Capítulo 2: Einherjar of Vel Risi

"Einherjar Hrefna! Come in Einherjar Hrefna! Damnit, are the comms down?!"

A static laced voice sputtered into my ear, causing me to wince slightly as I was momentarily distracted from my mark and forced to realign my sights, tracking the Chukanid from a mile out.

"Einherjar Hrefna reporting... What is it, Chief?"

My voice was little more than a whisper as I remained stashed away on my perch, the net supporting my weight and the weight of my high caliber rifle as I rested a few dozen feet above the forest floor.

A very soft, almost unnoticeable hum was the only sound I made up here save for that whisper, the anti-grav jets attached to the high quality Ullr Anti-Armor Rifle steadying my aim and ensuring the sway of this perch didn't bother me at all.

"Thank the stars! There is a swarm of Chukanid approaching Outpost Thor-Frey 12, and you're the closest Einherjar to them! Is your mission capable of being completed within ten minutes?"

The relieved yet strained voice of the old, decorated man tickled my ear as I watched the alien wander around in my scope, it's heavily armored and bulbous body not displaying its freakish speed whatsoever.

My 'mission' was to eliminate this alien before it could create a new nest; a Hatamoto Class Chukanid that was responsible for creating and defending a new nest that the Daimyo Class Chukanid would eventually inhabit and command from.

These aliens were amongst some of the most dangerous ones in the entire galaxy; these non sentient insectoid aliens only lived to consume anything biological in nature, from 'living' things like animals or people to crops, grass, and other plant like organisms.

They evolved entirely for the purpose of consuming everything in their path, and like the fabled cockroaches that somehow still existed amongst the Arks today, they were incapable of being exterminated entirely, only contained.

Currently, this planet was in dire need of aid after the discovery of a dozen or so Daimyo Class Chukanid's threatened to turn this jungle world into a barren, unlivable rock devoid of use to the galaxy at large, and my mission was a simple one.

Pull this trigger and send a 15mm shell hurtling through the air to kill this blight on the galaxy from afar... and all it needed was patience, precision, and most importantly... approximately 8 pounds of pressure.

Patience I had in abundance, precision I had honed over many hundred days of training, and strength that I was well accustomed to after five years of active deployment as a soldier of the Gullstjarna's Vel Risi company.

The Ullr kicked against my shoulder as the bullet chambered within exploded forwards quietly, the heat created from the gunpowder igniting getting caught within the eternally cool barrel to reduce the noise from shooting, allowing me to kill this alien without any worry at all.

A caliber made for penetrating the thick carapace that grew on the muscular body of that eight legged tank - amongst other things - held a lot of recoil, but the anti-grav jets reduced that power somewhat and made it bearable as I watched the bullet drop towards it target through my scope.

A glittering gold projectile whizzed through the air with a low whistle, moving fast enough that the sound it did produce didn't matter at all since avoiding it was all but impossible, especially for a target as large as this Hatamoto.

Standing at eight feet tall and just as wide, the Hatamoto was literally a tank of carapace and muscle with gigantic cleavers attached to its front, which were more than capable of slashing through the widely used Tungsten alloys that were commonly used around the galaxy with ease, while the thick spikes sprouting from that carapace made it hard to deal with from up close.

Even from range those spikes - which were about as strong as many steel alloys - provided an abundance of protection to the Hatamoto, but... in the presence of a 15mm Tungsten 'Smite' round, it's carapace meant nothing.

The chemical cocktail within the bullet I had shot ignited upon impact with the carapace, allowing it to easily burrow within before exploding and releasing the rest of the chemicals inside of the Chukanid, eating it from the inside.

It writhed around and screeched in agony as it was slowly killed, and I watched it closely even as I replied "Hatamoto down, Chief. Einherjar Hrefna relocating to Outpost Thor-Frey 12 for immediate overwatch."

"Affirmative. There are hundreds of the damn things, Einherjar Hrefna, and many Ronin Class Chukanid have been spotted joining the swarm... Be careful, and rain hell on these insect bastards."

The old man's voice was filled with warning before my earpiece fell silent, the connection that had just been restored getting dropped as the Chief moved on to the next Einherjar, trusting me to do my part as I prepared to move to the next engagement.

A planet wide battle against hundreds of thousands of insectoid aliens... for those of us in the Vel Risi Company, this was exactly what we lived for, and even though I tended to be vastly different from my peers - and especially my fellow Einherjar - I too lived for the thrill of this galactic hunt.

Tapping the side of my Ullr, I swapped the sights from the crystal clear lenses over to the thermal lenses, observing the rapidly cooling Chukanid and ensuring it was dead before I began the swift disassembly of my perch.

The Ullr was strapped to my back while the six hooks that kept my net stable were unscrewed from the trees, with the rest of my gear - ammunition primarily, but also my Vidar .45 Submachine Gun and Skadi 10mm pistol - getting strapped to my body as I prepared for the descent to the jungle floor.

Outpost Thor-Frey 12 was one of our operation bases on the planet, and it housed mainly artillery and ammunition for the vehicles and mechs that were in use in this war, something that the Chukanid knew to aim for in order to cripple our extermination efforts.

I settled into a jog as I brought up the map of the planet on the terminal mounted on my wrist, the thin screen displaying the information I needed as I looked over the real time reports that was being sent down from the many battleships in orbit.