Synthesis, p.40
Synthesis, page 40
“I see them.” She said as the image of her appeared in a corner of the screen. “We’re going to wait until the last minute to deploy our fighters, get as close as possible before engaging.”
The bridge of the ship behind her shook as they took a direct hit from the defense cannon. “You going to make it?” Kayden asked.
“We’re screening the smaller ships with the cruisers – our shields are stronger and should hold out against the 1 cannon. If you can find a way to knock out that last cannon though, that’ll increase our odds against the battleship later.”
“Got it.” Kayden said. “Good luck!”
“You too.” She said, cutting off the transmission.
“Kayden, they’ve stopped deploying fighters.” Selina said. “We’ve got an opening to drop in.”
Kayden stood again. “We’re doing it. Ali, take the helm – we’ll do a hard drop, then you need to get the ship to a minimum safe distance. As we get closer the stealth drive won’t be as effective though, so you’ll have to deal with hostiles.”
“I will handle it.” Ali responded, determination in her voice.
“Everyone else, get geared up in the cargo bay.”
“I hate hard drops.” Dawn complained as they walked through the halls.
“Me too.” Selina agreed, reaching the cargo bay.
They each had their space suits mostly on, so all they had to do was slip in their earpieces and put on their helmets. Anna quickly strapped herself to Kayden while Dawn and Selina strapped themselves together. Kayden was about to make a comment about how good they looked like that before the cargo bay opened, interrupting his thoughts.
Ali’s voice was in their ears. “Go! Now!”
To their credit, none of them hesitated even the slightest. They jumped out of the ship, orienting themselves using maneuvering thrusters until they were heading smoothly towards the yawning hangar below them. They were barely out the door before the Broken Shackle went zooming off, downing one of the pursuing interceptors as it did.
“You gonna be okay Ali?” He asked.
“I’m fine Kayden.” She responded. “Stay focused on your task. 30 seconds until landing.”
The open hangar came closer and closer. Their stomachs did backflips as they crossed the artificial gravity threshold, frantically adjusting their thrusters as they did. They knew this would reveal them on sensors to anyone who was looking, but they didn’t care anymore – the time for subtlety was over.
With a sigh of relief, they dropped onto the floor of the hangar. There was no time to spare though, as several Black Company employees were already advancing on them – their weapons raised. Kayden frantically unstrapped Anna from him as Selina and Dawn disentangled themselves. As he freed his arm he threw up a nanobot shield in front of them.
There was a barrage of pinging noises as projectile rounds bounced off the shield, but they quickly faded – replaced by screams, then silence. Kayden risked a peek around the side of the shield, a grin breaking out across his face as he recalled the nanobots to his arm. Anna climbed onto his back before her jaw dropped just like his.
“Not bad, huh?” Selina asked, the barrel of her pistol still smoking.
In less than 30 seconds, her and Dawn had taken apart a dozen armed guards. Some of them had been thrown in different directions, others had their necks snapped and arms broken at awkward angles. One of them was still alive, kneeling in front of Dawn as she pointed a rifle at his head. “Not bad at all.” He responded.
He summoned his nanobot swarm and outfitted each of the women with combat armour for extra protection. It depleted most of his nanobot reserves, but one glance around the hangar confirmed that there was more than enough metal around here that he could easily replenish them. He strode up to the guard and tilted his head up.
“Tell me where the shipyard is.”
“No.” He said defiantly, his teeth gritted from pain. Both of his arms were obviously broken from the way they were sticking out at awkward angles.
Dawn grinned, grabbing him by the collar. “Are you sure about that?” She said, her eyes pulsing yellow for a moment.
The guard’s eyes immediately went wide as he soiled himself in fear. “Here!” He shouted, pulling a wrist-mounted computer. The movement of his broken arms caused him to scream in pain, and he quickly passed out.
“Good boy.” Dawn said, stopping her hormones with a shake of her head. Kayden picked up the computer and quickly tapped into it – syncing it to his own suit-mounted one.
“Downloading information now.” Ali said over the comms.
As she did, Kayden looked around the hangar. He estimated it stretched a kilometer into the asteroid, and was 2 kilometers wide – big enough to house entire frigates or corvettes alongside many squadrons of fighters. The entire thing was made of brushed grey metal, with several munition and fuel depots evenly spaced along the walls. Their entrance hadn’t gone unnoticed – several groups of guards were advancing from different parts of the hangars.
“Ali, progress?” He asked.
“Done. Proceed to the door to your left.” She replied.
The other guards began to fire as they sprinted towards the door. It was locked, of course – but Kayden quickly deployed his nanobots to eat through the door. As he did, Selina and Anna both whirled and began returning fire against the guards. Even though Selina hadn’t spent much time with firearms, her supernatural dexterity gave her excellent hand-eye coordination, and their combined fire quickly forced them into cover.
As soon as the breach in the door was large enough, Anna hopped through. She fired several rounds, killing the 2 guards who were stationed on the other side. Kayden followed before turning around, providing covering fire for Dawn and Selina to join him as they retreated up the narrow hallway. The guards continued to press onwards despite their casualties though, and they soon found themselves pressed against another locked door on the other end of the 10-meter-long hall.
“We need to close the tunnel off!” Dawn shouted as she switched to a new magazine. “They’ll just keep coming!”
Kayden searched frantically for a solution. Behind them was a locked door he needed time to break through. Around him was the roughly hewn rock of the asteroid. In front of him was a platoon of guards, armed to the teeth with rifles, pistols, and grenades. So far they were pinned at the door by their suppressing fire, but eventually they’d break through and-
Wait. Grenades? Kayden thought to himself.
He sent a swarm of nanobots forward, latching onto any grenades he could find. It took all the concentration he had to control that many tendrils of the swarm at that range, but through desperation he managed it. An energy round splashed off his shields as he did, draining them. “Now or never Kayden!” Anna shouted.
All at once, he triggered the 12 grenades he found between the dead bodies on the ground and the ones hanging from the belts of the guards still shooting at them. He watched with grim satisfaction as they exploded, the screams of the guards abruptly cut off as the end of the hallway collapsed onto them, the entire hallway shaking as it did. He turned, using his nanobots to eat through the locked door in front of them before stepping through.
“Woah.” Anna said, looking around the room.
“Woah is right.” Selina agreed, her eyes going wide.
It was a shrine to Malachi Black’s ego. Ahead of them a metallic statue of him dominated the large domed room, his hands outstretched and his chest jutted out proudly. The path leading to the statue was flanked by glass enclosures which continued along either direction, following the arms of the statue. When Kayden examined one of the enclosures he realized they held various exotic animals. “He built his own personal…zoo?” Kayden asked hesitantly.
“Correct.” Ali said. “The base schematics I downloaded indicates that this is the ‘atrium’, and is off-limits to most personnel.”
Anna moved forward cautiously, examining a plaque in front of one of the enclosures. “Ophiophagus Volans. Tau Ceti Prime.”
What looked like an 8-foot snake with wings launched itself forward into the glass, its fangs bared as it did. Anna jumped several feet back as it impacted, her eyes wide. “Holy shit it’s a fucking flying snake!”
“Look at this one!” Selina added, pointing to an aquatic exhibit. “I don’t give a shit what anyone tells me, that’s a fucking kraken! And the one over there looks like a dragon!”
“Alright, focus up.” Kayden said, walking up to the statue and deploying his nanobots. “I need to replenish my swarm, and I don’t like the way this statue looks. Can you cover me?”
“On it.” Dawn replied, taking up a position beside him. The other two women stepped away from the exhibits and scanned the exits, but the only sound came from the hissing of the flying snake and the soft scraping sounds as the nanobots broke down the statue of Malachi Black, converting it into more nanobots.
Poetic justice. Kayden thought as the swarm returned to him, back at 100% capacity. Undone by his own ego.
“Kayden, my passive sensors have identified a creature here whose DNA is compatible with both yours and the neural link.” Ali said.
“Really?” Kayden asked. “Where?”
“Last enclosure to your right.”
Levelling his pistol, they walked along the path to their right, trying to keep their eyes on the entrance ahead and not on the increasingly weird creatures around them. They reached the final enclosure to find that it wasn’t made of glass – it only had simple metal bars to hold back the animals inside. They were furry and brown, with the bodies of a small bear cub but the faces of dogs and bushy tails. Kayden leaned forward and examined them, hesitating.
“Uh…Ali, why’s this one in a cage and not behind glass?
“They appear to be used as prey to feed the other animals here.”
“Goddamnit. Of all the animals here, why did I have to be compatible with the food?” Kayden bemoaned. “Why can’t I be compatible with the dragon or something?”
“If you don’t want to, you are under no obligation to take the advantages of their DNA.” Ali responded.
“Fuck it.” Kayden responded. “Fine, I’ll do it.”
He held out his hand in front of him and the nanobot swarm darted ahead, surrounding one of the creatures as it squeaked. The remainder of the swarm surrounded him in a cocoon and he had to close his eyes from the flashing lights. As they faded the nanobots returned to his arm, and saw his 3 women eying him expectantly.
“So…feel any different?” Anna said, giggling slightly.
“This animal appears to have 4 times higher muscle density than normal humans.” Ali said. “In their smaller frame they are still prey animals, but over a larger frame it appears the effect is multiplicative. Your strength, endurance, and constitution are now well above the range achievable by normal humans, and your speed is in the top 1% of human capabilities. Your organs have been upgraded using nanobots to handle the increased load.”
On a hunch, Kayden flexed slightly – his body felt great, better than he’d ever felt before. Crouching slightly, he performed a standing leap 10 meters into the air. As he came down he punched downwards, hitting the ground and cracking the concrete beneath their feet. He grinned as he stood back up to full height. “Ali, this is awesome!”
“There is more. It appears that the animal can produce some sort of chemical compound in the brain which increases perception and pain tolerance while decreasing reaction times. It is similar to human adrenaline, but much more potent. Your nanobots can now produce this compound, and at your command it can be injected into your bloodstream. I recommend not doing this for more than 30 seconds at a time, and leaving a ‘cooldown’ window of at least 15 minutes before using it again.”
Kayden absorbed this information. “So what you’re saying is that I turn into a berserker for 30 seconds?”
“A crude approximation, but accurate. You have now achieved what the precursors could not: you have achieved synthesis.” Ali replied.
“Company!” Dawn shouted, noticing that more Black Company guards were pouring in from another entrance. She sprayed them with energy rounds, taking down their shields. Selina raced ahead, her enhanced speed and dexterity helping her close the gap as she fired projectile rounds, scoring several headshots. She twisted and sailed through the air gracefully as she did, expertly avoiding their return fire by continuing to change directions unexpectedly, bouncing off railings and walls as she did. Kayden decided he needed to get in on the fun.
If Selina was a scalpel, Kayden was a sledgehammer. He summoned his nanobot shield and raced towards them. He heard someone shouting in a panicked voice to focus fire at him as he closed the distance, smashing into the first few guards and sending them flying into the rest. He bashed away with his shield and fired his pistol as more energy and projectile rounds sizzled around him from his women. In seconds, he stood alone in a hallway filled with dead guards.
“So now I need to wait 15 minutes?” He asked Ali as the women caught up with him, noting that Anna took a few moments to harvest their grenades.
“You did not activate the compound.” Ali responded. “That was just your regular reaction times.”
“Holy shit!” Anna said, jumping back onto Kayden. “You’re a beast!”
He grinned in response. “Let’s keep going. Ali, where are we going next?”
“Continue down this hallway. Note: this will take you past the control station for the remaining defense cannon. The fleet could use some assistance.”
They jogged down the hallway, following it through a series of twists and turns through the asteroid until they reached another locked door. Kayden topped up his nanobot swarm by eating through the door, where they were immediately greeted by gunfire.
“I’ve got this one.” Dawn said, grinning. “Anna, be a dear and give me some cover?”
She shifted into her incorporeal form as Anna grinned and primed several grenades, tossing them through the small but quickly widening hole in the door the nanobots had created. Dawn slipped through the door as a series of explosions went off, followed by the renewed sounds of gunfire. It didn’t last long though, and as Kayden stepped through the widened hole in the door he could see why.
Dawn was standing in front of them, naked and holding a smoking pistol. The bodies of the guards were either burned from the grenade explosions or bleeding from gunshots to the back of the head. She giggled at Kayden’s inquisitive look. “The grenades were enough to take down their shields, and they weren’t exactly looking for me.”
“You look so fucking hot.” Selina said, smirking. “But you’d better get your armour on again.”
Dawn nodded, retrieving her armour and quickly putting it back on as Anna sat at one of the work stations. She looked up and grinned. “They left the cannon controls unlocked.”
“What are you thinking?” Kayden asked.
“I’m thinking that their battleship makes an awful big, tempting target.” She replied.
His grin matched hers. “Do it.”
Her face became a mask of concentration as she frantically typed commands into the workstation. Kayden and Selina harvested additional magazines and grenades from the dead guards as she did, and they were quickly joined by Dawn once she was dressed.
“Ready?” Anna asked, turning on one of the few working viewscreens for them to watch. The battleship was surrounded by their 3 attacking cruisers, and looked to be winning the fight. Kayden gritted his teeth at the sight, hoping Ashley was still okay.
“Yes!” Selina replied enthusiastically.
Anna pressed a button on the keyboard. It was followed by a soft booming noise as the room shook slightly. The screen showed an energy round splashing across the shields of the battleship. “That’s it?” Kayden asked.
“Oh, no.” Anna replied, her grin widening. She pressed the button 10 more times, with each press being followed by another boom. The cannon continued to fire over and over, draining the shields of the battleship. It slowly turned towards the cannon and brought its guns to bear, but its movements were ponderous. The cruisers renewed their assault as the battleship’s shields failed.
Anna switched to projectile rounds and continued firing until the heat of the constant barrage melted the barrel of the defense cannon. It was enough though – they watched in silence as the rounds ripped through the hull of the battleship, punching holes cleanly through which were widened by the cruiser’s assault. It was only 30 seconds later when Kayden saw escape pods begin to eject from the dying spaceship.
“Ali, is that enough to help the fleet?” Kayden asked.
“It appears to be. The defense cannon and the battleship were the last major obstacles. The fleet should have no problems destroying the last defenders.”
“Good. How do we get to the shipyard from here then?”
“Take the elevator on the right side of the room to the bottom floor. Be advised – I have been monitoring the Black Company radio traffic, and it appears that Malachi Black has sealed himself within the shipyard.”
Chapter 37
09:42, June 15th, 2134
“Damn that elevator ride was long.” Dawn complained as Kayden cut through the locked door leading to the shipyard. “How deep into this rock are we?”
“Approximately 1 kilometer.” Ali responded.
“Wait, if the ships are built here, how do they get out into space?” Selina asked.
“There is a 100-meter-wide tunnel connecting the shipyard to the surface. It has several locking doors, each of which can only be opened from the shipyard itself.” Ali replied.
“Wait why didn’t we just blow up the doors to get to the shipyard then?” Anna questioned.
“The doors are each made of 10-meter thick starship-grade titanium alloys. It would take hours and a significant amount of firepower.”
“Still would have been more fun that way.” Anna muttered to herself.
“Done.” Kayden announced as the rest of the door melted away and his nanobot swarm returned to his hand.
