Odyssey of War

Chapter 8: Meet The Overseer

The Dytari quickly changed form, adding a thick layer to their exoskeleton. Sam laid down covering fire while we took cover behind a large metal console.

As the plasma bolts grazed the edges of the console, I spotted a windowed room above the chamber. It was facing directly down the chamber, and so it was likely a control room.

I peered out of cover and fired off several bursts. Sam lobbed a frag grenade, sending two of the Dytari into the air. The others stopped firing, lowered their weapons and knelt on the ground. "What the hell is going on?" Lindsey asked.

"I don't know, but I've got a bad feeling" I replied.

A small wormhole opened up in front of them, and out stepped three Dytari. Two of them were the normal soldier variant, but the other one was certainly unique. It stood nine feet tall with a large, slightly tattered red cape. Its different grey shaded armour reminded me of a king's, minus the robotic limbs. The neck was composed of hundreds of small tubes, all twisted around each other to form a vine-like structure. The helmet was the most interesting part with three glowing red circular visors and a mouthpiece with several glowing red slits. The top of it had two pointy ear shapes, giving a bat-like appearance, further supporting my theory.

"Who are you?" I shouted, the three of us keeping it in our sights.

"I am but one of the Overseers in the vast Dytari Empire" It replied in a deep male voice, its helmet folding and forming a layer around the neck.

Must be using a translator, I thought as I glanced at the mouthpiece which hadn't folded away.

The now exposed face of the creature was demonic. It's eyes were glowing red, unlike the standard Dytari. The skin was dark grey, and had several scars across the cheek and eyes. It had pointy ears, shaped slightly different to the helmet.

"We have watched for centuries as your race takes everything it claims to be entitled to. Humanity is a virulent plague, one that must be cleansed" The Overseer said, forming weapons on its robotic arms.

We opened fire, each of the bullets striking a shield protecting the Overseer. A multi-barreled weapon that had formed on it's right arm began to charge up. Within moments, it was shooting out arcs of plasma, like an accurate hybrid between a Gatling gun and a flamethrower.

"Follow me" I shouted as I spotted a doorway on the far side of the chamber. We began to rush round the chamber, using the light gravity to help us move.

"What warrior cowers away from the enemy?" the Overseer shouted, firing plasma bolts from a weapon on the left arm.

I reached the open doorway, but turned around when I heard Lindsey shouting through the comms. Two Dytari had grabbed her and were dragging her to the Overseer, and another two were suppressing us in the doorway.

"Lindsey!" I shouted. Lindsey, Phillip and I often thought of each other as siblings, and so we held a strong connection.

The Overseer opened a wormhole, roaring at his soldiers "Kill the rest!" before taking Lindsey through the wormhole. The Dytari that had been kneeling stood up in synch, and joined their accomplices in the fight. Sam and I fired blindly to keep them back. After several minutes I heard the familiar sound of a shotgun, and so I glanced round the edge of the doorway.

The others had caught the Dytari from behind, taking them down quickly. "Sorry for the holdup, had to backtrack a few times" Carlos said.

"Where's Lindsey?" Phillip said, quickly noticing her absence.

"They took her" I replied in an almost traumatized tone.

"What? Kyle, who took her?"

"The Overseer, some sort of Dytari leader. He escaped through a wormhole"