Free Con-Red: Recourse by Max Feinstein Page B

radiation…”
    “ This is Captain Rasik requesting immediate evac.  Hostile forces have gained control of Mironia and surrounding areas.  They are heavily fortified and using unknown weapons.  Estimate enemy strength to be company sized and expanding.  We have observed multiple unknown ships landing within the SP’s perimeter as well as directed fire support from possible fighter or bomber contacts.  Enemy soldiers seem nearly immune to BR-112 fire as you can see from engagement video….There have also been unconfirmed reports of soldiers committing intentional friendly fire.”
    “Sarge…Sarge what are you doing?!  Enemy is downrange…Oh hell! Celia! Medic! Medic! Celia is down!  Sarge put it down or I’ll drop you!  What hell got into ….”
    With that Duntan cut off his speaker.  There were way too many transmissions to get through.  It seemed like the military or civil engineers were routing all normal network traffic through the laser relays and flooding them with signals.  All of them seemed to be the same in terms of confusion as to what was happening.  Some indicated witnessed accounts, while other contradicted those same accounts with other interpretations.
    The last transmissions , however, sent shivers down his spine and confused his mind as to what was really happening down there on the ground.  There was fighting happening within a densely populated area and that did not bode well for anyone.  And what was happening with the friendly fire?  It was confusing, but he did not have the time to go over it all at the moment.  The Colonel instructed his suit to download the video of the engagement mentioned by the Captain in the hopes of going over it whenever they had a spare moment.
    In the meantime he had a job to complete and they were running out of time.  The chrono floating on his HUD blinked a little faster now and progressed into a yellow hue as it counted down the remaining seconds before the enemy craft was finally in proximity to them.  Beside the countdown timer another icon appeared and started to pulse faster and faster.  Duntan looked east and saw the shimmering outline of their transport closing towards them just as the bright sun peeked over the horizon and sent its rays towards them.  His visor dimmed instantly to preserve his vision and dissipate any glare coming from the surrounding snow that might have affected him.
    “Alright peo ple, time to get out of here!” Colonel Slaige commanded with a slight hint of satisfaction at the completion of their assigned mission.  The relay stations were up and running and ready to contribute the continued war effort of the UPF military forces.
    “Chief, one-six-six high, ” came a short burst from Gage, his heavy weapons expert stationed close to the edge of the outcropping.
    Duntan turned quickly and glanced up where indicated.  At first there was nothing to seen, but when he zoomed in closer a fireball could be seen streaking across the sky towards the ground.   To be sure he checked his bearings and confirmed his suspicion.
    “Avenger One, sitrep,” the request went out only a second before the streaking object impacted the ground below and disappeared within a cloud of dirt and debris.  “Avenger flight come in.  What’s happening up there?”
    A static filled reply came a few seconds later from a pilot that seemed to be struggling wi th something and breathing hard, “sir, Avenger Two here…barely.  One bought it on the first pass.  Interdiction mission failed, repeat, target still on approach to your location.  I have sustained multisystem failure and had to break off for AREP.  Sorry Echo, you’re on your own.  Suggest evac out at the soonest.”
    “Copy that Avenger Two, thanks for the try.  We are on our way out,” Duntan replied with his well wishes and hoped the Dragonfire’s automatic repair systems allowed the fighter to return to base, just as the CT-76 transport flew over them and settled into