her…as they should, for they had plenty of targets up there that
could shoot back. When she turned around and looked towards the LZ the pit of
her stomach sank as she saw their ground troops already in play and heading her
way…both walkers and a horde of infantry preceding them.
She figured she had about 3 minutes before the leading
elements reached her, and there was no way she could fight them hand to hand
out in the open…leaving her one choice.
Riona walked around the edge of her broken skeet and
took off running back towards the evacuation zone perimeter several kilometers
away and desperately hoping that none of the fighters would try and make a
strafing run on her. The striker armor that she wore would protect her from a
single hit, maybe two, but fighter weaponry was much more potent than the
infantry versions and this would be a very bad matchup, especially since she
couldn’t fight back, but she didn’t have any good options. Staying put was a
death sentence, so she had to run and run fast.
Riona activated the powered nature of the armor and
took off in a flash, running as fast as she could in just shorts and a jog bra,
with the heavy armor plates moving themselves to keep in sync with her body’s
own motions. After about thirty seconds she reached back and disconnected her
rifle and tossed it aside to make herself lighter and more smooth, recognizing
the fact that if she had to shoot it out with anyone right now she was as good
as dead…plus she always had psionics to use if she had to.
With that extra weight gone her speed increased a
tick, plus she threw in a few Yetu bursts that her armor matched, with her
watching the skies as much as the rock strewn ground ahead of her, choosing her
foot placements ahead of time so as not trip herself up. Riona ran for several
minutes with additional fighters dropping out of the air…most of which were
Skarron…all around her, with several pieces of debris raining down and hitting
her helmet, but fortunately they were no bigger than her finger, though if she
hadn’t been wearing armor they would have cut her up for sure.
Counting herself lucky in
multiple ways she kept running as fast as she could consistently manage,
tearing across the meters of ground with a speed that most biped races could
never hope to match and searching the horizon ahead of her looking for the
nearest fort/outpost that would mean a safe haven. She saw several mechs ahead,
but they couldn’t do much more than distract the enemy from her. If she was
going to get inside it would have to be at one of the outposts and so far she
couldn’t see any, though the battlemap said they were there.
She passed by a madcat that was walking the opposite
direction and firing off its rail gun with a boom that shook her steps, but the
Archon managed to stay on her feet and keep running, eventually passing two
more in that particular star before she got behind them, feeling a bit better
but still overall exposed as large dark spots began to rise up ahead of her. At
first she thought they were transports leaving, but they held a low altitude
and grew in size, coming forward towards the enemy and Riona seeing that they
were not tagged on the battlemap for several seconds before an update was made.
That meant Star Force didn’t know what they were
initially, but soon the Elarioni tags appeared just before their ring-like
warships opened fire on the Skarrons behind her with what looked like Sammies
but she couldn’t be sure. They were accompanied by huge globs of glowing blue
and purple that looked for all the world like a glue spitter .
Riona wanted to turn and look at what they were
hitting but she didn’t, knowing that she had to keep running to safety before
her luck turned from bad to worse. Eventually the warships, most of which had
an elliptical design to the rings, passed overhead with her able to see the sun
through their hollow center, as well as the fighters that were continuing to
battle it
could shoot back. When she turned around and looked towards the LZ the pit of
her stomach sank as she saw their ground troops already in play and heading her
way…both walkers and a horde of infantry preceding them.
She figured she had about 3 minutes before the leading
elements reached her, and there was no way she could fight them hand to hand
out in the open…leaving her one choice.
Riona walked around the edge of her broken skeet and
took off running back towards the evacuation zone perimeter several kilometers
away and desperately hoping that none of the fighters would try and make a
strafing run on her. The striker armor that she wore would protect her from a
single hit, maybe two, but fighter weaponry was much more potent than the
infantry versions and this would be a very bad matchup, especially since she
couldn’t fight back, but she didn’t have any good options. Staying put was a
death sentence, so she had to run and run fast.
Riona activated the powered nature of the armor and
took off in a flash, running as fast as she could in just shorts and a jog bra,
with the heavy armor plates moving themselves to keep in sync with her body’s
own motions. After about thirty seconds she reached back and disconnected her
rifle and tossed it aside to make herself lighter and more smooth, recognizing
the fact that if she had to shoot it out with anyone right now she was as good
as dead…plus she always had psionics to use if she had to.
With that extra weight gone her speed increased a
tick, plus she threw in a few Yetu bursts that her armor matched, with her
watching the skies as much as the rock strewn ground ahead of her, choosing her
foot placements ahead of time so as not trip herself up. Riona ran for several
minutes with additional fighters dropping out of the air…most of which were
Skarron…all around her, with several pieces of debris raining down and hitting
her helmet, but fortunately they were no bigger than her finger, though if she
hadn’t been wearing armor they would have cut her up for sure.
Counting herself lucky in
multiple ways she kept running as fast as she could consistently manage,
tearing across the meters of ground with a speed that most biped races could
never hope to match and searching the horizon ahead of her looking for the
nearest fort/outpost that would mean a safe haven. She saw several mechs ahead,
but they couldn’t do much more than distract the enemy from her. If she was
going to get inside it would have to be at one of the outposts and so far she
couldn’t see any, though the battlemap said they were there.
She passed by a madcat that was walking the opposite
direction and firing off its rail gun with a boom that shook her steps, but the
Archon managed to stay on her feet and keep running, eventually passing two
more in that particular star before she got behind them, feeling a bit better
but still overall exposed as large dark spots began to rise up ahead of her. At
first she thought they were transports leaving, but they held a low altitude
and grew in size, coming forward towards the enemy and Riona seeing that they
were not tagged on the battlemap for several seconds before an update was made.
That meant Star Force didn’t know what they were
initially, but soon the Elarioni tags appeared just before their ring-like
warships opened fire on the Skarrons behind her with what looked like Sammies
but she couldn’t be sure. They were accompanied by huge globs of glowing blue
and purple that looked for all the world like a glue spitter .
Riona wanted to turn and look at what they were
hitting but she didn’t, knowing that she had to keep running to safety before
her luck turned from bad to worse. Eventually the warships, most of which had
an elliptical design to the rings, passed overhead with her able to see the sun
through their hollow center, as well as the fighters that were continuing to
battle it
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