She looked over at Denxeiter as she continued, “You were already losing power, but Denxeiter was still operational and the main engine was running. You took the shots meant for me and that’s what made him go offline… and by extension caused you to crash into the planet, get hurt, and have to deal with that tentacle thing.” Her eyes studied his face, focusing on the scar now running across. “Hell, even that’s my fault.” She went back to watching the crew work on Denxeiter and stayed quiet.
After a moment, Feln reached over and put his arm on her shoulder. “I won’t deny it. As soon as I took those shots, I thought maybe I’d made a big mistake. And that maybe the life of an Alden pilot wasn’t worth the destruction of a Hyper Battle Machine and the life of a Space Knight.
“But that thought went right out of my head and I’m disgusted I even considered it in the first place. I remembered when Emperor Gustav willingly let Dotellus take him in place of his friends near the end of the Great Wystran War. It all ended up working out, but at the time nobody could have known that.
“And yet there was the Emperor sacrificing himself so a battle tractor crew full of commoners could escape. And I thought that if the founder of our Star Empire could do that, a nobody Space Knight like me damn sure could. Hell, it wasn’t just a matter of whether I could do it, it was that I had to do it.”
Valisia seemed to consider this and said, “Okay, I understand. If anything else, what really brings it together for me is how Aaltskog acted. I’m not a Space Knight, so I get the distinct impression that if she didn’t respect your decision and agree with it, she would have let me know how badly I screwed up.”
“Absolutely. I bet she’s the one who found you and your Alden after the battle.”
“You’re right. When you shoved me out of the way and took those shots, I was knocked unconscious, but you sent my Alden on a trajectory away from the danger. When I woke up, I was being towed back to the Tannhauser with a tractor beam by a tug piloted by Aaltskog. She was very kind and made sure I was feeling up to searching for you and off we went. She never once made me feel like I’d done something wrong.”
“Because you didn’t,” Feln confirmed. “It’s the hope and duty of every Space Knight to live up to Emperor Gustav’s example. So it was my honor to help.”
Valisia smiled. “Fair enough. After all, there are plenty of us in the regular military who feel the same way. And remember, Space Knights didn’t even exist until long after Emperor Gustav started in the regular Army, so don’t think you guys are the only ones who get to make grandiose sacrifices to live up to the standard of the Great Emperor.”
Feln laughed. “You’re right. Sorry about that. I guess it goes with the job.” He took his hand off her shoulder and bowed. “So are we good?”
Valisia returned his bow with one of her own. “Yes we are.”
Feln noticed the maintenance chief standing nearby, not wanting to interrupt. Feln nodded, “Yes chief?”
After a salute, the chief said, “We’ve finished all of our diagnostics and most of the smaller repairs. I’d like to give you the report that I just sent to Admiral Kesh.”
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks sir.” The chief scratched his head. “Well, crashing through the roof of the cavern actually helped to cushion Denxeiter’s fall somewhat, so the damage to his back wasn’t as bad as it could have been and wasn’t hard to fix. We’ve managed to patch most of the holes from Ganxeiter’s beams attacks. We’ve also managed to get the ejection system working again by removing the wrecked pieces inside of Denxeiter that made ejection impossible after Ganxeiter’s attack. The cockpit is patched up pretty well, as is the cabin. And we’ve got the Xeiter Beam in a functional state.”
The chief pointed at the damaged crest on Denxeiter’s head. “Still, with half of the crest damaged, the Xeiter Beam’s strength is down almost 50% and the beam itself won’t be as focused. Under heavy usage, it’ll probably go out completely, so you’ll have to baby it when using it.
“When Ganxeiter ripped off Denxeiter’s left arm and part of the left side of his body, she also destroyed the pistol holstered on the left skirt, so you’re down to only having the right side pistol. That giant bug destroyed the drones and we don’t have any spares. The only spares we do have are two heavy drones instead of the four mediums you’re used to having.”
While the chief was giving his report, Aaltskog emerged out of Denxeiter’s chest, slick with sweat and only wearing panties and a sports bra. Feln was surprised that even after being off for so long, Denxeiter’s main engine was still generating such a massive amount of heat to actually make Aaltskog’s durable body break into a sweat. She stood next to the chief and nodded for him to finish his report while downing a large container of cold water she pulled from a nearby cooler.
The chief continued, “Durandal is still functional, but until Little Miss here gets the big guy started, we won’t know how much useable time you’ll get before having to recharge the sword.
“Den Aegis is definitely weakened and you already knew the shields were on their last legs after that other battle. Since they actually popped during the last battle, we’ve managed to get them back up, but they’re only at around 35%. The navigation deflector is pretty spotty and we don’t really have a spare for that since the whole fleet is pretty much losing its deflectors left and right. So you’re gonna have to be really careful about debris.
“Finally, speaking of no replacements, but it goes without saying that we don’t really carry spare eyes, limbs, and torsos here. So half of your view in the cockpit is gonna be dead until a relief fleet shows up someday and hopefully has a factory ship with it. Once Denxeiter’s main computer is back on, Little Miss will be able to set the parameters to compensate for the screwy balance of missing an arm and part of the upper body.
“The big problem is that I’m not really sure how we’re gonna cover all these gaping holes over the eye and that big chunk missing from the body.”
“Can’t we just grab some debris left from the wreckage of other ships and weld some patches over those areas? Feln asked.
“Not exactly,” the chief said. “Denxeiter’s skin and armor is made from Galaridinum. The actual makeup of that stuff is some kind of secret only the Space Knight Academy knows. There’s some organic compound in there and something other dimensional that scans can’t identify. And if we try to patch those open areas with a different type of material, Denxeiter’s body will reject it and there’s a good chance it could cause problems.”
“Like an infection?”
“More like an organ transplant that the patient’s body rejects,” Aaltskog put in.
“Yeah but this isn’t really an organ transplant— more like a skin graft.” Feln said.
“Your skin is your body’s largest organ, my dearest,” Aaltskog said.
“Really? Huh.”
Aaltskog rolled her eyes. “So anyway, we have to find something to cover those wounds, but won’t cause any issues with Big Brother’s body until we can get real replacements. With all that crap flying around out there and a half-dead deflector, it’s even more important.”
“So we need a kind of bandage to put over the wound until we can get the proper organ replacement,” Feln said.
“Kinda hard to just bandage a ripped out limb and chunk of the body, but yeah, pretty much,” Aaltskog agreed. She picked up a towel and wiped herself down to remove the layer of sweat as best she could.
“How hot is it in there?” Feln asked. “It must be pretty extreme for you to be sweating so much.”
“Yeah, it’s an oven. It’s probably around 250.”
“Wow.”
“And that’s after almost two weeks of being shut down. Of course if the engine was running now, I would have burst into flames the second I got near it.” Looking herself over and seeming to be satisfied with the amount of sweat removed, Aaltskog walked over to a cart and picked up a crumpled dress that she must have tossed there before going in Denx
eiter’s engine compartment and put it on.
Like Denxeiter, the dress was dark gray with black highlights and shared some design cues with the robot as well. It was sleeveless and had a length that went down to a few inches above Aaltskog’s knees. A black belt cinched it in the middle. She picked up some other bits of clothing from the cart and pulled them on: black stockings and black opera length gloves that went past her elbows. This was all topped off with a dark gray brimless field cap with black band. It was as if Denxeiter’s overall appearance had somehow been turned into a dress for a young girl to wear. Which, it occurred to Feln, it was.
“Well, this a day to mark on the calendar,” he said in honest surprise. “You’re actually wearing your Companion uniform.”
Aaltskog responded by tipping her cap at a jaunty angle.
“I ask this in all seriousness: how long has it been since you last wore it?”
“Twelve years, two months, sixteen days, and five hours.”
Feln almost took a step back. “That’s incredibly accurate. Especially for you. Why do you remember it so clearly?”
Aaltskog glanced at Valisia and the chief before saying. “It’s unimportant now.”
Valisia stepped forward and said, “Well I think it looks really cool. You should wear it more often.”
“Thanks, I intend to.”
Feln smiled. “I won’t ask why you’re wearing it again. I think I know the reason. And I’m glad we’re back to the way things used to be so that you feel comfortable wearing it again.”
Aaltskog smiled. “Yeah.”
The chief said, “I’ve always thought it kinda romantic how Companions’ uniforms are made to look similar to the Hyper Battle Machines they’re assigned to. If the Companion has the body type to even wear clothes that is.”
“Yeah, Keith’s uniform was kind of cool. Purple to match Ganxeiter in a tunic cut to give a similar appearance to Ganxeiter’s skirting. Also like Aaltskog’s in the use of black highlights like Ganxeiter has…and Denxeiter too.” She paused for a moment, no doubt thinking about how Keith had died on the Uhlinder before she turned to the chief to refocus. “But what kind of Companions have you seen that can’t wear a uniform?”
“Only two really, but still… One was a Drndli, so pretty much looked like a big pile of rocks rolling along. The other was a Xon, so a hovering crystal. Still, the Drndli was creative: it simply painted the rocks of its body in colors and designs to mimic the appearance of the Hyper Battle Machine it was assigned to.”
“Weird,” Valisia and Feln said in unison.
Feln took Aaltskog’s hand and twirled her so he could see her uniform all around. “Well, I’m overjoyed you’ve got the body type to wear clothing because I always did think this was a hot outfit.”
“You sure you don’t want me to just paint my body to match Denxeiter and walk around naked?” She winked at Valisia.
“Nah, that’s too artsy,” Feln said. “I’ve never been one for body paint.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Aaltskog agreed. “I’m lucky this one looks so good. It’s sleeveless, has stripper gloves, stockings, and a cute hat. What’s there not to like?”
“True enough,” Feln said.
“But you know…” Aaltskog grew serious. “This kinda makes me think about patching up Big Brother. What if we just cover up the open spots with fabric? We could even make a kind of eyepatch. Then we don’t have to worry about any issues of metal getting rejected from grafts, and at the same time we can keep debris out of those areas until we’re finally able to get replacements.”
Feln paused. “Did you just say what I think you said?”
“What’d you think I said?”
“Don’t give me that. Are you actually serious? Fabric?”
“Yes I’m serious. I think it could work.”
“Yeah, once we go to the giant robot clothing store and have a tailor whip something up, it’ll be great.”
“You’re being obnoxious. That’s not very attractive.”
“Guys, I think we have a malfunctioning machine speaking nonsense.”
“Alright, enough,” Aaltskog said pointedly. “Listen, the colony has tons of that reinforced tarp material they use to cover over swaths of land during terraforming to protect the soil from wind storms and other stuff while the microbes placed in the soil take hold. It’s made to withstand winds and debris traveling at 400 miles per hour— you know how crazy some of those planets can get.”
The chief raised his hand slightly and said, “Actually, sir, Little Miss makes a good point. After all, Denxeiter and a lot of other Hyper Battle Machines already wear clothing in the form of capes and cloaks. Without the cape, Denxeiter wouldn’t have the Den Aegis shield. Frankly speaking, the only difference between Denxeiter’s cape and the colony’s tarp material is the extra layer of beam dispersing material woven into the cape to make the Den Aegis. Other than that, it’s really pretty much the same.” Aaltskog smiled at the chief for his words of support.
“Wow, that’s some really good thinking, Aaltskog,” Valisia said. Aaltskog nodded appreciatively and they all turned to Feln for his decision.
“Yeah…okay. I trust you. And the chief makes some good points so let’s do it.”
Aaltskog clapped. “Great! Okay, so we’re gonna have to get the Admiral to ask the governor for some…”
Feln stopped her. “Darling, before that, we’ve gotta talk about Denxeiter’s engine. There’s no point getting this material and going forward on this plan if we don’t even know if we’ll have a functioning Machine to put it on. So what’s happening? Can you start him?”
Aaltskog looked down at the floor. “I…I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I don’t know. The engine isn’t really damaged in the usual sense. None of Ganxeiter’s attacks got through to it. But a hard stop can do all kinds of weird things to a Hyper Battle Machine engine. There’s still so much we don’t know about them.”
“I understand. So, any guesses?”
“Honestly, nothing. He either starts or he doesn’t.”
“Do you need extra time to prepare or anything?”
Aaltskog took her cap off and ran her fingers through her hair staring at Denxeiter. “No, I don’t think so. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. I think I should try.” She put her cap back on.
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I am.”
Chapter Seventeen
As Aaltskog finished her preparations, the chief called to the rest of the maintenance crew, “Alright, everybody finish what you’re doing. Little Miss is gonna wake up the big guy!” Their pace quickened and as they completed their tasks, the chief went to a comm panel. “Admiral, this is Maintenance Chief Harrison. Companion Aaltskog will be attempting a start up.”
“Excellent,” Kesh’s voice said from the panel. “I’ll be right down.”
“Very good sir. Harrison out.” The chief turned to Feln. “He told me to keep him abreast.”
“Understandable.”
A few minutes later, Admiral Kesh was standing next to Feln and the chief watching Aaltskog climb up Denxeiter’s body to stand on his chest. Everybody in the hangar held their breath as Aaltskog began to recite the Awakening mantra. The tenseness in the air was palpable when she reached the crescendo of the sequence.
“…and so I say unto thee…awaken!” Aaltskog clapped and placed her glowing open palms against Denxeiter’s face, her body tensing for the usual jolt that accompanied the motion. But nothing happened.
Aaltskog held her hands there for a long moment, staring into Denxeiter’s remaining eye, still dim. She called again, “Awaken!” And again was greeted with silence.
As much as he hated to admit it, Feln said softly, “I knew it. I really screwed up.”
Kesh turned to look at him, an expression of concern on his face. “Captain, you really can’t blame yourself for this.”
Feln barely heard Kesh’s words. He just stared up
at Aaltskog, standing still as a statue with her hands still on Denxeiter’s face. Finally, she said in a soft voice, “Big Brother, we need you. Please come back.” But as before, silence was all she got in response. The glow left her hands.
Feln turned to Kesh, “Admiral, please excuse me. My Companion needs me.”
“Of course, Captain. I’ll be on the bridge.”
As Feln started to travel up Denxeiter’s body to reach Aaltskog, Kesh left the hangar with the service chief following.
By the time Feln reached Aaltskog, she was sitting down on Denxeiter’s chest, cross-legged. He sat down next to her and didn’t say anything, deciding that it might be best to let her speak first.
When Denxeiter lost its protective face mask at the same time it pulled the spike out of its eye, its true face was revealed. Since Hyper Battle Machines first started being built, those with human appearances had always been designed with faces. There were various assumptions as to why a giant robot would need a human-type face under a protective mask, but the most widely accepted reason was that the original Hyper Battle Machine designs were not only weapons of war, but were to also serve as works of art to glorify the Francescan Star Empire. Similar to the beautiful sailing fighting ships of the line in ancient times, a Hyper Battle Machine was also a status symbol of Imperial might. That explanation sounded as good as any other Feln had heard, so he didn't question it.
Aaltskog was staring at that face now. Feln tentatively reached over and put his hand over hers.
“Do you remember the day we were assigned to be the team for Denxeiter?” she finally asked.
“Of course. We were both scared out of our wits.”
“Yeah…” she trailed off and Feln thought she wasn’t going to say anything again when she suddenly continued, “But why were we scared? I mean, of course, getting assigned to one of the apex weapons in the Empire is a pretty scary thing to begin with. But that’s not what scared me.” She looked at him. “And it’s not what scared you. What was it?”
Francescan War Chronicles 1: Space Knight Denxeiter Page 18