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partial data feeds that his whole command observed.   His own units with good positions could visually observe the advancing alien units to supplement the feeds but kept radio silence.  Looking through his tank’s periscope Ericson could see that the spider-mechs at the ends of the advancing line were very close to some of the concealed units.  He prayed that they would remain unspotted and that his men kept their cool.  Half of his unit was made up of green recruits, as casualty rates had been horrendously high , but the newbies had been spread out with the veterans to stiffen them up.
    A great deal of his plan depended on the combat walkers, a military innovation introduced in the 2030s.  The walkers were autonomous, quadrupedal robots with a weapons mount on the back of their thick stubby bodies.  They were approximately the shape and size of a horse with a sensor array where the horse’s neck would be , and stood on narrow legs that allowed them to traverse most rough terrain.  While a tank company had only 10 tanks, including the command tank, they had a swarm of 18 combat walkers to support them.  Two special transporter vehicles would both remotely control and transport the walkers. The walkers acted in the hybrid role of a light fighting vehicle and infantry support for the tanks.  Every walker was armed with a machinegun that could be supplemented by either anti-tank missiles or a chain gun.
    Sweat was beginning to form on Ericson’s brow and he was sure everyone else was just as tense.  Watching the tactical display count down the distance between the Newts and the camouflaged tanks was nerve wracking.  While he couldn’t see Lieutenant Nguyen, who commanded the robo-jockeys, he had fought with him before and knew he’d do his job.  When the Newts had advanced within 2000 metres of the tanks the six combat walkers rose up on their legs from their prone positions and each fired an improved anti-tank missile on the same central walker.  They then ducked back down, popped smoke and fell back towards the overpass directly behind them.  The missiles were self-homing and contrails of smoke showed them closing the distance as supersonic speed. 
    The air was suddenly full of laser flashes.  The Newts had data-linked fire control that multiplied the lethality of their machines by synchronizing their weapons to act as a whole.  Their beam weapons now worked together in an anti-air capacity.  Four of the missiles exploded in mid-air.  The last two missiles struck the targeted spider-mech dead on.  Great balls of flame erupted on its upper, frontal armour where the shaped charges detonated, trying to burn through the molecular armour.  Both warheads left great blast marks on the surface, but black smoke only boiled out of one of them, where one warhead had penetrated.  However, the mech looked like it was still quite functional as it and a number of the other walkers returned fire through the smoke.  Their shots hit the empty ground that the walkers had vacated.  The advance of the spider-mechs picked up as they tried to close the range on the walkers. 
    Each combat walker had one missile remaining. They continued to run for the cover behind the overpass, their weapon mounts traversing to the rear.  Emerging from a depression in the ground they fired again at the same spider-mech.   Lasers flashed again at the missiles. Five more exploded in mid-air, the sixth staggered the damaged spider-mech, but it still didn’t go down.  The lasers then targeted the escaping walkers which were running flat out at 30 kph.  The combat walkers didn’t have much of a chance.  Four out of the six walkers disintegrated into metal flinging fireballs while the fifth and sixth walkers managed to dodge and clear the corner. 
    1800 metres…  1700 metres…  Three more of the combat walkers popped up over the top of the overpass shoulder and fired another barrage of six missiles.  The damaged spider-mech had