The captain eyed his troops as they struggled to slide their tentacles into their power armor. This group didn’t particularly ooze competence but that was fine. Most of them would be dying in the upcoming days but that was fine as it was never that hard to pick up a new brood to fill the stupid muscle role.
Wiggling his tentacles to check his own armor basic combat gear, the captain resisted letting any annoyance show. He shouldn’t have to show off that he was wearing this but the lower borns seemed incapable of actually understanding why they’d even need the armor. Like the gravity wouldn’t slow them to a crawl on its own they also had to deal with those… beasts.
Heavy gravity creatures were quite good at inflicting casualties and could pull some nasty surprises out if given the opportunity to dig in. Excellent workers in certain conditions and most certainly a rarity. While fewer survivors would mean a greater flow of money in his direction and the commandant was never particularly opposed to having a little more shine to his nest, it still was important for at least some to survive for his plan.
Shuffling forward in an eldritch mass of tentacles, the captain began to assist some of the more inexperienced troops don their armor.
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Engineer’s Log Day 210.1
I’ve been sitting at my original base since my little run last night and I’m feeling increasingly twitchy and nervous. It all went to plan and we were able to disable everything but we’ve been watched since late yesterday. The invaders decided to lay off on trying to bomb us and have since reverted to sitting in orbit quietly which highly indicated they want a better look at what all is going on down here so we’re trying to do things discreetly for the time being. I’m thankful since it gives us a little bit more time to evacuate the elderly and infirm from my old base to Camp Treaty but it's still incredibly nerve wracking.
To make things worse, we only have one transport ship going right now so it’s been slow getting everything moving. The civilians are walking to Treaty as I speak while the few that need medical attention are riding on the only transport. Me and a few soldiers are sticking back at the old bases drawing attention to ourselves to try and distract from all that. We haven’t heard anything from Sarlunt about the other civilians but right now I suppose no news is good news. It would hardly be a good idea to let our pesky foes know we have a whole gaggle of hostages making their way through the forest. Darana ended up leaving a bit earlier with Bayfur which I’m glad for considering the danger around here.
Sigh
The situation is still overall a little bit confusing. I talked at length about the possible scenarios but I can safely say that everything hasn’t quite lined up with my earlier thoughts. If they wanted our stuff, why haven’t they made any moves to try and intimidate me or something along those lines? I guess they could still be trying to size us up before trying anything drastic. Maybe I’m missing something here?
Engineer’s Log Day 210.2
The last of the base was just cleared out as the engineers took off about half an hour and that leaves me all alone again. I shouldn’t really be here but someone needs to cover for them and I’ve got more armor if it things do go bad. Also, a thought crossed my mind, we still haven’t heard any communications and I wonder if that isn’t just because we aren’t listening properly. I’m thinking the pirates won’t be having up-to-date, primo condition software and if that’s the case, there’s a nonzero chance they have been communicating and we haven’t been listening properly. I’m trying to get my scanners to look at a wider range of frequencies and I’m juuuuust about to have it… working.
Alright… let’s see what we have here. Doesn’t seem like anyone is talking to us from orbit but I am getting a lot of static. It’s weird, you wouldn’t think there’d be all that much but it’s actually pretty heavy. Far as I can tell it isn’t an ion storm this time so I’d be willing to bet that the Yar Har crew in orbit are responsible. Blocking communications huh? Can’t hide from me though…
Oop, I’m finally getting some vision. I can see the xythans and their vehicle array. They're all moving right now though they do look a bit odd... I thought we were only supposed to be moving one transport with the rest on scanner duty? Maybe something changed? They’re heading for the civilians…
Ahh, wait.
I don’t think that’s the xythans.
Ahh fuck.
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The commandant was in a good mood. Thus far, his squadron had made significantly better progress than he had ever dared expect. It pained him to admit it, but the captain’s over planning had seemed to be paying off today. He had been doubtful about the effectiveness of the combat suits but thus far their usefulness had been well worth the extra time they had spent actually acquiring them. The commandant didn’t even find himself struggling to move and could even aim with his armor. He could still feel the gravity pressing on him but, so long as he got off the planet soon and was well compensated, he’d be fine.
His men were forming up at the edge of the clearing. He felt a bit of annoyance flicker through his thoughts as he watched them. They hadn’t done anything wrong per se but they had already lost quite a few of their already meager number to a few of the xythan sentries stationed through the woods. Most had been taken care of already but one had managed to sneak off before they had arrived. This bothered the commandant quite a bit as he had no doubts that many of the other sentries were being alerted and would soon be on the move. Their group wouldn’t have the numbers advantage for long if they stuck around. Waving his arms, the commandant signaled an advance on the base. They could run if they needed. Looting the base was only the secondary objective after all.
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Glysia felt like she was going to keel over if she didn’t stop running soon but someone had to gather the others. Taking a second to stop and catch her breath, Glysia reflected on what she knew between gasping breathes. The bastards were already on the ground for who knows how long and the infernal jamming was keeping her from letting the others know about the situation. She could probably circumvent the jamming if she reached a sufficiently strong transponder. Henry’s base was closer, but the wriggly-looking pirates appeared to be heading that way and there was no promise he was even there. No, her best bet would be running to the town.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
While Glysia hadn’t been able to get an exact count on the pirates during the brief glimpses she got, the distinct lack of communications from the outer scouts told her plenty. Their numbers were too high for her to tackle head-on.
Shaking herself from her stupor, Glysia resumed her running when a static-filled barking voice sounded over her transponder.
“This is Henry sending out a warning. The motherfuckers are already on the planet and OH GOD ARE THOSE FUCKING SPIDERS!”
And with that, the forest erupted into a cacophony of gunfire.
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Henry liked to think he was a fairly brave man and in most scenarios, he thought that to be correct. This situation, however, was not one of what he would call his better moments, making it all the more of a shame that he had broadcasted it to everyone.
After his initial realization, Henry had quickly suited up for combat and sprinted for the walls. A quick interaction with the system saw the shields activated and waited just in case he was wrong. Seeing nothing immediately, he had decided to call and let his allies know what was going on just in case. It was at this point that he was then greeted by the sight of what looked to be a mix between a spider and a sea urchin with an extra helping ugly as they broke the tree line and began running at the base at an alarming speed. Neurons fired and primal instincts kicked in as Henry activated the turrets.
An immediate response and the turrets began putting a significant amount of metal in the intruder’s location. The armor had done a valiant joh at protected the pirates but the sheer volume of fire combined with the turret’s innate coordination had blasted anyone exposed for more than a few moments into chunky salsa.
To his credit, Henry quickly recovered and immediately began activating a few contingency plans he set up for potential invaders. He’d figured that the more problems he caused them now, the better his survival odds would be. Activating the jump pack he’d recently pillaged, Henry leapt off the wall and began sprinting towards the HARP, praying whoever was in charge out there wouldn’t clue in on his plan.
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On the other side of the clearing, the commandant was busy cursing fate and whoever was responsible for this apparent blunder. His assault team had retreated behind one of the nearby outcroppings, making sure to put as much rock between that hellscape and themselves as possible. According to the intel they had received, the base was supposed to be abandoned and its turrets deactivated. Clearly, that was not the case.
Flailing a tentacle in annoyance, the commandant resolved to kill whoever was responsible for monitoring movement once he returned. Taking a quick count of his men, the commandant damped down his growing frustration. A quarter of his warriors had been killed right off the bat and of the remaining, a further third were hurt in some manner. Eyeing the puncture marks on a few of the wounded’s suits, the number dead would probably rise even further
The entire outcropping began shaking as the commandant felt the two explosions slam into the opposite side of the hill. What was that human aiming at- the air began to be filled with the sound of gunfire from the turrets. Something was clearly wrong with that human and the farther he was the better. Turning towards the rest of the raiding party, the commandant began signing for a retreat when he saw movement near the edge of the forest. Hesitating for a moment, the commandant tried to decide whether to have someone investigate or just retreat and ignore it before promptly erupted into a ball of fire.
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Glysia was already moving before the grenade landed. Grinning to herself as she ran, she was glad all the time she had spent stalking the area had paid off. A quick sprint saw her to the second hideout along the route, a rather sizable tree. A few bolts of plasma streaked off into the forest past her lighting some of the underbrush on fire and singing her fur. Hissed in surprise, she yanked off her thermal goggles before she could be blinded by the heat and began weaving between the trees, doing her best to lose any tracking eyes.
Leaping into the tree hideaway, she took quick breather as more bolts of plasma arced into her general area. She was thankful they didn’t seem to know exactly where she was but they clearly had a general idea of her area.
Taking a deep breath before the smoke spread to her location, Glysia picked off two more pirates with grenades before disengaging again. Leaping into the forest below, a volley of plasma peppered all the trees around her.
Huffing in frustration, she dipped behind a tree cursing under her breath. “Henry, you stupid bastard, why are you in the base?” Glancing out to see if she’d been spotted, she resolved to rough the human up the next time they met. If she survived anyways.
The disturbing sound of creaking metal that accompanied the invaders where they walked began sounding through the forest even over the hail of bullets still firing telling Glysia she couldn’t stay long. She already hated those stupid suits and that horrific sound they made with a burning passion.
Poking her head out once more, she lobbed two more grenades toward the bastards and broke cover. Another hail of plasma fire erupted towards her location and Glysia felt her lower left leg begin screaming in pain as armor began melting over it. Stumbling forward, Glysia narrowly avoided a few more rounds of plasma and all but fell to where she’d been running. Slamming the ground with her hand twice, a hidden contraption was activated and a force shield sprung up from the ground, interposing itself between her and the attackers. Knocking off the melted chunks of her armor, Glysia snarled in pain and fired the last two grenades in her launcher over the shield.
Plasma erupted against the shield as an almost continuous stream of energy and began threatening to break it. Frustrated, Glysia lobbed one last grenade while she still had the cover. It landed true and a feral grin broke out on her face only to be wiped off a moment later when the shield broke and another two more plasma bolts slammed into her. One landed in her arm and the other hit her center of mass. Glysia fell hard, grimacing as the pain flooded her chest.
Fighting to even stay away as pain and darkness crawled in on the edges of her vision, the pirates seemed to relax and begin wiggling tentacles at each other. Damn, they were ugly, it was a shame… getting caught like this. Oh well… Henry probably got…. out… that’s good…
In one last, passing moment of clarity, Glysia heard a bellow of primal anger followed by a horrific cacophony of crashing of trees.
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Henry was beyond furious. He was mad at himself for not having seen this shit coming, he was mad he had gotten himself caught in a bad position, but above all, he was mad his friend had just been shot by some dumbass tentacle aliens. His initial plan was to deploy a few of his drones before retreating. Upon realizing the situation, he had charged in ignoring anything between himself and the monsters that dare threaten his friend.
While he didn’t have much in the way of ranged weaponry on the HARP, he wasn’t particularly inclined to let that slow him down, opting instead to go for a more direct approach, a more physical one. Kicking into overdrive, Henry sprinting in, closing rapidly the distance.
His entrance onto the scene wasn’t subtle and the pirates quickly noticed his presence. Turning about, they began laying into the HARP as it closed. Shields flickered into existence blocking the plasma with an almost disdain as the engineer closed the remaining distance.
Closing into melee, Henry began swinging.
After all, his opponents were bugs and he simply needed to squash them.