Risen: Shatterverse

A Rush for the Exit

The shielding shuddered as flickers of energy danced across it in an attempt to stay coherent even as the impact and the weight of the melted cloud chunk continued to bow it inward. Then alarms were howling as the shield shattered like cheap glass, sending chunks flying in every direction before they evaporated into particle-laden vapor even as the chunk of cloud dropped like a lead weight towards the ground.

Where, instead of slamming into thousands of screaming refugees, it came to an abrupt halt three meters above the ground.

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Frost," a strained voice said over his comms, Tate recognizing the voice of the tesla he had building the A/M missiles for him. "We've managed to catch the mass using techno-kinesis, but we can't hold it for long."

Sonofa-bloody-bitch! They actually caught it?? Before trying to figure out how the teslas had pulled that off and thereby boggling the shit out of his mind, Tate shook off his astonishment and flipped back into command mode.

"Copy that, Frost. Psyrens, start your jump outs now!"

"Sir, we don't have full LOS with the fleet..." the psyren captain began to protest.

"Captain, that is a fucking order! Jump! Outs! NOW!"

Even as the first group of refugees winked out of sight a heartbeat later, Tate heard the defense towers take on a more rapid rate of fire.

"General Tate! The parameter's breached!" the frantic voice of the Risen officer commanding their perimeter defense nearly shouted over the comms. "The insect forms are flooding in! We'll be overrun..."

The transmission cut off abruptly, sending a cold wash through the grim juggernaut. Then he was churning forward at top speed on a path that would take him directly beneath the massive chunk of melted swarm cloud the teslas were barely keeping off the ground. Not that it mattered; just about every path across the bastion took it under the mass.

He had to fight not to look up at the massive chunk of slag that blotted out the sun as he went underneath, focusing instead on trying to get as much speed as possible out of his legs. And, after what seemed like an eternity, but was only a few seconds in reality, he was bursting back into the light. Right into a scene right out of Dante's Inferno!

A handful of Risen stood on a pile of burnt insect forms back to back as they frantically hosed down the ground all around that that literally seethed with insect forms trying to get to them. Of his commanding officer, there was no sign, along with at least half of her command, telling the story of just how desperate their plight was.

Behind him the refugees continued to scream, thin, high-pitched things that did everything they could to draw the k'ethik's attention to them. Seeing that the insect forms were starting to turn away from their efforts to swallow this, and several defensive islands like it to attack their primary targets, Tate went full bore into the wall of silver-grey that faced him.

The first two or three died quickly, squealing as he crushed in their heads. Then he was bouncing off sides and backs as the insect forms began protecting their more vulnerable parts by turning away from him. His momentum now blunted, all Tate could do was lash out with his fists and feet in an attempt to keep their attention focused on him.

"Come on, you bloody bastards!" he snarled as he grabbed one by digging his hands into its metal sides. He then used it like a giant whip, snapping it around to knock aside several more insect forms.

"You want to eat a juggernaut? Well, here I fucking am!" And he turned his captive insect form into a blunt instrument, smashing down on any of its fellows that charged him.