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"A little
more… a little more… come on… thank you." WHAP-PING! A Runner
toppled backwards, its torso punctured by Venus' gauss rifle shot.
The sound of her rifle only made noise inside Venus' Suit, but the
whole team heard it over the comm.
"Good shot, Venus. I'm moving to cover the ore-extractor."
Venus saw Pal on her long-range display, saw him activate his Jump
Jets in a soundless blast of flame, and soar through the air to
land on top of a ruined ore silo, not far from the trashed ore extractor.
"Take care, Pal. There's a Jumper on my scope, 100 meters from
your position. Do you have any top cover, over?"
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"Negative.
I have no line of sight on the Jumper, but I see him on my scope,
too. I'll have to hope he doesn't have…"
"Pal! Don't move!" WHAP-PING! A hidden Runner, arm blasted
off by Venus's shot, ran up the side of the silo towards Pal. "Aw,
I didn't finish it… get out of there, Pal!" The Runner, feet
sticking to the vertical surface of the broken silo, ran up to Pal's
perch. Pal triggered his blaster rifle into the little Meck, and
missed. It activated its Static Shock.
"Arghhh!" Pal's heart rate spiked on Victor's med monitors
as he screamed, and the top of the silo blew apart as the little
Meck blew itself up. Miraculously, Pal was still standing up there.
"What the heck was that?"
"Static Shock Suicide. You're all right, Pal." Victor
looked at his monitors. "Your Ablative Armor is mostly gone,
but you're still one hundred percent."
"I hate this planet," Merc said mildly as he ripped a
couple hundred rounds into a pair of Spartans fifty meters away.
One Spartan spun around and fell, bright metal sparkling where the
small Densium projectiles had riddled it with tiny holes…
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The other turned
slowly, raised its Microwaver (the Autocanon hung at its side, not
functional), and moved into range before unleashing a ray that struck
Merc, staggering him. "I hate Microwavers", gritted Merc.
Meanwhile, a
red signal appeared on Victor's scope. "Pal! Get down! Incoming
rocket barrage!"
Pal tried to dodge as a double salvo of mini-rockets slewed from
the Jumper's hidden position, arced across the sky, and slammed
down into and all around Pal's position. A dirty black explosion
bloomed on top of the ruined silo, broken masonry and pieces of
metal falling as far as Venus's lofty position.
In Victor's
helmet display, Pal's vital signs went flat. "God, I hate Mercury."
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