Sometimes, only a main battle tank will do

Sometimes, only a main battle tank will do.

It was one of the newly deployed ‘Commander’ tanks. So named, as they were designed to dominate and take command of a battlefield. It was the first tank to be deployed with a viable rail gun able to deliver a kinetic spike at nine times the speed of sound. It had a more conventional 105mm gun with explosive rounds, a 7.62mm mini-gun and a belt-fed grenade launcher. It’s weapon systems were largely automated, simplifying operations down to two people, a driver/gunner and a commander. If necessary, the tank could be fully operated by only the driver/gunner....

Anton dropped into the driver’s position. The tank was in hot standby mode. He picked up the controls which had been deliberately matched with those of popular games consoles to minimize the cost of training operators. The tank responded, it’s engine roaring as it accelerated. He swung the tank forward in a tight circle taking out the gate house, Shadowstone troopers running to escape the collapsing building. The two armored personnel carriers were firing their main weapons, 25mm bushmaster cannons, rapid fire rounds smashing off the Commander’s armor plates. They were unlikely to destroy it, but they could blow a track off bringing the tank to a halt, or damage the external weapons, or sensor arrays.

They were less than forty yards away, point blank range.

Anton used the console to select his first target and pulled the trigger.

There was a slight momentary hum, then a whip-like crack as the rail gun fired.

Heat fins glowed behind him, the rail gun system jettisoning waste heat. The eleven pound kinetic spike traveling at two miles per second rammed into the middle of the turret of the APC on the right, which promptly evaporated in a fireball. The backwash of the explosion vibrated through the Commander tank’s hull. A counter on Anton’s Heads Up Display dropped from fifty to forty-nine. Another dial marking the heat dissipation spiked into the red for half a second before returning to green.

Anton didn’t waste any time wondering how many rounds the rail gun could fire before heat became an issue. If he needed to break the tank using it he would. He pivoted the tank's turret slightly to the left, bringing the rail gun to bear on the second APC. Its main gun continued to fire bravely, taking out the grenade launchers on the left hand side of the Commander’s turret. The launchers exploded, a ball of flame enveloping the tank, obscuring Anton’s vision for a second.

The flames blew away, the APC resolved. The HUD indicated the target with a red cross-hair pointing at the middle of the APC's turret.

Anton pulled the trigger, there was slight recoil, the Commander tank rocking back momentarily as the rail gun cracked again. The top of the APC disappeared, the wall of a building two hundred yards behind it imploding as the remnants of the kinetic spike tore it apart.

Anton floored the accelerator. The tank surged forward between the burning wrecks of the APCs.

It was time to hunt for the main power substation for the site.