Chapter 553: 4th & 10 (2/2)
He followed it close, keeping it between the whippersnapper and him. When the cheap plas bounced and shattered he took two more steps.
”EVERYBODY BLEEDS!” rang out as 471 juggled the power versus cooling, keeping an eye on Vuxten's vitals the whole time. He could read a lot more of them since he'd gone to Advanced Operator Assistance Training last month.
The whippersnapper exhaled, the mucus flying out around the crude gill lungs.
It all made sense. No command. No worries. No paperwork.
Just fight.
Vuxten smashed his hand in, plunging his arm in to the wrist, grabbed the tendon at the base, and jumped away, ripping a good twenty meters of fibrous gill-lung from inside the whippersnapper. The creature screamed and turned toward the injury instinctively but Vuxten bounced off the building face, using his boots to crush a deathbee hive, rolled in midair, and landed on the other side.
”NO MORE PODLINGS!”
He repeated it, sticking one leg out during his mid-jump roll to cave in the jaw of a skyspitter just as it vent to vomit out bioacid that could pit and melt warsteel. The bladder flexed, found nowhere to go, and acid exploded back into the creature's skull even as Vuxten landed.
Vuxten ran along the side of the building, his grav spikes howling as his footsteps ripped away whole sections of the ferrocrete face.
Another massive creature crawled around the corner as he reached the far side end. Vuxten launched himself across to the other skyraker, then back, hitting just below the line he'd carved, the grav-spike howling. He flexed his legs, jumped, rolled, and hit the street. He was fifteen steps when the computer system running the eVI ran all the computations.
The whole section, all twelve stories, of the skyraker ripped loose and fell into the street, crushing the last creature.
”WE BOTH KNEW... IT WOULD ALWAYS END THIS WAY!”
SIMULATION ENDED appeared in Vuxten's vision.
--woot-- 471 said.
”BRING THEM BACK! COME BACK! I'M NOT DONE!” Vuxten screamed over his mic.
--buddy youre not looking good--
He turned and faced down the street. ”BRING THEM BACK!” He clenched his fists, the chain still white hot and smouldering, sparks shooting from between his fingers.
The door opened and Vuxten saw the Terran female walking toward him.
He stood there, breathing heavy, as she squatted down.
”They're not real, Knight,” she said softly, touching the side of his helmet. ”They're just pictures of memories. You can't go back and change any of it.”
Vuxten stood there a second.
”Come, follow,” the Terran female said.
Vuxten knew everyone was staring at him as he followed her to the bench. 471 opened the faceplate at her urging, and she used a wet cloth to wipe the sweat from Vuxten's face.
There was some uncomfortable coughing.
The woman suddenly smiled. ”You, you have ridden the Hasslehoff and become a man,” she said.
Vuxten nodded. He noticed that Hwarkakwarg and Shilshren were staring at him, Pardnavan leaning out around Shilshren.
”I've never seen anything like that,” Pardnavan said.
”It's how we fight,” Vuxten admitted.
”The glove. The chainsword chain,” Pardnavan clarified.
”Oh,” Vuxten lifted his arm. The chain, wrapped and half melted into the warsteel plating of his forearm, was glowing a sullen red, slowly cooling. ”Yeah. That.”
”You have tasted it. Drank deeply,” Lady Keena said, standing up. She tossed the cloth down. ”Perhaps there is hope for the Confederacy yet.”
Before anyone could answer, she turned and walked toward the door.
”Coming, boys?” She asked mildly.
The Tukna'rn, in power armor, followed her.
Hwarkakwarg held up the corset. ”She forgot this.”
Vuxten laughed.
It was nearly an hour before Vuxten was up for the squad level practice. He got up, his armor hissing, and walked toward the door.
The eVR kicked in, showing that he was in the middle of an intersection. On either side of him were two Telkan infantrymen in the early generation of Telkan Marine armor.
”Running full simulation, Captain, like you asked. Good luck,” Major Phtelmon said. ”Three.”
Vuxten snapped his hand out, pointing at the ones on his left and then up the building. They bounded away.
”Two.”
He repeated the motion on his right.
”One.”
Vuxten jumped up, twice more, gaining height, crushing deathbee nests each time. The spores and pollen were thick, but he could still see.
”BEGIN!”
He saw the veinlike neon-green flowing down the streets, up the buildings.
”POWER BLOOM!” one of the simulated squad mates called out.
Vuxten jumped down, landing just in front of the lightning bolt of the nutrient fluid being pumped through the veins, destroying the thick pipe before it could gain pressure, then jumped away, hitting two more arteries one right after another.
Around the corner came on the big ones, something kaiju class. A thick six legged lizard thing with thick pebbled hide that had smaller ones hanging off of it. It's tongue flickered out and it gave a roar of anger.
Vuxten grabbed the half-crushed taxi as the creature's mouth opened and slung it just as it started to roar. He jumped after it, rolling in place. The taxi slammed into its open mouth, deep into the soft tissues, and Vuxten slammed against it right afterwards. As he kicked off he saw the other four Telkan jumped down, getting close, throwing punches at the smaller ones as they fell from the hide of the massive one.
”NO, YOU IDIOTS!” Vuxten yelled. He jumped up as the lizard thing hacked and coughed around twisted endosteel. ”DON'T!”
Vuxten landed, dialing up the gravity to 15G, the max his armor could handle. The joints screamed as he slammed against the creature's skull, crushing it into the ground as a massive crater exploded into the ferrocrete road.
Two of the 'Marines' went down under the Dwellerspawn, screaming over the radio as the eVR simulated their deaths in all their glory.
Vuxten went to fire a duo of Low-Ex from his grenade launcher and ”LOCKOUT” appeared in his vision.
He tasted stale stimgum.
Part of him knew that the two remaining ones, who were fighting desperately against a bladeswinger beetle even as glittercrabs swept around the beetle in a rush to get at them, were just simulations, but part of his brain insisted it was real.
Vuxten gritted his teeth and pushed at the launcher.
Major Phtelmon's eyes widened as he saw the Telkan's weapons go from ”LOCKED OUT” to ”ACTIVE” suddenly. He looked up in time to see the Telkan fire off a quartet of rockets that exploded with enough fury to make the ferrocrete training center tremble. He tried to shut down Vuxten's armor and for a second he saw the hashed readouts of his handpad control crashing.
Captain Shrilshen jumped up and ran for the emergency shutdown. He could faintly hear music from inside the simulation as Vuxten landed with a Mark One Cutting Bar in one hand and a heavy bulky and ornate stubber in the other, lightning coursing up his arms and across his shoulders.
He slapped the emergency shutdown as Vuxten waded into the hardlight constructs.
The eVR shut down, a pulse threw everyone's armor into lockout mode.
Inside the heavily reinforced room Vuxten stopped in mid-chop.
”PAGE ONE SAYS OPEN!” sounded out, then suddenly wound down.
There was silence for long moment until Vuxten's voice broke it.
”Oh.”
----------------
Vuxten sat in the chair, leaned back slightly, staring at the russet Mantid.
”I heard you had difficulty yesterday,” Doctor Holds Hands said gently. ”I hear the second one was worse.”
Vuxten nodded. ”Armored Close Quarters Combat - Squad Tactics class.”
She looked at her datapad. ”Your mantid had difficulty too. You both overrode your weapon lockouts and went full bore on the simulation.”
Vuxten nodded. ”Yes, ma'am.”
”Your armor rejected shutdown commands from your instructor to the point of attempting to counter-attack with a warboi hash,” the Captain said.
”Yes, ma'am,” Vuxten said. ”It did it reflexively.”
”And your weapons used Gen-One Mat Trans to leave the armory to appear in your hands.”
”Again, armor combat reflex,” Vuxten said.
Holds just nodded.
”It's... uh... it was modified by Bellona. It reacts to me sometimes, which is why it has to be stored separately in a psychic shielded container. Something Bellona did to it. You've heard of her?” Vuxten asked.
Holds nodded. ”Indeed, I have,” She leaned back slightly. ”How do you feel today?”
Vuxten sighed. ”Strangely, I feel better. Like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.”
Holds nodded. ”Felt like you were back where you belonged. Back to a familiar place where it all made sense, didn't you?”
Vuxten nodded. ”Yes, ma'am.”
”Did you notice where the eVR simulation took place?” Holds asked.
”Not at the time, not until partway through it. I recognized it when I caught a glimpse of the craters,” Vuxten admitted.
Holds nodded. She set down the stylus pen she was chewing on. ”I'm familiar with your record, Captain. I've seen what happened to you, reviewed your suit logs, reviewed the First and Second Telkan Wars quite closely.”
Vuxten frowned. ”Because of me?”
The mantid shook her head. ”Not just you. The Imperium of Wrath broke their exile for the first time in three thousand years. All of the Martial Orders, including the Neko-Marines and the Sons of Venus landed and fought. The psychic trauma inflicted is of interest to me and many others in my profession.”
”Really?” Vuxten asked.
The mantid nodded. ”Do you know the story of the Neko-Marines and the Sons of Venus? How they came about?”
Vuxten shook his head. ”Just that the Dokigurlz were children.”
The mantid made a motion of embarrassment. ”Yes, they were,” she looked at Vuxten sharply. ”They are both a product of the Mantid Glassing of the Sol System. Many of them are eight thousand years old,” she sighed. ”Then there's the infectious side. Any of the Sisters of Wrath that fall become Dokigurlz, and of the Brotherhood of Wrath that falls can become a Son of Venus.”
Vuxten frowned.
Holds stared at Vuxten. ”But that's for another time. How did you sleep?”
Vuxten smiled. ”Better than I have in months.”
Holds made a motion of pleasure. ”Good. I don't think you're in too much danger, and I believe what you went through may have been therapeutic.”
”Does that mean I'm cleared for combat again?” Vuxten asked.
Holds nodded. ”You came out of it as soon as the simulation ended. You didn't stay stuck in combat psychosis. You didn't become Enraged and I'm seeing no sign of Enragement. We'll meet back together in two weeks, before you ship out for Telkan, and if you continue to show improvement, I'll clear you for combat.”
”Thank you,” Vuxten said.
”Have a good day, Marine,” Holds said.
”Thank you, ma'am, you too,” Vuxten said.
Holds watched the Telkan leave, then swiped at the holotank.
Two images were side by side. The outline of a Telkan on the left, the outline of a Terran on the right. Both in heavy armor.
Holds nibbled on the stylus pen as she stared at the phasic levels in both images.