Chapter 15

Entering the Battlespace

Dani stayed aboard the FreeWheel with Nikola and Uzik. Siam, Frankie, and I were sent over to Faktuuss to keep an eye on things. Halfway there, we heard explosions on the FreeWheel.

“Gnath and Siam,” Uzik said over SIGINT. “You two are on chase. Frankie—return to FreeWheel. Nikola and Frankie, man the shields, scanners, health, and repairs. Dani, you're with me.”

The FreeWheel received two more explosions. Nikola had engaged femtosecond shields so the explosions exposed a grid of the shield on impact. There were no attacks after that, and Siam and I were about half an hour from the FreeWheel, but heading in the direction from the attack. Frankie split up with us.

“I’m sending everyone radar data,” Nikola said. He sounded busy, absorbed in his tasks aboard. “I’ll be sending you location and direction every time I get a positive scan.”

A moment later, I received information from Nikola. IMINT brackets lit up the visor of both my mech’s visor and Cymech helmet. Siam was somehow much faster than me, and I followed him to the best of my ability.

In a little over half an hour, we’d started getting farther from the FreeWheel. Then we were fired upon by laser guns. Siam’s mech lit up with a cascade of explosions. He looked like a firecracker. Before I could erect my shield, I was struck with a similar number of explosives. Damage alerts fired off in IMINT brackets. A yellow blueprint of my mech blinked in my visor and showed me where the damages occurred, how much damage my mech took, and how self repairs were working.

“Damn it!” I cursed.

I had my shield up a moment later but no further attacks came.

“Stay with me, Gnath,” Siam said.

I came to a stop when I’d been hit. It wasn’t until Siam said something that I realized he hadn’t stopped. IMINT told me he was about two hundred meters ahead of me. Since we were both going full speed, I wouldn’t be able to catch up with him until he paused.

“We’ll reach coordinates in six hundred meters. Keep an eye out,” Siam said.

“This is another hit and run,” Uzik said. “We’ve got orders to take down any goblins we run into. Siam, if you have the opportunity, try and detain any goblin.”

“Sir,” Siam said.

We received another package of radar data from Nikola and Frankie. Frankie spoke up as soon as the data was downloaded.

“We’re mapping likely trajectories from each previous coordinate of attacks,” Frnakie said. “Gnath doesn’t have any quark nets capabilities. You’ll have to lead him, Siam. Trajectory data incoming.”

[Downloading trajectory data,] Pipper said. [Data downloaded.]

A radar screen superimposed on my screens and visors. Several trajectories in chromatic order popped up and IMINT took care of figuring out distance with speed and direction relative to the FreeWheel.

“We’re following trajectory yellow,” Siam said. “In sixty meters, I’ll engage quark nets. Your Cymech armor alarms will be triggered, but don’t worry about that. Do not stop. Stay with me.”

“Yes sir,” I said.

[Pipper,] I thought.

[Yes, Cymech?]

[What are quark nets? What can I expect?]

[Quark nets are a series of cosmic ray, high energy collisions that produce an image of matter in a surrounding area. Quark nets were developed to combat stealth tactics. Your mech will alert you to electric damage. No damage will actually be done.]

Siam paused up ahead and his yellow mech stretched out for a brief moment. I heard a loud bang and the fastest flash of light I’ve ever seen blanketed a swatch of space. My mech alerted me to possible damage on every compartment and surface area. Shield notifications went into the red for a moment.

Siam shared his data via IMINT and what I saw scared the living daylight out of me. Suspended in space all around us were at least one hundred little ships. All were black as night. Every single one of the ships had a crackle of light surrounding them. Each one looked like a short circuiting piece of electronics.

“Shit,” Siam said.

“Hell,” Uzik said.

“Gnath…” Frankie said.

“FreeWheel’s on the way,” Nikola said.

[There’s no doubt about it,] Orion thought. [We’re on the battlefield. There’s no escaping this.]

“We’re too deep for ranged combat,” Siam said. “We’ll be fighting close combat. Good luck Gnath.”

“Good luck, Siam.”

I engaged my laser slime shield just as dozens of lasers came flying at me. Dozens of explosions obscured my view, but IMINT knew the distance and last location of the closest ship.

[Keep an eye on damage and armor, Pipper] I thought. [Feed the information to me via IMINT.]

[Yes, Cyborg,] Pipper said.

[Let’s fight,] Orion said.

I engaged my rocket engines and followed IMINT brackets. The lasers were unable to keep up with my movements, trailing behind me by a few meters. I equipped a bomb pellet shotgun and arrived within moments beside a small stealthed ship.

The ship was the size of a car and through the pane of the cockpit, I saw a goblin. His sneering lips ringed a mouth of yellowed teeth and bleeding gums. Food items and plastics were shoved beside it. Old tattered clothes hung from its scrawny limbs. It’s pointed nose was bent at the middle, and pointed upward. It’s yellow green skin appeared near brown through the tint of the pane. An elegant red sash hung from one shoulder to the opposite hip. There was a black emblem hidden in the folds of the sash. Its mouth opened and from the pulsing veins in its neck, I could tell it was screaming.

I pressed the muzzle of my shotgun to the window pane and pulled the trigger. The pane cracked. I heard screaming. The interior of the ship blew up and flames licked out from the cracked pane.

“Yea!” Siam said. “You’ve got the hang of it! Now keep moving and take out as many as you can! I’ll try and detain one!”

I had no time to think before I was bombarded with lasers. The enemy had no regard for the goblin in the ship I blew up.

[Let’s see if I can count on that,] I thought.

I couldn’t keep my slime shield up too long because I simply didn’t have the mana for it. I only brought it up when I knew I’d be standing still for a moment. I kept it off while I was in motion. I still got tagged a few times and my armor dropped to 5,000/8,000 at one point.

That’s when I took a risk. I flew towards my fourth kill and landed right atop the ship. I stayed only for a moment before launching off to my next target. Using my Cyborg vision, I watched the ship take a ton of laser damage from its allies before exploding. The same thing happened to my fifth, sixth, and seventh kills.

[You’ve reached level 12,] Pipper said. [One spec point acquired. Stats have increased by 20 points.]

[Not now Pipper!] I said.

“Entering the battlespace,” Uzik said.

The FreeWheel approached the cluster of goblin ships at an angle. Uzik and Dani leapt from the deployment chamber and raced over. The FreeWheel began firing massive laser cannons, managed by Uzik’s IMINT while he came flying by, leaving proximity mines beside goblin ships. The proximity mines were a terrifying weapon, completing disintegrating ships in the blink of an eye. Even my armor received residual heat damage.

“Now this feels good,” Dani said.

I didn’t see her in battle, but I figured I wouldn’t, given that her mech was matte black. I did, however, come across several ships cut cleanly in half with dead goblins floating between the pieces.

“Enemies are fleeing,” Uzik said. I felt another quark net burst and IMINT populated the trajectories of fleeing ships. IMINT then populated with specific coordinates for me, delegated by Uzik. I followed orders, heading straight ahead of the FreeWheel.

I alternated between keeping my shield up, keeping an eye on how much mana I had left, blasting into goblin cockpits, and leaping from ship to ship. Enemy numbers quickly dwindled.

“I’ve got the last one,” Dani said, just as she cleaved a ship cleanly in half. The goblin survived the cleave only to bloat and asphyxiate to death.

It was a macabre minute as we all returned to the FreeWheel. Each one of us kept an eye on Dani who didn't move from watching the goblin suffer. Eventually she came onboard and we all secured our mechs in the habitation.

After we descended from our mechs, we all gathered in front of Siam’s yellow and gold mech.

“Just drop him,” Uzik said. “Let’s see if we can get something out of him over coffee and a nice foot massage.”

Siam made a swiping gesture and a compartment of his mech opened up above the wrist. A goblin fell from the opening and Nikola caught him. Nikola injected the goblin with what I assumed was a tranquilizer or something similar, because after a moment, the goblin was docile.