A/N: Happy 2019! This took way longer than I wanted, but life has been keeping me busy as usual.
SoaringEagle13 – I definitely plan to finish this someday. It's been hanging by a thread for a while but fortunately I'm motivated enough to see this to the end.
Perseus12 – Thanks! I appreciate your patience. I'm trying to keep things at a good pace though there have been some talky parts here and there. Anyway, here's the next chapter! *Thumbs up back!*
CHAPTER 24
Looking to the Heavens
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Magno didn't look the least bit surprised as she received the news from Jai on her communicator. She was having a more casual chat with Maron at the latter's dwelling. "So it has begun, huh," the pirate boss sighed grimly, talking to Jai. "Do you still think we can succeed with Plan B?"
Jai was just as serious. "After all we've been through on this planet, I cannot even consider any other course of action. Today, we will strike back."
Magno stood. "I'm sorry Maron, I'd best be getting back to the Nirvana," she said to the leader of the last remaining settlement on Parthus.
"You're abandoning us?" the other's tone was a far cry from the initial despondency she had when their visitors first arrived.
Magno laughed and boomed heartily as she was walking out. "What are you talking about? Retreat isn't an option anymore. I have faith in my crew; it would help if you started believing in us too."
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Shirley continued struggling on her cot as two nurses tried to hold her still. They worked quickly, deliberately springing to assist even as Bart bumped into one of them in his haste to leave.
Duero was getting frustrated. It seemed that the pathogen was primarily affecting the little girl's heart, lungs and airways. He was operating a machine that showed Shirley's vital signs: heart rate and blood pressure were rising gradually, but she didn't have a fever. The swollen lymph nodes indicated an immune response, but perhaps it wasn't enough to combat the infection, indicating immunodeficiency. He had looked through her file; none of the medications given had any positive effect.
He had also requested for a blood cell count, but the hospital could not process it at once.
"Ten minutes' wait is too long!" Duero had yelled at the attendant, but ordered the procedure to be done anyway.
He was just about to start giving a drug that increased white blood cell activity when Jai popped back on communications. "Everybody has been informed. Now let's see here," he said, eyes darting all over the screen. Duero knew the other doctor was also monitoring Nadya, as well as tracking the harvesters that were on the way to the planet, so he waited for advice. Besides, Jai had superior information-gathering capabilities on all patients at the moment.
"Duero, her monocytes and lymphocytes are through the roof!" Jai exclaimed, no doubt obtaining the information from the Vandread.
"Isn't she immunodeficient? I haven't gotten the blasted cell count here yet, but Shirley doesn't even have a fever! Sepsis without hyperthermia is due to suppression of the immune system, or progression to septic shock." All of the other patients had an elevated white cell count, and Shirley seemed radically different in that hers was always low. Both Jai and Duero earlier assumed it was because of an immune system deficiency of some sort.
"I know, don't lecture me!" Tensions were definitely running high, but both doctors kept their cool somewhat. "Look, I'll grant you that the overall WBC level looks low and we guessed it was due to immunodepression, but now we have a clearer picture. The low WBC is because she has a deficiency in all other leukocytes, but these numbers for macrophages and NK cells are astronomical! I'm talking forty to fifty times the normal values."
Duero winced. Those were indeed massive derangements.
"What's more," Jai continued, "almost all of her macrophages are abnormal. The pathogen seems to use them to get around the body and replicate."
"What?!" Duero had never heard of an infection, at least on Tarak, that exhibited such resilience.
Duero could feel the anxiety and uncertainty in Jai's voice as the pilot spoke. "What I'm saying is, we should try giving an immunosuppressant. Get those monocytes and NK's down somehow." It was completely counterintuitive, but made sense in an oblique way. "I'll take full responsibility if she doesn't make it because of this decision, Duero, but we are running out of time."
Time was indeed running out. Shirley continued to deteriorate; her body wouldn't be able to last at this rate.
The decision had to be made now.
"Hope this works," Duero muttered, switching the machine's medication to a powerful immunomodulator they had brought from the Nirvana. He hesitated for a moment, but then pushed the button to administer the drug.
It took several moments of waiting, but Shirley's vital signs slowly stopped getting worse. After even more minutes, heart rate and blood pressure began to gradually return to barely normal levels. Shirley had also stopped convulsing, though her breathing was still labored.
The room quieted, but there was still a tense atmosphere. The worst was over, but the little girl was still in a very difficult situation.
"She looks better," Duero started to say, before noticing Jai was talking with someone else on a separate link. The doctor-pilot turned back to him. "What, did she improve?"
"Yes, just. But the infection seems to have spread quite a bit. Her breathing is still harsh, and vitals look like they could go off again at any time."
"The pathogen is in active proliferation, looks like," Jai mused, poring over more data on his interface. After a moment's pause, he asked, "Are you familiar with mycobacterial infection?"
Duero shook his head. There was no such disease on Tarak. "The term sounds familiar; I might have come across it in one of the texts somewhere, but I don't remember really studying about it."
Jai frowned, and quickly said, "Just a second, let me ask Pai." He then disappeared for a few seconds, then came back on. "Nope, she doesn't know about it either."
"What are you considering?" Duero asked when the other doctor remained silent for a while.
Jai's tone was serious, almost ominous, and very hushed. "Duero, what I'll instruct you to do might be breaking every protocol in the book, but could be necessary to save this little girl's life. We have to act right now. I'll handle the consequences if things go awry later on."
It was rare to see Jai being so insistent upon the issue. With so many uncertainties, and not to mention the harvesters approaching quickly, Duero wanted to avoid doing anything rash.
But for Shirley's sake.
"Tell me what to do."
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The delivery room doors burst open as Nadya was wheeled in on her bed. Ezra helped the nurses get everything set up while they also waited for the static field emitter to arrive.
She was grateful that Jai was keeping an eye on them as well from her portable communicator; Duero looked like he had his hands full attending to Shirley. Ezra wished with all her heart that the little girl was going to be okay.
Both she and Parfet were well aware of the harvesters' approach, but they had decided to focus on their respective tasks for now and avoid spurring panic.
It was decided that Ezra would stay with Nadya inside the magnetic field to assist the delivery. The ideal scenario would have been to transport both the mother and the device to the Nirvana and have her deliver the baby there, but at this point it was not a possibility.
Nadya's contractions were getting stronger, and she was grimacing in pain despite being given a dose of pain reliever. Her bag of waters was still intact.
Ezra held her hand to offer some comfort. "It's going to be fine, Nadya. Parfet will be here any time with the machine so your baby will be safe from the infection."
The patient nodded, then clasped Ezra's hand with both of her own. "Ezra, please, please! Listen..."
"I'm here, Nadya. What do you need?"
Nadya's tone was desperate, beseeching. "Take care of my baby, Ezra. Ezra, you have to! Please promise me."
"What are you saying, dear?" Ezra tried to be as soothing as she could, but a deep sadness was starting to well up. "We will all take care of you both, you and the baby."
Nadya shook her head vigorously, and almost screamed as another powerful contraction occurred. "My husband and I have already picked out a name for her. You have to make sure, Ezra, please! We wanted her to have a long and happy life." Her words sounded like delirious rambling.
"You will also be with her to make sure of that," Ezra again reassured her.
Not two seconds passed when the doors flung open and the engineers came charging in with the magnetic field generator. Most of them had to exit quickly as they weren't really needed, but Parfet and three other Mejale technicians stayed.
Jai returned on the com-link; he had just been conversing with Duero on another link. "Good, it's here. We have to get them into the sterile field before the water breaks, or else the baby might be compromised. Does it work, Parfet? I wasn't able to see the test."
"I got into it myself, and the sensor measured 0% contamination," Parfet stated matter-of-factly, at the same time preparing the device.
"Then at least we're sure it's clean," Ezra commented, still holding on to Nadya's hand. The latter had gone rather quiet, only whimpering intermittently with a strained look on her face.
Soon, everything was set up. The machine's bed was moved beside Nadya's. "Ready to transfer?" Ezra asked gently, to which Nadya agreed. Four people helped carry the patient to the opposite bed, as Ezra stepped over and onto it.
They were all set.
"Initiating," Parfet declared, and the emitter began humming as it did during the test run.
Ezra continued comforting Nadya. "I'll be with you through all this," she said as the dome-shaped magnetic field appeared, enclosing them both.
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"All Dreads have been mobilized, Boss," B.C. reported as Magno stepped into the bridge of the Nirvana. The walk wasn't far from Maron's cabin, but it still took a while; even Bart had arrived much earlier. "Vandread Raptor has been dispatched with a small advance squad to quickly fell as many of the smaller enemies as possible before their main force arrives. Vandread Dita-Base continues to provide us with intel for the moment, as well as support for the advance force with their EMP."
"We want this to end as quickly as possible," Magno said, reaffirming their overall objective. Jai's warning signal was a countdown until the arrival of the enemies at Parthus, something which they wanted to prevent at all costs. Forty-five minutes remained.
The plan was to try to slow down most of the enemies while taking out the motherships from maximum range. Success depended on how many total enemies there were, and how well all of the Vandreads' firepower could be utilized at distance. The Nirvana was the last line of defense, and would stay closest to the planet.
The pirate Boss opened a communications link to the Dita-Base. "How are things progressing, Dita-Base?"
It was Dita who answered. "It feels like they're more resistant to my mallet, Boss. I have to hit them suuuuper hard to have the same effect as before."
"That's one way of solving the problem – hit it harder," Magno smiled despite herself. "How many enemies are there, Dita?"
She looked around for a while, then turned back to the screen. "We can see about eighty of the small drones, twenty-five medium-sized ones that look like spiked spheres, twelve serpent-like long ones, and four motherships."
Everyone on the bridge gasped. Those were alarming numbers. Magno was starting to doubt their current course of action.
Just then, Jai appeared as Dita zoomed to wallop another hostile. "Hi there, sorry for the lateness."
B.C. queried, "Jai, Dita just relayed the number of enemies approaching. Is there any other information you can corroborate?"
"Yes, Dita is correct. Unfortunately, those aren't all the enemies yet. We've got more drones incoming, which indicates there's at least one other mothership still outside the range of our radar. Vandread Raptor and Squad A have started the engagement with the first wave of drones and, while the enemies have gotten faster and have better defenses against our EMP now, it looks like not much has changed from what I can tell so far. It will be a different story, though, when more of them show up against more of us, and without guidance from the Dita-Base. Things will get chaotic." He then yelled towards another com-link, "Raptor, spikes on your six!"
Magno knew that even though the early goings seemed to see both sides on equal footing, things were already taking a heavy toll on Dita and Jai, especially the latter. Aside from directing the battle and relaying information, he also shifted his attention now and again to a few matters at the Parthus hospital. Parfet had reported earlier that the labor of Nadya was underway, with Ezra assisting. Duero seemed to be busy with the little patient as well. All of that, and they were only dealing with the first of the arriving enemies.
Jai continued, "One good thing is that their progress seems to have slowed a little. I suppose we'll just have to do a bit more kiting so the rest don't catch up too quickly and overwhelm us. We're just about getting to Phase One; I'd best inform the troops. Hold on a minute." Phase One referred to activating Vandread Swan, and destroy at least one mothership with the Swan-Shot. Of all their weapons, it had the longest range, and could best potentially hit more than one mothership – and there was a small chance it could be used again given enough time to recharge.
Watching things unfold, Magno muttered, "I sure am glad you're on our side," as she briefly recalled the aftermath of a strange battle not very long ago, and finding the safe-pod with this stranger from the past inside. So much has changed indeed since then.
Her mind returning to the current battle, Magno saw Jura appear on a com-link. "Ready to form Vandread Swan and commence Phase One, Boss."
"Proceed," came the short but authoritative directive.
"Roger!"
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With the Dita-Base inactive, the Advance Squad looked to be having a much harder time. 'But at least we're getting a turn to shine,' Jura thought as Jai's Vanguard approached and they formed Vandread Swan after a bright flash of light.
Jura was feeling a little skittish, not to mention ecstatic, that her elegant Vandread was now being brought to the fore in a real battle, but she also knew she needed to focus. She pushed down the urge to flirt with Jai about once again combining their ships. "Those are some intimidating enemy numbers," she said seriously instead.
"No kidding," Jai seemed a little distracted, whether by Jura sitting on his lap, or by the four com-links he was monitoring, it was difficult to tell. There was definitely a tinge of weariness in his voice.
"Hey," Jura couldn't help but turn back and give him a sincere, dazzling smile as he looked at her. "Thank you so much for all your effort. Let's do a good job and I'll give you a reward later, okay?"
'He's blushing! How cute!' She thought as Jai looked flustered and at a loss for words. After a moment, he coughed and began focusing on the radar instead. "The first mothership is almost in range," he said taciturnly.
"Yes, yes," Jura replied cheerily as they both reached for the control switches to engage 'siege mode'. As before, their ship metamorphosed into the radiant stationary form, but this time all possible discs on the 'tail' were engaged.
"Full power!" Jura exclaimed, at the same time admiring their ship's appearance and capability. "Woohoo!"
Jai was looking into the distance via his targeting eyepiece. From where they were, the battle looked a long ways away, but Jura knew he could see it as if it were much nearer. "It looks like we're in luck. Three of the mother ships are close enough to be taken out in one go at maximum output," he said. They were last able to count six motherships at the Dita-Base, and it seemed no more were coming.
Jura seemed even more excited. "So we take out three, Hibiki and Dita maybe two, and your Knight Vandread destroys one. That's so amazing!"
Parfet, Meia and Magno, who were on different communication links, also brightened at that. The odds might just be tilting in their favor. "Any advantage we can get should not be squandered. Take the shot," the Mejale Boss directed.
There was but a small window to take the shot, so Jai quickly relayed the information to the Advance Squad to clear the area, at the same time adjusting the ship's aim.
"Here we go! Fire in the hole, in three...two...one, FIRE!"
Both he and Jura watched expectantly as the myriad of energy streams shot off into the distance.
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Having the Dita-Base was a definite luxury, but that didn't mean the Advance Squad was helpless without it.
Meia was thankful that despite their constant acceleration and movement, Hibiki wasn't being pushed onto her lap that much in the Raptor Vandread, their seating configuration being somewhat similar to that of Jai and Jura.
"It doesn't make me any comfortable either," Hibiki vehemently said when they had first combined, recounting that he was seated behind Dita in their Mecha Vandread.
Meia barked orders to the rest of the squad, with Hibiki following only somewhat begrudgingly. They knew this was only the beginning of the battle, even though more than twenty drones had been shot down already.
"I really wish we could destroy one of the motherships from here," the Tarak pilot mused, "but still, I like how effective the Raptor is in this kind of close combat against these twerps."
Meia assented. Their advantage had only slightly diminished without guidance from the Dita-Base. Drones and spiked enemies were easily enough dealt with using their superior quickness and maneuverability. The primary strategy was to 'kite' enemies along a formation and take them out systematically. For the most part, it was working, for now. It was also easier to respond and help out other Dreads that were in danger of being overwhelmed; none of the Advance Squad was seriously damaged yet.
The battle raged on. On their radar, Meia could see Vandread Swan materialize and begin its transformation. She also noticed that their enemies were sort of moving towards certain directions; there didn't seem to be a definite pattern, but it looked like they weren't directly engaging in combat compared to before.
Soon afterwards, Jai made an announcement on the com-link that Vandread Swan was about to fire and try to eliminate three of the motherships, which sent a wave of excitement to everyone on the front lines.
"Affirmative," Meia answered. She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but Jai looked a little flustered. Perhaps it was due to all the different things he had to focus his attention to, and it worried her a little.
"Ooi," Hibiki yelled, waving a hand at her face, "Focus, would ya? Don't space out!"
She blinked, a bit surprised. "I-I'm not."
"I wish they'd hurry with it so we can get on to Phase Two," Hibiki growled. Phase Two was Vandread Mecha's turn to fire its massive cannon at an attempt to destroy another mothership.
His impatience was almost amusing to Meia. "Take your own advice and just focus for now," she warned softly, but all the same she could understand his zeal. Phase Three was planned for Vandread Knight to use its Piercing Lance to down yet another mothership, and, oddly enough, she was actually eager for that. With things going the way they were now, however, it was imperative that each phase be able to eliminate multiple motherships.
It wasn't long before the Swan's energy cables began glimmering in the distance and Jai started relaying the blast coordinates so everyone can steer clear. As every friendly ship moved out of the way of the impending barrage, it then became apparent to Meia what their enemies were mobilizing for. Several drones and the snake-like ships rushed behind the first mothership to intercept the beam attack from the two trailing ones – the serpentine enemies in particular, which also started coiling into dense balls. She surmised that Jai couldn't predict the move, being out of the Dita-Base and a little distracted with other matters.
Hibiki saw it as well. "They won't stand a chance. They'll just get vaporized along with the big ones."
Meia hoped so. It was too late to inform the rest as Jai started the countdown. "Here we go! Fire in the hole, in three...two...one, FIRE!"
The lasers pierced through the darkness in a flash of prismatic light, and for a moment everything seemed to go still.
As the beams were approaching, the drones fired red lasers that the balled serpent enemies dispersed, forming a crude barrier of sorts.
The first mothership was easily demolished by the Swan Shot, passing almost cleanly from end to end. As it struck the wall of smaller enemies, however, many of the beams abruptly stopped, and seemed to be absorbed by the makeshift shield.
"Hey! That's a dirty trick!" Hibiki exclaimed, not believing his eyes.
"No, look!" Meia followed, just as intent on the scene. The effectiveness of the enemies' countermeasure was deceptive, but not totally enough to stop the attack. Enough of the Swan Shot blasted through and decimated most of the drones and serpents. Everyone looked on in awe as the beams also tore into the second mothership, destroying enough to cause the entire ship to explode into debris.
The third trailing behemoth craft only received a glancing blow, as there wasn't enough of the Swan Shot left to cause significant damage.
Both Hibiki and Meia, and the other pirates, were still transfixed by what had just happened, but the enemy drones were already again mobilizing in attack.
Meia shouted as she sped the Vandread Raptor from an incoming missile, "Advance Squad, quit staring around!" And so the fighting resumed anew, with slightly less smaller enemies for the moment.
"Well at least we got two, and a whole lot of the pipsqueaks. Get ready for when the Mecha makes its appearance!" Hibiki yelled partly out of frustration.
Meia slapped him on the top of his head. "Save it for later and concentrate on the battle first!"
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The Nirvana crew was stunned watching the battle unfold, save for Magno and B.C.
The Mejale leader sighed. "Looks like we can't just willy-nilly our way against these forces."
"We were able to take out more than one mothership," B.C. stated matter-of-factly. "If Phases Two and Three can do the same, we've still accomplished our goal."
"True, it is good to be optimistic. And besides, the encounter is still only beginning," Magno agreed. She then turned to B.C. "I suppose it's time we also took to the battlefield, wouldn't you say?"
The sub-commander nodded. "Nirvana, takeoff!"
"Roger!" The entire bridge crew resounded. For some reason, Bart's shout was particularly loud from his control pool.
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A/N: Leaving it here for now. This felt like a good place to take a break and save some content for the next chapter. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'm able to get to it.