Nomads 2
I shook my head, hoping to clear my mind. The rest of squad Bright Sword was still engaged. Mourning would have to wait.
I wasn’t be sure that the bugs that killed Jessup had cleared the area. Tactical looked good; I could see the rest of the squad holding the ruins. Nomad Malevolant and Nomad Scorch were heavily engaged on the perimeter furthest away from me. They’d set up a impressive Killzone. Target markings indicated that they had taken out a Wallbreaker, one the the larger scourge forms. Nomad Sunspear was supporting them from the distance, I could see from her readings that she and her drones were all up high somewhere, picking off important targets. Shrike was waiting where Jessup had started his doomed run, Nomad Triumph was guarding her back. The rest of the squad was engaged in clearing the ruins. Nomad Sphinx, had lost a couple of drones, but everything else seemed fine.
Most importantly, I saw was no sign of any Scourge intelligence. Most of the time the scourge acted on programming. Bugs aren’t that hard for a Nomad to deal with when they’re dull.
I left the ruins and set out into the forest. The trees looked strangely familiar. Maybe this world was seeded, way back. Possibly by one of the other fleets, maybe even a lost colony. I was remotely curious, but set the feeling aside. My seeker drones, Huginn and Muninn, kept up a steady flow of information, sweeping back and forth. A pair of gun drones watched my flanks and my shield drone hovered behind me.
My Nomad Suit is a heavy, Paladin class.Many Nomad operators look down on the paladin because of it lacks the fire power that they think it should have. I like it because it has thick armour and enough shield generation capacity to rival a gunboat. It is about as agile as a heavy nomad suit can get, which makes it better in close combat than most heavies, although since it isn’t especially fast it needs it. The design incorporates a shock field and shielded power-gauntlets. I rounded out the ensemble with a tri-beam cannon. Jessup once joked that I liked it for the pretty colours.
A shape moved in the woods. My gun drones whirled, tracking the motion. There was no identification on tactical or direct IFF. My seekers read multiple inbound. Scourge forms, big and lean. Stalkers? I activated distress signal, moving toward a more defensible position. I let my gun drones start shooting and the woods came alive with bright blaster fire.
I respect Scourge Stalkers, but do not hate an fear them like most Nomads do. Stalkers are a smarter, more independent form. Their hides baffle most of our detection methods, but we still have good, old fashion, visual and sniffer drones. Their scything blade arms are capable of cutting a light or medium nomad in half, especially if they get close enough to foil the shields. I counted myself lucky to have seem them. The sprinted through the forest behind me, using the trees as cover. Their hide shifted in a chameleonic patters, making them even harder to hit. My gun drones kept firing, patient and steady.
I nearly walked right into their trap. I started to get suspicious, Stalkers, once visible, are relentless. My gun drones might have scared off one, but not two. They weren’t trying to outmaneuver me. They could not chase me at their leisure with my quad no more than two minutes away. Process of elimination dictated that they had other plans. I stopped running. I could see Sphinx and Nomad Triumph moving to intercept me. I marked what I knew on tactical, indicating a trap of some sort between us. The Stalkers fanned out. I brought my gun drones in close.
The first stalker burst through the brush. I Blaster fire greeted it, burning holes it’s carapace. Too many shots missed. It moved with blinding speed, a mess of colours trying to blend in with everything it moved past. I fire my beamer, a line of light raking it across the torso. That slowed it down long enough for the gun drones to slag it,
The second Stalker hit my shield drone just after the first attacked. It made short work of the shield and then ripped the drone apart as I downed the first Stalker. It was on me before I could turn. A Scytheblade sparked off my shield. I dropped my beamer, turning and lunging,
Stalkers are superb combatants, far deadlier than most Scourge forms. This one obviously did not expect a Nomad to tackle it. My gauntlets closed on squirming carapace with a satisfying crunch. A blade cracked off my shield. The servos strain meters lit up with warnings as I wrestled with the beast, but I pinned it long enough for my gun drones to put two blasts in its head.
Before I could get up, something barreled into me. The impact nearly toppled me. Thankfully the Paladin Class incorporates advanced stabilization. I caught a glimpse of a third stalker as it leapt away, knocking one of my gun drones to the ground with a contemptuous swipe before disappearing into the forest. The other two must have been driving me towards it. Triumph and Sphinx appeared a moment later. Sphinx started to pursue.
“Negative Sphinx,” I said on a private com. “You’re down on drones, and there may be more of them out there.”
Sphinx shrugged, but I could tell she was annoyed. Hunting bugs is actually her idea of fun on a good day. Jessup’s death was making her a little wild I guessed.
I turned to Triumph who was examining one of the stalkers while his engineer drone pulled my broken gun drone out of the forest floor, My shield drone was a write off. I felt a moment’s indignation. This was not a good run.
