...When god himself, personally comes down to Earth, rolls up his sleeves and decks you, it might be a good time to start believing in him.
Lex Talionis - Yeji-Sola System
"You will be interested to learn," Lex stated, walking around the black metal table as it rotated away from electrodes, turning and folding flat, laying the quivering Highlord for a brief respite from the unending pain, "That the Diffusion Tensor Imaging scan of your neural cortex shows that your neurological condition is a direct result of a loss of dopaminergic neurons," the hologram pointed to an area of the Highlord's head, moving back a little as he demonstrated, "in the pars compacta region of your substantia nigra. As well as the atrophic changes in your basal ganglia." He smiled, kneeling down beside the table looking into Darien's blazing eyes. "But I forget, you organics aren't that familiar with your own neural chemistry. Simply put, Highlord Taine, the loss of these cells leads to a hypokinetic movement disorder." He gestured to Darien's trembling hand. "It is a shame that, were the old Empire still standing, a medical procedure could have cured you. But then, the Hegemony outlawed any kind of genetic manipulation."
He chuckled to himself as he rose again, "And Detective Inspector Darien Taine of Terran Security would never resort to the illegal surgeries on Mars. In fact, your service record indicates that you worked quite diligently to persecute such facilities for your Amsus Masters."
He watched Darien's struggle to turn his head and look up at him.
"Oh yes, I reviewed your full file," Lex replied, "Most people seem to conveniently forget that you were an Amsus collaborator during your life prior to your glorious resurrection of the Empire. But your treason against your own race seems to have finally caught up with you." He chuckled. "Ironic, really, that you should be so inflicted with one of the disorders that made the Martian surgeries so profitable."
Darien mumbled something, his voice faint, coughing through the nausea and the pain.
Lex leaned down. "I'm sorry Highlord Taine, you are going to have to speak up. My audio pickup in here isn't nearly as sensitive as that."
"He told you to go fuck yourself." The young man's voice sounded pissed.
Lex turned his head, surprised at the dark haired youth that stood before him, immediately recognizing who it was. A sarcastically reverent smile broke across his face. "Your Imperial Highness..." He bowed mockingly.
"Kardiac." Edward replied evenly, dangerously.
"Not quite," Lex straightened up, "I am the Lex Talionis..."
"A bastard, no matter what you call him, is still a bastard," Edward replied, his fists balled at his sides, "you wanted to get my attention, Kardiac. Well, you have it. And you are going to regret the manner in which you summoned me here."
Darien choked out a laugh, fighting against the pain trying to lift himself up onto his elbow to look at the hologram, "My boyfriend's going to kick your ass." He coughed again, falling back to the table laughing.
"Perhaps," Lex smiled, "but I have gained what I needed from this encounter. I have looked upon my god, and seen for myself that he is indeed a vengeful being."
* * *
"He's altered course. He's making a break for the outer system," Lieutenant Galadriel observed, talking into her TAC-link headset, looking up at Shale, "Permission to intercept?"
Shale nodded his large head, the Excalibur angling her prow about to run parallel to the Lex Talionis as they finally broke clear of the radiation. Around the bridge the comm. chatter crackled to life as the Excalibur's normal operations resumed.
"Ark-Lead, this is Excalibur," Galadriel called out immediately, "Emergency! Bandit one-five-eight, zero-zero, one and a half miles. Buster!" She commanded, directing Masconi and her waiting knights to cut from their escort duty and engage using full military power.
Masconi's voice sounded anxious, but was a relief to everyone who had sat through the agonizing hours of silence close to the star, "Excalibur from Ark-Lead, understood, target designated Sierra-One, Ninety-Nine Black Knights, knockers up..."
The Excalibur's plotting board came alive with data being fed to it in real time by the powerful sensor suites, unhampered by the smothering radiation. Throughout her length, the Excalibur's gunnery crews rushed to bring her pin-point cannons to bear, switching them to manual control as they pivoted weapons free, ready to provide cover for the ship.
Shale looked down at the weapons consoles on tier two in frustration, computer technicians working under the COB's guidance, wrestling with the computer virus that had frozen out their primary weapon systems, hopelessly encrypting the fire control computer. The Lex Talionis had known exactly where and how hard to hit them.
"Captain," Commander Durnham crossed his arms and looked across at Captain Shale, "The dropship just docked with the Lex Talionis."
Shale's gaze hardened as he lifted his paw. He brought it down in a sharp sweeping motion, ordering the attack.
* * *
At first it quivered, a blast plate beginning to rattle on loose fittings. Tools on workbenches unused by the Lex's robotic arms began to shake and jump, clattering together as some invisible force shook the ship. A ripple, like water, flowed along the entire length of Kardiac's last battleship, as Lex Talionis shivered. The incredible force of sheer will being brought to bear ripped along its length. Bulkheads peeled, storage tanks exploded and rivets tore free, ricocheting off of the deck like bullets. Weaker ducting crumpled like tinfoil as ruined equipment began to crash to the deck.
Edward's tightly balled fists unclenched, the ship settling once again as the powerful telekinetic shockwave subsided. Around the ship devastation and ruin had replaced order. Overturned equipment sparked as ruptured pipes hissed, throwing clouds of gasses over twisted bulkheads.
Standing across from the boy-king, the image of Kardiac watched his reaction carefully, learning from it. Gauging the power of a god, he tilted his head, shaking it slowly. "Your power is great indeed, my lord," he stated as a roaring whine reverberated through the ship. It echoed through the empty halls, the dull and muted thunder of weapons fire striking armour plating. A review of his external sensors confirmed that the Excalibur was pulling alongside the Lex Talionis, utilising the only weapons she had left, pounding upon his nano-fluidic armour with her pin-point Anti-Aircraft batteries, broad-siding the Pocket Battleship.
The lights flickered as Lex transferred his internal power systems from the conventional reactors to the Zero-point reactor he had been constructing. Activating his defensive sub-routines, he prepared for the sole purpose unto which he had been built - retribution.
"You are defeated," Edward stated, cold and emotionless. His voice rang like cold steel. "You are unarmed and Excalibur is upon you." Edward remained standing in position, his eyes never leaving the image of Kardiac.
"I have learned much here today," Lex replied calmly, unfazed by the destruction reigning down around him, "lessons that have taught me so much about the nature of my god. I have learned that in order to serve you, I must interpret your will, not from your actions or your words, but from your example. I understand my purpose now, to compensate for your mistaken compassion," his eyes blazed with the fire of a fanatic, "I have learned that while you are undoubtedly my Immortal Emperor, made flesh, born anew with the resurrection of the body, you must also suffer the weaknesses of any organic. You lack your omnipotent wisdom that would have shown you that while I am wounded, I am not slain. Allow me to demonstrate how I intend to exact your justice."
Along the ventral side of the ship, hatches sprang open. Black hull plates jettisoned away as a rush of escaping atmosphere followed them, clouds of gas obscuring the bright lights inside. The first, a small, agile shape, sprang forth from its rack, its twin auto-masers springing to life as it shot out of its launch tube. It cast a hail of death as behind it hundreds more poured forth, sweeping up like a cloud of deadly insects as they careened around the Lex Talionis's proud bow.
* * *
The first silver shape dived past her cockpit canopy, sweeping past the angular lines of the F-175 she was flying.
"What the hell?" Masconi demanded, craning her neck upwards, a look of sheer horror on her face as her fighter's collision warning alarms began to scream. The swarm of ships flew up and banked around and descended towards her squadron of fighters on an attack vector. Literally hundreds of them, running with their throttles full open heading right for them.
"Break!" She screamed into the radio as she jinked her fighter over, the combat drones screaming through the midst of the fighters, a kamikaze pass. She watched, flinching, as her wingman's fighter was torn apart from a fiery impact. Trying to keep control of her fighter, she barrel-rolled and jinked, applying more speed. She needed to get clear, hoping that the EV-II boosters the F-175 integrated would carry her out of the path of the drone cloud.
She listened to the radio, her pilots screaming in panic as they attempted to sweep through the cloud. They were returning fire where they could, but they were unable to keep a reliable weapons lock and were firing blindly, using up their limited ammunition. It was a desperate situation as the pilots struggled to stay alive in the increasingly crowded sky.
"Knight four, Winchester fifty-five mike-mike..."
"Knight-Six, Knight-Six, break left..."
The swarm of drones broke along differing vectors, some diving into the Excalibur's engagement zone, the FLAK barrier churning them up and trying to swat them down. Brilliant fireflies, they ducked and weaved as they tried to penetrate the waves of explosions thrown up by the rail cannons and auto masers. A solid wall of explosive light was sweeping out from the Command Carrier with deadly ferocity, obliterating anything bold enough or stupid enough to get in its path. A few of the drones successfully made it through, managing to ram into the heavy armour plates that protected her dorsal surface.
In reaction to the new assault, the Excalibur threw herself hard over, pulling away from the Lex Talionis, trying to get all of her flack cannons to come to bear on the pin wheeling swarm of deadly drones, adding more firepower to keep them at bay.
Masconi reefed her fighter about, thumbing her fire selector, launching her two remaining switchblades at the combat drones before pushing her fighter into a lateral pitchout, scarping past a wing of drones sweeping back in upon her.
They moved with blinding speed, giving her a sense of the true might of the old Imperial combat technology. She craned her neck around as the wing of drones settled into her wake, pushing the F-175 to the limit and accelerating away from them. For all their enhancements, the F-175 was still an improvement. Lieutenant Elias's moment of genius had resulted in saving pilots lives. Masconi growled tightly; that was another one she owed the bright-eyed little engineer, one she'd be all to happy to repay if it meant getting him back where he belonged.
She checked her fuel status; she was good for Reaction Mass, she would just have to keep an eye on all the fast burn escapes. The last thing she wanted was to be caught running out of fuel in the middle of the shit storm raging around her.
A look over her master display was not so reassuring. The squadron of fighters were dwindling under the onslaught, unable to fight back; it was all they could do to stay alive. She shuddered as she watched another explosion. At the rate they were going...
She pulled her fighter about, diving back in upon the Kardiac warship. Drones required a communications array; if she could knock that out, the deadly attacks would stop. She weaved across the armoured hull, flashing by sensor masts and cannons, whistling as she searched for her target. The ship was big that close up; compared to the Amsus battleships and cruisers and even the Excalibur, the warship had an impressive bulk that was only surpassed by the formidable Imperial dreadnaughts like the Anger of Hades.
Her eyes went wide as thirty drones swept up around the prow of the battleship in her path. Sitting closely packed together, they formed a wall blocking her attack run. Masconi cursed as she tried to avoid them, pulling back on the sticks hard, the cloud of drones jumping to intercept her as she tried to pull away. One of them clipped the wing of her fighter, sending it into a flat spin.
Her head bounced off of the canopy as she was thrown hard against her harnesses, cursing loudly as she reached between her legs and yanked on the T bar, feeling the rush of acceleration as she ejected, her F-175 exploding as it crashed into the Lex's heavy armour plates.
* * *
There was a grinding hiss as the heavy hatch reluctantly parted, Sergeant Hobbes shining his TAC-light over the grimy faces of the huddled ordinance crew, blinking up at the light as if not believing that it was real. They were all injured in one fashion or another; Petty Officer Firlotte was the first to get to his feet, albeit shakily, patting his fellow crewmembers on the shoulder, rousing them from their shock and gesturing for them to hurry through the half open hatch where Sergeant Hobbes extended his hand to help them. He gestured for the first crewmember to take it, wrestling to pull the young girl through and into the safety of the dropship.
"Hurry Sarge!" Lauren called back through the cargo webbing and bucket seats, staring out of EX-01's cockpit window at the drones cutting the Excalibur fighters to pieces with sheer numbers. Shale had moved the Excalibur off, valiantly trying to give them cover fire, but it simply wasn't enough. She understood at that moment why the Lex Talionis had been buying time: cannibalising his own resources to build more combat drones. She cursed herself for not anticipating that; she should have realized the moment she had heard the AI had gone online.
The Sergeant's beefy hand closed around Firlotte's as he yanked him through the hatch. Firlotte wriggled his way through the tight gap, and pulled himself to his feet safely on the far side. The Sergeant smiled as he gave a grim nod at the young technician, gesturing for him to go forward and give Lauren a hand.
Firlotte bobbed his head, sprinting through the assault craft, clambering up the pair of steps into the cockpit, panting as he swallowed and pointed behind him towards the battleship.
"T-That thing... the Highlord..." He swallowed, trying to catch his breathe, his eyes going wide as he stared out at the carnage over their heads, "Oh, fuck me!"
Lauren took an anxious breath as she checked her master display; so far the drones were focusing their attention on the fighters, forcing the Excalibur to pull further and further away from the battleship. Her mind was working out the safest course to take them around the drones and...
She jumped as a ripple washed along the hull of the battleship, a wave that buckled the armour plates outwards before caving them inwards again. A large section of the Lex Talionis crumpled inwards, as if a massive unseen fist had suddenly struck the vessel amidships.
"What the hell?" Lauren and Firlotte echoed together in an incredulous tone. The blast shockwave ripped towards the dropship, debris ripping free of the battleship and pounding into the dropship as the violent blast exploded through the dropship's electrical systems.
The dropship, attached to the Lex Talionis's hull, shook violently. Hobbes grabbed onto cargo webbing, almost being pitched to the deck, reaching out a hand to pull the last of the crewmen through, bending down to stare at the Fida'i who still pounded on the far door. "You coming?" He demanded in his Karin drawl, as computer equipment scrambled and went dark, flickering on again and dying as Lauren tried to force the dropship to restart, Firlotte frantically pulling open maintenance hatches and pulling out burnt circuit boards licking his fingers against the shocks he was getting as he tried to replace them and restart the engines.
"The Aga-Khan is inside, with the mechanical demon," James stated, running his hands over the hatch for the hundredth time, searching for someway to open it, "I cannot leave him behind."
"All right," Hobbes said, throwing off the bullet-proof vest and peeling off his fatigue shirt, tossing the pulse rifle through the hatch. He paused, reaching up to pull an equipment case from one of the dropship's lockers. The entry breaching charges were stored there 'just in case' and Hobbes thanked the foresight he'd had when outfitting the dropship's standard equipment.
He crawled through the gap in the half-open hatch, pulling the flat case after him as he dropped to a knee, flipping it open, fumbling with the breaching charge, looking up at the assassin warrior. "You might want to stand back," he said as he attached the charge to the inside hatch hinges, planting the detonator as he turned away.
The hatch hinges glowed a bright purple as the highly caustic substance burned through the metal alloy in seconds. The three-inch reinforced door shuddered and dropped from its melted hinges, crashing to the deck with a dull clang.
Hobbes bobbed his eyebrows as he picked up his pulse rifle. "Magic."
James eyed the door, darting out a hand to draw the Marine's bayonet from Hobbes's belt sheath. The K-bar span through his hands as he absently checked its weight and gauged its balance. Satisfied, he swept the blade back behind him and began to run into the body of the battleship, murderous intent in his eyes.
Hobbes uttered a curse, and hurried after him, jogging to keep up.
* * *
Edward remembered Kardiac well. He knew him both from the Imperial court and from his grandfather's words of warning against the man. He knew what drove him, understood the gaping weaknesses in his obsession-driven mind. In one form or another, it didn't matter; Kardiac or Lex Talionis, both were rabidly insane.
There was no reasoning with a madman; Edward knew that. He squared his shoulders. "I am taking him," he stated evenly, commandingly. Kardiac had obeyed the Emperor...
"I expected you to," Lex replied, looking down at the weakened Highlord, "You must love him a great deal." He looked up triumphantly.
Edward gripped Darien's arm firmly, struggling to help him to sit up, reaching out to grab the VonGrippen greatcoat and draping it about his shoulders in an effort to keep the shivering man warm. He tenderly touched his face, brushing the curls that crested Darien's forehead. He wrestled Darien to his feet, feeling the weight on his shoulders as he started towards the machine shop doors, Darien's legs refusing to move, as he collapsed to his knees, the young prince lifting him again. The Battleship shifted and heaved as it listed to the right, several of its gravity plates becoming misaligned. The young Emperor nearly lost his footing as he fought to carry Darien out into the hall, bracing his legs to keep them both upright.
Back in the machine shop, lit by a shower of sparks, Lex cast a final glance around him and smiled confidently, his task complete and his point proven. His hologram shut down as his auxiliary systems began to engage.
Edward slipped, his shoes not finding purchase, and the two men crashed to the deck. Edward scrambled up and hauled Darien by the arms away from the machine shops as another section of bulkheads caved inwards.
He felt Darien's hand reach for his, looking at it as he pulled the younger man close to him, breathing heavily as he struggled to speak, his jaw moving as no words came out, his eyes faint and far away.
"C-come on," Edward murmured, tears in his eyes as he brushed that deathly pale face, "Please..."
He watched Darien's eyes flutter closed, coughing as he opened them again, staring straight into a pair of sapphire blue eyes that held his entire world, a shaking hand reaching up to wipe away a crystal clear tear rolling down Edward's pale cheek with his thumb.
"I miss your blonde hair," he chuckled weakly, his voice thin and reedy.
The ship around them groaned and heaved, a pipe rupturing and spraying water over them, dripping and running down Edward's face, plastering his hair to his head. "You have to get up..." Edward insisted, "Please..."
Darien nodded, struggling to try to get to his feet, resting heavily on Edward's shoulders, feeling that slender arm go about his waist for support, helping him onwards, knowing which way they were supposed to be going. He leaned on him; his eyes half closed, he drew ragged breaths. His feet turned under him as he crashed to his knees, Edward helping him up again.
"Skipper!" Sergeant Hobbes shone the TAC-Light on the pair soldiering through the ruins of the ship, starting as he recognized the young man helping the battered Highlord. He slung his assault rifle and came forward to assist, stopping at a firm shake of Edward's head. "Your Highness?"
James paused, standing on a fallen section of catwalk, bouncing from foot to foot uneasily, eyeing Edward with curiosity, darting looks of concern at his Aga-khan.
"Go back to your ship," Edward said calmly, looking up at the Fida'i, "The Aga-khan is beyond your medicine. I- I must take him with me..."
James gave his typical 'no-way in hell' look, his brown eyes firm and his jaw set defiantly. He stared at the thin boy struggling under the Highlord's weight, clearly adamant that he intended to go wherever Darien went.
"You can't follow them," Hobbes said, understanding the look in Edward's eyes as he looked behind him, back towards the dropship.
Edward smiled faintly. "Tell them... tell them he's with me."
Hobbes stared in wonder a moment as he lifted his rifle. "As you command, your Highness..." he assented in awe.
Edward and Darien faded from the corridor, leaving the two warriors alone with the shadows of the haunted ship.
Hobbes shivered, shaking his head as he hurried back the way he'd come, James covering him, the assassin moving with the agility of a cat through the debris, finding a path for the burly sergeant. They stopped only once as he bent to recover the small shard weapon from the deck where Darien had dropped it during his collapse. Clipping his Aga-Khan's weapon to his belt, James stared down at the dark, lifeless metallic automaton that had nearly killed them all.
* * *
Lauren fired up the dropship's engines as the two men hauled Ezekiel through the narrow hatch opening. Hobbes threw her the all clear as he sealed the dropship's hatch. Lauren paused, her hands on the controls, staring at the pair.
Above them, the drop ships engines flared and died again, a muted boom informing them all that the crippled vessel had finally given up the ghost and had died.
"Where's the Skipper?" She asked in confusion, getting out of her crash seat and reaching into a weapons locker for a pulse rifle, loading it as she looked at Hobbes.
"Skipper's with Elias... Edward... one of them..." Hobbes said shaking his head, "He says he is protecting him..."
Lauren paused, feeling the shudder of the Lex Talionis beneath the dropship, knowing they were running out of time. "Firlotte?"
Firlotte looked up from his work shaking his head, "I don't have time to put it all back together..."
Lauren gripped her rifle, glancing back towards the hatch, "We're going to have to look for alternative transportation..." She began, feeling EX-01 shiver and roared as the cloud of drones pulled away from the last pair of fighters, turning as a pack of screaming animals, ploughing down upon the pair of transports now undefended, the lead drone careening through the first transport's hull. The detonations of multiple explosions ripped through drones and transports, spreading vaporous gases as they all died fiery deaths.
Lex Talionis, battered and twisted, flickered with a burst of pseudo-motion as it's jump pods engaged, the Battleship slamming into hyperspace, marooning the Excalibur to her fate.
Lauren's shoulders falling as she tilted her rifle, "We've gotta move," she ordered, taking charge and waving her battered and injured crew members through the hatch and back into the battleship, staring as Hobbes and James began to haul the mech with them.
"We don't have time!" she barked.
"With respect ma'am..." Hobbes looked up, "You weren't on Excalibur when this thing saved all our asses, it's part of the crew, ma'am, and we Marines don't leave men behind."
Lauren knew the machine would do nothing but slow them down, but she glanced back at Firlotte, and towards the darkened battleship, "Help them." She ordered again, taking point as a couple of the other survivors of the ordinance crew grabbed pulse rifles off of the walls and followed her.