Writing Prompt: “It imploded spectacularly”

All things considered, the Cathedral of the Lunar Princess took the sight of Abbess Cheryl’s smoking and shattered wreck of a battlesuit well.

Which is to say, the Cathedral imploded spectacularly when Holy Knight Jeanne revealed their most Revered Abbess was the local leader of the Cult of the Worm, a nihilistic cult that wanted nothing more than the complete annihilation of the Hive Cities.

Without the linchpin of the Abbess to hold the Cathedral together, factions rose quickly.

“It’s possible to get oversight from one of the other Hives, I suppose...” Knight Irene mused on the flight deck with Jeanne.

The older knight shook her head. “There isn’t a Knight alive that would accept oversight from another Hive and you know it.” she replied.

Irene grimaced, and then blurted, “Then what should we do? Do like the others and work for the nobility like common mercenaries?”

Jeanne’s faction contained herself, a few of the senior knights like Irene, Tabitha, and Galatea, and the greater share of neophytes. At a glance Jeanne’s faction seemed to be the largest, but since Jeanne lacked the leverage of the other factions that had fallen under noble authority and had effectively become mercenaries for the Houses, she was actually the weakest.

“...at least we managed to hold onto the Cathedral.” Jeanne muttered.

Irene nodded. “It’s impossible to keep it for long, however. Sooner or later Alicia or Clarice’s factions will come hunting for Smirtka Seeds, and we won’t be able to keep them away.”

“We need the Cathedral’s manufactory Plants to keep working for us while keeping them away from the other factions.” Jeanne agreed. “Did Teresa and the retired Paladins send a response?” Jeanne asked, resting in Evelína’s embrace.

“Still silent.” Irene replied.

“Merde.” Jeanne swore. “It’s my hope that one of them will take the position of Abbess.”

“You could take it, you know.” Irene urged. “You have our support.”

Jeanne shook her head. “I know little of administration. Give me a sword and a gun and point me at the enemy and I will fulfill my duty, but...” She trailed off. “I can lead a squad, but a Cathedral?” She made Evelína shrug her massive shoulders.

“Thermal bloom on the long range sensors, Jeanne.” Evelína warned.

“Can you give me a target lock, or are you still in lockdown?” Jeanne asked.

Evelína swore at Jeanne in her sweet voice and a target lock appeared on her display.

“You’re the best partner.” Jeanne murmured.

“I know.” Evelína purred.

It was another Smirtka, a biomechanical battlesuit, and it was on approach from much higher up; likely one of the Knights that had sold themselves out to a noble house.

“Irene-” Jeanne began, but was interrupted.

“Hellena warned me already.” Irene replied crisply. “Evelína still doesn’t like Hellena, by the way.”

Jeanne frowned, but decided against admonishing her partner. Instead, she repositioned herself on the thick metal plating of the flight deck.

“Let’s make this an exercise for the neophytes. Evelína, sound a general call to arms and order them to stand by in the trainer suits. Live ammunition is to be provisionally distributed.”

Evelína began humming to herself as Jeanne’s command was piped through the Neophyte’s quarters. She could see in a small side screen the young women streaming from their barracks and heading to the hangars.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Connecting to Hellena.” Evelína piped up. “Uploading logical paradox #718.”

Jeanne gaped. “Why are you sending Irene logical paradoxes?” She blurted, her voice hot as she tracked the descent of the Smirtka.

“I’m not.” Evelína replied defensively. “I’m sending them to Hellena.”

“You will stop this sort of behavior.” Jeanne ordered. “Release locks on plasma ordinance and mode-shift to rapid-fire mode.”

One thing that Jeanne was able to discover was the ability to rapid-fire plasma weaponry, something thought impossible before due to the power drain. More, she could do it while in flight mode, something everyone believed to be both miraculous and impossible.

The secret was that rapid-fire consumed very little energy, since the salvos were trading power for quantity, and the fact that Evelína had two Seeds, thus allowing her to devote power to both the jump jets and the plasma ordinance.

“IFF?” Jeanne asked as she brought the standard munitions online as well. She really didn’t want to have to resort to standard munitions, since there wasn’t enough to go around.

“Target is not broadcasting IFF codes on standard channels.” Evelína replied.

The Smirtka slammed into the flight deck, the battlesuit deploying claws that anchored it to the deck as the jump jets screamed, searing the air as they whirred to a standby.

“Identify yourself.” Jeanne demanded as the Smirtka deployed weapons.

“You first.” A harsh, bitter voice grated back at her across the vox.

“Holy Knight Jeanne of Block Seven.” She replied.

“And that one?” The voice indicated Irene.

“Holy Knight Irene of Block Three.” Irene replied, her heavy penetrator rifle trained on the Smirtka’s midsection. A shot to the gut would penetrate just under the heavy chestplates and tear apart the woman within.

“Paladin Abigail.” the grating woman’s voice replied.

“Stand down, Evelína.” Jeanne ordered, and the battlesuit acquiesced, retracting the plasma weaponry.

“Not going to tell Knight Irene to do the same?” Abigail grated across the comms.

“I will, if you’re here to talk.”

Abigail chuckled, her laugh sounding like shards of glass being crushed. A moment later, the Smirtka’s weapons retracted, and the jetpacks powered down.

“Satisfied?” Abigail asked.

“Jeanne?” Irene asked, and Jeanne affirmed.

“Stand down.”

“My battlesuit Nike will send the two of you data. Accept it.” Abigail snapped crisply.

“Dump it to the aux Seed on an isolated partition, just in case.” Jeanne urged Evelína.

“It’s a codec for an encrypted channel- tagged Splinter3849.” Evelína replied.

“Connect to the channel.” Jeanne advised, and urged Irene to do the same.

“You’re too trusting, Knight.” Abigail grated across the secured channel. “Still, this secured channel allows us to talk without listeners prying in.”

“Do you bring word from the retired Paladins?” Jeanne asked.

“I do. We want to know why a Knight thinks to pull us out of retirement.” Abigail grated.

“I think what I said was pretty obvious.” Jeanne replied. “We need structure. Organization. We need knowledgeable women that can reclaim the leadership of-”

“And this is our problem how?” Abigail cut her off.

Jeanne grit her teeth. “We have no administration, no infrastructure, no engineers. We’re fighters, but we’re loyal to the Cathedral. We need leadership.”

Abigail let out a very long sigh.

“You’ve lost a lot.” She finally admitted.

“I like Nike.” Evelína murmured in Jeanne’s ear. “She likes logical paradoxes.”

“What are you doing?!” Jeanne shouted at Evelína.

Evelína let out a delighted laugh, and started humming.

“Something wrong, Knight Jeanne?” Abigail offered tersely.

“It seems my Smirtka has taken a liking to yours.” Jeanne offered lamely.

There was a pregnant silence.

“Ah. I see. It’s fine. Nike seems to like yours as well.”

Jeanne let out a pained sigh.

“The tentative decision of the Paladins is that we will take the Abbess position and the senior staff positions as well. We’ll need the gene-gineers, engineers, serfs, and instructors reclaimed.”

Jeanne nodded, and repeated what she’d said to Irene. “I can lead a squad into battle, but I’m ill-suited for leadership.” She explained. “As long as we’re true to the Lunar Princess and we follow the Tenets of the Cathedral, then I am happy to follow the leadership of the Paladins.”

Abigails’ battlesuit nodded.

“We’ll speak again, and soon.”