Star Force: Resistance (SF75) Read Online Free Page A

he’d
placed earlier on key facilities, including the bigger defense turrets near the
city center.
    “We can’t touch these, they’re too well defended. But
these,” he said, bringing up 19 different locations spread across the entirety
of the city, “I think are doable.”
    “All of them?”
    “No, unfortunately. We can’t carry enough explosives
for more than two, I’d guess. And unless we want to get really bold and put
them on long timers, we can’t come and go several times to get them all loaded
up. If we can sneak down to the planet and patiently work our way in, I think
we’ve got a shot at doing this once. More than that, at this location anyway,
would be pushing it.”
    “And you think this isn’t pushing it already?” Leo
asked.
    “If we stay in the shadows no. The question is whether
we’re sneaky enough.”
    “If we’re exposed we’re as good as dead,” Mace
commented.
    “We can go underground as a backup. Hide out and make
them chase us, so it’s not an instant death fail.”
    “That’s so reassuring,” Leo mumbled.
    “If you want to nix it, just say so. We can find
somewhere else to pitch in.”
    “No, you’re right,” Jyra said, looking at the map. “This will matter if we can pull it off. Putting us
four on defensive engagements doesn’t gain much. We need to go on the offense
and hit something big.”
    “Unfortunately the ‘big’ stuff is out of our reach,”
Leo argued, looking back at Brandon. “What’s our exit strategy…other than
running and hiding?”
    “Arrange an evac point
outside the city and sneak back out.”
    “After we blow it?”
    “We can set short timers, I just don’t want to leave
the bombs where they can be found over the course of time.”
    “Bombs as in what?”
    Brandon frowned. “Nothing pretty this time. Just what
we can carry in our packs along with survival gear for a few weeks.”
    “So not much then,” Mace summed up.
    “We’ll have to be creative in the placement.”
    Jyra looked at Mace, with
both of them in agreement, then she glanced at Leo and gave him a mental ‘ boink ’ sound and question mark in a telepathic burst.
    “This is dumb,” he said plainly, “which is why the
lizards wouldn’t see it coming. If we can stay dark it’s doable, otherwise
we’re toast. I’m game if you have a really good plan.”
    “I do, but I haven’t cleared it yet. Needed you guys
onboard first.”
    “We are,” Leo confirmed. “Call it in.”
    Brandon walked away from the holo table to a pedestal
on the other side of the small room, putting his back to his team as he placed
a bare hand on it, linking into the telepathic device interface and connecting
to the ship’s nexus where the trailblazer was. Through it they had a brief
conversation even as she was guiding ships in orbit and coordinating the
fighting retreat on the ground. Alpha 9 was the only Arc Commando team involved
in this campaign and she’d been saving them for special missions, letting them
choose when and where to get involved, but even Brandon wasn’t sure she would
go for this one.
    He sensed some hesitation when he had completed his
proposal, but within a few seconds he got confirmation along with an added
wrinkle to the plan to give them some better insertion cover. The Arc Commando
withdrew his hand from the pedestal, severing the connection to the
computerized hive mind that was organizing this invasion, and turned to his
three peers.
    “We’re approved and on the clock. 33 minutes to get
geared up and in position. Our ride is going to be a bit more flamboyant than I
had planned.”

 
 
    3

 
 
    The command ship moved down into low orbit as far as
it could without endangering itself from the anti-orbital batteries, though
some of them were painting its shields will diffuse blasts that were exceeding
their effective range. While they did so a portion of the shield was lowered
while a few railgun-equipped drones flew down in the shadow of the ship