Shattergrounds

The kiiutan took a moment to breath and take in his surroundings. As he pressed his back to the building, above him he could hear the sound of the yujing troops mobalising. They hadn’t detected him yet. The trihedrons orders had been simple. Dispatch the Yu Jing troops providing covering fire and to aid in the capture of several test subjects.

The sound of reving engines and screeching wheels snapped him to attention. Was it the bounty hunter? What was she doing, now wasn’t the time for her to act? The commotion above him grew.

“Intruder spotted! Take aim! Fire!”

Before he could react, a trooper above him let loose a rocket. It sailed past him, colliding with the motorised bounty hunter. ‘Idiot human….” however, this had provided exactly the distraction he needed. Drawing his shotgun he blasted at the zhanshi, the shot glancing the side of his helmet knocking him unconscious. His cover was blown but it didn’t matter. He turned around the corner of the building, drawing his pistol and unloading another few rounds into two more zhanshi. As the other two members of the team scattered he received a transmission.

The sukeul gazed contemptuously from beneath her helmet at the human. “Like hell I’m waiting for you loosers to get moving. I heard what’s in those pods, how much they’re worth and I’m not leaving here without them!” The motorised bounty hunter spat on the ground and sped off away from her. “Suit yourself…..” muttered the sukeul. She watched the bike speed off into the distance, towards the cryogenics pods. She watched the rocket collide with the bike and the explosion that followed. A smug smirk played over her lips. The following sound of gunshots in the distance, followed by the screams of dying humans told her everything she needed to know. “The coast is clear, let’s move out”

The sound of a firefight could be heard far away in the distance though it had done nothing to deter the Yu Jing forces ahead. Their sights were firmly fixed on the cryogenic canisters ahead of her. “One fire line…. and the rest are past that corner….. very well” The taqeul began to focus. Around the cryogenics tank, a haze of reflective particles began to form. The specialist felt the taqeul’s voice in the back of her mind. “I’ve blocked their sight, move out and retrieve the asset”. She sprinted out towards the cryo tank, into the mirrored cloud. “There it is! Open it” she felt her voice again, guiding her hand to the control panel of the cryo pod. With a hiss the pod opened. She felt the freezing body fall into to her arms. She felt the taquels voice one final time “Now, get her out of….WATCH OUT!”

“One of the troopers carries something of value. Retrieve it”. The kiiutan nodded to himself. As he began to climb the stairs to the building he could hear a rush of foot steps. As he made it to the top floor he saw the zhanshi engineer drop down from the rooftop. “Damn it!” The symbiobomb he had bought with him began to activate and he focused his mind to try and stop the target before he could escape. “No luck…wait” the sound of foot steps hadn’t stopped. Twisting his body around he narrowly missed a jab from the monks pole. He span around, firing his pistol as he did. The monk clutched his chest and began to scream as the alien virus coated rounds began to ravage his body. The kiiutan began to pursue the engineer. “Stop. He’s not your target. Retrieve the object.” Came another transmission.

It was too late. As the mirrored smoke cleared she saw it.The makaul exploded into a cloud of gore. Smoke rose from the barrel of the tags gun. It loped forward towards her. She had no time to react. Her hands reached for her gun but as they did the torrent of flames began to consume her. The taquel ducked down as she simultaneously felt and heard the screams of the specialist as the Blue Wolfs flamethrower reduced her to ash.

“Sukeul triad number two! FIRE! NOW”

Bullets rained down on the Blue Wolf, stripping armour and penetrating deep inside. The tag slumped down in a heap, smoke pouring out of its frame. Another volley from the hmg reduced it to scrap. The Taqeul dashed towards the hvt. “That’s one down…. just one more to go”.

“Commander, cryo tank is confirmed empty. The human made a perfect distraction. Just as you said.” Smirked the sukeul, pressing up against the wall, her sniper rifle trained down the firing line. It wouldn’t be long now before reinforcements arrived. The humans had started to take heavy casualties and the capture of one hvt surely hadn’t escaped their notice. Near the building she head movement. “Makaul, go check that out!”

Bullets bit into the kiiutans symbio suit as he dispatched yet another zhanshi. “Just ahead of you. We’ve confirmed it should be the trooper with the missile launcher”. He cautiously strode over to the zhanshi’s unconscious body. Patting down the body he found what he was looking for. “Asset aquired”. “Good. We will be sending a clean up team soon. Prepare for evac”

The drop pod hit the earth like a comet. The ground shook beneath the taqeuls feet. “Great…. more of them”. The sound of heavily armoured foot steps could be heard marching out of the pod. She tried to focus her mind, sending out pherowear. She felt herself make contact with several targets but it wasn’t enough to take them down.

As she tried to focus harder, to try and remove just one of the new threats, bullets began to spray from corners around her. They were closing in! Had they extracted the other target already? Impossible! She felt her pherowear make contact with another enemy. As she felt it, as if in a blur, a shadow of man blinked infront of her, a blade thrust towards her. A split second before it made contact her symbio mate expanded, deflecting the attack. Seizing the opportunity she focused her pherowear, dispatching the assailant. Around her the sound of the firefight grew louder, the sound of a large explosion came from far away from the nearby fire lane. The situation was looking dire.

“Reinforcements are arriving. The asset has been collected. Prepare to fall back”. The transmission took her by complete surprise. “What asset? Was this the only hvt they needed?” She wasn’t about to ask questions. The trihedron had its own motives beyond her understanding and the middle of a firefight wasn’t the time to be thinking about what those were. “All bodies, begin to fall back!” As she began to retreat, a sygmaa drop pod thundered down near by, rasail boarding teams and their drones pouring out. Falling back she heard the roar of flame throwers, the snarling of viral rifles and the screams of dying humans. Whatever its was she was really here for, she was glad it was over now.

Lists:

Tohaa
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Yu Jing
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