Only On Paper

9 - A Glimpse of Time

I can't see him, but I can hear the report of his sniper rifle. It sounds angry, and the bullets which strike the stones around me have an even angrier grit.

I can see Skelter's Ghost hanging above where his corpse had lain. The little machine had his body in TransMat. It takes time for the Ghost to summon a Guardian back from the Void on it's own. If I can get to it and link my Ghost's power with his, Skelter would be back in no time.

I can't get over to it yet. That sniper has me pinned in a small crevice of rock. Keate is a few hundred paces north of me, taking cover from whoever had the machine gun. The small projection in the corner of my helmet's viewscreen shows me the feed from Keate's POV camera. The machine gun continues to rip up the rock just millimeters above her head. The way her head is angled I can barely make out movement in the brush to the west of her.

"Look to your three o'clock!"

"I see him," She says, and breaks from her cover in an all-out sprint.

The sniper fire stops for a moment. I quickly draw my own rifle to my eyes and poke out from the corner. I can see the sniper - a Hunter - swiveling to track Keate. I put a high-powered round right through his chest. As I squeeze the trigger, I watch his buffer shields pop and see his chestpiece crack open. He falls out of my view before I can hit him a second time and confirm the kill.

Just before the machine gun turns his attention to me, I dive from my cover. When I do, I catch a glimpse of Keate. She has tendrils of what looks like lightning shooting from her limbs as she jumps headfirst into the bushes where the next attacker lurks.

As the bushes obscure her from my sight, there comes a brilliant burst of blue light. There is the sounds of terrifying electricity, and then silence. I land in cover just next to Skelter's Ghost, summon my own and it intertwines with his. The first person feed from Keate has mostly turned to static with the Arc interference, but I can barely make out movement that tells me she is still alive.

As if she knows I'm watching, her voice comes over the comm. "That's one."

"Did you get a look at him before you pulverized him?"

"Her. A Titan."

"Two Titans pitted against each other," Skelter's voice suddenly breaks in, startling me. "Shaxx had that planned well." I look over to see him lying prone next to me. The machine gun starts up again, raking the rocks just above us.

I hear Keate scream over the comm before I hear the crack of that sniper rifle.

"Guardian down." Her Ghost informs me.

I TransMat my sniper rifle back to swap for my tough, if not slightly rusted fusion rifle. As soon as the machine gun slows for just a second, I summon all my strength and push off from the ground with surprising speed. As I glide upwards, I pinpoint the source of the machine gun fire.

I draw a bead on the warlock wielding the gun, and he tracks me upward. As I aim down the sights I can feel a familiar heat on my back, and then I hang, suspended in the air. Squeezing the double trigger of the fusion rifle, I hear the charge building. Just before the first machine gun round hits my feet, the rifle discharges a flurry of eight or nine bolts of super-heated metal towards the warlock.

I can't confirm the hits because the fusion rifle is suddenly blasted from my hands followed by the loud pop of that damned sniper. Relinquishing my hold on the air, I drop quickly to the ground and charge toward the sniper's position, de-magnetizing my hand cannon from my thigh plates. I zigzag as much as the terrain allows, and watch as three shots cleanly miss my head.

As soon as that Hunter is within range of my pistol, I roll into a firing stance. Aiming for the breach in his chest plates, I empty the projectiles cartridge into my target with reckless abandon.