Ten Thousand Fleets Chapter 12: 12. Targets

Read chapter 12 of Ten Thousand Fleets by DavidNiemitz on NovelPedia.

12. Targets Academy Hill, Vidako Imperium Stellarum September, 2847 Doctor Vogel clicked forward to her next slide, and the projection showed a divided image of the Spiked Terror on one side, a T-3 Tyro training mech on the other, and the silhouette of a human between them. A ruled line rose to both sides at the edges of the image, measuring height. The Tyro , it turned out, was definitely shorter, even at its highest point: a touch over sixteen meters where the top of its ‘x’ shaped chest armor reached above the head where the sensor systems were mounted. The bright red dot of a laser, emerging from Vogel’s clicker, circled around the image of the Spiked Terror. “This animal is taller than your mech, masses more than your mech, and is adapted to the jungles of Vidako. It not only evolved here—under four percent higher than standard Terran gravity—it also survived our mass-lifting operation and the limited terraforming we’ve undertaken. Do not underestimate it.” “I don’t think there’s much danger of that,” Vee grumbled, and Arc couldn’t help but agree with her. He wasn’t about to look down on any predator bigger than a mech. Milla Cieszyński raised her hand. “I don’t doubt it’s very dangerous, sir,” she said. “Especially to infantry caught outside of vehicles. But no animal has mech-grade armor or ranged weapons. Even a Centauran Optics L-27 light laser should burn through its skull nine kilometers out—never mind something heavier.” “If you can get a clear shot nine kilometers out, perhaps,” Doctor Vogel admitted. She walked over to her table and yanked one of the sheets aside, revealing a segment of metal that only registered to Arc’s eyes as armor after a moment. It was so twisted, crushed and deformed that the original shape was impossible to determine. “This is RSiNC light armor plating from the forearm of a Tyro ,” Vogel explained. “It’s rated to resist a 20 millimeter revolving autocannon, ultrasonic claws, and even that light laser Cadet Cieszyński was speaking about. You will notice that, given sufficient time, a Spiked Terror was able to thoroughly demolish that armor.” “The terror’s jaws can exert more force than any predator ever known to exist over the entire history of Terra,” the xenobiologist continued. “It evolved under high gravity conditions, meaning that its bones and teeth are far more dense, its muscles far more efficient, and its circulatory system hyper-efficient. We’ve reduced the gravity of this world by mass lifting, but there haven’t been enough generations for natural selection to substantially alter the DNA of a creature like this. The Spiked Terror—or terribilis cornibus , if you prefer the formal classification—is capable of exerting a force roughly equal to twenty-thousand psi, concentrated at the tip of a tooth like this.” She pulled another sheet aside, and hefted, with both hands, a slightly curved tooth the size of her forearm, showing it to the entire audience. “Even something like that would need time to do the damage that armor is showing,” one of the technical students called down, without raising her hand first. Arc looked back to see that she was slouched in her seat, not bothering to take notes, with curly dark hair only half-tamed by a bun. “It wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t give el monstruo there a chance or two to use the mech as a chew toy.” Cal Madine stirred. “Which means it’s a failure of command,” he said. “A proper camp, or convoy, with sentries and scouting patrols, would see something like that coming long before it became a problem.” “Not necessarily,” Arc said, speaking up before he’d even realized he was opening his mouth. “Of course you don’t want to get in close, but that’s a predator which has evolved to hunt in these jungles. And most predators are ambush predators.” He looked over to Doctor Vogel, and she gave him a nod. “Well, the ambush has been a tactic throughout the entire history of warfare,” Arc went on, all too aware of just how many cadets were now foc