Emissary's Story

'It worked...' Galen breathed out a sigh of relief,after his railbeam had managed to shatter one of the spheres as well as take out several Exomachina along the way.His energy levels had dropped significantly,but were slowly beginning to crawl back up.It was still going to take a loooong time until the Big Bang could launch multitudes of beams upon it's adversaries.He brought up the screen that showed the EXCAP's blueprint.The frontal cannon had overheated,shown by the glowing redness that was on the blueprint.

"Another reason why the railbeam shouldn't be used too often." he mumbled to himself,bringing the EXCAP up to a safer space.The nose of the Big Bang was now as vulnerable as ever,since it had overheated from the usage of the railbeam.

And what was this?Other Exomachina lords had joined in the fray?Aster was colliding with a piece of the Magister Letum,caught in deadlock.A newer,but extremely large Exomachina had dwarfed everything in it's path.This was a new Exomachina that Galen had never seen before,and it seemed dangerous.WAY too dangerous.He peered closely at the new threat.So many limbs,and another Exomachina seemed to be trapped within the confines of a sphere,presumably electromagnetic in nature.Galen theorized that this Exomachina consumed things...and he definitely did not have 'being an Exomachina's next meal' in his to-do-list.

"Phoenix!Do you require a weapon?!" he yelled into the intercom with concern,noticing that the battle had begun to flow in Letum's favor,after it had knocked away the Venganza's rifle.He brought the Big Bang straight into it's forte...he flipped the 3rd and 4th thruster switches and vanished,just as several Exomachina zoned in on him,several burnt from the heat of the thrusters.What was he aiming for?The Venganza's rifle.He could bring it in,and utilize it.But he had to reach it first,and an Exomachina was beginning to close in on it,probably to destroy seemingly,the only ranged weapon the Venganza had at the moment.Despite being so far,with the Big Bang's speed,he made it,just in the nick of time.Nimbly,Galen began to key in commands to the EXCAP,and these commands brought up the metallic arm under the Big Bang to swing out and attach itself onto the Venganza's rifle.All this,Galen did within seconds.With no time to celebrate his successful achievement,he pulled into a steep dive,avoiding the Exomachina's claws that would've rended the Big Bang apart.Just as two Exomachina started coming towards him,he pulled off a feint from his dive,shooting straight up,causing the two Exomachina to clash against each other,and eventually shred each other to pieces in their confusion.

"You can't touch me with 4 thrusters,creepos." Galen said out loud.He hovered in place and began to key in and synch the Big Bang with the Venganza's rifle.Just as the Exomachina that nearly destroyed the Big Bang managed to reach it,Galen activated the metallic arm,which in turn utilized the synced rifle to send out an ionic round that absolutely trashed the Exomachina.

"Neat!" he admired the power of the rifle,before focusing on Letum. "Phoenix,this is Blue,I've got your rifle,and I'm here to provide a little cover fire and a bit of distraction."

In a few instances,he fired three ionic rounds from the rifle,aiming straight for the piece of Letum.After this succession,he launched the rifle across the space towards the Venganza using the swing-like movement of the metal arm.Without wasting anymore time,he blazed straight into vision of Letum and began weaving around it,hoping to confuse it,or at least distract it for the Venganza to deal intense damage to their indestructible adversary.

"I wasn't aware you had returned from Sora, Malice. I trust things went well? In any case, since it seems we're all here, perhaps we should give our friend Emissary some assistance?"

Malice observed the fields of combat from the outside, out of range from these ants, so-called Humans. She had observed the piece of Letum being married to one of these... Neurosuits in combat, a valid indicator that something wasn't going as planned before her arrival. But she had other plans of her own.

The sight of Letum in battle meant one thing: Emissary had failed him, and thus, had failed her too. The orb cluster that called itself Emissary was damaged, possibly to the point of being unable to recoup from its injuries, but Malice was uncertain of this observation. She didn't mind Letum jumping into the combat, nor did she mind wanting to join the fray herself, but one thing was certain. She didn't want them killed, at least, not yet.

She replied with an answer typical to her composure, as if her hunger for life was temporarily satisfied. Devoured the entire planet, leaving it as a husk to signify that I was there. She had caught notice of Emissary, becoming red as if he was about to meltdown.

Letum, please don't kill our guests just yet. I want to save them as dessert, for you know, to save them so they can observe their failure to save their race. Oh, and Emissary, you should go kill yourself. Not only does it appear that you failed the Magister, you have failed me. And you know how I feel about failure.

Her voice had boomed, unheard but understood by Exmachina, that she wanted them not to be utterly destroyed, but lead them to another planet to be consumed by her swarm. These humans weren't just food to her, they were food that was playing "hard to get". But no matter, she would enjoy the chase, something that none of her victims were ever able to do in the first place.

Slashing upward with her energy coated blade, Aster managed to circumvent Letum's defenses and cut off his arm. To her surprise, however, the fallen limb formed into a smaller copy of the Golden Giant, just in time to take three shots from... was that her rifle? To her surprise, it seemed Galen had retrieved her fallen weapon and sent it back to her. Sheathing her second blade as Letum once more consumed the metal he had temporarily used to deflect the Big Bang's attack, she reached out and took up her weapon once more.

Letum made nary a sound, but something about him seemed to convey the image of laughter as he sat, idly watching the fast craft darting around him. In the blink of an eye, however, his body scattered, long, winding tentacles reaching out in all directions to intercept the Big Bang. Those that did not move into its path quickly wove around it, like a gigantic maw opening to consume its prey. Aster, trying to save the EXCAP pilot, darted forward, slashing her bladed shield at Letum's head, but found herself once more blocked by a more concentrated patch of his metal, its density sufficient to withstand the force of her attack. He whipped his bladed hand sideways, sending her hurtling away.

"Fear not, Malice. This body is smaller than I'd like, meaning it might take some time to destroy any one of these Humans. They are all rather resilient. Quite amusing, if you ask me. In any case, Emissary has a purpose, although perhaps it is not to do battle against our enemy's elites. There is no reason to throw away a tool simply because it is not meant for the job you are presently performing. As in the Human game of chess, a lowly pawn, too, may have its uses, given time and careful planning," The Master of Annihilation said calmly, waiting to see if the annoying wasp that had been buzzing around him had been consumed by his tendrils. If not, it hardly mattered. His only purpose here was to delay. Meanwhile, in the Herian system, two tiny balls of gold-colored metal had landed in the wilderness, and began to steadily creep their way toward the Human settlements there. With most of their forces either mobilized in space to clean up after the battle held there moments previously, or with the Hellward fleet over Zuin, they would be severely undermanned, making Letum's success almost guaranteed.

The Golden Titan was pleased. Humans were so simple to outwit.

Sigrún she turns her attention back to the battlefield upon hearing Letums name, she had been quite preoccupiedcollecting ammunition to use against Emissary and had only been vaguely wondering why there were so few exos left. She returned her attention in time to see Malice erupt from a fissure in space. The menacing Malice maintained neutrality and considering they could destroy the whole Hellward Division instantly with her help it felt like a trap was closing in. Off in the distance a small star cluster goes dark one star at a time, with paranoid thoughts clouding her judgement Sigrún hits full thrusters to Asters position and starts routing power to the pyrophage emitter.
"Moving on Letum now, recommend everyone get some nice distance"
Streaking across the void between Emissary's new found belt of rubble and the crimson/gold blur, the Omen blindly fires pieces of Emissary at his central cluster hoping to provide suppression fire for Stomp and his storm of chaos. Just about there. sensors indicate the satisfying blips of two missing targets in Emissary's direction and the Omen drops a pyrophage clusterbomb in transit. In open space the clusterbomb almost meets the velocity of the Omen and starts decelerating falling behind, "hold on tight Aster" The Omen collides with the Venganza with tentacles out and wraps around the humanoid neurosuits head in the middle of a tricky looking evasion carrying the Venganza away from Letum so suddenly that it appeared to have disappeared. They are barely out of range when the clusterbomb goes off spreading near-absolute zero shards of hydrogen into Letums... mass and surrounding area.
The gold giant slows as the chemical reactions governing his atomic structure are inhibited by the enormous drop in temperature. "We've got seconds!" The Omen couldn't help but take splash damage from the pyrophage and remains temporarily clamped onto the Vanganza unable to so much as manoeuvre as they hurtle away from Letum.
"Switching to passive sensors. Go blind or melt your eyes!"
The several kilometre wide field of hydrogen saturating the area behind suddenly having absorbed enough heat to turn to gas ignites into the visage of a small sun for a half second and within the longest moment Sirgún had ever felt, she detached from Aster and waited for the light to clear... hoping.

Asher had seen everything, it was difficult to miss such a spectacle. The nuclear explosion was evaded by the Big Bang by nothing short of a miracle. How the hell did the kid survive that?! It was a good thing Letum didn't succeed in capturing the Big Bang, otherwise the team would have a difficult time rescuing the pilot...and the machine would most likely have been destroyed. Though Alex-Zander was safe, there was no time to wait. "Hellward, attack Letum. Aim for the head. Blue, keep your distance and recover...I'll finish off Emissary."
Not an easy feat...but it was all he could do for now. Still, he didn't have to do it alone.
"Fleet, chain-fire on Emissary's position."


Emissary had been taken quite aback, Malice expected Emissary to kill himself? It was true, the mistake was a great one...but the plan was carefully constructed and the Hellward Division easily caught on. This would be the second time he had failed near the planet Zuin....damnable Zuin!
Letum made it known that Emissary had not yet outlived his usefulness, fueling Emissary's desire to fight back. There wasn't much respect there but Letum was notorious for treating the Exomachina forces like an expendable resource. He would continue.

He aligned his destructive path with the Hellward forces, aching to see them shattered apart. A nuclear device went off as he charged towards the group but Emissary was nowhere within range. Not just yet. It was then he saw Letum reach an even greater size, it was Emissary's own debris and the rest of their fallen comrades that aided him here. It was as if none of the Exomachina could truly die.
"Now.." Emissary spoke aloud through the Exomachina psychic link, "...they are finished! I shall not cease to be!"

Emissary suddenly fell prey to a swipe of laser fire and projected nuclear artillery. Parts of him were launched into space, melted away or smashing into one another. The bombardment was like a wild hellfire, it was the first time Emissary felt anything like pain. The entire scene unfolded like the end of the universe, as worlds of different colours met their various untimely ends, shattering and dieing in the storm of fury. The fragments of iron, still glowing hot, were whisked away and offered to deep space like ashes to the wind.


Stomp surveyed the assault, its four, fire-stoked eyes watching in silence. "Got him." Asher said.

"Fool," Letum sighed, glancing at the scattering ashes of Emissary, most of which were disintegrating, making even his remains useless to the Golden Giant. "Why must those pawns I might yet have use for have no knowledge of prudence?" Sweeping his titanic hand through empty space, he sent out several smaller bodies, fetching all remaining debris he might be able to use. Grown once more to his usual gigantic size, the Golden Giant compressed his body, reinforcing it so as not to meet the same fate as the less fortunate Emissary at the hands of the Hellward division's battleships. Controlling his body, he sent himself hurtling into the dark void of space, his golden body silhouetted by the mineral-rich world of Zuin behind him until the moment that giant form of Malice eclipsed him, the Swarmlord's powerful defenses providing him with the cover he needed.

"Malice, I will do as you requested and leave these Humans in your capable hands. I have more pressing matters to attend to at the moment, such as the harvesting of this world's resources to serve our purposes, rather than the Humans'," Letum said coolly as he continued his flight toward the surface of the planet. He hadn't originally intended to drain Zuin of its metal reserves, but he always sprung at opportunities. Besides, his continued presence in the system would further delay the Humans from stopping his movements elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in the Herian system, several guard posts on both Sapphire and Peridot colonies had gone dark. Teams sent to investigate had not reported back in, and power stations were being cut off from the main grid. At the same time, communication stations had all been attacked by something, preventing a distress signal from being sent out.

Letum had made his move.

Watching Emissary getting utterly destroyed wasn't a sad moment for her, because they had left some salvage mostly intact, and she would simply launch him back to be rebuilt. But no, the fool had to get himself destroyed by raging like that. However, it wasn't truly his fault, Malice thought to herself, still recouping from what had seemed a nuclear explosion going off in space.

She didn't know what it was that had just happened, however she was impressed that the human under siege by Letum had survived. Before long, hearing what Letum had said, with other matters to attend to, she would have nodded if given the ability. But still, these humans prove quite resilient indeed.

Watching the golden giant float back towards the planet had became her cue. Slowly, but surely, moving closer the human fleet and the Hellward Division, she had stopped just within the reach of their long-range weapons. But she was large and armored enough to endure their weaponry.

Unseen from the eyes of the fleet, she had opened little ports within her three arms, and what had appeared as a silver liquid began flowing outwards. They were her swarm, her teeth of destruction, her drones. Spiderlike in appearance, the drone swarm started to descend upon the fleet, bee-lining straight towards the fleet itself, orders to ignore the Neurosuits in between.

Impressive, humans, I must say. Very impressive. It doesn't matter, since you will now taste the full fury of my swarm! Her voice echoed the darkness of space, loud and clear enough to invade into their minds...