Planet Designation: F2418
Planet Class: Zeta
Environment: Desert. Plateau. Sea.
Atmosphere: Breathable
Daniel dodged to the side as a long, thin maw nearly tore his throat out. Immediately, he was forced to duck another claw strike, deftly weaving through the horde’s attacks. Feet sliding on shifting sand, Daniel managed to hit one enemy with the butt of his spear before moving to defense again. He easily caved in the Raptor’s skull, but it did little to improve the situation. The enemy was far too numerous to miss one soldier. As he fought, a desert wind kicked up another sandblast, shrouding the battlefield in a gritty haze.
A small pack of Khofa, mid-sized demon raptors, had made a beeline directly toward the Pioneer base camp on F2418 just that morning. These things were tall enough that the tops of their heads came up to Daniel’s neck, their long beaklike maws giving them a prodigious attack range. The bipedal Xenos ran horizontally but stood up vertically when stopping to attack him. On top of the biting, they clawed at him with long, whipcord-strong arms, three-fingered claws eager to rend flesh from bone. Bright viridian scales glistened in the sunlight, contrasting menacingly with the dark purple frills on their backs. The Khofa hopped along, alternatively pecking and clawing at Daniel as he led them away from the basecamp. Dexterous swings of his spear crushed bone and sliced scale, though he barely made a dent in their ranks.
The beasts themselves were only mid-grade, perhaps high-grade Zeta at worst. They could hurt Daniel if he stood still and let them, but his stats let him run circles around them. The Khofa only presented a danger to him thanks to their sheer numbers, the advantage of which was largely negated by the Hunter’s Domain. Any lizard trying to sneak up on him was rewarded with a spear to the chest or a whack in the head, and the boost to his Dexterity allowed him to twirl his spear with ease, knocking away most incoming threats. His Strength turned even glancing blows into lethal injuries. Daniel wasn’t in serious danger. The real threat right now was time.
If the others had been there, they would have wiped out this pack with ease. But when it rained, it poured, even in the desert. Their camp had been beset by the remnants of a Shekto hive right as the Khofa were bearing down on them. Daniel had been forced to think fast, choosing to personally lead the Khofa away and leaving the others to deal with the insect Xenos. Outnumbered and short-staffed, the group was at risk of taking more casualties without his help. He couldn’t afford to let this last too long.
With a sharp inhale, Daniel positioned himself carefully and activated the Destroyer’s Strike. Spear glowing with yellow light, Daniel’s counterattack cut right through the horde. The weapon met no resistance as it sliced through the raptors in a wide sweep. Seizing the initiative, the spearman leapt forward, cutting and stabbing at the off-balance enemy even as the light quickly began to fade. Some tried to bite back, and Daniel immediately activated the Capacity on both of his arms as well. The spear itself didn’t get any stronger, but he now swung it with the might of a thunderbolt. After a new wave of their compatriots were suddenly sent screaming into the air, the Khofa had had enough. The remaining pack members turned tail and fled after a few cries of distress, seeking easier prey.
Gasping in the baking hot air, Danny turned and began sprinting back to the camp. Those strikes cost him dearly in terms of Mental Energy, making them very inefficient when dealing with such a large number of weaker enemies. He’d rolled the dice, hoping to scare them away, and now he just prayed he hadn’t made that decision too late. Daniel dashed toward the large Mesa the squad had called home for the past two months. The mighty rock outcrop was one of several others dotting the blighted landscape, its face populated with small tunnels. A crimson sun loomed in the sky overhead, soaking the Pioneer in sweat.
That run turned into a trot, a sheepish grin breaking out on Daniel’s scarred face as he saw what’d happened while he was gone. O’Riley was finishing off the last of the Shekto, obsidian spear gleaming as he stabbed through its dirty brown carapace. The others also stood over the bodies of fallen enemies, wounded but alive. Jordan caught sight of the returning Daniel and gave him a teasing grin, calling out: “Looking pretty haggard there, big chief! Those freaky lizards give you a scare?”
The men briefly chuckled at their leader’s expense, and Daniel just took it in stride: “What can I say? I’m not built for the heat. Something you can relate to, eh Jordan?”
While their improved Adaptability gave them resistance to the sun’s rays, that was only on top of their own natural resistances. Gon the Dunid had grown up on a desert planet, so he was right at home, while Omar’s and Ramirez’s darker skin offered extra protection. Daniel’s relatively high stats meant that the blazing radiation did little more than make him sweat, but the other white guys were suffering. Jordan, in particular, had complained about the heat on several occasions. The others now chuckled at Jordan’s expense, but Daniel’s blonde-haired buddy never lost his grin: “’If you’ve got time to complain, you’ve got time to work?’ Isn’t that what you always say? How ‘bout you live up to those words and help me dissect this here abomination?”
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Daniel just shook his head wryly and moved to help. The Shekto were inedible but produced valuable crystals in their thorax. Dissecting these things was everyone’s least favorite job, but there was a mutual agreement that if you helped another man do it, then a part of the spoils went to you as well. The Pioneers quickly processed these insects before moving to help Daniel with the Khora bodies as well. As they worked, the young man reflected on their mission.
The Pioneers had been sent to F2418 with a more targeted objective this time:
Mission: Pioneer Mining on Planet F2418
The Red Mesas of F2418 are often rich in valuable metals. They’re also chock full of Xenos. Your Main Mission is to find a Mesa, eliminate its inhabitants, and prepare it for future mining operations. In the process, gather enough salvage to meet your Quota.
Reward for Main Mission Completion: 600,000 credits.
Normally, a squad as shorthanded as theirs would be phased into another, creating a more complete unit. No such luck, since there were many others on the expedition who were even worse off than they were. If all those squads were dissolved and merged, then the total number of teams would diminish to ‘unacceptable’ levels.
The more squads there were, the more overall missions the expedition could complete, which meant more total revenue. Larger groups meant fewer casualties but less money, and there were always compromises in a competition between monetary and human resources. In his infinite wisdom, the Division commander had decided to take men from the relatively unscathed squads and incorporate them into the very weak squads. This process considered the individual strength of the squad members as well as their numbers. Daniel’s group fell into a weird area where they weren’t weak enough to qualify for a personnel infusion or numerous enough to be pared down. They’d been left untouched, so their numbers at the beginning of this mission looked something like this:
Group Designation: Group 53
Group Size: 8/8
Group Quota: 1,600,000 Credits (NOT MET)
Personal Quota: 200,000 (NOT MET)
Total Time: 100 Imperium Standard Days
Commission on Salvage Value: Under Quota: 60%, over Quota: 90%
Their Quota remained high, despite everything. All appearances said that this was an outrageous challenge. It wasn’t that unusual to be forced to complete a mission a few men short of 20. But asking them to succeed with less than half a full squad was ridiculous. It would be steep odds for any normal team. Daniel’s team, fortunately, was anything but normal.
They had been hammered into instruments of war by their experiences on F2437. Daniel was a titan, even by Epsilon standards, and several of the others reached that vaunted class soon after beginning the new mission. Even the weaker members of the gang, like Ibrahim and MacNeil, had learned to sublimate their trauma and fight through the pain. After a grueling campaign, their numbers looked like this:
Group Designation: Group 53
Group Size: 8/8
Group Quota: 1,600,000 Credits (MET)
Personal Quota: 200,000 (MET)
Total Time: 36 Imperium Standard Days
Not everyone had met their individual Quota like Danny, but they were getting there. And after the most recent battle, they’d cleared out the last of the Shekto from the Mesa, meaning that their primary mission was now complete. That influx of 600K allowed their Group Quota to be met. Most importantly, they hadn’t lost a single man. This mission, which should have been a complete disaster, had been a great success instead.
The rest of the mission passed without incident. The Khofa, and other roaming desert predators, had learned to stay away by now. The party spent most of its days mining what precious metals they could find and picking the few valuable herbs that could survive in this harsh environment. Daniel even occasionally picked a few fights with some of the roaming predators, sharpening his skills and adding to his personal wealth.
The one thing that bothered Daniel was the total lack of Kharnidd sightings. He wasn’t complaining, as he had no desire to tangle with those monsters again, but their absence was troubling in its own way. He had been poring over the file Nuntius had given him and knew that they were extremely intelligent and usually well organized. Their hits on the Imperium’s salvage teams were almost certainly a part of a larger plan. Perhaps they were testing the Empire’s strength, trying to hamper their war economy, or both. Maybe they were still attacking, and Daniel had just been lucky enough to be overlooked. He couldn’t shake the feeling that that wasn’t quite right.
The Kharnidd were up to something. But what?
