Death is merely the restoration of the perfect order.
Life, by its very nature, is chaos.
Parkins Industrial Truck - outskirts of Blackburn Hamlet
One crouched, resting back on its haunches testing the air, its radio antenna twitching as it searched for Military radio signals. Two was up on the hood of the truck, its metal feet clanking as it shifted its position to scan across the small vale and the clustered farm houses for any sign of their prey.
A short beep on the radio indicated that Three and Four had reached their positions at different points around the Hamlet, high vantage points that would allow Lex Talionis's drones the opportunity to triangulate their targets.
Five and Six were slinking in for a closer inspection, laying in wait, just in case something went awry. They moved through the snow, keeping low to the ground, ignoring the startled Woolocks that careened in a herd to avoid the malevolent machines in their fields.
The TAC-link transceiver atop the Black Tower activated for a few seconds, sending a request signal to the Excalibur. The Command Carrier's relay networks processed the communications request and accessed the Karin communications network, linking to form a communications channel.
* * *
Lieutenant Galadriel had just managed to get to sleep, blissfully dreaming of coarse farmer's hands on her supple skin... A dream that was interrupted by the TAC-link on her bedside table beeping intermittently.
Groaning to herself, she reached out and fumbled for it. Feeling across the chest beside her, she idly thought about just ignoring it and going back to her rather enjoyable vacation.
It was probably someone on the Excalibur forgetting that there were at least seven hours difference between her and them, and trying to get her attention for some mundane and stupid thing. She lifted the slender, pen- sized device and pressed the button.
"I'm here..." she murmured, feeling Lieutenant Ryerson wake up and curl against her under the sheets. She blushed as she pressed back against him.
The trilling squawk of a computer, attempting to send data over an audio channel forced her to pull her ear away, "Ow!" she murmured rubbing her head as she pulled the TAC-link back to look at it disgruntled, "Stupid thing!" she turned it off and turned over, pulling the covers up and over her head as she felt Ben leaning in to kiss along her exposed shoulder.
* * *
One processed the information fed to it by Three and Four, triangulating the location of the signal to a large farmhouse towards the opposite edge of the Hamlet. Weighing the tactical options available to the drones, one had to consider that they were a formidable pack of hunters, but they lacked any kind of ranged combat capability. That meant they had to close as quietly as they could and take the farm by surprise.
Two leapt down from the hood of the truck, padding through the snow as its armour-plated body compressed, keeping it low to the ground. One skulked along after it, circling around to link up with Four, while Three covered the opposite flank.
Creeping down the hill from the main road where the abandoned truck still purred, One tested the snowcovered gravel, its passive radar tracking the nocturnal creatures that were shifting through the small woods to its right, Eyeing the mechanical beasts warily as they circled the village that slumbered late into the night.
There were few signs of the earthquake that had devastated much of the southern continent, the epicentre a good two hundred miles away from the vale. Lex Talionis reviewed the data from the orbital satellites and he made certain that it posed no threat to his hunting operation. The irregularities with the tectonic plates were almost imperceptible to anyone who had never witnessed an Imperial planet buster before. Lex Talionis , however, was intimately familiar with the weapons.
Charges designed to bore down through the outer crust of a planet and detonate, creating an artificial earthquake of great destruction. The damage patterns he was observing were consistent with the destruction caused by one such weapon being used. Some one had decided to 'create' a natural disaster. Lexfiled that tid-bit of information away, certain he knew exactly who was responsible for the catastrophe.
Rikard would pay for that... in time.
One pounced up onto a hay bale, as Two slinked around a truck, one of its slender claws, razor sharp, slid into the tires, pulling out again as the truck sank with a hiss into the snow. Four, moving cautiously on point , tested the open patch of gravel that led to the farmhouse.
Lieutenant Galadriel was in there, and she was the one that Rikard was hunting. That made her important to the Peligian puzzle. Lexwould ensure that piece was removed long before Rikard could ever make use of it.
Three and Five were around the front of the house, Five climbing up onto the porch, the small mechanical beast rising up onto its hind legs as its photo-receptors peered in through the windows, into the darkness of the house. It was as still as it should be.
One advanced next, bounding hurriedly across the open yard, sliding to a halt beside the storm cellar doors, its tool arm swinging out as the drill whined removing screws around the padlock.
* * *
Galadriel gasped as he entered her again, her hands curling around Ben's back as her hips rose to meet his. Hearing the whine of something, she turned her head.
"W-what was that?" She asked, shaking her head still trying to wake up fully.
Ryerson stopped and listened. "Power drill," he responded leaning forward to go deeper, then he stopped, "At four a.m.?"
Galadriel rolled out from under him and walked to the window, twitching back the curtain as she glanced down, not seeing anything. The yard was dark. Nothing seemed amiss. Maybe it was just one of the Ryerson boys getting an early start, like Ben had...
Ben pulled his service automatic out of its holster as he pulled on his pants.
"That's a bit drastic," Galadriel replied, and suddenly realized she was feeling uneasy as well. He held up her gun, and waited patiently as she got dressed as well. A soft creaking came from downstairs.
She blinked as she pulled her jacket on over her nightgown and trousers, had they not been... she would never have heard it. Someone was in the house, and making sure they were quiet. She pulled her TAC-link from her pocket.
"Excalibur?" she called into it quietly.
There was a fizz of static. That was all the confirmation she needed. She pulled her gun out and chambered a round.
"This is your house." She looked to Ryerson.
"There's only the one set of stairs..." Ryerson hissed back at her, looking to the window that opened out onto the roof of the porch.
Galadriel shook her head, lifting her pistol to cover the door, "On three." She said calmly.
Ryerson tensed, his hand on the door handle, waiting as she mouthed the numbers. On three he pulled open the door, stepping clear of Galadriel's line of fire and bringing his own pistol up to cover the other end of the landing.
The metallic creature swung its head up from the stairs, bounding up as the first shot rang out. The bullet dented the thick, red painted armour of the beast as it bounded forward again, ignoring the three other shots Galadriel pumped into it, her eyes going wide as Ryerson kicked the door closed.
The door frame shuddered from the impact. Karin oak was solid, but it wouldn't hold for long. Ryerson picked up a chair and broke the window, clearing the glass as he turned back to the door, firing a couple of shots of his own into the door, knowing it wouldn't do any good against the assault mech.
"Go," he yelled at Galadriel, covering her as she put her bare feet out of the window, flinching against the glass and snow, but they didn't have time, she stepped out the window and immediately slipped.
Ryerson grabbed her before she went off the edge, wrestling her up with him as the door to their room splintered and the assault mech sprang into the room. Bounding towards the window it crashed into the frame there, too big to get out of the window itself, it clawed for the pair of Imperial officers as they ran for the far end of the porch.
"We have to..." Ryerson stopped on the edge of the porch, staring down at the three other mechs that were bucking and nudging each other, waiting for the pair to jump from the roof into their midst.
Galadriel clung to Ryerson's arm as she stared down at the trio, then back at the one still scrabbling to get out of the house. "We're cut off..." She murmured.
Ryerson bit his lip, looking too and fro across the yard. The Dragonfly was on the lee side of the barn, where he had been told to leave it, but there was no way to reach it, not with the Mechs.
The shotgun blast caused the mech in the house to pull back. Another shot, followed by the distinctive pump action, repeating the shot again, as a last, terminal shot rang out. Ryerson's father Teav leaning out of the window, pulling himself out to walk along the roof. The coarse man was wearing his wife's robe and slippers, but the shot gun put any doubts about his masculinity to rest as he leaned over and pumped another shot into the head of one of mech on the ground, felling the beast, and causing the last two to scatter.
"Buck shot?" Ben asked.
Teav looked in disgust at his son, "You've been on that ship of yours too long. That's a twelve gauge slug." He pulled some more shells out of the pocket of the fluffy pink robe loading the magazine tube again.
"Make a break for your ship, and I'll keep you covered." He nodded to the Dragonfly's engine cowlings that were poking up above the roof of the Barn.
Ryerson tugged the remote key for the Dragonfly from the pocket of his trousers and nodded, licking his lips as he took a running jump, rolling into the snow as he came up, turning as one of the Mechs made a bull-like rush from the shadows.
Teav dropped it with two rapid-fire shots. The older Ryerson nodded to Galadriel with a smile, "Miss," as he bobbed his head.
"Thanks," she replied, taking a running jump, almost straight into Ryerson's arms. As the two made a break for the ship, she realized that Ryerson hadn't let go of her hand as they ran, sliding around in the snow and running towards the back ramp, Ryerson pushing the button for the ramp to open.
Behind them they heard the crash of splintering wood, and the sound of the shotgun firing again, followed by a sharp blood-curdling scream...
Ryerson stopped.
"We have to go!" Galadriel insisted, pulling him now by the hand towards the open ramp, the two running up and into the body of the craft, Ryerson punching the door mechanism as she ran forward into the cockpit. Turning on the ships drives, she wished she had enough time for a proper pre-flight as she applied power to the modified thrustlifter's solid state boosters causing the ship to shudder as it rose. Tilting as its drives roared, the thrust lifter swinging about, the engine wash caught the barn as it tore corrugated steel off of the roof.
Ryerson slipped into the rear console and powered up the auto cannons, while Galadriel brought the Dragonfly in over the darkened yard, cursing when she saw the porch had collapsed, a blood smear and one of the damnable Mechs twitching as it looked up at them...
The cannons spat at it, the heavy weapons fire gunning down the mech where it stood. Ryerson fell back into his chair shaking, "Take us down..."
Galadriel nodded, reaching out to power the drives for a landing, flicking the switch. Nothing happened, she flicked it again, and turned back to look at the engineering board. "I can't shut down the drives..." she blinked as she watched the green lights on the engineering board turn to red.
The thrustlifter catapulted itself skywards, the engines engaging at maximum thrust as it barrelled out of control towards the sky. The engines flickering and spluttering as the ship shuddered dropping back down towards the planet.
Galadriel had enough time to scream before the thrustlifter crashed to the ground, slamming into the asphalt of the Hamlet's main road, ploughing up snow and debris as it rolled end over end, skipping like a rock to crash into the arena.
* * *
She hurt, suspended upside down by the safety harness, the shattered cockpit window in front of her, shaking her head unsure of how long she had been unconscious. Her head was swimming through a foggy haze of blood and hair. She did the only thing she could think of doing; she released the harness, crashing to the ceiling painfully.
The thrustlifter had crashed through the ceiling of the arena, its nose sitting amidst debris from the crash at centre ice. And she tried to stand, wondering what had happened, when she looked back around for Ryerson.
The entire right side of the command gondola had torn off when the gondola had separated from the main body of the ship. She picked her way through the ruin trying to hold onto something as she stepped down onto the ice, her bloodied, bare feet finding no purchase as she slipped.
The upper section of the thrustlifter had tangled in the strong support girders, holding the arena's roof aloft. It groaned and shifted as one of the damaged lights tore free of the crumbling ceiling crashing into the penalty box, and exploding into shards of glass and wood.
Galadriel cringed, watching the old ship over her head tilt and sway, the ceiling grinding threateningly under the weight of the heavy blockade runner. She tried to get to her feet, wincing in pain as she managed to slip again, trying to find some way to stand up as a clanking whirr caught her ears.
It rose from behind the upside down command gondola, limping on a shattered hind leg as its cracked photo-receptor rotated, looking down at her. Shifting its weight as it moved again, the cracked jump pod of the Dragonfly sparking, it rested one of its clawed hands upon it. The rust red paint was peeled and scratched, but the Parkins Industrial logo was still crisp and clear.
Galadriel shivered, cold, wet, injured and bloody as she tried to back away from the metallic beast. Somewhere in the crash she'd lost her pistol, not that it would do her any good. She had no way to run, and no way to fight.
The mech jumped down off of the Dragonfly, hitting the ice as its limbs tried to keep their balance. The metallic legs slid in opposite directions as the Mech crashed to the ice, its damaged back end sliding around behind it.
Galadriel threw herself to her feet, slipping again but dropping to her knees as she skid away trying to get to the boards and something she would at least be able to hold onto.
Behind her the mech planted both of its forward legs, forcibly driving its claw points into the ice as it forced itself upwards again. Keeping a low centre of mass as it lifted one of its feet and drove it home, slowly but surely beginning to make its way after her.
She gasped, getting up again as she finally hit the boards, turning behind her as above the thrustlifter shifted again, another larger section of the roof began to cave inwards, the roof crumpling like tinfoil as iron, steel and cement plunged downwards smashing the far end. She didn't have time. The whole place was going to come down on top of her.
She looked for Ben, then back at the Mech, still steadily and single-mindedly coming after her. She felt along the boards until she found the gate, hammering on it, looking back desperately, leaning down to slip her fingers through the boards to feel the catch, collapsing on the other side onto solid ground.
She ran round behind the goal, looking down the access tunnel, past a bulky wheeled vehicle, towards a garage door, flinching as the Mech easily shattered the glass partition between her and it. The mech pulled itself up and over onto the solid ground, as behind it, the wreckage of the Dragonfly and most of the ceiling caved inwards, exploding violently as the Dragonfly's fuel ignited on the jump pods.
The Mech coiled, shifting its weight from side to side, jumping forward to pin her to the ground, the Photoreceptor descending to look into her face, as behind it the area burned.
Galadriel shook with fear, staring into that cold blue orb, finding a sudden, calm strength. She'd faced down Rikard on the Excalibur. What was the worst the mech could do, kill her? She stopped shaking, and drew her head back, spitting into the receptor.
Lex Talionis's orders to the mech were swift, sharp and absolute.
* * *
Darien sagged, holding onto the back of the Excalibur's command chair. The words had hit him like a cold cudgel. He curled his head against the back of the headrest, his grip tightening on the coarse blue material, as he felt and shared his anguish with the Excalibur.
He fought to stand; his eyes burning with unshed tears as he looked at the ashen faces of his officers. Mayfair, Shale and Durnham. Shale looked grim, as Commander Durnham fidgeted. Mayfair, who had received the news through the Imperial TAC-net sat down heavily in the Conn chair.
"We..." he started to say, knowing that his words would be inadequate.
Darien tried to steady his breathing as he struggled to find something to say, anything to say. "W- we have to..." he turned away biting his lip, and as he turned back said, "We have to..." his voice shaking as he sank into the command chair.
"...bury our dead again," Mayfair said tiredly from his chair, "Lick our bloody wounds and bury our bloody dead. Why did they target them?"
Darien opened his eyes and looked up. "Me," he said calmly. "They had to know how close she was to me, working on the Peligian data..."
"But why kill her?" Mayfair replied. "If Lauren did turn on us, and they wanted this Peligian bullshit, why did they kill the only person, other than you, that can make sense out of it?"
"They were trying to kill both of us," Darien surmised, "To ensure no one knew how to come after them. That's the only thing I can see. That, or it was revenge..."
"Five custom built assault Mechs?" Mayfair replied, "The only thing I've ever seen build anything of that level of sophistication was Excalibur..."
"Lex Talionis," Commander Durnham said softly, "If he had control of the Ezekiel unit, then he probably knew how to duplicate them, utilizing what he had on hand... That still doesn't explain why."
"Because he's a goddamn psychopath just like Kardiac?" Mayfair was angry, and it bled into his words. "What the hell do we do now?"
"What we always do," Darien responded bitterly. "We take it. We take it and take it and take it, until we get so sick of taking it we start doing something about it." He turned his head to Mayfair, "I need you... I need you to find Lauren. Have the Marine Battalion scour the city, find her." He looked over at Shale, "Secure the Matriarch and Walker von Karin. Use the Fida'i and keep them safe." He swung the chair a little to face commander Durnham. "Rikard has an FTL transmitter and the capacity to mimic people on this ship, tear apart every blind spot on this ship until you find and destroy it."
"Sir!" The trio saluted setting off to their designated tasks, while Darien sat on the silent bridge, staring at the sun beginning to break on the horizon, leaning back into his chair, pulling out VonGrippen's pocket watch and flipping it open to stare at the cracked dial. 7:11 of the first. He turned the heavy piece of silver over in his hands, tapping it to his lips.