“Overdrive: Conflict’s Judge!!”
“What–!”
Davídrius exclaimed, startled as the remaining swords on his person instantly
shattered, falling to the ground in pieces. His attention was quickly torn to
the sudden flashes of light surrounding Hero Machina – tank turrets detonated,
mech guns disintegrated, gunship rockets spontaneously dismantled. Even the
nearest portion of the Riaxen Deathnought wreck sparkled slightly, a sign of
various external weaponry suddenly exploding.
“What’s
going on–?!” Siyuakén yelped as the two gauss turrets mounted on the back of
the Earthian trucks suddenly sparked violently before falling to pieces.
“…Everyone’s
weapons have fallen apart…” Rebehka muttered as she slowly surveyed the
battlefield. She then turned back to face Kaoné, awestruck. “Was this– was this
you?!”
“I
guess so?...” Kaoné responded, “That’s interesting… so my Overdrive makes
weapons fall apart?”
“Looks
like the Riaxen have stopped approaching, too,” Kevérin observed.
“Perfect
opportunity to take them out–!” Davídrius exclaimed before suddenly collapsing
to his knees and grasping his helmet in pain. “GAAH! What in the–!”
“Davídrius!”
Christeané dashed over to the Introtechnic’s side, “What happened?!”
“I… I
don’t know,” the Tresédian replied uneasily as he stumbled back to his feet, “I
was just about to take advantage of the opening to attack the Riaxen… then,
suddenly, pain. Damn it, what the hell was that?”
Kievkenalis
looked back at the Riaxen vehicles, all of which had stopped in their tracks.
Riaxen soldiers were beginning to climb out uneasily, while a couple of the
mechs and gunships even turned back and fled the way they came. “…Could this be
part of the Overdrive, too?”
“Huh?”
Kaoné glanced back at the Chaostechnic, “What do you mean?”
“You
didn’t just destroy all of the weapons in the area, you’ve also introduced a
strong inhibition to fighting and killing,” Kievkenalis mused, “Even without
weapons, the Riaxen could easily crush us with their vehicles alone. And... I
can’t really seem to focus on any of the vehicles. If I think about using a Chaos attack, the thought just…
disappears. It’s like I can’t think about actually attacking them.”
“You’re
saying that she’s influenced people’s minds?”
Christeané questioned incredulously.
“That’s
not– that’s not a Materiatechnic Overdrive!” Davídrius scowled.
“No,
but it’s certainly a pacifist’s overdrive,” Kievkenalis countered, “Overdrives
aren’t just related to a person’s
Chaotic type, after all. It’s rarer, but they can also be based on the person’s
personality. Controlling what a person thinks is technically possible for a Materiatechnic anyways, if they had
an intricate understanding of the brain that no one currently does, at least…”
“So
what, she’s a fuckin’ Psychotechnic now? A Realitechnic?”
“You
sound scared,” Kaoné teased.
“I–!”
Davídrius inhaled stiffly, his fists clenched. “This is ridiculous!”
“This
is my response to your assertion about having power and being a soldier,” Kaoné
countered as she casually righted the two flipped Earthian trucks. With another
motion all of the scrap metal laying around was drawn toward the two trucks
before combining with them, shifting the broken frames until they both appeared
as good as new – minus the turrets. The Materiatechnic stared at the two trucks
before looking down at her hands contemplatively. “…This is what I always
wanted to do as a Materiatechnic. Before, I could only control matter by
thinking about a region of space, you know? Like with every other Chaotic. If I
was just a little off – if I misjudged a distance, or a size, or a depth, I
could cause accidental harm. That’s why I didn’t want to do anything. But now,
with my Overdrive… I can control objects themselves. I can save people –
without having to worry about hurting them!” She glanced around at the
surrounding Riaxen forces, stopped in their tracks and utterly confused, before
turning to face Davídrius resolutely. “…Back on Teghica, you… you were probably
right about everything you said, about me being a soldier who doesn’t fight.
But now I can! I can fight – to save
as many people as possible! And with my powers I’ll do my best to make sure no
one dies – because killing is never
the only answer!”
“I
think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself,” Kevérin interjected,
“All you’ve done is dismantled everyone’s weapons, inhibited killing intent,
and… completely… fixed a couple… trucks…”
“Sounded
smarter in your head, huh?” Christeané snorted as the Pyrotechnic trailed off
uneasily.
“He
does have a point, in a way,” Rebehka commented as she jumped into the driver
seat of one of the trucks, “I doubt the weapons will come back together, but
once Kaoné’s Overdrive wears off there’s nothing to keep the Riaxen from
attacking us again. We should really get moving.”
“I…
this… what?” Davídrius spluttered.
“Hey
Kaoné, I think you broke Davídrius,” Christeané quipped as he jumped into a
turret-less backseat.
“I’m
not– I mean, that’s not– this isn’t…” the Introtechnic stuttered a response as
the trucks revved up and took off toward the Riaxen wreck again, “I mean, this
is ridiculous! Kaoné did this? This
is her Overdrive? Bullshit. It’s bullshit!”
“There
is literally no other explanation,”
Christeané replied exasperatedly.
“This…
tch,” Davídrius finally dashed up to the trucks and then fell into pace between
them, the wreck looming ever closer. “Alright, fine. But do you really think
just leaving them back there will accomplish anything?”
“We got
out of the fight and no one else had to die,” Kaoné stated bluntly.
“And
that’s the thing! Your ideals are still misplaced! You really think those
Riaxen soldiers are just going to sit there and go ‘oh hey, maybe I shouldn’t kill the enemy forces after
all’!?”
“No,
I’m aware that they’ll come after us again… but if we can still get out of this
without death, then isn’t that a good thing?”
“These
are the Riaxen you’re talking about! The closest to ‘evil’ you can get in the
galaxy, aside from the Drakkars!”
“Based
on what? Everything you’ve heard from the Syraus, the sworn enemy of the
Riaxen?”
“No, I heard this shit from the Riaxen
themselves,” Davídrius snorted sarcastically.
“That’s
exactly the problem! You don’t know
their side!”
“They were the ones who attacked Tyrnaus!!”
“So the
commanders ordered it, but what do you know about the ordinary soldier? How do
you know that those mech pilots, those tank drivers, how do you know they’re
‘evil’? That they aren’t just conscripted members of the army, like most Syraus
soldiers, or even any of us? That they don’t have their own families and lives
to go back to outside of fighting?”
“That’s–
…that’s not…”
“It’s
not black and white, Davídrius. Killing them does nothing to help us but
everything to hurt them. The only Riaxen truly deserving of punishment are the
ones in charge… and even then, I don’t think killing them is the answer. It
never is.”
“…But…
no, that’s…”
“Weren’t
expecting her to fight back, were you?” Siyuakén interjected, the smirk evident
in her voice.
“Tch,”
Davídrius scowled, “…I still disagree. But… I guess we can try things your way.
…For once.”
“Thanks,
Davídrius,” Kaoné replied.
“But I
reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’ if this comes back to bite us in the
ass.”
“Duly
noted,” Christeané quipped, “And now that we’re done discussing philosophy, how
about we focus on the one thing we all forgot to think about?”
“What’s
that?” Kevérin glanced briefly over at the Introtechnic.
“How
are we supposed to find the Ayas in a fifty
kilometer wreck?”
Silence
fell over Hero Machina, all eyes focused forward on the ever-approaching
Deathnought wreck.
“Well,
that’s, uh…” Kevérin muttered, “…I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
“Davídrius
is a Superspeed Introtechnic,”
Kievkenalis suggested.
“Just
‘cause I can run really fast doesn’t mean I can or want to search the entire
goddamn wreck,” Davídrius countered irately, “There’s at least, what, twenty by twenty by twenty kilometers of searchable
wreck? That’s eight thousand square kilometers. Do you know how much time
that’ll take to search?!”
“…True,
yeah…”
“You’re the resident Chaostechnic.
Shouldn’t you be the one to look for
the Ayas? With all that Chaos Energy-sensing shit?”
“I
guess so, but I can’t sense an Ayas from this range. I can’t sense them very
strongly either, like back on Teghica it was just a… weird off feeling. And I couldn’t even sense the Ayas on Kotak or
Rossindon. I sure can’t sense it now.”
“But I
can.”
The
rest of Hero Machina turned to stare at Siyuakén, who herself had fixed her
gaze on an area of the wreck high in the sky, toward the back of the dead ship.
After a couple moments she realized the attention she was receiving and
returned the stares confusedly. “What?”
“You
just said you could sense the Ayas,” Christeané replied as Kevérin and Rebehka
faced forwards again.
“…I
said that out loud…?”
“Yeah,
you did,” Davídrius deadpanned, “Was that supposed to be a joke?”
“No, I
mean…” Siyuakén responded uneasily, “…I think I can. I can sense something in the wreck. I think it’s the
Ayas.”
“But…
you’re an Electrotechnic,” Kevérin countered confusedly, “The Ayas aren’t
electrical… last anyone checked, anyways.”
“I
don’t… I don’t know,” the Electrotechnic shifted uncomfortably, “I can’t
explain it, I just… I think I can sense it.”
“Well
that’s really fuckin’ reliable,” Davídrius snorted, “Either that, or really
fuckin’ convenient. We’ve been having a lot of that lately.”
“Guys,
give her a break,” Rebehka cut in just as she pulled the truck to a stop a few
meters from the beginning of the wreck’s scrap. Kevérin pulled up right beside
her as the girls jumped out of the first truck before turning back to the rest
of Hero Machina. “If she thinks she can find the Ayas, then why not give it a
shot?” the Cryotechnic suggested, “It’s all we have right now. Kevken can
verify once we get closer.”
“I
agree,” Kaoné nodded, “It’s the fastest way to get in and out… and… I’m not
sure my Overdrive will protect us anymore…”
“It’s
worn off?” Kevérin glanced back at her.
“Yeah…”
“Alright,
then,” the Transfer Captain climbed out of the truck and looked up at the
massive wreck before him. “…We’ll follow Siyuakén’s sense for now.”
“Really–?!”
“Davídrius,
it’s all we’ve got,” Kevérin cut off the Introtechnic, turning to glare at him
irately. “What else would you
suggest?”
“I
don’t… I don’t know,” Davídrius crossed his arms and glanced over at Siyuakén,
“But doesn’t this… doesn’t this seem just, you know, too convenient?”
“You
think it’s a trap?”
“Well…
I dunno…”
“If you
can think of an actual reason to
object, I’ll listen to you. Otherwise…” the Pyrotechnic glanced back at the
wreck, and then up at the distant lights of the battle in orbit, “We have an
Ayas to retrieve… and quickly.”
* * *
7 Hours Later
“God damn I don’t know how y’all do it.”
“We
can’t all be Superspeed
Introtechnics,” Christeané rolled his eyes as he carefully moved a broken
bulkhead to the side.
“That’s
pretty fuckin’ evident,” Davídrius snorted, “I know I said that searching the
wreck would’ve taken me forever, but I had no idea it’d take us so damn long
just to reach a single target!”
“You
really don’t have any other emotions than anger and impatience, do you?”
Rebehka quipped.
“I–! I
totally do. I mean, I’m not being impatient right now. It’s been seven hours,
I’ve been a fuckin’ saint by
Superspeed Introtechnic standards.”
“So you
say,” Kaoné deadpanned.
“We
aren’t far now, anyways,” Kievkenalis spoke up after turning another corner
within the vacant corridors of the dead supership, “The Chaos Energy in the area is becoming denser. This is
almost exactly what I felt back on Teghica.”
“See? I
told you I could sense it,” Siyuakén added haughtily.
“I
don’t know…” Kaoné commented uneasily, “I… hate to agree with Davídrius–“
“Why
does everyone hate to agree with me?”
“–but this doesn’t make a lot of sense to
me. We’ve been through almost forty-five kilometers of corridor and ten
different Riaxen encounters… this wreck is barely intact. There’s no electrical
systems or sensors that you could’ve tapped into accidentally, or anything…”
The
Electrotechnic shrugged in response. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it; I’ve
already told you that.”
“Several
times over the past several hours, aye,” Davídrius deadpanned, “…damn am I starving. And we’ve got a fuckin’
seven hour trip back, too. Why didn’t
we just bust straight through to the Ayas, again?”
“Because
this wreck is way more stable than it
should be, considering its state,” Christeané immediately replied, “If we’re
careless the whole thing could come down on top of us. Last thing I want is to
be crushed by a Deathnought wreck.”
“Eh,
you’re a Superstrength Introtechnic. You’d survive.”
“That’s
exactly the problem…”
“Wait,
guys,” Kievkenalis suddenly interrupted, drawing the attention of the rest of
the group, “…We’re close.” He pointed straight forward at a large steel door
that appeared to be jammed shut. “It’s through there.”
Kaoné
wordlessly stepped forward and casually shoved the door to the side. She then
stepped into the room, followed by the rest of Hero Machina.
“…It
looks like an engineering room…” Kevérin muttered as he glanced around. The
room was large enough to comfortably hold all seven members of Hero Machina,
even considering the multiple computing consoles sitting around the room. The
walls were lined with similar consoles and the occasional decorative spike, as
per Riaxen aesthetic. Towards the back of the room the wall protruded outward
slightly with a small transparent dome. And inside the dome…
“It’s
the Ayas,” Rebehka observed.
“Light
Green? That’s Tanivas, then,” Kievkenalis commented, stepping forward to more
closely inspect the stone.
“Alright,
great, let’s grab it and leave,” Davídrius responded impatiently, “Maybe on the
way out we can just bust through the
wreck?”
“Wait–!”
Siyuakén exclaimed just as Christeané wound up to punch and shatter the Ayas
holder, “There’s still a current running through the console. I think the Ayas
is powering something…”
“What?
…Let me see,” Kevérin quickly moved over to the console nearest the Ayas and
began interfacing with it. “…Wow, it’s actually an active system. Maybe this is
what you were sensing, Siyuakén? Ha, and here we thought the whole wreck was…
trashed…”
“What
is it?” Rebehka stepped closer to read the console screen over Kevérin’s
shoulder, “…Oh, right, I can’t read it…”
“But I
can,” Kevérin replied, “And what it says is worrying. The Ayas is definitely
still powering some systems – two very important ones, in fact. The Structural
Integrity Gravity Manipulators, and the Orbital Bombardment Shield…”
“Shit,”
Christeané scowled, “Then, that means–“
“Yeah,”
the Pyrotechnic turned back to the rest of Hero Machina, “The moment we remove
the Ayas from that console… this entire wreck will fall to pieces.”
Data Entry: {null}
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