Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [53]
He had already dismissed the possibility. 'Such bulky ships will take too long to lift off. Their larger systems and their sheer mass will slow them down.' The two compies dutifully hurried to one of the shuttles on Wollamor's blackened spaceport field. Other robots scuttled to individual Remoras and streaked off into the sky to save themselves.
Sirix could see great numbers of Klikiss warriors sweeping around to flank the landed cruisers, already marking the Mantas as targets. He gambled that the detestable creatures would not bother with the lesser ships - yet. Even so, the two vital cruisers would be lost! And more irreplaceable black robots.
He sent a wide-band signal commanding his comrades to retreat. Some of the black robots split open their carapaces, spread their wings, and flew - only to be shot down by warriors using bell-mouthed energy dischargers. The weapons were unlike any design Sirix used by the prior incarnation of the Klikiss. With wing panels burned and body cores shattered, the robots tumbled out of the sky.
As Sirix had feared, the two landed Mantas were under a full-blown attack. He considered them already lost. And he still didn't understand why - how! - the Klikiss had returned.
In a desperate attempt to hold the line, Soldier compies threw themselves upon the Klikiss warriors. The compies cracked enemy exoskeletons and spilled insect bodily fluids. Dead insects piled up, yet more continued to stream through the transportal. This was not just a foray party, but a complete subhive army.
As if uprooting weeds, the insect warriors discarded the Soldier compies. They plucked artificial arms and legs from metal torsos, ripped the compies' heads off, or simply smashed them aside. But the hundreds of military robots sacrificed so far had gained Sirix enough time to reach the troop transport. They had served their purpose.
PD and QT were already aboard, as were five other black robots. One was in the cockpit, firing up the engines.
Most of the retreating robots, however, headed automatically to the Mantas on the mistaken assumption that the large warships could protect them. Sirix could not save them from such a miscalculation. The engines would need at least fifteen more minutes before the cruisers could lift off. One of the Mantas began blasting away from any jazer port at a suitable angle to hit the Klikiss on the ground. Deadly beams ripped through the warriors, as well as any Soldier compies that happened to be in the way.
More Klikiss came through the transportal, different breeds: builders, harvesters, diggers. The breedex had already assumed victory on Wollamor.
One of the Mantas began to heave itself from the landing field but crashed as its engines were destroyed by concentrated fire from the bell-mouthed energy dischargers. Groups of Klikiss warriors rushed scientist and engineer breeds through gaps they had torn in the Manta's hull, hurrying them aboard to take over or sabotage the Manta. Even fighting beside the remaining Soldier compies, those robots would not be strong enough. Sirix wrote them all off.
During the battle at Earth, he had lost many of his fellow robots, but he had never expected to fight the Klikiss. If he could get to orbit, though, and take refuge aboard his Juggernaut, he could eliminate the transportal and cut the insect warriors off from Wollamor.
Sirix sealed the troop transport and hurried to the cockpit. Any other black robots would have to find their own ways to escape. As they lifted away from the battlefield, he jacked into the communications systems and sent a signal burst to his ships in orbit. He called them down to stem the tide of Klikiss invaders. 'We are leaving Wollamor. Destroy it. Destroy it all.'
As the transport rose higher, Sirix saw more insect warriors march through the transportal, fanning out over their new territory. They sifted through the wreckage of Soldier compies and black, robots, as if to make sure the mayhem had been thorough.
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