Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Call ❯ Entry the Thirteenth ( Chapter 13 )

Entry the Thirteenth

 

Tarius was rolling out all kinds of stuff.

 

The Knights' armor enhanced strength, speed, had emergency automedical systems, defenses, padding, and could hold a variety of their weapons easily. It was made partly of a lightweight and cost effective, not that cost had supposedly mattered, substance, a Carbon Polymer that was stronger and lighter than Titanium. He also used small amounts of Paladium and nanofiber weave, and even a selection of nanobots for in the field repairs, on the armor.

 

The Paladins armor was each of them unique, because there only some twenty odd Paladins. Some of the only traits they all shared were web shooters (synthetic) and that they could walk on walls, ceilings, etc, like a spider. They were also aesthetically similar. I'll describe two sets for you, Prodigy and Malix. Prodigy had a HUD, infrared and Night vision, vision share, motion trackers, and other basic systems. His armor included the nanobots, the automedical systems, and was light. 13 pieces of his armor were made of large, diskish spider shapes, which could detach. The edges of each piece were razor sharp, designed to slice through almost anything, and he wielded them telekinetically. He also had command override systems for other armor suits.

 

Malix's suit held canisters, and a small collection of battle figures, which should could implant spirits into. It also had control circuits for a large number drones, which she could implant more spirits into. The Canisters were for containing spirits she had no implanted. As they canisters merely contained the spirits, they would indefinitely remain, and would not “short out” as the case could be said to be by being inside an object they were not completely compatible with.

 

As for weapons, beam and solid snipers, assault and battle rifles, a variety of different gun types, pistols, carbines, magnums, eagles, plus grenades of varying designs, but extreme precision. And all of it collapsible and storable. He had even made more of the Crossbows, and a more powerful shotgun style weapon. Tarius steadfastly refused to make beam swords, instead creating a set of vibrating weapons based on the ones we had originally scavenged off the Reptildra. The weapons were very similar to my beam swords, as they extended out, but they were vibrating particles held together loosely. This effectly allowed them to cut through anything along their edge, which was the ends of the “blade” that vibrating in the right frequency and direction to cut. Hit anywhere else, the blade was merely, as Tarius put it, “indestructible.”

 

Tarius created vehicles has well. I'll start off with the air support.

 

First off we have the ROCs, high speed assault craft. They served as gunships, such as the Republic gunships of Starwars, The Hornet of Halo 3(whose design we bored surprisingly heavy from in some respects), or modern day helicopters. The ROC used a set of large Super turbines housed close to the body, for lift. The turbines are approximately 4m in diameter, which can rotate forward or backwards some to facilitate movement in either direction. However, the units primary source of propulsion comes from the engine system housed in the rear. It is a narrow cylindrical shape, similar to the exhaust of a jet engine, but longer. Encasing is a set of two pieces of folding armor, which are actually emergency brakes of a sort, cutting off propulsion from doing its job, redirecting that force around and up/down/forward so that the craft immediately slows down. The Cockpit of the craft was located at the front, comprising 45% of the body, and housing one pilot.

ROCs house a 50mm nose gun, as well as a high power Beam cannon. They have two missile pods housed on top of the vehicle. They can also carry two gunners and have two heavy beam triads mounted to the sides, where the troops can direct them. Rooks are designed for the purpose of infantry support, and aerial escort, and are not designed, necessarily, for anti heavy armor combat.

 

Next up we have the Seagull Fighter craft. Seagulls are powered by two 6m diameter Ducted Air Fans, which provide greater lift than the turbines on the Rooks. These are built into the wings, which are used for additional lift and steering, and appear somewhat reminiscent of the wings of what else but a seagull. They use a sort of miniaturized jet engine for forward propulsion. The Seagull's cockpit is located more towards the center of the craft, heavily armored, and not designed for quick entry or exit, except that in emergencies the pilot could eject, which completely detaches part of the fuselage, which converts into a sort of glider form Hound, which I'll get to later. A large number of Camera systems are mounted into the front of the Craft, and on the wings and tail.

The Seagull carried a twin heavy auto-cannon on the main fuselage while sporting two 50mm Machine cannons, one to each wing mount, just ahead of the turbines. The Seagulls also carried 4 missile launchers, 2 at the front, recessed into the sides, and 2 more located in the rear, and directed downward. The final piece of the Seagull was a set of rapid fire chain linked laser cannons mounted just above the forward missile tubes. The Seagulls could obtain a maximum speed of mach 4.2, while at combat speeds, could provide heavy air support against enemy “armor” with remarkable agility.

 

After the Seagull we have the Falcon flyer, which was a bomber/fighter made exclusively for fast strikes with a maximum air speed of mach 6, and the best stealth one can put on an animalistic shaped fighter craft. The Falcon flyer was literally built like a falcon and even used the same basic concept of the Peregrin falcon diving on prey. High speed run with a very short, fast and deadly strike at the end, then get out. The Falcon was armed with 2 heavy missile pods on its back which carried a total of 40 special anti-ground missiles which could as easily wipe out a tank as a Giant or other AD creation. Mounted on the underside were a set of 20 sidewinder missiles designed for taking down flying reptiles. Think flak cannon missile style.

 

Following the Falcon we have the Orca, which is a complete change of pace from our normal style of naming things simply because it looked so much like a killer whale what else could we call it? The orca used jet turbines in addition to a set of rotating propellers which could pull it forward and land it easily. It bored from the same propulsion system as the ROC, but carried 3, tail mounted of course. The cockpit was located topside, close to the nose, but really that was just the viewport for it. The cockpit itself was built into the nose, but only took up a small portion of it. The fuselage was a long piece of equipment. The jet turbines were located near the front, and formed an appearance similar to a whale's flippers. The Propellers were located along the back farther, and on top, and were the only piece that did not truly match the appearance of a Whale. The Orca carried 1 heavy Beam cannon on the front, with 3 50mm guns along the fuselage. It had no missiles. The Orca, with a top speed of mach 3, was designed as a Transport ship for troops, armor, supplies, and what have you. It could carry 28 Knights in full armor in addition to 2 bearcats or pumas, and 1 wolf, or a total of 8 Hounds, with room for another 4 inside if one dropped 8 knights. The Orca, I might add, had 1 final feature. It mounted an energy shield that could repel attacks from most anything… though that didn't mean each hit didn't weaken it.

 

The Bearcat was our light transport vehicle, it was a 10 man transport that looked more like a warthog. Bearcats were fast and well armed. They had a 20mm cannon out the front, with a 50mm unit mounted to the back. Small arms ports dotted the sides of the armored back canopy. Bearcats were excellent all terrain vehicles, using treads instead of tires because treads were harder to destroy and good at handling rough terrain.

 

Our fast attack infantry unit was the Puma, a small truck like unit based on the Hummer. It looked more like a cross between a bear and a cat than a straight up puma though… anyways, it mounted an anti-air triad gun on the back, or alternately a heavy sabre cannon for anti vehicle fire, carried a right side gunner, and stashed the driver on the left. There was also a seat for a second gunner or rocket man in the back, below the main gun, and facing back. Pumas were the second fastest of our land units, built with hover systems over tires, but with built in backup tires as well. Well armored, a puma could take some damage and keep the men in it mostly safe.

 

Our lightest unit was the Hound, and 3 wheeled reversed trike that mounted a 30mm cannon to the center and 2 machine guns or beam cannons to the side this made it a light and fast, but serious piece of equipment, though the 30 could not be fired while moving. The 30 could also be switched out for a Rocket launcher. In addition, the Hound could mount a standing soldier on its back, who could act as a backup gunner or carry rockets or similar on the Hound. The Hounds speeds matched those of the Wolf tanks, and they were not heavily armored, though the front two tires were larger than the rear somewhat, and had a Carbon polymer inner tire so that even flat they would run fine, as well as provide a certain amount of protection to the driver.

 

We had 2 tank units and a heavy fast attack type. The Shark was a hovering speed demon with great maneuverability, and mounted to forward fixed 70mm cannons. It also mounted 2 auto targeting heavy machine guns on its hover struts. The main arsenal, however, of the Shark was the colossal number of rockets and missiles it carried. The shark was effectively the ground version of our Falcons, designed to dive in quickly and then back out again, and was light and fast, top speed 300mph, but this meant it sacrificed armor. The rear section of a shark was the most heavily armored, and was where the driver and gunner sat. this 2 person crew was very well protected in this section, which could detach from the rest of the unit, but if they lost their cameras they were effectively blind. Sharks also carried the unique ability to gain altitude, making them great as low altitude attack craft. Maximum height was only 60ms though, and a shark could not long sustain it, typically 2 minutes tops, 3 in an unloaded unit. Sharks could also attach to the underside of an Orca.

 

A Wolf was a heavily armored Tank unit, which carried a Beam triad in the rear. We used a hover system, which involved basically repelling the craft away from the ground. The Wolf was our third fastest unit, top speed 100mph, behind the puma and the Shark, for land vehicles. It carried an omni-directional heavy 120mm Rail cannon, and could alternately mount a Particle cannon for artillery fire. The wolf carried two 30mm gatlings, one on each side of it, for additional point defense, and had space for 4-6 soldiers to ride on its sides as point defense. The Wolf was also one of only 3 of our vehicles large enough to mount the energy shield. The last was the Armadillo.

 

The Armadillo is a heavy transport that carried a fixed 109mm cannon on top. The armor of the Armadillo was the thickest of any of our units, it mounted an aerodynamic sensor dish, was surprisingly fast, and used a hover system. The Armadillo has small arms ports all over it, and could mount an optional Particle cannon artillery unit in place of the sensor dish. The Armadillo could carry 40 personnel, or 30 full armed Knights. The Armadillo also mounted the Energy shield. The Armadillo was both a heavy troop transport and a mobile command center, with serious communications equipment, sensor systems, and the like, and its design all made it unfit for direct frontline combat.

 

I will now explain some of the terms I have been using. I continue to use knights as an example because they would be the primary users of this equipment, and because they were the heaviest/largest units we had. A heavy beam triad is just what we mounted to the back of Rugged's truck so long ago. These, however, were larger, fired faster, and were more energy efficient, all in one.

 

Now, we also built several hovering spider tanks, 1 called the Arachna, which was the largest, 6 called Arachnoids, and 1 Tarantula, or at least, Tarius planned to build it. It would hold all 7 of the others, plus space for 3/4s of the Paladins and their equipment.

 

The Arachna was the largest and the basis for the design of the 6 Arachnoids. It mounted a 120mm rail cannon straight down the center of it, which was specially insulated. It also carried two flame throwers and could effectively shoot “webs.” Synthetic replications of real spider webs were created, and shooters that could create strings, or webs, were built into the front. Slung under the face was an anti-infantry beam triad that was omni-directional. The Arachna had a set of Incendiary Mortar launchers, which shot what were basically napalm grenades, though more effective, and had a max range of 500ms. The Mandibles could inject acid that could eat through 2 meters of concrete in seconds. The legs were armed with extra sharp deployable blades 1 foot long and 4 inches wide.

 

The Arachna could jump 750m into the air, and had a max land speed of just below mach 1. It was powered by a special everlasting fusion core, highly stable and self contained, that Tarius created. This core also allowed for the superheating of highly dense air that were then jetted down, combining with the repulsion hover tech to create lift, and were also used to power it forward. A total of 2 paladins rode in the Arachna, a driver/gunner and a spotter whose only jobs were to be extra eyes and pick out targets, or to act as point defense and cover the driver if somehow the Arachna lost its hover.

 

The Arachnoids had the same 2 person mountings, and the web shooters, but had two omnidirectional 70mm rail cannons mounted onto the back and a set of light triads mounted into the face instead of the flame throwers. They also did not have the mortars. Their speeds and jumping abilities were slightly below those of the Arachna.

The Tarantan (short for Tarantula Titan) was an 80m high tarantula, which could house, as stated, 3/4s of the paladins and their gears, carry the other units, and serve as the perfect operations center for Babow. It carried a double shielding system, and a larger version of the same power core used on the Arachna and the Arachnoids. It carried 3 120mm rail cannons, a particle artillery Cannon, 5 anti-infantry beam triads, and 2 heavy beam triads, in addition to 8 missile pods. Its foot could crush a Puma, and maybe a wolf too, though Tarius said it was possible that a wolf could support the weight of one foot, so long as at least 6 others were on the ground. Unfortunetly, we did not have the facilities to make it. The shear size meant it required an entire construction dock, which we were given the location of. The construction dock was originally intended for the building of Ships, and was thusly on the coast. Most unfortunetly, it was near New York… though surprisingly well hidden.

 

This location and original usage inspired Tarius to design, in addition to all our other Equipment, the Dolphin. The dolphin would have been the first ever human space ship capable of self powered exit, and also the first space ship designed for combat, at least that we knew of. It was vaguely Dolphin shaped, although it has been commented that the Dolphin looked more like a giant attack helicopter to some. The Dolphin had a top speed of Mach 6, Full stealth camo, Could hide itself from sensors, and was extremely silent. It also was equipped with energy shields, and ran off 4 Fusion cores. Built with 4 70mm rail cannons, and 2 Mega Beam cannons, in addition to 10 30mm gatlings and 12 missile pods made it a flying arsenal, and its size made it a roving base more than a rival to even the largest sea based carriers of the time. The Dolphin could fly, swim, dive, and rocket through space.

 

All told however, the Dolphin was slightly smaller than the size of a then modern Aircraft Carrier, though it could carry some 140 personnel, 4 Orcas, 4 Seagulls, and 6 ROCs, a combined total of 18 Wolves/Sharks/Armadillos, and 18 Pumas/Bearcats. It also carried innumerable Hounds. For some, this may sound large, but that was at a squeeze for space that it held all that. Generally speaking, it would have had a slightly more designated purpose, hauling mostly air units, or mostly ground armor, or a smaller combination of both. Now, We never built them at that time, I mean, we clearly didn't have the resources. Several pieces for both the Tarantan and 1 Dolphin were created, but only some of the smaller transportable pieces.

 

The Paladin's Equipment was made in a slightly unique way. well, more than slightly unique, if it worked, it would truly pioneer technology for eternity. Transfering sentient spirits into the machines, so that the Spirits were the controlling technology. Now I can't tell you, nor could I, nor will I likely ever be able to tell you how he got them, but Prodigy got them. 8 spirits of 8 spider warriors, we're talking, according to Prodigy, huge spiders.

 

“Ready Malix?” Prodigy looked over at Malix, whose face betrayed her unease at what she was about to do. But then it hardened into resolve, fear and trepidation replaced by courage and determination, she wasn't going to let the spirit of some crazy giant spider scare her. She was the master, not it.

 

She nodded. “I'm ready. Open the Canister.” Prodigy complied, and a strange light flew from it, but stopped in midair, as Malix, arms outstretched, held it back. “You will obey me, spirit of the Arachna. I am Malix, I am the medium, and I place you within the body which has been built for you. It is built for war, battle and destruction, but it is built for you to serve, not command, or lead, or destroy wantonly. You will obey the orders of Prodigy, of the Paladins of the Spider, or I will erase you. Got it?”

 

The light flew into the body of the Arachna, settling into it, the glow extending around and then coming from the Mechanical beast. Suddenly, it shook, and rose up, and began to look around. Prodigy stepped forward. “Arachna, here me. Face me, obey me, for I am your Master now.” The Arachna turned to Prodigy, and seemed about to pounce. It did, but it stopped midair, and a look of great strain crossed his face. “I am your master, and you will obey this command, which shall be your absolute command. You will not, ever and for any reason, bring harm of any kind to a Human Being without my express command. Is that clear? This shall not change till I am dead, and you shall then you shall require permission from whoever succeeds me as High Arachnid. You will obey that person as you would me.”

 

“You do realize that no matter what you command it, it will still be forced to obey my will even over yours, don't you?”

 

“no, it won't, not in that one matter. It will not harm a human being ever again. Go ahead, try, if there's even anyone you'd dare risk it against. In fact, tell him to kill me.”

 

Malix eyed him, extremely surprised and wary, but then suddenly turned to the Arachna, and said, “Arachna, do your utmost to cause Prodigy or any other person here injury, but don't kill them.”

 

“I cannot, for you did not command me that I should obey you over him before he set my highest law. I cannot disobey my highest law now that it has been set.” The Arachna's voice was deep, stratchy, and rumbling, and sent a shiver through all of us. Tarius let out a whistle of amazement, before turning to me.

 

“Well, that appears to have worked, care to test out the idea on anything else?”

 

“Apollyon,” suggested Envoy, present as witness for the Gull Knights. Seagull was busy going over the compounds defenses, because he was convinced we would eventually be attacked here, and we desperately needed the compound and its facilities, at least until we had created the specified excess of equipment. I'll explain more a little bit later.

 

Prodigy took the Arachna out on a test drive, wielding it against a portion of the cars, trucks, and vans we had used to reach the compound. It devastated them. We even shot rockets and missiles at it, and it avoided them and blasted its targets with ease. A similar process was used on the 6 Arachnoids, though they seemed slightly less bloodthirsty, yes, laugh, spider drink blood and all, or so the stories go.

 

Tarius did not design only weapons, but also other highly useful objects. Various kinds of highly portable and useful medical equipment were created, boxes, crates, wheeled drones, that carried syringes, bandages, anesthetics, wraps, stretchers, all of them effective. Sensors that could locate an infection, auto stitchers, castraters(for emergencies) more portable paddles, even portable “clean rooms” were created by Tarius, much of it from his own initiative.

 

Tarius created tracking devices, new communicator units and head sets that had ranges of up to a mile, computer visors, which were effectively glasses that could display all kinds of information, life signs, targeting recticles, biographical information, basic information on the various anti-reptiles, motion trackers, infrared and night vision, and he said they were bullet proof to boot. Cloaks that had shadow systems and blocked sents and heat trails, silent boots, he created a large variety of things, which he could make ten times faster than the assembly of a single Hound.

 

One of the first projects Tarius got to after he finished the Mass produced items was Rugged's truck. He rebuilt it. It now had wheels and hover systems, excellent armor, a heavy beam triad mounted in the back, to rocket pods, and 2 anti personal beam triads, omni directional, mounted to the side and controlled from the secondary gunner seat or by Rugged himself. Speaking of Rugged himself, he had a new arm. It was a mechanical one, though a very smooth and polished mechanical arm, fitting, useful, and packing a Chainsaw sword, and a shotgun, and a beam rifle. How exactly Tarius fit all of that into a lightweight Carbon Polymer arm that had to fit from somewhere halfway between the shoulder and the elbow, I'm not sure. The arm could also link directly into the Truck, giving Rugged direct steering, speed, and gunner control, although 4 other people could still ride in the vehicle. Rugged said he couldn't wait to test it out, but it would be another week at least, he was still adjusting and recovering to the new arm, and he said he wanted to do it all himself.

 

One of the other custom vehicles Tarius worked on was the Leviathan. He'd fine tuned the radar, and the proximity sensors, it was even quieter, and now that he had more resources, it could hold 5 Gallons of water. He'd lengthened it to, and fine tuned the steering, which used two independent handles, which I could move forward and back, and twist right and left, to control the spin and direction of each wheel relative to the bike. He'd added a rifle holster, and a single beam triad on the front, anti-personnel. There was a cable unit/grappler on the back which could be used to tow other objects. He had built two additional Leviathans, one carried a mini-rocket pod in place of the beam unit, and was built with a shadow unit and heavier armor. The last was effectively the same as mine, but again with the slightly heavier armor. The armor only minorly slowed the bike. The Second unit was for Tarius, while the third was for Walker. Following up on the Leviathan units and also the success of the spirit implantation, Tarius set to work on Apollyon.

 

Apollyon was an organoid, a metal creature that could fuse with others, called zoids, and increase their power. He was from an Rpg, specifically, that had been based off the Zoids anime. Tarius designed him according to the specifications of Envoy, who had created the rpg version. Tarius designed Apollyon to transform into a very spiky, sleaker, and shorter version of the Leviathan, he even used the same wheels. The final Touch was the spirit transfer. Envoy hoped to be able to transfer the actual spirit of Apollyon, the zoids one, not the book of revelations one, into this metal body.

 

This idea was based on a Theory that involved the odd fact that much of the stories I had written were in fact true on some other world. The idea was that this was not an isolated incident, but that all stories were in fact true in some world, somewhere, and were unconsciously channeled through the dimensions to the minds of us humans here on earth. The obvious success of the attempt, for Malix got it right the first try, went very far towards proving the theory, though that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Apollyon opened his eyes, and the first person he saw was Envoy.

 

"Excuse me, was that your giant whale that just fell out of the sky with the glowy cat and shit?"

 

I looked at Envoy, who stared at Apollyon for a bit, then laughed. "...Yeah, something like that."

 

Several people nearly died laughing, then stopped to ask what the hell that whole exchange meant. It entailed the aforementioned rpg, and I myself don't know much else beyond that. Apollyon was an amazing and strange creature, Envoy assured us he would be horribly deadly in combat, though to the enemy or himself or us, I didn't ask.