7 Days Later
“I still can’t believe how quickly the RPF was ready to move out…”
“We’ve had eyes on Kotak for several years now,” Kievkenalis explained,
“The SFC are a really shady group. The moment we catch wind of anything suspicious,
we move in to shut them down, if appropriate. It’s all we can do to keep them
from getting out of hand.”
“It’s one thing to ‘have eyes’ on them,” Rebehka responded, “It’s
another to have two fully-armed Cruisers sitting a half-week jump away!”
The Chaostechnic shrugged. “This is how the RPF does things. There’s at
least one Cruiser in range of every SFC outpost we know of, for situations
exactly like this.”
“And now we’re almost at Kotak!” Christeané exclaimed, “C’mon, why are
we complaining about this? We’re about to see some action!”
“Eh, probably not,” Kievkenalis refuted, “The SFC is usually pretty
compliant with RPF ‘raids’. Usually we just barge in, do a quick investigation,
and then pull out just as quickly if we don’t find anything suspicious.”
“Oh, that’s good to know,” Kaoné sighed of relief.
Davídrius glanced over at her. “You–“
“Not here,” Kevérin cut in flatly, “We’re minutes from
dropping out of FTL, and planetfall is shortly after that.”
“You can’t–“
“If you wanted to argue, you should’ve done it two hours ago, before
suiting up and sitting in the damn shuttle,” Kevérin cut Davídrius off again,
“We’re lucky enough that both Commander Nikéyin and General Rantéin allowed us
to participate in this raid, so don’t botch it up. Our track record for
screwing up off-world missions is two for four at this point; let’s try to keep
that number down.”
Shortly after Kevérin had finished a small door toward the front of the
passenger compartment of the shuttle opened up. A young Nimalian man stuck his
head around the doorway. “Five minutes ‘til FTL drop out,” he commented,
“Assuming the SFC don’t have a significant space presence, we’ll launch as soon
as the Cruiser decelerates. Planetfall should be in about ten minutes.”
“Thanks,” Kievkenalis nodded toward the pilot, “We’ll be ready.”
The pilot nodded back and turned his attention back to the shuttle
controls, shutting and locking the door behind him.
“Alright, this is it,” Kevérin began, “You all know the drill. We’re
Chaotics, so we’re part of the vanguard force. The moment we reach
disembarkation altitude, we all jump. Rebehka, Kotak isn’t a desert planet, so
you shouldn’t have any trouble creating an ice platform; you can take care of
Siyuakén. Kaoné, you’re with Kevken. Davídrius, Christeané, I’m sure you two
can handle a short fall.”
“I’d hardly call five hundred meters a short fall,”
Davídrius deadpanned.
“If you can survive being hit by my hammers, or by Chaos Slam, you
should be fine,” Christeané smirked.
“Exactly,” Kevérin nodded, “Now, once we’re ground-side the goal is to
secure the compound. Stick together, and follow the orders of the nearest RPF
Colonel if we find one. Otherwise Kevken and I have authority to lead Hero
Machina on our own. And, lastly – don’t attack anyone unless they attack
you first. We’re not here to destroy the SFC, we’re here to see if there’s
any connections or hints about the metallic infection.”
“Sure thing, dad,” Davídrius snarked, “Anything else you
want to warn us about?”
“…Yes, actually,” Kevérin eyed the Introtechnic irately, “…We’re
all wearing the new prototype Chaos Armor. Now, they are prototypes,
but they have been tested. They should stand up fine in
battle. But if we come across a CENT field, we’re withdrawing immediately.
Don’t overestimate your strength.”
Almost immediately after Kevérin had finished the entire shuttle
jolted.
“That’s the FTL drop out,” the Transfer Captain stated, “Get ready.”
The seven members of Hero Machina quickly fastened themselves to the
shuttle’s safety harnesses in preparation for launch. Kevérin and Kievkenalis,
as the only two present to have ever spent time on spacecraft before, braced
themselves for the second jolt of the docking clamps releasing the shuttle… but
the jolt never came.
“…So, uh,” Davídrius spoke up impatiently, “What’re we waiting for–“
He was cut off as the entire shuttle suddenly rocked violently; were it
not for the safety harnesses, Hero Machina would’ve been thrown all about the
shuttle interior.
“What was that?!” Rebehka exclaimed.
“That was not the docking clamps releasing,” Kevérin
scowled, “…were we fired on?!”
“Looks like we were,” the pilot’s voice came out over a small speaker
near the door to the cockpit, “There’s a single SFC Cruiser in orbit. The Syndisus.
Somehow they think they can fend off both the Krosus and Naetolus at
the same time… ha! This’ll only be a short delay. We’ll launch soon, but expect
a bumpy ride down.” The shuttle suddenly jolted again, but in a much more
subdued and controlled manner. “There it is. Engaging inertial dampeners...
launching! Planetfall in five!”
“W-wait, already?!” Kaoné exclaimed, “Is– is this safe?!”
“We’ll be fine,” Kievkenalis waved her off, “Like their name says, the
SFC usually rely on stealth. They don’t have a chance against two RPF
Cruisers.”
“Which makes you wonder why they attacked us in the first place…”
Kevérin muttered.
“Welp,” Davídrius smirked, “I guess this does away with that ‘wait ‘til
you’re attacked to attack’ thing, huh?”
The Transfer Captain glanced at the Introtechnic and then admitted
begrudgingly, “I suppose so… but don’t get carried away.” He turned back to
Davídrius and stated pointedly, “Don’t kill if you don’t have to.”
“…Everyone always assumes I’m just going to go off and kill someone,”
Davídrius scowled, “I haven’t killed anyone since, like… over two months ago.”
“Your attitude is exactly why we’re all wary,” Kaoné countered.
“Shut it, Ms. Useless,” Davídrius snapped.
“You too, Davídrius,” Kevérin ordered.
“…Tch,” the Introtechnic snorted, but didn’t reply further.
The following several minutes passed in silence. The shuttle began to
shake gently as they entered the atmosphere, and then jolted again as it
switched to air-breathing engines.
“Planetfall in t-minus ten seconds,” the pilot’s voice appeared a
minute later. The seven Chaotics quickly began undoing the safety harnesses as
the pilot counted down. When he reached zero two hatches, one on either side of
the shuttle, opened outwards, allowing the rushing winds to enter the shuttle
and begin whipping around hair and Chaos Robes alike.
“Here we go!” Kevérin shouted over the wind, “See you ground-side!” He
flung himself from the shuttle, taking a moment to observe his surroundings
before pointing himself in a ground-wards dive.
“…You know, I said this would be easy,” Kaoné looked down
apprehensively after Christeané, Rebehka, and Siyuakén had all followed
Kevérin, “But, uh… now that I’m actually here…”
“Something else that you’re scared of, eh?” Davídrius crossed his arms
as he stood behind her.
“Well, sort of– uagh!!” Kaoné yelped as she was suddenly shoved out the
hatch.
“Oops! Sorry, I think I slipped!” Davídrius shouted after her. He
smirked and then glanced over at Kievkenalis just in time to catch the
Chaostechnic shaking his head in disapproval. He promptly leaped after Kaoné,
leaving Davídrius alone in the shuttle.
“…Hardasses, the lot of ‘em,” the Introtechnic grumbled before throwing
himself out the hatch.
Farther down, Kevérin was already meeting the first signs of resistance
in the form of anti-air rounds. He barely avoided being hit by one before
bathing the entire aerospace around him in fire, following up with launching
fireballs at every anti-air platform he could reasonably identify from hundreds
of meters in the air. As he rapidly approached the ground, he was able to
recognize more and more of the compound’s weaponry – including a laser cannon
that had just unpacked itself and was now aiming directly in his direction. He
had no time to react before it fired – he instead instinctively flinched,
before realizing that a massive ice shield had been formed just in time to
block the laser blast.
“You’re welcome!” Rebehka shouted as she fell past, Siyuakén on her
tail. The Cyrotechnic then spun herself around and created an ice-platform
mid-air, controlling the ice itself to catch herself and Siyuakén and gradually
slow their descent. At that point Kevérin fell past them again, confident in
his abilities to catch himself with flame jets as he continued launching
fireballs at the various military hardware.
That is, until he realized that his fireballs were dissipating
prematurely.
“…CENT fields…?!” he muttered to himself, “…it would figure…!” He
immediately blasted himself to the side, changing his trajectory to land some
distance outside the compound instead of directly in it. “Watch yourselves!!”
he shouted upwards, simultaneously activating his communicator, “They have CENT
fields!!”
“Of course they do…” Christeané’s irritation was evident even over the
audio-only connection. The Transfer Captain watched as the rest of Hero Machina
slowly changed their falling trajectory to match his own before turning his
attention back to the ground and initiating his flame jets to slow his descent.
He landed softly on the dirt nearly a hundred meters from the compound’s
outermost wall and set up a flame barrier to incinerate any incoming
projectiles as the rest of Hero Machina began landing around him.
“Rebehka… Siyuakén… Christeané…” Kevérin acknowledged each as they
landed on the ground, “Kaoné, Kevken… …where’s Davídrius?”
His question was answered by an explosion in the distance, somewhere around
the area that they had originally been aiming for.
“He went directly for the compound?” Siyuakén facepalmed, “Even with
the CENT field warning?”
“I
tried to catch him, but he told me to go away...” Kaoné commented.
“…It would figure,” Kevérin growled, “He has the Ayas. He ignored my
order because it doesn’t affect him… damn it!”
“…What do we do…?” Kaoné questioned warily.
“…We go after him,” the Transfer Captain replied begrudgingly, “If he
at least knows what he’s doing, he’ll disable the CENT fields. We can take
advantage of that opening.” He began running toward the compound, gesturing for
the rest of Hero Machina to follow. “Christeané, you’re with me! We’ll try to
catch up with Davídrius. The rest of you, watch our backs! Try not to get
separated!”
*
* *
“Haaaah!!”
Davídrius flung the blade end of Hastryth forwards, piercing it through
a steel door. He then tossed the handle into the air and flipped, snagging the
handle with his foot and yanking hard enough to rip the door off its hinges. He
dismissed the Ayas weapon to detach it from the door and then re-summoned it
just in time to rapidly block a bullet barrage. The moment an opening appeared
he dashed forward with amazing speed, obliterating the turret with a single
kick and then flooring the two soldiers behind it with Hastryth’s tether. One
of them launched a blast of fire in his direction, but his armor’s shields
absorbed the hit. The Introtechnic grinned and launched himself forward,
cutting down the two soldiers before either could offer further resistance.
Without offering the two new corpses so much as a glance, Davídrius
bounded forwards and rounded a corner, maintaining his speed as he barreled
through two small security mechs and another three SFC soldiers. He drew his
sword – a side-arm, for if he somehow lost the Ayas – and held it in one hand
and Hastryth’s handle in the other before spinning around in a tight circle
just as he passed the barricade, ripping all of the defenders to shreds. He
paused momentarily at the next hallway intersection and was about to launch
himself to the right before he noticed dark red discolorings all over the lower
areas of his armor’s robing.
“Aw, what the hell?” he scowled, “Blood stains already? The shielding
doesn’t even shield the robes? Goddamn prototype.” He then prepared to dash
off, but was interrupted again – this time by a voice over the compound’s
intercom.
“Hold, Quakeborn!”
“…’Quakeborn’?” he echoed incredulously, “…What is this, some retarded
fantasy story?” He directed his attention up at the intercom speaker. “Yo! Can
you hear me?”
“Yes, this base’s intercom system has
bi-directional capability, so I can indeed hear you,” the voice replied.
“Keh, alright,” Davídrius smirked, “So, who are you? What do you want?
I’m kinda busy, here.”
“Should you disregard my words, you
shall soon be far busier.”
The Introtechnic crossed his arms impatiently. “The fuck are you on
about?”
“You have arrived on this planet with
excellent timing. This SFC group cannot be trusted with an Ayas, yet if it is
not retrieved soon it will be lost to a far worse entity…”
“An Ayas? What? Where? …Why should I even trust you? You haven’t told
me who you are yet!”
“My identity bestows trust. For now, I
am trapped as this base’s primary computer system, but before I was much
greater. I am Prior Aegis Arcán.”
* * * * *
==================== End of Chapter 29 ====================
* * * * *
Data Entry: Planetfall
The term “planetfall” is simply a generalized term describing the stage of planetary arrival during which people and cargo are transported from the spacecraft to the surface of the planet below. No galactic entity possesses teleportation or beaming technology (aside from the Drakkars, and the Earthians’ new battlecruiser), and the only way of emulating such technology is through the use of Spacetechnics – Chaotics with the ability of teleportation and other minor space-altering powers. However, Spacetechnics are a relatively uncommon type of Chaotic and they oftentimes cannot transport large masses or groups of people all at once (or even over large distances), so most spacecraft are instead equipped with a wing of shuttles.
The size and general specifications of shuttles vary from civilization to civilization and from ship class to ship class, but their basic purpose is to quickly, yet safely, transport people and cargo from a spacecraft in mid- to low-orbit to the surface of the planet below. In-space propulsion differs depending on civilizations – oftentimes shuttles are simply equipped with rocket engines. Once the shuttle enters the atmosphere, however, it switches to air-breathing engines in order to have greater control. This places a weight restriction on shuttles, though the restriction is not a hard limit as the shuttle’s internal inertial dampeners can be calibrated in such a way that much of the shuttle’s mass simply becomes irrelevant.
Civilian-grade shuttles simply employ large amounts of composite armor to weather atmospheric re-entry, but military-grade shuttles are usually equipped with actual electromagnetic or Chaos shields. The shields’ purpose is two-fold for military shuttles, as they protect the hull during re-entry as well as if the shuttle flies into a hot combat zone.
Drop-off techniques vary widely, as well. Civilian or cargo-transport shuttles will touch down on the ground and come to a complete stop before unloading their passengers and cargo. Military shuttles will do so as well, as long as they are landing in a combat-free zone. In a hot zone, however, drop-off occurs while the shuttle is still some distance in the air. Military squads are assigned to shuttle groups based on their ability to prevent a fall from being fatal to them. Non-Chaotics are stuffed into shuttles that fly roughly fifty meters above the ground, and each soldier is given a one-time use descent jetpack to control their falling speed on the way down. Shuttles carrying Chaotics do not have to fly as low as many Chaotics are capable of flying (e.g. Pyrotechnics, Aerotechnics), simulating flying by controlling a platform below their feet (e.g. Materiatechnics, Cyrotechnics), or simply catching themselves on the ground without causing themselves significant harm (e.g. Introtechnics). Shuttles carrying these Chaotics usually do not descend below 500 meters; the Chaotics then jump from the shuttle and simply fall to the ground. The reasoning behind this is that Chaotics are more easily able to defend themselves from incoming fire than bulky metal shuttles (not to mention being much smaller targets), so the shuttles are kept as far away from anti-air weapons as much as possible.
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