Ghost Soldiers Read Online Free PDF Page A

two towers, and a stolen military Bulldog APC. His suit had already tagged twenty-three points of gunfire, and each of them blinked away like fireflies. Khan moved far off to his right, Sergeant Tyler and Lieutenant Armstrong spread out to the their flanks; each preceded by a squad of six CD1 Grunts constantly checking their mortal commander was safe. They moved as though in a dream, bounding along, checking left and right.
    There they go. If we could make them autonomous, they would dominate the battlefield.
    Spartan checked once more to satisfy himself they were on course. He and Khan would be going for the prisoners; the other two would spread out and watch for flankers. Another dropship lifted up just after depositing its cargo, and another four Mavericks and thirty Grunts moved off far to the left to attack the tower complex. Missiles and gunfire rushed back and forth, while pulses of energy marked the HEC-1 cannons on the Mavericks.
    Impressive.
    “Keep moving ahead. We’re on the clock.”
    The odd crack of heavy rifle fire marked the Marine Corps snipers that were well hidden over a kilometre away, and he spotted multiple targets drop from their position high above the assault.
    Out in front of Spartan moved the skirmish wave of another six CD1 Grunts. They lurched ahead without a care in the world. They moved and fought like a slightly drunk human, but in the middle of the fight that was where the similarity ended. They reached the perimeter wall at the same time a tracked vehicle crashed through, mowing down three of them. A human would have avoided the impact, but the control delay was too slow to save then. A few managed to leap or rolled out of the way while the gun mount on the back of the vehicle blasted away in the direction of Spartan.
    “Spartan!” Khan yelled.
    He’d already tagged the target and sidestepped to avoid the incoming fire. Three rounds came perilously close, but two Grunts blocked the position and took the hits for him. Spartan had no idea if it was intentional, or if they had simply lumbered into the way by mistake. Even with just a quarter of a second delay in communications to the ship, it was enough to be hit by enemy gunfire. A full round-trip for the signal was close to half a second, perhaps a little more when signal degradation and error checking was included. In any case, one was cut in two, but the other deflected the shots on its thick metal armour plating before finally turning to face the attacker. By the time the Grunt had selected a target it was hit by three more rounds.
    “HEC-1...ready,” said the computer.
    With a mental command, Spartan sent a single shot at the vehicle from the phased plasma weapon. The motorised weapon mount tracked the target in silence, unleashing a green bolt of matter. Until impact the bolt of energy was a simple sphere that glowed like a small green star, protected inside its magnetised housing. Once it struck the vehicle, the magnetic shield fractured and unleashed the energy, quickly ripping apart the front of the vehicle.
    “Keep moving,” said Khan.
    Spartan took three steps forward and watched gunfire from Khan’s massive coilguns cut down enemy combatants, as the surviving enemy soldiers leapt out. These were the multi-barrelled weapons normally reserved for machine gun emplacement, but now a common weapon mount on JAS armour systems.
    CD1 Grunts then met them at close range, finishing them off in seconds. Spartan kept on moving ahead past the wreckage and pushed through the perimeter wall. Lights marked the position of guns on many of the buildings, and Spartan fired several rounds at them while continuing forward. He and Khan had reached the prisoner structure in less than a minute. It was a low building with a two-metre wall running all around it. There were two entrances, each big enough for a single Maverick to enter.
    “Incoming!”
    One of the Grunts had shouted the warning via its onboard speakers. A missile moved down, and