Scorpion’s Fury by C H Gideon

Author:C H Gideon [Gideon, C H]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2018-12-16T07:00:00+00:00

12

Long Live Rock & Roll

Six hours later, HQ’s seismic alarms went off. The rock-biters were breaching the surface in force.

They had completely surrounded the plateau.

“All crews, report to your mechs,” Jenkins ordered over the battalion-wide priority channel. “I say again, all crews, report to your mechs. This is not a drill. We have enemy inbound.” He switched to the Pounder command channel. “Major Piper, Sergeant Major Trapper, are your people prepared to receive the enemy?”

“Yes, sir,” Piper acknowledged promptly.

“Sar,” Trapper replied, as was his wont. Jenkins had served with Trapper once before, back when Jenkins had been a wide-eyed ensign and Trapper, oddly enough, had been the same rank he was today.

It was comforting having familiar faces on the line with him.

They had drilled this scenario forty-one times since arriving on Durgan’s Folly, and Jenkins had every confidence that his people would successfully repel the enemy.

The only question was how bad the butcher’s bill would be.

He switched back to battalion command. “2nd Platoon,” Jenkins barked, referring to the unit of fast-moving, light-duty scout vehicles that had no hope of surviving direct railgun strikes, “assume reserve posture in support of the ridge-line.”

“Assuming reserve posture, Commander,” acknowledged Koch, commander of that unit.

“4th Platoon,” Jenkins continued, “cover the southern quadrant with artillery fire at established perimeter.”

“Southern quadrant, yes, sir,” replied Captain Murdoch.

“5th Platoon,” he snapped, “cover the northern quadrant.”

“Northern quadrant, aye, sir,” Xi replied promptly and calmly, her tone and composure suggesting she was an officer much older than nineteen.

“3rd Platoon,” Jenkins continued, referring to the down-checked and immobile mechs which still had the ability to engage at long range via artillery, “cover the western quadrant and stand ready to deploy our Vultures. But keep them grounded until we need them. Rock-biter railguns are deadly accurate above ground.”

“3rd Platoon stands ready,” replied Ensign ‘George’ Rodenbaugh, commanding the Generally. He had demonstrated his superior artillery skill in support of Xi when they repelled the flanking attack at the collapsed tunnel, and he’d had been given fire control of the crippled vehicles as a result. If Jenkins had his way, he’d put George in charge of training every gun crew in the battalion.

“1st Platoon,” Jenkins continued as Roy’s systems sprang to life under Chaps’ expert control, “the eastern quadrant is ours.”

Acknowledgments streamed across his screen, and when they had done so, he noted with satisfaction that the Pounders had already manned every gun nest on the plateau’s ridge-line.

As a fortress used in previous campaigns, the ridge of the HQ plateau was piled high with multi-ton boulders, atop which sat precisely-positioned gun nests. The north, west, and southern faces of the granite plateau were nearly vertical, making them difficult, but far from impossible, for Arh’Kel infantry to scale. The faces were lined with a contiguous wall that stood an average of five meters high and was four times as thick at the base.

The eastern face, on the other hand, was gently sloped and presented every bit as tempting a target as slowly swimming fish snapping at bugs.

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