When he heard the shout from the young human, Ang’Tue swirled around. Three old combat bots crawled out of their hideouts and the slightly shimmering air around them confirmed the theory - his ancestors had obviously shielded them.

It made sense though, the ones that had built all this assumed that it was possible to scan the ground at least rudimentary. That the storm outgrew their expectations wasn’t planned. Installing shields to avoid sensors was the next logical step.

‘At least these kinds of shields were crafted with a focus on stopping scanning attempts, not energy projectiles.’ He thought and assessed the situation.

The man called Keran had already raised his gun and was yelling at the captain to pull back to the ships before his helmet closed and the team switched to the near-field comm. The woman turned and also sprinted back to where they came from.

When the first shots were fired, the robots split up. One was following the two fleeing people, the one that was just hit engaged his attacker and the last one focused on Ang’Tue.

With trained ease he felt for the darkness around him. After nearly 300 years, melting into the shadows from the dark clouds above came natural to him… was it even still a shadow or already the dim light from nightfall? Didn’t matter - he pushed the thoughts away. He had a pretty good idea of the furious look Keran must have on his face right now.

With his target suddenly vanished, the robot looked for the next opponent. Immediately the human had to fight two of the combat units at once, probably fearing the Eltaran had left him to die.

This wasn’t his intention though. Not yet, he still needed the help of this group.

Quickly he closed in on the two enemies from behind, his vision blurry due to the shadow’s interference. Keran managed to fire his weapon once more, letting the shield flicker, before the bot fired back. The human jumped to the side but was still hit on his thigh. When the second unit also took aim, Ang’Tue pulled the trigger, hitting it in the back and making it stumble forwards. Its shot missed the human, giving him time to scramble back to his feet.

The shadows spat him out after the disruption of his surroundings and he would need a few moments before he could jump back into the darkness.

Ang’Tue fired a second shot, this time at the unit Keran was targeting. It would be better to take one out first. Its shield flashed again, looking more fragile this time and when the human landed another hit, it finally winked out. Unfortunately the man took a second hit, too - his left arm hung loose to the side after that.

Finally Ang’Tue felt his body had recovered and reached out for the shadows again - time was running out, as the second robot was already aiming at him. He stepped to the side while he vanished, but a sudden loud bang tore through the night and interrupted his concentration. The shadows receded from his control and the bot fired.

Searing pain shot through his body when the projectile burned the flesh on his leg. More loud bangs could be heard - the rapid fire of a ballistic weapon. The other humans? The third bot? He couldn’t focus on that. His body hurt like hell and energy projectiles flew all around him as Keran continued the fight.

‘No cover at all on this shitty island…’ He thought and shot at Keran’s opponent once more. His own enemy was close by now and he quickly manipulated the dark shadows around it to condense in front of its optical sensors. That wouldn’t distract it for long, but they only needed a short window of opportunity. He saw Keran avoiding a projectile and finally blasting the combat bot apart with his next shot.

‘One down, one to go. How are the others faring? The bursts of ballistic fire still didn’t stop coming.’ Ang’Tue anxiously thought but couldn’t check since the blinded bot had already adjusted its sensors and pointed its weapon in the human’s direction. The two men both shot at the same time. Its shield immediately blasted apart and left the combat bot vulnerable. However, it still had enough stability to hit Keran in the middle of his chest. The impact threw him back half a meter.

Ang’Tue couldn’t wait for his weapon to cool down. He jumped forward and tackled the robot from behind, throwing it to the ground face first.

“Ouw, damn. I’m getting old…” His shoulder ached now nearly as much as his leg. Hopefully the human was protected enough by his armor to get back on his feet, he won’t be able to hold down the bot for long.

The unit raged under him, trying to get back up and Ang’Tue did his best to press it harder into the ground when he saw Keran struggling to his feet. Slowly the man limped over, pulling one leg behind. His healthy arm still held the gun and when he finally arrived, he opened his helmet to be able to talk.

“Thanks for your help. I thought for a second you would run off!” Keran chuckled with a pain-stricken face, “Take its gun and roll aside, I’ll finish it when you are out of the way. We have to help the others.”

“Be careful, it’s still very lively! I’ll blind it, but that won’t help much.” Ang’Tue said and counted down, while he called for the shadows once again.

“Three.. Two.. one..”

In one fluid motion he grabbed the robot’s gun and rolled away from it. The robot was surprisingly quick to his feet, but the human was faster and scored a hit on its torso where the sensors were placed. The bot stopped dead in its tracks, before its other arm shot forward and the unit finally went still. It didn’t fall back however - its bladed arm was stuck in Keran’s stomach and kept it from falling.

“Damn old geezers!” Ang’Tue cursed his ancestors in exasperation and rushed forward to help the man. Before he even reached him however, a huge explosion tore through the night. The shock wave washed over him and his body threw long shadows in contrast to the bright flames of the raging fire behind him.

***

“Return to the ships, you cannot help here!” Keran yelled and Robin saw that Patience quickly sprinted back. They were right, he would only be in the way if he stayed.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

With gnashing teeth he followed her, while dozens of different things raced through his mind. Hopefully Keran and Ang’Tue would be okay. What could he do to help them? He had his pistol… hardly a problem-solver in this situation. Patience’s energy weapon also only had 3 to 5 shots left.

* Connection to Keran lost

* Due to the storm only near-field comm is available

“Burn in plasma…” He cursed when ROMAS came up with more bad news. And as if the situation wasn’t fucked up enough already, he suddenly heard fast metallic steps behind him. When he looked back, he saw that the two men had engaged the robots and energy bolts flew all around, but one of the units had actually split from the group and was coming after him.

“Careful, Patience!” He shouted a warning. She immediately turned around and reflexively fired at the bot without hesitation. The projectile missed it by at least two meters and burned the ground next to Keran far in the distance.

“Woa…”

The combat unit still closed in on them and the Melody was more than 40 meters away. What would he even do there? Fly away? Leave his friends behind? His crew?

“Shit!” He cursed once more and continued to run.

“Come on!” He yelled and Patience fired another shot, missing once more.

“Fuck you!” She angrily shouted and also returned to sprinting.

They quickly reached the Melody and Robin saw Timothy hunkering down in the cockpit. The Sentinel was 15 meters to the left. Just as Robin thought about ‘what now?’, the robot decided it was close enough and raised its rifle.

“A ballistic weapon?” He muttered and saw Patience also hesitated. Handling weapons wasn’t one of her skills, but she could also hardly start a brawl with this mechanical enemy.

Shots rang through the night and Robin took in a sharp breath when he felt the pain of the bullets hitting his armor.

* Armor will not resist many hits

* Use the Dampening Field?

“What is going on here?” Timothy asked with a fearful voice, now that they were in range of communications.

“Start the Melody!” Robin shouted with no time to explain and saw that Timothy began to fumble behind the pilot’s seat.

Patience took a few steps forward and fired a third shot from a closer distance at the bot. Finally she hit it, but the shield only flashed slightly. Robin also took aim and fired a few shots in rapid succession. Most of them hit but neither shield nor robot showed any signs of that having an impact at all.

The bot retaliated at Patience and even so she rolled out of the way, he saw her wincing when she got back to her feet. Many shots missed, though - instead the Sentinel behind her was riddled with bullets. He saw impacts all around its thrusters.

* Booting sequence finished

* Connection established

“To the Melody!” Robin yelled and also dragged himself closer.

Once again he fired at the robot, not stopping until his magazine was empty.

“Wait for the right moment!” He said to Patience and ROMAS alike.

While they waited for the unit to start shooting again, Robin assessed the situation. It was getting dark already which highlighted the many energy projectiles that flew in the distance even more.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…”

The combat unit took aim at Patience once again and he saw her looking over at him. The dark visor of her helmet obscured her face, but he was pretty sure she was throwing him a fearful glance, not sure if betting her life on this was a good idea.

* Activating Dampening Field…

* t: -30sec…

* Hold ballistic fire

* Use energy weapon

An instant before the next hail of bullets rained down on them, the shield at the Melody’s rear flickered to life. The bullets suddenly appeared not even an arm’s length from Patience, directly in front of her face, scaring the shit out of them and clattered to the ground.

“FUUUCK! Rob!” She roared on the comm.

“Yeah, glad it worked. No time to lose now, I just checked your rifle - one shot left. Make it count! 23 seconds before the shield powers down…”

“We will talk about that later!” She growled and for a moment Robin was more afraid of her than the robot.

The bot fired another round, but Patience managed to keep her cool and got down on one knee for a better stance.

“11 seconds…” He updated her while he reloaded his pistol.

After the next volley of shots, she finally fired her last shot, hitting the robot directly on its sensors. The shield flickered once again - it wouldn’t hold much longer. But it didn’t make a difference, they were out of ammo while the combat bot seemed to have some shots left.

“6 seconds… what now?” He asked his friend.

“Distract it, I have a plan!” She replied and Robin reacted without thinking about it. The moment the shield blocked the next attack and went off, he sprinted away from the Melody, opposite of Patience, and fired the whole magazine at the robot. To his surprise its shield actually was broken and he got its attention as planned.

With a long jump he rolled forward, evading most of the bullets that came as an answer. Behind him the Sentinel caught them once again, more holes could be seen now. That was his only possible cover so he moved closer and tried to get around it, before the next attack. He left the range of near-field-comm and hunkered down in the sudden silence.

“...”

* Cooldown over, it should have fired already

Robin peaked from behind the Sentinel. On the field in front of him he saw the robot lying on the ground, Patience standing over it, with her weapon gripped at the barrel. Again and again she bashed the bot with her newly acquired club.

“Are you okay?” He asked after sneaking a little closer and reestablishing communication.

“You.. fucking.. bastard.. ” Patience yelled in rhythm with each hit she landed on the bot.

Relief washed over him, trying to trick him into lowering his vigilance. Robin had learned from his past mistakes though and sent out a quick Echo-Pulse to check the status of the combat unit.

However, when he suddenly got a brightly glowing image from the Sentinel next to him imprinted in his mind, his eyes went wide.

“Fuck…” He jumped forward, away from the ship and sprinted a few meters.

“The Sentinel is about to explode, get out of here!” Robin shouted to warn his friend.

To his surprise, Patience didn’t run, but dropped her ‘club’ and grabbed the bot by its bladed arm instead.

“Wuahhhhh…” She yelled and with the whole might of her newly upgraded mutation she managed to throw the damn robot towards the Sentinel the moment it exploded like a bomb into a bright ball of fire.