Siege of Terra (The Mavrik Woods Series, Book 1) (35 page)

“Thanks Captain, keep me up to date on any Intel you can get. I’m going to take the Base equipment and set up camp, we will rally any survivors there, your job will to pick them up and get them medical attention.”

“Alright Colonel, good luck out there.”

While I was talking to Jayon I was retracing my steps to the halfway point to the cockpit. From there I add a few new turns and find myself in the cargo bays, which is where I was going all along. The bay looks different seeing as they’d taken out the pods that I’d flown in during my first mission.

The entire unit is already in full gear and are ready to debark. I’m not nearly as ready as they are; all I need are my weapons. Before I’d boarded
Comets End
I had donned on my full s.m.a.r.t armour. Time conservation is always smart, otherwise now I’d be screwed because the fastest someone can get fully into the armour is two minutes and thirteen seconds, that’s time that we can’t afford to waste.

I go over to the gun rack that had been installed and pick up one of the sniper rifles; I clip it into the back slots on my armour. Next I quickly search for the rifles that are lined up nice and neat against the wall parallel to the snipers. I’d completely forgotten that my pistol is still in its holster, my trusty pistol that’s killed many Hakorians in its time.

I take in one deep breath of fresh air before I unclip the helmet that’s attached to my side. I place it over my head. It’s pitch black inside for several seconds before the HUD activates; information of my surroundings flashes into existence in front of my eyes.

While I’m busy getting my weapons the unit is setting up a rappelling system through the opening bay in the floor, where the escape pods launched from.

My intercom crackles to life, Jayons voice comes through quietly.

“Colonel, we’ve arrived at the destination, prepare for drop off.”

I wonder why his voice is so quiet; maybe something’s wrong with the reception.

“Unit one, go, go, go!” I bark out to the troops.

Every soldier grabs the rope and loops it through a buckle that’s slightly protruding from the waist. Each goes down rather quickly, they soon disappear as they leave my view once they rappelled. I do a quick double check around the room to make sure that everyone’s disembarked.

I grab the rope with one hand and loop it around and through the buckle. Most have a hard time falling into nothing but air, but I’m trained for this. Out of all the training exercises that I did during my training, rappelling is by far the most exhilarating.

It takes a second for the rope to absorb my fall, I pinch the rope tight with both hands. Luckily, my gloves are designed to withstand enormous amounts of heat. However, I can still feel the burning heat as the friction goes through my gloves; it almost feels like ten thousand tiny blades are constantly piercing my skin.

My boots hit the ground hard, the impact goes all the way up into my body, it makes my teeth rattle against each other. It took several attempts during training and pure common sense to keep your mouth shut when rappelling quickly. As I recall one of my fellow cadets had actually bit most of his tongue off as he hand slipped from brake position. The kid yelped out in surprise, that’s when his feet made contact with the ground; severing his tongue in the process.

I let go of the rope and reach around to my back, I unclip my assault rifle; now that I’m armed I crouch down low to the ground and survey the scene. We’d rappelled to the very bottom; it’s been a long time since my feet have been planted firmly on real ground.

What I’m staring at is almost nothing, all that remains of this section of the city is rubble, and some building chunks that’d managed to survive. Tears almost begin to form on my eyes, it’s a sad sight to see my entire home destroyed.

“Ground team start making a perimeter, we need to set up a base camp for survivors to rally to,” they don’t hesitate one bit following those orders.

They instantly spread in groups of three, all four groups going in their own way, scouting ahead to see if there’ll be any hostile contact.

“HQ, come in,” I pause.

I gaze around, as far as I can see there’s only destruction. Something catches my eye for a split second in the sky before it disappears again. Before I try to track it down again my intercom chirps at me.

“Colonel Woods this is HQ, status report.”

“We just made touchdown, my unit is currently setting up a perimeter. We’re going to set up a base camp for survivors to assemble for pickup.”

“Acknowledged. Proceed with the plan, you are designated Aspin Base, you are to hold your position for ten hours, after that time has passed you have clearance to begin searching. Good hunting Colonel.”

“Aspin Base out,” I switch off the intercom, there’s nothing else to do now but wait for my team to get back from their sweep. It’s going to be a long and dark day, one that’ll determine the fate of mankind.

****

Day 34: Cycle 3: Period 2: Year 2397

 It hadn’t taken long for my team to get back, after a few short minutes after our arrival we’d set up a base of operations, unfortunately it’s not in the best location. The northern side of the camp’s on the side of a hill, it’s the best location that we’d been able to drop into.

We’d brought with us a portable material that engineers designed to expand when introduced to a certain liquid, once it’s introduced the material then hardened into a very dense metal. It isn’t indestructible but it can withstand bombardment from human based weapons for some time. The base is shaped like a dome, with a mounted turret protruding from the top that we have attached.

Hours and hours go by, it’s regulation that we stay by the base camp for a certain amount of time and make sure that there’s no sign of the enemy.

The relay that we’d brought along is broadcasting a certain signal that any soldier can decode, all that’s contained in the transmission is a set of coordinates; the coordinates of the base camp.

I peer through one of the windows that’s located in the northern wall. I look up to the sky; something catches my eye again. I get as close as I can to the window with my helmet still on.

I reach to the back of my helmet to take it off. I would’ve taken it off earlier, at the time though I wasn’t sure if there would’ve been any activity outside the dome.

 No survivors have shown up yet, our time is almost up anyways; in a little more than five minutes we’ll be allowed to start our search.

Before I unclip my helmet the ground shakes violently, the sky is lighting up with giant explosions. There’s no way to tell what’s causing them, but one can only guess that there’s contact with the enemy.

My intercom explodes with radio chatter.

“Sir!” One of the soldiers yells, “there are multiple contacts from various directions, we need backup out here!”

I spin around to the spot where I’d put down my assault rifle. I pick it up as I run towards the entrance of the dome.

I stationed eight of the soldiers outside to patrol the perimeter. Three more are inside waiting for their next shift and there’s always one that rotated out between the others for the turret that’s mounted on top of the dome.

I rush out the entrance of the dome, the sky lights up with enemy fire; explosions are going off from every direction. My HUD is picking up several locations of enemy vehicles; they resemble tanks from the faint outline that I’m picking up. There’s no way to tell how many of them there are though. I stop at one of the perimeter markers; beside me is Sargent Daniel Watts, the soldier that was there when I was rescued from the transport ship only days ago.

“Sir! Enemy tanks at the northern line directly two hundred meters in front of us, we need to take ‘em out!” He yells through the intercom.

“Where are the launchers?” I shout back, even though it it’s completely unnecessary, being in the middle of a warzone gets your adrenaline pumping fast, yelling orders when you can whisper them just comes with the territory.

“We left them back at the base!” He turns around and points at the dome.

I groan, it’s the one piece of ordinance that we need and someone left it behind.

I run back to the dome as fast as I can. The launcher’s located on the table by the far end of the wall.

I grab the launcher with my left hand. I lift it up off the table and I slide my right hand over the trigger -being careful though in case I were to stumble and accidentally pull the trigger, I place my trigger finger over the metal bracket- I then turn around back towards the door and rush out of the compound.

The sound of the turret going off from above makes the battle have a certain rhythm. The continuous
chook chook chook
sound as the rounds get fired and drilled into the opposing forces.

Watts is pushed up against one of the barriers that’s blocking the street, surprisingly though it’s still intact. I give him a quick nudge on the shoulder, “point out some targets!” I yell to him. He doesn’t move however though. I nudge him again quickly; this time he slumps over and hits the ground hard. I didn’t notice the first time though that the front of his helmet has been shattered with a well-placed round, the entire inside is covered in red splatter marks.

 I don’t let the image of a fellow dead soldier stop me from fighting. Using my HUD targeting I quickly scan the surrounding area for the tanks. The launcher that I’m using isn’t laced with any Thopium; all it is; is a good old explosive.

I line up the sights from my HUD and the targeting reticule that’s attached to the launcher. I see the outline and the heat signature of the tank through the building chunks and the small hill that it’s behind.

I squeeze the trigger. The missile shoots out of the long tube then quickly changes its angle to a complete ninety degrees. You can completely ignore obstructions when using this weapon.

I hear a quick piercing scream over the intercom, the next thing that happened is the rhythm of the turret stops completely. I turn around and look at the dome. The soldier that was operating the turret is falling; he rolls over the side of the dome, all the way down to the ground. He lands with a sickening crunch. A puddle of blood comes out from underneath him; the wound hadn’t been cauterized completely.

I twist around again to face the tank. Just in time too. I hear the whining of the missile homing in on its target, like a bolt coming down from the sky the missile strikes the tank. Lucky for me I have my helmet on; otherwise, I fear I might’ve gone deaf temporarily. The explosion sends out a devastating shock wave that literally levels anything within a twenty meter radius.

Although I might’ve taken out one of their three mortar tanks, in doing so I’d completely given away my position.

A strange
whizzing
sound; a small bluish glowing object hurtles towards me. Before I react the device hits me square in the stomach. My feet fly up above my head and I land square on my back.

I gasp out for air, when I landed all the oxygen was pushed out of my lungs from the impact. Landing in armour like mine isn’t fun at all.

The shooting stops momentarily, I get on my knees and inspect the device, cautiously I poke it with the tip of my rifle; nothing happens.

I pick the device up warily.

I glance around quickly to make sure that the area is relatively safe for the moment. I stand up with the device in hand, it’s the size of my fist -if it were closed- it’s also still pulsating with a slight bluish glow.

The device starts to get brighter and brighter, before I have the common sense to throw it far away from me it detonates.

For the split second that the explosion lasts I feel it burn against my entire body, luckily I’m wearing armour; otherwise I would’ve been instantly blown up into a million tiny pieces.

I’m getting flown backwards, I try to move my arms and legs, hoping that it’ll somehow brace the impact when I finally land, I can't though. My armour must’ve been locked up or something. The device that went off was probably an EMP. My HUD’s gone dark, all I can see now is what eyes can see; all electrical systems have been fried.

I finally land hard on my back; my head hits the ground hard, I slide into the walls of the dome. My vision begins to go blurry, from what I can see through my squinting eyes the shooting has started again, along with several gut wrenching screams. That’s all though, after that moment all goes dark. The last thing that enters my mind is an image of Syreena when we woke up from our first night together. It was the perfect morning, the sun glistened off her body, giving her the appearance of an angel, an angel that had entered my life and stayed with me right to the end.

There’s the image of Syreena then nothing; all goes dark as I slip into unconsciousness.

Day 34: Cycle 3: Period 2: Year 2397

I wake up, the world around me in utter chaos. Screaming. Blood. Explosions light up my surroundings. My ears ring from the heat of battle. Thopium bursts flying randomly through the air, hitting friendlies and enemies alike, their owner not caring if they kill their own.