Betrayal on Aztiko

Tralkin were different, the URG had skimped on their armor plating and it might as well just be extra sturdy leather, and as far as shields went it was a crapshoot as to whether or not they had shields at all as they were seemingly issued to troops at random, plus their feathered wings were a massive weak point in general as they were usually left bare. A well placed volley from a shredder shell was enough to turn their torso into a gooey mess of bloodied feathers.

The two main issues with fighting the URG were the aforementioned swarms of fanatic conscripts that only seemed to retreat when cut down by the dozens in rapid succession and their energy weapons which were crude and unstable but incredibly powerful. They used big, bulky directed heat pistols with dish shaped barrels that were be held in the talons on their third arm that protruded from their chests. They had a low ammunition capacity and were prone to overheating, frying out and sometimes even exploding due to having no regulation on power consumption or output, but the tradeoff was that the blinding white beams they fired would usually set whatever they hit ablaze for a few seconds, the fire so hot that it wasn't only barely visible to the naked eye before it petered out. Two or three seconds might not seem like a long time at first glance, but two or three seconds of 2100 plus degree heat FEELS like a long time.

Caleb explained all of this to his fellow cadets and a few of the garrisoned soldiers that had all gathered in the armory while they prepared for shit to hit the fan. Some of the older ones there had been in the service long enough to fight the URG but most of them only had experience with the Merkeb, and the Lunar Sisters thus far had only engaged them in space, and even then it was on such few occasions they could be counted on a single hand.

"When you hit one of them, make sure it's dead, or at least incapacitated." He loaded a shell into the shredder and turned his carbine to the side and tried to jiggle it to see if it was loose. It wasn't. "If they know they're gonna die they'll just keep running at us and purposefully overload one of their heat pistols. The detonation is usually powerful enough to incinerate two or three people. Not sure how much damage they'd do to a Sister's shields, but the heat definitely won't be pleasant."

He turned to see Molly nod in acknowledgement. She had forgone two plasma rifles this time around, instead in one hand she was holding what he presumed was some PDW variant of a Federation plasma rifle with a shorter, vaguely bullpup design. In her other hand was an long, thick blade. It looked like a big, heavy machete made out of a microchip that was outlined with bright green plasma instead of a sharp or serrated edge. If Caleb tried to tote it around, he'd have to use both of his hands and he still probably wouldn't be able to swing it with any effectiveness, yet she was able to take a few test swings as if it was a small eating utensil.

Besides Caleb and Molly there were three other cadets alongside six regular infantry, two of which were Lunar Sisters. Not exactly a force to be reckoned with in the face of who knows how many Tralkin. If Colonel Curtis couldn't develop a strategy to mount a cohesive and organized defense, everyone here was fucked. The current inability to hail anybody from planetary command on comms - most likely the immediate result of confusion from the surprise attack - definitely wasn't helping to ease any anxiety. Any request for orders was met with a random assortment of people yelling in anger and shock.

The implications this development had for the greater scope of things, that being the war against the Merkeb was another beast entirely, and what few thoughts Caleb had about that subject were pushed to the back of his mind as a series of devastating quakes rocked the Academy.

"I believe they have begun to deploy artillery against us."

Before Caleb could correct the assumption the Sister made - one he hadn't met yet - he was beaten to the punch by the Hellbender to his right named Ichnitex.

"Probably not. It's most likely their craft getting shot down and crashing on the academy. This place is shielded right?"

Caleb nodded.

"I'm pretty sure, yeah."

There was another rumble, this time the force of the explosion was enough to knock a few of them down.

"What the fuck was that?"

"They have to be doing it on purpose at this point."

"Was that a transport or a fighter? Are those bastards inside?"

Molly managed to shout over the all of the voices.

"Everyone, try to remain calm. The only way for us to find out what exactly occurred is to try and find where that craft collided with the structure. I'll take point, unless anyone has an objection?"

Nobody did, or at least nobody wanted to say they did, and so with a few long slides Molly walked into the hallway, now dimly illuminated by red emergency lighting. Looks like the impact of that craft disrupted the power in this part of the Academy.

Molly aimed the PDW with her arm out straight and at a slight angle away from her torso and made slow, sideways steps as she went down the hall, her blade held firmly at her side. The others followed, their weapons shouldered and at a low ready position, save for one of the other Sisters who was holding two of the same PDW that Molly had.

As they approached an intersection in the hall they saw shadows flickering from around the right corner that couldn't have been cast by anything but fire. There was a brief seires of loud creaks followed by metal grinding on metal. Molly leaned to look around the corner, then quickly resumed her position behind the wall.

"They've arrived."

A white beam shot past her head and out of reflex she bounded away from it and crouched on the ground.

She was startled again when the floor beneath her began to split. Standing and then stepping away from it, the group realized it was an automated turret rising from the floor. It was PDE, most likely a miniature autocannon. Looks like the Academy's defenses could run off of emergency power. Caleb had almost completely forgotten about them, he let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the desperately needed edge.

A Tralkin turned the corner and prepared to let off a shot before a messy hole was blown into his midsection by the turret. The arm carrying his heat pistol fell to the ground and he stumbled about almost comically before finally falling to the floor dead.

"Everyone, get on the floor behind the turret!"

Caleb took his own advice and ran several feet back before falling to a prone position and aimed his carbine again. Several more Tralkin rounded the corner and got blasted either by the turret or by one of the group. Suddenly a cylindrical object was thrown around the corner and began emitting a rapid beeping noise.

"Shit, grenade!"

It detonated, the shrapnel thankfully not reaching far enough to harm the group, but still doing enough damage to the turret to cause it to slump to the ground and fire the rest of it's payload into the ground.

"What do we do now?!"

"I believe I said I would take point."

Caleb tried to reach out and grab one of Molly's legs but she was up off the ground and around the corner in what seemed like an instant. The other two Sisters took the initiative and followed behind her.

Caleb got to his feet and ran to follow her. Fuck it, he didn't want to die on the ground like this anyway.

He turned the corner and let loose a few rounds into the chest of a Tralkin who was running in his direction, then felt his jaw drop in awe as he saw the carnage in front of him.

Molly had taken out at least three Tralkin, their heads cut clean from their bodies, the stumps of their necks cauterized by the blade's plasma edge. She currently had it stuck in the torso of another one who was wailing in agony as she lifted him up with it. She raised her PDW and blew his head off, sizzling bits of bird skull splattering the wall.

She wailed in pain as a blast of heat hit her shoulder. It didn't make it through the shields, but it certainly hurt. She collapsed to her knees and fired blindly in the direction the blast originated from.

Caleb ran to her side and followed by Ichnitex joined her in returning fire. A beam shot between them and hit another PDE shoulder - a human - who screamed in visceral terror as his helmet was ignited. He immediately dropped his weapon and fell to the ground, desperately trying to pull it off. He succeeded but it became fused to his gloves and his face was horrifically scalded.

More fire was traded and Molly was able to compose herself and retaliate with much more accuracy. Every shot took a Tralkin out. Caleb fired off his shredder and saw one of them collapse to the ground as it, well, *shredded* his legs out from under him.

They must have been both dazed from the impact of their transport breaking through the wall of the Academy as well as disoriented by the smoke around them and firing blind. One dropped a new battery for his pistol on the ground in a coughing fit from a large plume of smoke entering his beak. It quickly became a one sided battle and they reluctantly started retreating back into their transport, desperate to escape the onslaught of bullets and energy.

"What do we do now? Should we push?"

"I don't know if that's the best idea." Caleb let a magazine fall out of his carbine and then replaced it. "If we corner them, they might just set off their heat pistols and... wait, I have an idea."

He placed his Carbine down and took a discarded heat pistol from the ground. Aiming it with both hands, he fired two shots at the transport, waited, and then fired another shot, emptying the capacity of the pistol.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Ever have roasted gamebird, Ichnitex?"

After a brief moment, Ichnitex realized what his plan was and laughed wickedly, grabbing a heat pistol of his own he let loose a few shots at the transport's jutting hull. Eventually enough direct hits lit a sustained fire that started warping the metal of the ship. A few Tralkin rushed out, gasping for air, their wings flailing uselessly. Molly put them down.

"You assholes give up, yet?"

Ichnitex received his answer in the form of a loud boom that sent a piece of the hull flying, embedding itself in the ceiling. Whether they all overcharged their weapons on purpose or that was just a side effect of the extreme heat in there, it worked.

The group all collectively basked in their incredibly dumb luck, then Caleb looked on the ground and saw the human soldier that got hit. He was dead. His helmet was still in stuck in his hands, and his face was scorched beyond recognition, a permanent scream etched onto his face.

The grim sight brought everyone back to reality. They'd gotten ridiculously lucky, and they had still gone from 11 down to 10. Actively seeking out direct engagements in these wide open hallways with low numbers like this was just as dangerous for them as it was for the enemy.

Until they linked up with more friendly forces or started getting direct instructions from someone with better eyes on their surroundings than they had, it would be best for them to avoid fights. That would be enough of an issue for the regular rank and file PDE troops with their mandatory entry level stealth training, let alone the two Lunar Sisters that had none whatsoever, and they certainly stood out quite a bit more than the others.

Their fears were slightly dissuaded when the heads up displays in their helmets gave them a comms notification.

"To all military personnel on Aztiko who can receive this message, this is Colonel Josiah Curtis. If you're in fighting shape I want you to head towards the main Administrative center immediately, then secure your position and await further instructions. If you have civilians with you, keep them under guard until you come across any security officers, then hand them over to their protection. Anyone who is injured to the point of incapacitation should try their best to either find someone who can give them immediate medical attention, or bunker down and try to hide. Don't worry, we'll find you."

He was interrupted by a second, more feminine voice, speaking in Lunar this time. After she was finished, Molly translated.

"It appears all of us are following the Colonel's orders. Come, we must be cautious but swift."

Molly took point and started to lead them towards the administrative center. Caleb took one final glance at the guy they'd lost. It felt wrong to just leave him there, but it's not like they could carry his body around with them. He made a quick mental note that after this whole thing got dealt with they'd have to come back here and get him ready for a proper burial.

If they made it that far, anyway.

***************************************** *****************************************

Jazz felt the ground under her feet shudder violently as something made impact on the Academy. She stumbled slightly, steadying herself on the wall to her left as the lights above her began to flicker sporadically. She was about to try contacting the command center when the ground rocked beneath her again, this time sending her flat on her back.

She cursed to herself as she got to her feet again, the lights above her cutting out before quickly being substituted by the red emergency backups.

She continued on her way to try and meet Jacob on his way to the administration center, hoping to run into him a few passages away from the mess hall, but she suddenly found herself cut off by a door with an operating mechanism that had been damaged by whatever was falling on them. It failed to move up higher than a few inches or so before emitting a buzz and a few sparks, then closing again.

She kicked the door with her boot and uttered more profanity as she activated the comms in her helmet.

"Alderson? Alderson, you picking this up? Is that civvie still with you?"

Silence, she tried again, the urgency in her voice rising.

"Alderson, for fuck's sake, pick up!"

"Jazz?"

The response was cautious and weak.

"Jacob?! Jacob, holy shit, you had me worried. You scare me like that and I'm gonna track you down and shove my foot up your ass, do you understand me?" He let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, sure."

"Where's Alderson? And that soldier that was with you, where are you at? Why are you on his comms?"

"They're dead. Both of them. Something hit us and they got hit with a bunch of shrapnel or something. I took the security guard's helmet."

She was quiet for a second as she gathered her thoughts.

"Alright, just try to stay calm. Can you give me a general idea of where you're at? I shouldn't be too far away, I'm just stuck behind this door, it's all fucked up."

There was a brief pause.

"You mean the one that's malfunctioning from the crashed fighter?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the one!" Hope swelled up in her chest again. "Call out, maybe I can hear you."

Suddenly she heard him yell out from the distance on the other side of the door.

"Can you hear me? I'm over here, Jazz!"

She immediately fell to the floor and grunted as she strained to force the door the rest of the way open. It was only able to budge slightly, causing her to release another long string of expletives. "Fuck! Hey Jacob? I need you to come over and help me with this. Both of us will probably be able to pull it up high enough for you to slip under, then I'll get you the rest of the way to the admin center. You're gonna be fine, I promise I'll-"

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?!"

"There's... stuff, on top of me." She could barely make out the sound of him desperately trying to squeeze out from underneath something. "There's debris from parts of the ceiling and... I guess Alderson too. There's blood. There's a lot of it. It's all his, but... yeah."

She slumped to the ground, thoughts rushing around her head as she tried to think of another plan. Suddenly she heard the unmistakable chatter of Tralkin slowly coming closer from his side of the door.

"Jacob, is that what I think it is?" Her voice became a desperate whisper."

"I don't know."

"Stay quiet for fuck's sake!"

He started to whisper as well.

"I'm sorry."

"Whatever, listen, take that helmet off and lay it down somewhere next to you, then try to stay completely still. Hopefully they'll think you're already dead."

"But what if-"

"Just fucking listen to me, alright? Please!"

The voices grew closer, and soon their footsteps became audible, their talons clicking on the tiles beneath them. She could hear the distinct sound of a turret attempting to emerge from the floor but it failed, sparking out about halfway through. One of the birds chuckled and they resumed their pace.

Jazz laid down to look through the gap between the malfunctioning door and the floor. She could barely make out Jacob lying on the ground. A piece of scaffolding had fallen on his chest, and splayed out on his legs was what was left of Alderson. She couldn't see his face but she had an idea of what he might look like. She'd seen him scared before.

The Tralkin stopped and examined the grisly scene. They conversed among themselves in a series of screeches and squawks as both Jazz and Jacob tried to remain as still as possible.

One of them knelt down to look through Alderson's mangled corpse, sifting through the various pouches on his armor. The only thing he thought was interesting was his stun baton. He pulled it out and activated it, watching as it powered on.

He turned it over in his hand and took a few swings, then casually discarded it onto the ground. It landed directly on Jacob's chest and he wailed in pain.

Suddenly he had seven heat pistols aimed at his face. One of the Tralkin screeched and two of his comrades holstered their weapons, then started dragging him out from under the rubble.

"No! NO! LET ME GO!"

He continued to scream both in terror and pain as they dragged him from under the fallen scaffolding. Eventually he got hit upside the head with the side of a heat pistol and quickly fell silent. They finished dragging him out from underneath the scaffolding and made a left turn, continuing on their way to search for more prisoners.

As all of this was happening, Jazz was using every bit of her strength, desperately trying to force the door the rest of the way open. When she finally got it open just enough for her to squeeze under, Jacob was gone.

"Fuck. No no no, that didn't happen. That didn't fucking happen!"

She slammed the side of her fist against the wall to as she started to lose control of her breathing. Should she just run after them? They couldn't have gotten that far at this point.

No, she was way too outnumbered, and there was no way she could hit any of them without risking Jacob getting caught in the crossfire. And who's to say they wouldn't just use him as a human shield? Maybe kill him right in front of her?

Her panic was only increased when she once again heard the sound of talons clicking on the floor and the screeches of incoming Tralkin. A lot of them, way more than before.

She shook with rage and shouldered her carbine, slowly marching forward to cut them off as they approached from the hallway to her right. Fine, they want to take her best friend? She'll take as many of the shitheads down with her as she can.

Just as she stepped over Alderson's remains, however, she was startled by the wall to her right exploding outwards as a mangled Tralkin was thrown through it with terrifying force. He splattered on the wall to her left, his bones crunching and his heat pistol clattering uselessly to the floor.

Before she even had time to wonder what had happened, she saw a shiny mechanical leg emerge from the newly created hole in the wall, the chromed pistons and joints clearly visible. It was followed by the rest of Twenty-One Six's cybernetic body, with a right arm completely drenched in blood. Their head rotated a full 360 degrees as they scanned the surrounding area, then quickly swiveled back to face Jazz.