A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [167]
Like a high-energy rain, bombs showered out of the Thunderheads. Reaching their preset depth, the fuses activated, and immense eruptions shuddered through the atmospheric levels. The explosions were meant to rattle the hydrogues and flush them out of their deep strongholds. But according to the destroyed scouts, the warglobes were already coming.
Tasia clenched her hands until the nails bit into her palms, waiting for her cruiser to be called into play.
“Second phase,” Lanyan ordered, as if reading from a script and watching a chronometer. “Primary compy wing, disperse Remoras and engage the enemy if you find them. Compy Mantas, close in.”
The new Soldier-model compies could fly their attack fighters at higher accelerations and turn under heavier G-forces than any human pilot. Since they required no life-support systems, more power could be diverted to the jazer banks.
One hundred of the fast fighters dived deep, while shock waves from the initial bombardment continued to reverberate through the cloud decks. The Remoras streaked out like deadly silver projectiles, seeking targets. Telemetry came back as the diligent robots reported their positions.
When the Soldier compies arrived at the depth where Robb had disappeared, one by one, the deep scout vessels reported enemy warglobes rising up. Then each signal broke off. Just like Robb’s did.
Lanyan clenched his teeth. “Where are they?” He looked down at the disturbed clouds still swirling from the initial bombardment.
At his station, Rossia described the events quickly into the telink network. “I see a glow, like lightning…something much larger than the Goliath. Flashing lights, power discharges. Ah, they’ve emerged from the clouds now! Very frightening.” He shuddered with the instinctive revulsion of the worldforest, which was communicated to him through his treeling.
A swarm of warglobes rose up, the giant spheres accompanied by smaller vessels like clustered grapeshot. Across the comm channels, EDF soldiers howled with bravado laced with fear. They had never seen such an incredible force of hydrogues.
The first three compy-crewed Mantas moved to intercept without hesitation. They opened fire, blasting before the hydrogues could strike.
“Numerous jazer impacts, but no significant damage.” Rossia’s gaze flicked back and forth. “The bolts hurt my eyes.”
“Deploy carbon slammers!”
The cruisers dropped clusters of the new-design weapons, which fell like depth charges. When they drifted close to the hydrogue spheres, the slammers exploded with a focused jackhammer blow of force against the diamond armor, designed to break carbon–carbon bonds. Several enemy targets spun, obviously disoriented from the unexpected blast.
Before the soldiers could cheer, though, blue lightning crackled from the undamaged warglobes, striking the closest robotic Manta and ripping open its hull.
“Direct hit from the hydrogues! One of our compy cruisers is damaged.” Rossia sounded like an old sports announcer trying to relay the excitement of a visual game. “It is just as horrific as the worldforest’s memories of the old war.”
But the wounded robot Manta continued forward, blasting with all its remaining weapons. Lanyan sounded proud. “Look! The Soldier compies can keep going even with a hull breach like that!”
The robot-crewed Mantas and Remoras maintained continuous fire, blasting relentlessly until their munitions were depleted. Then Lanyan opened the channel himself and spoke to the programmed Soldier compies. “Activate endgame sequence.” He sat back and gave a wicked smile as he transmitted to his commanders. “Watch this—it’s something the Ildirans taught us.”
The compy-piloted Remoras used their remaining engine power to drive themselves like hot bullets into the enemy vessels. On the monitor screens, telemetry images flared with explosions and then a sea of static, one after another.
The devastating firepower exploded back and