Metal Swarm - Kevin J. Anderson [94]
Theroc was surrounded by what looked like a crown of thorns. Immense tree battleships rose up with great spiky boughs splayed. The verdani treeships began to move toward the incoming EDF battle group, fanning out and forming a blockade like a huge thorny hedge.
Willis hammered down on the transmit button. 'I repeat, for anyone who has too much wax in their ears: do not open fire, unless you want one of those sharpened branches up your exhaust shaft.'
Behind the verdani battleships came a flurry of vessels in every conceivable size and shape, ships with bright markings and discoloured hullplates. All of them had very prominent slapped-on armaments.
'Those are Roamers,' Brindle said. 'Hundreds of them.'
'With hundreds of guns,' Willis added.
'Tactical stations! Run a quick assessment of battle feasibility. Do we still outgun them?'
'Belay that!' Willis cut him off. 'Are you totally nuts, Lieutenant Commander? Look at those treeships!' The deadly verdani vessels moved closer, loomed larger. 'I knew this was a bad idea from the start.'
Fifty-five
General Kurt Lanyan
Even after the Pym colonists and exhausted EDF soldiers retreated through the transportal wall, they couldn't stop running. The Hansa workers in the Rheindic Co control chamber were taken aback by the sudden waves of scrambling soldiers with torn and bloody uniforms, smoking weapons, and ghostly pale expressions.
A few haggard colonists fell to their knees and touched the cool, stone floor. Swift-thinking EDF fighters grabbed them and hustled them farther along the tunnels to the exits. 'Keep moving! Back to the ships.'
'Call all the personnel transports up to the city!'
'Send a signal to the Jupiter! This is an emergency situation.'
When Lanyan staggered through, he wanted to collapse, but knew it wasn't over yet. 'Those damned bugs are going to be hot on our tails!'
Conflicting orders bounced around, and the stunned troops began a disorderly but swift exodus, sweeping the Rheindic Co scientists along with them. Sobs and alarmed shouts filled the stone-walled chamber, along with the clatter of weapons, the pounding of booted feet.
'What is it?' said Ruvi, the administrator. 'What's going on?'
'Klikiss.' Lanyan grabbed the balding man by the shoulders and bodily turned him around. The Klikiss came back to Pym. They killed most of the colonists, but we rescued these.'
'Klikiss? You mean the real Klikiss?'
He pointed to a bleeding gash on his arm. 'Yeah, they're pretty damned real. And they're going to come here soon. You can bet on it. So haul ass! I'm pulling the plug on Rheindic Co.'
'We - we'll gather our equipment, pack our things.'
'You'll turn around and run like hell. Now! I'm guessing we've got only a few minutes, at most.'
People flooded out of the chamber through the passages, reached the cliff edge, and crowded together like lemmings. Outside, twilight was beginning to fall. Station lights marked the personnel transports in the landing zone far outside the main base.
The Klikiss city was high up on the sheer wall, with no easy way for great numbers of evacuees to get down. Frantic people jammed the lift platforms, trying to reach the canyon floor. The heavy elevators were reinforced to carry cargo but not designed for speed, and they did not have the capacity to hold so many rescued colonists and retreating EDF troops.
Some of the soldiers helped scientists and colonists, and some had the composure to activate their comm systems and shout for the personnel transports. 'Get up here! It's a massive evacuation. We have to leave - immediately!'
Back in the chamber, Lanyan saw the bottleneck situation rapidly growing out of control. Drawing a deep breath that stretched his uniform tight across his chest, he counted to three, forced calm upon himself, then issued orders in a controlled, razor-sharp bark of command. 'Remember who you are! We fought the
Soldier compies. These bugs are