by Isaac Hooke
“This is true,” Bokerov said. “Once they were able to reverse engineer our protocols, I shared my entire language database with them. This was over ten years ago. They’ve had plenty of time to learn Russian, and other languages, since then.”
Jason overlaid the audio and video from that particular comm channel over his main channel, and played back the voice-only message his AI core had already recorded.
“Human troops,” a deep male voice said. “I am Jhagan. Servant of Risilan, of the Modlenth Branch. I wish to speak with your leader.”
“It has to be a trick,” Tara said. “A delaying tactic, meant to make us wait here for their reinforcements.”
“She’s right,” Bokerov said. “We must attack, immediately! Let me unleash my cannons!”
Jason reached toward his face, and tried to rub his chin before he realized he didn’t have one anymore. He made up his mind.
“I want to hear what they have to say,” Jason said.
He signed into the comm channel the aliens were using, and spoke. “I’m Jason. Leader of the War Forgers. This is my army. And we’re three seconds away from blasting you out of the skies. So tell me what you want, and make it quick.”
“The Central wishes to see you,” Jhagan returned.
“Who?” Jason said.
“Risilan, of the Modlenth Branch,” Jhagan said.
“That means nothing to me,” Jason said.
“Risilan is our leader,” Jhagan said. “The Central.”
“Oh,” Jason said. “Modlenth Branch. You’re some kind of Tyrnari faction?”
“That is correct,” Jhagan said.
“And you’re not allied with the faction invading Earth?” Jason pressed.
“Also correct,” Jhagan replied.
“What does your Central want with us?” Jason said.
“I’m afraid only she can reveal that information to you,” Jhagan said. “In person. I am here to escort you.”
Jason muted the line.
“This could be the break we’ve been looking for,” Jason said. “This faction might be able to help us defeat the invading Tyrnari.”
“Or it could be a trick,” Tara said.
“It must be,” Bokerov said. “Let’s shoot them down.”
“I think we should at least meet this Risilan,” Jerry said.
“I agree,” Jones said.
“I know you’re probably discussing this news amongst yourselves, in an attempt to come to a decision on whether or not to join us,” Jhagan said. “But I urge you, decide quickly. The Imperials signaled for reinforcements before the last of their army entered the rift. We beat these reinforcements to you, but I’m afraid we only have a few minutes until they arrive.”
Jason decided to take a chance. “We’ll go with him.”
“What, no vote?” Sophie said.
“This isn’t a democracy,” Jason said. He unmuted the line. “We’ll go with you to meet this Central. Lead the way.”
He turned toward Aria and Xin. “This time, try not to attack them, please.”
Xin shrugged. “Like you said, this isn’t a democracy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jason asked.
“Figure it out,” Xin told him.
“Such disrespect!” Bokerov said. “Dominate them!”
“I think she means she might attack them if she wants!” Lori said.
“Yeah, I got that,” Jason said.
He sent Xin a private message. “You can’t make comments like that over the public comm. If you want to disagree with an order, I have to ask that you do it in private. This sets a bad precedent for the rest of the team.”
“I’m sorry,” Xin said. “I guess I’m still a little angry about your loyalty comment. I think perhaps I will lower my emotion settings for the time being.”
“Probably a good idea,” Jason said. “So you’re going to keep flippant comments to yourself? Or ping me directly if you have something you disagree with?”
“Yes,” Xin said.
“Can I get your word that you’re not going to attack these Tyrnari?” Jason said.
“You have my word,” Xin said. “As I mentioned, I was simply letting my emotions run wild. It won’t happen again, I promise you.”
“Thank you,” Jason said.
On the Explorer feed, the elliptical flyers moved forward until they were visible above the tree line overhead.
The lichen-covered undergrowth ahead shuddered as robots emerged. Stepping forward, they had two legs for walking, but four grasping arms. Otherwise, they were mostly humanoid in shape.
Jason and the others immediately trained their weapons on the new arrivals.
“They are with me,” Jhagan said. “They are part of your escort. Quickly, the Imperials are almost here.”
Some of the new mechs dashed to the east, following the direction the flyers were heading overhead. Some stayed behind, as if waiting for Jason and the others to move. These mechs were roughly half as tall as those of Jason and the girls. Jason called them ‘mechs’ because of their size, but they could have been pure robots—there was no evidence they harbored pilots inside.
There were also no signs of servomotors or other machine components: like the Phaser mechs, their bodies were covered in a metal skin that was smooth, almost organic-like. A small area in the chest region emitted a silvery glow, while the rest of the exterior was a light, metallic blue. There was no sign of any weaponry anywhere on those bodies, but if they were anything like the Phaser mechs of the other Tyrnari, these machines harbored their weapons hidden inside their many forearms.
The Rex Wolves growled at the lingering units.
“Easy, boys,” Tara said. She grabbed Bruiser by the scruff of the neck when the animal lurched forward. At the same time, she patted Lackey on the neck with her other hand, ready to similarly restrain the animal.
“All right, we head east,” Jason said.
Xin led the way, to show the others that she had no intention of attacking. Aria followed, along with Jason and the rest. As he weaved between the trees and trampled the undergrowth, Jason launched his Explorer, sending it into the air next to the flyers.
As usual, the tanks were the slowest moving in the bunch, and the War Forgers and their clones easily passed them by. The Cataphracts followed behind them, having risen so that their top sections protruded from the forest once more.
The mechs that had lingered behind began to follow alongside, now, joining their brothers who were mirroring Jason’s main army. The flyers continued to lead the way overhead.
Jason marked them all—mechs and flyers alike—as friendlies on his overhead map, and the red dots all turned blue to distinguish them from the green members of his own army.
Only five minutes had passed when one of elliptical flyers plunged out of the sky, trailing a stream of smoke. It crashed into the forest, disintegrating one of the tall pines.
“The Imperials have come,” Jhagen said.
8
Jason watched as the flyers overhead unleashed a barrage of plasma and energy bolts to the north. Many of the vessels were struck by similar bolts in return, and crashed into the ground around Jason’s army, sometimes forcing the nearby units to leap out of the way. Jason himself had to dodge as one of those flyers came down in a hail of flames.
Jason tracked the skies above the treetops, but so far he couldn’t see any of the attackers that were showing up as red on his overhead map. That would be thanks to his Explorer: he switched to its viewpoint, and picked out white ellipses similar to those of the Modlenth faction, hovering in the distance. A quick count told him that there were over five hundred in view. Potentially more, given that the units could have been concealing others behind them. Meanwhile, there were only two hundred of the flyers with the Modlenth.
“Outnumbered, as usual,” Jason said.
“The story of our lives,” Tara said.
“That’s the way we like it!” Lori said.
“This Lori is my kind of girl,” Bokerov commented.
“Eww,” Lori said.
Jason sensed movement to the north, between the trees.
There, past the Modlenth mechs, more mechs had emerged. These ones were a dark red in color. Taller than the Modlenth, but not as tall as the War Forgers. They were firing lightning bolts from turrets in their forearms; the Modlenth assumed defensive positions and returned fire with the weapon turrets that had emerged from their own arms. Lightning, plasma, and energy bolts erupted from the lot of them.
Some of the dark red mechs teleported behind the line of Modlenth, and swords unfolded from their forearms, replacing the medium range weapons. They struck out, hewing down the Modlenth mechs from behind.
“I was just about to say, how come none of these mechs seem to have teleport technology?” Tara said.
“Don’t just stand there,” Jason said. “Help them!” He opened fire with his energy cannon, and struck one of the Teleporters in the back. It fell.
Another red mech teleported behind him. He knew immediately because of the feed from his rear view camera, which he kept piped into the top of his HUD.
Jason switched to Bullet Time, and stepped forward while spinning his body at the same time, and narrowly avoided the sword that the Teleporter attempted to stab through him. He brought his energy weapon to bear, and fired it at point blank range, disintegrating some of the upper body. Fragments erupted from the blast, and shrapnel embedded in his chest area.
“I think they can only teleport once,” Tara said. “With at least a minute before they recharge.”
She sliced through a Teleporter that appeared behind Aria.
Lori had become invisible, and was unleashing plasma bolts.
Aria fired her lightning bolt weapon at those Teleporters still engaged with the Modlenth. Sophie likewise launched her micro machines at them.
Xin unleashed her plasma beam at an enemy flyer that had closed overhead.
A Teleporter appeared over Iris, and she swiveled her body out of the way of its strike, and caught the mech. She pulled it to the localized energy beam that formed a line between the pincers of her maw, and cut off its head.
“Off with their heads!” Iris cackled.
Maeran’s drones swerved in front of Jason, forming a triangular shield as a lightning bolt struck. The shield deflected the blow, hitting a pine tree nearby, and toppling it.
Shaggy and Runt leaped into the fray but before they could latch onto the enemy mechs the units teleported away.
The dogs looked about in confusion.
The enemy mechs dropped down from above, intending to impale both mutants.
But Bruiser and Lackey leaped over their companions, and ripped the dropping mechs out of the air.
Shells arced over the battle, and into the forest where the mechs were emerging. Some were part of Aria’s platoon, others belonged to Bokerov.
The Cataphracts, which were near the back of the group, were unleashing their long range weapons at the flyers in the distance, some of which returned fire in kind. It only took a few seconds before all of the enemy flyers turned their attention on the Cataphracts, forcing Bokerov’s units to duck beneath the cover of the trees; the enemy flyers promptly concentrated on the Modlenth craft once more.
“There are too many of them!” Jhagan transmitted. “Our only hope is to reach the cover of the Brome!”
“The what?” Sophie said.
“He said Brome!” Lori told her. “An oat like grass sometimes grown for fodder, or ornamental purposes.”
“Uh, thanks for the literal definition,” Sophie said.
“Quickly, follow the breakaway units!” Jhagan said.
Jason glanced at his overhead map, and saw a series of blue friendlies continuing east away from the battle. Most of the units stayed behind, however, digging in to defend the escapees.
“You heard the alien!” Jason said. “Continue east! Let their mechs fight for us!”
Jason turned away from the incoming Teleporters, and continued east. He sent the Explorer forward to scout the way.
Tara herded the dogs and followed him, along with the rest of the War Forgers and their clones. The tanks came after them, along with the Cataphracts.
Occasionally, one of the mechs teleported into the trees in front of the War Forgers and managed to get off a strike, either via sword, or the lightning bolt weapon, but the team always mowed down the lone attacker shortly thereafter.
After about two minutes, the Teleporter attacks began to increase as those Modlenth that had remained behind succumbed.
The remaining Modlenth mechs that were escorting Jason’s army began to break away in groups to deal with the persistent mech assaults, until only a few escorts were left.
Overhead, the Modlenth flyers were assaulted by an ever-increasing number of bolts; they fell from the sky, at least one every few seconds, crashing into the forest of pines.
Soon some of the enemy flyers were swooping past overhead to launch attacks against the War Forgers. The Arias used their ballistic shields to deflect those blows when they could, while the Sophies fired their jumpjets to similarly intercept the bolts, putting their energy shields to strategic use. Maeran did what she could with her three drones as well.
The others meanwhile remained on the offensive, firing up into those flyers as they passed, and sometimes scoring hits that took them down. Cheyanne also darted up and down, skewering different flyers that got too close to her.
Meanwhile the Teleporters continued to ramp up their ground attacks. Most of them had lost any ability to teleport some time ago, and they relied on rushes now. They were concentrating on the lagging tanks, and some of the War Forgers diverted their attention to the rear to help out.
The Cataphracts were also attacked by some of those Teleporters, but for them, the biggest threat was the flyers, which continued to assail the units. The Sphinx fell under the attacks, and Bokerov was forced to abandon it. The others formed up in single file behind the Axeman, who held his big shield in front of him and deflected most of the blows. That shield was glowing white hot in several places, however, and it was debatable how long it would hold up. That said, the Cataphracts weren’t simply on the defensive: they leaned out past the shield to fire their powerful weapons, and usually took down swaths of two to four enemy flyers at once.
“These Imperials are certainly persistent bitches,” Tara said.
“Much like yourself,” Sophie commented.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Tara said.
Aria 5’s shield failed at one point, and she took a blow to the chest, forcing Xin 5 and Sophie 5 to drag her.
Tara 6 also took a devastating blow that took out her power supply, turning her offline. Lori 6 and Julian carried her.
Jason took a blow to the shoulder when a flyer swooped over the treetops and got in a lucky shot. His entire shoulder servomotor disintegrated, and he couldn’t move his left arm.
“We’re almost there,” Jhagan said. “It’s less than two kilometers now.”
Unfortunately, shortly after Jhagan said those words, a herd of Dragon Cheetahs chose to stage an ambush.
The big creatures plowed through the undergrowth, tearing into the War Forgers from the right.
“Shit!” Jerry said. “Some help here, guys!”
Jason swerved to the right as the enemy flyers continued to swoop down in their overhead attack. Jason fired his energy weapon at a Dragon Cheetah that had Lori 5 pinned, and freed her.
“Thanks, Babe!” Lori 5 said. “I mean, clone of my babe! I mean, original clone. I mean, ah, forget it!”
Tara and Cheyanne were at his side, swords swinging, as Aria drove a wedge into the Dragon Cheetahs with her ballistic shield.
Sophie arced down from above, ripping her micro machines into a Dragon Cheetah that attempted to attack from the side. Runt and Shaggy leaped onto two other bioweapons and began to rip and tear. Bruiser and Lackey did likewise.
&n
bsp; The enemy flyers shifted southward, following the War Forgers and their clones. Some of the Dragon Cheetahs leaped skyward and ripped the swooping flyers from the air—they didn’t distinguish between the two opposing units. Other flyers, those that remained of the Modlenth, turned back to aid in the defense when they realized that the team had momentarily halted.
Aria had her tanks pummel the bioweapons with shells and plasma bolts. Bokerov’s tanks did likewise as they came within range.
The Cataphracts swerved south, cutting the Dragon Cheetah herd in half, and trampling the big bioweapons underfoot as well as frying them with their weapons.
The Teleporters rushed in from the north, using the opportunity to force Jason and his War Forgers to fight a battle on two fronts. A battle they would quickly lose.
“Push through the Dragon Cheetahs!” Jason said. “Try not to kill them! Let them slow down the Teleporters!”
With the Arias and their ballistic shields in the lead, Jason and the others shoved their way forward. Jason fired his energy weapon when he was able—he had to wait a minute between each shot to recharge enough to fire again. The others were similarly restricted, except those with swords—the Taras, and Cheyanne. They used their weapons sparingly, trying to cause injury, rather than to kill, and mostly to deter the Dragon Cheetahs from attacking. Sometimes those bioweapons breathed those super-heated slugs at them, but either Aria absorbed the blast with her shield, or Jason and the others ducked or sidestepped.
They reached the Cataphracts, and then swerved east. Bokerov’s tanks followed behind them.
Some of the Dragon Cheetahs pursued, hounding the rear ranks where the Cataphracts resided, but most turned to the seemingly easier foe—the Teleporters.
The plan was working.
As Jason and the others continued eastward, they had only the flyers overhead to deal with. Cheyanne darted occasionally to cut down a flyer as it swooped past; the others mostly defended, as they waiting for the sun to recharge their batteries enough to continue firing.
The trees abruptly ended, opening into an exposed plain. Ahead of the War Forgers, about eight hundred meters distance, was a shimmering, golden dome. It was translucent, and Jason could see the hint of buildings beyond. He didn’t pay those structures much attention, because he was focused on the flyers that continued to assail from overhead.