Steel pushed open the roof of the mecha but it was stuck. He frowned and punched it causing it to pop open. He climbed out and looked down Bird's Nest and his own squad were firing at the locations where the plasma came from.
It only took a minute of his enhanced senses to see one of the invisible bastards sneaking up the side. Steel aimed his rifle and fired. They ricocheted off something but it caught the others' attention.
It also caught the aliens' attention. They now knew the person that shot down their dropships was alive. He saw peaking over the ledge above them was something that looked like a small monkey but completely bald with sharp teeth. It had a longer weapon in hand and fired.
For everyone else it might have been quick but for Steel he had enough time to see the fast moving purple shot and tilt his head to the side. It bounced off metal plating on his helmet and Steel felt his body move from the impact.
He raised his rifle and fired on the sniper. Turning the creature's head into mist. He crouched on top of the mecha and took up a firing position. Switching between the ones that would move out of cover on the plateaus above them or the invisible ones that tried to sneak up.
He stayed in that position and eventually he could see behind the aliens as the last dropship fought with federation ships and was winning. It also seemed like the dropship was protecting something. The federation was going after it.
"Steel, get over here." Tani called over the comlink.
Steel jumped off the mecha firing a few last shots before running over to where Tani was. She held out a data collection device. Then she took his rifle and moved to the area where he just came from.
"Cadet Steel, Tani told me you are a better hacker than her. We opened a path into the ship underground. I want you to go down and get as much intel and data as you can. Record everything as well. We doubt we can hold this position much longer so if we go down you escape and call for evac without us. Understood?" The Bird's Nest Sergeant handed him two more data collection devices and a mobile battery.
"Yes sir." Steel took off his shotgun and placed it on the table before turning around. The sarge put the devices on his back. He was then off to where the mining device was pointing to the hole he would have to crouch through.
It was a bit tight but big enough for him to at least get through. Once he was through the hole he was at a door. It was not designed like anything else he had ever seen. He tapped his helmet and got a beep in response as it began recording.
The airlock door was in a diamond shape with the top and bottom cut off. While the hull entrance was in the shape of a hexagon. Like a bee's nest. He took out his hacking device. It took him nearly a full minute to get the door open. Once it was open a smell of decay assaulted his nose. He quickly turned on his suit's breathing system.
He touched the wall as he entered and used his first system ability transferring the schematic to one of the data devices. He also got a look at it. He forgot to do it when they took over that federation ship. He remembered afterwards and felt like an idiot.
He glanced in a direction and began running, it looked ship had a central data core. It was just shy of a hangar that went through the ship. It lacked security doors though, whoever built this ship was not worried about war or at least fighting other people. It was designed more like… a research vessel.
The roof was also taller than what the average human would need. It was also taller than any of those aliens he saw. Whether it was the monkey looking ones, the human looking lizards, or the beaked one with feathers he saw. He only saw one but it was quick enough to dodge or deflect his bullets with its armor.
It was an odd experience, for around the last fifteen minutes he had been constantly focused on fighting and hitting the enemy. Now he was just running and hacking, the quiet was jarring. He arrived at the room that was the central data core, no that was wrong. It was that and so much more.
"Ha… a data core, a reactor, and…" he looked at the stone walls which had symbols on them. "A historical record." The walls were not actually stone; it was just placed inside, probably after the crash.
He walked up to the data core and hacked in connecting the data collection devices to his device so every piece of information was accumulated from the data core. It only took a moment as he connected the battery to power it up just to download the data.
It did not need his attention so he walked over to the walls and made sure he recorded all the writing. He knew it was writing because he saw the alien ships programming and it was similar but still at its root just ones and zeros.
He had just finished getting a recording of the walls when his comlink sparked to life. "Cadet Steel, one got past us. He can turn invisible. We are being pushed out of the base. Contact the Border when you get out of that ship." The connection was scratchy so the connection sounded strained.
Steel walked over to the data collection unit. It was done. It had removed all of the data and then… the data had deleted itself. He would like to investigate but he did not have enough time. After it was done he disconnected it from the ship and put all the data collection devices in pockets on his body along with the hacking device.
When he was almost done doing that a wall of blue passed over him. He looked back and could hear the sound of something stepping against the metallic ground. He should move to the hangar to-
Steel suddenly dodged to the side. They moved quickly the same distance that took Steel a minute, it took them maybe five seconds. He looked over and pulled out his knife, brandishing it in a show of defiance.
It was the beaked and feathered alien from before. He still was not getting a good look at the creature with this low lighting. It turned invisible a moment later and Steel could feel the entire ship shaking. It was moving.
Steel steaded himself and focused on listening. He could hear the alien's movement as he was trying to sneak up on Steel. Steel stayed still until it decided to attack, he ducked causing the first strike from the alien's blade to miss. He punched upwards catching the alien in the bottom of the beak. Definitely not a weak point.
Steel backed up at the same time as the alien and it dropped its invisibility. It then made a noise and spoke, probably in its own language. But the sound seemed like acknowledgement and excitement. It tossed down a device that lit up the area with a yellow light. Like it was some type of miniature sun.
It already had one blade out that looked like a machete but with it being square instead of curved. But it pulled out a second one and its red feathers slightly shifted. Its armor was silver but battle damaged with the recent shots that hit it were ricocheted leaving black marks. The creature tapped it, recognizing that Steel created those dents.
Steel sighed and spun the knife in his hand. Readying himself for what should be a grueling fight. His comlink sparked to life, "Steel you should-" He tapped his helmet turning it off. He could tell the alien creature smiled like it knew.
Then the alien leaped forward, it was fast on its feet but Steel's reaction speed was better. The first blade was a diagonal sweep, Steel spun and brought his knife up to block the second strike which was a horizontal sweep from the same direction.
The alien's blade dug into his knife catching Steel off guard. He shouldn't try to block the attack again. He had to redirect the strikes or risk being injured. Unless he dodged all of them. Steel pushed the blade back and punched the alien in its chest plate causing it to be forced back two steps.
Then he jumped forward going on the offensive ducking and side stepping the blades. They continued like that. Dodging and striking, he would have said it was a dance except they were trying to kill each other.
Then it happened, it backed up and made the same excited noise. Steel understood a moment later as he heard something hissing. The battery stored on his hip was damaged, its casing was ruptured and it was going to explode. Behind him was the short walk into the hangar, thanks to the alien's light he could see something in there.
In front of him was an alien he needed to distract. While all around him the ship was moving but it was unequal, with it slightly shifting. Like it was being lifted at a single point.
He pulled out the battery and tossed it towards the alien. Throwing his knife at it to further damage the casing while he sprinted into the hangar. The alien cawed in surprise covering its eyes as the battery exploded.
What the alien did not know was that the battery was more flash and noise than anything damaging but Steel was already hopping over a railing into the hangar as daylight came through the hangar.
He ran up to the spacecraft that was inside, it looked like an attack craft with a place for a single pilot. He quickly touched it and saw the blueprint in his mind. He now knew how it worked. But it was nonfunctioning, the main power module was drained. If he had the battery he could have used that to jumpstart it.
Steel opened the cockpit but then quickly jumped to the side as Steel got a full look at his opponent. It had blood red feathers covering its body with armor plating going over it. The plating went with its full face helmet which had space for a beak. The eye slits glowed an ominous red. While its hands and feet were like a bird's claws. Three sharp appendages, but all three were covered in armor.
Steel was standing unarmed facing the alien. Instead of going for his Pyre he went for the Magnus that was on his back holster. Pulling it just as the alien leaped forward.
The first blade went for a horizontal strike as it passed over Steel who dodged back; his left hand reached up and grabbed the back of the blade. While the alien's second blade went for another horizontal strike going the other way, Steel brought his left leg up and he held the alien's hand back with his boot.
They were in a deadlock, slowly falling to the ground. But Steel tightened his grip on the blade he was holding with his left hand while his right hand aimed the revolver. The alien's head reeled back in surprise while Steel smirked.
He squeezed the trigger.