Read Online Cross of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marshall S. Thomas
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burnt black, withered branches scratching at the sky in silent protest. The whole forest had been incinerated. There had been quite a fight here, before the O's took the place.
It was raining, a slow, miserable drizzle that showed no signs of letting up. The sky was dark with ugly clouds, and angry bursts of thunder rumbled overhead, a terrible din, rattling my armor. The dead forest rose from rocky ground, and harsh metallic stones jutted out of the muddy earth all around me. I lay there, E at the ready, camfax cloth wrapped around me like a shroud, the rain pattering on my faceplate, all readouts clear, the tacmap showing the whole squad all around me. We were well dispersed. I was uneasy about that. We were supposedly invisible in the Kiss , so why not stay in the craft until we ID'd the target? But no—Legion doctrine was to starburst from the aircar, to avoid losing the whole squad in the event of a hit on the car. Well, we didn't have aircars any more, but now the starburst was done and each of us was presumably visible to whoever had the technology to spot us.
We had already been downside almost an hour and nothing had come after us. The response to our hello had come from a site labelled on our tacmaps as a middle school. It was uncomfortably close to Augusta Starport, too close to suit me. The port was crawling with activity. I felt our time was running out fast. I kept looking up into the sky, watching the rain fall. Whatever was going to come after us would strike from the sky.
"Stay alert, Sweety," I cautioned my Persist.
"All quiet, Three. Analysis of the covert Nova's encryption concludes the message is genuine." Her calm voice always soothed me. The four previous Novas had been completely overt—as if they were afraid of nothing. Now they do a covert one. Anything to delay us. I felt every instant counted. And here we were, dispersed, scattered all over the damned place.
"It's crap, Thinker," Valkyrie whispered in my ears on private. "They're sucking us in." She was sharing her doubts with me, then barking out quick, confident orders to her squad. They were several K away. Another roll of thunder sounded overhead. It was still raining.
"Maybe, maybe not," I replied. "We try. We have no choice."
"All right, Pits, move out," Dragon said calmly. "We're doing the recovery. Recon formation, on me. Mams, stand by to screen us. Kiss, Miss, I don't want anything coming at us. See the screen, gang." I was up and moving through that monstrous chargrilled forest, nervously scanning the rainy sky, the images flickering on my faceplate. I could read the Nova now. It was in the school, a series of low, partially destroyed buildings, an aircar lot, a solar unit, a sports field—the designation rippled over the image: Cold Run Midschool.
"You get that Manlink warmed up, Trigger," Psycho ordered quietly.
"She's cookin', Psycho." I could tell the rest of the squad wasn't feeling any better about the op than I was. I could see them on my tacmap all around me, filtering through the forest, moving eerily from tree to tree, all but invisible. But the 'all but' part, I knew, could get us killed. The school was only a few K away now. I couldn't believe a Legion trooper would set off a rescue Nova in a public building, on a world totally controlled by the O's. It was crazy!
"O ship launching from the port," Little Miss Miss reported. I could hear it, a deep thunder, a phospho dot rising on my tacmap. It was raining harder now. I couldn't see much around me except black, blistered trees.
"Intruder! Omni aircar! Mams, Kiss—it's approaching your position. Permission to fire!"
"Miss, acquiring target."
"Negative, Kiss, Miss," Dragon ordered. "Don't fire unless it moves to attack—prep to fire! Pits, Mams, freeze!"
"O on scope—locked on. If he sneezes, he's dead." Redhawk was maxed out, I could tell, ready to blast the Omni aircar to atoms. I had dropped into the mud, wrapping my camfax cloak around me, clutching my E.
It was raining, a slow, miserable drizzle that showed no signs of letting up. The sky was dark with ugly clouds, and angry bursts of thunder rumbled overhead, a terrible din, rattling my armor. The dead forest rose from rocky ground, and harsh metallic stones jutted out of the muddy earth all around me. I lay there, E at the ready, camfax cloth wrapped around me like a shroud, the rain pattering on my faceplate, all readouts clear, the tacmap showing the whole squad all around me. We were well dispersed. I was uneasy about that. We were supposedly invisible in the Kiss , so why not stay in the craft until we ID'd the target? But no—Legion doctrine was to starburst from the aircar, to avoid losing the whole squad in the event of a hit on the car. Well, we didn't have aircars any more, but now the starburst was done and each of us was presumably visible to whoever had the technology to spot us.
We had already been downside almost an hour and nothing had come after us. The response to our hello had come from a site labelled on our tacmaps as a middle school. It was uncomfortably close to Augusta Starport, too close to suit me. The port was crawling with activity. I felt our time was running out fast. I kept looking up into the sky, watching the rain fall. Whatever was going to come after us would strike from the sky.
"Stay alert, Sweety," I cautioned my Persist.
"All quiet, Three. Analysis of the covert Nova's encryption concludes the message is genuine." Her calm voice always soothed me. The four previous Novas had been completely overt—as if they were afraid of nothing. Now they do a covert one. Anything to delay us. I felt every instant counted. And here we were, dispersed, scattered all over the damned place.
"It's crap, Thinker," Valkyrie whispered in my ears on private. "They're sucking us in." She was sharing her doubts with me, then barking out quick, confident orders to her squad. They were several K away. Another roll of thunder sounded overhead. It was still raining.
"Maybe, maybe not," I replied. "We try. We have no choice."
"All right, Pits, move out," Dragon said calmly. "We're doing the recovery. Recon formation, on me. Mams, stand by to screen us. Kiss, Miss, I don't want anything coming at us. See the screen, gang." I was up and moving through that monstrous chargrilled forest, nervously scanning the rainy sky, the images flickering on my faceplate. I could read the Nova now. It was in the school, a series of low, partially destroyed buildings, an aircar lot, a solar unit, a sports field—the designation rippled over the image: Cold Run Midschool.
"You get that Manlink warmed up, Trigger," Psycho ordered quietly.
"She's cookin', Psycho." I could tell the rest of the squad wasn't feeling any better about the op than I was. I could see them on my tacmap all around me, filtering through the forest, moving eerily from tree to tree, all but invisible. But the 'all but' part, I knew, could get us killed. The school was only a few K away now. I couldn't believe a Legion trooper would set off a rescue Nova in a public building, on a world totally controlled by the O's. It was crazy!
"O ship launching from the port," Little Miss Miss reported. I could hear it, a deep thunder, a phospho dot rising on my tacmap. It was raining harder now. I couldn't see much around me except black, blistered trees.
"Intruder! Omni aircar! Mams, Kiss—it's approaching your position. Permission to fire!"
"Miss, acquiring target."
"Negative, Kiss, Miss," Dragon ordered. "Don't fire unless it moves to attack—prep to fire! Pits, Mams, freeze!"
"O on scope—locked on. If he sneezes, he's dead." Redhawk was maxed out, I could tell, ready to blast the Omni aircar to atoms. I had dropped into the mud, wrapping my camfax cloak around me, clutching my E.
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