Fresh Fruit and Ammo (Abner Fortis, ISMC Book 3) by P.A. Piatt

Author:P.A. Piatt [Piatt, P.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2021-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Chapter Twenty-Two

Ward took the first watch while the rest of the men huddled down to get some sleep. The night was completely black, but he noticed a white glow on the horizon. It was a steady light, not the flickering of a flame, but there was no sound. He puzzled over it for the entirety of his watch but couldn’t decide what it was.

When Gomez relieved him, Ward pointed out the light. Gomez agreed it was unusual and said he would keep an eye on it. Ward curled up under the self-propelled gun and tried to sleep, but his mind turned over the strange light.

Just as he thought of an idea what it might be, Ward dropped off into a heavy slumber.

At first light, Ward woke to find the rest of the Space Marines up and ready to go.

“I wracked my brain until I fell asleep, and I think it’s a space port,” he told the group. “It makes sense that the Maltaani would establish a logistics hub to support their troops.”

“It could be a mine,” interjected Donk. “Is there anything on this rock worth digging up?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Whatever it is, we should recon it. We’ll patrol that way until we make contact and then figure out how to proceed. Questions?”

Nobody spoke.

“Gear up, ladies, we move out in five.”

They made rapid progress across the rocky desert. There wasn’t much cover, so Ward had Gomez take point a hundred meters in front of the trucks. Ward drove the self-propelled gun and Welch handled the truck, while Donk and Jocko patrolled fifty meters to their flank. They would enter an area of low rolling hills, Gomez would signal for a halt, then scramble to the top of the next hill to take a look. If it was clear he would wave the formation into motion.

After six hours of steady movement, Gomez spent a long time observing the far side of a distant rise before he jogged back to the trucks.

“There’s a big white building over there,” he told the gathered Space Marines. “It has a tall antenna-looking thing on top. There’s a fence around it with lights on top and some vehicles parked inside. I watched for a while, but I didn’t see any movement.”

“It’s not a space port?”

“I don’t think so, but we’re not close enough to get a good look.”

Ward and Gomez returned to the observation point to recon the mystery building while the others waited with the vehicles.

Gomez’s description was spot on. The white building had a tall antenna on top and the facility was surrounded by a wire fence. The vehicles parked inside the fence had four wheels and looked like Terran golf carts. After a few minutes, Ward waved Gomez down and they huddled up.

“I don’t see anything happening there, but we need to get a look from different angles. Let’s work our way around this side and see what it looks like from the far edge of this rise.”

Gomez led Ward along the base of the rise until it started to become level with the surrounding desert.

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.