Now that Fluff was free, Kel turned his heavy blaster pistol on Russo, who took several rounds to the ribs. The ARC Commander batted the weapon aside. Hoisting Kel into the air, Russo tossed him over the side of the balcony into the bleachers below.
Automated combat controls whirled the former criminal over as he tumbled. He landed on his feet, shattering several chairs into splinters. Russo's face came over the lip with his own rifle, just as Kel threw a spike from the top of his gauntlet. It struck in the wall, narrowly missing the Exo in the process.
A hand the size of an exhaust port dropped over Russo, shielding him from the attack. The spike blew into a blizzard of flechettes, peppering the gargantuan limb. Anaxis' automated armor opened a port on its own gauntlet, launching a palm-sized disc at Kel. His Ultra-Frame's combat computer calculated the trajectory, moving him out of the path a fraction of a second ahead of the disc slicing through a carcrete wall. The disc continued its flight path back to the bracer, slapping back in place while the armor turned away from Kel.
“You are on your own, commander,” the armor said in a monotone voice.
It jumped from the box, landing into the smashed seats. Hovering over its master, the thing seemed to absorb him inside.
“Kill them all!” Anaxis called out.
Lasher held his hand out straight. The sound of rushing water surrounded him, ending in a silence that gripped the stadium. The citizens positioned across the floor woke from the Exos’ control, like someone having the light turned on just as they were about to fall asleep. They scattered for any exit they could find in a chaotic movement of bodies pushing up against each other. The RIM-I fired. Justicar-wielded Gavoc blades turned to whips, entangling the Drakenmech's limbs, preventing it from carrying out its master's commands.
Lasher rolled his hand over so his palm was facing the sky. He clenched his fist. The Exo Nobles preparing to fire indiscriminately through the arena collapsed in the grip of a grand mal seizure, leaving them armored heaps of twitching metal on the step.
“No!” shouted Anaxis. The newly armored Exo swung a phase rifle sized for his new posture, from a magnalock on his back. He doused the crowd with a wave of rounds as though the reaper had come to cut wheat from stem. Dozens perished under the kinetic onslaught of dense ammunition fired by compressed phase fields, punching gaping wounds into flesh and bone.
“Large concentration of ghoul driven mechs ahead. Do you want me to deviate from the projected course?” Artemis said.
Williams had always wanted a dog. Where he grew up in the slums of Nockmire on the world of Lossus, making ends meet for a family of four was tough enough without adding another mouth to feed.. This wasn't the next best thing. This was better. Artemis-717 was the Light Striker Mech he'd been paired with during the battle of Striker Main on Tythian. Since then, they'd seen action on various worlds together when things got heavy. Things were heavy in the city now. It was time to send in a thumper.
“Negative, Missy. Plow through them! We ain't got time to burn by going around.”
“Affirmative, Lancer Williams. On a side note, if you call me Missy again, I'm launching you into the next swarm of ghouls I see.”
“Roger that, Artemis. Sheesh! Rough room.” Williams said with mock indignation.
The LSM was as tall as a two-story building, built thick with weapons and armor. They were moving fast to a pickup point, rushing across the city for the main push. Behind them was the rest of the Devil Hunters, knocking down threats too small for the armor to address.
The two Aspis Light Assault Transports swung into the center of the intersection, their side doors open to receive the lancers. Each thumper, Artemis and Rover-2109 driven by Lancer Frazier, attached to the underside of the ships via magnalocks.
“Downpour-03 this is Artemis-717. We are ship full and green on lock. Dust off to Objective Clothes Line ASAP, how copy? Over,” Williams called into the Battle-Net.
“Good copy, 717. We are go for Objective Clothes Line. Drop in thirty seconds, hard, fast.”
“Make it rain, Downpour. Over”
“Good Copy, 717. Faith Forward.”
“Ever onward! 717 Out.”
The planes dumped blaster fire from the squad automatic machine blasters mounted to the side. Flight operators had started firing into the swirling dust on the way in and didn't stop until the two planes were struts up and flying toward the stadium.
“Lancer Williams,” the pilot called, “we are go in three... two... one... Drop!”
Williams touched the release icon on the floating holographic enclosure that was the inside of the thumper. Enhanced through his lid, the cockpit was like a tactical officer's dream, so much so that many officers preferred to lead troops from inside of these. That is, unless you were a lancer. Lieutenant Marlan had pushed to be part of the ground assault since they'd entered training. Brand had insisted that he be on the Promise of Dawn coordinating the various units and factions with the Devil Hunters.
The release put the armor in free fall, Artemis taking control of some of the stabilizing thrusters to keep them upright.
“Whoah! What is that?” Williams asked.
“Lancer Williams, that is a Robotic Infantry Module Variant One. Also called a Drakenmech, they are highly dangerous. It seems the members of the Vosi Justiciare' are handling it.”
“Keep an eye on it! “ Williams highlighted a group of combatants at the end of the stadium. “Is that Lasher?”
“Yes. It seems he's attempting to stave off that other mech from killing members of the crowd.”
“Do we have a track on that tango?”
“Yes, but we should concentrate on our own problems at the moment,” Artemis tagged several combat movers along the interface. “Cyborg commandos are organizing into units to take on the Vosi, Lasher, and now us. Devil Hunters are deploying at the other entrance of the stadium. Striker company will come in behind to reinforce the Devil Hunters.”
Williams affirmed her targets along the battle track. “All right. Punch the troops on the ground with mortars. Go high yield. That armor they got is tough. I'm going to knock a hole into that big Exo fighting Lasher.”
“Affirmative. Firing.” Artemis said.
Mortar rounds thumped from the mech's back into low arcs to accommodate the partially closed dome roof. Exo soldiers were blown apart with little return fire due to the highly mobile platform he was in. Bringing up a fist, Williams fired the mini missile launcher on his mech's gauntlet. The explosion blasted the Exo armor from its feet, embedding it into the bleachers.
Artemis signaled her pilot with a warning indicator. “Lancer Williams, we have incoming heavy infantry cyborgs at multiple points closing us into a crossfire. I suggest moving to the wreckage of the downed aircraft for cover.”
Williams marked enemy movements on the map. “Roger that. All right, we have two on the ground and two moving into the bleachers to shoot at us from above. Frazier, can you hit those borgs on top?”
“No can do, bro! I'm tangling with this Exo infantry that just started pouring over the wall! Where they all coming from?”
“Artemis, can you get an entry point for that infantry?”
“Roger, Lancer Williams. Feeding it to the battle board now.”
Williams answered a pop up warning on his screen. “We're taking fire from the other ones up top. Shields are good. Those borgs on the ground are going to hit us!”
The mech's off-hand electrified, shooting arcs powerful enough to snap the grass on fire. The Exos had designed their heavy cyborgs to be strong enough to stand toe to toe with a tank, but agile enough to take on infantry platoon by themselves. It was lucky for Williams that his thumper had firepower to spare. He swung the fist into the approaching cyborg who vaulted over him to avoid it. Continuing the spin, he dumped a quarter of a drum from his rifle, pulsing twenty millimeter kinetic armor piercing rounds into the other. The shots punched into the armored plates, leaving smoking craters in the metal.
&nbs
p; “Lancer Williams, we've taken three hits from anti-material rifles at range from the cyborgs at elevated positions. Shield is down to seventy-six percent,” Artemis noted.
“On it pretty lady.” Williams said.
“You only call me that when we're in trouble.”
“Not going to lie, gorgeous, things aren't looking good.”
The Artemis dodged under the ruined gantry, putting the downed K-Fast between the mech and the shooters. Using a jump jet, Williams vaulted back over the crane, falling behind a charging borg. The energized fist struck its back like an explosion, arcing electricity from the target to fallen crane. Directed energy from the arc weapon blasted the cyborg into a tangle of wires coming off fractured plates inside the vehicle.
Another warning blared at the pilot. “Where'd all that infantry come from?”
“Striker Company is herding them out of the streets along their advance. They are entering the arena, here.” Artemis pinged the entry point.
“They're swarming us, Artemis. If we get weighed down that cyborg will smoke us!”
Infantry style cyborgs, less agile, less lethal, and with different armor than the Exo Commando, flooded the arena, shoring up the withering forces being decimated by the Devil Hunters and their marshals.
“Ground strike, baby girl!”
“Lancer Williams, that will deprive us of shields until...”
“Do it for me, girl!”
The mech plowed its way into a horde of approaching infantry, using its jump jets to thrust away from the advancing Dozer. They were attacked with phase weapon bayonets, prying at armor to open a breach in order to plant explosives for a crippling blow. Artemis took a knee, then fired a projectile from its back. It traveled several meters before dropping down as an umbrella of smaller bomblets, exploding when they hit the turf. A blast wave surged the arena floor, blowing the infantry in all directions. The plane flipped on its side, only keeping from jumping the bleachers because of being caught under tons of crane rigging. Along with the pressure wave came an avalanche of electricity, setting anything caught in the blast radius on fire.
“Time to move!” Williams drove the mech hard, ducking and diving on a dead run to avoid the anti-material rifle being directed at them from above. One round caught the dirt in front of him, pelting his display with giant tufts of turf. He ran straight to Frazier in his Rover LSM, swarmed over with infantry trying to cut their way inside.
“Coming at you, Bro!”
Williams tackled his team mate's thumper, crushing scores of infantry on impact, with the same accomplished on the other side as two walking tanks rolled across the horde.
“Yo! I can't believe that worked!” Frazier cheered.
Williams was already on the move. “Kick that rifle into the crowd! Go fast pitch and mow them down!”
“Roger that!”
Artemis hopped the bleachers, running toward one of the snipers. A crash off to the side momentarily captured their attention as Lasher, Fluff, and Kel took on Anaxis and his security. Lasher was acting like a tornado with his Gavoc sword going from whip to blade and back again against the giant battle armor. Kel Durado, in his ultra-frame, was fighting a squad of royal commando to draw them away from the mongrel. Fluff had vanished under a tackle of heavy cyborgs.
Kicking the thumper into top gear, Williams ran in erratic motions to throw off the sniper's aim while firing on the move at the one he was charging. An impact from the side knocked him off his path. A Dozer from the stadium floor rushed him from the flank, smashing him into the bleachers. Seats exploded, throwing geysers of fluffy stuffing into the air.
“Lancer Williams, we are grappled. There’s a second cyborg closing the gap. The last sniper is holding off until his allies clear us as a target. I suggest you eject and link up with your unit.”
Williams reached under the seat for a weapon of last resort used by thumper pilots. A plasma axe. He'd seen the vids. He'd watched Lasher trounce scores of men with the one he carried. This one was for prying out of stuck hatches, but that meant nothing to him. It was still a weapon he could use to peel the skin off a cyborg, and he was still a lancer. “Roger that. Armor sealed and locked. Weapons in hand. Pop the locks, baby girl!”
“It has been an honor serving with you, Justin.”
“Pleasure's been all mine, pretty lady. Lancer on the roll!”
The dorsal hatch popped open, exposing the cockpit to a ray of light from the stadium. A quick burst from his thrusters jumped him out of his seat with the ignited plasma tomahawk over his head. Soaring above the Artemis gave him a direct line to the cyborg leveling apocalyptic punches into the mech. Sparks flew as the heavy duradium fists slammed against the energy shield. Artemis was trying to roll or fight back but was caught in prosteel girders below the carcrete she was tackled into. Williams landed on the cyborg, a monster as tall as the Vosi. Strike after strike into the thing's neck splashed molten metal against his armor, scoring it with black streaks as the flak cooled. The Cyborg jumped back, grasping for the offending insect.
Williams dropped, rolling through its legs. Crisscrossing slashes with the tomahawk severed a knee joint, throwing the giant borg into a limp. It cursed him in a strange language that seemed familiar yet alien all at once. Filing it away should he live through this, he concentrated his attention to the task at hand. The Borg snapped out a phase blade from under a gauntlet, bringing it over his head in a wide arc on target with the lancer. Williams hopped off the line of attack, letting the thrumming weapon sail right by. The force of the blow brought the cyborg within arm's reach.
Williams drove the tomahawk down as hard as he could, blowing through a servo column. Lancer armor had a built in exoskeleton to offset the strength of beings like cyborgs, which he pushed for all it was worth. Its head came away, rolling onto the ruined seats with its demonic face plate staring at him.
With no time to think, he charged at the incoming titan. A round from one of the Dozer snipers impacted the chairs under foot, blowing him into a chaotic tumble through the air. He ended his flight by slapping against the carcrete between the stadium seats. A metallic foot crashed through the ones in front of him, cracking his chest plate as well as the man beneath.
“Lancer Williams! Your priority is to escape. Why are you fighting them?” Artemis called into the coms.
Snapping out the extendable shoulder brace on his heavy blaster pistol, Williams took aim at the seats. Wheezing gasps bubbled the blood rolling off his lips. “I will never leave my fallen on the battlefield. Even unto the Twin Hells will I defy the enemy to ferry them home. No one gonna hurt my baby girl and get away with it.”
The chairs in front of him ripped from their securing studs with a ping. Now that his view was unobstructed, Williams watched as Lasher fought the titanic Noble. Exos died in droves around them as lancers and their Marshals dove into the enemy like a shark into a pod of seals. In the sky above, lancer A-LATs swooped in, deploying Athalon's finest on sling lines or by jump packs. Eclipsing his view of the fighting rose the face of the Dozer that had come for them earlier. Its phase blade out in one arm, a terrible heavy machine gun in the other.
Williams dumped the magazine of his weapon into the thing's chest plates. The bolts slammed hard enough to streak them with score marks along minor dents, but the thing just kept coming. With each trigger pull he heard his best friend, Frazier, crying into the com for him to run.
“What a waste. You could have been harvested to become a god in the Hunter's Moon. Now, you're fertilizer for worms,” the cyborg said in accented Trade-1.
Its chest burst into molten slag as its armored plates shucked their locking pins. The bionic warrior jerked back in fire and ash from a power grip. Ajax picked up the Exo in both hands, screaming at the sky. The molten seams in his armor flared, turning him into a blazing nightmare as he ripped the cyborg in half.
The one aiming at them from above turned to run. It was clothes lined off its feet by a flashing strand of energy. The impac
t of the blow was powerful enough to shatter the bleachers for five meters around them. The next hit severed the thing's head. Mara rushed to Williams with the rest of the Hoplite Devil Hunter's in tow.
“How bad are you hurt?” Mara asked.
“How bad is Artemis?” Williams countered.
“Your mech will be fine. Where are you hurt?”
“Faith... forward... marshal.”
“Medic!” Mara screamed.
Russo was down to his last mag. He'd been tasked with hunting the criminal Durado, who'd escaped into the causeway. He'd heard Lasher's best bud was creative, but who turns a concession stand into an IED? He'd lost six men in that blast, and the ones he had left were coated in some sort of liquid cheese.
It didn't matter. Soon, Vidar would have the Baroness and they could drop a mass reaction device on their way out. While the Guardian fought the mongrel, Russo hunted down the cat and the criminal. He'd sent two Dozers after the cat. That would work itself out. He didn't understand why this ex-gang boss was considered so important. Maybe Anaxis wanted him kept away from the Architect.
The commandos stalking the hall on the outside of the stadium sent action messages through their implants. Something was rummaging up ahead. They fanned out against another concession stand.
“No signs of explosives, ARC Commander.”
“Send a scanner,” Russo ordered.
The trooper threw a sphere the size of a grenade at the counter. It hovered for a second, lasing the structure before slinging a digital report. “It's a native species of cat, Commander.”
Russo nodded toward their original path. “Proceed.”
Tiny pops of air, imperceptible by the human ear, flashed in Russo's enhanced hearing. Something jerked the heads of his men, each one snapping before they fell dead. The criminal slithered from one of the restrooms, his blaster carbine against his shoulder. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Russo lowered his weapon to the ground. He'd seen countless victories under the Baroness. There had been numerous campaigns with good intel and solid leadership. This just proved that Vidar sucked at his job.
The Sentinel: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 3) Page 40