4802 Increasing Pressure
As much as Ves wanted to spend more time tinkering with different pieces of alien technology, he didn't have the time to mess around anymore.
The sound of weapons fire became more intense as the pescans on the floor above them intensified their attempts to push the human forces away!
Ves momentarily split his attention once again and accesses the live feeds of his honor guards.
Every suit of combat armor that he built for his personal guards could supply a lot of data to him. This was a way for him to observe what they were experiencing at the front without putting himself at risk.
He could see that Nitaa had been sparring against the aliens for a while now. The tall soldier held her thick and powerful heavy luminar crystal assault rifle and carefully fire high-powered slicer beams at the obstacles that the pescans used for cover.
Although a lot of shots ended up getting absorbed by the metal walls and other solid obstacles, repeated hits eventually created a tunnel that allowed the former Kinner soldier to fire a beam that punched through the last remaining matter and kill an armored pescan soldier armed with transphasic guns!
The alien soldier had already done a lot of damage, though. The pescan was armed with two transphasic laser cannons that could each penetrate through the excellent armor of a Davutan human trooper with just a single hit!
While the combat armor assigned to the elite guard troops of the colonial state was not weak, even if it managed to block most of the damage, even a fraction of the power of an energy beam was enough to produce severe burn wounds!
The only mercy was that the transphasic laser beam attacks did not outright kill the troopers struck by them as long as they landed on the limbs and less critical parts of the human body.
It did produce an awful situation where an increasing number of wounded soldiers had to be pulled back from the front!
At this time, a group of noncombatants had decided to step up and utilize their considerable medical expertise to tend to the wounded!
"Clear more beds and bring us more supplies!"
"We need to sterilize these chambers as soon as possible."
"Have you found their water source yet?! We can't operate on these patients without a source of clean water!"
Even though many of the directors of the various departments of Freewell Medical Services had long retired from conducting medical operations themselves, they still possessed a huge amount of knowledge and experience.
The shabby conditions of the alien base did not stop them from attempting to do their jobs. It did not matter that they lacked access to advanced medical tools and machines as qualified doctors were always educated to be able to treat their patients without relying on excessive automation.
Otherwise, doctors wouldn't be needed at all. People could just toss their wounded into automated treatment chambers and wait until they spat out healthy bodies!
It was the habit of humans to never develop an excessive dependence on advanced and automated technology that enabled the doctors employed by Freewell Medical Services to make themselves useful.
Although they clearly weren't comfortable with the awful conditions they were working under, they were veteran doctors who had worked under a lot of pressure in many different circumstances in the past. They adapted as well as they could and tried their best to prevent the condition of the wounded soldiers from deteriorating.
In a way, the wounded soldiers were rather fortunate to get hit by laser beams. These weapons might produce deep and massive burns at best or outright flash-boil flesh until they exploded at worst, but they were not known to produce massive bleeding. This made it a little easier to stabilize their conditions in the short-term, though depending on their injuries their bodies could degrade for many other reasons such as losing the functionality of essential organs.
However, as much as the old but hard-working doctors of Freewell Medical Services stepped up, their efforts only reduced the losses. They did not directly contribute to a victory.
The only ones who could change the situation were the soldiers risking their lives to fight back against the entrenched pescan defenders.
The situation at the front changed instantly when the aliens tossed multiple bombs down the entrance that separated the floors.
"INCOMING EXPLOSIVES!"
If the infantry troopers were better equipped, then they would have been able to deploy automatic interception turrets that could shoot down the bombs before they could ever get close.
Unfortunately, the rifle-armed soldiers could do little aside from jumping aside or trying to fire their weapons in the hopes of scoring a lucky hit!
Nitaa and the honor guards she fought with did not cower in the face of this latest threat.
They raised their heavy assault rifles and began to fire multiple kinetic beams in quick succession.
They had already dialed down the power setting so that their weapons could fire the beams at a much faster firing rate at the cost of reducing their power.
However, the kinetic damage they inflicted onto the simple alien bombs was enough to give them such a substantial knock that these impact explosives detonated in mid-air on their own accord!
A few bombs managed to get through despite all of these measures. The honor guards who were close enough to get affected by the explosives did not do much aside from turning around and hunkering down behind cover.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Though the bombs were not transphasic in nature, they still tore a lot of alien construction!
A few soldiers who hadn't been able to respond quickly enough to run away from the blast zone got flung aside as if they were ragdolls!
Even if these armored troopers hadn't died on the spot, the powerful collisions had mostly exceeded the protective capacity of their combat armor!
Nitaa happened to be peripherally affected by one of the bombs. The cover that she was sheltering behind had been blown away, but the honor guard herself looked as if she had remained unaffected.
Her newly upgraded armor resisted much of the damage. In addition to that, as Ves' chief bodyguard, she also carried a fairly high-end personal shield generator that could resist much of the explosive force if necessary.
That hadn't been necessary as the first-class alloys covering her tall and heavy form were thick enough to resist this much pressure!
Her attacks did not cease for long. She soon began to fire her heavy luminar crystal assault rifle once again.
As a weapon personally developed and customized for his honor guards, the weapon possessed a great amount of power and versatility.
Even if it wasn't transphasic, its effectiveness was at least five times better than the premium rifles utilized by the other soldiers!
Aside from a few unusual private guard troops who were equipped with extravagant weapons bought by their employers, hardly any target could resist the energy attacks launched by the oversized luminar crystal weapon for long!
That didn't appear to be enough, though. Not only did the pescans have a stockpile of bombs at hand, they also maintained a considerable defensive advantage.
As Ves closed the live feeds transmitted by his honor guards and looked around the scattered and damaged alien base, he judged that he should be able to cobble together a few machines that could help with the fight.
It was too bad that there wasn't enough time for him to produce anything meaningful!
The military leaders in charge of the various units did not wait for anyone to develop a miracle solution from the goods they managed to capture from the aliens. The rumbling of the prison facility had spooked them to such an extent that they decided to hasten their next deployments!
As the troops prepared to launch a costly and brutal assault against the enemy's defensive positions at the various entrances, Ves and Gloriana shared their concerns to each other while their children huddled together in fear of what might happen.
"What is happening, sisters?" Marvaine pitifully asked.
Both Aurelia and Andraste came close in order to embrace their younger brother.
"It will be fine." Aurelia said. "Papa will take care of everything."
Andraste grinned. "You heard all of the stories about papa, right? He always managed to beat the bad guys and get away in the end. This time is no different because he is just that awesome!"
The two girls had a strong belief in their father. He might be a little silly at times but he had always loomed tall over their heads for as long as they lived.
"Miaow!"
Even Clixie agreed with their assessment!
It helped that Ves deliberately maintained a confident and self-assured demeanor for the sake of their children.
In truth, he was shaking inside his mind. The previous quake was more violent than the last one, which signified that a powerful influence may be inflicting heavy damage onto the prison!
Combined with the heavy premonition which clouded his mind even more, Ves felt as if a lot of awful stuff was about to happen if the pescans had their way!
"When Jaharon's projection talked to us at the time, he said a bunch of words that suggested that he was not only in communication with a phase lord, but also intended to free this powerful alien individual."
"Are you sure the words of an unhinged alien leader can be trusted, Ves? The pescan also did not make use of a good translation program."
"Your doubts are not invalid, but I think that the overall words stated by Great Chief Jaharon clearly states his thoughts on this matter."
Ves played a recording that he made of the odd dialogue.
[GHAGAHGAHGHAHAA! ANCIENT GOD MORE ANCIENT AND BLOODED THAN YOURS IS OUR GOD! FINAL COUNTDOWN IS UPON US. DESTROY CHAINS AND UNDO OUR HOME! TOO LATE, ALL WILL BREAK. FALSE GOD YOU SHALL DECEASED!]
This caused Gloriana to frown. "The word 'ancient god' can be interpreted in many ways. The Red Ocean features two types of false gods that derive their divinity from phasewater. The more common ones are the different indigenous aliens that become powerful by imitating the methods of a more powerful and remarkable race. Then there are the actual phase whales who are considerably more powerful by virtue of their large bodies."
That caused Ves to pause and think. "Wait… are you saying that the ancient but powerful prisoner that the pescans have somehow managed to wake up is not a phase lord, but instead a genuine phase whale?"
Even as he said these words, he thought back on the large-sized prison cell that was built in the center of the ancient prison facility.
His blood froze when he thought that this cell hadn't been emptied at all when the prison was evacuated, but had instead been occupied all along!
Although he didn't understand why anyone would empty out an entire prison aside from its most important cell, Ves could not rule out the possibility that the cell reserved for the most dangerous and powerful prisoner may indeed hold an actual living phase whale!
Ves groaned. He wanted to smack his palm against his face!
"What is up with these phase whales?! Why do we keep bumping into them all of the time?! First it was the Flesh Conqueror at Purgatory. Then it was the unclean whale trapped in the center of the Palace of Shame. Now there might be another delinquent phase whale trapped inside this pocket space. The most ridiculous part about all of this is that this is all taking place in Davute! Shouldn't this place be swept clean of any phase whales?!"
Although Ves did not have any solid proof that an actual member of the phase whale was trapped inside the center of this place, this was pretty much the worst case scenario if it was true.
He would rather overestimate the threat than do the opposite!
"We're screwed if a phase whale gets loose!"
