“You have to be fucking kidding me!” Robin cursed as his constant headache only grew worse, “What the hell is wrong with them today? I have worked so hard to keep them out of trouble, but when I turn around once, they rush off head first into deep shit!”

  He angrily stomped around the table in the middle of the tent, trying to vent his frustration.

  “I have to say, Elder, the people you’re traveling with are quite… peculiar!” Ul’Tak leaned over and whispered to Ang’Tue, standing a safe distance away from the raging Robin.

  “Yeah, it does seem like that, doesn’t it?” Ang’Tue chuckled and awkwardly scratched his beard.

  Things had escalated rather quickly over the last minutes. First came a message from Happy that she was about to start another sneak attack on the blockade. Apparently she had a good shot at taking out the drone operator and they hoped that another loss would drive the enemy completely away from the system. Robin was apprehensive since Niu was alone on the ship with Proto. But the AI had confirmed the low risk and high reward for the assault, so he had gritted his teeth and agreed. Not that he had the feeling Niu was asking for approval, he was sure she only called to inform him out of courtesy.

  Then Hal’Neg, the second in command, came back with bad news. Two soldiers were missing and the video showed signs of at least two Zulbano that had sneaked into the camp. Robin had already begun his preparations for a Zulbano attack on the commander by then, even though he hoped they wouldn’t need it.

  Now he got a call from Alena, who curtly informed him that they had changed course and just arrived at an ambush site where Zulbano and Eltaran were locked in combat. And of course she just left a quick note that she would help the Eltaran while Krez went off to fight the Zulbano before she cut the connection.

  “Robin, you need to calm down. Happy and Alena know their limits. They know what they are doing.” Ang’Tue tried to placate him, “We should make sure that there is no danger to us before we’re thinking of ways to help the others.”

  “Damn!” Robin kicked a canister that stood to the side and returned his attention to the table, “I know… I know!”

  He returned to the table and continued to tinker with the complex piece of technology in front of him as his breathing slowly calmed.

  “Are you ready?” Ang’Tue asked after a while.

  “Yes. We just have to wait…”

  “Good. How is your head?”

  “Not well, to be honest.” Robin sighed, “I think it would be for the best if you prepare for the worst.”

  “Oh…” The old man stumped, “Bad like ‘Cetro-fight bad’?”

  “I think so, sorry.”

  “No worries, just make sure to keep your concentration and leave the rest to me.” Ang’Tue said and turned to Ul’Tak, “Have you sent another team to the ambush site?”

  “Yes, Elder.” The commander said, “I do not understand your plan, though. Are you sure we shouldn’t bring more soldiers here?”

  “Aye. If there still is a Zulbano in the camp, they will come for you. If we have more people here, we would only put them in danger. I’m sorry to say that, but you’re not equipped to deal with them.”

  “And you are?” Ul’Tak asked, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

  “Partially, yeah.”

  “So, we just wait?” The man asked and looked through the otherwise empty tent.

  “For now, yes.” Ang’Tue nodded, “Have you turned off the communication systems?”

  “Most but not all, offline and disconnected from power, yes.”

  “Good.” Ang’Tue said, watching Robin loosening some screws, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come that far. Are you willing to share your G-Anomaly?”

  A few daggers lying in one of the open crates suddenly rose in the air and began to circle around the man.

  “Telekinesis!” He said with a grin.

  “Not bad. Though, with how heavily the Zulbano are shielded I’m not sure if it will be of any help today.”

  “I know.” Ul’Tak said and the daggers dropped back into the crate.

  Robin listened to their conversation with one ear while he took off a few pieces from the casing, careful to not actually disable the base-defense weapon he was working on. He had affixed it to the table, barrel pointing towards the tent’s entry, and was now slowly taking its casing apart as if he was really dismantling the weapon. His concentration was invested in keeping up his mutation however. He fired off one Echo Pulse after another while trying not to glance at the half-opened entry of the tent.

  The plan was that they offered the Zulbano an opening for an attack. With their invisible-like state they should feel safe to enter the tent where a simple technocrafter was working on a dismantled weapon and the commander in deep conversation with another Eltaran– all three seemingly oblivious to the approaching danger.

  He had kept up his senses for about half an hour already when he finally picked something up.

  Outside, close to the tent’s flaps, a strong energy signature appeared. He didn’t dare to look that way or inform the others, so Robin closed his eyes and visualized the feedback from his senses.

  ‘Well, that is a lot of power! He is glowing even brighter than the damned Cetro!’

  He was amazed by the many devices on the Zulbano’s body. He saw two strong power sources at their belt which should be the shields, though they were offline. Probably to avoid interfering with the cloaking device that was also flooded with energy and appeared in his mental image as a big green figure in the shape of a person.

  Robin had asked Proto about it, but still didn’t fully understand how they worked. The AI had explained something about projecting and reflecting images around the wearer, but if that was the case then shouldn’t it only work from one direction and not for every angle someone might look? Robin was puzzled at that. But now was not the time to solve that riddle. He observed as the veiled Zulbano came closer and peeked into the tent.

  ‘If I had known that they can’t use their shields while being cloaked, we could have done this with a much smaller weapon…’ He thought and felt a little bad for going overboard.

  Behind him, Ang’Tue and Ul’Tak were in a discussion about the reconstruction of the waystation and completely oblivious to the approaching danger.

  ‘Come one… just one more step to the left…’ Robin prayed in his mind.

  Slowly his hand reached for the trigger mechanism of the ‘dismantled’ weapon and when the Zulbano finally took another step, Robin immediately pressed the button.

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  A loud bang echoed through the camp and a shockwave sent the tarps outwards as the heavy ballistic cannon fired at the target nearly at point blank. The table with the weapon rocketed back together with Robin.

  When he crawled up with his ears still ringing and saw the aftermath of the attack, Robin was relieved that they had evacuated all the tents in the line of fire earlier, which had now been pierced by the shell. He also noticed blood splattered next to the remains of their entry.

  “Too little blood!” He cursed and quickly tried to find the Zulbano with his energy sense. When he finally found the hunter’s signature, he was limping towards the tent already - the invisibility had been broken and Robin saw blood coming from the gaping wound in his shoulder and pooling at his feet. The cloak was gone and the wolf bared his fangs while blood was dripping from his snout. His yellow eyes focused on him and Robin felt the rage burning behind them.

  He had hit the Zulbano pretty good, but unfortunately the projectile didn’t do as much damage as he had thought and passed right through the body, leaving behind a big but clean hole. Nonetheless, Robin was amazed to see the wolf-kin still on his feet– and not only that, his senses told him that he was now encased and protected by two strong energy bubbles.

  “Watch out, he is shielded!” He warned the others and jumped to the side just as the hunter opened fire, trying to riddle him with holes.

  Ang’Tue and Ul’Tak both were shooting back, slowly whittling down the shields. The Zulbano didn’t seem to care however and fired a few more times at Robin, who tried to scramble away. He didn’t have the time to use his mutation to disable the enemy’s shields or weapon and when the Zulbano walked a bit deeper into the tent, he even lost his cover.

  With wide eyes, Robin looked at the gun pointing at his face and the angry snarl of the creature holding it. Another loud bang rang through the tent and Robin was hit with a metal plate in his chest.

  Heaving pained breaths and looking around in confusion, he quickly realized that it was Ul’Tak who had saved his life. The Eltaran now had a mix of metal plates and blades swirling around him, one of which he had sent to interject the shot at Robin.

  While Robin crawled back to his feet and tried to get a grip on the rapidly changing situation, the Zulbano switched not only targets but also took out another gun. As he began to rapidly fire at Ul’Tak to break the man’s shield, his own shield began to flicker with every shot Ang’Tue landed.

  ‘We are running out of time!’ Robin realized after observing the situation, ‘Somehow the Zulbano is eating through Ul’Tak’s shield much faster than Ang’Tue is whittling down the wolf’s shield.’

  He quickly looked around, searching for options. He could try to disable the Zulbano’s shield with his mutation, but his head was already pulsing with so much pain that he wasn’t sure if he could manage much longer. He also could try to use the heavy gun on the table again, but it was unlikely that the hunter would just let him walk over and pick it up.

  Even while his mind still raced with different ideas, the commander’s shield broke and the remaining plates swirling around him tightened in front of him to form a last line of defense.

  Realizing that Ang’Tue wouldn’t break through in time, Robin closed his eyes.

  ‘Somewhere inside of me is this arrogant asshole with the power to blow up everything in this camp.’ He thought as he dove into the depths of his mind, trying to find whatever it was that caused his head to plague him over the last days. The meditation techniques he learned from Ang’Tue actually came in handy and he felt as if time slowed down around him.

  ‘I can stop this… I have the power to put an end to this… somewhere…’

  As if in slow motion he watched as another shot from the Zulbano blasted a metal plate away, creating a gaping hole in Ul’Tak’s defense.

  ‘No! I do not allow you to kill him. Not after all what we went through to save these people!’ He cursed in his mind.

  But his thoughts didn’t matter and they couldn’t stop the next shot either. With a painful cry the commander fell to the ground, holding the wound in his stomach. The swirling pieces all fell to the ground and the Zulbano switched targets. He now aimed at Ang’Tue, a ferocious grin on his face.

  ‘No! He doesn’t have a shield and he isn’t weaning his helmet! No!’

  Robin grew even more frantic as panic welled up in him. He couldn’t lose Ang’Tue, not like this and not at all.

  His eyes narrowed as he watched helplessly how his friend prepared to dodge the shot. It wouldn’t be enough. The Eltaran was about to die and he just stood there and let it happen.

  “No.” Robin muttered as something finally clicked in his mind.

  ‘Not to such an inferior creature. How can this feral beast defy my will?’

  Different from before, he wasn’t screaming in desperation as he awakened the slumbering power in him but simply shook his head and sighed.

  “Begone!”

  Then a piercing pain drilled into his head as a shockwave erupted from his body blasted everything around him away. Before he could see if his attack was successful, his mind went into shutdown and everything turned dark.

  ***

  Ang’Tue felt sweat gushing down his neck like a river.

  Robin’s plan had mostly gone like they imagined, but the damn Zulbano hadn’t been killed by the freakin’ cannon. As he was emptying his clip to break through the wolf’s shield, he couldn’t help but shudder. The Zulbano tried hard to stay on his feet and as such this had turned into a simple gunfight– but what if they hadn’t wounded the Zulbano this heavily? Ang’Tue was sure the beast would simply weave through them and tear them apart with his claws.

  ‘How can he have such a strong shield? Damn!’

  Next to him, Ul’Tak was losing more and more of his defenses. Time was running out.

  ‘I won’t make it through his shield in time…’

  ~Let me out! I can help!

  ~It’s just a stray dog, nothing to be worried about!

  Ang’Tue ignored the demon’s voice in his head. Its time would come, but not just yet. He knew that even with his insanely strong smoke he wouldn’t break the shield fast enough.

  “Agrhhh..”

  Ul’Tak fell to the ground and held a bloody wound in his stomach.

  The Zulbano then turned to him and took aim.

  “Shit…”

  Just as Ang’Tue was preparing to dodge aside, a futile attempt to save his life, he saw from the corner of his eyes that Robin suddenly stood up straight and mumbled something.

  “Fuck!” The old man jumped to the ground, further away from the Zulbano, just as Robin erupted and a shockwave rolled through the tent and the whole camp. Like last time his head was hit by an invisible force like a sledgehammer and he had to fight hard to not black out.

  He needed a moment before his mind cleared and his senses returned.

  Their tent was gone, clearing his view into the camp. Ang’Tue saw that chaos was raging all around them.

  Explosions and screams came from everywhere as electronic devices blew up, weapons caught fire and handheld devices began to melt. People were lying on the ground, rolling around in pain or having lost consciousness completely.

  “This blast was even stronger than the last…” Ang’Tue groaned as he climbed back to his feet.

  Not far from him the Zulbano was squirming on the ground. His two shield devices had blown up and injured him even further. The wolf was whimpering in pain but still tried to reach one of the guns on his belt.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Ang’Tue said and finally released the black smoke from his body. Like a tide it rushed over and swallowed the wolf-kin. Half a minute later, the cloud of devastation retreated and was drawn back into his body.

  ~That is real power!

  ~Who would dare to stand in our way?

  “‘Tsk!” Ang’Tue scoffed as he inspected what remained from the Zulbano. A white skeleton, stained by splotches of black ooze here and there.

  “You want to have a big mouth? After getting hit by him for the second time?” The Eltaran chuckled as he motioned at the unconscious Robin.

  ~Hmpf…

  ~There are always exceptions!

  “That–”

  Before he could answer, Ul’Tak stirred and slowly sat up.

  “What…” The heavily wounded man coughed and blood ran over his fingers, “What in the gods name just happened?”

  “I’ll explain later, commander.” Ang’Tue said and handed him a recovery stim, “Rest and heal, I’ll see if I can help the camp.”