Zephen crouched in the ruins of the building, the camouflage systems of his armor engaged. Outside, in the dust clouds, the hulk of armor and weapons that had been his tank sat in the street.
The warp mine had opened a pinpoint wormhole under the bow, slinging the hover tank around in a complete circle, slamming it through the pre-Cataclysm buildings. In the process, the mine had devoured part of the forward grav nacelles, destroying them and grounding the tank.
Once he had recovered from the tossing around, Zephen had bailed out of the pilot's escape hatch. With a quick check, he had gotten his emergency kit, but the hover bike had been destroyed at the same time as the forward nacelles.
It was galling to realize that he had fallen, not to an ambush, but to an automated security device. His tail lashed back and forth once at the thought, then he settled back to stillness. Several minutes later, a trio of forms advanced down the street using a leap frog formation. Moving from cover to cover, it took Zephen some time to identify them; Ratlings, humanoid rats and all that implied.
The three moved into the area, making a cursory examination of the buildings. They almost immediately began discussing what they could salvage of the tank. Zephen's grip on the Particle Beam Rifle tightened, but he waited until the lot turned away from him. As soon as that happened, the PBR came up and punched out a three shot burst. The thunder of the relativistic shots completely overwhelmed the sound of the Ratling's head exploding. Rolling the rifle to the right slightly, Zephen's second target died from a longer burst through the chest.
The last Ratling, suddenly knowing it was outclassed, dropped the laser rifle he had been carrying and put his hands on his head in a gesture of surrender. Zephen's helmet speaker activated.
"GiVe mmme onne rrreassonn nnnoT To Killll You nnnow, rrraT!"
Before his prisoner could respond, several things happened, more or less at the same time.
Vehicle caliber lasers streamed down from overhead, ripping the hapless Ratling to shreds.
The tank announced, in the pleasant human contralto of the computer's voice, "Hostile aircraft detected. Crusader is initiating anti-air operations."
With that simple statement, the secondary missile turret belched a dozen short range missiles. The twin barrels of the cupola gun went to rapid fire, slewing around in circles as the battle computer tracked a target Zephen couldn't see.
A moment later, heavy particle beams ripped into the damaged forward section of the tank. Smoke blossomed forth from gashes in the armor, but the tank continued firing at the unseen flyer. Another salvo of SRMs launched forth into the sky, followed by a flight of medium range missiles from the vertical launcher.
There were no further responses from the tank's opponent, so Zephen began to start forward. Three steps forward, the tank announced, "Incoming!"
The cupola gun again began firing, but Zephen didn't stay to watch. Turning and running toward the back of the building, he never saw the foundering aircraft smash into the tank. The resulting explosion caused him to lift into the air, throwing him forward. His landing would not have impressed a flight instructor.