by Mark Wandrey
“Not arguing,” she lied, “just getting the sit-rep down straight. Give us five more minutes to get in position and hit the defenders.”
“Understood, we’ll be ready.”
“Mother.”
“Yes Lilith.”
“I have confirmed a super-luminal wave front.”
Minu nodded. Her daughter had warned her of that once they had confirmed the Mok-Tok were behind the ambush. They were one of the surviving species known for their use of starships in the ancient times of the Lost.
“ETA?”
“No more than an hour.”
“Understood, have Pip stand ready. We need every minute you can buy us, honey.”
“I am a ship of the line,” she spoke, her voice full of utter confidence. “They will not find me an easy conquest. I will evaluate the threat when it materializes and update your virtual battlefield. And, mother?”
“Yes?”
“Please be careful with my baby brother or sister?”
Minu smiled. It was an interesting new side of her daughter she was seeing here. “I will. See you soon.”
Minu and Cherise hopped from rooftop to rooftop using the jumpjets and powerful legs of the suits. Moments later Kal’at and See’ta joined them.
Minu checked the virtual battlefield around them. Aside from a Leesa scout element a kilometer away, and the mass of soldiers at the Portal spire two kilometers distant, they were alone. This action would take pinpoint accuracy. Minu gave an instruction to her suit and another of its capabilities was utilized.
A small compartment on the back opened and a dozen tiny bots emerged and took to the wing. Resembling dragonfly-bots, they were almost undetectable and extremely fast. In less than a minute her virtual battlefield increased in its accuracy by an order of magnitude.
She’d resisted using them until now to avoid having her hand tipped. Pip had informed her there was nothing like this available in the Concordia, and probably hadn’t been for eons.
They immediately detected a dozen Leesa remote listening posts. She ordered their removal and the tiny bots dealt with them by landing on the devices and self-destructing. Costly, but effective. Now the enemy was blind on this front. The door was open. Now it was time for shock and awe. “Gregg, here we go. Prepare your barrage.”
“Noted boss, commencing in ten from my mark… MARK!”
Minu nodded to herself, engaged the preset clock in her virtual battlefield, synced the destination against the countdown, and waited.
The AI took over, calculating the distance required, the results of the barrage (a bone chilling estimate) and lethality as well as the suit’s movement velocity. Five seconds into the count the suit boosted on its jump jets. Two quick hops and they were within view of the main cargo deck of the spire.
Two kilometers back, a pair of transports that Gregg had carefully held in reserve deployed their cargo. The upper decks opened to reveal row after row of tubes, each four centimeters in diameter. In coordinated action, the tubes elevated, turned, and unleashed salvo after salvo of rockets.
A product of Ted Hurt and Bjorn Ganose back home, the rockets were something none of the Concordia species used. Indirect fire artillery was something they’d never gotten the knack of, not even in the era of the Lost.
The rockets arched over the line of intervening buildings. By the time the first was nearing its target, the last was being fired. They numbered 120 per transport, or 240 in total. As soon as the last rocket was away, the launchers were jettisoned and Rangers clambered aboard to begin the evac.
The leading edge of the rockets screamed over Minu’s head with less than ten meters to spare while she was in mid jump. She almost bit her lip as the little blips on her virtual battlefield shot past her. The computer said there was no danger of being hit. She wasn’t encouraged.
Minu landed on the final rooftop only two hundred meters from the dock as the first rockets impacted. The enemies were not fools. Even though they might not recognize the nature of the attack, they could realize it was an attack. Forcefields and shields were in place as the rockets exploded. Not explosives, fully loaded EPCs modified into warheads.
They splashed raw plasma across the defense which almost instantly overloaded. The Leesa commander’s jaw fell open in surprise as the second wave, high explosives this time, landed right on his unit.
Now within view, Minu’s suit added targeting lasers as it jumped again. Picking out heavy weapons, troop transports, tanks, and a pair of Mok-Tok heavy combat suits as targets of interest, the final wave of rockets homed in with deadly accuracy. The survivors were still reeling from the devastation of the attack when four incredibly powerful combat suits tore into their midst.
Twenty Mok-Tok infantry in heavy armor, though not suits, opposed them with beamcasters and brute force. Now with a much greater appreciation for how to use the machine she wore, Minu tore into them like a kloth on a pack of sheep. Three of the huge furry beasts hit her, trying to bear her to the ground. They wore dualloy and ceramic combat armor. Her suit deployed spikes that bit into the ceramic concrete under her and motors whined as she leaned against the attack.
One wrapped all three arms around her, trying to pin her arms at her side, while the other two used armored claws to tear at her torso where she was safely enclosed. Minu easily overpowered the grapple, seizing the soldier by one huge arm and flinging it with inhuman power. The beast gave out a surprisingly high-pitched screech and a sickening crunch when it impacted a dualloy support beam.
Her arms now unhindered, she used them like pile drivers to smash the other two Mok-Tok together. Blood and gore washed over her as she crushed the life from them. Her friends dealt with the other Mok-Tok.
The surviving Leesa soldiers fell back in horror of death come alive in their midst, beaten before they even began to fight. This was the part Minu hated, as she gunned them down from behind, even those who dropped their weapons and fled. With their sensors gone and this entire contingent wiped out in seconds, the Mok-Tok command would be in complete disarray. Now they only had to hold the door open long enough.
The first of the Ranger transports came in, impellers screaming as they landed a little too fast. Doors were swinging open and soldiers spilled out like angry army ants. They only lost a split-second to stare in wonder at the blood splattered combat suits standing like demons in their midst before running to create a perimeter.
Minu felt a great surge of pride in these men and women in tiger-striped field armor carrying her shock rifles. Though she didn’t recognize any of them, she’d given birth to this army she saw.
They were all dirty and exhausted-looking, many wearing torn uniforms and combat dressings. It was obvious they’d been through hell, and still they were ready for more.
“Just like you dreamed,” Cherise whispered in her ear, reading Minu’s thoughts. “Coming here was the right thing.”
“No-one deserves to be abandoned by a god damned politician,” Minu hissed. “But you are right, on both accounts.”
Once the perimeter by the dock was clear, she turned to her friends. “Let’s clear the spire!”
Chapter 42
May 9th, 534 AE
Planet K, Contested Territory, Galactic Frontier
It wasn’t as easy as the assault on the dock outside. In the Portal spire the explosions had been noted, even if the command of the Mok-Tok didn’t know what it meant. Minu and the other three in combat suits encountered a squad of Leesa sent to investigate. The reptilians stood and stared in amazement at the combat suits, until they were chewed to bloody bits by high velocity projectiles.
“Fast now,” Minu barked and pushed her own suit into a dead run. She careened off walls as she ran far too fast for the polished ceramic concrete floors. Sparks flew in a multi-colored rainbow from one collision bright enough to nearly blind her, just before she crashed into an APC maneuvering to block the hallway. “Guess that squad of Leesa got off a transmission,” she thought as she stumbled bac
kwards.
The Leesa manning the heavy beamcaster gawked at the stumbling hominid combat suit before remembering its job and swiveling the gun mount forward. Cherise fired over Minu's should, all three beamcasters on one arm pouring energy into the turret. The shield overloaded and shut down before the burst cycled. The remaining energy fried the gunner and slagged his weapon as well.
“We can't get over it or around it,” Var'at said as he skidded to a halt. The only problem the Rasa seemed to be having with the hominid suits was the proportions were off. Their species had shorter legs and torsos. The AI compensated, somewhat.
Minu examined the situation. The crew of the APC had wedged their vehicle into the corridor like a plug in a bottle. It might be possible to crawl on top and slowly wiggle through, but it they would be sitting howlers to any enemy fire on the other side. Leesa warriors inside the APC were beginning to fire at them. Only ballistic weapons so far, ineffective against the heavy armor of the combat suits.
“Some situations just call for brute force,” Minu suggested and lowered her shoulder. The thousand kilos of combat suit slammed into the APC with a metal-on-metal crash, making the entire vehicle rock. She could hear the alarmed hissing and snaps of the reptilian crew. “Come on!” she called to her comrades, and in a second three more suits smashed in to join her.
Basically a sausage shaped light tank, the APC weighed in around twelve tons. Its treads screamed and threw up sparks as they all heaved with everything their robotic suits could manage. “Push, push, push.” Minu called out in cadence, prompting them to match their efforts to hers. Centimeter by agonizing centimeter, the APC screeched back. In a bit she could see the ceramic concrete floor revealing long gouges where the APC treads were resisting. They'd almost cleared the entrance when one of the occupants finally grew a brain and started the engine.
“Son of a bitch,” Cherise yelled as she went to her knees. All their suits began chirping warnings in their ears. “Servo tolerance exceeded! Servo tolerance exceeded!”
“Shut the fuck up,” Minu spat and deployed her foot spikes with a Sprang! They were no longer being forced backwards, but they also couldn't advance. The treads threw up more sparks and gouged into the floor as the driver attempted to run over them.
“Now we cannot disengage,” See'ta observed. The Rasa were always a practical species.
“Let’s try this,” Minu said and took one hand from the APC nose. She cocked her right arm back, pushed her mental safeties, and punched high as hard as her cybernetic arm and further boosted suit could allow.
“Stress damage to actuators in right arm,” she suit said as her fist boomed into the APC’s windshield. It didn't penetrate but the moliplas shattered in an encouraging way.
She did it again, then again, and again. Each time the suit complained, and each time she dutifully ignored it. Actuators and armor could be fixed. She doubted there would be much to salvage of the suits, or operators for that matter after a twenty ton APC rolled over it.
On the fourth punch her hand to the elbow smashed through. She looked up and got a great view of the driver, his slitted eyes wide in terror as she deployed the launcher. “Try to run my ass down, will you?” She unloaded every micro-grenade in the launcher. The string of explosions slaughtered everyone inside and spread their bodies all over the windshield.
“Subtle as always,” Cherise said as the APC's motor died and smoke poured from the hole when Minu withdrew her none the worse for wear arm.
“I do what I can.” She tested the arm and found its response somewhat stuttering now. The AI did its magic and the arm returned to normal operations, with a warning. “Efficiency is reduced by thirty-four percent.”
“Whatever,” she said, released the foot spikes and they again began trudging the now dead APC out of the way.
The way clear, the four combat suits ran out into the large open area of the portal spire interior to find it full of thousands of Leesa and Mok-Tok. This time they were mainly technicians and lightly armed and armored soldiers. Minu smiled like a true predator.
“Full weapons release,” she told the suit, “priority heavy weapons and ammo stores. Link with squad for maximum effect.”
“Executing,” it told her.
“Fitting reply,” she thought as the suits all unleashed hell. Beamcasters, laser, high velocity cannon and grenade launchers began their ballad of death and destruction in the midst of the enemy troops. The pure carnage took Minu's breath away as beings were sawed in half, burned as they ran, or blown to bloody chunks as micro grenades pierced their bodies before exploding.
The Leesa panicked, often getting in each other’s ways in screaming masses, clawing at each other in terror and climbing over growing piles bodies as they tried to reach the exits. Minu's suit used several remaining grenades from the left arm launcher on one such group to horrendous effect.
At the same time Cherise' suit killed several dozen soldiers at the left hand entrance, making a bottleneck to further exacerbate the rampage. “How could the Lost have not won their war with these killing machines?” Minu thought. Then she remembered that other species had them too.
Thinking to her ancient military studies, she wondered if the suit should be whispering 'thou are not a god,' in her ear. For a second she thought she heard Cherise crying.
“Minu!” she heard someone yell a second before something slammed into her and sent her crashing into the wall right behind her.
Despite the carefully fitted restrains that made it almost impossible to move, her head slammed painfully against first the front, then the rear of the pilot’s space. Her vision spun and she tasted blood. An instant later there was a pick in her thigh and her senses screamed. The suit had juiced her up to keep her fighting.
The Mok-Tok suit that had her pinned against the wall was twice the size of the earlier models they'd fought. This behemoth was an assault suit, seldom seen on the battlefield. She could see through the cameras it was in immaculate condition, inlaid with fancy patterns of relief of gold, silver, and red.
“Why do I always have to fight the leaders?” she wondered silently.
One three-clawed hand grasped at the torso hatch and started to dig in, the dualloy and ceramic groaning disturbingly and beginning to give. Minu moved her left arm and fired several shots, point blank, from the beamcasters mounted there. Too close for shields, but the Mok-Tok armor absorbed the damage while only showing minor damage.
“Crew hatch failing!” warned the AI. No-one was coming to help her and she didn't have time to consult the virtual battlefield or call for assistance. She did the first thing that came to mind. Minu fired the jumpjets on full power and pushed off at the same time.
Meant to lift the thousand kilo suit high into the air, the jets produced several tons of thrust. It wasn't enough to lift both the Mok-Tok combat suit and her own, but it was enough to dislodge its grip on her. Minu shot out of its arms with a roar, then slammed into the ceiling with a deafening crash.
The ceiling gave somewhat and the jumpjets disengaged. Minu just managed to roll as she fell and she deployed her foot spikes just as she came down on the center of the Mok-Tok suit. They possessed micro-molecular points and could penetrate anything, including super dense dualloy armor. Sparks flew from the contact points as they drove deep into the superstructure of the behemoth.
It reeled sideways, shaking like a wounded kloth as it tried to get her off its back. The spikes were curved, two in the front and one in the back. The way her legs protested she knew she was in serious danger of dislocating her knees.
The Mok-Tok careened into a wall and fell flat on its belly. Taking advantage of the momentary respite, Minu bent over, put both fists against the armor between her legs, and unleashed all six beamcasters over and over again.
Molten dualloy slag flew everywhere. While the armor might be able to resist a couple hits, it was no match to dozens of direct hits in the same few centimeters. Actinic energy flashed as she penetrated an EPC bank i
nside the assault suit and it jerked violently, dealt a death blow. Then it seemed to explode.
Minu, suit and all, was tossed backwards into slam to the concrete floor, skidding a few meters amid sparks before fetching up against a wall. Her cameras tracked as the Mok-Tok pilot leaped clear of its crippled suit and ran for it. All three furry legs moving in a blur. It was no real feat for the suit to track with a beamcaster to deliver the coup de grâce.
“Disable only,” she barked an instant before the suit fired. Instead of burning the shambling mound, the high velocity accelerator cannon chattered and one of the beast’s legs was torn to bloody rags.
It emitted that same high pitched pitiable scream as it was shot and fell roughly to the floor. It tried to keep moving on two legs only to have the ever-efficient suit follow up and take out a second leg. The beast might be hugely powerful, but every living thing had a pain tolerance. It fell back onto its center of mass and shook spasmodically.
“Not really what I meant by disable,” she berated the suit. It offered no reply. Of course, what was it supposed to do? She wasn't exactly armed with any non-lethal ranged weapons. She got up and checked her surroundings.
During her fight with the assault suit a lot had happened. Her three similarly armed friends had also faced two more of the massive suits, and dealt with them with mixed results.
See'ta was down, smoke coming from his suit and no response over the radio. Her own suit informed her he was alive, but his suit was disabled. Cherise stood over the smoking remains of one of the assault suits while Kal'at examined the third. His own suit had one arm hanging useless, but was in better shape than See'ta.
Rangers swarmed the portal spire, clearing the remaining enemy forces and securing all the other entrances. They'd won the battle, but the war was far from over.