Behold: Humanity!: Total War, page 13
ATOMIC ATOMIC ATOMIC flashed on his visor.
This time an angry fist of boiling fire rose up a mile from the old fortifications as Stampy ramped his fire output to 2.5 kt. Before the fire could even fade Stampy fired again and another fist rose into the sky, pushing back the dark heavy clouds.
**STAMPY HELP!** the bot squealed and fired again.
The ground trembled under Ralvex's feet as he pulled the gun up, firing at a large hovercraft that looked like it was heavy with munitions. The shells raked down the wing which suddenly came apart.
"OH SHIT, CLAMSHELL!" Ralvex yelled.
Stampy and Timmy hunkered down and a hexagonal pattern made of light covered them in a half-orb.
The craft nosed down just as the air defense stations opened up on it, raking down the fuselage and hammering at the other wing. The entire thing broke up, raining chunks of battle-steel armor, internal structures, and payload down onto the ground around Ralvex.
Payload that included high explosives.
Ralvex turned and jumped, hitting the wall and bouncing off, jumping again, flipping and twisting in mid-air, and landing in the standard pose, bringing his autocannon close to shield it. 525 barely got inside the protective housing before the jump and was locked in when first one went off. He locked his joints and inflated the pressure sleeve to max pressure, pumping it full with most of his remaining kinetic gel.
The world tore apart in rolling explosions that hurtled chunks of Precursor vehicle everywhere, the concussive wave slammed into Ralvex, who kept his neck straight, trusting his helmet to protect his head. The grav-spike howled as the blast waves pummeled him. His armor heated up and something slammed into him hard enough to take his breath away. A car slammed into him, flipped over his head, and vanished behind him.
The blast wave passed and he looked back down the highway. The mesa was 1,200 feet high, he was at the 800 foot mark, almost 500 meters of road down in front of him.
At the 400 foot mark the integrity fields had failed, the blasts scooping free large chunks of stone and throwing them into the sky. The blast had been channeled behind him and ahead of him, destroying more Precursor vehicles.
He checked his monitors and cursed.
His autocannon was reading failure. He stood up and checked it over. The housing was cracked and electronics could be seen inside. As he stood up he saw steaming kinetic gel leaking out of his joints. He'd taken a lot of hits. His right shoulder was yellow, his left leg amber on his HUD.
"Sound off."
**STAMPY ALIVE**
**TIMMY ALIVE**
"Regroup," he ordered. "525, you OK?"
--almost bent antenna-- 525 sent back with a smiley face that rolled its eyes like it was crazy.
Ralvex lowered the cannon and triggered a burst. Nothing. The firing grip just clicked.
"Autocannon's busted. See what you can do," Ralvex said, letting the harness pull it up into the rest position. He pulled around his rifle, loaded it, and checked the settings. At a full charge at the rate of fire he was using, he'd damage the barrel by morning.
But it was that or nothing.
His map updated. At the top of the ridge was his resupply and reload, delivered by Cutter.
It was just 600 meters behind him.
The only problem was the Precursor vehicles were already advancing up the bombed out highway. He knelt down, aimed, and fired. The mag-ac battle rounds sparked as they slammed into the battlesteel armor of the advancing vehicles. One shot hit one of the centipede legs at the front of the vehicle, snapping it free, and the rest shifted position to cover the jaws.
Lasers began snapping around him.
Tiny Tim rolled up out of the crater it was in, orienting the tandem 20mm rapid fire autocannons and opening fire. Its barrels were almost shot out so the thick lines of 4-1 APHEX to tracer wobbled slightly as the little force multiplier raked the oncoming Precursors.
Stampy jumped up out of the crater and ran for Ralvex.
**STAMPY HURT** the little drone squealed as it ran for Ralvex. Ralvex could see that the barrel of the hellbore was bent.
"Well, shit," Ralvex said. He reached down, grabbing grenades off his belt and throwing them out. Microprism, thermal masking smoke, chaff, ferrous-smoke. The two warbois rolled through it, stopping next to Ralvex, who hosed a long burst through the clouds of concealment. Ralvex grabbed battle-screen projectors and threw them on the ground, linking them together as fast as possible.
The battle-screen came up as HV rounds started bouncing off the rocks around Ralvex. The screen started sparking and flaring as rounds hit it even as the lasers and particle beams were shattered by the microprism mist.
--autocannon dead-- 525 said. --fix stampy--
He jumped from Ralvex's shoulder and glided to Stampy, looking the barrel over.
His radio clicked a few times.
"You still alive, Marine?" a voice asked. His armor IDed it as HTR-3 from earlier.
"Still alive," Ralvex said, gritting his teeth.
"You've got a payload here. Bunch of crates. Looks like a couple spare autocannons like the one you were packing. What do we do with them?" the Law Enforcement Officer asked.
"Just leave it," Ralvex said. "It's getting hot down here and I'm down to my battle rifle."
"What happened to your cannon?" he asked.
"It's gone. Get into the shelters," Ralvex snapped. "You can't help me."
The commo clicked and the Hesstlan was gone.
Tiny Tim was laying down the firepower, firing rockets as fast as it could. Ralvex undid the lockouts so that Tiny Tim could wet-print and kept watch. Any small drones in range of the rifle he snapped a shot at, knocking them out of the sky.
His armor pinged and he looked back. The vehicle from earlier was hurtling toward him, none of the lights on. He could see there were two HTR personnel in the front seats. He turned back to firing.
--gonna saw the barrel-- 525 said.
"We're not supposed to do that," Ralvex said.
--that or nothing-- 525 said, popping the torch and starting to cut.
Stampy and Tiny Tim fired their mortars dry in a rippling burst.
The LawSec car screeched to a stop and one door opened, the HRT officer crouched down behind the door, waving his arm.
"We brought one of the guns!" he yelled.
Ralvex wanted to yell at the civilian to clear the area, to get out of there before the Precursors started homing in on the EM emissions of the car or the heat signature of the ceramic engine.
The HTR crab walked back, opening the back door, and pulled the heavy autocannon out, grunting.
Ralvex kept shooting at the drones, snapping them out of the air. One of the point defense guns had gone silent.
Ralvex turned and ran over to the HTR, lifting the heavy autocannon out of the LawSec officer's hands. His armor immediately began to synch up with the weapon. It was a BOLO rapid-print nano-forge weapon but it was within specs.
"You guys need to get to the shelters. I don't know how much longer I can hold them off," Ralvex said. He took a long drink of water and tabbed up some gum.
Behind him Tiny Tim beeped and went to alternate firing, outrunning his nano-forge's ability to keep up with ammo consumption.
--done-- 525 said.
**STAMPY HELP**
"NO! Hold fire, Stampy!" Ralvex said. He turned back to the LawSec. “I'm about to go atomic again. Get to the shelters," he snapped.
The officer nodded, his eyes wide as the firepower from below picked up intensity and the battlescreen started snarling and crackling. He rushed back to his car as Ralvex connected his ammo pack to the autocannon and let it synch up.
"Officer," Ralvex yelled.
The officer paused.
"Thanks," Ralvex said. "Now get to shelter."
The unarmored car sped off as Ralvex cocked the autocannon and turned back to the man-made draw.
"Fire at will, Stampy," he ordered, squeezing the firing handle.
And the battle raged on.
-----
III CORPS
Units still widely scattered. Still rallying. 22% MIA but considered still in action.
-----
2 TELKAN SCOUT MARINES
Regroup when possible.
-----
TF TIAMAT
Task Force is currently forcing Precursor ships back from the planet.
Second force, designated Tango Two, have arrived at the Resonance Zone via jumpspace.
Current opponents do not match weapons, tactics, or ship types of previously encountered Precursors.
Designated Type-4.
HOLD UNTIL RELIEVED
The singer's voice was pure, perfect pitch, wafting through the roar of the autocannons, the shriek of the plasma guns, the crack of lasers, the howl of missiles, and the thunderclap of particle beam projectors. Her supporting chorus's voice moved in and out of the clamor of battle that almost seemed to run counterpoint to the songs.
Ralvex stopped firing, panting, listening to the Canticles of Fury as they played from the speakers around him. He'd backed up even further, maybe a hundred meters of road behind him before he'd be at the top of the mesa.
The steely light of false dawn was beginning to light a ribbon of the eastern horizon. The sky was full of contrails, tattered remnants of atomic hammerhead clouds, falling ash, bright sparks, and streaks across the upper atmosphere.
But to Ralvex, who had fought through the night, it was glorious to see the clouds on the horizon turn gold, crimson, and purple.
The Precursors were backing off, retreating out of the short range of Ralvex's remaining 155 snub-nose guns and the 60mm mortars. Thanks to Cutter's supply drops Ralvex had managed to keep the point defense, air defense, and counter-battery systems up and running even with the Precursors trying to shift focus to his defenses rather than going straight at him.
He had enough point defense and air defense now to keep the Precursors back from what remained of the town. The fires were out, white smoke still wafting into the air, but the local fire department had fought through the night against the blazes caused by the rounds that got through.
"Ralvex to Cutter, over," the Telkan panted. His suit was cooling fast, but he still felt like his fur was crisping.
"Cutter here. Go ahead, Ralvex, over," the big autonomous intelligent tank answered.
"Need another ammo drop. How's that autonomous system coming? Over." Ralvex asked. He could feel the pressure sleeve wicking away the sweat and almost gagged when he took a drink off his water tube and felt the sweat slide toward the middle of his back. It was purified and distilled, but...
"Retrieval unit has encountered difficulties. It may be some time before I can extricate the package from the crashed dropship," Cutter replied. "Are you still running solo, over?"
"Affirmative. They've backed off. They're all spread out. Looks like they're trying to think of a way to get at me," Ralvex said, looking through the eyes of one of his stealth drones. "Those two big ones have been holding position. They're just sitting there."
"Menacingly," Cutter broke in, transmitting a weird meme of a pink cartoon starfish pointing at a shadowy figure.
525 transmitted a laughing emoji.
"Exactly. They're staying far back enough I can't really get them with my main gun and any missile or artillery I try they're sacrificing light units. They're too close to the city to use Stampy's mini-bore since we sawed it off," Ralvex said. He was finally cooling down. "Any advice, Cutter, over?"
Ralvex let go of the autocannon and stretched, rolling his neck then his shoulders, then doing a quick set of low squats to get the blood flowing again. He tabbed up another piece of stim gum and made a huffing noise of disappointment when his armor told him he'd have to wait another 10 minutes.
**STAMPY HELP!** the little warboi beeped, and fired his sawed off hellbore, the thermal bloom that was normally dispersed by the end of the muzzle washing over Ralvex in a snap of fire. Several small Precursor vehicles moving slowly through the wreckage of the old ones took a 25kt directed explosion straight to the grills and vanished into scrap metal.
**TIMMY HOT** the other warboi sent, sending an emoji of a panting canine with floppy ears.
"I know you are, buddy," Ralvex said, reaching down and patting the warboi. 525 was replacing the heat sinks, they'd cracked during the fighting and were only running at 20% capacity.
"I am currently reloading my VSL cells, estimated time till completion twenty minutes. Drone scan shows that the reinforcements from the city are slowing down. It appears they are preparing to charge your position in hopes that overwhelming numbers can force the issue," Cutter said. "I cannot come to your assistance, I am currently engaged with three vehicles the size of Type-I Jotun vehicles. Over."
"Any messages, over?" Ralvex said.
"Telkan Second Marine Division orders are as follows: Proceed on independent command. Rally and link with available units if possible. Report position when able, over." Cutter said.
"Did you give them my position? Over," Ralvex asked.
"I have received no response beyond a receipt of message notification, over," Cutter said.
"Guess that'll have to do," Ralvex said. His drone was showing movement again. The Precursors were being careful, smaller vehicles hugging close to the larger ones and a lot of seismic sensor work via ELF going on. "They're coming. Ralvex, out."
"Cutter, out."
"Time to earn our pay, boys," Ralvex said.
There was silence except for the sweet purity of the woman's voice for a long moment.
Then the point defense weaponry opened up, the battle screens began to snarl as kinetic, plasma, and laser weapons probed for any gap, and air defense systems began firing on any craft that matched certain characteristics, such as: is more than ten feet off the ground and heading in a vaguely southern direction.
##NOW?## the Big Mommas asked.
"Not yet," Ravlex muttered. He glanced down at his weapon. The barrel was at 80% condition, the heat sink shroud that 525 had slapped onto it was still good. Thermal cores were good. Ammo hopper nano-forge on his back was at 8% heat and 2% slush.
He looked back up at the Precursors. They were advancing steadily, the smaller ones in the lead. They were really hammering their legs in the dirt and trying to crowd the two triple-wide lanes. The big ones were staying in the middle. There was a beeping from Drone-455 so he glanced at the window on his visor with the drone's feed. It was circling the city, keeping watch for any reinforcements.
Tanks were coming in from the north, armored troops moving with them, clusters of three to six armored troops behind each tank. There were APCs and AFVs mixed in, the treads all kicking up dust.
The drone IDed it as 3/67 Armor, 1st Cav.
"Well, not like you're gonna be much help," Ralvex muttered. He opened a channel and tried to raise them but got no reply. As he was doing that he started dropping grenades, letting them roll down the tarmac and spray out their payload.
Prism, smoke, masker.
--we 2nd telkan we got guns we come here to bring fun-- 525 said.
Ralvex felt stupid, in a weird way, for apparently standing out in the open. There was the remains of a public toilet to either side of him with parking spaces. The vehicle that had been abandoned in the southbound one had been dragged out into the road, blown up, the pieces used as cover, and those blown up.
Now the road was clear as the sun broke the horizon and the Precursors reached where Ralvex was waiting for.
"NOW!" he called out.
The smart-frame mortars and 155s went to full rapid fire, Stampy and Timmy played happy tunes and began firing, and the mines, quiet for the last four hours, jumped up out of the ground and raced at their targets or just exploded underneath the vehicles passing over them. Timmy and Stampy's indirect fire weapons cut loose, throwing a mix of HEDP, maskers, and dazzlers.
Ralvex squeezed the firing grip and the autocannon started roaring again, the rate of fire dropped to 250 rounds a minute, with a three APHEX to one APHEX-T, meaning a tracer went out every second, giving it an odd look, like he was throwing streaks of light at the vehicles.
The big problem, as the night proved, was that tracers worked both ways.
Which is why he started shuffling to the left and right at odd times, following a randomized string that 525 had whipped up a few hours prior. He'd fire for 2-5 seconds, till the string beeped, move, fire again.
The cloud of masking smoke started flashing as lasers were blocked by the microprism mist scattering the frequency (which 525 had cracked during the night and ordered the nano-forge to build crystals set for those specific frequencies), particle beams scattered on the ionized water vapor, and the high-velocity rounds cracked against the battle-screens.
Still, Ralvex felt like he was disregarding his training as he basically stood out in the open and ran his heavy gun like he was invincible.
The enemy unit in the draw was tenacious. It had managed to bring up reinforcements during the night to provide artillery and defense support. The mobile attack units were extremely effective and had massed during the battle. At least one weapon had been knocked out, the heavy nuclear cannon, forcing the enemy to rely on a lighter and shorter weapon.
However, the enemy was still holding the draw, and the air defense was extremely effective, using a variety of munitions as well as detection methods and frequencies. So far, in the artificial cleft in the mesa that the road had been laid in, the enemy had at least a dozen vehicles, all armed with a heavy kinetic weapon with what appeared to be bottomless ammunition stores. Resupply was being provided by the damnable armored unit nearly three hundred miles away but the possibility of that much ammunition being provided was slim.
The enemy's artillery was effective and devastating, many shells penetrating the upper deck armor of combat machines and either detonating inside or puncturing clear through to detonate on the ground underneath.
The fact that the enemy kept sending out a single scout to reconnoiter before laying down highly effective scan denial aerosol so that the main body could move up was annoying. The enemy had at least a dozen vehicles in addition to the scout.
