“I don’t like that plan.” Thebes responded, magnifying his vision to the maximum his suit would allow in the low-light conditions. All he could make out was a flurry of darkly-coloured material tearing it’s way toward them across a dozen different trails. “They could easily cut you off; who knows what they’re capable of. There’s no guarantee we could lay down enough suppressing fire to get you out.” 

The soldier paused for a moment, feeling his team’s eyes on him. They were stuck here, at least until the supplies came through; they had to dig in and hold position. “Athena - begin your engagement sequence, see if you can funnel them. Saddam, Memnon, Knossos - fan out and take firing positions along the cliff edge.” Thebes got up and moved carefully back from the exposed cliff edge to the transit station. “Carthage, watch our six. Dr Ngata, can you set up the deployable cover on your own?” The xenobiologist, who was feverishly studying Athena’s scope feed to build up a profile of the oncoming creatures, nodded eagerly and set to it. 

Finally, Thebes turned to 595, who was fiddling with her weapon. “Are you alright?” She looked up. “Yeah. It’s just my pistol got crushed earlier; I think it’s busted up pretty good inside.” Thebes took the pistol from her, examined it closely, then chucked it to one side. “That’s alright. There’ll be new weapons when the supplies come through. Stay back for now, help the guys if you can.”
“Insert in thirty seconds!” Dr Wetherall shouted, quickly hopping up on the transit plate to kick a stray stone off the surface. Thebes hefted his energy rifle and returned to the cliff edge, just as Athena fired her first shot. A cloud mushroomed from the barrel of her railgun, a deafening [i]crack[/i] echoed off the mountain sides and a plume of water erupted from the marsh below. “No joy. Firing again.” Athena murmured to herself. She ejected the remains of her round from the side of her rifle and retrieved a fresh one from the dispenser on her thigh.

A faint wave of rattling & snapping sounds rolled across the valley, as the things drew closer.