The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (76 page)

She looked around desperately for an escape route but there was none. If she tried to get out of the shell hole, it was as likely she
’
d be killed by her own side as the enemy. Swallowing hard she shuffled down deep into the shell hole.

At the bottom she could only see a small patch of the sky and if it were wasn
’
t for the sound of gunfire and the occasional tracer round burning through her field of vision it might have been relaxing. In the distance there was a roar and two aircraft flashed by. She hadn
’
t seen any of their planes for so long that she instinctively raised her head to keep them in view for a split second longer. Then they were gone.

In the distance there was a massive explosion that rocked the ground. Firing abruptly stopped and for several minutes there was silence. Then shots started to ring out again, but without the ferocity of before. Slowly creeping up to the lip of the crater she looked toward the Nameless. Only a few were in sight and they had stopped trying to advance and instead they seemed to be digging in. Looking back at the human lines she could see they weren
’
t moving either. There was now a new no man
’
s land and she was right in the middle of it.

As the last of the light faded the occasional shot could still be heard but for the time being the main fighting was clearly over. Even so Alice crawled over the lip of her crater and, staying as low as possible, headed in the direction of the human lines.

Walking would have been bad enough but crawling was nothing short of agony, forcing her to stop every few minutes to let the pain in her leg subside. Each time she would take the opportunity to look around. She crawled past bodies, human and alien, as well as spent casings, broken equipment and the other detritus of battle. Then during one of her pauses she heard a human voice for the first time in hours.

“
Medic
…
medic
…
medic.
”

It was barely more than a whisper and very close by. Alice dropped her head to the ground. She could move on and no one would ever know, but, cursing under her breath, she instead started to wriggle towards the whispering.

She nearly crawled past the casualty, thinking it was just another dead body until it moved. It was now almost completely dark and all she could tell was that it was a man in marine armour.

“
Talk to me marine, where are you hit?
”
The man just murmured, continuing to call for a medic. She searched for the wound with her fingers but after several minutes had still not found it. Alice paused, puzzled. After a moment she clawed out a handful of loose soil from under the marine and sniffed it - it stank of blood. With difficulty she levered him onto his side and after a moment her fingers found a ragged sticky hole in the lower back plate and another a few centimetres further up. Very gently she rolled him back. Even a proper field hospital probably wouldn
’
t be able to save him. He was a lot bigger than her, even if she could get him out of the armour that had failed to protect him, there was no way she could drag him.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
she said gently as she prepared to leave him.

Then about a kilometre away someone let off a parachute flare. The light was enough for Alice to finally see the Marine
’
s face. It was Rob.

Alice stayed with him for another two hours but he never regained consciousness. Only when he finally died did she crawl away, back to the human lines.

_____________________

“
Ladies and Gentlemen, today
’
s events marked the beginning of the end of Douglas Base,
”
Eulenburg said. His face was calm and composed and for the meeting he had worn his last clean uniform. On the screen behind him was a display of the current frontlines on the plateau. Where War Hill had been was now a Nameless salient, aimed like a claw at the heart of Douglas.

“
The Nameless have gained a foothold on the plateau and we cannot reasonably hope to both force them off and re-establish our old positions. With the Nameless where they are, even in small numbers, any activity on the plateau is now going to be subject to direct weapons fire, sidestepping the missile batteries that have so far offered protection. This means that there is no possibility of further landings by the fleet, as any troops would simply be butchered in the air. The nature of the approach makes the Nameless foothold difficult to resupply, but they can make good their losses. We can
’
t. The complete loss of the plateau is now only a matter of time and the enemy
’
s determination.
”

“
What do you propose, Admiral?
”
Reynolds had been briefed. She accepted their options were now limited.

“
A breakout from Douglas and evacuation through the backdoor.
”

This time there was no uproar in the meeting room. Everyone was at least aware of the day
’
s main events.

“
Admiral, do we know what caused the explosion, the one that brought down War hill?
”
Gambon asked.

“
It may be that we were wrong,
”
Eulenburg replied,
“
and that far from blasting into the shelter, their aim was to explode a mine under our defences and cause them to collapse at a time of their choosing. That mine might have been set off accidentally or deliberately during the fighting. We will probably never know as the evidence is now buried beneath millions of tonnes of rock.
”

“
I understand the backdoor runs for many kilometres but can we really be sure of passing so many through it Admiral. After all, we are talking about well over a million people!
”

“
The Nameless have never come within a dozen kilometres of the backdoor entrance. It doesn
’
t appear to have occurred to them that we might have another way in and out. Now that they have nearly got into the shelters without having to come through our defences, it may occur to them that there are other ways in. If we can keep their attention fixed here, then the civilians may be able to slip away before the Nameless know what is happening.
”

“
One point four million is a lot of slipping away,
”
muttered the Argentinian Governor.
“
And what about the sick and injured?
”

“
I know, sir, but the alternative is to try to fight our way down the mountain.
”
Eulenburg paused and looked around the table,
“
or we stay here and wait until they fight us room to room and kill us all. As for the sick
…”
Eulenburg trailed off.

“
You could lead one of the first groups out, Sebastian. With your military training and experience you
’
d improve their chances. You
’
ve done as much as you can here.
”

“
Ah, Alfred, we both know that is a fantasy. It
’
s only painkillers that keep me moving at all. No, anyone I travelled with would, if good people hamstring themselves carrying me and if sensible, abandon me at the earliest opportunity. I could take command if …
”

“
Sebastian, I can no more leave than you can. I am commander of this base, if I leave it must be because I have surrendered, been relieved or I am the very last one here. None of those seem likely.
”
The Admiral stared down into Four C,
“
At least our graves are going to be good and deep.
”

“
This place was a shelter from the storm. Now it can be a decoy, keeping the Nameless
’
s gaze fixed here. When they take whatever is left, all they will find is a hollowed out shell.
”

“
What about the fleet?
”
the French Governor asked very quietly.

“
The fleet isn
’
t coming,
”
Eulenburg replied simply.

“
I have spoken to a great many of the British citizens that are here,
”
Reynolds said filling the silence.
“
Some desperately want to get out of the shelters, out on their own where they have control of their own fate. Others fear the thought of going out there and what will happen if the Nameless catch them. The people who want to go will stand the best chance, particularly if they are sent out in groups with leadership.
”

“
We can
’
t send active military personnel - they are needed here. There may be a few individuals who are walking wounded that we can use but most of the group leaders will be drawn from the more experienced members of the auxiliary officers and NCOs.
”
Eulenburg looked around the table,
“
Are we agreed?
”

Slowly, reluctantly, each of the colony governors nodded their assent.

_____________________

Alice wriggled up to the lip of the hill, a pair of binoculars tightly gripped in her hands. At her hip the unfamiliar weight of a military pistol, issued just before they started down the long, long corridor to the backdoor. Down at the base of the hill her column of two hundred and fifty civilians were bedding down for the day. They
’
d covered most of twenty kilometres and in the darkness lost three people and picked up four who had detached from earlier columns. Much as she agonised over of those people they
’
d lost in the dark, she knew that they
’
d survived the most dangerous part of the escape. When they announced the evacuation, the old Admiral had tried hard to make it sound like everyone would get out but Alice didn
’
t meet one person who believed it. From behind came the sound of someone else coming up the hill. Her new deputy, a forester called William, flopped down beside her.

“
Everyone is settled for the day. I think they understand we
’
ve got to keep our heads down,
”
he said before glancing back at Douglas. In the distance the flashes of explosions were just visible.
“
God help them.
”

“
Yes,
”
Alice replied as she looked through her binoculars again. Damien was still back there. In the great lottery of which auxiliary would lead which group, he was slated to lead one that would leave in three weeks
’
time. Don
’
t link up with other groups, they
’
d been told, spread out, keep moving. She and Damien had never agreed anything or even said very much about their relationship. To do so had felt too much like tempting fate. Maybe it had been a mistake. Slowly Alice lowered her binoculars, replaced the lens caps and turned her back on Douglas.

Chapter Nineteen

The Breaking of the Line

21
st
October 2067

Five and a half light hours from the Junction Star the destroyer
Mantis
drifted, powered down and waiting. On the bridge Commander Berg glanced up from her paperwork, as the main holo display seemed to change for a moment. The officer of the watch did a double check before he gave a quick shake of his head. A Nameless scout was in the system somewhere. They could see it with the passive sensors, but at a range of two light hours that position was old news. The scouts had learned not to stay too long in one location. Unlike their human counterparts they didn’t seem to attempt quiet insertions and instead would arrive and jump from one side of the system to the other, relying on the inherent response delay caused by light speed sensors to ensure that by the time the humans saw them, they would be gone.

“Lieutenant Mintz, I’m going below,” Berg said as she signed off on the last of the requisition orders. “Let me know if there are any changes.

“Yes ma
’
am.”

Distance was the intruder
’
s friend, Berg reflected as she drifted down the passageway. The recon element could drop back into real space literally anywhere in the solar system. For the defender to stand a real chance of making an intercept, they needed to be in a position close enough to see the scout before it jumped away, but not so close that they were immediately spotted by their damn FTL sensors. So a distance somewhere between ten and 60 light minutes was the ideal. Even with several ships like
Mantis
out waiting between planets, the Battle Fleet ships covered only a very, very small volume measured against the scale of a solar system.