The highway into the valley veered left over the crest, with two kilometers of moderate slope before turning hard right to cross the four-lane bridge. On the opposite bank, the roadway ran up a much steeper slope before turning back to its left to disappear behind the forest of trees and large rock outcroppings. Any vehicle travelling on the roadway had little cover.
The valley itself was rocky, with huge boulders and rock faces peeking out from underneath the many trees that clung desperately to what soil kept them rooted. Rainforest ferns that covered most of Deladin now gave way to an undergrowth of thorny bushes and tall grasses. Rushing down the valley was a thunderous whitewater rapids, fed by the snow-capped mountains to the south. The Witch River had been labeled as suicidal to any adventure seeker who wished to raft it.
“Anything getting through yet, Sergeant?” asked the tired voice of Major Peter Mikolayev over his command channels.
Emmet’s prone position gave him a good view of the far side of the bridge three kilometers away, where the last of the alien infantry was still crossing unimpeded. The rock outcropping shielded him from the rest of the valley, though the tall periscope viewer at his side allowed him to see over part of it.
“Negative,” Emmet replied simply.
There was a moment’s pause as a sigh could be heard.
“We’re shutting down, then. All units hold position and await further orders.”
The command would have little effect on the front line, the sergeant knew, since the Tigris Guard had already deployed in defensive positions behind the valley crest. Captain Riggins’ thirty Templars were already scattered along the stretch of roadway leading up to the valley. Emmet’s Mechanized Brigade was digging in around the tanks in the forests, and bringing their Haulers forward to support them. Everyone was already expecting this standoff to last a while and was preparing for a siege.
The bombardment continued for only a minute more after the announcement, slacking off quickly, though a few rocket howitzer rounds continued to streak overhead from their bases far to the rear. Raising his one-meter tall periscope, the sergeant sneaked a peek over the outcropping. A large part of the valley was still blocked by the rock, but Corporal Pierce of Bravo Company, hidden one kilometer north of the road, could see the remainder.
Movement immediately caught his attention, and with a twist of the ungainly periscope, he zoomed in on a line of vehicles.
“An armored column is entering the valley,” he said into his headset. “I see ten vehicles, moving slowly. More are following . . .”
Emmet’s first thought was that the aliens had now tested their defenses and considered it safe to invest some armor into the valley. He wasn’t overly concerned that they’d sortie since all of their infantry were now safely evacuated.
“Pierce just got sniped,” reported Captain Larson of Bravo Company. “Assigning another observer . . .”
Sergeant Lear swore under his breath as he continued to watch the arriving column.
“Twenty vehicles,” he updated the count. “One-fifty tons . . . ten wheelers . . . energy cannons . . . twelve-wheeled mass drivers . . .”
Sergeant Pierce was a personal friend of Emmet’s, and his stomach tightened at the thought of him just taking a needle. There shouldn’t have been any reason why Pierce exposed himself. They had their periscopes and good positions. Something must have drawn Pierce out, or else their lines had been infiltrated.
“Twenty-six vehicles total in two columns,” Lear updated again, trying not to think about it, “still approaching the bridge.”
Yesterday, Emmet Lear had been a dealer in heavy-construction vehicles. That life was forgotten at the moment, but his civilian occupation gave him an advantage at judging the size of the war machines that were rolling down the opposite slope. The sight of such large armored vehicles on wheels disturbed Lear, however, who was used to tracks being on any ground vehicle over fifty tons. Although this would give them a much better speed on pavement, he considered, they’d be very limited once the battle turned off-road. A few of the vehicles were also of a tractor-trailer design, which he knew were extremely unstable on broken terrain at higher speeds.
“EW is picking up gravitic disturbances at the river,” said Major Mikoleyev over his headset. “Anyone see anything?”
Emmet quickly zoomed out his periscope and looked around. The valley was clear of any other movement. Even the infantry had now disappeared into the woods and rocky terrain across the river. Of course, with Pierce gone, Lear now had to worry about what was behind the huge outcropping that sheltered him. He’d have to climb on top, or crawl out in the open to get a look on the other side, however, exposing himself to fire. There was no chance he’d do that.
Then his spine tingled as Lear heard a low whine quickly growing in volume around him, freezing his bones. Dropping the periscope, Lear lay flat on his stomach with his hands over his helmet.
The voice that suddenly exploded over command channels was not recognized, but it was obviously young.
“Four gravtanks climbing our slope south of the highway!”
Oh crap, Lear thought, and lay perfectly still as a massive shadow rose over the outcropping and slowly passed over him. His entire body seemed to vibrate in resonance with the overwhelming hum that enveloped him, paralyzing him in fear.
“All units engage!” Mikolayev called out. “All units engage! But do not enter the valley! They could be trying to draw us in.”
“Five hundred . . . six hundred tons!” the unknown observer called out. “Plasma cannon of some sort. The column is crossing the bridge!”
The hum was dying off now, but Emmet didn’t move until the screams of Raven missiles, launched by his comrades, filled the air. Rising quickly to his knees, he looked both at the rear of the massive gravtanks disappearing over the trees, and then at the rapidly advancing armored vehicles driving up the highway.
“Captain Riggins!” Lear called out over the command channel. “You will be hit simultaneously from your front and right flank . . .”
“Incoming!”
Emmet didn’t know who called that out, or why, but that never mattered to a soldier in combat. He just dropped everything and tried to become one with the dirt.
THUTHUMP!
A shockwave and blast of heat passed over him with a thunderous roar, followed by a rain of smoldering branches falling onto his back. A moment later, entire trees were crashing down the slopes around him, causing landslides. When he looked up, the trees at the top of the valley had been blasted away. Dense smoke filled the air, but he had an unobstructed view of the four alien gravtanks just as they acquired their targets. Incredibly bright plasma lasers flared from their cannons. Lear couldn’t see what damage they might have wreaked among the Templars, but a mass of return fire began to literally blast the gravtanks apart. Huge chunks of armor flew high into the sky as armor piercing rods slammed into them. Turning his attention back to the highway, Emmet saw five of the alien armored vehicles explode the moment that they topped the crest, but the remainder lashed out with bright blue particle beams and then disappeared from view as they tangled with the Templars.
From Lear’s vantage point, all he could watch were the gravtanks as they disintegrated, chunk by chunk. Raven missiles suddenly began streaking up to blast them from all sides as their point defense beams fell silent. One by one, as the gravtank’s powerplants were hit, the mammoths dropped from the sky as if their supporting strings were cut. Only a few moments after the last gravtank fell, the alien armored vehicles reappeared, this time in open retreat at high speeds. Only a dozen or so were left.
As the sergeant watched the surviving column recross the bridge, he suddenly remembered his duties. After finding his periscope in all the debris, he scanned what he could of the valley.
“All vehicles in retreat,” the sergeant announced. “No other activity.”
All during the fight, the command channels were completely silent as Major Mikolayev let the commanders fight their battles. The extended span of silence after Emmet gave his report, however, made him think that his headset was damaged.
But then Mikolayev came back online.
“All units prepare to be relieved in order. Alabaster will be taking point again. All infantry units check your bracelets and report to Decon’ as needed.”
With a sudden fear gripping him, Lear ripped open his sleeve and took a look at the radiation band that was wrapped around his wrist. Its friendly green had now turned ominously yellow.
Crap, Emmet thought.
* * *
The Kezdai scout was disappointed.
The electrical fence had fooled him into believing that the complex he had infiltrated was an important target. What he was finding was that it was some sort of biological research center. The room that he was hiding in contained shelves and shelves of glass and plastic tanks containing marine animals of various types. Perhaps they were experimenting with biologic weapons of some types, but he doubted it. There were no hermetically sealed environments anywhere to be seen.