Star Force: Evacuation (SF50)

by Aer-ki Jyr

The fighter pulled off and fled, with the Nestafar infantry now too far ahead to pursue.

  Ker-shat activated his comm and reported their success, then waited with the others for pickup, with a troop transport flying in overhead within a few minutes. The trio jumped up to the underside and grabbed hold of the square rims, pulling themselves inside so they could be moved to another combat zone…and would continue doing so until all threats were eliminated.

  Kali-1388 fired off a salvo of missiles from her madcat, with the tiny little guided projectiles swarming towards a Skarron Type-5 walker as it was escorting a Type-4 that was engaging a trio of Nestafar spider walkers and getting the armor chewed off it. Infantry from both sides were around, but otherwise staying out of the way of the big machines as there were groups of combatants everywhere.

  Kali damaged the Skarron walker further with some lachar blasts but was still outside mauler range. Gauging the damage to both sides, she twisted her mech’s torso around and leveled the right arm at one of the spiders in the distance, then fired a rail gun slug at it. The metallic round shot across the distance and clipped off one of the legs with the impact, missing the central hull but none the less twisting it around on collision.

  As she walked her mech forward she continued to dish out damage to both sides, not in a hurry to get in close, though that’s where her mauler would come into play. Just before she reached the enemy’s plasma range she got a waypoint ping on her battlemap and quickly turned her madcat to the left, accelerating up to full speed and sprinting the machine across the rocky ground, hoping the computer wouldn’t get overwhelmed by all the small bumps and trip on the rocks.

  In the distance she could see a pair of voltrons and a slew of escort mechs tangling with a Type-2 and a pair of super dragons…which at the moment were both attacking the Star Force mechs. Ignoring the craziness of it all she targeted the damaged super dragon and launched all her remaining missiles, knowing she needed to do the most damage as she could, otherwise the weapons on the enemy walkers would do a lot more in return.

  It took some 18 seconds for her two missile boxes riding above the ‘shoulders’ on her mech to fully unload, with a long plume of exhaust marking their path towards the walker as she continued to run forward…with other Star Force mechs nearby turning to coalesce around the battlemap beacon. When dealing with super-heavy opponents you had to gank them quickly or they’d wear down your side so much that they could turn the tide in any battle…which is probably what the enemies were thinking about the voltrons, prompting them to shoot at the big mechs rather than each other at the moment.

  Knowing better than to try and fire the rail gun while running, she held off and tried to do some extra damage with her lachars…then readjusted her aim to a giraffe with a hole blown in its side that was still firing off plasma blasts at her team and pretty much being ignored in favor of larger targets. Taking manual control she lined up the shot then peppered the walker with lachar blasts rather than the continuous version she also had the opportunity to use. This way she could keep firing in a chain gun-like manner continuously rather than having to take a recharge break.

  A lot of her shots missed, but she kept it up from range and even though her aim running was shaky she delivered enough hits to the damaged section to see the walker collapse on its own legs and power down, no longer throwing plasma at her friends.

  Just then a huge explosion ripped apart the Type-1, with Kali not knowing where it came from. She hadn’t seen anything hit it, then as it twisted and fell over she saw a big chrome suit of armor riding it down…no, not one, but three of the things larger than her madcat with their arms dug into the side as it crashed.

  But with all Type-1s that wasn’t the end of it, for it simply jettisoned the damaged segment and kept on fighting, with the three Voku mech/suits running away quickly as they got pummeled with plasma. Two of them made it, but the third went down hard, its shields no longer protecting it and the Skarrons exacting their revenge for the lost segment until a giant physical shield dropped over top and blocked the incoming fire as one of the voltrons moved forward to cover it.

  The other two kept running backwards until they were out of the main firing lines, then Kali did a double take as the two came together in what looked like a giant robot hug and melted into one another, forming a stationary stature that the Archon couldn’t look at any longer as she was now within mauler range of a group of spiders and giraffes that were just now beginning to target her.

  She slowed to a walk and opened up with her mauler and rail gun, taking a spider out within 20 seconds before turning slightly right to attack another, with all those involved constantly on the move and repositioning, though her mech was by far the most agile…up until a pair of starscreams flew in and landed nearby, transforming into mech mode and giving her some backup with their own smaller mauler cannons.

  A proximity alarm alerted her to a contact coming up behind her, and she looked just in time to see another of the Voku mech/suits run past and dive head first into three spiders. It landed on one, grabbing it and rolling through a somersault with it locked in a death grip, then flipping it through the air coming out of the roll before jutting to the side and kicking another to the ground.

  Kali landed a mauler blast on that one before the Voku reached its arms forward and pummeled the walker with energy blasts while ignoring the plasma raining down on its back from the third spider and others further away. She adjusted her aim to the other spider, then held up as the starscreams crossed her firing line. With a moment to glance at what else was happening she saw the melting ‘statue’ finally take shape and walk off, now half again as tall as it had been with a similar biped form.

  It ran up alongside the second voltron, now almost as tall as it, and the pair ran forward together, with the second voltron joining them in a shield wedge, with the Voku in the center and mostly protected from the white plasma storm coming down on them, though the giant physical shields were starting to show a few holes.

  That was all Kali could see, for she had to turn her attention to the second super dragon as it adjusted its sights away from the voltrons and towards her little section of battle. She was still outside of mauler range, barely, so she ran forward and began firing it and her rail gun off as quickly as she could, with the metallic bullets not needing to be well aimed to hit the giant machine.

  It fired off one large plasma stream, hitting another madcat and melting/exploding the missile boxes off it. The mech fell, apparently already having its shields down, and buried its nose into the ground, then suddenly all the anti-air weapons on the Skarron Type-1 lit up as a mass dropped out of the air and impacted the ground with a large boom that rocked Kali’s mech slightly. Before the dust cleared a giant Voku mech/suit stood up and walked towards the super dragon and punched it down into the ground with a massive fist.

  Then, prompting a laugh of joy from Kali, it picked the entire super dragon up and spun it around its body, building momentum before releasing it sideways…and throwing it into the side of its twin, sending both crashing in a tumble.

  “Yes!” she yelled in a satisfactory manner as she looked for another target of her own, finding plenty and settling on a spider that was now targeting the Voku. “Kick their ass bro. I’ve got your back.”

  8

  August 29, 2537

  Hachtat System

  Eliossa

  One of the Elarioni, whose name was impossible for Humans to pronounce, swam along with her sisters in a long, river-like flow of bodies through the ocean towards the shore, escorted by their aquatics warships to make sure that neither the Nestafar nor Skarrons interfered with the evacuation process and attacked the defenseless civilians. Shri, which is what she would eventually be called once they arrived in the ADZ, could sense her sisters all around her, but not just in the line she was traveling with. There were others nearby, all converging on the same area where the Human transports were waiting on shore.

  The Elarioni had a limited t
elepathic ability, not enough to speak to one another or read minds, but they could feel each other out and read basic emotions, such as when one of them was in danger the others would know or when they were excited or happy. Right now Shri was swimming in a sea of anxiety, kicking her tail rhythmically to maintain a decent pace and having her hair swaying in the chop from the others ahead of her. She carried only a small satchel with her, having been told all other supplies would be provided on the transports and that space was at a premium.

  They were going to have to endure some very close living quarters in order to get everyone offworld, but that was a small price to pay for their freedom. Already the Skarrons had attacked two underwater settlements…futilely, but their intentions were clear. Not only were they going to rid the planet of Nestafar, but they were not going to tolerate any other presence here. Their aquatic weaponry was limited to infantry troops with spike guns, but she and the others knew/suspected that the Skarrons hadn’t come here equipped for aquatic warfare, for they didn’t discover the Elarioni civilization until after they’d arrived…meaning that if they were willing to start engaging them with what little they had available, then that probably meant their true aquatic forces were on the way.

  That was a fight they were willing to make in the water, but they’d never be able to remove them from the surface. And if the Alliance’s reports were accurate, the Skarrons would keep sending more and more troops from their massive empire until they eventually succeeded. Shri and the others had to flee before they could be enveloped in a no-win scenario that would gradually grind down their population and resources until they were wiped out of existence.

  The fact that there was fighting going on now up above was cause enough for anxiety, but Shri and the others weren’t very keen on the idea of traveling on an alien ship…especially considering those aliens were air breathers. That said, it was a way off the planet and they were going to take it, trusting their leadership’s guidance despite their misgivings and abandoning their homes for the evacuation lines, some of which stretched thousands of miles.

  Those long lines were being facilitated by aquatic ships carrying and offloading evacuees to nearby locations, then allowing them to swim the remainder of the journey on their own. Already it had been 13 days of constant evacuations, with Star Force transports landing by the dozens, loading, then taking off for the ADZ while others came down to replace them. Shri hadn’t seen any of the ships in person, only on recordings, but they were massive vessels that she had a hard time understanding how they could even land on a planet.

  Most of the Elarioni ships were small and agile, with massive hulks being the way of other races…yet one more reason for their apprehension, though in theory a big ship would carry greater defenses, yet Elarioni combat philosophy held that speed and agility was more important than armor and shields.

  At least that’s the way it worked underwater. In the air or space was another matter entirely, which was also why they felt so out of place there. The Alliance was much better suited to such combat arenas, and hopefully the two could learn and supplement each other…at least that was the stated purpose of this merger with the Alliance. They rescue the Elarioni and in turn Shri’s people would help strengthen their aquatics fronts, few as they were.

  The pace Shri and the others were maintaining wasn’t overly hard, but they’d been swimming for the past 14 hours and all were getting tired. None the less they persisted, understanding the importance and danger of the situation, and swam on with the seafloor gradually rising up beneath them until they were in the coastal shallows…with that environment eliciting even more anxiety, for the closer to land they were the more danger they were in. Elarioni preferred deep water above all else, with the shallows making them feel claustrophobic.

  Shri had expected a large group to have gathered around the loading areas, but to her surprise there was none at all. The line she was traveling in merged with four others at various points in the shallows, with the now super-thick line ending at the opening of a massive tube with several Star Force armored suits floating nearby with flanking Elarioni escorts, for crowd control she imagined. She was less than 100 meters away from them when the line suddenly stopped and she got her first rest…though she found that floating in place waiting was more disturbing, for she felt like the enemy could drop down on her head at any moment.

  Those in the tube swam on, disappearing around the upward bend and into the ship beyond. Shri and the others couldn’t see more than a giant shadow ahead of them through the water, for they were staying low beneath the surface to avoid drawing attention from enemy fighters that might be circling around overhead. A few minutes later that shadow rose up and disappeared, letting the sunlight through that created a mild haze from the dust in the water from the combat that had been occurring nearby.

  Shri waited and waited, nervously flexing her three fingers in and out while giving her tail and torso muscles a much needed rest. There was little talking, for all were tired, but the guards at the entrance of the tube told them that another transport was incoming and they spread the word back down the line as the group at the end swelled up into a large crowd.

  Eventually another shadow lowered over them and set down on shore, connecting to the tube and sending a pair of red-armored Humans down it and into view…whereupon the line started moving again, with them leading the Elarioni up it with the guards at the entrance setting up the spacing to keep the flow moving but not overcrowded.

  Shri was held for a moment by the outstretched arm of one of her sisters, then released without so much as a casual glance at her. These guards must have processed thousands if not millions of Elarioni by now, so the lack of personality was understandable. Shri swam into the 50m wide tube along with the others and curved up, rising above the level of the ocean and onto land, she guessed, for the tube walls were opaque with nothing visible outside them…hopefully because they were covered in heavy armor.

  When she got to the end of the not so short tube the line was divided up, with her being shuffled into the leftmost segment and into a much smaller tube with three others beside her. That little group swam through the curvy course, with a feeling of claustrophobia choking her mind, both from her own fear and that of the others washing over her but there was nothing they could do but keep moving so they bravely swam on, not knowing what they would encounter ahead.

  About a minute later her group of four exited the tube into a large chamber, with the transition being a physical relief on all the Elarioni, but above and beyond that was the curious joy at seeing their own technology inside. The room was alien, but small stations were constructed in Elarioni fashion and even had their own language prompts and keyboards, with a repetitive audial instruction to log in at an available terminal.

  Shri swam over to an open one and followed the written instructions. It was little more than a check-in station where she input her personal identification information, then a small armband was produced in a cupola beside it. She took the Elarioni designed bracelet and slid it over her wrist and halfway up to her elbow, then swam forward two meters and used it to access another tube, this one with a waterlock. She swam inside the Elarioni designed structure, knowing how to access it and closing the doorway behind her.

  With the armband she touched a sensitive panel and heard machinery moving for a few seconds before the other side of the waterlock opened into a very narrow tunnel which she swam down following a guide light on the wall. She kept pace with it easily enough, for it was moving slowly, but its presence felt reassuring because Elarioni used such things in their own cities to guide children and newcomers around. Eventually the tunnel split into four branches, with her following the light into the upper right and down another length before she passed through four more splits.

  The last section of tunnel finally opened up into a curious habitat area, reminiscent of Elarioni design but much more compact. She saw a few others swinging around the choked passageways that were little more tha
n cracks between floating cubes in an otherwise huge water-filled environment.

  Shri politely made her way through the crowds even as a prompt was repeating itself, indicating that all should stay ‘indoors’ during the loading procedure. Some of the others were traveling as she was, while others were moving about out of curiosity and making traffic impediments of themselves.

  Following the information on her armband Shri made her way through the tight habitat to her section…a large cube suspended by beams connecting it to others and the distant walls. She entered one of the 24 entrances and swam inside searching for her compartment. After several twists and turns she came to number 73 and opened the small round door and pulled herself inside, seeing little more than an elevator-sized chamber.

  Immediately she worried about claustrophobia, but the entire design was Elarioni despite the difference in materials, and she settled into a resting float in the center as she logged into the computer with her new id and accessed the newsfeeds and other aps, one of which allowed her an external view of the ship.

  She unconsciously released a bubble from her nose when she saw what was happening. The Human ships were truly massive and parked all along the coast, each with multiple tubes connecting them to the water. She could see fighters streaking by overhead in patrols while walking machines did the same nearby. One of the giant transports pulled up, showing its true bulk, only to be replaced by another coming down mere minutes later.

  Shri knew there had to be millions of Elarioni in these ships, and she was both impressed and afraid of so many people being packed in together, for they made easy targets.

  She kept looking around the other camera options, some not even based on her transport, that showed the distant fighting. The area around the evacuation zone was secure, yet riddled with debris. There appeared to be at least two ongoing conflicts to the south, but her ship was well outside of their weapons range. She did notice the Star Force troops, which she was somewhat familiar with by this point given how much information about the ADZ had been passing around, but there was another ally in play that she didn’t realize. She searched the computer database and couldn’t find a match, wondering if it was her own fault for missing something or if they simply didn’t have information on whoever they were.