LANCEJACK (The Union Series) (13 page)

‘Ok!
Hang in there, mate!’

Easier
said than done,
I thought, as I turned back to the section. We were in cover, but it was hardly
the best cover to be in. We had no protection to our rear, so if we were hit
from behind we would be massacred, with nowhere left to hide. Ordinarily an
ambush where the victim was engaged from both sides was tactically unsound,
because it risked the ambush force shooting its own. It would also be almost
impossible to control, but our enemy didn’t play by our rules, the rebels did
whatever they wanted.

Our
situation was dire. We were fixed in position by an enemy who had managed to
turn our weapons against us so effectively that they actually had us
outmatched. We were bogged in by a huge number of casualties and destroyed
vehicles, leaving us almost completely incapable of manoeuvre, and it wouldn’t
be long until we started running low on ammunition as well. For the first time
I realised that my time might be up. I had been living on borrowed time ever
since the invasion, and now finally death was catching up with me. I didn’t
want to die, but I think at that time I accepted that it was inevitable.

‘Andy!’
A voice called. I ignored the voice, my mind racing as I tried to think of a
way to save my platoon from the inevitable. We had to attack, it was the only
answer, but it meant splitting our platoon in order to leave protection for the
casualties, and conducting an attack onto an enemy with superior numbers with
virtually no decent fire support to speak of.

‘Andy!’
The voice called again, only this time I realised that it wasn’t anybody to my
left or right, it was coming from behind. I spun round, raising my rifle to
confront the source of the voice.

My
jaw dropped. It was Ev! Clear as day it was him, dressed in civilian clothes
and crouching in the same narrow street that the LSV had used to sneak up on
us. In one hand he gripped a civilian respirator, in the other he held a pistol
that remained pointed to the ground. I ignored a dart striking the twisted
metal of the cab and narrowly missing my leg, unable to believe what I was
seeing.

‘
What
the fuck are you doing here
?’ I shouted.

Geany,
having just fired another grenade into buildings opposite, stopped to see who I
was talking to.

Ev
ignored the question, ‘Take down the roof!’

‘
What
?
Why?’

‘Your
cavalry are here, but they’re on the other side of the city. Shoot out the roof
and they will see you!’

My
eyes narrowed suspiciously, ‘How would you know that?’

‘I
just know!’

I
looked back toward the battle. On my right side, the conscripts were taking
casualties, and even more of them were stopping to try to treat their injured
friends. To my left, my own platoon of highly trained dropship infantry were
pinned by a harrowing rate of fire. Brave though they were, they couldn’t last
forever. Without re-enforcement they would fight to the bitter end like heroes,
of that I had no doubt. I also had no doubt that their story would be told a
thousand times, in every corner of the Union empire. But it wouldn’t change the
fact that they were dead.

I
glanced up at the roof above us. Unlike the much larger domes, it was barely a
hundred metres above us, suspended by a series of arches that spanned the gap
between the two rows of buildings either side of the street. A glimmer of hope
formed in my mind. Maybe Ev was telling the truth and re-enforcements were
nearby, and if he wasn’t what did it matter if we blew out the glass? We had
our respirators, so the bad air wouldn’t kill us, and the glass was designed to
shatter into tiny pieces too small to pose any threat to our armour. Besides,
we would be blowing it outward, not inward.

‘You
want to do it?’ Geany asked disbelievingly.

I
ignored him, ‘Johnno!’

Johnno
looked over from where his party remained pinned. Sparks sprayed over his head
as a dart just missed him, ‘Yeah?’

‘The
roof!’ I pointed upwards, and he looked up toward the sky.

‘What
about it?’

‘Bring
down the roof!’ I shouted again, and Johnno looked once more up to the huge
sheets of glass high above us.

I
heard Konny shout from behind me, ‘Andy, what are you doing?’

‘Some
random civvie just told him to do it,’ Geany told him.

From
a distance I could see Johnno weighing up the idea, looking up, then around
him, then up again. After a couple of seconds I saw him shrug.
What the
hell, why not?
Blasting out the air gave a little bit of shock factor, if
nothing else.

As
Johnno instructed the nearest smart launcher crewman to the roof, a hand
grasped me roughly by the shoulder and forced me to turn around.

I
recognised Konny’s furious voice instantly, ‘
What are you
?…’

It
was too late, the smart launcher fired, and its missile, briefed verbally by
the firer, screamed upward toward the glass roof high above us. It knew what it
had to do.  Detonating just before it smashed into the glass, the explosion
shook the ground beneath me and caused Konny to release his grip on my shoulder.

There
was a sudden rush of air, like a gale blowing across a hillside. I knew that
the warm, lighter city air was escaping through the huge hole that had been
blasted through the roof, only to be replaced by the cold, toxic New Earth
atmosphere. Sirens wailed along the street as a few tiny fragments of glass
rained down upon us.

‘
What
was the point in that
?’ Konny screamed at me as we both picked ourselves
up.

A
missile exploded against the other side of our truck, hurling us down to the
ground. The enemies fire had slowed, but only momentarily while they donned
their respirators. Everyone on New Earth carried one, even if it was just to walk
for a minute up the road. It was an aspect of normal daily life for them.

‘Why
did you do that?’ Konny repeated furiously.

Who
the hell was he to gob off at me
, I asked myself,
after he had frozen
uselessly in the truck?

‘It’s
better than doing nothing, Konny!’

I
looked around me, searching for Ev, but he was gone. I didn’t know why I looked
for him anyway - he was a deserter - and judging by his two appearances nearby
to large enemy ambushes, he was also a rebel traitor.

Why
did I even do what he said?
Because he had been my platoon sergeant
, I
reminded myself, and there was nobody I trusted more.

I
looked up to the sky, desperately searching for our salvation and the proof
that Ev, a man who I had once seen as a god amongst men, had not betrayed me.

‘Rapid
fire!’ Johnno passed the message down from the platoon commander at the front
of our stricken convoy, ‘Give them all you’ve got boys, let’s give them a good
show before we go!’

In
our final act of desperation, we tried to outmatch the enemy, but it was too
late. There must have been at least a hundred rebels firing a barrage of darts
down upon us. Though they weren’t as accurate as us, it was still a wall of
steel that held us in place, hugging at our cover as it became increasingly
riddled with holes. The platoon’s attempt to up its rate of fire was short
lived.

I
took one last look up to the sky, near enough resigned to my fate. There wasn’t
much more that I could do as an NCO anymore, I decided. It was time for me to
join the fire fight alongside my comrades, and die like a trooper should.

Just
before I looked away, however, something caught my eye. Against the brilliant
turquoise sky, a tiny sliver of metal had appeared among the clouds.

My
spirits soared.
It was them!
Even at such a great distance I knew the
distinctive shape of a dropship, and I knew that we were saved.

With
its human crew directly connected to the controls of their magnificent craft by
implants inside their skulls, the dropship was almost completely immune to
hacking, unlike the robotic LSVs that had been turned against us. I knew that they
would see us as clear as day, and instantly recognise us as friendly. All we
had to do was mark our enemy.

‘Okonkwo,
give me your launcher!’

Okonkwo
chucked me his rifle, and I snatched it out of the air before returning him my
own.

‘What
are you up to?’ He asked as I stepped back from the side of the truck and
raised the rifle, allowing a couple of seconds for my target display to
recognise the new weapon in my hands via the microscopic wires woven into my
combats.

I
selected ‘Smoke’, ‘You’ll see!’

I
fired a string of smoke grenades along the line of enemy buildings, my body
rocking with the recoil of every round. Each grenade, still set to ‘Seek’ mode
by Okonkwo, picked a target in the windows and headed straight for it,
exploding into balls of smoke and phosphor against the marble plated buildings.

That
was all the dropship needed. Its crew would easily be able to see a friendly
trooper firing smoke into the buildings, and they were smart enough to put two
and two together.

The
sky erupted with a noise so loud I could feel it vibrating through my bones, a
million rounds punched through the roof and into the buildings below. We took
whatever cover we could as huge sections of glass fell from above, crashing
into splinters.

‘Shit
the bed!’ Jackson exclaimed as we huddled close to our truck, afraid of
something massive falling down upon our heads. There was no let up, the
dropship was giving the enemy everything, and there was a serious danger of us
being injured or killed ourselves by the onslaught.

I
laughed at the thought of being killed by our own dropship, after having
survived for so long against the enemy, and my section looked at me as though I
was mad.

‘How
did you know to do that?’ Okonkwo asked over the noise.

I
caught Geany’s eye, ‘A civvy told me to do it.’

Unsatisfied
by the answer, but understanding that he wasn’t getting any more out of me,
Okonkwo nodded.

There
were in fact ten dropships in total, carrying our entire company. They made
short work of the terrorists - many of whom died trying to escape onto another
street from the rear of their buildings - only to be hacked to pieces by a hail
of steel darts. There was no escape, for once we were able to move freely
across the street with minimum resistance we could finally leave our casualties
with the conscripts and go on the offensive.

Knowing
that the initiative was now ours, Mr Moore was quick to issue his orders,
shouting above the noise of the dropships’ barrage, ‘We will assault into the
building directly to our front! One section will affect the break in, Two and Three
will follow up in reserve!’

In
the absence of the platoon net, every section commander gave the thumbs up to
say that he had heard the order, and I did likewise.

I
looked back at my section, ‘Fix bayonets!’

Wicked
blades glinted in the morning sun as the section riflemen drew their bayonets
from their scabbards and fixed them onto their rifles. I did likewise, checking
to ensure that it was securely fitted.

What
a fearsome sight it was to see a dropship platoon fix bayonets in anger,
I remember
thinking. For when those men fixed such ancient and cruel weapons onto their
rifles they did so with a terrifying purpose. They wanted revenge.

9

Vengeance

‘Stay
switched on!’ I warned.

I
watched as the first section broke out of their cover and charged toward the
first of the buildings, followed quickly behind by the
platoon commander.

I
looked over my men, making sure that they were ready to go. I caught Konny’s
eye and fixed him with a cold stare. He gulped nervously.

The
platoon was ruthless, exploding into the first of the buildings with barely
controlled fury. Within seconds of the first section storming inside they
encountered the rebels, and the building echoed with gunshots and screams as
they swiftly despatched them with rifle and bayonet.

Johnno
shouted, ‘That’s the break in! Prepare to move!’

I
repeated the order, knowing that shortly he would lead us and the other reserve
section into the building. It was his job to keep the reserves up behind the
platoon commander, so that he always had his next section ready to launch into
the fray. The purpose of reserves was to re-enforce success, rather than
protect from failure, and so during room clearance it was important to maintain
a constant flow of fresh troops.

‘Two
section,’ Johnno shouted, ‘You’re next assault, punch in!’

Like
a pack of dogs unleashed, the next assaulting section bolted across the road
and into the building, where Mr Moore waited for them. I watched as they
disappeared inside, waiting for Johnno’s order. We would be next.

After
a tense wait, Johnno gave me the nod, ‘Follow me inside!’

I
beckoned my section and we ran after Johnno across the street and into the
building entrance, leaving his work party behind to protect our casualties.

The
corridors seemed to magnify the noise of battle, every burst of gunfire telling
of another room being cleared. I could see figures running through a haze of
dust and smoke as the platoon systematically cleared through room after room
ahead of us.

Satisfied
that all of my section were inside the building and out of the open, Johnno
leant close to me.

‘What’s
the deal with Konny?’ He whispered.

I
looked back at my section commander, who was crouched at the rear of the
section with his head hanging shamefully. Konny had been rude to me ever since
I had arrived, and had even undermined me in front of the platoon. But I
understood his shame, because I too had once been overcome by fear. In a way, I
pitied him.

‘I’ll
tell you later,’ I said quietly.

The
platoon pushed through the first floor rapidly, the platoon commander launching
fire team after fire team into each and every room. We were fast and
aggressive, but we were also thorough.

Doors
were smashed open with sledge hammers and explosive charges, and darts were
fired into likely enemy positions. Bursts from mammoth guns were fired though
walls, driving back any rebels that might be hiding on the other side.

There
were plenty of rebels in the building. I could hear their shouts as they
desperately tried to organise themselves to counter the sudden offensive.

We,
on the other hand, were relatively quiet. Not a word was spoken above a whisper
as we took full advantage of our headphones’ ability to magnify our voices. We
were quiet as a mouse, but only until we struck.

The
platoon had almost cleared the entire ground floor when my section were finally
called forward.

‘Three
section, close in,’ the message was passed back quietly from trooper to trooper
until it reached Johnno, and he patted me on the daysack.

‘Go
on, then, mate!’ He hissed, and we moved forward through the haze, toward the
sound of gunfire.

We
snaked through the corridors, our visibility reduced to less than ten metres by
the dust that clung to the air like a morning fog. The troopers that crouched
in every doorway were caked in it, and they regarded us with weary eyes as we
passed them on our way to the battle.

A
stray burst of darts pierced through a wall above our heads, scattering chips
of masonry onto our helmets, but we pressed on regardless. Our enemy was
trapped and fighting to the bitter end. There was no time to be afraid.

I
quickly spotted a pair of figures knelt in the middle of a corridor, and my
visor identified it as Mr Moore and his signaller. Hearing me approach, he
looked back and indicated for me to halt.

I
passed back the message to stay low and tucked myself into a doorway near to
the platoon commander. We needed to be close to him so that we were ready to go
at a moment’s notice, but we still needed to afford ourselves the best cover
that we could.

Something
wet was soaking into my combats. I looked down and realised that I was kneeling
in a pool of blood, and I glanced to find its source. A rebel lay across the
floor behind me, his open skull oozing onto the carpet.

‘Moralee,’
Mr Moore was glaring at me, ‘Where is Corporal Wysocki?’

He
noticed my section commander at the back of the section line, and his teeth
bared in anger, ‘What the hell is he doing back there?’

‘I’ve
relieved him, Sir,’ I replied.

‘No
you bloody well haven’t,’ he snapped, ‘Get him up here, now!’

‘Sir,’
I protested, ‘He…’

‘Shut
up, Moralee! Get him here, now!’

I
fought to contain my rage as the message went back and Konny came forward to
take command of the section.

‘Wysocki,’
the platoon commander scolded, ‘You will damn well lead your section, do you
understand me?’

Konny
avoided looking at me, ‘I was, Sir, then Moralee just started trying to take
over!’

My
fists clenched and I snarled, ‘You little…’

Mr
Moore pointed a finger at me, the tip of his glove almost touching my visor, ‘One
more peep out of you and I’ll shoot you myself!’

Gunshots
from a room less than ten metres up the corridor reminded me of how close we
were to the fighting.

I
knew that I couldn’t argue with the platoon commander in the middle of a
battle. I closed my lips tightly and allowed him to give his orders to Konny.

‘Two
section are just in front of us,’ he explained, ‘They’ve just finishing
clearing an apartment to the left and one to the right of the corridor. There
are another two apartments beyond that. I want you to push on and clear them
both. Ensure that you keep protection out along the corridor throughout, and do
not push any further than those two apartments. Understand?’

Konny
gulped and nodded nervously, ‘Yes, Sir.’

‘Brief
your section and stand by.’

Konny
turned to me, and I glared back at him hatefully as he attempted to act as
though he was a strong section commander gripping his 2ic.

‘Listen
in, Moralee,’ he began, and I flinched at his rudeness, ‘We’re going to conduct
a simultaneous assault. You take your fire team left, I’ll take mine right. Any
questions?’

Bravo
, I thought to
myself bitterly,
that wasn’t bad acting
. If I hadn’t known that Konny
was a two-faced coward then I would have thought that he was a calm section
commander who was fully in control. Despite his hero act, I could see the fear
in his eyes, and not just fear of the enemy. Even if he survived the rebels, he
had me to deal with afterwards.

‘Any
questions?’ He repeated.

I
smiled sweetly, though it probably looked more like a grimace, ‘No.’

I
beckoned Okonkwo and Jackson over to me as Konny went away to brief his own
fire team.

‘Happy
with the plan?’ I asked, and they nodded. They had been close enough to hear
the entire conversation.

‘He’s
an idiot,’ Jackson whispered, flicking his head backward toward Konny.

‘Forget
that,’ I said, waving it away with my hand, ‘Focus on what you have to do.’

A
trooper leant out of a doorway just ahead of the boss and gave him the thumbs
up. Two section had completed its clearance of the two apartments ahead of us.
Now it was our turn.

‘Three
section,’ the boss hissed, ‘Prepare to move!’

Konny
brought his fire team up so that they were lined up along the corridor beside
us. The section was now bunched together, but in the confines of a building,
bunching was sometimes a necessary evil. Room clearance required that we worked
in teams so that we could cover our backs, since every corner of every room hid
a potential threat.

Konny
looked at me, ‘Ready?’

‘Of
course I’m ready,’ I snapped angrily. I was a coiled spring, desperate to be
released.

‘Go!’

We
moved forward, hugging the walls of the corridor as we passed the first two
apartments that had been cleared by two section. Their commander, Lance
Corporal Matthews, stood in one of the doorways and gave us a respectful nod.

The
next two apartment doors were directly opposite each other, lending themselves
to a simultaneous assault. We quickly stacked up beside our respective
apartment doorways.

Okonkwo
was in front of me. As my point man he always went first, not because I was
afraid, but because it gave me greater control over him and Jackson.

The
doorways to both of the apartments were open, and Okonkwo and I leant out into
the doorway as one, with my rifle barrel just over his shoulder.

Inside
the apartment appeared untouched by the battle. It was filled with expensive
looking furniture that looked as though it was brand new. I presumed from the
furnishings that I was looking into the apartment lounge.

We
couldn’t see any more without actually entering the doorway, but I knew that
somebody was in there. I could hear heavy breathing from inside, the noise
amplified by my headphones.

‘We
need to get out,’ a foreign voice whispered fearfully.

‘You
will die if you jump out of the window, friend,’ another voice argued quietly,
‘Stay with me. We can fight them!’

The
rebels clearly hadn’t considered our headphones. Their hushed conversation was
loud enough for us all to hear, and I signalled that there was enemy in our
room with a downward thumb.

Konny
looked petrified, but he nodded back his understanding.

I
turned to Jackson behind me and pointed at his mammoth, then at the wall. He
knew exactly what I wanted him to do. I turned back to Okonkwo and gripped him
by the shoulder so that he didn’t move without my say so.

I
looked back at Konny. He wasn’t doing anything, he was just staring at me as
though he was unsure of what to do next.

I
shook my head angrily.
Was this going to happen every time?

Taking
over the section once more, I held up five fingers, and then counted down the
seconds. Everybody watched my fingers come down one at a time, all except for Okonkwo
and Geany, who pointed their rifles into the doorway waiting to be set free.

The
battle around us became irrelevant. The most important thing in the world to
the men in my section had become those two doorways and the fingers on my hand.

My
last finger came down, and with a chopping motion of my hand I pointed toward
the doors. Without a word, we launched into the attack.

As
part of my simple, silently constructed plan, Jackson opened fire with his
mammoth straight into the wall from behind me. There was no risk of ricochet,
the supersonic darts pierced through the wall like it was made of paper.

I
squeezed Okonkwo’s shoulder, ‘Go!’

We
moved as one, rounding the door like we were joined at the hip. Both of our
weapons came to bear at the same time, Okonkwo aiming to the right, me to the
left.

As
we entered, Jackson’s hail of mammoth darts peppered the room, striking a couch
and scattering a cloud of stuffing into the air.

My
eyes were instantly drawn to movement, beating my own visor display. A man was
trying to move out of the way of Jackson’s fire, and I shot him twice in the
chest. He crumpled to the ground without making a sound.

‘Check
fire,’ I ordered back to Jackson, who ceased firing instantly.

We
didn’t stop our advance. Instead we broke into two, moving quickly across to
the far sides of the lounge so that we had every angle covered. I knew there
was somebody else in the apartment, I had heard him.

There
was a window on the far wall that looked down onto the street where our overturned
truck still smouldered. I quickly dismissed the window as a low threat, knowing
that friendly troops were on the other side, covered by a fleet of dropships. I
was more interested in a closed doorway on my side of the lounge, and I
followed the wall toward it, my rifle raised to fire.

Just
before I reached the door it flew open, and somebody opened fire from within
the room beyond, hosing the wall where Okonkwo stood with an uncontrolled burst
of automatic fire. The trooper almost fell backwards, desperately trying to
avoid being shot.