Chapter Fourteen: Infiltration
Thankfully, as an artificial being made of solid light projected from a crystalline hard drive, Onyx didn't have to worry about getting infected when she got dirt in her wound. That didn't stop it from hurting, though. Despite this, she grit her teeth and carried on down the trench, knowing her pursuer couldn't be far behind.
Hearing the sounds of the battle going on just a short distance away, she momentarily chided herself for running away. She had half a mind to turn around and face the heavy trooper head-on, but had to remind herself that she was in no shape for a direct confrontation, what with missing an arm. As much as it went against her instincts, she'd have to fall back and regroup if she wanted to win this fight.
The front line seemed to have moved, as she didn't run into any other combatants, Gem or Talu, as she traveled the length of the trenches. Mostly relieved, though slightly disappointed, she began to slow down slightly as she felt she had put some distance between her and the other guy. She kept moving though, keeping an ear out for movement coming up behind her.
She tried to call for backup. "Commander, you there?" No answer. "Hello? Commander, do you read? I'm in a tough spot here, I could use some help." There was nothing but static from the other end. "Does anyone read? This is Onyx Facet LM96 Cut P7J requesting immediate assistance!" She grunted in frustration when nobody responded, continuing on. "Guess it's a solo mission, then."
Why exactly comms weren't working, she didn't know, but assumed it had something to do with the Talu. Though there was an upside to all this: her arm had begun to regenerate, already almost up to the elbow. Just a few more minutes, and she'd be able to turn the tables on the one chasing her. But for now, she had to keep pushing on.
As she came, the trenches had been getting deeper and deeper the further into enemy territory she traveled. Before long, she found herself ducking into some hastily-dug caves even farther beneath the battlefield. Once again, the reasons for them eluded her, but as they were seemingly empty, they were as good a spot as any to duck and cover for the time being. Though a bit small for her, they were just high enough to avoid being cramped.
"The void are these guys up to?" she muttered to herself, noticing a series of cables running down the length of the tunnel. She resisted the urge to sever one, lest it tip someone off to her location, or she interfere with something she didn't understand. She did make a mental note of where it was, just in case. Though this would soon prove unnecessary.
More of the cables arrived, snaking upward from all directions and congregating toward the tower. At least, she assumed it was to the tower, as that was where the sounds of war were coming from. Even though she was alone, she still had to complete her mission–and this was the best way to do it. She picked up her pace, jogging in the direction the cables ran.
The noises of fighting overhead grew louder, as did others. It almost sounded like heavy machinery, the kind that would be more suited for a factory rather than a battlefield. "Seriously, what are they up to?" Onyx hurried on, assuming that there was some secret just beyond her reach that this path would eventually lead her to. But when she rounded the corner, she found anything but.
The first thing she saw was the giant steel door blocking her path, noticeably more high-tech than the rest of the tunnels. The cables coalesced here, passing through its side to parts unknown. The second thing she saw, however, were the pair of automated turrets whirring to life once they detected movement.
"Shard!" She had just enough time to duck behind the corner as they opened fire, billowing up dirt as each charge of plasma crashed into the wall. They stopped firing after a while once she was out of sight, though their motion trackers remained vigilant. She peeked out, only to be met with another volley. "Just what I need right now!"
Much more carefully this time, she peered out again, this time not enough to draw their attention. If she wanted to infiltrate that tower, she'd have to get through that door. It was possible she could charge straight in, tanking the shots, but she didn't want to risk any more injuries than she had to. While she could probably make it through, she didn't know if what was on the other side was worse or not.
That thing wanted movement? Then she'd give it movement. Onyx summoned her hammer, which was an unwieldy endeavor with one hand. She balanced it on her other arm, which was almost at the wrist now. It took some effort, but she was able to activate its thruster, hurling it into the room.
The turrets took the bait, opening fire on the hammer as it careened into the other wall. Onyx leapt into action once they were distracted, curling up into a ball and rolling towards the door. She became wreathed in energy as she gained speed, but the turrets weren't exactly slow either.
Although they recognized her as the bigger threat, they only had time to get in a few shots that didn't even faze her before she crashed through the steel door and out of their range. She stood up, shaking herself off and spitting out bits of metal. "Heh! You call that a defense? There were more holes in that barricade than–"
Now finding herself within the facility, Onyx's troubles were not over as alarms began to sound. Armed Talu soldiers appeared from dozens of doors, racing towards the location of the breach.
"...Than I'm about to have!" Onyx shielded herself from their blasters as she retreated to a safe location. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be one, as she was surrounded on all sides. The only way past them was through them. She summoned her hammer: "Alright, let's try this again!"
She wasn't very experienced with swinging her hammer with only one hand, but if there was ever a time to learn, it was now. She first battered aside a group that got too close for comfort, before locating where their numbers were the thinnest. She leapt towards where that was, letting her hammer's afterburner carry her as it swung. She put her whole weight into the swing, hurrying through the resulting hole in the wall.
Still the alarms blared, and more and more soldiers were dispatched. "They really do not want me in here!" she said to herself, running through the halls and smashing any that blocked her path. But two things were on her mind: one, she couldn't run forever, and would have to stand and fight at some point. And two, with the sheer amount of manpower they possessed, she couldn't fight them forever, either. She was a heavy hitter, but even someone as durable as her would be worn out by a continual assault eventually.
Finding a place to hide didn't seem like an option for her, so she instead opted to just keep running for now. Although the sounds of battle had lessened, the sounds of machinery she had heard earlier were much more dominant, though still underneath the alarms. Reasoning that the source of these noises was something important to their campaign, she followed their source. This eventually led her to another steel door, which she broke through, though not quite as easily this time.
The room was presumably the center of the tower, as it was very tall and relatively narrow. In its center was a huge coil, rotating and crackling with energy as a multitude of pistons supplied it with power. She didn't have much time to contemplate the machine's core, as the room was also filled with Talu who were none too happy to see her.
Onyx leapt from the catwalk and into the lower levels to avoid a barrage of laser-fire headed her way. "Not good, not good, not good!" More troopers filed into the room, filling their comrades' blind spots. She wasn't very well-covered in here, so she'd have to get to somewhere safer. Fortunately, she once again had two hands. "Who wants a hammer in the face!?"
Leaping up to the next level, she easily flattened the soldier closest to her, weathering the others' shots before battering them aside with another swing. She turned, throwing her hammer at another group, only for it to be blown aside by an all-too-familiar ball of plasma. She looked to its source, and saw that the heavy assault trooper had finally caught up to her.
"Not you again!" she moaned, ducking to the side to avoid a follow-up shot. As she leapt further up the tower, the trooper followed, firing whenever there was a moment of stillness from either party. They weren't as fast as Onyx, but still managed to be close on her heels as they gave chase.
Onyx was held up when she ran into another group of soldiers. The heavy trooper took this moment to line up a shot, even though it would put their allies in the line of fire. Their weapon charged, ready to let loose, and…
The entire tower shook, causing everyone to stumble. Onyx nearly fell off the catwalk, and the heavy trooper's blaster misfired, sending a projectile careening into the wall. The resulting explosion opened up a hole big enough for Onyx to slip through.
Once she got her bearings, she gave the trooper a mocking wave before running off. "Thanks for the help, moron!" She darted through the hole, heading down another hallway that would hopefully lead her to the tower's control room.
The initial impact had been the most violent, but the tower itself still seemed to be moving. Onyx's initial thoughts were that her team had managed to topple it, or it had been destabilized by a freak earthquake. But despite the odd sense of movement, it didn't seem to be falling at all. Her initial mission was still on her mind; as she hurried along, she once again tried to contact her superiors.
"Commander, this is P7J. I've made it inside the enemy stronghold, I could use some assistance, or at least some directions!" Once again, there was no reply. "Well, fine, then, if you're not gonna help, I'll just do it myself!"
But after she had given up, there was a brief break in the static. It was a voice; her commander's voice. It was impossible to make out what she was saying, but she was definitely receiving her better.
She stopped moving to try and better collect the signal. "Hello? Hello, Commander, say again? I'm having a bit of trouble…" She trailed off mid-explanation, however, when something came into view. Her superior officer's unintelligible voice faded into the back of her mind as she beheld the reason for the quaking.
Through a window, she could see outside the tower. And not only was she higher up than her path here would have suggested, but the tower was slightly moving. She went closer, and looked down to discover that the entire structure had uprooted itself, and was drifting closer to the front lines. The tower was a massive ship of some kind.
"Uh, boss?" she said. "I'm gonna have to call you back."
Homeworld, Yellow Diamond's Palace.
To most other Gems, any war they happened to be involved in would take top priority. But to Yellow Diamond herself, who monitored every conflict the galaxy-spanning empire was involved in, a single war would barely register as a blip. Such it was with the Talutar conflict.
Seated upon her throne, the Diamond examined numerous holographic screens showing the progress of just as many colonies. It was from here that she directed their progress, not only ensuring their success but also preventing them from being claimed first by other races. They were not the only species in search of resources, a factor that often led to the aforementioned wars.
"My Diamond," said her Pearl, entering the room, "the reports from our campaign against the Talutar Liberation Movement have arrived. Shall I screen them first?"
Yellow Diamond moved the screens aside. "No need. This should only take a moment. Give me the run-down."
Pearl scanned through the reports to give her master the general gist of their progress. "Well, our forces prevented an assassination attempt on Imperator Moloq, the battle for control of the Tijeri Quasar was successful, and…" She looked closer at the report in confusion. "Hmm, that's odd. The TLM seemed to have deployed some manner of superweapon on Djeroh."
This intrigued Yellow. "What? Let me see." Pearl handed her the screen. Footage from the battle showed a tower uprooting itself from the ground, hovering above the field. "Have we determined its capabilities yet?"
"Not yet, My Diamond, but…there is talk of catastrophic storms in the region. Perhaps the two are related?"
On a whim, Yellow pulled up a record on Djeroh from ships orbiting the battle site. Mere hours ago, numerous storm clouds had begun converging on the tower's last known location, and looked to be growing worse by the moment. "Impossible. Not even the Talutar Imperium has climate-manipulation technology on this level. How would the TLM acquire something like this?"
"Shall we send reinforcements?" asked Pearl, preparing to do just that."
"Not yet," Yellow said, going back to her screens. "Djeroh isn't worth that many Gems. That said, this definitely warrants further investigation. Keep a close eye on this machine, and inform me if anything comes of it."
Pearl saluted. "Yes, My Diamond!" She walked away, leaving Yellow to ponder the nature of this contraption. She wasn't sure why, but something about it made her uneasy. She would have to send somebody to check on it once it was dealt with.