by Isaac Hooke
A row of artillery units was firing shells and plasma bolts at point blank range against Bokerov’s Dinosaur. That unit became riddle with holes as those shells detonated and disintegrated portions of the hull. The Cataphract wouldn’t be able to hold up much longer under the impacts.
The Rex Wolves rushed in suddenly, plowing through those alien artillery as if they weighed nothing. Bruiser bit into one, crunching it in half. Lackey crushed another with his weight. Shaggy bashed one aside with his thick head, sending it flying into another armored unit. Runt meanwhile leaped on top of a tank and began chomping into its rectangular turret, breaking it away along with part of the hull below.
A squad, this one made of similar white, egg-shaped vessels, but these ones possessing elaborate treads rather than merely floating, turned their attention to the Rex Wolves.
No.
2
Jason weaved between the airships and slammed his shield down in front of the dogs just as those treaded vehicles opened fire. His shield turned red on the inside in several places as it took the blows.
The act left him open to attack from the side, and one of the airships lit into him. His right arm—Tara—was bombarded with energy blasts. He shifted, exposing his back—Aria—to the impacts.
Jerry intervened in his Cataphract, bringing his own shield to bear, and blocking the impacts.
“Thanks,” Jason said. “I owe you one.”
“Nope,” Jerry said. “Paying you back for saving my girls last time.”
Jason was still receiving fire from the treaded units, forcing him to remain in place to protect the Rex Wolves, who were occupied with the artillery.
The mechs of Cheyanne, Maeran, and Iris swept past him, heading toward the units firing at him.
Cheyanne used her wings to arc over Jason’s shield, and landed among the attackers. The East Indian flung out her swords and swirled as she moved, cutting through the enemy like a spinning top. Her caramel-skinned avatar momentarily appeared in his HUD, biting her lower lip, the gold chain hanging from her nose to her ear swaying as she did so.
Maeran spat that gooey substance from her mech, gluing one of the alien tanks in place. The goo enveloped the turret and prevented the vehicle from firing. She spun to the right, sending her drones to intercept the attack from another tank, which had launched plasma bolts at her. The drones formed a triangular shield that deflected the blow, then moved forward. She must have amped up the intensity of the energy emitted by those drones, because when they passed the tank, the triangular beams formed by the three machines sliced the top portion of the hull right off.
Iris unleashed the energy whips she held in her four arms and cut through the rectangular turrets of different alien tanks. She crab-walked with her six legs, doing her best to avoid being struck by return fire.
The Rex Wolves finished with the artillery squad, and then raced past to join the three mechs.
Another airship came in, and it seemed ready to fire at the girls and the dogs.
Jason teleported in front of them—the range was just enough to reach the airship. He stabbed upward with the sword, cutting through the vessel and sending it plowing into the ground behind him. It formed a deep runnel as it crashed.
He cut his way forward in that manner, taking down airships as fast as he could, but there were always three more for every one he shot down. Sometimes, when he cut open a vessel, it proved to be a transport craft, and more troops flooded out before or after it crashed. The latest airship he felled, for example, released a hundred Phasers. They reached to his waist, and Jason found himself wading through the units, firing every weapon he was capable of, trying to get away from the horde so he could fight from a more defensible position. The alien mechs phased out on his attacks, so he started sweeping his sword first, and then followed up with shots from his lightning, energy, and plasma weapons.
When he finally broke free, he found himself surrounded by airships, and swung his sword frantically to take them down; he was able to get rid of three of them in short order, and raised his shield to protect himself against the other. Holes riddled the edges of the shield. It could take only a few more hits.
His power levels were also on the low side. He couldn’t teleport anymore, nor turn invisible. He had just enough to create a body enveloping energy shield, but if he did that, he’d be close to zero.
“How’s the power situation?” Jason asked.
He glanced at the War Forger team stats on his HUD, and had his answer. Almost everyone else was in the same power situation.
“Bombers!” John said.
Jason heard the high pitched keening of bombs. His HUD lit up with red circles that indicated the impact sites, however since the effects of the missiles were unknown, there was no darker circle specifying the blast radius.
“Put some distance between yourselves and those bombs!” Jason dashed away as bombs hit the area; these were more powerful than those launched by the artillery, and vaporized areas two hundred meters in diameter, creating deep craters in the ground.
“Z, update the blast radius settings on those bombs for next time!” Jason said.
“You got it,” Z said in her sensual voice. Jason didn’t bother to glance at the avatar that appeared. It’d be too distracting at the moment.
More bombs dropped. Most of Bokerov’s army wasn't able to move out of the way in time, and they took a beating.
“I’m losing a lot of troops,” Bokerov said. “Can’t keep this up.”
The Dinosaur and Torch had gone down, and Bokerov’s other Cataphracts had sustained heavy damage. As for his smaller troops…
Jason glanced at the overhead map. The number of troops had dropped by half. Whereas the enemy was still thousands strong. And growing as more continued to flow through the rift.
A group of two legged alien mechs swarmed Cheyanne. They had swords, like some of the Phasers, and were laying into her from all sides. She attempted to take flight, but a Phaser had managed to grab onto her legs. She promptly activated her shockwave weapon, sending the attackers flying backward in every direction. Then she took flight, skimming low over the attackers.
“That was my last charge,” Cheyanne said.
A plasma bolt struck her in the wing, and she promptly crashed into the ground. She stood up, and raised her sword to defend against a Phaser that came at her. Another Phaser fired a lightning bolt from its swords, and hit her in the side.
Jason finished taking down another airship, and rushed to her, but Maeran and Iris were already there, along with two of the Rex Wolves.
Jason spun as another airship came at him, firing everything it had, and deflected the blows with his shield. Jerry rammed his sword into that vessel, and it crashed, spilling out artillery.
Runt and Shaggy leaped into the fray, attacking the egg-shaped objects, chewing and bashing.
“We have to retreat!” Jones said. “You wanted to stage guerrilla warfare? That sounds like a good idea right about now.”
“Retreat to where?” Tara said. “At least here, we have their airships and other troops partially shielding us. We run away, we’ll be completely exposed to the full brunt of their weapons! They’ll use their bombers to herd us into a kill zone, and bam! Bye-bye War Forgers. It’s what I would do.”
“Tell me again why Aria and Xin thought it was a good idea to draw us into this fight?” Sophie said.
A missile exploded nearby, close to John, and the black blob struck his arm, enveloping his sword, and part of his Tara.
“Damn it,” John said.
He sought out the source, but Julian had already found it, and took down the airship. Five more were incoming behind it.
The lower part of John’s arm abruptly broke away from the increased weight caused by the blob, and when it hit the ground, it shattered.
“Tara 2, you all right?” Jason asked, glancing at his HUD. Her Damage Report screen wasn’t pretty.
“Lost my legs,” Tara 2 said. “But I’ll liv
e.”
As Jason ducked another plasma bolt, he realized Jones was right. The team had to retreat. There were simply too many attackers. It was obvious the War Forger army wasn’t going to win this.
But where could they retreat to? Like Tara had said, they’d be completely exposed.
He surveyed the plains nearby. The fighting had swept the Cataphracts and most of Bokerov’s army toward the southern side of the rift. Maybe they could circumnavigate it, and use the rip in spacetime as a shield of sorts to protect them from the sight lines of the rest of the alien army. But what happened when that rift winked out? Jason’s army would be exposed all over again. Plus, it wouldn’t take much effort for the aliens to reposition their troops to obtain a better firing angle.
But maybe there was another way.
Jason glanced at the rift. The atmosphere seeping from the alien homeworld formed a yellow mist that drifted well in front of the spacetime tear. Beyond, the alien units were no longer blackening the plains and air: nearly all of them had entered from their staging area into this world, darkening the land and sky here instead.
Best of all, at the moment, there were only a few aliens lying between Jason’s army, and the spacetime tear.
“We have to go through the rift!” Jason said. “It’s our best chance of survival.”
“You do know if we go through that rift, there’s no coming back?” Sophie said.
“I’m aware of that,” Jason said, deflecting another blow from a nearby airship. “But I can’t see we have any other choice. There are too many of them here. Look through the rift… there are hardly any forces on the other side: they’ve all entered into our world. At least there, we have a chance. Once we pass through, we’ll turn to the south, putting ourselves beyond the edge of the rift, and their line of fire, at least when viewed from this world.”
“What’s to stop them from simply following us through and finishing the job?” Tara said.
“I’m also guessing the Tyrnari can’t hold the rift open for much longer,” Jason said. “Inter-dimensional wormholes probably need a shit ton of energy to keep open, and I’m hoping they won’t have time to follow! Sure, they’ll send a few troops, probably. Maybe an airship or bomber, but I doubt any more than a handful of units will pursue. In fact, they’ll probably be glad to be rid of us.”
“I think you’re right that they won’t follow,” Aria said. “But only because they’ll assume whatever forces they have on the staging planet will simply take care of us. And those forces probably will.”
“I agree,” Xin said. “I don’t think fleeing to an alien world is the solution.”
“You always side with Aria,” Jason said. “I’ve come to expect that by now. What is it with you two?”
He wasn’t expecting an answer, and he didn’t get one, because the team was distracted by more red circles that appeared over the ground: alien bombers had dropped their latest salvo. This time Z included the complete blast radius—it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Well, I’m going through the rift,” Jason said. “I’m issuing a de-combine order. The rest of you can decide whether you want to stay here and retreat another way, or go with me. Bokerov, you don’t get that choice. Your army is coming with me.”
“Of course the Russian slave doesn’t get the choice,” Bokerov said.
“Next time don’t make me force you to your knees,” Jason said.
“Oh, you’ll be the one on your knees the next time we spar,” Bokerov said.
The micro machines separated from the hull of the Cataphract, and Jason’s energy weapon slid along the track, back into place on his arm, as did his railgun. His bicep area was still damaged, so the railgun was useless.
He broke away as the de-combine continued, and he leaped to the ground, landing with a heavy thud. He tramped forward, firing his energy weapon at the few egg-shaped tanks that blocked his path. He also unleashed the last of his missiles.
Unsurprisingly, Tara joined him, as did Lori and Sophie. But he did admit to feeling a little shocked when Aria and Xin came to his side.
“If you all wanted to come, I could have stayed combined!” Jason said. Then again, they had a smaller profile now, which left them less open to attack, considering that the Phasers and other units behind them were about the same height.
The other War Forgers de-combined to reduce their profile as well, and all of them came, to the last man and woman. Bokerov’s tanks and artillery followed behind the War Forgers, with the Cataphracts lumbering in the rear. Bokerov’s remaining bombers and fighter jets tore through the yellow mist of the rift and swerved to the south, and out of the line of fire of the enemy units on this side.
The Rex Wolves dashed alongside Jason and Tara. They bit into or knocked aside any of the aliens mechs or tanks that blocked their path—none were Phasers. As the teams got closer to the rift, the yellow mist that had extended across the plains encircled their legs.
“What about the dogs?” Tara said. “We can’t take them through! They won’t survive the atmosphere on the other side!”
“Actually, they will,” Aria said. “I’ve already sampled the atmosphere pouring from the rift, now that we’re near. It matches the chemicals the bioweapons emitted in the early days of the last invasion. While there’s some stuff in it that’s harmful to Terran life, most of the mutants we’ve ever encountered have two pairs of lungs—the first so that they could exist in our pre-terraformed environment, the second intended to activate post-terraforming. I’ve come across my share of Rex Wolf corpses during my wanderings, and they’re no different. I believe their second set of lungs will take over.”
“What if you’re wrong?” Tara said.
“Then they die,” Aria said.
Jason was the first to reach the rift. He leaped through, fearful about tripping on the lower edge of the rift and getting a foot cut off. But he needn’t have feared, as the bottom portion seemed to be embedded in the ground.
The others passed through behind him, along with Bokerov’s surviving troops.
The alien troops and craft on this side unleashed salvos from their turrets, and Jason returned fire.
The different Arias directed their shields toward the enemy units, providing protection against the incoming fire.
The dogs beside Jason hadn’t faltered in their gaits. Not one bit. They simply passed through the alien environment and continued running. Jason supposed it helped that there was sunlight on this side, at the top of that yellow sky. Though only a pinprick of light, it seemed just as intense as that of Earth’s sun, at least based on his external temperature sensors.
The aliens continued assailing Jason and the others. Bokerov’s bombers made a pass, eliminating a good swath of the attackers.
“This way!” Jason fled to the south, where a forest of psychedelic pine trees lined the horizon. The yellow mist of the atmosphere limited visibility somewhat, however, and he couldn’t see as far as he would have liked into those trees.
Glancing at his rear view feed, he realized that not a one of the alien troops were bothering to pursue. They still continued to fire occasionally, but the attacks were halfhearted at best.
“It’s like I said,” Jason told the others. “The rift is closing soon. The Tyrnari want to get as many of their troops through as possible, and they’re not worried about what mischief we might cause here.”
“That’s because the troops on this side have probably already radioed for reinforcements,” Tara said.
“All the more reason to keep moving!” Jason said.
The Rex Wolves continued to do well beside him. He had to conclude that their lungs were indeed capable of filtering the air.
As Jason got closer to the trees, he realized just how massive they were. They towered at least twice as tall as their large mechs, and would easily give the team cover against attacks.
When Jason reached the southern edge of those huge pine trees, the alien attacks ceased. He glanced in his rear view feed and
realized why: the last of the aliens had gone through the rift. As he watched, the rift vanished entirely.
“And so it’s done,” Cheyanne commented. “We’ve stranded ourselves on another world, giving up on humanity.”
“Just as humanity gave up on us,” Iris spat.
Jason paused for a moment to survey the forest. “Well, we might as well go inside. At the very least, these trees will shield us from whatever reinforcements arrive. Who knows, maybe we’ll even evade the alien search parties.”
With that, Jason entered the forest.
3
Jason moved between the trunks of the great pines. There was enough room between them for the mechs to easily walk, sometimes two abreast. There was no real canopy, and sunlight readily reached their mechs, allowing them to power their batteries. The recharge rate only confirmed his previous theory regarding the sun’s strength: it was on par with Earth’s, even though it seemed way smaller in the sky.
Jason activated his repair swarm so that he could begin repairs while he walked. Other units in the army did the same, including Bokerov’s. The repair drones were equipped with obstacle avoidance, and target tracking, so they could fix things on the move. The repairs were a bit slower while on the move, though, because of all the tracking overhead required.
John was carrying his Tara clone over his shoulders, since she had no legs for walking. The clones in other War Forger parties were similarly helping each other, with an Aria using the shoulders of a Sophie as a crutch, and so forth, while the repair drones did their work.
The undergrowth trampled easily underfoot, and the main teams cleared a path for the tanks behind them. Said foliage appeared to be mostly sticks of wood, with multi-colored spider webs threading between them.
“Must be some sort of lichen,” Aria commented, scooping up a sample with one big finger.
The pines were coated in similar webbing, and when Jason looked closely, he realized those weren’t pine needles at all, but silk-like purplish extensions that covered the many branches.