Resolute Alliance (The War for Terra Book 6) Page 21

  According to the Vadne commander, the station was occupied by military troops only on one side. The other was still in control of the civilian researchers. In between the two was an artificial forest being grown to replace those lost on Earth. If they could begin their assault from the civilian side, they could sweep the facility and secure the prisoner with minimum damage to Alliance troops. When Gregor had asked the captain whether they could use live rounds, he could see the man struggling. In the end, it was the former soldier, Moore, who’d convinced him to say yes. They were to avoid death if possible, but if it was unavoidable, fire to protect and disable. It suited Gregor fine. His team had been on training exercises for too long anyway.

  He felt the ship slam into the ice, bounce up and land again, sliding to one side on the cracked surface of the big moon. Uneven expansion caused thick patterns of fractures along the ice shelf. To Gregor, it felt as if the shuttle hit each one and broke through. Inertia carried them far until the ship finally stopped bucking and they lay still and silent. Gregor tapped the partition between the pilot and passengers, erected at the last minute when they realized what the mission would need. A small panel slid aside, revealing a smoky cockpit and the sweat-stained eyes of Baron. He nodded to Gregor, indicating they had arrived. Gregor nodded back and tapped the wall. The panel slid closed as Gregor turned back to his troops.

  “Get off your asses, soldiers,” the big man said, waving an arm above his head. “There’s a war going on. Pop that door and let’s go visit the Alliance.”

  The pressure door was activated and swiveled off the hull. In pairs, the squad exited, each covering the other as they hopped to the icy surface. Gravity was negligible on the moon, but the suits were equipped with suppressors. Gregor hopped to the ground and looked around, trying to get his bearings. The bright colors of Jupiter overhead cast strange shadows over the eerie landscape as he surveyed their location. True to his word, Baron had set them down within throwing distance of the station. He gathered his men and stepped away from the shuttle. As he looked back, he saw the pilot wave his stump in their direction. The man’s injuries were still too fresh to enable prosthetics but he was still a good pilot. Gregor waved his pistol back and turned to the station. Baron would be recovered by Resolute if all went well. If not, he would likely freeze to death as the power waned on the damaged ship.

  The sprint to the station only took a few minutes. By the time Gregor had reached the exterior hatch, he knew he was covered in sweat from the exertion. Although equipped with servos to help with movement, the suits still took a lot of internal strength to move. One of the techs came over and placed a small box over the operational panel. The lights blinked for a short time as the panel decoded it. The lights switched to a friendly green and the airlock door began to cycle. As it opened, the troops scrambled to push themselves in together. It was a bottleneck moment which threatened to panic Gregor, but he knew they could handle it. Another few minutes and the inner door cycled open, admitting the soldiers.

  Again the team split up, pairs searching either side of the corridor for approaching enemies. Gregor checked his heads-up, looking for the quickest way to the forest preserve. He waved the soldiers left and waited as they cleared the way. There was a door about twenty meters in, locked from the inside. Gregor approached, confident his men had cleared the way of traps, and looked in through the window of the door. Beyond the barrier was a wide room with tables and chairs. A low rail along the far wall with a small window told him all he needed to know. The door would lead them to the galley and further in to the station control room. There was a cup on one of the tables with steam rising. He guessed whoever had locked the door had only just left. He turned back to the men and pointed an extended finger at the lock.

  A sizzle of thermite and the lock, a simple key and tumbler device used only on civilian stations, melted through and lay on the floor in a puddle. Gregor waited and then pulled the door open, stepping out of the line of fire behind the door. Two of his men held the opening with two more beyond. There would be no surprises on this mission if he could help it. A wave of a gun barrel and the first two entered the room, pivoting back and forth while scanning the room for threats. Two more entered, and then two more. Gregor entered last, wary of whoever had left the cup. His thermal sensors registered the cup as still being hot. A scan of the area revealed the origin and make-up of the liquid as coffee from a nearby coffee pot. Analysis showed him the coffee was real. At that moment, he would have sacrificed his own life and the life of two of his men to open his helmet and take a good long sniff of real coffee. Instead, he motioned for his men to find the nearest exit. Thermal scans showed a recent exit from the door to the right.

  “Support team…” Gregor said, pointing to the door. “Secure that point. Fire team, prepare for entry.”

  The team moved again, this time as a single unit towards the door. Two men stayed back, covering the door while two more positioned themselves to either side. The old-fashioned door opened into the room, so a single man approached, weapon ready, with his hand out. Deep scans showed no activity on the other side of the thin door, but they were cautious. With the quickest of movements, the man pulled the handle and opened the door. The fire team behind bristled behind their weapons, laser sights peering into the darkened room beyond. Gregor moved beside the soldier by the open door. The man stepped quickly, moving in unison with his partner around the open door and into the room. Both men swept the room with flashlights blazing.

  “Next man, right,” Gregor ordered.

  A second team approached the door. The first moved in swiftly and immediately to the right, allowing his partner to enter and move to the left. The squad repeated the procedure with Gregor entering last to cover the far wall. A switch was thrown and the room was bathed in light. It was a prep room for the galley. Raw vegetables and fruit were scattered around the room. Kitchen implements lay among the produce as if left there in a hurry. Gregor took a moment to examine a stalk of celery lying half in a sink. Again, the freshness of the vegetables was enticing, but not part of his mission.

  “Let’s go,” he ordered the squad. “I want to get the package and be out in less than ten.”

  The team moved swiftly from the prep kitchen into a short corridor. Doors lined each side, presumably quarters for the research team. Thermal imaging did not detect any targets inside, so they moved on. According to the heads-up, the control room was around the nearest intersection and past a common room area. As Gregor’s team moved into the common area, a sudden flash of light made their helmet visors darken.

  “Secure the room,” Gregor called, hugging a wall for cover. “Get dark!”

  A burst of static met his comm as the squad already in the room engaged the threat. Through his helmet pick-up, Gregor heard a soft scream and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Two more crackles and the engagement was over.

  As he entered the room, Gregor saw three bodies lying against the far wall. His squad had already fastened the hands of the aggressors behind their backs with snap manacles and was checking the room thoroughly for any more surprises. Gregor checked the bodies for weapons and found none. The attackers were wearing bright green jumpsuits and had safety goggles and thin masks over their faces.

  “Civvies,” Gregor called. “Good work. Any more?”

  “Negative,” replied one of the squad. “Room is secure.”

  “We’re not there yet. Move out.”

  The team reformed and checked the far door. Instead of being a standard civilian door, this one had an electronic lock and was plated with thick metal. The tech checked the lock and nodded. It would take longer than the outside door, but still posed no real problem. A few moments and the lights turned green and the door was unlocked. The tech stepped back and let the nearest soldier tap the panel. As the door to the control room slid open, a bust of gunfire echoed in the small common room.

  “Immediately, the team moved for cover. Gregor knelt near the unconscious researche
rs, trying to ensure their safety. Henegar and Pine, his point men, stood to either side of the door with weapons at the ready. Two more bursts and the door slid shut automatically. Gregor let his team do their job. Two of the men lay just out of direct sight of the door, holding their weapons ready. Henegar slapped the panel again and stepped back. As the gunfire erupted again, the prone soldiers fired two bolts into the control center. The gunfire stopped immediately as a woman, apparently middle-aged and overweight, fell forward into the doorframe.

  “Go, go, go!” Gregor ordered.

  Henegar and Pine moved first, each taking a different direction as they entered. Lightning bolts flew quickly as targets were discovered. The thud of bodies hitting decking made Gregor smile. Each one was the sound of a civilian they had not killed, and that would make the captain happy. As the squad made their way into the secured control center, Gregor surveyed the damage.

  One smoking console and seven bodies meant the base had been taken with minimal damage or casualties. He moved to the console with the most buttons and started tapping orders. One by one, the display on the panel showed power being cut to various parts of the facility. The Alliance had routed power away from the control center to keep any of the civilians from attempting to find out what they were doing, but Gregor was still able to shut down the life support blowers and controls to the door panels. It might not stop the Alliance, but it would slow them down.

  “Parr,” Gregor ordered one of the men. “This is your new home. Watch our backs. The rest of you, let’s go. Hard target search. We’re not dealing with farmers anymore. Switch to live rounds and aim for the legs.”

  The click of weapons being changed from non-lethal to live rounds produced a strange glee in the man. It had been a long time indeed. He checked the video displays and chose the quickest route to the forest. It was a short distance down a different corridor and through a wide bay door. Gregor opened the door from his panel and stepped behind the squad as they repeated the clearing maneuver for the corridor outside. The journey to the forest door was quiet. It gave Gregor time to scan ahead. The forest was cooler than the station’s air and was playing havoc with his thermals. He switched to passive scans and waited for the squad to enter.

  Tall conifers swayed in a faint breeze as Gregor and his team entered the forest. It reminded him of the forests back home in southern Russia, only stranger. The trees were neatly arranged in rows as far as he could see. The station was not that big, but cleverly designed so the forest appeared to grow out beyond line of sight. As they moved deeper, the trees changed to redwoods and other North-American varieties. They weren’t a third of the way across the copse when the first bolts of plasma burst across their path and set a tree ablaze.

  Gregor rolled hard to a hail of flaming debris. His team spread wide, trying to identify the shooter. The armored suits provided a minimal amount of protection against the blazing hot bolts, so the preference was to avoid the blasts altogether. He used the built-in servos to throw himself away from the tree. A second and third shot swept past, slicing more trees in half, the plasma burning through. He could hear the trees cracking and falling in the ordered forest. Flaming trees were now falling all around him, cutting off his escape.

  An alarm began to wail above the noise of burning trees and plasma fire. Rain, at first gentle, and then a steady deluge, began to pour down from the artificial sky. Gregor realized the station must have scanned the fire and activated the rain as a fire extinguisher. Either that or his man back in the control center was truly watching out for them.

  He found a spot that looked promising and began to run. The fire was dying, but the burning logs were still hot and very wide. He vaulted upwards, using the full power of the servos, and landed just beyond the fire line. Rolling into a crouch, he brought up his weapon and swept the area. He heard shots in the distance from his own team, as well as return fire from the Alliance, but they were distant. Bringing up the display, he realized he had landed on the opposite side of where the fighting was. The rain was heavy now and obscured his vision, so he switched back to heat sensors. The flame was a dancing white snake in his peripheral vision as he made his way towards the fight.

  “Sir,” came the voice of Pine. “We’re not makin’ much headway here. Permission to engage on full.”

  It was the order he had been told not to give if possible. Going hot meant they would truly be committing a crime against the Alliance. Live fire was one thing if you were trying to immobilize the enemy. You could shoot through legs or arms and take a man out of a fight. Full engagement would let his men do what they did best. Highly specialized skill sets were to be brought to bear in this engagement if he said yes. These men were killers and wouldn’t stop until the enemy was dead or worse. Gregor scanned the area, looking for a nearby door or some cover that wouldn’t ignite. He took a deep breath and opened his comm.

  “Engage,” Gregor said. “Take ’em out.”

  The sound of the guns fell silent as the team changed tactics. Gregor moved as fast as the suit allowed him around the smoldering tree. A flurry of sound caught his attention and brought him to the realization that his team was now on the offensive. Plasma fired lanced out to the trees again and then to the ceiling. The waterworks sending out rain burst as the plasma turned metal into liquid and the liquid into flash steam. A flood of water now fell upon the forest, washing away trees and nearly bowling Gregor over. As the water fell, Gregor heard the familiar popping sound of his sniper. Somewhere in the forest, Alliance soldiers were dying suddenly with no time to consider their own deaths.

  Bringing the display back up, Gregor located the exit leading to where the admiral was likely being held. He plotted the quickest route and changed course. If his men were occupied, he would have to proceed with the mission himself. Fearful of the noise he was making as the suit sloshed through the flood, Gregor snapped the heavy exoskeleton away from his body. Wearing only the pressure suit and helmet with boots allowed him to move much faster through the uneven terrain and water.

  As he moved further away from the fight, the rain let up, allowing him to scan the area in more detail. There were four soldiers guarding the door, but he knew they could not see him. The men were wearing light body armor over standard duty uniforms, no helmets. He had the advantage and decided to press it. Lying face down in the soggy mud, Gregor raised his weapon, bracing it on the ground to steady his aim. He knew he couldn’t kill them all with the first shot; he just needed to predict where each would move when the first one went down. He chose his target and pulled the trigger.

  The guard to the left of the door fell, a neat hole in his head. The guard immediately to his right looked at the falling body in confusion while the one to his left reacted. He moved away from the door, bringing up the plasma rifle on his shoulder, trying to find the shooter. Gregor chose his next target and fired. The soldier farthest to the left went down without ever realizing what had happened. The startled guard knelt to check his partner while the other began to fire. Gregor rolled out and drew his legs up. Digging his boots into the moist soil, Gregor pushed himself up, raising his weapon to target the man on his knees.

  A bullet shot past Gregor’s shoulder, stirring the air and causing him to glance back. Henegar was standing just behind him with his pistol raised.

  “Cover the door, I’m going in,” Gregor said as he moved across the open field to the door. “Anything moves that ain’t us, kill it.”

  The door was locked. Since he had dropped the exoskeleton, Gregor no longer had the scanner which could open the door. Instead, he moved to the first dead guard and checked his belt. A keycard inserted through a belt-hook showed the identity of the soldier. He swiped the card and the panel changed to green. Gregor rolled to the side, expecting a bloom of plasma fire from the other side. Gregor slid the card into his belt and withdrew a small, thin object from a pocket. He extended the slender pole and a mirror unfolded from the shaft. He held it up to see around the corner. When no enemy appeared
, he tapped the shaft again and placed the mirror back into his pocket. Gregor held up his weapon one more time and pivoted back into the door.

  There were no soldiers inside, only a dark corridor. He hoped it meant the bulk of the Alliance men were in the forest, but knew it was a dream. The good news was the corridor. He could see down the length for a dozen meters or so, and saw doors on either side. He would be able to see if any of the doors opened from a distance and take out the enemy before they could spot him. He advanced slowly, using door frames for minimal cover as he moved from one side of the hall to the other. The door behind him slid closed and he was alone. It felt unnatural not to have one of his men with him, but the mission was more important. Carefully, he moved further down to a cross corridor. The lighting was off here and he needed to switch the light on the weapon. When he shone it down the hall, a single crack of gunfire echoed from the opposite hall.

  Checking the display, he realized the source of the fire must be coming from where they were keeping the admiral. He used the small mirror again and was rewarded with a flash of light. There were two soldiers with standard weapons ready for him and nervous enough to fire at motions.

  Gregor pulled a small button from his pocket. The device had a thumb key and he pressed it hard. A red light blinked once, twice and then he tossed it over his shoulder down the hall. There was a blast of gunfire as the motion caught the attention of the guards and then there was silence. He could just make out the sound of the button rolling along the corridor before a boom of noise obliterated the guards and blinded Gregor with light and fire. He waited a long minute for any sound from the hall, but heard none. Another check with the mirror showed him the bodies of the men and a smoldering wreck of a hallway.