Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) (26 page)

              “I don’t want anyone knowing what you’re doing and I don’t want whatever’s out there knowing it was in-system,” Nivad finished, fixing him with a look.

              “I’ll see to it,” Walalce said, standing and finishing off the bourbon in a gulp.

              Nivad nodded.

              Wallace inclined his head, turned and left.

              Masoul had opened more than one bag of secrets and Nivad would find out just what that meant one way or another.

Chapter 25

             
Combat Shuttle one-four-nine and Extractor Thirteen

             
Gas Planet, Masoul System

             
10/3240

              The mission sounded simple.

             
Fuck, when doesn’t it sound simple? Less to fuck up.
Jerome thought as he secured his E-12 to his stomach and brought his harness around his armored plates.

              A good shake made sure that it was sealed. He looked to his weapons detachment, Huang, Dooks, Sasaki, Ishida and Kojo were, strapped and packed with repulsors, breaching charges and all kinds of destructive goodies.

              Tyler had taken command of two section after Alvarez had caught a round. Evans, Ma, Smith and Sal hadn’t made it either. Jerome had lost Kauv and Ohana, Sergeant Haas had become second-lieutenant Haas, his section had only lost Bale.

              They were hurting but there was no time to stop and properly grieve, they pushed it down and away. They needed to focus on the here and now. Which was getting stuffed into the back of a Combat Shuttle that was more holes than armor and attacking Gas Planet’s Extractor.

              There were thirty thousand Harmony fighters with nowhere to go. Sure the locals were helping the EMF out in a rare display of togetherness.

              Jerome saw how having the population on your side could be helpful in war, instead of being constantly against it.

              No one was stupid enough to think that this was going to be easy.

              A burly cargo hold master ran a trained eye over the harnesses as they closed the Combat Shuttle’s rear hatch.

              “Welcome to Combat Shuttle one-four-nine, my name is Lieutenant Yu. Gas planet’s atmosphere is going to be rough. Shouldn’t be expecting any hostile fire. But we all know how that shit goes right out the air lock when we’re actually getting close to the target. Jack into the sensors if you want to, we should be moving in five minutes,” Lieutenant Yu cut the channel. Jerome opened up the sensor feed, most Combat Shuttle pilots didn’t let troopers use them as they thought it slowed down their systems.

             
Reclaimer
troopers and Combat Shuttle crews had become a lot closer than on other carriers.

              Jerome looked at the other Combat Shuttles across the flight deck, the majority had battle damage of some kind marring their armored surfaces, still they were ready to go, the blue lights of their engines lighting the atmosphere free flight deck.

              “Cleared for launch,” Yu reported as the first rank of shuttles rose from the flight deck and headed out of the mangled doors towards Gas Planet rotating just outside of
Reclaimer
.

              Their row of shuttles picked up moments after the first had exited the flight deck. They moved forward, their thrust pushing them out of the carrier and angling towards Gas Planet.

              “Well ain’t that a sight,” Tyler said on a private channel.

              Jerome knew the other man was missing Alexis and Mark. Hell Jerome missed Garcia, but they didn’t have the kind of relationship Tyler and Alexis had.

              Jerome and Garcia used one another to relieve their urges, to clear their head for battle.

              Jerome was scared for what would happen if either one of them died.

              He could hope it wouldn’t happen, but Earth and being a Trooper had shown him how fragile life was.

              One second you’re alive, next you’re a mess of brain matter and blood.

              “Yeah, kind of weird,” Jerome said, looking at the swirling and shimmering colors of the gas planet. Ribbons of different gasses were layered on one another, dictated by their densities and the planet’s gravitational pull.

              Down there, massive electro-static storms could destroy even an Earth Military Force Carrier.

             
And some fucker decided to build extractors down there,
Jerome sighed as the shuttle started shaking as it entered Gas Planet’s atmosphere.

              Jerome looked to the scanners,
Fearless
and
Reclaimer
were close to one another.
Fearless
’ forces were moving to the stations in orbit, clearing out any Harmony forces there. Their secondary mission was to clear the massive drifting freighter.

              Word had come from higher, they wanted the massive carrier intact. Some CEO was probably hoping they didn’t lose the billions of credits it took to build one of the things.

              “We’re seeing something that is only in three other systems and you say ‘Yeah, kind of weird,’” Tyler said.

              “What you want me to say, oooh, look it’s shiny,” Jerome said.

              Tyler laughed, “you’re one uncultured dude.”

              “Fuck man, I’m just here to go to different places, and say hello, E-12 first,” Jerome said, slapping his rifle.

              Turbulence made them lurch wildly. Someone made a deposit into the puke trough, it looked like Ishida people whooped and cheered, the puker still bent over incase more followed.

              Jerome chewed his gum violently, he knew Tyler was doing the same, it was a trick they’d taken from Mark and other veterans. It wouldn't be good if newly minted Sergeants were puking everywhere.

              “Fuck, this is worse than Sacremon,” Tyler growled.

              “Don’t you fucking curse me now Tyler Victor,” Jerome growled between angry chewing.

              Tyler grunted as the turbulence picked up again.

              “Sorry about this boys and girls, seems whoever made this planet’s atmosphere is a right fuck up,” Lieutenant Yu said through gritted teeth. “Ten minutes!” he called out, cutting the channel.

              “Gear check! Remember we’re doing air-lock entry so I want those harnesses off as soon as possible,” Jerome said.

              Green lights confirming they’d heard him went across the top of his HUD. No one was talking now because they were probably trying to retain control of their stomachs. Jerome saw their hands touching their kit, knowing where it all was by feel.

              Jerome looked to the extractor facilities, they were identical to one another.

              Anchoring lines snaked down from different points of the lowest platform, at the center there were extractor lines that dropped at various heights to gather the gasses at that level.

              Above the lowest platform were massive tanks that the gasses were refined and pressurized in. Above that were maintenance platforms, offices, command centers and living quarters. Each platform would get smaller ending in a line that snaked out of the atmosphere. Freighters would hook up and draw various gasses to be shipped from the line extending out of the Gas Planet’s atmosphere.

              It wasn’t long until they got the five-minute warning, they lost speed as the Combat Shuttle brought them right on target, it’s ramp also had an air lock in the middle of it.

              Orange lights whirled through the cargo hold and harnesses released, only one needed to be jimmied open.

              All of the troopers were on their feet and facing the airlock as it’s lights lit up confirming connection.

              A few moments later it opened up.

              Jerome moved first, the dual airlocks on the other side were open as well, allowing him to walk right into the living quarters of the Gas planet’s workers.

              It was the same as any living space on a colony. Blank corridors and rubberized flooring with numbers printed to allow people to figure out where they were. Lifts, supply closets and doors leading to apartments spread out in an expandable grid pattern.

              Each intersection had large airlocks where they’d been attached to their counterparts. They were all open as the station was pressurized. If someone holed the exterior, then the nearest airlocks would seal with the pressure loss.

              Jerome’s section was first out of the shuttle.

              “Dooks front, Huang, take longshot down the corridor, anything shoots at us, you kill them. Remember there are friendlies in the facility, don’t need to start pissing them off by lighting their buddies up, Sasaki, Ishida and Kaj, you’re with me, Kaj we’ll fire team up. Once we get to the first corridor we’ll split left while Tyler goes right, good?” Green lights appeared.

              “Shuttle, cleared, thanks for the ride,” Zukic said, Jerome picking it up on the leadership channel.

              “No worries, happy to help, let us know if you need support,” Yu said, the airlock’s closing behind Tyler’s section as they moved up to the right of Jerome’s.

              “Tyler move right, I’ll move left,” Jerome said.

              “Gotcha,” Tyler confirmed, moving his section into place.

              “Rest of the platoon should be coming in ten. I’m going to pull Dooks and Obe to cover down the entry corridor,” Zukic said.

              “Good by me,” Jerome said, coming to the first corridor and signalling for Ishida and Sasaki to take the corner when Tyler’s section was ready.

              Dooks and Obe went to Zukic lying down to cover the corridor they had entered.

              “Three, two, one,” Ishida called out the timing, Jerome and Kaj went right as Ishida and Sasaki went left.

              They moved down their new corridors their section following after them as Zukic moved Dooks and Obe up to get better cover.

              Jerome and Tyler coordinated clearing out rooms. It was a timely process but they didn’t want anyone coming in behind them.

              Haas, Mark and Holm came in with the remainder of the platoon. Green dots showed the troopers moving in to the facility on all levels, clearing as they went, turning grey areas into green.

             
So far, so good,

              Nerva moved up with the forward platoon, NIDenise pinged the first contact.

              Greens went to yellows and two blacks as people moving through the mechanical areas of the facility were hit by Harmony fighters.

              He saw as other platoons in the areas came across civilians, moving to support their lines with their own fire power. The civilians were using security shotguns and whatever they’d been able to convert into weapons.

Chapter 26

             
Extractor Thirteen

             
Gas Planet, Masoul System

             
10/3240

               “
You’re going to want to see this,”
NIDenise said. Nerva pulled into a secured room, a section following him as he accessed the image.

              There was a row of civilians ranging from teenagers to retirees strung up in the rafters.

              Nerva knew violence, he could tell when a person was killed cleanly and when they’d been made to suffer. Everyone in the rafters had suffered for days before dying.

              Nerva silently transmitted it to every officer.

              “No mercy, kill them all,” Nerva said.

              Green lights went across the top of his helmet.

              Alerts from higher came in, orders to secure the processing tanks. It cut to a video of facility nine turning into a fireball.

              Nerva passed on the orders, it seemed the fanatics were driven to the point of blowing themselves up instead of letting the troopers get to them.

              He sent the message to all the Majors he knew. Some people wouldn’t send information to the ground troopers. Happy to sit up in their command centers, watching their screens in boredom.

              He’d seen the feeds from the command center on
Reclaimer
more than once. Every time it made him want to go up there and clear out the useless fuckers with a repulsor.

              Nerva used his HUD and implants to give different platoons and companies new way points, moving troopers to help where combat was and search for any altercations the bastards might have made to turn the whole thing into one big bomb.