The Reaper environmental suit was of a very old make and model. Though they were ugly to behold, they were indeed robust in their effectiveness. Over the last four years Samuel had endured a broad range of hazardous materials during the clean up phase of the salvage operation. This colony operation did have its differences however, as this was the first battle in which the salvage marines had been part of a front line action.
Reapers were much like the kyracks, Samuel mused as he watched the flights of birds dart in and out of the battlefield while marines moved through the area. The salvage marines were deployed to the abandoned places of the universe, the decommissioned, the derelict, and the forgotten, to pick over the bones of the remains in the aftermath of battle. It was somewhat out of their scope to be placed on the front line of a trade war. While Reapers were indeed soldiers, they were predominantly salvage workers who had military training and hardware. Their combat effectiveness on the front line paled in comparison to the likes of Imago and his comrades.
Samuel walked down the hill as he thought of Mag. It was she, among many other Reapers, who had paid the price today for the administration’s insistence that a salvage team participate. When Samuel looked at the conflict in the terms laid out by Imago’s grim philosophy, it made perfect sense to have the Reapers present, as they, unlike the elite troopers, were trained to fight in such a way as to preserve the mission target. For the salvage marines, the purpose of any given mission was asset procurement or recovery. The marines used small caliber weapons, few explosives, and were trained to avoid causing unwarranted collateral damage.
Elite troopers had little concern for such things, and were more likely to destroy anything in their path rather than concern themselves with preserving buildings, hardware, or potential resources. In time, Mag would simply be logged in the loss category, and her life would be balanced against the net gains made by the corporation.
8. PROFIT AND LOSS
Samuel looked out over the battlefield, feeling as if he was seeing it with new eyes indeed. Many of the buildings had been spared destruction, as had most of the vespine gas reserves. The Helion forces were so soundly beaten that they’d left behind much of their own military and mining hardware, which would no doubt be considered an additional gain allocation on the final operation balance sheet.
When he looked at it from the perspective of the Bottom Line, Samuel could see that this had shaped up to be a very profitable venture and that the lives of the marines lost today would be considered a worthwhile expenditure in the course of conducting business in the sector. This battle was going to make an administrator’s career, thought Samuel as he watched the first of the Reaper breaker skiffs hitting atmosphere.
Samuel walked down the hill to join Ben and Patrick, who had been resting in the shade of a blasted out storefront near the edge of town, just beneath the hilltop. They had taken their helmets off, which was generally frowned upon as a breach of military discipline, especially since the fighting had not ended officially.
“Hyst, pull your squad together and converge on my waypoint. I’m uploading to your man’s rig now,” crackled the deep voice of Boss Marsters in Samuel’s com-bead. “There’s a problem with the turbines down there. Looks like a few hostiles got left behind when Helion pulled out. Double time it marines!”
“Takeda! Patrick! Get your helmets on!” shouted Samuel as he strode towards them, “We’re back online.”
Ben and Patrick appeared taken aback by Samuel’s commanding tone, though they did as they were told and donned their helmets. Ben left his heavy machine gun where it sat and hefted a Helion rail rifle.
Though it wasn’t protocol to use off-brand weapons, without the chance for a rest and refit, the marines used whatever tools they could to suit the job at hand. From what Samuel could see Ben had managed to figure out how to operate the rail rifle, no doubt from watching Imago and Costa Sagge.
“I’ve got the waypoint, looks like we’re only a few clicks away,” said Patrick as he started off at a run, followed by Samuel and Ben.
As they sprinted through the colony streets, Samuel was reminded of the brutal combat that had occurred there only hours before. Where there had once been a furious storm of smoke, gunfire, blood, and the roar of tank engines, now the streets were bustling with the busy work of salvage and repair. Samuel figured that if the pace of work stayed consistent, the colony would be cleaned up and back to optimal production within a few days. After a few weeks it would be as if there was no battle here at all.
Boss Marsters was waiting with his squad at the entrance to the turbine station. The squad leader nodded at Samuel and gave the signal to move out.
“Squad Ulanti is already inside, they’re pinned down by an unknown number of shooters. They’d send elites in there to root them out with seeker rounds, but the turbines are necessary for the vespine extraction,” said Boss Marsters as the two squads descended the stairs to the sound of sporadic gunfire from within the station, “We need to flank whoever is down there and get this fight finished without damaging the turbines.”
“Grotto can’t just buy some replacements? This colony is a big win, they’re gonna be swimming in cash once this place gets liquidated,” protested Ben as they crept through the half-light of the station, moving slowly down a series of hallways and empty monitoring rooms.
“The administrators want this place back up to full production as soon as possible, they’re only going to liquidate the salvaged Helion assets,” Boss Marsters replied as he continued onward. “Replacement turbines would delay the whole project by months.”
“We’re the cheaper option, brother,” said Samuel as he took point position from Ben, since his combat rifle was better suited to the close quarters gloom of the station.
The sound of gunfire continued to ring out, and finally Samuel was able to reach the end of the maze of halls and engineer compartments as the walkway opened up to reveal the primary turbine chambers.
From his vantage point, Samuel could see that Squad Ulanti had entered the building through the access tunnels in an attempt to infiltrate the building from the lowest point and clear their way upwards as was standard Reaper tactic. However, it appeared as if something had slowed their progress. They were holding position beneath a gigantic sump-water tank that was already riddled with bullet holes and leaking gallons of pressurized water across the base of the station. As he tried to get a clue as to what had them pinned down a whirring sound came from below as Samuel was joined by Ben and the rest of the marines.
“Mini-gun!” shouted Boss Marsters as he pushed Samuel and Ben to the side, shoving Jada back into the walkway, “Scatter!”
From somewhere below the weapon began spitting rounds at the newly arrived marines and the two old friends from Baen scampered to avoid being pulped by the salvo. The marines hurled themselves down the corrugated metal stairwell, tumbling a full flight down to the next level, well ahead of the bullets that chased them.
Samuel was dazed, but pushed himself to his feet and raised his combat rifle just in time to see a mech-warrior painted in Helion logos switching off its mini-gun and rotating the weapon arm to activate what appeared to be an infantry sized plasma-lance.