2953-01-15 – Tales from the Service: Kodiak's Nemesis
We have seen the small scale deployment of Marine heavy “Kodiak” suits in this space before (at Masinov most memorably). These machines stretch the concept of an armor-suit to the point where the operator is essentially a pilot ensconced within the torso of a ten to fifteen ton machine, his movements captured by sensor sleeves around his limbs.
Though capable of engaging heavy armored vehicles one on one, Kodiak suits are far more difficult to use and need far more intensive maintenance than a standard combat vehicle; nevertheless their ability to keep up with standard Rico suited Marine infantry on the ground and in rocket-assisted flight has ensured they are deployed to some degree with most Marine formations.
Obviously the moral impact on Incarnation infantry of Kodiaks arriving in any engagement is significant, and just as obviously, it was only a matter of time before they attempted to develop a weapon with similar presence. According to this account, which is from mid-December, our enemies have fielded such a weapon on the contested Coreward Frontier world of Montani, a machine the Marines are referring to as the Cyclops.
The assault renewed just before dawn, as everyone had expected. The perimeter sensors' squawking startled Mauro Sorensen out of his fatigue, and he hurriedly filled his satchel with battery packs and railgun magazines.
As strong points went, the ruined village compound was more than adequate; Mauro was able to scramble around to all the rifle points to pass out ammunition without revealing himself above ground level. Montani architecture tended toward cellars and half-buried structures with turf slopes to deflect the bitter night-time wind. Even with most of the above ground portions gone, the company had spent most of the night in relative warmth and shelter. The enemy, who had spent the same night on the exposed heath south of the hill, had certainly fared much worse, even with their ring of armored vehicles.
By the time Mauro had gone around to every position to distribute ammunition, the chatter of railgun fire and the snap-crack of laser fire blasting spall off ferrocrete was all around them. Apparently the enemy had circled around and was attacking from all sides. Mauro ran back to the center for another satchel full of ammunition. This time, he grabbed a carbine too. He wasn’t overly concerned – after all, being attacked had been the plan all along – but even the best laid plan sometimes went awry.
By the time the local sun was above the horizon, the attack had already started to thin out. Though he couldn’t see it, Mauro imagined Incarnation troops in their oddly shimmering gray uniforms scuttling back down the hill on all sides, chased by desultory railgun bursts from every position. Evidently the enemy force hadn’t brought its armored vehicles up close. This, Mauro knew, suggested they were unwilling to risk them. The company had little that could harm those rumbling behemoths, but that too was part of the plan. The enemy had to know that an isolated post held by a company of F.V.D.A. infantry wouldn’t be left alone without any support.
“Are they going to commit?” Mauro asked Giovanni Espinosa as he passed the man another round of ammunition.
Espinosa, occupying an excellent firing position at the corner of the ruins, peered briefly out above the top of the parapet, then ducked back down and nodded. “Looks like.” He waved in the direction of the night’s enemy encampment. “Their armor is circling around toward the west. They’ve still got plenty of men. But don’t worry. We’ve got-”
At this moment, they both became aware of the rumble of heavy aero-engines in the distance. Espinosa winced. “That's a Nate air transport.” He suddenly brightened, a wry smile crossing his lips. “They think they need more troops to deal with us.”
A few F.V.D.A. troopers started firing their carbines at the aircraft as it grew closer, but the Captain’s bellowing put an end to that. “Don’t waste slugs, you idiots! Even if you hit it at this range, you won’t do more than knock out a camera.”
Espinosa popped his head back over the ersatz parapet, then gestured for Mauro to hop up on the ferrocrete block he was standing on. “Have a look.”
Mauro hesitated; he’d seen troopers have their heads blown off for underestimating the range of Incarnation lasers. Still, Espinosa still had his skull, so eventually Mauro also peeked over the top.
The flyer, a boxy transport aircraft, was just coming down to a dust-billowing landing near the dry streambed at the bottom of the hill. The moment it touched down, its rear doors slammed down, and a gaggle of fresh enemy troops in darker uniforms milled out.
Mauro was just about to hop down and start running more ammo around to all the rifle positions when something else stepped out of the transport, something that shone darkly in the morning sun as its stumpy metal feet gripped Montani’s cold soil. As it straightened to its full height, which it couldn’t have done inside the aircraft, Mauro’s blood ran cold – this was a machine that moved like a man, seven meters tall at the least with a barrel chest and oddly spindly arms. It had a head of sorts, but there was no face, only the blank circular void of a heavy laser emitter.
“Stars around.” Espinosa muttered, then crossed himself. “What is that?”
Mauro had seen Marine Kodiak suits once as they were being unloaded from a troop-ship, and could see the kinship between this machine and them immediately. Where the Kodiak suit had simian proportions, with arms and shoulders built to carry and direct heavy cannons, the thin arms and narrow frame of this black scarecrow were built around heavy laser weapons with no recoil to absorb. There was also no sign of jump rockets, but the horror’s long legs suggested unnerving speed.
“Run and tell the Captain.” Espinosa shoved Mauro down off his perch. “If the Marines are going to ride in here to spring this trap, they need to know about that.”
