Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (43 page)

Nothing had slowed Button’s reactions in the time Valerie was away.  He stopped precisely on target and his Plasma cannon blazed from his left arm.  The recoil energy from the powerful weapon sent him to the back of the shaft.  The moment his back touched, he pushed off with his elbows and hurled himself through the door.

Wearing the lighter armour, Valerie was more manoeuvrable and corrected her flight so she was aimed straight at the entrance.  Instead of resetting her belt to hover, she switched it off and used her continuing momentum to take her all the way to the doorway.  Grabbing hold of the top edge, she used her powerful arms to stop herself and swing inside.  Not knowing what she was going into, she carried the motion through to a forward roll.  Coming up with her rifle extended.

All around her was absolute carnage.  Wester and Richings had gone to the right in the open plan room, their Plasma Cannons and Blasters firing.  Button went left, his weapons blazing in concert with the others.  Burnt, barely recognisable bodies lay strewn all around.  Some wearing armour, most weren’t.  Men and women in crew uniforms ran in all directions.  If they didn’t have any weapons, the Devil’s armour would not highlight them as threats.  They would be safe enough.

The guards who were desperately trying to get organised at the other end were not so lucky.  Their armour, identical to the set Valerie wore, was no protection against Alpha team’s primary weapons.  Plasma Cannons and Blasters were designed to fight Mechs and heavy infantry with similar armour, not civilian guards.

Valerie took it all in at a glance as her Pulse rifle spat burst after burst.  Each shot a confirmed kill she stepped sideways into the cover of Button’s armour.  A fourth and fifth set of heavy weapons joined the storm of energy when Guggenheim and Saito arrived and it was all over.  Alpha team’s guns went silent.  Their HUDs showed no more targets.  Valerie’s helmet was not nearly so capable and she took her cue from her team.

“Saito and Guggenheim.  Hold here and wait for Briseis’ team to arrive.  Wester and Richings.  Hit ’em hard!”  Valerie ordered and their armoured forms leapt forward.

***

The entire company were now assembled and Julianna looked around, impressed with how they slotted into their assigned places.  This is what they had spent months training for, but she saw numerous operations go wrong in the Rebellion due to a case of nerves.  That hadn’t been the case today and she thought it was due to the steadying presence of Shadow Company.  Chief among them, Sergeant Major Bickerstaff.

Those not wearing the FPB armour were tight against the wall.  Arrayed on either side of the Bays blast door leading into the Rock.  They constructed makeshift barricade sand set them up in case the guards weren’t where they thought they would be.  She was glad they were able to use all the crap her team and the engineers pulled out looking for the umbilical airlock.  Luckily they found one right at the back of the equipment bay.  The engineers were there now, well outside the line of fire, and ready to attach the umbilical, as soon as it was safe.

Sergeant Major Bickerstaff stood directly in front of the main door, checking everyone’s positions.  His very posture declared him to be calm and in control.  He pointed to either side of the door.

“Mustafa and Tripoli.  Get into positions.  Major Carter and Alpha team have begun their assault.”  The two women jogged over and set their armoured fists against the middle of the door.  Their Plasma Cannons and Blasters were aimed exactly were the door would open.

Turning, the Sergeant Major strolled off to the left.  When he was clear, he turned back and the door cracked open, just enough to give the two women a clear shot.  Using the footage from earlier, they aligned themselves on what they thought to be the first barricade.  As one of the team leaders, Julianna was linked into one of Mustapha’s gun cams.  On the small screen to the right and lower portion of her HUD, she had an instant to take in the wall of tables and cabinets before Plasma and Blaster fire ripped into it.

In seconds, what was once a secure barricade with armed guards behind was turned into a burning mess of death.  Bickerstaff ordered the door to open all the way.  Julianna took her eyes off Mustapha’s gun cam.  She watched the armoured shapes of Shadow Company charging through the door.

Bickerstaff’s instructions were clear, although her team were temporarily part of his platoon.  She was not to advance until they were all through.  After the last one ran past her, Julianna rose up and her team came with her.  The Pulse rifle was at her shoulder and she darted round the corner.  She had the impression of Troll to her right and Barney to her left before they both overtook her.  In a synchronised move, they stepped in front of her, even as their Pulse rifles whined.

Down the corridor, the second barricade was already destroyed and the Company were hauling burning chunks out of the way.  One of the armoured shapes staggered back and fell.  Julianna was horrified to see half of the soldier’s right side gone.  Her HUD told her it was Private Silongo of Delta team.  The woman’s armour was melted.  Julianna didn’t need the warning on her HUD to tell her a Plasma cannon was responsible.  She cursed Malick for being right while shouting a warning to her team.

“Plasma.  Scatter!”

They reacted well, each moving away and spreading out.  They needed to prevent themselves from giving the enemy gunner a group of targets she could kill in a single shot.  No sooner had they begun, a voice identified as Private Evora spoke on the Company net.

“Plasma down.  All clear.”  There was little emotion in his voice to indicate he had killed the person responsible for his friend’s death.

Julianna pushed her own feelings down.  She liked Mina Silongo and owed her twenty sov from their last game.  She would never get to pay it back now.

A closed door was to Julianna’s right, she pointed and Troll ran forward.  A burst from the Enforcer’s Pulse rifle destroyed the lock.  A much simpler version than those they circumvented to get into the Bays control room, Troll reached into the destroyed circuitry and pulled at the right connection.  The door slid open and Barney stepped though.  A Pulse burst passed his shoulder.  He shot once and stepped into the cover of the doorframe.

“Grenade,” was all his gruff voice said.

He needn’t have done so.  Julianna thought it was for her benefit, a grenade was already in Troll’s hand.  She tossed it around the corner and ducked back.  The explosion reverberated out of the doorway.  Julianna was crouched behind Troll.  Her armour automatically compensated for the sound and there was no disorientation for any of them.  Barney rolled back round, gun blazing with Troll beside him.

Julianna stayed in place, Haworth on the other side and Beaumont behind her.  She waited for Troll and Barney to clear the door and waved for Haworth to go with her, while Beaumont stayed behind to cover their backs.  Inside, Barney and Troll dropped down into cover on either side.  Across the room, three bodies lay on the floor; one from a Pulse burst, two from the grenades.  A door was on the opposite wall, a guard on either side of it.  Their guns were aimed at Troll and Barney and they were only just beginning to react.  Julianna and Haworth’s Pulse bursts killed them.

With Haworth beside her, Julianna kept moving forward.  Her HUD showed her Barney and Troll dropping in behind her.

“Beaumont.  Follow us in.  There are more rooms through here.”  Julianna said into their team’s net, before switching to the Company command net.  “One-bravo- one.  This is Julianna.”

“One-bravo-one, received.  Go ahead, Julianna.”  Sergeant Major Bickerstaff’s gruff voice replied.

“We have found rooms with hostiles.  Will continue and clear.”

“Understood.  I  have you mapped.  Good hunting.  One-bravo-one, out.”

She continued walking forward, her gun on the doorway and eyes sweeping the room.  There were no threats she or her armour’s computer could see.  Reaching the doorway, she stepped to one side.  With a nod of her head, she indicated Haworth should go to the other.  Troll and Barney paused further back and Beaumont came up behind them.

“We’ve got clearance for a hunting trip.”  Julianna reported to her team.  “We work our way through until we meet up with the others or hit a dead end.”

“Nice choice of words,” Troll pointed out.

“Sorry, I’ll make sure I write better dialogue next time.”  Troll’s light heartedness was infectious and Julianna couldn’t help but reply in kind.  “Troll and Barney, you’re on point.”

“Some people just can’t take a joke.”  Troll said softly, but it was still heard clearly by the entire team as she and Barney moved forward smoothly.  They paused on the cusp of the doorway and, without any visible or audible cue, stepped forward and through.

“Clear,” Troll said almost instantly.  “Door to the left.  Sealed.”

“Beaumont.  That one’s yours.”  Julianna ordered and the woman nodded before dashing past her.  With a nod Haworth should come last, she rolled around the doorway.

This room was completely empty.  Judging from the VI screens on the walls it must have been some sort of office.  Julianna guessed the furniture was all removed for the barricades.  Beaumont was at the door controls and already the panel was off.  Troll and Barney stood slightly offset from the door, their rifles pointed directly towards it.

Beaumont reached into the panel to copy Troll’s move to open the door, when energy burst out from the panel.  Beaumont screamed and lurched back.  Her right hand was gone and her lower arm a blackened, smoking ruin as she fell to the floor screaming.  Haworth ran forward, passing Julianna to grab his fellow Fighter and the door slid open.  He was caught in the open.  Pulse bursts came through, hitting his face and chest.

Neither Barney nor Troll reacted to Beaumont’s distress.  Their rifles stayed steady and returned fire.  Julianna reeled back in shock.  In seconds two of her team were down and possibly dead.  Pulse rounds continued to come through the door, though Haworth was the only one they could see.  Most of the shots went over where he had fallen to the floor, but some must have been aimed deliberately.  His body rocked with more hits.

“I can’t see them!  Can you?”  Troll shouted.

“No,” Barney answered.

“Grenade!”  Troll shouted, but both continued to fire through the door.  Neither stopped to reach for a grenade.  “Julianna.  Wake the fuck up, and put a grenade through that door now!”

With a start, Julianna realised Troll was talking to her.  She slung her rifle over her shoulder, and palmed a grenade out of her rear belt dispenser.  It armed automatically and she threw it with an under arm sling.  The disc grenade curved round the door and detonated, but she knew it was already too late.  The Pulse blasts stopped before she threw.  Whoever had been on the other side was no longer there.

A split second after the detonation, Troll and Barney charged through the door only to be followed swiftly by a frustrated, “clear,” from Troll.

“Watch that door, Barney,” she told her partner and stomped back.  Julianna couldn’t move.  All she could do was stare at the two bodies on the ground.  Haworth was dead.  She could see that without her HUD.  Beaumont was curled up in a ball, still screaming.  Only her automatic cut out stopped the rest of the team hearing it over their coms.  It was still there, so loud it was barely muffled by her helmet.

Troll crouched down beside the fallen woman.  The Enforcer pulled out Beaumont’s medikit.  She was quick and methodical.  Injecting a dose of painkillers and drugs designed to help sustain her body.  A specially designed bandage wrapped around the injury and re-sealed the suit.  The bay doors were still open and, now the blast doors had been unsealed, heat was rapidly disappearing through the airshield from this section of the wing as well.

Finished, Troll stood and walked over to Julianna.  It was like a dream as the woman approached.  Something slammed into her head and she was looking up at the tall woman from the floor.

“Snap out of it, Julianna or I will blow your head off now and be done with it.”  The barrel of Troll’s rifle was pointed at Julianna’s face and everything came into focus again.

“What?”  Julianna looked over to the two bodies on the floor.  One dead, one alive.  Her helmet shook and she realised Troll had hit her a second time, though not as hard as the first.

“Get up, Julianna.  You’re better than this,” Troll said more gently.

Shaking her head vigorously to clear it, she climbed to her feet.  “They’re dead because of me.”

“No.  One is dead because he was stupid.  The other is badly hurt because the lock was booby trapped.  It could have easily been you, me or Barney.  She will die unless you get your head back in the fucking game.  We need to clear the area for the medivac, now.”

Julianna stared through her visor at Troll.  The other woman’s eyes were hard as agates as she gazed right back and Julianna drew strength from that.  Sneaker managed to find several doctors to come with them and set up shop on the shuttle.  Some of the Militia teams were designated to recover the injured and the dead.  In the twenty centuries since the discovery of the hyperspace drive and faster than light travel, dead men and women do tell tales.  The Pantheon could gain a lot of information from the bodies of the fallen.  All would be taken back, if it was possible to do so.  The armour’s systems had already designated Haworth as dead and Beaumont as severely injured and sent the information to the medivac teams.