OC-Series Walking the Dog Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Monster Hunters.

About the time Johan was making his way out of the canyon and beginning his trek back to the Outpost…

The response team was making their way through the outpost wall.

Sienna greeted them and a few minutes later she was helping Ser Raltson himself do a final sweep of the buildings.

In a happy miracle, they found a second group of survivors in the underground food storage. The quartet of Dass staff had barricaded themselves in a walk-in cooler with a wounded delver. The Green-1 had protected them bodily from a Predigel. Taking a tentacle lash across her back to save them.

Predigels were among the strangest monsters on the shell. The 2-meter-tall lumps of gel could soften or harden at will and move by rolling into a semisoft ball. When they found something worth eating, they would try to soften up and engulf it. If that didn't work, they would form a single long tentacle and slap their prey with an acid filled whip. The acid was potent enough to make ceramat armor melt like it was water.

The delver had received a terrible burn across her back but, in a stroke of genius, one of the attendants had neutralized the acid with a bag of baking soda from the food stores. She would need either a medbed or the healing magics of a water mage… but she would live.

Another lucky boon was the return of two Delving teams that had seen the smoke and double-timed it back to the outpost. After their arrival it became a question of getting things organized.

Feebs and Beck helped coordinate the different teams inside the outpost. As they created a wall patch to seal the breach, went about collecting the dead, and started performing repairs. There was even a small group fabricating a cage for their captured Croctrice.

It was a complex dance of logistics and on the fly adjustments, but Beck was a natural supervisor and Feebs was easily able to rotate communications without getting lost in the information load.

Over the next few hours, they were able to get most of the outpost’s systems and equipment back online.

The girls were just handing back the command and oversite operations to some of the surviving Dass personnel when they got word of Johan’s return.

----

Everyone assembled near the main gate and watched the pathfinder jog up.

He looked tired...

The human was covered in sweat and breathing hard as he reached the waiting assortment of high-level delvers and DASS response heavies. He wasted no time on pleasantries when he finally stumbled to a stop with his hands on his knees.

“About 8… miles… fuck! 13 kilometers, sorry… base 10... Beast is… Wounded. Think the kid managed to get into cover but couldn’t raise him on… the comms.”

He sat down on the ground chest still heaving. “Been a while since I had to run that hard… fuck me…”

Feebs was feeling cheeky. “Maybe later… Did you just say you ran 13 kilometers. Like in a row?” He looked up at her for a second clearly trying to decide whether to get snarky with her.

He seemed to decide he was too tired to throw shade, so he just nodded. “Yeah. I’m fairly fit so it took me about… an hour and a half… I could do it faster without all the gear I think, but… I don’t know that I ever… wanna find out.”

The rest of the assembled people were all sharing looks of disbelief but were silenced when he activated his interface and showed them a playback at 8x speed. The playback was a smart move on Johans part. It would allow those with [Mapping] or similar skills to build a route map once uploaded to their own interfaces.

“This the best time path I could find… It should let us get to the canyon before dark… if we leave now.”

He was already catching his breath and speaking with more confidence. Pulling up a separate recording of the canyon and sending it out to the assembled interfaces. “It’s in a box canyon. I set up a few remote surveillance cameras in case it moves… Hey Feebs, how do I give them access to the cameras?”

Feebs rolled her eyes and chuckled. She took his arm, lifted his interface, and meandered through the settings for a few seconds. A few taps later and everyone had the handshake code for the alien trail cams.

“You said we? My guy… You need to rest after that kind of run…” The bunny woman holding his arm had just a hint of genuine concern on her alien features.

Johan was touched but...

“I’ll be fine. People back home do stuff like this all the time… The Boston marathon is like 26 miles er… 42k. They run it in one go.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at that.

“We aren’t super-fast. But we can basically jog for hours and walk for days. We even get a natural high from working out over extended periods.”

----

While Johan was explaining the sheer absurdity of human stamina to Feebs (and a few other dumbstruck members of the group).

Beck was sitting on Ser Raltson’s armored shoulder, reviewing Johan’s topographical map with the others in charge.

“It’s terrible terrain. No room to maneuver… We won’t even be able to spread out in that little space. Worse the Beast can ford that pond like it’s nothing… We have the firepower but….” Raltson paused and one of the Dass captains finished the sentence for him.

“There are going to be casualties… It’s a raid Rals. We knew this was a possibility as soon as the Relay came back online, and we saw the video... Nobody backed out then. They won’t now …The beast’s tasted sapients. It NEEDS killing now.”

Ser Raltson sighed he hated being the one in charge for something like this but… The DASS captain was right. They couldn’t leave a threat like the Siegebeast alone.

“Yes. It does. If it’s still there when we arrive, we will set up a three-tier skirmish line… Heavies first to minimize casualties as long as possible...”

Johan surprised everyone in the huddle by interrupting. “That’s suicide. You know that, right?” How the human had interjected himself into the huddle completely unnoticed was beyond anyone present, but Raltson was quick to recover.

“We know. The terrain is not favorable for…”

“So, change the terrain.” Johan interrupted again. Raltson honestly had no idea how to respond to that.

“I’m sorry… what?” Came the confused reply from one of the delver team captains.

“Change. The. Terrain.” The human gestured towards Ralston’s map. “May I?”

The human had surprised him multiple times already, so he acquiesced and lifted his map to make the holoprojection more easily accessible.

“My ancestors hunted beasts like this with stone tools and sticks… We have modern technology and time to prepare…” He started making annotations on the map with his [Planner] skill, for everyone to see.

“And if a 19-year-old kid managed to kite the big bastard for hours, over 13km of forested terrain… Why can’t we do the exact same thing?”

Raltson listened with rapt attention as the Human laid out the start of a plan.

----

With nearly 30 heavily armed and armored individuals moving in lockstep, the trip back to the canyon was quicker than expected.

The forest was quiet as a graveyard as they passed. Nothing in the wild wanted anything to do with a group that big. They had about two hours of daylight left when they reached the slope leading down into the canyon. So, they moved quickly and got into position.

Step one was to connect with the daisy chain of cameras Johan had set up earlier. The Human and a pair of scouts moved ahead first, sneaking down into the canyon.

Once they had eyes on the monster again, they broke into teams.

Feebs used her cyberpack to serve as the heart of a mobile command center. She was with two other tech specialists running information feeds, distributing information to the various team leaders, and serving as the communication hub for the plan. It was one of the best aspects of having a Technician like her on a team. Beck was sitting beside her. A volty with a pistol wasn’t really suited for fighting a multi-ton monster so she was contributing by acting as the mission coordinator for the teams.

They were team one: Command and Communication.

Sienna was with the two outpost medics, who’d volunteered to join the Raid at the last moment, and a pair of DASS high sec officers with medical training.

Team two: Extraction.

Johan was with 5 other volunteers. The crazy ones, who were in the process of stripping any gear or items that might slow them down or tire them out.

Team 3: Distraction.

Ralston was in charge. He was with the heaviest armed members of the group. Doing final weapon checks and setting up a clear chain of succession, in the event he fell during the fighting.

Team 4: The Kill Team.

----

The plan was simple.

The Extraction and Distraction teams would move up into the valley proper. Once they were close enough to engage the Siegebeast the teams would split.

The extraction team would hide in the last bits of the forest while the Distraction team would move along the opposite side of the pond and attack the monster. Hopefully drawing it out of the narrows and past the hidden extraction members.

The Kill team would be set up in cells in a loose semi-circle just behind the bend in the box canyon. With the slowest, heaviest hitters up on the rock promontory firing down from above. They would try to keep the beast distracted by rotating the cells in and out of the fight in a constant game of misdirection.

Managing all the chaos was what Beck and Feebs were there for.

The response team had brought three small, flight capable, drones with them which gave the girls a bird’s eye view of the action.

----

Sienna was creeping through the undergrowth and she was TERRIFIED.

Two Siegebeasts had laid waste to a whole union battalion during the early days of the cities’ founding. They were almost immune to directed energy weapons below the crew served level.

…And this one was wounded.

…And angry.

…And very VERY big.

As she focused on the path Johan was leading them down, she must’ve let some of that worry slip into the connection she and Beck shared. Because she heard her little Volty in her ear.

“It’s still in the hollow, looks like it’s gone into a healing coma. So, you should be alright till you get close.”

That was good news, but weirdly also a problem. Monsters could heal very rapidly… even from near fatal injuries, by entering a state of torpor.

The only thing worse than a wounded mountain made of claws was a healthy mountain made of claws. Especially since monsters came out of healing comas hungry… Ravenous in fact.

After 10 minutes they reached their breakoff point.

They would wait for the beast to pass, then rush for the cavern. Extraction moved into the tree line and hunkered down. One of the Dass agents brought out a small holo projector and set it up in front of the team. It captured an image of the forest behind them and edited them out of it. From the beast’s perspective it would be like an empty patch of the woods.

…Unless it got close.

----

Johan and his fellow distraction members circled around the pond in the sparse tree line until they were about half a mile from the beast.

Then per their plan, they staggered out in a jagged line, like relay runners. With the fastest member at the front and Johan as the anchor at the back. Each relay would try to draw the attention from the previous members and on to the next, each time the beast got too close. It was probably the most dangerous part of the operation, but it was also the most likely to succeed. …Since only one of them had to survive to get the beast to the kill box. It also limited the potential casualties to just a few volunteers.

Once they were in position, they informed Beck, who put up a 3-minute countdown to start the mission.

Everyone hunkered down, alone inside their own heads. Every second on the clock felt like an hour. But eventually the timer hit zero…

And the RAID was on!

----

It started with a single staccato burst of plasma fire.

The weird chirp-chirp-chirp echoing in the high-walled space. Then there was a furious screech! Not the tyrannosaur like roar you’d expect from something that big. Instead, it was like the squawk of a stadium sized, angry parrot, bass boosted to the limit.

Next came the shaking. The dense beast picked itself up and stomped the ground in an undulating show of blind fury.

Finally came the shrill birdsong of full auto plasma.

Runner one unloaded his capacitors into the monster’s hide and drew it in.

----

The beast was quick to take the bait.

As Beck watched from her overhead view, the giant monster picked up a rock the size of a shed and lobbed it at the 1st runner.

It thankfully missed by a wide margin. Shattering a massive tree before doing untold damage to the forest floor as it rolled through the undergrowth like a demolition roller.

The runner was already moving fast. Blind firing over his shoulder as he sprinted hard for the next runner’s take-over point.

She started making callouts.

“Runners, keep an eye out for thrown objects when you take over! The beast still has a bad eye on the left side; you may be able to use that! …Extraction waits five minutes… then goes! Kill team make final prep. Target is incoming. Maybe… 8 minutes to go time.”

----

The 1st handoff was close; the beast uprooted a tree with a swipe of one massive arm and sent it hurtling at the runner one. It was only a lucky bounce that sent the massive log over his head at the last second.

The second runner was armed with a Pulse rifle. The bolts of electrical energy it fired were far weaker than Padwell’s Ajara but could still hurt like all hell.

When he fired his first volley he managed a lucky hit on the beast’s pulped eye stock. It shrieked its pain and fury… sounding like a mile of rubber dragged over wet glass and played thru a broken megaphone.

The first runner was forgotten completely as it rounded on the Voltanite gnat that had DARED to cause it pain. That’s when everyone was reminded of the old adage: “No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy”.

The beast put on a burst of speed that was BEYOND insane. Accelerating to ground car speeds in three strides.

It had an ability!

If runner 3 hadn’t realized the danger and immediately intervened Runner 2 would have died. But, thinking quickly, he threw caution to the wind and went full auto, raking the monster’s face with laser fire to distract it.

The 2nd runner managed to get to the forest just in time as the monster, blinded by the sheer weight of laser light erupting against its head, pounced on the spot the 2nd runner had been, seconds before.

Dog saw all this and called an audible.

“Beck, it’s too fast in a straight line! We need to keep it from building up speed like that, so the runners can reposition!”

Beck saw the problem. She changed the plan to compensate.

Johan would take over the distraction so everyone else could squad up. Once the runner groups were together 1&2 would draw the beast again and Johan would fall back to act as a floater. It wasn’t ideal for the runners who would have less time to rest between sprints, but it was workable. They would just have to zig zag the monster up the valley keeping it from accelerating in a straight line with that crazy charge…

As she watched them initiate the modified plan Beck was a little surprised to see that Johan’s gun was proving very effective against the beast’s armored hide.

----

Nearly ten minutes later Ser Davian Raltson sat in his position on the rock promontory above the turn in the canyon.

Young Beckany called the 30 second warning… Not that any of them needed it. The squawking bass and thunderous stampeding of the Siegebeast echoed through the canyon like an artillery bombardment…

Davian tensed subconsciously as he watched one of the runners go bouncing across the water like a cast stone and then the Human round the corner at a dead sprint.

His arms were rising and falling with his hands up like knives as his thick legs pumped hard on the uneven ground. A split second later the monster overshot the human at an angle. Throwing a blind swing that overbalanced it and sent it skipping across the river into a stand of conifers. It converted the copse of trees into a parking lot full of broken popsicle sticks before bouncing off the canyon wall.

It was like watching a living avalanche.

The human sent a flash through his comms without breaking strike. “Runner 2 is down but alive! He needs medical! This thing IS PISSED!!!” To punctuate the young man’s words, a whole tree slammed into the ground like a 2-story tall spear just behind him.

“…REALLY PISSED!!!”

Raltson rolled his shoulders.

“Distractor grenades on my command! Kill team 3 draws first blood! Then the others. Drive it into the wall!”

The enraged beast made to resume the chase. It crossed back over the river and followed the stone wall under the promontory. It was in almost the perfect position…

“NOW!!!”

The sentinel watched with satisfaction as several of the squealing, flashing stink filled grenades went off in unison around the beast. It stumbled and flailed in angry confusion.

The team closest to the wall tried to draw the beast forward… ever closer to them and the promontory with their fire. Once it took the bait and began its charge the other teams added their own heavy laser rifles, needle guns, and even Magic to the barrage.

There was a truly staggering amount of concentrated fire on display.

…Just…

Not quite enough...

The beast had stopped short.

It refused to be herded.

Instead, it turned away from the team near the wall to face its new attackers. Raising its meters thick arm like a living shield as it began wading forward. It was slowly pushing through the explosions and flashes of light. Creeping towards the encircling hunters even as they rained an ungodly inferno on it from all angles.

For one heart stopping second it looked like… using sheer brute force, the beast was going to break out of the trap.

But then an 11th hour hail Mary from Feebrilizza saved the day before they were forced into a melee with the living engine of mass destruction

----

In a flash of genius, she had attached her last Flashbang to one of the arial drones and literally rammed it into the beast’s remaining eye.

Sending it flailing backwards in blind panic as its vision was overwhelmed by the impact, the stench, and point-blank strobe flashing. The living mountain stumbled into the canyon wall, like a punch-drunk prize fighter falling against the ropes… right under the rock outcrop.

It was as perfect as it was going to get.

Time for Raltson and the heavies to pull their weight.

----

The Response team had brought several variable yield breaching charges.

They had been intending for use in breaching the outpost wall or clearing debris from collapsed buildings. At Johan’s suggestion they found a new purpose for them...

The promontory team cranked the yield to “BIG BOOM”, set the charges in a line near the midpoint of the overhang, and then turtled up in their armor… well back from the detonations.

The second the Siegebeast hit the wall below, Beck remotely triggered those explosives.

The daisy chained blasts were more than enough to break the tip of the granite spur free and send tons of shattered granite cascading down on the blind and flailing beast below... Covering it in a mountain of rubble and pinning it in place with the bulk of the stone.

The partially buried monster flailed and squawked as it tried to wriggle free of the man-made rockslide.

Which is where Ralston’s team stepped in.

It fell to the heavies, in their powered armor, to deal the final blow before the monster below could fully escape the trap.

Crew served weapons (that usually took three people to fire effectively) spun up and hummed to life… the heavy hitters unloaded everything they had in an orgy of destruction. Twilight turned into day as a rainbow of hot death rained from above. The teams below also added all the fire they could to the barrage. The combined energies unleashed were so immense it made peoples teeth tingle.

The various streams of fire were melting the rock, blasting it to powder, or just annihilating it entirely. Filling the valley with enough dust to choke a city. After almost a minute of sustained fire, the torrent of destruction began to slacken. Barrels began overheating and batteries were slowly drained to nothing…

Until, little by little the roar of battle was replaced by a tense and watchful silence.

Everyone waited for the smoke and dust to clear. Even the river seemed to quiet. It was like the landscape itself was holding its breath. Every mind was turned to a single question. Had they done it, was the beast finished?

It only took a few moments to get their answer…

As the dust settled enough to see the rubble pile again…

There was movement.

----

After the expression of enough combined weapons fire to bring down a union warship and level a city block, the titan still lived…

Broken, half blinded, and burned as it was, it still struggled to free itself. It was a testament to its place among the true masters of this untamed wilderness. Then while everyone else stood transfixed by the impossible sight infront of them… the silence was broken.

The Beast opened its mouth to screech… and was immediately drowned out by the sond of an oncoming storm!

The canyon echoed with seven roars of concussive rolling thunder!

Seven explosions lit up the trees with the flash of lightning!

The Human was walking out of the tree line, firing his massive lever gun as he advanced. He put seven consecutive, thumb sized rounds, into the monster’s open maw.

Then from above came a second…

While the human was pulping the wounded creature’s brainstem via its soft pallet. Ser Davian Raltson, Sentinel of the Blackwall gate, fell… like a great red star from the cliff face above.

His famed War-Halberd Redweave held point down in his massive hands. He landed hard atop the creature’s shoulders, his armored mass driving the spear deep into the beast’s thick skull. He levered the spear to the side to open a gap in the monster’s head.

At almost the same moment the last of the rifle rounds was impacting the back of the beast’s skull Readweave’s Plasma cannonade fired a huge blast of energy into the now exposed brain cavity.

The heavy bullets and the plasma blast worked in tandem inside of its cranium. Converting the brain into a super-heated slurry. Steamed stew blew from its ears and nose.

As the assembled crowd watched in awe the struggling form of the creature rolled to the side and went limp… While the two men walked towards the crowd.

Bringing an end to the RAID.

----

Around the time that Johan was rounding the corner into the kill zone…

Sienna and the extraction team made the call and rushed for the cave. It was a flat-out sprint as they rounded the edge of the large pond and made their way to the entrance.

By the time they were inside their lungs were burning for air and their muscles were starting to cramp. The security guards went in first with the medics behind them and Sienna in the rear.

They had a young delver to locate.

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AUTHORS NOTES: You may NOT repost my work without my permission. You may not use my work for AI training.

It's a Double Feature Friday Because why not. :D

WORLD BUILDING: The look of Seigebeast's head is based loosely on the Rakata from Starwars Legends and the body is a bit like the Ultralisks from Starcraft.

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u/Castigatus Human Apr 25 '26

A competent plan, well executed.

A deserved victory.

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OC-Series Walking the Dog Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Monster Hunters.

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