Space Galleon Javelin

Chapter 50

"Brace yourself for impact." I managed to shout as I gritted my teeth, tensing my whole body in the process and hoping Danielle did the same.

I wished the damn AI would blink, slow down, or flinch. It didn't. It did completely the opposite. It accelerated as if it was welcoming the exchange, figuring it was going to be the winner.

Being entirely honest, that was going to be the case.

Everything happened fast. In the blink of an eye, we were a handful of meters away from each other; ready to tear each other to pieces with a single blow, betting almost everything on that strike.

For a single millisecond, as both walking tanks were about to hit each other, time stopped.

Then, we connected at the same time.

It felt like being in the middle of a magnitude six point five earthquake. Sparks and cables flew everywhere as we shook back and forth bordering on bouncing against the walls of the cockpit. My eardrums threatened to leave my head as the sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated through the cockpit. All types of emergency lights and signals turned on as the cockpit went from being a peaceful blue into a threatening red. Several monitors went black in the process as I was left wondering where we were going and how fast. Jerking the sticks had no effect on the nonsensical twisting mess the main monitor showed. My head was still in a daze and recovering from the impact as we flew god knows where. It was like going on a free fall with turbines attached to your underwear.

"Main systems are offline. All sub processes are offline. Main third camera coupling is down. Motor systems for the right arm have been severely compromised. We're going down, we're going down." Danielle, somehow, could still read her own monitor and read the status. However, she wasn't screaming anything good.

"Not if I can't help it." Still in a daze, my eyes were dashing back and forth all over whatever monitors. I've only been in a situation like this twice before, once in the middle of the Exalcier Moon uprising and the other one during a botched smuggling operation near the Flarmy system.

I had to slow down the unit and then get control of it as fast as humanly possible while still, somehow, being aware of my surroundings. It was a near inhumane task, but at least doing two of three would considerably reduce the risk of a fatal crash.

I took my feet away from the pedals and tried to slow it down by inertia alone, activating all possible stabilizers we had working.

"Re-routing coupling data to the stabilizers. Shutting all non-vital systems to reserve energy." Danielle was doing a perfect job at not only reading my movements and actions without me having to shout them, but also using the available resources as best as possible while also improvising on the spot. She was borderline perfect.

By the time we had slowed down and I was able to start concentrating on steering, I noticed that we were heading straight into a five story building. We couldn't stop; we were still spinning like a loose tornado. Every warning signal that worked inside the cockpit became louder and shinier. We were not going to be able to avoid it.

This time, I activated every single break possible while doing whatever I could to make the unit stop spinning.

"Slow down, you stupid piece of-"

It worked. A bit.

We crashed into the building, but thanks to both of our efforts we managed avoid the nastiest part of it, landing almost softly on the back of the unit, surely damaging several of the thrusters in the process. We were a little shaken, but less so even than the initial punch.

The cockpit went completely dark as I could hear the concrete and the ruble bounce off the Walking Tank. I was so winded I barely had time to get a hold of our bearings after the crash.

"Systems... stable, somehow," said Danielle. I didn't have to look back to know she herself was like me, or possibly even worse. I hoped not.

"I need main screen and controls," I said, forcing myself to remain calm. In one single strike, the AI's WT had almost dished twice the punishment we had unleashed upon it. It was insane how overpowered that Mark Three unit was compared to ours. It was a miracle we were still alive. Well that, combined with my own abilities.

I couldn't help myself but smirk a little. I knew I had gotten the AI's good in the cockpit with my strike. Unless it was made with the hardest material on the galaxy, I knew it, along with its unit, had crashed into the ground like us. Several tons of metal crashing directly on the cockpit, no matter who -or what- you are, will always leave you hurt.

We were lucky the AI had hit us on the side instead of a more vital area. I didn't want to imagine what would've happened if I had given it the time to land her strike better. The idea of it hitting us straight in the cockpit sent shivers down my spine.

"Done," Danielle said at the same time my main screen turned on and the sticks began responding again. Slowly and steadily I raised the unit, using its arms as any human would to help itself stand up. That's where the humanoid design helped.

"Status report." I looked for the AI's unit with my eyes, having no radar or anything else to locate it. I saw a lot of rubble, along with a completely destroyed street with a large, tunnel-like mark in the middle of it, very close by. I was sure that the impact had sent the AI's unit crashing into the road where it skid, destroying several of those holographic pads, along with chained fences and advertising displays until it had hit a nearby wall.

"Things... are not looking good, Vincent," Danielle said. "I've managed to stabilize most of the vital systems but we're on our last legs. We won't survive another exchange, not like that." She sighed, "I guess this is it, then?"

"No," I said, sounding more convincing than I thought I would. I did have my doubts, but never about my own abilities. The second I felt in my guts I could still do it, I knew I could. They had never failed me before, no need to think they were going to start doing so back then, "Not while we're still armed and moving."

"I- all right, I trust you. I'm routing several emergency subsystem's energy into the cockpit itself. We should have radar now as well as less static on the screens, at least. Arm's integrity has been compromised, but nothing I can't re-calibrate and compensate for, but you can't afford to do anything fancy now," Danielle said with a tone that, if anything, indicated that she very much wanted to believe in me, but she was having a hard time doing so, "Because the robot landed on its back, the engine has been severely damaged. You can't push it anymore." I was surprised she noticed I was pushing the machine to its very limits. I didn't know if she was congratulating me or scolding me for doing so.

I didn't blame her one bit for it for showing doubts. Truth is that judging from the way she had described the differences between both models, she was certain we were fighting a losing battle. I kept telling her that everything was all right, that we were going to win, but so far, we weren't. I knew she was starting to think I was the biggest idiot in the world. She had put her faith in me towards something she herself thought it was impossible to do.

That hurt my pride a bit. At the same time, that gave me even more resolve to prove her wrong. To prove her I was as good as I said I was.

We didn't have to use the radar to find the AI. We had stepped into the road in front of us when it shouted through the com system, "Found you."