Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) (6 page)

“Yeah, whatever, sir. Now get your lazy arse out of bed. We’re wanted in the operations center.”

Sheridan sat up and blinked at the bright light blinding his eyes. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Trust me, this isn’t a joke. Something is going on. We’ve come out of our jump early.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. However, the captain does, and she wants to talk to us.”

A minute later in the ops room, Captain Vilar, the captain of the
Orleans
motioned for the two Marines to join her by a computer. She quickly typed in her personal passcode and stepped back. “This top secret message was sent to me. However, it is for your eyes, Mister Sheridan.”

“That’s odd,” mused Sheridan as he took a seat in front of the computer and began to read the communique.
 

It wasn’t addressed to Cole, but that didn’t stop him from reading it over his friend’s shoulder.

A minute later, Sheridan turned in his chair and looked up at Vilar. “Ma’am, I take it this is this why you interrupted our jump?”

“You are correct. We are currently in orbit above Aramus-3. Captain Killam, the Sixth Fleet’s Operations Officer, has ordered me to support you with all you may need.”

“What do you think?” Sheridan asked Cole.

“A Kurgan distress beacon has to mean that there is a ship somewhere on the planet’s surface. I didn’t think they ventured into this region of space.”

“Neither did I.”

“And neither, evidently, did Captain Killam,” added Vilar. “That’s why he wants you to capture the craft and any survivors, so we can find out what they were doing so far from the border before they crashed.”

“Do we have a fix on the vessel?” asked Sheridan.

“Yes, it’s in the northern hemisphere,” explain Vilar as she brought up a holographic image of the planet’s surface. She pointed at a red dot on the picture. “It looks like it came down in one piece in this forested area. Our scanners say the vessel looks like a long-range scout ship.”
 

“If they all survived the landing, there won’t be more than eight of them down there,” said Cole. “Ma’am, is there any indication of a Kurgan rescue ship on its way here?”

“None.”

Sheridan said, “Well, I guess we had best get a move on then. What is the atmosphere like down on the planet?”

“Temperate. It’s quite Earth-like.”

“That’s a bonus,” said Cole. “Indigenous life, ma’am?”

“The planet does not appear to be inhabited by intelligent life. It was last surveyed almost one hundred years ago. According to our ship’s computer records, the animals they encountered were reptiles, very large reptiles.”

“Great. We’re going hunting for Kurgans, a deadly reptilian species, on a planet infested with dinosaurs,” quipped Cole.

Sheridan drummed his fingers on the table while he brought up a video taken during the last visit to the surface a century ago. He stood up and looked at the image of a large predatory animal. It stood almost five meters tall and was well over ten meters in length. It had a long snout full of razor-sharp teeth and two long arms for grasping and holding its prey while devouring it.

“We’re gonna need to take some bloody big guns with us,” said Cole. “I recommend that we equip every second man with an anti-tank weapon. If we bump into one of these nasty little buggers, small arms ain’t going to do us any good.”

Sheridan nodded and turned to face Vilar. “Ma’am, a large detachment of Marines will just draw attention. Can you spare ten Marines for the mission?”

“Are you sure you only want that many? I have fifty Marines at your disposal.”

“With Sergeant Cole and I, we’ll have plenty of people to pull off this assignment and still make it home in time for breakfast.”

“Yeah, unless one of them critters decides to make you its snack,” said Cole.

The landing shuttle quietly touched down in a small clearing surrounded by tall pine trees. The side door slid open and Sheridan stepped out with his assault rifle in his hands. He took a quick look around through his night vision goggles and saw that they were alone.
 

“Sir, there’s nothing on my screen,” said a Marine to Sheridan as he studied the small device in his hand.
 

Cole exited the shuttle and established a secure perimeter before walking over to the young Marine with the tracker. “What about man-sized beasties? Do we have many of them nearby? I did some reading and their eyes are designed for hunting at night. Big or small, almost everything here thinks you’re its next meal.”

The Marine widened the search on his scanner. “Found something. It looks like there’s a small party of creatures moving along the side of a lake.”
 

“How many, and how far away?”

“Five of them, and they’re seven-point-three klicks from here.”

“We should be okay,” said Sheridan. “However, just to be safe, tag them and track them.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the Marine.

A cool wind whipped through the clearing stirring up the tall grass. Sheridan watched as one of his men opened up a case and took out a small ball-shaped UAV. Within minutes, the drone was airborne. It took less than five minutes for it to reach the downed Kurgan vessel.

“Any sign of movement?” asked Sheridan, looking at the thermal image sent back by the drone.

“There’s a fire and one . . . no, wait, there’s two people moving about throwing wood on the fire,” said the Marine. “I’d say that by the difference in their heights that one is a Kurgan and the other is a Chosen warrior.”
 

“Okay then. Time to get to work.” Sheridan waved Cole to his side. “We’ll head out right away. It shouldn’t take us more than an hour to reach the crash site.”

“Sounds about right,” said Cole. “The sooner we’re off this planet the better as far as I’m concerned. This place gives me the creeps.”

Sheridan chuckled. He turned to a Marine lance corporal. “You’ve got the lead. Take your time. We don’t want to walk into an ambush or stir up a sleeping predator.”

“Got it, sir,” replied the Marine.

Aside from the swarms of mosquitos that seemed to hover around the Marines, the march to the crashed Kurgan ship went by uneventfully. Two hundred meters from the site, Sheridan stopped the patrol and took a quick break.
 

After ensuring that everyone was covering their arcs, Cole quietly moved up to Sheridan’s side. “Aside from giving a pint of blood to those horrid flying bloodsuckers, I’d say things have gone smooth so far.”

Sheridan nodded. He tapped the Marine controlling the UAV on the shoulder and took the controller from him. Sheridan ran a finger over the screen moving the drone’s camera around. The Kurgan camp hadn’t changed. He could still only see the two survivors sitting by the fire. He knew that there could be more of them inside the ship. Unfortunately, there was no way to know until they got there. He handed back the device.

“I take it you’re going to go on ahead and take a look?” Cole said.

“Yeah. I’ll take Lance Corporal Moore with me. I expect we’ll be back in twenty minutes or less. If we’re not, carry on without us.”

“Watch for booby traps and alarms. I’d lay some if I were in their shoes.”

Sheridan tapped his friend on the shoulder. “I’ll keep a sharp eye out for them.” With that, he and Moore left the rest of the team behind and moved off toward the Kurgans. They moved as quiet as they could, careful not to step on anything that might make a noise. It did not take long for Sheridan to smell the smoke from the burning fire wafting through the air. He slowed his pace and took cover behind a tall rock. Sheridan brought out his binoculars and looked through the trees at the crashed vessel. The light from the fire lit up the side of the craft. He could see that the Kurgans had landed hard. The landing struts underneath the ship were crushed. There was a long, jagged breach running almost the length of the vessel. It was easy to see that it was going nowhere ever again. He waited five minutes to see if there were any more survivors. When he was satisfied that they were only facing two Kurgans, he pointed back the way they came and led Moore back to the rest of the patrol.

Sheridan briefed Cole and the rest of the Marines before leading everyone back to the rocky outcropping he had used to observe the crash site. There the Marines broke down into two teams of six. One was led by Sheridan and the other by Cole. Cole’s group would cover Sheridan and his team as they attempted to take the camp and the two enemy soldiers alive. It was a long shot. Kurgan officers would rather die than surrender. However, if they could wound either enemy soldier, they might be able to take them both alive for interrogation.

As they crept closer, Sheridan’s heart began to beat faster. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his system. When they were less than thirty meters from the fire, Sheridan stopped for a moment to make sure that they had not been observed. He was about to continue when all hell broke loose. Someone in Cole’s team had accidentally set off one of the Kurgan’s early warning traps. An illumination device lit up the woods as if it were daylight, blinding everyone wearing night vision equipment. Before Sheridan could yell the order to take cover, the Kurgan officer swung his rifle around and opened fire on the silhouetted Marines.
 

A man cried out in pain as he tumbled to the ground.

Sheridan swore, ripped off his NVGs, and brought his rifle up to his shoulder. He took aim at the Kurgan and went to pull the trigger. He never got the chance to fire. Hidden in the trees above them were two automatic anti-personnel mines that were triggered two seconds after the light came on. With a loud explosion the mines detonated. Hundreds of small metal balls shot through the air, striking down two more Marines. Sheridan felt one of the projectiles hit his chest. This time, he was wearing his body armor, saving his life. He cursed and opened fire in the direction of the Kurgan camp. With their cover blown, Sheridan led his men in a headlong rush at the enemy. He saw the officer fall with a hole blasted in the side of his head. The Chosen warrior with him dropped to the ground, struck several times in the arms and chest.
 

In seconds, the surviving Marines were in the camp. Cole grabbed the Chosen’s dropped weapons and tossed them into the woods. A private, cross-trained as a medic, hurried over and checked on the warrior’s wounds.
 

Sheridan rushed over and stuck his head inside the crashed vessel. He was surprised to see that it was empty. If there were other Kurgan survivors, they weren’t in the camp. He turned about and saw Cole help two of the Marines hit by the mine to sit down. With them was a Marine with a gunshot wound to his left arm. Thankfully, none of the wounds looked life threatening. “What’s the score?” he asked Cole as the light from the traps faded away. The flames from the open fire lit up the small camp.

“Hodges was struck in the arm, Jones in the leg, and Rodriguez in the face by several of those ball bearings. Once Gunther finishes with the Chosen soldier, he can fix these guys up. They should be able to make it back to the shuttle on their own two feet.”

Sheridan nodded. They had been lucky and he knew it. Things could have gone far worse than it had for them. He looked over at Lance Corporal Moore. “Go through the Kurgan ship and grab everything that looks even the remotest bit interesting. If you need help, ask for it. We came here to gather intelligence, and I’m not leaving until we find some.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Moore.

“Hey, sir, you should check this out,” said Cole as he shone his light on the face of the dead Kurgan officer. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

Sheridan bent down and examined the officer’s face. He was surprised to see that the left half of the face was covered in intricate tattoos. His eyes lit up the instant he realized what he was seeing. “My God, this officer is from the
Kyycha
. I read about them when I was at the Academy. I never would have expected to see one out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Sorry, you’ve lost me.”

“The Imperial Guard. He’s from the Kurgan Imperial Guard.”

Cole let out a low whistle. “I bet the intel boys back at headquarters are going to lose their minds when they learn about this. No one has seen these guys in over a century. I wonder what the hell they were doing in this system.”

“I can’t tell by the tattoos if he’s a member of the Old or Young Guard Corps, but he’s definitely a guard’s officer.” Sheridan dug out a small recording device and took several pictures of the dead Kurgan and the markings on his face. He quickly checked the body for anything of value and found a small, slender tablet in a pouch on the dead officer’s belt. Sheridan took it and put it away into his pocket until it could be examined later.

“How’s the Chosen doing?” Cole asked Gunther.
 

The young Marine shook his head. “He’s fading fast. I gave him something for the pain. It’s the best I can do for him.”

“Okay, leave him and deal with our people.” He moved over and propped the warrior up against a tree. In the dark, the soldier appeared deathly pale. Cole knew that the man would soon pass on.

Sheridan bent down and looked at the mortally wounded warrior. “Can you tell me what happened to your ship?” he asked in Kurgan.