Bryze enhanced as well, but then kind of groaned, and we all froze looking out the big (fortunately closed) plate-'glass' doors over the lake, and the Cruzatch just outside. I gather that there were two groups, each numbering around thirty, one of which had hit the amphitheatre and the other had gone straight for the Setari building. That little fact is the cause of a great deal of consternation, because it means that the Cruzatch either can track me effortlessly, or had a very good idea of the layout of Pandora.
Taarel said: "Go!" to Siame, and sent us scurrying out of the common room. A haze came up to cover the outer doors – the Setari building has a good set of shields which can be brought up sectionally – but I could hear yelling and a crash off toward the direction we were heading. The Cruzatch had surrounded the entire building, and found a way in through the school, then torn through the physical barriers which had automatically sectioned off the Setari area, damaging some of the shield transmitters in the process.
Siame stopped short, then shooed us backward. The common room atrium is a very open area, and I glanced around frantically, spotted one couch which was set against the wall, and told Ys and Rye to take Sen and hide behind it. Trouban from Eighth dropped down from the upper levels, clutching a couple of the new breathing masks, and he, Bryze and Taarel headed toward the sounds of fighting at double-pace just as the Cruzatch came in
They moved like a swarm of spiders, racing over walls and ceiling, and while the tight entrance meant that Bryze was able to take out a whole bunch of them in a single shot, the way the common room opens up meant they could quickly spread out and get behind the three Setari.
I'm quite proud that I managed to dodge the net one of them threw at me. It's about the only time I've managed to properly dodge anything, and I did it with a stylish tumbling roll which looked like I'd rehearsed it. Unfortunately, all this earned me was a burnt arm, because another Cruzatch swooped down, grabbed me above the elbow, and tossed me on top of the fallen net. I have deeply-burned claw marks again and am extremely sorry I wasn't wearing my nanosuit – a sleeveless T, cargo pants and no shoes do not make an adequate combat outfit.
To my horror, Ys ran over and tried to bat the Cruzatch out of the air with a chair (which she could barely lift, let alone hit things with) and I grabbed her back against my chest and curled around her as it took a lazy swipe in retaliation – one thing which was clear was that they didn't want to damage me too much, so it was the best way to protect her, though this meant that when they inverted the net and hauled me into the air, Ys came too.
The Setari (and Siame) of course weren't just sitting back while this was going on, but there were so many Cruzatch and in an enclosed space with 'civilians' about, they couldn't be very wild using elementals, and were struggling not to be straightforwardly slaughtered. The Cruzatch seemed to intend a quick snatch and grab, which kept the casualty numbers down, but also made them very hard to counter. Bryze was very badly injured trying to stop them from hauling me off, but they say he'll recover.
By this time, Kaoren, Maze and Tsur Selkie were in channel with me, which was an exercise in frustration for them, and only served as a distraction for me. Kaoren told me to try breaking individual strands of the net, but it seemed to be made of some kind of rubber (vaguely resembling the stuff they'd used to build the traps around Kalasa's platforms) and would only stretch a little – not nearly enough to make a Cass-sized hole. It was also very hard to do anything while being banged around corners.
And then we were outside, soaring straight out over the lake toward what was later determined to be their entrance point, a tear on the far bank of the southern 'hook' of the lake. Siame was the only defender who'd managed to follow straight away – she doesn't have Combat Sight, but she's a stronger Light talent than Kaoren, more on Lohn's level, and since she hadn't enhanced was able to shoot Light bolts at the Cruzatch carrying me. It was dodging very well, but one of the bolts went through the top of the net, spilling Ys and me down into the lake.
I wasn't prepared for the drop, but managed to keep a hold of Ys and was lucky to take the impact on my shoulder. After a disoriented and panicky flounder we surfaced and Ys, coughing and gasping, nearly pushed me under again. At least the water made my burned arm stop hurting quite so horribly.
Siame was just above us, trying to fend off three Cruzatch at once. I turned in the water, and saw that we were quite close to Tupal Rock – the stony cluster which is the nearest island to Pandora. I told Ys to climb on my back, and managed a sluggish breast-stroke, and was trying to angle to the lower side when Siame and one of the Cruzatch fell out of the sky.
They landed very close, the Cruzatch producing a big hiss of steam. Taarel had shown up by then, racing two more Cruzatch, and took on the pair Siame hadn't killed. Siame barely seemed to be swimming, so I detached Ys and asked her if she thought she was able to swim to the rock and when she nodded I sprinted to Siame as she started to sink. Her Kalrani uniform doesn't provide half the protection of the nanoliquid suits, let alone built-in close combat weapons, and she'd been clawed across her abdomen, deep enough to do serious damage. She's still alive, but facing a long, painful recovery.
By the time I hauled her to Tupal Rock, Mila had joined Taarel, but they were both injured and struggling, and more Cruzatch were arriving from the group which had attacked the platform: a cloud of burning black moving in for the kill. Mila and Taarel were magnificent, fighting back-to-back, managing even as the numbers grew higher to keep all the Cruzatch's focus on them, picking off any who dropped toward me. But there were so many.
During the short swim to the rock, I kept thinking that Eeli wouldn't be able to bear it if Taarel died as well, and searching desperately for the best thing I could do to stop that from happening, telling myself that I'm powerful enough that they need to make laws about me, and could surely manage a few judicious lightning bolts.
I hauled Siame as high on the rock as I could manage, and told Ys to hold her there, then found a dip I could wedge myself into. "I'm going to try to help," I told Ys as I muted my interface distractions. "Be careful not to touch me."
There's quite a few scanners stationed along the Pandora shoreline, so when I woke I could watch what happened next on the news. I didn't have much of a view of it at the time – my perception is really vague when I'm expanded and I was concentrating very hard and only had my eyes open part of the time. They keep showing the whole sequence over and over again – Siame pursuing the Cruzatch with me and Ys in the net, and then us falling into the water and Siame's fight against them (Kaoren says she did extremely well) and then the expanded battle above us while I was trying to get Siame to the rock. And then Ys desperately trying to hold on to Siame and staunch her bleeding while I'm just sitting there very still with my eyes closed – like I'd gone into extreme denial.
Then the dragon shows up.
I'd abandoned the idea of lightning bolts almost immediately – there's no way I can aim while expanded. And I've known for ages that I can create Ionoth, after all. A dragon wasn't an obvious choice – most of them are evil in stories – but my mind had frozen when trying to think of really powerful flying things who could pwn a few dozen Cruzatch really quickly. I almost did Superman, but realised at the last moment that the sun mightn't be the right sort. And then I thought of Maze toasting dozens of Cruzatch, and thought of dragon breath.
Spirited Away
was one of my favourite movies growing up, and there was a hint of river-spirit dragon in what I created: white with highlights of blue and gold, long in body, but with vast wings. And huge. It dove into view to snatch up two Cruzatch which were dropping toward me, and opening these truly incredible wings with a snap which echoed across the lake. It threw the two Cruzatch into the water as it started upward, and the gale was incredible, making me struggle to not lose focus.
I'm so glad that Taarel and Mila chose to pull free from the Cruzatch cloud at the dragon's appearance – I'm not sure I could have lived with it if they'd been crisped when the dragon tilted down again and
breathed
.
Dragonzilla. It was Light, not Fire. The kind of beam which you see in mecha anime which scorches a mile-long ridge into the landscape and cuts through mountains. It evaporated the swarm of Cruzatch just as they clustered in preparation for attacking and then scored down into lake, creating a great whomping cloud of steam.
And the energy cost for
that
hit me like a tank. I promptly passed out and toppled into the lake.
Poor Ys. She hates so much anyone seeing her when she's upset, and everyone on three planets has watched her frantic horror as she tries to keep hold of Siame while snatching at me as I drop. She couldn't keep me from going into the water, and wasn't strong enough to pull me out of it while keeping Siame in place, but she did manage to lift my head enough so that I was only a little bit drowned when Trouban from Eighth dropped down (half-fell, he was in bad shape) and joined us on the rock, while Taarel and Mila cleared up the few Cruzatch which had escaped the dragon.
I
so
should have yelled
Expecto Patronum.
Talk about missed opportunities.
I've been unconscious for the last couple of days, and I suspect I've damaged my projection talent again like I did with the Kalasa projection, but I got off a lot better than the Setari and Siame. Fourth, Sixth and the other parts of Eighth were sent back immediately, and things have been relatively quiet since – the expeditionary force digging in to work on the shielding around the new site, and the Cruzatch not as yet testing them again.
KOTIS has copped a lot of flak for leaving Pandora/me inadequately defended, which they've been taking a
mea culpa
attitude to, although the first battle at Oriath was so intense that going with fewer would have meant far more injuries, and they don't dare pull any more squads from Tare and Kolar. The injury list just keeps climbing, and they've made active as many of the Kalrani as they're willing to risk at this stage.
Kaoren was sitting beside me when I woke, looking so tired that I have extreme doubts he managed any real sleep the entire time I was unconscious. I suspect he and Sen were plagued by Sight dreams, since she didn't look much better by the time I got back to our apartment (after a meal, another long sleep and a medical exam). I'm writing this propped against Kaoren's arms on our couch, with Sen sprawled down one side of us. Both of them passed out almost as soon as we sat down. Ys and Rye looked pretty wrung out as well (if Sen's not sleeping, they're generally not sleeping either), but held out to have quite a long conversation with me about dragons and to grimace at me fiercely or blush and look at the floor depending on their inclination when I told them what I thought of their bravery.
Rye fell asleep sitting on the floor propped against the couch, after a long period of gazing up at Kaoren with unblinking devotion. Ys went and fetched him a pillow, and then my diary when I asked her for it, and actually tolerated me thanking her, and has stayed close playing with her modelling toy while I write – she's growing quite adept at using it, and seems to most enjoy making copies of Pandora's buildings. She's very exacting and precise.
I've been amusing myself using the scanner to record this scene for posterity, and also having interface conversations with a selection of almost everyone I know on the planet. The recurrent theme has been: "That bat-surri was incredible." It certainly made an impression on the collective imagination, and the interface sites are full of discussion about it, and me. The fact that I can outgun the Setari in a suicidal one-shot kind of way has certainly strengthened the "we need to make some laws about the touchstone" brigade. On a plus side there's a ton of positive comments about Siame (quickly identified as Kaoren's sister) and Ys.
I'm glad I was able find a way to fight back – and OMG I can make
dragons
– but wish I could have just paid enough attention to realise that Lira was trying to talk to me.
Thursday, October 23
Mine
Third and Eighth have been sent back to Tare, with only two of them lacking a significant injury. Eeli's still here, though, because the medics are worried about the impact of taking her through deep-space. Not one of Third could stand leaving her behind, and Taarel sent them off to the ship with her head high and her eyes hard.
Siame can't be moved either, but at least is periodically conscious. I went down to see her, but she likes me even less now – or is just too ill to disguise how little she wants to do with me. Other than not being able to project, I'm feeling fine today, with my burn thoroughly medicated.
The expeditionary force is having immense trouble working through the shielding at the Oriath site – it's on par with the shielding around Kalasa – but they've made a lot of progress setting up warning drones and creating a little fortress, dense with shields and bristling with weapons. Even without the Setari there, anyone inside the bunker could probably defend themselves against all but a massive attack. They're waiting for the next Cruzatch assault (should there be one) before sending any more squads back, so they can gauge how sufficient it is, but two more of the Nuran Setari have returned.
The shielding on the talent school hadn't been brought up during the Cruzatch attack because some of the kids were still outside and couldn't get inside quickly enough, and that's led to a revision of both the school and Pandora's Ionoth safety procedures. The proposed solution is emergency shelters outside some of these outlying buildings. Shielded shelters are a seriously sensitive subject for the Nurans, of course, but for certain critical buildings KOTIS Command has decided they can't risk leaving them open.