Rawlings looked at Kawecki askance. “You must be joking. I didn’t sign up for anything like this.”
“I’m not joking,” Kawecki replied calmly, “and you’ll do whatever I say. Isn’t that right, Sergeant Pasco?”
Pasco grinned wickedly. He had brown skin and his teeth were very white. “That’s right, sir. Mr. Rawlings will do whatever you say.”
“I thought so,” Kawecki said evenly. “Come on! Let’s get out of here. We have some planning to do.”
Nearly twenty-four hours had passed by the time the attack on the pod farm began. The mules were hidden in a barn located about a mile and a half away, along with two soldiers to protect both the animals and the group’s supplies. Kawecki had divided the rest of his men into three teams, each having its own objective.
The Alpha and Bravo teams consisted of two-man LAARK teams. The first person’s job was to fire rockets at the black boxes located at the base of each energy beam. The other soldier was carrying reloads for the LAARK, plus an M5A2 carbine, which could be used to provide security.
Meanwhile, Charlie team, led by Sergeant Pasco, was going to attack the Titans. Kawecki knew the enormous stinks could absorb a lot of projectiles. So by targeting one of the monsters with the group’s single Wraith, plus a half-dozen lighter weapons, he hoped to neutralize the giants early on. Success would depend on surprise, timing, and teamwork.
After a short pep talk, all of the soldiers were sent out to take up the positions assigned to them. That put Alpha and Bravo teams along the south side of the rectangular farm, with everyone else up on the hill. They continued to dig in as Kawecki scanned the scene below.
“Damn it.”
Rawlings, who was still opposed to the attack, turned to look at the officer. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Hybrids,” Kawecki answered, as he released the binoculars in order to blow on his cold fingers. “Maybe half a dozen of them. They’re walking around in among the cocoons.”
“Maybe we should break it off,” Rawlings suggested hopefully.
“Or maybe we should kill them,” Kawecki said clinically. “Our snipers can handle it. But the result will be less fire on the Titans. Find Cole and Okada. Tell them to kill the ’brids before they target the Titans.”
Rawlings nodded and slithered away.
The first call came in over the team freq twenty seconds later. “Alpha Team. In position. Over.”
That was followed by a burst of static and a second transmission. “Bravo Team. In position. Over.”
Kawecki clicked his transmit switch twice by way of a reply. Then it was Pasco’s turn to speak in his ear. The noncom was at the other end of the firing line, which extended along the crest of the hill. “Charlie Team. We’re ready. Over.”
Kawecki eyed the Titans. They were at the east end of the farm and about to turn back. The best time to attack them would be when they were close, so that the massed fire would have maximum effect. Kawecki pressed the button. “Charlie Team will fire on my command. At that point, teams Alpha and Bravo may fire at will.”
The Titans turned. They had smooth skulls and six eyes, and wore cooling units on their backs. They carried their cannons at something approximating port arms, and Kawecki wasn’t looking forward to the barrage of high-explosive projectiles that would be coming his way in the near future. His stomach muscles tightened at the thought.
There was nothing to do but wait as the seconds crawled by and the Titans loomed larger. Finally, just as the beasts were about to turn and head the other way, Kawecki gave the order. “Fire!”
The Wraith was resting on an improvised bipod. That allowed the gunner to not only lie flat but to fire his weapon with greater accuracy. So as the minigun roared, and a stream of high-velocity bullets slammed into the Titan’s chest, it staggered and was forced to take two steps back.
Meanwhile, lesser weapons were firing on the beast to the right. It uttered a scream of rage and fired its cannon. The shell hit halfway up the slope and threw a fountain of soil into the air.
Kawecki swore, fired two grenades in quick succession, and saw both explode as they hit. Blood flew, but the grenades had very little effect, as the Titan put its head down and began to charge up the hill.
Kawecki knew that, as the commanding officer, it was his job to keep an eye on the big picture and give the correct orders. But that was impossible as the monster fired again, Rawlings ceased to exist, and his remains fell like a warm rain. “Grenades!” Kawecki shouted. “Throw everything you have at the sonofabitch!”
And the soldiers obeyed. Not that it made a whole lot of difference as the Titan’s head and shoulders drew even with the top of the hill. That was when Kawecki stood, threw an air-fuel grenade at the Chimera’s enormous head, and uttered a whoop of joy as it made contact with the upper part of the giant’s chest and stuck there.
The Titan released its cannon in order to paw at the device, but it was too late. The grenade generated a soft whump as it went off and the Chimera’s head, hands, and upper torso were enveloped in yellow-orange flames.
Even though the beast was blind and disoriented, it staggered uphill with blazing hands extended. That was when some of the outgoing projectiles punched their way through the Chimera’s torso and slammed into the cooling unit strapped to its back. The result was a series of overlapping explosions that blew the Titan apart and hurled chunks of raw meat high into the air. They thumped down all around him as Kawecki shifted his attention to the larger battle.
The other Titan had been able to reach the top of the slope off to the left in spite of a steady stream of slugs from the Wraith. The Chimera was holding a soldier with one hand while ripping the human’s extremities off with the other. Rather than run the risk of hitting their buddy, Charlie Team’s fire had fallen off. “Fire, damn you!” Pasco roared. “Davis is dead.”
So Charlie Team fired as Kawecki shifted his attention to the pod farm. Two of the supporting energy beams had been extinguished by then and there was a flash of light as a third exploded.
The Hybrids were down, thanks to some good shooting by the snipers. But no sooner had Kawecki noted that fact than a wave of zombie-like Menials flooded into the farm from the east. Once they spotted the Alpha and Bravo teams, the stinks split into two columns and ran straight at the humans. “Down below!” Kawecki shouted. “Supporting fire!”
The second Titan exploded at that point, but Kawecki didn’t have time to look, as he and half of Charlie Team shifted their fire to the pod farm. The Menials looked like ants when viewed from the top of the hill, and like ants they kept on coming. But the hail of projectiles slaughtered so many of the Chimera that the newcomers had to climb over piles of their own dead in order to throw themselves at the humans.
Fortunately, the continued fire from both the hill and the rocket teams themselves was enough to stop the gruesome onslaught as Kawecki shouted into the radio, “Alpha and Bravo teams! Shift your fire to the supports! Take them out and pull back.”
As luck would have it, the remaining energy beams were evenly spaced. So even though the roof had begun to teeter uncertainly, it remained horizontal to the ground. Then, as the last of the power supply boxes exploded, the gigantic sheet of transparent material collapsed onto the cocoons below.
Now Kawecki could see down through the roof as the fleshy pods exploded. As each cocoon popped, it produced a wet farting sound that merged with all the rest to generate a muted roar. Bloody goo spurted sideways and was simultaneously pressed downwards to form what looked like an enormous laboratory slide.