Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1) (7 page)

“Major.  First Bravo and yourselves are closest to Fourth,” Gibson told her.

“How big a force will you need, Palicki?”  Valerie asked.

“I’d estimate a full platoon using fire teams to encompass the hostiles.”

“OK.  Joss, link Fourth’s position to Bickerstaff and myself.  Give us a rendezvous.  We will combine our fire teams and support Palicki.”

“Acknowledged, Lead.  Sending the information now.”

“Can anyone from Second get there as well?”  Valerie asked.

“Second Alpha and Charlie teams are closest.  They are further out than you and will take longer to get there.” 

“OK.  Apprise Shannon of the situation, give them a rendezvous on the opposite side to mine and tell them to haul arse.  Once they’re moving, set me up a com net with Forlani and Palicki so we can co-ordinate.”

“On it, Lead.  You’ll have net one.  Ops clear.”  Gibson signed off the net to pass on Valerie’s orders to Captain Forlani.

“Sit tight, Palicki we are on our way.”  Valerie said.

“Yes, Ma’am.”  Fourth Platoon were more than capable of getting themselves out of their situation.  If they did not have the support on hand they would have done so and taken some casualties as a matter of course.  With the rest of Shadow Company not far away, it was not necessary, so they hunkered down and taken a more cautious approach.

“Bickerstaff.”  Valerie said on First Platoon’s net.

“Yes, Major.  I’ve received the co-ordinates.”  His gruff voice answered.

“Good.  Meet us there.  Fourth Platoon is pinned and we’re going to break them out.”

“On our way.”

As she finished her conversation Corporal Richings and Private Wester appeared.

“All done?” she asked them.

“Yes, Ma’am.  It’s ready to blow.”  Richings answered, her white teeth showing.

“Alright.  We’re meeting up with Bravo and supporting Fourth.  I’ll fill you in as we go.  Trigger the charges when we’re clear, Richings.”  Valerie led them off to the east and towards their rendezvous.  A detonation came from their right as they ran.  Hot air and a blast wave of sound washed over them.

Glancing that way, she saw the barrack building.  The windows had been blown out and dust and debris could be seen drifting out with fires inside.  There was no sign of anyone trying to leave the building.  With a loud crack, the spine of the roof fell in, followed by the rest of it.  Without the roof and supporting walls inside, the outer walls gave way.  In moments a large sturdy building holding dozens of people was a pile of rubble.  It was highly unlikely anyone would have survived.

“Since that one’s done, we might as well add to the fun.”  Riching said, followed swiftly by a second wall of heat from behind.  The bombs did their work and turned the storage building into a raging inferno.  “YEAH!” she called.

Valerie didn’t look back, nor did she reprimand Richings for her exuberance.  There was no enjoyment to be found by professional soldiers in killing.  Blowing things up though, was a real perk of the job.

The team moved swiftly in the dark night.  Three more hostiles were encountered and dealt with quickly and decisively.  With the route mapped out on Valerie’s Heads Up Display, she lead her fire team to the precise location of the rendezvous with Bickerstaff.  Bravo team had been closer and Alpha found the five person squad already in position.  They were crouched behind cover and out of sight.

“Major,” Bickerstaff greeted her with a nod as she came up beside him.

“Good to see you, Gil.  What are we looking at?”

He pointed to a large building twenty metres down a wide avenue of packed ground between buildings.  It was the most permanent structure Valerie had seen yet and looked brand new.  Sporadic gun fire could be heard emanating from it.

“Is that thing made of permacrete?” she asked.

“You got it.  When Malick scanned it, the building showed up as being no more than three months old.”  He waved Corporal Ulrich over to them.  “Show the Major the layout, Malick.”

“Yes, Sergeant Major.”  A couple of commands on his datapad brought up a dim lighted holo.  It showed a squat four sided building with a large central courtyard.  A group of green icons were clustered on the eastern side, with red icons spaced along all three of the other sides.  Each side was forty metres long and four floors high.  The fourth floor being more of a covered roof, with what could only be described as castle ramparts, overlooking the courtyard and around the outer edge.  In the centre of the courtyard was a small structure, no more than four metres on a side that the scan could not penetrate.

“Interesting, I wonder what could be in there?” Valerie mused.  “Nothing showing on the scan as any type of basement I take it?” 

“No, Major,” Malick answered.  “I’m not seeing any soil or rock either down to five metres directly under the courtyard.  The building foundations are showing.”

“I see,” Valerie said, nodding thoughtfully.  The hand portable scanning equipment Corporal Malick was carrying, should be able to penetrate around four to five metres of normal ground, depending on what it was made of, soil being more permeable for scanning than rock.  Someone had built something under that courtyard and it was designed to hide whatever was inside from active scans.

Switching to net one, she called Fourth Platoon.  “Palicki.  This is Lead.  I’m twenty metres south of your position with two fire teams and I’m looking at a scan of the building.  I presume you’ve seen it.”

“Yes, Major,” the Lieutenant answered.  “I spotted the permacrete building and thought it best to investigate.  That’s when we found the dead zone.  We’ve taken possession of the east side with the exception of the roof.  This building was up and fully alert when we came in, before the balloon went up.  Each side has only five access points.  Four on the ground floor, one each to the connecting sides, one to the courtyard and one to the outside.  The last is to the roof.  Hostiles have clear firing lines on all five for our wing.  The good news is that we have a clear firing line on the entrance in the middle of the courtyard.  No one can get down there.”

“OK, Lieutenant, understood.  How are you getting on, Shannon?” 

“Two hundred metres from the rendezvous site and I’ve already met up with my Charlie team.”  Captain Forlani responded, her voice slightly out of breath.

Valerie looked to the soldiers around her.  “We go as soon as the fire teams from Second Platoon are in position.  Is everyone ready?”  She got nods and affirmatives from the troops before going through a quick check of her own gear.  After reloading both of her pistols and Pulse rifle she relaxed for a few moments with the others.  Bickerstaff had already set three soldiers to keep watch.

Glancing around Valerie could see no movement or sign of occupation of the buildings surrounding them.  She guessed that they must have moved everyone around here into the new building once it was complete.  Boyle must have intended the permacrete building to be his stronghold, in case he was attacked by the local authorities or a rival gang.

No one had reported in about modern weapons, so the hidden basement would be the obvious place for them to be stored.  The entrance was covered by Fourth Platoon.  Anything inside could not be used against Shadow Company. A few well-placed charges inside the bunker would remove them completely.

Making use of the down time until Captain Forlani and her people were in position, Valerie called up an overview of Shadow Company’s situation on her wristcomp.  A basic summary showed no fatalities and the only injuries suffered were all in Fourth Platoon.  Most of them were minor with one major injury that if not properly treated, would result in death. 

A command gave her more detailed information on the wounded soldier, Sergeant Gonzalo O’Grady.  The Platoons medic had stabilised him and uploaded a quick report to say he would be fine, if evacuated to the FOB within the next two to four hours. 

Valerie was confident she would be able to get Sergeant O’Grady back to the FOB, well before the two hour limit was up.  He could then be treated in the Modules extensive medical facilities.

Switching to a map showing the position of all of Shadow Company’s assets, she saw Third Platoon had pushed all the way through to the centre of the camp.  Lieutenant Vobruba had met up with the remaining teams of First and Second Platoons.  Pavel was now leading them in a wide sweep towards Valerie’s position.  She was confident they would clear the areas bypassed by Captain Forlani and herself.

“Lead, this is Two.”  Captain Forlani’s voice came over the com and Valerie shut down her holo screen with a swipe of her finger.  “We’re in position.  How do you want to do this?”

“Lead, to Two and Four.”  Valerie responded and with a wave of her hand indicated that Sergeant Major Bickerstaff should listen in.  He scooted a bit closer to her.  “Here’s the plan.  I‘ll take fire team One Alpha onto the roof.  Once we have their attention, fire teams One Bravo, Two Alpha and Two Charlie will each take a hostile occupied outer entrance.  Go in as hard as you need and clear them out.  Palicki.  Feel free to have Fourth Platoon throw anything they can at those bottling you in.  Any questions?”

“We go on your mark, Lead?”  Captain Forlani asked.

“Affirmative, Two.  I’ll let you know when.”

“Two is good to go then, Lead.”

“Four?”  Valerie asked.

“Fourth Platoon is ready to wake them up, Lead.”

“All set here, Guv.”  Bickerstaff told her.

Valerie waved to her team, who gathered around her.  “We’re going for the roof using the grav-belts.  I’m the Forlorn Hope, give me thirty seconds then follow me up.  I’m going left.  Button, you’re my slackman.  Richings, Wester and Guggenheim, sweep right and keep going round until you meet with me.  When you get to the roof entrances, make sure you fill them with frags, booby trap and move on.”

Turning to look at the building, Valerie could see that two hostiles were keeping an eye out on the side facing her.  “Button and Wester.  You think you can take them out?”

“No problem, Major.”  Button said nodding his head.  He set his rifle to his shoulder and Wester followed suit next to him.

Valerie activated her com.  “OK, all fire teams to go on my mark.  Four.  You are clear to engage.”  The sound of gun fire increased in tempo from sporadic to intense, the explosions of grenades giving extra punctuation to it.  Valerie drew one of her pistols, leaving her left hand free and nodded to Button.

“On my mark, Wester,” Button told his comrade.  “Three, two, one.  Mark.”  With that they both squeezed their triggers simultaneously.  At the same time, Valerie leapt over the cover they were using and ran at full speed towards the building.  She was already four metres away when she saw the hostiles collapse from Button and Wester’s single shots.

Her long strides ate up the distance in moments, three metres from the wall she activated her grav- belt.  At fifty percent power, it sent her shooting up at five metres per second.  With her momentum from her run, she was initially aimed directly at the wall.  Valerie continued her running motion and her powerful legs stopped that forward momentum, redirecting it upwards.  From her teams perspective, it looked like she literally ran up the wall.

For them, it would not be possible.  They had neither the strength, co-ordination or experience to attempt it.  They would activate their anti-gravs while stationary at the base of the wall.

Valerie reached the top, grabbed hold of the rampart, deactivated her grav-belt and swung herself over.  Landing on her feet, she saw hostiles turning toward her from several different  places across the roof.  Her right gun was already moving in a curve across that side and as each hostile came into line, she pulled the trigger.

Her left pistol had to be drawn from its holster and was slightly behind her right.  Despite the small delay, not a single hostile got a shot off.  Only one on her left managed to get his gun aimed notionally in her direction.  In less than three seconds eight people were dropping dead with a single fatal shot to each.

The roof was not completely open under its cover.  There were permacrete pillars spaced all around to hold up the substantial roof, with a single two metre square permacrete box in the centre, she presumed they were the stairs leading into the building.  With her immediate area clear, Valerie moved left, both pistols up and ready.  Shots came whizzing past her from hostiles on other sides of the roof.

Ducking behind one of the pillars, Valerie stopped momentarily and fixed the positions of the shooters in her mind.  With her back to the pillar, she dived to her left, back the way she had come, keeping below the ramparts and out of sight.  Once she was three metres clear, she came back up.  Each of her pistols was aimed at positions hostiles were in seconds before.  Foolishly, neither of her targets had moved and she killed them both instantly.

The pistols swung in their murderous arcs, killing three more before she ducked down again.  Her timing was perfect and the return fire whistled clear over her head.  Knowing her team was moments from clearing the wall, she threw herself to her left, passing the pillar.  Rolling to her feet she sought more targets.

This time they’d moved and she was able to kill only two more before their guns tracked towards her.  Staying on her feet, she stepped left sideways, firing as she did and deliberately making herself a target.  This drew the attention away from where she entered and her fire team rose up over the ramparts.  They had clear sight of the hostiles across the roof, with no guns pointing in their direction.