Valkyrie Hunter
Chapter 35

I was deeply regretting spending time in this vehicle. Cramp had set in my legs and I was getting a backache. For the worst of it I was chaffing in places and my silver bracelet was getting caught up under my armour. Despite my aches and pains my must have drifted off to sleep. A sudden jerk brought me to my senses. We had stopped abruptly and jerk was my momentum against the restraints holding me into my seat. I glanced up to see Sylgard fitting on her helmet her face grim. I reached up and did the same.

“Why have we stopped?” I asked her anxiously.

“Barricade ahead. We need to dismount quickly.”

I nodded to her this was more her area of expertise rather than mine. I waited while her team exited before following her out. I clipped my coil assault gun to my chest and climbed out of the MRECV. The sun was lower, rays of light silhouetting the back of the vehicle. The back of the MRECV was in the shadow while the front was bathed in sunlight. I could see it would be difficult to see the way ahead with the sun at that angle. The thing I noticed the most over the sound of the engine was that there was a lack of other sounds. In fact there seemed to be no one about except for us. I took a quick survey of my surroundings. We were on a dual lane highway a thick concrete barrier separating the lanes. All around us where buildings the type you’d see on one of those Swiss candy boxes. Half-timber, half stone the same as the chalet I’d occupied but taller. Well it would have been if not for the desolation I was seeing. All of the buildings within my field of view showed signs of damage. Doors and windows broken, tiles missing and smoke rising from several others. What did worry me was the lack of anyone living. Even if they were hiding you’d see signs but I could see nothing. The other MRECVs were scattered both sides of the road. One just ahead of our position about twenty metres closer to the barricade on the other side of the road. Its passengers clustered around the exit ramp at the rear. The other two MRECVs to our rear. One this side one the other.

I turned to see Sylgard in conversation with a younger Valkyrie. She was wearing a Confed jumpsuit with a pistol strapped to her hip. I didn’t recognise her from our MRECV. As I closed in on Sylgard I heard her say.

“We proceed foot, look for survivors and everyone stay alert. The traitors shouldn’t be this far east but stay alert.” She put her hand to the earpiece. “Damn comms black out. I can’t raise the base or anything.” She signalled to the other vehicles. “Ok move!” she shouted to them. “And for Mother’s sake stay in contact!”

“You do realise that this is probably an ambush?” I told Sylgard directly.

“Yes,” she said quietly. “I don’t want my command to know that.” She commed her Valkyrie. “Three move forward, squad three follow.”

“What do you want me to do?” I asked her.

“Just keep close. The last thing I want is to loose a Silver on top of everything,” Sylgard said grimly.

MRECV Sylgard had called three crawled forward. The sun lowered enough to expose an expansive building hidden behind the sun’s glare. The road ran up to it and split north and south. I assumed the road joined up behind it. It was the impression I had. The building I guessed was the local town hall had seen better days. Built in the style of the buildings around it. Half-timber, half stone but that was a façade, damaged sections of the building showed concrete underneath. Those were the bits I focused on my investigator coming to the fore. It appeared that the damage was explosive based. I could clearly make out gaping holes in the walls, walls too high to be from planted explosives. The Valkyrie were tall but not that tall. Some of the damage was on the third floor. I pointed this out to Sylgard.

“MARs,” She spat out and swallowed hard. “Mother we’re in trouble.”

I was confused. They had MRECVs with missile launchers. Wasn’t that what MRECV stood for Mobile Rocket Enhanced Combat Vehicles a mouthful for what they were. “We should be ok your vehicles are armed with missiles.”

“They’re not real,” Sylgard said desperately.

“What?” I recoiled in shock. Korja had been panicking over nothing. I had come all this way because I was worried that the Bondedottir would have caused a border incident. I definitely didn’t want innocent blood on my hands.

“They’re fake made from wood and plastic. Where in the Mother’s name would we get the real things from?” That last bit sounded like an accusation.

I wasn’t responsible the Elders were. “They look damn real to me?” Then I wouldn’t have known either way to tell the truth.

“We thought if the traitors thought we had missiles they’d back off.”

“But they didn’t?”

Sylgard writhed uncomfortably. “They must have examined the wreckage in the ravine.”

“Ravine…” I didn’t have a chance to complete what I’d been about to say.

I saw something streak out of the gaping hole in the town hall and hit the MRECV designated three. It exploded and all I saw were flying bits of bodies and pieces of vehicle. I nearly puked in horror an unwise thing to do while wearing a full-face helmet.

“Mother!” Sylgard cried.

I stared shock filling me as the other MRECV rapidly backed off reversing down the road at speed. I ducked as bullets tore into the chest high concrete divider. All the firing was coming from buildings on the opposite side of the road.

Sylgard seemed to have recovered from her shock. “Take cover!” she yelled as if her teams hadn’t yet. I was already low seeing her team ducking behind what cover they could find. Through the gap in the barrier I could see the remaining MRECV go into full reverse mode almost ploughing down Sylgard’s troops if I could call them that.

“Coward!” Sylgard yelled at the MRECV as a missile barely missed the vehicle sending a spray of debris into the sky. It sped faster down the road going backwards rapidly disappearing into the distance where I heard a boom.

“Get your people into cover!” I shouted to Sylgard coming out of my stupor. Her troops were in the open on the exposed roadside. I stood and fired at the buildings opposite hoping to suppress the attack on the exposed Valkyrie. I was grateful to see the remaining Valkyrie scramble over the divider onto our side of the road. They looked in shock these weren’t fighters I could tell that now they were farmers and shopkeepers. They may have been Valkyrie but they hadn’t seen action or anything of the like. Training more than likely but actual combat I sincerely doubted that.

It would only a matter of time before the missiles would target us. It was then I noticed something. The hole had a direct line of sight to the other side of the road but in order to hit us they’d have to lean whatever weapon they were using out of the hole. I quickly gathered my thoughts wishing I had someone with me that had more combat experience. Neither Thirika’s and Runa’s training had prepared me for this.

“Sylgard we’re safe this side of the road for the moment.”

She looked at me puzzled. I explained the situation.

She nodded grimly. “So we can get out of here?” she sounded hopeful she also sounded like a woman at the end of her nerves.

“No we’d never get that far. Pull that far down the road and we enter their line of sight.” I gave her a look but with my helmet on I doubted she get the look. “We need to establish a perimeter and bring the other vehicle to cover our flank. We hunker down and hold on.” It was then I realised the flare Thorda had given me was still in the MRECV. “Damn we need the TCA!” I scrambled up. “Thorda gave me a flare to signal them.”

“Flare?”

“It’s in the APC, sorry MRECV in my pack.”

Sylgard pushed me back down. “Stay here I’ll get it!”

Sylgard darted low into the back of the MRECV. In the time it took her to retrieve the flare I examined our situation. I began to realise things. We weren’t dealing with professionals, had we done so we’d be dead. The tactical situation was that we were pinned down on this side of the road. Yet the fire upon us was coming from the other side of the road. I also noticed the barricade was lower on that side of the road as if they had wanted us to take that route only. A tactical mistake, Sylgard’s convoy I suppose I could call it that had straddled both sides of the road. Despite that the rebels had caused us a lot of hurt. The crew and team from the destroyed MRECV were dead and those for the one that fled were wounded some badly. I took charge not knowing whether they’d follow my orders but from the expressions on the faces around me they needed some sort of guidance. I pointed to the Valkyrie who seemed to be the medic of the teams.

“Get the worst of the wounded on to the MRECVs.” I ordered. “You others, return fire but conserve your ammo, pick your targets and get a clean shot.”

“Yes ma’am!” the Valkyrie chorused.

Sylgard returned with my flare she squatted down beside me making no comment on me ordering her people about. She handed it to me. “You take this!”

I took the flare and examined it. It was as long as my forearm and as thick as my thumb. There was a pull pin at one end and the other had a thick red line.

“Here goes nothing.” I aimed the red end at the sky and pulled the pin.

The flare shot high into the sky in a blaze of red.

Sylgard what it rise. “Pray to the Mother it works,” she said bleakly.

I on the other hand had other things to worry about. We needed to hold on until the TCA arrived. “In the meantime we wait and keep the rebels from overrunning us.” We both knew it was only a matter of time before the rebels moved the position of their rocket launcher and targeted this side of the road. Or even a shuttle coming to our rescue not something I wanted to happen.

“We have to take out that rocket launcher!” I stated feeling ill inside.

“How we’ll be dead before we can get anywhere close to it?” She sounded defeated.

“Sylgard snap out of it, I’ll go!” I said that more to stop the fear from overcoming me than for her.

“What?” she stared at me as if I was mad.

I probably was. I was scared I couldn’t deny that to myself. Serious doubts filled my mind. I wasn’t a soldier, heck I wasn’t even a real officer in the TCA. I had to quell my doubts and get this done.

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