Lieutenant Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 6) Page 16

  Ryck shook his head, passed “Coming up,” and climbed the stairs. A short flight led from the stairwell to the roof, where sunlight was streaming in. A wrecked doorjamb hung in tatters, but at least nothing else looked damaged. Ryck carefully edged through the opening, then joined Çağlar on the flat roof. A low, one-meter tall wall ran along the edge of the building. Ryck moved forward and looked out over the town. Visibility was not quite as good as he had hoped. The lower buildings below him cut off too many of the lines of sight. Directly in front of him, though, and about three blocks in front, a Davis rumbled in and out of view. The tank was followed by two Marines in PICS. A quick check, and Ryck knew they were from Golf’s Second Platoon.

  The battle had turned into a game of whack-a-mole. A weapon would appear and fire, drawing a fierce Marine reaction. At close ranges, the Sylvington energy weapons were more effective, taking less time to overwhelm a Marine. Ryck’s heart fell when two more Marines were killed. He wanted to react, but that was for the small unit level. He had to keep the entire battle area in his mind.

  Sometimes, though, the Marines reacted and attacked nothing. Images would suddenly show up on the Marines’ sensors, then disappear as the Sylvingtons continued in their spoofing efforts. Lieutenant Wormack was hard at work trying to get the Derne’s powerful decrypting AI’s to break through the real and the fake, but as soon as the AIs seemed to make progress, the Sylvingtons were switching up.

  Both Ryck and Çağlar were hit with a passing meson beam. His AI calculated the POO,[15] but before Ryck could pass it, someone fired off three grenades that either put the gun out of action or caused it to displace. Ryck tried to call up one of the hummingbirds to check out the merc gun position, but the little drones were either knocked out or blocked.

  Ryck couldn’t see as much as he hoped, and the fight was moving to the far side of the town. Golf on the right and Fox on the far side were getting close enough that friendly fire was a real possibility.

  “Fox, Golf, I want you to shift to confirmed targets. All AIs on Fire Control,” he passed to the two company commanders.

  Putting the AIs in each PICS as a governor for weapons engagement slightly slowed reaction time. In practice, it shouldn’t be enough to affect anything, but theoretically, it could make a difference in a firefight, and if a valid target was between two Marines, the AIs might not let either Marine engage it. But the risk of friendly fire was growing, and having the AIs kill any fire that had a friendly as a target made sense. The fight with the mercs seemed to be slowing, and Ryck was half-expecting a surrender at any time now.

  He checked Weapons Company and the H & S cats and dogs following in trace of the rest of the battalion. He and Proctor had discussed possibly bringing up the M54 field gun or the M61 crew-served plasma gun as both were direct fire weapons, but in the end, given the ROEs,[16] they had decided against it, knowing they could call the teams forward if the tactical situation warranted it.

  With the fight petering out, Ryck started to relax just a hair, which was always a mistake. A laser designator hit him, sending his alarm screaming.

  “Colonel!” Çağlar shouted, rushing to push Ryck out of the way.

  Ryck was already moving, though, juking to the side, then juking back to jump through the open hatch, all 900kgs of him slamming down on the landing below. A moment later, Çağlar landed beside him. The floor shook, but held.

  His heart racing, Ryck let out a laugh and said, “Well, that got the juices flowing.”

  His alarm cut off, thankfully. It was one of the most raucous noises a PICS could make, scientifically designed to elicit an almost instinctive reaction. And it had succeeded. Ryck had reacted without thinking, quickly enough so that whomever, or whatever AI had targeted him, had not gotten off a shot.

  “Won’t do us any good getting zeroed when they’re about ready to surrender, huh Hans?” he asked.

  “No, not much, sir,” his ever-present bodyguard said in a sour voice.

  Ryck didn’t know for just what weapons system the laser was targeting him, but lasers in that frequency tended to be for the more powerful weapons. Powerful enough to take out a Marine in a PICS? Ryck didn’t know, and he hadn’t wanted to stick around long enough to find out.

  “OK, I think we’ve had enough fun here. Let’s get down and move forward,” Ryck said.

  The two Marines made their way down the stairs and out of the front of the building. One of the Armadillos was stopped 30 meters in front of them, a Marine crouching over the chain gun on the top.

  “What’s your status, Dogpound 8?” Ryck asked, pulling up the number from his display.

  The Marine on top didn’t turn around, but the trac commander responded, “We took a hit from something. It screwed up the chain gun. Lance Corporal Hodges is trying to fix it.”

  “Are you going to be combat effective?” Ryck asked.

  “We’re trying, sir.”

  “If you have no weapon, I want you to pull back. You’re doing no good here,” Ryck said.

  He switched to the platoon commander. “I’ve got Dogpound 8 sitting here in front of me, just a big target. Their chain gun has been knocked out. Why is it still here?”

  “Uh, roger that, sir. Corporal Albert is assessing to see if they can get her back up,” Lieutenant Wells said. “And if not, she can still be used as a transport for extracting wounded, and it also spreads the focus on anyone targeting the tracs.”

  “Look, I want Dogpound 8 out here. It can’t fight, so there is no benefit to the risk. Your other tracs can be used to extract anyone.”

  “Roger that, sir. I’ll pass the word.”

  “Grubbing hell,” he said to Çağlar. “Who keeps a damaged trac in combat? That’s just asking for trouble. We don’t want another Cennet here.”

  Ryck took a quick glance at his display. Parts of Fox and linked up with parts of Golf, and they had shifted their advance to sweep up the rear of the town, heading for Echo’s sector. Even if the mercs in the town did not surrender, this would be over soon.

  “Proctor, I want the Alpha Command to displace to 1377. Start moving everyone there,” he passed on the P2P. “Keep good dispersion, though.”

  The Alpha Command didn’t have to be co-located to coordinate the fight. But Ryck wanted a face-to-face with the principles before the next phase of the battle, and the bank designated as 1377 would be centrally located once the three line companies had linked up. He could easily call in the commanders.

  “OK, Hans, let’s go,” he told Çağlar, turning himself around to step off in that direction.

  His vision was engulfed with a blinding white flash as his displays went crazy, mostly flashing red of systems being overwhelmed. His AI was knocked out as his shielding flickered a few times before giving up the ghost. Ryck slowly tipped over, seeming to take an eternity to fall to the ground.

  “Hans!” he shouted, waiting for a second shot.

  Even without his AI designating what had hit him, he knew it had to have been a meson cannon. And it had to be close in order to overwhelm his PICS that quickly. He was just lucky that his shields had held out long enough to keep him alive, but he was in deep shit. Another eight or maybe ten seconds at most, the merc cannon would have recharged, and Ryck couldn’t survive another shot.

  Ryck didn’t know if this was pure bad luck, or if the mercs had had a seeker team trying to take out the Marine leadership. Given the laser that had been on him, he suspected the latter.

  He had limited movement, very limited. Not enough to get up and out of the way. He tried to bring up his M77 to engage a target, but his arm was almost frozen. And then he saw, only 20 meters away, a squat, ugly looking cannon, poking out of the dirt. In back of the clear shield, a face stared down at the controls. A smiling face.

  The merc was either a solo seeker or part of a team, and he’d been hiding, underground, heavily shielded from surveillance, poised like a trap door spider waiting for its prey. And Ryck was that prey.

  His
comms were silent, knocked out. Sandy and Proctor would know something had happened, and they would react, but in another handful of seconds, it would be too late. With a huge wrench, Ryck willed his arm around, pointing his M77 at the seeker. His targeting was out, but at this range, he didn’t need it. He pulled the mechanical trigger, sending a stream of darts at the merc, who at least ducked as several darts hit the shield. Then the man smiled as he reached out to touch the shield that had blocked the darts. He gave Ryck a thumbs up, then reversed it to a thumbs down, his smile even bigger.

  Grubbing hell! Hannah! Ryck had time to think before a huge shape burst into his vision and crashed into the cannon.

  It took him half a second to realize what had happened. Dogpound 8, the Retribution, had driven itself right onto the cannon, crushing it. Her chain gun might have been out, but 32 tons of titanium alloys and durosteel were a weapon in themselves. Lance Corporal Hodges had driven the beast right on top of the cannon and was making zero degree turns on it, crushing it flat.

  Ryck almost cried out in relief. He’d been sure that his time had finally come and now, he gulped in the air, hyperventilating. His PICS was dead, but he was alive.

  I’m still here! he told Hannah.

  He tried to activate his combat molt, but his awkward position made it difficult. It took a few tries before the back of his PICS split open, and still another 45 seconds until he was able to squeeze out, a big cicada emerging from its chrysalis.

  “You OK, sir?” someone, probably Corporal Albert, grabbed him by the arm to help him stand.

  Ryck felt guilty that he didn’t recognize the Marine, one of the two who had just saved his life. He knew their names, had known their names, but he couldn’t put a face to those names. In their Ignomex suits, trackers and tankers didn’t wear name tags, and their small rank insignia were hard to see.

  “Yeah, I think I’m OK,” Ryck said, “But what about Sergeant Çağlar?”

  The other of the two Marines was bending over the prone, unmoving figure of the sergeant, trying to activate the external combat molt. Ryck’s heart fell, and he bolted forward. He’d hoped that the cannon had just targeted him, but they had evidently been so close that the seeker had been able to engage them when both of them were in the line of fire.

  “I can’t get the molt to work!” the Marine said when Ryck rushed up. Ryck looked into Çağlar’s helmet. A dazed, but alive sergeant stared back to him. He gave Ryck a weak grin, then faded into semiconsciousness. He was still breathing, though.

  “Colonel!” Hecs voice blared out over his externals as the sergeant major ran forward to join them. “You OK?”

  “Get Çağlar out!” Ryck ordered.

  Augmented by his PICS, the sergeant major wrenched the molt handle, and the PICS slowly started splitting. Ryck tried to will it to speed up.

  He finally spotted the small corporal’s chevrons on the Marine who’d been helping with Çağlar. “Corporal Albert, get back to your trac and get a corpsman up here. And the Alpha Command trac, too. Now!”

  As soon as they could, Ryck and Hodges pulled out the barely responsive sergeant from his dead PICS. He was breathing and feebly protesting their help, but it was pretty obvious that he had taken more damage than Ryck had.

  “Where’s that corpsman?” Ryck shouted out.

  “Colonel, brigade’s on the command net, asking for your status,” Hecs said over his externals.

  Shit! Do your grubbing job! he scolded himself.

  As much as he considered Çağlar almost as a son, it was not up to him to make sure the Marine was treated. He had a battalion in combat—that was his responsibility.

  “Tell the XO he’s got the battalion for the moment and not to let up. And let brigade know I’m OK and will connect as soon as I can,” he told the sergeant major “And where is the Alpha Command trac? It’s taking too long!”

  More Marines in PICS started arriving. They couldn’t do much to help Çağlar in their fighting suits, and they were making the area a prime target.

  “All of you, disperse. Get back to your mission,” Ryck called out. “Sergeant Major, you and Lance Corporal Luther stay here. Everyone else, leave!”

  Just then, the Alpha Command trac rumbled up. Ryck ran to it, shouting out for the back ramp to be lowered. Ryck rushed in as soon as he could, jumping up on the ramp while it was still lowering.

  “You OK, sir?” Manny Quezon asked as Ryck ran in.

  “I’m fine!” Ryck said as he pushed beyond the FSC to get to his console. Reaching underneath the shelf, he pulled out his assault pack. He didn’t bother with his bones, but put on his helmet, powering up his comms. It took an agonizingly long 45 or 50 seconds before he was booted and had established a connection.

  “Ryck, are you OK?” Bert’s voice immediately came over the P2P.

  Ryck knew the brigade would have been watching, and as soon as Ryck booted, he would have appeared on everyone else’s displays. As the brigade commander, Bert could override the many other calls that were flashing on Ryck’s face shield.

  “I’m fine. A little woozy, a little sore, but fine,” Ryck responded.

  “Can you still command?” Bert asked.

  Ryck didn’t even blink that Bert’s questions had less to do with him as a friend but rather with fighting the battalion. He understood that was a commander’s duty, not worrying about an individual, friend or not.

  “I’ve given command to Sandy for the moment, but I am fit to resume command. I’m fine.”

  There was a momentary pause. Ryck could imagine Bert studying the bioreadouts that would be uploading onto the brigade net. Ryck hadn’t taken a look at them himself yet, but he felt OK.

  “Roger that. Re-establish command, and let’s get this wrapped up. We cannot proceed with Phase Two until Hester is secured. Six out,” Bert passed.

  With the brigade commander satisfied, Ryck immediately pulled up Sandy. He noted he’d given up command to his XO only six minutes to go. Six minutes might not seem like a long time, but a lot could happen even such a short period of combat.

  “Sandy, I’m back. I am reassuming command. What’s happened?”

  “Roger that, sir,” Sandy responded, not bother wasting time asking as to Ryck’s condition.

  If Ryck were reassuming command, that would be enough for the XO, he knew. There would be time enough for questions later.

  “Two more positions have been neutralized. We are taking no more fire. Fox and Gold have linked up, and the two will link up with Echo within two or three minutes. I’ve requested that 2/4 move forward to dig out any more seeker teams and start their BDA.[17] ”

  A Marine in a PICS was a formidable fighting machine, but the suits their limitations. For many things, to include a thorough search of the battle area, Marines in their skins and bones were much more capable.

  Marines in skins and bone. Like Ryck (except he hadn’t inserted his bones yet).

  He pulled his bones out of his assault pack while he passed to the XO, “OK, good job. I want you keep in contact with 2/4. Honcho the effort. This is still our battle area.”

  The XO had no real influence over 2/4, but this was still 2/3’s area of responsibility, so Ryck wanted someone from the battalion to ensure a smooth transition from one battalion to the other.

  Ryck was inserting his bones into his skins while monitoring the fight when the long-awaited surrender was received.

  The Battle of Hester was over.

  Chapter 27

  “Ryck, I think you need to get over here,” Lieutenant Colonel Kent Allamien, the 2/4 battalion commander passed to Ryck on the P2P.

  Ryck was with Proctor, Sandy, and Hecs, going over the preparations for Phase 2, the assault on the fort itself. Most of the battalion had already gotten out of their PICS and were prepping for their mission.

  “What’s up, Kent?” Ryck asked. “I’m kind of busy here now.”

  Ryck toggled his fellow battalion commander’s position. Kent was at the previously unide
ntified building where Ryck had intervened and authorized the tank fire mission.

  “I don’t want to pass it over the net just yet, and I think you need to see this, first,” Kent told him.

  “OK, give me ten. I’ll be right over.”

  What the hell does he want? Ryck wondered. It was a righteous mission. Is there something unique about the plasma gun?

  Kent’s battalion had been searching the battle area, collecting up the odd merc or two and doing the BDAs. Ryck wasn’t sure why he needed to go see something at that building. There was a lot to do before the next phase of the overall fight and not that much time to do it.

  The other three Marines were watching Ryck, waiting to see why he’d interrupted Proctor Christophe as the Three went over the timeline.

  “Sorry about that, Proctor. I’ve got a call in from Lieutenant Colonel Allamien, and I need to go see something. Let’s go with your timeline. XO, honcho this for now while the sergeant major and I go see to whatever it is that we have to see. We’ve got over three hours, so we should have time to get ready, but not enough to waste.”

  Ryck and Hecs, followed by Lance Corporal Luther, who with Çağlar medivaced had taken over the unofficial security duties, stepped off to make their way to the building, some 400 meters away.

  “Sams, come with us,” Ryck told the master guns as they passed him.

  Ryck didn’t need Sams, but he hadn’t interacted with his old friend much, and as sort of a glorified company gunny, just at the battalion level, if whatever Kent needed them for was related to the merc weapons system, as he suspected, then Sams would be well suited to do whatever had to be done.

  At about 100 meters out, one of Kent’s captains met the four Marines and escorted them into the building. At least ten Marines were standing guard outside the two-story building, which seemed overkill. Whatever 2/4 had discovered in the building was drawing some serious attention. Still at a loss as to what that could be, Ryck entered through the front door, which was intact despite a good portion of the front wall simply being gone.

  “Ryck, come upstairs. The back stairs are mostly passable,” Kent said.