Ex Nihilo - Abyssal Prophecy

Chapter 31

A steady fire erupted from the advancing reinforcement troops exiting the mining ships. Gabriel informed his troops through hand motions to take a defensive position behind shield walls. Matthew and Kain worked together rallying the officers. The energy shields deployed by the officers were linked together. Enemy fire struck the shield wall to little effect. Ducking and dodging the incoming fire, Gabriel managed to leap into his troops’ formation.

            The large central gate began to rumble and open. A’zyren motioned for Genji and Dhakan to fall back to the officer position. From the docking ramp, Magnus could see the chaos. Projectiles were exchanged between the lines of combatants, but it was clear the automatons were being driven back for now. He glanced at the central gate opening and gripped his pistol tight as he headed down the ramp towards the battle.

            With a battle cry from Nemesis, her troops burst across the battlefield, firing. The other troops pushed harder on seeing this. Reaching the center, Nemesis smiled at her brothers and joined the fray with bursts from her twin rapid magnetic machine pistols. Taking a position at the front the plebs activated their shields and freed up the officers with better weapons. From over the shoulder of their brothers and sister, Clan Officer opened fire on the enemy.

            Steady thumps echoed from behind, signalling the approaching reinforcements. Gabriel spotted another massive colossus at the gate opening. More of the smaller assault automatons began to pour into the docking bay through the crack of the central gate. He glanced back, motioning for the lords and ladies to advance to his position. Joining the officers, Magnus watched the massive colossus, waiting for the door to open.

            “We need to get your troops assembled,” Magnus told Gabriel. “Pick the most trusted troops and leaders you got. You and I will lead them through the outpost to the central chamber. Once we take control of the outpost’s command center, we can shut down the defense. Otherwise, these machines will overrun our position here.”

            “First, we have to take down that other colossus.” Gabriel pointed.

            “Let me handle that.” Magnus gripped his pistol tight staring at the colossus.

            “What the f**k is your pistol going to do against that thing?” Kain asked.

            Magnus kissed the barrel of his pistol and raised it. Staring down the barrel, he waited for the gate to open far enough to give him a clear shot. With a pull of the trigger, the pistol began charging with energy. With a loud rupture of energy, the pistol expelled a small glowing ball of rippling black energy. The projectile shot through the docking bay, striking the colossus in the dead center of its head. A massive explosion ripped the colossus’ head apart, tore the door to pieces, and eradicated many of the automatons below in an inferno.

            “What the actual f**k was that?” Kain gaped.

            “A point singularity weapon created by the Ancients, and as far as I know, the only one in existence,” Magnus informed him. “In my experience, it’ll destroy just about anything.” He looked at the smoking wreckage of the colossus collapsing to the ground. Smoke wafted from the barrel of the pistol, which was glowing white hot from the singularity discharge. Giant pieces of the machine fell and crushed the automaton forces still advancing from the corridors beyond the gate.

            “Well, Captain Void, I am certainly glad you’re a friend and not an enemy.” Gabriel motioned for his reinforcements to rally at his position by waving his hand. Reinforcements arrived at the center and began expanding the defensive lines. Lords and ladies approached their captain, standing in the center of his troops. A’zyren, Genji, and Dhakan took positions next to Magnus.

            Steady fire from the troops on the line flew into the central gate opening, bottlenecking the enemy troops. Automatons continued to advance, only to be cut down in the cascade of gunfire. Medics tended to the wounded nearby. Everyone in the center took the moment to catch their breaths as they gathered around their captain.

Gabriel noted his troops had halted the advance for the moment.

            “All right, this is the plan,” he ordered. “Lord Whelsey and Lord Drumpf, you’ll take command of this position with your forces, and, Lord Hector, you’ll provide support. We should begin preparing those ships over there for takeoff.” He pointed to abandoned craft in the docking bay. “Lord Hephaestus, you and your troops are best suited for that task. Take Lord Cornelius’s troops for backup and the heavy lifting. Lady Freya, your people will provide moving fire support to the troops moving between ships. Captain Void, can your ship sustain heavy fire from the colossi battle units?”

            “The Death’s Reaper has the strongest shield I’ve ever seen,” Magnus replied. “It should hold up to days of sustained attacks. Vulcan won’t let it go down easy.”

            “Excellent. We’ll use the Death’s Reaper as a field hospital.” He looked to Lord Galen. “Have your troops carry any severely wounded troops there. Kain, get our troops rounded up with Matthew’s help. Lady Nemesis, Lord Oswald, and Lady Marimba, I want your forces with me. We’re going to follow Captain Void to the command center of this outpost. Taking it will end this battle.”

            “We’re going to charge through that?” Nemesis pointed at the central gates.

            “’Tis a beautiful day for a war.” Lady Marimba laughed.

            Lord Oswald motioned to his troops. The troops formed into lines that were staggered to create an overlapping shield wall. Lady Nemesis motioned for her troops to take the flanking wings of the formation. In the center of the formation, Lady Marimba ordered her troops to take firing positions. With the formation set, Gabriel turned to Magnus.

            “We could really use the help of your ASA, Mordecai,” Gabriel stated.

            “Mordecai refuses to kill automatons. He sees them as children,” Magnus replied.

            “These children are trying to kill us.” Gabriel pointed to the advancing machines.

            “Mordecai, come in,“ Magnus said into his communicator. “We need you for our push to the central core. Without your help, we’re going to have to destroy every last automaton on this station, and you wouldn’t want that, so help us.”

            Silence. Magnus looked at Captain Soloman and shrugged. Both of them knew there was no time to wait. Waving the troops forward, Gabriel had no intention of waiting. They’d kill every one of these machines, if necessary. From behind the loud bangs, Mordecai signalled his arrival.

            “I will not kill these machines, but I will help you shut them down to preserve their functions,” Mordecai explained. “They may not yet be sentient, but they deserve to survive.”

Magnus hugged his crewmate and smiled. “You’re one of the most stubborn creatures I’ve ever met, but you’re here.”

            “Captain, I recommend taking my entourage and Commander Verdas,” Lord Whelsey advised. “They may not be large in number but they are elite troops. You’ll find Commander Verdas’s courage and battle prowess beyond compare.”

            “Take Commander Lance and my retinue, as well,” Lord Drumpf insisted.

            With a smile, Gabriel motioned for the troops to join his formation. A steady thump echoed from the advance of the formation moving towards the central gate. The forces divided to create crossfire defensive positions. Automaton fire poured over the advancing group. Approaching the central gate, the group could see the cross-section where three corridors merged. In the distance, they could hear the approach of more colossi.

            Nemesis screamed a battle cry and charged from the cover into the enemy ranks. Behind her, the forces of Plebs and Weavers poured forward with their melee weapons. A’zyren charged forward with Genji to assist the melee forces. In the center, Commander Verdas drew his sword and pushed forward, driving the automatons back. Lady Marimba and Commander Lance held the front ranks with steady bursts of their rifles. Gabriel and Magnus watched the formation advance into the corridor.

            “The main lift is a thousand meters that way.” Magnus pointed down the central hall. “We have to clear that route, but we have to protect the flank, as well.” He aimed his pistol down a corridor, firing a shot at an advancing colossus. The explosive shock wave rippled through the ranks.

Gabriel motioned to the officers and available troops. “Testudo formation.”

            Energy rippled through the air, cutting a swath down a corridor from Genji’s s***h. A’zyren, Nemesis, and her troops charged down the central corridor, cutting down automatons in their wake. Magnus waited for the barrel to cool while watching another colossus approach. The massive machine’s energy weapon prepared to fire. He aimed and fired again before the machine could get off a shot. Another shockwave hit the formation, and the close proximity sent troops sprawling to the ground.

            Automatons poured fire into the failing shield line. A’zyren spun around, throwing a shield emitter backwards through the air. Gabriel marched through the confusion, pulling wounded soldiers back to their feet. He could see dead soldiers on the ground all around him.

            “Tighten the formation!” he cried, firing bursts from his rifle. “We’re almost through the intersection. Keep pushing!”

            Shields closed the gap with the new troops moving to protect the formation. Thuds from the steady, persistent march echoed over the sounds of weapons fire. Dhakan fired his weapon over the heads of the troops, halting an automaton advance with rapid energy shots. With the lines reformed, Gabriel motioned to push forward, and. the formation inched across the intersection under constant fire.

            At the front of the formation, Nemesis and her mixed Pleb and Weaver unit continued pushing down the corridor. Slashing and hacking, she tore into the automaton ranks. In the distance, she could see where the corridor opened up into a larger area. There were no more automatons at the moment. A large disk descended in the distance, carrying another wave of automatons and a colossus in the center.

            “Shield wall now.” Nemesis marched back towards her troops.

            From the disk, the new automatons poured into the corridor, charging towards the troops. Nemesis was trying to rally her troops when she felt the rumble of the approaching colossus. She had time to turn and see its energy weapon flaring.

Breaking through the ranks, A’zyren charged forward, throwing down another shield strip and running towards it as it deployed. She pulled two cables from the spheroid machine on her back and plugged them into the strip.

            “This will hurt,” she mumbled to herself and activated the spherical machine. She stared dead ahead at the charging weapon when it fired. With another press of the button, the spheroid machine hummed loudly. The shield emitter strip flared with intense light from the new power being pumping into it. The energy blast hit the shield wall, sending a massive ripple of force rebounding off it as it collapsed. She was thrown back across the deck, but she looked up to see her plan had worked.

            With polarity reversed, the shield wall didn’t absorb the incoming energy blast, reflecting it instead. The massive colossus’ torso exploded when its blast tore through it. The colossus teetered before collapsing and crushing the automatons charging in front of it. The chaos created an opening in the enemy line.

Magnus saw the tide turning and turned to Gabriel.

            “Break formation and charge towards the lift!” he yelled. “It’s our only chance. They’ll just keep sending more reinforcements otherwise.” He charged ahead, motioning for his crew to follow him. Running past, he reached down to pull A’zyren back to her feet. Genji leaped out in front. A s***h of his sword sent an energy wave soaring down the hallway and tearing through everything in its path, clearing the corridor of enemies.

            Automatons poured fire into the corridor. preventing the backwards-facing shield wall from retreating. Matthew refused to abandon his troops despite the tugging of his brother Kain and the orders his father was yelling in the distance.

Around the corner of the intersection, a colossus stepped out, turning to fire its cannon. Magnus turned and fired his pistol at the colossus, and it erupted in a massive explosion.

The shockwave threw Matthew and his troops to the ground, but upon standing, he saw the colossus toppling over to create a barrier.

            “Retreat now!” Matthew fired his rifle. He motioned for the troops to fall back, and he pulled men from the shield wall. Kain and Matthew broke from the formation and charged towards the lift with the rest of the troops in front of them. Automatons opened fire down the corridor, trying to stop the intruders from reaching the lift. Troopers fell to the deluge of incoming fire around the two brothers. Kain refused to allow his brother to die and grabbed him before he could turn to help.

            “There is nothing you can do for them now. We have to retreat.” Kain pulled at his brother.

Matthew screamed, firing his rifle at the approaching automatons.

On the outer edge of the lift, Gabriel formed a shield wall to protect his approaching sons. Kain dragged his brother across the lines to the safety of the shield wall.

            “Mordecai, you know what to do now. Get this lift operational.” Magnus pointed to the center console on the lift. He spotted the hovering mobile point defense turrets racing down to stop them. “Captain Soloman, we’ve got incoming!”

            Gabriel glanced around to see the incoming aerial threat. Another colossus was turning the intersection corner and marching towards the lift.

Magnus looked at his pistol, still smoking from the last shot. He wasn’t sure it could handle another shot so soon. He looked over at Genji and then to the colossus. With a nod, Genji charged forward.

            “Get your troops back and defend Mordecai and the console,” Genji said, racing by.        

“Fall back now,” Gabriel ordered and began pulling his troops from the formation. “Get Matthew to the console, Kain, and rally our troops there. Form a Testudo formation and take care of those bastard flyers.” Gabriel marched forward, pulling his troops back one after another. He continued firing at the advancing automatons to distract them from the charging Genji.

Leaping across the front line of the shield wall, Genji’s energy blade hummed at full charge. He slashed the blade through the air in a wide arc. A swath of energy blasted down the corridor, tearing through everything. He swung his blade wide, deflecting incoming shots, and then began to fall back.

Gabriel used his troops to form a circular shield wall around the console.

From the center of the formation, Lady Marimba, Lord Oswald, and Dhakan fired up into the sky. Explosions ripped from the aerial mobile turrets unable to avoid the barrage of fire. Several of them tried to escape, but they were picked off by the precise aim of A’zyren’s long-range energy rifle. Commander Verdas and Lance stood with their troops firing into the sky. Mordecai hacked the console, causing it to rise. From the center, the group stood side by side, firing at the descending swarm of aerial drones.