by Isaac Hooke
“How much longer will they hold out?” I asked.
In answer, Azen merely continued the advance.
We picked our way across the debris on the street, making our way toward the ATLAS factory.
I could feel unseen eyes on us, watching from the holes drilled into the black resin caking the scorched buildings.
“Seems a bit quiet, doesn’t it?” Hijak transmitted.
“Increase speed,” Azen sent.
We switched to a jog. The two ZEUS units tasked with the bomb faltered at the outset but quickly steadied their heavy load and joined the rest of us.
Though our footfalls were somewhat muffled by the soft asphalt, the bulbous resin around us echoed and amplified the sound. If any unseen enemies lurking there hadn’t heard us before, they certainly did now.
Indeed, I spotted a crab peering from one of the holes in the resin above and to my right. The aliens hadn’t been driven as deep into the tunnels as I had thought.
Eager to try out my particle cannon against a live target, I turned the weapon toward the entity as I jogged. The thing immediately ducked from sight.
On the other side of the street I spotted a second crab, peeking past another pockmark in the resin.
Bender waved his particle weapon that way—the second alien vanished from view as well.
“Why aren’t the damn things engaging?” Bender transmitted.
“They got a good licking from these ZEUS mechs the last time around,” Chief Bourbonjack sent. “I think they’ve had their fill.”
“No,” Azen said over the comm. “That is not the reason. Look at the map.”
I glanced at my HUD. The two scouts had reached one of the buildings bordering the north side of the ATLAS factory, and from their overwatch site they transmitted the locations of fresh enemy units, whose red dots were appearing on the map at an alarming rate.
I switched to the POV of one of the scouts. The factory was a nondescript square building roughly four stories tall spanning half a city block. Taking up positions within and around the building were aliens similar to those I had witnessed aboard Bogey 2. They wore oversized jumpsuits topped by glass domes and carried thin, swordlike particle rifles. When I zoomed in, I spotted the usual assortment of alien faces beneath those domes, running the gamut from reptilian to squid.
“The enemy has commenced the teleportation of shock troops to the surface,” Azen sent. “The ‘crabs’ do not attack, because there is no need. Not yet.”
I returned to my own POV.
As we neared the factory, Azen split us into three squads, placing two or three MOTHs on each squad.
I was part of S1 (Squad 1), led by a green named Lathos. I was grateful Azen had elected to keep Shaw and me together. Hijak was also with us, along with four other greens. Azen assigned the high-yield particle bomb to our squad and two of the greens ported it.
A green named Ravern led S2. Chief Bourbonjack, Bender, and Manic rounded out that squad, joining four other greens.
Azen himself led S3, to which he allocated Skullcracker, Lui, and Snakeoil, along with the remaining greens.
“Squads, I’ve marked your individual routes on the map,” Azen sent. “We will split up, take the indicated side streets, and converge on the factory from multiple flanks. S1, you will approach the factory from the south. S2, your advance will be from the west. S3, we’ll come to the factory from the east. Once you reach your respective waypoints, await further instructions. Disperse!”
Lathos led my squad at a jog through the designated side street and had us halt at the edge of an industrial complex to the south of the target. We crouched in single file, lining up against the geronium that caked said complex. None of us could see the factory from this position, but according to the map, it lay just around the bulging black corner ahead.
So far, on my HUD map, none of the red dots had moved outward from their positions within and around the factory. However, more dots kept appearing as the scouts spotted them. And that was only on their side of the factory.
“I’m having the scouts begin a diversionary attack,” Azen transmitted.
Several of the red dots abruptly broke free, converging toward the building north of the factory, where the scouts were positioned. The two green dots representing the scouts retreated, drawing roughly half the enemy units with them.
“Attain the rooftops,” Azen transmitted.
“With me,” Lathos sent.
Lathos ran up the wall of geronium beside us and jetted skyward. The others and I followed, landing on the roof of the industrial complex. We dropped our mechs and low-crawled toward the edge of the rooftop terrace. I was amazed once more at the maneuverability of these things: Such a crawling motion would have been impossible in an ATLAS 5 but was a relatively easy task for a ZEUS. It felt more like I was inside a giant jumpsuit than a mech.
I reached the edge and peered over. The square building of the factory lay across from me. Its southern wall had partially caved, along with the resin that had caked it, affording a view of the inside from this angle. I saw the motionless assembly lines with their inert robotic arms and the half-built ATLAS units they had been working on before the power was cut.
I spotted shock troops crouched within and around the factory. Some were stationed in the upper windows, others the rooftop, others in the pits dug into the resin. A few of them were jetting over the building to join their brethren in pursuit of the scouts to the north.
The other members of S1 formed a line on either side of me. Shaw was to my right, Hijak my left. The particle bomb rested a few paces behind me, where the others had set it down. I was a little worried that the combined weight of our mechs and the bomb would cave the structure, but so far the roof held.
According to the HUD, S2 had successfully attained a position on the rooftop to the west of the factory, and S3 the rooftop to the east.
“Commence firing,” Azen transmitted. “Eliminate all targets.”
All three squads opened fire. Opponents vanished right and left. Or rather, parts of them did. A head or limb disappeared here, an upper body or half torso there. Portions of the factory itself vanished as we swept our weapons to and fro in deadly swaths.
I glanced at Shaw and was a little surprised to find her killing with just as much alacrity as the rest of us. When humanity was at stake, when our very lives were at stake, when it was kill or be killed, the survival instinct overrode all. She was a warrior in that moment, no different than Hijak or me.
Our opponents didn’t appear to have the same shielding technology that we did, at least not these units, and the enemy troops quickly withdrew inside the factory for cover.
Shaw and I fired in succession, developing a rhythm. She would unleash a burst, disintegrating any walls or objects the shock troops might be concealed behind, then while her weapon recharged I took the kill shot, disintegrating any exposed opponents. If there were no obvious enemies, I waited a few seconds and then targeted another section of wall so that she could take the kill shot instead.
The particle beams weren’t apparent on the visible spectrum, but the alien tech displayed them on my HUD, allowing us to correct our aim. It was just like firing with tracer bullets.
Unfortunately, the enemy also possessed the ability to view the beams, and this introduced the same problem inherent to tracers: our opponents could readily follow the path of the beams to their source, allowing them to target us.
And they did just that.
A particle beam sliced toward us from the factory.
I activated my shield. “Shaw—”
But she had already engaged her own shield beside me.
The squad was forced to pull back from the edge as more beams came in. The entire northern-facing portion of the rooftop disintegrated before our eyes.
“Proximity alert,” Surus said.
I glanced up.
A pitch-black ZEUS plunged from the sky, headed directly toward us. It swept a particle burst across the rooftop.
Most of us got our shields up in time but one of the slower greens was hit and its ZEUS dissolved down the middle. The Phant lodged within the brain area was disintegrated.
The squad returned fire.
The exposed enemy ZEUS activated a translucent shield similar to our own and jetted sideways. The pulsating screen absorbed every ray that struck it.
I followed the flight of the black ZEUS with my weapon, waiting for its shield to cut out, intending to unleash my own particle beam exactly when that happened. I counted down the three seconds the energy screen should last and I was about to pull the trigger when the black ZEUS vanished behind an adjacent building.
“Damn it. Shaw, Hijak, with me.” I hurried across the rooftop, resisting the temptation to jet toward the enemy. I would be fully exposed to the attackers from the factory if I did that. A bad idea, considering I wanted to save my shield for the black ZEUS.
“Watch my back,” I told Shaw and Hijak as I leaped from the southern edge of the industrial complex, away from the factory, and landed on the geronium resin below. I hurried down the bulbous substance to the soft asphalt of the street, using my jets to increase my bounding speed. Shaw and Hijak were close behind.
I reached the building where the black ZEUS had taken cover and I approached the eastern side. Given its previous trajectory, the enemy mech should be hiding somewhere in the alley.
“Careful, Rade Galaal,” Surus said via the cockpit speakers.
“Shut it!” I started shifting the mech to gaze past the building when Surus spoke again.
“The cockpit is already shut, if that is to what you are referring. But if—”
“I said shut it!”
I waited a moment and, when I was satisfied that Surus would keep quiet, I cautiously peered past the resin-caked edge. I kept the fingers of my left hand partially closed, like a claw, ready to squeeze them into a fist and activate the shield at a moment’s notice.
The black ZEUS was standing there in the alley with its weapon aimed right at me.
I raised the energy screen just in time to block the incoming particle beam and I reflexively retreated; the geronium-caked corner dissolved behind me.
Shaw and Hijak waited a few meters away, ready to shoot the enemy if it pursued.
The black ZEUS wisely did not.
I had about three seconds until it could fire again. I hurried back to the building’s edge and peered past.
No sign of the enemy. I shouldn’t have been so quick to retreat.
“Where did it go?” Hijak said when I pulled back.
“Dunno.”
“Be alert,” Azen said over the comm. “More enemy mechs are emerging.”
On my HUD I saw red dots moving away from the factory, traveling on erratic flight paths, which told me they were likely dodging our incoming energy beams. Black ZEUS mechs with jetpacks, no doubt.
I pondered the problem of our missing enemy mech. Obviously it had moved to a different location. If I were that mech, where would I go?
“The rooftop!” I swiveled my arm upward and activated the shield just in time to deflect an incoming particle beam.
The enemy ZEUS abruptly toppled over the edge of the building. It hit the resin and slid to the street, grinding to a halt beside me. A circular hole had been drilled clean through its black chest.
“You’re welcome,” Shaw transmitted.
The three of us jetted to the top of the nearby building. Across the street, five black ZEUS units assailed the industrial complex beside us, where the remainder of S1 struggled to protect the particle bomb. Both sides were busy darting between the superstructures of the roof, alternately firing and shielding themselves. Half the rooftop terrace had collapsed around the giant fighters, thanks to the profusion of particle beams. Teeth-like frames of warped rebar jutted into the air like claws, threatening to swallow the bomb at the center of the roof.
Hijak, Shaw, and I opened fire at the five ZEUS assailants. Since the enemy mechs had their backs and sides exposed to us, most of them couldn’t bring their shields to bear in time and we ended up disintegrating three of the attackers. The remaining two jetted into the air, exposing themselves, allowing Lathos and the others to take them down.
“Thank you,” Lathos transmitted.
S1 had lost another member, I noticed, so that there were now only three other greens with Lathos.
We wanted to join them, but more incoming particle fire erupted from the factory. It came from the upper levels and was aimed directly at our rooftop. I repressed the urge to drop and instead activated my shield, as did Shaw and Hijak beside me. Together, the three of us retreated at a sprint toward the southern side of our building and leaped over the edge. We landed on the geronium caking the lower half.
We were safe. For the moment.
Above, the rising concrete dust told me that a portion of the rooftop had collapsed. When the building continued to rumble thereafter, with more dust spewing into the air, I realized the shock troops hadn’t ceased firing: they were attempting to eliminate the structure entirely.
“Not liking this,” I sent as we raced down the resin to the street.
“Kind of makes you nostalgic for bullets, doesn’t it?” Hijak transmitted. “Let’s rejoin Lathos.”
Lathos and the rest of S1 had ported the bomb to street level and taken cover behind the industrial complex to our left. Their building was systematically disintegrating as well.
“They’re in the same boat as us,” I sent, pausing to consider our options. “There’s something I want to try. Hijak, do you remember the mobile machine gun bunker strategy we employed on the way to the hospital?”
Hijak was silent for a moment. “It just might work.”
“The mobile machine gun bunker strategy?” Shaw sent.
“Hijak and I will activate and interlock our energy screens,” I returned. “And then step into full view of the enemy. Since our cannons are too bulky to fire over the interlocked shields, we’ll have to rely on you, Shaw, to come in from behind and launch your particle weapon.”
“An interesting tactic,” Surus commented. “Albeit a risky one, because the enemy can very easily eliminate her particle weapon when she exposes it to fire. But since the shields of those of you in the forefront are translucent, she may have time to rescind the weapon if she spots enemy units targeting her.”
“Shaw, you think you can do it?” I said.
“Obviously.” She sounded miffed that I’d even doubt it.
“Good.” I switched to the S1 comm line: “Lathos, can you spare us another ZEUS over here?”
Lathos dispatched a mech. The friendly ZEUS activated its shield as it darted across the street to join us. It drew several incoming particle beams along the way but otherwise arrived unscathed.
“You—” I told the green. “Watch our rear, and the top of the building.” I turned toward Hijak. “With me, bro. Let’s do this.”
Hijak and I approached the gaping wound cut into the resin at the building’s edge. We raised our left forearms, preparing to shield ourselves. I glanced at Shaw. She was right behind us.
“On three,” I told them. “One. Two. Three.”
Hijak and I activated our shields, stepped out, and crouched slightly.
The factory was in plain view ahead of us. It seemed a fortress, with particle beams launching all over the place, from the windows dotting the uppermost levels to the pits pocking the resin below.
The barrel of Shaw’s particle cannon swung into the small notch where our shields overlapped and she fired. The resultant energy beam cut a swath through the upper level of the factory.
Incoming particle beams instantly homed in—Shaw pulled back and
ducked behind our energy screens.
The three of us retreated; the shields lasted just long enough to reach the cover of the geronium caking the building. More of that black resin dissolved behind us.
“That actually worked somewhat decently,” Hijak transmitted.
The instant my shield was fully charged, we performed the maneuver a second time, again taking out a good chunk of the enemy. We repeated the tactic over and over, with good results. Our building continued to take a beating between attacks: First the nearby geronium shell was blasted away entirely, and then the frame of the building itself began to disintegrate. Eventually enough of the structure was eaten away that the whole thing collapsed. We used the resultant pile of debris as cover and continued the assault.
Sometimes black mechs jetted through the air toward us, or the jumpsuit aliens made a sally into the streets, but we always had enough warning to take them out thanks to our coordination with the other squads.
When Shaw had no targets, she fired at the resin caking the factory or the upper walls. Huge chunks of geronium and steel girders broke away, crushing enemies who’d taken refuge beneath the holes in the resin.
We were taking out the enemy faster than they could replenish their ranks. Soon the incoming fire reduced to a trickle.
“Rade!” Shaw said.
Fresh red dots had appeared on the HUD map. Not within the factory, but on the streets behind us.
“Enemy reinforcements have arrived,” Surus said.
Turning around, I saw the hordes with my own eyes. Crabs. Slugs. ATLAS mechs. Equestrians. Centurions.
The other squads transmitted the locations of horde members crowding into their own areas—the HUD map filled with a ring of red dots bearing down on the factory from all sides.
“Disperse the horde,” Azen said. “We don’t need them attacking us from behind!”
Remembering how easily the golden mechs had routed the horde the first time, I turned around in anticipation.
Shaw was already firing into the closest entities, leaving behind a mess of dismembered mandibles and carapaces.
I unleashed my particle weapon into the source slug some distance back and drilled a black, bubbling hole into its side.