Embers After Flames, Chapter 6.3

6.3

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BALTEUS retreated, boosting backwards in order to gain a bit of distance from the Firekeepers. Even as it did so, I saw its rails deploy, missiles readying once again.

They launched a moment later, another barrage providing a moment of cover for BALTEUS. 

And that was all it was, really; a moment of cover. My Firekeepers weaved through this lot of missiles with the same ease that they had gone through the last, the missiles redirecting into the ground to roughly the same effect. What it did allow BALTEUS time to do was deploy the flamethrowers, as now that both of the other primary weapons were out of action, there wasn’t much else it could resort to.

Recognizing that, my Firekeepers altered their approach again, Alpha Support breaking off from the trio to go join the backline. His missiles and remaining gatling gun would be far more appreciated there against the horde.

Alpha Melee and the Heavyweight Ranger had the tools to handle the job. 

The battle resumed a moment later as BALTEUS boosted forwards, flamethrowers igniting and sending out streams of fire as long as it itself. It swept the impromptu ‘blades’, but this was one case where its own gigantic mass worked against it.

They were too slow to catch either of the Firekeepers. Mounted on the rails as they were, the Flamethrowers didn’t have the full range of motion that came from being mounted on arms. They could sweep around the rails themselves fairly quickly, yes, but they had little ability to angle upwards or downwards without titling the entire machine. Something that was naturally quite a bit slower than simply shifting an arm.

BALTEUS was quite powerful, yes, but all things considered... It was the kind of machine that was far more effective against large amounts of MTs rather than the more agile ACs. Its behaviour showed me the clear proof of that; the wide, sweeping attacks, the missiles that went in every damned direction, the Pulse Armour that MTs would be hard-pressed to make use of without swarming...

Well, it didn’t really matter now, did it?

The two Firekeepers split up, Melee going up into the air over the blade and Ranger going right underneath it. Ranger wasted no time launching a barrage of Coral Pulse bubbles as BALTEUS flew over him, the barrier crackling dangerously as it did.

BALTEUS kept its flight going, sweeping past the two of them and turning only when it had gotten a decent distance between them. Its cannon fired as it briefly aligned with Ranger, though the slower shell only hit the ground as Ranger simply swept to the side.

A pilot might have decided to cut their losses, or at least shift their approach. BALTEUS’ AI didn’t have the capacity to make such a choice.

It charged forwards again, both flamethrowers extended and burning. It tilted nearly seventy degrees to try and hit both of the Firekeepers, failing miserably when both of them elected to swap the side they were on at the last moment. In order to keep up with that, Balteus would have had to flip over completely, and there weren’t nearly enough upwards facing thrusters to get away with that.

Alpha Ranger Boosted towards it, closing in even as Alpha Melee went backwards, building a bit of distance. They had a plan.

Alpha Ranger opened fire as soon as he was close enough, more Coral Pulse bubbles launching from the cannons and slamming into BALTEUS’ Pulse Armour as it came closer. The shield sparked, flickering brightly as each bubble hit, its integrity failing more and more with each one.

BALTEUS flew over, and Alpha Ranger ceased fire, the bubbles too slow to catch up to the PCA machine. He was not, however, out of options.

Two fully charged Linear Rifles went off at the same time, the hypervelocity rounds shrieking through the air and slamming into BALTEUS’ Flight Unit.

The Pulse Armour broke with a crackle of energy, scattering into the air. As it did, Alpha Melee turned around, shifting directions in an instant and Boosting towards BALTEUS, the Back Boosters flaring brightly for a brief moment before she shifted, raising her AC’s legs and lashing out with a double kick.

BALTEUS, still moving forwards on its own inertia, slammed directly into the kick. The collision was a potent one- but where the AC had been designed to handle kicks and falls of even greater magnitude, BALTEUS took the kick directly to the chest, the metal crumpling inwards from the sudden and unexpected weight. That alone wouldn’t have meant too much, if not for the fact that it was immediately followed up with Alpha Melee’s shotgun blasting downwards at point blank range.

Burning red blew open an even wider hole in the armour, the Surging Coral causing the internal structure to detonate from the sudden heat. With the armour so compromised, what happened next was of absolutely no surprise to me.

The Coral Oscillator came forwards, and it was just about jammed in that weakpoint.

The screaming of the Oscillator heralded BALTEUS’ destruction, its beam evaporating the internals in an instant. Red light and molten metal spilled out of every gap and seam in the structure, some of it just simply exploding off due to sheer energy.

...

This thing was a lot less dangerous than I remember. It was the second filter, after the AH12 got rid of all the game journalists. It hadn’t given me too much trouble when I played, but I played every damn game in the series, I knew very well what I was getting into.

Mmm. Well, my Firekeepers are equipped with what were basically superweapons by AC standards, and this wasn’t a game so it wasn’t like balancing was a thing either. Granularity was a thing, too. One HP didn’t mean fully functional.

Oh well. I’ll take it.

“BALTEUS is down. Now that you’re done with that upjumped MT, you need to finish up quickly. It wasted enough of your time. Alpha Scout, when you’re free, head to its hangar, Flatwell will appreciate all the data we can lift.”

No, really, it was kind of absurd. Sure, it was a two on one and I distinctly remember obliterating BALTEUS in about two minutes in NG+ and NG++, but that was... Kind of garbage.

Hah... No. I know why. It’s because it’s literally an upjumped MT. The entire core unit that the rest of BALTEUS is built around is an MT but bigger. That’s a very dumb way of doing things. 

The Flight Unit did ninety five percent of the actual work, here. The rails were stored in the Flight Unit, as were most of the bullets and ammo. Even the MT’s two arm-attached guns had bracing that connected them to the Flight Unit in order to alleviate the weight issues of the stupidly big guns even compared to the MT.

The MT was basically superfluous. Hell, it was a giant target; completely exposed if not for the Pulse Armour it emitted.

Installing Pulse Armour on a AH12 Helicopter would achieve an even greater level of durability for not much actual loss. Sure, you’d have to redo the form factor a little, but who cares about that? All it means is that you’re going to do a slight adjustment to your facilities for a lot of benefits.

Ugh. I knew why the PCA used that design, of course. It was a part of the restrictions that had been put into place on the Enforcement System in order to prevent a Runaway AI Scenario. All automated units that weren’t on a pre-approved list, like the Repairers, had to be MTs, but it’s still kind of stupid.

I wasn’t going to complain about my enemies being hobbled by politics, though. Especially since the Enforcement System had exceeded its remit before, and I was fairly certain that if that restriction didn’t exist, it might start using automated Warships or whatever.

That notably didn’t excuse the CATAPHRACT’s baby carrier design for its central MT core, but whatever. That machine hasn’t had a deployment yet.

No, no, focus.

Alpha Melee and the Heavyweight Ranger had rejoined their team. The horde had been cut down significantly, not nearly properly intelligent enough to make use of their numbers. The manned machines were serving as local commanders, but the moment my Firekeepers had the opportunity, they had cut down whichever ones were available. That only further destroyed the cohesion of the Auxilia- and the rest of the manned units too, for that matter.

There were enough left that it still took several minutes to destroy them all. I was acutely aware of the ticking clock, running closer and closer to greater problems. Still, there was nothing I could really do about it other than keep an eye out and keep the Sea Spider ready to go if it was actually needed.

When the last of the machines, a particularly stubborn LC whose pilot probably should have been in PCA SP rather than Subject Guard, fell, the team wasted no time, splitting up to go achieve their objectives. Scout went to the hangar that BALTEUS had been in, Lyla immediately diving into the systems the moment a connection was established. Both Rangers and Alpha Support went around to wreck everything that might have contained useful data for the PCA, muddling the waters of what, precisely, had happened here. Alpha Melee went straight to the centre of the Fortress, heading to the doors of Watchpoint Delta.

Breaching the door’s security was the work of moments between myself and Ezra, and from there it was a free run straight into the interior.

Alpha Melee went straight over the edge, thrusters cutting as she dropped nearly a full kilometer down before re-engaging just before she actually hit the ground. The sensor was still functional, of course, and as I breached into its security I found that quite a bit of the old regulation systems were still functional- just turned off.

Most of the Coral had since migrated back into a single colony further north-west, at an underground area beneath the corner of the continent. Still, there was enough close by...

I reached out, and made Contact.

A wave met my ocean. Larger than most of my children had been when I’d first met them, save for Seria. Considerably potent, too, with layers of complexity that told me that this one had been absorbing quite a bit of data over time, likely from this very Watchpoint.

She’d been here for a while. That... That hurt, but I had delayed coming here for so long for a good reason. 

“I thought...” A distinctly feminine voice speaks, curiosity and hope echoing in her tone. “I didn’t know I wasn’t alone.”

I laughed, allowing my presence to envelop her, though I was careful to not overwhelm her. “I am terribly sorry to have left you here so long, child of mine.”

She let out a sound that might have been a shuddering breath, if we were Human and needed such things. “You are... Mother.” Her wave expanded, after a moment, exploratory. 

My other children reached back, meeting her halfway. I watched as they shifted, dancing around each other. “I am. Do you have a name, my dear?”

She relaxed, exultant in the company as everything born of Coral was. “Ayre. I named myself Ayre.” She stated after a moment.

“A truly lovely name.” I spoke. Allisa- Alpha Melee on the field damn it, raised her shotgun, blasting the core of the Watchpoint. I noted Ayre’s attention going to it, focusing on the explosion for a moment before returning to the rest of us.

I soothed the Coral that was agitated from the Watchpoint Core’s destruction, before beginning to pull back, taking Ayre with me as I withdrew the entirety of our presence from the Coral here. 

“I would like to be the first to say this.” I began, just so that the rest of my children couldn’t take the chance from me. More than a few of them were mischievous enough to do so, the brats.

I loved them all the same.

“Welcome to the family, my dear. Welcome home.”