Ep.#4 - "Freedom's Dawn" (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

Andre and the other three members of his squad fell from the airship, the winches braking at the last second to slow them just enough so that their feet barely touched the ground before their drop cables automatically disconnected from the backs of their descent harness. The experience was quite like a free-fall, and as usual Andre’s stomach caught up to him just after his feet touched the ground.
    Just as rehearsed countless times in the past, all four men dispersed in different directions. Seconds later their descent cables retracted smoothly up into the airship hovering overhead, which quickly climbed away as soon as the cables were secured.
    Andre immediately moved up along the left side of the recessed roadway, staying against the corridor wall in a low crouch as he approached the tail end of the convoy with his weapon held ready and tight against his shoulder. The shooters overhead had succeeded in keeping the Corinairan forces pinned down and trapped inside their vehicles, thus he met no resistance on approach.
    Rounds of pinpoint energy bursts bounced off the armored vehicles, dissipating in little clouds of light as the shooters continued to rain down fire from above. Andre and his partner ran up to the back of the last vehicle. He slid a small flat explosive charge under the vehicle and then rolled off to one side, his partner doing the same in the opposite direction. As soon as his body touched the side wall of the corridor, he covered his head and pressed the remote detonator button on his wrist controller.
    The shaped charge exploded, sending a superheated column of plasma up through the bottom of the armored vehicle, engulfing the interior of the vehicle in white-hot flames. The doors, blown open from the blast, fell onto the street, followed by the flailing bodies of the burning soldiers trying in vain to escape the inferno. Andre kept his face covered as he felt the intense heat of the initial blast wash over him. Once the heat subsided, he opened his eyes and watched in fascination as the bodies flailed about for another few seconds. The chemical smell of the plasma fires and the stench of burning human flesh were almost overpowering. He only hoped that the convoy had followed standard Corinairan security procedures for prisoner transport, which dictated that the lead and rear vehicles carried guards and the middle vehicles carried prisoners. If they hadn’t, he was sure he would catch hell from Commander Dumar upon their return.
    Not wanting to succumb to the same fate, the troops in the lead vehicle of the trapped convoy came piling out in force, screaming at the top of their lungs in typical Corinairan fashion. They fired indiscriminately as they had not had a chance to discern the exact location of their attackers.
    Andre let loose a few well aimed shots of his own, cutting down at least two of the Corinairans. His participation had not been required, as the shooters above had clear lines of fire and could easily handle the floundering security guards. In only a few seconds of intense energy weapons fire, the battle was over.
    Andre and the rest of his team rose and charged the middle two vehicles, swinging open the back doors to each.
    “It’s about bloody time,” a distinguished looking man in his fifties cursed as he stepped out of the vehicle.
    “Captain de Winter, I presume?” Andre said.
    “Of course, Sergeant, now get these restraints off of me.”
    “Yes sir.” Andre immediately removed the captain’s shackles and tossed them aside.
    “We have to get out of here immediately,” de Winter ordered.
    “The extraction birds will be here in thirty seconds, sir. We’ll have you back to command in ten minutes,” he assured him as he turned to check on his perimeter.
    Captain de Winter grabbed Andre by the shoulder and spun him back around. “I have no intention of going to your command post, Sergeant. We need to get back to the spaceport and commandeer a shuttle.”
    Andre didn’t much