Seventeen
Dead Village Near Castle Brightmoon
Planet Etheria
3 September 2017
The Sorceress stood underneath the starship Eternia at the base of one of the personnel ramps amidships. She was accompanied by a diminutive Japanese warrior; Captain Takamora. Passive sensors had picked up two machines approaching on a hardpacked dirt road the ran off in the general direction of Castle Brightmoon, and the pair was waiting to see what was coming. Other members of Charlie Platoon were scattered about the immediate area in defensive positions. The opening in the trees was situated roughly equidistant between the two grounded starships, a perfect setup for a crossfire.
The Sorceress advised caution, as the vehicles could not be positively identified without an active scan. While Lieutenant Denton had been unable to positively confirm the presence of Horde warships in orbit, Mirriam had been able to identify two glowing points holding parallel lines across the night sky once the storm had passed.
A blanket of misty fog had fallen across the clearing in the wake of the storm. The sun was slowly burning it off, but it would be a few hours yet until it was gone. Visibility was barely a hundred yards, but it would be enough to see the unidentified vehicles when they arrived.
Takamora hid his anxiety well. He did not like unknowns. Breaking radio silence wasn't an option with two warships in orbit searching for them. If it was Alpha Platoon returning, Colonel Markson wouldn't break radio silence to warn them.
A call came in from the observers out of sight on either side of the road. While they couldn't see anything, they were hearing the unmistakable sounds of a vehicle approaching. The sounds reverberated off the trees, so they couldn't be sure if was one vehicle or one hundred. Takamora passed the word for everyone to be on their toes and issued an order that under no circumstances was anyone to open fire without his direct order. All teams acknowledged the order.
Hohiro glanced over at his companion. The Sorceress stood at ease as if expecting a friend, not an unknown vehicle. Could it be that she knew who or what was coming? If she was reaching out with her telepathic ability, she showed no sign. If it was an enemy approaching, she would have already said something. So, Hohiro felt safe in presuming that it was either a neutral party approaching, or the vehicles that had been dispatched to Castle Brightmoon.
Faintly, the man's ears picked out the unmistakable sounds of something mechanical approaching. He concentrated on the noise as it steadily grew louder. There were also popping sounds. It took a moment for him to realize it was the sounds tires made moving along a gravel road. That meant that the approaching vehicle was on wheels. He glanced again at the Sorceress. She was smiling slightly, whether she was aware of it or not.
On a hunch, Hohiro was about to key the tac net and order his people to stand down when the lookouts along the road did it for him. They sighted the war machine on slow approach to the dead village. A Shrike APC trailed a few seconds behind. The only communication came from the pilots of the war machine saluting the hidden soldiers visible on the thermographic sensors.
Seconds after the alert, both vehicles slid out of the fog. The drivers turned in the direction of the Eternia, driving up underneath the starship to hide under its bulky hull. The war machine pulled up alongside the lower boarding ramp, while the APC parked a further back.
Adrian powered down all systems, the whine from the reactor dying away moments later. He and Jake popped the canopy releases in their compartments and swung the panels up into their locked positions. "Honey! We're home!" Adrian called out, grinning.
Hohiro snorted and the Sorceress maintained a bland expression. Neither was surprised by the greeting, nor particularly impressed.
Colonel Markson strode across the damp grass to join the group. He shivered briefly from the cool morning air. "I've made contact with the other platoons. Lieutenant Howard reports he has successfully made contact with the Sickies."
"Selkies," the Sorceress corrected him. Again.
The colonel continued as if the woman had not spoken. "It took some doing, but the lieutenant managed to convince them that we are not Horde agents. Frosta's people grudgingly allowed Howard to see their queen. Claw's scans should be downloading to Falcon shortly."
Sorceress nodded. Falcon had just told her that she had the scans and was reviewing them now. "What did he promise?" she asked.
"Only that we would make an honest attempt at freeing the Ice Queen from her prison," Markson said. "They felt reasonably certain that it was Shadow Weaver who imprisoned her."
Sorceress nodded. "It would have to be her. I doubt Hordak would even bother. Exile to her kingdom would be enough for him as his forces move across the planet."
"Delta Platoon will be rejoining us later today. As for Beta Platoon, well, things went well up to a point."
Hohiro sighed, "How bad was the firefight?"
"Oh, there was no firefight," the colonel assured him. "Hawk successfully led a small party into Mystacor and gathered intelligence about the current goings on there. They even confirmed that Queen Castaspella is a guest in her own dungeon."
"But?" Adrian pressed.
"I resent that remark," Markson growled.
"There's always a 'but,' colonel."
Markson sighed. "But instead of leaving things as they were, Hawk decided to bring back a souvenir."
"Oh, no," Adrian groaned.
Markson nodded. "However, since Castaspella's cousin is masquerading as her, there's a chance no one will notice that the real one is missing for a while."
"Allepsatsac will hardly make an issue of it lest her real identity be revealed," Sorceress pointed out.
"So, once again we have to save the world," Markson sighed.
"Well, just a part of it. The rest will tend to itself," Sorceress promised.
A heavy silence fell over the group as each pondered what this mission to Etheria would entail. Hordak would not be like the foes they had already faced. He was evil incarnate. Ruthless. Cunning. Utterly without remorse. He would not hesitate to crush all life on Etheria and repopulate it with nothing but his few organic generals and legions of mechanical men. As the colonel had stated earlier, Guardian Command did not have the manpower to fight a full-blown war. Not yet. However, there were ways of fighting wars without overwhelming armies to field. Hordak would soon find out that there were those in the galaxy with the courage to fight on in the face of overwhelming odds.
Hohiro suddenly broke the silence. "We're being watched." Everyone tensed slightly, going on alert. "Off the west just beyond the tree line. About fifty yards away from us."
The group continued acting naturally, as if they were responding to one another. Captain Takamora subtly directed the nearest patrol to intercept the intruders. The Sorceress scanned them with her magical senses and determined that they were just children. Hohiro passed that along and told the team not to scare them unduly.
Anxious minutes passed as the group awaited word from the patrol. There were no calls over the tac net. Nothing. Suddenly, the squad of four men emerged from the forest with two children in tow. The children did not look frightened, nor scared. Not even uncertain. If anything, they appeared to be excited about something.
"You found them," the colonel stated flatly.
"They found us," the corporal in charge answered. The children couldn't have been more than nine or ten years old. While they looked around with open curiosity, their eyes kept being drawn back to the Sorceress. The corporal gestured to the girl. "This is Andre and her friend, Tanith."
Markson stepped forward and knelt before the children. "Was this your village?" he asked the children.
"No, sir," Tanith said, politely. He bravely met the colonel's eyes but could not maintain contact, despite the man putting on his most gentle face.
Andre supplied, "We live in a village across the river."
"Do you know what happened here?" Sorceress asked.
The children turned their young eyes up to regard the motherly figure. "Are you really the Sorceress?" Tanith countered.
"Yes, I am."
"You don't dress like in the pictures we've seen," Andre said, somewhat skeptical.
"Except for the hair," Tanith said.
The children agreed on that point.
Fortunately, the Sorceress had a ready answer for her new look. "This is my travelling attire. And it's considered rude not to answer someone's question."
The jovial attitudes the children had sudden changed to one of sadness. "We know what happened," Andre whispered. "It was destroyed by the evil monsters and their metal men."
"How long ago?" Adrian asked.
Tanith thought a moment. "Many years ago. At least five, I think."
That backed up the sensor readings taken by the starships. They indicated around six years.
"What about the people who lived here?" Markson inquired.
"Not sure," Andre confessed. "Mommy said they went away. Or maybe they were taken away."
"We found no bodies," Hohiro reported. "The people were probably taken away and the village destroyed as a warning."
Private O'Rourke stuck her head out the open hatch of the APC. "Colonel Markson. Call from Captain Majourny. Urgent." She ducked back inside before the colonel could acknowledge the summons.
"Sounds important," Markson said, offhandedly. Jake and the Sorceress stayed with the children while Markson, Cobretti and Takamora entered the carrier to see what was up.
Jo-jo's face filled the main screen in the control center. Though she tried to hide it, Jo-jo looked concerned. When the group appeared on her monitor, she said, "We may have a problem. We have been monitoring Horde comm chatter for almost an hour. Passive sensors have picked up a small Horde force moving due east."
"Heading?" Markson requested, a sinking feeling setting in his stomach.
"Straight for us, or near enough, she answered. "They bypassed the town of Thaymor and seem to be scouting the area. There are a number of unnamed villages dotted all around Thaymor and they appear to be investigating each one."
"We have two children outside who probably came from one of those villages. Is there anything near us?" Adrian inquired.
Jo-jo glanced at something out of view and nodded. "There is one about a quarter mile west of the Singing River." She consulted someone among the bridge crew. "It now looks like the Horde is heading straight for that village."
Adrian straightened. "Well, in the interests of being neighborly, I think we should go and introduce ourselves."
Markson groaned while the normally stoic Captain Takamora broke into a broad grin behind his back. While the Guardian Force didn't come to Etheria with the intent of liberating the planet, they couldn't very leave helpless villagers at the mercy of the Horde if there was something they could do about it. The colonel knew Adrian would take Gatling Arm, Claw and Falcon out to meet the enemy on his own authority as the commander of the group. If he couldn't control them, Markson figured he may as well support them.
The colonel ordered Takamora to pull two squads and get ready to move. The captain didn't disguise his pleasure at the orders. "Well, go on," Markson said to Adrian. "I know you people are just dying to say hello."
"Don't worry, colonel. I'll bring you back a souvenir," Adrian promised, grinning broadly.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Markson groused. Only Private O'Rouke heard it; she and the colonel were the only ones left in the carrier besides the driver up front.
O'Rouke had to cover her mouth and stifle a snicker. If she had looked at her commander, she would have seen a slight upturn of the right corner of his mouth.
Tanith and Andre led the four Guardians through the dense underbrush toward the river. They followed what appeared to be a game trail which had not seen a lot of use of late. A few minutes of travel through the trees brought the group to the main road the passed the dead village on the way to Castle Brightmoon. The branch leading to the makeshift camp for the Earth people was slowly being reclaimed by the forest and would likely disappear altogether in another year or so.
The clinging mists helped to hide them from prying eyes. Sounds from the wildlife were magnified, but the group traveled as silently as possible. A structure soon loomed ahead, a bridge arcing over the placid surface of the river. The location was a spot ideal for entering and exiting the river when the current was suited for such ventures. Tanith explained that there was a ford a short distance to the north where the river narrowed and was shallow enough for people to wade across.
The bridge could not, however, support the weight of the APC. It would have to be taken to the far bank by dropship. The racket from such an operation would be like sending up a signal flare. Captain Takamora and his squads were only minutes behind and heavily armed. They would have to make do with what weapons they could carry and pray the Horde did not bring any heavy armaments to the party.
Once across the bridge, Adrian sent Brad off to the north side of the village to await one of the squads. Hohiro planned to have his second squad covering the road. The two squads would move in to support the Guardians when battle was joined. They would also prevent anyone from escaping to the north or breaking through to the east.
Adrian, Jake, the Sorceress and the two children crept through the underbrush east of the village. They would normally have been within sight of it, but the misting fog prevented them from seeing what was going on. Conversely, if the Horde was already present in the village, they could not be seen skulking about the woods. However, if troopers were scanning the surrounding woods with thermal sensors, the group would be spotted instantly. Of course, the Horde had to suspect that the enemy was close by. Adrian was determined that by the time their presence was known, it would be way too late for the force commander to do anything about it.
Nature suddenly went quiet as a tomb. Adrian stopped and listened, ears straining. Panicked suddenly ripped the silence apart. Women, children and the odd male voices cried out in terror. Some bravely railed against the invaders only to be struck down. Tanith's eyes widened in fear. He heard a familiar voice amongst the chorus of voices. The boy mouthed his mother's name and suddenly tore off through the brush before anyone could stop him.
Adrian deployed Jake and the Sorceress on the eastern side of the village. "I'm going to the south with Andre. You two move in when the time is right. Use your best judgment." All the suits were capable of tapping into the tactical net the platoons used. Then he called Hohiro with an update on the situation. Hohiro responded back that his Second Platoon had met up with Claw and were moving into position. He was deploying Fourth Platoon in the woods near the edge of the road just outside the village. "Wait for Gatling Arm and Falcon to make their move. When they do, take the troopers down. Hard."
Jake and the Sorceress acknowledged the order and moved off toward the edge of the woods.
"He's going to make another one of his dramatic entrances, isn't he?" Jake said.
"You really have to ask?"
Robot troopers emerged like wraiths from the wall of mist as the Horde scout force entered the village. General Drax rode the scout vehicle behind the front line of troopers. It was flanked by troop carriers, with a deployed squad of drones bringing up the rear. Drax was confident that he could deal with anything he might find out here.
The troopers made short work of turning out the villagers. They moved from one shack to the next ordering, and sometimes dragging, people from their homes. Women screamed in terror. Children cried and clutched tightly to their parents. A few men tried to fight back, but the troopers made short work of the would-be saviors. Cowed into submission, they joined the growing group of villagers in the center of the clearing.
Drax climbed down from the turret of the scout vehicle, slow and methodical. Every move was designed to show off his impressive six-foot two-inch frame. He had a powerful build, accentuated by the trooper armor with the red emblem of Hordak's face flanked with batwings emblazoned in the breastplate. The helmet, crowned with a garishly red mohawk-like plume, left only his nose and mouth uncovered. Drax also wore a laser pistol on each hip, in holsters molded into the thigh armor. He strode toward the huddled group of villagers at a leisurely pace, giving them time to take in the superior force around them.
Visibility had increased as the sun slowly burned off the clinging mist. One could now see clearly to the back of the of the shacks. The tree line all around the clearing was still nothing more than grey indistinct masses.
"A starship entered the atmosphere sometime last night. It landed in this general area. If you know anything about it, tell us and we'll be on our way," Drax commanded.
Troopers continued to turn out shacks leaving nothing overlooked. Some of the structures had not been lived in in some time, but that didn't mean there wasn't someone hiding in them. A lone child came running out of the fog to the east and dropped into the group of villagers.
No one answered Drax's demand for information. He raised his hand and gestured; a scout drone lumbered forward to grab at the nearest villager. Before the mechanical hand could reach the intended target, an energy sphere darted out of the fog and slammed into the machine. Tendrils of electricity arced and sputtered all over the drone; the machine jerked and twitched as its systems overloaded and fried. The balancer gyro shorted out and the robot collapsed into the dust.
Two humanoid shadows emerged from the fog to the east. The same direction the child had dashed from. About twenty feet apart, the shadows resolved into a man on the right and a woman on the left. Both wore black jumpsuits with gray across the shoulders. Drax could just make out what appeared to be some type of patches on the shoulders. The man was unfamiliar to the Horde general. However, the woman was very familiar despite the much different outfit; he had heard the rumors that the Sorceress of Grayskull was still alive, but had discounted them as flights of fancy and wishful thinking. Apparently that wasn't the case at all.
Both tapped some sort of glowing medallion hanging from a silver chain around their necks. Drax gaped as suits of power armor constructed themselves seemly out of thin air to enfold the humans in an armored shell.
The Sorceress reached behind her shoulder to grasp the white rod that popped up from its storage place along the spine. The rod expanded into its battle form of a six-foot staff, capped with a representation of a falcon. She snapped the staff up, gripping it with both hands. The tapered end thickened, a falcon cap unfolding from the ball at the bottom end, and the staff split into two pieces. The Sorceress flipped the two halves up and held them like battleaxes.
The male suit completed its formation with a minigun mounted on each forearm. The armored human raised his left arm and pointed it at the nearest scout drone. The minigun spat flame as plasma bolts lashed out and drilled through the drone's formidable armor. The chest plate failed in seconds. It collapsed with its torso savagely mauled by the assault.
Another drone, this one with a weapons pods attached at the left elbow, lined up and returned fire. The pods contained three weapons in one module. The top opening was the barrel for a laser blaster. The middle port was the barrel of a railgun. The bottom port as the thirty-millimeter opening of a grenade launcher. It was the launcher that belched a puff of smoke. Several heartbeats later, the projectile exploded on contact with Gatling Arm's chest plate. The detonation slammed him to the ground, but with no damage other than make him angry.
Jake never got the chance to retaliate. As he was picking himself up off the ground, Falcon slapped the staff in her left fist over her shoulder, magnetizing it to her back, then stepped into the throw, hurling the abbreviated staff in her right fist with all the might the suit could provide. The medium drone rocked backward a step from the strike, the falcon head imbedded deep into its chest. The crippled machine sagged as its damaged systems overloaded. Sorceress raised her left hand, fingers curled as if holding an invisible bowl. The stricken drone rose several feet in the air in response to the Sorceress' magical command. Its failing systems rebelled at the new assault, but in vain. The Sorceress recalled the staff to her right hand, doing even more damage to the drone as it pulled free, and then crushed the machine by snapping her left hand closed.
Drax stared at the mangled mess that had once been a medium assault drone for a second or two before returning his gaze to the Sorceress, now holding aloft both staff pieces and readying herself for the next attack.
Gunfire erupted from among the buildings to the north. More humans showed themselves and blasted at troopers and drones with slug-throwing weapons. The slugs exploded on impact, blasting apart armor designed and shielded to withstand energy weapons. Within seconds, half a dozen troopers, one scout drone and a heavy assault drone mounting a weapons pod on each arm was left in sparking, smoking ruins on the dusty ground.
Another armored man stepped out from between two of the buildings where the new assault was coming from. This one had similar coloring to the one with the miniguns; however, this new one had some kind of claw assembly attached to each forearm. The general's suspicions of this new warrior's weaponry were confirmed when the armored man closed on a trooper and proceeded to systematically dismember the robot with the extendable claws. He then punched the extended assembly on his right arm into, and through, the chest of another trooper.
Drax ordered a retreat to regroup. More troopers fell to enemy fire, but the soldiers did not pursue. Whomever their commander was, he had his troops disciplined enough to not break away in the heat of battle looking to rack up a kill total.
Falcon and Gatling Arm moved ahead of the huddling mass of villagers. Jake barked at them to get down and stay there. Hohiro moved his squad up along the left to take cover among the shacks. The captain moved up to the huddling people, speaking quietly to them and urging them to move out under their cover to the tree line to the east. A few stray shots from Horde troopers scrapped that idea; Hohiro changed his mind and pulled a few more troops over to protect the civilians.
The captain took a moment to look around the battlefield. Everyone was in place to take on a renewed Horde assault that he knew was coming –except one person. Keying the transmit button, he asked, "Where is Cobra?"
Several shacks up on the left, a Horde trooper slammed backward into the closed door. The impact ripped it off its hinges and both door and robot slammed to the ground.
"Never mind."
Adrian followed Andre through the forest toward the south for about twenty yards before turning west. The course brought the pair up parallel to the back of the line of shacks on the south side of the village. Andre pointed to the fourth one from the nearest end, saying that it had been vacant for many months.
Adrian nodded and led the way through the small vegetable plots. The target shack had a garden that had long since died from neglect. There was a closed door at the back, with a window to the immediate right. Neither glass or curtain covered the window. It was, however, large enough for what he had in mind. He could hear an occasional crash as the troopers inside tore the place apart looking for anyone hiding within.
He turned to Andre. "Can you keep a secret?" When she nodded, he continued. "I'm going to show you something cool. I hope you don't scare easy."
"Compared to the Horde, I can handle anything," Andre declared bravely.
"Okay," Adrian replied. He began to change.
Andre's eyes grew as big as golf balls at the miracle taking place before her. Not with fright, but awe and even glee.
Two unsuspecting robot troopers continued to poke around the inside of the shack even though it was clear that no one was hiding within. They didn't often get the chance to cause random destruction, so these two were taking the opportunity to behave in an almost human manner.
Scraping sounds toward the rear of the structure drew their attention only after they stopped making such a racket themselves that their audio processors picked up the noise. The pair turned in unison and stopped dead. Computer brains programmed to deal with almost any situation imaginable by Horde technicians had never envisioned anything like the nightmare the robots found climbing in through the window.
The monster darted forward and slammed its armored right arm down on the domed head of the nearest robot. Metal crumpled like paper, cracking here and there. Sparks snapped, and wisps of smoke drifted through the rents in the now concave dome. The glow in the optics faded away with the computer collapsing into electronic death. The dead robot toppled to the floor in a heap.
The creature returned to the window while the other trooper was still paralyzed, stuck his arm out for Andre to wrap her arms around, and lifted her up and inside. She squealed with glee as her companion effortlessly brought her inside. The silver-eyed nightmare returned its attention to the trooper just in time. The computer brain had finally unlocked and kicked into action. The charging robot met a powerful sidekick from the beast's left foot. It was as if the robot had slammed bodily into a rock wall. The impact left a deep impression in the chest plate and slammed the machine backward into the closed door. The hinges held for only a fraction of a second before giving up and tearing away from the frame. Wood barrier and robot came crashing to the ground on the doorstep.
A gleeful Andre darted nimbly over the prone trooper and scampered across the dusty ground into the waiting arms of her relieved mother. "Mommy! Mommy! I told you and grand ma-ma I'd find a good monster!"
Jake and the Sorceress overheard that pronouncement. Over the private channel the battlesuits shared, Jake frowned, "Good monster? You don't think she's talking about-"
"You really need to ask?" the Sorceress sighed, cutting him off. They both had heard Hohiro's query over the platoon tac net, though neither one had acknowledged it.
"Never mind," the captain said.
The Syngenor stepped out and slammed its right foot down on the prone trooper struggling to get back on its feet. The damage from the kick had been considerable. The foot slamming down like a piledriver finishing the job.
The second robot vanquished, the creature turned its attention to the regrouping enemy force towards the west. It boldly walked across the main thoroughfare to stand between and several feet forward of the flanking Guardians.
"Always gotta make an entrance," Jake teased on the external speakers. Adrian ignored him.
General Drax and the monster locked eyes. A shiver ran down his spine that had nothing to do with the chill morning air. Drax had never seen nor heard of any species remotely like the thing that walked out of the shack. All black, it looked at first like some sort of insect, but wasn't. It took a moment for Drax to realize that what appeared to be bracers on the lower legs and gauntlets on the arms were really armor plates grown out of the creature's flesh. Backward-facing spikes jutted up from below the elbows. The general could imagine those wicked weapons plunging into foes trying to take it from behind.
The entire body was littered with detailing of ridges, depressions and sinew hinting at the power contained within the six-foot frame. An egg-shaped head was covered in horizontal ridges bisected by a vertical spine flaring up and off the apex at the back. Exposed teeth filled a boxlike mouth beneath a nose hidden by more plates rising vertically to meet the spine. The head sat upon a shaft of sinew for a neck and was protected by a tapered collar that flared up and around the back of the head.
All of that paled in comparison to those piercing silver eyes that tapered at the sides. Drax knew instantly that this was no mindless beast. Whether it was found in nature on some undiscovered planet or had been created in a lab, the general saw intelligence in those orbs. Cunning, ruthless intelligence and a desire to do nothing more than what it had been built for. To kill its enemies whether they be made of metal, or flesh and blood. For the first time in his life an emotion washed over Drax that he had never felt in all his years of faithful service to Hordak: Fear. He feared this creature and wasn't ashamed to admit it.
Shaking off the emotion, Drax ordered the frontline of troopers to open fire. Beams of coherent light blasted from a dozen stun wands but had no visible effect. In fact, not one of the beams touched the monster. All of them were stopped short by some sort of force field. Possibly a bio-electric field generated by the creature? An intriguing prospect.
"Troopers! Draw your swords!" General Drax commanded. The hiss of a dozen swords leaving scabbards answered his command. "Dismember it! We'll study it later."
Enemy weapons snapped up while the two armored figures flanking the creature moved to close ranks with the beast. However, the creature snapped up a restraining hand to hold back its allies. Incredibly, it stepped forward and waved the troopers in. A challenge, then. The robots rushed forward, fanning out to encircle the foolish monster. It looked left, then right in leisurely movements. Drax thought the only weapons the enemy beast had were the spikes jutting backward off the back end of the gauntlets and brute strength. He was wrong. A tensing of specific muscles in the forearms caused twin bonelike claws to snap out from beneath the gauntlets of the back of powerful hands. The general began to rethink sending out the troopers.
The Sorceress keyed the tac net with a glance of her left eye to the appropriate icon. "Be ready. As soon as Adrian takes out the troopers, he plans to drop to the ground to open lines of fire for you," she advised. "Claw, he wants you to ensure that the general doesn't get away. If he gets in that vehicle and makes a run for it, make sure he doesn't get far."
"Ja," Brad answered. "Claw and I are ready. Battle form should be more than enough to stop that vehicle. Its armaments are light. No threat there."
Hohiro chimed in. "You and Gatling Arm will still be in the way."
"Shoot around us," Sorceress replied, thankful the helmet hid the slight smile on her lips.
The Japanese man muttered something that was most likely a curse in his native language. "Lady, sometimes you're as crazy as Cobretti."
"No need for insults," she returned lightly.
There was no more time for levity. The first robot trooper made its move. The Syngenor twisted to let the machine impale itself on the left arm spike. It continued the turn, letting the dying machine sail on into the trooper that had been standing opposite it. A second machine darted in only to have its chest plate pierced by a pair of claws. Drax flinched as the shafts punched through the back of the robot. While they looked like bone, those claws were anything but.
With a shocking degree of speed and dexterity for something that looked like a lumbering brute, the Syngenor met each attack twisting, turning, ducking and even dancing out of the way of a sweeping sword. The air rang with the sounds of metal slamming against carapace armor, claws puncturing armor plate.
The fight was over in seconds. A dozen robot carcasses lay sparking and twitching in the dust. The Syngenor turned to face General Drax once more. Long talons curled into tight fists, joints cracking and popping like gunshots. Man and monster engaged in a staring contest with each knowing the final battle between their small forces was about to commence. Who would blink first?
"Get ready," Sorceress whispered over the tac net. She maintained a telepathic link to Adrian so she could relay what he was planning. His feelings almost overwhelmed her with the desire to punish the Horde lackey. But he reigned in those feelings for a more objective goal. One the Sorceress approved. "Now!"
Simultaneously, the creature's hands snapped open, sheathing the claws as it dropped flat on its face in the dirt. Rifle fire pierced the air, popping like firecrackers. Gatling Arm opened up with his miniguns. Claw worked his way along the enemy's left flank, waiting for his opening. Falcon launched the half-staff in her right hand in a repeated mantra: launch-strike-retrieve-repeat. With her left staff, Sorceress deflected laser bolts, the occasional railgun slug and even displayed a wicked backhand, knocking away a 30mm grenade as if she were playing tennis.
General Drax scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash for the scout vehicle, explosive rounds impacting the ground around him. He made it to the driver's hatch, twisted the handle and wrenched the door open. He had just made it inside and slammed the hatch closed when explosive-tipped rounds splashed against the armor like rain on the metal roof.
Drax powered up the drive systems, glancing out the forward viewport. The monster was making a beeline right for him! While the scout was not heavily armed or armored, it did have weapons. Using the fire control panel, Drax swung the turret around and snapped off a blast into the ground ahead of the black terror streaking toward him. It wasn't a direct hit, but the explosion of dirt and blast wave hurled the beast away to right. It hit the ground hard, rolling to a halt on the doorstep of an empty shack. Drax waited long enough to be sure it wasn't getting up to resume the attack, then slammed the scout into gear and backed away from the battle in a bid for freedom.
Several drones did not get out of the way quick enough and were ground under by the vehicle. Drax spun the wheel and turned away from the enemy fire. Rear tires spun, kicking up a rooster tail for several heart-stopping moments before finding purchase. The scout roared away, quickly putting the battle in the distance. The general breathed a sigh of relief after about ten seconds when it appeared that he was clear of the enemy.
He had no idea who he was dealing with.
Sensors picked up something small jetting into the air behind and to his right. The trace quickly got confusing, as it appeared that the object was rapidly growing in size. Drax did not have time to ponder it as something huge slammed into dirt road directly ahead. Drax slammed on the foot pedals, braking frantically, but Claw had timed his jump perfectly. The Guardian stuck the ground in its fifteen-foot battle form and pointed the right arm forward. Retracted claws snapped out and were launched into the nose of the fleeing scout on an extension of Etherium links leading back to the right forearm. The impact stopped the vehicle cold even at its occupant vainly tried to brake to a halt.
"This is as far as you go, Hordling," Brad announced over the external speakers.
In the driver's seat, Drax swallowed the lump of bile suddenly welling up in his throat as an armored hand reached out for him.
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