Ironclad

First Strike

The new ship that had risen up out of the forest floor began to open fire on the Pellet and its crew. Four fast firing autocannons rained down explosive shells on them, with only a second between each volley. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Dasyil was concerned with the introduction of the ship into the fray, but not entirely surprised that they had something hidden.
He held the arms of his chair as the Pellet shook with each salvo of explosive shells that battered the hull. 
Smaller turrets and hallways were destroyed, but it wasn't enough to penetrate the main armour. But the ship was carrying more than just four simple cannons.

Down below on the ground, the earth shook with each gargantuan step that the Pellet took. The metal joints and hydraulics groaned and whirred as its legs lifted and moved forward one after the other. Fallen trees were reduced to splinters under its weight, and the sound was enough to silence animals and birds for miles. 
The Pro-Independence ground forces were moving in, not entirely aware of the arsenal that the Pellet had. But they would still fight valiantly for their cause.
The five tanks that were picked up on the radar were old Enforcer tanks. While not the newest model of it, it was still the same premise of one cannon and one machine gun.
As their treads rolled over the dirt and rock, their cannons took aim through the canopies of leaves and branches at the Pellet in front of them. One by one they all released their shells and watched as they struck the front of the machine. The explosions clouded their vision as flames and smoke plumed outward, but the sound of the legs still moving forward could be heard, and like a demon, the Pellet walked right out of the flames. It's large spherical navigation device on the front looked directly at one of the tanks, and a targeting laser took aim.
The crew of the tank only saw the laser for a few small moments before one of the Pellet's armour shredding gatling cannons took aim and decimated the poorly armoured tank.
In a blink and you'll miss it moment, the soldiers on the ground watched as their tank ceased to exist after the Pellet's gun unleashed a storm of lead, with the deep bellowing "BRRRRT" of death.

Dasyil wasn't worried about the tanks however, he watched the enemy ship's hull split apart on the underside of the ship, watching a huge barrel be lowered out of it and lining up with the Pellet. 
Massive cables and wires connected the barrel to the inside of the ship, which led Dasyil to believe it was a plasma weapon rather than one that used bullets or shells.
Plasma weaponry was very expensive, and with the Pro-Independence forces backed into a corner, nobody suspected that they had the funds or capability to use plasma weapons in their ranks.
The Pellet wasn't built with plasma in mind, a plasma weapon that big would melt the walker in half.
Leaning back in his chair, Dasyil looked over to the weapons stations and ordered "Fire the side batteries at the enemy ship. Aim for the gun that's hanging underneath it"

On the outside of the Pellet, two large battleship like guns took aim at the ship as it hovered above and lined up the shot. It had four of these guns in total, but had two on each side.
The long double barrels of the guns lit up like they had exploded as they fired, sending four artillery shells right at the gun and ship above it. Dasyil watched with his breath held, seeing the smoke trail get smaller and smaller as the shells flew through the air.
There was bright flashes and a gigantic cloud of flame and smoke filled the air where the ship once was.
Keeping his eyes on the explosion, he wasn't fazed when the shockwave rocked the crew and blew down trees.
Some crew celebrated prematurely, as the ship ominously came out of the fire and smoke. It didn't escape unharmed however, as there were visible holes with smoke rising up out of them where their guns had struck. But it was still aloft and the gun was still functional.
The long barrel of the strange weapon began to glow a deep red, and electricity began to arc out of the open chamber where the gun had been lowered from. What looked like lightning was pulsing and zapping everywhere underneath the ship.

The crew in the operations center watched in horror, and Dasyil only had a few moments to react before they would be hit by this terrifying looking weapon. 
Thoughts raced through his mind as he ordered every gun in range to fire at the ship, and he watched as bullets bounced off of the hull, shells exploding and blowing holes into the armour, and missiles being destroyed by the lightning that was coming off of the gun and the chamber above it.
The enemy ship although damaged, continued to charge its weapon. The glow was getting brighter and the lightning more intense, some arcs even reaching the ground below and scorching the ground.

In a rush, Dasyil contacted the ships and the skeleton crews above in orbit "This is Commander Dasyil, we need an orbital strike on an enemy ship in our vicinity. Single shell strike"
River looked to Dasyil and went over to him "We better hunker down then" she said as she sat on a chair and strapped in. 
Flicking a switch, Dasyil turned the lights red and raised blast shields over the whole craft. Any smaller guns that could be retracted into the body were, and the legs stopped moving.
When not moving, the Pellet could lower itself onto the ground and turn itself into a bunker. Its legs folding out and pushing slightly into the dirt for stability. 

Up above, the command went through. The Olympus Mons began to angle itself to fire on the enemy ship. The Atlantis and Everest would watch as the Olympus turned vertical as its main gun pointed straight down at the planet. The crew aboard would hear the hum and whir of the magnetic cannon charging up until it was as loud as a car speeding past.
The weapons team on the bridge would watch out of the front viewport as they pulled the trigger.
An ungodly 'bang' would reverberate throughout the whole ship, and the metal hull itself shuddered in what seemed like fear of the power that the magnetic cannon harnessed. The heavy slug had been let loose, and was hurtling towards the moon at immense speed.

Dasyil, River and the rest of the crew watched through cameras as they watched the flash of the magnetic cannon from the ground, and the slug as it began to brighten up as it entered the atmosphere. Within moments it was brighter than the sun as it parted the clouds and roared through the sky, lighting up the whole battlefield.
The enemy ship seemed to realise too late what was coming towards them, and the enemies on the ground could do nothing but clamber into the small tanks that they had and hope.

In the span of a few seconds the orbital strike smashed through the right side of the ship right as their strange plasma weapon fired. Then everything went white as the explosion engulfed everything.