Stormblood, стр. 140
Something was wrong.
These people weren’t trained. They were barely armoured. It was poor defence. Jae wasn’t a soldier, but she wasn’t stupid, either. If she’d anticipated our strategy, there was a chance she’d drawn us into a trap.
I called for Grim, but he’d already seen it. ‘The room’s rigged with explosives!’ he said. ‘Disabling as fast as I can, but be ready!’
I yelled for the rest of the fireteam to get down. I burst towards Jasken, smashing the two of us to the grillwork flooring as the world above us exploded like hellfire, thunderclaps going off in my skull and shuddering down my spine. The flare was so strong my visor autopolarised. A loose grenade clattered down to explode near a shrieking cultist, turning bone and flesh into a shower of bloody mist. Jae had sent the worst of her men in here to be sacrificed. Poisoned meat for the wolves.
For maybe the first time, I truly understood my enemy.
‘The corridors are rigged with death-traps every ten metres,’ Grim told me as our fireteam resumed formation, covering each other. ‘I’ll take out what I can, but watch your back!’
‘Same formation as before,’ Saren panted, voice muffled by his helmet. ‘Keep the commslink clear, always have someone on your flank. Move out. Let’s make it count.’
On the schematic, all the other SSC units were slowly carving their way through the corridors, rerouting and doubling back when they encountered traps or blockades. We did the same, moving through telescopic tunnels like the corridors of a lungship, ringed with scaffolds and surface-gear; calling out any hazards and enemy sightings, scanning each sector as we progressed. Jasken suddenly yelled a warning, sending a succession of micronades skittering down the corridor. White smoke gushed out in thick, smothering spurts. Anyone without a helmet would be blind and totally screwed. Cultists emerged from the smoke like armoured wraiths, dark-muzzled rifles already locking us in their sights.
We levelled our weapons, gunfire rattling in a furious exchange of heat and smoke, the fury shuddering in my teeth. The walls and floor buckled and blackened under the munitions. I burst ahead with Jasken, Saren and Kuen at our flank and fired a three-round burst into the smoke, blasting a man in green armour through his faceplate, blood and skull fragments spraying out. Screams and bellows of pain ripped out. Bodies slamming to the floor. Snatches of sun-bright muzzle flashes and glowing visors through the smoke. Blades slashing down, puncturing through armour and through skin. A cultist stumbling sideways, chopped in half by a slingshiv. Molten metal dripping from the ceiling. Beside me, Jasken’s scattershot punched devastating slugs into the incoming enemies, ripping out in furious, coughing bursts. A man wearing armour plastered with Suns slogans was whiplashed sideways, a chunk of his chest blown off, his legs thrashing on the ground. The stormtech gave a warning lurch in my chest and I jerked around, saw a cultist with yellow armour fast approaching Jasken from an angle he couldn’t see. Too close to use anything ranged. I rushed forward and slammed my armoured bulk into the cultist, crushing him into the wall. The blade that nearly cleaved Jasken’s shoulder off slashed harmlessly past, missing him by inches. Teeth gritted, I slammed my fist into the cultist’s jaw, using his body as cover from incoming rounds as I kicked him flailing backwards. Jasken timed it perfectly, lining up the scattershot as soon as he was clear, punching a slug in the cultist’s head, sending him spattering to the ground.
‘Thanks, kid,’ Jasken grunted. The rest of the fireteam was tangled up in fights from behind. We pressed our armoured backs against each other. Breathing hard, staring down the corridor through the sights of my autorifle. Jasken hosing incoming enemies from the front with covering fire, me picking them off from the back. A cultist with bones embedded in her armour was wrestling with Katherine, her dripping blade inches from her throat. I sent a three-round burst ripping out, punching through the side of her head and slamming her to the ground. Katherine snapped a frantic nod my way, then spun around to help Saren.
Yells and echoes of gunfire from other fireteams and assault squads sounded around us. I’d forgotten what hell the battlefield really is. No logic. No order. No feats of magnificent bravery. Just you and your friends clawing through a storm of chaos, fighting like hell not to have your head cleaved in two or a hot shell punching through your chest. My body tried to drag me into it, to break from my defence position and lose itself in the bloody whirlwind of the battlefield like it once had. I gritted my teeth, resisting and overcoming my body’s urges without outright fighting them. If I broke position, I’d put my friends at risk.
A volley of supercharged rounds detonated off my shoulder. White-hot agony ripped down my arm, speared down my shoulder blades. I gasped for air, swimming in sweat inside my armour. My vision hazy with violent shockwaves. Trying to untangle the horrific cacophony of battle. Vaguely aware of Jasken moving to cover me as my shields recharged.
A cultist in blood-red armour swerved around Jasken’s guard and slammed me into the wall. Metal buckled under me, pain stabbing through my skull as my assailant slammed his armoured fist into my jaw. His rifle was jammed between us, going off as we wrestled for it, projectiles the size of a fist punching into the wall around me. Jasken blasted my assailant, but was knocked down by a huge man in charcoal-black armour, the Suns’ symbol painted white on his chestplate. Our defences were weakening. Couldn’t be swarmed. I gritted my teeth and smashed my helmet into my assailant, skull rattling, sending him stumbling back. I hurled myself clear. A barrage of gunfire went slicing inches above my head as I scooped up a discarded scattershot and