LotS/The Story/Assault on the Zenith/Zenith (1)

Zenith (1)
A fat transport ship descends towards the hangar entrance. Inside will be a squad of TALOS Battle Bots, ready to deploy and fight to secure your foothold on the cruiser. It passes through the barrier, the field rippling in its wake.

“Tel, get in your mech,” you say.

“Okay!”

The boy runs out of sight, and you hear the sounds of him scrambling into the cockpit.

On the scanner you see the last of small red blips disappearing, eradicated by the converging green dots. No survivors amongst the Centurian fighters and escort ships. Good.

You move into position, and make your approach. The energy barrier looms up before you, wobbling like the surface of an ocean. It washes over you, and through the window you can see the hangar.

Below you robots are battling against Centurian troopers, and laser fire blasts back and forth across the vast room.

“Looks like they need our help down there,” says Ragnar, brandishing his axe.

Your ship touches down, and there’s a shudder as the landing gear meets the metal beneath. You rise from the pilot’s seat, and turn to find yourself face to face with Illaria.

She smiles, and passes you your weapon. For a second it’s as if you’re back in your cell, and she’s handing you a laser rifle through the bars. The universe freezes around you. Then she moves off, and the moment is broken. You follow, leaping out into the laser-riddled warzone.

Securing the Hanger

Your mind drinks in the chaos around you, processes it, evaluates it. On one side Ragnar’s machinegun rattles Centurian death knells as it sprays bullets across the hangar. Telemachus is nearby, his chainsaw working its way through a screaming Centurian’s body as blood splatters across the armor of his mech. He’s making them pay in full measure for his father’s death.

On the other side Talia and the Princess are firing, carefully targeted shots dropping target after target. There are so many Centurians trying to pour through the doorways in a desperate attempt to recover control of the hangar, it would be a miracle if any shot didn’t find a target amongst their host. Lu Bu stands beside Princess Illaria like a sentinel, impaling a Centurian with a swift thrust of his sword when he strays too near.

To this pandemonium you add your fire. There are many dead, but many more still to join them.

From All Sides

The hangar is yours. There are damaged and destroyed robots strewn across the ground, but far more Centurian corpses. And more TALOS transports are coming through the rippling barrier, landing to deploy their troops.

Teams of battle bots are heading through the doorways, and spreading out into the ship. The Zenith is a customized cruiser built to Rahn’s own specifications, and its interior layout is unknown to you. The general will most likely be on the bridge. It’s just a matter of finding it…

You and your companions follow a group of robots down a corridor leading from the hangar. When it forks, they head one way and you the other.

You come into a circular room, the middle containing a ring of high terminals. There are multiple doors. A bad place to be caught…

“Look out!” yells Talia, underlining her words with a blast from each pistol.

Centurians are appearing at the doors, converging on the room, which must be a nexus point of some kind. Their red lasers fly from all directions.

You dart between the terminals in the middle of the room, pulling Princess Illaria after you. Ragnar and Talia do the same, making use of the cover. But Lu Bu and Telemachus each move to block one of the doorways, and put their blades to work.

You gesture to the others, assigning them angles of attack. Then you lean round a gap in the ring of terminals, and open fire.

On the Zenith did General Rahn...

“Nice job, kid,” says Ragnar, looking at the corpses piled in the doorway in front of Telemachus. There’s genuine admiration in his voice.

A similar pile lies before Lu Bu, and you know that without the two of them braving enemy fire and holding their doors, you would have been overrun.

“When we get out of here,” you say, “I’ll buy you a new mech myself.”

“Okay,” the boy says, beaming with pride. “But these things are really expensive…”

“Hey, look at this,” Talia says. She’s indicating one of the terminals which managed to survive the firefight.

The screen shows a map of this part of the ship. And on it is a room marked ‘Gen. Priv. Quart.’

“It’s worth a try,” says the Princess. “If he’s not on the bridge, he might be there.”

The six of you take one of the corridors, and descend down a stairwell leading deeper into the ship – unwilling to trust the elevators on a hostile vessel. A few Centurians are in the corridor at the bottom, heading off in a different direction, no doubt to help fight off some of the battle bots elsewhere. With a few well placed shots from behind, you ensure that they’ll never make it there.

Proceeding along the corridor, you come to a large, ornate door.

“No guards out here,” says the Princess. “Rahn can’t be inside.”

“One way to find out,” growls Ragnar. He slams his body against the door, and it flies open – causing him to stagger into the room.

...A Robot Pleasure Dome Decree

"For pleasure bots," says Talia, firing at the nearest android, "these things are pretty tough."

"They appear to double as bodyguard units," says Lu Bu, as he runs one of the women through with his sword. Sparks fly from the back of her red dress as his blade emerges.

At the far side of the room the Princess ducks beneath an android's kick, and knocks her other leg out from under her with a graceful sweep. But another android is leveling a laser pistol in Illaria's direction...

You dart across the room, spring onto the overturned couch, and leap at her.

Commander Rautha (Cybernetic Form)

Commander Rautha (Cybernetic Form)

The pleasure chamber is in ruins, its once alluring denizens now broken and twisted lumps of metal and synthetic flesh.

"Hey," says Ragnar, "maybe I should-"

"If you're about to make some stupid joke about keeping a piece for long nights in space," says Talia, "I'm going to shoot you in the face."

Ragnar falls silent, and tosses aside a fragment of android.

"Rahn must be on the bridge after all," says Princess Illaria. "We should keep moving."

The six of you return to the corridor, and pick your way through deserted passages. Wherever the major fighting is happening, it's not here. And your communicators aren't working, adding to the eerie sense of isolation. It seems that the Centurians have returned the favor, and are blocking your signals inside the Zenith.

After descending a stairway which you believe will take you nearer to the bridge, you find yourself in a wide, lofty passageway. The lights have failed in this part of the corridor, plunging it into gloom. But one side is dominated by a large window, and the stars provide a soft light that seems almost soothing.

Then the tranquility is broken. Ahead of you, in the glaring glow of a still-lit part of the passage, a door slides open, and the sounds of combat pour into the corridor. They're followed by a broken robot, which flies through a doorway and clatters on the ground, sparking pieces flying from its body. There's the roar of an explosion, and metal chunks rain out into the corridor. One is still recognizable as a robot's head.

A tall figure steps out into the passage, walking with an unnatural, mechanical gait. When you first glimpse him, you take him for another robot. Then he looks down the corridor, and you see a twisted, altered, but still familiar face...

"You!" he rasps, in a ruined voice that contains the echo of the arrogance it once held. "I knew I'd find you!"

He turns, and as he stands facing you in the light, you see what's left of the Centurian commander you thought you'd killed in the hangar aboard the Child of Heaven. Clanking, whirring robotic parts have replaced much of his flesh, and one of his eyes blazes red.

"What happened to him?" asks Telemachus.

"I did," you reply.

"Oh..."

The commander charges down the corridor, a pistol blazing in one hand, a glowing sword swinging in the other.

---

One of the commander's robotic arms flies from his body, still clutching the sword. It hits the floor, and scrapes along it for several feet, sparking as it goes. He raises the pistol in his other hand, but a swing from Lu Bu's sword causes it to fall along with his forearm.

"Damn you! Damn you!" he rasps, walking backwards with quick but uncoordinated, jerking steps, his eyes glaring at you like a serpent's.

"This is just pathetic," grunts Ragnar.

The Niflung runs at him, and the commander stumbles as he continues his absurd backpedalling. Before he can recover, Ragnar is on him, lifting him above his head by groin and throat. With a roar, he brings the commander down onto one of the spikes which line the open side of the stairwell. It seems a poor architectural choice, but it serves the purpose of mayhem rather well.

The commander screams as a spike pierces his breast, and the blood which erupts from the wound shows that it struck one of his few remaining natural organs. He spasms for a few seconds, then becomes still. His corpse slowly slides down the spike for a few inches, until its increasing thickness closer to the base stops him. Then he simply lies in the air, like a sculpture of a mythological scene of torment.