The valley below was packed with Posleen, most of them stationary as if awaiting a call. And all of them were looking to the east.
Mitchell looked at the updated information and keyed the radio. “Alpha Six-One, this is November Seven-Zero. Plan?”
“November this is Alpha, how does ‘game called on account of lack of motivation’ sound? We have an estimated thirty thousand in the flats and more on the hills. I was prepared to punch through light resistance but this doesn’t meet my definition of ‘light.’ ”
“We can try to sneak up Sanders’ Town Road,” Mitchell said, doubtfully.
“Somehow the words ‘sneak’ and ‘SheVa’ just don’t work in my head.” Even over the frequency-clipping radio the note of humor was clear.
“The alternative is back up and shoot them with an area effect round,” Mitchell said. “Or… can we get artillery fire from the 147th yet?”
“Negative, they’re still bottled up near the pass; artillery is firing from Savannah, which is way too far.”
“These guys are all oriented to the east?” Mitchell said doubtfully.
“According to my scouts,” LeBlanc answered. “The description is that they look like they’re waiting for something.”
“Time,” Mitchell said, thinking of the ACS unit trapped in the pass.
“Agreed,” LeBlanc replied with a sigh. “This is going to be ugly.”
LeBlanc looked at the map again and frowned.
“November, can you cross the river?”
“Roger, over.”
She frowned again and looked at the update from the Bravo platoon. The far side of the river was still clear and they had halted in place when the Posleen large-force had been spotted.
“I think I know how to handle this.”
“We’re going to be a major target,” Kilzer said as the SheVa rumbled forward. “And a big one at that.”
“You said we were practically invulnerable from the front,” Pruitt said. “And it’s been working out that way.”
“Practically is not the same as entirely,” Kilzer replied. “And we’re not invulnerable at all from the sides. There’s a lot of damage that hasn’t been repaired already.”
“We’ll be fine,” Pruitt said, slewing the view sideways to where Bravo had gathered just below the hilltop that was holding the bridgehead. So far the Posleen seemed entirely unaware of the presence of the armored force on their flank.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Iotla, NC, United States of America, Sol III
0317 EDT Tuesday September 29, 2009 AD
Alentracla looked around at the massed host and flapped his crest impatiently. The group had been gathered by the host leader for a very specific mission and he should be glad.
He had been grabbed more or less at random, separated from the stream of Po’oslena’ar headed towards the fighting around Rocky Knob. He and the others had given up their weapons, gladly, when told why. Then, as the host had passed, Kennelai from the warleaders had bartered for heavier weapons from passing forces. They had taken the shotguns and light railguns from Alentracla and his fellows and traded them for hypervelocity missile launchers, plasma cannons and three-millimeter railguns. All of them going to Alentracla and his fellows for no debt! It was amazing!
Not only had his oolt been reoutfitted with the most powerful weapons that were available, but it had also been held out of the blind slaughter occurring in the mountains ahead. The humans had continued to press forward and soon it was expected that they would be down onto the flats. There the Posleen would have many advantages and might even stop them, but in the meantime the host was being slaughtered by the human’s artillery while the ground fighters moved forward relentlessly.
Better to be here, but it was annoying to wait.
He stepped off of his tenar and walked down the lines of his oolt, checking the oolt’os’ weapons. All of them had the skills to handle the devices, but they had only recently been upgraded and he wished to ensure that all was well. Instead of the shotguns and light railguns they had sported only a day before, each of the oolt’os was armed with a plasma cannon or hypervelocity missile launcher. He had been surprised at the apparent generosity of the warleaders, but when he was told the reason it made sense.
If you’re going to hunt big game, you need big guns.
He finished his inspection and was walking back to his tenar when he looked to the north and froze; a giant shadow was moving in the darkness under the mountains. As if one of the hills was cruising along the river.
“Up!” he shouted, pointing to the north. “It comes! It comes!”
Posleen had as much trouble with a flank attack as humans. The oolt’os could care less; they shot where they were told to shoot. But the Kessentai were as susceptible to surprise as humans, perhaps more so. And physically moving the aim-point of the oolt’os was more difficult than moving that of humans; when packed groups of oolt’os tried to turn, simultaneously, they actually tended to fall over.
In this case while Alentracla saw the SheVa’s shadow, and recognized it for what it was, many of his fellow God Kings did not. Even after he opened fire.
But when the SheVa opened up all doubt was erased.
“Hoowah!” Pruitt shouted. “Look at those MetalStorms go!”
The crimson fans of forty millimeter fire were spreading across the mass, erasing whole battalions at a time. And in this case all the guns on the fore part of the turret as well as on the sides were firing simultaneously. For just a moment it seemed their fire would fully suppress the Posleen. But, unfortunately, there were only so many rounds in each pod. And then they had to reload.
Now it was the Posleen’s turn.
“Fire!” Alentracla yelled, suiting action to words in fear of the distant mountain of metal. No wonder Orostan had offered such rich incentives to have it killed; it had just wiped out a third part of this host in one volley.
“Holy Jesus!” Pruitt shouted as the storm of fire hit the SheVa. Most Posleen units had a mixture of railguns, plasma cannons and HVMs, with the weight thrown, generally, in the direction of the railguns. And with the newer armors, even 3mm rounds generally bounced off. This force seemed to be composed of nothing but plasma cannons and HVMs. The MetalStorms had opened fire only a moment before the Posleen, but the red fans of their efforts were dwarfed by the return fire; the fire was so intense it lit the ground like daylight. It was not so much return fire as a wall of plasma striking the front of the SheVa. And they were firing… low.