Talon tipped his head to the side. “The same Ryonna you went to see yesterday?”
Tar’Lock nodded.
“Did you intend to kill her?”
“Of course not! I—I know that if she killed Tar’Sian, it’s only because she had no other choice. Sure, I tried to hate her and distort the truth so that I had a scapegoat to despise…it’s easier when you can blame everything on someone else. At least it’s easier than to face and accept the truth, no matter how painful it may be.”
“Look, Tar’Lock, I’m sorry you lost your sister, I truly am. But I don’t think our situations compare.”
“Perhaps not, but one thing’s for sure, you have the look of someone who needs a devil to hate, and it looks to me like you’re willing to go to great lengths, including sacrificing your crew as long as you can keep that hatred burning. I know how you feel—”
Talon pointed an accusing finger in front of Tar’Lock’s face.
“Don’t you dare think you have any idea how I feel!”
Tar’Lock shook his head. “Yeah, you’re right, you’re not letting revenge and anger blind your actions, obviously. But, hey, feel free to doom us all in the name of your emotions. You sure are doing a hell of a job so far.”
Tar’Lock didn’t know if it was his words or something else, but he saw Talon’s face completely change expression. One from hatred to confusion. Talon turned back toward the viewport and stayed silent for a few minutes.
When Tar’Lock thought that they wouldn’t resume their argument, he walked toward the door.
“Wait…please,” said Talon.
“Why, Captain? Haven’t we said all we needed to on the subject?”
Talon turned back toward his acting first officer. “I—I can’t help the way I feel toward the Earth Alliance. And I doubt this will ever change. However…”
Tar’Lock didn’t say a thing, instead letting his captain continue when he felt he could.
“You’re right that anger, hatred even, is what has driven me for the longest time. Perhaps, in this case, it’s affecting my judgment. Right now I can’t bring myself to call the Earth Alliance for help. I—I just can’t.”
“Who said anything about you calling them for help?”
Tar’Lock could tell from Talon’s dumbfounded look that he didn’t follow.
“Look, Captain, I can send an anonymous communication to the Earth Alliance headquarters, it doesn’t have to come from you or the Bellerophon. As a matter of fact, let me make this real simple for you. I’m not going to wait for your authorization. I’m going to step out now, go to my station, and program a probe to exit the nebula cluster. Once outside, it will send a subspace distress call on an emergency frequency I know the Alliance will be monitoring.”
“And there is nothing I can do to stop you?”
“Short of shooting me? No. I’m sorry about your family, I truly am. And I’m sorry that you’ve been carrying this for so long, but we need to let someone know of the danger we’re all facing. Or many more families will suffer the same consequences.”
“What if the enemy ship manages to locate us because of this?”
“Then we’ll probably die. But at least we won’t die in vain. I’ll take all the necessary precautions to make sure that doesn’t happen though.”
Talon sighed heavily, which Tar’Lock interpreted as a good sign. When the captain stayed silent, Tar’Lock walked away through the ready room’s door and onto the bridge.
The space hydra had managed to re-enter firing range, and its multiple heads resumed spitting bolts of plasma toward the Iron Fire. Chase did his best to evade by piloting the ship with his mind, but no amount of fancy flying prevented some plasma bolts from hitting the Iron Fire’s shields, which kept lowering at alarming speeds. Clearly turning tail and fleeing was not working.
Chase had hoped that the creature would eventually lose interest in their ship and get tired of chasing them, but apparently, the rage that animated it knew no bounds. Chase tried to jump to hyperspace, but the ship again refused to bring all systems online. Whatever field the creature was generating was interfering with the jump systems.
Chase opened a channel to engineering. “Guys, please tell me you’ve figured out a solution to jump?”
“Hey, boss,” said Yanis. “I’m afraid this is not a problem we can fix quickly. The field generated is in constant flux, and we haven’t been able to isolate a pattern yet so that we can counter its effect for long enough for the jump engines to activate. I’m afraid we’re not going anywhere. Kvasir is working on modifying the shields so that at least we dissipate impacts more efficiently.”
Not what Chase wanted to hear. The ship rocked as two more plasma shots impacted with the shields, draining them further.
“Alright, keep at it.” Chase turned to his brother. “It’s still gaining on us. I’m trying to dodge its attacks, but there’s simply too many of them.”
“Can I go blow it up now? Please,” asked Argos.
While it was a tempting thought, and while the situation grew more dire with each impact, Chase wasn’t prepared to risk creating a black hole. There might come a time where they wouldn’t have a choice, but they weren’t there yet.
“Negative. Any more ideas?”
“I have one,” said Chris as he entered the bridge.
“I’m listening.”
“Let me go distract the creature. Perhaps if I fly around buzzing at it, it may get sidetracked and allow the Iron Fire to gain enough distance so you can jump.”
“We’re not jumping out of here without you.”
Chris sighed. “I’m not suggesting that, just beam me in before jumping.”
Chase wasn’t familiar with using beaming technology. After all, he used to be able to teleport at will, on his own, which would have made his son’s idea ideal for him to execute if he still had that power. Chase wasn’t enchanted with the idea of Chris serving as a distraction, at best, and as bait, at worst. If push came to shove, he had no doubt that his son could defend himself, though. Chase could monitor his progress from the bridge and beam him out should anything go wrong.
“I don’t like it—” said Chase.
“Shocker,” said Chris sharply.
“If you’d let me finish,” argued Chase, “I think that’s our best bet.”
“I should go with him,” said Argos.
“Thanks, but I don’t need an assist, Uncle,” Chris protested.
Chase would prefer Argos to accompany Chris, but something told him that if he ever wanted to regain some sympathy points with his son, he would have to trust him and dial down his overprotective fatherly instincts.
“Chris is right. He can manage it on his own.”
Have you lost your damn mind? asked Argos telepathically.
Chris is not a kid anymore, he’s as strong as you or me; we need to trust he can do things on his own.
Okay, Chase, if you think that’s wise. I just hope you know what you’re doing.
Chase didn’t. They were in uncharted territory, both literally and figuratively. Everything about this region of space was alien to them, and as their first encountered proved, there was no way of knowing what they were up against. That meant Chase had to silence his anxiety and fully trust his son would prevail. Releasing control was not Chase’s forte, but today he would have to. Chase reached with his mind and found the Iron Fire’s teleportation sub-functions within the ship’s central computer core.
“Alright, Chris. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll beam you outside.”
Chris erected a force field bubble around him that would act as an air reserve and also shield him from the near absolute zero temperatures of space.
“I’m ready,” said Chris.
Please be careful, said Chase.
I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. Now hit it.
With a heavy heart, Chase looked at his son and nodded as he mentally activated the beam-out sequence. Rays of blue and purple light engulfed
Chris, and he disappeared.
Good luck, son.
13
Ares took a break from trying to talk with Nyx when he realized he wasn’t getting anywhere. He should not have told her he was an Olympian. Still, he would need to find a way to convince the Fury to accept some sort of truce and partnership. He needed a body to interact with in this dimension so he could affect his own future. That was his only chance to return home and warn Chase that the Spectres have already taken a foothold there.
When an arachnoid guard approached the cell with what looked like food, he knew that he needed to seize the opportunity.
I’m going to invade the guard’s body when he opens the cell. Be ready to finish him off.
He’s not going to open the cell, he’ll just open a small hole in the force field and slide the tray in, you dumbass. Do you really think I would need your help taking down a single guard if he gave me the slightest opportunity?
Is it really necessary to resort to insults?
Necessary, no, but I rather enjoy it. Nevertheless, they made that mistake the very first day they put me in a cell. They’ve long since learned that I’ll exploit any breach in their security.
Okay, plan B then. What opens the force field?
The third red control on his wrist device.
When I press it, make sure you take him out quickly.
Nyx sighed. Whatever you say, Olympian.
Ares wanted to protest her tone, but he ran out of time when the guard carelessly dropped the food platter in front of the cell door, not caring that most of the food jumped around and splashed on the damp floor.
The guard smirked at Nyx as he reached for his wrist device to open a small hole in the cell’s force field.
That’s when Ares jumped him from behind and forced his energy inside the arachnoid. Invading the creature’s mind was neither simple nor pleasant. It felt nothing like taking control of humanoids in his dimension. What it did feel like was that there was more than one consciousness in the arachnoid’s mind. As a result, taking control of the arachnoid’s body was harder than Ares anticipated.
The guard shook and moved oddly, stepping into the food platter with both feet. Ares slipped and crashed on his ass. The shock and pain nearly kicked away Ares’ partial hold on the alien mind.
Nyx shook her head in disbelief.
The arachnoid mind was so dark that Ares felt as if he were trapped inside an inverse black hole intent on expelling the Olympian. He had to push his mental abilities to their limits. He moved the alien’s trembling hand with great difficulty, trying to hit the third red control on the wrist device. Because the hand trembled so much, Ares hit the second one instead, and a bolt of lightning shot from the rear of the cell toward Nyx’s back.
She dodged it by a hair as her purple aura filled the cell.
“I said third, dammit. Watch it!”
T—t—trying.
Try harder! And hurry up, we don’t have all day.
The arachnoid mind was still fighting to regain control of the shared body. Ares needed to distract the alien mind. He jerked his borrowed body forward enough for the scalp of the creature to make contact with the force field. The resulting electric current traveling inside the body finally gave him full control, even though he experienced enormous pain feedback himself.
Ares got up and freely pressed the third red control on the device. The force field dropped. Ares immediately regretted it as Nyx’s eyes flashed purple and her aura exploded like a supernova.
“Wait—” said Ares. “I’m in contro—"
But she didn’t, and Nyx literally incinerated the arachnoid with a purple tidal-wave attack. The power she unleashed destroyed the arachnoid at a subatomic level, disintegrating its body.
“Good job,” said a bodiless Ares with no hidden amount of sarcasm in his tone. “I finally had his body under control, we could have used it to help us get out of here.”
“Damn…you’re still alive. I was kind of hoping you’d have died along with the guard.”
“For crying out loud! Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said until now?” protested Ares. “I’m already dead. You can’t kill me in this form, no matter how much you try. For Gods’ sake, I survived the destruction of your world, that should tell you something about how resilient I am in this energy form.”
“Apparently so…bummer, though. I’m sure you can understand that I had to try, Olympian.”
“Stop calling me that! I have a name. Ares.”
“Not exactly trying to make friends with a member of my arch enemy’s race. And, frankly, at this point, I’d rather you were just a figment of my imagination. Though, after that stunt of yours, it would seem to be wishful thinking on my part.”
Ares sighed out loud. “Whatever works for you. But may I suggest we get the hell outta here before they send reinforcements.”
“Finally, something we can agree on, Olympian.”
“Ares!”
“Whatever,” barked Nyx as she ran out of the cell and toward the prison’s exit.
Loki looked at his holo-terminal with purpose as his eyes glowed blue and his body morphed into Thor’s. As the God of Mischief, one of Loki’s powers was shape-shifting. Even his own armor morphed as well, and soon, he looked exactly like his brother.
He entered a few commands on the holo-terminal, and the image of Poseidon filled the holo-screen.
“Hello, Poseidon,” said Loki, using his brother’s voice.
“I didn’t expect to hear back from you so soon. Is everything alright?”
“Not exactly. You said you’re not too far from Asgardian territory, correct?”
“Yes, we’re only a short jump away, why?”
“We’ve been hit with a strange malfunction and lost sensor range on something I wanted to get checked. Would it be an imposition to ask you to check it for me? I would send one of our ships, but I’ve recalled them. The malfunction could be a man-made virus, and the last thing I want is for our ships to become stranded should that area contain any hostiles. I’d hate to impose though if you have other things to do—”
Poseidon raised a hand. “Think nothing of it, my friend. We can take an hour or two out of our schedule to help a friend. You know you can count on us.”
“Thank you…my friend. I’m sending you the coordinates via subspace.”
Poseidon looked down, and a series of bleeps echoed through the holo-channel.
“Got them. But, Thor, is everything alright? You seem somewhat concerned.”
Loki swallowed hard. He needed to end this conversation now that his primary goal had been achieved. Thor and Poseidon had developed a strong bond on the battlefield during the Fury War, and the longer Loki talked, the higher the chances his deception could be exposed. That would cost him dearly as he didn’t get the feeling that the Spectre race was the forgiving kind.
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Just been a long day, you know how these go.”
Poseidon smiled. “I certainly do. We’ll check the area, and I’ll report back in a few hours.”
“Thank you, Poseidon. I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me anything, my friend. Poseidon out.”
When the holo-transmission ended, Loki regained his appearance and let out a long sigh of relief.
Well, that’s one thing done. The Spectre will be here soon, I’d better get ready to meet with him.
Chris lost no time upon arriving in space. He locked onto the pursuing hydra and flew toward it as fast as he could. A couple of seconds later he was upon the massive creature. He purposefully flew in between two of the heads and spun wildly in the process, making sure the creature felt his presence and didn’t think he was just some rogue space rock.
Two of the heads turned back keeping a visual lock on him. Both pair of eyes glowed red, but shortly after, the heads returned their attention to the Iron Fire and spat more plasma attacks toward the ship.
I guess I need to make a better first impression t
hen.
Chris quickly veered around and flew back toward the back of the creature. The hydra’s tail was huge, but Chris decided to grab it at its thinnest point. Perhaps that would get the beast’s attention. And that it did. The moment Chris caught the very tip of the massive tail, four heads turned around. The next thing that happened sent Chris swiveling uncontrollably into space as the creature shook its tail so fast and taking him by surprise.
He recovered his senses in time to see a massive bolt of plasma traveling at high velocity toward him. Chris could probably have deflected the attack, but he feared that if he used too much of his powers in space, he could tear the fabric of space and time in the area like his father had in the past.
Chris dodged the bolt, darted forward, and started buzzing around the hydra’s head making sure to get its attention; at times coming a little too close for comfort and having to fly between the creature’s large teeth to escape being turned into a space snack.
But the distraction worked, and the Iron Fire changed its heading without the hydra noticing, its focus now entirely devoted to trying to eat Chris.
The air within the force field thinned, and Chris regretted not creating a bigger bubble around him. He would not be able to keep this going for much longer, and he passing out was not an option.
What’s your status? asked Chris to his father.
You’re doing a great job, another minute and we should be able to beam you back aboard and get the hell out of here, said Chase. Do you think you can hold the hydra at bay for that long?
Chris wasn’t sure he had enough oxygen to do so, but for the sake of their mission and his family’s survival, he preferred not to disclose his doubts. He could always try and execute his last maneuvers holding his breath.
Not a problem.
It was only a handful of seconds later that his vision started to blur, and he was losing focus. As a result, he had to take much less complex trajectories, and that opened up possibilities for the hydra. Each mouth thrust toward Chris was getting closer, and he could feel the creature’s frustration boost its already enraged demeanor.
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