MGiS 6 - Proportional Response - Chapter 14

All right, this is the last chapter before the full release next week. I'll be pulling everything down on 8/18 to comply with Amazon's requirements for the publishing. Starting next week, we get into Lost Bloodline 4 for the teaser chapters!

Chapter 14

Bell explained it all to me. Her jealousy, the jealousy of the other crew, and how it had looked from the outside. And she asked me to forgive her for her jealousy. She hadn’t understood at the time that Desmond wasn’t given a choice when Faye and I showed up, but I was able to at least convey that to her in return.

It was honestly one of my greatest fears: making his life harder or ruining his happiness.

I had a crush on Desmond from the first moment I saw him. He was so small, but so defiant. I could have coiled him up and squashed him so easily.

But that’s a lie. There’s no way I could have gotten away with it, not with the beastly strength that I now know Desmond was able to wield.

But regardless, I fell for that little, angry, defiant man that day. I didn’t think I’d have a chance, but I still wanted to give him my best. Not just to impress him. I felt like he deserved it. He never asked it of me, but he led by example every day. And all the others around him saw it as well. And we all wanted to be better.

For him.

~Audra Ironcoil, on joining Adept McLaughlin’s squad.

“That was quite the statement you made earlier,” Jorgia said as she trotted along on the treadmill to Desmond’s left. Two of her guards were on the far side of her, keeping watch over their adept but not interfering with her conversation.

“Which one?” Desmond asked without looking over, his legs pumping away at a dead sprint. The treadmill under him moved at least twice as fast as Jorgia’s, but he hadn’t broken a sweat and wasn’t breathing hard.

“I suppose it would be cheating to say the whole thing?” Jorgia teased, reaching forward to bump up the speed on her treadmill.

Chloe was watching from Desmond’s other side. The horned woman’s legs pumped along at a ground-eating lope that matched Desmond’s, though with more effort on her part. But Chloe just shook her head, an amused smirk on her face as Jorgia’s treadmill began to rise in speed to match Desmond’s.

Despite continuing to look ahead, Desmond was aware of Jorgia’s actions and Chloe’s reaction, but didn’t comment. He’d been lost in thought since the Horizon Patrol ceremony that morning and had been hoping that some exercise would help him clear his head.

“I’d say that would count as avoiding the question, not cheating,” Desmond answered when it became obvious that Jorgia was waiting on him to respond.

“Fair. I was meaning the whole bit with the blood,” Jorgia answered, her breathing speeding up quickly as she did her best to match Desmond and Chloe’s pace. “A bit morbid, but the crew seemed to appreciate it.”

“Call me a prim if you want,” Desmond said with a shrug. “But back on Terra, the ancient civilizations would swear oaths and bonds on blood. ‘Remember the fallen’ is a common thought line, so I just combined them both.”

“And will you?” Jorgia asked, her voice breathless and teasing.

“I could list off those names in my sleep,” Desmond answered, his voice a bit gruffer than he had intended but he didn’t apologize. “I will carry them until the day I die, and I’ll teach them to my children. I made a promise, Jorgia. I didn’t know those people, or those ships. But they still gave their lives in service of something greater. Remembering them somewhere outside a list on a forgotten computer server is the least I can do.”

That statement silenced the inquisitive Va’Aelfa, and Desmond was allowed to run undisturbed for several more minutes. Chloe slowed her machine down after two minutes of matching Desmond’s headlong race, and as soon as she did, Jorgia slowed hers as well.

The Va’Aelfa was panting furiously after only a couple minutes of the run, lowering her treadmill to a walking speed instead as she fought for air.

“How, by the Stars, does he do that?” Jorgia panted, directing her attention to Chloe as Desmond continued to pound along, barely sweating and running as fast as a professional sprinter.

Chloe glanced at Desmond and smirked proudly before answering Jorgia’s question.

“Terrans evolved from persistence hunters. They weren’t specially camouflaged. They didn’t have special vision, or unnatural stealth. They chased their prey until it got so tired it gave up. And that was while their planet was in an area mostly barren of mana.”

“I remember reading the report about his healing since I had to look into it after he spent so long slashing open his arm at the ceremony. I also read about the risks you all took with the Oolas gas to save my squad at the academy,” Jorgia said, still breathless from trying to match Desmond’s sprinting. “I thought the mana only supercharged their healing, not their endurance.”

“It does both, to an extent,” Chloe said with a shrug. “I’m sure if we didn’t train as much as we do, then it’d be a far different story. But it seems like his body decided that the exertion from working out was an injury to heal from.”

“Which is more frustrating than you can imagine,” Desmond grumbled, slapping the button to kill his treadmill and slowing to a stop. “Sometimes, I’d like to be able to exhaust myself so I can get my brain to turn off. But in order to do that, I have to work so hard that I might as well just stay up.”

“You know we are happy to help,” Chloe reminded Desmond with a grin, slinging an arm around his shoulders and dragging him into her lycra-clad hip.

“I know that, but I still feel bad when I struggle to sleep and it keeps the rest of you up,” Desmond replied, turning to lean his back into Chloe with easy familiarity while scanning the recreation room.

After the ceremony that morning, the ship had returned to a normal, if somber, day. Work still needed to be completed, and life went on. So Arsenal headed to the gym to get caught back up on their normal routine.

Raegan was working with Audra at a weight bench nearby, cheering on the Nagat woman as Audra pushed and sweated away. Lila and Sasha had been on treadmills as well and were heading over to join them.

Bell, on the other hand, was doing a far more unique kind of exercise.

The winged woman was doing wind-sprints along one wall, but halfway down the track, she’d launch herself into the air while her wings flapped furiously to lift her off and allow her to fly for a short distance before she fell back to the ground once more.

Seeing where Desmond was looking, Jorgia glanced towards Bell and then back.

“Bell was a good pick for your squad. Not many of the Gaur who live aboard ships bother with maintaining their flight muscles. Usually only those that live on planets or some of the larger space stations do that.”

“Yeah, makes sense with the space needed,” Desmond said thoughtfully as he watched Bell come around to repeat the same run in the opposite direction, meeting her eyes when she glanced his way to check on him.

All of the girls did that, despite Chloe’s constant presence at his side. Desmond thought it was rather cute that they would always keep an eye on him, alternating by some sort of unseen rhythm so that one was always looking his way at any given time.

I’d feel like a bug under a microscope if I didn’t know it’s because they care so much, Desmond thought with a grin as Bell aborted her next run and instead trotted his way.

Much like the other girls, Bell was dressed in skintight workout clothes: a pair of tight black pants clung to her muscled thighs, ending right above her knees, and a sturdy sports bra that cupped her breasts and kept them restrained while she moved. Bell’s top was made of even less material than the other girls, since it had to accommodate the large wings that sprouted from her back as well.

Audra racked her weights with a loud clank of metal on metal and sat up, sweat glistening on her red-skinned abdomen and face as she rolled her head on her neck.

“Did great, Audra! You are going to catch up to the rest of us in no time. Too bad we can’t measure you doing squats, because I’m sure you’d annihilate any of us besides the Little Boss when he’s using his powers,” Raegan encouraged her with a grin, smacking Audra on the back hard enough to make her grunt and her breasts shake even through the tight sports bra.

“Ah but I can beat you in the drag already,” Audra shot back at Raegan good-naturedly, the Nagat having learned how and when to ‘fight back’ with the other girls and encourage each other to push harder.

“That you can. Come on, looks like the Little Boss is wrapping up,” Raegan encouraged, and the two of them were quick to pick up their things and move over to join back up with Desmond.

“Not quite done yet, but cooling off,” Desmond said, gesturing towards the sparring rings on the far side of the room. “We should do some rounds and then stretch and call it a day. Jorgia, did you want to join us for that or work on something else?”

“Hmm,” Jorgia hummed, glancing between the muscle-bound forms of Desmond’s guards and the rings before shaking her head. “You know what, as much as I want to show I can keep up with you all, I’d be an idiot to try it right now. I may be proud, but I’m not dumb.”

“Wise,” Bell agreed as she threaded around Jorgia and her two guards to take up her spot behind Desmond. She extended her wings over her head like she was stretching a second pair of arms towards the ceiling. “I’ve been playing catch-up for the last few months, and it feels like I’m barely gaining ground…”

“You are doing great, Bell,” Desmond was quick to reassure her, getting a soft smile from the Gaur at his ready reassurance.

“You know, I could use some tips—” Jorgia’s request was cut off by the whoop of the intercom siren and the normally white lights flashing red.

“All hands alert. All hands alert,” growled the captain over the intercom. “Colony sensors in a nearby system have picked up a hunting pack of Jaar’ti motherships and sent a request for assistance. We are moving to alert status as we divert to engage. Finish up whatever you are doing and prepare to move to combat stations. We expect to reach the combat zone within the hour. Don’t drag ass, ladies!”

“Shit,” Jorgia muttered, her normally purple-blue skin going a pale, almost chalky color as the alert ended. Her two guards weren’t much better. “What are the odds? We’ve been aboard less than a week… I thought my first official combat deployment would be in a Rift.”

“Probably still will be,” Desmond said with a shrug while nodding towards the door to the rec room, where a steady stream of off-duty crew was headed even now. “If we are lucky, the fight will be in space and all we have to do is sit on our thumbs for a few hours.”

“Would they even deploy us to fight Jaar’ti?” asked one of Jorgia’s guards fearfully, another Va’Aelfa. “I thought the adepts were reserved for Rift duty.”

“Usually,” Desmond said with a shrug as they joined the throng of people heading into the Spine at a trot. “They need us to close Rifts, so it makes sense to keep us back. But I know that they didn’t hesitate to ask me to divert to help a colony the last time we ran into the Jaar’ti.”

“Adepts can volunteer for it, but it’s not expected of them unless something goes really wrong,” Bell filled in from the back of the group. “I know the captain prefers to keep the adepts in reserve as elite forces. I’m with Des though. Here’s hoping they resolve it before anything makes landfall.”

“To the showers,” Desmond ordered his girls. “No playing around this time. Rinse off quickly and then back to our suite, unless we get different orders from the captain.”

All six girls nodded in understanding, and even Jorgia’s guards nodded as well after glancing towards their adept, who looked just as out of her depth as they were.

<><><>

After showering quickly and hopping back into their regular uniforms, Arsenal was on their way back to their suite when the next alert came. This time, it was to Desmond’s comm-cuff, ordering them to report to the captain’s briefing room. Jorgia, who had been joined by her other guards, and Natalie—who’d run into them coming out of the showers—got matching messages as well.

They made an about-face and hurried back along the Spine towards the rear of the ship where the bridge, helm, engineering, and every other critical system sat behind the heaviest of shields and armor.

It had always amused Desmond to think about the fact that most of the Hegemony ships that he’d been aboard could function just fine after being cut in half, as long as they could seal the Spine corridor against the loss of atmosphere, though suffering such a blow would severely hamper the ship’s ability to fight. The forward section of the ship housed most of the crew quarters, storage, and recreation spaces of the ship, but everything that actually kept the ship flying was in the rear.

The Spine hummed like an upset hive as the crew moved back and forth, either running to their stations or moving to their quarters to wait for orders. The crowd parted for Arsenal and the other adepts, partially out of respect and partially due to their habit of getting out of an adept’s way when they were moving with this much purpose.

The bridge was no different, humming with activity while the different officers studied their readouts and called information back and forth.

To one side, the Boghet communication officer was talking rapidly into her headset, but she waved a hand over her head to catch Desmond’s attention before pointing to the briefing room.

Nodding to her, Desmond angled the three groups towards that door, already familiar with it after using it to speak to Gregor Skytreader on more than one occasion.

“I’m more worried that we aren’t moving at flank speed,” said Mia as the door opened to admit them. “The sooner we get there, the better.”

Desmond took in the room with a glance. The other two adepts and their teams were already present, standing in a group along one wall. Captain Skytreader was at the far end of the room, fiddling with her data-tablet as the holographic projector set into the table warmed up.

“We are the closest ship,” Skytreader said gruffly as the machine whined to life and cycled through projecting a few test images. “Rushing just means we are going to get blasted to scrap before enough help to make a difference arrives.”

“And not rushing means the Jaar’ti will likely get a chance to make landfall before we can stop them!” snapped Mia, her fluffy fox tail lashing in frustration.

“What’s the situation?” Desmond asked, inserting himself into the conversation before Mia went too far. Skytreader was a laid back captain, but he could see that she was getting more irritated by the Taari woman’s words by the second, and she did not enjoy being questioned.

“Ah, all three of you are here. Good,” Skytreader said, glancing his way and noting the two groups with him. “We have enough time before we arrive that I wanted to appraise you all of the situation. The rest should be here soon.”

“Rest?” Jessica Tearclaw asked, the Uth’ra woman’s brow furrowing.

“The marine commanders,” Skytreader answered shortly, and Jessica’s expression changed to one of understanding.

The sound of the door opening behind them got Desmond to turn and look. He was greeted by a trio of stern-faced officers who he’d been introduced to on his occasional visits to the officer’s mess.

At the front of the group was a scarred female Hyreh with short black hair and a cybernetic eye that glowed a dull blue. On her right was a Dwerg woman with a burn scar on her throat, and on her left was a thickly muscled Uth’ra woman with tightly braided black hair and a hard look to her features.

Commander Ko’laren, the Hyreh, scanned the adepts with a neutral expression until her eyes landed on Desmond. Surprisingly, she gave him a respectful nod, then led her group past them to the head of the table where the captain stood.

“Captain, reporting for briefing. Our girls stand ready to crack some shells should we be needed,” Ko’laren said with a quick salute that was mirrored by the other two commanders.

“Good. Take a seat and I’ll get started,” Skytreader said and gestured to the conference table with one hand.

There weren't enough seats for everyone to sit, so the groups shuffled about to allow the adepts to sit while their guards stood against the wall behind them. All except for Desmond, who remained standing with his guards as the others got comfortable. He ignored the curious looks he got from the other adepts, instead leaning against Chloe and crossing his arms over his chest. He kept his eyes fixed on the captain.

Clicking a small remote in one hand, the captain lowered the lights and allowed the holographic display to come to life. It displayed a binary star system, the two yellow stars orbiting in balance around a central point while a dozen planets circled around them in an oblong orbit.

“This is the Zesta-Ulreich system. A frontier system that is rich in mineral resources but only has two planets in the habitable band,” Skytreader began, gesturing with her remote to highlight two planets.

One planet was a pale yellow sphere on the far inner edge of the habitable band, while the other was a green and blue orb more towards the middle of the habitable zone, which was highlighted as a light blue section of the orbital plane.

“All four gas giants have the necessary elements for refining a number of useful products, but two of them are untapped at the moment. These two are host to several atmospheric refineries.”

Another click highlighted a pair of gas giants on the far edges of the system and marked them with red circles.

“Colonies exist on both habitable planets, and the refineries on those two are large enough facilities to qualify as colonies themselves. Zesta-Ulreich-4 has the largest concentration of people and is an agriworld for the frontier. I’m just going to refer to it as ZU-4 from now on.”

Skytreader indicated the blue-green sphere with a yellow halo before continuing.

“ZU-3’s colony is an eighth the size of ZU-4’s. It’s primarily a mining colony. The UV radiation is high enough that it almost bakes the surface and makes it uncomfortable for populations, but it also means there are a large number of rare-earths on the surface that are relatively easy to gather if you can avoid the wildlife.”

The yellow planet got a yellow halo as well, though far thinner than the one for the fourth.

“So it sounds like the primary target is going to be ZU-4 then, right?” asked the Dwerg commander, rubbing the side of her nose thoughtfully. “Since the Jaar’ti are drawn to concentrations of biomass, an agriworld is going to be a beacon to them.”

Skytreader nodded in agreement, zooming the view out further and making the system as whole shrink by half. A couple more clicks produced a mass of red dots ‘above’ the orbital plane of the system, with a line of movement that suggested they had come from almost directly above the system at a slight angle towards ZU-4.

“Colony sensors picked up bio-signatures roughly six hours ago. They waited roughly an hour to confirm their sensor readings and the direction of travel before sending a high-priority distress call for assistance.”

“Six hours? Why did we only hear about it less than an hour ago?” muttered Jorgia, but no one answered her question. Instead, the captain continued.

“The transmission was relayed to the local noble house, housed in another system. They confirmed the reports and began mobilizing their own forces while reaching out to the Seventh Border Fleet for assistance.”

“And how long is it going to take them to get there?” Commander Ko’laren asked dryly. The muscled woman crossed her arms over her modest bust, and her cybernetic eye narrowed, the glow shifting from blue to white.

“Since this agriworld is one of only three in that noble's domain, they are rather keen to protect it,” Skytreader answered with a snort. “They mustered their ships and left port within two hours of being notified, but won’t arrive for another ten hours from now.”

“Which is why they asked the Seventh for help, I take it?” Desmond asked, and the captain nodded sharply.

“We were the closest ship on patrol and will arrive imminently. We are to take stock of the situation, report to Command, and do everything we can to support the local militia and garrison. Help is on the way—we just have to buy time.”

“Numbers?” grunted the Uth’ra commander, her voice rough but thoughtful.

“Initial scans indicate the presence of at least half a dozen Jaar’ti motherships,” Skytreader said with a grimace.

The marine commanders all whistled or growled in frustration, while the senior adepts winced.

“Captain, how do you expect to make a difference against that many of those things?” asked Mia, the vulpine Taari’s fur bristling in concern.

“We don’t have to destroy them. Our mission is not to defeat them, just to slow them down,” Skytreader said firmly. “Orders have come down that we are to take up defensive positions and prepare for a siege. The Fist will arrive before the Jaar’ti do, but not by much.”

Desmond continued to study the hologram thoughtfully, remembering the last time he’d clashed with these creatures.

The helpless feeling as he’d watched the massive organic ship skirmish with the patrol cruiser, and then the blood-pounding race against time when their shuttle, which had been cut off from the cruiser while returning from a Rift, had hurried to drop them off to help protect the local colony on a small moon.

After clashing with Rift monsters of all types as well as slave-taking pirates, the hungry aliens hadn’t bothered him that much. Their penchant for stopping to feed on a kill was disturbing, but also made sense. The Jaar’ti were hunters, and their hunger was what drove them.

Something pressed into Desmond’s side, and he glanced up to meet Lila’s worried cyan eyes. In those eyes, he saw the horror, determination, and fury that had driven his Va’Aelfa mate into throwing herself at the Jaar’ti like an avenging angel. Those fights had been her trial by fire, and Lila had come out the other side battered but undaunted.

He still remembered the deciding moment, the second that he realized she was at her breaking point of needing to do something, while also needing to protect him.

The moment that Lila had gone from being his guard with a crush on him, to being his avenging angel to unleash upon his opponents.

Desmond could see that same fire in Lila’s eyes right now, and a glance around him showed the grim determination and silent agreement on his guards’ faces.

“—will get in and drop First and Second Battalion to support key orbital defenses. Third will remain on board the Fist of Defiance to repel boarders if need be. The adepts are to remain in reserve for now.”

Captain Skytreader was issuing orders when Desmond turned his attention back to her, and both Commander Ko’laren and her Dwerg counterpart were both nodding with grim looks. The Uth’ra commander scowled when Desmond spoke up.

“Captain.”

Skytreader looked away from the marine commanders, her brow furrowing as her glowing orange eyes raked over Desmond and his girls. Something in what she saw must have conveyed Desmond’s intent, because the Uth’ra captain heaved a gusty sigh before speaking.

“What is it, Adept McLaughlin?” the captain said, but in the set of her eyes, Desmond could see she knew exactly what he was going to say. Desmond came to attention anyway and gave Skytreader a sharp salute. He also saw an approving gleam in Commander Ko’laren’s eyes—both of them.

“Arsenal requests to be deployed with the First and Second Battalion. I’m not letting our sisters and brothers go into this without our support.”