[Rukkali]

Screeches and shrapnel had greeted him the moment he left the safety of the building and stepped into a war-zone. The heavy doors he had exited automatically sealed as soon as his body was clear, leaving him locked out of the relative safety they had provided. In their stead, emergency blockades had spit from the ground before him as he jumped forward for cover.

In something close to panic, Rukkali grabbed the first thing he could from the rack he had taken shelter behind, which turned out to be a hybrid combat shield. The brace sealed to his left forearm in rapid clicking adjustments as it connected its channels to his suit's shielding generator, condensing into a oval barrier. He tried to peer out from the rack and get a better view of his surroundings as the shield formed to a healthy glow on his arm, powering up to an equilibrium state.

Breathing in, it gave off the scent of ozone, and the the steady pulsing ebb of currents as energy ran through the complicated loops which gave it being.

Holding the now-bright energy shield out on the other side of the makeshift barricade as a distraction for potential incoming fire, Rukkali quickly ducked his head around the opposite side of the rack and surveyed the scene. The metallic courtyard was covered in gore, and broken corpses, but no incoming fire was observed.

Several explosions detonated out in the distance, and he quickly pulled back into safety.

There was clearly a battle going on, but he wasn't quite clear what type.

In a quick sprint and slide, Rukkali slid several units in the grime before he came to a rest with his back against another newly sprouted wall, and their racks of combat gear.

He had always prided himself on being mentally prepared for battle and the stresses that came with it, but the past few rotations had tested him. And this...

What he saw was total chaos.

Through the dark and clouded sky, bright green and blue lights flashed in fierce repetition, accompanied by the the screech of heated air, which blared in a constant, yet irregular, symphony. Above, from the roof of the building he had just exited, there were two mounted plasma turrets, with a small group of gunners. From them, bolts of heat rained out. The likes of which that singed the hair on his head and chin as they passed for their distant targets. Though Rukkali could not see the impacts, he was certain that they were landing among the foes beyond the barricades as he heard screams of rage and pain. Then. a bright flash of yellow was followed by the unmistakable sound of a Union Bolt-Rifle firing, crashed down to join them. The impact was synchronized with a distant scream of agony.

As Rukkali clutched at his spear and readied his shield, he inched his eyes over the edge of the barrier, but quickly had to duck back down as several heavy-concussion grenades sailed over to land in front of him. Curling into a ball he clutched his head in his arms over and scrunched his eyes shut as the grenades detonated with a terrific blast of sound, light, and heat.

They'd been far too close, and as a result, he was thrown from his barricade, and back through the muck to rest against the building in a ragdoll fashion.

Dazed, but alive, Rukkali stumbling to his feet, used his spear as a walking implement as he kept his shield out and facing his presumed enemies. Clearly, the Union troops stationed here were fighting something, but now that he was barely capable of holding himself upright, he couldn't bring himself to question much more than that.

As spots of vision and vertigo swept through his mind, his thoughts raced. Too much was happening, too quickly- What in the all of the fracking void was going on?

A shadow burst from the center of his vision, and with that he felt himself slam against the wall- his shield pinning him against its cold metal brace and the thick metal behind him. Instinctively his spear arm thrust out, and he was rewarded with a satisfying crunch and squelch. As he pull the spear back and forced the thing away from him, he finally got a good look at what he had stumbled into.

The creatures.

The exact same he'd seen before, but now in impossibly large numbers. Hundreds of them.

On the far wall creatures were pouring over the battlements in droves, their shells and many jointed claws clamoring against the metal in long scrapes. On the walls and building behind him, he could see several turrets, blasting out in all directions, their plasma fire holding the foes at bay, but only in a small portion. The rest of the base was compromised.

As was where he happened to be standing.

As he turned to face the clawed hunters that screeched for blood, he readied his spear and shield, pivoting with his back to the wall. He would have to fight. His face visor formed a translucent blood shield as he marched forward and readied himself.

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“Destroy those before me...”

The battle began anew.

…

Hico had gone through twenty rounds already, and those had been used sparingly. The AI turret systems they had managed to bring into operation were far more effective than the piloted version they had thrown together, but unfortunately, there were only three of those currently working, and they were severely without support.

As the turrets tore through the approaching swarm with disturbing accuracy, they simply weren't enough. At this point, it was just simple math. For every one of the creatures that they brought down, three more quickly replaced it. An endless stream of hungry jaws, clasping together in unison. The only thing keeping them safe was how far the treeline was. At the distance the creatures needed to cross, the turrets were capable of removing the threats with precision before they ever made it to the walls, but that was just stalling the inevitable.

Plus, the two manned guns were in lesser quality.

Generally, things would start out well enough. When the gunners, the two Alalozun, began the nightly rotation, they were fresh. Their shots landed, one after another, despite the lack of light. Their species had eyes which were large, with several deep pupils in each to catch all of the remaining reflected photons. Proof that they had evolved from a long linage of nocturnal ancestors. Unfortunately, attention and accuracy were not as infinite as the automated counterparts, and in time their shots began to falter.

Which made things dangerous.

The nights of this planet were long, easily a rotation and a half in standard Union time. To continue with accuracy for such a period would have been the gift of a savant, or a hard practiced combat trained veteran- and the Alaozun were neither. They were simply engineers, just like Hico. Engineers who were in way over their heads.

The rifle kicked back with a vengeance as she fired another shot, this time at a creature attempting to claw its way up the nearest wall. Generally she tried to wait until several lined up to take a shot, but that particular predator had been ahead of the pack. Its torso split open in a mess of gore as it slipped from its hold and fell to join the others.

This had been easier when they had more people.

Of the engineers that had originally come down on that final trip from the platform, only twelve were left. Most of those had been lost on the first night when they realized the base's weapon systems were offline. The far side of the base had been compromised in a matter of moments, and the secondary living quarters had been breached. Only the large building section had been left unbreached and in one piece, but even that might be temporary. Every creature they didn't manage to shoot down, could easily climb up the walls, and break through the glass on the second floor lookouts. Somehow, their claws seemed to be of a more potent hardness, and would scratch weak points into the material in seconds.

Hico fired again.

If that base got overrun, the creatures would wait inside, lurking around every corner. Hico and the others had found that out the second day, and learned that the creatures were best fought in the open, or not at all. The lower tunnels of the adjacent buildings had all been sealed by permanent lock-down on the second day, and the remaining structure below was little more than a three floored mess hall. They could not have a repeat of that breach, or they would lose access to their remaining supplies and starve.

If they weren't overrun long before that, of course.

As Hico sighted in her Rifle to movement at the base gates, she froze. How in all the black was that soldier standing? Far below, the soldier that had been put into intensive care, and doused with so many nanites it shouldn't even be capable of moving, had apparently armed itself with a Hybrid shield plate. The glowing defensive array lit up with shielding, as it ran from its cover to head for another automated arsenal rack.

Was the warrior insane? Did they simply not know?

The fight was up here, on the rooftops. If any of them tried to fight in close quarters, there was no telling what horrible things might happen.

Hico fired another round as she signaled the two Oxot by the backup bucket. That was what they had been referring to the grenade bin... it was the only thing that they had actually managed to pry out of the now overrun secondary building and its weapon's depot before they'd completely lost access. Their spoils of war, as it were.

Several engineers had been lost during that, but it had probably been worth it, if she had to weigh the scales in all honesty.

As they threw two of the heavies out into the open courtyard, she saw the soldier react- but not in time. The Oxot's aim had not been perfect, and she cringed as the grenades detonated. In retrospect, obviously they should have warned to poor soul, but they had never expected someone who had been more than half dead to reemerge in the middle of their kill zone- and they weren't exactly professionals at this sort of thing.

The strange warrior was thrown head over heels from the blast, and crashed into the wall of their primary building. She let loose what was left in her Bolt-Rifle as covering fire into the courtyard before signaling the Oxots again. If they could get the makeshift ladder down to him, maybe they could pull him up to safety.

As she paused to reload, a lone hunter she'd missed burst from the cloud of dust and misted blood. Its strange jaws hinging back to show multiple rows of serrated teeth, and several purple tongues.

The soldier was done for, and even as the clip clattered into place Hico had to force herself not to look away and aim. This wasn't something she wanted to see.

As she managed to bring the heavy weapon down upon her target, she saw it rebound off of the energy shield, retaliate in a fierce lunge, and... die?

It happened so quickly Hico hadn't even been sure what had actually occurred. A flash of motion had come from the soldiers arm, and in an instant the attacking creature seemed to go limp, sliding to the ground to join the rest. Somehow, beyond all viable reasoning, the warrior below had survived the assault unscathed, and seemed to be readying itself for more. Advancing several steps forward with its back to the wall, it raised the large rectangular energy shield in front of itself held the spear to its edge.

Hico could barely make out the war cry through her translator as the soldier bellowed out its chant, but the words reached her, even over the sounds of turret fire and the screeching beasts. Each word was in rhythm with the crash of the metal spear against shield, spraying forth in a volley of sparks

“MY DUTY IS TO HOLD THE LINE, AND I WILL HOLD THE LINE UNTIL THE LINE IS NO MORE-”

Hico opened fire again as more of the creatures burst from the settling dust to fling themselves upon the soldier below.

The spear below cut them down, all the same.

"I WILL DEFEND THOSE BEHIND ME, AND DESTROY THOSE BEFORE ME-"

This was going to be a long night.