Page 41 of Resolution
“All right,” Norwood said, passing a hand over his face wearily. “I’m in. What exactly do you need from me?”
Not pausing to savor the victory, Jeff said, “Chiefly your agri robots. Cody assures me he can reprogram them to harvest infected instead of crops. With them as one wing of the assault, my APC’s, the flyers and the mayor’s forces we’ll have enough assets to deal with the infected, even a crowd as large as there is at Glastine. A coordinated attack from all sides, using all our weapons.”
“Might work,” the elderly rancher admitted reluctantly. “The robots go in first and then my men and women come after to clean up and finish the job?”
“In your sector of the battleground, yes.”
“I’m not taking any of those Glastine people living inside the camp into my ranch, you clear on that point?”
Jeff was happy to concede on the issue. Truthfully he’d never planned to attempt sending any of the rescued refugees to the ranch. He had no desire to upset what Norwood had established there by adding in a group of unaffiliated newcomers. Millersville was prepared to accept a contingent of the refugees after careful screening and evaluation of skills versus needs but Jeff’s guess was many would choose to leave and seek other places to establish themselves. They might even want to stay at Glastine, once the authorities and the infected had been removed. He wasn’t concerned with the future disposition of the civilians, beyond freeing them to make their own choices. He’d have to install a command structure at the camp to prevent it from devolving into chaos or another warlord situation but that was for the future, after the battle was won.
“In position to bomb, sir,” Cody reported now. The release of their bomb was going to be the signal for the other forces to launch their attack on the swarms of infected.
Recalled to the present moment, Jeff did a quick scan of the vids. Satisfied the situation remained nominal, he said, “Release the bomb in 3, 2, 1, now.”
The flyer bobbed a bit in the air as the armament fell away, dropping to the ground and disappearing into the roof of the large building below. It was a tactical xiliblate bomb, designed for this exact situation, using a fission process of three elements found only on certain planets throughout the Sectors. The explosion was massive but contained to the general area, with no radiation or fallout to contaminate the surroundings.
Zach took them higher to avoid the blast waves at the same instant the building was obliterated.
“Assault commencing,” Cody reported, projecting a composite of what his drones were seeing.
Jeff divided his attention between what was going on immediately below him and the situation outside the force fences. As he had anticipated, Norwood’s agri robos were a force the infected had no answer for. The carnage in that sector of the battlefield was astonishing as the huge robots moved inexorably forward. Black ichor ran like water everywhere and he had to remind himself the people those infected had been were long gone, no trace of them left in the husks Norwood’s forces were now destroying. At this rate Norwood’s forces would be able to move on and assist in clearing the next sector.
His APC’s and the second flyer were decimating the infected in their assigned quadrant as well, the vehicles’ megacannons spewing fire through the air like lightning moving horizontally, scything down the infected. The flyer made low passes over the battlefield, dropping small bombs on clusters of infected and picking off others with its own heavy duty blasters.
Jeff had ordered a high priority on removing the Watchers and when he directed his attention to the Millersville battalion of reinforced trucks, he was reassured to find they were doing exactly as the battle plan called for, taking out the slightly more sentient infected and then mowing down the rest with blaster, pulse rifle and projectile fire, some use of grenades and old fashioned but effective flame throwers. The formation of vehicles was such that they could protect each other’s flanks and prevent the infected from overrunning any one truck. It wasn’t as effective as the agri robos nor the military style assault Jeff’s team was conducting but it was doing the job.
Several things happened simultaneously, as was all too common during combat.
“There’s fighting going on at the guard barracks,” Cody reported. “And on the wall, between Quantike’s men.”
“What do you suppose is going on there?” Jeff asked as the holos zoomed in on the combatants. “Maybe there was an internal resistance group growing? I got hints of there being disgruntled members of the guard force when I was there but nothing formal. I was too new for anyone to trust me with actual information.”
“This guy seems to be leading it,” Cody said, bringing up a view of an armed group fighting a pitched battle at the camp’s armory, plainly trying to gain entry. There was a tall red-haired man in fatigues at the point of the assault, exhorting the men and women with him.
“Jax Driscoll,” Jeff said. “He was a good guy, commanded the section next to mine on the wall. We never got to talk much. He didn’t have a bracelet so he wasn’t one of Quantike’s originals which is a point in his favor.”
“Uh oh, you need to see this, sir.”
Jeff turned his attention to the new holo and whistled in disbelief. “Quantike has more lives than a damn cat, doesn’t he?”
The general staggered away from the burning admin building, blaster in hand.
“Either he was thrown clear or he was leaving as the bomb detonated,” Cody replied. “Orders?”
“He’s not getting away this time.” Jeff rose. “We’re going to go make sure of it. Cody, you’re with me. Zach, hover.”
He and Cody grabbed antigrav packs from a cabinet in the main cabin and strapped them on, doing a quick weapons check before Jeff strode to the ramp at the rear and reached for the button.
Zach’s voice over the com stopped him as his finger touched the button. “Captain, a section of the force fence just collapsed.”
“What the seven hells?” Jeff and Cody exchanged disbelieving looks and then rushed to the cockpit.
“Nothing we’re doing would affect the forcefield,” Jeff said as he watched a stream of infected escaping from their attackers, pouring into the opening created by the fallen fence. The sheer numbers created a pile which the infected in the rear scrambled over to breach the physical barricade.
“Quantike’s picked up company,” Cody reported, casting the holo onto the holo deck.
“Briskinn and Madrigan,” Jeff said, focusing in on the newcomers.. ”I bet she cut the power to cover their escape, especially since the span which failed is at the other end of the compound. Trying to draw us away. I’m not too surprised where they’re heading—the abandoned vehicle lot. I bet Quantike has had a bug out strategy in place for a long time, just in case.”
