A tank group rushed along the sands of the endless desert under a clear sky, scattering across the area and raising behind it a sand hurricane enveloping the entire sky behind. The tanks bounced on the bumps, rushing to the aid of the surrounded soldiers. The whistling engines hummed, filling the steel monsters with driving force. The sand-colored vehicles could seem to outside observers to be harbingers of death due to their impressive dimensions and the deadly weapons they carried.
The two barrels of the main gun, located one above the other, were raised upward and, since they were always loaded, they could fire a salvo at any moment. All the necessary scanning devices and thick armor protruded from the outside, and the tower was a super-movable saucer that could rotate as quickly as a person’s head. This machine was called “Hercules” in honor of the ancient Roman demigod son of Jupiter and the hero of the legend of the twelve labors.
Inside the vehicle, in the light of dim red instruments, the commander of the leading tank looked at the screens and listened to the crew’s reports on the current situation.
"Tank regiment F4-4-1-A engaged xorx."
I don't understand anything.
Kranoff hardly understood anything.
He didn’t even have time to really understand anything when he was urgently ordered to move forward. But based on what he heard, he realized that the xorx had put forward a new individual of their species, which even large-caliber projectiles could not take.
General Zeonid, apparently immediately realizing this, sent this particular tank regiment to help in order to cope with the Ksor tanks and evacuate the soldiers who were surrounded. In addition to standard tank guns, these tanks also have electronic warfare systems, machine guns and missile launchers for surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, and in addition to everything, there is one very powerful weapon, which seems to be -it will be used.
"Movement straight ahead!"
Commander Kranof heard the driver’s voice in the earphone and through the screens he saw hundreds of Xorx ahead peeking over the horizon.
On the screen one could see mountains rising through the desert haze, mountains of flesh with huge ten-story mandibles and limbs sharp as claws.
"Holy crap."
The commander cursed when he saw huge creatures in front of him, rushing at great speed straight towards his own tank regiment.
Black insectoids with a layer of chitin protruding from their limbs, which seemed to be covered with metal and sparkled, reflecting the glare of the sun. Apparently the presence of metal in this chitin made it possible to withstand hits from large-caliber projectiles. Moreover, on their backs there was a strong shell, which is why they in some way now resembled turtles, and their long mandibles plowed the soil when moving, raising clouds of sand and stones into the air. This, unfortunately, did not slow them down at all.
"Hover!"
Kranoff shouted and the gun barrels of dozens of Hercules aimed at their targets.
"Plasma fire!"
"Order accepted!"
The gunner said.
"Warm up one, two, three! Ready! Shot!"
Shells flew out of the barrels at great speed, and during their flight they shone with a light brighter than the stars themselves. As they moved, they expanded, or rather began to dissipate, but they were still able to achieve their final goal. Xorx, seeing the flashes and a dozen expanding microstars rushing towards them, instantly stopped and put their dorsal shells in front of them, burying their heads in the sand.
They stopped in a line, creating one continuous giant armored wall. The tankers instantly realized that these new xorx literally built a multi-meter mountain range in the middle of the desert on the spot and could withstand a volley from large-caliber guns. But they weren’t flying at the usual high-explosive shells, but something worse. One of the streams of plasma hit the shell of the xorx-tank and seemed to achieve no effect, only slightly melting the surface chitin with a bright flash, but that was not the case.
The tank crews heard a piercing screech through the armor, as a giant xorx screamed in agony, its shell evaporating in a cloud of acid-yellow steam, and its metal parts glowing red hot and melting. Its flesh ignited and soon the giant insectoid disintegrated, leaving behind hot coals and huge parts of its metal limbs. Other xorx followed, dying one by one from the plasma streams.
The shells could not withstand the enormous heat, although their pure kinetic force could more than withstand it. In one salvo, the tank regiment smashed its way through the xorx, but there was another problem, about three quarters of these xorx-tanks were still intact and ready to rush towards the tanks.
At this point, Kranoff decided to contact headquarters and request support:
"Lieutenant Kranoff speaking, help needed!"
"Headquarters is listening. What do you need?"
The tank commander heard a monotonous voice in his headphones.
"Our coordinates, a kilometer to the east, surface-to-air missile, radius three hundred meters."
"Accepted. Await instructions."
Kranoff left the air and again began to look at the screens and, as he thought, the xorx rushed after them, crowding into a flock, as if entire flocks of chitinous hills were rushing behind the cars. The gun barrels had still not cooled down after the plasma salvo and re-use was currently impossible. Although this weapon was extremely effective, it was quite expensive, and it also took a very long time to cool down. After three such shots, the tank will need to replace the barrel, which is already quite expensive. This weapon was saved just in case and Kranoff did not think that it would be used now.
Apparently xorx also took care of their "tanks", or maybe they brought them out quite recently, as soon as they saw what the Republican army with hundreds of missiles with nuclear warheads was capable of. In any case, xorx-tanks created problems that General Zeonid will have to solve.
Meanwhile, above the huddled group of Xors, a rocket appeared from behind the horizon, leaving behind a long trail of smoke, stretching from somewhere in the east. Xorx heard a whistling sound in the sky and tried to run in different directions, but it was too late. Having reached the required coordinates and flying exactly above xorx, the rocket exploded, illuminating the entire desert with a bright flash.
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A powerful shock wave engulfed the rushing tank group, and at the site of the explosion, Kranoff watched on the screen a cooling fireball, shining brighter than the local luminary. In place of the xorx pursuing them, there was no one and nothing left, only molten glass and airy sand whirlwinds that filled the vacuum resulting from the explosion.
All the huge insectoid mountains of flesh and metal had disappeared. Now no one was pursuing the tank regiment, but alas there was no time for a break; then everything was much worse. The tank regiment rushed on and reached its final destination, where they were greeted by an unpleasant surprise.
"Holy crap."
Someone cursed when they saw on the screens how the xorx were climbing a sandy hill strewn with the corpses of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of insectoids.
The tracers from the shots filled the entire sky, and the chirping of the guns did not stop even for a moment, as did the painful squeals of these creatures that were dying en masse trying to climb the hill, moving like a tidal wave, carpeting the entire area with yellow flesh and burnt out intestines.
These creatures knew that they could destroy the people who were ambushed, and therefore they sent huge forces to storm this hill. There were so many of them that it seemed that this area was their own kingdom where people raided. They shouldn't be here and yet they are about to take over the hill and devour every person who is trapped in this trap.
"Standard high explosive, fire when ready."
"There is a «high explosive»."
The sound of reloading was heard after which the gunner reported.
"Ready! Shot!"
The roar of tank shots echoed across the desert, mingling with the scream of agony of thousands of beetles. The tank regiment fired a salvo, showering the positions of the advancing beetles with explosive shells, killing dozens if not hundreds of beetles at once. Unlike xorx-tanks, they did not need plasma in order to die quickly, they could even be moved, this was enough for their death, but they were still dangerous creatures that could tear a person’s body with their mandibles, and therefore they were needed kill and it is advisable to do it as quickly as possible.
"Finally! Where are you?!"
Kranoff heard someone’s voice on the air and answered.
"Obviously we are in the east. We will clear the way for you."
"We have wounded! *explosion sound* Lots of losses! So many! We won't take anyone! *machine gun burst* We fight back with all our might!”
Kranoff was somewhat stunned when he heard the officer’s panicked voice, but regaining his composure in time, he gave the order:
"Okay. Take everything you can carry. We'll cover you."
Even though Kranoff said this, the tank regiment had few shells left, and some of the beetles had already switched to them, which is why the machine guns began to chatter on the hulls of the Hercules. Xorx tried to surround a hill built in the middle of the desert from all sides and attacked the defenders' positions en masse. Insectoids died in the hundreds, both from machine guns on the hill and from tank fire. But what else scared Kranoff was the horde of giant xorx-tanks, which, among other things, also spat some kind of rubbish straight from their inflated, sickeningly green asses.
They slowly got closer and closer while their smaller brothers swarmed under their feet. Their size clearly showed the difference in size between a person and this monster. Those bugs at their feet seemed like pebbles, although these lumps themselves were twice as tall as the man himself. It’s hard to imagine how much energy such a creature consumes and it’s unclear how it even lives in the middle of the desert. What does it even eat? This was unknown to anyone, but the main thing was different, namely to answer the question: how to kill them?
"Plasma."
"Use is «plasma»."
The gunner responded and also warned.
"Sir, we can hit our own."
Kranoff contacted the officer commanding the defense on air:
"We're shooting plasma at «tanks», be careful."
"WHAT?!"
The officer couldn't believe his ears.
“Are you crazy or what?! They are located almost close to us!”
"Retreat, now. We won't waste time here. They're about to fall on us. So do it quickly before you burn to death."
"The devil is on you!"
The man swore while in the background someone was firing bursts of machine guns.
"Okay, meet us. Guys, let's go! Jack, motherfucker! Ooooh~… no~… Jack!" *sounds of machine gun fire* Bastards!"
Kranoff waited, continuing to watch the battlefield on the screen where hell was going on until he received confirmation of the withdrawal from the positions:
"We've moved away! Can you see us?"
"Yes, we see."
Kranoff confirmed, seeing on the screens hundreds of people who had climbed over the hill and were moving east, firing back along the way and carrying the wounded on stretchers, some of whom were stacked on top of each other.
The Xorx-tanks followed them, climbing the vacated hill, but being in the middle of a crowd of other insectoids, they were afraid to step on their relatives and were very careful. They fell behind, but still pursued a group of retreating soldiers who replaced each other, constantly pouring fire on the xorx.
In an instant, the xorx-tank released its bile-green crap from its ass, after which human screams were heard on the air. Kranoff immediately realized that the beetles had doused the soldiers with deadly acid, causing him to tremble a little. Without wondering about the fate of the unfortunate soldiers, he closed his eyes, and then said gloomily:
"Shoot."
The gunner accepted the order.
"I’m shooting!"
The tank opened fire and in one shot burned the first xorx-tank and all the smaller insectoids that were next to it. The spectacle was grandiose, but despite the death of this monster, the battle did not stop, small creatures were still advancing. Through the clouds of dust that rose into the air, machine guns continued to chirp, and the few remaining soldiers, having reached the tanks, began to load themselves into the vehicles. After this, the tanks turned around and began to return to the second line of defense.
The officer in command of the defense had just climbed into one of the hatches in the command tank and immediately began giving orders to the wounded, and then connected to the general broadcast and reported to the command.
"The first line of defense is completely lost! I repeat! The first line of defense is completely lost!"
The officer who saved many soldiers spoke on the air, and then turned to Kranoff.
"We've been waiting for you for six hours, where the hell have you been?!"
"I only woke up thirty minutes ago."
Kranoff shook his head, still barely understanding what was happening.
“This question is not for me. How can I know the reason for the delay?”
Connection problems?
Kranoff thought and was a little stunned.
If these creatures have somehow learned to block the existing communications, then individual sections of the defense are already doomed to destruction since they cannot call for reinforcements or call for air support.
"I don't care when you woke up. Because of your delay, we lost an entire largbattalion. A thousand people died! A THOUSAND!"
The survivor screamed hysterically, and then calmed down a little.
“Devil! We didn’t even have a chance! They crawled right out of the ground! No one noticed anything, no scanners detected anything. These creatures are now capable of this and what should we actually do now? Huh?”
"Attention!"
A voice was heard from the general ether.
"The second line has come under massive attack. Orders: begin the deployment of the first corps."
"He now said... oh Sun..."
One of the tank crews couldn’t believe their ears.
“It looks like the situation is catastrophic since they are deploying an entire corps.”
"That's eighty thousand people."
A considerable number considering that the first corps was kept in reserve to protect the rear. They were supposed to help rebuild the «Pharaoh» base in a support role, but now they will also be involved in battle.
“Do we even have enough ammunition to destroy them all?”
"General Zeonid regrets nuclear missiles, although he could destroy, if not all, then most of them."
Kranoff nodded, agreeing with this idea. He did not know why the general was waiting and instead of re-using nuclear weapons, he ordered the deployment of the first corps.
"Listen to me."
Kranoff began speaking on air.
“We are returning to our positions and will defend them at any cost. We must not give these beetles even a meter of this territory, otherwise none of us will ever return home. Even though it will obviously not be soon, but we will definitely return to our families, relatives and friends We will return and for this we must believe, believe in our general. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but I hope he knows what he’s doing. You know perfectly well how talented Zeonid is, he didn’t rise to the rank of general. just like that. He is a Hydra veteran and has considerable combat experience to get us out of here. So guys, let's maintain our confidence and not let the losses of our brothers in arms put us down... end of communication."
Xorx pressed on the positions of the 127th Army and each time their attacks became more and more destructive for the defenders. Resources were running out, and defense was becoming more and more difficult. General Zeonid needs to make a decision, otherwise the army will perish and never return home.
So what are you up to anyway?
Kranoff asked mentally.