Luna Marine by Ian Douglas

a deep breath, and tried to bring her voice back under control. Another shoulder-launched missile streaked up out of the crater,angling almost straight toward her before it whipped low overhead. She crouched low as the blast went off somewhere at her back.
    â€œIt looks as though the enemy is preparing to rush First Platoon,” she continued. “We need help, fast. Can you comply, over?”
    â€œRaven, Falcon. We’re about five minutes out, still over the Mare Tranquillitatus. Can you hold that long, over?”
    â€œFalcon, Raven. Looks like we’ll have to, doesn’t it? Come as fast as you can. Raven out.”
    â€œOn our way, Raven. Falcon out.”
    Five minutes…an eternity in combat.
    The UN troops were concentrating their fire on First Platoon, and, despite the fire they were taking from the crater rim, it was clear they were going to try a charge, probably within the next minute or two. Kaitlin knew that she had just two choices…to sit up here on her ass and watch half of her rifle company be overrun, or…
    She changed channels on her com. “Listen up, everybody! This is Garroway! Second Squad! Hold your positions. Maintain fire on the enemy. First Squad! Back to the bug, on the double! Get into the airlock, and stay there! Lieutenant Dow! Are you on the line?”
    â€œAffirmative, Lieutenant. I’m here.”
    â€œWarm up the fire and stand by to boost. We’re going on a little hop.”
    â€œReactor coming up. Pressure okay. We can bounce in two minutes.”
    â€œMake it a minute thirty.”
    â€œWhatcha got in mind, Lieutenant?” Yates asked.
    â€œMaking it all or nothing, Gunny. The captain is going to get wiped off the map if we don’t break the UNdies’ attack.”
    â€œRoger that, Lieutenant. Okay, Marines! Hustle! Hustle! I wanna see nothing but amphibious green blurs!” They started trotting back toward the LSCP, as other Marines closed in from different directions, crowding up the debarkation ramp and into the craft’s airlock.
    â€œIf I may suggest, ma’am,” Yates said, pausing at thefoot of the ramp, “you should stay here and direct the covering fire.”
    â€œNegative, Gunny. If I’m about to pull something stupid, I want to be there to take the blame.”
    She heard the grin. “Understood, Lieutenant. Understood.”
    Together, they hurried up the ramp and squeezed through into the airlock, where First Squad was waiting.
    Seventy seconds later, Dow radioed a crisp warning, then Kaitlin’s knees almost gave way as the LSCP boosted skyward from the crater rim.
    Forza di Intervento Rapido
Picard Base, The Moon
0921 hours GMT
    Capitano Arnaldo Tessitore, of the FIR’s Forza Spazia rose from behind the shelter of the excavation he’d been crouching in, holding his imager to his visor. The second enemy landing craft was rising from its hiding place, a clear and easy target less than eight and a half kilometers away. “Zhang!” he shouted. “Target…above the crater rim!”
    â€œI have, Captain,” the PRC lieutenant replied in his thickly accented Italian. Tessitore listened as Zhang sing-songed a barrage of orders in Mandarin to the Chinese soldiers who’d just arrived at Picard aboard the Millénium , and wished again the mission planners back in Geneva had made up their Lunar Expeditionary Force out of troops from a single country. Too many nationalities, too many languages might have been great for the public image of a truly United Nations, but it guaranteed confusion and misunderstanding.
    Two PRC troops shouldering massive Type 80 launchers rose to their feet, loosing their missiles in almost the same silent instant of flame. One of the men pitched backward a second later, freezing vapor spilling from a black-ringed hole low and in the center of his suit’s cuirass, a victim of the all-too-deadly and accurate laser fire fromthe