Free Sons of Abraham: Pawns of Terror by Joseph Ray Page A

orders. Both of the long barrels were raised, with deafening shots ringing out from the open dock doors. The lack of gunfire coming from behind Bear informed him that he’d just lost two soldiers. He sprayed bullets towards the two Cybers with the long rifles, but they’d already moved out of his view.
    He thought ahead, placing himself in the shoes of the Cybers. They’d dropped two of his men already, but the remaining targets had ducked out of their view. If he were they, he’d…….
    “Fall back!” he shouted, grabbing Janys by the collar and retreating to the doorway.
    The Corporal hesitated at first, but the larger soldier yanked her from her crouched position, dragging her away from the I-beam. Her feet drag against the floor until she managed to get a running start, pulling up next to the Sargent as he retreated around the corner, still dragging her in tow.
    The other soldiers caught on too late as the cylinders hit the floor between the panels of the doorway. The blast blew Bearden and James off their feet, sending them face first into the floor as shrapnel and bits of soldier sailed past them. Janys hadn’t noticed at first, but the Sargent had pulled her around him, then shoved her out in front of his body. His shoulder lay against her right calf, pinning her to the floor until she slid it out from under the motionless man.
    “Sarge!” she shouted, trying to roll him over to his back.
    She had to stand up and shove her fingers underneath the harness before she was able to gain enough leverage to move the large man. He fell onto his back, his head swaying along with his body. A stream of blood fell from his forehead, but his eyes were stirring underneath their lids. She checked his pulse before pulling a pack from her pocket. She ripped the foil open, then folded the gauze open and pressed it to his forehead.
    Her attention returned to the carnage behind her. The contrasting scene offered her the edge of the white hallway, met with the black of the charred destruction from the grenade. The ceiling had collapsed, the cables and wiring hanging halfway down to the floor. Sparks flew from the damage as the sprinkler system kicked in. She fumbled to one side, reaching out for her rifle. Her hand came up empty, leaving a pit in her stomach as she realized she must have dropped it during the blast. Given little options, she slid the strap of the cannon hanging from Bear’s shoulder and lifted the sights to eye level. Footsteps were coming hard from the blast. She crouched over Bear’s chest, doing her best to shield him from the oncoming threat.
    The heavy footsteps grew louder as she tightened her muscles, shoving the stock of the rifle against her shoulder while trying to use her knee to steady her shot. The assault rifle was impossibly heavy, intended for use with a tripod or vehicle mount rather than to be held naked. She counted the steps, then squeezed back on the trigger.
    **********
    The Hopper rested mercifully on the surface of Taurus, commonly referred to as the Farming planet. Taurus was one of the first planets to be terraformed once the Gabriel Rings had been created. The early Cybers had attempted to find the perfect balance between water and land, providing the farms with adequate rainfall while optimizing the harvest seasons. The distance and orbit of Taurus to her star offered a long spring, a mild summer, and a relatively short winter compared to Earth. The terraship had rained down heavily upon the landscape, creating thousands of miles of flat lands in which to plant, but with channels for rain runoff. The early settlers had struggled as the terraforming had been cut short, the dire situation on Earth not allowing for the recommended germination period that the Cybers had suggested. Thousands of tons of crops had been wasted in the early years until an equal tonnage of chemicals had been used to add nutrients to the soil.
    Bullsrun was one of the larger cities on the planet, named for the