Chapter 10 TEN
“Next projection. U-band. Complete your formation sequence. Ten minutes remaining.”
Ken stood behind the tree watching the fight all along. Half of the L-band cadets had been killed and only the back up remained, yet no Bergon had died.
“I should really go there and help. Please AIDEN pick up.” Still no response.
He took a deep breath to slow his racing heart. And again.
Then stepped out.
“Roarrr!!!”
A powerful gust of rotten egg scented wind swept him off the ground and flung him back to the tree.
He landed elbow first. Hard. Agonized.
He stood back up with a heavy head and fell back down.
And he tried to stand back again, he winced in pain.
He looked over to his left hand and saw that he had dislocated his lower arm.
The monster took menacing strides. Slowly. Calculated.
Ken steadied himself and stood, resting on the tree.
The Bergon looked a while at Ken who was not taking any actions.
It looked at it like a predator no longer interested in catching its prey.
Then it opened its mouth, ready.
And released fire.
Ken closed his eyes ready for the worst. But as luck would have it, nothing touched him.
He opened his eyes to see an L-band cadet, half transformed to a giant shield holding back the flames.
The cadet blocked the fire for a while and turned into an armored drone.
It started raining bullets onto the Bergon.
It groaned and took flight to destroy the drone.
It increased its firing intensity but the Bergon was faster. It twisted and glided. Within nine seconds, it destroyed the drone.
The Bergon caught it mid-air with one claw, crushed the conversion plating like dried clay and dropped the pieces without looking at where they fell. The cadet inside had already ejected and converted back to human form before impact but the landing broke both legs clean. He did not get back up.
Ken watched it happen from the tree.
He hung his left arm at a wrong angle to ease the pain. Every breath felt like a stab. The Bergon had turned its attention back to the formation and was moving away from him now, slowly, like something that had assessed him and filed him under not worth returning to.
That landed harder than the tree had.
He looked at his dislocated arm. Gripped the wrist with his right hand. Pressed his shoulder against the tree bark.
He set it himself.
The bone entered its place with a bang. A ripping pain tore through his arm.
He bit his lips agonizingly that he cut his skin and bled from his lips.
"AIDEN." He called again. No response. Then with a low frequency muffled sound, sounding like it was being interfered with, “I am here.”
“Dude what happened?”
It cracked a bit before he continued. “The fifth Bergon can sense my presence here. It is currently interfering with the signals.
As you can see, the four fighting Bergons are doing so with coordinated attacks.”
Ken looked over to the fighting troop. The Bergons were fighting using the same pattern. One distracts, two launch an attack and the fourth finishes. The formation seven of the L-band cadets had since been scattered leaving them fighting in singles or pairs.
“So what is controlling them? How do they have such initiative?” The fifth Bergon looked over to Ken and turned back to the fighting soldiers, still sitting on the rock.
“It is the fifth Bergon. It is currently transmitting signals to the four fighting ones. Destroy it and they lose coordination.”
Ken sighed. “How can I destroy it then? We have spotted a weakness in the last loop but it has armored skin, thicker than metal.”
“Yes. The blood connector organ is located behind its sternum and the good news is. There are gaps of soft skin between the armored skin in that area to enable it to release heat that the organ produces. The armor there is less thick. Still, that softer skin cannot be penetrated by ordinary equipment.”
Ken extended his left arm to relieve the pain before resting back on the tree. “So what can I use then?”
“Look five meters to your right. To the cadet killed by the Bergon. What do you see?”
“That's a sword right?”
“No. It's a thermal lance. It can generate heat capable of melting through anything. Stone. Metal. It is only given to the L and Z band soldiers. With the current situation, this is your best chance yet.”
"Will that penetrate Bergon armour?"
"At full charge, yes. Once. The cell will not survive a second discharge at that temperature."
"Once is enough.”
“But how do I get it with the Bergon around?”
“It already knows. It sees your next move before you even start.”
Ken turned to the fifth Bergon. Its ears had stopped rotating and were facing him. It locked eyes with Ken and stood.
“So it hears my thoughts. What upgrade can you do to help me?”
“It is disrupting all my signals. It has sensed the system inside you so it is doing all it can to ensure you don't get to a higher capacity. Without upgrade capability I cannot enhance your speed. You move at baseline human capacity.” AIDEN paused for some seconds. “All I can do is to reassure you.”
He flexed his right arm and stood erect, locking eyes with the Bergon. It responded by putting a limb forward, ready to stop him.
“On the count of three. One…”
“Now!” AIDEN interrupted.
Ken took a long stride forward. Two. Three.
The Bergon had approached him. It jumped and swung its whole weight towards him.
Ken lay flat in time for its under belly armor ridge to cut his shoulder wider. It missed its attack and landed three meters from Ken.
The lance two meters to the right. The Bergon, three meters to the left.
Ken swooped with his whole agility while the Bergon sprinted towards him.
He dodged at the last second and somersaulted backwards, standing with his hair frozen and the lance in his right hand.
The Bergon was now twenty meters away. It stood angrier and roared aggressively.
Ken turned on the lance.
POWERING.
Twenty percent.
Forty percent.
A blue beam of light started from the handle towards the tip.
The Bergon dug a foot into the ground. Then another. From twenty meters to fifteen. Thirteen. Ten.
“Get ready.” AIDEN said.
Eighty percent loaded.
Ken started to rush towards it too.
It jumped.
He slid.
Under its belly.
“Now!” AIDEN commanded.
He jumped up with every atom of energy in him.
Hundred percent.
Engaged.
He pushed it with all his strength. Every ounce of his body weight employed.
The lance was burning.
Bright blue flames.
His hand was hit.
He ignored it regardless.
With a final blow, the gap split, letting the 30 inch flaking hot metal, pierce the organ and…
Implode!
The Bergon stood like it was deciding whether to fall or sand. Its wings had been folded and the lance still implanted within.
It froze for three seconds before it fell. Shook the earth and stirred a crater of dust.
The impact sent Ken flying to the south. He fell on his back. His hair dripped wet from the melted ice.
His right hand was red hot and bruised.
He lay on his back, looking at the blood red sky while the dust settled.
The other four Bergons stopped moving.
All at once.
The coordinated attack pattern fractured. Two of them turned on each other briefly before separating, confused, reading signals that were no longer being sent. The L-Band soldiers, battered and missing parts and running on nothing except the refusal to stop, felt the shift immediately through the mind link and pressed forward.
Leo felt it too.
He looked across the field at the fallen fifth Bergon. Then at the figure lying on the ground next to it. A Raven Force cadet with no band insignia and a thermal lance dissolved to slag in his hand.
He pushed through the mind link to the nearest soldier beside him.
"Who is that?"
Nobody answered.
Few looked back and shrugged.
Nobody knew.
SYSTEM SIGNAL RESTORED. PARTIAL CAPACITY.
AIDEN RECONNECTING.
"Ken." The voice was thin but present. "You are bleeding from four separate points. Your shoulder has torn further. Your right palm has second degree burns from the lance casing.”
“Doesn't matter.”
“You killed it without an upgrade.”
“I know.”
He stood and picked up a weapon close to him.
He walked toward the formation line.
Leo watched him come and felt something different since the fight began. Not quite hope but was close enough to stand next to it.
