Ronin ducked as the railgun rounds slammed into the stone over his head, rolling out of the line of fire, while staff sergeant Hill and the other three men in armored suits moved to the front to provide cover. The other three men were sergeants, in charge of their own fire team of four men and women. The rounds slammed into their armored shields, denting the ship grown plates, but not penetrating deeply.
Ronin was grateful the lizard’s railguns weren’t as powerful as the Mark V’s, otherwise they’d have died in the first few days of combat. As it was, they were having a rough go of it. Not because the enemy were well armed, or hard to kill, it was the opposite. Ronin had almost laughed, when the first lizard came into sight in the tunnel. The creature looked just like a trog. A four-foot-tall humanoid crocodile, only this one was wearing black body armor, and carrying a rifle. He was even more confused when Elyria killed it with just one shot.
“That’s it?” He’d asked, almost disappointed after all the hype everyone had made over how dangerous the lizards were. It hadn’t taken long to learn why, however. After the first one had come into view, two more had followed, then four more after them, then eight. Their guns were weak, and their body armor didn’t provide much protection, but they were endless in their numbers. Not only that, but Mycroft had explained that these were only the scouts. The first of three standard categories of lizard. They were the first ones on the planet, as they were small and easy to grow. Their only job was to search for natives, wherever they hid, and kill them.
They’d been funneling into the caves for a little over two weeks now, and Ronin wasn’t laughing anymore. The scouts didn’t let up for a moment, swarming through the tunnels day and night, never stopping their endless push for the Temple city. After the first few days, a second type of lizard showed up, they were also around four feet tall, but weren’t one of the three standard units. These were workers, whose job was to take biological matter back to the ships, in order to feed the growth vats to produce more lizards.
Ironically, Doctor Mycroft told him that the only reason they weren’t already dead, was because the planet was a barren wasteland, apart from the crystal trees. The lizards didn’t have access to the countless flora and fauna that used to cover the globe, otherwise they’d have drowned in lizard bodies by now. So, the fighters had been told to target the workers. If they kept them from collecting their dead, then they couldn’t recycle the biological material for new troops.
Thankfully, Owl Two had one more present for them. When the drop ships had finished unloading the yokai teams, they’d gathered into groups of ten, and made suicidal runs at the cube ships. They managed to destroy five more vessels, before the remaining eight sent a wave of their own drop ships to intercept. It wasn’t enough to turn the tide in their favor, but every little bit helped.
“How much longer until the Hellenes relieve us?” Ian asked, firing off a burst from his gatling gun. He’d traded in the cannon, when it became clear what type of enemy they faced.
“Right now, weakling.” Called Sergeant major Red, as he ran forward in a crouch. Ronin didn’t know how they managed to move so quickly crouching down like that, but they all did it, both the red and the blue teams. They called themselves Hellenes, which Ronin’s ship knowledge told him was what the Greek had called themselves, but he didn’t know why. Not that it really mattered.
“That’s right,” Sergeant major Blue said, running in at a dead sprint, still crouched down. “You government types don’t have what it takes to play with the big boys. Head on back for a nap while the pro’s get on with the tea baggin.”
“Thanks, Red, Blue.” Ronin said through comms, as he watched the thirty-eight identically armored soldiers, apart from their color, march forward into battle. The pair of Cortexas didn’t want anything to do with the fighting, preferring to stay back at camp and ‘research’ with Mycroft. Apparently, research was what the Hellenes called gossiping, because neither of them could even turn on a laptop, and Mycroft had kicked them out after only a few hours. That didn’t stop them from making a fuss elsewhere though.
“We’ll stay on for a few more minutes, then head back.” Sergeant Hill added, as his men slowly disengaged themselves from the battle. Their shields were damaged, and their armor dented. They took the brunt of the rounds fired, since the scouts always targeted the largest foes for whatever reason. Ronin looked around, checking for Karr and his troops. He smiled when he saw the armored man moving up to take over for the government troops.
“Sergeant Karr, glad you could join us.” Ronin said, with a wave to the group of Karr, Jaya, Greg, and Jack. Who were now each armored in their own suits. Karr had tried to give his to Ronin, but he’d refused, saying Karr deserved it, and he had a set being made for him. Once Karr passed by Ian, the scouts fire switched to the new largest foes, and Ian was able to get his men out safely. They’d have to go back for new shields, a power recharge, and the dents in their armor looked at, before they could come back out. Just because the railguns the scouts carried weren’t as strong as mark V’s, didn’t mean they weren’t deadly. In fact, they’d killed a few priests under Aurex’s command during the first battle.
Ronin sighed, when he thought of the hot-tempered man. He’d taken his contingent of followers deep into the tunnels, planning to ambush the lizards as they came down. It had worked, but only half of his men had come out again after the battle. Even the dragon had been seriously wounded, and without Ronin’s med units it would have died, not that Aurex had shown any gratitude for the favor.
At least Ian Hill had proven himself a staunch ally in the last weeks. Ronin looked over at the man, who’s armor was just as battered as any of his men. They’d talked after Ronin had woken up and come to an understanding. Ian wasn’t shy about admitting he was, first and foremost, doing what was best for his men. When it became clear Ronin was the top candidate to keep them alive, he’d ‘hitched his horse to Ronin’s wagon’ in order to look out for his people. It had helped he wasn’t a member of Temple city, who by all counts were really antigovernment. Hence why he’d had all his men’s armor repainted in White Flame colors as soon as they’d had access to a drop ship.
“Go get your men looked after,” Ronin said nodding his farewell to Ian, who saluted awkwardly in the WFS fashion, before leaving.
“What’s up boss?” K3 asked when Ronin didn’t move to follow. Ronin glanced at the giant, remembering how he’d freaked out trying to get back to his people, only to get carried away trying to save the boat. K3 had been fine, the water had just shorted out his comm. The seal on his mask had leaked, thanks to the thick bristles on his face. Something Ronin could sympathize with, but he also berated himself for being a fool again. If he’d tried to contact anyone else, the call would have gone through, and he would have known the teams were still in the cube hangar. Doing some last-minute recon before returning. Just one more thing he’d failed to get right.
“Huh? Oh sorry, just thinking. Come on, let’s go.” Ronin noticed the look that passed between K3 and Whisper, but he didn’t comment. It was just the four of them out here today, Ronin, K3, Whisper, and Stone, who was out in the caves somewhere, watching their backs. He knew they were worried about him, had been, since Xerox had finally given him a tablet, containing records. Both written and video recordings, of everything that had happened over the last ten years in his pocket world. Well, he supposed he couldn’t really call it that anymore, but he shook that thought aside as his mind wandered back over what he’d seen.
Lily had lost the baby. Lost the baby because of an unknown side effect from the health potions he’d come up with. A realization that had shaken him to the core. Causing him to bring into question every decision he’d ever made, if even the things he’d designed to help people were now killing them. Unfortunately, as grief stricken as he was over the loss of the child that had never been born, the news got worse, much worse.
Undercity had betrayed him completely. He still had to dive deeper into the recorded information, he couldn’t unravel ten years’ worth of history in a few days, even if he hadn’t spent most of his waking hours fighting lizard scouts. Still, it seemed clear they’d interpreted his words as permission to turn their backs on him, once they felt safe. When he added in the mass goblin die off, and the loss of the baby, it cemented the separation between Undercity and the White Flame syndicate. He wanted to blame Owl Two, because he knew the android could have prevented what had happened if he wanted to, but he couldn’t. At least, not entirely, because even though he was sure the android could have held things together, he wasn’t the one who turned his back on the mission.
“We heading back?” K3 asked gently, prodding Ronin to move. Ronin blinked away the image of Hunter, ordering her forces to blockade the tunnel so the Anthropos knights could wipe out the syndicate, and nodded.
“Sorry, let’s go.” He started walking this time, though his strides weren’t as focused as they normally were. He was fine when in battle, but as soon as the action stopped, he would go back into his head. Ronin assumed that was why Elyria had stopped coming out with them. After the first few days in the field, she’d told him she’d be staying back at the cube hangar, to help with the restoration. It was a job that needed doing, but he thought she was just trying to avoid him until he got his head straight again. Not that he blamed her for it, since he recognized he was a mess.
As they walked, Ronin thought about the ship they were trying to fix up. Owl Two had picked one from the middle, since it had been protected the most from the passing of time and the elements. Except, that also meant they had to dig it out of the pile of broken ships. Ronin wasn’t sure how they would manage, until Sam hooked the dropships up to one cube ship at a time, and drug them away from the pile, until the one at the bottom middle was exposed.
Sam. That was another topic that had Ronin seeing red. Owl Two had modified the poor woman’s brain somehow when her body was being grown. He hadn’t noticed before, since there had been so much going on at the time, but now he was paying attention it was clear something was wrong with her. Something apart from the ports that had been made in her skull that allowed her to plug directly into the ship’s computer.
Ronin ground his teeth at the android. An AI who, according to the information he had access to, was prohibited from harming anyone without direct orders. Orders Ronin was sure he’d never given. Sam didn’t talk anymore, she couldn’t, her brain no longer working in a way that allowed her to interact with other people. She was only able to communicate with Xerox, through a computer interface, and was even less human now than the copy Owl Two had left behind.
The anger Ronin felt died a little when he remembered Owl Two was dead. It didn’t diminish the wrong the AI had done, but it was hard to hate someone who’d done everything he had to save the most people. He’d modified Sam, because he wouldn’t be around to pilot the ship off the planet. He needed someone to be able to get the cube ship out of the cave and into orbit, because when his core was connected to the cube ship’s, the two AI would go to war over control of the newly integrated space.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
That was something else Ronin was now dreading. He didn’t have a perfect grasp of what was going to happen, because Xerox refused to explain after he realized just how unstable Ronin had gotten. Saying he needed to collect himself and worry about getting into space before he could worry about what happened next. Still, from what he’d picked up from context clues, the two AI, beetle and lizard, would merge, and they’d have to battle for control of the ship. Ronin new his world would be affected by the conflict, and he’d have to go inside to…help Owl Two somehow? He wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t looking forward to it, after all, the home he’d worked so hard to craft for himself had been destroyed, the people he’d left in charge had betrayed him, he’d lost his child, and he didn’t even know if he should tell Whisper and Stone any of this, unless they betrayed him too, or perhaps he should preemptively…
“No,” he came to a halt. “Sorry guys, but I’m not ready yet.” He said, turning around to head back to the battlefield. It was the only place he could exist right now without constant, self-inflicted, mental attacks. Before he could move forward, however, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, looking up, he saw a sadly grinning K3 holding onto him.
“No problem boss,” the giant said. “But before we go back, why don’t you reload, and get a bite to eat huh? Stone took a trip back and met up with Elyria. She handed over enough fluid for us all to have dinner, and enough rounds to keep us in the fight for a few more hours. Come on boss, have a drink, and I’ll see to your rifle, ok?” The giant kaldarr plucked the PCP .50 from Ronin’s hands, and forced a canteen into them, waiting for him to take a drink before reloading the weapon. Ronin felt another twinge of guild at what he was forcing his people to go through on his behalf, but he forced it down. He didn’t need any more reasons to hate himself right now.
Watching the kaldarr work, reminded Ronin that K1 had at the battle for Undercity. Something that he hadn’t properly registered at the time, and K2 had last been seen fighting off Staz sized armored knights who were nearly impervious to damage, and seemed to take an evil pleasure in killing the yokai once they’d cornered them. It was likely the second K brother hadn’t survived the battle. Shaking his head, Ronin downed the contents of the canteen, barely tasting the sweet, mint and berry flavored enhanced nutrient fluid. Before accepting his rifle from his friend and heading towards the swarm of lizard scouts.
* * *
“What is it?” Ronin asked irritably, as he entered the dropship that served as their headquarters inside the cube hangar. They’d made the place a restricted area, after some of the fantasy races had tried to ‘LARP’ inside the damaged ships. That had been ok, until one of the long-eared elves had fallen through the floor, impaling herself on a broken beam, and nearly bleeding out before they’d gotten to her. Now, only the Priest, and a few of the more reliable people, like Ian, Red, and Blue, were allowed to enter.
It had been over a week since Ronin had last been here. After he’d turned back to the fighting, he’d just stayed there, working out his frustrations on the swarm of scouts. Except it wasn’t only scouts who were swarming the tunnels now. They’d been joined in the last few days by soldiers, who by all accounts looked a lot like the scouts. Except their armor was grey, and they were two feet taller. Oh, and they were a whole lot smarter as well. While the scouts would charge mindlessly forward, shooting their guns at the biggest enemy until the weapon ran dry, the soldiers were more cautious. They didn’t rush in, but used cover to advance, they also didn’t shoot at targets they knew they couldn’t damage. Forcing the defenders to change their tactics drastically when they’d shown up.
Ronin had started his weeks-long exile as a distraction from his own pain, but that had quickly changed after the soldiers had arrived. Now, he didn’t dare leave, lest the tunnels be overrun in his absence. Ian and the red and blue teams had been like machines, spending just as much time out there as he did, only rotating out to heal injuries or get armor patched up. He only wished the rest of the refugees were as helpful. The elves, dwarves and halflings were part of a group who’d only come down to role play in real life. It was something similar for the cat girls and the street fighter group. They’d all come down and set up a large festival, rather than focusing on gathering resources. He supposed he couldn’t blame them, since none of them knew the lizards were coming. It was just galling to have to protect even more people. Some of whom were in bodies tailor made for combat, except those who wore them weren’t fighters.
If he was being honest with himself, Ronin would say the real reason he hated those people, was they were what he might have been, if things had worked differently. A bunch of fools, playing pretend, without any idea of how serious the real-life consequences of adventures could be. He shuddered whenever he thought about dressing up like the prince and playing pretend with the LARPers.
“Settle down, White Flame.” Elyria said, fluttering over to him with a large glass of enhanced nutrient fluid. “Here, drink this, you’re clearly starving.” She refused to say anything else, until he’d finished off the contents of the glass. Surprisingly enough, it did make him feel better.
“Thank you,” he said, handing the glass back to her. “Sorry about that, it’s been a long couple of weeks. So, why did you call me back here? The soldiers are pushing us hard, and K3 and I can’t afford to be away from the front lines for too long.”
“You really have been out there a long time, haven’t you?” Elyria asked, bonking him lightly on the head. “Did you forget what day it is? It’s been four weeks since this batch of bodies started growing. Four times longer than it took us to grow. Owl Two said he was going to crank up the quality, I hope that’s the truth, because it was a long time to wait… and before you ask, no. I didn’t call you back here just to see the reinforcements come out. The chief technologist said you, me and K3 had to be here for some reason. So, let’s head over to the government ships and see what the fuss is about, shall we?” She asked, holding out her arm for him to take. Ronin hesitated a moment, since he was filthy, but she didn’t seem to mind, and snatched onto his elbow before he had an opportunity to decline.
Ronin smiled faintly as they walked from the headquarters dropship to the pair of government ships, they’d stolen from SWAT teams just like Ian Hill’s. He was both excited at the idea of reinforcements, and at the feeling of holding Elyria’s arm in his. Granted, his brain was a little too over clocked to really enjoy the close contact, but the fact he’d noticed at all was reassuring to him. Maybe he was starting to come around after the shocks he’d suffered. He should find Dandelion after this and apologize. He’d been really nasty to the girl when he’d found out she’d known all about what happened back home and hadn’t told him. Even though he’d known Owl Two had ordered her not too. He could even admit he’d had a point. If the android had been worried Ronin would fall apart after hearing the truth, well, he kind of had.
“Lord White Flame, Lady Elyria, exalted K3.” The chief technologist said with a salute as the three of them entered the ship. Ronin heard the kaldarr scratching his whiskers awkwardly at being called exalted K3, and he hid a chuckle. Served the big lug right for laughing at him all those times people called him lord. “Please, come this way.” He led them through the troop compartment, and into the middle section of the drop ship. Where the engines and all the equipment were stored. They approached the growth vats, and Ronin peered inside, waiting to catch a glimpse of the new troops. He could make them out, but only barely. The pink fluid was thick, and from outside the glasslike container it was hard to make them out clearly.
“Would you like to start the purge procedure my lord?” The chief technologist asked, holding out a tablet to Ronin. He read the screen, which had a big blue button that had ‘start purge procedure’ written on it. Ronin was about to decline when he saw the expectation on the chief’s face. So, he nodded and reached out, lightly tapping the button to the accompanying smile from the goblin, hobgoblin man in the body of a government issue human SWAT member. At least he’d made someone’s day, Ronin mused as the pink fluid was sucked away from the figures restrained in the tank.
“What are we doing with the fluid?” He asked, hoping the fluid wasn’t going out on the ground. The amount of enhanced nutrient fluid in this tank represented enough food to feed all his men, and the beetles, for a year.
“It has lost much of its nutritional value, having been used to grow nineteen new bodies.” The chief said as the tank emptied. “But it still has value, it will be filtered, and mixed with the remnants of the growth vat in the other ship. Crystal cores will be added until the concentration is high enough to make another batch of bodies. Though, we won’t make any more until we have a need. Owl Two wanted us to have the ability.” Ronin nodded along, it was true, they needed contingencies, and their situation wasn’t ideal. It was a clever idea, but what had he said about the bodies?
“Did you say there were only nineteen?” He asked, as the tank finally emptied, and the door cracked open. Revealing nineteen figures, sixteen of which were stirring and coming to consciousness for the first time. The other three, however, looked completely lifeless, only Ronin couldn’t take his eyes away from them.
“What in the world?” Elyria asked, while K3 let out a whistle from behind them.
“Yes, isn’t it wonderful?” The chief asked, wading through the sludge, still draining from the tank to check on the limp bodies. “Owl Two wanted it to be a surprise. So, we didn’t tell you about it, but he made the three of you new bodies. Each much, much stronger than the ones you currently inhabit. Not only that, but he used the raw material that could have been used to make another brain, to improve the thought processes on all three. You will be able to think faster, react quicker, and be all around better than you are now. It’s hard to believe Owl Two could improve on you, my lord, after all you have led us to this point. That’s why I’m so excited to see how much better you will be after the upgrade.” The technologist sounded like a kid in a candy store, not that Ronin had ever seen a candy store, but the memory flashed into his head all the same.
Now that was a scary thought. Ronin paused as he considered the ship given memories. Something Leo and Doctor Mycroft said they didn’t have. Which meant it was something Owl Two, the ship’s AI had implanted into him when he was crystallized. He had to assume it was like the dreams he’d had, when he wasn’t moving fast enough towards the cube hangar. So, what would happen, when he climbed into a body that had a third again as much brain capacity as his did now? Would he really get smarter and faster, or would he just be giving the android a way into his mind, to turn him into some kind of puppet? He shook his head, knowing the risk was real, yet also knowing he’d take it anyway, because if he didn’t use every edge he could against the lizards, they’d all be dead before they got the ship running again.
“Wait a second,” Elyria said, walking over to the goo covered version of herself and bending over her, before giving a little yelp and buzzing over to Ronin, to snatch his goat cloak away to throw over her new body. “Why am I naked? I redid my body to remove the anatomy, since it didn’t work anyway. The White Flame did the same, so, why do all our bodies have all our parts?” Ronin paled at her words, moving forward to check out his own body. From a distance it looked the same as his current form did, only the armor had slight variations. Once he got closer however, he noticed some of the armor could be retracted, like his helmet, to reveal his groin, and wouldn’t you know it, it was currently retracted right now.
“What the hell?” He asked, turning to the chief technologist in anger. He threw a nasty look at Elyria too, who’d seen his new body was nude but hadn’t bothered covering it, only worrying about her own modesty.
“My lord, my lady.” The chief said with confusion, looking between them. “Owl Two has worked on and improved the experiments Doctor Mycroft did trying to get the ship grown bodies more compatible with human physiology. He was fairly sure he’d cracked the code, and if not, the Doctor should be able to finish the job soon. That’s why he made all the new yokai, and your bodies, fully intact. So that you could reproduce if you so choose… did he not… tell you he was working on that problem?” Ronin sighed, as Elyria went red and K3 laughed.
“Don’t worry about it, chief.” The giant said, coming up to slap the technologist lightly on the back. “The boss is just a little shy. Now, we’re being rude. We have sixteen new yokai on this ship, and unless Owl Two threw us any more surprises, there should be another twenty on the other ship. Let’s get them cleaned up and into the field, so we can take our own new bodies for a test drive. And, unless I misheard, you also have a new armored suit for the boss as well?” Ronin smiled at his giant friend, so quiet and easy going most of the time, but when he wanted something, he could get his way faster than anyone Ronin knew, apart from a certain elf.