by Briana Ervin
Scaln leaned toward the armored biped, gesturing discreetly toward it. “Eintah...” he whispered, and the person just nodded, going over to it to escort it out. It was curious; the ears swiveled again, hearing him coming, but the creature kept looking around like it couldn't see him.
Any ideas? I asked Cyrii, watching in fascination as the soldier guided the fluffy creature out.
“Are you kidding me? If I didn't know any better I'd think I'm hallucinating from whatever they stuck in me!”
“Took your time, didn't you?” a familiar voice came from the pedestal, causing me to look at it in alarm.
“Unconsciousness is a long-term ailment, Theta. You ought to know that,” Scaln said. A camera on the side of the pedestal facing us projected a full-size hologram of a strange biped, which had a flat face, no coverings on her skin except for shaped clothing, and long fur only on her head. There was something unusual about her chest... She moved her curled, shoulder-length fur behind her shoulders, despite only being a projection.
“I may be unconscious myself, but that doesn't make it feel any less like forever,” she said sharply. She looked at me. “There's a life sign in there, so I'm guessing we're ready now?”
Scaln nodded. “Show her the outpost.”
“'Outpost'?” Cyrii wondered. Theta looked behind her out the window, and the ship began to pick up speed; so she is a consciousness controlling the ship! The vehicle must have had a good gravity generator because I barely felt the force as the ship swung around. It moved forward into a now-completely-black space, leaving the pink nebula behind. I searched for anything unusual, approaching the window, acutely aware of everyone watching me carefully.
Eventually, some kind of asteroid field floated into view, lit up more brightly by floodlights on the front of the ship. Each rock had a variety of sharp edges and many of the pieces were thin or extremely small. Some of the outermost pieces in front of us moved out of the way in a fast, unusual way, like they were hit with something; a force field?
“Those aren't rocks...” Cyrii murmured unexpectedly. Bewildered, I went down to the bottom floor to get a better look at them. Theta took us into the thick of them, going very slow.
Now that the bigger pieces were floating into view, I noticed a lot of them had thin, bendy projections. Some of them were different colors than others. Some rocks were shiny, some were perfectly square, some were cylindrical...
This wasn't a regular debris field. These were the remains of something.
433 came down next to me, Scaln still sitting on his shoulder and looking over at me.
“What is this? Or used to be?” she asked through the com.
“Lots of things,” he answered. “Typically it's not safe to go in there, but right now we're out of range.”
“From what?” I asked.
Scaln looked at me thoughtfully, taking his time in deciding what to say. “Theta?” He prompted for the AI's input. I heard a soft buzz and turned around to notice that her hologram of the map had disappeared, replacing it with a picture of what looked like a large, metal ball with intricate detailing floating in space. The metal was translucent, like a bubble, revealing a conglomerate of shapes inside, and scattered along the ball's different axes were long pilasters reaching out into space. There was lots of foreign text to the side of it. I relaxed my defensive stance and walked back up to the pedestal, trying to liken the object or the text to anything in my database. No success.
“That, is a Karitzuian outpost,” Scaln explained for me, as 433 brought him back up to the pedestal, “and there's one just a parsec away from us. The metal parts are part of a shield that detects incoming crafts, and the pillars are the weapons, evident by all of the trash we're flying in. Right now they know we're here, but we're at a safe distance from them.”
“Okaaay... and I'm supposed to believe it's there how?” Cyrii made me ask.
Scaln frowned, mumbling something under his breath about how she was being difficult. “You can't see it because it's in hostile territory,” he finally answered factually, “it's cloaked.”
That made enough sense to me, although I still looked skeptically out the window past 433's shoulder, and still only saw debris floating through space. The mech watched me carefully while Cyrii simply grunted in response. Scaln continued grimly:
“The outpost in front of us specifically holds weapons capable of destroying entire worlds; and for the Karitzuians, it doesn't end there. They're master fighters, and their power is exactly what the Intergalactic Republic can harness for the war. We're lucky they've done nothing yet.
“It is only fifteen parsecs from Zirhon though; close enough to home that, if fired in its direction, the energy mass could impact our world and shred a quarter of it in only four days.”
“Fifteen parsecs?” Cyrii barked dubiously. I quickly did the math; that was about three solar systems away! If it only took four of our days to travel there...
“That's impossible,” Cyrii said aloud, “that thing would have to be powered by a star, and I don't see that around here. You're lying.”
Theta looked at me, her serious expression matched by Scaln, who let 433 carry him closer to me. I squinted in discomfort of the closed distance.
“I didn't believe it either,” he said, “I thought the IR – once my mortal enemy – was simply lying to scare us. But they know this union, this galaxy that calls itself Karitzuian. They're extremely advanced, and they have your temper. All it takes is for someone to light it.”
“Don't falsify it,” Theta warned sharply, “They want nothing to do with us.”
“The Karitzuians?” Cyrii said, still skeptical. I then added on my own will: “Who are they?”
“The Karitzuians are supposed allies of the IR, but they don't want to be sucked into the war with the Apex powers. They're an extremely independent mixed-race union,” Theta explained.
“And extremely dangerous!” Scaln insisted. “I was taken to the IR's biggest station once, and saw a Karitzuian there. Huge metal monster. He had Cyrii's fire. Her mother's fire.” He looked back at me. “Weaponized personalities. Which is why I wanted to find you.”
“Oh, brother...” Theta sighed, her hologram folding her arms. “I already told you, the chances are slim to none. It's barely two, and that's with some generous rounding!”
“It's a chance!” Scaln barked at her.
“Why does it matter if they don't care?” Cyrii said.
“Scaln has the ill-conceived notion that he can bend the Karitzuians' wills,” Theta said.
“It's not ill-conceived!” he argued, “it's a simple fact: Karitzuians are neutral.”
“Annoyed,” she corrected.
“Neutral. And any neutral party can be convinced to switch sides. Twenty-six parsecs from here there is an IR outpost. If we get the Karitzuians on our side, we can blast them to pieces! Save the Apex powers and our homeworld!”
“And you wanted us why?” Cyrii spoke again.
“To prove to the Karitzuians that Zirhon is worth saving,” he said passionately, “Right now they're just watching us be torn apart by IR machines. They don't care. But with you, and your matching personality, we can make them care.”
I don't know if it works like that... I judged, suspicious that Scaln was leaving out details. He was excited, but the gleam in his eye unsettled me. All of this information was dropped a bit suddenly, and if the Empire wanted to be defended effectively, wouldn't have it told its soldiers about this? Wouldn't our Apex allies already be negotiating with these Karitzuians? On top of that, what makes him think Cyrii and I were diplomatic? Then there was the nagging problem that he told me earlier that the Empire – and by extension, our Apex allies – weren't on the “good” side of the war... so why was he offering to blow up an IR outpost if they were the “good guys”?
Something isn't right.
My operator jerked on one of my controls, making me twitch. She wasn't excited about what this entailed, and I wasn't thrilled eith
er.
“Why should we be so concerned about this when these Karitzu guys haven't even done anything yet?” Cyrii inquired.
“Well, besides the possibility of them choosing to join the war on the wrong side...” Scaln faltered, and instead of trying to explain further, he looked at Theta's hologram self, who disappeared and switched the pedestal's holograms to a star system map and several windows containing detailed data, also filled with text I couldn't read. 433 carried Scaln over to it, and he pointed at the various locations on the map.
“The IR has set up outposts here, here, and here. A perfect triangulation for a mass attack on one sole planet in the middle: our homeworld, here.”
Cyrii pushed me to walk to the pedestal for a closer look, mumbling dubiously to herself. He continued:
“The Karitzuian outpost is here. It was there before the IR set up the other outposts, but I'm sure they're going to use it.” He pointed just off-center of the triangle on the map. “We're being targeted because of our mechs; you proved yourself that they can take on even spacecraft and teleportation beacons. The government wanted to keep this secret, but I learned from my superior that the Apex powers have been developing spacecraft capable of carrying our mechs to the intergalactic battlefield. I speculate that the IR learned of this, and wants to nip the bud, so to speak, explaining why they're concentrating on us even though plenty of our allies are equipped with cosmic weapons and fleets.”
I absorbed this in curiosity. It made some sense, but why would targeting our mechs be so important if we were equally matched by the drones and other craft?
I heard Cyrii scoff in my head. “I don't believe it.”
You think targeting our mechs is needless too? I asked her.
“It's not just that. It's everything.” She made a discontented purr-growl. “This is too perfect, but doesn't make sense at the same time. I don't trust him.”
There are a lot of loose ends, I realized with her. What should we do about it?
She didn't immediately answer, drawing out our silence and causing Scaln to flick his eyes between me and the arachnid behind me in concern. Then it quickly dawned on him that Cyrii had been talking with me.
“If it helps to know,” he began, “your mother believes it'll work too.”
Cyrii suddenly wrenched on my controls and I stumbled backward. 433 pulled back too in suspicion. Scaln waved his paws with a yelp to keep his balance. “Careful, 433-!”
“Don't pretend you know her,” Cyrii snarled through my speaker. Scaln furrowed his brow at me.
“But I do know her.”
“No you don't!”
“Cyrii, you're my-!”
“No I'm not! If I was why don't I know you?!” she burst out. “I don't know you! I don't know any Xinschi-uual that look like you, and I sure as Alkinest don't know any that work for the IR!”
“Cyrii!!” Scaln vainly tried to console her, but she hissed and raised my turrets against my will. I was both offended by the rash move and simultaneously excited at the prospect of another fight!
433 jumped into the defensive position and I heard a mechanical click from behind me. Theta leveled her sharp gaze on me even though I towered over her.
“Don't try anything stupid, mech. I have an EMP locked on you,” she warned. I just glanced at her, my threads twinging in uncertainty.
“Look, we shouldn't be threatening each other,” Scaln said quickly in an attempt to ease the tension. “I didn't calm you down before just for this!”
“Then maybe you shouldn't lie to me!” my pilot said.
“I'm not lying!” he snapped, his composure finally breaking down into frustration.
“How can I trust you when you're saying something so absurd?! Do these Karitzu guys even exist? And why would I want to help you get them on my side when you're working for the IR?!”
“You don't know that!”
“We're on an IR ship!”
Scaln tried to refute it but only ended up stammering across his words. “T-That doesn't matter!” he finally managed to say, “what matters is I'm telling you-”
“It doesn't matter!” Cyrii stubbornly accused him, “If you were my father, why did you lock me up? Why did you drug me? Why did you keep me from my mech?! I'll tell you why: because you don't trust me! So why should I trust you?!”
“You're behaving like a child!” Theta snapped.
“So we should blindly believe you?” I shot back, becoming increasingly defensive of Cyrii. My pilot snarled at the remark.
“Should I put the mech down?” 433 offered Scaln, I hissed at him and he flicked his palms outward, their insets glowing blue. I jolted back into a proper offensive position, locking onto them.
“No!” Scaln said sharply. Theta's hologram disappeared with a buzz like she was preparing to do something. “Theta...!”
“You brought this on the ship, Scaln,” she accused, “now you have to fix it before I do.”
I felt a stronger sense of insecurity, taking the EMP threat seriously, but Cyrii hardly seemed to care. She was still fixated on this Xinschi-uual who I wasn't sure if he was a charlatan or not. I need to shoot the pedestal first, I decided, her projections go in there. The brain must be inside as well.
“Look, just forget the whole relation thing!” Scaln hastily began to backpedal. “It doesn't matter! What matters is we can do something to save Zirhon!”
Cyrii glared daggers at him; I could feel it through her tight grip. I was still thinking about an exciting battle and its tactics, not caring. “Why would you want to save Zirhon if you're working for this disorganized, abusive gang?” she spat through the comm.
“Because it's not an actual alliance-!” he tried to excuse.
“Speak for yourself,” Theta interrupted, unforgiving. “We're under contract!”
“But we're tricking them!” Scaln said, clutching to 433's head. “We're taking out the bureaucrats that started this bloody war in the first place!”
“You're the ones who started the war!”
“Stop being a brat and listen to me!” Scaln was practically roaring. “I know what I'm doing! I've done the research! I told you, I know who's good, and who's bad-!”
“Good and bad is subject to perception!” I flatly denied.
“Good is looking out for others! Bad is enslaving them!” Scaln shouted.
“You believe Zirhon enslaves people?!” Cyrii spat angrily.
“You call our policies ideal?” he shot back.
“I know what would be ideal right now,” 433 said flatly, “kicking out an entitled threat, that's what.”
“For once I agree!” I said, as Cyrii hissed at the remark. He made as if to lunge, and I stomped a foot forward warningly. I was just within striking distance... but I had to focus on those hands of his, then on the pedestal.
“Don't do it.” Theta growled over Scaln's shout of frustration, the scales around his neck fully flared. There were several chitters behind me as the arachnid soldier psyched up for a fight.
Scaln roared out in frustration. “You're as bad as your mother!”
“Don't talk about my mother like you know her, Xinschi-uual filth!!” Cyrii screeched. She forgot to press the comm button, but her anger resounded through me like an earthquake.
She forced me to charge forward. I didn't fight against her will. I couldn't say no to a battle!
I crashed into 433, and pinned him to the ground. Scaln's defensive cry was cut off as he was flung off from the impact. The door to the bridge shut with an immense thud and the lights turned red, the alarm starting up again, but I ignored it, focused on 433. He immediately did what I expected him to do: slap a hand to my hull to kill off my processes! Anticipating the attack, I fired up my lasers and focused them on his central eye, reducing my vision to a searingly-bright whiteness! In seconds the glass began to sag and he panicked, closing his blast shield all the way and using his free hand to try and shove me off. I pushed my weight onto him, switching the laser focus to his should
ers and slicing right through the thin, exposed wires. 433's shrieked through his initial shock and quickly began electrocuting me, terminating my threads at a great speed and leaving my thoughts in disarray.
AhAAGh! I cried out at the stabbing signals. Cyrii spat out a curse, nearly drowned out by the alarm screaming into my microphones, and seized control. I let her push me through the mental chaos, melting off his left arm completely and freeing me from his grasp. She then pulled back my arm, preparing a bayonet thrust, but something snatched me and pulled me off with surprising strength, freeing him! I whipped around, semi-coherent, my attacker loosing its grip.
The arachnid! Her four arms were splayed wide, ready to grab me again. Cyrii aimed my turrets, hoping to blast her to pieces, but she dashed out of the way and clambered onto the ceiling. I was moved to intercept her but some kind of invisible wall suddenly hit me.
It went through me!
My scattered thoughts suddenly dissipated in a million ways, and I fell limp.
“What?! 767 NO!” I heard Cyrii's cry as she messed with my controls, but I was immobilized! Not powered down? The EM pulse?!
Something struck me and I fell over like a sack of potatoes. Cyrii screamed in fury, and her presence left my head. I couldn't move, but I could hear the cries of surprise around us.
“She has a Shatterer! DUCK!” Scaln's voice, somewhere from the right. There were a few clangs, followed by a loud boom that ended in a higher pitch! Something exploded and spat shrapnel over me. Slowly, I rebooted as another boom sounded.
OUCH. A couple of circuits fried! I mentally hissed, That bloody...!
I powered up right away, already moving into action. Cyrii jumped back inside me and closed the entry panels. I now moved with a vengeance, whipping around and spotting a massive molten spot. Whatever emergency weapon Cyrii had, it was effective! I didn't see Scaln or the arachnid, but 433 was trying to flank me. I swiveled to face him and his stupid green eye and let loose a stream of bullets, the bangs resounding throughout the room. While my pilot's paws flew over the controls, typing something, I pinned him against the far wall. His soft hull wasn't doing well against the barrage, even with his arms raised up in defense, and his confidence was shattering; I relished it.
