"Anything?" Lon asked after three minutes had passed.
"Not much chatter going on at the moment on any frequency," Jefferson replied. "I guess they're not very talkative. Wait... there's one." He smiled, looking directly at the APC in question and using a finger on the kneeboard of his biosuit to put a mark on it on the combat computer. "Got ya, you fuck." As long as this APC remained in Jefferson's sight, it would appear as dark blue to the other team members and therefore a primary target.
"I got him too," Lon said, watching as one out of the hundreds of APCs in view suddenly changed color. "Wong, how about you?"
"Me too," she confirmed.
"Okay," Lon said. "Looks like the program is working. Keep marking them, Jeffy, and they'll be the first through the pearly gates."
"You know it, sarge," Jefferson said. "I'm getting an update from command. Two flights of Mosquitoes are inbound. One from the south, one from the north. ETA less than five."
"Right on," Lon said. "The moment they finish their runs, the fun begins. Let's get the ATs charged."
Lisa was one of the four squad members in possession of an AT-50 laser. She pushed the charge button and trained it out over the valley towards the collection of armored vehicles. She zoomed her combat goggles in a bit, pulling the images closer, and placed her targeting recticle on one of the closer APCs, noting that the range-finder read 8356 meters — just over eight kilometers. The official maximum range of the AT-50 on the surface of Mars was fifteen kilometers (assuming, of course, that one had a direct line of sight to one's target). Beyond that too much of the energy of the laser shot would be absorbed by the atmosphere on the way to the target for a burn-through of the armor to be guaranteed.
"Hey, sarge," she said as something occurred to her. "What's the word on this dust affecting the range? Won't it absorb more of the energy than the atmosphere alone?"
"It will absorb some," Lon replied. "The loss of energy should be low enough that we can still penetrate at this range though."
"Should be?" asked Horishito.
"I know," Lon said. "It's more theory, but so far all of our theories have been good ones, haven't they? Just stick to the nearer targets until we know for sure."
They waited, watching the targets rumble by, oblivious to their presence. Jefferson continued to scan and located two more probable command vehicles. They too were turned blue by the combat computer.
"The Mosquitoes should be here any second now," Lon said. "Once they start making their runs and the commanders start barking orders at everyone Jeffy will be able to pin down more of them."
Less than thirty seconds later the ground started vibrating in a different manner. Sound reached them, an ominous whine of semi-rocket engines swelling up from behind. While their brains were still processing this information two Mosquitoes suddenly appeared from the hills behind them, hugging the terrain as was their habit. They passed right over the top of Lon and Lisa, clearing them by no more than twenty meters, close enough to send dust swirling off their hilltop.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Lisa said, both terrified and exhilarated.
Even before the words were out of her mouth the two aircraft had banked out over the valley and their lasers began to flash. They banked back into the hills a few kilometers further west and disappeared. Down in the valley four APCs were now destroyed, blasted apart after having high intensity laser energy burn through their hulls, exploding their ammunition stores, their hydrogen tanks, and their oxidizer tanks. A combination of smoke and blood vapor from the shredded bodies within drifted up from each to join the dust cloud.
"Goddamn they're fast," Lon said, shaking his head in admiration. As many times as he'd seen the Mosquitoes in action, he was still awed by the sheer speed of their attacks. "Jeffy, how's the scanning? Did that get their attention?"
"Oh fuckin' aye," Jefferson affirmed. "They're chattering up a storm down there. I've got at least six more command APCs identified. Should be comin' up on view in a few seconds."
Sure enough, seven more APCs turned blue. They were scattered throughout the portion of the formation that was visible.
"AT holders," Lon said, "start picking your targets and tracking them. Remember your zones of fire. Let's not waste shots by having two of you hit the same target."
On the far side of the formation three more APCs suddenly exploded one after the other. None of Lon's squad had even seen the Mosquitoes that had been responsible for the attack.
"Yes!" Horishito yelled triumphantly. "How do you like that action, assholes? Looks like our little Mosquitoes got somethin' for your ass, don't they?"
"One of them missed," Jefferson said sourly. "What's up with that shit?"
"Just on one shot," Lisa said. "Give the guys a little credit. They only have four seconds or so to pull off two shots."
"True," Jefferson said, "but they also have computer assist to find the firing zone, don't they?"
"Yeah, but..." Lisa started.
"Okay, guys," Lon interrupted. "We're starting to edge into the land of too much non-essential chatter here. Jeffy, are you still scanning? It looks like they're maneuvering about down there. Aren't there command APCs issuing orders that you should be identifying?"
"Yeah, sorry, sarge," Jefferson said. "There will be a few more on view in a few seconds."
The APCs were indeed maneuvering about, spreading out from their tight formations and scattering over a larger area. The tanks were also spreading out as well as putting on speed and starting to zigzag in evasive courses. The anti-air vehicles had all stopped and were pointing their laser cannons towards the hillsides, radar and infra-red dishes turning madly in search of the aircraft that were menacing them.
None of this did any good. The first pair of Mosquitoes, the pair that had passed over Lon and the others on their first run, suddenly emerged from the hills again, this time about four kilometers to the east. Their lasers flashed and four more APCs exploded into smoke, debris, and blood vapor. The Mosquitoes disappeared again. More than twenty of the anti-air vehicles fired their laser cannons after them but all of them were too late. They did nothing but pepper the hillsides or send their laser energy out through the atmosphere.
No sooner had this pair disappeared before the other pair reemerged from the other side of the valley and took out another four. They too escaped before any of the anti-air vehicles could get a lock on them.
"That's it," Jefferson said. "The Mosquitoes are pulling back. They will be circling twenty klicks south of us in case we need them to cover our retreat."
"Good fuckin' deal," Lon said. "Okay, people. It's time for us to get to make our presence known. AT holders, commence firing. Primary targets are the command APCs. Stick to your zones."
Lisa smiled beneath her helmet, adjusting the AT-50 on her shoulder. It was charged and ready, her targeting recticle resting on one of the blue APCs. Her finger went to the firing button and slowly, smoothly, she pushed it.
Callahan was a little nervous but not really alarmed just yet. He had not actually seen any of the APCs get hit, had not actually seen any of the Martian aircraft that were hitting them, he only knew they were under attack because Captain Ayers had told him they were under attack.
"It's those Mosquitoes!" Ayers told him and the other platoon leaders on the command frequency. "They're coming in low from the hills and hitting us. All platoons need to go into evasive maneuvering!"
Callahan passed the order along to his squad leaders but wondered just what good it would do. If they were being hit with lasers, which moved at the speed of light after all, what good would zigzagging around do? "What about the SALs?" he asked Ayers. "Why aren't they taking the aircraft down?" That was what they'd been told would happen if any of those greenie aircraft dared trying to engage the armor on the march. SALs were ringing the entire formation and they too fired lasers that moved at the speed of light.