Chapter 104: Deep Dark.
As they ventured deeper into the bug-dug tunnels, Vessa and her people used a combination of the Serpentinus scans and their natural navigation senses to guide their team downwards.
It appeared that the bugs didn't need any form of light to see down here as the tunnels themselves seemed to be pitch black which even to the little Raptorians who grew up underground was rather disconcerting and somewhat jarring to the senses.
They were used to their tunnels being not only brightly lit but also much more solid than these earthenware ones.
Despite the wall being coated in a thick layer of that strange resin that they seemed to use for everything the whole thing had an almost makeshift and gurrilla feeling to it.
Vessa was relying on her powerful nightvision systems to be able to see down here as despite her eyes being well suited to working in the dark, pitch black was another thing entirely.
This darkness was so complete that it was almost oppressive.
It was so solid that it actually felt like it was a solid entity like ink or tar that needed to be pushed through to progress.
Thankfully their night vision systems lit their way forward up but also had a bit of another issue as the resin that coated the walls seemed to scatter the beams from the torches that were set into their helmets and cast beams of infra-red light about for their night vision systems to work.
At best this was an annoyance as it sometimes bounced the light back at them and caused a bit of flaring which caused the filters to suddenly power down a bit to prevent the user from being blinded and at worst caused rapidly shifting shadows to play tricks on their eyes making them believe there was a movement where there was none.
It was Thomas who eventually gave voice to this annoyance.
"Did the fucking bugs have to make these walls so fucking shiny? It's playing merry hell with my night vision, I keep having to switch to fucking thermal all the time just to see where I'm bloody walking," he grumbled over the local comms net.
"Agreed, I do not know how many shadows I have very nearly shot at now," Vessa replied as she turned her weapon towards one of the said dancing shadows before ruffling her feathers in annoyance at it.
"I have been operating on thermal the entire time, I do not like the brightness of the night vision much and I feel much more at home using solely thermal to hunt anyway," Ziva said from somewhere behind them.
"Yeah but you guys are much more used to it than most of us, you know I never did ask before, what was it like when you saw colour for the first time, well you know colours other than red?" Thomas asked.
They all heard Ziva grumble through her comms in a growling-clicking sound.
"Disconcerting, to say the least, but as my kinda are renowned for I swiftly adapted, and I must say it does have its advantages, like seeing how many different flavours of ooman there were available to me now," she said making a few of both Alpha and Beta pride chuckle inside their helmets.
"Could you not see colour when you first joined the Clan Ziva?" Jex asked as she stepped out to sweep a small side passage with her rifle before stepping back into formation.
"It's an evolutionary trait among my species that we see primarily in the infrared spectrum, it gives great night vision and is well adapted to interpret thermal imaging which we use for hunting, but Clan Mason offers many genetic adaptations to make life easier for all of its species thanks to the smart Xenos of our science hive and one of the things they figured out was how to adapt our eyes so that we can see in full colour while not losing our ability to see in the original infrared spectrum that our eyes were built for," Ziva said.
"Wow, that sounds amazing!" Jex said sounding impressed.
"It's not the only thing that my hive has come up with along those lines, it's because of them and the work of one of our human scientists that all Clan Mason Xenos can not only reproduce with other species without implantation but also function separately from our hives, in the early days we were pretty much reliant on our queens for everything, now we are as independent and as free as they are and this is all thanks to our queen forging a path for all free Xenos to tread if they wish," Fenrill said.
"Is true, kind Xenos of Battle Angel hive take on Beledon problems as if they were their own, kind queens Zara and Citrus took up the plight of the Beledon and fought to help us, in only months after they welcomed our kind onto their world and gave us a piece of it to call our own they had cured many diseases which had plagued my kind for as long as any Beledon can remember, hoof rot, hollow horn, bald tail and so many more simply gone, never to darken our doors again," Pelma said with a soft but proud snort inside of her helmet that they all heard.
"The Clan is about so much more than fighting and warfare, we are dedicated to protecting the universe and all of its occupants in whatever capacity we can and that includes curing what ails them," Thomas said proudly as he moved to the centre of the large group in between the massive Beledon phalanx made up of their Knights.
"It is an ideal that makes me proud to wear the uniform of a Seeker of Truth, the Grand Patriarch himself took in all of the displaced and lost Blessed Knights like myself and he gave us a purpose again, he trained us, made us whole again, then he put a sword and a sheild in our hands and asked us do we wish to avenge our home while protecting our new one while also helping others to do the same, every single one of us never missed a beat when we said yes, so once he was done with our Seeker training he sent us to his wife the Grand Matriarch and she hammered us into a new unit with her mighty warhammer, she told us that once she was done with us we would be the pride of both Clan Mason and of Beladonia combined, that we would be living embodiements of what it meant to be Beledon and that our brothers and sisters would look upon us in envy and awe, that we would inspire them to be the very best that they could be and she spoke not a single exageration, she took Seekers and Hunters and together with her husband they forged us into somthing new while honouring the old ways, now here we are, on an alien world, the home of the one responsible for what happened to us and we seek not only vengence for the souls lost but the protection of all of the innocents of this world, we will not let this madman do to them what he did to us!" Pelma said proudly.
"Well said war sister," Thomas said.
"Indeed, that's why we joined the Star Stalkers too, we were Surface Stalkers once and after we saw what was done to our world and we fought to liberate it alongside Clan Mason we knew that we could not let such a vile thing be done to others, that the honour of the Great Tree demanded that his daughters stand for more than just our garden, we must stand to protect those of others, strangers we have never met, but we stand for them all the same and we do so proudly shoulder to shoulder with all those who believe as we do, those who would bleed for us as we would now bleed for them," Vessa and her pride said while Beta pride nodded in full agreement.
"And this is why I love our Raptorian war sisters, they have the fire of a Yautja heart, the strength of Beledon soul and the tricksy mind of a human all wrapped up in a small but mighty package," Pelma said with a laugh that was in no way malicious.
Suddenly the wall ahead of them began to crack and crumble and all of them froze solid in their tracks as they snapped their weapons onto the source of the noise.
As they watched, a series of cracks appeared in the resin before what looked like four large prongs appeared through the holes that they had burrowed.
It took them a moment to realise that this wasn't an ambush or a trap but instead was reinforcements.
As the prongs wiggled about they seemed to analyse the wall through a series of scanning sensors that painted the walls with what looked to be green laser light before closing outwards like a set of long outwards facing claws.
The claws simply snapped the resin coating of the wall and dragged it outwards through the hole they had made in the outer soil and sand.
Before any of them could move a series of shapes rapidly slithered through the new hole in the wall and instantly took up defensive positions searching for targets with their weapons in their shoulders, the Royal Swords had entered the battle.
The leader of the Royal Sword packs rapidly slithered towards the stunned group and she drew herself up before them and saluted, her armour making her look like a metal snake.
"Greetings, First Sword of the queen Vetra Firescales at your service honoured comrades, we are here to assist in the bug hunt!" she said.
All of the others returned the salute including Vessa and her Star Stalkers.
"Good for you to join us First Sword, you and your girls ready to get in on the fun?" Thomas said stepping out of the group and walking up to the large armoured Serpentinus who turned to face him.
"We are ready to serve our queen and her allies, your kind once stood for us and now we return that honour in kind," Vetra said and Thomas nodded.
"Well alright then, fall in, we're taking this party down to the bottom of this pit," Thomas said gesturing to the group behind him.
"We have some intelligence we feel you will be greatly interested in hunt leader," Vetra said as her Royal Sword packs slithered into the formation.
"Oh?" Thomas said gesturing for both Vessa and Pelma to join them as the leaders of their respective units.
Vetra pulled out a miniature holographic emitter and fired it up so that it displayed a far more detailed map of the tunnel system including their current position which was indicated as a yellow flashing dot near the top of the complex.
"Our deep scans and drones have revealed quite an extensive troop deployment down here, which indicated to me that they are guarding something, otherwise why deploy so many to a place that seems to serve no tactical purpose other than a transfer point?" Vetra said tapping a few buttons on her wrist comp to highlight certain parts of the tunnel network in flashing red while the other tunnels remained blue.
"Got any rough numbers at all?" Thomas asked and Vetra nodded while tapping buttons on her wrist comp.
Vessa was slightly amused to realise that she had an armoured tongue that was flicking out of her helmet as she worked.
The hologram zoomed in and highlighted what appeared to be a large central chamber towards the bottom of the tunnel network that was spherical, almost like a ball that was connected to quite a few of the branching tunnels.
That's when a second branching image popped up from a secondary emitter system on the little ball that Vetra was holding.
The image was a little grainy and it took Vessa a moment to realise that she was looking at a recorded feed from one of those little micro drones they'd flooded the tunnels with.
It looked to be some kind of laboratory with a series of cells almost like the inside of a beehive with all of the little hexagonal-shaped cells arranged around the outer wall.
In the centre appeared to be groups of worker bugs gathered around strange equipment and some seemed to be gathered around what looked to be bodies and that's when it clicked.
"It's a biowarfare lab!" Vessa's pride chirped together.
Vetra nodded her head and flicked her metallic tongue at them.
"This was our conclusion as well, they appear to be testing various agents both chemical and biological in nature against the civilian populace to establish which is the fastest and most efficient way to kill them," Vetra said panning the image over the cells to now clearly show the occupants as those of the local population as well as some from the various other regions that the alliance hadn't yet managed to gain a foothold into like those of their spikey new friends who had come seeking Clan Mason for help and now fought alongside them as part of Spectre one.
Even without sound the fear of the prisoners as they were forced to bear witness to the pain-filled final moments of their beloved kinsfolk and possibly even their loved ones was obvious.
The mood of every single person gathered and watching the images instantly darkened while a cloud of pure rage began to boil and swell between them.
It also appeared that workers and civilians were not the only ones present in this laboratory.
The image quite clearly showed quite a number of the Bugs soldiers and heavier mechanised bipedal suits guarding it, getting in there was going to be a hell of a challenge, to say the least.
"We're blowing this place to hell where it belongs, not one more innocent life will be lost in these tunnels now that we walk them, gather up team, we're gonna stomp some fucking bugs!" Thomas snarled darkly.
"That's what I like to hear," Ziva growled and with that everyone formed up behind Vessa and her Star Stalkers to set off deeper into the tunnels.
"Make sure this information is broadcast to the commander if possible, I want the Clan and its allies aware of the atrocities our enemy are willing to commit against the civilians of this place which means they will have zero compunction against doing the same to any of ours that get captured on the field, this will mean that rescue missions will have to be executed with maximum haste to avoid this happening to ours as well," Thomas said and Vetra nodded.
"It will be done hunt leader," she said and she pressed some buttons on her wrist comp before Thomas signalled to Vessa for them to lead off deeper into the darkness.
Thanks to the efforts of the Serpentinus the group were able to avoid the highest concentrations of bug soldiers as they already knew where they were, so they were able to slip past them unnoticed, it wasn't that they were unwilling to fight them it was that Thoams had ordered them to avoid them, it seemed that their human leader had some kind of plan in mind that he was not sharing yet.
Also, thanks to their mapping software Vessa had managed to plot them a route through the tunnels that would get them to the bottom of the compound in the quickest amount of time.
It still took them a little while thanks to the rather impressive size of this hive-like base the bugs had constructed beneath the sands of the Velonan deserts, but eventually, they arrived at the threshold to their target, the bug bio-labs.
"Alright team listen up, this is going to get hairy as on those images our Serpentinus sisters here gathered the bugs had some pretty nasty hardware guarding this place, this is going to turn into a shit storm the second we set foot through that door so we have to get this right, firstly make sure your armour seals are tight and full chemical and biohazard protocols are active, no telling what levels of nasty those bugs have cooked up in there and while we are on that note watch your fucking fire, I saw a lot of what looked like pressurised tanks that most likely have either some kind of chemical agents or worse inside of them, do not hit them, if just one of those things gets breached we could end up killing every civilian in the place and getting them out safely is our priority," Thomas said.
"Figuring that would be your first order of business hunt leader I have ordered my Sandcrawlers to abandon their positions and to dig down to ours, I have received word that they stand ready to breach so that we can quickly evacuate the civilians to the surface without having to lead them through the tunnels," Vetra said and Thomas nodded approvingly.
"Excellent," he said.
"Me and my Knights will form a living wall between these vile creatures and their captives, not one innocent life will end here while we draw breath!" Pelma growled but thankfully her knights resisted the urge to bang their shields and give away their position.
"Good and having a Seeker in our midst will certainly speed things along, Pelma I want your knights to work as a bulwark between the prisoners and any fire directed at them, those shields of yours should come in real handy for deflecting any incoming fire," Thomas said and the large Beledon Dream walker nodded.
"Vetra I want you and your Royal Swords working on freeing the prisoners, those lithe bodies of yours should let you stay undercover while you get them out, meanwhile my Hunters and the Star Stalkers will raise some hell between the defenders to give you the time you need to get them out," Thomas said making Vessa ruffle her feathers in pride, it seemed the hunt leader wanted her and her pride at his side for this coming battle.
Thomas turned to face Vessa and both of the Star Stalkers prides, "Alright ladies this is where the metal meets the meat, it's going to be our job to cover the Serpentinus and Beledon while they rescue the civilians, there can be no mistakes here or its all of our asses in the fire understood?" he said and both prides snapped in a crisp salute.
"You can count on us, we won't let you down," Vessa said confidently and Thomas nodded approvingly.
"That's what I like to hear, ok we're going to move in nice and quiet while stealthed, we're going to fan out and take up covered firing positions, once in place the Serpentinus and Beledon are going to follow us in and take up their positions, this is real important, I don't want a single shot fired until they are in position to begin the rescue understood?" he said and they all nodded.
"Now remember these guys have methods of seeing through our cloaking tech so I want maximum stealth protocols, we need to be quieter than a mouse's fart getting in there or we're going to blow this whole thing before we even have a chance to get to cover, alright, let's do this, pop that door," he said gesturing to the large reinforced resin covered door that was currently blocking their path.
Ferill moved up to the door and began working on the locking mechanism to get it open, thanks to being a Xeno he had many more options available to him other than just the regular code-breaking systems, Xenos were something of a natural expert when it came to biological systems as well.
A good amount of their technology used bio circuitry within the hive which while they preferred to use it there they knew that it didn't translate so well when it came to using it away from the hive, so they came up with parallel operating systems that used both normal and biosystems so they could interface with both.
This was one of the major reasons why the Xeno Dark Angel teams had been chosen to infiltrate the enemy ships in orbit, as they had both the expertise and the knowledge to get the job done a hell of a lot quicker and quieter than the other species, a fact that was easily demonstrated here as Fenrill cracked the door code in less time than it took the rest of the team to get into position to breach the room.
The tools Fenrill had used to crack through the door lock were fascinating to Vessa and she made a mental note to ask Fenrill about them later as to her they looked like a series of prehensile needles rather than what one would normally associate with lock picks, digital or otherwise.
But now was not the time for curiosity.
Now was the time for attention and action as there were a lot of people counting on her and her prides ability to do their jobs flawlessly, a mistake here would cost innocent lives and she was not going to let that happen.
The team held position as the door began to slowly open, before quickly scurrying through the ever-widening gap so they were inside the room even before the door was even halfway.
What they saw in there truly did look like it had come out of one of the cheap horror novels that Jex loved to read so much.
There were bodies splayed out on resin-covered tables with their carapaces cracked open and their flesh peeled back to expose their vital organs to the world.
Bodies where the limbs had been completely amputated before said limb had been hooked up to what looked like some kind of electrical generator, with needle-like probes being inserted through the open cut into the nerves and muscles within.
Vessa almost paused in her stance to watch in morbid fascination as an amputated claw opened and closed under the power of an electrical generator that was hooked up to it and that's when it clicked.
This wasn't just a bio-warfare lab, they were analysing how the locals functioned on a biological and physiological level, this wasn't just about creating a weapon designed to kill them, they were studying how to replicate them.
This revelation came from one of the bio-suits that Vessa spotted standing among the others clustered at the far side of the room.
While at first glance it didn't look too different, it wasn't until she noticed that not only did this suit seem to have quills coat like the bipedal Velons, but it also had a set of graphed claws attached to the front of it along with a stinger tail at the rear that she realised the bugs were learning how to integrate the Velons biology into their own.
But why?
Why would they wish to do this in the first place?
What did they have to gain from this?
These and a million other questions began to spiral through her horrified mind forcing her to push them into the back of it, she had to focus now.
Her pride rapidly spread out and positioned themselves behind various pieces of equipment which they could only hope would be able to resist one or two shots before they'd have to relocate.
The worker insects seemed to ignore the door as they were focused on what task they were currently doing while the soldiers who were guarding them seemed a lot more interested in the mysterious self-opening door.
Vessa took aim with her weapons making sure that she was using her shotgun mode in high power mode to ensure that she could create the biggest cloud of flachette darts as possible.
Fortunately, the prisoners seemed to be locked behind some kind of forcefield system that prevented them from leaving their cells, this would hopefully also help prevent any shots from hitting them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vessa saw the Royal Swords slithering low to the ground while using their cloaks to stay hidden as they headed for the front of the cells.
When the shit hit the fan it would be their job to funnel the prisoners to the escape points where they would be taken aboard the Sandcrawlers and ferried to safety.
Suddenly there was a high-pitched and rapid chittering from one of the insect soldiers and it seemed to be pointing one of its many arms towards the cells, somehow the creature had seen the Serpentinus!
But before any of the others could even turn to see what their comrade was chittering about all of the insect's limbs abruptly just fell to the floor along with its head which rolled away under one of the resin-covered tables.
All of the insects simply froze solid as they looked down at their comrade's head rolling along the floor with its armoured mandibles still clicking away.
"FOR BELEDONIA AND THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT!!!!!" Pelma bellowed in a voice so powerful it shook the whole room like an earthquake before bursting from the cover of her cloak and rushing the bio-suits with her huge sword still dripping with ichor.
"Fuck!! Open Fire!!" Vessa yelled into the comms and one of her Star Stalkers popped up from behind their cover and unleashed a cloud of metal death right into the surprised insects.
Those who were left standing as both the Star Stalkers and the Hunters unloaded a volley of death into them leapt for what cover they could find.
It was only now that the workers who were working as doctors seemed to look up from their work only to be caught in a full of flechette by Vessa and her Star Stalkers who deliberately targeted them for the monstrous acts they were committing.
To her right there was a tremendous booming noise and Vessa glanced over to see the Beledon had materialised out of their cloaks and had switched their power systems over to their shields speaking of shields it seemed that those large kite shields of theirs had a lot more to them than met the eye.
The shields themselves seemed to open out and expand into what could only be described as a tower shield, it was like the Beldeon became a literal living wall of metal which they slammed into the ground at their hooves forming up shoulder to shoulder facing the enemy.
But that didn't mean they were taking no part in the fight, just like their Hunter counterparts their armour was equipped with the gimbal-mounted plasma caster which had now sprung up to fire over the top of their shields while they unleashed hell from their massive hand cannons through the gaps.
Plus those hand cannons were no fucking joke either, as Vessa watched one of those Beledon hand cannons blew a soldier bug caught out in the open clean in half at the waist sending the two halves spinning through the air leaving both smoke and ichor trails in their wake.
"FOR JUSTICE AND THE ETERNAL HUNTRESS!!" Thomas bellowed and out of the smoke of the insect's weapons the Hunters simply appeared in amongst their ranks using a combination of plasma caster fire and handheld melee weapons to cause absolute chaos in their ranks as they popped into existence killed and then vanished again to appear somewhere else.
Suddenly one of the bugs just appeared to Vessa's left as she was so focused on keeping a large group of defenders pinned behind their cover that she hadn't been watching her flanks and it wasn't until a volley of green plasma slammed into her shielding that she even knew a bug had managed to get around her.
As she began to turn she saw the large spindly insectoid soldier begin to charge at her with its wicked mandibles clacking as it rapidly covered the ground on its long legs.
In its top arms, it was holding one of its long semi-biological rifles while in its lower arms, it seemed to be wielding a pair of what looked to be daggers that it was sything through the air and it was obvious it intended to eviscerate her.
The insect leapt the final few feet and brought its twin daggers down on the surprised Raptorian, it was all she could do to get her weapon between her and those wicked blades catching them in mid-air.
But the fucking create was ungodly strong and the weight it put behind the downward stikes forced her down to the ground on her back.
Vessa's screeching sting of Raptorian curses at the creature as she thrust her large feet upwards trying to drive her claws through its armoured lower carapace as she fought for her lift on the floor of that insectoid biolab.
Suddenly there was an odd whizzing noise and the pressure on her chest from the insect's weight simply vanished and as she looked up she noticed that both of the insect's lower arms had been severed at their mid elbows.
The two stums still connected to its body squirted yellow ichor and even the insect glanced down seemingly confused by its sudden aputation but that's when Vessa noticed a flying trail of ichor off to her right and she looked up just in time to see Thomas catch his returning smart disc.
"Get the fuck off her you fucking freak!!" the armoured human Hunter snarled in a voice so menacing that it actually sent a shiver through Vessa and it wasn't even aimed at her.
The insect merely glanced at the human before going right back to trying to kill her but now with the pressure releasing her weapon, Vessa was not defenceless and as it turned back to her it found itself staring right into the barrel of her shotgun.
"Fuck you," she snarled and pulled the trigger sending the insect flying over backwards as its top half simply vaporised under the force of the ballistic-powered metal darts that tore clear through it.
Suddenly a golden hand appeared in front of her and she looked up to see Thomas standing over her.
"Time to get back in the fight Star Stalker, plenty of time to lay down on your back later on," he said making her bark a laugh.
"We'll see which one of us is on our back human later!' she said grabbing his hand and letting him haul her to her feet and now he laughed.
"Love the confidence now get that tail back in the fight!" he said turning and lifting his weapon into his shoulder to fire at some insects that were breaking cover to try and get around the pair.
"On your lead boss!' she yelled breaking cover and getting on the human Hunter's rear as he moved towards the insects.
The pair moved forwards firing constantly as they moved and keeping the insects pinned as both of their sheilds flared near constantly as they took return fire.
Both of them paused to dip into cover so they could reload and that's when the call came through the comms.
"This is Viper Two Five to all call signs, we've breached the containment! Cells opening, I repeat cells opening, we have civilians on the field!!" the Royal Sword commander yelled.
"Form a fucking wall people not a single innocent life will be lost while we Beledon guard them! Not fucking one!!!" Pelma bellowed beating her shield with her sword and causing her kinsmen and women to do the same as they bellowed braying war cries that simply dared the insects to try and get past them.
"Star Stalkers push up, keep these fucking insects away from the civilians!!" Vessa yelled and there were a series of screeching war chirps from her prides as they broke cover and charged into the fray with their weapons belching out death as they moved.
"Ready for this?" Thomas said turning and glancing down at Vessa who slammed a new magazine into her weapon and it autococked with a series of sharp snaps.
"I was fucking born ready!" she chirped and he nodded.
"Then let's get fucking stuck in shall we? he said and with that, he turned and dove out of cover pulling both of his smart discs from their holsters before launching them in two wide curving arcs designed to allow them to swoop behind the cover protecting the insects.
As those spinning discs of death swooped through the cover hiding the insectoid aliens it was that time that their Yautja comrades decided to put in an appearance.
A sharp cracking noise from one of the remaining biscuits that hadn't met Palma yet cut through the sounds of combat like a hot knife and caused Vessa to glance as she ran in Thomas's wake.
What she saw filled her heart with a guilty glee as she saw Ziva appear out of thin air holding one of the graphed Velon limbs aloft before she began to beat the suit down with it.
By the looks of her armour, Ziva certainly had her share of combat as it seemed to have quite a few new scratches to it where she had gotten up close and personal with the insects.
As the suit fell Ziva extended her wrist blades out and slammed them into the neck joints of it before proceeding to tear the head of it clean off and holding it aloft as she bellowed out a roar.
This was a signal to her Yautja brethren who simply appeared right in amongst the remaining ranks of the insects and began to slash and sweep with their combi sticks.
This was a final effort to keep the insect's attention squarely fixated on them and away from the civilians who were currently being shepherded to the extraction points which had now been opened in the wall by the Serpentinus Sandcrawlers which had breached through the resin and had opened rather large holes so that the civilians could be shepherded through and into the safety of the armoured subterranean APCs.
The Serpentinus had created a daisy chain behind the Beledon and were sending the now freed and completely terrified civilians down it towards safety, all while the Clan and its allies fought on to keep them safe.
But it appeared the insects didn't want any of their test subjects regaining their freedom, maybe they were worried about the tales they would tell of what was done to them in captivity or maybe they just had some kind of obsessive possession over things they saw as theirs.
But whatever the reason they rallied and began to push back, hard.
The bio suits formed up and began to lay down fire on the Beledon knights as they dug in behind their shields and from the massive ripples that spread along their interlocking shields they were getting hit hard.
"Get some anti-armour down on them!!" Thomas yelled into his comms and that's when Jex and Cemmil rushed forwards to deploy the pride's secret weapon which Cemmil had been carting around since their deployment.
The Firetail autocannon was a two-Raptorian anti-armour system that required one Raptorian to hold the large weapon mounted on her shoulder and propped up in place by bracing struts that locked onto their armour while the second acted like a loader.
The system when not in use collapsed down into a backpack system for easy transport, though easy was a relative term considering how much it weighed.
Jex strapped the cannon onto her shoulder while Cemmil loaded the massive magazines into the top of the gun while it synced up with Jex's HUD so she could aim it.
No sooner had she slotted the massive magazine into place than Jew opened up with the massive cannon belching flames like an angry dragon as its heavy 30mm shells slammed right into the bio-suits with incredible effect.
The first hit gained a brand new hole that ran right through it from front to back as the AP shell cut clean through before being stopped by the back wall of the lab.
But that's when disaster struck as the remaining bio-suits seemed to notice that they were being systematically picked off by the pair of Raptorians and decided to do something about it.
Then both of them turned in perfect sync and fired their massive explosive plasma projector cannons at the pair in response and even Vessa felt the concussive blast wave from where she stood as her pride mates vanished in a cloud of green plasma.