When the Devil Dances

But when the other two lifted, they would be in a position to rake Forty-Two’s position from the north. The question was whether to engage them as they came in view or after the leading Lamprey.

“Sergeant Darden,” he called to the driver. “Swing us around to the south side of the moraine with the gun about forty degrees to the angle of the slope. We’ll take the current Lamprey as it bears then continue around the slope to engage the others.” He switched to the SheVa frequency and glanced at the battlefield schematic. “Twenty-Three, prepare to move out. As we engage the first Lamprey, engage the first of the trailers. The we’ll gang up on number three.”

“Got it, sir,” called the other gun. “Time to show these ACS pussies what ‘heavy metal’ really means.”

* * *

Duncan just sighed as the ground really started to shake. The secondary screen showed another hill — this one much less artistic; it had buildings sticking out of it — coming apart as the second SheVa went into action, its cantilevered gun pointing to the east.

It suddenly occurred to Duncan that the gun was not pointing particularly high in the sky. He looked at the gun, looked towards the probable target and had just enough time to say: “Oh, shit,” before the weapon fired.

* * *

The rounds for the SheVa guns used the equivalent of a battleship 16” gun “max charge.” The bullet, however, was a sabot round, a depleted uranium “arrow” surrounded by a thermoplastic “shoe.” The bullet, therefore, was very light compared to the standard 16” gun “round.” And instead of a rifled barrel, which permitted a round to stabilize in flight by spin, but also retarded the speed of the round, it was a smoothbore. The barrel was also extended to nearly three times the length of a standard sixteen-inch barrel, thus permitting more of the energy from the charge to be imparted to the bullet.

Since round speed is a function of energy imparted versus round weight and barrel drag, the round left the barrel at speeds normally obtainable only by spacecraft.

The plastic “shoe” fell off within half a mile and what was left was an eight-inch-thick, six-foot-long, pointed uranium bar with tungsten “fins” on the back. The fins stabilized its flight. And fly it did crossing the twenty kilometers to the target, trailing a line of silver fire, in just under two seconds. However, such speed and power do not come without some minor secondary effects.

Duncan dug plasteel fingers in the bedrock as the hurricane of wind hit. The sonic boom, which shattered windows and even walls in the hospital down the hill, was almost an afterthought to the wind. It was the wind, driven to tornado speed, which tore at buildings and people throughout Rochester, ripping off roofs, toppling walls, turning trucks on their sides and pitching troops around like bowling pins.

Whatever secondary effects the round might have had, its primary effect was even more spectacular. Simple kinetic impact would usually destroy a Lamprey or even a C-Dec — when the rounds did not explode they tended to punch all the way through the ships. But the designers of the SheVa guns weren’t satisfied with “usually.” So at the core of the SheVa round was a small charge of antimatter. Only the equivalent of a ten-kiloton nuclear weapon.

The effect of the round punching into the ship was obliterated by the rush of silver fire that gouted from every seam and port. For a moment the ship seemed like it would hang together, but then it just came apart in a blossom of fire that consumed the Posleen for a quarter of a mile around. Large pieces, the size of cars and trucks, flew out as far as the human battle lines and bits the size of a human head reached even to Duncan’s location.

“Show-offs,” Duncan muttered, dusting off some dirt. He picked up a piece of Lamprey that had impacted on the hilltop and tossed it in the air. “Sure, it’s easy to do with the right equipment. Try doing it with just a suit sometime.”

* * *

“Target,” said Twenty-Three. “Your turn, Colonel.”

“Right,” Wagoner said. “Try to get some elevation next time; the secondaries on that one shook up the whole corps.”

“Crunchies,” Twenty-Three, called. “What can you say?”

“You can say ‘Yes, sir,’ ” said Wagoner. “And get some cover.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Forty-Two out.” He tapped a control and nodded as the line of travel dropped into place. The target line was plotted and potential secondary damage noted. They would be firing over the edge of the corps, but not near any of the hospital like that idiot in Twenty-Three. And they would be higher off the ground by at least a thousand feet. The damage should be minimal.

“Forty-Two, prepare to engage,” he said over the intercom. “Target in three, two, one…”

* * *

Attenrenalslar cursed as the trailing command ship exploded and began moving his Lamprey from side to side, hoping to throw off the aim of those demon-cursed weapons.