[Spartan6]

Chapter 1 excerpt


May 6th 2267


“ Jesu Christo, THAT was too close ! “ Shouted Lieutenant Carter, Captain Boma’s weapons system officer. Boma winced as wet fragments of a shattered evergreen splattered against his Starhawk’s canopy. Looking out, he could see the enemy Wraith a few hundred meters away, it’s rotary cannons still spinning from the burst of supersonic slugs that had narrowly missed them and shattered the huge tree.
“ Damn right it was “ growled Boma. Flicking the transmit switch on his control stick he all but shouted into the boom mic hovering a few centimeters from his mouth.
“ Stallion 6 this is Dagger 6, over! “
“ Dagger 6 this is Stallion 6, go ahead. “ Came the bored sounding reply from Boma’s Century commander, Centurion Renquin.
“ Stallion 6 where’s the air support we were promised? We’re heavily outgunned and we need it five minutes ago, over. “ Boma did his best to keep the anger he felt out of his voice but knew some of it had bled through. Boma jerked the control stick hard over, angling his thirty foot tall, eighty-seven ton CAV a little to try to get his gunner a better angle on the Wraith before those rotary cannons growled again and splattered more than tree bark.
From several miles away and safe in his command van came Renquins’ disinterested sounding reply.
“ Dagger 6 this is Stallion 6, our air elements are engaged elsewhere. Suggest you hold position and await further instructions, over.”
“ Damnit ! “ Spat Carter from the back seat, “ That’s the fourth time this week we can’t get the air support we were promised ! “
“ I know Derek, I know. “ Boma said, trying to keep calm as the enemy CAV’s closed on his Turma's position. Mentally calculating angles and acting on pure instinct Boma spun the Starhawk blindingly fast, giving his weapons officer a high percentage flank shot on the Wraith.
“ Tone, firing! “ Derek yelled into his mike as the target lock sensors wailed in their headphones. The Starhawk’s own rotary gauss cannons spun up and spit out a roaring stream of supersonic depleted uranium that chewed literally tons of armor from the Wraith. The slugs dug deep into the flank of the enemy CAV and found their mark deep inside. The Wraith slumped noticeably and it’s arms drooped, signifying it was finished. Scanning for another target Captain Boma keyed his transmitter again. “ Dagger elements this Dagger 6, we’ve been instructed to hold as long as we can and that’s what we’re going to do. Keep your intervals good and watch each others backs and I’ll buy the first round when this is over. Six out. “ Sighing, Boma released his transmit switch and looked around at the wreckage littering his own little piece of hell. After almost eight days of fighting up and down the narrow valley, the burned out hulks of CAV’s and armored vehicles covered it from it’s wider end eight hundred meters away to just a few dozen meters in front of Boma’s own position. Not seeing any more Malvernis units nearby, Boma rubbed his tired eyes as his mind drifted back to a week earlier.

The Tenth Terran Legion had been ordered to defend this sector of the planet Yed from a Malvernis incursion begun eight days earlier. Yed had been given to the Malvernis as part of the Treaty of Avallor at the end of the Galaxy War in 2263. The Terran government had recently negotiated for the return of the planet, who’s population was almost exclusively Terran. The Tenth Legion “ Trajans Columns ” had been ordered here after the Malvernis seemed to be dragging their feet in regards to actually leaving the world. Soon after the Tenth’s arrival they had received reports of the Malvernis actually building up their forces in secret. Eight days ago the Malvernis had begun an offensive to re-take Yed for their own. Boma’s Turma had been fighting a delaying action for seven of those eight days against a much larger Malvernis force. 3rd Turma, nicknamed the “ Daggers “, had met with amazing initial success but soon the Malvernis learned they faced a very skilled unit and committed a force almost twice the size of the Daggers against them. Just after sunrise this morning the Malvernis had made their final push against Boma’s Turma. They had fought magnificently but had waited almost three hours for the air and armor support that Boma now realized wasn’t coming. Ordering his Turma down the back side of a hill to give them some cover, what remained of the Daggers, now only six CAV’s from it’s original twenty, awaited the Malvernis attack.

[Spartan6]

No replies huh?


Was it THAT bad??

[Froy The Orc]

It was good Spartan. I just failed to put my two-cents forward.

Froy

[Saint of Sinners]

What?

I always thought the Spartans just sprung up from the ground after some nut planted dragon's teeth in a field

Heehee

Where is the rest of the story Spar?

[Spartan6]

They were Tiger's teeth, not dragons



Somewhere on the hard drive....and in my head..

[Saint of Sinners]

hmmm... I'll take yer on the tiger's teeth...

But anyway you need to hurry and finish writing the rest of the story...

[Spartan6]

OOOOOOOOooooooo Good! One whole person who likes my writing!

[KAMUT]

No, I like your writing as well, I just haven't gotten around to commenting. but don't be discouraged, its very well written; more people need to visit these forums, thats all.

[Spartan6]

Well thanks KAMUT I really do appreciate the compliment.


YAY!! 2 GO ME!!

[Saint of Sinners]

Actually that's three, Spar.

You forgot Froy

[KAMUT]

You gotta bear in mind, not too many people read these forums. either people are not interested or just don't know about them; so you can't let this be any indicator of anything, it just means, not enough people read these forums.

Keep plugging away at it, I want to read more and I can vouch for a few others that regularly peruse these threads.