Alarms blared on the deck of the Muramasa. Wojtek sat rigidly, staring ahead at the enemy. Neural link cables, from his skull to the controls, trembled from rushing adrenaline adrenaline. The Catechumen attack fleet spanned the viewscreen, energy cannons blazing. In the distance, caught among the ships, the Federation Excalibur had been overtaken by the Catechumen. The once proud Federation military vessel was now a powerless hunk of metal, engulfed by a twinkling cloud of robotic soldiers. A legion of mechanical angels had breached the Excalibur's hull and were making their way inside. Wojtek and his crew watched the Catechumen forces invade the helpless Federation vessel in the distance -and they knew their ship was next.
Lit by red emergency lighting, the crew worked furiously at their stations.
"Horos depleted," Razz said. The monstrous orange rock alien leaned back into seat. He unclenched his fingers from the specialized controls on the armrests. "So this is what it feels like to lose a battle."
The Muramasa rocked suddenly, and a booming sound reverberated through the walls. "Direct hit," Zahra said, eyes locked on the data display. "They're aiming for the core."
"They want us alive," Wojtek said.
Another blast shook the ship.
"They're gonna board us?" Anwar asked.
"They're gonna try." Lujain spun from her station. With heavy metal footfalls, she walked briskly across the deck towards the rear entrance.
"Where you goin'?" Wojtek asked.
"When they knock, I'm gonna answer." Lujain continued towards the rear door. Her massive cyborg frame sent vibrations along the metal floor with each heavy step. She stopped by the exit long enough to grab a plasma cannon hanging from the wall.
Wojtek nodded. "They'll prob'ly come through the bay."
"Yep." Lujain hit the large button with a closed metal fist, and the door slid open. "I'll hold the main hall. Wait for 'em there."
"You can't be serious." Zahra yelled to Lujain as she walked out into the hall. "There's an army of them out there. What do you think you're gonna do?"
"I'm gonna put up a fight." Lujain continued down the hall.
"I will go as well," the reptilian alien Chaicauhtli hissed from the rear of the deck. "Give me a gun." He stepped forward, long tail raised aggresively behind him, and extended an open hand. "I can help."
"You know how to use it?" Wojtek raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." Chaicauhtli nodded. "I am an expert." His tongue flicked across his mouth.
"Right." Wojtek remembered the implant in the lizard creature's brain, and the many foreign memories imparted to him. Chaicauhtli now shared experiences with Lujain, Zahra, Wojtek himself, and maybe others. No doubt he'd picked up a wealth of combat experience during the implant procedure. "Take yer' pick." Wojtek motioned to the array of energy weapons along the wall.
Chaicauhtli rushed over in long strides and quickly crossed the deck. He pulled a laser rifle from the wall, gripping it with both hands, then charged into the hall.
Cassai LaCroix walked to Lujain's vacant station, stopping to pore over the scrolling sensor readouts.
"You think you're gonna help?" Wojtek asked Cassia. The ship shook with another loud boom.
"Couldn't make things much worse, could I?" Cassia tapped at the console.
"I don't know." Wojtek laughed. "Let's find out."
"It's as bad as it looks?" Nigel asked Cassia, walking to join at her side.
"It's bad." She sighed.
The viewscreen grew bright with an approaching wave of rolling lights, a tsunami of sparkling specks in the distance. The flock of robotic angels, thousands of mechanical soldiers, raced unstoppably towards their position.
The screen flashed suddenly with an exploding ball of plasma. A descending hum rang through the ship, followed by silence.
"Core's down," Zahra said.
"Weapon systems offline." Wojtek rubbed his face. The robotic legion drew steadily closer. "Well -" Wojtek turned to Zahra "- looks like we're done here."
"Looks that way." Zahra nodded. "It's been nice workin' with you 'Tek."
"Likewise." A smile flashed across his face. "It's been a fun ride. You gonna join 'em back there?"
"You don't need me here?" Zahra raised an eyebrow
"Not much to do without a core." Wojtek shrugged. "I'll hold the helm."
"Alright." Zahra pushed up from her chair. "Thanks for everything."
Wojtek nodded and looked back to the viewscreen. He took a deep breath. The Muramasa floated in space, disabled and helpless. There was nothing to do but wait for the approaching robotic horde.
Wojtek turned to survey the deck. Zahra was just exitting the rear door behind Razz. The two of them marched down the hall, energy weapons in hand. Loud bangs of metal on metal sounded through the ship.
"They're landing on the hull," Wojtek said. Shearing, grinding noises screamed through the thick walls as the invaders started to work, carving at the metal. "Sorry I couldn't get you two back home." He looked towards Cassia and Nigel. "Can't win 'em all, I guess."
"You're really giving up?" Cassia asked.
"You hear that sound? They're cuttin' through the hull. We've got no power on primary systems." He shook his head. "It's not a question of giving up. There's literally nothing I can do."
Wojtek switched his console to a view of the main hall. Lujain, Zahra, Razz, and Chaicauhtli were positioned strategically along its length. Wojtek took a moment to appreciate the beauty in their expert tactical training and teamwork. They were an effective and functional team. Even the reptilian Chaicauhtli had found his role in the group. The lizard creature clung to the ceiling, aiming his rifle down with one hand to provide coverage from above.
In the rear of the deck the blue alien Zoojin stood motionless, eyes milky white, locked in a trance. Wojtek stared at the rigidly meditating alien prince.
"So much for all your mind powers," Wojtek said, "you blue alien fuck."
The colour returned to Zoojin's eyes, dark clouds spilling into the white orbs until they were saturated a deep purple.
"Look who decided to wake up." Wojtek threw a hand into the air. "You're just in time to see us get fucked." He pointed to the front viewscreen where a flock of metal angels circled. The sounds of the robotic troops shearing and grinding into the ship continued all around.
"Fire a missile," Zoojin said. He stepped forward rapidly, making his way towards Wojtek.
"What?"
"Fire a missile," Zoojin repeated. He stopped to stand centered a few paces from the viewscreen. "I don't have time to explain."
"We fired plenty while you were takin' a nap," Wojtek yelled. "Didn't do shit. Anyways, we've got no power."
Zoojin looked down to the ground. He opened his hands, aiming palms toward the metal floor. Bright blue energy arced out from his finger tips, six beams of lightning that sparked and crackled as they crawled across the floor. "There's power now." His long blue fingers relaxed at his sides as the torrent of energy ceased.
"He's right." Cassia pointed to the console. "Power's back online."
"Fire a missile," Zoojin repeated.
Wojtek turned back to the view screen. "At what?" A twisting whirlwind of robotic warriors almost fully obscured the stars that lay behind.
Zoojin thrust his hands forward then spread his arms quickly to the sides. The sea of robots split across the center, parting to form a clear view into the Catechumen vessels in the distance. "At the ships" -Zoojin held his arms outstretched as though holding open an invisible gate- "any of them."
"Okay." Wojtek nodded. "Firing." A small dot of thruster light appeared on the viewscreen, shrinking as it sped into the distance. "But we tried hittin' 'em already." Wojtek leaned forward as his eyes tracked the path of the missile. "Barely touched their shields."
Wojtek, Cassia, and Nigel watched the viewscreen intently. The small speck of light curved slightly in the air, approaching one of the larger Catechumen vessels. Wojtek magnified the distant ship on screen, bringing ithe cross-shaped hull more clearly into view. It was a massive ship. The missile seemed to almost disappear as it approached the black hull of the vessel, covered with ornate designs of glittering gold.
"That's the command ship" -Zoojin spoke as the missile rocketed towards the vessel- "the Jehovah."
"Command ship?" Cassia took a step towards the viewscreen. "How can you tell?"
"Because it is sending orders to the others," Zoojin answered. "Because I can hear it."
The missile approached the Jehovah, speeding past the invisible sphere of defensive energy that should have destroyed the projectile. The missile's thrusters were a pinprick of light against the hull. It struck, exploding into a massive ball of white plasma.
"Yeah!" Nigel pumped his fist in the air. "You got 'em."
The debris cleared, revealing a small cratered hole in the ship's exterior.
"So what?" Wojtek shook his head. "So we can dent 'em? They've got more ships than we've got missiles."
"They now feel threatened," Zoojin replied. "They will counter attack."
"No kidding." Wojtek sat straight up as the viewscreen lit up with a volley of hundreds of missiles, streaks of distant light that brightened as they headed straight for the Muramasa. The cloud of angels dissipitated suddenly, disappearing from the viewscreen as winged robots fled in all directions. The sounds of the robots tearing through the hull was replaced by perfect silence. "They're tryin' to finish us off."
"At least we're not goin' to their prison," Cassia said.
Zoojin brought his hands together, fingers tensed in the air as though compressing an unseen object. The distant missiles flipped and curved in space, their thrusters forming a massive tangle of bright, curving lines. Like a shrinking ball of glowing yarn, the mass of missiles swirled together in space, closing back in on the Jehovah. They collided simultaneously on their target in a brilliant explosion, and the Muramasa's viewscreen flashed solid white. Nigel lifted a forearm in front of his eyes. Cassia squinted from the sudden brightness.
The flash dissipated. A burnt metal husk of a ship floated before them. Its skeletal remains were surrounded by an expanding field of debris. Zoojin lifted his open hand and closed it into a tight fist. What remained of the Jehovah collapsed suddenly in space, crumpling in on itself like paper before their eyes. The cloud of debris was sucked inwards, joining the sphere of scrap metal at the center.
Wojtek's jaw-dropped. He stared with wide eyes at the compacted ball metal.
"'Tek" -Lujain's voice came through the communicator- "you there?"
"I'm here," he answered.
"Looks like they backed off," Lujain said. "And I'm readin' we've got power. What's goin' on?"
"That's a good question." Wojtek deactivated the communicator and turned to Zoojin. "What's goin' on?"
"I destroyed the Jehovah," Zoojin answered.
"I can see that," Wojtek said. "But how? How the hell did you that?"
Nigel and Cassia looked expectantly towards Zoojin. The crumpled wreckage of the former Jehovah spun in the viewscreen, a sphere of scrap metal.
"You can call the others back here," Zoojin said. "We're in no danger now."
"'Tek?" Zahra's voice came back through the communicator. "You gonna tell us what's goin' on?"
"You sure we're safe?" Wojtek asked Zoojin.
"Yes." Zoojin nodded.
"What about the other ships?" Wojtek waved towards the massive armada of Catechumen vessels that cluttered the space across the viewscreen.
"They are not a threat," Zoojin answered.
Wojtek paused a moment. "You can head back to the deck" -Wojtek spoke through the communicator- "the threat's been averted."
The rear door to the deck slid open with a pneumatic hiss.
"Averted?" Lujain stood in the open hatch, plasma cannon held across her chest. The emergency lighting cast a red sheen across her metallic armored surface. "The hell happened?" She stepped inside.
Zahra walked in behind Lujain, followed by the reptilian Chaicauhtli and the golemesque Razz. The four rushed into the deck, still shaking from adrenaline, weapons readied and charged. They marched to center-deck and stopped to face the front viewscreen, where the Catechumen vessels floated motionless in the distance.
"He stopped 'em somehow," Wojtek said, and tilted his head towards Zoojin.
"Stopped 'em?" Lujain's asked.
"Yes," Zoojin answered.
"You talked 'em down?" Zahra asked.
"No." Zoojin shook his head. "I took control."
"Took control?" Lujain repeated. "How?"
"I am channeling the energy of the prisoners on the Sepulchre," Zoojin explained. "Their combined force of will is feeding through me." He looked down at his hands, holding them outstretched before his eyes, as though examining them for the first time. "The chamber they are in -the neural simulation- it is like a lens, perfectly focussing their energy. I never imagined that such power was even possible. And now it flows through my fingers."
"You can really control the other ships?" Wojtek asked. Around the crushed wreck of the Jehovah, The Catchumen armada was laid out across the surrounding space, hundreds of cross-shaped vessels facing towards the Muramasa.
"Yes." Zoojin squared himself with Wojtek. "The vessels are unmanned, designed to take orders from the command ship. I am communicating with them in place of Jehovah. Look -" Zoojin motioned to the viewscreen "- I am ordering the robots back to their ships." The crew watched the army of angels retreat back to the Catechumen vessels, thrusters lighting up space in a receding wave of light. "Their reign of darkness is over," Zoojin said. "They are defeated."
Wojtek kept his eyes locked on the vast armada, still not fully accepting that the blue alien at his side now controlled the Catechumen fleet, with just the power of his mind. "So now what?" Wojtek asked finally.
"Now you can all return home," Zoojin answered.
"What about you?" Wojtek looked to Zoojin.
"I came here for the Proving," Zoojin started, "to prepare for my role as a monarch. I've finished what I came here to do, but I can't return home yet. The people of the Sepulchre are my subjects now. I can't leave them."
"So what will you do?" Wojtek asked.
"There is work to be done here," Zoojin said, staring into the distance. "I will return to Triumph and rescue the survivors there. With the power of the Sepulchre, I will rebuild their world. I will correct the damage that has been done to them."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Razz growled angrily. "We had a deal, remember? You work for us now."
Zoojin spun to face the rocky orange alien, several heads higher than himself and several times more massive. "I have saved your vessel and all of your lives." Zoojin stared up into Razz's sunken black eyes. "You may consider the debt paid, and I free to pursue more noble aims."
"You were the one who dragged us here." Razz poked Zoojin's chest. "If not for you, we wouldn't be in this place."
"I did not force your hand in coming here. You knew the risks, and you accepted them. You must take responsibility for your own actions."
"Risks? Responsibility?" Razz levelled his plasma cannon to Zoojin's. "How about this risk?" Razz prodded Zoojin with the weapon.
"Razz," Wojtek said. "Put the damn gun down."
Razz snarled, his body tensed and frozen in place.
"Take a seat," Wojtek ordered. "He's right, you know? He saved our lives."
Razz turned away, marched with heavy steps back towards his station, then thumped his monstrous body into his chair with a crash.
"Thank you all for your assistance." Zoojin bowed to the others. "I will go now, and take the fleet to Triumph." Zoojin walked towards the hall.
"You want a lift?" Wojtek asked. "We don't have a shuttle, but I could take you."
"I will take the Cell," Zoojin answered.
"The Cell?" Wojtek repeated. He then recalled the strange giant egg where he had first found Zoojin, the object that seemed to morph and change with the alien's intentions. "You told me it wasn't a ship."
"It can be, now," Zoojin answered. "I have sufficient power to make it one." He continued towards the exit.
"Zoojin," Nigel called after him.
"Yes?"
"Can I go with you?" Nigel asked.
"Yes." Zoojin nodded. "Follow me." He continued into the hall.
Nigel turned to Cassia. "I've got to go. I know you've just trained me for the job and everything, but-"
"-you don't have to explain it to me," Cassia interrupted, holding up her hand. She knew Nigel was a refugee from Triumph. Now he would have a chance to return to his homeworld, to be reunited with the survivors there, and to help rebuild the colony.
Nigel extended his open hand to Cassia. "Sorry if I wasted your time."
"Don't worry about it." Cassia flashed a smile and shook Nigel's outstretched hand. "I appreciated the company."
"Me too. Now I gotta go!" Nigel turned and ran to catch up with Zoojin.
"Good luck," Cassia called after him.
"I can't believe we are letting him leave," Razz grumbled, watching as Zoojin and Nigel disappeared into the hallway towards the bay. "That scrawny blue turd owes us. We had a deal."
"The way I see it," Wojtek started, "we might've just watched him become one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. I'd prefer to stay on his good side."
"He would have failed without us," Razz said.
"Sure seems that way." Wojtek nodded. "Maybe some day we'll remind him of it, if we need to call in a favour."
"So now what?" Zahra asked.
"Now we head back to Blue Sky." Wojtek relaxed back into his chair. "Check out the damage, get to work on repairs." He turned to lock eyes with Cassia. "And collect some cash."
Cassia nodded. "Yep."
"I just hope for your sake you've got insurance." Wojtek grinned.
"Don't worry about me," Cassia shot back. "I'm always prepared."
"What about you?" Zahra turned to Chaicauhtli. "What's your plan?"
Chaicauhtli was taken aback at his sudden induction to the conversation. He stared for a moment with the slits of his reptilian eyes. "Well," Chaicauhtli hissed, "I suppose I will look for a suitable company at Blue Sky. Or perhaps a refugee port in the interim."
Zahra, Wojtek, and Lujain exchanged glances.
"Don't bother with the refugee port," Wojtek said. "If you need some time, you could stay on board here until you find a company."
Chaicauhtli bowed his scaled head. "Thank you for the offer, Wojtek. I'll consider it."
A gentle beeping sounded from the console. The bay door was opening.
"They're on the way." Wojtek pointed to the viewscreen. A large purple egg emerged from the Muramasa's bay. Contained within was the alien prince Zoojin and his guest, Nigel, the refugee from Triumph. The egg-ship made its way towards the shimmering fleet of Catechumen vessels in the distance, crosses sparkling like jewelry laid across the blackness of space. The purple egg shrank as it raced towards the fleet, then disappeared completely from view.