Counterattack Read online

  The Great Martian War

  Counterattack!

  By Scott Washburn

  The Great Martian War - Counterattack

  By Scott Washburn

  Cover by Ben Mirabelli

  Zmok Books an imprint of

  Winged Hussar Publishing, LLC, 1525 Hulse Road, Unit 1, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742

  This edition published in 2017

  Copyright ©Winged Hussar Publishing, LLC and Scott Washburn

  ISBN 978-1-94530-55-8

  Bibliographical references and index

  1.Science Fiction 2. Alternate History 3. Alien Invasion

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  Prologue

  Cycle 597, 844.7, South of Holdfast 32-4

  “Subgroup 2-3, destroy that weapon emplacement to your left. We will be enfiladed by it if it is not neutralized.”

  The subgroup leader acknowledged the command and Qetjnegartis looked on in satisfaction as the three war machines of the unit concentrated the fire from their heat rays to obliterate the prey-creature heavy projectile thrower. The clan was launching an attack to destroy a fortified prey-creature city which had resisted several lesser attacks in the past. Nearly all of the vast, flat plains between the mountains to the west and the large river to the east had fallen to the Race during the great offensive a half-cycle ago. But several cities, located on rivers, and thus not dependent on the enemy’s usual—and vulnerable—transport system, had held out and fortified themselves. Qetjnegartis’ clan, busy constructing new holdfasts and increasing their numbers, had not had the means to reduce these irritants until now.

  At the end of the long advance, Qetjnegartis had questioned the decision to suspend offensive operations and consolidate, but it had to admit that the vastly increased strength of the clan was a comfort. They now had three fortified holdfasts, with a fourth nearly completed, and over two hundred members. In less than two-tenths of a cycle that number would swell to over three hundred as a new generation of buds matured. Qetjnegartis briefly regarded the pulsating sack on its side where its own bud was growing.

  What a difference from those perilous days, a cycle ago, when the Bajantus Clan had been reduced to just eight individuals, clinging to a half-ruined holdfast! Extinction had been a real possibility, but the prey-creatures who inhabited this world had not taken advantage of the clan’s weakness and the danger had passed.

  Qetjnegartis hoped that the Race, here on the target world, had not made that same mistake.

  While it was true that the clan and the Race were stronger, the evidence indicated that the prey-creatures had grown stronger, too. Warriors in huge numbers were massing on the far bank of the great river. Unlike the earlier armies, these new forces seemed well supplied with the heavy projectile throwers and the armored gun-vehicles which had proved alarmingly effective against the Race’s fighting machines. In addition, they were building strong defensive works incorporating a cast stone material which was very resistant to heat rays.

  Fortunately, the place they were attacking now had few of them. Most of the defenses were simply heaped piles of dirt and loose stones. Even though this bolstered the prey-creatures’ defenses significantly, it was not as effective as the stone.

  “The enemy fire has been nearly suppressed, Commander,” reported Fadjnadtur, the second-in-command. “Shall we advance?”

  Qetjnegartis evaluated the information coming to it over the tactical network. Brief but repeated thrusts against the city’s defenses appeared to have destroyed most of the heavy weapons on this side of the perimeter. Projectiles were still falling periodically from more distant weapons, but not in great numbers. Had the enemy been weakened enough to permit a final assault? It had no wish to risk heavy casualties here. Every member of the Race was expendable, of course, but only if the objective was worth the cost. The clan had grown strong, but not so strong that it could throw away lives frivolously. This prey-creature enclave was an annoyance, but nothing more.

  Still, the information indicated that an assault might succeed without unacceptable loss. Experience had shown that once the fighting machines closed with the enemy, the prey-creatures often lost cohesion and would flee. Although not always; Qetjnegartis’ thoughts went back to a savage fight in a mountain pass where the prey had fought to the last and inflicted terrible casualties - nearly slaying Qetjnegartis in the process.

  “Commander?” prompted Fadjnadtur. “A decision is required.”

  Qetjnegartis was annoyed. Fadjnadtur had arrived with the second wave of transports and was a close bud-mate to Valprandar, who had taken over from Qetjnegartis and been in command until it was slain at the end of the great offensive. It was clear that Fadjnadtur was not pleased that Qetjnegartis was back in charge again and had shown this sort of disrespect on several occasions.

  “And a decision you shall have subcommander. All groups, concentrate for an attack on area twelve.”

  With the great increase in the strength of the clan, its fighting forces had been organized along traditional lines. Three fighting machines constituted a subgroup commanded by one of the three; three subgroups made up a group with a separate commander in its own machine, and three groups, a total of thirty machines, plus a machine for the commander, made a battlegroup. Qetjnegartis had a full battlegroup with it today and now all its machines - plus the command machines of itself and Fadjnadtur - were concentrating against a single portion of the prey-creature’s defenses.

  This tactic had been used with great success before. The majority of the prey-creatures’ forces - the foot-warriors, the heavy projectile throwers, and the armored gun-vehicles - could not match the speed and agility of the Race’s fighting machines. Therefore, the Race would begin an attack spread out along the prey’s lines, probing and doing what damage they could without risking heavy losses. Then, once the enemy had been weakened and the location of its major weapons mapped, the attack force would concentrate against a single spot and break through before the prey could react. Qetjnegartis hoped to do the same thing now.

  The machines swept in from right and left into a tight grouping and then advanced at full speed. The ground they passed over was mostly flat, featureless, and easily traversable. Fortunately, there had been no inclement weather for several days and the soil was firm. After a period of the heavy precipitation—so common on this wet, wet world—the soil could become a soft and sticky mass which would slow or even immobilize a fighting machine. There were no such troubles today and they quickly closed on the enemy defenses.

  The fire from the prey-creatures intensified as they drew near, but it was not severe. The larger weapons on the line had been destroyed by the earlier forays and the long-range fire couldn’t adjust
for their rapid movements quickly enough to be effective. There were several groupings of larger projectile throwers in trenches close behind the main line and Qetjnegartis ordered these to be blanketed with the toxic eradicator dust. They ceased firing almost immediately. The remaining fire was mostly from the smaller, portable weapons carried by the foot-warriors, although there were still some of the slightly heavier, rapid fire weapons. Those could be dangerous and heat rays stabbed out to silence them as the range decreased.

  As they neared the line of trenches, the fire had almost ceased. The enemy works were blackened and burned by the extreme temperatures the heat rays produced. Clouds of smoke wafted skyward from fires which burned in many places. Beyond the trenches lay fields strewn with wreckage, and beyond those were the structures of the city itself. Many of the closer ones were ablaze. Not a living foe could be seen…

  Suddenly, one of the lead fighting machines lurched forward and came to a halt in a strange bent-over position. Had it been hit? Perhaps a limb damaged? Qetjnegartis had seen no explosion from a projectile thrower. Another machine moved to assist and then it too stumbled and nearly fell. It staggered backward and then stood upright again.

  “Report! What is happening?” demanded Qetjnegartis.

  “There are pits in the ground, commander. Hidden pits. If we step upon them, the limbs of our machines will crash through for half their length. Jandrangnar’s machine is stuck, and mine nearly became so.”

  The entire advance had stopped and enemy projectiles from distant throwers were starting to find their range. “Spray the ground with your heat rays! Uncover these traps! The attack must resume at once. Madgprindle, assist Jandrangnar.”

  Immediately heat rays blasted the ground in front of them. Qetjnegartis had no idea if this would reveal any of the pits, but there was no other option. The advance resumed and only one other machine encountered a pit before they were across the line of trenches. There, they paused to regroup.

  The enemy fire was almost entirely stopped now, except for a few projectiles still falling around Jandrangnar’s machine. And there were no prey-creatures to be seen anywhere. This was unexpected. During one of the great battles of the past offensive, the clan had smashed through the enemy lines and were immediately confronted with masses of fleeing prey and a few disorganized counterattacks by reserves rushed to the scene. But here there was… nothing.

  “Group 1, turn east. Group 2, turn west, Fadjnadtur accompany them. Follow the line of entrenchment. Destroy all you encounter. I will take Group 3 into the city.” The battlegroup split into three segments as directed and went in search of the enemy. They surely had not destroyed all of them.

  The city to Qetjnegartis’ front had been badly damaged by earlier attacks and the structures closest to the defense lines had been reduced to piles of blackened rubble. The smaller structures used by the prey were often constructed of flammable materials and would be completely consumed by the heat rays in this oxygen-rich environment, leaving little behind. But the larger structures were made of sturdier materials and their destruction produced large mounds of debris—treacherous footing for the fighting machines. That was the case here and few easy paths forward could be found.

  Despite this, the leading machines of the group advanced, firing into structures which had not yet caught fire. Occasionally there would be returning fire from prey inside the structures, but their weapons did no damage. Qetjnegartis followed along behind the rest. The lack of significant resistance was… unsettling.

  “Fadjnadtur, report your situation.”

  “We are proceeding as you ordered, Commander,” came the immediate reply. “The trenches are mostly unoccupied. Very little resistance. We seem to have broken them.”

  “Do you see any of the prey fleeing?”

  “Only a few. The rest must have fled already.” Qetjnegartis checked with the commander of Group 1 and it reported the same thing. Had the prey-creatures truly all fled?

  Its attention was brought back to the situation at hand when a building collapsed right across the path the group was taking. Flames from it leapt skyward and it was apparent the path would be blocked for some time. Qetjnegartis hesitated for an instant and then commanded, “Split up. Subgroup 3-1, go right, the rest of us will go left. We will reassemble on the other side of this.” Three of the machines turned and went down the passage as directed. The others turned left.

  The structures were taller here, higher than the fighting machines, and closely spaced. They could only proceed single file and they were closed in on either side like they were in a mountain pass.

  “Commander!” a sudden communication came from Fadjnadtur.

  “What is it?”

  “We are being attacked! Prey-creatures are emerging from underground chambers! Hidden heavy projectile throwers are firing at us! They are behind us, too! We are being attacked from all sides!” A moment later the commander of Group 1 reported the same thing.

  “Can you defeat these attacks?” asked Qetjnegartis.

  “Unknown,” replied Fadjnadtur. “More of the enemy are arriving and we are taking damage.”

  This had all the marks of an ambush. The prey-creatures had feigned weakness to draw them in! As if in confirmation, an explosion billowed up nearby, shaking Qetjnegartis inside its machine. “Commander! We are under attack!” exclaimed the leader of Group 3.

  Prey-creatures were appearing from the buildings and out of the rubble. Some were firing weapons, others were throwing explosive bombs. Several of the rapid-fire weapons began firing from the upper floors of the structures and more bombs were thrown down from the rooftops. One bounced off the cockpit of Qetjnegartis’ machine and exploded an instant later, slamming the machine sideways. Smoke engulfed it, blocking vision.

  A flood of information came over the tactical net, too much for even Qetjnegartis to process immediately. Subgroup 3-1, which it had sent off alone, was under heavy attack both by the foot-warriors and by armored gun-vehicles, which had appeared from between the buildings. Group 1 had encountered more of the pit traps and had been attacked while they were trying to extricate themselves. Fadjnadtur and Group 2 were in a crossfire of heavy weapons which had been concealed in the rubble. All were taking damage and the actual strength of the enemy was still unknown. The situation was degenerating at an alarming rate and even Fadjnadtur’s plaintive, Commander, what should we do? was no consolation.

  “All groups withdraw,” it commanded. “Fall back to our starting positions. Leave no one behind!” A chorus of acknowledgments came in reply.

  Qetjnegartis turned its machine back the way it had come, spraying the tops of the buildings around it randomly with its heat ray. It paused to allow one of the others to lead the way and then followed. The structures on both sides were burning, but enemy fire came from them, too—the creatures were risking immolation to carry out their attacks. It ordered its subordinates to increase their speed.

  Suddenly, the machine in front of it, piloted by Sladgenupral, went tumbling forward, to crash in a heap on the ground. Its legs were tangled in a heavy cable and thrashed futilely, unable to get free. Qetjnegartis was quite certain that no cable had blocked the passage when they came the other way. Instantly, swarms of the prey-creatures erupted from the buildings and, seemingly, from the ground itself to attack the downed machine.

  Qetjnegartis knew that these enemies would be carrying their explosive bombs and try to place them on the vulnerable parts of Sladgenupral’s machine. It activated its heat ray on the low-power, wide-angle mode and swept it across the prey-creatures and the crippled fighting machine. At this reduced power, it would not harm Sladgenupral, but it would still be lethal to the enemy. Score of the miserable animals were slain in moments, but not before some had achieved their purpose. Five or six explosions hammered at the machine, sending bits of it hurtling skyward and filling the space between the buildings with smoke and dust.

  It continued to sweep the heat ray into the smoke and was soon joined b
y a subordinate who came up beside it. The smoke dissipated and they could see that the fighting machine was badly damaged. Telemetry indicated that Sladgenupral was alive, but injured. Qetjnegartis moved forward to extract it, while its subordinate deployed a carrying pod. Some fire was still rattling off the skin of its machine, but the main enemy attack had been destroyed. Qetjnegartis reached the wreck and used its manipulators to pry open the hatch.

  “Commander! Beware!”

  Almost simultaneous with the warning came a heavy blow to its machine. An enemy vehicle had emerged from gaps between the buildings and opened fire. Another trap! Qetjnegartis brought up its heat ray, reset it to maximum power, and then fired at the vehicle. Another impact, even more powerful than the first, struck and sent Qetjnegartis staggering back. To its dismay, daylight was seeping in through a hole in the cockpit! It twisted the machine sideways to turn the vulnerable spot away from the enemy and continued to fire the heat ray. The enemy vehicle exploded, and the immediate threat was eliminated. But how many more were still waiting?

  “Commander, are you all right?”

  “Yes, but this machine is damaged. Quickly, recover Sladgenupral, and let us leave this place.”

  This was done, and the group managed to break clear of the structures and into the open. The other two groups were gathering along the enemy trench line to provide covering fire. Qetjnegartis noted that three of their machines were missing. The battlegroup reassembled and quickly fell back until they were out of range of the enemy weapons. There they halted to evaluate the situation.

  One of them dead, three injured, four machines destroyed, and half the rest damaged; and the enemy city still there. Not a good result at all. Qetjnegartis was not pleased.

  This is intolerable.