The sound of Kapersky's Goliath feet reverberated across the deserted streets. It was eerily silent, the only sound being the occasional explosion in the distance. They came across dead groups of Marines every once in a while- usually there was nothing to be done with them but take their dog tags, and mark their locations for burial. Tarlton recognized too many of the names. They were looking at what was left of their unit. However, Tarlton noted with a spark of pride, the 114th Dominion Infantry hadn't gone out without a fight- scattered around the remains of each squad were dozens of zerg organisms, blown to shreds by gauss rifle fire. These they avoided- Tarlton knew from experience that just because zerg looked dead, that didn't mean they'd stay that way. He kept his rifle shouldered- if the zerg had been here before, it was only a matter of time before they ran into them. Suddenly, the audio feed in his helmet lit up, and informed him that a link had been established with Ashling.
"I've got two more over here- a James Morrison and Scarlett Letterman. Looks like they got caught out in the open and got ripped up by a couple of Hydralisks. Recognize either of those names?"
"Nope. Probably two of the new transfers from the Tyrador unit. Too bad- they were good fighters."
"Unfortunately, I think that describes a lot of the dead today. Marking their position on GPS. Let's hope they get proper burial after all this is over."
Tarlton turned, and watched while the doctor turned on their suit transceivers. He had the Goliath pilot lashed with some ropes over the shoulder of his armor- so far the stiches were holding up on his wounds, but he very well might not make it to Outpost West.
"Hey boys!" Kapersky's voice squawked into the feed. "Hurry up! If we move any slower, there might not be any outpost to get to!"
"Calm down, Kapersky." Tarlton responded. "We just need to mark these folks. They deserve that much."
Suddenly, the proximity alarm in his HUD lit up- four red dots, representing unidentified flyers, moving towards them at high speed.
"Everybody, stop! I'm tracking four bogies, moving in on our position! Kapersky, your Goliath getting this?"
"No, I don't see anything, but the sensor platforms on this thing are pretty busted up… ok, there, I see them. Their heat signatures match the reported profiles for Mutalisks. Trying to get a missile lock."
Ashling suddenly looked up from the corpses with a start, and drew his sidearm.
"I'm getting into cover. I'll try to find a place to put down the patient- he really doesn't need to be jostled around this much."
Tarlton blinked twice at the audio feed, signaling affirmation, and clicked the safety off his Gauss rifle. This was exactly what he had been afraid of- this is how the Lieutenant had died, during that first, terrible night when the Swarm had broken the blockade. He crouched behind an abandoned car, and waited in silence, watching as the targets grew ever closer in his helmet plot. After a moment of waiting, he got his first look at his foes- sure enough, four mutalisks that screamed over the edge of the building at the edge of the street.
Tarlton looked around for a possible route of escape, and then blinked into his audio feed, linking the squad into a silent, private comm link.
"You got a lock Kapersky?"
"Yup. Missiles primed."
"Take down the lead Muta, and then lay down coverfire. That department store on this end of this street looks sturdy enough- we can hole up in there, where the mutas can't follow us. Try to keep the zerg off our backs until I can get Ashling in there with his patient, and then I'll come back for you. Got it?"
"I'm not too hyped about being the bait, but whatever. Let kick some ass!"
After a moment of simply watching the flock of zerg fliers bear down on them, his visor automatically dimmed as a missile screamed out of one of the Goliath's launchers. It made a beeline straight for the lead mutalisk, and detonated on contact, severing its left wing from its body, and sending it spiraling down to the earth in a spray of blood and charred flesh. It landed on the roof of the building next to the department store- some sort of game shop, by the looks of things.
Tarlton hissed in a breath of satisfaction, and began to signal Ashling to run, when a distress alarm from Kapersky's status feed caught his attention. He tapped into Kapersky's audio, about to ask what was the matter, when a virtual wall of obscenities greeted him.
"Goddamnit, you absolute piece of junk! I ripped up my suit- my Jane- to fix you, and this is how you repay me? Damn, damn damn!"
Each obscenity was punctuated with a bang. It sounded like she was literally beating the controls with her fists.
"Kapersky! I'm reading a malfunction. What's going on in there?"
After a deep, hissing breath, the engineer answered.
"One of the missile tubes jammed up. When I tried to fire, it ripped up some of the servos. I'm lucky the damn thing didn't explode on me."
"Are you still in operating condition?"
"I can still shoot, if that's what you're asking, but who knows when the movement joints might fail. Plus, if there's a leak in the vespene transfer coupling, I'm sitting on a time bomb."
Ashling's voice cut in on the chatter.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have to get moving now! My patient is totally unprotected, and even a glancing blow from a mutalisk's glaive worm will kill him."
Tarlton thought for a moment, and sighed. This was not going as smoothly as he had hoped.
"Ok. We're sticking with the plan. Kapersky, if you think yourself to be in danger, eject, and make a beeline for the building. Until then, hold them off the best you can."
"Can do, sir!"
Tarlton signaled for Ashling to move, and raised his rifle while coming out of cover.. The mutalisks were nearly within the range of their glaive worms- he had seen what those could to men, even men in power armor. His visor lit up with the multicolored panorama of target acquisition and aim-assist servo management, which he navigated with an expert series of blinks, selecting the mutalisk to the far left, and opened fire. A rain of hot lead poured out of his gauss rifle's muzzle, spraying in the spread pattern that he had been trained was the most effective against aerial opponents. A few rounds hit their mark, as was evidenced by the small fountains of blood that erupted from the creature's flanks, but none struck the all important wings, and the monster kept right on flying. After he had squeezed off a few bursts, the mutalisks began to return fire, as the orifices on the end of their tails began spitting out the hot globules of acid which could eat straight through a marine's armor. Several impacted the car behind him, and he could hear the metal his as the acid ate through the chassis. He ran forward and slid behind a truck, hoping that it's thicker frame could withstand a few hits. On the audio link he heard a scream, and saw Ashling's status feed light up red, representing a suit breach.
"Ashling! Report!"
"I'm fine. Acid hit my chestplate and knocked me over when I tried to run. Nasty hole in my armor, but I'm not bleeding."
A series of thuds reported from the other side of the truck Tarlton was behind, and he saw an acid globule fly straight over his head, burying into the concrete about four feet away. Another missile screamed out of Kapersky's sole functioning missile launcher, but missed it's target by several feet. The mutalisks flew over his head, and started to fly back around to make another pass. He imagined that he could hear the cries of the horrid, batlike creatures above him as they lusted for his blood.
"Ashling! Before they come around again! Move it! Kapersky and I will cover you."
"Got it… moving…. Now!"
Tarlton saw Ashling's white armored form leap over a car across a car across the street, pushing his movement servos to the limit, and achieving on foot a speed faster than any street car. After he had made sure that the doctor was about half the distance to the safety of the department store, Tarlton turned his attention back to the nightmarish horrors bearing back down on him.
"Kapersky, how are you on missiles?"
"Just one left, sarge."
"Target the one to the right, and then open up on the middle one with your cannons. Keep em' off Ashling!"
An affirmative light blinked next to Kapersky's status bar on his HUD, and a moment later a third rocket sped towards its' target. The rocket made an arc through the air, and hit its' target on its center body mass. The insectiod zerg flyer disappeared, and was replaced by a spray of red gore, with blobs of green where it's sacks of acid broke. Tarlton aimed his rifle carefully, and opened up on the lead mutalisk. A moment later, he saw Ashling make it to safety out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't going to lose anyone else today.