Smith was already the oldest one in Delta 5. But as he climbed out of the cockpit of the type 5 Barten marveled just how much Smith had changed. The gray in his hair was more prominent. And the lines on his face were even deeper. “It’s good to see you again,” Smith said.
“You’ve gotten older, old man.” Barten said to Smith. “It’s good to see you sane again.”
“I feel old. Older than I should be, with the stats that I have,” Smith said. He took a deep breath and held it. “It might be hard to come back from this.”
“I know,” Barten said. “Do you know how we can destroy the reactor?”
“What? Reactor?”
“That’s part of the mission. To blow up the suspected reactors and shut the object down. I had thought that it was the pit…”
“I can kind of see that. At least before I was possessed I would have guessed the same. But no, the pit is more a power source or something. What might be the reactor is through the only tunnel that you didn’t rush up,” Smith said with a wry smile. “Whatever it was that took me was getting concerned as you raced about. And then somewhat affronted when it realized that you were grinding them for experience.”
“From what I’ve understood they are called the Aethergarblind. And I wasn’t sure what else to do really.” Barten shrugged. And then realized that Smith couldn’t see him. And laughed to himself. “I just shrugged.”
Smith mouthed the new word a couple of times and then shook his head. “Do you have anything left in that cannon of yours?”
“It should be empty. I probably only have the pistol that’s under the seat. And I doubt that’s going to be enough.”
The two of them stood there for a moment. Each lost in their own thoughts. “I have an idea. It shouldn’t take too long to go and get a weapon. But first,” Barten reached his dav’s hand forward. With the depth of his connection with it he was able to control the fingers easily. “I’ll take you out of here.”
Smith looked at the offered hand for a moment. “I kind of wish that I went down with the type 5.”
“But you didn’t. And if you did I would have been trying to blow up this room. Instead of what we really needed to.”
After another moment of hesitation, Smith finally climbed into dav’s hand. Gently, Barten brought the hand with Smith in it close to the davs chest. Then he turned and went to meet with Foxtrot 6. It might have been better to have them help fight against Smith. But Barten didn’t want to process how it might have felt if another one of his squadmates went down.
“You dealt with all these by yourself?” Smith asked after they had passed by several downed type 5s.
“Yup. The speed that the wings give me allowed for ambushes. They seemed to slowly be getting used to it. Whatever AI learning from the experiences. But so did I. But in the end I don’t know how much longer I would have been able to get away with it.”
“It was possible for them to be controlled by an Aethergarblind. I wondered why some seemed to be more skilled than others. They could also be controlled mid combat. We were doing well at first. But more and more of the dumb ones were controlled by real minds.”
“Any gladness I had when we met again was gone when I realized that you three had been taken. What was the deal with Conners and Monroe?”
“That… You’ll have to ask them. I have no idea.”
Barten rounded a bend in the tunnel and came upon Griff and others fighting against a type 5. It was already ragged and it showed a gap when it noticed him which proved fatal. “Barten, have you taken care of the reactor? There was some shaking and then spiders appeared on the path. We’ve been fighting them off. But it’s been a trial,” Griff said.
“Not yet,” Barten said. He filled them in with what Smith had told him. “So I’ll need a weapon or something to take care of it.”
Griff’s dav turned back to look at the others. “I think that we are mostly out of plasma ammo. What do we have left?”
“I’m out. Don’t even have the canon anymore,” Crisp said. She had a machete in one hand and a spider leg in another. Whereas Griff only had the machete.
“I have a few shots left,” Yin said.
“I hope that is enough. We’ll escort Barten to the reactor.”
“It might be better if you let Barten do it. He’ll be able to outrun any of the explosions that might happen. From what I could gather, it’s possible that whoever blew up the other one might not have gotten out safely. But that’s just the impression I got from the one possessing me,” Smith said.
“How… credible is that information?” Griff asked.
“I can’t prove anything,” Smith said and shrugged. “I’m not even sure about myself. But I remember what I went through. And what it felt.”
There was a moment’s delay as they stood there. Yin broke the silence by handing Barten her pistol and taking Smith from him. “Make them pay,” was all she said.
“I will.” Barten saluted Smith and Foxtrot 6 and then turned back into the tunnels.
The path down to the reactor was empty of anything hostile. All that remained of the enemy were the wrecks and scattered remains of the type 5s he had killed before. Barten crossed through the room where he fought against Smith, and entered the remaining tunnel. And after a short journey he came to the reactor.
It was in a smaller room. About a third of the size of the last one. From floor to ceiling there was a pillar of the same black metal the Goliath units were made up of. It was glowing in a golden light the same color as the energy that was found in the pit. Barten looked around for a few moments and found that there were no defenders.
He raised the pistol and fired at the pillar. Each shot left a crater that sparked as the energy around it rioted. After the 5th shot it appeared to be unstable. By the 8th shot the room had started to rumble. By the 10th shoot the pistol was empty and Barten was fleeing the room. The space around the pillar had started to warp, like a road on the horizon during a hot summer's day.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Barten raced through the room with the pit. Up the tunnel that he had come down, and back towards the surface. As Barten fled the rumbling caught up with him. And the world shook for a few moments as the reactor exploded. Mission completed.
***
“Man, I couldn’t believe it when the entire object started to shake. At first I figured that you guys just busted up some stuff. But then it happened again and again. I’m not going to lie, made me sweat more than a little considering that I was still stuck inside of the type 5,” Conners said.
Everyone was still dressed in their dress uniforms. They had just seen off those lost during the assault of the object. And were milling around the wake at Alpha Base. There had been a number of casualties. Both in those that were attacking and among the taken that could not be saved. Those that could be recovered were sent off in choppers with a salute and moment of silence.
Conners wheeled around in his wheelchair. While he survived his possession. His legs had become trapped and did not make it. He balanced himself up and tried to not let the front wheels touch the ground. “It’s a good thing that Barten found me on the way out. Otherwise I might still be there.” Conners gave a light laugh that did little to cover up his emotions.
“I’m just glad that I didn’t turn out like the others,” Monroe said. “They stuck me on defense deep inside. And I didn’t come into contact with anyone. Not like Young or Smith did.”
“It was lucky that once the third reactor was blown that everyone came back to their senses,” Barten said.
“Though some weren’t so happy with coming back,” Conners dropped his wheelchair down. “Where is the old man anyways? He seemed to be taken over by someone high ranking. A lot higher than myself.”
“Smith is around,” Barten looked south towards Charlie Base. “I don't think that he wants to be around the others right now. He also visits with Jamieson every day.”
“Shiiiit. I heard about Jamieson. They are treating it like a stroke right?”
Barten nodded. “Seems like he has to learn how to walk and move his body again. I’m sure that with the stats that he has he should be up and running soon.”
“Smith probably feels responsible for that as well,” Monroe said. “I can’t imagine how he feels.”
“So what’s going on with Dane and Yin? Seems like there is more there than nothing. At least from how she tried to kill me there has to be something,” Conners was looking over to the side where the pair were sitting next to one another.
“Seems like there’s feelings at least. Though I don’t know how she deals with Dane,” Barten said.
“Come one. He’s not that bad. Just likes to talk a lot. There are worse traits to have. He used to ride dirt bikes back in the day. Which is a hobby that I found few share. It’s been a blast going on about what we had, or what we want to have after all this. Though I don’t know what to make of it now,” he said and gestured to his missing legs.
“Thinking about it,” Monroe said. “Weren’t you being kind of friendly to me while we were possessed? It seemed like mine was just following your lead and all. But what was that about?”
Conners shot out a quick, “Whelp, gotta go.” Before he was stopped by Monroe who grabbed ahold of the handles of his wheelchair. “Hey! What are you doing? That’s rude you know!”
“Oh? I am just overwhelmed with curiosity about what you might be hiding from me?” she asked.
“Fine, I’ll admit it,” Conners said with his back to her. “I kind of, maybe, just a little, in a passing manner, think that you’re fun to be around. And outside of the forces would have taken a shot with you.”
“Just outside of the forces?”
“I mean. Squadcest seems like a bad idea is all.”
“It’s not like we haven’t already been in bed together,” Monroe said. She spun Conners around and looked him in the eye. He searched her face for an answer before slapping himself in the forehead.
“Does that really count?” Conners asked with a big smile on his face.
“As much as I love the drama. Are you going to clue me in? Or should I butt out?” Barten asked.
Monroe smiled. “Back when we were fleeing from the millipedes we both ended up in the pickup’s bed. Kind of counts right?”
Barten only shrugged instead of giving an answer. But before he could say anything else there was an exclamation. When he looked over Yin was stalking off while Dane was rubbing his shoulder.
“What happened Dane?” Conners asked. “Martial problems already?”
“I don’t know. She just punched me out of nowhere for no good reason. I mean. I thought that we were getting on well enough…”
Barten noticed that there was a golden blinking at the edge of his vision. He called it up and had a laugh.
—
Enough of your race has ascended in order to unlock quests!
New Quest!
The Aethergarblind is a looming threat to your race and planet. Due to the failure to completely prevent their sampling probes, they have potentially received enough information about your race to come looking for a more in-depth sample. Should that come to pass your race may perish!
Given the vastness of space it could be hundreds of years before such a force appeared. Mating with another ascended system holder will allow for the progeny to inherit a full system.
Quest Completion:
Live until the Aethergarblind threat appears. Currently life expectancy is 107 years due to stats and titles.
- Or -
Procreate with another ascended system member to protect the future of your world.
Reward: ???
—
Not all of the attacks on the objects were as successful as Charlie Base’s. Many attacks failed outright or were too late to prevent the launch of the second probe. “Check the quest that just popped,” Barten said. “Might have something to do with that.”
“Wait quest? Dane asked.
“Ah. Well, I forgot. It’s something that you get access to when they try to take you over. Uh.”
“Just go after her,” Conners said. “Don’t bother to think too much about it.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll do that then. But you gotta tell me about these quests. I can’t believe that you jerks get something that neat to work with now,” Dane said and then took off after Yin.
“Wait. Where are you taking me?” Conners said as Monroe wheeled him off. She leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. After which he tossed her into his lap and she wrapped her arms around him. And the two of them raced off with Monroe giggling.
Barten laughed to himself. He had wondered when the quest system would come online again.
—
New quest!
There are still members of the Aethergarblind on your planet. Join the forces arrayed against them and save your world from being completely harvested.
Completion:
Removal or surrender of all Aethergarblind objects and military forces.
Reward: XP based on effort.
—
There was still work to be done it seemed. Which was good. Since Barten hadn’t had enough of flying the davs around yet. And it was still too early for retirement. Especially if he was going to live that much longer due to the system. A trio of winged davs raced across the sky far overhead, their contrails leaving clouds that stretched far to the south.