Colony Arrives

I had moved off of the 'Vessel of Gymir' and transferred onto the smaller, yet still deadly battleship 'Gram's Kiss' that was moving to join the handful of Ankh Class Battleships that had been deployed to give us aid in securing the Kapar Delta System.

Rakel was remaining behind on the 'Vessel of Gymir' now that my war gear had been fully tuned and prepared for what was to come, and while I wasn't going to openly admit that the switch from constantly having the warm and bubbly red head by my side to being alone again was rather noticeable to said red head, I had to admit that time was moving slower now that I was leaning against the leg of my custom Tyr Mech and staring at the stars.

Nearby, joining me in my silent preparations was Aife, her Nidhogg Mech built entirely for stealth and close quarters combat standing at the same height as mine while being far thinner and speed oriented, which fit its pilot rather well.

The plan had been relayed once more to us, and the opening barrage of heavy cannon fire that would tear through the majority of the Uma Class Chukanids would be followed up by us taking our mechs into the remnants to clean up whatever was still alive.

Simple and efficient since killing an Uma didn't mean everything within was dead; there were various amniotic-esque sacs that the Chukanids slept inside of, pools of extreme temperature resistant fluids that they bathed in, and various pods that could survive a barrage thanks to the extremely thick plates of chitin that covered their surfaces.

If we could just blow them up it would be far too easy, and this race of ever ravenous aliens loved to be anything but easy to understand, so we needed to be deployed inside of their carriers to eradicate everything lest they awaken and somehow find themselves on a new planet or on a ship somewhere amongst the cosmos.

As such we were currently waiting for their emergence into the system, hence why I was just staring out of the forcefields that covered the hangar doors and looking at the various stars in the distance, marveling at the ethereal beauty of space.

Patience was something I was lucky enough to have in abundance, so while the wait was boring I was able to deal with it rather well, to the point that it had simply felt like the hours before the enemy reached the system never existed in the first place, my mind emptying itself completely and not latching onto anything that might make me recognize time as a real thing.

That was what made it possible for me to simply stand here for those hours while my peers had to shuffle around and chat, and by the time our enemy did appear out of the inky blackness of deep space I was more than happy to climb up into my mech and get ready while the cannon barrage began.

The entire ship reverberated as the gigantic weapons lining the hull of our battleship fired in unison, hundreds of human size or larger projectiles getting sent straight towards the chitinous ships that had just crept over the edge of the system, appearing on radar and becoming illuminated by the initial chemical flare that was shot above and below their trajectory.

By the time my mech was powered on and I was connected to it, our opening barrage was still barely halfway towards the Colony, giving me time to recalibrate and acclimate myself to Rakel's changes while also experiencing another vibration that shook the mech as more projectiles were released en masse.

The first wave hit with brilliant explosions that glittered in the distance, only to eventually dissipate thanks to the cold vacuum of space as the oxygen needed for the flames was consumed instantly; many of the Uma began to splinter apart as dozens of holes peppered their hulls, and even from here you could see the many Chukanids within spilling out into space as the seals were broken, ripping the aliens out of their carriers and killing them quickly.

As the third barrage was fired the clarion alarms began to shriek within the hangar, letting us know that we needed to board the various transports that had been prepared for this operation; the stomping of my peers as we all made our way to our designated areas was another all too familiar chorus to me, and it was reassuring as I locked my boots to the hull of my transport, standing in front of and behind other Tyr Mechs.

Another few minutes of waiting would test the limits of our patience once more, but everyone inside of this hangar had nerves of steel that had been tempered over many such engagements, and the second we felt the transports begin to lift out of the hangar we settled into the familiar meditative state as we waited for the order to disengage our boots and drop into space.

Once more time began to lose its meaning as we flew behind the final barrage from 'Gram's Kiss' and the rest of this barricade that was keeping the Colony out of Kapar Delta, the humming and rattling of the engines being the only thing we heard.

When the order came I leaned forwards somewhat, disengaging the magnetic locks on my boots and watching as I was dropped into the emptiness of space with a soft push, my various peers already igniting their jets and flying towards their targets.

Readying my Aesir Chaingun and Gungnir Heavy Spear, I pushed myself forwards and approached the blasted hull of an Uma Carrier, the thick chitin plates cracked and covered in hoarfrost as the protective coating of fluid had been blasted away by our missiles and cannon fire.

Finding a suitable entry point, I signaled my readiness over the open comms and waited for confirmation before lowering myself into the Uma, the extremely low gravity of this gigantic bug making it easier to drop onto the floor and orient myself like a normal firefight instead of space combat.

Two more mechs thudded to the ground behind me, and we looked around the fleshy hallways we found ourselves in as we searched for targets, the voices of my new squad crackling into my headset as a private channel was opened for this mission.