Shadows of JiangXi

[arvg]

"Just get it fixed Vance," Enrico called up through the darkness, standing on the ground in his protective gear he breathed through a state of the art re-breather, scanning the darkness as he kept the Squad Assault Weapon, or SAW resting against his shoulder. He had taken the precaution of setting up two sentinel guns as an extra precaution, while Vance clambered about on top of the ship, working with his hammer to smash the rudder back into shape.

For the fifth time in under a minute, the sentinel gun spun to life, hurling lead out into the darkness beyond the perimeter of the Social Credit's flood lamps. The sound of something yelping in pain quickly silenced by the staccato rhythm of the heavy machine guns.

Still, as safe as they were with the sentinel guns, Enrico still felt uneasy.

"Hurry up Vance," he called, shifting his weight as he turned to scan the darkness over by the house.

"I am hurrying!" Vance called back. "I don't like being down here any more than you do, you know!"

"Ten minute fix," Enrico reminded. "You've had fifteen."

"It's stubborn," Vance called.

"You're procrastinating," Enrico called, as something began to bay in the darkness. Baying that was echoed by a hundred other voices.

"Times up!" Enrico yelled, as the sentinel guns began to spit death into the darkness, a flood of creatures that looked like fox hounds bounding over each other heading for the ship, too many for the guns to handle on their own.

Enrico opened fire as he backed up into the ship, hammering the ramp switch, blowing away any of the random diseased hounds that managed to get past the sentinel guns to jump aboard the closing doors. The ramp ground closed, sealing him in as he shot the last of the dogs that twitched on the floor. Slinging the SAW as he sprinted up the ladder into the main body of the gunship, yelling up through the top hatch.

"Time's up, gotta go!" he called.

Vance was already wriggling through the hatch, dropping tools everywhere, "go go go go!" he yelled as the iris hatch above him sealed shut with a snap.

Enrico didn't bother to wait, jumping behind the controls and firing up the engines, the gunboat blasted skywards into the dawn, shivering and shedding hounds that were clinging and biting onto anything they could sink their teeth into.

They were airborne, for now, but that still didn't mean much, they'd lost the two sentinel guns, meaning another try for repairs wasn't on the cards. And the wobbly affect on the tail meant they couldn't gain enough altitude to make orbit. That meant the only real option they had was to abandon the training Zone and make for the nearest Coalition encampment.

Enrico didn't like it, but the Nuggets, and Colonel Gonzales were going to be on their own for a while.

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