Bulletfoot One

by Marshall Rust

  The forest around Auburn gave them the kind of cover that would help them to a degree, and a few dips in the landscape in the area would be the best places from which to defend the town.

  Most of Jessica13’s time was used to locate places where they could move easier and put barriers up that would keep all but the most agile or rocket-powered mechs controlled. Hedgehogs were placed all over the area to funnel any attack through the shallow ravine they would guide the enemy forces to.

  A few might be able to get over them and a few others would be able to destroy the obstacles, but either necessity would take time and expose them to the kind of attacks the Knights were ordered to perform should anyone try to get around the funnel Hammerhand attempted to create.

  The townsfolk were enthusiastic enough to find ways to help as well. A few had willingly learned, assisted by Tinker, how to operate the mechs of the three Lancers, whose pilots had volunteered to man those Athena's people had left as they knew their way around such volatile mechs. The townsfolk elected to join the combat effort in the safer mechs while the commandeered Cinders would be positioned in line with Hammerhand as they were useful to prevent the attacks of their similar counterparts.

  She thought it was a little ironic that the biggest weakness that plagued Cinders was other Cinders since they were vulnerable from the same close distances they needed to be in for their attacks to do any damage.

  They were interesting mechs, which required very interesting pilots. Not many Knights used them as their main mechs but there were those that knew how.

  Surprisingly, a number of the local people also opted to join the battle lines as support, using the mechs they used in the field. It was a brave decision given that none of them had any battle experience, but they at least knew their mechs and should be able to adapt to the role demanded of them. They gathered around Tinker and listened attentively as he instructed them as best he could in the time they had.

  It wasn't long before the sky above them began to darken, even though it was barely midday and should have been the brightest time of day. The clouds gathered like a dense blanket that blocked the light and made it difficult to see what was around them. Oddly enough, even with the clouds and the filters in her HUD, the glare was intense and it was difficult to look at the sky without shielding her eyes.

  The balloons were still a fair distance away, but those who monitored the advancing mechs were quick to note that they pushed ahead of their airborne guides once they were within twenty klicks of Auburn. It wasn't long before Jessica13 could confirm that the vanguards had entered the forest and shortly after, they encountered the first barriers that had been set up.

  It was interesting to watch them attempt to navigate through the obstacles that had been positioned in a tight enough pattern that any mech would need to sidle sideways to get through. Very few were actually built to move sideways and certainly none of the larger, combat-oriented ones. Those that could were the smaller, lighter versions that were invariably support and would not be able to mount an assault on their own.

  For the moment, it appeared as though they would move into the funnel the Knights had built for them, but there was no guarantee that it would remain that way. Once the fighting started, things would get messy and Athena's fighters would inevitably take chances and try to push through the barriers.

  To counter this, any Knights who could deal precise damage from a distance positioned themselves in the formation in such a way that they could focus on the barrier line. Until the combat became close-quarters and demanded their full attention, they would attempt to eliminate any who might try to sneak in behind their team.

  At the front and center, predictably enough, Hammerhand stood his ground beside his hammer that he’d planted in the earth. He knelt for a moment—she assumed to say a word of private prayer—before he settled his gaze on the seemingly endless lines of Athena's men in mechs that marched inexorably forward.

  He stood slowly, then turned to face the men and women who followed him and seemed to sense the growing unease in them. When he lifted his hammer to catch their attention, even the Auburn townsfolk focused on him with bated breath and waited for him to speak.

  All those gathered need his words to revive the inspiration he'd given them now that they actually faced the invaders that had previously been a concept rather than a reality.

  "Be not afraid." His first declaration resounded through the forest to the point where Athena's men could probably hear him too. "Freedom is your goal and fighting for it is noble. Know that those who stand with you will not falter and will not be afraid. Take heart, my warriors."

  Jessica13’s heart pounded loudly in her chest.

  Hammerhand arced his hammer into the soil with a thunderous thud that shook the earth around him. "As long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so. Tyrants are active and ardent and will devote themselves to their cause in the name of any number of gods, religious or otherwise. They will readily place shackles upon sleeping men.”

  She thought she'd heard the words before, possibly in one of the instructional vids. They sounded vaguely familiar but for the life of her, she couldn't remember where she'd heard them.

  Hammerhand looked at the townsfolk and nodded at a few more who had chosen to join the battle. Some had mechs that had been improved somewhat with weapons to make them useful in defending their current position since they weren't overly mobile. Others had no mechs but were ready to fight regardless. There was little they could do in actual combat between the heavy, powerful mechs, but they had a valuable role to play. A handful of them had put work into laying improvised mines and others had offered to sneak in with tools that would help to disable some mechs and weapons to kill the pilots.

  They had finished those tasks and now gathered on the battlefield itself, grim but determined. It was very clear that they were afraid, but Auburn was their home. While fear was evident in their eyes, they stood their ground with clenched fists and set jaws.

  “Auburn has slept long enough, collar-bound to the bed and left in a hellish nightmare,” Hammerhand declared and cut the air around him with a sweeping gesture of his hand. "No more. You’ve broken the shackles of Lady Hoot. Now, break the backs of the oppressors. Sleep no longer but dream as waking men and women and see your dreams realized."

  The roar from Knights and citizens alike was deafening as he raised his weapon and swung it again. His team beat a rhythm on their armor and the citizens joined in as well as they could as the first lines of the familiar-looking Lancers became clearly visible through the dense foliage. They felled trees as they advanced to create as much space to attack as possible, although they avoided the tactic of burning their way through.

  Jessica13 could only imagine that it was because of the unpredictability of a forest fire that could as easily turn on them.

  She joined the two Sherlocks who had positioned themselves at the back in marksmen roles and they raised their rifles, aimed quickly, and selected their targets. They were in a group commlink that would allow them to see which mech the others had highlighted as a target so there would be no wasted round between them. A good shooter only needed one shot to kill the pilot in a Lancer, and while the mech would still pose something of a threat, it would not be as effective as it was with a human to guide it.

  There didn't appear to be any kind of caution or assessment on the part of Athena's men, who pushed forward almost as soon as they had a clear shot at the Knights. They allowed themselves no grace period to study their opponent and no sign that quarter would be asked or given.

  Their purpose was to kill, burn, and destroy. Auburn, in their minds, would be another example of the power Athena wielded and a statement of what she was willing to do with that power.

  Jessica13 took a deep breath to calm her suddenly frayed nerves, looked down her scope to choose her target, and together with the other Knights, opened fire.

  The front line of Lancers
shuddered and stuttered in place when they suddenly lost the control of their pilots and the AIs began to take over. It looked like upgrades had been installed since it only took a few seconds to achieve full control and they simply continued their advance.

  "Tinker, let the loose townsfolk know how to identify the mechs that have lost their pilots," she called over the comms. "They should be able to take control of them and attack Athena's people from within their own ranks."

  "Loose townsfolk?" he asked.

  "The ones who don't have any mechs," she clarified and selected another target quickly while she spoke. "If they plan to go in there, they should be able to deal with those that don't have living pilots easier than the ones that do, right?"

  "That’s a good point. I'll pass it on." He moved among the group of folks who waited for their chance to strike and issued instructions and advice for what to do. The AIs were likely programmed to take the orders of any pilot who accessed them since they did appear to have been manufactured en masse. She wondered if Athena’s power and resources enabled her to manufacture mechs—something that had occurred to her when they faced the Golem—or had simply managed to acquire them in good condition.

  Perhaps they had been abandoned in the manufacturing facilities in the Cities-That-Were and she had been lucky or clever enough to find them. Irritated by the distraction, she pushed the thought aside. Irrespective of where they came from, their uniformity and basic design made them simple and easy to operate so those who were crammed inside needed as little training as possible.

  Hammerhand threw his shield up to block an incoming volley from the line of Athena's Lancers that surged forward. Even those without pilots continued the charge since it was a simple enough task, although the fire from them was slower than it should have been.

  While not as effective as she would have liked, she and her fellow sharp-shooters had made something of a difference anyway. Jessica13 grimaced when her thoughts led her toward an image of how the men inside were skewered by the hellebore rounds as well as whatever pieces of armor it cut through to reach them. It wasn’t pleasant to imagine them tearing through the pilot and likely causing damage to the controls as well.

  To balance this, she reminded herself of the nature of Athena's followers. They were the kind who would tattoo their leader’s sigil onto their skin and when presented with the choice between living and dying, chose dying for the woman. It would have been nice to leave them alive, but it wasn't an option. They needed quick results since the battle lines had already begun to close.

  Hammerhand's shield dropped for a moment, which was well-timed as the Raptor behind it had already launched a volley of missiles toward the enemy’s front lines. The rockets tilted downward, however, and didn’t impact the vanguard but rather showered the mechs behind them with as much damage as possible. A handful of Lancers dropped immediately, quickly disabled, while a few others fell and were slow to climb to their feet again.

  More managed to get through, though, and some even trampled their fallen comrades to do so. Jessica13 and the two Sherlocks responded with alacrity to target the few that were ahead and eliminated the pilots with pinpoint accuracy. The enemy retaliated with a combined volley seconds before Hammerhand raised his shield again. He leaned forward and buried the barrier almost a full meter into the ground in anticipation of the press that was to come.

  The clash was audible when two Lancers drove into his shield. The electric charge to maintain it had to be immense but he stood his ground and refused to allow any of those he resisted to pass.

  A few managed to skirt the shield but were faced with the sudden challenge of the three Knights ranged behind their leader, who ached for a fight, and the enemy were quickly cut down.

  With a bellowed roar, Hammerhand thrust his barrier forward and shoved the mechs back a few steps before he dropped his defense. Once again, the timing was perfect as the Raptor dispatched another battery of rockets. This time, they struck the mechs that led the assault and delivered significant damage to their ranks.

  Those that survived the onslaught by using their own comrades and shields were quick to look up when a heavy hammer suddenly ignited from the back. It swung into a violent descent with a ground-shaking boom to crush one of them and destabilize one on each side of the target.

  The shield came up again quickly. The Lancers weren't deterred by their sudden losses and instead, seemed to have been whipped into a frenzied blood-lust. They appeared all too happy to barrel into the teeth of the defense the Knights and Auburn citizens had established.

  A crack of an explosion suddenly drew Jessica13's attention away from the center of the battle and she turned swiftly. A handful of Athena's mechs at the rear and some distance away from the actual engagement had likely been ordered to find some kind of way around the funnel. A couple of Watsons had managed to get around the first line of hedgehogs and began to make their way to the second.

  One of them quickly ran into the makeshift mines that had been set up for such an eventuality. The mech itself wasn't destroyed but most of its left leg lay near it in a smoking mess. The pilot appeared to be dead or at least unconscious from the way the mech wobbled uncertainly on one leg before it finally sprawled and tripped another mine.

  This time, the blast shredded the cockpit and left it mostly in pieces. There probably wasn't enough of it left for repairs and certainly not enough for anyone to take control. They would be lucky if they could pick up scrap pieces at the end of the day.

  The other Watson appeared to try to pull away and retreat from the perceived minefield it had entered. There was little the Knights could do as they were still engaged with Athena's men and had to focus their attention on the group that attacked head-on.

  Jessica13 swung her rifle and acquired her new target as he tried to circle the minefield. The Watson was likely equipped with the kind of sensors that would be able to pick up the locations of the mines it attempted to avoid but unlike the Lancers, the AI that would work the Watsons would be less intelligent than those that could operate a combat mech in battle. They wouldn't need that kind of technology.

  She positioned her rifle and looked down the scope, located the cockpit fairly easily, and pulled the trigger. The round drilled through the armor like it was paper and the mech suddenly froze in place and settled into standby mode, possibly waiting for some kind of input from the pilot to allow the AI to take the controls.

  "Tinker, there's a disabled Watson out in the minefield if you want to send someone over to take it," she called over the comms and immediately had his attention.

  "Will do," he replied. "And if you have helping in mind, the mechs at the front lines need to be resupplied."

  "I’m on it," she shouted. "Well, Mini, it’s time to get this Minato to do what she was designed to do."

  "Do you think the mech identifies as female?" Mini asked and settled it onto all fours to increase speed to reach the place where they had stored most of their ammunition.

  "I don't think it's sentient enough," she responded. "Although all the pilots I knew thought of their mechs as ladies. I think it’s some kind of tradition from before in the Cities-That-Were."

  She held on tightly as Mini rushed to the ammo. It looked like a couple of the Auburn mechs that had been designated for support were already making bulletfoot runs.

  Jessica13 paused and thought about what they could do next since she would not be able to carry the rifle and the crates on her back at the same time while running on all fours.

  "What are you thinking?" Mini asked as they pulled to a halt.

  "I wonder if we should sacrifice speed in favor of being able to handle the rifle while we deliver," she told him and moved them closer to the mechs that picked up the ammo crates the combat mechs were waiting for.

  "I would suggest being armed as much as possible," he agreed. "Even in close quarters, the rifle can be used to help you to push into places other mechs might not be able to reach."

  She nodded
, decided to keep the rifle, and used her free hand to quickly load the mag clamp on her back with a couple of the rocket crates the Raptor would be able to use. It was clear that it would be the basis for their current defense, but it wouldn’t be much good to anyone if it had no rockets to fire when Hammerhand dropped his shield.

  "Let's go," Mini said.

  "Why don't you take the controls?" She highlighted the Raptor for him to take them to.

  "What will you do?"

  "Well, all things considered, I think we might want to keep a weapon at the ready to hold any potential enemies at bay, yes?"

  "That does make sense, yes," he replied, took over the mech's legs and balancing systems, and left her control on the arms intact to allow her to maintain a ready defense against possible action by the enemy.

  The earth shuddered when Hammerhand brought his hammer down once more to keep the Lancers at bay, although a handful of them was able to slip around before the shield came up again. The repetitive chatter of their assault rifles attempted to find any weak place on the Excalibur that they might be able to exploit.

  She didn't think it was a tactically sound choice since the Raptor actually inflicted the most damage to them while they attempted to push the Knights’ leader back and away. He was essentially the distraction while the others were responsible for the most devastating strikes.

  Maybe they simply had no other option. The cornerstones of the Knights' defense were the Raptor and the shield, but there would be a couple more surprises in store for them if they made it through the first line of defense.

  Hammerhand liked to say he would hope for the best and plan for the worst, and they had gone through an intense few stages of planning for the attack they knew was coming.

  Jessica13 raised her rifle and aimed down the sights while Mini moved them quickly and erratically. He seemed to have a way to calculate the rounds that might be fired at them and avoid those that would be able to punch through the Minato's armor.