Hydraulics hissed and cogs cranked as the weapon platforms of the Commander took aim at the three ELUs.
"Look out!" Finjac screamed.
A boom followed by a whizzing noise. Broad Dog leapt as far as he was able; landing with cacophonous metal creaking and moaning. The artillery shell exploded with devastating impact and terrible noise followed by four more in rapid succession.
Smoke from the explosions and dust from the ground. Finjac couldn't see; he and his passengers struggled to stay in their seats with Broad Dog face down. Jakabi's ears were ringing.
Finjac did not hesitate; Broad Dog arose and ran through the cloud.
He stopped in the periphery of the fort's courtyard; out of sight from the Commander and between two buildings.
Jakabi's ears cleared and ceased ringing as Broad Dog lay as flat as possible against the wall of the fort.
Kallium shook in his seat; eyes wide and unblinking at the floor. He did not respond to Jakabi shaking him.
Jakabi called out "what's the damage?"
Finjac yelled back "we escaped the blast mostly. Minor damage to the legs and undercarriage." He rested his head back for a moment; his eyes closed. "Lost my knife. Under ten shots left with the slugger."
"What?" Jakabi said. "How are we supposed to fight back? That things armor is the thickest I've seen!"
"Quiet!"
The dust cleared and the Commander made its way into the fort; it's massive feet crushing the skulls inside the crater of the rockslide further.
Finjac looked to his Protectors. Sprawler was in pieces. Tail-ripper was blasted back into one of the buildings housing the refugees. Not all of them made it.
"You lied to us Finjac. We see the remains of our E.L.U.s. Such treachery and blatant mockery will not be tolerated" the Commander called, scanning the battlefield for the immediate threat of Finjac before dealing with the escaped slaves.
Finjac stayed where he was. He only had one viable weapon left.
"Jakabi," he started, "you remember your training?"
"Yeah...?" Jakabi was confused. He wouldn't be here if he hadn't.
"Remember when you were trained to jump from one ELU to another?"
"I don't like where this is going."
"Listen. I don't have my knife, I don't have enough rounds to down that thing. I doubt Broad Dog would be able to topple it and brawl with it; there's firing ports all over and I don't know how many gunmen are in there;" as he said this the Commander found him. "And now we don't have much of a choice. Pop the hatch, climb on, disable it from inside."
"But-"
"Now, Jakabi! Or we're all dead!" Finjac screamed as Broad Dog charged.
Jakabi went for the ladder as the mounted gun on the front of the Commander opened fire on Broad Dog as he sprinted forward; Finjac foregoing any thought of shielding from the peppering.
Jakabi opened the hatch knife in hand and crawled on top the front of Broad Dog as the distance rapidly closed between the two ELUs. Small arms fire pattered all around Jakabi as he covered his face.
Broad Dog, dent and hole ridden, body-checked the taller Commander from below; Jakabi holding on for dear life as he looked on at the unbalanced Commander. It croaked deeply as it leaned back and exposed its undercarriage.
He grabbed hold of the nearest hand railing; placing his knife between his teeth.
He had never killed before. He didn't think about it too much. In the immediate moment he had to worry about holding on.
The Commander tried to regain its balance but Broad Dog stayed below; both arms planted on the undercarriage, feet driving into the dirt. Finjac would not give one inch.
Jakabi climbed the steel chassis from its front looking for an opening and keeping firm grip as he was jostled back and forth.
An access hatch at the top. It opened.
A dark skinned man stood half way out, in iron battle-plate. A pistol in hand.
Time slowed for Jakabi as he took aim.
Fight or flight.
Jakabi froze. He could no longer hear the screeching of metal on metal, the clunky gears meeting stiff resistance, the pistons hissing.
He could only hear the pistol's hammer click.
He scurried. Forward. A last second dive to his right; a twang as the bullet ricocheted. A lunge. His left hand planted haphazardly on the man's face as his right drove the knife upwards into the underside of his chin.
The man's uncovered eye looked dead on into Jakabi's being. A single moment of steel resilience. It rolled back as he relaxed his muscles for the last time.
His first kill. By the stars...
The din of his environment struck him back into reality. The gun clattered on the hull. He grabbed it before it flew off.
He remembered Weylion teaching him to use the shoulder mounted SMG on Sprawler. Same principle. Sort of.
Jakabi cocked the crude weapon. He leapt into the access hatch, landing on his feet inside the Commander; his legs long accustomed to the swaying of ELUs.
It was a moderate space; thick armoured walls and spacious enough for several men to stand. There was a door behind Jakabi and to his right.
A man manned the front mounted gun some paces away, trying to get an angle on Broad Dog.
He turned at the last moment to see Jakabi aiming the pistol at him.
He fired. It twanged off the metal as the man ducked and lunged for him.
To the sound of CO2-spewing engines Jakabi was tackled. The Commander wrestled with its armless body against Broad Dog; shaking the interior like a near empty tin can.
The man, in a regal uniform and battle plate shoved the boy under him and onto his back. He began desperately beating the life out of him.
Little did he know Jakabi had kept an iron grip on the pistol.
He whipped the pistols grip on the man's temple; he went off in a daze.
Beaten and bloody Jakabi was able to cock the gun once more and loose a shot in the man's neck. He spasmed backwards in a instinctual effort to escape the source of the pain. An unbroken stream of blood flew from his neck as he clattered back onto the ELU's deck.
His second kill.
The Commander struggled against Broad Dog beneath it; Jakabi flew a foot in the air before crashing hard onto the deck.
How was this thing still going? Where was the pilot?
A jolt. The Commander suddenly levelled. Broad Dog must have gotten out from under it. Jakabi knew better than most how worn the joints on Broad Dog were; this would have only worsened their condition.
He arose as the Commander steadily marched forward. He looked at the two doors; metal hatches with red valves. He couldn't read the inscriptions above either. However, it was presumable that the door behind the ladder out led to the engine room on this beast as well as the Ammunition loading docks.
He recalled how the cockpit was off centre, and that had to be the door right of the ladder. He went and turned the door's valve with a horrid, rusted creak. When was this thing last opened?
After some turns the door unlocked; pushing out of place with a sudden clank. Jakabi pulled it open and was met with a horrid stench.
He plugged his nose after cocking his pistol.
It was dark and musty. Cables hung all over.
The Commander turned after Broad Dog, and the sun shone through a view slit.
Jakabi vomited after he saw it.
As the Commander chased Finjac, it faced the sun, allowing it to pour a thin band of direct light and coating the rest of the cockpit in a dimmed layer of orange light.
Here was the pilot. Suspended by leather straps and iron clasps. He lay on his stomach, his head angled toward the view slit. His legs were tied and his arms were spread out behind and to his sides.
His calves and forearms were non-existent. Cables, cords and plugs erupted forth from the joints and were connected to vast computer arrays above and to the sides of the cockpit; covered in a mix of dust and humidity. His arms and thighs had various cords dangling from them as well. His spinal cord was rigged with vast, thick black cables running up and down; rusted bolts held it to his flesh. His shaved head was connected with a metal cap and various tubes and cables. His eyes were gone; only immense amounts of cables hooked to supposed cameras that moved on tracks across the view slit. His mouth had a horrid, semi translucent tube running from an unseen port; his jaw was permanently dislocated to allow this yellow-stained tube entrance down his gullet. His nose and ears were hooked up similar to his eyes. His pale skin longed for direct sunlight; protesting his long entombment.
Fluids dripped into puddles on the rusted, crusty deck next to Jakabi's vomit. He couldn't walk in. He couldn't.
This thing was as much a component to the Commander as it was its pilot.
No,
This thing was the Commander.
Jakabi couldn't bear it. He let his pistol ring out. Pale, chunky blood flowed from the corpse-pilot as he pulled it back and fired, over and over.
The entire ELU let loose shrill creaks but... not as if it's joints were under stress but as if... it screamed.
It didn't match the robotic voice the Commander condescendingly addressed them with, nor that of a regular man's.
It was monstrous. It was tortured. It was relieved in a way. Some sort of thing from the cosmic depths of the stars screamed in sweet release and agony. That was the only thing Jakabi could call it.
The Commander powered down and entered a crouched position. Jakabi ran out and climbed the ladder to be met once more with the sun; out from the dark hell of that ELU as the engines puttered into rest and the joints relaxed in jerky movements.
He scurried off and hopped to the ground and ran for a nearby building.
Broad Dog followed him to the building.
"Jakabi! Wait!" Finjac's voice called from the intercom.
He didn't stop. Finjac powered Broad Dog down and ran after him; hopping from the access hatch before Broad Dog had the chance to power down fully.
He peered into the scrap building's doorway and scanned the dimly lit room.
"Jakabi?"
"It..." Jakabi stammered; his teenage voice a quake.
Finjac entered and followed the sound of his voice to behind a pile of empty containers.
"It was..."
Finjac found him, huddled up; his hands latched to his scalp as he shook violently.
"Hey, Jak!"
"It was..."
"Jakabi!" He shouted.
Jakabi screamed and ran behind another pile of debris. He peaked out; a naivety in his eyes.
Finjac saw it and knew something happened in there. He paused a moment as Jakabi stared at him.
"I'm sorry for yelling, my friend. Battle Jitters still got me a bit. You tell me when you're ready to. Come on over here."
Finjac sat down and leaned against the pile and Jakabi furtively came out. He sat next to Finjac.
"Nothing is gonna happen to you anymore, ok? You're safe now. You did your duty, Protector. Better than most. I'm proud."
He planted his hand on Jakabi's shoulder and shook him gently and playfully. They both shared a look. Finjac smiled warmly; full of patience and pride. Jakabi couldn't smile right now, but he felt safer. He always felt safer with Finjac around.
"We're just going to sit here a while, alright?"