11) The Sepiks Prime War - Part 2
Servitors. How should I describe them? They are above Kells in Fallen hierarchy - they are like both the priests and deities all at once. I don't suppose that is all that unlike a number of ancient Earth societies - the clergy often became the gods of their villages after all - the clergy, the scholars, the scientists; whatever magician of the given age was the power-that-was. Servitors are bio-mechanical floating orbs of onyx, emitting a strange purple field around themselves and their minions, and possessing a single concave circle eye which doubles as weapon and trebles as communication device. They float, shoot, command, and sometimes gloat. They are nasty, irritating globes of annoyance and burning plasma. I despise them, but they often carry precious materials. So I hunt them whenever I can.
Sepiks Prime was an especially nasty servitor. As the Prime of the House of Devils, he essentially ruled the Earth sphere. Though there were other Fallen Houses that occupied territory on Earth, Sepiks was the only "Prime" servitor and that afforded him and his house a level of preeminence. This meant more soldiers, more weapons (light, medium, and heavy), and more treasure. This also made him greedy for more - more glimmer, more toys. He was a giant spoiled child with absolute power.
We were going to teach him that Earth wasn't his toy.
Insertion, thanks to transmat technology wasn't truly difficult. Surviving the insertion, however, was different. A hot LZ put us in a crossfire between a Fallen patrol led by a minor servitor and a Hive patrol led by a minor Knight. Both, as per usual, were armed with heavy-particle, heavy-plasma type weaponry. The ground shook around us and exploded in clumps of frozen gravel and dust. Large left-over drainage sections gave our team temporary cover.
"Zavala, where is that help we talked about?" Ferras was practically yelling into the comms.
*Static* "about 3 clicks *static* front *static* walker engaged"
Ferras cursed the interference and looked back at us. "Well, I guess we are on our own from here in. We always did have fun improvising though."
I chuckled, Glorung groaned, while Kiera smiled grimly. We were seasoned - a bit salty even, and full of ourselves. After all, we had been through it before - battles, death, re-animation. It meant so little to die, though to tell the truth, we knew there was always a chance we could be killed somewhere out of reach, somewhere someone couldn't find our ghosts before they expired. The darkness had spread after all, the universe wasn't a safe place. But the battlefield wasn't a place to let the mind wander - we had a task ahead.
'Teir take front point, Glo take his right wing in the shadows. We will go double triangle - front and rear guard - point in front and point in back. Rotation will be cyclonic if we get hit by a superior sized force - light, heavy, medium rotation on the weaponry in just such a situation, call out Kiera will call out ammo, I will call out cover." Ferras took a peek out - the two patrols had re-engaged each other. "We can't leave these guys here though. Head towards that guard building and then take out the leadership elements, the rest will crumble."
I had forgotten how quietly Glorung moved and how efficient he was. Two spits from his sniper rifle put down the Knight before I had even brought my weapon to ready. Mirris and Borys both hit the servitor from behind, and in an instant, we had mopped up the remnants of the patrol. We regrouped and I slowly led us forward, deeper into the Rocket Yard. Weapons fire echoed as we passed underneath an elevated breezeway - another skirmish between Hive and Fallen had broken out and the chess pieces on this table were a bit more intimidating. I signaled the crew to stop while I crept forward to get eyes on.
Had an invasion force of Hive landed somewhere? Steve's enemy markers flooded my HUD with red dots - it was as though some massive rash had developed before my eyes - too many dots, too high on the power scale. I pulled out Stillpiercer and scanned the battlefield - more sections of drainage pipe, cranes, and bombed out building all around. The Cosmodrome was massive, and the main building that I had been in before had arms like a strangely articulated octopus. Sections of building with various floors here and everywhere, and there were acres upon acres of it - more like miles upon miles, Steve would tell me later. Lions and tigers and bears - oh my. Hive wizards and Fallen servitors, Captains and Knights, Vandals and Acolytes, Dregs and Thralls - they were everywhere and they kept spawning into the area somehow. Oh I wanted to shoot, I wanted to shoot so much. I wasn't that crazy, or suicidal yet. I had heard of guardians going nuts, taking on impossible odds on purpose, looking for a glorious end, or at least an end. Their minds couldn't take it any more. The grind of day after day with no end in sight had finally broken them.
I wasn't there, yet.
I crept back to my team."This is where it gets real folks."
Sepiks Prime was an especially nasty servitor. As the Prime of the House of Devils, he essentially ruled the Earth sphere. Though there were other Fallen Houses that occupied territory on Earth, Sepiks was the only "Prime" servitor and that afforded him and his house a level of preeminence. This meant more soldiers, more weapons (light, medium, and heavy), and more treasure. This also made him greedy for more - more glimmer, more toys. He was a giant spoiled child with absolute power.
We were going to teach him that Earth wasn't his toy.
Insertion, thanks to transmat technology wasn't truly difficult. Surviving the insertion, however, was different. A hot LZ put us in a crossfire between a Fallen patrol led by a minor servitor and a Hive patrol led by a minor Knight. Both, as per usual, were armed with heavy-particle, heavy-plasma type weaponry. The ground shook around us and exploded in clumps of frozen gravel and dust. Large left-over drainage sections gave our team temporary cover.
"Zavala, where is that help we talked about?" Ferras was practically yelling into the comms.
*Static* "about 3 clicks *static* front *static* walker engaged"
Ferras cursed the interference and looked back at us. "Well, I guess we are on our own from here in. We always did have fun improvising though."
I chuckled, Glorung groaned, while Kiera smiled grimly. We were seasoned - a bit salty even, and full of ourselves. After all, we had been through it before - battles, death, re-animation. It meant so little to die, though to tell the truth, we knew there was always a chance we could be killed somewhere out of reach, somewhere someone couldn't find our ghosts before they expired. The darkness had spread after all, the universe wasn't a safe place. But the battlefield wasn't a place to let the mind wander - we had a task ahead.
'Teir take front point, Glo take his right wing in the shadows. We will go double triangle - front and rear guard - point in front and point in back. Rotation will be cyclonic if we get hit by a superior sized force - light, heavy, medium rotation on the weaponry in just such a situation, call out Kiera will call out ammo, I will call out cover." Ferras took a peek out - the two patrols had re-engaged each other. "We can't leave these guys here though. Head towards that guard building and then take out the leadership elements, the rest will crumble."
I had forgotten how quietly Glorung moved and how efficient he was. Two spits from his sniper rifle put down the Knight before I had even brought my weapon to ready. Mirris and Borys both hit the servitor from behind, and in an instant, we had mopped up the remnants of the patrol. We regrouped and I slowly led us forward, deeper into the Rocket Yard. Weapons fire echoed as we passed underneath an elevated breezeway - another skirmish between Hive and Fallen had broken out and the chess pieces on this table were a bit more intimidating. I signaled the crew to stop while I crept forward to get eyes on.
Had an invasion force of Hive landed somewhere? Steve's enemy markers flooded my HUD with red dots - it was as though some massive rash had developed before my eyes - too many dots, too high on the power scale. I pulled out Stillpiercer and scanned the battlefield - more sections of drainage pipe, cranes, and bombed out building all around. The Cosmodrome was massive, and the main building that I had been in before had arms like a strangely articulated octopus. Sections of building with various floors here and everywhere, and there were acres upon acres of it - more like miles upon miles, Steve would tell me later. Lions and tigers and bears - oh my. Hive wizards and Fallen servitors, Captains and Knights, Vandals and Acolytes, Dregs and Thralls - they were everywhere and they kept spawning into the area somehow. Oh I wanted to shoot, I wanted to shoot so much. I wasn't that crazy, or suicidal yet. I had heard of guardians going nuts, taking on impossible odds on purpose, looking for a glorious end, or at least an end. Their minds couldn't take it any more. The grind of day after day with no end in sight had finally broken them.
I wasn't there, yet.
I crept back to my team."This is where it gets real folks."