Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

He tried to pull the lance awayfrom the man’s armour, but the shaft snapped, leaving a sectionsticking out from his armour. Both struggled and then pulled itfree, leaving terrible scoring in the plating.

“Look at it,” saidKallias, “Look familiar?”

Valentine blasted away and then threw a quick glance at the weapon.The lance head was long and narrow and made from a dark metal. Butthe thin line of serrated bumps running from the tip interested herthe most.

“Diamond tipped lance point, withmore along the sides. They’re using this stuff for weapons.And it’s hard enough to punch through ourarmour. This cannot be normal diamond.”

“Bastards,” snarled Tsarkov, “And trust me, there’s nothing normal aboutthis place.”

“Yeah,” agreed Valentine, “Maybe we need to use it for some ofours?”

There was little time to continuethe discussion as the battle quickly shifted. They were potentially in a poor tactical position as thecreatures came for them. The steep forty-degree gradient made itdifficult to move, and the winding trail burned into the diamondsrock took an age to traverse. But that mattered little, as thelance remained locked into position. Rather than use the ground,the Ski’ligs hung from the roof hundreds of metres above and fromthe walls, while others circled like birds of prey and fired downat the invaders.

“Incoming!” Kallias said,“They’re coming out of the bloodywalls!”

Valentine’s eyesopened wide in horror as they swarmed outlike bugs. Even worse, the overload warning sounded on her cannon,leaving her with just her arm-mounted machine pistol. She aimed andfired once as spikes screamed past her. Her interceptors blastedaway, and this time managed to clear any from strikingher.

Phew! That was close.

“I’m hit!” Hawkins yelled.

Valentine glancedacross and spotted the pair of half-metrelance spikes embedded in his armour. A third had punched through agap in the plating and jammed into his shoulder.

“Crap, they did a number on you, brother,” said Kallias.

“Lean back!” Valentine said.

She continued tofire with her right hand, using the left to helpher comrades. Hawkins did as ordered, and Valentine gripped two ofthe lances and yanked them out from the metal. Sparks shrouded themas they dragged on the hardened plates, and then she tossed themaside.

“I’ve got the last one.”

Hawkins lifted his left arm andthen brought it down from above, snappingthe projectile off, leaving a small section embedded in the plate.It wasn’t much, but enough to interfere with the movement of hisright arm if he wasn’t careful.

“Pretty,” said Valentine,“Very pretty.”

“Hey, if we get out ofthis, I’m leaving that right where it landed.I’ll be talking about it for years to come. It will be aconversation piece at every damned party.”

“Cute,” said Valentine,“First of all, you have to survive this fight.Now keep fighting before they turn you into Swisscheese.”

She turned back to focus on theenemy as shots continued to rain downaround them. Most were staying away to avoid the Novas’overwhelming short-range fire, but that left them vulnerable totheir other weapons and their upgraded tracking.

Tex, drop the cannon down to rapidfire. Let’s burn them.

An indicator blinked for the weapon as it reduced its outputsignificantly. She then took aim and fired at a group diving downtowards them. Instead of single massive blasts of energy, she nowfired short bursts, like a heavy machine gun putting downsuppressing fire.

There! Have somemore!

Valentine was quickly caught upin the moment as she turned slightly, letting the pivot mount onher shoulder do more of the work. Short streaks of light cut downthe enemy, but still they fired down. Two other lances workedtheir way down the steep incline, allwhile being attacked relentlessly from above.

“Okay, keep moving, but watch yourcorners.”

They started the slow descent,but it was difficult going, with one false step sending themfalling and into the sharp diamond rocks. Theywere all now well aware these were so much more than fancycrystals. They were weapons capable of shredding their armour.Valentine stepped over a fallen Ski’lig just as she spottedmovement near the badly damaged, yet still functionalcannons.

“Oh…crap. I’ve got new contacts. Ski’lig heavies deployingaround the gun batteries.”

“Heavies!” Colston said,“These are the big guys?”

“No.” Tsarkov took aim,“They’re the bastards with the heavyweapons.”

Valentine looked to the area theywere coming from and audibly gasped.There were at least ten of them, and they used the broken debrisfrom the destroyed gun battery to take cover. The remaining turretfired again, sending its burst of red energy away into the darknessof space.

“Suppressing fire!”

She fired a single shot, and then the entire area around theweapon erupted in a cascade of small explosions and flashes. For asecond it looked like she had hit something important. It was sucha heavy blast the resulting shockwave washed back into the cavern.Damaged pieces of the diamond rock split way from above and droppeddown like arrows towards the Novas. Something flashed to the left,and a Nova in 1stLance broke apart as several massive spikescrashed onto him. Valentine gasped, and then shook her head, as theone-armed man was pulled free. His Rhino armour was crumpled andshattered, entire sections missing.

Madness!

Something streaked overhead, andthe IFF system warned her of approaching units. Before shecould turn her head, a stream ofautomatic cannon fire ripped past their position. This was not thekind of fire one might expect from infantry, and that told herexactly what it was.

“About time!” shesaid, as she turned around.

“Hell,yes!” Tsarkov said, “Now that is what I’m talkingabout.”

They watched as three Alliance Jackals stopped about two hundredmetres further back. Their top-mounted missile systems fired salvosof explosive rockets into the remaining battery and the Ski’ligheavies. It was joined by the pairs of turret-mounted cannons oneach side of the bows. It was a brutal show of power, and the Novascheered as the avalanche of fire hammered into the defences. Thecircling Ski’ligs headed for cover or scattered to avoid the worstof the fire, granting the Novas a brief respite.

“Help them out,” said Sergeant Jablonsky, “The buggers are on therun now!”

Valentine twisted to the leftand fired her cannon into the wreckage ofthe Ski’lig defences. The high-energy shots wreaked terribledamage, and she nearly cheered as two heavies struggled to fallback, while a third was trapped under falling debris. But then toher surprise she spotted others leaning out from the wreckage, andthey returned fire.

“Bastards!” shesnarled, changing the focus of her