"Hotchkins! Ammo here!" Yells the old captain of bunkguard.
"Moving up!" Answers his worn down machine gunner.
But their medic notices the real threat, an enemy demolitionist. "Incoming! Ten o'clock!"
Before the young gunner finishes his dash for ammo and cover he and his captain are blown up by an overcharged plasma grenade thrown by one of the attacking EXTERAs, bipedal alien creatures utilizing a wide array of exoskeletons in battle. Their hunched over torsos and muti-jointed lower limbs make them rather menacing and their 'arms', made of their four upper limbs, allow them to carry quite the weaponry.
"Sigma Six needs help on the right side. Heavy guns pushing in!"
"Roger that sigma, will send Delta Four to your position."
"HQ, this is Midguard, defenses are holding but the enemy is getting more cocky."
The chatter was all the same. The bunker guards were all barely holding their ground and when the enemy regrouped and pushed… the defense line got a lot smaller.
Again and again.
For seventeen hours now.
But we have to hold out as long as we can because behind us is a complex full of defenseless civis.
"Railgun squad, concentrate fire upon designated target, suppression fire from the emplacements now, go!" My captain led us well, at the right moment he had us use the right tools but that just wasn't enough.
As I brace my railgun I can feel the heat coming off of it when the shot is charging. Many would stay in cover until reaching full charge but our squad knew better. If you release your shot at just the right moment it is guaranteed to penetrate even the hardest of xeno armor plates.
The xenos have figured out that if they send a vanguard to suppress us and a heavy unit to blow up the barricade when close enough we can't quite stop them.
But we try anyway.
Our designated target was the heavy unit, a hulking behemoth standing at five meters height and capable of mounting cannons onto its heavy exoskeleton.
Its helmet is rather durable but one of the three main joints in its legs can be blow off rather easily and immobilizing it is all we need right now.
"Fire at will!" Captain Calliopé orders us.
And fire we do, after unleashing our railguns in a thunderous salve the behemoth's legs fall apart and it collapses, leaving it unable to properly aim at the structural weaknesses of our defense barricades.
But our emplacements got shot up by the vanguard and so did two of my squadmates.
Although the xeno weaponry is energy based their weapons still leave us with damage other than burning since even if we're lucky and our armor absorbs most of the heat, the punch still gets to us through the composite.
I crouch behind the metal barricade and start unwrapping their armor to see if the shots got through.
When I tear away Jonah's chestpiece I can see just how bad it really is, his chest it all burned up and at least three of his ribs seem to be broken, nothing I can't help him get through and so I move onto my second comrade.
Which is when I realize I forgot something crucial. I was so concentrated on saving my battle brothers that I completely ignored the comms.
"Alcatraz! Your ri-" But before Captain C finishes that I am brought back into full attention by the hulking xeno.
They must've breached the line just to get us! I think to myself while I reach for my backup pistol.
But before I, my squadmates or the xeno can do anything a single shots hits the xeno's helmet.
Not a railgun, nor a guard's rifle but a shot that came straight through the xeno skull, hell, it down right tore a hole in it.
And it came from a soldier unlike I've ever seen. Black hulking mass of metal with blue lights and a distinctively human proportions. Except those proportions are all an equal part larger than your standard homo sapiens sapiens.
A damn lot bigger.
The warrior slides down the slope on which we built our last line of defense and comes to a full stop right next to me. In one fluid motion he puts down a small circular device which turns out to be a shield generator.
A shield that catches a lot of xeno shots that would end me and my company were it not there.
His outstretched, heavily armored and presumably mostly mechanical arm is what wakes me up from my trance. I accept the invitation to fight on for my life and for the lives of my friends, family and everyone I swore to protect.
In the mere moments that I spent to look after my comrades it seems the xenos made their move. A swarm now approaching us. A final attack it seems. A push to destroy us…
But I fire without hesitation, as does the armored man and side by side fire at the enemy, with each shot another one falls. Although his rifle fires a lot faster than my railgun it is just as strong, if not stronger, and each shot lands perfectly.
Even when there is so many we are somehow holding the line, as is our duty. When I look around I can see just why that is so. Not just one, but at least six more barriers similar to the one I stand behind are now deployed all over our defense line. And in the midst of the xenos, more armored warriors.
One quick and lean. Deftly dodging the enemy and cutting them down one by one with her smg and dagger.
One strong a tall. Takin' on the fire and returning shots that can only be described as plasma buckshot, however impossible that is.
And when I turn my head around I see the final one, a shadow standing atop the hill, holding a rifle of a size akin to that of a cannon.
And she shoots with unimaginable precision.
I also notice something awe inspiring. The worn down guards and broken travelers caught in this skirmish. They are all getting up even if badly wounded and are fighting on. Those mysterious soldiers were the spark that set off the remaining hope and courage in all of those people. Including me.
Of course, them taking on most of the enemy fire, be it through their barriers or armor, and the fact that their weaponry is moving down the enemy also helps the others to get up and fight again.
František Preissler