:30
:29
“Still feeling good about packing all this artillery?” Frank asked. “Back in the day, this is the sort of place you went to thwart those shell-lobbing sons of bitches.”
“They won’t know to take cover against the cliff walls until they know we’re re-equipped,” Chase replied. “Gotta make the first shots count.”
:24
:23
“And then?” June asked. It worried Reggie to hear the two of them concerned. Neither was prone to idle bitching. They were right. Chase might have just tricked and gimmicked them right out of the tournament.
“Lin, keep to the high ground. Maximize firing angles,” Reggie ordered. “Chase, we’re on the buddy system. Odds are, Slapdash is going to spread a net to search the valley floors. Line of sight is going to be hell today. If we run into someone, I want us both in range to strike.”
:18
:17
“I’ll keep overwatch,” Lin promised. “I’ll let you know if you disappear into a blind spot.”
“Copy that,” Reggie replied.
:13
:12
Reggie closed his eyes and breathed deep. No one else voiced any questions or concerns as the timer wound down to zero.
“Quarterfinals battle number two! Fight!” the announcer boomed.
[Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 0/5]
That was right. Psychedelic Thugs had already made short work of Dimwit Heroes, whose first-round upset looked like a fluke in retrospect. Reggie could only hope that Slapdash didn’t make Ghost Platoon look equally foolish.
“Follow me,” Reggie ordered over a channel just to Chase. Then he flipped to the platoon-wide frequency as Diablo followed Vortex into the maze of rock. “June, head northwest. Get a clean firing angle for when these guys take cover from Frank.”
“Roger,” June replied. On the tactical map, Artemis sped off, making use of Jump Boost to keep from bogging down along the zigzag valley floor.
This was feeling like Commando work. While most of the skills only worked on foot, Reggie felt the analog to room-clearing tactics. Each pillar, each cliff, was an opportunity for a still and silent foe to spring a trap. Every time, he and Chase peered around, Plasma Launchers leading, minimizing the target they presented to a potential ambusher.
“Clear,” Reggie reported on his private channel with Chase. So long as he could juggle radio frequencies, there was no reason to bother the whole platoon with the minutiae of their co-op advance.
At the next potential trap, Chase took point. “Clear.”
Left and right, they alternated. “Clear,” Reggie declared the next valley.
Upon reaching the one beyond, Chase peeked out and instantly fired his Plasma Launcher.
TARGET DATA ACQUIRED.
“Got one!” Chase shouted. “Phoenix. We caught a scout.”
Vortex was already moving. Reggie came around the bend to see the Slapdash Phoenix hop into the air with Jump Boost angling back to both retreat and keep its ballistic cannon aimed in Diablo’s direction.
[Phoenix[2] – 77% To Hit]
Reggie was used to tournament combat by now, and 77 percent was better than the odds he’d been seeing using the Anti-Matter Projector. He and the Phoenix fired simultaneously. One of his two blasts struck home.
Phoenix[2] Torso: 29/50
By the damage indicator, Chase had already scored two shots of his own. When the Phoenix returned fire, Chase took a cockpit crit.
Just like that, Reggie found himself alone on point. Chase was out.
Without a word of warning, the world shook. The Phoenix had just landed after finishing off Chase, taking partial cover behind an angled rise. Reggie lost sight of his target through a fog of dust and smoke.
“What the hell was that?” Reggie demanded.
“Just like throwing darts,” Frank explained. “Except I’m not even a little drunk.”
The Phoenix wasn’t down, but when Vortex was able to scan it again, the entire wireframe was red, and it lurched with subsystem damage across the board. Before its pilot could recover—if the poor bastard was even conscious in there—Reggie rushed in and finished it off with a point-blank burst from his Plasma Launcher.
[Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 1/5]
“That’s for Chase, you lucky punk!” Reggie shouted.
“Four on four,” June said calmly. “And you didn’t get hit.”
“Well, they know where I am,” Reggie replied. “I’m gonna give a few seconds for the persistent scan to drop, then change heading.”
“Whatever,” Frank radioed back. “I’m still reloading.”
Reggie noted that Gremlin wasn’t moving. “Frank, get your ass in gear. Relocate. Change your firing angle.”
“Really? Those arty-boys move around? I thought those slack-jawed—never mind that. Skedaddling over to Bravo-Niner.”
Reggie headed the opposite way, angling south to throw off any potential pursuers who might have been closing in on his old heading. If Slapdash was smart—and Reggie had to assume they were—those three Titans would be sweeping the canyons looking for him.
“Need me down there spotting?” June asked.
Reggie was tempted. But the short sight lines made her advanced sensor package redundant. Identifying damaged subsystem was great and all, but it wasn’t essential to the job of feeding targets to Frank and Lin.
“Negative,” Reggie replied. “Lin, you still got my back there?”
“I’ve relocated twice now,” Lin radioed back. “I’ve still got you in my sights.”
It didn’t sound as comforting when she put it that way, but it was good to know that hellacious rifle was still backing him up.
“Got one!” Reggie shouted into the mic as he spotted one of the Slapdash Titans. He pulled back behind cover instead of trying to aim a shot. “Falling back. Frank, Lin, this one’s all yours.”
“And mine,” June added. “Let me flush him into the open.”
A 150mm shell detonated against the canyon wall. Though it only took minimal armor damage, the Titan pilot hugged the near-side wall to avoid follow-up shots from June’s location.
The next impact rocked Vortex, nearly throwing Reggie to the ground.
Reggie fired into the dust cloud at the last spot he’d seen the Titan. When the dust cleared, melted patches of armor showed where he’d scored hits. As the Titan crawled to its feet, Reggie resisted the urge to rush into melee range. Instead, he fell back.
As the Titan lurched out of the way of Frank’s follow-up shots like a drunk tossed out after last call, June got in another shot. There was no place in that canyon for the Titan to flee that would be safe from both artillery emplacements—not to mention the fact that both of them were even now moving to optimize their firing angles.
The safest play for the Titan was to get as close to Vortex as possible and force June and Frank to risk hitting him if they wanted to continue their barrage. Both Reggie and the Vortex pilot knew that, and the next thing Reggie knew, the Titan was barreling toward his location as fast as its wobbly legs could manage.
Despite all the damage—both internal and external—that the Titan had taken, Reggie still didn’t want to engage it solo. He had the rest of his team backing him up. Better to lean on them for help than take his lumps finishing off the behemoth himself, even if he was confident that he could pull it off.
Heroics were for when sound tactics had run out.
“Hang in there,” Lin said calmly. “I’ve got him now.”
An Anti-Matter round lanced by overhead. The Titan plowed forward, still intent on finishing Reggie off. The next shell to explode in the canyon finally succeeded in knocking Vortex off its feet.
Reggie looked up into a clear blue sky framed by striated rock walls on all sides.
[Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 2/5]
“Bingo!” Frank hooted.
“Watch it, you gun-slinging relic,” Lin
snapped. “We need Reggie down there.”
“I’m good,” Reggie reported. “Minor armor damage and a loss of vertical orientation. Nothing I can’t—shit!”
“Constipation is a horrible curse,” Frank replied sagely.
Reggie rolled as another Slapdash Titan appeared from around a bend in the canyon. If they hadn’t taken out the previous one as quickly as they had, Reggie would have been sandwiched between the two of them.
“Keep steady,” Lin warned. She put another Anti-Matter round downrange and pegged the Titan in the side of the head. It wasn’t a critical shot like the one that took out Chase, but it was enough to give the Titan pause.
Unfortunately for Reggie, the conclusion these Slapdash pilots kept reaching was that they needed to get to Reggie at all costs. Sniper fire and artillery support required at least a nominal amount of separation between spotter and target. If they could manage to take that away, Reggie would be left alone against a better-armed, better-armored foe that outweighed Vortex by 40 tons. Attempting to outrun it would expose his rear armor to Anti-Matter Projector fire, but that might have been Reggie’s best option.
June lobbed another shell into the fray, not close enough to damage either combatant. “June, a distraction,” Reggie radioed.
“It’s working,” June snapped. “Quit whining!”
Frank piped in. “Lemme know if you want me to drop the hammer on both of you.”
Reggie wanted to bite Frank’s head off for even suggesting it, but technically trading a Wolverine for a Titan was a good trade. Ghost Platoon was up four juggernauts to three, and that would leave the three of them to take on the last Titan and the lone remaining Phoenix, both of which were out there unaccounted for. “I’ll take it under advisement,” Reggie said instead.
Lin hit the Titan again as Reggie backed away, aiming his Plasma Launchers.
[Titan[4] – 84% To Hit]
“For crying out loud, I could punch him from here!” Reggie squeezed the trigger anyway, firing both Plasma Launchers and hitting twice.
Titan[4] Head: 28/60
The Titan loosed an Anti-Matter blast of its own, raking Reggie’s torso armor before drawing a sword from its back. It closed in with menacing purpose.
Lin’s next round struck the Titan’s head yet again. Maybe if Reggie could hold his ground long enough, Lin could finish it off.
“Shit!” Lin shouted. Reggie saw it before Lin could report her trouble. There, on the tactical map. “One of the Titans got to me! You’re on your own, Reg.”
On his own…
Reggie tried one desperate last shot with his Plasma Launchers, aiming for the Titan’s head.
There was just no time.
The Titan slammed into Vortex, bearing it to the ground with a concussion like one of Gremlin’s 406mm shells. Warnings blared.
“Frank, do it!” Reggie ordered. Nothing. No response. “Frank?”
“Goldarnit! Get away, you little bugger!” Frank snapped. “Hold still!”
June radioed out. “Hold tight. I’m on my way.”
Despite his predicament, Reggie took note of the Phoenix that had closed in on Frank’s position. Slapdash had realized that Ghost Platoon had to have placed their indirect fire weapons at the edges of the arena and sent their other scout to take care of the threat.
Frank was armed with an artillery piece that had a minimum range of over a kilometer and a sword that he’d never get close enough to use. The Phoenix was three times as fast and ballerina maneuverable in comparison to the lead-footed Tiger.
Lin was engaged with the only other Titan. June was off to aid the helpless Frank.
It was up to Reggie to solve his own Titan problem.
The Ninjato was pinned to the ground beneath Vortex’s bulk. If he hadn’t taken a chance at ending the Titan with a plasma burst, Reggie might have had time to draw it. For now, all he could manage was to rock to the side as the Titan pummeled him.
Thunderous fists hammered Vortex, but Reggie managed to lift one shoulder just enough to get the separation he needed to throw a punch.
Vortex’s fist slammed into the Titan’s cockpit.
Titan[4] Head: 3/60
The Titan bore down, forcing Reggie flat against the canyon floor once again. But as soon as the Titan reared back to drop another huge punch—one that might have finished Vortex off completely—Reggie squirmed again and managed a counterattack. Vortex’s fist connected, and this time sank clear into the cockpit, crushing the pilot at the controls.
[Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 3/5]
“Nice work, Reg,” Lin said, panting for breath. “Now get over here and help me with this guy. That Phoenix is no—”
Lin’s assurance that the Phoenix would be easy for her to handle was cut short. The Titan had scored a decisive blow.
Three on two now, but it was as awkward an end game as Reggie could imagine. Lin’s last scan showed the remaining Titan heavily damaged. Reggie was trapped beneath the mass of the Titan he’d just wrecked and would take some time in extracting himself. June and Frank were armed with guns that they wouldn’t be able to bear against a Phoenix that was picking Gremlin apart one 150mm shell at a time.
Think!
First things first, Reggie had to get Vortex back on its feet. The Titan was 105 tons, but Vortex had the engine to move it. The unfortunate fact was that 105 tons of dead weight were cumbersome, awkward, and slow to wrangle. In the meantime, the crippled Titan that Lin had lost to was lurching its way to quicken the demise of Gremlin and Artemis.
Every heave, every engine-revving grunt was one ratchet click closer to Reggie freeing Vortex. Meanwhile, on the platoon status screen, Gremlin’s wireframe grew holes like a firing range silhouette.
This was taking too long.
Then it occurred to him. The answer lay in his Commando spec. Popping the cockpit release, Reggie clambered out of Vortex with his bag of tricks. What had been the point of taking Demolitions Expert if he was only going to use it on a bunch of snow and ice? Any noob could plant C-4 to start an avalanche. Reggie needed to carve up a derelict Titan chassis.
Quickly distributing charges at key joints, Reggie made sure to get back to the cockpit and seal himself in before depressing the trigger on the detonator.
Vortex convulsed under a series of rapid-fire explosions. At first, nothing seemed to have changed. But as Reggie revved the engines, Vortex sat up, pieces of Titan falling all around it like a kid’s broken action figure.
Off at the map’s edge, Frank was losing his battle with the stinging fly of a Phoenix.
In the distance, a shockwave impact of a high-caliber shell echoed.
“Did you just fire your main gun at that Phoenix from 50 meters?” June demanded.
“It was jumping!” Frank protested. “And it was the best shot I’d gotten!”
“June, finish that thing off,” Reggie ordered.
“Easier said than done,” June replied. “It’s armed and bouncing around like one of those FPS players. I’m chasing it with a sword.”
“I’m on my way, but you’re about to have company,” Reggie warned them.
June growled. “I’m the one with the sensors. Remember? I know we’re running out of time.”
“Withdraw,” Reggie ordered.
“What?” Frank exclaimed. “Don’t leave me alone with this little death pixie!”
“Back off,” Reggie reiterated. “Get range. Take out that Titan. I can handle the Phoenix.”
Reggie hoped that was true. The Titan had roughed Vortex up good. His own damage report wireframe looked like someone had tossed him into a juggernaut-sized clothes dryer and set it on tumble.
“I can handle the Titan,” Frank protested. “I’ll punch its stupid face off.”
“You won’t last that long,” Reggie informed him. “Sorry.”
June withdrew.
Gremlin held out a little longer but couldn’t survive the death by a thousand cuts—or in this case, sub-c
aliber discarding sabot rounds—from the Phoenix.
It was down to Vortex and Artemis.
“I’ve got visual contact,” Reggie reported. “Break line of sight and fire.”
“Roger.”
June’s shot took the Titan’s attention off Reggie. The Slapdash pilot hesitated. Then the Titan headed Reggie’s way.
“Relocate,” Reggie ordered. “Hit it again. And watch out. I’m pretty sure the Phoenix is coming for you next.”
“Affirmative. Just keep that Titan lit.”
Snorting into the open mic, Reggie couldn’t help but be amused. “I think the Titan’s going to insist I do.”
Now that Reggie had a good look, Lin had maimed and mangled this Titan before finally losing to it in melee combat. It was missing its Anti-Matter Projector arm and walked with a pronounced limp. Reggie could outrun it all day. If not for the presence of the enemy Phoenix, he just might have done so.
June’s next shell struck true. The Titan’s good leg gave out beneath it, and it toppled forward to the ground. Not sure what weapons systems the thing might still have active, Reggie rushed to close the distance before the pilot could regroup. “June, get out of there. Job well done. Just keep away from that enemy Phoenix.”
“Too late,” June radioed back. “It made visual contact.”
“Break contact. Disengage.”
[Titan[1] – 100% To Hit]
“For a change…” Reggie muttered as he squeezed the trigger and poured Plasma into an open wound in the Titan’s armor.
[Sole Objective: Destroy Enemy Juggernauts 4/5]
“Heading your way,” June reported.
“Rendezvous at Juliet-Three-Two,” Reggie radioed back. If he boiled it right down, this was one of those train problems from algebra class. If an Artemis is heading southwest at 70 kph and a slightly limping Wolverine is heading north at 40 kph, which hex will they meet at? Reggie hated algebra. He was just guessing here.
Ghost Platoon Page 20
