I'm gonna keep this concise, lest I accidentally reveal part of the plot. One, this update was short because I've had this chapter planned for a while, and, two, I daresay I'm fairly proud of how it turned out. I made sure all the songs mentioned are on Youtube in case you want to pull them up in a second window; I listened to them while I wrote and timed the events to the music. All I have to say is... sit back and enjoy the ride.
Chapter 13 – Eye of the Storm
Privateer gunship vessel Dione – Forestation military zone, galactic core vicinity
11:51, 23-2-464 (Alliance Time)
[Music: "Farthest Outpost" - Halo 3 Original Soundtrack]
Light flared in the dark emptiness of outer space. A tiny point of radiance quickly expanded into a ring through which a darkness even more complete than the star-flecked backdrop could be seen. An orange gunship shot through the hole in space, which then closed, leaving nothing to indicate that the craft hadn't simply flown in the normal way.
Dione's pilot, of course, didn't see any of this; what he and the rest of the crew saw was the serene, almost majestic image of hundreds of small points of silver and gold spiraling slowly around some invisible point. The lack of sound in space gave the illusion of calmness, but the telltale glowing streaks of laser fire testified to the battle going on before them. The anomaly at the center was black and therefore invisible to the naked eye. However, the ship's ultraviolet sensors painted a glow that rivaled that of the nearby galactic core. The Typhoon's path was clearly visible, a swath of emptiness cut through the otherwise pristine Metarex formation. Just across from there: that was where they needed to be.
Nestor took his place in the pilot's seat and pushed the throttle open, accelerating his gunship forward. At the same time, he oriented himself mentally so that the circular formation was the floor and Dione was diving toward it. Shadow stood at the rear of the cabin, a glowing blue Chaos Emerald in his right hand. Helios flew behind Tails and latched onto the headrest with a pair of short, three-fingered arms. The kitsune took his hands off the controls momentarily to crack his knuckles, loosening the joints. The rest of the crew seated themselves at the gun controls, ready for whatever might be thrown at them. Nestor snapped his goggles down over his eyes, flexed his fingers, and gripped the flightsticks. "Let's do this."
As Dione drew nearer to the fleet before her, the crew were able to make out details of the formation. A defensive perimeter had been established around the anomaly, perfectly positioned to be a huge obstacle in the mission's path. "We won't be able to let our shields down safely with those ships in place," Helios reminded Nestor.
"Then let's persuade 'em to move," the pilot replied. He swung Dione's nose ninety degrees left, exposing her side to the enemy ships. "Starboard line, broadside!" Three laser blasts and a Scattershot lanced from the gunship's cannons. One of the Metarex ships jerked out of position and collided with a second, engulfing both in a vibrant orange explosion. That oughta get their attention, Nestor thought, returning his ship to her prior alignment.
Just as expected, a contingent of four silver ships detached itself from the formation and throttled upward to meet them. "Knuckles, get below and reload the coilguns as they're fired," Nestor said. "Shadow, take his place." With no sound outside the cabin to drown him out, there was no need to raise his voice. "Tails, take over as pilot; I've got something special planned," he added in an undertone. The kitsune complied, and Nestor keyed in a command that brought up a second set of onscreen controls to replace those for flight. He took hold of the flightsticks again and prepared for the approaching enemies to enter his range.
[Music: "Three Gates" - Halo 3 Original Soundtrack]
Tails was bracing himself on many levels. It had been less than a shipboard day since he and Nestor had planned this mission, but here, now, it felt as if months of effort were finally coming together. It felt as if he had been planning the mission ever since he was last at the Fall; he just hadn't known it until Nestor entered the mix. Now was the time for action, to fight and maneuver his way through the enemy hordes and claim the fruits of victory.
He yanked his wandering mind back to the present; the first of those hordes was coming at them. The four Metarex interceptors split, coming in on four different vectors. One went bow-to-bow with Dione while the other three curved around to attack from the sides and below. Tails watched as the one to the left went down to well-placed laser shot, and turned back to the front just in time to see the charging ship's face crumple inward from the force of two basic metal slugs from some unmentioned third weapon. He yanked back on the flightsticks and "jumped" the gunship over the wreck just as the other two vessels hurtled past on either side. The shield indicator pulsed red and slowly recharged. Nestor turned to watch the two craft, shock etched on his face.
"Marauders!?" he exclaimed. "The Metarex are Marauders?"
Tails ignored him and kept an eye on the two remaining interceptors. One kept going on an uncontrolled course, its bridge ravaged by two Scattershot rounds; the other looped up and moved in for a second pass. "She's coming back around!" the kitsune called. "Get ready to fire again!"
Unknown to anyone aboard the gunship, however, the interceptors had carried more than just weapons into battle. As one of the ships passed below the orange craft, a tiny device no bigger than a tennis ball leaped from its hull, passed straight through a shield weakened by laser fire, and landed on Dione's surface. The magnetized legs of the diminutive Metarex machine adhered instantly to the metal. The probe's triangular, insectoid head rotated, scanning the topography of what was, to it, a massive landscape. Its crystalline eyes spotted a heat source; it skittered on spider-like legs toward the bright infrared glow.
Upon topping a metal ridge, the tiny robot was nearly overloaded by the sudden increase in energy. It put information buffers in place and looked down into the chasm before it. Within, the AI's simple programming buzzed a few cycles with something like delight. The machine crawled down the sloping wall toward the point of greatest temperature, moving as close as its self-preservation algorithms allowed, until the metal skin glowed red-hot. It then drilled a few inches into the hull, folded up its limbs, and powered down, ready to reboot in a few hours. That is, assuming the gunship was still active and in one piece by then.
Metarex cruiser vessel Eagle Eye – Forestation military zone, galactic core vicinity
A few hundred miles out, a Metarex warship was being used as an improvised remote-sensing station. Long-range radar and zoom cameras watched the battle intently, and the homing trackers were reading the robot's signal loud and clear. "Tracer probe is in place," said a blue drone's synthesized voice.
"Well done," came a reply that sounded much less artificial. "See that it isn't dislodged; that little gunship might be important to keep track of."
"Yes, sir," the drone replied, and turned back to its console.
The owner of the second voice nodded, pleased as always with the lower classes' efficiency. Such devotion and obedience could only be found in machines.
Privateer gunship vessel Dione – Forestation military zone, galactic core vicinity
"Fire port!" Nestor cried. Four laser blasts answered, clotheslining the Metarex ship as it sailed past on the left and causing it to explode brilliantly in front of them. "That's it!" he yelled triumphantly, pumping his fist. "Let's get in there to meet the next wave."
Dione accelerated to her full (and considerable) impulse speed, nose aimed right at the anomaly center. Before them, the Metarex fleet cloistered in around it, forming a defensive blockade. A second group made for them, this time much larger and slower than before. Nestor counted about a dozen interceptors, though more might have been hiding behind the initial line. Regardless of that possibility, the pilot was confident that they could take them out before his ship even came under fire.
"Gunners, double broadside!" he called. Although there were only two people seated on each side of the gunship, the terminals were set up so that each gunner controlled both their own and the one across from them. As a result, when Tails threw Dione into a clockwise rotation, exposing both sides in quick succession, not one, but two volleys of gunfire flashed from the cannons.
At least half a dozen ships fell to the barrage, leaving six at the front and an uncertain number behind them. As Tails corrected the gunship's flight path, Nestor began charging his own personal weapon: a burst-auto railgun hidden in the nose. He manipulated the flightsticks and clicked the firing triggers six times, painting a red targeting reticle onto each of the lead ships. He touched an icon on the screen before him, felt six thumps as the weapon fired, and watched another half-dozen ship fall less than a hundred yards from the bow. An orange haze obscured his view temporarily, and pieces of metal bombarded the gunship's shields.
His satisfaction soon turned to alarm as something else emerged from the debris, brake jets flaring. What he had originally taken to be another line of interceptors was in fact a fully-fledged, gold-armored Metarex cruiser, complete with a laser battery and dual missile banks. Four rockets blasted from the slots, and both pilots knew there was no time to dodge, only to slam the brakes and avert a collision. The two ships stopped dead in space, and the missiles detonated two feet in front of Dione's canopy, reducing the shields to nothing. With victory looming and no charge yet in the railgun, the cruiser's cannons glowed in preparation for an executional stroke.
Just then, a flash of light momentarily blinded the crew, and suddenly Shadow was hovering in front of the gunship, his body cloaked in a golden aura. He swiped his left hand across his body, and a bolt of energy pierced through the laser battery, destroying it. Before either ship had time to react, the glow intensified, and the hedgehog shot forward, punching straight through the ship and exiting out the tip of the stern. The cruiser listed to port, started to roll, and exploded spectacularly before the awe-struck eyes of Dione's crew. Shadow looped back around, taking out three more interceptors along the way, and vanished in a second flash. He reappeared at the back of the cabin and immediately dropped to one knee. "Keep going," he growled, then stood and snapped his wristbands back into place. Tails was happy to oblige, and the gunship accelerated forward once more. Nestor spotted a gap in the blockade: the way was clear and the goal was in sight.
"Ninety seconds!" Helios alerted them just as the Sonic Driver fired, sending their entire view into blinding whiteness. Then a shutter slammed down and the light was hidden from view.
[Music: "One Final Effort (Extended)" - Halo 3 Original Soundtrack]
Tails blinked, trying to clear his vision. As the cabin came back into focus, he saw that the canopy was covered by a screen that showed a vague, amorphous image of what was going on before it. He remembered crafting this device: it was based on a combination of silhouettes cast by ships in the way of the light and reflections from those off to one side. It was a last resort when all other sensors became next to useless, which was exactly what happened once the blast from the Sonic Driver struck home. It was far from perfect, but at least they had some idea of their surroundings. Right now, it was showing him a fast-approaching enemy blockade.
"Tails, snap out of it!" Nestor said, jolting the kitsune back to the here-and-now. "Come on, don't zone out now, we're almost to Cosmo!" The last word brought him fully back to his senses. He repeated the name to himself: Cosmo. He pushed the throttle to full and charged the Metarex line, throwing all caution to the wind. Cosmo. The gunners opened up on both sides, tracking anything that tried to flank them and reducing it to rubble. Nestor's railgun downed targets as they came, keeping a narrow gap open in the blockade. Cosmo.
Tails accelerated forward, pushing Dione's speed to her limits. The hole grew in his vision, then suddenly constricted as the frontal fire ceased. "More ammo, hurry!" Nestor called into the mike.
"We're all out!" Knuckles replied in kind.
"KETO!?" Nestor yelled. He stared to the front in sudden horror. "Gibadnak un kobukra ansubena..."
"Forty-five seconds," Helios warned.
Cosmo. Without thinking, Tails yanked the gunship sideways and killed the engine. "Fire at will!" he shouted. The crew soon realized his intentions, and a barrage of shot roared from both sides, simultaneously providing cover fire and clearing the path ahead. The hole kept coming until it was nearly on top of them. Cosmo. The kitsune yanked the flightsticks again, passing through the gap stern-first and once more coming to rest in a broadside drift, this time with the starboard wall facing the center. The fire resumed, but only one side was really necessary; they now had a clear line to the destination point.
"Ten seconds! Sonic and Shadow just used Chaos Regeneration!"
Shadow?
Cosmo.
For Tails in that instant, time seemed to slow. He abandoned his seat and ran down the length of the cabin toward the door. Halfway along he took to the air, flew the rest of the way, and landed, seemingly a long time later. Up front, Amy took his place. "Drop the shield, now," he told Helios, who was hovering by the door.
"But Tails, we're still under enemy..." the AI began.
"Do it!" His tone and his expression left no doubt in the AI's programming about his determination.
"...Aye, aye," it said. After a few seconds, it spoke again. "Shield is back in place, oxygen being pumped..."
Tails didn't wait for the sentence to conclude; he smacked the "open" button and was carried out by a rush of air. He spun his tails, taking control of his flight, then turned toward the nose. Immediately he regretted it; Amy had straightened course after he left, and he ended up looked right at the anomaly. It seared the kitsune's eyes with the heat of twenty suns; he clapped his hand over his face, completely blinded. Cosmo. He made contact with the hull and felt his way along it, searching blindly for the person he hoped, he knew, was in there. The void just inches above him would normally have scared him out of his wits, but his caution had long since been left behind for this mission.
Something brushed against him; he reached out wildly, and his hand made contact with the electron shield. Cosmo. He tried again, and this time he caught hold of someone's wrist. Without hesitation, he took off and flew back in the direction of the door. Just as he did, however, a long-range laser shot from behind sideswiped the gunship, raking along the shielding. The protective sheath cracked: only a tiny hole, but it was enough.
A rush of air seemed to grab hold of the kitsune and hurl him toward Dione's aft portion. He flailed wildly, and his free hand found something hard and metallic; he clung to it, given strength by one word: Cosmo. A second blast enlarged the hole and increased the force of the current, but still he held on, refusing to let go with either hand. With a tremendous effort of will, he pulled himself up and started to climb his way along the gunship's hull, trying with all his might to get to the door.
Amy chose that moment to slam the brakes, just barely avoiding a full salvo of missiles. She also managed to dislodge Tails; the kitsune flew forward, slammed against one of the gun barrels, and was promptly hurled back the other way as Dione accelerated yet again. He landed on the rear stabilizer and almost lost consciousness, but kept himself together. Cosmo. He slipped off, felt the heat of the engine, and knew it was all over. He had failed. Then someone caught his free arm and pulled, gravity reasserted itself, and he fell to the floor. A bulkhead slammed behind him.
"Gun it, now!" he heard Nestor shout. The gunship shot forward like an arrow, sending him and everyone else not strapped in flying against the back wall. As his vision cleared, he saw Nestor stand and enter the DEM slot. Yellow laser blasts flew all around; missile impacts shook Dione to her core. A huge explosion hit under the exhaust, sending the gunship spinning end-over-end. The scanner activated, and Tails squeezed his eyes shut.
There was an instant of quiet, a horrible wrenching sound followed by a collosal impact, then stillness. Tails felt the world fading out. He was vaguely aware of someone calling, "Is everyone alright?" A pause, then, from beside him: "Better than alright. We did it." Those words were enough. The kitsune barely had time to think one last thought before his mind slipped away: Cosmo... Cosmo... Cosmo...
I don't think any comment is really necessary here; it's all in that last paragraph. I'm anxious to hear everyone's opinions, so I'm going do something odd and straight-up ask for reviews. Compliment, criticism, random comments... all are welcome. Well, until next time, I guess.