The automata's body jerked and convulsed as light shone through the holes punched into its body. Gouts of sparks spat out of its wounds as systems faltered and its huge machine gun clattered to the ground, targeting devices mounted onto it blinking wildly as their signal to their wielder vanished. The duo of reinforcements had begun sprinting and by the sound of their clanking footsteps, they were of a similarly heavy and roboticized build.

[hider=Combat Automata]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/Xkw6hCN/Combat-robot-holding-a-belt-fed-machine-gun-tumblr-msj1975-F6-P1qdkeiao1-1280.jpg[/img]
[/hider]

One could almost think them human but their movements were rigid and strict, worse than any drill sergeant and even more deadly in their precision. Better AI than a supposedly independent post-Reckoning state should be able to afford; their eyes swept the rubbles and corners with their reinforced, modified rifles not necessarily following the exact center of their sight. Their central camera-eye might be looking in one direction but the weapon would always sweep around the periphery. A notably lesser calibre than the heavy gunner that Salvator had slain but given their more compact size, they could be swung considerably faster in a CQC situation and likely had a far higher rate of fire.

That is, if they saw the voidhanger. Even as the interference began to diminish, their rapidly cycling vision modules were forced to contend with a residual array of junk data and false positives. Both of them spread out, cautious not to joint their comrades immediately as they attempted to hunt down the now even deadlier, cloaked threat. One of them was near the body, sweeping its functionaly-an-LMG into the house and half crouching to diminish its presence.

The other looked over into the windows opposite of the house, suspecting Salvator had vanished within.

Meawhile, in front of the suspicious home with the partially ajar door (or what remained), the furious gun battle raged on. The submachine gun spat, its rounds slamming into multiple targets with vicious speed as the mag started to lower to near a quarter. One soldier staggered back as he caught a full spray, back pressing to the wall as he slumped forward seeping red into murky brown. The AP grenade fumbled out of his hands as life spilled into the filth, another shouting for cover.

The hostile was answered, just not the way he wanted to be.

Ilshar's ulvath responded and the human's body diminished in volume and mass. More rounds than his auagmented senses and digital systems could comprehend ripped into his body, stripping armor, biomesh, his entire left side, and chunks of flesh. A spurting, twitching mess of augmented cybernetics and reinforced bone emerged from 3/4 of a human body, petrified from shock and agony as another burst vanished the mutilated torso and the midsections of the two nearest CivSec troopers. The four remaining wisely dropped as energy beams seared out, digging into the neck of one, killing him with the shock of forced cauterization.

The other three were falling back, unwilling to commit to a fight against that much firepower after having been reduced to less than half their number. A grenade soared out - cylindrical and yellow-banded - and soon a grey smoke began to spew out as the remaining three shouted and fired a few tentative shots, scrambling away to regroup with the ethereal anomaly. Yet that left the pair of automata now to try and distract the rest of the Envenomed team as they changed their objective from hunting Salvator to spraying on the team. Firing from the same northwest position roughly as the first automata-gunner, a twin-barrel spray of automatic rifle fire ripped along walls and rubble, gouging out more cover as the two machines began to stride backwards, torsos twisting upon their robotic waists.

Back at the treeline, the now outnumbered scielto fired blasts of etheric beams at the approaching ZRF forces - luminiscent spears and blue tracer trails answering flickers of red-yellow bolts and greenish biospine rounds. As the ambush fell apart, the ether-dome field enveloping its user pulsed with anger, a wave of qillatu expelling and washing over the surrounding. Bark darkened as if shone by unseen lights, leaves curling as if in fear, the air itself darkening like burst vessels, and the ether-worm's connection to Ilshar diminishing for a brief but vital few moments. As if a cloud of murk had bustled into the tendril-like connections between the worm and its user, its sight was diminished and its very body would bristle; the radiation-like strain of ethereal byproduct (and etherealist rage) now inflicted onto the surroundings.

Unfortunately, rage is a poor substitute for competence. As in retaliation for the ether-glob fired like a howitzer, a lance of radiant light streaked across the sky in the gap between the treelines. Before the etherealist could even mutter what additional void-power it could, the beam slammed into its shield like a tidal wave concentrated into a horizontal pillar. Etheric colours of psychedelic variancy splashed and swirled outwards, bending to the unknown currents of a realm forced to clash with destructive forces of a more material domain. The blue and white melted the nucleus-like field, energy reacting to energy as an explosion erupted along the trees, sending foliage flying, wildlife scattering in flight, and vaporizing Ilshar's worm from the etheric blast.

As the dust settled, the sparking bodies of two gunner-automata twitching, a few rifle cracks disabled any residual fight left in the automata as a tall and charred body dragged itself across the crater where once stood trees and sloping hillside. A body that like Ilshar had guessed, was a scielto's. Etherically reactive membrane melted onto its rough, wood-like skin, its x-shaped planarian head stretching and convulsing, the tendril-wings turned into desiccated and burned stumps; a blasphemed parody of some divine nobility reduced to all cauterized fours.

Helpless before the sound of approaching footfalls and taunting shouts, angry grunts of pain and uttered curses of hate and defiance. While Ilshar's eye on the action had been practically evaporated, given by the trilling shrieks of pain and loud, vile dialogue it was clear that the leader of the squad was being taken care of with the hospitality of those they once ruled.

More shouts and weapons fire, warning shots as the tall alien was hoisted to its legs and a hot gun barrel pressed against the back of its head, drawing a reverberating, flanging scream as the three surviving humans yelled back. It was difficult to make out what exactly was being said but it was clear that the ambush hadn't just gone south but turned into the worst outcome possible for the security forces. More shouts and a something cracking audibly; human voices diminishing as something repulsive and in a tarrhaidim tongue was spoken out - screams as well, presumably the wounded from the ZRF as they tended to their own injuries, adding to the tension of the situation. 

As if on command, the two remaining automata froze in place; systems still running but now inert.


From the bullet-ridden, partially destroyed house that had drawn them to the now ravaged settelement a voice creaked out.

[color=f7941d][color=f7941d]"... I suppose there's no need for the signal now. A little hard to have done after I was separated and huddled up here, but alas, you have my thanks."[/color][/color]

A com signal did pop up; the exact specific code, frequency, and phrasing meant for Echo and the others but so did an unarmed figure. A bandaged one, one eye and most of his head wrapped up in white threads (some sort of vrexul-derived biosilk likely). A human figure, male presumably, dressed in some sort of light ballistic kevlar and wearing a camo-patterned helmet, torn pants around the knees and thighs, and an empty holster on his side. 

[color=f7941d][color=f7941d]"Well, you don't look like the usual mercs they send. You got the signal and... well, best not to ask what happens when the planetary-national liberation movement gets to mete out poetic justice. So... the low down on the situation yes? Gather round, please? I'd like to be punctual here, the fact I'm still alive is a liability for more than just the Artelesian government. Your friends down in the valley are probably getting very impatient for that matter."[/color][/color]