Space Odyssey: Spectre

"I have visual of the city walls and-"

Ping!

His head snapped to look at the front of his hover bike where a bullet just ricocheted off of. He looked toward the city and could see people on the walls. One of them was aiming a weapon his way. They fired and he watched the bullet fly up and then arc down on a path toward his area. He reached out to an empty space to his right and snatched the bullet out of the air and then looked at it.

The bullet was the length and thickness of his finger. From the velocity and speed it would probably penetrate light armor and the flexible plating in even his armor. The scorching on the back of the bullet indicated a large amount of gunpowder or alternative explosive powder.

"Commander Jace? Are you still there?" Solisa asked after a moment of his silence.

"Yes." Jace answered with a nod as he moved the hover bike forward so he could hide behind the rise of another hill. The bullets were unlikely to hit. But they would get annoyed after a while. "Sorry, I am being shot at by a sniper from the city. It appears the group occupying the city utilizes kinetic weapons."

"I see." Solisa answered. "It appears that group is the Grolean Galactic Trade Group. The city they are occupying is Isalla. A minor city on this continent, one of the three minor ones. It has plenty of villages running to it. None of which were occupied by the group. Seems they are more after material wealth and planned to pillage what they could. But with their route off the planet cut, they are stuck with their hand in the figurative cookie jar."

Jace peaked over the hill after dismounting from his hover bike and took a closer look as he turned invisible. It was still dark out, but he was positive he would stick out with the high level of light that was slowly coming in. "The walls have some long ranged snipers. All units are to be behind heavy armor platting. The walls are fairly thick but not that thick so we have to worry about directly shooting through the walls."

"Any danger from the surrounding areas?" Solisa asked. "I also have the result of the scan when we want to cover that."

Jace could make out some patches of disturbed dirt in both the fields of farms and the roads leading into the city. The farms were more obvious because the planets had been dug up. They had definitely hidden mines and other underground explosives throughout the area.

As he pulled his wisp rifle from his back he also noticed that some of the partially destroyed buildings had hidden bunker areas sticking out. Not far enough that it would be obvious. But to a skilled eye like Jace’s he could tell the difference between dark brown wood and dark brown paint on metal plating.

"Plenty of danger in the surrounding areas. I am looking at concealed bunkers and fire lines. As well as mines planted along the roads and in the fields. Armored units, be aware of recently disturbed earth." Jace answered and ordered as he powered his rifle slightly while aiming at a piece of disturbed earth.

Bang! BOOM!

The bullet released was not enough to warrant a cool down period. But it hit the disturbed earth which triggered the hidden explosive that Jace had suspected was there. Shrapnel, flames, and dirt were thrown up into the air. Which should have made spotting the moment he fired impossible.

Ping!

But this time a bullet barely deflected off the side of his helmet. He ducked back down and clicked his tongue in annoyance. This time the bullet did not come from the wall. He was watching that way. Roughly from the trajectory it appeared that the bullet came from one of the abandoned farm houses before the wall.

"In addition there is at least one talented sniper among them." Jace informed them. "What did you get from the scan?"

"There are multiple electromagnetic anomalies that read as something similar to a Kin. But none of them are over large cities. Only over small settlements located throughout an island chain and along the coasts of other continents. What should we do?" Solisa asked as Jace could hear a thumping sound and looked over the crest of the hill again for a moment and saw several metal objects flying high into the air on a trajectory towards his position.

"Contact the Kin, with our agreement this falls into their category of possibly sentient electrical life. They have to send a representative. For now we are going to have to adapt our plan to avoid those locations and assume all Sirens are deceased since they evolved to resist hive minds like those things." Jace declared as he aimed up and fired a few shells into the air. The bullets arced quickly and slammed into the sides of the projectiles.

Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom! Bang! Boom!

Each shot was followed by an explosion as the artillery shells detonated in the air. The shells exploded outward and created an area of flaming shrapnel and air as the remains fell to the ground. Those shells were clearly designed as incendiary rounds that would cover an area with flames. But because of Jace they detonated early and landed just outside of the walls.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! CRACK!

The flaming debris landed on the ground and covered a large area, in doing so several of the hidden landmines detonated and exploded. Sending plumes of dirt, fire, and shrapnel into the air. None of them were close enough to the wall to leave damage. But after all three detonated at once there was a loud crack followed by the ground itself splitting open slowly while the ground shook.

"Command, Armored Tiger Unit one just felt an earthquake." One of the armored unit commanders reported almost immediately.

"Armored Tiger Unit two felt the same." The second one confirmed.

"Same here." The third one confirmed.

Jace could feel the ground start to settle as a new gash through the ground cut through the ground just off the side of the road. That would actually make this more difficult. "Yeah, they accidentally set off a chain reaction that just split the ground open. There is possibly a dormant volcano located under the ground."

"I have already sent a request for a Kin representative to be sent to investigate. They answered immediately with a positive response." Solisa began, "the armored units have equipment to check for an underground volcano. It looks like the earthquake was localized to your area only."

"That is good." Jace sighed. "But the result is bad."

Whoosh!

A bullet passed by his head so he ducked back down behind the hill and moved to his hover bike. He dematerialized it as he moved his wisp rifle to his back and pulled the grenade launcher off his back. "Also do not underestimate these snipers, they are very tenacious and will shoot at you regardless of cover." He explained.

There were clicks of acknowledgement. "Commander Jace, we are doing another scan in case the earthquake caused any additional changes that might be noticeable or important in regards to conquering the city." Solisa informed him.

Jace stepped over the hill again and aimed before quickly firing out three grenades toward three mines that were in range. He then moved back down the heel quickly. Hearing the whistle of a bullet fly over his head. Even while invisible it appears that they have a way to zero in on his location. He was almost impressed.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

It sounded like all three of the mines he aimed at were set off. He slowly jogged behind the hill as he added three additional grenades from his satchel into the launcher. He moved to the top of the hill he was passing behind and fired two quick shots. Then moved back down the hill before switching directions.

BOOM! BOOM! KA-BOOM!

The first two explosions were expected as the grenades hit the mines and they detonated. But the third was a ground shaking explosion that rocked the ground. He moved to the crest of the hill and flinched as the smell hit him. It was a sharp smell that hit him mixed with the burning of wood. He almost immediately sealed his armor up as he watched a patch of farmland burn with a bright blue flame.

It appeared that a mine was located over a sulfur deposit and the explosion not only exposed it. It also set the deposit on fire. He fired two more grenades before ducking back down behind the hill and making his way to the road that leads into the city.

"Commander Jace, we just picked up a large heat source near your vicinity." Solisa pointed out quickly.

BOOM! BOOM!

"That is correct." Jace chuckled. "It looks like they set up a mine on a sulfur deposit. I was setting off the mines and it lit the deposit up. I am sure it will burn out eventually. All Armored units in the vicinity should keep their armor sealed once you get close enough."