 5C

Suit Temp: 21C

Press: .99 ATM

Suit Press: 1.00 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 1

Stone felt his suit fully deflate and he took a quick moment of reflection to listen to the roar of the air and feel its exhilarating sting as he sped toward the ground.

Altitude: 2 km

Temp: 10C

Suit Temp: 21C

Press: .92 ATM

Suit Press: 1.00 ATM

Drop Target Pin: Activated

Degrees off target: 0

Activate—activate—activate
read across the data screen.

Stone reached toward the lanyard and activated the chute. He heard the compressed air rush through his parachute system as the chute deployed. The chute caught the air and slammed his body out of the free fall, causing him to let out a small groan.

“Report deployment of chutes,” ordered Mori over the short-range comms.

“Good,” reported Sandwick.

“Hoka-hey!” shouted Henry.

“Good deployment,” Thay stated.

Stone was last. “Good to go.”

“Roger all,” replied Mori. “Once you’re on the ground, move toward the drop-pod signal.”

Stone looked toward his data screen. The altitude read 500 meters. Focusing on the ground below, he could start to make out shapes below him. 300 meters. “Trees…shit,” he said out loud as he recognized the shapes.
This is gonna hurt
.

50 meters.

Stone crossed his arms and bent his knees slightly as he anticipated impact. He heard the snapping of tree limbs followed by a hard impact to his right leg. Whipped sideways by the collision, he then felt sharp blows to his right arm and ribs as he tumbled through the heavy foliage.

Suddenly it stopped with a thud as he hit the ground. Sucking in a breath, Stone took a second to assess the damage. Although his ribs throbbed and he was sure he had a nice collection of bruises, everything seemed to be moving.

Stone pulled the face mask off his face and slowly reached for the latch on his chest to disconnect the chute. Next, he pulled himself to a kneeling position and shrugged off the heavy jump apparatus. Free of the jump gear, he pulled a pair of light-enhancing goggles from his jump pack and slid them over his face. Instantly the darkness of the night was transformed into daylight as he detached his rifle, brought it to the ready, and scanned the forest for movement.

Stone soon felt the weight of the rifle straining his muscles and his breathing grew labored.
Damn it…gravity
, he remembered. Taking an injection stick from a pocket in his trousers, he flipped open the cap and drove the needle into his thigh. In a few minutes he began to breathe normally and the rifle once again felt like an extension of his body.

With the area clear and his body adjusted to the gravity, Stone quickly removed the rest of the jump gear and rearranged his combat equipment. He quietly rolled the chute and jumpsuit into a ball and found some branches and leaves to cover the pack. Luckily, he had brought half the forest down with him as he tore through the heavy foliage so there was plenty of camouflage for the equipment. Once the gear was hidden, he headed into the forest to find the pod and the others.

***

Martin watched the artificial light reflect off the blade of her combat knife as she spun it on the wooden desk. As the tip dug into the surface, she let out a sigh of impatience. Martin and Tacitus, given the corvette
Cerilus
and a company of Marines to carry out their hunt for Stone and Mori, had sat for days in the space between the Foxtrot and Echo Systems waiting for intelligence that might lead them to their prey.

“Do you have to do that?” complained Tacitus as he sat across the empty room from Martin.

Martin looked up toward Tacitus. The longer the two were together, the more Arilius Tacitus’s First Family traits drove her insane. Martin knew he was a great soldier and she would trust him with her life in the field, but damn it, he was a pompous pain in the ass the rest of the time. At least she could always infuriate him with her blunt approach to, well, everything.

“Would you rather I do something more, um, sophisticated, Paladin Tacitus?” Martin smiled as she stood and curtsied toward Tacitus. As she rose, she raised her right hand, still holding the blade, and presented her middle finger. “Better, milord?” she quipped.

Martin could see Tacitus’s jaw clench and his shoulders tighten. “Why must you constantly push the limits of behavior and purposely antagonize me?”

“Why must you constantly have a stick up your ass?”

Tacitus rose from his seat. “Do not forget, Martin, that I am the senior officer—”

“Not so sure about that,” interrupted Martin. “We’re both majors and I don’t remember her highness, the exalted queen bitch, saying which one of us was senior when she made us Paladins.” If Martin knew anything, it was how to piss off First Family members. She had actually transformed it into an art form. “And,” she continued, “like the ProConsul said, we’re bloodhounds, not the fancy little purebred furballs that infest the First Family houses. Maybe it’s time you got down off your high horse and played in filth with the rest of the dogs. Or maybe I’ll just have to rub your nose in it.” Martin paused.
Should I go there
? she thought to herself.
Yes
. “Don’t forget, all of your First Family fanciness didn’t stop your precious ProConsul from taking title of all of Cataline’s holdings after the Traitor beheaded him.”

“I’ve had just about enough of your tongue, commoner,” retorted Tacitus.

Martin saw Tacitus place his hand on his sword. Other than Stone, Tacitus was the only other Guard member still alive she thought to be her peer in combat. Maybe it was time to find out who was top dog.

“Why, Arilius Tacitus,” she said as she smiled and gripped her sword, pulling it from its sheath. “Are you asking me to dance?”

Martin heard the metal of Tacitus’s sword sing as he yanked it from his sheath and brought it to the ready. Then he paused. Martin saw his brow furrow as he let out a slight puff of an exhale.

“This is ludicrous,” he declared. “We have a mission and we are about to fight one another. There is no need for this, Paladin Martin.”

Martin knew goading him into a fight was bad—bad for the mission and maybe even bad for herself. But she never backed down. Never. His pause had left her an escape from her own stubbornness. Half relieved she was able to escape the consequences of her loud mouth and half disappointed she hadn’t been able to find out who was the better swordsman, reason prevailed. She slowly returned her sword to its home. At least Tacitus had blinked first. Even if it was more out of logic than fear, she would take it. “You’re right, of course,” she conceded. “But don’t forget you’re the one that cried uncle.” She couldn’t help herself.

“You just really don’t know how to keep your damn mouth shut do you?”

“Excuse me, Paladins,” interrupted Commander Talendo,
Cerilus
’s executive officer. He had entered the room sometime during the argument and finally made himself known to hopefully bring it to an end.

“What is it, XO?” asked Martin.

“Our listening station in the Echo System picked up something. It doesn’t seem like much but you said you wanted word of anything.”

“Yes,” replied Tacitus. “What is it?”

“We picked up two neutrino concentrations near Echo 2. Both were within less than an hour of each other. We picked up a small craft, most likely a falcon class, but it apparently jumped before identification could be made.”

Martin looked toward Tacitus. She could tell he was thinking the same thing as her.

“HALO?” he posited, knowing he was right.

“That’s them,” she declared. She turned toward the executive office. “XO, get us to Echo 2. Get us a transport and the best pilot you have and tell them to plot and follow the track of that ship to the letter.”

“Yes, Paladin Martin,” acknowledged the XO with a salute.

“And tell Captain Parsons I want him and twelve of his best marines on that transport with us.”

“Yes, Paladin,” replied the XO again before he turned and hurriedly exited the compartment.

“I think we’ve got them,” said Tacitus.

“And I guess our dance will just have to wait.” Martin smiled as she stepped in close to Tacitus. “But don’t forget, I like to lead.”

Chapter 9

The transition of the thrusters from a roar to a low hum told Martin the transport had touched down and the engines were powering down. As the door opened, she felt the rush of air over her face and heard the rumble of Captain Parsons and his marines rushing past her through the opening. Although they were loud, obnoxious, and basically a blunt object of war, Martin also knew the marines to be resilient, loyal, and brave. And it never hurt to have a pissed off, bullheaded marine on your side in a firefight.

The injections hadn’t yet taken full effect and Martin felt the increased weight of the pack and her weapons as she stepped through the opening and scanned the landscape. The transport had put down at the edge of a large field of golden-brown wheat near a large deciduous forest. In the distance was a small mountain range, its peaks encased in grayish-black clouds.

“That’s better,” said Tacitus as he stopped beside Martin.

Martin could see the relief on his face as her own load grew lighter by the second. “We need to head that way,” declared Martin as she pointed toward a dip in the mountain range.

“Agreed,” replied Tacitus. “They would want to make it to the front lines without too much attention.”

“That’s what I would do. And if they came down into this forest up ahead, they could move along that ridge and then through that pass.”

As Martin looked toward Tacitus, she saw him flip through a data screen he had pulled from his pocket. “Looks like the heaviest fighting is near the city of Yali, about a day or two beyond the pass.”

“Well, we better get moving then,” replied Martin. “Parsons!” she yelled as she turned away from Tacitus and toward the captain.

She watched as the captain rose from cover and jogged toward her.

“Paladin Martin,” he reported with a salute.

“Have the pilots put the transport right on the edge of that tree line and camouflage it so it can’t be seen from the air.”

“Yes, Paladin.”

“Also,” added Tacitus, “you and your men set up a perimeter and wait for our call.”

“We won’t be joining you?” asked Parsons.

Martin could see the frustration on Parsons’s face. Marines didn’t like being left behind.

“No,” she replied. “We need to move fast and quiet. Besides,” she continued, “when it hits the fan, you guys get to ride in and fuck some shit up.”

Martin saw a contemplative look on Parsons’s face. No doubt he was envisioning his marines emerging from an epic, cinematic explosion with guns blazing and war faces shining to save the day.

“Understood, ma’am,” he acknowledged.

With Parsons appeased, Martin turned toward Tacitus. He placed his data screen back in his pocket, pulled out a pair of UV glasses, and slowly slid them over his eyes. “You ready, Martin?” He smiled.

“Always,” she replied, sliding on her own glasses. “Let’s go hunting.”

***

A slow, steady drizzle of cold rain impacting the foliage caused a low rumble as Stone peered through the scope of his sniper rifle. A small town was just becoming visible through the fog as the daylight broke. In the days since their high altitude jump, Stone, Mori, and the others had what each would have called a typical mission experience—constant rain, freezing nights, and a general lack of sleep. Avoiding populations, they had clandestinely moved closer to the front lines of the fight between the Saint’s Crucesignatis Army and the Triad Alliance trying to stop it. For the last two days the team had seen several motorized convoys and super- and subsonic aircraft fly overhead.

Stone watched the edge of the town from his concealed position. Fossil fuel cars darted back and forth, and the townspeople seemed to be about their daily business. In the distance, however, he could hear the concussions of large explosions. The front lines were not far away.

“Anyone down there armed?” asked Thay from his position next to Stone.

“Doesn’t look like it,” he replied. “Just normal everyday—check that—” Stone paused as a truck speeding into his view drew his attention. The large truck, with military markings, stopped at a park on the outskirts of the town and about ten armed men jumped from the back and took up positions around the park. Two more trucks pulled into the area and more men poured out and lined up in a formation in the center of the park.

“Armor,” commented Thay.

Stone scanned the area with his scope. A few hundred meters behind the trucks rumbled two armored vehicles. In the lead was a wheeled vehicle with a 25 mm cannon mounted on a turret. Behind it rattled another a massive, tracked behemoth with a gun of at least 120 mm and several other smaller guns jutting out from the armor shell.

“You guys picking this up?” came Mori’s voice over the comms circuit.

“Roger,” replied Thay. “We’ve got about thirty armed men and some armor out to the southeast.”

“Copy. We see ’em.”

Stone heard a rustle in the brush behind and turned quickly to see Henry River take up a position to his left.

Stone looked down from his position toward Mori’s. Although he couldn’t physically see her, he knew both her and Sandwick were a few hundred meters from the entrance to the park, concealed near a bridge that stretched across a small stream.

“Triad troops, I’m guessing” came Sandwick’s voice.

“Must be,” replied Stone. “The action is still a day or so to the north. They must be reinforcements.”

“Let’s stay concealed and observe,” directed Mori. “We don’t know enough about either side yet.”

As Stone looked through his scope, he saw the streets now empty except for the troops. “Looks like the locals have cleared out,” he reported.

“Yeah. They’re all gone,” replied Mori.

Stone felt uneasy. If these troops were reinforcements to defend against an invading horde, why did the townspeople evaporate when they arrived? “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Stone warned the others.

“Me too,” replied Mori. “Thay, Henry, make your way down to us. Tyler, cover us if shit goes bad.”

“Roger,” replied Stone as he felt Thay rise from his position.

Thay and Henry quickly disappeared into the bushes. As he repositioned his weapon for a better arc of fire, Stone was glad Katalya had packed the drop pod well; if things went bad, Stone and his long-range 12 mm rifle would be the only cover Mori, Sandwick, Henry, and Thay would have.

He activated the data information for his weapon. It displayed wind speed, humidity, and range. As Stone focused his crosshairs on one of the trucks, it read two thousand meters. “Easy day,” he whispered to himself as he laid out four magazines for quick access.

“We’ve got movement,” reported Mori over the circuit.

Stone peered through the sights. The formation had broken up, the men spreading out to search the nearby buildings. From two thousand meters, Stone watched and listened to the other’s comms circuits.

Suddenly a door on one of the buildings flew open and two men from the town exited, followed by one of the armed men. Panning to the left, he saw more men moving toward the park, followed by more soldiers.

“Looks like they’re rounding up the men,” reported Mori.

Stone could hear the tension in Mori’s voice and he instantly remembered the incident with the slavers in the November System. Stone turned his weapon toward Mori’s position. As his sighting system focused, he saw Thay and Henry moving along the bank of the stream to take a flanking position.

“Tyler” came Mori’s voice over the comms circuit.

“Yes,” he replied.

“If anything looks wrong, open up on them.”

“Roger,” he replied as he trained his weapon on the park.

“Henry, can you hear anything?” asked Mori.

Henry, now closer to the park, answered. “Sounds like a conscription party. The officer near the center of the park keeps talking about duty to the Triad and that it’s their duty to die fighting the enemy hordes.”

Stone was conflicted. Did they have the right to stop forced conscription by the governments in power against an invading army? The Humani conscripted. But was he even Humani anymore?
Stop thinking so much
, he chastised himself as he peered through the sights again. He saw another door burst open. This time it was a girl, maybe in her teens. She ran across the street and latched onto a man standing among the new conscripts. One of the guards pulled her away from the man; she jumped back up and ran toward him again.

“Henry, what the hell’s happening over there?” asked Mori.

Stone could tell the anxious energy in Mori’s voice.

“I can’t tell,” he replied. “They just pulled her away again.”

Stone saw the girl try to stand, only to receive a kick to her ribs and fall again. The man in the ranks stepped forward but was knocked to the ground with the butt of a rifle.

“This is going sideways,” declared Mori. “Get ready.”

“Shit,” said Stone out loud as he shifted the safety to off on his rifle.

The girl rose again. This time an officer walked over to the girl and raised his pistol to her head. Stone centered the crosshairs on the officer’s chest. Range: 1,950 meters. He saw the recoil of the officer’s pistol and the girl crumple to the ground. He didn’t need to wait for the order he knew was coming. Before he could hear the crack from the killer’s pistol, the thunderous boom of his own rifle rang out and he felt the force against his shoulder as he fired. Looking down the scope he saw the round impact the officer and his chest explode in mist of red.

Stone turned toward the officer perched atop the large tracked tank. As he heard the burp of automatic weapons from Mori and the others, he fired again. The officer jerked backward and then slumped forward and disappeared into the open hatch.

“Moving up!” shouted Mori through the circuit.

Stone glanced toward her position and saw Mori and Sandwick rush across fifty meters of open ground and take cover behind a concrete embankment. As they dove behind the cover, the large tank fired and the shell exploded on the other side of the embankment, showering Mori and Sandwick with debris.

“You good?” shouted Stone into the circuit.

“Y-Yeah” coughed Mori. “Thay, try to flank that armor.”

“On the way,” he responded.

Stone turned his attention on the wheeled armored vehicle. It turned and starting rolling toward Mori’s direction, spewing 25 mm shells as it advanced, the
thud-thud-thud
of its firing booming over the automatic small arms fire. He focused his sights on the rear of the vehicle, activated the data screen, and flipped through the data with a rolling toggle near the handgrip. It didn’t take long to find the data he wanted. Material:
steel, thickness: 2–2.5 cm
.

“Gotcha,” he said to himself.

Stone quickly rolled on to his side and grabbed the clip with a yellow marking indicating heavy metal rounds. Slamming the clip into the rifle, Stone looked down the sights. The vehicle was only a few meters from Mori.

Three quick rounds from Stone’s rifle sent smoke billowing from the rear of the vehicle as it slowly came to a halt almost on top of Mori and Sandwick.

“The wheeled one is down but watch out for the gun,” reported Stone.

“Roger,” acknowledged Mori.

As Stone looked on, Mori jumped from behind the embankment and sprinted toward the disabled vehicle. He watched as Mori pulled a shaped charge from her pack and slapped in to the side of the tank. He was watching her arm the charge when he saw the hatch for the tank open and a man climb out with a rifle in hand.

“Mori—turret!” he shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Stone was over 1,900 meters away, however, and before his shot could reach the man, Mori’s and Sandwick’s rounds tore the tanker apart.

Stone saw Mori finish setting the charge and then dive back over the cover as the explosion blew a hole the size of a man in the side of the tank. Flames erupted out of the open turret and barrel of the main gun as the weapons inside cooked off. Mori and Sandwick moved forward past the burning hulk and toward the buildings on the opposite side of the park.

Stone next turned his sights on the massive tracked tank. He pulled up the armor data:
composite-layered and 4–5 cm
.

“Damn it,” he said in frustration. His rounds would not penetrate its shell.

“You’re gonna have to take that big bastard out up close,” he warned Mori and the others.

“Roger,” she acknowledged. “Keep our asses covered!”

“You got it,” he answered as his rifled recoiled again; 1,930 meters away, a man fell out of the second story of a building.

“We’re clearing the building east of the park,” reported Thay. “Eight down.”

“Roger,” acknowledged Mori.

Stone figured between the others and his sharpshooting, there probably weren’t more than seven or eight combatants left. But there was still that armored monster. Stone saw the tank pivot and accelerate toward the building Thay and Henry were clearing. Suddenly it stopped and sent a round into the building. The left corner of the three-story structure exploded in a fiery ball with glass, brick, and wood flying in all directions as the rest of the building standing shifted violently.