minimize my cross-section. “Taking fire. They know where I am.”
“Be ready to move, Tycho.”
I saw a flash of light. “Go, go!” Andrea yelled.
I ran out shooting, fanning my weapon from side to side. I caught a glimpse of the androids as I barreled by. It looked like there were more than two, but it was hard to tell for sure with their thermoptic camo. I dropped behind a freight loader, knowing they could probably shoot through almost anything with those beam weapons. I was faced with the option of waiting to die behind ineffective cover or engaging the enemy and dying in the open.
What was the saying? Even if it seems certain that you will lose, retaliate.
I rose up from behind the freight loader and retaliated. I started firing to the left of where I expected the androids to be. My first few shots slammed into the bulkhead wall on the other side of the dock, but then there was a shower of twisted metal three meters in front of me. A Jovian military android carrying a beam weapon rippled into view as it fell to pieces. I saw an arm spin away, followed by its head and a section of its torso. Just like my bullets, they all seemed to arc to the right before dropping to the floor and skittering across the dock.
The other androids almost seemed startled, if that’s even possible. One way or the other, they didn’t seem to do anything for a second or two, they just stood there so still I couldn’t even make out the telltale thermoptic distortion in the air.
Not until they all turned and started firing at once.
I threw myself behind cover again, but this time I was able to catch a glimpse of what formation they were using. It was hard to be sure, considering that they were nothing but vague shimmers in the air, but the positioning seemed to track.
“Jovian Alliance proxies. They’re using Turtle formation,” I said.
“Are you sure?” asked Li Fei.
“Three meters from me. Use the dead one as a marker.”
“Copy that.”
He popped out from behind another mooring arm further down the dock. He fired a short burst and got under cover again. This time the androids all responded with an extended barrage, which forced us to keep our heads down. The second beam weapon was still in play, so we had to be cautious.
“I got one,” Li Fei announced. “Looks like there are four left. One directed energy weapon, the rest standard ballistics.”
Veraldi’s voice came through. “They’ll change to Box formation.”
“I’m on it.” This was Andrew Jones, who opened fire a moment later. “Shit, I missed.”
“Change positions, Jones!” Raven called out.
Li Fei’s voice was sarcastic. “Jones?”
In the middle of a firefight, the man had still noticed when Raven used the real name of one of our people. The beam weapon sliced through the air as soon as he said that, followed by Andrew’s voice.
“Holy shit, that was close!”
There was another burst of fire, although I couldn’t tell if it was from their side or our side. The androids had the advantage, even though they had only killed one of us while we had so far killed two of them. They had us pinned down, and at least one of their weapons could go right through our armor. They were using standard military small unit formations, and they had the space completely covered.
Andrea didn’t seem to think they were winning, though. “We need to take out the android with the beam weapon first.”
“Agreed,” Li Fei replied. “But how? If it sees us, it will kill us.”
The androids weren’t firing continuously, a tactic that might have been a much bigger problem for us. Their combat logic seemed to be based strictly on sight cues, with a limited ability to extrapolate where the target would be after dropping out of sight. I’d succeeded in running right past them without being hit.
“I can come up,” I volunteered. “Then one of you can take the shot.”
“No way, that won’t work,” Raven said.
“I think it’s worth trying,” Li Fei replied. “I’ll back you up.”
At first I was surprised—the guy hated me, after all—but then I got it. If he backed my play, he improved his own odds of survival while possibly getting me killed at the same time. It was a win-win situation for him.
“That’s the best plan we’ve got,” said Andrea.
“Okay, then. On three. One…two…”
I came up shooting on “three,” and I ran down the dock for new cover. The android