“We stay together, keep focused, and cover each other’s backs,” Alyona ordered, forcibly keeping her voice calm and collected even though on the inside she was anything but. “Right now we need to see what we can do about that artillery,” she said, reminding the others about their objective. On the side of her HUD were the faces of each squad member. Below each of their faces were their vitals, showing that all three were displaying highly elevated signs of extreme stress. She did not need to check her own vitals to realize that they were similarly elevated. Sudden realization dawned on her that they were not juicing yet. Realizing the mistake, Alyona ordered their shared AI, Athena, to begin juicing her, Vera, and Kiryl. Immediately, the welcome cocktail of adrenaline and mental boosting drugs flowed through the IV, into their veins. “Kurtis, are you good?”
“Lasers are going to be useless soon. The amount of dust and particles in the air is growing rapidly, and the signal from our satellites is being jammed as we expected. General Akari not only caught everyone off guard by attacking Kerrak earlier than we anticipated, he’s completely outmaneuvered us so far. I have some tricks up my sleeve to help us with targeting, but that may be my biggest contribution,” Kurtis announced despondently as he tried a dozen different attempts to find a way around the jamming. Unless he was successful, they would have to operate blindly.
“Just get us to their artillery for now; we’ll follow the edge of the fighting. We have no help out here people. It’s just us. Keep your shit together.” Alyona commanded curtly, jolting them out of their stupor. This was no time to coddle or couch her words. Fear of the unknown gripped each of their hearts in a vice, clutching it ever tighter. If left untended, that fear would turn into panic, and then someone she cared deeply about would surely die. Her job, more than anything, was to help them stay one-step ahead of that fear. Their training, experience, and technical superiority would take care of the rest. “Kurtis, get me directions. Now! Kiryl, you have point. I’ll take rear. Move people!” She yelled over the common frequency, kicking them into action.
Intrepid lumbered forward, and almost immediately, the big cannons on each arm coughed as another pair of tags appeared on their HUDs, each identifying a Stalker, and then almost immediately disappeared as the dust hid the explosions that erased their existence. There were far too many enemies in the area for them to engage the PDF head on. Instead, the best way for the Omnos squad to contribute to the overall battle lay in their ability to eliminate high value targets amidst the chaos of the battlefield. The PDF were utilizing hundreds of artillery pieces of every size and caliber, launching high-powered shells at the mountain outpost of Kerrak, pinning down the defenders inside. The Omnos squad members were late to the battle due to the surprise attack. As a result, they knew that their role in the fight had changed. If they could destroy a fair number of the artillery pieces, it could help get their allies into the fight.
“The one good thing about all this dust, at least the PDF drones flying overhead can’t see us,” Vera commented, chatting nervously.
Just then, the remnants of a shockwave blew a wall of dust straight at them, momentarily occluding all of their external cameras, followed by the sound of something enormous tearing, drowning out any reply. The lights in each of their cockpits flickered as silent alarms sputtered in the backgrounds, each one identifying a threat that could kill them. Their units automatically adjusted the camera feeds while temporarily muting the external microphones. The constant manipulation of the camera feeds as they attempted to compensate for the low light situation one second, which was continually pierced by the sudden flares of random explosions in every direction, played havoc with the images appearing on their HUD’s. All around them were others who were far more exposed to what was happening on that field of death. In that moment, each member of the Omnos squad only felt pity for their foes who were likewise trapped with them amidst this lower ring of hell.
“What the hell was that, a nuke?” Alyona exclaimed, her fear momentarily getting the best of her as the ground swelled and shifted underneath DawnsLight. Athena increased the engine thrust on all three of the units she oversaw, giving them 40% output, lightening their reliance on their footing. Argos watched over NightHawk, mimicking the command. There was no need for the Omnos squad members to mask their IF signatures or position in any way while they were surrounded by the sheer level of this pandemonium.
“There was no EMP effect. It wasn’t a nuke, just a really damned big explosion. Likely one of the ground-to-ground missiles got through.” Kurtis answered, remaining stoic as he closely monitored their surroundings. NightHawk had the most powerful sensors of any of their units. He strained them to their max, guiding the squad around several large groupings of infantry that were waiting in reserve until they were called upon, until finally there was no way forward except through a cluster of enemy Mech armor. Highlighting them on everyone’s HUD’s as pulsing red high-priority targets, he was about to verbally notify Alyona, but she beat him to it.
“No other way people, you know what to do!” Alyona ordered as she increased DawnsLight’s speed to catch up with Intrepid at the front of their short column.
When they were ready, Kurtis used the 3.57” inch rifle to fire several Confusers over the shoulders of DawnsLight and Intrepid, and then surged forward in a crouching advance, perfectly positioned between each of his friends doing likewise. He laid down accurate suppressing fire as the other two units advanced side-by-side, steamrolling over anything or anyone that got in their path. Behind them, Atalanta brought up the rear, watching their backs for any threats they missed or came at them from behind.
Vera’s Atalanta, was equipped with the rail gun, and could not deploy the overly large weapon while moving. For the time being, her diminutive unit held the equivalent of a pair of pistols, one in each hand, as her unit slipped forward with feline grace. She never once needed to fire as the other three units obliterated the outdated enemies in front of them. The chaos amidst the field of battle was so great, the number of incoming ordinance so high, and the dust so pervasive, that the rapid slaughter of the PDF Mech armor went entirely unnoticed by their allies.
The Omnos squadron passed to the other side of the area that moments before the PDF Mech armor occupied, and that now served as their graves, each member intentionally avoiding any thought of how rapidly the dust swallowed whole its newest victims. Kurtis continued guiding them, skirting several small craters where armored infantry waited in reserve until the time they were called upon to advance upon Kerrak itself. The craters, some new from the rebel artillery and those millennia old from a myriad of asteroid impacts, sheltered the infantry from the worst of the shockwaves blasting intermittently across the plain.
They were racing along the bottom of a shallow ravine towards the first of the artillery emplacements when Argos broke Kurtis’s reverie. “Master, the PDF are utilizing a wide area network to direct the movements of their troops. I used some of the destroyed enemy units’ identity codes to hack my way in, and now have access to that network.”
“Of course! The PDF commanders would need some way to direct everything, or their own troops would simply massacre each other in all this chaos!” Kurtis exclaimed. “Get me a map of their troop layouts, prioritize the artillery emplacements, mercenary units, and any other superior units such as Special Forces,” he commanded, and then watched as the display of his HUD shifted to incorporate the enormous wealth of critical data. Argos used an archived satellite view of the area, limiting the size displayed to fifteen square kilometers, and then populated the map with real time markers depicting the placement of enemy troops.
Kurtis nearly became dizzy with vertigo as thousands of markers cluttered his HUD, swirling in every direction. “Mein Gott!” He muttered as he toggled off all the markers that were not high priority. On the top left of his HUD, a mini-map of the immediate area showed a much smaller region of only a thousand square meters, with all threats clearly identified, greatly improving the
usability of the HUD. “How are they creating a wide area network? On a side monitor, render me a list of the total number of troops, Mech armor including a breakdown of types, artillery pieces, armored vehicles, and drones in the overall area of operations,” Kurtis commanded. He watched with a mounting sense of dread and awe as the list began populating, and then continued growing. There were easily forty thousand combat infantry partaking in the operation to take Kerrak, as well as nearly eight hundred Mech armor. Thousands of drones were interspersed throughout, both on the ground and in the air. Those numbers did not include the other categories Kurtis had listed for description.
“The PDF have laid cables throughout the region in order to facilitate the communication network they are using,” Argos replied.
“That explains how they are able to control the drones and facilitate command and control through the jamming! I should have thought of that earlier damnit!” Kurtis growled in frustration. He forwarded the information appearing on the mini-map to the other units, just in time for them to reach the end of the ravine.
Intrepid led the way, engaging full afterburners and engines, sending Kiryl’s unit surging out of the ravine, straight into a company of surprised enemy Slayers escorting a pair of multiple missile platforms to the front lines. Intrepid landed in the center of a squadron of Slayers, sending several of the surprised units flying with the backwash from its engines. Kiryl was firing the second his unit cleared the ravine, using all four of his main cannons to begin eliminating enemies.
DawnsLight followed seconds behind, and then NightHawk. The duo used Intrepid’s bulk as cover, pouring forth a terrifying combination of unmitigated destruction. Atalanta landed next, forming the last point in their diamond formation, as they began advancing, mowing down the Mech armor in front of them. With no need to cover the rear, Vera directed the small pistols in each hand to opposite sides, sending forth a steady stream of pinpoint laser fire guided by the AI Athena, into the enemy engines, head, and arms, wherever they were most vulnerable.
Recognizing their impending destruction, the operators of the multiple missile launchers struggled to begin firing as the Slayer pilots attempted to intercept the Omnos squad. The operators of the missile launchers realized they did not have time to aim, and simply pointed their weapons in the general direction of Kerrak before giving the launch command. A wave of mini-rockets from DawnsLight destroyed the pair of missile launchers as soon as they began firing, but not before a few of the missiles were loosed. Alarms screeched in all of their cockpits as Argos used the point defense cannons on NightHawk to knock down the missiles that were launched as soon as they left their barrels.
The kinetic shells from the point defense cannons began shredding the entirety of every missile, but those that struck against the oxidizers and fuel chambers housed in the missiles resulted in powerful detonations as the missiles exploded right in front of them. The expanding ferocity of the chain reaction wiped out what remained of the Slayer escorts, creating a new chain of secondary explosions threatening to overwhelm the Omnos squad units as it continued building in power.
“Get out of here!” Alyona screamed, engaging full afterburners in a desperate bid to outrun the worst of the devastation.
The other three units followed behind her, struggling against the cascading shockwaves crashing against them. Warnings blared in their cockpits as their energy shields were stripped away. Luckily, any further damage was contained, but that close call shook each of them as they continued to race away. Kurtis intentionally steered them to the very edge of the PDF army, where the dust in the air was still thick enough to provide them cover from the weak enemy sensors, but where they were unlikely to come across any other sudden surprises. They skirted the enemy army for several minutes, mentally and physically regrouping, before Kurtis located an artillery emplacement not far from their reach.
He sent the new high-priority target to Alyona. “What do you think?” He asked her on a private channel after taking a minute to catch his breath and collect himself.
She whispered her reply, still very shaken by their previous attempt. “We have too…” Around them, the dust continued to grow, pulsing, and flashing as dozens of explosions occurred in its grasp at any given moment. “I have had Athena counting the incoming rounds from Kerrak since we arrived. The rebel’s rate of return fire is falling off a cliff. They are being overwhelmed even faster than we expected, and once that happens, we have to be anywhere but here. Get us to the artillery, fast.”
Kurtis bit his lip, avoiding replying as he began typing furiously, charting a path for them. “Got it.” He said a few moments later.
Having allowed herself the moment of weakness, and able to compose herself now that it had passed, Alyona keyed the squad frequency, “Quick, in and out. Let’s get this done.” She then dropped the connection, knowing that the others would understand without requiring a lengthy explanation. A flip of a toggle, and DawnsLight engaged active camouflage abilities to their maximum capability. The others followed suit, and then they began moving forward, back into the mix.
Intrepid led the way, Kiryl ever the stalwart ally. Once again, they reassumed their diamond formation. This far back behind the main lines, there were not as many close-calls with incoming artillery from Kerrak. Most of the shells fell further inside the main formations. With the number of incoming rounds tapering off due to the steady destruction of the rebel artillery emplacements, the PDF anti-battery laser defense systems were knocking down more and more of the incoming artillery rounds. Still, various alarms bleated their warnings in each of their cockpits about the number of enemies in close proximity.
They made good time, racing across the plain back into the thick of the continuously growing dust cloud. Occasionally, they had to destroy someone that wandered across their path, but they never slowed down, letting the pandemonium and their active camouflage cover their passing. Amidst the chaos of the attack on the outpost of Kerrak, they were simply one more element and a low priority for the PDF armies at that.
They never slowed down as they reached the edge of the crater where the heavy artillery cannons were located. Rushing over the lip of the crater, they surprised several dozen infantry, the only force guarding the strategic siege weapons. DawnsLight and Intrepid lobbed a dozen grenades against the loading platforms filled with high-explosive shells and their adjacent cannons, allowing the combination of high-explosive and phosphorous grenades to work their devilry, and then the Omnos squad was already racing up the lip of the crater and away, ignoring the infantry altogether.
Fierce detonations ripped into the sky as the timers on the grenades finished counting down, releasing their pent up fury, detonating artillery shells waiting to be launched. The explosions continued to grow in power as more of the artillery shells were consumed. The bowl of the crater served to focus the energy of the detonations inwards, channeling their power, until a geyser of fire erupted into the sky, releasing all of the energy in one horrific moment.
Nearly a dozen artillery pieces were destroyed in the attack, and the Omnos squad simply assumed that their accompanying infantry were as well. Next, two nearby emplacements were located, one five kilometers away, and the other a little over seven. Alyona was considering what to do next when Kurtis again pinged her, opening a private communication channel, “Argos gained access to the PDF wide array network they are using to command their forces. Let me link with everyone and control their small and medium missiles. I will use them in a barrage against the nearest artillery emplacement. Now that Argos has access to their network, he can guide the missiles so that they hug the ground below the PDF laser defenses, while Vera eliminates the other artillery emplacement with the rail cannon. The PDF won’t have time to bother with losing one of their artillery companies, but once they lose three, you can bet your ass we will instantly become a high priority. The question is, what do you want to do after?”
“Find me a high value target, preferably Mech armor. Our objecti
ve is to winnow the forces attacking Kerrak. Destroying artillery serves that somewhat, but the rebels are expecting us to kill a lot of enemy Mech’s as well. Find me something to unleash the Eclipse missiles on,” Alyona said.
First, Kurtis identified a small hill nearby that would make an ideal position for Atalanta to use the rail cannon. He marked the position on everyone’s HUDs as a waypoint, and they immediately headed for the identified location without questioning. Then, Kurtis gave Argos permission to begin linking the small and medium missiles of all four units into one chain. Next, Kurtis identified the perfect target for Alyona. A forty strong company of mercenary Mech armor brought from Earth had formed a box, interspersed every few hundred yards around a battalion of infantry, escorting them to the front lines for the final assault on Kerrak. Kurtis felt sick as his stomach roiled, but he silently forwarded the formations location to Alyona for her approval.
Receiving the priority location marker, Alyona opened the image on her HUD before becoming similarly upset as she eyed how perfect the target was. Just then, the Omnos squad reached the small hill without incident and began preparing. Vera began deploying the rail gun, while Kiryl set about linking Intrepid’s reactor as a supplemental power source to the rail gun. Intrepid’s reactor combined with the output of Atalanta’s, would dramatically increase the rail cannons rate of fire while also increasing its effective range. Choking down bile as she gave her permission for the deaths of over a thousand men and women, Alyona wordlessly approved the target Kurtis identified for the Eclipse missiles.
“Alright everybody, here’s the plan. We will destroy the closest artillery emplacement with missiles that Argos will fly for us. Set your small and medium missiles on fire-and-forget mode, and then accept the link request from Argos. Vera will use the rail cannon to take out the farther artillery emplacement. She has sixty rounds with her, and will probably only use five to complete her objective. Kiryl will provide supplementary power for the rail gun, and then direct the Eclipse missiles against a mixed infantry and mercenary Mech armor formation headed to the front lines. That is three different high-value targets, in three different directions, which should hopefully throw these bastards off from finding us. Once the fireworks start, things are going to get hot, fast. Kurtis will handle air defense with his point defense guns, and I’ll take care of anything on the ground. We will remain here long enough for Vera to identify and eliminate targets of opportunity with the rail cannon, and then get the hell out of Dodge. Roll call with questions, or confirm you’re ready.”
Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2) Page 30