Rash'Tor'Ri (Soulguard Book 4), page 13
"Very good," she said. "We can use as many as we can fit around it."
"No doubt."
Chapter 25
Hicks pulled the end of the barrel around to line up with the housing. It was heavy but three men could mount it to the source cannon.
"I thought they were jokin' about addin' guns to this place," Corn said as he and Santos maneuvered the other end of the barrel around.
"Hicks' rule thirty two," James returned. "You can never have enough guns or ammo."
"You do have a point," Santos said.
"That's why it's rule thirty two," Hicks said.
"So how come they decided to pick on us poor Marines," Corn complained. "The weekend warriors were doin' just fine."
"Shit, Corn," James returned. "They haven't been weekend warriors in a few years now. They got some real action here now."
"I know, but I just can't bring myself to say it."
"They were all pretty busy with the other emplacements," Hicks said. "Not like I have to explain to you monkeys why you need to follow orders. The time limit on that gate cycle was up three days ago. They could bust right in here any second."
"At least we'd have somethin' to do that a Marine should be doin'"
"Shut up Corn," James shook his head. "What were we doing three days ago?"
"Oh yeah," he answered. "Digging friggin' holes."
"This has got to be better than digging holes."
"Well, yeah."
"Then quit your bitchin'," Hicks said. "Grab that barrel."
Corn and Santos took the end with the flanges and hefted it up to rest on the bracket. Hicks lifted end slammed the barrel home with a crunch.
"That's how we do it!" Corn said with a grin.
"Grab those anchors, Prater!" Hicks ordered. "Now you and Jimmy get your work-out. Corn, Santos, James, Herrod, Culpepper, and Roady, with me. Back to the minefields. Corn wants to dig more holes, so we'll dig more holes."
He turned toward the huge plain where they had been placing land mines for days with a grin.
"Couldn't keep your trap shut, could you?" Santos grumbled as he grabbed his gear and joined Corn behind Hicks.
"Not my fault," Corn muttered.
"Sure it's not," Santos returned as he joined them.
Culpepper and Roady joined them and Herrod was right behind. All three gave Corn the look. The look that says "You'll pay for this."
"What?" Corn muttered.
They headed for the middle of the plain. The mines were scattered throughout the area but the field was disarmed while the men worked on it. It was armed with a wireless controller that was held by one of the staff of Dietrich Jaegher, the man who would be in charge of the battle when the Kresh finally showed up.
"Santos, start markin' holes for Corn to dig."
"With pleasure," Santos returned.
Hicks felt the hair rise on the back of his neck and a strange sensation came over him. He turned around just as the Gate opened in the distance.
"Corn! You son of a bitch!"
"What!? It's not my fault!"
"It's always your fault!"
Everyone was scrambling for their weapons. Hicks turned back to the gate to see the first Kresh step through. It was big. Bigger than the ones they referred to as Soldiers. This was a Wraith. The big one stepped aside and the portal erupted with Kresh.
"Shit," he said. "We ain't got the time to get out of here."
"Not my fault…" Corn was muttering as he loaded a cartridge into his Barrett.
Hicks donned the helmet that would make his Source weapon go live, "Prater! Get into that gun!"
"We didn't get it anchored!"
"Tell that to those bastards!"
"This is all your fault, Corn!" James yelled as the guns on the left and right flanks began to fire. The center couldn't fire with them in the way.
"You know what I gotta do boys!" Hicks yelled over the noise of the guns.
"It's been an honor, Sarge!" Santos returned. "Tell them to give it hell!"
Out of nowhere a form landed in front of the Marines.
"What the hell is she doin'!?" Corn yelled. "She's, like, ninety pounds of nothin'!"
Another form landed with a thud and a plume of dust.
"Oh, crap, it's Rourke!" James exclaimed.
"That means shit just got real!" Corn was grinning from ear to ear.
***
"They got quite a few of the guns set up," I said. "Another shipment came in yesterday and the last of those is going in right now."
"I see," Paige returned. "The whole plain is covered with guns. Do you think we have enough?"
"Hicks let me in on a few of his rules. Thirty one or two is you can never have enough guns or ammo."
"At least the ammo for these guns is pretty plentiful."
"True," I said. "Those guys should be on the last one of the day. Looks like it's Hicks' boys. He's got a few of 'em out doin more mines. Marines really love to blow things up."
"You like them, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. They'd all make great Guards if we could ever convince 'em to make the move."
"I've heard a few things about Marines."
I chuckled, "Rictor and Prada were both Marines before joining the Guard."
"And you really think that's a good recommendation? Those two are both crazy."
My head jerked around and the beast slammed against the cage in my mind as I felt the gate open.
"Damn!"
ALERT! THEY"RE HERE, boomed across the base.
"That's disturbing," Paige muttered as my mental voice faded.
"Sorry."
Kresh started pouring onto the plains for the third time in Kansas.
"Those men can't get out of there," she said.
I felt the familiar clawing of the beast inside me, "I'm goin' out there and hold 'em off till they're out."
"Not by yourself, you're not."
"You sure?"
She was already air born as she leaped toward the platoon of Marines.
"I guess so," I muttered and launched myself toward them, as well.
Landing beside Paige I heard one of the Marines say, "…shit just got real."
The wave of Kresh were closing in and the flanks were tearing up the sides of the horde, but the center guns couldn't fire as long as we were out here.
"What now?" Paige asked.
"Do you trust me?"
She nodded.
"I want you to open up with everything you've got."
"If I slip…"
"I won’t let it past your guns."
She nodded again. I could see her fear in her aura, and feel it from her mind. The power she can wield is terrifying. She'd spent the last years just nudging that huge Soulstream for Pulling power.
The Kresh were closer.
"Hicks! We'll be backin' out of here. It's goin' to take all my concentration to make sure this works."
His hand settled on my combat harness, "I got your back. Let's fall back, Marines!"
"Paige," I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. "Fire!"
There's a great deal of difference between someone like me Pulling power through a Soulstream of about fifteen inches and something like this. Paige has a Soulstream that's more than three feet in diameter. Which, if you were to figure the area of a circle, and compare, would make her available power at least ten times what mine is. A person's will determines how much force can be put on that Pull, and affects the amount of power Pulled forth.
For most things, Paige only needs to nudge that power with her mind. It spoke a great deal of the trust she had placed in me when she Pulled, and opened every weapon she had constructed over the years. Power exploded in front of us unlike anything I had ever seen from a single person. Disk launchers, fire ballers, and no less than four Soullances spewed fire and destruction across the front of the horde of Kresh closing in from the front. I had a mental shield in place to steer power out of another Lance. I felt like I had been kicked in the head when the power slammed against them. The Lance spewed fire and destruction along with the others and I staggered.
I hadn't expected this much force behind it, and this was just the excess that made it past her focus. My body was absorbing power from the Source but there weren't any supports. Without supports, it was much harder to handle the power of others.
She would never have been able to do this for more than a second or she would have been overloaded. The fire continued to pour into the crumbling wave of Kresh in front of us.
"Cease!"
She stopped Pulling and I threw the rest of the power across the field at the others behind the charred remains.
"Get them out of here, Hicks!"
"We can do one, maybe two more blasts like that," Paige said. "I can feel it build inside me. You can't stop it all."
"Then we need to move out," I answered.
The Marines were already charging across the field toward the lines of guns. Except Hicks.
"Can't keep that fire up long, you go with 'em," I said. "We won't be firing as we retreat. We'll stop and do it."
He nodded and took off after his men.
We turned back toward the Kresh who were flooding forward over the charred remains of the ones who had met Paige's first blast.
"Ready?" I asked.
Her face was flushed from the power and her aura shone brighter than normal. With a nod she turned back toward the enemy.
"I swear I'm gettin' you a shirt with 'Point this side toward enemy' on the front of it."
She laughed and Pulled. Like before, the world erupted in fire and she shattered the next wave of Kresh closing on us.
She stopped and I could see she was close to the limits of what she could hold.
"That's it," I said. "Now we catch our Marines and see if we can clear the field."
We both turned and sprinted after the Marines. They had reached a point where a good half of the center guns had a field of fire. They began firing as we caught up with Hicks. There was a section in the center where the Kresh still poured through and it was close enough that the Marines would still be caught if we didn't do something.
"Keep movin'," I said. "I got this one. Paige let me know when everyone's clear."
She nodded.
I turned back toward the Kresh. The beast was clawing at the cage, and the rage was beating at the walls of my mind. The last few months rage had been building inside me, with very little to release it. I had kept it under control for the most part. The Kresh'Far, commonly referred to as Soldiers, were almost upon me and I let the walls fall. The rage came screaming from the darkness but there was something else too. Something cold and alien. I've known the rage for years. This was something more.
I let out a roar that sounded more like one of them than a man, and charged into their midst. Power erupted from my stream, and flowed through me as I ripped the soldiers apart as if they weren't even there. Power filled me and it felt so good. My Soullance ripped across the area in front of me, and I flung waves of the Source from my fists into the packed Kresh. If they got close enough, I would rip them apart. Once again I knew I was where I was created to be. This was what I was born to do.
"Clear!" came over my coms and I reached to beat the beast back down and put it in its cage.
It didn't work. I was still screaming my rage to the world and nothing was going to stop me. I tried to rein the monster back in but I had let it out too far. It was like being tossed around in a maelstrom.
"Soullord One! Marines are clear!"
My roar of inhuman rage was the only answer.
Something grabbed my combat armor and I was tumbling through the air, away from the battle. I could see Paige below facing me after she threw me out of the battle.
My time will come, I heard laughter after these words in my mind and I was, once again in control. Just in time to see the Wraith behind Paige attack.
What had I done?
The clawed arm of the Wraith swept down. Even with the focus that slowed the world to a crawl, the arm was moving so fast. Paige blurred and the arm passed through the spot she had been standing. I saw her open a shield that I'd never seen. It was an anchor with a pivot where she was attached. She grabbed the Wraith by the wrist and the creature screamed as she began to spin around. The wraith collided with the Kresh that were closing, and bodies flew backwards as they were pummeled by the Wraith's body. She made one more spin, and the Wraith was tumbling through the air back toward the gate. Then Paige jumped into the air. All of this had happened so fast, I was still airborne when she jumped.
I landed with a thud, behind the fourth ring of guns.
Chapter 26
Paige landed beside me and she was furious. Her aura rolled with it.
"I'll deal with you later," she said and leapt back into the air.
All of the guns were firing, now and I got back to my feet. I knew I had screwed up. What the hell was that? I'd been able to regain control every time I had tried before. It had been terrifying to have lost complete control of it. They had names for this sort of thing. Schizophrenia, Multiple Identity Disorder, and probably all sorts of other stuff.
I looked up to see a line of AC-130s coming in from the airfield. They formed a circling pattern with the inner sides of the craft angled toward the ground. Then they began unloading with their Soulfire enhanced weaponry. What I could see from where I was looked fabulous.
I moved between the firing guns and jumped into the air toward the command platform. As I landed on the platform, Pelin and six other Shak'Tar mounted the stairs.
"Master?" she asked. "We saw and felt what happened out there. You will need us, now. We will not let that happen again."
"We'll talk later," I returned.
She nodded and the seven of them backed out of the way of anyone on the platform. They didn't go far though. They took up a formation just to the left of the stairs, where they had plain view of me. Pelin stared at one of them and he nodded. He took off down the stairway. Then she turned and watched me. I could see their auras, and they were poised on the edge of action, worry rolling through all of their souls. They had felt all that I had, and they knew something was wrong.
I tried to put thoughts of what had happened on the back burner, and took stock of what was happening on the plains of Kansas. Kresh poured through the gate but they were hitting the lines of fire from the Source weapons, and the Artillery had begun to hit the lines as well. Now the AC-130s were adding their substantial firepower to it.
Jaegher watched the field intently, "Roll fire to Bat-two. Bat-one, barrels."
Dietrich had set the fire pattern so that they could keep steady fire into the plains. There were four batteries, formerly three. The new guns were Bat-four. One battery of cannons were manned at all times. It just so happened that Bat-one had been manned when the attack occurred. It could have been any of the others just as easily. Bat-two had been on alert, already, and all were prepared to hit the field at a moment's notice. It took a lot of men to keep that sort of preparedness, but we were banking on Hal'For'Radolin doing what Kresh had done for so many years and just try to plow through us. He wasn't going to disappoint us apparently.
"What's the word, Storm?" I asked as I reached the spot where Zebadiah Storm watched his monitors. Storm was the man who read the data from the observation drones.
"Upwards of a hundred and thirty thousand have come through, Sir," he answered. "The heat and ash is beginning to interfere with the drones' systems."
"Hadn't thought of that," I said.
"The heat from the field is playing hobb with the atmospherics, as well. We may end up with some storms from this. Visibility is definitely going to drop."
"Code Alpha usually brings some rain afterwards," I said.
"Code Alpha is short burst," Storm answered. "This is extended length. You took out close to what has come through at one time with a Code Alpha. This has already done that and it's just warming up. If things start to get too close we can open up a second battery and double the firepower."
"Damned impressive," I said.
I watched the field as the Pull from the Source weapons made my teeth hurt. In Egypt there had been about thirty thousand Source weapons firing into the sky for Lyrica to use for the Omega. They had been hand held weapons. These were to those weapons like a Howitzer compared to a handgun. There were eight and a half thousand of these weapon emplacements. Even with the separating them into four batteries, there were over two thousand guns firing into the Kresh as they tried to spread out into all directions. It was shooting fish in a barrel.
I felt sorry for the Kresh that kept pouring through the gate into that. If Hal'For'Radolin had been, even a day later, they would be safely stationed on Cerres. Instead, they got to die to teach Hal'For'Radolin a cautionary lesson about attacking the Doran Colony. Worse, his clans had not even come into the picture yet.
"Here come the A-10s on a strafing run," Storm said.
"Jacobs would love to see this."
"They have to get the aircraft in early, before the heat causes problems for the planes."
"I'm glad someone had some sort of idea what to expect."
I could feel the winds beginning to pick up. You could see it blowing into the field in front of us and more ash began to launch up in the center. It hadn't occurred to me that the intense heat from the constantly firing soul weapons would do anything like this.
Dietrich shook his head, "Pull the planes back to base. The sky doesn't look like it's going to get any better."
One of the staff surrounding Dietrich tapped his mike and gave the order. Dietrich never let his eyes stray from the battlefield.
"You ok, boy?" he asked without turning away from the view in front of him.
"Yeah," I answered. "For now, at least."
"I want a report on what happened as soon as this is done," I could see how serious he was about what happened. They ones closest to me were familiar with what happens when I let the beast out. He was worried.
