Space Odyssey: Spectre

Once he was done with the young woman he moved over to the one that had been skewered through the chest. He was still breathing but the scythe arm of the chimera creature was going through one of his lungs. He would have to seal up the wound and damage to the armor when he removed the scythe arm. But he was definitely out of commission for the remainder of the mission.

Jace rummaged through his gear and pulled out the patrolling soldier’s first aid kit. He pulled out a can of sealing foaming spray, a laser cutter, and an injector that would induce a comma. It would help prevent imminent death.

"I am going to need cover while I do emergency first aid." He told the soldier with a single arm.

"How do I see them?" She asked with a grunt of pain.

"Two ways, either watch for movement in the sand or use night vision. They are visible on electric spectrums." Jace quickly explained as he used the laser to cut through the scythe arm that was sticking through the man’s chest.

"Ha ha ha-glack!" The injured man let out a breath and coughed up blood in his helmet. Jace could hear it and sighed. They would have set up an emergency medical center in one of the troop transports. It was not necessary before, but he just coughed up blood. Although it would probably have to wait a few hours.

Jace took only a moment to slice through the bug’s scythe arm and then pushed the injured man on his side so he could reach behind him and pull the arm all the way through. It came out with a slick noise as blood began spilling from both ends. He turned off the laser and set it on the ground.

Then he grabbed the sealing foaming spray and inserted the nozzle into the wound before pulling the trigger and slowly pulling it back. It foamed and filled the wound and then sealed the air tight suit. He did the same to the back side of the suit before tossing the empty canister with the rest of the medical equipment.

He then checked his vitals again before taking the injector and stabbing it between some plates of armor and into his collar. A few seconds later he was going limp and his heart rate was slowly falling to a normal level.

Bang! Bang!

Two gun shots passed over Jace’s head and tore into a creature. Revealing his existence. But the other injured patrolling soldier only managed to shoot off one of its arms and make a large hole in its head.

Jace thought about reaching for his weapon but stopped himself as the mech they were crouched under swung a gloved hand and sent the creature flying through the air. He instead pulled the injured soldier up into a princess carry. "Do you need help moving?" He asked the other one.

He received an answer when she stood up. "Seems like I do not." She answered as she began leading the way to where the others had set up a temporary barricade. Fighting was happening more intensely over there.

As they made their way over to the troop transports they could see plenty of bodies of these creatures. But they were the only ones. They also saw less fighting as they got closer. Like they suddenly ran at their people when they were exposed. "How many were injured?" Jace asked as he stepped over the barricade and into the back of one of the transports.

"A few injuries. Only one other person has been immobilized. Captain Be’sala. He is already inside. He caught one of those scythes to the midsection. These things are no joke. Are they kitinol?" Captain Arclight explained as he changed a power cell for a mounted laser gun.

"No clue." Jace answered honestly. "At this point I would not be surprised if they were a species that hunted kitinol for sport."

He carried the injured and coma-tose soldier into the transport craft and set him down next to the unconscious mar’talic squad captain. The soldier with a missing arm sat in a seat and leaned back in the chair. "Should I help out?"

"No, stay with the medics." Jace instructed as he passed some that were lingering around. They almost immediately moved forward and started attending to the two new injuries with more expert equipment.

"How did these things get this close?" Jace heard over the communication channel as he got close enough. The only ones that were not in the close radius of the two transport craft were the mech pilots and the small group who were in the cabin of the mining device. "Aren’t the mechs watching on multiple spectrums?" Captain Arclight continued.

"They are." One of the pilots answered. "They did not walk in our view range. We can see them with night vision mode. Which also triggered the automatic lock on. But they seemed to have moved around our view. Maybe they found a blind spot."

"I will check." Jace told them as he stepped past the barricade and toward the center of the camp where the mining machine was located. "Mech units, rotate around the edges. But periodically check outside the fence radius."

As he walked toward the machine he stepped in some of the guts of one of those creatures. They would be up for at least a few more hours. Hopefully by then the Lance of Thanatos had returned, ready to pick up more ores and materials for the gravity shield.

He pulled his wisp rifle off his back and marched to the machine. They had suddenly stopped, but why. If it was kitinol, they would have sent more than the twenty or so dead that appeared. Not to mention the way they acted was far too complex.

He slowly climbed the mining machine again. Hopping from piece of equipment to piece of equipment as he went up. Once he was at the top he started walking through a field of sleeping birds as he moved along the edges. Surveying the area in the base and around it. They definitely would have been noticed if they tried to go through the field.

But as he moved he found how they got so close. Equally distant between where two of the mechs were stationed was a hole in the ground just inside of the fence perimeter. He took notice of it and moved on. Checking the rest of the area. When he confirmed that there was no other entrance he climbed down and moved toward the hole. He was not able to see any other enemy so he figured it was safe to do.

When he arrived at the hole he found claw marks along the edges. "I found their entrance. Get a full head count and-" He stopped when he spotted drops of blood going into the hole. "Start searching the area." Jace ordered as he followed the trail of blood to where he found the two injured patrolling soldiers. After only a few moments he realized the removed arm was gone.

They did not need an entire body, they just needed some genetic data. How curious. "All individuals have been accounted for." Captain Arclight announced. "We are not seeing the creatures either. Did they just leave?"

"They did. They took a severed limb with them though." Jace answered before deciding on a course of action. "Have the pilots prepare their craft. I think it might be a good idea to standby in departure positions. These things are clearly intelligent enough to hunt rather than just attack so keep your head on a swivel they might try to dig under or around you." Jace informed them as he moved back to the hole his helmet light on as he moved. He might as well check out the tunnel since there was no imminent threat.

When he arrived back at the tunnel he looked down into it. Frowning when he did. It looked like the tunnel went down and away at an angle. A precise slope that was dug up to this point. Perfectly calculated to the perfect position from at least a few kilometers away.

These creatures were not just intelligent. They were highly intelligent and probably coordinated. Although there was possibly an emotional component to their thoughts which is why it was not coordinated. Or they were not used to going up against intelligent opponents. Something to note when he got back aboard the Lance.

Jace climbed out of the hole and moved around the compound. Stopping when he found the most intact body of one of these creatures. Seems like one of the soldiers got lucky and destroyed the heart or the equivalent that the creature had. He would have to do a field autopsy to see what he could find out about their attackers.

Fortunately he could scan and save the results in his armor along with recording everything. It would be needed for the experts later because he would only know roughly what he was looking at. He would take the body, but he did not trust that it wouldn’t have kitinol mites infecting it.