One of Taylor’s men fell back from the vehicle. A round had gone through the vehicle, then Jon Simpson’s stomach. The result wasn’t pretty.
Taylor fired again. The KzSha were almost to the point where they’d make their final charge. For the first time, thoughts of surrender ran through his head, but it was too late; there was no way he could stop the wave of giant wasps, and no way to stop the slaughter once they breached the Human positions.
He fired again, and the center of the KzSha advance erupted in a tremendous explosion.
* * * * *
Chapter 23: Horde
A second explosion threw KzSha into the air on the right side of the line, then a third detonation occurred on the left. Over the sounds of chain guns in operation, three APC engines could finally be heard as the armored vehicles swept in from the left, mowing down the KzSha in front of them like wheat before combines. A second round of explosions ripped through the KzSha lines as their main guns fired again.
The remaining KzSha fled before them, running away from the Human lines.
The APCs followed them for another few seconds, each firing another three rounds into the fleeing warriors, before turning and driving up to where the defensive line stood cheering.
A hatch popped on the top of the lead vehicle, and Sergeant Ballou stuck his head out. “Hi, Chief!” he called. “Looks like we got here just in time.”
“That you did, Sergeant, and I am damn glad to see you,” Taylor said.
“Lieutenant Ruiz called down from the Osyrys a little while ago,” Ballou added. “He said it looked like someone was fleeing from the dome, so we thought you might like a ride. When we saw you were under attack, we came even faster.” He scanned the site of the fighting. “Not sure we’re gonna get everyone in the APCs, especially with all the casualties, so some folks are still probably going to have to hike out of here.”
“As well as those of us who are too robust to fit,” Haju said. He’d picked up another couple laser burns in the fight that the River Hawks’ medic was treating.
“Better hurry and get whoever you can out of here.” Torrio pointed to the dome. “Looks like they’ve finally assembled the A-Team.”
Taylor turned. Some 250 KzSha in CASPers were marching out of the broken gate. As he watched, they spread out. These were going to be a lot harder to stop. The APCs would give them some additional firepower…until the CASPers wrecked them. They’d be better off taking the wounded back to where the dropships would meet them, although that would leave the rest of them even worse off. Things had looked grim before; now there was no light at all at the end of the tunnel.
Taylor shook his head. He didn’t see any way he could pull this one off.
“What the heck is that?” Reigns asked.
Taylor looked where she was pointing. A weirdly-shaped ship with far too many sides was descending from the sky. Its three landing legs were extended. Whatever it was, it was coming to stay.
“It’s an icosagon,” Jack said.
“A what?” Taylor asked.
“An icosagon,” Jack said. “It’s got 20 sides.”
“How do you know that?” Reigns asked.
“Had to fight off a Tortantula assault one time,” Jack said. “That’s what they use as troop carriers.”
“Oh, shit,” the sergeant exclaimed.
“Yeah.” The cowboy flashed a wry grin. “Things are about to get real interestin’ here.”
“Who’s gonna eat us first, you mean,” Reigns added. “The Tortantulas or the KzSha?
“Like I said,” Jack added. “It’s about to get interestin’.”
The KzSha advance stopped as the ship touched down, but whether that was because they were waiting for the Tortantulas to join the attack, Taylor had no way to know.
“Should we send the APCs with the wounded while we have the chance?” Reigns asked.
“No,” Taylor said. “We’ll stay grouped up until we see what’s goin’ on here. We’re gonna need every gun we’ve got to stop the Tortantulas if they come running over here.”
“Guess we’ll know in just a second,” Jack said.
The ship’s ramp was already in motion when it touched down, and Tortantulas—with Flatar riders, Taylor saw—began running down the ramp before the ramp reached the ground.
“Just can’t wait to come eat us,” one of the Hawks said.
“Probably trying to beat the KzSha to the easy meal,” another guessed.
Within a couple minutes, there were over 200 Tortantulas milling in the vicinity of the ship. The way they moved made them look like a mobile black stain on the white landscape. At some unheard command, all of them surged forward, while more continued to pour from the ship.
As one, they turned toward the KzSha and charged across the intervening space. The KzSha stood in place momentarily, then turned and fled toward the safety of the dome. Even in the suits, though, they were no match for the speed of the Tortantulas, and the giant spiders quickly ate up the head start the KzSha’d had as they chased them across the snow-covered plateau.
With 50 meters to go, the black mass caught up to the wasps. A number of CASPers turned to fight, but they were ridden down and overwhelmed. A handful made it to the safety of the gate, where the Tortantulas veered off and went back to the CASPers they’d already downed. Pieces of the metallic suits flew into the air as the giant
