My lonely road Ch.4: Survival
Exeter sprinted into action, weapons drawn toward the foe. However these Space Pirates were a step ahead of him. One leapt right in front of him, pointblank,quantum assault cannonblazing at fully capacity. Exeter was thrown back by the sheer force of the laser weapon, but recovered just in time. Exeter stared upward as another came down on him, scythe fully extended for maximux damage,preparing to rip rightthrough him. Exeter dodged it by side stepping, avoiding the stab. However, the swift moving beast had countered and landed its foot squarely into Exeter's chest.
The crack soldier was flung into the data core, smashing the already damaged computer and turning it into a pile of scrap metal. As he struggled to get back up, two more of these hellish creatures began advancing on him at remarkable speed. Exeter's expression hardened. He (supposedly) had superior tech to these low level space pirates, yet they had the advantage. Why was he losing?
Exeter found out a moment later as they swung their power scythes. He parried them, but felt prickles of pain throughout his body.At the last second, he brought hisrepeater rifles to bear on the Pirates and began unloading shells. The Pirates were sprayed with dozens of bullet shells, momentarily stunned by the speedy counter maneuver and fell dead on the hard ground. Exeter stood up, only to fall down and land on one knee.
I'm still injured, Exeter thought. He and taken enormous amounts of damage during the Splinter attack, and the pint of penicillin morphine was nowhere near the amount needed to heal in a single day. He had forgotten entirely about it when he was modifying his armor. Exeter was so lost in thought; he almost did not notice that one space pirate was still left. And it was calling for help.
"Oh shit!" he said aloud. Exeter attempted to stop it from calling for reinforcements by loading the missile launcher and firing a missile at the lone pirate. Unfortunately for Exeter, the merciless beast had finished just as he fired the missile. It was killed instantly in the resulting explosion, but not before its distress signal was heard. In a matter of minutes, several beams of light came raining down. The beams hit the ground, revealing their contents. They were space pirates, but not the usual kind. Out came several heavily armored Pirates. Exeter took a few moments to scan these rare crack warriors.
These were Pirate commandoes, his scanner showed. They were armed with some of the best gear in the galaxy. They had speed boosters, a shield, heavy guns, numerous melee weapons, grenades, stealth camouflage and hosts of other weapons. Exeter had to be extremely careful now, for they were trained to specifically to hint down The Hunter. Unfortunately, the Commandoes had acted first. They disappeared within a blink of an eye, reappearing somewhere else. Exeter tried to lock on several times to these elusive targets with his missile launchers; however they evaded him at electronic speed, making it impossible for even his computer. He would have to rely on his rifles.
He began strafing the commandoes, occasionally firing a missile and doing his best to avoid them. As the battleprolonged, another squad rained from the murky skies. Great, more commandos, Exeter thought. He needed to end this quickly somehow. Every minute he spent fighting this lost battle, the more space pirates came here. Then it hit him.
The Tyr had some hidden auto cannons on the exterior of the ship that they had not dismantled. Activating them might give him a small chance. All he needed to do was say a verbal command and assign the target.
"Activate auto turrets! Target Non GF life forms!" He roared. The response was immediate. No fewer than twelve security turrets appeared. They directed their fire toward the unsuspecting commandos. It gave him the time he needed. Exeter began blasting the confused and disoriented Commandoes,blasting through their armor with his powerful rifles and getting headshots.
"Sheila, Reboot! Activate signal scrambler!" he shouted into the comm. He would not make the same mistake twice. As the last commando was being exterminated, a singlelarge beam of light came down from the fickle sky. It was another Space Pirate, but it wasn't a commando. As the light around it dissipated, it revealed the monstrous beast inside. It was unlike anything he had ever seen.
This one was bigger, stronger and looked evenmore lethal than even commandoes. It was humongous, nearly 15 meters tall with strange blue glowing body parts. Today was definitely not a good day. The giant took several steps toward him, making the earth quake underneath Exeter's feet. He fired several missiles, but did nothing to stop this colossus.
"Oh boy" Exeter whispered to himself. He fired round after round at the Space pirate, with no effect except make it even angrier. The thing then smashed its fist against the ground, causing a mini-earthquake. It sent Exeter flying backwards. As he struggled to stand up, the humongous pirate stood over him, ready to deliver the final blow.
Will Exeter survive this new menace? Find out later in CH.5