Skeet was watching the exchange through a drone overhead when the Shin that identified himself as Nawrok Theen surged forward. Theen’s arm spikes pierced Mako just under the ribs. As Theen lifted Mako up the drone went black.
She keyed the emergency com that would alert all Archons and acting archons. “To all archons, a field team has been attacked. Surveillance is down and Defense Archon Mako may be incapacitated. He has not yet respawned.”
“Do we know what assets we have on site?” Achilles asked.
“At least 6 personnel are at the location. Their condition is unknown. 8 more guards are inbound. ETA is 10 minutes. There is a shuttle with wounded unloading at the lander now. I have a drone with the incoming guards. I’m not certain what happened to the drone we had on site so it may be a risk moving it ahead.”
Merlin responded. “Patch in the shuttle pilot.”
“Patched in.”
“This is GreeZee.”
“Are the injured personnel unloaded?” Merlin asked.
“Affirmative. We were getting ready to power down.” Greezee replied.
“We have a situation.” Achilles jumped in. “We need you in a holding pattern over the tower. Do not land until you have clearance. Understood?”
“You got it, boss. Am I waiting for personnel?” GreeZee asked.
“The only personnel we have ready to go is Mahina plus 2 that she has with her.” Mushishi said.
“If they can be on the bird in less than 5 take them.” Achilles ordered. “Who is the leading the team of 8?”
“Panzer. He’s on the com.”
“We can hear it. We’ll be there in minutes.” Panzer panted.
----------------------------------------
Mako wasn’t unconscious. He felt the electricity course through his body. The few natural muscles he had left clenched and spasmed. No sight and no hearing. He could feel. And he could smell the smoke of burnt flesh. A moment later there was another racking pain as it felt as if something tried to wrench his ribs open, albeit unsuccessfully. He felt himself fall and something hit him all over. Maybe the ground. He could suddenly see the sky.
System reboot completed.
Power conduits Uncompromised. Rebooting subsystems.
Organic Support online
Power Logistical System online
Diagnostic system online.
Primary logic cortex online
Primary memory core recovered
Checking for errors...
System integrity verified
Secondary Cortex and Memory Core online
Checking for errors...
System integrity verified.
Rebooting recovery sherpa
Running system diagnostics
Please wait...
Please wait...
Diagnostic Report:
System Alert: EMP detected. EMP protections bypassed.
Inorganic systems compromised.
Excess current successfully shunted.
System alert: Major Structural Damage Detected
Location: Respiratory unit damage
Severity: Operable at reduced capacity
Location: Digestive unit damaged
Severity: Operable at reduced capacity
System Alert: Significant Organic Damage Detected
Location: Chest
Location: Abdomen
Medical protocols enacted.
Blood clotting factor added to organic circulatory system.
Antibiotic/coagulant foam dispensed.
Pain management protocol enacted
System Alert: Minor Structural Damage Detected
Location: Circulatory core
Internal Diagnostics Initiated
Running Diagnostics for Internal Systems
Diagnostic Report:
Organic Support Systems:
Operational: 74%
Recommendation: Seek additional medical aid when danger has passed.
Overall Operation:
Stable: 77%
Additional Diagnostics Required:
None
All Other Systems:
Functional within Acceptable Parameters
Unit is 84% combat capable.
----------------------------------------
Jhakaas jumped in shock when Theen made his move. Theen was almost in 2 places at once it was so fast. He was to the south of the spear adepts being hidden in the trees off the road. The leader held Mako up with electricity scouring his body. It looks like they tried to rip open Mako’s chest, but the spikes slid out due to his reinforced body and armor. He stared a moment in shock and when Mako hit the ground, Jhakaas’ senses came back to him.
As he stood to fire, the nearest spear adept turned and fluidly leapt at Jhakaas. No matter. He switched from the grenade he was going to launch to a supersonic burst and fired at center mass. The spear adept was dead before they plowed into Jhakaas. He just barely redirected the spearhead from jabbing into him in the process. Grenades fired by others exploded somewhere.
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Jhakaas pushed the dead adept off of him and turned and ran. Deeper into the woods hoping to draw off more adepts into the trees and away from the others. He looked back and saw three more running after him.
Riff and Boomer were blown off their feet and seemed to be just as disabled as Mako. Electric current coursed over their bodies as if the electricity had physical mass. Zerk didn’t hesitate. He fired several supersonic bursts at the Theen. He couldn’t use a grenade without risking damage to Mako, Riff, and Boomer. The shots hit Theen jerked with each burst that hit him center mass. But the slugs dropped to the ground.
“What the hell? The bullets bounced off of him!” Zerk yelled.
Theen glanced at Zerk and ran at him although this time at a normal pace. Once Theen passed by Riff, Zerk fired a grenade at Theen, which again bounced off and flew into the tree line. No detonation. Then Zerk could see it. There was some sort of field around Theen.
“He’s got a forcefield or something!” Zerk turned and ran to try and draw him off. “I need help! I don’t see a way to hit this guy.”
Howie launched 2 grenades at the 2 biggest groups he could see. One of the squad leaders exploded from the waist up. Their legs plopped unceremoniously to the ground. Another spear adept had his left side blown off. The armor and bone shrapnel caught another adept in the face. Howie started firing supersonic bursts as the targets lit up in his HUD.
Howie heard ‘watch out' but it was too late. A blur caught his attention through his left peripheral vision, and he moved only to turn and see a spike ram through his eye. He had a moment of surreal understanding before the world went black.
“Bastard!” Zerk yelled and fired another grenade at Theen back but this time at his feet. Theen stumbled forward and was tangled up in Howie’s body and fell to the ground. Zerk launched another grenade at a tree trunk next to Theen hoping to pin him with a fallen tree. It didn’t work. The tree fell but it wouldn’t be more than a minor inconvenience.
He would have launched another grenade, but he didn’t have time as he had to turn and fire full auto into a group made up of a squad leader and three adepts.
----------------------------------------
Jhakaas slalomed through the trees trying to lead his pursuers away. He turned and headed to the left and stumbled a bit but managed to keep his feet. The stumble saved him from him from a spear punching through the side of his head. Instead, he ran into it. “Ow! You stupid lizard brains.” He hit the shaft with his machete slicing clean through and ran around the corner while holding his forehead. It didn't hurt because he was wearing a helmet. But it felt like it should have hurt.
That incident allowed the Shins to catch up with him significantly. Fortunately, he found what he was looking for on the back side of the tree he just came around. The ground was a bit spongy here, but he leapt vertically to a broken stump of a branch about 3 and a half meters up using his left hand to grab on and give him a bit more momentum to pull himself up.
The Shins came around the tree and looked for him. They didn’t look up. Ha! Nobody ever looks up.
----------------------------------------
Mako sat up. He could see the bodies of several adepts, a couple rolling around in pain, and several unidentifiable pieces of others. He grabbed his PROAK from the storage place on his lower back. It extended and fired up with a thought. He was thankful that it recovered. He heard shots behind him and stood and turned.
The medfoam in him gave him a little resistance but he could still move well. There were 2 spears jammed into the ground where Boomer and Riff should have been. Apparently, they respawned. “Damn it!”
A group of 3 adepts and a squad leader were closing in on Zerk. Half were obliterated a second later as he fired a grenade too close to himself. They were all knocked on their backs by the explosion. Zerk looked unconscious, the squad leader and one adept were dead due to the concussion or bleeding out, or both. The other 2 were in bad shape as well. Mako targeted their heads which both exploded when hit by a supersonic slug.
Mako turned and finished off the other 2 survivors as Theen walked out from the tree line.
Theen looked around and snarled in anger. They looked at Mako. “Let us finish this.” They turned and crouched holding out their arms. As they gathered themselves to leap at Mako, a grenade pegged them on the side of the head and knocked them over.
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Jhakaas asked walking out of the jungle looking a bit worse for wear and examining his PROAK barrel like it was made of string cheese.
“He has some kind of field that prevents the grenades from detonating.” Mako grumbled.
Jhakaas could see the grenade sitting on the ground less than a meter from Theen. “Think you can detonate a grenade that failed to detonate by hitting it with another grenade?”
“I don’t -”
The explosion was spectacular and Theen, who happened to be trying to regain their feet, was thrown a few meters to the side.
“I love learning new things!” Jhakaas said proudly. “Maybe I should become a scientist. Is explosion scientist a thing? I feel like that would be my passion.”
Theen stumbled to their feet and turned. They were panting and perhaps shaking in anger. “You will pay for this. I swear it on my life and my power. I will eat your hearts on this day.”
8 more humans stepped out from the tree line.
Theen screamed in impotent rage, then turned and ran into the jungle. The rest of the humans started to chase after him.
“Hold up! Hold up!” Mako stretched his side in discomfort. “Skeet?”
“I’m here, Mako.”
“Track him please?”
“I’ll try but he knocked out a drone before.”
“I think you’ll be fine as long as he isn’t attacking anyone or anything.”
A notification popped up.
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Congratulations!
You defeated Shing’risgi Spear Adept (Level 24) X10!
You defeated Shing’risgi Squad Leader (Tier 2 level 6) X2!
You defeated Shing’risgi Tempest Knight (Tier 3 Level 22)
Irragen points awarded!
You have earned 2 Honormarks!
-You led a party in defeating an enemy force that outnumbered yours by more than double and vastly out leveled your party by an equivalent of more than 300 combined levels. The Unstoppable Force Honormark will temporarily boost the attributes of any party you lead that faces a more numerous and higher-level enemy by 1 point in each attribute for each tier of power a defeated enemy has for the duration of combat. This effect is halved for a raid party.
-Your party forced a much higher level Shing’risgi warrior to flee. The Menacing Honormark will give you a 3% chance to inspire fear in any enemy below Tier 4 while you are leading a party. This chance is doubled for any Shing’risgi. The effects of fear depend on the overall level compared to you and the Control attribute of the affected.
You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level!
You are now Tier 1 Level 2.
You have acquired sufficient irragen to increase your level multiple times!
You are now Tier 1 Level 15.
You have 14 attribute points to distribute
Note: You have a total of 15 undistributed attribute points.
Do you accept these changes? Y/N
----------------------------------------
“Wow.” Mako was shocked. “15 levels. And 2 more honormarks.” He didn’t hesitate to assent because he needed his injuries healed. White light soon enveloped him.
As the white light faded from Jhakaas, “What kind of name is Sneaky McSneakerson for an honormark? Is this thing messing with me?”
Mako reveled in his healed body for a moment before he pinged Skeet. “Where’s our friend?”
“He’s a kilometer north. He has stopped and is trying to figure out what to do next.”
“Let me speak to him.”
“Com is open.”
A window opened up in Mako’s vision. Theen was standing there panting. Their eyes darted around looking for anything that might be trying to kill him. “Did that go like you expected?”
Theen snarled and whirled around looking for Mako. “Come out, coward!”
Mako couldn’t help but laugh. Classic projection. “Your path to Tedexa Goran is open. Go back to your people and tell them of your defeat and tell them that they have 2 choices. Leave this world or learn to work with us. But we are setting the rules. The Dwellers are off limits. It’s a big world, but it’s not all yours.”
“Many more powerful than me will come. Today. Tomorrow. It does not matter. You will all be destroyed or become our slaves. THIS IS OUR WORLD!” Theen screamed and sounded a little unhinged. Like a 100-kilo toddler having a tantrum.
“If you wish to talk to us, leave your mountain flying a white flag.”
“Why! You cannot command us! We are not your subjects!”
Mako shook his head. These Shins can’t stand to not to be the one in charge. “If any other Shing’risgi leave the mountain without a white flag. They will be killed. All of your kind will be killed on sight outside of the mountain. Go now. If you are not in the mountain by sundown, you will be hunted down, killed, and we’ll deliver your body.”
“I will do as I please. I will return to Tedexa Goran when I choose to. I AM NAWROK THEEN!” Maybe more than a little unhinged.
“We don’t need your world.”
“You wouldn’t survive it! You are weak and soft!” The dude was just spewing insanities now.
Mako laughed. “I’m pretty sure I survived your best shot. A suckerpunch, at that.”
For the first time, Theen had no response.
“Today, was the weakest you’ll ever see me. I’m already stronger. The next time we meet, you may be in for a surprise.” Mako let that sink in. “If your people are too much trouble, we might just collapse the mountain on your little town.”
More bluster. They would never do it without clearing out the town of innocents first. But they could clear it and then seal that mountain permanently.
“Go. Now.” Mako repeated one last time and cut the com and pinged Skeet. “If he doesn’t head in the right direction in the next 30 minutes. Let me know. We might need to go escort him.”
“We should eliminate him.” Merlin said over the com.
Mako was glad the leadership was watching. This wasn’t a decision he wanted to make on his own.
“Are we just assassins and murderers now?” Ceridwen asked.
“I think Mako had the right of it. We should collapse that mountain and be done with that other world.” Merlin went on. “I don’t know the Shins as well as I might like but I think we have a pretty good overview. They will be ruthless enemies, and no one will be safe. There are no conventions or treaties to control their behavior. There is nothing off the table with them. You can be certain of that. We now have 13 tribes of Dwellers we need to protect, and they are spread out over an unknown area.
“Killing that Shin won’t stop them. But it might create enough chaos that the Shins keep sending less competent parties out. This one is still a soldier. A competent sergeant or lieutenant, perhaps. What happens when they send their Captain or Major or Centurion or whatever they call it? What if they decide to move those tents to the outside of the cave?”
Mako didn’t like Merlin as a person. Merlin more often than not embodied the mentality of the world they left behind. A world where cutthroat corporations and vicious politics ruled the world in the name of money and power. Mako was one of the colonists that believed they could start anew. They could be better.
Mako had no illusions that Nawrok Theen was some innocent bystander just following orders. Just like Sigroth, Theen was a willing cog in a big machine. Maybe willing was not the right word. Theen was born to that culture and that way of life. Conquer and take. Might makes right.
Here he was again. Fighting a war. It wasn’t a full-blown war yet. But Mako could see the writing on the wall. The Shins wouldn’t deescalate. If the humans didn’t do anything, the Dwellers would suffer. Technically the Dwellers weren’t their problem. Yet, what would it say about humans if they did nothing to help the Dwellers. What would that make humans? Complicit? Cold-hearted? Evil? All of the above?
Theen would almost certainly die in this war anyway. If a premature death, meant they had more time to prepare for that war. It seemed like the smart thing to do. Smart thing. Right thing? Ethical thing? Moral thing? Legal thing? The only thing?
“Somebody, give me another option. Please.” Mako pleaded. “I feel like a hammer that only knows how to do one thing. And Theen looks like a nail.”
“We collapse the tunnels to Tedexa Goran.” Ceridwen said.
“Eventually they will dig their way out and they will be ready for war.” Merlin stated calmly. “In fact, we have no idea what kind of resources they have for earth moving. We have no idea if it would take a week or a year.”
“Maybe we should take a vote on this?” Ceridwen offered. This was a rule baked into the colony. Any of the Archons could call a vote on any action or policy.
“What, precisely, are we voting on?” Merlin asked.
“The assassination of Nawrok Theen.” Ceridwen replied.