Sacremon (Harmony War Series Book 1) (39 page)

           
He realized he was on the ground, he didn’t try to shake his head, feeling the groggy pain that seemed to wrap his skull.

           
“MOVE IT TROOPERS!” Someone yelled through the channel. Mark didn’t need any more damned encouragement. He certainly didn’t need anyone yelling with his fucking headache.

           
He grabbed his weapon without conscious thought, his legs pushing him off towards his target. He looked for Tyler, seeing his brother ahead of him, running like damned hell.

           
He ran like he had never run before, his augments powering him onwards.

           
The emplacement he had been firing on were down but others kept going. Tyler opened a hole in a wall, Jerome and Pullo were with him. Mark looked on the map seeing Captain Nerva was wounded, he’d lost his legs and was bleeding out.

           
Mark changed his direction, letting his commanding officer die on his watch was not going to look good in the least.

           
“Captain, put that fucking hand up.”

           
“Not about to surrender right now Mark,” Nerva said, his voice tight with pain but still keeping that measured cool tone.

           
“Put it up!” Mark jumped between boulders and over jagged metals and shit that stuck up all over the place. He saw men and women get cut down, like the crops of a field that must be cut down by a scythe.

           
Nerva did so and Mark grabbed it, rolling and feeling it come out of it’s socket as he heaved Nerva on his back, even without his legs he was still pretty damned heavy.

           
Mark didn’t pay it much heed as he rocked on his feet, but pushed forward.

           
He used the wall to stop himself, Nerva’s stubs hitting the wall.

           
“Fucking Hades Mark!” Nerva said, his voice containing heat for the first time since Mark had known him.

           
Mark got him off of his back, pulling out his med kit covering his stubs with spray liberally.

           
“I got it, get those fucking emplacements down,” Nerva said, grabbing his own med kit.

           
“Sir.” Mark pulled his rifle up and around, firing grenades into an emplacement along the side until it went silent. He reloaded without thought, slapping mags into his gun and popping them off as fast as his gun was lined up with his target.

           
A gun emplacement fired turning the wall he was beside into dust. He fell backwards, backpedalling, his heart beat seemed to rock his chest, anger drove him to his feet as he dropped out his old grenade mag and slapped in a new one. keeping his mind focused on where that gun had shot at him.

           
He stepped out, firing as fast as possible, a gun fired again and pushed him backwards.

           
“Other side Mark!” Nerva said.

           
Mark turned and ran past Nerva to see the emplacements firing into the night. Again he fired his grenades. One of them exploded outwards but it hadn’t been one that he was firing at.

           
He pulled back, opening his map. Some forces had made it inside and were helping to break in.

           
Mark switched to his comms, “hey Tyler, get your ass back here. Nerva got his ass knocked backwards, lost his damn legs and all.”

           
“Coming,” Tyler answered.

           
Mark leaned against the wall, slapping in a new magazine. While he’d been looking at the map he noticed a group of three guns were wreaking havoc on the troopers.

           
He needed something that packed more damned punch than his grenade launcher.

           
“Nerva, I have a target for you if you can get one of the combat shuttles to launch a missile at it,” Mark said.

           
“Aim your weapon at it and transmit it and I can get you missiles,” Nerva said.

           
Mark aimed at a target, the automatic range finder acting like a locating system to get the position of the target.

           
Missiles thundered into his target, the wall erupting into a burning wreck and a fountain of rubble.

           
“Booyah!” Mark yelled, aiming at a new emplacement.

           
Someone slapped him on the shoulder making him turn around in confusion.

           
“Hey Bro, let’s see if we can’t get in on some of that action.” He pinpointed more targets for the combat shuttles. They continued to stay away from the city but their missile pods were still ready and waiting.

           
Other units around their districts were getting the same ideas, emplacements that had revealed themselves were now getting smashed from above by missile fire.

           
“Get back here and get the Captain into cover!” Pullo said, just getting to the wall, he was wounded but not severely. Gupta and Utkin’s profiles were solid red, Jerome was in the building fighting; Mark couldn’t see Dolche’s tag but it didn’t matter since he had no time to check on everyone. He was already moving to help get Nerva inside.

           
The Captain needed a printer and soon, right now he was more of a liability than an asset.

           
Explosions made the world tilt occasionally, their helmets sound canceling systems unable to keep up with the onslaught.

           
“Put me against a wall and push into the city. We need to establish a beach head,” Nerva said.

           
“Sir…” Pullo started to protest.

           
“Sergeant that is a direct order. I’m one man and there are thousands of our troopers out there, pushing into the colonist’s front door. There sure to try and get rid of us, hopefully that will mean diverting people from the guns on the outside. We need to capitalize on our initial push, so get our people together and push forward, as more come in I’ll send them your way. One of the medics is sure to find me and get me mobile again, now move!” Nerva said.

           
“Yes sir,” Pullo turned from Nerva. “Any and all personnel inside the colonist’s district, I want you to link up with myself. I will be moving forward in order to pressure the enemy and press the attack further.” His marker started blinking on the map as he made himself a rally point.

           
Mark and Tyler followed, Jerome wasn’t far behind, others from the regiment added themselves from different avenues. They were in a factory that much was clear, but it had been stripped bare.

           
An explosion rippled force from the distance, sending the remains of whoever had unfortunately stepped on it flying away.

           
Pullo growled, “Fucking mines,” at what remained of the trooper. Then he turned back to his group and continued, “okay we’re going to do this quick and dirty. Troopers with E-12’s in a line, walk your fire from in front of you to across the room, be liberal with grenades.”

           
Shouts came down for people to move down as a line came into existence, Pullo and those in the centre were already firing, their grenades setting off the mines in front of them. The colonists had got smart, too smart for Mark’s liking, Fuckers were using the metal in the floor to hide their own mines.

           
It was as quick and Dirty as Pullo had said.

           
They had nearly two-sections worth of troopers with them now.

           
They ran forward towards one of the corridors that linked with the old factory they were in with one past it.

           
A weapon emplacement fired, it’s heavy thumping rounds turning the first trooper to cross its path into red spray, the second who was going too fast to stop lost a chunk of their side and a leg.

           
People on the other side of the corridor rushed to pull him out of the way and administer medical aid. Mark was pretty sure it was already too late.

           
“Shit, Mark, Tyler go and check the other access corridors.’ Pullo said.

           
“I’ve got right,” Tyler replied, moving away from the gaggle of troopers around the corridor.

           
“I’ve got left.” It didn’t take Mark long to get to the next corridor. He peeked out, his helmet’s sensors registering the emplacement that lay waiting.

           
“Got one here,” Tyler said.

           
“Same,” Mark sounded.

           
“Shit,” Pullo .

           
“Why don’t we go over the top? Run on the corridors or beside them and come in from the sides?” Tyler asked.

           
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do, good thinking,” Pullo said, jumping on the wider-spread channel and passing out orders.

           
 Mark pulled back from the wall, giving himself some good distance before he fired a grenade into the wall, it shifted but didn’t open. It took two more grenades to open the wall up, sections of the wall above coming down with his remodeling.

           
He moved up to look outside, his scanners had some trouble with the dust and shit but they recognized some mines on the ground.

           
“Sir, we’ve got mines on the ground, running on top of the corridors would be my bet,” Mark said on a private channel.

           
Pullo didn’t acknowledge but instead changed his orders. People moved away from the walls and blew holes in them.

           
A group moved to Mark. He got outside, bracing himself against the topped corridor and linked his hands together, other troopers used him as a ladder.

           
The last two reached down and helped to drag/lift Mark’s ass onto the roof.

           
“You put on a few pounds or something?” One of them said afterwards.

           
“Just gotta make things interesting,” Mark joked, paying attention to the other groups that were getting onto their corridors.

           
“Okay, move it Troopers, blast open those walls and drop grenades right on those fucking guns,” Pullo said, before he finished his sentence Troopers were running for the other factory the corridor’s connected.

           
The lead trooper’s grenades arced into the wall above the corridor, Mark couldn’t see if it fell or not but they kept on firing.

           
To his right Mark saw a corridor’s roof open up as a gun fired into it, they had figured out what the troopers were doing now.

           
Repulsors fired back as other troopers rushed on, continuing to fire their grenades as fast as they could.

           
The gun at the end of Mark’s corridor was ominously silent.

           
Mark’s HUD populated with threat markers inside the factory and he could see weapons fire coming through the holes of the factory.

           
“Get on the second floor and fire down on them!” Pullo barked.

           
Mark fired into the windows of the second floor. Others acted as ladders this time, people used their hands to jump themselves onto the second floor.

           
Mark felt sorry for the trooper that took his weight as he dragged himself onto the second floor. He was on a catwalk that cut off the factory into bays.

           
There were colonists everywhere on the factory floor, they had been hiding behind the weapon emplacements that were now silent as their gun crews looked to face off with the threat from above.

           
Mark thumbed grenades and tossed them down at a gun emplacement, he was rewarded with a building-shaking explosion as the weapon turned into twisted slag and its ammunition cooked off.

           
He fired grenades into the groups that were trying to find cover on the bare factory floor. Some massive machines had been left but the E-12 under-barrel grenade launcher earned it’s pay pushing them out.

           
Mark used his weapon as a machine gun, holding it down as he directed it across the colonists that were now trying to retreat.

           
“Don’t let them get away, keep engaging them from the rear!” Pullo said.

           
New fire from below ripped into the fleeing colonists, a new section was pushing up from behind through the now dead gun emplacements.

           
“Out onto the corridors and move forward!” Pullo yelled.