The Great Betrayal (16 page)

“Keep moving!” said Wictred.

He lurched past Jack. His friend’s large bulk and longer legs meant he could move faster over a distance, and he was in position and waiting for them by the time they reached the base of the tower. At this distance, Jack could see the improvised barricades that formed an almost continuous wall around the precinct, roughly ten meters from the structure itself. He jumped up and over the rough wall, almost landing on top of Private Frewyn’s foot.

“Hey, watch it!” he snapped back gruffly.

Jack automatically dropped to one knee as the rest of the marines swarmed ahead. The scream of engines pulled his eyes toward another Hammerhead that had moved into position over the central structure. The engines rotated around, and as they did so, let out a roar that echoed for kilometers. The downdraft kicked up a storm of dust and dirt, striking the armor of the marines.

More Hammerheads flew down low, and in less than sixty seconds; an entire company of marines was deployed around the base of the precinct, both at the barricades and just inside the building. He looked at those still hovering over the lower part of the building between the towers. Three squads, a full platoon of marines, had now landed on the central roof, and Jack could monitor their progress inside the building. They moved quickly and in seconds were on their way to their rendezvous.

“Watch your sectors, people,” said Wictred in a calm, yet stern voice.

Jack turned his attention back to the barricades. At least thirty Helion civilians were hiding behind the obstruction with a variety of weapons. Jack gave them a quick glance, noting that less than half were equipped with firearms. The others carried hand tools and some nothing at all. One spotted him looking and lifted his hand to signal in the human fashion.

Where did he learn that?
Jack wondered.

A black circle appeared in the man’s forehead, and he staggered back and to the ground. Another was struck in the shoulder before all of them ducked down.

“Incoming!” Callahan cried out.

Sensors on Jack’s armor detected the source, direction, and type of fire being put down on them. He glanced at the information and noted one important point; they were thermal rounds.

“Animosh!” he spat out.

Private Riku kept down low behind the barricade but twisted her head to look at him.

“How do you know that?” she asked angrily.

Jack moved down next to her, lifting his head just high enough to look out across the open ground at the blocks of buildings about forty meters away and on the other side of the wide open road system. There were no vehicles anywhere near the precinct, apart from those dragged into position to form part of the barricade. Jack pointed at a partially demolished three-story structure.

“In there, I promise you are Animosh fighters.”

She took aim with her L52 Mark II and looked at the distant rubble. As per their rules of engagement, she kept her finger off the trigger. They were not allowed to open fire indiscriminately.

“I see movement, are you sure?”

Jack nodded.

“Oh, yes, only the state political forces are allowed to carry thermal weapons.”

“You’ve seen them before?” she asked incredulously.

Jack had forgotten how little the others in the squad knew about him. Since his platoon had been reinforced, over half of the marines had been shipped in from other units. He’d only really talked with Wictred and never about what had happened on Helios. There had been rumors amongst the other marines but few facts about Jack. He nodded.

“Yes, they are fast and well equipped. Keep your eyes open.”

Wictred's voice came over the platoon channel.

“Hold your fire.”

Jack looked to his left, then his right. His comrades were spread out along the barricade at intervals of about five meters. Each kept down low but took careful aim with their carbines. The two Rams reached their position, and the one fitted with cages moved closer to the base of the tower and then lowered itself to the ground. From there, Jack could see the spare ammunition, medical kits, and backup radio gear.

And the other?

He glanced about and spotted it moving to a damaged part of the barricade. Without any human intervention, it pushed its way into the rubble, dropping down so that only the upper part of its structure was visible. The motorized turret activated, and the weapon pointed up at a light angle, waiting for a target and permission to fire. Jack was fascinated as the side case flicked open, and out flew a small hex-rotor multicoptor. The device was about the size of a marine’s helmet, but around it were six small ducted fan engines, each almost silent in operation. It powered up with a gentle buzzing sound and then vanished into the sky. He checked the overlay in his helmet and nodded to himself, as the other marines tagged the Helions and were already on their way to the evacuation Hammerheads overhead.

“Extraction in fifty seconds, stay frosty,” said Captain Carter over the audio channel.

Red threat indicators suddenly appeared on the overlay. The drone had detected them from its high position and was sending back detailed information on direction, vector, and velocity. Captain Carter’s voice returned, this time sounding less than impressed.

“Hostiles are in the area. If you are fired upon, you are cleared to engage.”

It was a minor change, but now Jack had permission to return fire, if and when the Animosh attacked. He could see the enemy’s aerial units moving ever closer, and the number underneath each object showed they would be in range of the precinct in just over a minute.

Damn, this is gonna be close!

“There!” cried Wictred from his position fifteen meters away to the right.

Jack tracked to the right and spotted the movement. At first it was just a handful of dark shapes, but then there were scores of armored figures, the dreaded Helion paramilitary forces. They wore a heavily faded and discolored orange uniform that looked almost blood red in the daylight. From their shoulder hung cloaks that partially obscured their forms. What really surprised the other marines were the weapons the Animosh carried. Unlike the uniform equipment of the Alliance, the Animosh utilized a variety of ranged and close combat weapons, including thermal rifles, maces, and lightweight shields. It gave them the look of a ceremonial riot police unit.

“Wait for it!” called out Wictred.

The Animosh moved out from cover and ran across the open ground toward the barricaded position around the tower while at the same time another Hammerhead swept down to land on the roof. A dozen Alliance fighters circled above them, each looking for any sign of trouble. The thirty or so Helions at the front stopped, dropped to one knee, and planted their shields on the ground; the rest formed up so that they were three deep and rested their weapons on special mounts cut into the meter tall plates of armor.

“I don’t like this,” Private Riku said, her normal nonchalance fading and being replaced with raw fear. Jack looked at her and nodded back at the Helions in the street.

“Keep your finger ready on the trigger,” he said, reassuringly.

There must have been hundreds of the Animosh, and the modest number of Helions on the barricades opened fire to little effect. Only the odd captured thermal rifle was able to smash the shields while the rest did little more than scratch the metalwork. It was then that Jack realized the only noise around him, apart from the odd round of gunfire, was the chattering and shouting of the Helion defenders. The Animosh were almost totally silent as they waited in their odd formation. Jack was reminded of some of the old films he’d watched depicting warriors in the nineteenth century on Earth. A time when large blocks of soldier would march into battle and line up to blast away with gunpowder weapons.

This is just wrong.

Then it came; a great flash of energy and then a volley of heat as a hundred weapons unleashed their firepower.

Jack almost missed the thermal blast as he dropped down to the ground. Chunks of the barricade tore off, and pieces of metal flew about like razor sharp pieces of glass. One thermal round struck a marine on the far right. It hit the man hard in the chest, burning a hole nearly a centimeter into the armor. Incredibly, he staggered, dropped to one knee, and then righted himself before moving back to cover. A loud sound, low in tone reverberated about the precinct, shortly followed by dozens of Helion rebels surging out of the precinct and to the barricades. Jack looked at them and recalled how similar they were to the T’Kari. They were generally slightly shorter than the average human, yet far slighter in build. They were quick, but that didn’t count for much in this kind of battle. Three were cut down in the gunfire before they could reach cover.

“Fire at will!” came the order.

Jack didn’t even bother checking who had said it. All he needed to know was that it was a flagged command order on his helmet overlay, and that they were under fire from the Helion paramilitaries on the street. He took aim at the center of the armored line and pulled the trigger. The L52 thumped into his shoulder as it accelerated the three magnetized slugs at the target. Wictred had already sent the silent command over the squad network to use the high-power setting. The rate of fire was heavily reduced, but the weapon did discharge its capacitor in one go, turning the carbine into something more like a railgun, but with the kinetic impact of light artillery. Three holes, each the size of his fist ripped through the shield, slightly to the left, and about the height of the Helion standing behind it.

Yeah,
he thought with grim satisfaction.

The Animosh warrior moved, and he could only assume it was a kill. Even so, the damaged shield remained, and another gun barrel appeared and took aim. The staccato sound of the Alliance marines firing was the exact opposite of the steady and controlled volley fire of the Animosh. A Helion to his right dropped his rifle and ran to return inside the safety of the tower, but he was hit in the back of the head. The impact sent a shower of blood and brain matter over the wall.

Idiot.

Jack returned his gaze to the line of Helions. Some were standing their ground, but few had the training, skill, equipment, or even the inclination to join them. The marines went to work as if they were in yet another training scenario. He flicked the firing mode to normal rapid fire and aimed at the same point as before.

Let’s try something different.

He held down the trigger and could easily make out the buzzing sound as he emptied the entire magazine in a short burst. Through the small magnification in the optical sight, he could see the pattern the magnetized rounds made as they moved from left to right, hitting six separate shields. While he fired two high-power shots from another, marines slammed into the shields, joining him to create a hole three-men deep in the line. Wictred must have spotted it because the gap was immediately flagged as a priority on the visor overlay.

“Jack, to the left!” Private Frewyn shouted.

He lifted the carbine and twisted thirty degrees. One of the mechanical combat machines was moving from cover and into the open ground between the buildings and the Animosh precinct. It was slightly smaller than Wictred, more like a large man and bipedal. Its armor was closefitting and smooth, and resting in its hands was a thermal weapon that looked like a support version of the weapons the Animosh used. It moved quickly and was halfway across the open ground before it was hit by fire from three marines. Dents appeared in its armor, yet it kept going before ducking down behind a burning Animosh troop carrier.

“Wictred, combat drone, Sector Four. It’s heading right for us!” Jack shouted on the communication channel. He tried his best, but there was a surprising note of panic to his voice at the size of the machine. Then he spotted the other two moving behind it and also taking cover. He opened his mouth to speak, but Wictred had beaten him to it.

“I have them, three combat drones, flagged for support fire. Bring them down!”

The icons for the support units lit up and surrounded the three shapes instantly. It was all part of the new firmware for the PDS, and Jack had to admit, it seemed to be working well. The only problem was that the support units were lightly spread out with just a single sharpshooter for each squad of twelve.

I need to help them.

He looked behind him and located the support Ram. It had dropped down to avoid being hit. With a simple request through the comms system, it activated and moved over to him while keeping as low as possible. It was alongside him in less than ten seconds. Jack clipped his L52 onto the special mount on the front of his armor across his chest and reached into one of the mesh cages on the side of the Ram. It detected his IFF signature and unlocked to give him access to the weapons cache inside.