NOVEL NEXT Chapter 108: Chapter 108
Firing his rifle into the back of the Metal Gear RAY, Zapdakka rode the mech like a mechanical bull. Watching his bullets pierce the armor and shielding with ease, for a moment, I was confused by what I was seeing. Quickly remembering that Orks altered reality around themselves, since Zapdakka thought it had no shielding, the upper part of the RAY was now completely exposed. Alerting the Ranged Units to this discovery, I had them begin chipping away at its missile pods and railguns.
Striking the missile pods with armor piercing and incendiary rounds, several violent explosions sent large chunks of shrapnel in every direction. With nothing to hide ourselves behind, the shrapnel peppered the Vanguard resulting in several casualties. Listening to the sounds of dying people all around us, we had to end this fight quickly or risk losing a good number of our people.
"Mylene, use your Lightning Magic!", I called out, pointing to the holes in the side of the large mech, "I will join you!"
"Okay, on it!", Mylene acknowledging, as she began chanting her spell.
"Lucoa and Roxanne, help the troops take out the smaller mechs.", I said, pointing to the remaining Helldivers and Orcs, "As it appears they have no shielding, with your assistance they should fall easily enough. Just be cautious, they are quite agile and nimble."
Nodding their heads, the two of them drew their melee weapons and rushed over to lend a hand. Continuing to fire upon the Metal Gear RAY, a few more explosions inside widened the breaches for us. Watching Mylene closely, I began channeling my Force Energy when she neared the end of her chanting.
"Lightning Bolt!", Mylene shouted, as I used Force Ionization.
Landing a solid hit on the internals of the mech, our attack overloaded several critical systems causing everything to go haywire. Engaging its propulsion engines, the RAY shot upwards and crashed into the ceiling, crushing Zapdakka like a bug. Flying uncontrollably across the ceiling, its engines suddenly gave out causing it to fall to the ground in a heap.
As I was about to give the order to fire it, the mech engaged its superheated blade and reignited its engines. Having lost the use of its legs and other critical systems, it decided to give one last Hail Mary and plow right through our ranks. Rapidly picking up speed, as it scrapped across the floor, everyone in its path froze up for a moment.
"Get out of the way!!", I shouted, using the Force to rip the Fenrir off everyone, "Your armor and shielding will not save you from harm!"
Flinging the Fenrirs in front of the blade, all of them were instantly bisected and turned into molten slag. Retracting my helmet, I drew all three of my lightsabers and pushed my thrusters to maximum output. Moving to intercept it, Lucoa, Roxanne, and my troops flew over and snatched up the remaining Sisters of Battle to save them from harm. Getting clear just as the RAY and I clashed, the two of us ended up locked in a stalemate.
'No ancient, fucking robot is going to stop me from achieving my goals!', I thought, digging my feet into the floor with every ounce of strength I possessed, 'I am going to claim this fortress, learn its secrets, and give those Chaos bastards a good, old fashion beatdown!'
Slowly pushing him back, alarms began to sound as my thrusters began to fail due to overexertion. Knowing I would not be able to maintain this much longer, I reached out to Roxanne and Samus telepathically. Telling them that I needed their help immediately, they came rushing over as two of my thrusters cut out.
"Just hang on a few more moments!", Samus shouted, as the two landed on its back.
Hacking away at its back, trying to widen the holes so they could look for the power source, another four thrusters cut out. Unable to maintain my footing, I began sliding backward toward our rearguard and support. Deactivating and stowing the Darksaber in my Storage, my only option left was to use the Thu'um to supplement my strength.
"Sil Aal Bo!!", I shouted, hoping the shout would have the desired effect I wanted.
(AN: Heart, Might, Godly.)
Feeling an overwhelming amount of power surge through my body, I slammed my feet into the ground and brought the mech to a dead stop. Using my newfound strength to push the RAY back, the two women jumped inside and began slashing everything they could. Taking out half of its propulsion engines in the process, the four of us began to spin rapidly with my being the anchor point.
"You both have done enough!", I shouted, seeing a chance to end this now, "Get out now, I can take it from here."
Cutting their way back out, the two women flew directly upward while trying to stop themselves from puking. Timing my next move carefully, I slide the blade and mech along the lightsabers sending it spiraling through the air. Waiting for it to reach the appropriate angle, I gave Jarvis the signal moments before it reached the idle point.
"FIRE!!", I commanded Jarvis.
Unleashing the full power of the Unibeam on the ancient machine, the repulsor beam cut right through it like butter. Pulling the remains to me immediately, I stowed them away safely into my storage before falling to one knee. Experiencing the grueling repercussions of my rash use of the Thu'um, my body was became racked with intense pain. Puking up a mouthful of blood, as the last remnants of power left me, my vision became darker and darker by the moment. Instinctively knowing I was going to pass out, I pulled out enough supplies to tide everyone over for a few weeks before collapsing onto the floor.
"VICTOR!!", my wives shouted, running over to me as I faded into unconsciousness.
---Next Day, 3rd Person POV, Artemis Space Station---
Arriving at the Bounty Hunter Association, with a stack of holotapes in hand, Deirdre set them on the counter with a proud smile on her face. Having successfully tracked down and eliminated several space pirates without Victor's assistance, the five women took immense pride in that achievement. Even though they enjoyed spending time with Victor, they needed this reassurance to confirm they were not simply dead weight to everyone else in the family.
"Good work, some of these crews were becoming a real problem for our neighboring sectors.", the receptionist remarked, "I am ready for the next stack of holotapes."
"That is all the pirates we hunted yesterday.", Angelica stated, knowing she was used to them bringing in stacks of holotapes at once, "Victor and a few of us are off exploring some ruins in the Imperium of Man. It is just the five of us tackling jobs right now. We wanted to try and rank up a bit while he is away."
"Oh, I see, that explains why there are so few holotapes today. Taking out that many pirates without a platinum ranked pilot is extremely difficult.", the receptionist replied, without thinking, "If you are interested in ranking up, I can offer you a few posting that will help speed things along. Would you like me to show you the job listings?"
Wanting to be mad at her for casually dismissing their hard work, they could not bring themselves to be as she was not saying it to be cruel. All five of them acknowledged that Victor's piloting skills were the main reason they could eliminate so many pirates in a short amount of time. Angelica, Clarice, and Deirdre knew how to pilot airships, which certainly went along way toward piloting Yamato, but they still had not grasped the finer controls that spacecraft used. As much as they hated to admit it, probably seventy percent of what they brought in was because of Yamato's invention and the helmsman jumping in to assist them.
"My sincerest apologies!!", the receptionist said, realizing that she had inadvertently insulted their hard work, "Every pirate you eliminate from the surrounding sectors helps keep everyone here safe. No monetary reward or rank can ever express just how much your efforts mean to normal people like me. I can honestly say that I could never do the work all of you do, I am too cowardly and weak to risk my neck out there."
"It is alright, we acknowledge that we still have a long way to go before reaching Victor's level of skill.", Clarice replied, before an idea struck her, "Does the association offer training courses on piloting spacecraft? I am sure that every ship is a little different, but just knowing the basics would be a great starting point for us."
"Yes, we do offer piloting courses here! I think we even have a few simulations specifically for Dreadnaught-Class vessels like Yamato.", the receptionist confirmed, looking up the courses on her terminal, "Oh yes, there are several of them here."
"Sign us up for basic courses then, please.", Angelica requested.
"So you are aware, we assign courses based on the class of ship you want to learn about. For Dreadnaught-Class ships, the curriculum is ten million credits. It will be assigned to your group so all of you can use it, including those of you who are not here today.", the receptionist informed them.
Seeing this as a good investment for everyone in the family, the five of them accepted the cost without a second thought. Taking the funds from the group's account and assigning the course to them, she updated their ID Cards so they could access the training center. Thanking her before heading over to the same place they had taken the association test previously, the five of them were psyched to learn what it took to extract the maximum potential out of Yamato.
"Since I have the most experience with airships among the five of us, I should be done with everything in less than three hours.", Deirdre proclaimed, with a smug smile, "I will be waiting in the lounge for the rest of you after I am done. Try not to keep me waiting too long."
"What was that…!?", Clarice laughed, with a scary smile, "You are only marginally better at piloting airships than Angelica and me. Just because your family bloodline produced many great captains does not automatically make you a talented captain!"
"That is right, your sister is a prime example of that!", Angelica chimed in, "I remember she crashed an airship into your family home once, right?"
"That only happened once!", Deirdre argued.
Leaving the three of them to hash things out, Aela and Olivia continued walking since they had no horse in this race. They had no prior experience steering ships, so they were learning everything from scratch. In their eyes, if they could not glean anything from the simulations, they would just have Victor show them when he returned. Seeing it as getting some private time with their husband, both women saw it as a win-win situation.