By archangels light, p.35
By Archangel's Light, page 35
"They're brave. You've got to give them that," Therapy said.
"Brave but stupid," Sly commented.
Misty laid her hammer within reach. She unslung her rifle, aiming at the chaos on the field of battle below.
"Rusty, it looks like it's up to us to cover Sly for now. You ready?"
Rusty peered over the balcony, aimed at a fresh batch of screevers, and fired several bursts.
"Aye, lass! You and I side-by-side in battle? I thought ye'd never ask!"
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
MECHHAVEN
Slice. Blast. Smash. Rinse and repeat.
Connie fought as she'd never fought before. Even amidst the fiercest battles of The Mechanai War, she'd never faced so many enemies. Never had she caused so much destruction. During the war, the kills had been more personal. She'd fought humans and mechs, but mostly mechs. Destroying a mech was one step too close to killing a Converter, and it hurt her to the core. She felt little remorse for killing humans—she'd only ever targeted them if they'd been trying to kill her. She felt zero remorse annihilating screevers, as they were mindless bots. Even so, the monotonous routine of bringing them to a fitful end wore her down.
That was part of their insidious design: to overwhelm, exhaust, and overcome their enemies. She had to stay focused on the battle. Her power level was already at fifty percent. There was no way of knowing when she'd be able to recharge. Unless some SPARK-Cs showed up to give her a quick boost, she'd have to recuse herself from the battlefield to charge, during which she'd be vulnerable and other mechs would have to take her place. Aside from Brutus, she was the most capable warrior on the battlefield. If others fell because of her weakness, it would eat at her for years—a rot more corrosive than a sprayer's acid.
"Brutus? Stalwart? Paragon? We've been fighting for a while. How are your power levels?" Connie asked.
"Either we've improved, or the screevers are weaker than I remember," Brutus said.
"We've improved," Connie said. "Tell me when you're ready for power so we can rotate some other mechs in to cover for you."
"My power is below thirty percent," Stalwart said.
"As is mine," Paragon confirmed.
"I am fine for now," Brutus said. "Legionnaires are used to fighting in protracted battles with delayed supply lines. I will stay with you."
"Very well. Stalwart and Paragon, report to Valiant. Have him send some replacements. Charge up nice and full so you can get back here and help us kick these bastards' asses."
"We'll be vulnerable while they're away," Brutus said.
"Don't worry, I've got this." Connie converted back into a Wyvern Assault Craft and took to the air, blasting both airborne and ground-based screevers. She loved flying almost as much as she loved changing forms.
She felt a hard impact against her frame. Some errant buzzer must've slammed into her. Another thud followed. Then several more. There were too many for coincidence. She was being targeted.
Now they had her attention.
Connie rotated 360 degrees, searching for the source of the impacts.
She avoided several more objects heading toward her. They weren't buzzers; they were aliens. The Maltorey were attacking her directly.
They crashed into her, but instead of bouncing off and flying away, they wrapped their tentacles around her. She avoided as many as she could, but as she dodged some, others latched on. The added weight affected her flight dynamics, making maneuvering difficult.
All the aliens clinging to her felt peculiar. In her core, she knew they couldn't possess her because of the Photarans the Lightbringer had infused within her, but she was still worried about it. They were trying to do something, but it was apparently having little effect.
An inexperienced Converter such as Bastion would have to shift to a completely new form and risk falling from the air to escape from the clinging aliens, but even that might not work. With her experience and the enhancements Volkov had made when he restored her original code base, she could make slight modifications to her form at will.
She identified where the mass of each of the aliens was on her frame, then focused on those locations. She instantly generated spikes.
The pointy protuberances penetrated deep within the Maltorey's chitinous shells. As quickly as she'd created the spikes, she retracted them. The dead and dying aliens plummeted like rocks to the hard, dusty surface below.
With the excess weight removed, she regained maneuverability and soared to a higher altitude, hoping to avoid additional contact with the enemy. From her new vantage point, she had a better view of the aliens pursuing her, so she blasted them from the sky. Then she noticed something more troubling. Two giant shapes blasted into the air, heading toward the fortifications around the Terra Plateau.
"Valiant! Reapers incoming!" Connie said. She continued circling, monitoring the developing conditions on the battlefield.
Brutus, Stalwart, Paragon, and the two legionnaires were being pushed back. The screevers still didn't attack them directly, but the sheer mass of the bots forced them back.
Connie banked to line herself up for a strafing run.
Something slammed into her, sending her spinning. It was big. Definitely not a buzzer or Maltorey. As she rotated out of control, she spied her worst nightmare. How she'd missed it, she didn't know. A Reaper stood among the swelling mass of screevers, staring angrily in her direction.
She tried to convert but couldn't. The strike had somehow shocked her system. How, she wasn't sure. She initiated a diagnostic just as she hit the ground. Dust sprayed. She crushed screevers as she slid across the surface. When she slid to a stop, screevers swarmed over and around her, still focused on their primary goal. How long that would last, she couldn't say.
She reverted to her base form. It took an inordinate amount of will and focus. Whatever the Reaper had hit her with had done a number on her. In her current form, she was defenseless. She tried transforming her arms into weapons, but she couldn't make her body change.
Connie ran.
Her only hope was to make it to Brutus, Stalwart, and Paragon.
She stopped short as the Reaper landed in front of her, blocking her path to safety. Stuck in her base form, her mobility was limited. The Reaper kicked her, sending her flying back into the oncoming wave of screevers.
Valiant had faced Zeta IX on Mechhaven and other unnamed Reapers on Lustra and Darkhaven; try as he might, he could not forget their terrifying nature. Connie's warning had given him a split second to prepare, but when the two landed within the container maze, his neurotronic processor accessed all his relevant memories and brought them to the forefront.
Fiery orange eyes.
Body as black as darkest night.
Arms shifting from weapon to weapon, an evil equivalent of Archangel technology.
A single-minded determination for destruction.
Fear.
Of all his memories, the fear stood out most—humbling for a fierce warrior.
The creators of such monstrosities possessed the sickest minds the galaxy had ever known. The demonic Reapers combined with the frenzied screevers razing anyone or anything in their path were a potent duo of chaos.
Their first target was the container maze, which the defenders had been using to funnel most of the screevers into a kill zone. Mech defenders—Villagers, legionnaires, and even some mechs from the Defense Fleet—positioned throughout the maze with overlapping fields of fire, mowed down the menacing bots.
The Reapers, using their massive size and strength, tore the containers from their stacked arrangement, tossing them aside, freeing screevers, and exposing defenders. Freed from at least part of their confined path, the screevers surged forward, overwhelming the surprised mechs. Where Zeta IX laughed and taunted his enemies, the Maltorey-controlled Reapers were silent and efficient dealers of death and destruction, similar to their behavior on Lustra and Darkhaven.
"Cover the defenders!" Valiant directed one group of legionnaires.
To another group armed with rocket launchers, he yelled, "Focus on the Reapers!"
They swiftly fired a barrage at the nearest Reaper. The explosions forced it to back away from the fortifications. Another group fired again, giving the first group time to reload. You couldn't give mechs of this nature any quarter.
"Construction Mechs! Get down there and reinforce the maze. We'll keep those demons off your back!"
Boomfist and Doomhand saluted, then directed their team and legionnaire escort to the damaged maze. He didn't like it, but he had no choice but to send the Construction Mechs down into that mess. Even though they were technically non-combatants, they had received basic Legion training. No one was safe in this battle. Everyone had to take part in the defense.
In the distance, the company of Artillery mechs stationed in the hills had depleted their ordnance and were traversing the battlefield, trying to make it to the Evacuation Zone. He wished they had waited for a more opportune time, but he understood their desire to reach the perceived safety of the larger group. Alone in the hills, they may have escaped detection for longer. Moving across the battlefield made them targets for the screevers.
Valiant had gotten used to Artie's new tread-based configuration, which provided him with excellent mobility. He'd forgotten how slow his Artillery brothers really were. Armed only with their battle rifles and grenades, the screevers noticed their slow pace, forcing them to stop and form a defensive circle to fend off bots. That was a bad idea. Movement was key to survival when dealing with screevers on open terrain.
The malicious bots didn't have time to finish them. A third Reaper joined the fray. In a move he knew all too well, Valiant watched as the fiend landed in the midst of the Artillery mechs. A fiery spear appeared in its hands, impaling two mechs. A slash of the weapon sliced through the legs of two others. They toppled to the ground, unable to walk. Screevers swarmed over them. The remaining Artillery mechs directed their fire at the Reaper to little effect. The spear disappeared. It shifted one arm into a rotary plasma cannon. It blasted the mechs into a mass of smoldering metal.
"At least three Reapers on the field of battle," Valiant said over the comm channel to any who could receive the signal—for whatever good it would do.
The container he was positioned behind shifted violently, knocking him backward. A hand reached over the top of the fortification. A moment later, he spotted the gleaming orange eyes staring at him with deep hatred. It pulled on the container, trying to dislodge it. Luckily, the Construction Mechs had added extra reinforcements.
He glared into the Reaper's eyes. "Now is not the appointed time for me to join my fallen comrades in the mists of Avalon. But thou can join thy friends in the fires of hell!"
Valiant pressed a button on a detonator. It triggered a wall of explosives directed outward, engulfing the Reaper and knocking it away from the container to the ground below. It lay in a smoking heap. He wasn't sure if its advanced auto-repair features could fix the damage, but for the time being, it was out of the fight.
He scanned the battlefield, checking on Connie, Brutus, Stalwart, and Paragon. He spotted Stalwart and Paragon fighting back-to-back. The two had switched to plasma lances and energy bows. Their rifles were nowhere to be seen. Brutus and his legionnaire escort fought like mad. Then he spotted another Reaper. A golden mech stood before it.
Connie!
The Reaper's leg flashed out in a devastating kick, sending her tumbling into a wave of screevers.
Oh, no!
He directed his comm channel to the triage area. "Ajax! It's Connie, she's down. Help her!"
The formation of Ajax's dark gray Seraphs set down next to Nia's and Kai's, ready for their next assignment. Ajax, carrying the damaged Aqua mech in a sling, set him down gently in the triage area. Emi rushed in to detach the sling and examine the damage. Volkov followed close behind to assist.
"Nice job, Ajax!" Nia sent him a message via the SeroCorp comm channel. The secure communication links between the SeroCorp prototypes were unaffected by the screevers' warbling. "How'd the sling work?"
"Well enough. Without the Seraphs covering me, it would be unfeasible. Other than that, it worked fine," Ajax said. "So far, we're not getting many casualties because most of the defenders are staying put behind the fortifications. I don't know how long that will last."
Nia paused as another call for help came in via the main channel. The mechs near Crater Lake reported multiple casualties. A Reaper had switched from silent observer to active participant.
"I gotta go!" Ajax shouted.
"No. You. Don't," Emi ordered. "Remember your limitations. You're in no shape to handle a Reaper. Nia and Kai, you two take this."
"You got it. Sorry, Ajax, but as you said, there will be more soon."
"Watch yourselves! Remember, you're there to extract the wounded. Don't get into a standup fight with those things."
Nia nodded to Kai. Kai nodded back. They ignited the boosters of their emerald and sapphire mechs. They lifted into the air. The eyes of twenty Seraphs lit up, following Nia and her brother's lead.
"This is for real, Kai," Nia said.
"I should be the one telling you." Kai had always been protective.
"We fought the aliens, sure. But we're not combat pilots. We can't be overconfident."
"I've read all the reports. We've uploaded all the relevant data into our tactical databases. Remember, we've trained with the best of SeroCorp. We have to rely on our training and our technology."
"Yes, I remember—I was there. And we designed the Archangel prototypes to be resilient and adaptable. As long as we respect our adversaries and our own limitations, we should be fine. Besides, we've got each other, and together we can accomplish anything."
Scanning the battlefield as they went, Nia identified three Reapers and countless screevers. The heat signatures of the Planet Cleansers glowed brightly, indicating manufacturing activity, which meant more enemies would be on the way soon. Mechs from the various members of the Rybeth Coalition lined up, much like their Seraphs had been, ready to leap into action but so far held in reserve.
She spotted Crater Lake and the reported Reaper. The defenders stationed there were not equipped to deal with the power of such a monstrosity. The emerald and sapphire mechs shared sensor data, expanding the range of both. She located the active combatants who were still alive. They were doing their best but having a difficult time. The Reaper was like a feline playing with its prey. She noted downed mechs with no energy signatures. They were beyond immediate help. That left only a few they'd focus on extracting.
"Kai? How do you want to handle this? Should one of us distract while the other extracts?"
She waited a moment for his reply. Knowing him, he was running calculations, determining the most advantageous outcomes.
"No. According to Ajax, we shouldn't engage the Reaper directly. Our job is to extract the damaged. As much as I'd hate to lose a Seraph or two, distracting the enemy and protecting the SeroCorp assets is their primary mission."
"Then let's dazzle it with our Seraph escort, give the defenders room to breathe, and us time to extract the damaged."
"I've created an attack plan. It's loaded and ready to go," Kai said.
"Execute!"
Twenty Seraphs surged forward. The Seraphs were force multipliers not only in combat but also in manufacturing and mining. Even in the Corporate Protectorate, they'd never been widely deployed, but they could operate in hostile environments from deep space, volcanic, and even frozen wastes. They weren't fast nor overly maneuverable, but they were tough and packed a punch in terms of firepower. Even an advanced war machine like the Reaper would have to worry about a coordinated attack from twenty of them. And since they originated from the Corporate Protectorate, there shouldn't be much information about them in its tactical databases.
Nia maintained visual contact long enough to witness the first several Seraphs slam into the Reaper. It staggered to the side, not expecting the blows. The other Seraphs encircled the ferocious mech, pelting it with machine gun fire. Kai had programmed them to follow a random rotating pattern, regularly alternating their elevation and distance away from their target, hoping to make them difficult to retaliate against.
With the Seraphs attacking, Nia focused on rescuing the wounded defenders. Kai had already tagged the two closest to him. She tagged two others. Her sensors evaluated the damage. While she and Kai had education in science and engineering, they had no experience with mechs of the Rybeth Coalition, and repairing one in the middle of a battle wasn't something she wanted to try. In the Corporate Protectorate, such casualties would be deactivated remotely, and if cost-effective, would be recovered later. Otherwise, they'd be written off as losses.
She'd learned a lot during her time hanging out with Ajax, Emi, and the others on Mechhaven. They valued their machines as much as they valued their people. It was an alien idea to her and Kai, but she didn't disagree with it. In fact, it was growing on her.
She set down as quickly as possible next to a damaged Aqua model. Both legs were crushed and one arm was twisted so badly out of place it would likely need replacing, too. As soon as she finished securing the first Aqua unit, a second one, barely ambulatory, had limped its way to her. It was good she didn't have to waste any time tracking it down. All its limbs remained intact, but sparks jumped from a jagged gash in its chest. Any further damage could take it out.
As she finished securing the second mech, it pointed toward the main battle. Another wave of screevers had split from the main group and were headed in their direction.
"Hurry it up, Kai!" Nia said.
"Just about ready to go..." Kai said with a touch of annoyance.
The Seraphs had done their job keeping the Reaper off their backs, but one thing Ajax and the official reports had emphasized was to never underestimate them. She targeted the bots at the leading edge of the wave. A flurry of cluster rockets launched from recessed chambers, twisting and turning, trailing smoke behind them, weaving an unpredictable path to their destination.
