[h3]The Element of Surprise[/h3]
[hr]

Plashi shuttles deposited them onto the surface with navigation data in their PDA's and intelligence warnings of new foes; the war-packs heard rumors of Grathik scientific prowess and some sort of uplift program. They'd fought robotic infantry that were durable and powerful, but not stealthy, not agile if spoofed. The war packs used stealth to overcome the limitations of the system and prevailed. The last upgrades were particularly dangerous but went self-aware and turned on the Grathik; too sentient and the slave AI's, apparently using appropriated code, pursued their own agenda.

The Pilavians fought when forced and cornered, but stealth worked again-- search and avoid patrols were invented by them. Grathik could only do so much to oversee and force the fighting without a revolt and after the damage that the robots did.

They moved forward in alert assurance from the landing site, seeking intelligence, enemies and plunder, the things that ran the Salvesh economy. Drathak's pack was young, fast and eager, long-runners that went lift and bid low in expectation of the best pickings, which they could sell to other packs and the Plashi to pay down their investment loan and upgrade their starting equipment.

Small, agile and aggressive, they hoped to slip past these new soldiers of the Grathik.

Drathak was still cautious in this alien jungle; the Pilavians, if threatened with slaughter, if they thought they were going to be pillaged, were surprisingly inventive booby-trappers, but there was no sign of that. 

Drathak had some service under his belt, and used that to argue for pack-investment with the Plashi brokers. In space, the fight was brutal and dangerous, with Grathik technological prowess balancing Plashi wealth. But once they cracked the defenses, the worlds went down fast. The Grathik could not replenish their fleet fast enough and the Plashi had production organized to soak up their losses. It was the opposite of fights on the ground; quantity over quality.

They moved through the alien flora able to sniff the air, provided throat-filters for the purpose. That was how they suddenly found the enemy; metal and something not covered in their scent-briefing. He raised his rifle to sight one of the things, cleverly blended in the environment. His hormones surged and he snarled as he started to fire.

He felt his chest burn and shatter twice; the world around him exploded into weapons fire, and he watched from his grating, bleeding-out vantage, as the new enemy introduced themselves. So many of them that they didn't see, his pack mates whining for medical aid...he wanted to cry the warning, but he was out of breath.

They'd lost their gamble because they thought they owned the element of surprise.

They lost it, but so had the enemy. There were other war-packs nearby.