---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The plan's working, change positions and prepare the cavalry. Tell them to wait until the machine finishes landing and dislodges its troops. They are to charge the soldiers that come out and draw them away from that flying ship and into the forest for the Stydun." The lead female ordered, watching as the ship finally came to a stop. The subordinate female thrust her feet together and slightly bowed her head. "Yes, ma'am." She replied, sprinting off towards her new destination. Turning towards a new female, the leader thrust her hand to point up the river, making sure to get her point across quickly. "Send word upstream to bring the big ray cannons up. I want that thing shot down if it tries to getaway. Whatever is on that thing may be useful for our next ambush." "Understood, ma'am." Was the quick reply, the female sprinting off through the bushes. "It's just floating there... It's not dropping to deploy troops like the others." A male stated, his spyglass eyeing the ship. "Be patient. They aren't too smart, so they may be trying to figure out what's happening and where we're shooting them from. Get a few people to wash their sap off." The leader's quickly responded. "You're definitely right about them not being smart... But if I were to compare that flying machine to the others, I would say that one looks rather important, it's too clean. Not cobbled together like the other ones. Maybe it has some kind of smart commander on it?" The male replied, noticing an oddity with the bottom of the ship. "Than more of a reason to take it for ourselves." The female declared. "Ma'am! The bottom, it's opening!" The terrified male reported. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So I've replaced your weapons with non-lethal variants. Taz nets a sound cannon, a gas launcher and a chem launcher. The gas and chem launcher should be your last resort as we're unsure of how your people would react." Rowan stated, waving Ankiah out of her refit bay. "I'll just stick to netting them unless they do something stupid then. There are enough ground troops to round most of them up anyway, and I'd rather not hurt my people." Ankiah replied, stepping onto the edge of the launch ramp and looking down at the river. "Some of them aren't even bothering to hide... Almost like they're taking a bath.... Buncha weirdos." Rowan moved to stand behind the launch barrier as he waved the oncoming drop forces through. "Troops are getting in position now, ready for drop in eighteen seconds, Ensign. "That's a lot of them." Ankiah replied, watching as even more soldiers gathered up at the edge of the runway. "You say that, but the ambushers are smothered in some gunk that's making them hard to pick up, might be more than we think out there." Rowan replied. "Launch now." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ma'am, we need to retreat, look at that thing!" A female shakily stated, watching as the massive machine jumped off the ship, shaking the ground and showering the ambushers in water as it landed. "Those aren't regular invaders!" Another soldier stated, shooting his ray gun at the falling enemies, his ears drooping as the ray bounced off the armoured being. "Our weapons aren't having any effect!" "Stay in your groups and lure them into the tree line. Let the cavalry handle them!" She replied calmly, watching as her forces made an orderly withdrawal. Though it wasn't long until everything began falling apart, the new alien warrior being too much for her resistance forces to handle. "ALL FORCES RETREAT INTO THE FOREST!" She yelled, watching as the large machine shot some kind of webbing onto a group of her comrades, their bodies violently shaking before going limp and falling to the ground. "QUICKLY!" She screamed again, watching as the alien invaders began rounding up the soldiers on the bank, their weapons making weird sounds or causing her warriors to just slump over dead. "DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND RUN!" She screamed again, turning to run into the forest, peeking over her shoulder as the mysterious beings continued to hit the ground and begin spreading out like a bolt of lightning. The female grit her teeth and focused her attention forward, her only hope to reach the cavalry forces hiding in a particularly large Stydun borrow. Though unfortunately, her confidence was quickly beginning to dissolve as the sound of the heavy footsteps from the metal beings began gaining on her at a speed, she couldn't hope to match. Cursing her luck, she turned to peek behind her, the sight of a massive metal bi-ped chasing her down as it crashed through trees and bushes; the sight so terrifying she began stumbling as a branch cut deep into her cheek, the thundering of the invader's footsteps ever gaining on her. "My hand! Grab hold, you idiot!" Came the voice of one of her closest friends, her hope reignited as he burst from the ground riding a Praaclo, its six feet propelling it forward through the tree roots as it jumped from perch to perch. Reaching out to her friend has as he rode by, she was pulled onto his waist as he expertly guided the Praaclo through the grouping of trees, the chasing being quickly lost to the speed of the beast as it chirped in excitement. "Thank you... I think we need to rethink our plan if we're going to take that ship. It seems much more deadly than the others..." She said, pausing to gather her breath. "We may need to gather the rest of the liberation forces to take it." She continued, her rage at the failed ambush beginning to build. "I say we leave it alone. That metal bi-ped thing could almost keep up with my Praaclo. I don't want to know what would happen if it got its hands on us." The male replied, guiding his beast up a new tree. "We could turn the tide of this war if we get at what's on that ship." She replied, looking back at the being as it made some odd gesture with its arms. "Yeah... Maybe." He answered, looking back over his shoulder at the metal bi-ped staring up from the ground. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Okay, that was a pretty sweet ride. Definitely going to need one of those." PFC Dexam replied, watching as the six-legged fuzzy alligator bird sprinted through the trees after snatching up his target. Only to proceed to scurry through a bush and up a branch, chirping as it jumped from tree to tree. Soto looked over to Fazreh and Resima, putting the altercation on the screen for them to watch as his soldiers finished rounding up any stragglers. "Mind telling us what that is, and its use?" "It's a Praaclo." Fazreh replied, her mouth still open at just how effective the Terran forces were at non-lethal action. "They're used for mounted combat and moving through the forest. The Stydun leave them alone mostly for reasons we're unsure of. Many think it's because they're good tree climbers, and Studun can't keep up with them." "So cavalry." Soto replied, watching the battlefield slowly wind down. "We were almost charged by cavalry Captain. I doubt they could have done any real damage, but it's still dangerous to be on the receiving end of one. That also means they're more organized than we thought." "Yeah... That stuff they're smeared in that scrambled our sensors. Get some of it to Viscia immediately. We'll deal with what it means for us later, but I want a solution to picking up more ambushes from now on." Michael ordered, rising from his couch to pace around the bridge. " Group up the captives and set them down on the shore. If they're organized, I want them going back to where ever they came from with word we don't intend to harm them." "Who's going to be doing the questioning?" Soto asked as he keyed in his new orders. "I can do it!" Resima said, standing from her seat and stepping towards Michael. "I'm used to questioning people. And perhaps a friendly face will help spread the word that you're here to help." "I agree with that counselling, Captain." Jack added. "Have Ankiah take her down. The two can then question the captives with the ground soldiers standing guard. I would also suggest sending down Dr. Baker and Dr. Vattitha to deal with the injured." "Agreed." Michael replied, sending a nod over to Jack. "Make it happen. Helm, take us as low to the ground as you can." "Aye, Captain, should be able to stop the ship a few feet off the ground." Srettia replied, her hands expertly working the controls. Resima looked around the bridge, stopping to stare at Renin, who seemed to get the picture and popped out of his couch. "Thank you. I don't quite know how to get the hangar quite yet." "Hey, no problem." Renin replied, waving to the worried Fazreh as the door closed. "I'd go with you, but I assume you'd rather me make sure Fazreh is doing well." "You would be correct. Besides, I believe it would do well to reduce the amount of Terrans on the ground, seeing as a great many are already there." Resima replied, stepping off the lift as it stopped. "I won't forgive you if she tells me you mistreated her." "Hey now. When have I ever not been a gracious host." Renin answered, faking his offence while holding the door open with his foot. "Good. Now be on your way back to the bridge." Resima replied, stepping out onto the hangar and looking for this Quartermaster Rowan as the lift closed behind her. "You must be Resima." A females voice rang out from behind her as another lift opened. "Ahh, yes." Resima replied, turning around to witness the spectacular sight of a helmetless Voktlix in white and red armour, accompanied by a Terran in nearly identical armour. "Hello... Dr. Vattitha, correct?" "You would be correct. Follow us. We'll take you down to the surface." Vattitha replied, waving the female along as she followed her mentor. "Ohh, Okay. Do you mind if I ask how you came to be aboard this ship?" Resima asked, looking the armoured female up and down with surprise. Vattitha motioned Resima to followed her to the edge of the platform where Ankiah awaited, her mech's hand laying open on the runway for the trio to sit on. "Not at all. But it would take far too long to explain at the moment. Perhaps when this ugliness is over, we can have a sit-down." "Oh.. Alright." Resima replied, crawling onto the open and helping Vattitha and her Terran counterpart up. Though looking around the hand as it slowly ascended, Resima was shocked to see that both Vattitha and Dr. Baker, as she now remembered, just sat leisurely in the middle of the open palm, not worrying about the shakiness or the fact they could fall from such a height. "Are you not worried?" She asked, looking the two over. "Not at all." Vattitha replied. "I have some glue in this armour that can repair a broken bone in about an hour. And although I'm still learning. I have to say, Terran medicine is absolutely wonderful. A fall from this height would mean nothing." "The armour would protect us from a fall like this anyway." Dr. Baker added, kicking her feet out as the hand descended. "It's not that long of a drop for us Terrans anyway." "Ohh... Are they that far ahead of us?" Resima asked, looking Vattitha in her eyes. Vattitha stood on the hand as it reached the ground, jumping off with a smile as she held her hand out for Resima. "They have created life and have cured all of their diseases. They travel the stars and think nothing of it. It's hard to explain how advanced they are compared to us until you learn to comprehend the tools needed to build their tools. I am, and will be astounded every day for a long time as I learn from them." "Oh." Resima weakly responded, holding Vattitha's hand as she stepped off the mech and looked at her tied up people, some bleeding from their heads due to an obvious fall. "The star travel is the least of it." Ankiah replied, opening the chest of her mech as it knelt down. "This whole this is connected to my brain, I just think, and it does what I want." "Oh." Resima replied, her eyes widening at the nearly naked red stepping out of the machine. "No need to be so surprised. I know I'm beautiful." Ankiah replied, walking past Resima and looking back at the stunned female. "Ready to do some questioning?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------