Imminent Destruction

The next sealed compartment soon came in sight.

“Don’t open it! Assemble the blast machine cannon right here,” Soel said, indicating a spot ten meters back from the hatch.

The men of the 113h platoon carried the blast machine cannon in unassembled units; the barrel hitched a ride with Lieutenant Soel. The rest of the 113th carried ammunition and other parts. Corporal Jenson drilled the heavy white tripod into the floor. Mito Forgisom attached the stem and movement controls until they slid along the tripod mount. The next batch of equipment was fire control and aiming systems.

An engineer assisted Corporal Edei to attach wires and set the screens. Soel hooked the barrel adjuster, checked the trajectory and rotation of the gun. Its thick tube extended a meter from the stem. At the gunners end was a hatch for ammunition insertion. The barrel remained closed at the firing end; instead, a three-millimeter tube extended from the twenty-millimeter gun barrel. Corporal Hadashi hooked on the titanium guard plates, and placed a light shield system inside the stem.

“Private Nicholson, man the gun. Private Holmberg, you have the largest portion of ammo, you load,” Soel Commanded.

Private Holmberg, more affectionately known as Sawblade, loaded a red canister in the barrel, shut the hatch, and turned the handle. Nicholson moved behind the armor plates, lining the sights with those of the IEV.

“Other units, Get to the side, or take cover now. Side unit’s, get ready to throw grenades upon my orders.”

Lieutenant Soel pulled Norwaki up on his communications screen.

“Norwaki, open the door in ten seconds,”

Three units stood at the sides of the door. Five IEV’s took cover behind the gun, ready to provide suppression fire. The others fell into reinforcement and guard positions along the hall. The hatch of the third compartment opened swiftly. Enemy crew members were hidden among a maze of improvised obstacles, and a line of heavy laser rifles rose to confront the cannon. Nicholson first saw a little heavyset officer who smiled cockily.

The kinetic beam of the cannon burnt him into a crisp pile of ashes in a matter of milliseconds. In the ensuing ten seconds, Nicholson vaporized three more resisters; however, the Buldethians soon realized that the kinetic-beam was ineffective against inorganic matter. They lowered their profiles, returned fire from unpredictable areas, and sunk behind their obstacles for cover. Soel moved to launch an implosion grenade, but was prevented from doing so by proficient enemy fire.

“Switch to a sound pulse cartridge, we need those obstacles removed now.”

The private adjusted the dial as Sawblade took a hit to the helmet during reloading.

“You all right?” Nicholson asked.

“I’m fine, just shoot.”

The pulse blast ripped holes in the enemy cover, but the enemy soldiers found the blasts easy to avoid. However, one hapless soldier had the flesh ripped from his bone, the price for holding his position in the face of a concentrated sound pulse. Nothing remained but a broken skeleton and a big red splotch against the back wall. Soel threw a regular grenade into the room as Nicholson switched back to a kinetic beam, only to find the cartridge was empty.

“Saw, another one.”

“Coming right up boss.”

An enemy implosion grenade flew into the Imperial ranks, rolling under the machine cannon’s tripod.

“Nicholson, Get back!” yelled Sawblade, jumping away. Nicholson dropped, picked up the grenade, and threw it back toward the enemy.

It activated in midair, not far from Nicholson’s position. An intense gravity field developed.

The barrel of the blast cannon twisted like pretzel dough, flying upwards and molding around the grenade.

Its stem went next; the screws of its tripod stripped their threads as they pulled out of the floor.

“Get down,” yelled Soel as he threw another grenade into the enemy position.

Nicholson couldn’t get away. The suit bent toward the enlarging ball, then the IEV’s left arm flew off and melted into the orange circle of metal. The frontal armor plates ripped off their heavy welding, then the hatch broke away to expose Nicholson’s body to the gravitational pull. Nicholson used the full power of the suit to move backwards. Its feet dug into the bare metal floor as it resisted the vortex. Nick pulled out of the machine, leapfrogged to the back of the IEV despite the opposing pull, and sprung from the unit’s backpack.

A shoulder banged against the floor as Nick slid a full meter. The IEV shields continued resisting the implosion, even after its right leg came off. The inner walls of the Neimun bulged inward and ripped apart, broken pipes and long wires flew into the circle. Then it ended as quickly as it began, and the resulting metal orb crashed to the floor where the blast machine used to be.

The remains of Private Nicholson’s suit fell to the floor. Nick felt the splintered metal with bare hands. The entire front had been pulled out, the helmet was gone, and most of the nerve extension foam in the cockpit went with it; what remained was only loose patches.

“You haven’t been lost in vain,” Nicholson pulled the ten-millimeter heavy laser gun from the back case, lifting it like a bazooka. He charged into the entrance of the enemy position, inflicting head shots on four defenders. One of the men threatened with an implosion grenade, but Lieutenant Soel shot his arm off at the elbow before it could be activated. Freidman, Mito, Sawblade, and Morgan rushed to help the now unprotected soldier as the remaining resistance took position behind a line of metal crates in the back of the room.

Laser fire cut through Nick’s stomach. Blood flowed from the gap to spread across his uniform. The private dropped the heavy rifle to cover the wounded gut with trembling hands before falling. Freidman jumped behind the crates, fired at a defender point blank, then proceeded to thrash the body.

An enemy Sergeant tried to fire in the shrapnel dent at Freidman’s backside while another soldier tried to hold back a slew of IEV’s. Within moments the enemies had been cut through multiple times, until their remains resembled ground beef. Suddenly, sporadic laser fire came from behind. Corporal Edei took cover behind the dense metal ball that used to be a blast machine cannon and fired back.

“It’s an ambush, where could they have been hiding?” Soel asked, he radioed the Corporal in charge of the rear guard. “Corporal Fumasa, are you still holding the communications and engine area? Good, take your squad and clear my rear flank. I need to keep moving, get help from anyone stationed back there besides the prisoner guard, but only if you absolutely have to.”

The map on the screen indicated they had taken the second communication room; the main control room was still two hundred and fifty meters of halls and subsystems away, which included the navigational center and a heavy weapons bridge. This communications room had screens also. They turned to the Buldethian National Seal, then, once again, to the Controller of Neimun.

“Well Commander, I see you’ve made it past the hastily improvised defenses. They were only designed to wear you down. Better hurry, your engineers are having quite a bit of difficulty withholding my use of the backup communication systems. I’m preparing a place for you and your men; may you rest in pieces. Remember, this is only the beginning.”

“Don’t they know when to give up?” Jenson asked.

Morgan felt a bit cocky, “If you ask me, they haven’t even got started yet, and we’re more than half way to the control room.”

A charred IEV hopped into the room. It was Private Garo. The armor of his unit’s arm had melted in spots.

“Lieutenant, it’s really bad. You passed an entire empty dock full of enemy mobile suits. We’re facing fifteen suited defenders and anywhere from sixty to a hundred unsuited soldiers. They have a barricade about ten meters from the entrance and a stockpile of ammunition.”

“Why’d you come here to tell me that when you could have sent it over the suit’s communications. You idiot, you could have been protecting our backside. I’ll remember this!”

“But sir, I thought-”

“Thought nothing, take Corporal Edei and his men, they’ll help organize a holding engagement. Hold them in that bay at all costs. I have to keep pushing for the main control room. Once I’m there we’ll open the fighter hatch and flush out the defenders without protective gear. That should ease the pressure.”

“Yes, sir.”

Soel smiled, that was actually good news, it meant this was less a trap and more of the case that they had caught the Neimun off guard; otherwise, the mobile units would have been protecting the central hubs instead of remaining tucked away in the docks.