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Continuation from Healthy Dose of Skepticism

* One Week Later *

"Hear anything from Monica?" I ask my new partner. Who looks fetching in blue. I wouldn't mind fetching her at all. Instead I fire at movement on the horizon. A small thachet house goes up in flames, accompanied by the crescendo of lizzie* wailing.
"No," Tara says, firing her laser at a bunker. The coherent light beam bounces off of the reinforced structure. "Need the big gun, Nat."
"Right," I say, as I swing the portable cannon at the strongpoint, dialing up Plasma and fire. Yellow plasma smashes into the building, although doing little damage to the reinforced armor. But then the plasma tightens around the structure, compressing it, resulting in a titanic implosion. A massive blast of power and then there's nothing left but a smoking crater.
"That isn't legal," Tara observes.
"So report me," I quip. "At least we're alive."
"Hey," Tara says, standing in front of me to stop me. "I wouldn't do that. Just be more discreet."
"If those charges stick," I tell her, "you'll have to find a new partner. Bad enough I was busted to Lieutenant."
"You do look good in rank and file chrome," Tara says with a smile. Then adds, "Dru and I have separated."
"Let me guess, disagreement over the Empyrean One."
"Correct," she says. "And my bed is empty."
"Weren't you telling me about your sister not too long ago - "
"Who pushed you out of her bed 🛏 - "
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Mortars!" I scream as another blast is even closer. Tara and I take cover behind an outcropping.
"You have a location?" I ask.
Tara shakes her head. A third mortar round crashes behind us, demolishing a different outcropping, peppering us with gravel and coating us in rock dust. "I do now."
"No one triangulates like you, dear. Where?"
"337.891 degrees, range 8472.16 meters."
"Eight klicks?" I say. "Lucky for you this is an illegally modified weapon." I channel my astrological power and set the ordnance type to Special, feeding in the targeting data from Tara and fire the psionic construct missile. A massive explosion eight and half kilometers away.
The mortar fire stops.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," I say triumphantly. Tara rolls her eyes at me. "Fine, nothing we couldn't handle."
"Better," she smiles. Then sobers. "I'm reading - "
"A shitload of lizards!"

It's like they multiply like viruses as they make a charge at us. Not much time for idle chatter as we're fighting for our lives and our skills notwithstanding, the lizards are getting closer. Their fire in a bit unfocused but en masse, still deasly.
"Options, Tara?"
"Limited," she tells me. "We can't outrun them and if they musk us, we're done for."
"About 800 meters away, I reckon", as I launch plasma everywhere, laying down a firewall. "That ought to hold them fore a bit."
"Think again," as the plasma is psionically extinguished.
"They shouldn't be able to do that!" I object.
"No one told them," Tara observes, firing her overworked laser. As I'm aiming my cannon, a well aimed blast obliterates the cannon, reducing it to rubble, as I scream from the heat blast of its destruction.

"Nat, you okay?" Tara asks as she continues to fire and the lizards close and there are too many of them and -

"Looks like I arrived just in time."
Admittedly she looks majestic, and my crotch gets wet despite my intention otherwise. Swinging around her weapon - one I am unfamiliar with - she first several shots that explode with concussive force and annihilate the lizzie contingent.
"Thank you, Empyrean One," Tara says. "Could you help Nat?"
"Certainly," she says, kneeling beside me. "My assistance is not isolated to believers." As she is healing my wounds, she adds, "looks like the result of a laser bazooka malfunction that blew up in your face. There's a reason we don't allow those modifications."
I bite my tongue.
"I was aware of it," Tara says sheepishly. "I am ashamed, I should have reported it." She goes down on one knee before her Empyrean leader.
"I have no fault with you, Captain," the melanin beauty says. "I am just glad that I arrived in time."

* Lizardmen, currently in a war with humanity

Note: The original image:

now rendered in a computer display friendly wallpaper

Description
Continuation from Healthy Dose of Skepticism

* One Week Later *

"Hear anything from Monica?" I ask my new partner. Who looks fetching in blue. I wouldn't mind fetching her at all. Instead I fire at movement on the horizon. A small thachet house goes up in flames, accompanied by the crescendo of lizzie* wailing.
"No," Tara says, firing her laser at a bunker. The coherent light beam bounces off of the reinforced structure. "Need the big gun, Nat."
"Right," I say, as I swing the portable cannon at the strongpoint, dialing up Plasma and fire. Yellow plasma smashes into the building, although doing little damage to the reinforced armor. But then the plasma tightens around the structure, compressing it, resulting in a titanic implosion. A massive blast of power and then there's nothing left but a smoking crater.
"That isn't legal," Tara observes.
"So report me," I quip. "At least we're alive."
"Hey," Tara says, standing in front of me to stop me. "I wouldn't do that. Just be more discreet."
"If those charges stick," I tell her, "you'll have to find a new partner. Bad enough I was busted to Lieutenant."
"You do look good in rank and file chrome," Tara says with a smile. Then adds, "Dru and I have separated."
"Let me guess, disagreement over the Empyrean One."
"Correct," she says. "And my bed is empty."
"Weren't you telling me about your sister not too long ago - "
"Who pushed you out of her bed 🛏 - "
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Mortars!" I scream as another blast is even closer. Tara and I take cover behind an outcropping.
"You have a location?" I ask.
Tara shakes her head. A third mortar round crashes behind us, demolishing a different outcropping, peppering us with gravel and coating us in rock dust. "I do now."
"No one triangulates like you, dear. Where?"
"337.891 degrees, range 8472.16 meters."
"Eight klicks?" I say. "Lucky for you this is an illegally modified weapon." I channel my astrological power and set the ordnance type to Special, feeding in the targeting data from Tara and fire the psionic construct missile. A massive explosion eight and half kilometers away.
The mortar fire stops.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," I say triumphantly. Tara rolls her eyes at me. "Fine, nothing we couldn't handle."
"Better," she smiles. Then sobers. "I'm reading - "
"A shitload of lizards!"

It's like they multiply like viruses as they make a charge at us. Not much time for idle chatter as we're fighting for our lives and our skills notwithstanding, the lizards are getting closer. Their fire in a bit unfocused but en masse, still deasly.
"Options, Tara?"
"Limited," she tells me. "We can't outrun them and if they musk us, we're done for."
"About 800 meters away, I reckon", as I launch plasma everywhere, laying down a firewall. "That ought to hold them fore a bit."
"Think again," as the plasma is psionically extinguished.
"They shouldn't be able to do that!" I object.
"No one told them," Tara observes, firing her overworked laser. As I'm aiming my cannon, a well aimed blast obliterates the cannon, reducing it to rubble, as I scream from the heat blast of its destruction.

"Nat, you okay?" Tara asks as she continues to fire and the lizards close and there are too many of them and -

"Looks like I arrived just in time."
Admittedly she looks majestic, and my crotch gets wet despite my intention otherwise. Swinging around her weapon - one I am unfamiliar with - she first several shots that explode with concussive force and annihilate the lizzie contingent.
"Thank you, Empyrean One," Tara says. "Could you help Nat?"
"Certainly," she says, kneeling beside me. "My assistance is not isolated to believers." As she is healing my wounds, she adds, "looks like the result of a laser bazooka malfunction that blew up in your face. There's a reason we don't allow those modifications."
I bite my tongue.
"I was aware of it," Tara says sheepishly. "I am ashamed, I should have reported it." She goes down on one knee before her Empyrean leader.
"I have no fault with you, Captain," the melanin beauty says. "I am just glad that I arrived in time."

* Lizardmen, currently in a war with humanity

Note: The original image:

now rendered in a computer display friendly wallpaper