Read Online One Good Soldier by Travis S. Taylor - Free Book Online
Authors: Travis S. Taylor
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are dinging like crazy, too. They're here. Be ready for an ambush."
"Bates, get your ass up and keep your head on. Top can't see them, either, but they're here and about to invite us to a party we didn't care to join." Tommy looked back at the young private. "Stay alert, Howser."
"I'm frosty, Sarge," she said. And as far as Tommy could tell the young marine was as frosty as a beer mug. She had the makings of a really good AEM. But only the test of real combat could determine that.
Tommy looked across the landscape and then again at the sensor overlay. The sensors showed return signals from potential targets just ahead of them and scattered about almost randomly. There was no method to the distribution that he could see. There was no front, no perimeter, no flanking positions, nothing that made any military sense. The signal locations looked to him almost like the blue-team troops were just peppered into place on top of the little hill with no defense plan. It didn't make any sense, because Tommy had war-gamed with other crews before and had actually fought with them at the Battle of the Oort, and he knew that American troops are so well-trained that this wasn't the type of stand they would make.
Any ideas? he thought to his AIC.
I'm just as confused as you. I will say that an analysis of the signals since we started detecting them shows them as not having moved a centimeter in the last thirty minutes.
Weird, Tommy thought.
"Suez, we can't just wait this out. I just got word from the colonel that the Blair has just popped into orbit from hyperspace. We're gonna get in the shit really damned quick," First Sergeant McCandless said over the net. "I think it is time to take the fucking hill, marines."
"You got it, Top," Tommy replied. Tommy motioned to his squad to fan out and move forward. Then he stood and slapped his jumpboots against the ground for a bigger bounce. The boots of the armored suit pounded against the ground, storing energy in the repulsor fields in the soles, and then released the energy, slinging him sixty meters forward and twenty meters high. From that vantage point he could see the enemy AEMs spread about the hill. All of them were lying down. Some of them were in prone position, others on their backs, and some of them were on their sides rolled up. Tommy rolled over into a forward flip, landing on his feet and coming down to his right knee. Bates and Howser landed nearby, and he could see Top and her squad hitting ground to the left, synchronized with them. Tommy rushed one of the suits, firing a few simulated rounds into it. As he approached it, he kicked it over onto its back and realized that there was nobody in the armored e-suit.
"What the fuck?" he grumbled. "Top, the suits are empty!"
"Same here, Suez," Top replied.
"Tommy, all of them are empty," Bates informed him as he bounced from suit to suit rapidly with his rifle swinging madly about looking for live targets.
"What does it mean, Staff Sergeant?" PFC Howser bounced beside him and sounded a bit nervous.
"No clue, Private. Somebody is trying to be clever here. But clever how, I'm not sure." Tommy would have scratched his chin to ponder had he not been in an e-suit and had years of training in them not removed such habits from his repertoire. "Better stay alert."
"Top, what's your status?" Colonel Roberts asked over the tac-net.
"We have the objective, Colonel." Tamara answered him with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "We've met no resistance so far, sir."
Tommy bounced his team twice to meet the first sergeant in the middle of the objective coordinates. They had the hill, but for some strange reason it was littered with empty AEM suits from one of the blue-team ships. If there was some tactic or strategy being played, Tommy didn't get it. Then it hit him almost at once as there was a strange hissing sound rattling his suit and then a brilliant flash of light all
"Bates, get your ass up and keep your head on. Top can't see them, either, but they're here and about to invite us to a party we didn't care to join." Tommy looked back at the young private. "Stay alert, Howser."
"I'm frosty, Sarge," she said. And as far as Tommy could tell the young marine was as frosty as a beer mug. She had the makings of a really good AEM. But only the test of real combat could determine that.
Tommy looked across the landscape and then again at the sensor overlay. The sensors showed return signals from potential targets just ahead of them and scattered about almost randomly. There was no method to the distribution that he could see. There was no front, no perimeter, no flanking positions, nothing that made any military sense. The signal locations looked to him almost like the blue-team troops were just peppered into place on top of the little hill with no defense plan. It didn't make any sense, because Tommy had war-gamed with other crews before and had actually fought with them at the Battle of the Oort, and he knew that American troops are so well-trained that this wasn't the type of stand they would make.
Any ideas? he thought to his AIC.
I'm just as confused as you. I will say that an analysis of the signals since we started detecting them shows them as not having moved a centimeter in the last thirty minutes.
Weird, Tommy thought.
"Suez, we can't just wait this out. I just got word from the colonel that the Blair has just popped into orbit from hyperspace. We're gonna get in the shit really damned quick," First Sergeant McCandless said over the net. "I think it is time to take the fucking hill, marines."
"You got it, Top," Tommy replied. Tommy motioned to his squad to fan out and move forward. Then he stood and slapped his jumpboots against the ground for a bigger bounce. The boots of the armored suit pounded against the ground, storing energy in the repulsor fields in the soles, and then released the energy, slinging him sixty meters forward and twenty meters high. From that vantage point he could see the enemy AEMs spread about the hill. All of them were lying down. Some of them were in prone position, others on their backs, and some of them were on their sides rolled up. Tommy rolled over into a forward flip, landing on his feet and coming down to his right knee. Bates and Howser landed nearby, and he could see Top and her squad hitting ground to the left, synchronized with them. Tommy rushed one of the suits, firing a few simulated rounds into it. As he approached it, he kicked it over onto its back and realized that there was nobody in the armored e-suit.
"What the fuck?" he grumbled. "Top, the suits are empty!"
"Same here, Suez," Top replied.
"Tommy, all of them are empty," Bates informed him as he bounced from suit to suit rapidly with his rifle swinging madly about looking for live targets.
"What does it mean, Staff Sergeant?" PFC Howser bounced beside him and sounded a bit nervous.
"No clue, Private. Somebody is trying to be clever here. But clever how, I'm not sure." Tommy would have scratched his chin to ponder had he not been in an e-suit and had years of training in them not removed such habits from his repertoire. "Better stay alert."
"Top, what's your status?" Colonel Roberts asked over the tac-net.
"We have the objective, Colonel." Tamara answered him with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. "We've met no resistance so far, sir."
Tommy bounced his team twice to meet the first sergeant in the middle of the objective coordinates. They had the hill, but for some strange reason it was littered with empty AEM suits from one of the blue-team ships. If there was some tactic or strategy being played, Tommy didn't get it. Then it hit him almost at once as there was a strange hissing sound rattling his suit and then a brilliant flash of light all
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