The Crusaderlay on its side, one arm torn from its body, its head missing, and the torso shredded like a shoved-in plywood box. The Marauderhad been much farther away from the blast. Though lying prone, it appeared otherwise undamaged. Grayson brought his laser up to cover the inert machine, and began closing the range.
The Hawkscomputer targeted the Marauder'shead, locking the laser through the slowing HUD display.
The static of an open channel rasped in his ear. "GRAY! I'm burning! Gray!"
It was Lori! That was enough to stop Grayson's charge. He hesitated, the Marauderhis for the taking in his HUD sights. In an agony of indecision, he watched the machine stir, sliding one massive forearm under its body.
Again, Lori's screams came through on the Hawk'scombat frequency. Clear and shrill, she cried out, "Grayson! Grayson! I'm burning... Gray!"
The Marauder'spilot was obviously stunned. The giant 'Mech remained down, partly raised on one arm as it tried to get its legs folded enough to bring them under the body to stand up. Grayson could pepper away at the machine all day with his medium laser and might never penetrate that armor. But if he charged, he could batter the Marauderdown, smashing it to pieces the way it had smashed his father's Phoenix Hawk.
He took ten more steps, and picked up a tree-size length of jointed, wire-tangled metal. It had been the Crusader'sarm. With that as a two-handed club, Grayson would batter the Marauderuntil the plastron cracked. He would smash and kick and destroy...
"Gray!" Even through the impersonality of the com circuits, he heard the naked terror in that scream.
With Vallendel at his feet, Grayson hesitated before swinging his twisted metal club. He knew he could never abandon Lori, and flung the club, which spun end for end away from him. Then he swung to the north, pushing his 'Mech to the limit.
36
Five and a half light minutes from Trellwan, Tor sat down at the bridge controls of the freighter Invidious.The enemy Major had indeed managed to get a message off to Trellwan, but fifteen minutes had passed with no reaction from the warship. Tor began daring to believe that the attack at the spaceport had succeeded.
The boarding party had found only eight Combine men aboard, plus all of Tor's remaining crew. The Kuritists had surrendered without a fight when dozens of armed and unarmed men had swum through the bridge hatch. Heavily outnumbered and fearing a laser firefight aboard ship, they preferred to wait and see whether the warship would send forces to rescue them. Now the Combine personnel were locked away below.
General Varney squinted at the main viewscreen, which was centered on the blackness of the Invidious'jump sail. "How do you know it's coming in?"
"I know," Tor said, indicating a bank of lights. "But it'll take some time."
"Is our... ah... friend out there going to know we're up to something?"
"Possibly, General, but that sail is awfully hard to see, even on radar. They'd have to be a lot closer to actually see the sail being furled."
Slowly, majestically, the kilometer-wide disk of black metal and plastic collapsed upon itself under the tugs of computer-directed guys and running lines. And in the JumpShip's core, the Kearny-Fuchida hyperspace field generators were channelling energies gathered and stored during the preceding weeks by the face of the jump sail turned toward Trellwan.
After several minutes, as power built within the ship's slender core, Tor turned to Varney with an apologetic smile. "Of course, there isthe possibility they'll pick up our emissions. If they're on their toes over there, they'll know we're getting ready to jump."
"What happens then?"
"I guess we won't know that till it happens."
* * * *
Something smashed into the side of Lori's flaming Locustwith the force of a falling mountain, pitching her against the cockpit's restraining straps as the machine toppled over on its side. There was a splash, followed by a fountain of steam and white smoke. Viscous, flaming liquid spread across the surface of the water, but the 'Mech's partly submerged hull cooled quickly. Shaken, Lori brought the Locustclumsily to its feet. Yarin's Stingerstood next to her, waist-deep in the smoking water.
"Th... thank you," she told him.
The Stingerwaved for answer, then turned and waded ashore. The Lancers' hovercraft had rallied, and the attackers, which had not numbered more than fifteen or 20 were pulling back, leaving their dead scattered in heaps on the sand. Several others kneeled on the sand, clutching at their ears. The noise in the cavern mouth must have caught them all by surprise, helping to disorient them.
Lori checked her 'Mech for damage. One machine gun was out, whether melted or bent in the fall, she couldn't tell. Most of the ammunition had cooked off on that side of her 'Mech, so it was possible that exploding machine gun rounds had damaged the gun. She had only three heat sinks left, and that was more serious. With only three operational heat exchangers, the Locustwould overheat the first time she fired its laser — unless she could finish the battle hull-deep in the lake.
Perhaps now was the time to pull out. They could abandon the 'Mechs here, and make their way through the caverns to the north, following the maps Grayson had left them. With their ammunition running so perilously low, soon they would haveto retreat, if they didn't want to be overrun.
But what about Grayson? Was it possible he was still alive. If so, wouldn't he have long since arrived to join them? Lori didn't know whether or not he'd been able to destroy the spaceport antenna, or whether he'd been destroyed himself before getting a chance. When they'd planned this battle, they had assumed that Lori would be able to see the spaceport from her position at the mouth of the Rift, and be able to tell when the antenna mast was blown. Radio silence was considered more important than a needless announcement by Grayson that his task was complete. But the Lancers had been driven all the way back inside the Rift now, and any 'Mech or human visible at the entrance drew fire from the encircling Combine forces.
Lori suddenly found her hands trembling uncontrollably — probably a delayed reaction to her terrifying brush with death. She fought to control the trembling, glad no one could see her at the moment.
Ramage was in his hovercraft, com set on his head. She opened a channel. Keep your voice steady, Kalmar! she told herself. "Sergeant Ramage?"
"Yes, Sarge? Are you O.K.?"
"Fine, Ramage. I'm fine." The shaking faded gradually, leaving her limp and weak. "What's the supply situation?"
"Not good. We've distributed the last of the ammo to the troops, and there aren't any more reloads for the 'Mechs. We have enough food for a week, maybe. No shelter, but it's warm enough right now.
"We'll definitely need shelter, though, if Captain Tor didn't get through. It will be cold by the middle of Firstnight. I don't know what we'll do then. If we don't surrender, the cold will kill us all."