⫸ [ TIME: 16:46 AETHELGARD STANDARD TIME ]
⫸ [ LOCATION: BASE CAMP ALPHA ]
⫸ [ STATUS: ANTI-AIR ENGAGEMENT ]
The sky turned black.
It wasn't night. It was the density of the kill box.
The four Sky-Killer turrets screamed. The sound was a continuous, tearing roar—BRRRRRRT—that vibrated in the teeth of every Giant on the ground.
Thousands of 20mm Void-Steel shells were pumped into the air every second. They were set with proximity fuses. They didn't hit the targets directly. They detonated ten meters in front of them.
The result was a wall of anti-magic shrapnel.
The Golden Crow Gliders flew straight into it.
"EVADE!" a Flight Leader screamed over the Aether-waves.
It was too late.
The Void-Steel fragments didn't just pierce flesh. They acted as Aetheric heat sinks.
When a shard hit a thermal updraft, it sucked the heat out of the air instantly. The lift vanished.
The Gliders stalled.
Hundreds of them.
Their wings crumpled. Their engines died.
They fell from the sky like stones.
CRASH. CRASH. CRASH.
It was a rain of gold and meat. Gliders smashed into the jungle canopy. They exploded against the Deep-Kin blast walls. Cultivators fell screaming, their bodies shredded by metal they couldn't sense and couldn't stop.
Elian stood on the roof of the ship. He watched the slaughter through his HUD.
[ Kill Count: 142 Units. ]
[ Efficiency: 94%. ]
[ The Glider swarm is neutralized. ]
"They were soft," Elian said. His synthesized voice was cold. "Now comes the hard part."
He looked up.
The Gliders were gone. But the five Sun-Arks remained.
The massive golden galleons had stopped. They hovered two kilometers up, just out of effective range of the rotary cannons. Their shields shimmered—a thick, honey-colored barrier that absorbed the few stray shells that reached them.
"THEY HAVE STOPPED," Grom radioed from the trench. "DO WE ADVANCE?"
"No," Elian commanded. "Dig in! They are charging the main guns!"
The lead Sun-Ark began to glow.
The crystal array on its prow opened like a flower. A blinding white light gathered in the center.
◤ THREAT DETECTED ◢
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
⬢ Weapon: Solar Lance (Class-A)
⬢ Energy Output: 50 Gigajoules
⬢ Impact: 3 Seconds
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Shields up!" Elian shouted. "A.R.C., dump the capacitors!"
The Horizon Seeker groaned. The Titan Heart in the reactor room pulsed violently.
A blue dome of hard-light energy sprang up over the base. It was the ship's navigational deflector, over-clocked to maximum density.
The Sun-Ark fired.
BZZZZEEEWW.
A beam of concentrated sunlight slammed into the base.
It hit the blue shield directly above the ship.
The world turned white.
The sound was deafening. The air outside the shield instantly turned to plasma. The jungle around the perimeter flash-fried into ash.
Inside the base, the temperature spiked.
[ Warning. Shield Integrity: 60%. ]
[ The Titan Heart is holding, but the emitters are melting. ]
[ We cannot take a sustained bombardment. ]
Elian looked at the data.
The shield would hold for maybe two more shots. Then the emitters would fuse, and the next beam would vaporize the ship, Alara, and the army.
"We can't shoot them down," Elian realized. "Their shields are too thick for the flak. And we can't tank them."
He looked at the lead ship. It was cooling down for the next shot.
"A.R.C., calculate the jump trajectory."
[ Destination? ]
"The deck of the flagship."
[ Distance: 2.1 Kilometers. Elevation: 600 Meters. ]
[ The Mark-IV Jump-Jets are designed for short hops. Not orbital insertion. ]
[ Probability of making the deck: 40%. ]
[ Probability of missing and falling to death: 60%. ]
"I need a boost," Elian said.
He looked at the rotary cannons.
"Angle Turret One to 85 degrees. I'm going to ride the stream."
[ Commander. You intend to use the recoil of the turret combined with your thrusters? ]
"No," Elian said. "I'm going to step on the bullets."
He ran to the edge of the hull. He jumped down to the turret platform.
The massive gun was spinning, cooling down.
"Load a solid slug," Elian ordered. "Single shot. Max charge."
He climbed onto the barrel. He crouched, his heavy boots locking onto the muzzle brake.
"On my mark. Fire the gun. Ignite thrusters."
It was insanity. It was physics pushed to the breaking point.
"MARK!"
BOOM.
The railgun fired. The massive recoil kicked the barrel upward.
At the exact same moment, Elian fired his jump-jets.
The combined force launched him into the sky.
He was a black missile streaking through the smoke. The G-force slammed him into the back of his armor. His vision greyed out.
[ Altitude: 300m... 500m... ]
[ Velocity: Mach 0.8. ]
[ Target closing. ]
He punched through the cloud layer.
The Sun-Ark loomed ahead. It was massive. A flying city of gold.
The shields were up.
"I'm going to hit the shield!" Elian gritted out.
[ Warning. Impact imminent. ]
Elian didn't slow down. He activated the Solar-Drive Discs on his back—the ones he had looted from the enemy.
He inverted their polarity.
Instead of lift, they generated a Void-Field.
He hit the golden shield.
The Void-Field disrupted the Aether.
He didn't bounce off. He punched through.
He smashed onto the teak deck of the Sun-Ark.
CRASH.
He slid for fifty meters, carving a trench through the ornate wood. He took out a railing and smashed through a decorative statue.
He came to a stop.
Steam hissed from his armor. His landing gear was bent but functional.
Elian stood up.
He was on the flagship.
Hundreds of Golden Crow crewmen stared at him. They held spears and wands. They looked horrified. A black metal demon had just fallen from the sky and landed on their bridge.
Elian racked the bolt of his shoulder-mounted railgun.
The sound was loud in the silence.
"PERMISSION TO BOARD," Elian's synthesized voice boomed.
A crewman screamed. "INTRUDER! PROTECT THE CAPTAIN!"
Fireballs and lightning bolts flew at him.
Elian didn't dodge.
He walked forward.
The spells hit his Mark-IV Armor. They splashed harmlessly against the Void-Steel plating.
"Target rich environment," Elian said.
He raised his right arm. The shoulder cannon swiveled.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The railgun barked.
Three crewmen exploded.
Elian began to run. He wasn't running away. He was running toward the bridge tower.
"A.R.C., find the engine room. We are going to crash this boat."
[END OF CHAPTER 28]