Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.5

13.5

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The three simultaneous detonations of the Coral storages had created a trio of converging streams. All of them had been equidistant, all of them had effectively the exact same explosion parameters, and none of them had anything to interfere with the paths they would take.

If it was normal matter, the three converging streams would collide and split apart again. That was simply how pressure waves propagated.

Of course, the streams did not contain normal matter. They contained Coral, and up there in orbit, only their own momentum provided any barrier to the Convergence Effect, and that really was not much of a barrier.

It was already starting to coalesce, the Coral drawing to itself. The strength of the effect would rise continuously and dramatically as the coalesced mass grew larger, until every loose particle came together and the entire thing formed a slightly oblong sphere.

Left alone, it would have eventually pulled itself towards the Vascular Plant, attracted by the rest of the Coral, thought that would have taken a fair bit of time. ALLMIND’s solution of bringing the Vascular Plant to it was much more elegant, in comparison. The stored Coral inside the Vascular Plant would resonate with the exterior mass even if it wasn’t physically touching, and that much Coral?

Runaway mutation was inevitable, and if that occurred, it wouldn’t matter if the Coral was inside or outside of the megastructure. The Vascular Plant itself wouldn't survive.

The most direct solution to this problem would be to shoot down the Vascular Plant. This was, of course, fucking stupid, because there was no way to do that without risking a Coral burn, and with the amount contained within the Vascular Plant, Rubicon wouldn’t survive. Most of the solar system wouldn’t, either.

So, with that not actually an option, the only other choice was to scatter the Coral.

Literally.

There were, problematically, few ways to do that. It was a hell of a lot of Coral that was coalescing, and the Convergence Effect would take a truly enormous amount of energy to overcome. To repulse that much Coral, I only had a single option.

The Xylem.

The Skyrmion generators of the Xylem were potent enough to lift the Xylem itself. Twenty six fucking kilometers of starship.

Coral was electrosensitive. That was part of how it was even possible for Humans to manipulate it in the first place.

If I flew the Xylem out to where the Coral was converging and reconfigured the Skyrmion Generators, I could create an electromagnetic field that would send the Coral flying in every direction.

As far as plans go, it was absolutely insane, but considering that my only other options were to let it happen or burn it... Well, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Obviously, it wasn’t going to be as simple as the plan called for, though.

After all, the enemy always had a say, and ALLMIND definitely wasn’t going to let this pass unopposed.

“The key points to protect will be the Ramjet Engines and the Skyrmion Generators.” I finished explaining to the team.

They were coming close to the exit I’d directed them towards, and I wasted no time opening the door in front of them as they did.

Below, the atmospheric bands were visible. In the time it had taken them to get out, the Vascular Plant had already risen into the thermosphere, and was even now still making its ascent. It was still accelerating, and it probably wasn’t going to stop any time soon, its Skyrmion vortex flared to full strength alongside every auxiliary thruster.

It was quiet as they went up. The atmosphere up here was so thin that particle interaction occurred only on rare occasions. Sound couldn’t be transferred properly, but since that was an entire and rather important sense to Humans, their ACs automatically began to generate a false soundscape from the available data.

“The Xylem is coming up now.” I said. “Catch a ride while you still can.”

The four of them leapt, Boosters flaring with maximum power. Out they went, into the near void.

The Xylem was pointed directly upwards as it emerged from below. Its thrusters burned blue as it rushed forwards, charging out towards its destination. All they had to do was get in its path, and accelerate enough so that the landing wasn’t harsh.

They made it perfectly fine, of course. All of them were too skilled as pilots for a little bit of high altitude jumping to be dangerous. Save for Raven, they had all taken damage, though, and so I had Sherpa drones ready to go for them.

Even Raven would appreciate a bit of extra ammo.

From the Vascular Plant, I could already see ALLMIND’s units starting to give chase, streaming outwards from the megastructure before they pushed their own Boosters to maximum.

Up here, neither gravity or friction was nearly as much of a concern as they would have been inside of lower parts of the atmosphere. Acceleration was the only true factor, and their size worked both for and against them.

The Xylem was bigger, but that just meant it had to move more mass. In relative terms, her machines had larger thrust-to-weight ratios, and they had a proportionally larger percentage of their mass dedicated to speed.

They’d catch up quickly, but...

Well, not quickly enough.

From in front of the Xylem, seven red trails of light came down, streaking across its surface. They slowed rapidly as they came near to the end, Boosters flaring to match velocity with the Xylem.

Seven C-Weapons came to a stop as they landed on the hull.

“Kids!” I called.

“Oh boy!”

“Here we go!”

“On it.”

“Hahahaha!”

“Fighting alongside the whole family... nearly.”

“We’re only missing one!”

“We’re ready, mother.”

Ezra, Levi, Ava, Mateo, Eta, Asher, and Lyla answered my call, all with their own enthusiasm. They slipped into the C-Weapons, taking total control over their systems, and thereby turning the C-Weapons into something much more dangerous now that they were capable of thinking rather than simply reacting.

I had four SOLs and three CELs ready for them. Ezra, Levi, Ava, and Asher took the SOLs, leaving the CELs to their siblings.

The only one who was not here was Seria, and that was because she remained with Dolmayan.

I, meanwhile, turned my focus instead towards the Xylem itself, taking direct control over the entirety of its available weaponry.

“Alright everyone, listen up. From this point onwards, our sole objective is to ensure that the Xylem reaches the Convergence. ALLMIND is sending everything she has at us, and if she manages to stop the Xylem, we can’t stop the Convergence. Split up, take your positions, and do your best.”

A chorus of agreements met me. We all already knew what was at stake.

“One question.” Ezra spoke.

“You may.” I pre-empted it.

Ezra chuckled. His SOL jumped, pushing upwards from the Xylem, though sideways from the planet. The machine shifted, panels opening even as it began to reconfigure itself. Thrusters shifted into place, helping it keep a stable position, while its legs straightened out, forming into its cannon mode. For a brief moment, electricity crackled across its frame, and then Coral began to gather. “Preparing the high energy welcoming committee.”

I’d have smiled if I’d had a face.

Ezra’s SOL fired at the same time that the Xylem did, and it wasn’t the only Coral weapon that was unleashed in that moment, either. All of my children added their own firepower to the mix, as did Raven, Ayre, and Walter. Bolts and beams of crimson Coral shot downwards, and they were joined by the blue lasers of the Xylem’s own turrets.

At this distance, absolutely none of them stood any true chance of hitting. They were all perfectly aimed, however, and so the enemy did have to dodge, and in this case, every second not spent on the fast charge towards the Xylem was a second of delay. Every dodging maneuver was another moment bought, and it wasn’t like the Xylem was going to run out of ammo any time soon.

ALLMIND’s machines streamed upwards regardless. The initial splitting she’d done had spread them out. The vanguard was small, but the arrivals would be constant and they would only grow larger and larger as time passed.

Defense would be complicated.

They came closer and closer, and I simply kept firing, doing my best to delay the horde as much as possible. The others eventually swapped out of long-ranged combat modes, and instead prepared for a quicker and more furious battle up close.

The first wave arrived across the entirety of the back of the Xylem, around the ring that held the floating city’s primary Generator and lift section. The first units were met by everyone, operating in small groups together in order to maximise their effectiveness- with the exception of Raven, who had chosen a single, unoccupied zone. Ayre and Ezra held the sector to Raven’s left, while Walter and Carla held the one to the right, and everybody else was spread across the rest of the potential arrival sites.

The first wave was exploratory. Minor, focused, examining the capabilities of the defenders. Only Raven was spared the bother, ALLMIND immediately doing her level best to try to even hurt Raven. It failed, of course.

Every wave of attackers afterwards was laser-focused. Everything she had, she used to their best possible effect, doing the absolute most that she could do with them. They filled their roles to perfection, splitting efforts and roles easily. Against less capable pilots or less capable machines. She would have overwhelmed the opposition with ease.

Up against this group, however? C-Weapons piloted by Coral Minds, Coral-enhanced ACs piloted by some of the most capable pilots on the planet, as well as Raven?

It wasn’t enough.

She did damage to all but one, but her own losses piled up and up and up.

And then, finally, we hit the point I was waiting for.

The Xylem had not slowed its ascent. It had only accelerated, continuously, unrelenting.

The ship was now approaching the edge of the exosphere. The thermopause was coming up rapidly. Beyond this point, even the rare particles of the thermosphere were depleting into nearly nothing...

Save, that is, for one minor thing.

Not even half an hour ago, the Coral detonations had converged here.

There were more than just trace particles, now.

The Xylem flew directly into the cloud of residual Coral that had passed through the area, its Skyrmion vortex pulling it towards the colony ship. Clouds of particulate, looking like shifting waves of burning lightning, washed across the hull, sparking across the surface and wreathing it in red. It trailed from the structure, like seafoam but in space.

It flowed across the rest of the ship, going through the entire thing quickly on account of how fast the Xylem itself was moving. Ultimately, it even washed over the battlefield that had been made of the Xylem’s rear, engulfing defenders and attackers both.

Was this bad for them?

Oh, goodness no. Quite the opposite.

The diffuse Coral plasma was an easy source of energy for every capacitor on the field, they didn’t even need to be specially designed for the action. Infinite energy for everyone, but for the machines that had been designed to operate on Coral?

The remnant that had been scattered here shifted, flowing towards their mechs as the Primal Armour drew it in. Their shields strengthened significantly from the ambient Coral, and as it drew into the Core Block, so too was the rest of the systems. Boosters? Free to operate at the highest possible level of draw. Their weapons? Just as free to draw from the ambient Coral as everything else.

Walter just happened to be the one already doing the action. His Coral Rifle was preparing to charge, and as the gun opened up, it was easily visible that it didn’t draw Coral just from the mech itself. Bolts of crimson lightning sparked from his surroundings, funnelling towards his gun. What would normally have been an extended charging sequence instead only took half a second.

“Huh.” Walter murmured, briefly surprised, before immediately firing again. His target, not expecting the speed of it, promptly disintegrated as it found itself not in a position to dodge.

The only downside was sensors. All this energy in the area rather reduced their effectiveness... but hey. There’s not a lot of places to hide when you’re in fucking space.

The best part, though?

Well, it was arriving right now.