Without thinking I ducked into the only cover available, the wooden cabin above the outpost. The stream of bullets followed me, each one tearing a large chunk out of the sturdy wooden walls. The wood-burning stove rang like an abused bell as multiple rounds penetrated the wall and ricocheted off the black metal.
My scout drone had tagged everything with threat markers, including the saucers in the sky. Three of them had left, disappearing as suddenly as they had appeared. The remaining saucer was moving rapidly around the sky while Brick tried to hold the beam on it long enough to penetrate whatever odd shield it was using.
My drones were doing their part, but under heavy fire as well. I saw one threat marker go out, and then another as they each got a kill.
Now it was my turn. The squads were keeping up their fire, attempting to fully suppress me while they moved up. That wasn't going to work.
A squad of four had been marked in direct line of sight of the front door—now only a large, rough hole in the front of the cabin—so I leaned out and hosed them down with the Gazer. Bullets pinged off my helmet, but I ignored them for the moment and zeroed in on the easiest target.
A smaller version of the square shield protecting the saucer above popped up in front of the unfortunate Grey. Under the onslaught of the particle beam it immediately began to waver and just before it shattered, the sheltering alien stopped firing and dove behind his nearest squad mate. I held the trigger down and tracked him. A new shield appeared, but crumpled just as quickly. The beam punched through the tactical rig like it wasn't there and speared through the chest of the alien. I raked the beam to the side, cutting it and the one that had hid behind into pieces.
I ducked back into my rapidly disintegrating cover, my helmet's damage indicator having gone a light orange/dark yellow from repeated impacts. The cabin wasn't providing much cover anymore. I needed to move.
The tactical situation wasn't great. Four of the attackers were down, my drones were running low on charge, and I was pinned down. Where the hell were Regar and Kiril? I couldn't see a good place to move to, but my decision was made for me.
The air filled with a deafening bass sound, like a foghorn turned up to a million. My HUD flashed an indicator telling me that it was filtering the sound and protecting me, but I could still feel it in my bones. Anyone without hearing protection would have been screwed, I was pretty sure.
Dust fell from the ceiling of the cabin above me, shaken loose by the noise. It felt like it went on forever but it was really less than two seconds. I was watching through the scout's external view as it hovered unnoticed in the air above the battle when the saucer finally stopped playing around.
A deep, almost blood-red cloud of light had blossomed around the saucer's lower dome. It got brighter and deeper as the sound went on and then at its peak the light lengthened into a ten-foot-wide beam of hungry red light. That beam reached out and engulfed the fully exposed laser turret that Brick was still firing fruitlessly at it. The stumps of trees in the area instantly turned to ash and the very earth around it evaporated.
The turret's shield held for one second, and then two. Brick's return fire was starting to weaken the saucer's shield as it was holding still to use its weapon. I saw my opportunity.
I took aim through the doorway and triggered the Gazer again, this time targeting the saucer hanging in the sky. I was disappointed when a second defensive shield popped up to block my beam, but held down the trigger anyway. The saucer's shield was much more powerful than the one protecting the Greys, but I didn't get a chance to find out how long it could hold.
The shield around the laser turret failed. The red beam washed over it, eroding the tier 2 metal structure like it was a sugar sculpture caught in a heavy rain. The beam dug into the underlying structure of the outpost and then swept toward the cabin. Toward me.
"Oh shit."
Instincts I didn't know I had kicked in. My gravity plates and propulsion units flared in unity and I smashed through the flimsy roof of Mattias's northern cabin. The whole structure—barely standing before the extended firefight and my hasty exit—began to collapse but was turned into ash before it could finish doing so. The beam dug deeply through the soil and into the structure underneath, tearing apart the entrance to the outpost. The earth-shatteringly loud foghorn noise faded as did the red light of the beam.
I was in the air and not far from where I'd started. I couldn't fly off to avoid the Grey alien assholes with the M4s, and I probably couldn't hurt the saucer with what I had on me. I really didn't want to get hit by that saucer's weapon, whatever it was. I had a suspicion that the deaths of the ground troops had triggered the retaliation from the saucer, and I meant to test that hypothesis.
A few stray bullets pinged off my armor as the Greys tracked my rapid flight through the air. They honestly weren't great shots, which was good for me. I was going to make it even more difficult for them.
I stuck the Gazer and pulled the GN-75 into my left hand and Excalibur into my right with the hook at the top. It was harder to maneuver without the propulsion units in my palms, but I had enough for what I needed. With a wide arc I swung around and plunged directly toward
