1340

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Three circles cleared of red. Distant thunderclaps echoed from the river plain below. Yet, the casualties inflicted by all the sound and fury were mere Dinergates, chaff among Intruder’s forces. 

 

Nineteen cut down the scattered survivors as the BTRs hurtled towards the slope between the plateau and the east-side cliff. Yet Intruder’s response was the formation of a five-rank Guard phalanx, with gaps wide enough for the Dinergates to sieve through

 

She had her Dragoons hang back instead of charging alongside the mechanical hounds. She perched Jaguars and Jaegers on the southern edges of the towering plateau yet held their fire despite the BTRs crossing the one-kilometre threshold. 

 

What was Intruder plotting? 

 

The hellcannons’ second volley broke the second Dinergate wave. The Dragoons took several steps back, and a sixth rank of Guards formed in their place. 

 

Had Intruder planned for a phalanx countercharge? To entrap Team M4A1 in a steel and polymer cage at the last moment? Dragoons encircling, Jaegers and Jaguars raining destruction from above?

 

Was this Intruder’s strategy? This medieval tactic?

 

Hunter had executed a Hawk and Hound strategy in Subsector Three; the Sangvis did not shy away from costly antiquated tactics. Moreover, Intruder had the numbers and the means.

 

Archaic tactics obsoleted by high explosive shells. Yet, the plateau obstructed the trajectory of the ordnance, frustrating the hellcannons’ fury. Lure the Sangvis away from the plateau’s shadow, then cull their numbers. 

 

Pressed the headset’s button. No statics, MDR had repelled Intruder from the network. 

 

“Command to Team M4A1.” 

 

Interference emerged. M4’s soft voice barely filtered through. “M-Fo- to Comm-...Intru-”

Turned the head, hollered, “David! M4’s communication is being jammed!”

 

“So that’s where the second…” he murmured before raising his voice. “On it! MDR! Port One-
Thirty-Four!”

 

Spoke into the mic again. Repeat short order three…no…as often as required until changes are effected on the main screen.  

 

“M4, smoke and withdraw upon reaching one hundred metres from the phalanx. Advance again on my mark.”

 

“Wh- C---der!?” Her next utterance, harshly indignant, was unexpectedly intelligible. “Did you just order a retreat!?” 

 

“Repeat! Withdraw upon...”

 

The transmissions cut off. Glanced over the shoulder. David typed frantically and swiped discs stacked on his console into the ports. Then, a husky voice spoke from the headset with crystalline clarity. “Oh, dear. You have interrupted my conversation with our heroine and drove her into the Leviathan’s belly.” 

 

“Damn it... she’s got ICE deployed inside M4’s command infrastructure...” David seethed as his keyboard emitted a resounding clack. “Connect me up to AR-15; I’m sending her ICEBreakers.” 

 

“I commend your contribution to the script as the mentor who dooms the heroine,” Intruder taunted. “Watch as I swallow up your voyaging pioneers in a tide of blood-wrought iron. Watch, lament your impotence and despair.”  

 

“Command to M4!” The headset spat statics. The three BTRs continued advancing towards the Ringleader’s trap, heedless of the warning.

 

Three hundred metres. The hellcannons ceased fire. Two hundred metres. Nineteen exacted a heavy toll on the charging Dinergates. One hundred metres, a bright green flash emitted from the plateau. An incandescent beam...no...three overlapping beams striking a single point, rocking the frontmost BTR.

 

FNC cowered; particle beams relentlessly cratered and scorched the fountain sheltering her.

​

Scarecrow. 

 

She fired again, crippling the armoured transport, stranding it in the sea of surging Sangvis. 

 

Muhammed’s machine gun had fallen silent.

​

Barked again into the mic. "M4!" No response, no acknowledgements of having received the attempted communique. Only mocking statics.

 

The second and third BTRs emitted smoke…sped up, cleared the crippled vehicle. The rearmost Nineteen fired upon the top of the plateau, her gun-shield absorbing the impact of Jaeger fire. She rocked side to side, a whistling Jaguar shell having missed her vehicle narrowly. 

 

Guards, halfway between the slope and the first BTR, pressed together as they attempted to readjust their vectors. Shouted into the radio. “Lev! Fire into that concentration of Guards.” The artillery roared its reply. 

 

Scarecrow, Jaegers and Jaguars vented their fury at the crippled APC as the remaining transports formed an ad-hoc barricade at the plateau’s base. Dragoons rushed through the dust cloud thrown up by hellcannon volleys, trampling their peers’ broken bodies underfoot. The two Nineteens overlapped their fields of fire and whittled the charge. 

 

M4, AR-15, Sop II, Ingram and their dummies disembarked behind the makeshift barricade. AR-15s fired upwards at the Jaegers peeking overhead while the rest positioned themselves behind the parked vehicles. Sop II lunged at the cliff, a rope unwinding behind her. She drove her Sangvis claws into the cliff face, dug in her toes and launched herself upwards. Then…she stabbed her claws into the rocks and flung herself upwards again.

 

She was climbing to the plateau’s summit! Towards Scarecrow’s and her minions’ crossfire! 

 

Barked into the radio again, “P7!”

 

“Commander!” she yelped.

 

“How many suicide drones can you get airborne immediately?”

 

“T-Twenty!” 

 

Twenty. One wave. There were sixty drones total. Three waves before we deplete our stock of drones.

 

“Have the drones approach the plateau from the south. Strike all Sangvis in that firebase on my mark!” 

 

“Commander!” David exclaimed. “Those drones are for the jamming tower!”

 

“Team M4A1 needs their support!” 

 

Held the radio close to the mouth. Sop II continued her ascent, unimpeded by the Sangvis carcasses raining down the cliff. Ten metres…five…

 

“Mark!”

 

The drones swooped down on all available targets. The rising dust heralded Sop II’s arrival. She rolled aside just as three beams cut through the mist and grazed her. She plunged what looked to be a stake into the snow-crusted earth, then hurled herself towards a Jaguar’s wreckage, frustrating Scarecrow’s subsequent attempt to bring her low.

 

More red clusters coagulated to the north of the plateau. They crashed towards the firebase. 

 

“P7! Second wave! Priority targets: reinforcements coming north of the plateau!” 

 

Sop II ducked; Scarecrow’s fire scorched her hood. She rolled over the wreck, tore off its carapace and hurled a shell at the Ringleader. The adversary’s drones fired at the incoming explosive and the T-Doll simultaneously. She then waved her wand, signalling her drones to reposition, and was thrown off by an explosion at her feet.

 

The Dragoons arrived and were struck down by swooping drones.

 

“P7! Ready third wave!”

 

Scarecrow rose stiffly, her back hovering off the ground. She brandished her wand again, yet only two drones fired; Sop II had shot down one of the machines in the brief window afforded to her. 

 

The black-garbed doll dove behind another Jaguar wreck, narrowly avoiding the emerald beams. She dug into the carcass and, finding nothing of use, flipped the fallen machine at her opponent. 

 

Scarecrow’s drones split the tumbling wreck in half. She brandished her wand again. Bullets tore chunks of her ravaged flesh and perforated another of her drones. She rocked sideways, having been struck by a canister, and was swallowed by smoke. The last drone missed its mark. Five Ingrams had completed their climb, dispersed and made their angled approach. 

 

Sop II rolled onto her feet and circled around while reloading her launcher. 

 

More red clusters. “P7! Sangvis reinforcements!”

 

The third wave of suicide drones intercepted the encroaching hostiles.

 

Scarecrow’s beams cut and sliced through the smoke curtain. One struck an Ingram dummy, yet she continued sprinting. The scarred submachine-gunners closed their distance and opened up at her. Two more beams, two more Ingrams shot. They crumpled; deathly blows. 

 

The smoke cleared. The damaged Ingram lunged at Scarecrow, who backhanded her. The Ringleader then pointed her wand at the Ingram who charged her head-on. The drone lit up, then collapsed onto the melted snow. Seemingly grunting, the Ringleader raised her fist, then was knocked forward; Sop II’s grenade had struck her back.

 

The charging Ingram plunged her knife into Scarecrow’s neck, and Scarecrow’s fist dug into her belly. She then grasped and snapped that Ingram’s neck. More bullets perforated her. She spun around, rearing back her fist. Her head snapped back; Sop II had swung her buttstock at her with great force, shattering her mask. The Ringleader recovered and shot her opponent a furious glare. She prepared her retaliatory strikes, and her body crumpled limply. Sop II had driven her claws into the Ringleaderʼs mouth and severed her head from her lower jaw. She hoisted her trophy up high triumphantly.

 

More Sangvis reinforcements arrived, and the BTRs ploughed through them. Nineteen’s tracers scythed through the Dragoons and reaped a bountiful harvest. Sensing their opportunity to enact vengeance having passed, the Sangvis cavalry hastily withdrew.  

 

“Team M4A1 to Command.” The transmission came through clearly, baring the bitterness simmering in the command doll’s intonation. “Sangvis firebase captured.”

 

The red clusters regrouped at the base of the northern hill, readying themselves for another charge. 

 

“Cetin!” Skorpion’s frantic voice emitted by the headset. A series of thunder-cracks rocked the truck; the bridge had split and collapsed on the main screen, four sections swallowed by rising concrete dust. “Team Skorpion to Command! The bridge just went down!” 

 

Inhaled. Exhaled. The hands were shaking. Took a deep breath, counted to three, exhaled again. The worst had passed. Intruder’s spiteful response was predicted and planned for. The operation will resume as planned.

 

Send the Kamov to support Team M4A1 in securing the plateau. Redeploy hellcannons, Deuce and the combat teams on the plateau to clear the cliff-road and keep Intruder’s reinforcements at bay. Once the cliff road is cleared of Sangvis, Sebastien will rebuild the bridge. Hold off the enemy until the bridge is reconstructed.

 

Pressed the radio and headset buttons. Gave the orders.