The Plant Ground Leader saw that the overhead bombardment he had been hit with was slowing down and tapering off. That meant the fleet action was starting overhead. He ordered all his tools to attack the invaders and destroy them. His heavy weapon platforms had been moving forward for some time because once his soldiers went into battle frenzy; they just couldn’t keep up with the mad rush to feed on the enemy. The green tide of his army rushed forward with more than two million rushing across the barren plain. He committed more than a third of his forces at the northern line that had breaks in its front. It looks like they didn’t get enough tools and now they will pay the consequences. He saw his forces being hit with beam weapons from the structure the strangers had built but it was not going to be enough to stop his tools.
The SR drop troops watched as the green tide of Plant Soldiers rushed toward them at 40 miles an hour. The land was barren from the harvesting and they could be seen coming across the flat plain more than five miles away. Their weapon platforms were at the front of the charge but it was clear they would be quickly overtaken by the swarming mass running behind them. General Wiseman watched his display as the Plant troops began firing their blasters and projectile rifles and ordered, “Hornets are released, open fire at two miles.”
More than 80,000 hornets lifted off the back packs of the troops dug in and headed down range toward the Plants. Each of them picked out a weapons platform or floater and flew in on it faster than the speed of sound. The sonic booms from the hornets sounded like a thunderous artillery barrage and had a devastating effect on the Plants equipment. Ninety percent of the Algean mobile hardware was blown out of existence with the first barrage. These hornets had a powerful sting. Not only did they destroy the platform but killed everything within forty yards of the blast and thousands of the rushing Plants died. A second volley of 80,000 more hornets lifted and targeted the remaining platforms. When all of them were designated by a hornet’s sensor, the remainder changed direction and headed straight at the front of the on rushing horde. The massive explosions along the front lines of the oncoming Plants should have stopped them but as the front rows died the rows behind them jumped over and continued coming.
General Dorg looked at the oncoming sea of green and now knew what the Humans must have felt at Rossville. There was no way to stop them but he would not run. He could see from his general display that his line was getting many more than the other three lines. Another 80,000 hornets launched and walked the front line of the incoming Plants blowing thousands apart. Then they were two miles away and he ordered, “Weapons free, fire at will.”
As planned, all of the Cainth units opened fire and once more the toll was incredible on the on rushing Plants; so many were being killed that the back ranks had to jump over the mounds of dead. The tide continued to surge toward the Cainth’s units and started rushing toward the breaks in their front lines. Colonel Crandon watched and said over his unit frequency, “Hold your fire until they are a mile out. Steady, Lads, get ready…fire all weapons.”
The Plants were more than surprised when a murderous fire came from the breaks in the line in front of them. The incoming fire was more than double what they were receiving from the others. The blaster fire extended more than 500 yards further than the fire from the ranked invaders and that fire was hitting the entire plant front. The first mile of Plants rushing toward the SR lines was burned out of existence. The ones rushing up could not see over the mounds of dead Plants to see the devastating effect of the fire. The Humans had wisely left the mounds to slow the advance of the following ranks. Colonel Crandon said, “Hold your fire. Cainth units continue to fire. I don’t think this lot actually saw what happened. Let’s see if we can do it again.”
The Cainth Drop Troops were amazed at the power of the Humans armor. Most had thought that they were done once the horde had gotten to within a half mile of their front, but now they took heart and began the process again.
Things were not going so well with the two Vgrig divisions. They had stopped the Plants temporarily and at that point some of their warriors ran out of ranks to fight individually with the Plant soldiers for personal honor. The Plants grabbed them and ripped them out of their armor and ate them. The brief respite allowed the Plants to surge forward and the Vgrig were fighting them 10 yards in front of their line. Some Plants were making it into their ranks and killing Vgrig warriors; the entire line was close to collapse. “Colonel Watson it’s time, jump your troops to the Vgrig now.” Jer looked at his display and saw that the center of the Vgrig line is where the bulk of the plants were breaking thru. Hundreds of the Vgrig were being torn apart by the Plants. “Remember your alignment, thirty meters apart. Jump in under full camo and blast the ground you’re landing on; then your lasers 360 degrees around you and then a hornet every two seconds. Lock on my signal and prepare to jump, Execute jump.”
Jer’s one thousand Naval Marines hit their jump jets and jumped from the fort to exactly ten yards in front of the Vgrig’s front line. They were in full invisibility mode and even the Vgrig didn’t see them coming. The first indication that something was going on was when one thousand ten foot circles were burned into the Plants frontal forces. Then the Marines turned on their suit lasers and turned a circle cutting thru every plant with in fifty yards of their position. The Marines landed 30 yards apart and their kill zones over lapped killing everything along a two mile front in the center of the Vgrig line. They then turned off their Camo so the Vgrig could see them and started moving forward using their suit blasters to burn everything in their path. The Vgrig swarmed the Plants in their formation and managed to kill them all.
The Marine Battalion moved forward. Every two seconds an anti-personnel hornet left their back packs and flew forward and exploded sending small Coronado charges into the front ranks which then released their energy and burned whatever it penetrated to ash. Each hornet spewed more than three thousand of the small charges and the Plants directly in front of the Vgrig line were decimated and blown back to half a mile. The front line recovered and the Vgrig regained control of their front.
“Colonel Watson, the southwest corner where the Cainth and Glod come together is about to be over run; jump immediately.”
Jer’s battalion heard the order and jumped toward the coordinates without having a plan. Jer told his marines in the air on the way over the installation to jump higher by squads and that first squad would land first, then second two seconds behind and move right, third squad would land third and move left. They would continue this until all units were on the ground in action. The first squad landed right at the juncture of the two divisions and saw thousands of Plants right up against their lines killing both Glod and Cainth warriors. The two divisions were struggling to send help to prevent the Plant break thru but were also barely hanging on themselves. The first squad fired two hornets each into the ranks of the plants and then they then burned the plants right up against the line as they landed. They then hit their lasers and cut down every plant around them even firing their lasers among themselves. The first squad took four steps forward and the second squad landed behind them and moved to the right killing Plants as it moved, two seconds later third squad arrived and the process continued and the Plants were again being driven back. The Glod and Cainth Warriors watched the Humans walk into the Horde of rushing Plants fearlessly firing their blasters and bringing death to everything in their path. They saw the Plants overwhelm some of the Humans but they closed ranks and continued fighting their way forward. The reputation of the Humans was already of supernatural proportions and once the stories of what happened today began circulating, it would almost be mythic. The Cainth, Vgrig, and Glod all thought of themselves as the fiercest warriors but now they saw warriors that demonstrated how important it was to depend on each other in battle. They were amazed at the Human’s fearlessness in protecting them.