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

For several moments there was total silence, and
then a voice called out from somewhere within the chamber. ‘You are going to
die down here, FEA!’

We all exchanged glances. This was the first time
that our enemy had spoken, and he sounded close. I guessed that he was taking
cover in one or both of the tunnels at the far end of the third chamber.

Myers lifted his head as he shouted back into the
haze. ‘No FEA here, mate!’

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again.
‘Who are you?’

‘Union troopers!’ I answered.

A hail of darts whipped through the entrance in
response, causing us all to duck back into cover.

‘Fucking belters!’ One of my men uttered.

‘Not fans of the Union, then,’ Myers said with weary
sarcasm.

I realised that all of my section were still crowded
around the entrance. Curiosity was getting the better of them, causing them to
forget how easily a single grenade could wipe them all out.

‘Spread out!’ I hissed, waving them away. ‘Puppy,
get your boys back into the first chamber. Brief the sergeant major.’

Puppy nodded. ‘Roger. Let’s move, lads!’

As they hurried away, I held my rifle around the
corner of the entrance. ‘Fire in the hole!’ I said. With that, I fired a grenade
from my underslung launcher. The grenade detonated with a flash of light, and
more smoke poured out from the chamber beyond.

‘Shall I get my launcher out?’ Myers suggested.

I considered the option. Smart missiles were a
surprisingly effective weapon underground, with the ability to navigate tight
spaces with miraculous ease and a blast that could shatter a man’s visor and
burn him to a crisp, but I wasn’t sure I wanted one detonating only ten metres
away, with or without a wall of rock between us. Still, if the rogue Guardsmen
tried to rush us, it would bring any offensive to an abrupt end.

‘Yeah, get it out,’ I said.

The young trooper dropped his daysack and quickly
removed his launcher before preparing it to fire. It beeped back at him as he
uttered an instruction to its computer.

‘What do you want?’ the voice demanded, returning my
attention to the smouldering chamber.

I knew that the rogue Guardsmen were merely stalling
us whilst they figured out what to do next, but two could play that game.

‘You have our platoon commander!’ I said. ‘We want
him back!’

‘No,’ the voice returned, ‘there are none of your
men here, trooper!’

‘We’d rather see for ourselves!’ Myers returned.

‘Fuck you!’ The tunnel roared with another spray of
darts, as the Guardsmen fired blindly into the smoke.

‘Charming,’ a gruff voice said from behind us. I
looked over my shoulder and saw that the sergeant major had arrived. Rusakov
was with him, along with his signaller - the remains of the sergeant major’s
original four-man team.

He gave me a small nod as he crouched against the
chamber wall a few metres away.

‘What’s going on, Moralee?’

I explained the situation as quickly as I could,
conscious that our enemy might attack again at any moment.

‘OK. Do you think you can assault?’

‘I could . . .’ I replied with uncertainty, ‘but I
think they’ll simply retaliate. It’s a bottleneck. We’re just gonna end up
throwing grenades at each other all day . . .’

‘Go away, Union troopers!’ the voice demanded,
cutting me short.

‘The rest of the headquarters has been cleared,’ the
sergeant major told me, ignoring the voice. ‘That leaves these few chambers as
the last pocket of Guardsmen. They’ve obviously fallen back to the main command
chamber to mount their last stand.’

‘They are trying to keep the FEA from regaining
control of the warren communication network,’ Rusakov said in agreement. ‘The
command chamber will be important to them for this reason.’

‘If the network even works,’ I said. ‘We’ve already
smashed up most of their equipment getting this far.’

Myers snorted. ‘Yeah. I think it’s safe to say the
communication network is already fucked.’

‘The network is just a series of optical cables and
wireless transmitters.’ The sergeant major dismissed the young trooper’s
comment with a wave of his hand. ‘It doesn’t need all of this equipment.’

‘Go!’ the voice repeated.

‘They’re getting agitated,’ the sergeant major
observed.

Rusakov nodded. ‘They are frightened.’

The sergeant major looked down at his datapad,
manipulating his map with his fingers as he sought an alternative approach to
the Guard stronghold. I already knew that there wasn’t one, not using the
tunnels that currently existed.

He glanced at Rusakov. ‘Do you think you can talk
them down?’

The Guard NCO raised an eyebrow. ‘Talk them down?’

‘Convince them to surrender.’

Rusakov shook his head. ‘They will never surrender.
They are afraid, but they will still fight to the death.’

‘Let’s give it a go. We have nothing to lose, and it
will buy us time to find another way in.’

Rusakov cleared his throat, then raised his voice to
speak to the Guardsmen in their own language. I listened whilst my headset
translated his words back into English. ‘Listen to me, countrymen! The Union
have beaten back the Militia. They control the surface, and they have returned
to the warren to collect their officer. They are the only thing that stands
between you and the Militia, so it would be wise for you to co-operate with
them before they choose to leave.’

‘Why do you listen to the lies these Union troopers
tell you, FEA?’ the voice demanded scornfully. ‘They are the enemy.’

‘I am not FEA!’ he returned. ‘I am a Guardsman!’

‘You are no Guardsman!’

Rusakov said nothing for several seconds, before
suddenly bursting out into a song. All heads turned to stare at him in bemused
surprise as he sang, the words echoing through the warren tunnels. My headset
failed to translate the words, unable to decipher the rhymed slang he was
using, but I presumed it was some kind of traditional song that only a
Guardsman would know.

Once Rusakov had finished, a surprised silence fell
over the warren. Rusakov’s presence had caused the rogue Guardsmen to stop and
think. I could almost hear their minds ticking -
why was there a Guardsman
amongst the Union troopers?

‘I am Corporal Rusakov, from Robot Guns Platoon,’ the
Guard NCO said.

The voice became suspicious. ‘Support Company withdrew!’

‘I chose to fight,’ Rusakov replied. ‘I am not a
coward, like you.’

‘We are not cowards!’ the voice shouted angrily.

‘You are cowards!’ he returned vehemently.
‘Traitorous cowards! You would hide in here when your comrades die around you?’

‘The FEA attacked us!’

‘They attacked you because you have cut off their
communications!’

‘We have done no such thing!’

Something scraped on the floor somewhere ahead of us,
just loud enough for my headset to detect. My heart jumped at the noise. It
sounded like a boot scuffing against something.

Myers and I leant carefully outward, trying to catch
a glimpse of our enemy through the parting smoke. One of the problems with having
a headset to magnify sounds was that it could sometimes make things seem closer
than they really were. I suspected that the sound was coming from the tunnel
that led to the command chamber.

There was the sound of something striking the ground,
and I instinctively moved back behind the wall.

‘Grenade!’ Myers shouted in warning, and we all
ducked.

The Guard grenade detonated within the third chamber,
rocking the ground beneath my feet, but instead of remaining hidden, I emerged
instantly from my cover. I suspected the grenade had been thrown as a prelude
to a possible attack.

I fired a string of darts into the smoke, and then
fired my grenade launcher for good measure. We were wasting ammunition, but I
knew that we needed to keep the Guard back whilst the sergeant major came up
with his plan.

‘You’ll have to try better than that, lads!’ Myers
shouted goadingly.

‘We have explosives!’ the voice threatened. ‘If you
come any closer then we will detonate them and bury all of us!’

Myers looked around the darkened tunnel nervously,
suddenly aware of the dangers that might be hidden in the walls around him. A
defender would often place explosives within the walls of the warren tunnels,
concealing them within the rock in vulnerable locations where collapse was
likely. Not only that, but the fighting tunnel that the FEA had found probably
wound its way around these chambers, and could also be rigged to explode at any
moment. Fortunately for us, though, the Guard were unlikely to be as adept at
tunnel warfare as the Chinese or the Alliance.

‘Well, why didn’t you use them earlier?’ I asked.

The voice didn’t reply.

I looked at Rusakov.

‘They are lying,’ he said. ‘If they had explosives,
they would have used them already.’

The sergeant major beckoned for me to close in, so I
had Griffiths take my place and hurried over. ‘I want you to hold the Guard
back here with Rusakov,’ he said. ‘I’m going to try to find a way of breaking
into the command chamber using the fighting tunnel. Two and Three Section will
then assault.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re going to use a plasma
charge?’

‘Yes. Corporal Abdi has managed to acquire one from
the FEA. I’ll take Griffiths with me to use it.’

I glanced at Griffiths. He was the only trooper who
knew how to operate a plasma charge - although he was nowhere near as
proficient as an engineer. ‘What about the hostages?’

The sergeant major bristled. ‘Do you know another
way of getting in without taking casualties, Corporal Moralee? This isn’t a
counter insurgency operation on New Earth, this is war. The command chamber is
large, so the blast of the charge shouldn’t have any lasting effect on anyone
more than ten metres away - not if they’re wearing their headgear.’

‘And if they’re not wearing it . . .?’

‘Life’s a bitch.’

3

Explosive Entry

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We waited at the entrance to the third chamber,
carefully listening for any sounds that might warn us of a counterattack by the
rogue Guardsmen. The sergeant major had been gone for what felt like ages,
leaving us to prevent our foe from advancing whilst he and the remainder of the
platoon searched for somewhere to blast their way into the command chamber. He
had taken Two Section to conduct the assault, meanwhile Three Section had been
tasked as link men in order to maintain our communications. Our transmissions
couldn’t travel through solid rock, so the troopers in Three Section would need
to space themselves out, occupying every section of tunnel between my section
and Two Section in order to maintain a link in our network.

I wasn’t concerned about the Guard trying to attack
my section, not now anyway. Whilst we waited, I had ordered my fire team to
place a camera inside the entranceway, to observe the third chamber without
needlessly exposing ourselves to enemy fire. Just in case grenades and darts
weren’t enough, we had also set up a pincushion alongside the camera. Puppy’s
fire team, holding onto the first chamber, had done the same thing, giving us a
position to fall back to. If the rogue Guardsmen were mad enough to attack us
head on, we would shoot and grenade them, and then tear them to shreds with a
thousand needles from our pincushion before falling back to Puppy and repeating
the process. It would take at least a platoon of suicidal maniacs to break
through our defences, and even then that probably wasn’t enough. The trouble
was, the rogue Guardsmen had probably devised a similar method to defend
against us - except they weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. We were in
stalemate, but our shady adversaries were more than happy with that.

It was strange being so close to our enemy for such
a long time, with neither side able or willing to attack. We could throw or
fire grenades, but that would have little effect since the Guardsmen were
taking cover within the tunnels on the opposite side of the chamber. On the
other hand, a smart missile fired from Myers’ launcher would be overkill,
potentially injuring us if it detonated too close, or killing everyone in the
command chamber - including the hostages if it went too far.

The sergeant major was right- the plasma charge was
the only solution. Though immensely powerful, its effects were relatively
localised - compared with a smart missile anyway. There was still a strong
possibility that it might maim or kill the hostages, but that was a risk we
were forced to take.

‘What do you think they’re doing in there?’
Weatherall asked finally, nodding in the direction of the command chamber.

I shrugged. ‘Fuck knows.’

‘Shitting their pants, probably,’ Myers said.

Weatherall sighed wearily. ‘It doesn’t make sense.
What do they want?’

I glanced at Rusakov. The burley Guard NCO was
slouched against the chamber wall, seemingly disinterested in our conversation
. . . but I knew he would be listening. I had no doubt that his intentions with
us were honourable, but I knew it was unwise to start hypothesising the
intentions of our adversary whilst next to him. We knew a great deal more than
he did.

I gave Myers a gentle tap against the arm, then
shrugged again. ‘No idea.’

‘Me neither,’ Myers said quickly, understanding the
purpose of my tap. ‘I think they all just need to grab a pint and get laid.’

Weatherall let out a quiet chuckle. ‘Roger. Don’t we
all?’

We fell silent again for a few moments.

Myers looked back toward the hologram in the centre
of the chamber. ‘He’s still twitching, you know.’

I followed the young trooper’s gaze to where the
fallen Guardsman continued to twitch at the base of the rotating blue hologram,
like a fly dying beside the flame that burnt it.

‘How the fuck is he
still
twitching?’

‘I don’t know,’ I replied irritably. ‘I’m not a
medic. Is there a time limit?’

Myers shrugged. ‘It’s just weird, that’s all . . . Do
you think I should finish him off?’

‘No,’ Rusakov replied sternly. ‘We should let the
bastard suffer for what he has done.’

I glanced back at Rusakov, surprised at the depth of
his hatred toward the rogue Guardsmen. I had always seen the Guard as heartless
murderers with no sense of honour, but both he and Yulia had shown me a different
side to their organisation.

We waited almost a minute in total silence, watching
the rogue Guardsman die. His twitching slowed, each involuntary movement
becoming less pronounced as the life drained from his body.

‘Seeing people die still freaks me out,’ Myers
blurted.

I smiled darkly. ‘I should hope it does. I’d be more
worried if you said you enjoyed it!’

‘You’d think I wouldn’t be bothered by it by now,
though.’

‘You get used to it,’ I said eventually, ‘but you’ll
always be bothered by it . . . unless you had one seriously messed up
childhood.’

‘Do you think the boss is alive?’ Myers asked,
suddenly changing the subject.

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know . . .’

‘All units, this is One-Zero- Alpha.’ The sergeant major
suddenly spoke over the net, assuming the platoon commander’s call sign. ‘One-Two
is currently in position in the fighting tunnel and preparing to assault using
a plasma charge. One-Three are strung out between us in order to maintain
platoon net communication.’

A blue crosshair appeared on my visor display,
hovering against the rocky wall of the chamber to indicate something thirty metres
away.

‘This crosshair marks where I anticipate our plasma
charge will penetrate into the command chamber,’ the sergeant major explained. ‘Obviously
there may be some slight error in our gyros, so the crosshair location may be
relatively inaccurate . . .’

The tiny gyros contained within our datapads could
work out our location in relation to one another simply by recording our movements,
giving us amazing spatial awareness whilst we were underground, but they could
never be perfectly accurate. Without a team of engineers to assist us, there
was no guarantee that our plasma charge would punch a hole into the command
chamber where we expected it. There was no guarantee that it would reach the command
chamber at all.

The sergeant major continued. ‘One-Two will assault
into the southern half of the chamber upon detonation of the plasma charge.
One-Three will immediately abandon their positions as link men and follow us up
in reserve. They are to anticipate being used to clear any connecting tunnels
and chambers. One-Three, acknowledge.’

‘One-Three,’ Corporal Stanton replied quickly.

I suspected he was already close to the sergeant major
within the fighting tunnel, so that he could close his men in to him the second
the plasma charge was fired.

‘Our FEA allies have managed to generate two
sections to assist us in our assault. They will be led by their own commanders,
but One-Zero-Bravo will try to maintain a sanity check on them. One-Zero-Bravo
acknowledge.’

‘One-Zero-Bravo,’ Corporal Abdi replied.

I imagined the prospect of trying to control two
sections of frightened, battle-crazed conscripts was a daunting one, especially
since Abs had only recently stepped up to fill the sergeant major’s role.

The sergeant major went on. ‘One-One, you will
remain in position and maintain a block throughout the assault. You are not to
assault under any circumstances. You are only to fire weapons in self-defence.
Acknowledge.’

‘One-One,’ I replied instantly. It made sense for my
section not to move. If we attempted to launch our own simultaneous assault,
then we risked accidentally shooting our comrades as they broke in from above.
There were many times when assaults using multiple entry points were a useful
way of shocking and overwhelming our enemy, but in the confines of the warren
such attacks could easily turn to disaster.

He continued. ‘All call signs. H-Hour in figures
one.’

I quickly explained to my fire team what was
happening, keeping my voice as low as possible so that the rogue Guardsmen
couldn’t hear me. The plan was relatively simple, but the sergeant major’s
H-Hour left little time to go into detail.

‘Ten seconds . . . fire in the hole,’ the sergeant major
warned over the net as the last few seconds passed.

‘One-One, roger,’ I acknowledged, then quickly
passed the message to my men. We carefully knelt down, wrapping an arm around
our visors to keep them from being knocked away from our faces if we fell.

I braced my body as the sergeant major started his
count down. ‘Five, four, three, two, one . . .’

The plasma charge detonated somewhere ahead of us with
an almighty blast, rocking the tunnel around us. A cloud of dust rushed through
the tunnel, and I had to put both hands on the ground to prevent it from
pushing me over.

Weatherall swore as he lost his balance and fell
onto his back, his rifle clattering on the floor.

‘Pick yourselves up, lads!’ I warned. ‘Stay switched
on!’

We quickly regained our composure, taking up
positions in anticipation of a potential counterattack by the Guardsmen. The
devastating effect of the plasma charge made such a scenario unlikely, but not
impossible.

I waited in total silence, listening for the first
shots announcing the assault into the command chamber. I imagined Corporal
Stanton leading his section into the glowing tunnel cut by the charge, then imagined
them bursting out from the smouldering hole, magnets screaming in fury.

Nothing happened though. No magnets screamed. No
voices shouted. There was only silence.

‘One-One!’ the sergeant major suddenly hollered over
the net. ‘The charge failed to break through! Assault now!’

‘Fuck!’ I stood.

Myers looked up at me worriedly. ‘What?’

‘The charge didn’t break through!’

He looked bewildered, like a rabbit caught in
headlights. ‘So–’

‘Let’s go!’ I ordered, cutting him short and driving
him forward with an urgent slap to his daysack.

The young trooper swore in surprise, but responded
instantly, leaping to his feet.

We rounded the corner as one, charging into the
smoke with rifles raised.

I bounded across the third chamber, forgetting the
need to observe through my sights as I dodged through the smashed computer
hardware.

I knew what had happened. The plasma charge had
successfully reached the command chamber, hence the cloud of dust, but it had failed
to punch a hole large enough for a man to pass through. We needed to close the
gap between us and the enemy quickly if we were to take full advantage of the
shock the powerful device created.

The smoke in the chamber was so thick I could barely
see further than a few metres. It was blacking out my visor’s thermal imaging
and threatening to disorientate me.

Gunfire erupted ahead of us, the ear-splitting din sounding
as though somebody was firing a mammoth gun - thankfully not at us.

‘There, there, there!’ Myers hissed as we ran,
steering me toward the tunnel that led to the command chamber with an
outstretched arm.

I snatched my rifle into the aim and stormed into
the tunnel. The sergeant major’s voice was speaking in my ear, informing me
that he had managed to create a fire support position using the hole created by
the plasma charge, but I barely heard him. My mind was utterly focused onto the
Guardsmen I knew had been waiting for me in that tunnel.

My visor suddenly sprang to life as I stepped into
the tunnel, highlighting several heat sources directly in front of me. Even
without being able to recognise any features, I could see that the effect of
the plasma charge punching into the chamber behind the Guardsmen had been
devastating. One of them lay motionless on the tunnel floor, perhaps knocked
out by the immense overpressure. Another sat hunched over with his back against
the wall.