“Reporting visual, this is Red 2. The camp is guarded by 10 hostiles. We have a problem, the infrared imaging is unable to penetrate the portable dome tent and assess their movements inside.”
Takeshi reports the details in the neural link, can't hide his frustration with the disadvantageous situation but still maintain its concentration under immense pressure.
Nikolai connects to the visual feeds of his teammates to confirm the status and appear they are hiding in different locations while the hostiles who chases them are losing direction. He began calculating the map trajectory data based on Feng's battle simulations.
The quadrant formation is complete within 400 meters at the hostile camps with the proximity near the dense forest, waiting for orders to strike.
“Red 2 stay here to extend my cover, I'll go to strike their superior. While Red 3, 4 and 5 will saturate fire at the hostile camp to distract them and buy me time to escape. That's clear?”.
Takeshi and the other squadmates non-verbally affirmed in unison.
“Yes, sir!”
Sarah orders one of the operators to procede the activation of defensive perimeter.
“Activate the hyperoscillation field and let's see these Interlopers losing their fang.”
The operators change the drone's course at circular form within 400 meters range.
Feng have bad feeling about this and if only fully hacked into enemy networks to gather sensitive information on multirole stealth drones' technical specifications and capabilities. Besides that, the quantum encryption is too strong to hack these drones were quantum key distribution changing every milliseconds.
The drones activate the hyperoscillating field around the area. Intense frequency fluctuations damaging their optical camouflage and jammed the other stealth features. Nikolai and his squad are now visually naked to hostile's ground surveillance radar. Nikolai orders urgently.
“This is Red 1, commence retreat. To the riverbank within 500 meters at seven o' clock in the south. And we had 4-6 minutes before the optical camouflage came back online. Make sure, we can reach the destination within that time limit.”
Feng spoofs and flooded the hostile's tracking system again with interference.
She activated the optical camouflage and sprinted 500 meters toward the riverbank as predicted forecast on target's possible en route. Estimated she can make it at 1 minute and 12 seconds as physical obstacle is still considered a considerable delay but still very impressive.
Her radar readings is flooded again with decoy dots but she can't rely on technology anymore and turn it off. Using primitive methods of tracking had learned during her training. Sarah follows the bootprint and scans the identification, confirming it belongs to their squad leader. As the enemy captain fall into the bait, as a cue of optical camouflage distorts in slight movements.
Nikolai shoot within 6 meters and struck her in the head that send her pushing away within 1 meter in a sonic shockwave. The kinetic absorption system is automatically activated and she immediately perform barrel roll. Despite the fact, that her entire body is writhing in pain and numbness from aftershock and she hides between the trees to take cover.
“This is Red 1, I got intercepted by their captain, better not come for me and I will handle this. Just run to the riverside and make feint movements to nine o' clock at the west.”
Nikolai ended the transmission and he will face the huntress himself. Sarah activated her optical camouflage and noise cancellation. She judged the target fired at her in eleven o' clock and he is probably switching position now in direction of one to two o' clock.
Sarah climbed up a tree and observed the ground movements until she heard the crackle of twigs at 2 o'clock and took out the railgun pistol to shoot at him. Nikolai get shot in the upper chest, head and left shoulder, the impact pushes him within the 4 meters.
The structural integrity of his armor decreases to 74% and Nikolai shot her for a second time while laying down through AI-assisted firing mode and hit her in the lower chest. Sarah's structural integrity slightly dropped at 78% and she ran away to calculate the next movement to incapacitate him instantly.
Nikolai was horribly drenching blood inside its own armored suit but the near fatal injury from sonic shockwave was immediately responded by the AI system to inject nanolattices patch and billion of nanoneedles with length of 1 nanometer pierce the entire body to aid the mechanistic recovery of the severe internal injury. Meanwhile, Sarah's still remain indifferent and bombarded by cynicism. In her entire life, Sarah spend fighting different variants of Interlopers but she never fight this kind of adaptive and intelligent variant. He is the definition of perfect killing machine; a being of impersonal, efficient, and indifferent reality.
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Feng horrified on what he saw in visual feed. Nikolai was struggling to gain upper hand in individual fight against the hostiles' captain
“Red 2, this is Red 3. We need to aid Red 1 and extract him. Based on readings, since we're within his triangulation. Red 4 and 5 distract the hostiles further deep, 300 meters in southwest at swamp and switch to amphibious mode.”
Mei and Maibelle still harbor animosity toward Nikolai who he was previously commit the unforgivable atrocities toward them during the trial, but they can't refuse the order and besides of that. Nikolai is the only real and battle-hardened soldier in their group who had thought them hands-on tactics and strategies though in gruesome way. Losing him just like shooting their own foot with arrow.
Sarah switch her tactics to close quarter combat and start moving to track her target. She saw a trace of blood but never approach it and knew might she fall again in bait. Nikolai picked up the dirt and threw it away from triangulation proximity within 2 meters between her. When she saw the dirt being threw at direction of nine o'clock and she switch the sword in form of extendable whip and activated the superheating plasma consists temperature of 3000 °C.
She strike her superheated sword at the target from that direction but there's no indicators or cue of target was being incapacitated. Just only a tree being cut down like a piece of meat. Nikolai appear at direction of eight o'clock. Shot her in head and upper chest but she remained unflinched even being get pushes away by violent force of sonic shockwave within 2 meters. There's no bullet left anymore.
Nikolai take advantage of situation and then he activated the superheating plasma to transfer the heat energy to bayonet knife that attached in railgun rifle. Spear heading a bayonet charge toward her while she groggily standing and repeatedly thrusts into her in lower abdomen. Sarah's structural integrity drops down to zero. Nikolai repeatedly thrust into her lower stomach causing severe and multiple thermal injuries to the internal organs.
Sarah pull out the railgun pistol and shot him in upper and lower chest followed by strong roundhouse kick that complements with sonic shockwave from railgun fire to increase the internal kinetic penetration. She manage to broke Nikolai's ribcage as kinetic absorption system is eventually worn down by simultaneous attacks. She cautiously sprinted toward nearby tree to retreat for her own safety and hide to buy time to mend the injury.
Nikolai gasping for breath and vomiting blood, it's too late to realize the horror that gap of physical strength between her was a total disparity and the hostile captain's height is too tall for him to handle is around 7'10 feet based on bioinformatics. Nikolai was despairing in disbelief. In fact, he is already struggling against a female soldier. What if it is a male? Of course he is already a deadman walking.
Sarah gritting in agony as she bleeding profusely and AI system injects her with nanolattices patch to close the internal wounds. She activate the noise cancellation and waste no time to suddenly burst toward him at incredulous speed. Nikolai get caught off guard by her silent charge and managed to caught him by wrapping the torso tightly.
And then, she suplex and slam him backdrop to the ground like ragdoll with calculated brutality. Unfortunately, Nikolai is already dead at violent impact because of fatal injury sustained by severe spinal fracture and the broken spinal bone grotesquely impales out in its own nape. Sarah carry his dead body but stomach injury slows her down. Takeshi exploit the opportunity to rescue Nikolai and appeared in her back to shot her leg, the bullet punches thoroughly and make Sarah knelt to the ground, crippling overall combat effectiveness. And then, Takeshi hurriedly carry Nikolai in his back and vanished in sight without trace.
Sarah was smiling despite she get outsmarted and for her, it is more thrilling and exciting than the initial analysis. Master Sergeant Robert Schultz, her twin brother was immediately calls her and flabbergasted on what he saw in visual feed network.
“Are you okay, my Soror?”
Sarah also calmly reported the situation while sitting in the tree stump.
“Don't worry about it, my Frater. We need to be careful now and his combat skill is nearly good as our standards. He's quite too unique for a Interloper, those specimens we fight is more vicious but less cunning, and induce madness or biological contamination to the victims but don't rule out the possibility he is the monster who wearing a human skin”
Sarah connect to the network and relay the orders to operators from dome tent.
“Commence the huntman operation and standby drones to kill mode. Don't let them to escape or reach even any cities or town there.”
Sergeant Robert ended the transmission abruptly, he still remain indifferent and sharp. He orders retreat as they are unable to find Mei and Maibelle in treacherous backwater of swamp. The two is finally float up in hours of hiding in murky water and Maibelle deeply curse under her hoarse breath.
“Why we need to rely on that fucking tinpot.”
Mei punches her in face and retorts angrily.
“Shut the fuck up, you whiny and noisy bitch”.
Mei activates the exoskeleton interface and repeatedly punches her again in head until the kinetic absorption system depleted. Maibelle was unable to execute basic hand-to-hand combat procedures due to her unstable psychological state.
And then, Mei punches Maibelle's face 3 times were it carefully adjusted the exoskeleton interface to 150 pounds per force to ensure she can survive the attack and still conscious for final humiliation ritual. Knocking her teeth out, bloodily brokes the lip and nose in a fit of rage.
Mei was seems satisfied in the effective method of disciplining her. Maibelle's face was freshly bruised by her clinical brutality. Mei crouches down and approaching her like a predator. Mei whispers in her ear and said something soul crushing that made Maibelle cried out in despair.
“My dear, your pathetic days in that filthy old world is now over and accept the new reality where you're standing in. Don't let the uncouth sentiments overrule your fantastically pathetic and diluted daydreaming head. You piteous fool!.”
Maibelle embraces Mei tightly and cried loudly in horror, longing for affection and warmth she need for. Mei grins both empathetically and sinisterly at her.
Takeshi return and reunite with others in riverside while carrying lifeless body of Nikolai. Feng creep out when bioinformatics show his grotesque nape injury but he relieved on Nikolai's heart is still beating.
Feng's radar readings beeps loudly shows there are fast moving objects moving towards them in 5 kilometer radius and he shouted.
“Jump to the river now!.“
They jump altogether immediately without hesitation and activated the amphibious mode. A drone fired missiles at speed of Mach 25, but it no use as they already submerged under water and let the flow of river decides in what kind of fate waiting for them.
