The Oath

By James Daniel Ross

Mercenaries in the 27th century are said to be pragmatic, crafty, and even callous. Yet there are some things they hold above all else. The first must be the lockbox, for every man who fights must be paid. The second is the integrity of the commander, for none wish to be sent to die needlessly to save on pay or paperwork. And lastly, if the comm

• Language: English
• Publisher: eSpec Books
• Release date: Sep 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942990109

Book preview

Radiation Angels: The Mission Files

The Oath

James Daniel Ross

eSpec Books LLC

Stratford, NJ

PUBLISHED BY

eSpec Books LLC

Danielle McPhail, Publisher

PO Box 493,

Stratford, New Jersey 08084

www.especbooks.com

Copyright ©2015 James Daniel Ross

Cover Art Copyright ©2015 Mike McPhail, McP Digital Graphics

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-942990-10-9

Previously published in By Other Means, edited by Mike McPhail, Dark Quest Books, 2011.

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

All persons, places, and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Content Editing: Greg Schauer and Danielle McPhail

Interior Design: Sidhe na Daire Multimedia

www.sidhenadaire.com

THE OATH

From the Chronicles of the Radiation Angels

James Daniel Ross

T

he air smelled burned to death, carbon and ozone mixing into an

acrid cocktail that whispered ‘war’ to all who knew how to listen. The dropship revved engines that further scorched the barren ground as the incoming scream of mortar rounds pierced the sky. The auto-defense turret on top of the Seraphim’s Strike spun almost too fast to track, spitting two-hundred centigram finned darts at eight times the speed of sound, swatting explosive shells off their flight paths. A hundred meters below the crest, one remaining Angel grasped at the belts of grenades left by his team, pulling pins and lobbing them high into oncoming enemy squads. It was a beautiful last stand, but even as the explosive orbs showered enemy soldiers with jagged shrapnel no one could doubt it would be, in fact, a last stand. Though many hid from the grenades, too many more came up the narrow ravine replacing the fallen.

The Angel cursed violently as he fumbled through belt after belt and discovered no more ordnance. The constant beat of detonating grenades came to an end, and he readied his and an abandoned Mk4 21/3 Oberon pulse plasma rifle. Like an action hero, he propped them both over the denuded section of wall that served as cover just as several enemy soldiers decided the grenade rain was over and stood up. With a primordial cry, the Angel depressed both triggers and rode the recoil from the superheated packets of energy as