Redemption : A LitRPG Space Adventure (The Last Enclave Book 2)

by Morgan Cole

  "Oh, that might not be good," I said.

  I ordered the two particle beam drones on my back to detach and be ready, spacing them around me.

  Ripples on the surface of the lava followed behind me as I flew through the chasm. The worm was tracking me.

  I was already flying as fast as I could, which wasn't a lot. The chasm was not a simple straight cleft. It was a ragged, jagged line cloven into the surface of Mercury. If I went anywhere near full out and made a single mistake I would become a crater in the wall. I might be able to survive that but it wasn't something I wanted to test. The armor just wasn't built for this kind of fast and agile maneuvering.

  The ripples below followed silently as I weaved back and forth following the twists and ragged turns of the chasm. The space between the walls was shrinking fast. Somewhere not that far ahead the rift would end.

  Just ahead, the scout caught a glimpse of more Union material. Looking through its eyes I saw the unmistakable look of Union standard modules embedded into the solid rock of Mercury. The rift had exposed part of one node. Not having detected any further defenses, I rushed forward. Once inside the base I'd no longer need to worry about lava worms.

  Not far past the exposed node I could see that the cleft in the rock became too narrow for me to proceed. If I were going to get into the base, this was looking like my best shot.

  I used the salvage interface to identify the material I was looking at by quickly selecting a large piece of the wall to remove.

  ╠═╦╬╧╪

  Standard Union wall

  Salvage: Metals, tier 2

  Cost: 122 Nanite Clusters

  ╠═╦╬╧╪

  My Nanite Cluster storage was full for just this sort of problem. I brought up the salvage interface and quickly sketched out a square hatch just big enough for me to fly through with some margin. I kept my cuts as thin as was possible to conserve Nanite Clusters.

  ╠═╦╬╧╪

  Standard Union wall

  Salvage: Metals, tier 2

  Cost: 23 Nanite Clusters

  ╠═╦╬╧╪

  The roiling, molten surface sixty meters below exploded, lava splashing tens of meters up the wall as the enormous lava worm surged upward like an orca going for a dangling fish. The terrifying mouth gaped open, teeth glowing. I didn't know why an enormous lava worm wanted to eat me, but it certainly did.

  My drones were on their game, and both particle beams opened up immediately. Despite what the plasma bolt had done to one of its fellows, these worms weren't soft. The particle beams disintegrated the armored surface of the creature, but failed to penetrate and reach its soft innards, assuming it even had anything soft inside. It rolled and twisted, making it difficult for the drones to concentrate their fire on any one point of its armor.

  I had just enough time to raise my arms and use the propulsion units at full force to blast away from the face of the Union metal wall in front of me. The bulk of the worm rose in front of me. Jaws snapped closed where I had been hovering a second earlier. The worm twisted in the air to try to get me on its way down, but I was already too far away. Without thinking, the Gazer was in my hand and I was firing, holding the trigger down as I fed the weapon from the armor's integrated power supply. Unlike before, the Gazer could fire a very long time before I had to stop. The beam sparked and dug into the worm’s armor, but the damage was superficial.

  I had hoped to take my time, but the worm wasn't going to let me. My Gazer wasn't doing much to it and if I extended this fight longer, more of his friends might show up. For all I knew, there was an entire city full of these things just below the lava surface. Maybe I had been fighting a baby. I didn't want to be here when Mommy Worm decided to show up.

  As the worm was still falling I stuck the Gazer to my chest and moved back to a stop just in front of the exposed wall of the base. I slapped my hand to the surface of the wall and executed the salvage operation that I had queued a moment before. Nanites flowed out of my hand in a stream, sinking into the surface of the wall. The outflowing stream was much slower than I liked, seeming like it was slow motion.

  Behind me, my two drones continued to fire at the worm as it settled into the lava and then disappeared, diving beneath the surface and righting itself, I had no doubt, for another leap.

  The Nanites finished streaming out of me, and the cut was already twenty percent finished. Pushing off, I flew away from the Union base. I had no idea how smart this worm was, but I didn't want to find out the hard way. It turned out, it was smarter than I liked.

  The next time the worm jumped, it wasn't where I had been. It barreled out of the lava at an angle, flying toward me. The long, black body was extended in a straight line, the sheer bulk of it nearly filling the narrowed canyon entirely.

  My escape options were limited. If I went back toward where the turret had been, there was the possibility that I would bring more worms to the fight. I really didn't want that. If I went up and out of the rift I'd get shot by the base defenses, without a doubt. Down was right out. Lava was bad for me.

  The worm had been clever and a wall of worm flesh was flying at me. Even if it didn't get me in its jaws, its body slamming into me certainly wouldn't do good things.

  The gap between the worm's body in the wall on either side of him was narrow. Narrow enough that I didn't want to chance flying through it. It would almost certainly squish me into the wall if it noticed what I was doing. That might not kill me, but if I allowed it to drag me down into the lava below I'd be as good as dead.

  Instead, I did something stupid.

  I dipped below the clashing jaws and flew forward, landing hard on the wall of black worm flesh. I engaged the gecko pads on my palms and feet and stuck hard. In the armor HUD my boots and gauntlets immediately went yellow as the intense heat of the lava worm's body conducted through my armor. I knew that it couldn't cause my armor any permanent damage, but it could certainly cook my flesh given enough time. I wouldn't give it that time.

  I locked all of the Krigar Assault Armor's joints in place, hoping it would be enough and with a thought I triggered the gravity plates in my arms and legs. The left side I set to push away from Mercury as hard as it could while the right side I set to the opposite.

  There was a sickening jolt of motion and a barely felt crash as the worm twisted, the motion smushing me momentarily between the side of the canyon and the hard, black flesh of the lava worm. The gravity units had done their job and I emerged on the other side of the worm. I released the gecko pads and flew free a tad later than I liked. I skipped along the side of the canyon, breaking free chunks of black rock before I regained control and stopped myself. The worm was falling toward the lava, but I knew it would be after me again shortly. I boosted toward the hatch that I was making in the side of the base. The cut was at eighty percent now, but I didn't have time to wait for it to finish. Crossing my arms in front of me, I flew directly toward the hatch my salvage UI had outlined on the wall.

  There was a tremendous jolt through the armor as I slammed into the wall at high speed. The compromised panel gave way, folding out of the way as the metal of one of the four sides still hadn't been fully cut through.

  I hit the opposite wall of the internal corridor hard and left a Jake-sized dent. I lost consciousness for a moment. My brain, although augmented, was still mostly human. And human brains didn't like concussive force.

  The unconsciousness only lasted a moment before my greatly enhanced regeneration and Transcendent Flesh came to my rescue from what might've been a fatal concussive injury to a normal human.

  My three drones followed me inside, obeying my belated order just in time. There was a tremendous shudder through the metal as the enormous mass of the lava worm crashed into the side of the node. Its jaws chewed savagely, scraping glowing teeth along the metal.

  I could see right down its gullet, and I couldn't resist the temptation. I pulled the Gazer free of my chest and pressed the trigger. Nothing happened
. I looked down to find the weapon was a mangled mess. It had been caught between the hammer of the worm's body and an anvil formed from the chest of my Assault Armor. Tier 2 metal, although strong, wasn't up to that kind of abuse.

  "Shit, I'm running out of these."

  I tossed the useless scrap aside. I'd salvage what I could from it later.

  The worm dropped away, returning to the lava below. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. Off to my left and right were closed Union-standard doors. I could only hope that now that I was inside the base, security wouldn't be as lethal. I only needed to make it to the Connector node anyway.

  I stood up and examined the sizable dent I'd made in the wall. The metal around me shook as the worm once again slammed its nightmare head into the wall. Teeth deformed the metal as it chewed, attempting to get through to me. I had no idea how it was sensing where I was, but it certainly wasn't giving up.

  The drones fired at my mental command, but even firing directly into its gullet didn't seem to harm it much. If the thing had a soft spot, I wasn't seeing it.

  The worm fell away again and left the exterior wall in much worse shape than it had been only five minutes ago. I could leave it to continue chewing. Visions of the beast squirming down corridors eating the base from the inside like a worm in an apple filled my head. I needed to kill it, or at least discourage it.

  I took an instant inventory of my weapons. I didn't have a lot left. Excalibur at my side—a good tool, but not so useful against a worm that could eat my car. The Gazer was toast. My drones were as useless as the dead Gazer. I cursed myself for forgetting to bring plasma grenades, as I thought maybe tossing a handful down that mouth the next time it came up here would have been productive. I thought maybe not—the amount of plasma in a grenade was nothing compared to that of that turret's bolt and one of those shots hadn't bothered one that much.

  That brought me to my last toy, the one I'd been hoping not to use. My last Holemaker. If I needed to blow a secure door or clear some rubble and I didn't have it, I was screwed. I hadn't even brought any more of them with me on the Redemption. I didn't see a choice.

  I armed the Holemaker and set a five-second timer. Just enough so that it had a chance to get down in the worm’s gullet before it exploded. I set the charge to half power. That way when it went off it wouldn't take out too much of the surrounding area. Hopefully none, but my little devices had surprised me before. I remembered when I had detonated my first version and accidentally removed almost an entire Connector node, back on Pax.

  When the worm slammed into the wall again a moment later, I was ready. I tossed the Holemaker into the gaping maw, aiming for the yawning chasm at the center of the sea of triangular teeth. The jaw snapped closed convulsively—some sort of reflex triggered by the metallic mass of the Holemaker entering the mouth. I flinched backward, expecting instant death, but when the jaws opened again I could see the Holemaker wedged between two rows of teeth. The flat side was pointed straight toward me.

  I ran, the timer in my head showing me how few seconds I had to get out of the blast area. I crashed into the closed door with a bang as it refused to open for me. The timer went to zero and a blinding flash behind me obliterated both the worm’s head and a large section of the corridor behind me, as well as the surrounding rock. I'd been a little slow ordering the drones to follow, and one had been caught in the blast; it was now gone without a trace. I ordered the remaining scout and particle beam drone to dock.

  Marty spoke up over our shared comms. He had been watching through the drones' sensor feeds and my suit's. He was a good man and knew not to interrupt me when I was fighting for my life.

  With the immediate danger passed he spoke. "I just don't understand how you're still alive, Jake. Is this how things usually go for you? I mean, shit, can't you just shoot something? Metra told me what you did back on Pax when you were clearing the refinery. I think you like those bombs a bit too much."

  I mean, he wasn't wrong. I did love them. They'd saved my ass a few times now.

  "Don't you be trash-talking my Holemakers."

  "You're still alive anyway, so that's good."

  After my brush with the base defenses and the fight with the worm, the next thirty minutes seemed like a relaxing vacation. Every door was locked down, but a few minutes with Excalibur and I got them open. My Engineering vision mode would show me exactly where the locking mechanism was and it was just a matter of some wrecking bar surgery to make them disengage. Once the mechanisms were trash I pried the door open and continued on.

  A few doors later I was at a Connector node. I pulled the Link free from one of my pockets, grateful again for whoever at Krigar had decided to design armored pockets. If the Link had been destroyed our plan would be screwed. Sure, now that we had the Manufactory, Metra could make me a new one, but that would involve us going back to Earth and getting it through the gate. Not something anybody wanted to do. I didn't want to repeat that trick with the potato anytime soon.

  I pressed the Link, keys dangling, to one of the control notches I found in the heart of the Connector node. It stuck there and linked the station's internals and Brick far away on Pax through the microgate on Redemption.

  "This may take longer than you will find pleasant, Jake, but I will now breach the security of the base. Stand by while I break the encryption," Brick said.

  I stood around, and then sat and then finally leaned in a relaxed pose against the wall and waited impatiently for Brick to crack the internal network's encryption.

  Fifteen minutes later, he was done. "I now have control of all base systems. Defenses standing down. Taking control of orbiting defense platforms."

  "Brick, does that mean I can land at the base now?" Marty asked.

  "Stand by."

  Another minute passed before Brick spoke again. "All defenses are now under my control. You are free to come in and dock with the station, Marty."

  Chapter Thirty-Eight: In Connahr Base Mercury

  NOW THAT BRICK WAS in charge of the station, the doors opened for me automatically. I liked that better than having to force my way through every single one. More importantly, however, the interior automated defenses didn't eviscerate me as I came through doors. Deadly little ceiling-mounted turrets covered strategic doors, dropping down when needed. They were clustered around the usual entry points of the base, and if I had been trying to force my way in through the exterior entry it would've been very messy indeed. It probably would've taken a platoon of guys like me, well-armed and supported, to force my way into the space to the normal entryway.

  I entered the hangar in time to see the Redemption come to a gentle landing meters away. The front hatch opened and the ramp lowered. Marty jogged down and stopped in front of me, looking around curiously.

  "Hey, it's just like Pax," he said.

  "Yep, Union standard. Why build something unique when you can just snap everything together like Legos?"

  "I guess so. Okay, we're here. Now what?" Marty asked.

  "Now we find out what's wrong and we fix it," I said.

  "I've determined what's wrong, Jake," Brick said. “This facility was damaged by tectonic action. The same quake that opened the rift you entered from also damaged the Connahr field's primary power source. The backups have been attempting to compensate but do not have the power required to drive a field the size of this solar system."

  "Power shortages again. Do we have to fix a Fusion plant?" I asked.

  "No, Jake. The Fusion plant is fully functional. It is only because of that and the extensive energy storage arrays built into the base that the Connahr field is still functional."

  "What do you mean then? What's powering it?"

  "A Solar Tap. The gravity lenses on the receiving gate are misaligned and the Tap is operating at approximately 5% efficiency."

  My eyes went wide when I heard that. I'd seen the blueprint in the Union Common Knowledge Set. It was a set of blueprints, actually. The node that focused the solar
energy and then harvested it, and the solar satellite that fed it. It was ruinously expensive in materials and Nanite Clusters. For some applications, for when you had literally astronomical power needs, you could use a Solar Tap.

  The solar satellite loitered in low solar orbit, exposing an open gate to the sun at point-blank range. On the other side, that passed through a series of gravity lenses that focused and directed that energy into a beam suitable for harvest. The power output was prodigious, but when the Tap failed even a Fusion plant wasn't enough to fill the gap left behind.

  Brick brought up a three-dimensional map of the Connahr base for us. It made Pax look like a hut on the moors compared to the ancestral estate of a great Lord. Sure, it was rather single-purpose. There was the hangar, the control center, a gate room, and a small barracks that was just big enough for four people to live in. The majority of the base was all about the Connahr field and the power generation and storage needed to support it.

  Most of it was underground, stretching deep below us. Huge arrays of energy storage as well as a full-sized Fusion node. On the surface were the hangar, the ring of defense turrets, shield generators, and Sensor and Communications nodes.

  In the center of it all was the Solar Tap, taking up a large portion of the base's total size. It was an enormous vertical structure, the size of a fat ten-story building.

  The Connahr field generator itself was comparatively small, merely another full node right beside the Solar Tap near the surface of the base.

  "Hey, Brick. The Sensor and Comms nodes are both working, right?" Marty asked.

  "Yes, they're both fully functional."

  "Have you—" Marty started.

  "One of the first things I did upon taking control was to determine whether there was a connection to any Union assets in the system. There is not. If there was ever a Trade node in this system it is gone. The system gate also seems to be missing. Both of them would've been placed on the outer edges of the system, so we can assume that both of them have been taken by Ferals."