Odyssey of War

Chapter 5: Close-call

As we entered the habitat, we were greeted with a very different sight. Half of the houses were either scorched or destroyed, and debris covered the roads.

"What the hell happened here?" Sam asked.

"I don't know, either way Alpha squad is in danger" I replied.

We only drove a few hundred meters before we found the squad. They were suppressed by a dozen Dytari. Several of them were in the armoured form which were much different to the simulation, and had a frontal energy shield protecting them. They had large legs with metal plates guarding them, and had a medium sized torso with a round back. What made them look strange were their heads, which were attached straight onto the torso and had one large red sensor. They fired several shots at the vehicles, destroying the turrets and almost hitting the gunners.

"Houston we have a problem" Phillip said.

We all jumped out and ran over to Alpha squad. Martin, Lindsey and I found Sergeant Matthew Forster, who was taking cover behind an overturned freight truck.

"Thank god you're alright" Lindsey said as she hugged him.

"We've been trying to contact you, but the Dytari seem to have damaged our comms" Matthew said.

"Ours are working. Have any civilians been evacuated?" Martin asked.

"We sent some survivors through, but the few that are left have been cut off"

"Don't worry. Sergeant Brooks, take your squad and circle round, see if you can flank them"

"Roger that" Brooks replied.

"Sergeant Forster, you mentioned a casualty?"

"Two sir, both Sergeant Burton and Harvey"

"Tell the rest of your squad to stay behind cover"

"Will do sir"

We began to return fire at the Dytari, with little effect. Echo squad eventually appeared, managing to damage the feet of one of them.

"Those armoured ones look like ogres" Sam noted.

"We've got a nickname then, think of some more, makes them easier to identify" Lindsey replied.

After taking several fragmentation grenades from the vehicle's tray, I sprinted to one of the houses. I stumbled through the doorway as I got hit with a plasma bolt, giving me a moderate jolt. Using the grappling hook, I clumsily managed to get onto the roof of the two storey building.

I ran across the rooftop, adjacent to the 'Ogres'. I could see a slight glowing prism on the back of the exoskeleton, perhaps a power source. I pulled the pin on each of the grenades, tossing them at the feet of the Dytari.

While they didn't cause much damage, the shockwaves staggered the Dytari, causing a break in their fire. An explosion destroyed the glowing prisms on one of the Ogres. It stopped moving, then slowly collapsed on the roads with arcs of electricity shooting up out of the exoskeleton.

"Fall back, I'm marking the rendezvous on the map" Martin said over the comms.

I got down from the rooftop, just as an Ogre turned to fire at me. I checked the map on my D.A.W.N, which had a red marker set several blocks away.

"Lieutenant, it's Doctor Rivera", the Doctor said in a distressed tone.

"Go ahead doc" Martin responded.

"We need to leave now. Survivor numbers are falling and I'm picking up some sort of faint anomaly close to your location, high radiation levels, and it's growing"