Osdal (Harmony War Series Book 3) (28 page)

Yu did some creative flying and threw out counter measures. There were some close calls with the freighter getting thrown around and shrapnel peppering the cargo hold. A few thrusters went out, but Young got a working solution going on the fly. The freighter handled even worse than before, but it was functional.

“Unknown freighter this is EMFC Reclaimer flight control. You are showing up on my screen as friendly, give name and ident code,” Flight Control asked, coming through Young and Yu’s implants.

“Flight control this is Bandit Two, former flight crew of Combat Shuttle One Three Nine, flashing ident code,” Young said, dealing with that mess as Yu focused on plowing through the Chosen shuttles. The miners were racing behind them, turning their engines to face the station in order to burn off their speed to make it for the station. Bandit Two wasn’t going to be stopping.

Yu flew and pulled up a schematic of the station.

“Ident confirmed, cleared for access into EMF controlled space. Those unknowns following your tail hostile?” Flight Control asked.

Yu highlighted a hangar door on the station and tossed the rest of the station away, and the waypoint showed up on his HUD. He fired the last two remaining missiles and fired his cannons for a good five second burst.

“No, they are friendly forces, just coming to join the Harmony ass-kicking party.”

“Understood, marking as friendly until deemed otherwise.”

“Flight control I am sending a package containing information on the planet Osdal and its orbit. It contains markers for three freighters that are also docked with said stations. They might be of importance to the higher ups,” Young said.

“I’m getting the info package now, will transmit higher, using it to update my sensor fields.”

Flight Control snapped off just as Yu’s missiles reached the hangar doors, blowing them wide open. Apparently they’d been pressurized, and ships, debris and sections of the station were enveloped in a brief fireball as air was thrown out into the vacuum of space.

The debris spun away from the opening, and the rounds Yu fired made the hole bigger and hit the interior of the station.

“Gold Runner this is Bandit Two, looks like a good run to me. Catch you later.” Yu turned away from the station, clearing his view and pulling up a bookmarked location.

“Understood Bandit Two, thanks for the assist and good luck!” Felicia said.

“Next stop, Mining City Thirty Five. I hope Jerome and Haas haven’t been having too much fun without us,” Yu said, turning the freighter and bleeding off speed. He wanted to get to them quickly, but turning into mush from too much speed was just going to fuck everyone’s day up.

“Hopefully they left enough for us,” Young said.

Chapter 42

Mining City Thirty Five

Osdal Actual, Osdal System

8/3267

“Covering!” Dooks yelled, firing bursts from his metal storm. It was only too easy to drain the thing of rounds, something that the Chosen were finding out.

“Moving!” Jerome and Kojo said, running for new cover. The Chosen weren’t expecting them to advance
at
them.

Jerome slid on the flooring, crashing into a planter, and dust and debris were already coming off the thing as Chosen fired into it.

Jerome waited a few seconds and then peeked out, firing at the Chosen positions.

To his right were glass windows looking out onto Mining City Thirty Five, to his right lay a dining area with chairs and tables and a food court around it. They were in the walkway filled with planters that separated the viewing area of couches, and in front of him it wrapped around, the food court turning into housing units. Past that there were offices and maintenance areas, then the fucking landing pad that was his section’s goal.

Jerome’s finger barely twitched on the metal storm’s trigger; with four rounds per second it only took thirty seconds to spend all a hundred and twenty rounds.

“Covering!” Jerome and Kojo yelled, the Chosen hiding from the fire coming in over their heads.

Jerome peppered one Chosen peeking around a planter and yells went up as Chosen fired wildly. Jerome just continued firing; if he stopped then the others were in danger.

“Moving!” Haas said, and Dooks and Sasaki moved past Jerome and Kojo, sliding on the floor into planters and then firing at the beleaguered Chosen.

The Chosen had only played with their guns, they’d seen the respect they got for simply holding their firearm and any caution or tactics that they’d been taught had been washed away with the knowledge that no one messed with them.

But that had been around unarmed civilians who knew that the Chosen were their own policing force.

Every man under Haas’s command was a blooded veteran who had done nothing but fight for their lives for nearly a decade. Their tactics had been ingrained into their thinking. They moved with purpose, with deadly intent, and that was the difference between the Chosen and Troopers.

On Earth, the Troopers might have been the same way, but you had to fight to stay alive, you didn’t make it off Earth without blood on your hands. The EMF refined that killing talent and pitched them up against anything that looked like it could be a potential combatant.

“Covering!” Haas, Sasaki and Dooks called as one.

There was no hesitation, and Jerome ran forward into the Chosen’s fire.

“Moving!” He and Kojo yelled, the coppery taste of adrenaline in his mouth.

Jerome came up on a planter, poking over to put fire down range, and a Chosen jumped up from behind the planter, eyes wide with fear and panic. They grabbed Jerome’s barrel and Jerome pulled the trigger and they fell away. Another Chosen just a few feet away was getting to their feet, but rounds hammered into them; Jerome’s people were looking out for him as he fired at the Chosen just feet away now.

“Covering!” Jerome called a second after Kojo.

“Moving! Line up together, we will advance up the center and split to clear the planters,” Haas said. “Jerome, Sasaki left, Dooks, Kojo, me right.”

Someone stepped up next to Jerome using the same planter as cover, and Jerome didn’t look, he just kept firing.

“Out!” Jerome yelled, ducking behind the planter and grabbing the barrels of the metal storm. He twisted and pulled them free, his gloves melting from their heat. He grabbed a quick loader with all the barrels attached and he drove it home, twisting the barrels until they locked, pulling the quick loader out.

He stood up and pressed the trigger, and recoil and planter shards greeted his pull.

“Back in!” Jerome called.

“Move it!” Haas said.

Jerome had point and he moved quickly, coming out of cover and firing at any Chosen that looked to put their heads up. He passed over dead Chosen, saw Sasaki right behind him on his HUD, and he could feel Haas shooting beside him and pointed to the right. His HUD confirmed everyone was up and good, only Kojo’s indicator showed yellow instead of green.

They reached large planters where the remaining Chosen were hiding. They were still five meters away from them.

Jerome and Haas ran forward, the rest following. Jerome dropped his shoulder, sliding into view of the Chosen behind the planters who were just peeking up as the fire had reduced. Jerome held down the trigger on the metal storm, guiding a red stream of tracers down the Chosen.

Sasaki kicked him, letting him know she was there as she fired over him, catching any targets he missed

“Clear,” Haas said from his side.

“Clear here,” Jerome said. Kojo was covering in the distance as everyone else put in new barrels on their metal storms.

“Enemy in depth!” Kojo said as he fired, cutting down reinforcing Chosen.

Jerome snapped his barrels into place, rolling on his stomach, firing at the running Chosen.

It was a bloodbath; they didn’t use cover and stared blankly as their friends dropped.

“Moving!” Haas said, but there didn’t appear to be any of the thirty or so Chosen left alive.

Haas, Dooks and Kojo moved up, Kojo reloading as he did so.

“Covering!” Haas said, looking over the planters but not firing as he didn’t see any targets.

“Moving,” Jerome got to his feet and ran forwards, trying to wipe blood off his gun from rolling on the floor.

“We’ll move up in teams until we come under contact,” Haas said.

Jerome slowed his pace, aiming and stepping forward carefully as he went, looking for any threats.

They were now moving into the housing units.

People started opening their doors and looking around, their faces paling at the dead Chosen and advancing Troopers.

“Get the fuck back inside!” Haas shouted. Thankfully most listened, others moved to the Chosen. The Trooper’s guns fired, they couldn’t let them grab the Chosen’s rifles. The people that were watching screamed and hid inside their homes, as if the doors and walls could protect them.

Jerome didn’t care what they did as long as they didn’t try to fight him and stayed the fuck out of the way.

The Troopers quickly advanced, with Dooks trailing making sure nothing came up behind them.

They turned away from the housing units and towards the office units.

“Heavy machine gun!” Kojo yelled, the first one to see the weapon as he pushed Haas down.

Jerome dove for cover behind a planter and the heavy machine gun’s rounds hit Kojo’s breastplate.

It was a terrible sound.

Jerome pulled out the homemade explosives he’d made, throwing what looking like a water bottle at the emplacement. He waited a few seconds and activated the chip inside with his implants.

An explosion ripped through the corridor, and the glass blew out, wind whipping at the room as they were a kilometer and a half up. The office’s lobby and walls opened up, the air throwing them and the contents of the office everywhere.

“Move!”

A glance to Jerome’s HUD showed Kojo as a red blip.

Jerome and the rest of the section listened, running forward into the chaos Jerome’s bomb had made.

They fired at the gun, which was set up in a big planter, and the Chosen scattered around it.

Jerome heard a wind cracking boom outside of the tower and he ducked for cover as the heavy machine gun started firing again.

“This mother fucker is pissing me off!” Jerome hollered, aiming and firing around the side of the planter, catching a Chosen in the leg and then head.

His gun clicked empty.

“I’m out!” Jerome said, tossing the gun away and grabbing the submachine gun he’d taped to his chest.

He turned the corner again, catching two more Chosen before the heavy machine gun found him. He ducked back into cover, but not fast enough. His left arm caught a round. It hit him in the forearm, ripping it apart, pulping his elbow and lower bicep. His wrist and hand went spinning away.

“Fucking mother fucker!” Jerome fought through the pain, ripping his shirt up to his upper arm where the smart cloth and the blade that Mark and Tyler gifted him lay. He pulled the blade and sent commands to the smart cloth which tightened painfully. He tucked the blade away as his augments pumped him up with endorphins and go juice, the smart cloth wrapping acting as a tourniquet.

“This is Bandit Two, targets sighted, fire mission incoming,” Young said in Jerome’s headset. A moment later and the glass side of the tower disintegrated under the converted freighter’s fire. Tracers cut into the Chosen and left holes in the office walls.

All Jerome could do was huddle down against that firepower.

“Meet you at the landing pad,” Young reported.

“Move it!” Haas barked.

They rose up into the howling wind and flying debris, rushing towards the chosen positions.

Jerome shot at anything that was moving.

They continued on, and Jerome saw that Kojo’s red marker was being carried by Dooks. He would have felt bad about leaving the man behind; he didn’t want to know what Harmony would have done with the body.

The freighter was waiting for them, all of its weaponry out and looking for targets.

Yu spun the craft so the rear ramp touched the landing pad. As soon as Jerome and his people were in the cargo hold, the freighter’s engines kicked in and it went into a dive, losing altitude for speed.

Jerome collapsed on the floor as the rear cargo door was sealing. Someone produced a blanket and put it over Kojo’s body and secured him to the wall.

“Good to see you Jerome,” Tal said, pulling out a med-kit and a printer.

“Ah shit, this is gonna suck,” Jerome said, holding his stub out to Tal.

“We’ll get you sorted out quick as you can say Fuck Harmony,” Bairamov said, holding onto Jerome’s shoulders.

“Let’s do it,” Jerome said, psyching himself up and grabbing the underside of the collapsible seat racks.

Tal put a piece of wood in Jerome’s teeth and pulled out a Vibra-Blade, making a clean cut, as fast as possible. Jerome yelled out, trying to stop his thrashing.