Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 171: Inside the Structure

"Jace, I am reading a compromise in your armor?" Hammers asked over the command channel.

Jace pressed hard on the break as he arrived next to the wreck chopper. He grabbed his assault rifle and jumped out of the truck. He put it on his back as he looked down the roads. None of the roads had people on them yet. "Yeah I kicked a truck. The motors could not keep up. The seal has not been broken. But breaking the motors counts as compromising the armor." Jace explained as he stepped closer to the chopper crash.

Parrot was showing signs of being semi conscious now. But Tako was showing signs of being unconscious with indicators of an injured state.

"Understood." Hammers replied.

Jace pulled the door of the chopper away from the wreck. Underneath was both Parrot and Tako. Parrot immediately shot up and pulled her sidearm and pointed it at Jace. Jace grabbed her hand and pointed it away. He then switched to the local channel. "Stop pointing your gun at me."

Parrot nodded in response as she pulled herself up and started looking around. Jace stepped closer and looked Tako over. He had a piece of metal in one of his legs and the glass covering his face was cracked.

"One semi-conscious and one injured. Make sure you bring a med team with you when you come to the central structure." Jace spoke over the command channel as he moved past Tako to grab his equipment box which was scuffed and covered in soot but still fine. Then he picked up Tako’s medical bag which was in a similar situation.

"I will do that. We found a method to get there." Dahlia responded.

Jace picked up Tako and began moving over to the truck he came over in. Parrot clicked her tongue in annoyance as her bag was covered in soot as well. But her sniper had landed nearby undamaged aside from a few scrapes.

He switched back over to the local channel. "Parrot you are driving. I will do first aid on Tako in the back seat. We are continuing to our destination." He instructed as he set Tako in the back area where the rotary cannon and its ammunition were located. He tossed his own equipment bag in the passenger seat and set Tako’s gear bag in the back with them.

Jace jumped into the back and started pulling out items so he could start on first aid and get the piece of metal out of his leg. The truck pulled away as Parrot began driving.

They were maybe a minute drive from a giant metal door that they could see on the side of the structure. Then the doors began opening as something began moving out with a long cannon.

"Oh shit!" Parrot yelled in surprise before veering to the side as a large cannon round flew past them. Slamming into the street behind them.

BOOOMM!!

The explosion had more impact than any actual explosive force. But it still caused the truck to shudder. Parrot did a quick turn at the next intersection. Jace cursed under his breath. "Slow down. I need to do First aid, then we will find a way past that." He instructed as he yanked out the piece of metal before injecting a quick hardening liquid into the compromised area of the armor.

Parrot slowed the speed she was driving at while Jace pulled out a medical scanner and brought it over Tako’s armor. He had an injury in his leg, the same leg had been broken. Which makes sense because the amount of force needed to penetrate the armor would break a normal nanohuman’s limbs.

Tako’s other limbs and body were fine. But the medical device was showing a head injury. He had a concussion and one of his eardrums ruptured. There was a good chance that the technology in his helmet had broken. He put away the medical scanner and pulled out another device to scan the armor.

Multiple areas of Tako’s armor had damage. The leg was of course compromised. But the chest plate and one of the arms had been rendered incapable of blocking even laser fire. The shielding unit had been destroyed. The helmet was showing readings that made Jace think it had been hit directly by the rocket. Which it might have been.

"Tako is alive but injured." Jace informed Parrot as he carefully put back Tako’s devices in his bag. "We need to get him to the larger unit. But first we need inside that structure." Jace finished pushing Tako and his gear into a corner of the truck where he would be out of the way.

"How are we going to do that? We only saw the barrel but I think that was a whole ass tank." Parrot pointed out with a nervous chuckle.

"Parrot, we are soldiers of the Vexical Empire. We fight mechs in hand-to-hand combat. A tank is nothing compared to that. You are going to drive past the entrance and drop me off." Jace began disconnecting this tri-barreled cannon from the mount on the back of the truck.

Parrot grumbled something as they turned at another intersection and were heading toward the entrance they drove away from earlier. The giant doors were still open and the barrel of the cannon was still visible. She stepped on the peddle and the truck sped up.

As they came up on the door, Jace grabbed an extra chain of ammunition for the weapon. Then just before they drove past the intersection he jumped off the back of the truck and was running toward the entrance. As he ran he heard and felt the cannon fire.

BOOOMMM!!

It missed the truck that Parrot was driving but another section of the road was destroyed with rubble flying in all directions. While the ground itself shook like it was a miniature earthquake. He did not feel it last time because he was on the truck but those cannons could probably pick off a ship in low orbit.

Jace ran forward toward the open doors. From here he could partially see into the entrance. He could see the walkways and the biomechanical creatures inside. He could also see the several metal doorways that were past this giant metal door.

He slipped past the door and the front of the giant tank. Inside were several biomechanical creatures he could only describe as mechanics. They looked like normal humans, but they had clear implants in parts of their heads. As well as some with arms that had been replaced with mechanical tools.

He ignored the biomechanical mechanics for the moment and instead tapped the side of the tank. The blueprint he could see in his mind and he quickly transferred it to the local data storage of his armor. But he also quickly looked for and located the weakness of the tank.

BANG! BANG! TING! TING!

Jace ducked his head as he was fired at. The bullets bounced off the tank. He turned his attention to the metal walkway above him. As he clicked his tongue in annoyance, "seems like everyone has solid ammunition weapons nowadays."

He then raised the tri-barreled cannon and fired.

BANG! BOOM! BANG! BOOM! BANG! BOOM!

He only fired three shots. The first shot went through the biomechanical soldier that was shooting at him and then tore the metal door that was behind it off the hinges. The second shot went high and smashed into the roof because he failed to realize how much recoil there actually was. He then over compensated and hit the support for the metal walkway below it. The metal walkway shook and then fell down.

Jace’s arms felt sore from firing the cannon. It really should not be fired by hand. He ran away from the chaos he caused and moved towards the rear of the tank as the tank backed up. They had realized he was inside so the tank was backing up and the metal doors were closing.

They were probably going to trap him inside. But as he got to the rear of the tank he aimed at a spot between the main base of the tank and the rotating top. He then fired another cannon shell.

There was a groan of metal creaking followed by an explosion coming out of the barrel of the tank. Then fire burst out of the hatches on the tank. Sending the hatches flying through the air.

Jace moved away from the tank. Now that it was destroyed he would have to open the doors again. But as he looked for a possible location where the doors would be controlled. He heard the slamming of metal. Then he could see it as all of the doorways had a metal shutter close. The same with the few windows he could see.

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, ignoring the biomechanical mechanics which seemed to be running away from him. He would have to find a different way to open those doors.

This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦