Eldritch Space Hunter Five: VI - Shooting Stars

Hollis and Maka ran past him in the hallway. “Come on!” Hollis shouted.

Kenichi pushed himself to his feet and chased after them. “What's going on?” he said.

“Star children,” Maka said between breaths. “They're attacking.”

“We have to get to the hangar,” Hollis said. He looked back over his shoulder. “I hope you remember what you did in the simulator, because you're going to need every last bit of it to keep alive.”

They continued down the hall until they got to the hangar. Riku and Elana were already there, talking to Bunny. Katje stood by the side, his face neutral behind his mirrored sunglasses as he watched the Space Hunters and fighter pilots gather to launch.

“Took your time,” Riku said.

“Quiet, Starbrand,” Bunny shot out. “They're just in time.” She looked at Kenichi. “Don't die on your first battle, okay?”

Kenichi nodded.

Candy looked at all the Hunters. “You're going to use Operation L'Engle,” she said. She glanced back at Katje. “I have a feeling that today might be the day we strike out at their hive. If the Star Queen appears, you'll need to attain Final Form.” Her eye went over to Kenichi. “Asturoth's attention will be drawn to what we're doing, so put on a good show for him today.” She smiled. “Get ready to ‘mote in 2 minutes. Achlys, your Aegis will be disabled for the duration of the battle. Seltzer, a word.”

The other Hunters got themselves ready, putting on helmets and checking their mechmotes. “What is it, Captain?” he asked when they had gone.

“I've been briefed by Admiral Katje regarding Operation Calamari. You and the others give them all five hells, then, in the fray, you and I will swap out.” She tapped her own restored mechmote against her forehead, next to her eyepatch. “None shall be the wiser.” She winked at him, but he wasn't sure if it was just her blinking. “If we meet again in this life or the next,” she said, “I'll treat you to some real calamari. Now, you'd better get ready to ‘mote.”

Kenichi nodded, saluted, then ran off to join the others. He put on a green helmet to match his jumpsuit, and stood beside the others, all suited up and color coordinated.

Riku saw Kenichi fall into line. “It's time to ‘mote!” he said. “STARBRAND!” He held his mechmote up and the sigil began to glow.

Elana held up hers. “ACHLYS!” she said.

Hollis held his up at an angle. “JACKAL!”

Maka crossed arms with Hollis. “CLAWBYTE!”

They all looked expectantly at Kenichi, not moving their heads, but their eyes spoke volumes of impatience.

“SELTZER!” Kenichi said.

Their mechs appeared from just beyond the horizon of the magfield that separated the breathable atmosphere of the station from the cold vacuum of space. In one fluid motion, they lined up, turned their backs to the Hunters, and opened up hatches to let them get inside. Riku led the group, running, then jumping into the hatch on the back of his red mech. The others followed suit.

The controls of the mech were remarkably like the simulator, which made Kenichi glad, because he already felt like he was in way over his head. He followed the other Hunters as they peeled away from the station. Fighters jetted around them, small sci-fi spacecraft that could act as the cavalry, but had only a fraction of the power of a mech.

“Starbrand to Red Team, we're engaging Operation L'Engle. Take out the arms, and put on a good show for Old Squiddo,” Riku said over the comms. “Starbrand to Hunters. If the Queen appears, be ready for Final Form. Until then, have a blast!”

Riku's mech and a wave of fighters with red stripes shot out. Each mech had their own team of fighters that matched their color scheme. Kenichi watched the purple ones follow Elana, the blue ones follow Hollis, and the yellow ones follow Maka.

“Green Commander to Seltzer. What are your orders?” Kenichi looked behind him and saw his own small team of fighters.

“Um,” he said. “Follow my lead, but don't try to be heroes.”

“We don't need to try,” said Green Commander.

Kenichi flew his mech forward, toward the massive spiral of star children. His hands were shaking. Every time he saw an asteroid, he tried to determine if it was red enough to be the one that Katje had mentioned.

He cleared his mind and tried to focus on the wave in front of him. He punched in a few things on his comms panel. “They're going to take this path,” he said to Green Team over the comms. “Be ready to intercept and eradicate.”

“Roger,” said the voices over the comms.

He spun his mech toward one of the arms, the one his HUD had helpfully boxed in green. He saw as the other Hunters each took their own arm of the mass of star children, each one also color-coded.

He used his lasers to take out the first few, and Green Team covered his flank, taking out a few of the smaller ones. All he had to do was enter the fugue state, see the song they were playing, and provide his own accompaniment. Simple.

His mech shot through the first wave, and he dropped some mines into the places where he suspected the star children would go. He looked in his rearview cam and watched as one after another, they hit the mines and exploded.

He turned around, ready to face the next wave of the arm. More star children shot at him, this time, in a matrixed formation. One of the Green fighters exploded, but Kenichi kept himself in the zone.

“Stay in formation,” he said, destroying a handful of star children as he flew.

He chanced a glance at the other Hunters. Some small explosions met his field of view, but he still saw the other mechs, each with their own floaty name. This gave him a moment of relief, as though he hadn't had a chance to get to know the other Hunters all that well, he still didn't want any of them to die.

Another Green ship exploded.

Kenichi gunned his lasers, destroying the star children that had caused the explosion. He fired an array of guided missiles, using a similar rationale as when he had deployed the mines, meeting the star children where they were likely to be. Again, he was spot-on, destroying most of the remaining wave.

“How are we doing, Green Command?”

“We've lost four, but that's what we signed up for when we took those paychecks. Still going eight strong. What are your orders?”

Kenichi looked at the other waves. “I want you to make a distraction,” he said. “And help the other teams out. We're done here.”

“Roger,” said Green Commander. The fighters peeled off and split, joining the fray by the other arms of the star children waves.

“Seltzer,” said a voice over the comms. The HUD said that it was Candy.

“What is it, Candy?” he said.

“The sensors are detecting the Queen. Now's the best time to tag out. Keep a low profile.”

She flew her mech into view. It looked a lot like his, but had a sigil of curved glass with a thin neck. “Stay safe,” he said.

“Give Asturoth all the hells,” she said. “And, Kenichi,” she said. “I'll make sure they get your good side for the statue.”

“First rule,” Kenichi said. “It's Seltzer or nothing. It was nice knowing you, Candy. But now I have a job to do.” He tapped the tired eye sigil on his dashboard, and the mech disappeared from around him. He floated there in space. He saw Candy salute him before joining the battle.

In the distance, after many of the star children waves had been destroyed, a massive creature appeared in the center. It was larger than any star child he had seen before and had ten arms and a very terrifying face. That must be the Queen. His helmet autozoomed to the action, and he still heard their voices over the comms.

“Engage Final Form!” Riku said. The mechs altered their shapes while they drifted together. Riku and Elana's both formed legs, while Maka and Hollis’ both formed arms. Candy's formed a head and torso, and the five mechs merged into an even larger one. Kenichi heard someone say, “Captain!?” but then get shushed.

Kenichi watched as it engaged the Star Queen. It was a sight to see. But then something started beeping. In his helmet's visor, he saw a red dot. He used his boot thrusters to drift toward it. It was an asteroid. And it was painted red. It was pretty obvious.

“Ready or not,” he said. He landed on the asteroid, right next to a big button. He slapped his hand down against it, and the asteroid began to shift under his feet. “Here I come.”