Tiet spoke into his communication mouthpiece. 'Fire the cannons at will.'
Above him, from positions on the defense wall, large pulse cannons began to rain down a firestorm out upon the approaching Baruk. He looked at them through his oculars again. Multiple blasts were erupting from their location, but it was difficult to tell if they were doing much damage or to what number.
Tiet moved with those near him to their positions as they drew their pulse rifles and prepared to wait for the Baruk.
Kale watched his brother from behind a nearby wall. He had made it this far with Wynn's help, now he just had to keep Tiet alive. It was hard to believe that Wynn had helped him to escape.
Wynn must really care for Tiet and believe that Kale would actually follow him here and try to protect him. The man was quite insightful, and Kale was determined to give his life for his brother if necessary. He would never betray him again.
Wynn had apparently thought this out and had provided a uniform to allow him to blend in with the other soldiers. He activated his own data-scope lens and watched the image as he scanned out to where the Baruk were approaching from.
Flipping through several different image perspectives, he noted something odd. The main group was apparently approaching under some sort of large shield that went before them like a barricade. It appeared to be automated, and put off an easily recognizable power signature. But something else was showing up ahead of their formation.
Kale tapped his wrist pad for an analysis of the odd signature that was showing up as multiple trails heading in their direction.
Insufficient data, said the computer display.
Looking with normal vision he could see nothing. No dust trail, no visible anything. The trails continued on a steady pace along the ground as the Baruk began to close in on the outskirts of the suburban housing area. The area at that point began to slope upward toward the perimeter defense wall behind him.
Kale noticed the others getting ready to fire and Tiet's voice came over his headset. 'Lock on your targets and use multi-burst setting. Fire on my command.'
That was smart, because the symbiotic creatures that provided the exoskeleton for the Baruk could take several direct hits before allowing a burst penetration. The multi-burst would likely get shots through the living armor.
The large shield dissipated as the Baruk came into closer quarters in the housing area, as did the cannon fire from within the perimeter wall. They were too close to be hit by it now.
There was a town square with a fountain and an open area that lay between themselves and the Baruk. Tiet had given an order to wait for the enemy to reach it before firing; and only on his command. Kale could see the forces that opposed them more clearly now, and they were fearsome indeed.
It was mostly infantry but they had large carrier vehicles that carried supplies for the troops as well as large projectile cannons that were mounted to the top with various other arms. A number of large alien beasts were mingled among them as well; they all looked like the kind of mutated ravenous brutes that the Baruk were known for.
The Baruk were fanning out through the streets below, and all of them were rapidly making their way toward the defense wall. It looked like there had to be at least five thousand warriors storming toward the city and the hidden Castillian army. Kale readied his own pulse rifle and looked over his weaponry.
He was well-armed, with spicor discs in rows along his chest attached to magnetic bands. His two kemsticks were magnetically clipped to each thigh and his blade was safe within his scabbard across his back. They would need every bit of this firepower and it probably still would not be enough.
The enemy forces began to pour into the town square and come around the fountain as they advanced. Kale heard the command from his brother, 'Fire!' and the battle was on. All of the Castillian soldiers blazed to life from their hidden positions, as a massive wave of pulse laser fire erupted down the slope against the advancing Baruk. Immediately they scattered and sought cover from the onslaught. Many were cut down as the multiburst laser fire punched through the symbiotic exoskeletons.
Kale noticed once again the strange signature of moving lines as he peered through his data-scope lens. They were moving very close to their position now, almost as if they were underground! But the thought occurred to him too late. Just as he raised from his position amid the return projectile fire from the Baruk warriors, the Hurutai erupted from beneath the ground.
Kale had seen them one time before, but had only vaguely remembered the capabilities of the huge worm- like creatures. They moved very fast and as their heads pushed upwards through the surface they caught the Castillians completely off guard.
Around the neck area of the creatures were hundreds of six inch spines that shot forth in every direction from the vesicles that produced them. Kale could see about ten of the worms emerging among the troops as he leapt behind a barrier to escape the spines. Soldiers all around the creatures were hit by the spines which contained a fast acting neurotoxin.
That was what Kale had remembered the most; the Hurutai paralyzed the voluntary skeletal muscle functions of their prey so that they could feed on fresh meat without a struggle. He had seen one eat up to ten men at once, holding them within its long wormy body for a slow digestion over several days.
As he peered back at his previous perch he saw it pierced with poison needles all around. He remembered his brother then and searched visually for him amid the chaos.
TIET fired his pulse rifle at every target he could find. The multiburst setting was allowing them to penetrate the Baruk armor; which looked like some sort of exoskeleton. Suddenly something blew up out of the ground nearby.
He turned from his crouched position to see a huge worm-like head pushing through the ground. He had never seen anything like it.
His men fell in every direction as needlelike spines erupted away from a colored ring around the creature's head. Tiet raised his weapon to fire at it but his own arms began to go limp.
He looked down as the pulse rifle fell out of his hands and he saw a spine fixed in his lower left abdomen. He pulled it out as his vision went blurry and the buildings and terrain began to spin. He felt the ground smash hard into his face as he tumbled over helpless. He tried to cry out for help, but could not.
The beast reared its head around and slammed into the ground as it brought more of its body out on the surface. It opened up a huge orifice allowing long tentacle like tongues to issue forth across the ground. It latched onto various Castillian soldiers lying on the ground and quickly pulled their paralyzed bodies into its own hulking mass, consuming their paralyzed bodies.
Tiet could see it all, but could not move. He tried to use his kinesis, but he was too dizzy and disoriented to concentrate. It looked like this would be his end; eaten alive by this monster of the Baruk.
Around him, soldiers he had trained personally from among the Castillians and the Vorn were being pulled into the gullet of the creature. He would have wept for them if he could, or risen to save them, but it was no use.
He could see pulse fire still being exchanged with the firepower of the Baruk and other creatures like this worm that were spraying their venomous darts at his forces as they tried to fend off what was quickly becoming a slaughter.
In the near distance he could see the approach of the Baruk as they made their way up the slope. If the worms didn't take him, the Baruk certainly would.
A coiled tentacle swept over his body as the creature moved its head in his direction. The horrid appendage latched onto his leg and began to pull him toward the gaping maw of the creature. It leveled its head to his position as the tentacle pulled his limp body through the dirt.
This was it. It was over. A brand new coalition of Vorn and Castillian people working together for peace and safety, his reign as King on the family throne once occupied by great men, including his own father, and now it was going to end.
The Baruk were winning. They had lost most of the Vorn cruisers trying to prevent the ground war that now was probably going to destroy the Twelve Cities, and he was ultimately responsible as their leader.
A flash of light blazed across his visual field and suddenly the tentacle was hanging from his leg, severed.
