Disintegration: Chapter 6
Rainfall washed over Ishtar's armor. It did little to impair her eyesight as a second visor overlapped her first one, granting the rynar woman access to augmented reality vision. Overall, her helmet looked like it had three glowing, orange eyes... but the reality was that they were a trio of erestal powered cameras. They blinked as she transitioned to thermal vision with a flick of her tongue. With no hostiles in sight, she resumed advancing through open ground, and her warpack mimicked her movements with a distant infantry vehicle acting as heavy support.
Brief flashes of lightning revealed her titanic body. Compared to her surroundings, the alien woman was practically a goddess of war. She had no trouble seeing in the dark once she switched the thermal vision off, and her soft footsteps had a minimal impact on the environment. The only other thing revealing Ishtar's presence and showing her true intentions was the glowing core of her plasma rifle. Consequently, light flickered throughout the rainfall. This exposed the surrounding taiga, which was mostly untouched by humanity, albeit with the exception of rare yet minimal roads among other sparse infrastructure dotting the landscape.
Suddenly, Ishtar's augmented hearing picked up a familiar and distinct sound. More specifically, the patter of human small-arms accompanied by the thundering booms of tank cannons. She could also hear the thumps of plasma rifles joining in. A flick of her tongue prepared a microphone, allowing her to transmit a message to both her squad and other rynar converging on the area...
"Contact! Humans forces detected within the vicinity, and they have vehicle support. Over."
"Understood." replied Deimo through her communication device. "Keep in mind, any and all attempts to contact the other warpack have failed. Worse yet, this ensign and his other rynar are preoccupied due to the sudden UTO intrusion. Assume the worst and stay on your toes since Ishtar is on her own. Deimo out."
Meanwhile, the battlemaster switched to a voice channel exclusively reserved for her warpack. "Have our infantry transport stop in place. It could reveal our positions. Hold back until either its crew detects signs of fighting or the battlemaster calls for its assistance. Over!"
"As she commands." replied the driver as the vehicle gradually became stationary before hovering in place.
Afterward, the battlemaster slowed down her movements. She looked left to right, where saw approximately a dozen rynar soldiers flanking her on both sides. Collectively, they created an arrowhead formation, and they stood about a dozen rynar-sized paces away from each other. The closest thing they had to cover was a nearby forest. Taking advantage of this, Ishtar crouched near the woodlands and uttered two words...
"Lights out!"
She disabled not only her plasma rifle but the more advanced features of her armor. This included augmented reality. Various information flashing before her eyes vanished entirely. From there, her visor became mundane, and the color black enveloped her view once the camera feeds were cut off. The darkness only disappeared when she lifted the second visor, and a glass one allowed her to see her surroundings... however, water almost immediately began dripping down it.
Ignoring this, Ishtar glanced over her shoulder. She saw her warpack also crouching over. Combined with the marginal concealment of the forest, disabling their erestal powered equipment, and moving slowly, the warpack was able to achieve the closest possible thing to a stealthy approach on Earth. They inched their way closer and closer to their primary objective, where they detected signs of battle with some fires scattered around the vicinity accompanied by the occasional rynar corpse.
Ishtar's eyes went wide at the sight, and she spotted some movement in the distance. "Contact!"
She crouched and aimed her weapon at large and distant figures. They were hard to spot among the rainfall, but their erestal equipment that glowed blue made one fact undeniable...
...They were UTO soldiers.
Overall, they came in a variety of forms. It was hard for Ishtar to see members of individual species, but the various aliens had either mammalian, reptilian, or avian characteristics. One thing was common among them, though. Like most intelligent lifeforms in the galaxy, they were bipedal, and their overall sizes were comparable to the rynar. Whereas rynar stood at an average height of approximately sixty-six feet, species within the UTO were anywhere between fifty to ninety feet tall.
Fortunately, the attention of the UTO soldiers was focused elsewhere. They were standing on the outskirts of what Ishtar recognized as a human military base. There was something ironic about how miniature metal fences and signs were apparently prohibiting their approach. Then again, this was likely due to a few reptilian corpses past that particular point. More prominently, she spotted several rynar soldiers bound in restraints and sitting next to one another as a few UTO soldiers watched over them.
Seeing this inspired the battlemaster to narrow her eyes. "Ishtar counts eight hostile infantry and three rynar prisoners of war."
"Then please grant this warpack permission to engage!" venomously hissed a nearby soldier.
Ishtar cocked her head to the left. "No. That would be unwise."
"But... they captured some of our own!"
"Exactly." replied Ishtar. "Engaging them now would put our own people in danger. Remember, a wise hunter or huntress waits for the perfect opportunity to pounce on their prey."
Another soldier bared his fangs. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
"We wait." answered the battlemaster with a flick of her tongue. "Only fire your weapons if Ishtar gives the order or if the warpack is spotted."
"Bah."
"So be it..."
"And stay silent." she continued.
As Ishtar ordered, the warpack didn't hiss a word in return. She gestured at them with a clawed hand to make a flanking maneuver, and the formation pivoted to the right as they prepared to attack from a different angle. The woman had to restrain herself from making a low pitched growl as she watched the UTO forces from afar.
Meanwhile, a single UTO soldier approached the vicinity of the military base. Overall, even with armor covering his body, he had the appearance of a bipedal wolf or some other canine. He was seventy feet tall, much like a rynar, if you didn't include his pointy ears. An odd yet distorted voice that sounded like a human male emitted from his helmet as his tail wagged.
[No harm, human help! We United Treats Association! Peace!]
After saying this spree of gibberish, the alien man stepped over the metal fence. Almost immediately, a thundering boom marked the moment a projectile was sent towards him, revealing the position of a previously concealed T-90 battle tank. The shell struck the alien in the leg, cleaving through armor and flesh alike, and the resulting explosion partially ruptured the limb.
Consequently, the canine let out an ear-piercing yelp. His comrades rushed to him as he stumbled back, then they dragged him away from the perimeter of the fence as his leg began gushing blood. Ishtar couldn't help but notice that the commotion caused the other UTO soldiers to spring up with their weapons ready, but oddly enough, they didn't return fire as they faced the human forces... creating a perfect opportunity for Ishtar as her predatory instincts went haywire.
A few flicks of a switch reactivated the erestal within her plasma rifle and armor, causing them to flash to life with orange highlights. As a result, her surroundings momentarily distorted or glitched out when the augmented reality features of her helmet reinitiated. It provided what could best be described as a heads up display. Some information slotted itself into the corners of her vision, including her heartbeat, armor integrity, and body temperature. While her helmet provided friendly rynar soldiers with crimson red outlines, UTO troops received bright blue ones.
"OPEN FIRE!" she roared, accompanying some distant thunder.
Needless to say, the warpack followed her lead as they seemingly popped out of nowhere. A few UTO soldiers recoiled at the sight. Ishtar then unleashed an unholy hybrid of a screech and a hiss as lightning cracked across the skyline, catching the attention of everyone within the area. The battlemaster wasted no time as she aimed her rifle and slowly squeezed the trigger with a whine from her weapon alongside other rynar war cries filling the air.
Time seemed to slow down.
A spike of adrenaline surged down Ishtar's spine once an audible crack emitted from her rifle. It made the same sound several more times as she repeatedly squeezed the trigger, sending more plasma projectiles towards her target with the warpack joining in. Without any cover to speak of, the UTO forces attempted to dive to the ground or crouch, albeit it was a completely chaotic and disorganized affair. Ishtar's target, a large alien man with feline characteristics, absorbed the first few plasma bolts launched towards him. Subsequent shots, however, rapidly overwhelmed his metal armor as the plasma began outright cooking and melting his torso. The man collapsed to the ground as a slurry of additional projectiles flew past him, meeting their marks as they struck UTO troops either trying to return fire, assist the wounded canine, or attempting to control their rynar prisoners.
As for the prisoners, they also dived to the ground. The guards standing over them remained in their current positions, making them easy targets for the rynar soldiers as they fired upon them. Random information flashed before Ishtar's eyes while she aimed and fired at individual enemy soldiers neatly slotted into the triangular reticule of her aim sight...
...But it was abruptly interrupted by a bolt striking one of her armor pauldrons, throwing off her aim. Ishtar jerked back as another hit her in the chest, where plasma dissipated against her armor before spreading out. Naturally, the woman felt heat pooling around her stomach. Ishtar let out a combination of a rumbling purr and a hiss in response as she aimed her weapon towards the source, where she saw an avian creature lining up another shot.
Her heart started racing as the beats per minute rapidly increased within her vision.
In a split second, both aliens fired their weapons. Plasma surged through the storm. Against all the odds, the projectiles almost came into contact with one another. Whereas a bolt barely missed Ishtar, blinding hot plasma hit the avian in the head like a sledgehammer. The avian immediately slumped to the ground as Ishtar nonchalantly looked for another target, but by this point, the UTO unit was falling apart. Some of them made the mistake of retreating towards the human military base, where they were greeted by a barrage of missiles and tank shells, and a UTO soldier that resembled a hyena fired upon the humans during this confusion.
Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Ishtar's black pupils expanded. " ADVANCE!"
She stood up, and hip fired her plasma rifle at the retreating troops. Her slow-firing weapon, its plasma projectiles, and a cautious advance turned her into a carefully calibrated death machine. What remained of the UTO soldiers looked for another avenue of escape, just to find a rynar infantry vehicle flanking them from another angle, which proceeded to unleash more hailstorms of plasma. With human and rynar forces attacking them from three different positions, it turned into a massacre as each and every UTO soldier was gradually gunned down.
Just as quickly as the firefight started, it was over. The plasma projectiles stopped streaming through the air. During the aftermath, Ishtar could hear nothing but her own heavy breaths, soft rains washing over the vicinity, and random chatter from her warpack.
"UTO hostiles neutralized." announced one of them.
"This one is... is wounded!" hissed another.
Without delay, someone broke away from the formation to deal with the injured rynar.
During this, the battlemaster briefly glanced over her shoulder and realized that her warpack was almost entirely intact. She didn't have time to appreciate this apparent miracle as her attention was directed at the distant human forces, not to mention rynar prisoners of war still in prone positions. She began barking orders.
"Specialist Andraste!"
The woman in question perked her head up. "Yes, battlemaster?"
"Free our brothers and sisters from their restraints. Instruct them to seize weapons from the fallen before falling into the rear of our formation. Oh, and make it quick!"
"Consider it done!"
With that, the specialist broke ranks and sprinted away. Ishtar noticed that no one fired upon Andraste as she did so, resulting in the others within the warpack standing up. Nonetheless, the battlemaster flicked her tongue to initiate her communication device once more, and she stared at the infantry transport hovering near her position.
"Ishtar wants the vehicle to move towards our objective. Humans are heavily guarding it, and the vehicle should be able to take the brunt of their firepower with minimal issues. Does she make that clear?"
"She does." answered the driver. Upon hearing this, the battlemaster switched voice channels again. "Do not relax, everyone. We still have human forces to contend with. Make sure the UTO soldiers are truly among the dead before falling behind the vehicle and assaulting the objective!"
"As she wishes!" responded several soldiers, albeit it was anything but simultaneous.
Like many times before, Ishtar led her soldiers through the storm. Once they approached what were now nothing more than alien corpses originating from the United Treaty Organization, they kicked or snatched their plasma rifles away. Just in case. Adding to this, a few rynar previously being held prisoner joined them with captured weapons in tow. Ishtar spotted many different species among the fallen... whether it be the stubborn Neishor, the empathetic Lupari, or the proud Jahkatians.
All fell before the Rynar.
When their vehicle began advancing directly into the human military base, this point only became painfully more apparent. The familiar sounds of human weapons echoed all around the area. Tanks shells seemed to do nothing as they bounced, ricocheted, or exploded against alien armor. Not even a barrage of human missiles joined by heavy caliber anti-aircraft fire seemed to do anything against the hovering rynar vehicle other than revealing their positions. The vehicle's secondary armaments, including the equivalent of two plasma-based machine guns, fired in a stream that swerved left to right, annihilating human vehicles either previously concealed by vegetation or sticking out of well-fortified emplacements.
For the rynar, things became a matter of instinct. With their primary threats eliminated, they began swarming into the military base with Ishtar at the front and center. She spotted fires already spreading around what appeared to be a heavily damaged airfield, and clumps of human infantry alongside stray vehicles were defending it.
Ishtar bared her fangs upon spotting them. "Cry havoc, but attempt to find and recover their so-called nukes!"
More words weren't necessary as she fired her plasma rifle. The battlemaster demonstrated that all it took to annihilate either an entire squad of human infantry or one of their vehicles was a single plasma bolt. Things became second nature for Ishtar as she struck down all that dared to stand against her, and the warpack fell out of formation to individually engage the doomed human forces. An armor-clad boot was all that was required to destroy structures, rupture vehicles, and crush any human infantry foolish enough to get close enough to them.
It was only a matter of time until the humans hastily retreated. Some dispersed into the surrounding wilderness, while others vanished deep into their base as large metal doors sealed them away from the outside world. Rynar soldiers perused them as they either tried to force them open or moved onto other parts of the base, which were abundant with small military structures. As for the battlemaster, she soon found herself mostly alone as she strolled into an area that appeared rather odd...
Unbeknown to Ishtar, she was walking into an area containing several missile silos. The woman narrowed her reptilian eyes upon spotting a strange symbol. It had a mostly yellow background with three black and triangular shapes converging on a similarly black circle in the center. Oddly enough, it reminded her of the icon for the Rynar Collective.
Yet, Ishtar couldn't shake the odd feeling that she was being watched...
To remedy this, the battlemaster pulled down her second visor. Thermal vision soon enveloped her view. Most of what she saw came in the form of cold reds and oranges, while warm blues and purples showed her signs of heat. She zoomed in on a tiny spec of purple, which had the yellow outline of a single human ducking behind some crates, making her hiss with a translation program springing into action.
[I know where you're hiding.]
Undeterred by her words, the human remained frozen in place. Ishtar practically snorted. It wasn't until she started walking towards the human that they emerged from their hiding spot and began sprinting to a nearby jeep. Like most human soldiers, she could tell right off the bat that the human was a man, making her sneer.
[Oh, no you don't...]
It wasn't exactly hard for the battlemaster to catch up to the human. She walked at a brisk pace with her large tail swishing in the air until her shadow was looming over the man. Thinking quickly on her feet, she used a single foot to knock the human over, then used it to pin him against the concrete ground. He resisted at first as he squirmed, but seemingly gave up when he dropped his pistol, remained still, and apparently accepted his fate.
Ishtar was tempted to simply end his life right there, but something caught her attention. Although the man was in an awkward position with his lower body pinned beneath her foot and his upper body wedged between her clawed toes, she barely saw that he was wearing the attire of a military officer. His cap was also on the ground, exposing some grey hair, and revealing that he was genuinely senior in rank compared to the other young human soldiers she was accustomed to encountering.
The woman deliberately applied a bit of pressure, making the man shudder. [Hmph. On second thought, you might be useful to me.]
True to her word, the woman lifted her foot away, and the human let out an apparent sigh of relief. Before he could recover, Ishtar gradually kneeled to the ground and plucked him away with a few clawed fingers, ascending the man into the air as she stood back up. Despite this, the man remained utterly still. Ishtar lifted her second visor with a free hand so they could see each other face to face, and soon she saw an elderly Russian man stoically dangling in the air and looking at her with pure disdain and dread in his weary hazel eyes.
She exposed her sharp fangs and blew air from her nostrils. [Who are you?]
"...Are you going to kill me?"
[Only if you answer my questions with a question.]
In return, the man sighed. "Ah, great."
Incase her current expression wasn't enough, Ishtar exposed the entirety of her teeth as a scowl formed across her face, and she stared deep into his soul with her unblinking eyes. [I have been informed that you are storing something called a nuke or nukes within the premises. I can also tell that you are of a high rank within your grand human warpack. So... where are they?]
"They're... not here. Well, not anymore, at least."
Ishtar's eyes narrowed. [Are you deceiving me?] She paused to slightly shake him in place. [Elaborate!]
"I figured you would know." he continued with a chuckle. "Some kind of laser weapon shot down the first one we tried to launch. As for the rest? Special forces rolled in to basically take them all after disassembling or destroying any they couldn't transport. The rest of us were told to stay put and wait for more orders, but now we're fucked anyway."
[Well then... how do I know if you're telling the truth?]
"You don't." answered the man with a grimace. "Now, are you going to kill me or what? I don't care anymore."
Ishtar lowered him to an area around her waist. [Maybe later.] After saying this, she used a free hand to remove the cap from her canteen, then dropped the man inside the opening before partially sealing it again. The woman lowered her visor once more as she scanned the vicinity, and she saw one of her soldiers tossing a plasma grenade into what resembled a tiny tunnel before plasma erupted inside of it.
With any potential threats neutralized, Ishtar rejoined her soldiers, but a nagging thought ate away at her mind despite her stupendous victory against her foes...
She technically failed her mission.