Path of Dragons 17 - Chapter 54 - Siege (Patreon)

“Sensors are up and boosted, Captain,” said Lieutenant Diaz.  Despite the tremors affecting the ship, she maintained her footing and rigid posture.  She was a military woman, through-and-through, and she wouldn’t let something so simple as a dragon attack affect her demeanor. 

The same could not be said for the rest of the crew.  Most had never been through a real battle, and they’d come to see the Vengeance as unassailable.  Against ordinary forces, perhaps that was true.  But dragons were no ordinary enemies. Not only were they powerful beyond measure, but they were also clever.

The fact that they’d clearly been watching the ship for long enough to pinpoint every weakness was proof enough of that.  When they finally chose to act, they did so methodically, destroying key infrastructure from within.  They’d even gone so far as to kill the people tasked with countering sabotage.

Most of the bodies had been found in their quarters, but a few were still missing.  That was not terribly surprising.  The Vengeance was a big place, comprised of hundreds of criss-crossing tunnels.  There were corners of the ship that no one had visited for weeks, and that was just considering the ones everyone knew about.  Surely, there were isolated sections that had remained abandoned since before Earth’s forces had claimed the ship for their own ends.

Maya had lobbied to explore, map, and fill in those areas, but she had been overruled.  There were always other projects that needed attention.  More cannons.  More shields.  Improved foundations.  On and on the list went, and dealing with unused space wasn’t really at the top of anyone’s list of priorities.

Even Maya had let it drop in favor of refitting the entire engineering floor.

Had the dragons used those areas as a staging ground?  Perhaps.  Or maybe they were entirely unconnected to the attack.

Maya believed that when they finally got around to investigating those sections, that was where they would find Numa’s body.

“Report,” the Captain ordered.

One of the nearby technicians tapped a screen.  “Two on level seven.  One on…in the kitchens.  Looks like two in the storage.”

Maya glanced at the screen, which flashed new data every second.  The technician was an Administrator, which meant that he had the requisite skills to read the information.  But to Maya?  It was a jumbled mess.

Another tremor shook the ship.

“Outside?” the Captain asked, unbothered by the bombardment.

“More than six hundred dragons,” said another technician.  She went on, “Scouts estimate that’s about half their force.  A significant number remains in Bas’eltion, though we haven’t been able to get close enough to confirm exacts.”

Six hundred dragons.

Against a few thousand demigods and a hundred deities from the Vyrin expedition.  By all rights, the Vengeance should have already fallen.  Maya felt no small degree of pride in the fact that it hadn’t.  The ship had performed far above expectations, which justified all the effort, time, and money they’d put into rebuilding it.

It wouldn’t last forever, though.

“Dispatch teams to deal with the infiltrators,” the Captain ordered.  “Try to take at least one alive.”

Another technician – this one manning the communications system – confirmed his order and relayed them to the appropriate parties.  Somewhere down below, strike teams went on the hunt.  They’d been fighting through the ship for almost two days, steadily hunting the assassins and saboteurs, but it wasn’t until Maya and a few other Engineers managed to get the detection system back online that they knew precisely where to go.

As those combat teams responded to their orders, the Captain turned his attention to the various Engineers attending the war council.  Maya was the only head to have survived, and most of the seconds-in-command had been killed as well.  So, there were quite a few new faces there.

They all looked terrified but determined.

Maya shifted, her metal legs clicking against the floor.  She’d rebuilt them three times over the past couple of days, and the latest iteration was entirely self-motivating.  She was still forced to provide a little ethera, but the draw had been reduced to a barely noticeable trickle. 

She could keep them powered almost indefinitely.

Could she have gotten her spine fixed?  Certainly.  But not on the Vengeance.  The lead Healer had been one of the assassination targets, and though her replacement was competent, he was a generalist.  With that broader focus came the ability to respond to just about any injury, but healing a spine was delicate enough to require either quite a few more levels or a specialized class.

That meant that Maya would’ve had to return to Earth if she wanted her legs to work again anytime soon.  Even then, the healing would take time, meaning that she’d not only need to spend the span of travel away from the Vengeance, but also however long it took to recuperate. 

For now, she was stuck with the spider legs.

Maybe for good, if her faith in Earth’s doctors was misplaced.  As traumatic as that reality was, Maya refused to let herself dwell on it.  Instead, she focused the entirety of her mind on the problems at hand.  The first had been to get the fuel tanks repaired, but she’d also been forced to spend precious time re-building her legs. 

Hopefully, that requirement was in the past.  Any improvements she could make now were probably too minimal to embrace. 

Besides, she was alive.  She could move around just fine.  The legs had taken a bit of getting used to, but now that she’d grown accustomed to their use, they almost felt like an extension of her own body.

“What’s their next move?” Maya asked.

“We don’t know.  Siege, maybe,” said the lieutenant.

“They will hit us hard, then back off,” predicted the Captain.  “Once we’ve begun to relax, they will come at us again.  The process will repeat until we surrender.”

Then, he went on to explain his thought process, noting that he didn’t think the dragons wanted them dead, per se.  Sure, they intended to fight to kill, as they had already demonstrated.  But they would be just as satisfied if the humans abandoned Orveth Kaal entirely.

“Why wouldn’t they just kill us?” wondered one of the new department heads.  She looked fresh faced enough that it was a surprise that she hadn’t devolved into panic.  But the woman seemed calm. 

“They would have,” the Captain answered, leaning forward against one of the consoles.  He didn’t look back at the woman as he went on, “Their initial attack was meant to cripple us.  The assassinations and sabotage were just one part of the assault.  The Vengeance maintained enough combat capability to rebuff the more direct attack, which shifted them into their secondary plan.  Killing us isn’t easy.  Making us leave might be.”

“They could bombard this place and destroy it in a month,” someone said.  Maya didn’t see who it was, but the comment made her bristle.

“You give them too much credit,” she growled.  “If they could destroy it, they would. Despite their best efforts, they haven’t.  Their saboteurs failed.  Their assassins are getting hunted down as we speak.  They’re not omnipotent.”

“They’re deities.  Dragons, too,” argued the original speaker.  Maya got a good look at her face, noting it for future reference.  She couldn’t abide cowards.

Of course, she also knew the origin of the woman’s fear.  They had all seen what the Vyrin dragons could do.  And instead of focusing on the more run-of-the-mill dragons, most people seemed to take Illska as an example of what to expect.  Maya knew better.  That dragon was atypical in just about every way.  Better.  Stronger.  She was the best among them, which meant that comparisons were practically meaningless.

Another explosion on the surface punctuated the woman’s statement.

“We should just give them what they want.”

“We should run away?” demanded Maya, using her spider legs to rise to her full height.  She had made quite a few improvements, and they weren’t limited to base functionality.  They were bigger, with longer sections and more than a couple of surprises for anyone who decided to mess with her.

“Retreat.”

“That is not an option,” the Captain intoned.  “Not for me.  I was tasked with protecting this expedition for the good of all of Earth.  I will not fail.  Cowardice will not be tolerated.  Until we get orders to the contrary, we will fight.  Is that clear?”

There were a few mumbles.

“Is that clear?” he repeated in a louder, sterner voice.

“Yes, sir,” everyone replied.  Though a few looked less than happy, either with the characterization of their objections as cowardice or with the fact that they were expected to go down with the ship.

For her part, Maya couldn’t have been more satisfied.  They would have had to drag her away from the Vengeance.  Even if it was falling apart all around her, she wouldn’t have budged.

Once the Captain dismissed them all, Maya shouted, “Engineers.  To me.”

A bunch of unfamiliar faces gathered around her, separate from the others who’d attended the war council.  Only three days before, she would have known them all.  She’d had dinner with most of them.  Formed friendships that she thought would last.  Now, she was the only department head left. 

She refused to let that affect her though.  Not in public.  Not in the middle of a crisis.  So, she pushed those thoughts aside and focused on what was important – keeping the ship running.

“I know most of you are new.  Some of you have only been aboard the Vengeance for a couple of months,” she began.  “That doesn’t change the situation.  A long process of familiarization would have been optimal, but that’s not how things go.  You all signed up to work in a war zone, and that’s what you got.

“There’s no more safety net.  No cavalry coming to save us.  It’s just us against the dragons,” she went on.  “I expect each and every one of you to step up and do your jobs.  Lean on your teams.  Listen to the veterans.  I don’t want to hear about doing your best. I want to hear about projects being finished.  Come to me with any ideas for improvement.  We’ll get you the resources you need.  Any questions?”

There were none, though a few of those faces looked on the verge of panic.  Maya could only hope that they managed to hold it together long enough to get comfortable.  Or at least to become desensitized to the situation.

She ended by reminding them all why they’d come to Orveth Kaal.  Progression was easier in an ancestral world. The same actions they took back on Earth would count for twice as much – or more – on Orveth Kaal.  The difference would be even starker during an ongoing siege. 

“You know your jobs.  If you need help, ask.  Failure is not an option.  Go,” she finished.

They all left, though a couple looked back at her like she’d gone insane.  Perhaps she had.  She certainly hadn’t been quite right since losing the use of her legs.  That had been three days ago. 

“Are you okay?” asked the Captain, having approached her silently.

“Just thinking how easy it is to get used to something.”

“The siege?”

“My legs,” she answered, wiggling one of the spider legs.  It was advanced enough to be capable of minute articulation.  Better than her actual legs, in fact, because each one could be used as hands as well.  Controlling them all at the same time was a hassle, but it was a matter of time before she got used to that, too.

“We could send you back,” he offered. 

She shook her head, saying, “Got work to do here.  Those greenhorns are going to be a problem.  They need someone to make sure they don’t blow up the ship.”

“You think that’s likely?”

“Not with me around,” she answered, forcing a smile she didn’t really feel.  For better or worse, being paralyzed from the waist down wasn’t something she could easily overcome.  Sure, she could function with the spider legs, but any reassurance that she was okay was just that – baseless reassurance.  And a lie.

But she wasn’t there to make excuses.  She was there to keep the ship afloat.

“You do your thing, Captain, and I’ll do mine.  This ship won’t sink so long as I’m alive.  I can guarantee you that,” she assured him.

“Good.  Let’s show those dragons just how stubborn humanity can be.”