Free Star Force: Bloodlust (SF54) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

have time to concentrate enough to put it to sleep, so she just stunned
it enough to jump off its back and Jumat blast her way through the Hobbits
escorting it as they opened up on her weak shields with their plasma.
    Knocking them askew she ran off to the nearest corner,
getting around it and out of firing range as she kicked in her powered setting
and ran as fast as she could as more tiny soldiers and their ugly elephant-sized
overlords kept popping up into view wherever she fled.

 
 
    7

 
 
    “Damn it,” Kev-10001 said, resisting the urge to punch
the control sphere he was holding onto as he oversaw the planetary operations
from orbit. He had 6 Warship- class
jumpships contending with the Skarron fleet and guarding the cargo ships that
had brought the troops in. He would have dismissed them to an obscure part of
the system for safe keeping except that he couldn’t spare a single ship to go
with them as escort plus some of them still had troops onboard.
    There were also Axius and Canderous warships in system
but the bulk of their naval force, some 62%, were Scionate…all of which were
pulling out of the fight to screen for their own transports that were picking
up their ground troops and leaving the system. The Skarrons had obviously seen
this and were pressing their attack, and the ranger didn’t have enough ships
left to hold them back for long. As it was he was sacrificing some of his
drones just to buy time to recall their own ground troops from the most
dangerous planetary zones, with those in somewhat secure ones packing up to
leave as well.
    They couldn’t continue the assault without the
Scionate for they just didn’t have the numbers, and anyone left down on the
planet was going to be in a world of hurt…meaning he had to get them out before
they were overrun in orbit and the logistics weren’t in their favor. He knew he
couldn’t get them all out and it was the Scionate’s damn fault. If they’d just
given him a 10 minute heads up that would have been something, but they hadn’t
offered a peep of warning or explanation over the comms. They just up and
started to leave, without him or anyone else realizing what was going on until
several of their positions on the ground started to collapse as the Skarrons
poured through the positions the Scionate had been holding.
    The Scionate in Axius weren’t going with them, they
were sticking with their units and they knew nothing about what was going on,
but as glad as he was for them not abandoning ship it didn’t matter much at
this point. Star Force was in full retreat now and losing men in the effort,
which Kev was trying to minimize.
    Worse yet Morgan was still down there, but she’d
ordered him not to waste a dropship on her. He knew he just couldn’t leave her
down there, but when it came to picking up 50 some commandos or her, he gave
the trailblazer better odds at surviving another hour. But it wasn’t just her.
Pretty soon he was going to lose control of orbit and there would be no more
dropships heading down to the surface…and they had tens of thousands of troops
down there.
    Focusing on the task at hand he kept sending out Ikrid
orders through the control sphere, taking personal control of the naval battle
while tweaking ground movements…anything he could to make a difference, and
there was no time to plan. They were already in over their heads and every
second counted, so he didn’t waste time venting and worked the problem even as
the dread in his gut began to grow as he noticed the casualty reports coming in
on a side screen.

 
    Morgan dropped from the rooftop, falling through a few
meters of clean air before landing in the vegetation at the outpost’s edge. She
hit hard, her jump pack now gone and discarded as it had been shot and damaged.
Her feet twisted as they hit the straw-like stalks and she came down on her
shoulder, jarring herself as she bounced around a bit inside her armor, but
between the thin gel layer and the