It was Squad Commander Rodney Malton. "Um, sir, you may want to see this" The younger officer handed Reeves a pair of binoculars. Looking through them, he watched as a tank came into focus. A big tank with the black and green camoflouge markings and the sword-in-sunburst emblem of the 2nd LOT.
A 100 ton Behemoth, if Reeves remembered correctly from his field manual. That thought was promptly confirmed by Malton. "It's a Behemoth, sir, and it's heading our way." He was right- the 100 ton tank's turrets swiveled, constantly locked on the infantry camps below. "Sound the alarm!" Reeves shouted to Malton, who was already on his way.
There was no need to do that; a salvo from the Behemoth's dual class 10 large bore autocannons did better than any alarm could have. The high caliber rounds tore through the infantry tents below, sending the newly awake platoons into panic. Below, soldiers were running to and fro, trying to reach their equipment and commanders before being hit by the explosive rounds. The Behemoth pressed on, shooting salvos at the camps all the while
. It was now merely 100 meters away from Reeves' platoon, inside the effective range for the infantrymen's Diverse Optics AT lasers. Firing squads now trained their weapons at the tank, just under the turrets. "Fire!" Reeves shouted. Gem colored beams of coherent light shot out at the enormous tank, frying off armor from the generously protected machine. The Behemoth stopped firing at the camp, elevated its turrets at Reeves' platoon, and fired. The autocannons and short range
missile racks made short work of Reeves' jump infantry, clearing the roof of them and their equipment. From that salvo, only Reeves, 4 soldiers, and one laser were left. Cursing, the gunner trained the laser on the Behemoth and fired. Reeves didn't expect anything from one laser against a huge tank. Neither did the Behemoth's commander, who was laughing when the red beam penetrated the armor plating on the front glacis, and touched off the fuel tanks. The 100 ton machine was rocked in multiple explosions and became Reeves' first fireball.
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