Furnace (Hunter-Killer #1)

Chapter 11 - Blooded

 The ridge.

For a moment Ryke's mind spun in confusion. Then he turned his Hunter-Killer around to look, and saw, to his horror, a chain of fires already burning across the furthest edge of Alldeep's buildings. Huge fireballs erupted among the structures and he could see a cloud of dust billowing up from a deep gouge in face of the ridge. The Scraegans hadn't dug their way through. They'd blasted through.

"Squads Green and Red," Sergeant Parnell's voice came scything over the radio, snapping him away from the image. "Turn around and engage! Get the people out of that town!"

"Ma'am?" Kazem's voice wavered with uncertainty, but Parnell was not in a waiting mood.

"Pissing rivers, this is not a debate!" she screamed furiously with enough volume to make Ryke wince. "I don't care if you're scared. Push your eyes back in and your balls back out and engage! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

That ended any possibility of hesitation. The sheer rage in Parnell's voice was chilling, but it had the desired effect on the rookie pilots.

"You heard her," Kazem said after a moment. "Squad Green on me. Squad Red, confirm?"

"Squad Red engaging," Fallker replied, though he failed to hide the tremble in his voice.

All twenty mechs from the rookie squadrons turned for Alldeep. Massive metal wall gates heaved open at their approach, panicked figures on gun turrets frantically traversing to face the enemy that was suddenly in their midst. Squad Red spilled through first, hurtling straight towards the clouds of smoke that now spilled over the ridge-side buildings of Alldeep like a flood. Kazem and the mechs of Squad green weren't close behind, stampeding through a gate a few hundred meters further south.

Ryke kept a wary eye on the roads as they raced to engage the Scraegans, adrenaline pulsing in his veins at the very prospect. Still, the last thing he wanted to do was trample a fleeing civilian in the act, so he kept careful watch on his footing. They saw scattered groups of tiny, scared humans being directed by local militia away from the battle zone. More explosions belched from the ridge, disgorging fresh thick clouds of rocky smog, the heavy minerals of the ridge virtually vaporized by whatever explosives the Scraegans had deployed.

Soon the fog engulfed them, the enhanced HUDs working overtime to pierce the gloom. He knew it would dissipate soon, but a sense of unease still clawed at his mind. He could here heavy booms and the bloom of explosions flared within the dust cloud. The Scraegans were in here somewhere.

"Urban suppression," Kazem hissed. "You all know the drill."

Ryke nodded to himself and quickly located Preese among the other mechs as the Hunter-Killer's moved into their two-by-two kill-packs.

"Green to Red – Fallker you got any contact?"

"Negative, no sign of-"

That was as far as the leader of Squad Red got. Far to the left in the positions the Reds had spilled into Ryke saw a huge line of unmistakable furnace cannon blasts. Then his comm was filled with screaming. Dark forms milled around in the clearing smoke, fires licking at the buildings and roads.

"We've been engaged, we've been-" Another comm was silenced with a blood curdling shriek and one of the dots of Squad Red winked out of existence on the HUD.

"By the River," Ryke breathed, scanning the surrounding buildings. The Reds had blundered into a trap, and he had a horrible sensation that they had as well.

"Fall back!" Kazem shouted shrilly. "Back to the plaza – we need space to see 'em coming!"

He was keeping his cool, Ryke thought in relief. The waver in Kazem's voice spoke volumes to the fear he felt, but he still had it in him to give the orders and leadership they needed. Ryke began to reverse his footing, Preese moving beside him and covering the opposite buildings. They'd retraced their steps for maybe a hundred meters before one of the buildings near the rear of the column simply blew apart, sending man-sized slabs of stone and metal flying in all directions. Some of the Hunter-Killers scattered – he saw Brigg's Goliath twist into an impact, taking the tremendous force on his thick shoulder shield.