Page 54 of Monstrous Baby
He grunted sourly.:It’s a bloodbath.:
Screeches echoed through the rising winds. The pod never stood a chance. Balaenoptera didn’t have any defenses, especially against dyni.
:Almost in position,:Axxol said.
Evidently, we were both going to play chicken. He’d have to get through the Ceratops to reach the TMS. Nice.
:Engage,:Axxol ordered.
I flapped my wings loudly, seemingly struggling to gain speed and altitude over the canopy. Making myself a target.
The TMS zeroed in on me, his silver eyes glowing, already fully charged. Though he was reluctant to blow his whole wad on just me. It’d take him too long to recharge, and our alpha was still on the loose. He’d want to deliver as much damage as possible to maximize his threat.
I flew a standard evade flight pattern, zigzagging back and forth in his field of vision. Still selling the injury but now adding desperation. Fury. I screeched at him, clacking my beak, lifting my legs up closer to my body with talons forward and extended. But now I added some speed, closing in much faster than he expected.
A millisecond before he fired his tasers, I rolled to my good side, using my injured wing to slice in a hard dive. As I hoped, he overshot, expecting me to favor the injury. I felt the crackle of electromagnetic energy buzzing past but I was too close for the stream to widen enough to zap my systems. Interference and static buzzed through the grid but without a direct hit, our internal network held.
Raking talons down his neck, I used the sharp tip of my beak to dig into his flesh, looking for an artery. Cause as much damage as possible. Keep him occupied. While the Big Rig did his work.
The ceratops bellowed. Trees crashed and swayed below.
The TMS started retracting his neck—but it took a fucking long time to pull in that much length. Plus I’d managed to damage some of the ligaments and musculature that would normally make the retraction seamless. Naturally, I tore into him even harder, clinging to his scaly neck. He whipped side to side, trying to knock me off in the trees, and then bent his neck to dip his head down. Snapping, trying to dislodge me, tying himself up like a pretzel.
A thud rocked the TMS. I felt the impact ripple up through his neck. I scrambled up the rounded side to the back and then leaped down to his upper shoulder. Riding him down in a slow collapse to the ground. His body crumpled beneath me, but it took several seconds for all his neck to come crashing down like a giant sequoia.
Axxol threw his head back, swallowing a massive chunk of chest muscle and heart.:Can you tap their grid?:
I hopped down beside him.:Sure. Give me a sec.:
Focusing inward on our network, I barely acknowledged his reply.:I’ll finish the Titan.:
The infinite matrix spanned through me. Finding the enemy squad’s grid was easy. Hacking into it took a little more effort. I assumed he wanted me to access their grid—without HQ knowing about it. I’d already jammed their signals. Now I shut them off from DSC entirely by cutting their connection. Then all I had to do was cycle through their encryption, find the key, and voila. Unlock the front door.
:I have access.:
:Connect me,:Axxol replied.
I looped him into the now closed network and added my specialized encryption and layers of Earth interference over their grid to make it private, while still keeping our grid protected so they couldn’t snoop without my approval.:Done.:
With their comms specialist eliminated, there was no one to stop me from accessing all their data, which I did post haste.
:Squad Z288C, designation BGR+, name Axxol. Do you want to join us and live, or die with the rest of your squad?:
Shock splintered through their network. Dyni squads only rarely worked together, even then only under express orders from HQ. Squads didn’t think for themselves. We executed orders and returned to base for reconditioning. We were tools. HQ pointed, and we killed.
Besides, I’d never trust anyone outside of our squad. We were a cohesive unit, complete and whole with Natalie at our center. We didn’t need a second fucking alpha who’d…
Ah. Axxol had no intention of working with them. He trusted even less than me, which was saying a hell of a lot.
I found their black box equivalent and cracked it open. DSC orders, alpha eyes only. Oops, too fucking late, assholes.
Eliminate Z288C. Incapacitate and retrieve any human females in the area. Do not engage KORE. Override MAXIMUS.
I initiated a query against Lohr’s databanks for KORE. Why the fuck would they have needed an override? Maybe the other squad had failsafe orders.
Their alpha finally replied.:Squad Z997A, designation BGR, name Rhack. We have our orders. Your squad is designated for termination.:
:Tell me something I don’t know.:Axxol huffed out what might have been a chuckle if the Big Rig ever laughed.:Three fifths of your squad is decimated. SOP is to jump back to base, but I bet you can’t.:
