Lon and his squad were spread out just over two kilometers from the nearest WestHem perimeter position, just over four kilometers from the nearest landing ship. This was his team's seventh straight day of deployment. They were all tired but their spirits remained high. They had done their job and done it well, having ambushed more than fifteen groups of marines ranging from four-man patrols to understrength companies, causing well over seventy casualties without so much as a twisted ankle among their own. They had been combat tested, had come out the better for it, and were now a well-drilled killing and hiding machine, the bane of the invading marines. But they also knew that everything that had occurred until now was just a warm-up. The real games would begin today. The marines were about to inject hovers and armor into the equation, two things that would make things exponentially more dangerous. As such, the team was very heavy on anti-tank and anti-aircraft lasers for this deployment, fielding two of the former and three of the latter. Their packs were heavy with the disposable charging batteries that powered the weapons.
'I've got a bay door opening on LS 5,' Lon announced quietly as he adjusted the magnification of his goggles even higher. 'Right where all of the engineers are gathered.'
Everyone looked at the target that had been designated as Landing Ship 5. It was a specially modified ship designed to launch extraterrestrial hovercraft from bays located on both sides. Behind the hovers would be fuel storage tanks and pumping systems, ammunition storage, crew quarters, and maintenance facilities. In short, everything that was needed to deploy and maintain a formidable force of heavily armed combat aircraft.
'How many hovers does that thing hold?' asked Horishito as he watched two of the bay doors slide slowly open.
'Standard load out is one hundred and ten multi-purpose attack hovers,' answered Lon. 'They also carry ten to twelve transport and medivac hovers. Intelligence says that the Earthlings might've crammed a few more than the standard load in there for this campaign though. You know how they are on that air superiority thing.'
'Yeah,' Horishito said nervously. 'I know how they are.'
'Have we ever actually shot down a hover with one of these shoulder-fired lasers?' asked Lisa.
'Us personally? No.' Lon answered.
'I mean anyone, anywhere?' she said. 'Or is all just theory that we can take them down? Remember the mess in the Jupiter War?' During the Jupiter War one of the main causes cited for the defeat of the WestHem forces had been the lack of effectiveness of their portable anti-aircraft laser systems. The marines had been able to hit the EastHem hovers but had done little more than damage them. Only three had been shot down by the portable weapons in the entire conflict.
'The technology has improved considerably since the Jupiter War,' Lon said. 'These weapons are more than three times as potent.'
'But they've never been combat tested?' she asked.
'No,' he admitted. 'They've never been combat tested. Just like everything else we've been doing out here, its just theory for the moment.'
She nodded, a grim expression on her face. 'Let's hope it's a good theory then.'
There was a sharp flare of white in the infrared spectrum from the open bay doors. The military personnel that were standing nearby quickly backed away, several of them tripping and falling as they retreated.
'Engine ignition,' Lon said. 'They're about to come out. Jefferson, send out a report.'
'Sending it,' said Jefferson, who was on another hill, one hundred meters to the east. His communications gear was already set up and locked onto the com sat. Now that armor and hovers were being deployed the communications loop had been expanded to the point where all of the special forces teams at any particular landing site were being indirectly linked. Jefferson's message, after hitting the dish and being transmitted to Eden, was then rebroadcast through the satellite link to all of the other teams. In addition, position reports of the other teams on the ground were kept updated on each commander's combat computer. This was a calculated risk since any team captured would be able to give away the locations of the others, or at least their last known position, but it was felt that the sharing of the information and locations and, as a natural extension, the combat power, was a benefit that outweighed the risk.
One hover emerged from each bay two minutes later. They eased out and hesitated over the ground for a moment, the four thrusters on the bottom flaring brightly with the intense heat of burning hydrogen fuel. Slowly the thrusters flared brighter and the hovers rose higher into the air, until they were several hundred meters above the top of the landing ship, high enough that the blast from their thrusters were no longer kicking up dust. Two more emerged from the bay right behind them, performing the same maneuver. Once all four were in the air they formed up into a loose diamond shape.
'EHC-750s,' Lon said, identifying them by their official military designator. 'Very bad news if they get us in their sights.'
'That ain't no shit,' agreed Horishito, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
The EHC-750 was the latest development of the ever-changing extraterrestrial hovercraft. It was a multi- purpose craft that was capable of air-to-air combat, close air support for ground troops, and even tactical bombing. Its armament consisted of four high-powered anti-air lasers, two twenty-millimeter cannon turrets, and, most frightening to Lon and his troops, a nose mounted eighty-millimeter gun that could fire sixty high explosive rounds per minute. The 750 was, in short, a flying tank. Even its profile was sinister looking. It was triangular in shape, the weapon pods and guns mounted from stubby wing-like protrusions on the sides. The cockpit, where the pilot and gunner sat, sat up high to give a panoramic view.
'You sending off the reports on this, Jeffy?' Lon asked Jefferson.
'Transmitting it now,' he reported. 'All units are being advised that they're in the air.'
'Good,' Lon said. 'Luckily, those things are brighter than the sun in the IR spectrum. It shouldn't be too hard to see them coming at us.'
'Intel is sure our suits are invisible to their FLIR, right?' asked Horishito.
'As sure as they can be,' Lon answered. 'We don't have any 750s in the MPG to test with though, so I guess we'll be finding out how good their information is, won't we?'
'More theory then, huh?' asked Lisa, who had one of the anti-air lasers in her hand, her thumb nestled near the charge button but not pushing it just yet.
'More theory,' he agreed.
Now that the hovers were formed up they began to rise higher into the air. They turned as one towards the east and then lit their rear thrusters, imparting forward motion. They moved off, picking up speed and gaining altitude.
'Where are they going?' asked Horishito.
'Escort duty would be my guess,' Lon replied. 'Remember, they have all of their wounded stuck in the landing ships. Now that they have some air-to-air capability they can bring down their shuttles to evacuate them. I bet they started the shuttles down right after the last landing. They're probably approaching atmospheric entry now.'
'Makes sense,' Horishito said.
They continued to watch and ten minutes later, through the same two doors, another four hovers emerged into the air. These too rose into the air and formed up before moving off to the east. Jefferson continued to update Eden and the rest of the forces on the ground on these developments. On Lon's combat display symbols representing the eight aircraft appeared at the edge of his view to remind him that they were out there; as if he could forget.
The bay doors closed again but before another five minutes went by two more opened. Soon there was the flare of heat again and two more 750s came out into the atmosphere. This pair floated up to about five hundred meters above the landing ship and formed up into the classic lead and wing formation.
'I don't think
'Perimeter search flight?' asked Lisa.
'Yep, they want to go out greenie hunting. Now we'll see how well these suits stand up, won't we? Jeffy, still updating?'
'You know it, sarge,' he said. 'The alert just came back to me from Eden. Everyone knows about it.'
As they watched, the two hovercrafts turned to the south and lit up their rear thrusters. They picked up speed slowly, until they were moving at just under one hundred kilometers per hour. Jefferson continued to broadcast their speed and position until they disappeared over the next rise. Within thirty seconds a mortar team
