Attack squadrons swept down to the Kibalsh’s main city center in similar blitzkrieg MO as Gibras on Quenrix.
The locust fighters streamed in, a long line of offense mantis and aphid shaped warcraft. The city loomed ahead, a pale smudge on the horizon. Strange rust-colored clouds hung low in the midmorning sky like long coral snakes . Sky towers, airways, industrial complexes, took form in the light haze. The hapless millions padded about on their day-to-day business, oblivious to the menace fast approaching. If only they knew what hellfire was about to hit...The Mentera stealth craft hurtled closer, cloaked under radar. A planet-wide warning had been issued with strong advice for civilians to evacuate the city to underground bunkers, but few of the skeptical masses had actually heeded such broadcasts. The Xareans were simply a naturally sceptical people. The ruling class, taking little action, considered these warnings ‘boy-cried-wolf’ threats.
At last, mobilization of air and ground forces came, as the enemy ships registered on their tracking devices. Fire from Xarean advance guard slashed out. Yul’s mantis ship rocked.
1700 NOA defense lightfighters faced the Zikri and Mentera vanguard. They split, half staying up to deal with the Orbs, the other half chasing after the descending locust swarm: a solid wedge of ships, weaving in and out of enemy space like two sets of rival hornets. Some shot up in flames, others skidded off to destroy incoming craft while aphids targeted buildings below, causing small fires on the surface. But the Mentera destroyers and Orb flagships remained high up, deliberately forcing the defending NOA to split ranks. Pandemonium erupted on both fronts.
Full nav control came back in the Mentera lightfighter. Yul gave a gasp of relief. He banked to avoid a stream of NOA fire. A NOA transmission came crackling through the com: “This is Eagle Base 1. Do you read?”
“Copy,” said Yul.
“Vrean, you’re in one of the bug ships, right?”
A familiar voice. Bjen Stone? “Yes, why?”
“Target the decoy mechno we dropped in Cirrus Square. You can’t miss it—it’s an upright slab of armor off Galihine street. A time bomb waiting to go off.”
“Say again?”
“Shoot the thing! It’s priority, Vrean. Pure titanium, shielded, you can’t harm it. We need to make it look as if an ambush is in progress from an enemy vessel. Whatever you do, get the hell out of there after the first hit. Don’t engage it—if you know what’s good for you.”
“Copy that.” Yul dipped away from the convoy, his lips set grim.
“What the hell are you doing?” rasped Hresh. “The bugs’ scout craft’ll come after us.”
Yul ignored him. “I see the target, Eagle Base. Moving in.” He sighted on a blue-black upright hulk and hissed through the com. “Fenli, you too, quit your bellyaching and make yourself useful—Lure the locust ships to the mines. We’re made anyways, soon as we step out of line. Don’t fire on them or you’ll have a freakstorm up your ass.”
“Roger,” croaked Fenli.
Yul banked in a tight sweep down a wide street, breaking ranks for the first time from the Mentera convoy. In the middle of the road on a square patch of grass divider, loomed an ominous hulk. Cloye set fingers tapping on the weapons grid. Bright silver patterns arched from the Mentera mantis craft and deflected off the mechno’s gunmetal hide. The thing was knocked backward. The blue light on its forward turret blinked on. In sudden activation, the unit hovered a dozen feet above the grass and took pursuit of the offending craft.
Cloye, rasping in defiance, sent more silver fire shimmering off its hulk.
“Bonzai!” Yul fell back in line with the other craft. He accelerated ahead toward the vanguard. He knew he had to get a safe buffer between him and the pursuing mechno. The other ships trailing behind were lit up by the beams lashing out from the mechno’s turret.
“Seems we’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest.”
“Don’t get too trigger happy, Cloye. NOA warned us.”
“Tell that to Fenli,” croaked Hresh. “Looks as if he’s bagged some targets of his own.”
Yul peered at the flickering holoview. Two more of the hulks that Fenli had pegged off were now tearing after him in pursuit.
“Holy hell,” Fenli’s voice rattled over the com. “Got some angry wasps on my tail.”
“I warned you, Fenli!” Yul spoke into the com, “We nailed the targets. Fenli got two more. What the fuck are those things?”
“Devils in disguise,” NOA said. “Pure titanium, courtesy of Cyber Corp. Powered by plant pod hatchlings you brought back from the outer zones.”
Yul’s face dimmed a shade of grey umber. His grin turned to a lopsided grimace as a shudder of comprehension ratcheted up his spine. The thought of what those things could do chilled his blood. This was biotech graced with the ferocity of an alien intelligence, beyond anything he had ever encountered—and driving the titanium hulks. The irony of it brought phlegm to his throat, no less the sheer improbability of the current moment.
Mantis fire arced out of the back of the convoy at the mechno. Nothing seemed to faze it. It came weaving up, dodging the deathly streaks and firing high-intensity beams back with savage force. It thrust in at impossible speeds, smashed the rear of the Mentera brigade, severing ships in two, shearing off fuselages, wings and rear thrusters. Ships went careening off to strike the surface and explode in the streets below. The hulk passed through the smoke to pursue the remaining ships.
“What the hell—? NOA, can you confirm what I’m seeing? Is this hulk for real—that I’m not dead in some twisted dream?”
NOA’s reply cut off in mid-sentence. Instead, a voice, familiar and not, intruded on his reverie.
“Yul, baby, is that you? Talking to your boyfriends? Your goody good NOA?”
Yul’s lips parted in a frown. He blinked, as if hearing a ghost from