Smoke billowed into the sky from the remains
of the three largest buildings in the center of town. Smaller streams danced
above several burnt metallic shells that used to be hover tanks. Just outside
the edge of the town was a small wooded section that separated the metro area from the grassy hills beyond. Two men peered from behind the trees and glanced quickly at the empty hills before hiding behind their
leafy positions. Five other men stood quietly behind trees further back from
the edge, waiting anxiously while watching the pair in front of them. Several
paces out from the tree line were three hunks of metal with large cannons on top. Smoke
also rose from them and drifted in the soft breeze of the early afternoon.
The vehicle in the center had the largest cannon mounted on a pedestal-like
turret on its roof. It also had two missile tubes running along the side of the
body and an angled launcher of some kind mounted behind the main gun. The vehicle
did not appear to be to badly damaged aside from the smoke rising up from the rear wheels.
The other two vehicles were smaller and employed the use of hoverfans instead of wheels. They also appeared to be complete and if it were not for smoke rising from under their fans, one would
think them to be operational. These two had smaller energy cannons on their turrets
as well as a pair of blasters mounted to the frame just under the turrets.
Mixed in among
the three larger vehicles were about two dozen smaller craft with two small hoverfans and the ports to direct the air pressure
for steering, accelerating or decelerating underneath, known as hover cycles. Most of these were lying on their side with a fallen rider nearby. A few were upright and the rider’s slumped body was still perched atop the seat. There were also the bodies of fifty or so infantry on the ground.
The grassy plain stretched out and dropped down over a slight grade for quite a distance. Far off in that distance was another tree line that was much more sparsely wooded.
This was where
the pair of men was looking with the viewfinders in their hands as they leaned around the trees. They would alternate scanning the opposing tree line for three or four seconds and then slide back out
of sight. The man on the left seemed to be in charge as he gave hand signals
back to the five as well as his counterpart to his right. He appeared very calm
as if he knew exactly what was going to emerge through those trees and he was in complete control. His left hand held the magnifiers and his right hand touched the handle of a large handgun holstered at
his side. The fingertip traced a line down the handle and grazed the top of the
holster, before a loud swoosh from the sky caused him to put both hands on his forehead and look toward the sun.
Two fighters raced towards them with three larger planes in pursuit. The lead pair had short stubby noses and looked to be suitable for flight perhaps
into the lower atmosphere or slightly higher. The pursuers were gaining ground
fast and in a triangular formation. They were larger craft and it was not hard
to see the life support module behind the cockpit indicating that they were capable of space flight out of the atmosphere. The sound was coming from the triangle of fighters as the smaller vessels were much
quieter as they banked hard to the East, going to the right as the men watched them go.
An electric hum
could be heard behind the men followed by another and then two more. Several
pairs of lights blazed across the sky as the twin blasters, from two more of the shorter fighters that were arriving on the
scene unheard, took aim at the top of the triangle. The first pair of shots dissipated
just above the armor plating of the target after causing a small section of the air to flash briefly, being seen even in the
bright light of the midday sun. Another flash occurred when the second shot
of the twin blasters dissipated in a similar fashion. The next two double beams
of light, being fired much closer together drew near the target. The first pair
caused the flash but it was not as bright and had more of a spark effect. The
second pair slammed into the thick metal and left two scorched circles a half meter apart, surrounded by blackened lines and
rings at their destination. The target ship did not break formation as the triangle
turned in unison with the ships that they were chasing.
The two new fighters
each fired two more times at the top of the triangle and then turned their attention on the other two vertexes. Both of the fighters that were initially being chased were banking hard and would soon be turned back around
and able to target their chasers. The twin bolts of energy slammed into the hull
of the already damaged fighter and chunks of smoldering metal fell from the weakened section of the armor. Two more blasts hit their mark and the entire center of the target’s underside separated, the seam
between the weakened plates of metal succumbing to the increased internal pressure and the heat of the energy bolts. The ship separated into three pieces and was engulfed by a ball of hot gas as the
fuel for its ionic drive exploded.
Shots were fired
from the right of what was the triangle of chasers. These shots went just off
target, mainly due to a quick change of direction by the slightly slower, but more maneuverable smaller fighter that they
were aimed at. As the last pieces of the destroyed ship fell from the sky, the
men in the woods quietly clenched their fists and smiled. It was obvious that
the smaller, stubby aircraft were on their side. They had two to one odds and
took advantage of it. The right chaser fired again this time hitting the leftmost
of the two that were firing at it. No flash was seen and the shots left their
black imprints where they contacted the hull of the targeted craft.
Two more triangles
of the larger fighters approached from over the opposing tree line. This caused
the pair of men to be more alert in their scanning and the other five to ready themselves.
One of the five turned and waved his left hand down. This caused a stir
behind the trees as three hundred men waiting there lowered to the ground to remain out of sight. Some of these men had dark blue jackets that appeared to offer some form of protection and matching pants. Others had padded vests over civilian clothes.
Still more had torn or ripped shirts and unkempt hair. They were certainly
not all military but they appeared to be well organized as they waited for the signal from the two with the magnifiers.
Some of the men
looked to the sky as their four fighters took out both of the larger fighters and then broke left as they saw six more on
the horizon. A third triangle came from the Northwest and two more were in the
distance behind them. The six closest fighters flew in perfect formation straight
at the four that were now turning tail. The familiar sound of the blasters hummed
several times as four of the stubby fighters came directly over the trees where the men were waiting behind. Eight more were behind them. Soon the sky was filled with
the smaller fighters as three more groups came from different directions. Laser
fire crisscrossed overhead and still the men waited.
Three large energy
blasts shot up from the ground behind the trees as the apparent leader watched with his handheld device. The first two shots went passed the zigzagging fighters, but the third hit and obliterated one of the small
planes in an instant. The man turned and gave a quick sign with his right hand
and then unholstered his weapon. It was not a pistol at all but a drastically
shortened double-barreled blaster. The man next to him put his magnifiers away
and drew out two small handguns. The men behind them took various weapons ranging
from small ballistic pistols to large energy rifles and blasters in hand and took ready positions.
The trees across
from them began to snap and crack under the weight of the massive hover tanks that came upon them. Three tanks the size of small houses broke through the tree line and fired energy beams from their main
cannons skyward. The barrels of the main guns were eight meters in length and
the bolts of energy were larger in diameter than a man. After they crushed a
path through the trees, a throng of smaller vehicles came onto the grassy plain. Six
smaller hovertanks and eight wheels tanks took defensive positions while two dozen hover cycles set up a perimeter. They scanned the smoking vehicles in front of the men waiting in the trees but deemed them to be of no
threat and continued firing at the fighters in the sky.
The smaller fighters
had all but eliminated their larger counterparts, but were now taking heavy fire from two of the smaller hover tanks below. These tanks had anti-aircraft cannons, firing somewhat small bolts of energy but at
a high rate of speed. A thunderous boom rang out and echoed through the green
valley, followed by two loud whistles. White smoke traced a path from the tubes
along the side of the apparently inoperable tank in front of the pair of men who were now ready to run onto the field of battle. High speed missiles were dead on target and the antiaircraft tanks were replaced by
two large burning piles of metal in the blink of an eye. The thundering boom
echoed again and this time a large shell could be seen launching up the back of the large, obviously operational tank’s
main gun.
The first shell
hit the assault tank in the center of the familiar triangular formation down the hill and the ground shook as the explosion
overpowered even the thick armor of the hovertank. The main gun fell from its
skyward angle and dropped do the grass below, while the turret ripped open and allowed the yellowish green fire of the burning
energy cells to lap up over the empty shell around it. The second shell hit the
ground near the hovertank on the right side of the opposite tree line. A third
boom echoed as the main gun took aim at the hovertank on the left and fired two quick bursts with its own quite large cannon.
The second explosion
did not destroy the hovertank on the right but did cause it to lean onto the ground, no doubt doing heavy damage to the hoverfans on it’s left side. One of the smaller
hovertanks and two wheeled tanks were destroyed by the blast along with at least three of the hover cycles. The rest of the hover cycles accelerated toward the massive wheeled tank to try and stop it from firing
more of the massive grenades. The people slumping over the handlebars of the
cycles at the top of the hill sprung to life, firing up their hoverfoils and preparing to counterattack. The other fallen riders got up and started their cycles as well.
A shower of blaster fire from the sky made a wall of light that hindered over half of the cycles from riding up the
hill. The fighters then turned their attention to the crippled hovertank and
made quick work of it as they passed overhead.
The hovertanks
on either side of the wheeled tank atop the hill also came to life and fired all of their guns toward the cycles rushing up
to meet them. A second wave of blaster fire from above, meant that only six hover
cycles made up far enough up the hill for their light cannons to be in range. They
were no match for the twenty cycles that met them, cannons and hand guns blazing. Once
they dispatched their counterparts, the cyclists sped down the hill and began firing at the next wave that came through the
trees below. The men in the trees stood ready but did not enter the field just
yet. So began the largest battle since the Toryan invasion of SipDeCor began.
