A week later…

The ship I was on stopped at the orbiting station around Fytlin, and I stormed off the ship, already fully equipped and ready for battle.

I was wearing the Mark IV nano-particulate suit. It was made of nanoplates that intersected and connected with one another, each one perfectly placed and movable to better cover up wounded areas. It was a royal purple and vibrant blue, with customizable patterns, allowing for recognition of troops when their face wasn’t visible. I also was wearing the shield gauntlet, a thicker section of armor on my right hand that provided a large mobile shield. On my left arm I had a Grenade launcher that provided my own artillery when needed. My boots had jump jets for maneuverability. I held a Plasma spitter, incredibly effective against the cold-loving Ul-Katoin. I also had an energy lance, for when the Ul’Katoin finally reached us in their heavy-casualty charge. On my waist I had an Inertial launcher. The Ul’Katoin had extremely sturdy exoseletons so they didn’t pack as much of a punch compared to most other life and starships, but were still effective, highly so.

Me and my squad rushed to fill an empty drop pod, and were dropped onto Fytlin the moment our squad was buckled in. The strong inertial dampeners couldn’t protect from all of the g-force though, so it was still downright painful. My body felt stretched, and I grit my teeth. A minute later, seconds before landing, dozens of chemicals were injected into me, only one working immediately. As we crashed into the firm soil of Fytlin, The pod shook, and it HURT. My body took the full force impact, feeling like I had crunched. I got up soon, pain nullifiers and g-force dampeners in my bloodstream helping. A few others in my squad took deep breaths, and then followed J’jay out, another human. Tyren and H’eff followed him, Tyren and I had spent far too much war time together to be lost here, so I followed after. My ears met the sound of plasma blasts and gunfire. I stormed out into the battlefield with trenches dug from orbital pinpoint lasers. I slid into one, and then lifted my Plasma launcher to my head, and looked down the sight.

Zooming in, I’m horrified. “Fuck, what are those.” Over a mile away were tall, beasts. The Ul’Katoin was the name of a conglomeration of species from the alternate dimension laying siege to ours. Out of the enormous portal in the background poured the Avian Ul, Runner Ul, and these new creatures. The Avian Ul were horrific, dozens of feet long bodies shaped like crescents. They had eight long insectile arms that would grab and rip starships up with their powerful claws. They also had hundreds of tentacles that stretched out longer than the human body for consuming material and they could be released as worms that would rip apart infantry on the ground. Like all Ul, they were a sickening mottled green and orange. The Runner Ul were only three feet long, and resembled large ants. Except these had long tails, a thick, hard exoskeleton and could spit acid from their mouths. They could run at 60 miles an hour, and hit like a small hover bike.

These new creatures however, were ugly. They were bipedal, 9 feet tall, and insectile like the other Ul. They had big sharp beaks, and long arms. Small pointed horns came from their head, resembling the spikes on the elbows of their arms. They had a second set of much smaller arms with two small claws. Their legs were long as well, and had double-jointed knees. In between their legs was a thick aquatic looking tail. They had small, yellow-green eyes. Their fingers and toes ended in sharp claws, and looked deadly.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I gripped my rifle a little tighter, and waited for them to come. Snipers were already taking shots at the assembling crowd. Starships were already in deep aerial combat with the Avians. We were winning, but the ships were still being torn apart by the rapidly advancing Avians, surging forward through terrifying casualties.

Then, after all the pods were down mere seconds later, the orbital bombardment began. Long metallic rods slammed into the hordes of Ul’Katoin, and plasma beams pierced through the multiple brains and hearts of the Avians. Through my scope, I saw the new creatures pause, turn their heads upwards, and screamed. I couldn’t hear it from here, but it was like they had begun the battle only now.

Then they began sprinting full speed towards us. Arms swinging and legs pushing off the ground, showing off some rather spectacular musculature. The runners were going about twice the new creatures speed, and in only a few seconds, I began to fire.

Needles of plasma leaped out of my gun, eight a second, and nearly instantly hitting the wave of enemies. The flood approached, albeit at a seemingly slower pace as line after line of runners fell, taking an average of two needles. Millions of Ul’Katoin were dying by the seconds, but it wasn’t enough. By the time I had run out of ammo in my gun twice, they were here.

The wave slammed into the shield barrier just before the trenches. The pure kinetic energy killed thousands, the line stretching as far as I could see in both directions. The shield shimmered blue, and then snapped away, overloaded. At that point, the orbiting starships fired again, Enormous orbs of plasma melting dozens at a time, and tungsten rods killing hundreds more. By the end of the bombardment, nearly all of the runners were dead. And over three quarters of the new beasts. But that only meant we weren’t guaranteed a death sentence. Despite these horrible odds, the chemicals kept my emotions steady. Through all of this I hadn’t stopped firing. Soon, the shield was penetrated though, and I dropped my gun. I swung out my energy lance. I fired off ten rounds into the air from my grenade launcher, and then activated my arm shield.

Cluster bombs tore through the ranks of the Ul’Katoin, but then they were in the trenches. I stabbed at one of the new beasts, my plasma coated blade slicing through the thick exoskeleton. It died immediately, flopping to the ground. Through the Strand I tethered two of the new Ul’Katoin, snapping their necks. Thick, acidic orange blood covered the trench. I was blindsided by two right after, one tearing its chest apart on my energy lance, the other jumping right on my and snapping at my armor, leaving deep scratches, and drawing some of my own blood through the armor. In my Strand sight I saw the beast. I tethered both sides of it’s open maw, and tore it’s head apart, ripping it by it’s jaw. The gore was incredible, muscle fibers tearing and snapping, bone crunching. Then more jumped on me. Three tearing at me under the shield bubble I had created, the shield flashing blue where they struck it.

I stabbed at them with my energy lance, but they kept jumping on top. I shot a burst of Strand energy outward, knocking each one on their ass. I whipped out my Inertial launcher, and shot each in the head, crunching through their heads.

I swung my lance around, slicing through the chest of another Ul’Katoin. As the dust settled, I knelt down, my armor the only thing keeping my skin from melting by the Ul’Katoin blood.

“AH!” I screamed, falling completely and clutching at my head. The Strand exertion ripping at my head. The world slowly turned black, as I began to fade into unconsciousness.