Chapter 85 - Long Road Home

Notes : The first NSFW special for Manaforged Robotics has been written and added to the queue !

Yep. That's...uh, that's some break.

Also, perversely enough, due to the fact that it is a lot more steamy than kinky, I had a lot more trouble writing it than usual. Though to be fair, nsfw specials are always a special case.

I hope you'll enioy the chapter !

Chapter 85

Starborn Mountains, Firmament Hills

Wilderness

"Fuck me." Said Paul after Sapphiria was done relaying the message, and the AI couldn't help but nod in agreement.

The Hand had not only turned away an attack, but outright overrun it and stolen their siege equipment?

Hot damn. That bastard was a lot tougher -and craftier- than they'd given it -him? her?- credit for.

Fortunately, that was to their advantage. The longer the Hand could hold on, the better off they'd be.

For once, their enemy's competence was to their benefit. And it allowed Sapphiria to relax a little bit. The Bane, that 'Nineteenth legion' Gregor had identified, wouldn't break through just yet. Not for a while, given all indications so far. She didn't have to rush quite so hard.

Maybe she could even afford to relax a bit once she arrived.

Maybe.

"So, the Hand has ballistae now?" Ramina squirmed in her seat. "I'm not sure if that's good or bad news, honestly."

"I'm preparing some weapons that will blow these out of the water." Sapphiria said, realizing with a start that she hadn't told anybody on the surface she was making a howitzer. Damn it. She needed to work with them, not just coddle them. "Those ballistae won't be a threat to us."

"I hope you're right. I know they're not cannons, but...a siege weapon is a siege weapon."

Sapphiria snuck a glance at the artificer. And sighed internally. Oh dear. She had that look again.

"You want to grab one for yourself, don't you?"

"W-What? No!" The artificer blushed, as Paul and Sapphiria both stared at her. "Okay! Maybe! Is it a crime to like artillery?"

It is on some planets, thought the AI, but of course she couldn't say that.

"No. But let's not try stealing what the Hand has rightfully stolen just yet." Damn it, those old movie quotes always popped up unbidden.

It was too bad the Bane were undead, otherwise she'd have gladly invented iocaine powder to feed them some. Though presumably through chemical shells and not a cup of wine.

"Alright..." The artificer perked. "So...what's the weapon you're preparing?"

Sapphiria smiled as she adjusted a few things on the dashboard as they began climbing another hill. They should enter the valley proper during the night, and then it was a more or less straight shot home.

She would be glad to be out of the snowpiercer at least. She was used to spaceship, but she hadn't realized how long it had been since she'd been in a confined space with squishies. Even then, she'd been both the ship's AI, being more of a genius loci than any physical presence, and an officer, which meant she got her own room.

Rank hath its privileges, including a private shower and a bed juuuust large enough to fit two people, if neither are planning on sleeping much that night.

Kalia's image, draped on a navy bed in a half removed uniform came unbidden to her mind, and Sapphiria blushed as she cleared her throat, marshalling her thoughts.

"It's an artillery gun. Meant for firing at high angles. I believe they're called howitzers." Interestingly enough, they expected her to know things like what heavy artillery was, but not the stock exchange, which said some...interesting things about the knowledge that had survived from Earth.

Ramina nodded enthusiastically.

"They are! What's the caliber?"

"One hundred and fifty five millimeters." Also known as NATO standard, which had continued being used well into the interplanetary and interstellar age, and whose remarkably accurate schematics she had in her library core's historical section. Though, of course, they'd switched from chemically propelled rounds to magnetized ones for firing through railguns. Better payload, better precision. Also hellish range.

Which was why the Federation didn't use the caliber much anymore. Ballistic artillery had been fully optimized for magnetic propulsion, and that meant that one fifty five wasn't optimal for the payloads and missions the army wanted. There were still a few pieces though, usually in the colonies.

"Nice." Ramina smiled, very toothily. "Very, very nice. The Magistracy Army usually only had eighty millimeters."

Sapphiria's eyebrow rose. Given that shell payload rose exponentially compared to their diameter -cube laws and all that-, it meant her howitzer would pack one hell of a punch compared to what Ramina was used to.

"Usually?"

Ramina shrugged.

"We do buy weapons from other nations. And I think they were trying to upgrade, too. Before...you know."

Sapphiria nodded. Probably not the best to remind them that, outside of refugees in the Turlor Kingdom, their liege, they were probably the only remaining fragment of the Magistracy.

"I do." Said the AI, softly. "But having some artillery will allow us to do a fair few things."

"Like besiege the pass!" Said Ramina, before frowning. "But that would do the enemy's work for them..." Sapphiria hesitated to just tell her, but elected to wait. The artificer was pretty smart, and... "Oh! You're going to shoot the attacking Bane?"

"Bingo." Sapphiria smiled, turning her head briefly so the artificer could see it fully, and not just get a hint from the side of her face. "That way we can slow them down without having to retake the pass, and fully use the Hand as an ablative meat shield."

"Damn. That's devious."

"I know. And if the Hand survives and the other Bane don't? We can just turn the gun on them." Even if they got reinforcements, it would probably take them time to go through the enemy army on the other side, and that would enable a full scale assault on the pass. "The only thing we'll have to do is protect it so monsters or a commando raid don't take it out."

"A few of your turrets with one of your bunkers should do the trick."

"I can't get my construction golems that far." Not yet, but she seriously needed to start working on clearing some pathways. "But my utility ones could probably pull it off, though it'll take a while."

"I mean, Kalia's messages said she was well on her way to reinforcing all the huts with concrete. So we probably have a few people who know how to use those slabs you make too."

Sapphiria nodded, slowly. Right, the squishies were a workforce she could tap into. She hadn't really considered it, because of their desperate rush for their own survival so far, but with her metaconcrete supply being more or less fully directed towards them, bar a bit used to finish walling off the lower tunnels, they were indeed about to finish reinforcing the makeshift huts they'd been building when she'd arrived.

That, plus her heater batteries, meant they were set for winter. Eventually they'd want to replace the huts with full, proper buildings, but in the meantime some of their builders could help with other vital construction projects.

Work with them, don't just do stuff for them.

"I hadn't considered that." She admitted, before smiling. "But thanks! I'm too used to relying on myself and my golems. I'd appreciate the help."

"I'll be sure to mention it to Kalia when we arrive." Ramina hesitated, and the AI sighed.

"Yes?"

They both knew what she was going to say. This was just going through the motions.

"Are you sure about staying awake all night? I mean, it's not healthy, and if you make a mistake..."

"I won't." Said the AI. "Make a mistake, I mean. And I'll be fine. I need less sleep than you think."

As in she needed zero. But the squishie very much didn't need to know that. Even heavily augmented humans needed some sleep. It was only after full digitalization that it was no longer a requirement.

"If you say so...We'll arrive in the early morning, right?"

"Yep. We'll have to unload everything first thing. Then I'll go on a recon patrol with Gregor." Ramina looked vaguely rebellious as she said that, but the AI simply powered through. "I need to get some intel on the pass with my flying golem, and then survey a site to put my gun in. Can't just put it wherever if we're going to shoot into the pass I'm afraid."

Ramina sighed.

"Okay." The AI looked at her, and suddenly realized this wasn't just concern, there was a bit of...jealousy in there?

"Everything good?"

"Just...unhappy I'm going to miss it."

Gregor wouldn't allow her in the recon expedition, so presumably she meant the survey.

"Why? You could accompany me."

"Well..." The artificer squirmed. "Malry's probably going to pounce on me when I arrive." She blushed as Sapphiria's eyebrows rose. "N-Not in that way! But she'll probably insist on an examination and putting me to bed to rest for a while."

"Fair enough." Said the AI, as she tried to suppress some snickers. "I guess she's afraid the journey was rough."

"Which it wasn't. I mean, besides the aberrations and monsters. You really should consider making us some amenities." Ramina blushed as Sapphiria glanced at her, the snowpiercer starting to tilt as it went over the crest of the hill. "I-I mean you don't have to, but they'd be appreciated."

"Amenities like what?"

"Running water would be a start. Proper bathrooms and not just latrines. Showers."

The AI almost brought the vehicle to a stop. Right. They were basically in a refugee shanty town, living like...well, like primitives.

They could survive now that she had given them food and warmth, but not comfortably. Or even remotely that humanely.

I need to get them some creature comforts when I have the time and resources. Nothing all that ground breaking, but if nothing else, the snowpiercer was probably the height of luxury compared to what they had, and she was sure she could make some kind of common sanitation building, ship it through the snowpiercer cargo bay, and assemble it on site.

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

When she got back, she'd ask her Aunt why she'd made that program and how she stopped herself from just deleting it altogether.

"I'll see what I can do." Finally said the AI. "Sorry, I hadn't really considered that."

"It's fine. You're not our mom." Ramina smiled. "Though I'm sure Kalia would love to call you-"

Ramina's sentence ended in a scream as the sensors blared in alarm and something with far too many spikes erupted from the top of the next hill, howling like the damned.

*****

Fortunately, a couple of slapguns were on the hull, thanks to the passage having already been made by the Snowpiercer on the way in, there was a much lesser change of them being ripped off.

They deployed instantly, and opened fire.

Whatever the monster -some kind of horrific mix of a sea urchin and rodent- had expected, that wasn't it, and it screeched, checking its attack for a split second, allowing Sapphiria to swing the wheel and evade, moving in diagonal along the slope of the hill instead of directly for the enemy.

A second later, a hail of spines vomited from the monster's mouth, and clattered where the snowpiercer had been.

The thing bounded along the hill's crest, clearly intending to pursue, and Sapphiria did some quick calculations as it fired again and she dodged once more, this time some of the spines embedding themselves into the hull, causing alarms to go off.

The monster clearly had enough speed to tag along for a while. They could outrun it, but with its height advantage it could take ten, fifteen minutes before they were out of range. And she wasn't going to be able to dodge much more with a vehicle that cumbersome. The slapguns were clearly not proving enough to drive it off either. The bullets were hammering the thing, but mostly shattering spines and making little headway against its anomalous leathery skin. At least it wasn't stealthed. Not fully anyway, though it was definitely fuzzy on long range sensors.

"I'm going in!" She said, coming to the only viable solution. "Prepare to deploy!"

Then she slammed the breaks as the thing appeared to inhale, and the volley of spines overshot the snowpiercer as its magnetic breaks brought it to a halt.

It had barely stopped moving that Sapphiria was already out of the cockpit door, Paul in tow. She had a flash of the main space, where she could see both gendarmes hefting their weapons as they rose from their seats, before she was in the airlock and out into the snow, overriding the cycling system to get out faster.

Time to go kill a monster.