stationed on that side of the perimeter announced that they had a visual on them and continued the updates. The combat computers, receiving input from Jefferson's set, continually updated the bright red blips on their mapping screens. They all watched in nervous anticipation as the hovers circled around the perimeter, slowing here and there, speeding up again, coming to a hover once in a while, and occasionally disappearing from view for a few minutes as they passed out of visual range of any of the teams.
'So far they haven't passed near any of the teams,' Lon said, watching as they completed the wide circle and began to come back around from the other direction. 'The nearest they got was about two klicks from C team on the south.'
'Maybe we'll get to be the lucky ones then,' Lisa said.
'Yes, it always seems to work out like that for us, doesn't it?' Lon sighed. The blips had just passed out of range of Team D on the northern edge of the perimeter. The last update had it moving directly towards Lon's Team B. A tense minute went by and suddenly, from over the top of a series of hills four kilometers to the north, the flare of white appeared once more. It was moving relatively slowly but unmistakably right toward them.
'Okay,' Lon said calmly. 'It looks like this is it. Get the lasers charged up, guys.'
Lisa, Horishito, and Alamar all thumbed their charge switches, sending the energy surging into the laser units. In the twenty seconds that it took for this to be accomplished the hovers moved steadily towards them.
'Let's all just keep still down here and see if the suits keep them from seeing us,' Lon ordered. 'Don't engage unless it looks like they're setting up to fire on us.'
Everyone lay still, gripping their weapons against their chests. Jefferson, after giving one last position report, had broken down his radio and cradled it to his body. The three team members with the anti-air lasers kept them close, their fingers curled around the safety guards on the firing buttons. The hovers grew larger in their view, the searing heat from the thrusters white points on the bottom. The course they were on was going to bring them within half a kilometer.
'Steady everyone,' Lon said. 'Let's just be static.'
The hovers, still moving at just under one hundred kilometers per hour, passed by them without slowing, close enough that they could hear the muted roar of the thrusters, that they could read the identification numbers on the sides. They continued towards the south, maneuvering thrusters on the left side firing a few times to alter their course just a bit.
'They didn't see us,' Lisa said with relief. 'They passed right over the top of us and didn't see us!'
'It seems that these suits do what they promised,' Lon said, relief in his tone as well. 'That means we're in business.'
'What now?' asked Horishito.
'Now,' Lon said, 'we test the other theory we were talking about. Let's take them down before they get out of range. Wong, hit the left one. Hoary, hit the right. Alamar, you're the reserve. Get ready to finish the job if the first shots don't do it.'
Lon's order was not questioned. Lisa quickly rolled over and pointed her laser at the two hovers. The heat from their rear thrusters was an easy target to lock onto. She moved the weapon until the targeting rectical of her goggles was directly in the center of the left flare. She zoomed in a little to make the shot easier and then reported readiness. On the next hill over Horishito did the same.
'Fire,' Lon said. 'Let's see what these weapons can do.'
Without hesitation Lisa flipped the safety guard up and gently pressed down on the button, just as she had done a hundred times in training deployments. The weapon discharged its laser energy, not making a noise, not kicking, and hardly even making a visual signature. The shot, moving at the speed of light, hit instantly. The results were quite dramatic, much more than she was expecting. The back of the hover suddenly flared even brighter, overwhelming her goggles for a second. When the flare cleared the entire back of the aircraft had been blown away. All of the rear thrusters had been put out of commission by the explosion but the front thrusters were still firing. The aircraft nosed up violently and was suddenly upside down. It began to drop towards the ground, spinning in a reverse motion as it fell. There was another bright flare from the cockpit as the pilot and gunner were automatically ejected. They flew into the air astride their rocket-powered ejection seats, blasting well clear of the crippled aircraft. The aircraft itself hit the ground two seconds later, smashing into a field of boulders and exploding, sending debris out in a spray of shrapnel.
Horishito's hit was a little less dramatic but no less lethal. His laser simply killed all of the thrusters simultaneously, causing the entire machine to fall towards the ground in a ballistic path. Again the two crewmembers were able to eject before the aircraft hit the ground and exploded. Now all four of them were gently dropping to the surface, the retro rockets on the bottoms of their seats acting as parachutes.
'Good kills,' Lon said, obviously impressed. 'Nice to know the lasers things work too. Now lets get the fuck out of here. They have a lot more artillery guns to shoot now.'
Within ten seconds the entire squad was up and moving down the hill at top speed, heading for their next position. They reached it five minutes later, a furious artillery barrage ripping up the ground behind them but still, even though more than thirty guns were now firing, none of the rounds were landing on the hills they'd fired from. Jefferson quickly set up his radio equipment and reported the good news regarding the success of both their suits and their anti-air weapons. Within minutes of being received in Eden this information was broadcast to the teams at the other landing sites as well.
Two hours later, aboard the
'They've shot down sixteen hovers?' he asked in disbelief. 'Sixteen?'
'As of fifteen minutes ago, sir,' he said. 'There may very well be more by now. We have them patrolling in flights of four now but even that hasn't seemed to stop the greenies from firing on them. They're fielding AT-50 weapons down there, as you know, and those lasers pack quite a punch. A single hit on the engine compartment inevitably destroys the airworthiness of the entire aircraft.'
'And we haven't been able to engage a single team?' Wrath said. 'How is that possible? How are those goddamned greenies potting our hovers out of the sky like practice targets and we haven't managed to hit a single one of them?'
'Sir, our pilots report the greenies are not showing up on their screens. In several instances the hovers flew directly over the areas where the attacks came from and did not see a thing until the laser flares came. By then of course, it was too late. Even if the greenies are unable to take down the entire flight at once, they are able to reload and recharge their weapons before the remaining hovers can circle around and line up on the spot. The greenies always hit them from behind.'
'Goddamned back-shooters,' Wrath said angrily, as if he thought that the enemy should shoot at them head on in the interests of fairness.
'As it stands now, sir, all of the hover crews except one have been able to eject and be recovered by ground forces.'
'But we're still down sixteen hovers,' Wrath said. 'And we don't have any way of getting any more of them out here, do we?'
'No, sir,' he agreed. 'We don't. It's my suggestion that we send them out in flights of six now. Hopefully there will be strength in numbers. As with the patrols in the field, there has to be a number that the greenies won't attack.'
'So ordered,' Wrath said. 'And what's the status of our evac shuttles? And their escorts?'
'All of them down safely. The greenies didn't go after them at all. Wounded and enemy prisoners are being loaded up for return now. The first of them should be lifting off in less than thirty minutes.'
'At least something is going right around here,' Wrath grumbled. 'What's the status of our armor? Is it unloading?'
'Far behind schedule, but getting there,' Wild said.
'What's the delay there?'
'Mortar attacks,' Wild told him. 'Every ten minutes or so the greenies lob a bunch of shells directly down on top of the unloading crews. They damaged ten or fifteen APCs, caused some casualties, and, most importantly, they're pinning down the crews and slowing down the operation.'
Wrath shook his head. He knew, of course, that the greenie mortar crews were even more ghostly than the
