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Votecount 3.1 (Final)

~Colony 9 Outskirts~
Some time later

Mumkhar, for the most part, hadn’t had a problem with his newfound “allies” since they’d been gracious enough to spare his life as he’d fled the disaster that had been the Battle at Sword Valley.. But they were so maddeningly

This was a problem for Mumkhar. Patience usually required restraint. Mumkhar wasn’t so good at restraint.

Luckily for him, the order came down, and a week early at that. Smart move on the mechons’ part -- he’d been close to killing some of the grunts for sport to relieve the tedium.

Then again, the sort of army that would give a man like him an indestructible battle machine really deserved whatever they got, didn’t they?

Mumkhar read the script, specially tailored for the sentient minds in the army; the purely mechanical minions didn’t require visual or auditory stimulation to receive orders. They would be moving out at dawn.

And he would be leading the charge.

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Mumkhar slept well, a rarity for him these days.

Most mechon did not require sleep -- only the ones powered by Homs like himself did. So he was not surprised when they were all waiting for him.

“I’ll save you all the impassioned speech,” he growled. No backtalk. This was definitely nothing like being in a colony platoon. “We’re moving out.”

Mumkhar boarded the mechon he’d been given -- the Homs has supposedly taken to calling it “Metal Face,” which, while a bit boring, gave a life to the terror felt by his presence. They’d soon know that terror firsthand.

The non-combatants -- Mumkhar was surprised there

any mechon non-combatants -- were still finishing tearing down the encampment. Whichever way the battle went they would not be needing it anymore. Mumkhar waited for the more loaded for bear types to join him, and once he was satisfied with the the state of affairs he flew off.

A front gate assault on Colony 9. No tricks, no deceptions, no flanks. They would march in and simply kill anyone who got in their way.

Then they would kill everyone else.

He flew off toward the colony, which was only a short distance away. None of the back scouts had reported any interference from the other direction. He licked his lips. No one was coming to save them. He could already imagine the looks on their faces as he opened the cockpit and revealed the face of their destruction.

Mumkhar zipped around the last corner of the valley connecting Colony 9 when an explosion rocked the ground in front of him. He hadn’t expected the runts to even know they were being attacked, much less put up a struggle.

Well, tf they wanted to go down fighting, that was their choice. He ignited his thrusters and gained some altitude as he charged toward the entrance of the colony. Sure enough, the garrison was manned, the gates were sealed, and lines and lines of infantry were already emptying rounds toward his general direction.

“Not to worry,” he said aloud. “I’ll have the cannon fodder occupy them while I get up close.” He turned around, prepared to visually direct the army behind him to overtake his position.

Except there was no army.

“What?!” They’d just been there. Why would they have abandoned him? Mechons didn’t feel fear, and they certainly didn’t disobey orders.

The hesitance at this unexpected event threw him off balance enough to avoid noticing an artillery round careening toward his position. It rocked the ground close to Mumkhar, catching his right leg in the process. He struggled to balance himself, but was ultimately forced to drop to one knee.

The other mechon forces were nowhere to be found. Mumkhar whirled around with his claws, but the Homs had apparently realized the he couldn’t do much damage from long range.

The barrage of projectiles and explosives continued until his mechon was unresponsive. He knew he was done for -- they hadn’t managed to penetrate the cockpit, but it was only a matter of time. His visual displays barely worked, but he could see the Homs starting to move in on him, their confidence getting the best of them. He’d make them regret it.

“Bastards,” was all he could think to say. The colonists, the mechon, the hell with them all. Betrayed by the mechon; he hadn’t seen it coming and he had no idea why they’d done it. But if he’d been a more intellectual man, Mumkhar might have paused in the moment before he hit the self destruct button, to appreciate the irony of the events that led to this point.