Upon a Savage Shore Ch. 22

"I hope not," he replied. "They volunteered to come, though. They've got a lot to lose if we fail."

"Perhaps," she said.

"You said your people already lost worlds to these things," he pointed out. "If we can stomp this scout ship flat, maybe they won't send any more. Maybe we can make it too expensive for them to try taking this place. There isn't much in the way of resources here. It's not in a strategically valuable system. If it were, our races would be fighting over it right now."

M'pel E'kmel considered his argument and had to agree, though she did so reluctantly.

"We will need to disable their communications in the first strike," she said after a moment. "If they get a message off to their carrier, we can expect a rescue mission to be sent to recover them. I can reset a rifle to send a more powerful bolt. It won't have as high a rate of fire, but it will be very destructive."

"Good enough. We'll wreck the ship. Make it a big enough mess that they won't bother to land," he said. "First things first, though. Let's get Clot'ilda out of there. We'll worry about repelling an invasion after that."

"Very well," she said. "How?"

***********

As the sky turned grey in the predawn Ssteilssniq lay in the thick, reedy grass a hundred long strides from the hump Warrior said was an enemy hut. The thing looked like the largest god tear any of the hunters of the High Grass folk had ever seen. A mound of smooth stone, perhaps. Only the strange trees growing from the top broke its surface. From his place in the marsh he could see nothing of the bizarre creature Warrior had shown him from the hilltop. He knew roughly where it would be. The thing had crawled into a shallow pool not far from the giant that stood by the enemy's hut. Warrior had said the creature rode inside of the giant as the hunters rode on the backs of their landstriders. Ssteilssniq reckoned the giants must be like the beetle costume Warrior wore. He had seen how powerful the giants were. Spears and arrows had bounced off their hides or shattered. Ssteilssniq gripped the magic weapon Warrior had given him and hoped he could remember how to use it properly and worried his hunters would not remember what to do with the weapons. Stolkchiq was smart and had done well with the instructions, but some of the others had not done as well.

A bright flash from the hilltop and a sound like smashing stone tore Ssteilssniq out of his thoughts. The attack had begun! Ssteilssniq rose up to one knee and put the weapon to his shoulder as a second flash of light came from the hilltop. He pressed the thing that would send out the bright light from his weapon and felt it buck lightly into his shoulder. This surprised him, as the weapon had not done so when Strongwife had given them instruction.

Flashes of light blossomed on the side of the enemy's hut as more of the hunters began sending their magic at the thing. From the top of the hut a great head rose and turned to look at them. Lightning flared from a long tube and one of his hunters caught at the end of the bolt screamed in agony. The hunter went on screaming even as a second bolt flared across the marsh. Ssteilssniq shouted a warning to the other folk and sprinted forward the way Warrior had told them to do. They darted left and right, stopping for a heartbeat before darting off again. It seemed chaotic and random, but the hunters knew how prey often broke to confuse the aim of those who shot arrows or threw spears. The next bolt from the tube struck only the sodden earth, throwing up a cloud of steam. The hunters pressed onward, closing the distance.

***********

Along the stream Liam and Tem'Ma'tel had crept, cloaked under the blade-beast hides. Liam had to wear two to cover his armor, but he was not greatly encumbered. They'd squelched their way along the bank, his boots getting stuck in the cloying mud more than a few times. Finally they were within striking distance. Liam risked a look over the lip of the low bank through the reeds. The near side of the ship showed no sign of sensors or even a porthole. Nothing indicated either he or his mate had been spotted.

"Looks quiet," he whispered to Tem'Ma'tel who crouched next to him pressed into the soft bank.

"What next?" she asked.

"We wait," he said and checked his chronometer. "Should be any second n..."

The shot from on top of the hillock and the explosion that followed drowned out his words. Tem'Ma'tel did not wait for Liam's order to spring over the lip of the bank and begin running for the ship, throwing off her blade-beast cloak as she did. Liam was right behind her, grinding his teeth in frustration. She was supposed to follow him, not take the lead.

Suddenly Tem'Ma'tel pitched forward, landing in a tumble of writhing limbs. She gurgled out a strangled cry and thrashed spastically in the wet grass and mud. Liam sprang to her, fearing his mate had been shot. Something whipped up from the ground and wrapped around his leg and another wrapped around his arm. His suit registered an electric pulse, but its insulation defeated the weapon. Liam saw that the fine tentacles of the perimeter system were the source of the currents and that Tem'Ma'tel had tripped them in her unthinking rush.

"Fuck this!" he snarled and unsheathed his knife. The thick blade sliced through the tentacles on his arm and leg, but more whipped at him. Liam growled and grabbed hold of a couple. He hauled back hard, pulling the creature from the grass. More tentacles wrapped around him and Liam stabbed his knife through the center of the thing. It looked like a cross between a jellyfish and a starfish. His first thrust did not kill it so Liam began slashing the tentacles off. Tem'Ma'tel stopped jerking and lay panting in the grass.

"Are you okay?" he asked pulling her into a sitting position.

"Fuck!" she cursed and grabbed her rifle.

"Let me lead," he said. There was no time to berate her for her impetuousness. They had to get to the sensor array.

When the turret appeared on top of the ship he noted it with surprise, though he did not break stride. The weapon swung out to fire on the Fauns and Liam instantly changed his point of attack.

"This way!" he shouted and waved Tem'Ma'tel to follow.

Even in the muddy ground she outpaced him, reaching the ship first, but she waited until he got to her before trying to climb the smooth surface. Her claws found no purchase, though. She could not scale the slope.

"I'll take out the turret," Liam said in a rush. "When I blow it you go around and cover the fauns."

She wanted to argue, but there was no time. Liam was already climbing the side of the ship, his boot clamps digging shallow gouges into the surface. He made it to the top just as one of the armored forms of the enemy came through the hatch. For a heartbeat it seemed as though the attack was over before it could truly begin, but the creature did not see Liam and strode down the far side of the ship to engage the darting Fauns. Another blast from the ship's cannon drew Liam onward. He had the scuttling charge in his hand as he reached it. The top of the turret was fairly flat and presumably thick with armor so Liam jammed the charge into an angle next to the gun. He connected the leads from one of their radios to it, jumped on top of the turret and lay flat before sending the signal that would trigger the device. The whole turret jumped when the charge detonated, rolling Liam off the far side. A second later there was a high pitched whine and then the weapon's capacitor exploded, sending shrapnel slicing through the air.

Liam looked up to find the gun tube had slid down the side of the hull, smoke pouring from its shattered breach end. He crawled around to peer into the hole, hoping it was large enough for him to squeeze through, but there was too much wreckage in his way. He shoved a hand grenade into the mess and ducked back. The grenade boomed, tearing more of the metal and cabling apart. Another look revealed more mess, but no greater hole. Frustrated, Liam was about use another grenade, but the hatch slid open and another of the armored enemy rose from the water within the ship. This one came up looking in Liam's direction and instantly it brought its directed energy weapon to bear.

Liam dove behind the wrecked turret just as the enemy fired. The blast caught him, but his suit absorbed the bolt of bright electric blue, sending it to replenish his capacitors. Liam came up and laid his fero-plas rifle across the top of the turret, pulling the trigger as his sights lined up on the thing's faceplate. The armored giant staggered back, water mixed with blood poured from the shattered plate, but the thing wasn't dead. It brought up another weapon and fired a burst. Liam's sensors screamed a warning even as the projectiles struck. He knew he was dead as he fell back behind the turret. But then he wasn't. Surprised, Liam blinked. His armor was intact. No damage done. He didn't even feel like he'd been so much as punched. What the hell? There was an object sticking in the plastron of his left shoulder. A finger long dart had buried its tip in the secondary plate, but had not penetrated.

Thumping sounded from the far side of the turret and Liam rolled up to a knee, bringing his rifle to his shoulder in one smooth motion. His sites lined up again and he pumped three quick shots into the faceplate and chest. More blood tinged water spouted from the holes and the creature staggered, slumping to one side. Sparks erupted from one of the holes and then a shot from on top of the hill slammed into its back, toppling it over the side of the ship.

Thankful to be alive, Liam waved to M'pel E'kmel in her sniper's post before casting about for some way into the ship. He couldn't open the hatch. The hole in the turret was too small to let him in and his grenades were not powerful enough to blast another hole. Out in the marshland the Fauns were playing merry hell with the enemy soldier. With the turret out of action they were able to dart and dodge freely. The armored giant was firing with multiple weapons. The projected energy gun was powerful, but seemed to have very limited range. The dart gun was inaccurate at the range of the engagement and the alien only threw a few bursts to keep the Fauns back. The other weapon had a much longer reach and fired in five round bursts, leaving streamers of white vapor behind each projectile. Liam frowned at them. His scope indicated these were not bullets in the traditional sense.

"Fucking gyro-jet guns?" he breathed in understanding. It made perfect sense. A gyro-jet could be used with great effect under water or in space where conventional weapons were limited. The CP had used them in the early days, but when man-pack rail guns had been perfected they'd abandoned gyro-jets. They were notoriously inaccurate unless equipped with a guidance system. These seemed to have one, though it was apparently very limited. As Liam watched, another Faun went down when one of the projectiles exploded in the air next to him.

Liam was about to put a round into the enemy's head when the hatch opened in front of him. He didn't hesitate. As the next giant rose out of the ship, Liam dove in head first. The enemy had no time to stop him as Liam shot by, slipping off the side of the lift and into the compartment below the water. The hatch sealed shut above him and Liam looked around. A circular door stood off to one side. The rest of the walls were lined with racks, one of which still held an armored suit. This was the alien's version of a ready room and airlock. He swam to the closed door and examined it. The water made it tough to move around since Liam's suit was not neutrally buoyant. He floated at an odd angle and could do nothing about it.

The door was sealed, but there was a simple wheel and dog configuration holding it shut. The damned thing was mechanical! Made of steel alloys, ceramics and carbon fiber, this ship was about as primitive as you could get and still get it into space. He put the muzzle of his rifle to one of the dogs and pulled the trigger. A flash of light and a muted explosion pushed him back, but the dog held. It was dented and scarred, but not otherwise damaged.

A sound from above made Liam turn. The hatch was cycling again. He cast about for the control mechanism. If he got trapped in this airlock with one of the things it could probably rip him apart, even with his armor. The thing's feet were showing already. Liam switched his sensors on, looking for power readings, hoping they would lead him to the controls. Cables running along the wall indicated they were charged, but there were no controls. No panels. Nothing.

"Gotta be in the suits," growled Liam as he held onto the wall and fired a burst of fero-plastic point blank into the cables. The insulation disintegrated under the impact sending bubbles of steam up to the ceiling. Another burst parted the cables and the lift shuddered to a stop. For a confused moment nothing happened and then the armored giant jammed his gyro-jet gun through the gap between ceiling and lift, firing off a short volley. Even as Liam dodged aside the projectiles homed in on him. Panicked and irrational he swiped at them with his hand, knocking two aside. The other three thumped into his shoulder pauldron and breastplate, but did not detonate. The range was too close. The projectiles had to have distance to accelerate and arm. They were not designed for this kind of close quarters combat!

Liam swam clear of the still active projectiles and sprayed a burst of nearly useless fero-plas rounds at his attacker. The water dispersed their energy and slowed the bullets to such a degree that they simply bounced off the thick armor of his enemy's suit. The giant launched half a dozen more gyro-jet rounds at him, none of which had any greater effect than the first volley. It shot a long burst of darts, some of which struck home only to bounce off.

Liam snarled in frustration. His enemy couldn't hurt him, but he didn't have anything that could hurt his enemy either. He was about to use another of his grenades when the giant was rocked by something from above.

***********

Tem'Ma'tel, her fingers and toes still tingling from the electric charge she had sustained, waited only long enough to be sure Liam had succeeded in detonating the scuttling charge. As the cloud of debris washed over the side of the ship she sprinted around the nose, rifle at the ready. Clearing the angle of the ship she saw that the Fauns had closed in on the perimeter and were throwing fero-plas rounds in wild sprays. As distractions went, that was a pretty good one. It was both wildly chaotic and dangerous. The enemy crew had no choice but to engage the sprinting Fauns even though they had little chance of hitting them.

The alien they had seen repairing its suit and checking the perimeter was sheltering in one of the larger pools of water. It would raise itself onto the bank and fire off a few shots from what looked like a rocket gun and then duck back down as the Fauns fired a scattered fusillade at it. The creature had very little chance of hitting anything because it lacked even the most rudimentary of skeletons. It was forced to prop its weapon on top of several of its tentacles to get any elevation. There was no way it could aim at the Fauns and so it used the classic method of spray and pray.

The other enemy stood a few paces from the ship and launched volleys of the small rockets at the fleet footed nomads. One tracked on a Faun and exploded just as the lithe creature was turning to dart away. The Faun fell and lay silent in the tall grass. Few of the rockets were able to track the nomads who seemed to have boundless reserves of energy. Tem'Ma'tel knew it couldn't last, though. Even the fittest warrior would eventually grow tired. She knew sooner or later these allies would fall to the weapons of their enemy.

Tem'Ma'tel had no idea where the most vital spot on the armored giant was, but if she didn't take some action the Fauns would continue to die. Therefore she sighted on the thing's weapon. It was a stub-barreled box of a cannon held by a cluster of short tentacles on the right side of the armor. She took in a breath and let half out to steady her aim and then squeezed the trigger. Her round struck home in the magazine and the weapon detonated with a resounding blast that sent metal tentacles flying and toppled the armored giant sideways. Even as it fell the enemy was turning to face her. Tem'Ma'tel saw its other weapon coming up to bear and she fired again, aiming for the faceplate. Her round struck the coaming at the top of the clear crystal and sent a crack straight down the middle, splitting the faceplate in two. As the giant hit the ground its weapon discharged. A viridian bolt of energy sizzled past Tem'Ma'tel, the static charge setting her fur on end. She fired off half a dozen bolts, stitching a line of holes across its armored shoulders and gouging scars down its back. Pieces of the dark plating flew off in jagged little chunks. Water poured out of the armor and the suit could not seal all of the holes.

The giant wasn't done, though. It pushed itself up, rising ponderously to its four knees. A bolt of fero-plastic flashed over Tem'Ma'tel's shoulder and struck the already damaged faceplate. Commander M'pel E'kmel was still on the hill in her sniper's nest and had not given up the fight. More rounds flashed through the air, slamming into the armored form as it rocked under the impacts which left glowing craters in the breast plate and shoulders. Tem'Ma'tel brought her rifle back to her shoulder and began firing steady, aimed shots, gouging more chunks from the enemy's breastplate and torso armor. Between the two jZav'Etch they fired more than forty rounds into it before the armored giant collapsed and lay still.

As soon as the giant was down, Tem'Ma'tel charge forward dodging the stray fero-plas bolts from the Fauns. Pulling a grenade off her belt she pressed the arming cap and tossed it into the empty suit as she tucked and rolled to get clear of the blast.

WHUUMP!

The grenade detonated. The suit rocked backward, black smoke and charred bits flying from the open torso. Tem'Ma'tel spun back to the downed giant she and the commander had shot. From two meters away she fired a dozen more rounds into its back, shattering the armor and shredding its inner workings. Red tinged water flowed out of the many holes. She had no time to celebrate, though. The thing in the pool had finally noticed her, and she had to drop to the ground to get under its arc of fire.

Suddenly there was a loud whistle from out in the marsh and the surviving Fauns charged in, howling a blood curdling war cry. The thing in the pool slopped back into the water as they surrounded it and began pouring fire into the water. It took them several seconds to see their weapons were having no effect. They stopped firing long enough to rearm themselves with bows. The creature under the water surged up as the first arrow penetrated the water and lodged in its hide. It lashed out with its tentacles, knocking one Faun into the reeds several meters away. The others dodged and taunted the alien, stabbing it with spears or shooting it with arrows. The thing was bleeding from dozens of wounds and writhing in pain, but they had not killed it. Tem'Ma'tel was lining up her sights to deal it a death wound when her radio beeped at her. She blinked, irritated by the distraction.

"Tem'Ma'tel!" M'pel E'kmel shouted over the radio. "Liam needs you! Turn around!"

Without answering the commander, Tem'Ma'tel spun to face the ship. A fourth alien was crouching on top of the vessel, apparently firing into the ship through the hatch. Black specks of fero-plastic leapt up from within the ship, but lacked the energy to go more than a meter or two. M'pel E'kmel fired from the hilltop, striking one of the massive pauldrons and rocking the giant sideways. Tem'Ma'tel took aim at the same point and fired. Again and again they shot at the creature, driving it away from the hatch and forcing it to face them rather than attack Liam.