The Gladius swept down through the atmosphere of Hruduk like a bird of prey, firing on the freshly-planted grove of star trees as soon as they were in range.
Three figures in heavy, mechanized armor leapt from the ship, rocketing down to meet the Astralbian soldiers who were scrambling to get into some kind of formation. Anywhere more than three or four soldiers gathered together, the Gladius fired on them, while the Marines engaged the smaller groups.The smarter soldiers retreated back into the city, and soon a small detachment of void wasps floated up from the buildings.
"It's going to be hard to shoot down the wasps without firing on the city," said Reclan over the comms.
"No worries," said Grepk. "Fire if you get a clean shot, but we'll handle the wasps. Land the Gladius between the city and the hills and let's rendezvous with the local forces."
"Will do," said Reclan, banking and heading for the designated landing zone.
***
High above, Drixen continued to lead his squads alongside Swampy, the Silver Star Fleet's pilot commander, against hordes of wasps and mines. Casualties were stacking up on both sides, but the wasps were coming in too high of numbers for the bombers to slip past and start engaging the star trees.
"Keep your eyes peeled, folks," he said. "It's easy enough to dodge the mines if you see them coming but if you let your guard down it'll be your last mistake."
"Swampy to Textbook, come in," said a feminine voice over the comms.
"This is Textbook," Drixen answered.
"We need to clear out these wasps before the great eyes start grinding down the fleet's shields," said Swampy. "You're right about the mines, though. If you can dedicate a squad to minesweeping, I want the rest of the fighters to focus on the wasps."
"You're the boss, Swampy," said Drixen.
***
Jasken watched the fighters and wasps vie for dominance from where he sat on the bridge. The fleet's guns were targeting the trees on the far side of the dogfighting when they could get clean shots, and the first wave of smaller trees had taken serious damage, but the Wingspan's shields were no longer pristine, either, as lesser eye bolts slammed into them and a mine or two detonated too close for comfort.
A notification in the corner of his display caught his eye. A mother tree was approaching the battle.
***
By the time the Gladius landed, the Hrudukite cavalry had arrived, the desert hounds pawing desperately at the ground as they smelled battle in the immediate future. Many of the riders wore the orange leathers of Gred, but there were a number of other colors and strange modes of dress that Vanbrook didn't recognize. These must have been the warriors of other city states. The gathering of Gredite rangers and their allies dismounted and everyone paid their respects to Hrynkak.
"Your Highness," said one of the riders. "Seven of my warriors have volunteered to step down and join the foot soldiers so that you may ride into battle with Hrake, slayer of roach lords, and his friends, the legendary Talon Squad."
"The offer is appreciated and accepted, Captain Dhraka," answered Hrynkak.
"I'll be staying with the ship," said Reclan with a slight bow. "So one of the riders may stay with their mount."
"Very good," said Captain Dhraka, though her face showed disapproval.
Vanbrook helped D'Jarric roll a heavy crate down the ramp. Reclan stood by, kicking the lid off the crate with gusto, revealing a small arsenal of hammer rifles like the one she'd designed for Hrake. The riders smiled at one another widely, grabbing their new weapons and thanking Reclan profusely.
At length the infantry joined them, and they were given weapons as well.
"I know you've been training with the few rifles you have on hand," said Reclan, addressing the newly armed warriors, "but I'm going to say this anyway: aim these only at things you intend to destroy."
The infantry outnumbered the cavalry two to one, but the cavalry would lead the charge into the city, with the infantry backing them up.
"Warriors of Hruduk, are you ready to face the enemy?" asked Hrynkak when the cavalry had formed up, facing the city gate.
A roaring cheer rose up from the cavalry, and Hrynkak spurred his hound onward, charging the open gate.
An Astralbian heavy weapons unit had organized at the gate, and began firing something akin to shoulder-mounted eye bolts at the cavalry. A few direct hits managed to take out some of the desert hounds and their riders, but they were not expecting the hail of energy fire from the hammer rifles. The return artillery fire from the Gladius that arced over the cavalry annihilated the Astralbian heavy weapons unit altogether.
"So that is why she stayed behind," said Dhraka with a smirk.
As they neared the gate, Vanbrook looked up to check on the Marines. They were locked in a deadly dogfight with a number of void wasps, but the number had dwindled since Vanbrook had last looked.
Krum-Bahk held a rifle in one hand and his cutlass in the other. He managed to take out a void wasp and rider with a vicious barrage from the rifle, then spun to meet another wasp that had tried to sneak up on him from behind. He parried the stinger that was rushing towards his abdomen and then swung the blade in a wide arc, slashing into the wasp's thorax with all the strength his suit provided him. Wasp and rider tumbled to the ground, falling past Keshri, who dodged the wreckage and leapt onto the back of another wasp. She threw the rider from their seat and struck the wasp at the base of its neck with her claws.
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Grepk was picking his targets carefully, each shot finding its target. A large wasp charged him, its armored rider shrugging off the high-caliber ballistic rounds. Grepk smiled and pulled the trigger of the attached grenade launcher, and the armored rider disappeared in a fiery explosion.
***
Jasken grimaced as he watched the slowly rotating mother tree approach. Predictably, a great eye blast hammered into the fleet, this one aimed at the Pick. Additional shots from smaller trees followed, but the gunship's shields held.
At least this would give them the opportunity to try to replicate what Aethercrate Hauling had managed to do over Gateway. The truckers had revealed, under the condition of full amnesty, that the missile they had launched was essentially a standard anti-spacecraft missile with extra explosives crammed into the payload. It was illegal and unstable, but it could also make the difference if the haulers were attacked by pirates. Dekken said the missile was not too dissimilar to the more stable trunk buster missiles the bombers were equipped with. Cowgirl was brought into the discussion and they had decided to try out a new tactic when the mother tree showed up over Hruduk.
"Cowgirl, this is Admiral Jasken," he said. "Are you ready?"
"Textbook, can you escort me on a run?" she asked.
"Always, Cowgirl," answered Drixen. "Swampy, it's time."
"Okay," answered Swampy. "I'm on mine duty. Do your thing."
***
Down below, the cavalry had reached the gate, where they were met with stiff resistance from Astralbian infantry and sharpshooters positioned in buildings.
"Your turn again, Rec," said Vanbrook, using his small tablet to mark the positions where the sharpshooters were. Drones that had been hovering alongside the cavalry flew out to the positions, hunting their targets with deadly energy blasters.
With the sharpshooters dead or distracted, the cavalry was able to cut down the enemy infantry with ease. The cavalry, broken down into smaller, predetermined units, spread through the city streets. Each unit had at least one native Gredite who knew the city well, and they outmaneuvered the enemy at every turn.
Hrake fired into a group of Astralbians, switching his grip when he got close and swinging his hammer in a deadly arc, obliterating an Astralbian's head and scattering the small group of enemies.
"In my youth I dreamed of taking Gred in battle," said Trukis, a Hrudukite warrior dressed in the red cloth and brown leather of a Sridekite. "But I did not think it would be alongside the Gredite."
Hrake smiled wanly. "Perhaps this is better. We find ourselves in a new era."
By then the Hrudukite infantry had made it to the city gates and began the hard work of clearing buildings, taking the city back block by block. Talon Squad, who had remained together with the exception of Hrake, dismounted and joined them. Soon half the city had been secured, and Talon Squad had reached the town square. Their attention was drawn to the palace door, where a group of Hrudukite warriors were fighting one another, swinging hammers down with deadly force.
“What’s going on here!?” asked Vanbrook in shock.
Raivyn put a hand to her temple, closed her eyes and read the situation. After an intense moment, the Hrudukites slowed down and stopped, looking around in confusion. An Astralbian tree priestess burst from the palace doors, hate in her eyes as she glared at Raivyn.
“We’ve got a psychic,” said Raivyn. “This one’s mine.”
***
Drixen fought his way through the last of the wasps between the fighters and their target and dodged a barrage of lesser eye bolts. Ahead, the mother tree slowly turned, revealing the next great eye that it would unleash on the fleet.
“Alright, hun,” he said. “We’re almost there, how’re you feeling?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.
The fighter and bomber rushed towards the mother tree, timing the run so that the eye was in range the moment it had turned to face the fleet. With impeccable timing, Cowgirl fired at the great eye so that it impacted just as the eye was glowing its brightest, ready to erupt into one of its deadly bolts.
As hoped, the trunk buster’s explosion at that precise moment caused the eye to explode violently, just as it had when Aethercrate had accidentally timed their attack similarly. The tree was ripped to pieces, shards of bark and a wave of red energy lashing out in all directions. Drixen and Kaihla did their best to dodge the larger hunks of wood but found themselves rocked by the shockwave, eventually righting their course and heading back to the rest of the fighter squads.
"Admiral Jasken," said Drai. "Please give the order.”
Jasken smiled. It was largely symbolic for Drai to defer this duty to him, but he relished playing the role in avenging Kesht.
"All guns, fire on the mother tree."
***
As the rest of the squad fought with the Astralbian infantry on the edges of the square, Raivyn stepped toward the palace, her eyes locked with the psychic's.
The Astralbian tree priestess opened the duel with a T-bolt that Raivyn blocked with a shield of telekinetic waves. Raivyn responded with a fear spike, designed to put her opponent on her back foot. The spike failed entirely, as the priestess had a strong natural defense, so she was able to focus on her next attack. Another T-bolt took Raivyn by surprise, and she narrowly deflected it. Realizing that her opponent's natural defense was too strong to attack directly this early in the duel, Raivyn switched tactics, favoring telekinetic moves rather than telepathic.
She fired a series of weak T-bolts at her enemy's chest, knowing they'd be blocked but using the distraction to grab hold of the tree priestess' ankle with a telekinetic grip and yanking it towards herself. Effortlessly blocking the T-bolts, the Astralbian psychic tore her ankle free and, leveraging her momentum with her telekinetic prowess, performed a perfect backflip and landed with perfect poise. She glared daggers at Raivyn.
I had those worms right where I wanted them, said a voice in Raivyn's mind. You ruined my sport.
Raivyn simply stared at her opponent, considering her next move. If she wanted to waste her energy on taunts and name-calling, fine. But Raivyn wouldn't respond in kind.
The tree priestess reared back and fired a devastating volley of T-bolts that threatened to overwhelm Raivyn's defenses, pairing the attack with a telepathic strike designed to induce rage, which seemed to be her specialty. It was a risky gambit, but if she could get Raivyn to act recklessly, it would give her an edge.
Raivyn tightened up her defenses the moment she felt the strike stabbing into her mind. She gathered a pool of psychic energy and put it to work resisting the incoming attack. Emotional manipulation was difficult to resist, especially when the target was already prone to the feeling being suggested. Raivyn had spent her life learning to regulate her emotions in battle, and the practice paid off now.
Something akin to a telekinetic wrestling match between the two psychics occurred in and around Raivyn’s head. Raivyn pushed back, sending a reserve of T-waves into the standoff. It was too much for the enemy, and her concentration shattered, ending her assault and throwing her back. She staggered, eyes burning with hatred as she stared Raivyn down. Creating a T-wave shield around herself, the priestess rushed forward, drawing her sword.
Raivyn nearly let a smirk slip onto her face. It was clear the psychic had exhausted herself mentally and was hoping her sword and natural height advantage would save her. Raivyn sidestepped a clumsy attack and fired a T-bolt at the back of the psychic’s head. It was largely absorbed by her shields, but the priestess staggered once more. She slashed at Raivyn again with an even more sloppy backhand. Raivyn reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping the blade midswing. It was clear the priestess was not used to having to wield a weapon. Anger gave way to fear in the split second between her sword being stopped and the impact of Raivyn’s fatal T-bolt.