System of the Damned
Chapter 6 - Roderick
We need a bigger boat
As I moved out of the office, I heard people moving to several of the vehicles stashed inside the building. My gloved hands lifted up an ammo pack and fed the belt into the gatling I’d used to test Xavier’s exo. Once I had the gun hanging from my shoulder and the ammo pack hanging off my hip, I moved out into the chaos. Techs were moving to help get the assault vehicles free of the others, wind blasting in through the large open bay door.
I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, lifting up my com. “All squad leaders and vehicle teams, you are to wait until I give the word, then shell the absolute hell out of the area that we figure out the creature is in!” I barked out with years of practice, none of my worry showing in my voice. “Gunny Anderson is in charge of the vehicle teams, and I want you mobile after you start firing Gunny!” The best description of giving commands is speaking everything in exclamation or Marinese, which was usually at the top of your lungs with a fair amount of whatever sentence enhancer you prefer to use. The most well or commonly used sentence enhancer is fuck, or a lovely variation of it. I’ll be honest, I leave a good portion of that out of things said, because the amount that various sentence enhancers are used…dear gods we use them a lot.
I looked to Xavier as he walked his exo out of a charging station, the chest open. “Xavier is in charge of any non com that wants to help with the defense. We also need teams ready to help with the wounded. Lei Wei, sorry but I’m drafting you to help herd the sheep.” I heard some rather eloquent mandarin curses as I moved for the door and triggered my com once more. “I have to get that mimic off the ship. I wasn’t shitting you people, this is a kaiju...and one that apparently feeds off of mimics to some extent.”
I was soaked ten feet from the door as the wind hurled the rain inside, my pace starting to quicken as I moved into the howling wind. The storm was hurling out lightning that was coming into the valley now. Joy. Soon I had to lean into the wind as I moved for the ship and the towering gantry of stairs that led a kilometer and a half into the sky. Thankfully the stairs were anchored to the ship and ground.
I wasn’t the only busy person, I knew I could trust the others to get their people moving. I had to get the mimic to come down off the ship and hide. Captain Rowland’s steady voice filled my com and the earpiece I had stuffed into my right ear. “Attention! All crew and marine teams. We can’t get a proper reading on the creature. We’re soldiers, settlers, survivors, we will make it through this! In five minutes we are going to open the bays and fire a missile into the storm.”
Five minutes, great, peachy...he should try making a five minute run up a kilometer tall staircase in high wind. “The creature is beyond anything we’ve seen, and it is attacking the ancient mimics. Major O’Connell is on his way to try and get the mimic to come off of the ship. Be careful of firing near that area. Once we spotlight the creature, I will have the crew start a full bombardment and at that moment, any team within its firing range is to open fire.”
I was far too old to be running up stairs like I was, my mag boots and gloves being the only reason I wasn’t getting blown off of the gantry as it groaned in protest of the wind. With the wind, it was pointless for me to trigger my com, all anyone would hear would be the roar. “Some might worry that we’re using too much ammo with possible enemies still around, but we must fight this creature off first. Do not hold back! Fight and survive!” The Captain spoke in a strong steady voice, no doubt standing on the bridge watching over everything. You’d think he was about to lead a charge into the french with how inspirational he was trying to be.
My breath was coming in ragged pants and I pulled one of the stun sticks from my leg pocket and stuck the prongs to my tongue. The muscle didn’t even twitch as I sent a constant million volts into it until the capacitor died, tossing the stun stick away and climbing on. Evans spoke next. “Scouts are reporting more than one creature in the storm, but one is enormous. Recommend focusing the heavier fire on it and letting the lighter weapons focus on the smaller ones.”
“Exactly how big are we talking in sizes?” Rowland asked on the military band, having cut the “all hands” broadcast he’d been doing. “And what do they look like?” He asked curiously, which I was thankful for since I couldn’ ask myself.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
There was a quiver to her voice as she spoke again. “Sir...um. The smaller ones are the size of our shuttles in body, looks like two sets of wings on most of them...shit.” She sighed. “We just lost another probe. The big one is as big as the ship, if not larger.”
“Bullocks....Captain what do these tossers look like? What sorts of creatures!” He demanded, and I knew he needed to know. We all needed to know, because we had to know unarmored areas to focus on. I looked up and sighed, three quarters of the way there.
A few deep breaths as I was on all fours now, having to stay low to the groaning stairs as I climbed now. I’d already had to slip on goggles to keep from being blinded. “Um...dragons sir. The creatures look like big damned dragons, like a hybrid between eastern and western, and armored. Some of the fight…”
My hand gripped my com and held it to my mouth, the wind coming over the transmissions. “FUCKING DRAGONS! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!?” I knew she was, but I was getting brain-lock on the very thought of it.
“No Major, they look like cute teddy bears...OF COURSE I’M BLOODY SERIOUS!” She snarled back at me and I started to shove myself up the stairs with a bit of fear helping flood my veins with adrenalin. Dragons on a planet with mimics...giant dragons, giant mimics, everything was fine....I should’ve stayed on fucking earth and tried dating or retirement. Dragons! Deep breaths, I had to pause at the top and catch my breath.
My ears rang and I couldn’t hear anything except the ringing as four bolts of lightning slammed into the mimic, its Caltunium core glowing bright. I didn’t even hear the siren sound from the ship, but I felt the thuds of plates pulling back and slamming into their stops. My hands and feet latched to the top of the ship as I moved across it, half praying lightning didn’t strike the mimic again while I was near it.
It took a moment and I hardly heard the roar of the anti-ship missile leaving the Yangtze, but I did see it fight through the wind deeper into the storm. My hand slapped the base of the mimic and I pointed toward the ground. Then I saw the flare of a one kiloton pumped fusion warhead going off. The blast lit the storm and showed the horror heading toward us.
Titanic wings filled with the winds of the storm at least a couple kilometers wide. A maw able to bite a destroyer in half was raking across the tops of the ancient mimics in the distance. I took a single look toward the titanic kaiju and punched the mimic. “Down! Ground now!” I snarled at it, but it had already softened, mineral breaking inside it as it moved to start down the side of the ship. I think it was more the sight of the kaiju and not the cranky human that got the polymorph to comply, but I wasn’t going to complain.
A twin winged dragon slashed down out of the sky, my eyes barely catching the shine of its light blue scales in the exhaust flare of another missile being fired. I brought up my gatling and fired into it with a steady stream of rounds. Bullets exploded and shattered across hardened scales on its head, neck, and leg, but not the wing membranes.
The beast screeched a cry that sounded like tortured metal and bad bagpipes, twisting itself away from the fire that I drove after it. The mimic tucked itself in close to the hull in a way only a polymorph could, and slid down like jello. I clicked on my com and held it to my mouth. “Flares! Fire flares! Aim for the wings!” I snarled out and moved back toward the gantry, crouched low as the wind shoved against me.
As I got near the gantry, I heard the unmistakable “BRRRRRRT!” of Miss Piggy’s main gun firing off a burst and saw the shells explode against the chest, neck, and stomach of a swooping dragon. The creature roared out at the wrong moment and caught a shell from Kermit in its open maw, the upper half of its head erupting in gore as it faltered and dropped like a rock. Apparently Gunny Anderson didn’t want to drive off the creatures, he wanted to kill them.
Tracers and a few shoulder fired rockets flew high over me and I looked up, raising up my gatling to fire into another swooping dragon. Rounds peppered the beast, but unlike its late kin, it kept its mouth closed. I swung the laser-like stream of rounds I was firing across its body and along a thick wing membrane. I could see the flesh tear with the force that the beast was having to use to beat its wings, the stream of fire dying from my gun as my ammo ran out. I’d not planned to be having to actually use the gun while atop the ship, let alone use all of its ammo.
My hands slung the gun and empty ammo pack away to slide off the top of the ship, drawing my sword as the dragon slammed down into the upper hull plating. The creature snarled out and clawed at the metal as its six eyes locked onto me, while it was forced to use its spiked tails to keep itself from being blown off. Like any good soldier, I did the only thing I really could, I yelled back at it, cursing it in wonderful ways, including remarks about its mother.
The dragon surged forward, its truck-sized head turning to try and snap its jaws around me, instead it got a surprise when my Caltunium infused sword slashed forward and cut through its thick scales to hammer against the bone of its snout. I lunged backward and managed to relock my feet to the hull as it wailed out in pain, I could almost feel the rage radiating from its eyes as it slowly stalked forward.
Six large green eyes flicked from my face to the sword I held upright at my side, my feet planted as I stood in a guard stance. It knew I could hurt it and it made the beast actually seem to stop and think for a few seconds. That few seconds was enough time for it to get the idea to twist its head as it lunged forward, I countered by leaping forward into the attack. I felt a shotgun sized fang stab into my thigh as I lunged into its maw, stabbing upward with my sword with all of my strength. I just had to kill it before it could kill me.
Bone broke in my leg as my sword punched through bone and into brain, shoving out between its eyes as its last breath made me want to vomit. The friendly visit of a few lightning bolts to the sword that I was gripping in extreme pain however, weren’t so friendly as my entire body glowed brightly, I think I screamed as the beast fell dead and started to slide off the ship with me in its closed maw. Not that I noticed,
I was too busy screaming in pain from the lightning.