Fireteam Odium

by EchoTheFloof

9) Retreat

“Kalis! Get up, we have to move!”

The Hunter grunted and forced herself back to her feet. The drain on her light was heavy on her mind, but she pushed them feeling to the back of her mind. There was something more important to worry about.

“Ghost? Which way to the holding cells?” Kalis asked.

“Marked on your tracker. We may want to go now...”

A small white triangle appeared on her motion tracker, pointing away from the swarm of Cabal that was charging down on them. She started to run in the direction shown, Cobalt following closely. They passed various squads of Cabal that had been moving to aid the first group, adding them to the horde of hostiles that were bearing down on them.

After two minutes of running, taking detours to avoid larger groups, they came across the holding room for the ponies they noticed before. As soon as they entered they got to work. Kalis' Ghost moved over to the door panel and gave the command to lock it down. As he did that, Kalis had been working on increasing the time it would take for the Cabal to storm the room. She set a smoke grenade and a tripmine on either side of the doorway, both of them giving a beep to confirm thei activation.

Meanwhile, Cobalt had been searching each of the cells for a soldier. All of the ponies that had been captured were unicorns, and while that did cause him some worry, he kept going until he found one he recognised.

“Hey, Ghost! I need you over here,” He called out, the little machine flying over through the cell blocks as quickly as he could.

The unicorn Cobalt had seen looked exhausted. Rings under her eyes showed her lack of sleep and her white fur was covered in a black slime.

When the pony noticed the newcomers, her eyes widened, “A-are you here to save us?” She asked.

“We are, but we need your help. The monsters are on their way and when they get in here there is going to be a bloodbath. We need you to go gather every soldier you can find and cast a mass teleport. When you get everyone to the surface run for the camp that has been set up not too far from this carrier. There will be ponies there that can help you all.”

The pony gave a nod and stood up, her legs wobbling slightly.

“Ghost, can you open this cage?” Cobalt asked.

“I can. I will follow this pony and open the cages she points out. Good luck, I think you may need it.”

“Thanks.”

As the pony and the Ghost left, he started to hear shouts coming from the door they entered. He ran around the blocks to find Kalis fighting off a line of Cabal that had broken through the door. The doorway was shrouded in a dark smoke that seemed to corrode their armour as they passed through it.

“You got what you needed?” Kalis called out over the gunfire.

“Yeah! Your Ghost is going to help a soldier I just found. When the ponies are out of here I have no issues with getting out ourselves.”

The Hunter didn't respond, choosing to go back to firing upon the open doorway. The Cabal appeared to be learning that trying to get through that way was a bad idea and a few of them had tried alternate ways of getting in, mostly via a thinner wall.

As he waited, Cobalt moved back behind one of the nearby blocks to keep away from the firepower being hurled into the room. By doing so, however, he came into the line of sight with a row of desperate prisoners.

“Please! Help us!”

“What are you doing? Get us out of here!”

“I just want to go home!”

Cries for aid were common as he waited, but he ignored them all. They would be freed in time, and his job wasn't to calm civilians. A couple of minutes later, the fighting was beginning to diminish and ponies around him were being teleported from the ship one after another. When the last of the block he was near left the carrier he turned the corner to find Kalis kneeling, her weapon in one hand and her other arm covering her chest.

He ran over to her, fearing the worst, but she pushed him back when he got close, “I'm fine, just get to safety. Still a few left...” She said, turning her weapon back towards the hole in the wall that had been made near the start of the conflict.

The pony took one look at the Hunter before nodding slightly and backing off, giving her the space she needed. When he was out of the conflict, she stood tall and put both hands on her weapon, revealing the damage dealt to her chest. There was a gaping hole there but no blood. Instead, a dark fluid seeped out and sparks flew from what appeared to be her mechanical insides.

“C'mon you fucks,” She muttered, putting one leg back and taking aim. As the final Cabal squad pushed into the room, a successive seven explosions could be heard. Each time her weapon went off, another soldier fell, leaving nothing but corpses when the weapon clicked.

“Have the prisoners been evacuated?” She asked, loading a new cylinder into the weapon's chamber.

“They should have by now. Your Ghost went to aid the soldier in getting the ponies out.” Cobalt replied.

Kalis grunted at that, “Ghost, you there?”

Her little companion appeared from around a corner when she called out, flying over to her chest and assessing the damage.

“You really should be more careful,” He said as he shone a light over the hole. The blue glow rebuilt the lost metal and broken wiring, leaving the wound as if it never happened.

“Not important right now. You got the others out?” Kalis dismissed.

“Yeah, we are the only ones left here that aren't Cabal. Though, how are we going to leave?”

“Well firstly we need to find transport. Where is the nearest hangar?”

“Not too far, but we will have to go through a variety of corridors to reach it.”

Kalis nodded and started to walk away from the hole, towards the broken doorway.

“Could you mark it?” She asked.

The Ghost made himself invisible before given his response, “It's waypointed. Hope you have a plan by the time we arrive.”

“As do I,” The Hunter said.

- - -

“Well shit,”

Exodus gave a sharp look at Kervis, “You really shouldn't speak like that when we are near royalty...” He remarked.

“Since when did you start caring about social etiquette? Regardless, we need to help them.” Kervis said in response, backing away from the holographic screen.

“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Exodus asked, “I don't know if you noticed, but there is a legion of Cabal up there and only two guardian ships.”

“Well we have to come up with something, we nearly lost Kalis during that fight.”

The silence that followed that was almost unnerving to the Titan, but it was broken before it could become awkward.

“Maybe we can help,”

The pony that had spoken was the purple one that Exodus had mentioned during a previous conversation they had. She had both wings and a horn, and while Kervis couldn't fully understand the social placings of each pony, he assumed that having them both was a big deal.

“If you have any ideas, go ahead and tell 'em.” Kervis said, sitting on one of the stools.

“Well, you said that there was a lot of those things up there, what if they couldn't see you?”

Kervis gave a glance at Exodus before turning back to the pony, “You have a way of making us invisible?”

“In theory, yes. It would have a duration that depended on the size of the object and how far it was from the caster, but I could make one of your craft invisible for a time.”

The Titan hummed in thought, “Any idea how long it would last on my ship?”

“From the small amount of time I've seen it, I would say maybe ten minutes. If you aren't flying fast, fifteen.”

“Good enough. Exodus, you coming with me?”

“You think I'm just gonna sit back here? Let's get up there.”

With a plan hastily set, the trio exited the tent, the pony's friends following closely. When they had gone a sufficient distance, Kervis' Ghost brought his ship down to ground level, allowing it to hover a few feet above the grass. The ponies that hadn't yet seen his ship felt their jaws drop at the sight. The sweeping glow of the wings were stunning in the darkness, the lights easily being able to illuminate the surrounding area.

“When we get aboard, I'm gonna need you to do your thing. We don't have much time.” Kervis said to the purple pony.

She lit her horn up in response, smiling up at the human, “Don't worry about that, you just worry about getting them out of there.”

Kervis turned to the Warlock beside him, “You good?”

“More than ever,”

“Then let's do this.”

- - -

“Hangar isn't far now,” Kalis' Ghost commented, guiding her through the winding corridors, “Just a few more doors.”

“When we get in there, do you think there will be any ships?” Kalis asked.

“Unlikely, but I'm sure we will find something we can use. Even if we have to improvise a bit.”

They continued to run in silence after that. Cobalt's training allowed him to keep going for some time before showing signs of fatigue, which surprised the guardian as she had expected him to slow after a few corridors.

It wasn't long before they reached a larger door, Kalis' Ghost immediately getting to work opening it. As he worked, the other two turned to face the corridor they had just passed through. It seemed that their defence of the prison had left the Cabal running, but Kalis knew better than to assume they had given up.

A series of clicks brought their attention to the doorway. It opened with very little noise, revealing a huge room filled with crates and machinery.

“Ghost? Anything?” Kalis asked as she began scanning the room or hostiles.

“No immediate sign of ships, but I'll keep looking.”

“Keep it quick, this feels like a trap.”

The Ghost flew off to find something they could use, leaving Kalis and Cobalt to their own devices. Kalis had drawn her sniper, taking aim and searching the room for signs of movement. Cobalt, meanwhile, had started looking around in the crates for something useful. Much of their contents was far beyond him, but he hoped he could find something at the very least.

After just a few moments of this, sounds started to filter from the nearby corridors. And none of them sounded friendly.

“Ghost, you better have something. We're about to have company.” Kalis called out, looking around at the various doorways.

“I found something, but it's not going to get us out of here.”

“What is it?” The Hunter questioned, turning back to her Ghost. When her focus switched she noticed movement to her right and swung her rifle towards it. There, coming out of the ground, was a Goliath. Its plating shone in the lighting, showing that the tank was a fairly new construction.

“This was waiting deployment in the assault but never got used. It's still loaded but there isn't any fuel inside its engines.” The Ghost explained.

“Can you get it to fire?”

“I should be able to, you may want to take cover.”

Kalis grunted and grabbed Cobalt, pulling him behind the Goliath. As they ducked down, they could hear the systems on board the tank fire up, the weapons clicking from their safeties.

“We've only got a few seconds before they arrive. You two ready?” The Ghost asked.

“Ready as we'll ever be,”

Her Ghost didn't have to time say any more, as the Cabal stormed through the door into the hangar. The Goliath's main cannon quickly spun to aim at a large cluster of Cabal soldiers, and the fight began once more.

The cannon fired after a short charge, the round evaporating the soldiers with ease. As soon as that squad had been eliminated, the gun turned to face the next squad. It repeated this for a while, sometimes firing countermeasures if they got too close to the vehicle. But regardless of how much firepower the Ghost used, he knew it wouldn't be enough to keep going. The ammunition stored within the Goliath was running thin and he had to slow to pick his targets more effectively, thereby allowing the Cabal to draw closer.

“Kalis, we have a situation over here,” He called out.

“I noticed. You got any ideas?” She responded.

“Not really, there isn't any ships in this hangar, and it doesn't look like they are going to stop any-”

He was cut off by a familiar sound, one that instantly gave both Kalis and the Ghost hope.

“No fucking way,”

On the other side of the room, a huge explosion went off, sending debris across the room. As the dust settled, two figures stood there, both of them bipedal. One was holding a hammer surrounded with solar energy, the other was hovering off of the ground, electricity channelling over his body and arcing between his hands.

The Cabal had seen this aswell, and they shifted their attention to attack the more obvious threat. A new storm of bullets sailed towards the newcomers, but were ignored by the one holding the hammer. Instead, the levitating one threw his hands forward, the electricity easily chaining to the fragile rounds and destroying them before they could connect.

The one with the hammer had began moving towards the tank that Kalis was taking cover behind. The few soldiers that managed to get close to him were slammed back by the Titan with enough force to disintegrate them.

“Heard you needed some help,” The Titan said when he reached her, putting a hand forward to help her up off of the ground.

“Kervis... how did you two even get here?” Kalis asked in bewilderment.

“We'll explain it later, right now we need to get out of here.”

Kalis gave a sigh and took his hand, accepting the help to get up. When they were standing, Exodus came over to join them. He was still levitating in Stormtrance, the lighting circling below him.

“Good to see you,” He said, “Did you get what you needed?”

“I really hope so, we can have a look at it when we get back.”

The Cabal soldiers had backed off, but were still firing upon the tank. Any of them that moved to flank were cut down by lightning before they could do any damage. It seemed like an easy escape, but as usual for Odium, it wasn't going to be the case for long.

- - -

Val Thovog was angry. Beyond angry even, he was furious. He was eating in the mess hall when he got the report that a guardian had infiltrated the carrier and had killed hundreds of crew, and he had gone straight to the armoury, leaving the last of his food.

The humans had caused nothing but trouble for the Cabal. Thovog was honestly surprised that the emperor hadn't launched an attack on the City sooner, but at least the plans were there now.

“Sir!” A legionary called out, “Two more guardians have breached the hangar and are laying waste to the troops we sent!”

The Val roared in anger and stormed forward, ignoring the calls from the lower ranking soldiers around him. He was armed with a Heavy Slug Thrower and a unique weapon on his back. It was a prototype shockwave generator, built using some Vex Hydra technology. It was capable to slamming anything not nailed to the ground hundreds of feet away, and the Flayers were hoping to make one that killed anything it hit outright.

As he got closer to the hangar entrance, the sounds of gunfire and explosions filled his ears. But before he could open the door, a voice stopped him.

“Thovog, stop.”

He turned to face the voice, and when he recognised the speaker he dropped to a bow.

“Primus, what do you request of me?”

The Primus was dressed in his combat armour, some of the heaviest in the empire. Each plate was almost a foot thick, giving him a bulky and intimidating look. On top of that, he was also twice as tall the the Val, standing at 24 feet tall.

“Slow down, and calm your mind.” He said to the Val, “If you go in there with anger clouding your judgement, you cannot hope to win.”

“Of course, I apologise, I should have realised this.”

“You are young, I can't expect you to be perfect. You have killed guardians before with great skill, and you can do it again. Now take a deep breath and cleanse your thoughts of this rage. Only then will you see the way forward.”

Thovog simply nodded, still in his bow. What the Primus had said meant a lot to the Val, as he had a tendency to go into battles with a blinding rage. Having that advice there helped him to remain calm about the situation.

“I assume you have remembered the lessons we gave you?” His leader asked.

“Yes, Primus. I have remembered all that I was taught.”

“Then go, you know what you need to do.”

The sounds of heavy footsteps rang out as the Primus left the Val to do his job. Thovog stood when his leader was out of sight, turning back to the door.

“Open it.” He commanded the Psion that was manning the controls. It gave a confirmation and punched in a code, causing the door's locks to spin and release.

When the door opened, there was chaos. A Warlock was using its Arc attacks to decimate anything that got close while a Titan threw its solar hammers from a distance, each impact killing off squad after squad of legionaries and psions.

There was a Hunter taking cover aswell, though it didn't seem to be fighting back. Instead, it stayed close to the animal beside it, shielding it from any stray shots that came near to hitting them.

Thovog grunted and pushed forward, stepping over the corpses of the soldiers that didn't make it. As he got closer, the guardians noticed his presence and switched their focus to hit him instead. Thankfully, however, his armour was more than enough to hold back the force of the light being thrown at him.

While he walked, he kept his weapon pointed away from the team of intruders. He didn't want them to think he was here to kill them, especially if the Primus' plan was to be used effectively.

When he got close to the Goliath they were pinned behind, he stopped. The guardians seemed to have noticed his lack of reaction and had ceased their attacks.

“-Humans-,” Thovog said in their language, his lessons kicking in, “-You have killed many of us today, but our Primus is willing to come to a conclusion that does not end with more bloodshed.-”

The humans looked at each other in confusion, they clearly understood him, much to the Val's relief, but it didn't seem like they knew what to say.

“-We have no business dealing with you. Nor do we have any desire to kill more than we have to. The Primus is aware of the information you hold, but in a motion of good will, wants to allow you to keep it. Perhaps if you understood why we are here, you may think otherwise about attempting to stop us.-”

The Warlock moved forward, its electricity still covering it, “-You are letting us go?-” It asked.

“-We are. This certainly isn't over, as the hundreds of Cabal deaths will have to be accounted for, but for now, you are free to leave. Our ships will not follow you.-”

The guardians gave him another look over before slowly moving towards the hole in the wall on the other end of the room. Thovog was happy that they had made the right decision, but almost disappointed at the lack of fighting he was allowed to do. It had been a long time since his last real fight, maybe he could join in the next-

“The specimens! They have been released!”

The Val whirled to face the Cabal that had spoken. A Centurion stood near the door leading to the prison block, an obvious pant in his voice.

“What!? Who released them?” Thovog shouted back.

“Them!” The Centurion called, pointing to the four intruders that had stopped to listen to the conversation.

Thovog tightened his grip on the Slug Thrower in his hands, desperately trying to keep his anger at bay. Those animals were going to be used to get the legion back home. Without them, they wouldn't be able to see their families, and that pissed him off. Years of researched and development were now being jeopardised by this single team of humans.

Try as he might, however, his anger rose to the limit. In a daze, he looked over the humans, a piercing glare directed at them from behind his helmet.

“-Is... Is this true? You released the captives?-” He asked them. He could feel the metal on the handles of his weapon beginning to strain with the pressure he was giving it.

“-Of course we did, you had no right to keep them there.-” The Hunter replied, aiming her weapon at him.

That was the last straw. Because of these intruders, he may never get to see his family, his friends, his home. With an ear shattering roar, he raised his gun and slammed the safety off, allowing the barrel to begin its spin cycle. He felt nothing but hatred as he pushed the three buttons on the handle of the gun, hurling huge rounds toward the humans in a continuous stream.

They were quick to dodge out of the way, moving much faster now to the hole. But the Val was unrelenting. When they reached the hole, the ducked behind the walls, out of the firing line of his weapon. He breathlessly deactivated the Slug Thrower's spin cycle, its safety automatically switching to its 'On' position.

“Val Thovog!” A new voice called out, one that turned his blood cold. The Primus was standing in the hangar bay, looking at him with his arms crossed.

“Come with me. Now.”

Author's Note:

Exposition chapter coming up!

Hope you all enjoyed this, me and Never_Comfortable have been working hard lately ^^

Feedback is always appreciated

Group link: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/212310/odium

Comments

[ChromeShield]

8191087 It makes sense actually. You can't build an interstellar empire off of sheer brute force. Sometimes you have to use other tactics.

[EchoTheFloof]

8199466 thankies

[EchoTheFloof]

8201848 Happy to know you like it . The swearing is more used to give them character. Having them all be practical saints is honestly unrealistic, especially when we are talking about beings from a world that is constantly at war. Only Kalis really swears in the story, though others do from time to time.

If you need to know anything feel free to message me. I would be happy to explain anything that doesn't give the plot away.