Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Worm. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with a commercial purpose. It is not for sale or rent.
Chapter 14
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Part 3
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14 January 2011
Dragon's base
Canada
Earth Bet
Two humans, an alien and a robot walked to the masked endpoint of a small tunnel. This was the single point of entry not covered by the shield in lock-down mode, by design. As paranoid as Dragon was, she knew that someone might one day compromise her systems, and having the option of entry not requiring an all-out assault was a nice thing. The only people who knew about it were a handful of her friends in the Guild, Narwhal being on top of that list.
While the entry point wasn't cut off by the shield dome, the tunnel itself was far from defenseless. It was sealed by ten thick armored doors made of strong tinker-sourced alloys. Every thirty meters between the checkpoints contained multiple automated weapon systems, gas dispensers, even an incineration system to use against biological threats, backed by liquid nitrogen ready to freeze anything fire-resistant.
The tunnel itself was small, barely enough for two mid-sized people to walk shoulder to shoulder, thus ensuring that you couldn't drive well-armored vehicles or drones through. The right brute might be able to breach the defenses, in theory, however, in practice, the variety of mundane and tinker-tech weaponry stuck in the tunnel ensured that almost anything short of Alexandria would find a sticky end halfway through at worst.
Narwhal was one of two people alive who had the codes to walk through, however even she had to pass through multiple scanners and answer several questions aimed at ensuring she wasn't an impostor and to minimize the chance of her being mastered.
Another security measure was the fact that only one group could pass through the tunnel at a time without it sealing itself and the defenses going lethal on everyone either already inside or trying to breach it.
Passing by the first three doors sent alerts to Dragon, who wasn't there to answer. The fourth did catch Dobrynja's attention, who was looking around the various defense systems, trying to figure if everything was active and working as advertised without Dragon's personnel oversight. The alert itself was obscure, and a quick sweep through various sensor feeds told him that no one visible was trying to breach the defenses. At the same time, there wasn't any trace of an assault force gathering anywhere close, though with teleporters available, like say, Strider, that wasn't saying much. While the defense systems had counter-measures, especially when set up on siege mode, that only meant that any attackers would appear instantly outside the base instead within it, with no warning to speak off. That was still better than having a small army appear inside without warning, but still less than ideal.
Nevertheless, Dobrynja was still concerned – with nothing obvious, a possible reason for the alerts was a Stranger mucking around, and that could be nasty, so he called Saint.
Then the fifth consequent alarm hit, this time giving him a rough area of interest to look at and still finding nothing. Dragon would have to know what those alerts meant, where and how to look for the tunnel and whoever was inside. Most of her defense systems? They pointedly didn't in case anyone compromised them.
By the time the small infiltration team got to the last door, Dobrynja and Mags were in the area, backed up by eight prototype suits following a set of simple instructions. They had several friendly targets not to shoot at, some equipment that should not be shot, and everything else that moved? That was a target to annihilate.
Down in the tunnel, Aria Astra consulted her mission clock and cursed. "We're almost out of time. The Shock Troopers will hit the atmosphere momentarily and they'll be on point in a few minutes. We need to get to the shield generator or main power room soon and take them out."
"This should be the last checkpoint. About two minutes and we're going out in a storage room unless Dragon changed something and forgot to tell me." Narwhal spoke nervously.
Many of the questions she had to answer were more than personnel and the fact that multiple strangers, aliens even, listened to it had her on the edge and unsettled. That combined with the murder of her best friend didn't make for a good head-space.
"We're out of time then. Target the defense installations and open fire on my mark." Aria ordered. For this exercise, everyone was clad in modern armor, even though Armsmaster and Narwhal's had most functions disabled due to lack of training. That meant they should be able to endure a short dip in liquid nitrogen or exposure to intense flames.
Should being the operative word.
A halo of force fields ready to launch surrounded Narwhal, while Armsmaster awkwardly shouldered the heavy blaster he got issued for this mission. Various compartments on the droid opened, revealing weapons and gadgets humming with energy because obviously, the heavy blaster cannon it wielded as if it was a toy wasn't enough firepower.
As soon as the base's defenses opened up at the decoys preceding the orbital drop, the Sith acted.
"Mark," Aria spoke aloud and unleashed the power she had been gathering over the past few moments.
The part of the tunnel containing the infiltrators shook, metal twisted with a piercing scream, solid stone shattered under the merciless touch of the Force, weapon emplacements unfolded seeking targets, and containers holding both liquid nitrogen and fuel ruptured, spraying the no longer confined space with a fine mist. Blaster fire ignited the fuel, while liquid nitrogen explosively turned back into a gas, weapon emplacements spoke once if lucky, before plasma cored them or force-fields cut through them, only for their own firepower to splash over various defense fields.
Outside, the ground bulged outward, a small maintenance room attached to a manufacturing complex exploded as a torn away end of a tunnel plowed its way through it. It was a spectacular entrance, yet one that almost remained lost among the impressive pyrotechnic display happening right above the base.
It so happened, that both Mags and Dobrynja were in the area, searching for the intruders and had a front-row seat of the infiltrators' arrival. The Dragonslayers wasted no time, didn't even wait to properly see the intruders, and opened fire for all their suits were worth. A heartbeat later, the units accompanying them followed suit, while even more alarms sounded throughout the base. anti-personnel and anti-vehicle emplacements showed themselves, seeking targets.
"Humans, go for the reactors. HK, the shield generator. I'll provide a distraction!" Aria shouted while doing her best to contain and deflect the incoming firepower, which was significant.
Her Master's pet Assassin Droid vanished, cloaked by the best stealth field money could buy, and the Humans left, floating on a thin force field supplied by Narwhal. When the defenders tried to intercept them, Aria let go of the Force dome she used to hold down the onslaught and sprinted forward, relying on her armor and speed for protection. Purple lighting surrounded her and she unleashed her fury at this Force damned mess against anything daring to stand in her way.
Meanwhile, smoke canisters detonated just above the shield, cutting off the sunlight and covering the base into a surreal light-show caused by all the weapon emplacement shooting at targets both within and outside the defense perimeter.
In two minutes the Shock Troopers would either need the red carpet rolled out for them or break off and land outside the compound, a nice reminder of why those crazy bastards were among the best soldiers in the galaxy and those with shortest life expectancy.
The most surprised person that they got that far before having to fight their way through was Narwhal.
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Part 4
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14 January 2011
Dragon's base
Canada
Earth Bet
Soon after everything went pear-shaped, Armsmaster had to fight off a Simurgh related flashback. Fortunately, it happened only after he was beside Narwhal, riding one of her force-fields, and trusting alien stealth field to remain unnoticed, while all kinds of ordnance and pieces of buildings flew around. The lighting storm wasn't something he had seen often, however the imploding weapon emplacements, those were par for the course.
Colin idly thought that revising the Sith's threat level upwards, again would be a good idea.
A ragged line of obviously Dragon-designed suits came around the side of the nearest building, and as one they opened fire at the whirlwind of energy and debris the two Heroes were leaving behind as fast as Narwhal dared to carry them. Half of the machines promptly staggered before an invisible hand squashed them like soda cans. The rest continued undeterred, shooting lasers, particle beams and missiles towards the Sith. Armsmaster didn't see if they hit her, however even if they did, it wasn't enough – the direct-fire weapons anyway. The missiles froze mid-flight before turning around and flying right back at their launch platforms. The suits didn't react, merely kept shooting before their own ordnance struck them, and they vanished in a cascading wave of explosions, showing that at least some warhead carried sub-munitions.
At that point, Colin could no longer see the larger battle, because Narwhal drove them through the side of a building she had cut through with her power.
"We're on foot from here on! I can't fight, carry us and protect us at the same time!" The Canadian Heroine shouted, though it wasn't really necessary. Whatever sound-dampening technology was used on their armor helmets ensured they could hear all right despite the god-awful racket that engulfed the whole base.
Figuring it out and incorporating it in his own designs to make his armor even better sounded like a great idea, one for later, Colin decided and dove to the ground, when a turret unlimbered from the ceiling and perforated the air where his head was just a moment ago. Instinct, long, painstaking training and a helpful HUD indicator probably saved his life so he could blast the weapon emplacement with his rifle. Three glowing bolts turned the turret into slag dripping on the floor, and Armsmaster was rolling away, hoping to avoid following shots from any other traps.
When no more hostile fire came his way, he could properly look around and see two more emplacements out of actions courtesy of Narwhal.
"Let's go, the shield generator should be downstairs." Narwhal waved him to follow.
Instead of leading him towards and elevator or stairways, she stopped at a nearby intersection, where they had to deal with even more turrets. This time Armsmaster wasn't swift enough and couple of laser beams struck him, coming from two different sources. He turned one into burning scrap, cursing the lack of cover, and aimed at the second, when his armor's shields popped under the strain and the coherent light bit into the chest-plate, right above his breastbone, then went up, seeking his head. He returned fire on reflex and thankfully the laser ceased but not before flashing over his helmet. His visor darkened for a moment, before a graphic appearing in his HUD's corner, showing the chest and helmet glowing amber.
The armor held, he could still see and most importantly, the laser beam didn't take off his head, so he turned around, searching for more threats. There were no more automated weapons in the immediate vicinity, however before slicing and dicing her share of turrets, Narwhal got hit as well. With his visor no longer darkened, Colin could see bright glowing lines on her armor as well, where the alien alloy had ablated when failing to absorb and disperse the lasers.
Going by the deep gorges melted in the metal walls and floor, Armsmaster could vividly imagine what those lasers would have done to unprotected flesh or most available armors, including some of his own suits. He was pretty sure he would have survived this onslaught with his own armor as well, though not necessary unscratched. The quickly dissipating heat right over his jugular where the laser beam passed over and failed to burn through the under-suit, neither did it burn his skin, told him all he needed to know about this.
"We're going down the express way." Narwhal spoke unperturbed by the smoking armor. Multiple glowing blades formed all around her and slammed in the floor, cutting them a way in.
At that moment, Armsmaster really missed his halberd with the built in plasma-cutter.
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All kinds of alarms screamed, almost but not quite drowning the thunder of weaponry.
"I can't work like this!" Saint shouted to the uncaring heavens and shook with agitation. He was so close, he could feel it! The answers were right here, just waiting for him to find them and then the way to Teacher will be open! He kept typing frantically, his wide eyes darted all over multiple computer screens, until he caught something impossible, which froze him.
A large screen taking most of the wall to the right blinked with red warnings, displaying for all to read that it was showing live feed from an Endbringer tracking satellite. However, it wasn't one of those monsters it had on display, it was something much larger and faster. It took Saint a few precious seconds to comprehend what was in front of his eyes and the constant zooming in and out by whatever controlled the satellite now, didn't help any. The thing was immense, painted light gray, almost silver, it shone with heat bursting around shields that almost touched it's impossible hull. The jumping picture showed huge turrets, much bigger than the largest battleship that ever sailed Earth's oceans could carry. There were two of those, on the two sides of the visible part of the dagger-shaped hull. Much smaller weapon emplacements looked almost like toys in comparison.
"Fuck me sideways…" Saint muttered, still staring at the mutant-Star Destroyer diving through the atmosphere above Canada. "Why the fuck are they coming now?!" He screamed. This wasn't right, he was so close, damn them all to hell and back!
Saint looked at the old laptop containing Ascalon, the other laptops plugged into Dragon's systems, then back to the satellite feed. This thing was coming here fast, as if it knew what he was about to do and it was determined to prevent it. Fuck it, Teacher had to be free no matter what! Saint looked between the various screens in agitation, his sense of self-preservation fighting with the obsessive need to free Teacher and the dawning realization that if the aliens got him, he wouldn't be able to free his mentor and that would be unacceptable. He shook in indecision before cursing again and racing to pick up as much of the computers siphoning data from Dragon's systems. Hopefully one of them would have the codes he needed to access the Birdcage's systems and so he could do it later. Even if that wasn't the case, selling as many of the AI's secrets as he could should allow him to get the resources he needed to get Teacher back the old fashioned way – something, which had to be easier without the damn AI supervising the prison!
While Saint frantically picked up the salvage, he didn't even think about his friends, who were busy fighting to buy him as much time as they could. Neither did he register a new set of alarms, which were mostly drowned by all the rest that no one bothered to shut down, indicating that the next stage of the orbital drop just began...
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