Free Star Force: Newbslayer (SF64) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

hole in the
window with Levi yanking her across the gap with another repulsor conduit. Without the telekinetic boost she fell short, but her padawan’s invisible rope swung her against the building
three levels below. She crunched her legs up on impact, softening the thud she
made when her boots hit, then walked up the wall and onto the roof with Levi’s
help.
    The pair took off running for the far side and began
an equally quiet exodus from the city.

 
 
    7

 
 
    October 12, 2735
    Noop System
    Tieor

 
    Jenna shot one of the Varshoo infantry in the face
with a stun pistol, dropping it to the ground as she ran past and hopped over
the short wall on the perimeter of the park that nestled up against one of the
partially captured cities. Most of the fighting was over, but a full quarter
had still to be pacified. That sort of street and in-building fighting wasn’t
suited to the Skarron walker, so it had been positioned in the park so it could
guard the city against any heavy tank retaliation while intimidating those
within by its mere presence.
    But it wasn’t alone. After the takedown of the other
Skarron walker at the hands of the Marauders, the Varshoo had surrounded their
second key chess piece with an army of tanks and infantry that had not moved
into the city limits. The exterior park sat nestled up against the northern
border and was partially encroached on by a forest, with the city and the
eastern and western approaches covered in wide open grasslands where the walker
had done the majority of its damage against Seriprin’s perimeter defense turrets.
    Right now the Marauders were approaching over land,
but at a considerable distance. Whether the Varshoo were aware of that or not
the Archon didn’t know, but there was no way they could miss the Valeries
streaking over the city and hitting selective targets within, all the while
staying low enough and positioning themselves on the other side of buildings to
keep away from any potential spray from the Type-5. So far it hadn’t responded,
having no real anti-air weaponry of its own, and sat parked in a large picnic
area that was perfectly flat and covered with some type of short, blue grass,
looking like it was a statue that belonged there.
    The tanks ringing it were on the eastern and western
sides, given that those were the overland approaches. The south was the city
where more of their tanks were roaming about and securing those sections they’d
already taken, but the north wasn’t covered by vehicles. There was a decent
amount of infantry spread out there, but it was the Marauder rail gun tanks
that the Varshoo appeared most worried about.
    That left the pair of Archons with a window of
opportunity, if they were fast enough. As Jenna crossed the low wall and
entered the park on the northern border Levi did the same some 400 meters away
to the west, stunning a few infantry as he passed them. Both of them were
running casually towards the south where the walker was, but they accelerated
up to a near sprint as they got into the clear and out on the wide open tracts
of the park that were segmented by rows of trees and clumps of bushes and
ornate flowers.
    Jenna zapped another Varshoo soldier as she ran by,
hitting him at a range of some 20 meters, after which she tucked her pistol
away onto her back rack and just focused on her movement. They weren’t here to
fight it out, despite a long argument she’d had with the merc commander. He seemed to think this was exactly Star Force’s type of work, but
given that he’d quit the military he didn’t get to carry such opinions anymore.
Jenna didn’t mind stunning the Varshoo when she came across them, but she
wasn’t about to start killing them.
    There was a fight here, to be sure, and every fight
was potentially Archon business, but this was one of those times when, in order
to fix the problem at hand, you’d have to fight both sides and take control of
the planet for yourself. That was outside of her