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.Missiles left two hundred launchers, seeking the opponent’s heavy weapons and mecha.And lasers swept out, seeking every incoming object that might endanger the being carrying the weapon.Of course, there were collisions between weapons and munitions going out.With so much in the air, it would have a miracle if there hadn’t been.Missiles and shells intersected beams and exploded in midair, most far enough away to cause little problem to the launching soldiers.What the fire did to the enemy was terrifying.Beams ripping through the ranks of soldiers who had just landed and hadn’t found positions yet.Mortars exploding within what positions there were, their sensors seeking out the hollows that troops could hide in.Cannon shells popped explosively as they hit suits, or detonated at closest approach and sent out sprays of shrapnel.Explosions lit the formation through the dust and holographic projections that surrounded them.Large Phlistaran forms flew into the air, head over heels, as the Fenri answered with their own heavy weapons.Beams converged on centauroid targets that came clear for moments before plunging back into obscurity.Some entered cover intact, others as smoking meat in ruptured suits.Phlistarans had tough hides underneath the armor, able to withstand hits from low velocity projectiles.Particle beams ate through that hide into organs like the matter of any other organic beings.The Fenri formed a firing line, trying to beat off the attack, and suffering even more casualties under the firepower of the larger beings.And then the Phlistarans were among them, many of the large aliens dropping their rifles to hang on slings, pulling pairs of heavy pistols from holsters.Now they were in their element, ancient cavalry equipped with modern weapons, running rampant among smaller infantry that was just trying to get away.Here a Phlistaran trooper ran into a clutch of Fenri, pistols spitting proton beams, forefeet, cased in armor, molecular edged blades protruding forward, disemboweling another Fenri.There a large alien knocked Fenri to the ground with a spin of its three meter long body, swinging a sword made of the same material as its foot claws, slicing limbs and heads from armored forms.And further on a Phlistaran stopped in his tracks, while his backpack unit spat a missile at a large mecha that was trying to stop the charge with its fearsome weapons.The mecha took a direct hit, blowing to pieces across the area, its last act the particle beam that killed its killer.Of the four hundred centauroids who had started the charge, less than two hundred came through the other side.Of the nine hundred Fenri they had attacked, only a handful ran from the fury of a species they recognized as their physical superiors.* * *“Attack,” yelled Baggett into the com, running out of his bunker, rifle in his hands.I know this is not something I’m supposed to engage in, thought the Division Commander, his headquarters staff at his heels.But at heart he was still a battalion commander, and his men needed to see him sharing in the danger of a close assault.The danger he was asking them to face.And besides, they needed every suit they had, and he just happened to be occupying a twenty million imperial command suit, even more expensive than the larger heavy support suits.They were already heavily outnumbered, and every suit was an asset they needed at this moment.The Corps Commander might dress him down later for putting his hide on the line, battle capable suit or not.But I’d rather ask forgiveness, he thought.This assault was a landing zone that hadn’t received the attention of tank units.It was a straight on infantry assault.And the battalion conducting the assault was the weakest of those in the division, less than three hundred effectives.The addition of his hundred man headquarters section, all in heavy armor, was a major reinforcement.The landing zone was only five kilometers away, almost on top of the bunker.As Baggett came out of his shelter his HUD picked up the hundreds of troopers who were coming out of hiding to congregate for the assault.The other battalions had already started their assaults, some had finished.The enemy knew something was up, but most of the attention from above was elsewhere.Or at least he hoped so.Artillery started lofting shells at the enemy under the screen of jamming.A hundred shells were in the air before the first hit, its crumping sound coming across the kilometers.Enemy countermeasures started taking out some of them, but not enough.And anything firing at the shells was not being aimed at the infantry that was closing on them.Baggett got his suit up to eighty kilometers an hour, their maximum over rough ground.If they took to the air, they could also go faster, but would become much easier to target.Instead, they stayed low, taking advantage of the obscuring smoke and dust, as well as the holographic projectors on their suits, which were sending false images in random directions around their real physical matter.Artillery switched to a rolling barrage, augmented by the heavy support suits throwing mortars and rockets into the mix.Shells started coming down a hundred meters from the enemy lines, throwing up dirt and smoke.The next came in twenty meters closer to the enemy, then twenty meters closer.Half the tubes fired, while the other half moved, shoot and scoot, trying to avoid counter battery fire from the enemy.That worked, somewhat, though some tubes were lost to each change over when their crews didn’t move them fast enough [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]