Star Force: Survivor (SF52)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  Fortunately they didn’t have the luxury of moving very fast. They had to be methodical, covering every corner they came to as if it might contain an ambush and that allowed him to keep up without slowing the others down. When they got to the waypoint the door to the armory opened up remotely and they filed inside, with Rio about to hit the close button to shut them in but the door did so on its own as the ranger’s voice popped up on the comm again.

  “Armor up. I can give you maybe 40 minutes to get to the LZ. I don’t think we can hold out longer than that. I’m going to have to abandon this position in the next 5 minutes or so. I’m transmitting the best route I know, then you’re going to be on your own. Be warned, they’re massing ahead of you. You’re going to have to run and gun and not get pinned down. I wish I had better news for you but this is where we’re at. We’ll hold the LZ as long as possible, but I’ve already ordered the mechs to start pulling back and our air cover isn’t going to hold out much longer. Run fast, shoot straight, and be the badasses I know you are. We’ll be waiting.”

  Rio didn’t waste time listening to the message standing still. As soon as he heard ‘armor up’ he began pulling off his damaged armor and grabbing a generic version out of storage. He had to make several adjustments to the pieces in order to get a decent fit but that didn’t matter. It was fresh armor with fully intact shield emitters. He also grabbed several weapons and ammo containers, including some Kiritas style grenades and trigger.

  There was no food with them in the chamber, nor had they any left to bring with them, but at the moment that didn’t matter much. Ambrosia would have helped almost immediately, but by the time they’d digested much of anything their window of opportunity would have been lost. They had to fight their way through to the LZ on what energy reserves they had left.

  Fatigued, injured, and in constant pain…Rio was good to go. Being back inside their own territory and out of the firing line of walkers and fighters alike was enough to make him hopeful. He could handle the Skarrons, and if he guessed right the route the Archon had given them would take them through areas too small for the big ones to go…leaving them with Hobbits, Hobbits, and more Hobbits to block their path, and those he could eat for breakfast fully armored up, which he now was.

  “We good?” he asked, looking at everyone else.

  “I was born for this,” the injured one said, his wound also obscured beneath a fresh set of armor.

  Rio pointed and the nearest commando to the door hit the release and they began filing out, ten commandos strong, and dropping back into a well-practiced mobile formation designed for hunting rather than running. With no hope of a clear route ahead, they were going to have to fight their way through, and to do that they were going to have to play offense rather than defense.

  Which was fine for Rio. He’d had enough falling back. Now they had an objective and a way out clearly marked on his battlemap. It was like thousands of challenges before, only this one was a single try, do or die. All the others, with so many opportunities to repeat, had taught him well how to handle the moment and the nerves, and he was pleasantly surprised that now, in the moment when it mattered most, his mind was completely calm. He knew what he had to do and that he could do it…with a resolution that if he failed it wouldn’t matter.

  The path ahead was the only way to survive, so he committed himself to each step he took forward, not looking or thinking back, and focused on shooting every flat headed little Skarron minion he came across before they could kill him.

  9

  Rio ducked down behind a potted tree, with the bark on the trunk exploding above his head with plasma hits. He and the others were stuck in an interior park that was only a few sections away from their LZ, but it was their only way through and the Skarrons had turned it into a temporary base of operations…with three of them and a horde of Hobbits in play. The bigger Skarron plasma rifles/cannons had already killed one of the commandos when he got ambushed by a group of Hobbits and forced out of his cover. Rio thought the hit was more blind luck than skill on the Skarron’s part, but the plasma orb hit him square in the helmet.

  He fell to the ground, the plasma burning through an already damaged section and penetrating his skull. After that the fighting had grown into more or less of a standstill, with every Hobbit the commandos took down being replaced by others coming in, getting them nowhere and the clock still ticking. They all knew it, and knew if they played by the usual rules the enemy would win by default.

  That meant it was time to get reckless…but in a smart way. The 9 of them had a lengthy, yet choppy conversation as they continued to fight in and around cover, then Rio finally got the signal and popped up, taking a few hits to his shields immediately as he sprayed suppression fire in a particular area.

  His armor took several more hits then he ducked back down, glad that none had gotten through as two more commandos popped up and continued to bathe that particular area with blue streaks…then another came around a blind in the park, essentially a small booth with a V-shaped wall, and jumped into the mess of the now ducking Hobbits, firing as he landed amongst them.

  A second tone signaled throughout all their helmets and Rio popped back up, his shields not having enough time to reform, and fired at whatever Hobbits were shooting back at the others as four of them converged on the same point and slaughtered the enemy there. The incoming plasma hit them hard, and Rio did his best to down their shooters or make them duck for cover…then he was on the move, transitioning to another preplanned spot as he saw one of his fellow soldiers go down.

  Soon he was behind a bench and doing his best not to get mauled by the Skarron closest to him. His barricade didn’t last long, being blasted apart by the plasma, but it did draw off those shots from the others before Rio leapt up and targeted the unarmored Skarron, trying to be as evasive as possible in his movements. It worked at first, allowing him to land several hits to its midsection as the enemy’s shots missed to the sides…then one of the other commandos got the jump on it and literally stepped up onto its back and fired down into the top of the creature.

  Rio added a few more shots until the thing went down, then both of the commandos ducked for cover as more Hobbit-sized plasma flew their way. Rio felt a burn cut into his left leg then he was in a side alcove, temporarily out of the firing line but also pinned down. Several pings on the battlemap later and he took off, running out into the open again and shooting a few Hobbits on the go as the rest of them continually took the offensive and hoped that the enemy would blink.

  They did, for the most part, but another commando went down by the time they got the second Skarron. The eight of them finished off the third then had an easier time with the Hobbits, though more were still coming in. Rio managed to get to one of the fallen commandos and found that he was still alive. Coordinating with the others via comm and battlemap, Rio pulled the pain riddled commando over his shoulders and carried him across the park as he got confirmation that the other was dead.

  With the commandos screening for him, Rio made it across and into an exiting hallway, now not able to fight aside from one handed. He held a pistol at the ready, with his rifle now tucked underneath the commando’s body on his back, and hoped he wasn’t going to need it. He followed the others, monitoring the battlemap closely as they scouted out ahead and kept the area behind him clear, essentially giving him a bubble of protection as he carried the wounded one…up until one section over where they hit another bottleneck.

  The commandos poured directly into it, with Rio falling to the back and those behind him rushing ahead. He was told to keep moving no matter what and did so, coming out into a long hallway with plenty of weaponsfire ahead but several dull white armored suits in between him and it. Rio ran as fast as he could with the other man overtop of him, then finally ducked inside a side hall that had a waypoint on it. Down some 50 meters was a stairwell with one commando already there, clearing the way and a few Hobbit bodies in between them.

  Rio stepped over
them as he heavily jogged forward, then took to the stairs for three flights before meeting up with the others after they took another route up, with both groups arriving at a skywalk that connected two of the buildings within the city.

  The skywalk was simply a clear tube walkway across the open road below, but it made for a perfect defensive point and the Skarrons had already set up there…hastily it seemed, for the others got the drop on them and downed many before Rio had to set his man down behind an ornamental wall barely a foot high and get into the fight himself.

  There wasn’t a lot of cover, which meant it was whoever shot first that was going to win. That’s why Rio had to join in, for their armor and shields would only offer them a bit of an advantage. Pulling out another pistol he dual wielded and ran forward, pumping lances into Hobbits as three of the others took on the Skarron with them. A bloodbath quickly ensued, with one of the commandos going down and the others all showing burn injuries save for one, though his armor was so melted in places it looked like it was all but breached.

  Two of them headed across the skywalk while Rio went back for his man, picked him up, then headed across while one of the others held back as a skirmisher to protect their rear. As they ran out into the open Rio looked to the side through the glass walls and saw the streets below, mostly empty but with a few visible Skarron units moving about, including some of their elites with the shiny battle armor that almost made them look like tiny mechs.

  A flash on the left resulted in the glass melting into a puddle, then several more blasts hit and eventually shattered it as some of the Skarrons on the ground noticed them and opened fire upwards. Rio tried to ignore it and just kept going, with waves of the plasma coming through and him moving to the far side to keep as much of the floor between him and their firing lines as possible.

  A short gauntlet run later and he was on the other side and headed down another stairwell. A bit of clear running later and they were back into the undercity and fighting through a scattering of unorganized resistance that barely slowed their run…with the others getting far enough ahead of Rio and the other commando carrying a man that they didn’t even see the fighting, only the bodies as they ran past them.

  Eventually they came to their LZ area, another building with a small pad on the roof. They hit the stairs and clawed their way up some 42 flights with Rio ignoring his dead muscles and focusing on the way out. It was so close ahead that he could literally taste it.

  Just then, he rounded another turn in the stairwell and saw a group of some six Hobbits in the hallway adjacent to the stairwell take aim at him. Not knowing what to do he just kept climbing stairs and mentally flinched, expecting a shower of pain. Several plasma blasts hit him in the chest and even his faceplate, then a flash of silver entered his vision and only a few more white orbs came at him.

  One burnt through and he felt his left lung deflate, nearly toppling him over as he stepped out of view of the enemy. He caught himself on his upright knee, then forced himself up the next step with the other commando still on his back…and the next, and the next. He had a small window, for they could be coming right up after him, and he had to make use of it.

  He climbed, willing all other thoughts aside, and somehow made it up the three more flights to the roof. When he came out he saw a dropship waiting with its rear hatch open and he dragged his legs across the short tarmac and up into the craft, dumping his fellow commando onto the floor as he collapsed himself. Knowing there was still danger he twisted himself around and held up his pistol, ready to shoot out the entrance if anything came into view but the only things that did were his fellow commandos popping out of the stairwell and running across to the dropship.

  He counted, seeing that all of them had made it, then as the last of them came up and hit the ramp retract button he let himself fall down and curl up into a pain ridden ball that could barely breathe.

  The commando that hit the button stared back out the gap to make sure no one got a cheap shot in on them as they closed up, but then the ramp locked into place only a foot off the ground. Frowning, the commando hit the button again, getting it to rise another six inches or so before it stopped again, this time with the pilot coming through on his comm.

  “Hold up, there’s one more coming.”

  “We’re all in,” he said, checking his battlemap and seeing no other signals.

  “I’m told there is and we’re giving him another 30 seconds.”

  “Copy that,” the commando said, looking around and up into the sky. He could see distant enemy fighters, hoping that they could get away without getting shot down again. A skeet flew past at a closer distance, meaning they had some air cover left which was a small comfort, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.

  After 23 seconds he finally saw an image appear in the stairwell, staggering out and momentarily dropping to a knee before clawing its way back up onto its feet.

  “Damn…” he said, running and jumping off the ramp towards Iden. He wasn’t showing up on the battlemap and the damage to his armor clearly showed why. He was a mess of melted and charred bits, with so many wounds to his body that he should have been dead…and looked close to it, barely able to stagger his way across to the dropship.

  A Hobbit came up the stairwell behind him and the commando shot it dead before it could get a cheap shot off. He put himself in between the Archon and the opening, covering him with his own body as more came up. He shot them all down quickly, not giving them a chance to group up, but still took a couple of hits, the first of which his shields caught. The last one hit him in the leg on a portion of intact armor, keeping him in the fight without injury.

  When the Archon got to the ramp he rolled onto it with his chest, then one of the other commandos yanked him up and hauled him inside as the skirmisher hopped up and triggered the ramp closure…this time with it proceeding normally and the dropship taking off before it even got halfway up.

  The air seemed to get sucked out of the hold as the turbulence outside increase drastically, indicating a rapid acceleration until the ramp sealed up and left the commandos inside unable to see what was going on.

  The one uninjured one sat down and pulled up his battlemap to a larger view, tracking their progress and hoping beyond hope that they made it out. He didn’t have another fight left in him, and if they went down again…he would do what he could, as always, but he was nearly clocked out with fatigue. He glanced at the others, seeing several on the ground and not moving. Without anyone else doing anything he walked over to one of the emergency slots on the walls and began pulling out rations and medical supplies, tossing the former to the ones still on their feet and attending to those on the ground as best he could.

  Two more commandos came over to help, getting healing patches on and pain meds in those that were blacked out…and finding one that hadn’t made it.

  The Archon was the worst off, with them getting his helmet off and finding him likewise passed out with so much damage to his body that the commando hoped he didn’t wake back up to feel it all. He injected him with a pain numbing cocktail and put patches on the worst spots, but didn’t dare try to remove the armor. Its inner layer had oozed gel out onto many of the injuries and he was afraid the Archon was going to need every bit of help he could get right now just to stay alive.

  He wanted to get some ambrosia in him, but so long as he was unconscious he couldn’t feed him. Eventually sitting down beside the torn up silver armor that he was wearing, the commando waited perilously, counting every second that went by and hoping beyond hope that they were finally out of it. On the battlemap he could see them leave the city and shoot off across the surface, with multiple enemy fighters in the area and only a handful of Star Force ones…but those few were eating up the Skarrons and providing them the diversion they needed to get away.

  Still not convinced, he didn’t relax until they were so far away that the Skarrons dropped off the map. When they did and they were essentially out in the middle of nowhere alone, h
e finally removed his helmet and sucked in a fresh breath of air, feeling several drops of sweat fall off his hair and onto his neck as he did so.

  They’d made it…the few of them that had survived, anyway. Still shocked to actually have made it out, he stared at the ground for a long time lost in thought until the ramp suddenly began to open and the movement jerked him back to reality.

  When it came down medics came in, attending to the wounded and making him realize they’d arrived at a safe haven. He checked his battlemap again to see where they were, finding them in a large city on the neighboring continent, having flown some 800+ miles across a narrow ocean that bisected the two.

  He picked up his helmet and followed the wounded out, being the last man off the dropship. He glanced back at the small blood spots on the floor, cringing as the toll of the wounded and dead they’d taken to get this far fell heavily on him. Resolving himself to get back into the fight and make the Skarrons pay, he turned away from their rescue craft and headed into the city enroute to an information terminal to secure temporary quarters and get in a badly needed shower and rest. There was nothing he could do for his wounded brothers and sisters at the moment, so he needed to attend to himself.

  Getting an electronic allotment within seconds, he hauled himself on one last walk through the city and to his quarters, then came inside them and began stripping off his trashed armor, having to twist and pop his way free, for the melted material had reformed over some of the connection points. When he eventually got out of it all he left it in a heap on the floor and undressed, dragging himself into the vertical shower tube and turning the overhead rain jets on as he leaned up against the wall and let his mind wander off into a very tired and stressed void.