Spring Changes, page 14
I was going to click the Y. Something tugged at my mind. The connection was very weak. So with a thought, I strengthened it. The voice came through to all of us then, and instantly I felt panic. “Kyle, there’s trouble.”
“Yun?” I asked. “What? Where?”
“It is I. I feel you really well. I do not understand.” He seemed to observe everything around us. “Don’t panic, we have time. I need to talk though as soon as you’re free.”
Kyle, we need to merge! Tyto shouted at me.
“Of course. I really need to do this. We’ll talk later today.” The connection shimmered, and then he was gone.
“Sorry,” I said to my team. Out there, all the others were connected. We were last. And I could almost hear the laughter from Edward. “Just a dramatic pause.” I laughed at them. “For effect.”
Bringing up my system and making sure the remote still shone green, I called forth everything I had. The energy sparked around me; lightning split the skies above us and drew all their eyes.
“Merge!” I called and hit that Y.
Everyone knew their place, their respected slots. It was fantastic to see. They had perfect control, and the commentary from the others in the general channels blazed across my field of vision.
I went to make the last two connections and felt my team’s nerves. My remote-mech easily jumped, though, and then sat in place waiting for me.
This time when I jumped up to hit that top spot, to command the full merge, it felt so different. So much better. Connecting the energy that flowed through me, through all of us, in one thought.
The minds from all of my team merged, fluctuated around me. I heard them all clearly, felt them all. Their whoop-whoops, just pure joy.
Up here, I towered above the field. So much more to see. The skies stretched on, and I thought to the distance base ahead of us. Easy to see.
“Correct,” Frenk said. “There are many, as you know.”
“It’s amazing,” I said. “Everyone okay?”
“Yes, sir!” came their chorus and their excitement.
We had done it. I knew we could.
“Now.” I looked out towards Edward and his mega. “Now, we’re going to kick his ass for real.”
Once we were settled and the feeling around us moved a little from euphoric to okay, I moved. My feet stomped the ground; our combined weight and capabilities were just as phenomenal.
I had no words to describe what I was feeling. The control . . . my team. All twenty-eight minds were laid bare for me, their wrongdoings, their pain, their innocence.
“You amaze me, all of you,” I said. “Thank you.”
The merge flickered around me, and I looked out at General Veti, her mech now so much smaller. “Well done, Kyle.”
“Your next test?” I asked.
“The test is over. You’re joining the front line,” she said it really matter-of-factly.
“What, right now?” Edward asked. Even I heard his voice crack.
“There’s a breach,” she said. “You’re needed to fight.”
She turned away, looking up to the sky. I followed her line of sight. Saw the ship coming in. Then felt it. The ship touched the ground with a thud.
“What are you waiting for?” she ordered. “Move out!”
The other mega teams didn’t hesitate.
Holy crap, Hiroto said. You think we can join the front line?
Yes. We don’t have a choice.
I ran for the drop ship. The resounding nerves from all the other leads came through, and there were direct knocks to my comms.
“Kyle, we don’t want him to lead us,” Tyto said.
“I don’t trust Edward. Whatever you do, we’ll follow you,” came from Los too.
This wasn’t just about me though, and it wasn’t just about how they thought of Edward. He’d more training. More experience.
“Guys,” I said to my team, calming their thoughts instantly. “Trust me. We’ve got this.”
I hopped up and into a space on the drop ship, the massive beast that it was, moving off soon as our mega-mech clicked and held in place.
I noted the mega leads; Edward had the best with him. It left their second in commands in charge. Arturuo, Bret, Isaiah, Bea, and Jose. Great people. I’d gotten to know some of them, not as much as I’d have liked. But here we were.
General Veti connected with us a moment later, her face stoic, real. Xirob appeared next to her.
“Team Seven,” Xirob said. “You’ve been called in to assist on the front line. Sector Ten’s getting the brunt of incoming fire. You’re to support and work with the mega-lead out there. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied, knowing the others had just done that.
Edward’s was harder to hear than anyone else. But he was there. I glanced down the line, noting his position.
Turning internally to my team, I spoke. “We’re heading deep,” I said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Sector Ten. The teams out there are the best. We are the best.”
On the inside, their thoughts and what they were all wanting right now filled me. If they could give anything else to me, with their experience, they had the opportunity to talk.
The drop ship shook, the ride bumpy.
There were lots of other things I related through to them. Mostly my stat sheet. And my flow of kenosi.
As the line came into view, an internal knock came from Edward. “Commander Matiarc leads this section. We are supporting her megas. That means you take her orders and mine.”
It was the way he said “mine” that ran shivers through us. I didn’t know if I could do it, if any of the others could. I answered with a stern “Yes, sir.”
“Drop ship entering rift lines.” A calm voice came through. “ETA to drop zone: two minutes. We will hover. You will disconnect and drop.”
The view of the rift came in on my side. The grey, wispy effects it had on space around it and the ground that the megas fought on. I had seen it, but I hadn’t seen into it before. This, now, looking into it frightened me. The sheer size, the weaponry being used. I flexed my kenosi, seeing and feeling what I had on stock.
We have full contingent of weaponry and energy for lasers, Xe said. We’re okay, Kyle.
It didn’t look okay. Monstrous tentacles held the rift open, while other creatures held their ground firing. Missile blasts struck the shields of those on that line, and I flinched with each one.
Our megas held their ground, full-on firing into the depths of the rift. Their explosions were unseen but felt by every single one of us as the ship shook with the blasts.
I swallowed.
“One minute till drop.”
A timer popped onto my screen. Then counted down.
The ship dove, and my stomach lurched with it. Shielding expanded around us as it opened fire. It stopped, hovering slightly above the ground. Well, at least what looked like ground. We could disembark. The others didn’t hesitate.
I unhooked and jumped. The ground squelched beneath my feet.
“Target and fire anything you see coming out the rift, we’re due a changeover!” The order came through, and I had no idea who it was even from. Dame?
Another drop ship was inbound, though a fair distance away.
I moved into position and waited till I had something to target. The longest, thickest, snake-like thing tried its best to emerge from the rift. I shivered. Not a snake, I liked snakes. Tentacles. I hated them.
Without a thought, I opened missile fire.
The more I watched the monster, the larger it grew. Easily three times the height of our mechs and as wide as half the opening I could see. What the hell was it?
Laser fire ripped through the creature’s tentacle, slicing deep and blood spurting forwards. It didn’t stop though, then there were missiles incoming. The shields from the drop ships managed to take the brunt of the enemy fire as they crossed over, but one got through. It struck the mega in the arm, ripping it right off.
Fuck! Those people. Were they dead? I didn’t have time to think. That mega took another one and was going down.
Without thinking, I ran for the gap, inserting myself in the path. The injured mega had disengaged.
“Alice, get your team on that drop ship!” a familiar voice said. It was Dame; now I recognised it.
“Covering!” I called. “Dame, we got them.”
“Kyle?” she asked.
“Reporting for duty, ma’am.”
“Then hold that line!”
14
“Will do.”
Her attention moved back to ordering the others around, making sure her teams and the swap all went to plan. Most didn’t seem to know what to do, or where to go. Edward and his mega were just standing there. I couldn’t do anything else, but our mega team wasn’t being watched properly. Stupid fucker, I said.
Hiroto, can you direct the others?
Totally, but it can’t come from me. It has to come from your mouth. I can see where they need to be from the drop ship. You send them?
Let me know.
While I listened to Hiroto and fired on the rift. The second drop ship landed, and the merged mechs around us moved out. I relayed orders to the other four megas in my group, hoping Edward would take over at any moment. He didn’t. At least he’d moved and was firing from the easiest position he could. The missile fire from him along with the others finally made a dent at least. With every hit, the floor shook beneath me, time and again. We were almost through cutting the tentacle in half. Enemy incoming fire to us had also ramped up. The other mega-merge team had really weakened this position while they swapped over.
Through the drop ship and Hiroto, I could see we were going down. The drop ship wasn’t going to leave us, and they needed to—they had injured.
Reaching out, I connected directly with the pilot of the ship. “Get the fuck out of here, now.”
His shock was evident as his voice cracked. “The line?”
“Get those injured out of here!” I ordered. “We’ll deal with the line.”
The thrusters sparked, and the shield it shoved in our direction faded with it. We were going to have to rely on getting out of the way, and retaliate.
The tentacle, though almost cut in half, moved. It swiped at Bret, their mega jumping high into the air.
The line’s soldiers were compact on one side, but they were holding okay. Here where we were, it became hit and miss. We needed backup. Edward and some of ours could move.
“Command,” I comm’d through. “We need support.”
“Kerns, move!” Dame’s order was clear.
Edward didn’t move. It was outright insubordination. I couldn’t quite believe it. One of the others did though. Arturuo stepped in beside me with a nod.
I connected directly to him. “Together,” I said. “All lasers on my mark.”
The energy in his flared, and I focussed my targeting beam.
Finally under both our fire, it buckled under the strain and fell off with a sickening thud. From inside the rift came a deafening screech. Whatever creature that had been attached to that tentacle did not like losing a limb.
From my position, something moved within the rift. I kept the fire going; so did Arturuo. The gigantic head of some massive creature poked out, followed by two other tentacles. The tentacles gripped wildly onto the side of the rift. The beast tried its damned best to get its head into our space.
No way! I said. I looked at Arturuo and then to Bret. I had no idea what the hell I could do; we were giving it everything. The missiles were landing and doing nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“Edward,” Arturuo shouted. “We need backup. Now!”
Holy fuck, I want to kill that guy, like right now! Tyto said on the inside.
My thoughts mirrored his, but the other team members in there didn’t deserve hearing them.
Remote? Can we—
Already tried. Doesn’t work, or I’d have mentioned it earlier.
I didn’t have the energy to control everything that was going on here and reach out to his mega. That would be suicide for all of us, if Hiroto couldn’t do it. It was off the cards.
One of the other tentacles lunged forward, assisted with backup missile and laser fire. On the lower end of the rift, there were what looked like mechs, not quite the same mech or even mega-merged mechs like we had here, but they were there. Are you recording all of this?
Always, Hiroto said.
I connected with Bret. “You trust me, right?”
“What do you need?” he countered.
“Disengage the merge. You’re going to the front of the rift to engage directly with their mechs. You can push them back.”
They never even hesitated; their mega fell apart, and they ran for the rift, engaging as I’d asked. Arturuo stood beside me, then someone else joined him.
“Jose?” Arturuo asked.
“Fuck yeah,” she said. “Think I’m missing this party! What do you need, Kyle?”
I grinned on the inside. I had half the team over on my side of the rift, the others were fine. I hoped to high hell we were too.
“We need to stop it getting out till reinforcements are here.”
“Done.” Jose levelled her laser on the creature’s eye. “Let’s blind the fucker!”
Arturuo swung his lasers in the same direction, and I targeted the other. It was only a moment later when I saw one other site lining up. I glanced right to see Isaiah.
Opening fire from all of us, we hit it in the face, and it wailed. Hearing is off, Xe reported in. That was an ouch!
Bret’s megas were fully engaged in hand-to-hand combat, and they were doing well. The mechs from the other side were no match for melee weapons, and I had seen that. They were literally kicking ass. It was amazing.
“Incoming megas, Sector Seven. One minute out.”
They were here. We’d be okay. I’d be okay.
This time I pulled out the big guns. I had no idea how big it would be now. How much energy would it use?
Particle Projectile Cannon
Uses energy directly from kenosi reserves.
Can store within battery compartments to aid when needed.
Special attributes – when inside a mech it will enlarge to the size needed by its soul-bonded owner.
Equip?
Y/N
I clicked yes. The mega-merge shifted, metals being pulled from all around me, the weapon forming on my shoulder. It matched our size.
“Holy shit!” Arturuo said.
“Fire it!” Jose yelled.
The four of us opened fire, hitting the beast at the same time. The creature writhed in and out in sheer agony. It hadn’t been expecting this kind of assault. It hadn’t expected the ground assault either . . . the tentacles pulled back. Then an assault of missiles spewed forth, not just on our side, but the full length of our sector.
I heard Dame’s “Holy fuck.”
Bea slid in beside Isaiah, locking all she could on the foul creature before us.
There was nothing any one of us could do.
Nothing at all.
Those missiles would strike. All of us.
I dropped my laser in reaction, throwing up a kenosi shield. My kenosi energy dropped, and my mega-merge struggled.
“BRACE!” Dame shouted.
Waves of panic flooded through me. “You will hold!” I screamed at my team. “Drop and shield on my mark!”
I waited, the missiles just too far, then shouted. “Mark!”
Everyone on our line dropped to their knees, adding their energy to a joint shield. So did I. There was no way this wouldn’t hurt.
Those megas on our second line and the incoming drop ship let loose with their missiles, then forced as much kenosi our way to help. They couldn’t shield the whole area.
This was on me.
They had one chance to survive. I had to provide a shield before the shield. I had to stop it.
The volley rushed forwards to strike the enemy at full force.
The missiles exploded on my shielding, forcing me backwards. I pushed my weight forward to counter it. The ground shook violently underneath us.
Fire spread above me. My shield went down.
The wave of fire hit the second shield, assaulting my nostrils with the acrid scent of burning O2. My kenosi was almost depleted, yet I forced myself to focus and help them with their shield. It held. Not one single missile got through. Each explosion stung; I felt them, on a fundamental level.
Red lights flashed all around my HUD.
MEGA-MERGE FAILURE IMMINENT
JOINT STATS FAILURE IMMINENT
That’s why we’re so weak.
The stat screen flickered before me. My numbers dropped. Shit. This wasn’t good.
Hiroto?
Hold on, Kyle.
I struggled to focus. Other voices and orders came in. I couldn’t obey.
I’ve got this. Hiroto took the comms for me.
I fought with everything I was to save face, and keep the mega-merge together.
Pain ripped out from my core, then I felt kenosi coming from the others, my team.
Take it, Tyto said.
We’re here for you. You can take everything I have, Los added.
Same, came the reply from all the others.
My struggle eased, my kenosi rising.
“Sir,” I replied to command.
“Pull out,” Apollos ordered. “We’ve got this from here.”
Hiroto managed the mega, and on the field, we stepped back while Arturuo and the others covered us.
“Yes, sir,” I said.
A moment later, I turned inside. I’ve got it. Thanks, Hiroto. Just the shock—that was . . . intense.
No kidding, he replied.
Bret and his mechs ran almost under my feet to the drop ship, and the others were beside us in seconds as we pulled out.
I noticed Edward at the end of the line, locked in yet non-responsive.
I held onto the mega-merge the full way back to Armastai. Barely. As soon as we landed and I was on solid ground, I let us collapse.
My mech knees hit the dirt, and I leaned over, exhaustion washing over me. Every muscle in my body ached.
