~
After a few minutes, Julian stopped, raised his left fist, and took a knee, weapon raised and ready to fire.
“Twelve o’clock.” Sue heard his voice, an amplified whisper. She took a knee and waited. After a few seconds that seemed to last an eternity, Julian lowered his hand, palm down and out to his left. Although even the barest whisper would be heard inside the helmets, using hand signs for when they preferred quiet was something Tac Hordvik had emphasized time and again. You never knew what the enemy heard, or what equipment they might have gotten their hands on. Sue crept carefully forward, taking up position a few meters left of Julian. They were almost ready.
They looked at each other, and Sue held up five fingers. Both made sure their spare magazines were within easy reach and pointed the right way. Everything to make time spent changing as short as possible. Four. Sue glanced through her scope and made a small adjustment for distance. The enemy was no more than sixty or seventy meters in front of them, dragging the heavy rocket launcher between them. One looked injured. Three. There seemed to be six or seven of them. With the element of surprise, Sue and Julian should be able to take them out swiftly. Sue was acutely aware that these would probably be hardened veterans, though. Two. She was green. So green. But training did count for something, and there was no better training than that of the Janissaries. One.
They fired simultaneously, and two enemies fell at once. Sue moved the barrel slightly and fired again. One more down. She heard Julian fire two quick bursts, and followed up with one of her own. Missed. One of the savages managed to get a burst off in their direction, and she heard a scream both through her helmet and from the outside.
“Shit shit shit!” Julian screamed as he dropped his weapon. Sue fired another burst, and the shooter fell to the ground. She looked at Julian, who had taken cover. He was clutching his hand, bleeding. The medics would fix that back in camp. Painful, obviously, but nothing serious. His weapon was done for, though. Now, she was on her own. She focused, leaving Julian with his injury. How many left?
A stray bullet almost got her, but the defense bots deflected it. The suit was designed to deflect or stop bullets, but it didn’t always work, and some parts of the body were more difficult to cover than others. The helmet, though, had some of the best defensive capabilities, including nano bots that within a microsecond could merge into an almost invisible shield in the air, a centimeter or so outside the helmet itself, and deflect the incoming bullet. It would destroy the bots, but could save her life. It just had, and she gave a quick thanks to the now wrecked little invisible fellows that would have to be replaced once they got back. If they got back.
She moved a meter to her left, in order to make for a less obvious target. In a split second, she saw movement, and she raised her weapon and fired a long burst almost even as she was still lifting the weapon. She heard a scream, and another voice shouted something. A female voice.
Sue edged forward to have a closer look. There, pinned down in a small depression, Sue could see one leg sticking out. Careless, she thought, taking aim. A single shot, and another scream. She got to her feet and ran toward the enemy, hunched low, aware that she might be wrong, there might be others.
She stood above the woman, covering her with the rifle. The woman rolled over, wincing from the injury.
“Me tuer, meurtrier!” the woman said. She couldn’t be older than Sue, but the wide eyes and scruffy hair did nothing to hide her contempt. Sue didn’t know what to do. Clearly, they couldn’t let her go. But they had strict rules that taking prisoners was to be avoided. But here she was, holding her weapon at a girl that could have been her sister or a friend back in Charlestown, and she couldn’t simply shoot her. She had no idea what those words meant, but it didn’t matter. She glanced over at Julian as he came walking toward them, hoping that he would come up with a solution.
It all happened in an instant.
The woman drew the sidearm from underneath her and pulled the trigger. Had she been steadier, more experienced perhaps, Sue would be dead. Instead, the shot went off a split second before the gun actually pointed at her, and Sue reacted instinctively. A three-round burst. The woman shook a couple of times before she fell silent, eyes still wide from the shock.
“Shit, that was close,” Julian said. “Are you okay?”
Sue nodded, dazed. She had just killed five people. That was in addition to the five or so killed back by the tree line. And the last one was a woman her own age. A prisoner. Nausea was quickly building up.
“Hey!” she heard Julian say, distant at first. “Hey! Don’t break down on me now, Sue. You did what you had to do. Let’s just do what we came to do and get the hell out of here.”
Sue could feel a calm coming that didn’t seem completely natural. The AI, she thought, as her mind began to focus on the task at hand. She breathed deeply, and exhaled, the nausea gone and composure regained.
“You got a charge ready?” she asked. Julian nodded and tried to reach his pocket on his left side with his good hand. He fumbled a little, and Sue reached over.
“Let me,” she said. Their eyes met, and she noticed his half-smile behind his visor. She looked away and reached into his pocket, grabbing the multi charge. She walked over to the rocket launcher, which looked intact still, with just a few small dents from the small-arms fire. She placed the charge beside the firing mechanism, so that it would inflict the most damage.
“Let’s go,” she said, keeping her eyes away from Julian’s.
They walked for a couple of minutes, Sue in front, weapon ready. Just in case. Once Sue thought they were far enough away, they stopped. Sue took out a small controller unit and pressed a button. After a moment, a red light turned green, and she pressed the button again.
The blast wasn’t as powerful as she remembered from training. But here, in these woods, all sounds were muffled by foliage. They waited for half a minute before resuming their walk. Neither of them spoke. Instead, Sue switched to team frequency.
“Two-One-Bravo, this is Two-Four-Bravo.”
“This is Two-One-Bravo. You guys done yet?” Tac Hordvik answered.
“Affirmative. Any news on exfil?” Sue hoped the airship would be there in time to save Quinn and get them out before the enemy realized they had wounded Janissaries that would be an easy target if they came in force. The tacticus remained silent for a few seconds before replying.
“We have a go for exfil. So get your butts over here A.S.A.P., before the big shots decide to leave without you.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be there. Two-Four-Bravo out.”
“You hear that?” she said to Julian.
“Yeah. Let’s get a move on.”
They ran as quickly as they could, and Sue worried that if an enemy spotted them, they would be defenseless. But there were no more enemies around, and they soon reached the clearing where the others were waiting, just as the airship arrived. Keisha ran a few meters off and began directing the airship as it lowered toward them. Once it hung just five meters or so above ground, a cage that looked like a cross between a basket and an elevator was lowered. Two heavily armored airmen, sporting some fancy weaponry Sue didn’t recognize, leapt out and covered the Janissaries. Two medics lifted Quinn onto a stretcher and carried him into the cage. Julian followed right behind, clutching his damaged hand.
“Shouldn’t we pick up Brad?” she said to Tac Hordvik, who looked like he was about to fall over from blood loss. He just shook his head.
“He’s gone, either way, Atlas. Care for the living.” Keisha came running, and Sue followed her in. Once his team was inside, Tac Hordvik ushered the airmen to follow, and he got in last. The cage quickly rose up inside an opening in the belly of the airship. The doors underneath them banged shut, and they exited the basket and strapped themselves into seats in the back.
Once the airship picked up speed, Sue finally let herself relax. She took off her helmet and laid her head back. She was restless, though, and
she could feel her hands begin to shake. No magic injections from the AI this time, now that she wasn’t in any immediate danger.
Her mind was racing. Could she have done anything differently? How would the tacticus feel about her taking charge back there? Why did that woman have to draw that gun on her? What if she had disarmed her properly in the first place, would the woman be alive now? She had killed people…
Tac Hordvik scooted over to sit beside her. She could see he was in pain and wondered why he hadn’t received any painkiller meds yet. They sat quiet for a moment, and she was the first to break the silence between them.
“I’m sorry, Tac. I shouldn’t have run off like that. Injury or no injury, you are still my superior…”
He waved her off.
“You did well out there, Atlas. If not for your quick thinking, we’d still be down there, and Quinn would be dead for sure. For an initiate, you sure did raise hell today.” He grinned, as she blushed.
“Okay… Are you sure, I mean, Tac…” He shook his head.
“What you did out there today took a lot of courage. You did the right thing, even though it could have cost you, had you pulled that on someone else. Me, I don’t care about any of that.” He smiled again and offered his hand. She took it and returned his firm grip.
“Oh, and Sue, my first name isn’t Tac. It’s Evan. Evan Hordvik.” Sue laughed softly. The day had been so full of loss and hardship, but in the end, she had gained a new friend.