Some memorable quotes from other SLAMMERS novels.....
The howitzer still rocked with the sky-tearing echoes of its twelfth round. Chief Lavel was laughing. Only when he turned and met Craige’s horrified eyes did he realize that he wasn’t alone in the crew compartment.
Craige massaged her ears with her palms. “Ah,” she said. “The guys wanta know, you know . . . are we dismissed now?”
Drives moaned as the gun mechanism filled its ready-use drum with the remaining shells in storage. Lavel put his palm against an armored side-panel to feel every nuance of the movement. It was like being reborn. . . .
“Not yet,” he said. “When the last salvo’s away, we’ll police up the area.”
The crew compartment was spacious enough to hold a full eight-man crew under armor when the howitzer was changing position. The 200mm shells and their rocket charges were heavy, and no amount of hardware could obviate the need for humans during some stages of the preparation process.
The actual firing sequence required only one man to pick the targets. The howitzer’s AI and electromechanical drives did the rest.
It didn’t even require a whole man. A ruin like Chief Lavel was sufficient.
He glanced at the panoramic screen mounted on the slanted armor above the gun mantlet. A light breeze had dissipated much of the smoke from the sustainer charges. They burned out in the first seven seconds after ignition. High in the heavens, streaking south were dense white trails where the ramjet boosters cut in.
The beryllium fuel was energetic—but its residues were intensely hygroscopic and left clouds thick enough to be tracked on radar.
The residues were lethal at extreme dilution as well . . . but the boosters ignited at high altitude, and it wasn’t Alois Hammer’s planet.
Besides, Via! this was a war, wasn’t it? There was always collateral damage in war.