by Isaac Hooke
The outline of a bipedal mech appeared ahead of Rade; it was armed with twin canons on either side of its head. Rade slammed the shield in front of him and slid the stingray over the notch. He fired at the incoming mech, but his cannon took a direct hit from a plasma bolt in turn. On his HUD flashed the message:
WEAPON DISABLED.
Cursing, he attempted to swivel the cobra into place, but then the mech slammed into his shield next. He was shoved backward by the sheer force, and realized that the mech wasn’t bipedal after all, but quadrupedal, at least according to the latest outlines provided by the echolocators.
Rade’s ballistic shield turned white hot in the middle, no doubt courtesy of another shot from his adversary.
Tahoe opened fire from his left, and Bender from his right; the force against Rade’s shield abruptly subsided, and he was able to push the enemy mech off it. It clattered to the cave floor, its environment-blending hull no longer functioning, allowing Rade to witness the smoldering ruins that were its sides.
The plants continued to grow around Rade, enveloping his legs and limiting his motion. As he and the others fought them off, he noticed the animated foliage ignored the SK mech.
Ahead, past the three mechs on point, another mech fell with smoking sides. Lui’s shield was just as white-hot as Rade’s, especially along the edges.
The smaller SK combat robots fell a moment later, and the platoon pressed on. Their forward motion was severely hampered, thanks to those plants, but the Jupiters did their best to trample and shoot them.
Lui and the others on point abruptly stopped and dug in.
“Got defense turrets up ahead!” Lui said. “Cave floor and ceiling! Their fire is really working a number on our shields!”
Rade spotted fresh molten spots littering the insides of the shields of the three mechs on point. Holes appeared along the edges of Lui’s metal, so that plasma bolts glanced off his armor. Rade ducked behind his own shield as one bolt got through.
He broke away from the latest branches that enwrapped him, and aimed his cobra past the holes in Lui’s shield. He spotted a defense turret embedded in the ceiling of the tunnel, right next to where it should have opened up into the main cavern holding their target.
He fired several shots from his heavy laser and that particular turret shut down.
The other team members similarly targeted the remaining ceiling turrets, while Lui, Kicker and Pyro concentrated their fire on those turrets attached to the cave floor. In a few moments it was over.
“My shield looks like Swiss cheese,” Lui commented.
“Mine, too,” Kicker said.
Pyro’s fared just as badly, but he didn’t have anything to say. He was too busy sloughing off the latest batch of angry plants.
“Forward!” Rade said, breaking through his own foliage.
They waded through the clinging and growing branches and entered the main cavern of their target. The plants here were bigger, some of them the size of trees, and they intertwined their branches to form a physical barrier between the platoon and the Anarchist’s potential location.
“Fire at will!” Rade said.
The platoon members unleashed hell with their stingrays and cobras as they continued forward. They tore big holes in the waiting trees, clearing a path.
As the platoon passed, some of those trees reached down and tried to scoop up the different mechs, but the Jupiters struck back, cutting away the branches with quick movements of their arms and shields.
The stingrays had begun to overheat, so they switched to cobras, or simple bashing. By then most of the bigger trees were down, or had big holes in them, but limbs still grew rapidly from the fallen logs, eager to assail and waylay the mechs.
“Got robots!” Lui said. “Nemesis, I think!”
Ahead, past Lui, Rade spotted four tall mech-sized robots that were vaguely arm shaped: these long cylinders planted on spider-like bases. Turrets protruded from either side of the cylinder, near the top, and unleashed energy bolts.
The ballistic shields of the mechs on point disintegrated almost immediately.
“Take cover!” Rade said.
The platoon members crouched and dropped behind the trees. Branches wrapped around Rade, and he continually struck out at them, not wanting to let them get so profuse that he couldn’t break free. He moved from foot to foot, stamping hard each time.
A portion of the tree dissolved beside him, and he realized the Nemesis had fired at him. He dove behind another tree as the rest of the bole disintegrated behind him.
He leaned past, momentarily ignoring the branches that continually wrapped around him to aim his cobra at one of the robots. He targeted the turrets on the left side of his target, and unleashed several shots. The weapon sparked, seemingly disabled. Rade targeted the other turret, but before he could fire, the Nemesis robot dodged behind a tree, itself taking cover.
“Target their turrets!” Rade said as he tore away from the latest branches.
Beside him, the other Jupiters were similarly struggling against the trees as they fired at the Nemesis units.
Rade peered around the edge of his new cover, searching for the robots, when he spotted something bulging from the cave floor past the trees in front of him. A gray, pulsating, dome-shaped mass, like the underside of an octopus. About the size of two or three mechs. He had seen such a mass before, in the cave on Newridium.
The Anarchist.
“The alien is here!” Rade said. He highlighted the Anarchist’s location immediately so that the others had something to target. “Destroy the Anarchist!”
Rade broke away from the latest round of plants, and then aimed the targeting crosshairs of his cobra scope directly on that pulsating object. It was difficult to get a clean shot, with all the trees and foliage in the way—the branches swayed to and fro, wrapping around one another to form a wall around the entity at that very moment—but he was able to target the upper edges as it pulsed upward, and unleashed several shots.
The branches cleared away as stingrays from the other mechs dug paths through them, and Rade used the opening to unleash more deadly damage on the alien entity.
In moments that living gray shell deflated like a pierced tire, until it lay flat and lifeless on the cave floor.
Around Rade, the trees stopped assailing him. The branches merely froze in place. Two of them had wrapped a good distance around either of his legs, but offered no resistance as he broke free.
The team was able to more easily concentrate fire on the Nemesis robots without those branches bothering them, and they promptly disabled the turrets, and then the robots themselves.
Lui led the way to what was left of the Anarchist—a gray circle, littered with holes, partially smoldering on the cave floor.
“Not much now, is he?” Lui said.
Bender came forward, and unleashed several rounds from his stingray, until the weapon overloaded. He blew away a good portion of that gray circle.
“How’s it feel to be shot at, Bitch?” Bender said. “That’s for invading our world!”
“All right, let’s plant the nuke and get out of here,” Rade said.
“The SKs are just going to disarm it, probably,” Fret said.
“Doesn’t matter,” Tahoe said. “We’ve killed the Anarchist. We’re only planting the nuke to fulfill the parameters of the mission, which demands that we destroy every last trace of the entity and its plants.”
Rade nodded. “The SKs might disarm it, or they might not. Either way, we’ve already completed the mission as far as I’m concerned. The Anarchist is gone. Still, the Brass wants us to incinerate these plants…” He beckoned toward the foliage around them. “So, we’ll destroy them. I suppose the Anarchist’s spores could be scattered throughout this chamber, after all.”
“Or rubbed all over our mechs as far as that goes…” Fret said.
“We’ll definitely have to go through decon when we get back,” Skullcracker agreed.
“We
ll, if the nuke is disarmed by our enemies,” Rade continued. “I’m sure the United Systems will be sending in a follow-up crew.”
“What I’m wondering is,” Bomb said, “if this was the Anarchist, then why did the Nemesis keep attacking us, even after we destroyed the alien?”
“Because this is real life, and not some cheap movie?” TJ said. “All those alien invasion movies show the heroes detonating some bomb at the command and control, or killing some big boss, and then all of a sudden every last one of the remaining aliens drops at the same time. Take War of the Worlds. The aliens get an infection from human pathogens, and then die at the same time! There’s no accounting for viral spread or immunological diversity among aliens. They just all die for the convenience of the plot. Well, this is no movie. Don’t expect the Nemesis to suddenly die or surrender now that the Anarchist is gone. In fact, we’ve probably only pissed them off even further, and we’re going to face more of them on the way out, I guarantee you.”
“On that note…” Rade said. “Manic, if you wouldn’t mind deploying the bomb?”
Manic clambered out of his mech to loosen the straps holding the nuke in his passenger seat. Then he returned to the cockpit and used the arms of his Jupiter to lower the warhead to the floor next to the Anarchist.
Meanwhile, Praxter, TJ, Pyro, Kicker, Skullcracker, and Snakeoil deployed the portable defense turrets they carried in their passenger seats. They unfolded the stands at the base of each turret and deployed them in a circle around the nuke, creating defenses that would track and open fire at any unidentified targets.
Rade and Tahoe were each carrying one half of the necessary codes to arm the weapon. Using the remote interface, Rade entered his code and Tahoe did likewise with his own. The trigger light turned green, and Rade set the countdown for forty-five minutes.
When that was done, he turned back the way they had come.
“We have forty-five minutes to leave the cave, and return to the extract site,” Rade said. “Skullcracker, Bomb, Snakeoil, I want you on drag. Kicker, Pyro, you’ll port the drill. Let’s go!”
He started the bomb’s countdown.
16
Rade glanced at his overhead map as he waded through the foliage toward the entrance to the cavern. So far, none of the HS3s watching the different intersections had picked up any enemies. But that didn’t really mean anything, because those HS3s didn’t have echolocation—they couldn’t spot SKs equipped with LIDAR blurring, thermal masking and visual blending.
“What if Bravo and the reinforcements fail to hold the breach point?” Fret said. “What if they weren’t even able to reach it… and we emerge to find ourselves surrounded by alien energy turrets?”
“They’ll hold it,” Rade said.
Snakeoil must have been studying the map, because he said, presently: “Actually… there’s no reason why we have to emerge right there, either. If you follow along on the map, past the breach, it continues parallel to the surface for the next five hundred meters. We could always drill our way out here.” He marked a spot on the map that appeared on everyone’s HUD. “Before the tunnel loops inward again. The drill only has to deal with an extra half meter of rock.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Rade said. “If Bravo is successfully holding the breach, there’s a good chance we’ll emerge directly in the heart of enemy units if we diverge even just a short distance. Plus, we’d be in the line of fire of any weapon turrets embedded in the cliff face itself in that area.”
“The safest option is to assume that Bravo has our backs,” Tahoe agreed. “I know if I was out there, I wouldn’t let Bravo down.”
“Let’s just hope they’re not overwhelmed,” Fret said. “Those Nemesis things… there sure were a lot of them.”
“They’ll hold the breach,” Rade insisted.
They reached the smaller tunnel, and formed up three abreast once more. The foliage continued to yield easily beneath them, no longer fighting them every step of the way.
“By the way, how long will you be able to change the nuke’s countdown?” Pyro asked.
“Not long,” Rade replied. “I’m almost out of range with the remote interface even now.”
“We could stream out the HS3s behind us as we retrieve them,” TJ said. “If you really wanted to increase the range.”
“I think it’s better if we just do our best to get out of here, and let the bomb detonate,” Rade said.
They encountered no resistance to the first intersection. The HS3s remained in place, guarding either side.
Bender, Praxter and Manic had taken the lead, as the ballistic shields of the former point men were too shot up. The three proceeded to dart into the intersection. TJ joined them, following Bender on the left, so that there were two mechs per side, going high and low. They kept their shields held in front of them, with their weapon muzzles shoved into the notch on top. As usual, those who went low angled their shields so as not to interfere with the aim of the mechs that remained high.
“Clear on the left!” Bender announced.
“Clear on the right, too,” Manic said.
TJ sent one of the collected HS3s forward to lead the way, and placed the other on drag, leading and trailing by fifty meters.
At the next intersection, TJ had the HS3 halt next to the edge, as there were already two HS3s watching each side of the corridor. TJ once more followed Bender on the left, while Manic and Praxter took the right; when the former pair peered around the leftmost bend, their shields immediately turned orange hot. The two HS3s in the intersection crashed to the cave floor.
“SK mechs!” Bender shouted.
Bender was thrown backward as something smashed into him. On the echolocation band, Rade caught a glimpse of a large, rectangular arm.
TJ was hurled backward into the main tunnel a moment later.
On the other side, Manic and Praxter immediately withdrew, firing their stingrays at the outlined mechs on the left. The enemies returned fire, striking their ballistic protection. Praxter’s weapon was hit, and he withdrew it behind his shield.
Rade already had his own shield rotated into place, and aimed the crosshairs of his cobra over the outline of the arm he still saw. He squeezed the trigger, and invisible shots repeatedly fired; he knew he was hitting his target, because bore holes appeared on the echolocation outline.
Bender apparently had a better firing angle than Rade, because he unleashed his plasma cannon from the floor. A moment later a smoldering mech blinked into view as it toppled into the intersection.
TJ rolled behind its wreckage, and fired at another unseen target. Rade heard a crash, and then TJ scanned the area quietly for a few moments, on both sides, before proclaiming: “Clear.”
The team continued over the wreckages, making their way back toward the breach. At the next intersection, they met no resistance. Nor the next. They simply continued on their way, gathering up the HS3s so that they could join the robotic scouts in the lead.
Only one HS3 awaited at the final intersection, as Rade had sacrificed the second earlier. That crossing point was also clear of foes.
“Almost there,” Manic said. “We might actually get out of this scot free after all.”
“Don’t jinx us,” Fret said.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Manic had indeed ‘jinxed’ them, because TJ shortly announced: “Lead HS3s are reporting enemy units.”
“They’re not SK?” Rade asked. He assumed so, because the HS3s wouldn’t have been able to see them otherwise.
“These are Nemesis,” TJ agreed. “More of those cylindrical things that look like they’re grafted onto giant hands.”
“Are we close enough to drill through the wall?” Fret asked. “Never mind, just checked the map.”
They still had another hundred meters or so to go before the breach point. It wouldn’t be practical to begin drilling until then, given the current thickness, as it would take far too long to penetrate through to the surface from here.
“We’re almost there,” Rade said. “We’re going to have to fight the Nemesis.”
“Got SK mechs on the rear, too!” TJ announced.
“Let’s deal with them, first!” Rade said.
The three units on drag—Skullcracker, Bomb and Snakeoil—dug in their shields, and as the rearmost HS3 retreated past them, they opened fire at the pursuers. They took return fire, judging from the orange areas that appeared on their shields.
“Got them,” Skullcracker said.
“But there are more coming behind them!” Snakeoil added. “They’re digging in… using the wreckages of the fallen as cover!”
“Damn it,” Rade said. “How’s it look ahead?”
“The Nemesis obviously have a way to communicate with the SKs, because they’re advancing toward our position now, too!” TJ said.
“We stay here, we’re outflanked,” Rade said. “Forward! We press on!”
Those on drag kept their shields in place, absorbing damaged from the SKs on the rear, while returning fire. They followed the rest of the platoon in pushing forward.
The lead HS3s retreated behind Bender, Manic and Praxter on point, taking cover behind their shields.
“You know, I’m kinda hoping that the SKs are going to disarm that nuke right about now!” Fret said.
“We’ll make it in time,” Rade said, glancing at the clock. They still had thirty minutes until detonation. He could no longer access the remote interface to the detonator from here, of course.
Bender, Manic and Praxter began to open fire. Their shields took hits, turning white hot in places, with holes appearing along the thinner edges. But so far, they hadn’t been struck with any gamma ray attacks, as the health indicators of the operators remained in the green on Rade’s HUD.
“We’ve taken down three of them, but we’re getting too shot up,” Praxter said. “We need to swap out!”
“Speak for yourself!” Bender said.
Rade accessed the shield damage reports of Bender, Manic and Praxter—all three of their ballistic shields were close to failure.
