Cut Scene 13
Kilgore didn’t even realize he’d picked up two grenades from the pirates that tried to board him in the Spidron wastes. Before he set out on this quest, he dropped everything to make room for fuel and supplies. A Galaxy Knight’s helmet could not be removed to eat, so the human body was powered by the CybR. The suit plugged into the ship for long flights, and Kilgore carried only ammunition and auxiliary batteries.
Kilgore always forgot his grenades. He picked them up with any other loot he may come across, put them in the back of his equipment, and discarded them when he became too heavy to run. He rarely had enough to sell in lots, so they must be haggled individually with Blue merchants for not enough credits to be worth the effort.
He hadn’t even looked through the loot crate he picked up after destroying their ship, it had been sorted by Sephiroth and distributed through his equipment list automatically, according to frequency of use. Ammo and fuel came first. Grenades went automatically to the back. The result was a pleasant surprise.
It was a Void Bomb, among the most devastating weapons in Known Space. A Void Bomb ripped open the fabric of time and space and sucked victims into a vacuum of uncreation. There was no coming back from a Void Bomb. If a Green were sucked into a void, he was not sent back to the nearest Space Hub stripped of all items and experience since his last save. That Green was snuffed entirely from existence and never seen again. The other grenade was a simple concussion grenade, and alone would never be enough to kill Duke.
The Courtyard of the fort was strewn with debris. Kilgore weaved through to make Duke hunt him. Kilgore rarely used grenades, and he was slow to line up the arc of his throw to catch enemies in the blast radius. The preferred tactic of the Galaxy Knights was to throw grenades indiscriminately into the fray while other Knights fired their blasters into the cloud. Kilgore’s CybR was so strong he could employ the tactic of charging forward to soak up unbelievable amounts of enemy fire while spraying their ranks with blaster fire.
The blast area of a Void Bomb was approximately the size of a man, but it could grow if the Void Winds favored, and it moved. Void Bombs floated about in a random path, obliterating anything it came in contact with. The Void sheered through Greens, cut holes in buildings, and bored into planets. Eventually, the voids would float off into space and remain hazards for all time.
The shattered remains of a watch tower stood at the corner of the standing wall. Never turning his back to Duke, Kilgore made his way there. The walls and door were intact on the first floor, and Kilgore could use that as a choke point to score a direct hit on Duke when he entered.
Duke knew he was being targeted, and moved cautiously around the rocks. A bad bounce with a Void Bomb could prove detrimental to Kilgore. Duke’s sword was bare and glowing. Sephiroth called it a Sun Sword, the standard issue weapon to the Emperor’s White Knights. The armor as well was a White Knight’s Sun Armor. White Knights were the first Glithvaal, the magick entities summoned by the Emperor out of the void to protect the planet. Duke was not a White Knight. Sephiroth listed him only as a ‘warrior.’
Kilgore was at the door of the tower when Duke charged, Sun Sword thrust forward to spear. Kilgore had to dash to avoid, getting inside the doors, but Duke was already on him before Kilgore could think to line up a toss. Parrying with his pulse saber, Kilgore drove Duke back. The area of effect on a concussion bomb was huge, and could keep Duke at bay, but may bring down this tired structure on their heads.
No comments:
Post a Comment