Harbinger (Nova Online #3) - A LitRPG Series

by Alex Knight

  The cruiser took a beating, but it did its job. Only a few pieces were blasted off in the process.

  “Godspeed, Captains,” Acton said and Thorne could swear she saw him salute from the cockpit before the Veritas II turned hard and hit the afterburners. The anti-air fire followed it, but the ship’s rear shields were fresh and did a good job keeping it mostly together on the retreat. Most ships didn’t have separate health pools for each shield face – it was a top-tier upgrade. Thorne had made a considerable credit contribution to Acton and Ellenton, which they’d used to upgrade the Veritas II and the Borrelly with the best modifications on the market.

  As the Veritas II shrunk away to nothing but the glowing light of engines, Thorne focused her attention back to their present situation inside the Borrelly.

  There were a few sparks spitting from the ceiling and wall panels as Ellenton guided them below the firing arcs of the anti-air guns and slammed on the brakes. The retro-thrusters blasted to life outside the cockpit glass and Thorne felt her body doing its best to phase through her seat belt as the Borrelly went from stupidly fast to basically still in two seconds.

  “Looks like this is your stop,” Ellenton said from the cockpit, but the rear ramp was whirring down and everyone was already in motion, ripping off seat belts and jumping to their feet. Thorne wormed out of her own harness, grabbed her hammer, and sprinted toward the ramp.

  “Remember to give your driver a good rating!” Ellenton shouted after them.

  Thorne paused for just a moment at the start of the ramp. The pock-marked, crater-filled surface of Custos was a pace away but she turned back toward her fellow former warden in the cockpit.

  “Good flying, Lieutenant,” she said. “Now get up there and give ‘em hell.”

  Turning around in her seat, Ellenton broke into a broad smile, then saluted.

  “With pleasure, Captain.”

  Thorne leapt down to the surface. The Borrelly was gone before she landed. It arced up into the sky, drawing a hail of anti-air fire as it climbed. In moments Thorne had lost sight of it, unable to tell it apart from the thousand other streaking lines of light above. Was the Anakoni up there among them? She didn’t know, and all at once she realized she didn’t care.

  “All right, then,” Thorne said to herself as she brought her eyes down to the battleground around her. “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Seventy-two minutes and counting…

  Kaiden reached the cover of a small crater, threw himself down and out of the line of fire, and took a half second to glance up at the timer.

  Eight minutes? Their hellacious descent to the surface had only been eight minutes long? It’d felt like half an hour, at least. But that was the past. Ellenton had gotten them down safely. That was objective one achieved. On to the next, then.

  Kaiden raised his eyes to the reinforced gate that led down into Warden HQ. It wasn’t more than three hundred yards away, but looking at it now, he couldn’t help but feel daunted by everything that stood between them and it.

  Chaos. Everywhere he looked. All around him the largest battle in Nova’s history was playing out. Shuttles were landing anywhere they could find an open scrap of ground, their rear ramps dropping so the troops inside could pour out. And then came the freighters. Most were shot basically to pieces by the time they touched down, but they were getting the job done. By design, the anti-air turrets in Nova had a floor beneath which they couldn’t shoot. Once the landing ships dropped below that altitude they were safe – from the anti-air, at least.

  Kaiden ducked behind his shield as a Warden Corps corvette managed to pull free from the fight above – one of the few that was able to thanks to the ferocity of the fighting. The plan was to use their ships to keep the warden fleet engaged so the ground forces were free to focus on the HQ’s surface defenders. But occasionally a smaller vessel would break through to harry them briefly from above. This one came in low, weaponry blazing as it aimed to pick off a landed freighter. Return fire from the ground shredded the corvette’s shields, but its own guns got the job done anyway. The landed freighter collapsed inwards as the hull was breached. Players and NPCs fled from the ship and moments later its core detonated, killing any left on board and many of those who’d been fleeing. The blast was big enough that even a hundred or more paces away Kaiden felt the concussion deep in his chest. His ears rang with the roar of the dying vessel and lights flashed in his eyes long after the ship was reduced to smoldering rubble.

  Kaiden flicked open the command module to get a better grip on everything around him. Most of their forces were landed and more were coming by the moment. The module showed the current battlefield as a hologram, projected onto his vision. Wherever it could, it overlaid data over the real-time visuals he was seeing.

  “Soon as they’re on the ground, make sure your troops get to cover!” Kaiden said into the comm channel that’d been created for the commanders of the combined force.

  “Will pass it along.”

  “Understood.”

  “Like we discussed.”

  A half-dozen or so voices replied. Some, like Odditor and PlayaSlaya, Kaiden knew. Others he considered friends, like Nando, Dawson, and Ellenton. The rest, he didn’t personally know. But it was hard to know every commander in a force of a couple thousand. Especially with how quickly it’d been assembled.

  “My uh, group leaders have been, have been notified,” Odditor’s voice replied next. “Ooh, that’s a big one there,” he said, sounding suddenly excited and distracted. His voice was more distant now, as if he was talking away from the mic. “Let’s see if she’s as tough as she looks…”

  High above there was a resounding explosion as the guns of the Veritas – formerly Bernstein’s and now Odditor’s dreadnought – presumably tore into an opposing vessel.

  “Maximus warriors know what to do. They don’t need your commands.” PlayaSlaya’s voice came last. Sounded almost offended at the suggestion “This ain’t their first landing under fire.”

  It took Kaiden a moment to realize the guild leader hadn’t spoken through the comms channel, but out loud. Kaiden pulled his eyes from the raging battle to find PlayaSlaya next to him, face set in a grin. Looked for all the world like he was enjoying himself, huddled down in a crater as anything and everything exploded around them.

  Burning soil rained down, hissing and thunking as it hit the ground, and PlayaSlaya only smiled wider.

  I guess this is sort of his thing…

  PlayaSlaya was wearing different armor than the last time Kaiden had seen him.

  Nihilist’s Rage Powersuit, Warlord edition

  It was all spikes and painted metal and interlocking plates that moved with surprising fluidity. Some sort of end-game gear, Kaiden didn’t doubt, but he didn’t have time at the moment to pay much attention to it.

  Nando was beside PlayaSlaya, as always. The familiar face was a welcome sight amidst the chaos unfurling around them. Maybe he’d always been a bit blunt, but if their heart to heart back on Kyraxis had proven anything it was that Nando had his reasons for being here. He harbored no love for the Party and he was committed to bringing it down.

  “You ready to do this?” Nando asked.

  “Can’t really back out now,” Kaiden said.

  “No, I guess not.” Nando chuckled. “Let’s take these bastards down.”

  Kaiden agreed with a nod and turned to evaluate the situation around him.

  PlayaSlaya and Nando, along with five of their elite guild members, had come down on their own landing ship. They’d made their way over to link up with Kaiden and the others, aka the ‘bomb team.’ Classic first-person shooters had always had a game mode where one team had to break through the enemy’s defense and plant a bomb at a specific location. This was sort of like that, except the bomb they were carrying was the database – and it was going to do a whole lot more damage than just an explosion.

  The Borrelly had brought the rest of the bomb team down
to the surface: Kaiden, Zelda, Titus, Thorne, Dawson, and a few free wardens. Kaiden didn’t know them, but he focused on them to recall their names.

  Eqokkhabone

  Free Warden

  Class: Shield Warden

  Faction: Unaffiliated

  Level: 55

  Credwin

  Free Warden

  Class: Power Warden

  Faction: Unaffiliated

  Level: 53

  AxeJacton

  Free Warden

  Class: Power Warden

  Faction: Unaffiliated

  Level: 60

  Friends of Dawson, Kaiden recalled. And part of the much larger free warden force the former sergeant had raised to help them. They would form the core of the ground force, but these three had been singled out to stay with Dawson as personal guards to make sure Kaiden and everyone else could do what they’d come to do.

  Kaiden activated the command module and looked forward to the reinforced gate of Warden HQ. Getting through that was the next step. Then to navigate the maze that was the base – fighting the whole while, no doubt – and get to the AFBS control room. Then broadcast the database to everyone, then bring down the Party and—

  Kaiden stopped himself. None of that would be happening if they didn’t get through that gate.

  One thing at a time, dude.

  “Odditor,” he said through the command channel again. “We’re dug in down here. Ready for the gate busters.”

  There was silence a long moment, then Whenstone’s voice came over comms.

  “Afraid that’s not going to be possible—”

  What?

  “There’s too many of them up here. Far more resistance than we expected. The cruisers will never make it down there to take down the gate.”

  “Shit.” Kaiden looked up toward the battle raging above. It was thoroughly impossible to tell how things were going, aside from violently.

  “We need cruisers to blow open the gate and get us inside,” Kaiden said. “That was the plan.”

  “We’re losing cruisers left and right. Most of those still with us have less than half their hull integrity remaining. Anything we send down there is going to be picked apart—”

  Whenstone was cut off as something exploded on his end. A moment later he was back, sounding considerably more desperate than before.

  “I’m sending all we can spare. They’re going to have to do.”

  “Understood,” Kaiden said, feeling dread creep up inside of his chest.

  He drew his focus to the ground troops around him. It looked like most of them were landed now. His earlier order to take cover had apparently reached the right ears. As he watched, the players and NPCs that made up the combined army were taking shelter wherever they could find it; in the various craters across Custos’ surface, the rubble of destroyed ships, or just huddling up behind the nearest shield warden or tank-class player. But they couldn’t stay there forever; they needed to break through the gate, needed to take the fight to the Corps inside.

  Two large streaks of light broke from the fleet-on-fleet battle above – heavy cruisers, Kaiden knew from the size of their contrails. The gate busters, or what was left of them. They’d planned to have far more make the dangerous run to blow open the gate.

  They made it all of halfway to the surface of the asteroid before a wing of Warden Corps corvettes intercepted them.

  “No!” Kaiden shouted, but there was no stopping it. The cruisers took down a fair few of the attackers, but there were too many. They hadn’t planned to meet so much resistance. It wasn’t supposed to have been here. The first heavy cruiser exploded and the second went dark, losing power apparently and spinning off to one side. A few moments later it slammed into a smaller asteroid and spun away.

  The gate... the gate has a health pool, just like everything else in Nova, right? Kaiden thought, desperately trying to piece something together. That means we can destroy it. With ships or with the ground forces. Whatever it takes.

  Kaiden took a moment to swallow his own doubt. His fear that they’d come so far only to fail so early.

  No. There’s no room for that. Not now.

  “Odditor, Whenstone, whoever’s still alive up there, we need anything you can get down here to attack that gate. But if you can’t, we’re going to do it ourselves.”

  There was no response and Kaiden didn’t have time to wait for one anyway.

  We need to get inside as soon as possible.

  “All right, everyone,” Kaiden said through the commander-only comm channel, his direct line to the ear of everyone fighting on their side. “We’re on the ground. Now the fun begins.” He stepped above the rim of the crater and gestured with his hammer, jutting it toward the reinforced gate three hundred or so yards away. “The Warden Corps thinks that little thing’s gonna keep us out. Let’s show them how wrong they are, yeah?” He shouted that last part – partly to convince himself and partly to convince everyone else. As he did, above the explosions of downed ships, the roaring of engines, and the endless screams of firing weaponry, he heard a general, if faint, cheer go up from his forces.

  They’re ready for this. They want this fight.

  He smiled to himself.

  So let’s do it. Whatever it takes.

  “Stage two, then, everyone. Let’s get that door open!” He gestured with his hammer again and the command module adapted, marking the gate as an area to focus fire – an order all of the troops in the force would see in their HUDs. As it appeared, the pockets of troops, huddled into cover all across the battlefield, burst into motion.

  The gate towered in front of them like a boss at the end of some epic quest. Its health bar was the largest Kaiden had ever seen, and around it there were dozens of automated turrets – mini bosses in their own right with their own sizeable health pools – and a line of trenches and bunkers ready to defend it. Blast wardens moved among the trenches, preparing a defense.

  “Form your ranks, move as one, just like we planned.” Kaiden wished he could say ‘practiced’ but there hadn’t been time for that. Luckily, with Maximus guild members sprinkled throughout the force, there were plenty of experienced PVPers to guide the less experienced. For the most part, the army moved as one, tank classes in the front, melee fighters in the middle, and ranged classes in the rear. There were holes in the formations here and there, but considering the circumstances it was good enough. On his command module they formed a wave of green dots, and arrayed before them was a sea of red opposing forces. In the middle, like a tiny arrow point, was the bomb squad, ready to punch through the defenses.

  His own group was among them.

  Titus and the free warden Eqokkhabone were both shield wardens so they took the lead, shields up and on.

  “I’ve been waiting to do this forever,” Titus said as he slid into place next to Eqokkhabone, then activated Shield Brother.

  Ability: Improved Shield Brother

  Locking shields with another shield warden boosts absorption capacity of both your shields by +30%.

  The Maximus guild members PlayaSlaya had brought along were mainly DPS classes – Cybernetic knights and brawlers, plus one medic – so they took position just behind Titus and Eqokkhabone.

  Protecting those in the back. Protecting us, Kaiden thought. And a weird thought it was. But he was important here. And so was Zelda. And Thorne. Each of them had a job to do and they needed to survive long enough to do it.

  PlayaSlaya, Nando, Dawson and the other two free wardens joined up around Kaiden, Zelda, and Thorne, and then the whole unit was off. They rose from the crater that had been protecting them and into a spattering of fire from the Warden Corps defenses.

  The good news was the majority of the ground defenses were designed to repel an air attack. The anti-air turrets couldn’t aim down to ground level. The majority of fire that trickled in at the combined army came from the automated turrets and the small battalion of blast wardens who’d been stationed in the bunkers and trenches
in front of the gate. Hardly enough of them to do much to the approaching army.

  Kaiden’s Intangible Defense passive was ready to blank the first attack that hit him. None did, though; not yet. Titus and the free shield warden, Eqokkhabone, at the head of the bomb team were enough to keep the rest of the group protected.

  “That thing’s got a health pool, like anything else in Nova. We can break it,” Kaiden said, pointing to the gate as he spoke to his group.

  “We’ll see how it holds up to a corps of pissed-off free wardens,” Dawson said.

  “And the finest PVP guild in the game,” PlayaSlaya added, not to be outdone.

  Even as they spoke, though, something ahead of them moved.

  The gate, Kaiden realized. It’s opening!

  Oh, he thought a moment later as he saw why it was opening. Oh, shit.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  They marched in a formation so tight, so perfectly in-sync, it would have been beautiful, would have been inspiring, would have given Kaiden the faith he needed that this battle was well in hand – if only those marching were his own forces and not Warden Corps reinforcements.

  Though reinforcements wasn’t the right word. This wasn’t backup; this was their main force. The defenders of Custos come to do battle.

  Kaiden had expected fifteen hundred wardens, but this force in front of him now was easily two thousand on its own.

  The warden army deployed and Kaiden found himself facing a symphony of destruction set to unfold in four devastating acts.

  The front lines came first. Ranks of shield wardens marched shoulder to shoulder with their massive shields glowing a burning blue. Custos shook beneath the sheer weight of their armor. With Improved Shield Brother they’d be an unbreakable force, ready to take the brunt of all damage and deal it back with Reflection and Karmic Reprisal. With their Intransigence, they were an immovable line of defense.