CHAPTER 42 – ENMITY
DATE POINT: MAY 12th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)
LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, INSIDE ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE
LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST
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"I'm coming! Hang on!" Paul shouted as the ground began to shake with the heavy footfalls of the titanic being at the back of the room as it began to uncoil its many heads that released a deafening roar all as one.
Please don't die on me.
THREAT DETECTED: XENOFORM HYBRID: DRACONIC; NAGA; QUANTITY: ONE
THREAT LEVEL: DEADLY; RETREAT RECOMMENDED
ADDITIONAL THREATS DETECTED: NEPHAELI’IM-HUMAN HYBRID; QUANTITY: SEVEN THREAT LEVEL MODERATE
We can sense their emotions from here…. confusion, anger, and…. subservience to the dragon. They are slaves to its will… it’s mind is well shielded… through it we can sense a cold… calculating and very old intelligence… There is a higher shackle still… An unseen master at the end of this leash…This is not a foe to be trifled with.
Thanks for the update, but for now I need to finish this fight and regroup the team before we face that threat.
They will not give you the opportunity… the dragon has ordered an attack…. The seven bows are in motion…
Shit! Then I'm gonna need to change the calculus.
Paul threw his hand forward and formed a TK field behind Hamilton and Estefani, dragging them backwards, and stumbling their foes who were caught at the mere edge of its effect. Hamilton screamed in pain and left a trail of fresh blood behind him.
“Tend to his wound! The nanites should already be working on healing it, but it doesn’t matter if he bleeds out before they can work!” Paul shouted at Estefani, spurring her back to her feet. With one hand she put pressure on the wound while she fumbled with her tac vest.
“I ain’t dying from this! It’s just a little scratch!” Hamilton complained as he tried to get up before Estefani firmly pushed him back down by planting her thighs tightly around his hips and straddling him.
“Just shut up and let me help! You can’t see your stomach like I can. Mierda… your skin… it’s literally stitching itself together…”
“Relax and recover, I’m gonna need your help against that big ass dragon thing in a minute. In the meantime, I got this!” Paul thrust his hand back at them to waive them off.
Paul formed a TK field to throw the last three enemies, a scarab and two Quadragons, into the tanks behind them to avert their charge. He then planted his feet and retrieved his spear from the back of the dead Quadragon with a grunt and a mighty heave.
Gear status report!
ALERT: SHIELD CAPACITORS 57% CHARGED
ARMOR SYSTEMS NOMINAL
PRIMARY WEAPON CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHED;
SELF REPAIR COMPLETE, CAPACITOR FULL
Paul smiled and dismissed the notification. He then raised his spear, reactivated his forearm shield, and charged his recovering foes.
“You wanted a fight!?! Well now it's found you!!” Paul shouted.
By dumb luck, the scarab seemed to have died from the impact, a reddish goo oozed from cracks in its carapace. The Quadragon that had landed atop the scarab had in turn been gored upon one of its mandible horns. Defiant, the beast struggled in vain against its predicament, giving Paul a single target to focus on first. Behind him, another Rhino shell exploded amidst the rushing crowds trying to breach the doors. Their survival brought a smile to his face.
The others are still in the fight.
Their terror is palpable… but they're alive… The far bigger problem… they will be out of detection range… soon…
Paul raised his shield to block a stream of flame as he thrust his spear at the Quadragon before him, just for it to be swatted away. Undeterred, he swung it back around, severing a head that snapped towards him. The Quadragon roared in pain and anger before it charged him and slashed with its claws, forcing Paul to dodge left and right before he ducked in under a swing and bashed at his enemy with his shield. Paul then leapt backwards, gaining some more room to fight in and raised his spear to go on the offensive.
A series of quick thrusts pushed his foe back. The other Quadragon got back to its feet, ripped the broken scarab mandible from its side, and charged at Paul, forcing him to break off his attack. Paul dove into a roll, allowing him to dodge around the charge while he gave the mental command to shorten his spear. As the moving freight train of a foe struggled to redirect its momentum, Paul drove his spear deep into the back of the wounded dragon before dumping his capacitor charge.
Paul pulled his spear free as the now three-headed dragon had recovered and shot at him with a gout of fire while Paul struggled to raise his shield in time. A bright arrow whizzed right past Paul’s face, piercing the dragon’s throat, ending the flame throwing prematurely.
FLAME STRIKE DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 55% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
Taking advantage of the moment, Paul slashed horizontally across the scaly stomach of his foe, failing to land much more than a flesh wound. Out of the corner of his vision, Paul saw dark shadows moving amongst and between the rows of tanks before him.
You’re running out of time…. Kill it already!
Paul raised his shield again to block as one of the last two uninjured heads prepared a flame blast.
You make it sound so damn easy! Paul hissed as he raised his spear to strike through the flames.
A volley of seven fiery arrows arced up over the wall of experiment tanks, adding to Paul’s woes. He leapt to the side with an awkward slide as his former position was bathed in fire and his spear clattered away out of his reach. Moments later, the arrows landed and exploded on impact, gauging craters from the deck where he had just been standing.
Paul scrambled backwards as the angry, bleeding Quadragon charged his position. He raised his shield to block a downward claw strike as his foe prepared another gout of flame. Another photonic arrow zipped past, missing the targeted head altogether. In desperation, Paul fired his wrist laser at his enemy, which only seemed to make it angry. Its Jaws opened and flames began to pour out before it suddenly jerked and spasmed, with smoke rising from its back as it fell atop Paul, winding him.
A spear rose from its back; Hamilton’s spear. Paul struggled against the immense bulk of the gigantic beast as he tried to roll it off of him. Another volley arced through the air towards Hamilton and Estefani, distracted as he was by the process of recalling his spear. Paul abandoned the attempt to free himself, and instead threw a quickly calculated TK field into the path of the arrows. He then tossed them off course, causing them to explode harmlessly off to the side. Admitting defeat, Paul then used his telekinesis to help free himself.
“Thanks. I owe you one.” Hamilton said.
“I think we’re even at this point.” Paul said as he finally got back to his feet and recovered his spear.
A deep, rumbling, ominous laugh rose from the back of the room as the titanic dragon rose to its full height, putting its seven heads on display. Three of them were snakelike with cobra hoods and fangs, the other four were gigantic copies of the feathered and antlered Quadragon heads. Each was attached to a long neck that extended from a bulky body with four muscular legs. Paul grabbed his spear and retreated to the side of his allies.
“THIS HAS BEEN A MOST AMUSING SPECTACLE, BUT THIS ENDS NOW. YOU STRUGGLE IN VAIN AGAINST MERE ANTIU, AND THE MIGHT OF YOUR PARTY HAS BEEN SPLIT IN TWAIN. THERE IS NO HOPE FOR YOU AGAINST THE MIGHT OF NAU-SHESMA. SURRENDER AND DIE.”
“Don’t you mean surrender OR die?” Paul asked, turning his external speakers to max volume.
“QUIET YOUR INSOLENCE, SNACK. OUR HUNGER IS BOUNDLESS, OUR MERCY IS FINITE. TAKE HEED, OUR MASTER DEMANDS YOUR AUDIENCE IMMEDIATELY. FOR THAT, WE NEED ONLY CAPTURE YOUR BA. TEST OUR PATIENCE AT YOUR PERIL, OUR ORDERS SAY NOTHING OF YOUR BODY. WE MAY YET FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH AND FULFILL OUR LORD’S WISHES. THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SEPARATE A BODY AND ITS ETERNAL SOUL…. SOME OPTIONS ARE MORE… PERMANENT THAN OTHERS.”
The bowmen…. They are surrounding us… fight or parley… you must act quickly.
“What are you talking about!? What is a Ba? If your master truly wishes to speak with us, then why can’t he just meet us here?” Paul asked while he racked his brains trying to think of a way out of their situation.
They were cut off from support and retreat, and Paul was not entirely sure they could defeat the monster before them without much heavier weaponry than they currently possessed. Half of him wanted to fight, the other half wanted to launch into a flying retreat and have their ships blow a hole in the wall to vent the big fucker into space.
“YOU ARE STALLING FOR TIME, WE MEAN TO GIVE YOU NONE. SURRENDER YOUR BA WILLINGLY AND YOUR BODY AND KA WILL BE PRESERVED AND REUNITED. DEFY OR DELAY YOUR FATE AND WE SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH AND CAPTURE YOUR BA ANYWAY. IT HAS BEEN FAR… TOO… LONG… SINCE WE HAVE FED UPON FRESH MEAT. NAU-SHESMA HAS SPOKEN. SURRENDER AND DIE OR DEFY US…DIE… AND SUFFER THE ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES. CHOOSE… NOW.”
“Yeah, no, fuck that. I choose option three! If your master really wants to meet with us then he can meet me atop your ruined corpse.”
“HOW… FORTUITOUSLY DELICIOUS.. A PREDICTABLE RESPONSE, AND YET THE ONE WE HAD HOPED FOR. YOUR ARROGANCE WILL BE YOUR DOOM... KILL THEM, MY SWORN BOWS, BUT DON’T RUIN THE MEAT!”
“Nice diplomacy there, champ.” Hamilton said, clapping Paul on the shoulder.
“Just shut up and help me kill these clowns.” Paul replied, switching back from speakers to comms. A volley of arrows arched up over the wall of experimentation tanks.
“To the right, and stay close, now move it! Focus on the closest threat and leave crowd control to me!” Paul shouted out as they kicked into motion.
Just behind them, arrows began landing with small explosions taking chunks from the deck. Paul felt outwards with his mass senses to locate their first victim, finding one bowman isolated and in range. He focused and created a TK field at the outside edge of his range, lifting them up and then slamming them into the ground in front of their path the moment it got close enough to grab hold of.
“Nice of him to drop in like that!” Hamilton snarked as he ran his spear through a gap in the scale armor and deep into its chest. He then dumped a capacitor charge into the writhing body before he pulled his spear out and swung it to flick it free of blood. Estefani grabbed him by the arm just in time to escape the next volley. Paul and Hamilton reacted by firing wrist lasers back from behind cover. Their enemy simply retreated farther out of Paul’s range, much to his frustration.
“Hang on, there’s another one over there that’s separated just a little out of range. I’m gonna take us to him, Hamilton, be ready. Estefani, draw and cover us when we land. Now get close!” Paul then lifted the three of them off the ground and into an arc over two rows of tanks, effectively cutting their prey off from regrouping with its fellows.
Estefani let her drawn arrow loose the moment she recovered her footing before she turned around to watch their back with another photonic arrow nocked and ready. Her first shot struck the shoulder and pierced through the armor, which distracted their foe long enough for Hamilton to line up a spear throw. The spear arced through the air and landed with a wet thunk right through the opening in the giant bowman’s helmet.
“BULLSEYE, BITCH!” Hamilton shouted with a hearty laugh, sounding entirely too pleased with himself.
“Incoming!” Estefani shouted as she let loose another photonic arrow towards an enemy that only she had seen. Five arrows rained down upon them from afar, giving Paul enough time to redirect them midair, though he only caught four. The fifth had been fired with enough lag time to have been well out of the range of his rapidly moving telekinetic distortion field. The arrow struck the ground between them with an explosion that knocked them from their feet.
EXPLOSION DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 82% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
Paul shook off the disorientation with his ears still ringing just to see another volley in the air mere moments from impact.
“Motherfu-“ He began before his whole world was engulfed in fire as he was thrown painfully into an empty tank nearby.
MULTIPLE STRIKES DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 42% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
You need to move… now! Nau-Shesma is coming!
“GOOD WORK, BUT IF YOU RUINED THE MEAT, THEN YOU SHALL REPLACE THEM, MY TREATS. FRESH FOOD IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND THESE DAYS. THOSE… ACCURSED OLYMPIANS RUINED…. EVERYTHING.”
Paul scrambled back to his feet as the ground rumbled and the sound of crashing and grinding metal filled the air. Estefani and Hamilton recovered and grabbed their weapons and rushed to Paul’s side. Nau-Shesma’s heads soon reared themselves up as it climbed across the tops of the maze of experimentation tanks.
“HELLO SNACKS, IT SEEMS YOU’RE HEARTIER THAN WE ANTICIPATED. GOOOOOD…. THE LONGER THE HUNT, THE MORE… SATISFYING THE MEAL.”
One cobra head in the center always seemed to speak while the others laughed. The closest dragon head, however, lunged forward with a mouth full of sword-sized teeth. Paul roared and shoved his trident spear into the beast’s slavering tongue, nearly severing it. Paul then dumped his entire capacitor charge into its head, causing it to spasm and scream. He withdrew it only after driving the head into the ground. Hamilton then threw his spear, blinding it in one eye while Estefani shot an arrow into the interior of its exposed throat.
“YOU WILL PAY IN BLOOD FOR THIS!” Nau-Shesma howled as the wounded head it tried to lift instead fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Hamilton took the chance to free his spear, which came back out slathered with grey matter and eye goo. just as another dragon head reared back with an all-too familiar, but now far larger, glow in its throat.
Hamilton pushed Estefani back and raised his shield before Paul decided against taking the risk. He then activated a TK field behind them that dragged them half-blindly and rather painfully into Paul as they retreated from the incoming flames. Paul then curved them up into the air as two of the other heads snapped at them in spectacular near-misses.
“Jenkins!! Ariana!! Come in! We could use your help right now!!” Paul said, pushing his comms to their maximum power output.
Nothing. Just how far had they retreated? Surely they can’t be…?
Lost them a while back… while you were fighting for your life… they were still alive… at least at that time.
“Alright, we’re on our own. For now.” Paul said before he had to focus on dodging a set of incoming arrows from below. Nau-Shesma was busy for the moment, it seemed, chewing through the thick scaly neck of the head they had killed.
“Well… that’s going to be nightmare fuel for the next few years. Fucking freakshow.” Estefani said in a haunted voice.
“You can sit down with your therapist over all this later, right now we need to focus on surviving this bullshit.” Paul said, just a little harsher than he had intended.
“Vete a la chingada, pendejo!” Paul grimaced when the translation software ran its course on her reply.
You truly have… a unique way with people.
No more comments from the peanut gallery, please.
“Watch your tone! I’m still your superi-“ Paul began before getting cut off.
“Incoming! Three o’clock!” Hamilton shouted out, breaking through the moment. Paul swerved them into a punishing curve to dodge a flight of arrows, and then charged towards the annoying pack of bowmen.
“Alright, fuck these guys.” He said as he got them close by flying low and changing directions at random intervals in a bid to evade incoming fire. He then dived them into a low-elevation flight down the row of tanks immediately closest to the bowmen to keep them mostly out of sight.
“Be ready now, I’m taking us in!” Paul said as he curved their flight up and over the line of experimental tanks and then back down right into the midst of their foes. Estefani released her drawn arrow at point blank range into the chest of the closest enemy as Hamilton lashed out with his spear and severed the head of another. Paul landed them with as much grace as he could behind their line before forming another TK field in the bowman’s midst that drew them in together, Paul then pulled them all up in the air and then slammed them down into the ground at their feet with as much force as he could muster.
A sharp spike of pain in his brain alerted him that he was at risk of over-using his powers. Looks like I finally found my limits, gotta let things cool off a bit.
Paul and Hamilton both rushed forward and stabbed their closest targets repeatedly while Estefani took aim and finished their felled targets off with headshots as she backed a few paces away to get some more room. The two bowmen who had been in the rear managed to scramble to their feet while their fellows were cut down. Rather than search out their bows, they both looked at each other before they drew swords and charged Paul and Hamilton.
Paul activated his wrist shield and pivoted around to try and force the two into fighting back to back to reduce their mobility. Hamilton seemed to see the plan and nodded at Paul before he began a series of aggressive spear thrusts to force his target onto the back foot. Paul thrust and swiped with his spear, only to be parried by some fast swordplay. He resisted the urge to break the stalemate with his telekinesis, instead he kept up the assault, looking for an opening.
Off on the other side of the room, Nau-Shesma finished consuming its severed head. Paul’s eyes bugged out as the scarred flesh at the base of the neck seemed to pulsate as a small head began to poke out and grow in size. He was so distracted by the horrifying sight that he suddenly found himself on the back foot instead as his spear was knocked to the side and he had to raise his shield to block. Paul shortened his spear and withdrew it back to strike as a photonic arrow sailed past him and bored through the enemy’s armor, knocking them back.
Paul then shoved his spear with all his considerable might through the enemy scale hauberk and pushed them into the back of the swordsman Hamilton fought. Another photonic arrow struck Paul’s target, this time in the head, causing them to slump to the ground as Hamilton finished off his battle with a decapitation strike. Heavy footfalls signaled the rapid charge of Nau-Shesma.
“Run!” Paul shouted as their enemy bore down on them.
“YOU MAY HAVE SLAIN THE OUR BOWS BUT EVEN YOUR SMALL VICTORIES ONLY SERVE TO MAKE ME STRONGER.”
Rather than immediately fight them, the massive seven headed dragon stopped over the fallen bowmen and began to tear apart and consume their corpses. As it ate, the pace of regrowth on its severed head began to accelerate.
“SOON YOUR FLESH SHALL SUPPLEMENT MINE OWN, YOUR BIOMASS WILL REPLENISH ME. YOUR FEAR… INVIGORATES ME… RUN ALL YOU WISH, SNACKS…. YOU WILL DIE TIRED, AND OUR BELLY WILL BE FULL… YOUR FATES ARE SEALED… YOUR HOPE IS LOST!” The monster said as it tossed the last of the dead bowmen into the air and ate it in a single bite as they rounded the corner.
The horrid sound of shearing metal reverberated through the room as an experimentation tank was torn from the deck and thrown into their path.
“This way! Hurry!” Paul shouted as a great gout of flame blocked off their only other pathway. With a mighty leap and a horrific crash, Nau-Shesma pursued them with vigorous excitement.
“YES… RUN LITTLE SNACKS… WASTE YOUR ENERGY…. FEED YOUR FEAR… SOON YOUR BIOMASS WILL FEED US... TAKE HEART, DELICIOUS! YOU WILL LIVE ON IN THE FORM OF OUR GLORIOUS PERFECTION... FOR ALL ETERNITY. THERE IS NO ESCAPING THIS FATE. COME AND EMBRACE YOUR DESTINY!”
Paul and his remaining team rounded a corner into a bloodbath of charred remains and sticky viscera as they emerged into a very familiar half-moon corridor with no other way out. They were trapped as Nau-Shesma settled into place guarding their only path of escape.
“Take cover behind that iron workstation, we stand our ground here! We know we can kill those heads if we work together and take them down one at a time. This ends now, this ends here! Find your courage, after today they will call us dragonslayers!” Paul shouted as they took cover behind the gigantic work bench.
The six working heads of Nau-Shesma loomed large over them as it attacked with its head on the far left. Paul twisted and lashed out with his spear, severing one of the long golden whiskers emerging from its snout and causing it to roar in rage. Another head shot flames at them, but they were blocked by the giant-sized table as the flames licked the air around them. Paul looked behind them and found himself glad to have their backs to one of the tank-lined side walls. At least they weren’t going to get flanked.
If there was ever a place to make our stand…
A loud hiss from one of the snake heads preceded the next attack. Nau-Shesma lunged forward and shot flame from one of the dragon mouths while it spat some kind of opaque liquid from the mouth of one of the cobra heads. They huddled behind their cover as the flames washed over them. The trio found themselves crouched and huddled together as close as possible as the liquid began to splash over and land in great globs around them. The deck began to smoke and dissolve in front of them as the liquid ate through the iron.
“Oh great, it spits acid too. Of course, it spits acid because fire just isn’t good enough apparently!” Estefani shouted indignantly.
“YOU ARE TRAPPED WITHOUT HOPE. YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD. THERE IS NO HELP COMING, AND WE HAVE YOU ALL TO OURSELVES… ADAMU FLESH IS BEST CONSUMED… CHARRED AND FALLING FROM THE BONE… BOILING FAT AND FRESH BIOMASS… PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
You cannot let this farce continue… DO SOMETHING
Paul activated his external speakers. “You lying snake! We have many more friends just waiting for the order to come in and destroy you! We can wait you out! You cannot possibly have unlimited fire and acid reserves! Come and show your faces so this fight can really begin! Or are you afraid I’ll take another whisker for a trophy!?”
Your plan is… to taunt… the dragon?
I want it to be angry and irrational, and thus more likely to make mistakes, maybe get it to expose good intel.
“VERY WELL. YOU MAY GET YOUR WISH. WE WILL STILL GLADLY CONSUME YOUR FLESH RAW AND WRITHING. SUCH AN EXQUISITELY INVIGORATING EXPERIENCE IT IS TO FEEL YOUR PREY STRUGGLE ITS WAY DOWN THE THROAT… AN EXPERIENCE WE SHALL SAVOR ALL THE MORE AS RECOMPENSE FOR SUFFERING YOUR INSOLENCE.”
Paul turned his head as the six heads of Nau-Shesma rose menacingly upwards and curled back into a striking coil. His mind performed the dreadful math of them each fighting two or more heads at once.
“It’s been an honor fighting alongside you all.” Hamilton blurted out.
“Don’t YOU of all people dare talk to me like that. We are going to CUT THIS MONSTER DOWN! Stand your ground, fight smart, and we WILL be dragonslayers today! Focus on dodging or slashing out to pre-empt a striking head, then get behind the head and chop at the neck from the side!” Paul shouted, channeling his inner Henry as he desperately tried to uplift morale and lead the flow of battle.
The first heads to attack were the outermost dragon heads, they lunged forward with their wicked jaws wide open. Paul timed his slash to meet the dragon’s snout near perfectly, gauging a deep cut and deflecting the charge to the side in reaction. Paul continued the slash upwards then with both arms brought the trident vertically straight down in a slash that cut into the now exposed neck of the beast.
Hamilton rolled to dodge, then came out of the roll with an upward slash deep into the gullet of the great neck above him, coating himself in gore in the process. From behind them Estefani looked for shots of opportunity as she loosed arrow after arrow into any spot that looked vulnerable or stood still too long. The abundance of wireless energy in the room provided ample ammunition for her to work with.
A cobra head each struck towards both of the Guardians near-simultaneously from opposing sides. Paul abandoned his attack on the stunned head and pivoted to slash at the new threat to keep it at bay. Hamilton deflected his incoming strike with his shield before a photonic arrow to the eye forced the head attacking him to reel back in pain. Hamilton followed up by throwing his spear into the cobra head, which unfortunately clattered off with only a minor wound. He then drew his sword and rushed towards the body at the base of the monster serpent’s necks, exploiting a gap in the defending necks.
“Paul, behind you!” Estefani cried out.
He turned to see the last uninjured dragon head breathing a spout of flame straight at him, His shield arm moved infuriatingly slow as his neural supercomputer did its best to slow his perception of time. Sensing the incoming rush of high energy particles of the blinding flames, Paul’s photonic shield wrapped him in a spun bubble of high energy bound photons, which helped deflect the worst, but yet still far from all of the damaging heat from getting through. Paul’s whole world turned to pain as he fought to avoid blacking out while a flood of notifications filled his visuals.
FLAME STRIKE DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 68% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING FLAME STRIKE DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 45% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING FLAME STRIKE DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 24% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
His armor burned red-hot all around him, or so it felt from inside. In a last second bid to save himself, Paul threw himself in an awkward unplanned leap out of the path of the flames before he hit the ground hard.
WARNING: SYSTEMS AT RISK OF FAILURE
EXTREME ENVIRONMENTAL HEAT WARNING; EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY
The flame breath attack abated as Paul rose to his knees in agony.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL ALERT: SECOND AND THIRD DEGREE BURNS SUSPECTED-SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION.
ALERT! LOW BLOOD PRESSURE
ALERT! LOW BLOOD SUGAR.
ALERT! LOW BLOOD OXYGEN SATURATION LEVELS.
ALERT: SUBJECT AT RISK OF GOING INTO SHOCK.
ANALYZING…. MEDICAL TREATMENT PLAN UPLOADED. PAINKILLERS DEPLOYED
NEUROHORMONE PUMPS ACTIVATED
TARGETED STEM CELL RELEASE APPROVED
PACEMAKER ACTIVATED
SURGICAL AND REGENERATIVE NANOMACHINES DEPLOYED
“Oh god, Paul! Are you alright!?” Estefani shouted.
“Never… better.” Paul gritted his teeth through the pain as the palpitations in his chest eased and his sense of reality stopped spinning. He forced himself back to his feet as the burning pain gave way to a throbbing ache across his whole body. Random jabs of agony flared strongly as his armor moved across patches of tender skin. Still half-delirious, Paul raised his spear, acutely aware of his significantly reduced fighting ability and steeled himself to face the next incoming strike in spite of it.
It arrived in the form of a lightning fast bite that he parried with his wrist shield, which caused the cobra-head to reel back in shock. Paul then slashed at its exposed neck, adding a fresh wound to the several that were rapidly healing over… as scar tissue! The ground below them was littered with severed dragon scales as further evidence.
“That thing heals fast, but it heals back with scar tissue, and not more of the harder scale. Those might only head back later with a molting!” Paul shouted as he dashed forward with a renewed vigor.
“What does that mean? All I’m seeing is these wounds healing faster than I can add new ones!” Hamilton replied as he drew blood on another neck as he fought inside the head’s effective range. Nau-Shesma responded with a vicious clawed strike which knocked Hamilton backwards and blew out his wrist shield.
“It means if we keep wounding the same neck then the healed tissue is weaker in that spot. We just need to accumulate these wounds and it will make for easier decapitations!” Paul shouted as he drove his spear into a still bleeding wound and released his capacitor shock. Estefani landed several debilitating shots into the face of another head that was rearing back to attack as Paul struggled to dislodge his spear.
“Paul! Look out!”
Paul didn’t even feel it at first when the fangs first entered his side, easily puncturing what little was left of his shield as well as his armor. The cobra head farthest from the pain had reared far back and had the presence of mind to take the opportunity to strike while Hamilton raced back into the fight.
SUIT DAMAGE REPORT: SEAL BREACH DETECTED, TWO LOCATIONS;
ARMOR SYSTEMS DAMAGED;
SHIELD CAPACITORS DEPLETED
SELF-REPAIR ACTIVATED
WARNING: VENOM DETECTED IN BLOODSTREAM;
ANALYZING; TWO VARIANTS;
PARALYTIC
NEUROTOXIC DEPLOYING COUNTERMEASURES DYNAMIC PAIN BLOCKING ACTIVATED WARNING! INTERNAL BLEEDING DETECTED
WARNING; MAXIMUM NANOTECH JOB CAPACITY REACHED;
RESERVES DEPLETED; CREATING TRIAGE QUEUE;
REDIRECTING NANOMACHINES
COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS COMPROMISED;
RETREAT RECOMMENDED
Paul felt everything as the giant snake’s fangs withdrew, the force of its strike sent him spinning through the air. His spear was wrenched free from his grip and remained lodged in the spine of the second head. The agony hit as the notifications scrolled by, just shortly before he landed in a painful crash against the ground. He tried to push himself up, but his muscles refused the order as the pool of blood below him grew and he fought to stay conscious.
KINETIC IMPACT DETECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYMENT FAILED… 0% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
In a delirious state, Paul grabbed for his sword as the serpent head came for him with its jaws unlocked and wide open. Everything went dark as he was eaten head-first and was lifted into the air before he slid several feet down its throat in a great heaving swallow. Paul struggled furiously but his hands were pinned down, immobilized against his body from the way he first slid down the beast’s great gullet. He could hear the straining of metal as the squeezing of peristalsis started pushing him further down the throat.
WARNING EXTERIOR PRESSURE RISING;
MATERIAL STRESSES REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS WARNING; ENTERING CAUSTIC ENVIRONMENT
Both of the puncture wounds in his side burned as acid sloshed its way in. Unable to help himself, Paul screamed in agony.
“PAUL!!” Estefani shouted
“I got him, cover me!” Hamilton shouted. Paul felt himself slide further down the throat as Paul struggled to free his sword from his side. His frustration only mounted as his body and mind responded with increasing sluggishness. Only the deepest core part of him seemed to burn with the struggle to fight as the darkness encroached from all sides.
We can save us… but it risks exposing us…
I DON”T FUCKING CARE! JUST DO IT!
Very well… you need to focus on making… a powerful telekinetic field… We can take care of the rest.
Fighting his waning consciousness, Paul tried to focus on forming a TK field, but found himself unable to. He did everything as he would normally do, but his powers felt weak and refused to respond. At this, Paul succumbed to despair and gave up the attempt. Only as the blackness approached from all sides did Paul finally begin to decouple from the pain and feel serenity. A dull warm light appeared in the depths of the blackness, it wanted him, called to him… In that moment, Paul desired nothing more than an end to the pain and the peace that was promised by the gentle glow.
SNAP OUT OF IT! Produce a telekinetic field… we can only manipulate an existing base field… hurry now!
The pain of his wounds, of the venom and acid burning into his bites returned full force as Paul tried accessing his powers one last time as the comforting sensation of the warm light fled.
It’s not working… Probably the venom…. And the pain… I can’t…. I cant… It’s over… Slowly the black fog rolled back in, along with its promise of peace and an end to the pain. Paul felt his inclinations slip as he desired nothing more than that peace to consume him.
“Now!” Paul’s radio crackled to life
Paul felt the head rear back as Nau-Shesma howled in pain. There was a powerful blow just below him and a momentary flash of light as the tip of a sword raced past his faceplate before the pressure on his body gave way and he tumbled to the deck. Still delirious from the venom, Paul almost didn’t accept Hamilton’s hand as it was offered. The brightness of the light was agonizing as he was pulled to his feet.
What's... happening?
“We need to fall back! Quick! While it’s distracted! This strategy isn’t working!”
Strategy…? Paul’s addled mind thought numbly before he was practically dragged into a run. Paul’s body rebelled, as all he wanted to do was fall to the ground and hurl. Only something deep in the back of his mind pushed him forward as he stumbled along behind Hamilton.
The horror of what he had survived returned to him in painful, jarring flashes.
Oh god, it….. it ate me! I can’t…. I can’t face it again… New strategy... Call in the ships! The ships… We’ll call them in… blow a hole in the roof… Let that fucker suck vacuum…yes… Oh god, can’t face that thing again… not on foot… so STUPID!!!
Snap… out of it! Now is not the time… to fall apart like this! We can unpack… and understand this later… for now you… must survive.
Survive… Right… survive. Paul stumbled as an intrusive thought of him burning in acid in the beasts stomach nearly brought him back into the neurotic firestorm he struggled mightily to escape.
In his delirium, his mental controls slipped, and his brain subjected him to an all-out assault that was nearly as debilitating to him as the event itself. Nau-Shesma was distracted for the moment, the few glimpses Paul caught of the beast tearing into the flesh of its own dead neck that Paul had escaped from would stay with him forever.
Three heads down… just four to go... and that first head is getting mighty big already...
MEANWHILE….
DATE POINT: MAY 12th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)
LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, INSIDE ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE
SERGEANT ARIANA SILVA
----------------------------------------
They were everywhere! Paul’s timely arrival had drawn off the survivors of the last assault, but now they faced the full wrath of the incoming tide and they could rely on no help. Saving the chain gun ammo for this moment had proven itself wise as Ariana fired the last of her magazine from her front corner seat in the tank. Being a hover tank suspended by a small TK drive freed the design of the tank up tremendously, allowing for a complete rethinking of its role. Instead of needing to devote the space to treads, the four corners had been turned into armored shooting nests large enough to seat a Paladin suit. Thus, Ariana had the freedom to pick her targets from behind thick armor and bulletproof glass as the tank retreated.
Ariana cursed as her last round fired and the bolt locked back with a thunk. There were mags in the storage on the back of the tank but accessing that was a major problem with the tank in motion. With a grimace, Ariana slung her empty rifle and tightened the strap against her back. She then pulled her bow and thumbed the power switch above the handgrip while she assessed the situation. The enemy force still numbered in the dozens, with more than a dozen of the so-called “Quadragons” directing the chase. In a word, they were well and truly fucked.
“There’s still too many of them; we need to fall back into the corridor, or we risk losing the Rhino! We can use the doors as a chokepoint!” Ariana said.
The three headed Quadragon Paul was fighting was on him again, slashing and attacking him, making it damn near impossible for him to do anything but roll to dodge. Her eyes drifted over to Hamilton and Estefani’s fight. He had been fighting off two of the dragons and had cut a fair share of limbs from his foes. Now, however, a third fresh dragon had joined the fight and Estefani had somewhere in there been forced to switch to her bow as well.
Suddenly, Hamilton was knocked to the ground with a mighty clawed strike. Something about this one was different, this strike had connected, and had drawn blood. His shields were down.
“HAMILTON!!! Oh fuck, oh fuck… We need help over here!” Estefani shouted with panic in her voice.
“Kinda busy trying not to die over here!” Jenkins shouted before he switched targets and shredded the dragon attacking Hamilton and wounded the other two. He was then forced back to shooting into the huge crowd chasing them. Ariana leveled her bow and raised it up above the notched cover points surrounding her.
WEAPON CONNECTION ESTABLISHED; AREA WIRELESS ELECTRIC FIELD DETECTED;
AMMUNITION GENERATION RATE IMPROVED 250%
More than double the ammo regeneration!? Fuck yeah! At least one thing’s going right today!
"ALERT: CAPACITOR CHARGE FULL. ACTIVATING TEMPORAL COFFIN, RELEASING STATION GUARDIAN."
The room loudspeakers crackled to life above their heads with her translator program kicking in to help make sense of the words it said. Ariana began to fire into the charging mass of enemies as quickly as she could manage. Unlike the bullets beforehand, these photonic arrows bored right through the chitin armor of the scarabs and dropped them effectively with center mass shots. The problem was trying to hit her original target she aimed for as the Rhino pivoted and dodged as well as the much slower rate of fire. Though, with such a target-rich environment, it hardly mattered. She could tell their numbers were dwindling, and every foe that stumbled also fell behind also thinned the pack in front and lengthened the charge.
There’s still too damn many of them…. Her thoughts were cut off by the massive null barrier inside the even larger glass enclosure in the back as it dropped and a confusing mass of tangled, scaly hide was revealed. Then the glass slid down into the floor below, freeing the tangled body. Several draconic and serpentine heads were unfurled as the beast stretched out to its full size.
“What… the fuck is that thing?!” Preston asked over their private channel he had set up.
“Trouble, that’s what that thing is! They’re gonna need our help in there!” Ariana insisted as she loosed an arrow that flatlined a Uraeus with a head at near maximum glow just moments before it could fire.
“We NEED to help OURSELVES right now! We need to break the momentum of this charge before we can even think of reversing It back on them! How do you plan on doing that? The barrel is already starting to glow on this gun, and we don’t have unlimited ammo.” Preston said, snapping her back to the desperation of their own predicament over that of the overall picture.
The zig zag pattern they flew down in their retreat brought the doors ever closer second by second. Most of the enemies now followed her and Preston, which saved the rest of the team from having to fight them. In turn, Paul and the rest were also doomed to fight the big monster alone unless something changed. Ariana watched helplessly at the last visible seconds of her friend’s fights.
Paul took advantage of a short gap in his enemy’s attacks as it reared back, likely intending to shoot fire at him. Instead, he weaved a powerful TK field and sent his opponent flying backwards into one of the experimentation pods before he turned to help Hamilton and Estefani. Before Paul lifted off, their eyes locked through their faceplates as HT one drove them through the doors and into the darkness.
“We’re coming back for them the very second we finish our fight!” Ariana said in a tone that she intended to invite no argument over her and Preston’s comms they shared with HT one.
“No hesitation from me, but we need to survive this part first is all I’m saying.” Preston replied, a point to which Ariana had to begrudgingly accept at face value.
“We are of precisely zero help to anyone if we’re dead.” Their Rhino pilot, Anderson, added in.
Ariana’s eyes settled on the seven-headed serpent beast that unfurled itself at the far end of the room in the waning seconds of their visibility. The tank lurched as an anti-personnel round was fired and their last view of the inside was occluded by smoke before the tank backed itself up further down the hallway.
Stay strong, Paul, we’re coming back to help.
They settled in a few meters back from the corridor. All of the exterior lights of the Rhino were fixed on the opening, which forced the enemy into a chokepoint and slowed their charge. Ariana loosed arrow after arrow into any enemy that emerged to test their luck. The piled up dead bodies were beginning to form an obstacle of their own. So far, the door had stopped the charge.
“I’m gonna give the chain gun a break, can you hold them while I raid the ammo stash in back?” Preston asked.
“Like I’m gonna stop firing right now. They will break through, eventually, but this broke the momentum, even if just for a bit. This is your best chance; so, I say take it.” The satisfying thump of her arrow landing on target brought a smile to her face.
“Matter of fact, I’m swapping in the spare barrel while I’m at it.”
A crate of full 25-round mags was quickly stacked next to two crates of linked ammo for the chain gun. Jenkins set to work and nearly burned himself trying to remove the old barrel as he swapped it out. One of the Quadragons finally showed itself momentarily, but she didn’t take the shot. It had only appeared momentarily in a bull rush to throw several bodies clear before it ducked back in behind the doors.
Intelligent planning. Probably clearing the way for the next massed attack.
“Preston, gotta put the accelerator pedal down here. They’re gonna be all over us again any second!” Ariana shouted.
“Alright, alright, I’m done anyway”, he said as he closed the action on a freshly loaded ammo belt and racked the charging handle. He then filled his tac vest with four mags. As soon as soon as Ariana released her shot, Preston was there handing her a magazine. Her heartbeat ran faster for a moment as he got close to her and helped load the rest of them into her vest
Their hands lingered on the last mag in the handover before several scarabs burst through the door, shattering the moment.
Preston nodded and jumped back up onto the top of the tank before he strapped himself into the machine gun nest. The now-empty ammo box slid off the top of the tank as they lurched back into motion. Short bursts of fire rang out from the machine gun as Ariana released arrow after arrow. Thankfully, the increased charge rate seemed to replenish the lost energy mere moments after firing. The effect made it feel as if she had unlimited arrows, though her bow was starting to head up at a rather concerning rate.
She almost lost herself in the raw mechanics of the moment, stringing, aiming, and firing. Each time the hard light projectile flew loose, it landed with a thunk and a hiss as the arrow boiled through skin and chitin alike and liquefied what lay beneath. Finding herself free of the problem of ammo management turned her into a deft dealer of death. The explosive death of a Quadragon pair brought a smile to her face before the bulk of them rushed in behind and spread themselves out while the tank reloaded. She drew her bow back with a growl and picked another target.
Moments later, her arrow landed and broke through the chitin head of a scarab. Behind it, one of the laser projector heads took a follow up arrow to the chest. A bright flash of light to her right drew her attention and an arrow before her hungry eyes latched onto a new target. A cluster of enemies to the side exploded, which included two Quadragons which had been clustered too close together.
“Finally! Been looking for an opportunity like that one. We only have three shredders left, the rest are all HEAT, anti-armor. Won’t do much against this crowd.” Anderson, HT one, reported.
“Save em for the dragons then, we may need to use a few of the HEAT rounds on them too. I’m going to be out of linked ammo soon too!” Preston replied.
“Just keep being conservative with it, we gotta take as many down as we can!” Ariana shouted as her arrow went wide on her target, for once not finding a secondary one. “Their numbers are thinning! We just need to keep it up!”
Another explosion tore a pack of enemies and a Quadragon to shreds before they rounded the corner. Paul’s red hot barreled gun fell silent after that as he scrambled to get into the seat on the front right. He then slapped a mag into his rifle as the first of the enemies came into view around the corner.
“We’re going to run through our ammo at this rate! We need to do something!” Paul shouted in between bouts of firing into the enemy crowd.
“Switch to your bow! Unlimited ammo right now, there’s some kind of wireless energy field!” Ariana shouted back with a smug look as she drew back the string on her next target.
“I know about the energy field; I get extra hops with my armor power from it. You probably have a buff to your invisibility, too I’d wager! The problem is that bow is so slow! I can kill them easier with a rifle, I’m more practiced with a rifle!” Preston grumbled as Ariana rolled her eyes.
“I don’t mean to interrupt your little spat here, but I don’t care what you shot at them, just that you keep them off my flanks!” HT one yelled as he had to swerve to dodge a scarab that leapt at them. In a job for a full fireteam, they were failing as just a half of one. Sometimes, there was no replacement for numbers. The enemy was getting closer now, filling the halls, and threatening to board their tank. One particularly accurate jump nearly landed a scarab right in front of her gunner’s nest before she managed to send it flying back with a full power TK burst
“We have to do something! What about those doors we passed up before on the way in? HT one can blow the doors in! We can rally and push them back from there! Doors broke their charge before and there’s a lot less of them now!” Preston yelled,
“No, we haven’t scouted it, there’s too many maybes and unknowns!” Ariana replied, the whole thing seemed rather a sketchy affair to her. Rather like a great place to get trapped in and die.
“Their numbers are thinning! We can do this! We just need one more chokepoint to make our last two frag shells really count!” Preston replied, his confidence almost overtook her concern in that instant.
“We’re coming up on it, better shit or get off the pot! What’s the plan Sarge?” Anderson called out from inside the tank. “I don’t like these close quarters, maybe that room will give me some space to maneuver. We can also take this into the air if things get really desperate. Those doors are pretty tall… I might be able to get us out sideways even where it tapers down up top. I doubt we’d be trapped even in the worst case.”
“Did you just say SIDEWAYS!?” Preston interjected.
A bright flash drew her attention and forced her to duck. Fucking laser heads!!
PHOTONIC LASER DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 73% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
A pair of heavy thuds pushed the front of the tank down along with the sound of shearing metal and rifle fire. Ariana stood back up just to see the mandibles of a scarab beast mere centimeters from her faceplate.
“No!!! Leave her alone!” Preston yelled as he expended the last of his magazine into the side of the scarab, coating Ariana in its gore. She snapped out of her stupor and ripped the corpse off the top of the tank with supreme effort.
“What’s the plan, sarge!?” The pressure nearly burst in Ariana’s head as they rounded the corner.
“Fine, we’ll use that room as a chokepoint! Make sure you leave us an exit!”
Their Rhino came to an abrupt stop just behind the small corridor that led to the tall, ominous doorway they had previously decided to leave alone. Once again, seeing the door with the intricate carvings across its face brought a shiver up her spine. The illusion was broken by a HEAT shell slamming into the seized door and blowing them wide open. They then accelerated hard into the darkness of another long corridor. There was some kind of orange light coming from the large chamber just behind them.
Ariana held her bow drawn and ready as the first enemies crowded the door. This time, however, they had a straight line of sight down the chokepoint of the doorway, unlike the awkward angle they had before. The shrapnel from the first shell cut down more than a dozen enemies, including a Quadragon.
“Just one of those left now. Don’t worry, I’ll make it count.” Anderson said with a chuckle.
“They don’t seem too intent on coming in here, now, do they?” Preston said with a note of suppressed optimism.
“They know they have us trapped, and they also know that we have a very strong position. I expect they will try again soon enough.” Ariana said, refusing to give into the seduction of hope. Then an idea struck her, and she switched to wide band comms.
“Fireteams three and four, this is fireteam one. We are pinned down and engaged and need immediate assistance!” Ariana shouted into her mic.
“Fuck yeah, now we’re talking!” Preston chimed in.
“Hang on, let’s see if they reply. This place is all rock and iron, comms have been a real problem.” Anderson replied, pouring cold water on the issue. Undeterred, Ariana adjusted the power settings and tried again.
“Fireteams three and four, this is fireteam one. We are pinned down and engaged and need immediate assistance! How copy?” Ariana said with a grimace.
Movement stirred on the opposite end of the hallway, causing her to draw her bow. The second they attacked; she would be ready.
“Team one, this is technical… Gardner…. I was able to… the warning along! Teams two through four…. under attack!... mining and laser drones …. on our own…. To link up with you now!”
Ariana’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. They had forgotten about Gardner.
“Gardner! Fall back to safety! Gardner! Do not try to link up with us!”
Nothing.
“Dammit!!!” Ariana shouted as the shadows stirred in the hallway beyond. Several flashes of light forced her to duck her head.
PHOTONIC LASER DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 82% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
When she rose her head back up again, a double scarab phalanx advanced upon them. Another bright flash and burning sensation forced her down again before she could even think to fire.
PHOTONIC LASER DEFLECTED; PHOTONIC SHIELD DEPLOYED… 61% INTEGRITY REMAINING… RECHARGING
“Sorry… hear your last transmission… garbled. Hang on… motion sensors! Ariana! Where are you!? I’ll hold… long as I can!”
“Hang on Gardner! We’re coming!” Ariana shouted as a desperate cheer rolled down her cheek and she raised back up with her bow drawn and ready.
“HT one, let’s shred these bastards, charge their position, and put THEM on the run for a change. Then we go save Gardner.” Ariana said in a voice dripping with malice and conviction.
“Hoo fuckin rah!” Anderson shouted as he fired his last anti-personnel shell into the scarab phalanx. They then lurched forward at maximum acceleration straight for the door.
Just hang on a little longer, we’re coming!