Mutineer by Mike Shepherd

Author:Mike Shepherd [Shepherd, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science fiction; American, Science Fiction, Adventure, Imaginary wars and battles, Women marines, Longknife; Kris (Fictitious character), Military, Space warfare
ISBN: 9780441011421
Publisher: Berkley Pub. Group
Published: 2004-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

Two people huddled on either side of a tree trunk. Both were shooting as fast as they could pull the trigger. Kris sent a burst into the trunk, shattering bark and splinters over them.

They ducked. One was on his feet in a second, running, his rifle left behind. The other one shouted something, then went back to shooting. Kris put a burst between his eyes as her magazine ran dry. Reloaded, Kris shouted, "A Team," as she got to her knees, "prepare to advance." The next tree row would put them damn close to the hostiles. "Advance. Now!"

Kris fired a long, high burst as she raced forward, past the tree row occupied by her troops and into the space beyond. A pair in front of her threw up their hands and fell to their knees. Kris would have sleepy darted them, but there was no time for that now. "Run! Damn you!" she shouted. .

Instead, they fell on their faces in the mud as bullets smashed into the tree near them.

Kris spotted the shooter and sent him sprawling backward with a long burst.

Kris slid to ground behind a tree trunk. "B Team, prepare to advance. Advance. Tom, what's it look like on your front?"

"Damned if I know," was an unusual reply from the ensign. "We have people all over the place. Some running. Some advancing. Kris, I have no idea what is happening."

"Courtney, can you hold?"

"I've pulled half of us back so that they have a longer walk to get around us. I think more of them are running than fighting. Maybe. Just a second." Lots of rapid small arms fire over Courtney's live mike. "Yeah, more are running."

"Scouts, how is the right flank?"

"Plenty of targets, ma'am. Someone's pushing them at us, and I can't seem to find the bastard. We could use any spare help you got."

Kris stood up, trying to listen to the sounds of the battle around her. Damn! What she'd give for thirty seconds of Sky Eye feed. The wind whipped the rain in her face as she turned to her right flank, bringing with it the crackle of small arms fire. She'd robbed Peter to pay Paul, helping out Courtney on her left. Now it sounded like her right was going all to hell. "Spens, you take charge of this line, link up with Ensign Lien, and keep pushing the bandits toward the hills."

"Yes ma'am."

"I'm taking the three Navy I can see," Kris said, signaling the only trigger pullers in sight; one was a marine. "Wherever the other two marines are, fall out of line and join me on the right."

“Yes, ma'ams” answered her.

Kris dropped back through the orchard rows, collecting her handful around her. The sound of fire grew louder. She kept her crew moving but did not return fire, even though an occasional stray fusillade came their way. This was her last reserve.

Whoever was hitting her right still could roll up her flank; the day was not over. Her one hope was to hit them so suddenly that they broke and ran before they knew what faced them.

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.