RECCE II (The Union Series Book 5) (22 page)

I placed my troopers out in pairs, pointing out
exactly where I wanted them to lie and making sure that they were evenly spaced
along its side of the triangle. Upon being shown his position, each trooper
quietly removed his daysack and lay down, taking up aim into the surrounding
wall of foliage. Once finished, I returned to Myers, who I had placed on his
own, and laid down beside him.

‘I’m knackered,’ Myers whispered.

Though his statement was worded as a complaint, I
could tell that it was an attempt to return to dialogue and clear the air
between us. Our long walk through the forest had given us all time to think, waging
war against the demons that stalked through our minds. Whatever it was that
haunted our souls, it was nothing that could break our small team apart. We
shared in each other’s misery, and though at times our suffering caused
friction, it pulled us together rather than pulled us apart.

‘Me too,’ I replied. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get some
sleep soon.’

‘Will
you
?’

I sighed. ‘Probably not.’

We stared out into the forest in silence. There
wasn’t much of a view, even with our night vision - not that we really needed
one. The ground sloped very gently downward in front of us, which didn’t offer
much in terms of immediate protection from enemy fire, but it did mean that if
we crawled backward into the centre of the plateau then we would have some
cover.

After five minutes I took Myers with me on clearance
patrol, making sure I told everyone I was leaving the harbour first. I didn’t
want a tired set of eyes mistaking me for a Militiaman whilst I patrolled in
front of my section line, especially since our visor targeting systems probably
wouldn’t identify me until it was too late. Finding nothing of interest, we
returned to the harbour, and I dropped off Myers before making my way to the sergeant
major to confirm all was clear on my side.

As soon as all three sections reported that their
respective sides of the triangle were clear, we moved on to the next phase of
establishing the harbour. I instructed Puppy to rig up an optic cable along our
section line, whilst I moved out with my fire team and placed out a pincushion,
along with several visual and noise sensors. We then laid out optical cable to
connect them back to the platoon network, carefully covering the cable with
foliage so that it couldn’t be stumbled upon accidentally.

Puppy had produced a sentry list by the time we had
returned, and Wildgoose was the first man on duty, watching out from the apex
where the mammoth had been sited. I gave him a small nod as I returned to the
harbour with my fire team, stopping to connect the optic cable to a junction
box Puppy had left on the sentry position. Wildgoose had already plugged his
datapad into the junction box, connecting himself to the platoon hardwire network.

‘I’ve got comms with the sergeant major,’ he
informed me as I worked.

‘Good,’ I replied. That meant that Puppy had
completed his task of connecting us with platoon headquarters. With all three
sections and their array of sensors networked together, we could communicate
and operate all of our defences without having to move or transmit.

‘Glad to get this stag out of the way first,’ he
said with a trace of smugness. First stag was often the favourite, since it
often guaranteed a long unbroken sleep before the sentry list repeated itself.
. . besides, everyone was still up and working anyway.

‘I envy you, mate,’ I said, humouring him. ‘I’ve got
a patrol to plan, yet.’

‘Puppy said we’re going to meet up with Yulia?’

I nodded. ‘That’s right.’

Suddenly Wildgoose looked up at me in alarm, then
quickly waved his arm downwards. ‘Enemy aircraft!’

I instantly dropped to the ground, motioning for the
others to do the same.

We ducked as low as possible, trying to bury
ourselves in whatever undergrowth we could find. The forest canopy was thick,
but there was no guarantee that it would stop an aircraft from picking up our
thermal signature even with the kit we were wearing.

I couldn’t hear anything, but that didn’t mean
nothing was above us. Most dropships, saucers and other aircraft were virtually
silent. It was only the air rushing around them when they moved that produced a
noise.

‘Where is it?’ I asked quietly, as if it could hear
us.

Wildgoose stared blankly into space, concentrating
on the information being sent through to him via the newly assembled network.
‘About a K north.’

‘What’s it doing?’

‘Moving slowly. West to east.’

‘Patrol aircraft?’

‘
Richelieu
thinks it’s a gravtank.’

Whilst continuing to pound Europa with its bombs, our
orbital top cover had still found time to spot the gravtank long before we
would have. It gave me some reassurance to know that somebody up there was
still watching our back, and they hadn’t completely forgotten us.

‘What did
Richelieu
say?’ Griffiths hissed
from his hiding place ten metres behind me.

Myers lifted his head above the ferns. ‘Gravtank.’

‘Shit!’ the Welsh trooper exclaimed, crouching even
lower.

I shared Griffiths’ concern. This was the first time
we had operated somewhere where the enemy had air superiority. Even though our
warships held control of orbit, none of our aircraft had entered the atmosphere
above Europa, and they probably wouldn’t for some time. The navy would bombard
the province from far above, minimising the risk from the Loyalist anti-
orbital defences whilst they slowly softened their target prior to the next
phase of the campaign. There was no rush, it could be days before the first
Union aircraft joined the battle.

I imagined the powerful war machine slowly gliding
over the treetops, scanning the area for targets. A single gravtank could make
short work of a platoon like ours - unless we got it with a smart missile
first. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, though, for it was likely that the gravtank
came with some form of additional support. The Loyalists were far more
professional than their Militia counterparts, and they weren’t stupid enough to
risk such a high-priced weapon on its own.

‘It’s turning slightly toward us,’ Wildgoose
reported, repeating information fed to him over the network.
Richelieu
was providing us with a live feed, the data concealed within the usual traffic
it sent back to Paraiso so that Europa didn’t become suspicious. An electronic
war would now be raging across the heavens, as the rogue province tried to hack
into the Union ships and weapons platforms orbiting above them. Fortunately for
us, the Loyalist hackers weren’t nearly as good as those on New Earth.

Myers looked at me. ‘Shall I get the launcher out?’

I nodded. ‘Get it out, but leave it switched off for
now.’

‘Roger.’

Myers gently slid the launcher out from his daysack,
then placed it on the ground in front of him. He set it up as far as he could
without activating it, avoiding creating an electronic activity spike that the
distant gravtank might detect if it came closer.

‘Still steering toward us . . .’ Wildgoose said, the
tone in his voice rising.

‘How far away is it?’ I asked.

‘Six hundred metres.’

Myers’ hands rested upon his launcher, poised ready
to snatch it up to fire.

I held up a hand for calm. ‘If you fire from here,
it’ll shoot the missile out of the air and cut us to ribbons.’

‘It’s stopped,’ Wildgoose announced. ‘Turning around
. . . it’s going again.’

There was a moment’s silence whilst everyone held
their breath, willing for the gravtank to continue on its way.

Finally, Wildgoose lifted his head from amongst the
ferns. ‘Stand down.’

We breathed a collective sigh of relief. I turned my
head up toward the canopy, thanking the heavens that the unseen menace had
moved on. If I was going to die, I didn’t want it to be at the hands of a
faceless gravtank gunner.

Myers began reconditioning his launcher. ‘Fuck my
life . . . that was too close for comfort.’

‘Well, get used to it,’ I replied, picking myself
up. ‘I doubt this’ll be the last time.’

 He stopped, looking up nervously. ‘Do you think
they know we’re here?’

‘Probably not, but this is their border, and the FEA
aren’t far away . . .’

‘What’s left of them,’ Wildgoose finished gloomily.

We had no idea what had happened to the FEA
battalions abandoned on Hill Kilo, but it was doubtful that they could do
anything other than stay where they were and pray for the Militia to withdraw.

‘Fair one,’ I admitted, ‘but we should still expect
the border to be defended by a little more than just sensors and automated guns.’

The two troopers fell silent, knowing that I was
right. We were well and truly behind enemy lines now, and the appearance of the
gravtank had shown to us how easily our mission could be brought to an abrupt
end.

‘Tell Puppy to get the lads into routine as soon as
possible,’ I said, changing the subject. ‘I’m going to see the sergeant major.’

Myers nodded. ‘Roger.’

I left the sentry position, heading into the centre
of the harbour where the sergeant major was sitting on his daysack, totally
engrossed in his datapad. His signaller sat amongst the ferns close by,
tinkering with random pieces of electronic equipment.

‘Alright, sir?’ I asked in greeting, taking a knee.

The sergeant major glanced up at me briefly. ‘I will
be once I’ve got my head down.’

‘No shit,’ I agreed. We were all shattered, having
survived on barely any sleep for days. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that we
as commanders could simply wriggle into our thermal bags and sleep, we needed
to plan.

‘Have you looked at our orders?’ the sergeant major
asked without lifting his head from his datapad.

‘Not really,’ I replied. Ordinarily such a statement
would be considered obscene by any right- thinking NCO, but this wasn’t an
ordinary situation. I’d barely had the time to even look at my datapad, let
alone study a full set of orders.

‘This bombing campaign is planned to last two days,’
he said. ‘Before that, there’ll be no aircraft, no troopers, nothing.’

I nodded, having expected such a strategy. The Union
was in no hurry to put boots on the ground, the plan was to break the Loyalists
long before the first dropship even entered the atmosphere.

‘Our orders don’t contain much in terms of the
overall plan for invading Europa, but we haven’t been asked to site any landing
zones in our area, so I suspect the dropships will be coming in further north.
We wouldn’t want them to drop anywhere near Edo just in case the FEA end up
shooting at them as well as the Loyalists.’

The sergeant major was right, of course. It made
sense for our dropships to avoid entering what remained of Edo’s anti-orbital
defence ‘bubble’.

‘So we’re not the main effort . . .’ I deduced.

‘No,’ the sergeant major admitted. ‘If I’m honest, I
think we’re simply here to free up other units to focus on targets elsewhere.’

‘Special Forces?’

‘Most likely. I’ve no idea what assets we have on
the ground here, or how long they’ve been here.’

We knew very little about our Special Forces or what
they did on Eden. Stretched across the Union’s colonial empire, they were far
too small a number to be noticed, even if they wanted to be.

The sergeant major drew in a breath, preparing
himself to change the subject with bad news. ‘You’ll need to leave a little
earlier than the four-hour forced rest I originally imposed . . .’

My brow raised. ‘How soon?’

He paused, trying to work out a rough timeline in
his head. ‘In order to meet with Yulia, you’ll probably need to move out in the
next three hours.’

That meant my men would need to reveille in two
hours, giving me enough time to deliver a brief set of patrol orders and carry
out last-minute inspections. Worse still, it meant that I would have barely
have any sleep at all, since I still had to plan the patrol in the first place.

‘I appreciate you’re pretty licked,’ the sergeant
major said, ‘but I wasn’t happy sending you off with her until I knew we could
safely cross the border.’

‘I understand.’

He proffered his datapad to me, and I connected mine
to his. He sent me two grid markers - the location of the farming community,
and a rendezvous location he had shared with Yulia before she left us. I could
see that the rendezvous wasn’t far from the old laboratory complex, sited on a
junction between an old maglev rail and a wide river.

‘Captain Kristov agreed this rendezvous with me,’ he
explained. ‘It’s the most obvious location I could think of, and she assured me
she could find it without any trouble in the dark.’

Without a datapad or paper mapping, Yulia was
entirely reliant upon her knowledge of the local area to navigate. Because of
this, the sergeant major needed to ensure that any rendezvous was easy to find
in the dark.