Existential Threat: Chapter 20 Part 1 of 1 (Patreon)

Chapter 20:

13/07/2242

Rounds hit around Luke’s crater as he walked fire over Adraxi lines, a crab cannon round zoomed over-head, like a container being hurled through the sky. It impacted a building, dust covering everything as debris rained down on the bots and tanks, Luke’s spine uncurled as his muscles released minutely.

“First Orkaran heading out!” Johnno, yelled.

“Good shit!”

Artillery rounds slammed into the ground, obscuring several groups of Adraxi, cutting off their fire. Fires burned from the Adraxi spores and remaining trees. The force of each impact causing his muscles to twitch, a visceral fear gripping his insides.

Lines of dirt kicked up through Adraxi positions danger close the heavy machine guns sounding seconds later as the Hell cat’s engines howled away.

Missiles slammed into openings, throwing up dirt and stone, collapsing tunnels.

They’d just dig through the ceiling and come up further away.

“Map updated,” Sally’s voice rang in his ears as Luke fired into a crab, his rounds cracking the shell as the beast lurched in pain, other lines of tracers joining his own, as something vital was struck, detonating and blowing off several legs as it collapsed in a burning pile, hissing under the rain.

Adraxi, like the rain, filled every nook and cranny, using any cover they could find to advance.

V-2 rounds went off like fire crackers around the crab.

Luke dropped down, his barrel steaming in the rain. Bots were dragged into craters, those with repair tools fixing their broken components and getting them back into the fight. Among the broken buildings Orkaran volunteers laid in supporting fire.

Others ran ammunition containers through the muddy passages they’d hacked into the ground. Some wearing nothing more than their threadbare clothes. Residents from the city that had pitched in.

“Ammo coming in!” A dropship pilot yelled on local. Luke looked up, packages dropped from the ship several hundred meters up, fins, guiding them down, as parachutes snapped out at the last moment, braking the packages before they hit the ground, the bottom cracking to absorb the impact.

Bots scrabbled through the mud to the supplies. Each stained with the days of fighting.

The fighting had taken a break. Regrouping for their next push.

Luke chewed on his water tube, drinking a bit as he checked the map, a new layer had been added.

Luke keyed up his squad and squad leader chat.

“This area saw a lot of volcanic activity in the past, we’re ontop of a maze of volcanic tubes. I’m going to request bunker busters to seal up the tubes we know of.” He added markers to several while he spoke.

“As we advance, keep scanners cranked up high and check for echo-location, anything that’s hollow, bunker bust it,” Luke cut the channels and jumped to artillery.

“Load bunker busters, nail anything that’s hollow in front of us,” Luke said.

“On it.”

“Luke I think these are coming from the nearest Harvester,” Jynx said on squad chat.

Luke flicked over to the harvester.

“It is in a river delta, but its mostly rock, it must’ve sent its troops up here into the forested areas, it sucks in the water from the ocean and from the rivers.”

“Luke, we got fighting down in the tunnels, Adraxi underneath,” Johnno said.

“Papa, Uniform, move to Delta squad to support them. Delta, get the Orkaran civilians the hell out of here. Once they’re clear blow the tunnels.” Luke switched to the company commander chat. “We got enemy moving through the tunnels under the city, ordered my people to blow them.”

“Copy,” One of the other leaders called out.

Luke checked his machine gun, the rain was picking up, turning into sheets, at least it’d cooled his barrel faster.

Troopers reinforced their positions, altering what had bothered them in the last fire fight.

Artillery bunker busters dropped through the ground, going off in a shudder that left cracks in either direction as the caves collapsed upon the Adraxi underneath.

“Be advised, I have three companies moving to support you,” Stephen said.

“Thank you.”

“Its all I have spare, the forces in the north are fighting through the mountains now. The island hoppers are dealing with several ‘fish’ type Adraxi that keep appearing at random locations to strike them and then disappear into the depths of the ocean.”

“May you live in interesting times,” Luke sighed.

“We’re linking up everyone in the south to advance right on the harvester.”

“What about the Orkaran?”

“There’s not many settlements out there. The hunters haven’t been able to find survivors. Several of them have turned into Adraxi growers.”

Luke’s stomach tightened as he shuddered, shaking his head, he had no time to focus on the fates of those he’d been unable to save. That could come later.

A machine gun opened up in the distance, then another, then several rifles.

“We’re getting pushed, thank you for the sitrep, we’ll hold for the reinforcements to meet us.”

“Good luck.”

A tank’s energy cells were hit, flames shot out of the hole left by the shell, the stored energy turning to plasma that burned the tank inside out.

Tanks returned fire, the hellbores connecting them to their targets for a split second as their targets were struck with kilotons of force.

“Ammunition!” An Orkaran yelled, slipping in the mud, spilling the packs. Cursing they grabbed Luke’s loading arms and yanked on them.

Luke fired as the Orkaran slapped the ammunition packs into place, his counters turning from orange to green, increasing his rate of fire.

Bots shifted in squads, cutting back against the Adraxi attacks coming along new avenues.

“Good to go!” The Orkaran yelled, slapping the manual releases back into Luke’s armor.

“Thanks, might want to get down, shits about to get lively.”

“Just after this run,” They were already running down the trench.

Movers shifted in the city. Evacuating people as fast as they could. It was the end of the road for them, all the remaining settlements between them and the harvester had been destroyed or converted by the Adraxi. The spores had spread, turning the land into Adraxi substrate, thicker and thicker to the point it started to connect with one another, covering the ground.

From now on they were in the enemy’s territory and all weapons were available for their use.

***

Ken fired down the tunnel into the Adraxi turning the corner, holding down the trigger until it stopped.

He jerked as the kick stopped, turning around the corner, throwing out the magazine and slapping in a new one.

“Ready,” Urs said, his armor pock-marked, visor cracked, blood running down his face.

“Go!” Ken fired a blind burst around the corner, rounds hit the wall as he ran. They reached Dol and Per she raised her rifle, Dol working on poppers, putting them on both sides of the tunnel.

The poppers Urs placed went off, the  tunnel collapsing behind.

It would only stop them for a short time.

“Not much further, two turns,” Ken said, drinking from the tube in his helmet.

Urs coughed and did the same.

“Nearly everyone is out. The humans say they have a plan for the tunnels.”

“Done here,” Dol said.

“Lets go,” Ken waved them forward, looking back at the darkness, his visor letting him see the collapsed tunnel behind them.

He ran after the others, they reached the rear of his people, several were being carried out, outside others were coughing, spewing grey gunk from their lungs as humans loaded them on dropships, engines hissing in the rain that pushed against Ken’s side.

Johnno moved up to Ken, he didn’t know how he knew it was him, maybe the markings, maybe the walk.

“We’re evacuating everyone to the camps and then the freighter. Adraxi are popping up everywhere. We got the other city as well. Everyone’s going to the freighter. Looks like they all got a low-grade Adraxi infection at the very least and they’ll need to be isolated,” Johnno said.

“We can fight.” Per yelled, against the weapon-fire, the dropship and rain.

Johnno clapped her on the shoulder.

“I know that, you saved your people here today. Once you’re cleared then you can get into a net-suit like us and come back in one of these,” Johonno slapped his armor. “Is there no one left in the tunnels?”

Lar, Ore, Ild never came back, fighting in the tunnels to give them enough time. Others that had been sleeping, the young and the old had been tried to be woken, only to find the Adraxi spores had taken them.

Ken shook his head to clear it. “There’s no one left in there.”

“Alright,” Johnno paused, saying something to someone. A heavy bot stepped forward, aiming into the tunnel hidden in the wood-workshop and fired.

A line dropped into the ground where the tunnel had been painstakingly carved out. A bolt hole to hide from the Aer.

“Arty in ten.”

The heavy came out of the building, dirt turning to mud and coming off.

“Go help the line.”

The bot nodded and jogged off.

Tracers illuminated the rain-darkened day. The rain black and metallic in smell.

Lines of light left streamers of smoke, crashing into their targets.

Johnno pushed him towards the dropships, the last of his people aboard, coughing, holding their younglings close.

“You did good,” Johnno said.

The ramp closed up as Johnno turned and walked into the muck, pulling his rifle free.

“Hold on everyone.”

Ken found a seat with the others, a harness clamped to their armor and held them close. He pushed his gun into its holder.

Options appeared on his visor, using the finger balls he selected [Dropship-rear camera]

On three sides of the city tracer fire cut back and forth, cannon and hellbore inter-crossed, artillery rounds impacted, clearing any tracers below, others hit the ground, going deep and dropping long lines of the ground.

Adraxi moved across the ground in the thousands.

Hundreds of humans and their weapons held their positions, they’d created trenches, used broken buildings for defenses. Turrets assisted as fast-craft laid down lines of annihilation.

He’d never seen anything like it. Then the first squad of humans started to advance, then another.

Fire doubled and explosions came in fast and heavy.

“Click on the dropships rear camera at the top of your visor,” Ken yelled to be heard over the dropship engines.

“Hell of a sight ain’t it,” A human said. “Now we’re clear they can use the heavy weapons.”

“Why do they fight so hard?”

“Adraxi will roll over anything but an interlocked group.”

“But why are they fighting here?”

“Their primary mission is to recover locals, now we’re clear they’re going to push for the southern Harvester down on the coast. Once we’ve got the harvesters and drop carrier the Adraxi will have a hell of a time refilling their ranks.”

“Thank you,” Ken said.

“No problem.”

None of them were answers to his question, why would they help him? Save his people? Put their gear on the line, he knew enough that they weren’t alive in their ‘bots’. He snorted, they didn’t even think of why they shouldn’t save his people.

To them it was the right thing to do.

Ken closed his eyes, sleep taking him.