Free Star Force: Evacuation (SF50) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

were released, with him
waiting a few moments longer before his shield disappeared and he dropped
through the square and into freefall.
    The 8 foot tall Voku cushioned the drop using his
flight harness, coming down onto the dirt and rock-strewn ground in a crouch as
two others fell beside him. One was a skirmisher like himself, while the other
was wearing the exoskeletal heavy weapons they were meant to escort to the
target…which in this case was an enemy walker with infantry support that was
pushing towards one of the Human positions where their infantry was guarding
the coastline.
    The Star Force mechs were elsewhere, dealing with
larger threats and the Nestafar were trying to slip one of their own through a
weak spot in the perimeter, yet it was far enough away from their massive
dropship to be out of its weapon range. Those closer positions were reserved
for the dozens of transports coming down and parking near the water’s edge and
extending pylons out into the depths to facilitate the transfer of evacuees…and
this walker was heading for the nearest of them.
    The Voku transport had put them down behind the enemy
grouping, with the leading elements already engaging the Humans and the
four-legged machine blanketing the area ahead with plasma that the Humans were having to evade while effectively chewing up the enemy infantry.
As soon as Ker-shat   got to his feet he
and the other two Voku began to run, then they leapt forward and flew some 80
meters before landing again and running some more. They repeated this process
three times before coming up on the rearmost infantry, with the Voku leaping up
again and grabbing one of the flying Nestafar by the neck from behind.
    He dragged it to the ground with him, placing a
killing shot to the back of its neck from the blaster gauntlet that he wore
attached to his forearm then discarding the body as he landed and ran forward.
Meanwhile his double did likewise, rising up as he fell as both of the
skirmishers paved the way for the slightly slower moving teammate coming up
from behind as he refrained from firing so as to give the skirmishers more of a
surprise factor…though his sights were set dead center on the walker ahead.
    Ker-shat was wearing very little, as was Voku custom.
His black body was covered by an equally black and flexible skin-tight sheath
that provided a bit of armor value against abrasions and weaponsfire, but in
order to preserve his agility the bulk of his defense came in the form of a
pair of shield generators housed in solid strips along the outside of each hip.
One was an energy shield, in that it repelled all energy while making an exclusion for his own weapons. It operated like a bubble
surrounding him and anyone he kept close, with him able to adjust the size with
a simple touch to the control interface he was wearing.
    The second shield was the more complex, for it was
anti-ballistic and also encompassed him in a sphere of protection. The delicate
nature of the construction only blocked fast moving objects, allowing Ker-shat
to interact with his environment as if the shield was not even there…but it
was, with a matrix structured in a way not to oppose normal movements. Or
rather, technically it opposed everything, just at such a low level that it
wasn’t detectable. When sufficient momentum hit the shield matrix it caught and
caused a chain reaction that intensified the resistance, much like trying to
walk through water.
    Move slowly and you have little trouble, try and go
fast and you essentially run into a brick wall. It was a crude metaphor but
essentially correct, though the seamless integration with Ker- shat’s combat made it appear almost magical. The only other
things he wore were the gauntlets on his forearms, both weapons and comm gear
integrated into a single unit. Other than that it was just his muscle and skill
guiding him into combat with a fluid grace.
    His flight harness was part of the shield struts
attached to his legs and