Armored Warrior Panzerter: Eve of Battle

by T. E. Butcher

  Then she had an idea. “You said you needed an active encryption key,” she said. “Would there one in my panzerter count?” The younger man raised an eyebrow.

  “I though you’d only use it in case of emergency,” he said. “You kept the radio keys up to date?”

  She nodded. “It was one of your late predecessor’s duties,” she said. “If I needed to sortie, I would need working and encrypted radios.” The female comms sergeant picked up one of the bulky encryption banks from their table.

  “If her encryption is still good, we can load the long range radios and talk to the other battalions,” she said. “Though I couldn’t your panzerter do that if it’s loaded?”

  “My panzerter has a maximum range of 12 kilometers,” Meyer replied. “The long range here more than doubles that, and I want to be sure all the battalions can hear us at once, but as a last resort yes, we can use the panzerters radio.”

  The comms sergeants followed her to her personal machine. Her Martian Commander knelt in a narrow side street. Even with the shortened distance to the cockpit, the comms sergeants struggled to climb up into it. Meyer rolled her eyes when they finally climbed beside her, gasping for air.

  “I don’t know how you pilots do it,” the male on said.

  “They make it look so easy,” his companion gasped.

  “Can we focus?” Meyer asked as she started her panzerter and opened a panel, revealing the communications hook-ups. While the comms sergeants tested her encryption, Meyer decided to run a test of her own.

  She brought the Martian to a standing position, a move that frustrated the comms sergeants. From their, he put on her helmet and keyed up the mike. “Any Leviathan element, this is Leviathan 6, do you read me?” No answer. Curling her lip, she tried again. “Any Leviathan element, this is Leviathan 6, can you hear me?”

  “Leviathan 6, Grendel 3, we got you Lima Charlie, Reaper actual sent us to find you guys.” Meyer snapped forward. Kennedy delayed the attack, which is good, we can still attack all at once.

  “Grendel 3, pass on this message to Reaper, attack as planned, all units go.” She smiled, satisfied in her work. “Hurry up with the keys,” she said. “If they need division level support, we need to be able to provide it, besides we have reports we need to send.”

  “We’re hurrying,” they said. “We’re just about done.”

  Meyer smiled. “Excellent, when you finish, crawl onto the hand and I’ll lower you to the ground.”

  “You’re not getting out, comrade Brigadier?” the female asked. Meyer shook her head.

  “I suspect an attack is coming, and I’ll be the last line of defense for this headquarters element,” she said. “I want everyone prepared to go mobile, this town could be attacked any moment.” But why hasn’t it? Landfall itself remained incredibly vulnerable since they’d been shelled just before noon. It wasn’t like the Tharcians were far, their forces occupied Grunbeck a mere ten kilometers away.

  Why shell an urban area if you’re not going to take it? You’re only destroying the infrastructure you’d need after retaking it. Then understanding dawned on her. They knew our command post was here.

  “I’m glad we set all this up in Congregation,” Chaney said as he entered a meeting room with Ballard and some other members of the Phoboian team. “ A Massive Air Fleet is headed towards Foundation, in fact, that might be the only thing left when they’re done.”

  The Lead Engineer frowned. “Comrade Chaney, please don’t joke about the destruction of our great capital, it’s tragic that war has ravaged the other founding cities.”

  Chaney shook his head. “IRS took your sense of humor, huh? Any way how’s the simulation going?”

  “No sortie’s yet,” Ballard replied. “They’re still adding combat data from the Black Knight and Tharcian units.”

  “Well, you can relax at some of those numbers,” Chaney said. “The Black Knight will beat just about any panzerter we throw at it one on one, which is why we’ll focus on beating it twelve to one.”

  “That seems to callously waste pilots lives,” one engineer said.

  Chaney shrugged. “As far as we can tell they’ve only built one that’s combat capable, any way please continue.” Once they’d loaded all the data they felt they could, Ballard crawled into the sim pod and took the controls.”

  Someone knocked on the door, rapid fire. “I wanna see, I wanna see, I wanna see!” Penny exclaimed as she bolted into the observation room. Chaney sighed and shook his head.

  “Shouldn’t you be learning physics?” he asked. Penny pouted.

  “Ms. Lopez said daddy was going to be fighting a computer,” she said. Chaney glanced up at her tutor and sighed.

  “Well, I guess today we can have a more applied lesson,” he said. “But please don’t interrupt your dad when he’s working ok?” Penny sat on an empty table as they watched the monitors, her legs swinging over the edge.

  The Phobian appeared inside a Central Tharcian cityscape. With its narrow streets and clustered buildings, it more heavily resembled their original homelands in Central and Eastern Europe than a typical Tharcian town or city. The perfect place to test the Phobian’s abilities.

  To the untrained eye, it superficially resembled a Martian. It possessed the same 360 sensor ring and rugged aesthetic. But a seeker form, a lower smaller head with a rotating AA machine gun, smoke dischargers along the chest and shoulders, a 105-mm shotgun, and laser lenses on the chest marked it as a new breed of Union Panzerter.

  Before he could witness the Phobian engage any enemies, an attendant grabbed his shoulder. “Your Special Guest is here, he wants to speak with you.” Chaney scowled.

  “Fine, I’ll go talk to him, save me a replay of this run though,” he said. Leaving the sterile simulation room, he walked to his office in the Research Complex. His office, a spartan and bare one compared to the one in his home, sat in an isolated corner of the complex. All the better, so no one would see his guest.

  “What do you have this time Agent Thorn?” he asked. The man who sat on his desk, a grizzled man with an eyepatch, leered at him. “We’re performing some rather important tests.”

  The spy stood up and approached him. “I thought you would want to see this,” he said. “Could be the key to solving a lot of our problems.” As he spoke, he unzipped a pocket on his jacket and handed Chaney a frozen vial. On closer inspection, the vial contained a stalk of grain in cryostasis.

  “What is this? And where did you find this?” He asked. Thorn paced over to his desk and turned on the news, cranking the volume as he did.

  “Vinland, I was there to scope out some medical technology when I stumbled on that,” he said. “To my understanding, it’s a strain of super grain that can stay alive even in low-light and extreme cold.”

  “Like Congregation,” Chaney said before frowning. “GMOs are illegal, I doubt we can get this through the National TUC.” Thorn just shook his head.

  “Which is ridiculous, we can create super soldiers, but not super foodstuffs?” A predatory smile played at his thin lips. “Well, I think the TUC and the NC are going to change their tune soon.”

  Chaney heard the news cast behind him, but it took a moment for the information to sink in. He turned to see a nightmare playing out on the monitor. Sections of the orbital elevator burned. People below screamed as debris fell from miles above them. Tharcian airships and drones pummeled the massive structure.

  Did Thorn know about this? He turned to question the man, but he was gone. Already off to his next assignment, I guess, best I get back to work too.

  In the distance, a battle raged in the snowy night. Yet Kennedy felt eerily calm in the cockpit of his Jupiter. Under the watchful eye of himself and the Red Guard, their own artillery and AA assets moved down the state road towards Autobahn 12.

  A few kilometers away, South of the intersection ahead of them, Several IFVs winked out on Kennedy’s Command Matrix. “We’re under panzerter attack!” Spears cried over the radio. “


  “Incubus 6, take your company and swing south by Southeast,” Kennedy replied. “Flank the enemy attacking Jericho.” Spears is a smart guy, he knows to get out of the kill zone. “Harpy, begin your advance along your lane, Centaur Battery, prepare to fire immediate suppression if Jericho makes contact again.”

  Thy stopped on the road so the battery’s Sagitaruis Mobile Artillery Systems could prepare to fire. Sure enough, the sounds of combat echoed throughout the dark forest, enough to the point Kennedy relived most of the battalion had been engaged.

  “Reaper 6, Auger 1, BDA follows,” Jackson said. Kennedy gave him the go-ahead, curious about what the scouts had encountered. “Our dismounts used out and destroyed a missile carrier and a recon track with rockets, their actions stirred up another section of two vehicles, of which we destroyed the recon vehicle, but the second missile carrier evaded us, 2 enemy tracks destroyed, five dismounts killed.”

  Kennedy shook his head. Good infantry are hard to replace. The artillery shook his machine as the big guns sent a salvo of smoke shells to cover Spear’s advance down Autobahn 12. “Now, let’s go,” Kennedy said as he brought his Jupiter to a run. He swung his strobe laser south, just to be sure some bold Tharcian didn’t slip buy.

  “Reaper 6, Incubus 6, We’ve killed four panzerters, disabled a fish, a destroyed two tracked vehicles after losing three Martians,” Bear said.

  Before Kennedy could respond, shells struck the gas station and ignited the massive fuel cell below. A clam of fire and noise tossed him onto his back as he screamed. His ears rang as the ground around him pulsed and vibrated. As dirt and debris pummeled his cameras, Kennedy struggled to clear his head and stand.

  When the salvo finally seized, He was disappointed to see both Hydra SAM carriers were a total loss. While his Jupiter had taken a beating, it’s rugged armor and tough systems held up. As he got his machine on it’s feet, he called out to Centaur Battery. “Give me counter-fires now!” He glanced at his command matrix for a better idea of the situation and was disappointed to see the screen spider-webbed.

  “Reaper 5, my matrix is out, keep me updated,” Kennedy said. “Headquarters, spread out, now.” A rapid beep drew his attention to his sensors. His Air Radar tracked four rapidly approaching aircraft from the Southeast. Drones? Impossible, the weather hasn’t been clear long enough for them to launch.

  Despite his objections, four Tharcian drones streaked towards them just over treetop height. Bombs left out from under their wings, savaging the headquarters element even further. The Jupiter’s retaliated as the drones circled back for another pass.

  One went up in a ball of fire as his strobe laser found it’s fuel cell. More vehicles beneath him ignited as the drones cannons punched through their thin roof armor. Another flew to low and Snow managed to maple it on her harpoon.

  Kennedy took a quick survey of the damage. His artillery burned alongside Halphen’s mobile HQ. The Hydra that survived the fueling station explosion had been lost in the follow son barrage. We’ve lost our support units, but now me and the Red Guards are free to maneuver since we don’t have to protect them.

  “Red 1, get your people moving,” he said. “We’re going to shore up Jericho.” As the Guard acknowledged him and ran past, he took a quick survey of their armament. Knight carried a strobe laser like he did, while Snow wielded a machine-gun when she stowed her harpoon. Last, but not least Khan carried a submachine gun and a recoilless rifle.

  Kennedy followed them, careful to keep an eye out for friendly forces. “Reaper 6, Jericho 6, it looks like the enemy is beginning to with-” Spears was cut off by a hiss of static. A nearby explosion didn’t encourage Kennedy to the man’s survival.

  When they caught up to the infantry, they found them held up on the hills halfway to their objective. Flashes and explosions off in the forest to his left told him Incubus company had found the enemy as well. Smoking wrecks of tracked vehicles of both sides lined the road.

  A Tharcian IFV poked out around a hill, only to burst into flames as green light struck it. As they crested the hills, the Tharcains broke into a full retreat. Kennedy noticed the light of engines heading south, but before he could engage them, something flew past his head and slammed into Snow.

  Her Jupiter doubled over, smoke pouting out of the hole torn by the shell. More shells left out of the woodline towards them. “Fan out, shield Snow’s machine from further damage,” Kennedy said.

  He could see them now. Four panzerters in the woodline. Three of them welded normal rifles while the fourth lay prone with a sniper rifle. They formed a firing line in the trees just to the southeast of their position. Fortunately, the hills protected Snow from follow on fire.

  Kennedy broke left while the two remaining Red Guards went right. Their strobe lasers filled the dark night with eerie green light as they incinerated trees and vaporized snow. One such pulse found a magazine, and a Thracian panzerter lit up the sky.

  Khan poured smaller shells into the sniper as he closed. Despite not penetrating, they dented and dinged its armor enough to convince it to move. After a short, but furious exchange, all four Thracian panzerters lay in burning molten heaps.

  After catching his breath, Kennedy realized that the remaining Tharcians had given him the slip. With a frustrated growl, he slammed his fist into his busted matrix and opened the net. “All Reaper elements, give me a SITREP, now, as soon as I have your status, send MEDEVAC and prepare to hold the door for the 88th.”

  While people he hadn’t met personally rattled off the status of their company, Kennedy glimpsed his helmeted face in the reflection of his broken matrix. I look like hell, but I feel so alive. He shook his head as the reports finished. We’re a shell of our former strength, I doubt we’d repulse any serious counterattack, but we do what we have to do. We have to win.

  14

  As the battered cavalry troop rolled past, Reiter looked on in shock. Most of their frontline units had either been destroyed or broken down as they retreated past Ironton. One of the IFCs, he recognized it as an Iglasio Command Track, pulled off of the Autobahn into his position. The man in the hatch waved his hands and Reiter shifted the Lowe to kneel closer to him.

  With a snap and a hiss, the cockpit opened and Reiter stepped out, a few feet above the Troop Commander. “Hey what happened back there?” He asked.

  The other Captain pointed north, where Reiter saw the dim glow of fire on the horizon. “They hit us pretty hard, the regiment that attacked us had those heavy panzerters, so good news is you shouldn’t see them when they come here, but it looks like another armor regiment is going to roll through.”

  Reiter nodded as he took in the information. “Roger thanks for the heads up, we’re going to try to make them attack into the town itself,” he replied. “Do you need help to evacuate your wounded?”

  The Cavalry commander shook his head. “Negative, we got most of them into dropships and got them out of there, hey we’re going to screen your rear, what’s your radio freq?”

  He gave the other man his radio information, then held up a hand for him to wait. “Make sure your guys stay on the autobahn when they pass through. The forest ahead of us is mined, as are most of the streets branching off of the autobahn.”

  The other man flashed him a thumbs up before rolling off to his south. “Fox 6, Wolfhound 1, our recon flights have another armor regiment heading towards Autobahn 12. Want me to say hello?”

  I don’t want to overplay my hand, but thinning out the herd does seem tempting. Or, I have a better target in mind. “Wolfhound, do your drones have enough range to get to the bridges over the Grenze?” he asked.

  “Roger 6, it would be close because their entire AA support will be gunning for us,” the gunship pilot replied. “But it sounds like you want them blown.”

  “Exactly,” Reiter replied. “If you can make it happen, do it.” That should slow down any reinforcements for a while. Artillery rumpled in the distance, and Reiter checked his map.

 
; The Cavalry troops adjacent to the one that just rolled past launched a local counterattack against the Union salient. Further to the south, a Union Mechanized regiment tangled with the Cavalry at Riverside. Their own Mechanized regiment, garrisoned at Narrowfield, launched a two pronged attack, one aimed at knocking out the command elements, the other seeking to hit the Union infantry in the flank.

  A different roar filled the air near them. Reiter looked at his air radar. Multiple bogeys approaching at high angles and high speed. Drones? No, they’re too small. Missiles.

  “Incoming!” Someone screamed into the radio. Reiter made the Lowe as small a target as he could while the ground shook. As the roar of the fire and chaos rumbled around him, Reiter noticed the missiles stayed outside of Ironton.

  That wasn’t meant for us, that was for Early and Giant. “Fox Company, SITREP?” Hawke asked. After conferring with hie platoon leaders, Reiter’s suspicions were confirmed. Fox company, and Ironton were intact.

  “Fox 6, we’re green to green,” Reiter replied. “That didn’t look like it was for us.”

  “No, Early and Giant got pretty bloodied up though,” Hawke said. “Good news is it looks like the Union are using those discount tinhats rather than the ones from the initial invasion.” Good, we stand a chance.

  “Listen up, Fox,” he said. “The enemy is going to try to encircle us, we need to do everything possible to force them to fight us inside the town.”

  “We’ve got 3 watching a firebreak with his sniper rifle,” Wesser said. “If they want to flank us, they’ll have to cross that kill zone.”

  “We have a similar setup with the westbound road,” Kozma said.

  “We may not have panzerter sized armaments,” Stovepipe said. “But we do have giant-killer missiles, that’ll teach them to fuck around.”