“How many do you think are gathered outside? The fact that we can’t even hear them…”

“Major, why did you lie to the Lord Count?”

“What are you talking about, Lieutenant Kim?” Hiiro asked back with a cocky grin as he slapped his belly with both hands. Though he talked big to his younger brother, the situation in Deck C was quickly getting just as, if not worse than the upper decks. And, currently, they were trapped between a sealed bulkhead and three perfectly-flush walls. It was Special Storage G71 - an exclusive area which the Dahl Countdom had reserved for itself.

“Think about it.” Hiiro looked around behind him. To which, one of the men gave a thumbs up. “Everything is just as we left it, Major! A few dozen Diggers, 15 Heavy Mining Suits, 20 Speed Mining Suits, a crate full of charged weapons, thermal blades, oscillators, and all the ammunition we could hope for… honestly, imagine if we managed to reach Aiarthe and dropped these off as planned. We'd be legless bucks.”

“Am I wrong, Lieutenant?” His entire group had made it safe and sound, and all 4 shipments were safe and accounted for. “We made it this far, that’s most of the battle done already, and this mission will only get easier from here. Not to mention that our house’s first and second ladies are safe and sound, morale is through the roof! Am I right?!” He roared as he walked over to the nearest 50x10x10 meter shipping crate.

“””””YES, MAJOR!”””””

It should be mentioned that he, Lieutenant Kim, and the 5 other Praetorians under his command were all dressed in nothing but their underwear. In fact, scattered throughout the area were the clothes that they discarded, all full of tears and cuts, and soiled with stinky, pale-green slime. "We’ll be switching to the big guns, so make sure you're properly coated. Don't forget underneath. Unless you want it to fall off." Hiiro joked and the others laughed, before he sprayed a generous amount of what looked to be clear paint over his body, face and hair.

Then, he applied a second coat on himself. Now every inch of his rounded yet visibly muscular body had a strange sheen to it. It was a physique that focused on strength rather than style. But admittedly, also a physique that displayed his gourmand lifestyle. Since, out of all the men here, he was the only one without visible abs. Though he was the tallest. These burly men being in full display while dressing themselves in plasteel-aloy skinsuits, would've been problematic for those from Federation and Union. Indecency, and such. But in the Empire, it was a cultural norm for the body to be proudly displayed, so long as the privates were hidden. Since the only reasons to hide oneself were imperfections and complacency. Neither could be allowed in their society.

"Remember, its effect worsens the sweatier you are. So reapply when you need to. The last thing we need is you succumbing to the radiation that seeps through the suits, so double the coat on your exposed flesh." He uttered words to which any normal person would immediately recoil and question. However, the Count's troops viewed it as a welcome reminder. No longer were their weapons meant to just intimidate. They had to actually use them properly now, and that required every preparation.

“Major, you still haven’t answered my question.” Kim asked as they both donned chalk-white ‘Mining Suits’. The Lieutenant's was geared towards speed, but was initially loose on his body, before the material reconditioned itself properly to be snug against his skin. Then, he grabbed one of the Plasma Diggers, as well as an Oscillator spear, which he attached to a smart-latch on his back. A set which all the other soldiers donned, though with different melee weapon choices.

“Kim….” Hiiro turned to him, as his own suit wrapped snugly around his body, before he entered one of the ‘Heavy Mining Suits’. A bulky set of gear that made him look two and a half sizes larger, designed specifically for shipbreaking. “Do I really have to say it out loud to you?” Perhaps he did. But surely everyone in the room knew, that if he told the Count that Deck C was filled to the brim with insects, that they were behind schedule, and that the their reinforcements were still two hours away - then there was no way he'd authorize this rescue. He had lied by ommission, because he was too valuable to not place anywhere other than the frontline.

"Well, Kim? Should I?"

“... no, Major. Forgive me.”

“Nothing to forgive. Alright everyone, battleplan.” He said, just as he was enclosed within the metal front shell of the suit. Then, his voice was now transmitted through speakers. "We did pretty well, making it here with virtually nothing to defend us. And, we’re almost at the finish line."

"By now, our coordination plan with the other noblemen is already well-underway, all that we need to do is prepare the welcoming gifts. Once we activate the hover trolleys, we’ll only have 45 minutes to make it to the gathering point - before they run out of power. I’ll lead at the front, while all of you follow right after me. With your agility, you’ll be able to reach there long before I do and we can’t be late, so take every opportunity to use me as bait. Once we split up, I’ll lure as many of them into the maintenance layers which are supposedly already overrun. In the meantime, Lieutenant Kim will take over command, and he will be in direct contact with the Lord Count. Any questions?” The men all saluted him, and quickly moved into place. Not a single one opened their mouth but there was no hiding the confident grins on their faces. To which, Hiiro also grinned as he readied the upscaled Plasma Digger designed for his suit.

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"Set your muzzles to maximum spread. No need to be stingy. We have more than enough drums to go around. Now, swallow your pills... and activate your plasma condensers in three… two… one." Unsettling hums erupted from all their weapons as electricity crackled inside the glass containers. The liquid had begun to solidify and glowed even brighter than before. A few seconds later, any other light around them was completely drowned out. Maximum charge had been reached. Hiiro then activated the trolleys and opened the bulkhead remotely. Although there was no way to close it halfway. It was still slow enough to act as a funnel. At least… they hoped so.

Their enemy charged in immediately, Hundreds upon hundred of insects climbing on top of each other, as if racing. Many crawled up the hull and the doors which had stopped opening. Some flew in. But most of them rushed in like a tsunami to engulf the men. No. Calling these things giant insects wasn't enough. These were dog-sized monstrosities with flattened oval bodies, possessing long threadlike antennae, and covered with glistening black or dark brown leathery integument. Their heads were bent upwards, and their mandibles pointed diagonally down. Then, of their six long, spiny legs, the first pair was much thicker and tapered into the shape of a blade. On top of that, these things had a noticeably thick carapace. And they brought with them a disgusting, gut-wretching stench that stunned everyone, despite their full-body gear and the silver-based spray's artificial scent. Only Hiiro was spared because his suit was designed for Space use.

That stench was most likely what lured these things here. But what could have produced such a thing? By the time he mentally asked himself this question, one of the things had leapt towards him, with its loud beating wings behind it. Many more had leapt up, and there was also the deafening noises their legs kept making. He caught a good look of the creature's disgusting underside, as its legs prepared to grab him. The twitching, the long spiny hairs, the grimy crevices. Closer and closer, it flew. Until it was just two feet away.

"FIRE!"

With a crackle and a splatter, the creature, and everything else with living flesh in front of them, was torn apart by the first volley of charged radioactive waste derivative. Which would then leave an extremely lethal radioactive zone that remained so for at least an hour or more. However, maximum spread meant that they only had half of the already miniscule 30 meter maximum range. They also had to deal with the weapon's slow two second recharge time, while reloading after every sixth shot took twice as long, given how bulky each canister was. Nevertheless, in this space with only one entrance, against an enemy without ranged attacks; They were unstoppable.

They bathed in the radioactive splashes of insect fluids and disgusting pheromones, but they just wiped their faces and charged a second volley. Then a third. And, a fourth. The longer they kept fighting, the more insects managed to get past their volleys. However, their specialized outfits kept them from being maimed. Instead receiving minor fractures and bruising, since specialized plasteel shell took the brunt of the damage. But the real problem was the Plasma's aftereffects. The radiation was being concentrated in such a small area and no pill would stop the radioactive particles from building up in their lungs, no matter how augmented they were. They had to finish this quickly.

But just as they readied a seventh volley, an insect managed to get lucky and sliced through a fracture in one of the men’s suits - cutting off his lower left leg before someone else managed to stab the insect with a blade. He screamed as he was forced to stand on his stump. But the symptoms of radiation poisoning rapidly developed. In the span of merely a few seconds, his hair and large pieces of skin peeled off to expose the necrotized, half-cooled muscles underneath. Then his wailing ended just as he started swinging his limbs erratically. With not even a cry, or a passing glance from his companions, he fell face first into a shallow pool of insect fluids and glowing waste.

However, he was still breathing. His beady eyes were searching and his lips kept trying to form words. It was only due to the leftover coating that he didn't immediately melt. But if left there for long, he would. Yet instead of helping, the man that stood next to him, his brother in arms, only grabbed the spare canisters off his belt. For they could not stop to help him. Even if they did, there was nothing that they could do.

This was Guila's magnum opus. Worst of the weapons that she dared to patent as mining equipment, to get around Imperial law. A cruel curse of irreparable morbidity upon those affected, keeping them alive for the longest period possible. Even if the victims were saved, what awaited them was no life at all. Survival only meant further agony. Cruelty didn't even seem like the proper word for it. Savagery, barbarity, callousness; it was a weapon so infused with sadism that one could only wonder what sort of hatred she held for her homeland to have it used on them. However, there was no questioning its efficacy.

It was thanks to this weapon, that the Empire no longer employed costly planetary sieges and massive ship battles during the final years of the war. Instead, small boarding parties and ground forces were utilized. Terror and subjugation through the horrors she birthed. This new tactic was what granted the Count victory after victory, with minimal losses for both sides. But the Empire could not condemn their soldiers, nor their war hero, no matter how revolting they may have thought it was. So they laid it squarely on its creator, an outsider, a traitor.

"Their pace is slowing! GRAB A CRATE AND FOLLOW ME!"

When the remaining six soldiers charged the horde and made their way through the half-melted door, they left behind a sickening scene of radioactive waste, hills of scattered insect corpses and a distinct, vomit-inducing smell in their wake. The only kind thing regarding all this, was that she deliberately engineered a green glow that served as a warning and a marker. But how useful was it really? When the stench of melted flesh, and the solitary, woeful throes of a comrade who had been forsaken, were more than enough to dissuade anybody from getting closer.