Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (45 page)

The next barricade was in sight.  The guards behind it saw everything and there was no time to waste.

“Pop smoke and launch flash bangs!”  Valerie ordered as she shut down all of her helmets external feeds, leaping in amongst the bodies of the guards he had killed.  She trusted Button to comply with her order without question.  All she could see was the solid black visor, but she heard the muffled thumps of the flash bang grenades through the deadening of her helmet.

Flipping the helmet back to full visibility and audio, Valerie rolled to her feet.  Grabbing a rifle in each hand from fallen guards, she charged through the dense smoke Button laid down in the corridor.  The guards in the next barricade were fully alert and this would not work for the rest of Alpha fire team.  Without their power-hungry stealth systems, their much larger armoured silhouettes would be obvious targets through the smoke.  Smaller, faster and more agile, Valerie hoped she would be able to get there and destroy it without risking any more of her Company.

The smoke was top of the line electrostatic field and thermal bloom generation, confusing any active sensors.  Valerie was just as affected as the guards.  Only her own eyes could show her the way.  Pulse bursts came out of the smoke all around her.  She glimpsed a roaring ball of Plasma go passed.  Fortunately it was over a metre to her left and they would not get time for a second shot.

The barricade loomed out of the smoke and Valerie took a running leap.  In one bound she cleared its height, guns blazing.  To the guards she must have seemed like a demon out of ancient legend bursting in amongst them.  Her Pulse rifles fired with an almost impossible accuracy.  Guard after guard died as she whirled about.  Hastily they turned away from their posts to fight this superhuman threat. 

Valerie caught sight of the Plasma riflewoman, but couldn’t get a clear shot.  She had been carefully positioned to give her the best cover possible.  The woman turned and tried to line up Valerie in her sights.  Guards were all around and Valerie continually made sure she kept them between her and the Plasma.

Half the guards were down.  Valerie closed the distance between herself and those left.  All it would take would be a single shot to hit or clip her, as it had on Ison Island, and this would be over.  Spinning, she shoulder charged a guard and sent him sprawling back onto the ground.  Another was right beside him and she tried to bring her rifle to bear on Valerie.  She was too close.  Valerie avoided it easily and lashed her own rifle across the woman’s visor.  She felt the rifle break, along with the woman’s helmet and hopefully her skull.

The barricade began to topple backward towards Valerie and she leapt clear.  Some of the guards followed her example, but most only turned in surprise at this new threat and were buried beneath it.  This time it was the entire force of Alpha team.  While Valerie distracting the guards, they ran up and hit the barrier as one.  With their extra weight, momentum and the strength of their armour, pushed it right over.

Using her remaining rifle, Valerie put several bursts into those who avoided the fallen barricade.  Alpha teams powerful sensors, designed specifically to be unaffected by their own smoke, allowed them to pick out the surviving guards under the debris.  With Pulse guns, metre long, extendable thermal blades or just simply by crushing them under foot, they took care of the rest.

“All clear,” Lieutenant Saito reported.

“Nicely done, Major.”  Button congratulated her.

Looking at the dead around her, Valerie didn’t feel much of anything.  “I did what I had to do,” she told him coldly. 
To protect my family
were the words she couldn’t say.  “Let’s get a look at the last one, Lieutenant.  We’ve used up all the surprise we’re going to get.  They would have heard this lot and be ready for us.”

“Yes, Ma’am.  Guggenheim, put one of the drones round the corner.  They’ll be expecting it so go fast.”

“Yes, sir,” the Private answered.  The next barricade was situated in a kink in the corridor, both her team and Sergeant Major Bickerstaff’s force would need to go around a corner to attack it.

“Put the take up on a holovid so I can see it,” Valerie told Guggenheim.

“No problem, Ma’am.”  He projected a screen out from his armour. It hung a metre in front of him and Valerie stepped over to watch.  She saw herself and the others as the drone flew over their heads.  Guggenheim swept the drone around the corner at speed.  Valerie thought the guards would have at least one person, if not two or three, whose job it was to watch for recon drones coming at them from behind.  There was none of the expected Pulse bursts heading in the drones direction.

The drones camera targeted the barrier and was rock steady, as it went through a pre-programed avoidance pattern.  It took a moment for Valerie to register what she was seeing on the screen in front of her.  The guards were all standing, or starting to stand after laying their guns on the floor, and raised their hands above their heads.

“Lieutenant, put Bickerstaff on speaker,” she ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he answered and after a short delay he said.  “Go ahead, Ma’am.”

“Are you seeing the same thing I am, Gil?” she asked.

“It’s good to hear from you, Major, and if you mean it looks like they’re surrendering then, yes,” he paused.  “I’m going to link you into the command circuit.  Major Forlani is back in C&C, with a whole mess of other people, and Hanna out in the Spectre.”  There was another pause before he spoke again.  “Major, Hanna.  Lieutenant Saito has Major Carter on speaker.  You can talk to her now.”

“Valerie!” Hanna exclaimed.  “You’re out!”

“Not yet, Hanna,” Valerie gently admonished.  “We’ve got a way to go.  I take it you’re both seeing this?”

“We are, Valerie,” Shannon answered.  Valerie got a sense from her voice, she was going to be having a long conversation with her old friend.  It was one that would have to wait and they both knew it.  “We’re getting reports coming in of guards surrendering from all of the Rock’s Wings.”

“They’ve also stopped their attempts to kick me out of the prison’s system,” Hanna reported.  “It’s station wide.”

“We can’t know for sure, Hanna,” Shannon said a bit brusquely, “but we’ll operate as though they have and keep an eye on them in the meantime.  Valerie, I’m going to get moving on shifting the prisoners now.  Our people are trained for it and they know the plan.  I want you on the first bus out.”

“No, I stay until the last.”  Valerie told them firmly.

“Valerie, this has all been about you,” Hanna interjected.  “We need you out of there in one piece.”

“Will Shadow Company’s Helos be first out, Shannon?”

“You know they won’t.”

“Then I stay.”

“Valerie, I need you...” Hanna began to say.  “I mean we, the Rebellion need you.”

The emotion in Hanna’s voice caught Valerie off guard.  She knew she meant more to both Hanna and Deni than friendship, but what she heard in the girl’s voice was something else altogether.  An emotion she couldn’t recognise rose up inside of her.  In a flash of realisation it came to her and tears formed at the corner of her eyes.  As she stood there surrounded by her team and the dead, an enormous gulf opened in her mind, threatening to suck her down into it.

All of her defences slammed into place, forcing the emotion back down, deeper than it had ever been and it was with a cold icy voice she replied.  “I don’t leave until my Company is ready to go.  We’ve got a lot of work to do, so I suggest we get on with it.”

***

“Anybody got any grenades?” Troll asked.

Julianna checked her belt dispenser.  “No, I’m out.”  This was the fifth room they entered since the booby trap caught Beaumont.  Troll, Barney and Julianna were going through room after room, finding a few guards in each one.  It seemed whoever was in charge on the other side tried to set up a staggered defence through the area, but only made it easier for the three of them to kill the defenders.

They were all sat with their backs against a sturdy piece of machinery.  Beyond it were six guards, who were also hunkered down into some cover.  Julianna had a bandage over her upper left arm, the skinseal she applied wasn’t strong enough and blood was leaking out slowly.  It stung constantly and gave a sharp stab of pain every time she moved it.  Troll favoured her right side, a Pulse burst clipped her under the arm.  Not enough to penetrate her armour, it cooked it enough to burn the skin underneath.

Barney wasn’t unscathed either.  A guard surprised them from behind.  It was fortunate she was out of ammunition and only left with her energy baton.  She managed to take a clean swing at Barney’s head, leaving him dazed.  He had mostly shaken that off, but still sported a dent to his helmet that interfered with his HUD.

“Great.  Now what?”  Troll said as Barney shook his head in answer to her question.

“I could call Bickerstaff for back up,” Julianna said.  “But from the updates, sent via the Hive, they’re facing a barricade with heavy weapons at the moment.”

“What, ask for help?  For six measly guards?  No chance.”

“We’re out of grenades and low on ammo.  Have you got a better idea?”

“Well no, not yet.”

“The Eydon Job.”  Barney said.

“Hey?  The what?”  Julianna asked.

“Ahhh.  The Eydon Job.”  Troll said.  “Good thinking, Barney.  Anyone got a spare clip?”

“What are you two talking about, Troll?”  Barney dug into one of his packets and passed a Pulse ammo magazine to the tall Enforcer.  After seeing the extra ammo, Julianna stared at Barney.  “I thought we were almost out?” she accused.

“You and me are,” Troll answered for Barney.  “He always carries extras for emergencies.”

“Three per person.  That was all they could give us.  Where’d you get extras from?”

“Barney knows a gal.”  Troll said with a shrug.  She pulled a couple of tools from her belt and started to work on the ammo magazine.

“He knows a gal?  How can he know a gal?  He never says anything!  No offence, Barney.”

The man shrugged back to show he hadn’t taken any and just infuriated Julianna even more.

“Some people like the quiet ones.  She says he’s a great listener.”  Julianna stared at Troll.  She wondered how this woman, out of anybody, could have said that with a straight face.

“Right, OK.  I’ll leave Barney’s love life out of this for a minute.  What are you doing with that clip and how are you not going to kill us all?”

“We had this Job in this little town called Eydon.  Should have been an easy number, a couple of local guards, decent score.  You know the type of thing.”

“I honestly can’t say that I do.”

“Well, anyway.  They lied to us about the guards.  It turns out there were ten of them, armed and armoured like these goons here.  We got cornered and then this guy we were with at the time, Outback.  Don’t ask me why he was called that, stupid name.”

“And Troll isn’t?”  Julianna couldn’t help being drawn into this whole irrelevant conversation.  It was silly, but it was also a welcome distraction.

“There’s a story there.  If we get out of this, I might even tell you it someday.  So Outback asked me for a Pulse clip.  Being a trusting sort, I hand one over.  He then takes out the regulator, like I’m doing here, flips it over, puts it back in and you have an instant grenade.”  Troll slotted the piece into place and there was high pitched whine building louder and louder.  Half rising, the Enforcer threw it at the guards and ducked back down.

The explosion ripped over their heads and the three of them came up with their guns ready.  The guards’ cover was blown apart by the powerful detonation.  All six of them were down and three wouldn’t be getting up again.  Two lay in sight and died instantly.  Pulse bursts ripping into them.  Julianna darted out of her side of the machinery, they were using for cover, and Barney went the other way.  Troll rolled over the top and they swiftly searched for the last guard.  They found him unconscious in a corner and Julianna put a burst into his head.

“Troll?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you do that as soon as we found we were out of grenades?”

“Oh, because there’s about a sixty percent chance it will explode in your face, rather than after you throw it.  I heard it’s what happened to Outback.  He blew himself up.”

“Right, so we’re not doing that again then.”

“It depends if we get cornered, I guess.”

“Only one left,” Barney interjected.

“Hah, that answers your point then.  We haven’t got any more we can use.”

“I think I quite like that.  I’d prefer not to be blown up accidently by someone on our own side.”

“There’s no easy way to go,” Troll pointed out with a laugh.  “Whose turn is it to do the door lock?”

“Barney’s and from my map this should be the last room in this section.”

“How accurate has it been so far?”

“Once we got into here, pretty good.  I think Hanna pulled in some updated spec’s and sent them over to C&C.”

“Sounds about like her.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s monitoring our feed, to keep an eye on us.”

“Where did you find that girl?”