One Heart Amongst Many

"Ha HA! Now THIS is what I was waiting for! If only we had a Skald to witness this glorious cleansing of this filth!"

Gunnar's voice had rarely not crackled over the comms first, and after many minutes of shooting at Chukanids while we marched down the long, fleshy hallways of this Uma the boisterous man had finally gotten both Sutekh Abrax and I to come out of our shells a little bit.

"Such an expanse of enemies to indulge in the incredible advancements of technology that is heavy firearms! Though..."

For the first time today Gunnar showed a modicum of hesitation as he continued his march down the hall, the cannon in his hands letting out another roar as a shell rushed out of the barrel before shrieking towards the swarm of Chukanids in front of us.

As it impacted the flesh ground between them all, the shell exploded and blasted away a large portion of the aliens, freeing up more space for their brood mates to rush forwards towards us again, though a burst from Sutekh Abrax and I dissuaded them permanently.

"Is this not a lot of Chukanids? Are we sure this Uma was damaged in the opening barrage? 'Cause it sure doesn't feel like it..."

"Pilot Gunnar, we are aboard a rather large Uma that is approximately 1.77 times larger than the average; additionally, it was a frontal barrage that tore through the chitinous hull and not a broadside barrage. All of the Chukanids are coming from the depths of their transport..."

Raising my Aesir Chaingun, I sent another burst of Blitz rounds at a large cluster of aliens and added to my kill tally as the electricity chained between even more of them, burning their shells and slipping between any cracks to shock them and lock them in place, which made them easier targets for my two squad mates.

"And we are heading for the heart of this Uma. To expect less resistance would be idiocy."

Gunnar just let out a bark of laughter at that before saying "Aye, that is indeed true Einherjar! The question becomes, how far are we from the heart? And what classes of Chukanids will we encounter?"

"The same we are encountering here, just a bit larger. If we maintain heading it should only be another few minutes before we reach the atrium."

The familiar 'weight' of the Aesir Chaingun whenever it fired was just as euphoric as ever as we marched down the hallways overtop the various corpses of the blasted apart Chukanids, further ensuring they were dead by stomping on them.

Bullets ripped through the air before impacting the chitin of our enemy, and each of the larger caliber rounds we shot tore away chunks of said chitin and flesh, painting the already fleshy walls pink and red as we traversed the Uma.

With the general layout of such aliens pulled up on our HUD, we made our way towards the atrium that was located deep within the carrier, where the heart was resting inside of a giant vat of various fluids that was protected by the strongest Chukanids born within the Uma.

Conserving some ammunition was necessary for that, so once I hit a quarter of my premium ammunition used I opted instead to rely on my Gungnir Heavy Spear, rushing forwards and throwing myself into the thick of things.

With the height of my mech I was able to stand above these aliens, giving me the reach and the advantage of being able to swing at the larger parts of their bodies, which would normally be a problem if I wasn't wielding a weapon capable of rending battleship's hulls.

They chittered and clacked at me whenever I drew close, their jagged shells and long, razor sharp claws forcing me to maintain my range as I stabbed and cut at them from feet away, though if any did get too close Sutekh Abrax put a bullet in them for me.

To an extent I was overextending myself from my squad, but at the same time we needed to reach the atrium sooner rather than later lest more and more of these Chukanids awaken and clog these hallways like they were unhealthy arteries.

The gargantuan spacefaring alien was relatively easy to navigate since most routes led down towards the atrium, it was just a matter of where you entered the Uma that dictated how long you had to walk; since we had entered near the middle, the journey wasn't terribly long, and soon we came face to face with the large sac that housed the Uma's heart.

A thin, transparent veil of flesh contained hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid that warmed and sustained the beating organ situated in the middle; that fleshy ovular organ that acted as a pump for the entire body was right in front of us, but between us and it was dozens of far chunkier Chukanids waiting to defend their transport.

"Sutekh Abrax and I will deal with them; Gunnar, focus on the heart!"

The moment we stepped into the atrium those Chukanids let out loud shrieks and rushed at us, but Sutekh Abrax and I took position right in front of the heavier Jotunn Mech to provide cover for it as we swept our guns over the oncoming swarm.

Bullets zipped forwards through the turbid air and ripped chunks out of the aliens, while the thunderous booming of Gunnar's heavy cannon shook us inside of our cabins as he blasted holes into the sac, causing the liquids within to begin pouring out.

The entire Uma shook as the alien let out a silent roar into space, but we heard it loud and clear as Gunnar's shells began to explode within the heart, the once stable organic carrier ship now writhing in agony as it was killed from within.

All of the Chukanids let out desperate shrieks as they rushed at us, hoping to stop us and save their transport - as well as themselves - but as Gunnar pumped a dozen shells into the heart it was a lost cause.

The heart stopped beating by the dozenth shell, and the moment it did we began our retreat, back into the cold emptiness of space and away from the now dead Uma; it was only one amongst dozens, if not hundreds, but it was a start.