One of the things that I like about working with machines over people...are replaceable parts.
Lex Talionis - Yeji-Sola System
They were running, the small Polian Gunship pushing its engines to maximum as it dipped and weaved its way through the system, its crew desperate to get their precious cargo to Sanctuary where the Synod had retreated to. Their Far-Step Hyperdrive was nearly fully charged and would be able to catapult them the vast distance, all they had to do was evade their pursuer long enough...
The floating ice particles shivered and shattered, carved to pieces by the whirling and buzzing mass that boiled in their wake. Thousands of small, fast moving attack craft that billowed like a black cloud to sweep down upon them. Behind them came an image born of the worst nightmares of the Imperial war, a memory burned onto the minds of every Polian by the fires of Skyella - the golden lion's-head of Kardiac.
The drones poured, flowing as they banked en masse, diving towards the small double-wedged vessel that was accelerating to escape. Its weapons tore great swathes of drones asunder, yet still failed to make any kind of difference against the sheer number that came after them. It fought trying to fend them off, trying to buy those last, precious few seconds of life as the drones made another pass, their auto-masers slicing through the hull plates, carving the vessel apart piece by piece.
On the darkened command deck the image of vengeance flickered and came to life. The memory of a man long dead stood, the black crystal baton in his hands swinging up to tap his jaw as he watched the destruction of the Polian vessel coldly. His drones easily overpowered it, almost pathetically so. The Polians had made few advances in their battlefield technology, lazy and non-adaptive. Typically Polian.
Sections of the Battleship separated and adapted to suit his needs. Large grappling cables shot out, guided by his will, to attach themselves to the Polian monitor's hull, the drones drawing off, their task complete, returning to the command ship and fitting across the hull in the specially designed racks that held them. Lex Talionis had been busy; unconstrained now by the need for humanity to guide his hand, he had evolved his design.
The Polian vessel had long since given up the struggle. Drawn now into the waiting maw of the flight deck, it was passed to the waiting construction drones that would begin the integration process. The ship contained invaluable tactical data, as well as information on the distribution of Polian forces, data that would prove useful for him when it came time to exterminate the entire race.
He noted, with some interest, that there were a number of small freighters in the system, lesser races of the Polian Alliance - probably the Hagans from the configuration of their vessels - who had witnessed the capture and overpowering of the Polian vessel. Let them watch, Lex surmised. There was nothing the Polian Alliance could do to halt its fate.
The repeater displays around the foot of the wooden throne activated, showing various views of the Polian vessel, nano-bots drafted from his armour plating sweeping over it, exploring every nook and crevasse. He was that wave, just as he was the cloud of combat drones. Everything they saw and felt, he saw and felt. Without turning his back from the window and the panorama of stars, he watched with interest.
There were crewmembers aboard that ship, two lesser-race members and a Polian. The infra-red heat scans showed that they were readying to do battle, expecting him to attempt to take them via the hatch. It was an instinctive organic response, one that drew a sardonic smile across Lex's face. When it came right down to it, Human or Polian, Orion or Amsus, they were all still driven by base instincts, an intrinsic need to survive that made them ultimately predictable.
His nano-bots flowed around the deck, waiting for the hatch to open. Watching as the seals cycled open, and the two lesser race guards where down on the deck first. Lex smiled - he was in no hurry - his prey was going nowhere. Each of the nano-bots stopped to consume the resources around them, creating more, a small army, microscopic and deadly, that marched towards the two lesser-race guards.
They died, drowning as the deck erupted to swallow them, the billions of microscopic robots forming a hard shell of moving steel that locked together, rigidly encasing them like a cocoon, cutting off oxygen as they tried to struggle. He would save their corpses, valuable resources that would be put to good use once he converted them back into their base elements.
That simply left the Polian, a large beast in her silver alloy armour, Kabalik staff weapon at the ready. Having witnessed the death of her guards, she was aware that nothing, not even the floor she stood upon, was safe.
Lex noted the markings on her staff. The engravings marked her as a survivor of Skyella. That alone made her life forfeit, but what was of note was the hanging prayer flag that draped down to the ground, worn over her armour like a surcloth. It bore markings in Polian uttering reverently of the sacred garden... Peligia.
Lex cross-referenced it, accessing the Imperial Security files Kardiac had gathered concerning his rival VonGrippen and of his search for the lost civilization. Nothing conclusive had ever been found, but the surcloth the Polian female wore was the first corroborating proof that such a place existed, even if it was within the heretic mythos of the Polian's pagan religion.
He attacked, the Polian's staff weapon barking as it blasted his nano-bots away, her glowing shield barrier springing into place as the Nano-bots swept up and around it, the electrical field put out by the shield disrupting them as they fell uselessly to the deck.
The Polian stepped through the pile of useless bots, moving under the outrigger gravitic drives of her ship, using it as cover while she searched for another way to escape.
Amused, the hologram turned from his window. Swinging his baton up and under his arm, he straightened his back, sending out other commands. Let her come.
She sprang to the deck, her staff arcing as it fired, disintegrating a large construction mech that was busy stripping the monitor's weapon systems from the vessel, destined to replace the archaic Imperial ones that were bereft of ammunition. A second giant mechanical monstrosity fell crashing to the deck, a large section of its torso incinerated. The Polian marched with malevolent purpose, a trapped rat in a maze, searching for a way out.
Lex split his attention. The Polian Gunship was now unguarded. His hovering cameras buzzed past the now open hatch, circling to examine the enhancements the Polians had made to their drive technologies, the computer already working out how to duplicate the useful elements into its own systems.
The Polian clanked towards the starboard plane elevator, watching as the airlock cycled and slid upwards. The great silver mass of the infantry mech rose from the floor. Its cockpit was a mass of automated systems, guiding it as it whined to life. Heavy pistons moved the great mechanized monstrosity forward, its arm mounted auto cannons spitting metal slugs as it began to fire.
She ran, the Polian legs powering her into a run, keeping ahead of the bullets that were ricocheting around her. Sweeping her shard weapon from her belt and firing with her third hand, she blasted the mech squarely in its centre of mass.
Its guns fell silent.
Lex's smile hardened as he shifted his attention to another piece of construction equipment.
She had enough time to look up as the powerful electromagnet engaged, tugging on her armour, the force of it pulling the alloy plates as she found herself drawn upwards from the ground, crashing helplessly against it, trapped by her own armour.
He dispatched drones to deal with her, returning his full processing power to studying the Polian ship.
"Interesting indeed," The hologram intoned as his drones connected specially crafted adapters to the Polian computer core. A specially written program sliced through the Polian firewalls, adapting to the formidable defences the Polian computer had at its disposal. A struggle of wills began as the insidious Imperial code rewrote sections of the Polian software, translating and integrating the powerful computer, using the captured subroutines against its self.
The Lex Talionis evolved again. The increased computing power reaped from the Polian core brought renewed clarity as he studied the data correlated by the ancient race.
In mere hours he had stripped the most important parts from the ship, leaving it intact upon his flight deck. Recycling the specific parts he needed using the secrets he had learned from studying the vessel to strengthen his hull armour; its bio-electric 'nervous system' was being duplicated to create a more efficient power grid throughout the Lex Talionis. The rest was abandoned redundant to Lex Talionis's needs.
In his converted machine shop, the devices whirled to life, a new prey being strapped to the table. The hologram stood across form the female, satisfied with his handiwork. He had removed her limbs, ensuring that there was no possibility for escape. He set to work.
"Tell me," he said in flawless Polian, "What is Peligia?"
* * *
Lauren crouched in the ships galley, pulse rifle gripped in her sweaty palm listening to the clanking of the automated drones that worked outside the doors. Every minute they stayed aboard the Kardiac battleship was another minute they risked detection, but they had no other choice.
Access to the Lex Talionis flight deck had been cut off, large sections of the access stairwell had been cut away, an improvised elevator under construction from makeshift repair drones Lex had built out of spare parts and his own, twisted ingenuity.
The larger Imperial capital ships all possessed the capacity for a limited form of self-sufficiency. Machine shops capable of fabricating most of what it needed from available resources. The UGLYS were just such creations; Mechs similar in design to Ezekiel that patrolled the halls, or performed repairs on damaged systems, or assisted in the construction effort that seemed to encompass the whole ship.
Petty Officer Firlotte seemed to feel that Lex was evolving. His brief sojourns into the Lex's computer system had been quick and short, using an intra-net access port to check systems, knowing that the Lex AI was logging all access to his functions, the creative technician used his familiarity with the inner workings of Imperial computer systems gained from his time working with the Excalibur's AI. It allowed him the opportunity of timing his access with standard diagnostic sweeps, appearing like just another UGLY looking for engineering data to help it perform its task.
They were tired, crammed into the large, stainless steel galley. A couple of the ordinance team crouched down behind a freezer, nursing their injuries, wedged in and out of sight, while Hobbes and Crewman Steves crouched over by the doors keeping a watchful eye on the mess hall. Beyond them one of the UGLY's worked, straying dangerously close to where Firlotte hid under a table, his laptop clutched against his chest. His fearful face glanced back towards the galley almost pleading for help as his eyes darted back again in the direction of the nightmarish octopus arms of the repair drone that was soldering and repairing structural supports.
Hobbes stayed low, shifting slightly as he adjusted his grip on the Pulse Rifle he cradled against his cheek, squarely sighted in on an exposed knot of power chords just below the UGLY's torso. He flashed her a look seeking her permission to fire.
They'd been stranded there a week, a week too long in Lauren's mind. They were exhausted, forced to sleep amidst the kitchen counters, hidden away from the drones and the cameras Lex used to monitor his internal systems. They had rationed what limited food they had, a collection of emergency rations that Lauren and Hobbes carried in their combat fatigues. Supplementing that with some hermetically sealed sugar found in the galley.
It was ironic that they were going to starve to death in a galley surrounded by food. But the rest of the food had been vacuum frozen for three hundred years. Lauren didn't want to think about eating any of it. The things that didn't rot within hours of thawing had become so dry, or rancid that they filled the air in the galley with pungent aromas that almost made her forget her appetite.
She had focused on anything but her hunger. At least Firlotte had been useful, identifying that in the confusion after the battle at Yeji-Sola, Lex appeared to have no idea they were aboard, many of his internal sensor systems, delicate monitoring equipment, had suffered under the random pressure shifts that had nearly torn the battleship apart. On the inside, Lex was nearly blind, relying heavily on his newly constructed drones who were busy repairing more vital systems than the internal sensors.
At least Lex couldn't disable the oxygen supply.
Imperial vessels had another feature that caused Lauren to thank the ingenuity of long dead engineers and designers. The algae vats sandwiched between the decks fed the ship a near endless supply of oxygen, a bio-life support system that was resilient and durable, even after three hundred years of sub zero temperature.
Luck.
She looked over at Hobbes again, flexing her fingers, ready to pop up and give Firlotte cover fire if they had to fight. She was responsible for them being stuck there and she'd damn well make sure she got everyone out alive. Two Imperial Pulse Rifles, a pair of pulse pistols and a group of technicians... they weren't in a good way.
And as usual, the Fida'i was nowhere to be seen.
There was a sound of pistons as the UGLY turned, it's rear legs pulling it backwards as it spun its torso, it's long arms retracting and compressing as it scuttled across the deck and through the Mess hall doors heading out into the corridor.
Lauren breathed a sigh of relief as she sank back against the metal counter resting her head against the barrel of her rifle. She looked up as Firlotte jogged back and jumped down into their makeshift fortification, panting like he'd just run a marathon, his adrenalin wearing off.
"So?" Hobbes joined them, keeping one eye on the doors, "Why hasn't the bastard shut down life support?"
Firlotte couched as he flipped open the laptop and opened the appropriate maintenance files he'd garnished off of the communications lines, "According to these he has," Firlotte said shrugging helplessly, "he can't touch the O2 supply but he can cut the heat. It's already down but according to these records, he's generating heat from his construction systems, he's smelting and fabricating parts for his combat drones..."
"He's rearming himself." Lauren said looking over the reports, "And generating a lot of power." She shook her head, knowing a thing or two about starship engineering she could see the power output of the Lex Talionis was far beyond it's generators rating. He'd built himself a zero-point reactor.
Firlotte nodded when she looked up at him knowing she had seen what he'd seen. "He's installing guns too... least that's the only reason I could have for fabricating turret assemblies. However where he's getting the ammunition from for them..."
Lauren stared over the orders, chewing on her lip and pushing her stringy blond hair out of her eyes, "If he's building rail cannons then he can make ammunition." She studied the other orders, following with her finger the power distribution network Lex was constructing, large capacitors, direct and dedicated power cables from the new reactor to the turrets, it didn't fit for Rail cannons, the second he attempted to fire them the energy discharge would be enormous.
"Energy weapons." She surmised, looking up, "he's building energy weapons..."
"Fuck me," Hobbes uttered resting his chin on rifle butt, "Bugger's quick on the uptake... I thought the closest the Empire ever got to energy weapons were Auto-masers."
"They are," Firlotte said nodding, "Basically microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation..."
"I know what a maser is," Hobbes reminded, looking back at Lauren, "This ships rearming itself for something... Question is what?"
"He has three Type-9 warheads," Lauren murmured, "and a chip on his shoulder. Want to bet he's itching to finish a three hundred year old grudge match with the Polian homeworld?"
"Yeah but I was at the battle of Arcanis," Hobbes shifted quietly, looking up and about him again, " Excalibur scraped out of a wrestling match with the Polian homeworld sentry stations only after they beat the living tar out of her. Tough as this ship is, I don't think he'll fare much better..."
"He doesn't have to." Lauren said calmly, remember the desperate chase through the Arcanis system to stop Kendrick, "He just needs one clear shot and that's it, Arcanis is gone."
"A suicide mission, and we're stuck on this flying coffin along with him." Hobbes shook his head and groaned, "What are your orders, ma'am?"
"We need to figure a way off of this ship, and to stop this ship in the process..." She stopped when a thump of a couple of backpacks hit the deck at her feet, moments later James materialized out of the shadows.
"I hate it when you do that," Hobbes stated, lowering his Pulse Rifle he had instinctively trained on the Fida'i warrior.
James tilted his head and rolled his eyes, ignoring the marine, dropping to his haunches as he fished through the bags and began to pull out ration packs. Lifting one for Lauren's inspection before he tossed it back down.
Lauren pulled the pack to her and smiled, running her fingers over the identifier patch, it was from the EX-01, James had gone back for food. She looked up in gratitude, then in mild concern back towards the doors.
"He cannot see me," James reassured, tapping the woven padded armour he wore, the form fitting body suit that all Fida'i wore under their clothes. "It is how we disappear into the shadows, it is designed to absorb the light, makes the shadows around us... darker."
Lauren nodded, she'd suspected part of the Fida'i's near magical vanishing act had to be technological, she leaned forward passing out some of the food as she looked back at his coarse features, the scruffy hair and soft brown eyes, "did you see anything else when you were out there?"
"Yes," James replied absently as his ears perked up and he glanced back towards the doors, "I saw these..." he unclipped the Aga-Khan's weapon from his belt.
"The Skipper's kill'a'ma'jig," Lauren observed thoughtfully, using the shipboard nickname for the Polian style weapon, "You saw these?"
"Bigger," James said still looking towards the doors, "the devil ship has captured a Polian vessel."
"If he's stripping it down," Firlotte said, digging into a protein bar and speaking between grateful mouthfuls, "It would explain where he's getting weaponry from."
"And he's collecting intelligence," Lauren said thoughtfully as she watched James, who seemed unsettled, "What's wrong?" she asked, pausing to listen as well.
The faint sound of a whine was building in the ambient background noise. The sound of a hyperdrive preparing to engage, but almost sounding strangled, protracted far beyond its normal duration.
The wave of time distortion washed over them, like transiting through a Jump Nexus. And Lauren was on her feet, "We just..." she looked about her desperately, they'd just jumped over a vast distance, either the Lex had found the Sentinel Jump Nexus and used it, or he had found a way to 'far-step'. The implications were the same for both; however, they were no longer anywhere near to the Excalibur, or home.
She looked down at Firlotte, the technician doing the mental math based on the duration of the jump, trying to work out where they could be... But inwardly she knew, just like Hobbes did as he stared back at her. They could be in only one place: the heart of Polian territory. Bearing down on Arcanis with murderous intent.
"How long till he has those new weapons online?" Lauren asked Firlotte, it would give her an estimate on time, something, anything to let her figure out their options.
Firlotte shrugged, "He's still building the weapons mounts, but if he already has weaponry to set into them... a day or two at the most considering how fast UGLYs work." The young technician seemed hesitant, shaking his head as he shrugged unable to give her a more specific estimate.
"We have to reach the hangar deck," Lauren murmured, if they could find a ship they would be able to initiate jump engines and escape even stuck inside the Lex Talionis, doing significant damage in the process if they engaged the jump drives at the right moment from the right position inside the warship.
James, in his usual dispassionate manner, put a damper on her enthusiastic idea as he shook his head, "The way down is difficult to negotiate, even for me..." He looked meaningfully over at the injured ordinance crew members, "Impossible for them."
"Through the ship," Lauren replied trying to think of other options, "We could attempt an EVA and..."
"The outer hull is going to be crawling with UGLYs repairing the armour plating, we'd be spotted," Hobbes surmised, seeing the flaw with her plan, "also trying to use an airlock to get out will trigger alarms and tip the computer that we're onboard. He'd launch a few of his aerial drones once we get outside and that'd be it..."
Lauren let her head fall back against the stainless steel door of the cabinet behind her. She needed to think of something, they were depending on her, but so far all their options and plans resulted in their being detected followed shortly by their deaths. "The Polian ship," Lauren asked blowing air between her teeth as she thought, "Where is it?"
"On the flight deck," James replied calmly, "surrounded by machines."
"If we can't reach the Hangar, could we reach that ship?" She asked a plan beginning to form. Back during the Skyella mission, Elias had managed to pilot a Polian shuttle through a hyperspace jump. maybe, if there were lucky, they'd be able to get control of that ship and use it to escape. Of course none of them knew how to speak Polian like Elias did, and they were decidedly lacking in his engineering skills... not to mention definitely lacking his luck... What she wouldn't give for five seconds with that lucky tummy of his.
"We're going to need all the help we can get," She said walking over to one of the pantries where they had stored the Ezekiel assault mech, "Any luck repairing him?" she asked Firlotte.
The technician joined her, scratching the faint stubble on his cheek and looking at his collection of improvised tools, mostly made out of whatever he could find in the galley. He'd done the best he could with what he could find, but none of them were ideal for fixing something as complicated and complex as the damaged assault mech.
"I've purged most of the Lex Talionis virus code," Firlotte said sitting cross-legged and opening his laptop again, "And I disabled the TAC-link so I don't think Lex can take control of him again, but... well he's missing a primary arm..." Firlotte pointed to the arm assembly melted through where Darien had shot it to free Firlotte, "And the hydraulics have been severed back here, unless I can find replacement fluid and a nano-welder I don't think there is much I can do about bringing him back online."
"Do your best," Lauren messed up his hair, taking a few steps back, "If you need any help..."
Firlotte looked distant for a moment, thinking as he stared across the kitchen. There was a flicker of something before he stood and walked over to the stove, reaching thoughtfully and picking through the bottles pulling out one and holding it up, "I can probably substitute mineral oil for the missing fluids, its not ideal but... well we have to make do with what we have..." he tilted the vacuum sealed bottle, satisfied that the viscosity was sufficient.
"Now we're thinking," Lauren commended, her hands on her hips as she looked for something that could be used to patch the cut hydraulic leads. Her eyes settling on the dish pit, a large contraption of rubberised tubes all connected to a length of hose that connected the sinks faucets to a spray head. She grinned as she drew her combat knife and cut it down, returning it to Firlotte, "Would this do?"
"It might," Firlotte replied examining it and kneeling again, "but I can't guarantee anything..." he frowned as Lauren reached out and scrubbed his tummy anyway, "Hey!"
"Relax," Lauren smiled, "It's for luck." She turned back to her other crewmates standing back to watch with apprehension as Firlotte worked, "James see if you can get close to the Polian ship, we need to figure out what state its in, report back here..." she trailed off realizing that James was already gone, typically already knowing what was needed and just doing it rather than waiting around for redundant orders. Now she knew why Darien liked him so much, the Skipper hated explaining his plans, and James seemed to hate having too many details.
She settled in with her rifle, chewing on a protein bar, thinking through what they needed to do if they could get off the battleship. Probably run like hell for Tempus, and pray that the Kardiac Colony wouldn't shoot them on sight.
Hobbes settled in beside her, "Ma'am," he murmured quietly, "We need to stop this ship somehow."
"One thing at a time." Lauren replied calmly, "Let's focus on getting the hell off this ship before we try to figure out how to destroy an Imperial Battleship with a couple of pulse rifles, my bra and three hundred year old sauerkraut."
* * *
"The hypocrisy of your race astounds me," Lex circled the bench with the quivering mass upon it that had once been a proud Polian, stripped of her weapons, her limbs and all the other trappings that set her apart from the other races, she was nothing more than flesh, corrupted, tainted flesh, riddled with the disease of Organic Cognitive Malfunction.
He knelt beside her, the priest's collar the only mark of who and what he was, standing stark against his black shirt. He leaned close looking into her clouded purple eyes, "How any of you can claim to cling to a religion after executing your own gods." He gestured to where her bloodied surcloth hung suspended from one of the mechanical arms around the chamber, "The faith of the faithless. Like those that followed Lucifer's rebellion into hell you cling to the knowledge that once your gods loved you, and maybe they will one day forgive your sins."
He shook his head, "No, there is no redemption for the sins of your people, only damnation, and I am the instrument of that righteous judgement. You failed, three hundred years ago, to embrace the second coming of your gods, and their children, the human race, sought to punish you for that. But you were spared by providence, a three hundred year stay of execution. But that time has expired, and soon your people will be sent to join your gods, screaming eternally in oblivion."
He stood straightening up as he spun the baton through his hands. God had a plan for all things, even for him. God saw fit to permit the Polian's to cast down their false idols paving the road for his own, inevitable, rebirth. He saw fit to burn Skyella and over throw the corrupt Empire because they were not worth of his love. And so, when the time came for the reborn Emperor to call forth his champion, he had seen fit to reincarnate his most faithful of servants.
And he saw fit to reincarnate him because he was worthy.
Worth tested through the fires of loss. Suffering that had forged the soul and shaped his faith, burning away the delusions of the flesh and restoring a pure love. One that was clear in it's reasoning, and devoid of any taint.
Once the Polians were destroyed for their heresy, humanity would again be shown the path to enlightenment. And learn to embrace the wonderful, pure love achieved only through the suffering of fire.
Lex Talionis had been shown the path, and it would be so, on Earth as it was in the heavens.
* * *
"Commander," Hobbes was standing over by the doors to the kitchen, apart from the rest of the men, looking at Lauren a moment.
She crossed to join him, leaning against the broad counters, "What is it Sarge?" They were preparing to go, one of the injured crewmen loaded on a makeshift litter, the other two who could walk looked the worse for wear. Only Steves and Firlotte were unhurt apart from Lauren and Hobbes, and Firlotte wasn't exactly a reliable shot when it came to a fire fight.
Hobbes had removed his fatigue shirt and had slung his TAC-vest over his undershirt, the boonie hat on his head had been pulled from one of his many pockets, looking slightly ridiculous inside till she realized it was digital camouflage, with all the machines around, digital camouflage was probably their best defence, the disruptive patterns on it making it difficult for digital devices to distinguish it from background 'noise'.
"You know that if we make a break for the flight deck it's going to be a running fire fight," The veteran Marine looked grim, "You and I are the only two with assault rifles, our ammunition situation is low and the moment we pass under a security monitor we're going to have a mechanical army on our heels." He shifted uneasily, "Are you sure this is a good idea, ma'am?"
Lauren looked at the faces of the men, and over to the Assault Mech that Firlotte was bringing back online. With the injured and the Mech, any hope of a stealthy exit from the Battleship was a pipedream. Hobbes was right in his implied assessment of their chances.
"We don't have a choice, Sarge," Lauren pressed, "We can't sit here and hope for rescue, it's not coming. At least if we make a break for it, we have a chance, rather than sitting here waiting to die of starvation... or worse once this ship hits Arcanis."
"Right ma'am," Hobbes nodded, looking back at the doors, "We should get moving then."
Lauren took a deep breath and nodded her agreement, "Ezekiel?" She asked looking at the mech, "Can you take point."
The Mech inclined its head, moving forward awkwardly, compressing down as it opened the hatch and was the first into the hall. Lauren gave a final look to her crewmembers before she followed it out, keeping her Assault rifle up as they set out.
The Lex Talionis had undergone heavy modifications, large sections of bulkheads had been cut through, space was being dedicated to manufacturing processes as the Battleship built more armaments, cannibalising its now redundant crew sections and turning them into things he could use.
Ezekiel advanced quickly, decompressing in the larger hallway, and bounding forward on his three legs as his vicious tail swept too and fro, leading the way.
* * *
The security monitors trilled and beeped, screens lighting up around it as one by one darkness settled over video monitors replaced by static. Diagnostic routines identified the problem as being a hardware malfunction at the source of the transmission, however Lex examined the probability of all his internal security monitors malfunctioning systematically along a particular route.
He had rats in his walls.
Given their current position they posed no immediate threat to him. They were cut off from important sections of the ship due to his construction efforts. But he wasn't about to take chances. If they could be herded to a place where he could vent the decks to space...
That posed inherent problems to his shipboard operations. They were moving back along and under his primary superstructure, moving downwards. There were more direct routes to his engineering spaces, yet they seemed to be making for somewhere else, his auxiliary magazine had been bypassed altogether.
He could simply kill them.
His nano-bots in the section were feeding him data, a group of humans, the same ones that had been trapped inside the airlock, being led by a Karin Marine, a Human woman and the Assault Mech. Judging by the injuries and their lack of armaments they posed no real danger to him.
More cameras failed ahead of the party, and Lex re-analysed the footage. Darkness then static. Taine's assassin was onboard. Which left a high probability that Taine himself was on the ship.
He dispatched every spare drone he had to begin a bow to stern search. If Taine was on the ship then the escaping party was a decoy and the real danger lay elsewhere. It would take a lot of his resources, but so close to completing his mission he wasn't about to take chances. Common sense said to err on the side of caution and begin a systematic sweep of his shipboard systems.
* * *
The bridge across the open section cutting down five decks was little more than a single support beam that had once reinforced that section of deck. Beneath it machinery toiled over the latest batch of drones.
Lauren stepped to the edge and leaned over, swinging her rifle too and fro as she studied the eight-meter wide gap, too far to jump, and the machinery below was a long way down. She glanced up again and over at James who was standing on the far side.
"We can't get across with the stretcher," she said looking back at the unconscious crewman.
Hobbes was covering the rear, looked forward, "we could try rigging a rope and swinging it across..."
Ezekiel extended his large metal hand to close about the stretcher, his tail whipped up and over his head as the sharp barb impacted into the ceiling above He moved steadily on his metal pointed legs into the middle of the support beam, like a monkey, using his smaller secondary arms to keep him balanced on all fours he supported the stretcher in front of him and scuttled across setting the stretcher down and solving one of their problems.
Firlotte stuck his gun into his waistband, and swallowed, "I'll go next," he volunteered, treading carefully out onto the beam and swaying from side to side as he thrust his arms out to keep from falling. He took a couple of steps and tried to not look down, feeling the vertigo catch him as he took another step and slid...
Ezekiel shot out his hand, and caught the technician, lifting him up and onto the edge of the deck as Lauren moved next.
Years of Orion martial arts had taught her about balance, a low centre of mass gave her better balance and she bent her knees, bounding across the gap as she moved ahead a little ways, lifting her rifle to cover the far hall.
"How far are we?" she asked taking a second to wipe the sweat from her brow.
"We are close," James replied moving off again down the corridor and vanishing again into the shadows.
"Thanks," Lauren murmured dryly, "That was a lot of help."
Hobbes was last across the bridge, coming to rest beside her as his square jaw clenched and unclenched a few times, "There's no sign of the UGLY's not since the exodus."
The exodus had been observed when they had cut across the upper catwalks of one of the main cargo bays. A large group of UGLYs had marched out beneath them, heading for the bow of the ship. It was inexplicable, like migrating birds, but Hobbes was right, there were no indications of the UGLY's after that point.
"We have to keep moving, hope that what ever it is keeps them busy for awhile." Lauren was up again, giving the signal to move out.
Hobbes chewed his lip again looking back behind him into the depths of the ship, his unease growing.
* * *
The airlock that would open out onto the broad flight deck of the Battleship stood sealed before them. Lauren standing beside the observation window looking out at the Polian Gunship sitting at rest amidst machinery that was silent and still.
A triad of drone fighters hovered over the gunship, spinning out on a long patrol up and down the flight deck, pausing to circle past the windows as Lauren drew back to the shadows of a bulkhead.
"A short space walk," Hobbes observed, "Fighting off those things." He set his pulse rifle down on the deck, "And we aren't equipped for EVA combat."
"You always this negative?" Lauren asked trying to think, reflecting on what it would take to go that last, short distance across the open deck.
"We have spacesuits," Firlotte clambered up the small ladder and poked his head into the observation room, "there's an emergency locker with a bunch, looks like the ones the crew would have used for flight ops."
"That's at least a plus," Lauren rubbed her hands over her eyes, "Plus we have pulse rifles, they aren't dependant on chemical reactions so should be able to fire outside an atmosphere."
"You want to shoot down combat drones with pulse rifles?" Hobbes folded his arms, "It's going to take a lot more than that to..." he stopped when he saw Firlotte's face, "What?"
"Something like that maybe?" Firlotte hopped up and pointed out of the window towards the point defence turret sitting guarding the port side of the flight deck underneath one of the CIWS maser-cannons. "The Flak guns have no ammo, but the close in weapon system's an auto-maser. Like an Imperial sentry gun just... designed to fight of missile attacks and to swat fighters that get too close."
"So?" Hobbes asked, "You're planning to seize control and use it on the drones?"
"Well they aren't that dissimilar from sentry guns, they operate independently when activated. All we have to do is turn it on and get it to think the Drones are hostiles, sever its contact with the bridge and make a run for it..."
Lauren smiled at him, "I love you," she said sincerely, causing him to blush to the very tips of his freckles. "Get to work, once we're good to go, we'll make a break for it. Use Ezekiel to lure the drones into that cannon's range while we run for that ship."
* * *
Ezekiel stood watch while they discussed their strategy, unaware of the microscopic nano-bots slipping up and 'nesting' inside his chest cavity. Others moved down to his TAC-link transceiver, seeing the severed cables that Firlotte had cut to ensure that Ezekiel wouldn't receive any more broadcasts from the Lex Talionis, the nano-bots forming a bridge of their bodies, locking into place as they connected the severed wires and re-established contact with the TAC-link.
The micro-burst transmission was received and processed. The onboard AI of the assault mech ill equipped to fight a second infection. Lex Talionis stretched his control through the Mech, and coiled tightly biding his time.
* * *
The CWIS swung, weapons free, as it rotated on its turret, tracking the three targets swinging about for another pass over the deck on their regular patrol. The hatch sliding open as the Assault mech bounded outside, drawing their attention.
Curving, the drones screamed into a power dive towards the target, oblivious to the danger they were in as the CWIS spun the gatling barrels of its auto-maser, hurling purplish bolts of energy to carve the lead drone to pieces, as the other two broke wide.
"Go!" Lauren ordered, heading out onto the deck, watching through the helmet of her spacesuit, as she lifted her Pulse rifle to give them some cover fire.
Firlotte hurried across the deck, glad of the gravity field that extended out across the flight deck enabling flight operations. He ducked down beside one of the large machines, bounding up and running for the open hatch door, gripping his pistol as he watched the drones coming in for another attack run.
Alert lights were flashing inside windows as Lex identified the threat and responded. Around the ship his drone hatches were springing open as he launched more drones. If they didn't hurry...
The stretcher came next, Steve helping them get the injured up and aboard as quickly as he could, giving a thumbs up as he got into the airlock, Hobbes and Lauren falling back steadily as the Assault Mech Ezekiel bounded back towards them, un hindered by his missing limb he ran with surprising agility, careening past them to crash inside the hatch seconds later, compressing down to make room.
Lauren fired again, watching the drones pick off the CWIS turret, shooting the mount as they turned their attention towards the gunship.
"In!" Hobbes yelled through the helmet radio, pushing her into the hatch as he backed in behind her, the black and red armour plates interlocking as the hatch cycled closed on them.
Behind them the inner hatch pressurized and opened, as a thud echoed through the ship.
"Bridge..." Lauren ran forward and stopped, looking about her, "Everyone fan out... head up!"
Firlotte blinked as he looked about him, not exactly sure what they were supposed to do once they found it, but... he followed Lauren a way, in towards the centreline of the ship, pointing to a small personal elevator next to a ladder, "Found the Gangway!"
Lauren, not even bothering to remove her helmet sprinted up the ladder, climbing towards the top, as the pair spilled into what appeared to be the inside of a fishes skull, translucent fish bones, with seeping energies flowing up and down them.
Lauren turned, looking at the single chair, what had Elias told her about flying Polian ships... three handed controls... she didn't see any. All she saw was a chair.
She shrugged and jumped into it, touching a glowing ball on the right arm rest, praying that there was something there that would...
Displays sprang up about her, engine flow charts, tactical displays showing the drones that were making another strafing run as more swept down on them. She pushed forward on the ball, feeling the ship move under her, stroking the ball she gained a feel and reached out to tap something that she guessed would have been a throttle on an Imperial ship.
Shivering the Gunship's outrigger drives flexed as it sprang off of the deck and streaked away from the Imperial Battleship as fast as it could. Behind it the drones peeled off from their pursuit, buzzing like disturbed bees around the ship, settling as the gunship ran for deep space.