Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  While loading the primary cannons on the left arm, Athena suddenly triggered a wave of mini-rockets, intercepting a squadron of Wasps that had been closing in on his hide with seemingly kamikaze intentions.

  The battle continued to devolve further into chaos with every passing moment. With no other options available, the three members of the Omnos squad steadied themselves, remaining focused on eliminating as many enemy drones as possible, determined to hold the line.

  One Hour T.U.A.

  Alyona tensed as another shockwave from an incoming missile crashed against the permacrete walls of the hide. The Avenger class Gatling guns protecting her had caught the missile at the last moment, shredding the warhead of the missile mere seconds before it impacted against the hide.

  In the microseconds needed for the blast to slam against the hide and the concussion reach DawnsLight, built in safety mechanisms surrounding her activated with lightning speed. A pre-determined bolt of electrical current raced through an insulated portion of the pilot’s chair, forcing the ballistic gel inside to morph, cocooning Alyona in its protective embrace. The straps serving as her safety harness automatically tightened for the briefest of moments, fully immobilizing her as the ballistic gel absorbed the worst of the kinetic forces. Then nearly as quickly once the blast wave passed, the safety systems relaxed, standing by until the next time they were needed.

  Just as she was about to resume fighting, a collision alarm sounded in the cockpit, and then the process repeated itself as yet another chunk of the ceiling fell down, crashing heavily against the outside of DawnsLight before coming to rest at her feet next to the myriad of other ceiling pieces that had steadily piled up.

  Using the forced interval as effectively as possible, Alyona began taking stock of the rapidly deteriorating situation. “Athena! What’s the status of the Avengers?”

  “One of the Avengers has ceased functioning, while three others are critically low on munitions. The remaining four have begun compensating, but with the sheer amount of incoming ordinance they are struggling at best.” Athena informed her, the tone of her artificial voice sounding entirely nonplussed about the fact that Alyona was fighting for her life, and losing.

  The straps of the pilot’s seat holding Alyona in place loosened, allowing her to resume firing the laser rifle. A quick glance to the bottom left of the HMD revealed that she was going to have to flush the coolant after the next two or three shots. Because she had already swapped the rifles coolant with that of the standby reservoir three times in the last hour, a new readout appeared on her screen next to the rifles temperature, indicating the temperature of the standby reservoir. Only nine minutes had passed since her last swap and the temperature of the standby reservoir had only dropped by about fifty percent. She desperately needed to make the next three shots count for all their worth.

  Another incoming missile exploded, destroyed at the last minute by the Avenger turrets. Instead of serving as a distraction, the mounting danger helped her focus as her instinctual fight or flight response kicked into its highest gear, pumping her full of adrenaline and the natural chemicals designed to heighten her reflexes and senses. The world around Alyona slowed as her mind raced under the combined influence of the cognitive boosters and the natural chemicals flooding her system.

  Her instincts began screaming that she was in danger, the primal sixth sense scientists repeatedly disproved but all veteran warriors believed in. Athena located the threat; a SkyHunter that had just crested the edge of the plateau and was lined up on direct approach to her hide, tracking her position with a targeting laser. The pilot of the remotely controlled drone made no attempt to hide its intention of destroying the rest of her permacrete hide with this final run. An alert flashed above the SkyHunter, with tags appearing that listed two lines of code. The first tag read BB-8, and the second tag read !!MOAB!!

  Alyona’s training automatically informed her that the BB tag meant the SkyHunter was armed with eight bunker busting missiles, while the !!MOAB!! meant Massive Ordinance Air Burst, the official designation for a nearly ten ton, thermobaric bomb that would easily destroy her weakened permacrete hide and kill her. Even if the hide somehow withstood the blast, the shockwave of a direct strike would almost certainly liquefy her internal organs, leaving her with no choice except to destroy the SkyHunter before it could kill her in turn.

  SkyHunters were offshoots of the vaunted Mech-killer drone class named Reapers, and as such primarily carried anti-Mech missiles, which was the only reason she and her two allies, standing with her on the plateau, were still alive. The anti-Mech missiles were not nearly as effective against the permacrete walls of the hide, but this particular SkyHunter had come prepared for this exact situation and intended to fulfill that duty.

  The HMD automatically zoomed in as she steadied the laser rifle; Athena adjusted the end of the barrel imperceptibly as Alyona lined up her shot with the flight path of the terrifyingly powerful drone. The lock-on auditory warble sounded at the same time the alignment bars pulsed red, while the rifle automatically charged to 70% power. The heat buildup from such a powerful charge meant that she would only have one shot left before having to flush the coolant.

  She pulled the trigger, and then instantly a powerful explosion erupted in the sky in front of her as the beam of raw energy that was invisible to human eyes bifurcated the SkyHunter straight down its center, shearing the Mech killer in half as it was about to launch its missiles.

  A new alarm sounded in the cockpit, announcing that the last of the energy from the large standby battery that remained sheltered in the elevator behind her had been exhausted. With mounting trepidation, Alyona realized that she had not been watching her power supply, instead becoming dangerously distracted by the heat buildup of her weapon. She risked a longer glance to the far right corner of the HMD image, seeing the bar representing the output from her reactor had also been nearly exhausted as the reactor struggled to compensate for the loss of supply from the standby battery. With the only power source left to draw on coming from the base below her, DawnsLight only had moments until it would be rendered defenseless, temporarily unable to provide energy shields which were proving increasingly critical to her survival.

  Above her, the numbers of drones were simply not dropping fast enough for the Omnos squad to catch a break. With a feeling of guilt at momentarily forsaking her role of squad leader in the midst of the heated battle, Alyona glanced at the vitals of the other two units and their pilots on top of the mountain with her. Intrepid’s missiles, sub munitions, mini-rockets, and standby battery power were all nearly exhausted. Of the trio, Vera’s Atalanta had fared the best, showing half of her missiles remaining as well as a similar number of mini-rockets and sub munitions. The shelter of her hide was also mostly intact, a testament to her skill as a sniper.

  However, above the three hides flew hundreds of drones, their numbers refusing to be reduced to manageable numbers. Missiles, rockets, and bombs rained down on the plateau, some guided, but most of them simply targeting any terrain features that appeared large enough to provide enough cover for Mech armor.

  At first glance, the strategy appeared a reckless waste of valuable resources to Alyona, until she noticed something important. Out of seven hides dotting the plateau altogether, the four that had gone unused by her squad fared the worst. Without defenders assisting the automated Avenger turrets, the other four-permacrete bunkers had all been reduced to rubble.

  As if that were not bad enough, Kurtis’ voice broke through the chaos just then, speaking to her through the headphones on the side of the HMD. “You guys have a serious problem! Argos just broke the spoof codes on the drones-they aren’t all drones! In less than a minute, Chimera’s are about to drop enemy Mechs on you! Get out of there, now!”

  Alyona did not hesitate. She trusted Kurtis and the rest of her teammates with her life. As the leader of the squadron, she mustered all the authority in her voice she could as she began issuing commands over the squad frequ
ency. “Kiryl, Vera, perform a tactical retrograde action, now!”

  “What the hell’s a tactical retrograde?!” Kiryl yelled in return.

  “Retreat dumbass! Back to the elevators, get moving!” Vera answered.

  “Then why the hell didn’t you say so!” Kiryl yelled again.

  “She did!” Vera and Kurtis screamed in unison.

  * * * * *

  At that moment, four Chimeras crested the lip of the plateau, dropping Slayer’s as soon as they could. Seeing them, Kiryl made his choice, taking aim with the laser rifle, increasing its output to 100% as he ignored the Slayers and focused on the Chimera. “I’m not leaving yet!” He yelled as he fired. The beam of raw energy blasted through the weak defenses of the air transport unit, destroying the Chimera before it could drop the other four units in its hold, eliminating them as well. “I’m exactly where I need to be!” He said as he dropped the azimuth of the laser rifle, locating a Slayer. The power output of the rifle automatically dropped to 40% and then fired. As he did so, the energy shields covering Intrepid flickered, momentarily threatening to give way altogether before recovering, relying on the additional power input from the base to compensate for the sudden drain.

  Kiryl targeted the second Slayer and made to fire, but nothing happened. For the first time in the hour-long battle, the rifle suddenly did not have the energy necessary to fire. He instantly began to wonder if he had made the wrong decision to stay behind, but the Slayer suddenly erupted in front of him. Vera had provided assistance while Alyona eliminated the next Chimera in line.

  “I don’t know what you expect to accomplish from staying!” Alyona screamed at him. “Our positions aren’t tenable like this and we cannot die here. The real fight hasn’t even begun yet!!”

  “Athena, can you increase the flow of power from the base?!” Kiryl desperately asked, momentarily ignoring Alyona.

  “Not without risk,” Athena deadpanned.

  “Do it for all three units! We need that power ASAP!” Kiryl ordered as he set down the laser rifle that had also now begun overheating. As the coolant flush process initiated, he took aim with both arms of his unit. His primary targets were no longer airborne, allowing him to rely on the proven capability of Intrepid’s main cannons. Two cannons per arm, one a miniaturized rail gun that launched kinetic slugs and the other a laser based weapon, allowed him to continue attacking without pause. From a range of less than two miles, he steadily eliminated one Slayer after another while Alyona focused on the Chimera’s. Vera covered them as best she could, doing her best to stave off the worst attacks of the drone fleet attacking them from above.

  “At the least, we have to destroy these Slayers!” Kiryl yelled as he continued firing as rapidly as possible, not letting up in the slightest. “If we leave now, we’ll just show the PDF the locations of the elevators. You know as well as I do that they’ll use the drones to destroy the blast shields covering the elevators and then begin dropping Slayers directly into the base. We don’t have the option of retreating anymore!”

  After his tirade, the intercom remained silent long enough for Kiryl to check the vitals of the other members. Those of both human and Mech armor alike were elevated due to the high staccato tempo of operations, but otherwise they were fine.

  He was about to ask if everything was ok when Kurtis interjected, “The last three waves of incoming drones have all begun focusing on the defenses stationed on the side of the mountain. It’s going to be close, but Kiryl is right, you guys can’t retreat right now, at least not down the elevators, I’m sorry.”

  The strain of fighting was clear in Alyona’s voice as she replied, “We’ll keep them busy for as long as we can then, but find us another option for retreat Kurtis!”

  “I’ve already got one but you’re not going to like it!” He replied. “I’ll keep you updated, something is happening down on the plain below!”

  * * * * *

  Commander Ultor stood within the Command and Control Center of Mount Olympus as around him, hundreds of stations operated by support personnel and technicians buzzed with a level of intensity born from shear desperation. Many of the stations were dedicated to operating remotely controlled defensive turrets on the outside of the mountain, while others monitored a myriad of cameras and external sensors. Operators of the latter collated the streams of information, relaying summaries to the combat personnel on the front lines as they identified and then tagged enemy units’ for the targeting computers that all allied combatants carried with them.

  A large number of personnel remaining within the StormCrow base were on the equivalent of standby, waiting for the units and weapons they wielded to be called upon. For each platoon of defenders, ranging from 20-50 personnel depending on whether the platoon was armored or infantry, there were three supporters that operated behind the lines, acting as overseers. One overseer was dedicated to tracking the vitals and monitoring the fighting strength of the platoon, reporting the results directly to the tactical AI in the Command and Control Center that advised Commander Ultor. The second overseer monitored the overall battle, keeping an eye on the big picture, at all times, and how their platoon fit into it. The third overseer advised the platoon’s Lieutenant, the leader of the platoon, giving them advice in the form of updated battlefield intelligence.

  It was the third overseer position that would contribute the most towards keeping the members of their platoon alive amidst the ensuing chaos. The overseer position solicited information from cameras, small scout drones, gun cameras of nearby units, and sensor data from the various radar and LIDAR installations. That information was combined with information from the overseer monitoring the entire battle. The third overseer collated and condensed all of the information with real time data and, in turn, provided it to the platoon’s Lieutenant. The Lieutenant would then use that information when making command decisions on how their unit could best contribute to the overall flow of battle.

  On the far wall of the Command and Control Center was an interactive map displaying a 2D satellite view of Mount Olympus. Tags marking the area of responsibility for each platoon, mostly centered around the dozen entrances of various sizes leading into the inner sanctum of the StormCrow base, and delineated the locations of all allied forces.

  Throughout Mount Olympus were tiers of defenses that the technicians would operate in turn, similar to the PDF drone pilots, serving as layers that the PDF would have to peel back one at a time before being able to gain entrance. And once the PDF did gain entrance, as everyone on both sides fully expected to happen, the fighting would simply continue apace until one side or the other had entirely exhausted their means to continue.

  As Commander Ultor stood at the center console, he picked up and placed a set of electronic goggles on his head, replete with a visor that covered both of his eyes. The goggles were a VR system that allowed him to select and instantly see a computer generated representation of a specified location inside and around the outside of the mountain, wherever enough sensors and cameras were present. Using the VR goggles, he began touring the perimeter of the base, performing a last inspection of his troops and their weapons. Clever software coding spliced and then combined all camera feeds in range of his indicated location, allowing him to perform the virtual inspection from any vantage point without alerting anyone to his presence, leading the system to be nicknamed God mode.

  First, he examined the outermost tier of defenses. They were primarily comprised of automated weapons. Everything from Avenger turrets and laser based air-defense systems to missile batteries were built into the sides of the mountain, using the natural rock walls as cover. Interspersed throughout those ranks were artillery pieces that could launch guided shells a distance of one hundred and fifty miles with the pinpoint accuracy of a guided missile. Small manholes and bunkers pocked the outside of the mountain, perfectly camouflaged so as to hide them from outside view, allowing a squad of defenders at a time to pop out and fire powerful shoulder mounted laser weapons a
nd rockets before retreating into the sanctuary of the mountain where they reloaded.

  Furies and Justices stood by in in the cover of permacrete bunkers dug into the sides of the mountain, hardened to protect them from counter fire. Their pilots waited impatiently for the melee to begin, while the bulk of the Mech armor horde still amassing on the plain in front of them began their attack, closing within range of their weapons. Other Furies and Justices remained in bunkers within each of the main entrances, ready to deny ingress to their hated foes. Their pilots were the most dedicated, ready to hold the line so long as they had breath in their bodies. Behind them, more infantry and defense turrets stood ready to do their part.

  Next, Commander Ultor viewed the battle raging on the plateau above the mountain, silently urging-on the three defenders fighting in the name of his faction. He stared in amazement at how ridiculously outnumbered the Omnos squad was, and nonetheless they resolutely continued standing their ground. Bombs and missiles rained down on the plateau, causing the VR image to pixelate as the cameras shook from the force and raw number of explosions occurring. He at once understood that his own forces would be similarly outnumbered and their fight equally desperate.

  Commander Ultor spent nearly ten minutes examining his army, ordering small changes when he saw something out of order, all while worrying that they would not be enough. Finally, realizing that he was stalling, he indicated that he wanted to see the hostile pair of armies that had converged on the plain in front of him. He switched to the viewpoint of two powerful telescopes positioned next to one another near the top of Mount Olympus. The combined feeds from the telescopes mimicked human sight, each telescope sending a pure signal to only one eye, allowing his mind to interpret the image of the encroaching army as if he were standing at the top of the mountain himself.