Disclamer: I don't own Kim Possible and any related characters/vehicles/trademarked names to either her or Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles. However most of the cast is of my creation.
Chapter 10
Counterattack
"General Possible, Ma'am" Alexa said as she ran up to Kim and saluted. Kim returned the salute
"What is it, Corporal"
"General, I was exploring a lower part of the ship and I found a cache of ammunition and medical supplies" she said quickly
"You need help getting it up here?"
"I could use a few extra hands" she said as a large THUD echoed through the ship. Kim's radio crackled
"General, the fliers are making attempts against the hull. Holding so far"
"Thank you, Trooper. Stoppable out" and she turned back to Alexa "Find Sarah and get her to help you"
"Sir, about the Lieutenant..." Alexa began. Kim knew immediately what she was going to say
"Don't tell me"
"We found a heavy drop-ship Sarah, er, the Lieutenant decided to take the four Marauders that were on board as well as Sergeant Shelis, Corporal Zelna and Private Theon to do a raid on the Bug base that the chopper apparently found earlier. She only took the ammo they needed and left everything else for the base"
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If she survives, I'll pin a medal on her and then court martial her ass" Kim sighed "So what do we have as far as supplies?"
xxxx
Sarah had to admit to herself, she was having SOME fun. The drop-ship was pitching and rolling up and down, left and right avoiding plasma fire, Hoppers and Kamikazes It felt like they were on a very well designed roller coaster. Sarah sucked in a big breath and turned to her troopers
"Okay, listen up, this is how it's going to work, we're going to drop in and cause hell" she looked into their eyes "If it has more than two legs, kill it. That's it" Sarah said. Megan spoke up
"Lieutenant, that doesn't sound like a solid plan"
"The idea, is simply to distract the bugs and try and keep them off the crash site and away from the rest of the survivors. We are going to charge through and kill everything"
"Lieutenant, this is suicide" Anna blurted
"You all knew the mission, you knew the stakes, you could have stayed back, Private"
"Oh no, I wouldn't miss this for the world, I just figured someone should blurt out the obvious" Anna replied. Everyone chuckled. The klaxon began to sound
"TO YOUR Marauders!" Sarah yelled and stepped into hers. "Fight for victory" she said into the comm
"DIE WITH HONOR!" they shouted back.
"Good hunting Strikers" LeBell said from the cockpit.
Sarah felt the ship vibrate as the doors around her suit closed and the one below her opened.
"DROP IN 3...2...1...DROP!" she spoke over the comm and the clamps released.
Free fall was amazing, or would have been if this wasn't a High Danger Low Level Drop. And because they were dropping even lower than anyone had before, the danger was that much more paramount. The Private had had to disable the rockets that would have propelled the Marauders away from the craft, mostly because that would have shot them out too fast and Sarah felt that that was an unnecessary risk to her troopers. With only one km of space to slow down in, it would be risky. Even when they were authorized, H.D.L.L.D.s were done from about 5-8km up, to give decent room to slow down so they would not kill themselves. The fact that they would be so low only added to the reasoning of how desperate they were...
The drop went as expected. They landed in the target coordinates and there wasn't a bug in sight. What there was, however, was a vast mountain range, near the valley they had dropped into. 'A perfect spot' Sarah thought to herself.
"Okay, let's hit it. Heading for the mountain range" Sarah instructed and began to walk off, the other Marauders following in line.
xxxx
The hike up was interesting, as much as bleak, scorched, plant less jagged rocky mountains are interesting. Though from what Sarah heard coming from Anna, the landscape was quite beautiful, in an apocalyptic sort of way.
Sarah turned to her troopers when they started nearing the top
"Alright, we're going to be entering real bug country, so keep your heads up, ears open and cut the chatter. Clear?"
"Aye sir!" replied the troopers in unison, the Marauders shifting slowly.
"Alright. Move out" Sarah waved her arm, and by extension, the Marauder arm.
But before they could move much farther in, the shrieking call of warrior bugs filled the air. Sarah froze and looked around
"Sergeant Shelis, send a comm burst to the General. Message reads; Have made contact with enemy and preparing to engage. Message ends"
"Copy that, Lieutenant"
It was good timing. Almost immediately after the message had been recorded, warriors began pouring over the cliffs into the valley crater they were in.
"Lieutenant, permission to speak?" Corporal Zelna said in her deep Russian accent
"What is it?" Sarah replied
"We're in the kill box. We need to move"
"I'm inclined to agree. But it's too late. Back to back. On my mark we make for the pass at my three O'clock. I'm on point, Sergeant Shelis takes our six. Understand?"
"Roger that" they replied.
The warriors were closing in. They seemed like an avalanche of black and green flowing down the side of a cliff. Finally, it hit the closing point
"SHRED THEM" Sarah called out and let loose her guns, instantly tearing through the bodies of several warriors, causing them to fall and create more chaos, but it did not stop the onslaught of warriors.
With each Marauder responsible for a 90 degree arc of fire, the bugs were being mostly slaughtered, the few that were getting through were taken care of by the Marauder's auto-cannons. Bug carcases were beginning to pile up as they were slaughtered coming down the hills. One might almost guess that if enough bugs were taken care of, a complete dome might have formed over the Marauders.
xxxx xxxx
After what seemed like hours, the time had come. Sarah could feel the bugs tunnelling underneath them. They would soon burst and devour the team, She had to act. The time to move had arrived.
"PLASMA! HIT IT AND MOVE!" she yelled and hit the trigger. The rockets shot up from the back of her machine and lit up the ground around them in a bright blue flame
"MOVE MOVE MOVE" she yelled and hit the controls. Her Marauder began to move towards the path, pulse guns blazing, killing every arachnid that came within it's reticule. She quickly looked down at her sensor display to make sure her troopers were with her, when it beeped that they were all accounted for, she charged on, discontinuing the use of her cannons for the claws on her Marauder, ripping warriors to shreds as they proceeded. Her canopy glass became smeared with arachnid blood, almost to the point of her not being able to see out of it, but still she trudged on. An amusing thought about if these machines had kill recorders and how hers would be bursting at this point led to a small, mischievous smile crossing her face for a split second.
They quickly cleared the crater walls and found themselves in another valley, a narrow and deep valley that headed up, away from the crater to what Sarah hoped was a peak.
"ZELNA, RECON THE END OF THE VALLEY! THE REST OF US HEAD UP THE VALLEY SLOWLY AND IN REVERSE! Let's see if we can't plug up the valley with their dead." Sarah ordered. Zelna turned and headed up the valley as fast as the robotic legs would take her. The rest of them began to slowly advance uphill, their guns blazing and firing back into the on onslaught of warriors.
The pace was slow. Very slow. But it wasn't more than a three-quarter hour before Zelna radioed in that it was a peak and it came right out of the valley onto a plateau that was more than big enough to hold a platoon of the 141st Marauder Corps and still have room for a chopper. It was perfect.
With their slow pace, it took almost four hours to make the trek to the top, but it well worth it. The entire valley was covered in bug carcases. The problem was that the machines were beginning to feel the wear and tear. Luckily the laser mags were on constant recharge, so ammo wasn't too much of a problem, unless they lost the solar collectors permanently. The sheer amount of bug blood was beginning to get into the Marauder joints. They had been in constant use for the last six hours and after sitting in a pile for almost a week, they weren't in good condition to begin with. It was a disaster that could lead the death of her team. And that was something that she wasn't going to allow. Not as long as there was a choice in the matter and she had a say.
The plateau was a welcome sight, the Marauders once again took back to back stances and focused on knocking the incoming bugs off the platform. The jagged rocks that surrounded the plateau finished them off. So ammo was being conserved and giving the guns a chance to cool. But the machines themselves were getting worse for wear. If this kept up, they would have to be abandoned. All Sarah could do was fight and hope that the bugs were too concerned with them to care about the Allegiance. She doubted it, but it felt good to kill so many of the enemy. It felt like payback. It WAS payback. It was revenge. Vengeance. A gift for the attacks on the fleet that stranded them on this rock.
Their stomachs were empty. Their bodies sweating from the heat, wanting to collapse and die. But they pressed on. And once Sarah saw the swarm of hoppers on the horizon, she knew they had the bug's attention and drawn it away from the ship and the General and the survivors. Now all they had to do was hold line as long as they could
"We have incoming from the air at my Two O'clock" Sarah radioed. She took a second to compile herself as she swatted another set of warriors off the plateau
"Fight for Victory, troopers"
"DIE WITH HONOR!" they yelled back
"Theon, you are on AA duty, adjust your weapons as such. We will cover you on the ground. Unless ordered, you are to focus strictly on the air threat. Understood?"
"Copy that, Lieutenant" Anna replied and shifted her guns to the sky.
xxxx
The battle lasted long of the day and as the sun began to set, Sarah resigned herself to the fact that they would probably not last the night, despite how short the night was on this world. Despite that she was fairly confident that they would not live to see the sun rise, but that didn't stop her, that didn't weaken her resolve. If this was their time to die, then they would take as many of the enemy with them as they could.
"Hit the floodlights" she ordered and flicked on the Marauders exterior lighting. It shone through the impending darkness and pierced the night like a blade.