Novas lit the night as mecha erupted in fireballs; tremendous streams of destructive energy were hosed this way and that, and clouds of missiles flew. Jamming and counterjamming made guidance systems erratic and put both sides in almost as much danger from their own ordnance as from their opponents'.
A small group of Pincers, led by an Armored Officer mecha, got to the upper hull of the Sentinels' ship after suffering heavy casualties. But as they were about to attack the craft at close range-and get aboard to wreak havoc if possible-they were met by Wolff and a squad of his Battloids.
Most of the fighting was too close even for hand weapons, and the conflict came down to REF alloy fist against metallic Invid claw-mecha feet and elbows and knees came into play.
A Pack member wrenched off a Pincer's arm and flung it away; the Pincer's power systems overloaded and blew it apart from within. The enemy Armored Officer unit and two Pincers seized a Battloid from behind and began pulling it to pieces.
But the Invid were outnumbered, being beaten or kicked or torn to bits. Just then more Hovertanks showed up, in Gladiator mode: stumpy, two-legged walking artillery pieces the size of a house. Their tremendously powerful blasts nailed the last of the interlopers; then all the tanks went to Gladiator to repulse any further attempts to land on the starship.
The GMU's massive main gun had sent out its inferno shots again and again, but all the enemy mecha had dispersed, the clam-ships unimportant for the moment. Vince Grant ceased fire and diverted power to the secondary gun emplacements, to conserve energy for the battle.
An Invid suicide attack got through the Sentinels' net of AA fire toward the stern, and Vince dispatched Destroid war machines across the outer deck to join a pair of Hovertanks in trying to maintain cover back there. He had his exec double-check with Jean to make sure the sick bay would be ready for casualties, and got back an answer that rattled him.
"Sick bay standing by, sir, but Lieutenant Commander Grant isn't there and hasn't reported in yet. Her whereabouts are unknown at this time."
Far below, on Karbarra, the Invid noted the military action being fought high above.
In accordance with standing orders, certain specialized units were mobilized and moved out en masse, weapons primed. Karbarrans in the street, frozen with dread and hollow-eyed with fear, watched them go. But the big ursinoids could only stand rooted to the spot, and pray.
Even with the inertial trackers, it was tough to figure out where Lron was leading them.
Lron, however, didn't seem to have any doubts. Down abandoned mineshafts, along connections that had been made to drain underground watercourses, and through cavern systems, they made their way, the spotlights stabbing through the utter blackness. Rick had had them moving combat-style at first, wary of attack despite Lron's reassurance that the Invid were unaware of this underground travel system. But infantry tactics slowed the recon party down considerably, especially since the alien Sentinels were unfamiliar with REF procedures.
So in time Rick settled on modified procedures, with Lron on point and Jack and Karen taking turns on rear guard, the rest of the group together or spread out somewhat as circumstances dictated.
The team moved faster than combat-zone precautions would ordinarily have dictated.
At one point they passed through a mined-out, shored-up space where an ore seam had been, a place not quite four feet high, though it was fifty yards wide and went on for over two miles. It was backbreaking travel, especially hard on Lron. Their shuffling progress raised a fine dust that had them all black-faced in no time.
Kami, with his Gerudan breathing mask, was relatively comfortable and after a while the REF
members closed their flight helmets. Lron improvised a face mask from strips of fabric.
At another point, though, the group rode two ore cars that they powered with energy cells Lron had brought. It was a welcome relief, even with the weight of a planet hanging overhead, and they made good time along the railway.
Lron and Crysta had explained that the apparently limitless tunnel system had grown up over the years before the coming of the Invid and the Robotech Masters, when Karbarra, a center of industry and trade, had had its assorted rivals and enemies. War production under the planet was seldom slowed down as a result of attack from space, but nowadays much of the system had fallen into disuse and disrepair.
Sometime later, after a short break to eat and rest, Lron led them into a cavern system of unutterable phosphorescent beauty, and they paced along the brink of an underground lake in which strange, blind, parasollike, glowing things could be seen to swim and drift. The cavern ceiling was like a dome mosaic with jewels of every conceivable color. There were plants that looked like coral formations made out of tiny crystalline needles.
During the journey, the scouts maintained contact with Rem and Gnea, taking turns raising the shuttle guards at thirty-minute intervals for a commo check. Slightly more than eleven hours after they had started out, Rick formed them up into as good a security perimeter as he could achieve in the confines of the cave, and took Lron aside.
"All right; you said we'd reach the first checkpoint two hours ago, but I don't see it around here yet. And don't give me any more of this 'it's just ahead' stuff, I'm warning you." Every muscle ached, and sheer fatigue was making him edgy and paranoid, fearing a trap or a terrible screwup that the big XT
was afraid to admit.
Lron rumbled, "If we'd moved as quickly as Karbarrans are used to, we would have been there long since, Admiral. But never mind; a hundred paces or so-my paces! — along that way over there will bring us to the beginning of our ascent. If you can keep up with me for another hour-two at the most, if we go slowly-we will sleep tonight in a cave overlooking one of the Invid outposts in the Hardargh Rift."
"And in the meantime, do you realize what we've passed under? Inorganics; flying Scout patrols; prowling packs of those murderous Hellcats; formations of Enforcers in their skirmish ships; Terror Weapons drifting along on their surveillance routes; and more! Save your breath on this final climb, little Human; you'll need it to do some gasping when you realize how far we've come."
Now it was Rick's turn to grunt. Talk's cheap; let's see you prove it! But he kept the remark to himself, trying to avoid more friction. Instead, he turned and whistled; then, with voice and hand signals, formed up his tiny command to move out again.
They had barely reached the beginning of the long ascent when Rem contacted them with word of the new battle.
When things go wrong around here, they really do it in rows, Lisa thought, but there wasn't much time for regret. Reports coming in to the bridge indicated that the Skulls had repulsed the enemy attack, inflicting extremely heavy losses; the few Invid survivors were limping for Karbarra, their saucer troopships having been blown to particles by the GMU's big gun.
There had been losses in all Sentinel combat elements and the ship had suffered damage. Skull had lost two Betas, an Alpha, and a Logan, and several other VTs were badly damaged. Rick's group was standing pat in a relatively safe position, apparently, but a pickup was impossible, and it looked like the whole recon would be a failure. Lisa refused to think about what would happen if the Invid garrison's heightened state of alert on Karbarra meant that the shuttle was permanently pinned down in its present location.
And perhaps most shocking of all, Jean Grant had been absent from her post in time of combat. Lisa still didn't have all the details, but it involved Crysta and the Invid scientist, Tesla. Whatever it was, it had old Cabell about ready to throw a fit.