Sigma/Star

Chapter 91: The War in the North Part 2

The Emperor stepped into the shuttle prepared for him. It was a small vessel, Enian in design. Another servant quickly dashed up to him and carefully placed the Enian Federation crest on Christian's chest. Today he would be a member of the Enian Federation, tomorrow he might be a trader with the Eastern United States. Or perhaps the world would be recognizing him as the one true Emperor come tomorrow evening. It would all rest on how he played his cards now.

"The groundwork has been laid for so long, my faithful minions." Christian stood in the entrance to his ship, addressing anyone who was nearby. "Now is the time to finally take action and show ourselves to the world. You have all played your parts perfectly, and it is now time for the maestro to conduct his final orchestra. Farewell." The shuttle lifted into the air, the ceiling opening up and exposing the blue sky above. As the vessel flew away from the base, Christian watched plumes of orange and red begin to shoot off the building, the thunderous roar of the explosions catching up after as the ship sped up. "There is no place for those who fear death in my new world, not even those who I once called loyal followers."

* * * * *

Porter slid backwards to dodge a charging Bahari. It swiped its claw through the air, inches from where Porter's chest plate had been a second ago. He was beginning to notice differences in the individual Bahari, ranging from size to strange mutations. The one in front of him had one arm that ended in a vicious claw while the other arm had no hand at the end, instead tapering off to form a lance, and the monster thrust it forward to try and catch Porter as he back-stepped.

The White Storm's swords crossed in front of it, slicing apart the bio-lance. Porter hadn't felt his brain command his hands to do that; it had been entirely reflexes. The young pilot countered with a forward lunge, driving his twin blades into the creature's chest and then pulling them apart, splitting the beast in half horizontally.

Before he could move, two more Bahari had jumped onto Porter's back, smaller ones designed for sabotage and disruption. Their acidic tongues whipped around their faces, searching for new materials to dissolve and then consume. A burst of electricity wrapped around Porter's battlesuit, shocking the Bahari. Their biological muscles went through spasms while their electronic components short-circuited, causing the monsters to slide off the White Storm and collapse on the ground. Before they could recover, Porter had driven a sword into each core, moving on to the next foes.

Something smashed into the back of Porter's left shoulder, causing him to lose his focus for a moment. He had to quickly recover to turn aside a different Bahari, deflecting its strike and sending it spinning into a hail of bullets from a group of Artisan Goliaths. The White Storm began running a scan of its external armour, trying to gauge the damage it had suffered: nothing much, minimal penetration beyond the first layer of steel.

But whatever had impacted the youth was still there. The scan showed a large mass stuck to his back still, just under his shoulder. He had to awkwardly control his Goliath as he attempted to force his battlesuit to essentially scratch its back, something it was clearly not built for. He gripped the mystery object and pulled hard, the fingers of the White Storm squishing into something soft.

Finally, Porter managed to wrench the mass off his body and held it up in front of his Goliath's face. It appeared to be a slug, a living, writhing slug replete with a circular mouth and dozens of tiny teeth. A thin drip of Jahari acid slid out of its mouth and Porter quickly tossed it to the ground, partially so he could step on it and partially out of disgusting shock. It seemed that more than just the Jahari battlesuits were living; even their weapons were biological abominations.

The Enian pilot spun around, searching out whatever had managed to hit him with the slug. He quickly spotted the culprit: a hulking Bahari almost twice the size of its brethren. Its chest doubled the White Storm's, with thick arms it placed down on the ground, walking like a massive gorilla. Upon each shoulder was a huge cannon, with barrels that extended well past the monster's head. On its back, Porter could make out tiny Jahari scrambling around, priming the guns and using the creature as a massive tank.