The Shadow Among The Stars

by Dylan Sanchez

  Kirby’s stance shifted into a hunch, and a number of her rear armor plates shifted to provide the weight distribution necessary to balance the recoil of the weapon. The thickly armored ammo hoppers on the Jockey’s back thumped and clacked loudly as the first round was loaded. The Marduk featured a number of hybrid control schemes, its artillery mode being one of them. Rather than more organically following Kirby’s own motions, the Marduk locked its rotational axis to joystick control to allow absolute precision. Kirby’s display began overlaying various forms of sensory and targeting information in a storm of data.

  Vort’s wings made a loud pop of displaced air as he projected himself skyward. His people had evolved on a world with higher gravity than that of Humans and Qixing. Gru’Thiall in particular swung toward the low end of comfortable gravity for those species, meaning the colorful alien could easily attain cruising speeds upward of one hundred forty kilometers an hour without tiring. He fell in with one of several howling Lancer formations that swept a perimeter around the clearing and over the complex, watchful for movement and scanning for target signatures.

  Bryluen joined the Wake-Maker at the fortifications constructed before the main gate, which included a pair of armored gun emplacements aimed toward the gate itself. Marine combat engineers were gifted and remarkably fast, possessing a number of modular structure designs whose components could be easily sent down in a drop craft, rolled to an optimal position, and rooted to the ground at lightning speed. The Operative took stock of the situation before dispatching Nicadzim to accompany the soldiers dug in just behind the gate, and Bel’Wa to the wall above the gate where a unit of Sentinels was entrenched.

  Due to the aesthetic intent of the complex’s entryway, even with support it was more than likely going to be breached. As such, the Marines posted there had created a dense kill-zone of staggered firing positions and directional explosives. Other extraneous barriers had been provided to allow a number of Qixing tanks to remain in position hull down to lend their larger-caliber firepower to the defense of the gate and surrounding area. Qixing battle tanks tended to be sleeker than their Human equivalents, and prioritized guided weaponry over more traditional armaments. For the most part, the Qixing left tank or walker-hunting to specialist vehicles, and long-range artillery duties normally fell to heavy mobile emplacements.

  Trees and undergrowth began to shake and rustle in the distance. The collective sensory information of the walkers, swirling groups of Lancers, and infantry armor was rapidly collated to inform the commanders of the densest enemy concentrations. The main gate would receive the widest and largest mass of enemies, while the complex wall opposite the gate (and closest to the edge of the plateau) would receive the second greatest attack. The Marines and Sentinels made slight adjustments to their dispositions to accommodate the strength of the enemy, and the longest-ranged weapons took up aim toward the enemy army.

  The Wake-Maker paced back and forth impatiently, drinking up the constant updates scrolling across his data feed. Lieutenant Colonel Kitoko was engaging in almost precisely the same action at the other end of the complex. They both spotted the piece of information they were looking for: the front line of The Dreaded would reach range in about five seconds. Cyoni’o suddenly stopped his pacing and raised a fist, while Kitoko dropped into cover next to her men. Over internal comms, Cyoni’o shouted a two-word command. Almost three hundred Qixing weapons simultaneously snapped into a complex set of pre-ordained firing angles, and the Gate Sentinels began to sing. At the same instant a great shout rose from the Marines, a wordless battle-cry magnified by their armor that echoed out into the jungle in defiance of the approaching foe. A discordant cacophony of shrieks, squawks, hisses, and howls answered back as the foe closed. At the moment the first Dreaded reached the effective range of their weaponry, Cyoni’o and Kitoko both gave the command to fire.

  The clearing about the tomb complex was instantly lit by slugs, bullets, beams of light, ionized gases, rockets, and high-explosive shells. Coilguns wailed into the foliage beside dual-minigun mounts and shrieking plasma flare-cannons. Great plumes of fire lurched and twitched among the towering trees, and a great cloud of steam began to rise across the battlefield as the heat of the energy weapons dissipated the falling rain.

  From above the wall, the swirling Lancers loosed their weapons downward into the foliage in blinding stitches of light. Maintaining a rapidly weaving pattern of motion to avoid enemy fire, they began to range out and saturate portions of the jungle in punishing munitions.

  Among the flashes of light and fire the dark silhouettes of The Dreaded rushed onward, hundreds of their number incinerated, maimed, or shredded in the first volleys of the battle. The various forms of Rabisu had not yet begun returning fire, possibly focusing on rushing forward as quickly as possible to be clear of the obstructing plant life. However, the segmented cannon creatures began firing test shots as they scurried behind the front line. The harsh yellow bolts flew toward the defenders, damaging barriers and taking chunks from the wall. A number of their shots went up toward the Lancers, causing them to accelerate and change their flight paths. A loud clang was heard as a shot glanced off of squad Padmavati’s Hadad, leaving a long rent in its turret armor.

  Kirby’s targeting algorithms highlighted an Ur-Rabisu, hunched and rushing through the undergrowth amid a herd of its subordinates. Her heavy weapon whirred as it aimed. With a gentle tap of the firing stud her cannon slammed backward, hurling an armor-piercing shell toward the beast. The projectile tore through undergrowth and vines, impacting the monster in the upper chest. The explosion sent it flailing onto its back, one of its arms cartwheeling through the air on the back of the shell’s bright detonation. It tried to rise again, only to receive a second shell in the center of its chest. This time, the mangled thing stayed down. She moved onto the next promising target, firing a cluster of rockets as she took aim once more.

  Vort dove hard, the metal plates along his wings beginning to whistle as his speed blurred his appearance into a colorful streak. Pulling up at the last moment he passed low over one of the centipede creatures. It was allowing the surrounding Dreaded to shield it as its two weapons tracked for targets and fired at a constant rhythm. Vort unleashed a bolt of lightning against the beast, the white burst sundering its shell in several places. It recoiled and twitched as the surrounding Rabisus turned to ash. After a moment the cannon-bearing Dreaded staggered and then finally collapsed, smoke trailing out of the holes in its carapace. By then Vort was long gone, sweeping up to rejoin a Lancer squad that was moving to thin The Dreaded approaching the rear of the complex.

  The Rangers coolly stared down the sights of their heavy rifles, red tongues of flame flashing from the barrels to stop distant foes in their tracks. Runner was at home among them, silently pulping head after head as he eyed priority targets. The confident slap and whine of his rifle’s accelerator was comforting, its tone piercing through the dull barks of the Ranger’s rifles like the lead soprano of a chorale movement. En-Rabisus were still similar enough to standard infantry to be downed by a precise head shot, while Ur-Rabisus and the heavy-weapon Dreaded were enduring enough that it was essentially a waste of ammo to try and strike them enough times in the same place to bring them down.

  Bel’Wa stood among the Sentinels arrayed over the main gate. Marines were situated behind and below them to defend the gate from the ground level, as well as to the left and right of the Sentinel formation. For now the Sentinels engaged in suppressing fire, intended to send as many bullets toward the horde as possible in order to slow The Dreaded advance. Aim wasn’t particularly an issue at the moment, and as such Bel’Wa stood at the barrier firing her arm cannon and shield blindly toward the jungle. The whizzing sound of the Sentinels’ bullets was a storm of fire that sounded like a million-strong beehive. Their martial song continued on the Sentinels’ internal comms as the foe neared, three hundred voices in unison unheard by the Marines right next to them.

  Nicadzim was d
ug in near the gate, warily watching through the large holes between the vines. The weapon emplacements and scattered fire teams of Marines would fire through the gaps in the gate until it was breached. Given the sheer mass of the enemy, that would undoubtedly occur sooner rather than later. At that time walker squad Vasuki would lend their full presence and firepower to holding the gate in a vise-grip of firepower and mettle. Bryluen overlooked the gate defense alongside the Wake-Maker. She gripped her liquid metal rifle and simply waited for the moment she would need to use it.

  Despite the fire from the centipede Dreaded the defenders had a vast advantage—until the front line of The Dreaded finally entered the clearing. The various forms of Rabisu flung fireballs at the defenders in their dozens, the already cacophonous battle gaining an entire new layer of sound as fireballs spattered and flared against the wall, the barriers, and armor plate. At the same moment, Cyoni’o spoke another brief word over the Sentinel comms. The Qixing soldiers immediately assumed a different pattern of fire discipline, beginning to explicitly pick out the front-most individuals of the enemy line. The heavier weapons began to pick off large targets while the Lancers used the open space to prey upon the centipede monsters, who had mostly stopped moving at the edge of the jungle.

  A Lancer spun downward, smoking and aflame past Vort. The gunner and pilot plummeted, their armor triggering their chutes to allow a safe descent. The gunner was sagging from their chute, dark maroon blood running down a ragged hole in their side. Marine medical personnel denoted by white armor plates, moved to catch the falling Sentinels. Any that were shot down outside the wall's perimeter would hardly be so fortunate. Vort tucked in his wings and dove for another blisteringly fast pass, leaving a torrent of flame in a wide wall aligned with the gate. The front row of Dreaded survived barely an instant as the flames overtook them. The others were forced to go around the wall, slowing their charge. An Ur-Rabisu simply leaped through the fire and continued onward, throwing a sequence of fireballs from each arm at the gun emplacements next to the gate.

  Kirby holed a centipede beast with a long distance shot, and a second shell sent it staggering off to one side and falling over dead. She retracted her cannon and returned the Marduk to its standard control scheme. Sliding her miniguns up to her fists, she spun up the guns and targeted a Gugalanna formation spearing for the center of the wall. Despite having not seen evidence of this previously, she had a sickening feeling the powerful claws on each of the horned beasts’ feet would allow them to climb. A storm of bullets shredded the first Gugalanna, before Kirby braced herself and panned each minigun mount outward across the formation. The front Gugalannas stumbled or fell as the stream of bullets passed over them, causing the entire formation to slow and falter. At that moment, one of the Qixing tanks behind her section of wall loosed a cluster of missiles into the air. They left the launcher, curved tightly some three or four meters over the defenders, then dove and caused the Gugalannas to vanish in a tight series of explosions. Regardless, it would be less than a dozen seconds until the first Dreaded reached the wall.

  Nearer the edge of the plateau and away from the battle, a group of the centipede creatures—later to be designated ’Omukade’—were held in reserve. Their powerful sensory organs scanned the ground all around, identifying hollow spaces beneath them that Omukades closer to the front had confirmed continued onward beneath the complex in the direction of the Stone. A group of Gugalannas and Ur-Rabisus began to frantically dig a pit downward.

  28. Chaos in the Catacombs

  The Dreaded reached the defenses in clusters, each hurtling upward on sharp claws to try and reach the soldiers atop the wall. Every third Sentinel had taken a blade and sidearm in hand to fend off the creatures trying to attack their compatriots. The Marines activated their gauntlet ripsaws, shredding any heads and limbs that came within range. The thickest portion of the assault was at the main gate, as veritable waves of Dreaded tried to flow through and over the defenders there. Nicadzim and the Marines around him fired through the gaps in the gate, the glowing metallic balls of Nicadzim’s hand-held weapon standing out against the surrounding storm of bullets. The walkers of squad Vasuki each picked a hole in the gate to fire auto-cannon shells or plasma streams through, leaving spatters of black dust and chunky fluids splashed all across the yellow structure.

  Atop the wall, Bel’Wa stood with her blade in hand, decapitating an En-Rabisu that reared up next to one of the gun emplacements. She felt a pair of fireballs flash against her shield from below, but ignored them as she pulped the head of a climbing Rabisu with her arm cannon. She shouted a command word to the Sentinels at the gate. As one, they each pulled a grenade from their belts and dropped them down along the edge of the wall. A series of choked explosions sounded out, hurling Dreaded limbs and great arcs of dark ichor high into the air.

  One of the plasma flare emplacements fired downward, a blueish-white arc of ionized gas causing the top half of an Ur-Rabisu to disappear with a violent hiss of steam. The thing’s legs took another step before falling across several Rabisus that had stood in front of the four-armed beast. Further up the wall, a Marine plasma cannon flashed and burst to pieces as a yellow bolt struck it head-on. The gunner manning the weapon was hurled backward off the wall, flailing as he fell hard on the ground below. The Dreaded began to clamber up that section of the wall. Bel’Wa moved toward the gap in the defense with her shield held up, sprinting headlong toward the front-most Dreaded. With a hard thrust she shunted the creature backwards off the wall, the force of the impact causing it to take several of its fellows with it.

  With swift, graceful sword motions she dismembered a series of Rabisus attempting to climb up in the same spot. Another En-Rabisu hurled itself up onto the wall a couple meters to her side. She shot it once in the chest with both her arm cannon and shield mount, then rushed forward. She swung the shield and struck the bottom of the En-Rabisu’s head so hard its feet left the ground. It tried to regain its balance and bearings, but Bel’Wa denied it an arm before it had the chance to do so. With another shield bash Bel’Wa knocked the En-Rabisu to the ground and executed it with a pair of arm-cannon shots to the chest. A moment later several Sentinels relocated from further up the wall to re-secure the battle line. She nodded to them and returned to her previous position. Two of the Shalas from squad Vasuki departed the gate on Lieutenant Colonel Kitoko’s orders to reinforce a portion of the western wall.

  Runner raised his eyebrows as the unmistakably long arm of an Ur-Rabisu shot up and over the edge of the west wall. He calmly took a shot exactly between two of the creature’s fingers. The energetic projectile removed the digits with a swift flash, causing the monsters’ grip to falter momentarily before it swung two more arms up onto the ledge. This gave Runner precisely enough time to drop his rifle and arm his adjustable energy cannon. Without looking down he moved three dials on the body of the weapon and aimed it at the creature’s face. Just as it pulled itself up onto the wall and planted one foot, a long bolt powered out from the cannon and struck the center of the Ur-Rabisu’s petaled head. Though not nearly enough to kill or even badly wound the thing, the force of the impact—and the explosion accompanying it—forced the Ur-Rabisu to lose its balance and fall off the wall. A pair of Lancers unleashed cannon fire of their own upon the prone beast before pulling back as a trio of yellow bolts flew from the jungle toward them.

  Kirby had now taken her massive hammer in hand, occasionally firing rockets downward from her missile rack as she swung the heavy weapon in a wide arc that slung limp corpses to either side of her. Sadly, her earlier thesis was confirmed as a Gugalanna came up the side of the wall. Before it could properly mount the top of the wall, she held the arming stud of the hammer with one thumb and brought the weapon down on the creature’s face. A powerful explosive force bolted from the square aperture on the hammer’s head. The explosion obliterated the Gugalanna’s front half, sending it crashing down on a Rabisu. Bryluen curtly informed her some spare Marines from the Sou
th and East walls were coming to cover the losses she was currently compensating for.

  Bryluen was resting her liquid metal rifle against the front barrier of the command structure. She fired precise shots of accelerated fluid through the gate, melting eyes, faces, and torsos. The Dreaded attacking the gate were rushing through a dark cloud of corpse dust, so great were the casualties inflicted by the defenders. At about that time Lieutenant Colonel Kitoko received a ping from one of the combat engineers down in the Stone chamber: a mapping drone in the catacombs had just gone dark; it’s last image was a black claw. She immediately relayed this information to Bryluen and Cyoni’o.

  “I can’t spare much more than the engineers already down there. We’re already having to spread the Walkers out to clear wall sections. We’ve got Dreaded corpses falling inside the complex now; the pressure is mounting quickly.”

  Bryluen grunted. “Wake-Maker, can you spare a small unit under Storm Mother Belzxilenth’Wa’s command? Lieutenant Colonel, have the engineers rig charges to collapse the tunnels leading from the catacombs into the Stone chamber. I’ll give them the signal to blow the tunnels. It’s an ancient structure, but it should grow back—unlike us if we fail.”

  Cyoni’o, crouching to Bryluen’s right, gave a diagonal nod. “Yes, Operative, I can spare units Iuth’Qo and Ki’Yun’Sia off the east wall. I’ll have them proceed to the Stone chamber immediately.”

  The Operative nodded before switching over to Dread Naught’s private channel. “We’ve got word The Dreaded have entered the catacomb system—presumably by digging. Bel’Wa, Nico: I want you to get to the main tower ASAP and join the Sentinels there. Judge the situation and hold those tunnels until the Marine Engineers can rig explosives. Keep me updated; the line soldiers can hardly be spared, but if you need more of us down there, give the signal.”