NOVGO.NET Chapter 73: Storm On Water
Chapter 73: Storm On Water
The black ocean swells rose and fell in six-meter crests beneath the reinforced steel hull of the gunboat Vanguard Four.
Fin stood on the spray-swept foredeck in his waterproof combat coat, staring into the dark squalls where Platform Tartarus loomed against the horizon.
"See anything yet?" Ruby asked, stepping up beside him with her poncho hood pulled tight.
"Just the radar dome," Fin said, pointing toward a faint red rotating beacon blinking forty feet above the waves. "And the flare stack on the eastern gantry."
"The sea fog is breaking," Ruby noted, wiping saltwater from her eyebrows. "We’re losing our visual cover."
"Wave action is masking our engine rumble," Fin replied. "The diesel turbines are throttled down to six knots."
Nila climbed up from the lower companionway, adjusting the strap of her cased rapier across her waterproof pack.
"The boarding grapples are primed," Nila reported. "Magnetic clamps are pressurized to eight hundred pounds per square inch."
"Maya," Fin spoke into his collar radio. "How close are we to their radar perimeter?"
"Four hundred meters," Maya’s voice crackled through the earpiece from the armored wheelhouse. "Their automated sweep is initiating its forty-five-second cycle right now."
"Can you blind it?"
"Injecting the false feedback loop now," Maya said, her keyboard clattering in the background. "Three... two... one... loop confirmed! Their fire-control sensors are locked into a self-test diagnostic for the next three minutes."
"Full throttle to the southern caisson," Fin commanded the wheelhouse.
Vanguard Four surged forward with a deep turbine roar, cleaving through the churning white froth as the massive steel legs of the platform towered overhead.
The gunboat slowed, pitching violently in the swell as it drifted beneath the rusted shadow of the southwest caisson leg.
Eight meters directly above the churning water, a narrow industrial maintenance catwalk clung to the vertical iron rivets.
"Look at that swell," Ruby muttered, leaning over the railing as the boat rose and fell six feet with every wave. "If the pilot holds station alongside, the hull is going to smash into the caisson."
"He can’t hold station," Fin said, stepping up onto the forward gunwale.
"Fin, wait-!" Nila called out. "The catwalk is eight meters up! You can’t reach the ladder from here-!"
’Eight meters of open air... visible empty grating.’
[ Active skill: Spatial Warp Slip L1 initiated ]
[ Mana cost deducted: 10 mana ]
[ Mana gauge: 40 → 30/40 ]
A sharp, electric violet shimmer enveloped Fin’s boots, the dark sea spray and roaring wind folding inward in a silent pulse of displaced space.
Before the next wave could crash over the bow, Fin vanished entirely from the deck of Vanguard Four.
He materialized instantly on the wet iron grating eight meters above, his rubber soles locking firmly onto the rusted diamond plate.
[ Spatial Warp Slip L1 executed successfully ]
[ Ability cooldown initiated: 30 seconds ]
"He actually did it..." Nila’s voice floated up from the boat in a stunned gasp.
"Stop staring and grab the lines!" Ruby ordered. "Fin, drop the anchor!"
Fin unhooked the heavy magnetic grapple from his tactical pack, slamming the dual magnetic pads onto the thick steel I-beam of the catwalk.
"Lines are down!" Fin called over the railing, throwing two braided climbing ropes into the darkness. "Climb!"
Ruby grabbed the primary rope, ascending the vertical steel with swift, rhythmic pulls of her athletic arms.
Nila followed right behind her, vaulting over the catwalk railing with effortless grace as the gunboat backed away into the mist.
"Thirty seconds on the radar blind," Maya warned through their headsets. "Move to the flight deck now!"
"Follow me," Fin commanded, heading for the spiral iron staircase bolted to the caisson.
They sprinted up the narrow stairs, bursting through the upper security hatch onto the vast, rain-slicked expanse of the central helipad.
The instant their boots touched the deck, sixteen shrill warning sirens detonated across the platform in unison.
"Intruder alert! Section Four flight deck breached!" a mechanical broadcast blared over the loudspeakers.
Across the sixty-meter expanse of riveted steel plating, sixteen heavy automated combat constructs activated their diesel drives with a collective roar.
Each tracked unit mounted dual rotary twenty-millimeter machine guns and a glowing red optical sensor dome.
"Look at those barrels-!" Nila yelled, drawing her rapier.
"Sixteen units!" Ruby shouted, slamming the butt of her kite shield into the steel deck. "They’re locking target coordinates!"
"They won’t fire a single round," Fin said.
[ Active skill: Overclock initiated ]
[ Stamina: 100 → 60/100 ]
[ Agility: 97 → 291 (temporary surge) ]
The storm froze in mid-howl, the driving rain turning into a motionless curtain of crystalline beads hanging in the red emergency light.
Fin launched himself across the rain-slicked helipad with two hundred and ninety-one Agility, his boots skimming across the puddles like a skimming stone.
His steel hatchet flashed downward, the reverse spike penetrating the reinforced ammunition feed of the nearest construct with surgical precision.
The twenty-millimeter belted ammunition jammed instantly, Fin vaulting off the disabled machine toward the second pair of advancing units.
He drew both blackened daggers in a single, fluid blur, driving the tempered steel points directly through the hydraulic steering manifolds of both tracks.
Pressurized oil sprayed into the frozen air, Fin spinning through the center of their formation with relentless, concussive kinetic force.
He shattered optical sensor domes, severed hydraulic lines, and sheared drive chains before a single firing solenoid could engage.
The twelve-second timer ticked down to zero, real-time speed crashing back over the helipad with a deafening thunderclap.
[ Overclock disengaged ]
[ Stamina gauge: 60/100 ]
The remaining four constructs opened fire simultaneously, unleashing a blinding torrent of high-caliber tracer rounds across the wet deck.
"Shield up-!" Ruby roared, surging forward to plant her kite shield directly in the line of fire.
The heavy twenty-millimeter slugs slammed into the curved steel face with deafening, metallic thunder, sparks showering into the howling wind.
"I’ve got your flank, Ruby!" Nila shouted, darting out from behind the shield perimeter.
Her silver foil thrust forward with lightning academy speed, the tempered needle point driving straight into the sensor slit of the third unit.
"Core punctured!" Nila called out as the machine sputtered and died in an electrical shower.
Fin closed from the construct’s blind side, swinging his steel hatchet with seventy-seven Strength straight into its main cast-iron engine casing.
The housing cracked in two with a concussive crunch, the internal flywheel shattering as the machine ground to a smoking, twisted halt.
Fin recovered both thrown black daggers from the steel deck, wiping the rainwater from the grips before sliding them back into his belt sheaths.
The landing pad fell quiet, the howling ocean wind washing away the dense cordite smoke of the short, violent clash.
All sixteen automated combat units lay permanently neutralized across the helipad, their broken tracks and shattered barrels leaking black fluid into the drainage grates.
[ Automated platform garrison neutralized: 16 security constructs ]
[ Operational milestone completed: Tartarus flight deck secured ]
[ EXP reward: +400,000 EXP ]
[ Current EXP: 1,835,700 / 2,500,000 ]
[ Attributes: Strength 77 | Agility 97 (Overclock: 291) | Endurance 89 | Sense 54 | Pulse 10 ]
[ Resource status: Stamina 60/100 | Mana 30/40 ]
Maya’s voice crackled through their wireless earpieces, sharp with professional pride.
"Bram and the Iron Dogs just docked both medical ferries at the lower caisson loading ramp," Maya reported. "The boarding corridor is secured, and thirty paramedics are ready to receive the children."
"Flight deck is clear, Maya," Fin spoke into his mic. "Where are the holding cells?"
"Deck three," Maya said. "Take the central freight elevator shaft down sixty feet into the main caisson well."
Before Fin could answer, a terrifying, bone-chilling mechanical roar reverberated up through the open elevator shaft, shaking the steel deck beneath their boots.
The sound was not an engine, carrying instead the vicious, predatory snarl of an engineered biological monster.
"What in the world was that...?" Nila breathed, her hand tightening around her foil hilt.
"The Chairman’s Hound," Ruby said, leveling her spear toward the dark elevator gate. "The captive commander wasn’t lying."
"Listen to the mechanical whine behind that roar," Nila noted, tilting her head. "That’s hydraulic cavitation. The commander was right about the defective grafting."
"The grafts are unstable," Fin agreed. "Its actuators will overheat after thirty seconds of sustained exertion."
"Which means its first kinetic rush is going to be the most dangerous," Ruby said. "It’ll try to crush whatever is in front of it in one burst."
"Then I take the initial charge on my shield," Ruby offered without hesitation.
"No," Fin said. "A corrupted D-plus graft has enough brute mass to crack your shield boss. We don’t take it head-on."
"How do we play it then?" Ruby asked.
"We bait the rush down the narrow corridor," Fin instructed. "Ruby angles the shield to deflect, not absorb. Nila, you stay behind her left shoulder and target the rear leg actuators the moment it overextends."
"And you, captain?" Nila asked.
"I have enough energy left for three more jumps," Fin said, rotating his wrist. "That gives me three angles to get behind its guard."
’Thirty mana... sixty stamina.’
’If I burn another forty stamina on Overclock, I drop to twenty... zero margin for error with one hundred and forty-two lives on the line.’
"Maya," Fin spoke into his headset. "Do we have schematics of the holding cells on deck three?"
"Transmitting to your tactical visor now," Maya answered immediately. "The cells are arranged in an octagonal ring around the main elevator shaft. Solid steel bars with magnetic deadbolts."
"Are the children conscious?" Ruby asked, her voice tight.
"Biometrics show normal sleeping patterns," Maya reported. "They’ve been dosed with mild sedatives to keep them docile during transit."
"Which means none of them can run if the platform catches fire," Fin said grimly.
"Then we make sure the platform doesn’t catch fire," Ruby replied.
"Check your weapons," Fin commanded. "Daggers secure, foil true, spear tip sharp."
"Ready," Ruby said.
"Ready, captain," Nila nodded.
"One hundred and forty-two children are waiting on deck three," Fin said, stepping toward the open elevator gate. "Let’s go bring them home."
Fin led his strike team down into the iron belly of the fortress, ready to face the Chairman’s Hound.