>>5265653>>5266634>>5265403>>5265309>>5264940>>5264935>>5264628>>5264503The ground shakes as you meet their charge with the brunt of your arsenal. Your SQUALL system sends one shell on a flat trajectory towards the creatures nearest to the coast, accompanied a moment later by an arcing barrage of grenades from your turret-mounted launchers. While neither attack is particularly difficult to dodge, the sheer amount of ordinance simply leaves no space to do so. One of the creatures stumbles and dies immediately, disarticulated by the cloud of high-velocity shrapnel. Two of its companions seek refuge by diving beneath the waterline. It is a foolish decision. You pepper their entry points with another burst of high-explosive grenades, this time configured for delayed detonation. Neither of the creatures reemerge from the churning water.
To break the group charging in from the east, you fire off a pair of ICARUS missiles. Each projectile accelerates to hypersonic speeds in under a second, guided by a flight-control system optimized to intercept high-performance aircraft. The system works just as well here. Proximity fuses in both missiles trigger within meters of their intended targets, detonating a modest annular charge. Fragmentation cuts down two of the creatures at knee-height; the third has the luxury of stumbling forward a few more steps before it is cored by follow-up shots from your laser emitter.
With the immediate threat dealt with, you switch your attention back to the larger battle. Despite the panic created by the charge, most of the mercenaries had stayed in their assigned positions. The few that hadn't were already being harangued by Alberico over the vox-net, no doubt bemoaning their captain's newfound familiarity with wireless communication devices. At the other end of the field, two of the three mechs were already burning after being struck by laser-guided ATGMs. The damage was horrific. As you play your optical scanner across the wrecks, you see torso-sections punched clean-through by shaped-charges built to defeat meters of composite armor. The last mech was still trundling forward, but it had clearly sustained some damage to its leg units. You put your second artillery shell directly through its torso section, reducing the flagging machine into several chunks of spinning debris.
