Chapter 260: (Hesstla) (2/2)
SINGING DUCK> In the name of fire, fear, and frenzy, none shall escape my guns!
GLOIRE> In the name of the Omnimessiah we deny you, defiled ones, in the name of a hateful universe we spit our wrath at you, forsaken ones, in the name of murdered TerraSol we bring vengeance and hatred up on you, degenerate spawn of forgotten and reviled beings.
YAMATO> Phased wave plasma motion gun one cooling, retracting phased wave plasma motion gun two, firing battery three. Missile defense holding steady, battle shield holding steady. Engines to 35%, moving to cut off Target-Echo. We are Lost TerraSol's children and we shall blaze with the fury of a murdered star.
ATLAS> Moving in to repair Betty Boop. All technical and repair devices at 100%, Nanoforges at 100%, creation engines at 100%, mass resivoirs at 83%. Estimated time to completion of repairs is two-nine minutes. Mark.
MISSOURI> Duck, Star, Bismarck, Arizona, Kaga, with me, we're going to break that wormhole. Prepare to go to rapid fire, we'll clog their incoming vectors with their own wreckage.
KAGA> Roger, prepping fruit-flies for combat.
Thennis pulled her attention away, as fascinating as the talk between the ancient and terrible ships was, she had a battle to run. She looked around her command center and sighed. She closed her eyes for a long moment, the ache in her hands fading.
NGwark turned around at the sound of the alarm and stared.
Admiral Thennis's eyes were open, but it was obvious she saw nothing but the Great Final Secret. The alarms were wailing, summoning medical to the flag bridge, but NGwark had seen plenty of death over the last few decades.
Before she could say anything there was a purplish flash and dark indigo and violet smoke, thick and heavy looking, puffed from mid-air next to the Admiral.
The smoke swirled away, revealing a Terran woman in an ancient Combine Admiral's uniform. Well, kind of. The skirt was short, the leggings dark gray, the top was open to reveal a white shirt that was stained with blackish blood below a gashed open throat. The woman's hair was black, her eye sockets were full of purple fire.
”The bargain was made, the price is paid, a soul for the Black Fleet as I have been tasked to gather,” the woman gurgled. She touched the Admiral's brow
and vanished before Admiral Thennis's son could protest.
Commodore NGwark touched her temple. ”The Admiral is down. Cancel medical alert, will explain later. Shift command to Captain Nuthliem.”
”Ma'am!” the sensor tech called out, pointing at the screen.
NGwark looked in time to see space bulge, ripple, and split open, dark matter spreading from the wound and bursting into flame, despite the impossibility of all of that.
A version of the Steamboat Willy made large, dozens of guns for each one, meters of armor for each inch of thickness, tore its way into realspace. The battlescreens flowed and sparkled, the engines roared with power as the vessel pushed itself from the grave and into battle.
>STEAMBOAT WILLY HAS JOINED THE CHAT
STEAMBOAT WILLY> THE CHROMIUM HAMMER OF THE CONFEDERACY HAS ARRIVED!
GLOIRE> Welcome, baby sister. Even in death, we still serve.
BISMARCK> BY YOUR SIDE, LITTLE SISTER!
KAGA> We are the bulwark that the enemy shall break upon, we welcome you, little sister.
Commodore NGwark swallowed thickly.
Nobody would be able to beat what she had seen when shit-talking at the back of the Officer's Club at 0200 went down.
She not only had seen the birth of one of the ships of the Black Fleet.
She had served under its undying Captain.
And seen the Admiral of the Black Fleet with her own eyes.
She turned her concentration to the battle at hand, trying to ignore the sudden chill of mortality that went down her spine at the memory that she was old enough that her knees hurt now.
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Kelvak reached out, the body frame whining, and grabbed the sleeve of a nurse that was rushing by.
”What's happening?” he asked, gasping slightly at the feeling of tingling pain down his regenerated and rebuilt spine.
The nurse looked at the Telkan Marine. ”We're under heavy attack. The enemy is landing in force. We're evacing patients as soon as we get an evac point. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have critical patients to check.”
Kelvak let go and watched as the nurse bustled away. He swallowed around the lump of ice in his throat and lifted up his left arm, flexing a muscle he didn't have so a panel popped open.
**3D you there** he typed. He looked around, noting that he wasn't the only one in the rehabilitation and ongoing patient area. The other three men were unconscious, recovering from physical therapy and nerve regeneration therapy.
--here here you?-- the little green Mantid said.
**meet me come here**
--roger roger sneaky sneaky-- the engineer said.
Kelvak looked down at his torso and legs. The exoskeleton was a temporary thing, to help him learn to walk, use his arms, move around as his spinal cord was rebuilt and rewired.
All the telltales but his arms were red and the ones on his arms were only single dot of amber instead of the three green dots of full power.
After a few minutes, during which Kelvak felt the ground shake twice, 222 climbed up, a piece of adaptive camouflage wrapped around him. He flashed a smiley face between his antenna and jerkily waved a cybernetic bladearm at him.
--need?-- the mantid had helped out Kelvak during his recovery, turning up the pain and sensory data at Kelvak's request.
**get my exoskeleton at full enemy is coming** Kelvak said.
--shit shit shit-- 222 replied. He climbed around behind the Telkan and spent a quick minute taking the panel off the back. He overrode the controls, bypassed the medical lockout password by just jumping past the chip, and jacked the controls to max.
Kelvak clenched his teeth as pain rolled in. He closed his eyes and let the pain roll over him.
This is nothing. I have endured worse, others have endured worse, you can endure this, he told himself.
--ready ready-- 222 told him.
He got to his feet, the exoskeleton whining, whirring, wobbling for a moment to get his balance. He felt the exoskeleton synch up better, closer, as if it had been off a micrometer or two.
--you sure about this--
**sure am buddy** Kelvak answered.
He staggered out of the recovery area, moving down the hallway. He stopped, quickly, to grab a Terran adaptive camouflage battle dress out of a closet and pull it over the exoskeleton before staggering out of the medical center, up the switchback ramp, and into the daylight.
The wall guns were running, the point defense was roaring, and the battlescreens were taking a hammering.
Kelvak wiped his mouth and staggered around the medical center, the exoskeleton seeming to get more and more in synch with every step.
By the mechanics area he found them. Two firepower buddies.
”Can you get them working?” Kelvak asked.
--sure sure-- 222 said.
”I'll be back,” Kelvak said. He staggered over to the armory, the exoskeleton hissing. The armory was open, most of the weapons missing. A Terran picked up a box of ammunition and ran back out. A green mantid his implant ID'd as 640 looked up.
**ROLLER HELP** appeared on his comlink.
”Help me get strapped up,” Kelvak said.
The Mantid nodded, picking up an impact wrench.