* * *
Teresa reached the tree line before the rest of the ASOG team and kept her head down while scanning for enemy forces. Sergeant Lovett was with her, and Spartan brought up the rest of the mixed vanguard of units.
“What do you think?” asked Lovett.
Teresa continued checking the enemy position with multiple optical modes. The thermal imaging worked fine for the Zealots and the workers but picked up almost nothing from the machines.
“I don’t like it. They are still working on the dome, but look over there.” She pointed off to the right where the dome was located.
Sergeant Lovett turned his head and spotted the light glinting off a large number of the multi-legged machines and at least a hundred Biomechs. Through the magnified optics on his PDS armour, he could see these Biomechs were substantially different to those like the Jötnar. They were more heavily armoured, and each group stayed close to one of the larger machines.
“Is it me, or the machines look like they are in charge here?” he suggested.
“Yeah, looks that way.”
Agent Johnson, the man from the Kerberos Underground that had joined their small unit, checked the base with his binoculars. Unlike the others, he wore a much lighter suit that was often used by paramilitary forces and police tactical units. The armour was lighter and rather than a fully fitted helm, he instead wore a low-profile ventilator and helmet.
“Yeah, I’ve seen these defensive deployments before on Kerberos. A few of the facilities we hit were guarded by Union troops. They don’t rotate the guards like we would. Instead, they move one at a time. Makes them damned difficult to attack.”
Spartan nodded while watching the enemy. Agent Johnson appeared to be correct, as he watched a single Zealot move away to be quickly replaced by a similarly equipped man. The Zealots seemed agitated about something, and that was when he spotted the surviving machine that had attacked their compound in the jungle.
“Crap, look!” he said.
The machine was stood next to a trio of other similar machines. They were moving their limbs as if discussing something important. That was when Spartan saw the form of a tall man wearing armour and a long flowing robe.
“That’s him!” said Teresa excitedly.
A group of Zealots, all carrying rifles, ran up to the robed figure, bowed and then ran off towards the large group of machines at the dome.
“That’s who?”
“Pontus,” she replied. “I think he might be their leader. If not, he’s pretty high up.”
Agent Johnson pointed off to the right-hand side of the identified man.
“Have you seen the machines over there? Look!”
The larger of the machines was herding a group of the prisoners into a loose line and moving them around the entrance to one of the small mountains.
“No, they must be onto us. Look, they are positioning prisoners around their key installations. Get yourselves ready, we need to get this operation moving.”
A short distance behind them was the rustling of leaves that marked the approach of General Rivers and the first of the three columns of troops from their own compound. Spartan checked the horizon and paid specific attention to the nearest of the small mountains surrounding the dome. He turned back and looked at their small group before connecting to the secure channel being used by the commanders of the Alliance ground forces.
“General, are you receiving me?” he asked.
“Affirmative, loud and clear,” came back the quick response.
Spartan nodded and looked at the enemy compound once more before continuing.
“The dome is being well protected by Biomechs, troops and those machines. It looks like they are preparing for something, maybe our attack. I suggest you start the assault against the most remote hill position. I will move my team into the ruins in front of the dome. When we have the chance, we’ll storm it and set out thermite charges.”
“Understood. I’m moving 1st Company into the tree line to protect our left flank, 2nd Company will initiate the attack, and 3rd Company will be held in reserve. Good luck.”
“You too, Sir.”
He looked to Teresa and the motley group of marines, technicians, Vanguards and Khan, who always stood out compared to the rest.
“This is it then, let’s get into position before the General lights the place up.”
He moved off with Khan, Teresa and Sergeant Lovett. The remainder followed along with the extra equipment plus several crates of charges. They reached the point where Teresa had set up the monitoring point in the rubble and ruins in front of the dome when the crackle of gunfire came from behind them. As one, the entire group threw themselves down and crawled behind any cover they could find. Spartan looked back and could see in the far distance the dark shapes of scores of marines and crew storming the hillside. They seemed to be covering ground very quickly. He almost smiled until the grinding sound of machines nearby indicated a large group of the multi-legged beasts and their Biomech and Zealots warriors were relocating to meet the attack.
“Do we attack?” asked Khan.
Spartan shook his head, lifting himself slightly to look at the orb. They were still a good distance away, and a number of ruined buildings blocked their path. More worrying was the sight of four of the machines still waiting outside and at least thirty gun toting Zealots.
Where are the Biomechs?
That was when he spotted the armoured creatures inching their way through the ruins and towards his hidden unit. Most of them must have gone to assist in the battle, but he could see five, possibly six of the great beasts. They moved differently to the ones he had seen before, and it was clear they were fitted with more equipment and armour. His gut instinct told him these were the next iteration of the Biomechs; stronger, better protected and presumably indoctrinated by the machines or the Zealots to fight. Since he had sent the signal from Terra Nova, every single connected Biomech to the AI Hub had lost it’s programming and reverted to its natural state. More than that, the signal had permanently destroyed the programmable section of their minds, making it impossible for them to be enslaved in such a way again. As he watched them, one stopped and stared directly at him.
Oh, great!
He flicked the switch inside his Vanguard armour to activate the arm-mounted L48 rifles.
“On my command,” he whispered quietly through the comms unit.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
With the fall of Terra Nova, it was assumed the Church of Echidna had been destroyed. The collapse of the Union, the freeing of the Biomechs, and finally the systematic slaughter of those Zealots still fighting should have marked the end. Instead, the events at Hyperion showed the reverse was true. Echidna was much more than a symbol, and the leaked reports on the incident there described something truly unexpected.
Holy Icons
General Rivers watched from the tree line as the first two platoons rushed across the open ground and reached the entrance to the mountain structure. The remaining marines fired at any enemy that dared to try and halt their progress. In the first minute, it looked as if they had achieved total surprise, until the troops from closer to the dome turned and counterattacked. Just a few more minutes, and both sides were bogged down in a firefight across a strip of land between the two landmarks. Captain Carlo stood nearby and was busy coordinating the snipers and sustained fire that would keep the advance party alive.
“General, 1st Platoon have control of the entrance, should they move inside?”
The General shook his head.
“No, we just need to keep them busy enough for Spartan to do his job. Tell them to secure access to the place. Send in the next platoon to move inside. We have to keep this area clear and ready for withdrawal.”
Captain Carlos moved back a few metres and organised the next wave of thirty people. This group were a fifty-fifty mix of Navy crew and marines. All were armed, but the selection of weapons was variable. One thing he was aware of was the almost com
plete lack of heavy weapons. With just a few words, they moved out from the cover of the trees and ran the gauntlet of the Zealots’ gunfire. Two were cut down, but the rest made it to the great entrance to the mountain. They slipped inside and vanished from view. The ground between the trees and the mountain was a mixture of flat terrain, rocks and low ruins from distant buildings.
“Captain, get bodies out there. We need to stop them reinforcing the mountain.”
As the marines moved out, a great trembling motion shook the ground. He looked to his left and watched two of the mechanical machines move from the dome and start their inexorable course towards their position. He almost froze as the first opened fire with pintle mounted heavy weapons. They struck with the same degree of firepower as the coilguns being used by the ASOG troopers. Part of one of the buildings ripped apart and smashed a fully armoured marine to the ground.
* * *
The Biomech had been watching Spartan for almost a minute; at least he assumed that was what it was doing. The others in the group continued to pick their way through the rubble as if they were looking for something. Teresa watched from her position behind a low, badly smashed wall when she noticed where the nearest Biomech was stood.
“Oh...great! It’s the package I left behind. They must have picked up its signal.”
It took Spartan a few seconds before he realised what she had actually been talking about.
Right, the camera she left.
He looked to his left and out into the distance where another group of Zealots and one machine was heading in their direction. Off to the right, the firefight had now expanded from the hillside and down to the tree line as General Rivers used his troops as best as possible to demonstrate against their forces. A crackle of energy rippled down the hills and to the dome just as he’d seen on the video feed.
“Damn, that means another one of those machines is coming through,” he said quietly to the rest of his team. “We need to get in there now and stop them, or they’ll keep bringing in reinforcements.”
He selected the channel to speak with General Rivers and was immediately greeted by the sound of gunfire and explosions.
“Spartan, what’s happening there? Have you disabled the guns?”
“Not yet, Sir, it’s the dome. They are bringing in more troops. If we don’t stop them, they’ll overrun our positions before we can finish our mission.”
There was a short pause before the General came back.
“I have a platoon inside, along with a tech team, and they think it’s possible to isolate the tracking system by knocking out one of the power generators near the base of the mountain. They have already hit resistance inside, but they think it’s possible.”
“How?” Spartan asked.
“The tracking station is on the other side of this hill. When they take out the targeting unit, they will only be able to manually attack the guns, so it will make them all but useless. If I do this, it means I’ll need to keep this area clear of the enemy while they do their job.”
“They are already moving in on you, Sir. Don’t forget, you’re already carrying out the diversion.”
Teresa crawled over to him and tapped him on the helmet.
“If we hit the orb, I bet they will turn back to fight us.”
Spartan looked at her, but he already knew she was right. The orb was clearly the single most important part of this compound, and when they initiated an attack, the enemy would surely throw everything they had at them.
Damn, we’ve done this the wrong way around!
“Okay, General. We will assault the orb and draw as many of them onto us as possible. If you can spare any troops, send them through the woods to reinforce us.”
There was a short crackle but no response from the General. Spartan wanted to wait, but the Biomechs were still there, and one had found Teresa’s equipment. With one quick movement, it ripped the unit from the ground and held it aloft.
“Now!” he shouted and lifted himself from the rubble. Khan was up already, and without even bothering to shoot, he rushed the nearest of the enemy. The two creatures collided with a loud crunch. Spartan took a step forward and blasted the Biomech to the left with a burst from each of his arms. The L48 rifles tore chunks from the creature’s armour and flesh, but it still took nearly twenty of them to bring it down. The rest of the unit spread out but kept low, firing short bursts from their weapons and made short work of the last two. Khan straightened his back and roared at the sight of his defeated foe. He ripped the large firearm from its arms and pushed on to the orb.
“Get to the dome and secure it, fast!” shouted Spartan.
It was an incredibly risky stratagem, as the dome was situated in the heart of the compound. The only good thing was that most of the machines, zealots and Biomechs had already left to do battle with the forces of General Rivers. But two machines remained as well as nearly thirty Zealots. Spartan ran forward and was amongst them while they tried to organise themselves. Bullets rained down on his armour, but he did his best to ignore them and smashed through three of them to reach the first machine. Two of his Vanguards came with him, taking full advantage of the thick armour and heavy weapons to clear a path to the orb.
“Spartan!” shouted Khan, and instinctively, he turned to spot a Biomech swinging a glaive at his head. He lurched to the side, but the blade still scraped down his armour and embedded in a shoulder joint, luckily causing no damage. He lifted his left arm, only to find it grabbed by the four–legged machine. It was at least twice his height, and the side-mounted guns were already tracking towards him. Khan leapt onto the Biomech and dragged it down, finally freeing him to twist one of them into the line of fire.
“Bring it down!” he shouted.
The other two Vanguards moved around the machine and fired and stabbed with their razor sharp blades fitted to their arms. The machine was tough, and it took a dozen high-power rounds from the ASOG troopers to finally bring it down. The last machine forced itself on the group and managed to crush two of its own Zealots, and it made for Spartan. He lifted up his arms to fire, but it was then that he spotted more than thirty of the smaller eight-legged spider-like machines Teresa had described. They must have been hidden in the rubble behind the dome, and they threw themselves into the small group with savage abandon, hacking down marines and Zealots at will.
“Captain, the guns!” called out Kowalski on the intercom.
Spartan looked up to see one of the massive gun batteries turning on its raised platform and start tracking something up in the sky. His attention was pulled away as one of the smaller machines appeared next to the even larger machine and stabbed at him, managing to embed one of its razor sharp blades into his visor. As the sensors flashed with warnings, he looked to his right to see Khan down on one knee but still hacking and shooting with his looted Biomech weapon. The marines were putting up a hell of a fight, but already they were outnumbered and still thirty metres from their objective. He lurched to the side and fired a long burst of gunfire at the smaller machine, watching two of its arms ripped off.
“Yeah!” he shouted and lifted his arm to fire at the gun battery. He was only able to let loose four ineffectual shots before he was forced to duck and avoid another strike.
Damn it! Guns won’t bring down those things.
* * *
Admiral Churchill waited with the patience of a saint as the crew ran through a detailed scan of the surface. It was risky, but the warning signs had been there the second they arrived in orbit. Scrambled radio signals and heat blooms flashed around a small mountainous area on the ground. His gut instinct told him it was a fight of some kind, and if Spartan was alive, he was convinced the man would be right in the middle of it.
“Well, what have we got?” he asked impatiently.
His XO was stood near the tactical officer, double-checking all the information that was coming in.
“Sir, you’re right. It’s definitely a ground battle.”
The warning
alarms started up inside the ship. It was the vessel’s automated countermeasures system.
“Incoming fire, it’s the ground batteries,” called out the tactical officer.
Admiral Churchill pulled the intercom from its mount and took a short breath before speaking. He knew this was the fight every single one of them was dreading. All he could do was promise himself that this time it would be different.
“This is Admiral Churchill. Commence ground operations. All ships prepare for bombardments. I want every gun, missile, decoy and fighter between us, and those weapons. We will lose no ships today!”
It was a short order, but the words galvanised the fleet into action. Every man and woman was ready, and it took just seconds for the first of the shuttles and landing craft to launch from the hull of the Santa Cruz and begin their descent to the ground battle. Even as the first two projectiles hurtled up from the ground, a dozen drones and fighters were moving in on an intercept course. Every single railgun and missile system in the fleet trained in on the approaching projectiles and waited to fire.
* * *
Somehow Spartan and just over half of his team had survived and beaten back the bloody assault around the orb. It was already starting to glow, however, and more and more enemy troops were appearing from the bases of the other hills and from inside the many ruined buildings. A quick glance told him they faced seven of the large machines, up to fifty of the smaller ones, and an untold number of the Biomechs and Zealots. He was starting to think the attack on the dome was perhaps not his most tactically astute of ideas in the last few years.
Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6) Page 23
