Muina’s Setari, scattered all over the planet, were already heading to Mesiath, because there’s a reliable and short route from Mesiath to Atanra via the Ena. Eighth Squad was out of the loop, busy on Arenrhon rotation. That left us with all nine Nuran Setari, First-Second, Fourth, Twelfth, Fourteenth and Sixteenth. No Kolarens – they’d been recalled because of the stickie mess.
First and Fourth had taken down the Umbrella massive, but it had needed so many more squads for the Dohl Array massive. And as information flooded in from Atanra, and Kaoren and Tsur Selkie made their initial evaluations, it was clear that Atanra’s defences were not sufficient – particularly when using most of them would destroy the Isadore more quickly than the massive. Mara, Jeh, Ketz and Alay all hurriedly made arrangements with their handily-close relatives, while Zee (frowning rather) came across to take over being my guard.
Zan spared me a glance and told me to go sit down, then she flew her squad off to Pandora’s platform. I went inside obediently enough, sending an email to the kids explaining briefly what was going on so they wouldn’t have to wonder why some of their teachers had dashed off.
"It’s bad, isn’t it?" I said to Zee when she followed me in. A pointless thing to say, really – I could see it was bad, as Kaoren was watching vision from Atanra of the massive slowly shuffling across grassy meadows towards the downed ship[19].
Zee only gave me a brief nod, and then Ys sent me a channel request. She, Lira and Rye were all in-channel when I joined.
"Will people die?" Ys asked, with typical bluntness.
"I don’t know, Ys." The passengers of the Isadore were in a state of complete panic, rushing the exits so that the ship’s captain had had to open them just to prevent people dying in the crush. "I think it will depend how long it takes the squads to get there." And how much firepower it would take to bring the thing down.
"Lira wants to help."
I paused. The question of Lira working as a touchstone has been raised over and over, and particularly after it was known I was pregnant. But Lira has so firmly refused to admit that she can still project, and has so consistently responded with anger and then panic to any discussion of her working as a touchstone, that KOTIS decided to back away from the discussion until she’s older.
Suspecting that this was perhaps more Ys thinking Lira should help, I said: "Are you sure you’re ready for that, Lira?"
"No," Lira said, sounding angry. "I don’t want to do it. But I don’t want people to die. And I want that more."
"I’m glad," I said, and then opened a channel to Tsur Selkie, Zan, and Kaoren (a second link), telling them: "Lira wants to help. I think she’s ready for it."
Zan, just short of the Pandora platform, held her squad, waiting, and it was only a few moments before Tsur Selkie gave her the go-ahead. I asked Zee if it was possible for Ys, Rye and Sen to be brought home from school early, and then sat on the couch to stress while she arranged that. My main goal from that point onward was to not distract Kaoren, which meant I did breathing exercises and tried to keep my heart rate at relatively normal levels. When the kids arrived, I had to really work at it because Sen was extremely distressed – partly because Sight Sight was working overtime on her need to know. I ended up describing parts of what was happening to her, which made it easier for both of us.
The first Setari, three of the Nurans, arrived at Atanra shortly after the Isadore’s captain had opened the ship’s exits. The massive was heaving itself into range of the ship, and there were hundreds of people scrambling over grass and rocks, trying to race a spiny octopus to Atanra’s fortified walls. Korinal, in lead, set Selreven and Otarien to scoop up as many passengers as possible while she tried to draw the massive away and avoid a large flock of escort swoops.
Fourth arrived back in real-space just as they were starting this manoeuvre, and were flying as quickly as they could from the near-space gate to Atanra. As soon as he had a direct look at the towering bulk of the massive, Kaoren said sharply: "No elementals!" and Korinal, about to fire a few Light bolts, veered away, then picked up a man-sized rock and threw it instead.
And the thing caught the rock and threw it back at her, a response she barely dodged. I checked Zee’s expression, and saw her frown deepen, and she only looked grimmer as the Setari squads made it through to Atanra and began collecting scattered passengers while struggling to draw the massive away from the Isadore. The massive would pause briefly to toss back rocks and snatch at any Setari who flew too close, while continuing to head slowly toward the Isadore, where more than two-thirds of the passengers were still trapped – and far less inclined to race out the exits when tentacles started trying to force their way in.
It was Mara, ever practical, who broke into the discussion of how to lure the massive away from the ship with: "Why don’t we move the ship? Do we have enough lift between us?"
"Possibly when enhanced," Maze said. "Let’s clear as many of these swoops as possible before making the attempt."
When Twelfth arrived with Lira, Kaoren had Fourth waiting at the gate from near-space. I blinked when I saw Lira emerge, since she was in a Setari uniform. Zan had had Sora Nels, Twelfth’s Ena manipulation talent, give Lira her uniform harness and stay behind. Lira was white-faced and looked impossibly young, and Kaoren briefly stopped being captain and switched to Dad to hug her and tell her that he’d be with her the entire time. She hadn’t had my slow progression into travelling through the Ena, and was being thrust into the deep end of Setari work, facing the most dangerous massive I’d seen so far.
"It will absorb elementals and gain strength from them," Kaoren said, as he bound his suit to Lira’s and lifted her closer to the battle. "It may be possible to draw it with elemental attacks, at least so that it separates from the ship. After that, stone bombardment, sonics, and Atanra’s weaponry, but we must be quick or its counterattack will be devastating."
The squads split into three groups – all the most powerful Telekinetic and Levitation talents with Lira, a lure group able to attack and fly, and a less mobile group trying to collect passengers between the ship and Atanra, and protect them from escort Ionoth.
For the Setari who couldn’t enhance themselves, timing would be an issue for the ship lift. It was going to have to be a quick, hasty haul, and as soon as the ship was out of the way they would have to rush to bombard, overwhelming the massive’s ability to play catch through sheer numbers.
The Isadore rocked and shifted with horrible groaning noise as the squads moved into position – the massive had a good grip on it and was trying to pry it open. The lure group began attacking immediately: Ice, Fire, Light and Lightning. Light and Lightning only seemed to sting the massive, but Fire and Ice were a little more effective, sending up a cloud of (calamari) smoke, while other tentacles were locked in mini-glaciers.
I’m not sure whether the massive even associated the attacks with the Setari, or if it just saw a cluster of people standing together unprotected by inconvenient metal shells. Whatever the case, it writhed toward them, leaving the Isadore free and suddenly flying, tilted somewhat, and trailing metal plating and the contents of its holds. It was a low, surging rush of a flight, the ship skimming barely above the ground, dropping as the first of the enhancements failed. But it was away, far enough for Atanra’s weaponry – the kind of explosive missiles I’m familiar with from Earth – to be deployed.
19
If I were the goats that live by the rift, I would definitely consider permanent relocation.