The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Shot for Shot

As Naryan was pumping the kickstarter into Galloway's body, the last of the prisoners ran up Three's ramp, followed closely by the liliths. Looking over his shoulder into the passenger bay from the pilot's seat, Lash nodded as the last of the prisoners found a place against the wall where the rest of his lilith company began taking care of them with aid kits in hand.

"Ford!" he shouted loud enough to be heard by Strike Two's commander. "Get aboard, now!"

Hearing the command, Fordricht nodded before waving the rest of Strike Two into the back of the gunship.

"Move it," he snapped before looking back over to where Recon Two and Strike One were now pinned down by the White Flame second wave. Just in time to see Naryan go down.

"Damn it," the North African snarled. Then had to look behind him as he heard the gunship's lift fans begin to speed up and he found Nighthawk Three lifting off the ground.

"No! Not yet!"

Scrambling, the broad shouldered vampire threw himself onto the ramp. Thankfully Dru and Fiadh were still close by. When they saw him land awkwardly on the ramp's bottom edge then begin to slide off, they both darted forward to grab him by his gear and haul him to safety. Only to have him awkwardly rush to his feet as the ramp finished closing.

"Lash!" he shouted. "I just saw Naryan go down from a fifty cal shot!"

"What??" Lash said hoarsely, eyes flying wide. Naryan!! Then he looked over at Truk.

"Take the controls!" he tautly said.

"You got it, Wolf," Truk said, already sliding his chair forward to take the gunship's control yoke.

Three continued to climb, moving to take Lady van Tallert and her people beyond harm. Before it swung over the wall, however, a single drop door opened. Then a powerful form was dropping down through it on a yoyo line. Almost fifteen meters above the ground and rising, the gunship continued to pull away. Seeing that they were being drawn away from the ground faster than the line was dropping them, the figure reached up and disconnected the line and let itself drop.

Landing with an audible thud, the figure stood with a surge and drew a pair of Silver Legion moly knives from its belt. Activating them with simultaneous stud presses. it blurred forward directly at the clustered White Flame forces.

Moving at maximum vampiric speed, it raced through the clustered White Flames gathered at the wall, the human forces with their attention focused on the squad at the LZ and the two squads pinned up against the main keep. And as it passed through their midst, humans were toppling over, sliced nearly in half or missing their heads. Hitting the far end, it twisted around and moved back in.

Now aware of the killer in their midst, the White Flame troopers turned towards it, weapons ready. Only to find their attacks missing their mark and their stabbing knives getting blocked, the figure's arms snapping in tight arcs as it chewed its way through the counterattack, destroying whole squads before moving to the next.

Stunned by the mysterious figure's appearance and subsequent slaughter, Ballan could only blink when the bodies stopped falling, his Kali long gone dry in the furious attempt to keep the rogue humans at bay. Then the figure was stepping out of the midst of the slaughter to run forward and fall to their knees beside the fallen Naryan.

"Narya," Lash breathed, his voice cracking with emotional pain at seeing the gaping fifty caliber wound that nearly separated her right arm from her body. Then they were all ducking as Nighthawk One came around to scythe the remaining White Flames down with a volley from her gatling guns.