~April 23rd, 136 AH~
~Sector Gemini, 200 km north of Korak Valley FOB~
The new unidentified enemy unit waited for them at the heart of Objective Charlie. Unlike the Vorases, it made no attempt to conceal itself, opting instead to flaunt its formidable size and numerous armaments in open invitation.
What was most disconcerting—at least to Zelen—was its strangely Eidolon-like appearance. It was as if a Syntropic version of Sherwin Granger had spat out a new model: about triple the size of his previous ones, with four heavy-set legs and aesthetic features that were a little too sleek and continuous to be in line with Granger’s signature style.
The other—and perhaps the most pertinent—distinction from Eidolons was the sheer number of visible armaments. Protrusions of various lengths and shapes gave the monster’s back an almost tumorous appearance, with each distinct attachment ending in barrels or ports that made no secret of the firepower waiting to be unleashed.
Both of what corresponded to its upper limbs glowed with swirling reddish energy, which looked to Zelen like bizarro Eidolon arms on cooldown. If an actual Eidolon tried to equip this many armaments, however, it would’ve depleted its Energy Reserves before it could step into battle.
As if the four-legged monster weren’t enough by itself, Objective Charlie—the third Anamnium pod—was situated at the bottom of a large abandoned quarry. This was currently overrun with a veritable platoon of more familiar Syntropy spawns: small-arms patrol units RG-22, designation ‘Brutus’. Just as the Reiters had seen the Syntropy presence from a mile away, there would conversely be no surprising the enemy. By the time they reached the four-legged monster, the entire quarry-ful of patrolmen would be on high alert.
“This is Spindrift. Initiating tactical briefing, over.”
“This is Kingfisher. Go ahead, over.”
The two Reiters hid themselves behind a pile of rocks atop the quarry as they scouted the situation below them. And despite his words of prompt compliance, Zelen felt far from ready to take part in a briefing, let alone the difficult fight that would surely follow.
That ‘trust-building’ conversation on the flight here had left its mark and then some. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Makiri had revealed about visions of the future concerning him. More specifically, he couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility that he might be destined to be personally responsible for the end of humanity.
It was enough to make a young Reiter wonder why he was even here, on this crucial mission to secure fresh Anamnium supplies to sustain the war effort. Couldn’t his failure here be the first domino that led to the destruction scenario? Shouldn’t he remove himself from combat altogether, lest he inadvertently do something that would set the inevitable in motion?
Whether or not Spindrift was aware of the fresh turmoil that beset his young partner, he pressed on with the mission, “Goes without saying we have no data on the unidentified enemy. Taking cues from its morphological features, however, I expect it to be a slow-moving defensive unit with a variety of ranged options as well as melee weapons on standby. Thoughts, Kingfisher?”
It took several seconds for Zelen to realize Spindrift had passed him the conch. He hastily blurted, “Slow-moving… so, maybe stay out of its melee range and wear it down with ranged weapons of our own?”
“The logic is sound enough. Though I doubt the Brutuses would let us camp in the air undisturbed. And something tells me that the probability we come out victorious is inversely proportional to how long we allow the centaur to hang around.”
“Centaur?”
“A four-legged human-horse hybrid from one of the Old Earth mythologies. You do know what a ‘horse’ is, I presume? It won’t hurt you to open a book or two, Kingfisher. Back to tactics. My instinct is to prioritize a speedy neutralization of the main threat. To that end, we both ignore the Brutuses and focus down the centaur.”
“Acknowledged. What do you need me to do, Spindrift?”
“Do you expect me to hold your hand for the rest of your career? You know my loadout and have seen me fight. You tell me how we approach this scenario.”
Zelen gulped, somehow made more nervous than by any of his exams during proto-Reiter training. Fighting both nerves and distractions, he only hoped to string together something halfway coherent, “I provide covering fire and chip damage from the air. Draw enemy fire as much as possible. You approach from the centaur’s blind spot and finish it off with [MJOLNIR].”
Spindrift’s crimson frame shifted slightly, its SPU now pointing toward Zelen’s.
“You think you can do it? Stay in the air… and stay alive?”
“I have to.”
“In which case, I have no objections. Start us off when you’re ready. Spindrift out.”
“Ac—acknowledged. Moving in on Objective Charlie. Kingfisher out.”
The pounding in his chest had started up again, along with the constriction of his airways. Zelen hastened to ready himself for battle, frantically visualizing the route he’d take to get into firing position.
Kingfisher, I’m sensing a similar disturbance as what happened yesterday. I advise you to take some time to stabilize yourself.
“I don’t have time! Spindrift’s waiting for me.”
Spindrift is waiting, yes, for you to lead him into a successful battle. You risk the chance of that success if you rush into it in your current state.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Zelen took a deep breath. His desire to perform wrestled against his need for calm and focus, but he also knew that Silon was right. She was always right.
The Meridians are the branches upon which Life blooms,
the Lungs are the windows through which Spirit soars,
from rivers of Blood flow the Body’s nourishment,
within vaults of Bone rest the Mind’s secrets,
and thus, the Warrior stands tall where his Enemies lie.
It did take some time, but a measure of calm returned to him. Through it all, the radio stayed silent, and Spindrift remained motionless.
Zelen was as ready as he would ever be.
The midnight-blue phantom launched itself into the air, and the crimson centipede quickly followed. They took divergent paths around the perimeter of the quarry, raining death upon the patrolling Brutuses as they went.
As soon as the fight began, the centaur stirred from its depth. A monocular red optic shone from one of the tumours where its face should’ve been. This red gleam first pointed toward Spindrift—likely having intuited the crimson Eidolon to be its biggest threat.
Zelen tore his own eyes away from the patrolmen and pointed both arms toward the obsidian beast below him. A sustained burst from double [GATLINGS] later, the centaur shifted its stance, turning in place upon its four lumbering legs, as its optic found a new target.
The protrusions upon the centaur’s back appeared to explode all at once, issuing forth a volcanic eruption of pyrotechnics and deadly energy. Bullets, missiles, waves of electromagnetic pulses—they all flew up in wildly divergent trajectories before merging onto Zelen’s position. He quickthrust out of the way of some of them, before having to deploy LS [SCUTUM] to mitigate the densest packet of enemy fire. Through it all, the Brutuses on the ground continued to pepper him, but Zelen had no choice but to tank the chip damage. And then—
Incoming! Lateral thrusters now!
Zelen saw it at nearly the same time as Silon’s warning. The swirling redness upon the centaur’s ‘right arm’ suddenly twisted and condensed into a vibrating ball, which then shot toward its target as a beam of energy.
Zelen managed to dodge the beam, just barely. Behind him, an entire section of the quarry walls exploded and collapsed, burying several hapless Brutus units underneath.
AU at 80%, Kingfisher, but you can’t let that attack hit you. It’ll likely deplete your AU in one hit.
“Yeah, I don’t doubt it,” Zelen quipped, more out of agitation than any real sense of bravado.
Spindrift quickly approaching enemy position. Just a while longer, Kingfisher!
Zelen employed his lateral thrusters liberally, jerking across the air with movements that felt unpredictable even to himself. It was a move that had come to him as a sudden inspiration, no doubt seeded by his experience with Vorases.
In any case, it seemed to do the trick, minimizing the hits he took from the Brutuses as well as the centaur’s back-mounted armaments. At the same time, he kept the centaur in his sights and the [GATLINGS] firing without a break, intent on drawing the entirety of the enemy’s attention onto himself. For just a while longer…
Incoming!
The centaur’s right arm refocused its energy. This coincided with the tail end of a quickthrust, however, and Zelen had no way to dodge again in short order. Instead, he put up [SCUTUM] and hid himself behind its entire frame.
The energy beam hit, and disintegrated [SCUTUM] in an explosion of red-on-blue. Zelen felt the impact—not dissimilar to that time Instructor Collima Duodecim caved his nose in for tardiness—and reeled from it, momentarily shocked out of any and all thought.
AU down to 30%. You can’t afford to do that again! But look, Spindrift is in position.
A blue dot on the radar had converged upon a red marker. Zelen saw the crimson figure of Spindrift dive down from the centaur’s rear, his right arm glowing a ghostly blue.
For one moment, the centaur’s attention was split between the two Eidolons. Its optic still trained on Zelen, but the armaments on its back fired in Spindrift’s direction.
As bullets, missiles, and pulses flashed toward him from point blank range, Spindrift’s entire frame became covered in a spherical shield. LS [AEGIS]. Within this sphere, Spindrift was protected from incoming damage, and he didn’t need three whole seconds to land his own attack.
Spindrift’s right arm took on the shape of a giant hammer—another ghost from Old Earth mythologies. But as he leaned in with [MJOLNIR], he suddenly checked his swing, before engaging his backthrust.
Zelen took all of this in without the time to process it—without the ability to see [THE INEVITABLE] before it occurred.
The centaur’s left arm glowed white-red as a shockwave of energy erupted from its end, along with a deafening clap of thunder.
Even at his distance, Zelen felt the ripples of this massive wave. With [SCUTUM] on cooldown, he could only put up his own arms as imitation shields. Even as he bucked under the pressure, he saw with growing horror what had happened to his team leader.
Despite his preemptive reaction, Spindrift had been caught in the worst of the blast. He now knelt on the ground next to the centaur, with either himself or his Eidolon or both momentarily too stunned to move. The four-legged monster wasted no time in turning the full extent of its malice onto its weakened quarry.
“NO!”
With a scream of agony, anger, and desperation, Zelen burst forward at maximum thrust, deploying RS [HARPOON] at the same time. The blue spear buried itself into the centaur’s tumorous back, but Zelen didn’t stop there. He followed the path of his own [HARPOON] and fired [GATLINGS] at will, intent only on turning the monster’s attention away from Spindrift—away from his mentor and friend.
The monster obliged.
Two spheres of concentrated red energy trained on Zelen at once. One was the centaur’s optic, no longer divided in its targeting. The other was its right arm, condensed and ready to unleash certain death.
Zelen was committed to his thrust. [SCUTUM] was still on cooldown. In any case, he had no time nor the inclination to change course.
Death. And this time, he welcomed it willingly. Knowing he’d traded it for something worthwhile.
But death didn’t come.
Instead, a battered crimson frame leapt up from under the centaur’s shadows, swinging its giant blue hammer as it did. [MJOLNIR] met the centaur’s cannon at the point of release.
Zelen’s world was a vortex of red-on-blue and blue-on-red.
The explosion knocked Zelen out of his forward thrust. As he raised himself and his eyes once more, a horrific sight met them.
Spindrift’s charred frame lay in a crumpled heap, torn apart across the central chassis where the impact had been most direct. Beside him the centaur too had collapsed, its four crumbling legs no longer able to bear the weight of its molten tumours. Its right arm still pointed toward Spindrift, though the energy that coursed through it now were but fading wisps.
Spindrift too had his arm raised: the left one—the only one that was still attached to his core. LA [WINCHESTER] fired, a blazing blue bullet that struck the centaur’s ‘head’ clean through. Then the redness within the centaur’s optic faded in an instant.
Zelen fell to his knees. There were still Brutus units left inside the quarry, and these swarmed onto him now, firing their rifles at will. Zelen felt none of it.
AU at 20% and quickly falling. Kingfisher, you must fight back!
But Zelen’s failing mind attuned only to a fresh crackle on the radio.
“This is… Spindrift. Tactical update, over.”
“Go ahead, over.”
“Main threat neutralized. Objective Charlie cleared for retrieval. I leave… I leave that up to you, Kingfisher.”
“Acknowledged.”
“It’s… funny. I’ve seen many things die, often even before they actually do. But this… this is the first time…”
“Don’t speak, Spindrift…”
“This is the first time I’ve seen something so clearly. I suppose… in the end… this was [INEVI—”
Zelen’s world was unbroken static.
AU at 10%. Shutdown is imminent. Kingfisher. Zelen! You must fight! There is no other way!
You must fight back, Zelen!