Insurrection (Athena Lee Chronicles Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

witnessing the leader of this bunch cut off his subordinate’s finger and then keep it, Captain Pigot knew they could never surrender to these people. These were not honorable opponents.
     
    Ducking to try to avoid being hit by ricochets, Lieutenant Mutai worked his way down the corridor until he reached the furthest defensive point. Three former cooking staff and one of his Marines were exchanging fire with foolhardy pirates who had stepped out into the corridor. Looking down to the end of the hall, Kinno could see the splattered remains of one pirate his blood now drying on the bulkheads. The cameras had seen four others hiding in the open doorways. The pirates’ fire was beginning to wilt as they ran out of ammo. If he had more Marines he might try for a charge, but Captain Pigot had nixed that idea. Those pirates had reinforcements on the way and it was too risky with only cooks as backup.
     
    “Good work men. We shall have to make you three honorary Marines, after this. The Captain said to try and conserve some of that ammo. We have a great many more pirates to shoot, it would be nice to have ammo to do it with.” He smiled at the men. They really had done good work. Huddled with ‘his’ men Kinno took stock of what was here. He looked at the shorter of the three cooks, “your name is Todd, right?”
     
    “Yes, sir. Just call me ‘Terrible’, sir. That’s what all the kitchen staff call me.” The little man smiled.
     
    “I have to ask, why call you terrible?”
     
    “It’s because of the grease traps sir. I’m the only one small enough to get down there and do a proper job of it. After a long day of working down there I have a pretty strong odor about me, sir. It’s pretty terrible, they tell me when I climb out. Hence the name. It sort of stuck. I suppose it could have been worse, they could have called me Todd the slimy or Greasy Todd.”
     
    Lieutenant Mutai laughed right along with ‘Terrible’. “Well,Terrible I have a job for you. Run back to the base area and gather some more supplies for this post. The Captain says that those pirates are about to be reinforced, so lets get ready shall we? Keep low, Mr. Terrible, you don’t want to get hit.” The cook took a quick look at their supplies and took off running.
     
    The other Marine, Sergeant Sveldig, smiled at his lieutenant. “That was a good thing you did sir. That little man is tough but he needed a boost.”
     
    “I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, Sergeant, but I’ll take any positives I can out of this mess.” His smile turned a bit grim. “According to what we have seen on the cameras the will attack us in force. If it gets too heavy, pull out. Drop back to the next defensive line. If you need help ask for it. No last man standing BS. You understand me Marine?”
     
    “Yes, sir. I understand. No heroics.”
     
    “Good. See you on the other side, Marine.” With that Kinno ran down the corridor ducking to avoid fire.
     
     
    ___
     
     
    The fire from the navy had let up. Wylie cursed: “Póg Mo Thón.” His best mate John Bowmaker lay bleeding all over the floor. Willie-boy was hit pretty bad in the arm and was bleeding like a stuck pig. Those fecking cowards Maurice and Aaron had crawled back about thirty feet and claimed they were ‘covering him.’ When this was all over he would make sure those two got theirs!
     
    His radio crackled “Wylie, Wylie are you still alive? Wylie answer the fecking radio!”
     
    “This is Wylie. I have one dead, one wounded, and two fecking idiots I would like to shoot! We are pinned down by what looks like a half dozen or so navy pukes behind a bulkhead wall.”
     
    “Hold on for a short while more, we have a whole bunch of folks headed your way. The boss sends his regards and is glad you held out.” A cold shiver went down Wylie’s back at the thought of getting ‘regards’ from Alvin-the-taker. That was one crazy máthair!
     
    After about ten minutes that seemed