SG: WCD 45 Desperado Kick Part Three of a bunch

[Lawrence Brown]

EDITORS NOTE:  SORRY!  THIS WILL BE PART THREE OR FOUR.  WE'VE ALL

BEEN SACKED AND REASSIGNED TO WORK ON VOTING MACHINES.

 

Troopers Anderson and Weaving huddled low, watching from concealment as 

the intruders slithered down the corridor towards them. Both had their 

side-arms at the ready position, and despite several hopeful recounts, 

the pair still estimated that they were outnumbered three-to-one.

 

"Ideas?" whispered Anderson through a tightbeam to Weaving. "We could 

use some right about now."

 

"Get their measure. Maybe we'll spot something we can use."

 

"You mean like the giant target one of them's carrying that says 'shoot 

here to disable all the Nintan'?"

 

"Yeah, exactly like that, Mr Sarcastic."

 

"What the Hell(tm) ever. Okay. They're kind of slow. We can maybe use 

that against them."

 

"We're trapped in a straight-line corridor. Their ground speed doesn't 

matter -too- much if their bullets can travel at faster than a slow jog."

 

"Okay. They move in formation."

 

"So do we."

 

"We don't have to."

 

"Presumably, neither do they."

 

"They're close together when they do that."

 

"So burst-fire is indicated. What else? They're gonna see us any second 

now!"

 

"They're not carrying much in the way of equipment. Do you see those 

little gun-like things hanging from their belt-webs?"

 

"Yes I do. What do you think they are?"

 

"Well... guns, probably. What exactly did you think would be the answer 

to that question?"

 

"Mostly? Guns. But hope springs eternal."

 

"Not right here and not right now it doesn't. Pandora owes us a refund 

and they're at the point of no return. Ready to go with the standard 

plan, then?"

 

"Not a bit."

 

"Me either. Charge!"

 

The two troopers darted out of their hiding spot, opening fire. The 

Nintan noticed the charge and went right for their web-belts. Sure 

enough, they were right. They -were- guns.

 

***

 

Spectrum raised his armored fist experimentally. The modified Tornado 

Heavy moved, and interlink displays flashed across the inside of the 

ManCoPoWerArmor. From within his double cocoon, he activated the 

commlink. "Radio Check. You guys picking me up?"

 

"Command. Five by five Spectrum. Biotelemetry and comms a-ok."

 

Clark and a half-dozen Troopers ran checklists, inspecting each other's 

suits, and stealing glances at Foxy and Spectrum. Clark pointed a 

tightbeam at Spectrum.

 

"This is a tightbeam link, you'll find it on channel 3 if you need to 

talk to someone during a fracas without broadcasting your position. Its 

LOS so be sure to keep that in mind. Suit working okay?"

 

Spectrum pointed his micromissle pod at Clark, then disarmed it and 

switched to tightbeam. "Whoops. Yes sir. Your techs pulled off a minor 

miracle. Turns out though, that the interlinks designed into my new suit 

for use with Bahamode Sigma also let me tie into this suit. It has a 

nanotech subsystem that seems to do more than just simple repairs."

 

"Sigma?"

 

"When I worked with Team M.E.C.H.A., we had a giant combiner mode with 

all their mechs. I was the power-plant."

 

Spectrum dug through a weapons and ammo crate the team had brought with 

them for the fight. He made sure the Tornado heavy had a green board 

with all ammo stocks. He fished out a variety of grenades and handed 

them to Foxy. Then he pulled out another box from the cache and snorted. 

"Sporks?!"

 

Foxy anxiously rechecked her pistol for the umpteenth time. A test 

prototype from TONN, it contained a smartgun link to her headset which 

put a targeting dot on whatever it was pointed at. That, coupled with 

the comms, and the power-module tethered to the holster, was basically 

all she had for weapons. There was that pistol she stole from the 

Nintan, and a few toon surprises in her pocket, but she would have to 

rely on reflexes and cover to keep safe. There was a banging sound from 

ahead and she gasped nervously.

 

The troops seemed to be on edge, Clark noted.

 

"Okay squad. Pair up. We have several hostiles coming this way, and we 

need to hit them hard the moment they break through. We don't have much 

cover here so instead we are just going to rig the door with explosives 

and then hit them hard with full weapons. Spectrum, you have point. You 

are the most heavily armed with your weapon systems and you should be 

able to suck up the damage with your two layers of armor. The rest of 

you will take tactical spread positions and Foxy will have rearguard 

sniper. Get in position troops. The mosh pit is almost open for business.

 

Suddenly and without warning there was an explosion from somewhere to 

their rear. Environmental and fire alarms sounded as hatches slammed 

shut behind them.

 

"Oh joy and rapture," one of the troopers shouted. "...we're sandwiched."

 

Almost as soon as the words escaped his mouth, there were sounds of 

energy weapons to the front. Foxy let out a squeak of fear and suddenly 

the squad of troopers broke ranks and crowded around Foxy.

 

Clark stared wide-eyed in surprise and then shouted,

 

"What the Heck(sm)? Get back in positions people!"

 

"But she's scared!"

 

"We have to protect Foxy!"

 

"Defend the 'toon!"

 

"Keep her safe!"

 

Spectrum looked back at Foxy, who seemed as confused as Clark by the 

sudden actions of the squad. "What are you doing, girl? Suck it up! We 

have a fight on our hands and I need you to focus!"

 

Foxy looked back at Spectrum, suddenly wishing he was powerful enough to 

make this all go away by himself, but still taking comfort in his voice. 

"Sorry, sailor. I'm just scared!"

 

"Well, duh! We all are! You just keep your head down and you'll be okay. 

Watch our backs!" Spectrum immediately regretted his sharp tone with his 

future wife. "Sorry Honey, you heard the Captain, everyone with combat 

skills fights. We have to help beat these invaders or we're all toast.

 

"GET BACK IN RANKS YOU MEATHEADS! WHAT IS YOUR MALFUNCTION?" Clark 

broadcast over the local comnet, channeling his inner General Anesthetic 

for the first time in his life. Both the command and the uncanny 

imitation of every trooper's worst nightmare seemed to snap the troopers 

funk. They quickly retook their positions, shaking their heads to clear 

them. Switching channels, Clark spoke with Spectrum. "After this is 

over, I think you and I need to have a little talk."

 

Another channel switch, and Clark spoke, "Command, I need you to capture 

and run diags on med-stats on all of us for the past 60 seconds. Save 

and forward to Sloan."

 

"Acknowledged Clark. What's wrong?"

 

"I'm not sure yet, and this is not the time for wild guesses. What's the 

latest?"

 

"Contact in 30 seconds. We are having comms problems, so we might not be 

able to maintain communications for much longer..."

 

Clark moved next to Spectrum and readied the detonator for the shaped 

charges and booby-traps. "Its about to get really noisy people so mind 

your buddy and make our guests as unwelcome as possible. 15 seconds."

 

***

 

"Keep 'em outta the engine room!" yelled Trooper Flynn from his hiding 

place behind a very rudimentary barricade. It had been erected to block 

the only access to the engineering section of the ship; or at least the 

only one that didn't involve climbing through little tubes and feeling 

as though ants were crawling all over one's skin. Flynn and his fellows 

rose suddenly to exchange fire with the hoard of Nintan advancing 

towards them. They dropped back down behind their improvised shield 

almost in time to avoid the return volley. Trooper Leroy let out a 

scream as a particle beam struck his shoulder, spinning him about; and 

then a cry as another sizzled into his glutes. Flynn reached up and 

pulled the man down behind cover, gesturing for someone to check the 

man's vitals.

 

"I'm -fine-," Leroy protested, as a soldier moved to examine the suit's 

readouts. "And I'm gonna fry their scaly hides if you lay down some 

coverin' fire for me! So would someone -please- get these fricking 

snakes off of my -ass-?"

 

"Got an idea for that," muttered Flynn, producing a tube of vile-looking 

material from the cache they'd dumped behind their shelter. "This oughta 

bind those bastards for a bit. One've the engineers gave it to me before 

we came out here."

 

"What is it? Super-glue?"

 

"Better. Ten month-old Cheez Whiz. Stuff binds -and- sucks when it gets 

to a certain age. Now I'm gonna toss it over and you guys shoot!"

 

"You sure this is going to work?" asked a trooper, fingering his gun 

uncertainly.

 

"Do as I say and you'll live!" yelled Flynn, suddenly jumping up to toss 

the tube of processed cheese-alike not-quite-foodstuff at the advancing 

snakes. "Go! Get up here! Go!"

 

The other troopers took aim as the bottle shattered at the ground just 

before the Nintan. The first echelon of intruders slithered onto the 

horrific snack-time favourite, then suddenly discovered that they were 

stuck fast. The other troopers opened up on them, though Flynn warned 

them away from the one on the far right.

 

"Shoot that mofo's gun out, but don't hit him! Maybe we can take a 

prisoner an--"

 

At the moment Flynn said the word 'prisoner', the other Nintan turned as 

one and fired on their rightmost comrade, incinerating him. Then 

seemingly just for good measure, the rear echelons opened fire on the 

rest of the Cheez-captured invaders, searing them to a crisp.

 

"...what the FU--"

 

Flynn's surprised expletive was cut off as two P-beams struck his chest. 

Fortunately for the trooper it was a glancing enough blow to just knock 

him off his feet and back behind the barricade. Another trooper -- 

Miller, her name was -- was not nearly so fortunate. From his vantage 

point on the ground, Flynn could only watch as a particle beam scored a 

direct hit on her helmet, shattering the faceplate and reducing the head 

cocooned within to an unidentifiable pulp.

 

"That... is... IT!" screamed Flynn, forcing his Tornado armor back to 

its feet as he ratcheted a new clip into his sidearm. "Enough is 

enough!" he screamed, firing at the Nintan. "I." He fired a burst. 

"...have..." he fired another round into a serpent who collapsed, only 

to reveal another two behind him. "...had it..." Flynn winced as the man 

standing next to him was knocked down by a blast, perhaps fatally. "with 

these MOTHERF***ING SNAKES..." Flynn whirled to send another burst into 

the one who'd got his comrade. "ON THIS MOTHERF***ING STARSHIP!"

 

Silence. Flynn stopped firing as all noises of resistance ended. Nothing 

but a cloud of smoke remain to be seen in the corridor.

 

"Did we get them all?" Leroy asked, tentatively as he searched the smoke 

cloud. "We got to've gotten 'em all. Please God, say we got 'em all..."

 

Shadows moved within the smoke cloud. Snake-like shadows. They slithered 

out of the murk and then into the corridor, raising weapons towards the 

troopers.

 

"Can't say as God heard you," muttered Flynn, taking aim, realising that 

the odds were stacked against them. "Let's hope He's just busy on 

another line."

 

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