Alarms
screamed as red warning lights flashed throughout the Spire. Saiun
separated himself from the fleeing crowd, running despite the
numerous safety warnings, and closed the door to Cinradahs's office,
silencing the sound of pounding footfalls entirely.
“What's
happening?” Saiun sat on the desk next to his focused boss.
“The
Xaosians are here.” Cinradahs's voice was barely above a whisper.
“The Orbital Defense System is engaging them for now, and the
fighters should be ready for launch any minute now.” He looked at
Saiun with wide eyes. “I've got to guide them. I can't fight
myself, look at me! So I have to guide them, command them.”
Sensing
his boss's fear, Saiun placed a hand on his shoulder. “It'll be
alright; I'm here to help.”
Cinradahs
gave a weak smile, and placed his hand on the Quaren's. “Thank
you.”
He
turned to a pair of screens; one showed the view from atop the Spire,
and one showed the formation of Xaos's ships. After turning the
combat-com on, he gave a single command.
“Launch.”
Below
the city of New Orbus, metal panels slid open, and
from them spewed a stream of small Peacekeeper-Class fighter ships,
followed by the relatively massive Guardians and the troop-carrying
Liberators. Personally, Cinradahs hated these names for machines of
war, but he was always in awe when he watched them spill out of the
city. Around the city, people stood still and watched, some in a
stunned silence, and some whooping, not having realised what was
going on.
Then
the battle began. Peacemakers met the Reapers head on as the latter
entered the atmosphere. Some Reapers took down Peacemakers. Some
Peacemakers took down Reapers. Cinradahs yelled to the pilots,
Saiun's hand on his shoulder, and the pilots yelled back. Some
cheered as a Reaper went down, praying that the wreckage missed the
city. Usually it did not, with black meteors tearing through homes, tearing canyons into the streets.
Missiles that were never fired exploded on the impact with the
ground, buildings shattering, fires consuming, and the ground itself
erupting in a flurry of green, brown and grey. People ran for their
lives, but there was nowhere to go.
One
man ran for his house, only to find it gone, only a burnt ruin
remaining. He ran into the ruins, moving fragments of his home out of
his way, until he found his children. Collapsing to his knees, he
held their scorched corpses to his chest, a scream of despair overpowered by the sounds of war.
One
woman dragged her friend, who seemed transfixed by the destruction,
along by the arm, moving him out of harm's way as things fell from
the sky above, denting the city itself. The force of the impact
knocked them both down, trapping them under a shell of a Reaper. A
group of fleeing people stopped and ran over, heaving and straining
until the trapped couple were able to wriggle free.
In
his office, Cinradahs shook his head, before signing off on the
combat-com. “I can't do it anymore.” He brushed Saiun's hand away
and went over to another screen. “I'm not a tactician, I'm a
diplomat.” He picked up another com and opened a channel to The
Dominion. “Xaos, stop this
lunacy.”
The warlord's gaze met his own through the screen. “This is not
lunacy, minister. This is for the good of the Empire.”
“How is taking over the Empire any good for the damn Empire?”
Cinradahs roared at the screen.
Xaos smiled as if amused. “My vision for the Empire is good for it.
A unified Empire.”
“It was unified, until you attacked Raan!”
Xaos waved his hand at the screen. “Unnecessary; Raan's destruction
or defeat had to happen for my vision to succeed. Now, I have new
allies. The death of Tahkshi gave me Irin and Rat'hak. Buun joined me
over a mutual agreement. Narcsia is gone. Raan is all but destroyed
by quakes, which should unleash the Corlens.”
“Hang on... quakes?” He had accepted that some planets would
surrender, and he had calculated on Irin and Rat'hak, but Buun
surprised him. Raan, however, surprised him more. “And what the
hell are Corlens?”
“Now
is not the time, nor the place. The Earth-Scorcher did its job, and
that's all that needs to be said. While Raan had to be decimated, New
Orbus does not have to suffer the same fate. Surrender, minister, and
no further death shall come. Failure to do so will result in your
extermination.”
Cinradahs sighed and shook his head. “Tell me Xaos; what is your
vision for the Empire? If I am to surrender, I want to know what you
intend to do.”
Xaos looked annoyed, but he indulged Cinradahs's curiosity. “This
Empire is dying. We need to unite, and expand. Only by uniting our
forces can we expand into possibly-hostile territory beyond the
stars. We will take what we want in a glorious show of both
scientific and military might. It will take an age, but it will be
the age of enlightenment. All I want is for the best of the Empire.”
Saiun glanced at Cinradahs, who was struggling with Xaos's vision;
while expansion was an idea that the Empire had been toying over for
some time now, it was always going to be a peaceful engagement. “I'm
sorry Xaos, but while you may think that the endpoint of your vision
justifies the means, I disagree. The endpoint of expansion would be
amazing, but it could have been reached peacefully.”
“No.” Xaos's voice seemed to change, becoming more mechanical.
“Your kind can never have peace. Even you are a hypocrite; suing
for peace, then opting for war.” Xaos shook his head. “If it's
war you want, then I will call in my allies. The Pyrkagia Hive-Ships
and the Irinian fleet will be here shortly. Remember; this is all on
you. When the smoke clears, and I have won, the deaths will all be on
you.”
The screen turned black.
Cinradahs stumbled away from the screen as if dazed. Saiun rushed
over to steady him, but Cinradahs pushed him away. “It's all on
me,” he muttered to himself, “All on me.” He stood still, mouth
slightly open, before he lifted his hand to it and listened to the
destruction outside.
“It's not on you.” Saiun stepped further towards him. “It's
only on you if you lose. That's what the history books will say. If
we win, it will be on Xaos. And we can win.”
“Maybe.” Cinradahs said quietly. “Maybe we can win.” He shook
his head. “But I doubt it. We need to win before the Irinians and
Pyrkagia arrive.”
Saiun pointed at the combat-com. “Then tell them.”
Cinradahs nodded and walked over to the com, picking it up. He
switched it on with a swipe of his thumb and took a deep breath.
“Pilots of the Empire Fleet. We need to end this fight. The
Xaosians have allies which are on their way; if we can defeat Xaos
before then, we might have a chance of winning. You can do it.”
*
Xaos observed his fleet in action. The Reapers, expendable machines,
fought the similarly expendable Peacemakers in a battle that closely
resembled moths dancing around a flame, rather than an actual space
battle. With his Titans, however, the battle was much slower. The
troop-carrying warships vastly outnumbered the amount of Liberator
troop-carriers that the New Orbus fleet launched, but he had no equal
to the massive Guardians, golden ships with thicker hulls and
stronger cannons. However, his two smaller flagships accompanied him
this time; The Dominion was almost breached on Raan, and it
had spooked him. The repairs to the forcefield were finished now, and
Xaos was satisfied with watching the battle from his floating
fortress. Within his flagship sat enough firepower to single-handedly
decimate at least half of New Orbus's fleet, but he knew that the
ship wouldn't last long enough to be able to do so.
The
voice in his ear whispered again, and Xaos repeated it as his com
turned itself on. “Reapers, leave the Peacemakers and concentrate
fire on the Guardians. Titans, split into two groups; one take out
the Peacemakers, the other will drop off troops on New Orbus. Get
down there and capture the city. Try not to kill too many; they could
be,” he thought of the Inducers, “very useful.”
Receiving
affirmatives in response, Xaos sunk back into his throne and watched
the ships change course. Reapers veered towards the Guardians, using
their slow speed against them. The Peacemakers followed the Reapers
at first, before turning on the Titans. From behind, The Dominion
began to fire on the Liberators, effectively throwing New Orbus's
fleet into disarray. The voice in his ear, while droning and
emotionless in sound, seemed pleased.
*
“How are the com teams doing?” Cinradahs strode over to another
screen as Saiun checked the team's progress.
“They've broken through the Xaosian encryptions, but the
encryptions keep changing and recoding themselves; they say they've
never seen anything like it.” Saiun glanced at Cinradahs to check
his expression: it was the same blank face it had been since his
talks with Xaos. “They're getting snippets, but that's about it.”
“They've completely changed their formation,” Cinradahs informed
him, “messed us up for a bit, but the squad captains sorted it out.
They should be fine up there; it's down here I'm worried about.
Look.” He pointed to a point on the largest screen, looking over
his shoulder to make sure that Saiun was looking. “There are Titan
troop-carriers headed for the city. One of the captains has rerouted
his Peacemakers to intercept, but I'm not sure how much good it will
do; we still need to defeat Xaos before his backup arrives.”
Saiun squinted at a smaller screen which made a quiet beeping sound.
“Too late.”
Cinradahs rushed over to the screen and his heart sunk as knees
weakened; Pyrkagia Hive-Ships had entered the battlefield. He picked
up the combat-com. “Everyone! Xaos's backup has arrived; the
Hive-Ships are not your friend! Peacemakers, form a defensive wall
between the planet and invaders. Everything else, destroy the Xaosian
flagships. Blow them up, board them, I don't care. Just destroy
them.” He cut the com off, but placed it in his pocket.
“Rad, if the troops are coming,” Saiun observed, “This
building is the most likely target; shall we evacuate?”
Cinradahs nodded vigorously. “Yes, send the order, and then we'll
get out of here.”
Saiun punched buttons on a keypad, before confirming his intentions
with voice commands. “It's done, let's go.”
The stairs downwards were narrow and spiralled, and Cinradahs's large
feet gave him hassle at the best of times. Now, running as fast as he
could when having to take smaller steps, it was a deadly hazard.
Almost tripping twice, Cinradahs decided to keep a hand hovering over
the handrail for safety's sake. Saiun, having the naturally smaller,
webbed feet of the Quarens, was untroubled by the stairs, but was
worried about his superior. As they got lower, they began to hear the
standard sounds of panic; rushed footsteps and screams, the former
providing a percussion background to the shrill latter.
The room they were in was roughly about halfway up the Spire, and
subsequently, it was a long way to the ground floor. But they ran
together in near silence, pushing through the other people who
emerged down on the lower floors, much to their dismay and anger.
Curses and mutters followed them all the way to the ground floor,
whereupon Cinradahs rushed to the open doors and took in the disaster
first-hand.
Flames licked at even the tallest buildings around the spire, and
several homes were only blackened skeletons, crumbling relics of what
they once were. In the skies, Titans loomed, growing ever-larger in
their descent. On the ground, flocks of people looked up at the enemy
ships, and then looked at the growing crowd outside the Shard. From
the Titans, black cylinders were fired out towards the surface;
Combat-Pods. Smashing into the ground or buildings, the Xaosians
would be kept safe thanks to the impact-softening gel surrounding
them. Cinradahs registered the crowd's fear, and recognised it as his
own amplified a thousand-times. Knowing he had to do something, he
picked up a twisted metal beam and yelled to the crowd; “Don't just
gawp at them! What are you waiting for?
“Fight!”
*
“Lock and load! We're going in!”
The commander's yell broke Maron's stupor, and he realised that he
must have been staring gormlessly at the floor for a good ten
minutes. Feeling like an idiot, he picked up his T-18 assault weapon
from where it stood next to him; the T-18 was not classed as a melee
or ranged weapon, because it did both oh-so well. The weapon itself
appeared to be a greatsword, with one edge being replaced with a
cylindrical barrel. The hand-guard on the weapon's hilt acted as both
protection and the trigger, and a bullet-belt was fed into the the
barrel, with the belt itself being tucked into his armour. Belts were
present on both of his arms, with a point to attach the T-18, meaning
he could switch hands or even dual-wield. As he stood up, he noted
that the weapon was strangely light for what was packed into it, but
then he remembered about the small anti-grav chip within it, which
negated its weight, allowing him to use the blade part of the T-18
with both ease and speed.
He mingled in with the others as they made their way to their
combat-pods. As he approached his own, marked with his delegated code
098764, he remembered how much he hated them from the drills. Closing
his visor and air-locking it, he stepped into the pod, forcing his
way through the impact gel. A small light came on, reflecting green
off of the gel. The inside of the pod was a dull grey; a stark
contrast from the red and gold colours of the Orban fleet.
And the grey was too damn close.
His breathing, naturally shallow from years on the Ukafa Sticks, was
even more so now, as the walls themselves seemed to be closing in
around him. Cold straps snapped around his waist and shoulders,
shocking him as if an enemy had attacked. The pod squealed three
times, before it shot out of the Liberator it was housed in like a
bullet from a pistol. Regaining his composure, he managed to turn on
the com and ask which flagship he was going to be boarding, only to
hear the response he dreaded.
“The Dominion; Xaos's
flagship.”
*
Along with the numbers, actions and words that the voices whispered
to him, Xaos heard the battle outside from a thousand perspectives.
Reaper pilots cheering, or dying. Troops landing on New Orbus, some
still zooming towards it, before the impact set them free. But right
now, he had one main priority.
FORCEFIELD DOWN
Alarms should be going off but
they weren't; Xaos figured that the Orban pilots had hit something
controlling them. Odd that they reacted with strange composure after
the allies arrived, Xaos noted. Not human at all. They would make
good additions, if he could slip an Inducer on them. He sensed the
Pyrkagia Primary in the Inducer network and the whispers made him
smile; that was an easy victory, just a quick sleight of hand and the
entire race, bound to the Primary, was his. He now understood the
Pyrkagia Swarm more than ever. If he concentrated, he could see
allies around the Empire. Irin, Buun, Rat'hak, Prauw, he could see
them all.
But that mattered not.
Through the web, he beckoned his
guards to him; it was time to leave.
*
The weightlessness of space gave
Maron a brief respite from his claustrophobia, but the silence was
all too eerie. Then the sound started again with a smash. Maron was
thrown forward, the straps constricting around the armour. He placed
his finger firmly on the T-18's trigger as the pod opened like a
rosebud. There were two other comrades with him, slowly getting out
of their pods. He walked briskly over to them, forcefully pulling
them from their pods; they had to hurry, before the Xaosians got
here. Together, they broke up the pods, turning the individual
“petal” elements on their side to act as makeshift cover. Using
the sword, Maron made an incision in the metal in which to steady it,
ready to fire. His heartbeat sped up; he could feel a vein in his
neck pulsing, and he wasn't sure if he was excited or terrified.
Looking around, he saw the nervousness in his allies' movements; the
juddering, sharp motions, coupled with the anxiety at every sound
gave them away.
The room they were in was
practically empty, and he was glad that this ship had auto-repair
functions; a wave of molten metal had already smothered the hole made
by the combat-pods, and the metal was beginning to harden and seal
itself. There were a few boxes in the corner of the room, and some
plastic containers, but he could tell by their size that there was
nothing of use. From outside the room, he could hear gunfire: Xaosian
guns; the X-46 Devastator had a very identifiable sound to it.
He ran over to the door,
beckoning at the others to follow. They did so, taking up positions
on the opposite side of the door to him. He pressed a button and the
carnage outside was displayed to them. More Empire troops littered
the ground than Xaosian. Much more. Evidently the Xaosians were
actually trained for war, rather than mostly ceremony, hence the
lavish red and gold. He could hear footsteps coming, and voices
shouting.
“More troops have breached the
hull!”
“Swoop in on both sides, cut
them off!”
Maron listened closely, and
readied his weapon. It was time to fight.
*
The Xaosians fired on them, and
bodies dropped, twitching. Cinradahs watched the bodies go down,
noting the use of stun ammunition. Cinradahs ran at a Xaosian,
smashing the beam into the Xaosian's head, slightly cracking it. The
Xaosian rolled with the hit, before smashing the gun into his face.
Cinradahs fell to the ground, blood seeping from his temple. The
Xaosian fiddled with the dial on his gun, aimed briefly, and shot him
through the shoulder. The bullet passed through muscle, skin and bone
until it embedded itself in the floor and Cinradahs screamed. The
Xaosian ignored him and continued its march towards the Spire,
changing back to stun ammo, taking down person after person. Even the
Hak'i went down after several hits from several soldiers; the Xaosian
army seemed invincible against the standard citizens. Too late,
Cinradahs realised that he should have called troops to the surface.
Saiun smashed another beam into a Xaosian, knocking them back, before
he was shot down by another. Cinradahs tried to move towards him, to
check that he was just stunned; being a water-breathing creature, the
Quarens were more susceptible to the stun ammo.
A strange sound filled the sky,
some kind of scraping sound. He looked up, his vision blurred from
the pain, and saw several boomerang-shaped vessels shoot by. Brow
furrowing in confusion, Cinradahs watched them closely; he had never
seen a ship like that.
When they began to fire on the
ground, he shielded himself, even though he knew it would be futile.
Dust and dirt flew up at him, and he felt the impact of the ships'
projectiles, but when he peeked again, he realised that the ships
were firing on the Xaosians. The Titans moved in to fight the strange
ships, but they were too fast and well-armed for the ships to stand a
chance.
From the ships, red humanoids
clad in what appeared to be a armour made of bone dropped to the
ground, landing powerfully on knee, foot and hand. The Xaosians shot
at them, but the beings were too fast for the slower stun ammunition
to hit and even it did, the alien was only knocked back slightly.
Without warning, their armour twisted, with what Cinradahs had
assumed were gauntlets, becoming cylindrical barrels. Some had the
barrels, some had blades up there arms.
The Xaosians switched from
projectile-stun to projectile-kill ammunition and began to fire,
while the beings with the barrel-arms shot red bullet-like pellets
from their armour, laying down covering fire for the charging group
of warriors. Cinradahs couldn't help but feel a sigh of relief when
he saw one of them slice through Xaosian armour, cleaving what was
inside in two.
The tide of battle was turning.
*
Maron thanked the lords that the
doorway was narrow and tough; it meant that he was a harder target,
and the likelihood of the doorway breaking and leaving him vulnerable
was reduced slightly. He saw a Xaosian emerge from cover, and
everything seemed to slow down. He took aim, steadying the weapon.
Pulled the trigger, and watched the Xaosian's helmet shatter; he was
still alive, but it made the next shot easier, which hit the shocked
Xaosian between the eyes. Dead. Maron felt some satisfaction; he
hadn't had a chance to practice his marksmanship for years, not since
the shooting range was closed down.
A bullet narrowly missed him, but
the perpetrator was taken down by the other two on his three-man
team. He shook his head; they wasted bullets like there was an
endless supply. Amateurs. Patience wins shoot-outs, not the amount of
bullets or weapons, but patience. Maron reckoned that he could take
out all of the Xaosians in the corridor on his own, if he had the
time. A bullet was fired towards him, and he ducked back behind the
frame.
An explosion sounded from further
along the corridor; more of his comrades had broken through. The
Xaosians were forced out of their hiding places, and as they backed
away, Maron changed position in the doorway, allowing him to aim at
the Xaosians easier. He counted twelve of them. Two bullets for each.
Three if they move too much. Thirty six bullets in total
theoretically.
One: cracked helmet.
Two: in the throat. Dead.
Three: cracked helmet.
He was better than he thought
when he killed the second Xaosian, and he silently congratulated
himself, until one of his team fell loosely onto him. He pushed his
comrade off of him, ignoring the bullet-holes in his face. Maron
didn't know him, so he'd grieve later; he was busy. He went over to
the body and unclipped the corpse's T-18, clipping it into his own
left hand as backup.
An explosion rocked the ship, and
Maron fell to the ground, slamming the back of his head on the cold
metal. Red flares lit up his vision briefly. The ship shook again;
something was firing on it. The Xaosians had steadied themselves, and
began picking off Maron's comrades. Knowing that he'd be next, he ran
further into the room, hiding behind the combat-pod's petals; more of
a difficult target when they come after him. Making another incision,
he readied both guns in their slots.
If he was to die, he wasn't going
to make it easy for them.
*
A
squadron of the boomerang-shaped ships flew over the Xaosian ships,
firing on the flagships to disable; the life-scanners told Keinam
that there was not just Xaosians aboard. Even in his role as Warchief
and Commander of the Adjeti fleet, he hadn't expected a space battle
so soon, least of all one which combined both of their enemies. He
broadcast a signal to another ship to scan the Hive-Ships while he
concentrated on disabling Xaos's fleet; he'd already sent some of the
Wing-Ships to head off the larger ships that had made their way down
to the dead world.
Keinam's
ship was larger than the standard Wing-Ships, but pretty much the
same proportions overall. It just housed nine Adjeti instead of the
usual three, and most of them were on weapons duty. Four on each
side, with Keinam in the centre. Although each of the eight would
have controls for their weapon posts, Keinam ultimately had overrides
for all of them, and preferred to pilot his ship on his own. On his
own, he used both motion controls and voice commands to control his
vessel. He pointed at a small Xaosian ship and said “Cannon L3.
Destroy.” The cannon proceeded to do so, tracking the ship until it
disassembled silently. Keinam always imagined the explosion sounds;
he wasn't sure why, but he assumed it was his way of holding on to
his inner child, however deeply buried it was.
He
swooped in over the third Xaosian flagship, opening fire on it; he
could tell that the forcefield was down, as the bludgeons were
powering through the hull. Unlike modern vessels, Adjeti preferred
primarily to simply attach a rocket to a massive weight and fire it
through an enemy ship; space warfare didn't need explosions, but
Keinam still imagined the crashes and mini explosions.
“Sir?”
An Adjeti voice came over the com, as clear as if he were standing
right next to him; Adjeti tech was always far more advanced than the
rest of the Empire's, and were still even after hundreds of years.
Keinam
motioned to the ship to close off voice commands, before answering
the com with an authoritative tone which did not come naturally to
him. “What is it?”
“I
scanned the Pyrkagia's Hive-Ships. You'll never guess what!”
A
level of excitement crept into Keinam's tone, which he tried to kill.
“What?”
“The
Primary's here! In just a standard Hive-Ship! This is our chance to
take him out!”
Keinam
nodded, accidentally moving the ship at the same time. “Yes. How
many are on board with him?”
“Three,
commander. Four in total.”
Keinam
chuckled. “Excellent. Mark the Hive-Ship on my screen.” Every
Adjeti ship had a small screen which displayed the area, mapped out
by vibration technology; an adapted version of sonar or radar for
space. The ship was marked with a bright yellow, and Keinam was
initially confused by the colour choice, before choosing to ignore it
and move on. He turned the voice commands back on. “Ship. Follow
the marked Hive-Ship, and prepare for boarding.”
*
Xaos
rushed away from the gunshots and shouts, two guards flanking him.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw no-one coming, but was sure that
someone would. He pushed on the guards' back, urging them to hurry
up, but not wanting to talk in case people were listening. He wanted
to cry out for more help, but the whispers forced him silent. They
also told him to take the small ship in the centre of The
Dominion
in order to escape; namely, the ship that was actually part of the
flagship's structure, and contained the vault of Inducers. He opened
the vault and climbed in, before pushing a button that closed the
ship up, and ejected it. The ship whined, before falling away from
the main flagship. Xaos set the L-Drive to maximum, and entered the
co-ordinates for Rat'hak. Time to leave. He glanced at the guards,
neither of which had Inducers, but were looking at the ones littered
throughout the vault. Without hesitation, Xaos pulled out a pistol
and shot them both dead; they could not be able to know the truth
about them. Xaos fell to his seat, but the voice in his ear told him
not to feel bad about the murder; emotions were for the weak.
*
Maron
held the Xaosians off on his own, and he was starting to amass quite
a collection of corpses. Although he had been shot more times than
he'd liked, the only damage so far was to his armour, but there were
so many near misses. His visor was cracked, another bullet there
would shatter it. His patience was what got him through, and kept him
alive. The Xaosians that had entered the room were dead now, but he
knew there would be more to come. As he sat with his back resting on
the combat-pod's petal, he felt the vibrations from the bang of
another bullet denting the thick metal; those things can survive most
impacts, bullets were never going to do much, merely a scare tactic.
Nodding
as he did so, Maron counted the bullets and listened to the
footsteps; too close, he'd kill them regardless. The X-46 had a
standard ten-round clip of each ammo, but could be expanded to
anything up to fifty. Most, however, didn't expand, due to the bulk
of the weapon; it was easier just to carry more clips.
Nine.
Ten.
Grabbing
trigger of both T-18s, Maron took aim and fired at the Xaosian, one
after the other, shattering the helmet and putting the second bullet
in his forehead. He was getting bored of the tactic, but he couldn't
deny that it worked; one misfire and he was as good as dead.
More
gunshots from outside as more of his comrades fought back. He even
heard armour cracking, before a squelch; someone was using the blade.
Maron couldn't be bothered to use the blade; he was good with it, but
rushing to use it could get you killed. Better in one-on-one combat.
One
of his comrades stopped by the door, looked at the Xaosian corpses
and then at Maron's makeshift gun emplacement. “Damn mate, you did
well.”
Maron
nodded in thanks of the compliment. “Better than well; most of the
one's in the corridor were me too.”
“Well,
you'll be glad to know that we've scared Xaos off; he fled in a small
vessel. We've won!”
Maron
breathed a sigh of relief.
It
was over.
*
Keinam
shot out the Hive-Ship's thrusters as he reached it, pretty much
stopping it in it's tracks, before donning a spacesuit; most
Hive-Ships didn't bother with oxygen supplies, the Pyrkagia don't
really need it. The Adjeti spacesuits actually had a hole in the
centre of the chest, where the subject's exoskeleton is released from
sits, allowing him to activate his natural armour while still being
able to breathe. Opening a hatch on his ship, Keinam caught his
breath and, despite his fear, managed to keep his heartbeat stable;
he hadn't done a jump like this in decades.
He
jumped.
The
experience was dull compared to his memories; maybe it was because
the ships were so close, maybe it was because he was older. Ignoring
disappointment, he activated his exoskeleton, unable to feel the
usual warmth as it spread over his body. His hand twisted into a
blade, and he sliced the top of the Hive-Ship open like a can-opener.
Dropping
through, he took the Pyrkagia by surprise, grabbing one of the
Hive-Stones, shifting his skeleton's material and crushing it. One
down. Ducking under a panicked punch, he reached up and crushed
another stone, before slamming his other fist into another, cracking
it. The Pyrkagias roared in pain, and lashed out at Keinam, who was
hit this time, and knocked to the ground. He groaned; he was too old
for this shit. The Primary came over, silent, and reached down to
him. Keinam threw himself to the side, and reached up to the
Primary's Hive-Stone; he was too old and slow to resist and fight
back as Keinam crushed him, turning his enemy to dust in his hand.
The other Pyrkagias stopped dead in his tracks, and screamed as the
Swarm network broke down in tatters. The bugs became unruly, and the
stone dropped to the ground. One by one, the bugs dropped to the
floor, dead; the race would survive, but the ones close to the
Primary felt the shockwave of his death more than those on Buun. The
Secondary would reconnect the threads of the network and ascend to be
the new Primary. Keinam cursed; victory was a long way away. As he
turned to leave, he noticed a small, cylindrical object on the
ground. Picking it up, he recognised as what he had assumed was a
Xaosian earpiece. But the way it was made and shaped made him think
otherwise. Pocketing it, he headed back to his own ship.
*
Saiun
woke from unconsciousness with a strange amount of energy, and bolted
over to Cinradahs, who was just about conscious. Noticing his
shoulder, Saiun tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it
round it as a makeshift bandage; it may be able to stop the blood
loss for now. Cinradahs looked up at Saiun, and then at the strange
beings that had saved them. He nodded in thanks to Saiun, too tired
and drained to speak, before gesturing at the beings. Saiun told him
to save his energy.
Cinradahs's
com rang, but Saiun picked up. He listened to the message, before
relaying back to Cinradahs:
“It's
over. Xaos has fled, his flagships are ours, and his allies have
either fled or been destroyed. We have won!”
