Chapter 67: Remnants of the Lunar Ring
There was a ring on the moon, leftovers of a settlement built around the moon's equator. Supported by massive orbital elevators, the colony around the moon rotates to artificially generate gravity similar to that on the ground. To those living on the lunar colony, the moon would be overhead every hour of the day. However, that was eighty years ago and now only debris and the ruined lives of those that lived there continue to orbit the moon.
Even back in the day, tensions were high between the lunar colony and the ground. The colony claimed to be its own nation, outside the influence of the mother planet. Those on the ground said that great amounts of resources from the planet was used to construct the colony, and so it was most definitely not independent and should repay the planet its due. Throughout the years, compromises were made and broken and the relations continued to sour.
One day, while tension between the two celestial bodies rises, the colonist on the moon found something they shouldn't have. It happened when a drone sent down by the researchers discovered what appeared to be a cave on the moon. At first, it seemed to be an ordinary cave formation, but upon further investigation, it was revealed that the caverns were man-made, and hidden within them, buildings, structures of which have designs not seen in the planet's history. It was a city of an unknown civilization.
At the center of this city, there lies a building larger than any with giant statues of vaguely humanoid figures decorating the halls. It was reasoned that this place may have been a temple. In this temple, sealed within the very depths, there lies a cube, a box, and what would later turn out to be a sarcophagus, one containing the remains of an old god. At least, they began calling it a god.
God or no, from the remains, a boundless amount of energy could be extracted, an energy that was unlike any other known to the planet. It was said that it would be able to power the lunar colony for as long as the sun remained in the sky, and then, perhaps even long after.
Those on the ground, upon discovering this, demanded the lunar colony to share its findings but, the colonists, fearing that this limitless source of energy might be taken from them, that the infinite source of energy may be used against them, refused.
Tensions only escalated from there, and then, as all knew it would happen eventually, came the war.
All of this, I learned from listening to her, to the girl who had no one else to talk to. She was kept in a glass room and said glass room was within a larger white room. No one was allowed to see or talk to her, not from across the walls and any attempts of communications, even the telepathic ones, were blocked. She only had me, the one she so merrily called Mr. Phantom.
In her boredom, she began giving me history lessons, or at least, what she had known about it. And what she knew was largely related to the war between the ground and the moon.
***
The lunar colony was gone, however, those from the colony, those who called themselves called the Lunarians, remained. While their home had been destroyed along with the millions of lives that lived there, during the course of the war, the Lunarians had acquired territories on the ground as well, holding it for the years to come. Even so, they won't stop just yet, for the loss of their home, where so many were once born and raised, the Lunarians continued to march, expanding their territories with weapons and technology powered by the limitless energy from the remains of the old god.
"Six, you're too far ahead, pull back!"
From a hidden corner, a telepathic message shot off into the air, passing through even walls to reach a red-headed girl running wild amidst the sounds of explosions and gunfire. Yet, despite the loud noises all around, the message came in loud and clear.
"Hold on, Unit Five is in trouble. Be right back."
"What! That's not part of the- Six? Six!!!"
"What's wrong, something happened?"
"Six is what's wrong! She's running wild again."
In an alleyway, sheltered from the rain of bullets and shells, a blond young man stood up from a crouched position. As the one with strong telepathic abilities that allows him to send and receive messages as well as a read on the locations of those he shared his telepathic link with, he was tasked with the leadership a unit of psionic capable soldiers.
"Nine, what now?"
Asking the blond young man that was a blond young woman, her hair like silks made of gold and her eyes are reminiscent of the ocean. On her military fatigue, 'P-013' was printed.
"We go after her, of course. Thirteen, take point."
"Roger."
After Thirteen, Nine followed, and behind Nine, there was another woman, much older than the other two, her hair was a light shade of brown, like peeled chestnuts, and on her head, she wore what appeared to be some sort of circlet shaped device. She spoke very few words and timidly followed behind Nine and Thirteen.
The three ducked from alley to alley, avoiding detection from the enemy as they followed Nine's direction.
"Enemy sighted!"
A yell came through the constant gunfire and explosions as Nine's unit was about to leave the cover of the alleyways and into the streets. They've been spotted, from behind no less, while they're still in the alley.
"Four!"
Nine grabbed onto the woman behind him and hit the ground with her in to. At the same time, he had telepathically alerted Thirteen and issued her orders.
Hearing Nine in her mind, Thirteen turned around and moved up without hesitation, leaping over the two on the ground just as the enemy soldier began to fire.
The bullets came flying as the gun muzzle exploded with rapid flashes of heat and flames. Deafened by the gunfire were the sounds of bullet casing hitting the concrete ground, yet, even as the casing bounced off the floor, the bullets, they never reached their targets.
Thirteen had her arm stretched. On her hands, she was wearing a pair of special gauntlets with the words 'ANIMA' printed on it. It was the name of the corporation which the research facility for Psions belonged to. The gauntlet gave off a strange light as she pointed her hand outwards, and in front of her, where her hand was pointing towards, were the bullets fired at her, all of which were held motionless in midair.
With but a flinch of her fingers, each and every bullet was sent right back at twice the velocity in which they flew when they were fired, slamming right into the Lunarian soldier, or so it seemed at first.
The Lunarian soldier wore an armored suit, one that gave off a strange glow upon being attacked, a glow not at all dissimilar to that given off by Thirteen's gauntlets. With the strange glow, a semi-transparent globe formed around the soldier, deflecting the incoming bullets.
"Psions! They're Psions!"
Yelling, the soldier pulled back, nimbly cornering out of the alley, likely to rejoin his squad.
"Nine, what now?"
Thirteen turned towards Nine who was helping Four onto her feet. Seeing the older woman being so sluggish in this situation caused a sense of irritation to rush up Thirteen's head.
"Our priority is Six. Seal off this alley."
Nodding at Nine's command, Thirteen raised both hands towards the walls on both sides of the alleyway, her fingers seemingly tugging at something as her gauntlets give off the same glow as before. Breathing in, Thirteen gathered her strength while a set of hurried yet careful footsteps can be heard from beyond the corner. That soldier they encountered must have been scouting out the area when he ran into Nine's unit, and now he's back with his whole squad.
"Nine, should I crush them as well?"
"Forget it. Just do enough to stop them from passing through."
"Roger."
With a powerful motion, Thirteen swung her hands downwards, and as if being pulled, the walls of the surrounding buildings came crumbling down, making the alleyway completely inaccessible.
"Good work. Now, let's get Six before she-"
But, before Nine could finish, the rumblings from what sounded like an engine reached his ears and upon realizing what that might mean, he quickly sent a telepathic order to both Thirteen and Four while waving his arm to reinforce his intent.
Hurriedly, the three pulled away from the alley as well as the buildings on that side of the street. No sooner than right after they reached the other side, one of the buildings near where they were burst open, with debris of concrete, wood, and glass sent flying.
Thirteen reflexively held Four's head down and close to her while shielding both Nine and Four from the flying debris with her psychokinetic psionics, all the while, she eyed the hole that had been opened within the now ruined building.
Behind the veil of grey dust, a rumbling can be heard, a mechanical rumbling of a beast of metals. From the ruined building, it dragged its massive body forward with its fearsome treads, crushing and grinding the pieces of rubble and furniture caught beneath it.
"Of all the damned..."
Cursing beneath his breath was Nine. With his widened eyes, he recognized the metal beast by its weaponry. It was a particle cannon, the tank before them have had its cannon swapped out for this fearsome weapon, however, due to its highly limited number of shots, only a few tanks were equipped with it. For the most part, it was a tank redesigned to combat the Psions by way of overwhelming firepower. If that particle cannon was to be fired straight at them, not even Thirteen could stop it.
"Run! Run away, quick!"
Nine didn't even bother to use his telepathy. He couldn't manage it in his shaken state of mind. He had dealt with tanks and armored vehicles of all sorts before, but this, this one he does not dare to take on without significant advantage. He had seen what it could do, how in a single sweep it incinerated out an entire platoon of those he had once called brothers and sisters, those born and raised in the same facility.
Hearing the hint of panic in his voice, Thirteen and even the sluggish Four took off immediately, with Thirteen turning her head once to check if everyone was keeping up. Right behind her, was Four, and behind Four, far behind Four, was Nine, who had not even started running.
"Nine!"
However, Nine did not look back at her and instead, had his eyes on the tank. In her mind, she could hear the inaudible voice of Nine telling her to pull back. Even so, she did not heed it. She reached out her hand, trying to grab him with her psionics, but before she could do anything about it, Four who was running behind her tackled her and tried to push her away. Four too had heard Nine's order and knew it was for the best. Amongst the three of them, only Nine was powerful enough to penetrate the anti-psionic shielding of the tank.
"Get off me! Get off me woman! Nine is still back there!
"No, we must go now. We can't be wiped out here. Six still needs us."
For once, the older woman spoke strongly, her will came through clearly in her tone. She will drag Thirteen away even if by force.
Thirteen knew that Four doesn't have the strength to force her to do anything, not physically, at least. In terms of psionics though, Four's was too wild for even herself to properly control. Once she was calm enough to make this assessment, she was quick to realize that Nine and Four were right. Nine had to stay behind. Only he could delay that monstrous war machine, hopefully long enough for both of them to escape.
As the other two flee, Nine was faced with a massive cannon pointed right at him, charging with energy from the remains of the old god. With the batteries installed on the tanks, the particle cannon had up to six shots at best, but even those, even when fired haphazardly, can have devastating effects on the battlefield.
Another flaw of the devastating weapon was that due to the heating, there would at least be thirty seconds in between each shot. That was why Nine was confident that if he stopped the first shot, that would give the other two time to escape.
And so, Nine extended his mind towards the tank, hitting an anti-psionic barrier but managed to force through. The burden of the act was great and blood began dripping out of his ears, nose, and eyes. However, he couldn't stop, no matter how painful it was, he had to see it through. He was the leader after all. Penetrating through the plating of the tank, Nine reached out and found the mind of the gunner.
"I have you now."
From the cannon, a stream of light was fired. Burning and slicing through all that it came into contact with, the cannon displayed its devastating power. All but the most powerful Psions of Anima could handle it. Nine was not one of them but still, he managed.
The beam of light was shot upwards, towards a tall building in the distance. To the gunner, the building must have been the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. It wasn't that this particular building was any different from the others, in fact, it was somewhat plain-looking, tall and squarish and dull. However, in the gunner's mind, Nine had implanted fear and revulsion towards that particular building, making the gunner feel that this building was the most terrible thing ever and must be destroyed.
The shot had been wasted, and it'll take thirty seconds before another could be fired. Thirteen and Four should have gotten far enough before this time is up, away from the tank's sensors. If Nine took off right at this moment, he might be able to make it too. However, he could not move. Forcing his way through the tank's barrier had its consequences, and the resulting strain on Nine had rendered him immobile. As of this moment, even remaining upright on his knees was barely possible.
The tank began moving, even without its cannons, it still had its machine guns, though their effectiveness on Psions was varied depending on the Psions it was used against, and so they wouldn't fire them till they know the powers of the Psion they're facing. However, despite seeing Nine's psionics first hand, they did not use the guns. It was decided that it would be a waste of ammo. Instead, the tank drove on, with the immobilized Nine right in its path.
***
End of Chapter 67
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