Mecha

by J. F. Holmes

Very quickly, a few thoughts sped through his mind. Whatever was falling were likely not bombs; the massive high-tech defense grids on all Imperial worlds could detonate explosive bombs or missiles early—or disarm them entirely. The Empire’s enemies knew this—they weren’t that stupid—and the fact that he didn’t see any ships descending meant the defense grid had done its job. But if they’d discovered this allegedly secret base, and had chosen to attack on a day when it was full of civilians and top military brass, it was arrogant to assume the attack had failed so easily.

  In the center of the field, the first object touched down, having slowed itself to only a somewhat hard landing.

  The base’s active defenses were minimal, to put it lightly, with the defense grid and ships in orbit meant to protect it. There would be maybe a few dozen non-combat personnel on guard duty, and perhaps an atmospheric patrol craft or two. Nothing that could stop a serious attempt on the base or the lives of those here.

  Except there was.

  “Get to the zadir!” Rhivas shouted less than a second after the first object landed, then began running.

  As he ran, the ground shook as more objects landed, but he managed to retain his footing, and soon reached his zadir and began to climb the ladder. As he did so, he finally looked behind him.

  Fortunately everyone else had followed, and Shiri had just reached the ladder to their zadir, Telthar close behind.

  Rhivas scrambled inside the cockpit, pulled on the helmet that had been sitting on the seat, and threw the switches to begin the rapid start-up sequence.

  Outside the situation was rapidly deteriorating. Several of the landed objects had begun to open. From a couple, heavily-armed, serpentine Nekessians emerged and began firing at the military and civilian personnel—some of whom were returning fire at the attackers. More worrisome, however, were the things emerging from the other objects; large, bipedal, simian-looking monsters, covered in mottled brown fur and clad in armor, each with what looked like a cannon mounted on its shoulder and massive armored and clawed hands.

  They had to move.

  “Everyone in?” he asked over the internal comm.

  His crew responded in the affirmative, so Rhivas closed the hatches and seized the zadir’s controls in both hands; each hand had to manipulate in sync with the other. There was no time for a proper systems check.

  He piloted them forward, their wolf-form zadir bounding toward the creatures and Nekessians, drawing their attention from those fleeing as they entered the sealed shelter building near the audience stands just off the parade ground. Already, though, there were bodies on the ground, killed in the initial exchange of weapons fire.

  Rhivas didn’t let himself even consider who they might be. The focus had to be on the 12 near-zadir-sized creatures that had emerged from the landing pods.

  “Advancing!” he called. “Shiri, you have one in your sights?”

  “I do,” she said, “but there’s a problem, Rhiv. We have no ammo.”

  What?

  As they continued to close with the enemy, Rhivas made a quick check and confirmed that, indeed, they had none.

  He bit back a curse. This was going to be an absolute mess. “We’ll have to take them in close quarters. Activating plasma claws.”

  A moment later, one of the creatures fired its cannon.

  Rhivas threw them to the side, evading the blast, but it also made him all too aware that this wasn’t another simulation. While the zadir actually seemed to respond faster to commands, its movements were more jarring, making it more strenuous to control the vehicle.

  He resumed their forward charge toward the creature that had fired at them and lunged them toward it, claws first.

  The monster swerved away, avoiding a killing blow, but they did strike a deep blow on its arm, rendering it immobile.

  They landed hard as the creature roared in pain.

  “Luckily, no damage. Yet,” Telthar reported, but Rhivas’ attention was elsewhere.

  He pulled up the tactical display, which showed all 4 of their zadir and each of their enemies, as he opened a channel to the other teams.

  “Guys, I’m guessing you’ve all realized by now that we’re dry here.”

  “And they’re not,” Kaezyl replied, voice tense. “We need a plan, and quickly.”

  “We trained for this,” Rhivas said, hoping he sounded reassuring as he tried to put something together.

  “Everyone, form up. Attack pattern Gamma-3. We have to keep those things away from the shelter, and team up to take them down before they can group up and lay down a ton of fire on us.”

  “We’re with you,” said Biareth. “Lead the way, Rhivas.”

  “One other thing,” Shiri said over the line. “We may have no ammo, but gunners can still use our cannons as blunt weapons, if we’re quick enough.”

  “Good idea. Everyone, on me. I’ve marked our first target on tactical.”

  As soon as he received acknowledgments, Rhivas gunned the throttle forward.

  “Activating plasma claws!” he shouted again as he thrust them into a leap toward the wounded monster, claws at the ready.

  Again it twisted out of the way, but this time Rhivas quickly readjusted, rending a series of slashes in its armor and the flesh beneath.

  He swerved them around as they passed and saw the other zadir come in close behind. Between them, the thing was finally taken down, its body covered in massive, carbonized wounds.

  There was no time to exalt in the victory, however, as the other eleven closed in, firing smaller weapons apparently embedded in their bodies, which he hadn’t noticed before, and their zadir took several hits before Rhivas got them back to a run.

  “Damage?”

  “Minimal,” Telthar replied. “Conducting repairs.”

  The sounds of Telthar moving along the repair tracks within the zadir were distracting as hell while trying to maneuver through enemy fire and the charging creatures.

  “Glaive Squad, some backup please,” he sent as they collided with another creature, and only frantic manipulations of the controls kept them stable as they darted around the nearest monster’s guns and claws.

  Suddenly, as they darted to the side of the creature, something just out of Rhivas’ field of view took it in the head, knocking it to the ground.

  “Take that!” Shiri shouted.

  Rhivas smiled and took advantage of the opportunity, as Glaive Squad did the same, and tore the thing to pieces.

  “We need to keep the enemy soldiers from the shelter as well!” shouted Evarran Maevash, the pilot of Storm Squad’s zadir, voice tense. “Has anyone been able to reach command, find out if we’ll be able to get help?”

  “Not yet,” Rhivas said, then grunted as they were hit hard by something.

  Telthar relayed a damage report, but Rhivas ignored it—they were still capable of maneuvering, and four of the monsters had just converged on their position—there was no time to talk.

  “Brace yourselves,” he warned quickly. “This is going to be rough!” he added as he hurled them flying into another creature, plasma claws striking its upper body as he strained to bring the jaws of their zadir to the monster’s throat.

  In a moment, however, three more closed in and, forgoing their guns after a short burst, latched onto their zadir with their massive, clawed hands.

  Rhivas aggressively worked the controls, but they were stuck tight, and he could hear the monsters outside tearing at their zadir.

  This time he didn’t bite back the curse.

  “Shiri, can you hit something with the cannon? Get us some room to move?”

  “Nowhere to move it!” she snarled; she was clearly as aware as he was that they were in an extremely bad spot. He didn’t need Telthar’s increasingly frantic reports to know they were moments from destruction.

  Then, suddenly, a major portion of the pressure was gone. Rhivas looked to the side and saw Team Three’s zadir riding one of the monsters to the ground, both sets of claws in its ches
t, jaws closed on its neck, blood gushing from the jagged wounds.

  Now with room to maneuver, Shiri forced another off with the cannon, and Rhivas leaped them onto yet another, striking wildly with their claws.

  A moment later, however, he saw Team Three’s zadir take several direct cannon hits, which did noticeable damage to its side and rear legs, chunks of metal flying off, and more combusting.

  They needed help, quickly.

  Rhivas extracted them from their most recent opponent and sprung them toward the stricken zadir, only to be intercepted by another monster. Even as he dispatched it with several rapid claw strikes, he saw, as if in slow motion, the monsters utterly destroy Team Three’s zadir, tearing parts off, massive claws digging deep into its plating and innards. Then he saw a muffled explosion within it.

  Saber Squad was gone.

  Rhivas heard himself shouting as he piloted them into a flying leap, but they took a pair of cannon shots in the side, knocking them off course as the lights flickered.

  “I’ve got it!” Telthar shouted as Rhivas drove them toward the other two Zadir, who had just killed another creature.

  “How many of those things are left?” Rhivas asked the other pilots as his instruments continued to flicker.

  “Um, six,” said a shaken sounding Kaezyl.

  “Do we have a plan?” asked Evarran from Storm Squad’s zadir.

  Before Rhivas could answer, several cannons hit, too close, and he got them moving again.

  How much more could the monsters possibly have? They carried nothing resembling extra ammo, nor did they look capable of reloading their weapons.

  “Let’s give them a chase,” he said. “Make some distance, get them to waste ammo, and draw them away from the shelter.”

  They’d have to hope the Nekessians, who seemed to have eliminated what little small-arms resistance they’d faced, wouldn’t be able to get into it yet.

  Then…they’d think of something.

  Rhivas forbade himself from thinking about the friends they’d just lost and propelled them into a run.

  “Tel, anything I should know?” he asked as cannon fire split the air around them.

  “Minor hydraulic leak, some damage to a few of our joint motors, but we’re still functional—for now.”

  A moment later, a muffled voice came over the comm. “Pilots, can you read? This is General Belloras.”

  The general? “Yes sir. This is Rhiv…Captain Rhivas. We’re engaged with enemy…creatures, but under-armed as we are, it’s…a challenge. We’ve all sustained damage, and we…we lost Saber Squad.”

  “I see.” If the news had impacted him at all, the general gave no sign.

  “Everyone evacuated is secure in the shelter, and we’ll be able to give the enemy a bit of a fight if they break in. But more important, I might be able to help you. I was able to reach the techs in the maintenance bay, and they were able to scramble up some ammo on no notice. It’s not a lot, at all, but if one of you can get there, it’ll even the odds a bit against those monsters—sceevir, they’re called.”

  Rhivas wrenched them into a sharp turn, dust flying as the zadir’s claws tore up the ground, then replied.

  “Acknowledged, sir.” Then, to the others, he said, “You guys heard that?”

  “Yeah,” replied Evarran, with Kaezyl echoing him moments later.

  “Can you two keep these things busy while I make an ammo run?”

  “We’ll certainly try. Don’t take too long.”

  “I won’t,” he promised. “Good luck,” he added, then switched to the internal comm.

  “Brace yourselves,” he said, “I’m going to activate our boosters.”

  Telthar sighed. “I’ll try to keep our joints intact.”

  “You’ve got no choice, Tel,” Rhivas replied, then primed and fired the boosters.

  The sudden acceleration knocked the breath out of him, and Rhivas gritted his teeth as they raced past the alien monsters, the sceevir, toward the maintenance bay, trying not to pay too much attention to the increasingly desperate chatter from the other two zadir, who were now outnumbered three to one.

  “Make this quick,” he broadcast via the zadir’s external speakers as they bounded into the bay.

  “As quick as we can,” came the reply over the comm as Rhivas saw from the cockpit more than a dozen people scrambling about, and heard heavy machinery maneuvering as well.

  He’d never felt so fidgety in his life as he did in the two minutes it took to load the limited ammo: six shots for the cannon and an ammo drum for each forward gun. Not much at all, but every second was another his friends were spending at imminent risk of death out there.

  “Deadshot Squad,” came the voice over the comm again, “ammunition installed, and we can also use the magnetic launcher to get you back in the fight faster.”

  “Do it.”

  “I have to warn you, Captain,” said Telthar, “this is untested, and we’re far from one hundred percent here.”

  “No choice, no time.” To the techs, he broadcast, “Fire it up.”

  They immediately began a ten second countdown.

  “Shiri, ready on that cannon.”

  “I’m more than ready to send those things straight into the abyss, boss,” she replied, and despite everything, Rhivas had to smile. He almost pitied the alien monsters. Almost.

  Then the launcher fired, and they shot into the air.

  For the few seconds they were airborne, Rhivas allowed himself to feel the powerful rush that ought to have come when first stepping into the zadir for real. The Nekessians would pay for ruining this day.

  They hit the ground running and, thankfully, nothing seemed to break upon landing. “Shiri, get busy,” he shouted as they rapidly closed with the battle, where their friends were almost completed surrounded—though the creatures didn’t seem to be firing. Hopefully they were out of ammo now.

  Seconds later, he felt the familiar thump of the cannon firing, and savored the sound.

  The first sceevir she targeted fell to a pair of well-placed shots, and Shiri immediately moved to the next target, felling it as well, as they moved to close with the cornered and damaged zadir.

  Two more shots rang out—their final two—and Storm Squad pounced on the monster felled by them, plasma claws tearing into the thing’s head and chest.

  Just as the battle seemed to be turning, however, Storm Squad’s zadir stumbled, its front right leg buckling.

  In that moment, one of the monsters struck, springing into the air and bringing both its armored fists down, hard, on the zadir’s head.

  It crumpled like sheet metal, and the blow nearly knocked the wolf-head—containing the cockpit—clean off as the zadir collapsed, sparks flying from its neck.

  The shriek from Storm Squad’s engineer confirmed his worst fear.

  Another friend was gone.

  Kaezyl shouted something unintelligible over the comm and charged the creature, failing to inflict serious damage as it knocked it down and swung its cannon at another.

  Screaming, Rhivas unloaded his forward guns into the creature.

  Most of the shots were absorbed by the armor, but many struck home before the guns clicked empty, and the monster staggered, blood leaking from numerous wounds.

  Seconds later they collided, claws sinking into armor while, based on their abrupt stop and a terrible screeching sound, the creature, somehow still alive, had grabbed onto their cannon.

  “Damage to plasma relays!” Telthar called. “Plasma claws non-functional.

  “Damn it!”

  Rhivas considered ejecting the cannon to free them, but then, with an awful tearing sound, they were free.

  “Glaive Squad, can I get a visual assessment of our status?” he asked as he backed them up.

  “Your cannon’s a torn-up mess,” said Irithel Selvas, Glaive Squad’s gunner, as Rhivas saw her swing her own cannon at the creature they faced.

  “Does it look sharp?” he asked as the monster
he’d downed began to rise, and the last standing, unengaged one began to charge at them.

  “What? Yeah, I guess. Jagged metal points and…oh.”

  “Shiri,” Rhivas said, “you ever use a spear before?”

  “Can’t say I have, but I’m fairly certain I can handle it. Let’s send this thing back to the pit it came from.”

  “Position it to point about 60 degrees to the left of our head,” Rhivas ordered, “and brace for a hard impact. Activating boosters.”

  They shot forward as he applied the quick burst—they were low on that as well, and he didn’t want to use it all now—and, trusting Shiri, he didn’t hesitate.

  Moments later they abruptly stopped, and Rhivas was pressed hard against his restraints as it felt like the momentum would tear them apart.

  Acting on instinct, and hoping they’d been on target—from what he could see, they’d at least hit the thing—he flipped the switch to eject the cannon and forced them into a tight turn to slow them down.

  “Great job, Shiri! Remind me never to piss you off.” She’d managed to spear the sceevir straight through the eye. It took the thing several more seconds to completely stop moving and topple over.

  “If you didn’t get on my nerves sometimes, though, it’d make our lives awfully boring, boss. Just know the limit.”

  “You’re inviting trouble there, you know that?”

  “What can I say? I like things fun.”

  “Can you do this later when I’m not forced to listen?” Telthar groaned. “I’m this close to throwing up already, and the fight’s not over yet.”

  Before Rhivas could respond, a voice came over the comm. “Can anyone hear? This is Gielris. Leannis and I are moving to engage the Nekessian soldiers. They’ve almost breached the shelter. Can you send backup?” At least Storm Squad’s gunner and engineer were apparently unharmed and still capable of action after losing their commander.

  But with two creatures still up, and both remaining zadir running on fumes, could they afford it?

  Shiri replied first. “Hang on, you two. I’m on my way.”

  “Shiri, what are you doing?” Rhivas asked over the internal comm.

  “We have no cannon; I’m useless here. I can help them.”