Strange Company by Nick Cole

Author:Nick Cole [Cole, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: WarGate Nova
Published: 2021-03-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Drop Zero Six Valkyrie was just climbing off the roof of the shot-to-hell terminal when the first fast movers streaked across the battlefield and smoked a bunch of air assets including the Valkyrie One Eight—the HK model on overwatch. A rain squall came out of nowhere as the clouds above flashed lightning, changing eerie colors for an instant. Rain crashed through the open cargo door, dousing us with hot droplets. It felt dirty and oily. Burning like the acid rain on some worlds.

I heard the star scream of the Monarch interceptors as they came in fast. At the same moment I heard the massive thunder break in the skies, snapping and crackling all around us. All ambient noise got suddenly weirdly quiet an instant later. The only sounds that stood out, at least to me on the deck of the drop, was the sound of the comm chatter between the pilots and Resistance combat air control, which was still operational despite the total rout going down along our line. I could hear that and the chatter of the door gunner, a bitter chick with a mean mouth dragging a cigar as she worked the swing-mounted minigun. Swearing violently, she mowed down the first of the Loyalist troopers to hit the roof and try to take us out as the rattling dropship went to engines full and heaved off the LZ, blowing purple smoke and drooling brass from her door guns. I watched the minigun erupt, sending supersonic ball ammo in high doses straight through the roof and the first enemy combatants to make the LZ. Raising their combat rifles to try to get lucky on a drop’s inductor fan as they got smashed by supersonic fire. The minigun ruined them all and then we were suddenly up and over the battlefield watching all kinds of enemy units race forward to exploit the breach in our line. From here the situation looked much worse than I was already worried it was.

So, we had that going for us.

That was when the first of three Monarch fighters streaked over the battlespace and dusted about thirty air and ground assets in a sudden streak of random explosions. Monarch fighters are the best and latest in military hardware. They move like graceful angels of death doling out destruction without discrimination or effort. Both sides got hit. Both sides died near instantly, bewildered that victory, or defeat, had just instantly turned into something far worse.

I didn’t see Valkyrie One Eight get hit. The HK drop riding shotgun on our dustoff. Just saw the flare of the explosion and the sudden orange iridescent hell glow wash over the wounded and dirty of my platoon clinging to the deck of Valkyrie Zero Six.

“Dayum!” swore Punch as the aircrew tried to check for survivors in the burning wreckage of the sister ship now smashing into the field west of the terminal. The co-pilot was already sitrepping an alert and calling for air rescue. Bad day getting worse.

Yeah. Like air rescue was gonna happen today.

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