The frigid draw of surface air shook Lohren from her groggy stupor. A soft illumination of the valley walls stung into clarity as searchlights raked across her over-dilated eyes.
“Agh! Why me.” Lohren complained, dragging the words out with an elongated groan.
A sharp whistle by her side summoned a stretcher to carry off the man they had dragged up from below. Merce took a bandage from the medics before turning them away. Sitting down on one of the many thousands of crates being unloaded from the Kanabo, he began folding the bandage.
“Leave your NOD’s on?” He teased.
Lohren growled back at him. “Iverian eyes can be sensitive, or dull. They’re just taking their precious time.”
“A fast orbit back home I take it?”
“Ah… not really.” Lohren pulled her helmet off and stared off into the distance as she searched her memory.
Merce looked up at her as a sudden silence drew on. Waiting a few more moments he reached his foot over and poked her. “Were you going to tell me?”
“Yeah! Sorry, just took me a second.” She said, jolting from her distant expression. “Our Homeworld is stuck between two stars, spinning around us in a near eternal chase. Throw in some wild terrain and you get a people evolved to deal with constant changes in light.”
“You must sleep quickly so.”
“No actually, we sleep often and by choice. It’s never really night there as you know it, just like this place. Always at least dim.” Lohren grimaced and glared out at the sky. “Two of them I can understand, we’ve twice what you’ve got you confusing fuck!”
“Twice nothing is still nothing, you realize that right?” Merce chuckled as she ranted to the sky.
“Twice annoying is still annoying, you realize that right?”
“Ha! Just checking you’re all there.” A single exposed eye took on a look of concern as he spoke.
“Seriously though, what gives? I thought we’d have to bring floodlights until I saw your equipment lists.” She groaned.
“The Aurora.” He said offhandedly.
Lohren turned to him as she sat down on a straining crate. Silence drew Merce’s gaze to a raised eyebrow.
“There’s an underwater Aurora of sorts.” He offered only to be met by an even more raised eyebrow. “Right, my turn then I guess.”
Merce began by clearing his throat with a thump to his chest. “Most of the fauna feed off heat. Some of the more recent evolutions do photosynthesise but it’s more like scavengers. All the light comes from bioluminescence, spat out by sea life crowding the underwater thermal vents. Most of the heat is in the ocean. Most of the planet's life is around the heat. Most of the light then comes from that life following heat trails. If anything shakes the ground these vent’s start flaring and it triggers a feeding frenzy. You’d see the rivers of light from orbit. So, underwater Aurora!”
“Oh!” Lohren shouted. “Balach Galeira!”
“Yeah you lost me there.”
“Sorry yeah umm, I didn’t know the Thentian word for it but that’s what we call an Aurora.”
“It’s not their word.” He grumbled back.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t realize you swapped to Terran.”
“I didn’t swap, Terran isn’t… it’s just… nevermind.” Merce sighed and looked to the floor. “What’s Balach Galeira? You said it like a title.”
Lohren’s brow furrowed as she started fixing her braids, wondering what she said wrong. A quick look at Merce roughly fixing the bandage across the break in his helm, covering his eye with a sharp tug, made her think she should move on.
“It's a giant red Aurora back on the Homeworld. Closest translation is ahhh… Bloody Gold.” She mused.
“Charming!”
“It’s a festival. Once every generation the religious types gather to try and figure out if the planet is happy with what we’ve been doing.” She paused, smiling slightly. “Yeah I’m sure that sounds as bad as it is. Gives people a sense of direction I guess.”
“Like a sort of omen?” Merce said while wiggling his fingers as ‘spookily’ as he could manage.
“More like a lighthouse. The light is supposed to be brighter when we’re closer to the ideal. A light we chase to navigate our way out of the dark into a brighter place.”
Merce nodded. In silence the pair sat as Lohren looked around. Merce eventually turned to face her, holding his gaze for a moment before speaking. “You don’t seem much of a believer.”
She laughed. “No, not really. It’s got good lessons but I don’t know how I feel about all this spirit stuff. It’s a bit much.”
“Don’t you work for a god? Isn’t that a bit of a conflict of interest?”
“Ohrdin? I admire him greatly but he’s not a god.”
“Ah…” Merce whispered, reaching up and scratching his neck. “I kind of just assumed… sorry, it was more of a joke.”
Both turned away from each other, mulling over their thoughts in an uncomfortable posture, each believing they misspoke.
“I do like the message even if it is a little crazy.” Merce said apologetically. “It’s necessary I think. It helps to have direction in the dark. Makes a short walk to dawn.”
“Do you have something?” Lohren asked, swallowing anxiety as she saw Merce tense up.
“Everyone finds something, I guess.” He replied with a languid shrug.
“Sounds like you’re not sure? No offense but you aren’t young. By now something must have caught your eye? No?”
“Well firstly I’m as fit as ever so go fuck yourself. Second, I haven’t really had the chance to think about it.” He said with a slight hitch as his voice took on a mournful tone. “Been a busy century.”
“You seemed relieved when your Admiral called.”
“I was relieved because I wasn’t being fileted by an overgrown sea-kitten.” His cracked helm lifted to meet her eyes, a sudden offense adorning his voice. “The fight was over. I wasn’t dying.” He straightened up and gave a cautious wave up and down her frame. “We’ve spoken twice. That’s a very persistent line of questions that I’m sure you can tell I’m not appreciating.”
Lohren swallowed hard but kept her jaw still, floundering for an answer in her mind.
“You saved my life back there.” She sighed stiffly. “I got thrown around by that thing! I was terrified and I barely got my shit together in time. I just wanted to get to know you a little so I wouldn’t feel so bad about it.”
Merce’s shoulders slumped. “You’re always tense, y’know that? Haven’t had it easy so far have you?”
Lohren looked away, hiding a flurry of emotions. Merce kicked a boot out to tap her leg.
“You saved Jonathan’s life, and mine. Then me again, and him again. I think you did great.” Merce whispered. “For the record we’re friends. Known the man for a long time. Now, technically, he’s not an Admiral anymore, not by rank anyways.”
Lohren smiled back at Merce, unable to fully meet his gaze. They sat once more in silence for several minutes as the mech bays began to unload. Flights of engineers offloaded their assigned mechs into the landing area, running diagnostics and powering up the sleek machines, shaped somewhere between human and lizard.
“Wait, isn't that Julie?” Lohren’s ears perked up as she spoke, eyeing a lone scrappy figure descending the ship’s main ramp, mech in tow.
“Work and play Lohren! Remember?” Merce said sternly. “How do you know what she looks like anyways?”
“I looked up her file of course!” Lohren rolled her eyes as Merce cocked his head at her. “Don’t give me that look. I had to know so I could say thank you. Personal craft like that should always be rewarded!”
Merce shook his head slowly as Lohren stood up, balancing her weight suddenly on a crate.
“You okay? Maybe you shouldn’t be running off into the cold. Doesn’t Ohrdin need you back?” He probed, voice like a fathers, somewhere between concern and interrogation.
“Oh I’m fine the cat just tired me out. Iveri aren’t known for their stamina.” She replied, breathing heavy.
“Oh really?” He said incredulously. “So all those fights were…?”
“Against Terrans? Oh don’t insult me like that. I held back so I didn’t crack their skulls open.” Catching her breath as her ego settled down, she cocked an eye at him and smiled. “Don’t worry I don’t mean you. No you’ve got bones like the training pillars I used back home, quick as hot blood too.”
Lohren stretched and stumbled into a languid jog. Merce whistled out to her. “Lohren!” He shouted
“I worked, now I play! Didn’t you just tell me to rest?” She laughed back.
“About Ohrdin!”
“He had a job for me down here! Wouldn’t need me up there anyways!”
Merce tilted his head the other way. “Need anyone to help with that? I can send someone with you?”
Lohren trotted to a halt. “The ahh… winds above the trenches are brutal! Too dangerous for anyone lighter than me!”
Merce looked out across the trenches as she referred to them. He looked at her and chuckled, whispering to himself. “Maybe a little play might do her some good before… that work.”
“Alright Lohren!” He shouted over the wind. “Have Julie help you out once her mech is fixed! Their sensors might help you out!”
Lohren gave an Iverian warrior's bow. Her hand moving from her sheath to extend into an open palm held above her sunken frame, feet tightly together, back doubled over, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Whipping back up with a grin she heel-turned and jogged towards the Kanabo, shouting back behind her.
“I’m glad I met you while we’re still smiling!”
Merce waved back at her as he sat up in surprise. “Guess she’s more clued in than I thought.” He said to himself.
“She’ll make it through this.” He whispered. “She’d better do anyway, I’ll bring her back and kill her myself if she makes herself a statistic.”
————
“Are they ready?” Ohrdin spoke, barely heard over the anxious din of the Morningstar’s control room.
The question found Kreischer and stiffened him, betraying his confident expression. “Ready? Of course not, no one could be. Not for this.” He said, glancing sidelong at Ohrdin’s unflinching gaze. “I take it your real question is how long they’ll hold on for?”
“We have little concern for Ushabti Legion’s dedication and the rest…” Kreischer averted his eyes, extracting the words from his throat as he returned to his impassive watch, “… will suffice.”
“It must have been difficult, giving that order.”
“Order? I’m retired councilor, they’re all volunteers.”
“Ah… for fear or for pride?”
“Pride.” Kreischer said, gritted teeth stifling the well of emotions Ohrdin felt rising in him. “They’re too green to know fear and besides, we picked them for commitment, for focus. Fear brings passion, strength and far, far too much chaos.”
Ohrdin drew closer to the retired admiral as he regarded the anxious ‘picked’ around him. “Guilt is consuming many of them. Too many to be coincidence where you are involved.”
Kreischer scoffed, shaking his head with a creeping grin. “Regret is a powerful motive even in the worst of times. They all have something to die for, be it children, lovers or ghosts. They also have, by way of law, loss or rejection, no hope of reaching them. You can be sure they will commit to the fight. Their scars are worth more to them than their lives.”
The slight grin abandoned its subtlety and marshaled itself for pleasantry, underpinning treacherous eyes. “Of course I don’t need to explain that to you and yours.”
Ohrdin knew him to be a controlled man, a careful man of appearances. While he was no stranger to passing off the accusations of millennia of the misinformed and misguided, whatever was so vehement as to disturb that mask, unnerved him.
A few moments of silence stained the air between them until the reflex of a politician prompted another question.
“Why so few? These tactics typically mandate a certain density of fodder.” Ohrdin asked.
“Only so many men you can cram into one place before logistics becomes a burden. We have enough for our objective and purposefully no more. No sense wasting our best just to dilute efficiency.”
“The reports did show you to be quite…” Ohrdin paused to make small an accusatory tone of his own, “… economical.”
“I see nothing wrong with frugality in the matter of spending lives.” Kreischer softly announced in confidence.
“Lives for time? It is a deceptive exchange. Be sure you spend that time wisely.”
A sudden outcry seized the room.
“Sir! The emissions we detected earlier are nearing the end of the Drive Tunnel!” said the woman commanding everyone’s attention, sweeping shaky, calloused hands across the console before her.
The keystrokes summoned a projection of the space above them, including the planet, station and Drive Tunnel. The shortened section of space which comprised said tunnel, stretched out, fading across the room, a red swell of light nearing the exit.
“Thank you Valerie, but…” Kreischer said, eyes sharply fixating on the display, “…are you sure of those readings?”
“Yes sir! There seems to be one large ship in front, the emissions are making too much noise to tell what’s behind it.”
Only Ohrdin’s guards shifted nervously as silence settled in, rows of static heads awaiting an order as the seconds ticked on.
Ohrdin himself cocked his head at Kreischer who was characteristically stoic in his thoughts. Stretching his senses cautiously, careful not to project his presence, he began to gather an outline of the ship in his mind.
A colossal structure of bewildering complexity. Enveloping tendrils coiled back from a bulbous head almost as wide as the tunnel itself. Wrapped around the main structure they wreathed in opposing directions down its entire length until they wrung themselves into a tight spiraling bowl in place of a thruster.
Savage as he thought they were, he couldn’t help but feel an admiration for the care they took in their monuments. It seemed to him that the passion of ideology was more universal than he thought.
“It’s a Tunneler.” He said, far too casually for the confusion the statement evoked.
Scattered voices roused themselves to express a mix of fear and excitement at potentially being some of the only beings to witness the illusory behemoths.
“I’m aware.” Kreischer replied.
A few moments passed as Ohrdin glanced between the display and Kreischer.
“We have an opportunity here. That’s the only ship they have which can power that tunnel, you’ll trap their fleet in the Black Mirror.”
“I’m aware.”
Ohrdin’s tail writhed in agitation as moments turned to minutes, silence awaiting an order all the while. Kreischer finally glanced up at the thentian drifting closer and looming over him with a pained twist of the head.
“No sense in ruining the element of surprise.” He offered dismissively.
“Excuse me!” Ordin spat. “What better opportunity could you possibly spend that surprise on than to cripple their entire invasion? What is keeping you from stopping this battle before it starts? From sparing these men?”
“That’s the thing, I have no idea yet. So we wait for them to show us why they sent it into a potential battlefield ahead of the fleet.”
Kreischer smiled as Ohrdin relaxed, venturing further with his explanation. “The decision is disastrously stupid. The Drenhari however, are not, and so…”
“We wait.” Ohrdin finished for him, receiving an absent nod as Kreischer returned to his thoughts. “I’ll have the Hughrinn maintain a firing solution for you if you change your mind.”
“Aim for areas vulnerable to heat, I doubt even the Morningstar could melt through all of it. We’ll need to cripple it thoroughly before a nationally inspired vengeance comes screaming down upon us.”
A slight frown befell Kreischer’s face. “You know I never quite understood it. How creatures so bereft of delicacy could show such…”
“Care?” Ohrdin offered. “One would imagine that which facilitates your way of life would invoke some measure of indebtedness.”
“Perhaps, though I’m not sure we understand that term as they do. They don’t so much care for it as..”
“Worship? A monument to their gods?” Ohrdin interjected as quickly as he calmed the wrathful tone creeping into his voice.
“They treat it more like an embodiment of their gods. I can’t really explain the difference, it just reminds me of some of our old cultures. Long dead and yet the designs are… uncomfortably familiar.”
Ejecting from the tunnel, the monstrous ship came lurching to a crawl. Probing pulses of innumerable scanning arrays washing across the void around it.
“Councillor sir?” Valerie whispered. “Are you sure your ship can hide our satellite from… that?”
“Quite sure ma’am!” Ohrdin chuckled, mood souring further as the lumbering ship drifting away revealed a swarming flotilla spilling from the tunnel.
Hundreds of ships poured forth into the area, jagged, haphazard frames cutting in and around the Tunneler. There seemed no sense of coherence in the assortment of ships which presented themselves. Size, shape, design and quality varied wildly. Few of the larger ships were possessed of the features standard to even the worst of the Terran fleet. A fact that served little comfort to those acknowledging this, considering the leftovers of that fleet were days away.
“Twelve-hundred in total Sir! Matching Class 4 readings!” Valerie shouted as she sorted through a blistering amount of information flooding the screens of her and her assistants. “Two hundred cruisers in the rear, just over eight-hundred frigates screening them. The rest are support craft. Bearing the crests of seventeen clans Sir! Seven from the war!”
“Most of the cruisers belong to Clan Solar. Seems they got their act together.” Kreischer muttered as he stared down the Tunneller.
“That’s the ship from Circadia Sir. The ‘Summit’ ”
“It is…”
“Circadia?” Ohrdin whispered in confusion. “The chemical incident? You reported it destroyed?”
“I thought it had been.” Kreischer returned, lacing his tone with venom.
The sound of a hundred hurried voices filled the room as Kreischer watched the last of the ships leave the tunnel. Kreischer’s face twisted with confusion at the scale of the fleet, eyes flitting between tunnel and ships.
“That’s it?” He said incredulously. “No this isn’t right. What am I missing? What do they want to hide from someone who isn’t there?” Kreischer murmured, eyes glazing over as his thoughts scrambled.
The room collectively tensed as the fleet began to burn towards the Terrans exit point. Nervous officers looked towards a distant Kreischer as they prepared for an order.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Target the support ships first! Hit the ones in front and let the others run into them!” He shouted.
“You have to disrupt their way out! We may not get another chance!” Ohrdin said, turning Kreischer by his shoulder to face him.
“The Tunnelers have additional jump drives explicitly to sit in shielding mode at all times.” Kreischer shot back. “I don’t know if the engineers who made the Morningstar estimated its firepower properly. Our first shot could be wasted! Which if they have something to surprise us with, could mean all the difference in the case that we lose and they move on. If they don’t have the support ships they at least can’t conduct planetary opera-“
Two cacophonous blast’s slamming through the room cut him short. The sound of straining stone ripped through the air under the weight of the Morningstar’s double shot. Several dozen tons of metal scorched away from the planet leaving a trail of ionized atmosphere in its wake. The first of the two violet dragons snaked up towards the fleet in just under thirty seconds. The resulting detonation scattering a wall of metal particulates swiftly breached through by its sister shell.
Twenty seconds later it detonated fiercely, front and center within the support formation. Tens of thousands of first sized fragments tore through their shielding like a hurricane, disrupting the shields briefly on entry. At extreme velocities these pieces punctured through their armor, igniting a path of depleted uranium as they entered the ship's atmosphere. In moments the sky lit up with a new sun, illuminating the perpetually dim landscape of the planet as a quarter of the support ships erupted from the inside out.
Ohrdin froze uncomfortably as he attempted to drown out the feeling of a hundred thousand souls vaporizing next to such heat. His stomach lurched as he witnessed the display's render of nearly fifty ships amalgamating into an indistinguishable sea of scrap, liquid metal and the gas that was once crew and ship alike.
Moments later dozens more ships collided headlong with the graveyard before them. Plunging into the surface of a sun, nothing but charred sludgy wrecks broke through on the other side. Those that adjusted their course in time wheeled off away from the planet as the Drenhari fleet scrambled to get a hold of the situation.
“The ones who flee may escape effective range and alert the next group to open a tunnel. I recommend we be thorough.” Ohrdin strained, taking a harshness to his voice.
Kreischer’s brow furrowed in tune with the confusion of the room now appraising Ohrdin. Kreischer paused for a moment, raised an eyebrow and scoffed.
“Glad to see the old you isn’t far from the surface!” He said, landing a heavy pat on Ohrdin’s rigidly tense back.
“I have no pleasure for this work but I’d be a fool to lay down any of my tools.”
“Do as he says!”
Before long a second shot bellowed through the valley, carving an arc skywards, culminating in a fireworks display as it impacted the most distant ships. The initial blast ricocheted masses of debris between the many shields of the closest ships. The resulting vortex of debris shredded the unshielded fighter craft scrambling off of their ships. Several ships began making hard turns in an attempt to dodge the incoming second, far more lethal shell, slamming into each other in the process.
“They’re far too surprised, mustn’t have expected a fight until the next sector.” Kreischer muttered.
The second shell detonated beside the largest of the support craft. A large swath of fragmentation sheared it clean in half, sending the rear section off course, thrusters slamming it into the side of another ship. Dozens more ships lit up externally as the contacting fragments began melting through their thin hulls. Engines overheated, ammo racks detonated, shield generators overloaded. A popcorn light display lit up the sky as ships exploded, scattering more debris and plasma into the area. The last few ships beside them, caught in this sea of energy, couldn’t muster enough power to allow the shields to redirect it all. They too, began to melt in the aftermath of ignited ammunition reserves.
“Now it’s time to make sure they’re stuck here with us. Gut the whale!” Kreischer sneered, scowling at the Summit.
Drenhari warships surged toward the planet. Unable to locate an exact position of their threat they simply dived upon the wall of interfering metal like birds into the ocean. The strain of redirecting so much material became too much to bear as another salvo came thundering past. The first shell detonated amidst the fleet and overloaded many of the smaller ships' shields, plunging them headlong into the blender.
The third shot punched clean through an unlucky frigate as it sailed towards the sea of point defense weaponry the Summit levied against it. A flurry of kinetic impacts drifted the round off course, striking far left of the main power core. Ohrdin saw the strain of the shield generators trying desperately to redirect it, great waves of energy twisting space violently. In the end it provided only a momentary pause as the round pushed through and sank deep into the fore of the ship.
An inferno birthed forth from the belly of the beast, great flares of blinding light piercing out in rapid succession from any gap they could find. Like an over pressurized pipe these pillars of flame continuously arose as the raging flame spread through the halls of the ship. Explosive decompressions sent rivers of irradiated, molten slag streaming into the inner wall of the ship’s shields. The titanic ship maintained enough power even in this crippling strike to maintain it’s shields, to it’s own detriment. Plumes of liquid metal found themselves coiling around the ship in stacking golden halo’s, some sliding off course and directly into the ship itself, searing swathes of armor which had been spared the initial impact. .
“The Cruisers are joining the assault sir!” Valerie shouted above the chorus of the control room. Nervous voices chattered under the withering onslaught of an indiscriminate orbital bombardment attempting to find its target. Tens of thousands of rounds of plasma and metal descended upon the planet and burned away in the torrential atmosphere.
Kreischer watched as the cruisers positioned themselves behind their smaller brethren, holding fire and pushing their engines to the limit.
“They mean to make planetfall! Target only those with the heaviest engines!” Kreischer ordered, turning sharply towards Ohrdin. “Anything smaller likely won’t be able to control their descent. Ohrdin I need to know if the Tunneler is…”
Kreischer waved a hand in front of the trembling Thentian’s face. A stiff jaw slowly turned to face him as another blast of the Morningstar knocked Ohrdin off balance, regaining it with a hand on Kreischer’s shoulder.
“Your people really do struggle with this huh?” Kreischer said as he caught him.
“They’re choking. To death. Bellowin, swamping storms of smoke and acid and… and…” Ohrdin replied with weight behind each pause.
“Hey, hey, focus! I can stop the noise just tell me where to aim.”
Ohrdin’s grip tightened as he redoubled his efforts, steeling himself to look upon the nightmare aboard the Summit.
“A hundred meters to the rear of the main power core there’s a massive air filter. Your shot won’t puncture the armor of the core directly, not through all those layers, but it will ionize the gas chambers. The heat should overwhelm the cooling systems under the armor.”
“Close your mind Ohrdin, we can take it from here.” Kreischer rushed to say before pausing, a hint of compassion overtaking his commanding tone. “Thank you.”
Just as the readings from the Summit began to stabilize, power rerouted and skyscraper sized sections sealed off, another blast detonated to the rear of the ship. The control room held their breath as the thermal image grew brighter and brighter, a miniature sun festering beneath the blackening tendrils which had been pierced by the latest volley.
A great fissure snaked beneath the coiled superstructure, melting away the connective tissue of the Summit. Multiple reports of a second ball of heat rapidly flaring within the ship sounded off. A titanic explosion silenced everyone as the display struggled to render it. Great waves of plasma and liquidized hull washed away from the blast, stretching out like bleeding watercolor across the fleet behind it.
Kreischer’s knuckles tightened as his chest swelled with pride. A slight quiver of a smile adorned his face as he watched the remnants of the fleet get swept under the current of superheated material into subsequent volleys of the Morningstar. Spots of light flashed in the sky and dwindled just as quickly, marched to the grave by the thunderous drumbeat from which each flash originated.
Minutes of silence preceded a cheering roar. Rounds of applause lapped through the room as Kreischer stood hand over heart, heavy controlled breaths steadying himself amidst the celebration. Briefly departing his eyes from their watch of the display, he noted the only other focused face among them.
“Valerie? Report.” He said, mirroring the concern on the woman’s face as she focused on the reports screaming through her earpiece.
“The Morningstar triggered an avalanche Sir. The whole valley is calling in.”
Dread settled on Kreischer’s face as he recoiled. “Valerie, you're in charge! I want all non-essential personnel down there immediately! Ohrdin those eyes better be able to see through snow!”
Kreischer’s hurried movements seized as his attempt to pull Ohrdin along by the sleeve jerked him to a stop. It felt as if he had attempted to drag a car behind him. He looked back at Ohrdin, spotting the cause of his rigidity stretching to the other side of the room.
“I’m afraid you’re still needed here.” Ohrdin half groaned, gesturing to the tunnel which had refused to close.
“No. No, no, not now! Of course I missed it!” Kreischer choked out under his breath as he gathered his thoughts. “So that’s what they were hiding.”
“Why bring two Tunnelers? Did they mean to rush through the system faster than we could notice and muster a response?” Ohrdin pondered.
Chaos once more fell upon the control room as new signatures emerged from the Tunnel. Three dozen ships, mostly cruisers, stopped just shy of the Tunnels exit, maneuvering further from the planet as soon as they had assessed the ship graveyard before them.
Though distinctly Dren’hari designs, they confused their observers. Larger, sleeker, more uniform and far more heavily armored. The ships, shaped somewhere between a H and a Y, were somehow minimizing their signatures. Officers scrambled their teams to gather readings on the unknown vessels to no avail.
“Okay Ohrdin forget what I said before, I need the quick and dirty on those things now!” Kreischer shouted as his focus came back to him. “Everyone divert any local scanners away from the ships and look for thermal readings in the valley! I will not have us lose men to the fucking snow!”
Ohrdin nodded and remained silent as the ships settled into a static formation where the now closing Tunnel ended.
“Large fighter compliments. Extensive minor turret networks… kinetic. Almost all of their firepower seems to be concentrated into two large weapons… somewhere at the front.” Strain etched further into his voice with every word.
“Everything alright there?” Kreischer asked.
“I'm having a hard time locating… certain… details.”
“Another Witch?”
Ohrdin scoffed his disdain for the notion. “The Dren’hari? Please. They’ve never had the disposition.”
Taking a moment to breathe, Ohrdin cleared his throat and continued. “Comparable armor to your toughest ships. A… no, two shield systems?”
“How? Projecting a second shield outside of the first is incredibly power intensive, not to mention inefficient.” Kreischer’s tone became incredulous as he slipped into muttering. “Unless you had reached capacity on the first and limited the direction of the second. Extreme angle deflection in a small area is exceptionally effective so long as you can guarantee the direction of incoming fire.”
Struggling to maintain his sight, Ohrdin elected to interrupt Kreischer’s brainstorming while he could. “Somehow they’ve managed to get their devices receiving enough energy to easily put them in Class 6, which, I wish was the worst of it. The main generator is somehow edging Class 8, though it is clearly straining. A shockingly poor imitation of the principles our prototypes use. Perhaps their lack of safety precautions may prove useful to us once again?”
Kreischer’s face drained as his eyes began darting around in a frantic internal monologue. Fixing upon the display he let out a deep sigh, carrying the tension in his body with it.
“Put us on standby Valerie. They’re too far away to hit them before they move and I want our power levels as low as possible.” He said with a carefully measured tone.
“They aren’t moving?” Ohrdin stated more than he questioned.
“Tell me Councillor, do you recognise the clan markings?”
Ohrdin recoiled slightly, remembering their earlier conversation. “I don’t, and they’re identical. It may pain me to admit it but you were right. We didn’t see it but they were unifying.”
“Regrettably I was. A forceful unification by the looks of it. Whoever they are, they brought seventeen clans to heel. It seems they’re at least smart enough to expect a trap.” Kreischer nodded to himself, cocked his head and looked to Ohrdin expectantly.
“You mean to say that what we just fought…”
“Was a glorified mass execution of the last of the dissenters? Yes I mean exactly that. Do you understand now why my methods concerning them are so… economical, as you say?”
Ohrdin regarded the static fleet looming over the remains of their discarded fodder. “Presuming I discard of my other concerns? Perhaps.”
Kreischer met Ohrdin’s gaze with steely care, examining the monotone voice in lieu of an expression. “Hmm, ‘perhaps’ is a start.”
—————-
Lohren strolled towards one of the unloaded mech’s, sparks flying from beneath its canopy. Four splayed legs, tipped by powerful claws, supported the lower section which rested only inches above the ground. Sat like this it reminded Lohren of Terran lizards. Only, in place of a head it was topped by a vaguely human torso. Long slender arms rested their knuckles on the ground, supporting the looming, headless frame above a puddle of melted snow.
An amalgam of various plates, tubes, wires and devices had been haphazardly attached, scattered across the mech. Lohren studied it for a moment. Aerodynamic placement, careful cable management, perfect alignment. Exact work with a rough hand? She quickly came to the conclusion that Julie took pride in her work but could do with slowing down a touch.
Another splash of sparks belched forth from the open torso, bathing the disemboweled parts before it.
“Oh you cantankerous picky bitch!” Julie almost screamed as she extracted herself from the open heart surgery she was performing.
“More than a touch.” Lohren muttered.
“Avolta? Finally! Fuck! You better have my soldering iron or my boots going up your…” Julie’s rant trailed off as Lohren stepped into view, recoiling at the waves of heat washing over her.
“Sounds like you should take better care of your tools!” Lohren chuckled, folding her arms and leaning on the mech.
“Hi! Hey, umm, sorry my sister fucked off with what she likes to call ‘her tools’. Can you believe? The cheek of it. Anyways, hi again, names julie! Who’s this fine cut of marble I’m talking…” Julie rambled on while her eyes cut a careful path across Lohren, snaking from detail to detail until they found their way to the bulky weapon on her back. In turn, she saw the markings she had carved herself, striking a sudden panic into her.
“… Lohren! Holy hell, I’m so sorry Ma’am! Staff Sergeant Julie Page!” Julie clicked into a full salute as she marshaled her voice. “How can I be of assistance?”
Lohren looked bewildered, starting and stopping half a dozen sentences before she found her words. “What’s with the ah, professionalism.”
“You’re an envoy from the Cradle, Ma’am.”
“That would be Ohrdin. I’m more like an assistant.” She replied, embarrassment edging her tone.
“That still places your word well above mine, Ma’am.”
“Lohren is fine. Really I’m just a secretary with muscles you don’t have to… do all of… this. I just wanted to talk to the person who adorned Merce’s gift.”
Julie looked at the salute she was maintaining, Lohren waving it away. Cautiously, she relaxed as she waited for a sign that this was a test.
“Are you sure Ma’am?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“Sure you’re sure?”
“Yes!” Lohren insisted with a reassuring nod.
“Positive?” Julie smirked back at the mildly annoyed Iverian. Seeing honesty in Lohren’s pained expression, her shoulders slumped with a deep exhale.
“Right, well now that I don’t have to have that stick up my ass, I guess we can talk. Gotta stay working though so you’re gonna make yourself useful!” Julie fell out of her rigid stance and grabbed hold of a bar on the mech's canopy. Swinging her legs up and through the bar she pointed Lohren towards her feet.
Lohren palmed her shins and held them down, letting Julie hang upside down while she stuck her head under an open compartment.
Julie’s head popped back out and looked up at Lohren. “Pass me the red tape there. Holy hell you’re not even tensed! How heavy are those arms of yours?”
“About as heavy as you are flexible. You clamber around like this often?” Lohren replied, handing the tape to her.
“Lot of gymnastics as a kid. Easier to think upside down! Gets the blood to the right places.”
“Not sure that’s how that works.”
“Works well enough for me!” She shouted back, sweating profusely as another shower of sparks shot out.
Lohren glanced around at the rest of the impromptu workstation. Handfuls of badly scratched tools lay scattered across the snowy floor intermixed with the wiring which has been pulled forth from the mech. The wires coming from the compartment Julie was currently chest deep in, connected up to a Datapad resting on her discarded jacket.
A slight migraine creeped into Lohrens head as she strained her eyes to look at the display. A three dimensional radar flickered wildly as atmospheric readings on the side fluctuated between extremes.
“I could help you gather your tools out of the dirt?” Lohren offered.
“Nah! They’re fine. I like the chaos. Just leave them where I put them or I’ll never find them again!”
“Might help to keep them in better condition. A crafters tools are an extension of themselves. We wouldn’t want to limit your frankly impressive capabilities.” Lohren lulled, leaning forward to examine Julie.
The mess of her laces starkly contrasted the neat rows of wires she was working on. She had tucked her thick, oversized work pants into her boots, suspended on the other side by an interwoven mess of harness lines. Dozens of extra pockets and magnetic tool belts were sewn seemingly at random into every available space. Likely the cause of the patchwork of oil stains across her tank top.
Even sautéed in the heat, Lohren wondered how such a small creature could work half dressed in a tundra. Her own suit, heated by her movements, was barely sparing her from the frost forming on it. She could hardly believe the lithe figure before her, no taller than her sternum, was barely noticing the cold.
Julie curled herself backwards until her head was upright, half folded in on herself. “If you’re trying to be useful your eyes’d be better focused on the Datapad.”
“Oh right! Sorry I ahh…” Lohren stammered.
“Was admiring the work of a dedicated student?” Julie smirked, winking as she unfurled back into the mech. “Those rituals are bloody complicated! Takes a fine pair of hands that know what they’re doing to get that kind of precision.”
“All the more reason to equip them properly. Dexterity shouldn’t work against the current.” Lohren said, challenging at first but quickly tapering off.
She watched Julie move, feeling her legs flex under palm and watching slender arms turn to stone as she maneuvered herself. Muscle sprung from nowhere as if the ghost of her old hobbies was flashing under her skin. She was, all things considered, confusing.
Lohren turned towards the Datapad to see it stabilizing. Another migraine pulsed through her skull, shaking her knees enough to force her to widen her stance. She looked back at the mech in time to see a medium length mess of wavy copper hair bob up between Julie’s knees. Thick coils of hair fell down framing an angular face she could only describe as handsome, and definitely confusing.
“I get what you’re saying about the tools, but I’m not always going to have what I need. Mind letting me down there? Unless you found what you were looking for?” She cooed with a soft smile and a raised brow, one barely restraining the shit eating grin clawing its way to the surface.
Lohren loosened her grip letting Julie spin herself off of the bar, landing on the ground with a surprisingly heavy thud. Jogging forwards she stooped to pick up the Datapad, throwing a sour expression back at the mech as she did.
“Installed these things a few days back. Major range upgrade but kind of old school, hardly within spec. Great for these conditions if I can get them to stop fighting me.” Julie muttered, half explaining half lost in her own thoughts. “It should be working. Sensors are stable now at least but… they keep getting confused.”
Lohren leaned back against the mech again, content to watch the mechanic at work. A certain anxiety began to creep up Lohrens spine, the familiar dread of missed details sending crawling sensations through her skin. She searched her mind for what might be the source of her concern but struggled to get a hold of her thoughts.
“You alright there? Look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Julie called out in the middle of a rant she did not stop.
“I’m fine, just a little foggy.” Lohren felt her gaze drawn towards a sky almost entirely blocked out by the ship above them. “Say, Julie, would the ship be interfering with sensors that sensitive?”
“Normally I’d say no but… it’s only the heat signatures that seem off and those engines are pretty beefy. Y’know what, let’s get him up above the trench line!” Julie said, hopping past Lohren and flicking a flurry of switches.
A soft whine rose from the belly of the mech, springing life into a body far more flexible than it had first let on. After detaching extraneous cabling and grabbing her jacket, Julie beckoned to her project which promptly skittered unnervingly towards the landing bay wall, stopping briefly to provide her a step up.
Lohren followed shortly after, straining the edge of the wall as she pulled herself up. Icy air caught hold of her as she broke over the edge. The wind speeds were stronger than she thought. Fighting against her balance she braced herself until her coordination suddenly fell away from her, leaving her stumbling around.
“You’re doing quite well with what you’ve got!” Lohren shouted over the gales bombarding her.
Sheltered by the mech Julie looked over relatively unbothered by the winds casting curtains of snow around her. “If you’re insistent about me having better tools you could always pull a few strings you know! Your lot have requisition priority!”
“Then again…” she continued “… Dad always said it was better to be adaptable.”
Lohren knelt beneath the enveloping arms of the mech coming down to Julie’s eye level. Looking over her shoulder she watched her fine tune the sensor settings, clearing away the noise which mixed up its readings. A deeply satisfied grin carved across Julie’s face as a wild pair of eyes turned around to Lohren.
“He hasn’t been wrong so far!” She cackled, thumping lohrens shoulder hard, recoiling with a yelp. “WHAT IN THE FUCK! That’s armour?”
“Yes?” Lohren said with a mix of confusion and concern.
“I thought… it’s just so… form… fitting…” Julie mumbled, shades of pink burning up under her cheeks. Catching Lohrens quickly simmering smile, she realized her rosy expression and snapped her head away. “Fuck you it’s cold!”
Lohren smiled and thought best to give her an escape from embarrassment. “Your dad was an engineer?”
“No actually! He was a historian.” Julie hurriedly answered. “He did pick up a love for old technology, stuff from before the Ascension. Centuries old but the principles are the same. After all there’s only so much you can do to change the way a species approaches their understanding of physics. Compared to your employers, most of us are too… worldly.”
“They’re not so far apart from us. Ohrdin at least keeps his head out of the clouds.” Lohren paused for a moment as an embarrassment of her own flushed through her face. “That is how you say that right?”
Julie threw back her head and let out a squeak of a laugh. She rapped her knuckles lightly against Lohrens armor with an approving smirk and returned to tidying the mech's trailing parts. A hint of confusion etched across her brow as she went to disconnect the Datapad.
Pain surged through Lohren’s skull like a hammer to hot metal. Sparking shots of burning fire coursed through her temples to around her eyes, eliciting a sharp inhalation through her teeth. Adrenaline coursed like rapids through her system following another encroaching feeling of something calling to her attention. Drifting her blurry vision up towards Julie she tried to recall what words the sounds Julie was making were supposed to be.
“Sorry I’m fine, bad headache is all.” Lohren strained between grunts, shaking her head to clear the fog out. “Sounds like you’re pretty fond of him?”
Julie stared at her, barely hiding her concern. “Right… if you’re sure.” She let out a deep sigh. “Anyways, yeah he was a fantastic man and an even better father. I mean of course he had his faults, made some bad decisions, but he was a man of loyalty. An eccentric too, to say the very least. You can thank him for my sister's name! Mom was far less adventurous with mine.”
“I happen to think it’s quite exotic.” Lohren intoned. “My own language is harsh, it’s nice to hear something so soft, melodic even.”
“I… ugh… thank you.” Julie buried her face in her work, preemptively hiding her warming complexion. “Anyways! He got me into mechanics and tried very hard to get me into history. Never really worked mind you, but I always admired the love he had for Terra’s past. What was it he said to me? Remember who you come from and you’ll know who you want to be.”
“Aren’t you still archiving the war on Terra? He must have gotten quite the following in the aftermath. What’s his name? I might have read some of his reports!” Lohren questioned eagerly, lidded, sleepy eyes missing the tension her question evoked.
“You definitely wouldn’t.” Julie said with a tight voice. “Oh for fucks sake! I just fixed this thing! Looks like it’s mistaking an… extremely dense warm front for a valid target. It’s small too. This is what I get for trying to tune in to the bloody ghost animals on this frigid fucking hellhole.”
Lohren laughed softly. “Hellhole is right.” Leaning forward she gently laid a hand on Julie’s shoulder, enveloping it entirely. “I don’t know about your father though. I’m a pretty thorough researcher, covered the conflict head to talon. I’m sure I would have come across him?”
Julie reached back and laboriously shoved Lohrens arm away, hiding her face. “Lohren take a hint and leave it alone! Okay?”
Lohren recoiled her hand as if it had grazed a fire. She tried to find the words to apologize as she watched the slight tremor in Julie’s hands rattle the Datapad. She tried to find the words. She tried to find any words. She found herself unable to think beyond the chill in her spine and the movement of her feet away from Julie. Her eyes wandered to the sky as the Morningstar licked the air with arcs of energy leaping between its barrels. Her body screamed at her to run, to hide, to not be seen. It was as if she was with the Roesseira again, except this time she had no idea what she was hiding from. Whatever it was that scared her so, it drove her feet away and into the snow before she even realized she was moving, instinct overriding a hazy cognition.
Julie breathed deep as she steadied her nerves. “Lohren I’m sorry, you don’t have to go, it’s just a touchy subject. I shouldn’t have blown up like that. Chasing ghosts and legacies gets messy fast and I just didn’t want… Lohren?”
Julie reached out to the Iverian giant stumbling away from her towards a further trench, heavy footfalls planting her forward. A single word stuttered out like an echo from Lohrens lips. “Ghost… ghost… ghost…”
A double shockwave ripped Julie from her feet, the following earthquake sending Lohren to her knees. A brilliant scourge of ionizing atmosphere carving the sky above them lit the valley below. Julie glanced towards the Morningstar’s expulsion in horror as it seemed the mountain itself had collapsed. Torrents of snow crashed down into the ice sheet below, shearing it from the rock face and collapsing into a thundering avalanche.
She scrambled for her earpiece amongst her scattered equipment. Pulling the microphone to her mouth she screamed down the line. “Avalanche! Avalanche! Avalanche!” Ramming it into her pocket she whirled towards Lohren. “Lohren! Can you hear me? Fuck, fuck, FUCK!”
Julie stepped out to race forwards only to be immediately stiff-armed off her feet towards her mech. Looking up she saw the dark, armored figure of Lieutenant Merce turning away from her.
“That shield better be working Julie!” He shouted, voice straining coarsely over the roaring sound of a tsunami of rushing snow and ice. Stampeding forward he speared himself into Lohrens back as she stood up. Careening both of them through the air into the trench before them.
Lohren’s head slammed into the ground, knocking what little sense she had left out of her. Limbs limp, vision blurry, nose bleeding profusely. The seconds slowed as a curtain of snow rose over them in a great wave. Julie’s mech dived in from the other side, arms stretching a bridge over the trench as she dangled, half harnessed into the cockpit. The last trails of the Morningstar’s shot split the line between them in a violet highlight. Lohrens vision went black.