Author's note, ello guys~ like previous ch? all of this is the set up for Leo so we can understand a bit of him. like what events forge his character, and why he take some decisions.
Jope you enjoy it :), next chapter will begin the story.
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[Alert]
Someone activated the alarm.
[Alert]
It sounded everywhere in the carrier.
[Hostiles detected]
[Scanning…]
[Scanning…]
[Indoctrinated detected]
[Cruiser Zeus 4 destroyed]
[Scanning…]
-Rumble- -rumble-
Someone tried to jammed the communication channels but failed, carrier Zeus is still updating the current events.
[Scanning]
-tremor- -tremor-
[Phase jump offline]
The Whole supporting team of carrier Zeus leave deactivated their phase jump engines.
[Pirates detected… Battlecruiser Zeus 1 engaged with pirates]
Their location is right at the back of the pirates; the formation of the spaceships in the case of Zeus, is 1 battlecruiser at the front and the back of the carrier, 1 cruiser at each side, top and bottom of the carrier, all of this positions are relative to their direction, and top is the area where the Squad disembark.
[Scanning]
-crash- - rumble-
Something fell not far from Leo’s unit.
[Carrier Zeus heavily hit. Please go to the nearest evacuation vessels.]
[Repeat carrier Zeus heavily hit. Please go to the nearest evacuation vessels.]
[table=black] Cryogenic chamber deactivated.
1 minute after corporal Leo is ready for mission…
[/table]
[Scanning…]
[Scanning…]
[Owls detected.]
[Owls threat class confirmed: Owl Colony class confirmed.]
They were at the back of Zeus. At the front pirates, at the back owls, the mission could be considered as failure.
[Cruiser Zeus 3 preparing Owl-contingency.]
But they can’t sit and wait for the inevitable; fight, escape and succeed those were always the priority of the Conglomerate.
Right now they need to fight so they can escape and succeed in reaching phase 2.
[Swarming confirmed.]
-tremors- -tremors- - rumble- -boom-
[Cruiser Zeus 3 has been hit.]
But not always plans and contingency plans goes as intended.
[Cruiser Zeus 3 has been taken down.]
[Swarming contained.]
Even while failing, they have to keep wining even if they lose their life in the process, they know if they fail billions of life will be in danger…
[Battlecruiser Zeus 2 engaging Owl Colony Class.]
“Cough cough… what what happen…”
He woke up with dizziness, it was a forced wake up, that method although not lethal it gives some minor nausea and headache.
[table=black] Activating user interface.
Incoming transmission. [/table]
‘Leo!!!! Finally… I’m glad… I-I’m really glad…’
“Emily what happen… why aren’t you in your armor? Why are you bleeding?”
She is in a bad state, her scar on her cheek is bleeding, her black hair is tied up behind her, she has a piece of cloth on her right ear and another member of Zeus is supporting her while she is been accommodated on her Goliah.
‘Tiger squad has been indoctrinated… they manipulated our chambers… sold us to the pirates and… and they stole the package…’
She said it with grieve in her eyes. Losing her comrades like this, is the worst… but what happened at this moment, is the worst thing that ever happened in the story of the Human Universal Conglomerate.
“Ho-how-?”
He blink and shake his head several times.
[This is Coronel David de la Rosa. There are no indoctrinated at carrier Zeus go to the evacuation vessels as fast as possible. We will use carrier Zeus as a shield and let cruiser Zeus 1 and 2 take you and leave as soon as possible]
“Evacuation? First sergeant Emily, your orders?”
Anxiety can be seen on his face. The mission didn’t even reach phase 2 and it is already a step away from failure.
‘Leo, we lack of man power. Half of the squad and I will support battlecruiser 2 fighting the Owls, the other half will assist the evacuation vessels to reach cruiser Zeus 1 and 2. You will go and destroy the package… they are too many and trying to retrieve it… is impossible.’
[This time is of great peril for us all, but don’t worry, carrier Prometheus is arriving we will soon have assistance from them]
“but-“
‘Leo your unit have been upgraded to support as much as possible your transcended A.I. you have to destroy the package, if possible capture one of them, maybe we can get some intel about this… this nightmare…’
Her eyes are red. Her breathing, rough. She knows that fighting the Owls in this manner means… the inevitable.
“Roger… Emily… be careful. Leo out.”
He close his eyes, and thought. Tiger squad consist of 200 Goliah units disregarding if they are for long, mid and close range… he knows for sure that battling them mid and close range means defeat… it didn’t matter if he is part of a god named squad.
“Goliah… activate God mode. Let me have 12 drones the rest, let them support Emily.”
[table=black] Affirmative, initiating safe zone.
[/table]
“Negative. I have to be conscious until we successfully destroy it…”
[table=black] Not possible. If you use god mode for more than 10 minutes, this unit won’t be able to give the proper treatment… after 20 minutes carrier Zeus won’t be able to give a recovery treatment.
[/table]
“Indoctrinated sold us to the pirates and Owls are on our back. This mission doesn’t require me to return alive. If you think there is a chance for survival, you are allow to activate the cryogenic chamber ONLY after package’s destruction.”
Dead is almost certain with the mission that Emily gave him, if it weren’t for his super heavy weapon. With it, the mission is not only feasible but non suicidal, of course only if his enemy side remains passive.
[table=black] Preparing countermeasures. God mode online.
Corporal Leo, good luck.
[/table]
He will go out with the others so he can use them as a shield in case they got in a crossfire, which will happen right now the pirates are trying to surround carrier Zeus, it is only thanks to battlecruiser Zeus 1 that it did't happen yet, nevertheless it receive constant fire from the pirates.
Even worse, Owls were on their way to siege carrier Zeus.
‘Zeus 10, calling all Zeus from 2 to 100, Zeus 2 to 50 protect cruisers 1 and 2; 51 to 100, make a way for the survivors’
‘Zeus 1, calling all Zeus from 101 to 199, formation delta, It is a big boy guys~ Owl colony class is the prey today. Contact in 10 minutes, lets' destroy it!’
“Zeus 200 pursuing indoctrinated”
‘Woa! Man r u rlly goin against 200 guys? That’s impossssssible~’ (Zeus 7)
‘What happened with the other Zeus?’ (Zeus 3)
‘U don’t know? His A.I is a transcended one.’ (Zeus 66)
‘What in space transcended means?’ (Zeus 150)
‘They are dead, Zeus 3; it means with his knowledge, experience and support from his Goliah, Zeus 150, he can take us all and win. That is, if he doesn’t run out of energy and ammunition.
Remember, when the battle against the Owl starts, we will be silenced. Talk is over. Zeus 10, Keep them alive’ (Emily)
‘Roger that, sergeant… endure until we are done, we will assist you as soon as possible. Leo, make them pay…’
[Warning]
[Carrier Zeus no longer able to sustain life.]
[Warning]
[table=black] Unit successfully Disembarked carrier Zeus.
[/table]
They all move together, 4 groups of different sizes, although one of the group is only of 1 unit.
They all move to their targets.
Pilots, although most of the time they remain inside their humanoid mechanical units, they also wear a liquefied mechanical armor. It is strong enough to defend them from antipersonnel ammunition, but the quality of this armor lies on its furtive mode and stun mode. It also gives a boost on speed and strength to the pilot, which he or she requires it.
The humanoid mechanical units are called Goliah. They are standard units disregarding rank, and squad, the only difference is the weaponry, humans are not able to use more than necessary and most of the times they may become an obstacle, this is not always truth if the unit can be equipped with more weaponry it is called an exception, these exceptions means to customize the unit. One kind of exception is a combination of the pilot’s C.V, or if the spaceship is named.
The standard spaceship just use a code name with numbers and colors, but state of the art spaceships or considered ‘hero’ are named spaceships.
In the case of Zeus, Emily and Leo are able do it, while Emily did it on her own will, Esmeralda and Emily did the changes on Leo’s forcibly.
On a standby mode its body color is silver and black. It has red eyes, and has something like libs and nose, although they don’t move. On battle and some other modes, its head gets covered by a full helmet that leaves open a cross like hole for its eyes and ‘nose’.
It has 6 arms
1 for a prototype super heavy weapon. It use the same concept of a cruiser class weaponry but on a smaller scale and slower charging speed.
It is in the middle of his back so it won’t affect too much its tactical maneuvers. It was a custom from Emily after his success at snipping an Owl colony class, at that time he used 8 cruisers linked to his unit, successfully destroying it.
This time he can’t use it because the Owl Colony class is battling with battlecruiser Zeus 2, he will obliterate everything but the Owl at a 2000 km radius.
As a side note on standby mode a full body shield covered it. The pilot has to tell the A.I to move and place the shield to one of his flexible arms
2 for multipurpose arms. They are used as a hangar bay for the drones that the pilot operates.
2 for heavy weapon arms, both of them can use energy and solid base weaponry, each of the heavy weapon arms are attach on the shoulders of the unit, the main arms are by default the multipurpose arms.
1 tail-like arm it is a custom from Esmeralda, saying she saw it on a show in the capital.
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As secondary weapons Goliah has the commonly known, laser blades, 2 multipurpose knives and 2 light laser guns.
Multipurpose arms and heavy weapon arms could be exchange between them at any time. It depends on the configurations of the pilot.
On each of its waist there are grip for its laser blades, on its bottom one could find 2 multipurpose knives and of each of his legs there are the light laser guns. One have to keep in mind is that all this weaponry are inside the unit.
The prototype weapon, the secondary weapons and the large shield were customs from emily due to his ability to operate and maneuver all of them. the tail and heavy weapon arms were from Lapiz because they look awesome, as a side note both of them agree on a fullhelm with a cross like hole for its eyes to cover its face for battle mode and other scenarios.
Leo’s Goliah god mode, change the position of the heavy arms with the multipurpose arms, the color of its eyes turn white, making the cross have a white color. The color of its body turn from silver to black and black to gold. 12 drones are flying around him, on standby mode they are mostly operated by the A.I.
On god mode they and the unit are maneuvered by the pilot, also don’t forget he is using just 12, he usually operate 40 but right now those drones are operated by Emily’s Goliah, Goliah will decide the fire power, or shield property of the drones in god mode.
At the beginning they were use to change the location of the heavy and multipurpose arms. They also move the full body shield to one of the heavy weapon arms. Or use it independently from the arms.
His mission is the destruction of the package so he doesn’t need to make contact; at a certain distance, he would just use his super heavy weapon.
[table=black] There is an anomaly 5000 km from tiger squad current location, possible space jump equipment.
Solution close the distance to 3000 km and use the super heavy weapon.
[/table]
By the time he reached the 3000 km mark, tiger squad will be ready to use the anomaly, it gave no space for error, sadly he didn’t has the time to come with another solution.
“I will manually target the anomaly and use the energy heavy weapon, even though it won’t destroy it, at least it can make it to malfunction, Goliah you are in charge to keep moving us, straight line”
He use his utmost to aim with the help of the aiming device he finally lock on the anomaly, before he pull the trigger he got a transmission.
‘Leo!! 4 Owl warrior class are on your –thunder- -thunder-.’
The transmission is full of static and only sounds like thunder could be hear.
[table=black] All communication channels jammed.
Turning them off.
Warning.
Tiger squad split up, 1 group is coming this way.
[/table]
2 Owls reached him, each one his side, they have the form of bees but just the form, their texture is like that of a pudding, their color is orange. It means they are suicide Owls. Fast, tough and they can explode on their target.
“How is that possible? Emily said they were warrior class”
[table=black] The data collected by Emily show they are indeed warrior class, but they change on their way here.
Hypothesis-
[/table]
“Not now! Use the drones to slow them down”
Since he activated god mode 2 minutes had passed.
He speed up his unit a bit more while half of the drones turn around and began to shot at the Owls.
[table=black] Tiger squad on range and firing, using shield drones now.
Estimated time until shield from drones collapse, 6 seconds.
[/table]
Sweat could be seen on his face, after 5 seconds he use his foot engines to make a 180 turn. The maneuver was so fast that the Owls could not react on time.
All drones were destroyed in that moment; right after that, tiger squad shots reach and hit both Owls.
A bright light covered all his screens, 2 seconds later the path got clear of Owls and the indoctrinated. Sadly the other part of the squad reach the anomaly.
“Goliah move our shield to our feet, we will use the other Owls”
[table=black] Anomaly identity confirmed, it is a space jump device, 10 seconds until activation.
[/table]
He did another jump got closer to the remaining Owls, and fired at them with all his heavy weapons.
-rumble-
‘not’
-rumble
‘Enough’
The Owls have many ways to communicate with the pilots, their use of physics is beyond human comprehension, one of their tricks is to make an electromagnetic pulse, when this pulse reach their chamber, it turns into a mechanical wave low enough to be hear by humans… it was a nightmare at the beginning of the war.
[table=black] Owls reach critical state.
Activating super heavy weapon.
[/table]
They change color from orange to brown, their bodies began to vibrate, they are about to explode, in that moment Leo throw both of his multipurpose knives and he turn his unit once again.
They explode, the wave reach him, he used the explosion force as an impulse to reach faster the location, but he lost his energy shield at the process.
[table=black] Location reached.
Target aimed, ready at your mark Leo.
Warning shield broken.
Warning armor breach.
Connecting pilot suit with oxygen tank.
[/table]
“Fire.”
The super heavy weapon is the state of the art weaponry for cruisers, right now the one Leo is using is a prototype for Goliah in general. It fires a star-like ball of energy, upon reaching the target it will change into a black hole and will cover a radius of 2000 Km at maximum charge, it could be controlled to get a radius of 10 Km for example; In the case of cruisers the radius could change from 10 times to 100 times.
While the unit carrying the package was entering the device, the star reach them.
It shine like no other thing in front of him. Immediately after that it absorb everything, the device, the remaining tiger units and the package, a consequence when using this super heavy weapon is that it will affect space and time way further than the expected radius.
Because of this Leo’s Goliah stayed on god mode for 5 more minutes.
[table=black] Anomaly detected.
Scanning…
Nothing conclusive.
Scanning…
Black hole remains on its position, impossible event detected.
Hypothesis package and the jumping device should have done something with the black hole.
Prometheus is in the System, using Prometheus A.I to reach final conclusion.
Wormhole detected.
[/table]
Those news should be immediately inform to their superior.
“Emily, Esmeralda do you read me? A wormhole has been confirmed, sending you the location”
[table=black] Warning Owl warrior class detected.
[/table]
These kind of Owls has the same pudding bodies but unlike the bee-like suicide Owls, warrior Owl form is like a bamboo. It can create branches strong enough to pierce the shield of Goliah.
Leo turn around his unit, and use his full body shield to parry 3 branches. It could only withstand that before it broke in eight pieces. But it was enough time, right after parrying he use his heavy weapon from the other hand and attack it, although it did not make damage, it was enough to stun it for a bit.
In that moment he used his laser blade and split the bamboo Owl in two. Right after that he shot it again.
[table=black] warning carrier Zeus imminent explosion.
[/table]
Right after that a big shockwave hit his unit, pushing him closer to the wormhole. Not only that, scraps from some units from tiger squad pierced his unit.
‘LEO! Are you alright? Answer me!’
She tried to contact him when he used his super heavy weapon, but got interference from his side because of the Owls, and the wormhole event. Right now the lights inside of her chamber are blinking. Her eyes are moving everywhere.
It shows that her battle is way harder than Leo’s and it is not over yet.
“Emily? Yes… I can hear you, I… repeat my… message… wormhole event… confirmed… sending you… location.”
When he finished his mission 8 minutes has passed. His unit just entered on standby mode, exhaustion was the least of his problem. still it beat him.
‘Got it. Leo, your unit is getting too close to the wormhole, pirates had been deal with, and battlecruiser Zeus 1 is helping us against the Owl colony class. In 10 minutes, carrier Prometheus will reach us… Leo can you hear me? You are not alright. Goliah show me his status.’
He fall asleep while she was updating him.
[table=black] Side effects of staying for a long period of time on god mode.
Lack of oxygen. Oxygen tanks have been pierce.
Using cryogenic chamber now.
Unit critically hit, entering preservation mode in 1 min.
Recording a message.
When he wake up he will watch it.
[/table]
A tear fall of her eyes… just a single tear while her eyes remained looking everywhere. She knew he won’t make it. Perhaps not even her will last 10 minutes.
‘…I – Leo… sorry… we- we will find you soon enough, please be safe. Emily out’
Preservation mode, it is a mode that allows the unit to repair itself and reconstruct the missing parts only if material in space are available, it uses special drones that are on a nanometer size. Also it will turn off all non-vital equipment, from time to time it will sent an S.O.S signal, acquire some information from space and search for an habitable planet. If it can do this in the wormhole, how long will take to leave it. If the pilot will remain alive… all of this is unknown.
Leo's unit entered the wormhole.