Basic plating upgrade: 12%
The Expert creased her brow. “So … twelve percent in about six hours. That means the upgrade takes two days in total.”
“Looks like it. I watched the plating spreading over the hull for a while. It covered the entire ship with a thin layer first, then another one started forming on top of that.”
“The Tec is fascinating, isn’t it?” Lana said. “I mean, they pretty much screwed up our entire planet, but we can’t hold it against them. They’re just machines; they must have a code or some sort of directive that guides them. We’ve only started learning what they can do. The possibilities are amazing.”
“I for one would have been fine living my life without ever hearing of those things,” Nori grunted. Her seat retracted into the floor as she stood up. “You’re good staying up for several hours?”
“Yeah, I’m not tired. I napped a little. I’m actually looking forward to going over the data Alzigo gave me. With everything that’s been going on lately, I haven’t had much time for it.”
“Just don’t forget to look down every now and then.”
Lana saluted clumsily. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
Nori grunted something unintelligible and stepped into the quarters.
Lana watched her leave, then she turned her attention back to the bridge. She refrained from calling her chair and concentrated briefly. One by one, consoles and holo monitors appeared out of thin air, surrounding her with a myriad of partially-transparent colors. The young Expert cracked her fingers. “Let’s get to work.”
***
The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Nathan, who took the last shift, spent the hours plugged into his capsule. He quickly realized that with his five points in Control, he was able to fork a small part of his consciousness to keep a vigilant watch while the rest of him concentrated on expanding his senses, attempting to deepen his connection with Unity. He knew there was more to her than what he was able to grasp, but whenever he tried to reach toward those parts, the Tec in his body started agitating, demanding to take control.
When morning came, he disengaged from his seat and went to wake up the rest of his crew.
“Morning, kid,” Bulco said gruffly. The AstroEngineer has spent the majority of his shift, and the following one, working in the engine room. “What’s the time?”
The young man twirled his fingers and a holographic clock appeared hovering in the air.
“Seven in the morning, good. The Warped still down there?”
Nathan nodded.
“Any news from the shelters?”
He shook his head.
Nori woke up too. “What about the plating upgrade?”
Nathan twirled his fingers again and another holo-screen appeared.
Basic plating upgrade: 26%
“Damn, that one takes forever,” the large man grunted. “How about some coffee?”
Nathan smiled proudly and pointed at the modular kitchen. A steaming glass pot stood on a raised podium.
“Ha! You’re handy to keep around, kid.”
They shared a few moments in silence, sipping at their mugs.
Martin’s voice came over the comms. “Earth Force, can you hear me?”
Lana touched her ear instinctively. “We hear you, Martin. What’s up?”
“I’ve got close to nine hundred men, all armed and ready to go. We’re making our way to the rendezvous now.”
Diamond’s voice came through. “Not bad, for a Justicar. I got a bit over a thousand. We’re heading out now, too.”
“A thousand?” Nori said. “I thought you said you had enough weapons for six hundred. Why bring so many?”
“Remember I told you I had an idea how to convince more to join the attack?”
“Yes.”
“There were a lot of Warped corpses left on the roof and the couple inside the shelter. I offered everyone who joins a share in their Tec. There were enough corpses to raise almost half the shelter to level one, and I used part of the piTec to raise about eighty more. Most of them acquired Paths that have no place on a battlefield, but about four hundred others got support Paths that could give us a big advantage: Medics, Fortifiers, and other fancy hi-tech sounding jobs that will come in handy.”
“That’s awesome!” Lana exclaimed.
“Damn, I wish I’d have thought of that,” Martin’s voice answered over the comms.
“Don’t feel too bad about it,” Diamond said. “We only managed so many people because we had the Warped bodies that attacked our shelter directly. Be glad your guys didn’t have to face that.”
“Besides, extracting all the Tec from the second horde ourselves allowed most of our fighters to reach level four,” Nori said. “Having them use the Warped Buster rounds is going to be a big advantage against the big ones.”
Martin sighed. “You have a point, Nori. Still, I don’t like the idea of my shelter being left behind while Diamond’s shelter enters the renaissance age.”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Nori said. “If we succeed, there won’t be a need for fortified shelters anymore. You could join forces and start building one big community out in the open. Once we win and claim all the Tec from the Warped, the guards will be strong enough to take care of stray monsters.”
“If we win,” Diamond said darkly.
“We will. We have to.”
***
The sun was high in the sky when Unity touched down, half a kilometer away from the foot of the hill at Lou’s Yard, landing at a clearing in the center of a mass of people.
Diamond and Martin were already waiting for them when the ship’s crew made its appearance.
“Hey, guys.” Lana waved and smiled at the two leaders.
Martin smiled impishly as he nodded. “Earth Force.”
“About time you came down in that big tub of yours,” Diamond said gruffly. “We need the rest of the ammo.”
“Of course,” Nori said, motioning back to the lowered cargo hold’s door. “Help yourself. You know where it is.”
The heavyset man nodded and motioned some men inside. Then he took out a small item from his pocket and handed it to Lana. “Here you go—half the piTec we gathered, as promised.”
“Thanks.” Lana smiled at him and handed the teardrop-shaped item to Nori. “We have nearly sixty thousand piTec now by my estimate.”
Nori nodded. “Hopefully, with the gains from this raid, we’ll have enough to repay Alzigo’s loan and fix the ship. We also need to buy a lot more equipment from him.”
“So, how are we looking?” Bulco asked in a businesslike tone, taking in the mass of people.
“Put together, we have seven hundred support staff and twelve hundred fighters,” Martin said. “Out of those, not including you guys, we have twenty-five guards that can use the Warped Buster rounds. We scoured our armories and equipped them with the best weapons we got—automatic shotguns, heavy assault rifles, you name it.”
“In short, they’re our elites,” Diamond said. “I’ve assigned them several people with seemingly rare support Paths. One of them can mark targets from afar, increasing the accuracy and damage of his unit. The others also have some interesting abilities.”
“These guys are our best shot at taking out the largest Warped, aside from your ship’s cannon,” Martin added.
“What about the rest of the fighters?” the Engineer said. “Some of them are holding their guns like they’re about to drop it.”
“Tension is high,” the Justicar admitted. “But everyone here knows at least how to aim and pull the trigger. Hopefully, it’ll be enough.”
“What are they doing?” Lana asked, pointing at a group of people carrying several cases of electronics.
“Our Technicians managed to come up with improvised walkie-talkies. They have a limited range but we can talk to them with the implant you gave us.”
“That’ll help coordinate the attack.” Bulco nodded approvingly. “What else?”
“We have people with Paths
that are capable of building up defenses, others who can lay traps, Medics that can speed-up recovery, and a bunch of others that claim to have helpful Paths.”
Bulco frowned at the Diplomat’s seemingly lack of involvement. “A general should know the tools at his disposal,” he said in disapproval.
“I ain’t no general, boy.” Diamond huffed. “I’m just a civilian trying to do what’s right and keep people from dying. If this shit works, I’m going to find someone else to take care of all this military crap.”
“We’ll make do,” Martin interrupted him. “Don’t worry about logistics. Just fill us in on the strategy.”
Nori shrugged. “Just as we already discussed: as soon as your people finish setting up, we arrange them around the hill to put the entire fort on lockdown. Twelve hundred armed men and women should be enough to surround that hill. We’ll take off in Unity and bomb them from up high, while you guys mow down any leftover Warped that try to escape.”
“We need a few more hours to prepare,” Martin said. “We need to fortify our position: build up barriers, dig trenches, set up some traps - that sort of thing.”
“Alright, but don’t take too long—we don’t want to risk them taking the initiative while we’re still digging holes.”
“We’ll need three hours, four tops,” the Justicar assured her. “Now for the Broodmother. How should we handle her?”
“You should stay clear of her,” Lana said. “We didn’t get a good look at her, but we know she’s level twelve and at least as big as a bus. Your weapons probably won’t even be enough to tickle her.
“Yup, that’s Noah's job,” Nori said, throwing a glance and winking at the sandy-haired man behind her.
Diamond looked at his subordinate and nodded slowly at him. “We’re counting on you, kid.”
The Gunner grinned back at him. “I’ll do what I can to tickle her to death.”
“Good.” Diamond turned to look at the preparations. “Looks like we're almost ready to begin. You kids should get up there.”
Bulco offered him his hand, and they grabbed each other’s forearm. “Good luck out there.”
“You too. Give ‘em hell.”
***
It was late in the afternoon by the time the troops below were ready for the assault, and Unity soared back up to the air. There were still several hours until dark. Enough time to win an extermination war. Or to lose one.
“We’re holding steady above the fort,” Nori said an hour later, gently handling Unity’s controls. “I'm angling to bring it into the cannon's line of sight.”
The other crew members spread around the bridge, each assuming their own seat.
“Good.” Martin’s voice came over the comms. “We’re nearly ready. Our support teams are deploying the last few countermeasures.”
Lana frowned as she poured over the sensor data. “I detect some movement inside the fort. I think they know we’re out here.”
“That won’t do them much good,” Noah said. His arms were already fully coated in the cannon’s holographic controls. “I’m ready.”
“Good going, kid. Let's get ready to rock that fat bitch's world!” Bulco said, checking his own console. “All systems look good. Plating upgrade is at twenty-eight percent. Our little Unity is starting to look bad-ass.”
“Nori, we’re in position,” Martin’s voice came over the comms again.
“Same here,” Diamond’s thick voice followed. “How’s it looking from up there?”
“We’re in position,” the Navigator answered. “Holding steady, five hundred meters above the enemy. The Warped seem restless but they’re staying within the compound—the Broodmother isn’t visible, probably sleeping, but she’s in for a rude awakening. Everyone ready to begin?”
“We are,” Diamond confirmed.
“Light up those sons of bitches, Unity.” Martin’s voice sounded jovial.
Nori nodded and turned to look at their new Gunner. “It’s all yours, Noah.”
The sandy-haired man frowned as he stared at the holographic display plastered in front of his face. “We have a problem. I can’t target the Broodmother from this far up. The targeting system isn’t sensitive enough, I might as well be aiming by eyesight alone.”
“Crap,” Nori cursed. “We want our first few shots to count. I’ll bring us down a hundred meters.”
“Still no good.” Noah shook his head after they had descended.
“Alright, another hundred meters.”
“I’m starting to get general indicators, another hundred should do the trick.”
“Okay, but that’s as low as I’m willing to take us.”
Unity soared down, stopping to hover two hundred meters above the Warped-infested yard. The main viewscreen easily depicted the mass of monsters. It looked like they had finished consuming all the humans and electronic parts the old scrap yard had to offer. The thick steel walls and the stripped vehicle frames were the only things that remained. Apart from the Warped.
Crawling, burrowing, and hissing at each other. Hundreds of them. And in the middle was the giant Warped Broodmother. Her huge eyes were closed, and her thick metal plating quivered as she breathed.
Noah stirred in his seat. “Targeting the Broodmother.”
“Make her bleed, kid!” Bulco called.
“Firing … now!”
The ship’s cannon barked, sending a Mithril-tipped slug at thirty times the speed of sound. The bullet took a fraction of a second to cross the short distance. The ground next to the Broodmother’s side burst outward from the force of the impact, blasting away a dozen other smaller monsters that were crawling over and around her.
As one, all the Warped in the fort roused, lifted their heads and opened their mouths.
“Jesus, it’s like a haunted house play out here,” Diamond’s voice came over the comms accompanied by a cacophony of unearthly shrieks and roars.
“Come on, Noah!” Bulco shouted. “Hit that bitch.”
The cannon fired again, and like the first time, it just barely missed the Broodmother, sending the other monsters scrapping in all directions.
“Oh, my god.” Lana’s eyes flew wide. “We’ve just kicked the hornet’s nest.”
The hundreds of Warped on their view screen swarmed to the walls.
The cannon barked, again and again, hitting the concentrated monsters, annihilating them by the dozen with each shot, but there were hundreds of the beasts, and they rushed on in waves, heedless of the death toll.
“Shit, they’ll swarm our guys under,” Nori cursed, and her fingers flashed, putting Unity into a downward spin. “I'll bring us closer, Noah. Don’t stop shooting!”
Unity arced gracefully toward the ground and leveled barely twenty meters over the ground, circling the fort. The cannon fired, again and again, blasting the largest concentration of Warped apart before they could scale the walls. Nori kept the ship circling the walls and they left smoking piles of devastation in their wake. But the smaller concentrations of monsters were mostly unhindered by the bombardment.
“Some have made it through,” Martin’s strained voice came over the comms. “We’re engaging.”
From their vantage point, Lana could see Warped charging down the hill, barreling straight into a hail of bullets. The small beasts were instantly ripped apart, and even the bigger ones staggered and fell as they were mowed down by the onslaught. Some of the Warped made it within a hundred meters of the humans, triggering the traps.
A level nine behemoth tripped a wire. Thin sheets sprang from the ground, slicing it into several, evenly shaped Warped fillets.
A gruesome looking humanoid with eye stalks coming out of his forehead stepped on a pressure plate. Instantly, several long chains flew up from the surrounding sand, wrapping the creature and several other monsters. The chains tightened, crushing the entangled monsters with a tremendous force.
Metal pikes snapped upward from the sand, impaling monsters and hampering their charge. Several pre-C
alamity land mines exploded. The monsters recovered quickly though, leaving amputated body parts behind to regenerate on their own.
The traps fulfilled their purpose though, buying the human marksmen the time they needed to take down the monsters at range.
“They’re holding,” Nori said, relieved. “Noah, Keep firing at the--”
A flying Warped soared above the charging monsters. It swooped down on the guards below, taking down a whole section of the defense, opening a gap for the ground based monsters to engage the humans. The humans fought, shooting the flying horror at point blank—some even hitting it with their bare fists. Several other medium-sized monsters managed to close in enough to join the melee and started tearing apart the humans. The fighters outside the combat zone dared not fire into the melee, but they were quick to reorganize to shoot down more incoming beasts in order to cut off further reinforcement. One by one, the humans took down the Warped that had managed to close in on them, though the cost was high.
“They’re holding,” Nori breathed a little easier. “We should--”
“Over there!” Lana cried, pointing at the viewscreen.
A giant figure appeared, towering over the fort’s wall. It continued to rise, getting higher and higher from a deep hole at the center of the fort.
The Broodmother was coming out to play.
“My god,” Nori breathed. “It’s bigger than we thought.”
What they had first assumed to be a bus-sized Warped revealed itself to be just the head and neck of a gargantuan worm-like monster. The creature opened its barbed maw and let out a shriek so loud they heard it even through Unity’s hull. The Broodmother turned her head to look at the closing breach in the human’s defenses and let out another bone-chilling shriek. As one, the Warped who were charging down in loose formations changed direction all at once. They combined into a mass of running creatures, angling toward the humans’ weak point.
“She’s guiding them,” Nori cried out, wide-eyed.
The defenders shot in desperation, men and women held down their triggers, spraying the incoming onslaught with a swarm of bullets. The desperate move shaved off monsters from the edge of the combined mass, but it was too little too late. With half the fighters on the other side of the hill, there wasn’t enough firepower to take down the monsters. They trampled and fell as more traps were sprung, but there were enough of them to bull on through. They hit the weakened line and started ravaging the humans, killing, maiming, and tearing indiscriminately.
Earth Force (Relict Legacy Book 1) Page 31