The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (45 page)

Another marine from the opposite side of the bay jumped onto its back and rammed a bayonet into its neck, right to the hilt. The creature let out an almost human scream as it threw the marine off. Even as it collapsed bleeding, it was still trying to bring the weapon around to fire. Alice
’
s relief was short lived, as a second then a third dropped into the trench.

From beyond the breakthrough Alice could hear someone shouting:
“
Fall back! Fall back!
”

“
Back up! Back upbackupbackup!
”
Damien shouted as he dragged at her. Together they darted around the corner into the traverse as the defenders and attackers blasted at each other from point-blank range. The noise was now deafening and from where Alice was standing the entire front seemed to have erupted. The handful of marines they passed was now firing continuously. Several times they came across brutal hand-to-hand fighting. The invaders were massive creatures that loomed over the defending marines. Despite the difference in size, with their power-assisted armour, the marines could hold their own one-on-one, while the trenches continued to prevent the attackers from enjoying all the benefits of weight of numbers. Fleeing from one fight to another, Alice wasn
’
t left with a clear narrative of events, just disjointed pictures. What the invaders were she still couldn
’
t say, not with any certainty. They were huge, looming shapes smashing and blasting at the humans around them. Step by bloody step the marines were driven back.

___________________________

13:13 Hrs

Eulenburg paced back and forth, intermittently glancing up at the main display. On the holo the battlefield display was clean, even sterile, a far cry from the bloody reality hundreds of metres above. Bright blue blocks signifying the four companies of Indian troops were slowly moving up to the frontline. Much as he wanted to contact them and urge them forward, Eulenburg knew that such an act would be at best futile and at worst counterproductive. They hadn
’
t even reached the support line and already the Indians were having to fight their way forward. In places the enemy infiltrated their way through both lines, not in any great numbers - thank God - but that willingness to get cut off yet still fight their way forward, was rewriting the rulebook on ground combat.

A petty officer approached to hand Eulenburg a fresh report before quickly retreating from the command platform. The Admiral quickly skimmed across the text. His expression, already grim, tightened.

“
Captain Gillum.
”

“
Yes sir.
”

“
This isn
’
t working, Captain.
”
Eulenburg shook his head,
“
The Nameless are feeding in troops at least as fast as we are. Damn it, I am not a soldier, I don
’
t know what I
’
m doing here!
”

“
Sir, we…
”
Gillum started to say.

“
Troops are starting to trickle back. The next step is a rout,
”
Eulenburg cut him off.
“
That
’
s what this is telling me,
”
he said before with sudden fury flinging the data pad across Four C.
“
Our frontline is starting to buckle!
”

Eulenburg returned to his pacing, still glaring up at the display.
“
Captain, contact the medical section. I need Brigadier Chevalier down here, any way they can.
Now
!
”
he ordered.
“
And Captain. I am not interested in medical opinion.
”

Chevalier was half hidden amongst the mass of medical instrumentation attached to his trolley bed. The senior medical officer had stormed into Four C to remonstrate with Eulenburg, but barely got two words out before being shouted down and sent back the way he
’
d come with his tail between his legs. A few minutes later the Brigadier arrived.

“
We need to cut off
…
their advance
…
take away their momentum,
”
Chevalier said slowly between breaths.

“
We can
’
t. They
’
re getting troops into the fighting faster than I can. I moved extra troops up to protect the laser batteries. They
’
ve stopped the advance on the flanks but they
’
re still coming through the centre,
”
Eulenburg explained. As he did so he wondered whether his decision to bring the Brigadier down was grasping at straws. With his eyes still bandaged, Chevalier couldn
’
t even see the display.

“
What is our
…
artillery doing?
”

“
Counter battery fire against theirs, sir,
”
Gillum replied.

“
We need to shift it
…
to support the front. A continuous
…
barrage line
…
in the killing ground
…
in front of
…
our lines.
”

“
Sir, respectfully, right now we don
’
t know how much of their artillery has been knocked out and how many are merely suppressed,
”
Gillum objected.
“
If we take the pressure off
…”

“
Have to
…
risk it,
”
Chevalier replied.

“
Send the order Captain,
”
Eulenburg said after a few moments of thought. Within minutes the Northern Quadrant was flashing red on the main display as once again explosives rained down.

___________________________

20:00 Hrs

“
Yeah, there we are. You
’
ve cracked two ribs, bruised a couple more.
”
The corpsman turned off his hand scanner.
“
Could be worse,
”
he added.

“
Thank you so much for stating the blindingly obvious,
”
Alice replied tightly as she buttoned up her top. Most of the casualties had now been evacuated from the dressing station but evidence of the day
’
s events in the form of soiled bandages, discarded syringes and the still overwhelming smell of blood remained.

“
Here take these,
”
the corpsman said handing her a packet of pills.
“
Two a day. They
’
ll enhance bone growth.
”
He made an entry on his computer terminal.
“
I
’
m signing you off as fit only for light duties for a week.
”

“
I
’
m looking for an Alice Peats. Is she here?
”
someone called out from the tent
’
s entrance. At the sound of her name, Alice turned and immediately winced as her abused ribs complained.

“
Yes, over here,
”
she called back when the pain released its grip.

The questioner was a fleet staff officer; even with a helmet and flak jacket on, he looked out of place. Too clean.

“
What is you want?
”
she asked bluntly as he approached.

“
Alice Peats, who formally served on the
Harbinger
?
”
he asked.

“
Yes, that
’
s still me.
”

“
Good. Orders from Four C. The Admiral wants to see you.
”

The staff officer didn
’
t have any explanation about why she was required and after months spent around the military, Alice suspected he simply hadn
’
t been told. Soon she was heading down into the depths of the shelter. The place had certainly changed since she was first drafted. Then people had been refugees, now the place was starting to definitely look like a settlement. As she passed, people looked at her as if she was from another world.

The staff officer escorted her to a set of medical labs, where she was handed over like a package to another officer. Inside a number of fleet, marine and national military officers were all waiting. She
’
d learned a lot about uniforms in the past few months, enough to know that these were very senior individuals. She had mostly resigned herself to military service but if there was one damn thing she
wasn
’
t
going to do, it was salute.

“…
the count at the moment is only very provisional, sir,
”
a staff captain was saying as she entered.

“
Accepted Captain, what
’
s the count?
”
said an elderly man in a Battle Fleet admiral
’
s uniform. He inclined his head as another staff officer whispered into his ear.

“
Four-hundred and twenty-two dead, wounded or currently missing.
”
said the staff captain.

“
After a day like today,
”
one of the national officers said,
“
that
’
s not actually that bad.
”

Not bad!
Alice thought, but she was too tired to openly voice any objections.

“
Personally ammunition, particularly that of artillery, is more of a concern to me,
”
said a marine colonel,
“
We burned through nearly twenty percent of our stock today. At that rate, the guns will be reduced to offensive language by the end of the week.
”

“
Yeah but we took out literally one hundred percent of their infantry committed to the assault,
”
another officer said.

“
Because they kept coming until they were all dead. How the hell can any intelligent race accept casualties on that level?
”

“
Gentlemen, I may be able to offer an explanation,
”
said the old admiral.
“
Ms Peats, I
’
m glad to see you are still on your feet. I understand you were a member of the
Harbinger
expedition when the Centaur planet was discovered.
”
The rest of the officers turned to look at her. Alice was too tired and dirty to be intimidated.

“
Yes, that
’
s right,
”
she replied.

“
Good, we
’
ve got the right one,
”
he said turning.
“
Please all of you, follow me.
”

He led them into a lab and straight away Alice could guess what they wanted her for. It was one of the creatures that had been killing them all day, lying on a mortuary slab.

“
Ms Peats,
”
the admiral asked,
“
what can you tell me about this thing?
”

“
Admiral, I
’
m a language specialist not a…
”
she started to object.

“
I know Ms Peats,
”
the admiral cut her off.
“
Dr Moir or Professor Bhaile would have been my first choices, but she
’
s had a psychological breakdown and he
’
s missing presumed dead.
”
Distractedly he then added:
“
Sorry about what happened to your colleagues. Just tell me what you see.
”

Alice walked carefully around the table. Rationally she knew that it was extremely dead, but on an emotional level she didn
’
t want to be anywhere near it. In their last localised attack, several broke through into the section of the trench she was working in, just as the Indians forced their way up to the forward trenches. She found herself in the middle of probably the last firefight of the day. One of the attackers, riddled full of holes, collapsed on top of her, its sheer bulk enough to crack her ribs.