Read Online Star Force: Proving Ground (SF66) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Aer-ki Jyr
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knew that trouble was all around them and could be shoved
down their throats at any moment. The only way they were going to get where
they wanted to go was to not let the lizards zero in on their position and
stack bodies against them. That was the trick to this entire mission and why it
was so dicey.
It was certainly doable, but they couldn’t take a
frontal assault mentality. They had to be ghosts as often as they could, disengaging
more often than not and confusing the enemy as to which direction they were
headed. They couldn’t take a direct line to the tower or the lizards could
prepare for them and put so many infantry between them and the target that
there would be no way even a trailblazer could get through them all.
If that did happen, Iden had already been told that
they’d revert to secondary targets, taking out some anti-air towers or ground
defense turrets and try to pull the lizards attention back away from the
primary target. If that didn’t work they’d have to improvise, and pull out if
necessary. They weren’t going to risk another normal Clan assault to get the
towers, though the first one hadn’t triggered the traps until the mop up crew
had come in to fight the army within rather than hit the defenses. That was
probably to maximize the number of Star Force kills they could get, but now
that their secret had been revealed there was no guarantee they’d wait as long
at this location.
So this was going to be it, one way or another. If
they could sneak in and blow it, great. If not they’d work around the tower and
neutralize this city until the end…then pound it to rubble from orbit. A single
defense tower could do a lot of damage coupled with the city defense shield,
but it was the combination of overlapping defenses that gave this new lizard
tactic its true teeth. A command ship could probably take a tower 1v1, so if
they had to they’d wait and deal with it that way.
But they really needed the airspace clear to keep
hammering the surrounding colonies, so Iden and the others were determined to
make this work. They kept close, running a staggered two-wide formation with
each a step ahead of their buddy as they ran through corridors and down
stairwells, using some ladders where they had to, but avoiding all lifts that
could be computer overridden. The Archon team traveled all the way down into
the substructure and into the shallow tunnels that ran underneath the city
streets, allowing them to pass into another area without making themselves
visible.
The trail of sleeping lizards, however, was quite
obvious, so as soon as they found a empty area the
team disappeared, avoiding lizards rather than subduing them so they could
sneak off and keep the enemy confused. That took time, and Sonya made sure to
keep them heading away from the tower more often than not. That made the trek
across kilometers of city seem like Frodo’s hike to Mordor .
They stopped twice to rest, eat, and catch a bit of sleep, then after two days
of skulking around in the undercity they finally got
near the tower.
Which was where they ran into a brick wall, so to
speak. There were underground defense stations guarding the access routes into
the skyscraper-sized complex. The lizards might be stupid, but they weren’t stupid and knew that if a battle broke
out Star Force would be more than willing to undercut any surface defenses and
backdoor the big tower.
They were stupid for having subsurface access routes at all. They should have completely
sealed off the tower aside from a handful of access doors several meters thick.
Instead, there were large archways allowing road-like access inside…behind a
wall of gun turrets, barricades, and loads of infantry.
“We go up,” Sonya answered before anyone voiced the
question. “Quietly.”
Iden followed the mage on a short backtrack then up
above ground inside a nearby building. It wasn’t the closest, but a row back
from the tower that was smashed into the infrastructure.
down their throats at any moment. The only way they were going to get where
they wanted to go was to not let the lizards zero in on their position and
stack bodies against them. That was the trick to this entire mission and why it
was so dicey.
It was certainly doable, but they couldn’t take a
frontal assault mentality. They had to be ghosts as often as they could, disengaging
more often than not and confusing the enemy as to which direction they were
headed. They couldn’t take a direct line to the tower or the lizards could
prepare for them and put so many infantry between them and the target that
there would be no way even a trailblazer could get through them all.
If that did happen, Iden had already been told that
they’d revert to secondary targets, taking out some anti-air towers or ground
defense turrets and try to pull the lizards attention back away from the
primary target. If that didn’t work they’d have to improvise, and pull out if
necessary. They weren’t going to risk another normal Clan assault to get the
towers, though the first one hadn’t triggered the traps until the mop up crew
had come in to fight the army within rather than hit the defenses. That was
probably to maximize the number of Star Force kills they could get, but now
that their secret had been revealed there was no guarantee they’d wait as long
at this location.
So this was going to be it, one way or another. If
they could sneak in and blow it, great. If not they’d work around the tower and
neutralize this city until the end…then pound it to rubble from orbit. A single
defense tower could do a lot of damage coupled with the city defense shield,
but it was the combination of overlapping defenses that gave this new lizard
tactic its true teeth. A command ship could probably take a tower 1v1, so if
they had to they’d wait and deal with it that way.
But they really needed the airspace clear to keep
hammering the surrounding colonies, so Iden and the others were determined to
make this work. They kept close, running a staggered two-wide formation with
each a step ahead of their buddy as they ran through corridors and down
stairwells, using some ladders where they had to, but avoiding all lifts that
could be computer overridden. The Archon team traveled all the way down into
the substructure and into the shallow tunnels that ran underneath the city
streets, allowing them to pass into another area without making themselves
visible.
The trail of sleeping lizards, however, was quite
obvious, so as soon as they found a empty area the
team disappeared, avoiding lizards rather than subduing them so they could
sneak off and keep the enemy confused. That took time, and Sonya made sure to
keep them heading away from the tower more often than not. That made the trek
across kilometers of city seem like Frodo’s hike to Mordor .
They stopped twice to rest, eat, and catch a bit of sleep, then after two days
of skulking around in the undercity they finally got
near the tower.
Which was where they ran into a brick wall, so to
speak. There were underground defense stations guarding the access routes into
the skyscraper-sized complex. The lizards might be stupid, but they weren’t stupid and knew that if a battle broke
out Star Force would be more than willing to undercut any surface defenses and
backdoor the big tower.
They were stupid for having subsurface access routes at all. They should have completely
sealed off the tower aside from a handful of access doors several meters thick.
Instead, there were large archways allowing road-like access inside…behind a
wall of gun turrets, barricades, and loads of infantry.
“We go up,” Sonya answered before anyone voiced the
question. “Quietly.”
Iden followed the mage on a short backtrack then up
above ground inside a nearby building. It wasn’t the closest, but a row back
from the tower that was smashed into the infrastructure.
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