Sigma/Star

Chapter 99: White and Black

The shadow monster, an embodiment of Riya's exploding chi, swung its arms around, grabbing at any Bahari that got too close. It shredded through their flesh and machinery without effort, leaving mangled bodies in its wake. While the Bahari seemed to ignore pain, if their bodies were practically destroyed they were still useless, even if they were still alive. Any attacks from the creatures' based straight through the dark cloud, immediately reforming and sealing up any holes in its body.

Porter was no longer concerned with the bizarre aberration. He knew Riya was the source of it all and he knew he had to reach her. If the communication line was broken, then he would have to find another way of getting through to her, a different approach. Whatever it took to stop Riya, he would do it.

The White Storm took off backwards, dodging through Goliaths and Bahari and skirting around fights. He began the upward climb towards Riya, whom Ardwen had positioned on a cliff so he could better survey that battlefield while also giving The Warlord the ability to act as artillery. It wasn't a far distance to cover, nor a hard one, it just took a bit more time with all the obstacles in the way in the form of soldiers.

There was a loud crack, and then a creaking sound as metal was brought to its limits, just about to break down. Suddenly, the White Storm's left knee blew out, sparks shooting out the side as a severed hose sprayed oils onto the snow, tainting the white powder black. Porter fell forward and managed to catch himself, but the leg was shot. Scans indicated it was now disabled and was outside of his ability to fix. The computer indicated some of the blows from the Mahari could have inflicted that amount of damage, and the continued fighting would have stressed it further.

Slowly, Porter tried to haul himself forward. He wasn't very far from Riya now and could see her just ahead. But not very far for a Goliath and not very far were two different things. Without his speed and size, this would take a lot more time.

There was a massive boom that cut through the air, resonating through Porter's cockpit and sending shivers through his body. He twisted to look back and spotted a massive figure that appeared to be descending from the heavens, a shining aura of light bathing its body. The youth immediately recognized the being in the sky from the last time he had seen them: it was Brigadier General Cross Marian. The fight must have been escalating out of control for him to make an appearance already.

Porter's gaze moved from Marian towards the shadowy creature and he began to calculate a trajectory in his mind. Marian was not heading towards any Bahari, nor was he coming down to go into a tunnel; he was heading straight for Riya's chi. If the Brigadier General was coming down and ignoring the Jahari forces, that meant they must have prioritized the dark monster as a higher threat than the Bahari. Maybe they had seen it shove Porter away and assumed it was an enemy.

The Enian pilot began to cycle through different communication networks, desperately trying to find one that Marian was also using. But the general was offline, staying out of chatting with other members of the army. Obviously his mission was independent from what the rest of the soldiers were doing, and he wanted to keep that as private as possible. Tough to do with his massive Goliath and a bizarre shadow monster running amok.

Porter shook a little in his cockpit, nerves running through his body as stress weighed down on him. He had so many choices and options, so many different issues colliding at once. The last thing he needed was a crippled battlesuit with everything else going on. He tried to move once again, but found his warmachine had begun to lock up as other, smaller break-downs occurred across the frame. His Goliath was entering into its safe mode, preventing him from further damaging it by sealing his movements.

"Ardwen!" Porter frantically flipped through the channels again until he found his friend. "Ardwen I'm stuck. The White Storm is pretty damaged and I'll need your help."