Sigma/Star

Chapter 92: The War in the North Part 3

A massive worm burst through the side of an Artisan warship, tentacles shooting off its body and wrapping around the hull of the vessel. It slowly pulled its way through, sending shards of the ship raining down below onto the battlefield. Two other crafts circled the flying behemoth, one Enian and one Artisan, and their twin design styles clashed, smooth edges on one side and blocky construction on the other.

Each ship levelled all its available weapons, turning them on the worm and the now-lost battleship it had ploughed straight through. Brigadier General Cross Marian observed the process from the seat within his own transport as they approached. The screen briefly lit up, like a firework exploding, before the worm and vessel it was entangled with exploded, multiple detonations bursting along the skin of the monster and the hull of the Artisan craft. Another round of combined missiles and laser weapons collided with the target, this time resulting in a crimson burst.

Cross Marian had to turn his eyes away from the screen, the bright light too strong for him to keep watching. When he could look again, both the worm and the ship were no more and a fiery hail of debris plummeted down towards the soldiers and Jahari below. It was like a miniature meteor shower, something quite common to Marian after years of seeing warships fight above conflicts on the ground. Whole towns had been razed by the aftermath of those battles but if it was to save a thousand more, it was a worthy sacrifice. How many lives were they saving this time?

"Sir, we have entered within range of enemy targets." The young cadet saluted, his message delivered, and stood at attention next to the general. Marian sighed, rubbing his eyebrows with one hand and letting his fingers slide down over tired eyes.

"You don't have to stand there forever you know." There was no answer from the cadet, his training teaching him to always follow protocol and never fall for traps meant to test his resolve. "Fine, be that way, but I'm not dismissing you." Marian flicked through different images on his screen, cycling through relays from various Goliaths. Part of being a commander of the Enian army gave him the perk of accessing every Enian piece of equipment. "When I was your age," Marian continued to speak with the soldier, enjoying the company for once and having a sounding board, whether it answered or not, "I certainly wasn't standing to attention for a general." One of the feeds Marian was watching turned to static, the Goliath falling prey to a group of Bahari that had begun stripping it apart. The general's demeanour was unaffected by watching the death of his troop, only his eyebrow raising in curiosity about the enemy they were fighting. This would be his second encounter with these monsters, but the first had been cut unfortunately short by Sigma and Syn. This was a real chance to observe and understand.

"Now see, when I was your age, I was training to be a pilot up at the academy so things might have been a bit different but I certainly didn't care for traditions like standing at attention to my superiors." Marian stopped to scratch his chin for a bit, reflecting on his more youthful days. "Course that might explain why I was nearly kicked out. Look at me now though right? Who would've thought?" The monitor shifted once more, switching to a shaky view of Porter approaching the Mahari, slashing his way through any Bahari who drew too close.

The screen flickered again to a different portion of the warzone and Marian's attention suddenly snapped towards it, shocking the still-at-attention cadet. "Go back a shot, give me the last camera we had." The monitor responded, changing once more to Porter. "Who is that?" Marian recognized the Goliath because of its distinct features and design. It didn't look like anything the army built of authorized but it certainly seemed familiar; he had encountered it once before but where?

The computer stalled for a bit, scanning through Enian files to answer the general's question. After a few moments, a name typed out on the screen: Porter Ryen. More data began to fly onto the screen as it was found but Marian no longer cared. Porter was the name of one of the students in the Crisis Rescue Unit, the one Marian had formed so long ago to deal with the attack on Easley. He had met them once before, when he had first fought Syn. All the memories were flooding back, the name opening up a door in Marian's mind. "Who gave the order to have that soldier here?" Marian shouted the question around the room, freezing the other workers and soldiers in the bridge of the warship. They immediately began to panic, flying around to find a response.