Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels (47 page)

            "Good, good," Trevor mumbled to his officers.

The man at his side, Captain Pickering, said, "They’re taking the bait."

            Trevor counted more than one hundred enemy fighters and a dozen War Skiffs through his spyglass.

            "Too bad for them."

---

            A War Skiff rolled past a collapsed building on the northern side of town. Its big, thick wooden wheels clunked and scraped as they rumbled through the debris of the destroyed house. Duass infantry fanned out to its flanks in preparation for a counter-assault.

            "Rocket teams! Forward!" Nina Forest ordered.

            Two teams of two men hustled to the front of the woods with bazooka-like launchers.

            Plasma spat from the gun on the War Skiff's deck. The stream of energy hit the tree tops above the attacking humans. Several big limbs fell and crushed two soldiers.

Cries of "help" and "medic’ were drown out by swooshing rockets as the anti-armor projectiles raced toward the target. The missiles hit, but at maximum range. They scratched, even splintered, the outer hull but it remained in action.

            Major Forest commanded, "Damn it! Fire! Open Fire!"

            Three more War Skiffs appeared from the city. Those wheeled vehicles joined the first and served as shields for three dozen enemy infantry creeping toward the human lines. At the same time, Nina saw more Duass soldiers attempting to flank her position.

---

            Trevor’s force faced a handful of infantry on the east side and one War Skiff blocking the primary entrance, but the perimeter wall was low enough to jump easily.

            He purposely held his short-ranged artillery in check to conceal the strength of his assault. Instead, his troops moved forward with four attack buggies leading the way followed by two transports with one squad each and the rest following on foot.

            The War Skiff saw them coming over the ridge. It fired and blasted the buggy next to Stone’s. It flipped and rolled knocking two of the three men onboard out of the fight.

            Anti-armor rockets from the other buggies drew a bead on the Skiff and launched. Several missiles missed and slammed into the small, house-like buildings on the east side. One scored a significant hit on the Skiff’s front wheels, blasting out a chunk and changing its shape from a circle to a crescent.

            Duass small arms fire joined the Skiff as well as ping-pong ball-like grenades, disabling one of the troop transports and forcing its passengers to disembark early onto the open killing ground between them and the town.

            "The plan’s falling apart, sir!" Pickering, driving Trevor’s assault buggy, panicked.

            "No plan survives contact with the enemy, soldier," Trevor shared a military truth. "Keep moving forward! And for God’s sake keep firing that machine gun!"

            The trooper in the back of Trevor’s buggy heard the command and fired full throttle. The bullets struck a number of defenders as the vehicle moved close enough to see the dull glint in the Duass’ eyes.

            A line of Duass soldiers ran out from behind the War Skiff and raised their rifles.

            "Faster! Faster!" Trevor shouted. "Mow the bastards down!"

            A heavy bolt of plasma flew over the buggy. The energy from the ordnance crackled as it missed their heads by two feet. Trevor and Pickering felt the heat as it passed.

            "OHHH SHIITTTTT!"

            The buggy hit the line of wobbling infantry knocking some skyward, others to the side, and a few underneath. That, in turn, destabilized the car sending its two right wheels airborne which hit the side of the War Skiff.

The assault buggy teetered at a ninety-degree angle on two wheels with the engine roaring amidst enemy bodies flying all around. The soldier in the rear fell out; Trevor felt the g-force strain his safety harness.

After skirting the Skiff, the buggy came to rest against a one-story structure thirty yards behind enemy lines, its right wheels stuck up and Trevor hanging from his safety belt.

            A shield of dust kicked up by the impact blocked his vision but he heard the fire of Duass energy weapons peppering his vehicle as well as the wall it rested against. Then he heard a roar; a
human
battle cry. The Duass energy bolts stopped firing in his direction.

            "Sir! You okay?"

            Pickering stood by the buggy with a bloody gash across his forehead and the way he favored one shoulder suggested dislocation. Yet he worried first about his leader.

Stone felt his safety harness unlatch, then gravity pulled him down but Pickering's uninjured arm steadied him. Once free of the wreck, Pickering directed him to cover.

            Trevor’s senses slowly rebooted. Pickering had moved him next to the crashed buggy. They were behind the War Skiff and the other Duass defenders. To their west was a passage between a line of buildings—an alley—leading to the villa's center.

            "Why am I not dead?" He thought aloud.

            Pickering answered by tapping his shoulder and pointing toward human infantry engaging the Duass defenders in close-quarters combat. Yes, several of his men lay dead in and around the main entrance, but the defending line had broke.

Trevor staggered to his feet and shouted, "Rally the squads and push forward!"

---

            Nina fired her two pistols, killing a pair of enemy soldiers at the forest rim, ending yet another half-hearted attempt to flank her force.

            At the center of the battle, three Duass War Skiffs held sway over the open ground between the forest and the town. The splintered and burning remains of a fourth sent a plume of black smoke into the air and covered the battlefield in an oily odor.

            "What are they waiting for?" She said but no one could hear because the constant racket of small arms fire, Skiff plasma bursts, and outgoing rockets filled the woods.

            She had expected to make a hasty retreat, but the Duass appeared content to trade shots. Nonetheless, she had drawn the enemy to the northern perimeter, exactly as instructed.

---

            General Gronard’s voice transmitted over Trevor's radio, "Major Forest has their full attention. She’s got about sixty fighters and three Skiffs taking pot shots at her. They don’t look like they are going any where any time soon."

            Trevor glanced around at his re-constituted attack force.

            "Good. We’ll be at the citadel in a few minutes."

---

            Gun fire, plasma rounds, and anti-personnel grenades shot back and forth between the human troops in the forest and the Duass soldiers and War Skiffs at the northern perimeter.

            Despite the shots blasting around her and the lethal energy beams from the War Skiffs cutting apart the forest, Nina felt pleased. She even smiled.

            While the battle appeared a stalemate, that served her purpose. She merely had to keep the Duass' attention while--Nina’s smile faded.

            The War Skiffs, still firing, rolled backwards, retreating toward the town. The infantry they covered did the same. In fact, the entire Duass line disengaged.

            "What the..? Morris! Wilson! Move your squads forward. We can’t let them pull back!"

            Nina ordered two rocket troops to her side and charged from the forest in pursuit of the larger, better-armed-but-withdrawing force. Energy from a War Skiff’s main gun hit the muddy ground in front of her. The shock wave knocked the Major skidding through the mud and singed her battle suit.

            The rest of her infantry attempted to re-engage the Duass. To do so, the humans had to leave behind the cover of the woods and cross the open ground, making for easy targets. Several fell. The rest pressed on bravely, but the enemy all but ignored them.

            Nina gained her senses, retrieved an anti-armor missile launcher from the dead soldier next to her, and charged at one of the War Skiffs, dodging enemy rifle fire on the way.

            At twenty yards—nearly point blank range for a missile launcher—she fired. The projectile walloped the Skiff, penetrated its thick outer skin, and exploded inside the crew cabin. Smoke and horrid squeals poured out from the ruptured hull.

            It made no difference. The defenders continued to pull back.

            "Keep going! Keep after them!"

            Like a mouse chasing a lion, the human soldiers bound across the open field and into the northern streets of Erie Coast in a vain attempt to halt the Duass’ movement as…

…Trevor’s Combat Group entered the center of town dominated by the imposing citadel in the middle of the village, guarded by one War Skiff and a handful of infantry.

"All squads!" He yelled. "Assault the citadel! Get inside and disable the guns!"

What his combat teams lacked in firepower and numbers he planned to compensate for with pure audacity. His men would bull-rush the doors, overpower the few defenders left behind, and capture the big guns before they could do much damage. Then he could turn those guns on the Plats.

One of the big cannons fired, resulting in a huge eruption that ripped open the cobblestone street, broke four of his men into little pieces, and split the last remaining assault buggy into halves.

"Keep moving!" He shouted, urging them toward the safe haven beneath the firing arc of the heavy guns. With no ground forces of consequence to stop them he could—

A plasma bolt sliced down the street from the north and killed a soldier three paces ahead of Trevor. He turned and, to his horror, saw a mass of Duass appear on the main thoroughfare supported by two War Skiffs, a sight that sucked the momentum from his spirited charge.

Rifle fire and heavy energy streams from the infantry and War Skiffs tore apart Trevor's right flank. Men fell one after another, screaming first in shock then from pain. At the same time, more big blasts from the tower guns, shredding the forward tip of the attack and splintering the formation into little pieces.

Adding to the confusion, he saw Nina's forces appear behind the Plat infantry, actually pursuing them. Had she somehow turned her feint into an attack? Could she be stupid enough to chase the enemy right into his flank?

The enemy's vehicles hurried to cover the approaches to the citadel, cutting off any hope of storming the fortress and leaving the attackers with no place to go other than retreat.

"Covering fire!" Trevor yelled. "We need cover to fall back!"

A soldier standing next to the new Emperor disintegrated in a flash of energy. The concussion from the shot threw Stone into the air. He hit the cobblestone-like road head-first, the world turned fuzzy and a horrid pain erupted at the top of his head.

            Gronard’s voice came over the radio, "Trevor, what is your status? Trevor?"

---

            Forest’s soldiers pursued the retreating Duass to the center of town. At that point, the enemy formed a defensive line supported by the citadel’s big guns. Most of the troops in the Major’s first wave died and so would have the rest if the Duass did not appear more interested in obliterating Trevor's combat group first.

            Nonetheless, she ordered her men to hold their positions despite being outnumbered and outgunned.

            "Keep firing!" She ordered knowing that maintaining pressure from her side of the battle might be the only way to keep the Duass from completely overwhelming Trevor's group.

---

His head aching and his vision blurred, Trevor and the remains of his unit took cover around the corner of a small building and waited. He could do nothing other than wait; wait for Gronard to salvage the situation.

What the Hell was Nina thinking?

The Duass fortress’ cannons chipped away at the buildings and, at the same time, provided cover for their infantry to begin a flanking maneuver. Trevor knew this. He could feel them working through alleys and side streets. It was only a matter of time until enemy soldiers appeared to their south and north, possibly even behind them. At that point, they would be easy targets and the end would come fast.

The only hope lay with Gronard. Not a hope for victory, a hope of survival; escape.

Trevor worked his radio. He kept his voice as calm as possible considering the blaster fire raging around him, despite the feeling of failure, and despite his anger.

"Major Forest."

Static followed by, "Yes. Trevor? Yes, this is Nina."

"Prepare for extraction. Start falling back to the north and meet ground transport there."

"If we pull back they’ll be all over you!"

"Do it! Follow your damn orders for the first
fucking
time today! Fall back. NOW!"