Bursting out from the tree line Garrett found himself staring at the source of the noise, the helicopter was hanging in the air at a wild angle that should not have been conducive to flight meanwhile the woman stood on the ground arm outstretched towards the floundering aircraft, hand curled in a clawed fist, the soldiers, at least those who were in a position to do so were raining hellfire upon the being, though as to be expected, next to no effect. The one effect being irritation indicated by the alien’s increasingly clenched fist and the steadily growing dents in the aircraft’s fuselage, the metal groaning as it gave way to the being’s power. There was a crack as something in the engine broke, sending gouts of flame pouring from the exhaust ports, the rotors howling as the machine gave it’s death rattle. The woman twisted her hand, causing the bulletproof windscreen to shatter, the armored hull buckling further, just a little further and the skeleton would give. With a yell, Garrett slammed head-first into the alien, knocking her to the ground, above them the chopper lurched, smoke billowing as the pilot wrestled the dying bird to the ground. Garrett drove his elbow into the alien’s face, smashing it's head into the dirt, she reciprocated, raking her claws up, drawing four thin red lines across his face, wincing through the pain, Garrett rose his fist, aiming to strike the temple and knock the escapee out quick unfortunately, he didn’t come close as the alien’s had whipped back around and grabbed the side of his skull. There was a flash of agonizing pain. Then darkness.
Nidi was running, clawed feet clacking against the monolithic branch she was sprinting along. Behind her she could hear the whines and shrieks of pulse cannons, along with the far less frequent shrieks of shredder fire spitters, as she reached the edge of the branch she leapt, a psionic pulse giving her a kick of extra momentum, her arc taking her over a gap that plunged down hundreds of meters down to the forest floor. Hitting the ground she turned back to see the rest of her clan also making the crossing, the ungifted making the crossing using the thick vines that hung down from the dark canopy far above them. Turning back to the direction of flight she spied a figure ahead of them. Even with her night vision, Nidi couldn’t make out more than a vague outline, one with the distinctly chunky form of the dreaded machine, with a grim snarl she pulled the energy into herself, preparing to strike the enemy down. But before she could turn the aberration into a pile of scrap there was a crack followed by yelps from the rest of the clan, followed in turn by the clatter of metal from behind them. Spinning on her heels Nidi watched as one of the man-sized arachnid minions of the machine crumpled to its knees and slid forward off the branch and down into the abyss. Turning back towards the figure she stepped forward as they did the same, as the figure stepped closer she found she could discern a few more characteristics of the being. As it turned out it was not a machine, in fact it was a biological being, the blocky silhouette apparently the result of the equipment it was wearing. Some sort of full body armour of unnatural materials not unlike the metallic plates of the enemy, though the smoking projectile weapon and the now silenced monster behind her suggested that at the very least this being had no loyalty for the aberrant machine. Stepping forward herself, Nidi began approaching the figure. For an agonising minute, the only sounds were the clattering sound of footsteps amongst the shallow hum of the jungle. As she continued to walk forward she began to discern more of the man’s features. He was extremely heavy set, an extra half wider then even the strongest of her clan, on the other hand he was a good head lower then her and even more so when compared to full warriors. To add to the strangeness of this being only became more apparent, the skin was unnaturally pale, it’s head lacking any apparent tendrils. At only a dozen meters the two stopped, the air falling silent around them. For a moment they held each other’s gaze, and then she spoke: “Who are you?”
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The man blinked, eyes widening, “you speak English?” It was now Nidi’s turn to be surprised, “No you are speaking…” Her voice trailed off, she looked around, she listened. Nothing, the cataclysmic battle, the screams even the wildlife had gone silent. Nidi turned to her clan and her suspicions were confirmed, they had frozen like water in the frost, their features becoming indistinct and blurred like smudged clay. A convergence then, but why? There was a flash and things began to trickle back to her, the capture, the escape… the fight, the Convergence. Just like a dream, most would not be able to identify it as a dream. It would require a considerable deviation from the established norm for someone to notice, good thing being that the alien she was facing didn’t know the norm, which meant she could play this how she wanted. Stepping forward again she spoke; “thank you for your help, but our battle is not finished, the enemy is on our backs.” The human nodded, then he spoke again, slowly. “You speak English?”
Nidi’s faltered slightly at that, most who had been subjected to the convergence shouldn’t be aware enough to ask such a question, the implications of that were not good. Regardless hesitation could only increase the certainty of this going horribly wrong so she had to persevere. “Of course I do, we are allies, its important that we understand each other.” For a moment there was a pregnant silence for several seconds. Fortunately, the human apparently accepted the excuse. “Right, I’m Garrett by the way.”
“Nidi” Nidi reciprocated, bowing her head in greeting. With introductions out of the way Nidi considered her options, in all likelihood she would be captured quickly, which meant she had at best a few minutes to acquire as much information about these aliens as possible before that happened. Fortunately, her ‘friend’ seemed to be more then happy to offer that information as he immediately started prattling;
“We need to get back to our secondary lines, rest, regroup and wait for new orders from Command. Where is the nearest fob?” Nidi blinked, “fob?” Garrett’s eyes furrowed. “Forward Operating Base, did you hit your head?”
Nidi blinked, “No, I. I’m new, I was recruited today.”
The man’s eyes rose in shock, how badly are you guys getting pummelled then?”
“Severely actually.” Nidi admitted the words tasting like acid on her tongue. The memories of that day roiling upwards like a tidal wave, the fire, the flight… the defeat. The rage boiling within her, the forest shuddering around her as if in sympathy. No, it was in sympathy, the Convergence was responding to her emotions, stretching, trying to bend to her mind, about to collapse from the strain. Something grabbed her hand and yanked her forward.
“Whatever the hell that is, we need to go!” He barked, rifle raised toward the canopy, there was a mechanical screech as an aberration burst from the darkness above them. There was a warbling howl as the machine’s claws clashed against a shimmering green barrier that Nidi had brought up at the last possible moment, the robot bounced backward, crouching as it began to circle the pair, behind the machine, more were descending upon the rest of her clan, claws meeting chitin in a dizzying dance of meat and metal. The machine, a massive cat-like quadruped with two looming cannons mounted to its back continued to circle waiting for some sort of opening… or reinforcements, from behind the pair came an impossibly soft clatter as another robot cat dropped behind them.
“So…” Garrett hummed as he slowly turned to face the new threat. “I take the one on the left, you take the one on the right?”
Nidi snarled, energy coiling in her hands. “Just make sure you destroy one of them.”
Whilst she couldn’t see his face, his response gave all the confirmation:
“Yes, Ma’am.”