attacking wall of gas bags struck an instant later, carrying the Marines back a few steps by the sheer inertia of their rush. Garwe found himself grappling with half a dozen of the things. They appeared to be trying to grab his pod in their tentacles; he responded by growing tentacles of his own, silver-sheened whiplashes emerging from the active nano surface of his pod.
Odd. The podâs response was a bit sluggish. Garweâs neural interface with the podâs AI and electronic circuitry was supposed to be essentially instantaneous, but either the connection was running slow, or his brain was running way fast. It wasnât enough to cause major problems, but he was painfully aware of the way time seemed to stretch around him as more and more of the Krysni gas bags crowded in close. His hull sensors felt them, a dead weight clinging to his armor, growing more and more massive with each dragging second.
He sent a mental command to his podâs defense system, and the outer surface crackled with electricity. Krysni floaters in contact with his pod shriveled and twisted, their blue-white skins crisping to brown and black in a second or two of arcing fury.
A second high-energy bolt fired from the jungle, catching Captain Xanderâs pod as she tried to rise above the tangled melee. Her pod shrugged off the attack, but as it rotated away from the sniper, Garwe noticed that a dinner-plate-sized patch of her outer nano had been burned away, leaving a ragged, gray-white scar. If her pod couldnât repair itself before another shot hit in the same spot, she was dead.
Garwe lashed out with his tentacles, burning down another eight or ten of his attackers. Free for the moment, he increased power to his repulsors and moved his pod higher. âBlue One!â he called. âFall back! Youâve got a hole burned through your nano!â
As if encouraged by the sniperâs partial success, other electron bolts began snapping out of the jungle. Dozens of the Krysni shriveled and fell, or vanished in white puffs of vapor, victims of friendly fire, but the unarmed mob kept moving forward, ignoring casualties from both sides of the battle, trying to overwhelm the twelve Marine battle pods by sheer weight of numbers.
Garweâs pod had already located each enemy shooter and plotted them on his targeting matrix, revealing them on his IHD as flashing, bright red reticules. He selected the one that had hit the captain and triggered his podâs primary weapon, sending a megajoule pulse of X-ray laser energy slashing into the jungle.
Purple and orange vegetation shriveled and died; the Reefâs tentacles curled back from the high-energy caress, and the compoundâs support platform shuddered as the vast life form that was Hassetas reacted to the heat.
âSkipper!â Garwe yelled! âRequest permission to disengage! If we can just maneuverââ
âNegative!â Xander snapped back. âWe do it by the opplan!â
The opplanâthe operations plan downloaded from the squadronâs command constellationârequired the War Dogs to deploy on the compound platform and provide a kind of barricade for the off-worlders, protecting them from the locals until a transport could make it down from orbit. The Marines would hold the perimeter until the off-worlders could evacuate, then pull out.
Ideally, no shots would have been fired, and the mere presence of the Marine battlepods should have kept the Krysni at bay. Somehow, things hadnât quite worked out that way, however.
Garwe kept firing into the jungle, targeting Krysni power sources as his podâs sensor suite picked them up and flagged them on his in-head display. The off-worlder compound was trembling and bucking now as the floatreef moved the massive, main tentacle to which it was anchored.
âTrolischet!â Xander snapped on the general frequency. âI suggest you get your people off of the compound
Odd. The podâs response was a bit sluggish. Garweâs neural interface with the podâs AI and electronic circuitry was supposed to be essentially instantaneous, but either the connection was running slow, or his brain was running way fast. It wasnât enough to cause major problems, but he was painfully aware of the way time seemed to stretch around him as more and more of the Krysni gas bags crowded in close. His hull sensors felt them, a dead weight clinging to his armor, growing more and more massive with each dragging second.
He sent a mental command to his podâs defense system, and the outer surface crackled with electricity. Krysni floaters in contact with his pod shriveled and twisted, their blue-white skins crisping to brown and black in a second or two of arcing fury.
A second high-energy bolt fired from the jungle, catching Captain Xanderâs pod as she tried to rise above the tangled melee. Her pod shrugged off the attack, but as it rotated away from the sniper, Garwe noticed that a dinner-plate-sized patch of her outer nano had been burned away, leaving a ragged, gray-white scar. If her pod couldnât repair itself before another shot hit in the same spot, she was dead.
Garwe lashed out with his tentacles, burning down another eight or ten of his attackers. Free for the moment, he increased power to his repulsors and moved his pod higher. âBlue One!â he called. âFall back! Youâve got a hole burned through your nano!â
As if encouraged by the sniperâs partial success, other electron bolts began snapping out of the jungle. Dozens of the Krysni shriveled and fell, or vanished in white puffs of vapor, victims of friendly fire, but the unarmed mob kept moving forward, ignoring casualties from both sides of the battle, trying to overwhelm the twelve Marine battle pods by sheer weight of numbers.
Garweâs pod had already located each enemy shooter and plotted them on his targeting matrix, revealing them on his IHD as flashing, bright red reticules. He selected the one that had hit the captain and triggered his podâs primary weapon, sending a megajoule pulse of X-ray laser energy slashing into the jungle.
Purple and orange vegetation shriveled and died; the Reefâs tentacles curled back from the high-energy caress, and the compoundâs support platform shuddered as the vast life form that was Hassetas reacted to the heat.
âSkipper!â Garwe yelled! âRequest permission to disengage! If we can just maneuverââ
âNegative!â Xander snapped back. âWe do it by the opplan!â
The opplanâthe operations plan downloaded from the squadronâs command constellationârequired the War Dogs to deploy on the compound platform and provide a kind of barricade for the off-worlders, protecting them from the locals until a transport could make it down from orbit. The Marines would hold the perimeter until the off-worlders could evacuate, then pull out.
Ideally, no shots would have been fired, and the mere presence of the Marine battlepods should have kept the Krysni at bay. Somehow, things hadnât quite worked out that way, however.
Garwe kept firing into the jungle, targeting Krysni power sources as his podâs sensor suite picked them up and flagged them on his in-head display. The off-worlder compound was trembling and bucking now as the floatreef moved the massive, main tentacle to which it was anchored.
âTrolischet!â Xander snapped on the general frequency. âI suggest you get your people off of the compound
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