"We cannot win! All is lost!" the Third Most High Executor squealed out over his helmet's open com-channel. He turned to gallop away, dropping his weapon.
Sma'akamo'o turned at the waist, hearing his battered armor squeal, aimed his plasma pistol, and fired once.
"HOLD YOUR POSITION, YOU COWARDLY SCUM!" the Lanaktallan roared over the command channel. "FEAR ME, BUT FOLLOW!" he bellowed out, turning his attention back to his harness mounted plasma machinegun.
The greenish bolts flashed out, slamming into biomechanical weapons that shrieked, clawed, and rushed forward.
The creatures had suddenly appeared across the planet, out of nowhere, and had begun overrunning cities, fields, parks, slaughtering all they came across.
"VICTORY TO THOSE WHO ARE FAITHFUL!" Su'uprmo'o roared out, rearing up so that all could see him in his armor.
The Lanaktallan infantry stopped their beginnings of a retreat, swallowing thickly, and added their fire to the firepower of their two commanders.
Sma'akamo'o moved forward, bringing more of the creatures in sight. His weapon was heating up, but that could not be helped. The barrel was already worn, his shots lacking the pinpoint accuracy of the weapon, which could achieve up to 60% accuracy, but that could not be helped.
Su'uprmo'o joined him, the other infantry rushing up next to him. The Lanaktallan eyed the irregulars running up with them, the Executor Corps troops feeling disgust at what was bolstering their lines.
A Telkan crouched down behind the twisted wreckage of a grav-limo, looking around it, then leaning out and firing the laser rifle in rapid pulses. A Shavashan ran forward with a rocket launcher, kneeling down and firing, the rocket snapping forward to hit an insect/reptile crossbreed dead in the middle of the chest, blowing it in half. An Akltak female crouched down next to Su'uprmo'o and fired off the five-round magazine loaded into her grenade launcher, the grenades blowing huge holes in the ranks of the oncoming creatures.
"THE NEO-SAPIENTS FIGHT WITH HONOR AND COURAGE, CAN YOU EXECUTOR SCUM DO ANY LESS?" Su'uprmo'o roared.
(((o(*°▽°*)o))) UTSUKUSHI-SA WAKOKONI ARIMASU (((o(*°▽°*)o))) rang out suddenly on the battlefield.
Sma'akamo'o felt his mouth go dry and his feeding tendrils coil tight against the sides of his jaw. He had never heard that personally, but he had viewed holorecords of such warcries.
"RALLY TO ME, MEN!" Su'uprmo'o thundered out, firing his weapon. A flatworm dropped out of the air at him, bringing its stinger forward to plunge it deep into the Lanaktallan's side. Su'uprmo'o smashed it out of the air with a gauntleted fist and leveled his pistol. He pulled the trigger once, the head of the flatworm, just behind the cruel pincher-like jaws, exploded in purple gore.
Bit by bit the Lanaktallan and the neo-sapients forced the onrushing rogue bioweapons back, off the lawn. Four Tukna'rn set up two heavy weapon mounts and added heavy coilgun fire. A team of Shavashan were firing MANPAD (MAN Portable Air Defense) rockets as fast as the team of Telkan females could reload them, knocking flying creatures from the air.
(((o(*°▽°*)o))) UTSUKUSHI-SA WAKOKONI ARIMASU (((o(*°▽°*)o))) came the cry agian, only this time it was screech that sounded like fury mixed with ecstasy.
It reminded Sma'aka'mo'o of a feline in heat being mated.
"PUSH THOSE VILE THINGS BACK, IN THE NAME OF THE COLTS, THE FILLIES, THE BROODCARRIERS, AND ALL THAT IS GOOD AND BEAUTIFUL!" Sma'akamo'o roared out once the echo had died down.
He galloped around the side of the massive Unified Executor Council building. There the lines were bowing, starting to be pushed back. A Lanaktallan turned to flee, screaming in fear, dropping his rifle.
The Tukna'rn next to him broke his back with a single swing of the Tukna'rn fist that was wrapped around the grip of an Executor ion pistol. The Tukna'rn turned, grabbed a lunging insect in one hand, shoved the pistol deep into the snarling mouth, and pulled the trigger. Purple ichor spewed out as the Tukna'rn threw the corpse to the side.
"FEAR DENIES FAITH IN VICTORY!" Spy'inmo'o called out. The Most High Covert Intelligence Analyst was missing an arm, his visor was torn away and one of his nostrils was ripped a few inches up the side of his face, severing two of his feeding tentacles, but he held an Executor ion rifle that he was firing even as he pointed. "Concentrate fire there, before that thing can launch flying ones!"
A pair of Telkan running a rapid fire tri-barrel plasma gun swivelled it and began raking the massive insect.
"HERE IS YOUR GLORY, MEN! FIGHT FOR THOSE WE SWORE TO PROTECT!" Spy'inmo'o called out over the battlefield.
Sma'akamo'o opened his mouth to add to the other Lanaktallan's battlecries when a querying shout rang out.
DESU KAWAII WAAAAGH?
Sma'akamo'o felt his guts loosen. He knew that cry. He turned and galloped back to where Su'uprmo'o was leading a push to force the last of the rogue bioweapons into the parking lot.
٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ SENSO WA TANOSHI KAWIAA DESU NE ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ ?!?! roared out over the battlefield.
"THE NEKO MARINES COME, MEN! HOLD FAST TO YOUR COURAGE!" Su'uprmo'o bellowed over the command channel.
The Shavashan kneeling by a decorative fountain felt the Welkret slap the top of his construction hard-hat and popped back up with the rocket launcher, blowing in half another insect the size of a cargo hauler vehicle.
HEAVY METAL INCOMING! the roar shook the world. Even the creatures paused, eyes rolling, obviously looking around. Sma'akamo'o saw more than few convulse and collapse, brain cases rupturing, even as he felt as if someone was pressing his two rear facing eyes into his skull.
"THE MAD LEMURS OF TERRA APPROACH! DO NOT FALTER!" Su'uprmo'o bellowed out, firing a rifle in each set of hands. "THEY KNOW NO FEAR IN THE FACE OF DEATH, CAN YOU SAY THE SAME!" He switched his grip and knocked a flying insect/reptile from the air, trampling it beneath his armored hooves even as he resumed firing.
HEAVY METAL IS HERE! the shouts were repeating, overlapping. Multiple of them, dozens of them.
QUAKE BEFORE THE MIGHT OF THE TERRAN IMPERIAL REPUBLIC
THERE IS NO LIFE IN THE VOID OR LEFT TO YOU
THE DEFIANT GREAT HERD TRAMPLES ALL
FOR MURDERED TERRASOL
Su'uprmo'o caught Sma'akamo'o's eye and shook his head, worry in his eyes.
FOR DISFIGURED VENUS! FOR SCARRED MERCURY! FOR MURDERED TERRASOL!
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"DO NOT FALTER, MEN!" Sma'akamo'o called out.
٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ TEKI NO CHI O KOBOSHITE INOCHI O UBAU NO WA TANOSHĪ KAWIAA DESU NE ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶ ?!?! sounded out.
Sma'akamo'o saw the creatures in the parkinglot of the Unified Command Center suddenly disintegrate, converted into bloody mist, as dozens of pink and white hourglass shaped energy beacons suddenly appeared.
The creatures around the parkinglot shrieked and charged forward, only to be pink-misted by the flexing and rippling energy and gravity fields that covered the huge parkinglot.
"PULL BACK FROM THE PARKING LOT, CEASE FIRE, MEN!" Spy'inmo'o yelled out.
"CEASE FIRE, MEN!" Su'uprmo'o ordered, overriding everyone's weapons and shutting them down.
The parkinglot was suddenly full of massive heavy power armor, the shoulders higher than Su'uprmo'o's head. The heavy plates were daubed pink and white, with sloppy white trim, and a burning white fire of a feline face on the center of every chest.
DOKI DOKI DOKI! rang out over every speaker for miles around. Screeching immature feline-lemur hybrids raised chainswords over their heads, the blades daubed pink and white.
Su'uprmo'o tensed as the pink and white flame filled the torches mounted to their backs, as the flag unfurled. Part of him knew he should be insulted by several of them showing a cartoon female lemur with feline ears riding on the back of a cartoon Lanaktallan, both firing weapons with sparkles around them, but he was too tired.
The Neko Marines turned their firepower, their heavy weapons, their burning flame throwers, upon the foul creatures that were swarming the planet. Su'uprmo'o almost sagged in relief when he saw that his own men weren't part of the targeting.
INCOMING STARFALL HOLD THE LINE BROTHERS roared out.
Sma'akamo'o sagged slightly as he looked up and saw burning white streaks falling from the sky, in some places so thick the smoke trails melded into a massive column.
The Mad Lemurs of Terra were here.
HEAVY METAL IS HERE
IN THE NAME OF THE SEVEN PODLINGS OF FAITH AND DUTY WE HAVE ARRIVED
WE WHO GRAZE DEFIANTLY ARE HERE
HEAVY METAL CRUSHES ALL
Sma'akamo'o felt a touch on his shoulder and looked down. The Welkret female, a typist only a few hours ago, looked up at him, her face hidden by the too big helmet, the commo pack on her back.
"Dropship coming in, Most High," she said. "Reports of the Mad Lemurs of Terra landing all over the planet and ignoring our forces. They're attacking the bioweapons. Their commanders are on their way, they want to interlock warplans."
Sma'akamo'o nodded, feeling relief at knowing he would 'only' be facing the bioweapons instead of the Mad Lemurs of Terra.
"The building has been swept, combat teams report the building is now secure," the Welkret said.
"Thank you, faithful one," Sma'akamo'o said. He activated his com-link. "Su'uprmo'o, we have incoming lemurs and their allies. They are on our side."
"Then we should meet them," Su'uprmo'o said, moving over next to Sma'akamo'o, watching the pink and white Terran females with two of his eyes.
The Neko-Marines had not only stopped the flood of creatures, but were advancing into them with interlocked fire, plasma enhanced flamethrowers, rockets, and chainswords. Their marrow chilling warcry of "DOKI DOKI DOKI" was being screeched from a thousand throats.
Another flicker of the beacons in the parking lot, which was now clear, and more Terrans appeared. These ones were in all black armor, lots of spikes, skull-like faceplates, and heavy kinetic weapons. Nearly a fifth of them immediately jumped up into the air, deployed wings, and took to the sky to engage the flying creatures.
"FOR THE SOLARIAN TECHNOCRACY!" was roared out.
"Let us withdraw," Su'uprmo'o said.
Sma'akamo'o nodded.
"Several of facilities have made landfall," the Welkret said, her hand pressed to one side of her helmet. "They're already deploying," she looked up. "Six overall, already deploying infantry and heavy defenses."
Sma'aka'mo'o nodded. He looked at Su'uprmo'o. "The planet is lost. By the time we could mount any kind of defense against the lemurs, those six bases would own the entire world."
"Then let us hope the lemurs do not come to destroy," Su'uprmo'o said.
The doors were gone, blown away by the heavy fighting. Sma'akamo'o felt exhausted, but knew it was better than feeling the doctor's hands inside of him to remove shrapnel. The two Lanaktallan moved through the Welkret coming with them.
"Orbital command reports that the lemurs have done a combat entry to the station and are attacking the bioweapons that have boarded the station. Fighting is heavy and the lemurs evacuated the atmosphere," the Welkret said.
"They are seizing control of the system," Su'uprmo'o mused.
"Weather control states they have lost control of the system to lemur digital warfare. The weather control is reporting air pressure and humidity increases with temperature drops in bioweapon held areas," the Welkret said. "Orbital drops are commencing in those areas."
Su'uprmo'o felt anxiety at how fast the Terran lemurs were invading the planet. It had been very little time since the Terran lemurs had arrived in the system and already they were landing in force on the planet.
"Is this how it is facing the Mad Lemurs of Terra?" Spy'inmo'o asked, trotting up. His speech was slurred and lisping with the damage to his face.
"Yes," Sma'akamo'o said simply as they moved to the elevator. They readied their weapons, but the doors opened to reveal and empty elevator, just purple blood spatter showing anything had been in there.
"My words were spoken in ignorance and disbelief," Spy'inmo'o said as they got into the elevator. He checked the charge on his ion pistol, and then wiped the barrel on his sash, leaving behind streaks of carbon.
"Until you witness them, you cannot understand," Sma'akamo'o said. "Until you face them in battle, or, as I hope we will do, fight beside them, you cannot understand why none can face them. Not even the Devourers."
"Who called them in? I will torture them to death with a toothpick and a lamp cord with the ends stripped from the copper," Spy'inmo'o snarled. He spat blood on the floor.
"They are not devourers, although the Devourers are probably moving to join them," Su'uprmo'o said. "I have only seen video of them, however, so I could be wrong."
The elevator slowed and all three Lanaktallan and the Welkret readied their weapons.
The roof was windswept, two hundred stories up. Hastily built fighting positions hammered at the flying Devourers, neo-sapients rushed from fighting position to fighting position. As Sma'akamo'o watched a Welkret dragged an acid wounded Telkan to cover, the Telkan still firing her weapon even though she was blind, most of the flesh of her face eaten away.
The Welkret sprayed fire extinguishing foam on the wound, having discovered it neutralized the acid.
The shuttle was escorted by dozens of combat craft and what Sma'akamo'o estimated to be nearly two hundred air mobile power armors that immediately engaged the flying Devourers. The shuttle hit the ground and troops poured out, many carrying heavy weapons, rocket launchers, MANPADS, missile launchers, and more. They ran over to the fighting positions as six lemurs and two Lanaktallan trotted down the ramp. Two Telkan exited next, one in heavy power armor, the other a female with a black veil concealing her features as she moved in such a way that her dress hem did not move, almost as if she was floating along.
Part of Sma'akamo'o was offended and outraged that the two Lanaktallan wore body armor obviously manufactured by the Mad Lemurs of Terra, but he was mollified by the fact they wore Great Herd livery. Two of the lemurs were wearing ornate and heavy power armor, one was wearing formal wear, one was obviously one of the big combat cyborgs, the other two were wearing that damnable 'adaptive camouflage'.
The lead came up. The visor of the helmet went transparent and Sma'akamo'o realized he was staring at a female lemur.
"Admiral Smith, Task Force Ragnarok, Commanding," she said.
One of the Lanaktallan moved forward. His visor too went clear. "Great Grand Most High Cu'udchu'ar, commander of Task Force Reaper, under Admiral Smith," he stated.
Part of Sma'akamo'o was outraged that the Lanaktallan was taking orders from the Mad Lemur of Terra, but then he remembered that it involved warfare.
And the Mad Lemurs of Terra were forged for war by a hateful universe.
"I am Most High Sma'akamo'o," he said. He motioned at the elevator. "We have much to discuss."
"More than you know," the Lanaktallan who had not cleared their visor stated, their voice low and steady.
The elevator was crowded, and Sma'akamo'o saw the Telkan in armor roughly shove one of the huge armored Terrans who got too close to the veiled female.
"Respect the Void Captain," the armored Telkan snarled. "Intrude not upon her eternal grief."
"Apologies, Ultion Knight," the Terran said, shifting slightly.
Sma'akamo'o had the feeling that there was much more going on than he knew.
"I will treat the injury to that one's face when we arrive," the 'Void Captain' said, her voice heavily synthesized.
"I will be honored," Spy'inmo'o said, not willing to offend the obviously foul tempered Telkan male.
Sma'akamo'o willed himself to relax as the elevator kept moving down.
'No basements. If we have to, we'll pitch a holoemitter on the back lawn. I'm not digging my way out of bedrock if the shaft collapses," one of the big armored ones growled.
Sma'akamo'o hit the button for the ground floor and the elevator shuddered to a stop. The doors opened and Sma'akamo'o moved first, the Welkret following him. "If the battle will not be a distraction."
"Better to see the battle than be unaware of imminent defeat," the Ultion Knight stated.
Sma'akamo'o just nodded, and trotted out into the sunlight in time to see another group of pink and white power armored troops appear in the parking lot, only to sprint off to join the fighting.
"Let us discuss the situation," Sma'akamo'o said.
If I can save the people of this world, I'll kneel down right here and let one of the insane Neko-Marines hack off my head with her chainsword, he thought to himself.