Chapter 39: Chapter 34

Star People

Chapter 34

Battle-Mech Blitzkrieg

Day 1 of Operation Star Point, 1245 hours, 9 miles east of Omaha Beach…

“All Mech squads are in position.” Corporal Vanx announced as he and Coparal Wizer circled about with their Hunters.

“Sergeant Younger and Corporal Bezor are about to begin their bombardment of the main force of Zedan heavy tanks.” Gracs stated. “And Lieutenant Corli has just identified the command vehicles and will be taking them out during the bombardment.”

“Commander Tysler of the 53^rd and Commander Kraits of the 67^th have signaled that they’re ready to deploy after the Slammers and Bullseye finish softening up the enemy.” Gracs stated. “And Commander Reeds and the 42^nd Squad is ready to move out with us.”

Jerry nodded as he responded through his Mech’s communicator. “Good. We will begin the bombardment in one minute. Once the primary targets have been hit, we’ll swing in on both sides and finish off the rest of the Zedan tank division. All forces, prepare to engage.”

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The 505^th Armored Division…

Colonel Krikes didn’t like this lull and he certainly didn’t like the fact that the scouting forces he had sent out weren’t reporting back; and many of them had been armed with light tanks. And it was especially disturbing that long-distance communications weren’t working. Any radio signal beyond a two-mile distance was somehow being interfered.

Communication was one of the key points of military strategy, both on offense and defense. To cut off his ability to contact his forces was like leaving him blind, mute and deaf. Krikes shuddered at the thought that the enemy may already know of the fundamentals of modern warfare. He had a feeling that something was going to happen and soon.

Then there was a loud whistling noise that was heard from above.

“INCOMING!”

His tank driver shouted out as he quickly ducked down and closed the hatch. Krikes did likewise as his tank crew buttoned up. Half a second later, the enemy artillery shell hit the ground, causing the area to vibrate and the earth to explode upwards. Two Xeranto tanks that were a hundred meters to his right were caught in the blast and were tossed aside like broken toys.

Then more shells started raining down on the tank division like a lethal rain of metal. The thick frontal armor of each tank was no protection as their weaker turrets and upper hulls were easily pierced. Every time a shell hit, a Xeranto would be turned into a flaming, metal funeral pyre for the tank crew inside. The entire division was thrown into chaos.

“Where is that artillery fire coming from?!” The colonel exclaimed.

His radio operator shook his head. “I’m sorry Colonel, but the radar stations that we had set up are being interfered with! Furthermore, because of the enemy interference, we can’t contact our artillery batteries for a counterattack!”

“Damn it all!”

These were Colonel Krikes final words as his tank driver shouted out that a strange light was emerging from the forest. The Xeranto Tank was completely vaporized as the anti-proton beam struck it dead center. With their commander gone, the 505^th was thrown further into chaos.

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On a small ridge, Lieutenant Corli nodded after taking out the command tank. He had been listening over the Zedan communication wavelengths and had determined that Colonel Krikes was the overall commander of the division. After determining the highest-ranking officer, it was a simple matter to aim his Mech’s Pulsar Rifle at the tank and annihilate it. He had reduced the power level of the beam as it was considered as massive overkill at full strength.

Once the colonel’s tank disappeared from the tactical display, Corli continued to listen in on the panicking senior officers as they tried to take command and started to pick them off too, adding to the confusion. It didn’t matter that he was giving away his position every time he fired. After all, the tank guns didn’t have to range to reach him and they couldn’t contact their support artillery, due to all the ECM jamming their radios. After nine shots, the entire armored division was in complete disarray.

Then he and the two Slammer pilots began shooting at the support artillery back in the rear, leaving the surviving 149 Xeranto tanks and the other Zedan vehicles and infantry to the mercy of the attacking Hunters, Star Gladiators and Scrapper Mechs. And the Sixty-Seventh Squad was not known for mercy. Among all the Battle-Mech Squads, Commander Kraits and his men had the lowest record of taking prisoners.

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After the bombardment and sniper shots stopped, Lieutenant Greci Karada looked through the periscope viewport of his Xeranto tank and couldn’t believe the carnage. More than fifty of the heavy Zedan tanks were either burning piles of scrap or had been disintegrated after being hit by artillery shells or by that weird blue-white beam of energy. The remaining tanks and infantry desperately tried to maneuver in the cratered area, but it was a near-hopeless endeavor.

Then the metal monsters emerged from the dense forest.

His eyes widened in shock as giant figures appeared on two sides and began advancing toward the 505^th division. He had heard rumors that the enemy was using giant soldiers, but he didn’t believe it until he saw them. As they began raising their huge weapons towards them, Karada started shouting out orders.

“Traverse ten degrees to starboard and open fire!”

The turret of his tank began to swivel toward the approaching Star Gladiator. The muzzle of the 88mm gun flashed as it let loose with an armor-piercing round. Normally the projectile would easily penetrate the frontal armor of an enemy tank like a hot knife through butter.

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However, Commander Reeds’ Star Gladiator wasn’t a tank and its armor was far superior to anything used by Zedan. He simply raised the shield of his Mech and deflected the tank round, much to the shock and horror of Karada and his crew. He then raised his 100mm Machine Gun and opened fire. The one hundred millimeter round tore open the Xeranto tank like a soda can and annihilated the crew inside.

Beside him, his wife and second-in-command, Lieutenant Varska began laying down anti-infantry fire with her Vulcan guns and secondary Beam guns. Several armored personnel carriers and light tanks also fell to the withering barrage.

The rest of the 42^nd Squad, along with the 71^st, slammed into the left flank of the armored division while the 53^rd and 67^th began cutting into the right flank.

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Using the Scrappers’ superior speed and maneuverability, Commander Kraits and his men easily dodged the enemy rounds as the tanks tried to counterattack. Even though their armor could withstand hits from a 100mm shell, neutralizing the enemy tanks were a priority and they didn’t want to drag this engagement out. The closest tank became Kraits’ first target as he fired the Scrapper’s boosters, making the Mini-Mech jump high and clear fifty feet. It came back down on top of the tank, pressing it down and preventing the turret from moving. Then things got savage as he pointed both arms at the turret and repeatedly fired the two piledrivers into it. The metal stakes punched through the armor a total of six times, ensuring that the gun and the crew were obliterated. He then jumped off and let loose with a torrent of armor-piercing, incendiary rounds from his mini-Vulcan guns, igniting the fuel tanks and letting the Xeranto be consumed by the flames. Kraits then looked for his next target.

Several hundreds of meters away, Sergeant Clyde Rockston actually used his Scrapper to flip a Xeranto tank. The Zedan crew was taken completely by surprise as the Scrapper came in from the side, grabbed hold of the tank’s right flank and actually lifted the machine off the ground. Despite weighing more than fifty tons, the Scrapper engaged its fluid motors and upended the entire tank. Like a tortoise that had been flipped on its back, the Xeranto was now helpless as Rockston began stabbing into the weak underbelly with his piledrivers. Fortunately for the tank crew, death came fast and they only suffered momentarily as they were skewered and the impact ignited the ammunition. The tank exploded soon afterwards, allowing Rockston to move on.

Some Scrappers weren’t armed with piledrivers, but with retractable, built-in Beam Sabers. Lieutenant Nakumura Soujin made his Scrapper dash between two tanks with both arms spread out wide and Beam Sabers ignited. The twin plasma blades sliced through the armor and crews of both tanks. Again, their ammunition and fuel were set off, causing twin explosions.

As the Sixty-Seventh Squad mercilessly ripped apart their foes at close range, the Fifty-Third Squad mowed down their targets with efficiency. In his Star Gladiator, Commander Tysler aimed with his Beam Rifle and took out four Xeranto tanks with a single shot. His Battle-Mech squad was an all-Catian group and had been around since the third year of the war against the Cryterians. They knew how to quickly and efficiently even the odds.

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On the other side, the 71^st and 42^nd squads were also dealing with the Zedan forces with ease. Jerry swerved and bent down to grab onto the turret of a Xeranto tank and pulled it clean off the main hull. He then had his Mech chuck the turret towards a group of lightly-armored vehicles, causing infantry to scatter as it landed onto a supply truck, causing an explosion. The Star Gladiator’s head looked down at the surprised crew of the now turretless tank. Jerry only gave them a few seconds to begin running before opening up with his Vulcan guns. The tank was reduced to a twisted and broken pile of scrap.

Gracs made his Mech mow down five tanks and three armored transports with the Machine Gun. Corporals Vanx and Wizer tore through a dozen more tanks with their Beam Rifles. And the Forty-Second Squad blew apart whatever tank or armored vehicle they came across. It was basically a one-sided slaughter as more tanks were systematically destroyed.

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Corporal Gruer Sachin knew that it was hopeless to fight back against these metal giants. After seeing over a hundred tanks fall to these monsters, there was simply no reason to resist. Their weapons could barely scratch their armor, while the enemy weapons had no problems in penetrating the thickest Xeranto armor. And the infantry was being massacred by the hundreds. Soon the entire 505^th Armored Division would be annihilated.

His commander, Lieutenant Jurns Viter also saw that it was hopeless. And even though it meant that he was abandoning his duty to defend his country, he would only be throwing away more lives in an unwinnable situation. He gave the order for the tank to make a full stop and raise the flag of surrender.

It was very fortunate that he did as Jerry had just made his Mech turn about and aim the Machine Gun at the tank. His finger stopped just before pressing the firing stud as he saw the white flag.  Several other tanks also stopped and began surrendering. In under a minute, the entire battlefield became silent as the rest of the Zedan forces began raising white flags.

The entire battle had taken less than 10 minutes. In the end, only sixteen Xeranto heavy tanks, four Xeria light tanks, and a dozen lightly-armored vehicles with their crews had survived. There were only about 500 infantry left as well. At this point, the 505^th Armored Division had ceased to exist.

Jerry let off a sigh and signaled to all the Battle-Mechs to cease fire, as he sent a message to Omaha Beach, to bring in transports to take in the POWs.

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1615 hours, 2 miles from Juno Beach…

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The assault on the 505^th Armored Division wasn’t the only major Battle-Mech mission on that first day of Operation Star Point. On the eastern coast of the Zedan continent, the armored forces of the Kingdom of Atlans and squads of the 122^nd Battle-Mech Division had begun to make their way inland. Though they were behind schedule, the Battle-Mechs and Atlans tank groups didn’t meet as much resistance. This was due in part to the speed of the invasion forces at Omaha Beach. This had caused the Zedan military to deploy more of its resources toward the western coastline.

However, that didn’t mean that the eastern front was completely unguarded. Several elements of the Zedan 410^th Armored Brigades were already heading toward Juno Beach to turn back the invaders. This included 110 Xeranto tanks, 80 Xeria tanks, 75 self-propelled or towed artillery pieces and well over 10,000 infantry.

However, they didn’t have the firepower to stop the 14^th, 28^th and 44^th Squads of the 122^nd Battle-Mech Division. Furthermore, the Mechs were supplemented by the 97^th and 102^nd Heavy Infantry Battalions. By themselves, they were more than sufficient to destroy any Zedan ground forces. In fact, the tanks and infantry from Atlans were basically superfluous. In reality, they were proving to be liabilities as the Zedan forces focused their attacks on them.

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Corporal Dwayne Kiminski of the 28^th Squad had been sent by his commander on a scouting mission. He had just finished his initial recon of the area and was just heading back to rejoin his squad when his sensors detected some disturbances nearby. He activated the G-Force nullifier on his Scrapper and used his maneuvering thrusters to jet across the terrain at high speeds. In under thirty seconds, he came across a battle between three Atlans Justifier tanks against a single Xeranto.

He winced as he saw the Justifier tanks fire off their best armor-piercing rounds at the Zedan machine, only to bounce off the thick frontal armor while doing little damage.

Not good! Kiminski thought. They should go for the sides or the rear. That armor is too thick in front. Guess I better give them a hand.

He accelerated toward the Xeranto tank from behind, while readying the piledriver on the Mech’s left arm. Just as the Zedan machine started firing, Dwayne directed his Scrapper to thrust its arm forward while triggering the piledriver mechanism.

The reinforced tip of the piledriver plunged into the turret and skewered the 88mm gun. Inside the tank, the tank commander and crew were shocked as a sharp shaft of metal impaled their main weapon, rendering it as useless. Then they got another shock as the Free Land Battle-Mech pilot retracted the piledriver and had the Scrapper grab hold of the turret. Its manipulators dug into the armor and it engaged its fluid motors. A loud groaning noise was heard as hardened steel was being pulled apart. To the amazement to all those who were watching, the entire turret of the Xeranto tank was torn completely off the hull and tossed aside.

Dwayne looked through his Mech’s viewscreen at the frightened and shocked tank crew for a moment before aiming his Mini-Vulcan guns. This got the Zedan soldiers scrambling out of their wrecked vehicle just seconds before he opened fire. Ammunition and fuel were ignited, causing what remained of the tank to be engulfed in an explosion. This didn’t bother the Corporal in the least as the armor of the Scrapper was quite capable of withstanding the blast, even at point-blank range. Shock-absorbent materials prevented him from even feeling the explosion.

Then the machine’s sensors alerted him that he was being attacked from another direction.

The Zedan Infantry that had been supporting the Xeranto tank began firing on him with their small arms. Of course, submachine gun, pistol and rifle rounds had no effect on the Scrapper and pinged off harmlessly. A few of the soldiers even started throwing grenades at him. Of course, all of that meant nothing to the Scrapper.

Oh come on! If my Scrapper can withstand an exploding tank at point-blank range, then what makes you guys think that small arms fire and hand grenades are going to do anything?

Then his sensors alerted him that two of the soldiers were readying what appeared to be a long tube. One knelt down and mounted the tube over his shoulder while his fried loaded what appeared to be a rocket into the rear. The sensors immediately analyzed the weapon and deemed it as no threat to the Mech.

Most likely an anti-tank weapon. During World War 2, I think they were called bazookas? Or was it panzerschrek? Anyway, the caliber and shaped charge still isn’t enough to do any damage to the Scrapper.

Just as he was thinking this, the Zedan soldier pulled the trigger and launched the rocket at him. The shaped-charge at the front of the rocket slammed into the armor, causing a huge explosion. The Zedan infantry let off a cheer as they saw the Scrapper being engulfed by the blast, but when the smoke cleared, the cheering stopped. The Scrapper was still standing and didn’t take any damage at all, aside from a minor scorch mark on the chest armor.

At this point, Corporal Kiminski was pissed.

“Okay, you asked for it, you Zedan bastards!” He shouted as his targeting computer locked onto the enemy soldiers.

Both of the Scrapper’s mini-Vulcan guns roared as he delivered a lethal metal torrent upon the Zedan infantry. He also fired off several anti-personnel rockets from the launcher mounted on top. Both arms were also equipped with plasma stream cannons which worked like futuristic flamethrowers. If the Zedan soldiers weren’t turned into bloody mist by the Vulcan rounds, they were blown to pieces or immediately incinerated. Trees, bushes and other foliage were torn apart by the withering barrage. Huge craters were formed as the rockets detonated. And the entire area was burned to the ground as the plasma streams ravaged the forest.

After thirty seconds, the Scrapper ceased firing. Kiminski surveyed the entire area and nodded. Not a single Zedan soldier or vehicle was left standing. He looked back and saw that the three Atlans tanks were safe. At that point, he received a message from his commander to rejoin with the squad. After making his Scrapper wave its right arm to the Justifier tanks as a simple salute, he then turned about and left.

The commander’s hatch of the lead Justifier tank opened and Lenns Hodder’s head popped out. His eyes widened as he saw the absolute carnage that had been caused by a single Scrapper.

“Damn! We REALLY need to build our own Battle-Mech!”

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1930 hours…

“What do you mean no enemy casualties?!” Major Herda Mins shouted as she received the radio reports from her forward observers.

The 118^th Artillery Platoon had just bombarded a position that had been filled with an Infantry division from Atlans. There should have been massive casualties and their aim had been perfect. So how could an entire infantry division emerge unscathed from such an attack?

“According to what the forward observers are saying, those metal giants simply raised their shields and deflected the incoming rounds.” Her subordinate said with a bit of shock in his tone.

“What?! All that firepower was blocked by simple shields?! Ridiculous! Begin another bombardment and keep firing! I want that entire division and those metal giants wiped off the face of the Zedan continent!”

Almost immediately, the artillery guns began firing off rounds at a rapid pace. Under normal circumstances, no enemy could withstand such a murderous and devastating volley.

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However, the Battle-Mechs of the 44^th Squad was more than capable of withstanding the artillery strike. Compared to the Cryterians, the Zedan artillery was nothing more than a light drizzle to the Free Land pilots.

On the ground, the Atlans infantry were both in shock and awe as they were being protected from the artillery fire. Even shell fragments and shrapnel were turned away as the shells hit the shields. Each Battle-Mech shield was coated with a special compound which not only blunted the effect of energy weapons and temperature extremes, but also absorbed the kinetic energy of physical impacts. Each pilot carefully angled his shield in accordance to the direction and trajectory of each incoming shell. In some cases, the Battle-Mechs simply shot the artillery shells out of the air.

In his own Hunter Mech, Sergeant Chad Darmers used his long-range sensors to determine where the artillery fire was coming from. He then signaled to his commander.

“Permission to neutralize the enemy artillery position?”

 “Granted.” His commander replied.

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“Major! Our forward observers say that one of those metal giants is pointing its weapon in our direction!”

“Are you telling me that giant is aiming to shoot at us? That’s absurd! We’re more than twenty miles away! There’s no way…!”

KA-BOOM!

Major Mins and the 118^th Artillery Platoon were obliterated after the particle beam hit their position. The resulting explosion spread out from the point of impact, causing everything in the area to be blown away. Once the light died down, all that was left of the Zedan artillery platoon was a huge, smoldering crater.

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“Bullseye!” Chad said after firing his Mech’s Beam Rifle.

“Good shot, Sergeant.” His commander remarked as all the other Battle-Mech’s lowered their shields. “Speaking of Bullseyes, maybe you should trade in your weapon for a Pulsar Rifle?”

After checking to see that their Atlans allies were unharmed, the 44^th Squad continued their way inland.

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

Things have gotten really busy and I can’t promise any regular updates for a while. So here’s hoping things will calm down in the near future.

 

 

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