Warsong (Hunter-Killer #2)

Chapter 28 - Count it in Bodies

 "Colonel!"

The panicked cry from one of the surviving members of HK-Ferocci galvanised Ryke into action. For a moment he could only stare as the Crawlers tore Harcourt to pieces, leaving nothing but a mangled pile of smashed metal and bloody remains that had once been the commander of Rubicon's Hunter-Killers. True, he had neither liked nor respected the man, but he wouldn't have wished such a brutal fate on anyone.

With Harcourt dead, the Crawlers looked to new victims. Shrill comm chatter blazed through his earpiece as more and more of the creatures gathered, pressing in from all sides on the beleaguered Hunter-Killer force. Five members of HK-Ferocci were still fighting – two Goliaths two Riots and a Raptor mech dancing between them – but it wouldn't be long before they were overwhelmed.

"Sound off!" Ryke barked. "Anybody still packing flares?"

"Haunter here; got one more full load, sarge!" Kim shouted between bursts of cannon fire.

"Then get it ready." With his own weapon thundering on full automatic, Ryke stomped forwards, trying to cut a small avenue of space into the encroaching mass of Crawlers. "HK-Rupture, all pilots, on my lead."

"Sir?" Shock charged Qadira's voice. "Carpenter's down. If we leave-,"

"I know that," he snarled. "Now fall in! That's an order."

"Sergeant ...?" Carpenter's whisper of a voice cut into his ears. "I can't... I can't move."

Ryke gritted his teeth unbridled fury boiling in his guts for what he was about to do. He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the rookie pilot's face out of his mind and focusing only on the cold hard numbers; on the facts.

"I know, Marlowe," he said firmly, using every ounce of self control to keep the wobble out of his mouth. "Everybody form up. We have a job to do." Silence fizzed on the comm for a moment before Preese spoke.

"You heard the man!" his second in command roared. "Form up!"

For a heart-stopping moment the readings on the HUD stayed static, as though in freeze frame. Then, to Ryke's immense relief the indicators of HK-Rupture began to coalesce into a wedge behind him. The relief was quickly followed by determination. They were going to finish what they'd started, no matter what.

"Avalanche," he thundered. "You're on freight duty. Get a hold of that mine cart!" He flicked his channel to the wideband. "Lockjaw – Torch. Colonel Harcourt is KIA but I still have a combat effective force. We're gonna make a dive for the target. Want to join the party?"

"We're on our way, sergeant!" Bandit's commander snarled without hesitation. "Keep their present safe."

"Copy that, sir," he said, before addressing the rest of HK-Rupture again. "Defensive formation. Nothing touches that bomb! Haunter, light this damn place up."

"Copy that."

The flares from Kim's spare launcher exploded in the gloom. White-hot light blazed across the line of hissing arthropods and they reeled away, some crashing into each other, others toppling back down slopes in the cavern floor.

It bought enough space for Ryke and his companions to knife their way through to the survivors of Harcourt's bodyguard.

"Lockjaw – HK-Ferocci," he yelled as he piled forward, taking the leg from one Crawler with a vicious hack of his warblade. "Form up with us. We've got a delivery to make!"

"Cascade – Lockjaw," a woman's voice responded, tight and shaking with effort. "Lead the way. Let's send these bastards to the River and let them drown there!" She let out a grunt of effort that coincided with her bulky Goliath mech shunting a flailing Crawler to one side and blasting a cannon shot into its vulnerable underbelly. "Let's go!"