For several minutes, the soldiers remained still using the sensors in their suits to scan the terrain ahead of them. A breeze was rustling the leaves in the trees and there was no other detectable movement. The embedded weapons were camouflaged so they would blend in with their surroundings.
“Up ahead and on our left flank sixty meters out,” Corporal Hunter said as she saw a metallic glint with her enhanced optics. She quickly took aim with her RG rifle and laid six shells on and around the target. Two resounding explosions of flame indicated she had hit her targets. “Stunners eliminated.”
“Move out!” Ryan called out. “Corporal Hunter, I want two more scouts out ahead of the first skirmish line and a slow, steady movement up the slope. Soldiers in the first skirmish line are to watch for any popup weapons that might be triggered by the scouts.”
The soldiers continued to advance, for twenty minutes they moved slowly up the steep slope, stepping around boulders and towering trees. Every moment they expected more hidden weapons to announce their presence by firing RG rounds or stun beams, but all remained quiet. Everyone felt apprehensive, recalling the scream of pain from the soldier in the first stricken battlesuit. No one was anxious to join him.
“I don’t like this,” Alexander muttered as he stopped to look around a large boulder that barely hid his ten-foot tall battlesuit. “I feel like we’re being set up.”
“For once, I agree with you,” Lauren answered as she paused in her advance to look over at Alexander. “It’s like we’re walking into a trap.”
Corporal Hunter listened to the comments over her com, worried that the two might be right. This mountain was supposed to be nearly impossible to ascend. Up ahead something attracted her attention; was that movement by that large tree up ahead? She checked it with her scanners and detected nothing. She took a deep breath and used her optics to check the area, still nothing could be seen.
Moments later, six twin stunners and four RG cannons opened up on the ascending troops, firing at the first skirmish line and ignoring the four scouts.
Ryan heard two of his soldiers scream in pain and two more icons changed from green to red. “Take cover!” he yelled over the com as he threw himself behind a nearby boulder as several RG rounds struck the ground in his previous position.
“I’m hit!” Private Rios called out. “Damn RG round got me in the leg; it hurts like hell!”
Ryan saw Rios’ suit icon turn from green to amber indicating damage. “Find those weapons emplacements and use explosive rounds to take them out! They’ve got us pinned down.”
Ryan switched on his suit scanners trying to pinpoint the weapons, but nothing registered. He felt frustrated by his failure to ascertain where the attack was coming from. It made him realize the suits were not as all powerful and invulnerable as he had been led to believe. It would be necessary for him to reevaluate his strategy for conquering Charring.
Instantly, along the line of trees up ahead grenade like explosions began tearing into the steep slope throwing rocks, soil, plants, and even small trees up into the air. Some of the debris spilled down upon the forward skirmish line. After a minute, the explosions tapered off and it became quiet.
“I think we got them,” Alexander reported as he stood up and stepped out into the open. Alexander braced himself, but nothing happened. “Yep, we got them.”
Lauren only shook her head. “Don’t step out into the open like that or you’ll be the next casualty.”
“Just keeping you safe, sweetheart,” Alexander answered glibly on their private channel.
“I’ll make you regret that comment,” Lauren replied, icily.
Ryan stood back up and stepped away from the boulder. He glanced at his HUD, which now showed three red icons and four amber ones. Looking up the mountain, he knew they still had a long way to go to reach the summit. If this kept up, he would run out of soldiers long before then. He needed to come up with a better plan. He wondered just what it was that was causing the hidden weapon emplacements to activate. The most obvious were movement and heat sensors. Since the battlesuits were self-contained, the likelihood of it being heat that was triggering the popup weapons was minimal. The most obvious remaining method of detection was movement.
Looking up, Ryan watched the tall trees swaying in the wind. The dome was a controlled environment and could simulate almost any type of weather. He wondered what his brother would do in this situation. He knew his sibling had taken this training when he was being held captive by the Kleese. Wade had never told Ryan how many times it had taken him to reach the top. For several minutes, Ryan studied the terrain ahead and thought about the resources he had available. He could clear a path with explosive rounds, but he suspected they would run out well before they reached the summit. RG rounds were useless unless they could hit one of the emplaced weapons multiple times. That left the energy beam cannons that six of his remaining soldiers were carrying.
His eyes returned to the tall trees as an idea came to mind. “Corporal Hunter, I want our soldiers that have energy cannons to fire at the tops of the trees to bring some of the branches down. Perhaps it will cause the popups to respond.” Ryan hoped if the embedded weapons were using motion sensors, the falling limbs might cause them to react.
Casey quickly passed on the orders as she scanned the trees up ahead. “Fire into the taller ones about ten meters up,” she ordered. From what her sensors were reporting, some of the trees were as tall as twenty meters. “I want to see limbs falling and hitting the ground!”
A few moments later, first one and then the other five energy cannons opened fire. The energy cannons were large, bulky weapons and fired a beam of blue energy. The beams played across the upper sections of the trees, shearing limbs and trunks in two. Limbs began to fall and sure enough, four popup weapons made an appearance and began firing at the falling debris.
“Take out those weapons!” yelled Casey, seeing the red threat icons appear on her HUD. “Use suit explosives!” She felt the adrenaline flowing through her body as she fired several rounds at the popup weapons.
Instantly, upon the slope twenty grenade-like explosions smashed into the ground, throwing up dirt and other debris, which came raining down on the two lines of battlesuits. In four locations smoke drifted up into the air, indicating the destroyed weapon sites.
“Move up to that line of trees and we’ll do it again,” Ryan ordered over the general com frequency. “Scouts stay on the lookout. There’s no guarantee this will work with all the weapons; some may not be responding to movement.”
The four scouts moved carefully forward, using all the cover they could find. However, a ten-foot tall battlesuit was difficult to keep hidden. It was just too big a target.
Private Parker was the first to reach the trees and took up position behind the largest one he could find. Looking to his right, he could see the other scouts including Private Adams, who was on the far end of the four. “I don’t see anything,” he spoke softly as if he was afraid the embedded weapons would home in on the sound of his voice.
“I don’t either,” Lauren replied as she used her suit’s sensors to scan the slope above them. There were several open spaces as well as numerous tall trees and brush. Popup weapons could be hidden anywhere.
Corporal Hunter was listening to the scouts and after a moment, felt the area immediately ahead was safe. “Move out,” she ordered, standing up and beginning to move forward. “Keep your eyes open and watch your sensors.”
Casey had turned up the sound in her helmet so she would hear even the quietest noises. She could hear the heavy footsteps of the battlesuits, the crunching of branches, and even the wind in the trees. A ten-foot tall one thousand pound battlesuit was nearly incapable of stealth.
They reached the next line of trees without being fired upon, and once again, Ryan had the soldiers carrying the energy cannons fire into the tops of the trees ahead of them. Once more, several popups made their presence known and were quickly eliminated. Ryan was begi
nning to feel more confident. If they could keep this up, they would make it to the top with the majority of the platoon. Perhaps Charring Mountain wasn’t as difficult as everyone claimed.
-
In the dome’s Command Center, Colonel Wade Nelson and Major Winfrey were watching the platoon’s progress on several large viewscreens. Wade had come to the dome to watch his brother’s first attempt at Charring Mountain. He'd made sure Ryan was not aware of his presence.
“Clever,” Dylan commented impressed by the young lieutenant. “He’s using the falling limbs to eliminate the embedded weapons.”
“Ryan was always the clever one,” Wade spoke with a grin. He was pleased to see how his brother was adapting to the drill. “If he keeps this up, he might just make it to the top.”
“We don’t want to make it too easy,” Dylan said, folding his arms across his chest. He quickly passed on some new orders to the techs, who were operating and controlling the weapons upon Charring Mountain. “We’ll switch off the motion sensors and use the metal of the suits for the weapons to home in on. No one makes it to the top of Charring the first time!”
Wade nodded his head in agreement. The purpose of the drill was to teach the soldiers in the battlesuits they were not invincible. Now he would be curious to see how Ryan reacted to this new change in the scenario. Wade settled back in his chair, knowing this drill was far from being over and was about to get much more interesting.
-
Ryan and his platoon had made it to the next grove of trees upon the slope. So far, his plan of using the falling limbs to activate the hidden popup weapons was working well. He hadn’t lost another soldier and he was halfway to the top of Charring Mountain. He paused, taking in a deep breath and used his suit’s sensors to scan the slope up above them. He knew the drill was being controlled down at the training base Command Center. Ryan strongly suspected his method of activating and destroying the embedded weapons wouldn’t be allowed to continue all the way to the top of the mountain.
He watched intently as Corporal Hunter directed the next firing of their energy weapons, once again several popups appeared and were quickly eliminated. He let out a breath of relief as he stepped back out into the open and began moving up the steep slope.
The four forward scouts began advancing cautiously, followed by the two larger skirmish lines. They had only taken a few steps when six more hidden embedded weapons popped up and began firing.
“Take cover!” yelled Corporal Hunter as one of the scouts went down with their suit icon turning red. Around her, soldiers in their battlesuits darted for cover. While the battlesuits were large and even seemed cumbersome at times, they allowed a soldier to move extremely fast.
“What do we have?” demanded Ryan as he crouched down behind several boulders. He could hear the fire of RG rounds and the occasional zapping noise the stunners made.
“Six popups,” Casey reported as she used her suit’s advanced sensors to spot the weapons. “One hundred and ten meters further up the slope.”
The fire from the popups was nonstop as they searched for targets. Two more battlesuit-encased soldiers went down with their icons turning to red in Ryan’s HUD. Several others were showing amber from being struck by RG rounds.
“Privates Parker, Adams, Matheson can you take the weapons out?” demanded Casey as several RG rounds struck the ground near her. The three scouts were close enough they should be able to fire upon the weapon emplacements. The rest of the platoon was pretty well pinned downed.
“Yeah,” Alexander answered as he looked cautiously around the tree he was hiding behind. “We can take them out, but I don’t know if we’ll survive.”
“How bad can it hurt?” Lauren asked. Due to Alexander’s comment earlier, she was really hoping that at some point in the drill he would get hit by a stun beam. “It can’t be any worse than some of the other stuff we’ve been through.”
“I just don’t like the idea of lying immobile in this damn suit for several hours,” muttered Alexander. Then looking over at Lauren and Matheson he nodded. “Now!”
All three remaining scouts stepped out from their hiding places and began firing RG explosive rounds at the targets. As soon as they stepped into the open, the weapon emplacements’ sensors quickly targeted the three battlesuits. Alexander was instantly hit by several RG rounds in the shoulder and then two stun beams nailed him squarely in the chest. With a loud moan, he slid to the ground as his suit shut down except for life support.
Lauren didn’t waste a moment worrying about Alexander as she fired RG explosive rounds in rapid succession at the emplacements. She managed to take three of them out before a stun beam struck her battlesuit, immobilizing it. She was amazed at the intense pain the beam generated. She felt as if a dozen wasps were all biting her at once. She regretted wanting Alexander to feel this type of pain even after what he'd said. Lauren fell to the ground and lay still, listening to the battle still going on around her. The stinging and burning sensation was gradually beginning to fade.
The remaining scout managed to take out two more emplacements before he too was struck by the remaining stunner. Moments later, the stunner was blown apart as Corporal Hunter hit it with an RG explosive round. She'd managed to move closer until the aggravating weapon was within her sights. Casey shook her head, looking at the scouts lying prone on the slope.
“Weapons eliminated,” she reported over the general com frequency. “All scouts are down.” She looked at Alexander and Lauren’s still forms almost regretting choosing them as scouts. She hoped they'd learned their lesson.
Ryan nodded and ordered the rest of the surviving members of the platoon to move up to the area where the weapons had been destroyed. It was time to come up with a different strategy. He glanced at his HUD, seeing nine glaring red icons with another six showing as wounded. That was well over half his platoon. Charring Mountain was beginning to take control of the scenario.
-
“Guess that will slow them down,” commented Dylan, glancing over at Wade with a chuckle.
“We’ll see,” Wade replied as he studied the viewscreens, wondering what Ryan would do now. It was a shame that Beth wasn’t here to watch this. She was currently back home at Vesta working with General Bailey on some new upgrades to the asteroid’s defenses. He knew she would've really enjoyed watching Ryan’s first attempt at the mountain.
-
Ryan stood next to one of the destroyed weapon emplacements, realizing that the parameters had indeed been changed. The embedded emplacements were no longer using motion sensors to find their targets. They seemed to be homing in on the battlesuits.
“What now?” Corporal Hunter asked as she stepped over closer to the lieutenant. “I don’t think the popups are responding to motion any longer.”
“They’ve changed the programming on the weapon emplacements,” Ryan said as he looked up at the steep slope ahead of them. “I think it’s time we used more of our RG explosives. Gather the RG rifles from those that are down. We’ll lay down an explosives’ barrage in front of us and advance up the mountain as far as possible behind it. Order each of our soldiers to save four rounds for use on weapon emplacements. This is about to get down and dirty.”
For the next thirty minutes, they moved steadily up the mountain, blasting a swath one hundred meters wide in front of them. Ryan moved his soldiers closer together toward the center of the cleared area to lessen the possibility of attacks from embedded weapons on the perimeter. He finally called a halt when Corporal Hunter indicated they had expended all the explosive rounds except those being kept back to take out the embedded weapons.
Looking ahead, Ryan guessed they only had three or four hundred meters to go to reach the summit. He let out a deep sigh as he gazed at the beckoning heights, which signified victory. He wondered how many others had made it this far on their first attempt.
“What now?” asked Corporal Hunter from Ryan’s side where she was also gazing up the mountain. She hadn’t ex
pected to get this far.
“We use the energy weapons to clear us a path,” he answered. While the energy weapons had a much shorter effective range than the RG explosive rounds, they should at least be able to get them further up the slope. “Spread our six energy weapons out along a line so we can clear a space one hundred meters wide.”
“They won’t last long at that kind of use,” warned Casey. It sounded to her as if Ryan was getting desperate; she knew there was a lot of pressure on him due to who his brother was. “We might get another two hundred meters up the slope if we’re lucky.”
“That’s two hundred meters closer to the top,” Ryan answered as he thought over his options. “Once the energy weapons are drained of power, we’ll stop and see what our next option needs to be.”
Corporal Hunter quickly passed on the order and soon six powerful blue energy beams were playing across the ground in front of them, tearing up the soil and cutting down the large trees. The surviving members of the platoon walked slowly behind the soldiers with the energy weapons, their RG rifles held at the ready. Whenever an energy beam struck an embedded weapon emplacement it would explode, sending fire and smoke up into the air.
-
“Interesting,” Wade said with a nod of approval. Ryan was using all of his resources to get closer to his target.
“That young shit head's going to make it yet,” muttered Dylan, shaking his head. “He’s come up with some inventive methods to take out the weapon emplacements.”
“But not good enough,” responded Wade, agreeing with Dylan’s assessment. “His energy weapons will run out of power a good one hundred meters from the summit.”
Dylan grinned wolfishly, his eyes glinting. “The closer he gets, the more overconfident he’ll become. I have a special surprise waiting if he does indeed make it to the top of Charring.”
-
Ryan watched disappointedly as the last energy beam sputtered and then faded out. He guessed they were still at least one hundred and fifty meters from the summit. There were fewer trees this high up on Charring Mountain and he could plainly see the summit beckoning as if mocking him. If he had to do this all over again, he would have equipped his soldiers with more energy weapons. With a heavy sigh, Ryan knew there was a good chance he might very well get that opportunity. No one had ever made it to the summit on their first attempt.
Galactic Empire Wars: Rebellion (The Galactic Empire Wars Book 3) Page 3