Lord Knight Reid was not amuse, not one bit. There was something off during their landing on planet Red 420. Every planetary landing he had before this was intense and filled with GEOM flak and was met with stern ground resistance. Their landing, in fact, was the complete opposite of his previous experiences---no GEOM anti air fire from the second they entered Red 420’s atmosphere to the time the bay doors on their transport ship had opened. His mind roamed at all the possible scenarios as went through the oxygen adaptation system---a scanning machine that changes level of atmosphere adaptation of nanomites with regards to the current planet’s atmosphere. These nanomites are injected to one’s bloodstream and act as air filters and converters. With these innovations, the use of oxygen replenishing suits and helmets were unnecessary and would focus more armor and protective headgear efficiency against solar radiation, space fragments and GEOM attacks.

He wasn’t amused at all.

“Wolfe, did intel fucked up again?” Reid said worriedly as he went down the transport ramp. “I mean, where the hell are these bastards? They should be all over us by now!”

“I know Reid,” Wolfe answered, “but orders are orders we should head towards Io.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Reid jests, “Just don’t hold back on our bet. My armpit gets extra sweaty after I fight GEOMs.” He said with an insolent smirk. Wolfe retaliated with a potent middle finger.

Io, northern outskirts one hour after planetary deployment

“Fucking GEOMs!” Reid said sulking, “where are they?”

The red desert landscape showed no sign of any living creature moreover GEOMs. Fifty years of GEOM inhabitation has made the Red 420 desolate and eerie. The only distinctive landmark on the landscape is the industrial towers and gigantic mining equipment of Io. The psionic squires haven’t felt any life forms since they have landed, that didn’t help Reid’s gnawing anxiety. They had C and D class psionic squires, having a psychic potential is a rare talent but having just C and D class psionics, it worried him that they are facing some new or high rank GEOM swarm.

Dammit Max where are you when we need you.

“Squire Cairo.” Reid beckoning one of his three psionic squires assigned to him. “Contact, Knight ClaraHart and ask if she has foreseen anything yet.” He said waving his fingers in the air.

“Right away Lord Knight Reid.” The squire, no older than twenty years old, answered. He sat still on his hovercycle for a moment and only shook his head, “She says her premonition power isn’t cooperating with her right now.”

“Ok Cairo, round up the rear of our column.”

“Sir!” the boy saluted and drove off towards the end of the Bravo convoy. The Lord Knight watched at the convoy of about one hundred forty soldiers. He scans his command of five hexapod tanks called “Dims”, six “Dune” armored personnel carriers, two “Harpy” attack helicopters and two “Black hawk” helicopters, one of the oldest continuously upgraded helicopter line; a heavily armored company than most. He then rode closer to Io in hopes to scout the GEOM plague.

Knights and Squires ride on custom made hovercycles when deployed on planets and personalized fighter jets for aerial and space combat. These personalized “Stallion” hovercycles are suited for a knight or squire’s power and combat needs. As Reid rode across the field a couple of miles from Io’s northern wall he was linked with a telepathic contact from one of Wolfe squires.

Sir have you stumbled with any GEOM contact yet? A young accented voice resonated in the Lord Knight’s mind.

Not yet Charles, in the way you asked I guess your company hasn’t encountered anything yet

Affirmative, Lord Wolfe orders your company to conduct a Pickett charge on Io simultaneously with Alpha and Charlie Company at fourteen hundred hours sir

Reid smiled. Brute force was always his and Wolfe’s forte and his anxiety for battle was leaking from his pores since they entered the atmosphere.

Do you acknowledge Lord Reid? The telepathic squire broke him off his battle reverie.

Acknowledge, fourteen Hundred hours.

Fuck! Fuck! Reid thought with blazing intensity as he collapsed all fours on the red sand.

Being inside the mind of a person before and during death was mental torture. After he discussed to his company the planned assault on Io the GEOM alarms began beeping nonstop as the GEOM visual scanners’ screens went all red. Burrows began to appear around them and from the holes and crevices nightmarish creatures appeared, that’s when he got linked with Squire Charles final telepathic exchange.

Fuck!

This was the first time Reid saw these type of GEOM hosts that were to be the vanguard of the plague attack. The new GEOM was over six feet tall; they have sharp clawed forearms and paddle like hind legs. Their eyes were pearly white and they had a high pitched roar, like the sound of an overheated kettle.

“What the f-u—.” a soldier muttered before his head was swatted clean off by one of new “mole” GEOMs.

“Retreat to first rendezvous point!” The Lord Knight commanded. One of the Harpies exploded. “Get the birds in the air! Go! Go!”

Reid ran towards the nearest mole GEOM and punched it twice on its underbelly. The GEOM cried in pain with an ear piercing howl. The Lord Knight then unsheathed his long sword and finished the monster with a vertical slice, cutting it in half. Two hovercycles stopped beside him.

“Sir!” the squire shouted. “Get on sir we got to get out of here!” he had the Lord Knight’s hovercycle in tow.

“Cairo!” the lord knight shouted as hurriedly got on the hovercycle,”Where’s Aki and Jed?”

The squire just shook this head, “They were covering the copters’ lift offs sir and got swarmed. I was inside their minds when their C5 microchips went off.” He said with sullen eyes.

“I know the feeling Cairo but we don’t have time for that.”

They sped off towards the company’s rendezvous point. “Cairo, status report.”

“We are down to one Dim, four Dunes, a Harpy and both Blackhawks.” He answered after using his psionic power. “We have thirty seven casualties so far Sir.”

“We must hold a rear guard of our retreat Cairo.” Reid said stopping his hovercycle midway from their rendezvous. Soldiers ran past them or sped off on the remaining Dunes and Blackhawks. The slow Dim was lagging behind the retreat and the remaining harpy provided what little air support it could do. Cairo now stopped behind the Lord Knight.

“What’s the Plan sir?”

“We kill them all.” Then he rode off towards the Dim, followed suit by the young squire.

Speeding Up, Lord Knight Reid used his potential of density manipulation to make his and Cairo’s hover bike lighter. Using the Momentum they gained, they lifted off the red sand and landed on top the six legged tank.

“Cairo, throw the hovercycles towards the Plague and when I give the signal detonate their drive cores. I’ll hold off the Hornet GEOMs. They are targeting the Dims for a reason; it seems they can’t destroy them with the moles alone. We need to protect this Dim.”

The Squire nodded and used his telekinesis to hurtle both hovercycles towards the chasing Plague. Wolfe planned their rendezvous well; the path they took was between two quarries which meant only one land route in case they were overwhelmed from their assault on Io. And Lord Knight Reid’s primary power is more effective when focused on a single point.

Concentrating on the path behind them, Reid turned the sand in to a phased state while making the Dim lighter to go faster. The chasing ground GEOMs fell through the desert path. Moles appeared momentarily beneath the sand before falling.

“NOW CAIRO!” The Lord Knight exclaimed as he made the path solidify again. The earth shuddered with the explosion of the hovercycles.

“What a waste, I really liked that bike.” The squire muttered.

“Don’t go sentimental yet we didn’t get all the hornets.” The Lord knight said as the buzzing of wings became apparent. These four- feet -tall GEOM “Hornets” aren’t suitable for flying long distances but they move fast whether they travel on land or air.

“Shit that’s a lot of Bugs.” Cairo stuttered.

“Get ready here they come!” Reid shouted as he felled a diving hornet.

From above, the Dim looked like a rock in a green stream. The duo separated the flying formation of hornets with support fire from the Dim’s remaining operational guns. The Lord Knight hacked away the plague with his long sword with ease. He wouldn’t tire easily even on the intensity on what his sword wielding style appears to be.

Density Manipulation has a grand list of uses. Lord Knight Reid adapted his fighting style with the cheating effects his potential enables him. When He swings his sword, he turns the sword’s density to that of air and basically arcs a six foot long weapon with a weight of a plastic toothpick and just as he is about to hit a GEOM, he floods the weapons density up to a metric ton. The combined momentum and weight he generates has power equal to a megaton missile exploding at point blank range. Though some Lord Knights disapprove of Reid’s inefficient style due to its requirements of multi-tasking one’s density manipulation talent and rigorous training or a secondary power to resist the whiplash caused by the sudden change of density but the Reid raid sword style gets it done.

It also lies under Reid’s context of “fun”.

The Lord Knight was but a blur at the tail end of the Dim, A human GEOM grinder. The squire was the lord knight’s link to his platoons since GEOM Haxes have already jammed their long and medium range communications. He was impressed with the squire, multi telepathic linking him with his platoon leaders while fending off stray hornets that escaped his Raid technique.

A quarter mile from rendezvous point Sir! Bravo Company has secured the point perimeter.

The Lord Knight nodded towards the plague not letting up his flurry of blows. The hornet swarm is thinning now. I must save my energy for when we rescue Alpha Company. Oh my armpits are real sweaty now.

Too much information Lord Reid, we are now within support range fire. No sign of GEOM moles for now sir.

Reid nodded Try contacting Lord Wolfe now; let’s hope they survived as well

“BRAVO OPEN FIRE!” He commanded through their short range coms.

An orchestra of gunfire came from the Bravo rendezvous point mowing down the last of the chasing hornets. The Lord Knight dropped his weapon, sat at the Dim’s edge and watched the fireworks display.

“Sir Reid, I can’t link with Lord Wolfe but he is still alive and with about half his men. They are barely holding off their GEOM plague on these coordinates I’m about to relay now. They are now retreating further from my telepathic range…south east and I’m too tired to extend my standard range.”

“Good job Cairo, don’t exhaust yourself further. I can tell it’s going to be a long day.” Reid then faced the direction where Cairo said the Lord Knight Wolfe was retreating to. The last salvos echoed across the red desert.

“Don’t die yet Wolfe.” he muttered, “You still have a bet to honor.”