Chapter 111: Countdown.
"We have to get in there and get them out, only the Great Tree knows what our pride male and sister are going through at the hands of those vile insects!" Alpha pride yelled stroming around the interior of the Silk Spider.
"Patience little ones, I understand how you are feeling and if I was in your shoes it would probably take the Eternal Huntress herself sitting on me to hold me from tearing my way to my male's side and not even she would be able to protect anyone who stood between me and him, but you have to trust in your pride male and the commander, they know what they are doing," Xiva said as she watched the little Raptorians bouncing off the walls of the metal box.
Tezz snarled and kicked the wall with a loud ding.
Suddenly the ramp to the Silk Spider began to lower and all of them turned to look just as the Commander stood waiting alongside her team for it to lower.
No sooner had the ramp hit the dirt than Tez and the rest of Alpha Pride were stroming right towards them but before the little Raptorians could even open their mouths the commander held up a hand to cut them off.
"Gear up we're going into the tunnels on foot," she said.
"Yes commander," Xiva said with a triumphant grin, the Seekers were leading this operation themselves and Xiva knew where the Seekers stepped chaos followed.
The Raptorians moved so fast that they'd have given the Seekers themselves a run for their money.
In a blur of activity, they grabbed their weapons and gear and lined up like they were presenting themselves to the Grand Matriarch for parade inspection.
"Alpha Pride ready and willing to lead the charge ma'am!" they said in perfect unison.
The commander smiled and nodded at them with a dark and fierce look in her eye.
"Go and join the Beledon who are waiting at the edge of the battle group, we will join you in a moment," she said causing all of the Raptorians to snap into a crisp salute before jogging down the loading ramp in the direction of the Beledon group who was kinda obvious.
The commander turned back to Xiva.
"I get a distinct feeling that this is going to get rough, get ready for some serious close-quarters work, the War Angels are going to be acting as our scouts on this one as let's be honest who's better at tunnel warfare than the Xenos," she said and Xiva nodded.
"Roger that commander, just say the word as we are itching for some payback here, no one takes one of the Clan hostage and gets away with it, we will make them pay for every second that our brother has been taken from us in blood!" Xiva said and the commander nodded approvingly.
"Well said, get your gear and get on the ready line, it's time to kick some fucking doors in," she said causing Xiva to snarl and nod while clicking her mandible tusks.
As Xiva and the rest of the team headed down to the ready line the group they found assembled and ready to go into the tunnels to retrieve Thomas and Vessa made her smile.
At the head of the group were the War Angels in their deep red armour, all checking their weapons and gear.
Behind them but standing heads and shoulders above them were the Knights of Beledonia, they were were a phalanx and Xiva got the feeling that in the close confines, they were going to be very glad of those shields as the narrow fields of fire were going to be a nightmare.
Stood intermingled with the Beledon were the Raptorians of Alpha Pride though it appeared that the commanders had decided to keep Beta Pride on the surface which didn't seem to sit well with them as Xiva could see the pride glaring at the group from their MK5s.
It was obvious that they were itching to get stuck into the fray and to help Alpha Pride get both their male and their sister back but Xiva understood the commander's reasoning here.
They needed to be fast and mobile in those tunnels and the larger the group the slower their progress would be, plus there was the fact that the troops above ground also needed to keep their operational number up so that they could keep the tunnel entrance secured to allow the team to get back out again.
Also to this effect, the Serpentinus were not taking part in the operation as their Sand Crawlers would be needed to add firepower to the defences holding the entrance.
"Alright people listen up and listen good, we are going into the belly of the beast here, while yes we do have some experience with these tunnels from our previous engagements I do not want anybody getting complacent, it is not going to help our missing people if we rush in there like a bunch of day one recruits determined to impress the Grand Matriarch only to stamp on our own tails, slow and steady wins the race as the Grand Patriarch is so fond of saying," the commander said stepping out ahead of the group to address them all.
"The War Angels will be leading the way as tunnel fighting is their thing and few have senses as powerful as theirs when it comes to working in the pitch black, they will be assisted by Alpha Pride for the same reason as Raptorians live underground so working in tight confines is their thing," she said making Tezz and the others of Alpha Pride nod approvingly while gripping their weapons with obvious determination.
"Next up will be our Beledon Knights, their job will be to be a bulwark against the worst of the fire allowing us to push forward and advance once we encounter the enemy, the scouts will retreat to the safety of the Beledon lines once they encounter the enemy so that we can engage them together as a whole, both the Seekers and the Hunters will be bringing up the rear providing fire support as well as rapid response as we specialise in ambush," the commander said.
With all of the teams aware of what they were doing the group faced down the uncovered covert entrance to the insect's tunnel network, it was time to step into the unknown.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The commander bug strode towards Thomas was still bound by the sticky silken threads that had been wound around his armour, locking his limbs against his sides and preventing him from moving.
Each heavy step the bio-suit took caused the ground to bounce under Thomas as he craned his neck to look up at the resin-covered suit that hid the bug regional commander.
He considered deploying his wrist blades in an attempt to cut through the silken bonds while firing the retro thrusters in order to attempt to ignite the strands, he was willing to bet that while his suit was fireproof the strands, were not so much.
But despite his desire to free himself and his wife Thomas held his nerve as the large insectoid commander leaned down to examine him closely.
He could see the large dark eyes of the suit which were organic sensor pods that were undoubtedly scanning every inch of him trying in vain to ascertain what he was or most likely how best to kill him and his kind.
The sensor pods kinda reminded him of the compound eyes that flies had but crossed with the conical-mounted eyes that chameleons from Earth had, the way they swivelled about on their dark resin-covered mounts was kinda disconcerting.
The bug made a soft chittering noise which set his universal translator system going again as it still tried its best to decode their verbal language.
The large insect reached down and grabbed the strong silk strands that were woven around his chest plate which once again set Vessa's protective instincts off like a grenade.
"Leave him alone you bug-eyed freak! You want to pick on someone pick on me! I'm the female here!" she yelled making Thomas sigh heavily.
"It was going to be a long process unwinding decades of cultural and societal instincts from her and his pride, to remind them that he was not some helpless house male who needed his pride to protect him.
Though as frustrating as it was there was a part of it that was rather endearing as well as it showed him how much she truly cared about him, the very fact that she was more than willing to take any potential threat to him upon herself was actually quite charming in a way.
He saw the commander's conical eyes separate and one of them swivelled to look at her while the other one remained fixed on him, it was like he was sizing the pair of them up and analysing their differences.
Thomas found himself wondering if the creature had even realised that they were two separate species or whether it was thinking that they were just two different castes of the same species, much like their own race.
The commander dropped him causing him to thump back down onto the ground with a thud, though there was no pain thanks to his armour taking the impact easily.
He then turned and lifted Vessa off the ground which sent a rush of white-hot anger flaring through Thomas.
"Hey put her down you bug-eyed fuck! Pick on someone closer to your own size!" he yelled before realising that he was doing exactly what he'd been frustrated about her doing only seconds earlier, he guessed that protective instincts simply could not be turned off when it was someone you loved.
The bug analysed her and then once again turned and this time hoisted Thomas up as well, holding them both dangling off the ground it walked over to a pair of odd-looking resin-coated pods against the back wall of the room.
It placed Vessa in one of them and Thomas into the other before pressing some kind of odd squishy-looking bulbous buttons on the sides of the pods.
There was a whoosh and glass panels shot up and sealed them inside of them, there was a sharp hissing noise and suddenly his suit alarms began going off.
"Biological agents detected, initiating hazmat protocols, all exterior ventilation sealed and sterilised, switching to internal oxygen supply and respiratory filtering system as well as rebreather units," the suit's A.I computer said loudly.
"They are looking for a way to kill us with targeted biological attacks! Please tell me your suit is not compromised!?" Thomas exclaimed looking at Vessa in the other pod.
"My suit is good though let's hope they don't figure out that our armour has rebreather systems and internal oxygen before our people get here or we might have some very serious problems here," Vessa said in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Yeah but if my oxygen gets low I do have a backup plan to get us out of here so you keep your eyes glued on that breathable oxygen gauge and if it drops below ten per cent you tell me," Thomas said.
"What have you got in mind?" Vessa asked sounding suspicious.
"Well they might have bound them to my back but that doesn't mean that my plasma casters can't fire and I'm pretty sure compressed and superheated plasma in a pressurised container is gonna pop it like and over pressurised balloon," Thomas said.
"Yeah and you along with it!" Vessa exclaimed sounding incredulous.
"I'd rather that than either a slow death suffocating to death but I'm pretty sure my armour and shields can take the blast, even at point blank, but I'm gonna have to move pretty damn quickly as if there is anything left in my shield bank after that it ain't gonna be much," he said.
"Well let's just keep that particular plan for the absolute last resort shall we?" Vessa said and Thomas nodded in agreement.
"Yeah agreed, I don't exactly relish the thought of finding out what it feels like to be inside a depth charge when it goes off but if our people can't reach us in time I'd rather take my chances with plan B than suffocating to death, at least it gives us a chance to die on our feet together than watching each other die through glass," he said.
"Yeah," Vessa said sadly, but in her heart hope was still firing on all cylinders, she had faith in her pride, they would reach them in time, they had to.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Viper team this GMF control, stand fast I say again stand fast, the Grand Matriarch is aware of your situation and is sending you a care package fresh out of the science hive made with the help of our Raptorian brethren, our brothers and sisters down there have been working hard on the problems of tunnel fighting, especially against those bug bio-suits and have come up with something special. But we only have five of them so make good use of them and good hunting down there, get our brother and new sister back, GMF control over and out," a young-sounding male Raptorian voice said through the comms and Misty stopped in her tracks.
"Viper team stand fast we have incoming from the GMF!" she said about a second before there was a boom from above them and the very obvious sound of drop pods inbound.
There was a loud crashing and cracking sound from their left as the pods smashed their way through the branches of the canopy before punching into the ground around the base of one of the massive trees.
Misty walked up to the pods which were smoking from the heat of re-entry as they sat embedded into the ground awaiting their arrival.
"Provide identification," the closest pod said in an obviously artificial voice.
"Misty Williams, Seeker First class," she said and there was a beeping noise.
"Voice print and identity confirmed, transferring Raptorian Tunnel Reapers to your command Seeker, good hunting," the artificial voice said before the doors of the pods blew off.
What stepped out of the pods caused Misty's mouth to fall open in surprise before morphing into a dark smile.
"Alpha Pride front and centre!" she yelled.
Cemmil and the others of Alpha Pride came jogging up to her and her Seeker team before stopping dead in their tracks as they saw what had just stepped out of the pods next to her.
"What the hell are those things?" Tez exclaimed.
"Those would be your new rides, climb aboard girls I get the feeling they are going to be rather useful in the coming hours," Misty said gesturing to the five miniature mech suits all standing before them.
"For us?" Cemmil asked in surprise.
"The science hive and Raptorian science prides came up with them for tunnel fighting, they are called Raptorian Tunnel Reapers and besides I very much doubt we are gonna fit any of our Beledon friends inside one of them now are we?" Misty chuckled gesturing between the large Beledon Knights and the small but heavily armed mech suits which looked like a cross between a Raptorian and a small metal Dragon.
"We've never been trained on anything like this?" Tez said walking up to inspect the closest suit.
"Training is not necessary Star Stalker Tez I am quite capable of providing you with all the instruction in my operation that you require," the suit suddenly said in a soft male voice making her nearly jump out of her scales.
"It fucking talks!" she exclaimed.
"And it sounds like a male Raptorian," Cemmil said turning to another of the suits and gently tapping the armour.
"The science Prides felt you would feel more at ease if my voice sounded both male and familiar but I am able to change that should you wish," the suit that Cemmil had tapped said.
"Wait are you some kind of A.I or something?" Tez asked.
"Affirmative, we were programmed with the help of the freed Synthetic beings of Clan Mason, Mechinsed Artifical Life Exploratory System at your service," the suit said making Tez laugh.
"The science Prides sent us MALES," she said making the others all laugh.
"Well I guess we'd better suit up then hadn't we, so umm how do we do this?" Cemmil asked walking in circles around the mech and suddenly it rose up to its full height of six feet and opened up at the rear.
"Please step inside and begin the suit pairing, after a successful pairing each suit will only be operable by a singular pilot as in order to be fully combat effective each MALES A.I must link to your armour and your neural frequency," the suit before Tez said.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Alright then let's do this!" Tez said and without waiting for instruction or permission she clambered into the armoured mech suit before her.
No sooner had the little Raptorian stepped into the suit than it closed behind her sealing her inside.
Her arms slotted into the suit's arms while her legs were now encased in its legs, hell it even had an artificial tail to house her own.
"Welcome pilot Tez, please wait while I begin the repairing process and I apologise for any discomfort experienced in advance, this technology is still quite new and is still in development by the Xeno science hive of Clan Mason as a form of advanced battlefield communication by creating an artificial telepathic network much like the one that is employed by both Xenos and Seekers so it may not fully be bug-free yet," the suit said.
"What do you mean not bug-free!?" Tez exclaimed but her words came too late as suddenly there were screaming echoes inside her skull that kinda sounded like words but she couldn't be sure over all of the noise.
She felt like screaming but her body refused to obey her commands, it felt like she was being split into two separate beings forcibly, but then it just, stopped.
"Integration complete and successful, Suit 001 has been transferred to the command of Star Stalker Tez, please now confirm your ownership by naming your MALES," the suit said but this time it didn't speak through the suit's internal speakers, it spoke directly into her mind!
"Umm how about Rax?" she said without really thinking about it as it was the first name that popped into her head.
"Suit 001 is now redesignated Rax, thank you Star Stalker Tez," the A.I said.
"Please just call me Tez, Star Stalker Tez sounds too bloody formal and you are welcome by the way, it was my father's name and he was always seriously overprotective of me so yeah I guess it fits," she said with a chuckle.
"Now initiating system start-up please wait while performing a full system check," Rax said and suddenly Tez felt it, she actually felt the suit sensor systems coming online, this was incredible, it was like her entire nervous system was actually integrated into the suit itself!
That's when Tez became aware of the outside world around her, it was truly incredible.
She figured that there would be a series of cameras for her to look through but this was like looking through glass, there was no indication that she was even inside of a suit now.
"Weapon system check complete now transferring full control to pilot, we are good to go Tez," Rax said inside of her head.
"This is incredible! I can actually feel the weapons on the suit like they were part of my own body!" Tez exclaimed.
"That's the enhanced perception software at work, it uses software that was developed by the science hive for those who have artificial limbs or prosthetics but taken to a whole new level, it is designed so rather than simply having to go through a process of selecting something and then activating it you simply activate it like you would your own hand, or foot, or tail, it tricks your brain into believing the minigun on your right arm is actually part of your arm, or the plasma cannons on your shoulder is part of your shoulder, it is very intuitive software but also very narrow band which is part of the reason why each suit is only able to be piloted by a single Raptorian after a pairing," Rax said.
"Ahh I get it because you can now read the impulses sent out by my brain to my body the systems only work for me because the signals of another person's brain would be slightly different," she said.
"Correct, even within a pride where the bonds are incredibly tight and you finish each other's sentences there are still differences between the individuals which cannot be compensated for," Rax said.
"Well in a way it's good because it adds an extra layer of security to you, good to know that no one can jack you and go joy-riding around in you while I am getting some well-deserved snuggle time with our pride male," Tez said with a chuckle.
"Indeed," Rax said somewhat flatly.
"Speaking of which we have a male and sister to save so let's get to it!" Tez said and then turned to face the commander who was standing gawping at the newly formed Raptorian mech pride.
"Alpha Pride suited booted and ready to kick tail commander!" Tez said clenching her large metal fist as if it was her own hand.
"Glad to hear it Alpha Pride, I hope you know what you are doing with those things, we'll have to carry Vessa's suit down there with us, I have one of the Beledon carry it as I'm willing to be they are the only ones strong enough to haul it," the commander said looking at the last remaining mech suit that was still stood there.
Suddenly the suit stood up right on its own and turned to face them.
"No need commander, while I am not able to utilise the weapon systems by design, I am able to move under my own power, so I will follow your lead until my pilot can be found and integrated," the suit said making the commander jump in surprise.
"Ok, I didn't expect that," she said and Tez chuckled, it seemed Seekers really didn't like surprises.
"Each of them has an integrated A.I called a MALES commander, It is what allows us to pilot them without training, honestly, it does not feel like I am piloting a mech right now, more like the mech is me and I am it if that makes sense," Tez said and the commander simply looked at her.
"Not really but I'll take your word for it and I sure as hell am not going to turn down the extra firepower those things look like they are packing, well let's get to it, Alpha Pride you now have point, I hope those things can take as much of a beating as they look like they can," she said and with that, Tez signalled to her pride.
"Let's go get our male and our sister back!" she snarled clenching a fist and all of Alpha Pride fell into step with her as they headed for the tunnel entrance.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
For the fifth time in that hour, Vessa looked at her oxygen meter, she knew it would not go down quickly as these suits were made for EVA in space and the internal oxygen supply was augmented with a sophisticated rebreather system to maximise how long they could go without having to top up their tanks.
But she still felt nervous as hell not only because of the looming threat of suffocation but mainly because of the looming threat of her male making good on his promise to blow open his pod if they got close to running out.
She looked over at his pod and the sight of him encapsulated within its confines sent her anger spiking again.
The thought of an innocent male imprisoned against his will like that lit such a powerful fire within her young Raptorian heart that she swore she could feel flames licking against the insides of her chest.
But despite her own fears, he seemed relatively calm so she switched her attention to the bugs themselves.
They seemed content to observe their captives for any reactions to the biological agents that they were filling their pods with, though it did surprise her that they seemed quite oblivious to the fact that they were wearing hermetically sealed armour that made them impervious to their biological attacks.
That's when they seemed to switch gears and Vessa heard a soft hissing from the vents above her head.
"Chemical agents detected, suit integrity at one hundred per cent," her suit's internal computer reported as a vile yellow gas slowly descended over her obscuring her vision.
"They are trying chemical weapons now!" she exclaimed.
"Yeah my suit is telling me it's some kind of nerve agent, we are gonna need some serious decon when we get out of here, but there is one benefit here," Thomas said.
"Benifit!? What fucking benefit!?" Vessa exclaimed looking over him incredulously.
"This shit is corrosive to biological material, it's eating through the spider silk that's binding us, I can see the shit slowly breaking down," he replied and Vessa glanced down at her own bonds.
He was right, the gas was eating through the silk slowly and she could see the strands turning black and breaking down.
"Fuck if it's doing this to their own bonds I'd fucking hate to see what it would do to my scales or your skin," Vessa said as she watched the strands wither and deteriorate.
"Yeah be glad the Clan insist on proofing our armour against all known chemical agents or I get the feeling our pride would find fuck all but a pink and green pair of puddles when they get here," Thomas said and Vessa felt her heart leap in her chest.
The mere fact that he now referred to her pride as their pride made her so ecstatically happy, it showed his connection to them and his full-blown acceptance of all of them as his wives.
This revelation and realization cemented Vessa's confidence and her determination, she had to stay strong both for him and for her pride, she was the leader of the very first Star Stalker pride to set foot an alien world and she had to act like it.
She had to believe in her pride and their allies, they were coming for them and would never abandon them, all they had to do was survive until they got there, which was when she saw the outer skin of her armour slowly beginning to darken.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Fuck me these guys are relentless!" Tez yelled as the auto-loader on her right arm swapped the canister of plasma gas out for a fresh one and stored the empty canister in her ammo-filled pack on her back.
As soon as it was primed she began to spin the gun back up and unhunkered from behind the riot shield emitter on her left arm so she could spray the bug position at the end of the tunnel with plasma fire.
"Missile out!" Cemmil yelled from her right and as she turned her head she saw her pride sister aiming the micro-missile launcher on her left arm before unleashing a small salvo of the laser-guided swarm missiles into the tunnel.
The missiles whizzed down the tunnel towards the fortified bug position at the far end before arcing over the resin-coated dirt bulwark the bugs were using as cover from which to fire from behind.
There was an explosion along with a flash of green fire which indicated that at least one of Cemmil's missiles had found a plasma tank or possibly an ammunition stockpile the bugs had been using to feed the twin heavy machineguns that had been bogging them down.
Dirt and debris exploded down the tunnel towards them and no sooner had it begun bouncing down the tunnel than four blue blurs rocketed down the tunnel towards the now shattered bulwark.
The four Seekers vanished into the room beyond the shattered bulwark all moving so fast that they were barely more than a set of blue streaks.
"Move up!" Tez bellowed and she began to charge forwards alongside her sisters and each heavy footstep they took eachoed down the tunnel as their mech suits charged forwards.
Alongside them, the Beledon Knights charged with a series of bellowing brays that were their version of a war cry and behind them, she could hear the Hunters picking up the war cry and echoing it.
Above them, on the ceiling of the tunnel the Xenos of the War Angels scuttled through the gap at high speed following after their Clan brothers and sisters of the Seekers and thanks to their ability to move on all surfaces they made it through the gap before Tez and Alpha pride but not by much.
No sooner had they entered the large chamber beyond the bulwark than fire rained down on them from all angles, the bugs were dug in on all sides of them.
This little fact didn't even slow the Seekers down for a microsecond, as Tez raised her shield arm to absorb the incoming hail of plasma fire and to protect those following in her wake she could already see both the Seekers and the War Angels getting stuck in.
She had never seen a Seeker fight up close before but she had heard all the stories that had come down from the surface of Raptoria during the war.
Of these incredible beings that could move so fast that they were nothing but a blur to your eyes and that possessed powers that beggared belief, but seeing one of them with your own eyes was a whole other thing entirely.
As she watched the four of them split up and began to bounce around the room drawing the bugs fire away from their comrades as they desperately tried to draw a bead on the blue streaks.
But every so often one of them would break their erratic display of speed and dash right into the midst of one of the the entrenched bug firing positions.
That's when the real fun and chaos would begin.
You see no one had ever told Tez about the blessed weapons that the Seekers carried or the incredible power they could unleash in the hands of their bonded warrior.
The commander herself carried this long curved thin sword that she'd heard one of the Hunters refer to as a Katana, it was apparently an ancient type of blade all the way from the Human homeworld of Earth.
But it wasn't the sword itself that was impressive but what the commander could actually do with it.
As Tez watched her the commander kicked off the back of one of the bug bio-suits with enough force that she managed to boot the big lumbering weapon's platform out of cover and into the open where immediately she and her sisters opened up on it.
But that wasn't the impressive part.
That came in what happened to the bug crew that was manning the weapon's point that she'd kicked the bio-suit out of.
No sooner had the commander disappeared into their midst than there was a series of blue flashes and this was followed by the commander streaking away from the weapon's crew leaving them seemingly unscathed.
That was until every single one of them simply fell apart.
All of their arms and legs not to mention their heads simply just...fell off.
All that was left of them was a pile of leaking body parts that was left in a rather wet-looking heap.
Then there was the Seeker with the large bow whom Tez didn't know his name, but every time he drew the bow a string made entirely of lightning appeared between his fingers along with an arrow which was a fucking lightning bolt.
When he let it fly the arrow streaked forward like a bolt of lightning and exploded when it struck what he'd aimed it at, sending smaller bolts out of the impact point to strike all the bugs near to it.
This usually seemed to cook them in their shells leaving nothing but smoking and twitching bodies in its wake.
But it wasn't just the Seekers that were stuck into the fight, on the ceiling above their heads the War Angels moved through the shadows like wraiths of death.
The bugs were so focused on both the Seekers and their ground-based allies as they tore into them that they never even noticed the Xenos until it was too late.
As she watched Tez saw bugs get plucked out of formations by long segmented tails only for their bodies to get dropped down into the centre of the room with huge holes punched clean through their carapaces leaving ichor-dripping out of them and onto the resin-covered dirt floor.
The War Angels armoured claws also seemed to make short work of the bug's chitin armour as well, cutting and gouging huge furrows through it like they were running their fingers through wet clay.
With the drone soldiers tied up with both the invisible Xenos and the Seekers playing merry hell with them, this freed up Alpha Pride, the Beledon and the Hunters to deal with the heavy bio-suits that were in the room.
"Alpha Pride on me!" Cemmil yelled and Tez turned to see her sister forming a shield wall which doubled as a firing line for the Beledon and the Hunters to move up behind as their much heavier shield absorbed the incoming fire from the bug Bio-suits.
Tez and her sisters hunkered down and slowly advanced as the Beledon and the Hunters used them as moving cover and fired between the gaps in the shields at the heavy suits.
When they drew close enough the Beledon let out a war bray and charged through the gaps in the shield wall using their own heavy shields to protect them as they got themselves into melee range.
The large enraged bovine warriors hit the suits with enough force that they were able to prevent them from training their weapons on them and quite a few of them had drawn massive claymore-like swords made from the metal produced in the forges of the Clan Mason homeworld.
These mighty blades were so strong and sharp that they had no problems taking limbs clean off the heavy war suits in the hands of the Beledon Knights.
While the Beledon now had the bio-suits locked in hand-to-hand combat or well maybe a hand-to-claw combat, Tez and the rest of Alpha Pride as well as the Hunter team turned their attentions to punching a hole through the battle lines so that the team could drive further into the tunnel network towards where their beloved male and pride sister were being held.
"Rax ping Thomas and Vessa's signals and extrapolate the direction!" Tez snarled as she opened fire on a group of drones that were trying to fight their way into the room.
As her minigun spat burning hot plasma at them in a stream that scorched and melted the walls as well as anything else it made contact with one of the tunnels leading out of the room lit up with a light blue hue.
"Based on the direction of the pings and the resonance scan data of the tunnel network I believe that Star Stalker Vessa and Hunter Thomas are in this direction," Rax said which figured as the tunnel that he'd highlighted seemed to be the most heavily defended of all of them.
"This way sisters, our beloved ones are this way!" Tez yelled and with that, she charged right at the tunnel mouth and its besieged defenders.