Terra 33 Ep 05

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Terra-33

Episode 0.5

Trix looked out over the smooth hills with their occasional trees, sentinels of a boring landscape. The foliage here was purple, like the hills where Remi and herself had been the day she blasted him. She didn't regret that at all. It had been like a trial that he had passed with glorious aplomb. The end result being that he ravished her frequently and well, in the process, becoming a man she felt that she might have a chance with. It didn't bother her at all that Ida was clearly smitten with him too.

I don't mind sharing as long as she doesn't. Plus, it's fun when we all group up,

she thought. Not that that happened too often. Since she pushed Ida to have some fun at the hotel, they had all three only been together once. It had only been a little over a week, but Trix thought they were overdue for some girl on boy on girl fun.

The technical she sat atop was chugging along at a slow clip while she spun in slow circles in her machinegun nest. Thor insisted on calling the buggy-like vehicles technicals, some holdover term from old Earth mercenaries. Each fireteam was in a technical, except the command team and the two heavier APCs escorting the command platform. It was a behemoth, studded with machineguns and energy whips, with a few mortars on the back for good measure. It was tracked instead of on wheels and when fully deployed, was more like the ground floor of an apartment complex than a vehicle. Trix had even utilized the shower facilities a few times. She liked her speedy buggy though and under Ida's command, it was quite a smooth ride. The couple times they'd been engaged by angry semi-sentients so far, they'd been able to maneuver easily while she blasted away with the heavy gun. Remi had asked her nicely to conserve ammo after the last, but Trix had felt like really testing out their equipment at the time.

Now they were crunching along, pace hampered by the three tracked vehicles in the center of their formation. The trees had grown a little thicker in the distance and Trix saw some regular green leaves. They were approaching the last forest before the land started slowly becoming a desert. Toward the equator of Terra-33, the two suns had blasted the land into submission. The more arable terrain was higher up, where they had dropped New Bernburg. There were some rough mountains that had followed them south, a range to the west that rose and fell occasionally but never went away completely. She would sometimes glimpse the red waterfalls that some of the gamer scouts had called blood fountains. The ones she had talked to were weirdly superstitious about them, for a technologically advanced society. They said that the blood fountains always brought death, despite knowing the red was caused by a chemical reaction with a certain type of mineral common in the mountains.

"All units, be prepared to engage hostiles," Thor cut in on the comm-link.

Trix frowned, wondering about the command with the relative quiet of the day. She tracked her sights back to the front of the buggy and slid her visor into place. Pulsing red pools of light were scattered around the forest ahead, marking where the command team anticipated targets. Friendlies were lit with a green triangle with a white exclamation point in the center. She saw the other team near them, a black, married couple from England and their friend, all of whom had thick London accents. Trix saluted with a wide smile, making the white man in their machinegun nest grin and wave back. She had found a kindred spirit in Johnny's love of automatics and unsurprisingly, they both primarily manned the turrets. Remi was checking the load on his heavy Garr rifle, one finger popping commands into a portable console built into the dash of the passenger seat. Ida was driving smoothly as usual, silent with hands at ten and two.

"We have strong intel suggesting slumpers engaged previous convoys at the edge of this forest," Isaac said in Trix's helmet. "You guys and Tech-2 are to keep the left front flank held down. Maneuver on my APC, stay mobile and let 'er rip as soon as you see a slump."

Their squad leader was also from England, something Trix enjoyed, if only because the accent was so entertaining. Remi was the leader of Tech-8, the last of the three-person teams to sign up. Thor and the other hard cases from Earth formed the T-Up command team, a total of twenty fighters and other personnel, including the two medics, a mechanic and cook.

"Technicals free," Thor ordered.

Ida revved their buggy and they tore along the grassy plain, approaching the forest at an angle. When they were twenty meters from the edge of the thicker line of trees, Ida cut across to parallel the area. Red pulses were still blooming in Trix's HUD but so far, nothing had popped up. She saw the icon for Tech-2 on the left edge of her vision and the readout told her they were riding alongside them, a few meters back. Trix kept the barrel of her weapon on the long line of trees, impatiently tapping her foot on the circular bar that ran around the nest for support. She saw Remi brace his rifle on the firing slot on the right passenger window. The window was up but the ingeniously designed slot retracted when commanded, leaving the occupant still heavily protected while able to fire out.

"Movement, right, 30 yards. Still in cover," Remi said on their team channel.

"Use metric, Remi! Meters, not yards."

"Meters and yards are the same thing, Trix!"

"Actually, one yard is only point-nine-two-five meters, averaged up."

"Thanks, Ida," Trix said with a smirk.

"Ok, fine. Movement, right, 27-point-something meters."

"Much better, I think I see it now," Trix said, only half-joking.

Her HUD was much more active, red pulses beginning to sync in on targets. She hadn't personally fought against slumps, only seen the vids from the

Immortal Seed.

Remi didn't sound very nervous, something she was glad for with his past. A fast-moving, twisted humanoid shape exiting the trees took her from her thoughts. She sighted down on it as the HUD software blipped for half a second before slamming a bright red dot at center mass, identifying it as an enemy. Trix let the machinegun rip, massive slugs tearing forth from the barrel while the heat compensators gushed exhaust all along the shaft. The .70 Sharps were huge rounds and her own arm compensators were fully engaged to keep the weapon under control, despite it being firmly mounted to the nest. She watched her target disintegrate and whooped. Ida hit the brakes suddenly, causing Trix to slam to her left.

"What the f-"

A massive explosion in front of their technical cut off Trix's cursing question. She huddled down, hoping any debris would pass over. Remi's rifle began booming as soon as the vehicle stopped. Trix heard a nearby machinegun open up and looked up in time to see Tech-2 come roaring past them with only a couple meters to spare. Johnny was howling and bouncing around on top, his gun blasting long bursts into the trees. She grabbed her trigger, not about to let the Brits show them up. Her HUD showed a ton of new targets, all around the tree line, using the thick trunks as cover. They were snapping off return fire with a variety of ammunition. She saw standard kinetics, energy pulse and a few of the mortar-like launchers that they used to lob explosives. Targeting the nearest cluster of slopers, she depressed the trigger to immediate effect. Her HUD lit up with a directional marker, a cool feature of the technicals. Whenever Ida had time to notify them, they would get a warning of which direction she planned to turn.

Trix moved with the vehicle as they bounced along, conserving her ammo per Remi's request. A team on the other side had lost their gunner and one technical was slagged rubble there too. Thor requested their buggy cover that side while the bird trans-matted the wounded fighters and vehicles. As they came abreast the huge command platform, its energy whips lit up. The bright white cables snapped against the tree line, each one lasting for about five seconds and hitting like the spray from a hose. The weapon was most effective when used in this whiplike fashion, earning it that moniker. Little bursts of light and a weird scraping sound issued from the trees where the beams hit. The target markers all along that line began pulsing, removed as immediate threats until they could be reassessed. Trix assumed they were bits and pieces at this point and focused her fire forward.

The smoking wreckage of the damaged technical rose up before them. Trix cringed at the sight, blood covered metal twisted into weird shapes. It looked like they had taken an explosive round directly on and lost. She had a fleeting hope that the previous occupants had made it up to the hotdogs but she didn't have time to inquire. A large contingent of slumpers was ambling out of the trees on the northern side, blasting at the command APC nearest them. A burst of squawking issued over the comm-link and Trix paused her firing to switch channels so she could concentrate on their own situation. Ida's driving was tight and smooth, weaving them in and out of bad situations and lighting up Trix's HUD with updates at the same time.

"Get closer, broadside them on my side. I'm getting the launcher ready," Remi shouted.

"Will do," Ida confirmed, pinging their HUDs with maneuver updates.

Trix held on, grabbing up an ammo box from the floor as they swept into a series of tight turns. When she came back up, she jerked the lever back on her gun, releasing the spent box. Slamming home the fresh box into the receiver of her machinegun, Trix began snapping short bursts at the new targets. A small energy beam slashed up at her, causing her to recoil. The weapon superheated part of her nest and hot metal began sliding down the outside of the vehicle.

"Are you hit?" Remi screamed, his launcher burping audibly beneath her position.

"No..." Trix replied shakily, watching the orange glow of the melting section of her protective bubble.

"Don't get hit," Remi said, the words sounding more like a plea than an order.

Ida careened along the enemy line, getting within a few meters at one point. All the while, Remi's launcher burped out at least ten rounds. He gave the order to her to speed off, then hit his dashboard console. Trix held on as the afternoon shattered. Huge explosions lit off one after another, cracking through the enemies. Debris and body parts began raining down around her, even as they sped back toward the main group. The APC had recovered some semblance of order as Trix switched back to the main comm-link channel and their machinegunner had begun firing in earnest. Another salvo of energy whips lit up the day like a supernova and Trix saw the little forest burning crazily. The enemy seemed to have either been cowed into retreat or had been fully eliminated.

"Cease fire unless directly engaged," Thor issued.

Trix listened as the human guns wound down across the loose line of vehicles. She didn't hear any weapon reports from where the slumps had appeared. When she closed her eyes, she still heard phantom explosions and gunfire, as well as a general ringing in her ears. Remi's smiling face popped up, his visor retracted. He grabbed her helmet and yanked her toward him, kissing her directly on the visor. Trix belatedly hit the control to slide it up into her helmet and grinned back at him. She lunged forward and kissed him heartily, her tongue thrusting deep. He broke away, breathless.

"I'm glad you're ok."

"I'm glad you're ok," she parrotted back at him.

"I'm glad you are both ok," Ida said from below.

"All units, resume formation. We're going to salvage what we can then keep moving."

"Think anyone was hurt?" Trix asked.

"I don't think we'll find out until later. I hope not," Remi replied as he sat back down.

Ida gunned it and their buggy spun around to assume their previous position on the other side of the command vehicle. Trix watched from her perch as a team from the far APC set up a large, portable trans-mat field around the wreckage. The still smoldering metal disintegrated slowly, heading up to the engineering bay of the bird. She looked up as it went, shading her eyes from the sun's glare. The airship they were using was huge, easily as big as the command platform, but from a distance it appeared smaller. She had been up a few times. First for a brief tour of how the medical and storage space worked, and to get her body and gear coded into the material transmitter systems. The teams also took turns sleeping or just relaxing while off-shift, two at a time. It would be their turn again tomorrow night and Trix looked forward to trying to get Ida back into bed with herself and Remi.

They had the scene cleaned up quickly and were ready to move in under fifteen minutes. Trix heard one of the medical staff come on the main comm and ask for two of the more intact slumper bodies to be sent up to them. Thor agreed that it was a good plan, only partial bodies had been recovered after the first drop. The slumps there had grudgingly withdrawn, taking most of their dead with them. It was an unfortunate situation for the humans. They needed to know more about their enemy, but the enemy was mostly silent and adept at not providing proper specimens for analysis. This engagement had yielded quite a few corpses, some very much intact. The doctors happily thanked the ground team when they received three of the slumper bodies and the convoy reassembled. Thor gave the order to resume their crawling pace and Trix settled back, letting her cushioned seat support her armored frame.

The kilometers inched by as they passed the thickest part of the forest. There were still a few hours left until nightfall, but the command team wanted to move toward the mountains. After passing the trees, they cut across the scrubby plain. There were still plenty of hills, but now the tall grasses had given way to dirt and stone about half the time. Grass was stubby and less plentiful and it looked like it would be a lot harder to build or farm in this terrain. A couple of yetis broke out of the cover of one of the lone patches of trees and lumbered off. They seemed to only attack in force, even when the odds were still overwhelmingly against them. Technologically, they were far outclassed but didn't seem to realize it. Every yeti encounter so far had ended up with them scattering in retreat after half had been decimated by the team's weapons. Trix had felt bad at first, but eventually the animals had to learn.

Plus, it's not like they are stopping to talk.

She began inspecting the turret nest after about an hour of bouncy, slow driving. The energy rifle had cut a chunk out of the metal circle that protected the outer rim. The nest was like a semi-sphere with a chair in the middle that could rotate 360 degrees, machinegun going where the gunner pointed. Trix had felt relatively safe, even with half of her upper body exposed. Now that she saw the damage that had oozed into a little rivulet, she was admittedly more nervous. The fact that if she took a critical injury, she could quite possibly wind up dead, was finally settling in. Trying to shake it off, she looked up as the mountains rose before them.

They were still kilometers away, but could definitely get closer by twilight. Thor would camp them with their backs to a sheer cliff if possible, something they did nearly every night. The bird would land next to the command vehicle and the technicals would assume a regular patrol. For the amount of credits they were getting, the job was pretty simple so far. Trix thought that at this rate, they would probably be done in 30 days. It had already been a little over a week so she figured they'd be able to head back to New Bernburg in a few more. She wasn't sure yet what Remi and Ida were going to want to do, but this wasn't a permanent thing for her. Camping out was fun for a while, but she already missed the conveniences of the Burg, despite it not even being as developed as a standard Earth city. Trix hoped she could convince them to join her back at the city and just deal with the consequences. She really doubted that once Ida told her story, the authorities would, or even could, do something negative about it.

She went through the usual routine, helping lock down their technical for the night. They put in for repairs immediately at Remi's request, so the three would get to stand down and eat. Their shift would begin again in the early hours of the morning, but after the long day and violent afternoon, Trix was glad for the reprieve. Remi led them to the mess area, grabbing up a carafe of the strong tea that the cook brewed. It was a local leaf, caffeinated but not like a cup of coffee. Trix liked the natural sweetness and minty aftertaste and appreciated that the cook never seemed to run out. They sat down heavily at a bench, part of the deployed command vehicle. She had gotten so used to seeing the machinations of the thing that she hadn't even paid attention to it tonight. It was like a flower bud opening, slowly dropping heavy, metal supports which had various facilities attached to them. The center was a round, fortified bunker that was extended up into the air almost three stories. In the event of a night attack, something they had luckily avoided so far, the bunker could be used as a fire support and coordination area.

The second, smaller sun was reaching the horizon line when Trix looked up from her meal. She found that food had become something that was greedily and swiftly eaten, instead of savored like it had been previously. It would probably adjust back with minimal issue though, she was already making a conscious effort to slow down her intake. Neither of her companions had spoken yet and Trix sat back, rubbing her belly and watching them. The mess area was surprisingly deserted, most of the mercenaries who had come by for food had left with it. She thought Remi looked amazing. Even shoveling food into his mouth, the post-combat look was sexy and appealing. He still had his armor on, but his hair was matted down and sweaty, face streaked with grime. She really liked the little beard he had grown, finding the roughness against her lips, both sets, quite appealing.

He met her eyes and she smiled as his blue orbs trailed down her neck to her armored chest. She knew that her breasts weren't as impressive as some women's, but Remi seemed to really enjoy them. The last time they had been alone, he had spent long minutes teasing and licking, kneading her bare flesh and squeezing her nipples to hardness.

She looked back, taking her time inspecting his features again. He had a strong face, lots of angles and straight lines. The stubbly beard he had grown softened it up a bit but Trix liked the hardness. He wasn't extremely tall, probably around six feet, well-built and cut. She knew that she was partial because of her feelings, but she was secretly proud every time she was able to introduce him as her boyfriend.

"You think we're going to be on patrol tonight?" Ida asked, finished with her plate.

"I'm expecting the order pretty soon, Thor will want the injured squads to be able to rest for the night at least. I bet we'll still get our rotation on the ship tomorrow though."