WestHem resupply operation had been carried out. They had been out here all day, long enough to be resupplied twice with fresh charging batteries for the three anti-tank lasers they carried. Their orders had changed several times, seemingly against military logic, with no explanation of why.
When they'd first been dropped they had been tasked with going after the mobile artillery guns. For three hours they'd sifted through the massive collection of armored vehicles deployed from horizon to horizon, picking out individual guns and then targeting them, having to displace each time they fired in order to avoid the inevitable return fire from the marine mortar squads. And then, after the first supply drop they'd been told to ignore the mobile guns and to start hitting the APCs again. They had puzzled over this — there were still almost five hundred mobile guns out there, enough to cause the infantry troops at the main line quite a headache — but they'd obeyed. And then, just an hour before, after their last supply drop, their orders had changed yet again, and this time it was almost too much to take.
'Hold in place,' they were told. 'Do not engage any enemy units for any reason until further orders. Even if engaged, retreat without firing if possible. Repeat: Hold all fire until further notice.'
'Are we surrendering?' Lisa asked. 'Is there a cease-fire in place?'
'I don't think so,' Lon said. 'A cease-fire order would've gone out to all troops in the field at once. This came from Colonel Bright's office so it only applies to us.'
They'd watched helplessly and angrily as the tanks and APCs started their engines and began to form up in lines for their march to Eden. They had a total of sixty charging batteries with them, enough to take out six hundred marines by themselves. Instead, they were letting them stroll out of here unmolested — or almost unmolested. The Mosquitoes kept making regular appearances and popping off two to four at a time.
And now, as the rear elements of the main army disappeared over the eastern horizon and as the artillery units began to form up into firing positions Lon suddenly wondered if the plan was for them to start engaging the artillery now. After all, it was all out in the open, right in front of them, with only a scattered battalion of tanks interspersed around the perimeter to defend it. Even the mortar squads were gone. But the minutes ticked by and no such order came.
'Goddammit,' complained Horishito, 'what the hell are those rear-echelon motherfuckers doing back at command? How the hell can they expect us to just sit here and watch the enemy start pounding on our forces without doing anything about it?'
'I agree, sarge,' Lisa said, stroking the side of her AT laser nervously. 'Maybe there's some kind of communications breakdown going on. Maybe we oughtta just engage anyway. If we don't start hitting them soon we aren't gonna knock enough of them out to make a difference.'
'Wong's right, sarge,' said Jefferson. 'We been sitting here too fucking long. Let's start lighting up some guns.'
'No,' Lon said, looking at his time display. It had been ten minutes now since the last elements had disappeared. Even the dust cloud was slowly dissipating. 'They gave us very clear and very precise orders. I'm not going to start acting on my own. Not yet anyway.'
That pretty much ended the talk of dissension from their instructions. They grumbled a little more but no one else suggested opening up on the guns. Five more minutes ticked by, during which time the guns below finished their complex dance and seemed ready to unleash a barrage of 150mm shells any second.
'Message coming in, sarge,' Jefferson suddenly reported. 'It's decoding now.'
'Finally,' Lon grumbled. 'AT teams, get your weapons charged up.'
'It says... what the fuck?' Jefferson said.
'Jeffy, I seriously doubt that message reads 'what the fuck'. So what the fuck does it actually say?'
'Sorry, sarge,' he said. 'It says: 'Engage all main battle tanks within your zone immediately. Do not engage mobile guns. Primary targets are the MBTs.'
'What the fuck?' Lon said.
'It must be a mistake,' Horishito said. 'It must be for Delta squad over on the avenue of advance.'
'No,' Jefferson said, 'it is specifically made out to our squad and the other three squads on this perimeter.'
Lon shook his head. 'I hope they know what they're doing,' he said. 'All AT's, open up on the main battle tanks. Let's get it on.'
They started with the closest tanks first since they would be the ones to put down the most accurate return fire. Three weapons flashed and three tanks exploded. At the same time, further away, three more tanks exploded as another squad two kilometers to their east opened up as well. The remaining tanks, alerted to the position of their tormentors by the flashes of the weapons, turned their turrets in their direction. They got off one more shot apiece before the eighty-millimeter shells came screaming in, showering the hillside with lethal shrapnel.
'Displace,' Lon said calmly. 'Move to position three.'
They rolled down the hill just as the fire reached a furious intensity. Once at the bottom they trotted further into the hills and then worked their way westward, towards another two hills. They climbed them as quickly as possible and lay down on their stomachs.
'The guns are firing now,' Lisa reported as she waited for her weapon to charge.
And indeed they were. All across the valley the long barrels were flashing, sending white streaks downrange toward the main line positions.
'Hope they got their heads down back at the line,' Lon said. 'Keep the fire up, guys. Two shots and then displace.'
'Sarge,' Horishito suddenly said. 'Look to the west!'
Lon looked in that direction and saw a large dust cloud billowing up — the mark of a shitload of armored vehicles on the move. 'Who in the hell is that?' he asked.
'There's another one!' Jefferson said. 'From the other side of the valley!'
Lon looked and sure enough, more clouds of red dust were rising into the air from the other side.
'Reinforcements from the LZ?' Horishito asked.
'I don't know,' Lon said. 'I didn't think they had anything left to reinforce with. Jeffy, as soon as we displace after this next shot, send off a report on this to command.'
'Right, sarge.'
Lisa and the other two AT holders fired their shots, destroying three more WestHem tanks. They reloaded and then destroyed three more, displacing from the hill and moving to the next position. As they were climbing up Jefferson reported that a new message had come in.
'What is it?' Lon asked.
''Martian main battle tanks in multi-battalion strength moving in on your position from the west and from the southwest to engage WestHem mobile guns. Continue to engage WestHem MBTs until Martian tanks get in range and then cease fire to avoid friendly casualties'.'
'Martian MBTs?' Lisa asked. 'That's what's making all that dust?'
'How in the fuck did they get out there?' Horishito asked.
'Son of a bitch,' Lon said, suddenly understanding the strange progression of orders now. 'Don't worry about how they got there. They're here. Get some fire on those WestHem tanks so they can do their job!'
Xenia stared intently at her gunnery screen, her hands on the twin laser cannon controls, her eyes looking at the terrain ahead, waiting for the first of the mobile guns to appear. They were moving at top speed for the terrain, more than ninety kilometers per hour and they were bouncing violently, their engine roaring. Both of her cannons were fully charged and ready to fire.
'Targets will be in range anytime,' said Zen, who was monitoring the telemetry screen that was updated from the peepers circling overhead. 'Special forces teams on the perimeter have been hitting the escort tanks and have taken out about half of them. They will disengage when we come into view. Xenia, hit the guns in our sector as soon as you see them but tanks will remain the primary target until they are all gone. Remember, the guns can't hurt us but the tanks can.'
'Right, Zen,' she said.
'Belinda, we drive full speed until we're right on top of them and then slow to a crawl. When they start to scatter we stick to our zone. Don't go chasing after the escapees. Someone else will get them. We stay put in our zone until its clear and then we go to whatever zone they assign us next.'
'Right, Zen,' she said.
