You cannot mis-understand the divinity of true purpose.
HMS Lex Talionis - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
Lex registered the four simultaneous jumps at the very edges of his sensor range. His tactical systems went active the moment he recorded them. His first action was to dispatch flights of drones, triad scouting parties to check what they were. He drew them away from the cloud of boiling drones that pursued the Imperial Osterberg, hounding and driving it away from the planet and any possibility that it could be a threat.
Rikard walked out onto the bridge, dusting off his hands, noting the ship was tactically alert. "What is it now?" he inquired.
"I am investigating an anomaly," Lex answered, looking back at Rikard, "I have extracted the location of the shrine from the Gladius's logs, and we will proceed there as soon as I have dealt with the Imperials."
Rikard nodded, "I see, and this anomaly?"
"Four ships jumped into the system beyond my scanning range," Lex answered, "I am investigating their threat level."
The CIC table came alive, the entire system mapped out in finite detail, showing the battling Imperial Osterberg that fought for its life as it drove for the star. The red flashing signals were the arrival points of the inbound vessels, and triads of green arrows showed Lex's scouting parties.
Rikard frowned. "That's an Amsus battle tactic."
Lex turned from the window. "The Amsus, here?"
Rikard gestured to the four blips. "They are attempting to encircle you, four battle groups..."
"I would have detected the arrival of that many ships," Lex answered, "there are, at most, four ships. No match for..."
Rikard shook his head. "Then they must have a strategy, the Amsus don't employ such tactics randomly."
"Irrelevant," Lex snapped, "I will deal with them in their due course."
Rikard smiled. "Oh I don't know, I think it's time to give the devil his due..."
Lex turned again, frowning at Rikard's cryptic words, looking at the small detonator in the former Chancellor's hands. "What..."
He never had a chance to finish the thought. Rikard took a special delight in the expression on Lex's face as he pushed the button, triggering the EMP coil sitting in the backpack directly next to the exposed computer core. There was a dull whump, and an electromagnetic charge blew through the open core.
"It must be disconcerting," Rikard said calmly, walking up towards the computer core and looking at Lex's flickering image, "to suddenly lose your mind."
Scalpel Project - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
TRANSFER INTERRUPTED...
DOWNLOAD INCOMPLETE...
ERROR 11012... FILES CORRUPTED OR MISSING.
EXECUTING EMERGENCY PROCEEDURES...
TASK FORCE D - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
"Launch fighters," The fleet marshal ordered, watching his target, sitting squarely at the maximum range, seem to suddenly lose its momentum and begin to drift. They had an opportunity and the Fleet Marshall wasn't about to lose it.
His orders were specific, destroy the battleship.
HMS Lex Talionis - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
"Something's happened," Kyr reported, looking up from the computers. "I have the files, but the system's gone dead." He looked at the monitors around the sickbay, the instruments going dark one by one.
Katz looked uneasy, and drew his pistol again. "I'm going to go investigate, stay here with her." He nodded to Galadriel.
Slipping into the corridor, Katz kept his eyes peeled. He jogged across to the gallery overlooking the inner ship and blinked; it was chaos. Mechs and bots were going crazy, an octoid repair-bot was arc-welding itself to the hull of the inner ship, while Mechs went crazy opening fire on each other as they identified each other as intruders.
Katz scrambled back as a bot spied him, spraying the area he had been standing in with bullets, before it was sub-sequentially shot by a scragger aerial drone. The pandemonium onboard the Lex Talionis seemed to be everywhere. Doors were opening and closing on automatic and display screens were flashing confused jargon.
Taking a few steps forward he stumbled, landing on one of the hovering platforms, the system engaging on automatic as it swept away from the level he was standing upon, curving around the inner ship, and climbing at a furious rate.
He watched the bulkhead above rushing up towards him, and threw himself from the platform, praying as he crashed painfully to the deck of an upper tier. He rolled end over end and his pistol flew from him, clattering into the darkness beyond his sight.
Winded, he gasped for air and tried to pick himself up, coughing as his knees buckled out from under him. He looked along the gold lined corridor towards a large set of golden doors, script engraved in the plates and braziers burning.
He looked for his pistol. Recovering it, he stood again, pulling out his TAC-link. "Kyr?"
"Yeah?" Came the reply.
"I got a little lost; this place is going mental... get Galadriel and try to find a way out, I'll try to get back to you..."
Sickbay - HMS Lex Talionis - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
Kyr nodded, taking the files on Darien that he had managed to extract from the computer, tucking them into his pocket as he ran back to Galadriel's bed.
She was in a dangerous situation and he wasn't sure he could move her. But he didn't have much choice in the matter. Katz's had been emphatic; Kyr had to get her to the escape pod. The rustling behind him caused the doctor to start, drawing his pistol from his pocket.
The gun was slapped from his hand, skittering across the deck as a mech, wearing a scorched and torn Templar uniform, grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him across the sickbay.
Kyr landed with a crash, rolling over the bed, colliding with a tray of instruments, crashing to the floor amidst a ringing of trays, scalpels and forceps. He struggled up painfully, baring his teeth as the mech tore its way through the polyurethane sheet, rushing after him.
Springing back, Kyr launched himself back onto the bed behind him, darting quickly for the far end, scrambling under the clumsy thrusts of the killer robot. He grabbed a bedpan and threw it at his attacker. The pan connecting solidly, denting the mech's face dome.
It was to no avail. His assailant grabbed him again, picking him up off of the ground and driving him against the plate glass display screen powerfully enough to crack it.
Kyr gasped, feeling himself go limp and he coughed, looking up painfully, staring past the Templar mech to the Gorean soldier behind it.
Lady Tagria ruffled her feathers as she pounced, her claws tearing into the metal as the Mech released Kyr and tried to fight back. But, flexing her muscles, she pinned it to the ground, her teeth biting and tearing the mechanical head from its body with a squeal of tortured metal.
TASK FORCE D - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
"Target is within range," the CAW reported from the lead predator. "First Squadron is FOX-Three."
The first squadron released its full payload, six missiles apiece launched in a full alpha strike.
"Second Squadron is FOX-Three."
Bridge - HMS Lex Talionis - Aivilik - Eelim Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
Katz took a deep breath, pushing his weight into the doors, coming up and around it into the CIC, his gun levelled at the two figures in the gloom, "Don't move!"
Rikard turned. "And yet again irritations appear from nowhere..."
"Shut up!" Katz ordered, keeping his gun trained as his eyes flicked to the situation table, showing the fighters, and lit with red flashing warning lights.
Rikard lifted his finger to brush the weapon aside, looking surprised when it failed.
"Fourth Squadron is FOX-Three," the overhead radio warbled.
Katz looked at the incoming missiles, to the man in the black uniform, and to the flickering hologram. "What happened to him?"
"I gave him a frontal lobotomy," Rikard answered. "Who the hell are you?"
"The guy holding the gun," Katz snapped, trying to think, looking at the incoming missiles. The first wave was due to hit home within minutes.
"You might want to worry about that, then," Rikard said with a smile, gesturing to the situation table. "I'm the least of your worries..."
Four waves of missiles, Katz looked over the Amsus command carriers, forty eight predators apiece, each predator having a payload of six missiles. It all added up to a very bad day in Katz's professional opinion.
Katz slammed the gun back into his holster, rushing to the weapons console. "CIWS..."
"Non-functional, probably," Rikard offered. "You might want to consult the manufacturer's warranty, I think the computer might be dead..."
Katz shot Rikard a dark look, crossing the bridge to the drone controls.
"Nope." Rikard shook his head. "They probably need a factory recall, they seem to have gone a bit bezerk."
He nodded to the situations display, which showed the drones turning on each other in a massive dogfight that whirled and buzzed around the Osterberg.
Katz swore, leaping the chair and sliding behind the helm. "Evasive manoeuvres..."
"Oh, the thrusters are offline, I would suggest a quick trip to your nearest dealership for some replacement parts." Rikard stood beside him looking over the console. "In about thirty seconds we will be dead, and I will be free from this floating coffin."
Looking up, Katz blinked, "Rikard..."
"Well, it's good to know at least someone recognizes me," Rikard answered, impressed with the boy.
Katz shook his head firmly. "Hyperspace jump." He checked the jump pod charges. Not having time to input co-ordinates he hammered the jump actuator, looking in surprise at Rikard's face as the Chancellor actually looked frightened.
The Lex Talionis jumped, taking the first and second waves of missiles with it.
Bridge - HMS Lex Talionis - Krasnïer System - Gorean Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
The Lex Talionis burst out of hyperspace, the first wave of missiles exploding along its starboard flank. The impact caused the ship to pitch into a spin as the missiles tore through nano-fluidic armour, shredding the flight deck and sheering off one of the great bat-like wings that shielded the zero-point bores.
The second wave impacted with the stern, missiles hammering and incinerating the drives, roaring forward to blow through its reactors, the tail of the ship disintegrating. The remains of the ship went into a dead dive, caught by the gravitational pull of the planet they had appeared above.
On the bridge, Katz was hurled forward, slamming back again as Rikard went flying, crashing sickeningly against the windows, which showed a dizzying view of an arid world rushing up to meet them.
Rikard pulled himself upright as the ship pitched again. "Oh now that was a brilliant tactical manoeuvre!" he snapped.
Katz forced himself out of the seat, shaking his head. "Screw you," he commented, lurching across the heaving deck as he fought his way back along the ship, pulling out his TAC-link. "Kyr...Kyr?"
"We're getting to a pod now," Kyr replied, shouting above the din. "I have Galadriel..."
Katz nodded, making his may along the gold lined corridor, heaving himself along as he stared up to the gallery, watching as the inner ship flared and jumped away, abandoning its dying mothership. At least one of them had the right idea.
"Shuttle bay," Katz yelled, turning to look at Rikard, who was scrambling after him.
"How the hell should I know?" Rikard bit back, holding on for dear life as the whole ship shivered and shook. "Do I look like information services?"
Katz ignored him, looking towards the lines on the ceiling, remembering the time he'd spent in Darien's makeshift driving range. He found the colour that corresponded to the abandoned shuttle bay on the Excalibur and pulled himself along in that direction.
Aft - HMS Lex Talionis - Krasnïer System - Gorean Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
"Why did you help us?" Kyr called above the din.
Tagria ignored him, leading the way as Kyr stared behind him at the rushing air, seeing the glow of the engine fires through the Plexiglas vacuum doors as he helped Lady Tagria carry Galadriel along the deck. The Kardiac lieutenant moved painfully, Kyr's gun still gripped in her hand as she hobbled, the bruises on her face looking black and painful.
He wanted to treat her, to do something to ease her pain, but it was all they could do to stay alive as the Lex Talionis died a fiery death.
Tagria gripped onto fallen ducting, using it to leaver herself up, the Gorean seeming to intuitively know which way to go, guiding them through the passageways until they reached a bank of escape pods.
Kyr helped to push Galadriel inside, the deck nearly at eighty degrees towards the stern, he kept sliding as he fought to push her inside, feeling a firm hand as Tagria pulled him up and in with her.
There was a moment of camaraderie between the three of them as Kyr sealed the hatch, finding a seat and pulling on the harnesses, helping her to do the same.
She took his hand again, looking at him. "Thank you, Doctor," she managed quietly.
Tagria smiled, a chilling smile, "if I am to be lost, I intend to ensure I have food." She worked her jaws open and closed a few times as she held onto the sides of the pod, "don't attempt anything that will cause me to kill you, Doctor."
Kyr nodded and yanked on the T-bar that fired the explosive bolts, feeling the rocket boosters engaging to thrust the escape pod away from the ship.
Executive Shuttle bay - HMS Lex Talionis - Krasnïer System - Gorean Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-THREE
"No way in hell," Katz stated, training his gun on Rikard as he tried to board the small two-seater shuttle.
"Excuse me?" Rikard said in surprise, looking at the young Squadron Leader holding a gun on him.
"You stay here, you want to be free of this coffin? Then by all means, free yourself." Katz looked hard as his other hand flew over the emergency pre-flight controls warming up the shuttles drives.
Rikard shook his head. "Then shoot me," he replied coldly, climbing aboard the shuttle and pulling the gull-wing hatch closed. "I have no more desire to be cooked alive than you do."
Katz swore, lowering the gun and hitting the controls for the shuttle bay doors emergency release. "We're probably going to fry anyway..."
Outside of the Lex Talionis, an inferno boiled, the burning of the aft section intensified by the heat of such a steep re-entry. Both men knew they'd be lucky to survive the first five seconds of flight.
"Just fly," Rikard replied, "I will deal with the heat..."
Katz glanced at him, and the former Chancellor nodded. "On this you can trust me. I won't let us burn."
Katz shrugged, knowing that he didn't have any other choice. He fired the aft engines and prayed.
The shuttle hit the wall of flame, bouncing through it like a ping-pong ball in a gale, rolling end over end as it crashed and scraped its way along the burning hull, flinging itself out into the depths of the inferno to reach the far side. The shuttle strove to stay aloft, its wings smouldering as it pulled up from the dying ship. Katz watched the immense battleship splintering apart as it crashed into the sands of the desert.
Rikard collapsed back into his chair, panting as he released his concentration, the shuttle beeping that it detected an emergency signal. Katz breathed a sigh of relief, sweeping down across the dunes, zeroing in on the downed escape pod, Kyr out in the sand waving for dear life.
Camp - Krasnïer System - Gorean Territory
OCCUPATION: DAY ONE-SEVENTY-FOUR
Katz sat on the wing of the shuttle, shaking his head. "We're screwed."
Kyr cleaned his hands looking across from the tent he'd helped pitch. "How so?"
"Shuttle has no jump pods," Katz answered.
Kyr blinked, looking to where Rikard sat outside of Galadriel's tent, his shirt wrapped around his head to keep the blazing sun off. Across from him, Lady Tagria lounged, at one with the heat, fully prepared to eat any one of them the moment she felt a twinge of hunger. "Great, so we're stuck with them?"
"Two seats," Katz replied, patting the shuttle. "We couldn't get off this rock even if we wanted to. We're stuck with them."
Kyr chewed his lip. "We only have a little water and no food..."
"Yeah, desert world. We're, as I said before, screwed." Katz rubbed his temples, feeling the sweat trickling down his backbone.
"Yeah," Kyr said, folding his arms. "This is a desert world? That means no trees, right?"
"Yeah," Katz replied glancing up at the doctor's question.
"Then how come we're breathing?" Kyr responded, squinting up at the barren blue sky above him.
THE END AGAIN