Chapter Twenty-Eight - Morale

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Morale

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Morale

Morale, while not a factor that is easy to quantify, is nonetheless an important measure of the potential success of troops on an active battlefield.

For this reason, it is usually a good idea to allow your troops to see any local samurai at work. Nothing inspires hope like the casual disregard for death and the destructive capabilities of a samurai in action.

--Morale and Victory, officers training tips #358, 2039 edition.

***

I ran up one of the ramps set up behind the wall, then paused near the top as soon as I could see over the defences.

The aliens approaching us werent quite like the tides Id seen in the defence of New Montreal. Those tides had been so thick that I couldnt see the ground past all the antithesis, and they went on basically forever, with no breaks in their formation except where a shell went off to create one, and even those were temporary.

Here, the formations were a lot patchier. With trios of aliens running together and the occasional larger group. Often, some bigger, slower xenos were running on their own, too slow to keep up with the much faster and more common model threes.

The remote-controlled and human-operated guns nestled in the wall spat at the aliens, short, loud bursts that ended with a few corpses rolling across the pavement.

Those that managed to get close anyway got to meet Gomorrahs drone, which hissed out lines of liquid fire onto them and turned the aliens into rolling balls of flame. The smoke might actually be a problem later if it interfered with our vision. Then again, it also removed the corpses, turning them to ash before they piled up so high that they became an obstruction, or worse, a ramp of dead flesh.

So far, things seemed alright.

Then I ducked down with a curse as something smashed into the wall some ten metres off to my left with a huge bang. The metal under my feet rattled and I grabbed on until the shivers passed. When I looked up again, I saw the broken remains of a large chitinous wheel, its edges cutting into the wrecked cars and cement barriers that made up the wall.

Little spines had sprayed out from around where the wheel impacted, and even now some of them were falling down around us, sticking into the ground on the safe side of the wall. No one was hit, but I imagine some of the gunners were spooked.

If that had hit one of the little openings... yeah, that would mean one gun down, and maybe a couple of volunteers dead too.

I glanced down the road, looking for the model fifteen that had spat that.

Myalis helped, highlighting three figures without me having to ask. One was on the road a ways away, protected by model fives on either flank and moving forwards on its little legs even as its gut swelled and I imagined it was preparing to launch another wheel.

The other two were better hidden, both of them in a building off to the right. It was some storefront, but the middle floors of the building were taken up by paid parking spaces. The walls on the street-side had been torn apart, giving the model fifteens somewhere to shoot from.

As I watched, one launched one of its wheels.

Once on the ground, I whipped out my Laser Pointer and started walking.

I stomped over a few corpses, then edged around some piles of burning alien flesh. It took until I was a good dozen metres from the wall before I was close enough that the antithesis started to really notice me.

With the gunners very carefully not shooting close to me, that meant that as a trio of model threes ran my way, nothing opposed them.

Until I raised my gun to my shoulder and pulled the trigger. I scored a line of fire across the trio, then side-stepped their bodies which were carried forwards by their running momentum. Hmm, I need something with a bit more punch, ammo-wise, I said.

Youre currently using armour-piercing thermite-tipped tracer rounds. Do you want something with more stopping power? Something explosive, perhaps? Or just a round thats heavy enough to stop them in their tracks?

Just something with a lot more kick, I said. I was having a hard time describing what I wanted because I wasnt sure what I wanted to begin with.

Coming right up.

The bottom-rear of the gun opened up, and a cylinder fell out and clunked to the floor, only for the guns weight to shift back up as it closed and as a new magazine was teleported in. Heavy, I said as I weighed the gun. It had gained a couple of kilos, I was sure.

Depleted Iridium rounds. They burn, are highly radioactive, and have a half-life with only hours remaining. They are also quite heavy and the rounds are specifically designed not to penetrate too deeply.

I shrugged, then aimed at a salivating model three charging at me from down the road. It was still a few dozen metres away when I feathered the trigger to fire as small a burst as I could. The kick was a lot more than I was used to, but seeing the model three backflip, all of its forward momentum stopped dead, was more than satisfying enough to make up for that.

I continued my enthusiastic walk, brrting any aliens that came too close and letting my railguns handle any that wanted to skirt around.

As I came closer to the model fifteen, it turned its attention towards me, and I saw its stomach sack expanding as it prepared to launch another wheel at me.

Frag, I said, my hand opening up by my side.

A grenade landed in my palm, and on reflex I flicked it on, then tossed it ahead. It clinked on the ground, then bounced up and behind the model fifteen.

I started to walk to the side, placing the alien between myself and the grenade, then I turned my attention to its guardians. The model fives were heavier, chunkier aliens than most. They didnt go flying as far when I peppered them with a few rounds apiece.

Then the grenade went off with a loud whump and I suppressed a flinch. The building across the street rattled as dozens of little holes were punched into its side.

Thats one down, I said. Two more to go, and look at that, they were within explosives range!

***