Thursday, October 29th 2048
Early morning
I met Team Battle Bug and Major Allen at the harbor. The landing craft we used in the expedition four months ago was repaired and ready to take us to San Juan Island, along with a dozen soldiers that would help us to move the captured equipment.
B.S.O.D had excused herself. She had also assured me she had full confidence in Major Allen’s ability to handle a logistics mission, which this essentially was. Team Battle Bug was participating again as support in case of Macks appearing.
As there was plenty of room on the landing craft, I had brought a van full of things that might be useful in case of enemy contact. Namely my two surviving Battlecats from last Friday, a handful of Macks I still had at the shelter, two Spectracopters for reconnaissance and last but not least my personal Shiv and armor.
In a counterintuitive move, HANAF actually brought some material to the mission. Just enough to build a few assembly drones that would serve as disassembly drones today. That would greatly accelerate the operation.
Soon we were on our way, and two hours later we were approaching the hidden Mack base. I had one of my Spectracopters scouting to the east, but found no enemies.
Once in the base, we loaded the material into the fabbers and started making the drones. I still had one Spectracopter up as an early warning system, and it soon proved necessary as the quiet morning was harshly interrupted.
For the first time, I observed the emergence of a Type 21 myself. Shrouded in lightning, it ripped its way out of a black hole in space. A bunch of smaller Macks riding on it jumped off and formed a defensive circle, while the Twenty-One immediately started digging in.
A curse escaped me. “Fuck…”
Longhorn, the team leader of Team Battle Bug, threw me an irritated look, “What?”
“Macks on the shore, one Twenty-One with a dozen Fours so far. Thankfully no Battlecats.”
On the video feed from the Spectracopter, I saw the landing ship cast off and pepper the Twenty-One with twenty millimeter grenades from behind. That seemed to shut up the teleport system, as no more small units emerged from the Twenty-One.
I said “I think we should take the offensive as long as they have no more units present. Pick off the Fours outside, perhaps capture some as reinforcements. Let me start the fight with my Mack-zapper.”
“Agreed” Longhorn replied. The Magical Girls and I sortied from a hatch near the beach, close to the Macks but not in melee range. Ladybug and my two Battlecats took position beside me, Longhorn and Mantis secured the flanks and Pink Orchid stayed close behind to cover us with her pushback field.
The Fours promptly charged, but they were badly outmatched this time. Seven out of twelve succumbed to the circuit-scrambling lightning of the Mack-zappers on my shoulders and were converted by Elya. The remaining ones died to Longhorn’s spear or railgun fire from my Battlecats.
I suggested “That was a good start, but I think we should take care of the Twenty-One before it can call in reinforcements… speak of the devil!”
Behind the Twenty-One a massive shape emerged from the depths. Two cannon barrels poked out from the waves, followed by a giant steel carapace. As the metal monster crept higher up the shore, another four cannons appeared, pointing in all directions. A Type 32.
Lower on the mechanical beast, six deep set eyes surrounded a maw full of rotating shredders. The last thing that appeared were six massive crawler tracks with wheels taller than I was.
To the north, I could see the landing craft retreating at full speed. I couldn't fault them for it. Fighting the Thirty-Two would get them dead without helping us. The craft would probably die to a single grenade from the giant Mack. Fortunately for them, the Thirty-Two focused on us. We barely made it back into the base before a deafening blast ripped into the ground at the entry ramp. Three of the Macks I had captured a minute earlier were blasted to scrap.
I moved towards the rear of the base, launched my other Spectracopter from there and brought the first one back for recharging.
The little spy- and communication drone was one of our best assets right now. The Thirty-Two fired a few grenades in its general direction, but seemed to be unable to see it. Using the Spectracopter as a relay, I called SHOCKS. But before anyone answered the phone, Elya gave me a situation report.
Victoria is under attack, but the Macks are fewer than usual and seem poorly coordinated. If they were led by a human strategist, I would presume that it is a panic reaction to something.
“Any idea what might have them spooked?” I asked Elya.
Nothing except the fact that it coincides with us poking around in their base.
Finally, someone at SHOCKS picked up the phone. I gave them a short sitrep and got the answer that SHOCKS was currently unable to send support. While they were confident of repelling the attack, all units were still busy.
“Elya, I need a phone connection to Arina. Hack the network as necessary.”
Certainly.
Within seconds I heard Arina’s worried voice. “Are you OK? I hope you don’t have a bunch of Macks attacking you.”
“Only one, but it is a big one. A Thirty-Two.”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
I could hear her terrified gasp over the phone, but I continued “You may be able to help us. Can you reach our shelter in Colwood?”
“Damn right I will!” Over the phone I heard people shouting things like “You cannot go out there now! Get into the shelter!” “Stop!”
Shortly after Elya showed me footage from a surveillance camera. It showed Arina tearing through the empty streets at forty kilometers per hour.
It would take her a few minutes to the shelter, so I jogged over to Longhorn, who was in a heated discussion with Major Allen. I interrupted them and asked “If I make a hole in the Mack’s gun coverage, do you think you can take it?”
Longhorn: “Still difficult, but our chances would be a damn sight better than now! We have new melee weapons, far better than our old ones at cutting through steel plates.”
Over our heads, the rumble of massive treads made the ceiling vibrate.
Followed by Team Battle Bug, I went back to the rear entrance I had launched the Spectracopter from. Sounds nearby indicated the Thirty-Two was almost on top of the entry ramp.
Instead of running outside like a fool, I just sneaked close enough to the ramp that I could get a stable signal from my Spectracopter. I called Arina’s phone again. She answered “Almost there! And I’m running low on energy! What do I need to do?”
“Remember the big Octacopter In the workshop? Half as large as the Variocopter?”
“Sure, why?”
“It is a big kamikaze drone. Wheel it outside, unfold the rotor arms at the side, then switch it on!”
Two minutes later, I was talking Arina through the steps of activating the big drone. Once done, I spun up the rotors. Arina disappeared into the shelter but did not quite make it to her charger. Before the entrance to her room, she stumbled and fell down in an undignified heap. But I had more immediate worries. The flying bomb was ready to take off, so I took remote control and set it on a course towards San Juan Island.
The range would be barely sufficient, so I used the most efficient flight profile, which was not the fastest. For the next twenty minutes, the Thirty-Two rumbled over our heads, looking for a way to get at us. Fortunately, it was not smart enough to shoot grenades down the entry ramps.
Finally, the drone came into sight. Elya projected a display with the remaining charge onto my augs. It would barely be sufficient, perhaps I could afford to make one or two evasive maneuvers.
Then one of the Thirty-Two’s cannons swiveled to point at the bomb drone. I jerked to the side just in time. A grenade ripped past the drone, I saw a blur on the camera and the drone shook under the force of the pressure wave.
As I regained control of the drone, it was already in the dead angle of the Thirty-Two’s guns. Its batteries were almost empty too. I brought it to a near-halt, focused on a particular point on the giant Mack and subvocalized to Elya “Can you hit this point with the drone?”
Certainly.
“Do it!” To the others I shouted ”Cover your ears!” Seconds later, an incredible blast slammed down the ramp we were hiding in. ShrapneI whistled over our heads.
Once the rain of debris had stopped, I peeked out at the Thirty-Two. The casemate of the left rear cannon was blown open and smoke was rising from it. Grinding noises came from the gun mount, but the barrel barely moved.
Through the slowly receding ringing in my ears, I heard Longhorn shouting “There is a dead angle in its gun coverage now! Go go go!”
I watched the Battle Bugs sprinting out, jumping on the huge tracks and climbing up the leg that connected the tracks to the body of the steel monster. Their speed and coordination was amazing.
“Elya, can the Battlecats follow them up there?”
I’m afraid their claws would not find enough purchase.
“So what about this? They activate the cutting function in their claws for a small moment, until the claws have dug in. Then they deactivate it and have a foothold.”
That might work. I'm pleasantly surprised that you are able to have such innovative ideas.
Heh. That was the first time I managed to outsmart Elya. And she was a sore loser too. I would tease her over this for a long time.
“Let's try! Battlecats go!”
On the Thirty-Two, Longhorn and Mantis were trying to dig through the top armor of the Mack. I flew my Spectracopter closer and watched them cutting into the steel plates. Both had a difficult time of it, even with their new weapons.
The Mack frantically tried to shake the Battle Bugs off, but Pink Orchid used her force field to keep them in place. Meanwhile, my two Battlecats made it up the Mack with a small shower of sparks at every step.
I figured that my two Battlecats could not do more than Team Battle Bug in cutting through the top armor, so I had them carve away at the already damaged gun emplacement. I flew the Spectracopter close and watched how they enlarged the crack in the armor with their claws.
I could already see through a gap into the casemate. The tech inside was a mix of the old and the futuristic. Hydraulics you might have seen in the 20th century coexisted with futuristic crystal circuitry that had similarities to the eyes of lesser Macks. Most of it broken now.
Then I noticed Longhorn gesticulating on the top of the Mack. They had managed to cut through the armor and Ladybug had sent some of her lightning down the hole. Now some greenish, poisonous looking smoke emerged and I could see the Battle bugs keeping out of it.
Longhorn was pointing to the hole as if she wanted to send someone down there. Both Mantis and Ladybug appeared to strongly decline. I sent one of my Battlecats over. Through its microphones I could hear ”...need to go down there and smash whatever makes it going!”
With a bit of micromanagement, I managed to make the Battlecat look down the hole. There seemed enough room down there to move around for the Battlecat and the hole was large enough to get in. So I ordered Elya “Send it in and make it slash up everything that looks important!”
The battlecat dove into the hole. For a few minutes nothing happened, then a massive flash like a gargantuan welding arc shone out of the hole in the Mack's armor. The Thirty-Two stopped moving and went dark.
Elya gave me a report in a format I had not seen in a while.
Target neutralized!
Partial credit for neutralizing the Type 32… 300 points
New balance… One token and 1736 Points
Your Battlecat was unfortunately destroyed. I will sum up the points from the emergence on Victoria Island once HANAF has finished repelling it.
The rest of the fight was anticlimactic. We still needed to deal with the Type 21 at the shore, but it had already been badly damaged by fire from the landing craft. My surviving Battlecat made it there faster than Team Battle Bug and started shooting the Mack up with its rail gun. By the time the Bugs appeared, it was already lifeless. Longthorn speared its eye just in case, which was probably no longer necessary. Elya confirmed that with
Technically that was your kill, but as others softened the Mack up for you, half points and no token for this one.