Mecha Eclipse 0.9
Treacherous Envoy
Eve folded the fingers of her mechanical hands in “thought”. A trivial, socially conditioned habitual. Yet as a Synth, a humanoid machine of an unfathomable complexity, Eve held even such minor vestigial conventions as sacrosact. Both in honor of her long dead creators and as a bulwark against becoming something, other, alien.
Seated beside Eve were her Lieutenants, Xaia and Vytet. Both formidable Synths, their size and bulk. Eve was a delicate mantis between the two of them.
Enough with these games, be direct or we end this
Xaia transmitted to the envoy across from them. The being was organic, its metallic brass ovoid head ornate with glyphs and decorative gems, two rows of black dots, e/m sensors, serving as its eyes. It’s body a mere trail of undulating limbs bending at right angles, how it communicated. On either side floated rotating objects in the shape of two inverted pyramids intersected like a star. Each bejeweled and made of a shimmering quicksilver flecked with gold.
The translator between them, a large spherical object made of the same quicksilver with several protruding spokes rotated in agitation.
“Direct transmission is a violation of the terms of this meeting, I will advise against further breach if this summit is to continue under friendly context.”
Eve would restrain herself from admonishing her Lieutenant’s lapse. She met Xaia’s gaze silently through her protective faceplate, Eve’s processors felt the tension rise as they seemed to be talking in circles, leading nowhere.
Such a meeting could have taken place in Virtuaspace, however the Illutrym, as they called themselves were culturally untrustworthy of any and all xeno data transmissions, from what the Synths gathered the taboo was a result of some catastrophe in their ancient past. The Illutrym were reluctant to go into any further details and there was no more to say about it.
“Forgive us, it will not happen again” Eve stated, the glowing lines in putty colored polyhedral walls of this receiving chamber flickered directing planes of light, uncanny spotlights toward her, indicating she had the floor.
“Yet you tell us our mining operations were trespassing in violation of your sovereignty, and have invited us to discuss .. what exactly? An invitation into your empire. We will not be slaves, our independence is a clear non negotiable, Oelec. I will be firm on this.”
The planes of light again shifted, this time back to the ovoid figure. Oelec spoke, or rather the translation device rippled upon its metallic surface as it vibrated the atmosphere in dimly lit pressurized environment. Dust caught in the beams shifted as the response boomed back.
“You are mistaken. This is not a question, we do not require an answer. We have decided to welcome you as friends. The refusal of this offer constitutes-”
A long pause as the translator spun rapidly
“Declaration of hostile intent.”
Both Xaia and Vytet looked toward Eve, Xaia’s crimson LEDs pulsed in agitation around her faceplace and along her armored body. Vytet remained still, her LEDs kept an even cool green, her eyes narrowed.
Eve broke the silence.
“Then is seems there is no more to discuss here.”
Instantly the room went dark and Both Xaia and Vytet were seized and unable to move. The two bejweled star shaped geometric oddities spewing out a liquid which hardened into an immobilizing fiber restraint. EMP pulses were bombarded the Synths relentlessly threatening to short their internal circuitry.
Eve was too quick, she had already shifted form taking a lightning backward somersault. Eve’s form shifted into something insectile, she had become a wasp like thing and darting and dodging the as the metallic stars struggled to lock on and land a hit. From Eve’s “stinger” released an orange cloud of mist. Xaia had released several drones each attempting to grind, saw and torch through the fibrous cocoon that restrained her.
The moment the mist made contact the fibers dissolved, floating away weightlessly.
The room exploded as Vytet released a volley of slugs from a railgun array, each tungsten cylinder battering the soft, shock absorbing interior: 20,000 m/s of force shredding it and forcing the metallic backing to buckle and crater.
Xaia knew what needed to be done. Her red leds flickered and went silent. A deafening subsonic hum vibrated the entire chamber. She kneeled and, the back portion of her leg armor shifted. A metallic spinal column emerged from of her back and fused. Xaia’s arms split open each becoming a ring, each surrounding her spinal array. Xaia had become a living weapon.
A blinding violet flash.
Deafening boom.
Violently atmosphere escaped into empty space.
In the distance one star shone brighter than the others. The Illutrym home system.
The three Synths rode the explosive wave putting as much distance as they could between themselves and what was formerly the meeting chamber. Outside the electromagnetically stifling structure they were able to transmit to their transport vessel.
Leitha had remained behind as comms officer and when her sensors picked up the explosion she had feared the worst.
Be ready to receive. Sending vector data.
Eve, Xaia and Vytet interlocked, fused and navigating empty space as though a single vehicle. In the outer “Oort” zone of this system there was little danger from cosmic rays or much else beside perhaps rare comet debris.
Speed was critical, they would soon be pursued by larger vessels, vessels of war.
Leitha opened the airlock remotely. The three of them unlinked and floated in gently.
“Smoothly done Leitha” Pytet said as they entered the bridge.
The loud boom jolted everyone, balance sensors compensating as the entire vessel was pushed violently by the explosion.
“Relativistic weaponry” Xaia stated as the diagnostic data was fed to her instantaneously.
“Get us out as fast as possible, don’t worry about Gees, we’ll adjust to compensate. There is no defense against weapons of that speed.” Eve commanded
The ship responded to her command. The four of them shapeshifting into compact trapezoid forms, each embedded in a pocket of the bulkhead.
Three spheres emitted from the rear of the vessel at timed intervals. Each releasing the latent energy of mass as it transforms back into energy. Each Exoton warhead unleashing its fury against the shielded end of the vessel.
72.3 G’s propelling their transport. The rare meteoric alloys and metamaterial composite of the craft’s frame groaned eerily, threatening to buckle but held together.
26 Rockets released their chemical energy at once, propelling them even fast, but at a gentler 15 G’s. They would need to conserve some for deceleration, but the colony also was equipped with powerful and long ranging focused photonic beams and electromagnetic “nets” to absorb some of the deceleration should it come to that.
