The Withered Land, The Empire Falls: ABYSSIUM

ABYSSIUM, Part Five

The massive eight-wheeled vehicle that rumbled across the tarmac to meet them was large enough to eclipse the dual orbs of Pex'Insava's settings suns on the far horizon. Its contours glistened with green fire in the light of the dying day. It was an inelegant and slightly archaic throwback to a time when the Emperium delighted in designing its vehicular technology and large capacity military machines to resemble mutated animal monstrosities. The transport vehicle was a two-story tall metal Chrysomelid, long and capsule-shaped like a beetle, with a pair of side-mounted turrets on its hexagonal thorax which sat behind the spherical pilot's cabin at the head of the body. Non-projectile artillery cannons, affixed to accordion support bases, protruded from the crest of each of the half-dome turrets. The long, three-part body, head and thorax and abdomen, was delineated by regions of sectionalized articulation that indicated the vehicle was physically versatile in the extreme. Its eight giant wheels were attached to the chassis' undercarriage on independently-reactive, rocker-arm axles, so the wheels adapted easily to wildly uneven or loose, rocky terrain. The vehicle's heavily armored body fairly bristled with protruding gun-barrels of varying lengths and bores.

Its multi-sectional engine growled loudly with the stentorian arrogance of an angry desert predator.

Accompanying it were two other, much smaller combat-modified, armored land vehicles. They appeared, on visual inspection, to have been architected during the same time period, although these squat, stubby four-wheeled conveyances bore more of a taxonomical resemblance to overweight cockroaches than to beetles. It was obvious they were fast and agile machines. Their rigid exteriors were grimy and dented, dirty, but they presented the observer with a sense of extreme sturdiness that made up for their lack of sophistication.

A team of five combat-outfitted soldiers were assigned to the big eight-wheeler. Three more troopers each were assigned duty in the duo of blocky tandem vehicles. All together they had the look of an experienced, battle-tested crew used to working together.

Despite that, one look at the small convoy convinced both D'Spayr and Qrystatos that they didn't want anything to do with any of it. The armored transports looked to be potential death traps should the group encounter a resolute and unrelenting guerrilla assault team out on the road.

"The convoy has to move past the territorial blockade at Raowdar Station and then on past the Totem At Kyvree'Damuneth before you even get into the unincorporated areas. It's not an especially long journey distance-wise, but it is way too far from us here at Swordphont 107 for you to rely on receiving any immediate help should you encounter ... shall we say 'determined opposition'? ... along the way," LRB Annex-Chief Rehdgraice had explained as he'd walked the Knights over to the area behind the base's Motor Pool hangar. "These sand-devil mini-tanks and the fighting transport carrier should provide protection and firepower should you encounter the normal indigenous antagonists our Intel units have categorized. The FTC crew is well-versed in counter-reactive hit 'n' run military action."

The Knights hadn't had much to say in response to Rehdgraice's assurances. The man was predominantly a deskbound middle management functionary with little knowledge of actual combat and delusions of martial expertise. The brothers had already decided they'd keep to their own council and depend on their own strategies while running the road outside the confines of the military consulate compound.

That had been half a league back while the dual suns above Pex'Insava has still sat above the cloudline... Now a fitful and intemperate dusk was slowly dissolving the heat of the day from off the plains and tundra and the crystal sands had begun to cover themselves in a sheathe of oily water. Night was falling. The men of the convoy could hear the hollow, ululating cries of dingo-like jehkkylls on the hunt drifting over the hills from the area of the dunes stretching towards the horizon.