Return to Dakistee (A Galaxy Unknown, Book 8) by Thomas DePrima

Author:Thomas DePrima
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw
Publisher: Vinnia Publishing
Published: 2011-12-13T06:00:00+00:00

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

~ October 24th, 2285 ~

Christa was near the camp perimeter when the next fighter appeared. She had no choice but to temporarily abandon the wounded and dive into the perimeter trench as a pattern of lattice rounds began to stitch the ground towards her, kicking dirt and small rocks into the air. But as soon the fighter passed overhead, she was out of the trench and racing towards a fallen victim.

It seemed like a never-ending activity as more and more of the laborers who had been cowering in their dig holes finally realized the open pits offered only a modicum of safety from the death raining down upon them. Each time a fighter completed a flyover, laborers would leap up and race towards the tunnel entrance. When a new fighter appeared, they dove headlong into the nearest excavation until it was safe to run again. It was unfortunate that there were no foxholes in the base compound and that the trench was a hundred meters from the tunnel entrance, but neither Christa nor Uronson had ever contemplated an aerial attack such as this one.

As the number of injured outside the tunnel had grown, several of the Marines had put down their weapons and concentrated on getting the wounded under cover, but as the flow began to ebb, they picked up their weapons and added their strength to those who had continued the return fire. One fighter was damaged enough to break off its attack and another crashed into the forest a few kilometers beyond the area cleared for the dig site.

The fighters continued to make pass after pass, but everyone left alive was finally inside the tunnel. A number of wounded whom Christa didn't expect would survive had been carried into the tunnel so the medical people could try to save them.

From her vantage point inside the tunnel entrance, Christa could see at least two dozen bodies within the camp perimeter. Every one of them had been checked for a pulse before being left on the field. It was impossible to check the entire dig-site because the cover was so limited and the attacks were so frequent.

"Who's attacking us, Commander?" Christa heard from behind. Recognizing the voice as belonging to Carmoody, Christa said, "I don't know, Gracie. All I really know for sure is that the fighters are a Nordakian design."

"Nordakian? But they're part of the Galactic Alliance."

"The attackers aren't Nordakian military. That ship design was retired decades ago and the Nordakians never mounted lattice cannons on any of their ships. Someone apparently got their hands on some old fighters, probably part of a scrap salvage deal that had been stripped of their original weapons. They repaired the ships and then rearmed them with illegal weapons. The lattice cannons probably came from some rogue arms merchants. At least I hope they were rogue. The Tsgardi are well known for illegal arms sales. I'd hate to think the Tsgardi still haven't learned their lesson."

"They must be Raiders then," Carmoody said.

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.