Star Force: Benefactor (SF19) Read online

  Jogging forward in the heavy gravity he passed by several other Archon teams waiting in side hallways to get the go ahead. Most of the doors on this level had been welded shut, leaving only a few openings that the lizards were guarding. The one the breach team had just entered through, and that Jason was now only a few steps away from, was one of three that his group was assaulting, except the other two were faints with little more than two Archons each, ordered to make as much of a ruckus outside as they could to draw off lizard support while the main team was going in through this entrance.

  When Jason got to the remains of the dead turret he ducked under the ceiling-mounted device and turned the corner, stepping into the short passageway where Paul and his advance team were waiting. Figuring that the naval battle he’d been fearing was now over, Paul had left the jumpship’s defense in the hands of Captain Evinson so he could take part in this final push.

  “Left side,” Paul told him as the others parted to let him and his long weapon through. “Armed barricade. Right side is blocked off.”

  “On it,” Jason said, dropping to a knee just inside the cross hallway as one of the Archons held his shield up on the outside of Jason’s body, allowing him to get half his torso out into the hallway while sticking the barrel of his sniper rifle through the gap between shield and wall. Several plasma blasts came their way, one of which hit the shield but the Archon held it firm and gave Jason the time he needed to sight in on one of the lizards’ heads visible in the gun slot on their heavy, metallic barricade.

  A single pull of the trigger and the lizard’s head jerked back and fell out of sight. Jason adjusted his aim slightly to the right and fired again, dropping another. The plasma fire coming at them stopped for a moment, then more lizards behind the barricade moved up to take their fallen comrades’ positions, making themselves Jason’s new targets as they fired in earnest down the hallway.

  Another shot hit the shield, causing it to glow on the back side for a moment, visible in Jason’s peripheral vision. He ignored it, knowing that even if they got a lucky shot through the gap his armor could take the hit. Calmly pulling the trigger in a rhythmic sequence he shot one lizard after another as their heads appeared in the narrow slot until they either ran out of troops or got smart enough to keep their heads down.

  Jason scanned the gap with his scope, trying to make out what was on the other side.

  “Flush them out,” he said, keeping his aim on the barricade.

  Another Archon with shield in hand ran out into the hallway and ducked down on the far side a couple of meters to Jason’s right. When he didn’t draw any return fire he stood up into a crouch and began walking forward.

  A bright flash from Jason’s weapon downed yet another scaly head as it popped up, but it was the only one to show itself. After a short pause the Archon continued forward, this time making it all the way down the hall and up to the barricade. He poked his head out from behind his shield to glance through, then slid it over his shoulder and brought his rifle up, sticking the muzzle through the gap and taking up guard position.

  “You’re clear to move up,” he reported through the team comm.

  Paul clapped Jason on the shoulder as he and the other members of the breach team ran by, leaving the trailblazer behind. He ducked back around the corner just to be on the safe side and began reloading his rifle from the spare ammo pouch fixed to the small rack on his back. There he also had a standard plasma rifle attached next to a stinger pistol. He wore no pack, as some of the others did, preferring to stay light and mobile given his fire support role.

  Motion from his right caught his eye as the other Archon teams began coming through, apparently already called up by Paul. They did wear packs containing a wide variety of combat gear that might come in handy, given that they had no idea what was beyond the perimeter post they’d breached. From here on out they were winging it, and the more options they had available the better.

  That, and a whole lot of spare ammo.

  Jason let them pass and finished topping off his rifle’s magazine with the cube-shaped ammunition, then slid it back into the underside of the barrel clicking it into place. It held 48 shots in a 2x2x12 rack that the rifle’s mechanism drew power and particles from to create the lachar blasts. Unlike the plasma rifles, which had to have their own power source to magnetize the barrel and propel the plasma out by, the lachar rifles had no need of power other than a small battery to operate the retrieval mechanism and displays. All the power required for each shot was stored in the cubes, each of which was a powerful capacitor that also carried a small amount of material with it that would become the charged particles mixed in to the laser matrix.

  When empty, the ammo cubes were shifted into the butt of the rifle and held there for later recycling, as well as to keep from leaving any evidence behind of the sniper’s presence. The spent ammo magazine held an equal number of shots plus two, after which any additional trigger pulls would result in the dice-sized capacitors being expelled directly in front of the trigger assembly as they were used.

  Jason flipped open the cover on the butt of the rifle and dumped the empty rounds out on the floor, then sealed it up and blended into the flow of the passing Archon teams. If Paul needed him for something in particular he’d call, otherwise he was going to tag along and help out where he could from afar.

  When they got up to the position where the barricade had been Jason saw the others climbing up and over the angled wall and slipping through the meter wide gap between it and the ceiling. He clipped the sniper rifle onto the back of his armor and climbed up in turn, using the gun port as a foothold before spilling over the top sideways and coming down on one of the lizards corpses that had been partially dragged to the side.

  He kicked it further under the angle of the barricade then followed the others up to a waypoint marked on his HUD. From there the teams were splitting up, each with their own objectives. Jason saw an icon pointing him further down the hall, courtesy of Paul, so he broke formation with the others and headed off on his own, swapping his sniper weapon for his plasma rifle and flipping the safety off as he followed the virtual breadcrumbs Paul was leaving for him that were leading well away from the others.

  9

  Jason shot two wayward lizards on his way to the position Paul wanted him in, finding an open door onto a large expanse filled with dirt, sand, and a few scattered trees. The sound of plasma fire was everywhere, but directly in front of Jason was a small fort, on top of which there were a pair of lizards firing off the opposite direction down over a hillside where he guessed everyone else was.

  Plasma rifle in hand he ran across to the bottom of the fort where there was an open doorway, drawing no attention from the gunners up top who had their tails to him. Inside was an empty room with a skeleton ladder running up to the top where the lizards were shooting from. Switching out his rifle for his stinger pistol, Jason began quietly climbing up, his eyes focused on the opening above him as he reached for each spur of the ladder with his free hand. Very slowly he made it all the way up to the top where he could see the feet of the lizards in front of him, who were still oblivious to his presence.

  He glanced around, making sure they were the only two there as he brought the pistol up over the lip of the hole, then shot the one on his right in the back once before twisting the stun weapon to the left by a meter and shooting the other one as it turned to watch its companion fall, not realizing that they’d been ambushed due to the nearly silent nature of the weapon.

  Jason shot them both a second time to make sure they were unconscious, then he swapped the pistol for his plasma rifle and killed both where they lay with pointblank shots to the head. Unfortunately they weren’t in a position to take prisoners and any lizard they left alive would pose a threat to him and the others when it woke, so he dispatched with them quickly and dumped the bodies back down the ladder hole into the room below.

  He switched weapons again, bringing out his sniper rifle as he surveyed
the area. On the other side of the hill was a short concrete-like wall with a dry moat on the far side that would make it difficult to scale coming this direction. Beyond the moat was a sparse terrain with a lot of variation. There were flat areas, hills, ditches, clumps of trees, sand dunes, bits of walls and barricades, boulders, and even the hulk of a downed kirby…all of which immediately told Jason that this was a lizard training course.

  What better place to mount a defense than an area of the ship designed for ground combat.

  From his position he could see lizards moving about everywhere, but their main defensive position was the kirby, which apparently still had a turret functional, because its heavier plasma was blasting away at some of the small fortifications that the assaulting Archons were taking cover behind. Jason was about to sight in on the transport when he noticed another tower in his peripheral vision off to his left. It was identical to the one he had just captured and had several lizards firing down on the Archons that were attempting to flank the kirby, fighting up a corridor along the moat.

  Jason swung the long barrel of his sniper rifle around and sighted in on the other tower. Three trigger pulls resulted in three head shots, which silenced the fire coming out of the tower.

  Pulling back from the scope he swung the rifle down to the area the flanking team was approaching and found the tightest knot of lizards in their way. He killed two whose heads he could just see the top of behind a low wall, which caused the others hiding there to jump out and rush the Archons. He got two more before the close range firefight began and he saw one red suit of armor take a hit to the chest and go down, but before he could sight in again on the moving combatants the rest of the Archons had mowed down the enemy with coordinated fire and rushed forward to appropriate the bunker the lizards had been hiding in.

  Jason pulled up and scanned the perimeter of the huge chamber, looking for more towers. He found a silent one across the way, just visible above a clump of trees but couldn’t find anyone in it to shoot so he continued his long pan until he heard noise below him.

  Standing up out of his crouch and spinning his weapon around he got into firing position before the lizards below him could climb up the ladder and walked forward until their bald, scaly heads came into sight. He shot the one standing next to the ladder first, then the one on the rungs who had a harder time bringing his weapon to bear. It fell back down on top of the pile of bodies, bringing Jason’s kill count up to 37 for the day which he absentmindedly kept track of. He waited and listened, but no more appeared below him so he knelt back down next to the window opening and sighted in on where his HUD indicated Paul was.

  He couldn’t see him because of the hill in between them, so Jason advanced up what he thought would be their projected path and started sniping individual lizards caught out in the open. He got through six of them before there was an explosion that brought his head up from the scope. Where the kirby had been laying in the sand there was a large cloud of dust, out of which trailed a small wisp of smoke back to the position where the rocket launcher had fired it. Jason grinned as the plasma fire coming from the transport ceased, then dropped his eye back down to his scope and started to pick off lizards wandering around the dust cloud, unable to see where they were going.

  An hour later Jason abandoned his tower, having only 15 rounds of lachar ammunition remaining. The assault team had succeeded in taking the training course and killing all the lizards holed up inside, including two new varieties that he hadn’t seen before. One had an angled head, as Morgan had described, but the other type only stood shoulder height to the other lizards, had no claws on its 4 fingers, and unnervingly had four black eyes, set two on each side at an angle, making for a ‘W’ shaped face when you included the ridge-like nose/snout.

  There had been six of those killed, along with 17 of the others, which Jason thought must have been some type of support personnel or leaders, because they’d been protected by the others rather than joining them in the fight. Three Archons had gone down, two of which had bad plasma burns but would survive, thanks again to the armor they were wearing. A few others had light injuries and damage to their suits, but for the most part Paul’s assault force was intact as they repositioned into a defensive line, securing the territory they’d gained as runners brought up additional supplies from base camp that they stashed in the charred remains of the more or less intact kirby.

  Jason took a break there to reload his sniper rifle as Paul assembled the team for the next thrust, which would be to take the two levels below the one they’d just captured. Before they could even make their move the lizards hit back from above, hammering the defensive lines with surprising numbers that forced a retreat back into the training course.

  Jason ran up and dove down onto the top of a sand dune, laying belly flat on the upslope as he unloaded lachar blasts into the hoard of lizards and maulers pouring into the quickly organizing kill zone that Paul had their forces retreating into. From the flanks came dozens of plasma lances, making the entire scene look like it was lit with strobe lights. Jason’s yellow lachar blasts barely showed up in the frenzy, which was added to even more by several plasma grenades thrown into the group that exploded out like water balloons filled with blue plasma, knocking half a dozen lizards up into the air with each detonation.

  Yet still more poured in, trampling the dead and wounded as they rushed forward, trying to get at the Archons through sheer numbers. Jason kept firing at the armed lizards, ignoring the blade-wielding maulers, as their forward defense lines retreated again, falling back to cover as the zergling-like hoard rushed past and blocked them from view.

  When they got close Jason had to fall back as well, taking off at a run for the kirby as he switched weapons. When he got to the open bay door there were two other Archons already in position, offering him cover fire. He jumped up into the bay and spun around, firing back at the approaching maulers as they rushed ahead of the others on all fours and jumped at the Archons, getting shot down before they could get their sharp forearm blades in range.

  Jason knew the blades weren’t the main problem. The maulers were stronger than the others, and if they engaged them in hand to hand combat they wouldn’t be able to shoot at the lizards that were armed and not yet firing, but coming up behind the maulers in large numbers.

  The trailblazer kept his calm and shot the maulers on approach, one of which he hit in the air, ducking aside as its body fell into the bay near his feet. He kicked it back out as another Archon appeared from the right and ran up into the ship. Jason held fire for a split second to let him in, then returned to blasting away at the lizards, aware that he’d already gone through about half his rifle’s magazine.

  When the maulers thinned out the lizards behind them started firing their plasma rifles, causing Jason and the other Archons to duck for cover. He was standing in the middle of the bay door so he dropped to the deck and fired from a belly position while the other three ducked toward the corners. Dozens of green plasma blasts hit the back wall of the kirby throwing off bits of debris and smoke, but the Archons stayed alive long enough to see the hoard thin slightly, then Jason saw a silver suit in the distance cutting into the side of the lizard flow coming toward them with a stun sword.

  He didn’t even need to look at the ID marker to know it was Paul. He was followed by two adepts who were shooting the lizards on either flank as their three person arrowhead dug into the side of the river of lizards, taking some of the pressure off the kirby just as Jason ran out of ammo. He tossed the plasma rifle aside and pulled the sniper rifle off his back as he rolled to the side, ducking back further into the bay and retreating to the far wall where he set up in a kneeling position and targeting the lizards as they jumped up into the bay.

  The Archons on the wings let him kill the first three to jump up as they kept their fire on those outside, but when they started coming in fours and fives they had to retreat a few steps and start shooting them as they appeared else they’d be flanked. A mound of bo
dies quickly formed on the edge, offering the lizard reinforcements some cover as they walked into the kill zone as another one of the Archons ran out of ammo, pulling out a lachar pistol to replace his plasma rifle.

  Jason took two hits to his armor before the lizards finally ran out, then got to his feet and rushed to the opening, knowing that others might still be in need of the few sniper rounds he had left. When he jumped down on what had been sand a few minutes before he landed on a carpet of bodies that stretched back all the way to the entry point nearly 400 meters away. Off to the right there was still a firefight going on so Jason trudged his way around the perimeter of the ship, finally finding sand beneath his boots again. He climbed a short rise and took up position on top of the sandy dune, sniping six more lizards from a tendril of the hoard not yet taken down.

  All around the battlefield isolated Archons emerged, adding what firepower they had left to help those still engaged while others were running up to engage the lizards hand to hand. Paul wasn’t anywhere nearby, but Jaime and a few of his fellow Sangheili were pinned down behind a nook of a wall so Jason fired off his last 3 rounds at the lizards surrounding them, then ran towards the engagement as he pulled out his stinger pistol, firing wildly as he approached knowing that it didn’t matter which lizard he hit or where so long as he didn’t hit the Archons.

  One of the lizards came flying back out from the nearly obscured Archons, knocking down three of the others like bowling pins as Jason caught up to the group and began shooting them at pointblank range, shrugging off another plasma pit to his right leg. He kept firing with his right hand as he punched with his left, knocking down and disorienting the remaining lizards long enough that the others could take them down.

  At the end he was fighting fully hand to hand, snapping necks when his pistol ran dry and there weren’t any lizard rifles at hand. When the last lizard went down Jason did as well, dropping to his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Weakened as he was, the high gravity was draining the energy out of him at an astonishing rate and he could already feel the faint lightheadedness that resulted when his body began to deplete its ambrosia stores.