‘Elite Force’ Baron descends with wings of fire into the Halcyon Well to find his scout overwhelmed by Churn Worms!

CHECK HIM OUT IN GAME:

MODEL & EFFECT CHANGES

Black and gold exo-armor

Flight helmet with holographic display

Thrusters ignite to create flaming plasma ion wings when Jump Jets are in use

Multi-ordinance launcher

ALTERNATE FATE LORE

Part I: The Voices

Disarm!

Twenty meters down the Halcyon Well, Baron’s navigation and communication systems malfunctioned. He watched the HUD on his visor flash with readouts as he descended, his thrusters burning, into the glowing blue crystal cave. “Manual override,” he said, and the rocket launchers, porcupine mortars and ion cannon blinked online.

“Surface scan,” he said.

The HUD flashed warnings, revealing movement everywhere. “Locate scout,” said Baron.

“Go back!”

The HUD pinpointed Idris’ location in the center of a mass of what looked like glowing, spiked worms the size of his arm, their heads all mouth. His spear swung and his chakram flew in a whirl of hot glowing blood. “Idris!” Baron called. “Hang on, we’ll get you out!”

“No.” The chakram flew and returned again, but Idris sank into the sand, the Churn worms’ mouths locked onto his armor. “I should not have tempted the Churn. You must leave me and abort the mission.”

“I don’t leave men behind.” Baron’s jets lowered him onto the soft ground. Churn worms wriggled and writhed, bursting through the sand and slithering out of the hole at the center of the cave. They snapped their jaws and latched onto his exo-armor, spiraling their long spiked bodies up his legs as he trudged toward Idris.

“It is too late,” Idris said, his calm voice eerie and alien through his mask. He sheathed his spear and chakram and allowed himself to be pulled down.

A Churn worm snapped at Baron’s visor, its mouth stretched wide, so that his vision was blocked by the beast’s glistening maw. He peeled the worm off and threw it.

Idris mumbled to himself as the Churn worms encircled him.

Baron dug through the sand and found the rope secured to Idris’ waist. In the reflection of his visor his mouth was set in a grim line, marred by glistening worm mucus. “Listen to me, buddy. You with me?” He leaned back and pulled. “I can obliterate everything in here, but you need to get behind me. I can’t pull you out unless you fight your way up.”

Idris shook his head with violence, as if waking from a dream.

“Arm Ion Cannon,” said Baron. The HUD flashed:

CANNON ARMED.

“Lock target,” he said, and a countdown blinked on the HUD.

Baron pulled the rope fist over fist, but Idris was too deep. “Fifteen seconds!” Worms wrapped around his armored hands and the rope fell. “Don’t give up on me!”

“I cannot fight.” Idris unclipped the rope from his waist and tossed it aside. He unwound a worm from his neck, stared at it face to face, then pulled it apart with a spray of shimmering blue blood.

“Disarm Ion Cannon!” called Baron. The HUD flashed, scrambled, turned to static.

The countdown continued.

“Disarm all weapons!”

The HUD flashed:

CANNON ARMED.

MULTI-ORDINANCE LAUNCHER ARMED.

“Disarm! Disarm!” But the countdown continued to blink down.

3… 2… 1…

The cannon’s recoil knocked Baron back. The sand where Idris had been lit up with the power of the orbital strike. Rockets launched and porcupine mortars arced high, falling with deafening power. Crystal stalagmites burst into shards; stalactites cracked and fell from the ceiling. Worms, blasted to death, rained down from the cave walls with sickening splats.

Baron found his feet and cursed, scanning the killzone for life. Smoke escaped down the hole in the cave’s center as if inhaled.

“That was close.”

Baron whirled around as Idris jumped off his back. The desert warrior surveyed the damage, kicking away a pile of dead worms, unearthing a Shatterglass.

“I thought… how did you…?” Baron stuttered.

“We should not linger here. I will take however many of these I can carry.”

“The Churn is creating an electromagnetic field that is disrupting my armor functions.” Baron stomped into a gruesome mess of dead Churn worms. “If my jets function, I can -”

From deep down, far below them, came a roar full of smoke and mist, a sound that froze them both in place.

Read Baron’s canon lore:

The Complete Collection

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