Taylor turned and shook his head. The Sumatozou was helping mount the MAC on top of the center vehicle, with the ammo drum on the ground next to it. “Danged Sumatozou can take a lot of abuse.”
“Yes, sir,” House agreed. “Glad I never had to fight them.”
“That makes two of us,” Taylor admitted. “I always thought they were annoying as gate masters; they’d be a real pain in the butt to meet on the field of battle.”
* * *
Another round slammed into the vehicle Taylor was hiding behind, and he risked a glance over it. They’d been waiting until the KzSha were in range. With limited reloads, Taylor didn’t want everyone wasting rounds. He’d seen several glance off the KzSha’s carapaces in their flight from the dome, and the CASPers would be equally tough.
“Now?” House asked.
The crack of a MAC round as it went past Taylor’s head at four times the speed of sound made him duck back down. He took a second peek. “Yeah, they’re in range. Fire!”
Ten men, a Buma, and a Sumatozou stood as one and returned fire. The KzSha, not having been shot at as they approached, had grouped up, and they exploded into motion to separate. Several went down in the initial barrage, but then—as one—all of them surged forward.
“Haju! On the CASPers!” Taylor called. The suited KzSha warriors hadn’t gone to ground in the initial barrage; instead, they’d charged forward with a hopping motion that covered five meters at a time. It wasn’t quite the jumpjets of Human CASPers, but it gave them limited 3D maneuvering capability.
The ten CASPers attacked the left side of the Human defense, held by the River Hawks, in an arrowhead. That wasn’t the way Humans used CASPers—they were better when they were spread apart—but with limited defenders on that side, Taylor could see the River Hawks were going to be overrun. He ducked behind the vehicle and tapped Jack on the shoulder. “C’mon. The Hawks need help!”
The two duck-walked to the left end and took the place of one of the River Hawks who was lying on the ground, missing his right arm.
“Farthest CASPer on the right,” Taylor said. They both fired at the incoming CASPer. Working together, they disabled one of the incoming KzSha, but the last shot fizzled out of Taylor’s rifle. “Reloading,” he said as he slapped in a new battery. “Only got one more after this one.”
“Me, too,” Jack said. “We’re gonna have to make these count.”
Taylor popped up and took an aimed shot. Shrapnel from a near miss peppered his face, and he dropped back behind the cover. “This aiming thing is for the birds.”
“We’re not going to have enough ammo, otherwise,” Jack replied.
And maybe not even then.
Taylor rose and fired. As his shot landed, he could see several other rounds hit across his target, holing the machine. It stopped and fell onto its face.
“What the—” Taylor turned.
“Looked like you boys could use some help, Chief,” Sergeant Reigns said as she joined him next to the vehicle. Several other troopers took positions, augmenting the defense.
“You have no idea, Sergeant,” Taylor said. “Where’s everyone else?”
Reigns nodded to some of the rocks to the right of their position. “Over there.” About 20 people were firing at the KzSha. She nodded to the left. “And over there.” Another 20 troopers were blazing away at the aliens.
“Dang good to see ya, and that’s a fact.” Taylor stood to fire, but there were no more targets.
“Unfortunately, we were just a stopgap,” Reigns said. “We’re here to evacuate you before the next wave hits.”
“Next wave?” Taylor asked.
Reigns motioned to the dome. Five companies of KzSha were marching out of the gates. As the pair watched, the wasps began to jog forward, using their wings to assist them.
“We gotta get y’all out of here before those things arrive,” Reigns said.
“I wish that was possible,” Taylor said, “but they’ll be on us in a couple minutes. Better to stay here behind cover where we can group up than let them hit us strung out as we flee back to the mountains.”
“You see the next group coming?” Torrio asked as he came to join them.
Taylor nodded.
“What’s the plan?” Torrio asked.
“We stop them here,” Taylor said. “If they hit us in the open…”
“We’ll be slaughtered.” Torrio turned to the Eagles’ sergeant. “Got any extra ammo?”
“We’re low, too,” Taylor said.
Reigns nodded. “I’ll see about redistributing what we can.”
“Better hurry,” Taylor said. “We’ve only got a minute or two.”
Reigns ran off, calling to her corporals.
Taylor nodded to Torrio, then walked over to Haju. “How ya holdin’ up, big guy?”
“I’ve been better,” Haju said. “Most times in my life, if you really want to know the truth. There are many more KzSha coming, and I was never one for the mercenary lifestyle. Still, your reinforcements gave me another couple medkits, and I’m getting my second wind, as you call it.”
“Here they come!” House shouted.
Taylor slapped Haju on the flank. “We got this.”
“I don’t want to be a pessimist,” Jack said as his CO took position to his right, “but I hope you’ve got something else up your sleeve.”
“Whaddya mean?” Taylor asked.
“I don’t think we can win this fight,” Jack said. “If we do, it’s gonna be pretty pyrrhic.”
“We can’t run, and we can’t surrender,” Taylor said.
Jack shrugged. “We don’t have any other choice but to fight. I just hoped you had something else up your sleeve.”
“I’ll try to think of something,” Taylor said.
Rounds began impacting on the vehicles they were hiding behind.
“If we’re in range of their guns…” Jack began.
“They’re in range of ours,” Taylor
