The Astralaceaes

Chapter 42: The Storm

Haledon listened as the chirps of the Astralaceaes quickened, and the cicadas within the room grew louder. Swivelling his head around the Nexus, he looked to his Guild and stared at their firm stance as they observed the visuals within their helmets. He adjusted his gaze and watched as the Mecharrion Scouts finished their transformation and moved toward the Druid fleet. And there, in the distance, the oppressive Comet loomed.

"Sparrow?" Haledon heard a nervous Witch-Hazel ask.

"I know. It shouldn't be here." Sparrow stepped forward and gripped Haledon by the SOIL. Her helmet disappeared, revealing her worried eyes. They pierced his visor, matching his gaze as she continued. "Haledon, your design is sufficient. Take your Guild to the edge of the pod and be prepared to seal the root."

"Seal the root?" Haledon panicked. "The other Druids—"

"Hold up," Mek-Tek interrupted, leaping from Spark to Haledon before climbing his shoulder and taking a stand. Mek-Tek pointed to Sparrow and chirped loudly. "I need my Mecharrion spud in the Hilum! I will not sacrifice that tuber of bioaccumulated data."

Haledon watched Sparrow huff in disagreement, but the agitated Mek-Tek only chirped louder.

"You needed me to come out here—into the void—to research the Mecharrion! Let me fill my niche, Sparrow."

A new sound filled the room as Birchbark grew into a column of flowers that quickly merged into the Astralaceaes. The cicadas chirped at a faster, higher pitch with a sharp buzz at the end.

"Incoming gravitational anomalies," Birchbark warned as a chill rushed down Haledon's spine.

Focusing back on the mirage in his helmet, Haledon watched as six small stars burned through the darkness of space. Approaching the fleet, they slowly disappeared as the black hole within consumed the fuel.

The first two stars quickly disappeared, detonating at the fleet's rear with a flash of blinding light. Haledon felt the gravitational wave wash over the Astralaceaes, rocking it gently.

The second set of suns approached a nearby Astralaceaes. But before the fuel could be fully consumed, an adjacent Megacolides moved into position and absorbed the hit. Where the twin suns had collided, a pair of explosions, not as bright as the first, caused Haledon to blink his eyes as he waited for the third weapon to detonate.

Like an invisible hand lifted him, Haledon felt a sudden tug of gravity towards the top of the room. He felt his body lift up, his stomach reaching into his chest, and his feet leaving the floor. Then the sensation passed as soon as it arrived, and his SOIL stepped again to the floral mat below.

"What was that?" Haledon asked as he looked around the room.

"The external decomposers were adapted with a gravo-repulsive carapace," Birchbark informed with an exhale. "Allowing them to repulse the Mecharrion singularity weapons safely away from our hull."

"That's some defence mechanism," Witch-Hazel remarked, looking to Mek-Tek. "We should hurry to the Hilum and back. I don't think that trick will work twice."

Haledon looked through his visor again and observed the carnage following the Mecharrion's first assault. The debris of two Megacolides and one Astra drifted through space after the first explosion. Only the one Megacolides had been destroyed with the second detonation, saving the Astralaceaes it had protected.

Looking beyond the Scouts, the dark of space was illuminated by sparks erupting across the Mecharrion Comet's bell. They danced along the surface like flashes of lightning against a churning ocean of metal. Haledon observed closely, the sap building over half of his visor as he pushed the limits of his mirage. And as he inspected the surface, watching the lightning flashes beginning to slow, he witnessed a final strike.