Free Mecha Rogue by Brett Patton Page B

for—” came an unfamiliar voice from the bridge, tagged COMBAT INTELLIGENCE . Before he could finish the sentence, he was cut off by a deep, reverberating boom from the comms.
    Impact shock rattled through the Mecha Dock’s expanded steel decking. On Matt’s viewmask, the external view tracked several new objects, which moved blindingly fast across his POV. Each was tagged HEAVY-MATTER PAYLOAD .
    Four more of the heavy-matter rounds hit the
Helios
. The ship reeled and sensors went offline, patchworking Matt’s POV. Damage assessments began scrolling on-screen.
    â€œOrders to deploy, sir?” Matt shouted at Colonel Cruz.
    â€œNo! Hold! We’re not in close enough!” Cruz snapped. Then, off-mike, “Helios gunners, target at will with heavy-matter guns.”
    The
Helios
hammered as its own guns came online. New tags swarmed outward in Matt’s POV. Small points of brilliance marked where they took out the enemy heavy-matter rounds. Others sped on, presumably toward the source of the bombardment.
    â€œHitting us so far out. That means they’ve compromised the deep-space defense systems,” Colonel Cruz told Matt, his PRIVATE comms icon flashing. “That means they have everything, planet on out. You should expect to take fire as we Displace into orbital deployment range.”
    â€œYes, sir,” Matt said. “Who are ‘they,’ sir?”
    Cruz’s comms icon snapped off without an answer.
    Tags traced the UUS
Helios
’s heavy-matter rounds to their targets. It was like watching the universe’s slowest virtuality game. Eventually red markers flared at the HEAVY-MATTER EMPLACEMENTS and listed them as DESTROYED .
    â€œTargets eliminated,” Combat Intelligence told them. Hold for additional assessment.” Thirty seconds passed. Sixty. No other heavy-matter payloads came their way.
    â€œSystem secure,” Cruz reported. “Prepare for planetary Displacement.”
    * * *
    As UUS
Helios
Displaced into orbit around Planet 5, it rocked under heavy fire. Matt’s Demon had to grab a railing to stay in place. Dust clouds filtered out from the raw stone walls of Mecha Dock, just beyond the expanded steel grating. The asteroid was taking a real pounding, despite its extensive armor.
    Outside, Matt’s screens showed a crazed white snowball of a planet, together with a half dozen tags that showed orbital gun emplacements. Smaller, faster-moving tags tracked the assault coming at the UUS
Helios
: heavy-matter payloads, clouds of Sidewinder missiles, even the matter/antimatter beam of a Zap Gun, piercing dark space like a pillar of flame.
    A Zap Gun? Matt thought. That was Union technology. Had the Corsairs captured a major Union base? Or did they have antimatter annihilation technology now too, as well as Mecha?
    There wasn’t any time for that. “Permission to deploy, Colonel?” Matt barked into the comms.
    â€œNo! Hold!” Cruz said, shouting off-mike to get the heavy-matter artillery back online and rotate to target their own Zap Gun. “We didn’t expect—they moved the platforms—smarter than we thought.”
    â€œWe can help!” Norah said.
    â€œAdept!” Matt cautioned.
    â€œWe’ll—” Cruz swore as the Zap Gun beam found the ship again. On Matt’s damage reports, armor plating evaporated, exposing the core asteroid. “We’ll soon have this under control.”
    â€œSir—” Matt began.
    â€œNo!” Cruz yelled. “They’re smart, Major. They’re hitting us hard, but they’re not targeting the Mecha Dock. They’re waiting for you to come out.”
    â€œSir, we can deploy through alternate—”
    â€œLast time: No!” Then, softer: “Let us do our job. Then you can do yours.”
    Raw black space lit with the fury of the
Helios
. Multiple antimatter beams speared out, cutting swaths through the torrent of