A bright blue ball of plasma zipped by the Colonel’s head, passing by so close that the Colonel had felt the heat radiating off it. He and Capt. Williams whipped around to see where the shot had come from.

There stood Rick, holding a standard issued plasma pistol. Steve was right next to him, his hands firmly around Rick’s wrists in an attempt to wrestle the gun away.

“Scrats,” Rick cursed. “I missed.”

“I’ll kill him!!!”

The Colonel withdrew the large cyber blade on his back and charged. Williams latched onto him, trying with all his might to hold back the enraged commander.

“Sir! Please! He’s not worth it!” Williams pleaded as he dug his heels into the ground.

Steve meanwhile continued to wrestle with Rick over the pistol.

“Have you lost your mind?! Give it to me, now!” Steve demanded.
“You don’t understand! Let go!” said Rick.

Not feeling like getting shot, stabbed, and or going to prison, Waffle decided it was best to stay out of the squabble. He sat down and popped open his lunchbox, pulling out his namesake. Waffle held it up against the night sky, staring longingly at the moon. It was nearly full, shining with its familiar warm glow. Normally Waffle avoided looking at the celestial body in the sky, but seeing how things were going, he decided to make an exception for tonight.

The waffle exploded into pieces in his hand.

Waffle immediately stood back up. He peered into the dark with his large violet-blue eyes. Sure enough, among the rocky canyon walls, he could see the outline of a small cylindrical machine with spindly mechanical spider legs.

“Crawler bots!” he shouted, fumbling for his own pistol.

Rick finally managed to wrestle the gun away and fired at the spidery bot. The crawler scurried around the canyon wall, dodging every shot. 

Out from the shadows climbed out even more bots. Tiny shooters sprang from the sides of their bodies and returned fired upon the troop.

The Colonel pressed a button on his gauntlet, activating a large and round hard-light shield. Williams himself retrieved the metal shield on his back and withdrew his cyber blade from its scabbard.

“Take cover!” shouted the Colonel.

Rick, Steve, and Waffle wasted no time in running behind a boulder for safety.

“I tried to warn you!” said Rick.

“How was I supposed to know?!” Steve fired back.

“You could’ve at least trusted me! I believed you!”

“Guys, we kinda got more important things to worry about right now,” said Waffle, ducking as a laser blast shot overhead.

The soldiers fired back with their rifles while the Colonel used his pistol. With his blade, Williams would swing at any bots that tried getting closer.

Despite their best efforts, the bots ran up and down the canyon walls on their spidery legs, avoiding most of their attacks.

“They’re too fast!” said Steve.

“Keep firing!” commanded the Colonel.

Rick ducked behind the boulder, narrowly getting shot by laser fire.

“I can’t get a hit,” he said. “Waffle, did you manage to dig out anything useful from the ship?”

“Hang on!”

Waffle crawled over to the pile of supplies and equipment he had gathered earlier. “There’s bullets, C-4, plasma cartridges, batteries, grenades…”

“How did we not blow up in the crash?” asked Steve.

“Oh! There’s the rocket launcher!”

Rick looked back at the encroaching Crawlers. “Toss it over!”

Waffle loaded the rocket launcher and threw it. Rick reached out to catch it, only to fumble, dropping it. Both he and Steve went to grab the launcher as it fell.

FWOOM!

A rocket grenade flew over the boulder and straight into a canyon wall. It exploded on impact with a loud boom that echoed throughout the canyon, sending rock and robot parts everywhere. The officers barely had enough time to hit the ground and hide under their shields as debris came raining down.

They waited until everything had settled down before looking out from behind their shields. A pile of varying stones and crushed metal bits now sat before them.

From out from the rubble, limped out a single bot. The Colonel stood up and cleaved it in half with his sword. 

He turned to face the soldiers. All three ducked behind the boulder.

“Is that all of them?” asked Williams, dusting himself off.

“Looks like it,” answered the Colonel.

The captain nodded, looking over all the rubble.

“Sir, it would appear we have lost the element of surprise.”

The Colonel muttered something under his breath.

“Sir?”

“I said let’s move.”

And without another word, the Colonel walked off in the opposite direction Steve had run in from.