Derelict 3, Chapter 20.

Chapter 20.

Slater watched as the entry compartment hatches adjusted to whatever this mystery challenger had opted for. This time, a single oversized hatch was placed on the wall directly opposite from the hatch leading toward the engineering bay. In addition, the hatches between his other compartments were replaced by the station with the same oversized design. Something big was coming and Administrator was more than happy to allow it free passage into his Derelict.

As the entry hatch opened, Slater’s rats prepared to swarm, using the debris placed around the room as cover. A loud clanging sound was followed by a wave of flame flowing into the boarding compartment. Groups of bilge rats hiding close to the entrance were burned to a crisp in seconds. After a second blast of flame, something appeared in the hatchway, a mechanical monster dragged itself inside, the armored face of the creation instantly recognizable.

“Slater, what is that thing? I’ve not seen anything like it before in the other core shard battles,” Bexlan asked. Slater was slightly distracted by the question, not used to having live people talking to him during a battle. The question also brought a pang of loss, he missed his crew.

“It’s a gnomish device called a Death Contraption Thingy. I know, the name is ridiculous, but the machine is deadly. Don’t worry though, our forces are more than a match for it,” Slater said trying to calm any fears they might have.

“Ah, man, a death contraption thingy. Don’t tell me we’re being invaded by gnomes again,” Pixi whined. His rats spread out and began to swarm the death contraption as it pulled more and more armored segments inside the compartment. It had done a lot of damage on the Franklin, where it had completely filled the narrow passageways, but here in an open compartment, the thinly armored sides of the thing were vulnerable.

As long as his rats avoided the rings of metal claws that the machine used to drag itself forward, they should be safe enough. As they closed on the vulnerable flanks of the contraption, small firing ports opened and a volley of laser fire lashed out, taking down rat after rat. Only a few made it into melee and his brave MOBS didn’t hesitate a moment, tearing into the sides of the machine with claws and teeth designed to shear through metal. A couple of his rats ventured too close to the claws and were ripped apart, but the others dutifully continued their attack, too close for the lasers to hit them.

He was down to a dozen bilge rats, his pair of mine rats were skulking nearby, but not quite ready to reveal themselves. They were making headway as metal strips were peeled off the contraption, which continued on course toward the engineering bay. Just when Slater was beginning to think his bilge rats had this in the bag, hatches on the sides of the machine opened and armored gnomes poured out, firing away at his surprised MOBS. The bilge rats reacted, turning to face their attackers, but the gnomes had the drop on them, cutting them down with little trouble.

His mine rats used the confusion to close in, detonating near the attacking gnomes, each blast cutting down swaths of the attackers. Sadly, there were only two of the mine rats and after the last of the bilge rats were killed, the gnomes retreated back into the death contraption thingy. The enemy had lost a half dozen gnomes to the mine rats and the bilge rats had only accounted for one more. Other than the armor his MOBS had stripped away, little damage had been done.

“I thought your MOBS would handle the death contraption thingy, they seemed less than effective in that skirmish,” Kraxton said.

“Who told these kids they were here to critique our Derelict?” Pixi said angrily, Slater and the kids shocked to hear his voice come through the speakers.

“Wait, who was that? That didn’t sound like Slater?” Bexlan asked. Slater figured he should come clean with them, so they didn’t think he was crazy.

“That’s just Pixi, a personality fragment I use for various purposes. Sadly, he doesn’t have a filter so I’m sorry in advance if he offends you,” Slater replied.

“Woah, there’s two of them in there,” Kraxton said, tapping on Slater’s core.

“Hey kid, hands off the merchandise,” Pixi said.

“This is odd, Slater, but we will not question the vagaries of your existence,” Bexlan said.

“See, boss, that one’s the brains of the outfit I bet. The one doing all the unwanted touching must be younger,” Pixi said.

“Pixi, just because they can hear you now, doesn’t mean you need to keep talking. Everyone settle down and let me observe the Derelict please,” Slater said, wishing even more than ever that they were his old crew, a crew he could just order to do what he needed done.

The engineering bay presented quite a problem for the death contraption thingy, the narrow passages through the pipes and wires were far too small for it to navigate. Powerful lasers flared from the eyes of the machine, burning their way through the blockage. His cyborks used that as their que to engage, shoulder mounted weapons blazing away at the machine as they closed into melee range. While the pistol caliber rounds seemed to do little to the armored front of the machine, the weapon hands of the cyborks were another story entirely. The sledgehammer-like blows of their armored fists pounded dents into the armored contraption.

Like with the rats earlier, the gnomes aboard the machine tried to engage the cyborks through the firing slits, but the cyborks wisely stayed to the front of the death contraption, preventing them for getting a good angle. The downside to this tactic was that the eye lasers, which seemed uncontrolled, occasionally swept their fire to the front, forcing his MOBS to either risks the rifles of the gnomes inside the machine or face instant annihilation by the powerful eye beams.

Slater came to the rescue, channeling mana to create a shield over his forces whenever the beams swept over them. The eye lasers drained his mana rapidly and the shield threatened to collapse with each pass, but he was buying the cyborks time to inflict more damage. The dents in the death contraption thingy’s armor became deeper and cracks appeared, allowing the cyborks to pry apart entire sheets of armor in some places. Instead of a single solid piece, the front was armored in layers, layers his powerful MOBS were stripping away one at a time.

The gnomes had enough of this, and the hatches opened to allow their infantry to attack. Two dozen gnomes with body armor and laser carbines poured out, squeezing their way through the blockage to get at the orcs damaging their ride. Cyborks gave a howl of excitement before charging to meet the infantry attack. Unlike the bilge rats, the cyborks were armored enough to stand up to some of the fire coming at them, their shoulder mounted weapons scoring several kills on the gnomes as they reached melee range. Slater dropped the shield over the cyborks, they were doing well on their own and his mana might be needed later in the fight. Once in close, his cyborks had a field day, each swipe of their armored fists, crushed a gnome.

More gnomish infantry poured from the machine, taking his MOBS under fire while they finished off the first wave. Armored or not, there was a limit to the damage his cyborks could take and the first casualties were beginning to fall as lasers and the long daggers the gnomes preferred in melee, began to land hits. His cyborks never stopped fighting and the more gnomes were called forth to enter the battle, this time pouring in from the entry compartment. By the time the last of the cyborks had fallen, nearly thirty dead gnomes littered the deck.

Oblivious to their horrendous casualties, the gnomes carried on, burning their way through the blockage as they made their way slowly toward the cargo hold. More and more gnomes boarded his Derelict, refilling the death contraption thingy and leaving several dozen following in its wake. Slater could only guess at how much the gnomes must have paid Administrator to bring this many forces to the fight.

“How many of them are there?” Pixi asked.

“It depends on the match parameters. I can look them up if you wish,” Bexlan said.

“Wait, match parameters, what’s that and why is this the first I’m hearing of it?” Slater asked.

“When contestants begin their assault the station broadcasts stats on the attacking forces to allow the odds makers to do their work. You have to subscribe to the match in order to see them, a costly expense but one that the hive must have allowed in this case due to our presence,” Bexlan replied.

“Let me see, I think your father and I are going to have a chat after this match. That information could have been useful earlier,” Slater growled.

“He merely wished to conserve resources as it didn’t appear you had any trouble it your other matches,” Bexlan said, as she moved her tablet device over to Slater’s core. He was able to interface easily with the simple device, reading the station’s promo material for his life and death struggle.

The deathmatch of the century is going live now! Watch the newest core shard try to defend itself against the combined might of the Elgenflazzle clan. Their entire clan has taken a vow to see this shard destroyed or to die trying. No expense has been spared and a horde of brave gnomish warriors is about to go on a killing spree. But don’t count out the new core shard, it has developed even more devious and deadly defenses to destroy the Elgenflazzle.

Check out the challengers:

Gnomish warriors (250). These brave souls are ready for a fight and bring laser carbines, Brax 12 body armor, and sharp blades to the challenge.

Squad leaders (10). Only the elite of the Elgenflazzle clan are allowed to wear the green had of a squad leader. Upgraded Brax 12a body armor protects them while their hyper-shot laser pistols give them the ability to reach out and destroy some MOBS. Don’t discount their ability with a blade or forget that each squad leader is issued a Firecracker model 5 fragmentation grenade.

Big Ed (1). Big Ed is the ultimate gnomish Death Contraption Thingy. That’s right, this oversized brute can carry up to forty warriors inside and features constant beam front lasers, firing ports, reinforced armor, and over two hundred clawed appendages that can kill or move the contraption with little effort.

Core Shard forces are unknown, but that’s what you expect from a Derelict Shard, you never know what they’re going to come up with to defend against the brave challengers.

Sign up now for the unbeatable offer of 249 credits!

A two credit per minute fee will also apply, no returns accepted. Sarton Station retains all rights to this event and will enforce their rights with deadly force when needed. No guarantee to the length of this fight is given. If a viewer decides to cancel their feed, a reactivation charge of 99 credits will be imposed to reinstate their viewing privileges.

“Wow, these gnomes must really hate that you stole their cookie recipe to bring this many attackers, boss,” Pixi commented.

“I didn’t steal it; the recipes were legitimate spoils of war. If they didn’t want to lose it, they shouldn’t have picked a fight with a Derelict,” Slater replied, not sure why he felt the need to defend his actions.

“I think I like this Pixi person trapped inside the core with Slater,” Kraxton said.

“Hey, that kid might be smarter than I thought,” Pixi said.

Slater ignored them and tried to focus on the fight, he had killed over thirty gnomes so far, and hadn’t seen any of the squad leaders. Big Ed was battered a bit and the front armor had been weakened, but overall, it was fully functional. His forces were much less numerous, but much more effective than the gnomes. The real challenge would be in stopping Big Ed early, to force the gnomes out of the armored machine where they would be easy prey for his MOBS.

It took the crazy gnomish machine some time to burn its way through the obstacles, but it finally made its way into the cargo hold. Bilge rats began swarming immediately and the flame thrower in the mouth of the contraption fired once again. The kobots at the four corners of the room began to pepper the top of the machine, the armor there was considerably lighter than the front or even the sides, just like a tank, it couldn’t be strong everywhere. The bilge rats that survived the flames continued to chew at the metal hide of the contraption, causing it to disgorge gnome infantry once more.

The kobots lined up their first shots and got to work, picking off one gnome after another. Reinforcements squeezed into the compartment only to be met with a series of blasts from the mine rats. One enterprising rat was able to sneak its way into the death contraption. Slater could hear it detonate inside, but what damage, if any, it did to the ponderous machine wasn’t evident. The machine he faced before had someone in each segment to operate the thing, but maybe the larger size of Big Ed probably meant that the operators had some form of protection inside.

With the last of the mine rats destroyed, the infantry pressed into the compartment, a barrage of laser fire taking down one of the kobots, while another was killed by a wild blast from the laser eyes on Big Ed. The last two kobots seemed to recall they had been issued grenades, both expertly tossing them into open compartments of the contraption before resuming fire with their rifles. Another swarm of gnomish infantry entered the Derelict, this time led by a pair of squad leaders. Slater had been waiting for this, he gathered his mana and zoomed in his view on the attackers.

Both squad leaders held pistols in one hand, pushing the other gnome attackers in front of them. It looked like they chose to sacrifice their troops to protect themselves in true gnomish fashion. Attached to the belts of each squad leader was a single frag grenade. Slater used his Manipulate ability to flip off the safety tab and slowly pull the ring from the first grenade. The squad leader didn’t seem to notice his efforts, her gear jostling while she ran covered what Slater was doing.

The satisfying crack of grenade exploding was heard and the squad leader was blown to pieces as Slater finished his work. The grenade fragments scythed down three other gnomes, including the second squad leader. Slater would leave that one for later, planning to pull the pin on her grenade when the next batch of reinforcements arrived. While he had been working his magic, the last kobot had fallen, but not before racking up an even more impressive kill count than the cyborks had. Between the sniper fire, the mine rats, and their grenades, the kobots and Slater had killed forty-one infantry and two squad leaders. In addition, it looked like the explosions inside did have some kind of an effect as many of the legs on those sections were no longer functioning, slowing the ponderous machine even further. Big Ed was hard to stop, but the newly added brig and the pair gnomechs waiting inside would put the battered machine to the test.

“That was quite satisfying, why did that one gnome just explode like that?” Kraxton asked.

“I think she had a problem with her grenade, must have been a faulty fuse,” Slater replied, no point in giving his abilities away if he didn’t have to.

Slater’s gnomechs hunkered down behind the armored table as the hatch to the brig opened. As soon as the ugly face of Big Ed appeared, both heavy machineguns began to spit fire. Unlike rifle rounds and pistol rounds of his other MOBS, the heavy rounds from his gnomech tore big gouges out of the frontal armor of the attacking contraption, each successive round digging deeper into the machine. One laser eye was put out almost immediately, the armor around it glowing ominously as something overheated.

Ignoring the damage, Big Ed clawed its way into the brig, passing by the first two cells. Inside each cell, cyborks battered the thinly armored sides of the contraption, punching through the armor in only a few blows. As soon as cracks in the side armor appeared, their shoulder mounted weapons went to work pouring fire inside. The high-pitched screams from the gnomes inside the first segments of Big Ed were heard over the firing. Pistol round would hit the other side of the compartment and explode, throwing metal fragments until they hit something, that something was usually a gnome soldier. While each individual round was an annoyance, the cyborks had two weapons mounted over their shoulder, firing as fast as the weapons could cycle.

“I think it’s going to blow,” Pixi said as the other laser eye was destroyed, and the heat from the glowing armor continued to build. Gnome screams became more frantic as a blast of flame engulfed the compartment. Slater could feel the connection to his MOBS sever as the ball of flame consumed everything in its path, only stopping when reaching the still sealed hatch to the barracks.

The explosion didn’t just go forward, and section after section of the contraption bulged outward as the destruction continued down its length. The final section of the machine, still inside the cargo hold, blew off the back, and silence reigned on the Derelict for a moment as both sides took in what had just happened.

“Slater, sir, I think we have a problem,” Bexlan said as he felt more connections to his MOBS sever.