Into the Breach
Posted
Richard strode over to his bundle. He pulled out one of the swords and cut the bindings from his wrists. He then began pulling out exoskeleton plates, and pushing the attachment posts through his skin. Sharon took this as her cue, and picked up her summoning book.
“You know, we don’t have to help,” ventured Amy, now sitting and looking at one of her war figures in her hands. “They were going to sell us, after all. I heard them.”
“We don’t know how to pilot the ship,” said Richard, dismissively.
“You don’t know how to pilot the ship,” Amy countered. “I have been watching.”
“Enough,” Sharon snapped. “We are going to save the goblins.”
Amy gave a little giggle. “You are the jurist, I suppose.” She began setting up one of her battles.
Sharon pulled her attention away. She clicked through the pages of the metal tome, trying to decide which spirit to summon. She had never been on a ship being boarded by Terran Ghing before. She knew their vessels were huge, manned with thousands of trolls, and probably a few giants…
Many were unsuitable for use aboard a ship. They would tear everything to bits. A point defense robot might be good if she had access to the exterior, but coordinating with the goblins wasn’t an option at the moment. She settled on the light infantry support drone. He would be good for keeping the goblins alive, and could hit back too. She sang out, and the rings of the spirit came to life, chanting back to her.
The lights flickered alarmingly. “Here, take this. It’s dangerous out there,” said Richard, laying the sheathed straight sword in front of her. The remainder of the armor was flowing between his exoskeleton plates now, giving it a smooth aspect. His face was now hidden behind the featureless helmet.
“No, I couldn’t…” Sharon began, thinking of how possessive he had been of it.
“Don’t argue, just use it now.”
Sharon took it out and looked it over. The sword felt good in her grasp. She hummed a little diagnostic chant, and the blade shivered. Plasma arcs danced briefly along the coves on the back.
“Let’s go. There’s probably not much time.”
They both strode out of the door, followed by Amy, who skipped after them.
“No,” said Richard. “I want you to remain behind.”
Amy looked at him rebelliously. “I want to come!”
“We can’t let you become known,” he insisted. “We’ll have every power within communications distance thundering down on us.”
“Only if they get a chance to scream,” she replied.
“No!”
For a moment Amy looked like she might continue arguing, but returned sulking to the room instead.
Then Sharon and Richard were racing down the corridors of the dingy old ship. The spirit gave her vision to see what was going on. A huge Terran Ghing ship had grappled with theirs, and had sealed against the hull of the metastasis. The crew of the attacking vessel were cutting through the hatch of the receiving bay.
On their way they would occasionally pass a goblin scurrying here or there. It would fling itself out of the path as they rushed past. Finally they came to the loading bay.
Inside they saw what must have been most of the crew gathered facing the hatch. The spirit hovered at the doorway, and regarded them dubiously, tracing a grid of yellow lines over their forms. The goblins carried a variety of makeshift weaponry, including a few firearms of doubtful utility. Sharon, though she shared the spirit’s concern, began chanting reassurance. The tracings became green.
He then watched as Sharon bid the drone to trace the door they had entered in green as well, but the hatch she traced in bright crimson. The cutting laser that had been circumscribing the hatch briefly faltered, before it resumed, its progress perhaps slightly slowed from the drone’s efforts.
“Come to die here with the rest of us?” the captain asked Richard. Some of the bravado was lost as he struggled not to stare at Sharon’s uncanny preparations.
Richard propped a large combined plasma emitter and needler mini-gun against the wall near the exit. “We don’t intend to die just yet,” he replied. “Make sure your men stand together. Her song will protect you if you are not too spread out. Be careful of your target. You will not be protected if you mistakenly shoot anyone in green.”
He noticed a few of the goblins melt away, but the rest seemed to be holding for now. While most held resigned expressions in their eyes, a few glinted with newfound hope. Sharon was unsure if the goblins would be a help or a hindrance in their situation. A combat observer with a support drone would make them less fragile, but who knows how they would respond with trolls pouring in. Hopefully not with a bullet in their backs.
The tracings around the assaulted hatch glowed brighter as Sharon and the drone bent their will on it. Though it only had a spark for power, the progress of the cut had definitely been slowed.
The goblins were tense; most were terrified. Richard stepped forward and turned to face them. “God, today I ask for your protection for us, and for these men who stand here with us in defense of this vessel. Grant us victory in this battle, and safe passage to our destination. Let there be no dishonor among us, and allow us to acquit ourselves well. In the name of Your Son, amen.”
“Amen,” echoed Sharon quietly. She glanced back, and saw in the crew various degrees of discomfort. They were ghing-burned rogues who probably had no exposure to religion of any sort. The ghing patrol ship gnawing through the hull was the closest thing they had to one: a reckoning from a vengeful god whom they had forsaken.
There was a metallic clang as something hurled itself at the other side of the exterior door. The circuit being traced by the plasma jet was nearly complete, and their counterparts on the other side grew impatient. The scrabbling and clanging increased, until the cut-out section lurched alarmingly inwards toward them. Sharon’s support drone flared, redirecting the displaced chunk of door violently back through the new opening.
Through the hole they briefly caught a glimpse of spidery metallic legs protruding from behind the metal chunk where whatever it was had been smashed against the opposing hull plate.
Arms of unseen foes appeared at the margin, attempting to fling in grenades, but the drone sent them back through, eliciting a furtive scrabbling of panicked trolls before the grenades detonated in the corridor.
Sharon had never fought Terran Ghing before, but she had been trained for what would come next. A wave of trolls poured in wordlessly through the opening. Their armor covered their head and torso; their arms and legs were left bare.
Sharon’s drone cut down the first waves, and the goblins standing with Sharon and Richard took heart, pouring ineffectual fire from their guns into the withering ranks. Sharon knew their elation was premature. The troll armor shrieked silent songs of confusion and disruption which accumulated as they fell. From the condition of her drone, Sharon knew that things were about to go poorly.
She drew her sidearm and the borrowed sword, and Richard moved quickly towards the opening. Sharon took a deep breath and strode forward, singing a song of thunder. The sword responded, shrieking to life. Arcs of blue plasma leapt from it and danced across the floor and wall.
The next wave of trolls burst in. This new batch came with guns, and were bent on killing instead of capture. As Richard and Sharon were whelmed, Sharon had the drone focus its remaining efforts on keeping the goblins alive. She felt the first needle rounds impacting her ship suit, snapping as they detonated.
“What are you doing?” demanded Richard. “The only hope they have is if we aren’t taken out.”
“We can handle them, they’re only trolls,” she replied sharply.
Suddenly there was a rapid metallic scrabbling and clanking sound from the other side of the opening. Two jointed metal arms blossomed out of the remains of the hatch, followed by two more. The remains of the trolls were pushed aside as if they were nothing. The huge legs were attached to a metal hull, pulling it through into the loading bay. Being dragged by the neck beneath the machine was the nearly limp body of the pilot, an unprotected vestige of humanity flopping awkwardly over the jagged threshold.
“Giant!” Richard yelled.
Sharon watched as a flash of metal claw drove Richard into the deck. Sharon fired at the core of the spidery thing, where the pilot’s head was located, but she was still firing anti-personnel rounds. They ineffectually detonated on its surface. It turned its attention to her now, and lurched forward.
She cleanly shot the dangling torso, but was dismayed when the thing discarded it at the neck with a sickening crunch. She parried the mechanical legs and stepped back, trying to see if Richard was okay. The sword left deep gouges in the mechanical legs, and the giant was wary of it now.
As she circled the spidery thing, wondering how she would get close enough to penetrate the armor with her sword, she heard a shrill scream: “Daddy, daddy!” This was followed by a goblin shouting, “Fool girl, stay back. Those things will kill you!”
Sharon glanced over, and saw Amy squirm out of the captain’s grasp and run towards Richard. Amy dove past one of the remaining trolls, and made it to him. The marine was just finishing off another troll. He sat up and fired his rifle at the giant. It tore a chunk off of the underside of the armored core.
The giant swung around to finish Richard off. Amy screamed, and ran away. Too late, Sharon realized what was happening. The girl climbed up a mound of troll remains and disappeared into the ghing ship.
“No, Amy!” Sharon shouted, her voice joining the goblins’, but for a different reason. She wavered for a moment, then dashed after the giant, hacking at one of its rear legs. The sword’s cutting vibration screeched through her bones, and the giant staggered and lurched. Richard continued to fire, but the thing still would not fall.
Sharon called to the drone, and the spirit turned its attention from the goblins. The sphere flashed as it deflected the giant’s killing blow to Richard, sending it wide. He rolled to the side, as Sharon darted underneath the great machine.
The drone was now focused on the giant, and helpfully highlighted one of the craters in the armor. Sharon plunged the sword into the chink, and its plasma arcs surged through the giant. The mechanical legs buckled, and Sharon dove to escape the collapsing bulk of her ruined foe. It was no good. Her leg was caught beneath, and she screamed with the dizzying pain that followed shortly thereafter.
She looked over in time to see Richard pulling a troll off of a fallen goblin crewman. It clawed and kicked viciously at him until he dispatched it. He then cast about for more foes, but found nothing.
All eyes went to the jagged hole in the door, open like a slack jaw. What devilry would the ghing try next?
After a little while, a little hooded head popped up. One of the crewmen fired a shot, but it seemed to miss Amy, as she didn’t even flinch. The goblins watched in disbelief as she clumsily hauled herself over the lip of the breach.
“It’s empty! There’s no one inside,” she piped.
Sharon blanched.