I got my shield up just before five sacs hit it, sending energy sparking across the whole thing. I charged to meet the first one. The second took a couple of quick steps to its left as it tried to flank me. It was a good move.
I rolled away from the one I’d charged and came up within bad-breath distance of the second Harbinger. A quick slice from my blade dropped the enemy’s rifle and entire arm to the ground. I reversed the swing and removed its two front legs. I hadn’t taken my eye off the second alien, but it was no longer interested in me. Reaver was its new prey. Although she was capable of handling herself, she was oblivious to the Harbinger charging her back.
I sprinted after her, but I couldn’t close the distance in time, and a bug-bullet crashed into her rear armor plating and exploded into a splash of acid. Her battle armor deployed foam to help neutralize the acid, but it wouldn’t be completely effective. I met the Harbinger with my vibro-blade and targeted every vulnerable seam within its carapace armor. In a matter of seconds, the alien’s armor broke apart, and its body collapsed in segmented chunks.
“Fuck!” Reaver looked over her HUD before looking at me. “Thanks for the assist, Paladin.”
“Assist?” I asked with a smile, and she opened her mouth to reply, but Joker beat her to it.
“Hold the line!” he ordered.
Another bug set its eyes on me, and I rolled aside as its rifle released an acid sac. The projectile smashed into the rock behind me in an explosion of deadly fluid. My HUD didn’t indicate any compromised components on my armor, but the sac had come too damn close. If my armor had been hit, then the stuff hadn’t done a lot of damage yet. I had to think fast because even a speck of alien death-juice could wreak havoc on my equipment.
The Harbinger who’d fired at me closed in for a quick kill, followed closely by another alien. My vibro-blade pulsed in my hand as I blocked a rifle-swing from the first. The second turned to bring its claw down on my belly, so I dropped my sword, lowered my shield, caught the bug’s fist with both hands, and pulled hard. The thing skittered forward as it tried to regain its balance. I enjoyed the look of surprise from the first bug gave as a shot intended for me hit its comrade in the face.
Laughing at my enemy’s stupidity, I used both arms and legs to continue the second bug’s headlong stumble, knocking both into the side of the cave 10 feet away. I’d been right; two bugs was more fun than just one. I was grinning so hard, my cheeks were starting to hurt.
The line of Marines had not only recovered but was advancing. Reaver had taken my place, and the trail of Xeno body parts were trophies to her killing efficiency.
We’d never talked about combat away from training. She seemed to treat fighting as a chore, as though it might have been exciting before but wasn’t anymore. She was just too good at it. It was too easy.
I tore my eyes from her lethal grace to address my own bug problem. My two opponents were a tangled mess of legs and green blood. I rolled to my right, retrieved my sword, and sprung to my feet. I couldn’t see the first enemy’s rifle among the confusing mess of appendages, but I raised my shield anyway and charged.
The first bug saw me and produced a rifle, but the second one kicked it with a stray leg before it could take the shot. The first one apparently decided it was done with cuddling. It dropped the rifle, grabbed its comrade with all its legs, and tore its fellow Xeno in half. The thing’s abdomen went one way while the head, thorax, and an arm went the other.
I had to admit—I was damn impressed, and for a fleeting moment, I thought about mounting the thing’s head somewhere. I could tell anyone who asked about the awesome Harbinger I’d killed and what I’d seen it do. Then I remembered the battle’s arrangements would make that impossible and consoled myself with the knowledge that I would get to kill it, at least.
The bug did something even more awesome next: it feinted. It actually tried to fake me out. The thing raised its clawed right fist and stepped to its right as if it was trying to get around the edge of my shield to punch me. I ducked beneath the massive clawed fist, and it kicked at me with a pointy front leg. My shield took the force of the strike.
My answer was three quick slashes across the front of its thorax. When the Harbinger swung at me with its other fist, I raised my shield and took one more swipe at it before dancing away.
The creature seemed confused that I’d disengaged from combat, and it stared with its arms raised in a ready stance. I lowered my shield and waited.
Any questions that might have been buzzing around its insectoid brain were answered a second later. A rectangle-shaped section of exoskeleton dropped from the neat hole I’d cut in its chest. It was followed quickly by one of its tube-shaped hearts, some other organs I couldn’t identify, and a whole lot of bright green viscera.
Just when I was about to pat myself on the back and rejoin my Marines on the line, my HUD crackled before it vanished entirely. An energy spike was causing my HUD to glitch-out.
“Anyone else got issues with their HUD?” Swede asked over comms.
“Appears we’re all out,” Bird returned.
Shit. We were effectively blind. But why now? There was only one answer, and it would test the mettle of every Marine in the cave.
My display
