[i]I'm so dead.[/i]

Rayland maintained his desperate concentrated fire on the alien suit as it charged towards him, energy pulses continuously dispersing upon contact with the thing's defensive field. All hope seemed lost in the way Rayland could see things currently; in the next few seconds, this horrid combat suit of which he could now briefly make out the details as some twisted mesh of metallic armor and pinkish flesh fused and grafted be the two opposite components was going to basically tear him to pieces in a red haze of gore. This the fate he was sure to receive and tragically had little time to make amends with his maker in the moments that were drawing to a swiftly close.

Worried thoughts raced through his mind as fast as a capitol ship would go in an instantaneous star-to-star jump. He didn't know if it was the adrenaline that coursed through his veins or his NVP suit accelerating and stimulating both his senses and mind; hell maybe both were allowing him to feebly contemplate his final moments. With his demise at hand, he wondered what would become of the crew and the ship. What would they do assuming this thing didn't kill them to? Would they continue the mission? It seemed less likely since he and his crew were still in contract and the death of a captain unfortunately would not get his crew off of this God forsaken rock; he could only hope that Force Commander Arik would show leniency. But the bigger question was that who would take over as Captain? 

Rayland hadn’t enough time to process things as the alien was now meters away from him and making a bloodthirsty lunge. [i]This is it[/i], he thought as he could clearly see the suit’s scythe-arms rising to cut him down. He instinctively closed his eyes while keeping his trigger of his Sub-Repeater hopelessly pulled and awaited the worse.

Then came the shrieking sound of energized friction quickly deescalating into a harmonizing hiss; that and the empty physical feeling of a painful death. Rayland peeked one eye open and to his surprise saw nothing in front of him. This realization caused him to frantically look everywhere to find and determine where the creature had vanished to. His eyes found Sel’Varok standing just a yard away from him, her signature shield-generating gauntlets active and crackling as if something large had collided with them or the other way around. Unsteadily picking himself up from all the fear and anxiety that had was slowly washing away, Rayland then was able to identify the alien had been knocked back by Sel’s battering ram of an attack and was writhing on the ground, confused and in obvious pain. He could note the surrounding space now filled with dust around the suit was unevenly warping, flickering actually now that their opponent was struggling to get its barrier back up and running. 

“T-thanks for the save…” Rayland stuttered as he stood to Sel’s side all the while clutching his own, still heavily breathing and pained from the ordeal that had befallen him. Or rather what he had technically stepped into. “…Think I found my ghost…”

The combat suit eventually pulled itself back together but now no longer with its protective shielding engaged. While that fact appeared ideal, it still didn’t change the fact that it still proved to be a lethal threat. Just as the soldiers from the local garrison had arrived and already begun to open fire, the armored creature quickly pivoted towards them, glaring at the squad as two shoulder mounted cannons of an unrecognizable variety quickly deployed from its carapace and open fired in turn. The soldiers hastily scrambled for cover as blood red bursts ignited the air and exploded whatever the rounds hit. Concrete, shrapnel, and dirt were brutally thrown into the air as nearby structures and cover seemingly disintegrated. 

While keeping the squad heavily suppressed, the hulking alien turned to both Rayland and Sel, its automatic cannons turning to maintain fire on the soldiers as it leaned forward into a bow as reality around the alien began to warp slowly. Dust and debris began to lift off from the ground, levitating in midair by paranormal forces. It became obvious to Rayland that this creature was also somehow a Psionic like he was but with such forces visually and physically manipulating the environment, it was clearly more powerful and unstable. 

The former AISC then felt something heavy eradicating from the alien; dark emotions, full of hatred and anguish swirling into a single focal point. Rayland was no telepath but his own Psionic sensitivity allowed him to pick up the negative vibes better than everyone here and what he was sensing was some sort of curious conflict of aspirations screaming outward. He could feel the horrid desire to kill and destroy, some of the wavelengths directed towards him but the rest was gearing towards Sel; not surprisingly since she did knock out it’s near impenetrable barrier. But then he could feel hesitancy emanating from cesspool of negativity, resisting and trying to pull back the rage. 

But why? Was this alien, whatever abomination it was, debating not to kill them?  

The split-second moments Rayland had to deduce this unusual find expired the instant he picked up the creature’s psychic resonance spike sharply, causing the space around it to distort violently. Images and reflections contorted into a single vortex, shrieking like a blade through paper until a light shined within the twisted tunnel. Rayland’s heart sank as he found out what this alien had in mind and only had seconds to act.

“Psionic blast! Get the hell down!” he yelled into his helmet’s vox as he tecnhopathically connected to all the comm channels his cyberlink could acquire, hoping to warn anyone of the impending terror.

Hoping that everyone around him and nearby by had the right mentality, Rayland leaped off to his side with as much strength and springing momentum he could muster. Upon contact with the ground, he kept his arms over his head and anticipated the worst. Like a ancient cannon going off, the alien discharged is paranormal payload of psionic energy into a visual contorting liner wave. The ground that Rayland was once standing on evaporated into nothingness, machines and tools within the wave’s path were twisted and torn apart, eventually being incinerated by the thermodynamic forces as work.

With such a mental attack that grew the width of its reality warping killzone, the [i]Infamous Alto[/i] was soon caught in the attack as well; given the ship’s size and such close proximity to the alien combat suit, it was sadly inevitable. The frigate buckled within the ship bay’s sturdy mechanical grasps as the blast eventually collided with the Infamous Alto’s open cargo hold. The resulting collision generated enough friction to engulf the ship and most of the facility in a torrent of fire before spewing skyward, quickly venting the excess heat and entropy.

Though having successfully evading the attack Rayland trembled having felt the entire event unfold in seconds. He turned over to his back to see the very earth glowing white and venting so much heat that it felt like the entire ship bay had become a volcano. His scared but observant gazed then shifted towards his ship, noting steam and smoke rising away from the [i]Infamous Alto[/i]; the ship’s own defense barrier had deployed in time and held but only barely. Most of the devastation however was concentrated on the ship’s cargo hold with grey fumes vomiting from within the large entrance. Rayland surmised that the barrier may have given way upon impact and spewed the destruction inward.

With his NVP suit ever on top of things, a cool feeling breathed down is body to counteract the heat from the outside as he rose up once more. Facing the creature past the stream radiating from the ground, the alien slowly approached forward, crawling with its bladed limbs and saurian hind legs while it glowing eye lit up the haze of heat. The creature appeared fatigued as if it’s immense outburst had actually drained it of its own strength; whether that was good or a bad thing remained up for debate but the mesh of cybernetics and flesh still ever dwarfed him and seemed ready to engage once more.

Rayland looked to his flanks to see if anyone was around but the steam didn’t help. In fact he didn’t know if Sel had made it out of that attack as well; his HUD had marked everyone in the area with an undetermined yellow icon thus couldn’t see if they were incapacitated or in trouble. Quite simply, no one appeared to be available to come to his aid. Back to square one but now he was more in trouble than he was before.

But luck had it was that the alien’s shield had still not regenerated as the dying steamed moved around it’s body rather than away from it and with the near sluggish movement it appeared to be showing, this gave Rayland a fighting chance he was looking. But what could be done against something like this?

“Don’t know if anyone could hear me, but I have a dumb idea for taking this bastard out…” Rayland spoke through his vox again, hoping someone was actually listening but all he could hear was low white noise as if there was interference. He prayed that his ability to communicate wasn't shot.