Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) (27 page)

“What gives, sir?” asked Lee.

“There’s a Kurgan gunship trailing us. Depending how badly the Kurgs want all of the prisoners alive will drive whether or not it attacks us. Either way, I’m going to warn the others to take cover behind whatever they can find.”

“Right, sir,”
 

Sheridan moved back through the engine compartment, stopping for a few seconds to check that they were still being followed. When he saw that there were now two gunships flying near the train, his gut told him to be wary. He opened the door to the first carriage and had just stepped inside when things turned hot.
 

The two helicopters rose up in the air, locked their autocannons on the engine, and opened fire. Forty-millimeter shells tore through the metal walls of the compartment like a hot knife through butter. The sound of metal being torn asunder was deafening.
 

Sheridan watched as the engine was ripped apart. Sparks flew like fireflies into the night as the rounds chewed through everything that they hit. Sheridan cursed the enemy pilots. He knew that there was no way that Sergeant Lee could have survived the deadly barrage. Within seconds, the train began to slow. Outside, Sheridan could see flames engulfing the engine compartment. He turned and saw the gunships break off their attack. He had expected them to rake the train carriages. Instead, they rose up into the star-filled sky and banked over. A split second later he was surprised to see both craft explode in a pair bright fireballs that lit up the sky. He hurried to open the door and stuck his head outside. Sheridan had to know what had brought down their attackers.
 

With a loud roar, two Terran fighter-bombers flew over the train and quickly disappeared over the horizon. He waved up into the night sky thanking their saviors before closing the door.

“Everyone, on your feet!” yelled Sheridan at the people on the floor of the car. “When this train stops, I want everyone to get off on the right side of the train and wait for me there.” He took off on the double to pass the word. When the train came to a sliding halt, he opened the nearest door, jumped down, and looked about. Silhouetted against the sky was a rocky hill less than two hundred meters from the track. He turned about and helped an injured woman down onto the ground.
 

He spotted Tarina’s friend, Crewman Jones, and reached out to grab his arm. He pulled him close and said, “Lead everyone up onto the top of that hill. I’ll bring up the rear of the column. I know you’re not a combat soldier but try and find a spot with plenty of cover.”

“Aye, sir, you can count on me.”

“Get a move on. The Kurgs will be here soon enough.”
 

Jones brought his fingers to his mouth and let out a loud whistle. “Follow me. We’re going to the top of that hill,” he said pointing at the darkened shape.
 

Sheridan watched as the former prisoners fell into line behind Jones and began to walk away from the train. They were slowed up by the people requiring help to walk. The only thing going in their favor was that the Kurgans had not arrived—at least not yet.

“Michael,” called out Tarina as she walked toward him.

He turned and slung his rifle over his back. “Are you the last one off the train?”

“Yes. I checked it myself. Aside from the dead, everyone is now off.”

He didn’t like the idea of leaving their dead behind, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter. “We’ll get their remains when this is all over.”

Tarina nodded. “Shall we?” she said, looking up at the hill.

“Why not.”

Together they walked in silence. It took longer than Sheridan had hoped for them to reach the top of the steep, rocky hill. He was pleased to see that Jones had selected a large depression in the ground from which to fight from. It was more than large enough for all of the survivors to take cover in.
 

Sheridan sat down on a rock and looked back at the way they had come.
 

Tarina joined him. “Now what do we do?”

“First we get organized, and then we wait to see who gets here first.”

“Michael, I counted, we only have fifteen automatic weapons and a handful of Kurgan swords to defend ourselves with.”

“I know. That’s why we need to get ready to defend this position. Come on, let’s see who is capable of fighting and who is not.”
 

Sheridan stood up. His muscles and joints ached with every step he took. When he was in the middle of the group he said, “Okay, everyone, listen up. We have to face the facts. The Kurgs won’t give up that easily. They want you for their ritual and like all good fanatics they’re not going to give in until you, or they, are all dead.”

“What about the fleet?” asked a man with a bandaged arm. “Those fighters that took out the Kurgan gunships. They’ll be coming back for us, right?”

“Yes. Eventually. Right now they’re probably fighting the Kurgs to free your fellow prisoners. Once they’ve got them loaded up on the transports, then and only then, will they come looking for us. People, we’re not the task force’s main effort.”

“So what do you want us to do, sir?” asked a familiar voice.

Sheridan couldn’t believe his ears. “Sergeant Lee, is that you?”

Lee stepped from the crowd. “In the flesh, sir.” He had wrapped a piece of his shirt around his head to staunch the bleeding from yet another injury.

“My God. I thought you were dead.”

“I jumped from the train just before the gunships opened up on us. Not sure what happened to the engineer, nor do I really care.”

Sheridan smiled. “Well, I for one am more than relieved that you are here. We need to redistribute the weapons to people who are good shots. From here on out it’s one shot—one kill. No one is to use automatic fire. We have to conserve what ammo we have left.”

“Leave it to me, sir,” said Lee. “I’ll get this sorry bunch sorted out in no time.”

“Thanks,” replied Sheridan. Lee was a good NCO, but he missed his friend. For the first time in a while, he wondered how Cole was doing.

Chapter 37

The dull crump of grenades going off mixed with the sound of automatic gunfire to create a cacophony of noise told Cole that the fight on the level above them was a desperate struggle to the death. After disabling the elevators, Cole had linked back up with Wendy and Angela at the far end of the tunnel that led up to the next floor. He saw that the ground sloped up and turned at a bend before disappearing from sight. Cole was frustrated that he had been unable to find any working machinery that he could have used to block the passageway. The couple of excavators that he encountered had seen better days and sat in the dark covered in dust, slowly rusting away.

“I’m open to suggestions,” said Cole. “If either of you two ladies has an idea how to barricade the tunnel entrance, I’d love to hear about it.”

Wendy looked over at Angela, who shook her head. “Sorry, the only working machines I’ve ever seen are near the bottom of the mine. It would take you nearly an hour to get down there and drive it back up here.”

“I guess the only thing we’ve got going for us is that for now the Kurgs seem intent on fighting and dying on the level above us.”

Wendy nodded.

Cole scrunched up his face and peered into the nearest cave filled with prisoners. A second later, he smiled and snapped his fingers. “The bunks! We can drag them out and create a makeshift barricade. It won’t hold them out forever, but it might slow them down long enough for the Marines to get to us.”

“Something is better than nothing,” said Wendy.

Cole strode into the cavern and ignored the confused looks on the faces of the people cowering inside. He grabbed hold of the first bunk bed that stood at least five meters tall and pulled it with all his might. It stood motionless as if rooted to the ground. Wendy and Angela hurried over to help him topple the bunk bed. It ever so slowly began to move and then fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Cole looked around at the prisoners and yelled out, “If you value your lives, you’ll give us a hand to block the corridor. My name is Master Sergeant Cole, the sound that you hear is coming from small arms fired by Marines who have come to save you. Remember who you once were and step forward to help us.”

At first, no one moved. Then a slender, frail-looking woman hobbled over to the bunk bed, grabbed hold, and pulled. Cole smiled and joined with her as did Wendy and Angela. More people, shaken out of their fear, placed their hands on the bunk and helped to drag it out of the cave and into the tunnel.

“We’re gonna need every last one of them,” announced Cole, looking at the heap of wood lying on the ground.

“Come on, let’s grab the next one,” said Wendy as she rushed back into the cavern.
 

They had all just moved into the cell block when a thunderous explosion shook the ground. Cole struggled to remain standing. For a brief moment, the lights in the cavern went off. In the dark, a woman screamed. Charges strategically positioned throughout the mine had been detonated by the Kurgans in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the Marines from taking it intact. What they did not realize was that the people were more important to the assault force than the perlinium in the depths of the pit. In the blink of an eye, tons of rocks collapsed down blocking the way in and out of each level. The lights returned just as a blinding wall of dust raced through the tunnel making it impossible for anyone to see more than an arm’s length away.

“Wendy, Angela, are you all right?” Cole called out, unable to see either woman.

“I’m okay,” replied Wendy, coughing and hacking dirt out of her lungs. “Although, my head feels like it was just kicked by one really pissed off mule.”

“I’m okay as well,” said Angela, placing a hand on Cole. He took her by the hand and moved through the swirling dust to where he had heard Wendy’s voice. His hand touched someone. “Wendy?”

“You’ve found me. What happened?”

“I think the Kurgs realized that they weren’t going to win and decided to seal off the mine so our forces couldn’t get our hands on the perlinium.”

Angela asked, “What are we going to do? There has to be tons of rock between us and your Marines.”

“I know. When the dust settles, we’ll have to get everyone we can into the tunnel. We’re going to have to start moving the rocks by hand.”

Colonel White brought up a hand to wipe the dust off his combat glasses. The blast had thrown him off his feet. He sat up and tried looking around the room he had been in when the charges had gone off. Dust wafted as far as the eye could see. Pieces of paper floated down to the floor like oversized dirty snowflakes.

“Is everyone okay?” he asked his team.

Everyone called out to let him know that they were all still with him. White stood and walked to the front door of the room. He couldn’t see too far into the corridor, but he could hear people coughing. He shook his head when he heard someone moaning in pain.

“Corpsman . . . I need a corpsman up here,” called out White.

“Coming,” responded a woman still hidden from view in the cloud of dirt and dust.

White saw the medic coming toward him. He reached out and grabbed the woman by the arm and pointed down the corridor. “I think someone is badly hurt up there.”

She nodded and carried on.

“Sir, Viper Six is calling for you,” said Sergeant Bowen, the colonel’s radio operator.
 

White took the handset and listened. “Sir, we’re still sorting through the mess down here. Looks like the Kurgs set off some charges to block our way to the next level. I’ve sent a couple of Marines to the surface to find something that can help us move these rocks out of the way.”

“What are your Casualties?”

“Three dead, sixteen wounded so far. Thankfully none of my people were near the blast when it went off, or it would have been a lot worse.”

“What about Kurgs?”

“They’re all dead. Not a single one surrendered. Even the Chosen warriors committed suicide rather than be taken alive.”

“Okay, I’ll pass this on to Trident Six and let him know that it’s going to take us a while to get down to the next level.” White knew that Admiral Sheridan would not be pleased to hear that they had still not secured the prisoners. With a potential enemy fleet on its way to the planet, he knew that every second counted.

 
White paused for a second. “Sergeant Bowen, digging our way down to the next level is going to take too long. Get a hold of my XO at headquarters and find me some combat engineers. I want to blast those damned rocks out of my way.”

Cole stood speechless staring at the wall of rocks blocking the way out of the tunnel. It seemed an impossible task, yet he knew that they had to try. He bent down, picked up a jagged boulder and tossed it behind him. He was about to reach for another rock when Wendy tapped him on the shoulder.

“Master Sergeant, Angela has a way to get some of these people up to the surface.”

“Say again,” said Cole, not sure that he had heard her correctly.

“It’s a bit of a long story, but Angela discovered a hidden tunnel that leads to the top of the mine. It’s narrow and can only be reached by climbing, but she feels that she can help lead some of the more mobile prisoners out of here.”