Chapter 1
Coastline East of Armadi
3:36 PM
Maya took a deep breath and tried to savor the fresh sea air around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had a carefree moment like this, and above all else she was just thankful that they were able to find a beach that was relatively untouched by Robotnik's corrupting presence. There was no pollution to be seen and the air was remarkably clean, even for a place only hundreds of kilometers from Robotropolis. She leaned back onto her hands and watched as the others enjoyed themselves energetically in the ocean and on the beach.
"Throw it back, Ms. Maya," she heard Sissera call to her from somewhere amongst the crowd. At her words, Maya blinked and snapped out her thoughts to find a frisbee lying a short distance away. She reached over to the plastic disc and plucked it from the sand.
"Alright, I'll try." Maya tossed it towards Sissera as best she could, smiling meekly as the disc swerved out of the way and nearly hit Vladimir. "Sorry," she called to him as he grabbed the frisbee and returned it to Sissera.
She enjoyed being near the ocean a great deal. The cool breeze felt wonderful, and the unique smell of the sea was very refreshing. But despite all of this, even when she was younger she never really cared to play about on the beach. She brushed some loose sand from the fur on her hands and continued to watch the others. Given that she rarely had such an opportunity to interact with her friends directly she wanted to join them, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up. She would certainly regret it later when her joints and bones ached from the exertion.
Instead she decided to continue to simply enjoy the atmosphere. Watching the others enjoy themselves was almost as enjoyable, and seeing Marcus so happy was particularly fulfilling. She often felt so sorry for him, having the best years of his life stolen by Robotnik. The most they could hope for was that they would be able to at least stop Robotnik one day, even if it was too late to save Marcus' childhood. She smiled as she saw him following Stanley about, sticking close to him in the shallow waters lapping at the beach. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about Robotnik.
At least everyone else seemed to be thinking of something else. Even Seltic, who was normally content to sit by himself and think about something no one else understood, was participating in the activities. Although he wasn't particularly interested in the frisbee game going on, she could tell that he was enjoying a little time in the water. His sister on the other hand was very thoroughly enjoying her part in the game, and she had been one of the most enthusiastic about coming to spend the day at the beach.
As she sat in thought, Kyros launched the frisbee at the mass of other players. Kyros was rarely enthusiastic about anything anymore, but with all of the trips into Robotropolis and getting shot at, Maya could hardly blame him. When she mentioned the possibility of taking the day off, he didn't outwardly express any strong desire to come along, but she knew that he was glad to be there. Above all else, she knew he was glad to be there instead of Robotropolis. After the events of their last major confrontation with Robotnik, he often expressed his disapproval of returning to the city more often than was absolutely necessary.
Tantalus danced after the frisbee as it neared him, catching it moments before it struck the ground. He always seemed to get along with the others, regardless of what was going on. Maya had never said it to his face, but she was very glad that he was a member of their group. He often expressed his concern for doing anything dangerous and wasn't in a hurry to put himself in the way of harm, but he always did what she or Kyros asked. She was also glad that he hung around Kyros so much, since some of his positive qualities had rubbed off on the echidna over the years.
The sight of Vladimir snatching the airborne plastic circle with a smirk was an odd sight. He was always a loner, even in social circumstances, and rarely conversed with anyone at length other than his best friend Stanley. But, while he often didn't show this side of himself, Maya knew that Vladimir thought a lot of the others. He thought nothing of putting himself between hostile robots and his friends, and he had saved her from harm more than once.
The sight of Kaplain sitting on the sideline alone was no surprise to her. Even though he had been with them for nearly a year and a half, he still hadn't bonded with the group completely. He normally spent most of his time with Seltic or helping to repair things that he was able to. His relationship with Seltic was to be expected, since the the tenrec practically saved his life. Kaplain had since proved himself to be a very valuable member of the group, since his knowledge of mechanics went well beyond what Seltic knew, and there was a decent amount of things that had fallen into disrepair before he arrived.
Despite his place in the group's social structure, Maya knew he was sitting the game out because of his health. Although he had recovered almost completely from the injuries he sustained from being deroboticized, Sissera told them that he would have some lasting effects. He got winded fairly easily, and if he exerted himself too much he could trigger chronic pain that would last for hours. As she looked on, his eyes tracked to meet hers. Her own smile was met by his as he stood and brushed loose sand from his white shirt.
"Enjoying yourself?" she asked the deer as he strolled toward her.
He stopped a short distance away and shielded his eyes from the blazing sun overhead. "Yeah, it's very nice out here. I'm just trying not to overwork myself," he said to her with a smile. "You looked like you could use some company."
"Sure, any time," she replied, making room for him beside her by moving a cooler. "You want a drink?"
"It is hot out here, what did we bring?" he asked as he took a seat next to her.
She lifted the lid of the cooler and angled it at him, "Just water, sorry." She handed one of the bottles to him as he nodded in approval.
He twisted the cap from the bottle and gulped down a large swallow. "Thanks." He took a deep breath of satisfaction and idly picked some loose sand from the cleft in his hoof before asking, "So, how much longer do you think we'll be out here?"
Maya smiled and looked at her watch. "Well, I'm willing to stay out here as long as everyone wants, but I'd say at least a couple more hours. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves."
"Okay, sounds good." He laid back onto the beach towel he sat on and placed his head on his hands. "It is nice out here, I'm not in any hurry to get back to every day life."
"Me neither dear," Maya replied as she took a bottle of water for herself. "In fact, I thought it would be nice if we could stay the night and come back out here a little tomorrow too."
Kaplain looked over to her and replied, "That does sound nice, but where would we sleep? It'll probably get too cold to sleep out here tonight."
"I think Seltic put a survival kit in each of the SWATbot pods. If I remember correctly, they had a collapsible shelter in them. We should have enough blankets and heaters to keep everyone warm with that, I would think."
"Oh, okay." Kaplain shifted himself into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. "I think I'll just take a nap for a while then. If I'm not awake by the time that you plan on leaving, just wake me up."
"Alright, sleep well." Maya contemplated the idea of joining him for a moment before deciding to search through her pack for an old book that she had brought along. She had owned it since her youth, and even though she had read through it five times already, she always found it relaxing to read her old novels. Even if no one was around to write new ones, she could enjoy this one once more.
After a couple of hours of reading through her book and taking breaks to watch the others, Maya was beginning to grow a little hungry. She glanced at her watch and noted the late time with passive amusement. Most of the others had already retreated to the beach to actually rest some before heading out, so she decided that she would go ahead and gather everyone up and prepare to set out. She yawned loudly and removed the pair of sunglasses she was wearing before sitting up. With a final brush along her shirt to remove sand, she rocked onto knees and stood up.
"Time to leave?" Tantalus asked her from a short distance away as he caught sight of her standing.
She nodded and replied, "I think so, I'm going to see what the others say, but I'm ready to head out and get something to eat."
Kyros opened his mouth to add something to the conversation but was interrupted by a piercing crash of thunder from the distance. Kaplain snapped awake at the blast of sound and glanced around in a groggy stupor. "What was that?"
Maya turned to face the direction of the sound. As she observed the coal colored clouds rolling towards them from the distance she replied, "Oh dear, it looks like a storm."
"Better get the others from the water then," Seltic said.
"Yes, we can't take any risks," she answered. She glanced towards the ocean to see Marcus, Stanley and Sissera already leaving the growing waves to join them on the beach. "I don't suppose we've got much choice now, it looks like the weather is going to get very nasty soon." She walked toward the three approaching and met them partway.
Marcus met her gaze and asked, "Ms. Maya, do we have to go?"
She bent over to look him in the face and placed her hand on his head. "I'm afraid so dear, it's about to start storming, and it's dangerous to be in the water now." She looked up to the other two and went on, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starting to get a little hungry, so I think it's a good time to leave anyway. We can head out and find somewhere to set up camp and get something to eat."
With their nodding approval, she turned back the community on the beach. As everyone gathered together she repeated herself, "Okay everyone, since there's a storm on the way and it's getting late, I think it's a good time to go on and leave. Hopefully if we leave soon we'll be able to find a good spot to set up camp before it starts raining too hard. Any objections?"
At the silence that followed she added, "Alright then, let's go. The woods should provide some cover from the storm, and if nothing else it should make it harder for Robotnik to spot us with an air patrol or something if he is in the area." She looked around toward the tree line in the distance. "I don't think it'll take us more than a couple of minutes to get in, maybe we can be set up within an hour or so."
With a final determined stomp, Kyros forced the last spike holding the over sized tent down into the ground. He checked the strength of the metal pole once more before announcing, "Alright, that should do it."
Everyone who had been waiting in the two SWATbot pods while the rain pounded overhead filed out directly into the new shelter. Maya analyzed the thin plastic roof and walls and said, "Thank you dear, I was afraid that the wind was going to be too strong for this thing to survive."
Kyros pondered the howling winds that had buffeted their pod with incredible ferocity just minutes ago before subsiding without a trace. He removed his rain soaked coat and tossed it into a corner before replying, "Yeah me too. At least things seem to have calmed down for now." With a glance at Seltic he added, "Thanks for volunteering me for the job of setting this thing up. I thought it was supposed to be fully automated."
Seltic shrugged. "Me too, at least it folded out by itself. I guess it couldn't anchor itself though."
Maya interrupted the forming conversations by stepping into the middle of the relatively spacious tent and speaking, "Alright everyone, since the weather seems to have calmed down a little, I think we can go ahead and get something to eat." She looked over to Tantalus and asked, "Go fetch one of the electric heaters."
As he trotted off back to the door of the tent, she directed Vladimir in setting a large pot onto a stand in the middle of the tent. "I hope no one minds, but all we have is some bread and soup. There should be plenty for everyone." As Tantalus placed a small heater beneath the pot and switched it on, she continued, "It's probably going to be two minutes or so before it's warmed up though."
Kyros tossed his coat onto a growing pile of jackets in the corner and said, "Alright then, so what do we do until then?"
Maya shrugged. "You can eat a sandwich instead if you don't want to wait. Or, if you don't mind the soup cold it's ready to eat."
Kyros grabbed a bowl from a box on the floor and began dipping some soup from the pot, followed shortly by Seltic. The tenrec smiled and said, "It's good either way, being cold doesn't bother me."
"Suit yourself," Maya replied, making her way over to a box-turned-chair. "I'm going to have to let mine warm up first, this cold air is giving me chills. We might need to bring out another heater or two."
"It is awfully cold out here, to say it was so warm earlier," Sissera chimed in. "It's got to be twenty degrees outside. It is the dead of winter though, I guess."
Seltic found a seat near the two and added, "Even so, it tends to stay warm near the coastline. It's really unusual for it to be this cold here."
"The weather is always crazy now," Kyros said passively as he stepped away from the pot of soup. "We can probably thank Robotnik for that, whether he intended it or not."
Seltic thought for a moment. "True, but it was probably the storm that did it for the most part. That's how they work after all. Then again, I guess it's Robotnik's fault that the storm hit anyway." After the others shot him a curious glance he continued, "The storm seemed uncharacteristically strong for this time of year and weather, I'm just saying that the pollution given off by Robotropolis probably had something to do with it."
Kyros let out a hollow chuckle. "It's really something isn't it? If he doesn't get us with a laser blast, he'll kill us with a hurricane or something."
Maya looked down and let out a sigh before saying, "The weather is depressing enough, we don't need to be thinking about Robotnik right now. We're supposed to be taking it easy for once." As the rain continued to softly thump away at the plastic roof of the shelter she looked up in thought. "I just hope the rain is gone before we leave tomorrow. If it's still raining we won't be able to go back to the beach."
Across from her, Marcus looked up from his seat on the floor and let out a whimper. "Can we stay another day then? One more day wouldn't matter, would it?"
"We'll see, dear," she replied. The odds of something going wrong from one more day of staying away from Armadi were slim, but they hadn't planned to stay that long and hadn't brought enough food or other supplies.
"I'm up for it," Stanley said, beaming a smile to Marcus
Seltic swallowed a spoonful of soup and said, "Me too, but we probably won't have to. These freak storms tend to disappear pretty quickly."
After receiving confirming nods or shrugs from the remaining group, Maya smiled and added, "Alright then, if we have to, we'll find a way." She looked over to the pot in the center of the room as steam began to rise from its uncovered top. "We didn't bring much more than that though, so save a little for tomorrow, just in case."
As the others began to stand and crowd around the pot, Maya slipped over to Seltic. She placed her hand on his shoulder and quietly spoke into his ear, "Seltic, did you bring a computer with you?"
He raised an eyebrow and lowered his now-empty bowl of soup. "Yeah, I never leave home without mine. What did you need it for?"
She smiled softly and raised a small memory stick to eye level. "I've... just got something I've been working on. I thought it would be a nice way to spend the time."
As the first rays of the sunrise began to filter into the tent through the trees overhead, Kaplain let out a disgruntled sigh and cautiously stretched. He sat up and removed the thin cover he had been attempting to sleep under, then slowly stood. He wiped his eyes and made his way towards the tent entrance, trying to forget his struggle to sleep the night before. The pain that occasionally surged through his body was thankfully becoming more rare as time went on, but he detested every night of sleep that he lost from it. He couldn't help but think of Robotnik and the roboticizer every time he felt the dull pain in his joints, as if he needed anything else to prevent him from forgetting the horrible experience.
He listened for a moment to ensure that the raining from the night before had ended and unzipped the flap. Fresh air and bright light flooded into the tent, damp from the intense rain. He stepped outside and took a deep breath of the wonderful air before grunting in irritation at the discovery of his hooves sinking into the thick mud that had formed.
"Man..." he grunted as he tried to scrape some of the mud away before stepping back into the tent. As he stepped back inside, his foot brushed against a furry white tail.
He smiled meekly as Maya's eyes cracked open and tracked to meet his. "Sorry," he said, moving his foot.
She took a deep breath and stretched. "It's alright dear, I need to get up anyway." She blinked a few times and forced herself into a sitting position. "What time is it?"
Kaplain looked blankly at his wrist to discover that his watch was missing and answered, "Um, I don't know."
Maya blinked again and looked down toward the computer lying dormant beside her. "I guess the computer knows." She flipped the lid of the portable computer up and briefly stared at the screen. "It's only about six, no need to wake the others yet."
As she removed a small memory stick from a port on the side of the machine and stashed it in a pocket, Kaplain asked, "What's that? You been reading inventory lists or something again?"
She smiled and got to her feet with his assistance. "It's nothing really, just a little diary I've been keeping. I thought it would be nice to look back at it some day after this is all over."
"Oh, I see," he said with a smile. "Sounds like a good idea, something to keep your thoughts straight."
Maya nodded and smiled sheepishly. As she looked him over, she questioned, "Are you alright? You don't look so good."
He rubbed his face and grunted. "Didn't get much sleep last night, you know how it is." After an understanding nod from her, he went on, "I think I'm alright now though. Do you want me to go ahead and start loading things up?"
"No need to get started immediately," she replied, looking outside. "We can let the others sleep a little while longer. It isn't like the beach is going anywhere." She glanced at a crate of foodstuffs sitting next to the soup pot from the night before and asked, "Would you like something to eat?"
"Maybe in a minute, some coffee would be nice though. I could use a little energy."
She smiled and stepped gingerly past Vladimir and Tantalus asleep on the floor toward the crate. "I understand completely. I've been needing it for probably twenty years now." As she cracked the lid open and removed a couple of packets she asked, "How do you like your coffee?"
He stepped towards her and rubbed his eyes again. "I can get it. I always have to end up putting more sugar in it or something."
"Alright dear," Maya replied. She set a pot of water on the heater and turned a nob as she continued, "After we get a little something to eat and get things packed up, we can go ahead and set out. I think it's best if we get back out there no later than eight or so. That way we won't get back to Armadi too late tonight."
Behind her Kyros shifted in his sleeping bag. He yawned and spoke up, "Great, I figured you'd want to leave early."
She looked back and replied, "Oh, I didn't know you were awake."
"I wasn't, but the noise you two are making could wake the dead," he replied, sitting up.
"Sorry, but like I said, I think it's best if we don't wait too late. No need to get back to Armadi tomorrow morning."
Kyros stood and glanced over the warming water, frowning slightly. "Yeah, I guess. You want me to go ahead and start loading stuff?"
"You can get something to eat first and wait a bit you want. It's going to be a while before we can get everyone up, you know."
Kyros smiled and pointed at the pot of water. "Hey, if you want everyone awake, just hand that over. I'll have them up in no time."
Maya rolled her eyes and let out a soft chuckle. "No, no, we're not in that big of a hurry."
"Whatever you say," he replied with a shrug. "All of the frozen food is still in the SWATbot pod, right? I don't think I'm in the mood for more soup for breakfast."
"Yeah, but I can't remember what we brought," she replied. She glanced at Kaplain and went on, "You might want to have a look too, it's going to be a while before we eat anything else."
As the two stepped off, she prepared a small cup of coffee and took a sip. They were about out of the supplies needed to make it, and she muddled over the thought of having to head into Robotropolis soon to resupply. There was always something they were in need of, and she hated having to put someone in such danger just to get food.
She took another sip of her coffee and looked outside. At least the rain had stopped, so there wouldn't be any need to stay another day. A calm feeling washed over her as she thought. Things had been going fairly well lately, all things considered. Robotnik hadn't been particularly interested in them, and luck seemed to be on their side. Even the weather was working in their favor for the most part.
She glanced down at the portable computer a short distance away and thought about possibly adding something to her diary before they set out.
"Wow, the storm must have been worse than we thought," Seltic thought aloud as he stared at the forest outside of their SWATbot pod. "These trees have been pretty much destroyed, it looks like a tornado must have come through or something."
Stanley raised an eyebrow and said, "We were lucky then, I don't think our little tent would have stood up to that."
Seltic shook his head with a smirk. "Nope, we'd probably all be dead right now if it hit us directly. If nothing else, it would have probably tossed one of the pods onto us."
"Just like I said, if it isn't Robotnik directly, it's going to be something like that," Kyros added from his seat at the controls of the pod. "Now wouldn't that be a stupid way to die? We've been shot at for years, but a storm could have ended it all right there."
"I know, I hate thinking about it," Tantalus replied from the passenger seat. "Kind of makes you wonder when it is going to end."
Everyone sat in silence for a moment before Kyros' eyes snapped open and he threw on the brakes. The sudden force threw the four around inside the cabin for a second before it came to an abrupt stop. Tantalus picked himself up from the floorboard and glared at Kyros. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the radio blaring a signal. With a groan, Kyros grabbed the handset.
"What's going on up there?" he heard Maya blurt out. Kyros glanced at the mirror on the side of the ship to see the other SWATbot pod slewing to a halt a short distance behind them.
"You're not going to believe this, but I see bots up ahead," he replied into the intercom.
"Are you serious?" Seltic asked from the back, leaning around his seat.
Kyros pointed out of the view port, indicating a number of figures milling around a distance off. Periodically one would turn to face them long enough for the piercing red glow of their eyes to be evident.
After a pause over the radio, Maya's voice returned, "How many? What are they doing?"
The four observed the machines for a few seconds. Teams of workers took turns moving steel girders away from them toward a site obscured by a pocket of trees and sand dunes. Kyros spoke into the intercom, "Doesn't look like too many, maybe ten. I can't see what they're doing though, other than moving some stuff around." He studied their movement for some time before continuing, "I don't think we've been spotted yet."
"They have to have seen us, maybe they just think the pods are on their side," Tantalus thought aloud.
Seltic slumped back into his seat. "It's not going to fool them long, we don't have up to date IFF data, and when bots don't come out they're going to come investigating soon."
"We'd best move then," Stanley added unnecessarily.
"Right," Kyros replied. He clicked the button on the radio once more and said, "Maya, it's not going to be long before they come to check us out. I think we should move off, then walk in and investigate."
Maya's voice immediately responded, "Alright, let's go before something happens. You lead."
Kyros placed the handset back onto its holder and grabbed the controls. "Hang on guys," he said as he lifted the pod off. The pod shifted slightly as it rose into the air, pressing everyone back into their seat as it lurched forward. Kyros circled the ship around and backtracked several hundred meters back into the forest. At the first sight of a clearing in relative seclusion, he set the pod down.
At the sound of the second pod setting down a short distance away, he stood and motioned for the others to follow him through the circular hatch on the side of the ship. Damp air poured into the cabin as the metal door slid open, revealing the foggy forest around them. The door on the other pod creaked open, followed by its passengers filtering out into the clearing. Maya anxiously trotted over to Kyros, concern plastered on her face.
"So, what exactly did you see?" she asked without pause.
Kyros looked back toward the general direction of the beach, as though he could still see the robots. "I don't know, there were some bots there. They were moving some hefty looking building materials somewhere, but I couldn't see what they were doing with them." He glanced back at the SWATbot pod and added, "I didn't see much in the way of security. We could probably get close and have a look without too much risk."
Maya sighed and looked down. "We really don't need to do anything dangerous, that's not why we're out here." Noting Kyros' disapproving expression, she conceded, "But, I guess it couldn't hurt to know what Robotnik is doing out here. It's always good to get a jump on him if he's planning something big."
"But what could that be?" Sissera asked as she approached. "It's not like we're near anything important out here."
"That could be the point," Kyros replied. He looked back at Maya and said, "I say that we not take any chances."
"Alright, it sounds like the best thing to do. What do you suggest?"
"There's no need to go in swinging," Seltic added. "We should probably just do a little scouting first. Besides, we didn't bring much weaponry."
Kyros nodded. "We don't need to bring everyone then, I'd say that just me, Seltic, Stanley and Vladimir should go." He pointed at the pod behind him and added, "The rest of you should probably have these things ready to go in a moment, I can see too many things that can go wrong."
Maya looked nervously in the direction of the beach and said, "Alright. We'll be ready to come get you if anything goes wrong. Let's just hope that they won't have anything too serious with them."
As the sounds of the robots working began to become clear a short distance ahead, Kyros motioned for the others to slow down behind him. He peered around a tree and tried to discern the moving shapes ahead through the thin fog surrounding them.
"We're close now, get ready to run if something happens," he spoke quietly to his comrades.
After receiving confirming nods, he crept closer to the clearing ahead. As the sparse fog began to disappear into the open beach, Kyros removed a pair of binoculars from a pouch on his belt and began to observe the scene ahead. It was still impossible to tell what they were doing, but the machines were now easily recognizable. Five of the robots were busy hauling beams and sheets of material off, while a handful of others were patrolling about the scene.
Kyros handed the binoculars to Stanley and pointed toward a hill a short distance away. "This is your specialty, maybe you can get a better look from up there."
"What did you see?" Seltic questioned as Stanley headed off toward his destination.
"It's strange," he replied. "It looked like fairly routine construction work, but I don't understand one thing."
"What?" Seltic asked without need.
"They're all Sahrians. I saw at least two zebras, a meerkat, a hyena, and a lion."
Seltic raised an eyebrow and looked toward the construction site. "But, why would Robotnik have robots from that far away here?"
"Perhaps they lived here already," Vladimir interjected as he continued to scan the trees around them for a possible ambush.
"That's normally what I would have thought, but since they're all Sahrians I'd figure that Robotnik shipped them over here for some reason," Kyros replied.
Seltic continued to stare on as he said, "There's probably a reason for it, but I can't imagine what would require so much manpower that Robotnik would have to start shipping in workers from across the world."
"It's a good thing that we decided to check the place out then," Kyros said. "Maybe we'll learn something important while we're here."
The silence that followed was broken by a low hum beginning to form overhead. Kyros immediately recognized it as the hover engine from a SWATbot pod, and led the others in diving for cover. Moments later, the egg-shaped ship barreled overhead, blowing rain drops and leaves from the forest canopy onto the group. As it slowed to a stop over the construction site and began to release the cargo container it held, Kyros stood.
Stanley appeared from the hill he had been waiting on, hurrying down the hillside toward his companions. The porcupine handed the binoculars back over to Kyros and cut him a confused look.
"I don't really understand what they're doing," he said. "I saw what looked like a couple of liquid storage containers being assembled, but I didn't manage to get too many pictures off before the SWATbot pod ran me off."
"Were all of the robots Sahrians?" Kyros asked.
Stanley thought for a moment and replied, "Well, now that you mention it, yeah. I didn't really pay it any attention."
Kyros looked at Seltic and questioned, "You make anything of this?"
Seltic shook his head. "Not without getting close to inspect the containers." He pointed at the binoculars and added, "Maybe the pictures Stanley took will shed some light on it. It could well be just some mundane construction. Fuel containers or something?"
Vladimir snapped to attention from behind them and said, "Trouble."
The others glanced around in confusion for an instant before Kyros caught sight of a robot a distance into the forest. He couldn't make out any details, but its shout said everything he needed to know. "Intruders detected!" the machine screamed to its companions.
Without a word, the four raised their weapons and opened fire. Beams of energy stabbed at the robot, obliterating trees and sending debris spraying into the air. As a smattering of fire returned, Kyros knew it was time to leave. He let off a five second full auto burst from his laser rifle to suppress their enemy before shouting, "We're at a serious disadvantage here, we need to go, now!" He reached for the radio transmitter on his belt and bolted back toward the clearing where they had left the SWATbot pods. "Maya, we're on the way out. We've been spotted."
The lack of return fire was soon broken by the sound of SWATbot pods lifting off a short distance away, and Kyros couldn't resist letting out a relieved sigh.