Ringing. Ringing is all I heard, a high pitch squeal like a microphone feed back. What the hell happened? Gravel and sand was still raining down around me so I knew I wasn't out long. The ringing subsided and my focus slowly came back. Desert. Sand. Yes this looked familiar. I tried to breath. A deep breath was painful but not impossible. I could feel my feet, sore, but still there. Sitting up sent shooting pains up my side, probably a broken rib or two. Nothing a night a in medtank couldn’t fix. The ringing in my ears was subsiding, the sound of howling wind and static started to replace it. Good, I wasn't deaf. The taclink square in my lower HUD was a garbled mess, but the audio was there, “Hellfire Nine Do You Copy!?” The frustrated tone in the voice let me know they had made the same call at least a couple times. “Roger Overwatch I'm Here” I replied, slightly annoyed, “and in one piece luckily”. What the hell was that anyways. The smell of burning plastic and fuel was heavy in the air. I looked for the source of the smell and found it. Son of bitch, my Outreacher was a tangled mess. It looked like it had taken a direct hit from something big. A mine? Maybe a rocket, the local Treqas were fans of surplus mini-7s, compact and easy to fire even with their weird three fingered hands.
“Overwatch any read on what hit me?” The taclink expanded this time with a much clearer picture of Field Marshal Yono. “We detected a sharp heat signature about half a click north of your position a couple seconds before your link dropped, possibly from the cliffs.” Shit, that meant the Treqas were possibly covering me from high ground, probably trying to set up an ambush. “Hellfire Nine do you need extract, we have assets holding geosync ready to assist.” No way I was dragging anyone else into this clusterfuck. “Negative Overwatch, suspecting a ambush attempt, I'm going to setup a IDP and try and reach Hellfire Actual.” I could see the concern on Yono's aged visage but I knew he already had anticipated my actions. No doubt if things got hairy he would still drop a SAR team on my position.
Walking to the twisted wreckage of my Outreacher hurt, but was not impossible. Luckily the back cargo section looked relatively intact. Even better the compartment door responded to my Combat Interface Controller the first try. I pulled out the case marked IPD and set it next to the wreckage of the Outreacher. If the shield failed at least the twisted metal of my former ride could provide some extra cover. The Instant Defensive Position was the latest tech afforded to the Hellfire Division of the Pony Express, simple even enough for a jarhead to use. One simply had to place the unit in the center of a 5m area to be used as cover, and press a button, the device did everything automaticaly. A flip of the yellow ready switch activated a flickering green light, meaning the device was sucesful in 3d mapping of the vicinity, and ready to deploy. Pressing the green button triggered the automated system, starting with the 5m radius and 5m high shield bubble. Nothing compared to the combat shields of Dreadnauts like the Overwatch, but able to withstand indefinitely most conventional munitions, and a few direct hits from more advanced energy based weapons.
Once the bubble had formed, a small drone, about the size of the fist, popped out and flew vertically for about 100m, then began a increasing spiral outwards while gaining more elevation. The sensor feedback from the drone would be sent back to the IPD and direct linked to my Combat Interface HUD, giving me a multitude of intel about the area, out to about 10km. Sure enough red and yellow blips began appearing over the topomap in my lower right hand field of view. The yellow were most likely the local species of goat like reptiles that lived in the hills of this backwater hell hole. The red were the issue. 15 blips all in the hills about 500 meters away from my spot. Chances are concealed in the many caves that pockmarked the hills in this area. Remembering the mission asset briefing a smile cracked across my mouth. “Overwatch, is Steel Rain authorized?” The Tac-com opened up in my upper right field of view with the sour yet oddly pretty face of Ensign Kat McDowny. “Steel Rain is authorized Hellfire Nine, paint your target and request final authorization.” “Roger that Overwatch, confirm, 15 Tangos, approximately 500m north of my position, requesting Steel Rain, danger close.” I could see the slight grin cross the Ensign's tight lips, “Confirm Hellfire Nine, 15 Tangos, danger close, requested granted, stand by...”
Approximately half the planet away, Sergeant James Garcia was lightly dozing in the seat of his Widow, a mobile artillery platform standing 75m tall when deployed. The targeting interface of Garcia's Widow light up startling him enough to spill his coffee, “Thunderhead this Overwatch prepare to receive fire control.” “Roger Overwatch prepared to copy,” he replied excitedly, finally some goddamn action! A series of coordinates, started to fill his screen, all centered in the same half click area. Followed were various weather and topo info, ordnance request, and ended with a DC indicator. “Fuck,” he said under his breath, Steel Rain danger close, someone had to be in some serious shit. The targeting computer starting processing the request, while the auto loader behind him whirred to life. A satisfying thud-click a couple seconds later and a red flashing indicator let Garcia the Widow was ready. “Overwatch Thunderhead copies, and is ready to fire,” he said almost giddy...
“Roger Thunderhead, Send it.....”
The deafening fire of the Widow's main gun could be heard for miles, however was just a slight rumble in the cab. The compensator on the barrel sent a blast wave of dust and sand 50 meters to the side as the round excited. Steel Rain was a smart kinetic weapon, consisting of 25 individual drones each with a single 25kg tungsten SABOT projectile. At the peak of the shell's fired arc a mag-rocket stage initiated pushing the projectile to a near orbital trajectory. As the projectile passed over the approximate target location an expulsion charge fired pushing the 25 drones out the rear. Each individual drone had it's own propulsion system and began accelerating towards its designated target, doubling up if less than 25 targets existed. At 500m directly above each target the drone fired its rail fired Tungsten SABOT at speeds in excess of 8,000 meters per second directly into the target location.
About 15 seconds after fire confirmation the hills in front of me exploded into a deafening roar of supersonic sound. The blast wave of kinetic impact sent a wave of sand up and around the IPD shield blocking all view for a while, but that did not matter. Instantly the relay feed from the CI showed zero targets in the area, and an even better sight, three blue blips headed my way. “Overwatch all targets neutralized, tell Thunderhead I owe him a beer.” “Good copy Hellfire Nine, I see Hellfire Actual approaching your location, we will consider that as Charlie Mike, good work.”