Sacremon (Harmony War Series Book 1) (34 page)

           
While they had slept the entire carrier group had dropped into the growing city, including medics, support personnel and all of the add-ons that came with them. There were now roughly a hundred thousand EMF personnel on Sacremon, close to nine thousand of which were Troopers. Seven thousand had died trying to get down in the first wave, and when they had been tried to take the different cities.

           
A lot of people had died from the gas before a vaccine had been found. The forests had been covered in the crap.

           
It was like the sarin he had read about from his studies. Sarin had a damned long life, meaning that it didn't simply disappear, it would remain active, waiting for someone to simply touch it and turn a person's body against them. This poison was expected to last for another twenty years at least. With a vaccine now developed it would only kill those that hadn't been injected, meaning the colonists that hadn't taken part in the uprising. It was also deadly to the colonists that were fighting, thousands had died from it already.

           
They got to the main lobby, gunfire could be heard from around the city, explosions rumbled through towers, fires that had started overnight released their black smoke into the skies. Support units were looking to reduce the fires. It would not be fun if the CEO's started getting pissy about the EMF destroying their assets.

            A Combat shuttle dropped from the sky, it’s thrusters fired as tracers followed it, but nothing hit.

The back door opened and troopers rushed out.

“Let’s get the CEO on board,” Pullo said.

Mark and Jerome hustled the CEO along. Gupta, Pullo and the troopers that had rushed out of the shuttle were covering the retreat while they got him into the shuttle. The Cargo Master got him into a seat, pulling a harness down as the shuttle rose off of the ground, the rear hatch closed.

The troopers ran back into the tower as the combat shuttle piled on the power and shot away from the city, again tracers tried to catch it. A few rounds hit but the shuttle took the impacts in stride, like it was nothing more than bright lights in the night’s sky.

           
"Alright, we're going to be moving back to our original tower, we'll be linking up with the second regiment of our division and getting them through the door. Fighting has been hard and the rest of our regiment except Alpha company have been hammering the colonists still in the tower. Our people are holed up on the fifth floor and it looks like the colonists above them are going to come down. We're going back to the rappel lines and we're going to lead bravo company from the second regiment up to support our people in the middle of the fighting. There are too many wounded to have them simply retreat down the rappel lines.” Pullo's words were harsh and Mark's extra rest felt like some kind of sin now.

           
I was asleep while the rest of our regiment were fighting to survive.

           
"Alright, let's get moving,” Pullo said, taking the lead and running off, Jerome went second, Mark third, Gupta following as they ran and scanned for threats.

           
They jumped from tower to tower, every one of them were now occupied by EMF troopers. They ran through the buildings to the other entrances and kept running. Marks lung burned and his legs hurt but like the others he pushed such minor considerations to the back of his mind. Tyler could be killed while he was running, hell he might already be dead, Utkin was still alive, so was Dolche with some bad wounds, Captain Nerva would be giving his all and the people who had watched Mark's back and theirs were way more tired than he was and could die if he didn't hurry the fuck up.

           
No one talked as they ran, they just kept following Pullo. A few colonists showed their faces from buildings. Grenade launchers and a hail of rounds met them. No one was fucking around today.

           
They got to a tower just a few hundred meters from where the rest of the regiment were fighting their way in or holding their position.

           
Mark remembered this tower, it was the one which had served as a base for the missiles which had ripped into the tower, tearing holes into it, and taking out Simmons and Xiao with those explosions.

           
Mark's face was grim inside his helmet as Pullo cut the pace, peeled off his helmet and walked through troopers to the command centre where a number of officers were standing around a table. One of them noticed Pullo and the others turned to face him and the group behind him.

           
"Hold back,” Gupta said to Mark and Jerome, both of them watching the other troopers as if to glean some kind of information from their appearance, the troopers doing the same, studying their battle-scarred armor, well used weaponry and way that they held themselves.

           
Pullo was included in the pow-wow around the table, all of them turning away from the three others, a few glances were shot back, most looking at Mark's hastily repaired armor and the way that Jerome and Gupta’s eyes seemed to flicker over everyone as if expecting an attack at any time.

           
The talk was quick and Pullo was back with the other three.

           
"Mark and Jerome grab repulsors and as much ammo for them as you can carry, we'll do the same,” Pullo said, looking to Gupta as he put his helmet back on.

           
"They're going to
plan
out what they want to do, we know where the repel lines are and we aren't attached to them, we're going to help our people out right now. If any of you want to stay behind I understand,” Pullo said, his voice hard but he knew what he was asking.

           
No one moved.

           
"There's a reason they call fourth regiment a bunch of nutters,” Gupta said after a few moments of silence, turning. "I think I saw a supply mule back here.”

           
"Good?" Gupta asked as Mark shifted under the weight of ammunition that was liberally taped and strapped over his body.

           
"About as good as a walking explosion ever is,” Mark said dryly, slinging his repulsor and checking his feed before checking the E-12 was secured on top of the extra ammunition pack on his back. It hurt like hell carrying this much weight but Mark knew it would be vital to the rest of the regiment.

           
"Real comedian, mind giving me a hand with my bomb suit?"

           
"With pleasure Sarge!" Mark said, Gupta chuckling and shaking his head at Mark's enthusiasm.

           
The Supply Techs helped to slap on as much ammunition as possible while Mark helped Gupta with a repulsor ammunition pack.

           
Pullo and Jerome waded over, Troopers kept watching them, Mark could feel their respect and their own annoyance at how they were being held back yet again.

           
"Let's be on our way boys, the regiment needs us and the fourth looks after his own,” Pullo said, his helmet off so he could raise his voice high enough that the other troopers shifted uncomfortably in their positions.

           
"Yes sir!" Mark said, Jerome and Gupta adding their own agreements over their external speakers.

           
Jerome led and Mark took up the rear as they jogged over to their tower, the noises of battle could be heard quite clearly as they moved to the rappel lines they had used just the other day to bring in the support that now surrounded them.

           
The lines descended with a command from Pullo. Everyone hooked on, Jerome and Mark going up first with their repulsors.

           
They didn't see anything as they got onto the floor letting the lines descend again.

           
Mark joined the regiment's net and targets started to fill his HUD.

           
"Everyone on the regiments net?" Pullo confirmed, his voice hard getting the green-light from everyone.

           
"Jerome, Mark you are free to fire,” Pullo said with grim satisfaction.

           
Mark and Jerome pulled their triggers, open firing right into the Colonist fighters that were moving into position to attack their comrades.

           
Thousands of rounds filled the air as Mark and Jerome advanced, using their repulsors like a magnifying glass against ants.

           
"Good to see you gents,” Captain Nerva said as if greeting someone that he knew in the mess.

           
"We've got ammunition for the repulsors sir,” Pullo said, he and Gupta were firing accurate bursts into the harder targets that Mark and Jerome weren't hitting. Any of the colonists that put their head down ere cut down by the foursome as they advanced.

           
Panicked colonists fired back blindly at the new threat. Their explosive rounds hit the walls and floors, coating the troopers in dust and sprayed them with shrapnel.

           
We knew we weren't surviving.
Mark's grim thought making him shrug off the fire as he listened to Pullo speak, walking on like some kind of juggernaut, unaffected by the small shards that got through his armor. He didn't flinch or stop, to do so would make them lose the element of surprise and give the colonists time to reorganize and turn the new threat.

           
"Good man, I'll have a few people come and grab that from you. We do have some colonists firing into our positions. If you could look to clearing that out I can move forces up to you. Drop the extra ammunition and have Gupta keep Mark and Jerome moving with that fire. I want them to look to push back to the eastern elevator, that's the Colonist's entry point. You and I will look to clearing the floor and pushing more forces up with them, understood Pullo?" Nerva relayed.

           
"Yes sir, we're on our way,” Pullo answered.

           
"Good,” Nerva said cutting the channel. Mark felt that hearing 'good' from Nerva was like most people giving a stand-up clap for a person's performance.

           
"Mark, right, Jerome straight,” Gupta called out commands, directing the two repulsor's fire as they marched resolutely onward.

           
"Make a hole here,” Pullo said, firing a grenade into a wall, Gupta fired one as well. The wall splitting open. Jerome shifted fire and hosed the Colonists hiding on the other side.

           
"Jerome switch with Mark, shift fire left,” Gupta called on. So it continued, they advanced quickly and it wasn't long before they were near their people. Those that were able to, ran out from cover and helped free everyone of their extra ammunition. Gupta called out fire for Mark and Jerome who were facing outward from the less than platoon strength survivors.

           
Their ammunition now pulled back to the main position, Gupta had Mark and Jerome on the move, Dolche who was missing his left arm moved up to assist, another repulsor gunner by the name Coutu added her fire in. Ammunition packs were slapped directly into their repulsors, two more attached to their main reservoirs to fill them.

           
Dalha and Abdul provided E-12 support and acted as gunner assistants, ripping off empty ammunition packs from Dolche and Coutu's reservoirs and slapping new ones into place.

           
Gupta called out their names, giving them zones to cover as they advanced through hallways. Shooting through walls to get any colonists hiding on the level. The fire trailed off turning to bursts as the colonists tried to run away.

           
There was no room for small talk or anything but the clear orders Gupta snapped out. They quickly got to the elevator that colonists were now fleeing down.

           
The colonists had blown a hole through the fourth floor elevator and opened it up so that they could see onto the fifth floor for some distance. They'd dumped desks and whatever they had down the shaft, making a kind of platform that ran the ten-meter-long length from one end of the elevator shaft to the other.

           
Dalha, Dolche and Abdul looked to cover the rear so that no one crept up on the gunners. Mark, Jerome and Coutu fired in bursts one after another, their fire only picking up under Gupta's orders or when they saw a target.

           
They tried to improve their positions getting their bipods into more stable ground, having Gupta fire grenades into walls to give them better views of the floor below.

           
"Fire only if you see anything, Jerome help out Dolche,” Gupta said, his voice tired as the guns went quiet. Mark and Coutu's weapons roved over the area in front of them, daring the colonists to show themselves.

           
The chatter of E-12's and the explosive concussions of the colonist's weapons could be heard behind and below them.
It was an odd thing to be in the middle of a heated battle but not do anything because you didn't see the enemy.
Mark thought, his weapon following his eyes as a barrel peeked around a corner, his repulsor fired a burst through the wall, a bloody mess falling down in their place.