Barbarians

Their voices clash with courage

Their two worlds did collide

It echoes through the ages

They bravely gave their lives

The kingdom (will always make its worth)

The martyr (will soon fall on his sword)

The freedom (the battle rages on)

The righteous (will be here when you're gone)

The battle rages on!

Will be here when you're gone!

Dropkick Murphys - “The Battle Rages On”

The fleet took longer to reorganize this time, as they were reeling from the effects of Phalange’s disintegration. Every time they shifted position or reacted to the enemy’s tactics there were stragglers, vessels confused where they were supposed to be in the formation, or worse, those convinced they knew their role but were incorrect. The phrase “Herding Cats” was an accurate description...and it was driving Admiral Otxoa bonkers.

It was bad enough she’d inherited command without warning following the death of Admiral Matevosian. Worse, while they’d rehearsed and drilled Phalange religiously, they’d focused far less attention on what to do if it all fell apart. Like...almost none. She was scrambling to make it up on the fly, and it showed, but what else could she do?

But as the last few sluggards rejoined the formation, while the squadron commanders sorted out the inevitable disputes about who was supposed to be where Adelais was watching the machines. If they were planning to strike, it would be now when they were still a ragged jumble.

Nothing. Not so much as a twitch.

So I was right, she mused, they are conserving their strength. The question was Why? If they were baiting a trap, moving against them now would be the worst move she could make. But given what she knew, she doubted that was the case. With General Nassat’s forces on the ground, ready to breach their Sanctum sanctorum, Otxoa was all but convinced this was the machines playing a conservative game until they resolved the situations on the ground and in space.

Which meant the time to strike was now.

She allowed the fleet a few more precious minutes to finish merging before she made the call. “This is Admiral Otxoa to all hands. The machines are on the ropes; that’s why they aren’t attacking, and why we must. If they regain the initiative, we risk losing everything.” Adelais knew what she was asking of them, but in the cold reality of space, she had no choice.

“All ships…engage the enemy!”

Making their way through the labyrinth of tunnels was a nerve-racking experience for all involved. Their “door knocker” seemed to have driven the machines back for the moment, but everyone knew that wouldn’t last long. Their suits at least provided them with illumination, and they were spared the usual claustrophobia associated with subterranean excursions, as the machines had bored out spaces more suited to subways than sewers.

But that still left a limited line-of-sight, blind corners...and a deep sense of foreboding.

“...anything?” Tango asked the rest of the team.

“Negative,” Musashi answered, after glancing up ahead. “Unless our pet maniac has stumbled across something.”

“...good point,” Tango sighed. “Whisper?”

There was a long stretch of silence, and then, “Get down here,” the madman answered...and for once there wasn’t a giggle or chortle to be heard.

“Shit,” she cursed, as she waved the others forward. Something in his tone had her instantly on edge. Tango followed the beacon in her HUD display until she came out in a larger chamber, where part of the wall had collapsed. Whisper had his ax in hand as he pointed to the opening.

“See for yourself,” he said.

Tango peered through the crack in the wall and felt the blood congeal in her veins. The machines had been busy in the months they’d spent on Gzuj...in fact, from her vantage point, it looked like they had hollowed out half the damn planet. That was impossible, but the immense space below seemed to argue otherwise. There was room for a sizable portion of the fleet in that cavern, and lord only knew if there were others located elsewhere.

The rest of the team joined her as she watched in horror. Thousands…tens of thousands...of the Ronin-like artificial forms were in motion, and as she blinked one of the many bizarre structures seemed to disgorge yet another brigade-sized element of enemy warriors.

“Dear Creator...it is a factory,” Chechla whispered.

The others turned to her, wanting to disagree, but the evidence was impossible to ignore. Crafts of various sizes were in abundance, and though none of the team could imagine the processes at work, the proof was irrefutable.

Things seemed to move in slow motion as Tango switched to the command frequency. “General...you’d better get down here,” she said in a husky voice.

The Saurotaur was on the horn immediately. “What have you found?” he asked.

She could only stare wide-eyed at the sea of movement, as even more machines began to form up.

“...better hurry.”

Their chamber was filling up fast as the two commanders and their retinues joined the team already observing the activity far below.

“We must attack now,” Jiyazh vowed, “any delay now means unleashing that…swarm...against our people.”

“Attack where?” Nassat queried. “They outnumber us by a considerable amount. Unless we can find some vulnerable point, something that will allow us to cripple them…”

“...there,” Tango pointed with sudden confidence at the largest structure. “That has to be the power plant,” she said with certainty, “and if it’s Zero Point Energy it’ll make for one hell of a ‘bang’ when we take it down.”

Graybird checked one of his instruments and nodded. “I’m getting EM readings off the scale from that station,” he concurred. “That’s got to be it.”

Jiyazh snatched up his rifle as he rose to his feet. “We finish this now,” he snarled, waving the other Khonhim forward, and for once Nassat didn’t argue. The Tetrarchy forces were right on their heels, even as the Wrecking Crew shouldered their way through the throng to take the point once more.

Threading their way through the unmarked tunnels was growing more difficult, getting lost inside the maze was becoming a real possibility. It had forced them to backtrack several times as they found themselves at dead ends, or heading in the wrong direction, but as they emerged in yet another cavity Tango called a halt to get their bearings.

Graybird examined the display of the EM Field Emitter he carried and then shook his head. “Something’s off,” he said in confusion. “These reading make no sense.”

“What do you mean, they don’t make sense?” Tango demanded.

“I mean the signal I’ve been tracking just went haywire,” he shot back. “It’s like it’s being...bounced around, or something.”

“Are they jamming us?” the Dhyaksh inquired.

“...maybe,” the hacker answered. “Give me a few minutes to track it down.”

They took up defensive positions as he tried to clear up the readings. The Saurotaur twins found a spot near where they’d entered to stand by, as those in charge struggled to put them back on track.

“I do not care for these passageways,” Taichist murmured, repressing a shiver.

“Nor I,” his sister admitted. “It feels...unnatural.” The pair looked around at the cavern, as Chechla turned back to her brother. “Our race was not meant to be underground.”

Taichist didn’t respond. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“...Chechla,” he whispered, “why are the walls…moving?”

She didn’t have time to respond, as all hell broke loose.

Weapon's fire erupted all around them as the enemy machines began dropping from the ceiling, not bothering with weapons of their own, instead relying on their metal appendages and physical strength to tear their adversaries apart. Screams from human, Khonhim, and Saurotaur throats added to the madness as the pair moved to cover each other’s rear, their own weapon’s opening up as one of the metal creatures leapt at them. It went down in a hail of gunfire...leaving them open to the flank attack as they sprang the carefully laden ambush.

Whisper’s ax swung as if he were Paul Bunyan himself, while Jiyazh blasted a machine apart with an aimed burst from his heavy rifle. Half a dozen of the enemy tore a Khonhim warrior to pieces, even as a handful of humans and Saurotaur jumped in to beat off the attack. Friendly fire was taking down as many casualties as the invaders, as Nassat began shouting to fall back.

Only the machines had expected that, cutting off their line of retreat just as Tango had predicted.

“Forward!” she screamed, her dual autopistols reaping like scythes, “keep moving! This cavern is a fucking death trap!”

Those still able to move fought their way clear, seeking shelter in the various tunnels leading away from the chamber, splitting them into smaller groups...herding them even further away from safety.