Vivid Stars Online

After the Grand Mole, as the combat report revealed it to be, collapsed, I moved forward to harvest the corpse while Linnea kept watch. It was a bloody process, but worth it as I harvested its core and three organs filled with power.

They were not on the level of those from the Dire beast we had killed, but they were still impressive enough to stand out against the rest of the corpse. If possible, I would have liked to get the entire body back, however, that would be impossible in the current circumstances.

Instead, we returned to the squad that had called us in. They once again noticed us on approach, only to relax as they recognized us. “How did the battle go?” The corporal asked as he glanced back the way we came.

“Well,” I responded with a nod. “The beast is dead, and we have harvested its core. If you’re returning to the surface, I would ask you to take it and a few other bits with you.”

He blinked in surprise before rushing into a salute. “Yes Sir! We are due to return and replace Stevens with one of the reserve soldiers. We were just waiting to see if you needed help.”

“Thank you,” I said, glad to have had them on hand even if it was unnecessary. “In that case, you’re free to go.”

The corporal saluted again, before grabbing the wrapped objects I handed over. I had the space to keep them with me if needed, however, I wanted to keep that free for as long as possible.

The deeper we went into the caves, the longer it would take to return to the surface. With Linnea and I as the primary backup for emergencies, us taking a day or more on a trip up would put everyone else in danger.

That triggered another thought, and I stopped the soldiers long enough to commandeer enough of their supplies to replace what we had used. They could resupply on the surface and this would allow us to stay down for another day.

In fact, if we kept getting supplies from other groups, we might be able to stay down for the entire operation. While that wasn’t the most pleasant idea in the world, it would be worth it to make the mission a success.

Once the squad was away, I put in a call to base camp. The relayed connection was a little spotty, but working. My watch had priority access, so I was talking with Captain Hendricks moments later.

“The danger is cleared. It was considerably more powerful than I had expected at this depth, so we should be careful from now on,” I reported, keeping it short and to the point.

“Understood,” the Captain said. “I’ll inform the other groups to proceed with additional caution. Are you prepared to respond to any further reports?”

I responded in the affirmative, and we spoke for a few more minutes before I cut the connection off. Apart from the setback in this tunnel, he reported that the remaining exploration was going well.

The number of beasts was lower than when Linnea and I had come down previously, which I put down to the rift having been weakened. Depending on what the mole beast ate, it may have had something to do with that as well.

The next squad to finish would take over this tunnel, so we moved back to a more central position. I would have preferred to do a bit of exploration myself, but this put us in a far better position to respond to other threats.

No matter how efficient this is, I’m going to make group work like this rare in the future, I thought with a shake of my head. It takes all the fun out of it.

If my responsibilities required me to plan another operation like this, I would, but otherwise I would much prefer to work in a small group. I might add another person or two if we could find someone to keep up with us, but I didn’t want to go much further than that.

Possibly a robot as well. Elana’s going to be busy for quite a while, but I’d still like that combat robot when she has some time. I’d been mostly ignoring my ability to use techno kinesis to control them due to not having access to any particularly good machines.

There were a few back at the ship that were still running, but they weren’t up to our current level of combat ability. Anything too much weaker would be of little use in the battles that we were fighting now.

It was less important than getting the frigate working, however, so I put the thought aside for now and returned my attention to keeping watch. A boring few hours later, we got another call for help.

This was from a squad further out, more than an hour’s walk down a side tunnel. This time we jogged to converse stamina and arrived to find squad members nursing burns while the other two kept watch.

“We encountered some kind of acid-spitting insect,” the squad’s corporal reported after we identified ourselves. “More than a dozen of them further down the tunnel. They were ant-like but about the size of a small dog.”

I winced at hearing that and looked over at the three injured members. Each of them had nasty burns covering the front of their bodies. The light armor they were wearing had been little protection, having been burnt through as easily as flesh.

“Flashbangs slowed them down a little,” the continued with a frown. “But barely enough. It was all we could do to keep ahead of them until they finally turned around.”

“Well, I’m glad they did,” I said, while inwardly wondering at the cause. Did they reach the end of the territory? Or could there be some kind of queen controlling them? I’ve certainly read enough stories like that to be worried.

We questioned the group for several more minutes before I ordered them back to the surface. They were in no condition to help us out, even if their weapons worked on these enemies.

In fact, they reported seeing at least half a dozen of the insects fall, only to be replaced by fresh ones. That was particularly concerning, as we had little idea of how many there were in total.

I placed a call back to base camp and discussed the situation with the Captain. I was still in favor of checking it out with just Linnea, but he fervently suggested that I take additional help.

Since the soldiers’ weapons actually worked this time, I agreed as long as I went first. With my toughness, Psionic Armour, and Skin Hardening ability, I was the toughest of anyone we’d brought by far.

Captain Hendricks was not happy with the situation, but eventually caved to my insistence. With that sorted, we observed the tunnel while he re-routed another squad to us.

It was a nerve-wracking couple of hours before they arrived, looking fresh but nervous. I more than understood that, as even I was a little worried. We could be facing anything from about a dozen insects to some kind of apocalyptic swarm.

The only way to find out was to move forward, and we did so after I spent several minutes impressing the strategy on the new squad. They looked at me in shock as I informed them I would go first. Shock that swiftly turned to relief.

Checking my gear for a last time, I strode down the tunnel with Linnea and the soldiers following me. Because of the small, winding tunnel, she had her rifle out in automatic mode and was between me and the others.

While not as good as mine, her armor was leagues better than the normal soldiers. Hopefully, good enough to survive against the acid for a time. It was an unusual role for her, but she took to it without argument.

For a while, all was quiet until the sound of skittering legs suddenly sounded around the corner in front of us. With no direct line of sight to the enemy, I was unsure how they had detected us but was glad for the forewarning.

For this fight, I triggered both Enhance Cognition and Skin hardening, not trusting even my improved attention to react to multiple enemies. With my rifle up, I prepared to fire as the world slowed down around me.

Antenna poked around the corner, not on the ground but halfway up the left-hand wall. While a surprise, my enhanced thoughts were fast enough to react and open fire with barely a pause.

Three cracks echoed through the tunnel as I fired a burst, blowing the ant’s head away as it surged around the corner. A few moments later Linnea followed suit, with the soldiers joining her seconds after that.

The ant I’d shot was far from alone. They skittered around the corner at high speed, covering the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. There had to be at least two dozen of them and I swiftly moved on to the next target.

Individually, they were weak, falling to a few shots from Linnea and my guns, or half a dozen from the soldiers. Together, they were as difficult a fight as any I’d been in. I’d been outnumbered before, but never by this much.

There were so many of them that Ethereal Roots was useless. Tying up a single ant wasn’t worth the time or energy required to trigger it. Instead, I focused on empowering my rifle, being careful to release the shot at half strength.

The tunnel narrowed here, and I was very aware of how we’d almost brought the roof down on our heads already today. The explosions my blasts released were only large enough to engulf a few ants at once, but they were also weak enough to not threaten the tunnel's stability.

Soon the ants were halfway to us, and the corporal shouted for everyone to shield their eyes. As planned, two flash bangs came sailing past me to land in the bulk of the ants. An explosion of light and sound erupted from them a second later.

We were just far enough to avoid the worst of the effects, and I turned back, only a little disoriented. The ants had fared worse, with many stumbling around waving their antennae.

More than half still forced themselves forward, however, moving into a stumbling run that lacked much of their earlier grace. Despite this, they still closed quickly, and I grimly swapped to my Psi sword.

Swordsmanship was something I’d practiced little, but you didn’t need too much experience to hack away at a tide of ants. Or at least I hoped that would be the case.

Only a few feet away from me, the forerunners stopped and raised their abdomens.

This is it, I thought nervously, bracing myself as I watched them move. From the discussion I’d had with the initial squad, it wasn’t quite right to say that the ants ‘spat’ acid.

Instead, they sprayed it in a manner quite similar to some of their tiny brethren. I was thankfully ready for this and ducked aside from several sizzling green streams.

Despite my best efforts, three streams still struck the front of my armor, corroding it despite Skin Hardening still running. It took the brunt of the attack but wasn’t able to stop it entirely.

It was enough to keep me from injury, for now, and with the first wave thwarted, I charged with a bellow. It wasn’t my normal style, but I had to keep the ants’ attention on me.

Ants fell to my left and right from plasma fire as I lunged at the center. My blade glowed with the purple enhancement from Technokinesis, granting an incredible cutting edge.

A swing swept through an ant in front of me before continuing on to cut into another on my left. More surged forward, but their mandibles couldn’t pierce my armor.

I fought on, killing two more before their weight was enough to bear me to the ground. It was a horrid experience to be trapped under a mass of screeching black carapace, but at least it shielded me from further acid spray.

The crack of plasma fire still sounding gave me hope, and I swapped to my smaller Psi-blade with Technokinesis. There was little room under the mass of ants, but with its empowered edge, I needed little to do damage.

Three more fell to my blade as they tried to break through my armor ineffectually. Then the last of them fell to a hail of bolts and the tunnel fell quiet.

“You alive under there, Jared?” Linnea called out, the amusement in her tone suggesting that she knew full well I was.

“Get these bloody things off me,” I shouted back. “They're leaking everywhere and it’s disgusting.”

With the beasts dead, it only took a minute for me to be pulled free and up to my feet. All I wanted to do was take a break but knew there wasn’t time for it.

Instead, we pushed forward, finding an empty nest with a single, larger ant in the middle. Despite its size, it proved little threat as it fell under a surge of plasma fire.

Beyond the nest, we found a massive cavern striped of life. While whatever lived here had been consumed by the ants, the walls were laced with metals that pulsed to my psionic senses.

I may have found exactly what I was looking for.