Shadow Slave

The vehicle stable of the battleship took up a whole lesser cargo hold. Calling it lesser, of course, did not do the space justice — it was a vast metal hall filled with all types of heavy machinery and bustling human activity.

Feeling the floor sway slightly beneath him, Sunny walked along various cradles, each holding a powerful engine of war, until he reached the one assigned to his cohort. There, he finally saw the Rhino.

Sunny remained motionless for a while, studying the formidable vehicle.

The armored personnel carrier was angular and stocky, with heavy plates of composite alloy armor covering its solid frame. Its design was stout, sleek, and strangely predatory. The whole machine was almost the size of a train car, with six mighty wheels supporting its overbearing weight.

Each massive wheel was as tall as a human and as tough as the alloy hull of the Rhino. A lot of engineering went into making the APC as mobile as possible — not only were the wheels connected to an extremely robust suspension system, they were also attached to a set of short integrated limbs that could be extended from the frame of the vehicle to raise its profile and maneuverability.

The APC also possessed powerful boosters that allowed it to sustain brief bursts of autonomous levitation, hop over short distances, or soften the blow of landing from height. It could even move across water as an amphibious vessel… not that Sunny had any plans to do so.

The feature that gave the Rhino its peculiar name was a massive steel wedge that was raised slightly above its wide snout. This plow could be lowered down to the ground, turning the APC into a semblance of a heavy siege ram. With this sharp catcher lowered, the alloy beast looked like it was capable of tearing through walls, piles of debris, natural obstacles, and the flesh of the Nightmare Creatures with equal ease.

Sunny studied it with a dark sense of glee.

'Well, alright. I have to admit… it does look good.'

He lowered his eyes and looked at Kim and Samara, who were busy inspecting the vehicle. He walked over to his technicians and asked in a neutral tone:

"So, what's the status?"

the screen of her communicator, where a diagnostic program was displaying the results of a series of complicated tests. She offered him

be in order, Captain. He's

of the APC, which had been painted in a grey camouflage

armor, highly maneuverable, and has exceedingly durable internals. With the expensive upgrades we procured, he had become nothing

a couple of times, coming to terms with the fact

to foot and

to take

her nonchalantly and

"Sure."

to take a look

hatch, climbed a set of steep steps, and found himself

utilitarian, and designed with maximum durability in mind. It was clear that he was inside a

it was because he knew how much all this seemingly unassuming equipment

panels and switches with an excited expression. There was enough space in there for a couple of additional seats, as well.

were plenty of monitors displaying the feeds

dedicated to a modest living space. There was a small lounge area where the crew could rest and spend time together, a compact galley, and a partitioned hygiene compartment. Six sleeping nooks were situated on the opposing walls. Sunny could already imagine the competition for who would get the bottom

of these "bunks" could actually function as a dedicated sleeping pod, should

the lounge area was a cargo hold that also served as the armory and integrated a high-tech engineering workstation. The engineering compartment itself was situated below the floor and ran the whole length

powerful console connected to the antennae array of the APC, and a set of monitors that

that was an alcove where Sunny's own bed was

best the First