LANCEJACK (The Union Series) (29 page)

Re-orientating
itself toward the east, our platoon broke cover from the trenches and advanced
up the slope toward the crest of the hill. My section took the lead once more
whilst the two other sections were kept back by Johnno, ready to be used if I
came under fire. If that was to happen then my section would almost certainly
be used as fire support, unless the position was close enough for me to ‘roll
it’, which meant I would attack it myself without any assistance, and very little
instruction, from the boss.

As
I neared the edge of the slope I ordered my section down onto their belt
buckles with a downward wave of my hand.

I
had been warned by Mr Moore before I moved off, that there might be something
on top of the hill, ‘
It makes sense to put something there
,’ he had
said.

We
crawled forward slowly and stopped just before we exposed ourselves over the
skyline. We were on what appeared to be the edge of another plateau, this time
at the top of the hill. It was the perfect place to put a defensive position, I
thought, cutting us down as we emerged onto the plateau.

I
removed the scope from my rifle and lifted it, as slowly as I could. The tiny
metallic fibres woven into my gloves and combats fed the image back to my
visor, and I continued to raise the scope until I could just about see the top
of the pillbox. I knew that it was possible for some enemy sensors to actually
detect the scope lens, despite its non-reflective properties, but it was better
than poking out my head instead.

I
was right. Sure enough, on the other side of the plateau was a concrete
pillbox, built into the rock so that it couldn’t be seen from above. I recorded
the image and lowered the scope.

I
moved down to the boss, seeking further direction. Even if we were trying not
to avoid coming under contact straight away, taking a pillbox wasn’t something
I could do on my own.

‘Another
position?’ Mr Moore asked me, as if he already knew the answer.

‘Yeah,’
I affirmed, ‘Some kind of pillbox.’

He
raised an eyebrow, ‘A pillbox? That’s interesting.’

I
didn’t understand, ‘Why?’

‘It
suggests a fixed position,’ Westy explained to me, ‘Something of high value
that can’t be moved. Do you remember seeing any pillboxes last time you were
here?’

‘No,’
I admitted, though I still didn’t understand where he was going with this.

‘You’ll
probably learn more about it when you attend your next promotion course and
learn higher level unit tactics,’ Mr Moore said, ‘The Chinese are like us, all
about mobility. Their tunnels are designed so that they don’t lose that
mobility when the warships start pounding them, but they don’t care for fixed
positions like pillboxes, they take up too much time and resources and then
they get destroyed after five minutes.’

‘This
one isn’t destroyed.’

‘That’s
probably because the Chinese just surrendered,’ Westy replied, ‘Most of this
province was given up pretty easily.’

I
allowed the boss to download the image through our gloves. He stared at the
image of the pillbox for what felt like hours, trying to decide what to do
next.

The
pillbox was sited to the far eastern edge of the plateau, where a slight rise
in the ground allowed its occupier to see anything that came over the hill.
Like us, the Chinese would have cited several, maybe even tens of positions,
one behind the next. Such positions were known to us as ‘depth’, and their
purpose was to slowly absorb an attacking force, sapping its strength through
casualties and expended ammunition until eventually the attack stalled.

I
imagined an assaulting company, made weary by hours of fighting in the trenches
and in the warrens, only to come face-to-face with that pillbox and the many
others that probably flanked it. Dropships and their accompanying gravtanks,
vulnerable to dismounted troops, would have been forced away by volleys of
missiles, and unmanned aircraft would have been distracted by more important
targets. The poor troopers would have been left to clear the position
themselves, sacrificing their lives in order to secure the high ground, all to
take control of a planet that didn’t want us any more than it wanted the
Chinese.
What a horrible, pointless world we lived in,
I thought to
myself bitterly.

Johnno
had arranged most of the platoon into a single file that ran away from us down
the slope and out of line of sight to the pillbox, whilst we waited to be given
our instructions. He left my section where they were and spread out in an
extended line at the top of the hill. They were laid down far back enough to
remain unseen, but far forward enough so that on my command they could simply
kneel up and fire. I had no intention of doing so, but it was good to know that
I could if I had to.

Satisfied
that the platoon were formed up correctly and that all of our arcs were covered
from enemy attack, he made his way up to us in order to see what was going on.
He looked over the boss’s shoulder at the image on his datapad.

‘What
are you thinking, Boss?’ He asked.

I
could see that Mr Moore was deliberating over how best to deal with the
pillbox, and he took well over a minute to respond.

‘I
don’t want to go in noisy, in case it isn’t occupied,’ he said, explaining to
Johnno his thought process. Although Johnno was a corporal and not a sergeant,
he was still an experienced trooper and his opinion was important.

‘At
the same time,’ the boss continued, ‘If it is occupied then clearly we will
need to fire up our location to the battalion and go balls-out on the
offensive.’

Johnno
nodded, ‘Maybe it’s worth trying to sneak up on it?’

‘Maybe,’
the boss looked down at the image, and Jimmy leant over his shoulder to have a
look for himself. If anybody was assaulting then it was going to be him, since
my section was already in position to provide fire support.

‘I
could move my lads around there,’ Jimmy suggested, and he drew a line along a
shallow gulley that approached the pillbox to one side. It was so shallow that
his men would be forced to crawl flat to the ground in order not to be seen,
since he wouldn’t have the benefit of suppressive fire from my section or smoke
to cover him.

‘I
think that’s what we need to do,’ Mr Moore agreed. He studied the pillbox for a
second longer, before looking up at Jimmy resolutely, ‘You are to assault the
pillbox. Regardless of what happens, whether you get contacted or not, you
remain committed once you leave this location. Understood?’

‘Yes,
Boss.’

‘You
are not to fire, or use any form of communications equipment on your approach.
If, however, you make contact, then the world is your oyster. Let them have
it.’

‘Okay.’

The
boss turned to Johnno, ‘Have your smart launchers good to go. If it gets noisy,
I want both missiles up in the air. Your grenade launchers as well, Corporal
Moralee. Have them good to go.’

I
gave a thumbs up, ‘Roger.’

‘If
it kicks off, and it may well do, I want every bit of kit that goes boom in the
air. I want that pillbox to be a pile of dust and rubble before Corporal Myers
even reaches it. Two section will be the next assaulting section, and Three
will remain in reserve. Be ready to follow in hard and fast. I will send up a
message to the OC, so you can expect the cavalry to rock in about five minutes
later. Any questions?’

There
were none.

Westy
patted Jimmy on the arm and gave him a wink, ‘Good luck, mate.’

I
gave the section commander a respectful nod as he crawled past me, his face
fixed with an expression of grim determination. Jimmy was hardly an
inexperienced trooper, he was a fully trained section commander who had seen
plenty of action in the past two days, but what he was about to do was very
dangerous indeed.

I
moved back to my section and found Konny waiting for me to brief him on what
was happening. I told him our plan, simple as it was, sweeping with my arm to
indicate Jimmy’s approach on our left flank. We then both made our way to our
fire teams and briefed up each trooper individually, so that we all knew exactly
what was going on around us. It was important to do so, because in a matter of
minutes Konny and I might not be around anymore, and one of them would have to
step up to take command.

As
I turned to show Jackson the route that Jimmy was going to use, I could see his
section trotting up the slope toward the edge of the plateau, spaced out so
that they couldn’t all be killed by a single burst or missile.

Jimmy
was the only full corporal in the platoon other than Johnno, so it was only
right for him to carry out such a dangerous assault, but I still wanted to take
his place. I didn’t enjoy combat, quite the opposite in fact, but I had become
good at it. I had been told many a time that a section commander was like an
angry dog pulling on a leash, waiting for the boss to release him. Now I felt
that leash holding me back. I wanted to attack, to unleash my vengeance upon
those who had taken Ev and killed his wife, but I would have to wait my turn.

‘You
want to take his place, don’t you?’ Jackson observed quietly, seeing the look
in my eyes.

‘Yes
and no,’ I replied.

‘I
can see why you promoted so quickly. You’re mad!’

I
smiled, ‘Aren’t we all?’

Jimmy’s
section dropped onto their belt buckles, slipping over the top of the hill and
onto the plateau. I watched them until the last trooper disappeared, and then raised
my scope once more.

I
could see Jimmy’s section crawling up the shallow gully, hugging the ground
with their bodies in order to keep as low a profile as possible. We had no idea
what detection equipment the rebels possessed, if anything, but even if they
had nothing then their own eyes would still do the trick if just one trooper
was stupid enough to raise his head. From my perspective it looked as though
they were horribly exposed, but I reassured myself that the pillbox probably
couldn’t see them.

It
took five tense minutes for Jimmy to draw near to the pillbox. We all waited
nervously, waiting for the air to suddenly explode with the rattle of gunfire,
but it didn’t.

Jimmy
had reached the side of the concrete structure, where the firing slits didn’t
allow for him to be seen anymore. He lifted his body onto his hands and knees
and crawled like a baby for the last few metres with his section in tow.

A
lot of people would have stood to make their final approach onto the position,
or slid themselves forward on their bellies, but Jimmy knew what he was doing.
Sliding on your belly made a terrible noise on hard rocky ground. Standing up
meant that you risked making yourself a target to further depth positions.

I
watched as he briefed his point man with a series of hand gestures, not daring
to make a sound. Then they continued their crawl, disappearing behind the
pillbox and out of view.

I
looked back to the boss, who was a good ten metres behind me with the next section,
ready to be launched.

‘They’re
in,’ I announced in a whisper, and his headset amplified my voice so that he
could hear me.

He
nodded, ‘Two section, stand by!’

The
next assaulting section quickly readied themselves, making final checks to
their weapons and equipment. A couple of troopers gripped their bayonets and
gave them a wiggle to make sure they were fitted correctly. There was a good
chance that they would need them.

My
visor picked up something moving out of the pillbox slit. It was an outstretched
arm, giving us the thumbs up.

‘Position
clear,’ I announced, and straight away Two section ran forward with Mr Moore
and his party sandwiched in their midst.

Westy
gave me a silly grin as he ran past, and I laughed. Troopers were idiots.

They
moved up using the same gully that Jimmy had, and though they didn’t take their
time as he had done, they still kept down on their hands and knees. We never
assumed that we were safe just because we had cleared a single position,
because there were often others.

Johnno
moved up to the edge of the plateau, ‘Andy, follow on behind me, mate.’

‘No
worries.’

The
next section waited at the edge of the pillbox whilst the boss appeared to
receive a brief from Jimmy through one of the slits, and then they disappeared
behind it, no doubt being pushed on to take another position.

We
stared at the pillbox anxiously. I wondered what lay beyond it, and more
importantly whether or not it had been occupied. Finally after another few
minutes we received another thumbs up.

‘Follow
on,’ Johnno said, and he sped off with his work party.

Keeping
a good twenty metre gap between us and Johnno’s men, we ran up the gully. He
went firm by the pillbox, keeping his work party inside the gully so that they
couldn’t be seen by any other positions beyond. A message was passed to him via
the slit, and he turned to pass it backward along the line.