“It’s secure, sir, but the airspace above it isn’t. I’d love to drop these guys off with you, but I can’t afford to be stationary that long.”
“What’s the problem? Can’t a cruiser just hover over us? No one will get by it.”
“Uh, well sir, one squadron is spread out in high orbit dealing with the Chessori, and the rest of our ships are spread out around the planet at low altitude.”
“Spread out around the planet? Why?”
“Colonel Waverly is trying to protect a number of important installations: power plants, armories, financial centers, and so on. I just finished dropping off four squads at an armory after we spotted Chessori there trying to break in. The other frigate has actually dropped most of its load already, small groups here and there.”
“I thought we were trying to secure the port, Tom.”
“It’s mostly secure on the ground, sir, but they’re still clearing buildings and ships to make sure. As soon as I can get my load in, they’ll start working toward you and the rest of government center.”
Just then, a tremendous explosion struck near Trexler. He hit the floor on his back, hard. When he looked up through the dust, he looked out through a great, gaping hole some ten feet away. Four tanks and lots of Chessori raced toward the building.
“Tom, you’d better get back here. We have four tanks in front of us and closing quickly.”
“Two minutes, sir.”
Waverly was picking papers up out of the dust. Walters already had the big gun packed up. They headed towards the stairwell at a trot, passing by Trexler. He fell in behind them and followed them up the stairs to the next level. They went to the same corner, and Walters set up the gun as far back as he could get from the nearest window. Waverly took his own window near the corner, and Trexler decided he’d move down the hall to the far corner.
On his knees again, of course.
Walters opened up with the big gun, and Waverly shot his widow out, then started firing. Trexler followed his example. The tanks were about 50 meters away and stopped. The corner of the second floor they’d just come from was taking a terrible beating. Walters took out one tank, then started on another, then the Chessori ground troops suddenly started running pell-mell for the building.
Glancing right, Trexler saw why. The frigate was upon them. It hesitated for just a moment, positioned directly over the building with its rear shields glowing. Trexler looked out the side window and saw three Chessori traders coming in behind the frigate, firing continuously. All the guns on the frigate opened up, some firing toward the Chessori ships, the rest firing at the Chessori ground troops. The ground near the building erupted. Windows, those that were left, blew out, then the frigate was off at high speed. Two fighters swooped in from above the building, and Trexler just got a glimpse of them before two of the Chessori traders exploded a few hundred meters from the building. Wreckage and heat pounded the building as they crashed nearby. He thought one of the defensive positions at the port might have fired at the remaining Chessori, but with all the noise and confusion, he wasn’t certain. When he next looked, the ships were gone.
Waverly and Walters took the stairs at full speed, headed down. Trexler searched for targets, even leaning out the window a little and loosing shots at the Chessori huddled against the building. He heard firing and grenades from down in the stairwell and leaned farther out, shooting at any Chessori he could locate. He was afraid to use grenades since he didn’t know where Waverly and Walters were.
When there were no more Chessori to shoot at, he went back to his normal search pattern, checking to the front and side of the building. Sporadic shooting sounded from the stairwell, but he felt that he was needed more as a lookout than trying to confuse the two experts down there. He kept moving from wall to wall, but there were no more Chessori targets.
He called the frigate. “You okay, Tom?”
“We’re fine, sir. How about you?”
“I think we’re in the clear at the moment. There’s some fighting inside the building, but I think it’s under control. Nice shooting on those tanks.”
“We took out some others coming at you from your rear again, too.”
“What else is going on out there?”
“Waverly’s guys are starting to move out from the port, but not toward you. They’re going after a large batch of Chessori holed up in a hotel. We don’t want to take out the hotel with a ship, we’d kill too many innocent people. I need to check on a couple things, but I’ll come back if you call.”
“How’s it going out in space?”
“I really don’t know, sir. My focus has been the planet, and I’ve had to tune out what’s happening out there. Lots of chatter is all I can say.”
Trexler heard pounding steps coming up the stairwell. He threw his communicator down and huddled next to the inside wall, his weapon at the ready. The pounding reached the landing, and he heard, “Coming out. Don’t shoot us, Ray.”
He yelled, “Clear!” and waited for them to emerge. Waverly looked absolutely fine when he came into view, but Walters was not. His right arm, torso, and the side of his head looked like hamburger. Blood dripped onto the floor as he moved. Waverly looked briefly out windows of each wall, then moved to Walters and started cutting his uniform away.
“Eyes outside, Ray,” he ordered as he bandaged up Walters. “Sorry, Sergeant. No pain pills until we get our kits from the ship.”
“It’s okay, sir. I know I’m a mess, but I’m not out of action.”
Waverly finished with Walters, checked briefly out both windows, then went back to his position on the floor, his communicator to his mouth. Walters’ upper body was wrapped in his shirt, and a pant leg had been cut off and used to wrap his head, looped under his chin and tied on the top of his head. He sat with his back to the wall for a few moments, then dragged himself back to his feet.
“Take a break, Walters,” Trexler ordered.
“No, sir. Sitting doesn’t make it feel any better, and they’ll be back. I think they really want this building.”
“Walters, you do this out of choice?” he demanded.
“Well, sir, with all respect, it beats the heck out of being locked up in a tin can. I’ve never understood how you guys can stand it.”
Trexler kept his reply to himself and went back to peeking outside.
“The colonel says we’re secure for the moment, sir, but at this point, they’re likely to bring in snipers, so be careful. We’ll bandage you up as soon as our guys get here with our kits. I have to tell you, I feel naked without my vest and kit. It’ll be nice to have our regular earpieces and microphones back, too.”
“Bandage me up?” Trexler began feeling all over himself and discovered blood on the front of his shirt.
“Looks like you got hit with flying glass, sir. Pretty good gash on your jaw. And your foot… well, you might have a crushed toe or two. Those shoes aren’t nearly as good as combat boots.”
Trexler looked at his feet. A jagged piece of building was sticking out from the front of his right shoe.
He looked at Walters in amazement. “I didn’t even know.”
“That’s the way of it, sir. You’ll know when they take it out, though. It’s probably best to leave it alone right now. Your jaw is still bleeding, but not terribly. Since we don’t have our kits, It’s probably best to let it continue for a while – it’ll keep germs out until we can clean it up properly. Is this your first time?”
“First and last.”
“You’ve done well, sir. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
“You, too, Sergeant. Let’s hope the pleasure continues for many more years.”
Walters nodded, his lips pursed in a tight grimace.
Lieutenant Stevens came strolling down the hallway with a sleeve of his shirt tied around his left leg. “You guys okay?” he asked.
“We are,” Walters answered. ‘How about you?”
“Everyone’s okay. What happened to you?”
“A grenade. The corner of the wall took most of the blast. What happened to your leg?”