Trail of Evil - eARC Read Online Free PDF Page B

software upgrades to enhance the FM-12s. They were more versatile and capable than ever before.
    “Ground pounders need some cover,” she replied. “Saviors are on it. Deuce out.”
    Deuce, toggled over to the fighter wing tactical net and brought the full battlescape DTM into her mind. The Utopian Saviors all showed blue and fully capable. Deuce looked the battleview over in her mind for a brief second and zoomed in on the planetoid surface where the AEMs and tanks had landed. There was a swarm of AutoGnats, as the mecha jocks called them, buzzing the shit out of the ground pounders. The AutoGnats were very similar in appearance to the old Separatist Gnat fighting mecha but they were run by AI and made much more harrowing g-loaded turns. On the other hand, they were not very creative and good mecha pilots usually tore them up.
    “Listen up Saviors! The ground pounders are getting lit up from above. We need to get in there and pull those AGs off of them and get them up into a ball. Just like the last two missions!” Deuce briefed her team.
    “Same shit different star system,” her wingman Major Timothy “Goat” Crow said. The two of them had been flying together for a couple of decades and he seen some bad days together during the Separatist War.
    “Oo-fuckin-rah, Deuce!” Captain Shawna “Golfbag” Fernandez added.
    “Alright. Form up on your wingmen and dive. Let’s hit fast in fighter mode and target as many as we can on the first run through. When you hit the deck, mix up with them in bot or eagle as you need to. Let’s see if we can pull their attention away from the tankheads. And then we’ll pull them up into a ball and take the bastards out. Maximum velocity with maximum ferocity Marines!” Deuce threw the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) control forward with her right hand and slammed the throttle all the way to the stop with her left. The armored fighter pitched nose down at the planetoid. The star field was blotted out by the dull gray of the frozen rock and the occasional metallic glint from the bot base. Deuce could see flashes all across the surface where the fighting was going on. From the looks of it the AEMs and the tankheads were having a busy day.
    “Deuce, we’re going in hot!” her wingman shouted.
    “That’s the plan, Goat!”
    Warning! Surface approaching rapidly. Pull up. Pull up. the Bitchin’ Betty chimed.
    Deuce waited until the last second to kill some of the throttle and pitch up. She barrel rolled over as she pinpointed several of the bot fighters in her DTM.
    “Mix it up, Saviors!” Deuce shouted. She noted the location of her wingman just to the right and behind her. He was flying in hot but not as fast as her. He’d be able to cover her six.
    Warning! Collision imminent! Pull up. Pull up, the Bitchin’ Betty continued.
    “Oooohh . . . fuckin’ . . . rah!” Deuce grunted through the gees as she toggled the control marked “F.” The armored fighter plane rolled right and pitched forward as giant mechanical arms and legs rapidly unfolded from within it. Deuce somersaulted into a full run as her thruster boots slammed into the planetoid’s surface. The maneuver generated enough of crazy spinning acceleration that she had to choke back bile and squeeze her abdominal muscles until they nearly burst just to keep from blacking out.
    She rolled judo style across the surface to use up some of the extra momentum she was carrying. The bot-mode mecha bobbed, weaved, and bounced like an Olympic hurdler fighting a karate match. The impact of the surface against her mecha made vibrations that translated into the cockpit as earsplitting pinging, clanking, thudding, and screeching sounds as she continued.
    “Guns, guns, guns!” She shouted as she pointed the cannon in her right mechanized hand at an AutoGnat that was strafing overhead. She flipped over several hovertanks engaged with enemy tanks beneath her. She tracked the enemy bot fighter across the sky with orange