Re: Deathwalker (Free Federation)
Posted: 2011-12-15 07:24am
The Spillway
Ansa
The War Zone
Between the jamming, the smoke, and the heat blooms visual range wasn't much better than nil. Ansa's oxygen rich atmosphere helped stoke small blazes into roaring infernos in the blink of an eye. According to his datalink, which was erratic at best, they were winning. According to his personal body count, they were absolutely slaughtering the enemy.
The Slavers had broken swiftly. Kail had smashed their center and the lion's share of their heavy armour in the first brutal minutes of the slugging match and the Slaver lines had fallen inward like a V. Free Federation citizens had turned that collapse into a slaughter and routed additional elements. Grav armour could cross the Spillway, but doing so meant a half kilometer jaunt with little cover and Free Federation guns already zeroed in to kill those who crossed. The further decimation of Slaver armour had lead to wide scale panic and resulted in a day of hunter-killer operations as the Free Federation hunted them down and the Slavers alternately fought and fled.
Unfortunately, at least one Slaver Lord and some heavy iron had survived the opening debacle so the hunters could find themselves the hunted. Kail stepped over the body burned beyond recognition and consulted his sensor net. There were things that could not be hidden. Blindingly bright high energy lasers and particle beam weapons were visible at long range even through the smoke. Jamming fields intense enough to hide active fusion plants were themselves visible. High energy discharges left finger prints on the sensor nets as did the One Power.
Telling friend from foe in this hash was a little trickier, but manageable. Kail had resolved that issue by being the point of the spear and plunging deep into the Slaver lines, killing everything in his path. The soldiers with him had struggled to keep up, let alone match his kill tally. Kail wasn't counting, but his battle computer was. More than a thousand probables over the last two hours. A mostly meaningless number. He had killed a lot of them and they had become thin on the ground. That, along with their position, was telling. Especially since Sixth Cohort had moved to block off any escape into the lower river valley. All signs pointed to victory.
Kail trusted none of them. He swept the area with his eyes and his sensor net. Threads of cyan light sliced through the air as brute strength plundered earth and sky with seeker spells. Nothing. They weren't here. He had guessed wrong.
"Project enemy contact points with time stamp linkage," he ordered. The tac map was projected on his retinas, hell red markers indicating contacts with the Slavers. Cobalt marks representing the Free Federation were far, far, more numerous. He swept his area from the map and considered the projections.
"There," he marked on the map. "There we'll hunt them." They would not escape, not this side of the grave. He would not permit it.
Ansa
The War Zone
Between the jamming, the smoke, and the heat blooms visual range wasn't much better than nil. Ansa's oxygen rich atmosphere helped stoke small blazes into roaring infernos in the blink of an eye. According to his datalink, which was erratic at best, they were winning. According to his personal body count, they were absolutely slaughtering the enemy.
The Slavers had broken swiftly. Kail had smashed their center and the lion's share of their heavy armour in the first brutal minutes of the slugging match and the Slaver lines had fallen inward like a V. Free Federation citizens had turned that collapse into a slaughter and routed additional elements. Grav armour could cross the Spillway, but doing so meant a half kilometer jaunt with little cover and Free Federation guns already zeroed in to kill those who crossed. The further decimation of Slaver armour had lead to wide scale panic and resulted in a day of hunter-killer operations as the Free Federation hunted them down and the Slavers alternately fought and fled.
Unfortunately, at least one Slaver Lord and some heavy iron had survived the opening debacle so the hunters could find themselves the hunted. Kail stepped over the body burned beyond recognition and consulted his sensor net. There were things that could not be hidden. Blindingly bright high energy lasers and particle beam weapons were visible at long range even through the smoke. Jamming fields intense enough to hide active fusion plants were themselves visible. High energy discharges left finger prints on the sensor nets as did the One Power.
Telling friend from foe in this hash was a little trickier, but manageable. Kail had resolved that issue by being the point of the spear and plunging deep into the Slaver lines, killing everything in his path. The soldiers with him had struggled to keep up, let alone match his kill tally. Kail wasn't counting, but his battle computer was. More than a thousand probables over the last two hours. A mostly meaningless number. He had killed a lot of them and they had become thin on the ground. That, along with their position, was telling. Especially since Sixth Cohort had moved to block off any escape into the lower river valley. All signs pointed to victory.
Kail trusted none of them. He swept the area with his eyes and his sensor net. Threads of cyan light sliced through the air as brute strength plundered earth and sky with seeker spells. Nothing. They weren't here. He had guessed wrong.
"Project enemy contact points with time stamp linkage," he ordered. The tac map was projected on his retinas, hell red markers indicating contacts with the Slavers. Cobalt marks representing the Free Federation were far, far, more numerous. He swept his area from the map and considered the projections.
"There," he marked on the map. "There we'll hunt them." They would not escape, not this side of the grave. He would not permit it.