Page 23 of Doom

Grateful for the ever-reliable Chaos to help me manage this mess, I quickly removed my almost depleted shield and weapons to hand them over to my Soulcatcher Joshin waiting for me at the bottom of the ramp.

“Steele, I need you to figure out what the fuck is going on with our cloaking signatures,” I said while equipping my fresh gear. “Have all the ships modulate the frequency of their cloaking shields in the meantime.”

“Understood,” Steele replied.

“Wrath, you must go pick up Victoria at the church where you evacuated the people she and Doom had found. The Swarm has been released. She should be there in thirty minutes or so.” Not waiting for him to respond, I turned to Chaos while marching quickly towards the fully loaded chaser waiting for us. “I need to go get Doom.”

“Take the rest of our unit with you,” Chaos said. “I’ll stay here and coordinate this mess.”

“Thank you, brother,” I said, squeezing his shoulder in gratitude.

But as I turned to climb the chaser’s ramp, the alarm went off inside the frigate.

“All hands to battle stations. The ship is under attack,” said Jarlow, the Lenusian captain of the frigate.

Are you fucking kidding me?

The General truly had masterfully played us, pulling us in too many directions to be able to organize a proper defense. My hearts ached for Doom and whatever humans remained in the vicinity of Victoria’s makeshift hospital, but they would all have to wait a bit longer. Without a word necessary, every Warrior and non-Xian combatants boarded the available ships and took off to go battle the bugs and protect the Paragon.

Within seconds of engaging the Kryptids, it quickly became obvious they were indeed on a suicide mission. They were swarming us with small but very fast vessels, targeting the frigate’s defense and propulsion systems. Content to dodge our attacks to the best of their abilities, the Kryptids wasted no fire on our chasers pursuing them. They had a single goal: destroy the Paragon or die trying. Individually, they lacked the fire power to be a threat against our fighter ships, but their focused fire on the Paragon would quickly get it in a critical state.

“There are too many of them,”I mind-spoke to Chaos, my blood curdling in my veins as understanding dawned on me.“Evacuate all the Soulcatchers on board!”

“Our Shells are on board including Doom’s,”Chaos replied.“We must fend them off!”

“Forget the Shells. Get the females out, NOW!”I replied while taking out in quick succession three of the small Kryptid Spitters.

Through our psychic link, I felt Chaos’s strong desire to argue, but he knew me well enough to understand the situation was dire. I conveyed a similar message to my Soulcatcher Joshin, also aboard the frigate. Even as I took out a couple more Spitters, the frigate’s shield collapsed, and they all went in for the kill.

Like most vessels in the Kryptid fleet, the Spitters had been grown from organic tissue. This specific model had been enhanced with an alien version of the Bombardier beetles, which allowed the ship to naturally produce and spit fiery acid at its targets. Given enough time and present in sufficient concentration, the acid was strong enough to eat through the hull of a ship. Despite the outer shell of that two-men vessel being stronger than Kevlar, they were easily destroyed by our advanced technology. Our fire-power wasn’t the issue: the challenge was their speed and insane numbers.

Destroyed Spitters rained down on the city as we shot them down, and still they blotted out the light of the moon in a dark cloud swarming around the frigate. Too many transport ships and escape pods were still in the process of leaving the Paragon while the damage inflicted upon it by the Kryptids’ relentless attack was reaching critical levels.

“Joshin, tell me you have all left the Paragon,”I mind-spoke to my Soulcatcher.

“Yes, Legion. Most civilians and non-combatants made it out. We’re on a shuttle heading south,”Joshin replied with a tremor in her psychic voice that made my blood run cold.“Doom is dying, and Shoyesh is struggling to catch him. All the other Soulcatchers with us are carrying the soul of a Warrior from the Valiant.”

“FIND SOMEONE!”I shouted, feeling faint at the thought of losing not only one of my closest brothers, but also one who embodied the resilience, strength, and invincibility of the Vanguard—a powerful symbol for us all.“Have the Operators broadcast to all the Soulcatchers in range. We cannot lose him!”

“Leija and a few others are on it,”Joshin responded quickly.

Just as she spoke those words, a series of large explosions rocked the Paragon. It split in half, the loud whine of twisted metal resounding like the drawn-out howl of a dying beast. As its carcass plummeted to the ravaged city below, the Spitters swarm scattered, seeking a new target.

Silencing my pain at these further losses sustained, I ordered our vessels to stop pursuing the Spitters, to move out of range, and for all chasers to fire their EMPs at full power at the swarm. The electro-magnetic pulse would fry the propulsion and navigation systems of the small organic ships, sending them crashing to the ground. We couldn’t have done so earlier without also destroying the Paragon before it could have been evacuated.

The multiple blasts lit up the night sky, blinding me for a second. My vision cleared to the sight of hundreds of Spitters simultaneously falling like a thick, black curtain. We relayed this tactic to all the other frigates, battleships and motherships not yet under attack to have their EMPs charged, ready to go off at the first sign of an incoming swarm.

Having done what we could, we split from the other ships to resume our initial mission to go cleanse the Drone Swarm by Doom’s location.

“Has anyone caught Doom’s soul?”I psychically broadcast to all the Soulcatchers within range.

A deafening silence answered me.

Chapter 7

Doom

Pain—mind-numbing, excruciating. My world was a deep well of agony.

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