Asteroid Blues

Lieutenant Knight had received his orders straight from the High Commissioner himself: secure and defend the armory at all costs while the other units pursued the fleeing Combined Army Forces deeper into the complex to eliminate him. He shrugged his shoulders, rolling the massive armor plates as he adjusted his grip on his Feuerbach. The building lay ahead, in the dim, flickering lights of the ammunition module he could just see its outline, fading in and out.

With a few blinks and winking acknowledgement lights, he ordered Korso up to one of the outbuildings with a good line of sight. The Epsilon took his position, hefting his MULTI sniper rifle until it was in a comfortable position. His Kappas fanned out to the left, taking up position behind the barricades. He motioned to Daniel to follow him, as she was capable of opening the locked doors with her particular set of skills. VanDien, he noted, looked like he was wearing his new body easily enough.

Just as they got the doors open, all hell broke loose. He heard Daniel swear under her breath. All the doors shot open in a sharp hiss of hydraulics. “That wasn’t supposed to happen sir!” she shouted, raising her Combi Rifle. Another Gwailo, spurred by an unseen force, charged directly at them. Knight heard the Kappas open fire on some other contacts– “Nox! Direct front! 300 meters!” “TO Camo blur! 3 o’clock! Fire, fire fire!” — and the concussive force of the the Sirius handler’s boarding shotgun, even through his armor as she exchanged blows with an airborne Shas trooper.

“Secure and protect!” he bawled over the squad net, and laid a three-round burst into the Gwailo. The rounds slammed into it, but glanced off, and it dove behind the armory wall. He and Daniel pushed forward, and he covered her as she broke open one of the panoplies in the corner, retrieving an advanced looking blade. Monofilament?

“Two down,” he heard Korso report coolly over the net. Then the Gwailo and a Caliban rolled around the corner into the armory. Too close for the Feuerbach, Knight swung his armored fist at the alien trooper, who bellowed curses at him through its own external speakers. The Caliban pounced on Daniel, but she was quicker, slicing cleanly through its torso, the monofilament cutting like a hot knife through butter.

Voss laughed over the squadnet. “Mentor down! Gotcha, bastard!” Then, a scream. A shadow materialized behind the new Gangbuster operative and broke his neck, then followed it up with a coup-de-grace. Hexe and Korso immediately engaged and the Shrouded one disappeared, this time in a splatter of guts and alien gore.

Knight wrested the HMG away from the Gwailo then drew his large combat knife from his leg sheath. Using the suit’s entire weight, he lunged at the suited alien, smashing it to the floor. Then, came the tricky part. As the creature’s fists pummeled uselessly against his power plant, he drove the blade straight into the weak joint between helmet and chest armor, just like the xenocultural briefs had told him. A gout of blood sprayed across his external sensors. Then, it was quiet.

He breathed, then stood up. “All points, report in.”

The armory was theirs. Not without cost, but it was secured. He hoped the High Commissioner would authorize another couple resurrects.