Final Answer by John Walker

Author:John Walker [Walker, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: X05
Published: 2021-05-29T04:00:00+00:00

***

Sadila flinched as a boom struck somewhere to her left outside. A rush of wind carried dust and smoke in front of her, hurling bits of debris along with it. She leaned out to get a look at whatever made the sound. Nothing seemed to be out there. No crater, no flames, no wreckage.

“Anyone on this channel,” Sadila said, “do we have a scan or something on what just happened?”

“Concussion,” Haulda said. “From a large weapon striking the wall opposite your position. Some kind of long-range gun. I’m trying to get a fix on the origin point now. Gomla, any luck from your position?”

“Negative. Though I suspect it was some sort of artillery. Like… a really big gun that fires projectiles. I was unaware the Kahl bothered with such weapons. Such equipment seems like it would be…obsolete with all the energy weapons. Curious. And concerning.”

“How so?” Sadila asked. “And don’t forget, we use knives still. Some things are never out of date.”

Gomla replied, “yes, well… I wouldn’t carry a blade into a gunfight. My worry is they can put anything in those shells. Chemicals, radiation, biological contaminants… they’re a versatile delivery system. Something our ancestors wrote about during the original wars. Though I must tell you, it’s odd we’ve only heard one explosion.”

“How are our allies doing?” Haulda asked. “Perhaps the guns are bombarding them?”

That wouldn’t make sense, Sadila thought. The Kahl went over there to attack the facility. Why would they risk their own people with those things going off? “I think they take a while to reload.”

“That’s possible,” Gomla replied. “After all, they must be old. Also, remember those odd rockets that fired earlier?”

“What about them?” Haulda grumbled. “I’m not sure they’re relevant to our current problem.”

“I’ve got the network for those jammed up. They should not be able to launch another one for a while. I’m not sure what they can do. The individual projectiles stood taller than our biggest building. The destructive potential must be enormous. Enough so we do not want to let them continue lobbing them into space.”

Why haven’t we received word from Zali? Sadila anticipated the resistance would have arrived already, joining the fight. The fact they hadn’t worried her. If they were delayed or cannot be here, we have no way to leave this place. We cannot hold the base forever without someone coming down here to finish the fight for good.

“Scans are up,” Gomla announced. “Incoming enemy forces. Twenty soldiers, three ground vehicles all approaching the front gate.” He paused. “I think they’re in the blind spot for the defensive weapons.”

Haulda replied, “Affirmative. We took possession of their armory. I’ll send people to take care of the vehicles with heavy weapons. Sadila, deploy sisters to repel the men before they get through the gate.”

“Got it.” Sadila called back to the others, “Two of you, with me.” She didn’t wait for them to join her before running toward the breach. Blips appeared on the HUD, giving the exact position of her targets. They’d arrive only a few moments after her, giving them little time to set up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.