Today the bigger battleships could be equipped with a wide array of orbital bombardment. Robin was far from an expert in this field but he knew at least a handful of different bombs they could throw at them, from bunker busters and EMP-blasts to devastating wide-area shellfire.
While Proto was shouting one warning after another and Happy steered them towards the nebulous area in a zigzag course, Robin tried to guess what the enemy was using. Orbital strikes were hardly your first choice if you wanted to take out a ship as agile as the Stride mid-flight. There was a high chance the strike would miss and they were too far above the ground to get caught up in the following explosion, no matter how big it was.
A flash zapped across the screen that simulated the front window, tearing him out of his thoughts, and before he could understand what that had been, the remains of a distant shockwave shook their ship. Only seconds later did he hear the rumbling of an explosion.
“Fuck!” he cursed, “Happy! If they hit us with one of those, we’re toast!”
Another explosion shook the ship.
“I’m on it!” She cursed through gritted teeth.
Robin clenched his fists and adrenaline flooded his body as panic began to rise. He had made a mistake, underestimated the enemy’s will to hunt them down.
He rubbed his painfully throbbing head just as another flash appeared. The missiles or whatever that was were so fast, he couldn’t see a thing. No way Happy could evade them, she only could make them harder to hit by flying unpredictable.
- Beware of incoming missiles!
- Threshold reached
- Heating is at 117% and falling
Proto stopped the warning.
“Ang’Tue!” the AI shouted, “I need greater scanning range!”
“On it!”
Again the rumble of an explosion could be heard. Robin hadn’t seen a flash, maybe it had been too fast or passed behind the Stride. It didn’t matter, only that it had missed them was relevant.
“Hang on, temperature is rapidly dropping. Maybe 30 seconds left…” Robin reported. But he knew that it was way too long. With strikes coming at them every few seconds, it was only a matter of time before one would hit.
“Niu, evade the red lines!” Proto shouted as thick red lines were projected into the image on the screen, reaching from the sky above all the way to the ground. There were little timers attached and Robin gulped down when he saw that even the longest was below four seconds.
Yet, for Niu this was more than enough to get back at least some kind of control over their hasty escape as she made the Stride weave between the indicators of certain death.
She managed to dodge nine more strikes before the temperature dropped below the threshold and the bombardment stopped. They were only seconds away from the cloudy region which would provide additional cover.
A suspenseful quiet hung in the room as Happy brought them towards the fog, jerking the ship from left to right to make them a harder target to hit.
Before Robin could let go of the breath he held, Proto shouted another quick warning.
“One more. Behind. Will miss.”
“Why…–”
Robin couldn’t even wonder about that last strike from above when an explosion hit them and catapulted the entire ship forward. The artificial gravity instantly failed as they tumbled through the air.
The crew was secured in their seats, but the spinning ship made it impossible to tell up from down. Proto shouted something but Robin couldn’t hear it properly while he was thrown back and forth in his chair. He caught a glimpse of the rapidly approaching ground on the screen, before it only showed him the sky above again.
A heavy jolt went through the ship, strong enough to push the air out of his lungs and painfully press him into his seat but not strong enough to be the result of an impact on the ground.
“Ship stabilized.” Proto reported, “I remain in control of the Stride for now as the vital signs of the crewmembers aren’t looking good. You are under immense stress, please calm your racing hearts, take slow breaths and soothe your minds. The danger is over, no one was injured and the ship is still intact.”
For a long while a heavy silence hung in the room while Proto steered the ship in slow, wide circles through the nebula. It was actually Krez who spoke up first.
“Wow.” mocked the wolf-kin, “That is your definition of a miss, AI?”
“It was a miss.” Proto defended, “If it had been a hit, we would hardly be having this discussion.”
Krez grunted in annoyance but didn’t argue, “You are completely crazy, all of you!”
“What happened?” Robin asked, ignoring the Zulbano.
“They used different ammunition for that last strike. It missed but they remotely detonated its load right as it passed us. That’s why we were thrown forward.”
“Thanks for taking over and saving my ass!” Niu muttered dejectedly.
“Don’t feel bad,” Alena said, “Without your excellent skills, we would be dead now.”
“She’s right.” Ang’Tue agreed, “You did an awesome job keeping us alive.”
Robin only listened with half an ear. He was busy checking the ship’s status in his Interface. He had called up the full visualization of the Relentless Stride and frowned at the coloration of the rear part.
While, to his surprise, most of the ship was still marked in green, the two legs in the back and a small part of the main hull were blinking, switching between green and orange.
“What is this about, Proto?” he asked.
“You mean the status?” It asked and Robin nodded, getting the attention of the others, “It alternates between green and orange, green means the ship’s hull has actually taken no damage at all.”
“Wow, despite that blast? Amazing!” Ang’Tue marveled and Robin could only agree.
“Yes, but we lost a huge chunk of our armor.” Proto explained, “That’s what the orange light is for.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Damn, you mean we’re vulnerable from now on?” Alena growled in annoyance.
“If the ship remains like this, yes. But do not worry too much. I hadn’t realized it before, but it seems like the Relentless Stride has some kind of active defense as well. The blast should have done much more damage than this, but at the last moment the ship automatically ejected the threatened parts of its armor. My first analysis indicates that it fired the armor plates off to somehow reduce the strength of the blast. I’ll run a few computations and see if I can learn more.” Proto said, “But the important part right now is that the plates can be reattached. We have about 500 replacements stored in the armory and I think the drone should be able to fix the ship when we get out of the atmosphere.”
“What an interesting defense mechanism.” Robin marveled and at the same time his heart stung. Even if they could repair the armor, they only had a limited number of plates. They had to be much more careful from now on.
“If we have time, we could pick up the ejected plates to minimize the strain on our stock.” Proto added, “I detect 326 signals from the surface below us. Since we lost 361 plates, I think it is safe to assume that those are the ones still left and functional.”
“Wow!” Happy gasped, “That is crazy! Let’s go!”
“Wait.” Robin raised a hand to calm her excitement, “One step at the time. We should discuss our next steps before making rash decisions.”
“You’re right, that was quite the wake-up call just now.” Happy nodded with a bashful smile.
“Yeah, but to be honest, I think we did quite well in this battle until now.” Alena shrugged, “That these freaks would begin orbital bombardment is hardly something we could have predicted.”
“Okay, first things first. We are still alive and have dealt massive damage to the enemy. We should contact the Eltaran to learn how their assault went but before we are lending them another hand I would like to prioritize the Stride’s repair above anything else.” Robin said, giving Ang’Tue an apologetic look, “Sorry mate.”
“No, it’s the right decision. This ship is your… our lifeline. We already have helped the Eltaran big time.” The old man said with an honest nod and Robin was sure he really meant it.
‘I’ve found the right people…’ he thought and a warm smile bloomed on his face.
“Why don’t we split up?” Alena suggested and the others all gave her strange looks, “What? I suggest Happy remains on the ship with Proto and leaves the planet to start the repairs in space. The others are going to the waystation. Robin and Ang’Tue can connect with the Eltaran while Krez and I borrow a truck from them and head back here to collect the plates.”
“That’s… not too bad.” Robin agreed, “We should talk to Mul’Jin first to make sure the fight is over. But if she gives green light, I think we could follow through with this.”
When the others all nodded and Proto also had no objections, he quickly opened a channel to the colony’s leader. The woman not only confirmed that the fighting had ended but even reported that the remaining troops from the enemy were retreating. Robin made her inform her people before he cut the connection and Happy brought them down in front of the valley’s entry.
As soon as Robin, Ang’Tue, Alena and Krez left the ship, the Relentless Stride took off again and vanished into the thick fog.
“Stay safe!” Robin sent his last message before the ship was too far away and the comm closed.
Looking around, he needed a moment to collect himself. They stood in the remains of the battlefield. Dozens of wrecks and destroyed buildings were scattered around everywhere. Sadly he could see a few dead Eltarans between all the concrete rubble and metal as well.
They walked around huge craters and burning remains until they reached the two shielded towers where a group of soldiers waited for them.
“Greetings, friends from afar!” The man leading the small party greeted them with a deep bow. Like his three companions, he wore a military suit that seemed to be armored. It was colored in a mixture of various earth-colored patches, similar to UAS camouflage and adjusted to the rocky area of the valley.
“Thank you for–” the man stopped as the words remained stuck in his throat. He needed a moment before he continued.
“What is one of these creatures doing here?” He stammered with a mix of anger and fear in his voice.
It wasn’t difficult to guess who he meant. While they all wore the same black combat suit, only Krezolgok was missing the helmet with the opaque visor to hide his face. Before Robin could speak up for the Zulbano who became a part of his crew - willingly or not - Ang’Tue beat it to him and opened his visor. With his three eyes he angrily glared at the group of Eltarans.
“This is how you welcome those that have put their life on the line to save your skin just moments ago? With prejudice and distrust?” The old man growled and he spat at the ground, “I brought these people here to help you… to help my folk. This is not the hospitality I had promised them!”
“I… We…” The man stuttered, visibly unsure how to react.
“Stop making a fool out of yourself!” Ang’Tue cut him short, “I’m Elder Ang’Tue and councilwoman Mul’Jin was informed about the friends I’m traveling with, all of them.”
The man’s eyes went wide and he bowed again, his companions following suit.
“Elder! I apologize!” He said and turned to Krez, “This rude one is Hal’Neg, second in command of this waystation. I welcome you to our valley and apologize for the offense.”
Krez grunted in annoyance and waved him off, it didn’t seem like he particularly cared.
“Please, come inside. The commander is awaiting you.” Hal’Neg said and, together with his group, led them past the huge towers.
While Robin followed him, he observed his surroundings. He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but definitely not a sight like this. Instead of a small village or settlement, he saw what looked like a military camp with dozens of tents erected everywhere. They passed a wide variety on their way, from small tents for three or four persons to big pavilions that could house dozens of people.
In between vehicles of every kind were parked and Eltaran in combat gear hurried about. Many of them pointed in their direction with open hostility. At some point Hal’Neg cursed under his breath and turned around, an awkward smile on his face.
“Elder, I can only apologize for my comrades.” he said and turned to Ang’Tue, “The fighting is still fresh in their mind.”
Ang’Tue only shook his head and pointed at Robin who opened his visor, “You should worry about him, not about me. He’s the captain and decides if we’ll stay if my own people aren’t welcoming us or if we just leave you to fend of your own.”
“But Elder…” The man said with wide eyes and his comrades also looked disturbed.
“Everyone chooses his own path.” Ang’Tue shrugged and motioned at Robin, “I chose to follow him.”
Not sure how to react, Hal’Neg turned to Robin, “Sir…”
“It’s okay, no hard feelings.” Robin gave him a friendly smile, “Ang’Tue, don’t make it hard for them. They have no idea who we are and with what they have gone through over the last days, it’s only normal to be on the edge. Also, it’s not like the Zulbano have the most stellar reputation.”
Hearing that, even Krez chuckled with his growly voice.
“Thank you, Sir.” the Eltaran said.
“Robin Tulward, nice to meet you.” Robin said and held out his hand.
Hal’Neg didn’t hesitate to shake it.
“It’s not only their reputation or what’s commonly said among the people.” He sighed and motioned at Krez, “While we lost many people in this fight to the endless UAVs of the enemy, not a small number of us died at the hands of the Zulbano among their ranks. It’ll take some time for us to find our peace again.”
Krez, Robin and Ang’Tue stopped dead at that, making Alena stumble in their backs.
“There are Zulbano here?” Krez’s voice was now even more like the growl of a wild beast.
The soldiers all flinched back and their hands rested on their weapons, but Hal’Neg made them stand down with a wave of his hand.
“Yes.” He said, “The enemy seems to have hired at least three of them. We managed to kill one, though, and the rest fled when we ambushed the camp. We’re assuming that they’ve retreated with the rest of the enemy’s forces to prevent further losses.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ang’Tue gasped, bewilderment on his face. Due to his job as a seeker for the Eltaran he had come around a fair bit and learned more about the other races of the universe, but his people couldn’t be this naive, could they?
Robin turned to Krez, with a questioning gaze.
“Never.” The Zulbano answered his silent question.
“Damn it.” He cursed, “Hurry up, we need to talk to the commander. Now!”
“Uhm.. yes, Sir.” Hal’Neg hastily nodded and led them through the camp at a quick pace.
“When was your last contact with them and how far away was it?” Robin asked as he followed with his friends. His mind was racing already with different scenarios.
After learning that they had a Zulbano aboard who would stay for a while, he had pressed Proto for every bit he knew about the wolf-folk. From what he learned about these dreaded mercenaries, one thing stood out: they never gave up when they had prey to hunt. Either they succeeded or they died. There were no alternatives. What he could deduce from the state of Krezolgok only confirmed that this was definitely a central pillar of their culture.
Once let loose, you do not call back a Zulbano.