October 7, 2152
Emory sat up slowly from her bed and saw she wasn't the only one waking up. Some people were already dressed for battle while others continued to snore peacefully. She slowly changed into her battle suit and armor before using magik to shape her hair into a thick, long braid. As she pulled on her gauntlets, the siren blew to wake up anyone who wasn't already awake. Once she was completely suited up and ready for battle, she walked to the Command Center to check the latest readings. Clarine met up with her just outside the building while Innes and Nephenee joined them in the first-floor lobby. Besides waving, no one talked or greeted each other since the serious nature of the day kept everyone quiet. Together, they trudged up to the second floor and into the Command Center.
Emory called as soon as they entered the room, "Jask, pull up the latest trajectory and estimated arrival time."
"The ships have split to two different locations which I have called Team A and B," Jask chimed as the screens changed to show the amended paths, "Team A consists of forty carriers and is on a path to deploy troops south of our location. Team B contains the remaining carriers and all the dreadnoughts; however, these ships are bound for north of our location. Both teams are on track to arrive in two hours and thirty minutes."
"It doesn't look like they plan to surround us initially. Once they have a base set up, they're hoping for a pincer attack," Innes commented.
"Then we should consolidate our forces into two groups instead of three," Emory responded firmly, "Jask, send a message to team two and three and have them meet in between the rally points they were originally meeting at."
Clarine pointed on the monitor, "Our main force will be stationed to the south with both Nephenee and I leading the charge. Once we get word that the force from the North is coming, Nephenee will split off to join team one. Innes should move with the ranged group, no matter which battlefield they're at. Any other last-minute adjustments?" The three others shook their heads.
"Let's move out then," Emory ordered, "I only have one rule for today: the four of us must survive. Otherwise, just kick some ass." All of them bumped knuckles before they exited the room and proceeded to their assigned locations. With everyone up and moving, the outpost was filled with anticipation and chaos. Hordes of people were headed out of the outpost but split just outside the walls and turned either left or right. A majority of the soldiers went right, but a lot continued left which made sense since the larger army would be in the south. Emory waved to Clarine and Nephenee as they left but stayed near the entrance as the group of ranged and elite hand-to-hand soldiers continued to grow. Innes stood silently beside Emory because their groups would be working together at the start at least.
Once the frontline combatants left, there were about five thousand hand-to-hand fighters and thirty thousand ranged troops. Emory led the ranged attackers up to the ramparts, allowing them to see several miles ahead of the main army. Since only ten thousand fit in this section of the wall, the rest stood next to the wall behind the defenses. Meanwhile, Innes took the brawlers just past the defenses and told them about the trapped caltrops. While they all waited for the Apleem to arrive, Emory commanded her troops to circulate their magik. Time ticked away at a snail's pace until around an hour had passed when an object began to appear in the sky.
As it got closer, they could all see a massive black ship approaching them. Suddenly five more ships pierced the atmosphere, followed by more than thirty other ships on their tail. When they were full-sized inside the planet's boundaries, the sheer size of them blotted out light from that side. The army didn't even have a chance to gasp as more ships entered from the other side but stayed separate from the first group. Fifty-five ships, forty in the south and fifteen in the north, hovered ominously a couple miles above the ground, sending a chill through the entire human army except one. Emory stood trembling as an orb formed in one of her palms while waves of magik pulsed off her body. She extended her hand towards the ships with her golden eyes locked on one in particular. She roared with such force that the troops near her dropped to their knees, "This is your only chance to retreat! Leave now and never return!"
"Emory, I've detected landing maneuvers for the ten dreadnoughts," Jask beeped on her wrist, "It doesn't appear they are backing down."
In an instant, a beam erupted from the orb in her hand like a two-mile-long sword. With a vicious flick of her wrist, the beam sword bisected one of the forty carriers in half like a hot blade through butter which exploded gloriously. Even the army had no words for the amount of destruction Emory had done in a single action. In response, hundreds of cruisers burst from the other carriers, blotting out the sky like a swarm of locusts. They quickly landed on the ground about a mile south of the army and released the plague of Apleem aboard their ships. From the initial drop-off, it looked like there were about five Mantoan for every Uthid; however, Mantoan and Uthid that exited the ships were covered in black armor,
When they had met the Apleem before, the Uthid commander was the only one in some kind of armor and certainly not the plate and chain armor before them now. As they were forming into lines and groups, Emory quickly released her magik, allowing it to link to the couple hundred of troops around her. Once she did, she created ten small orbs above her head and gestured for the rest of the group to do the same. Though they couldn't create as many orbs as she could, all the ranged attackers quickly generated orbs as well. When the Apleem started to move towards the main army, Emory's group released a volley of bolts towards the enemy. If they hit an exposed part of the Mantoan's body or the head, the bolt would gouge a baseball-sized hole in the enemy, killing or crippling the Mantoan instantly. However, if it hit the armor, it would only punch a hole through the armor and crack the exoskeleton. It was worse if they hit a Uthid because most of the exposed shots only cracked their shell while hits on the armor only destroyed the armor and barely scratched their carapace. Though, with her control and effective sphere level, all of the orbs from Emory landed fatal blows.
Even as they continued to hurl volleys, the Apleem stomped onwards, over or through the bodies of their fallen comrades. When the Apleem were only three hundred feet away from the army, the ranged division had taken out about one percent of the enemy. Emory told the ranged group to continue firing torrents of attacks at the back of the opposing army while she grew her magik wings. Causing a cloud of debris to fly up, she took off to the front of the army next to Clarine and Nephenee. The Apleem was only a hundred fifty feet away when the humans charged forward and let out a deafening roar. Led by the three women, they surged against the enemy and stopped their progress dead in its tracks.
Emory ran straight forward into a Uthid carrying two greatswords who swung them down on her. But she jumped up, grabbed both swords by the handles, and launched herself through the creature's chest feet first. Landing on the other side covered in green blood, she quickly spun around with her arms outstretched and cut down four Mantoan that had tried to surround her. Then she shot up twenty feet into the air and slammed her fist through another Uthid on her way to shattering the ground. It felt like a bomb dropped on the field that sent Mantoan and Uthid alike flying into the air while a crater twenty feet in diameter reshaped a piece of the battlefield. As the Apleem fell back to solid ground, Emory used her fighting skills to neutralize each one with a flurry of blows. Within the first minute of engagement, nearly fifty Apleem had been killed by Emory alone.
Clarine wasn't a slouch either as she swung down her halberd and sliced a Mantoan in half. Then with the sharp point on the end, she pierced another in the head on the upswing. The lifeless body flew through the air over her shoulder as she threw it back like a pile of dirt. When two more attacked with their blade arms, she parried the dual strike with the long shaft before grabbing the very edge and swinging it like a pendulum. Both Mantoan were cut down in a fluid motion that also knocked away a few more.
With her new spear, Nephenee knocked away a few Mantoan before finishing them off on the ground with a couple well-placed jabs. Then she activated her armor skill and dashed forward, skewering several more on the lance. But a fierce Uthid caught her off guard and nearly cleaved her in two; luckily she rolled backwards a few feet. It charged forward, right into the trap she had laid for it. At point-blank range, she released a ball of magik the size of a cannonball from the tip of her spear that tore a massive hole through the Uthid's chest.
That's not to say the humans as a whole were doing as spectacularly as the three leading women. Most were able to cut down the Mantoan in one or two hits, but the Uthid were proving to be quite difficult. In an effort to defeat them easier, five humans would attack the Uthid at the same time which worked well unless another Uthid joined the fight. With their barbed tails and multiple pairs of arms, they could easily defend against a few humans at the same time. However, if one got hit cleanly by the special weapons, a quick paralytic effect would take over their body, and cracks would appear all over their exoskeleton. Once this happened, it would spell the end for the Uthid, often from a single blow. Still, for every Uthid slain, humans would lose at least twice as many.
Emory continued pushing forward, deeper into the enemy's army. With every slash, punch, kick, and blow, she cut down the enemy like wheat all around her. When the bodies began to pile up around her, she would just move onto another area and repeat the cycle. As she continued tearing apart the army, she didn't break a sweat or even get a glancing blow. Little by little, though, she was driving a wedge into the army's formation and splintering off more and more of the enemy. Seeing the wall of corpses between them and the main force, some concocted the idea to head for the base instead.
As soon as he saw a section breaking off, Innes chucked a caltrop straight at them. When it detonated, several Mantoan were instantly dismembered; those that weren't were propelled into the air only to be quickly destroyed by the ranged units. However, a Uthid that split off was only pushed back and angered by the blast. It came charging towards Innes who just as big due to the active skill of his gauntlets, but it wasn't expecting to be stopped in its tracks when the two connected. With his fingers covering the Uthid's fists, Innes took two body shots from the other set of hands. This turned out to be a mistake since his armor distributed the blows to his hands, allowing him to crush the hands like twigs. Swinging over its shoulder, the barbed tail attempted to strike Innes. Unfortunately, he wasn't just big and strong but fast too, so he caught the tail midair and impaled the Uthid's head with its own tail.