Chapter 32

"What do you mean something's headed our way? What kind of thing are we talking about?" Loyd asked over the long-range radio.

"We don't know. it's ignoring all of our attempts to make contact with it. You may want to get ready for an attack."

"Roger that. We'll be ready by the time they get here," Loyd replied. ("Hey, Madeline, you wanted to try out that laser cannon of yours, didn't you?")

("Yeah, I did. Why do you ask?") Madeline asked confused.

("We've got incoming and you're the only long-ranged combatant we have at the moment. Mind suiting up and getting into position on crawler two?")

("Yep. What direction are they coming from?")

("They're coming from directly north of us. There's no cover from that direction so make us all proud.")

Madeline used the same bio-type CTAS that Griffon had been using in the foundry. Her laser cannon had to be stored in a special container so that dust and sand didn't damage the focusing lens. She carried the entire case to the firing point just to make sure nothing happened to the gun.

("I'm ready for whenever they get within range.")

("They already are.")

("Oh shit!") Madeline yelped, popping open the case. Inside was the laser cannon, a specially designed laser tube that caused the laser to gain intensity the longer one held down the trigger, and the connector cable used for power transmission between the cannon and the CTAS. Madeline picked up the gun and attached the laser tube to the rest of the cannon and the cable. As soon as the cable was connected to the wrist of her CTAS, she started charging her first shot.

The fighters that were closing in on the convoy, let loose two missiles each. The missiles were barely faster than the fighters that had fired them.

A laser blast cut across the Martian landscape and detonated one of the missiles, destroying the lead fighter. The second fighter tried to peel away but a second blast caught it across the wing, causing it to spiral out of control, still headed for the convoy. A third blast caught the second fighter's missile. They detonated while the second fighter flew over the convoy, causing it to crash a mere hundred meters away. The fighter's eidolon pulled itself out of the wreckage and turned around to Madeline and Tiny, who were both aiming at it.

"You can either try and fight us, in which case I will melt a hole where your head should be, or you can sit down and wait for rescue," Madeline threatened.

"You are all going to die! The possessed are coming for you! My partner and I thought to give you a merciful death but we failed. You will suffer at the hands of the possessed and then they will come for me!" the eidolon pulled out a gun and shot its own head off out of fear.

"Loyd, did you here that nut job?" Madeline asked.

"Yeah, I did. Tiny do you know what he was talking about?"

"It may have something to do with the growing chambers being broken but I'm not entirely sure."

A loud blast came from the north of the convoy as a group of crystal pods broke through the thin atmosphere of Mars.

"Everyone to their battle stations! We've got Crystalid energy readings from the north! I count at least twenty from each of those pods!" Loyd shouted into the radio.

"Floor the pedal! Those things want a battle and they're coming straight for us!" Tiny shouted, drawing a bead on the first one he saw.

("Get the port guns ready!") Linda cried out.

Loyd stepped onto the deck inside Ragnarok, the bio-type that had been converted to crystal, with a Gatling gun strapped to his back.

The first group of possessed made their way out of the dust their landing had created. They looked like knights in steel armor but taller and thinner with claws instead of swords. Their bodies glowed a dull red with arcing lightning running down their spines. They were running on all fours, biting at each other as they went.

"Holy shit! How many of these things did you guys have?!" Griffon asked climbing up after Loyd.

"This is the first time I've ever seen them!" Tiny shouted opening fire with his twin pistols.

"Then could these be the next generation of your race?" Loyd asked revving his gun up.

"Maybe. After seeing what happened at your NexGen facility I wouldn't doubt it!" Tiny shouted.

"Well, isn't this just peachy?!" Charlette spat, annoyed. "There's more pods dropping to the South!"

"I've got them!" cried one of the younglings as one of the turrets popped out of the armor of the hauler.

It turned skywards and opened fire on the pods. Lasers bounced off of the reflective armor on the front of the pod, but it still managed to cut another pod in half from the reflection.

"That works too, I guess," said the youngling with a shrug.

Loyd's gatling gun finished spinning up and ten pounds of hot armor crystal fired out of it every second.

The first group of possessed was full of laser holes or torn apart by Loyd. Even when they were torn in half, though, they continued coming. The second group followed closely behind the first and quickly overtook them.

Loyd dropped his Gatling gun as it overheated. Jumping and closing the distance between him and the hoard of possessed, he drove his knife into the eye of the first monstrosity.

"Just think if I could capture one of these things! What new weapons or behaviors could I produce with them?" he asked, picking up the thing by its head.

It grabbed onto Ragnarok's wrist with a growl.

"Maybe not. They're far too unstable," Loyd said crushing its head and dropping its lifeless body as more closed in on him. "Tiny and I have this side covered. You guys worry about the southern flank."

"Roger that. Turrets, go ahead and swap over to the starboard side of the crawler," Jim said turning east.

The turrets redeployed themselves on the other flank of the crawler and prepared for the enemies to poke their heads out of the dust clouds.

Ragnarok tossed Tiny an axe as the two stood side by side waiting for the possessed. They didn't have to wait long as several of the possessed ran straight for them.

"Loyd! Tiny! Something big is coming your way! It just passed under the crawlers!" Jim yelled.

Tiny jumped away from Loyd and Ragnarok as a Crystalid worm broke out of the sand from underneath them. Inside its throat, there were grinding wheels easily capable of tearing Ragnarok apart.

Ragnarok held onto the side of the worm's mouth as it tried to swallow him. It was unable to get him close enough to pull him down with its grinders.

"Well, aren't you a rude one. It's impolite to eat someone on the first date!" Loyd yelled punching through the top of the worm's mouth and hooking his arm through the hole. He started stabbing it over and over until it tried to spit him out. His arm was still caught in the roof of its mouth and anchored him there.

Tiny ran up its back and plunged his axe deep into one of its eyes.

The worm screamed in pain and thrashed around, throwing Tiny off and tearing the hole in its mouth wider until Loyd went flying.

"That almost worked," Tiny groaned.

The worm continued howling in pain as one of the turrets began charging a shot.

"Cut the fucker in half!" Loyd screamed.

The worm stopped thrashing about as a powerful laser cut off its head. As the red glow coming from under its armor plating faded, the rest of the possessed who had seen the worm die, stopped attacking and stared at the crawler in fear.

Loyd helped Tiny to his feet as the pair stared out at the swarm of possessed.

"There must be thousands of them! How can we ever hope to kill so many depraved monsters?!" Tiny asked picking up his axe from where it had fallen.

"I don't care how, I just will," Loyd said slipping further into the rabbit hole of the Swarm.

Ragnarok bent over, ready to charge the possessed at any second.

"I think I fried my turret with that shot," a youngling admitted.

Ragnarok opened his mouth and started drooling a blue form of liquid energy. Streaks of red light spread throughout his exposed muscles like veins. A rumbling came from the belly of him just before he pounced.

The first possessed that Ragnarok landed on, didn't have a chance to even react before its head was turned into a snack. The second one had time to dodge the open mouth of Ragnarok but not his outstretched arm. It shattered into pieces. Ragnarok didn't bother trying to eat it and moved onto the next closest food item. The possessed charged him, only to have its arms ripped off and its torso crushed when Ragnarok kicked out at it. More and more of the possessed eidolons tried to fight with this new monstrosity which was not Swarm, Crystalid, or Human but was all three at once.

Ragnarok made short work of all of them and began to eat the larger pieces before it turned to Tiny.

"Scared the fuck out of you, didn't I?" Loyd joked.

"A little bit yeah."

"I've learned to control it better but I still need practice. Most of that fi- slaughter was Ragnarok. How're things on the other side of the crawler?"

"We managed to take one alive, if you want to study it," Sara said, sitting in an environment protection suit and watching Loyd.