Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 71

Buy the book now at your preferred store: https://books2read.com/u/bM2Nna

***********************************

High above the planet, Toska sat in her Shrike fighter, admiring the stars, and waiting to descend towards the vast dark mass of the planet below.

The radio buzzed. "Falcon, this is Raven."

At the highest point overlooking the valley, one of the Tiger teams had settled in for a long stay. Elmira Aliyev—call-sign Raven—surveyed the battlefield, so she could direct Toska's bombs to where they would most be needed.

"Standing by Raven."

"You are cleared to descend to twenty thousand feet. Once you're on station, commence your approach from the south on bearing three-one-six degrees."

Toska flipped the stealthy fighter over, burning her engines against the direction of travel to shed orbital velocity. The craft slowed, and its trajectory curved down into Caldera's gravity well.

"Roger Raven, do you have some targets for me?"

As she fell towards the planet, Toska flipped her nose back over and prepared to enter the upper atmosphere.

"More than I can count, Falcon. Be prepared for multiple turnarounds," Elmira said, meaning that the fighter would have to return to the mothership several times to rearm and refuel.

The delay was the main weakness of the Shrike fighter, but a necessary tradeoff in order to keep the whole operation secret.

Toska brushed a finger along a sticker on the inside of her canopy that read, 'The objective is an eighteen-year-old with a rifle. Everything else is support.'

"Copy that Raven, I'm easily bored so make sure and keep me busy," she joked to the woman, who for the next several hours would be her sole connection to the events unfolding on the ground.

"AIs don't get bored, you know?"

Toska laughed.

The first sign of trouble that caught Thandi's attention was a distant dragging sound, followed by falling rocks. Then she caught sight of movement between the far-off boulders, which immediately disappeared.

"Hold fire," Kes said calmly. "We want them in close."

Thandi thought that was the last thing she wanted, but kept her finger off the trigger. It was a hard decision.

The squad had nestled into positions among the boulders with effective sight lines, watching for the slightest sign of movement in the rocks above them. Though the Rangers had thought they would be surprised by an enemy lying in wait, the mutated drones seemed to show no aptitude for stealthy movement, nor patience for setting an ambush. They simply advanced straight towards the waiting soldiers as though they were ignorant of the danger.

Eventually, the boulders were crawling with movement, and Thandi saw something horrific lumbering along within a stone's throw distance. The figure was black in her night-vision, clearly visible against the green rocks. She stared at it, fascinated by its ugly face and bristling spikes.

Without warning, Kes's rifle barked, and the world exploded into noise and light. Thandi tried to sight something squarely, but creatures were dropping too quickly. In the end, she settled for aiming at every gap in the rock and squeezing off a few rounds at each.

As she went to change a magazine, Kes called out, "Fast air going in—stay down!"

A terrible shriek ripped the sky open, followed soon after by an intense burst of light, and a blast wave that hit Thandi like a truck. Rangers whooped and yelled as they cheered the fighter, already circling around for another run.