Wayward Galaxy 6 by Jason Anspach & J.N. Chaney

Author:Jason Anspach & J.N. Chaney [Anspach, Jason & Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

19

Staff Sergeant Tran was described on the job as the mascot of the “three L’s.” He was lean, lithe, and lethal. A Ranger’s Ranger who took it as his personal mission to embody what a “regimental man” and an NCO should be. Sergeant Tran was one of those guys who got listened to when he had something to say. Listen to the sergeant, and you could expect to exceed expectations and drive on to complete the mission, whatever it may be. Don’t listen… well, those guys usually ended up in a box.

Right now, Tran was trying very hard to keep everyone out of the box category. One of the two silos his team had set off to further neutralize was now locked in its place and buried under several tons of rock. The other silo was a problem, though. Rykov’s limited RUPAC troopers had deployed to the location and manually re-opened the silo dome. They had brought with them sufficient anti-air vehicles that a drone or Predator Hauler bombing run was off the table. That left Tran with no choice but to engage directly.

His team had infiltrated and were at the missile, but additional RUPAC forces— of a quick reaction force that included battle tanks and RUPAC Model 33 androids—were pushing on their location and seeking to pull them out. It was starting to feel like too much to hold off.

Osay troopers had deployed on the far side of a ridge overlooking the dug-in silo. Those troops were taking missile and tank cannon fire. First Sergeant Smith ordered a heavy weapons team to engage the vehicles in the hopes that it might clear the airspace.

“Tran, it’s Smith. Next for the volley of magnet-teek coming at you. Be doing the needful and put your head down.”

Unlike the other Osay who had been implanted with neural links, Smith was obstinate in his desire not to lose his accent or his manner of speaking “Brody,” a Pidgin version of English that Doctor Roman was still investigating the origins of. Tran could respect that decision, even if it did make Smith sound funny as hell.

Tran fired a twenty-millimeter grenade into the expanse of the silo below him, where RUPAC armored androids were traversing a catwalk that let out from a covered tunnel meant to deliver personnel and equipment. The androids were coming for Tran’s team and looking to prevent them from disabling the missile. Tran’s grenade hit its target, coughing out metal fragments of catwalk back into the tunnel, stymying the RUPAC’s advance and leaving them a twisted and barely passable mess for them to navigate.

Of course, that went both ways. The more destruction that Tran and his men laid to the catwalks beneath them, the less likely it was that they could get out of the silo without being airlifted. Which wasn’t going to happen as long as the A-A equipment was still functional. But that was Smith’s job. Tran kept focused on his own.

“Let’s get this done,” Tran shouted to his men. “Meter’s running!”

Unga gave a quick shake of his head.

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.