Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (37 page)

“
Why are they still
attacking us? Surely they could just turn and run. If they stay
here, they risk sustaining internal damage from our marines or
being vaporized by our ships.”

“
Admiral, I suspect
they do not think they can outrun us. Serenity and Savage are both
unable to pursue. Once they’ve slowed our last four ships, they’ll
power up and head for the Rift. We are all taking damage in this
fight, but their ship is designed for taking punishment, not giving
it out. In a drawn out fight, the advantage goes to
them.”

Anderson looked unimpressed at the news.

“
If they can disable
us, w
hat if we do the same to them? It
doesn’t make sense. They are risking an awful lot on this
gamble.”

The three-dimensional model of the ship rotated on
the tactical display of Lieutenant Powalk. He moved his hand along
one side of the ship where areas were now lighting up in red.

“
I’m detecting
brea
ches in over fifty locations, and she
is venting ionized plasma on her starboard side where our marine
units are in action.

“
Starboard? We’ve
been hitting her from every other direction.”

Teresa,
he remembered.
Her units must have breached the
weapon capacitors on that side.

“
Based on this
damage
, I’d say the ship is sustaining
damage at a similar level to us. Their guns are down fifty percent,
and our units on board are causing more damage every minute. We’ve
sustained fifteen percent casualties and rising. It could still be
a close run thing.”

Anderson nodded at
the news. The ships were doing well, even if the casualties
suggested otherwise. Without the marines, the Guardian ship would
be making short work of his ships. General Daniels strode into the
middle of the discussion and gave a shout as he pointed to
Lieutenant Powalk’s display.

“
Admiral, I’ve got
news from Major Morato. They’ve reached the central power point,
and they’ve hit a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“
They’re pinned
down, and she’s running out of marines.”

Anderson breathed slowly.

“Can she take out the power systems?”

Daniels shook his head.

“
At this rate,
she’ll be dead in fifteen minutes. I’m sending in Gun.”

Lieutenant Powalk
cried out, “But, Sir, their flank guns are still operational. We
have fighter cover, but only just. He’ll be lucky to get within a
hundred meters of the ship.”

Anderson watched the
discussion intently and agreed with both of them, but that wouldn’t
help resolve the situation. It wasn’t just the hundred and fifty or
so marines on the ship they risked losing, no, it was that if they
lost the marines, they lost the chance of winning this
encounter.

“
Very well, General.
I will bring everything I have to bear on that ship, even our point
defense turrets. We’ll saturate her with so much fire they won’t
even detect your approach.

“
Admiral, if we turn
all our firepower on her, we’ll leave ourselves defenseless against
their missiles,” Lieutenant Powalk argued.

Anderson looked to him.

“
I’m
well aware of that,” he then turned back to the
General.

“
Gun will have a
narrow window. H
e’d better be
ready.”

* * *

Two metallic rounds
struck Teresa in the chest, and she fell back a meter, hitting the
wall. The secondary passageway was now slick with the blood of
marines and Biomechs alike, as both sides fought a savage close
ranged action just twenty meters from the entrance to the
objective.

Sergeant Nova helped
her up and both raised their coilguns to shoot. Every piece of
cover from fallen warriors to shattered bulkheads was now used on
both sides to shield them from the withering fire that glanced back
and forth.

This is
useless. W
e have to do
something.

Teresa looked over
her shoulder and could just make out the recently arrived
3
rd Platoon from 1st Company. They’d been
forced to regroup with those marines here after being pushed back
by Biomechs. A blood spattered Captain made his way toward her
while keeping as close to the passageway wall as
possible.

“
Major, we’re pinned
down by two machines. 2nd Platoon got hit on the way though, their
wasted!”

Teresa could see the
fear through the young man’s visor. It was a feeling she could
remember back from her early days in the Corps. But he had retained
a degree of calmness and continued to direct his men. Teresa looked
to the front of her unit and watched as the crimson tiger stripes
of her personal guard moved to her position. Corporal Smith, the
oldest of the unit beckoned to the paneling on the
passageway.

“
Sir, there a vent
system on the right. I think we can use it as a crawlspace to
bypass their defenses. It isn’t big, but a few of us should be able
to get through.”

Teresa didn’t even hesitate, “Do it, we’ll cover you
from here.”

The
C
orporal and three other marines rushed
across the killing ground and to the spot he’d indicated. One
pulled out an oxyacetylene torch and started cutting into the thick
metal frame.

“
Marines, covering
fire!” called out Captain Sheehan, the command of 2nd
Platoon.

He moved out from
cover and took the full blast of the enemy fire. He staggered back
and to the floor in a bloody mess. Incredibly, his armor absorbed
almost all the impact, and he was still moving. A private pulled
him to safety, and the rest fired for all their worth. Teresa took
aim, fired a burst, and watched the three marines vanish into the
crawlspace to the right.

Good
luck
, marines.

A quick look on her
retina
control unit connected her with
Gun.

“Gun, what the hell is going on?”

The gruff sound from Gun was both surprising and
reassuring at once.

“
Teresa, hold your
position.
I’m coming, and we’ve brought
friends!”

* * *

Gun watched in
disbelief from inside the heavily armored landing craft at the
sight of the new arrivals. Through the maelstrom of gunfire,
shrapnel, and missiles came the form of three Helion frigates. Each
was beautifully shaped into a fusion of machine and sleek reptilian
animal. The bows were intricately modeled to look like a
water-going ship, and the four massive engines straddled its hull
on both sides like stumpy legs. As they came closer, it was clear
the shape was one purely of aesthetics, as the vents, engines, and
communications arrays marked them out as ships of war. Gun watched
with surprise as they moved closer and closer.

“Uh, I thought T’Kron said they were on an intercept
course?” he asked himself.

Around the
armo
red Jötnar stood dozens of marines.
These were not the normal marines with their PDS armor. Gun had
utilized every single set of Vanguard armor onboard his ship, and
this landing craft now contained twenty-six of the heavily armored
marines. The armor was thick and enhanced with powerful motors and
electronics. Fitted into their arms were pairs of L48 rifles, each
linked together to give a massive amount of firepower with little
or no recoil. Gun looked at them and visions flashed back of the
battles nearly two decades earlier. Battles where he and Spartan
had stood side by side, surrounded by the blood of their
enemies.

Good
days
,
he thought with a smile.

“
Commander, they’re
not stopping!” said the pilot.

Gun looked to the
front of the craft where the large wall mounted screen showed what
was happening outside. Behind his landing craft followed another
five, each packed with heavily armed marines, as well as two squads
of autonomous mules. These four-legged robotic machines were fitted
with plating and a slaved gun on a rotating turret mount in the
center of their bodies.

What the hell are they doing?

The three craft
moved closer together
, yet their engines
were still burning hot and sending them toward the Guardian ship.
Defensive fire from the many turrets on the ship turned away from
the Alliance ships and even the landing craft. Instead, the
firepower turned on the three Helion ships. Gun didn’t understand
what was happening, but he did know it was just what he
needed.

A distraction!

Gun selected the formation’s open channel.

“Move in and secure the target!”

With a flash of
engines, the group of six landing craft accelerated the short
distance between the protection of ANS Victory’s guns and out
toward the enemy vessel. Twice as many Lightning and Hammerhead
fighters formed up around them to provide escort all the way to the
target. As soon as they started to move, a number of flank
batteries turned back to them. Two fighters vanished in a terrible
orange explosion, sending chunks of debris flying from their
shattered hulls.

“
Commander Gun!”
said General Daniels. His voice appeared by surprise inside Gun’s
helmet, “Your status?”

“We’re going in.”

“Change of plan, follow the Helions in.”

“What?”

Gun didn’t
understand and looked back at the mainscreen. The three ships were
now taking over half of the defensive fire, and their bows were
shattered from the hundreds of impacts. Gun’s landing craft
shuddered as a burst of gunfire tore chunks of plating from their
starboard armor. That was when Gun realized what they were doing. A
grim smile formed on his face.

The crazy fools, they are going to ram the ship
right in its face!

“Understood, changing course for the bow. We’ll land
directly into the inferno.”

“
Good hunting,
Commander.”

Gun nodded
and
connected to the pilot.

“Bring us around and into the bow of the ship.”

* * *

Life pods ejected
from the Helion ships like volleys of missiles. The attack must
have been carefully orchestrated, as the last of the pods left with
just a kilometer left on the attack vector. The cloud of small
craft rushed away and toward the heavily damaged station protecting
the T’Karan Rift.

“
There they
go,”
Anderson whispered
quietly.

Admiral Anderson and
General Daniels watched with a mixture of horror and awe as the
three Helion ships rammed into the bow of the Guardian ship. There
was no sound, no vibration, nothing of note other than the smashing
of metal and a hundred multicolored flashes as the four ships
became one. Half of the lights across the exterior of the enemy
ship were instantly extinguished, and a large number of its guns
fell silent.

From the right of
the terrible conflagration came the cloud of landing craft. They
were tiny compared to the size of the ship around them, yet they
flickered in the mixed lighting of the battle. Around them moved
many more Alliance fighters, doing their best to screen them from
missiles and gunfire. All of them made it until they reached the
front of the ship. Even now, with the mass of wreckage, a number of
turrets still functioned. One Hammerhead was hit in the engine and
exploded, sending shards of metal into the last landing craft in
the party. Its orientation thrusters must have been damaged, and it
spun away and into space. The remaining landing craft approached
the inferno, vanishing inside one of the larger tears in the bow of
the ship.

Anderson tapped each of the Alliance warships and
connected to the communications officers onboard each of them.

“
This is Admiral
Anderson, all ships are to withdraw to protect the Helion lifepods.
Defensive fire only, we have friendlies moving in to finish the
job.”

He looked at the
tactical display and the face of General Daniels. A face he’d seen
before on many other Marine Corps commanders.

“Is he in?”

Daniel
s nodded.

“They’re landing right now.”

* * *

The landing inside
the Guardian ship was more of a crash than a landing. Gun’s craft
crashed through the twisted metal and was forced to use its
automatic turrets to clear a path into what remained of the forward
landing area. They slammed into position and finally stopped when
caught up in the wreckage of two fighters.

“
Now!” Gun
roared.

The doors on three
sides slid open, but there was no need for ramps. With the ship so
heavily damaged, there was little lighting and no artificial
gravity. It didn’t stop Gun, and he lurched forward, locking down
the heavy magnetic seals on his armor as he moved. All marine armor
was designed to do this either inside or on the exterior of ships.
As soon as he stepped into the wrecked landing bay, he could see
how effective the Helion attack had been. Scores of Biomech bodies
floated about, and streaks of steam gushed from a dozen
ruptures.

“Gun, where are you?” came the desperate sound of
Teresa.

He checked his
display in his armored helmet, finding the position of Teresa and
the other marines. It estimated eighty-six meters.