Star Runners: Mission Wraith (#3) (41 page)

Austin sighed.
 

Towers slapped him on the shoulder, a fire in his eyes. He left Austin at the edge of the cave, rushing back to the
Wraith
.
 

“How much longer?” Towers asked.
 

“Almost there, sir,” Adams yelled back.
 

“We needed this thing done five minutes ago,” Towers barked. “You need Tasell back here anymore?”

“Nah—take’em.”

When Austin turned around, Towers and Tasell hurried back to his position. Tasell landed on his stomach, his rifle facing the woods. Towers knelt on one knee behind them both; binoculars pressed to his face.
 

“Ethan, Clark,” he said. “Report.”

He paused.
 

“Report in.” Towers lowered his gaze. He jolted back, his eyes wide. “I copy. Keep moving! Lead them to the surprise we have waiting for them.”

Tasell turned around. “They’re alive?”

Towers snorted. “Of course. Ran into a world of hurt, but they’re on their way back.”

“What’s the surprise?” Austin asked.
 

Towers thrust his hands into his bag and yanked out a gadget about the size of a cell phone. It was black with red stripes and three buttons on the surface. Tasell smacked Austin’s shoulder, gesturing to the woods.
 

Two
Serpents
, one with the other’s arm over his shoulder, limped into the clearing. The wounded soldier’s right arm had been charred and burnt, looking like the leftover pieces of wood after a campfire. He had lost his helmet, his eyes bloodshot and blood running from his nose. The two soldiers gave a thumbs up before collapsing behind a small ridge made up of rocks and dead wood. The unharmed soldier jumped back to one knee, his focus on the woods. He thumped his chest and both men promptly disappeared, their shrouded outlines barely visible in the daylight.
 

“
Serpents
,” Towers said softly, “get ready. Bostock, Miller, take out anything thing moves.”
 

Tasell punched Austin’s shoulder, his tanned face smeared with oil and dirt. “Get ready,” he whispered.
 

With the device still in one hand and the binoculars in the other, Towers waited. “You two stay down,” he whispered, leaning against the rock. He pressed a badge on his chest, and he disappeared. “I am looking. Standby.”

Austin leaned against the rocks, the stone cold even through his flight suit. Laser fire burst, but abruptly ceased. The wind once again blew across the canyon, the cold air rushing around them. He held his breath, the silence overwhelming. Despite the temperature, his flight suit was drenched. A bead of sweat slinked down his forehead and rolled to the end of his nose. He raised his trembling hand and wiped it away. His heart hammered.
 

He waited for a blast, for laser fire of any kind, for shrieks and howls of battle. But there was…

Nothing.
 

He closed his eyes, trying to control his breathing.
 

Had the Zahlian forces retreated down the canyon? Had they given up?
 

“Steady,” Towers breathed, his voice nearly inaudible. “Come a little closer … that’s it. There we go.”

Austin braced himself, not knowing why.
 

The shockwave rumbled the ground a half second before Austin heard the blast. The wind howled into the canyon. Dirt and debris fell onto their position like a hailstorm. Austin’s ears sang with a high pitched ringing. He shook his head, his vision blurring. Laser fire, much closer this time, surrounding him and ignited the air.
 

“Got’em!” Towers yelled, his body materializing into the air. He raised his rifle. “All teams—fire at will! Repeat: all teams fire at will!”

Turning over on his stomach, he looked at Tasell firing down the canyon. Towers fired three short bursts. The counterattack covered the rocks with a shower of sparks. Austin risked a glance. His jaw dropped.
 

An entire line of the forest had vanished, replaced by smoke and fire. The “surprise” Towers mentioned must have been explosives they had planted before the Zahlian forces had landed. The ground had been ripped apart, strewn with vegetation and the armored bodies of fallen Zahlian Marines. Austin watched one of the Marines stumble into the open, his body swaying. The soldier looked into the sky, his face covered in blood. A moment later, laser fire from the
Serpents
dropped him. Legion fire descended on the area from all angles. Towers had set up his fields of fire perfectly.
 

The surviving Zahlian Marines fell back momentarily, slinking back into the forest and forming a line. A projectile appeared in the air, spiraling toward Ethan and Clark’s position. A grenade. Austin flinched. The explosion ripped through the air. Austin ducked behind the rock. When he looked back, the
Serpents
were gone.
 

“Bostock! Miller!” Towers shouted. “Displace!”

The two men with the repeaters on the high ground disappeared, their shrouds activating.
 

“Why aren’t they firing missiles?” Tasell asked. He reloaded. “They could take this position!”

Towers fired twice, ducked. He reloaded. “They don’t want to damage the fighter!”

“Got it.” Tasell got back on his knee. He fired until the rifle emptied.
 

Austin rolled over to fire a shot, but Towers stepped on him. “This isn’t your time, Lieutenant. Not yet. You’re not a foot soldier. We need you to fly that—you’re the only one who can!” Towers gestured back to the
Wraith
and disappeared again, his shroud recharged. “Stay down!”

Tasell fired, reloaded. Bostock and Miller appeared just before they rushed into the canyon.
 

“They’ve got some heavies coming in!” Bostock shouted, leaping over Austin’s position as he gasped.
 

“Mortars?” Towers asked.

“Yeah!”

Miller set up his repeater to Austin’s right. “Saw rockets, too. Maybe a flamethrower.”
 

Towers swore, slapping his fist into his hands. “They wouldn’t use rockets or mortars, but flamers? Yeah.” He cupped his hand around his mouth and yelled back to Miller over the cacophony of battle. “Target the flame troops first! You got that?”

“Yes, sir!” the remaining four
Serpents
yelled in unison.
 

Regaining their composure now, the line of Zahlian troops appeared out of the forest. From what Austin could see, the Marines moved with precision and calculation, covering one another as their comrades moved from position to position. The forest, blackened and burning, no longer provided the cover it once did. The Marines rushed into the rocks for protection. Austin glanced over his cover and guessed they were fifty yards from their position. A laser bolt hit the rocks, suggesting he should stay put.
 

“How we doing?” Austin asked.
 

“Good question,” Towers shot back. He reloaded and yelled without turning, “Adams? You plan on finishing this job today?”

“Replacing the seal,” Adams screamed. “Get ready to start preflight!”
 

Towers grabbed Austin with ferocity, yanking him to his feet. He got so close to Austin their noses almost touched. “Now’s your time! Get up there!” he shouted, spit spraying Austin’s face. “We got you covered!”

Before Austin could answer, Tasell turned around, his shoulder burning with the laser bolt.
 

“Another wave coming up, sir!” Tasell sat back, seemingly unaware of the sizzling wound burning into his skin. He reloaded.
 

“You okay, Tasell?” Towers yelled.
 

“Just fine, sir.”
 

Tower glared at Austin. “Go!”

Austin sprinted for the
Wraith
. Laser fire scattered around him. His forearm flashed with pain. A familiar burn scorched his skin. He spun around, falling to one knee. The laser rifle he held tumbled to the cave floor. He rubbed his forearm, felt the charred flesh.
 

“Stone!” Adams shouted, leaping from the back of the
Wraith
. He thrust his hand under Austin’s armpit. “Come on! It’s just a scratch! Get up!”

“She ready to fly?” Austin asked, wincing as his skin burned. “I’ll be fine—I can walk!”
 

“You got it, sir.” Adams nodded, leading him to the ladder. “I’ll detach our fueling system while you start preflight!”
 

Austin climbed the ladder, his arm flashing with pain. He collapsed into the cockpit, the seat engulfing him. His hands moved across the dashboard automatically, his training taking over. The HUD flashed on, the power levels at twenty-one percent. The engines rumbled to life. His seat rattled.

The sounds of battle surrounded him. Austin risked a glance from his cockpit. Bostock collapsed, his body sliding down the rocks. A mark blackened his forehead. His lifeless eyes gazed into nothing. Miller fired like a wild man, unleashing a burst of lethal bolts down the side of the canyon. Towers tossed a grenade toward the Zahlian forces and stood next to Tasell, who remained on the ground, unmoving. The Captain fired his rifle and frantically glanced back toward Austin, giving a thumbs up.
 

Within a minute, the
Wraith’s
engines whined to life. The force from the engines caused a dust storm within the cave. Pebbles and sparks from missed laser shots kicked up around the fighter. Austin twisted his neck around, looking for Adams.
 

“Lieutenant!” Adams called from the rocks behind the fighter. “Good to go!”
 

Austin nodded, unable to pull his gaze from the
Serpent
. There had to be something he could do. He had just powered up the most advanced fighter in the known galaxy. Glancing at his weapons readout, he saw he still had four missiles, two stunners and a full spread of countermeasures. He could end this fight with one pass.
 

“Go!” Adams shouted. “Remember us, Stone!”
 

Austin saluted with two fingers and closed the canopy. He locked his helmet into place. He eased back on the stick, bringing the
Wraith
into the air in the cave. As he powered forward, the fighter passed over Towers and Miller as Adams rushed to their side. The three soldiers fired into the mass of Zahlian Marines rushing up the hill. The enemy fire shifted to Austin, bolts bouncing off the
Wraith’s
shields.
 

He checked his sensors, saw two Interceptors two-hundred MUs to the north and closing fast. Bringing the
Wraith
out over the canyon, he accelerated to the east. Firing up the lasers and checking his missiles, Austin reached twenty MUs from the canyon and looped around. He pressed on the throttle, the
Wraith
rattling.
 

He knew Captain Towers had told him to leave. He knew the Captain didn’t want him to risk his life to save theirs.
 

Austin didn’t care.
 

Towers could yell at me later, he thought.
 

He eased forward and set up at a slightly downward angle, preparing for the ground attack.
 

The
Wraith’s
crosshairs aimed at the forest in front of the cave. Laser fire flashed red across the battered land between the Zahlian Marines and the embattled Legion
Serpents
. Explosions covered the rocks around the cave, the Zahlian forces apparently not holding back in their attempts to wipe out the Legion ground forces now that the
Wraith
was airborne.
 

At this speed, Austin couldn’t see Towers and his men. He activated the missiles and pulled the trigger. A white trail shot from the
Wraith’s
wing, the missile striking the forest and sending a wave of energy from the blast points. Clouds of fire and dirt erupted into his path. He banked right, lining up with the troop carrier module on the river’s edge. He fired another missile. The troop carrier exploded, two Marines diving into the woods. Switching to guns, Austin lined his crosshairs up with the edge of the burning forest and pulled the trigger. The pulse lasers fired fast—quicker than the Trident’s guns. A steady stream of scarlet execution let loose on the ground below, sending a storm of fire and across the landscape.
 

The HUD shimmered red, indicating a surface-to-air missile attempted to lock.
 

Austin snorted. Got your attention, didn’t I?

He slammed the throttle forward, the force striking him back into the seat. He rolled the
Wraith
, the ground spinning around the canopy. He yanked back on the stick, and the fighter shot up at a ninety-degree angle from the ground. At the same time, he dropped his lone spread of countermeasures. The incoming missile focused on the chaff now filling the air, losing its lock on the
Wraith’s
engines.
 

Austin risked a glance over his shoulder, twisting his neck around to catch a glimpse of the battleground. The forest in front of the cave burned. The wind whipped the area into a wild blaze. But there was no more firing, no more battle he could see from this height. Perhaps he had made a difference. Maybe, just maybe, he had been able to save Towers and his men.
 

He turned and faced forward, the atmosphere rapidly transitioning from blue to the black of space. The sound of wind rushing around the canopy faded, replaced by the hum of life support and the constant dull roar of the engines. The HUD showed his power levels at eighteen percent. He had fired two missiles and had two more as well as two stunners. He frowned.

No more countermeasures. Not enough power to activate the
Wraith’s
shroud. He knew Tulin would be able to visually track his movements if he wasn’t able to use the shroud.
 

He exhaled, Josh’s voice suddenly in his mind once again.
 

Just fly faster, he thought. Stay frosty.
 

Verifying his position, he took a quick glance at the situation. Two Interceptors were right behind him, trying hard to close their position. They fell away, the
Wraith’s
speed too much for them to overcome.