“We're doing it. The other CAVs penetrated nicely. We're the only one sitting in the middle of a molten lake. Permission to use the laser as an anti-missile defense.”
“Do it.” Norlin craned his neck to get as complete a look at the readouts as possible in his HUD before trying to get them moving. He strained forward and watched the exterior terrain turn to putty and flow downward viscously.
It took several seconds for him to realize the sensors were filtering the brilliant flashes as incoming missiles continued to detonate directly overhead. In space he seldom asked for a direct visual because the distances were so great and the computer kept adequate data flowing to him. Somehow, being on the ground, he felt the need to see everything.
He looked up and saw dozens of starburst patterns spreading across the sky. Sarov effectively shot down the deadly torrent, but the heat generated by the detonations formed a bubble over the CAV hot enough to cause exposed rock to burn and fuse.
“We can't stay here long. No wonder the air filters are failing.” Norlin glanced at an exterior thermocouple reading and saw it registered well over 1600 degrees—enough to melt iron.
“Track cleared. I lost a few gears to do it, but you can run us up the side of a mountain now,” reported Barse.
Norlin engaged the gears and had the computer search for the best path out of the smoking pit that threatened to swallow them whole. The CAV found solid ground, shook like a wet dog and growled. After these almost-organic maneuvers, it shot forward, leaving behind the downpour of missiles.
“Any nukes used?” he asked Miza.
“None I've found. We don't have any, and they're not using them. No good reason, as far as I can see. They can wipe us all out with a few well-placed megatons.”
Norlin roared to the top of a small rise. From this vantage point, he got a clear view of the battlefield. His force had been decimated in the advance. Four CAVs were burned-out hulks, their crews dead long before the vehicle around them quit working. Ten others were damaged to the point of immobility. Norlin got them firing in directions to maximize their potential. He and the crews inside those damaged CAVs knew they were easy prey and wouldn't last long unless the aliens were kept busy by the fighting machines still operational.
Norlin worked quickly to add new details to his overall plan. Miza microbursted the orders as he magnified his view of the alien battle tanks.
“They're giant black metal beetles,” he heard Liottey say. “Just like the ones on Penum the scout pilot saw.”
“Got any insecticide aboard?” asked Norlin. “We can use it on them.”
“The poison gas tanks are only half-full,” replied Liottey.
“We have some? What kind?”
“Type K persistent. Instantly fatal to all oxygen breathers, works on filter elements and clogs them, has some acid content for pitting metal.”
“Canisters or rockets?”
“Small rockets.”
“Sarov, launch them immediately. I want a cloud sprayed across the valley where the aliens have established their beachhead. We have to keep them from drilling into the base.”
“Done. Liottey, help me for a minute.”
Norlin waited impatiently for the rockets to soar into the air then arch down into the valley. The alien lasers picked off the rockets easily. As they snuffed out each one, however, it created a heavier-than-air cloud of deadly oily fumes that descended slowly.
“Damage report,” he ordered.
“Not too good, Captain,” said Miza. “They might have been taken by surprise, but it didn't hurt them. There wasn't even much increase in com between units.”
“I wish we could listen in and understand what they're saying. The computer doesn't give me any idea what their most likely response will be.”
He continued to feed information into the tiny tactical computer and rearrange his attack to deliver maximum damage to the enemy. As more units failed or were destroyed, his tactics changed. He worked to preserve the remaining CAVs, even if at the expense of lesser damage meted out to the enemy.
“We're getting company, Captain,” said Miza. “Two of the beetles are moving in the valley. Swinging around. Picking up sensor radiation. They're locking on to us.”
Norlin's HUD flashed red to signal impending attack an instant after her warning. He let the CAV main computer evade—he wanted to concentrate on the enemy's mode of assault.
They didn't attempt anything tricky. Both fighting machines came directly upslope, their small but deadly radiation cannons firing as they came.
He ordered the CAV to remain partially shielded by the hill to minimize damage. Although the vehicle carried shielding adequate for the crew to endure a distant nuclear explosion, such concentrated radiation would ionize them within a few minutes.
“Tia, run full analysis on the tanks. Figure out how they're able to recharge so fast and keep firing with a mobile unit.”
“This hunk of tin doesn't have equipment like that, Cap'n. I'm lucky to be able to run a tiny RRU outside—it's only got four robots and they're primitive. Let's finish off the buggers and get back to the Preceptor where we belong.”
He heard the others mumble their agreement. He worked even harder to make that wish come true. His fingers flew over the computer keys, seeking weakness in the alien battle plan. He didn't find it. If the aliens maintained position in orbit, they could beam the surface and protect their base indefinitely.
“Get the admiral. Find out the status of the Death Fleet. We might need heavy lasartillery ground support to keep them occupied in orbit while we get rid of the vermin here.”
“No need, Captain. The Death Fleet is withdrawing. Only a few dozen support vessels are still orbiting.”
“They're breaking off the battle?”
“They're leaving. Reports are coming in from our scouts throughout the system that the fleet is shifting out. The admiral counts this as a victory.”
“It's not,” said Norlin. “Tell him they think they can maintain this base and keep pressure on us without the fleet.” He worked over the facts and tried to see them as the aliens might. He didn't like his conclusions.
The enemy saw the power of the Sutton on-planet batteries. They had lost ships in orbit but managed to land a significant ground force. The planet's space power had been crushed. The aliens thought they had nothing to fear from above. Sit, drill, take the storage rooms, expand their presence gradually throughout the Pit—and win.
“We've got to stop them before they burrow down into the Pit,” he said. “They're sure they can win and don't need to take further casualties in their space fleet.”
“Cutting their losses here and running?” asked Sarov.
“They're taking their losses, not running. They think they're going to win Sutton,” Norlin corrected.
“Crazy way to win. You don't pull out your strongest chance of winning unless...” Sarov's voice trailed off as he realized what the aliens thought of the CAV attack.
“We've got to convince them they're wrong, that we are a significant danger to them,” Norlin added.
“Here's our chance, Captain. Beetle directly ahead!”
Norlin heeded Miza's warning and took control away from the CAV's computer. He swung around, protecting the side with the damaged track and taking a string of kinetic bullets against the armored turret. The aliens were trying to disable the laser cannon but not destroy the CAV.
“They want us for specimens,” he told his crew. “They aren't going to destroy the vehicle, they're going to disable it and take us to their labs.”
He knew such an emotional appeal would have little effect in other circumstances. Miza's cynicism surrounded her like an impenetrable shield. Liottey was too frightened to care. Barse simply did her job and needed no pumping up. Sarov fought for the cool, logical pleasure of it. This time, it worked.
They pulled together with fire and determination. Their laser cannon swung on-target, and a full thirty seconds of beam splashed against t
he first metallic beetle. Just as a red glow started on the side, Sarov fired the missiles. Each one found the hot spot and burrowed a little deeper.
It was Miza who suggested they ram. Norlin turned the CAV around and shot up the incline at full speed. The front of the CAV crashed into the alien tank with enough power to lift it into the air. For a second, both machines hung suspended belly-to-belly. Sarov fired another missile and broke the stalemate imposed by gravity. The CAV twisted around and crashed onto its tracks. The alien tank landed on its turret and slid down the hill, unable to right itself or stop its downward plunge.
Halfway to the bottom, another CAV used its lasers to rip open the alien's exposed belly. The rush of hot gases from the inside announced the alien crew's death.
“Organic molecules released,” came Miza's report. “They're soiled, oiled and boiled.”
A cheer went up. Norlin paid no attention. The second enemy beetle had circled the hill and now attacked from the side. The alien's radiation weapon threatened to cook them alive inside the CAV.
He jerked the vehicle from side to side, but the enemy followed relentlessly.
“Get him off us. Disable his cannon,” he shouted.
Sarov tried. The lasers hit with deadly accuracy. Missiles crashed into the side of the other tank. A small rocket laden with poison gas veiled the metallic beetle.
Nothing stopped it. The machine kept coming, the deadly radiation weapon firing.
“We're losing control, Cap'n. The radiation is taking out my solid state controllers. Even the radiation-protected GaAs picochips. I don't want to think what's going on inside me.”
Norlin knew the frightening answer to that from the danger warnings on his gamma counters. Their corpses would glow blue for a thousand years if he didn't stop the other tank.
He forgot about the battle raging to stop the alien drilling operation and concentrated on saving his own life.
The hillside provided a moment's respite, but the seismic pickups told the story. The alien tank was circling and would come directly at them in a few seconds.
“The tank's going to crest the hill. Hit it on the underbelly!”
Barely had he snapped out his command than the alien tank rose up as he had expected. At precisely that instant, Sarov hit it with a full laser blast.
The rotating laser tubes clanked and moaned as thermal expansion caused them to bang against their mounts. Each tube carried only a quarter of the full load; all were overheating.
“The lasers aren't working,” Sarov said. “And I'm out of missiles. We're going to have to run.”
“Track is acting up. We can't get full speed no matter what I do. I can't figure out what the hell's wrong, either. This isn't any fit way to travel, Cap'n.”
Barse sounded more irritated than afraid. Norlin took strength from this. They weren't panicking. He wouldn't, either.
The alien beetle had been dented, and huge gouges were ripped from the exterior where the lasers had struggled against the tough metal. But the tank had taken the best the CAV offered and still came on.
Norlin couldn't outrun the alien, and he couldn't outfight it. All that remained was to die. He'd die fighting.
The radiation levels shot up to deadly levels as the alien opened with its cannon again.
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* * *
Chapter Nineteen
Pier Norlin searched the heads-up display for some hint on how them might escape the alien tank. His fingers worked to tap in commands—that accom-plished nothing. Radiation levels rose. He imagined himself cooking in his own skin. Sweat poured down his face and stung his eyes. In desperation, he returned the CAV to computer control and ordered total evasion.
He yelped when the nose of the CAV dipped and began to burrow into the ground. The laser cannon fired constantly to create the excavation. Indicators flared when one tube cracked and the lasing gas leaked from the chamber. He ignored it and watched in horror as the CAV dug its own grave.
“Radiation levels are dropping,” came Miza's report. “We're in trouble but not danger. Good work, Captain.”
He blinked the stinging perspiration from his eyes and realized the cynical Chikako Miza had compli-mented him on his quick thinking—when it had been due solely to the computer's AI programming.
“We're leveling out. Seismic detectors show the beetle above us. We're moving under it about five meters.”
Norlin turned his HUD upward and saw nothing. Only dirt surrounded the CAV; they burrowed underground like a huge ceramic-plated mole. Then, the CAV lurched upward and burst into sunlight. Norlin thought they had launched into space; he looked directly up and saw only blue-green sky.
The CAV's partially disabled laser cannon fired at the rear of the enemy beetle. It had dived and surfaced to take the other tank by surprise.
The firepower remaining to the CAV wasn't up to the task of destroying the alien craft. Bits of metal erupted from the enemy's armor, but the beam failed to penetrate.
“We're in big trouble now,” Norlin said. “We didn't get a clean kill.”
“We didn't get shit!” cried Miza. “It's on to the diving maneuver now, too.”
He tried to decide how best to die. Running was out of the question with one track malfunctioning. They could only keep fighting and hope for a miracle.
“Captain?”
“Don't bother me now, Liottey.”
“There's a way to stop it. I want to try. Please.”
Norlin adjusted his heads-up display to show his XO. The man was frightened but not as much as he had been earlier.
“What is it? And be quick.”
“Firefighting foam. Look at their air intakes. We can stall it!”
“Spray!” ordered Norlin. They had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The CAV exploded in a wash of foam as Liottey activated every external firefighting foam nozzle. The sticky white spray, intended to smother even nuclear fuel fires, caught on the wind and blew across to cover the aliens’ tank.
“Laser cannon, stand down,” ordered Norlin. He didn't want Sarov continuing to fire and vaporizing the foam. That would undo any possible advantage this ploy might enjoy.
Laboring to swing his vehicle around, he made the alien chase him. Their sensors followed him easily; infrared and radar were not blinded by the foam. Only visible light was—and, he hoped, their intake vents.
“What's going on, Cap'n? I'm watching that metal insect, and it stops sucking air. I'm getting heat readings that show a meltdown in their turbines or whatever they use. Nothing, not even our ceramics, can take that heat.”
“Confirmed, Captain,” said Miza.
“Good work, Liottey,” he complimented. “Are they dead or just unable to move?”
“Engines are dead. Crew is alive. Comlink has turned active. Bet they're swearing a blue streak at their command center. I can almost hear them whining to be rescued!”
“Let's see if we can't eliminate that chance for them.” Norlin turned the CAV toward the valley and saw fierce fighting along the slopes as the aliens tried to escape.
“Poison gas finally took them out. The acid content ruined their machinery. The aliens aren't too bright when it comes to filtration. I'll bet the poison gas sucked directly into their drills’ air-coolant system. Not much is running, except the aliens.”
Norlin drove downward, laser cannon firing fitfully. Sarov worked to his limit, and in conjunction with others in the force accounted for a half-dozen alien beetles. The CAV bounced and bobbed and once more bored through a small hill to emerge firing in the midst of an alien force. The difference between this and earlier fights was marked.
The aliens fled; the Empire Service attacked.
They attacked and won.
Norlin ordered a halt when the last alien tank had been destroyed. He conducted a quick check; only fourteen CAVs remained, none fully operational.
“You've done great,” he said, both to his own crew and to the others o
ver a general comlink. “Let's do some mopping up.”
He microbursted new orders to the survivors. They prowled the area where the aliens had started drilling into the Pit, intent on finding booby-traps or pockets of resistance and neutralizing them. It took the better part of the day to complete this mission, but eventually only Empire Service CAVs moved on the battlefield.
“Cap'n,” said Barse, “can we go back up the hill and pry open the beetle we foamed to death?”
“Why not? We deserve a look at them.”
“They might suicide. That's what they did in space,” said Liottey. He appeared pale and apprehensive at the notion of facing their enemy in spite of having defeated them decisively.
“Try to be a man, Gowan,” Miza said. “I can't do it for the both of us. Not all the time.”
Norlin let them argue as he returned to the hillside with the CAV tunnel bored through it. The aliens’ black beetle had turned snowy white as the foam hardened.
“Reminds me of home during winter,” Barse said wistfully. “Only there isn't a home anymore, thanks to them.”
“Let's check it out.” Norlin drove the CAV around the motionless alien craft then decided they had learned all they could from the safety of their armored vehicle. He and Barse climbed out and advanced slowly on the dead tank. Barse brushed sticky fire-suppression foam away from the air intakes for the turbines.
“They didn't design their vehicles too well. But then, these might not have been used before.”
“Not on any world we know. I'll have to ask the admiral to send word to all frontier worlds and see how many respond. The Death Fleet's roster of successes has to be compiled.”
“Some won't answer, no matter what you say,” said Barse. “Murgatroyd wouldn't have. Rebel worlds are like that. Any hint of authority or being ordered and they back off.”
Norlin said nothing to this. He knew the attitude and, deep down, increasingly approved of their independence. His contacts with the emperor's genhanced officers did not inspire confidence.
Facing this alien menace, however, was a war best fought united and not divided. The Death Fleet picked off each colony world with too much ease, unless they were opposed.
Alien Death Fleet [Star Frontiers 1] Page 17