Furnace (Hunter-Killer #1)

Chapter 31 - The Battle for Brekka

The bombardment lit up early morning darkness.

Screaming balls of blue-white fire left simmering trails, like comet tails in the darkness as they blazed to their targets. The sheer number of shots burned so brightly that Ryke had to adjust his mech's optics just to see what was happening. He gathered breath to yell the order to scatter, but stopped himself when he realised that the line of Hunter-Killers wasn't the target.

He could only watch in dismay as the barrage crashed against the fortified battlements of Brekka's walltop.

Hitting precise targets from that range would normally have been a very difficult task, but the Scraegans, it seemed were playing on the law of averages. For every ten shots that exploded harmlessly against the armoured bulwark, one found its mark. Gun emplacements blew apart, ammo caches detonating violently as the furnace cannon shots engulfed them. Smouldering silhouettes of militia bodies were thrown from the wall, raining on the Hunter-Killers in a grisly downpour.

"By the Riverlords...

"Drown me!"

Expletives rained through the squad's comm as the pilots watching in shock. More waves of fire arrived close behind the first, scorching heavy armour, pulverising masonry and obliterating soldiers with indiscriminate fury. Ryke couldn't think of a curse strong enough to do the occasion justice.

Finally the surviving shell-shocked wall gunners recovered their composure, and dotted along burning lengths of Brekka's outer fortifications, their gigantic quad barrels roared into the life. The sky over the plateau became a sweltering blizzard of orange and blue as the human defenders fired back.

Despite his horror at what he'd just seen, Ryke's mind was already moving as he tried to wrap his head around the tactical situation. The mines weren't working – he didn't know how or why but it hardly mattered right now – and in failing to trigger they'd actually baited the defenders into a false sense of security, letting the Scraegans get into range in huge numbers.

He could also tell already that the firepower coming from the wall was nowhere near enough to stop the tide of enemy signatures that poured from the Scraegan fires towards them. Riverlords, there must have been thousands swarming out there.

"Forge CC-1 to all Hunter-Killer Squadrons," Theikvaal's voice knifed suddenly into his earpiece and he straightened up, the hair on the back of his neck standing up in anticipation. "Weapons free and engage – all sectors. Additional support gunners are being deployed the wall defences so slow the bastards down."

Ryke sent his acknowledgement without a second thought, his eyes locked on the charging Scraegans. He did a final check of his HUD, confirming optimal readings in his weapon systems. A moment later their section commander's voice sounded in his earpiece – a grizzled lieutenant in charge of HK-Barricade.

"Torch to all units," the veteran officer growled. "Goliath pilots lock your stabilisers and fire at will. All squads hold till one hundred meters then engage. I want a sweep of mine drops to surface any diggers. Then strafe and move – get in and mix with them so they can't shoot those cannons without hitting each other."

"Copy that," Ryke replied in sequence with the half dozen other squad leaders that were spread out across their section of the wall. He flicked back to the squad-wide. "Strap in ladies and gentlemen." He shook his warblade free in readiness and an instant later the Hunter-Killer line thundered into life. The Goliath pilots lobbed volleys of shells into the teeth of the Scraegan line, adding their fire the sporadic bombardment from the reeling wall-top defenders. More Scraegans went down, bloodied and broken by heavy calibre shells.