Amelia, Worm AU [Complete]

Amelia, Ch 377- Theo


I leaned over to whisper to Zach. "Dude. Love child between Kaiser and Lung? That's the best you could come up with?"


"Hey, it's totally true. You know it and I know it and everyone else knows it." Zach whispered back. "No one is that obsessed with dick waving competitions unless they want to be the ones judging. By sense of touch. You're just mad because now you have mental images of your father enjoying the manjina."


I shook my head. "No, I've gotten very good at not forming mental images when you talk. And just so we're clear, if I do ever think of something like that, you'll know. Because I'll be shoving about a hundred gallons of liquid metal down your throat right after."


Zach raised his eyebrow and looked at me silently until I realized what I just said. "Y'know, I'd say something, but there's really nothing I can do that'll top that. Besides, your girlfriends are in earshot and they're a lot scarier than you."


Khepri tapped her boot against the metal hull of our vessel. "Okay, ladies, I suggest you take a deep breath, because this part's going to suck."


"Just like- OWW!"


I reached over and gave Clarice a pat on the leg. "As always, thank you."


Her smile was radiant. "Anything you need, Theo."


Missy rolled her eyes, but was smiling as well. "Will you two quit flirting? It's my turn."


Clarice leaned over and put her head on Missy's shoulder, complete with a smile and bat of her eyes. "Anything for you, too."


I anticipated Zach's next comment when we were interrupted by the face covers on our armor sealing over. A shimmer of what could only be compared to a chain of extremely tiny red fireworks started in the middle of the ship, each line of light stopping in a few inches to give way to another burst of red light that spread out even further. We were watching the most powerful shunt drive ever made building up power.


Dragon's voice came over the com systems. "Activating dimensional piercing drive in five seconds. Chaining suit drives to main reaction. Hopefully that will make the trip easier on all of you. And remember, once you're on the other side there is nothing we'll be able to do to help."

The world shimmered and shook as we were pulled from here, to nowhere, and then to a different version of the same somewhere. Normally the process is nearly instant, faster than a natural human can react to. But the larger shunt fields made the process take longer and feel worse. We were currently using the largest shunt field ever created.


We appeared on Earth Khyber A and I folded immediately, bringing my legs up and desperately trying to fight the nausea, and wondering how bad it would have been without the drug that Clarice gave us.


Zach disintegrated next to me, reforming in a standing position. Lucky bastard. Victoria seemed fine, and so did Taylor... err, Khepri, it's mission time. Think of her as the commanding officer that she is. The rest of us were struggling to recover.


"Fuck! They've got automated drones already tracking the ship! Tapping emergency power and going in hot!" There was a whir of noise our ship twisted hard to the right, which didn't do anyone's motion sickness any favors at all.


Zach rushed over to the glowing panels, smacking a pair of them. The ship shook as Taylor changed the flight angle.


....


"I suppose this can be called a black ops mission. Our goals are threefold. First is the ship itself. This vessel contains a very important piece of tech. Our own dimensional barricade device, reverse engineered from the one we captured from the Yangban. Once we break through, it gets activated to keep them from calling reinforcements or retreating back to wherever they plan to retreat to."


"The problem is this machine is heavy, bulky, and a power hog. The ship we're using barely has the resources to power it and fly at a respectable speed. There are three fifty pound backup batteries exposed here." Khepri slapped her hand against the bright orange plastic. "We'll need them. Zach, your job is to cycle between them as needed. They're designed to cycle power. Simply copy the ones that are green and press the light above them. Red are in use, don't touch them. Replace when it turns black. The AI will handle the rest."


Zach nodded. "Healbot hax strike again."


....


The viewscreens activated, giving us a look at the outside world. We'd shunted out on top of a an area that looked like a medieval city. There was a castle of smooth stone, complete with outer walls and a sprawl of smaller buildings and farms. Muzzles flashed as the guards on the walls opened fire at us.


"This is a lot more than we were anticipating," Khepri stated. "I'm counting almost fifty thousand people within sensor range. We're in for a much heavier fight than expected, here."


Victoria was unconcerned. "Standard assault rifles at a range of almost half a mile? Yeah, those aren't a threat."


I was more concerned about the view below us. More military, though again we were way too far away for them to actually hurt us even if normal weapons could get through the ship's defenses. What bothered me were all the laborers, and the amount of work that had gone into building farms in the region. I could believe a lot of it was done through the use of powers, but probably only the castle and clearing farmland. The hundreds of shacks looked to be held together by bamboo and mud. "They're trying to rush colonize Kyber. I just don't know why."


Lily took a breath, finally getting to her feet. "I could think of a few reasons. China's population problems are pretty legendary. This would certainly help to counteract that a bit. And it's a lot safer, security wise, on a locked world. Bet you anything that castle was being set up for their royal family to move into. Maybe they even believe that Dinah's prediction only applies to Earth Bet and are planning to hold out here."


Missy's voice was a mix of horror and disgust. "They're using armed guards to control the civilians. This isn't a colonization program, it's a fucking forced labor camp. God damn it, now what do we do?"


The conversation was ended by a massive stream of energy blasts. Most missed, but there were thousands of them


"God damn it!" The ship shook before veering to the left. "Horus, we could really use your help right now! Victoria, you're up, too!"


....


"This ship does have a Khonsu armored shell to protect us. Triple layered, blending forcefield and EB tissue for maximum defense and tied into bugs meant to guide the shielding with my power. That will let us soak up a lot of punishment, but if it takes enough of a beating, it will collapse. Horus, you'll be blocking the worst of the attacks, an extra layer of protection. The ship has a vent system that should allow you to reach any part outside it with little difficulty."


"Yes, ma'am."


"Victoria, Zach's diagram was basically your job. We're deploying near where we expect their highest concentration of forces to be. We're pretty certain they're operating in the Khyber analogue of their capital region. We'll do a close flyby and drop you off to go do what you do best. Remember to use nonlethal measures whenever possible. Frankly, I wouldn't shed a single tear if you killed every last one of them, but we want them as captives. That's a major source of intel, political bartering, and potentially tech. We need all of it."


She smiled. "I fucking hate escort missions when the escort can't protect itself. At least this won't involve a shitty AI that keeps walking right into enemy fire, right? Right?"


....


Right. Have to protect the ship. Still feeling more than a little sick, I pushed my hand against the wall. The hatch popped open, and we were treated to heavy winds for the moments until Vicky jumped out and the port closed. I extended my power to cover the areas where the shots were coming in hardest. The forcefields themselves shifted out of the way to protect the areas I couldn't.


Victoria took a few shots in the general direction of the Yangban, and the stream of firepower stopped. They'll be changing tac-


Several people appeared inside the ship with us. I dropped the external shielding, and the ship listed to the side thanks to the extra weight of all that iron that suddenly started obeying the laws of physics. I started summoning a new set of material to defend us from the attackers.


<Thirty first path, cutting lasers.> Oh fuck, I'm not going to be fast enough.


Three things happened at once. Clarice bolted forward, stabbing one of the Yangban in the neck, a dozen lasers streamed through the ship in bizarre patters that reminded me of fast moving glowsticks, and I went from defense to offense, charging toward the group using just my own armor and blades formed from it. Spears of supersharp metal trying to reach the opponents. And in working with Missy's power, every spear struck home against someone.


<Twenty first path, instant movement.> With that, the Yangban vanished from the ship, leaving behind a blinking device. I reacted without thinking, forcing a thick layer of liquid metal around the machine. I felt the shudder of warped space influencing my metal, creating the equivalent of several blocks of space between us and the bomb. Space full of Endbringer equivalent durable materials. When the bomb detonated, there was no possibility of it hurting anyone in the ship.


The Yangban aren't the only ones who can work together.


Clarice eyed the ball that held the bomb. "Radioactive residue, heavy elements. Micro nuclear bomb."


Oh fuck. And more than that. "Cl- Aceso. Your armor." She had a deep gouge in her side, and I could see where her blood was being absorbed and consumed by her armor. They were using laser weapons, but this injury was formed by a cutting weapon. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"


She looked at me and smiled. "You didn't mean it, and I'll be fine. The armor's already mending the damage."


Missy was there immediately. "No, you're hurt. Remember how you get mad at me for pushing myself too hard? That goes for you, too. we treat the wound now."


Clarice reluctantly allowed Missy to work. "You don't have to treat me like a baby." The protest was halfhearted at best.


"Don't be silly, of course I do." Space warped, forcing the armor open so we could check the damage. "Christ, this cut through one of your lungs."


"I still have the other one."


I wanted to get up and help as well, but I was trying to contain the residue of a nuclear bomb in a metal shell the size of a basketball. And my powers didn't come with any concentration or multitasking powers to make that easier.


The ship rocked again. "We're still in a fight, here! If Aceso says she can wait, then I'm going to trust the girl who can survive surgically removing her own head to know what she's talking about. Lachesis, I need you to get us the hell out of here."


"And leave Victoria behind?"


"That was always the plan. She'll be fine and we have a mission to finish."


==============


A/N- I need more Theo/Missy/Riley in this story.

Also- readers value litmus test part two. I, the writer, am (part) Chinese. If that makes you feel differently about yesterday's punchline... well, then hopefully this has taught you something about yourself.