Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) (29 page)

Sheridan nodded. Their future prospects were indeed bleak. There were close to eighty people taking cover in the crater. Some of them had been injured during the fight on the train and would be unable to fight back should the Kurgans break through their slender perimeter. He was desperate to think of a solution when he recalled a lesson from one of his history classes.

“Sergeant Lee, get everyone on their feet. I want you to form a square.”

“A square, sir?”

“Yes. Make it tight and have a person with a sword standing next to a person with a gun. Ensure that our wounded are moved to the middle of the formation.”

Lee stared back at Sheridan as if he had lost his mind.

“Hurry, Sergeant, we don’t have long until they come back.”

It didn’t take Lee very long to push everyone into something that resembled a square formation. Sheridan walked over and looked into the worried faces of the men and women who were at a loss to understand what they were doing.

“People, we’re almost out of ammo. We need to make every round count if we are to survive until help arrives. I know this next order may seem counterintuitive to those of you with a sword, but I don’t want you to defend yourselves, you are to protect the person with the gun to your right. If the Kurgans get close enough to use their swords, they will lift their sword arm above their heads to deliver the killing blow. That is when they will be vulnerable. Their segmented armor is weak under the armpit. Wait until his arm is fully raised and then jam yours home.”

The sound of a horn echoed over the top of the hill.

Sheridan took his place in the square and called out. “Here they come. Show them no mercy, as they will not show you any. If you must, sell your life dearly.”

In the gray light of dawn, the crimson banner was raised. A lone officer stood up on the top of the hill and let out a deep cry. His call was answered by hundreds more eager to get to grips with their foe. Dozens of soldiers scrambled up onto the top of the hill and rushed to form up under their officers.
 

Sheridan could see that they had brought up two fresh companies of soldiers from the bottom of the hill. He doubted that the Kurgans had any warriors left in reserve. This was it. All or nothing.

The Kurgan officer moved in front of his soldiers and began to beat his sword on his chest. Within seconds, two hundred Kurgans joined in.

Lee raised his rifle. “Let me take down that son of a bitch.”

“Steady on,” warned Sheridan. “I want them to get a lot closer before we open up. We can’t afford to miss.”

The Kurgan colonel grabbed hold of his unit’s flag, raised it high in the air, and yelled the order to attack. The attackers broke ranks and ran forward. Each warrior wanted to be the first to thrust his sword into an enemy’s stomach.

The sound of two hundred pairs of feet running across the rocky ground was like listening to an avalanche of rocks hurtling down the side of a mountain.

“Wait for it,” cried out Sheridan. He could feel the fear and tension gripping the people around him. He waited until the first Kurgan was less than fifty paces from the square when he yelled out, “Fire!”

At that range, they couldn’t miss. The first rank of Kurgans fell to the ground. Those behind them jumped over the fallen only to be hit themselves. Bodies of the dead and dying soon covered the ground.

Sheridan switched targets and pulled back on the trigger. He didn’t wait to see if the soldier he had just shot was down; he was too busy selecting his next victim. Over the din of battle, Sheridan heard the guns near him begin to fall silent. He glanced over the top of his rifle and saw that the Kurgans had stopped rushing his end of the square. Like a river looking for the path of least resistance, they had veered off to the backside of the formation where the fire had slackened. He turned, grabbed a man from behind him, and handed the man his rifle. Sheridan drew his pistol and pushed his way through the square until he stood alongside Sergeant Lee.

The enemy was almost on them. Hate and anger filled their golden eyes.

“Remember what I said,” hollered Sheridan. “Kill the warrior to your right.” He brought up his pistol and shot the closest Kurgan to him. The soldier spun about and dropped to the ground with a gaping wound in his neck.

A second later, the Kurgans smashed headlong into the defenders. The noise was like a wave hitting the rocks during a storm. Those with ammunition left fired at point-blank range into the swarm of Kurgans. Some people did as Sheridan had ordered and struck the enemy soldier to their right. Others panicked and tried to fight the warrior facing them only to die, cut down by the fitter and more experienced Kurgan soldiers.

Sheridan felt the square buckle and begin to step backward. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a Kurgan slice a man’s skull open. He shot the Kurgan before he could kill anyone else.
 

Sergeant Lee dropped his empty weapon and picked up a discarded sword and swung at a Kurgan who had pushed his dying comrade aside and brought up his arm to strike Sheridan. The blade sunk home in the soldier’s lightly protected underarm. Mortally wounded, the Kurgan hissed as he fell to its knees before toppling over.

Before long, numbers began to tell. More and more people fell under the relentless hacking and slashing of the Kurgan swords. It was as Sheridan feared, the fitter and stronger Kurgans were hacking down everything in their path. The formation started to come apart as more defenders died. Sheridan stepped back, nearly tripping over the dead body of one of his comrades, trying to keep in line with Lee. Just when it seemed that the Kurgans had won the day, Tarina burst through the line along with two other people armed with rifles. She fired her weapon at the nearest officer before turning her attention to any Kurgan with a bloodied blade. The warriors began to hesitate in the face of such a deadly fusillade. Their courage seemed to evaporate in seconds.

Sheridan saw the growing look of confusion on the Kurgans’ faces. He pointed at the Kurgans and yelled, “They won’t hold!”
 

He grabbed hold of a Kurgan sword at his feet. With a war cry on his lips, he ran forward and swung his blade at the head of a warrior who blocked the move with his own sword.
 

The Kurgan saw his friends lose heart. He dropped his sword and ran for his life.

Sheridan had never seen Kurgans run before. He was about to take a step forward when he noticed the body of a Kurgan lieutenant colonel lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the side of the head. He looked back at Tarina and realized that she must have killed their commander. With all of their other officers down, the leaderless Kurgans fled.

Sheridan smiled at Tarina. “Where on earth did you get the extra ammo?”

“One of our wounded from the train had it on her. I found it by pure luck when I went to pull her back from the fight; the magazines fell out of a bag she had with her.”

“Why didn’t she say anything earlier?”

“She’s unconscious, that’s why.”

“Well, whoever she is, thank God for her.”

Sheridan jammed his sword in the ground and looked around. There were piles of Kurgan bodies interspaced with dead humans. “Sergeant Lee, report.”

Lee ran over. Sheridan saw that he had received yet another wound to his head.

“Sergeant, organize a detail to pull our people back from the Kurgan dead and get me a headcount. I need to know how many are still fit to fight, and have someone check the wounded for ammo.”

“Yes, sir.” Lee snapped his fingers at a young Marine and put him to work.

“How many do you think we’ve killed?” Tarina asked Sheridan as she looked over at the Kurgan corpses.

“I don’t know. They came at us three times. There’s maybe two hundred dead and dying Kurgs spread out over the top of the hill.”

“Do you think this is over? Are we safe now?”

He let out a mournful sigh and shook his head. “They’re Imperial Guard troops; once they find an officer to lead them, they’ll be back.”

Tarina sat down on the ground cradling her rifle in her arms. “When is this nightmare going to end, Michael? I’m so very tired and I don’t want to die out here.”

“No one wants to die,” said Sheridan as he took a seat beside her and wrapped his arm around her. She leaned her head over and rested it on his shoulder. For a brief moment, they forgot their troubles and found solace in each other’s company.

Chapter 40

“It looks like it’s safe enough to proceed,” declared Angela as she peered out into the dark.

Wendy worked her way past Angela, lifted the wooden cover to the shaft, and took a quick look around. The world outside looked like it was on fire. The mining complex was consumed in flames. Thick black smoke rose up into the air. If a Kurgan shuttle had landed before the attack, it was long gone. The spot Angela had identified as the place where the shuttle should be located was nothing more than a smoldering crater. What troubled her were the destroyed Terran vehicles and transport craft that she could see.
Whatever had happened had not gone well for the Marines,
she thought. She felt like running back for the safety of the mine when she first heard, and then saw, missiles streak down from the sky and explode behind a long ridgeline. The massive detonations were so close to the camp that she felt the ground shudder under her feet. Wendy screwed up her courage, climbed out, and took cover behind some tall rocks. The last thing she wanted was to be mistaken for an enemy soldier and shot before she could make contact with the invasion force. Wendy raised her head up and looked down at the ground around the destroyed buildings. Her heart leaped for joy when she spotted a group of Marines making their way through the wreckage.

She stood up and energetically waved her hands above her head, yelling, “Hello down there.”

The party of Marines stopped and looked up at her.

Wendy kept waving her arms. “Please help me; I’ve got some escaped prisoners with me.”

The Marines turned, waved back, and sprinted straight toward her.
 

“Do you think it’s safe to come out?” asked Angela.

“Yes, yes it is,” replied Wendy with tears of joy streaming down her dirty face.

Major Altonen removed his helmet and shook Wendy’s hand. It was plain to see that she looked tired and in need of some medical attention. He handed her his canteen before saying, “You are to be commended, Miss?”

“Captain Wendy Sullivan,” she replied, taking the flask and opening it.

“Captain, how many people did you manage to bring out with you?”

Wendy took a long sip of water. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and returned the water bottle. “Sir, Angela, my colleague, brought out thirty-three. She’s already on her way back into the mine to fetch the next batch, but there are thousands more waiting down below to be rescued.”

“We should have them out soon; we’re having explosives placed on the rocks as we speak. We’re going to blast our way inside.”

Wendy balked at the news. “Major, there are people working at the other end to remove the rocks. You have to warn them that you’re going to blow the debris away, or you may kill a whole bunch of the people you are here to save.”

Altonen nodded and reached for his radio’s handset. “Echo One, hold what you’re doing. Do not, I say again, do not detonate the explosives until we contact the POWs on the next level.”

“Sir, I can head back down below and warn them,” offered Wendy.

“No, that’ll take too long; besides we have other ways to pass the message.”

Cole wiped the dirt from his sweat-covered brow and stood up straight. His back ached worse than it ever had in his life. Any thought of taking a break was erased when he saw that the people around him had not paused for even one minute since he had asked for their help. He reached out for a rock and almost jumped out of his skin when an insect the length of his boot crawled out from between a gap in the rocks.
 

It stopped moving and looked up at the people working in the tunnel.

“Damn,” said Cole when he realized that he wasn’t looking at a disconcertingly long centipede but a miniaturized crawler robot. He picked it up and held it in his hand.

“Master Sergeant, get everyone back behind cover,” explained Wendy through a speaker on the robot, “they’re going to blast the rocks out of the way.”

Cole turned and called out, “Everyone, back in your caves right now and take cover.”

The prisoners stared back at Cole as if not comprehending what he wanted them to do.

“Folks, I’m not kidding, move your butts or you’ll become a permanent resident down here.”

First Lieutenant Toscano could feel each thunderous explosion in her chest. Although she was well protected by the rocky berm, the missiles were impacting barely one hundred meters from her position. The first volley had all but obliterated a Kurgan battalion caught out in the open trying to rush the Viper combat team survivors huddled on the ridge.

Sergeant Urban tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a handset. He had to yell to be heard. “Ma’am, it’s the
Ford
calling again. They want a damage assessment.”

“Tell them to wait a minute.” Toscano crawled up and peered out at the open plain. The image of hundreds of mangled and torn bodies was one she would not easily forget. She brought up her binoculars and looked where the missiles had hit. If there were any Kurgans out there, they had long since gone to ground. She slid back down beside Urban and shook her head.