Chapter 101: Hearts and Minds.
The battle group had been on the road for what felt like an eternity when they got their first indication of life.
Though 'road' was a pretty broad term given that it felt more like they were riding across the high seas as they sped up and down the sides of dunes like they were cresting giant waves of gold under the beating sun that baked the desert relentlesly with its powerful rays.
"By the Great Tree how do people live in a place like this, the closest thing we've seen to green is the scales of of one of the Royal sword packs," Jex said over the scout's private channel that could be heard only by the two Raptorian prides.
"Just be glad this armour keeps us cool but also moist, last thing we need is for or scales and feathers to dry out," Vessa replied.
Thats when one of the scout drones that were flying high above them began to signal that it had detected somthing in their path.
"Hold up, got somthing here," Jex said before she tapped into the drone's feed and transmitted it across the scout channel.
As the gunner on her MK 5 she didn't have to worry about piloting while viewing the feed but Vessa as the pilot on hers had to make sure her focus was on the ground ahead of them first and the video second which was not easy to say the least.
"Looks to be a village of some kind, shall I send the drone in for a closer look?" Jex asked.
"Yeah get it close enough to give us an indication if it is ocupied or not but don't get too close and give us away," Vessa replied before switching over to the main battle group channel.
"Viper five to Viper one how copy over?' she said before waiting for a reply which took only seconds to appear.
"Viper one to Viper five solid copy whats going on?" the voice of the female human Seeker said over the comms.
"We're patching you into a drone feed, we've picked up what appears to be a settlement of some kind, size not yet known as is status, just wanted you and the other commanders in on this so that you can make the call on what to do over," Vessa said.
"Roger that, good call, lets see here, ok feed is coming through good, hmm seems to be a moderate sized settlement, by the Eternal Huntress how do people manage to live out here in the middle of no-where?" "Misty said and Vessa couldn't help but chuckle to herself at this remark as it echoed her own pride's feelings.
"I don't know what you are all complaining about, this place reminds me of home, beautiful warm sands to slither over and big rocks to bask upon, it seems to me like the Velons have themselves a little slice of paradise here, over" Vetra Fanhood said from her position within one of the massive Sandcrawlers which so far had been slithering quite happily over the sands on their specialy designed traction wheels that lined their bellies.
These wheels were basically massive balls made out of a rubber like substance that the Serpentinus made on their homeworld but what far stronger than normal rubber while also being highly heat resistant gave incredible grip on nearly any surface.
Vetra's call sign was Viper one seven and she was the one incharge of the Serpentinus Mechanised core while Liska Sapphirescale was Viper two five and was incharge of the Royal Sword packs that were riding along inside the SandCrawlers with them.
"I agree though it is missing some nice bathing pools, I haven't seen one single water pool since we left base, over," Liska said.
"Acording to the reports from Spectre one that've I've been reading over pretty much all the water for this place is deep under ground, though it only follows that there will breach points its just a case of finding them, would be a good idea to tag any that we come across as they will make good refueling points for our vehicles to top up their hydrogen tanks though its a damn good thing that the science teams came up with those recyclers to boost the range, over," Misty said.
Suddenly Vessa noticed somthing on the drone feed, "Wait pan the drone back a bit, whats that there at the centre of the town?" she said and Jex pulled the drone back around which gave them a great view down into the centre of the town and as one they all saw it.
"There's an AA fortification in that town and by the looks of it a bloody armoured garrison as well, there has to be about fifty fucking talker tanks parked up around the thing, good eyes Viper Five, alright people this just became a target of opurtunity, but these fucking cowards have set this thing up in the middle of a civilian populace so we are going to have to be incredibly careful to prevent civillian casualties, we need to bait those fuckers out of there into the open so we can engage them with our armour safely, alright all vehicles park up at these co-ordinates all commanders I want you on me when we arrive, we're gonna hash this out, Viper one over and out," Misty said.
A set of co-ordinates popped up on Vessa's HUD and she adjusted her vector along with the other MK'5's to head to the rally point which appeared to be in amongs a large set of dunes to the south of the town outside of effective range.
The vehicles all parked up in large gully formed between some paticullaly large dunes and while they were stationary they knew they were vulnerable so the group sent up proximity drones to monitor the perimiter around them so that they would have early warning of any potential enemy detection or presense.
Vessa made her way over to the command Titan which was the largest of the four having to house the four Seekers as well as its own crew and she leapt up onto the hull before opening one of the hatches atop of the massive heavily armoured vehicle and dropping down inside.
The thing was a lot more spacious than one would have imagined by looking at it from the outside but then given how big some of the species of the Clan were this wasn't all the surprising she couldn't imagine much got more grumpy than a Yautja in a can.
"Ahh Vessa good, come join me, you are the first to arrive but I can't imagine the others are far behind you," Misty said from a compact map table that was displaying a topgraphical holomap of the surrounding area that was being produced by the drones feeds.
The place where she found herself made her thing of a miniture starship bridge and it took her a moment to realise that this section was atop of the main area of the tank and seperate from it, this was the Seekers area so they could plan things while the crew of the tank got on with duty of piloting the thing.
Before she had the chance to even voice a thank you or to take a single step forwards the hatch opened again and in slithered two Serpentinus who were rapidly followed by another Raptorian and what appeared to be a Xenomorph.
There was already a Human Hunter dressed in gold stood next to the table next to his fellow Seekers and was obviously representing the Hunter teams that were riding in their APC's and Vessa recognised him as Thomas.
He was busy studying the drone feed that was coming in from Jex's scout drone that was circling the town keeping an eye on things as more joined it to build a bigger picture of the town as a whole.
"Ahh good everyone is here, alright lets get down to buisness everyone pull up a seat, or in the case of our Serpentinus sisters a coil," Misty said moving to the head of the table and placing her hands on it as she waited for her allies to seat themselves.
"Ok here's what we know so far, the enemy seem to have quite a sizeable armoured division garrisoned in the centre of this town but they do not seem to have any kind of permenant base set up that we can see, though it is possible that it is located underground as we have reliable intel that suggests that these insects like to burrow so that is going to have to be one question here before we can properly proceed," Misty said gesturing to the drone feed and sensor scans that were showing the heat blooms of the vehicles parked up inside the town which was surrounded by high outer walls giving it a distincly desert fort kinda feel.
"We could take the Sandcrawlers subterranian and sweep the area around the perimiter and under the town with our sensors, we have very powerful ground penetrating radar and sonar that should ping up if those little critters have anything hidden down there and its my bet that there will be caverns of some kind down there, most civilisations build their towns near water sources or atop of them so if the water is all underground like our intel says then they could be trying to tap into it to refuel their vehicles after the resistance and Spectre one blew the local production facilities to bits," Vetra offered.
"This sounds good because not only will it confirm the presnese of any structures under the base but it will put our Royal Sword packs in the perfect position to launch a surprise attack if needed, good thinking," Misty said.
"We could also take a Hunter team in close using cloaking and see if we can get proper eyes on them, see what kind of fire power and entrenchments they got set up in there," Thomas said and Misty nodded.
"Excellent, I recommend you take a Raptorian Star Stalker team with you to back you up and to provide extra firepower, but only the one, we'll keep the other one mobile so they can harass the infantry on those skimmers of theirs, some fast moving fire power could be useful if they have a ton of infantry lurking in there," Misty said and Vessa nodded.
"I'll have beta pride run interfenrence while my pride run backup for the Hunter team," she said and Misty nodded approvingly.
"Excellent I'll also have my Seekers on standby incase you guys need a little extra punch in there as well, as for both the Titans and the Gipka units I want you guys to set up a perimiter around the town using the dunes for cover, those Gipka can fire indirectly down onto targets correct?" Misty said and the other Raptorian present who was the commander of the Raptorian Mechanised nodded.
"Yes, if we can either get a laser designator marking targets or an acurate set of co-ordinates from a spotter or drone we can drop missiles on their heads," she chirped and Misty nodded.
"That frees up our Titans to take care of anything truly heavy that breaks out of the town as their main battery should be able to punch clean through any armour those bugs have bolted or grown onto their tanks," she said and she could see the Yautja Tank commander nodding in agreement.
"We can also use the CWIS cupcakes on top of them to provide cover should they start trying to send missiles down on us, create an Iron dome of sorts," the large Yautja male said.
"Alright good, looks like we have a working plan people, I think night time would be our best bet to move so we have until then to get everyone into position and I doubt I have to remind you that it is stealth protocals until then, so stay low and don't let them see you, if shit goes sideways we could end up with a real mess on our hands thanks to the civilian population, so by the book alright?' Misty said and each one of them saluted crisply.
"Ye's ma'am!" they all chorused.
"Good, dismissed," she said and all of the commanders broke apart to begin working on their assigned tasks.
Vessa returned to her waiting prides and got them huddled up together near their vehicles.
"Alright here's the plan, Alpha pride is going to be riding shotgun with the Hunters and assisting with the street to street stuff, Beta pride it's going to be your job to not only running high speed recon but also light fire support focusing on the infantry, the whole plan is to get in there and see what we're dealing with before trying to draw the armour and infantry out so that the fight can take place away from the civilians, the Serpentinus are going to run a sesmic and deep rader scan of the surrounding area to see if there are tunnels and subterranen structures that we have to worry about where more of the bugs could be hiding, but for now we are to focus on what we can see," she said.
"Are we going to have fire support from the Gipkas or the Titans?" Nissa a member of Beta pride asked and Vessa nodded.
"The Titans and Gipkas are going to move to create a perimiter ring around the settlement so that they can provide fire support against the heavy armour that they have in that place, but we need to draw it out before we really commit to a shooting match with them, they have us vastly out numbered on the armour front so we need to use the element of surprise to our full advantage here," Vessa said drawing a rough representation of the town and its perimiter wall in the lose sand with her tail tip.
She went as far as to mark the area where the Titans would be with a series of X's and the two areas where the Serpentinus would be with long squiggly lines while marking the three sones where the Beta pride would need to be on their MK 5's.
She could see the pride pouring over the drawing when she suddenly noticed heads popping up out of both prides like Watcher Mice and they seemed to be looking behind her.
Just as she was begining to wonder what they were all looking at a shadow fell over her and she turned to see a flash of gold that seemed to almost blend in with the golden sands of the desert.
"Hi there, you're Vessa the commander of the Star Stalker prides right?" the blatently human shaped figure dressed from head to toe in the golden armour of Clan Mason's Hunter core said.
The figure had done up his helmet again so that she couldn't see his face only the darkened eye pieces of his mask that seemed to reflect her surprise back at her, not that she could blame him given how quickly the heat out here would suck the mositure right out of one's scales.
"Yes that would be me," she said feeling her pride moving up to flank her while Beta pride simply sat watching.
"Great, sorry we haven't been properly introduced yet but I'm Thomas Silkweather, leader of the Hunter strike teams you're gonna be riding in with," he said sticking out his hand towards her in what she recognised as a human form of greeting.
Vessa reached out and took his hand fluffing her feathers a little under her mask as he shook it as she wasn't expecting that part of the greeting.
"Good to meet you, this here is my pride Star Stalker pride Alpha and this behind them is pride Beta," Vessa said gesturing first to her own pride who had moved up on her flanks and then at the other pride behind them.
Vessa could actually see her pride having to fight the urge to surround the lone male and to form a protective cordon around him, instinct was a very powerful thing for a Raptorian.
It was kinda obvious that the human hadn't noticed just how much the twin prides of females were fighting these natural instincts as she strode into the centre of their little meeting and took a look at the rough scetched plans that she'd drawn on the ground.
As he focused on them and studied them Vessa noticed that slowly her pride were moving around him to surround him on all sides, it was like a sub concious draw upon seeing a lone male out here in a dangerous enviroment that they should protect him and she actually found herself wondering if any of them even knew that they were doing it?
She also found it amusing that her pride were also moving so that they could cut him off from Beta pride, yet another of their most powerful instincts, protect the male not only from danger but from other suitors, show him that our pride is the strongest and will protect him, care for him and provide for him, it was quite litterally hard wired into every Raptorian female.
"Ahh you're going over the battle plans already, excellent, well if I might be so bold to interject some further knowlage that we've garnered from the commander here," he said squatting down so that he could add to the rough drawing.
"Ok so here's the deal, we're gonna need Beta pride to scout us a good approach vector to the main walls of the city, our new Silk Spider class APC's have a few little tricks up their sleeves like silent running and cloaking so once they find a vector that will allow us to approach undetected we will move in right up to the city walls," he said marking a coulpe of potentiall vecotrs.
"Is they can cloak why not just drive up to the gates?" Vessa asked.
"The cloaking isn't perfect, plus we still leave tyre tracks in the sand, our enemy maybe insects but they are not idiots, if you see a set of tyre tracks magically appearing in the sand heading towards you you're gonna fire on it," he said.
Vessa nodded and ruffled her feathers under her helmet, feeling a bit like a dumb ass herself for that one but Thomas wasn't chiding in his tone, meerly explanatory.
"Once at the walls the Silk Spiders will release us and we will stealth move into the city, relying on the areial drones to plot us the safest routes through to the centre, we are to remain hidden and to not attack the enemy unless absolutly nessesary," he said and this caught Vessa's attention.
"How come I thought we we're going to be ambusing them?" she asked and Thomas shook his head.
"No our job is going to be three fold, one to set up an OP as close to the centre of town as possible so we can get eyes on the main surface base, two once the attack begins and the main bulk of the force has been lured out of the town and into the open we will infiltrate said base and disable read smash anything of value to the enemy, three if there are tunnels under the base we will hook up with the Royal Sword packs and clear them out, the Seekers and our mechanised units are going to deal with the majority of whats out here on the surface," he said drawing a series of shapes on the centre of the image showing their vantage points.
"So if they do have a subterranean base we're going in to clear it?" Vessa asked and he nodded.
"Yup thats why the commander wanted you guys with us for this, you Raptorians are supposed to be the queens of the tunnels so you'll be on point down there, we'll be relying on you guys to help us navigate and to locate fortifications, potential ambushes, weapons cashes and all that other fun stuff," he said and she could hear the mirth in his voice at this.
"You can count on us, never met a tunnel that didn't feel like home," Vessa said making her pride all stand up straight and she knew they'd all be fluffing their feathers in pride under their armour, not that he coulld see it or would probably even understand what the gesture meant anyway.
"Thats what I was hoping to hear, alrright, get your girls together we're heading out as soon as it gets dark which by my reckoning is in about two hours," he said.
"What about our skimmers?" Vessa asked gesturing to the armed skimmer bikes.
"Park em up near the command Titan, just make sure you leave em where they can see em, last thing you want is one of those big fuckers to run them over," he said with a chuckle before seemingly now noticing that he was completly surrounded by not one but two rings of Raptorians before gently weedling his way out of the throng to head back to his own group.
As he moved Vessa could once again feel her sisters fighting the urge to move with him and to keep him surrounded but fortunetly they let him through and he headed back off towards the large APC's parked not far off.
"Lucky tail lifters some females get all the fun," Lix a member of Beta pride joked and Vessa turned to her.
"We're going on an infiltration mission with a group of hardened warriors not a picnic in the desert with some pretty dancing males!" she protested.
"The very fact that you used males as in plural does not make me feel any better," Lix said as her entire pride chuckled to themselves.
"Think what you like but don't let it interfere with your work, we're going to be relying on you guys to be our eyes and ears out there, we can't afford any fuck ups, this sort of thing is going to prove to the alliance how valulabe we Star Stalkers are," she said and Beta pride saluted.
"Don't worry commander you can count on us," they said and she nodded approvingly while also seeing Cemmil doing the same out of the corner of her eye.
"And besides can you imagine taking these suits off out here for even a minute, I don't even want to imagine trying to get the sand out from my feathers or from between my scales, not to mention all the other places it could end up if things got too...vigorous, but don't worry if they do we'll be sure to put in a good word for you and to share the spoils," Vessa said with a playfull flick of her long tail and a wink, making both her own pride and Beta pride burst out laughing while Cemmil visibly face palmed and shook her head.
"I swear to the Great tree that all you think about is males sometimes," Cemmil hissed as Beta pride mounted up on their MK 5's and began to move out.
"Cemmi some things trancend our immediate problems, I've said it before and I'll say it again, you need to relax and learn to laugh some time or your gonna wind up sending all your fucking feathers white as the northen snows," Vessa said giving her sister a reasuuring pat on the shoulder.
"Do you really think that this is an appropriate time to be thinking about such things?" Cemmil shot back.
"Of course it is because these girls are about to be going into battle against an enemy that vastly out numbers them and has technology that is equal maybe even superior to our own and they are scared, I can see it in their eyes and their feathers," Vessa said glancing around to ensure that either the rest of her own pride and Beta pride were not in ear shot as she and Cemmil spoke.
Beta pride were riding out on their MK'5s so they were well out side of ear shot now and the remainder of her own pride were moving their MK 5's over to the command Titan so they could be secured.
"I don't know why the commander picked me to lead the Star Stalkers in our group but she did and I am going to do my very best to bring all of our girls home safe and sound, I care about our pride and Beta pride as well so scaring them shitless before they go into battle is not helping anyone, least of all them, better to make them not only belive in the victory but to give them somthing nice to think of as a possible reward for their actions don't you think?" Vessa said looking her sister right in the eye through her visor.
Cemmil paused for a moment and then she seemed to click, "You are suggesting that if the males of Clan Mason see us performing well out here then they are going to take notice of us aren't you?' she said and Vessa grinned inside her helmet.
"Possibly just a harmless white lie sister, somthing to set their minds at ease and to help them focus, after all what brings out the very best in any red blooded Raptorian female than the thought of the attentions of a good, caring male, hell think about it, advertisers on our homeworld use that tactic all the time to see products to us, buy this feather shampoo it will make all the males see how lush and vibrant your feathers are, it'll make you look powerful and take notice of you and your pride, buy this scale buffer it'll make your scales so shiny that any male will be able to see his reflection in them as you pin him down into the mattress, so what is the problem with me using the same tactics, be a good warrior and do your very best then the exotic pretty alien boys are bound to look at you and see how lusious your tail is, they are bound to want to trip over themselves to join your pride then," Vessa said.
"But you're lying to them! I mean think about it Clan Mason males grow up living, learning and fighting alongside Xenos, Yautja and humans! They know strong when they see it because they fucking live it!" Cemmil protested but thankfully keeping her voice low as they walked.
"Its harmless Cemmi and if it helps the girls deal with the shit show we are about to step into then all the better I mean think about it, if it makes them fight harder and to truly do their best while also taking their minds off it a little then its fine by me, we are all risking our lives here and there is quite a possibility that all the prides down here could lose one or more members, do you really want them thinking about that when they ride into battle?" Vessa said and that froze Cemmil in her stride.
"N-No," she stammered as Vessa saw her suddenly realising that the very same senario that she had just described could very well end up happening to them too.
"Exactly, so if it takes them thinking about pretty alien boys falling at their feet and begging to become part of their pride for their heroic deeds then I'm all for it, its a pretty dream and a white lie but I'd rather have that on my concious and have all of them back home safe and sound to be angry with me about lying to them than seeing weeping pride sisters crying over the coffins of their loved and lost," Vessa said before turning and heading towards the APC's with her sister trailing after her.
"I-I'm sorry Vessa, I-I had no idea thats what you were doing and I see the logic in it now, I-I don't know what I'd do if I lost you or any of the others," Cemmil said in a small stammering voice as if the reality of the risk they were taking just slapped her hard across the face.
Vessa stopped and turned to her once again before walking up and wrapping her arms around her pride sister.
"That makes two of us Cemmi and look I'm sorry too, I know I give you a hard time sometimes when all you want is the best for us but you need to understand I want that too, I just look at things differently to you, sometimes you need to see people first objective second, look at the person who the job has been given too and how best can you help motivate them to achive it, not critizie them for instantly not knowing how to," Vessa said and Cemmil nodded.
"Yeah you're right,I'll try to do better, I just want us to be besst we can be you know?" she said and Vessa nodded remembering what she had said regarding the young ones playing as them.
"Don't worry sis you'll get your dream, after the things we are gonna do here you're gonna have little girls all over Raptoria wanting to play pretend to be Cemmil the valient, warrior extrodinare and tamer of male hearts among the stars!" she said making her sister burst out laughing and nod her head.
"Thanks Ves I needed that," she said causing her sister to pat her on the shoulder again.
"Any time Cemmi, now come on we have wars to fight, stars to stalk and male hearts to tame, so what are we waiting for?" Vessa said with a grin before leading her sister to the back of the waiting APC.
At the rear of the APC they found Thomas and his Hunter team all sat waiting in the rear of the vehicle with the ramp closed.
Vessa tapped on the hull and the large ramp began to lower a moment later revealing the entire team sat inside along some couches that ran down the sides of the interior.
"Room for two small ones?" Vessa said as soon as it touched down in the sand behind the vehicle.
"Always, come on in and enjoy the AC," Thomas said gesturing for them to join them.
"Hey hold that ramp! Wait for us!" a familiar voice called over the comms and Vessa turned to see Jex and her other pride sisters sprinting along the sand towards them with their tails out straight and their heads low.
"Well looks we got a whole pride of them in here now its a party," a large Yautja female who was sat on the crash couch to their left said in a deep growl.
Vessa glanced up at Thomas for an explanation and he just chuckled.
"Don't mind Ziva she's just eager to get to hunting," he said.
Jex and the rest of her pride clattered up the ramp and as soon as they were clear Thomas punched the button to raise it again.
Once the ramp clanked into place a seal was made and there was a faint hiss indicating that the vehicle itself was presurised, this was the first time that Vessa or her pride had had chance to get a good look at one of these vehicles and the first thing she noticed was that none of the vehicle crew were down here in the troop bay.
The vehicle itself was pretty long but it was also rather wide using eight large wheels with odd shaped patterns to their treads to give it traction on nearly any surface.
Vessa got the feeling that it got its name from having those eight wheels much like a spider had eight legs but maybe it was to do with the shape of it as well.
As one Thomas and the other Hunters all pressed their mask releases and one by one the team of six were revealed.
Thomas was the only human male in the group which was made up of three Yauta, two of which were female and two male Xenos though from what Vessa had heard it was odd for a Xeno to join the Hunters so to find two in the same unit was especially odd.
Thomas himself was a tall and rather well build male with firey red hair and a set of green eyes that could melt a girl's feathers and lift her tail without him ever touching her.
His jaw was solid and square and he seemed to have these delightful lkittle odd dots all over his face but mainly around his cheeks that really highlighted how pale his skin was.
"Alright guys this is Alpha pride or Vipers five through eleven as you'd know them on comms, time for some introductions I think, obviously I'm Thomas or Thom if you prefer I'm kinda easy like that, over there are Fexril and Femil they are brothers from Aine and Murphy's hive, running joke is that they are joined at the tail so where you find one you'll find the other," Thomas said gesturing to the two Xenos who were sat resting again the far bulkhead checking their weapons.
"Howdy scalie sisters, good to have you along," the one called Fexril said and the pride waved to him.
"Then you have our obligatory ration of grumpy Yautja, first is Hassra Longtusk, next to him is his sister Evvra," Thomas said shooting a grin at the two scowling Yautja who both growled and clicked their mandibles at him.
It wasn't hard to see the family resemblence in them as they both had gold and red patterning on their hide's that actually made Vessa think of desert camo.
"We'll show you whose grumpy ooman, we will be the life and soul of this party just you wait and see!" Evvra declared proudly.
"Yup and tommorrows weather forcast is cloudy with a chance of flying pigs, but moving on finally we have queen of the grumps herself, Ziva Furyheart, I'd say when I find out whose giving the odds on which one of them is going to win the scowling contest they have going on I'll put some best down for you but honestly I can't find anyone brave enough to tell me," Thomas said making the massive Yautja female growl at him before standing up to her full massive 9ft height and looming over him.
"You are lucky you are pretty ooman or you would be smiling on the other side of your head," she snarled and thomas chuckled at her giving her a cheeky grin.
"Hey its not my fault you are just to easy to tease Ziva, you should try smiling once in a while rather than working constantly on your best fire tiger licking piss off a nettle face, you have that one down to a tee by the way," he said making the massive Yautja growl again before turning to the pride and looking down at them.
"Maybe you girls will have better luck in talking sense into thrill seeking ooman than I, it seems that this one rather enjoys taking his life into his hands," she said before sitting back down on the crash couch with an audiable creak as it took her sizeable weight.
All of the pride looked at one another with looks of amazement, it seemed that this Hunter team were as close as a pride with their dynamic as they were not affraid to speak their minds or tease one another mercilessly.
Suddenly there was a couple of bangs from above and another Xeno's head popped through a hatch in the celing.
"Better sit down and strap in team, we've got orders to move out to the ready lines, looks like things are going to get rather hot rather soon," she said before vaishing again.
Thomas turned to his team and instantly every one of them was wearing a look of determination and all nodded at one another wordlessly.
"Alright people fun and games time is officially over, strap in, time for shit to meet fan," he said and with that they were off.