He fired a pair of missiles towards the machine, then swore inwardly as he saw a second troop of vehicles emerging from the waves. Muttering commands to his men, he called down a volley of fire from the mortar emplacements and ran backwards, relying on the incoming fire to shield his men. Two suits sent distress calls, seconds before they died; the remainder made it safely to the next trench. Behind them, the alien vehicles kept moving forwards, slowly but steadily.
“They’re easy to outrun, even without the suits,” he reported. “We could probably start putting mines in their path now.”
“See to it,” the Rhino ordered. “Slow them down as much as possible.”
Charles checked the overall situation and gritted his teeth as he realised that it was rapidly spinning out of control. The aliens had launched attacks directed against every human base, even though they had to have been put together very quickly. Part of him was mildly impressed. A human force might not be able to react so quickly when taken by surprise.
He gritted his teeth as a pair of American helicopters flew overhead, unleashing missiles towards the alien vehicles. The aliens returned fire, trying to swat both the missiles and the helicopters out of the air; Charles bit down another swearword as one of the helicopters exploded in midair, while the other staggered and then plummeted down towards the ground. It crashed into one of the alien vehicles and exploded, but the alien machine kept moving, although it was clearly damaged.
It’s designed for high-pressure environments, Charles thought, as he motioned for his men to fall back again. It can shrug off anything, but a direct missile hit.
“Lay mines in its path,” he ordered, separating out his platoon into two groups. The aliens weren’t worried by small arms fire, even machine guns. Their response was always the same; a withering hail of fire, followed by a slow steady advance towards the next contact. In human terms, they were too slow to launch a proper blitzkrieg, but Charles was starting to think it didn’t matter. “Slow the bastards down!”
Two American tanks burst out of hiding and charged towards the alien vehicles, firing antitank rounds towards their weaker points. The aliens, taken by surprise, hesitated long enough to allow the Americans to land several blows before finally returning fire, trying hard to take out the tanks. One of them was ripped apart by multiple hits; the other managed to flee, crashing wildly from side to side as it was chased by a hail of plasma fire. The aliens seemed angered; their vehicles picked up speed, even though it was nothing more than a slow crawl by human standards. New alerts flashed up in the display; Charles glanced at them, then realised that the aliens were reoccupying their city.
I hope the boffins got out in time, he thought. Half of them had been outright rude to the soldiers — they seemed to believe the military had deliberately started the war — but they didn’t deserve to be alien prisoners. He’d had more than a few nightmares about the humans they’d rescued from the alien POW camp on Alien-1. And that anyone stupid enough to actually talk to the aliens was dragged out before it was too late.
“Fall back to Point Alpha,” the Rhino ordered. “Leave as many unpleasant surprises as you can as you move.”
Charles nodded, after taking another look at the display. The aliens were advancing forward, bringing more and more troops out of the water. It was clear that the humans could retreat indefinitely, but the aliens would simply overrun the plasma cannon emplacements and then call in fire from orbit. He hadn’t seen anything so strange — and yet so unbeatable — since the no-win situation he’d faced in the simulators.
“We’re on our way,” he said.
The Royal Marines joined the retreat, passing through an emplacement of antitank missiles set up by the French Foreign Legion. Charles paused long enough to share what they’d learned with the French CO, who looked grimly determined to hold his position as long as possible. Once they were nearly a kilometre away from the French position, Charles and his men slowed and started to dig another trench for themselves. They’d try to slow the aliens down while the French made their escape.
It was nearly forty minutes before the crawling alien vehicles encountered the French. The French had used the time well, Charles had to admit; they’d set up long-range guns as well as antitank rockets and smoke grenades, although the latter didn’t seem to slow the aliens down very much, if at all. Two alien crabs — the term seemed to have become adopted by the defenders — went up in colossal fireballs, the remainder pounded the French position into rubble and kept moving.
“They must have a very high-pressure interior too,” one of the analysts muttered. Charles barely heard him as he prepared for a stand. “When they’re penetrated, they explode.”
“Sounds like a bitch I once knew,” someone muttered. “She really hated it when I took my time.”
Charles ignored the byplay, concentrating instead on calling in fire from the gunners. Only direct hits seemed to inflict any damage, although one alien crab had come to a halt after a shell had smashed one of its legs. The aliens seemed to be hesitating, rather than advancing… and then they unleashed a new weapon of their own. Charles had only a few seconds to recognise it as a long-range gun before the shell exploded somewhere to the rear.
“They’ve set them up along the beach,” the Rhino observed. “Our gunners will have to deal with them.”
“They must have stolen the idea from New Russia,” Sergeant Jackson said.
“They probably developed gunpowder on their own,” Charles disagreed. He honestly couldn’t see how the aliens had reached into space without developing gunpowder. Maybe they’d had projectile weapons themselves, then gave them up when they realised that plasma weapons were much more effective. But they couldn’t use plasma weapons underwater. “They just kept them in reserve for when they needed them again.”
The alien gunners didn’t seem to be very accurate at first, but they learned quickly. Charles took advantage of the sudden pause to strengthen his position, then plan his retreat to the east of the advancing aliens. The alien crabs were spreading out now, allowing his men a chance to slip between them and cut them off from the water. If their guesses about alien psychology were correct, the aliens would react badly to the challenge. They might even swing around and go after the Marines.
They don’t seem to have thought of battlesuits for themselves, he thought, as the aliens closed in on his position. Will they be able to operate them if they try?
He pushed the thought aside as the aliens opened fire. Brilliant streaks of light blazed over his head, then started to narrow down towards their targets. The Royal Marines returned fire at the same instant, launching five missiles towards the alien crabs. One exploded so violently it smashed the legs of its neighbour, the others kept moving forward with deadly intent. Charles sucked in his breath, then barked commands. As one, the Royal Marines took to their heels and ran east.
“They’re not coming after us,” he said. The aliens couldn’t hope to catch the suits, but he’d expected them to try. “We’re clear.”
“Then cut them off,” the Rhino said. “Good luck.”
Charles nodded as the Marines changed course, running back towards the shoreline. The aliens were uncomfortable on dry land, which offered the chance to make them more uncomfortable. Warfare was a test of wills as well as technology and weapons; if the aliens believed themselves to be cut off, they might delay their attack on the forward bases.