As smoke filled the forest around them Mako finally saw an opportunity to attack the 3 high tier Shins advancing on the Haardsuit. Thick smoke still obscured everything, but his HUD displayed the position of everything around him even if it didn’t show the exact shape. Friendlies appeared as green wireframed images. Enemies were red wireframed images although they had less real-time reactivity. The AI was simply estimating their current action and updating the frame when it had confirmation from the visibility of a drone or other colony unit.
He scrapped any idea of using a projectile weapon with the 3 heavies. They seemed to have some sort of comprehensive projectile defense. He pulled out his machete and dashed toward them. He sliced through some other Shins on the way but didn’t really slow to ensure they were permanently out of commission.
As Mako closed in and readied to strike he heard a voice on his comm.
“Heads up! Death from above!” A green wire frame dropped from above onto the red one that was last in line. A machete stabbed down into the neck hole of their armor. This action alerted the second in line, who turned and tried to see what had happened. Mako burst forward and leapt over the prone forms of Jhakas and the third and swiped at the neck of the second Shin. He landed on the other side and tripped on something. He quickly regained his feet to see that both the second and third were dead leaving only the one with the shield.
“Medusa, cease fire.”
The shield wielding Shin spun around as they realized they had lost their other 2 team members. Mako and Jhakaas, the other human who had dropped in stayed on each side of the panicked Shin.
“Show yourselves! Human refuse!” They growled.
“Did they just call us ‘trash’?” Jhakaas asked.
The Shin spun toward him shield up and thrust it at him again. There was a huge explosion to the west. Nobody moved for a moment as all three of the combatants tried to focus their senses on each other.
Mako crawled forward. He was almost within striking distance when the Shin turned and bashed Mako with the shield. The Shin quickly collapsed when Jhakaas struck from behind.
They screamed in rage. “I will kill everyone of you! Your kind will be erased from this world. You...!”
Their ranting was cut off as Jhakaas cut off their head.
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One Starfire turret cut into a line of Shins that was trying to block Echo from regrouping with Bravo. They were being hewn just as quickly as the tops of the trees that were in the line of fire.
The other turret was focusing fire on the Shin leadership which currently had a shield around them and seemed to be holding.
“Mako, that explosion on the western side was the loss of almost all of Delta. Our people are respawning but they can’t leave the ship. They are reporting there was a huge fireball.” Skeet informed.
Mako sighed. “How many do we still have in the field?”
“About 126.” Skeet said.
That was grim.
“I would suggest having everyone spread out while we have a line-of-sight advantage. Delta was taken out due to the fact they were grouped together.” Merlin said. “As far as I can tell with our technological advantage, one to one, we will win about 78% of the time. The number is climbing as our less capable fighters are respawning.”
Mako thought this idea had merit with a slight twist. They simply didn’t have enough people to fight this battle in a conventional manner. “All companies hold position. Everyone break up into groups of 3-4. Look for attacks of opportunity. You will be given new coordinates. Report to those coordinates taking out any enemies as needed and then move in toward the center of the battle.
“RETA show me a top-down map of the battlefield.”
The map showed up with a LOT of red. They had taken significant losses but not equivalent to their own losses with Delta having been lost. The shape of the enemy forces was like a 3 bladed fan blade. A slightly bigger core with spread out groups at 10 o’clock, 2 o’clock, and 6 o’clock. He created about 30 rally points around the shape of the enemy forces and told RETA to assign 3-4 people to each point according to their current position.
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He created another red dot in the middle of each of the ‘fan blades’. He assigned the western and eastern points to Merlin. “Let’s see if we can cut off the arms.” He assigned the last point to the Haardsuit.
He reached down and picked up the tower shield left by the dead Shin and nodded to Jhakaas. They charged into the southern tip of the enemy forces. Mako bashed them with the huge shield. Jhakaas popped out from behind the shield and fired his weapons. Sometimes he would jump up into the trees. Drop down behind those focused on Mako’s shield.
“Battle effectiveness just jumped to 91%.” Merlin announced.
Mako wondered if that would be enough along with the Starfire turrets and the Haardsuit.
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Sometime later, a drone dropped ammo and grenades, along with some basic water and rations, from above. Jhakaas and Mako refreshed their weapons along with themselves. The Haardsuit had to pull back to reload. The Starfire turrets were also reloading. The smoke that had been obscuring the battlefield had long since blown away in what Mako suspected was an artificial breeze. Now there was only a minor amount of natural smoke from the small fires and smoking wood that were scattered around.
Fortunately, the Humans had made good use of the smoke screen and had altered the course of the battle. They were still outnumbered 10 to one, but the Shin losses would be devastating and demoralizing to any Army.
“What do we have left?”
“74 combat effective units.” Skeet announced. “Plus, the Haardsuit once the reload is complete.”
The remaining enemy troops were heavy with their higher tier warriors and a not insignificant number of mages. Those mages were shielding their troops now.
“What are they doing? Why just sit there?” Merlin asked.
Mako watched the feed. And the Shing’risgi leadership seemed relaxed and unperturbed by their situation. Sure, they seemed to be untouchable behind those shields, but they also weren’t going anywhere. “Maybe I should see if they are open to retreating to Tedexa Goran.”
“Mako, the troops that broke off before are enroute to join up with their main force. Those units aren’t tagged.” Skeet said.
It was about 100 units in total. Mako dispatched 4 fireteams, a quarter of their current force, to deal with them with orders to target the scouts and mages first.
“I wonder if they hope to get reinforcements from the other forces outside of Tedexa Goran?” Merlin posited.
“We may have a solution to that.” Skeet said. “Let me patch in Mahina.”
“Go ahead” Mahina said.
“Skeet said you might have a solution to the reinforcements?” Mako asked.
“We found what we believe are seismic charges designed for earthmoving. Currently, we are examining the power sources. They have been in storage for some time, but they appear to be functional. The batteries have degraded but Booster thinks he can use off the shelf parts to solve that problem.”
“How long until we know?”
“Booster says less than 30 minutes.”
“Keep me updated. If you get it working, fly to the entrance.”
“Understood.” Mahina replied. “I may join you there in a few moments.”
“You have enough personnel to guard Booster while he deploys the charges?”
“Yes, four of us have unlocked our Phenotype. My personal abilities are better utilized against a group of enemies.”
“I’ll send Jhakaas to help with the charges.” Mako said. “I’ll feel better with more to help.”
Jhakaas set out and shortly Mahina met up with Mako. Shortly after that they received confirmation that they had a solution with the seismic charges.
“Time to talk.” Mako smiled. They had a way to collapse the entrance and the other incoming troops had been dealt with which resulted in the loss of 6 of their own. Mako wanted to force them to retreat.
Mako stepped out with Mahina behind him. His voice boomed out. “Sorodexis. Come out and talk! You only have a short time before you will not be able to return to Tedexa Goran.”
There was some shuffling and General Sorodexis stepped out. He again approached with an entourage that was smaller than before. There were only 3 instead of 6. Their eyes flicked to the shield strapped to Mako’s arm. Their lips revealed some of their pointed teeth.
“You have not won yet. Not by any measure.” Sorodexis growled. It seemed they assumed that Mako’s proclamation about not being to return to Tedexa Goran was interpreted as a declaration of victory. "You have very few warriors left. It is just a matter of time before we wipe you out."
"That's a lot of talk for someone who has been spending the whole battle hiding behind a shield. Besides," Mako said flatly. “I don’t have to win to collapse the mountain tunnels.
Their eyes narrowed. And they seemed to shake a little in rage. “What are you saying?”
“It means exactly what I said. There will be a vehicle passing overhead shortly." He pointed up. "They will be carrying several devices with which we will collapse the tunnels that lead in and out of the mountain. Once that is done, you will have no passage between this world and Tedexa Goran and therefore the portal.”
“I think you are bluffing.”
“It is no bluff. If you want to return to Tedexa Goran, you should return now. If not, you will be stuck on this side.”
To Mako’s surprise, Sorodexis snarled in anger and in a moment flashed forward. Mako barely had a second to get his shield up but was still knocked back.