Chapter 28 Gluttony's Congregation
Sol System – Jupiter L5 Point – Sol Alliance Command Ship MCSN Hannible / April 12th, 2815 – 70th Year of the Sol-Laconia War
Space was fucking big. Even with fusion drives that fired towards their destination with a constant acceleration for half the journey, and the other half decelerating the other way around, it could still take months to cross a solar system.
Interstellar space was even larger. Even with faster than light technology, it could still take years to cross the hundreds of light years that humans now colonized. As such, even in the middle of a massive, interstellar war, it would sometimes be decades between enemy contact.
Which was fortunate, because Sol needed every second to prepare between Laconian incursions.
The image on the screen was grainy, being a combination of distant radar scans and infrared images taken from hundreds of millions of miles away from the object on the screen. Even as fuzzy as it was, there was nothing else in the universe that looked like it. A haunting, menacing shape looking like the unholy union of a cone snail and a lionfish, with it's five kilometer long, scaled body interrupted only by spine-like protrusions, with a large cluster of fusion drives shoved into it's ass as it entered a long burn to the closest planet it could find, Jupiter.
"SIGINT confirms contact as Magnetar Class Dreadnought LIN Whirlwind of Consequence." The Intelligence Officer reported. "They jumped into system approximately two AU from Jupiter. Estimated time to the Jupiter AO at five G is sixty-one hours."
At this point, The Admiral had taking on Laconian Dreadnaughts down to a science. An ugly, costly science where she would most assuredly be trading lives for victory.
Looking over a battlefield stretching nearly half a billion miles, The Admiral took stock of what units were available. Considering the importance of Jupiter and the many colonies, bases, and shipyards on it's moons, and the astounding size of it's Lagrange points, it was considered the first line of defense against Laconian ships equipped with advanced FTL jump drives.
The Whirlwind of Consequence had jumped into system pretty much between Jupiter and it's L5 point, where The Admiral was currently on the float, so she was limited to only using resources from L1, L2, L5, and from Jupiter itself.
"Order 12th and 15th, 17th, 22nd, and 14th Fleets from L1 and Jupiter to intercept. 16th and 25th Fleets from L2 will burn hard to catch up." The Admiral ordered.
"And us, Admiral?" The Navigation Officer questioned.
"Of course we are going." The Admiral smirked. "Have 4th and 6th Fleets follow us in. We'll be ramping up to a fifteen G burn, just to catch up."
"You heard The Admiral!" The Captain of their ship, the Martain built Scirocco Class Cruiser Hannibal, shouted. "All hands to crash couches!"
"This is the Admiral to 7th Fleet." The Admiral turned her attention to her own personal fleet. "We've identified a Laconian Dreadnought two AU from the Jupiter AO. We'll be under a fifteen G burn until we reach the flip point. Make sure your acceleration drug dispensers are full, this is going to be a long day."
At her command, ten fleets comprised of five hundred ships, just as many decoy ships, over forty-one thousand sailors and twenty-five thousand Marines, moved into attack formations, on course…
To attack just one ship of the Laconian Imperial Navy…
Rubicon III - Central Ice Fields – Arquebus Forward Operating Base / Sunday, Claudius 16th, 3175
The request came in very early in the morning. 621 found she was once again trapped with the arms of Uzi, V, and N holding onto her greedily, stealing her warmth or sharing their own.
She was starting to get used to this, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.
Investigate the Abandoned Ship – Arquebus / Reward 30,000 COAM
"Hey, morning buddy." Rusty announced in the message. "Sorry for the early wake up call, but I figured you'd want to get an early start to this mission. Like we discussed, the scouts found a Scirocco Class Cruiser buried in the ice. Though it's less than half the length of PCA suppression cruisers, it's a proper warship, and definitely able to punch well above it's weight. You and the Stray's will be going in with a platoon of Arquebus Special Forces, to secure the site and ascertain if the ship can be repaired and made ready for combat. Even if it can't, there might still be something valuable in there. Should be an easy job, and the scopes are clear of the PCA. Even so, stay safe, and good hunting Raven."
"I like Rusty." Ayre spoke up inside 621's mind. "I can tell that he's an honest man, and truthful in his intentions."
"…" Men like Rusty were truly a rarity now, 621 would admit. "Hey, wake up."
"Ahh…okay." N complained a little.
"Ugh." Uzi groaned. "Really?"
"Mmm…nope." V shook her head, and held 621 even tighter.
"…V?" 621 demanded.
"…" V pretended to breathe deeply, like she was fast asleep. That didn't even make sense, since she didn't have lungs.
"V!" 621 said much louder, pinching V's cheek.
"Eep!" V squeaked.
Investigate the Abandoned Ship – Arquebus / Central Ice Fields / Sunday, Claudius 16th, 3175
It was not a long ride, a helicopter taking 621, Stray Squad, and ten Arquebus Special Forces soldiers out from the FOB and towards the big hole in the ice the two Scavengers had crawled out of.
"Alright, listen up!" 621 shouted into the intercom, for both Stray Squad and the Arquebus troops, a unit apparently called Jeager Squad. "Scirocco Class Cruisers are multi-purpose ships. Just looking at the nose it's impossible to tell what configuration she's in, let alone her condition. Could be we're dealing with a troop ship loaded with boarding pods and transport skiffs, or it could be a communication ship with an expanded antenna array. Might be she's bone dry and stripped for parts, or we might find her missile bays full of high yield nukes. Most importantly, we can't tell if she's Alliance, or Laconian." She warned. "If she's Laconian, then we might find something best left in the dark, and we'll have to get the fuck out of there."
"…What's that supposed to mean?" Uzi questioned, confused.
"She's saying it might be best to fuck off and nuke the ship." Jeager Squad's Lead advised.
"And abandon the mission, sir?" One of Jeager Squad's younger members questioned. "Won't Arquebus be upset with us?"
"Listen kid, there's one law of Sol that nobody, not Rubiconian or Corporate will dare break." Jeager Lead explained. "'Don't fuck with Laconian tech!' That shit is bad, bad voodoo! If the Hound says run, we'll run! Copy!?"
"Sir yes sir!" Jeager Squad shouted back.
"…" Uzi, N, and V considered that warily. What was it about the world that created them, the technology that birthed them into existence, that Sol and the PCA, the Rubiconians and the Corporations, found so abhorrent?
"Saddle up gents!" The helicopter pilot announced. "We're touching down in one minute!"
The pilot circled the hole in the ice, giving the troops in the bay a good look at the objective. The nose of the ship wasn't perfectly flat, as it slowly tapered to an armored bow that likely concealed the forward sensor array. The bottom of the triangular nose was flat, and housed the main antenna array. The most notable feature of it's face was the five armored doors of it's forward missile tubes.
"Hello old girl…" 621 muttered to herself. "What's your name?"
The helicopter landed, and everyone quickly disembarked. They crouched down on the ice as the helicopter took off.
"I'll be back in six hours! Stay frosty!" The pilot announced as they left.
621 and Jeager Lead led their respective teams to the edge of the hole, staring down at the nose of the ship.
"There's the forward access hatch. My team can get down there and open the front door." 621 pointed down at a point below the missile tubes.
"Copy that." Jeager Lead nodded.
"And I'll take that generator you guys brought with you." 621 gestured to the barrel sized battery they had brought off the helo.
"…You sure you know what you're doing with that?" Jeager Lead asked skeptically.
"I know this class like the back of my hand. You want to get emergency power up so that we can actually conduct this little salvage mission? Then let me and my team take it down to engineering." 621 demanded. "Plus I've got a degree in fusion drive design, so I can look it over quick like. While we're at it, I'll cover the lower decks. You and your men can check the upper decks."
"Hey, you're the boss." Jeager Lead shrugged. "Alright men, move out!"
621 went over to address her team directly, while the Arquebus squad started setting up rope lines to get them down the hole. "Stray Squad."
"Yes ma'am?" Uzi, N, and V looked up at her confidently.
"We'll be taking point on this opp." 621 advised. "Just follow my lead. Stray One, Stray Two, carry Stray Three and myself down to the nose there. When you finish, come back and pick up that generator."
"Yes ma'am!" N and V nodded. N grabbed Uzi, and V got behind 621. They each extended their wings, and carried their flightless teammates down to the nose of the ship, near the overhead door. V had a brief moment, thinking about how much the Hound trusted them now, especially her, by literally putting her life in the hands of a Laconian built Drone. After dropping off 621 and Uzi, N and V then flew back up to haul down the generator.
"Okay…so do you want me to start cutting this door?" Uzi raised a cutting torch she had.
"No need. Here." 621 instead went to a panel beside the door and opened it up, revealing a wheel with a turn crank. "That will be the manual override to crank open this door. Get to it, Stray Three."
"Oh, neat." Uzi nodded, then got down to try and turn the wheel. Unfortunately, it was frozen shut, and wouldn't budge. "Uh…a little help here, Raven?"
"…Fine, move." 621 got down beside Uzi, and used her right hand to firmly grasp the crank, then with Uzi's help, she slowly got it going, getting the door to open.
"Eck, okay, we got this thing down here." V and N came up behind them, lugging the generator with them.
"Hey…isn't that the 'nuclear material' symbol?" Uzi pointed to the rather infamous yellow and triangular warning sign that was known by all of humanity for the past thousand years or more.
"It's just a radiological generator, Uzi." 621 assured her. "Just hot enough to run the emergency lights on this tub."
"Oh, well if you say so." Uzi shrugged.
"We ready to go exploring, Hound?" Jeager Lead and his team had made it down the hole in the ice, walking towards 621 and Stray Squad.
"Yep. We've got the outer airlock door open." 621 nodded. "Might be a few locked doors down there, but nothing we can't deal with. Let's get to it."
Uzi, N, and V actually found the corridors inside the ship were nearly identical to those of the LIN Odysseus, such was the consistency and optimization of Martian warship design. Straight, clean lines and highly organized panels, with bulkheads that were technically octagonal in shape if you counted the flat corners. Wide and comfortable enough that their whole team could walk side by side, whilst dragging the radiological generator.
The only difference was that these corridors were not being broken down for spare parts. Instead, there was sparce and sporadic battle damage inflicted by PDC rounds and railgun shells. Holes either as small as fists or as large as dinner plates, and the desperate attempts by a crew long disappeared to repair that damage, patching holes to keep their ship in one piece.
"Well, whoever's flag she flies, she's definitely seen some action." 621 was taking point with her shotgun out, but held it somewhat relaxed as she was mainly just using it for the flashlight attachment. V kept close to 621's side, one hand changed out for a flashlight, the other changed out for an MP5. N was helping Uzi carry the generator, one of his hands changed out for a flashlight as he covered the areas that his two teammates missed.
"Uh, hey?" Uzi wondered. "Why do you refer to ships as 'she?'"
"Mmm…" 621 hummed in thought. "I actually don't know the real reason, but I know that it is an artefact of ancient sailing, thousands of years ago on Earth, back when ships were nothing but wood and sail. Even though the times have changed, the sentiment has remained the same. Ships are more than just towers of steel on a fusion drive cone, or a pile of wood and cloth. Ships are homes, to be respected and cared for and relied upon."
"Huh…" Uzi nodded. She trailed one hand along the bulkhead, fingertips drinking in the little details of the paneling, as she imagined the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making a ship like this, keeping it running for so long, and taking it so far from Sol.
V was decently happy. Out on a mission, side by side with her master, and with N and Uzi nearby. She kept a steady and confident pace, scanning through the dark hallways.
N was just glad that combat was not an objective for this mission. Even through they weren't expected to fight, he still kept his eyes up, scanning through the ship. He didn't want to let his team down.
621's experience proved itself invaluable as she quickly led her team deep down to the reactor near the bottom of the ship. It was a wide room with a massive, spherical object connected with lots of power cables leading to an internal magnetic containment chamber, otherwise known as the "magnetic bottle", the ship's fusion reactor.
"Reactor looks intact, but we'll probably have to crawl inside there to make sure nothing got knocked loose." 621 muttered to herself. "And another day just test firing each component before we even think about bringing it up to full power. But that will be the job of some Arquebus egghead, we're just getting paid for the scout run."
"That's good to know." N commented. He and Uzi set down the radiological generator where 621 had pointed it to go. 621 very quickly got to work, opening up one of the junction boxes as she set to work getting emergency power back online.
"Hey, Hound." Jeager Lead called on the radio with a proud and confident bravado. This deep under the ice, and within the hull of the warship, the PCA jamming wasn't reaching them, allowing them to communicate across the three hundred or so meters from the nose of the ship to it's stern. "My boy's just popped open the forward missile bay. There's a full stack of Martian built, nuclear tipped torpedoes. Looks like this trip was worth it after all."
"Good for you…" 621 realized she'd be handing Arquebus a pretty powerful little arsenal. Even if they were hundreds of years old, those missiles were state-of-the-art ship killers, able to evade defense systems and strike with precision even from a million miles away, and armed with variable yield nuclear warheads to boot.
Maybe she should check the rear missile bay, just to be thorough.
"Stand by for emergency power." 621 announced back on the radio. She finished installing the generator into the emergency power. With a flick of a switch, red lights embedded in the deck lit up, allowing them to see the room a little better, and the areas they could walk.
"Nice work Hound." Jeager Lead called back. "We'll be making our way down to the bridge, maybe we'll find some answers there."
"You do that. I'm going to check the cargo bays and rear missile bay." 621 replied. She then turned to her team, and gestured for them to follow.
"Hmm, what's that?" Uzi noticed something a little odd. A folder labeled "MCSN Emergency Procedures" was glued to the wall with a black, putty-like material.
"Looks like battle damage." 621 explained. "Probably a railgun shell passed through there and the crew used whatever they could to patch the hole."
"Huh…" Uzi hummed as she ran a finger over the sealant. It was a smooth, bubbly surface that was still surprisingly intact even decades after it had been applied. "Whoa, this is some good quality stuff."
And that gave her an idea.
"Come on, let's go check the lower missile bay." 621 ordered, having Stray Squad follow her. However, as they walked through the corridors, Uzi kept her eyes open, and jumped for the first panel that she found that said "Emergency Breach Sealant."
Inside the panel, was an elaborate sealant application tool, which just looked like a black squirt gun. Uzi smiled when she found that, and made sure to keep that close as she caught up to the rest of her squad.
"Jeager Lead to Hound, we found the bridge." The radio called out.
"Copy that Jeager Lead. Did you find out this ship's name?" 621 requested.
"Stand by." Jeager Lead was looking around the bridge, trying to identify the ship. "Hound, be advised, ship is registered as…LIN…Caligula."
"…" 621 stopped dead in her tracks, right hand reaching for the hand cannon on her hip.
"Hound? C4-621?" Jeager Lead questioned at her silence.
"…Stand by." 621 hissed, as she pulled out her hand cannon. "Stray Squad!" 621 whispered harshly.
"Ma'am?" N wondered worriedly what had set the Hound off. "What's wrong?"
"Guns up! Stay quiet!" 621 whispered, baring her teeth hatefully. She then kept low as she moved quickly for the rear missile bay.
"Raven!?" V stayed low next to her, whispering back. "What's wrong!?"
"…Intel suggested the Caligula was being used to transport Laconian weapons of mass destruction." 621 explained quickly.
"What…kind of weapons?" Uzi whispered up at her, looking around worriedly.
"You'll know it when you see it." 621 ran as quietly as she could, and silently dropped down to the missile deck with Stray Squad close on her heels.
Instead of nuclear tipped missiles, the weapons in this bay were angular shaped "stealth pods", hollow structures pointed downward towards the rear missile tubes. There were several dozen of these modified stealth missiles, but most notably, three of the pods were open, and empty.
621 clutched her radio, her knuckle white with stress. "Abort. Abort. Abort." 621 announced sternly, her voice hard and clear, even as she spoke quickly. "Confirming presence of Laconian bioweapons on this ship. I say again. Abort. Abort. Abort."
"…" Jeager Lead did not respond.
"621 to Jeager Lead?!" 621 demanded harshly. "I say again! Abort! Abort! Abort!"
"Raven?" Uzi looked up at her fearfully. N and V also looked uncertain, looking around in confusion and stress. The fact that their master was distressed was making them very worried.
"We need to get the fuck out of here." 621 turned to Stray Squad. "Stay close to me, stay quiet, and do whatever I tell you. Copy!?"
"C-Copy!" Uzi, N, and V answered back quickly, hushed to quiet whisper.
621 led them back up the deck away from the missile bay, and immediately noticed a small problem.
"Tsk! V! You're too loud!" 621 pointed towards V's peg legs. As the only member of their squad without feet and boots, her steps were noticeable even when she was trying to remain quiet.
"S-Sorry…I-Ah!" V squeaked as 621 picked her up, holding her close with her left arm, to which V wrapped her arms around 621's neck to hold on. Whatever 621 was afraid of, it seemed she demanded silence. She emphasized this again as she made a "shhh" motion with the top of her gun pressed against her lips, as she tried to get her squad out silently.
621 led them up several decks as quickly as she dared, her squad close every step of the way.
"Raven…" V whispered into her ear. "I hear gunfire."
"Tsk…no no no no no…" 621 muttered quickly, as she slowed their approach. Pretty soon, she could also hear the sporadic and desperate gunfire, and how it was quickly going quiet.
Coming to the end of a hallway, the gunfire became clear and loud. Slowly backing up while firing a machinegun from the hip, Jeager lead was screaming, shaking his head in fear and horror.
Then something huge and dark moved past him incredibly quickly, and the gunfire ceased. Jeager Lead collapsed in a heap of himself with a sickening crunch. His decapitated head bounced off the bulkhead, and landed near Stay Squad's feet.
"…!" Stunned into silence, Stray Squad stared back down the dark hallway. Through barely perceivable shadows, something huge and hulking was just around the corner. It turned around.
"…!" 621 wasn't going to wait for that thing to find them. She silently yet urgently backtracked, pushing Uzi and N along while she carried V closely.
"Raven!" Uzi whispered up desperately. "What the hell are we running from!?"
"…A monster." 621 answered simply, eyes locked forward.
She led them back until they heard something moving around the corner in front of them. From the weight of it's footsteps, it was heavy.
"…!" 621 hissed, and quickly ushered Stray Squad into a small mess, a private kitchen for officers. "Hide!"
621 pulled V into a standing cupboard, but had to set her down so they could both stand side by side in the narrow closet. There was a grating that allowed them to look out into the room.
Uzi found a very small cupboard under the counter she could squeeze herself into. She had to lay sideways and pull her knees to her chest to fit however. There was just enough of a crack in the door to allow her to see out as well.
N could not find a spot large enough for himself to hide, and he was running out of time. He could hear the long strides of the so-called monster, closing in on the little kitchen. So he jumped up, and pushed himself against the corner of the ceiling, staying out of sight as best he could.
What then entered the room, was a human, in the loosest definition of the word. A being over nine feet tall, with stretched, taunt grey-black skin with a texture like dried leather, and not a single strand of hair. There were barnacle-like growths protruding from it's body, forming into glowing blue-green crystals. It was nude, but with genitals atrophied into non-existence. The bones and muscles of it's forearms were enlarged, tearing through it's stretched skin, and it's feet were elongated, allowing it to stand on it's toes like a feline. It's face was like that of an enraged and emaciated old man, with a mouth in an eternal grimace, and it's eyes glowed with ethereal blue-white light. It's hands were like claws, and they were stained in freshly spilled blood.
This "human" stomped slowly into the mess, sneering as it scanned it's eyes across the room. Every move it made sounded like muted wood snapping, and leather stretching and ripping. It hunched low, and it's claws flexed with strength that could rend steel apart.
Uzi, N, and V could only stare slack jawed at this unnatural and repulsive form that stalked them. They shuddered at each step it took, staring intently at each twitch it made. Fearing and questioning how such a monster could have come into existence, or how it was connected to Laconia.
Unfortunately, N was in the most precarious position out of all of them, and probably the most horrified to see something that so violently violated the purity of creation.
He flinched first.
At the slightest sound of his hand grazing against the bulkhead, the monster snapped to him, and silently snarled.
"N-No! No!" N screamed as the monster easily reached up, and snatched him off the ceiling. "Ah!" N shouted as he tried to fight back, deploying one gun and a set of claws, shooting the monster in the chest and scraping at it's arms. It did nothing to deter the monster from dragging him away. It carried him in it's grasp out of the little kitchen, quickly and violently.
"N-!" V shouted and jumped forward from the cupboard, but 621 wrapped her arms around V to stop her, and covered her mouth in one hand.
"Quiet! Quiet!" 621 demanded, as she wrestled V to the ground. V pushed 621's hands off her mouth and started arguing back.
"Let go of me!" V hissed back at 621, turning around to try and push herself out of 621's arms. "We need to save N!"
"He's gone." 621 sentenced coldly. "Once those things get their hands on you, it's over. There's no coming back."
"Guys…" Uzi had crawled out of her cupboard, staring down at V and 621 fighting. She wanted to save N too, but knew it would be pointless without both of their help.
"Y-You don't know that!" V argued back. "N could s-survive! Maybe he just needs to be put back together a little!"
"Guys." Uzi said a little more sternly.
"You don't think I would prefer that?!" 621 sneered shook her head. "But every time we fought those things, they'd tear my people apart, and there was never enough left worth saving!"
"N-No! No dammit! N!" V started to cry, and stopped fighting as 621 held her down.
"Guys!" Uzi jumped onto her master and friend, getting their attention. "Look at this damn you!"
Uzi pulled up the IFF information from N's control collar from her hand terminal. It showed that he was still very much alive, just a few decks above them.
"So…so N's still alive?!" V hugged Uzi. "So we can still save him!?"
"That…that doesn't make any fucking sense…" 621 sat back, getting off of V. She rubbed her face with her hands, squinting her eyes shut. "I…I don't understand…"
"Raven…?" Uzi looked down at her master worriedly. "What are those things?"
"Sins of Laconia Prime…" Ayre sung in the back of 621's head. "Flesh and innocence twisted beyond recognition…my god…" She gasped. "I can see why…you would never forgive them…damn the God Emperor…goddamn him to hell…"
"Those…things…are called Hybrids." 621 explained. "Humans augmented with Laconian technology to create super soldiers that destroy everything that moves, but with intelligence barely above that of an animal."
"So…how do we kill them?" V demanded.
621 sighed. "It's very, very hard to kill them. They heal from damage, just like you." She warned. "Their only weakness is at the top of the neck, at the base of the skull. But one round won't be enough to put them down, you will have to mag-dump into that spot multiple times to completely obliterate that point."
"But it is possible?" V clung to that hope, to that confidence.
"You listen to me." 621 grabbed V by her coat and held her close, as she hissed at the machine girl. "I've sent whole fireteams of power armor clad Marines after these things and couldn't find enough of my men after the fact to fill a bucket. Hybrids are fast, strong, and damn hard to kill. They break steel as easily as flesh, and keep going even after pumping several thousand rounds into them. The only way we will survive is by out-thinking them."
"So, what do we do, Raven?" Uzi questioned.
"You two will do exactly as I say." 621 demanded.
"Ahhhh!" N was still screaming, struggling in the grasp of the massive monster that had pinned his arms. He had even extended his wings, trying to get them lodged into the bulkhead to get a footing and get himself out of the grasp of the monster, but it's grip was way stronger than he was, and his wings dragged uselessly, scraping the bulkhead loudly.
He expected at any moment for the monster to tear him limb from limb, and probably about a hundred other horrible things. But for the moment he was still alive, so he savored that while he could.
He was brought into a larger mess room for the rest of the crew, and thrown into the remains of Jeager Squad.
"Oh god…oh god oh why oh god…" N shivered sickly as he ended up rolling in the eviscerated remains of several men who looked like they'd been put through a blender, a sickening sludge where flesh, bones, blood, and clothes all soaked-through together in an unrecognizable pile. Looking up, he could see three monsters standing over him, staring down at him with those enraged and emaciated faces and eerie, glowing white eyes.
The monster that had brought him into the mess held him down while the second monster grabbed his tail, and started tying him up with it, restricting his movements.
"G-Get off me! Stop it!" N struggled, but the monsters just snarled at him, and tightened their grip. The third monster had grabbed the severed arm of a man, and started scribbling on the wall in blood.
Then, while one monster held him down from behind, the one in front of him backed up, and did something very, very strange.
The massive, nine-foot-tall humanoid monster hunched down low, turning it's knees inward as it stood pigeon toed, and cocked it's head to the side. It's arms were held limply in front of it, dangling like they hung from puppet strings. It was like it was trying to look meek and cute, which just made the whole situation even weirder for him.
The monster scribing on the wall backed off, and revealed the message it had made in blood while the other monster tried to smile at him, black lips pulled back to reveal glowing blue teeth.
DID YOU MISS ME BIG BROTHER N?
"…?" N stared uncomfortably at the message, and the monsters leering over him. His head hurt, as he tried to remember where he had heard someone call him that before, and where he'd seen that sad and meek little stance.
Officer's Mess
"You want me to do what!?" Uzi shouted back at her.
"It's very simple." 621 assured her calmly. "Arm one of the nuclear warheads in the forward missile bay and set it for low-yield detonation, fifty kilotons should do."
"And why are we trying to blow up the ship while we are still on it?!" Uzi questioned harshly.
"Under no circumstance can the Hybrids be allowed to make it to Rubicon's surface." 621 warned. "I'm probably the only person left on this planet with the experience to fight them, and let me tell you that even with their limited intelligence, they are very good at evading detection, lingering for as long as they can and striking when least expected. A single, unaccounted for Hybrid can kill thousands of people before it's brought down, and there are dozens more in the rear missile bay that have yet to wake up. I'm writing this ship up as a total loss, that must be destroyed no matter the cost."
"Yeah, sure, just arm a nuclear bomb while we're all still trapped down here with it and the monsters. I'm loving this idea." Uzi shook her head, sneering.
"V, I need you to do something very specific." 621 described. "You're going to go back down to the reactor room and stab the radiological generator."
"Ehh? Uh…? Why?" V questioned the strange request.
"Hybrids are drawn to ionizing radiation, they'll feel it even through the ship." 621 explained. "That should hopefully draw the Hybrids off of N. Just uh…don't stick around too long, or you're getting another bath."
"Fine, got it." V agreed reluctantly.
"Just remember to not fight them if you can, setara mali." 621 warned. "They are stronger than you, and utterly ruthless. And if you do get into a fight, remember to dump everything you've got into their neck. As for me, I'll go in and try and save N from whatever monsters are left." She declared.
"H-Hold on…?" Uzi stuttered worriedly. "Didn't you say that 'whole fireteams of power armor clad Marines' were ripped apart by Hybrids? What are you going to do alone?"
"You let me worry about taking on the Hybrids. I haven't shown you all my tricks." 621 assured her. "Take this, métexeng mali." She handed her shotgun over to Uzi.
"Raven…are you sure?" Uzi looked up at her master nervously, as she held onto the shotgun.
"I'm sure. Besides, I've been meaning to break in this new hand-cannon anyway." 621 patted the holster on her hip. "Let's get to work."
Mess Hall
Of all the strange and fucked up things N thought he'd see on Rubicon, a macabre tea party was not on his list.
Wrapped up in his own tail, N had no control as the monsters had forced him to sit at one of the tables, and served him "tea" while one sat across from him.
There was no tea, so the monsters had to improvise.
What they had done was strip the flesh off several of the skulls of the men from Jeager Squad, and used them as tea cups that they then filled with blood and other viscera for the tea, after they had extracted the brains.
One of the monsters was still trying to appear "cute", as it hunched down low and stared at him with it's cocked head and lazily held arms. It held a human skull with it's pinky…claw…extended, like it was pretending to be fancy. It didn't drink it's "tea" though, just brought the "cup" up to it's lips and poured the contents on the ground.
The monster in front of him gestured to one of the skulls filled with blood, as if to offer.
"Uh…I'm good! Thanks for offering though!" N smiled awkwardly. He couldn't have accepted it even if he wanted to. "Just ah…not really my cup of-UGAUAAH!"
One of the other monsters grabbed him by the jaw and hooked it's fingers into his mouth, and pulled. N thought for a moment they were going to rip his jaw off, for how strongly they gripped him. Then the third monster grabbed the skull full of blood and poured it down his throat. Since he wasn't human, he couldn't close up his throat, and was thus forced to ingest the human remains and blood.
"UHG! ACK! Ahhuu!" N coughed and hacked, or at least went through the motions of it as he tried to spit the blood out of his mouth. He was released after a moment and winced as he spat down. "Eww! Gross! Why!?"
Yet for as disgusted as he was to be ingesting human blood and flesh, he could not deny that it had a…familiar quality. It was somehow not foreign to him, and he didn't know why.
"…" The monster in front of him was still trying to smile, but the muscles of it's face no longer allowed it to make such an expression, leaving it to sneer widely at him. It shuddered, as though it was laughing, and held it's head in it's hand like it was too heavy to lift on it's own.
"W-What do you want from me?!" N begged, confused and terrified and disgusted.
The "smiling" monster slowly lunged at him, and wrapped it's long arms around him in a tight hug. It was not too tight either, it seemed…genuine.
"…" For as scared as N was, he couldn't help but be a little sad for the monster, as it hugged him tenderly.
Forward Missile Bay
Having popped open the maintenance port of a Martian Nuclear Torpedo, Uzi carefully combed through the code in it's flight computer as she tried to bypass it's safety lockouts and set it on a timer for detonation.
After receiving a very brief but informative lecture from a former Admiral of Sol and Martian Engineering Chief, Uzi had a very good idea of what she was looking for. Still, she had to be careful, as fucking around with a nuclear weapon could have dire consequences.
At the very least, she'd never know if she made a mistake.
It was all a very complicated process, of disconnecting it's various flight instruments and targeting sensors, and focusing on the warhead itself. Warmed by it's own pit of Uranium-235, the bomb had more than enough energy left to operate, and Uzi had to make sure she didn't unintentionally activate any of it's secondary components. Or set it to maximum yield on accident.
The last step was to actually set the timer for the bomb to detonate after ten minutes. Uzi's finger hovered over the activation button precariously, as she counted down the seconds.
In order for everything to work, all three of them, Uzi, V, and 621, were going to do their part in roughly three minutes. V would set the dinner bell, 621 would save N, and Uzi would set the bomb.
After that, all hell would break loose.
Reactor Room
V's job was very simple, and probably the most dangerous. Stab an active radiological generator filled with Plutonium and spill enough alpha particles into the ship to hopefully distract the Hybrids long enough for 621 to save N.
Admittedly a less-than-ideal job of exposing herself to that much Plutonium, it was far more preferable than waiting around for the sunburn she'd be sure to get from the bomb Uzi was about to set.
But V was less worried about the radiation or the bomb. As far as she could tell, there was a better than average chance that she would end up encountering one or more of the monsters head on. And judging by 621's warning, they were even harder to kill than Disassembly Drones.
Still, V would not be deterred, as she stood over the radiological generator, ready to stab it.
"Don't let me down guys." V muttered as she counted down the seconds.
Near the Mess Hall
Staying close to the room where N was being held, 621 hid in a nearby corridor, counting down the time until V and Uzi started their parts of the plan.
Ideally, V would stab the generator, get the hell out of there, and then she, Uzi, and 621 would drag N off the ship while it exploded, and all the while the Hybrids would be distracted by "eating" the radiation (they no longer had functioning digestive systems so the only thing they could do was absorb radiation through their skin). Unfortunately, the Hybrids were behaving in a way that she had never seen before, so she had no idea what they would do.
And because of that, she knew that it would be impossible to avoid confrontation.
Against most threats, 621 knew she could hold her own, whether that was in an AC or on foot. Unfortunately, Hybrids were the third thing on her list of things she actually feared, given how dangerous they were. If she had a better plan or even V by her side, she bet she could probably take on at least one of the Hybrids. That didn't mean she didn't have a plan. She just hated what it involved.
Sitting down on her knees, 621 put her gun on the ground, and placed her hands on her knees, as she looked down shamefully.
"I need your help."
"…?" Ayre hummed in confusion. "Are…you talking to me, Raven?"
"No. Please be quiet Ayre."
"…Oh?" Ayre would have shrugged if she had a body, but she did as she was asked, and kept quiet.
"I need your help, dammit." 621 hissed under her breath. She sneered in expectation.
The thing with too many eyes in it's teeth leered over her, smiling down at her with infinite curiosity.
Well…Well…Well…what a surprise. It laughed at her. It's only when you need my help that you bother calling.
"…" 621 could only stare hatefully at the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth. She held her tongue though, and let it savor the moment.
And to think it was only so many centuries ago that you swore that you would never speak to me again. How…quickly…you changed your mind when you decided you needed me for something.
"…" 621 stared right back at the thing she hated most in the universe with equal parts rage and dread.
What do you want?
"…My team and I have been cornered by Hybrids, and I know that we cannot take them out on our own. I need your help to kill the Hybrids, and keep my team alive." 621 requested reluctantly but confidently.
The thing with too many eyes in it's teeth knelt down low beside her, and parted it's eye lined jaws. Even from who knew how many lightyears away, she could smell the putrid scent of death that lingered in it's breath.
You would have me defy my master, defy the decree of Sol, and help you destroy Laconian detritus, in order to save Laconian detritus?
"…I gave them my word that I would protect them-"
You gave your sacred word to defend Sol from all threats, and yet that seems to have been purely out of convenience, hasn't it? How quickly you have turned traitor to your homeland, and for what? Children of your hated enemy?
"…"
You gave your word to her too. But that didn't hold true either, did it?
"…" 621 wouldn't let the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth see her rage or anguish. It had no right to question her loyalty after everything she sacrificed for Sol, but neither would she argue the point when she was so desperate for it's help.
I'll tell you what you should do. Leave them all and detonate those bombs. Consign them all to oblivion, and fulfill your sacred duty to Sol, little bird.
"…I gave them my word." 621 reiterated sternly.
The thing with too many eyes in it's teeth considered her request, and smiled at her with terrible intentions.
One.
621 dared to look up at the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth, and the offer it made.
I will kill for you, exactly one Hybrid. But if I'm going to be your devil, then I will exact a cost for my services.
"What-"
You don't get to know what this deal will cost you, let alone when or where I will collect my payment. Know only that one day, I expect my payment in full, and I intend to collect. That is my only offer for you. Do you accept?
"…" 621 stared up defiantly at the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth, as she made her choice.
Mess Hall
N knew something must have happened when all three of the monsters flinched hard. Doubly so when his internal Geiger counter started ticking slightly quicker than normal.
While the monster that was hugging him settled behind him, holding him tightly, the other two monsters scrambled out of the room, going in different directions.
He could only hope his friends would be able to defeat these monsters and save him.
Reactor Room
"Time to go." V muttered to herself after stabbing the radiological generator, before breaking into a run, back towards the top of the ship. Under ideal conditions she could probably make it back in three minutes.
But these were less than ideal conditions.
"Shit." V cursed as she stared down a Hybrid, the massive humanoid monster staring right back at her. It twisted it's head as it snarled at her silently. V didn't wait to find out what it was going to do and immediately deployed her laser cannon to fire across the chest of the Hybrid, because that worked so well the last time she fought some horrible monster.
Unfortunately, the laser only cut about halfway through the monster, which recoiled in annoyance and seemed to snarl even harder at her while it roared in pain. The laser wound across it's chest healed, just like she would from wounds.
"Oh shit…" V grimaced as she realized she just pissed the Hybrid off even more. She turned around and went another way, trying to stay away from the monster. The Hybrid hunched down and started chasing her, it's heavy footsteps pounding in her wake.
Before she'd sent them off on their little mission, 621 made sure to give them the schematics of the ship class, so they wouldn't get lost. With her hand terminal open while she ran, V looked up where she might get past the Hybrid and to the deck above, and ran towards a ladder. She jumped halfway up the ladder, then turned around and deployed one of her MP5's, emptying the clip into the Hybrid as it rounded the corner.
She was thankful that 621 had gone through her code and allowed her to switch the ammunition her micro-fabricators could produce. She liked her standard 9mm Full Metal Jackets, but in this instance, Hollow Points were much more useful in slowing these things down.
Yet even with an entire magazine of bullets cutting into it, the Hybrid just staggered back and howled loudly. It held it's wounded chest while the bullet holes closed up and healed.
V took that opportunity to jump up the ladder, and continue running away.
Forward Missile Bay
"Oh boy…" Uzi stared wide eyed as the nuclear torpedo started counting down to detonation. Less than ten minutes before it got uncomfortably warm in there.
621 had told her that she didn't think the Hybrids would come looking for her. Even so, she should still get out of the ship, and standby the outer airlock door, to be ready to seal it closed.
So, for her part, Uzi just had to be quiet, and wait for her friends to get out alive. She didn't even have the option of trying to get out ahead of them, because without V and N, 621 and Uzi would never make it far enough away from the bomb to survive.
As she slowly walked back towards the exit of the ship, Uzi made especially sure to stay as quiet as she could. Not that it helped.
She was only about halfway to the exit when she heard the too heavy footfalls of something no longer human coming around the corner.
Uzi gasped worriedly and quickly scurried for the next corner of the corridor, hoping that the monster wouldn't find her. She then judged this to be a stupid idea, as it was clear based on the sound that the Hybrid was coming right towards her.
"Shit!" Uzi cursed as she booked it, running down the corridor with the monster hot on her heels. Unfortunately, unlike V, Uzi wasn't built for speed, and her short little legs could only get her so far. She didn't have to look back to know the Hybrid was making terribly long strides and loomed over her, seconds behind her.
Fortunately, Uzi was extremely creative and observant. She noticed an emergency shutter in the corridor, and reached out with her Solver, pulling it down almost on top of herself. She had to jump to clear it, but she'd managed to close it in time, and locked the monster on the other side of the shutter.
"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" Uzi hissed in exceptional disappointment. "I used a fucking door to stop it!? Oh…I really am my father's daughter."
Hey annoyance didn't last long, because the Hybrid punched the shutter, and dented it heavily. It punched it again, and Uzi realized the shutter would hold for less than a minute.
"Oh shit!" Uzi shouted, and started running away from the shutter as the Hybrid started breaking through, tearing the metal apart like wet tissue paper. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit!"
She really wished she had her railgun, but she hadn't had ammo for it for the last ten days since they'd fought the PCA at the Mine.
So now she had to come up with a plan to either evade or kill the Hybrid, before it came charging down the corridor and tore her limb from limb.
Mess Hall
N was surprised when he heard the steady and calm footfalls entering the room. He looked at his master hopefully. The monster holding him sneered hatefully as it held him close.
"Raven!" N cheered. "You…"
Something was wrong. 621 had a strange expression, a confident and relaxed smile he'd never seen on her before. She also walked with a different gait, hands held behind her back as she strode regally and elegantly into the room with a slow and steady pace. She seemed to sigh in excitement, eyes unblinking as they stared past him, at the monster hovering over him.
"Hello Cyn." 621 spoke in a tone so much unlike herself, confident but bored, amused and unintimidated. "You really do enjoy your little games, don't you? But I've already told you, there is nowhere in this universe where you can hide from me."
"…!" The Hybrid lacked vocal cords to communicate back to her with, but it seemed to respond poorly to the threat. It released it's hold on N and stood to it's full height, towering over 621 as it took long strides over to her, and reared back with it's claws spread.
In response, 621 did nothing. She just stared up at the snarling Hybrid with that amused expression, her hands still locked behind her back.
"Raven look out!" N screamed.
The Hybrid lunged down at 621, claws spread to tear her apart. 621 finally did something. She moved, swiftly and gracefully, and not breaking her stance as she easily dodged the attack. The monster lunged again with it's other arm, but 621 merely danced between it's strikes, staying close to it.
But the Hybrid was so much faster than her that it should have easily caught her and torn her apart, but it couldn't seem to lay a claw on her. N didn't understand, but the longer he stared at this fight, the more he became aware of something he couldn't comprehend.
621 was surviving not because she was fast enough to dodge it's attacks, but because she was dodging before the Hybrid attacked.
Enraged, the Hybrid reared back with both claws high, and tried to crush her. Only then did 621 finally attack.
Kicking the Hybrid in the knee, it stumbled, and had to steady itself to avoid falling over. With the monster staggered, 621 reared back with her right hand held flat like a blade, and thrust towards the chest of the monster. Her hand went through it's chest.
The Hybrid screamed out in pain and rage, and fell on it's back as 621 pulled her arm out of it's chest viciously, as she discarded it's black and blue heart. Still, even that hadn't killed the monster, as it writhed on the floor while the hole in it's chest healed.
"You don't seem to understand, Cyn." 621 seemed different again, as she stood with a sadistic and predatory gait over the monster, her fingers curling in excitement as she cocked her head. "This universe isn't yours to consume."
The Hybrid lunged up at her, trying to grab her and rip her apart. But 621 was ready for that, and stepped up and over the monster, allowing it to lunge up and past her. She then jumped up and stood on it's shoulders, and grabbed it by both arms, pulling them back.
It didn't seem possible, but as 621 snarled and smiled with the Hybrid's arms in her hands, she pulled, and used her whole body to rip the arms off the Hybrid. It screamed, and fell down as it lost it's balance with 621 standing on it's back.
No longer wasting time on the kill, 621 dropped the arms she had ripped off, and pulled her hand-cannon from it's holster. She set the barrel directly against the back of the Hybrid's neck, and fired a 14.9mm by 76mm round directly into it from point blank range.
That still didn't kill the Hybrid. It writhed and screamed and raged, but couldn't do anything as 621 kept firing. Two, three, four more times, and each thundering shot took another ounce of flesh, but still didn't put it down. Five, six, seven, and yet still the Hybrid screamed.
And 621 kept smiling with sadistic glee.
Eight, nine, ten. The whole damn mag to put the Hybrid down, and silence it for good.
"Ugh…" 621 hissed, and fell off the Hybrid, convulsing as she held her arms and curled into a ball on the ground. "Oww…ffffuck…"
"R-Raven…?" N questioned in shock.
"…Who the fuck is Cyn?" 621 asked herself. She sighed, annoyed. Slowly and painfully, she pulled herself up. She weakly regarded the hand-cannon, and the dead Hybrid. "At least that works."
"Raven?" N asked a little more confidently. This sounded a bit more like the 621 he knew.
"…" 621 regarded him slowly. She reloaded her hand-cannon.
"…!" Yep, definitely the 621 N knew. He shuddered slightly and gulped fearfully.
621 slowly and painfully shuffled towards him, and stared at him face to face.
"Listen to me very carefully N." 621 spoke sternly. "You helped me kill that Hybrid, as far as anyone is concerned. You grappled with it for just long enough for me to fire into it's neck with this cannon here."
"What? Raven, I don't-" N questioned.
"That's what happened here. Nothing else." 621 emphasized with a hiss.
"O-Okay Raven." N nodded nervously. Then 621 freed him from his own tail.
Which was perfect, because just as N was freed, V came running into the room, her eyes wide with worry.
"Oh good! You're okay N!" V cheered quickly. "Love to chat, but there is a monster about fifteen seconds behind me!"
"…Just one?" 621 questioned calmly.
"Y-Yeah?" V answered worriedly.
"Good enough." 621 liked her odds with both V and N. "Okay you two, this has to be fast. N, stop it but don't let it get a hold on you. V, you jump on it's back and unload everything you have into it's neck. I'll try and keep it staggered, but you each have no time."
"…What!?" V and N screamed at her.
"Times up." 621 shrugged as she grabbed her hand-cannon again, and raised it preemptively at the door leading out of the Mess Hall. A Hybrid came charging around the corner, it's focus locked onto V.
621 immediately fired off two rounds, the hand-cannon's heavy cartridges slamming into the side of the monster and sent it tumbling.
"Oh!" N rushed forward with his claws deployed, and grabbed the Hybrid by the wrists, keeping it locked in place. He then used his tail to start desperately stabbing the huge monster in the chest, trying to fill it with as much of his nanite acid as he could.
621 kept firing, keeping the Hybrid distracted and off balance with a steady stream of high caliber rounds.
V swooped in low and slid between the legs of the Hybrid, her sword arms deployed as she cut them through it's ankles. She was unable to cut all the way through the thick skin of the monster, but she did manage to damage the muscles, and forced it to it's knees. She then jumped up and stood behind the Hybrid, her MP5s deployed as she pressed the barrels against the back of the neck of the large monster.
V fired off all sixty rounds she had ready in those guns, tearing thick chunks off the back of the neck of the monster, but not killing it.
621 fired off the rest of her magazine into the Hybrid, causing it to writhe painfully. As she dropped the magazine and started loading another, the Hybrid slowly recovered, and shifted it's arms, causing N to loose his footing as the monster fought to break out of his grasp.
"Shit!" V quickly changed her guns back into hands, and grabbed the fully-automatic handgun off of her hip. She pressed 621's old gun against the neck of the Hybrid, and held down the trigger. The thirty, .45 caliber rounds did significantly more damage to the neck of the Hybrid. It turned to stare back at V scornfully, and then it died, falling against the floor.
"These things are hard to kill!" V complained. "Good to see you got one too, Raven. I knew you could."
"Uh I helped too!" N shouted slightly desperately.
"Heh, of course I haven't forgotten that you helped us N. You're always reliable." V nodded to him.
"…" 621 grunted as she regarded the two dead Hybrids by their feet. "We should go hurry up and find Uzi. There's still one more Hybrid loose down here."
Upper Decks
"Oh fuck!" Uzi shouted as she read the error message.
-/ERROR absoluteSolver_trn
[like object non-interactive]
She didn't know she could fail to use her Solver on objects. She also had no idea why the Solver considered the Hybrids as "like objects". In the short term however, that meant that she had just wasted a few precious seconds staring down the Hybrid as it broke through the shutter.
She still had 621's shotgun, so she tried using that. It was better than nothing, after all. One shot to the head and chest each did a lot of damage, blowing bits off the Hybrid. But all it seemed to do was piss the giant humanoid off as it's flesh and skin regrew, just like a Disassembly Drone.
"Oh bad bad bad idea!" Uzi panicked, as she realized how trapped she was. She scurried away from the Hybrid, still trying to think of a solution as the monster slowly tore through the shutter she had dropped earlier. "Okay okay okay, Raven said the neck is the weakspot! My Solver doesn't work on it! I'm trapped in a ship and the damn thing is strong enough to rip through military grade steel! So how can I…?!"
Uzi had a thought then. She couldn't stop and, and she couldn't overpower it, but maybe she could trap it, just for a little while, long enough to get the shotgun close to it's neck.
A bit further down the corridor, Uzi found another emergency shutter, and decided to stand under it, baiting the creature, while she loaded two rounds back into the shotgun to replace what she fired before. She had almost no time left however, as the monster broke through the first shutter, and started charging her down.
"Come on! Come on!" Uzi yelled out in challenge to the Hybrid, it's long strides quickly catching up to her, and it was already rearing back to tear her apart.
"Aaaaahhhh!" Uzi screamed back and used her Solver to summon a long rebar pole behind herself. She then threw said pole at the Hybrid's ankles, wide so she could hit both legs. She managed to hit it so hard in the legs that the Hybrid tripped, and started falling just short of her. As the monster fell on it's face, she reached up with her Solver and slammed the emergency shutter down on the Hybrid's back.
"…!" The Hybrid took great offence to this, and snarled up at her. It brought it's limbs back under itself, and started pushing up, fighting against Uzi's Solver to get free.
"Gaa!" Uzi struggled to hold the emergency shutter down on the Hybrid. Even using more energy to force the door down wasn't holding the Hybrid in place. If she was going to survive, she needed to be fast and precise.
"Damn you!" Uzi ran up to the side of the Hybrid, precariously close to it's arm. If it stopped fighting the shutter and just grabbed her, she'd be a goner. Holding onto the shotgun tightly, she aimed at it's neck from point black range, and fired.
The Hybrid screamed out in pain, and fell flat against the ground with the emergency shutter on it's back. Uzi got even closer, standing on it's arm as she aimed down and racked the shotgun, and fired again.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck you!" Uzi screamed, as she kept firing the shotgun at point blank range, tearing the Hybrid's neck apart in huge, bloody chunks, but never seeming to put it down.
"Just die already! Just fucking die!" Uzi shouted as the shotgun ran out. She grabbed the handgun hanging off her hip and fired until that was empty too. At some point during her rapid use of ammo, she had killed the Hybrid, but was just a little too stressed to realize it.
Eventually, holding the shutter down with her Solver exhausted her, and she let go, falling on her back as she did so. Her hands were shaking as she tried to relax, still not believing that anything so vicious and horrible could have existed.
Then the shutter slid up quickly, and Uzi gasped in surprise when three more beings stared down at her.
"Uzi!?" N and V shouted, leaping down to check on her.
"N! You're okay!" Uzi cheered, smiling weakly. "V! Did you guys get the other Hybrids?"
"Something like, yeah." V nodded. "How long till the bomb goes off, by the way?"
"Uh, less than four minutes." Uzi realized. "We should probably move."
"…" 621 stared between Uzi, and the dead Hybrid. Somehow, that short little Worker Drone had confronted a Laconian horror, and come out on top.
Huh.
"Right, let's get the hell out of here." 621 advised, as she led the way back. They didn't make it more than a few steps, before N and V stiffened fearfully.
The two Murder Drones turned around worriedly, looking behind them.
"Raven…" V alerted with wide eyes. "I hear…more Hybrids."
"A whole lot more." N emphasized quickly.
"…Shit." 621 hissed. She guessed that when V had stabbed the generator, it woke up all the Hybrids that had been in the rear missile bay, and now several dozen of the vaguely humanoid monsters were chasing them down. "Run!"
While N picked up Uzi, 621 grabbed V by the hand, and they all ran for the forward airlock on the ship, climbing to the top deck. Both N and V were very quick, and got both Uzi and 621 out of the ship and back onto it's bow.
"Wait!" 621 demanded, as she crouched down near the manual crank for the airlock door. "We can't let any of them escape!"
"Here! Let me!" N shoved his way past her, and used all his strength to force the door closed, significantly faster than they had opened the door the first time. Before the door closed, 621 took off her grenade bandolier, took off one grenade, and threw the rest back into the ship just as N closed the door. They could see dozens of bright eyes staring back at them. There was a muted explosion as the door closed.
"That won't slow them down for long, but this might help a little." 621 used her remaining grenade and stuck it to the airlock crank on thermite mode, melting it's mechanisms. "Time?"
"Two minutes!" Uzi warned.
"N, take Uzi and fly as fast you can South, stay low!" 621 ordered.
"You got it!" N agreed. He quickly scooped Uzi up and deployed his wings, rocketing out of the hole in the ice and away from the ship. Uzi squeaked loudly in surprise.
"How far can you get us in two minutes, setara?" 621 questioned V.
"…Let's find out." V quickly wrapped her arms around 621, and spread her wings wide.
"…!" 621 was surprised at how quickly V could fly, even carrying her around as dead weight, she quickly ascended the hole in the ice, and followed N to the south. She was so fast, she actually caught up to N and Uzi.
Which was fortunate, because not long after, there was a thundering boom, as white plumes of ice and fire exploded in their wake. It churned up the air so badly that it knocked N and V from the sky.
Fortunately, N and V were flying low enough that they and their passengers were able to roll away to safety. Once again, they'd all gone into hell, and crawled out of it.
"Whoa…that was insane." N sighed, finally relaxing after a frightful number of minutes.
"I'll say." V agreed. "Raven, can we like…get a job that doesn't have us fighting monsters beyond our comprehension? Twice in one week is too much."
"…" 621 sat quietly on the ice. She stared at the growing white mushroom cloud in their wake with silent unease.
"Woho!" Uzi cheered. "Oh that was crazy! But at least we killed all those Hybrids! Those stupid things got nothing on-"
"You shut your fucking mouth!" 621 lunged at Uzi, grabbing her by the jacket and roughly shaking her. "You don't know what the fuck you are talking about!" The Hound snarled at the little machine girl, baring her teeth.
"Wha-! Raven!" V shouted fearfully.
"Uzi!" N panicked as well. He and V each grabbed Uzi and 621, pulling them away from each other.
"H-Huh!? W-What?" Uzi cowered, frightened by 621's outburst. "I…I'm sorry Raven…did I do something wrong?"
"Raven!" Ayre shouted from inside 621's mind. "She didn't mean it. She didn't know…"
"…" 621 fumed and frowned and shook with rage, but she knew that Ayre was right. "Those…things…the Hybrids…were not willing soldiers of Laconia. They were kidnapped Belter children, twisted beyond recognition by Laconian technology."
"…" N and V were quiet, terrified that those massive humanoid monsters were once small human children.
"Raven…" Uzi frowned. "I'm…I'm sorry…I didn't…I didn't know…"
All her pride and accomplishment had left her in that moment. The knowledge and horror of that statement. And a small part of the answer to why 621 hated Laconia so…so much.
Uzi was surprised when 621 dragged her down to the ice, and held her close. A hug that said in less words, that while 621 was pissed, she wasn't pissed at Uzi, and was just in pain.
"I'm sorry." 621 uttered quietly, but not to Uzi. "I'm sorry Katoa…I'm sorry Mei…"
Arquebus Forward Operating Base / Two Hours Later
Stray Squad had sat back while 621 gave a complete report to Rusty, letting him know that everything had gone wrong.
"Hybrids, huh?" Rusty frowned. "Yeah, nasty business. We're just lucky to have you and your team back then, Raven. I'll be sure to let everyone know about that little fiasco."
"Hmm." 621 hummed. "How did your mission go?"
"Oh, pretty good." Rusty shrugged. "Managed to knock out the main PCA jammer for this continent, so you'll actually be able to contact your Handler in real time."
"Ah. Thanks." 621 nodded appreciatively. "So, work tomorrow?"
"Yep." Rusty nodded. "An AC mission this time, aimed at slowly crimpling the PCA's ability to conduct war planeside. Just a little something to get you and the Strays back in this war."
"…" Uzi, N, and V considered how strange it was that they would be more comfortable going to war, than dealing with the events of the last several days.
"Sounds good." 621 nodded. "You get my request for new parts?"
"Sure did." Rusty nodded. "Had my techs rearming your AC while you were out. You'll be all good to go tomorrow. Now go on, get some rest, I've got some reports to write for Arquebus and the PCA."
"…What?" Uzi questioned. "Why are you sending information to the PCA?"
"Oh, well, because you guys destroyed Laconian Hybrids." Rust explained casually. "Even in the middle of this war, the PCA has a neutrality agreement with all the fractions of Rubicon, on the condition to destroy certain Laconian artefacts on sight. Fortunately for you guys, you seem to have been made from different, non-anomalous materials, so even though the PCA wants to kill you, most Rubiconians don't really care enough."
"Oh…yeah! We're totally nothing like those Hybrids!" Uzi, N, and V smiled uncomfortably, hoping nobody realized that the Hybrids had the same healing function as Disassembly Drones.
And whatever the hell was wrong with Uzi.
"Don't worry though, I'll be sure to omit you guys from the report. As much as you could use the notoriety, I think discretion will be safer for you, especially with regard to the PCA." Rusty assured them.
"Thank you." 621 spoke up, nodding to Rusty.
"Sure thing Raven." Rusty backed up, getting ready to go fill out some reports. "Maybe we'll go get another drink so-"
One of Arquebus's debt slaves, a man wearing a red Coral Control Collar, shoulder checked Rusty hard enough to half spin the man.
"Watch your eyes." The man hissed. He raised his right hand in a salute-like gesture to his eyebrow, thumb and index fingers pressed together, then pushed it up with an open hand, as if waving dismissively. "Welwala."
"…" Rusty sighed, and clicked his tongue, avoiding looking at the man as he walked away. He hesitantly looked over to 621.
"…" 621 blinked, and frowned. She slipped past Rusty, but not before squeezing his shoulder, and then walked away.
"…Rusty?" Uzi asked innocently and worriedly. "What does 'welwala' mean?"
621 had never actually told them what it meant after she had referred to Khan as such.
Rusty half smiled; half frowned. He pat Uzi on the head, running his fingers through her purple locks. "'Traitor' to my people."
He turned and walked away slowly, hands held behind his back.
"…" Uzi, N, and V were silent, as they watched 621 and Rusty walk away to different ends of the base. Then Uzi remembered something.
"Oh! Uh! N, would you mind going back with Raven? I needed to speak to V for a bit." Uzi requested.
"Huh? Oh, sure. I'll see you back at Raven's quarters." N waved as he followed his master.
"Uzi? What's up?" V wondered.
"Here, come on." Uzi grabbed V by the hand, pulling her towards the hangar area.
"…!?" V was a bit taken aback by Uzi's determination and demand, and followed along curiously, her arm outstretched as the little Worker eagerly pulled her along. Uzi ended up pulling them behind 621's AC, the hangar area currently clear of any other personnel, meaning they pretty much had the room all to themselves. "Uzi?"
"When we were in the ship, I noticed the really high-quality sealant that they used for patching holes." Uzi explained as she took out the Martian built sealant gun she'd taken from the ship, the only notable piece of salvage from their whole expedition. "And I was kinda like…thinking we could use it to fix the scar on your back? Not that I was thinking of you or anything! But, like, that's something we should take care of, right?"
"Uzi, you…?" V was speechless. "You got a thing to help me?"
"Yeah! Of course! Because we're like teammates and uh…friends I guess." Uzi shrugged.
"Yeah…friends…" V smiled softly. "Funny how that ended up happening…"
"Well uh! Take off your coat and stuff, let me get back there!" Uzi demanded as she grabbed a couple of tools to help her.
"Oh…s-sure…yeah!" V agreed, and sat down low enough that Uzi could reach her back, and took off her coat and jacket.
"Oh wow…" Uzi remarked as she looked over V's long scar. "We couldn't have picked a better time, these old spot welds are about to pop out. It might hurt a bit, but I need to get these out before we can fix it."
"Sure." V nodded. "I…I trust you, Uzi."
Uzi got right to work, and knocked out the spot welds with a hammer and a screw driver, making sure not to jam anything too deeply into V's scar. V hissed quietly, but otherwise kept from complaining.
"Okay, now I'm going to use the sealant. I have to be quick though to clean up any excess right afterwards, so that it can harden flush with your shell." Uzi explained quickly.
"Cool, go for it." V nodded, staying still as Uzi went to work. The little Worker Drone used the sealant gun to fill out the scar, filling it with a fast hardening, military grade metallic putty. It seeped deep into the wound, and Uzi had to follow it up with a scraper to remove the excess material. However, as a result of her precision and controlled haste, she'd gotten the sealant completely into the scar, and left it flush with the gentle curve of V's shell.
"Ohh, that feels weird." V complained slightly as the material bonded to her shell. "H-hey! Hahaha!" V giggled a bit as Uzi ran her fingers along the scar, testing how flat it was. "That tickles!"
"Ah, sorry!" Uzi pulled her hands back. "But it looks really good V! The scar is still kinda obvious, but the sealant should bind to your shell and hold it secure. How does it feel?"
V got up and flexed her arms and her wings, pulling them through all the motions. "It feels great! Thank you Uzi!" The taller android girl cheerfully picked Uzi up, and held her close.
"Eep!" Uzi squeaked from being picked up. But, she smiled, seeing how happy and relieved V was that her scar was mostly taken care of. Plus, she kinda liked it when her bigger friends picked her up to hug her.
And she liked being V's friend.
"No problem, V. Glad I could help." Uzi smiled as she hugged V back.
Author's Note: So if you're wondering wtf just happened, basically I took the Hybrids from The Expanse, and made them puppets of Cyn. Cause I thought she didn't have enough horrors beyond comprehension at her command.
Otherwise, just another fun little chapter of me terrorizing and traumatizing our favorite and cute little Drones. And NOTHING else happened in this chapter worth discussing. Nope.
So glad I was in a position to upload today, on the 1 year anniversary of me uploading this story, and just a few days after the 3 year anniversary of Murder Drones's first episode. Neat! This story has been a lot of fun, and I can't wait to show you what comes next, for the next two or three years.
So stay tuned mi beratnas, and remember, abide with Rubicon!
To ChimaTigon: *thumbs up*
To magenta skelter: I can tell you that it 621's canonical cousin in this story is no one you would expect. I am actually still debating if the theoretical person you are describing actually exist. We'll see.
To undead3: All I can say is I am having a lot of fun with all the characters, Lizzy and J and Doll and Tessa included. Cyn is going to a special fun little thing when I get around to writing more about her. And I also have a cool and interesting cosmic horror origin explanation for the Absolute Solver when the time to actually explain it comes...probably in the fourth or fifth act.
To Marlanox: If I knew anything about it, maybe. But it doesn't even have a release date at the time of this writing, and I don't know anything about it's lore, so don't hold out hope. Sorry.