Good tactics makes for a safe, but boring battle

  Why do I use a near-medieval melee weapon in an age of technological mass destruction?

  It’s true that killing the enemy at range makes tactical sense: that way they never have a chance to harm you.

  But to be honest, it’s boring. I’d much rather feel my enemy dying at the end of my blade than sit in some safe spot and eliminate a thousand minnows.

  --Ekaterina during an AMA stream, 2048

  ***

  [“This is another large round, Marcus.”] Corie reminded me, and I braced forward for the coming kickback. In my visor I noted it was a scaled-down High Explosive, Squashed Head munition, so I wasn’t surprised by either the fireball or the minimal apparent damage. But the round impacted hard enough to stop the fire truck-sized alien in its tracks. It hung in the air, swaying and advancing a couple more steps before the internal damage caught up and it fell over sideways. Seeing the huge centipedal creature fall to one damaging shot felt good, and I let out a deep-throated yell.

  [“I like that HESH round,”] I added to the conference.

  [“Then you’ll love one that’s coming up, but first comes the Desiccant round, another slow-acting effect.”] Corie said.

  While waiting for the next large alien, I scanned across the battlefield. At the foot of the wall, meters below us, milled a sea of small fry, the smaller single-digit models like the M-3 and M-4. Several clawed at the stone face, trying to undercut our cliff-faced fortress. From the looks of things, without specialized help or a larger model, they might be able to finish the task in a year or two.

  Slightly more worrisome were the Model Threes that leaped up onto the wall, scrabbling for footholds on the vertical face before falling down again. Between the sheer face and the wet rain, they found little purchase.

  The Fours, however, could use their dozens of tentacles to grip smaller cracks and climb the face steadily. But climbing and dodging did not go well together. Troopers could lean out over the edge and fire sideways to clear the aliens sneaking up on their companions. Caught in a crossfire, the Fours found it hard going to reach the top alive.

  Farther back, several knots of the tank-like M-6 huddled, issuing whistled commands, no doubt, but I couldn’t hear them through the constant fire of the troopers punctuated with the occasional grenade explosion. A rocket streaked out, breaking up the group of Sixes.

  While more of the larger aliens navigated the stream and debris field, I sent several bursts of flechettes after the climbing Fours. The curved flights let me sweep the walls, gaining us time before that threat posed a problem. The bodies built up small mounds and windrows in the quarry, but thanks to the trooper’s rifle range, the majority died well before reaching the foot of our cliff, so the bodies stacking up wasn’t a problem.

  I ran some quick guestimations through my hind-brain and came up with a rough volume for the antithesis in the swarm. With that math, I realized that the chance of the aliens making a body ramp up to our level was close enough to zero that it wasn’t a concern.

  Meanwhile, the M-12 that I’d hit with the Cryo shot was having a hard time staying aloft. The frost had spread forward to the thorax, and when I looked closer, I could see a buildup of ice at the base of the wings. “If anyone wants that M-12, you should be able to hit the ice and shatter it.” I told the troopers nearby. Due to how it had angled for the other end of the quarry, my flechettes wouldn’t reach it. However, another M-12 was coming into range for my upper barrel.

  That new antithesis was greeted by another shot, leaving no visible damage. This one, however, I’d talked with Corie about before, and I expected it when the round burst into a yellow powder on impact. The tiny particles swirled around its breathing holes and were drawn inside. I smiled as its body turned yellow from the dusting. This one also needed to cook before its effects were felt.

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  In the meantime, on the right flank, another large model approached over the tangled debris left after the cannon’s blast. The many legs of the M-14 found ample grip amid the logs and brush.

  [“This is the good one, Marcus. The utmost in precision, but you pay for it with the shortened range.”]

  As I waited for the second segment to appear, a depth control appeared in my visor. I switched my aim point and set the depth at twenty centimeters before firing the round.

  The Deuce kicked hard against my shoulder. Though not the worst recoil I had experienced that day, it was still significant. Just before impact, the massive round halted as if hitting an invisible wall, then fell to the ground. But the central core, having used the shell’s inertia to power a dimensional shunt, vanished into the alien’s body.

  The first segment of the alien shuddered until a fragment of the round exited at an odd angle, high and sideways. I’d aimed at a key organ, the equivalent of its heart, and between the initial impact and the internal ricochets, it had to have been shredded.

  I turned back to the battle lines as the Fourteen’s segmented body tipped over sideways in sequence like a freight train derailing car by car. The corpse formed another wall to protect the flank. Meanwhile, the yellow-painted M-12 I’d hit with the desiccant had landed to offload the M-3 clinging to it.

  [“Next up we have the painshot. I don’t know how effective this will be.”] Corie said. [“At the least it should slow down whatever you hit.”] With that warning, I decided to use it on the yellow one drying out. I caught it just after it left the ground. It spasmed and dropped to the ground, all six legs buckling.

  [“I thought the Anti’s didn’t feel pain?”] Ginny asked.

  [“Not as humans know it,”] Corie said. [“It’s actually a neuro disruptor. I called it a Painshot because the reaction looks like someone in pain. Marcus, you’ll want to use the next round on the Model Twelve coming in and the other on the Fourteen.”]

  [“What type of rounds are they?”] I asked.

  [“Something new, courtesy of the Biochemical catalog. Kaitlyn, you might want to tell your viewers to get the popcorn ready.”]

  I narrowed my eyes but let her get away with not answering since I could hear her amusement with the answer.

  I passed the time using flechettes on the nearer small fry while the two large aliens came into range. They spread out as they came, taking opposite sides of the quarry grounds for their assault. Worse, I’d waited too long, and the M-14 started the tremors that came just before offloading while I was still taking aim on the M-12. I hurried the shot and ended up clipping the forward bulb of the Twelve.

  Without waiting to see the effect, I switched to the other large antithesis. I caught it in the open mouth as the carapace on its sides opened up and dumped out dozens of aliens on the ground. It mostly dropped Threes and Sixes with a few Fives in the mix.

  The centipedal antithesis shook its head, then turned and lunged at one of the M-6s it had just unloaded. Its large pincers caught the smaller alien and sliced it in half. It dropped the remains and turned and attacked another of its brethren while shifting sideways along its whole body. Each leg thrust towards another model, impaling some, knocking others down.

  “What the fuck?” One of the troopers beside me said. I glanced and saw him staring slack-jawed at the M-12. The dozen M-3 that had been clinging to its side had started biting into the flesh of their carrier. One of the small aliens even climbed up higher, towards the base of the wings.

  [“Corie? What is going on?”] I asked both in conference and in voice.

  [“I call those rounds Kill Me and the Rampage. They don’t do damage directly but turn the Anti’s pheromones against themselves. Kill Me rounds coat the target with a scent that provokes other antithesis into attacking—it’s related to the ones that attract more antithesis after one dies. And the Rampage rounds interfere with the antithesis’s ability to determine friend from foe and increase aggressiveness overall.”]

  As she spoke, the M-14 raged on, taking out large numbers of its allies. [“Um, the Rampage is supposed to be pretty brief. I think hitting it in the mouth like that focused it but also sheltered those around it from getting affected.”]

  I quickly explained to both the troopers nearby and the command channel what was going on. “While I love a good bit of chaos in my enemies, I’d appreciate a warning next time,” Carlson replied.

  I couldn’t argue with him and apologized for my AI. The rifle fire from the troopers, which had slacked off while they stared at the self-destructing aliens, suddenly picked back up again, and I caught a couple guilty expressions on the troopers nearby.