Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 46: Tacole

The explosion had more flash and concussive force behind it than any shrapnel shards. So the resulting explosion caused the vehicle to veer and Steel was blown back.

"Damn! We need cover-" Wise started but stopped as she sucked in a breath of air and veered the jeep to the side. She grunted as the jeep hit something and it began precariously balancing on the left wheels. She quickly turned the wheel causing it to land on the ground and slammed on the brakes as she stopped behind a downed human troop transport.

She glanced over to see Feathertail bracing himself against the dashboard. He looked terrified. But she only needed to check that he was still alive. She jumped out of the jeep and pulled out her rifle moving over to the edge of cover and looking out over it to see that the Victorium had set up a shield on the other side of the transport. So she came almost face-to-face with this creature.

It was twice her height and then some. Covered in gray fur and hair with dark leathery skin visible around the eyes and on its palms. They both blinked in surprise as they looked at each other. But as it began raising its weapon it suddenly turned over to look to the side.

Wise did not think about it twice as she raised her rifle and began unloading. The first dozen of bullets caused the enemy's shield to light up a bright blue. Before it suddenly failed and a burst of green blood as the large body stood headless for a moment before falling.

She looked around confused for a moment, "what the hell?"

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The explosion threw him back off the jeep but he quickly grabbed the back of the vehicle as it moved underneath him. While in his other hand was a rifle hanging loosely in his arm. That concussive blast really disoriented him. With a quick and powerful flex of his arm he pulled himself up to jump back into the rear bed of the jeep.

But when the vehicle quickly swerved followed by a slamming on the brakes. He instantly shot forward flying over the front of the vehicle and almost into the object that Wise likely slammed on the brakes for. But at the last moment he moved one of his feet and used his momentum to jump off of the roof of the crashed spacecraft.

He flew clear of the spacecraft and while he was flying or rather thrown through the air. Then he was momentarily stunned by the feeling and then horrified as he flew over one of those shields he had seen the enemies using in the distance.

There were three creatures from the Victorium behind it. All the same species but not one that he had seen before. They were covered in gray hair and fur with black skin visible underneath. They were dressed in silver armor with large gaps between the armor. But as he flew down towards them he saw a slight blue shimmer and a protruding device on their back.

Then he started falling, "shit!" He raised his rifle but it gave him his first good look at the weapon since earlier. It was severely damaged, by that he meant the entire front of the rifle was blackened with the barrel blown apart. He figures a piece of shrapnel or bullet must have flown back at him, fortunately he caught it with his gun instead of his body.

But that did not help his current predicament. He was flying towards them and he only had his sidearm and the sword on his back. Hopefully, his weapons would get through whatever protective measures they have.

As he began falling he threw his rifle at the one in the middle while he pulled out the sword from his back. He was falling in between the one in the middle and the one on the far right. The one on the left was moving over to the edge of the shield, that one would have to be the last one he took out.

His rifle collided with the middle one's head. As he fell he swung the sword at the one on the right. There was a spark as his blade collided with the blue energy shield covering his shoulder. But as it bounced off and threw him back slightly the blue energy covering the creature's body disappeared.

It made a noise of surprise as Steel landed on the ground in front of it. Reacting to the fact that its shield had fallen. Steel quickly adjusted his stance and threw the sword at the creature's head.

It flew through the air and landed in its face causing green blood to spill out just as it began looking down. That is one down.

He pulled his Pyre from its holster and spun around just as the other creature was raising a large metal stick. Steel took his stance and fired at the middle one's head. Quickly firing off shots that hit it in the head.

It took less than a minute for him to empty the entire clip. The middle one's energy shield that was covering its head disappeared. But after it fell he fired his last two shots causing its head to snap backwards.

It collapsed and he saw past its corpse as the last one was raising its weapon and slowly turning its head in his direction. But as he got ready to pull out another clip its head was suddenly covered in the same blue shield before it disappeared and then its head disappeared as well. Causing green blood to fly out.

Steel stood stunned for a moment and looked around. There were several other areas where metal shields were set up. They had more of these creatures peeking out from behind them. It seems they had made their way further forward then they meant too.

"Hey Steel!" Steel looked over to where the last one had collapsed to see Wise peeking around the corner, "what are you doing over there?"

Steel sighed and moved to grab his sword, pulling it out of the first one's head. Then he began walking over to Wise who was looking around the corner. "I am surprised you did not see me fly clear over the crashed craft."

"Really? Wait, where is your rifle?" Wise asked as Steel walked over.

"Actually it was destroyed," As he walked past the one Wise killed he noticed the large weapon it was wielding. He holstered his pistol and sheathed his sword. Then he stepped up to the body and started pulling the cannon from the creature's hand. It was holding it by two handles on the top. "Let's see how this thing works."

He grunted as he picked it up. It was not unbearably heavy but it was enough to move like he was encumbered. Which was surprising considering he was several times stronger than any normal human. These creatures must be much stronger physically then any normal human.

A nano human might stand a chance in a fight of physical abilities. But if most of the Victorium races were like this creature in their unique way. Then humanity and most of the known races will have issues. But this was not the time to contemplate this.

He moved over to the edge of the shield standing next to Wise as she moved back further behind cover. "Lay down covering fire, apparently we are now at the edge of the spear." Wise told him, "I am checking on Feathertail and his new patients."

"Understood," He answered before calculating the angles for several vulnerable points where these creatures were held up.

KA-CHUNK! BOOM!

The first shot shook his entire body causing him to grunt in pain while his shot went wide and flew past a shield and instead hit the enemy ship. "Damn, hey Solisa can I at least know what the hell those things are called?"

"They are called the Tacole, in addition to the Tacole there are also Sima aboard the ship which is another race you have not seen before. Then there is the Ola, they are small monkey-like species that you have encountered before." Solisa immediately answered.

KA-CHUNK! BOOM!

This time he anticipated the recoil and hit the edge of the shield where a Tacole was peaking out. The direct impact caused the Tacole to explode. "The only reason I can think of the other races we encountered being missing is that they operate as factions."

"Ding ding ding! You are correct, the Victorium act with their factions rather than as a single cohesive unit." Solisa answered. "By the way, the commanders are sending an armored unit to pick you up. It seems they require your hacking expertise to get aboard the enemy's vessel."

"What, you couldn't cut it?" Steel asked as he aimed his next shot.

KA-CHUNK! BOOM!

This time he hit a shield that was a diagonal angle directly warping and causing it to loosen its footing. "Ha… actually I have detected there is a ship board AI enslaved aboard the enemy vessel. Since we do not know the method it is safer for me to not infiltrate their systems." Solisa answered with a sigh.

"Really, have you followed the empire's protocol for things like this?" Steel asked. Smirking to himself as he aimed a shot at the same spot. Intending to fire a few more times. This time in succession.

KA-CHUNK! BOOM!

KA-CHUNK! BOOM!

It only took two more shots for the shield to go flying, completely exposing the five Tacole hidden behind it. They began running for more cover when several high pitched shots rang out and they began dropping dead. It seems our snipers are extremely effective in this setting.

"I have, it seems the Rogue Legion did not take it well and are already making efforts to reach out to the Victorium. They are not very happy with the Victorium, but are hesitant to declare an all-out war." Solisa explained

Steel smirked to himself.

KA-CHUNK! KA-CHUNK!

The weapon finally made a firing noise without the recoil. It was empty, it seemed they had a very low amount of ammunition in whatever clip it used. He tossed it on the ground as he heard the honking of a horn. Two armored vehicle transports pulled up behind the cover.

Then out of the side door a man peaked his head out.