To Hell and Regroup (The 18th Race) by David Sherman & Keith R.A. DeCandido

Author:David Sherman & Keith R.A. DeCandido [Sherman, David & DeCandido, Keith R.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: eSpec Books
Published: 2021-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

14

The airspace over Shapland

“Let's do it, Hell Raisers,” Lieutenant Colonel Courtney said into the command freq for Marine Attack Squadron 121.

They only had the nine AV16C Kestrels left after their last engagement with the Dusters, but Courtney had been aching for a rematch.

Luckily, the orders came in. VMA 121 was to engage the Dusters that were surrounding the three firebases.

Courtney continued as the Kestrels took off: "Our targets are those RVs the Dusters have whipped out. Ground-based artillery isn't cutting it, so let's show those ground-pounders what we can do from the sky."

From the copilot seat in front of him, Lieutenant Power muted the freq and then said, "Uh, Sir? If Pentzer's lasers and the hand weapons can't do the trick, what makes higher-higher think our Hades guns can cut it?"

While Courtney saw where Power was coming from, and was glad he didn't say that on open comms, he also didn't appreciate the questioning. "Eyes forward, Marine."

"Aye-aye, Sir."

The truth was, they didn't have much of a chance, and they also ran the risk of losing the rest of VMA 121 after having almost half of them taken out in their last engagement.

But it made no sense for 121 to sit on their asses, either. In a war, you didn't keep your weapon holstered, and the nine remaining Kestrels were pretty damned effective weapons—too effective to be stuck in Schilt collecting dust.

Besides, Courtney wasn't the only one itching for a rematch with the Dusters. Despite cracked ribs, Captain Bruce insisted on going out, against the advice of the chief medical officer. ("It's going in your jacket that you went back on duty AMA," Dr. Frances Cunningham had said, and then she'd added, "It can go with all the other AMAs in pretty much every Marine's jacket on this planet." She'd rolled her eyes while she'd said it, too.) Captain Henry S. Huidekoper of Thirteen had gone through Boot Camp with Captain James R. O'Beirne of the destroyed Fourteen.

And while Courtney wasn't supposed to know that the pilot and copilot of Seven, Captain Emisire Shahan and First Lieutenant Wilma Hawkins, were sleeping with, respectively, the copilot and pilot of Eleven, the truth was that both Captain V.P. Twombly and First Lieutenant Alexandra S. Webb had revenge on their minds, too.

At least the planes were in tip-top shape. Staff Sergeant Fry and his grease monkeys did their jobs well, and everything was patched up and ready to go. He'd replaced a fuel line in Courtney's own Kestrel One, and all the other wounded birds were ready to fly again.

Having said that, Power was right about one thing: the Hades guns weren't going to cut it any more than anything else NAU forces had tried against the Duster vehicle.

The scatter-blast cluster-bombs, on the other hand…

They had nine Kestrels and three firebases to support, so it was easy enough to split them in threes.

"Sound off," Courtney said to make sure everyone was on the ball. "Team Beta."

Bruce's copilot, First Lieutenant Carla Ludwig, said, "Two on the way to Cart.

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