Free Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates by Timothy Ellis

becoming increasingly more difficult for them to
shoot without risking hitting a friendly.
    I cut down the next nearest enemy, and kept
moving, now behind the enemy line. A pulse came in at me and I idly flicked the
sword at it. The pulse bounced away. I hadn't known the sword could do that,
but now I did, I paid more attention to protecting myself as I moved between
targets.
    "Let me at em," screamed Grace
from above us, as eight Dropships came down, and began firing Meson's into the
now massing enemy troops around each team cluster. The turrets appeared to be
manned, so I assumed some of my pilots had decided to join the fun.
    The suit in front of me paused to look up
at the Dropships, and his head went rolling in the direction he'd been looking.
I kept moving.
    The outer suit shredded again, and the
third armband on the left arm took its place. I hardly noticed the change this
time, still moving, cutting, jumping, and cutting again.
    Gunbus roared past above me, on her way up
with her load of civvies. Unthinkable was close behind, but further away. Camel
lifted last, but instead of heading upwards, took on an angle which brought her
front weapons into play. A torpedo launched downward, and a combat suit positioning
a Meson Blaster tripod, became a hole in the ground.
    My moments of inattention allowed a group
of three combat suits to approach me. There were only four of Jane's suits
around me now, with no idea of where the others had gone, and two each moved to
take the outsiders, as I brought my sword up to take the middle suit. Cut,
slice, swipe, rinse and repeat. We moved on.
    "Anyone with less than fifty percent
suit integrity," bellowed Jack, "fall behind someone with more, and
fire over them."
    On my HUD, the teams reformed. I noticed
each team had a giant suit now, each one forming the front point of the
defensive wedges, their guns damagingly effective when they hit. The Dropships
were now over each team, firing down on the slowly thinning ranks of enemy
suits.
    My third outer suit shredded, and the first
armband on the right shifted.
    On and on the fighting went. My mind began
to wander, as the body kept on fighting. This must have been what it was like
on the old battlefields where swords were the main weapon, and guns were of
limited use in close quarters. No matter how good you were, fatigue set in
eventually, and I was starting to feel it, even with the mechanical boosting.
    I was getting close to my own troops now,
close enough to notice some in the middle no longer wearing combat suits, with
the others trying to protect them from hits.
    "Dropships land," I yelled over
the general combat babble. "Evac everyone except those still in full
fighting condition."
    I heard Grace acknowledge, and Jack give
orders. I continued to hack down enemy suits, as nearly three quarters of the
teams dived on board the Dropships, some leaving their combat suits behind.
    The rest of them, including all the giant
suits, came together in a single firing line. Each giant suit picked its own
target, while the remainder of the combat suits all shot at the same target
together.
    Jane and I continued to engage the suits
continuing to come at me, as I worked my way across the back of the remaining
lines of enemy suits.
    "Jon," said Jane, "Its
almost equal numbers now, and they've stopped advancing. We have two stable
lines now, firing at each other."
    "Who’s senior on the ground?" I bellowed.
    "Us," said the twins.
    "Pick them off from the left, I've got
the right."
    "Right."
    "I said left."
    "Left, right!"
    My line all fired at three targets down the
left of the enemy line, and I rushed the enemy suit on the right end.
    We moved in towards the center.
    Fire picked off the second last one, while
I hacked down the last.
    I stood there for a moment, fighting
exhaustion.
    It started to rain.
    Actual water this time.
     

Eleven
     
    I looked around me. Broken suits littered
the ground for hundreds of meters in all directions, with holes