IroFath Chpt 5

==Iron Father - Chapter 5 -==
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Corden approached the mountain pass to the valley. He looked too and fro looking for anything out of place. Something felt amiss and he pushed the Archangel forward looking for ambushes. Not knowing what the handlers could field and what ancient tech that might still be around, caution was warranted. He had the wounds to prove that and the ancient pistol that had inflicted them. Suddenly the ground shook. Corden pulled up his seismic sensors and tried to figure out the source. It was about near the DropShip and he went from caution to running the mech at top speed. Deback kept silent waiting to find out what happened.
As they came around the mountain they were relieved to find the DropShip intact but a small rising mushroom cloud was about 500 meters away from it. That made Corden take notice and start scanning the different visual fields. On the IR scanner, there were bodies lying all over the place. Some were moving. Others appeared to be in parts and pieces. There was a battle going on.
Shimmering in the scans likely were mimetic cloaks being used by the guides. Then there were a few pieces of battle armor moving and firing. The DropShip weapons moved but seemed sluggish trying to target threats. Probably the inexperienced guides trying to control them. Then there were the foes. Night haunts were all over the place. What took Cordens breath away was the largest one. It was huge and bigger than his archangel. Like some kind of B rated holovid. On top of it, there was some kind of structure where it appeared machine guns and other ranged implements were mounted.
Corden elected not to raise the DropShip on the radio as the enemy might have a radio on board and be co-coordinating each other. An interrupted transmission might blow his surprise. When he got in range he would slam on the ECM. Ten minutes, ten grueling minutes Corden pushed the archangel to sprinting speed. He prayed to Blake that none of the myomer leg muscles would pop pushing it this hard. Then the DropShip fired at a medium sized night haunt and another small mushroom cloud appeared. Corden now knew what largest threat was.
"Deback, when we make it amidst the enemy, target that big one. You alone have the skills to get into that structure up there. Get aboard it and kill all who are in there. There might be intel we need and I don't want to destroy it by killing that abomination. The medium ones appear to have explosives and are charging the DropShip. I need to deal with them before they damage it any further."
"Yes Corden, we will bring Blake's Light."
Corden smiled, Deback had been changing. More explosions lit up the night as the DropShip fired...
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The ten minutes had lapsed and the range was good now, Corden slammed on the ECM, and took aim. Manmade lightning flared and two more explosions came in turn. Confusion began amongst the handlers. Two more lightning streams and explosions happened. The guides appeared to be rallying now as Corden thundered in with Blake's vengeance. He made a straight line to the largest night haunt and yelled for Deback to dismount. Light indicators told him he had just done that. Then the lasers started to charge, but not quickly enough.
Corden charged the Archangel right into the side of the night haunt barreling into it. He heard bones crack and snap, the thing shrieked, and swiped at him. Armored panels were ripped off and warning lights turned on. Then their machine guns in the upper structure fired. The pitter patter of lead made Corden swing his torso to the side to block their shots to the cockpit. He had done enough to disable the creature for Deback to get a good chance getting up onto it. For good measure he cycled all the lasers into two of the beasts legs crippling it. Then he engaged the jump jets to get away from the shrieking creature.
As he ascended, he scanned the battle field. It appeared there were no more of the medium night haunts. Corden then started ripping into the smaller ones and their handlers...
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Deback made it to the back of the large night haunt. He engaged the vibro claw and began to climb the beast as it struggled and moved. At the top someone noticed him and swung a machine gun towards him. Bullets started chewing armor off of him and Deback replied in return. Pushing past the dead man and over the edge, he could make out ten or so handlers. Some handling machine guns, some doing who knows what. They turned and looked at him when his weight hit the wooden deck. Then they drew night haunt daggers and began to move in on him. Grinning, Deback activated the searchlight.
The upper structure turned into day. The handlers were blinded. Some screamed. Some tried to get off the large night haunt. Deback took careful aim and put bursts of recoilless rifle into some of the handlers. Others he eviscerated with the vibro claw. As he made his way forward bringing death he ended up where a driver would have been. He took aim at the back of the large night haunt and emptied what he had left for ammo. The rounds did not initially penetrate the hide and bone, but Deback kept on the pain. Eventually something connected in the brain cage and the entire creature seized. Deback braced for impact as the entire creature fell to the ground.
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Aaron could not believe what was happening. First there were the night haunt riders trying to gain entry to the DropShip earlier. They had suited up what they could and sallied out at them. Then the large creature had showed up and starting killing his friends. Thankfully some of the guides had figured out how to work the DropShip weapons and pushed it back. It was the medium night haunts that scared him shitless. They had been charging right at the DropShip when one exploded to being hit by the DropShip weapons. The crew then started concentrating on hitting them when the large one came back. Then Corden had showed up. The mech moved as it was him in some unnatural dance. He saw him destroy the rest of the suicide haunts. Slam into the large one, then take to the sky as an avenging angel. Then there was Deback. The way he had leaped up on the creature, up its back, and into the structure was uncanny. The sound, light, and the death of the large creature in less one minute awed him. The guides were not warriors and he knew they would have died that night if Corden had not showed up.
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The battlefield was a mess. The smell of cordite, blown apart bodies, and the injured were all over the place. Corden and Deback were personally dispatching any handlers that remained alive. Aaron for his part gathered up his wounded guides. Technical knowledge had been lost tonight. Those who had studied countless centuries of info were gone. The information was still in the archives, but the theoretical skills of semi hands on knowledge was gone. Corden would recognize this later and give the dead the blessings of a Blake funeral. Aaron remembered what Corden had said about Jerome Blake's quote. Something about the grandest crusaders were those that protected technology. Tonight was one of those. The battle would be known as the Battle of the Anchor.
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Corden stepped onto the DropShip. Equipment was strewn about as if a whirlwind had gone thru the place. Panic had ruled here previously and now order would prevail. Corden helped as best he could, but there was so much to discuss. Aaron was in shock and Corden knew it. As he approached, he helped Aaron pick up a crate and set it right.
"I knew there would be blood shed, but not of this magnitude. My friends are dead. They fought to keep the hope alive and they did."
Corden put his hand on Aaron's shoulder
"They did indeed. Though they may not believe in Blake, they believed in the dream of the guides."
"Yes they did. There is something you must know though. It is done."
"Done? What do you mean done? The dream is not over. We are not done! The DropShip is still here, the handlers are on the run, and..."
"The DropShips's leg is fixed. Roth the guide figured out a way."
Corden was flabbergasted. He thought more time and resources would be needed. He had never serviced a DropShip. He had specialized in battle armor, vehicles, and mechs. But this!!!
"You mean we can take off?!"
"Yes, the DropShip I think is now able to take off and land. There were some other systems we think we repaired. All that was needed was to shift some wires around that seemed to be shunted, but it is done I think."
"I will have to thank Roth the guide."
"You can't, he is dead."
Corden frowned. The know how and what was done to fix the DropShip was gone. Another piece of knowledge lost.
"Then I will pray for his soul. I will pray that he makes it to Blake."
Aaron scoffed.
"You may not believe, Aaron. But I do and that is what matters. There are others who believe. You should have seen Baltmare's judgement rendered. The citizens believe now. You can doubt all you want, but Blake's light is here and now. You will and have been a witness to the achievement of mankind here and it will continue on. I now have a message to listen and respond to."
Corden left the somber Aaron behind. Aaron was a frail, but a strong one. He might see Blake's light some day, but he couldn't be everywhere to convert people. His actions would be the guiding light. He ascended to the bridge and listened to Kendricke's message. He thought for awhile and then hit the transmit button.
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Kendricke was asleep on the bridge when the computer chirped. He warily opened the channel and listened.
<<"This is Phantom Adept Tau Corden of The Word of Blake. Iron Father of Turbline. I will not deliver myself into your custody nor would ANY manei domini. As it sounds, you have not the means to enforce this as you have likely befallen what happened to me and the denizens of Turbline. What you tell me in the this conversation will determine if I even come get you. There are a few things that need straightened out. So I ask this. What year is it.">>
What kind of question was that? Then he remembered the HPG date oddity. He responded and minutes later Corden heard.
"Corden, it the year 3115"
The misjump. The delayed time interval and sense of time. It was coming together. He now had an index on what might be going on finally. If this was true, it would mean he jumped 47 years into the future. He knew small rumors of misjumps like this had happened on smaller year scales. But of this magnitude, unheard of.
<<"So you say it is the year 3115. What proof do you have.">>
Minutes later
"You have the HPG response time stamp to your mayday, what more proof do you need? If that isn't good enough, you will have to come up here and look at the tech and computers yourself."
Someone startled Corden as he went to respond to Kendricke. Corden turned and Aaron was standing there.
"I think he is telling the truth, Corden, I hear no deception. He is worried, fearful, and alone. What determination that was there in the last message is gone. There is also something he isn't telling you though, his voice is off. Worried."
"Are you sure?"
"I am sure as is my training as a guide. Or have forgotten already?"
Corden turned back to he radio and pushed a button
 
<<"I believe you, Kendricke. But there is also something else you are not telling me. What is it?">>
Minutes later. Kendricke spoke thru gritted teeth.
"The DropShip life support systems are starting to fail. I can not effect repairs the way I am injured. I... I need your help and soon, Corden. My guess is a few weeks."
<<"We will come get you when we can. A lot has happened on Turbline that you do not know of. I have to test out some repairs on my DropShip. If you do not hear from me the DropShip most likely crashed or exploded. This is Corden, over and out and may the Peace of Blake be with you.">>
Kendricke screamed at the top of his lungs as he heard the last of the transmission. It wasn't the fact that he needed rescue, but the fact the way the individual talked. It was in fact a frakkin Blakist!
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They spent a week cleaning up the valley. Odds and ends collected. The biggest part was the damning evidence of the handlers existance for the populace to see. The giant structure had yielded radios, machine guns, and the what was likely gun powder. The medium sized night haunts were likely trained to run into something and then they remote detonate the creatures. How the handlers had this technology mattered not to Corden. All that mattered is that they did.
Corden and Deback inventoried the DropShip. Three sneak suits had been destroyed. A few Mauser 1200 gone. Ammo was fine overall. Though some battle armor had been lost. The archangel had been seeing wear and tear and this last fight had actually marred it. The leg myomers showed strain and would have to be moved around and some replaced. The unconfigured Preta would come in handy for many replacement parts. Superficial damage had been fixed and the amount of stuck arrows removed had been insane.
The work was therapeutic for everyone. The loss of people had hit the guides hard, but the excitement of the take off was coming. The plan was to try and hop the DropShip to Baltmare then likely go after Kendricke. Some of the guides were sent to Baltmare to let the populace know of its coming.
Everyone that stayed, elected to board the DropShip. There would be no one staying behind. Corden plugged himself in and started up the launch sequence. Fuel was good, internal preasure checked out, doors sealed. Then he willed the DropShip to ascend. On four cones of fire the Union DropShip rose. Meter by meter it went into the air. Corden looked to Deback and Aaron who were with him on the bridge. They were in rapt amazement and excitement. All the blood and toil to this very point. One step to make it to the stars. Then Corden turned the DropShip and it shot out of the valley pushing the Gs. He controlled the arch of ascent then slowed the descent as he whipped it around. Baltmare was mere minute away at this rate.
The entire populace had left the walls to wait for the DropShip to land. They had been outside in vigil praying to Blake for mankinds hope. Most did not believe, but still went thru the rituals anyways. Ever since the nobles death, there had been a shift in the populace with opinion and ultimately faith. Then windows and the ground shook in Baltmare as the Union descended. It landed a kilometer away so the shockwaves wouldn't kill people. When it finally had landed, the mass of people moved towards it in a calm matter. There was no fear. No fear of night haunts, no fear of reprisals, no fear of Corden.
The exuberance on the Dropship was ecstatic. They had done it! The repairs had worked, the leg had not broken upon landing. They could go to the stars!
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Corden waited at the main bay watching the masses come to him. He used his true eye to examine them as them came in from the distance. Iconography and symbols of Blake were amoung the masses. Not much, but enough. There was a conversion going on. In place of a dead system emplaced by the Nobles a power vacuum existed. People were gravitating towards hope and it was displayed in front of them today. Later Corden would learn that Tim the guard and James the Keeper of the Faith were in the center of it all.
As the mass approached, Corden and Deback remained on top of the ramp of the mech bay. The rest had disembarked and waited on the ground. When the masses stopped, Corden waited for the murmuring to stop. When it did he raised his voice as best he could to address them. He spread his arms and...
"May the blessings of Blake be on you! May Blake smile today upon you! You! And you! All of you! Mankind today can ascend to the stars!"
Cheering came from the masses. An exuberance that made Corden smile. Praises of Blake came from a few mouths. Corden made for the masses to hush.
"The path is still long despite the nobles being completely dead! Eradicated by my hands and anothers! I want you all to meet Adept Deback of the Word of Blake! He has been instrumental in understanding the threats on this world! He is what the nobles called a handler! The night haunts are not just some kind of creature native to this world that you feared! They were harnassed by the Nobles! Your children that you thought dead in the night were kidnapped, given over, and tortured by these handlers! They were bound in soul and indoctrinated to these things! Completely abominal! Blake's judgement is clear to me! They are to be eradicated! Any of the kidnapped children freed! And any handlers put to the sword!"
The crowd was dead silent. Nothing of this imagining had ever crossed thier minds.
"There is also more that needs to be done! I have to go to the stars to test out the DropShip further! Some of you will accompany me! These are the men amoung you that made this dream a reality! The guides who helped travel between the towns. They are the ones truly blessed here! If not for them, this would not have happened! They have kept the tradition of technology alive! They are guiding you now as we speak and now they will help me further! The handlers will be dealt with upon my return! I will need your help when I return! I will need warriors! I fully expect the guards help in this endevour to cleanse the land of these evils! Some might be guilty of helping the nobles in their reign! But this will be their moment of cleansing and atonement! What say you!"
The crowd was murmored and swayed in unsuredness. Corden watched as a few individuals appoached pushing thru the masses. They were guards and one of them was Tim. Tim went partially up the ramp, turned and looked out.
"Blake wills it!"
More guards responded.
"Blake wills it! Blake wills it!"
The crowd erupted.
"Blake wills it!"
Corden nodded to the crowd. Then turned to Deback.
"You will have to remain behind. I want you to train anyone who wants the use of battle armor. They have to be natural like you though to use due to the time constraints. There will be failures, but those that still want to commit can be trained to use the Mauser 1200s. We will unload what is needed then I will leave."
"Thank you Corden. I am honored by your confidence. How long will you be gone?"
"It took me seven days to get here from my wrecked Jumpship. With new navigational data, it might only take five days. Also Kendricke's Jumpship arrived at the same point and I want us to investigate both Jumpships. Aaron has a theory and will be coming with me. For now we go amongst the masses and talk to them."
They descended the ramp and moved amongst the masses talking of Blake, stories, and events the last weeks. Evidence was shown that was discovered at the Nobles towers and on the back of the large night haunt. Night time came and fires were put up for the first time without fear. People celebrated. People lived.
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Corden had unloaded all that he thought Deback might need. Various suits to train people with. Mauser 1200 and extra battery packs. Sneak suits, armor, ammo, radios, and every conceivable implement that might be used in the future. Last the unconfigured Preta was stripped of some parts then marched out. They parked it in the middle of Baltmare to use its fusion reactor as a charging station and a possible radio receiver while Corden was going to the jumpships.
News had traveled thru the other towns of what was going on and since a large influx of people came to see. By the time he got back to the planet, a movement would have begun. Blake's word would be spread.
On the ninth day, Corden, Aaron, and few travelers that had the studied old texts and current manuals on DropShips went aboard. Corden initiated the lift sequence, they ascended, and then Corden took a hard turn mid way into space. Aaron noticed the change as he sat on the bridge. He could see the handlers lair was going to be over flown. It looked like an attack vector. Corden looked like he was prepared to lay waste to the lair and its outskirts with the onboard firepower.
"Corden, what are you doing?"
"I am bringing vengeance on those who attacked us and a reminder that judgement is coming."
"There are innocents there Corden. This isn't some blood child of the nobles that I heard you murdered. Oh yeah, Deback told me about that one. You also made Deback a promise. Your word that you would free the apprentices. This will likely kill a bunch of them Corden! You told me that The Word of Blake was truth. You asked Deback to join you and he full hearted joined."
Corden willed the DropShip on a slightly different course. What he guessed were pens and shelters of night haunts were now the target. Aaron was right. Deback had converted fully to the Word on Corden's statement. An almost promise. Like The Promise Blake and The Master were trying to fulfill. He engaged the weapons. "Deback, your will be done."
The DropShip passed the lair's pens at supersonic speed. Man made lightning, particles, and lasers strafed the enclosures super heating the air. Night haunts boiled, bubbled, and burst. Pens ignited and caught fire. Then the guano of the night haunts ignited forming a chain reaction that made it to the explosives storage. A mushroom cloud formed as it blew apart. Satisfied with his work, Corden directed the DropShip towards space and then to Kendricke's Jumpship. He set the auto pilot and they would maintain 1G the entire time to help keep gravity for everyone. 
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Chapter 5