Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) (26 page)

The closest Kurgan saw her and hissed loudly. It went to lift up its blood-stained sword when Tarina pulled back on the trigger of her rifle. The first burst struck the Kurgan in its chest. It staggered back but was unharmed as its body armor had stopped the rounds from penetrating. The enraged warrior took a step forward only to be hit in the face by Tarina’s second burst. The Kurgan died before it could take another step. Its body tumbled to the floor of the carriage.

“Look out!” hollered Crewman Jones as the second Kurgan threw its sword at Tarina. She turned to her side and watched the blade strike the wall beside her. The Kurgan fell to its knees and reached for a pistol dropped on the floor. Tarina saw the move and fired her weapon. With a hole blasted through its skull, the Kurgan leaned to one side before collapsing in a bloody heap.

With adrenaline coursing through her veins, Tarina looked over her weapon’s sights and saw that there were no more targets to engage. She lowered her rifle and turned to thank Jones when another Kurgan soldier forced its way into the carriage. It hissed at Tarina and brought up its sword to strike her in the chest when a shot rang out. The Kurgan staggered forward a couple of paces before dropping to the floor, dead.

Sheridan lowered his pistol, walked past the dead Kurgans, and strode to Tarina’s side. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. How about you?”

He let go of her and nodded. “I think this is it. I don’t think anymore Kurgs got onboard. However, just to be safe I think it we should search the train from the front to rear.”

“I’ll come with you, sir,” said Jones.

“Me too,” added Tarina.

Sheridan smiled. “Okay then. Keep behind me and if we see a Kurgan don’t hesitate to shoot it in the face. It’s the only way to bring them down using small arms.” They moved warily to the next carriage and pulled open the door. They were met by a crowd of worried-looking faces, but no Kurgan warriors. It was a good sign as far as Sheridan was concerned.

Colonel Kuhr stood with his jaw clenched tight as the train filled with the prisoners he needed for the bloodletting ritual pulled away. Inside his blood boiled at Lieutenant Colonel Kulk’s failure. He had told him not to waste time and to act quickly and decisively, neither of which he had done. He would have words with Kulk but not until everything had first been set right.

“Sir, I think there may be a problem at the mine,” said Captain Kazar, Kuhr’s adjutant.

“What is wrong?”

“I can’t reach them on any frequency.”

Kuhr looked over at his adjutant. “So the two gunships they dispatched are still coming to intercept the train?”

“As far as I can tell, that is correct, Colonel.”

Kuhr shook his head. Things just kept going from bad to worse.

“Sir, that’s not everything. The GPS and long-range communications signals are also gone. It’s as if the orbiting satellites had just vanished.”

“No, Captain, they haven’t vanished; they were destroyed.”

“Sir, I don’t understand.”

“Captain, there can only be one logical answer, the mine is under attack. The Terrans are here to rescue their people. Get the regiment mounted up in its transports. I’ll take three battalions with me to the mine. Lieutenant Colonel Kulk with his battalion and the one hundred Old Guard inductees will pursue the train and kill every last human inside of it.”

Kazar hesitated. “Sir, without the GPS signal to help guide the pilots, how will we reach the mine?”

“The old-fashioned way. They will fly in loose formations and use their eyes. They have a co-pilot who can read the map for them. No more talk, Captain, get the regiment loaded up.”

“Yes, sir.” Kazar hurried to pass the order.

Kuhr’s despondent mood began to lift. If the humans knew where he was, they would have destroyed his camp by now. He had never seen combat before. With three airmobile battalions at his disposal, he was more than confident that he could defeat whatever force had just landed. A victory here would all but guarantee him ascension to the ranks of the Old Guard. No Kuhr had ever been accepted into the empire’s elite fighting force. He intended to ensure that in a few hours from now, he would be the first.

Chapter 35

Killam stared down at the image on the computer screen and swore. At the furthest reach of the task force’s sensors, a small Kurgan freighter had been detected. When its calls to the mine had gone unanswered, it had to have surmised that something was wrong and jumped away.

“Her last transmission was intercepted and decoded, sir,” explained Roy. “She sent a warning before jumping.”
 

Admiral Sheridan sat down in his chair and looked over at the tactical display. Colonel White’s force had just landed and was already in contact with the enemy. He had confidence that the Marines could destroy whatever opposition they came across. His greatest concern had always been the amount of time it would take to evacuate the prisoners from the mine.

Killam brought up a star chart on the main screen and studied it for a minute before turning to face the admiral. “Sir, if the Kurgans have any combat vessels in this sector, I believe that it will take them about four hours at maximum speed to get here.”
 

Admiral Sheridan looked over at the chart. “What makes you say that, Captain?”

“Their nearest habitable star systems are four hours away from Klatt. They will undoubtedly react to this incursion into their space. What they can muster to send against us, I have no idea, sir. But something is coming our way.”

The admiral nodded. “Pass the word to the task force that the enemy knows we are here and they should be prepared to jump back to our side of the disputed zone in four hours’ time.”

Roy brought up a timer set for four hours on the screen and activated it. It began to count down. Time was already slipping through their hands.

“Captain Killam, contact Colonel White and inform him of this new time constraint. Let him know that I won’t abandon him, but the sooner he can accomplish his mission, the better it will be for everyone involved.”

“Aye, sir.”

The sound of small arms’ fire filled the night. The Kurgans had been mercilessly pounded by incoming missile fire and the task force’s fighter-bombers. All of the mine’s outer buildings were on fire.

Colonel White received the information from Killam with considerable sangfroid. If it bothered him, it did not show on his face. He glanced down at his watch and shrugged. He’d always planned to be in and out in just over a couple of hours, regardless of the tactical situation. His small battle staff consisting of his communicator, an aerospace, and fire effects officer kept their distance so they wouldn’t draw any unnecessary enemy fire.

“Sir, Viper Six reports that he has established a blocking position to the west of the mine along a rocky ridge,” said Sergeant Bowen, the colonel’s communications specialist.
 

White nodded. Viper Six was a mechanized combat team in fast attack vehicles that had skirted the mine and rushed forward to prevent any potential Kurgan counterattack from interfering with the evacuation. Built low to the ground with eight wheels, the team’s vehicles could negotiate even the toughest terrain at speeds of over one hundred kilometers an hour. Armed with anti-tank weapons, machine guns, and mortars, White knew that the combat team could easily hold off a force several times its size. To augment their considerable firepower, three UAVs armed with missiles had been placed under Viper Six’s command.

“Has Guardian Six sent a report?” White asked. Guardian was the name he had given to the reinforced battalion whose mission was to seize the mine and evacuate the prisoners.

Sergeant Bowen nodded. “Sir, they report that they have entered the mine but have not yet found any prisoners. Resistance so far has been light.”

White stood up and cradled his standard issue M5A2 assault rifle in his right arm. A lightweight and sturdy weapon that fired 4.22mm caseless ammunition at a rate of six hundred rounds per minute. Built into the forestock was a grenade launcher capable of reaching out to three hundred meters. White looked over at his staff and said, “Okay, let’s push onto the edge of the mine and see what we can see.”

It did not take long for the signs of battle to become visible. Several Chosen soldiers’ bodies lay facedown on the ground. White and his people paid them no heed. He did, however, stop for a minute at an aid station to check on the men and women who had been brought there for medical care. Most had non-life-threatening wounds, but two dead Marines lay off to the side on the ground. They were covered by blankets so no one could see their faces.

“Who were they?” White asked a corpsman.

“Second Lieutenant Ireland and Private Dioli, sir,” replied the medic.

“I want their remains moved back to the landing ships right away.”

The corpsman nodded and rushed to find a couple of people to carry out the order.

At the mine’s entrance, White caught up with Major Altonen, Guardian Six’s XO. “How goes the fight, Andrew?”
 

“Casualties have been light so far. By the looks of it, we caught the Kurgs by surprise. Many of the Chosen warriors we encountered on the first floor were drunk.”

“Unbelievable. Drunk, you say?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where is Guardian Six?”

“He’s just behind the lead company,” replied Altonen, showing White the location of the company on his tactical tablet. “Sir, Guardian Six has just reported that resistance has stiffened on the second level. The Kurgs aren’t backing down. They’re giving as good as they are getting.”

“Can’t have everything our way, now can we? Tell him to keep up the good fight and push on. We must find and rescue those prisoners as soon as possible.”

White stepped to one side as a wounded Marine was carried out of the mine with a blood-soaked field dressing on the side of his head. He shook his head and tried to mask his growing frustration. The reconnaissance team that had been dispatched to the planet had passed on precious little information regarding the prisoners. The only thing he knew was that they were somewhere in the mine. What he did not know was where or if they were even still alive.

Chapter 36

Sheridan lowered his rifle and waved at his colleagues to do the same. They had gone from carriage to carriage all the way to the back of the train and found that no other Kurgans had managed to get onboard. They were safe for now.

“Michael, when do you plan to disable the engine?” asked Tarina.

He glanced at his watch. “In about ten minutes’ time.”

“Okay, I’ll start getting the people ready to help move the wounded from the train the moment it stops.”

Sheridan smiled at her. She was always thinking of others before herself. It was one of the many reasons why he deeply loved her. “Good idea. I’m going to head up to the engineer’s compartment and check on the train’s computer for the best place to stop.”

In the engine room, Sheridan found an exasperated Sergeant Lee haranguing the engineer. “What’s the problem, Sergeant?”

Lee pointed at the computer screen. “I can’t speak a word of Kurgan but after months of working in the mine, I’ve learned how to read their numbers. We’re barely going over one hundred kilometers an hour.”

Sheridan checked. Lee was Right, they were traveling at just over one hundred and eleven kilometers an hour, far slower than the train was capable of. He looked at the engineer and asked, “Why are we not moving faster?”

“I think during all the fighting that the engine was hit,” replied the engineer. “We’re lucky to be going as fast as we are.”

“I hope for our sake that you’re not deliberately going slow to allow the Kurgans a chance to catch up with us.”

The man shook his head. “Look for yourself. I have warning indicators going off all along the right side of the engine.”

Sheridan saw the lights and decided to check out the engineer’s story for himself. He moved back into the engine room, lifted a panel from the right side of the engine, and shone a light inside. He gritted his teeth when he saw fluid gushing from several bullet holes lower down on the engine. The engineer had been telling the truth. He swore and smashed his fist into the wall. With a sick feeling brewing in the pit of his stomach, Sheridan walked back and looked down at the frazzled engineer. “The engine is leaking like a sieve. I want to know the truth, do you think it’s going to seize up?”

“It’s a possibility?”

“How much time do we have?”

“I have no idea. Without checking the damage myself, all I can go on are my instruments. I’d say were okay for another hour, but after that, who knows.”

Sheridan did not like what he heard but doubted that the Chosen engineer was lying to him. He was about to head back and pass on the bad news when he thought he saw something out of a side window moving parallel to the train. He leaned over and looked out into the dark. At first he thought perhaps his imagination had played a trick on him. A couple of seconds later, he swore when he recognized the darkened shape as a Kurgan gunship. With two rotors on either side of the sleek body, the craft looked more like a giant prehistoric insect than a helicopter. He looked back at the engineer. “We’ve got company. Try and go faster.”