Mars.
The Republic of New Texas. Formerly the Union colony of New Texas.
A contested region known as Gordon’s Canyon.
Since the Union government’s collapse the former colonies of New Texas and Mars city, now known as the Peoples federation of Mars had been at odds over possession of the region between their two sprawling city states known as Gordon’s canyon. Recently the leadership of the people's federation had resorted to removing Texan miners and colonists by force. The Texan government had resisted but was clearly outmatched and slowly lost ground. After a few large scale battles in which Federation forces had easily gained victory the Texans had resorted to guerrilla tactics with their antiquated war’bots in an attempt to delay the inevitable. Captain Tao, and his peers, respected the Texans stubbornness, even if they didn’t understand it.
The Peoples Federation of Mars leadership had been shrewd and seen many months before hand that the only resolution with their fiercely independent neighbors would be through military conquest. In preparation, Federation agents had brokered an exclusive agreement with the TriTek manufacturing corporation. In exchange for exclusive access to TriTeks top of the line Fujin and Rajin War’ bots The Peoples Federation of Mars would supply decades worth of refined ores from Gordon’s Canyon to TriTek at very low costs. So in the preceding months the Federations military leaders had established three new premier War’bot companies. Two Fujin Assault companies and a Rajin Heavy support Company, seventy two brand new war’bots in addition to their regular forces and a contingent of mercenaries.
By comparison, the bulk of Texan War’bots encountered on the battlefield had been light Destriers and its medium rated big brother the Patton. Intelligence gathered prior to open hostilities had indicated only one company of Heavy chassis War’bots in the Texan arsenal. That company, a company of Griffins, had been lured into an ambush at the onset of the conflict and destroyed. Now with two orbital support cruisers providing long range scanning as well as drop ship hangars for reinforcements, it was only a matter of time before New Texas would succumb to the Peoples Federation of Mars.
“Yari one, this is Tsunami,” The Cruiser, out of sight and far above was named for the ancient earth sea storms of legend. “We are reading multiple possible contacts three kilometers east of your location. How copy?”
The Tsunami was a proper Battle cruiser and unique in its ability to fully support ground operations. When the TriTek corporation had acquired the massive cruiser they had refit it with their own state of the art technology to support client states like the Peoples Federation of Mars.
It was only a moment before the cruiser’s operator responded. “We see approximately two squads worth closing on your position. Judging from the speed they appear to be light chassis War’bots, probably Destriers.”
“Roger, twelve Destriers closing.” James almost felt bad. He wondered if the Texan pilots even knew that his squad was here. It was possible they were making a deliberate assault but more likely that they were on the move and blindly stumbling into James’ smaller but none the less superior force.
“Attention, Yari squad,” James cleared his throat, “We have approximately twelve Destriers closing from the east, inside three kilometers. Presumed hostile. Acknowledge.”
His other five war’bot commanders acknowledged the information, but James hardly heard them. He was studying the terrain. He had not expected to fight a battle here. With steep canyon walls all around it would be difficult to maneuver the squad to simultaneously ambush the Texans.
The six Fujins that made up Yari squad were equipped as two separate teams of three. Alpha team, led by James, was configured for making a close assault and overpowering an enemy. Bravo team was a medium range support team, meant to cripple or harass the enemy from distance or cover while Alpha team closed for the kill.
James glanced at the sensor officer’s display screens again. There was still no sign of the enemy, but they'd be here soon. He decided his best bet was to get bravo team in a solid overwatch position on the ridge just ahead of them. There, equipped with Tulumbas, Hydras and Molot Ts, they would be able to pin down their unsuspecting adversary, while James led Alpha team close through the cover and concealment of the craggy terrain. Typically the Texan Destriers they had encountered were poorly armed and any weapons fire that the Fujins did receive from them was likely to be minimal and easily absorbed by their powerful energy shields.
“Yari one, Tsunami,” Their overwatch from the stars, interrupted James before he could relay his instructions to Bravo team, “Targets are maintaining course in your direction and approaching two kilometers.”
“Roger that, Tsunami, break” James cleared his throat again, as he often did when directing his squad. “Bravo team, this is Yari one, take up a support position along that ridge directly to our front,” James paused to target the ridge with his command designation system and a holographic white beacon appeared on the display screens of his squad as if it suddenly grew out of the ridge. “Alpha team, follow my lead into the low ground to close for an assault.”
“Yari one, Tsunami, be advised, Kyūdō squad is standing by for insertion.”
“I copy, Kyūdō is standing by,” was James’ only reply. Let them be jealous he thought.
James pushed forward on his control stick, and his ‘bot lumbered forward, approaching the canyon. Yari three and five followed him in a wedge formation, while Bravo team, lead by Yari two climbed the ridge James had indicated with his command beacon. As he descended the steep bank of the canyon a small white light on his console’s display turned blue indicating that the ridge had been occupied by bravo team.
A short burst of radio transmission from Yari two confirmed that fact. “Bravo team in
James did not bother to acknowledge his Bravo team leader. The canyon which extended to the east and toward the Texans, was only about six hundred meters wide at this point. If the Texans were lucky enough to realize that they were walking into an enemy squad they would have to descend into the canyon under withering fire from Bravo team in order to get close enough to use most of their light weapons, at which point they would run into the plasma fire of the assault team. If the Texans didn’t detect them at all, well then this would all be over very soon.
James’ sensor officer spoke up over the intercom as their Fujin slid down the last few meters of the bank to the canyon floor. “Sir, Ive got them on screen, multiple contacts due east, nine hundred meters. They've stopped on the far ridge.”
The sky above the canyon suddenly lit up with the bright sizzling multicolored lights of gekko laser fire. James, almost didn’t know what he was seeing for a moment. He checked his command console, but there was no damage to Alpha team. He swiped his data screen to the right to view the status of the support team back on the ridge. His stomach sank as he watched Yari six’s hull integrity plummet below fifty percent. “Get off that ridge!” He yelled over the radio, but it was too late.
By the time Yari six had disengaged from his defensive posture, with energy shields deployed a second volley of laser fire had sliced through its armor hull and ruptured its reactor. James watched in disbelief as Yari six status suddenly displayed the words “offline.”
The Fujin’s energy shields were worthless against energy weapons like the gekko laser, and worse in having the shield deployed Bravo team had immobilized themselves, becoming easy targets. Yari two and four had backed off of the ridge out of line of sight from the Texans, but their hulls were both in rough shape. Without their covering fire James’ assault team was vulnerable in crossing the canyon. Still he pressed on, as rapidly as possible. The Gekkos would lose their advantage when he closed the distance.
Reluctantly James keyed up his radio mic. “Tsunami, this is Yari one, deploy Kyūdō squad to my beacon for covering fire.” James was loathe to ask for help, but it was still better than taking unnecessary losses.
The Kyūdō squad’s Raijin was a heavier version of the Fujin and although it only boasted two heavy weapons mounts, instead of the Fujin’s three medium, it also utilized a heavy physical shield that would render the gekko all but useless. That and Kyūdō’s long range heavy plasma cannons would force the texans on the ridge to seek shelter or die where they stood.
James told himself that he just had to get close and pressed forward.
……………..
“Bandit Leader, this is Outlaw Actual, reposition your squad fifty meters east up the side of the ridge we just came over,” There was no point in exposing his light ‘bots to the Fujin’s mid range weapons when his boys could hit them from almost twice the distance. “And keep an eye on those three closing, would ya? If you get a chance to, make ‘em dance.” Sam added the last as if it were an afterthought, but he new exactly what he was doing. He hoped.
The light war’bots of Outlaw and Bandit squads were a new design, on an old chassis. This was their first action and they had a lot to prove. The hope of New Texas was riding on them and similar new designs. Times had been tough and conflict with the People’s Federation of Mars made them tougher. The Texans knew they were out gunned from before the conflict had begun. Resources were lean but some of their mechanics lead by Sam’s brother, Isaac, a gifted engineer, had designed a new configuration using about eighty five percent of the parts from antiquated destrier chassis they possessed and a few newly fabricated parts. They called it Jesse, after the legendary outlaw and gunfighter. Jesse maintained the speed and low profile of its predecessor, but added two movable weapon mounts that could be quickly rotated from a back up position into a firing position when needed. The result was a very versatile light ‘bot, able to carry two separate weapon load outs. In the case of Outlaw and Bandit squads that was long range, shield ignoring, Gekko lasers, and close range high arching Aphid rockets. Sam had requested the load outs. This combination of weapons provided the best of available long range capabilities and the ability to fire at close range from cover.
Sam was counting on the Fujins assuming his squads were armed with only the long range Gekkos and rushing to cover to close the distance. So far they had obliged. At close range the Fujins, likely armed with plasma weapons, would shred any light ‘bot in only one or two presses of a trigger. However, these Fujins weren't able to fire from behind cover like Sam’s Jesses could.
A few beams of laser fire pierced the red dusty air, converging on a Fujin in the Canyon. It was only exposed for a moment as it moved from one jagged boulder into a steep walled wadi, but it was enough for the Texans to harass it.
“Good work, boys,” Sam praised his pilots, “don’t make it easy on them.”
The short blast of laser fire had done little damage, save to make the Fujin glow in a few spots, but the phycological affect on a crew of being targeted when unable to return fire was detrimental. It could make them stop paying attention to their surroundings, and make them frustrated and overly aggressive to get back at their tormentors.
Sam checked the range to the enemy in the canyon, four hundred fifty meters, it was almost time. He checked the two enemy on the far side of the canyon before committing. They hadn't taken the bait and remained in cover, but there was a glow in the sky above them. “Drop ship,” Sam said out loud, but only to himself. That will be something with range to counter our gekkos, he thought.
“Time to go,” Sam’s voice was urgent but calm over the radio, “Outlaws, stay with me. Bandit Squad, swing round to my right flank. Lets make this quick, they've got back up inbound.”
“On the move, switching to Phids,” was Bandit leaders reply. Phids, was slang for Aphids, and one of many unnecessary abbreviations Sam’s pilots liked to use.
Sam fired a quick laser burst into the leg of a Fujin as he crested the canyon’s edge, then punched down and held his weapons system’s rotation button. He saw the long square gekko frames spin up and around toward Jesse’s back while two cone like clusters of Aphid rockets swung up and from the sides of his display screens. His weapons light turned green again, and he scanned for a target as his ‘bot stabilized itself while sliding down the gravelly slope to the canyon’s floor.
The Fujins stopped for a moment, obviously surprised, but none of them committed to their positions by engaging shields. A choice that would have helped them. They expected laser fire, and their shields were useless against it. Certainly the prudent choice would be to maintain some maneuverability. They were just inside four hundred meters of the three plasma armed Fujins. Sam’s targeting system locked on to the nearest enemy.
Outlaw squad followed Sam across a short open space on the canyon floor and into a cluster of boulders that had broken away from the canyon’s wall. The three enemy were still in the wadi and unable to get a line of sight on the Texans. The Outlaws continued to close with the startled Fujins until arriving at the three hundred and fifty meter range they required.
“Give em hell,” was all Sam needed to say. Truthfully he didn’t need to say anything. His boys had been fighting a losing war for months and were eager to turn the tables.
The Aphids arched in spiraling rings of fire out over the boulders and almost directly down on the unprepared Fujins, stranded in the wadi. The twelve cones of death sent two of the enemy ‘bots crumpling into the red dust immediately, their crews, lucky to both successfully eject high into the air. Sam watched them ascend, past the suddenly braking dropship, as more fiery rings leapt into the wadi from bandit squad off to his right. A third crew compartment rocketed across Sam's screens and out of sight above. Lucky, Sam thought to himself.
“Bandit squad, green,” the Bandit leader let Sam know they had sustained no damage and were ready for instructions. The trap was sprung and now a quick follow up was essential.
Sam checked his squad’s status display. All green lights.
“Bandit leader, cross the canyon, use cover. Break. Outlaw six, hang back until that drop ship delivers, and get visual on what it brings. The rest of you with me.” Sam punched his control stick to the right, guiding his robot’s feet around the boulders, and hurried to follow behind Bandit squad. He would have bet a months pay that the new arrivals would be long range heavies, probably Raijins, but betting was something Sam did for fun, and not with his men's lives. Six would make sure they weren’t walking into the same trap that the Fujins had just died in.
Sprinting across the canyon floor behind Bandit squad, the Outlaws were out of sight before the drop ship was in position over the two remaining Fujins. Outlaw six, radioed in as the other eleven Texan ‘bots slipped into the shadow of the west side of the canyon, closing with their would be ambushers. “Outlaw leader, this is Outlaw Six, looks like six Jins,”slang for the TriTek quad’bots, “all with trebs.”
“Get to cover, and catch up, Six,” Sam had guessed right. There would be no more using the gekkos. Getting out in the open to take a shot with them would be useless as well as dangerous. The Trebuchets, or Trebs, mounted in pairs on a heavy Raijin would eat most light ‘bots alive in one blast, and had a range greater than the gekkos. Making a long range duel even less possible was the Raijin’s, thick forward armor plating. Gekkos wouldn’t even scratch it.
A cloud of dust and red sand rained down onto the Texans, churned up by the drop ship’s thrusters pushing against the above canyon ledge. It would pass in a moment, but it made navigating the craggy canyon floor difficult for the time being. An alarm sounded in Sam’s earpiece and then immediately ended. Some one was cycling through available targets up on the ridge above them. It was about to get interesting.
Through the dusty dim light Sam saw the pale glow of a rocket arcing up in the sky to come over the canyon’s edge and plummet in a twisting pattern toward Bandit squad ahead of him. “Incoming!” Sam hollered into his mic.
The first flare of a rocket was followed by another, and then another. A steady stream of rockets leapt up into the air and plunged down toward the Texans. The rockets were Hydras and avoiding them was not easy. The Texans were moving as tightly as they could up against boulders and cliff ledges, but the Hydra rockets dropped in from almost straight above. Many of them impacted on rocky overhangs and cliff ledges, but plenty found their mark, on the lead Bandit ‘bot. He took several hard hits before he made it to a large enough ledge to shelter beneath. Still rockets shrieked down, all around the Jesse, sending rock and debris flying out into the air. After a few more rockets, the rounds stopped. The gunner above, from one of the Fujins who had been on the ridge, could tell he wasn’t getting the hits he needed, and cycled through his targets, looking for one he could hurt.
The Hydra Fujin, and its only remaining squad member had already taken serious damage. They had both been smoking as their glowing hull’s had retreated after the first Fujin was destroyed. Sam’s targeting sensors showed the two enemies’ reactors at only about four hundred meters ahead of them and it was a little over one hundred meters to the canyon wall. Sam cycled his targets and found the two damaged Fujin. One of them had to be carrying the hydras, so they'd target them first, and deal with the Raijins later. Sam designated them “f1” and “f2” on his targeting computer.
“Bandit Leader, this is Outlaw, check your targets. Take f2 on the right, we’ll swing left and get 1.” Sam looked at the canyon wall, it was high, probably too high for the Aphids to arc over. “And look for some elevation, we’re going to have to fire over that ledge some how.”
“Moving,” Bandit leader replied, and his ‘bot’s sprinted off, between boulders and rocky spires and into the settling dust. More Hydra fire twisted toward them smashing into red rock and stone, spraying gravel in the air, and occasionally hammering against an armored hull. The Hydras were not a very powerful weapon and often only a nuisance, but they were accurate and if in a situation where you could not seek cover, or return fire they could be catastrophic.
“Outlaws, with me,” Sam pushed his ‘bot forward. “Target f1.”
“Bandit, this is Outlaw,” Sam hoped the other squad was having better luck, “ Im having to move farther south to get a shot over the edge.”
“Roger that, Outlaw…. Engaging.”
Safe for a moment, Sam cycled his targeting to f2, Bandit squad’s target. Its shields were up, but they suddenly vanished and then its hull integrity dropped to nothing, before the target indicator shot up into the sky. Sam switched back to his own target.
“Good work bandit! Can you draw a bead on f1?” Sam hoped for an easy follow up.
“Negative, Outlaw, its moving south, your way. We are still taking hydra fire.” That meant the sole remaining Fujin, was equipped with the best means to target the Texans. At least the newly arrived Raijins had not brought their plasma belching Trebuchets to bear yet, but they would soon. The heavy quad’bots were slow, but a force to be reckoned with when they arrived.
Sam checked his range to target, it was getting closer to him. Closer to the hill. “Bandit, act like your moving into firing range on it, I’ve almost got him. Break. Outlaws, back to the hill.”
The Jesses trotted up the hill and turned toward their target. It still crept toward them, fixated on the dangerous proximity of the other Texan squad. They locked on. Almost in range. The bandits clung to their wall farther north and tried to get as close to f1 as they could, making it feel threatened. The outlaws fired twelve fiery circles of death. The aphids fire always amazed Sam. He'd been on the wrong end of it before, and it woke him at night in terror. Up on the canyons rim F1 disintegrated under the hateful volley. There was no sign of an ejection.
Normally Sam would have felt like celebrating, they had just eliminated an entire squad of very capable medium war’bots without a single casualty. Of course, normally Sam wouldn’t have charged into the low ground either. The Jesses were making him have to adjust his thinking. Those Raijins up above had the long range game locked down, and they were armored.
Sam weighed his options. Going back across the canyon was out. The Raijins would pick them off one by one. The same problem applied to trying to climb that hill again and use the Aphids. They'd be lucky to get one volley off before a wall of armored quad’bots melted the whole hill I into glass. They needed to find a way up this side of the canyon to maneuver around their adversary. The two Texan squads were already about eight hundred meters apart. They might as well stay split up and see if they couldn’t find two different routes up. Besides, Sam thought, they had surely gotten someone’s attention high above, for the drop ship to have arrived. He'd hate to give whoever was watching the chance to take out both of his squads with one orbital strike.
A spray of gravel suddenly scattered across Sam’s Jesse, leaving dust that obscured part of his optics view. He scrambled to check his targets, worried a Raijin had slid down into the Canyon. His heart pounded, but he was clear. Instead two of the Behemoths, stood almost directly above Outlaw squad. Daring them to try and use the hill as a firing position again. They'd have been fools to come down to the Canyon’s floor. Sam couldn’t take any longer, they had to move.
“With me Outlaws,” Sam punched his bot’s controls, swinging it around and headed south. “Stay tight to this wall, the Jins are watching.”
“Bandit leader, This is Outlaw actual, Im heading south. Take your squad north until you can find a safe way up, and Ill meet you up there.” Sam’s nature was to push the fight they had already started, but he new better. Right now the Raijins had the advantage, but if piloting a Jesse had taught him anything it was that he had options. The Raijin was slow, Jesse was fast. So he'd relocate and come at the tougher ‘bot on his terms.
But he did hate running from a fight. Sam tried to reassure himself that it was just being smart.
Jesse’s legs sped on carrying him over the red wasteland. Each step shook some of the debris on his optics loose.
“Outlaw Leader, this is Bandit Leader, Were working a route out now, about one click off of targets, how copy?” It had only been a few minutes, but the Bandits were making good progress.
“I copy, moving up, one click off target,” Sam replied, tugging on a cigar stuffed into a ring on his uniform’s sleeve. It was jammed into a special pocket that was meant to hold a series of syringes for emergency self administered first aid. Sam had discovered that the round elongated pockets were almost perfect for his cigars, if just a little tight, and promptly thrown away the syringes. He had Outlaw Two take the lead so he could enjoy his cigar.
Rotating his turret to the rear Sam checked the activity of the enemy on the ridge behind him. Doubtlessly, they had tried to maneuver for a shot on the departing light ‘bots, but the steep canyon wall would prevent that as long as the Texans stayed close to it. Sam puffed on his cigar and stopped for a moment, his squad passing around him. Judging from the distances on his Heads Up Display (HUD) it looked like the six Raijins were split into two groups of three, one moving North after the the Bandits and the other group heading south after Sam’s squad.
“We can work with that,” Sam said to himself.
It would have been tougher if the Raijins had stuck together, and focused on one squad. Perhaps they thought that the Texans were attempting to withdraw, and wanted a chance at taking them all out. Regardless, Sam still needed a way up the steep canyon ledge.
“Outlaw, this is Bandit,” Bandit leader sounded slightly distorted over the radio. They were almost three kilometers apart, and the irregular terrain was beggining to interfere with radio transmissions. “We are in position.”
Sam swung his turret back around and threw his drive controls forward. His squad was just ahead. They needed a way up before they moved too far from the Bandits and lost comms. “Roger that Bandit, we are working on it…” Was that a break in the canyon wall ahead? “Be advised it looks like the reds are splitting up.”
“Roger,” Bandit replied.
Outlaw Two stopped and then moved right, disappearing into the cliffs face. The other ‘bots followed Sam’s assistant squad leader. Sam caught up with them and was the last to leave the canyon floor. They were in what looked like a giant washed out ditch that rose as it moved away from the main canyon. Mars was peculiar. It had ice caps and these apparent washouts and wadis all across the planet, but relatively no water. However the ditch was formed, Sam was glad it was here. They moved quickly, heading west for about five hundred meters until they emerged into a haphazard and pitted collection of rock formations. It was this type of craggy and inhospitable terrain that had allowed the Texans to wage their guerrilla war.
They were over two kilometers from their objective now, but at least they were able to finally make an approach. The Outlaws moved quickly. At this distance there was no immediate threat from the Raijin’s Trebuchets, even if they had line of sight.
“Bandit Leader, this is Outlaw,” Sam held his cigar to speak clearly, “we are up and closing, from two clicks.”
The Jesse’s feet crunched on gravel and Sam was jostled in his seat as he moved rapidly over the rough ground. Bandit Leader didn’t respond.
Sam waited a moment before following up, “Bandit leader, how copy last?”
“BUSY!” Was the only reply, but Sam was still relieved.
He swiped his console to the right to check on Bandit squads status. They had taken a bit more damage, but were all still in the fight for now. Sam checked his range to the nearest targets. They were inside fifteen hundred meters. Bandit leader would communicate when he got the chance, but there was no good to come from waiting for him.
“Get small,” Sam transmitted to only the Outlaws. The last thing Bandit squad needed, was extra chatter to distract them. “We are approaching their weapons range.”
As if on cue, first one, and then a second and third Raijin broke across the skyline of a jagged toothlike ridge. The three quad’bots scanned the area, judging the terrain, hoping to set up a kill zone. Slowly, the three ‘bots spread out. If they could cover this area from different angles, they’d be more of a threat to the lightly equipped Texan’s who needed the cover of the terrain for protection.
“All right, Take your time.” Sam spoke reassuringly. Now was not the time to rush. He was excited as anyone would be, but he knew what they needed. They hadn't taken the long way around just to rush now. “Spread out and pick your routes, well. I’ll stay center.”
Sam’s pilots acknowledged his orders and dispersed, slipping into wadis, or into depressions and behind small ragged ridges. Sam watched them, trying to account for the routes they were taking, before choosing one himself. There was a fissure that ran mostly north and a little east, just deep enough for his ‘bot to hope for cover in. Sam eased forward, giving it a second look, and then accelerated. “Here we go again,” he muttered to himself around the cigar.
Following the rough fissure Sam closed to less than a thousand meters of the center Raijin. He could see it, just over the top of the Fissures edge, proudly sitting on it’s ridge. Its four powerful legs were firmly planted and its forward armor shield was deployed, like a giant grim mask. It scanned back and forth. The Trebuchets, with their long partially glowing guidance rods, twitched, as the gunner cycled targets, Hoping for one of the Texans to leave cover.
Sam’s fissure was narrowing and starting to grow more shallow. He stopped and looked for a new path. There was a forest like cluster of rocky spires farther ahead, but he'd have to traverse some open ground to get into the large red columns. Sam studied the Raijin, nearest him through his optics which just peaked above the fissure. The armored mask and its two spears of fire stared right back at him from nine hundred meters away. Sam’s warning alarm sounded, confirming what he already knew.
Sam waited. So did the Rajin’s gunner. He had Sam pinned and he knew it.
Sam keyed his Mic. “Outlaw units this is actual. Can anyone safely put fire on that center Raijin?”
“Outlaw actual, this is Three, standby,” Three was probably rotating his Jesse’s Gekkos back around front to the firing position. Sam had been so focused on using cover to get close he'd failed to see the prudence in switching his own lasers back. He rotated them now, while he waited, staring down the Rajin. “This is three, ready. On your Mark.”
“Roger, Three,” Sam replied.
He waited a moment longer, locking in the Raijin as his target. He'd at least throw a dual laser burst at it when he moved.
“Mark.”
A red laser beam appeared out of nowhere on Sam’s right, drilling into the side of the center Raijin, hitting where it was locked on to the quad’bots reactor. Instinctively the Raijin’s gunner turned, and drove a long bolt of plasma at Outlaw Three. Sam was on the move. With his chassis moving as fast as possible for the forest of spires Sam’s turret rotated enough to track the Raijin and he hammered it with both his Gekkos. It was a short distance to move and didn't take long, but the Raijin’s gunner managed to turn back to Sam quickly enough, and sent a solitary and brilliant bolt of plasma slamming into his ‘bot’s nose.
Sam lurched in his seat against the restraints. He could only see bright white and his panels sparked and smoked. But Sam kept moving, both hands holding his control sticks in a death grip. The Jesse rammed into something and Sam stopped, pulling his hands from the controls and rubbing his eyes, frantically. He squeezed them shut and opened them, rubbing his eyes hard and then squeezed them again. Finally he could see the gray shapes of his hands in front of his eyes. He squeezed them shut and opened them again and then waived his hands in front of his eyes to make sure that he could in fact still see. Blinking, he looked over his displays. He'd crashed right into the Martian rock forest.
Sam shook his head, trying to clear his vision better. Could he hear? The boom of impact from the plasma had sounded like being hit by lightning. He was out of line of sight for the Raijin he thought or he'd have been hit again by now.
“Outlaw Three, Status…” Sam hoped he hadn't gotten one of his guys hit as well, trying to be too clever.
“Three is green,” came the reply. Sam was glad to learn he could hear, and that Three who had briefly exposed himself to the Raijin’s overwatch, was still in one piece.
Sam realized the Raijin’s gunner must have been experienced. Instead of firing both of his hard hitting but slow to recharge heavy weapons at Outlaw Three, who had been ready and ducked behind cover, he had only fired one weapon to address the threat, and then brought the other one to bear, and fire on Sam, who he had been watching. It was smart shooting. Sam checked his systems.
Everything important was still functioning. A few data consoles were not displaying correctly but he could reroute there displays through other screens. The cockpit felt warm and smelled like smoke. A frantically flashing status display was telling him that the hull integrity was an estimated forty eight percent. Sam made a note to himself not to go out in the open again. His ‘bot would not survive another full powered hit from a single Trebuchet cannon, never mind a pair of them.
Sam had bit through his cigar again, and he spit out the pieces of tobacco that were stuck in his lip. Easing back on the controls, the war’bot moved back off the rock spire it had smashed into. Pieces of rock and dust fell away from were he had hit. Scanning left and right Sam found a narrow opening he could fit in between the rocks. It was hard to move around, almost like a maze, but Sam needed cover and carefully picked his way through the odd rock formations. Occasional glimpses let him see the Raijin, still six hundred fifty meters away, scanning back and forth. He saw it shoot once, the plasma bolts caused the rocks he was behind to suddenly cast dark, long shadows. He checked his squad’s status, but they were all in better shape than him.
He’d better check on the Bandits again, “Bandit, leader, this is Outlaw. Whats your status?”
Sam slid between two tight boulders and took a few more steps before there was a response. “Outlaw Leader, this is Bandit Leader, we are five out of six and yellow with three adversary down.”
Sam wondered who had been taken out of action in Bandit squad. He wouldn’t ask now of course, but he hoped they had ejected safely. “Roger, are you en route to my targets?”
“Affirmative, Outlaw.” Taking casualties had made both of them feel more tired. “Five hundred and closing.
Good Sam thought. They would over run the Raijins trying to pick off the Outlaws soon.
Passing through another tight fit of misshapen rock Sam could see out onto an open stretch at an angle to the north east. The HUD indicated where the Raijin was, to the north, but Sam could not see it to know if it was looking at him. He eased out from the rock slowly, just enough for one of his forward optics to pick up the Raijin and its ridge. Suddenly, the Raijin fired, but not at Sam. Outlaw Three was running between boulders just ahead of the open ground that Sam was watching, trying to close with the Raijin. The plasma beams impacted on a boulder though and threw out a flaming plume of magmatized Mars rock. The Far side of the boulder exploded into a thousand glowing embers and what remained, was a melting glowing mass of slag. Outlaw three didn’t bother to stop. The boulder wouldn’t protect him a second time. Instead he pushed to make it to the next one. Sam sped out into the open to catch up with Three. The Trebuchets were slow enough to recharge that he should be able to make it across the open space before the Raijin’s gunner could treat him like that melting boulder.
Sam had not seen the other two Raijins since before the squad split up, but now out in the open he could see them both moving back toward the center Raijin that he and Three wee trying to close with.
Both Raijins stayed low, on the back side of the ridge, but Sam could see the HUD indicating where their reactors were with a small red triangle. They moved slowly together until Sam realized what they were doing.
Sam slipped into a ditch after crossing the low ground and tried to put a boulder between him and the Raijin. The boulder was far off, at least two hundred meters and and Sam was at least twice as far to the Raijin. Outlaw Three was almost to the boulder. Sam was following right behind him. He watched Three’s Gekkos flip back behind the cockpit and saw the Aphids take their place in the firing position. Sam counted subconsciously, waiting for Threes targeting to lock on, and then the Aphids flew. They arced over the boulder and slammed into the giant forward shield of the Raijin guarding its ridge. As lethal as Aphids could be they still didn’t do much to that shield. The trick was to shoot them in an armored targets rear or side for maximum affect.
Sam rotated his own Aphids to the front and the targeting system automatically highlighted the nearest Raijin just as Outlaw Three’s system had done for him. Then Sam cycled his targets. The three remaining Raijins had backed themselves into a circle. The two on the other side of the ridge had moved to center, hoping to protect each other’s unarmored sides and rear. Sam’s system locked on and he sent the Aphids vaulting over Outlaw Three, the boulder, and the Raijin on the ridge into the rear of one of the two backed up to it and just out of sight.
“Target the far ones!” Sam didn’t keep the excitement from his voice as he addressed both squads.
Another swarm of Aphids vaulted from Sam’s right and over the hill, then another from his left. The Texans were converging. From beyond the boulder that Sam still charged toward another blinding lance of plasma energy hurtled into the rushing light ‘bots, but there was no time to see if it had hit its mark. From beyond the ridge a circle of Aphids appeared in the sky and then plummeted onto the Raijin still guarding the ridge. Outlaw Three fired again, this time sending his cluster over the ridge as well. An ejection pod shot into the sky. Sam’s Aphid system was reloaded and he fired at the remaining target beyond the hill. He switched to his Gekkos again, not waiting to reload or even see the impact of his Aphids, and leaving the boulder, drilled both beams into the defiant Raijin on the ridge.
He didn’t know it but he screamed. It was a curse. He hated his enemy. Who did they think they were? The Gekkos burned with all of Sam’s anger and rage into the thick soulless armored mask of the Raijin, Sam didn’t care if it was foolish. He would kill it with his shear will if he had to.
The Raijin looked down the ridge at Sam. Its two Trebuchets narrowing as the gunner locked onto him. Then the Aphids came from over the hill hitting the Raijin in the rear and sending the Trebuchets spinning and flinging into the air over Sam and Outlaw Three. Sam stopped. He cycled his targets but there were none.
Sam looked back up at the hill. The Raijin's mask like armor slammed to the ground and slowly slid toward him. It was face down and its actuators and servos were smoking.
Sam tore his last cigar out of his sleeve and bit onto it. His hands fumbled with the auto lighter, shaking as he tried to light it.
Sam leaned back in his seat, taking a deep breath. Nobody messed with Texas.
