Ice asked the two beings what they meant by rumors. They told him how over the years rumors of missing troops and ships had spread throughout the navy, all of them related to System Central Station. All of them without proof until now.
Ice nodded after a time. "Ok so here's the plan…"
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Ice slowly exited the battleship with Alpha and Beta by his side. He had sent the Tier 1 D.O.Gs to assist the Captain and Sergeant with their tasks. The Cat was stalking the corridors reporting back to Raven anything that seemed a danger.
Ducky, who had been on the station before, had explained the route to the fuel resupply bunkers for the Enzyme fuel. It of course was on the other side of the docking bay the Nano Forge sensors had picked up numerous automatons between the battleship and the bunkers.
Ice carefully walked down the ramp, his hud tracking the motion of a number of nearby automatons as they slowly congregated nearby. Ice pointed Alpha to his left and Beta to his right as he activated his nano shield holding it in front of him as he moved slowly away from the ramp towards a small nearby group of enemies. Raven had thoughtfully tagged them red in his hud. When Ice was about 50 meters away from the group he carefully aimed and fired a mini flechette into the nearest one watching it tear through its body. It left a hole in its chest that leaked oil slowly down its bronze torso. The group of five automatons turned as one and began to move towards them gathering speed with each step. With a motion Ice signaled for Alpha and Beta to open fire with their back mounted railguns.
Those shots were much much more effective, each one leaving bowling ball sized holes whoever they hit. However other than pushing the automatons back the only one that stopped was the front one as its body disintegrated under the brunt of the shots. When the automatons were within 10 meters Ice switched to his nano blade and stepped forward swinging it clumsily into the side of the nearest one as Alpha and Beta pounced on two of the others. Ice fenced with his swinging more wildly than with any grace or skill. Every time the automaton blocked however his blade would take chunks out of its arms. By the time he had hit it a second time Alpha had ripped the head off his automaton and was attempting to bite the final one as it attempted to hit the drone with a long staff.
Beta finally finished his, having gotten an arm stuck in his chain maw instead of the automaton's neck. Immediate it turned and assisted Ice. Attacking the automaton from behind and knocking it facedown. Biting down on the back of its neck. It yielded with a spray of sparks and the screech of tortured metal.
By this point Ice was feeling the adrenaline of victory. Right up until something impacted his chest knocking him backwards a few steps. A small brass ball fell from the front of his armor. Ice looked up and noticed one of the more distant automatons reloading the cannon it had instead of one arm. The shot hadn't done much damage however, Ice immediately rushed the ranged automaton followed by Alpha and Beta.
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They continued this method of progress getting further away from the battleship and closer to the fuel bunker in the middle of the bay. It wasn't until another ten groups of automatons had fallen that they sustained their first injury. Beta had its tail crushed in the grip of an automaton it had attempted to slice with the chain tip. Shortly after Ice was limping from where an automaton had kicked his knee.
They persevered and continued towards the fuel bunker. Ice could only hope the other team were having better luck.
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The Sergeant tugged on the strap of his bolt rifle making sure it was secured to his armor. He then turned to check the Captain's preparations. Once he had ensured both exoskeleton armor systems were in the best shape they could be he left the battleship's armory followed by the captain and the three D.OGs. They approached one of the side airlocks and the Captain entered the command code override that opened it and dropped the ramp to the ground much quicker than the safety system would normally allow.
At the bottom of the ramp three automatons looked up at them as the two naval soldiers opened fire with both of their bolt rifles, sending rounds of superheated death at the automatons. Where it sparked and … did nothing besides chip away at the bronze chest plates of the automatons.
"Fuck it." The Captain screamed his favorite warcry as he drew the longsword he had insisted on carrying across his back charging down the ramp and immediately slashing the blade through an automaton like it was air.
The Sergeant watched in pure stunned fascination as the Captain systematically dismantled both remaining automatons with a few skillful strikes from the sword. "Well, that isn't something you see everyday."
"Sergeant, are you coming or am I going to open the blast doors alone?" The Captain said, giving him The Look. The Sergeant hurried down the ramp daring at the shining blade in the Captain's hands.
"Sir, with all due respect. Why do you have a System companion's sword?"
"My family has served this empire for a very long time, Sergeant. This has been carried by every member that joins the navy. I don't know how old it is or where we got it. But damn if I'm not glad my grandfather gave it to me."
The Sergeant nodded as they jogged towards the doors to the landing bays command center. Hopefully Ice would hurry back with the fuel for his ship. It was the only chance of them getting away alive. And defending the command center seemed much harder now that they knew what they were up against.
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Emperor watched the holographic monitors in the central command access as he picked his teeth with one long nail. The female crewmember had been surprisingly stringy but had made for a most excellent roast. He noted the Captain's sword and tried to think of which of the System Users had a companion named Drake. "Ah well not like it matters I haven't eaten a Garien in ages!" The madman hummed to himself as he ordered the last of the crew shoved into the kitchen's bio processor. He would preserve the meat of the tasty ones but those damn tentacles were just too chewy. And this one was even missing part of one.