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Ishtar could hear her hearts pounding in her ears.
The skyline was on fire. Dawn approached on the horizon with SAP fighters escorting troop transports in the air. An orchestra of war erupted all around the battlemaster with distant structures or vegetation set ablaze accompanied by stray bursts of weapons fire.
Her eyes rapidly scanned her surroundings. Augmented reality vision provided a plethora of random details with alien numerals indicating a higher heart rate than usual. She shouldered a plasma rifle, clutching the grip with her clawed fingers and aiming it in any direction she moved. Only one other thing caught her attention as she checked a pocket near the base of her scaly tail, amber eyes transitioning from a determined gaze to a far more concerned look…
[Vasily?] said Ishtar, unfastening a pocket to allow for more airflow. [How are you holding up?]
Silence was her only answer following several long seconds.
Before Ishtar could investigate, rustling from a nearby forest made her head perk up. A few sudden movements made her instinctively aim her plasma rifle with a holographic sight lining up against one of many umok. Within the blink of an eye, four were circling around the battlemaster from several different directions while pointing their laser rifles at her. As Ishtar pivoted in place, she spotted blue X marks haphazardly painted onto their light armor and other markings that could only be described as more tribalistic.
A more primal part of Ishtar’s being went haywire as her irises shrunk.
“Well, well…” said one of umok as they stepped forward, pointing their laser rifle at the sky in a cocky fashion. “Ironic how the oh so mighty-”
Two plasma bolts promptly wiped the smug expression off his face before he dropped to the ground. Several more in rapid succession struck more umok on one flank before they could even adequately react, prompting the remaining one in the rear and near Ishtar’s tail to recoil. Ishtar wielded her rifle like a club as she made a one-eighty, shrugging off several laser pulses colliding against her heavy armor as she charged at the last umok. She roared at the top of her lungs. A single swing to the torso knocked the air out of the umok’s lungs, while a second to the head aroused an ear-piercing cry before being knocked off their taloned feet.
Ishtar then used a free hand to rake her claws across the umok’s throat. Yellow blood coated the tips. Once the rebel was on the ground, several following stomps with metal combat boots against their comparatively small head caved in their skull, crushing it like a melon.
Only faint yet familiar wailing stopped Ishtar in her tracks as her eyes went wide. Once more, the battlemaster’s disposition changed altogether as she focused on her human passengers. Her eyes watered up a little as critically wounded or dead umok twitched in the background, succumbing to the occasional muscle spasms between making other odd noises.
[Everything will be okay, little Suko!] cooed Ishtar, placing her hand against the pocket. She set her weapon aside to free both hands, turning her full attention to the two humans once more. Her tail stiffened up as she propped the pocket open, allowing her to look inside. Suko showed signs of distress as he clutched his blanket and shivered against waterproof padding, while Vasily simply sat with his eyes closed... hand on his torso and skin turning pale.
Ishtar herself paid no mind to the surrounding death and destruction. [Everything is going to be okay…] she repeated to herself, reaching inside the pocket to pet Suko’s head with a single clawed finger. [We are almost safe!]
These words, whether they be to convince the child or herself, made Suko close his eyes.
Rather than dwelling on it any longer, Ishtar delicately re-sealed the pocket. She picked up her plasma rifle and resumed making her way through the Russian wilderness, scorched foliage crumbling beneath her combat boots. Only ashes remained when the battlemaster left the battlefield behind, approaching a plateau spared from the worst of the fighting.
Time flew by as great strides of Ishtar’s long legs traversed across great distances.
Every last little noise put her on high alert…
Sometimes another distant flurry of gunfire made her aim the plasma rifle in its direction. Random explosions echoed around the area. Occasional troop transports or drones scurried across the sky, paying Ishtar no mind. It all died down as she immersed herself in a forest flanked by hills with rocky terrain and an elevation that rivaled her titanic stature, a stark contrast to the aliens fighting within the relatively flat countryside.
Only a tall structure stood out amid it. Ishtar focused on the building with her augmented reality vision, clarifying the visual before finding an Orthodox Christian cross. It adorned the top of a dome-shaped roof as other smaller dwellings within a village gradually came into view.
By most metrics, the entire settlement appeared abandoned. Destitute. An odd blend of the old and the new intermingled within the village, showing signs of infrastructure created during the reign of the Tsars, the Soviets, and even modern Russia. Sometimes this could be as simple as the difference between a dirt or concrete road. Perhaps even a statue. Meanwhile, the more traditional design of the church made it more unique among the recently constructed dwellings with aluminum roofs.
As Ishtar got increasingly closer, she stopped in place to practically loom over the entire village.
Some lights were still on within a few of the homes despite the lack of any people present. There were even a few intact vehicles. Switching to thermal vision, augmented reality allowed Ishtar to analyze her surroundings more effectively, then tiny spikes of heat popped up. Some were vaguely in the shape of human figures clutching unseen weapons, such as assault rifles, all while they crouched or hid behind walls or nearby trees.
[I mean you no harm.] said Ishtar in a cold tone.
Several humans shifted in place or shook at her words as if they were startled.
[If anything else, I’m here with benevolent intentions. I found a few of your own kind. More precisely, a military man in immediate need of medical attention and a mere child.]
Once more, the assembled humans looked around at one another in apparent confusion.
Ishtar sneered. [Really? The longer this takes, the more likely the man with me will bleed to death, so I don’t have time for this oh so tense confrontation…]
Out of nowhere, faint crying filled the air. It immediately wiped the annoyed look off Ishtar’s face as her eyes went wide, looking down at the base of her tail where her human passengers resided. Instead, her helmet picked up the noise a short distance away. It was accompanied by some shouting and screaming coming directly from the distant church. Before Ishtar could make anything out of it, the church doors abruptly swung open. Men, women, and children alike formed a small crowd inside as a small assortment of soldiers rapidly exited the building before the imposing doors sealed the others inside once more.
“I told you some squealing baby would get us all killed.” said a man in a camouflage uniform. “We should have boobytrapped the main approach at the bare minimum.”
Another young man with civilian clothes flanked him with an AK47. “One of those things could probably level this entire place by themselves, so what difference does it make?”
A third soldier shooshed them and made a motion to seal their lips shut before they all silently stood guard next to the church, ready for almost anything.
Simultaneously, an older man with no weapon at all approached Ishtar. He wore the traditional black robes of a clergyman, but a scar on his face revealed a potentially checkered past. Like her, the man stopped in place once he was a short distance away, then spoke in a firm tone.
“If what you say is true, then where are the other two?”
To answer this question, Ishtar reached for her pocket. An assortment of two dozen other humans popped out of their hiding places before aiming their weapons from roofs, windows, and the corners of other buildings. Ignoring this, she carefully retrieved Suko with her clawed fingertips, placing him in the palm of her hand for all to see as she extended it outward. Bewilderment and shock spread across their faces as they all lowered their weapons with a few jaws going agape at the sight of a frightened human child clutching to Ishtar’s thumb.
Outside, another crowd formed. Some observed the spectacle from their homes while the rest departed the church despite a soldier trying to stop them. They collectively gathered around the village, watching an alien invader clad in glistening metal armor as Ishtar stood over them like a golem or a gargantuan statue.
The flurry of Russian voices became too much for Ishtar’s translator to handle. She simply lowered Suko to the ground, granting him access to the village as the others surrounded him from several sides. One English voice stood out among the other humans.
“Oh my god!” shouted a brunette woman in her late twenties. She sprinted towards Ishtar, outright shoving anyone aside who didn’t get out of her way until she found herself directly in front of Suko. “Wyatt!”
After saying this, the woman spread out her arms before kneeling. An odd combination of a smile and tears streamed down her face. Suko said one familiar word before waddling towards her…
“Mama!”
Blood drained from Ishtar’s face. Her body became petrified as Suko embraced the woman, hugging her as she picked him up. It became the new center of attention for the village with Ishtar herself stunned for a change of pace.
[Suko?] said Ishtar in a low tone.
The boy focused on the other woman as his face beamed up, any fear or coldness vanishing alongside his sadness.
“I prayed, and prayed, and prayed…” said the woman between wiping tears from her eyes. “I knew god would find a way!”
Meanwhile, the clergyman walked behind the brunette before placing a hand on her back. “Our maker works in mysterious ways.” he said in an English voice. Turning his attention to Ishtar and the rest of the crowd, he resumed speaking in his native tongue. “Is the other man you spoke of his father?”
Ishtar shook her head and closed her eyes. [Ah… no.] Opening them once more, she rapidly returned her gaze to the ajar pocket. [Vasily?]
As before, Vasily remained inert and stationary. His skin turned pale. By all means, he appeared to be unconscious as he lay against the cushioning of Ishtar’s pocket. Even Ishtar grabbing him with a clawed hand still failed to elicit a reaction as she brought him to the others.
The clergyman gestured at some others with a free hand. “Come on! Check his vitals!”
With some hesitation, a few human soldiers gathered around Ishtar’s open palm. She more or less thrust Vasily upon them by tilting her hand downward, where they were able to grab him by the legs before carrying him away. The clergyman joined the assembly while they placed Vasily on an improvised stretcher prepared by a few other quick-thinking civilians.
“Who is this man?” asked the clergyman, looking over the body. Vasily’s medals and the ranks on his shoulders still clearly distinguished him as a senior officer within the armed forces. “Do you know anything about what might have happened to Wyatt’s father?”
One human placed a hand on Vasily’s neck. “I’m not getting a pulse…”
Ishtar ignored the ongoing commotion in favor of staring at Suko. He focused on his biological mother, who kept clutching onto him tightly while quietly sobbing to herself. It prompted her to place a hand on her helmet, covering her orange visor for a moment before she lowered a secondary one, completely covering her face. From there, her head became completely encased by metal with only cameras providing the battlemaster with any vision of the outside world.
The clergyman glanced between Suko and Vasily before looking up at Ishtar. “Uh… is something wrong?”
[I’m… I am sorry.] said Ishtar in a low tone, followed by what sounded like sniffling and choking.
A few people flinched as Ishtar rose to her full height. She slowly backed up and walked away from the village, putting some distance between herself and the settlement, just to make the ground outright tremble once she started sprinting away. Awestruck villagers simply watched on until the battlemaster vanished from their vision.
First Chapter
Previous
Next
Previous
Next
Ishtar could hear her hearts pounding in her ears.
The skyline was on fire. Dawn approached on the horizon with SAP fighters escorting troop transports in the air. An orchestra of war erupted all around the battlemaster with distant structures or vegetation set ablaze accompanied by stray bursts of weapons fire.
Her eyes rapidly scanned her surroundings. Augmented reality vision provided a plethora of random details with alien numerals indicating a higher heart rate than usual. She shouldered a plasma rifle, clutching the grip with her clawed fingers and aiming it in any direction she moved. Only one other thing caught her attention as she checked a pocket near the base of her scaly tail, amber eyes transitioning from a determined gaze to a far more concerned look…
[Vasily?] said Ishtar, unfastening a pocket to allow for more airflow. [How are you holding up?]
Silence was her only answer following several long seconds.
Before Ishtar could investigate, rustling from a nearby forest made her head perk up. A few sudden movements made her instinctively aim her plasma rifle with a holographic sight lining up against one of many umok. Within the blink of an eye, four were circling around the battlemaster from several different directions while pointing their laser rifles at her. As Ishtar pivoted in place, she spotted blue X marks haphazardly painted onto their light armor and other markings that could only be described as more tribalistic.
A more primal part of Ishtar’s being went haywire as her irises shrunk.
“Well, well…” said one of umok as they stepped forward, pointing their laser rifle at the sky in a cocky fashion. “Ironic how the oh so mighty-”
Two plasma bolts promptly wiped the smug expression off his face before he dropped to the ground. Several more in rapid succession struck more umok on one flank before they could even adequately react, prompting the remaining one in the rear and near Ishtar’s tail to recoil. Ishtar wielded her rifle like a club as she made a one-eighty, shrugging off several laser pulses colliding against her heavy armor as she charged at the last umok. She roared at the top of her lungs. A single swing to the torso knocked the air out of the umok’s lungs, while a second to the head aroused an ear-piercing cry before being knocked off their taloned feet.
Ishtar then used a free hand to rake her claws across the umok’s throat. Yellow blood coated the tips. Once the rebel was on the ground, several following stomps with metal combat boots against their comparatively small head caved in their skull, crushing it like a melon.
Only faint yet familiar wailing stopped Ishtar in her tracks as her eyes went wide. Once more, the battlemaster’s disposition changed altogether as she focused on her human passengers. Her eyes watered up a little as critically wounded or dead umok twitched in the background, succumbing to the occasional muscle spasms between making other odd noises.
[Everything will be okay, little Suko!] cooed Ishtar, placing her hand against the pocket. She set her weapon aside to free both hands, turning her full attention to the two humans once more. Her tail stiffened up as she propped the pocket open, allowing her to look inside. Suko showed signs of distress as he clutched his blanket and shivered against waterproof padding, while Vasily simply sat with his eyes closed... hand on his torso and skin turning pale.
Ishtar herself paid no mind to the surrounding death and destruction. [Everything is going to be okay…] she repeated to herself, reaching inside the pocket to pet Suko’s head with a single clawed finger. [We are almost safe!]
These words, whether they be to convince the child or herself, made Suko close his eyes.
Rather than dwelling on it any longer, Ishtar delicately re-sealed the pocket. She picked up her plasma rifle and resumed making her way through the Russian wilderness, scorched foliage crumbling beneath her combat boots. Only ashes remained when the battlemaster left the battlefield behind, approaching a plateau spared from the worst of the fighting.
Time flew by as great strides of Ishtar’s long legs traversed across great distances.
Every last little noise put her on high alert…
Sometimes another distant flurry of gunfire made her aim the plasma rifle in its direction. Random explosions echoed around the area. Occasional troop transports or drones scurried across the sky, paying Ishtar no mind. It all died down as she immersed herself in a forest flanked by hills with rocky terrain and an elevation that rivaled her titanic stature, a stark contrast to the aliens fighting within the relatively flat countryside.
Only a tall structure stood out amid it. Ishtar focused on the building with her augmented reality vision, clarifying the visual before finding an Orthodox Christian cross. It adorned the top of a dome-shaped roof as other smaller dwellings within a village gradually came into view.
By most metrics, the entire settlement appeared abandoned. Destitute. An odd blend of the old and the new intermingled within the village, showing signs of infrastructure created during the reign of the Tsars, the Soviets, and even modern Russia. Sometimes this could be as simple as the difference between a dirt or concrete road. Perhaps even a statue. Meanwhile, the more traditional design of the church made it more unique among the recently constructed dwellings with aluminum roofs.
As Ishtar got increasingly closer, she stopped in place to practically loom over the entire village.
Some lights were still on within a few of the homes despite the lack of any people present. There were even a few intact vehicles. Switching to thermal vision, augmented reality allowed Ishtar to analyze her surroundings more effectively, then tiny spikes of heat popped up. Some were vaguely in the shape of human figures clutching unseen weapons, such as assault rifles, all while they crouched or hid behind walls or nearby trees.
[I mean you no harm.] said Ishtar in a cold tone.
Several humans shifted in place or shook at her words as if they were startled.
[If anything else, I’m here with benevolent intentions. I found a few of your own kind. More precisely, a military man in immediate need of medical attention and a mere child.]
Once more, the assembled humans looked around at one another in apparent confusion.
Ishtar sneered. [Really? The longer this takes, the more likely the man with me will bleed to death, so I don’t have time for this oh so tense confrontation…]
Out of nowhere, faint crying filled the air. It immediately wiped the annoyed look off Ishtar’s face as her eyes went wide, looking down at the base of her tail where her human passengers resided. Instead, her helmet picked up the noise a short distance away. It was accompanied by some shouting and screaming coming directly from the distant church. Before Ishtar could make anything out of it, the church doors abruptly swung open. Men, women, and children alike formed a small crowd inside as a small assortment of soldiers rapidly exited the building before the imposing doors sealed the others inside once more.
“I told you some squealing baby would get us all killed.” said a man in a camouflage uniform. “We should have boobytrapped the main approach at the bare minimum.”
Another young man with civilian clothes flanked him with an AK47. “One of those things could probably level this entire place by themselves, so what difference does it make?”
A third soldier shooshed them and made a motion to seal their lips shut before they all silently stood guard next to the church, ready for almost anything.
Simultaneously, an older man with no weapon at all approached Ishtar. He wore the traditional black robes of a clergyman, but a scar on his face revealed a potentially checkered past. Like her, the man stopped in place once he was a short distance away, then spoke in a firm tone.
“If what you say is true, then where are the other two?”
To answer this question, Ishtar reached for her pocket. An assortment of two dozen other humans popped out of their hiding places before aiming their weapons from roofs, windows, and the corners of other buildings. Ignoring this, she carefully retrieved Suko with her clawed fingertips, placing him in the palm of her hand for all to see as she extended it outward. Bewilderment and shock spread across their faces as they all lowered their weapons with a few jaws going agape at the sight of a frightened human child clutching to Ishtar’s thumb.
Outside, another crowd formed. Some observed the spectacle from their homes while the rest departed the church despite a soldier trying to stop them. They collectively gathered around the village, watching an alien invader clad in glistening metal armor as Ishtar stood over them like a golem or a gargantuan statue.
The flurry of Russian voices became too much for Ishtar’s translator to handle. She simply lowered Suko to the ground, granting him access to the village as the others surrounded him from several sides. One English voice stood out among the other humans.
“Oh my god!” shouted a brunette woman in her late twenties. She sprinted towards Ishtar, outright shoving anyone aside who didn’t get out of her way until she found herself directly in front of Suko. “Wyatt!”
After saying this, the woman spread out her arms before kneeling. An odd combination of a smile and tears streamed down her face. Suko said one familiar word before waddling towards her…
“Mama!”
Blood drained from Ishtar’s face. Her body became petrified as Suko embraced the woman, hugging her as she picked him up. It became the new center of attention for the village with Ishtar herself stunned for a change of pace.
[Suko?] said Ishtar in a low tone.
The boy focused on the other woman as his face beamed up, any fear or coldness vanishing alongside his sadness.
“I prayed, and prayed, and prayed…” said the woman between wiping tears from her eyes. “I knew god would find a way!”
Meanwhile, the clergyman walked behind the brunette before placing a hand on her back. “Our maker works in mysterious ways.” he said in an English voice. Turning his attention to Ishtar and the rest of the crowd, he resumed speaking in his native tongue. “Is the other man you spoke of his father?”
Ishtar shook her head and closed her eyes. [Ah… no.] Opening them once more, she rapidly returned her gaze to the ajar pocket. [Vasily?]
As before, Vasily remained inert and stationary. His skin turned pale. By all means, he appeared to be unconscious as he lay against the cushioning of Ishtar’s pocket. Even Ishtar grabbing him with a clawed hand still failed to elicit a reaction as she brought him to the others.
The clergyman gestured at some others with a free hand. “Come on! Check his vitals!”
With some hesitation, a few human soldiers gathered around Ishtar’s open palm. She more or less thrust Vasily upon them by tilting her hand downward, where they were able to grab him by the legs before carrying him away. The clergyman joined the assembly while they placed Vasily on an improvised stretcher prepared by a few other quick-thinking civilians.
“Who is this man?” asked the clergyman, looking over the body. Vasily’s medals and the ranks on his shoulders still clearly distinguished him as a senior officer within the armed forces. “Do you know anything about what might have happened to Wyatt’s father?”
One human placed a hand on Vasily’s neck. “I’m not getting a pulse…”
Ishtar ignored the ongoing commotion in favor of staring at Suko. He focused on his biological mother, who kept clutching onto him tightly while quietly sobbing to herself. It prompted her to place a hand on her helmet, covering her orange visor for a moment before she lowered a secondary one, completely covering her face. From there, her head became completely encased by metal with only cameras providing the battlemaster with any vision of the outside world.
The clergyman glanced between Suko and Vasily before looking up at Ishtar. “Uh… is something wrong?”
[I’m… I am sorry.] said Ishtar in a low tone, followed by what sounded like sniffling and choking.
A few people flinched as Ishtar rose to her full height. She slowly backed up and walked away from the village, putting some distance between herself and the settlement, just to make the ground outright tremble once she started sprinting away. Awestruck villagers simply watched on until the battlemaster vanished from their vision.
First Chapter
Previous
Next
Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 69.1 kB
Hey, another amazing chapter! I'm very interested to see how Ishtar deals with this emotionally. Or not.
I'm also pretty interested to see what happens to her in the greater scope of things. Will the Hegemony treat her poorly for abandoning her post and beating up her specialist? Excited for the next chapter as always.
I'm also pretty interested to see what happens to her in the greater scope of things. Will the Hegemony treat her poorly for abandoning her post and beating up her specialist? Excited for the next chapter as always.
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