It roared and slammed an enormous fist into the road, ripping up a chunk of mortar and threw it. Kalimk hurriedly pulled up to avoid the missile but Tomorran wasn't so fortunate. The mortar struck the right side of his speeder, tearing a large breach in the hull and taking off the anti-grav coils on that side.
The vertical discs worked by matching their twin's energy output to keep the speeder travelling straight. If a pilot wanted to change directions he would increase the energy output of the relevant coils. Therefore with one disc gone there was no balance left. The speeder spun out of control, heading straight into one of the buildings.
The target vanished again behind one of the buildings. After quickly referring to the holographic plan of the area Kalimk gave chase, sending Kellvaiyes around the other side of the building. He was more determined now to hunt the target down and kill it, just to make it pay for the four lives it had taken, on top of the others. Only three standard weeks ago Kalimk's squadron had numbered twelve speeders. The hunt on Tellept had reduced the squadron to five.
The target was gone. There was no trace of the creature at all, not even damage caused by an escape. Kalimk put his speeder into hover mode, seeing the other two pilots doing the same. Then he ordered Nissick to widen the range of the sensors. There was something being detected in one of the buildings, but it was far too small to be the target. Either there was something else on this hellish rock, or Kalimk hadn't been told everything he needed to know.
Before he had the chance to contact Degette Kellvaiyes' speeder exploded as a pulse shot burned through the hull into the fuel line. Kalimk could only watch as the speeder fell to the ground and two more of his men died. Then he realised who the target was. Pulse weaponry was rare, limited to only three races. One of them was now extinct. Out of the other two, there was no doubt who the target was.
He ordered Tressoi to break off. He would never have risked his men against one of them. He cursed Degette for not letting them know what they were up against. To the Dark with the rest of the army.
The tower to his right caved in, an enormous hand reaching out and closing around the tail of Tressoi's speeder. Kalimk pulled away while Nissick opened fire into the crumbling building. As he turned away Kalimk saw the other speeder being crushed against the road and buried by debris.
He never had the chance to react before a second fist slammed into his own speeder, smashing the canopy and crushing him and Nissick into the floor.
It was Squadron Command Mezchenkan who reached the scene of the attack first. He swerved his skimmer bike to a halt and stared at the damage, trying to fathom how a single creature could take apart a disc speeder squadron so quickly. As he watched he saw Squadron Command Korfic leading his squadron from another road. Squadron Commands Krosht and Salmader approached from the opposite road to his own. Mezchenkan called each Command with his commbead, but none had seen the target leaving. He sent warnings to the other three men in his squadron to be wary.
His concern was well founded. Even as he finished speaking one of the bikes from Korfic's squadron was launched into the air, smashing into the tower opposite. Mezchenkan slammed his foot down onto the accelerator pedal, pushing his bike forwards through the debris to help Korfic. He was just in time to see a figure, shorter than a Miscallan, punching into the front of the side-seated bike of Korfic's squadron. The shard cannon was smashed under the blow and the bike flipped, crushing both men against the ground. Before Korfic was able to move the figure, dressed largely in black, picked up the bike's burner cannon and threw it at Korfic, managing to sever the Squadron Command's head. His bike toppled sideways, the head rolling across the ground.
Mezchenkan's squadron opened fire, but hit nothing. The target was already gone. Mezchenkan hadn't even seen it move. He wrenched his shard pistol from its holster and spun around in his seat, trying to find the target.
Another of the buildings collapsed, burying both Krosht's and Salmader's squadrons. None of them escaped being crushed underneath the collapse. Of Mezchenkan's squadron it was Tuara who died first as a massive spike tentacle skewered both him and his bike. With a shout Narassil turned the burner cannon on the limb, slicing it in half. Almost immediately an enormous fist came crashing down onto the other bike, flattening both Narassil and Keomorr.
