On a hot battlefield, you survive only by moving: the bad guys know where you are as soon as you shoot. And the only way to keep them from getting close to you is to shoot. Lt. Kieffer grimaced at the thought as he glanced up at the tactical display in his helmet visor. When this engagement started, he had two full fire teams. Now, he was down to six healthy troopers and a couple of mobile injured troopers. The other ten were now just letters he’d have to write to next of kin... If he survived.
He was moving in van with Trooper Stinson, providing delaying fire for the rest of the team to escape behind. A heavy mechanized battalion with air and artillery support had responded to their attack on the communication center.
“Starbase. This is Roadrunner two over.” He called out on the uplink. He dove hard across the side of the hill as a homer round slammed into the ground where he’d just been. He almost didn’t hear the answer as he rolled to a stop behind a large boulder.
“Roadrunner this Starbase. Status?”
He rolled on his back to glance up into the night sky over head. All he could see were twinkling stars in a cloudless moonless night. She must be high he thought. “Mission accomplished. Taking heavy fire. We’re closing around alternate extraction site. Ten troopers k-i-a. Eight effective, two injured. Being pursued by heavy mechanized infantry with artillery and air support. Copy?”
The answer was immediate. “Copy Roadrunner. Dustoff and Vipers are downbound now. ETA five minutes.”
“Faster would be better Starbase.” He paused as he jumped again to a new location. He felt the heavy bumps of fragments hitting his suit as he did. He didn’t feel any pain. His visor flashed yellow. His suit’s armor was compromised: it wouldn’t protect him again.
“Roadrunner, we’ll be above the horizon in a couple of seconds. We’ll take some of this heat off you you. Tell your guys to go armor bravo.”
“Roger Starbase. Go Armor Bravo.”
He switched to his tactical net. “Roadrunners.” He shouted. “Go Armor bravo now. Dustoff in five.”
It was a testament to their discipline and desperation that there was no typical pre-pickup chatter that usually accompanied a dustoff call.
The Lieutenant grabbed his wrist control ring around his shooting hand and twisted it to Armor-bravo setting. The Witch warned him immediately. “Alert, suit power will last two minutes at this setting.” He didn’t bother to argue with the suit’s computer. He jumped to another hiding place and for the first time in several hours crouched behind the boulder.
The ground shuddered under his feat, again and again and again. Overhead the sky glowed yellow and actinic white from the reflected glare of massive explosions. His suit stiffened from the impact of a surge of high energy particles.
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