The "Collective" flared with the echo of death. The dying emotions cut through everyone in this star system. There were too few members of the expedition to drown out such a thing with the general background of thoughts and feelings.
This was exacerbated by the fact that Orik fully realized his death. Bewilderment, rage, pain, and acceptance flashed like a black star. The immediately sent packet of his personality joined the general array, but the personality never woke up, turning the intelligent being into archival data about himself. One could talk to him, and he would answer, but the personality was no longer in this information packet. Unconsciously, realizing that this was the end, Orik simply did not wish to wake up after death, and the system fulfilled his request.
For a brief moment, the emotional space froze, drooping in color, before exploding with anger. Death, and such death at that, made blood boil. Involuntarily, all members of the expedition clenched their fists…
"A mistake was made…" – the mad girl muttered, feigning bewilderment, but a disgusting, cloying smile betrayed her pleasure.
The world suddenly came to life. The young Freya's mind ignited with a bonfire of unclouded rage and fury, familiar to her new comrades. A black veil of anger only accentuated the flame of emotions.
"I will kill," – the maiden growled, but there was no threat in this cry. The word, full of pain, was merely a statement of fact.
Dwarves do not forgive insults. They immediately repay them. If the offender turned out to be too strong, and the victim fell without receiving what they desired, then the committed offense is recorded in the clan's book of grievances. A year, two, a decade will pass, but the clan will find and punish the offender…
Her fingers gripped the axe handle so tightly that her practically steel bones crunched from the applied force. The maiden didn't care about the pain, the fight, or the surroundings. The whole world narrowed down to her and the target, and there was something in the young dwarf's gaze that made the mad maniac gasp in confusion and step back.
Freya, not intending to give the creature time to recover, rushed forward, feeling dozens and hundreds behind her, figuratively placing their hands on her shoulders as a sign of support. Her silent message was heard by the system. Special protocols sent messages throughout the network. In a moment, various intelligent beings came to her call, granting their skills and knowledge, while simultaneously stimulating the young avenger's body.
Warriors saw with her eyes, strategists calculated every step, based on scientists' calculations. But the body could not withstand such unity for long, consuming its nutrient reserves before her eyes.
"The main thing is that it's enough for the dash!" – the maiden cast aside all doubts, dodging a new spurt of acid, reacting to it even before it burst from the foul mouth. The perfect ballistic computer, the brain, having received accurate data and knowledge, calculated the trajectory, leading the body away from danger.
A firm hand threw the axe. The crescent blade flashed ominously. The weapon plunged into the monster's collarbone with a crunch, making it stagger. The girl merely squinted at the axe, which was an unforgivable mistake. The blow from a small, armored fist not only recalculated her teeth but literally swept her aside.
Pulling out her trusty weapon, Freya struck with her head. The helmet shattered the hated face, making her opponent stagger. The blow from the butt definitively knocked her down.
Under the disgusting giggling of the mad creature, the maiden kicked it in the stomach, sending it into a short flight. Gripping the axe more firmly, she began to chop the monster, not letting it get up.
"You can't kill me like this!" – the monster continued to laugh.
"And I will chop, again and again," – pulling out the weapon, widening the wound, and again lowering the blood-soaked axe, the dwarf said.
A mental call: "Behind you!" – made her roll aside. A heavy bear paw, with the roar of tearing air, flashed where the maiden's head had been a moment ago. The danger seen by Shep's eyes saved her from inevitable death…
The captain himself engaged in a clinch with another madman again, luring him into his trap. After taking a couple of blows, delivered with such force that the triplex of the helmet cracked, Shep closed the trap. Hundreds of polymer threads rose simultaneously from the ground into the air. Thin, almost invisible in the air, they pierced the mutant, but that wasn't all. Electricity sent through them made the creature writhe in convulsions.
A grabbing motion of the hand. Assisting himself with a gesture, the operative commanded the polymer manipulator, and an invisible telekinetic press crushed all the undying flesh, simultaneously tightening the transparent threads until they rang, but no matter how much the polymer cut the opponent, no matter how much the electricity tore it, it continued to laugh and live.
Seeing the ineffectiveness of his actions, Shep gave only one mental command: "Burn." The network of controlled substance instantly ignited with burning flame. The creature only laughed even harder, shouting:
"O-o-o-oh, yes!!!"
Realizing that this also had no effect, the captain commanded the threads to contract. With a crack, the ancient metal of the station tore, pulling towards the monster. Telekinesis again, and the resulting steel cocoon was compressed into a sphere.
"If you can't win, stop!" – the man thought maliciously, extending his hand. A stream of coolant began to freeze the dungeon, which for the first time displeased the monster.
"You shouldn't have done that," – the mutant, instantly losing his madness, became extremely serious. Even crushed and twisted into mince, he struck with his paw so hard that he managed to break through part of his shackles, but the captain only increased the pressure, seeing how the scraps of mutated flesh began to blacken from contact with the cold…
"And here I am!" – a new participant burst into the fight.
Shep was thrown back by a hoof strike from the creature that had suddenly appeared before him. Before he could fall, he was thrown upwards, his armor pierced by horns.
"You're too slow!" – the girl hissed at the intelligent ram.
"But you're too fast, you freaks!" – countered the new mutant, telekinetically breaking his comrade's dungeon. "You went against the plan, so you got what you deserved!"
Glancing at the battlefield and seeing an almost intact Miranda, he frowned.
"And the girl is still alive," – he stated dryly, blocking the designated girl's telekinetic attempts with his polymer. "You started having fun right away… Not right. We'll fix it!"
The mutant responded with a blow for a blow, trying to tear and crush the man, but failed. Shep, flying up on a jetpack, covered Miranda with a polymer shield, allowing the girl to fully engage in the confrontation.
A precarious balance was established. The intelligent ram was forced to simultaneously counter two polymer users, which he categorically disliked. Detaching himself from everything, he managed to strike with telekinesis from a third direction, shattering the humans' defense, forcing them to endure not the most pleasant minutes. The mutant was already preparing to triumph, but a gray shadow suddenly grew behind him. Mo knew how to be quiet, despite his size.
The shark unleashed the power of his jaws and hands on the enemy, crushing his body…
Instantly summoned polymer flooded the opponents locked in combat, only to bloom into a wall of thorns a moment later. Blood splattered. Mo, pierced in hundreds of places, only clenched his jaw tighter, but a hoof, reinforced by invisible energy, shattered it.
"You surprised me," – the ram stated. "I grant you a quick death."
An invisible press turned the wounded man into bloody mist. The "Collective" was once again painted with death, which cut even deeper into the surroundings. While Orik was known for a relatively short time, Mo was a prominent member of the expedition, even against the backdrop of other sharks…
The warrior who fell in battle awoke. The pain was gone. He felt as if he was being washed by a large, caring ocean. The algorithms began to work. The saved mind awaited a new body. In a couple of years, he would be born again. Even if he was called by a different name, and he remembered nothing, this way Mo would return to his friends faster…
The death of his friend gave the captain strength. A dash on the jetpack! A flashing sword severed the horned head, and telekinesis finished the job. Literally flooding the headless body with "Frost," he shattered the frozen flesh, grinding it into fine crumbs.
"You've gone too far," – the girl stated too calmly, having been cut by the axe again. "It's time to finish."
"Hooray!" – hundreds of her copies, hidden until then in the ancient buildings, joyfully replied.
Even though the naga, who had been holding back the attacking robots, instantly switched to the new threat, despite his six arms, he was alone and couldn't engage all the clones in combat at once! The crowd simply rushed at him, forcing him to go on the defensive, continuing his movement towards the target of the entire attack – Miranda.
Instantly assessing the threat, the captain did not finish off the rabbit, activating his jetpack again. Snatching the girl a moment before the crowd would have torn her apart, he soared upwards…
"Damn you!" all the clones said in unison, carrying out their threat.
The operative demonstrated miracles of acrobatics, twisting or taking most of the acid splashes on his shield, while also preventing a single drop from reaching Miranda, who was not idle either, but it was not enough. One accurate hit literally melted the mechanism of his backpack.
The explosion pressed the people into the ground, even despite the timely detachment of the unit, scattering them in different directions. If Shep was lucky, he was simply thrown against the floor of the station, then Miranda had a hard time. The girl was thrown against one of the buildings, hitting her side on a decorative ridge. Crying out painfully, she fell onto the dusty street. Her left arm was bent unnaturally.
Seeing this, the clones rushed at their victim, although Risa, who reacted instantly, jumped to Miranda in one leap, and began to coolly shoot down one product of genetics after another. With a furious cry, Freya broke into the unorganized crowd, scattering copies with her hands, crushing the slow ones with an axe.
Shep, having come to his senses and seeing that he had been forgotten, if only for a moment, fully took advantage of the enemy's hesitation. Spitting on his safety, he activated his technical terminal. With an act of will, the polymer again flowed in threads, instantly sticking to the enemy robots. The wonderful composition itself found cracks in the hulls, reaching the microchips. Connecting to the computing modules, the threads transmitted a control impulse from the terminal, as the mutants had prudently deprived the machines of wireless communication, knowing perfectly well the capabilities of the defenders of their goal.
The controlled machines rushed into their final battle, obeying the operative's orders, who was firing more harassing fire from his rifle. His brain simply didn't have enough resources for more. Controlling a hundred bodies was burdensome even for him.
The battle froze in balance again. The girl could not crush the resistance alone, and her partner had not yet recovered. The mutant's frost-bitten body regenerated with great difficulty.
The man-made chaos was only gaining momentum. Each side tried to reach the enemy, while simultaneously evading his attacks, but the mutants were slowly losing their momentum. The clones could not regenerate like the original, and the hare was still trying to grow the missing parts. Therefore, no one noticed the flickering point of the targeting beacon...
With the roar of tearing steel, a landing capsule fell onto the ancient building, and the invisible gunner moved from observation to action. Maliciously, his eyes flashed from under his fedora hat as two pistols spoke.
"You!!!" howled the mad hare, clearly panicking, but immediately regaining his composure. "Let's see what color your guts are!"
With a swipe of his paw, he broke off his instantly grown front teeth with a crunch. Waving the razor-sharp fragments of enamel, he said, lisping:
"Shall we dance?!"
In response, there was only a guttural roar and shots...
With a hiss, the landing door of the capsule opened, releasing fighters from its depths. In clouds of steam, four black and white lightning bolts flew onto the ancient deck, instantly rushing into the thick of the enemies. Passing through like a hot knife through butter, wielding molecular glaives, they broke through to Miranda.
"Don't struggle, lady," their commander said, splitting another clone in half, leaning against the wall to the girl, ignoring the fact that her pistol was pointed directly at him. "Private Yerzhan, examine her."
The massive penguin merely nodded.
"So, we meet again," the commander said sternly, turning to the girl, looking directly into her eyes, and stroking his scar.
"I see you liked the surprise!" the mutant laughed. "It's a pity you'll die here!"
"You won't make it," the group leader snarled. "Even if you miraculously defeat us, you won't leave the system. In five minutes, a fleet squadron will be here."
Without wasting any more time, the squad went on the attack. Meanwhile, Shep and the silent executioner had cornered another maniac. The human and the product of biology and cybernetics acted like a well-oiled machine, complementing each other. One pressured with tricks, the other with brute force. Catching the hare in an attack, the captain scalded him with "Frost," and two shots to the knees completed the rout. For the two fighters, it was a matter of technique to finish off the hobbled, but still dangerous opponent. The man crushed the frozen head, distorted by powerless rage and horror, with grim satisfaction.
Teaming up with the Naga, the special forces unit, with Risa's fire support, finished off the clones, and began to press the original, but the bear was still fending them off. Freya put an end to the protracted confrontation. The maiden, climbing onto the ruins of a house, simply and without fuss jumped onto the monster, who did not expect it. Knocking her down, the dwarf, not without pleasure, broke her back over her knee, and then crushed all the joints on her limbs, and for reliability, chopped off the broken stumps with an axe.
The girl, having lost all her fun, burst into curses, but the coolant quickly deprived her of this opportunity...
Sealing the cabin door behind him, Shep was finally alone with himself. He really disliked wakes. The worst part for him was the fact that he couldn't forget. As the expedition commander, alcohol was forbidden for him. Only a hundred grams, exclusively "to observe the custom and relieve stress," as the ship's AI explained.
"Normandy" was accelerating, preparing to jump to Pandora, leaving its entire escort at the "Tower." Due to complex navigation in this sector of space, the journey would not be quick. In fact, this and the organized ambush were the reasons for the delay of the combined special forces group. As their commander said before "departure" (Shep wasn't deluded that they had actually left, knowing their specifics): "Someone sold the group's route. There's a rat sitting somewhere above. And about the little one... I'm not sure we killed her. It's not the first time she's changed bodies."
As a result, the saga of searching for the second Citadel was over for him personally, but the successful completion of the task did not please him. If he was used to the deaths around him, like any soldier, then the death of friends...
The captain perfectly understood that he was not acting like a professional, becoming too attached to his squad members, but still, going into battle time and time again and sharing one meal from a pot, how could they not become attached to each other? He had even gotten used to this old dwarf, even though he had known him for a short time.
"You were right, commander. We are responsible for those we didn't tell to go to hell in time," Shep said grimly into the void.
Taking off his tunic and quickly taking a shower, the captain laid out his weapon cleaning kit. He needed to keep himself busy with something.
"Even if Mo isn't completely gone, writing a 'death notice' was difficult. Have a good new life, friend," he thought, lubricating the bolt group.
Naturally, his relatives found out about Mo's death immediately. Besides the algorithms, he had established connections with his relatives, and since everyone connected is part of one data array, death simply breaks these connections, although not completely if the sentient "wakes up" after death.
Now the ancient, abandoned station in the dead system will be an eternal reminder for him. Even with the end of the main stage of its exploration, he will return to this object more than once. It was surprising for him that the Coordinating Council decided not to transfer the materials to the Citadel Space. Although, if you study the analysts' data, there is nothing surprising about it.
The true enemy of the union did not take any steps, taking a wait-and-see position. He knows about the important infrastructure object in their hands, but he also knows that they will do nothing with it. The problem of dark matter is also a problem for the USSR. If it starts to accumulate, then the country that built communism will not survive in the galaxy. Therefore, the station will be put in order, as much as USSR technology allows.
Why did the enemy leave it and not finish cleaning up the remnants of the species that survived the Harvest? The analysts could not say, although they made a guess that the enemy of the Union is actually a machine. An AI, albeit perfect, but obeying certain patterns in some moments. This explains a lot, but does not answer the question about the purpose of everything that is happening. Why this way?
Shep himself had a feeling that the enemy was inactive only because he wanted to see their reaction. For some reason, the USSR interested him. Why and how? This was another question.
"In any case, it wasn't in vain," the captain finally accepted the losses, not reconciling himself, but continuing to live on. His work was not finished. He needed to unravel the mysteries of Pandora to secure the Union's outpost...