After a moment, the Altar’s defenses pivoted and fired volley after volley at his forces with some effect. He saw a bright flash as an enemy tank bolt roared into his formation and detonated on one of his large artillery pieces. The secondary explosion flipped 10 vehicles and disrupted the march of a full third of his forces for a few seconds.
“Enemy armor! Corner of the colony!” he roared into the radio. “Evasive maneuvers authorized!” Another bolt tore into the attack, and another. Each round hit its target with spectacular results.
Leeto changed frequencies and roared at Qamm, “Where is your gods-damned artillery! Their armor is on the corners of the colony!”
Qamm’s voice came back in a staccato chuckle. “Reaching firing range now.”
He glanced back to the south and saw a torrent of rocket-propelled shells arc up from the advancing mercenary forces. Leeto followed their arc, then lost the rounds as their engines cut off for the terminal guidance phase. The colony wall nearest him erupted in a series of explosions. Altar defenses, though, did not stop firing and two more tank bolts raced just past his vehicle to create more havoc behind him.
“Hit them again!”
“Do not tell me what to do!” Qamm screeched. Another round of rocket-assisted projectiles arced up from the advancing mercenaries, along with a fusillade of directed energy weapons that devastated the southwestern corner of the colony. A tremendous secondary explosion demolished much of the Altar colony’s corner structure.
“That’s one,” Leeto said. Using a joystick, he toggled a targeting laser to the northwestern corner of the colony and transmitted it to his units. “Indirect fire engage at my command!”
A message scrolled across his heads-up display causing his fingers to freeze above the command console for a good five seconds.
—Primary target neutralized. Render colony to ashes.—
“Fire,” he managed to say. As 100 rockets leapt up from his lead vehicle section toward the Altar colony, Leeto frantically wrapped his mind around the situation. With Administrator Kenos dead, the race would be for the resources in the Altar mines. Leeto looked away from the battle and scanned his displays for a layout of his forces and their intended targets. They were spread to provide maximum firepower on the colony, which was ideal given their position, but would not work for exploitation. “Infantry forces to the northwestern corner and converge on the mine entrance to assume primary mission. Acknowledge and move out immediately!”
The radio checks came in fast, but he hardly paid attention. The infantry icons moved where he wanted them to go, and he followed in their midst. Arrival at the mine entrance before Qamm’s forces meant a greater claim to the resources below, providing they could eliminate the Altar completely and manage to hold off Qamm, the GenSha, and the Selroth until a settlement could be reached. That meant getting there first and getting the best position possible.
Leeto accelerated forward as his infantry converged on the main mine entrance against heavy resistance. The thousands of rounds exchanged shifted as the Altar broke and streamed toward the entrance, themselves. Leeto grinned. Gathering in a tight space would make it easier for his forces to eliminate them all. “Forward across the front. Maintain your rate of fire and target anything that moves. Double bonuses for all kills recorded.”
The whoops over the radio let him know his troops weren’t about to let a single target go unprosecuted. Leeto glanced at the colony and found the structure he believed to be the command center. He fired a handful of rockets at it and increased speed. His forward troops were two minutes away from the mine, and he was not going to let them enter it without him.
* * *
Hex hoisted the CASPer up the narrow tunnel from Level Six to Level Five without a care for the central conduit. As the power failed below him, Hex shuffled the CASPer out of the hole and ensured the Altar squads were far enough away to trigger the lower level collapse.
“Hex?”
He turned to see Plec moving his way. “We’re almost out of explosives. We’re going to need to go back to the surface for another load.”
“I don’t think we have that kind of time, Plec,” Hex said. “We’ve got the aquifer plugged down there. Lay what you have here, and we’ll collapse everything down there before we go.”
Plec’s antenna waved and hesitated. “There is another possibility we haven’t considered.”
Hex frowned, glad that Plec could not see his face inside the CASPer. “What?”
“There are other potential connections from the cavern aquifers to the river. The water table in this area is exceptionally high. Any avenue the Selroth can exploit, they will.”
“And there’s a place they can exploit?”
Plec almost shrugged in a very human way. “Level Three at the extreme northern end. There is a tributary of the river, an intermittent surface stream, that flows within a few meters of the aquifer’s upper level. An explosive device placed there would be more successful than the locations they attempted before.”
“You think they’ll find it, Plec?”
“Yes. I believe they’re finding it as we speak,” Plec said. “They can use the sound waves from the explosions to find weaknesses as effectively as you humans use sonar.”
Hex watched Plec’s teams continue to work. The lower levels would collapse effectively, but Level Four really had no purpose other than to provide a stair-step approach from the surface. “Don’t lay anymore explosives. Tie these off to the ones below. Take everything else we have to Level Three.”
“It won’t be enough to close off that level, Hex,” Plec said.
Hex worked the CASPer backward to the Level Three transition tunnel. He reached up with the vehicle’s arms and yanked the conduit out of place to give him room to move. “Can we create an obstacle for the Selroth? Something to slow them down if they come through that aquifer?”
Plec’s antennae waved, and Hex watched most of his team stand and move toward the vertical tunnel structure. “We can try, Hex. Once they breach there, incoming water will rapidly fill the tunnels below. We’ll need to detonate them before we move up.”
“Do it,” Hex said. “We have to stop the Selroth on Level Three or they’ll get to the brood and come in behind our flank on the surface.”
Plec motioned silently to his soldiers, and they scrambled past the CASPer, up toward Level Three. The Altar engineer stepped up to Hex and held out a slate. “You can initiate the detonation sequence.”
Hex squinted. “Why? I trust that you’ll do it the second we’re up there, Plec.”
Plec nodded in a very human way. “Thank you, Hex. It is important for us to have your trust.”
The mission timer caught Hex’s eye. “Get up the tunnel. The second I’m clear, set it off and we’ll move north to stop those bastards.”
Plec scrambled up the tunnel leaving him alone in the near darkness of the defunct level. Hex checked his communications functions and found nothing that would get a message through to the surface. With a grunt, he reached up into the tunnel, dug the CASPer’s articulated hands into the rough-hewn walls and climbed. Sending a message wasn’t necessary, he realized. At the top of the tunnel, Hex shifted the CASPer clear of the vertical tube as Plec detonated the lower four levels in a series of explosions that sifted dust from the tunnel walls, causing it to rain down on them like a fine, gray snow.
Hex grinned. Jessica would know they’d done the first part of their task as clearly as any message he could transmit. The rest, though, was up to him, Plec, and two dozen Altar soldiers. The Altar scurried ahead of the CASPer to the northern end of the tunnel with laser rifles held at the ready. Hex duckwalked the CASPer after them and ensured his weapons systems were online and ready to fire. No matter how the Selroth came through the tunnel walls, they were in for one helluva surprise.
* * * * *
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Gunner! Fire and adjust!” Tara called to her gunner and relinquished command of the main gu
n tube. The hefty 150mm railgun tube swung from target to target. Belching out a little more than eight rounds per minute, her tank held the northwest corner of the Altar colony firm. “External machine guns to guided manual.”
She flipped a switch and hefted the tank’s heavy commander’s hatch to a vertical, locked position. Tara stood on the back of her chair and engaged the twin .50 caliber machine guns hanging above her station. The mercenary forces from the south, combined with a tremendous number of GenSha infantry forces, flowed in giant waves toward her position and the main entrance to the mines. The teeming dark bands of infantry tried to use what cover and concealment they could, but the last 1,000 meters of their sprint carried them over open ground and left them vulnerable. Thumbs on the dual trigger, Tara disengaged the locking mechanism and swung the machine guns toward the forward elements of infantry. Leading the faster vehicles, she laid down a line of protective fire that sent the mercenaries who survived her initial barrage diving for cover. Finding none, they either fired in response or scrambled helplessly. Either way, her machine guns tore bloody swathes through them.
The Altar along the walls watched her for a moment, then turned their laser rifles the same way. A wall of ammunition stopped the infantry cold, but there were more coming. Artillery warnings screamed along the colony walls, again, and Tara dropped into the tank as a thundering assault of rounds dropped around the tank and the colony walls. She pushed up through the hatch, again, and took in the sight. More infantry rushed the position.
They’re making for the mine.
She jabbed her radio transmit button. “Demon Three, Demon One. Disengage your position and get over here. Now.”
Demon Three sat on the adjacent corner of the colony, facing southeast. The Selroth, if they were coming, were staying in the protective cover of the river. A perfectly good tank was sitting idle when she needed more fire on the enemy.
“Demon One, moving.”
She went back to the guns and tore another broad swath through the mercenaries and more of the GenSha infantry forces. Artillery warnings screamed, and she dropped into the tank, again. In the cacophony of hell outside, dirt and rocks poured through the open hatch as a round narrowly missed the top of the tank.
Thank Gods they’re firing dumb rounds.
Tara swung up and saw that the advancing infantry were moving out of sight toward the high ground at the mine’s entrance. Demon Three showed up on her flank and laid fire on what it could see, but there were mercenaries in their rear area.
“Demon Three, you’re in charge. Protect the mine entrance, that’s their target. Standby for instructions. Break.” She looked back at the northeast corner of the colony. “Demon Two, prepare for a full-frontal assault. Divert all Altar weapons to hold them off. Demon One is dismounting. My crew will continue to fight taking orders from Demon Three. Good hunting. Out.”
She reached into the turret and unplugged her helmet from the tank by feel. Her rifle lay in its strapped position above the communications panel. After a second of hesitation, she grabbed it. As Tara vaulted up from the hatch, she brought the rifle to a ready position and made sure it was charged and active. The assaulting infantry’s shots pinged off the colony walls near her with greater accuracy. Once they reached a good firing range, they would pick off Altar soldiers and defenses. Off the back of the still firing tank, she found one of Klatk’s lieutenants.
“Bukk! Hit that infantry column with as much artillery as you can from this side of the colony. We’ve got them pinned down, but it’s not going to last.”
Bukk’s antenna twitched animatedly. “More are approaching from the river. The Selroth are inbound. We have to stop them, too.”
She changed tactics. “There’s at least 50, maybe 100, that got through and are moving toward the mine. We have to stop them.”
“Move one of your CASPers!” Bukk moved away to command the defensive effort from the nearest wall. Tara flinched as the idea struck her, followed by a thousand potential negatives.
I can’t drive one of those things! I’m not a trained pilot.
You can’t stop them with just this rifle and your charms, sweetheart.
The voice of an old drill sergeant broke through. Why the hell not?
Since Kei’s inadvertent explosion, the unclaimed CASPers from her team sat in the middle of the Altar compound below the command center. Tara sprinted across the complex, feeling momentarily relieved as the amount of fire hitting around her shrunk to nothing. Artillery warnings came to life again and she dove for cover behind a series of containers that rocked and shook with every impact. Debris choked the air and she coughed and tried to move forward. As the dust cleared, she saw the command center still standing, but smoldering from several direct hits.
Not much time.
The CASPer they’d named Angel Three was open, attached to external power, and fully loaded as a backup. She reached the three-meter beast, climbed nimbly up the ladder and backed into the cockpit like she’d seen every CASPer pilot she’d ever known do. Once her legs were in their positions and the arms were down their interfaces, she wondered what the hell she was doing. There was no way this was going to work.
“I can’t even close the gods-damned hatch!”
<
With only the safety lights on, a dim red glow surrounded her. How the hell do I do this?
“Cockpit lights?”
The interior white lights flickered to life. The Tri-V screens and the external camera displays were still off so all she could see besides the instrument panel was the inside of the cockpit door about six inches in front of her face. “Well, that’s a start.”
<
“Confirm vehicle start,” she said slowly. The master vehicle power controls snapped on one-by-one and her displays came online.
<
Tara blinked. “CASPers don’t talk, and I don’t have pin plants. How in the world are you doing this, Lucille?”
<
“Like a co-pilot?”
<
“Will the accelerometers work accurately—say if I’m trying to walk, can you make it walk?”
<
“Can you help me make this thing walk?”
<
Tara laughed. Everything sounded so easy from intelligent computers. Still, without Lucille’s assistance, she was a sitting duck in a CASPer and unable to stop the assaulting infantry. Altar soldiers could hold them off for a bit, but their lack of firepower would be grossly overmatched by the mercenaries. Any force worth their salt hit the ground running with as much manpower and as many weapons multipliers as they could afford. The good forces, like what she’d seen so far, would eradicate the Altar in minutes.
The master vehicle power console was fully green. All external displays
came on line and she could see the battle space through the heads-up display. A large command skiff pushed past Demon One and brought multiple cannons to bear on Demon Three. The tank’s more open position left them vulnerable. The two vehicles traded three bolts a piece before Demon Three detonated. The enemy command stiff skidded to a halt. A Sidar opened a top hatch and waved its leathery arms wildly. About 50 infantry stood up from cover and moved ahead of the skiff. The leader closed the hatch and set to engaging more targets that Tara couldn’t see, but it was clear where they were headed.
“Get us to the mine entrance, Lucille. As fast as you think you can go. Bring all weapons online and tie me back into the command net.”
<
The CASPer reared up on its legs and began to move with Tara as a passenger. For a second, it was like being in a horse costume. She moved the front quarters and Lucille moved the rear. Uncoordinated and clumsy, it could still get the job done.
“This is Demon One Actual in a CASPer, callsign is now Angel Two, moving to the main mine entrance. SITREP, over?”
A massive explosion nearby shook the CASPer. Demon One’s icon winked out. Demon Two called over the radio. “Ma’am, we’ve got Selroth advancing out of the river. Request permission to pull back the defense. Over.”
Dammit. Tara pressed the transmit button. “Supplementary positions authorized. Get the Altar to —”
Peacemaker (The Revelations Cycle Book 6) Page 26
