Operation Phoenix: The Hunt For Samhain Part 10 Samhain stood, battle claws extended, adrenaline and heart pumping rapidly, mind racing as it took in all the information being displayed on the inside of the combat helmet. His own coordination, strength, and perception, already way above that of a normal human, brought themselves to their keenest edges. he made sure that the recording systems were operational... he wanted tapes of this... both for evaluation of the armor and so that others would know what happened... whatever the outcome. The display counted 38 unfriendlies incoming. The weapons display showed that most of the weapons were high-energy weapons, plasma variants. Protection rating against them: 98.5% effective at absorbing and dissipating any blast. Not a threat. Archaic weapons. He knew about the natural weapons from previous encounters. Archaic weapons were not a concern... not much of one, anyway... A whistle sounded in his ear. Incoming plasma fire.... The X'hirijq troops fired their first volley of plasma bolts at Samhain, who stood and let them hit. They hit from all sides and directions, high, low, left, right, front back... and were all dissipated without doing damage. There was silence in the woods briefly as they all stared in wonder.... until... Samhain bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Jihaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!!" The Commander bellowed almost simultaneously in his own language. But the meaning was clear enough... "Attaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!" X'hirjq came at Samhain from behind him first, but he saw them in the rear-imaging system of the helmet and merely sidestepped, and swung his now clawed hands in broad arcs, ripping several jugulars and spraying blueish blood. Another pair managed to get behind him and their arms around him. He swung his elbows backwards violently, sharp spikes extruding from the elbow plates piercing their armor and ripping into their innards. He yanked back forwards, and the barbs on the points dragged some of those innards with them. A pair charged headlong into the fray from the front, and Samhain did a rapid vault, sommersaulting mid-air, and coming out of the roll flying at them headlong. The claws on his wrists went straight through the necks of the surprised attackers, pushing them backwards as he continued through, sprung up off of his hands and back up onto his feet. He kicked one leg more than a foot over his head as he did so, and plated the heel spike on that boot in the snout of still another X'hirjq. Still more charged in from the sides, only to find the foot-long blades extending from his arms reaching deep into their bodies and ripping them inside out. A single X'hirjq came charging in diagonally from the front, a huge sword flashing over his head and blood in his eyes. Samhain extended his left arm, and flicked his wrist again. A small, Jihaddium dagger flew at him ballistically, and ripped through the base of his neck. He fell into the growing pile of corpses at Samhain's feet. "That armor dissipates energy, but can it survive the crushing strength of my JAWS, SAMHAIN?!?! came a snarl as a Jaw chomped down on Samhain's extended left arm. "Gee, I don't know, but ya know what?" teased Samhain, as he yanked his arm back towards his chest, pulling his arm and wrist through the saw-like rows of teeth. "I think you," continued Samhain, as the razor-like blades on the knuckles ripped out a good chunk of the roof of his mouth, and sent teeth flying everywhere. "had better see your DENTIST!" He finished, punctuating his message by punching the trooper, claws still extended. He pulled his arm back, and continued the fight, elbows flying, claws ripping, feet kicking.... and blue blood spraying. And so it continued for a good 20 minutes or so under the late afternoon sky, now beginning to darken as the sun went down and clouds began to scoot in. Samhain barely had a chance to watch the combat meters inside the helmet click away on the number still to come and the number killed as he continued with the fight. After about 35 minutes, he suddenly found that he DID have time to check them, as the attacks stopped almost entirely. Blue phosphorescent blood flowed down his arms and splatters covered most all of his body as he checked the display inside the helmet, and noted the number dead and maimed... the tally read: DEAD: 26 MAIMED: 11 TOTAL: 37 REMAINING: 1 Hmm. Still one out there. The new commander, most likely. Of course, there were probably more left he didn't know about, weren't there? COMBAT EFFICIENCY: 91.58% YOU SUCK! Samhain wandered through the area, doing cleanups and watching his sensors for any new attackers... when he was done, his combat efficiency was up to 97.37%, but the snide rating comment failed to change. "Mental note: never let Elektra program in the efficiency ratings on anything again." Samhain retracted all the claws, allowing himself to move more freely, and took off the helmet, allowing his own senses to take over. His loose bundle of dark brown hair at the back of his head fell free and swung gently in the cool breeze beginning to blow with the incoming clouds. "Hmm. Storm coming," thought Samhain to himself as he looked around. Suddenly his combat instincts started warning him of an imminent attack, and noticed several more X'hirjq come charging out of the woods. 11 of them, by quick count. And they didn't look happy. Worse... they looked... like the best of the best... they all wore different uniforms than the others had... TO BE CONTINUED! "The Hunt for Samhain" Copyright 1995, David R. Hibbs All Rights Reserved.