Random Posts from Auga

Shalee looked stunned.  She looked at me blankly, as if not believing her own eyes, as I helped her to her feet.

“Are you really here?” she said.  Still smiling, I put my blade away and lifted her up.

“Is this over?”  She sobbed and her voice shook.  ”Oh god, Lora! I think they killed her…”  

Lora… that must be the other person.  A quick glance into the shed showed my men helping another woman to her feet as well.   Like Shalee, she appeared severely shaken, disheveled and malnourished, but otherwise OK.  I glanced at my men and nodded.  They gave me the thumbs up.  I subvocalized to get their rescuee back to the drop point asap; the ex-Chimaera troopers picked up ‘Lora’ and left quickly.

“She’s OK.  My men are taking her to safety.”

I looked at Shalee more closely.  She was in bad shape, and I needed her in better shape quick.  Damn those BTs…

A quick scan from the medkit, and I had the med nanites she needed.  Unstoppering the vial, I poured them between her bruised lips.  ”Here, drink this.”

We needed to get out of sight—picking her up, I moved past the shed next to a storage garage filled with beat-up ground vehicles.  I leaned her against the wall and began to equip her with some close-combat gear while the nanites did their work.

Still clearly confused, she asked my in a groggy voice what I was doing.  ”Just arming you with a few little presents I brought you” I said with a slight smile.  The combat skills I’d given her would let he know exactly what to do with these—shield belt, las-pistol, a couple of curved Vherokior khindjals, and for good measure, a bandoleer of plasma grenades.  If my plan was going to work, she’d need them all.

A quick message ping let me know that the rest of the evacuation fleet had arrived—somewhere is low orbit the key to my whole plan had just jumnped in:  a Rorqual flown by my corp mate Marl Ginnishi.  I stood up and commed my team that we were ready.

A sudden alert informed me that some Amarr, including Predator Elite, had just entered system.  Frack, that asshole had bad timing.

I knew his com code well, and tight beamed him a message I hoped would keep him off our backs until we were done:  

‘Predator. I know there is no love lost between us, and I’ll happily blow you to space dust the next time we meet, but stand down this once. If you want me to be able to save a certain Commodore Lianne’s shapely derrier, down here on Eyt IV. Stand Down. Immediately.’

It would have to do, we were out of time.  One more message to my men to take down the guards and get the prisoners to the drop point, where the Rorqual’s tractors would quickly lift the containers into orbit and safety.  Now for the second half of my plan…

I looked at her again—she looked like hell, but her gaze was now clear and steady.  ”Feeling better?” I asked her.  She nodded as I lifted her to her feet, and her stance had lost its previous unsteadiness.  ”Alright, we need to move out.”  I indicated the direction where my team had cleared the guards.  ”This area has been cleared, all hostages are heading to transports that way.”

I now pointed in the direction of the main bunkers and barracks, where my recon told me the confused BT troops were rallying.  ”The BT’s still have a heavy presence there.  We’re going to need a major distraction to give my men enough time to evacuate the rest of the prisoners.”

I looked carefully at her.  ”Alright…” she said hesitantly.  I smiled.  ”You’ve trained for this Commodore. You can do this.  On my mark…”  Shalee lifted her pistol, and I drew my own Minmatar style handgun.  ”Let’s go.  You take out targets on our right, I’ll deal with those on the left, we both keep an eye out.  If you see any clumps of enemies or if they’re hunkered down, toss a grenade—it’ll track the enemy and detonate at an optimal blast radius…”

I didn’t know if she heard me, but she began to use her grenades with great effect, taking down a crude sandbagged autocannon position with one grenade, then low sentry tower with another.

After that, I was too busy to pay much attention.  I remote detonated some more of the ordnance I’d placed, and then moved in a direction away from the cages and towards the main barracks.

A combat car roared toward us—I shot the driver, then tossed in a grenade as it swerved and crashed, taking out what looked like a latrine.  Moments later we ran past the barracks, cutting down BTs as they ran out, and tossing more grenades.

My shields flashed red as its charge began to run low, and I glanced at Shalee’s—her’s was nearly gone as well.  Bullets whined and pinged as the shields continued to protect us, at least for a few more moments.

There was a moment of silence as the BTs fell back from our onslaught.  We’d left a trail of bodies and burning cars and buildings in our wake.  I knew what they intended next—an mass rush hand-to-hand.  Our shields wouldn’t block something as low energy as a club or machete.

My comms pinged—most of the refugees had been evacuated but there was a firefight keeping the last group from reaching the final evac container.  The squad leader said he’d need just a few more minutes to clear the resistance and get the last group out.

“My men are gonna need a few more minutes.” I looked at my gun—empty.  I reached for a clip, and realized I was out.  No more grenades either, except for the last one in my pack.  I glanced at Shalee’s laser—its capacitor was blinking red, drained.  I tossed my gun and drew my sword again.

I glanced at Shalee again. “How many grenades do you have left?”

“None…” she answered with a grim look.

“Alright… no problem. We got this, okay? You trust me, right?”  I asked her.  I looked back to where the BTs had regrouped, now arming themselves for close combat.

“With my life,” she said with a wry grimace, “which, I might add, is probably going to be over soon.”

“We just need to hold out for a few more minutes, and then it’ll all be over. You did inject the implant Nabole gave you?”  She nodded and spoke in assent.

“Perfect…” now, we just had to get this group to close, and I’d take care of it all alright.  ”Easy…”  The group was getting the courage to charge, and two big Brutors finally yelled battlecries and closed.

Sparing a glance at Shalee, I felt a flush of pride as she used her xia skills to quickly and gracefully dispatch her opponent, her knives whirling.

The other BTs hesitated, but another group arrived from the other side, apparently summoned for support.  Shalee took the moment to look at me and ask almost laughingly ”Any bright ideas, Commander?”

“Yeah,” I said, grinning. “Fight.”

Both groups rushed in, and we fought back to back.  Shalee and I danced the warrior’s dance, blades flashing, blocking a blow here, slashing a throat or limb before deflecting another blow.  We kept moving, but their numbers still threatened to overwhelm us.  Both of us had pushed even our capsuleer’s enhanced bodies to the limit.  ”I don’t know how much longer I can do this!” Shalee yelled at me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a green tractor beam flashing down and lifting the last container into orbit—and safely into the hold of the waiting rorqual. My comms pinged—everyone was away, mission completed.

“There out, everyone’s made it!”  I yelled, unable to keep the weariness from my voice. “The rorqual is ready to jump.”

“What about us?”  she yelled back as she dispatched another BT.

“Well, you said you trusted me with you life…” I muttered as I fell back, encouraging the remaining BTs to close.  ”Now we’ll see if this damned Dust 514 tech works as advertised, or I’ll be a liar.  A dead one, though, but that’s no comfort.”  I thought to myself.  I sent the command to trigger the last grenade I had in my pack, rigged to set off the antimatter mining core there. There was a flash of light…