Red traces of nanocelium rounds traded with blue flashes of Intrinium rounds as the space above Evalan turned into an epic battle for superiority. Kalian, almost undetectable by his size, weaved between the C-Sec ships in his effort to reach ALF, who had positioned himself off to the side of the battle.
More than once, he was forced to erect shields to protect himself from nanocelium rounds or even stray Intrinium bolts. Having been almost killed in a nanocelium storm before, he was more than aware of his need to keep their rounds at bay.
As the smaller nanocelium ships drew closer, Kalian could see they were still much larger than any of the C-Sec battleships. The farthest battleship from Evalan was the first to fall in the fight. The oncoming enemy ship burst apart, separating into a thousand smaller ships, before swarming the Nova-Class vessel and shredding its hull to pieces.
Kalian banked hard and changed his direction to avoid the swarm, only to get clipped by an Intrinium bolt. His nanocelium armour took the hit, but his course was altered by a couple of kilometres, putting him directly in another enemy ship’s line of fire.
“You’re not concentrating,” ALF chimed in. “Keep your shields up and change speed simultaneously.”
Kalian would have fired back a sharp retort if he wasn’t staring down the barrels of a hundred nanocelium cannons. Coming to a sudden stop, he raised his hand and put all of his energy into the telekinetic barrier in front of him. The nanocelium rounds battered the invisible field and Kalian expanded it to encompass the Nebula-Class battleship coming up behind him. He could feel the ship loading its missiles into their tubes and their cannons heating up.
ALF’s impatient tone came through his earpiece. “Kalian…”
“Shut.Up.”
The full force of the enemy ship was bearing down on him and its sizzling red bolts of nanocelium were doing their best to take down his shield. He waited. A little longer… Another moment… Kalian dropped is shield and propelled himself upwards, relative to their positions. The Nebula-Class battleship let rip. Intrinium missiles and rounds tore through the centre of the tuning fork enemy ship, splitting it in half. Explosions rippled down its length until the gap was large enough for the Nebula-Class vessel to ram its way through to the other side.
Kalian’s sense of accomplishment quickly dissipated as the torn enemy ship simply broke apart into smaller craft. The black ships arched around and assaulted the engines of the Nebula-Class vessel by flying directly into the red hull. The lights across the C-Sec vessel flickered along its length before the smaller craft burst forth from the ship’s midsection, having wreaked havoc throughout the interior.
Once they had all returned to space, the smaller ships formed back together and became one massive ship again. Beyond that ship, Kalian could see a fleet’s worth of nanocelium vessels breaking off from the harvesting ship and heading into battle.
“That’s not how we win this, remember? The Conclave is just here to give the evacuation as much time as possible. They’re also dying just to give you time…”
Kalian knew the AI was right, but so far he had abandoned Evalan, his people, and the woman he loved, and now and he was leaving the C-Sec fleet to burn. It didn’t feel right.
“I’m on my way,” he said.
Doing his best to ignore the battle, Kalian focused all of his power into telekinetic speed. Faster than any missile, he flew through space until the bronze hull of ALF’s housing unit came into view. The Starforge opened one of its iris doors a moment before he reached it, allowing him to enter the station and maintain some of his speed.
As soon as the outer doors closed, Kalian deactivated his helmet and gloves. “Talk to me, ALF. What’s happening planet-side?”
ALF’s voice came over the speakers in the ceiling. “Those drop ships you narrowly avoided have landed just outside New Genesis, though one of them was stopped by Sef. He threw it across the continent…”
“What about the others?”
“They were filled with Shay,” the AI replied. “They’re attacking the city but the C-Sec ground forces are holding them back, though I suspect they would already be overrun without the Gomar.”
Kalian sprinted down the corridors, often combining telekinetic flight with his running to navigate the sharp turns. When, at last, he made it to the bridge, ALF’s lanky form was busy making the final adjustments to the super subconducer, which currently dominated the centre of the bridge.
“Have they completed the evacuation yet?”
“No,” ALF said definitively. “But they will, Kalian. I need you to be ready for this, focused. When you make the connection with the Kellekt, you need to give just enough of yourself to start a cascade effect. No more. The nanocelium will do its best to absorb every shred of your DNA, including your very bones if it must. You’ll be like a drug it can’t get enough of.”
Kalian was barely listening to the AI. He was already standing over a console and bringing up every scrap of data about the battle, as well as cycling through the Starforge’s long-distance observation arrays. As expected, the space battle was going poorly for C-Sec. The harvesting ship was drawing closer every second.
“Why is it going so slowly?” he asked in frustration.
ALF looked up briefly from his work. “You pissed them off. They want you to see the end coming.”
Kalian gritted his teeth. “They won’t see their end coming…”
Switching to the link set up with New Genesis, Kalian cycled through the cameras posted around the city. There wasn’t a single tank stood idle. Every street was under siege by wild Shay as they dug in and clawed their way to the centre, where there were still thousands of people being crammed through the Forge. The Gomar were doling out punishment in every quadrant of the city, their powers maximised.
A tower in the northern hemisphere suddenly collapsed and a black figure could be seen flying through the falling debris. Switching to another camera, Kalian could see that the fallen tower had provided a temporary barrier. The Shay swarmed over one another like ants building a bridge out of their bodies. It didn’t take them long to climb over the rubble and begin their hunt for humanity again.
They were all running out of time.
Li’ara fired the last round from her handgun and threw the weapon away, reaching instead for the rifle strapped to her back. The Raiders stepped in and laid down fire while she changed weapons. Colonel Matthews crouched beside her and unloaded her magazine into the side street, directing the other members of her team to concentrate fire on the Shay scrambling up the walls.
Wearing the Raider’s gear made everything easier, from targeting to assessing threats, but even her visor struggled to identify every target rushing down the street. Li’ara’s eyes strained to keep up with the rising count of enemies.
“We need tanks to my location!” she shouted into her helmet.
“You don’t need to shout,” Lieutenant Riddick said beside her, though his voice was crystal clear inside her helmet.
A Raalakian voice came over the comm. “Relocating is a negative. We’ve already lost three Walkers and been forced to pull back our air defence launchers.”
Colonel Matthews stood up and thumbed over her shoulder. “Retreat. The line is moving.”
Li’ara backed up the street with the Raiders and glanced over her shoulder to see the human procession advancing down the main road. On the other side, one of the Walkers mirrored their retreat and moved into the main road, firing its cannon on the rushing Shay.
“Move up,” Ava ordered. “Take the next street.”
Li’ara continued to fire down the street as the team made their way around the corner. There was no end to the wave of Shay filling the alleys and streets, but at least they could slow them down. An echo of screams came out of the evacuation line and Li’ara turned to see a squad of C-Sec soldiers being overrun on the corner of a building. A Laronian in red armour was knocked off the side, left to wail as he fell to his death beside the procession.
&n
bsp; The Shay soon killed the rest of the squad and lurched over the lip of the building, their sights set on the humans below. Li’ara levelled her weapon and let the visor in her helmet make the link with the rifle, showing her where the Intrinium rounds would impact.
One of the Gomar slammed into the rooftop like a falling meteor. Li’ara lowered her rifle and watched in awe as the black-clad powerhouse yanked the Shay away from the edge with telekinesis. The infected aliens were flung high into the air, away from the evacuation. A brilliant flash erupted from atop the building and a dark liquid splattered in every direction. The threat dealt with, the Gomar jumped into the air and took to the skies before hurtling back down again in a different location. Li’ara could see the plume of dust and smoke in the distance and was thankful she wasn’t among the Shay.
A C-Sec voice blurted out, “Incoming from the west!”
Li’ara’s visor pointed her in the right direction and she checked her ammunition before moving off. The Raiders covered every angle as they crossed the street, their weapons easily locating new targets all the time. The Shay were getting past the tanks thanks to their numbers, and were beginning to close in from all angles.
Li’ara did her best to monitor the targets scurrying out of the side streets, while simultaneously keeping an eye on the train of humans. Everyone was running now, terrified of the beings that were once considered among the most intelligent in the Conclave. It was chaos. Random people could be seen scooping up children who had become separated from their parents and others were simply falling over each other, slowing everything down.
A couple of knocks on her helmet snapped her attention back to Colonel Matthews.
“Keep your head in the game,” Ava warned. “Find targets and drop ‘em.”
Li’ara nodded once and dashed to the corner of the nearest alley, seeing it as an easy point of attack from the Shay. The thunderous boom of a tank’s cannon shook the ground and took a layer of dust off the alley walls. With her rifle levelled, Li’ara turned the corner with the Raiders spreading out behind her, running side-on for the adjacent corner. The tank Walker just fit inside the alley, forcing the Shay to crawl over it and investigate the circular port on top.
“Take ‘em!” Ava ordered.
They opened fire on the Shay before the aliens could find a way of opening the hatch. The Walker continued to back up towards the team, firing its cannon and heavy machine guns as it did. Li’ara emptied her magazine of Intrinium and fell back to reload. How long could they keep this up?
Another warning came over the comm. “Targets closing in from the east!”
Li’ara turned to look over the heads of the evacuees and saw the more Shay sprinting down the road. Her visor made a series of quick calculations and fed back the dire situation in a series of equations. There was no way she could make it to the end of the human train and lay down suppressing fire before the mob of aliens slammed into everyone…
She didn’t have to.
Vox dropped out of the sky and hit the road with a telekinetic hammer, sending ripples along the gelcrete surface towards the infected mob. The buildings that lined the street were caught in the devastation as well and crumpled into the mess, crushing the Shay. The few who survived and renewed their assault were easily picked off by Vox, who moved with enviable speed. The Gomar tore off limbs without touching them and ended the attack by vaporising them with super-heated plasma.
The sound of metal being twisted and sparks flying pulled at Li’ara’s attention, drawing her back to the alley. The Shay had completely overwhelmed the Walker and found their way inside. Thankfully, Li’ara couldn’t hear the dying screams of the soldier over the sound of her own gun.
“We need to pull back,” Riddick stated, his voice impossibly calm.
“Agreed,” Ava replied. “Grenades.”
Lieutenants Wilson and Danvers were the last to retreat, pausing to lob a grenade each into the alley. Li’ara was around the corner and back on the main road with the others when the explosions rang out, blowing bits of Shay in every direction.
The Raiders fell in behind the procession. The Starforge was finally in sight at the end of the street, set into the small square of hedges and trees. Looking back, the Shay were seeing to the end of several Walkers, who just couldn’t keep up with the numbers. The Gomar were nowhere to be seen, but Li’ara knew their absence was the only reason the Shay hadn’t entirely overrun New Genesis already. She could only imagine the destruction they were causing on the edges of the city.
A quick turn of her head as they crossed another side street caused an alarm to flare across her HUD. Li’ara stopped and focused on the street in question. A family of four were at least sixty metres away, cut off by a fire in the middle of the street. They were clearly panicked, searching for a way to reach the Forge and avoid the Shay, who were already scrambling over the rooftops around them.
“Li’ara!” Ava called, still running behind the procession. “Stand still and you’ll die out here. Let’s go!”
“Negative,” Li’ara replied, heading for the family. “I’ve got survivors at three o’clock. I’m bringing them back.”
“Stay with the team, Li’ara. That’s an order.”
“Sorry, Colonel.” Protected by her suit, Li’ara ran and jumped thought the line of fire, raising her rifle and taking two Shay down as she did.
“Get your ass back here, Li’ara,” Ava said more forcefully.
“Get everyone through to the Boundless, Colonel. I’ll be right behind you.”
Li’ara killed the comm in her helmet and continued towards the cowering family. Her rifle went off in short bursts, dropping any Shay who dared to reveal themselves.
Husband and wife kept their son and daughter between them as they cautiously ran along the side of a building. Li’ara finally caught up with them as a cluster of Shay dropped down from above and snatched for the children. Her rifle flared with blue Intrinium rounds, each one cutting through the air and slamming into the aliens before they could touch the children.
“Run!” She shouted, ushering them forwards. She dropped a grenade into the cluster of downed Shay, hoping the explosion would slow down their reassembly.
More Shay crowded out of the street up ahead and Li’ara forced the family into a shop on their left before the aliens could catch sight of them. The grenade exploded farther down the road, making the whole family flinch.
“It’s okay,” Li’ara assured, removing her helmet to let them see her face and copper ringlets. “It’s okay, we’re going to get out of here. We just—” She stopped speaking as the new crowd of Shay spread out into the street, searching for human prey. Li’ara was sure to keep the family low and in the shadows inside the shop.
“We need to reach the Starforge,” the father whispered.
Li’ara nodded. “And we will, all of us. We’re going to head north, that way, and cut down Kenya Way, to the west. From there we can join back up with everyone and get aboard the Boundless.”
The mother pulled her children closer and gestured to the Shay outside. “What about them? We can’t run that fast.”
“Stay behind me, stay alert, and do exactly as I say. I used to do this for a living. We’re going to make it, understand? It’s not far from—” Li’ara saw the shadow and turned to look out the shop window.
Another cylinder of towering nanocelium was falling from space.
The impact shook the ground and caused a wave of dust to blow over the city. When the dust cloud blew over, they could all see the Shay pouring out of the walls of the tower like a waterfall. Hundreds more, if not thousands, were being emptied into New Genesis. Two Gomar darted through the sky and tore through the side of it. A moment later, they both exited the other side and the top half tilted to the right before tearing free completely from its lower half. Another impact rocked the ground, but hopefully it squashed hundreds of the aliens.
“Okay, more are coming. We need to leave now. Ready?”
The couple shared a look but the father replied, “Yes. We’ll follow you.”
Li’ara turned to face the shop door, hiding her anxious expression. If there was a god listening, she prayed that they would tell Roland to get a move on and shut down the Crucible. Before it was too late…
Chapter 31
Roland hated running from a fight, but he knew there were exceptions for every case. Running away from an enemy who kept getting back up and firing crystallised Splicer ammunition at him felt like one of those exceptions.
The control room had been shot to shit between them, leaving Roland with no choice but to seek out another way of disabling the Crucible. The gloomy tunnels were still haunted by wild Shay, a fact that forced the bounty hunter to constantly alter his route, though his irregular course also helped him avoid the blue crystals that continued to impale the walls around him. This one particular Shay was really getting on Roland’s bad side.
Ch’len’s tone of despair wasn’t helping either. “I don’t think this is going to work, Roland. Every time I find the problem and fix it, it’s already cascaded and affected another system. This thing is fucked!”
Roland barely had the breath to reply after so much running and fighting, but for Len, he would always find the extra energy. “Just get on with it, dipshit. The way things are going down here, we’re gonna need reinforcements.”
“Have you found those pyramid things yet?”
Roland slumped against a wall to catch his breath. He glanced around the next corner to see a couple of Shay walking across the intersection. The bounty hunter wiped the sweat from his brow and pulled free his Tri-Rollers.
“I’m working on it, Len. Get the Forge up and running.”
Hearing his Splicer-wielding pursuer coming down the corridor behind him, Roland knew he had to advance or engage. He chose both. The bounty hunter rounded the corner, brought his guns to bear, and let rip into the two unsuspecting Shay. He ran and fired, putting every round into the Shay barring his way. They jerked and danced this way and that, but both were lying still on the floor by the time he ran over them.
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