AMP The Core (21 page)

As the Duke began to respond, I shut off his comm channel. Ten minutes later, the assault against the next city began. The Colonel flew back to his command console while the BGS Marines moved to defend the next target. Our fighters at the city of North Wallia held out for eleven hours before the attacking forces overran the defenses.

As each new day dawned, several more cities had fallen. More than twenty-two million hostiles had fallen to our loss of nearly four million, more than half of which were Bulgar and Gonta. The Colonel had us trying every new tactic his staff could envision. Nothing worked to stop the overwhelming numbers that attacked. All we could do was delay the inevitable.

With the Durians’ fleet’s new ability to detect the active skin of our ships when they were close, our Wrens had been reduced to conducting strafing runs on the fields of attackers. The number of soldiers they were able to kill was shocking, and yet the enemy forces continued to come, and continued to overpower our fortifications. After the Durian net had been established around the planet, the troop transports had come down in an endless column. With each step of their advance, we were losing the war.

As the city of Nrefan fell, the Colonel called me to his office. "Grange, we need a new strategy. I have York and Frost coming in also; I want the three of you to put your heads together and come up with something we can use."

I replied, "I don’t know what I can offer, Colonel. My brain is pretty dry right now."

The Colonel pointed to his console screen. "We have eighty-eight cities left to defend, Grange. You three have been on the front lines from the beginning; think of this as a quasi break jammed together with a brainstorming session."

After York and Frost arrived, we settled into a nearby room. "The Colonel has given us two tasks. The first is to rest up a bit. The second is to come up with any strategy that might further delay or hinder our enemies. We have eighty-eight cities still under our control. By the time we leave here, that number will likely be eighty-seven or eighty-six. So, if anything comes to mind, just spit it out."

Both York and Frost were silent for several minutes as they looked over the battlefield maps on the view-screen. My mind was blank. I had nothing to offer. The constant action had numbed my brain activity nearly to the point of no longer caring.

York spoke. "Sir, we have been on the defensive since all this started. Is there any way we can take the battle to them? Maybe a raid on Nevil, where all their ships are landing?"

I called the Colonel into the room. "What are the potentials for performing an all-out offensive against Nevil? We have been hiding behind these walls. What’s the possibility of taking the fight to them?"

The Colonel looked at the screen intently for several seconds. "Major Wright! I want a plan on my desk within the hour for an offensive strike on Nevil! Can we do it, is it worth our time, and what will it cost us!"

I turned and winked at York as I smiled.

The Colonel spoke. "That was what I was looking for, Grange. I want the three of you to set your suits for three hours of sleep. When you are done, I will rotate another set of your BGS group out to do the same."

I powered myself out of the chair and set down on the floor on my stumps. As I rolled over on my side, I set a wake timer for three hours. With a thought command, my BGS suit administered a sleep aid. I was soon dead to the conflict that increasingly surrounded us. The rest was very much needed.

When I awoke, the Colonel’s office was buzzing with staffers. Over the next eight hours, we would be using the Wrens to silently transport Marines to the ruins of Tackor. As each city was overrun, all of the Durian forces were then moved on to the next target. There were no captured citizens or assets to oversee, leaving what was left of the conquered cities empty.

The Colonel spoke. "Grange, we can transport about a thousand men an hour using the Wrens. That’s a force of ten thousand men we will have in place when we are done. We started the process two hours ago. The Durians seem to be oblivious to the move. We should be ready to strike at midnight."

The Colonel continued, "You and the BGS Marines will lead the way, with remaining troops advancing using the gravity assist in their hybrid suits. We are also sending a team of about a hundred of my best fighters who have had the prosthetic updates."

I replied, "You got all that planned while I was asleep? Your staff is a little too proficient sometimes, Colonel."

The Colonel laughed. "Can never have enough of that, Grange. Here, look over the plan they came up with."

The Colonel’s console showed a diagram of Nevil with an arrow coming in from Tackor. We would come in after dark and hit any transports that were still fully loaded with soldiers or androids, before moving on to a handful of command ships that were also on the ground.

The Colonel spoke. "We also have a little surprise for them that we have been holding in reserve. These two ships are all that is remaining of the tank forces. We left those five thousand tanks alone for possible future use. We have done the occasional ping of one or two of them, and they are still responsive."

I replied, "So, we sweep in and do as much damage as we can. What about when we are done?"

The Colonel shook his head. "This is a one-way ticket for all but you BGSers. We can’t transport them back out with the Wrens, as we won’t have ten hours to do so. We can do a lot of damage to that landing zone out there. This might buy us an extra day or two of delay."

As I looked over the diagram, I could not get over the fact that for ten thousand of our men, it was essentially a suicide mission.

I spoke. "Colonel, how about this. We hit these ships as you suggest, followed by these command ships. However, instead of continuing on to any other targets, we steal this last command ship to fly our troops back here. Set it down just outside the walls and bring everyone back."

The Colonel looked over the screen and then slapped me on the back, nearly knocking me from my chair. "Grange! Ingenious! Major Wright! We have an alteration to the plan!"

The Colonel moved off to see to the change as York came up behind me. "Not bad, Sir. Only, who do we have that can fly a Durian command ship?"

I turned myself around in the chair as Frost approached. "We have Frost, York. She will be our pilot."

Frost gazed at us with a confused look as we both smiled. "What? What did I do?"

I spoke. "We are going to steal a Durian command ship, and you are going to fly it back here for us."

Frost shrugged. "OK, if you say so, Sir. Just keep in mind that I have no idea of exactly how to do that."

I replied, "York and I will be there to help make it happen."

I turned and yelled out, "Colonel! We have one more thing to ask of you. Pick one of those command ships and give me York, Frost, and four more BGS Marines, and we will have that ship waiting by the time the rest of the team boards her."

The Colonel looked at the diagram. "Take this one on the end. We will change up to accommodate that."

The Colonel removed his helmet, smacked me once again hard on the back, and then spit a wad of Omega root juice onto my torso.

I looked down. "Colonel! What the..."

The Colonel smiled. "You don’t have a leg to spit on, Grange. I just had to make do."

I shook my head in disgust as Frost and York laughed. I then smiled myself as I thought about the easy cleanup that the BGS suit offered. I blinked out long enough for the root juice to fall to the floor, where it joined the growing ooze of disgust on the rest of the floor around the Colonel’s desk.

I blinked back in with a completely clean BGS. "Ta-da!"

York shook her head. "My lord, Mr. Grange. You crack me up with how you can so easily entertain yourself."

I looked down at my clean suit and then back at York. "What? I thought that was a pretty good trick!"

Over the next eight hours, our offensive force was secretly moved into place at Tackor. I and the other BGS Marines floated unseen just above the Nevil base. The Colonel’s Marines then rose from their hiding places among the ruins of Tackor and began their sprint, moving quickly across the four kilometers that separated the two conquered cities.

The Durians at Nevil had the minimum of security forces on patrol. For each of the fifteen transports that sat fully loaded at the base, we sent a pair of BGS Marines aboard to open their bay doors. The Colonel’s Marines followed after, boarding the vessels and creating extreme chaos and mayhem as they cut loose on the yet-to-be-armed troops that waited inside.

I followed York into the farthest Durian command ship. Our first encounter was with a handful of technicians that were gathered around a piece of equipment in one of the cargo bays. Five tungsten rounds soon had the five techs’ remains scattered across the bay deck and a far wall.

As York charged forward, I held up to look at the device the techs were working on. Frost yelled back for me to move forward. I turned and powered ahead to catch back up. As York moved up and down the halls, it was once again the job of Frost, me, and two other BGS Marines to clean the decks. With each shot, we were careful to not damage any of the ship’s internals that might be required for using the vessel as a transport back to our lines.

York rounded a corner and dispatched three Durian Helgrons before they had a chance to react to a Human Marine who had blinked in just beside them. I cleared a set of administrators from a room to the left while Frost did her worst to five crewmen on the right as they slept in their bunks.

York powered down the hall, cutting through the corner of the next wall and coming out behind two Helgrons that were positioning themselves for a fight. With a blink in and then out, the two Helgrons fell to the deck with fist-sized holes in their chests. As with our previous shipboard ventures, the rest of the team had a hard time keeping up with York’s momentum.

As Frost opened a door and blasted two Durian doctors, she yelled out, "Mr. Grange! Get in here!"

I entered the room to see the remains of the doctors splattered across the right wall. As I turned towards the rest of the room, my eyes locked on the five Marines that lay outstretched on tables. They were still alive as the Durians performed experiments on them.

I spoke. "I just lost the last bit of humanitarian-type feelings that I held for the Durians. You want to think every species has at least a few redeeming qualities. Now, I don’t think I would care if I found them."

Frost replied, "I’ll let the Colonel know we have wounded incoming."

We left Major Howell with the wounded Marines and got back to the work of clearing the ship. The major had initially joined the Marines as a corpsman. After passing the officer’s exam, he had moved on to other duties. That initial training was the best attention we could offer our wounded during the fight.

On the fourth deck of seven, the alarm on the ship finally sounded. Blaster and laser fire came down the hallways as we moved forward. The active skins on our suits performed exactly as they were designed to do. The energy bolts from the weapons were absorbed by the outer layer of the suit and passed around to the other side, where they exited and proceeded along their way.

Word came from the Colonel over the comm. "Grange, eight of the fifteen transport targets have been neutralized; the next seven are just getting under way. What’s your progress there?"

I replied, "We have two decks to clear, Colonel. As usual, York is running away from us on a rampage. And we found five of our Marines here, Colonel. Still alive. Looks like the Durians were conducting experiments on them."

The Colonel was silent for a moment. "I hope you are doling out some justice for that, Grange."

I replied, "You can bet we will, Colonel. If you need a motivator to pass back to your men, you might want to pass that info along. War is a dirty enough business on its own without one having to worry about being experimented on."

Frost spoke. "Sir, not to diminish what they were doing in here, but weren’t we doing the same with the Milgari at one point?"

I thought back to the experiments George had conducted in his attempt to find a vaccine to counteract the Torrian drug that had been used on the otherwise docile Milgari.

I replied to Frost, "We were at least attempting to find what made them so belligerent. As it turned out, we found a cure. But, I get what you are saying, Frost. It’s a very fine line between having to conduct experiments and wanting to. I’ll have to keep that thought in mind going forward."

We moved back out into the hallway and continued to clear the decks up to the top level as we approached the bridge. The Helgrons gave it their best effort, but we were unmatched in our equipment. The hallway was cleared as York stepped onto the bridge. Twelve seconds later, the eight officers that manned the bridge posts were dead.

I spoke to Frost. "Let’s see if we can fly this thing, Frost. The nav computer is over here, according to our intel."

Frost stopped and spoke. "Sir, tell me if I am wrong, but a flashing red light is usually a bad indicator."

I looked around the bridge to see a red light flashing on each of the operator consoles as well as on a central panel up over our heads.

I spoke. "Crap! They set off the self-destruct!"

York spoke. "We have forty-eight seconds to evac, Sir."

I replied, "OK, let’s go get our wounded and get them out of here!"

I raised the Colonel on the comm. "Problem, Colonel. Looks like they got the self-destruct set before we could stop them. We are going to evac the five wounded and move on to the next command ship."

The Colonel replied, "Change of plans, Grange! Get those men off there; we will have a Wren waiting to pick them up. I’ll let my troops know to save that last transport if they want a ride home. The other Durian command ships are in the process of lifting off."

We flew straight through the walls and floors to reach the wounded warriors on deck five. The wounded were lifted by the five BGS Marines and flown down the halls as fast as we could. The Marine I had over my shoulder wheezed and coughed as I carried him with one arm wrapped around his midsection as my other arm powered us down the hall. Our active skins had been turned off. It was the only way we could carry the wounded with us.

As I dropped down onto the next deck, I took a glancing hit by an ion bolt as it exploded off a nearby wall. My chest burned with a fire I had never before felt as the gel inside the suit heated from the explosion. I dropped down hard to my stumps and fired off a tungsten round, obliterating the Durian crewman that we had missed during our sweep.

York quickly passed me in a full run with her wounded Marine over her shoulder. "Get a move on, Mr. Grange! That timer is ticking!"

I powered up my BHD and once again began moving down the hall, with Frost and the others close behind. As we exited the Durian ship, a Wren was waiting at the ready. We hustled the wounded Marines aboard, and the rear hatch was closed. As the Wren lifted off, the self-destruct timer on the Durian command ship ticked down to zero. A huge explosion followed, bringing the Wren’s active skin to 85 percent as we pulled away.

The Colonel came over the comm. "Grange, we managed to take control of the last transport. It should be lifting off just behind you. Just bring our boys home."

As we landed in the quad, we were met by a team of medics in white biohazard gear.

York rolled her eyes. "I know what that means."

I replied as I raised my face shield, "What? What’s the problem?"

York shook her head. "We are quarantined until that crew determines that we are clean. The Durians could have been planting pathogens on these Marines in an effort to send them back to start an epidemic. Kind of the opposite of the viral warfare we saw used on the Milgari. Even if it only took out 5 percent of a city’s populace, it would be considered a big win."

As I looked up at my visor, I took note of a flashing yellow alert. I pulled down on the face shield to check the issue.

I grumbled, which made York ask a question. "What are you seeing, Sir?"

I replied, "I have a flashing yellow indicator that reads ‘Biohazard.' And to go along with that, my chest is burning right now. I don’t think the pain meds in this suit are working anymore."

York looked. "You have some burns that need looking at there, Sir. That biohazard might just be from that. Wait, an indicator just went off on my HUD. Mine says ‘External threat.'"

York blinked out and then blinked back in a few seconds later in a different spot. "Yep, indicator is gone."

York reached out and touched an area on my shoulder where I had been carrying the wounded Marine. The external threat indicator once again lit up on her HUD.

York spoke. "Yep, looks like you are infected with whatever it was they were playing with, Sir. Frost, Major, Sergeant, blink out and then step out of the Wren."

Five seconds later, the rest of my team reappeared in the quad just outside of the ship. The white suits ran sniffers over their exteriors for several minutes before returning to the hold of the Wren to tend to the wounded.

The officer leading the biohazard team spoke. "The rest of you are clean. You may go. This one and the other wounded are now in quarantine until we determine what this is."

I raised my hand. "Got any pain meds with you? My chest is burning, and I could seriously use some relief."

The officer reached up and raised my face shield. Before I could ask what he was doing, he had a pen-like device pressed against the skin just above my upper lip. I winced as a shot was administered.