1:5:7 Descent (Part 2)
By Lore
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The hour passed faster than any of them wanted it to. Final preparations were made and the lists had been completed. A shared feeling of reluctance swept through The Razor; a want to procrastinate most of them hadn’t felt for a while. Despite the fact that most of them had already been in this position multiple times, there was a sense of finality this time that the others lacked. Lore looked over the lists. Surprisingly, the Lores had been able to organise themselves into two even groups.
“I feel a little bit sick.” Lore turned and made eye contact with Char.
She smiled. “Do you really or do you need a moment before we get going?”
Lore took a deep breath. “Yeah. It’s a lot… What do you think our chances are?”
“I’d say that as long as The Tethers work and Crait shows up in person, the chances are very good.” She smiled reassuringly. “All will be well… I hope.”
The room soon refilled, each pair entered then made their way to their designated seats; there was an air of solemnity about them as they silently sat and waited. They were all dressed in almost identical mission attire: waist length, black leatherette jackets with grey polymer armour, highlighted with their clone’s unit colour, all held down by the harnesses from Cyenzeit. Lore and Char stood out as the only ones in grey. They stood together.
“The end is near.” Lore started. “It’s time to face the final curtain.”
“Keep it light…” Char whispered.
“Right, so. The thirteen Lores on the list will take their ships, clones and the Rexian fleet to Quatarr. You lot, don’t worry about the blockade. Help if you can but your goal is to simply land on Quatarr. The fleet will be doing the hard work for you.” They pointed to ensure their point got through. “Once on the planet’s surface, leave the fighting to your clones. Again, it’s not your job. You’ve each been given a waypoint to go to, to plant your Tether. Get to it as soon as possible. Then it’s just a matter of defence. You’ll know when it’s time to activate your Tether and you’ll know exactly what to do once you get the signal.”
“And the signal is…” Ant waited for them to continue.
“You’ll know it when it happens…” Char chuckled.
Lore sighed. “The signal is the activation of the harness. Your harnesses will start to flash a white-gold colour. When they do, join hands with your partner and the rest will be done for you. Charging The Tethers will feel like second nature so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Any questions?” Char looked around the room. Everyone shook their heads save for The First.
The First rose, their hand raised to show their readiness to address the room. “Thank you. I think I speak for most of us when I say that your creation was possibly the best idea any of us have had for a while.” They paused while some of the room chuckled and the rest groaned. “It’s been an experience but now, it feels we are closer than ever to its end. Regardless of the outcome, thank you all… Now! Let’s get this show on the road.” The First led their eleven other Lore-Char pairs out of the room, the other thirteen followed suit soon after leaving Lore and Char alone once again.
“For luck.” Char leant down and pecked Lore on the cheek.
Lore took her hands and brought her closer. “For good measure.” They returned before kissing her cheek.
“Oi, time’s up!” A head poked through the door startling the two of them. “Come on, you’re needed on the bridge.”
They both sighed before proceeding to the door. They walked, hand in hand back to the atrium; a new door had appeared with a glowing label at its head: Bridge. It opened to reveal a lift and a set of stairs. Lore and Char looked to one another with a cheeky smile. Without talking, they took their positions. Lore waited at the foot of the stairs while Char stood in front of the lift. The ding that signified the lift’s arrival started their race. They flew up the stairs, climbing them two or three at a time; beaming the whole time, they followed in the glowing footprints of their future. The top came after three flights of stairs and the ding that had started their race also signified its end. Breathlessly, Lore lunged at the door, bowling Char over as they flew into the lift carriage.
“Suppose this means it’s a tie.” She chuckled.
They shook their head. “Suppose so.” Lore tried to steady their breathing. Char helped them from the floor.
“Good bit of exercise?” She smiled.
Lore’s mouth had been relentlessly dried from their hyperventilation; finding themselves unable to talk, they resorted to nodding.
They were the last to the bridge but they were the only ones that arrived with a smile on their faces. Reading the room, they discarded their gleeful looks in exchange for a more serious and sombre visage. As they examined their team, Lore couldn’t help but notice that there were two other Lores who were similarly recovering, their breathing subtly ragged.
The First rose from their chair and offered it to Lore. “She’s all yours commander.”
Lore shook their head. “If we’re going to make it through safely, your hand is going to be the one on the controls… Well… Yours, Destiny’s and Char’s seems as you’ve already done it before.”
The First sat back down and rested their Breacher in the cradle on the left arm of their chair. “Okay, all hands, prepare for departure. Ant, I want to know the moment we’re clear to go and The Slingshot’s ready. Destiny, I want us following the same flight path as we did when we went to pick up Lore, we can deviate at the end to arrive at the appropriate date, everyone else.” The surfaces near to every Lore rippled before forming Breacher cradles. “Lock in your Breachers. The extra computing power should make the end of our journey a fair bit smoother.” They all obliged, pinning their left arms to the walls or consoles around the bridge.
“Sir, all Rexian fighters are cleared of the hangars and The Slingshot AI is reporting ready.” Ant nodded.
The First signalled acknowledgement. “Right then, Destiny, take us in.”
The Rexian fighters watched as The Occam’s Razor was catapulted into seemingly nowhere and disappear into the aether. They organised ahead of the Lores’ ships and started their final mission.
“This is Tree calling the fleet. It seems you’ve read the mission brief so I’ll keep this short: Thank you. We weren’t expecting reinforcements and certainly not as many as we now have. I’m not going to sugar coat it… It’s not going to be easy but focus on distraction and you might make it back alive. Once you’ve got the signal, piss off as fast as you can.” Tree paused. “Good luck.”
The fleet wide communication channel remained open. It was silent for a moment after Tree’s speech but, one voice at a time, the Rexian fleet started to sing. Although a large majority of their membership were human, they sang in the native Rexian tongue. Their song started slowly before increasing in tempo; while sounding solemn and mournful at the start, it gained a sense of determination and anticipation as it progressed. Charraig looked to Tree as if to request a translation.
Tree started. “They started by asking their gods for protection in the upcoming war. Now they’re promising to do good deeds in their god’s names. ‘Temparr and Aeternis we ask your protection, in your names we defend our allies and their mission. Solarr and Demis we ask your strength, in your names we attack our foes, to beat them to submission.”
“They rhymed mission and submission?” Lucky turned from their seat.
“Just happenstance when it’s translated.” Tree chuckled. “My Rexian translation’s a little rusty. Mission might not be accurate.” Tree shrugged. “Quest may be a better fit but I thought I’d try and keep the rhyme.”
There were three layers to The Guild’s blockade around Quatarr’s remains; smaller, supply vessels moved between the ranks with hulking battleships closest to the planet and the more manoeuvrable ships made up the fore lines. The Rexian fleet halted. They scanned their enemy.
“Sir, they outnumber us nearly twenty to one…” Lucky looked back to their monitor. “Actually, sorry, its closer to twenty five to one…”
“We’re more manoeuvrable and we’re not playing to win…” Tree’s tone betrayed their stoic look. “We follow the plan, we win.” They nodded. Charraig returned the gesture. “Fleet-wide channel if you’d please.” After Lucky gave them the signal, they addressed their pilots. “Alright then… It’s looking worse than we thought but we’ve planned for this, we’ve strategised for this, we knew that it was going to be hard from the beginning but now it’s time to actually give it a go. Remember you’re not trying to destroy the enemy, engage then get the hel out of there! Don’t do anything stupid and try not to get yourselves killed. We only need a tiny opening so focus on clearing the same area, don’t spread out.”
“New data from The Vengeance: The ship’s are at their thinnest at this point here… Conveniently over the landing point…” Lucky put the data on the viewscreen, overlaying the plan to match the ship’s positioning ahead of them.
“Send it to the fleet. We are to focus on this point here.” Tree smirked. “Ready?” A roar of acceptance came over the communicator. “Then let’s get it done.”
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