Star Runners: Mission Wraith (#3) (40 page)

During their chat, Towers had given Austin a laser rifle “in case things got hairy.” Austin knew he didn’t want to know what that meant. Towers had said little else, his eyes constantly flickering from the canyon below to the sky.
 

Austin placed his hands on his hips and stretched, butterflies battling inside his stomach. He hoped Towers was wrong about the Zahlian forces. Perhaps they had a different plan? Maybe they had decided to swat him down after all?
 

“There!” Tower barked, loud enough to startle Austin. He pressed his eyes against the binoculars. “Looks like a drop ship, blasting through high orbit. Two Interceptors flying escort.”

Austin placed his hand on his forehead, shielding the daylight as he squinted. He saw movement, something passing through the atmosphere and leaving a white line across the sky. Towers handed him the binoculars, scurrying away as he shouted into his radio.
 

“This place is about to get hot!” Towers said, speaking into the compact microphone at his neck. “Bostock, you and Miller stay covered up top, wait for them to make their move. Clark, Ethan—you’re our skirmish line. Stay ready!”

Austin watched Towers sprint back to the
Wraith
, inquiring about the refueling operation.
 

Turning back to the sky, Austin used the binoculars. The drop ship descended through the atmosphere like a dull, smoking block. The familiar shape of the Interceptors flashed in the light of the day, flying in an escort formation on either side of the drop ship. For a moment, it looked like the drop ship would descend through the atmosphere and end up on the other side of the planet. But the dropship suddenly changed course, bearing down on their position like a missile.
 

Austin lowered the binoculars and gripped the rifle with his other hand. He glanced down at the peaceful canyon, the rush of water trickling in the distance. The breeze passed through the forest. It was a peaceful scene, one that would be ripped apart in a few minutes.
 

“Adams says they’ll be finished as quickly as possible,” Towers said, hurrying back toward Austin. “He said they located two tracking devices of some kind on the inside of the ship. They’ve taken them off, so they won’t be able to follow your movements anymore.” Towers grabbed the binoculars from Austin’s hands. “Just one drop ship. They will probably land in the canyon and try to get a visual on us just like the old days. Great thing about those umbrellas, Lieutenant—they level the scale and make men use their eyes.”

“I see.” Austin swallowed, remembering the last time he was in a firefight in the forest, the gunfire and inferno mixing in his mind. “Where do you want me, sir?”

Towers started at him. “You’re staying right here with me.” He pointed at a boulder close to the
Wraith
. “You and I will be right here. Adams and Tasell will move out when they can. I want you ready to fly out of here as soon as the fighter’s ready.”
 

“Yes, sir.”

Towers took a step toward him. He squinted, grabbing Austin’s shoulder hard. “Look, Lieutenant, you get out of here as quickly as you can. You hear me? We’ll buy you the time, but you get this thing out of here. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m serious.” Towers looked back at the drop ship. “I don’t know what they’re bringing down on that dropship, but it sure as hell ain’t good. These Zahlian Marines are the best-trained soldiers in the galaxy, but I hope they’re green. Pray they’re green as Harkas.”

“Harkas?”
 

“Don’t worry about it.” Towers sniffed. “If they’re not, these are the type of soldiers who will come at us hard, fire without mercy.” He glanced at the
Wraith
. “This might be the only reason we survive this. Without it, they would just destroy the entire canyon. So that’s why I’m telling you to get away as soon as you can and don’t look back. This canyon will be vaporized once this craft isn’t here anymore.”

“I understand.”

Towers pressed his fingers to his ear. He glanced at Austin. “Let’s get in position, Lieutenant. The rest of my men are where they need to be.”

Austin nodded, following Towers to the boulder in front of the
Wraith
. They pressed against the rocks, propping up on their elbows as they peered down into the canyon. Austin put the rifle on the rocks in front of him and stared at the incoming dropship. It slowed and hovered over the canyon for a moment. The two escorting Interceptors shot past, the engines blasting sound across the canyon. The drop ship lingered above. For a brief moment, it appeared the drop ship was going to move on. Austin tightened his grip on the rifle.
 

“What kind of ship is that, Captain?”

“It’s a MUD.”

“A MUD?”

“A Modular Utility Dropship.” Towers shook his head. “Common on the new Zahlian ARCs. We don’t actually know too much about them, but they have a module that can be outfitted for any mission. This MUD looks like it’s outfitted to be a troop carrier.”

Austin swallowed. “And how many troops could be on this module?”

Towers shrugged. “Fifty to one hundred. We’re not exactly sure. But they can drop the module and leave it here so the MUD can escape to safety.”

Austin stared back at the ship. “And what are they doing now?”

“They’re scanning, probably trying zero in on the exact location they saw us land and verify they are in the right location,” Towers whispered. “That’s one of the reasons we dropped in with the wingsuits and not just landing. They would have known exactly where you were.” He stared through the binoculars again. “They’re also probably trying to ascertain the location of the umbrellas and eliminate the sensor jamming.”

Austin exhaled, waiting for something to happen.
 

“Stay quiet, men,” Towers transmitted. “Let’s see if they come in. If we’re lucky, they might move on.”

The drop ship shuddered, the engines quieting and being replaced by a higher pitched sound. The drop ship banked to the left and stopped in midair. With a whine of a turbine, the drop ship started descending into the canyon.

“Our lucky day, men,” Towers whispered, a smile filling his face. “We get to scrap with the best in the galaxy and see what we’re made of.”

Austin looked at him, amazed at the Captain’s demeanor. Towers exuded confidence and somehow was able to transmit this to his men now sprinkled around the canyon.
 

Laser fire showered down from the drop ship. Lethal bolts of energy pounded into the river below, sending up gusts of steam. The laser fire blasted into the water and moved into the forest, splintering the trees and vaporizing the massive mushrooms. Austin flinched, lowering down behind the rocks. Towers gripped his shoulder and squeezed.
 

“Easy men,” he said. “They’re clearing the LZ. That’s not concentrated fire. Just sweeping the area. Let them land. Let them get nice and comfortable.”

The fire ceased, and the dropship lowered down to the smoking remains of the forest’s edge. Plumes of black smoke poured into the sky, swirling like a whirlpool in the air as the MUD descended to the surface. More laser fire shot into the forest, but the fire lessened as the ship hovered in place. Austin took his first good look at the MUD.
 

The MUD hovered like a bulky helicopter without rotors, a hefty box underneath the center of the vessel. The modular unit attached to the underside of the craft looked like a sleek gun nest complete with slits in the side for concealed fire. Austin thought he saw movement inside the module. As he strained for a better look, the module suddenly detached from the MUD and fell into the soft ground of the river’s shoreline. The MUD’s engines blasted the area with a gust of power. A mist of water and leaves shot through the area as the MUD lifted up. The craft shot horizontally across the canyon and tilted back, picking up altitude as it fled the area. Two Interceptors roared over the canyon, flying close as air support for the dropship. A moment later, the dropship was nothing more than a speck in the sky. The sound of spacecraft lowered to a rumble and then disappeared completely.

Austin turned his attention back on the troop carrier nestled at the base of the incline leading to their position. Between the
Wraith
and the Zahlian forces inside the troop carrier module, stood a forest and Towers’ men. He glanced to the rocks on either side of their position, saw Bostock and Miller hidden behind the rocks with their heavy repeaters pointed toward the troop carrier. Ethan and Clark lurked in the forest somewhere, awaiting Towers’ command.
 

Holding his breath, Austin stared through the binoculars. Even the forest seemed to stop moving for a moment, the breeze dying. Water rushed down the river behind the troop carrier. The sound of metal scraping against metal burst through the air like firecrackers, and two troop doors facing the forest opened. Austin inhaled sharply as Imperial Marines sprinted through the open doors, spilling out onto the shoreline, their red armor glistening in the sunlight. The first four Marines dropped to one knee, their black rifles trained on the forest. More Marines poured out onto the shore like a crimson river threatening to wash over the entire forest. The Marines spread out and rapidly filled the shore. There had to be fifty of them, maybe more, all poised to march through the forest and up their side of the canyon.
 

Austin glanced at Towers, who glared down at the scene unfolding in front of them. He looked at Austin, a crooked grin creeping across his face as he armed his laser rifle and checked the scope.
 

“This’ll be fun,” he said.
 

The sound of laser fire sizzled through the air a second after the flashes lit up the forest. Austin recoiled at the sound of the spitting laser rifles, remembering the last time he heard similar weapons at such close range. The laser rifles firing in the atmosphere, up close and personal, screeched in a way they did not in the vacuum of space. It sounded like the air itself ignited.
 

He looked back at the troop carrier nestled in at the edge of the river. A squad of Imperial Marines remained on guard. Austin could see more men moving around inside the troop carrier, probably to provide orders and cover fire to the men now engaged in the forest, battling the two hidden
Serpents
positioned down the canyon. The remaining Zahlian forces disappeared into the vegetation. Captain Towers had said the troop carrier could transport fifty to one hundred soldiers, and Austin guessed at least fifty had entered the area.
 

Austin sighed.
 

Fifty against two.
 

Although he had never spoken to the
Serpents
forming the team’s “skirmish line,” Austin knew Clark and Ethan had the same fearless appearance as their commanding officer. The laser fire paused, a few shots spitting into the woods. A small explosion shook the ground, sending the treetops swaying.
 

Towers touched his ear. “They’re displacing.”

Austin gripped his rifle. “What’s that mean?”

Towers squinted, peering through the woods. “It means they are moving closer, falling back toward our position. Stay ready.”
 

Clenching his teeth, Austin watched the woods in front of him. The laser fire continued in violent spurts. Screams echoed. Men barked orders. A cry from the wounded bellowed. A tall tree reaching out over the rest of the forest shuddered. Like a wounded animal, the tree howled as it lurched, strained at the loss of its foundation, and toppled. The tree crashed to the forest floor with a thud, shaking the rocks nearby.
 

“Bostock, Miller,” Towers whispered, still touching his ear. “You guys get ready. If they blast through, wait until they are in the open, then unleash everything you’ve got on those people.”

Towers’ gaze lingered on the forest below for a second longer before he glared at Austin. “You fire only when necessary and then stay down. You hear me? Stay down.” He gestured back at the
Wraith
. “You’re the only one who can fly this thing out of here.”