The Sergeant glimpsed a figure moving to the turret. ‘No! Prepare to evacuate!’
Mannimoto raised his head. ‘Continue!’ He pushed through two crouching soldiers. ‘Toshira. we must fight!’
Toshira started toward his Corporal. ‘First we contact the station. Aragi?’
‘Just static, Sergeant.’
Long seconds passed as Toshira and Mannimoto glared at one another. They heard explosions outside, but only the hissing ot the radio inside.
A nearby blast sent the APC sliding to one side. As the Sergeant regained his feet, he ordered sharply, ‘Everyone out!’
Wanabe went though first, one hand on her rifle, the other on the opening to swing to the left. Naiku swung right. Toshira passed in between. The two Recruits hesitated, but followed Toshira.
At the sound of nearby impacts, Toshira spun and threw himself over a small dune.
Wanabe and Naiku dove beside him. Mannimoto was just meters clear of the doorway when an autocannon volley split the opposite side of the APC. The explosion threw Mannimoto even further away as debris sprayed into the air. The vehicle lifted briefly, teetered on a track, then thudded back into the sand.
Toshira took a breath to calm himself and restrained Naiku from heading back. The Sergeant had witnessed the effects of high-velocity impact on an APC before. He remembered how the interior metal peeled away and turned to shrapnel. And he remembered what it did to the men inside. Mannimoto lifted his head to see. As the smoke and dust cleared, the Kuritans watched a 'Mech lance close on the broken armored column.
‘Marauders!’Wanabe said, gaping. Toshira grunted and scanned the battlefield. The 'Mechs had hit the tanks first. The only Hunter was destroyed, its turret mostly gone, and the top shredded and peeled back like a child's toy. All of the Scorpions showed damage, too. Few were operational, with only one unscathed. Troops scattered across the sand, some tiring, others looking for leadership. Toshira tried his communicator but got only the buzz of static.
Naiku readied his rifle and aimed at the closest 'Mech.
‘No!’ Toshira grabbed the Recruit's shoulder. ‘Don't make yourself a target.’ He pointed west. ‘Start that way. We must get to the station.’
‘We must stop the 'Mechs!’ Mannimoto turned and crouched in the sand.
‘Recruits Wanabe and Naiku, it Corporal Mannimoto does not follow my orders in five seconds, you will shoot him. When we reach the station, you will file reports on how the Corporal refused to do his duty to protect Sibitsu Station. Four, three—’
Mannimoto turned, saw raised rifles, and scrambled over to the Sergeant. ‘It is not I who am without honor. We must fight!’
‘You're right. Mannimoto ..But not in open desert.’ Toshira grabbed the Corporal's jerkin and spun him to face the burning APC. ‘This is not a time for mushin !Being of the no-mind will not kill a 'Mech!’
At that moment, Naiku started back toward the battle. Loping along, he pointed at a smoldering Scorpion and the lone figure limping away from it
Toshira released Mannimoto and scanned the battle scene. Two Scorpions fired and hit the same point on one Marauder.Smoke issued from its underside.
Wanabe pushed out of the sand. ‘Lords of the House. They're perfect’
‘You are blinded by desire, woman.’ Mannimoto pushed her back down. ‘One of them is burning!’
Flames belched front and rear, then the canopy flew off, followed by the reports from several small explosions. The 'Mech folded forward and fell into a burning heap.
‘See. It falls.’
‘No, the armor’
Toshira sensed something in Wanabe's voice. ‘Explain.’
‘No patches’ Wanabe gulped down dusty air. ‘ Maraudershave special armor no one knows how to make anymore. Any time one is hit, it must be repaired with lesser armor. These Mechs show no patches.’
Touching Toshira's arm, Mannimoto added. ‘And no insignia.’
Toshira shook his head. ‘All your Mech studies pay off, eh, Miko?’
‘She dreams the impossible.’ Mannimoto glared at Wanabe. ‘You do not understand the Kurita ways. A woman of your status will never, never pilot a 'Mech.’
Naiku and the Injured soldier, a woman nearly his height, approached.
Toshira broke cover, met them, and positioned himself under her free arm. ‘Lance Corporal Gudmansen. isn't it?’
‘Edith A.. Sergeant Toshira.’
‘Glad you could make it Let's move.’
They watched the fighting as they ran.
Only the three remaining Maraudersstill moved, and one hobbled with a damaged leg. All of the armored vehicles were stopped, abandoned, or destroyed.
Red and blue streams played over the previously untouched Scorpion. Its front end ruptured, the turret lifting off the body and gouging into the sand behind.
Naiku wiped sweat from he eyes. ‘We cannot stop them.’
‘It has been done before.’ Wanabe turned her head in time to watch a Marauderrake autocannon fire across a burning Scorpion. ‘On Garrison, when Katrina Steiner pulled her 'Mechs, the ground forces still destroyed fifteen of our lances.’
‘A lie,’ Mannimoto spat out ‘Propaganda. And our woman believes it.’
Gudmansen clenched her teeth. Wanabe just stared ahead.
‘Even Kuritans can learn the hard lesson. Mannimoto.’ Toshira shrugged under Gudmansen's extra weight ‘We'll get to station and see if we can teach them one.’
The station's outline finally appeared, a dark line that the fading sunlight could not reach. The line accented the base of the mountains that rose to become an expanse of black wall.
Naiku unslung his rifle. ‘Should I fire shots to get their attention?’
‘Wait’ Toshira resorted to binoculars. ‘That won't be necessary. The 'Mechs have already been there.’
They continued cautiously. As they approached, the scene became clearer. There was a breach in the six-meter high wall south of the gates. The front gates were twisted open, another broken Hunter just inside.
The remnants of the squad passed through the gates, greeted by concrete-gray debris scattered on concrete-gray streets.
‘This place would look dead even without the rubble.’ Gudmansen shrugged free of her support and hobbled over to the cold Hunter. She sat and examined her leg.
Toshira nodded. ‘Economics. The material for making the marking dyes was abundant, so the base was built here instead of having to haul the materials across the desert.’ He moved to the Hunter and leaned against a heavy tread. ‘And built cheaply.’
‘And ugly.’ Naiku pulled his camera free, and focused on a blown-out section of wall, but did not press the button.
‘And ugly.’ Toshira pulled out his field phone, wishing he had more advanced equipment. ‘Let me try this antique again. Keep your heads up.’
Wanabe pivoted and aimed binoculars through the gate.
Mannimoto crouched by Toshira and the tank tread, rifle ready.
‘Aragi.’ Toshira pointed up. ‘Check the base for movement.’
The lanky Recruit scaled the Hunter, sat, and scanned.
Keeping his own eyes to the east, Toshira squeezed the phone button. ‘Sibitsu Station. Sibitsu Station, replacement unit at— replacement unit inbound...Anyone at Sibitsu. reply please.’
Everyone waited quietly. The only noise was the crackle of static.
Then it changed The fuzzy sound became more intense, louder.
Toshira stood. ‘Aragi. look outward.’
Naiku swiveled a half-circle left, then swung back. ‘Incoming! From the south!’ He leaned for a better look. ‘One—no—two Marauders.I can just make them out’
Mannimoto hunted for a better position. ‘Now we know why it took so long.’
Wanabe turned to Toshira. ‘They probably have support and reload down south.’
‘Makes sense. Judging from the hole in the wall, at least one of them came from the south the first time.’ Toshira tilted up his head. ‘Aragi, get down here. Time to move.’