Ghost Soldiers Read Online Free

were roads and towers rising up from the ground; just months earlier there had been rubble. Complex, multi-layered pillars lifted up into the air to support the weight of raised roadways and Maglev rail systems. One of them was already operational and being used by a freight train to move larger metal girders. Spartan thought back to Jack and Teresa and their final moments on this alien world, so many years before.
    They would have been proud of what this place has become.
    A smile began to form ever so slowly on his face as he looked upon the rebuilding effort. This was one place where his presence would not be particularly welcome. Few still realised the magnitude of what he’d done, and how many lives he had saved. He suspected even those that knew would still rather blame him, the man that brought the ships through the Black Rift, even if that action had allowed him to destroy the Biomechs from inside.
    Does it matter what they think now? At least they are alive to criticise.
    It was what so many always forgot; he was like so many of them, a man that had lost his wife and only child. He would never forget them, but at least he could see improvement in a place he thought had been truly lost. Off into the distance were hundreds, perhaps even thousands of buildings, all of which were in various stages of construction. In the middle was a single tower reaching up nearly a hundred storeys. It was a simple design, more in line with something humans would have created rather than the Helions. It was partially cylindrical and broke out into a spire that lifted up into a series of low clouds. Though structurally complete, he already knew it was only half finished.
    Liberation Tower.
    As the dropship moved back, Spartan found he was unable to avoid looking upon the ruined mountain nearly thirty kilometres away. To anybody else it might have been little more that another peak on the horizon, but to Spartan it was a grave. Deep underneath its surface lay the destroyed planetary defence system, as well as the hundreds of bodies still entombed deep within its core.
    “Spartan, you okay?”
    He turned around and found Khan looking back at him. The monstrous Jötnar warrior had been silent until now. A product of the Biomech warrior programme, Khan was not far short of three metres in height, and when cased inside his armour was easily a match for the Maverick suit, something that relied on technology; whereas Jötnar could rely on their natural muscles to do the same job. Spartan walked past the robotic drones waiting silently inside their pods.
    “I’m fine, Khan, here for the mission. Same as you.”
    Khan lowered his head in a sombre expression. Unlike Spartan, he wore the cruder looking JAS armour. Though of a similar size of the Maverick unit, it was unpowered, and equipped with thicker plating and a myriad of close-range weapons.
    “Understood, Major.”
    Spartan had been moving away and looked back at his friend, spotting the mischievous grin as he sealed up the head plate on the front of his armour.
    “Funny. Very funny.”
    Spartan moved along the interior of the Jackal dropship, the heavy clunk of his armour tapping on the metallic floor plates. He was inside the latest issue Maverick armour, as were the two marines looking back at him. Both men were highly experienced sergeants with dozens of combat operations under their belts, and now they had been transferred to this specialised unit.
    “Four minutes till drop; check your weapons and articulation one last time.”
    He nodded as he spoke.
    “This is the inaugural operation of the Interstellar Assault Brigade, and we’re going into an operation High Command says is unwinnable. The enemy has killed three of the wounded Helion marines in the last thirty minutes, and Intelligence says they will be moving our people out in less than an hour. It’s time for some payback.”
    He blinked and glanced at Khan, who seemed to be just enjoying the trip down. The others might