Star Crusades Nexus: Book 09 - The Black Rift (17 page)

"Their casualties will be too great in a direct assault. Instead, they are crushing the last of them with slow, attritional combat while their mobile forces secure this beachhead. Will we let Gun and his marines die slowly, like prey to some alien predator?"

"Hell, no!" shouted the nearest marine, a balding man in his early forties.

The response from the other marines was equally clear.

"Good. Stay behind the machines. We will rip open a hole to get them out of there. Keep moving, and don't get pinned down. Are you ready?"

A rousing chorus of "Yes, Sir!" ran along the thin line.

"Then let's move out, Marines!"

Teresa jumped up from cover, and two rounds immediately struck her. The first glanced off her visor and left a deep scar in the material. The second struck her carbine in the main feed, instantly rendering it useless. She cast it aside and pulled out her issue sidearm and continued on.

"Keep moving!"

Four marines stayed close to her, with two in front and scanning ahead with their carbines raised. Two more were on the right, both of them carrying the venerable L48 rifles. All of them fired almost constantly. Some of the rounds were at specific targets, but the majority fired to provide suppressing fire. Out in front moved the twelve engineers. They stomped ahead like great iron trolls. Every second something hit them, yet on they went until the first four reached the improvised barricades of stone, metal, and machine. As soon as they arrived, a wave of Thegns and Decurions fell upon them.

"Covering fire!" Teresa hollered.

The marines fired, even if they couldn't see an immediate target. It wasn't hard to find something to shoot at, though. Some Thegns even climbed on top of the machines to try and tear them apart. Teresa took aim with her pistol and squeezed. She expected at most a strike, but instead the head from a Thegn vanished and its lifeless corpse tumbled to the ground. Another roar almost blinded her as a Vanguard passed her and fired with its shoulder-mounted cannon. The weapon was the same unit as used on the mobile gun variants of the Bulldog.

"Keep going forward!"

The marines moved like ants around hornets as the wave continued on. In the middle of the formation was the squad with the unit standard. Teresa wondered why they bothered, especially as it had been hit at least twenty times now. It was riddled with bullet holes, and one of the corners now no more than a torn rag. One of the marines carrying it was struck in the face and dropped down into the dirt. As the standard fell with him, another marine picked it up just before the material hit the ground.

Insanity.

Two CES units lay burning, but the other ten were at the barricades, smashing and digging into the protective position. With each strike, a hole opened up, but that didn't stop them. Teresa was just ten meters from the first fallen Eques and now she could see inside. There were dozens, perhaps hundreds of bodies, but most were clearly Thegns. More of the marines reached the barricades and threw themselves against what cover it offered. The engineers still smashed at the metal and stone to open up a dozen lanes of entry.

Just a few more meters.

Teresa looked along the barricades and at the blood and dirt covered marines. They hugged the cover and put in a withering fire against the machines and Thegns on the other side. The fighting was now at a range of no more than fifteen meters. Rifles, carbines, and grenades moved back and forth.

"Captain Tycho, is the Broken Arrow fire mission ready?"

The officer replied almost immediately.

"Yes, Sir. I have rockets and artillery sighted and ready. You don't have long, though. The Eques walkers have penetrated the left flank and are moving in to cut you off."

Teresa felt her heart almost stop at the news. If their flank was broken, the machines could roll up their entire line and cut them off from the bridges. And if that happened, they would be in an even worse position than Gun.

"I've sent a Khreenk unit, a Helion squad of auxiliaries, plus eight SAAR robots over the bridge. They are heading to this position where they will pin the Biomechs down for as long as possible. Their commander has promised me ten minutes, twelve at the most."

"Understood. We won't need that long."

Teresa looked to the ground and found what she was looking for, a dead marine and his carbine. She reached down and took the weapon, doing her utmost to avoid looking at the broken body. Try as she might, she simply couldn't resist. The young man looked peaceful and might have been sleeping, were it not for the three metal spikes embedded in his chest from a Decurion. The machine lay alongside him, its body torn apart by one of the CES engineers. The carnage only spurred her on further.

"Follow me!"

Teresa pulled herself over the barricade, right into path of two Thegns. She didn't stop and simply pulled the trigger on the L52. The high rate of fire sawed through the first, and without removing her finger she spun about. The remainder of the clip cut into the second Thegn's face, and then it hit the ground. Teresa stepped over the bodies and slipped in another magazine. It was automatic; something she'd practiced so many times she didn't need to even look for the magazine or where to fit it. As soon as she raised the weapon, another group of Thegns advanced. She tapped the bayonet release, and the tactical bayonet spun about and extended out half a meter in front.

Just a few more meters!

SAAR robots were used in the early stages of the Biomech War and proved invaluable in the fighting on Spascia. This bitter and bloody engagement saw the combined might of the Alliance and Helions against a massive Biomech invasion fleet. The SAAR robots suffered ninety percent losses but fought in every possible situation. While designed for sentry duty and scouting, the SAAR robots soon found themselves working in groups to fight as rearguard formations. The combat success of these simple devices proved once and for all that the time of the robots had come.

Equipment of the Alliance Marine Corps

Grand Palace, Terra Nova

Director Johnson ducked back behind the column and looked at the two young operatives alongside him. From this position, they had a clear view of the wide plaza and the newly installed statue to the glory of Terra Nova. The executed bodies still lay on the ground, untouched for more than a day.

All three of them wore smart suits and long gray coats, much like trench coats. It was the standard clothing of the Intelligence Division and instantly marked them out as officials. One of the operatives moved his foot and then stopped at the sound of new arrivals.

"Do not move," said Director Johnson.

He looked in the direction they'd just come from. Two of his comrades lay slumped against the wall where they had bought them time to escape. Two soldiers lay dead just meters from them, but another was searching through their clothing.

"They'll want to identify them. They don't have a chance."

"Sir, shouldn't we ditch the clothing?" asked Agent Erryne Colee.

He was one of his most successful operatives and the man singlehandedly responsible for bringing down the Crux Cartel the year before. Director Johnson looked at him and then nodded.

"Ditch the coats. The suits look like every other person in this damned place."

They cast off the heavy coats and pushed them low on the ground. At the same time, a squad of heavily armed Terra Nova Guards moved past at a brisk pace. This was no parade drill, however. This was something very different. He was sure he could almost smell the nerves. Johnson looked to the other two.

"You've seen the protestors on the ANN channel. President Harrison's coup is failing, and we need to provide the push. The Marine Corps barracks has already barricaded itself in. They only have a few platoons of cadets, but that will be enough to get things moving here."

"The Colonial Guard are loyal, though, Sir, over eight thousand of them, and each loyal not to the Alliance but to the office of the President. We have to get out of here and try to..."

He made to move, but Johnson grabbed him.

"No, if we rush out, we'll be found and picked off like the rest of the unit. We've got to play the smart game. Is the transmission ready?"

The sound of a drone roared overhead and then it vanished well off to the south. A double gunshot rang out, and the device reappeared before spinning out of control. A long line of smoke ran from behind the craft before it struck a building and broke up into chunks of metal and plastic. Erryne Colee checked his own secpad and then nodded.

"Yes, Sir. The package is loaded, and the dishes are ready to activate. Just give me the word."

Director Johnson had watched a few segments of the material, and it was damning. Apart from the material leaked from the Alliance Network News, it also contained copies of private briefings with the President. They were sealed and not supposed to be opened for at least thirty years.

Sometimes there are more important things than the rules,
he thought.

The two he'd included were to do with the proposed declarations of martial law on Hyperion, Hades, Prometheus, and Carthago, and even more concerning, the plan to eradicate the inhabitants of Hyperion, formally known as the Jötnar. There might be little love for them on Terra Nova, but few could argue that they had done more than their duty in the war. These two stories would spread fear and doubt about the new regime. The videostream containing the President’s rants about the Jötnar would be enough to send the Alliance into a civil war.

This had better do just enough. Too much, and this will get a whole lot worse.

"Sir, we lost three operatives getting that data from the archives. The rest are ready, but they can't hold for much longer. We need to transmit now."

Johnson checked the data on his secpad once more.

"There is a fear here, fear that there's going to be a violent counter revolution. If that happens, what will happen to the Guards? I promise you, they will stand only for as long as they think it is viable."

He nodded to persuade as much the two of them, as himself. He swallowed on saying the last words. A day earlier the soldiers had come to his office and demanded entrance. He'd sent as much data as he could find off world, especially to Anderson and General Rivers. His time was limited, though, and he'd been forced to rely upon his security doubles to buy him time to escape.

Their blood is on my hands.

It was a hard feeling knowing that dozens of his loyal staff had been butchered. He could have stayed there with them, but then it would have been his body out in the courtyard.

"We have to do our part to help this come about. Send the signal."

He watched the shapes of the soldiers moving further away, and then right to the bottom of the plaza. It was a spot usually avoided by most, as it was where the two memorial gardens had been planted. They marked the landing site of the Confederate forces in the Uprising, and several of the plants had already been uprooted. A wall of almost three meters blocked the plaza off from the rest of the capital. It wasn't a major fortification, but it was enough to keep all but the most determined people out.

"Sir, do they know you're still alive?"

Director Johnson shrugged.

"If they have half a brain, they will know that without a body they have no definite kill. Harrison has tried to get me out of the way on several occasions. The last one though, well. We have the footage of their assault on our facility as part of the package, don't we?"

He suspected they’d always known he would never ally himself to Harrison, or even provide him with basic intelligence. He could only hope that with the data getting out, he would have bigger fish to fry.

"True, Sir. It will take time for the information to get out there, and even longer for people to react. Assuming they even bother to do a thing."

Johnson looked at him with an odd look to his face.

"Son, don't ever think of underestimating the value of an enraged populace."

"Sir," said the other operative, who until now had remained silent.

The sound was faint from their current position, but if they listened carefully, it was possible to hear the chants and shouting from outside the palace. Occasionally, there was the crack of gunfire. That was the moment Director Johnson spotted the first column of black smoke.

"It's the city’s citizens. They've seen the videostreams from the ANN, and they know they've been lied to. When they see the rest of this, they will go...well, you can imagine."

"The footage of Helios Prime might have helped, Sir."

Johnson nodded, his expression grim.

"True. The sight of the combat and sacrifice of our forces has been a rallying call during the live, unedited broadcasts from the Helios Sector."

Admiral Churchill had helped to maintain the transmission all the way through T'Karan, to Prometheus, and then repeated from mobile transmitters just inside the Terra Nova Rift.

Who wants to start a revolution while our people are fighting the real enemy?

There was one piece of footage more than any other that had changed things. In the last six hours, the news reports had started about the fighting at the Black Rift. Images of ships from different races, including those from the Alliance, had fought and been shattered by the Biomechs. Terra Nova citizens knew better than most what the Biomech threat was about. Many had seen their families butchered in the occupation. Somehow, the allies had heroically held back the machines, and support from President Harrison had somehow vanished, in an instant.

"Wait."

Two soldiers moved out of the shadows from the right, with a third being dragged between them. They all wore the standard armor and gear of the Terra Nova Guards. Johnson pulled out a modified secpad and checked the details once more. He had the full plans for the palace, as well as markers for every Terra Nova security unit. It was the aerial shots of the palace quarter that surprised him the most. He turned and showed the unit to them.

"Look, the citizens are tearing down the smaller buildings on the periphery and building barricades."

He leaned a little further around the column and watched as the two pushed the man up against the wall. The man struggled and punched one right in the face. There was a scuffle, and finally the man was beaten with a rifle butt and pushed back against the wall.

"It's begun. Even their own ranks are turning on them."

The first raised his rifle and took aim.

"Sir, what are we going to do?"

Director Johnson closed his eyes while simultaneously taking out his X2000 series sidearm. It was far from standard issue, and actually a more advanced, but scaled down version of the prototype X2000 coilgun series being developed for the marines. This new family of 6mm coilguns would provide a standard platform for pistols, carbines, rifles, and machine guns. Few were in general use, but he had contacts like no other and had managed to procure one of the first production models, for evaluation.

"We light the fire, Gentlemen. We light the damned fire."

He looked to the holsters on the flanks of each of them.

"Draw your pistols."

Both slid their standard sidearms out and flicked off the safety toggles in one smooth motion. He looked back from the safety of their hiding place and took aim; a low-level light came on that could only be seen by looking through the sight of the pistol. Unlike the L52 carbine, this pistol was a single barrel affair. Even so, with a coilgun mechanism and a magazine that housed twenty rounds, it was a deadly and powerful weapon.

High-power.

A gentle tap on the side of the weapon selected the high-power mode. It would take longer between shots but would also expend the internal capacitor in one go. This in turn would accelerate the projectile to an incredible two thousand meters per second. That was twice the muzzle velocity of the standard conventional battle rifles, making a true hand cannon.

"Take the one on the right...wait for it."

He took in a slow breath and then began to let it out.

"Now," he hissed.

He fired the first shot, and the gun kicked back a little. The recoil was closer to that of a conventional kinetic target pistol, but still barely enough to throw off his aim. The other two fired two shots apiece, every round striking a target. The soldier to the left took the hit from the coilgun, and the effect was instant. The 6mm round tore through the PDS armor with ease, and what remained of the misshapen round tumbled into the man's flesh. Four more rounds hit the second, and then they were both on the ground.

"Move in!"

The three Intelligence operatives moved quickly and carefully to the fallen men. The one to the right was already dead, with one round in the head and another in his chest. Two of the other rounds had deflected from his body-armor. The other soldier lay groaning on the ground. Director Johnson bent down to check the man who tipped over and landed on his back. As Johnson moved closer, he spotted the handgun come out of its holster. He could feel the adrenalin surging through his body, a mixture of raw excitement and fear.

A black hole appeared on the man's helmet, and then he was down, blood splattering the dust covered floor. Johnson turned around and found another soldier, a man in his fifties, slightly sweaty and clearly uncomfortable about the whole thing. In his hands, he held the still hot L52 long rifle, the primary weapon of the Guards.

"I can't do it. We've been ordered to secure the palace. The use of lethal force has been authorized. I didn't sign up for this. I've seen what's happening out there."

Director Johnson lowered his own weapon and nodded reassuringly.

"I know, this wasn't supposed to happen. What about the rest of your unit? Do they feel the same?"

The man shook his head.

"No. A few of the older ones are staying away, but the youngest. Hell, they won't stop killing until the President authorizes it."

"I see. How many feel the same as you? Five, ten, a hundred?"

The man looked up as he counted.

"Most of my platoon, we're all from the same district. I can contact..."

Johnson lifted his hand.

"No. Communications are being monitored. Have you seen the footage? The killings?"