Chapter 58: Chapter 58
The Crystalid craft was consuming the wreck of the scout vessel much to the horror of the combined Crystalid and human fleet. A shield of plasma was spreading over both crafts as it seemed to notice them.
"Sir, I've got massive energy readings coming from within the parasite ship! It's going to fire!" a Crystalid officer shouted.
A massive arcing beam cut through the combined fleet, slicing some ships completely in two. Tiny shot forward into the middle of the fleets while they were distracted and started to burrow into one of the Crystalid ships.
"Where'd that thing go?!" The human commander shouted.
"Sir, we've lost visual but according to our infrared sensors, it started burrowing through the Crystalid's command vessel. Requesting permission to engage in close-quarters combat."
"Negative! That thing's probably waiting for us in there. Reestablish communications with the Crystalid fleet," The captain ordered.
"Communication was never disabled. Heavy interference is coming from the unknown vessel."
"Energy spike detected within the Crystalid ship. Raising physical shielding."
"Ein, Tveir, Þrír, perform a system check. Ready weapons systems for close-quarters combat. Lockdown all internals and set all thrusters to full for the entire fleet. We're going to rapidly descend towards that structure we discovered at the south pole. Fjórir try to send a message to the Crystalid fleet. Tell them where we're heading and to follow us if they can. Both of our capital ships will be stuck in the atmosphere but that thing probably doesn't deal with sand very well."
"Roger," the controllers declared, performing their assigned tasks.
"Systems check interrupted; restarting," Ein muttered.
"Weapons at full. Awaiting your order, Commander," Tveir said.
"Full fleet lockdown complete; accelerating towards the dome… sensors detecting multiple heat signatures at coordinates negative 66.767344, 103.838240," Þrír reported.
"Determine whether they're human or not and turn towards them," the commander ordered.
"They are in the shape of humans but do not share our genetic makeup," Tvier announced.
"Then we found our hybrid allies. Try to contact them and inform them of our situation!"
"Roger."
xX planetside Xx
"What the hell just happened?!" Loyd demanded.
"You exploded, reformed, and then exploded again. I'm not sure what else to tell you," Madeline answered.
"Then where did that ghost go?" Loyd asked.
Sara brushed the sand from Loyd's detonation off of her and cleared her throat. "We may have bigger problems at the moment." She pointed at a series of ships as they began reentry.
"Yeah, that'd be our reinforcements about thirty minutes too late," Loyd grumbled.
"I was actually talking about the fact that some of them have entire sections removed from their hulls. Not to mention they've got what looks like a Crystalid fleet following them and from what we could see of your fight with just one of their light corvettes, they aren't going to be pushovers," Sara protested.
"You forget that both fleets are our allies. They probably got caught up in the fighting on Mars," Loyd reassured her.
A burst of light flashed across the sky destroying one of the ships and damaging another's maneuvering thrusters. The light arced across the horizon and shot past the group cutting a massive trench in the ice.
"Run!" Loyd ordered.
The trench in the ice spewed fire and smoke as the beam arced back towards the group cutting off their escape path and sending their ice barge to the depths of the planet.
"We have to get out of here before the steam from the ocean vents!" Jim shouted over the roaring of the ground beneath them.
"No one's died yet have they?!" Loyd shouted.
"We had twenty or so people still on the ice barge!" Sara shouted.
"Then it's a good thing Beast was still on it!" Loyd shouted running for where the ice barge had fallen into the ravine.
Fire and smoke erupted from the ravine as Beast's hand grasped the ledge. The sound of twisting metal overpowered the sound of the eruption for only a second as the ledge began to break.
"The barge is coming apart! I can't hold onto it for much longer!" Beast screamed.
"Deploy the anchors! Then start up the drill! That should keep you stuck to the ice sheet so you can start digging your way out of here!" Loyd shouted over the edge. "The rest of us can get to the tunnel you dig from here so start drilling away from us!"
The anchors fired into the far wall from Loyd. Beast let go of the barge as it started to dig into the ice. The barge hung there suspended by mere cables as it continued drilling its way into the ice.
Plumes of steam started to form on the horizon where the seawater was filling the trench. The drill disappeared into the ice as the clouds drew closer followed by a wall of water that overflowed the trench as it rushed to fill the gap.
The ice flow began shifting under Loyd and the others as the tail end of the barge disappeared into a fresh tunnel and the drill poked through the surface of the ice.
"Alright everyone, start climbing! We only have around fifteen seconds to spare!" Loyd shouted, watching the steam plumes on the horizon.
The smell of sulfur began to fill the air as the steam drew closer. Loyd was the last one to board the barge and he knew they had to get moving. The barge lurched forward as the steam vented through the tunnel it had just made moments before.
Another beam of light tore across the sky and set the horizon alight. The steam was hot enough to melt someone if it touched them and the ice sheet was begging to fill up with it as it pushed through all of the microscopic cracks.
"We have to get back to Bunker city!" Madeline shouted.
"We can't! That beam just cut the city in half! There's no way for us to-!" Jim shouted as the ice-flow started to disintegrate.
"This thing can float right?!" Sara asked her voice almost becoming lost in the cacophony.
"We're going to find out in a minute!" Loyd answered, his knuckles turning white as the barge was pulled along by the steaming ice.
The barges treads were ripped off as it sunk into the ice-flow. Losing them turned out to be a good thing as the barge began to float higher in the ice. Steam quickly obstructed everyone's view to less than five feet in front of them and began to burn their skin and eyes.
"Everyone brace!" Jim shouted over the speakers.
Loyd braced for a collision and became confused when he was thrown upwards. The steam had become trapped underneath the barge and in its lower compartments as it erupted from the ice and had launched the entire barge into the air. Gravity ceased working for a few seconds as Loyd watched the sky catch fire above them. The two fleets were now little more than a few scattered and heavily damaged remnants as what Loyd could only assume was Tiny continued to devour them.
The barge fell back to the ice bellow and smashed against a large iceberg before splashing down into the freezing waters. Loyd picked himself up off the ground and inspected his surroundings. The barge was floating perfectly fine but had sustained major damage from the ice-flow and the iceberg. The tracks and drill head had been ripped clean off along with the primary power supply. Everyone was covered in burns. The supplies they had stockpiled were thrown all over the storage compartment or had already begun to spoil. And the sky was currently on fire.
"Well, things could be worse I guess," Loyd declared.
"And now we're all going to be killed by falling debris from the space battle, you asshole," Jim grumbled.
Loyd Looked back at the steam cloud as a bright red shape began to emerge from within it. "I hate it when you're right. BRACE!"
The hull of the human command ship shot past overhead pulling the steam cloud and causing the sea to churn from the wind force. It bounced off the surface of the ocean, flattening its underside and knocking most of its damaged sections off the main craft. Its tail snagged the water and pulled the front back into the waves. The second crash nearly shattered the entire vessel as it began to slow down and settle in the water.
The waves splashed over Loyd's knees and rocked the barge as he scanned for life signatures aboard the ship. His scanner detected six humans in the bridge and fifty smaller fighter craft in its belly loaded down with missiles and railguns.
"Move the barge around in front! There are survivors on the command deck!" Loyd commanded. "We might be in rough shape but those are our allies out there! Or if they turn out to be useless, they're still biomass."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Sdrawkcab
Sdrawkcab Got it out tonight.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone