Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [84]
Forty-nine
General Kurt Lanyan
Unaware of what they were stepping into, the EDF peacekeepers paraded through the transportal to Pym. When they blundered into the giant bugs, Lanyan did not need to encourage his men to start blasting away.
The insect creatures chittered, whistled, and hummed--and attacked the EDF troops with an eerie synchronization. Some were more monstrous than others, with forelimbs as sharp as the Grim Reaper's scythe. Standard projectiles blasted open their hard exoskeletons, showering out globs of slime and ooze. Nevertheless, the bugs swept forward with startling speed.
The colonists in their fenced-in prison near the alkaline pools were horrified when they saw the first soldiers torn to pieces. At the fringe of the battlefield, like a symphonic accompaniment to the clash, geysers shot pillars of steam into the air along with a foul sulphurous smell.
The General bellowed over the din of the ensuing engagement. 'Mission parameters have changed. We are the Earth Defence Forces - so start defending. Let's rescue those colonists, then haul-ass out of here.' Having anticipated little resistance from the colonists, Lanyan's EDF peacekeepers carried primarily ceremonial weapons. Right now, he wished he'd brought along a full-bore jazer cannon or shaped-projectile launcher.
A gratifying blast from his own gun splattered the head-crest of a huge insect warrior that reared up in front of him. A second projectile blasted its thorax, and the armoured head tumbled into the alkaline water. The body's multiple limbs kept twitching.
Against Lanyan's original orders - thank God! - someone had brought small fusion grenades. A soldier launched two grenades toward the alien monoliths in the middle of the grey lake. The resulting explosion broke the brittle structures into flying white chunks.
A third fusion grenade detonated on the far side of the prison fence, spraying tainted water in every direction. The high-energy blast opened a sinkhole beneath the alkaline crust, and the ground began to collapse as water gurgled down, sweeping many of the swarming creatures away in the flood.
Bitter white powder in the air stung Lanyan's eyes and burned his throat. Coughing, he killed several bugs that had taken down five of his soldiers. Lanyan led a charge toward the chalky towers, seeing red as he splashed through shin-deep grey water. The big bugs were all around the pen for the haggard colonists, but the insects here seemed to be a different breed, not as aggressive. Lanyan and his men blasted six of the creatures without even pausing and ran toward the human survivors. 'We'll get you out of here!'
'It's the Klikiss!' a woman yelled hoarsely from her prison. 'The Klikiss have returned. They've been killing us.'
The General was so focused on the battle going on around him that he couldn't ask the right questions or put all the pieces together. Klikiss? One of his soldiers planted a small demolitions charge, and the burst of fire knocked down the cementlike wall. The skeletal Pym settlers lurched through the break, stumbling forward to freedom, sobbing and screaming. They looked as if they hadn't been fed in days.
Finally EDF troops stopped coming through from Rheindic Co; and now could turn around and head back through the transportal. Lanyan bellowed at the top of his lungs. 'Full retreat! Get these people out of here. Back to base.'
The soldiers did not need to be told twice. One man managed to reactivate the coordinate tile on the stone wall. 'Transportal is open!'
As the colonists staggered forward, soldiers took them by the arms and hustled them to the gateway. Lanyan planted his feet squarely apart and formed a rearguard, shooting his sidearms until he