Chapter 102: Silent Rage.
Vessa and her pride bounced along in their seats as the Silk Spider APC slipped between the dunes as they headed to their infiltration point.
The whole pride was quiet as Vessa was currently working on establishing an uplink between Beta pride and the rest of the group as they were already a lot closer than any of them, plus they currently had micro drones in the air scanning the town ahead of them.
Thanks to how quickly raptorians can pass on information between each other it can be a struggle for other species to keep up with them and not miss things, which was why Vessa was working as a go between.
They were routing all the information they saw and heard through her and she was working with the rest of her pride to diseminate what was relevent or important before passing it along up the chain to the Commander.
Her pride were constantly sifting through the data that was coming in from Beta pride before passing what they thought was relevent to her and she was sifting through that to pass it along.
All in all they were all working like a well oiled information gathering machine.
The ad-hoc network they had set up in the area was designed to make it as hard as possible to intercept the signal and near impossible to crack into thanks to the encryption language being a mixture of languages all run through a coding matrix.
But then nothing was impossible which was why they were using a burst style transmission system to try and ensure that even if the bugs did pick up on the signal in the area they'd have a hell of a time narrowing down its direction.
The Silk Spider was running in silent running mode which while it kept it quiet and hard to track did make it a little tricker for the driver to keep it stable on the constantly shifting sands of the desert as they couldn't use the powerful vehicle's drive system to gain momentum to crest dunes.
This meant they had to creep through the gullies formed between them only popping up and over once the rise was shallow enough for them to make the climb without sliding back down.
The Titan tanks and the Gipka were also having fun trying to creep around the town as the tanks at least were a lot bigger and more obvious than the APC but then at least they had optical camoflauge.
The only ones who were really having an easy time of things were the Serpentinus with their Sand Crawlers, those long submarine-like robo snakes had dove under the golden waves of the dune sea and all but vanished from sight altogether.
They didn't have to worry about cresting hills or staying out of sight, all they had to worry about was not making enough vibrations as to be detected by sismic sensors or accidently falling into an unnoticed tunnel system.
Due to the depth at which they were operating under the sands making commication difficult they were using the scouts of Beta pride as a comms relay so Vessa's pride were having to also sift through data that was coming back from them as well.
"Well well looks like the buggy wuggies really do have a tunnel network under the town, no wonder we're not seeing many on the surface," Thomas said suddenly from Vessa's left side making her jump and her feathers ruffle as she had not heard or sensed him move.
She turned her head to see him leaning over her shoulder to look at the holographic display from the feeds she was working on.
He reached over her shoulder and tapped one of the displays coming in from the Serpentinus Sand Crawlers and enlarged it.
The display seemed to be of some kind of 3d rendering of their ground penetrating radar that they were using to scan underground as they moved.
"See those light patches, I'd bet my human arse thats a tunnel network, its too uniform to be natural, look at the way they are spaced out," he said drawing his finger over the light blue lines that were being drawn on the black background by the imaging software as it read what the radar was detecting.
"Do not bet that which you cannot afford to lose ooman," Ziva growled and he lifted his head to fix her with a grin.
"Don't you mean you are worried that I'll lose because you won't be able to stare at it when I'm bending over anymore?" he shot back making the large Yautja female growl even louder but by her obvious sulk it seemed he'd hit the nail right on the head and that made the rest of his team chuckle.
"I agree with Ziva don't bet that which we can't afford you to loose, gotta have somthing to keep us entertained around here," Jex chirped making Vessa's feather flutter in alarm at her pride sister's brazeness.
Thomas turned to look at the little Raptorian who was sat at the drone control station and was piloting some of their own drones while also sifting through data coming in from Beta pride and he blinked at her before cracking a grin.
Ziva barked a laugh and nodded her large head making her predlocks swish and jingle against her armour.
"You I like little one, you have the heart of a huntress and the courage of one as well, you do not hold back, this is good and will serve you well among the Clan," she said nodding approvingly which made Vessa sigh in relief inside her helmet.
"My mothers always told me to aim big and settle for nothing less, they used to say that my dad was the prettiest male in the city and was adored by many many prides in the place where he used to sing, but they were determined to catch his eye and win his heart, well here I am a product of that determination and I guess its a lesson well learned," Jex said proudly turning her head back to her feeds.
"Never lose this fire little one, success is not in the strength of your arm or the size of your biceps but in the brightness of the fire in your heart!" Ziva growled proudly.
"Makes me wonder why you spend so much time in the gym then Ziva?' Thomas shot causing the large Yautja to falter momentarily before turning to first glare at him then smirk at him.
"Because a good huntress also knows to use every advantage the Goddess gives her and do not pretend like you do not 'appreciate' these advantages ooman because I have seen the way you look in the gym," she said and Thomas laughed.
"Kinda hard not to when you go into the Hunter gym and you instantly have a hundred Yautja girls all trying to use the squat rack directly infront of you," he shot back making Ziva growl again.
"The Grand Matriarch does not have the problem of having to queue," Ziva grumbled just loud enough for them to hear.
"Thats because no-one in their right mind is brave enough to stare at her ass when she's working out, I highly doubt anyone wants to pull either her or the Grand Patriarch's foot out of their own ass should they get caught," Thomas said with a chuckle.
"Ahh to have an ooman so dedicated to the protection of my honour," Ziva said with an almost dreamy note to her voice.
"Oh don't beat yourself up big girl you know that you'll catch your boy someday just gotta prove to him and the Goddess that you are the one for him," Thomas said with a reasuring smile.
"Hard to do when there is a pauking queue," Ziva grumbled making Vessa stifle a chuckle inside her helmet.
She had to admit she really did enjoy working with the Hunters, while to an outside observer they may seem like an unproffesional bunch of yahoos who didn't take anything seriously she knew how important banter was to keeping one's sanity.
If the war for Raptoria had taught her anything it was that trusting your pride and keeping each other's spirits up in the field was just as important as the battles themselves.
Low morale equaled low battle performance, high morale meant the fires of dertermination were burning hotter than the fires of hell and thats what she wanted for her pride and for Beta pride.
This was the first time that the Raptorians had deployed as an active military on a distant world and she was determined that they were going to show the vetrans of Clan Mason that they too could be trusted out there.
"Perhaps you should try your luck with one of the Raptorian boys that came to the Clan or maybe even one of our new Beledon friends, they look like they wouldn't be able to take their eyes off your ass at the squat rack, hell they'd probably spot for you and give you lifing tips given that half of them look like they could suat you and the fucking rack," Thomas said.
"While I will agree that the Raptorian boys are pretty firstly they are nigh on impossible to get near as there are so few of them plus honestly I'd be worried about doing one of them serious harm should my passions run a little too, hot," Ziva said with a dismissive wave of her large hand.
"Doesn't seem to bother Seeker Rainbowscale," Thomas said as he grabbed the data screen coming from the Serpentinus and pulled it over to his own display.
"The clue there is obvious ooman boy, SEEKER Rainbowscale, anybody with half a brain knows that a Dream Warrior is a dangerous foe regardless of their species or gender and only a fool would underestimate their strength, I am no pauking fool," she replied turning back to checking her weapons.
"Ok then point taken but what about the Beledon, from what I hear a lot of their boys are positivly head over tail's for our Yautja girls and boys," Thomas said and Ziva nodded making her predlocks swish and shimmy.
"This I will agree with as I have seen this with my own eyes, there is that new unit that was devised by Seeker Ketra Mathers the Knights of Beladonia, they are made up from many of the displaced Knights of the Beladon armies and have been trained under her as close combat shock troops, from what I understand quite few of them have Yautja partners," she said.
"Ahh yeah I've seen them guys, they work in squads of ten, nine regular Knights and one Seeker don't they?' Thomas said and Ziva nodded.
"Yes, they are technically part of the Templars of our own beloved Hunter Core but word has it that the Grand Matriarch was so impressed with their progress and work that she granted them special permission to not only wear the badge of the Templars but to create their own badge in rememberence and honour of their home and fallen people, they are to be deployed as orbital shock troops, they will drop pod right down ontop on an enemies head or position and engadge them with a mixture of our own close quarter tactics and weapons and their own," Ziva said.
"Saw one of their big girl's working at the Grand Patriarch's forge the other week, she made a sword that was bigger than me, someone told me she was planning on giving it as a gift to one of the Saviours that she liked, a Yautja lad by the name of Temek who worked down in the Beldon quarter, apparently he was always a regular down at the orphanage and the school and would always be playing hoofball with the orphans, apparently this caught her attention and well the Beldon girls have a lot in common with you Yautja girls when they see someone they like, they just don't let go" Thomas said.
This made Vessa and her pride sigh with sadness, it was easy to forget the true catalyst of this war had been the actions of one of the very people that they were here to save, but to tar them all with the same brush would be as evil as to tar those innocent male Scalathor who now lived happily within their own cities with the actions of their vile sisters.
"This is not just a trait exclusive to Beledon and Yautja girls you know, we Raptorians might be small but we cling on every bit as tightly when we find a boy we like, plus there is a definite benifit to living, working and hunting as a team you know, makes it much easier to hold your prey down while your sisters lovingly ravish every part of him," Jex said playfully and this time there was a definite reaction from Thomas.
Vessa swore she saw a crimson blush flicker over his face before he coughed and tried to hide it by turning away, well well, maybe that paticular idea held some merrit with more than just their own race eh?
"Heads up people we're coming into range," the Xeno driver called down to them from above and Vessa swore that she saw Thomas sigh with releif.
As the Silk Spider pulled into it's final ready up position the team switched on their game faces, nerves were going to be at an all time high now because they were only a few hundred meters from an active military instalation and they could not afford to fuck this up or a lot of people were going to die.
"Getting a relay call from the Serpentinus, routing it through to the commander," Vessa said as her board lit up.
"Any chance we can listen in?" Thomas asked and she nodded before flipping the switch which activated the external speakers on her console but not the mics so there would be no interfearence.
"Viper one seven to Viper one how copy over?" Liska's voice came through a little crackly thanks to their current depth under the sands of the desert.
"A little distorted Viper one seven but we read you over," the commander's voice came back as clear as a bell in the tunnels of the Raptorian underground.
"We have what looks to be positive confirmation of a subterranean structure running under the town, deep radar is giving us a basic picture but I'd like to get a mapper drone in there if possible to give us a much better picture, over," Liska said.
"Roger that, any chance it will give us away, over?" the commander asked.
"Negative, these new micro mappers that our R packs have come up with are second to none, their whole job is to discretly map tunnel networks while remaining undetected, they will go unseen by the insects you have my word, over," Liska said.
"Roger that, deploy them, one drill spot only though, I don't want to go punching too many holes in the place that might get noticed until we are ready to strike, over," the commander replied.
"As you command commander, Viper one seven over and out," Liska said and the comms closed down.
"Micro mapper drones?" Thomas asked curiously glancing between his own team and the Raptorians.
"I saw somthing about these on the milnet back home, they were developed between our science prides and the Serpentinus R packs as a way to speed up underground exploration, I think the original design was for them to locate new underground rivers and water sources on the Serpentinus homeworld as well as new cavern locations for us to set up cities on ours, but these new ones that have been milatary speced I don't know much about," Jex said with a slight shrug and a feather ruffle.
"Well lets see if we can pull them up on the alliance network shall we?' Thomas said turning to his terminal and opening a new search window.
It only took him a moment or two before he made a noise of success and everyone turned to look at him as he read from the screen.
"Ahh here we go, the new Micro Mapper drone MK 3 developed by the Serpentinus using a combination of their own patented designs in micro drone technology and scanning technology developed by the Raptorians as well as stealth technology provided by Clan Mason is a great leap forwards in subterranean exploration, these autonomus micro drones are only two inches in length but pack an impressive punch in the sensory department, being equipped with highly advanced laser and sonar mapping systems that use both light and sound frequencies that are outside of the ranges of pretty much all known sentient species, once released into a tunnel or cavern network they will proceed to fly through it mapping out every assesible point with pinpoint accurecy while also highlighting any organic creatures discovered along their path for attention," he read before bringing up a large picture of one on his display.
The little drone was indeed only two inces in length and seemed to have four small wings attached to a very insect-like body.
"It looks like a skipper fly," Ziva said lookin at the picture and refering to the little stick like flies that made their homes around ponds and swamps of the Clan's homeworld.
"Yeah I was just thinking that, well I guess we'll soon find out just how good these things really are," he said gesturing to the screen that displayed the radar output of the Serpentinus as it showed they were creeping up to the tunnel wall and getting ready to drill in.
The serpentinus Sandcrawler was slowly extending one of its boom arms towards the tunnel wall, now Vessa had seen these things and they were not only felxible but were tipped with a varity of tools that they could use.
From incredibly sensitive microphones that could detect the sound of a spider burrowing in the ground from about a mile away, to sampeling probes that could tell the operator the composition of the soil they were digging through, they were all purpose, but now they were using the micro drill head to very slowly and more importantly silently breach the tunnel walls.
As the drill breached a video feed popped up that Vessa instantly routed to the commander but also left live on her own screen so that the team could watch.
It seemed that the drill had breached and was now using a small flexible snake cam to take a look through the hole they'd made to ensure that this area was safe to release the drones into.
The camera panned left and then right to get a look at the tunnel they had drilled into while also sweeping the area with both infra-red as well as thermal imaging to ensure it was clear.
The tunnel make up seemed to be coated with what looked like some kind of resin though not the type you would find in a Xeno hive, this stuff was more like a orange coloured wax than resin but it gave the tunnel a very errie ambience but fortunetly there was no signs of any of its insectoid residents in the local vacinity.
So just before the camera withdrew through the small hole the pipe that it was mounted to opened up at the end revealing that it was not only a snake camera, but also the deployment apperatus for the micro mapper drones.
Four of the little insect like robots climed out of the pipe and buzzed their wings as they sat in a line on the injection pipe, before after they'd orentated themselves they took off and vanished into the network.
"Viper one seven to Viper one, Drones successfully deployed now awaiting scan results, over," Liska's voice crackled through the comms.
"Roger that Viper one seven route the results through the relay and lets see what our little flying friends locate, over and out," the commander replied.
It didn't take long for the little drones to start sending back the data they were collecting, as they moved a blue 3D image of the tunnel began to appear on the screen in real time.
The surrounding soil was highlighted in black to make the tunnel pop out more but it seemed to be shaped much like an underground hornets nest.
It was shaped like a series of rings that were organised into the shape of a large cone with a few tunnels branching outwards at various points.
As the drones moved deeper, little red dots began to ping up in place and in some places there were large clusters of them.
"I get the feeling that those dots are our insect friends, it looks like there quite a few more in there than we anticipated," Thomas said with a concerned note to his voice.
"Think we can handle clearing the place out?" Ziva asked looking closely at the surprisingly large undergorund structure curiously.
"Its not going to be easy thats for sure but we're trained soldiers and this is what we signed up for so as always it will be a do or die situation," he said with a shrug though there was a concern to his voice.
"I wonder if its just an underground barracks or if it serves some other kind of purpose?' Vessa wondered aloud and Thomas scratched his chin.
"Hard to know but it does strike me as odd that they have a place like this out here in the middle of no-where with no real stratigic value, makes me think that there is somthing that they are trying to hide down there, but the question remains, what?" he replied.
"Pity we couldn't get a team of War Angels down here, if anyone is suited to fighting in tight tunnels its them," Ziva said.
"Hey what are we, chopped liver?" Fexril hissed seemingly glaring at the large Yautja though it was hard to tell with Xeno's as the predalien varient seemed to have actual visible eyes.
"So are we," Vessa said confidently and all of them turned to look at her.
"What chopped liver?' Fexril hissed in confusion, cocking his large domed head and swishing his long armoured tail.
"No, underground specialists, did you forget that we Raptorians are born and live pretty much all of our lives underground, until recently the vast majority of out population only saw the surface of our planet in holovids that were shot by Surface Stalkers like we used to be, but this to us is just the norm, so once we clear this town out and secure the hive entrences we can take point if you want," she said confidently.
Thomas raised an eyebrow but then nodded.
"Thats not a bad idea actually, I know we spoke about this earlier but then i didn't think they'd have somthing this big down there, but if you girls belive you are up for it I have no reason to doubt you, so I'll bounce that off the commander and see what she thinks, we have twelve Star Stalkers to play with so we could easily work with that as from what I understand the Serpentinus Royal Sword packs have experience in tunnel fighting as well, sowith what we have here we should be able to mount a decent assualt team together to go in there an burn the place out," he said before heading over to his console and relaying his thoughts to the commander.
It didn't take long for the commander to give them the go-ahead for such a plan, so Vessa go on th comms and relayed the slight changes to Beta pride, telling them that once the surface was secured they were going to be required in assisting with some underground clearence operations.
This seemed to sit rather well with the pride as they like her own pride were chomping at the bit to prove themselves a valulable asset infront of their allies and this would be yet another feather in their headress in doing so.
Now all that was left was for them to wait for nightfall so they could make their move on infiltrating the town.
Thomas was going over the data that the Serpentinus were activly retriving while also looking over the drone scans that both Beta oride and Jex were retriving to formulate a proper attack plan.
this he was also constantly rebounding back and forth with the commander while the others rested.
While on the ground he would have operational control with the Seekers and the armour running back up so he needed to ensure he had all the facts so he could properly formulate a plan of attack that would yeild the best result while also maintaining an air of safty for his people.
It was not a position that Vessa envived at all.
While she was proud to lead Alpha pride and also Beta pride as their scouts and indeed tunnel specialists she didn't feel she was ready for the responsibility that was being placed firmly on the young Hunter's shoulders.
On an instinctual level seeing his stress was playing merry hell with her feminine instincts as every part of her wished to rush over and comfort him, to try and lead him away from that which was causing him such stress and to ease his burden.
It was a feeling that she could see was being shared by every member of her pride, even the normally stoic Cemmil was twitching like a Mimic on an electric fence every time she saw Thomas rub his temples or run his fingers through his hair.
It also seemed that even Ziva was picking up on the amplifying tension so she decided to speak up and break the silence at least.
"You know I recently went hunting on Raptoria's surface," she said causing all of Vessa's pride to look at her in amazement.
"Hunting? As in you volenterily went up there to go after the things that wish to kill the shit out of you just for having the gall to be in possesion of a face?" Jex exclaimed in surprise.
"Honestly I'm pretty sure she just scowled them all to death," Thomas said without looking up from his work station but still causing the large huntress to whip her head around so fast her predlocks created a fan around her head before growling and clicking at him.
"Ignore the envious ooman, he is only miffed that he did not manage to get a licence to go," she said proudly.
"Some of us had to help the new Beledon teams not only train but to find their place as well as to teach the new Beledon commanders how to lead a Hunter squad into battle, you know that stuff the rest of us call work," Thomas shot back without looking up still.
"I still call it envy," Ziva said with a grin on her mandibles.
"Licence?' Vessa asked in confusion.
"Yes, after the war ended and official relations were established between our peoples Clan Mason brokered a deal with the Raptorian Governing prides to allow Hunters and Huntresses from the Clan to travel to Raptoria and to hunt the exceptional prey of your world, but there was so much call for it that our Grand Patriarch and Matriarch had to sit down with them and our Saviour conservation specialists to ensure that nothing done would either go against the wishes of the Great Tree or cause harm to the planet's ecology, the result was the Raptoria Hunting Licence, it allows a hunter or huntress to travel to the world and to hunt its surface for a total of five days, in that time they are only allow to hunt very specific creatures and only in certain ammounts, each kill made is logged automatically and when our hunt is complete the licence expires, we are allow to take what trophies we wish from the hunts but the meat from our kills is taken to one of the surface bases for transport to the underground, this is to ensure that no kill made is wasted and that every life taken is honoured which is in keeping of the balance of life of your Great Tree and the way of the honourable hunt of our Eternal Huntress," Ziva said proudly.
"Wow i knew we had Clan teams on the surface but this is the first I'm hearing about this, though honestly the fact that anyone would want to willingly put themselves up against the shit we got walking around up there baffles me beyond words full stop," Cemmil said and her pride sisters nodded in agreement.
"Ahh then you do not fully understand the Yautja heart little sisters, to us hunting is a way of life it is in everything we do and every exoression of it is an act of giving thanks to the Eternal Huntress for her blessings and guidence, everything from what we are doing now in hunting down an enemy and destroying them in the name of justice and freedom, to hunting down a pretty male and proving that our heart is the most worthy of them, hunting is to us like breathing is to everyone else," Evvra said and the pride glanced at the equally large huntress sat towards the front of the APC.
Thats when Evvra pointed to the little charms hanging in her predlocks and the pride noticed that all of them had them.
"It is tradition among our kind to take large skulls of the most worthy pray and display them on our walls to honour the hunt they gave us, so they will be forever remembered as the worthy foe they are, but we also take smaller bones and horns which are fashioned into these charms, this is to display to the Eternal Huntress and to others of our kind that we are followers of the true way of the hunt," she said proudly.
"Wow you guys really take your hunting seriously don't you?" Vessa said glancing between all of the Yautja present and there unanimous nods between them all.
"To us it is a way of life, one that Clan Mason embodies thankfully," Ziva said.
"This is why when we helped to liberate your homeworld and we saw the large abundence of predatorial wildlife on its surface we could not resist the urge to hunt it. But we of course take conservation very seriously as well, this is why our specialists have teamed up with your own to study the wild life and to document it so that we can better understand it and ensure its survival, that way your planet will remain healthy, free and strong with plenty of prey to hunt for generations to come," Evvra said.
"Alright guys button it up its time to roll out we have a green light," Thomas said suddenly and they all turned to look at him.
The sun had indeed set and Vessa was actually kinda surprised at how quickly it went down and how quickly the temprature outside had dropped as she looked at the external camera feeds from the Silk Spider which thanks to the thermal cameras could show the exact temprature.
"Glad these suits are heated as damn it got cold quick out there," Vessa said as the APC began to creep forwards now using its cloaking tech to keep it hidden under the star filled night.
"Glad to see my kind are not the only ones who despise the cold, it seems the more I learn of your kind the more it seems we have in common little sister," Ziva said as they rocked along over the dunes.
"Yeah it seems that oomans are the only ones who like the cold, its just as well we love them because they are strange creatures indeed," Evvra said as she secured her mask and checked her weapons.
The APC silently rolled up to the wall of the town and over the internal comms the driver's voice came in clear.
"Ten seconds people get ready," he said and Thomas guestured for the entire team to get to their feet and to take up their positions as he doused the internal lights plunging them all into darkness.
Thomas was on his feet and he took the point at the edge of the ramp as the Silk Spider came to a halt hitting the ramp lowering button just as the driver called out for them to head out.
All of the team had already engaged their stealth systems and were cloaked from view as they silently made their way down the metal ramp which had a coating of rubber along its inside to help muffle the sounds of armoured footfalls upon it.
Vessa and her pride were at the rear of the six Hunters as they fanned out into a large defensive ring all of them with their weapons in the shoulder and in the case of the Clan Mason soldiers their plasma casters on the swivel.
The APC quickly closed its ramp and retreated behind a dune where it parked up with its guns peaking over the top and its cloak online so that it could provide fire support or a quick extraction if things went sideways.
"Alright people quiet and by the numbers, I want every one of us Clan and Raptorian alike getting back on that APC under their own power at the end of this," Thomas said through the comms before he turned and moved into the hole in the wall with the others following him one after the other.
The team moved in a staggered single file with Thomas on point and Cemmil on rear guard as they moved into an alleyway between the squat and rather wide sandstone buildings.
"Got movement ahead, one hundred meters and closing," Jex said through the comms and the whole team froze solid with their weapons all pointing down the alleyway ahead.
Jex was using her little semi autonomus micro drone to scout ahead of them as they moved, it was that drone that picked out the enemy patrol that was moving through the streets ahead of them.
"Hold fast, let them pass," Thomas said in a whisper despite knowing that without his external speakers switched on no-one could hear him.
A group of four bipedal insects walked past and with them a very odd looking figure.
It looked like one of the bipedal beetle-like insects but it seemed to be taller and it also seemed to have what looked like wings poking out from under its shiny red carapace.
It was also holding a much longer varient of their bio-organic weaponry that almost looked like it had been graphted onto its upper arms or possibly it was set into some kind of brace to help support it's weight.
Either way it was obviously not somthing that anyone wanted to be on the buisness end of.
"Looks like a sniper and did you see those wings, we'r better keep our eyes up as we move as there could be more of those fuckers hiding up high," Thomas said as he gestured for them to carry on.
As they reached the edge of the alleyway Thomas nodded at Ziva who returned it before the pair stepped out into the street with Thomas moving to cover left and Ziva moving to cover right.
As they covered them the rest of the team quickly moved to cross the street and into yet another narrow alleyway on the other side, they'd only just got into the cover of the alleyway when Jex called out again.
"Got some armour heading our way," she said and the whole team paused once again as they all heard the heavy crunching footsteps of one of the six legged walking tanks ahead of them.
"Think we've got anything on hand that can deal with armour that thick?" Ziva asked as they peeked out of the end of the alley to watch massive insectoid tank plodding slowly by.
"Lets fucking hop so or this is gonna end up as a pretty one sided fight," Thomas said gesturing for them to move once the tank and its covering patrol was clear.
Vessa hoped he was right otherwise they had very likely walked themselves into a slaughter.