Mech 3

by Isaac Hooke

  He activated reverse thrust to slow down; his speed fell below escape velocity, and lower, so that he plunged toward the planet, and the super carrier rapidly receded above him.

  He glanced at his overhead map, and saw the blue dots of his platoon mates falling around him.

  “Here we go again,” Lui transmitted. “Leaping to our potential doom for the umpteenth time. Not knowing which of us will live, and which of us will die.”

  “We’re all going to live,” Rade said.

  “I used to believe you,” Bender said. “That you’d protect us from everything, Chief. But now I know not even you can hold back death’s vengeful blade. But that’s okay, because if death comes for me today, I plan to cut off its hand and shove it up its ass, scythe and all.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Manic said.

  Flames erupted around Valjean as the mech entered the atmosphere. The heat shield deployed.

  “And into the fires of hell we go,” Bender said.

  “Is Bender all right?” Fret sent. “Something seems off about him.”

  “I’m perfectly fine,” Bender said. “Best I’ve ever been, in fact. I’ve been looking forward to this moment, perhaps more-so than any moment in my entire life. I’m going to shine today, Baby. You’ll see. This is the most important mission of my career.”

  Fret sent a private message to Rade. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He just needs to fight,” Rade said. “Then he’ll be good. But until that moment, we’re just going to have to grin and bear with him.”

  “That Sino Korean lance corporal who died on the mission with you,” Fret said. “Bender and her weren’t intimate, were they?”

  Rade didn’t answer.

  The flames fell away; the spent heat shield separated and flew off to one side.

  He could see the geodesic dome below. Holes were poked into the surface courtesy of the weapons the fleet had launched from orbit, and the bombs the lower-altitude aircraft had dropped, both in an attempt to stave off the alien threat. Rade targeted one of those holes now, specifically the large gap near the center of the dome, and applied lateral thrusters to ensure he would pass through it rather than hitting the surrounding framework.

  He was aiming for the hot zone in the center of town, where the Subversions were currently making a concerted attack against two of the main buildings that yet harbored colonists. He could see a few collapsed skyscrapers around them, gnarled ruins of buildings with piles of concrete and rebar at their bases—probably an attempt by the Sino Koreans to repeat the avalanche attack Rade had originally employed to trap the aliens. He could also see large portions of the streets covered in white swaths—no doubt the fast-hardening foam Waldo had told him about.

  To the south, well past the geodesic dome, he spotted airships, both Sino Korean and United Systems models, making attack runs against a rock outcrop on the plains beyond. No, not an outcrop: that would be the alien starship. Scotts had warned him the vessel periodically encased itself in rock as a defense mechanism, traveling to the nearby volcano and taking a dip in the magma to achieve this protective layer. The airship attacks served only to break away that rock rather than penetrate the actual hull. Rade hoped that tough layer wouldn’t make it too difficult to enter the ship when the time came. Scotts had advised him to time his approach with a Subversion sally, if possible, because then a portion of the rock would break away to allow a ramp to lower.

  He focused on the geodesic dome directly below. On some of the skyscraper rooftops within, troop shuttles had deployed, and were loading up civilians clad in environmental suits for evac. The two skyscrapers the platoon had designated for landing didn’t have such shuttles in play—Alpha needed clear rooftops.

  As he got closer, he witnessed plasma fire intermittently flashing above the street: mechs and combat robots clinging from more airships were doing their best to stave off and distract the aliens that swarmed the bases of the different skyscrapers. Those airships had to dodge the return blasts the Subversions sent when the aliens reflected the energy.

  Despite the distraction, inevitably there were some aliens that peeled off the blast shields at the bases of the buildings and penetrated. Each floor was hermetically sealed from the levels above and below it, but that wouldn’t matter if the Subversions destroyed their way from floor to floor, depressurizing the levels as they went, instantly killing everyone still inside the breached area.

  The airships with the robots clinging to them retreated abruptly, probably notified of the approaching platoon by the two fleets in orbit. Their pilots wouldn’t want to charge up the aliens and give them the firepower necessary to take down Alpha before they could even land.

  He passed through the gap in the dome and engaged his airbrakes while firing his aerospike thrusters, slowing his fall as he adjusted his course toward the target. A few moments later he landed on the broad rooftop of the building in question, momentarily creating a spherical cloud of dust around his mech.

  Half of the remaining mechs touched down beside him on the rooftop in turn. It was a precise operation, requiring a high degree of proficiency in mech control, though of course it was also AI assisted, with multiple redundancies in place. A mistake in such close quarters would be disastrous—mechs impacting each other at high speeds would cause both to be relegated to the scrap heap, with a good chance of injuring or killing the pilots in the process.

  On the adjacent building, the remaining half of the platoon landed. The platoon, thus temporarily divided into two squads, descended either building, clambering down the exterior. Rade swung himself over the edge and smashed handholds and footholds into the thick blast shield that had folded over the building’s steel and glass. He and the others continued to descend, leaving their weapons swiveled aside so that they could grip the surface beside them.

  Below, at the base of the building, the Subversions ignored them; the creatures were pouring in through holes some of them had punctured into the blast shield there.

  Rade kept an eye on his overhead map, and when both squads had closed to five floors from the street, he said: “Halt! Open fire with Grids, and follow up with stingrays!” At this range, the 5-ways were too difficult to control, and there was a chance some of the lighting forks would strike unmarked targets.

  Rade released the building with his right arm, while still hanging on with his left, and folded his Grid into place; he aimed down and fired repeatedly from the high ground into the aliens that crowded the bases of both buildings. Those whitish bolts struck the creatures, forming translucent auras around them that promptly sank into their carapaces. The stricken aliens showed no sign of the impacts whatsoever, not pausing to slow down or even look up.

  “They’re not doing anything!” Lui sent. “Is it working?”

  “Follow up with stingrays!” Rade ordered.

  Those mechs without Grid weapons fired stingrays, targeting the aliens previously hit. Like Lui, Rade was worried Waldo’s technology had failed, and that the attacks would be absorbed and reflected: he was ready to give the order to scatter. But when the weapons started hitting home, and the plasma and lightning bolts melted through those formerly impenetrable carapaces, he couldn’t help the warm, satisfying feeling he felt inside.

  Their current angle of attack favored head shots, as the upper bodies of the Subversions were readily exposed due to the “high ground” where Rade and the others clung. Bender didn’t have a Grid weapon, and laughed maniacally every time he fired his stingray; his loudest cackles came when heads exploded or body parts dropped away.

  Some of the Subversions began to pay attention to the two squads, and attempted to scale the respective building exteriors. It was uncanny how the creatures could track them: though all of the mechs had environmental blending active, the aliens still seemed able to pinpoint their positions. This without echolocation, LIDAR, or any other obvious active sensor tech. Well, Rade supposed the weaponry the platoon fired was a dead giveaway. Still, he thought t
hey also possessed some higher dimensional senses, thanks to their connection to the so-called “Interstitial Grid.”

  Rade and the others focused their attacks on those that were climbing, and picked them off one by one. A dead, plunging alien would often strike another Subversion below it, dragging it off the wall. Of course, when the latter creature hit the ground, it would always get up again, at least until it was targeted by a Grid weapon and dispatched by the follow-up strike.

  As they fought, their AIs continued to mark off which Subversions had been struck with the Grid weapon; they relayed the targeting information not just to the members of Alpha, but to the robots clinging to the airships overhead, so that they, too, could open fire on the vulnerable aliens.

  Their attack drew the attention of the aliens that had penetrated the different buildings: Rade and the others began to lose their handholds and footholds as the blast shields were dented outward in places. They quickly relocated, and targeted those dents: when the aliens came bashing through, they were met with a face-full of Grid attacks and their plasma follow-ups.

  But more of the Subversions were emerging around them so that soon the squad was surrounded. More broke through where the different squad members clung.

  “It’s time to jump!” Rade highlighted an area on the street below; it swarmed with aliens, like the rest of the asphalt. “We land here! Clear a path!”

  Rade leaped off the building and fired his jumpjets to align himself with the target site; the platoon members from both squads likewise jetted away from where they clung, aiming for the highlight zone below.

  They fired their Grids and follow-up weapons, clearing the site, and landed amid the dead and maimed bodies. The two squads rejoined into a single platoon once more.

  Surrounded by aliens, they began shooting their way through to the far side of the street, which was clear of the swarm. Unfortunately, they couldn’t shoot for all that long, as the creatures quickly forced themselves into close quarters.

  “Now we’ll see if this alien technology protects us from these creatures…” Bomb said.

  An alien lunged at Rade, and struck his armor with several sharp claws. He’d seen Sino Korean mechs whose cockpits had been sliced clean through from such attacks, but Rade only suffered minor gashes in his armor: the vibration generator attached to his hull negated the higher-dimensional force behind the blow. The other mechs fared similarly against the Subversion attacks.

  “It’s working!” Bender laughed. “Bitches can’t do sheyat!”

  Rade swung his arm down, tying to swat the creature away; he succeeded, but the alien got up immediately. He slammed his elbow down on its head; the alien bowed beneath the blow, but once more stood right away.

  Trying to bash their way through didn’t work very well, as Waldo had promised. The aliens had armor that was too thick. Rade unleashed his Grid, marking the creature, and its head exploded a moment later, courtesy of an airship above.

  Rade swiveled his shield into place in his left hand and used it to shove away any creature that got too close; he followed up with a strike from his Grid, and somebody else finished the job.

  The others likewise utilized their shields to keep the aliens back, shoving them into their brethren when they were able. They made slowly, steady progress toward the outskirts of the swarm.

  A Subversion leaped at him from the side, and landed on his upper body behind the shield; its momentum carried Rade’s mech to the asphalt. In seconds, he was completely surrounded by the slashing and biting creatures, and he couldn’t get up: his servomotors moaned in complaint, but the aliens had him pinned to the ground.

  “Could use some help here,” Rade said above the scratching sounds that filled his cockpit.

  A glance at his overhead map told him the others were similarly occupied. Some of the mechs were trying to wade their way to him, but help was still some time away.

  Rade’s cockpit hatch began bending outward; one of the Subversions had formed a handhold with its claws, and was slowly ripping the metal backward. The vibration generators only protected him so much…

  “Valjean, deactivate the inner actuators,” Rade said. “But keep the hatch sealed.”

  The AI did so, and the cocoon released him and folded away. Rade dropped down against the cockpit wall, and switched his vision to his own eyes. He activated the headlamp of his jumpsuit, and peered into the small crack that marred the side of the hatch before him. The alien had its claws stuffed inside as it attempted to pry it open.

  According to the white outline provided by his HUD, that alien was one of those he had struck with his Grid before going down.

  Luckily.

  All jumpsuits had a surgical laser built into the index finger of the gloves; this allowed for the repairing of minor suit punctures and flesh wounds. Rade shoved the appropriate finger into that crack and activated the laser, selecting the most intense pulse mode possible.

  The alien released its hold.

  But then another alien rammed its claws into that same opening. This time, the alien hadn’t been hit with the Grid. Rade fired anyway, but he only charged the Subversion, and it released the laser pulse directly into the hatch, enlarging the gash even further.

  “Valjean,” Rade said above the clatter of jaws gnashing against metal. “Can you fire the Grid at the alien that’s trying to break into my cockpit?”

  “Negative,” Valjean said. “The weapon is splayed against the road and I can’t lift it. Or any of my appendages for that matter: too many aliens pinning us down.”

  “Then I guess we’re in trouble,” Rade said.

  26

  Rade glanced at his overhead map. Tahoe was closest to him. “Cyclone, I’m marking off an alien that needs a good Grid dosing. Can you hit the bastard for me?”

  On the overhead map, Rade saw different nearby aliens between himself and Tahoe turn from red to white—indicating that they’d been struck by a Grid—but the alien that was attempting to pry open his cockpit remained unaffected.

  “I’m trying,” Tahoe said, his voice barely audible above the relentless clatter of teeth and claws against metal. “Too many intervening bodies between us.”

  Motion drew Rade’s gaze away from the map; the alien had peeled back the hull enough to shove a taloned hand inside, and it was groping around the empty air close to the inner wall.

  All of a sudden that hand was pulled outward harshly, and Rade lurched forward, slamming into the wall in front of him.

  “Sorry, I should have warned you,” Valjean said. “The aliens pinning us were bashed aside, so I took it upon myself to right the mech.”

  “I have no problems there,” Rade said. “Give me control.”

  The inner actuators cocooned him, and he took full control of the mech once more.

  A mech stood in front of him, the shield in its arm moving rapidly among a group of Subversions, slapping them back.

  Jiang.

  “Thank you,” Rade sent her.

  “Any time,” she replied.

  Bender showed up beside her and, hooting and cackling, fired several stingray bolts, exploding the heads of marked aliens.

  Rade took a place behind Jiang, and protected her back, firing his Grid liberally.

  The swarm seemed unending. According to the map, Subversions continued to pour out of not just the two buildings the team had originally landed on, but breached skyscrapers all along the street, drawn by the sound of fighting, or some upper dimensional call to arms by their brethren. That was good, because it meant Rade and the others wouldn’t have to hunt them down later.

  Let them all come to us.

  And then, just like that, they emerged from the far side of the swarm, and into the clear street beyond. They spread out in a long line as they retreated across the open asphalt, drawing the alien throng with them. Occasionally more Subversions emerged from breached buildings ahead, but for the most part, the platoon fired backward, picking off aliens as they retreated. The mechs still
had a slight edge when it came to speed, despite servomotor damage some of them had attained, which allowed them to pull ahead.

  “Cyclone, send realtime velocity solutions to our mechs,” Rade said. “I want us to remain about ten meters away from the aliens in the forefront at all times.”

  Tahoe did so, and Rade saw a speed adjustment counter appear on the upper right of his HUD; it updated constantly, turning green when he ran the right speed, or red if he moved too slow or too fast.

  The platoon occasionally had to cease firing to allow their weapons to cool down, but the aliens kept up the pursuit nonetheless. Under Rade’s direction, Alpha circled the periphery of the geodesic dome repeatedly, gradually reducing the numbers of the alien pursuers with the help of the supporting airships, until there were little more than two score of them remaining in the street.

  Before Alpha could winnow down the remainder, the aliens abruptly turned about and retreated; they threaded between the buildings, making toward the northern periphery of the dome, beyond which the alien starship awaited.

  “All right,” Rade said. “Looks like we’re heading into phase two of the plan. It’s time to head for the starship. Pursue!”

  The mechs turned about, and followed the Subversions through the streets. They harried the remaining aliens all the way to the geodesic dome, and then leaped outside to the rock plains beyond, using their jumpjets to arc downward and hit the ground running. The airships shadowed them overhead.

  His platoon continued to assail the Subversions so that by the time they could see the starship in the distance, there were only a handful of the creatures left.

  As the platoon got closer to the ship, he wondered why the alien vessel wasn’t firing back; its surface looked bumpy and jagged, even from here—a sign of the rock that encased it. He supposed its weapon ports were probably jammed up by all that solidified magma. Or maybe the vessel didn’t actually have any offensive or defensive weapons, given its class.