Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike by Doug Dandridge Read Free Book Online

sounded out.  Satrusalya hit the door close button,
and the door slid closed as the men all backed away to the far wall of the
room.
    The twin explosions came less than a second
later, within a hundredth of a second of each other.  The augmented men
depended on the ear protection of the tactical helmets all were wearing to
protect their hearing.  It was barely enough, as the walls of the chamber shook
from the fury of the blasts.  Cornelius’s link with the repairbots was
instantly severed as the blasts spread into the vents.  The door shook in its
frame, and a large dent appeared in the wall as something was slammed into it,
hard.
    The Lieutenant counted to five, then nodded to
the Commando.  Satrusalya hit the door commit again, frowning as nothing
happened for a moment.  He hit the commit two more times, and the door finally
slid open, not as smoothly as it had before.
    That was a hellofa blast to warp a door like
that at that distance, even a little bit , thought Cornelius, setting his rifle to fire
and moving through the door behind the first two men.  As usual, his testicles
wanted to crawl into his body as he went into what could be the line of fire. 
His adrenaline kept him on his feet, and he was sure he was addicted to that
feeling, the only thing that kept him going into what seemed like certain
death.
    He looked left,saw nothing moving save
smoke, then right, in time to see one of his men take out what looked like the
only Caca who had survived that blast.  Luck is a relative term, he
thought as he ran that way, Satrusalya on his heels.  Lucky enough to
survive a hundred ton equivalent grenade, only to die a moment later as you try
to gather your senses.
    The position they had taken out, one set to
sweep this corridor with fire for a kilometer of its length, was an abattoir. 
A dozen Caca bodies, two heavy particle beams and a trio of rocket launchers,
they would have slaughtered anything coming down the hall.  Most had been
killed instantly, parts of their armor crushed, blood flowing from helmets that
had not been strong enough to protect them from the overpressure of the blast. 
A pair were missing limbs, probably catching the full brunt of the blast. 
There was a hole through one wall that looked large enough to have been made by
a Caca arm, blood smeared on the edges.
    “Fire in the hole,” yelled Satrusalya, prepping
another of the grenades.  All of the men got low, using the bodies and
equipment of the Cacas as cover.  The Commando threw the grenade down the hall
like a football, the weapon swishing through the air from the strength of his
arm.  He ducked down just before a particle beam burned through the air where
he had been standing, then more beams pierced the air, from their angles aimed
at the grenade.
    Another thunderous explosion, flames reaching
up the corridor and almost getting to the men.
    “Move out,” yelled Cornelius, jumping to his
feet and starting up the corridor, his rifle at the ready.
    “We have movement behind,” called out Sergeant
Pasco, waving them down.
    “It’s Owusu, sir,” yelled out the big
Specialist, jogging down the hall with his rocket launcher, a dozen figures in
police style tac op clothing running with him.  “I’ve got company.”
    “Follow us,” said Cornelius, turning back and
sprinting down the corridor, depending on the augmented troops and agents to
keep up with him.
    Because of his speed of action he caught the
next layer of Cacas off guard, just setting up to cover the corridor after
losing contact with the males further down that the humans had wiped out. 
There were only six of them, and thirty beam and high speed projectile weapons
took them out before they could react.
    “Follow me,” yelled Cornelius, continuing on,
jumping the bodies, knowing that the speed of their assault could take the
objective, as long as they didn’t let caution slow them down.  We’re going
to do this , he thought, his running speed up to fifty