Cross of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas

disappeared somewhere on this world. I should have known. The chances of running into her were about a million to one. I was a fool to have even dared to hope it.
    "All right, let's go. We're here, and they're not," Dragon said. "We've done our part."
    "Alert! Alert! Intruder, Omni aircraft, as marked!"
    "Kiss is on it!"
    "Miss has it zeroed, moving to attack! It's an airtank!"
    "Ahh, scut!"
    "Zeta Unit Area Superiority Heavy Armor Shuttle in mobile fortress mode, altitude twenty two mikes." Sweety flashed a diagram of the airtank on my faceplate. It was a massive, brutal roughly saucer-shaped shuttle that was designed to roll along at low altitude, annihilating anything that moved to impose instant area superiority in the designated target zone. It was very effective. Once it targeted you, you were gone.
    "Mams has it on scope, prep to fire!"
    "I've got the bastard zeroed," Trigger said. "Lockon!"
    "Don't fire unless it goes after us, guys," Dragon gasped. We sprinted up the steps from the basement. We were up in moments, skidding along the upper corridor and bursting out the doorway into the rain. I shouldered my E and set it for canister. I knew canister wouldn't hurt a Zeta heavy airtank but if it discharged a squad of O's I was going to give them something to think about. Adrenalin pumped wildly in my veins. The Zeta was highlighted on my tacmap, a phospho pink glow.
    "It's turning, coming our way."
    "It's headed right for the school."
    "I confirm it's…"
    "Probing! It's probing the area!"
    "Kiss, Miss, Dragon. Fire," Dragon said quietly.
    There was an instant's silence, only the patter of rain on my faceplate. Then an awful, multiple shrieking erupted. It sounded like the very fabric of reality was being violently ripped open. A titanic explosion followed, a blinding flash that lit up the sky for an instant like a bolt of lightning, followed by a deafening crack and a shock wave that rattled my armor.
    "Look out!" A thunderous roar hit us and the sky was suddenly full of flaming wreckage, massive chunks of fiercely burning junk leaving long smoking phospho trails against the sky. It impacted all around us. I dived into the mud against a wall for protection. Wreckage ricocheted everywhere, crashing into the school buildings. Thank Deadman for the Phantoms! Without them, we would have been almost helpless against a Zeta unit.
    "Is everybody all right? Pits, count off!" We did a count, and everyone was there. Flames crept up the walls. The school had been hit and was starting to burn.
    "Enemy intruder eliminated," Redhawk reported. "I'd guess somebody has noticed this."
    "Kiss, evac Pits," Dragon ordered. "Miss, Mams, cover us. Then Miss evacs Mams while we cover you."
    "All right, I'm landing—on my zero!" Redhawk snapped.
    We left the school warily, heading for Kiss's zero. The beacon showed he was hovering over an open area just past a little grove of trees.
    "Legion! Legion unit, hold your evac! Nova, Nova, we're survivors from Augusta Station! We're on the way, Legion! Please pick us up!"
    "Legion armor! Transmission zeroed! Three Legion A-suits, approaching from zero nine eight." Survivors! They were suddenly on my tacmap, three red dots, moving toward the school from out of the foothills below the mountains.
    "Pits, Dragon, on me, engage targets, do not fire," Dragon ordered. "Kiss, hold your position. Miss, cover us. Legion survivors—negative on pickup. Maintain your course. You come to us!"
    "We're on the way!" It sounded as if they were running. We hustled to cover Dragon. We took up positions to one side of the school. I found a fiercely burning section of wreckage from the Zeta unit and dropped prone in the energy field from the flames—comfy! It would be harder to spot me there. I acquired the targets right away. They were hustling over a grassy plain that stretched from the foothills to the school. It was totally open. I switched to xmax. A jagged bolt of lightning lit up the sky over the mountains. It