"I'm spying a small cluster of signals nearby," said the pilot, "I'm bringing us down."
The Revanite stealth gunships dropped down and opened up, letting Kayla, her teammates, and their squads of Revanite Stealth Troopers file out and make their way towards their destination on foot. Suddenly, Kayla gasped.
"NO WAIT-"
But it was too late. A chasm of spines made a beeline over to the group and managed to impale and kill eleven troopers instantly.
"What the fuck was that!?" barked a trooper.
Kayla placed a hand on the ground and concentrated.
"…I sense a presence… Three to five… Dead ahead," she said.
Nezarr placed a hand on the ground.
"…She's right…" she said.
"Wait a second, these damn things can burrow?" asked Brodmar.
"Always could," said Geza.
"Well, this is great… So how are we going to get in close without getting impaled?" asked a trooper.
Kayla pondered for a moment.
"…Who's packing concussion grenades?" she asked.
The troopers raised their hands. Kayla looked over at the other Hunters and raised her hands. Brodmar, Geza and Nezarr nodded, and each raised a trooper, then they slowly… Ever-so slowly… Moved them over to where the targets were hiding.
"Hehe, hey guys, look, I'm flying," said a trooper.
"Quiet corporal," said another trooper.
Kayla and Nezarr stopped moving their troopers, then the boys did the same.
"Hurry," said Geza.
The troopers each dropped a concussion grenade, and they were all pulled back over to the group. Multiple explosions were heard, and five large arachnid-like Zerg came up from out of the ground and let out roars of pain.
Lurkers.
"What in the!?" exclaimed the corporal.
"Target on the green!" barked Brodmar.
The troopers started blasting and gunned the lurkers down without a second thought.
"Go, go, go!" barked Geza.
The Hunters and troopers charged and stumbled upon a small Zerg Hive Cluster, a cluster that came with infested colonist support.
"Those who oppose the Overmind shall feel the wrath of The Swarm!" roared a colonist, "take them!"
"Light them up! We'll cover you!" ordered Geza.
The Zerg were on the attack. The Revanite Stealth Troopers started blasting again while the Hunters jumped in and began cutting through a bevy of the vicious aliens.
"Gah! Damn bugs!" snapped a stealth trooper.
The stealth trooper gunned down one zergling after another and went to help his comrade with a hydralisk.
"Gah! Bastard shoots spines at you," said the second stealth trooper.
"Really?" asked the first stealth trooper.
As if to answer his question, the hydralisk before them fired a burst of spines and forced the Revanite soldiers to roll out of the way and resume their attack.
"Don't try to use your rifle to block those blades if you find yourself tripping up on your own feet," said the second stealth trooper, "the lieutenant tried."
"What?" asked the first stealth trooper.
The second stealth trooper pointed. The first stealth trooper turned and saw that a third stealth trooper was lying on the ground dead, with his rifle broken in half and a hole in his chest.
"Oh…" he said.
As the two stealth troopers continued to spray the hydralisk with blaster fire, a Mandalorian Warrior dropped onto the creature's tail and jammed his knife into its flesh. The hydralisk reeled back and roared, allowing the two stealth troopers to fire and fill its face with charred holes. The hydralisk collapsed.
"Thanks," said the first stealth trooper.
The Mandalorian Warrior nodded and took off on his jetpack. Just then, the second stealth trooper let out a pained groan and doubled over, feeling something pierce him in the gut. The first stealth trooper jumped back and saw something… Or someone… Appear out of thin air. It was a warrior… A warrior that he had never seen before. The armor resembled that of a Revanite Hunter, but the wearer appeared infected, and the armor appeared to be worn like a suit of carapace armor.
An Infested Ghost.
"Shit," said the stealth trooper.
The ghost pulled out his weapon, an arm blade, and started to approach the stealth trooper when… Orthus dropped in-between the two warriors.
"I'll handle this," he said.
The stealth trooper nodded and took off. Orthus and the ghost looked at each other as their allies battled all around them, for a few moments of silence.
"…You thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Orthus.
The ghost nodded. Orthus pulled his lightsaber into his hand, ignited it, and assumed a Form V ready stance. The ghost reached behind his back and pulled out a cylindrical object; he pressed a button and the object extended, becoming a Bo staff. Without uttering another word, Orthus and the ghost swung at each other and locked weapons.
As Orthus began his duel, over with the others, Kayla sensed something nearby. The young Hunter turned and saw a structure that looked like some kind of horned gaping maw and raised an eyebrow.
"What is-"
But her thoughts were interrupted as a large creature… A creature that appeared to be at least the same size or twice the size of a rancor… Come charging out of the gaping maw.
An Ultralisk.
"What… Is that?" asked Geza.
The ultralisk roared.
"Whatever it is, it's pissed," said Kayla, "FOCUS FIRE!"
The stealth troopers turned their attention to the massive Zerg and let loose a hail of blaster fire. The ultralisk reeled back and roared.
"I think we made it more pissed!" yelled Nezarr.
The ultralisk swung its massive Kaiser blades and cut through scores of stealth troopers in one go.
"Okay, we need air support, and we need it now!" barked Brodmar.
"I'll try to get in contact with the gunships," said a stealth trooper.
"Good, we'll try to keep the beast on us," said Brodmar.
"We will!?" exclaimed Kayla.
Together, the Hunters and stealth troopers focused their attention on the massive Zerg. The ultralisk roared and started to charge at a line of stealth troopers when… Kayla, Brodmar, Geza and Nezarr charged towards the legs. Nezarr threw her lightsaber and sliced the right front leg, Brodmar did the same, along with Geza. The ultralisk reeled back and roared, then it brought is legs back down and attempted to trample the four Hunters.
"EEK!" screamed Kayla.
"MOVE!" barked Brodmar.
The Hunters scattered as the right front leg came down. A small squad of stealth troopers raced over with rocket launchers and fired, nailing the ultralisk right in the face. The beast roared and charged, forcing the troopers to scatter… Save for one… Who didn't jump far enough. One of the stealth troopers looked at the ultralisk after it came to a stop and turned.
"That armor's too strong for rockets!" he barked.
"What!?" exclaimed Kayla.
"Rockets can't hurt that thing… But our lightsabers can," said Brodmar.
"Which means we'll either have to try and jump on top of that damn thing and go for the head… Or try to wait for the gunships to arrive," said Geza.
"…Crap," muttered Brodmar.
Back over with Orthus, the Mandalorian Warrior was continuing his duel with the ghost, all while taking out any Zerg that tried to take him down while his back with turned, albeit with no-look shots from his offhand blaster pistol.
"You're good," said Orthus, "really good… In fact, I can sense that you're not like the colonists we've been killing. You got a name friend?"
"It doesn't matter," said the ghost, "you won't live long enough to remember it."
The ghost came at Orthus again and the two of them locked weapons. The boys broke away and then the ghost pressed a button on his staff, electrifying the ends.
"Uh-oh," said Orthus.
The ghost came at Orthus again, spinning his electrostaff and delivering a sweep attack. Orthus evaded, via backflip and countered with a few quick shots from his offhand blaster pistol, prompting the ghost to spin his weapon and block the shots, then he countered by drawing his side arm and firing on the Mandalorian. Orthus performed a jetpack jump and somersaulted through the air.
Orthus stuck the landing and swung at the ghost's neck. The ghost blocked, spun his electrostaff and brought it down on Orthus, who deflected the strike with his left bracer and countered with a downward slash. The ghost sidestepped and struck Orthus in the gut with his weapon, then he struck the Mandalorian in the face by swinging upward and knocked Orthus on his back with a sweep attack to his face again.
The ghost drew his side arm and fired five shots into Orthus… But there was a problem; the bullets didn't penetrate.
"What the?" he murmured in confusion.
"Why aren't my rounds penetrating… That's what you're thinking right?" asked Orthus.
The ghost gasped and saw Orthus sit up.
"It's called 'beskar' punk," he said.
The ghost growled and prepared to fire again when; Orthus lunged forward and stabbed the infested warrior in the chest. The ghost let out a pained gasp, then he went limp and crumpled to the ground after Orthus pulled out his blade.
"Like I said… He was good… But not good enough," he thought.
Orthus turned towards the sound of the ultralisk roaring nearby.
"WAAAAAAAAAAUGH!" Kayla screamed as she went flyng.
"I AM SO GOING TO DIE!" screamed Brodmar.
"Guys!" Orthus called out, "hang on, I'm-"
But Orthus was interrupted by the sound of gunship cannon fire and missiles being launched at the hulking Zerg. The ultralisk roared and reeled back as the Revanite aircraft unleashed a barrage from above. Bits of the Zerg's flesh and a shower of blood rained down on the Revanites.
"Hit that bastard with everything you've got," said the lead gunship.
The ultralisk started to back away as the gunships kept up their relentless assault, but then it started to make a full retreat to the gaping maw behind it.
"Where the hell is it going?" Geza asked as it entered the maw.
"I don't know…," said Kayla.
She got on the comms.
"Captain, we're going to find out where that thing is going, head back to the fleet and inform them what's transpired here; tell them there will be a high probability that we'll require reinforcements," she said.
"Acknowledged Lady Abaven, activate your homing beacon once you reach your destination," he said, "and good luck."
The gunships turned and flew off.
"Everyone rally to us!" barked Kayla, "we're going after that thing!"
/\/\/\/\/\
"…Kayla… While I'm happy that you cut our pursuit time in half by having us follow that… Thing the same way it left… Can I ask just one thing from you?" asked Brodmar.
"…Yes?" asked Kayla.
"Can we not do that again?" asked Brodmar.
"…Yes," said Kayla.
"I'll say this much… Looks like we found out where that thing went," a stealth trooper said, pointing to a large hive cluster.
"…I'm sensing the presence of four individuals nearby," said Geza.
"More Hunters?" asked Nezarr.
"No…" said Geza, "too faint."
"Well, we're not going to find out just standing around," Kayla said as she activated her homing beacon, "now, let's make some-"
But Kayla was cut off as a nearby zergling let out a high-pitched screech.
"Crap," said Kayla.
The Zerg in the area began to converge on their position.
"FOCUS FIRE!" barked Brodmar.
The stealth troopers started blasting.
"Defensive formation!" ordered Geza, "we need to hold here until reinforcements arrive!"
And so, the Revanite began to try and find cover, all while cutting down a swarm of charging zerglings. Kayla, Brodmar, Nezarr and Geza moved in and ignited their lightsabers, slicing the Zerg to pieces.
"Keep an eye out for the big ones," Brodmar grunted as he impaled a zergling after cutting down two on his left and right.
Geza grabbed a zergling by the neck and slammed it into the ground, snapping its neck, then he hurled it into another zergling and cut down two more of the creatures with swift, clean swings of his lightsaber.
One of the stealth troopers saw a pair of hydralisks making their way over. The commander whistled to five stealth troopers and pointed to the Zerg, signaling them to take them out. The stealth troopers obliged and laid down heavy fire on the serpentine aliens. With a volley of precise headshots, the hydralisks were brought down.
For the most part, things started to go well for the Revanites… Until they heard something that made three stealth troopers look up.
"TEKELI-LI!"
"What the hell!? Those things have flyers!?" screamed the first stealth trooper.
"Always could," said the second stealth trooper.
Seeing that they now needed to fight for air superiority, Orthus and the rest of the Mandalorian warriors engaged the aerial Zerg, better known as… Mutalisks.
"Come on you bastards!" roared Orthus.
The young Mandalorian sliced off the wing of a mutalisk and fired a wrist rocket at another mutalisk's face, blowing its head off and bringing it down.
"I've never faced an endless swarm of adversaries," Duscal said as he flew up beside Orthus and fired on a mutalisk with his blaster rifle.
"I'll say," Orthus said as he dodged a glaive wurm, "I kind of wish my mother was here."
"Hah! Mandalore herself? She'd have a field day," Koga giggled as she torched a mutalisk with her wrist-mounted flamethrower.
With both Revanites and Mandalorians distracted, one of the individuals that Geza sensed had taken up a position and was taking aim at one of the Mandalorians.
"Never know what hit 'em," she said.
BANG!
"ACK!" yelped Duscal.
"DUSCAL!" Orthus screamed as he saw the Mandalorian fall right into the swarm of zerglings.
"Gah! Argh! Dammit! If you bastards want me! You're going to have to-gah-work for it!" he roared as he kicked, punched and blasted the zerglings as they tried to tear into his beskar.
"Duscal, hang on, I'm coming!" Orthus called out as he dove into the swarm.
"Orthus!" yelled Kayla.
The shooter aimed at Kayla.
"Mm? What's this? Planning on saving your little friend?" she murmured.
Kayla, who was using both her main and offhand lightsabers, connected them, and switched to her Form III and Form IV combo as she cut a swathe through the Zerg, unaware that the shooter who knocked down Duscal had her in her sights.
Geza, who had picked up the presence of the four individuals here in this hive cluster, picked up the faint presence of the shooter and gasped.
"Orthus!" Kayla called out as she kicked and impaled a zergling with her saberstaff.
"Gotcha," said the shooter.
She fired. Geza threw his lightsaber and deflected the bullet.
"Eh!?" Kayla exclaimed as she slid to a quick halt.
The shooter gasped.
"Shit!" she muttered.
Geza's lightsaber came back. He looked up at where the bullet came from and frowned.
"Found you," he hissed.