Barely a minute had passed since the crash and already its deadly cargo was up in arms and in action. As most of the party headed towards the wood, the raiding party neared. Black silhouettes in the foliage and spaces between the trees began to clear and multiple shapes bipedal in form began to emerge. Humans most likely by the layered plated armour, interspersed with larger tarrhaidim by the bolted or half-melded plating complimented with limb servos attached by a similar manner. The particulars of their armour were difficult to make out but it at the very least seemed basic, lower level clearance material, potentially military surplus form wars prior. The rifles in their arms were long, tubular, equipped with simple scopes and sights – a few using laser targetters to sweep the wreckage and for their frantic quarry, the red beams invisible to the naked eye. 

They were equipped for engagement at a distance and as multiple party members broke from the wreckage, they fell into the sights of these lengthy weapons. The air crackled and hissed as chemo-electric discharge shattered the ambience of burning metal and cackling electricity, just as the enormous globules of blue-white plasma slammed into the ground. Waves of destructive heat and ghastly flames scorched over the crash site, causing nearby bark and foliage to combust before their ashes were blown away by violent shockwaves of force, radiating outwards and into those scattering towards the woods.

Paris, hunkering down into the wreckage, would be beset by the full brunt of the infernal heat and concussive force. The malfunctioning void-tech that powered the crashed transport fared no better as tortured metal was devoured by the hellish blossoms, bursting into nauseating clouds of ethereal luminescence, swamping the area in an unearthly glow. What was once the wreckage of the plane collapsed or shattered, sending deadly bits of burning metal fragments flying outwards. One could even hear a few distant windows smashed open from the flying bits of metal. Paris’ armour would be pushed to the limits as forces both physical and immaterial crashed upon it.

It was bright enough that a few of the encroaching hostiles were forced to duck behind tree and stone but more than a few simply crouched and watched, weapons raised as they took aim. Against the hungry glare of the mortar blast, the forms of the Sect team had been silhouetted in a sharp black against the pinkish bluish blob of flame. In the ensuing carnage of the blast, they had not seen Legius leap up into a tree nor its disappearance into the brush. 

They too were unaware of Silver and Vin Valvoi: even as residual ether clung to their bodies; their eyes were focused elsewhere. Before Legius had leapt down, the bio-colony would have seen another distant shape – rock like, craggy, hovering off of the ground on a quartet of outwards-spreading cones. They were anti-gravitational emitters, attached to a body that was at first malformed to its sight but almost tank-like in build, bearing strange polyp-like growths plated with heavy armour, some of which smoked and blurred with immense heat.

It was an unztadtlige; a living weapons platform made from a gestalt consciousness of cybernetically interlinked coral-like organisms. Given that it was faintly within visual range, it was either not using its heaviest ordinance… or it planned to do direct fire support. It was far, far behind the team firing upon the scattering Sect team, ripping off massive chunks of trees with their heavy duty spike rounds as they fired at will at any Sect member in sight, but it was starting to hover closer and closer. Multiple panels across its body could be seen swivelling and spinning, gas coughing up as it released excess heat and began to unravel a smaller array of medium to heavy calibre weapons. It had annihilated the craft – now it was going to help finish off the rest of the team once it got close enough.

Another series of strange shapes would begin to appear between the infantry team and their hefty cragged companion. Their bodies had been roughly camo painted to match the environment but they could not be more mismatched visually. One had a semi-flattened body like that of a crab hosting a variety of complex sensory equipment, propped up on a series of tubes connected to a pair of powerful synthetic biomatter legs. Emerging from behind its body were a pair of mag-guns with multiple magazines loaded into them.

Accompanying it was a far stranger, misshapen bioconstruct. It was like half the skeletal body of some great extinct dinosaur, layered in a plaster-like cartilaginous looking armour. All of this resulted in but a waist, a pair of long digitigrade legs, and almost limb-flaps emerging from the sides of its hips. Yet on top of this bizarre oddity sat a far larger magnetic accelerator gun – a machine gun compared to the twin rifles of its companion. Two long stocks with orange tips, like the eyes of some large snail, emerged from its waist-body, scanning for its plentiful targets.

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The waist-machine switched towards the enormous vrexul warrior, firing a deadly spray of smoke-trailing accelerated rounds, ripping through multiple trees and smoking up the ground before it with woodchipped dust as it intended to rip the bioweapon apart. Meanwhile, its relatively less malformed compatriot swerved outwards on a parallel travel path to Corsica and Linus, firing disciplined bursts of hyper-accelerated rounds in front of them with one rifle, aiming to get them to stumble and pause. Its other arm would then let loose with a longer spray, attempting to slice them in half with its armour piercing fury.

Beyond the crash site however, the forest was a busy place. Above in the skies, the drone construct Jerry had been able to not only visually make out the rest of the sect team but mark them down on Silver’s HUD. The drone’s scans also marked out the locations of the rest of the hostile intercepting force but that wasn’t all. There were more hostiles: motion sensors would detect aggressive movement behind the partially crumbled walls of Kerovnia but nothing was breaking from cover yet. There were already other squadrons moving about – one of which seemed to be on the same travel path as Corsica and Linus as if their current troubles were not enough. Another was moving towards the wreck-site from the east at a slower pace and energy readings seemed to suggest it was carrying heavier ordnance. 

Yet there seemed to be a particular slice of the woods just north of Corsica and Linus’ current travel path that would lead into a nearby, partially ruined park that itself lead into a residential area, that didn’t seem particularly occupied. The problem was getting there. There was a very sharp numbers advantage for their yet unidentified assailants and their approaching reinforcements. It was possible that the destroyed craft might be interfering with their communications as well – hence why another wave hadn’t emerged from the crushed city walls. 

Their coms were buzzing wildly again – the voice that had yelled at them earlier was trying to re-establish communications. Yet now their voice was further mangled.

[color=f7941d]“-IN THE TRANSPORT WRECKAGE, IS HE-…- AT THE PARK-…-HAVE VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE RECLAI-…-MULTIPLE HOSTILES-…-REGROUP AT-…-JAMMER DEVICE PREP-…-“[/color]

Whatever he was trying to say, it was clear that a hammer had been brought forth to crush the scalpel that was the Sect team.