Drich's Demesne

Embers After Flames, Chapter 6.1

6.1

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The PCA had been a little busy recently.

Well. The PCA had been busy ever since Grid 339. The bombardment of the Grid had been noticed by everyone on the planet after all, and Belius Staging Point going up in flames at about the same time had also been somewhat widely noticed.

The PCA now maintained a continuous cordon around both locations. There were plenty of people who were still quite interested in both locations, either for salvage or for...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 6.0

6.0

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October 10, 30 years post Fires of IBIS.

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Flatwell and I had been working together for the better part of six years, now. Strange to think of how quickly that time had passed, to be honest. Perhaps it was because I was always busy...

Well, regardless of that, the point I was actually getting at was that our partnership had been a mutual thing. A surface level look might make it seem unfair, considering that the RLF ben...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.10

5.10

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“You stole a C-Weapon.”

“I stole a C-Weapon~” I laughed. “Goodness I had a lot of fun today. I mean really, It started like any other, but then I got to just keep kicking the PCA right where it hurts, and right when I thought it was done completely, they sent me one last gift!”

Belius Staging Point was in ruins, now. The Sea Spider that I had reclaimed had very quickly seen to that, blasting the enti...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.9

5.9

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The reactivation of the Grid made the PCA legion halt in its tracks. The thousands of machines that had been so relentless in their assault, so dedicated to their attack, very suddenly stopped.

It was only for a moment, of course. The instant that moment passed, everything promptly turned right the fuck around and started hauling ass back out.

There was only a single possible response to the revival of a Grid, according t...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.8

5.8

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Across the continent of Belius, and far in orbit on top of that, the PCA began to move.

Everybody noticed it. Such a wide scale of activity was impossible to conceal; the sheer amount of material that started shifting, the total mass of the forces that the PCA had available to them, the marshalling of such force, was more akin the overt action of a lovecraftian deity than the real truth. That a single entity made a single decis...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.7

5.7

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The LCs reacted the only way one should react when a machine as large as a Heavy MT flings itself at something.

They scattered, thrusters igniting as they all went in completely different directions. Left, right, backwards, upwards- any direction that wasn’t in the Heavy MT’s path. I picked one and followed, raising my gun as I did. 

I had put only three weapons on this thing. First, the laser blade. Second, the bazooka. ...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.6

5.6

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With the surprise attack out of the way and the PCA briefly not in a position to retaliate, I had the Heavy MT pull back further into the maintenance passage. It was a simple and easy decision; the passage was absolutely tiny and anything which came through would have no space to dodge or avoid attacks, and now that the PCA knew there was a Heavy MT armed with giant fucking cannon waiting in there, they weren’t very likely to use it. 

It was e...

Embers After Flames, Chapter 5.5

5.5

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By the time the next squad arrived, the first had been completely wiped out.

That was not a condemnation of their skills or anything, just a simple matter of logistics. I had more and better than they did, and no matter their attempts to jam themselves in something resembling a defensible position, there simply weren’t any around.

The next squad to arrive was larger and much more prepared to deal with my shenanigans. Four 2024-12-24 13:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post