Jean Preston - Sledgehammer

When night fell, a flat grassy plane slid across the ground, revealing an entrance to a tunnel, and out of it emerged six small boxy tanks. Their look was reminiscent of designs from the Last War, she had seen holographic depictions in her military education, though these were painted in woodland rather than desert colours.

This convoy was allowed to pass unmolested by Loma’s army. The Sevenokes had some primitive grenades, and Loma had her rifle, but they were not sure that these were sufficient to penetrate the tanks’ armour. When they had passed out of view, and nothing could be done, some of the officers began bickering – surely that was the opportunity to strike and it had just been lost, and every second they waited increased the likelihood of their positions being discovered. Loma was completely crestfallen by the appearance of the tanks. It wasn’t just a lucky fluke that destroyed her ship and her crew. This wasn’t just another flash in the pan tin-pot slaver empire. They were busy little bees, with a lot of tech, tech that was advanced even by Avalon standards.

They waited several more hours, a sense of doom and futility enveloped the camp. Then the gates of the fortress opened once more. Six trucks lopped onto the surface. They too were atavistic in their design, with large chunky wheels and slits of black glass high up on the sides. They were armoured, but looked to be more flimsy than the tanks. The decision was quickly made to prepare for the ambush.

The convoy passed through a road that cut into the forest. Hooded figures straddled the trucks, and held onto grips on the sides. One of these passengers tapped the roof of the foremost truck. It juddered to a stop, the trucks behind it stopped in turn. The hooded figure leapt off from the lead truck, observing the obstruction in the road. It was a GMH covered in a cloak, shuffling around in a circle.

The hooded figure called out “What are you doing here? Get back to the stable.” The GMH did not respond, it simply continued to turn around casually.

“Stupid beast,” hissed the hood. He tapped the side of the truck and more hooded figures erupted out of the back. They walked in formation, then cautiously surrounded the GMH.

“I’m warning you,” shouted the hooded figure, twisting a metal bracelet. The GMH turned around again, not a care in the world.

One of the hooded figures unfurled a telescopic pole, and attempted to push the GMH in the right direction, but the pole simply passed through the beast. The hooded figures gasped, and another attempt to poke the creature was similarly useless, he held the baton in place, and the beast passed right through it, as if it were a ghost.

One of the hooded figures knelt down and picked up a metal disk. The hologram twitched and faded into thin air. Explosions and gunfire erupted all around them. One of the trucks was sent careening into the air, cushioned by fire. Hooded figures erupted out of the trucks but were mown down by machinegun fire. Another truck was sent flying backwards by an eruption of fire. The hooded figures tried to retaliate, but all they saw were black trees and flashes of light. A particularly strong beam of light cut through one figure, bisecting him and setting his clothes on fire. The rest fled.

Sevenokes soldiers descended onto the road, picking the carcass of the convoy for weapons, ammo and injured prisoners of war, all of these were taken speedily into the darkness of the woods. One of the trucks that still remained had not opened its doors. The driver had abandoned it. The officers and Loma investigated this, while their troopers mopped up the remaining mess. The truck clanged to one side, there were four small indentations in the metal. Then four more emerged on the trucks doors. The doors were bent outwards and stretched, and scratching noises were heard inside. Suddenly the doors were flung open – one was ripped off its hinges. Four metallic crab-like legs were seen, and then the body of a man sat astride them, his pallid flesh besmirched with wires and coils full of fluid, some under the skin, some over. His head was large – made all the larger by the metallic covering the engulfed the back of his skull. Gunshots were fired at him but the bullets fell away uselessly. Where they struck, there was a faint blue light that flashed – he was covered in some shield – the shape of which was revealed to be circular, the more bullets that were fired.

The shooting stopped. The creature, Gabriel stared at his attackers gloomily. He pressed a few buttons on his armrest with large fingernails and looked on. A blue light erupted from beneath his metal legs. A Sevenokes officer was hit. He roared with pain, fell to his knees, blue fire erupting from the sockets in his skull. More gunfire hit Gabriel, all of it in vain. Soldiers ran for cover. Gabriel turned to face them, another shot of blue light hit one soldier in the back, he doubled over, flesh melting from his skeletal hands.

Loma fired a shot at him, the light of her rifle appeared to squash the shield for a moment, but it inflated back to its normal shape, Gabriel turned and fired at her, she ducked behind a burning truck, the blast melted the already hot metal. Gabriel turned to other fleeing soldiers, firing and killing many of them. Loma watched with morbid fascination. She saw some of the Sevenokes soldiers turn and fire back – but always the shield would present itself. Then Gabriel would pursue his attackers. A grenade was thrown at him, but it merely bounced off his shield and exploded in the air, rocking him slightly.

Gabriel decided to make his way back home, a look of profound boredom on his large face. A bare-chested soldier ran to meet him, he fired his machine gun point-blank range at Gabriel, screaming all the while. Gabriel watched him with heavily lidded eyes. The gun stopped firing, there was the click click click of spent ammunition. The man tried to reload but was evaporated in an instant. Gabriel continued to walk home. Loma figured it out.

“Kirwyn” she cried, her servant dutifully came. “I don’t think he can’t fire while his shield is up,” she said breathlessly. Kirwyn considered this blankly. “I’ll cover you,” she insisted “You hold onto him. Then we’ll hit him with everything we’ve got.” Kirwyn nodded.

Loma got out of cover and fired a continuous beam at Gabriel, advancing as she did so. Gabriel, stopped and turned, waiting for the moment to strike. Kirwyn sprinted to meet him. He placed his hands on the shield, but this was painful and unpleasant, like holding a live battery. He placed his sword flat on the invisible shield. A blue light appeared where the sword lay. It was continuous. Gabriel turned to face him, looking him over sleepily. Loma ceased firing. Her rifle breathed out steam, which she blew at like a birthday cake and advanced on Gabriel.

Gabriel tried to walk away, but Kirwyn strained against him, slowing him, his boots scraping along concrete. Another soldier came and helped to block Gabriel’s path home. He touched the shield and flinched, but then rammed his armoured shoulder into it. They were both pushed, but more slowly. From another direction Loma fired a blast at Gabriel, which dilated the pupils of his eyes, but otherwise unmoved him. From the forest, Sevenokes soldiers saw what was happening and cautiously approached.

Loma’s rifle had overheated again. She saw Ben fire two shots into the shield, then whack away at it with the butt of his shotgun. A soldier had commandeered one of the surviving trucks, he drove away into the night. More Sevenoaks soldiers had appeared, kicking and barging, firing precious bullets uselessly into the shield. Gabriel was utterly surrounded. He was still unmoved, though a little more awake now. His mechanical legs fidgeted in place, trying to find an opportune angle and moment to escape the writhing throng.