John Ringo - When the Devil Dances

“I hate humans,” Orostan growled as the link from the tenaral went dead.

“So you have said,” Cholo’stan pointed out.

“What were those things?” the oolt’ondai asked. “Esstu?”

“I’m still working on that,” the Kessentai admitted. “There is reference to them in combat, but not against flying tenar; they are usually used for ground defense.”

“Well, we will deal with them after the big gun,” Orostan said with a flap of his crest. The oolt’ondai looked at his battlefield schematic and snarled. “Enough of this playing with them, bring us up so we can engage.”

“Pruitt, two rounds,” the commander reminded his gunner.

“That’s all Bun-Bun needs,” the gunner replied.

“Major,” Indy called over the intercom. “I’ve got the turbines up to speed; I cut a few corners, but it looks like we’re going to be okay. Anyway, we’re up to full power.”

“Great,” Mitchell said. “Reeves, when Pruitt fires, back down the ridge. We’ve always moved next. This time, back down then wait for my word. We’ll pull right back into position then head north of Franklin for resupply.”

“Yes, sir,” the driver said, checking as his telltales went back into the green. “We’re up to full power.”

“Okay, engage.”

Reeves engaged the drive and threw the multiton tank up the 30-degree slope, leveling it out at the top.

“Oh… shit,” Pruitt whispered; all the landers were up. In the distance he heard the whine of turbines as Reeves cranked the power until the SheVa vibrated with it.

“Target,” Major Mitchell called. Reacting to a training deeper than instinct he had swiveled the gun and laid it on the lower portion of one of the two C-Decs in sight.

“TARGET,” Pruitt confirmed. “C-Dec, nine klicks!”

“Confirmed,” Mitchell said.

“ON THE WAY!” he called, slamming against his straps as Reeves threw the tank into reverse.

“Miss!” Mitchell called as the round tracked under the maneuvering C-Dec. “TARGET, ON THE WAY!”

The second round, fired from the commander’s console, entered the ship on the lower quadrant just as the return fire from the ships erupted around the retreating SheVa. The giant tank still managed to slip away as the top of the hill erupted upward under the flailing of the guns. Despite the heavy fire, the detonation was evident and the fire cut down almost immediately as the hills to either side were lit in nuclear fire.

“NICE SHOT, SIR!” Pruitt caroled. One of the Lampreys was just visible over the ridge they were descending; it was out of control and just as they dropped out of sight it slammed into the side of High Knob. The explosion had easily been the largest so far. “EAT ANTIMATTER, YOU ALIEN FREAKS !”

“Reeves, put your foot in it and don’t let up until we are north of Franklin,” the commander called, manually rotating the turret in that direction. “We’ve got a reload date to keep.” He thought for a moment and frowned. “Swing east of the town; the Sub-Urb is west of it and I’d hate to find out that one of those things acts as a pit trap for a SheVa.”

“Oh, damn,” Pruitt said suddenly. “The Urb! What about the Urb, sir?”

Mitchell sighed and shrugged. “I think they’re on their own, Sergeant. Let’s just hope we don’t run over any stragglers.”

“I hate humans,” Orostan snarled as six icons dropped off the screen and his own vessels pitched up and down in the shockwave; Chylasarn must have been remanufacturing antimatter already. “Their behavior is bizarre, their reproductive methods are frankly disgusting and they use their weakness as a weapon. There should be a law.”

“Yes, so I am given to understand,” Cholosta’an said, looking down at the obvious trail leading to the north. The SheVa was out of sight and presumably out of ammunition, but they could easily track it down. “Do we follow?”

“We do not,” Orostan said. “We’ll deal with it later. For now we are well behind the timetable for us to have taken our positions. Have the ships that are left spread out to take their objectives. Keep maneuvering, but raise up to where they can increase speed; the SheVa appears to have retreated.”

“Our reports indicate that one of the human underground cities is just ahead,” the intelligence officer said. “It was an objective for Aresseen’s oolt’pos.”

“Detail another to take and hold the entrances,” Orostan said looking at the size of his reduced force again in anger. “The ground forces can detail one unit in three into it. There is much booty and, of course, thresh in one of those; we’ll need the materials to continue the drive. The other two forces should turn up Highway 28 and Highway 441 as planned.”

“Understood,” the S-2 said. “The city will be rich pickings.”

“I don’t know,” Cholosta’an said. “At this rate, I have to wonder if it will be worth it.”

“Sir, I’m looking at this directive and obviously missing something,” Captain Slight said. “There’s no timetable for the relieving force.”

The battalion staff and company commanders had gathered in the briefing room to see if there was some way to make the mission less of a nightmare. Instead, they were finding more and more things not to like about it.

“That’s because there’s not one yet,” Mike said with a grim smile. He leaned forward, steepling his fingers and grinned. “You’ve taken a look at the terrain, right?”

“Yep,” Duncan said. “A troop of Boy Scouts with a .22 should be able to bottle them up in there.”

“Normally I’d agree,” O’Neal replied. “But in this case, the Posleen are fighting smart . The point is that they will be at a really severe handicap; there’s not much room for them to maneuver in there and lots of places for dug-in forces and engineers to make their life miserable. But, by the same token, it’s the kind of terrain that will eat up assaulting forces.”

“So… what?” Captain Holder. “They’re just going to let us die on the vine?”

“They’ll push forces forward until they come into contact,” Mike said. “Then they’ll hunker down and start killing Posleen. If they kill all or most of them that are in the pocket, they’ll push forward. Until they do that…”

“We’re just going to be left to die on the vine,” Captain Slight said. “That sucks, sir.”

“Why do you think I lost my temper?” O’Neal said with another grim smile. “The British Airborne in Arnhem kept fighting for nine days when told they only had to hold out for three until relieved; and the relieving forces never did reach Arnhem.”

“The Germans did not, by and large, eat their captives, sir,” Captain Holder pointed out.

“I don’t know of a single instance,” Mike agreed. “On the other hand, this is the mission. Hold until relieved. I, personally, plan on stacking the deck as much in our favor as possible.” He pushed his AID forward and nodded at it.

“We are going to need all the shuttles we can get our hands on and all the ammunition, power packs and generators available. But the real problem is going to be that we won’t have any anti-lander support. Shelly, how many AM Lances are there that can be transported here within the next, say, six hours?”

“Four,” the AID reported. “They are scattered around Minneapolis for the support of Northern Plains Front. One of the shuttles that is lifting from Chicago could pick them up and bring them down. To get here in six hours would require ignoring some safety regulations, but it could be done.”