Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V1 Alagore, Chapter 13

Turning to check on his team, he saw Wallace firing his machine gun from the bunker opening. Forest was on the fixed Browning, firing .50 calibers toward the enemy position. Barret coordinated everyone's fire while Ford was standing on a structure, firing his M31 over the top of the Hesco.

"Sir," Barrios said. "I think I saw where that came from. It was one of those Accelerator Walkers."

Ryder walked toward Bruno Barrios and looked over the Hesco. In the distance, taking cover by the many rough terrain edges, he saw a circiletum peaking over a ridged hillside. The design looked like what they faced in Salva, which took out the Archer.

Strangely, after the Accelerator Walker fired a shot, the circiletum lowered itself out of sight. While Ryder understood little of these walkers and crawlers, he understood they had legs besides tracks or wheels. The design was a skeleton in nature that allowed them to move on extreme terrain. This also could mean these platforms could raise and lower their primary weapon because they lack a structural hull. To his surprise, while the infantry of this world seemed to focus heavily on armor, their vehicles appeared to be less focused on protection and more on mobility.

"Smart bastard," Ryder said. "When it peaks, can you get a lock with the Atlatl?"

"Yes, I can," Barrios said with a confident tone. "That bastard won't know what is coming."

Patting Barrios on the shoulder, Ryde then turned to his team. "Everyone, when that Accelerator poked his head out, I want heavy cover fire for Barrios."

Feeling the energetic reaction from the team that he was hoping for, the captain turned toward the enemy. He looked through the scope of his rifle. He saw the enemy moving into position for an attack. To his surprise, no shieldmen were forming up to take a point but circilmen instead. Among them are more of those warrior-machines from Salva. The enemy was planning something.

Seeing the Accelerator Walker poke its circilmen above the ridgeline, it fired another volley into the American camp. Ryder ordered everyone to open fire. Barrios then fired the Atlatl, a fire-and-forget anti-tank launcher. The missile fired in top attack mode to avoid all the terrain and flew high into the air.

When the missile started curving down and headed to the opposite ridgeline, the Comanche watched as the missile went behind the ridged hill. Soon afterward, a large, bright white explosion appeared, followed by red flames and black smoke. The Americans were thrilled that they could destroy the enemy Walker, and a slight sense of defiance spread among them.

That was until the enemy started charging their position, which forced them to duck.

Hoping down from the elevated position, Ryder rushed toward Wallace's position and looked out from the bunker hole.

The giant enemy force that the captain was expecting had finally come. What looked like a company-size force was approaching with what he assumed was the rest of the battalion right behind. In front of them were these small six-legged crawlers. Unlike the larger Walkers, these deployed a large metal barricade that protected the enemy circilmen, creating a small makeshift bunker and giving the approaching enemy cover.

Among the crawlers, the same Orb Walker approached and joined the fray. One was projecting the same energy shield around the infantry while the other launched a stream of fire, like one of the old WW2-era flamethrower Shermans at their defensive position. When the Americans returned fire, the Orb Walker protected its comrades.

*****

Watching the enemy's position come to life, the Lord of Verliance Aristocracy could only feel pain, not within his chest. Seeing the battle and the carnage that was unfolding, this was what he fought so hard to prevent. War coming to the Aristocracy.