Star Force: Penance (SF49) Read Online Free PDF Page A

through tiny holes in the energy barrier. Same with the primary turret
that was roasting distant tanks and infantry with its single cleansing beam,
but most of the enemy hoard were now below its firing angle, up close against
the city walls, which in some cases were only lightly armored building
exteriors.
    That said, there was no way for the enemy infantry to
get inside the perimeter without blasting a hold in either a building or the
gates that had risen up to cover the gaps in between the structures, making for
a crude, jerky line rather than a curved exterior, given that this city and
others were constantly expanding. Morgan was glad they’d included the permanent
defense protocol in the colony mandates, giving them a way to shut off access
to the city from the ground at any stage of construction.
    As she was running forward, now about a kilometer away
from the nearest Scionate a pale white beam shot over her mech and hit one of
the tanks ahead, moving down slightly as it fired and bisecting the rectangular
slab with little effort while also vaporizing a few infantry on the far side
where the beam sliced a narrow trench into the ground that erupted with a
backblow of soil and moisture.
    That meant the first hoth was finally unpacked and
into play, something she was grateful for as a large group of tanks and
infantry began turning towards her mechs, with them soon to be overwhelmed.
    “Alright guys, this is it,” she announced to the
cluster. “Don’t dig too deep or you’ll be toast. Hit and fade and pull them
away from the others. Fighting retreat if possible. They’ve got the numbers, so we have to split them up…and remember to give the
hoths some clear firing lines. Watch my back and shoot targets of opportunity,
we’re about to bust them up and I’m not sure how they’re going to respond. Play
it conservative until we get a feel for them.”
    There were no responses from the other mechwarriors,
given that none of them knew her personally. They were all acolytes and lower,
mixed in with a lot of Regulars that also weren’t very experienced. Those that
were were either fighting on the fronts or positioned
to more valuable worlds. Admat was low priority, but per Star Force protocol
they didn’t underdefend any world, meaning these mechwarriors had decent skills
but were nowhere in Morgan’s league and they knew it, preferring to keep a
respectful quiet as they headed into battle…though that wouldn’t last long
before they started chatting at each other coordinating attacks.
    Morgan used her superior skill and familiarity with
the neo to goose her speed, running faster than the others could do without
tripping over their own mechanical feet and pulling ahead of her star slightly
as she popped up both mauler cannons on her mech’s arms and started firing at
the nearest tank…completely ignoring the infantry until they got underfoot. She
haphazardly punted one of the armored cats that didn’t move out of her way as
she tore through the shields and armor of one of the tanks that couldn’t quite
manage to keep her in its primary sights, giving her the opportunity to kill it
quickly without having to suffer a main cannon strike to her shields.
    Her neo was covered with hundreds of infantry blasts,
which she knew would add up eventually, but right now, at the beginning of
battle, it was the tanks that were the most dangerous so she swerved to her
left and attacked another one from the flank, melting it with her maulers
rather easily, taking only 9 hits before she dropped it to the ground unpowered
with large chunks of the machine dripping in molten globs onto the grass and
setting it on fire.
    Soon there was smoke billowing up in multiple
locations as she and the other mechs hit the tanks, all the while the now two
hoths were sniping more further back in the lines on a regular basis as they
slowly walked forward. Morgan watched her shield strength closely, backing off
twice for a run through open field