Sandalo

She was a blur shooting up the tree in front of her. It took every ounce of Joseph's being not to yelp and give his position away to the Marines. A rustle up on the branches, Joseph looked up to see the girl some 20 feet up in the tree. A second or two he stared high above where she is before realizing his mouth was agape like a slack-jawed fool. Jaws clenched, he willed himself to look away and just focus straight ahead.

Joseph has so many questions running through his head. On top of that, his head is throbbing as though he was punched by an Old Earth gorilla. His whole body sore from whatever force that passed through him. He's left a little dazed still by the whole encounter; most of which he knows nothing of. One moment he had the Marine officer dead to rights, but the next moment, a violent rush of something. Then nothing. Then her.

Who is she? How was she able to jump that high? And she's got all that Spec Ops gear, but she doesn't look a day over his age. And speaking of looks, the intensity in her eyes belies a great something more inside her than just her youthful appearance. Those looks could kill. He recalled that look she gave him and a warmth rushed to his cheeks. He also recalled how that look left him breathless for a bit.

He shook his head fiercely. He was about to die and he was thinking of a girl. There was no doubt in his mind that they would not get out of this alive. She may have all that fancy gear and weaponry and impressive show of strength and athleticism, but that's not going to be enough to take out a fire team of power-armored Marines, let alone 8 of them. But he's going to stick to her plan.

“Do not fire until I fire.” He recalled her gesturing in Ranger hand signs.

There was an air of confidence when she signaled that. Like she was used to taking and giving out orders. But his brain couldn't process the math. She's the same age as he was, there's no way she's one of those tier one operators. And yet, she looks and moves and carries herself like one.

The sound of crunched dried leaves and snapped branches brought him back to the moment. They're here. He couldn't see them from his low vantage point as he was lying prone but judging from what he's hearing they were so close. It was a test of will just to keep his head from popping a few inches up to see where they are.

Patience. It's going to come to you. He told himself and made himself believe it. Please, come to me. Joseph does not want to die not taking one of them bastards with him.

And like an answered prayer, he saw one of them. Just a part of it. He saw the outline of a power armor's right hunched shoulder through his scope amidst all the clutter of foliage and leaves. Which means, if he moves his rifle slightly to the left and down... There! The black, fishbowl-like visor of the EGA Power Armor. Barely visible with the clutter but it's there. His target.

Do not fire until I fire. He waited. And waited.

Crack of a gauss rifle from up above the trees was all the signal he needed to initiate attack. He tried to squeeze his trigger but his target was no longer in his scope. Frantically, he tried to search for another target while resisting the urge to get up to look. Another crack, this time to his right followed by one behind him and also coming from the girl at the same time. All was silent afterwards.

Joseph tried to scramble up as he hears someone approaching behind him. He turn his rifle in time to see a wiry man approach him in Kalayaan thermocamouflage uniform, all geared up with a M26 Gauss Rifle in high ready. The man briefly looked at him, nodded, then proceeded forward to where the EGA marines were. Joseph saw a long scar run from his neck to his right jaw.

Another rustle of leaves to his side and then there was another. A mountain wearing the same Kalayaan gear and weapons. Joseph fought the urge to take a step back and run away. This one was a colossus whereas the other was tall and lean like a spruce. His thick, black beard reminded Joseph of a titan or some myth figure of Old Earth. Joseph imagined his each and every step reverberated throughout the woods for miles on end.

Both of them strode downrange to the enemy, moving with intent and purpose, rifle at high ready should there be more coming. And there would be more.

Joseph looked on and finally saw the four power-armors, still standing but with their upper body hunched forward, slouching like a crumbling statue. Each and every visor ruptured open with smoke coming out of them. Their weakest spot. And the Kalayaan Spec Ops made sure and quick work of it. Real quick work. He looked away. He didn't want to see what was inside. He knew what was inside.

"Alpha-1, area is secure for now. Prepping for counter attack. Anyone with working brain and ears would've heard our rifles for miles," the Mountain said in his comms. You would think he would have boomed what he said all over the woods, but it was surprisingly soft and quiet.

He then continued, "We need to extract. We're compromised. Get Kapre to bring their lander to us. There's no way we can fight the next wave now that they know we're here."

Tall man just grunted his approval while rifle-butting camera attachments and power units from the marines' power-armor. And the girl jumped down from the tree to join him. The people inside the armor may be dead but the armor itself is still fully functional. And in the hands of a smart officer, they could still be used for anything ranging from intel gathering or interference. Meaning that those armors could still pose a threat.

"What do we do with the armors? Be a waste to leave them lying here. We sure could use them.” Mountain waited for his reply. A moment passed as the Mountain listened in. Finally, he seemed to have gotten a resolution.

"Affirm, doing it now. 4, provide security." The girl stopped what she was doing and raised her rifle back up to the north. Mountain grabbed what seemed to Joseph to be a grenade, tossed it in one of the holes that was once the armor's visor and moved on to the next. Tall guy grunted and did the same.

White hot fire flashed inside the armors. Then, as soon as it started, it petered out. White Phosphorus, Joseph knew. He didn't know how effective it would be to the insides of the power-armor though, but he hoped it was enough. If Kalayaan wasn't going to liberate these armors, might as well destroy them to deny the enemy's use of it again.

"Now, what do we do with the kid?" Mountain asked. Joseph's ear felt on fire; they were talking about him.

Before they could decide what to do with him, he spoke up. "Please, take me with you. They've killed my family, rounded up the whole poblacion up north, and killed anyone who resisted. I've got nowhere else to go but I want to fight. I need to fight. I need—"

He could not finish. Days of running and planning his revenge and he's got nothing to show for. His sister. Mother. Father. All of them sliced down by autocannons as he hid in the woods, watching. He needed this. Needed to redeem himself. He was a Sandalo. And he let his family down.

Mountain's feature softened and he was about to say something to Joseph when the girl shouted, "Incoming!"

Mountain was fast. Extremely fast for a large person. He came at Joseph like a blur and tackled him to the ground. A jumbled vision of foliage and trees and bushes, before he felt himself slammed against the ground. Joseph felt the wind knocked out of him as he heard the whistle followed by the loudest sound he's ever heard in all his 16 years under the Tau Ceti sun.

A whiz and BOOM. Whiz and BOOM. Explosion after explosion came pummeling down onto them. An unending barrage of terrifying heat and sound and fireball crashed all around them. Joseph covered his face as clods of disturbed earth pelted and rained down on him. His screams were drowned out by the loud thunders. It went on forever. Until it didn't. Then it stopped. He heard nothing afterwards except the constant ringing in his ear.

The giant, Mountain, lay on top of him. Eyes wide, lower lip quivering, his hands shaking. The sight of this warrior god shaken and startled unnerved Joseph. But it was only momentary as the Mountain slowly stood up, his face resolute, and his voice calm saying, "Sound off!"

Tall guy grunted as he tried to push away a branch that fell on top of him.

"4, okay," the girl shouted amidst the ringing in his ear. Not missing a stride, the girl took a knee and held her rifle up covering her sector.

Mountain offered a hand to Joseph who still lay on his back.

"It's okay, kid. Everybody's afraid of orbital strikes. You're not alone. But you gotta get up and stick it to them."

Joseph took the Mountain's hand and shakily stood. He went to pick his rifle that flew a few meters away.

"Get ready," Mountain barked out loud. There was no reason to stay quiet now. The enemy already knew where they were.

Girl, Mountain and Tall Guy formed a line with 5 meters spacing. Joseph joined them on the left most flank. He hears trees falling in front of him as though they were ripped from their roots. Loud thuds as the remaining marines wasted no time in getting to their defensive line. Slowly, the trees fell and revealed the behemoths coming for them.

"Ready." Mountain's order was a rumbling thunder.

"Steady." His resolute voice clear in everyone's ear.

"DOWN!"

Joseph was momentarily confused with the order. Down? Didn't he mean fire?

But they all went down and so Joseph did as well. And the explosions came back in droves. Only this time, it wasn't directed at Joseph and the Spec Ops.

He craned his head up. From his left, Joseph saw streaks of white slamming down on the enemy's position, exploding on impact. He saw one of the enemy's armor being ripped to shreds by the missiles as though they were paper. Another armor was totally consumed by fireball, never to be seen again. The remaining two were heavily damaged but didn't bother to stay and fight. They were done for the day. They turned and ran away from the explosion.

Once they were sure that the remaining marines fled, everybody stood up. Rifle still at ready but now feeling more sure that the worse was behind them. A power-armor came up to their left flank. It looked almost the same as the ones the Empire Marines used except this one had a shoulder-mounted missile launcher on its right instead of the autocannons. Its colors were also different—this one had the Kalayaan Olive Drab and Coyote Brown Digital Camo.

"Hot damn! Took you long enough, 1," Mountain roared in laughter.

Tall Guy didn't say anything, but he beamed a smile so big, it covered from ear to ear.

Girl didn't smile but there was a hint of mirth in her eyes. Intense killer eyes before. But now, those eyes had shone... Amusement? Relief? He couldn't tell. The girl saw him staring at her and they both quickly looked away. Joseph felt the warmth on his cheeks again.

More importantly, he breathe a sigh of relief and laugh and hooted with the rest.

The power-armored Spec Ops waited for the celebration to die down when he said, "Listen up! Lander ETA is 10 minutes. Everybody move and secure Extraction Point Charlie. EGA is going to be hearing about this encounter soon, so we better be gone before they move more Marines in this area."

"You…" he continued as he pointed his armored hand at Joseph. "…are coming with us."