Inherited War 3: Retaliation (39 page)

“Oh yeah, and what look is that?” Cole asked.

“The one that says that you have just figured something out and are working a plan in your mind,” she said with a smile.

“Didn’t know I had that look. I’ll have to work on that.” As they stood looking at the map, more lights bloomed on surrounding the city.

“Shit, we didn’t act fast enough. They are bringing more troops in to assault the city.” Cole glanced at the power gauge of the shield. They were no longer letting it bleed off energy to allow the Roche a chance to bring the shields down. They had the generators going full bore and the shield on high. As more and more Roche firepower was brought to bear, the shields were being overloaded. Cole sent for the Worlder and Nixa Commanders to meet him in the command center.

He continued to watch the buildup of Roche on the other side of the shield. Hundreds of thousands of Roche and dozens of high-powered weapons were flooding into the countryside and being turned on the city. The shield was slowly but steadily dropping in strength as he waited. Two hours, that’s all they had until the shields failed.

The Worlder General and the newly minted Nixa General arrived together. The Nixa had been helping the new troops get familiar with the defense protocols.

“Gentleman, we have a problem. We can no longer hold this size of a shield against the incoming fire. If you haven’t noticed, the Roche are reinforcing their positions here. We need to fall back and collapse our area of coverage.”

“Retreat back to the next block?” the Worlder said.

“No, that won’t be enough. We need to go back at least half way to the center. Ten blocks. And we have about two hours to do it,” Cole said.

“Impossible,” the Nixa said. “We are not set up to fall back that far. The plan was to go back block by block. We don’t even have that area set up for generators or shields. Let alone move the stockpiles of equipment and ammunition back that far. You’re asking for us to do in two hours what should take most of a day.”

“I am asking a lot, I know that, but I am also going to buy you some more time. As much as I can. Look here.” Cole pointed to the 3D map. “There is a tunnel entrance right at this point by where a large portion of their indirect fire is located. Over here is one that empties out near a forward camp. Two more put us right behind their front lines. Now we can’t move too many soldiers through those tunnel exits, so we don’t need a large force. I was going to split up the Worlder contingent into four parts and send each of them out one of these exits to harass and cause as much damage as possible to the enemy. It may not buy much time, but hopefully enough to move all the generators and shields back ten blocks. Take as much ammo as you can and get everyone who isn’t on the front line involved in this. When that shield fails, the defenders have to fight backwards, leapfrogging from building to building. Rig the buildings so they fall to the sides and block the streets. Any equipment, weapons, or ammo we can’t take, needs to be in those buildings so it’s destroyed. Leave nothing for the Roche.” Cole looked at the two leaders.

The Worlder General nodded and looked confident. The Nixa looked hesitant but was soon nodding his head too.

“Good, get started on the preps now. General,” he said pointing to the Worlder, “I will be leading the raid on the heavy weapons, so let your staff know.”

“Sir, is that wise? You are worth more to us alive than dead.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on becoming a martyr, but I need to be seen as involved in all of this and not just leading. These Nixa have been fighting a retreating action for days and have had poor leadership since Thalo—” he paused for a moment, “since Thalo was killed. They need to see that we are doing something to ease the pressure from their shoulders. And not just rearranging their solar system. I also need you to pass the word around the globe to increase attacks where they are able. Significant numbers of Roche are being brought here from all over. Numbers might be down enough to cause some damage. And someone find me Uriel, I need to ask a favor.” The generals left to carry out Cole’s orders, and Cole turned to find Sky had left at some point in the briefing.

He waited a few moments and monitored the room, ensuring everything was going as planned before he grabbed his weapon and trotted down the street to the nearest entrance to the underground.

CHAPTER 20

Cole glanced behind him down the long narrow tunnel. One thousand Worlder soldiers were lined up five hundred to a side. Worlders who served in the regular armed forces of their home world were never bonded. They were not allowed to find their bond mate until after they had finished their service to the Twin Worlds. For obvious reasons. When their bond mates die, they tend to go berserk. And if a bunch died at once, well, that would doom any campaign to have an army of uncontrollable berserkers. It may have worked for the Vikings when their size and strength mattered more in combat, but against these weapons, a berserker could be brought down rather fast.

Cole had wanted to split up the Worlder contingent into equal parts and let them lose behind enemy lines. Unfortunately after putting eyes on the tunnels and the exits, they decided it would be impossible to move that many soldiers effectively.

He may have been able to get most of them out, but if the shit hit the fan, they would be hard pressed to get them all back in time. The door was just too narrow, only allowing two at a time to exit. He had adjusted his plan and settled on smaller, heavily armed teams to sally forth. Now he was waiting for the call from the command center that the shield was showing signs of collapse. He wanted the Roche to be focused on that and not on what was happening around them. The call came. The shield was starting to spark and hum. Sure signs to the invaders that it was close to falling.

“Fast and lethal. Move and don’t stop so those behind can clear the door. Head to your waypoints and engage the targets,” Cole said on the channel designated for his unit. He keyed the door and it silently slid open. It was concealed in the ground of the prairie lands to the north. The door dropped in about two inches and slid to the side, where he found steep and narrow stairs.

Cole was the first up and out. He had all of his suit’s systems up and running. Radar scanning for threats, filters for toxins or chemicals of any kinds, and his crosshairs were up and tracking wherever his barrel pointed. The door was in a slight depression. Cole could just barely see over the top and the sun was setting to his left. He couldn’t see anything until he crested that low rise. All of the enemy encampments were beyond that slight hill.

He pushed forward, following his own advice. Fast but quiet. He crouched low to the ground and ran as fast as he could. He never made it. Just as he hit the bottom of the hill, the world disappeared in fire. The Roche had timed their ambush perfectly and nearly all of the Worlders were out and caught moving towards the rise. Cole screamed to drop flat but he wasn’t fast enough.

He went into combat mode instantly. Time slowed as his senses kicked into overdrive. He was still a second too slow. The first thing his suit registered was the plasma blast that took him in the chest. It weakened the suits protective ability substantially. Then he took two, then four shots in the weakened area. The last two penetrated to his body. His suit was flashing warning lights about its integrity and his nanites were reporting on his injuries. Two wounds in his upper right chest. Collapsing right lung and arterial hemorrhaging. His nanites were on it, and his suit was adding more oxygen to his air mix to make up for the reduced lung capacity. His nanites were blocking the pain and repairing the damage as fast as they could. He finally hit the dirt and lay flat, getting under the fire. Now he had the advantage. He whipped his rifle up and began to lay down as much fire as he could. His suit’s threat counter was moving up so fast he couldn’t even read it in his heightened state.

It took a few seconds, but his men finally hit the ground and were firing back up the hill. He had wounded and dying all over the depression, and he was now effectively pinned down. He had two choices. Retreat, or fight to the top of the hill where they had some cover and push the bastards back.

“Push forward, God damn it! We have to get up this hill!” he shouted into his coms. “Auto guns lay down a suppressive fire while the rest push up the hill.” Cole never stopped firing. His rifle shot deadly plasma as fast as he could pull the trigger. “Send out Reserve One!” he hollered into the com. Reserve One was another thousand Worlders further down the tunnel. They had been tasked with holding the tunnel entrance if it became necessary. Now they needed to help the assault team crest the rise and get a visual on the target.

The next few moments were a blur for Cole. Firing, reloading, and shouting orders, all while fighting for his life. The heavy weapons squads finally got in sync and were laying down effective cover fire, but they also were the target of the Roche ambush. The goddamn Roche were all around. In front, to the sides and behind. Cole took a few more glancing shots on his armor but nothing as devastating as the initial hits. He alternated between low crawling and firing, still trying to make the few final feet to the crest. The reinforcements finally came boiling out of the tunnel at full speed. They were firing as they came out, and went as far as they could before dropping to the ground to avoid the heavy fire still emanating from the Roche lines. The ground around Cole began to erupt as wild fire from the Roche impacted all around him. His back took a few hits but his suit managed to absorb the blows.

“Grenades! Clear the top!” he shouted again as he popped the activator on his first high explosive grenade. He tossed it blind, hoping he hit near the top of the back slope of the hill. He didn’t stop with one; he tossed every one he had and felt the ground shake as they detonated less than ten feet from him. Dirt, gore, and bits and pieces of Roche fell all around him, but he ignored the disgusting rain and pushed himself forward to the top.

More explosions rocked the earth to his left and right, and more Worlders made the summit of the small hill, but it wouldn’t be enough. Cole’s threat counter went spinning into infinity as it tried to count all of the Roche on the plain in front of him. There had to be a million, and they were between him and the heavy weapons pounding the shield. He fired as he formulated his next move. Roche by the scores died from plasma shots from his weapon, but when one went down, ten took its place.

He had lost fifty percent of his men by this time. Some wounded, most dead, but he needed to hold this ground long enough to start hitting the targets they had come to destroy. If they couldn’t destroy at least some of those heavy hitters, then the shield wouldn’t last long enough to protect everyone. Ten minutes into the fight, he had lost half his men but pushed the Roche off the crest of the hill.

“Bring up Reserve Two and Three. Break down five more reserves and get them into the tunnel and ready to support. If we can stabilize this depression, we will start sending back wounded. Have medical prepare a triage in the biggest place down there they can find.”  What was left of his initial assault was on the crest of the hill firing down into the mass of Roche as they now had to push forward.

Cole looked in the distance and saw the targets they had come for still firing their deadly barrage at the city. The shield wouldn’t hold much longer, and his people weren’t ready yet. Cole noticed a lack of true organization down on the plain. Large groups were still showing up and some were standing around lost. It had to have been a thrown together ambush, which meant that they hadn’t know about the attack until just before it happened. The friendly counter on Cole’s HUD started climbing as he saw fresh Worlders running out of the tunnel.

They ran across the depression, doing their best to ignore dead and dying comrades, knowing they had to bolster the line on the hill.

“Heavy weapons to the front,” Cole ordered. “I want full suppressive fire down the hill.” They were never going to get into range to attack their target, so he had to hit it from here. “Someone get me a shit load of rockets!” Cole shouted into his all hands com. Then he ran out of power. Battery power for his weapon, that is, which rendered it into nothing more than an awkward club. He rolled onto his back and slid down the hill. Two new arrivals took his spot. He didn’t dare stand up. His nanites were reporting success in stopping the bleeding and closing the holes in his chest, but his lung was still nonfunctional. He glanced at the entrance to the tunnel and saw medics rushing out and grabbing whom they could. One ran at him. He waved him off. The medic nodded and found someone else to take.

After the first initial wave of medics cleared the tunnel entrance, more Worlders poured out. These ones came baring gifts. Packs of batteries and ammunition were carried up the hills and distributed to those in need. Long slender tubes housing rockets were also brought out of the tunnel. More heavy automatic weapons were carried out and mounted on top of the hill.

“Get those rockets up on the north side!”  Cole ordered. “Target the Roche heavy hitters about a half mile to the north. Take down as many as you can.”

He saw a slender figure running in his direction. She had an open bag in her hands and was grabbing things out of it as she ran. She slid to a stop and knelt down, placing her hand on his shoulder.