Callum reached out and activated Angra Mainyu the moment he reached the hangar. That was getting easier and easier for him. He wondered if he would be able to control the mech remotely at some point. He hadn't thought to bring his pilot suit so Callum merely shucked his clothing as he sprinted toward the mech. Valencia did the same thing. There was nothing to be embarrassed about any longer and they didn't have time for it besides. They scrambled up the rope ladder and slid into the cockpit.
"What the hell is going on?" Russell demanded as they got into place. "A little while ago, fie swarmed this hangar and launched every mech they could. Now you two sprint in like the devil his own damn self is on your heels."
"Rukh attack," Callum said as he grasped the control panels. His vision shifted so he was seeing out of Angra Mainyu. 'Take us out,' he thought to Valencia. She lifted the mech up and Callum said, "Cosmos, put me through to Yemoramato."
A moment later, he heard her voice. "Callum. Fucking finally." 'What do the fie pilots live in the hangar or something?' The sour thought originated with Valencia.
"Where do I need to go?" Callum asked.
"The main bow hangar," Yemoramato said. "Shit! Eat this, fucker! The goddamn Rukh managed to blow the emergency shutters here. The rest are active but we can't sortie out of the ship until we secure this entryway or we'll have Rukh scattered through Shimayasumota. There are too many already wreaking havoc as it is."
"I'll be there," Callum said. Valencia pushed the thrusters to max and Callum fed ether into them. "I'm surprised you're so quiet, Russell," Callum said. "Nothing to say about the Rukh?"
"What's to say?" Russell said. "They are fucking monsters. All they do is destroy. The universe would be better off if every single one was dead."
Callum was stunned for a moment. He didn't think Russell had ever been that harsh, even about the carcha. "Are they really that bad?"
"You have no idea, kid. If the Rukh had found Earth before the carcha, it would be a ruin and humanity extinct."
Callum wanted to ask more questions but they reached the main forward hangar a moment later. It was chaos, mechs fighting alone or in pairs everywhere. Smoking ruins of mechs and other vehicles littered the floor. "Yemoramato, I'm here. What can I do? How can I help?"
"Just get in the fight and take out as many Rukh as you can," Yemoramato sounded strained. "Son of a bitch! This fight is not going well."
"What's going on? Are there a lot of them?" Callum picked out a Rukh that had just caved in the cockpit of a fie mech. The Rukh's mech was bulkier than the standard fie and carcha but otherwise had the same dimensions. However, it had a mishmash of different plates of armor haphazardly welded together. None of them were the same shade and some even seemed to be rusting. It was armed with something like a lance. Valencia moved Angra Mainyu in its direction.
"There are but I think we outnumber them. Locally, at least." Yemoramato said.
"Are they strong?" Callum drew Shamshir as they closed and the lance-wielding mech noticed them and turned to meet Angra Mainyu straight on.
"No," Yemoramato said with a mixture of anger and sadness. "We're weak. And we're getting weaker."
"Getting weaker?" The Rukh tried to spear him but Callum used Shamshir to parry. Callum chopped forward but the Rukh jerked back just out of range.
"You know how our power works," Yemoramato said. "Most of our pilots derive a lot of confidence from their units and their leaders. We can function amazingly well in battle formations but chaos like this…it saps that confidence. Worse, it is the kind of battle the Rukh thrive in." Callum fed power to the ether cannons mounted on Angra Mainyu's shoulders and Valencia pulled the trigger. The beams carved through the shoulders off the Rukh mech and its arms fell off its body. Valencia closed on the stunned mech and Callum finished it off with a swing of Shamshir.
"So the problem is that you can't get organized?" Callum asked, quickly scanning for a new target.
"Partially. But the biggest problem…the reason we haven't already driven these filthy things away already, is that Tsyrinsaku isn't here."
"The Princess?" Callum said, feeling alarmed. Valencia blasted them forward and Callum impaled a mech that was in a struggle with a fie mech. "What happened?"
"One of the first Rukh mechs to get through shot down her air car."
"Is she dead?" Callum asked, his blood running cold.
"Hell no. Tsyrinsaku wouldn't die if she took a missile head on while wearing nothing but a nightie." Callum knew she was exaggerating but somehow it also seemed like it might be true. "But whatever happened, she hasn't been able to get to her mech or even get in communication with us yet so some pilots are starting to worry. It's eating away at their confidence. They're used to Tsyrinsaku leading from the front. She inspires them. Without her they're just a bunch of fucking losers." Though the insult was harsh, her tone was half-hearted. 'Oh, no. Is she starting to waver?' It seemed impossible for the arrogant Yemoramato.
'This is getting bad.' A Rukh mech whipped some kind of chain or rope at him. Callum instinctively threw up an arm to block it and the chain wound around it. Callum hardened the armor of his forearm and jerked the chain toward forward. The Rukh mech flew toward him and he impaled it on Shamshir. Then Callum kicked it and shook off the chain. The Rukh crashed down to the hangar floor.
"We need to kick things up a notch," Russell suddenly said.
"What do you mean?" Callum asked.
"You heard the lady. These fie are all bummed because their boss bitch of a princess is missing. They need to be inspired, right? Given some confidence. We could do that."
Callum thought about it. The fie did seem to need some kind of hope. "Do you really think we could do that?"
"Who better? Shit, son, I don't want to blow you but you just took out three of those Rukh fucks in two minutes without breaking a sweat. It's gotta be you."
"But what should I do?"
"We need something flashy…look for a chance for a big cannon blast. See if you can catch three or four mechs in it." Callum nodded and he and Valencia started looking. It was Valencia that found it. Three mechs lined up just so with no fie mech in direct proximity. Callum reacted instantly, pouring as much ether into the cannons as he could while Valencia lined up the shot and took it. The result was a beam so wide that Callum panicked, thinking it would punch through the side of Shimayasumota. The beam disintegrated the first Rukh mech completely, took the top half of the next mech and cored the cockpit of the third. Luckily, some combination of energy bleed off and Callum halting the flow of ether to the cannons caused the beam to fizzle out before it hit anything else. If he hadn't been submerged in PFC liquid, Callum thought he would be sweating bullets.
"Now get me Yemoramato!" Cosmos connected them the next moment. "Moramora, it's your favorite rebel!"
"I'm pretty busy right now, mini-man!" Yemoramato sounded out of breath.
"Just connect me with your units' frequency! Cosmos, broadcast this wide, too. I want the Rukh to hear it."
"What are you up to?" Yemoramato asked suspiciously.
"Saving your ass," Russell shot back.
"Whatever. You're connected."
"This is the Angra Mainyu!" Russell bellowed. "Chaos Demon of the Karmic Winds!" 'What does that even mean?' Valencia thought. "Rukh! Look upon me and despair, for I am your doom! Fie! Look upon me and rejoice, for I am your salvation! I am the unstoppable, the invincible, the inevitable! Witness!" Russell must have signaled Cosmos to cut the feed because he began speaking normally. "Okay, Callum, get to work. Focus on finding and killing Rukh mechs directly engaged with fie. And do it fast! We need to get these fie confident we're here to save them."
Callum grinned. This was the kind of plan he could get behind. He and Valencia swooped in on a Rukh pressing against a fie mech and sawed it in half. Then Callum twisted around so that Valencia could pepper another with a barrage of missiles. The next several minutes were more of the same. The Rukh mechs were in surprisingly bad condition. Many were missing parts or had gaps in their armor, some had their limbs fused into positions that limited their mobility and others were armed with little more than metal clubs. Angra Mainyu carved them up.
It was an unkind thought but Callum understood why Yemoramato had said the battle was more of an indictment of the fie than anything. But as Callum worked, he could see the fie starting to rally. They gathered in teams and began to fight more systematically, driving the Rukh back. Eventually, the battlescape became so orderly that Callum had to stop roaming and picking targets and settle into a fie formation with Yemoramto at the tip of the spear forcing the Rukh out. A few more casualties and the Rukh had had it. They retreated out of the hangar.
Yemoramato let out a long sigh of relief, which told Callum she must be connected only to his mech at present. "Thank the Lady we made it through that. Fight's not over yet, though. My old unit was the only one able to get out of Shimayasumota before the Rukh blew the shutters. They're fighting out there alone. After a quick reorganization here, we need to join them." She paused and then said, "Callum. Thank you." Then she cut off, presumably to begin the rapid reorganization.
"What about me?!" Russell wailed. 'And me?' Valencia thought.
"I'm sure she meant you two, as well," Callum said. The noise Russell made and the thoughts coming from Valencia made it clear that they were not so sure.
"Warning," Cosmos suddenly alarmed. "Mech approaching at high velocity."
"What?" Callum looked around and quickly spotted it. A Rukh mech, missing a leg and one arm dangling uselessly, had blasted off from the floor of the hangar and directly at them. Valencia tried to juke out of the way but the mech flung out its one good arm and grasped onto Angra Mainyu's arm. It had fingers like talons and they sank into the armor enough for the Rukh to hold on. The Rukh used the momentum to snap back around and crash into Angra Mainyu's back. Russell and Cosmos were both screaming warnings but Callum couldn't hear them and didn't need to. He somehow knew what the Rukh was going to do. Callum hardened Angra Mainyu's armor as much as he could in the split-second before the Rukh mech exploded.
The blast flung Angra Mainyu at the floor of the hangar. Callum put his arms protectively over the cockpit a moment before they slammed into the floor. Angra Mainyu bounced and spun crazily across the hangar, smashing into vehicles and downed mechs before it bled off enough momentum to slide to a halt, face down. Callum stared at the floor for a moment in a daze. Angra Mainyu was still active, at least, since he hadn't been disconnected. His first coherent thought was, 'Are you alright?' The thought was directed at Valencia. There was no answer.
Callum let go of his control sticks, though he made sure to keep Angra Mainyu active, and swiftly swam over to the other side of the cockpit. Valencia floated there, unmoving. Callum's heart lurched. He swam to her and scooped her up in his arms. In the PFC liquid, he couldn't tell if she was breathing but when he put an ear to her breast, he could hear a heartbeat. Callum pulled her close and prepared to surface.
"Wait!" Russell shouted. "Don't pull her out. The PFC will help stabilize her." That was right. That was why Nita had survived. "We'll have to wait for paramedics or whatever the fie equivalent is," Russell continued. "We're out of this fucking fight anyway, god-damn it." Callum could see what he meant. The back armor of Angra Mainyu was breached. They couldn't go into the void of space like this, even if Valencia were alright. "I should have known one of those freaks would go kamikaze on us! Fuck! Fuck!" Callum let him rant because he wasn't very far off from that feeling himself. He just hoped the fie would be able to survive without him.