All The Write Stuff: Dark Sun

The unit was sent to Durham to fight what is essentially a zombie infestation

Dark Sun

C Troop, 1-5 Kommando Book 1

by Eric Johnson

Genre: Military Science Fiction

After the events in 2-4 Cavalry Story 15: In the Pit of Vipers and under a new Troop commander, Captain Karl Bradi, the unit is redesignated C Troop 1-5 Kommando. After their deployment to Earth the unit is resting and refitting, and also cleaning up holdouts on Friesland. Despite this, they are sent to Durham, a planet in the Independent Planets that suffers what is loosely described as a zombie infestation. The unit fights monsters, both real and human, in order to survive on the planet.

EXCERPT

Sergeant Desi Hernandez looked through his scope and scanned the ridgeline. It had been weeks since they went on a mercenary mission, and now they were back to ridding the planet of Friesland of the holdouts. To him, it was a good thing when they killed the enemy, as there wouldn’t be more trying to pierce the blockade that was run when it was known as Mashara. Sighing he saw nothing, but given the reports that there was an enemy, none was showing their face, so he stopped scanning and looked at his spotter for a second, then went back to scanning. Movement. He saw the head bob up and quickly down, unsure if he had a helmet on or not. “Come on you fucker, put your head up.” He said as he adjusted the aimpoint of the scope, bringing it onto where the head bobbed up.

“You’d figure they would get the hint.” Sergeant Shandek said as she too covered the area where Hernandez was looking. She had put down her spotting imager and was just as determined to shoot the enemy as he was. She saw some movement in her scope, and she took aim and fired, sending a projectile toward the bobbing head. It missed, but it drove the target’s head up, and then another crack and it exploded as the round impacted and penetrated it. There was no helmet to soften the blow, so the person died instantly, the body sliding back down into the foxhole it was hiding in.

“Well, it worked, though unplanned.” Sergeant Hernandez said while he continued to scan for more targets. Nothing more presented iself, and he figured that was the only inhabitant anyway. Reports said so.

“Glad to be of assistance.” Sergeant Shandek said with some sarcasm as she too continued to scan. “You think there are more?”

“Of course, they never left.” Sergeant Hernandez said in a near-whisper as he focused on scanning for more targets. It had been some time since they left Earth, and while that deployment didn’t entail much shooting on his part, he figured that it was worth some of his time, but he did want to leave the unit. He was enamored with mercenary life and secretly liked the mercenary-style missions that the unit did perform. To him that seemed to offer more freedom for him and Shandek was learning the ropes quite well, so she could take over his job anytime. However, he didn’t re-enlist so he had some time before his current contract ran out. And he had been saving his money for the time when he left. It was a sad thing, given his situation, but he wanted to explore the known universe and conduct missions on his terms.

“Yeah, suggest we keep the team in their positions?”

“Yeah, they don’t need to move around too much, there’s not much out here anyway, and we have a better shot at killing them.” Sergeant Hernandez said as he scanned the area. It had been a good day today; the weather was beautiful and not too annoying. But it was hot, and he didn’t like that fact as he continued to look around the area of the dead hostile. He figured that it wouldn’t last, being on Friesland a good day was rare, and the forecast did include a dust storm tomorrow, but not around him. And it was up to the CO to determine if his squad would stay out overnight, as they had another sweep of this area.

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Book Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3JP7C1V

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/dark-sun/id6504540312

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-sun-eric-johnson/1145836733?ean=2940180376329

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-sun-17

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1579470

Books2Read: https://books2read.com/u/bMAdZ7

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/dark-sun-1-5-kommando-1-by-eric-johnson

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214979530-c-troop-1-5-kommando-book-1

About the Author

Eric Johnson is a military veteran, and a self-published author who served in the US Army and US Army National Guard for twelve years and three years respectively. He currently lives in Baltimore and spends his time writing stories based on his past experiences as well as using current events to focus on counter-insurgency as well as other related topics. His primary genre is military science fiction (5th Kommando, C Troop 1-5 Kommando, 2-4 Cavalry series, and the Eagle Hammer Universe series), and he has written a few books in other genres as well, including fantasy (Tales of Baromir series).

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