From Furies Forged (Free Fleet Book 5) (53 page)

              Fal realized he had blanked for a moment, thankfully he hadn’t stopped moving and slid down a crater wall. He used the opposite side to stop himself, other HAPA’s came around and joined him.

              While training couldn’t make up the sights he was seeing, it did train him to react. He raised his cannons, his HUD showing him the cameras mounted on them, and he found his first Kalu.

              He squeezed his trigger, seeing it slump down in a hail of rounds.

              He paused, realizing that he had just killed another creature.

             
Not going to help if the Kalu overrun you and kill your family and friends.

              His wings tightened and sunk into his training, finding targets and filling them with rounds.

              He was no longer sub-commander Fal, he was just another Commando trying to hold the line as Kalu charged over their lines and dove into the trenches.

              The Kalu scampered up the edges, jumping on the HAPA’s where they could.

              Plasmid blades buried themselves into the Kalu’s shells, others fired their guns even when in close combat. Metal giants fought armored wolves.

              Fal fired his last remaining missile into the oncoming Kalu, firing his cannons at the pack that were racing through entrenchments, all of the booby traps had been destroyed at this point. While the remaining trenches were too short to give powered armor and HAPA’s cover, the Kalu were half the size. They raced through the trenches, using their cover to come charging at Fal.

              “Commandos on me!” Fal barked over a close-communication channel, turning his bulk and bringing his cannons to bear, his cannons roared, rattling his entire frame.

              It was a kind of exhilaration that he had never thought to feel. His cannons moved independently, tracking down the multiple runs of Kalu. HAPA’s announced their arrival by sliding around him or rolling to a stuttering step, pausing their mass. Their guns blazed and for a moment they held the Kalu back.

              For a moment Fal hoped that they could get enough time to push back.

              He hadn’t been watching the large contingent of Kalu join the smaller pack that had gained entrance into the trenches.

              The Kalu in the rear surged over the sides of the trenches, giving the HAPA’s too many targets to handle.

              Fal likened them to a nest of seldar.

              “Blades!” One of the Commandos said, guns rotated and set in place as the first HAPA’s were rocked back with incoming Kalu.

              Fal realized he was screaming as his arms moved wildly, bashing, cutting and attempting to stave off the Kalu.

              The Kalu had trained from birth to kill others with their teeth and claws. Fal had learned how to fly, to play to have joy.

              Kalu blood covered his HAPA, he fought, not thinking about the reasons he was there, to stop was to die.

              He felt pain in his side, he released an arm joystick and grabbed his shotgun, it bellowed, clearing the Kalu off of his HAPA. He struggled upright, his side in pain. He didn’t dare to look down. Another Kalu lurched at him. He grabbed his joystick and dragged his blade through them, he weaved, as if drunk.

              The Kalu writhed in dying agony, the movement made Fal stumbled and almost fall, his right arm stopped him from falling over completely.

              He took a breath, looking at the ground, glancing to his sensors and hearing more Kalu on his back.

              Fury rode him, he yelled pushing off of his arm and slamming on his back, he hit the ground with his left arm and rolled away, getting to his HAPA’s feet, being on the ground was death.

              He switched his right to a cannon, firing it into the two recovering Kalu that had been on his back.

              His HAPA locked and Hellfire made him go rigid.

              He grunted and wailed through his suit, it was a big dose. He knew that wasn’t a good thing, the Wake up got him back into fighting order within moments.

              “No rest in the Commandos,” Fal said, remembering the words of other Commandos as he stumbled towards the line he had been holding, he switched his left arm’s blade for a cannon and fired as he walked up the small rise. He had work to do.

              The artillery had stemmed the flow of Kalu and made the oncoming Kalu manageable. It looked like they had broken the Kalu’s charge, for now.

              The ground rumbled with more HAPA’s reinforcements coming in and adding their firepower to Fal’s and the three survivors of the line, there had been seventeen on the line before.

              Fal bit back his emotions shifting to a new position with better cover, warning signs were all over his armor.

              “We’ve got this now, go and get yourself sorted,” a Commando said on a private channel.

              “I can...” Fal started.

              “Be quick about it. That hellfire and wake up is going to drain off and you’re going to be in a damn sorry state,” The Commando said.

              “You may have a point,” Fal said. “Vamp me first,” Fal said moving back from the line and holding out an arm at the Commando.

              They reached their arm over, connecting ports. Fal watched as his ammunition dropped to ten percent, pouring into the Commandos internal magazines.

              “Good luck,” Fal said, heading for the base at a jog, he got a few laser strikes on his back, but the HAPA barely dipped below yellow.

              He got into the hatch, his vision swimming while his Wake-up was wearing off.

              He weaved a little, gritting his teeth and heading towards the HAPA armory. He locked out his arms and made sure to keep out of people’s way. A medic saw him and waved for him to stop. He ground to a halt, it was hard for him to keep his eyes open. The medic jumped up, making sure the HAPA was locked into place and started staring at his side. He felt new hellfire go raging through his system. The auto-injector must be dumping its remaining reserves into his system as he desperately wanted to hit the medic who’d activated it.

             
Fucking hellfire!

              Oblivion took him and he slumped into his harness.