The Hellstrom Deception 4
04 Jul 2023Vodan
Find Part 3 here
Familiarizing himself with Creamys’ ship was a cover for gathering the courage he’d need to face the best fighter pilot Vodan had ever commanded. Mutara wasn’t just the finest pilot from Vodans old command, he was ruthless and made serial-killers appear well-adjusted. The Anansi was home to a rider fleet, and raiders didn’t tend to kill the golden goose, but every fleet needed protection.
Shooting down Omni-Pol and privet security escorts wasn’t enough for young Mutara, he soon became an assassin paying his way in blood and debris collected from the notorious, and celebrated alike. It was all the same to him. Now Vodan was on the wrong end of a human-weapon he had cultivated and unleashed on anyone he’d wanted dead.
The Caustic Generator the Knight was hiding beside, started to pulse meaning it would soon vent its hungry ship-eating cloud, so Vodan gave the Knight just enough lateral thrust to gently drift away. Changing the ships vents to glow orange was a good idea from Creamy. If Mutara saw the glow, he could easily mistake it for a Thargoid.
Light from the Generator tripped over the frost covered canopy picking out the frozen fingers of spent breath, making it even harder to spot any sign of the Acinonyx prowling through the mist, looking for a chance to pounce. The shadowy low-powered cockpit dipped into darkness when the Generator moved away, pushed by its deadly exhalation.
A few inches of toughened, laminated glass separated Vodan from the gloomy oppression of the lightless smog that hid more than just Mutara’s Mamba. When distant lightning cracked red, the depth of the cloud was reviled, and Vadan saw Thargoid ships stalking between the many Caustic Generators like insects tending their nest.
It was odd feeling glad to be shrouded in darkness, but knowing the alien interceptors were out there made the task of finding the Acinonyx before it found them even more daunting. Creamy was silently scanning the fog, his crystal-blue eye trying in vain to penetrate miasma. For a moment, he met Vodans’ gaze before getting back to his silent searching.
“In what direction was he last time you clocked him Cream?” whispered Vodan.
Creamy thought for a moment. It was hard to be sure now someone else had taken the stick, but Creamy made his best guess and pointed beyond the cockpit ceiling, letting his finger drift to indicate the last heading he could remember.
Creamy was a darker shadow in the cockpit, but Vodan understood the movement, and was just as reluctant as Creamy to speak. It felt like making too much noise would attract deadly intentions. Turning the Knight, Vodan burned the main drive for a little while and let her drift.
Smokey mist peeled from the canopy like an ethereal curtain as the Knight pushed on. Both men were wordlessly, almost breathlessly scanning for the Acinonyx, dusting their controls as if sudden movements were forbidden.
Nervous energy was pushing Vodans’ body heat up, arguing with the freezing cockpit making him both hot and cold at the same time. His visor was misting with every berth, making it even harder to see. The Creeping Frost setting Creamys support fleet used for Thargoid engagements was great, but right now, Vodan really needed to see clearly.
As the cockpit repressurized and Vodans’ suit stopped squeezing his body, he relaxed a tiny bit. In a moment, he’d be able to retract his helmet and breathe freely without spoiling his vision.
“Oh fff.. DIVE DIVE!” Shouted Creamy diverting power to the engines.
Snapping round to look at Creamy for the briefest of moments, Vodans’ attention was instantly grabbed by two solid objects looming out of the ghostly fog. The usually smooth mandibles of a Mamba appeared directly in front of the Knight almost close enough to touch. Their black surface had been stripped back to bear hull in most places, and big holes had been eaten into the ship's gentle curves by the maelstrom.
What truly focused Vodan was the barrel of a railgun pointed directly at the cockpit. It was worse than being back at the bar looking onto the barrel of Meowers ridicules personal weapon. Eyes wide and teeth bearded, Vodan strained a bearth through his clenched jaws and slammed the stick forward. Together, Vodan engaged the boost, and Mutara fired. There was a moment of ear-splitting rending, a violent jerk that almost knocked Vodan cold, and then silence.
The flashes of the Imperial Hammer shots ripping into the hull behind the cockpit were not as satisfying as they should have been. His target had moved a half-second before Mutara had pulled the trigger. A rail shot that should have turned the pilot into a red haze had only hit cockpit. To make matters worse, the Krait had clipped Mutaras’ ship sending him into a spin. With that and the overheating alarm alongside critical alerts from his Covas, Mutara lost track of his prey.
Vodan forced his eyelids together and then blinked a few times to try and shake off the dizzy feeling. The canopy above him was gone, and Creamy was slumped in his seat, his limp limbs floating at irregular angles. The rest of the canopy was a map of cracks with flecks of thick glass coming away, glinting as they sailed by at high speed.
The Knight was still boosted. Taking back control, Vodan remembered he was in a fight for his life. The Acinonyx was on them now, but it was damaged, seriously damaged by the Hellstrom. Knowing it was behind them and that a full volley from its three railguns had just been released, Vodan reversed thrust and turned, ready to follow the Knights orange trail back the way it had come.
Activating the weapon systems, Vodan dropped another caustic sink, and launched a repair limpet before selecting offensive hardpoints. Not waiting for the AX Multicannons and a single Beam Laser to deploy, the Knight was already boosting back up its own vapor trail.
A strange halo appeared around everything in the darkened, silent cockpit. The corrosive smog was inside, with them, eating away at every surface including their suits. The vapors rising from the chemical burning hung like a shield gently stretching, blurring every outline as the Knight hurtled back into the fight.
Ahead of him, Vodan saw glowing fog caused by what he assumed was the Acinonyx, so he steered for it. Sure enough, as he drew closer, the shape of the Mamba started to appear. There was another crack of lighting, and the Acinonyx was lit up clear as could be through a damaged acid eaten canopy. Its hull was almost gone, devoured by the mist. Every meter or the ship was smoking from heat burning caustic sludge that had gathered on its surface.
The torpedo launcher above the Acinonyx cockpit was deployed and loaded. Vodan could see plenty of damage to the torpedo itself, making it an opportunity Vodan had to take. Changing the energy distribution to combat, Vodan fired all weapons. An orange beam leapt from the Knight to the stricken Acinonyx, acting as a guide for Vodan. There was a flash as what was left of the ships shields folded, and the beam started to burn into the large launcher.
The Knight cooled some more as the customized Beam Laser conducted heat from the Knight to the Acinonyx. The AX Multicannons added their chattering lights to the reports from the Mamba. Mutara desperately tried to turn his ship away from the onslaught that usually would only scratch his hull, but now it was killing him. Vodan compensated for Mutaras' enfeebled evasion, keeping the beam on the torpedo.
There should have been a noise, a wave of heat should have passed over the Knight but there was just a brief glow, and when it cleared the Acinonyx was replaced with floating wreckage. The Knight came to a stop after bumping a piece of Mamba aside. There was an escape pod; it was tempting to leave it there, but Vodan still needed to know where Vengerfield was, and if he was given his command back by the master, Vadon would want Mutara in his fleet.
Launching a collector limpet, Vodan looked at Creamy. He could be dead, but with no canopy, a big hole in the cockpit floor where a rail slug had ripped through, and acidic mist slowly eating away at everything inside, and the threat of Thargoids coming to investigate, Vodan wasn’t going to wait around to play nurse after picking up Mutaras’ pod.
At least in this state, Creamy couldn't stop Vodan from taking them both to see the Master.