The ship's alarm was blaring, red lights flashing along the web of corridors. Clad in a stolen spacesuit that was decidedly not her size, Entrapta clutched the detached arm cannon of a sentry bot in her hands as she ran behind Hordak. He knew where he was going, and as long as she followed him, they would not get lost.
They had run into trouble almost from the outset. As soon as one sentry caught sight of them, the alarm was raised, and at almost every turn more bots and Horde clones appeared to block their way. The speed at which the message sent was incredibly impressive. They needed to be quick to have any chance of leaving before Horde Prime himself could get involved.
Since Hordak was disconnected from the Hivemind, he was in no danger of Prime possessing him from a distance. The drawback was he could not see his brothers' movements to maneuver out of their way. This didn't discourage Entrapta. Hordak could still access the computer monitors and open any doors shut against them. He would also be able to activate the ship they would use for their escape.
They had reached a large brightly-lit door and Hordak came to a stop. Entrapta knew this must be one of the hangar bays. As the barrier came down, she grew starry-eyed with amazement. "Incredible!"
The hangar was lined with spacecraft of various sizes. Two were absolutely colossal. Glossy white, they made the wide room look small, and dwarfed the smaller craft lined on either side. These smaller ships were long and needle-like, aligned like two rows of spears. Only a thin shimmering field stood between the ships and open space. At the edge of the bay, the far wall opened to reveal a vast blanket of luminescent clouds and inky black interspersed with countless pinpoints of light.
Entrapta almost swooned at the prospect of exploring one of the larger ships. She cried out in surprise as Hordak grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side, a laser blast missing her head by inches.
"Focus," he hissed.
That was when she noticed the bots. The two ships nearest them were open, and rows of armored robots were emptying from the boarding ramps. There were at least thirty blocking the way. Entrapta risked a look back and saw five Horde clones enter the hangar. They were surrounded.
"What is this foolishness, little brother?"
Hordak stiffened, turning to join Entrapta as they faced the line of clones. The lead Horde clone drew back his hood and flashed a predatory smile.
"So, the poisonous weed has truly corrupted you," Prime drawled as he came forward. "There is nowhere you can go that I cannot reach, nowhere you can hide that I cannot see. It is useless to fight."
He walked several steps closer, and Entrapta leveled her cannon at his chest in an effort to keep him back. Prime laughed, still looking at Hordak.
"But I am merciful. I will give you one final chance to return to my good graces." He turned his glowing eyes to Entrapta. "Destroy her, and all will be forgiven."
Entrapta's eyes met Hordak's. Surely after everything he would not turn on her now. Hordak was hesitating, and the longer he stared at her, the more afraid she became. Her deepest fears came welling up to the surface. He was risking everything for her, but she wasn't worth that. Entrapta's hands shook as she realized this was the end. She would not fight Hordak. She couldn't.
Then Hordak smiled at her. It was a small grim smile, but it was enough, and in that moment nothing else mattered.
"No," he said firmly, turning to Prime. "I will not."
Prime's eyes narrowed to two green slits.
"Entrapta is my friend," Hordak went on. "She has given me freedom, and I will never again submit to your will!"
In an instant, Prime's anger transformed into laughter. The sound echoed through the hangar. "Then you shall watch her die," he proclaimed. "And then, little brother, I shall end your worthless existence."
A high metallic hum joined the sound of the alarm as the bots behind them charged their cannons. Entrapta readjusted her grip on her own weapon, casting a last glance at Hordak. "I will leave those to you," he said to her. "Try to leave at least one ship intact."
"Okay!" Spinning around, Entrapta took her first shot into the line of bots.
She had modified the cannon to give it more firepower. The results were explosive, but the kickback nearly knocked her off her feet. The line of fire was dragged upward, slicing into one of the ships. With a groan and a roar, the ship erupted into flames, shrapnel embedding into several nearby bots. Entrapta's awkward stumble managed to save her from the first wave of laser fire with only minor grazing. Normally she would have had her hair to steady her. The cropped strands stood on end beneath her helmet as she sprinted to the left, avoiding enemy fire, ducking behind a large piece of debris for cover.
Resting her cannon on the debris, Entrapta fired again. She felt a rush as the modified laser cut through a long line of bots, reducing them to a pile of flaming scraps. Laser fire whizzed past her head, but she did not duck down, laughing as she fired a second shot into the line. At the rate this cannon was going, taking down the rest of the bots should be no problem.
One of the bots managed a direct hit to the cannon, nearly tearing it from her hands. Entrapta knelt down behind the debris to examine the damage. The metal was cracked and smoking, but it should still work with a few minor tweaks. She was lucky Hordak managed to find her gloves with her tools. Otherwise the sparks coming from the burnt wires would have singed her hands. Unable to do more, Entrapta brought the cannon back up and tried to fire again. The cannon whined loudly, shaking in her hands, before firing one last volatile blast.
When Entrapta peered through the smoke at the wreckage of the bots, none were still standing. The laser cannon was now useless, cracked almost in half by the force of the final blast. She would have to salvage another.
Leaping over the debris, Entrapta made her way to the scattered pieces of armored bots. If she could find one of them with an intact cannon, she could get herself another weapon.
"Ha! Found one!"
Dragging the bot's mangled torso from the flames, Entrapta got to work separating the cannon cleanly from the arm so it could still fire remotely. "Or I could just fire it from here," she mused aloud.
Tearing a panel from the side of the cannon, she set about rewiring the power mechanism. "That should do it!" Entrapta lifted the cannon and turned to where Hordak was still fighting two of the clones.
Hordak had managed to hold his own so far, but he was visibly tiring. The clones would overpower him if she didn't do something. Taking aim and hoping she wouldn't hit Hordak, Entrapta activated the laser.
Nothing happened.
Letting out a groan of frustration, she turned the cannon over and reexamined the connection. It should have worked. What had she done wrong?
Ahead of her, Hordak managed to knock another clone to the floor, finishing him off with a solid strike to the head. Entrapta would have cheered, but the final clone was already on top of him, taking the opportunity to strike him from behind. The blow landed with brutal precision, right at the base of Hordak's neck.
Hordak's eyes dimmed. Entrapta watched in numb shock as he collapsed to the floor. The final clone left him where he fell and began to advance on her, but she was still staring at Hordak, the cannon hanging loosely in her hands.
The clone was almost on top of her when Entrapta dragged herself to her senses. Flinching, she raised the bot's arm and aimed it straight at the approaching clone. "Stay back!"
The cannon fired just as he lunged for her, hitting him full in the chest. He flew back and landed in a crumpled heap. Entrapta kept the cannon raised, ready to fire again, but he did not get up.
"Hordak!"
Casting aside her weapon, Entrapta rushed to Hordak's side. He was lying face down, unresponsive. "Wake up," she pleaded, shaking his shoulders. "Please!"
The socket at the back of his neck had gone dark. Tears stung her eyes as she stared at it. Hordak wasn't gone. He couldn't be. She would not believe it. He was still breathing, that much she could feel. He just had to wake up. There was only one way she could think to do it.
Digging out her tools from her pocket, Entrapta turned her attention to the darkened terminal. Now that she looked closely, she could see a very dim light inside. That small glow of light was all she needed. Combined with the flashes of red from overhead, she could hardly see what she was doing, but Entrapta was not about to give up now.
Somewhere ahead of her, Entrapta heard a laser fire. It was all the warning she got before a white hot pain erupted in her shoulder, knocking her back. She struck the ground hard and rolled away. Her scalp tingled sharply as she tried to get up, her arms and legs working much too slowly.
Another laser fired and missed. Entrapta managed to find her feet and looked up to see the head and torso of a half-broken bot drag itself from the flames of the wreckage. It stared at her with its diamond eye and levered its cannon at her. Before it could fire again, Entrapta dove for her weapon with a wild cry, rolling to her knees to take aim.
Her first shot missed by a wide margin. The next glanced off its torso, knocking it back several feet, but still it stubbornly pulled itself forward. Entrapta steadied herself, wincing against the pain. She was not going to let this bot reach Hordak. The metal of the cannon felt hot in her hands as if it were in danger of overheating. That didn't matter. All she needed was one good shot.
The next blast struck it square in the head, and finally it lay still.
Clutching her shoulder, Entrapta returned to Hordak's side. The terminal was still dark, but she did not let this discourage her. She knew she could do this. Tech was what she was good at. "I'm not going to leave you," she said as she gathered her tools in trembling hands. "I promise."
The pain in her shoulder and the loud blare of the ship's alarm faded into the background. Nothing else mattered but the task in front of her. "Careful... careful..."
The next few moments passed like an eternity.
"Got it!" The terminal blazed with green light, and Entrapta felt Hordak jolt beside her. He groaned, shaking his head, trying to push himself up. His body was still very weak. Entrapta grabbed hold of his arm to help him and he clung to her.
"Come on," she said, "We're almost to the ship."
Together they managed to get him on his feet, though his walk was very unsteady. He blinked down at her, confused, and her heart skipped a beat at the blank look in his eyes. She must have reset his memory again in her hurry to wake him up. Hordak had no idea where they were going, no idea who she was.
Entrapta bent her head, unwilling to think about it. She was going to get them to a ship and they were going to escape. They could worry about the rest later.
"Entrapta..."
He did remember. That knowledge lifted her heart. Entrapta smiled and squeezed his hand. "I'm here."
~~~
For the first time in the last seventeen hours Hordak allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. Their escape from the flagship had not been easy, and even then a mass of Prime's ships had pursued them. With the help of some last minute modifications Entrapta made to their vessel, Hordak was able to outmaneuver them. For now, it seemed Prime had lost their trail.
Entrapta seemed completely oblivious to the danger they were still in. She had removed her newly acquired spacesuit in order to repair it, but despite Hordak's efforts, she was dismissive of her own injuries. Instead, Entrapta was up and exploring the ship as soon as they were in open space.
She had finally worn herself out ogling every inch of the ship's interior. Now she was by the front console, staring in wonder at the wide expanse of stars outside. Hordak came to stand beside her, his eyes traveling from the floating strands of her cropped hair to the raw red burn on her shoulder. He wanted to thank her, to tell her how much it meant to him that she never gave up despite how much she suffered, that she believed he was something more than a shadow of Prime's image. The words remained tangled inside his head.
Entrapta turned to him, bright-eyed. "We're in space!" she exclaimed.
Hordak almost opened his mouth to say they had been in space for days. Instead he smiled back at her, letting her optimism lift his own spirits. He placed his hand on her good shoulder, and Entrapta took this as an invitation for a hug. This time she held him much more gently, and he did not hesitate to return her embrace.
"I'm so happy you're here with me," she said, her voice muffled against his chest.
"As am I," he answered softly. He wondered if this was something they used to do when they lived on Etheria. It didn't feel familiar, but it was warm and comforting. The unpleasant ache of his illness had returned again, but Hordak was not going to let it scare him, not when he felt so light.
"I think I will rest for a moment," he said. "Would you like to pilot the ship?"
She pulled back to look up at him, and her smile was transcendent. "You want me to fly the ship? Ah!" Entrapta let out a squeak of pure joy. "I've been watching you, of course," she went on as she settled her hands over the controls, "so I've got a pretty good idea how it works. Let's see what this does!"
Hordak gripped the rim of the console as the ship lurched to the side. "Careful!"
"Sorry, sorry! I got it!"
Another bout of pain hit him and Hordak grimaced, grateful Entrapta was too distracted to notice. "I have charted a course for a planet with an atmosphere that should be compatible to yours," he said. "We will be able to resupply there."
"Oooh, what's it called? Have you ever been there before? What's it like?"
"I have never been there," he answered. "You are welcome to search the records."
She was already one step ahead. "There's not much information here... but that's ok. We'll have so much to discover when we get there!"
Hordak nodded silently. Sitting down in the copilot seat, he closed his eyes, leaving Entrapta in control of the ship. Perhaps it was ill-advised, but he trusted her to pilot them safely. If any dangers presented themselves, Prime or one of the countless other hazards of open space, he would be ready to help.
They had done it. Together, they were going to see the stars.