The battle raged.
The Ralyians and Valaphar had leaked away from the engineering bay, and were engaged with the Alliance forces in the winding corridors and hallways of Bavel. Of the original fifty Jugger bays that rose like tombstones in the room, about half had been destroyed in the fighting. Piles of debris, crates, pieces of broken Juggers, and Xaphan corpses littered the ground.
Of the student-piloted Juggers, only Aubrey, Twiki, Amur, and Ean Natum remained. Mardon had been the first to fall, his chest crushed ender the enormous weight of one of the Xaphan’s long legs. He had narrowly escaped as the creature slammed its tentacles into the spinner, crushing it. He had joined the other soldiers fighting in the corridors.
Atana had not been so lucky. A blast of laser fire had cut through her spinner’s shielding, frying her consoles. Aubrey wasn’t certain if she had survived the hit or not, but was not optimistic.
“Watch your flank!” Ean shouted as a tentacle snagged Aubrey’s left leg. Pivoting, Aubrey unleashed a blast of superheated plasma, targeting a wound further up the Xaphan’s arm.
It worked; the Xaphan howled in pain and released her.
Ean charged forward, Twiki right behind her, firing explosive rounds as she ran.
“I’ll go high, you go low,” Ean said as she leapt into the air. Twiki slid on her knees, firing her shoulder mounted booster rockets to slide along the ground under the Xaphan.
Ean fired down directly into its maw. Explosions tore through already weakened flesh as the great monster rocked unsteadily on its enormous legs.
It swung a twisted arm wildly, catching Ean’s back, propelling her against the wall. Ean twisted in the air, pivoted, and launching her Jugger right back into the Xaphan, firing missiles the entire time.
One of Twiki’s explosive rounds found a hole in the Xaphan’s flesh just below the armpit. It bit in deep, and exploded. A spatter of blood arced across the chamber as beast’s severed arm flopped to the ground with a sickening thud.
The Xaphan groaned as it fell backwards, spraying rivers of blue blood across the battlefield.
“Twiki, look out!” Aubrey shouted. But it was too late; the creature’s enormous weight fell flat on Twiki’s Jugger. Aubrey heard the loud crunch.
“Twiki, are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she grunted. “But I think I’m out of the fight. Both legs and my right arm are busted.”
“Well, just stay put I guess,” Ean said. “We’ll get you out of there eventually.”
“Sorry, Commander,” Twiki said solemnly before shutting down her system.
“Aubrey, Amur, on me,” Ean said.
Aubrey circled wide around the remaining Xaphan. She checked her weapons systems. A few missiles left, her battery power was running low, and the Xaphan looked unscathed. Ean had focused their efforts on one Xaphan at a time, picking them off one by one. A sound strategy, but one that had left them outgunned as the numbers on both sides dwindled.
The Xaphan roared, rattling Aubrey’s teeth. Its chest cracked and popped as bones moved and reformed, creating a hole in its chest. It staggered forward, its tentacled arm bracing against a scarred wall.
“What is it doing?” Amur asked, his voice shaky.
“Let’s not wait to find out,” Ean answered. “Follow my lead.”
She charged forward, bounding over rubble and broken Jugger bays. Aubrey and Amur flanked her on either side. The hole in the Xaphan’s chest began to glow dangerously, first yellow, then a searing white.
“Look out!” Ean shouted. She dove forward, narrowly avoiding the giant blast of super-heated plasma.
The Xaphan twisted its hips, aiming the beam at Aubrey. She stopped, holding her hands in front of her spinner, and braced for the white heat to take her. A feeling of resignation washed over her. She wasn’t afraid to die. Not here. Not for her friends.
But the blast never came. She looked up as the crackling roar of the cannon fell silent. Amur stood in front of her, his Jugger clutching the molten metal that bubbled and popped at his neck, the base of the spinner coming loose.
“Amur?” she said. There was no answer as his Jugger rocked and tilted.
“Alzar, give me Amur’s vitals,” Aubrey demanded.
“I need you, Aubrey!” Ean shouted. “Get back in this fight.”
Aubrey caught Amur’s Jugger as it collapsed. She set it carefully down behind a large mass of debris.
“He’s alive,” Alzar said. “But barely.”
Aubrey turned to the remaining Xaphan, her eyes aflame. She grabbed a crate of missiles that lay open on the ground nearby, and tossed it in the air at the Xaphan. Just before it impacted, she fired, exploding the missiles in the creatures face. It stumbled backward, disoriented.
“Nice shot!” Ean shouted. “Quick, while it’s blinded.”
Ean dove headfirst, charging at the creature.
“Ean, wait for me!” Aubrey shouted. But it was too late.
Ean had overestimated the effect of Aubrey’s attack. A massive tentacle wrapped around her torso, catching her mid-air.
“Uh-oh,” Ean muttered as she struggled to free herself. Her guns fired uselessly, the enormous bullets bouncing of the Xaphan’s pallid skin. The beast’s other arm and three tentacles wrapped around Ean’s Jugger. It pulled her spinner in front of the plasma cannon that had appeared in its chest.
“EAN!” Aubrey screamed.
“For glory and honor,” Ean said as the plasma cannon fired. Her spinner disintegrated.
Aubrey reversed direction. She ducked behind the massive chunk of the bay door where she had hid Amur.
Her mind raced. She was alone.
The Xaphan roared.
“Aubrey?” It was Nam Rood. “You need to get out of there.”
“What about the rest of you?”
“We’re already dead, Aubrey. Re-enforcements won’t be here for another twenty-three minutes. We can’t hold out against that last Xaphan. But you can escape, pilot the Jugger to a safe distance and wait for the Alliance fleet to arrive.”
“I’m not going to abandon you,” she said. “I’m not going to abandon my friends.”
“Then all of this will have been for nothing. You’ll die a pointless death with the rest of us.”
She glanced to her left as she heard the Xaphan’s footsteps rumbling through the now empty chamber. An eerie silence had fallen over the engineering bay, as the two remaining combatants took a moment to catch their breath.
“Maybe,” she replied. “The only thing I know for certain, is I’m still here. Still standing.”
She spotted a sealed crate nearby, and pushed it open. A smile spread across her face.
“Aubrey?” Nam Rood said, his voice resigned.
“Yes, sir?”
“Give ‘em hell.”
She grinned as she pulled two enormous Paranymph blades from the crate. She waved them tentatively through the air. The blades, only a single molecule in width, had almost no weight to them. She had to be careful. More than one soldier had lost a limb to these weapons.
She crouched for a moment longer, observing the Xaphan from her long range scanners. The slavering beast waited. Its chest cannon crackled with yellow energy.
Aubrey turned to Amur’s Jugger that lay next to her feet. Swinging the blade, she sliced his arm clean off.
“Sorry, Amur, but I need this more than you do.”
She dangled the arm out, and watched as the Plasma Cannon tore through it, atomizing the metal, leaving a smoking stub in her hand.
In a blur of motion, she jumped over the pile of rubble she had been hiding behind. The Xaphan charged, its obscene form dwarfing Aubrey’s Jugger.
Aubrey sidestepped the beast’s tentacle as it slammed into the ground. Swinging her left blade, she felt it bite deep into its flesh. The Xaphan howled, swinging with the ferocity of a wounded animal.
Aubrey flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding another crushing blow. She landed hard, and twisted. Her right blade grazed her left leg, cutting a deep gash. Hydraulic fluid leaked from the wound.
She’d have to be more careful.
The Xaphan withdrew and fired a series of weakened blasts from its chest cannon. Aubrey dodged them easily, grinning. The monster was out of ammo too.
The creature bellowed as Aubrey heard the sound of bones cracking and adjusting. Its skin shifted, as thick black protrusions bit through its flesh. The bony spikes covered the length of its tentacles, along with its neck and chest.
It swung its arm, and Aubrey noticed it had become less flexible, more rigged in its movements. The bones left jagged cuts in the metal wall as the thing raked its arm across the surface.
Aubrey twisted her right blade, and charged back in. The Xaphan swung hard, which Aubrey blocked with her crossed blades. The force of the blow pushed her back several hundred yards.
She vaulted forward, swinging down in a low arc as she twisted in the air. Her blade bounced off the black bone armor, leaving a deep scratch where it had hit.
The Xaphan’s left foot caught Aubrey square in the chest as it turned, sending her careening into the wall.
Aubrey pushed herself back to her feet. The two opponents circled one another, searching for an opening.
Aubrey waited, patient. Recklessness would get her killed.
The Xaphan charged, swinging both tentacles overhead as it spun. Aubrey dodged left, then right, a flurry of motion as the two traded blows at such a rapid pace tossing and clashing with the ferocity of wild animals.
Twisting, Aubrey slammed one blade down, carefully aiming the point between the bone spikes. She smiled as she felt the blade bite deep. With her free hand, she turned and threw her free blade at the Xaphan’s chest.
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The creature twisted. The blade slide deep into its side. Aubrey felt the Jugger shudder slightly as she moved. Several alarms went off on her HUD.
Aubrey wasted no time; charging forward, she jumped feet first, and kicked the hilt of her sword. It plunged deeper into the creature’s chest. Enraged and blinded by pain, the Xaphan swung wildly.
Aubrey ducked low as the tentacle clipped the top of her spinner, shearing a chunk of armor plating clean off. She heard a loud crack from the back of her Jugger. Once again alarms sounded on her HUD.
She reversed her footing, grabbed her blade, braced one foot against the Xaphan’s chest, and yanked it free. Firing her booster rockets she soared out of range as the Xaphan flailed, smashing two nearby Jugger bays to pieces.
“What is happening, Alzar?” she asked.
“Your commands are coming too fast,” Alzar answered. “You need to slow down; this Jugger system is not built for the kind of speed and intensity you’re demanding of it.”
“I’ll have to complain to James about that.”
The Xaphan pressed forward, refusing to give Aubrey a moment to catch her breath. One of its claws connected with Aubrey’s leg, tearing the gash from her blade deeper and bending the knee joint in.
“Critical damage to the left knee,” Alzar said as more alarms sounded. “I recommend not using it.”
Aubrey gritted her teeth as she hooked her arm with the Xaphan’s outstretched tentacle, swinging around and thrusting for the creature’s neck. A last minute swipe from the Xaphan’s free arm deflected the blade.
“Not really an option, Alzar.”
Aubrey followed up with a squall of stabs aimed at the beast’s eyes. Each thrust was met with a deflecting blow.
The beast twisted, lifting Aubrey off the floor and slamming her against the wall. Aubrey felt the Jugger's heavy plating groan in protest against the Xaphan’s weight as it pressed its bulk into her.
Aubrey lifted her right leg, pressing her foot against the creatures back, and fired her main booster rocket. The Xaphan’s pale skin bubbled and blistered under the intense heat.
The beast howled in agony, tossing Aubrey like a rag doll across the room.
Aubrey tried to steady her fall, but crashed headlong through a steel support lattice before bouncing heavily to the ground.
She was on her feet in an instant, limping on her twisted knee. The Xaphan opened its distended jaw, and a long, thick tongue extended, probing the deep wound Aubrey had left in its side. Blood flowed from the gash.
The Xaphan roared again, and charged. Its tentacles whipped and smashed deep grooves into the ground as it dashed towards her.
Aubrey dove backwards, flipping over a nearby Jugger bay. The Xaphan lunged headlong towards it. Aubrey cut with her left blade, slicing the bay cleanly in half.
As the top chunk slid to the right, Aubrey thrust upward, cutting deep into the creature’s belly. The speed of the motion caused several wrist hydraulics to tear.
The Xaphan roared as blood and viscera splashed down on Aubrey. Swinging its right arm, it caught Aubrey’s left forearm. The force of the blow blasted her shoulder at an unnatural angle. She felt the metal joint bend and snap.
Pulling her blade free, Aubrey rolled awkwardly to her right, narrowly dodging another blow. She needed some distance. She dove forward.
Another attack caught her in the back, slamming her face first into the ground. She skidded along the floor, out of reach.
“Not quite as elegant an escape as I’d hope,” she muttered under her breath as she pulled herself to her feet. The Xaphan clutched its belly with its left arm, preventing its blue and black innards from spilling out on the floor.
Aubrey rotated her damaged arm. It sparked and sputtered and twitched. It wouldn’t be much help in this fight.
The two combatants circled one another, slowly, each leaking vital fluids. Damage alerts flooded Aubrey’s HUD. The Jugger didn’t have much left. She’d have to make this last attack count.
The Xaphan breathed heavily, making a gurgling noise as blood filled its lungs. Gore mingling with the never-ending stream of drool that dripped from its maw. It eyed Aubrey, its four huge red eyes blinking. It shook its head, dazed, struggling to focus.
Aubrey charged, screaming as she ran. The Xaphan swung its free arm. Aubrey ducked. The beast stepped back, but faltered, doubling over as the wound in its side tore wider.
Aubrey slammed her body into its chest. The beast stumbled back, its eyes unfocused.
Aubrey slammed her head up the its chin. She could hear bone break as its jaw snapped. Cracks forming on the front of her spinner.
The Xaphan’s head twisted back under the force of her blow. The boney spikes along the Xaphan’s neck opened as its head rocked. Aubrey slid her paranymph blade into the exposed flesh, and felt it bite deep.
A spurt of blue blood sprayed out of the wound with tremendous force as viscera spluttered from the creature’s enormous maw. It coughed and twitched as Aubrey clumsily grabbed its lower jaw with her broken arm.
She yanked hard, pushing the weapon further into the beast with her right arm. Slowly, foot by foot, the blade dug deeper.
The blood poured out, great waterfalls gushed to the ground below. The Xaphan, knowing it was dead, wrapped its long tentacles around Aubrey’s body. Gripping her tight, it rocked its body backwards before thrusting forward with all its remaining strength. Aubrey was slammed to the ground under its enormous weight.
Her Jugger ripped apart. Metal beams pierced its armored body.
The blade bit deeper into the Xaphan. The creature, in an animalistic fury, raked at Aubrey’s spinner, tearing deep gouges. Its long black claws cut through, exposing Aubrey’s minuscule body to the open air and the foul stench of death that hung thick.
The Xaphan groaned and twitched, struggling to breath. Its bloody, broken mandibles snapped at Aubrey. A cruel black tooth caught her, slicing a deep gash in her left side.
Aubrey screamed in pain as she released her controls, falling backwards against the broken back of the Jugger's head. Sharp chunks of metal bit into her soft flesh, and she felt several ribs snap.
She pressed her hand against the jagged wound in her side, attempting to staunch the flood of blood that poured out.
The Xaphan hissed one last ragged breath before collapsing. A single giant eye pressed against the hole of her spinner. Aubrey watched as its pupil dilated. And then, all was stillness.
“You did it,” Nam Rood said. “Thank the gods for you, Aubrey. The Azrael are retreating.”
Aubrey smiled as her face drained of color. The Rexotocin that flooded her system helped alleviate some of the pain, but she knew her wound was bad. Her head floated in a sea of agony.
“Aubrey!” she heard Nube shout from outside her spinner. “Aubrey, are you alright?”
Aubrey tried to move, but her entire body burned. She coughed, pain roiled through her back and side with each shallow breath.
“I don’t know,” she answered, her head swimming.
“We’re coming, just stay still,” Ado shouted.
“Not much of a choice there,” she grinned. Her eyes drooped as she weakened. Looking down, she noticed a metal pipe sticking out of her thigh. It must have torn clean through in the fall, pinning her in place.
“Amur!” she said, suddenly more alert. “What about Amur? He needs help!”
“Eshcol, Paltit, Shamesh, go see what you can do for Amur.” Nube ordered.
“I’ll go too,” Jon added.
To her left, she heard a heavy clanging sound.
“I can’t move it,” Mamre said, frustrated. “We need a plasma cutter.”
“Here, try this,” Ado said.
“Are you insane?” Mamre asked. “What if I hit her?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
Mamre sighed. “Alright.”
“Aubrey, you’re going to want to close your eyes,” Nube said, a twinge of nerves caught in her throat.
Aubrey shut her eyes tight as Mamre fired plasma rounds from a Gobermouche rifle. She could feel the heat on her face as the metal melted with the sound of wet thumps.
Nube stepped through the still white hot hole, her skin singed audibly as she moved to her friend. Ado followed close behind. Aubrey smiled. At least her friends would survive. That was something.
“Aubrey, you look terrible,” Ado said. Nube elbowed him hard.
“It’s not so bad,” Aubrey said, smiling through the pain.
“Don’t talk,” Nube answered, her face twisted in concern. She knelt by her friend, gingerly taking Aubrey’s hand in her long fingers.
Mamre poked her head in.
“Get one of the professors right away,” Nube ordered. “We need a portable med-station as quickly as possible.”
Ado paced behind them, his thick fingers dancing together nervously.
“Will she be alright?” he asked. “Is she going to die?”
Nube glared at him. “Of course not,” she said through gritted teeth.
“We’re sorry,” he replied sheepishly.
“We’ve got Amur,” Paltit said over the coms. “He’s a bit bruised, but he’ll be okay.”
Aubrey relaxed and closed her eyes.
Nube slapped her cheeks gently. “Stay awake, Aubrey. Stay awake.”
Mamre reappeared, carrying a med-kit. She tossed it to Nube who caught it deftly. She opened it, and injected the nano-bots into Aubrey. She winced in pain, but a warm sensation washed over her body as the tech went to work, patching her wounds with white foam that hardened.
Aubrey watched in fascination as the nanobots cut through the metal beam that had pierced her leg, the loose pieces clattered to the ground.
“Looks like three broken ribs, a broken femur, and a pretty nasty cut,” Nube said, looking at the visual output. “No major spinal injuries, that’s good.” She glanced up at Mamre. “We can move her, give me a hand.”
Mamre and Nube lifted Aubrey’s broken frame, and pulled her out of the spinner. Just outside Oner stood, wringing its enormous, clumsy hands.
“I made her a soft bed,” it said, pointing to a roughly assembled pile of foam insulation it had collected. “Sorry it’s not very good. Most of the computer systems are down, it was the best I could manage.”
Aubrey smiled as best she could. “Thanks, Oner.”
Oner smiled back, its giant puckered lips revealing its rounded, stubby teeth.
Her friends lowered her to the ground.
“Where is the med-station?” Nube asked.
“On its way,” Mamre responded. “Most of the corridors near the med bay collapsed; they’re having to clear out an awful lot of rubble.”
“I’ll be fine. Really, I just-“ Aubrey’s words were cut off by the sound of a loud alarm.
“According to my sensors,” Alzar chimed in, “several bombs have just been activated.”
“Bombs?” Aubrey said. “Where?”
“Inside the Xaphan, it would appear,” Alzar replied. “Some sort of self-destruct mechanism that appears to have been triggered remotely by the fleeing Azrael.”
“How bad?” Aubrey asked.
“I’m afraid Bavel will break apart from the force of the explosion,” Alzar answered. “It’s a shame really. I was very much enjoying our time together.”
Oner sat hard on the ground. Mamre doubled over and vomited.
Aubrey’s eyes swam. All that work, all the fighting, blood, sweat, and tears. All the sacrifices. The lives lost. And for what? They were still going to die.
Aubrey struggled to sit up. “You’ve got to go. All of you, you’ve got to get out of here.”
She coughed, collapsing back to the ground. The pain threatened to overwhelm.
“I’m afraid there is no time for that,” Alzar said.
Nube’s grip on Aubrey’s hand tightened.
“It was an honor to fight by your side,” Aubrey said. She turned to the rest of her teammates, bruised and bloodied. “All of you. I’m proud to have called you my friends,” her body felt heavy, and her vision faded for a moment.
Without a word, Ado ran to a stack of nearby crates. He pulled the lid off one, glancing through its contents, before shoving it over, spilling the various guns into the ground as he muttered to himself under his breath.
“Ado?” Nube asked. “Are you alright?”
He didn’t seem to hear her. He tore open another lid, and smiled his toothy grin. He pulled out a small black case and opened it. Gingerly, he grasped the man sized paranymph blade before jumping inside Aubrey’s wrecked spinner.
“What is he doing?” Mamre asked. Nube shook her head, just as puzzled as they listened to Ado rustling around inside. He finally exited, a triumphant look on his face. In his left hand he carried a severed control cable. Using the paranymph blade, he shaved the wires and tubes at one end into a sharpened point, which he twisted. He then connected the main jack to his skull node.
“What are you doing?” Nube asked.
“We’re saving your life,” he answered through his grin.
He scrambled up the side of the dead Xaphan. Scanning the creature’s back, he did some quick calculations in his head, his fingers moving as he worked.
Finally, he moved to the spot he had carefully chosen on the Xaphan’s back, near the base of the creature’s skull, and hacked at its flesh.
“Where are you…?” he mumbled to himself as he cut away large chunks of meat, throwing them to the ground below. “C’mon, where are you?”
Another slice, and he saw what he had been searching for. A Lebara, it’s long, sharp legs body wrapped around the spinal cord of the Xaphan, its feather-like proboscis still extended into the Xaphan’s nervous system.
He made a small incision at the base of the creature, which flinched, its grip on the Xaphan’s jagged vertebrae tightening.
“Ado, you can’t possibly be doing what I think you are,” Nube said.
Without answering, Ado jammed the sharpened end of the cable into his incision. Closing his eyes, the nano-bots from his Mulier system coursed down the cable from his skull node, into the Lebara’s body. His aglets began to dance as he worked his computer system.
He convulsed. His body shook as he clenched his eyes shut.
“What is he doing?” Aubrey asked.
“Interfacing with the Ruak, the Azrael quantum network,” Nube said. “He’s tapping into their hive mind to try and shut down the bombs.”
A low, throbbing rumble began to emanate from the Xaphan’s corpse. Oner covered its ears as it rocked on the floor.
“I’m afraid he’s too late,” Alzar said, his voice twinged with genuine sadness. “The bombs are powering up.”
Aubrey closed her eyes, bracing for the explosion as the throbbing sound became louder, growing into a roar.
Ado screamed, his nose bled as he shook.
“Ado!” Nube shouted, gripping Aubrey’s hand tighter. “Ado, come down from there.”
“No!” he screamed, blood spattering down his chin. “We almost have it.” His eyes rolled back in his head as his fingers continued to jitter, his aglets typing furiously.
The sound was deafening. Aubrey closed her eyes. It sounded like a thousand bees buzzing inside her skull.
And then, silence. The bombs shut down.
“I cannot believe it,” Alzar said. “The young lad did it.”
The room exploded in cheers. Oner and Shamesh embraced, tears flowing freely.
Ado collapsed, sliding off the side of the Xaphan and crashing to the ground. Mamre grabbed him, shaking him gently.
“Ado!” She shouted. “Ado, can you hear me?”
He was still. So still. “Is he breathing?” Aubrey asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Mamre said.
Nube let go of Aubrey, and ran to Ado’s side. She stroked his forehead with her long fingers. “Ado,” she said gently. “You stupid boy, wake up.”
She slapped him. Mamre gasped at the force of the blow.
His eyes fluttered and opened as his head sacks inflated. “Did we do it?”
Nube laughed. “Yes, you dumb beast. You saved us all.”
Aubrey coughed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her body screamed in agony.
“Nice work… Ado,” she gasped. “You…” her voice trailed off.
“Bring us to her,” Ado said. He struggled to stand, but his limbs were weak and sluggish. Mamre picked him up, his body hung limp like a rag doll, his head lolled dangerously.
Ugly contusions began to form, webbing along his arms, an intricate pattern of ugly bruises and burns just under his skin. Mamre set him on the ground next to Aubrey. He reach out his shaking hand.
“Aubrey…” he said, his voice hoarse.
Aubrey swam in darkness, her vision fading. She smiled weakly at her friend, her hand clasping his.
“We could see everything, Aubrey,” he said, his voice echoing in the distance as Aubrey slipped in and out of consciousness. “We could see everything. It was so much. So much…”
He gripped her hand tighter as her eyes fluttered.
“We saw your father, Aubrey,” Ado whispered in her ear. “Your father, he’s alive.”