The moment that Conners arrived on the battlefield the spiders suddenly responded faster than before. They also worked together better. When he tried his trick of shooting at one to hit another, both of them jumped out of the way at the same time. The longer that the battle went on, the more that they came to a stand still. Any type 3s they had downed were already replaced and Foxtrot 6 was still outnumbered by 2.
“Damn it, do you think that he is controlling the type 3s?” Crisp asked.
“Anything’s possible,” Griff said.
“Hey Conners, are you controlling these jerks? It would be better if you would get them to lay off, yeah? That way we can have a nice civil conversation without interruption.” Dane said.
“Hah! Why don’t you get out of your machines first? Then we’ll see about nice. Civil. And discussions,” Conners said.
“Dane. I don’t think that we are going to be able to deal with this with words.” Crisp said.
“Can’t blame a guy for trying, yeah?” Dane asked.
Using their teamwork Foxtrot 6 tried to force Conners out into the open. But he always had a type 3 ready to block the attack or push Dane or Yin away. There was only so much time that they could be stalled for. Eventually the cannons would run out of energy. And then maybe even the davs themselves. Meanwhile they didn’t know the limits of the Goliaths’ tech.
“Ideas people?” Griff asked.
“I still think that talking is a good plan,” Dane said.
“I was going to say something about dueling. But it seems like they are still higher specs than us,” Crisp said.
“Dane. Self detonate. I’m sure that will make an opening.” Yin said.
“Woah! That came from nowhere! Why do you always have to be so cold with me Yin? And here I thought that you had finally started to open up to me.”
There were several moments of silence. And when it became clear that she wasn’t going to say anything else Barten spoke, “I could use my wings. It might be better to finish this before it drags on too much longer. Though it means that I’ll just have that much less juice for it later.”
“Alright,” Griff said. “We’ll go with the one where you take the general’s head.”
A chorus of “Roger” answered Griff’s orders. Dane and Yin shouldered up and took a defensive position in front of the others. While Griff and Crisp took cover behind them.
“You know that anything you do won’t work right? I have all of Conners memories. I know how you humans think. And I also can hear you making plans. I won’t let you take this general’s head so easily,” Conners sent over the comms. He pushed all of the remaining type 3s forward and had them block all ground paths. He also aimed both of his type 5’s arms up towards the air. “Come if you want to be shot out of the air.”
There was a moment of delay, and then Griff shouted “GO!” He and Crisp rushed out from the sides while Dane and Yin rushed forward. They impacted with the type 3s in front of them and Using the speed from his wings Barten pushed on through the gap that they had made. He already had his cannon leveled on the type 5 that Conners was piloting and pulled the trigger as soon as the shot was clear.
Conners managed to jump out of the way. But at that moment Barten turned around and fired into the backs of the type 3s that had engaged in melee. Griff and the others pinned them in place such that they weren’t able to dodge at all. The damage from the plasma, combined with the waiting combatant. Caused all 4 of them to be swiftly downed.
“What the hell was that? The general is still alive, you know? What a badly named plan,” Conners sent over the comms. Barten felt something impact the back of his dav. But it was only the small projectiles fired from the hands of Conners type 5. Using his wings he jumped back towards the line and Dane stepped into place to protect. His shield deflecting the rest of the projectiles.
“Why do we need to tell you about our awesome plans!? You should just wait for plan happy night!” Dane said. And they squared off with the two remaining type 3s and Conners type 5.
“Alright. Enough chatter. Let's finish this,” Griff said. Dane stepped forward and blocked off the type 3 on the left. While Yin did the same for the one on the right. Griff and Crisp focused on the one with Yin while Barten took potshots at Conners.
“Damn it all,” Conners said once they had downed the type 3 Yin was engaging. “This weak fleshy form is weak.” Conners leveled both of the arms of his type 5 at the squad and a continuous cloud of projectiles were shot from his arms. Dane noticed first and jumped in front of the others, holding his shield at an angle to try and deflect the projectiles away from the others.
Which left him open to the remaining type 3. It took advantage of the gap in Dane’s defense and it stabbed through the head of his dav. Yin was there before the type 3 could make another attack and she bisected the front two legs still stuck in Dane’s dav. And then finished it off with a downwards thrust to the body of the type 3.
“If only this stupid… you know what? I’m done with this,” Conners said and showed his back to flee.
“Barten,” Griff said. “Show him what you’ve learned.”
Without needing to be told twice Barten fully took wing. He charged the fleeing Conners and shoulder checked him from behind. The type 5 plowed into the ground and slid towards the object. “Shitty shit humans. Fuck.” Before Barten could follow up Yin’s sword came sailing overhead and stuck into the body of Conner’s type 5. It teetered to the side before it balanced itself. But then the shots from her plasma pistol hit him again and again.
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“Yin!” Griff said. Loud enough that Barten winced. It was only after Griff pushed her dav over that she finally stopped shooting at Conners. “What the hell was that?”
“Sorry. Don’t know what overcame me,” she said and then righted herself.
“Damn it. Dane. Are you good?” Griff asked. Only from the state of this dav it might not be functional enough to respond. Before anyone could inspect it the hatch on the cockpit was ejected and Dane was there waving.
“Oh hey! That was lucky huh? Glad that I learned more about shields and all that. Would have sucked otherwise. I’d say that I lost my head. But I really think that I did a good job there.”
Barten laughed to himself. And instead of bothering with Dane, who seemed fine, he approached Conners’ downed type 5. The arms of the type 5 twitched and then stopped. And a voice called out over the comms, “Barten. You still there? Can you hear me?” The connection seemed to be weaker, with static and it would fade out at times.
“Conners?” Barten asked.
“Yeah. Fucking hell my head hurts. That jerk took off once you downed his suit.”
“How do I know it’s really you?”
“I mean, fuck I don’t know. Ugh. Well. Don’t worry about it for now. There’s something important that I need to pass on before this piece of crap runs out of whatever is keeping it going.” Barten noticed that the others had turned his and Conners’ way. “This place is meeeeessed up. Like really. They are the harvesters of the universe or something and pretty much see anything and everyone as things for them to sample, take, research, dissect, or whatever for their own needs.”
“We kind of knew that already,” Barten said.
“Wow. Okay. Here I am… whatever. They are going to send out another probe filled with harvest. We need to stop them. Otherwise it might catch the attention of the home world. Any planet with intelligent species on it gets processed more thoroughly than the others. The objects need to be stopped.”
“How sure are you about what you just said?” Griff asked. “It wasn’t something false that they fed you?”
“I can mostly remember the time that it was in control of me. That is the gist of the things that I’ve learned. Also, they seemed to be stronger in the suits the higher their stats are. I never bothered with the physical stats at all. Smith is going to be a tougher nut to crack Barten. You might not be able to take him out as easily as me.
“Anyways. I’m stuck in this tin can for now. My legs are pinned down. Maybe send for an evac or something,” Conners said. “Or not. Cause of the whole mind control shit.”
They waited a moment for Griff to relay what they had learned back to command. “Do you know if Monroe is safe?” Conners asked.
“No, sorry. We haven’t run into her yet,” Barten said.
“Well if you do, please be careful. She’s probably as powerful as Smith.” There was something more that Conners said. But Barten wasn’t able to make it out through the static.
“What was that?” Barten asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Just get to saving the world already.” Barten looked down at the ruined type 5. He wouldn’t even know where to start to get Conners out. It probably would be best left to professionals. “Also, keep that one with the sword and pistol away from me.”
They sent off a quick message for a rescue for both Dane and Conners. And then continued on towards the entrance to the object. It was surprisingly large enough for the davs to enter easily. Which made sense when considering that the type 3s and 5s were of similar size.
“Looks clear,” Yin said. Since Dane’s dav was out of commission it left her as the only vanguard. She was peering into the dim interior light of the object. “There appears to be light coming from somewhere. Though it’s red, and probably easy to miss hostiles or any traps.”
“Alright. Take it slow. We don’t want to walk into either of those,” Griff said. “Barten, are you still fine with the rear? It might be kind of cramped inside of the object.”
“I should be good. Given its size there is no telling what might be inside. Also Meeks trained me plenty on what to do with low ceilings. At the very least, I can boost my speed instead of true flight.”
“You know, I applied for one of those winged davs. But couldn't even get the wings to move. I don't know how you do it Barten,” Crisp said.
“It took a lot of effort over a short period of time,” Barten said. Leaving out the part about being able to assign his stat points where they counted. He never did get grilled by the researchers.
Yin darted into the object and a moment later Griff and Crisp followed her in. Barten waited for them to take position before he followed in himself. After all that time they were finally taking the fight to the enemy. The enemy that had ascended from deep within the Earth. The Goliaths. It was finally the day that they would learn what happens when they come to earth to fuck around.
The inside of the object was almost like being inside of a living being. As they moved the light would change in intensity. There was a low droning sound as well as the occasional thud. Also it would shudder at times, perhaps from the davs that had already made it inside and were wreaking havoc.
They came into a large room that was filled from wall to wall with beetles and millipedes. “Too many,” Yin said as she peeked around the corner.
“There wasn’t another mission path known. Even that was only an estimate from the first object found. Chances are this is either the only path, or that any other one we find will be as well defended,” Griff said and sighed. “We don’t really have the ammo to deal with it either. Less than half on all suits.”
“We did go through all that melee training. What about just stomping through the room?” Crisp asked.
“We still might get bogged down. Barten, do you think that you’ll be able to fly through the room? Worse comes to worse you can go on by yourself and hit the reactor if whatever is in this room hits the fan hard.”
“I think that there is enough clearance. Even if there isn't, I can at least avoid most of the room,” Barten said.
“Alright. Get out your melee weapons and let's get to stomping,” Griff said.
Yin was the first one into the room. At some point she had holstered her pistol and withdrew another sword. And by the time that Barten got around the corner she was already a few meters into the room surrounded by the scattered remains of the type 1s and 2s.
The light in the room suddenly became brighter as the beetles and millipedes came alive. They all started swarming over one another to get at the davs. “This might be too much,” Griff said. “But if we fall back the chances are we might not open the path again.”
“There are other squads right? Taking different paths?” Barten asked.
“Yes. But they might end up in the same position. Can you do it Barten?” Griff asked.
“No problem.”
“We’ll be right behind you. Just as soon as we are able to deal with all this crap.”
Barten leaped into the air before too many enemies could come close. The thruster on his dav sent him over the heads of Foxtrot 6 as well as the mass of beetles and millipedes. The far entrance was already clear of them, since they all moved towards the squad. Barten quickly flew over, landed, and looked back for a moment. Leaving on his own was just as tough as leaving others behind. But it needed to be done.