Part 7: Attack

....................................................................................................................................................................................

(weeks later)

Rather than re-load the ice-spiders Chris had deployed them as flankers for the journey back to the WIG, point and drag. The sno-tanks were well spaced, one behind the other, in the center of the formation. They were in Injun country and acted like it.

The small formation proceeded slowly and carefully across the frozen wastes back to the WIG.

“Good to see you made it Chris” The pilot of the WIG hailed them over the radio. “I’ll deploy the welcome mat.”

Minutes later the Pilot was heard to say “Uh Oh.”

“‘Uh Oh’ is not very informative” Chris said “I don’t like Uh-oh. Has Murphy paid us a visit?”

“That he has” replied the Pilot. “The ramp is frozen. It won’t lower. Hang on for a minute and I’ll send someone outside to see what’s wrong. It’ll just be a few minutes while they suit up.”

“Belay that” Chris said “We’re already there. We’re suited up. We’ll take care of it”

“I’ll do it” Bill, Chris’s Co-driver, said “I’ll have to go in person. No room for an ice-spider.”

Bill opened the door of the Sno-tank and climbed out. He walked across the ice and carefully climbed aboard the rear of the WIG. After a few minutes he transmitted.

“Found the problem. It’s ice damage all right. I need a part to fix it.” he said and told them what part he needed.

“We have that in stores.” the pilot said. “Coming right out.”

“I’ll get it.” Bill said. “I’ll be right there, hand it to me out the hatch.”

Bill carefully climbed down and walked around the large Wing In Ground effect craft toward the hatch.

“Incoming!! Lidar has detected hostile aircraft.” shouted the pilot over the radio. The laser cannons were on standby. He activated them. He began to beam the rapidly approaching hostile aircraft.

“They just popped up over the horizon” he said over the radio. “There’s a lot of them. Take cover. They’re launching missiles.”

That they were. Incoming rockets began to explode around them. The anti-air defense was working. Nothing hit the WIG....yet, but there were a LOT of attacking aircraft and they had a LOT of rockets. They were trying to overload the point defense.

It was getting hairy.

“Get onboard the WIG Bill” Chris said over the radio “it’s your best chance. It’s your closest cover.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice” Bill replied. He was sprinting toward the open door. He dived inside...it closed. Shrapnel bounced off the closed door behind him. Barely made it, that had been close. That rocket had been detonated by the defense laser at the last instant.

The BloodyMary and the HarveyWallBanger tracked the incoming aggressors and shot at them with their own laser cannons. They were having some success. A great many of the attackers went down in flames. Chris activated the master override and all the Ice-spiders went autonomous. They began shooting at the incoming enemy also. The situation was nasty but they seemed to be holding their own.

Then the Harvey Wall Banger exploded. Then an Ice-Spider blew up also.

“Get out of here. ” Chris commanded the Pilot “Launch right now. There are too many of them”

“ You’re right about that. There must be a carrier fairly close. There’s more hostiles appearing on Lidar. I can’t leave you though.” The Pilot replied.

“That’s an order,not a request. This isn’t a democracy.” Chris told him calmly. “Beat it. Save yourself and the others.”

Orders was orders. The Pilot complied. The WIG began to move. First fairly slowly then it rapidly picked up speed. A moving target was harder to hit than one sitting still.

He almost made it.

There were just too many hostiles. Too many missiles. One missile hit it, then another and another. It was too much. The WIG exploded in an eye searing blast.

“Dammit!!” Chris said.

The WIG had temporarily diverted attention away from the Bloody Mary. He used that precious time wisely. Chris programed the remaining Ice-Spiders to act as decoys. Then he intentionally drove the Bloody Mary into a crevasse.

.....and vanished from sight.



To Be Continued
The Next Episode is
Part 8: Third Eye
The Last episode was
Part 6: Call From Jupiter
the first episode was
Part 1 : Winter Storm

---

For news, views, rants, raves
and
STORIES
.
FOLLOW ME

@everittdmickey