Chapter 44: Crushing Escape

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“The moment we remove the Ayas from that console… this entire wreck will fall to pieces.”

“The moment?” Davídrius scoffed, “Bullshit. It’s been standing for this long, there’s no reason one tiny little change will cause the whole thing to instantaneously collapse.”

“You… don’t understand what Gravity Manipulators does, do you,” Christeané replied flatly, “Okay, look, this is a Deathnought wreck. That means it’s built out of literally billions of tons of material. There’s a reason Supercaps are built in space, you know – a structure of this size and mass will actually crush itself instantly in a significant gravity well if the Gravity Manipulators are shut off. It’s a miracle already that the crash didn’t cause a catastrophic chain-failure, so yeah, removing the Ayas will cause instantaneous collapse, if it’s the only power source in this whole damn wreck.”

“Even if it doesn’t, the Orbital Bombardment Shields will go down too,” Kevérin commented, his attention refocused on the console, “And… it looks like the Ayas is powering the comm jammers that are preventing us from contacting the Genesis from within the wreck. Likely by design, to make it harder for anyone other than the Riaxen to extract the Ayas… anyways, the jammers are going down at the same time as the Shields. The Riaxen will know within moments whether or not it was them who got the Ayas, and once they realize it wasn’t, you can bet your ass they’ll obliterate the wreck with a rain of hellfire, whether or not the wreck crushes itself.”

“Okay, okay, I get it, we’re fucked,” Davídrius rolled his eyes, “What’re we supposed to do, then?”

“Well… there’s only one solution, really,” Rebehka commented, “Either we leave Kaoné behind to take the Ayas and she can save herself with her Materiatechnism, or we leave behind Davídrius and Christeané, the Introtechnics…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don’t think so,” Christeané immediately refuted, shaking his head vigorously, “I’m well aware that I can survive being crushed by more mass than you guys, but in no way does that mean I can survive the whole wreck!”

“Oh come on, we’re practically at the very top of the wreck,” Kevérin snorted, “You won’t have even close to the entire wreck on you!”

“And someone has to clear the way if Davídrius gets stuck,” Rebehka pointed out.

“Wait, how would he even keep up with me?” the Superspeed Introtechnic scowled, “Am I supposed to let him ride on my back or some shit?”

“You can carry Siyuakén and Kaoné, why not Christeané?”

“Sure I can carry them – when they aren’t wearing armor. Do you know how much these suits weigh?!”

“But they also augment your lifting strength! And we’re in half Nimalian gravity! You could totally do it.”

“It’s still a ridiculous solution,” Christeané countered, “Kaoné would be more reliable.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never manipulated more than a ton of mass at once…” the Materiatechnic frowned, “Even if I activated my Overdrive again, I don’t know if I could clear the wreck…”

“…This is a problem?” Kievkenalis replied meekly.

“No… no, I think we can do this,” Kevérin refuted after a couple moments of thought, “The jammers will go down once the Ayas is removed, so the Genesis can then just beam out who’s left! All we need to do is make sure they know and are in position to do so.”

“Alright,” Davídrius crossed his arms, “How do we do that?”

“…Kevken, how long does the boost provided by Chaos Assist last?”

“Well, if I use the ‘Extended’ keyword then… maybe, five hours? But all of my other abilities will be significantly weaker during that time…”

“That should be fine, I don’t expect to get into too many fights. Now that we know that it’s Gravity Manipulators that are keeping the wreck intact, we have more freedom to manipulate the bulkheads, provided we don’t move too much matter or accidentally destroy one of the Manipulators…”

“I’m not sure I follow…?” Siyuakén responded confusedly.

“Alright. Here’s what we’re going to do,” Kevérin started, “Davídrius, Christeané, the two of you will stay behind–“

“Why–!?”

“Hold your thoughts until I’m done! That’s an order as squad leader.”

“…Fine, keep goin’.”

“You won’t stay behind without help; before we leave Kevken will use Chaos Assist on you to augment your strengths and crush resistance. The rest of us will follow Kaoné, who will create a path directly down to the ground outside. We’ll then get back to the trucks and get clear of the wreck, where I’ll contact the Genesis and tell them to be prepared to beam you two up the moment the Bombardment Shields and jammers go down. You won’t be able to communicate with us until then, though, so we’ll need to coordinate how long you’ll wait to yank the Ayas. If we only need to move on a straight-line path, then that’s… about twenty-seven kilometers. We can cover that in four hours. We’ll say four and a half to be safe. Everybody understand that?”

“Another four and a half hours…” Davídrius sighed irately, “You know we’ve already been awake for close to eighteen hours, right? And that we haven’t eaten at all in that time, either?”

“Just hold out for five more hours, alright? Once we’re back on the Genesis you can eat and sleep to your heart’s content.”

“That’s a fuckin’ tall order…”

“I still don’t like having to stay behind,” Christeané stated.

“You won’t be within the wreck long enough to be crushed. And if you are, then the boost provided by Chaos Assist will help,” Kevérin explained, “Worst-case scenario, you have to ride Davídrius’s back as he runs out of the ship. We’ll be creating a straight path out; I’m sure you can cover twenty-seven kilometers in no time, right, Davídrius?”

“Well, sure, probably…”

“You’ll be fine,” the Transfer Captain turned back to Christeané, “I’m leaving you both here so you can watch out for each other and don’t lose track of time.”

“But–“

“This also means I’m trusting you with the Ayas.”

“I didn’t know that was a big thing now,” Davídrius deadpanned, “You sure didn’t treat the Teghica or Kotak Ayas with such reverence.”

“Guys…”

“Fine,” Christeané replied flatly, “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it. I’ll stay behind.”

“…I might as well too, then,” Davídrius sighed, “Maybe I can get a nap while we wait…”

“Alright,” Kevérin nodded before turning to the rest of Hero Machina. “Do the rest of you understand what we’re doing?” When each of the four Chaotics nodded in response, he clapped his hands resolutely. “Alright. Let’s do this and get out here! Kevken, do the Assist.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Chaos Extended Assist!”

“Alright. Christeané, Davídrius, wait for four and a half hours, and then pull the Ayas. Set a timer on your HUD and an alarm to be safe. Kaoné, plow a path straight back to the point where we entered the wreck! Let’s move!”

*             *             *

2 Hours Later

“Twelve kilometers to go…”

“We aren’t making bad time,” Kevérin remarked, “In fact we’re going a little faster than I expected.”

“I didn’t expect aspects of my Overdrive to stick around, that’s why,” Kaoné replied as she casually and continuously warped the metal around them into a three-meter-diameter downward-sloping tunnel.

“Wait, what?” Kievkenalis snapped his attention to the Materiatechnic, “What do you mean, stuck around?”

“Well, none of the big parts, just the object-level control. Well, I can do spatial control if I think about it, but my new default is object-level. It’s really useful though, it’s why I can carve this tunnel so quickly.”

“…I still don’t really understand that,” the Chaostechnic muttered, “You were really limited to spatial control? That’s weird.”

“It actually isn’t,” Rebehka refuted, “Most Chaotics are limited by spatial control. …Well, a lot of the more advanced techniques, at least. For example, I can control ice with just a thought, but if I want to do any real Cryotechnics, I have to think and focus on a specific region of space. It’s the same for Siyuakén and Kevérin, I’m sure.”

“She’s right,” Kevérin nodded, “Chaostechnics are the odd ones out, defaulting to target-level attacks. I mean, c’mon, you should know you’re the odd one out already, with all that complicated type business and having to call your attacks.”

“I guess that’s true,” Kievkenalis mused, “…I just never thought about it. I thought everyone’s powers worked by just thinking about objects themselves…”

“Well, you’d be wrong,” Kaoné commented before suddenly stopping, the floor disappearing in front of her. She glanced down at the huge room whose wall she had just burst through, widening her eyes in surprise when she realized that the light from her helmet headlight simply faded into darkness in front of her.

“Can’t even see the other side of the room…” Siyuakén muttered.

“It must be one of the storage compartments,” Kevérin observed, stepping beside Kaoné and looking around himself at the huge, vacant expanse. “The room’s surprisingly empty for that, though…”

“Maybe that’s why the Riaxen haven’t retrieved the Ayas yet,” Rebehka suggested, “They’ve been removing the cargo instead?”

“Maybe, but even then–“

“Shh!” Siyuakén interrupted, her attention directed toward the far right, an area swathed in darkness.

“…What?” Kevérin turned to stare in the same direction, focusing his helmet’s headlight on the area. “…You can’t have heard anything, there’s no atmosphere. Why did you–?”

“Kevken!”

“…Chaos Deflection!” the Chaostechnic exclaimed, just in time to knock away two incoming rockets.

“There’s Riaxen?!” Kevérin scowled, “Why didn’t you say so–!”

“No time!” Siyuakén interrupted, “Kaoné, get us down to the floor!”

“Uh, right!” The Materiatechnic pulled the floor under them out into the room and quickly lowered it to the ground as Kievkenalis exchanged shots with their aggressors. The Materiatechnic then erected a steel shield against the Riaxen as Siyuakén attempted to pinpoint their location and overload their weapons.

“It’s too dark…” the Electrotechnic scowled, “I can’t see them…”

“Chaos Detect,” Kievkenalis muttered, “…a squad of seven. Five hundred meters away… they’re using storage containers as cover.”

“What are we going to do?” Rebehka glanced toward Kevérin, “We can’t fight at that range, not in this environment.”

“Should we just leave?” Kaoné suggested, “I can keep tunneling from here. It might throw Davídrius off, but there’s no real reason for us to fight them…”

“I’m more concerned about how they spotted us,” Kievkenalis stated, “They can’t have heard us enter. And they can’t have seen us either, not in this darkness. They either have a specialized Chaotic on their side, or specialized sensors.”

“It probably isn’t too farfetched to assume they have IR sensors or something similar,” Kevérin replied, “…I’m actually surprised that we don’t, really. But Kaoné’s right, there’s no need to actually engage. Keep tunneling, but connect the tunnel to the one you made into the room, and make the material bulletproof.”

“Well that goes without saying,” Kaoné remarked as she began molding the metal around her into more tunnel wall.

“Wait–!” Kievkenalis suddenly exclaimed, causing Kaoné to pause mid-motion. “An eighth figure just appeared–!”

He was interrupted as an explosion suddenly erupted from the far side of the room, illuminating the entire storage space for a second before everything faded back to black. The rest of Hero Machina recoiled in surprise and confusion while Kievkenalis continued to stare forward, dumbfounded.

“…Kevken?” Kaoné glanced up at him confusedly.

“…They’re all dead,” the Chaostechnic replied slowly, “The explosion happened, and then a couple seconds later… only the eighth person is still alive.”

“…A Superspeed Introtechnic?” Kevérin suggested.

“Must be– they’re running over! They’re–!”

“Right here.”

“Agh–!” Kievkenalis jumped and twirled around on his heel just as a cloaked figure dropped in the middle of Hero Machina and slammed his palm into the Chaostechnic’s chest. The figure then simply stood in place, unmoving, as Kievkenalis uneasily stumbled backwards.

“…You must be a Chaostechnic, if that didn’t work on you.”

“I… I mean, yes, I am,” Kievkenalis muttered in response, his gaze slowly drawn to the blade in the figure’s off-hand.

The figure – male, judging by the pitch of his voice – panned his view down to the rest of Kievkenalis’s armor before turning to inspect the rest of Hero Machina. “…Black Suns Class-Delta Atmosphereless Armor,” he muttered, “So you’re not Riaxen. I thought so. Identify yourselves.”

“Ah… right,” Kevérin spoke up, “Um, we aren’t Black Suns. We’re Nimalians. We’re, uh, we’re Hero Machina, of the Nimalian Systems Defense. I’m the squad leader, Transfer Captain Kevérin Tyrion.”

“Hero Machina?” the man sheathed his blade and lowered his hood, revealing only his heavy-duty helmet. “So it’s the lot of you Bitincher kept bitching about. I don’t know what he felt so intimidated by… at least you’re Nimalian.”

“Um, you’ve heard of us…?”

“I have, and I’m sure you’ve heard of me as well. Sector 2 Master General Sike Regek, at your service.”

Kevérin gaped. “Oh… Oh.”

“We heard that you went down with the Deathnought…” Rebehka commented.

“That’s not completely incorrect,” Regek replied, “Both Commander Jeran and I were stuck on board as the ship crashed. She, unfortunately, died during the crash. I was knocked out for a full twenty-four hours, myself. I was able to raid some of the remaining life-support pockets before I began looking for the Ayas. I assume that’s why you’re here, as well – to find the Ayas? Yet…” He looked up at the hole in the wall and then down to the floor below Kaoné, which she had already deformed slightly. “You’re travelling to the outside of the wreck? Have you found the Ayas?”

“Ye–“

“No, no, we, uh, haven’t.”

The rest of Hero Machina turned toward Siyuakén confusedly.

“We… haven’t?” Kevérin questioned, momentarily switching to a Hero Machina-only communication channel.

“Just, go with me, guys,” Siyuakén responded hurriedly, “I– I have a really bad feeling about this guy. Just… don’t tell him we found the Ayas. Don’t tell that other Black Suns General when we get back, too.”

“…If you say so,” Kevérin muttered as he and the rest of Hero Machina tuned back to the public comm channel. The Transfer Captain exhaled wearily and stated, “We couldn’t find the Ayas, but, uh, while looking around we discovered that the Gravity Manipulators are running out of power. We then, you know, we decided to get out of here as fast as possible. Wouldn’t want to be crushed, you know. Haha.”

“…Right. Understandable. The Manipulators shutting down is indeed a serious issue…” Regek mused, “How much longer do we have?”

“Um… three hours? Tops?”

“And you believe you can escape the wreck in that time?”

“We were making good progress until we were stopped here,” Kievkenalis remarked.

Regek glanced toward the Chaostechnic, his gaze lingering for a few moments before he simply shrugged. “Very well. I hope you don’t mind if tag along, then.”

“Uh, sure, not at all,” Kevérin responded, and then turned to Kaoné. “You heard him… let’s keep going. We can’t waste any more time…”

*             *             *

“…You awake?”

“Damn it, I wouldn’t be if you’d stop asking!”

“So you can’t fall asleep as fast as you can run?” Christeané snorted.

“Just ‘cause I’ve got goddamn Superspeed doesn’t mean everything I do is nigh-instantaneous,” Davídrius replied irately, “You should know that! You’re an Introtechnic yourself!”

“Hey, chill out. I was just trying to start a conversation.”

“You’ve been trying to do that for the past hour and a half. Has it not occurred to you that I perhaps don’t want to participate in a conversation?”

“If that was actually true, you’d shut off your suit’s comms.”

“…Bah. If I did that there’d be no way for you to wake me up if we were suddenly attacked or some shit.”

“But you’re not sleeping.”

“Because you’re keeping me awake!!”

“Wow, you get even more irritable when you’re tired.”

“Damn it, Christeané, is just half an hour of silence too much to ask?!”

“You had half an hour. That was an hour and a half ago, you said so yourself.”

At that moment Davídrius sat up and turned toward the other Introtechnic. With the armored helmets, neither Chaotic could see the face of the other, but Christeané was still easily able to tell that Davídrius was glaring.

“…You’re not usually this much of a pain in the ass,” Davídrius commented bluntly.

“I’m normally a ‘pain in the ass’?”

“Pot, kettle, black, whatever. Look, is something wrong?”

“…”

“If there is, then spit it out. Maybe once you’ve said it out loud you can calm down and leave me alone long enough to take a fuckin’ nap.”

“Well that’s certainly going to motivate me to share all my troubles with you. Man, aren’t I glad I have you to share all my problems with!”

“I’m trying to help.”

“You could try harder, buddy.”

“…Tch,” Davídrius crossed his arms irately, “Does this have to do with the whole wreck-crushing-itself thing?”

“What makes you think that?”

“You sure didn’t like the idea of staying behind. Not to mention how much emphasis you put on the wreck crushing itself. I’ve no doubt it will, but ‘instantaneous’ my ass, it’ll take at least a few seconds. Long enough to escape down Kaoné’s tunnel, I’d bet.”

“You don’t know that. What if you’re too slow?”

“Me? Too slow?”

“Dammit, Davídrius, you know what I meant–“

“So it is about the crushing then! I knew it.”

“…Tch.”

“Well ain’t this a reversal. What’re you so worried about? You’re a Superstrength Introtechnic. If any one of us could survive being crushed by a billion tons of steel it’d be you!”

“There’s no way I’d survive that.”

“Up here, maybe. You’d at least be more likely to survive, if that means anything–“

“It doesn’t. It really doesn’t. Crushed is crushed, that’s that. No two ways about it.”

Davídrius paused for a moment, staring at the other Introtechnic confusedly. “Wait, is this connected to Teghica? How you unlocked your Overdrive so easily?”

“I thought we went over this. I almost died, that was a legitimate Overdrive-unlocking situation.”

“Being crushed is one of your phobias, isn’t it.”

“That’s not–! …Damn it, when did you become so perceptive?”

“I might be ignorant, but I’m not stupid. It’s not like I picked up zero social skills back in Treséd. It’s a shithole, sure, but I still learned shit.”

“…Hmph.”

“So how’d this happen? A Superstrength Introtechnic, scared of being crushed? You’re the most resistant to it!”

“That’s exactly the problem! If anyone else got crushed it’d just be over, but me–“

“You could just lift it off.”

“Not that simple,” Christeané scowled, “…alright, look. Have you heard of the Northern Deepsough Bridge collapse, back in 8020?”

“Treséd has very little contact with the outside world.”

“Well it was all over the news everywhere. Used to be a major bridge over the Deepsough lake before flight became cheap and easy, then it was basically abandoned. No one left to take care of it. Anyways, back when I was 8, my sister had just turned 10, and was about to be inducted into the Chaotic program, you know, like all Chaotics. So my family decided to take a trip around the nation, kinda like a parting gift, or something–“

“And y’all decided to check out the bridge.”

“Yeah. Vehicles were banned from the bridge, but walking was fine, especially since there were so few people. That’s what the officials said, at least.”

“I see where this is going. The bridge collapsed while y’all were on it, didn’t it?”

“Yeah. Luckily no one died, but I got pinned by some of the wreckage against the shore. I was a late-bloomer Chaotic too; at the time I hadn’t yet shown any Chaotic potential. So everyone assumed I had died, either drowned in the lake or crushed by the wreckage. Except I wasn’t. I was on the shore, pinned, saved only because my body suddenly decided it wanted to be a Superstrength Introtechnic.”

“Well… couldn’t you have just lifted the wreckage off?”

“Can you run or kick if your legs are pinned?”

“…Not if there’s enough weight.”

“Exactly. If my arms are pinned by enough weight, then I can’t leverage them. I can’t exert enough force to free myself – I’d be trapped. And that’s exactly what happened back in Deepsough; I was stuck under that wreckage for what seemed like forever before a couple clean-up workers realized I was still alive and managed to free me. It was literally the worst experience in my life.”

“And because of that, you developed a phobia of being crushed.”

“Well… yeah. Basically.”

“…Damn,” Davídrius remarked warily, “…Gotta say, wasn’t expecting that.”

“No one does,” Christeané responded flatly, “But there you go. That’s why my Overdrive unlocked ‘so early’.”

“Ah… uh, sorry for, uh, being so persistent about that…”

“It’s fine, you couldn’t have known.”

“Oh. Okay, then.”

Silence ensued.

“So, uh, you gonna keep pestering me about being awake?”

“Yup.”

“Damn it.”

*             *             *

2 Hours Later

“...And that’s four hours!”

“Alright,” Kevérin nodded contentedly, his hands on the steering wheel as he guided one of the trucks away from the Deathnought wreck. “We made even better time than I expected!”

General Regek glanced back at the wreck from his seat at one of the defunct truck turrets. “That certainly was simpler than I expected,” he remarked, “If what you said is indeed true, then we still have an hour.” He turned to face forward again, his attention directed toward the Transfer Captain. “So, now that we’ve escaped the wreck, how do you intend to escape the planet?”

“That’s the easy part. There’s an Earthian ship waiting in orbit for us. It can beam us up.”

“…Beam, you say?”

“Yeah. ‘Instantaneous Subspace Transfer’, I think is the technical term. You’ll see it in action soon.”

“So you say…” the General muttered, glancing from side to side as several Riaxen armored squads began approaching, “But I have a feeling we may end up sidetracked.”

“No, I’ve got us covered,” Kaoné commented nonchalantly, “Uh… I hope you weren’t too attached to that sword.”

“What do you–?”

“Overdrive: Conflict’s Judge!”

“…Well,” Regek deadpanned as the aforementioned blade fell to pieces, “…that’s certainly an interesting Overdrive.”

“It’ll disable the Riaxen weapons, too. We should be safe for the next ten or so minutes.”

“Is that really enough time?”

“It’s plenty of time,” Kevérin replied nonchalantly, “We just cleared fifteen kilometers. Rebehka, let’s keep driving, just to be safe. In the meantime I’ll contact the Genesis.”

“Got it,” Rebehka nodded.

“Good,” the Transfer Captain nodded back, “Alright, let’s get out of here. Open channel: Genesis. …Transfer Captain Tyrion to Genesis, come in! …Transfer Captain Tyrion to Genesis!...”

Kievkenalis glanced over at Kevérin warily. “Something wrong?”

“…We’re outside the jammers’ range, right?”

“Considering that we’re farther from the wreck than we were when we first beamed in,” Rebehka remarked, “…Yes, yes we should be.”

“…Then we’ve got a problem,” Kevérin replied uneasily, “…I can’t raise the Genesis.”

*             *             *

30 Minutes Later

“It’s about time.”

“Zzzz… eh… wait, what?”

“Wake up,” Christeané shoved Davídrius, knocking the Superspeed Introtechnic out of his makeshift chair. He hit the ground hard before springing back up to his feet, fists clenched and knees bent in a fighting stance.

“What’s goin’ on?! What’s– where are the– …oh,” he slowly lowered his fists as he realized where he was, “…shit, I actually fell asleep?”

“About an hour and a half ago, yeah,” Christeané replied, “Thought I’d let you keep napping. But it’s time to take the Ayas out now.”

“…So it is, so it is,” Davídrius remarked after glancing at his HUD timer. He casually turned to the glass protrusion on the back wall, in which the Ayas sat. “So how are we doin’ this?”

“I break the glass and yank the Ayas out, and then we run for it.”

“We shouldn’t need to run. The whole point of the plan is that the Earthians’ll beam us out once the jammers go down.”

“Yeah, but what if they don’t?”

“…Still, with the crushing…”

“Davídrius, come on. It’s actually a serious concern. I don’t think you’re giving the pure massiveness of Supercapital ships its due recognition.”

“Alright, fine. So we yank the Ayas, wait a second or two to be beamed up and if we aren’t, then… what, you jump on my back and we high-tail it out of here?”

“Yup.”

“Damn it, I hate running with cargo…”

“…’Running with cargo’?”

“Treséd expression. Shut up.”

“You run with those Sword Box things all the time!”

“That’s not even close to having a person on my back. And in full armor, too. You’re fuckin’ heavy.”

“You only have to carry me for the half-minute it takes to exit the ship…”

“That’s a fuckin’ long half-minute. That’s a whole damn thirty seconds. Superspeed Introtechnics usually don’t operate on those kinds of time scales. It won’t take me a whole half-minute anyways, but it’ll still be more than a couple seconds, and that’s tiring, man.”

“…Now you just sound pathetic.”

“Just yank the damn Ayas already.”

“If you say so,” Christeané stepped over to the Ayas casing and stretched. “You ready?”

“Damn it Christeané…”

“Alright, alright. Three… two…” A second later he smashed the casing with his fist and then shoved his hand into the wall, effectively scooping out the Ayas. He tossed it to his other hand and shook away the loose wires and metal pieces that came out with the stone before warily glancing around the environment. “…We haven’t been beamed up…”

“Yeah, but nothing’s happening either–!” Davídrius was interrupted as the entire structure shuddered – and the room they were standing in spontaneously tilted thirty degrees.

“Whoa–!” Christeané barely caught himself against the far wall, but dropped the Ayas in the process. “Shit, Davídrius–!”

“Damn it, you weren’t wrong,” the Superspeed Introtechnic scowled. In the blink of an eye he jumped over to the Ayas, snatched it up off the ground, and then dashed back to Christeané, who quickly jumped on his back. “Oof!” Davídrius scowled, “This is gonna be fun…”

The next second he shoved off with his foot and blasted down the passageway Kaoné had created, just in time to escape the room as the ceiling collapsed.

“Whoa–! Shit!” Christeané whooped as Davídrius sped down the tunnel, “How the fuck can you react while going this fast?!”

“By you shutting up!!” the Tresédian snapped, “Now hold tight!!”

“Whoa–!” Christeané yelped as Davídrius side-stepped to the left to avoid a portion of the wall that had snapped inward. He then flipped over a crumpling patch of steel before hitting the ground and taking off again, bowling through loose debris haphazardly while managing to keep his footing with markedly inhuman reaction speeds.

“Shit,” Davídrius growled, “Hope you don’t throw up easily.”

“Huh–?!” Christeané had no time at all to react before Davídrius leaped forwards, spun halfway around midair to plant his feet against the far wall and launch himself downwards, immediately catching himself on the platform below before blasting off again down the continuing tunnel.

“They said they were gonna make a goddamned straight path!”

“Eh–?”

“Shit!!”

Davídrius quickly put his right foot forward and slammed it into the ground, tearing the floor as he screeched to a quick halt directly in front of a completely blocked passage.

“…Well, fuck,” Christeané muttered, “The path’s blocked.”

“Shit. Shit, shit,” Davídrius scowled, glancing left and right and then backward. “The tunnels behind us are already collapsing. What now?!”

“I don’t– look out!!” Christeané leaped off of Davídrius’s back, planting his feet solidly on the ground before raising his fists just in time to hold up the collapsing ceiling.

“…We’re fucked,” Davídrius muttered as he crawled into the open space Christeané had managed to preserve.

“Ye…ah… I’d… fuckin’ say so,” the Superstrength Introtechnic growled, “This… fuckin’… heavy!... …Huh?”

A sudden flash of light filled the Introtechnics’ visions before fading away, revealing the drab gray of the Genesis bridge instead of the dark Deathnought interior.

“…WE LIVED!” Davídrius leaped into the air excitedly.

“Phew…” Christeané collapsed backwards on his bottom as he disengaged his armor’s shielding and removed the helmet. “…Oh, man! Fresh air!”

“Well, the two of you sure look exhausted,” Kevérin remarked, approaching from the rear of the bridge.

“Well no shit,” Davídrius turned to glare at the Transfer Captain, “We only had to run for our fuckin’ lives because you were half a minute late!”

“That’s a quick turn to hostility,” Rebehka smirked, stepping up next to Kevérin. “Do you have the Ayas?”

“Oh sure, ask about the Ayas before you ask about us…”

“You’re clearly fine.”

“Yeah well you’re clearly… uh… stupid.”

“…Really, Davídrius?”

The Superspeed Introtechnic scowled. “Fuck it,” he tossed the Ayas to Kevérin as he stepped past and began walking toward the bridge exit, “Imma eat a huge fuckin’ lunch and spend the next eighteen hours sleeping. Don’t disturb me or I’ll fuckin’ neuter you.”

Kevérin and Rebehka turned to watch him leave, their expressions a combination of amusement and irritation.

“Actually, though,” Christeané spoke up, drawing their attention back to himself, “What was with the delay? Two seconds later and the both of us would’ve been crushed.”

“We were forced to engage a Riaxen break-off squadron,” Captain Krick explained, stepping forward in between Kevérin and Rebehka, “They drew us away from position. We defeated them, handily, but we weren’t able to return until about ten minutes ago. Luckily, we were just in time to beam up the rest of your group and hear out the Transfer Captain’s plan. I’m sorry we couldn’t pull you out sooner; the jammers didn’t go out as quickly as the orbital shielding, and it took a second to achieve lock on both of you.”

“…Well, better than dead, I guess,” Christeané sighed.

“Better than dead indeed,” Krick smirked, “Now go get washed and rested up, all of you. I’ve a couple more things to take care of with the allied fleet, and then it’s back to Nimalia to report on the situation. A Chaos Ayas, huh… I’m certainly glad we got something valuable from this whole ordeal.”

“Yeah,” Christeané snorted, “Now here’s hoping it was worth it…”

*             *             *

2 Days Later

“General Regek! I’m surprised this is the first I’ve seen of you this whole time!”

“…Greetings, Greant,” Regek replied, turning away from the Genesis’s bridge window to face the large, dark-skinned Citan man. “I didn’t mean to avoid you, of course. I was just spending the time resting up. Taking down a Deathnaught is a tiresome task, after all.”

“And I must commend you for that. I’d never have been able to do that myself!” Greant exclaimed. His expression then turned solemn. “And what of Jeran? Did she truly perish in the wreck?”

Regek paused for a moment before turning back to the bridge window, staring at the star background and the planet of Nimalia below. “…I’m sorry, Greant. There was little I could do.”

“I see, I see…” the Sector 1 General sighed, “That is… unfortunate. We’ve lost a valuable woman, and a valuable leader… and, valuable time.”

“She knew what she was getting into, Greant,” Regek replied, “She already had the leadership transfer documents prepared before embarking on the Tyrnaus operation, in preparation for a situation such as this. She transferred the data to my suit before she passed.”

“…Even in death, she had her wits about her,” Greant smiled forlornly, “That will definitely expedite the process. I’ll need to find a replacement, though…”

“There’ll be no need for that, General. She recommended myself as the next Supreme Commander… not you.”

“…Really,” Greant glanced down at Regek, “…I mean no offense when I say this, Regek, but quite frankly, I’m surprised.”

“As am I,” Regek sighed, “I’d be the first to admit that you’re more qualified for the position than I. It was certainly a surprising turn of events.” He turned around as the bridge door opened, revealing Captain Krick. “…But let us discuss this later. It’s unbecoming to talk of such matters in front of our hosts.”

“Aha! Yes, of course. Couldn’t have said it better myself!”

“I see the two of you are getting along fine,” Krick remarked as he approached the two Black Suns Generals, “Anyways, sorry for the wait. I had a couple things to take care of. If you have nothing left to do here, then I can beam you down to the Nimalian Gateport. They’ll have you back to wherever you need to be in no time, I’m sure.”

“Thank you for allowing us to ride in your ship,” Regek nodded politely, “I’m glad someone as capable as you was sent to investigate Tyrnaus.”

“Ha, I appreciate the compliment, but you ought to be thanking those Nimalians, not me,” Krick smirked, “Anyways, if that’s all…”

“…Actually,” Greant spoke up after eyeing Hero Machina slowly filter onto the bridge, “I wish to speak with the Nimalians for a moment. Regek, you can go on ahead.”

“Very well,” Regek nodded toward Krick, “I’m ready.” Moments later he was replaced with a brief flash of light, and then nothing.

“Nimalians!” Greant called, “Do an old man a favor and come speak to me for a moment!”

“…Oi, oi, this better be good,” Davídrius scowled, walking down the gently sloped bridge aisle.

“It’s certainly worth a few words,” the General commented, waiting until all seven Chaotics had stepped within earshot. He then lowered his voice, muttering, “I know you found the Ayas.”

“…Wha… what? What are you talking about?” Kevérin responded uneasily.

“I know that, for some reason, you decided to hide the Ayas from Regek. And you decided to hide it from me as well, since we’re both Black Suns Generals. That’s not unreasonable. It certainly wasn’t difficult to attempt, given that neither I nor Regek were on the bridge when you returned with the Ayas.”

“…You’re not making any sense,” Siyuakén mumbled.

   

“If there’s anything you need to work on, it’s your capability for subterfuge,” Greant smirked, “I don’t know for what reasons you chose to hide the Ayas from Regek, but know that he is not a stupid man. If he did not see through your lie completely, he at least strongly suspects something is amiss. That, I can guarantee.”

“…Why are you telling us this?” Kevérin crossed his arms.

“Just a friendly warning,” Greant replied cryptically, “I don’t disagree with what you’ve done, though, albeit for different reasons, I’m sure. Anyways, if you ever need help – just throw me a line. Sector 1 will always be willing to assist the Nimalians!”

“But…” Rebehka glanced at Kevérin uneasily before turning back to Greant, “We… didn’t really do anything for you.”

“Nonsense! You rescued Master General Regek, and with him a whole slew of documents and data that are important to the Black Suns!” The General then turned around to look out the bridge window again, his back to Hero Machina. “Besides… I would recommend against turning down help, either now or in the future. I suspect it’s something we will all soon need…” He glanced back over his shoulder at Captain Krick. “Captain! I’m ready to go!”

“Alright. It was nice to meet you, General!”

“Likewise, Earthian! I never expected you to be such a cheery bunch! I hope to one day see you again!” A moment later, Greant disappeared, beamed down to Nimalia below.

“It’s just us, then,” Kaoné commented.

“The fuck did he mean?” Davídrius scowled, “Why’s everyone gotta be so cryptic all the time?”

“We can figure it out later,” Kevérin sighed, “Let’s just get home, already. Between Rossindon and Tyrnaus… I’m exhausted.”

“Speak for yourself,” Christeané snorted.

“…Right,” Kevérin glanced back at Captain Krick, “Uh, Captain, we’re ready to go.”

“Alright–! Wait, wait a moment…” Krick’s attention was suddenly drawn to a nearby console, “…it’s an incoming comm message. From Commander Nikéyin.”

“What? Why’s she calling the ship? We were about to be planetside,” Kevérin frowned.

“Well, let’s see,” Krick commented, and then ordered, “Open the comm line!”

“Opening comm line, sir! …Line open!”

“Commander Nikéyin?” Krick called out.

“Yes, this is she. Chief Captain Krick, correct?”

“That’s correct,” Krick nodded, though the gesture was lost over the audio-only call. “Let’s get straight to the point – why the comm call?”

“Some very significant developments transpired while you were away on the Tyrnaus operation,” Nikéyin replied hurriedly, “And I wanted to make sure you stuck around. This is something we could really use you and your ship’s assistance for.”

“Oh?” Krick crossed his arms warily, “What’s happened?”

“Well, in short…” Nikéyin replied apprehensively, “Four days ago, the Exemplar and Sursum Drakkars launched a full-frontal assault on CSA space.”

“Shit,” Krick scowled, “You don’t mean–“

“Unfortunately, I do. The galaxy has officially fallen into all-out war.”

*               *               *               *               *

==================== End of Chapter 44 ====================

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Data Entry: Drakkars

                The Drakkars are the oldest known race still living today, far older than any of the CSA or Taizen races. They have been around so long that they were present during the age of the Aldredas over a hundred thousand years ago – yet there is no consensus as to why the Drakkars failed to take over the galaxy in the intervening time.

                The Drakkars are amazingly advanced, possessing technology that massively outstrips any of the other galactic races. Most notable of all are their transportation technology: their FTL drives and their troop transport capability. Unlike the rest of the galaxy, the Drakkars’ FTL drives are not limited by Dead Space – the Drakkars can cut right through. Furthermore, their drives are significantly faster, removing any and all need for them to use Transpaces. Additionally, the Drakkars possess beaming technology – they can instantly transport their troops from their ships to the surface of a planet and back, making them a fierce enemy and ridiculously difficult to defend against.

                Their malformed appearance also adds to the fear factor that the Drakkars love to employ. The Drakkars have very skinny bodies and mouthless faces; instead of hair they possess a multitude of downward-flowing headspikes, and on each elbow and both pairs of knees protrude surprisingly sharp spikes, which the Drakkars can and do use in close-quarters combat. Despite the lack of a mouth, the Drakkars are still able to communicate with others by projecting their “voice” into the head of the conversation recipient. Despite being very unsettling, the action causes no mental harm, as no known Drakkars are Psychotechnics. It is unknown how they eat or otherwise obtain nutrition.

                Their advanced technology and distinct appearance are not the primary traits the Drakkars are known for, however – it’s actually their ability to steal an individual’s Ciei, a term for their collective creativity, intelligence, emotions, and imagination. A Drakkar must be able to lay their bare palm on an individual’s head or chest in order to steal their Ciei, and once they do, the theft is virtually instantaneous. The result is leaving behind a husk of an individual (who is still alive and capable of autonomous action, albeit significantly impaired) while granting the Drakkar remarkable insight into the individual’s thought processes and emotions. Ciei theft seems insignificant on first glance, but it has actually brought the Drakkars significant victories – for instance, if they were able to steal the Ciei of an organization’s strategist, they would instantly know everything about how the organization thought and would thus be able to craft incredibly effective strategies against them – not to mention robbing said organization of their strategist’s ability. It is possible to return Ciei to the original owner, but only by killing the Drakkar who stole it – which is oftentimes an exercise in futility, as the Drakkars will quickly follow Ciei theft with killing their target and then fleeing the scene to preserve their new prize. Additionally, it is unknown exactly how Ciei works; it is widely accepted that it is somehow related to Chaos Energy, but Drakkars have been observed to steal Ciei even in Dead Space, leaving the rest of the galaxy completely clueless as to its properties.

                Perhaps the only thing saving the rest of the galaxy from Drakkar domination is the fact that the Drakkars have a strong tendency to fight amongst themselves, conflicts driven by the separation into six factions and the immortal, astonishingly arrogant leaders at the head of each. While regular Drakkars are just as mortal as anyone else – in fact, they’re even easier to kill, as most Drakkars aren’t Chaotics and their armor leaves much to be desired – the Drakkar leaders are straight-up immortal and surprisingly durable. The only beings who are observed to be capable of dealing lasting damage to a faction leader is another faction leader; as such, whenever a leader is spotted on a battlefield, the suggested strategy is always to run away, especially since each leader possesses a special ability that the rest of their faction does not.

                Leading the Exemplar faction is Exdominor, who is the only Drakkar who can steal Ciei from range. He can instantly perform thefts on any individual within twenty meters, making him surprisingly dangerous to engage. The Exemplars hold the most space of all the factions, and Exdominor’s ego is large enough to match.

                Leading the Sursum faction is Surdeus, a Chaos Conduit – meaning he has access to every single Chaos ability. Any battlefield he visits is wrought with destruction, and the only individual observed to be capable of keeping up with him in a fight is Exdominor. The Sursum hold the second most space, and Surdeus’s ego can easily match Exdominor’s. Any conflict within or outside of Drakkar space is usually driven by either the Exemplars or the Sursum.

                Leading the Multis faction is Mulmagnus, a Superspeed Introtechnic capable of hitting Mach 10. He possess much of the short-sightedness of Superspeed Introtechnics as well, but is nonetheless a dangerous combatant.

                Leading the Telum faction is Telregina, whose left arm is replaced with a massive gun that can fire virtually any kind of projectile. She by far the easiest of the leaders to enrage; many a planet has fallen victim to her berserk war “strategies”.

                Leading the Humanus faction is Hualtus, a Transtechnic. Her shape-shifting abilities make her dangerous in subterfuge, though she is rarely spotted on the battlefield – at least, her known forms are rarely spotted on the battlefield.

                Leading the Prolatio faction is Prosusicivious, sharing the unique trait of having a tail with his faction. Unlike the rest of the Prolatio, however, Prosusicivious can extend his tail at will to unknown lengths almost instantly. As with Hualtus, Prosusicivious is rarely seen on the battlefield; in fact, the Prolatio Drakkars are the least commonly spotted faction outside of Drakkar space.

Chapter 43: Unexpected Alternatives

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“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.”

*               *               *               *               *

==================== End of Chapter 43 ====================

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Data Entry: {null}

Chapter 42: The Answer

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5 Hours Later

“Beaming in three… two… one…”

The members of Hero Machina braced themselves as their surroundings spontaneously changed from the interior of the Genesis to the cold, rocky surface of the planet below.

“Whoa…” Davídrius whistled, moving his body around to test the maneuverability of the atmosphereless armor Greant had managed to obtain from a Black Suns ship, “…It’s so light here!”

“We’re at half Nimalian gravity, so of course it’d feel light,” Kevérin replied, just as two four-wheel-drive trucks were beamed down next to the group. Each truck seated three – a driver, a passenger, and a gauss turret with a gunner seat mounted on the back. “Alright guys,” the Transfer Captain began, “Double-check your equipment before we get going. We don’t want any of the atmosphere units to fail on us while we’re down here…”

“Yeah, that’d be pretty bad, wouldn’t it,” Christeané snorted as he jumped up to seat himself behind the turret on one of the trucks. “Wheels, though? How far behind are the Earthians?”

“Give them a break,” Kaoné replied as she climbed into the passenger seat of the other truck, “They’ve only been on the galactic stage for fifteen years or so, after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just hurry it up,” Davídrius urged as he looked up at the Riaxen Deathnought wreck. The lifeless husk sat nearly fifteen kilometers away, but still reached high into the sky and blocked the entire horizon. “Oi, Kevérin, Rebehka, hurry up an’ drive already.”

“What? Why do I have to drive?” Rebehka frowned, though the expression was lost under her face mask and helmet.

“No, he’s right,” Kevérin commented, jumping into the driver seat in front of Christeané, “There’s no atmosphere here, so we’d both be useless in a fight.”

“I’m not useless,” the Cryotechnic countered, “I can still, you know, cool things down.”

“Things are plenty cool here already,” Christeané snorted.

“You know what I mean.”

“Uh huh,” Davídrius deadpanned, “Even that’s only so useful. Can you snap-freeze a moving target?”

“Well… I mean, theoretically, I could.”

“I’mma take that as a no. Now get in the truck already, we’re wastin’ time!”

“Hate to say it, but he’s right,” Siyuakén replied as she jumped into the second turret seat, “Just get in!”

Rebehka sighed as she moved to climb into the driver seat of the second truck, while Kievkenalis jumped into the passenger seat of the first. A few moments later both trucks were revved up and moving toward the wreck in the distance, with Davídrius following casually on foot.

“We should really get equipment from the Black Suns more often,” Davídrius remarked after several moments of silence, “They’ve got some real quality goin’.”

“If by ‘quality’ you mean ‘quantity’, sure,” Christeané retorted, glancing back at the Introtechnic’s blade harness. Two sleek Blade Prisms, each holding two blades, were attached to the armor by a hinge at the hips; a further four blades were attached to the armor’s back, the blades crossing each other to form an ‘X’ as two hilts extended up past each shoulder. “Exactly how many swords do you need?”

“Oi, oi! Not my fault blades break so easily at high speeds,” Davídrius scowled, “Eight is perfect, especially if we end up having to fight mechs or tanks or gunships.”

“Don’t get overconfident, Davídrius,” Kevérin remarked, “You, Kevken, and Christeané are the only ones who can fight back if we’re attacked on the move. You can’t afford to make mistakes.”

“Nope, I can’t fight here,” Christeané refuted, “I don’t have a battlehammer with this armor. It’s close-range combat only for me.”

“And even if the lack of an atmosphere hampers lightning strikes, I can still short-circuit things from a distance,” Siyuakén claimed, “Well… I can try.”

“The last thing I need is to be accidentally frozen or shocked or boiled while I’m attacking shit,” Davídrius countered, “Keep your elemental attacks to yourselves and stick with the turrets, I’m sure those can do plenty of damage.”

“But whatever you do – and I guess this applies to me, too – try not to hit that wreck,” Christeané warned, “I have a bad feeling about its integrity… a wreck of that size should have collapsed on itself by now.”

“If we’re lucky, the Riaxen will miss us and we won’t have to fight them…” Kaoné muttered.

Kevérin jumped slightly as a HUD element inside his helmet flashed once. After briefly checking the information he replied, “So much for being lucky – we’ve been spotted. There’s a full armored squadron coming to intercept us!”

Davídrius glanced to the left, were a handful of gunships were coming into view. “Gunships? Oh boy. Hmm, wonder if I could accidentally launch myself into orbit if I jump too hard…”

“Leave the airships to me!” Kievkenalis shouted, “You take care of the armor they drop!”

“Sure thing!” the Introtechnic exclaimed, gleefully drawing two blades from his hip-mounted sheaths, “A real fight. Haven’t had one of these in a while!”

“Watch yourself!” Kevérin warned, “If you get too active your atmosphere unit won’t be able to keep up! You’ll asphyxiate yourself!”

“Hah, as if I’d let myself die like that,” Davídrius snorted, “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this!”

“You’d better,” Siyuakén responded as she swiveled the turret around to face the gunships. “They’re almost in range!”

“Three… two… one…!” Christeané exclaimed, followed by the turrets whirring into action. Very shortly after hundreds of metal projectiles were launched into the air toward the gunships, only to be deflected by the gunships’ shielding.

“Chaos Mach Three Piercing Cannon!” Kievkenalis shouted, launching a Chaos Energy projectile at high speeds towards the nearest gunship. The projectile shattered the shielding and pierced straight through the gunship, ripping out two of its engines and sending it careening ground-ward – but not before two mechs on board ejected, hitting the ground feet-first and sprinting toward Hero Machina.

“Here we go!!” Davídrius grinned, spontaneously dashing to the side. He cleared the kilometer between the trucks and the mechs in the blink of an eye before slashing at their ankle joints, only for his blades to simply bounce off as the area around the ankles shimmered – the sign of shielding. As soon as he paused to observe the shimmer one of the mechs whipped around and launched a salvo of rockets at him, which he easily dodged by jumping into the air. Forgetting that he was in a low-gravity environment, however, the Introtechnic accidentally launched himself far higher than he had intended and soon found himself a free-falling target for both mechs. Scowling, he quickly sheathed his blades and then drew one of the back-mounted swords just in time to begin rapidly deflecting the bullet barrage the mechs sent his way. Just before he touched back down on the ground another Chaos Energy projectile ripped through one of the mechs; the second one turned to search for the origin of the attack, creating an opening that Davídrius immediately seized. Slamming his blade back into its sheath and drawing two other back-mounted swords, he dashed forward, stabbing both blades into the mech’s ankle, forcing it to topple over. He then jumped over the mech and stabbed its energy core; he followed the stab by ripping the swords out, taking much of the machinery with them. He then blasted off back to the trucks, leaving the mech to detonate behind him.

“Chaos… Deflection!!”

A sphere of Chaos Energy exploded outwards, surrounding the trucks just in time to deflect the rocket salvo launched by the nearest gunships. Kievkenalis immediately followed it with several Chaos Cannon shots but only successfully hit one of the gunships, destabilizing it and causing it to go spinning to the ground. The remaining three gunships quickly followed the attack with another rocket salvo as they dropped two heavy tanks and three mechs, all of which immediately opened fire.

“Ahh!!” Rebehka yelped as several rounds fell around the truck, sending it into a swerve that she barely managed to correct. “They’re getting too close!”

“We aren’t equipped to deal with heavy tanks,” Christeané growled, “Mechs, we can deal with, but tanks–!”

“No, we can do this!” Kievkenalis insisted, “Chaos Assist! Chaos… Massive Impact!”

An invisible force suddenly slammed into the armored vehicles, toppling the mechs – but only stalling the tanks.

“Er…” Kievkenalis added sheepishly, “…maybe we can’t.”

“Their main cannons are aiming this way–!” Siyuakén warned, but was cut off as the cannons flashed, signaling cannon fire. Christeané immediately released the turret and spun the whole device around, sweeping his fist past the side of the truck just in time to intercept and knock away one of the tank shells – just as Davídrius blew past and knocked away the other.

“…Tch!” Davídrius scowled, glaring at the hilt of the sword he had just broken against the shell. “Should’ve kicked it…!” He discarded the hilt, drawing two blades from his hip sheaths before dashing toward the mechs a hundred meters away.

“We’re eight kilometers out!” Rebehka shouted.

“I’m not sure I can block a shell like that again…” Christeané muttered.

“Kaoné, we need your help!” Davídrius exclaimed, his suit’s radio transmitting his declaration from a distance.

“Wha-what–!”

“It’s just blocking shit, c’mon!” Christeané growled, “Not like we’re asking you to kill anyone–!?”

He was interrupted as several devices suddenly leaped into the air several meters in front of the trucks.

“Mines!!” Siyuakén shouted.

“I’ve got it!!” Davídrius immediately redirected his attention from the mechs and dashed over to the mines, two swords in hand. Just before he could reach them, though, they detonated, sending him flying backwards and flipping Kevérin’s truck.

“Kevérin–!” Rebehka exclaimed, immediately slamming on the brakes. Kaoné jumped out and ran over to the flipped vehicle as Siyuakén attempted to offer sufficient cover fire from the turret.

“Hah–!” Christeané grunted as he smashed the back of the truck, freeing himself and creating an exit for Kevérin and Kievkenalis.

“They got us…” the Transfer Captain scowled.

“Chaos Strike! Chaos Strike! Chaos Impact!” Kievkenalis called out, launching several Chaos attacks to force back their attackers. He then glanced back at the Pyrotechnic. “We’re just going to have to destroy them all before we… can… …uh oh.”

“What is–? …Well, damn,” Kevérin growled after glancing over his shoulder and spotting another six incoming gunships.

“Well, if we’re no longer on the move, then I can finally contribute!” Christeané grinned before dashing toward the approaching heavy tanks. “Kievkenalis, Siyuakén, take down those gunships! Davídrius and I can take care of anything on the ground!” Then, the moment that he was several meters clear of the truck wreck and the rest of Hero Machina, he shouted, “Overdrive: Omni Crush!”

Kevérin watched the Introtechnic smash his way into battle before turning around, where Siyuakén and Kievkenalis were relentlessly firing away at the incoming gunships. “Kaoné… prepare yourself,” he warned, “Be ready to erect shields whenever possible. And if it comes down to it, I need you to destroy the enemy armor.”

“But–!”

“It’s us or them, Kaoné. Think about that.”

A hundred meters away, Davídrius shattered another one of his blades jamming it into a mech’s core, causing it to detonate and leaving only one more of the mechs. He immediately drew another sword to replace it before leaping into the air just in time to intercept a tank shell, kicking it away at just the right angle to knock away a second shell as well. The moment he landed he glanced back at the toppled truck and spotted Christeané running towards the battle; the Superspeed Introtechnic immediately blasted off toward him, clearing the distance near-instantly before slamming his foot into Christeané’s back and launching him forwards. Initially startled, the Superstrength Introtechnic quickly calmed himself and then smashed his fist into the ground just as he flew into the tank. The force created a ten-meter crater and destabilized both tanks, allowing Christeané to easily pulverize them both – even through their shielding.

“And that’s that,” Davídrius remarked as the third mech detonated behind him, its core slashed to pieces.

“We’ve got to get back to the trucks…” Christeané declared as he glanced back – and noticed a third gunship squadron approaching from the direction of the Deathnought wreck. “Well, fuck!”

“Can’t give up yet!” Davídrius exclaimed, “Brace yourself!”

“Huh–?!” Christeané barely had time to respond before Davídrius kicked him again, sending him tumbling across the ground all the way back into the trucks.

“Chaos Deflection!!” Kievkenalis jumped in front of the remaining intact truck in time to deflect several rockets, but the deflection field wasn’t large enough to block them all – two rockets got past and exploded against the ground just next to the truck, flipping it into the air.

“Shit–!” Davídrius scowled, dashing forward and leaping up to snatch Rebehka out of the vehicle as Christeané managed to grab the turret and yank the whole contraption, Siyuakén included, to the ground with relative safety. The two Introtechnics deposited the girls on the ground haphazardly before sprinting forwards to deal with the mech squad the gunships had just dropped off, ignoring the wrecked truck as it tumbled to the ground just in front of Kievkenalis.

“Chaos Cannon! Chaos Cannon! Chaos Cannon! Chaos Cannon!” the Chaostechnic repeated rapidly, firing off several projectiles in quick succession in an attempt to take down the remaining gunships. But with the attacks called quickly and hurriedly, they weren’t as powerful as his initial salvos and failed to pierce the gunships’ shielding. Siyuakén instead stepped forward and held her hand out, targeting each gunship and attempting to interfere with their electronics – but her interference was dampened by their shields.

“Haaah-gah!” Davídrius spluttered, flung backwards in the middle of a dash by a railgun-wielding mech. He tumbled to a stop by the trucks and then jumped to his feet just in time to quickly slash an incoming rocket salvo to bits and then step out of the way as Christeané came flying back as well.

“Davídrius, Christeané, watch yourselves!” Kevérin warned, “Your armor’s shielding–!”

“I know it’s low,” Christeané growled, “What do you want us to do about it? Stop attacking?”

“Kaoné, I know you don’t want to,” Siyuakén urged, “but you have to do something!”

“I-I can’t just kill them! The, the pilots–!”

“Expecting her to pull her weight will get you nowhere,” Davídrius snarled, “It’s been known for years that the Riaxen don’t take prisoners! And still she hasn’t raised a hand to help. What does that tell you, huh?!”

“I’m not–! I’m not siding with them!”

“Well you don’t seem to be siding with us! It’s us or them, Kaoné!” The Introtechnic took off again, his blades directed at the approaching mechs. Christeané sprinted after him to join the battle as Kievkenalis turned his attention to the gunships approaching from the wreck, launching off several more Chaos attacks.

“…Shit,” Kevérin scowled as his HUD lit up even further, “There’s more units approaching! How the hell can the Riaxen devote so much attention to us?!”

“We can’t hold out here… and we’re too close to the wreck at this point for the Genesis to beam us back up,” Rebehka commented apprehensively, “Kaoné, isn’t there something you can do?”

“I…” the Materiatechnic stuttered, “But, what if I–!”

“If you don’t kill them, they’ll kill us!” Davídrius exclaimed, “Get your head out of your ass! There’s only one way to survive this!”

“He’s not wrong,” Kevérin nodded tensely, “You’re a Lieutenant. You’re part of Hero Machina. You’re in the middle of a warzone! And you still think you can get away without fighting!?”

“I–!” Kaoné was cut off as two incapacitated gunships swooped down overhead and smashed into the ground behind her – just as Davídrius was flung clear over the truck wrecks and several hundred meters further, landing at the feet of another approaching mech squad. He was quickly followed by Christeané as three mechs slowly approached Hero Machina, weapons drawn… and rockets primed. The next moment, the rockets all fired – and then suddenly froze in midair.

“You–!” Kevérin exclaimed, snapping his gaze to Kaoné.

“I still disagree with all of you!” she declared, momentarily switching her attention to the side to halt the advance of a heavy tank, “Maybe, we can’t get away without fighting. But killing… is never the only answer!”

“Kaoné–!”

“Overdrive: Conflict’s Judge!!”

*               *               *               *               *

==================== End of Chapter 42 ====================

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Data Entry: Atmosphereless Armor

                It is a commonly known fact that not every planet has a livable atmosphere – in fact the vast majority of planets are incapable of supporting life as we know it, making settlement difficult. A small handful of planets – mostly Primary Fortress Worlds – have been terraformed into livable shape, but it was a long and costly effort that the civilizations of the galaxy are not interested in repeating. Yet, oftentimes atmosphereless planets possess some reason to be visited, such as the presence of Aldredas artifacts, or a crashed shipwreck that someone wishes to salvage. To deal with these situations and others like them, atmosphereless armor was created.

                Atmosphereless armor is a subset of powered armor – it has armored plates to cover the user’s vital regions and a full-body energy shield for further protection. However, unlike powered armor, which has many different body-coverage configurations based on style and the commissioning organization, atmosphereless armor is always full-body and air-tight. These elements are not what make the armor able to function in hostile or desolate environments, though – the true key to atmosphereless armor is the atmosphere unit.

                The atmosphere unit is a back-mounted device that automatically manages all atmosphere-related needs. It contains a CO₂ recycler for transforming exhaled air into breathable air again, and it also contains a temperature regulator that will maintain the temperature within the armor’s shielding at comfortable levels. The unit also contains a specialized shield generator designed explicitly for environmental purposes. Instead of being designed to protect the user from outside harm it is designed to create a fully-sealed internal environment, such that air and temperature within the shield are separated from the external environment. The shield also prevents all light wavelengths under 350 nm (UVA light) from penetrating the armor, to protect the user from dangerous radiation. As a byproduct of the completely sealed environment, sound cannot effectively leave or enter the armor – though this is rarely an issue anyways, since the armor is mostly used on atmosphereless planets. To overcome the communication barrier atmosphereless armor possesses more sophisticated communication and data connection technology than normal powered armor, allowing users to easily communicate with each other even over vast distances.

                It should be noted, however, that atmosphereless armor is not necessarily combat-grade. It can certainly be used in battle, but it is designed to protect the user from hostile or desolate natural environments, not against attack. Atmosphereless armor does not last nearly as long as normal powered armor when subjected to attack; furthermore, if the user becomes too active then they may begin to produce CO₂ at a higher rate than the CO₂ recycler can manage, resulting in the user asphyxiating themselves, or they may heat up the interior of their armor faster than the temperature regulator can manage, resulting in the user suffering from a heatstroke. All of these elements combine to make atmosphereless armor highly unfavorable for combat, but at the same time, it is the only choice for operations on atmosphereless planets.