2953-01-15 – Tales from the Service: A Duel of Giants
I have no word on Intelligence estimates of the capabilities of the Incarnation “Cyclops” heavy armor-suit, save that it seems to be designed to engage Kodiak suits on roughly equal footing. If it follows other weapons design programs of our enemies, this system is probably slightly larger than the Kodiak, and its control system is simplified by operating through the cranial implants Incarnation military personnel are fitted with.
The account I have elected to cover of a F.V.D.A squad spotting one on the field indicates that the Cyclops is mainly armed with high wattage laser weaponry, suggesting a powerful onboard reactor takes up much of its tonnage. Lack of both hard-recoiling weaponry and the airborne capability present in all Confederated armor-suit design allows for relatively thin and nimble limbs, and the heaviest laser carried is the “head mount” on top of the torso on a precision gimbal, probably optimized for long range shooting.
In time, and in the right numbers, this design could prove quite formidable, but as the remainder of Maruo Sorensen’s account indicates, a lone Cyclops is still not a serious threat to Kodiak units, which are usually deployed in fire teams of four.
Mauro had just finished describing the arrival of the mechanical titan to the Captain when the air once again began to rumble, this time with the bass thunder of rocketry, not the higher-pitched scream of aero-engines. With a frown, the officer waved Mauro away and bent over the deployed controls of his radio-pack. Mauro stopped to scoop more ammunition into his pack, then ran back to Espinosa’s corner. Several other men had arrived in the meantime, and were taking quick glances over the ersatz parapet and muttering nervously about the Incarnation monster that now threatened to lead the next charge up the hill.
Mauro handed out ammunition, then peeked out himself. Apparently the enemy troops were as amazed by the huge machine as much as they were; the troops retreating down the hill in all directions were streaming toward it. He could hardly blame them; they had to know that a single isolated company of F.V.D.A. infantry probably wasn’t capable of destroying that monstrosity, certainly not before it was already inside their perimeter.
The rumble of rockets was getting louder now, and Mauro could tell that it was coming from the north-west. That was a friendly direction. Most of the time, the sound of rockets heralded the arrival of friendlies, but not always; Nate sometimes fitted solid-fuel rocket boosters to its slower aircraft to give them unexpected bursts of speed.
No doubt the all-seeing eyes on all the vehicles below had also spotted the incoming threat; as one, the gray-clad Incarnation soldiers scattered to find cover and point their laser carbines skyward. The gleaming black titan, of course, could never find cover sufficient for itself; it merely stood there and turned to face the threat, the lasers on the ends of its arms swiveling to point skywards.
The distant roar built almost in an instant to a rumble loud enough to set the gravel at Mauro’s feet dancing, and then he saw the source cresting a ridge a dozen kilometers away – a V-formation of glimmering motes flying low, with a loose constellation of larger, broad-winged craft occupying the center of the formation. Surprise could never be total in a battle with the Incarnation, but this seemed to Mauro the closest they were likely to get. After all, the enemy never would have deployed this new weapon if there was any chance of losing it.
In that instant, his blood ran cold, and he realized there was another possibility. Could that monster and its huge lasers be here precisely to protect the troops from the airborne assault that was supposed to be a surprise?
Sure enough, the titan’s laser-emitter head flashed a brilliant blue-white, the only indication that an invisible beam of coherent light had sliced out across the air toward the oncoming flyers. Mauro turned to see if any of them would fall out of the sky, but as he did the formation thundered overhead too fast for his eyes to track, trailing a sonic thunderclap.
Explosions blossomed on the plain below, and too late the heavy transport aircraft struggled into the air, slicing through an atmosphere now choked with dust and smoke. It made it perhaps a hundred yards before a loitering seeker missile intercepted it and blew it to pieces. Only then did Mauro really believe the trap had worked.
Of course, a single high-speed strafing run would never do much to thin the ranks of the troops down there, and that formation of Pumas would be cut to ribbons if it stuck around. An airstrike was not, in itself, the trap; it was just the covering fire for the real trap, which had been the payload of those larger aircraft.
As the dust and smoke began to clear, the first shape to resolve itself was the Incarnation monster, but others, not as tall but broader and darkly simian, also rose out of the pall. These, of course, were Marine Kodiaks. Initially, the plan had been for two companies of standard Marine armored infantry to drop in, but one fire team of Kodiaks had been substituted just before they’d left friendly lines. At the time the change had not seemed to be a good omen, but that now seemed to be the luckiest break.
The Incarnation machine recognized the peril immediately, and laser-fire flashed white where it ionized the intervening dust. Heavy cannons belched fire in response, and already all the huge machines were in motion. Kodiaks moved with uncanny speed for machines so big, but their outnumbered opponent was faster – much faster.
More and more F.V.D.A troopers crowded the parapet around Mauro to watch as it became clear that the next assault was not coming, at least not soon. There was however little more to be seen – the pounding feet of five huge machines and the thundering cannons of four Kodiaks stirred the already dusty atmosphere into an impenetrable beige cloud, lit from within by laser lightning and pyrotechnic thunder.
