The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (73 page)

“
Alright. I
’
ll make the arrangements to evacuate the affected caverns,
”
Eulenburg said heavily before turning to Reynolds.
“
I
’
m going to need to make an announcement to the population. We can
’
t hide this and there is no point even trying. Governor, may I ask you to make the necessary arrangements?
”

“
Of course,
”
she replied.

When she left Eulenburg turned back to the Brigadier.

“
What are you holding back, Sebastian?
”

“
No information Alfred. Just an opinion.
”

“
Which is?
”

“
Douglas Base is going to fall,
”
Chevalier answered simply.
“
Even if we fend off this assault there will be others. We will end up going the same way as the Chinese. The first time the Nameless get a foothold, be it on the surface or down here, we won
’
t be able to force them back.
”

“
Do you have an alternative?
”

“
The backdoor is still available. Which surprises me but it does indicate that the Nameless aren
’
t watching as closely as they could.
”

“
You want me to pour nearly a million and a half people out through a passageway less than five metres wide? Then tell them to fend for themselves?
”
The Admiral
’
s voice was even and calm.

“
Yes,
”
Chevalier replied.
“
You know the status of the food stocks. I know you took a lot of political heat in December when you cut the food rations to the minimum, but if you hadn
’
t, we would have run out by now. The same is true of really everything else.
”
Chevalier looked around Four C.
“
This place was never meant to stand off an indefinite close siege. War was supposed to either pass us by, or any siege was to have been lifted. For all the fleet
’
s great efforts, Kite String bought us only a few more months. There is also the fact that the Nameless lost a lot of ground troops in the bombardment because of the bombardment the fleet put in. That gives us a good opportunity to mount a breakout because the chances of success are higher now than they will be in the future.
”

Eulenburg stood silent for several moments thinking.

“
Sebastian, you are the marine. Can so many people hide in the uncharted regions and live off the land?
”

“
Fortunately it was a mild winter and spring is well underway. The forested regions will give cover and food. If people keep moving and spread out then they stand a better chance in the long term. Remember these aren
’
t like the population back on Earth. They are frontier people to begin with.
”

“
It is going to be a hard sell, Sebastian, not least because some - a lot - will be left behind. The old and the sick, they won
’
t be able to survive out there.
”
Eulenburg smiled sadly. Between them they ticked both those boxes.
“
Also a lot of soldiers will have to stay to hold the Nameless back.
”

“
It will only get harder with time, Alfred. In the end what is our duty here?
”

“
To save as many as we can.
”

_____________________

30
th
August 2067

She
’
d had a good run, but her luck had finally run out. Barely conscious, the casualty let out a faint groan as Alice tightened the tourniquet around what remained of his left arm. In the darkness spilt field rations, blood and fragments of flesh mixed together into one black puddle. The blood, which had been spurting out with every beat of his heart, slowed to an ooze. Assuming they could move him soon he would probably last long enough to at least get him to a dressing station. One of her work party moved slightly and instantly a bullet blew a chunk out of the parapet above his head. Alice didn
’
t look up from the casualty as Damien swore at him. Just like the casualty, he was new to her squad, new to the surface and at the rate he was going, he wasn
’
t going to last long enough to get much older.

Pale skinned and used to the safety of the shelters, they really were like children, with no understanding of the dangers on the surface. The casualty - he hadn
’
t been in the squad long enough for her to remember his name - had assumed that because it was still dark and they were in the support line of trenches there was no immediate danger. When they
’
d reached a shallow point in the trench, rather than crawl to stay beneath the parapet, as the more experienced members of the squad did, he merely stooped. The sniper had nailed him instantly.

When Damien took the rest of the squad forward with ammunition and food, she along with the other two newbies waited for the stretcher-bearers. It wasn
’
t necessary for them all to wait, but the sight of someone bleeding in the mud might mean they didn
’
t need stretcher-bearers themselves.

They were supposed to be back at the reserve line by the time dawn came but the orderly trenches they
’
d dug all those months ago were a thing of the past. Shellfire, trenches lost and new ones dug to counter enemy moves had all taken their toll on the network. As a result it was now a mess of interconnecting unmapped muddy ditches in which people could and did get lost. Sticking your head up to get your bearings was not advisable. So as the dawn touched the trench line, Alice was sitting on the fire step of the frontline trench, coffee mug in hand as her squad dropped supplies in the frontline dumps. She should probably have been helping but once they were done, they
’
d have to make their way back to the support line. Thanks to the casualty they would have to do so without the benefit of the cover of darkness.

“
You guys still manage to get the good stuff,
”
she said to Rob as the two of them sat on the fire step.
“
Don
’
t know how though,
‘
cos I know we aren
’
t bringing it.
”

“
Just a matter of knowing a man, Doc,
”
Rob replied as he lowered his own mug. He nodded towards the damp bloodstains on her pants.
“
That anyone I know?
”

“
One of my guys.
”

“
Oh
…
he
’
d be?
”

“
My first, yeah.
”
Alice took another gulp of coffee.
“
You never forget your first, or so I
’
m told.
”

“
Anyone I know?
”

“
A new guy,
”
she replied shaking her head.
“
It
’
s always a new guy. This one was with us for all of
…
six hours. Sniper.
”

“
Yeah, bloody infiltrators,
”
Rob said.
“
They send out a dozen every night. Most nights we get all of them before they reach our frontline. But they keep sending them.
”

“
You missed one tonight,
”
Alice observed.

“
Yeah, we
’
ll have to flush it out. That might cost us a couple of guys,
”
Rob said, before pausing to take a mouthful of coffee.
“
I
’
ll tell you this Doc. I still can
’
t get used to these things. None of those snipers ever gets back. If they last long enough to exhaust their ammo, they charge. They don
’
t even try to get back. They have no survival inst…
”

He paused and looked up into the murky sky, Alice heard it to.

“
Bouncer!
”
Rob bellowed down the trench as both of them sprang to their feet. One of Alice
’
s squad, one of the newbies, was standing nearby and he looked around puzzled. Alice glanced up, just long enough to see something tumbling through the air towards them. Everyone who saw it realised it was going to land in the bay. Lunging for the traverse, Alice grabbed the newbie
’
s arm and dragged him after her. As they rounded the corner she heard a soft thump as it landed behind them, then a deafening bang. Alice hit the trench wall hard.

_____________________

The column of refugees was quiet and well ordered, their eyes downcast and their clothing worn, clutching the few personal belonging they
’
d been able to bring to Douglas. Marines were stationed along the passageway but it looked like their presence wasn
’
t necessary, as everyone was keeping to the left, leaving the right hand side clear for military personnel. As he made his way along the passageway Eulenburg reflected that in some ways he would have preferred a bit of anger. It would have shown life. Trudging along with their heads down, these people had the look of cattle, meekly awaiting the arrival of the slaughter man. Could they really be sent out into the wilds? He
’
d allowed the evacuation to be a slow affair to avoid any panic and to give the other caverns a chance to reorganise.

As the civilians vacated the space, work parties cleared the area, changing the shelter into a killing ground. The squad sergeant noticed him as he approached and alerted his officer with a discrete cough.

“
Sir,
”
the lieutenant said saluting sharply but a little awkwardly. The young officer was in one of the first of the modified armoured suits on which all the frontal armour had been reinforced. This increased protection would be at the expense of mobility, but when the fighting began, it would be all about brutal short-range fire fights and the defenders would need to be able to stand and trade punches. Two of the soldiers were carrying locally manufactured plasma guns - another Douglas Base innovation. It had always been said that plasma weapons couldn
’
t work inside a planetary atmosphere because the bolt would almost immediately lose coherency. But a civilian engineer had come up with a way for it to hold together for nearly thirty-five metres before the magnetic field failed, sending searing plasma over everyone and everything within reach. The device was in breach of any number of weapons treaties, but it was one of their few aces.

“
Are you ready?
”

“
I wouldn
’
t say no to more time, sir, but we
’
re ready. We have stone bunkers for the machineguns and walls to cover the firing positions for the rest. On their side it
’
s as smooth as a bowling lane with not a square inch of cover,
”
the lieutenant replied as he glanced toward the wall,
“
If they come through there and they don
’
t know we
’
re waiting for them, then it will be a massacre. We
’
ll butcher them, then the assault force will move forward. If they do know, well then they
’
re going to run into a brick wall.
”

There was only one very primitive and very carefully disguised motion sensor on the far side of the wall. On the human side there was a small red light set into the stone. A micro fine wire had been run through to avoid any signal that might be detected. Each flicker of the light was an indication of movement.

“
Respectfully sir, I don
’
t think you should be here,
”
the young man added.
“
They could come through here any time now.
”

Eulenburg looked at the wall.

“
This will be the frontline very soon,
”
he said to no one in particular.