He lifted the left arm of the EXO-13, initiating the motion with the stick in his left hand and guiding it through the NICS interface and a fair bit of desperation, blocking the down stroke intended to cleave his armor and shuck him from it like an oyster. The servos and hydraulics in the EXO-13 moaned under the load, but held, and Eric used the opportunity to bring his right arm forward. He jammed the tri-barrel under the Drasin’s body and fired a medium burst directly into its main bulk.

As it collapsed, Eric held the weight up off the other soldier, shoving it clear.

“Medic!”

Eric stood over the fallen man, guns primed as he twisted slowly around and looked for any sign of more trouble. The Kilo strikes would have taken out most of the enemy forces, but shock waves were funny things sometimes. You could be standing two feet away from someone who had literally just been popped like an overinflated balloon, yet be perfectly fine because the blast wave happened to double back on itself and cancel out in your position.

That meant that, statistically anyway, there would likely be a few survivors in the rubble, and they were likely to be pissed as hell and spoiling for a fight.

“Keep your eyes open,” he ordered, stepping back to clear the way for the medic who had run up. “And watch your feet, everyone. These things are likely to be right under us.”

Eric keyed over to the command channel, linking back to the convoy. “I need some seismic gear deployed ASAP. Get those things in the ground and get me an idea of what the hell is moving under us.”

“Yes sir, we’re deploying the first ones now. System online in three minutes.”

“Good.” Eric glanced over. “How is he?”

“The only thing keeping him in one piece is the suit,” the medic told him, not looking up. “We need to get him back to the field hospital.”

“Damn it,” Eric swore. “Alright. Take who you need. Get him back to the convoy.”

If the suit was the only thing holding him together, Eric knew that the man and the suit were basically out of combat permanently. He didn’t have enough troops to be able to afford to lose any, nor did he have suits to waste. Losing both at once was a heavy blow to his force, no matter how small one man seemed to be.

The medic nodded, connected to the armor, and locked it up so the man inside wouldn’t be twisted around in moving, then waved in two others to help carry him out. Eric covered them until they were well back from the front line he and the squad had been pushing forward, then signaled the rest to continue.