Keith Laumer - Bolo 06 - Cold Steel_21

with a Bolo assault pod. The enemy will doubtless hesitate before firing on meconsulting with
their specialists to determine if I am an attack craft or a natural meteor. By the time they come to
a decisionI should be safely near the ground.
Or not. I am emerging from the ionization blackoutand I detectthree—now five—now seven
missile traces arching up from diverse points across the continent. They seem to be light nuclear
interceptorsunlikely to do me serious damagebut they could destroy the contra-grav sled I need
to make my landing. My first dutyhoweveris to secure the landing zone. I begin cycling my main
Hellbores from launch point to launch pointtargeting them with a multikiloton blast. Though I
can detect no fixed installation at any of these pointssomeone there will pay the price for the
folly of firing on a Bolo of the Dinochrome Brigade. I am hardly a defenseless drop ship.
There is a sudden lurchand then I am in near freefall. The first sled has given outeither its
power cells depletedor damaged by a reentry burn-through. No matter. There is one last use I
can make of it. I remotely fire the links holding the lower sled to the upper. My audio detectors
pick up the rending of metal even in the thin air. Then the sled slides out from under mea metal
mattress the size of a schoolyardits bottom charred and still glowing white hot in places. I
transverse one of my secondary batterieslock onto the sledand fire a half-second pulse.
The sled explodes into flaming chunks just as the first missile closes on my position. I watch as
the missileand two of its companionsalter course to home in on the false target I have provided
for themtheir nuclear fireballs blossoming a safe kilometer above me. That still leaves four
missiles closing on my position. I increase my battle screens to full powerand compute firing
solutions for the remaining missiles. I begin to transverse my secondary batteries. I have four
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