Chapter 29: Bring the Thunder.
"Looks like they have thirty pop up bases just like this one scattered about across the planet Grand Matriarch," Liam Dimondscale said pointing at a series of bright blue dots on a holographic representation of Raptoria which looked like a giant green ball.
"Hmmmm looks like they have no clue as to the location of the Raptorian underground so they've decided to spread their war effort wide in order to try and maximise their chances of finding an entry point," Tik eleth Mason said clicking her mandibles thoughtfully.
"Indeed, infact only two of the remaining bases are even remotely close to a surface entry point, our cities are scattered far and wide, plus each city can only be accessed from an underground transit network or entry point" one of the command prides that had come up along with fresh troops and curiously a news team said pointing at two of the blue dots.
"Then those should be our top priority, any word on whether there are innocents inside them? Jack asked turning to Liam who was currently working as a liaison between the intelligence teams that were scouring the Scalathor and Draconis network for anything they could find before they discovered not only the intrusion but the loss of their orbital support and locked them out.
"So far we have only identified three bases that are innocent free, they appear to be resupply points rather than real staging areas as we found a great amount of the munitions and supplies were heading to them, it's my guess they are built to receive orbital drops and then resupply the other bases manually, probably due to the high amount of airborne predators that will actually attack ships," Liam said highlighting three of the bases that seemed to be pretty central to the others.
"Target them for orbital strikes, as much as I would love to capture their hardware and use it against them it would be better for all to simply erase them from existence, without supplies coming in the troops on the ground are going to be in a pretty precarious position," Jack said and Tik nodded in agreement.
"We need a way to move our scouts into position at those bases close to the Raptorian entry points quickly, they can then report on enemy troop movement and call in artillery, we need to get those poor hostages being held inside the bases out as well, once routed the Raptorians can move out and seize control of them from their nearby surface access points, they can then use them as surface staging areas to send further troops onwards," Tik said and Jack nodded in full agreement.
The command ride looked at one another and smiled, "I believe we have just the thing you need" they said causing the group to look at one another curiously.
The command pride took them outside to where a series of crates were standing having been just brought up and delivered by Surface Stalker teams with assistance from Clan Mason running heavy security.
"May we introduce you to the Surface Skimmers, they were designed for our Surface Stalkers to move both silently and swiftly when needed" the command pride said pointing to one of the large crates which were currently covered in Raptorians all working together to pry it open so its contents could be removed.
What was pulled out made Jack's day and a grin passed over his face, Tik noticed it and clicked her mandibles curiously at him, "What is it my love?" she asked and he grinned at her showing her that smile that melted her heart every single time she saw it.
"If I'm reading these things correctly my heart then we got a way for Hunters to move like Seekers, well at least on the rivers," he said and that got her attention.
"Someone fetch senior Surface Stalker Vippy and her pride, they are experts on these things and can give you a demonstration," the command pride said and one of the Surface Stalker prides nearby saluted and rushed off, infact Vippy and her lot weren't exactly hard to find, they'd been utterly glued to Smoke ever since he was wounded never going more than arm's reach from him, so find him you find them, Jack was about to call out to them to check their quarters but that's when he spotted the team of little Raptorian war reporters from something they called Pride Life Today News.
They had both Smoke and A'Ramak surrounded over by the mess hall and were barraging them with questions, both of the confused-looking males were surrounded by a pride of Raptorian Surface Stalkers each, Vippy and her pride were surrounding Smoke and it seemed that the pride that had been following A'Ramak around for the past two days had laid claim to him by the way two of them were currently perched upon his broad shoulders.
The war reporters were dressed in a kind of white flack armour with little heavy-duty vests with words on them that Jack recognised as the Raptorian for 'Press' along with little bulletproof helmets, Jack tuned in his hearing to listen in on what was being said curiously.
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"Guardian of Males tell us is it true what we've been hearing that you were wounded in the battle to take this place from the vile male abusing invaders?" the reporters asked pointing their microphones and cameras at Smoke.
"Yes indeed it is true and if wasn't for the heroic efforts of my beloved pride I would have most certainly perished, it is my distinct honour to stand at their sides today alive because of their actions, I believe it to be a testament to what the brave Raptorian people and Clan Mason can achieve here together," Smoke said proudly as he places a hand on both Sema and Vippy's shoulders.
"Surface Stalker Vippy, how was it that your pride male came to be wounded under your pride's watch?" the reporters asked and Smoke baulked at that and as he felt his wives tense he squeezed their shoulders gently.
"Allow me to answer that my loves," he said and Vippy saw the glint in his eye and nodded.
"Have you ever been in battle?" he asked the reporters and he saw them all tense and shake their heads.
"No I didn't think so, battle indeed war is a bloody nasty business, its dirty and its messy and its horrible, but that's why these brave Surface Stalkers fight, so people like you don't have to, so you can have safe peaceful lives, they are the shield behind which all of you are protected and the sword by which the enemies of your people who would harm you or take your beloved males from you die, I am not a Raptorian, I am a Human and we play by very different rules to your kind, in my culture males do not stay home and let thier girls go out to fight for them, we share this responsibility equally, now that is not a slight against you or your culture infact having seen it with my own eyes I think it is a beautiful thing how you choose to protect and care for your boys and I have seen with my own eyes what the loss of a single male can do, but what I am saying is that I could no more let my wives go out and fight for me than they could let me go out alone and fight for them, so instead call this a perfect union of both cultures, we fight together side by side, as both allies and pride united, so yes I was wounded and no it was not thier fault because I know that if they'd have seen it coming they'd have thrown them selves between me and the bullets and right now I might very well be crying over little coffins being shipped back to Raptoria with me as a widower, a fact i am immesurabily grateful for not having happened" Smoke said proudly and he actually saw a couple of his girls begining to tear up.
The reporters looked utterly stunned, that's when the pride around A'Ramak piped up, "My name is Surface Stalker Lepsea and this is my pride, we have been Surface Stalkers for six rotations and let me tell you in all of that time we have never met anyone like these good people, they are brave, strong, kind, honourable and powerful, this beautiful male is called A'Ramak and he comes from the noble Yautja peoples of Clan Mason, he is the most beautiful thing me and my pride have ever seen, but in battle, he is a force of nature, he is like a golden Angel of pure fury sent by the Great Tree to fight for us and drive these invaders from our soil, the first chance we get we are going to take him before the High Priestess pride and marry him" Lepsea said and Smoke recognised her as the Raptorian who had made the loud beep noise when clueless A'Ramak had lifted her tail while she was draping it over him.
Smoke glanced at A'Ramak and mouthed "Proud of you brother" and the big Yautja drew his mandibles up into a happy smile, it looked like the little scaley warrior girls had captured his heart too.
The reporters looked utterly stunned at this but they thanked the two prides for their time then turned back to the cameras, "You heard it here first folks, the Angels of Clan Mason sent from the stars to fight for Raptoria and to win the hearts of our brave Surface Stalkers, stay tuned now for an episode of Loose Males where those beautiful boys will be talking to some of the Scalathorian male survivors rescued by Clan Mason and our Surface Stalkers and recounting what happened to them at the claws of their own kind, you might want to stock up on tissues because trust us you're going to need them, this is the Shimmerscale pride for Pride Life Today News on the surface of Raptoria" they said.
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Tik noticed Jack's focus being drawn and she knew that look well, he was using his Dream Warrior senses to eavesdrop on something, she followed his gaze and saw the reporter pride surrounding Smoke, A'Ramak and two Surface Stalker prides, one she recognised as Vippy and the other little firecrackers of Smoke's pride but the others she didn't know, but by the way, they were sitting on A'Ramak and holding his hands she got the feeling they'd lost one of their eligible Yautja Batchelor to those scaley little Yautjas.
Suddenly Vippy's pride were approached by the pride sent by the command pride and they all turned to look before following them over with Smoke in tow, all of them saluted both the command pride and herself and her husband.
"Hunter Smoke good to see that you're little wives have allowed you the use of your feet again" Tik teased Smoke making him blush.
"Out husband is strong-willed, if it were up to us he would still be in bed but he insists on working" Vippy and the other said and Tik chuckled.
"Trust me girls it is a feeling I know well, if my beloved husband was not so stealthy and sneaky as to slip my grasp in the mornings there are many days that we would have not gotten out of bed or done any work," she said aiming a salacious smile at Jack who simply grinned right back at her, oh how she loved how bold her beloved ooman was at times.
"And if I wasn't a Dream Warrior it would be nigh on impossible to slip my beloved wife's grip, she hugs like red fur mountain bear and trust me, see one of those and you know the meaning of the words 'Bear Hug'" Jack said with a playful grin that made Tik click playfully and proudly at his compliment to her strength.
"We are glad to see that you understand our predicament Grand Matriarch, humans are mighty stubborn creatures, infact we would go as far as to say its almost on par with their beauty, well almost on par, beauty still wins," Vippy said as Freeda gave Smoke's rear a playful pat making the easily embarrassed ooman blush crimson making both Tik and Jack roar with laughter.
"Oh these girls will do so well in the Clan my beloved one," Tik said grinning at Jack and he nodded.
"If this lot and those ones over there currently trying drag poor A'Ramak away to have their wicked way with him are to go by, I'm going to have to agree with you," Jack said and they all turned to look including the command pride to watch the little group of Raptorians trying their hardest to steer a rather confused looking Yautja towards the bunk block, it was like watching a pack of sheepdogs herding a single sheep, well if the sheep was over seven feet tall, built like a walking tank and armed to the mandibles.
The common pride all facepalmed and shook their heads, "our apologies Grand Patriarch and Matriarch, our soldiers are supposed to be professional at ALL times" they said looking like they were about to rush over and chastise the amorous little Raptorians but Jack held up a hand and shook his head.
"No apologies necessary I assure you, trust me when I say myself and my exquisite huntress wife here are no strangers to battle or conflict, it takes a powerful toll on both the mind, body and the soul, the lulls in it are when you must celebrate and give thanks for the fact that you are still alive, no better way than doing the one thing that makes you feel more alive than anything else with the one you love now is there?" Jack said surprising the command pride who all just glanced at one another.
"No we suppose not and we suppose that they are technically not on duty right now, but still we do not wish you to think badly of our soldiers or to believe that they came here simply intending to steal all you males way from you," they all said scratching their chins thoughtfully.
"Exactly so let the girls have a little fun, its obvious that they utterly adore A'Ramak there and by the way he's acting it's obviously mutual and consensual because trust me if there is one thing I know, its that its impossible to get a Yautja male or female to do something that they do not wish to, if A'Ramak was unhappy with the situation all the Raptorians in this place could not move him, I once saw that boy over there headbutt a fire tiger unconscious because it wandered into the park where our cubs play, then proceed to throw said fire tiger over a tree that is taller than that wall there simply because he did not wish to use his firearms around innocent cubs because he was both worried that he would hit them or that the sight would scar them, so trust me A'Ramak is just fine," Jack said proudly and Tik nodded approvingly, she always loved it when her husband complimented her Hunters.
"And besides we at Clan Mason have very strict rules regarding love, we believe it is anyone's truest right to fall in love with who ever thier heart chooses for them, the truest of love is a gift from the divine, we are never meant to know who they are or what face they wear until we are gazing right into it and at that moment we will know, that's why we have something we call the mate hunt back home, a tradition started when females out weighed males by quite a number on our world, if many females were interested in a male then we would call a mate hunt, the male would run and the girls would hunt him down, you have one single twenty four hour period to catch him, only one who's love is true and pure would receive the guidience of the Eternal Huntress to find her prey and catch him, then he is hers and she is his for life, a tradition that is still going strong today, granted we make concessions for alien friends but we count that as what we have begun calling a Star Hunt, meaning your mate hunt has taken place across the stars and brought you to the one who you were meant to be with" Tik said proudly.
The command pride and Vippy's pride both looked amazed at this explanation of the ways of Clan Mason, it was obvious that we kinda two minds about it, Jack could see that their protective instincts were screaming at them to call it barbaric to hunt a male down like he was an animal but they did not wish to offend their allies, thankfully the Dream Warrior saw this in them and decided to head the thought off.
"I know to you guys the idea of hunting males must sound barbaric, but let me clarify it for you, there is absoultly no violence involved what so ever, infact anyone caught using violence to achieve thier goal would face the wrath of the Clan as to us it is a sacred thing and to spit on it like that is to not only spit on the Clan and our ideals but on Paya the goddess of the Eternal Hunt as well because we set it up in honour of her, it is an utterly consensual thing, if someone does not wish to be hunted for what ever reason then they simply say so, they go to our arbiters office and sign a non consent to be hunted form and the Saviours ensure that the person is protected from all enquiries, take young Smoke here, when he came of age that's exactly what he did because he felt he wasn't ready and he wished to focus on becoming a Hunter and serving the Clan, but now here he is in the arms of six girls who wouldn't hesitate to step infront of bullets to protect him, he traveled many light years to drop onto a planet to fight a war and an enemy only to find love, to run through an alien jungle to be captured by six girls who had never seen him or his kind before who then fell madly and compeletly in love with him for no reason that either of then could understand, sounds a lot like divine intervention to me, either the Great Tree or the Eternal Huntress saw fit to put them on course to one another and made his hunt cross the stars" Jack said and he instantly saw the Raptorians relax as his words sank in.
Then he pointed in the direction of the bunkhouses where the other pride had finally managed to vanish A'Ramak through the doors and squirrel him away to one of the rooms, "Same thing for young A'Ramak there, he came to your world to fight, he fought alongside your prides and in so doing proved himself to one of them who the moment they saw him could not look away, but he too finds himself utterly spellbound by your Surface Stalkers, they fought alongside him and proved to him that they are every bit the warrior he is and now he cannot look away either, the rules of the mate hunt are very simple, if your love is the strongest and purest, then you will catch the prey intended for you, if not you will not, its that simple" Jack said and now all of them looked amazed.
Jack turned to gesture towards Tik, "To Yautja honor is everything, many years ago I stood for my beloved one when no one else would, seeing her awoke something in me that I did not understand and realised that I was never meant to, all I knew was that I had to stand for her to prove to her that no matter what came i would be her shield and sword always and in so doing I proved my honour and my heart to her, that gesture in turn showed her that everything she'd ever believed about my kind to be untrue, lies spread by her own kind to oppress those like her, so she in turn made it her mission not only to love me with every single fibre of her being but to show others like her that there was another way, she cast off the chains of her own culture that forbade her from loving anyone other than another Yautja and it awoke her, so she spread her words among other Clans and to those like her they resonated and soon others began to flock to us, my beloved wife became known as Tik eleth the breaker of chains and freer of hearts, now she is Tik eleth Mason, breaker of chains and Guardian of the innocent, right hand of the Eternal Huntress" Jack said so proudly it made Tik's heart swell.
"As my beloved one is called Ack Mason Seeker of truth and justice, Guardian of souls and left hand of the Eternal Huntress, the God Slayer," Tik said proudly and now every one of them looked at him in utter shock.
"Y-Y-Y-You killed a God!?" the command pride exclaimed.
"Well more like tore a dark god from an innocent victim Dream Warrior that he had possessed and handed his arse over to the divine council, but the name kinda stuck," Jack said with a shrug.
"By the Great Tree! You fight Gods!?" they all chorused and Jack shook his head.
"We fight the Darkness and whatever form it takes, Clan Mason was set up with some very simple goals in mind, to provide a place for people like us to live and love freely and to stand for both freedom and justice wherever we are needed, it is the doctrine of the Clan that we stand against evil and oppression where ever we find it, right now it is right here on Raptoria, for whatever reason this Dark Seed that has seduced the Scalathor and Draconis has sent them here to enslave your people, most likely to weaken the power of the Great Tree who gives your people and your sister races life, this will diminish the light and allow the Darkness to spread further giving it power, we will never allow this to happen, so the Clan will stand with you and we will expel these vile invaders one and all and we will bring the light back to Raptoria," Jack said and Tik nodded enthusiastically.
Suddenly out of nowhere, there was a tremendous whooshing noise and they all spun to look just as what appeared to be a fucking huge Griffin like creature landed about twenty feet away, cries of alarm went up and every Raptorian began diving for cover drawing weapons up, Jack very nearly did the same until he spotted something.
"Hold your fire! That's my son!" Jack bellowed using his Dream Warrior's voice to make his voice boom across the entire place freezing every Raptorian and Clan member in place like statues.
Ryan jumped down from the back of the odd Griffin like creature that had six wings folded along its back, along with a large narrow head with a vicious looking beak, he reached up and patted the side of the creature's head, "Hey Matriach! Patriarch! Come look what I found, I think a couple of these might help us infiltrate the next base, what do you think?" he said patting the huge creature which eyed everything around it with huge amber coloured eyes, all six of them.
Jack looked at Tik and shrugged, "Gotta love that cub of ours for a grand entrance or two" he said and she grinned.
"And for thinking outside of the box," Tik said with a chuckle.
"H-H-How is this possible?" the command pride stammered peering up at the huge Griffin like creature as it simply stood there as calm as a giant pet as Ryan fussed it and stroked its feathers.
"Our beloved son is a Dream Warrior like his Patriarch, but unlike his Patriarch, he is a Tamer, Dream Warriors have many different disciplines they follow, my beloved husband here is what they call a Soul Knight, they can communicate with the spirits of the fallen and access the spirit realm, our somewhat crazy cub here being a Tamer can commune with the very fabric of nature itself, he can make plants grow as he sees fit or calm and tame the hearts of even the wildest beasts" Tik explained.
All the Raptorians looked utterly amazed and awed of this, suddenly out of nowhere Jack heard a squeal and Shena appeared like a bolt of golden lightning, running into the arms of her beloved husband, picking him up and swinging him around joyfully, "Not everyone in Clan Mason has a mate of a different species, infact about half the Clan is mated to one of their own kind, freedom to choose is our mantra" Jack explained.
Suddenly the rather regal but now confused looking Griffin was utterly covered in curious Raptorians who were stroking it and examining its feathers, never in their history had they been able to get this close to one of these apex predators of the skies without death following on its many swift wings, but here under the Guardianship of the leader of the Tamers they were safe to see one of the pinnacle beauties of their own home up close without fear, a first in their history.
Now it was time to move up, the Raptorian command prides contacted their opposite numbers in the cities close to where the assaults were going to be taking place and they promised support, apparently the war reports and interviews with Smoke both inside the city and out not to mention A'Ramak's new pride were doing wonders, not to mention the special episode of Loose Males where they'd interviewed some of the braver Scalathor males about their time in captivity had done utter wonders for their recruitment drive and Raptorians were signing up for the Surface Stalkers left and right just for the chance to extract some payback as well as for the chance to meet Clan Mason which they read as a chance to snag themselves a hot alien boy to be their pride male.
But whatever their drive the Surface Stalker numbers were swelling allowing the command prides to a task far more of their veteran prides to operational duties while training of these new Surface Stalker prides commenced.
So they would have additional troops waiting for them at the two RV points where they would meet up with Clan Mason operatives then together they would assault the two FOB's and establish two further Raptorian surface outposts and take not only their resources but their captive males into their protection.
Tik eleth and Jack would be running one assault while Ryan would be running the other, Jack tasked Liam and his team to back up Ryan with the exception of Smoke who was under strict orders to maintain the signals and their connection to the Scalathor military network as long as possible and if at any time he felt the breach was in threat of discovery to utterly trash it with as many viral and DDoS systems as he could throw at it while keeping their own system healthy and clear.
This last point made Vippy and her pride ecstatic because it meant that they knew their male was safe and sound now, though to be fair Smoke wasn't exactly angry either as he knew his strengths, he wasn't a Dream Warrior like Jack, a gunslinger and master Hunter like A'Ramak, a berserker and all-out force of nature like Tik, he was the IT guy but Clan mason knew the value of every single person in its ranks and used right the IT guy could be your best of friends or your most deadly of enemies, because there was nothing like fighting blind with no help coming, because none of your systems were working to remind you of that little guy sat at his desk tirelessly cleaning up your mess to remind you never mess with the guy who knows code kung fu.
So with the board set all that was left was to move the pieces into place, "Are you sure you know how to ride this thing?" Tik said eyeing the alien vehicle sceptically, Jack grinned at her brightly.
"Is that fear I hear in my beloved wife's voice?' he said playfully and Tik snarled darkly.
"If you were any other male you would be looking for a Battle Angel proctologist to remove your head from your arse for that comment" she growled and Jack laughed flashing her another devious grin.
"There are some definite benefits and advantages to being me sometimes, like being able to pull the knowledge from one of their most skilled pilots right out of her head, now come on my love it's time to ride," he said jumping on the Raptorian Surface Skimmer, Tik growled again but then clambered onto the craft which while it was built for two riders didn't exactly have Yautja or humans in mind when it was designed.
Jack fired up the bike and four powerful electromagnets fired up creating a soft humming noise as their coils charged, the coils began to glow blue and crackle with electricity as the bike compensated for the weight and they lifted up to hover above the ground a few feet, four long arms extended with a coil at the end of them and two more mounted directly under the body, giving the craft a kind of X configuration, it kind of reminded Jack of a pond skimmer bug.
"Whoa!" Tik exclaimed and wrapped her arms around Jack's waist tightly to steady herself.
"Hold on tight my love, make sure you put those devine thighs of yours to good use to clamp the body of the bike because here we go!" Jack yelled and gunned the throttle.
Like a fucking bullet from a gun barrel the bike shot forwards as the magnets propelling it aligned like those in a railgun barrel, it used the planets own electromagnetic field as a propellant which was incredibly smart, technically the thing wasn't hovering it was actually hanging, as the prongs were pulling towards the planet's atmosphere not pushing against it, the body coils were doing that which is what was propelling them forwards, it was like they were one of those little aeroplane toys that you hang from a child's bedroom ceiling by a wire.
The thrust of the little propeller made it have the illusion of flight when it was the wire that was holding it aloft, here the coils at the end of the arms were doing the job of the wires while the coils under the body were fluctuating their frequency in order to propel the bike forwards at incredible speed, the second benefit of this was they were utterly silent.
Jack lead the charge but right behind them, there were two more Clan Mason teams and a whole host of Surface Stalkers as riding two up on the Surface Skimmers as they shot out of the base and dropped onto the river floating well above the surface of the water, suddenly something leapt out of the water to Jack's right and his Dream Warrior reflexes kicked in.
Kicking the skimmer into a slight drifting slide he kicked out the tail end just long enough for Tik to line up, the odd alligator-like fish that had leapt at him instead got a face full of pissed off Yautja powered golden war hammer instead, Tik actually hit the fish with enough force that it caused the hammer to ring like a bell, not to mention sending it flying back the way they came and clearing the wall.
Jack grinned broadly as he imagined the confused Raptorians now gathering around a dead alligator fish that had suddenly dropped out of the sky with a hammer print in its face in their compound, "Nice hit my heart!" he called as they raced forwards with the wind making Tik's predlocks whip behind her making her look even more like a war Valkyrie.
"No one bites my husband but for me!" she yelled back and jack roared with laughter as he took a corner at breakneck speed.
"Whooooo! I changed my mind! I'm so getting me one of these for home!" Tik yelled over Jack's head as they raced along dodging flying fish and felled logs over the water, she looked like she was having a whale of a time and every so often Jack heard the telltale dong of war hammer meeting foolish fish, he also heard the telltale pop of plasma casters going off from behind him indicating that others in their group had opted for the more up to date method of dealing with the aggressive fish.
Suddenly as they rounded one particularly tight bend they saw something ahead moving over the water ahead, infact they saw two somethings, a Draconis scout team and a mechanised column of the Scalathor hover tanks moving along the water.
"Seeker one to all call signs we have an enemy mechanised unit ahead prepare to engage!" Jack yelled into the comms.
"I got the flying rats, you get the tanks my love!" Tik yelled and Jack gave thumbs up.
"All Seekers prepare to engage the armour to leave the scouts to our comrades," Jack said and he got acknowledgements.
The air utterly lit up as Tik unleashed hell from over his head with her new plasma casters and the other Hunters joined in, Jack focused his power and he felt the air around him electrify as everything began to slow, stepping up he used the handlebars to propel himself forwards in a huge leap and all around him the other Seekers were doing the same, he landed on the water and instantly began to sprint.
The Seekers moved so fast that to them the surface of the water was like concrete, they were simply able to run across the surface of it while using their blades to cut the oncoming projectiles that seemed to be moving in slow motion towards their allies as they ran forming a perfect arrow shape on the surface of the river.
"Take out the magazines and autoloaders," Jack said telepathically and all the Seekers instantly fanned out leaping onto the tanks that seemed to be moving like they were stopped in time, lifting their railguns they began to fire right down the gun barrels into the tank's interiors, sending hypervelocity tungsten slugs smashing right through the breach locks and sending superheated shrapnel pinging around inside the tank's armoured shells, this also had the beautiful secondary effect of hitting the ammo storage which was fitted right next to the loading mechanism beyond the gun barrel.
All the Seekers had leapt clear and we already on their ways back to their vehicles as the first one popped like an overripe zit sending its entire turret rocketing upwards like a conical shaped missile.
Jack snatched the handlebars flipping himself back into the driver's seat of the skimmer bike carrying Tik and using his reflexes he dodged right through a slalom of exploding tanks as the others behind them did the same each of the Seekers was extending their aura outwards in a bubble to guide their allies movements around them to allow them to make the corrections by autopilot so not a single Clan Mason or Raptorian skimmer collided with the exploding tanks.
As time seemed to catch it began to rain burning Draconis as Tik and the other Hunters sprayed hot plasma death upwards at them, one dove and swooped to avoid the shots while also trying to make a grab for Jack to unseat him and crash the bike, only to meet Tik's armoured fist coming the other way at incredible velocity.
Infact she punched the Draconis woman so hard that she seemed to utterly fold inwards on herself, she it her with so much force that she shot backwards and was embedded headfirst into a tree trunk like she was a scaly javelin that had been thrown at it, "NO ONE TOUCHES MY MALE BUT ME!" Tik roared so loud she sent birds screaming into the sky in fear from the trees for miles around.
With one last look behind them at the scene of devastation behind them, Jack grinned up at Tik who stroked his helmeted face lovingly before he gunned the throttle and they spread off towards the RV point further upriver to continue the fight.