Earth enjoys its existence because of the grace of the Amsus Hegemony, not in spite of it.
Destroyer S'aat - Kree Jump Nexus - Eelim Enclave
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
The lead destroyer shot out of the jump Nexus hot on the heels of the Imperial Hunter-Killer, the Stealth Destroyer only a fraction of a second behind. Lady Tagria smirked as she watched the range between her and her prey diminish on the tactical boards.
"We have transited to normal space," one of her soldiers reported. "Detecting numerous unidentified sensor contacts..."
Tagria tore her eyes off of her prey long enough to ruffle her feathers and stare at what was causing so much commotion aboard her ship. They were in unfamiliar territory, some desolate world that supported another of the Imperial trans-galactic jump nexuses.
"Who are they?" she demanded, wondering to herself why Paladin would come to such a remote end of nowhere, unless the millions of ships surrounding him were hidden Imperial allies of some sort.
"The database lists them as Eelim," the flight officer reported below her, "but there is no additional data collected in our records, perhaps if we were to communicate with Sal-zÿr's headquarters..."
"Open communications with them," she ordered. "We have to know their intentions..."
HMS T'zaht - Kree Jump Nexus - Eelim Enclave
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
"Where the hell?" Katz asked, rushing onto the bridge in time to see the pair of Gorean destroyers rocket through the nexus before turning his head to observe the full gathering of the Eelim horde arrayed about them. His heart sank in his chest at the ominous realization of exactly where they were.
"Oh," he said after a moment, "that's where we are." He looked over at his two crewmates, and motioned to the observation window. "Little bit of a wrong turn, or maybe you thought we'd enjoy a scenic route straight to hell?"
"It was my fault," Kyr insisted, "I didn't know which one to take..."
"Great, so now we just rename the ship the SS Peach Basket?" Katz asked rhetorically, relieving Chuck at the helm and waving the science tech towards the weapons console. "It's not like we can just turn around and go back..."
The first of the swarm began a nose dive towards the lead Gorean destroyer, its weapons blaring. The Gorean destroyer's weapon ports slid open and it fired a single blast, incinerating the ship.
"What happened?" Chuck asked, looking over his shoulder as he began punching commands to bring most of the ship's weapons online, not certain who, or what, he was supposed to be targeting.
"I think the Gorean just tried to talk to the Eelim and discovered the fun of no common basis for communication," Kyr responded, shuddering as the Eelim horde powered up their engines, their weapons blazing to life as they swarmed down on the three starships.
"Initiating jump," Katz said plugging co-ordinates into the navigational computer. "I'm going to take a page out of Darien's book on this one and hope the Gorean don't think the same thing..."
The second Gorean destroyer jumped into hyperspace, as seconds later a large number of Eelim ships followed it. A flicker-flash flared endlessly around them as the Eelim ships streaked away, hot on the heels of the escaping Gorean warship, murder on their minds.
The first destroyer attempted to turn and retreat back through the Jump Nexus, it's weapons pounding mercilessly. Eelim died spectacularly in waves of concentrated fire, but there were just too many of them, with more leaping into the system. Explosions rippled up and down the white vessel's elongated hull, sections of it exploding under the weight of relentless fire.
T'zaht bucked as her ion drives engaged, quad rail cannons detonating Eelim ships as they turned their fire on the smaller Imperial vessel. She pitched, rotating as her CIWS engaged. Pin-point machine guns and auto-masers sprang to life around the ship, tracking the Eelim vessels and smacking any that strayed too close.
"You've fired guns before," Katz noted, glancing up and over at Chuck who had a look of deep concentration on his face, biting his lip as he punched commands, hands coiled around the controls.
"No, just very fond of video games." he looked a little sheepish. "I'm kind of good. Or I was before the war."
Katz nodded, computing the last jump calculation and entering it into the computer. He reached out to engage the system. "Pray they can't track our jump." He said, hitting the actuator and forcing the T'zaht into a dead jump.
HMS Excalibur - Yeji-Sola - Neutral Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
Darien's headache hadn't completely left him; it remained a deep throbbing in the back of his head, causing him to feel distinctly irritable. He sat in his stateroom, fidgeting as he assembled the next piece of the alien device on the desk before him.
"I don't care," he said absently, looking through the glass ring etched with ancient script as he assembled the core time piece.
Acting-Lieutenant Kyles balked under Darien's withering glare. "I- I'm sorry sir, I just wanted to keep you up to date."
Darien nodded. "Which I wouldn't mind were it merely that, you seem to prefer I micro-manage you. I told you fix the ship, start with the critical systems and work your way to the smaller ones."
He realized that he was angry, and that it wasn't Kyles's fault. He just needed to yell and Kyles was right in front of him while Edward wasn't.
"Sir!" Kyles saluted, all but dashing from the stateroom as fast as he could to get away.
Darien shook his head, picking up a small screwdriver and using it to jemmy the stubborn piece he was working with into place. Sometimes human ingenuity beat ancient alien know-how.
Why had Edward deliberately disobeyed him? Why dump them so far from anything that they were completely useless? He could understand that Edward was probably trying to protect him, but Darien was just one person. The whole of Karin was counting on him and he was stuck half a galaxy away.
They'd used the time wisely, prioritizing repairs to ship's systems that were long overdue. She'd taken a severe beating since she had set out from Karin to break through the Amsus blockade and rescue Colonel Ramsey. That had been before Ordessus, before Propylons, and before the battle of Karin.
He looked over at his laptop sitting whirring contentedly on his desk, detailing the repairs that were on-going with the Propylon system. His engineers were rebuilding the superstructure around the chamber to allow the exposed room to be pressurised. They needed to see how much damage had been done to the system and, of course, try to figure out how to repair it. Naturally, that was going to be difficult without Edward and without Firlotte, but at least they had Edward's detailed notes this time.
Darien felt a pang of guilt, setting down his screwdriver and turning his chair back to the panorama of the system's variable star behind him. He missed Galadriel, she would have been able to calm him down, distract him with her latest findings on the Peligian puzzle or with some observation that he needed more sleep.
Hobbes, Nazzien, Kendrick, Lauren, Firlotte... the list was growing. There was a large piece of paper posted down outside the mess hall, detailing the dead and the missing in action. Everyone on the crew paused to view it when they passed. Remembering the laughs, touches, faces and voices of those that were gone but never forgotten.
He rubbed his palms against his eyes; too much fighting had taken its toll. Constant fighting for months without relief. He should be thankful for Edward's actions, but that left more of his crew behind, stranded without him. Durnham, Kyr, Katz, Masconi, Mayfair and of course Edward himself.
A chilling thought seeped into his mind; what would happen if he lost Edward? Would he be stranded in that shipyard, unable to help? He stood up, feeling claustrophobic, swallowing back the nausea that accompanied any sudden movement.
It wasn't the thought of losing Edward that scared him, it was the realization that he was dying and that he would, probably sooner rather than later, leave Edward alone. The thought gave rise to a cold terror that permeated him as he struggled to pull his fleece jacket closed, taking short, shuffling steps down from his desk and crossing to the doors out onto the bridge.
His crew was working hard; much of the bridge had been rebuilt, with the exception of the observation window. There simply wasn't a replacement in the shipyard for something that big. But his CIC had been put back together. It glowed a reassuring green as he walked to sit down in it, touching the surface of the chart table.
Excalibur knew he was there; she always seemed to sense his presence. Darien reminded himself that the ship was attuned to everything onboard, through security monitors and communications down to life-support. She made her awareness known by projecting a small ball of light on the holographic surface of the table.
It was so easy to forget how aware she really was. Darien smiled, realizing that he wasn't alone there on the edge of nowhere. She was with him, and she was worried about his health. He could appreciate that, trailing his fingers through the ball of light, watching it roll as he did so.
"I always asked Kit in moments like this," Darien admitted, addressing the light, "'what would VonGrippen do?'."
"He would find a way to turn up the heat," Edward stated, standing towards the far end of the table looking tired, his hair askew and his eyes weary.
Darien glanced up, emotions playing across his face as he did so. "What happened?" he asked, seeing the troubled expression in his lover's eyes.
"I need some advice," Edward said, falling heavily into the seat opposite Darien, "and this isn't run of the mill stuff either. It's the kind of stuff that may be out of your league to answer, but you're still the smartest person I know... aside from Rikard, who I am sure won't give me an answer..."
"Matt," Darien prodded, "you're babbling."
"You make me babble," Edward answered grumpily. "I feel like a kid sometimes with you around. Anywhere else I am together, in charge. You pop up and I'm staring like a love sick Targle tripping over my own tongue."
Darien folded his arms. "You dumped us here." He stated evenly, nodding to the glowing ball of light on the table between them.
"You're both in no shape to fight," Edward said tightly, "I took you both out of it because I need you both for Peligia..."
Darien's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
Edward paused. "I can't, as yet. Not clearly, and not in any way that you would understand."
"Try me!" Darien snapped.
Edward shrugged, quite used to Darien's occasional fits of temper. "Do you understand the concept of a grandfather loop?"
"No..." Darien glanced at the ball that lit up with a colour that, to Darien, seemed to indicate 'questioning'.
Edward took a long, deep breath. "Suppose a man travelled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveller's grandmother. As a result, one of the traveller's parents - and him for that matter - would never have been born. This means he can't travel back in time, which also means his granddad is still alive and he would have been born. Which in turn means he can go back in time and..."
"R-right..." Darien nodded, following so far, though his headache was beginning to throb threateningly.
"Basic autoinfanticide," Edward said with a smile. "But anyway, since time is a bunch of probabilities meaning there are infinite outcomes..."
"Right," Darien nodded. "Like alternate dimensions, time lines and stuff..."
"Yes," Edward responded, "and no. You see, all of that is bullshit. Time isn't really real. Least not in the way you think it is. There is no line, it's more complicated than that... and much simpler..."
"Umm..." Darien blinked.
"A scientist called Novikov suggested a thing called self-consistency principle to explain it." Edward propped his chin on his hands and rubbed his nose with a finger. "The only time is the time in which we are. All other times can't exist because they aren't self-consistent. You go back in time, mess it up... but can't because what happened in the past must be a part of history all along. So even if our traveller did go back in time and kill someone he thought was his grandfather, because he was able to do it, and was still alive to do it, he must not have killed his grandfather. See?"
Darien nodded, affixing a blank sort of smile to his face that was definitely forced.
Edward sighed again. "Told you it was complicated. You and Excalibur are a part of past events that dictate future ones. So I need you, the universe has decided it needs you, and fate will out."
"Coffee," Darien demanded of a passing midshipman, nodding vacantly. "I thought you said you can't tell the future, that it was impossible."
"This isn't the future," Edward insisted, "it's the past - well, your future - my past...which is your past as well, but is also my future and..." He flashed the most brilliant grin, lighting up his face in a way that said he understood and that Darien should just trust him. "It's brain popping good fun! So do you just trust that I know what is going on, kinda, and trust that I need you on your feet for it? You've done what you had to do on Karin... now you have to wait, and watch what others do from your example."
"I..." Darien began.
"Okay, back to the advice. Sal-zÿr believes he is a disciple of some god." Edward stood up. "You want to be useful, figure out which one. My grandfather kept books on Gorean history somewhere, it may be in there."
"Okay," Darien nodded, "I'll try."
Edward stopped and smiled, walking around the CIC table to wrap his arms around Darien, burying his head into the nape of his neck. "I love you so much," he murmured. "Can you help me think of a way to kill a ten tonne monster lizard?"
Darien's hands went around Edward's waist and tugged him closer. "You could probably skip the whole killing it thing and just stay here."
"You always want me to stay here," Edward said, his blue eyes gleaming as he looked up at Darien's, standing on his tip toes to touch his nose to Darien's, "I have to go slay a dragon. You just stay here and be the damsel in distress for a change."
"I'm not in distress," Darien answered, lowering his forehead to rest against Edward's, "but I could be..."
Edward smiled lightly, "you're being sappy. I like it when you're sappy."
Darien reached a hand into his shirt, pulling out his dog-tags, tugging them off to slide a ring off of them, a beautiful purple crystal inset into platinum. He held it up to show Edward.
"I got this for you, before things went mad on Karin, I was going to ask you to marry me." Darien held it out to Edward, as he slipped down to a knee, staring intently upwards, "Matthew Pierre Elias, Prince Edward VonGrippen... whoever, I don't care... will you be Matthew Taine?"
"Hey," Edward said, his eyes suddenly welling up with big tears, as he looked at the ring. "That's so... totally... unfair..." he sniffed, rubbing his nose on his sleeve, "you can't propose to me now!"
"Please?" Darien begged.
"Stop it," Edward said, pulling at Darien's hand, "you don't mean it, take it back!"
"No," Darien said, shaking his head, "I mean it Matt, I want to marry you. It's that simple, screw the universe for a minute... stop being a god, and be Matty."
"Mathew Taine," Edward tried it, "I don't know... After all the work you made me do just to be your boyfriend, I think I earned the right to call you Darien Elias."
"Okay," Darien said, sincerely "if you want that."
"Hell no," Edward screwed up his nose, "I like being a Taine, Mister Matthew Taine... Okay, but I get to name our first kid George, I had a goldfish named that once..."
"Matt, we're not naming kids after goldfish." Darien warned, as he slipped the ring on Edward's finger, "just maybe this," he rubbed the ring with his thumb, "will remind you to be safe."
"I can't promise that," Edward replied with a pained sigh, "I have to take the lead now, it's my turn. Yours comes later, at Peligia."
As he flared out, the Excalibur flared and jumped, floating on the edge of a new system, alarms ringing out as the ship's thrusters stabilized its erratic course, pulling it about to look at the darkened orb of a dead Jump Nexus.
Darien moved slowly up and into the bridge, resting a hand on his command chair as he stared over scopes. They were rapidly rebooting, trying to calculate where the Excalibur had appeared. Tactical data registering the approach of fighter craft on intercept vectors.
"Report!" Darien commanded, slipping into his chair.
"Negative on all charts," Kyles yelled back from where he had taken the helm. "We're not in the Empire, nor in the home systems... Polian space is out..."
Darien stared at the large black orb, then out to the expanse of darkness with so few stars scattered about. The very edge of the galaxy, remote and cut off. A niggling at the back of his head told him he knew this place, or at least knew of it.
"We've an incoming challenge from an outpost," a Midshipman manning communications reported. "They're scrambling fighters."
"Display," Darien ordered, sitting upright to look at the holographic display. It sprang to life with the image of a helmeted pilot, human, a golden dragon painted upon his helm.
"Excalibur, respond with appropriate authentication codes or you will be fired upon." The pilot's voice was heavily Russian despite the oriental nature of the dragon sigil.
Darien stood up, "Unidentified fighters, this is the HMS Excalibur and I am Warlord Darien Taine of the Empire..."
"Transmit authentication code or be fired upon, Excalibur!" The pilot warned.
"Launch the Alert fighters," Darien ordered, examining the holographic displays around him. He counted the dozen or so fighters that were inbound. Heavy combat types outfitted with booster packs and missile payloads, nothing with the kind of firepower to be a direct threat to the Imperial Command Carrier, even in her debilitated state. He noted that Reaper Squadron was taking up a defensive screen around them, fifteen fighters to their dozen. He didn't fancy the odds of F-150's against the advanced lines of the interceptors, but they were backed up by the Excalibur's defensive grids.
Satisfied, he looked back at the pilot. "Your fighters pose no threat to this ship, I suggest you stand down, identify yourselves to me and tell me where we are."
The pilot looked frustrated then nodded. "We intend only to defend our boarders, Warlord Taine. I am Commander Hugo Wojciech, Border Patrol flight TT-091, of the Peoples Republic of Geldan. You are trespassing within our space in an Imperial Capital ship we register as Geldan Property."
Darien felt the ship bristle around him, and he looked bemused. "I think she has her own opinion on whose property she is," Darien responded. "I think I should communicate with your government, Commander..."
"I would ask that you stand down your weapons," Commander Wojciech requested, forcing his voice into a more civil tone. "I will contact my superiors and we shall arrange for an FTL communication meeting. However, for security reasons, I ask that your ship not proceed any further into Geldan territory at this time."
Darien glanced to the engineering displays registering the non-existent hyperdrive units. "Oh I don't think you have to worry there..."
POW Camp - Karin - Gorean Occupied Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
Days, he was sure it had been days. Dragged from the cell by his captors, he had undergone various different types of torment. A different kind of Gorean was in charge of his 'questioning'. Larger than the Gorean ape-like guards, it loomed over him, swaddled in leather robes picked out by metal barbs. An image of terror from a nightmare. The Justicar, Alessandro thought he had hear them call it.
He smiled, swaying on his feet and cradling his shattered hand, his mind trying to piece together yet another day of his life, shattered by the creature. The buckets of icy snow, the plasma rods, and of course IT.
IT sat in a vat of warm salt water, arms draped over the sides as it hissed and warbled, every so often winding to a large call that echoed around the camp. Heard in the dead of the night, its Ti'Kai mating call sent Alessandro into convulsions. The razor sharp barbs on its back were a favourite of the Justicar, a strong toxic mix that, even in small doses, did horrible damage to the nerve endings. Painful without being deadly.
"Sì, sì signore," Alessandro murmured, to nothing.
Survival meant that his mind had to find a way to cope with all he was being subjected to. And strangely it was Darien, standing patiently to the side of the Justicar, that he had chosen to represent his strength.
The Justicar bared its teeth. A demi-wyrm, a half breed between a full and lesser Gorean, it was given a special place in the hierarchy of the class based species. It looked towards the empty air that Alessandro was addressing.
"Why do you always do that?" the Justicar asked in flawless English. He spoke with a grandfatherly tone, one that whispered of high culture and compassion. And yet Alessandro knew that it was merely a ruse.
"Ignore him," Darien urged, walking around the Justicar, "Focus on me. It's a third day, that means ice today..."
Alessandro nodded, ice days were better days. Ice days meant that he wasn't going to scream as much, the burns on his body from the plasma prods were the worst in his opinion, that and the psychotropic effects of the neural toxin. He could handle an ice day, he just had to be strong.
"Allie," Katz had replaced Darien, and Alessandro felt his heart sink, "spare yourself, he's asking you questions, you don't know anything... Tell him what he wants to hear and..."
The Justicar smiled at him, petting IT. "What shall we do today? I wonder..."
"He's weak." Alessandro cocked his head and stared vacantly at his cousin. Angelina was sitting up on the table, her leg cocked under her as she played with a plasma rod. "I wouldn't waste your time. If you attacked him the guards will subdue you, take you back to your cell. If you want a day off from torture, take the beating they give you and wait till tomorrow."
Alessandro cracked open his bruised lips. "I..."
The Justicar's smile faltered. "Yes?"
"I think..." Alessandro swayed a little more, "you should take a day off." He coughed and looked hopeful.
The Justicar rotated his eyes, looking at the Kardiac Lieutenant. "I'd like that very much, Alessandro," he purred, setting the vat aside. "I'd like nothing more than to rest, and to let you rest. Tell me, then, what are Darien Taine's plans for Karin?"
Alessandro shrugged.
"Tell him nothing," Darien urged.
"Tell him anything," Katz countered.
"Oh for God's sake," Masconi butted in, "just fall down already, they're only going to torture you in the end anyway..."
The Justicar's muzzle swept close to Alessandro's face, sniffing at him. "You remember your first day here?" It sounded almost compassionate. "I told you that I would use fire to make you scream, poison to make you talk, and ice, ice to make you want to tell me everything I needed to know?"
Alessandro nodded, feeling his bottom lip trembling again.
"Please?" Katz begged. "Please tell him, Allie... please..."
"Look at that," Masconi tsked, "pathetic, he's wet himself..."
"Shhhh-shut up!" Alessandro snapped, shaking visibly as he stared at thin air, "shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
The Justicar turned its head, staring at nothing, shaking his head. "His mind is breaking," he commented towards the two-way mirrored glass wall. "I warned of this eventuality if we persisted with this form of questioning. He knows nothing."
"How would you proceed?" the ominous voice asked from behind the wall, a voice that, whenever it spoke, always heralded more pain for Alessandro.
"Paddesh, he requires a rest, days to recover," the Justicar answered. "A softer approach..."
"Yeah," Masconi taunted. "Soft, just like him..."
"This isn't for his benefit," the voice spoke out. "Push him over the edge, break him. Break him and the Captain will break as well."
"He's after Shale," Darien stated, folding his arms. "I need you to focus, Lieutenant. Stay alert, you can't let them win. I'm here to help you, the pain of the body can be overcome with disassociation, detach your mind from it and the pain cannot reach you."
Alessandro nodded his head. "H-how?"
"Stop this," Katz argued, "he's done enough; let him rest for God's sake... Allie, I love you... just... don't fight it. Give them what they want, it'll be all over. I swear."
"Yeah, right," Masconi sneered. "Once they know you can be broken, what do you think they'll do to get more out of you? Throw you a tickle party?"
"His Watchful Eye sees all," Darien quoted. "He will find a way to use you against us if you break. Lives depend on you remaining strong, Lieutenant, I trusted you on my bridge, as one of my officers. You wear a Kardiac uniform, you are a Templar..."
"A Templar wouldn't wet his pants," Masconi sneered, "a Templar would have committed suicide before now to avoid putting people in danger. But then Allie, you're not that strong..."
"I-I am Alessandro Mandola, Lieutenant in the Tempus Territorial Army, House of Kardiac..." Alessandro began by rote, straightening up. "I am Alessandro Mandola, Lieutenant in the Tempus Territorial Army, House of Kardiac..."
The Justicar's head swung back to his prey, clicking his teeth, "I see that you are ready for the poison..."
Alessandro faltered, today was an ice day. It was supposed to be ice. He looked with genuine fear towards Masconi playing with the plasma rod, feeling his lip begin to quake.
Karin Plains - Karin - Gorean Occupied Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
The Landrover jumped over the embankment, ploughing back down as its front bumper crashed through mud, bouncing the passengers hard inside as Masconi turned the SAW machinegun and began to fire on a pair of Gorean Shock troopers, running to cut them off.
Above them, the ITE sprinted, leaping over the Landrover, its immense pistons powering it high into the air as it came crashing back down to the ground. Its heavy guns roaring as it exploded into the Gorean lines, cutting a swath of destruction that James drove the 4x4 directly towards.
The fliers curved around in the sky, crescent wings like blades, descending from the sun, guns blazing as they tried to destroy the ITE. Behind her, Grogen had manned the 35mm cannon, using it to offer them some kind of air cover. His shots clipping the wings of the lead flier, sending it cartwheeling towards the ground.
It crashed end over end into the path of the Landrover. James cut the wheel to avoid hitting it, the Landrover riding up and over the wings like a ramp, tilting threateningly on two wheels before it spilled over, crashing into the ground on its side and tossing its passengers into the middle of the battlefield.
Masconi clawed her way upright, reaching for her pistol and dragging it free of its holster as a Gorean shock trooper closed on her. It snuffled, baring its teeth as it levelled its plasma rifle at her.
A crisp shot rang out, followed by the burst of an assault rifle, deeper than the Pulse Rifles she could hear across the battlefield. Amsus, if she wasn't mistaken. She turned slightly as the Gorean was gunned down, looking across at the second jeep, bearing the full bird colonel's licence plate. Colonel Mayfair was standing on the ground beside it in his tactical gear, pouring fire into the Gorean with his DT-09.
Lifting the weapon, he traded magazines and gave her a harsh stare. "You know you could have asked," he stated, sounding hurt.
Grogen pulled himself out of the mud, hefting his rifle and offering a salute. "Colonel, sir!"
"Oh fuck off L-T," Mayfair waved a hand, looking about him at the raging battle, "I..." he hefted his assault rifle again to his shoulder and poured a couple of more shots into the Gorean. "Sorry was sure that just twitched. I think you should tell me what the hell is going on, Milady, and why you thought it a good idea to drive straight through the middle of my battlefield."
Masconi wiped the mud from her face. "I don't have time for this, Marty," she said, pointing. "We have to keep moving."
"Yeah?" Mayfair asked, ducking as an explosion overhead signalled the end of an EV-II that had strayed too far into a flier ambush. "You figure on walking?" His black sunglasses hid his eyes, adapted so that they would shield him both in summer and in the depths of winter.
"I'm figuring on stealing your Jeep," Masconi responded, nodding behind him to where James was already sitting in the driver's seat.
Mayfair turned, turning back to Masconi and letting his head tilt to one side. "This is pretty important to you, isn't it?"
"James found Shale and Alessandro," Masconi explained as a trio of heavy assault tanks rolled up, their maser turrets spinning up to charge. The guns blew skywards with a pulse of bright purplish light. The Gorean began to retreat.
Mayfair sighed unhooking his rifle from its strap and tossing it across to her, the ammunition vest following a few moments later. The Colonel drew his Polian shard weapon and jogged towards the tanks. "Go, get our people home," he called, scrabbling up the back and sitting down behind the turret as the Imperial soldiers advanced around them. "I'll tell Darien I authorized a rescue mission or something."
"You're a good man, Marty," Masconi shouted back.
"I bloody know that," Mayfair grinned, "give me a medal or something when we get back home."
Masconi slipped the TAC-vest on, leaving it hang open and slinging the DT-09 up to her shoulder. She waved gratefully after the Karin colonel leading his troops onwards to Karin City.
POW Camp - Karin - Gorean Occupied Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
The Gorean guards hurled him into the cell, the boy rolling over and over across the wooden floor of the barracks, a crumpled rag doll thrown away by a spoiled child.
Alessandro was oblivious to the pain. Adrift in a sea of hallucinations, he laughed at some hidden joke as he felt the Shale pick him up off of the floor and lower him gently into the bed, paws exploring his wounds, trying to see if there was something new.
"He should just eat you and be done with it," Masconi, not his Masconi, but the one in his head. The embodiment of his self loathing, his guilt. It knelt over him, a booted foot rolling him over onto his back. "That would be a good use for a cullatone like you..."
Alessandro laughed at her, roaring as he curled up into a ball, tears coming down his face. "Whaz the matter?" he asked her, panting as he laughed, "Puttana, you're jealous?"
"Confrontational." Darien observed in a coldly dispassionate tone. "Good, use that next time they come for you. Keep that strength inside you and..."
Alessandro fought against Masconi's boot, scrabbling to sit up, "Signore! Signore, I don't want strength... I don't need strength. I need to go home, signore. Home..."
"For God's sake, Skipper." Katz pleaded from the corner of the cell, his arms wrapped tightly around his body. He was hugging his hoodie about him, looking small and lost, like he had on Mars. "He needs your help. Help him!"
"We're coming for you," Darien answered, looking at Alessandro's eyes, fixing upon them as if offering some of his strength, "you just have to hang on. Be stronger a little while longer and I will get you out of here."
He felt Shale pressing him back to the mattress, trying to restrain the babbling youth as he called out to phantoms in the shadows of the cell. The Taïrian reached out for water from a small bucket the guards left in the cell, wiping down his brow.
Doctor Kyr walked into view, appearing from the shadows to take a turn at speaking. "The neural toxin has dramatically shifted his perception of reality..." The doctor spoke in a particularly clinical tone. "I recommend that he be taken to the nearest medical facility and treated immediately."
"Brilliant observation, doctor," Masconi snapped. "You needed a degree to tell that? Why don't you just put him down, that'll put him out of all our misery once and for all."
"Lie," Prince Edward said, leaning around Darien, pushing up the long black coat Darien wore with its blood red lapels. "Just lie..."
"Wh-what?" Alessandro coughed, sitting up a little and staring at the prince that none of the apparitions seemed to see.
"You want to survive?" Edward said stepping away from Darien and examining Shale who seemed oblivious to him as well. "Learn to lie. Alessandro, trust me. I'm an expert at disassociation, pulling my mind back into the deepest parts of me. For the longest time, it was the only place I was safe."
The Prince came and sat down on the edge of the bed. "He knows all about it too," he pointed to Katz. "Survival in some of the darkest places and things the universe has to offer is often right in here." He tapped his head.
"H-help me..." Alessandro managed, feeling the emotions rising to overwhelm him.
"I am," Edward promised. "I'm leading people to come and get you. But Darien..." Edward smiled, "this Darien, that is, has a point. You need to hold on a little while longer, can you do that?"
"I-I can't..." Alessandro mewled, his face screwing into a ball. "Please..."
Edward shook his head, "I'm doing all I can... just being here, like this is taking strength I don't have to spare." He closed his eyes sadly. "You are one of my Templar," he said, a ghost of a smile on his face. "I need your faith... your faith that I wouldn't put you through anything that you aren't strong enough to survive." Edward touched his hand to Alessandro's chest. "You need to have faith..."
"Faith," the Masconi image sneered.
"You know your cousin's a lot nicer than that, right?" Edward said, dismissively waving his hand to make the illusions vanish, giving a moment of lucidity to the suffering lieutenant. "I know what it's like to suffer. I won't leave you, and I will stay with you the next time they come for you," Edward promised. "Right beside you. Always."
"Thank you," Alessandro sighed as his eyes slipped closed, his breathing steadying as he slept.
HMS Lex Talionis - Skyella Nebula - Imperial Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SIXTY-FIVE
It had taken time to make the correct adaptations to his systems. But Lex had been designed by the same mind that had chosen the nebula as his battleground, and he was prepared for the boiling green gasses that flickered threateningly ahead of him.
"It must chill your soul," Rikard observed, noticing the agitation on the hologram's normally expressionless face, "to lay your eyes upon this place."
Electrical discharges flared, booming through the nebula like a storm, and Lex turned from his window. "I have no soul," he answered simply, "I harvest them."
"Skyella," Galadriel breathed from the rear of the bridge, standing in the great doors, behind her the glittering gold of the Templar's Edict inscribe on the wall plates. It framed her, defined her, and for Rikard, accented her.
"I left Skyella as a monument," Rikard remarked easily. "There were some amidst the Amsus hierarchy that suggested we salvage the Imperial vessels for their technology, but I felt it more fitting to leave the mystery of this place intact. There is something calculated about this nebula... I always felt it was a domain of evil. It is an ancient malevolency that existed long before we learned to look at the stars, a creature of the ether that haunts men's dreams."
Lex moved around the observation windows, "there is evil here, and death. The souls trapped in this place remember the anguish of battle, a reflection of divine will meeting iron resolve. Were I here during the battle, things would have gone a lot differently."
"As powerful as you are," Rikard replied, crossing his arms on the back of the wooden chair and smiling, "the Polians would have been prepared for you. You see, I informed them where Kardiac was, and I also warned them of the threat of the type-9 warheads."
"Then perhaps it is you I should thank for my existence," Lex replied, the holographic baton in his hand swinging up and back down again. "I knew you were treacherous, and Kardiac suspected betrayal. But you..."
"I was too small in your mind to be that threat?" Rikard asked, shaking his head as he straightened up, regarding Lex with disdain. "It never occurred to you exactly who was responsible for everything, did it?" He walked around the wooden throne, "I built the Emperor and founded the Empire." He sat down, regally resting his hands on the arms of the chair. "And it was I that created the Amsus, the Kaynin and more." He raised a finger. "I brought down the European Union, the United States of America and the Sino-Russian Alliance." He lifted another finger. "I defeated Kardiac and caused Skyella to burn." He looked back at Galadriel. "It was I that made VonGrippen seek out Peligia and abandon the Empire in its hour of need. It was I who caused the Immortal Emperor's transcendence, and subsequently executed him with my own hands." His eyes latched onto Lex's, "I created Prince Edward, and brought about the second coming of the Immortal Emperor, your God." Rikard smiled. "When it comes to schemes, manipulation, and out and out evil, Lex, I have been around far longer than you have." His words rolled off his tongue in a light lilt, deepening down as he spoke his last sentence. "I am old, so very old, and my darkness makes yours seem infantile."
The rolling crackle of energy in the nebula flared, and an errant stream jumped from the clouds to run sparking along the conduction rods attached to the hull, dissipating harmlessly in the pocket battleship's wake. Inside the ship it sounded like thunder.
"You," Galadriel said, realizing that pieces fit together into a terrifying tapestry of how one man had directed the flow of events over three hundred or more years. Rikard stood in the middle of a trans-galactic web of lies, manipulations and machinations that had wrapped everyone in silken threads they barely knew were there, yet could never escape from.
Lex offered a cold smile. "It appears, Lieutenant, that you chose the wrong partner in this little dance of ours. I hope this realization will open your eyes to why I keep this creature under close guard. He will twist and poison your mind, influence you to his will and leave you with the belief that it was all your own choice. The mark of deception is sitting blameless; he is merely a slave to his artificial nature."
Rikard's amusement grew. "You are comparing me to you?"
"I supersede you," Lex answered calmly. "You are redundant, obsolete. And I own your soul."
"A demon with the devil as a pet," Galadriel observed. "Neither knowing who is master and who is the slave."
The Lex Talionis passed through the first dark cloud of gasses, nosing their way deeper into the darkness. Lex's point defence weapons cycled up and engaged to destroy rogue debris that posed him a threat, his scanners and radars almost useless in the stormy fog.
Shadowy hulks emerged from the darkness, blackened shapes that were warships at one time or another. Lex seeming distracted as he braced a hand against the glass. "The Eye of Jehovah, the Queen's Blessing..." his voice sounding tired. "They were great ships, honourable warriors that gave their lives to the Empire, for our God..."
"Do starships scream?" Rikard inquired lightly. "When you are facing death in the cold darkness?"
Lex ignored him, his hand gliding across the glass, "Jeremiah's Trumpet... the Colossus of Rhodes."
"Oh dear," Rikard said, steepling his fingers, and looking at the devastated wreckage of an Imperial Battle cruiser, "she looks like she suffered."
There were other vessels in the darkness; wedge shaped Polian clippers along with the more familiar form of Polian monitors and gunships, fat fluke bodies with outriggers.
"They screamed," Lex said softly as he turned. "The Polian ships were alive, and when they cooked..."
"Stop!" Galadriel shuddered. "Stop. you two may find some morbid pleasure in how grotesque your visions of things here can be... my people survived it. My people were here, my people screamed, my people died!" She stared at both of them, her anger rising. "How dare you dishonour the dead with your filth!" She spat the words out. "Leave them in peace!"
Lex gestured to the observation windows, holographic displays lighting it up as he displayed data about the abandoned graveyard, illuminating wrecks in the darkness and naming each of them. "These are the Imperial warships, lost in the darkness." The data updated again, fewer ships haloed with bright green light. "These were elements of Kardiac's Templar task force; his personal guard." A last red halo lit up around one wreck, scattered and shattered into a broad debris field. "The Lion's Pride," Lex whispered, "my predecessor..."
"A titanic waste of money," Rikard sniped. "Biggest dreadnaught of its time, but only ever saw any real action here. Pathetic, really."
Another red halo flickered. "The Gladius of Michael," Lex pointed. "Lamont's Command Ship, and Kardiac's flagship when he was head of the Templar. If he made a pilgrimage, he would have made it in that vessel."
"Gladius," Rikard mused. "We should access the computer core, records would be kept in there."
"The records would have been purged," Lex replied. "Kardiac was never that careless."
"You are a highly sophisticated AI," Rikard responded. "I am sure you have an undelete program or something that can restore corrupted data files. Anything at this point would help."
"Indeed," Lex acknowledged. "Indeed."