Read LANCEJACK (The Union Series) Online
Authors: Phillip Richards
I
gaped as I saw that the cavern wasn’t a cavern at all. It was a hangar. It was
built into the rock with a huge open door facing out to mount Rottenberg. It
wasn’t the scale of the hanger that caused my jaw to drop, though, for cradled
in wires and girders and filling the entire space was the massive shape of a
Chinese gunship.
There
were two rebels stood on my side of the hangar. Their eyes widened with horror as
they saw me bearing down upon them like the grim reaper dressed in red.
The
first rebel spun around from a series of computer consoles mounted onto the
wall. Within a fraction of a second I identified that he was unarmed, and I
switched fire to the other man who held a rifle slung at his side. The rebel
collapsed against the consoles as my darts struck him, and I shot the other
before he even hit the ground.
Ev
shot another three rebels on his side of the hangar, and we quickly moved
toward the gunship in search of more targets. None of the rebels I had seen
were as old as Ruckheim, they were so young. But where was Ruckheim?
A
voice suddenly called out from the far side of the hanger, ‘Don’t shoot!’
We
rapidly halted our advance. And then Ruckheim menacingly appeared from behind
the gunship, holding something in his hand. My finger twitched over the
trigger.
My
eyes narrowed, ‘Why shouldn’t I?’
Ev
moved around to my side of the gunship, and both of our rifles trained onto the
ex-major’s head.
A
sickly grin spread across Ruckheim’s face as he recognised Ev, ‘Ah… Evans. I
thought you would have perished in the flames by now! That perhaps you would
have joined your wife! Who is your friend?’
‘It
doesn’t matter,’ Ev replied darkly, ‘Put it down!’
‘I’m
sorry, Ev, but you know I can’t do that,’ Ruckheim said, and his finger hovered
over the strange object. I saw that it was some kind of remote device.
‘Put
it down, mate,’ I warned, ‘Whatever it is, if you use it, I’ll shoot you
anyway!’
Ruckheim
laughed like a mad man, and flicked his eyes to Ev, ‘You haven’t told your
friend what this is?’
Ev
said nothing. His eyes burned with hatred.
‘This
device,’ Ruckheim explained to me, his eyes suddenly burning intensely, ‘Is the
key to the future of New Earth. A future without the Union, without China. If I
press this button then a burning phoenix will rise from the ashes! No longer
will the people of New Earth allow themselves to be bullied by the empires of
Earth. Everywhere on this planet the slaves will turn against their masters! You
see, I realised something about this planet; it can only be controlled if the
people
allow
it to be controlled. All this device will do is allow the
people to
realise
that.’
‘What?’
I said in disbelief, ‘By bombing Union troops? You’ll have a job getting all of
us, half the army is buried underground!’
‘Bombing
Union troops? Why bother? What would that achieve? No, young man, I won’t waste
my time with Union Troops.’
I
didn’t understand, ‘Ev,’ I whispered, ‘What the hell is he on about?’
‘Cities,’
Ev said without taking his eye off Ruckheim, ‘He’s going to bomb the cities.’
‘
What?
Why?’
‘Isn’t
it obvious?’ Ruckheim grinned, ‘Union ships bombarding the people of New Earth in
order to force them into submission - imagine the outrage - and not just here!
Every country on Earth will reel with revulsion at the atrocity, even the
citizens of Europe themselves. While the people of New Earth rise in fury
against their oppressors, the people of Earth will demand an end to
colonialism!’
I
shook my head, ‘You’re mad!’
‘Mad?
Perhaps. But who can blame me for being mad in a world like this? There are
many more people on New Earth who think like me, who have the vision that is
required to do what
must
be done in order to realise NELAs dream. If
people must die in order to unite them under our cause, then so be it!’
‘It
doesn’t matter anyway,’ I said, ‘The EW centre is destroyed, you no longer have
any way to send the virus.’
Ruckheim
leant over to the gunship with his free hand and stroked its hull, ‘I
anticipated this possibility. That is why I have had this craft rewired by some
of the more… ah… free thinking members of Ev’s little community, some of whom
you have just killed,’ he flicked his head toward the two rebels I had shot
beside the consoles, ‘Did Ev tell you that most of his friends are on my side?’
‘They
didn’t know what you were going to do,’ Ev said, as though he were defending
them. He looked to me, ‘I tried to tell them, but they wouldn’t believe me.
They thought the same as you - drop bombs on Union troops. They thought I was
just trying to protect my friends.’
I
didn’t take my eye off Ruckheim, ‘And were you?’ I asked Ev.
‘New
Earth has seen enough blood.’ He replied.
Ruckheim
laughed, ‘New Earth yearns for more blood,’ he retorted, ‘That is why I had
your gardener friends prepare this for me. They’re quite amazing when they put
their minds to things, but then I suppose you know that already, Ev!’
I
glanced nervously up at the gunship and the mass of wires that trailed away
from it, then I looked down briefly at the bodies slumped beside the consoles.
‘You’re
bluffing,’ I said, ‘I heard you from the tunnels. You haven’t finished setting
it up.’
‘How
do you know? Do you really want to take that chance?’
I
licked my lips, my finger pressed lightly against the trigger of my rifle. He
was bluffing, I knew it.
Without
warning Ruckheim tossed the device into the air, and we both jumped. His arms
were a blur as he then swung a pistol around from his back and brought it up to
fire.
He
managed to squeeze off a single round just before I shot him repeatedly. His
body jerked as the darts struck him, and he fell backwards. I shot him again
and again, not stopping until I was absolutely sure that he was dead.
I
roared, ‘Have it, you belter!’
Ev
walked toward the fallen major as though he were sleepwalking, and he looked
down in utter disgust at the man who had killed his wife.
I
gave him a second or two to say whatever he felt that he needed to say, when
suddenly I noticed a patch of red around Ev’s back. Ruckheim’s dart had struck
him.
I
ran toward my old platoon sergeant, just in time for him to collapse on the
ground.
‘Shit,’
I exclaimed, rolling him over.
It
was a clean gunshot wound, the round having punched straight through his front
and exited through his back rather than ricocheting off the bone. It had been
dangerously close to the heart, though, and I wondered if the round had damaged
any vital organs.
I
stuffed my hand into my medical pouch, withdrawing a pack of quick-clot. If I
moved quickly and help arrived in time, I knew he had a good chance of making
it.
‘Don’t
worry, Ev,’ I said, placing my hand upon his shoulder, ‘You’ll be okay. I can
get you to a medic in no time.’
I
moved my hand to apply the foam, but Ev brushed it away. I tried again, but I
met the same response.
‘Leave
me,’ he whispered. His eyes glistened.
‘Come
on, mate,’ I pleaded, and my bottom lip trembled, ‘I came here to help you, not
let you die.’
Ev
looked into my eyes, ‘Please, Andy. Let me go.’
I
shook my head, I couldn’t allow it, ‘No.’ I said quietly.
So
many of my friends had died. I couldn’t lose another, not Ev, not when I had
the chance to save him. The memories of all those who had died beside me came
flooding back, threatening to overwhelm me once more.
He
smiled a sad smile, ‘I’m tired, Andy. It’s my time. I want to go to my wife.’
‘No,’
I repeated, ‘No!’
He
gripped my hand and squeezed it tightly, ‘You turned out alright, Moralee.’
Finally
I sobbed. I squeezed his hand back, ‘I don’t know, Ev. I think I’ve turned into
a proper nasty bastard!’ I said, my voice breaking.
A
tear rolled down my nose and onto my visor, and the motors whirred as they
tried to clear it from the glass.
‘You’re
not as nasty as you think you are.’
Footsteps
pounded behind me, and I turned to see Westy and Klaus sprint into the hangar.
They checked themselves when they saw Ev.
‘Ev!’
Westy cried, ‘No!’
Ev
smiled up at us, ‘Look after each other.’
‘Don’t
die,’ Westy begged, ‘You can’t die like this!’
‘Why
not? I’m surrounded by my friends.’
I
don’t know how long it took for Ev to die, I didn’t looked at my visor clock. I
held his hand as the life slowly slipped away from him, until the fingers
became limp. I gently placed the hand to the ground. He was gone.
We
stood around our old friend, and silently we mourned.
19
I
sat alone in the underground cookhouse of Lash, slowly spooning cereal into my
mouth. It was breakfast, though it might as well have been any meal time of the
day, for I hadn’t been able to sleep. Whenever I tried I simply wound up
staring up to the ceiling, willing myself to drift away.
My
grief had caused my body to become numb, and I had spent the few weeks since Ev
died walking around the base locked into a nightmare from which I couldn’t wake
up. I had lost all of my friends, and it felt like there was nothing left for
me to live for, yet still I lived. I yearned for death, and several times I had
contemplated it, but every time something had stopped me. Strange, but I
assumed that I hadn’t even the
courage to take my own life, and this
caused me to hate myself even more.
Mr
Moore had forced to me see one of the base psychiatrists, but I had refused to
talk to the man. I didn’t have to. So long as I could do my job then I would be
left alone.
Ev’s
body had been taken away, to where I did not know. I liked to think that he had
been buried somewhere next to his wife, but I knew that wasn’t the case. She
still lay in the tunnels beneath Nieuwe Poort, and he had probably been
incinerated in Archer’s Post. A fitting end for a deserter some would say.
Westy
had been taken away by the military police to be investigated for withholding critical
information, a charge that I had only just escaped myself. It was that damned
medal again that had saved me, that and a word spoken by my platoon commander,
so I was told.
But
I didn’t want to be spared. If Westy was to be charged and imprisoned then I
wanted to receive the same punishment, in the hope that I might end up in a
cell next to his. There was no point, though, for Westy hated me. He knew about
Ev’s wife, Klaus had told him right after Ev had died - though why I do not
know - and he couldn’t control his fury. I still had the bruises to remind me
of when he had turned on me, right there in the hanger.
‘You
sick bastard!’ He had screamed as he beat me, throwing me against the wall of
the hangar.
‘I’m
sorry,’ I pleaded as the enraged Welshman struggled to control his emotions.
Tears streamed down his cheeks as his eyes burned with hatred into mine.
‘I
killed my mate’s wife,’ he shouted, spittle spraying onto his visor, ‘And you
didn’t even think to tell me? What the
fuck
is wrong with you?’
I
had tried to apologise again, but was cut short by a dozen punches to the gut
and ribs. Meanwhile, Klaus had crouched over our dead friend, looking up at us
in dismay.
‘We
knew each other from way back.
Way back
! We served on Eden when you were
still in nappies! How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?’
I
fell to my knees, clutching at my battered ribcage. No amount of armour could
protect me from the full power of Westy’s rage.
‘Never
speak to me
again,’ he said, ‘NEVER!’ And he was gone, walking from the hangar back down
toward the battlefield. He was arrested in the forest minutes later, caught by
a platoon of troopers busy clearing the undergrowth for hidden enemy.
The
rebellion in Nieuwe Poort had been crushed. The NELA fighters who hadn’t been
killed or captured quickly melted away into hiding, no doubt licking their
wounds whilst they waited for their next opportunity. They would try again, I
knew. We all did. NELA wasn’t a global organisation that could be destroyed by
taking out its leaders, and it couldn’t be defeated militarily. NELA was an
idea, or perhaps a series of ideas, but it was so sad that the idea had become
warped and twisted by the New Earther’s lust for blood and violence.
I
thought back to the beautiful garden that the small group of student scientists
had created in the mountains. It had been destroyed, of course, burned to
ashes, and we had been instructed to deny its very existence. The garden had
represented everything that was good in humanity, turning a hellish world into
a peaceful paradise, but even that had been a casualty in the end. It seemed
that as long as there were people on New Earth, there would be war. The
surface of the planet stayed red; red like the endless blood we poured upon
it.
I
don’t know how long I sat in the cookhouse, watching as the queue of troopers
slowly passed through the serving area, collecting their food and finding a
table to eat. I had nothing else to do.
A
shadow passed over me, and I looked up.
‘Mind
if I sit down?’ It was the boss.
I
grunted, ‘Go ahead.’
He
slid back a chair and sat across from me, placing his tray down on the table.
He stared at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak, but I said nothing.
‘It
seems that ex-Major Ruckheim had quite a few contacts within the region,’ the
boss began.
‘Oh?’
I was barely interested.
‘Since
the end of the war he busied himself getting his fingers into as many pies as
he could. Since his death we’ve managed to shut down countless rebel operations
and arrest countless more rebel leaders. You wouldn’t believe how many of them
were hiding in those warrens. I don’t think NELA will be around in Nieuwe
Poort. Not for a while.’ He paused.
‘Amazing,’
he said and then went on, ‘Your old platoon sergeant was quite a character too.
He set out like a one-man-army trying to stop the major from getting into the
Citadel. Admirable, really.’ The final sentence was an admission.
Still
I said nothing. I didn’t care anymore. I knew that Ev had been tricked, and
that he had nothing to do with the rebellion. A part of me had known that all
along. But that wouldn’t bring him back, or his wife, and it wouldn’t make
Westy forgive me. Everybody that had ever been dear to me was gone.
‘I
haven’t written you up,’ the boss said finally, breaking the silence.
I
looked up at him, ‘Good.’
He
had wanted to write me up for yet another medal, but I had vehemently refused
to accept it. I didn’t want anything to remind me of Ev, or Westy. They were
both gone, and now only I remained.
Mr
Moore frowned at my one word response, ‘Look, Corporal Moralee, you’re alright.
But I’m not sitting with you to share pleasantries. So I’ll cut straight to the
chase. You don’t belong here.’
Now
he had my attention, and I frowned, suddenly worried, ‘What do you mean?’
I
couldn’t be kicked out of drops now
, my mind screamed at me,
where would
I go if I returned to Earth?
What would I do?
Once again it felt as
though the ground had been swept out from under me, and I was falling ever
deeper into the abyss.
‘Moralee,
you have a talent for reading the battlefield and getting inside the enemies
head. You’re also close to being one of the craziest most bloodthirsty NCOs
that I have ever met. Your method of working is slightly unorthodox, and you
don’t take well to being told what to do, you constantly step outside of your
box.’
I
bristled. Was he simply enjoying insulting me? I had lost all of my friends,
narrowly escaped being thrown into jail, and now I was being thrown out of the
dropship infantry as well? My eyes burned into his angrily as I prepared myself
to throw the first punch.
What does it matter
, I thought to myself, I
had nothing to lose now, anyway.
‘I’ve
been speaking to the OC,’ the boss continued, ignoring my glare, ‘And it would
seem that a vacancy has come up. Something that I think you would be better
suited to.’
I
was listening, ‘Like what?’
‘Reconnaissance.
It involves working in much smaller groupings, often working well forward of
the fighting troops. Sneaky stuff, much more interesting than slugging it out
in the mud with the rifle companies. What do you think?’
I
thought about it seriously. I needed to get away from the battalion, I couldn’t
stand the stigma that surrounded me. I wasn’t a rebel, but I had been closely
connected to the rebellion in Nieuwe Poort. Sure, many of the troopers in my
platoon regarded me with respect for having fought with them, but many more in
my company eyed me warily as they passed me, as though I might suddenly lunge
at them. It was stupid, but I supposed it was natural. Troopers loved to
gossip, so God only knew what crazy stories had been hatched about me.
‘Do
I need to go back to Uralis?’
‘Yes,’
the boss admitted, ‘Why, don’t you like it there?’
‘No,’
I replied sadly, ‘I just want to get away from here for a bit.’
‘Ah,’
he leant back in his chair, ‘You know that there’s no guarantee that you would
return here at all, right?’
‘Well,
where would I go instead?’
The
boss smiled, ‘Eden.’
The
hairs rose on the back of my neck as I heard the name…
Eden
.
Ev
had been to Eden, as had Westy. He never spoke of it to anybody, not even wanting
to remember it. The terraformed planet was a hell far worse than New Earth,
ripped apart by several opposing factions.
Anywhere
has to be better than here
, I thought to myself though. I couldn’t bear to be
on New Earth a minute longer, and the thought of returning grief stricken to my
family filled me with dread. There was nothing for me there, just as there was nothing
more for me here on New Earth.
I
finally nodded.
What did I have to lose?
Mr
Moore smiled triumphantly, ‘Excellent! I know that you’ve made the right
choice, Moralee. I know that you think I’m palming you off, but believe me when
I say that you are an outstanding trooper. You simply don’t belong here, and I
think you need to get away.’
‘Okay.’
I said quietly.
‘I’ll
see to it that you get the next available ship out of here, probably in the
next few days,’ the boss said, and he stood, lifting his tray away from my
table. He didn’t want to sit with me, I was only a lancejack after all, and he
an officer. There were some lines that were not meant to be crossed.
‘Good
luck to you, Moralee,’ he spoke sincerely, ‘Who knows, maybe one day we shall
meet again.’
I
watched as the platoon commander made his way across the cookhouse to sit with
his fellow officers. Whether or not he was trying to get rid of me I didn’t
know, but I was glad to be getting away from the battalion.
There
is no longer any use for me here,
I thought to myself as I scraped back
my chair and left the cookhouse. If there was to be peace in the foreseeable
future in Nieuwe Poort, then what good was I? I was only useful when I was on
the battlefield.
A
dark smile spread across my face.
I
was going to Eden.
#
# #
C.R.O.W.
(Combat
Replacement Of War)
Book
One of The Union Series
Andy Moralee knew that life with his new company
of Dropship Infantry would be hard, but nothing could prepare him for life in
one of the toughest units in the Union army. New arrivals, nicknamed ‘Crow’ by
their platoons, are the lowest form of life in his Company, and he finds
himself at the mercy of unforgiving commanders and bullies, all the time
knowing that the real enemy are waiting for him at the end of his journey
through the void. The enemy know that the Union are coming, they have dug in
and fortified, and they are ready.
C.R.O.W is a Military Science Fiction novel that
follows Andy Moralee across the cosmos, and into combat against a well-equipped
enemy prepared to fight to the very end.
Published in 2012 and available on Amazon – Kindle:
www.amazon.com/dp/B008S1VH5K
(U.S. and worldwide)