But the captain of the Diodel – the ship which brought the orders – completely threw everything askew again by announcing that on the trip back they’d seen people, hundreds of people, in deep-space. It had only been a glimpse, and deep-space is incredibly weird, but the ship’s scanners had recorded it. They think it might be survivors from Nuri, and all the Setari on Muina, and me, have been sent to investigate. Not long to the rift now. The big party seems like forever ago.
Thursday, August 21
Fallen
We went in three ships – the Litara and Diodel and one called the Chune. The idea was that if there were survivors in deep-space, we might just be able to cram them aboard. If there were too many, one ship would be sent to bring more ships while the Setari helped protect them.
Deep-space is hellish to navigate. Visually it’s white with rainbow washes, and it’s full of gates which are only visible from certain angles. It does have a kind of ground but the level of it – and angle of it – is unpredictable. It’s an Escher drawing where all the lines have been erased, and going off course could result in a collision or unexpected emergence in a dangerous part of real-space. And, of course, it’s where deep-space Ionoth come from, although it’s so vast and weird that ships rarely encounter them. The Diodel went in lead to the point where the people had been sighted, scanning madly, while the other two ships lagged well behind. Third Squad was on the Diodel, with Eeli trying to path find.
The rest of the squads were on the Litara, and Kaoren went off to have a captain’s discussion about how to deal with going outside ships in deep-space. It’s not totally full of aether, fortunately, but aether tends to collect around the rifts and even though it doesn’t hurt Muinans, it’s still not something they want to fight in. I sat with Zee and petted Ghost (who I couldn’t risk leaving behind and who was really twitchy and unhappy). Nobody was talking. Ever since the report of the Nuri investigation had come back, everyone had barely seemed able to put two words together. The discovery that the problem had reached the stage of Cruzatch invasions and moons exploding – despite the Nurans being the most talent-rich settlement – made it all seem beyond discussing. Everyone was drained and grim.
The fact that I’d been brought along at all was a sign of how desperately KOTIS wanted more detailed information. Only by properly understanding what had happened to Nuri could KOTIS make a real evaluation of the current threat level, and what steps it would need to take to prevent the same thing happening to the worlds it protected.
We were all in mission channel, though the only people talking were Taarel and Eeli giving feedback on path finding on the lead ship. I’d only been half-watching the output from the Diodel's scanners, and started when Taarel said crisply: "Massive sighted."
I checked the multiple screens of feed to see not only an enormous, spindly, vaguely humanoid, um, scratch figure, but also accompanying swoops – and a huge fireball taking them out. It wasn’t a very good view – the massive kept vanishing as bits of folded deep-space got in the way – but it was a pretty sure bet that where there were fireballs there were survivors. The Diodel changed direction and began working out how to reach them, and we trailed along behind, achingly slow.
When we finally got a proper glimpse of the survivors, I wasn’t the only one who caught her breath and stared to confirm what Taarel (rather less crisply) said: "Survivors sighted. Thousands. Children. It’s almost all children."
I’m willing to bet Taarel practically never lets her voice shake like that. The Captain of the Litara immediately ordered the Chune to go on to Tare and report, and then Maze began talking everyone through how we were going to go about fighting, once we were able to get within range. The navigation tools were going to be overlaid directly into the Setari’s channel, making a visual representation of the landscape we couldn’t properly see. The roof of the Diodel would be the staging point. Wind talents would focus primarily on any encroaching aether. Par was going to be my toter. Squads were to stick tightly together and, if possible, draw the massive’s attention away from the survivors.
I tucked Ghost in a pod when it was time to go outside – not that it would hold her, but I was hoping she would get the message. We paused on the roof of the Litara and Kaoren enhanced to start with, and took the opportunity to give me a long survey, very much in captain mode. I was feeling a bit weird – like I’d been on a boat and had come ashore and was still feeling the waves – but nothing major. Deep-space, like all of the Ena, is uncomfortably cold but unlike the spaces it feels particularly strange and wrong.
As the Diodel and the Litara took up a hovering position as close as they were willing to go, another fireball took down another cluster of swoops, but the massive was leaning forward, reaching down a…well, not so much a hand as a hand-shape. That massive was the weirdest thing I’ve seen yet – a three-dimensional humanoid shape, but formed out of scratchy nothingness. It wasn’t even solid – it was like cross-hatching around a pearly-white mist.
"Light will be best," Kaoren said. "All others to lesser effect. Sound may usefully disorient. We need to open the chest and use Light within. Avoid physical contact at all costs."
"First we’ll draw it back to the marked position," Maze added, as the massive’s hand was knocked aside. He signalled for enhancements to begin while he outlined a quick plan of attack.
I was staring at the Nurans, ignoring the quick succession of hands touching me. There were so many kids, all in a single huge mass with just a few figures flying above them. I couldn’t count how many. The younger ones, huddled in the centre, looked tiny: three or four years old.
More and more information about the area ahead was appearing in the channel’s simulation, including a big circle outlining relatively clear ground to the right of the massive. Maze’s plan for getting the massive’s attention involved a strafing run up the length of it and over its head, trying to draw it toward that area. I wasn’t involved in that (and couldn’t even bear to watch it). A second group had been assigned to getting rid of the swoops and, after they’d enhanced, my small guard group (Kaoren included) carefully followed the massive as it turned.
The thing looked so fragile and intangible. But that was half the problem – it mightn’t move quickly, but attacks seemed as effective as shooting arrows into a haystack. Worse, another cluster of swoops lifted into view, right where the main attack force had been headed and the leading edge of Setari suddenly found itself in close combat and in disarray. I saw people fall, and closed my eyes.
"Throw the swoops at the massive’s chest," Kaoren ordered, which has to be one of the odder tactics he’s come up with. But it seemed effective – particularly since two of the swoops were encased in blocks of ice – and the cross-hatching was ripped away to expose pearly interior. Maze immediately gave the order for the Light talents to blast, and the thing reeled, and covered its chest with an arm.