Chapter 765: The Inheritor's War

Chapter 765: The Inheritor's War

"The only way you'll see combat, Sergeant, is if you get busted to private!"

Vuxten stared at the holotank, opening and closing his hands slowly. He was partially aware of the officers and senior NCO's in the TOC watching him out of the corners of their various ocular organs, including several eyestalks, but he ignored it.

On the holotank, Alpha Company, 4th Telkan Rifleman Battalion, was engaged in combat. There was a collage of suit sensor view windows up and while the feeds were muted Vuxten knew through long experience what he would hear if he turned on the volume.

"Go to rockets," Vuxten whispered, watching two Telkan Riflemen engage an AAWM with their rifles. Their grenade launchers were chuffing, the grenades erupting with the bluish-white snap of antimatter, but only ripping divots in the heavy armor. "Go to armor defeating rockets," he whispered again.

Their LT's lips moved and the two Riflemen suddenly knelt down and fired all four rockets from their shoulder launcher.

The Atrekna Autonomous War Machine exploded.

Vuxten's hands didn't unclench as his eyes looked over the windows. In one set a squad was pinned down by insectile Atrekna servitors, that were advancing and firing laser weapons.

"They're on your right. They're flanking you," Vuxten whispered. "Throw prisms and reposition."

In the tiny pictures prism-cloud grenades blossomed and the squad dashed through sprays of rainbow color to take cover behind the L-shaped remains of a wall.

Another set of windows showed a trio of Telkan Marines crouched down on an upper floor of a ruined skyraker, setting up a rapid fire missile launcher.

"You forgot the mass reclaimation hose," Vuxten said almost silently, clenching and unclenching his hands.

One of the troopers had already motioned and another had hooked up the camo'd hose with a thin blue stripe to the nanoforge.

Vuxten knew there was a few seconds lag on the visuals, but he couldn't help himself.

Another squad was kneeling down in a knee deep puddle of water, surrounded by steam, venting heat hard. Their greenies were out and checking their heavy assault armor.

"Check your 318, make sure coolant line four is clear," Vuxten said softly even as the heavy weapon gunner popped the cooling line free and shook it out at the pointed directions of an armored greenie.

A bladearm dropped onto his shoulder and Vuxten turned to look up at Colonel Brett T'Klakak. "Yes, sir?"

"Walk with me, son," the massive Warrior caste Treana'ad said softly, turning away and heading out of the TOC, his helmet automatically unfolding and covering his triangular head.

Vuxten grabbed his helmet, slapping it on. The positive pressure system made his ears pop and he saw 471's icon go from having 'zzzzz' next to it to blue.

--what-- 471 asked.

"Colonel wants to talk to me," Vuxten said.

--which one--

"CO of 7th Armor Regiment," Vuxten answered, stepping through the positive pressure airlock, letting the mist hiss down on him for a moment.

Outside the sky was burning, ash floating down from clouds that were low and glowed a sullen red.

A flight of a dozen aerospace fighters lifted off from the airfield a half-klick away and clawed for the sky with screaming turbines and howling grav-engines.

The Colonel stood at the edge of the berm, overlooking the cleared terrain that was already e-staked and marked for interlocking fields of fire from the emplaced crew served weaponry. His bladearms were behind his back, his helmet unfolded, and Vuxten could tell by the slightly hunched shoulders and the way the Colonel's head was tilted he was lighting a cigarette.

Vuxten tabbed up a piece of stimgum and moved next to the Colonel.

"How long have you been in this man's military?" the Colonel asked, puffing at his cigarette.

"Five years Galactic, seven years personal," Vuxten said. "Not counting six months... um..."

"Detached ecclesiastical duty," the Colonel said, snapping his lighter closed. "Being TDY to the Chaplain Corps?"

"Assaulting Heaven with the Devil to rescue God," Vuxten said. He closed his eyes, remembering the way the phasic shades of dead Terrans had swarmed him, clawing at him, while he fought with fist and chainsword. He shuddered.

The Colonel nodded slowly, staring out at the No Man's Land.

"I have been an officer in this man's military for seventy years," he said slowly. "I started in Ordnance Corps, an Ordnance Officer, did a stint with Explosive Ordnance Disposal, then transferred to artillery," the massive insect said slowly, his voice distant. "Saw action during Clownface for the first time. I was a Captain in charge of an artillery unit. The big twenty-inch guns, the kind you can rip a city apart in a few days."

Vuxten nodded.

"It was bad. Real bad. I still have nightmares about it," the big Warrior said. "It got down to bladearms and pistols, then rifle butts and the nearest rock. I broke both of my bladearms in close combat. At one point I stabbed a man to death with another Warrior's bladearm I'd pulled out of that very enemy's body."Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

More and more Telkan were slamming down against the berm, bringing their weapons into play.

The artillery was still hammering the woodline, marching away from the initial impacts and the berm.

The Colonel touched his implant. "Give me a ghost-toastie on the previous coordinates. Thank you."

Plasma enhanced napalm hit the trees, the flames a faint blue and white, mostly transparent.

The trees heated up so quickly most exploded rather than burned.

The next wave of insects were on fire, screeching as they boiled inside their carapaces.

The Colonel touched his datalink again. "Colonel's compliments to your gun crews."

A tank rolled up, stopping behind the troops laying on the berm. The launchers opened up and the VLS (Vertical Launch System) pods flushed racks of 48 missiles, the grav drivers launching them straight into the air. The missiles howled out, leveled off, and slammed into the fading treeline.

Insects were torn apart and thrown into the sky.

Vuxten noted that the woods were just gone for nearly a half kilometer from the previous edge of the forest. Trees were being chopped down by firepower, were burning from the artillery hits, and exploding from the sudden heat transfer.

Lasers were still cracking through the air, even as more insects poured from the forest.

The Colonel touched his implant. "Give me a shake and bake in the woods around the entire FOB, if you would."

Vuxten clenched his fists, wishing he could grab his rifle and join his troops belly down on the berm.

The trees started exploding as heavy artillery rounds started pounding the forest only ninety seconds later.

"Boys are on the ball," the Colonel mused. He touched his datalink. "Get shredder drones up, mortar section. Thank you."

The drones laden canisters popped only a hundred meters off the deck and the warbois went live, screeching and slamming their bloody faces against the sensors. As soon as they saw one the insects they deployed their vibroblades and swooped down to rake the Atrekna servitor troops trying to cross No Man's Land around the FOB.

A laser struck the Colonel's shoulder armor, marring the forest camouflage paint scheme but doing little else.

The insect that had fired the shot ate a burst of mag-rifle shot and flew apart.

Tanks had rolled up to the berm, separated by roughly a hundred meters apart, with the Telkan Marines in between, having rolled out of the way so the tanks could use their main gun.

Vuxten saw the PAC clerk, a female Ikeekik, firing her weapon at the onrushing insectoids. Next to her was a rifleman on her right and a fuel jockey on her left, all them firing their weapons.

A laser tapped Vuxten's left thigh, but the remaining energy after traveling through the micro-prism mist fields didn't have enough energy to do anything to the inlaid and enameled armor over his thigh.

Finally the insectoids were no longer coming out of the burning forest. The artillery was hammering the forest further and further back. Something important exploded with the bright eye-watering flash of a phasic construct collapsing.

Shots were petering out as no targets could be found.

The Ikeekik raked some of the insect bodies just in case.

"CEASE FIRE!" the Colonel called out.

A few troopers pulled the trigger once or twice more. A few artillery rounds hit and Vuxten knew it was because it was easier to pull the lever than unload the gun. The tank's VLS cell covers closed.

The only sound was the forest fire.

"Look, Major," the Colonel said, pointing off to the side.

A tiny butterfly danced on the breeze, iridescent wings beating slowly as it surfed the air currents. It landed on the edge of the tank, slowly opening and closing its wings.

"How did you know, sir?" Vuxten asked, staring at the tiny butterfly.

"That they were massing in the woods?" the Colonel asked. He put out the butt of his cigarette against the scraped and scuffed side of his bladearm, rolled out the excess tobacco, and put the remaining paper and filter in his pocket.

"Yes, sir," Vuxten said.

"If I tell you, you won't figure it out for yourself, son," the Colonel said. He waved his arm. "Stand to, one hour, then return to duty," he called out as he turned around. He headed back toward the TOC, humming a Rigellian pop song to himself.

Vuxten just stood there, one foot on the berm, staring at the burning forest.