And how this happened? As far as I could figure this out, mechanics make “freezing bombs”, and used those to make rough perimeter around sunken gate. After lizard mechs moved away, those bombs were activated so that swamp did become frozen near them, forming almost a solid ice wall at the bottom of the swamp, maybe a few meters thick. After that was completed, came the detonations in the middle of the defined area, pushing water and earth too, outwards. Ice wall collected layers of that earth, which would become frozen in turn, making the wall a little higher. As a matter of fact, at some points it could be seen above the water, and that was what I did see when the fog lifted. Not an actual island, but a frozen mud ring around the gate.
Then came another round of those “freezing bombs”, finally forming a complete ring around gate. The surrounding area was not a very big one, but still it is way bigger than the platform was. There we could not really move our mechs, but here all fit standing on the wall, and still there was space left. Of course that did not promise anything good when you think of the situation from the defenders perspective. So much wall to defend and so few of us. It was a close call, but before the next attack came, mechanics managed to move all working mechs and most of equipment inside that wall, and even pump some water out of our “fortress”. Not nearly enough that our mechas could function there, but enough that we were able to hide a little bit behind the wall. Still it cost us dearly...
When enemy returned, they divided their attack. Lucky for us, most of them shot at a now almost empty platform, completely sinking it. But enough of them shot us too, making this fight really desperate. We did our best, but really, a wall that is made of ice can't stand against concentrated, or even scattered fire. It crumpled at multiple places, mechas went under with it, or were disturbed enough that their defense fire weakened and they took hits. Lots of hits. I'm scared to even think about what would have happened if the lizard had not cared about our platform but instead all hit our remaining forces. But still, we lost almost half our remaining survivors. This really cost us, but at a little longer run, it also save us.
Frantic preparations continued as soon as firing ceased. Thank gods that those lizards are fighting so stupidly. If they just continued a little longer, all would be over by now. But no, they were stupid and our mechanics were genius. Freezing bombs still worked, so the wall repaired itself quite fast. And as soon as it was a solid ring above water level, pumps started again. Muddy water flowed over the wall at multiple places, but there were filters that separated some of the more solid stuff out from the water and that solid part was dropped on top of the wall. So, at the same time the water level decreased inside, made the walls strengthen, and continuous freezing prevented land from dissolving back into the water.
Also, all remaining recovery units moved all they could from now the destroyed platform to our wall, transforming it more sustainable one than only ice and earth wall could ever be. As soon as some spots of the wall was sentenced to be strong enough, missile shields and laser turrets were installed there, as were radars and sensors. Last remaining ice weapons were divided between surviving mech pilots, so all around the defense perimeter there were always some weapons that could really hurt the enemy, if they managed to shoot fast enough.
Then there was another little surprise to upset the enemy. There was now a circle of floating ice blocks around our Last Stand Fortress. Every block contained also passive sensors that were fixed to monitor blocks next to it and segment of swamp between the wall and it. Too bad that there was not enough of the device parts to make more of those, but our outer detection perimeter was as far as mechanics could get it. The idea was, that when the next attack happens, we would get a warning when they moved between the blocks. And even if they destroy the blocks first, that will warn us too.
To make the task of those sensors more effective, our sensors on the wall were active, and sent continuous pulses towards those ice blocks, where they bounced back and sideways. Those bounces formed sort of a map of our target zone, when there is nothing moving there. Plan was, that when there is something there, the bounces will move differently, and computers can calculate where that additional thing could be. Mechanics even tested that theory using a captured lizard, although only one, but accuracy was quite good. Usually only meters off target, at worst tens of meters. However, the test did not last long, so there could be blind spots or other surprises.
I admit that I was much more hopeful about the future situation now, even if we would still die in the end, but now we could hurt those bastards before they killed us. So we waited. Every able pilot was in his or her mech, not daring to step out for any reason, we could surprise the enemy only once or not even that, but this was our first, last and only chance. Oh that time seemed long... I should be used to this waiting stuff before attacks, but this time I was so nervous. Like any fresh recruit on a first mission. Well, almost anyway, at least my hands did not shake as badly as my actual first mission so long ago.
Bleep. Something is moving in the swamp. Bleep. Bleep. Bleep. Battle A.I. calculated most likely position of every enemy that was detected. As time went by, target area was increased as sensors couldn't keep tracking anything that would be out of their detection field, but time to time they acquired a new lock as something moved through the frontal detection segment. Defending mechs tracked targets that were in their target zone, as precisely as they could. Visual targeting was as maxed out as it could be, I really liked to spot at first sign of a rising mech, so that I could target it as soon as it surfaced.
First shots was fired somewhere on the wall. Something was hit. I did hear explosions, and felt the tremor of my mech when the wall was hit. But I waited. Was that a ripple in it? Or that? Where are you... There, out of my aiming cross hairs, but close enough that I spot it with my own eyes. But before I managed to react, my A.I. shifted its aim and fired everything it had. Surface of the swamp exploded with splashing mud, fire and fog from freezing ice hit. And again the A.I. shot in same general area. And again. Close by laser turret activated, shooting approaching missiles. Then it was all quiet in my sector.
Couldn't see anything moving, didn't see even the surface of the swamp near me. But there weren't missiles either. Somewhere shooting continued, and explosions, but it really did not sound very intensive. Soon even that slowed down. I waited. Was it over? Nothing in the sensor network. Nothing on the radio. Slowly the fog cleared away, and still there was nothing. Nobody dared to do anything else, so we continued watching and waiting. Half a hour. Nothing spotted inside our detection zones but some sensors were alerted that something moved through their detection area, moving out. Another half hour, first recovery unit moved out. Nothing, even when it started to move lizard wreckage towards wall. Another unit moved out, then another, until all were out there trying to collect all that was left behind by our enemy. Stand down order came, only those on sentry duty did stay on standby.
The situation felt unreal. First time after we arrived on this planet, I could think that we won the battle. Wall looked intact. Here and there smoke was rising, either mech or autonomous station, but as a whole, there didn't seem to be lot of damage. All pumps were still working, maybe another day and we could actually walk down there. Captured lizards were dropped in the pool, they would emerge again soon enough. Fifteen I counted. There could even be unused missiles that we could use, they managed to shoot so few this time. Heard cheering. Did shout a bit myself too. We walked around our wall, congratulating each other. This felt so good. Don't know where, but a few bottles of alcohol emerged and were distributed. Not much but all got enough to toast.
We probably will still die here, but we did hurt them. And maybe if we survive long enough, our scout may find the edge of the swamp, and we could try to move out. But now. Now we could rest, for a few hours at least, before the enemy comes back again... Still, all seem to be happy. Funny thing victory, how it could raise moods, even for ones that are sentenced to death.
(again, maybe to continue)
Submitted by Kalevi Karvinen#863817