It was a strange request, a single emitter photon lance to be repurposed as a long range teleporter. With this ridiculous idea we could kidnap anyone we wanted, but Illuminaire Deryvich only wanted one. "Keep the signal nice and tight, only fire within atmo range. A breach could have serious consequences to the magnetosphere and, these are still my people. No matter who now claims to own this world." Personal requests and the authority to make them don't come often.
I sighed to suppress a shiver, this was entirely illegal. Most of us had doubles living our lives to keep off the attention, it was that kind of deal. The frigate Isanora dipped further towards the atmosphere at speed, ready to deploy the lances' relay package beneath the atmo bubble. "Sweep undetected Captain" called my nav officer. I nodded, we increased dip. The package carried by the launch and matching the increase due to inertia reduction, still aligned. Success chance was low of course, but given the sudden and violent change of power at Arcadys central command on Belichatl, Deryvich was most concerned about what he couldn't replace or rebuild.
"Our firing array is on target" "Make sure the relay team are in sync, I want them calling back after every check" "if we crap this up we could destroy the ecosystem here." The bridge was abuzz with communication, we've done operations like this, but they were offensive strikes. In some way it needs the same surgical care, but we're not your go to evac team. With a relay in deteriorating orbit, we don't have time to even be sure. "Be ready to fire in two minutes" said Usid, Phorus grade operations assistant AI. "Obstruction to target highly probable, consider frontloading lance shot on activation" croaked the almost realistic sounding voice, like an audio glitch that was engineered to speak words. "72%". "Your orders Captain?" said my NCO, almost softly. A frontloaded lance shot will certainly kill the first thing it hits and most probably cascade over a wide area if it hits the dirt, but if there is indeed something in the way our target is dead.
I regret not bringing that bottle of Eykyon vintage with me. "With faith in our divine objective and in service to those willing to reach it, we shall trust Usids' prediction and load the shot" I put my hand over my heart for good measure, mostly to stop the shaking. May the Ascendant forgive me if I am wrong.
-------
To hell with it, a tide by turn is the only way. Back to the blasted shores of Ixana, "let the farken dragin have it, we just need ta land" I grumbled. The las cut deep into my shoulder, my arm felt likes it was hanging off the bone. Couldn't feel a thing, that pilot had good shite. Whoever he was. I avoided plugging into the console in case some shitted admin was connected to the other end and switched to manual control. As clearly as I could manage, set the course map to the sea level, slowly dipping the axis til the wing tapped the water and bumped up again. "Time for the plunge girl" I slammed the axial controls to one side, the ship made one creak in protest before we were all launched 90o degrees into the wall. The screech of the wing in the water discernible to probably even the other helios'. It was rattling hard oh damn, the inertia pressing me to the pilot chair was the only thing keeping me from bein'o ragdoll. At least that should stop them shooters cutting up this airship any more. As if that made a difference now.
As I managed to get the dying bird around, off the side view Evac 4 exploded. Lascannon trail following in wake, the size of a siege mortar variant. We just missed the anti dragon kill zone, that means military encirclement. "I'm actually gonna die here eh?" I groaned. I pulled the wing slowly out 'o the water while we were turning, to avoid mishaps like it breaking off and us all plunging at 400 km/h into an unbroken water surface. Startin to pant now, like it was hard to breathe. Didn even wanna look at my shoulder. Tenderised barbecue meat. Still, the wing came out only a little worse for wear. And we was heading back to the jaws we ran from. Crack, fark I forgot to seal the cargo doors.
-------
Ihulandril is said to mummify users from the inside out, from what I can tell it's probably true. I'm down to crawling now, already reached the jungle but the dragon has given up on Garret. The next point of interest is... me. It's enough to make me hurry, dragging my now useless arm on weak limbs. Yet I would have collapsed a long time ago if not for the knowledge of where to place my knees and palm to efficiently use my energy and speed. By all means, I shouldn't have gotten this far. Still, this was agony. I dribbled another stream of blood welling in my mouth, from who knows where. There's nowhere to go, but I keep pushing deeper into the canopy. Hoping at least the frustration of having to knock all the trees down will deter the dragon, although they're nothing like the great trees of a deep Arcadiesian jungle. They're thin, forlorn hopes. Sometimes they're all you have.
In a detached way, I could tell my mental degradation by the amount of times I tried to lift my dead arm on instinct. To swat a bug or ease my other, less aching arm. The deep dark green of my light armour muddied into some kind of maroon, a visual reminder for reality in my increasing delirium. The thumps as the dragon adjusts its' priorities haunting me, drumming into my head more than I was hearing it now, it was real enough. Marching a colossal pace I could not match. I keep pushing ahead in my awkward, slouchy drag. Somehow without having tripped or misstepped. 'Yet', I think as again I try to hit a leed off my face while it moves to bury into my flesh, with the wrong arm. All I have are the moments with me now, may the Ascendant guide me in salvation.
------
"May the Ascendant guide us in salvation" Chanted in unison. A sort of ritual here on the Isonara, some of us aren't particularly devout, but faith brings comfort given the circumstance. "Begin firing sequence" I called. The quiet focus of the bridge could drill holes in asteroids of rare ore, I pity the trespasser who disturbs them now. And myself included, I watched on, giving quiet confirmation where my permission was needed. This was the most delicate thing we've ever done, more precious than a newborn. A crescendo of sorts welling in the atmosphere as each division confirmed their end of the proceedings, each step closer to the inevitable cliff of flight or fall. I knew better than to think my place was above the whole. "Captain, surface scans indicate leviathan class entity moving rapidly upon target, it is unclear if it will reach the destination before we fire" said the sensors chief. I nodded again, that 72% at least had a face to it now. "We proceed as planned then." I said rather uselessly, we can't recant the lance charging.
The sensor ops frowned, as if he just saw something else. "There may also be a smaller entity, could be part of the unit our target was in." Now I frowned, "do we know if the frontloading covers two targets?" I queried Usid. "Captain Refic, a photon lance must be tuned to the specific task for each firing sequence. It will not operate beyond our parameters" sounded off Usid, like distorted gravel. Could the 72% chance be actually a near certainty with the dragon, and more variable with this factor? I shook my head. I wonder what even dictates these chances...
-------
Those farken gun monkeys managed to crawl up to the staff hall, ain't brought the ship guns wit' em but they out number me 3-1. And they're right outside the cockpit.
-------
Update #4 Part 1
To be cont.
Auth note:
Apologies for the massive wait, had to draft up what I was going to be doing at the end here and how I was going to start incorporating greater lore elements to "make it make sense".
I knew what I wanted, but getting there was becoming a slog. And if it is for me, it will certainly be one for you.
So I took the time to make it a bit better.
There isn't much else to say other than I have a cohesive way to end this, but doing the busy work to get there that doesn't mean writing "and x did this and this and this, ok now y is doing this and said this and I feel this way, ok /scene change/" is probably the most important part. That takes focus, so it'll be getting that.
Expect the final part soontm. Thanks to all for reading this far. I'm grateful.