Embers After Flames, Chapter 13.3

13.3

+++

The entire time that the Pilots had been in combat, ALLMIND’s machines had been searching through the three storage areas. Now she’s preparing to actually do something there.

Unfortunately, I quite literally could not do anything about it.

Instead, I simply had to keep an eye on it and watch while whatever she had planned came together.

It was only a part of my attention, though.

The other part was on the AC squad.

Raven, Ayre, Walter, and Carla entered the room I’d directed them to, quickly fanning out. They got there just in time, since ALLMIND’s C-Weapons came in from another area only a few moments later.

This afforded me the best possible look at the modifications she had made.

“I see that you were inspired by my creations.” I said.

Previously, I had only been able to get a decent look at the shape, but now with the sensors of the Vascular Plant and those four ACs on top of it, I was able to spy much deeper into her construction choices.

Across the entirety of the frame, I could see the presence of potent electromagnetic coils, recessed into the armour and barely visible. Those coils were active, generating overlapping fields around the machines. The purpose was simple, and it became immediately obvious as they shifted into combat modes upon arrival.

Plasma vented from across the Frames, and the electromagnetic fields caught it, wrapping it around machines. Electricity arced across the plasma, and then Pulse energies were added to the mix, merging with the controlled plasma. Visually, they looked almost saturated, their forms shadowless because the light the field emitted was stronger than any of the lights in the room.

The plasma density increased rapidly, an internal supply obviously being spent, and so did the intensity of the Pulse energy. It still didn’t reach the proper coherency of true Pulse Shielding, but this wasn’t the same system.

“The Primal Armour system you designed provides a significant degree of protection for the amount of energy and space dedicated to it.” ALLMIND stated. “It will serve my purposes well.”

“Of course you’d only give me a direct compliment after creating your own version of it.” I sighed. “Alright then. We’ll see how it measures up.”

Plasma contained in electromagnetic fields, enhanced with Pulse energy... Yeah, that would substitute for Coral particulate just fine. It obviously required much more support structure, though, since she’d gone ahead and added coils across the entire Frame.

Compared to my current versions which could be injected into almost every Core Block, that was an obvious downside.

Raven fired first, as always. Raven chose one of the SOLs, which were almost certainly the more dangerous between the two.

The wings of Raven’s target flared, and it blurred to the side, so fast that the machine trailed with light. Raven’s shot went clean past it, and it raised its own gun in return. A series of blue blasts shot forth from the weapon, incredibly powerful laser bursts launched almost without warning. Raven, of course, dodged between them, threading through the beams with a reaction speed that really should not have been something that a Human could reach, before immediately doing the same as the other SOL joined the first.

“Overed Boosters. Interesting choice.” I observed. “The performance of those Boosters is matched only by their heat buildup. If you can keep the pressure up, it will be forced to either melt the Boosters or slow down to cool off.” I told Raven. “Ayre, Walter, Carla, focus on the SEA SPIDERs. Take them down as quickly as you can, ALLMIND’s reinforcements are still on the way.”

Ayre, Walter, and Carla did so, all three banking towards the SEA SPIDERs.

That left Raven with two SOLs, which, obviously, wasn’t great, but if there was anyone who could handle it, it would be Raven.

The SEA SPIDERs opened fire. Laser shots streaked forth, and the three began to evade as best as they could. Carla was the worst of the three pilots, but that really wasn’t saying much. ALLMIND had ranked her at eleven based on older data, and that was before she’d picked up the new AC. She managed just fine, with only her Primal Armour taking a few stray shots. Missiles streamed out, not as fast and not as numerous as the original SEA SPIDER, but they were almost as dangerous. “Those missiles have plasma warheads.” I recognized the similarities in design the moment that I saw them.

The three immediately split up, all of them taking to the air. The missiles streaked past them as they flared their Boosters, bursting just far enough beyond them to avoid being hit.

That left the missiles to crash into the ground, where, true to my expectations, they promptly detonated into plasma clouds.

Ayre’s and Carla’s Coral Lightwave packets hit next, the projectiles rushing forwards towards the SEA SPIDERs. Unlike the SOLs, the SEA SPIDERs hadn’t been equipped with overtuned and oversized Boosters for ultra-high speed movement, they’d merely had their originals replaced with larger models to replicate the old level of maneuverability.

That was wholly insufficient in the face of the Coral Lightwave projections. The bolts chased after the SEA SPIDERs, and they inevitably found their targets.

Lightning crackled around the SEA SPIDERs when the Coral Lightwave packets detonated, their energy unleashed into the Primal Armour of the SEA SPIDERs. Plasma burst outwards, and the Coral followed it, crimson arcing through the air, energised greatly.

I’ll give ALLMIND credit, her version of the Primal Armour shielding took the first few packets just fine. Each shot, however, dispersed more plasma, decaying the Pulse energy that reinforced the Primal Armour. It didn’t last.

Energy started to leak through, at first nothing more than stray arcs of Coral lightning that wrote their passage across the metal in the form of tiny molten gouges, but then rapidly progressing into full particulate blasts that burned the armour away with only the slightest touch.

Still, for machines this large, they could afford to lose some mass.

The SEA SPIDERs retaliated immediately, their guns pivoting and firing as rapidly as they could. A veritable disco of lasers shot outwards from them, blasts going in every direction that was even vaguely towards Ayre, Walter, or Carla. Plasma missiles streamed out alongside the lasers, the SEA SPIDERs unleashing absolutely everything they had.

It was an absolutely furious battle that was going on there- yet, somehow, it wasn’t the most spectacular.

That ‘honor’, such as it was, belonged to Raven and the pair of SOLs.

Those two modified C-Weapons were doing their damned best to try and take down Raven. ALLMIND had equipped them well, replacing the forearm-mounted Coral Oscillators with larger, multi-mode devices.

At first glance, they would appear to be gatling laser assemblies, capable of launching a truly withering amount of energy-based firepower. That was true, yes, but it wasn’t the entirety of what they could do. They weren’t limited to just a gatling assembly, they could reconfigure on the fly in order to produce a rifle mode with precise and consistent shots, a cannon mode that could be charged up for a truly extreme amount of firepower, and a continuous beam emitter mode for producing laser blades.

That wasn’t all. The real trick was that it wasn’t just a laser emitter, it could also handle Pulse energies.

It was a Lightwave projector.

One SOL was focusing on melee combat, both of its arms projecting blades outwards. It wasn’t even just a single blade, either, both arms had two secondary blades projected at angles above and below the main one. It threw its arms forwards, tossing out Bladewaves with every movement, trying to hit Raven through sheer saturation. Its counterpart stayed a slightly greater range, one weapon shifted into the gatling mode and the other acting as a simple rifle.

Raven danced between the both of them, passing through the gaps of the Bladewaves and shifting just out of the way of the laser blasts that came towards LOADER 4. Raven didn’t hesitate to try and attack the first SOL, LOADER 4’s gun firing every opportunity.

Unlike the SEA SPIDERs, however, the Overed Boosters allowed it the raw speed to properly dodge. The C-Weapon warped rapidly as the Boosters flared with a level of force that was well beyond the red line for safety. Each dodge took its toll, racking up heat that demanded an extended period of time to cool down, but it was much better than allowing Raven’s attacks to land.

One, two, three, four, five- and then, quite suddenly, the other SOL burst forwards, its weapons reconfiguring from ranged to melee. The first went backwards, obviously intending to take the role that the other had abandoned... But unfortunately, ALLMIND had revealed where the limits were, and Raven was eager to capitalize.

LOADER 4 followed without hesitation. Halfway through its own reconfiguration, Raven’s target could only raise a gun that wasn’t yet ready. Pulse energies crawled across it anyway, forming a makeshift Pulse Barrier.

LOADER 4’s blade swung.

A crimson Bladewave met the Pulse Barrier, and the latter was not prepared for it. Pulse energies crackled away, the weapon’s projectors burning away, but the mech itself was fine.

The other shot over it, the three-pronged blade flashing into existence. Raven had already been moving even before the other had started its attack, and LOADER 4 went straight between the blades, with only the crackling of its Primal Armour to show that there was any effect.

LOADER 4’s arm shifted, and the weapon bay on the left shoulder quickly moved to replace the blade with the other melee weapon that the AC was carrying.

The first SOL swiped desperately, Pulse energies venting from its other weapon as it tried to interrupt what was coming. It didn’t work, Raven taking advantage of the height difference between the two machines to duck underneath the clumsy strike.

The Coral Pile Bunker activated, and Raven burst forwards as LOADER 4’s thrusters flared with power.

The Primal Armour tried to stop it. Plasma and Pulse energies congealed in front of the spike as it came forwards, but that spike was itself tipped by an extremely concentrated orb of energized Coral. What it did was trigger an early detonation- which meant that, rather than puncturing into the mech and then exploding, the SOL instead faced its entire front being introduced to a blast wave of Surging Coral.

Burning red consumed its form, the Coral scouring away its armour and searing into the structure underneath. The spike itself continued unabated, puncturing straight into the now heavily weakened and still disintegrating armour of its upper right thigh.

Something gave way, and the SOL lost the privilege of having two legs.

The machine tumbled backwards, its balance broken and its own momentum making it lose any stability. The ACS was firmly overloaded, desperately trying to recalibrate for the now-lacking limb. For most Humanoid machines, that would have been it, and most would have turned away from the defeated target.

Raven knew better.

The SOL had Boosters all over its body. The loss of a leg was crippling, but not disabling.

Raven followed after it as it tumbled, dodging between attacks from the other SOL, the Coral Rifle charging as LOADER 4 went.

Raven landed on top of the SOL as it began sliding. LOADER 4 brought the Coral Rifle up, pointing it directly at the neck.

The first blast tore it apart, sending the Head flying. The following blasts went straight down into Core, through the hole that had been made.

LOADER 4 flew away as the SOL detonated behind it, turning straight to the other SOL after having completely trivialised one of the most dangerous machines ever built.

Granted, these SOLs don’t exactly match up, but still.

“Victory must be looking a bit less likely right now.” I commented.

The bait worked exactly as I intended. At the three storage zones, her machines suddenly shifted again, moving around the areas that they were at.

She was concerned. She wouldn’t tell me that, of course, but this sudden action revealed it all the same. It wasn't quite lashing out so much as her trying to prove me wrong, but she was presenting that proof both to me and to herself. Whatever solution she’d come to, she was deploying it now rather than holding off to a perhaps more advantageous time.

She would taunt me, now.

“All factors were accounted for.” ALLMIND stated, on cue. “Now it is time to reduce the variables.”

Her machines were at the entrances to the silos, and I now found myself wishing I’d taken the easy route and had used just Coral for the control mechanisms. Unfortunately, I hadn’t, and so...

I couldn’t stop this.