by Jake Bible
"How about you leave the dirty work to us and you stick to cocktail parties and galactic intrigue," Roak said. "We know what we're doing."
Reck snickered.
"Most of the time," Roak added.
"This time for sure," Hessa said, although her voice didn't sound one hundred percent sincere.
They reached the cargo hold where Skabz, Evil, BR, and Ally were waiting.
"Why are you down here?" Roak asked, not liking the fact Ally was dressed in full power armor. "I need you on the ship."
"You already have Nimm and Poq on the ship," Ally said. "Even though Hessa can handle things on her own."
"Thank you, Ally," Hessa said.
"You're welcome," Ally replied. "I know how to fight, Roak."
Roak pointed at BR and Evil. "We don't need more fighters. And your Tcherian camouflage is useless in that armor."
"I can fight," Ally insisted.
Reck patted Roak on the shoulder. "You lost this one. Let it go."
"Fine," Roak said. "Everyone get suited up. Prime, there's armor against the wall that should work for you. Skabz?"
"I'm already suited up," Skabz said.
"I see that. Good for you, kid," Roak said. "What I was going to say is that you take point."
"So I die first? No thank you, old man," Skabz said.
"Then you're covering our six," Roak said. "Unless dying last doesn't work for you."
"He only dies last if something doesn't sneak up on us," Reck said. She finished getting suited up, grabbed two Tonal Eight shock rifles, slung one on her back and rested the other against her hip. "We doing this or what?"
"This is beyond reckless," Agent Prime said.
"No one asked you to be here," Roak snapped.
"My commanding officer did," Agent Prime replied. He was struggling to get the chest plate of his power armor secured. "This is why I prefer formal wear."
Everyone burst out laughing. Agent Prime joined in too.
"There. Stress alleviated," Hessa said. "Nothing like a good laugh to lighten the mood."
BR was pretty much bouncing from one foot to the other while Evil just stood there as still as could be.
"You good?" Roak asked Evil.
"I puddle up out there and I'll slow you all down," Evil said. "I'll stay here."
"You sure?' Roak asked, but didn't argue.
"Wouldn't have said it if I wasn't," Evil replied.
"That works for me," Nimm said over the comm. "Not a bad idea to have a being watching the ramp."
"You could close the ramp," Skabz said.
"We could do a lot of things, but we aren't," Nimm replied. "The ramp stays open in case you need to retreat quickly."
"Everyone suited up?" Roak asked, hefting an RX31 Plasma assault rifle. He didn't wait for an answer and slammed his fist against the ramp controls. "Time to go."
Roak took point with Reck behind him followed by Ally, Agent Prime, BR, and Skabz. They affixed cables to the edge of the outcropping, latched pulleys to the cables, then descended down to the tunnel floor.
"Where's-?" Reck began to ask, but a yellow blur answered her question before she could finish.
"I found it," Yellow Eyes said. "One hundred meters ahead around that curve."
"We're that close?" Reck asked. "Hessa? Nimm?"
"No way to verify from the readings," Hessa said.
"No need to verify anything since I saw it with my own peepers," Yellow Eyes said. "Trust a being, man."
"Talk," Roak said.
"It doesn't look like much," Yellow Eyes said. "Kind of a swirly pool of glittery water."
"Maybe it is just a swirly pool of glittery water," Skabz said.
"Nope," Yellow Eyes replied. "It's the nexus point. You'll see. Or hear, really."
"Hear?" Roak frowned, but no one could see the expression inside his helmet. "What do you hear?"
"Everything," Yellow Eyes replied.
"Great," Roak said. "Let's go hear this thing then."
The team trekked around the curve then one hundred meters down the tunnel.
"He wasn't kidding," Reck said. "That's a swirly pool of glittery water."
And it was.
About twenty meters in diameter, the pool glittered and swirled. But no one standing before it would have called it water.
For one thing, it undulated and pulsed more like plasma energy. For another thing, there were an infinite multitude of sounds and voices bubbling up out of the pool. Water tended to be a little more boring.
"Hessa?" Roak asked.
"The device is on your belt, Roak," Hessa said.
"Do I need to do anything to it?" Roak asked.
"No. Toss it into the pool and then wait," Hessa replied.
"Toss what and wait for what?" Reck snapped. "Roak? What the fuck are you up to?"
"I want to try something before we destroy the nexus," Roak said. He took the device from his belt and threw it into the pool before anyone could protest. "How long should we wait, Hessa?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Hessa replied. "But we cannot wait too long. I'm cut off from communication with the others so we have no idea how it is going above the planet."
"I'd say it isn't going well," Ally said. "They're outnumbered."
"I don't know," BR said. "Those Chassfornians really were enthusiastic about their mission. I think they're gonna mess some Skrang up."
"Get the nukes ready," Roak said. "We'll stay here for fifteen minutes then we bail. How far do we need to be before the nukes can detonate?"
"We'll need to be about halfway out of the atmosphere," Hessa said.
"What?" Agent Prime snapped. "How many kilotons are each of these?"
"Enough to get the job done, I assume," Hessa said. "This is all guesswork, Agent Prime. Unless you have experience destroying multi-universe nexus points. I didn't see that experience in your GF file, but I could have missed it."
"She didn't miss it," Reck said. "Hessa doesn't miss anything."
"Hey, you all will want to hurry," Nimm called. "I'm picking up movement in the tunnel."
"The GF have followed us," Reck said. She spun about and faced the way they'd come. "We should get back to the ship."
"Incoming speeders!" Nimm shouted.
The team turned and ran back towards the ship. They rounded the curve and stepped right into a barrage of plasma fire.
"DOWN!" Roak roared.
Everyone except for Skabz hit the ground. The young Skrang only stood there, his arms limp at his sides, his rifle dangling from one armored glove.
"Well, this is a bunch of terpigshit," Skabz said as he fell to his knees then onto his face.
"Hessa! Moltrans him to the med bay!" Roak ordered.
"I can't!" Hessa replied. "There's too much interference! I can't get a lock!"
"The nexus point," Reck said. "Too much energy coming off of it."
"I got him!" Yellow Eyes yelled and was gone.
A yellow blur appeared next to Skabz then the Skrang kid was gone too.
Just below the outcropping where the ship sat were six GF small speeders. Their plasma cannons weren't huge, but they still put out plenty of plasma. Plasma that was blasting the rock around Roak and his team.
"Retreat," Roak said and smacked Reck on the back as he hurried past her back towards the nexus point. "Maybe we can get them to follow."
"We want that because…?" Agent Prime asked as the team retreated down the tunnel after Roak.
"Because one of us can keep them occupied while the rest get back onboard the ship," Roak said. "I'll stay."
"No you won't," Yellow Eyes said, suddenly by Roak's side.
"I told you I wasn't going to sacrifice you," Roak said.
"Not me," Yellow Eyes said and nodded to a big bucket set next to the pool of energy. "He insisted right before he melted."
"GF troops have left the speeders," Hessa said. "Only a pilot in each remains. I have Poq on them now."
"How many troops?" Roak ask
ed.
"Two dozen," Hessa said. "Full power armor and H16 Plasma Carbine Multi-Weapons."
"Fleet Marines," Roak said. "They're tough, but being controlled by Father should dull some of that toughness."
Everyone turned, took a knee, and brought up their weapons.
The moment the first GF trooper appeared, Roak and team opened fire. The Marine's power armor couldn't hold up to that kind of onslaught and the trooper dropped fast and hard. The one directly behind him didn't fare so well either.
The rest scrambled for cover and returned fire, forcing Roak and his team to find their own cover. They split up and rushed behind large rocks, divots in the tunnel wall, anything that would give them some protection from the troopers' fire.
"Hessa? Any responses?" Roak asked. He looked towards the pool.
"Nothing," Hessa said. "But I'm not sure what you expected. We don't even know if there are any in the other universes."
"The odds say there are," Roak said.
"Even still, what's to say they will respond to the call? Would you?" Hessa asked.
"Yeah," Roak said. "Just because I'd be curious."
"What are you two talking about?" Reck snarled as she took down two more troopers before having to scramble back behind the rock jutting out from the tunnel wall. Chips and chunks of the rock flew everywhere as the GF plasma fire tore into it.
"Six left!" Agent Prime announced.
"Not for long," BR said.
He was pretty much too big to hide, so he jumped out from the meager cover he'd found and rushed the remaining GF troopers. His body shook and shuddered as plasma bolts impacted with his armor. But he kept charging until he'd reached the troopers.
The tunnel filled with screams.
"Eight Million Gods," Ally said as she looked towards Roak. "He's made from you? Are you capable of that kind of violence?"
"He's a little stronger than me," Roak said, not looking at Ally. "But…yeah."
"Good to know," Ally said.
"Roak, you'll want to deactivate the nukes," Hessa said. "I can't get a signal to them and you are running out of time."
"How much time is left?" Roak asked.
"About five minutes," Hessa said.
The big bucket tipped over and Evil came crawling out. Naked.
"Hey," he said as he stood up. He glanced at the bloody mess BR had made. "Shit. He's scarier than me."
"I can hear you all talking about me," BR said as he walked back to the group. He had a trooper's severed arm in his hand and was swinging it back and forth like a stick. "We needed the troopers gone and I made them go away."
"I think you just spread them out rather than make them go away," Reck said.
BR tossed the arm to the side. "Whatever works, right?"
"Alright, we deactivate the nukes," Roak said. "Then what, Hessa? How are we going to set them off if you can't get a signal to them? I can set the timer again, but if we set it for too short a time then we all go boom. If we set it for too long a time then we risk the GF getting in here and deactivating them."
"Your haphazard plan not working out, Roak?" Agent Prime said.
Reck stepped between Agent Prime and Roak. "Don't shoot him."
"I was only going to wing him," Roak said. "I don't need Gerber up my ass more than he already is."
"I'm staying," Evil said. "I can set the nukes off as soon as you are clear. Drop comms relays on your way out and I'll be able to hear you once you're a safe distance."
"You'll die," Roak said.
"Yeah, maybe," Evil said. "Yellow Eyes?"
A yellow blur raced around Evil then solidified next to Roak.
Yellow Eyes held a blade in one nub and a finger in another.
"Let's test my limits," Evil said. "On the House of Teeth, no matter what they did to me, I always reassembled as long as a piece of me existed. Maybe I'm immune to nukes. Maybe I'm immortal."
"Nothing is immortal," Roak said. "Trust me."
He felt that statement in every molecule of his broken body.
"We have more speeders incoming!" Hessa announced. "Make a decision!"
"You're sure?" Roak asked Evil.
"I'm sure," Evil said. "If I do die then I'm cool with that. Living the rest of my existence in a bucket doesn't sound all that appealing the more I think about it."
Roak offered his hand. Evil took it. They held their grip for a couple of seconds then let go.
"I appreciate it," Roak said.
"I'll stay too," BR said. "Keep the melty us company."
"No," Evil stated firmly. "You should get to live a life. Broken Roak will need your muscle around if he ever wants to get back in the hunting game."
"If we all live!" Reck shouted. "Which is going to be hard to do if we get trapped here by more speeders! Roak!"
"Go," Evil said. He looked at the pile of nukes. "Should be painless, so no need to worry about me."
"Fine," Roak said. "Get back to the ship."
Everyone except for BR did that. He waited next to Roak.
"You too," Roak said.
"I'll hang."
"Go."
"Not unless you're coming with me."
Roak sighed. He checked some readings on his armor's interface, saw no incoming comms messages, sighed again and nodded.
"Thanks again," Roak said to Evil then turned and hurried to catch up to the others.
24.
The team made it inside the cargo hold just before the GF speeders reached the ship. No one had time to strap in or hold on before Hessa had the ship launched and heading straight for the speeders.
"No wonder you're a mess," Agent Prime said as he grabbed onto some netting around a stack of crates. He twisted his arm as far into the netting as possible. "How do you operate like this?"
"Painfully," Reck said as she gripped a strut with an armored glove.
Ally was flung to the side, but BR caught her before she collided with the cargo hold's wall.
"Thank you," Ally said.
The ship climbed steeply and anything and anyone not nailed down went flying against the closed cargo ramp. Which was pretty much just Yellow Eyes.
"Oh, I felt that, man," Yellow Eyes said, completely flattened up against the cargo ramp. "Youch."
The ship leveled out and one by one the occupants were moltransed out of the cargo hold. Except for Roak and Poq, who was standing by the lift with an outstretched arm. Roak scrambled to the android and made it inside the lift just as the ship dove violently.
"I have you, Roak," Poq said, his hand gripping Roak's armored arm.
"Thanks," Roak said with a painful gasp. His body was betraying him at an alarming rate. "Get me to the bridge."
"Your vitals tell me you need to be in the med bay," Hessa said. "You do not look good, Roak."
"I concur," Poq said. "I am scanning you and you are not well."
"I already know that," Roak said. "I don't fucking feel well, but we're in a war and med bay breaks aren't in the schedule."
"We can handle this without you, Roak," Hessa said. "You should-"
"No," Roak said flatly. "Evil is about to blow himself up. The least I can do is sit my ass down on the bridge."
Neither Poq nor Hessa responded.
"Are you two talking about me?" Roak asked.
"Maybe," Hessa said.
The lift came to a stop and Poq helped Roak into the pilot's seat.
"Talk to me, Hessa," Roak said after a couple of deep breaths.
"I was able to blast us through the speeders," Hessa said. "But three have turned and are coming at us."
"Any heading to Evil?" Roak asked.
"Two," Nimm said. "But we're dropping comms relays, so we should be able to warn him. Evil?"
"I hear ya loud and clear," Evil responded over the comm. "I also hear what sound like speeders heading my way. I would have liked to avoid that, but warriors can't be choosers."
"There are two speeders incoming," Nimm said. "Can you take them?"
&
nbsp; "Not a problem," Evil said. "I'll just hop in my bucket and wait."
"You should still have ten minutes before you melt," Roak said.
"Yeah, but the bucket is a great place to hide," Evil said with a laugh. "Can't wait to see the troopers' faces when I pop out and blast them."
There were some scrabbling noises then the distinct sound of approaching speeders landing and powering down.
"Is he…giggling?" Reck asked. "What the fuck, Roak? What is wrong with your psyche?"
"I'm not him and he's not me," Roak said. "But I do get why he thinks it's funny."
"BOO!" Evil shouted then the comm was silenced.
"Is he alright?" Nimm asked.
"I muted the comm," Hessa said. "It's very loud back there."
"Gonna get loud here too!" Reck yelled. "More speeders!"
The tunnel was filled side to side with GF speeders. Three abreast and eight deep, the vehicles raced towards the ship, plasma cannons firing away.
The ship shook hard, but the shields maintained their integrity. The ship also maintained its heading.
"You're not going to try to go under them or over them, are you?" Roak asked.
"No, I am not," Hessa said. The ship's own plasma cannons opened fire thinning out the group of speeders. "They can get out of our way."
None of the speeders got out of the way.
"Father," Roak said as he gripped his seat with all of his strength. "He sent them all to die."
The ship blasted away, creating barely enough space to squeeze through the group. Barely. A couple of speeders clipped the ship's hull and for a moment it looked like the ship would lose control and slam into the side of the tunnel.
Hessa corrected for the impacts and kept the ship going. But not without incident.
Klaxons blared.
"Poq!" Hessa yelled.
"I will direct the bots," Poq said and left the bridge.
"I'll go too," Reck said and started to stand up.
Gravity had other plans and she fell back into her seat as the ship swooped up, down, up, down, avoiding a smaller wave of new speeders.
"Your AI can fly," Agent Prime stated.
"Partner," Roak said. "Not my AI. Stop making that mistake or I leave you on this planet as soon as we reach the surface. Hessa?"
"Moltrans is ready to ditch his ass," Hessa said.
"I honestly don't know which side you two are on," Agent Prime said.
