by Chris Hechtl
“Damn,” the lieutenant said, hand pushing down on the red klaxon bell. “Targets are localized to the area surrounding the airport. Some of it the financial district, some on the apartment complexes,” she said as the sergeant pulled up the vector analysis.
“Makes sense. Shock and awe,” Razor growled. “From a sick point of view I mean. We'll do what we can,” he said.
“Gotcha. Don't run into our fire,” the lieutenant warned.
“Try not to,” T-Bone grunted.
“Definitely,” Razor agreed, grunting as well as they pulled a high G maneuver that the small inertial dampener couldn't keep up with. He popped off a pair of missiles on the first target as he lined up on the second and third. The computers in the bird were dispassionate on targeting the incoming fire but not on how to hit it in order to divert it. And they had to divert it enough to knock it away from the city, not further into it.
“I've got the secondary guns. I'll try to hit what you can't,” T-Bone said, squeezing the trigger as they climbed.
“Focus on the flying T-Bone,” Razor growled, popping off missiles with seemingly wild abandon. Rail gun rounds began to pepper the sky near them as the gun tried to also knock some of the KEW strikes off their intended target.
Two of the KEW strikes, the first ones got through everything they threw at them and came down to hammer into the financial district. A third was hit by the first missiles Razor had fired. The tungsten round was so hot it was dead easy for the missile's heat seekers to lock onto them. But missiles intended to knock down an aircraft tended to explode at a standoff range to pepper the craft like a shotgun blast. The tungsten round shrugged it off with only a few meters of travel away from its intended target.
A little bit of jigging with its fins and its internal computer put it right back on track. And there wasn't enough time to hit it again.
“Damn it!” Razor hissed as the goop round exploded in front of the fourth KEW strike. That additional mass was partially vaporized by the plasma cloud around the round but enough got through to throw the mass of the round off course.
“Got one!” T-Bone crowed as he kicked the fighter around. They were now in a stern chase and that was impossible to stop the incoming rounds.
Still, Razor was brilliant. He'd fired a half dozen missiles at the other two KEW rounds, three each. He'd also fired two missiles at the incoming shuttles. The missiles were ineffective, but he squeezed the trigger as one of the rounds passed him. By luck more than skill, some of the goop hit the rear of a KEW round and threw it off course.
As they got closer to the ground the laser's radar arrays picked them up and fired. Once they had the range they went to rapid fire and tore the fifth and sixth rounds apart.
But three rounds had hit the city, and one had hit the outskirts despite everything they'd tried to do to stop them.
<(>^<)>
“Missiles!” the copilot barked as the threat receivers went off in the cockpit of Flight One.
“What the frack?” the pilot demanded as he tried to maneuver the shuttle. He couldn't pull the nose down or maneuver too violently until they were past the second stages of blackout. The plasma shock wave was still in front of them; if he tried to maneuver, it would tear his shuttle apart.
He cursed as he tried to add power and claw his way to orbit, but it was too late. His shuttle was torn apart by one of the two missiles Razor had fired. A platoon of soldiers died with him.
<(>^<)>
“Flight One is down. I say again, Flight One is down,” Captain Bershaw of Flight Two said, watching the explosion out of the corner of his eye as his own threat receivers screamed. Instead of trying to climb to orbit, he popped the nose up and over into a full stall and somersault.
The desperate maneuver might have worked to fool a missile. However, within the throws of reentry, it was precisely the wrong thing to do. His momentary exposure of the top of his craft to the superheated plasma stream outside tore his craft apart.
The three squads of heavy weapon troops didn't know what hit them.
<(>^<)>
Doctor Greenwich grimaced as he saw people handing out one of his minor inventions. He'd learned a long time ago sometimes the simplest things were the best. He'd created a simple flash light but turned the idea on its head and added a bit of complexity to solve a simple but thorny problem. In his prototype he'd figured out how to use gears and a simple electric motor to act as a generator to power the light. By squeezing the trigger a few times, the user spun the motor up and that induced an electric charge to power the light. Simple, elegant, and it didn't need batteries.
He'd seen thousands of applications, and he'd created multiple versions. His favorite was a modular design. But he hadn't expected it to be bought out so early. He'd been desperate to pay off his student loans and start-up costs, so he'd gone through with it.
He should have checked the fine print. The company that had bought his patent had been a shell company for a battery conglomerate. They'd sat on the design for over a decade, and he hadn't earned a penny in royalties, much to his frustration. He'd finally gotten the rights back after a lot of headache.
Now he was giving them away. Giving them away so people could see, so they could function, and hopefully keep some threadbare hint of civilization as the dark times revisited his homeworld once more.
He looked up to the sky in time to see lightning bolts come down near the airport. When they hit his mind had realized instinctively what it was, and he turned away in time for the blasts to wash over him. The screams of terror were ripped from the people's throats as glass and heat shattered the air of cooperation and self-sufficiency he'd done his best to cultivate.
<(>^<)>
“We've got two shuttles down, Colonel,” Major Eichmann said, looking up to the marine as he came striding into the room. “Mega City is putting up more of a fight than expected.”
“Damn it,” the colonel snarled. He looked at the status board. Three of the KEW strikes had hit; the others had been knocked off course. He wasn't sure how they'd pulled that miracle off.
“Pull them back,” he said.
“Sir?”
“They don't have the support to get to the ground. Pull them back,” he snarled. “We don't have a spare shuttle to send reinforcements to them. Not since I just sent them to cover Metropolis. Pull them back.”
“Yes, sir,” a lieutenant said. He tapped his microphone headset and then quietly passed on the order to abort the mission. When he winced it was obvious that the pilot of Flight Three wasn't too happy. “That's an order,” he said in a sterner voice. “Good.” he turned to the colonel. “Order received, sir.”
“Hot wash. I want to know what happened,” the colonel growled, crossing his arms.
“We essentially don't know, sir. We know they got three of the KEW strikes. We've identified laser and rail gun fire. We're localizing the position now for a follow up KEW strike on the next orbit,” the lieutenant said.
He frowned as he checked the status board. After a moment he shook his head. “Unfortunately all three shuttles were in LOS, sir. They were running dark to maintain stealth. They were also in blackout due to the plasma effects. They were in the final stages.”
“A laser would have bounced off the ionization and plasma,” the major mused.
“We're not sure what did it. The radio chatter we picked up is intelligible.”
“Play it,” the major ordered.
The lieutenant nodded and tapped a set of keys. Then he looked up. They heard a lot of nasty static then some syllables, then nothing but more static.
“Run that through the computers. See what they can pick out,” the major ordered.
“Don't bother. We know they have something. I want that KEW strike expedited,” Colonel Bericus ordered, “as in now by any asset over the scene.”
“None are there, sir. The cruisers are playing war games and Lingchi is refueling with the tanker, sir, at the gas refinery.”
�
��Damn it,” the major muttered. “If we wait too long, they'll move them.” The colonel and lieutenant looked to him in surprise. “Come on, they have to know those are primary targets! They'll move them. Shoot and scoot.”
“Right,” the colonel growled with a nod.
<(>^<)>
“The last one is running,” T-Bone growled, eyes locked on the shuttle as he took the plane into a long bank.
“Let it. If we take it out, they'll get seriously pissed and flatten the city completely,” Razor said, looking down at the smoldering wreckage below. His sensors fed the images on his HUD, cutting through the smoke to show him the thermal images on the ground. The devastation …
“But …”
“Aw, leave off, T-Bone. We need to stick to the plan. They can't come down to steal our stuff if they don't have shuttles, right?”
“Got me there,” T-Bone said, sounding nettled and disgusted. “It just burns me to let them get away!” he growled.
“Let them go,” Razor said, securing the weapon systems. “Let's see if we can do something to help those people,” Razor said.
“Wha … oh,” T-Bone said, finally turning from the departing shuttle to look at the ground below. “Damn.”
“Yeah,” Razor said, sucking in a breath and then letting it out as the fire trucks and rescue workers arrived on the scene. “My sentiments exactly.”
<(>^<)>
“Move! Get those vehicles out of the way. We need to get this thing moved to fall back position Baker now! They can fire at any time! Get everyone away from the Alpha site just in case!” the sergeant barked, waving an urgent hand to his people and the city engineers tasked with moving the laser.
“It's not as easy as you say it is,” an engineer complained, trying to disconnect the power and control lines while another unhooked the fire hoses used to provide water to the backup power plant and to the radiators to keep the entire series of jury-rigged contraptions cool.
“Do I look like I give a shit? Just move it! Bitch on your own time!” the sergeant snarled.
“We're moving; we're moving,” the first engineer grumbled.
<(>^<)>
“My ci-ty!” the mayor wailed as he looked at the flattened buildings.
“Mayor, look at it this way, some of those buildings were slated for demolition later this year,” the deputy mayor said tiredly. She nodded to the commander when he came over to them. The commander curled his lip in disgust and took off to the knot of fire fighters around the chief.
“Quite right, quite right I suppose. One cannot fault that, and hopefully no one was in them. The other losses?” the mayor asked.
“We're still getting a handle on that,” she said as a spotlight from a chopper passed by them. She saw other spotlights, including those on the Swatcat jet. She sucked in a breath as she saw Razor shoot grapnel lines into a burning building. The cat slid down the lines and then after a moment the hovering aircraft slowly pulled him and a knot of people out.
Razor took his own air mask off to put it on a child and mother for a moment before firefighters and paramedics rushed in. Then he reached up and grabbed the line and gave a jaunty salute as T-Bone pulled the line up and him away.
A few of the people waved. Others just sobbed in misery. “I'd say it's bad,” she murmured.
<(>^<)>
The red Neocat Solaximara tried to strike a deal within the first week. He was one of the only surviving leaders of the planet; everyone else was either dead or in hiding. He saw it as an opportunity, one he could use to his advantage if he played his cards right and if the enemy was reasonable. He brokered a deal over the radio. If they didn't bomb areas where his supporters were at, he in turn would give them the locations of where rich booty was including industrial centers and stockpiles.
In order to seal the deal, the Marine Commander Colonel Bericus only agreed to his terms if he came to a face-to-face meeting. Instead of getting what he wanted, the red Neo had been publicly humiliated and then executed before a crowd of horrified people.
The marine in charge of his execution took great pains to make it clear the Neo had betrayed his own people, even broadcasting Solaximara's discussion over the speakers. “You see? You see what they are? Little more than animals! Animals who have outlived their usefulness,” he said, turning to spit on the cat's corpse. “The list of places he didn't want bombed have been moved to the top,” he snarled. He turned in a whirl of his cape to leave the podium and stage.
Within hours Solaximara's supporters in the area, entire neighborhood blocks in some of the surviving cities, had been wiped out. Mega City became a new priority target.
<(>^<)>
“Major Eichmann, you are standing by your position that the three richest places are Metropolis, Gotham, and this Mega City? But we've also received stiff resistance in each. Far stiffer than anticipated,” the admiral said, looking at the intelligence officer. They hadn't known about the interdiction weapons in Metropolis or Mega City. Both were mobile enough to “shoot and scoot,” meaning they were almost impossible to hit with a KEW strike. “It seems your intelligence assessments were off.”
“Garbage in, garbage out,” Commander Roshou murmured. The admiral's eyes cut to his chief of staff then went back to the major.
“Sir, first off, we're working off of what is quite evidently dated intelligence,” the major replied carefully. “Woefully out of date. I admit we did not assess just how much of an influence Admiral Irons’ visit to the planet would change its infrastructure in such a short time. They didn't just find the tools and weapons to fight back, but they also learned to use them effectively while also learning how to make more and make ammunition for them.”
“I see,” the admiral murmured. “And the secondary objectives?”
“Most of them are secure, sir. There was little resistance outside the cities. Landing itself was easy once they were … properly softened up,” Colonel Bericus said from his link. The colonel had moved to a ground LZ for the moment.
“Options, gentlemen?”
“We can't hit Metropolis or Mega City from the air. The air defenses are pretty effective in both cases. A ground assault?” the major suggested, looking at the colonel's image.
The colonel's normally dyspeptic face turned on even grimmer lines as he considered it. Finally, he shook his head. “We don't have the vehicles or equipment for a ground assault. Even if I appropriated them, we'd have to beware of IEDs and ambushes along the planned route. We'd lose more than we'd gain.”
“What about the Fifth Column element? Are they of much use?”
“Somewhat. We've gotten some aide in taking small parts of Gotham. Unfortunately, Waynetech has taken a scorched earth approach with their warehouses and hardware. We are reassessing the area now.”
“Possibly writing it off as a lost cause Colonel?”
“It's all a suck job, sir. Suck us in, then blow the shit out of us while also denying the very thing we came for. They are using them as bait. I'm using the Fifth Column to suck up some of the casualties and to augment my forces, but it's not enough. Quite frankly we need more people, and we don't have them.”
“And the Fifth Column people aren't well equipped or trained,” the major added in support, “or well disciplined,” he added.
The colonel nodded grimly. “That too.”
“We have received word that there are water dwellers on the planet. Unfortunately, the intelligence was partially faulty. The lead provided video image, but the location was false,” the major said.
“Pity we can't interrogate him to get the real location,” the chief of staff said, looking at the colonel. “Being dead sort of makes that impossible.”
“Water under the bridge, Commander,” the admiral said.
“I … am forced to agree, sir. I hate expending an intelligence asset however loathful it is to deal with them, but what is done is done,” the major said, avoiding the colonel's eyes.
The colonel worked his jaw a few times
then seemed to shrug off the implied rebuke.
“We have continued to receive radio and television broadcasts of industrial and biological businesses in Mega City. Apparently someone there thinks now is the time to come out and compete with the competition in Metropolis and Gotham,” the intelligence officer said, changing the subject.
“Could we find what we need there? Didn't I read a brief that the population is nearly half Neo in that city? And isn't it on the water like the others?” Commander Roshou asked.
“That is a possibility,” the major said slowly, frowning thoughtfully. “It is certainly something to look into.” He looked up. “We unfortunately do not have any Fifth Column assets in the area, or they've been suppressed and gone underground. We need to bring them to the table.”
“After how we made the red Neocat as an example, I doubt they'll come willingly,” the commander grunted.
“That burns my reputation,” the colonel said. “And yes, that's on me.” He shrugged.
“If we pull everyone out of the other target cities and throw them at one at a time? Overwhelming force?” the admiral asked.
“Some of them would get in each other's way. A few could use the break,” the colonel said thoughtfully. “But that still doesn't answer the question of the water dwellers, does it, sir?”
“No, no it doesn't. Find me that information, Major,” the admiral ordered.
“If it is there to find, I'll do it, sir. But it may take time. And we will have to verify everything carefully before we go off half-cocked,” the major stated flatly.
The admiral nodded. “Very well. Just get it done,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir.”
<(>^<)>
Their once quiet lair was now a hub of activity. The lair under the scrap yard was heavily shielded so it was the perfect place to hide their most potent weapons and engineers. Since it also had machine shops and the two fabricators, it had become a second home for the two engineering professors. The duo worked with Razor and other scientists to try to construct a city-wide energy shield in their spare time. Most of their time was spent keeping the plane and gear running.