Rohava 8th, 4093 C.L.
Big bro took care of a bunch of wild animals. He said they gave a younger unit a bunch of trouble. It's so cool big bro is protecting his friends! That's why everyone likes him!

Wild threw every ounce of strength in her arms against the weight of the rabid Raptorlisk.

Six mandibles snapped at her head. The bone-like talons on the end scraping together in a vain attempt to reach her face. Behind them, the carnivores maw of a predatory animal also tried in vain to reach her.

It was barely enough to keep the thing off her, to actually remove it…

Wild’s mouth curled into a wicked smile, and she snarled back at the monster. When the mandibles opened after their latest snatch, she let the beast fall on her, sinking her teeth into its neck.

She bit just above the carapace protecting its lower body, into the soft tissue of its throat. She bit hard. She jerked her head back to tear away but the skin wouldn’t break, so she threw her arms in too and pushed.

The Raptorlisk fell away, and Wild escaped with a chunk of its throat. She spit it out and snarled, yet before she could do anything else a force lifted her back onto her feet.

“You good girl?”

“They picked the wrong person to mess with.” Wild raised her weapon and began to fire at the horde of Raptorlisks bursting from the ground.

Screams, snarls, and howls filled the air, Terran and monster in origin. One noise stood out though, the fading sound of gunfire.

Between shots, Wild took a quick glance around. Then called out, “Landsknecht, on your right!”

The soldier looked at Wild, then turned to their right. It was too late, however, as two Raptorlisks leapt onto them, knocking them down and ripping through their armor.

She looked left, only to see Huxian and Spectre get surrounded and overwhelmed.

Psion scrolled through a data screen catching an eyebrow raise from Wild. “Is now really the time?”

“There should always be time for information especially when it’s information finding out how these things can just tear open armor like this.” Her eyes glance up from her data screen as she holds up an arm. One of her floating blades fires, echoing through the air with a thunderous boom.

“Hey! On our 2 o’clock!” Psion called out, aiming her four floating weapons ahead. Wild spotted what she called out, a large pack of the monsters coming from the treeline towards them. It was more than enough incentive to switch targets and begin firing to thin the pack. Wild’s only wish at that moment was for her gun to shoot faster.

She felt a wind blow onto her back and looked up to see one of the Hexblades hovering just above the ground, its front guns spun up with the threatening whirring of a Gatling gun.

A stream of rounds tore through the pack, and the two girls saluted to the pilot.

The Captain was forced back by a pack of the monsters forcing him to fend them off with his greatsword. His voice came clear through the radio, [“Fall back. We’re pulling out!”]

“Sir yes sir!” The survivors answered.

Accelerator was the first to race onto the dropship, making a quick leap up onto the ship. Psion followed shortly after floating up with her own telepathy.

One by one the soldiers evacuated onto the dropship. Sylpheed, Xia, Vector… Wild took a double-take when no one else showed up to evacuate. Were all of the others…

[“Hey kid! Move it! I’m always the last to evacuate so get on the dropship!”] Wild nodded, resting her weapon onto a lock on her back. The Hexblade was slightly higher than she could jump, but she held up her arms and focused.

Her arms changed, transforming into large magnificent feathered harpy wings, which she used to lift herself onto the ship. Her arms changed back and she held out her arm for the Captain.

He leapt up with ease and his hand firmly clasped her arm, the weight of him and his armor threatened to pull her out of the dropship. She caught the railing before she fell out and laughed, pulling him up.

But then, suddenly she felt the weight disappear. She stumbled back and was caught by Psion. She scrambled back to the door to find the Captain. He landed on the ground and looked toward the treeline.

Without warning, his head was replaced with a shower of blood. Aiko screamed and felt herself get pulled back into the ship as its engines roared into full power

The metal gauntlet in her hand rattled, and she slowly looked down at it. Her eyes went wide staring at the armored glove and tossed it onto the ground. Light pinging could be heard as something pelted the dropship. It was too little too late, however, and the small fleet of ships made a quick flight back to base.

Aiko sat down, rubbing her forehead, “How many of us made it out of that? What even was that!?”

“You, me, Accelerator, the three in this dropship, and two others got into Vixen 7. As to what that was… Raptorlisks. That’s all I can tell you. They were burrowed in the ground and got the drop on us.”

“Those things weren’t just animals that was a damn ambush!”

Sinclair took off his helmet, “Don’t some animals do things like that?”

Lisha shook her head, “Not on the scale we’ve seen. There’s no creature like a Raptorlisk that burrows and most burrowing creatures don’t cooperate for ambushes. This was something else.”

“And these?” Aiko asks, ripping one of the attacking projectiles that had gotten lodged into the Hexblade.

“Let me see that…” Lisha held out her hand. She admired it for a moment, referring to some of her holo-screens. “Interesting…”

“Interesting? That thing just took the Captain!”

“Yes but a Raptorlisk couldn’t have done this.” She said, rolling the barbed spine around in her hand to look at it. “They didn’t have any kind of biological attributes that would let them launch spines like this, especially not hard enough to pierce armor.

Sinclair’s voice turned shaky, “There are creatures that CAN?”

“Oh yeah totally. Well, to an extent. Humonci, Ardonian Spitters, Terrasus, Novanians, just to name a few. They have a large number of muscles that can launch spiked projectiles of various types at various speeds. Terrasus for example grow and break off spiked bones. Now, I didn’t get to do anything like a full study dissection of them, but there was no evidence in any of the corpses that they had any kind of muscle structures. The only place they could fit one would be if there was something in their jaws, but I don’t think they’re are the culprit.”

Aiko’s eyes narrowed, “What makes you think that?”

“You’re not dead.” She said bluntly. Aiko was taken aback slightly as the snapping of the rabid monster rang in her ears, “Yeah… that is true. What do we know about them?” 

“I’d know more if I could dissect one or study it. All I can tell you is those six mandibles on their head are strong enough to latch onto and crush metal, they have powerful jaws, and razor-sharp claws. They were able to engage some Anubis androids so that should tell you all you need to know.”

“Yeah,” Sinclair rolled his eyes, “Nothing like a rabid monster that can tear apart humanoid tanks. Those things are supposed to be bulletproof right? And we saw those things ripped to shreds.”

Lisha pulled up an image of one of the Anubis models. She moved the hologram to show it in its full scale. It towered over everyone else with heavily reinforced shins and forearms. “The chest plate, forearms, and shins are pretty reinforced. Resisting landmines, plasma blades, and most conventional attacks. Technically speaking there are precision weak points you could exploit.”

“So you’re telling me Raptorlisks are smart enough to do that?”

“No. They’re just strong enough to do it.”

“Great…”

The dropships set back down at the base. People bustled about all over the air pad. Large vehicles were loaded onto transports.

Sinclair looked over as vehicles were loaded onto dropships. “Whoa… what are these big busters?” He said, putting his helmet back on.

Lisha without missing a beat pulled up a diagram of them, “V-18 Kaiser Heavy Siege Tanks. They became quite popular post Arkelik war. They make great fire support vehicles.”

Sinclair took his helmet back off, “Seems Command is sending in the big guns.”

“Just about. Not too surprising. We technically did our jobs and confirmed an enemy location. Next logical step is to bring in Kaisers, Firestarters, and other vehicles to blast open the enemy. Only, I guess Firestarters aren’t being used because they could burn down the forest.”

“Well, they’re sending in a lot of Androids. They should be able to clean it out easily enough.”

Sinclair’s eyes dart up, “Officer on site!”

The soldiers all salute as a Captain walks onto the landing pad. 

Captain Vannessa saluted back to the troopers, looking at the survivors, “Comms were hectic back there. Are all of you alright?” 

“Could be a lot better…” Aiko said with a sigh.

“Where’s Captain Devan?”

The three young fighters looked at the ground, causing Captain Vannessa’s face to fall as well, “I see…”

“He was right behind me but then…”

“A.T.-7420. Wild.” Vanessa said in a dark tone.

“Ma’am.” Aiko saluted.

Vanessa's face lightened up, “Don’t beat yourself up about it kid. I doubt it was your fault. Devan was always a superheroic. It was only a matter of time before something happened… as much as I hate to see the big guy go… Chin up, you survived. Make the most of it.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good girl. Now get your debrief done and then go take some R&R. You're all dismissed."

The group salutes before departing.

 

The bunk was silent save for the noise of a comb through Aiko's tail and the beeping of Lisha's Holo screens.

Her eyes wandered toward the other two empty bunks but quickly tire her eyes away.

She forced her eyes back to her tail. Great. Even my tail doesn't obey me… she thought rolling her eyes.

Then she paused.

Something felt off… almost like…

She laid on her back and brought her foot up to the bunk above her, giving it a Stern kick, "Oi. We've been over this!"

Lisha's voice contained a hidden laughter, "Sorry, sorry. Call me curious but reading your thought patterns is-"

"Don't bloody care. Stay out of my head. Just because you can read minds doesn't mean you get to."

"I suppose not. But… reading other people's minds keeps me out of my own…"

"Lisha?" Aiko's ears dropped slightly, staring up willing herself to see her friend through the bunk.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just… I might go ask the base commander if we can get a new squad and a bunk change for…"

"Yeah, no, I-... I get it. I get it. That's a good idea. You wanna go now? Or?"

"Yeah, let me-"

A soft light beeping came from the speaker above the door. The two girls gazed at it for a second. The light blinked blue, the signal of a non-urgent order, and a warning that an announcement or an AI was going to come on.

Seconds later the room's projectors came to life and the image of a secretary stood in the center of the room. She turned toward the two girls with a bow, and in a robotic tone said, ["New orders just came in for you. Pack your things, you're being transferred off base."]

"Wait wait wait wait, say that again? Off base?" Aiko's full attention was on the hologram. She sat up, tilting her head.

The AI nods, ["Affirmative. New orders just came in for you. Pack your things, you're being transferred off base."]

It was Lisha's turn to ask a question, "Off base to where? Rishi Outpost? Fort Kaldar?"

The AI shakes her head, ["Negative and negative. You're being transferred off-planet to the T.P.S. Indignation."]

"Wait so we're not even gonna be in the Royal Rangers anymore? What gives?" Aiko's eyebrows narrowed. First, they get a fucked up mission then they just leave everything they knew before that.

If they were getting sent to die or into an exile for knowing something they shouldn't…

["The orders came from HIGHCOM. You were selected for a special assignment and will be transferred to a fireteam."] The AI answers patiently, unresponsive to Aiko's increasingly aggressive tone.

Lisha spoke with more composite, "Us and who else?"

["The other soldiers of the 18th AgRS platoon. A shuttle will arrive in a few hours to pick all of you up. Please be ready to depart within six hours. That is all."]

"Roger that," Lisha replies, already scrolling through Holo screens.

There was a silence that fell over the room.

["Please acknowled-"]

"Yeah yeah, Roger that," Aiko said, rolling over to face the wall.

The projectors turn off and the AI disappears.

Aiko listens to the beeping of Lisha's devices for a moment, then goes, "You're not trying to access BASECOM's system are you?"

"No, no, of course not. I'm already inside their system."

"You can get in a lot of trouble for that."

"Could. If they find out. I wanna know more about this whole-" she falls silent.

"You got quite Lisha, not a good sign."

"These orders are locked down tight. BASECOM only got bare minimum Intel."

"Great. Real great sign."

"Well. Only one way to learn more. Besides, not like we have much choice, do we? It'll be sad leaving base behind but… onward and upward right? Let's get packing. With any luck, this'll just be a brief vacation." "With any luck."

 

"The 18th together again. At least we'll all go together right?" Sinclair said in a forcefully cheerful tone.

The group's silence showed the mood of their responses, promoting a nervous chuckle from the young Markasian.

He tried again, "soooo, Kisha, you know a lot of stuff right? Who's gonna be our new boss?"

“Not sure. It’s under pretty high lock-and-key. Must be someone important.” She shrugged, scrolling through holo-screens.

Aiko glanced over at the screens but the text made little sense to her, especially at the high speed it scrolled by at.

“Besides, we’ll figure out soon enough.”Lisha pointed up towards the small outline on the horizon. 

The group was silent as the shuttle came in to land. An AMX-Kaiser flanked by two R-16As. The fighters broke off as the shuttle came in towards the air pad.

The downdraft of the landing craft didn’t phase the young soldiers, all stood in silence as the landing gear touched down and the rear ramp lowered down.

‘Clink. Clink. Clink.’ metallic heels echoed from inside.

Lisha’s eyes went wide, “Wait, wait. YOU!?”