Portal Wars 1: Gehenna Dawn by Jay Allan Page A

the
valley clear. Dig in on both sides, and put the mortars in the
center so you can fire in either direction.”
    “Got it, Jake.” Black’s voice was sharp, but
Taylor could hear the fatigue too. The 2nd Section had been in the
forefront of the attack, and they’d borne the brunt of the losses.
Taylor’s old command was nearly shattered, but he knew they’d still
do the job. He was trusting them with his life. He was leading Hank
Daniels’ 1st Section inside with the engineers, and if the enemy
retook the valley while they were in the base, none of them would
get out.
    “Lieutenant Taylor, Captain Graves here.
Detonation in 30 seconds.” Taylor could see the engineers on his
tactical display, running away from the base entrance, putting
enough distance between themselves and the charges. “It’ll take
about five minutes for the area to cool down enough for us to go
in.” Cool down was definitely a relative term on Erastus. “Have
your people ready and in position by then.”
    “Understood, Captain.” Taylor felt a small
flush, not anger, really…more annoyance. He realized he didn’t like
getting anything that sounded like orders from the engineer. Not
when they concerned one of his combat forces. But he bit back on
it. “We’ll be ready, sir.”
     
    “Launch light modules.” It was dark in the
passage, the kind of pitch blackness you could only dream about
most places on Erastus. It was all well and good to wish for relief
from the relentless sunlight, but Taylor and his men, their eyes
adjusted to the brightness of two massive suns, were ill-equipped
to maneuver in the dark.
    There was a whoomp sound, then another. Then
half a dozen more. The light modules could be attached to the
assault rifles like grenades. They were polycarbonate globes
generating light through a contained chemical reaction. They lasted
around six hours, and each one could light up an area with a
diameter of roughly six meters.
    Taylor looked down the passage, now lit by
the modules. It was about ten meters wide, and it stretched deep
into the mountainside. The light globes were doing their job well.
All of Taylor’s people had flashlights, but a handheld light was
more effective at giving the holder’s position away to a hidden
enemy than providing useful illumination. The modules were far more
effective, and the grenade launchers could throw them several
hundred meters.
    “Alright, 1st Team take point.” Taylor was
going to follow just behind his advanced team, the engineers and
the rest of the section falling in behind him. “Prepare to move
out.”
    Hank Daniels had been at the end of the
formation, organizing the teams bringing up the rear. Now he
trotted forward to Taylor’s position. “It’s hard to believe we’re
actually inside an enemy base, isn’t it, Jake?” He shouldn’t have
been calling his superior officer by his first name, but Taylor
wasn’t a stickler for formality…and he certainly wasn’t used to
being an officer. Besides, Daniels was rapidly becoming a member of
Jake’s inner circle.
    “It’s pretty incredible.” The response was
perfunctory, without emotion. Taylor looked around him. The walls
were smooth, the bare rock coated with some unidentified material.
Taylor knew he was inside the lair of a species far ahead of his
own, but all he could think about was the cost. Half his people had
been killed and wounded taking this place…and from what he could
piece together, the rest of the battalion had suffered almost as
badly. He knew it was a big step forward for the war effort, but it
was still too early to think of it in those terms. The losses were
still too fresh.
    “I know it was a hard fight, Jake.” Daniels
had a pretty good idea why Taylor was so somber. “But at least it
wasn’t a waste. We’re a big step closer to ending the war on
Erastus. That’s something, at least. How many of our people have
died on this miserable rock for nothing?”
    Taylor took a deep breath.