Maker, Defense, and the other AIs were working like mad as the others all regrouped, reloaded, and waited. Rasisar and the other pilots were in the far end of the ship and clearing eggs as they went. They hadn’t encountered a single Entoma yet, just the egg clusters. The Entoma, which had been crashing forward, had slowed after the three boarding groups had crushed the first waves. The gun emplacements and decoys had drawn other clusters of Entoma and shredded them in quick order.
Maker had finished her ‘party favors’ and got them deployed along every route the Entoma could take. All of the modified claymore mines had a single small Entoma sensor that would go off when more than three Entoma were in range. They could also be manually triggered by Defense if needed.
“This isn’t nearly as dangerous as I thought it was going to be,” Pwantu said as the groups waited to go back out.
“Fight smarter, not dumber,” Zander chuckled. “With what Maker is doing and Rasisar clearing forward, we might not even go back out except at the very end.”
“My only issue is that they haven’t pushed in like they have been,” Vorsa said.
“They have been far quieter than I expected,” Lozat agreed.
“It’s been an anomaly,” Maker said. “And it might mean something we don’t want.”
Zander grimaced. “There can’t seriously be a Queen on this ship.”
“They’ve already deviated from what they should do, but the Entoma we’re fighting are Shifted too,” Maker said. “We don’t know if they’re better at adapting or not.”
“All Entoma were programmed to adapt to their environment,” Origin said. “It is why they were supposed to have been quarantined. The fact that a behemoth slipped out of that and collided with us is problematic by itself.”
“We don’t have any sensors to scan for a Queen either because they keep attacking those first,” Zander muttered. “If they adapt by themselves or have a Queen, we do have a problem. They aren’t going to keep letting us kill them easily.”
“I’ve warned Rasisar to be careful and to keep the mecha near enough to each other to assist if things go sideways,” Maker said.
“What do we do from here?” Lozat asked, looking at Zander, ceding command to him.
“We’re going to have to go after them if they won’t come to us,” Zander grimaced. “Which means we get the worst-case scenarios. Clearing room by room with an enemy who can come at you from any angle.”
“Spork be bent,” Vorsa sighed. “We’ll do what’s needed.”
Before anyone else could reply, Dreams spoke over comms. “Undocking, repeat undocking. Entoma swarm on the outer hull and charging.”
A second later, sensors tripped, and Defense confirmed what Dreams had just said. “They are going toward where Fractured Dreams was docked, but their angle looks wrong.”
“Fuck, all squads follow the red line, go now!” Maker shouted. “Badger, they’re heading for the core. Stop them!”
Zander was on his feet when Dreams had spoken, and the moment Maker gave the order, a red line began pulsing along the floor he was running. The rest of security was behind him, keeping up as best they could, but a few were just slow. They didn’t say anything, they just ran as fast as they could. They might get there late, but they’d arrive to assist.
Maker, that has to be a Queen, Zander hissed internally as he ran.
Affirmative, Badger. Too coordinated and thought out to be anything but. They waited until the Mecha were too engaged to move swiftly enough to stop them, Maker replied in his ear. Shifting my party favors to help slow their rush from hull to the interior, but it won’t be enough.
I’ll be there as fast as I can.
Copy that, Badger, Maker said.
“Firing on the horde with light armaments to not puncture Origin’s hull,” Dreams said. “We are clear of the ship and horde and staying back far enough to ensure we stay clean.”
“Good job, Dreams,” Zander growled out as he ran.
The ship was large enough and had a thick enough hull that Zander didn’t hear or feel a thing from Dreams doing what she was. If she’d been using her bigger guns, he was sure he’d have felt and heard the barrage.
“Juggernauts leaving to assist on the hull,” Rasisar said. “They’ll likely be late and will only help with stragglers.”
“Copy,” Zander said.
The hallway was straight, but it was a good clip to the core. Zander knew he’d have flagged if he was back on Earth still; a full sprint in battle rattle wasn’t sustainable. But Maker had been improving his body bit by bit for over a year, so he kept the speed up longer than nearly everyone else in security. Even Vorsa and Meltimu had to slow to jogs, leaving only Pwantu keeping pace with Zander. The centaur was amazed that anyone could not only match him but also stay ahead of him; not that he wanted to be the one to reach the core first, but he had heard the order and knew he had to defend it.
The distant sound of explosions made Zander grunt. He was sure that the Entoma were burrowing back into the ship and setting off the claymores before the rooms depressurized. This isn’t how he thought things would go, but it was, so he just gritted his teeth as he kept running.
“Entoma slowed but undeterred,” Maker announced over comms. “Trying to get single gun emplacements set up in the core room before the Entoma arrive. Ladies, be ready for the change, and mind your fire, there will be friendlies in the room along with the core.”
Zander’s wives gave their signals that they had heard her. The fact that they were safe on Dreams helped ease his worry about them. But if the core was breached badly, it would detonate, and he wasn’t sure that Dreams could withstand it with the sheer scope of how much power Origin needed to run. That did remind Zander of something he’d heard an old officer say, ‘Better to be at ground zero than just outside the blast range.’ Nothing on Origin would survive if the core breached. He wasn’t sure what the blast radius would be, but he was fairly certain a new sun would bloom, if briefly.
“Elevator shafts open and clear, no gravity in them, so dive in and pull to the right level,” Maker told the squads running. “It’ll be far faster this way.”
Lozat was glad she’d made her people practice zero-gee drills. If she hadn’t, more than a few would flounder when they tried to use the zero-gee shafts to get to the right level. A couple of them would still have issues, but she’d be there to help them.
Zander reached the shaft first and literally threw himself into it, kicked off the far wall inside, then shoved himself off it and down the shaft. He snagged the handholds and pulled with all his strength, shooting himself down toward the open doorway below him. He oriented his body so he crossed the opening at an angle, allowing him to roll when gravity grabbed him again. Springing to his feet, he took off at a sprint again. He spared a single thank you and an amazed thought at Maker for the fact that he had managed to move so quickly and without slowing.
You’ll need to eat a damned horse after this, as you’re pulling from your body to manage it, but you’re welcome, Maker told him silently. A flashing light marks the doorway you want. Only Pwantu is close to you, but you’ve beaten the Entoma. You have a moment to catch your bearings and formulate plans.
Copy that, Zander thought as he slowed in the last dozen feet and the doorway opened for him. He jogged into the room and was stunned as he took in the space. It was engineering, but far bigger than any he’d seen yet. The middle of the room held the core, and it was huge, the two pools of energy inside of it swirling counter to each other. He shook it off and began to find spots to hunker.
“Maker, which direction are they coming from?” Zander asked.
“These two walls will see the majority of them, but they will likely try to surround the core,” Maker replied over comms.
“Is the base where the core rests okay, or can they just gut it from the bottom?”
“I’m layering claymores under it, facing out. If they try to get to it that way, they’ll die in droves, and you’ll be able to help before they get to the core.”
“What about the power lines?”
“Those would take a while to crack, much like the tank itself, but if they’re given time, they can and will manage it. You’ll have a warning before anything happens.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Zander grunted.
Pwantu came trotting into the room, breathing hard. “We made it?”
“For now, help me set this room up,” Zander said, starting to build firing barricades. “It’ll give us a good starting position, but they’ll adapt. I fucking hate it when the enemy isn’t stupid.”
When Vorsa and Meltimu arrived, they began helping pull barriers together. All of the security team arrived before the Entoma did, and Zander got them positioned. He smiled when he saw the gun emplacements come up from next to the core, giving it a triangle of fire. With his wives there, they’d be fighting for their lives, bunched up around the core to defend it to their last breaths.
The sound of explosions slowly grew louder as the Entoma kept advancing through the limited defenses Maker managed to set up after the bugs rushed for the kill.
“Outer hull clear,” Dreams said. “Standing by off Origin and ready to pull personnel as needed. Dream’s automated defenses are ready if Entoma are pulled across with personnel to be evacuated.”
“Copy that,” Zander said. “Juggernauts, go back to the eggs. We don’t want a repeat of this. Vlad, you might find a Queen and a guard if she didn’t come with this mess. Stay frosty.”
“Copy, Bagder,” Rasisar said. “We haven’t seen a single active Entoma yet. But we will continue to stay aware of any ambushes that might have been left for us.”
“Badger,” Veldiami came over comms, “Origin is in your hands. We stand ready to assist as needed. Dreams has informed me that if the core detonates, then we will not survive it either. Backing off enough to ensure our safety would mean we are too far for her to guarantee pulling personnel.”
Zander wanted to tell her to back off until Dreams was safe, but he knew she’d refuse. And he didn’t want to damn his people who could be saved. “How long would it take Dreams to portal out of danger?”
“Ten seconds minimum,” Dreams replied.
“You’ll have enough time to pull back if things go fubar,” Zander said. “We’ll get as many out as we can and pull out, if we need to.”
“Concurred,” Origin added in. “You’ve already done much. Losing you and Maker would be a tragedy. I will portal you out if I need to. I thank all of you for coming to our aid, but we do not wish for you to lose your lives for us.”
“We stand between harm and the innocent,” Vorsa rumbled. “It is what the Antecedents wanted us to do.”
“Antecedents be praised,” the AIs on Origin all said.
“Antecedents be praised,” security replied.
“Let’s go with an ancient battle cry,” Zander said with a dark smile. “Today’s a good day for them to die.” He knew it wasn’t right, but honestly, making the other guy die was always better than accepting your own death.