Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 21, 2023 15:45:28 GMT
Kollers Trench: Golden Expanse
Kirayee could feel it, tugging at the edge of her mind and it made her shiver.
It reminded her of the feelings she got while in the prison of the Army, like a tide lapping at a beach. But this time it wasnt warm and promised sweet sanctity, it promised utterly annihilation and destruction of self.
It terrified her.
Par'Lan and the others looked to her now, this was her moment. Her unique powers were meant for a reason, and she had to believe this was one of the reasons. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and willed her void into reality. The whispers, the tugging at the mind, the dull sensation, all stopped. Gone within an instant.
The glow and light inside of the A'Zores command chamber briefly flickered, the sound of power shunting became audible. Kirayee opened her eyes and looked at Par'Lan.
"Do not worry, your powers have forced this ship to anchor itself fully into this reality, it is merely the systems compensating. I detect the psionic effects have disappeared. Excellent, momentous work but we have far to go" The A'Zores once again moved, accelerating into the most hazardous space for any sentients or non sentients in the galaxy.
Thankfully none of them felt anything as they moved further, but Kirayee could start to feel a pressure building at the back of her head. She simply slowed her breathing and dismissed it.
"Once upon a time this ship was piloted by a crew. While she is more than capable of flying without any of us, I find the old girl does better when given a guiding hand. I ask you, would you be willing to assist me? I need someone to handle sensors, someone for weapons, and someone for defences. Do not worry, it is extremely intuitive, the ship will guide you in its own operation" Three reclined chairs seemed to mould like liquid from the floor and Par'Lan gestured for some to occupy them.
Of all the things he had seen, of all the things he had read about, the things he feared to meet in space, this topped the list. Out of hard wrought instinct and years of experience staring into the unknown Dwight felt the urge to draw his revolver as the unknown loomed up before him once more, but he felt deep in his gut that this was something he couldn't fight, that bullets wouldn't even register to. Even if there had been something to shoot. The instinct there was strong, until Kirayee called upon her power. In an instant, he felt the deep fear and the instinct to fight fade, if not leave completely.
This, after all, was a very bad place to be.
Taking a deep breath, he focused again on the sea and the rolling waters before opening his eyes. The great ship around them felt alive, as alive as its captain and all of them here within it, and he was damn glad for it. If they were walking into hell, then they could do worse than a good ship and good company to walk there together. Then Par'lan asked for their assistance. That threw him for a loop for a long moment. The tales of the power of the A'Zores was mythic and legendary for a reason, and here it was being offered to them almost casually. The weight behind the offer was unmistakable however, and Dwight understood plain well that if Par'Lan himself was asking for them to do this, then it was important.
It was a mighty step up from the Eagle, that was for sure.
"I'll take defense, sir." he said, drawing the gazes of the other Corpsmen with both trepidation and respect as he walked over to the right hand chair. Leaning his HAR against it, Dwight settled down into it, worried for a moment that his power armor would be too bulky, though this did not seem to be the case.
"You can do this, Dwight." he murmured to himself. "Piece of cake."
Alison put up a good front through the gnawing and scratching in her head. Even after two years of practicing with the Order she wasn’t used to the feeling of other things being in her mind. It was an unsettling invasion of personal space that she was certain she’d never really get used to.
But as quickly as it had grown, it was gone. It was the first time Alison could recall actually experiencing Kirayee’s powers. When they had rescued her from the Army on Lost Star she’d seen the effects play out on other people. The Order’s psion screaming as she was abruptly severed from her powers sprung to mind. But (barring some tailored genetics and a mechanical arm) Alison was a mundane woman possessing no supernatural abilities. The loss of such in Kirayee’s presence was never something she really got to experience.
She watched Kirayee intently as the feeling faded, trying to gauge how using her powers was affecting her, trying to judge if she was in pain or discomfort…
She only took her gaze off her when Par’Lan brought up the past crew of the A’Zores, and the ship’s apparent preference for having one. It made her wonder if the ship was really alive. She supposed she could find out. Sit down in one of the offered chairs and see what happened…
But keeping everything together was no doubt going to be taxing on Kirayee. She’d need help, or maybe just someone to be like ‘you got this kid’ and do a little dance… and Alison had been around the longest. She’d picked Kirayee off a haunted transport ship, been with her all the way to Lost Star, lost her, then found her again and been there for everything that came afterward. If anyone was going to do morale support, shouldn’t it be her?
“Blackjack, take weapons,” Alison said finally. The Subjugator glanced at her with an eyebrow quirked.
“But I wanna shoot the big guns!” Felix whined.
“I know,” Alison answered. “Which is why I’m asking someone who isn’t going to fuck around to do it,”
“Laaaaaaaaaaaame,” Felix answered with an exaggerated look and motion of distress. “You never let me have any fun!”
“Oh quit whining,” Alison said with a shake of her head. Blackjack shrugged and put her cigarette out in the palm of her hand before dropping the remnants in a vest pocket. With one final look at Alison she made her way over to the left chair. She left her bag in the care of Felix while she sat down and settled in.
It was not even a moment after Kirayee released her power that Kane lost control of his form. Just as he had on Lost Star two years prior, the drake had been forced to resume the monstrous shape he had hidden from the others all this time, clothes and all. This time however was not as hellish as it had been then, he wasnt on the ground dying, the others could get a better look at his true face.
He was massive in stature yet lean, easily standing ten feet tall at the shoulder and not counting his equally long tail, covered in sand colored fur and quills, at its end rested a rattlesnake's rattler the size of a human arm. The drake's feet were an unnatural mix between talons, hooves, and paws with two large owl-like talons and two smaller thicker clawed toes between them that gave the appearance of a sharp steel toed boot. Kane's remaining, now massive, hand had unnervingly long black claws on every digit except his pointer finger which had a segmented carapace and ended in an extended hooked scorpion's sting, whether it contained the actual animal's venom was unknown and hopefully wouldnt be found out.
Kane's face was easily recognizable as a hybrid of both the coyote the others had known for the last two years and the man they had met and fought with in Lost Star. The drake's face had uncanny features of expression which gave his true form properly sentient qualities such as eyebrows and a more developed mouth to allow proper speech, his jawline carried over his thick blond sideburns from his human form which combined with the fur on his neck gave him a particularly fluffy appearance thinning around the base of his neck where his scars were and tightened by his kerchief which draped over his chest and covered The drake's soulshard.
Kane's eyes were like a snake's only a piercing red and gold and a feint glow made clearer by the shadow cast from the wide brim of his hat, with a small line marking under each eye like an egyptian kohl. His long tufted ears were laying flat to accommodate his headware with a pair of backswept horns between them.
With his sudden change of form all of his possessions had changed with him, including his gun which was now the size of a rifle and covered in markings and names of unknown people. Kane looked it over before putting it back in its holster, then immediately reached up to check the base of his neck as though to make sure everything was still connected, seemingly relieved to find it still was. He looked around, or rather down, at the others and eventually focused on Kirayee. He certainly wasnt her pet coyote anymore, though he fought the urge to let her pet him like she had gotten used to doing as a small act of comfort. Kane Lumbered over to one of the stations and looked it over, seemingly lost at what was lying before him. (edited)
As the individuals sat down onto the smooth pedestals the Athenite seemed to mould around them perfectly, making them as comfortable as possible.
Moments later, it was like having an epiphany.
Connecting to the A'Zores, even a fraction of its systems, was like opening ones mind to the universe. Felix and Dwight both felt like mental speed accelerate, their senses sharpen and their bodies extend into the ship itself. It was an immensely strange yet thrilling sensation and one that virtually nobody in millions of years had experienced.
"Oh hello. Welcome we don't get many guests"
A teenage girl stood before them, appearing perfectly real yet it was clear Kane, Kirayee or the others could not see or sense her.
"Dont worry, I am Ae'Lan it is a pleasure to meet you. It is strange speaking in this language I have never done so before but I am here to help you and guide you in the interface. Oh and yes, I am a quantum-afterimage reconstruction and emulation of the Captains Daughter" She smiled, her avian features ruffling slightly.
For Blackjack the ship almost instinctively guided and nudged him. He could feel power within himself, far greater than anything previously experienced, it was like feeling the very power of the universe sleeping within you. With a gesture of an arm energy was channeled from the singularity core along the perfectly smooth Athenite hull ready to be fired as Quantum firebolts, with a flick of a figure hundreds of sleeping Spearhead drones could spring to life and sheath themselves in blazing Kugelblitz, with a tensing of the muscles the vessels Quanto-Chromatic Fields could be strengthened to undo matter and finally with a thought the vessels true power in the form of its Six Quantum Accelerator Cannons could be brought online to fire almost total supernova scale devastation. Such power at his fingertips, whole swathes of the galaxy would kill to experience even a fraction of this might.
For Dwight his situation was similar. He felt the ship as a sturdy rock. His very body, its smooth Athenite, every quantum-entangled metaphasic particle of it he could feel. By changing his breathing he could strengthen its own fields, or tense his hands to manipulate and reinforce the vessels massive Multi-Dimensional Shield generators, the vessels wings.He could also control the Quanto-Chromatic Fields for defensive purposes through different emotions while directing minature Spearhead Drones or Firebolts with his fists. Finally he could draw energy directly from the ships Singularity core to generate millions of tiny Singularities as a powerful protective barrier. He controlled likely the single safest place in the universe.
It was an experience, and all they needed now was a sensor operator.
"You ok Kane?" Kirayee said aloud, her voice somewhat strained as they delved further into the Maddening, her smile however showed him she fully accepted his true form. Par'Lan only seemed curious, but did not comment.
"If you are to take the seat it will very much still mould to you"
"If ya say so..." Kane replied, the voice of his true form was similar to that of his human self, but there was a subtle difference that couldnt quite be defined. A metallic echo? An ethereal whisper? A bestial growl? It was as though his very voice were struggling to find itself. The drake moved towards his station near Kirayee and as Par'Lan had promised the seat had taken an appropriate shape to accommodate his increased size and his tail. He looked at the girl and considered her question.
"I was raised in my human form, like a human, surrounded by humans." He answered. "I aint used to my own kind and this form is just a reminder of all that difference..."
Blackjack was a sniper by trade. The feeling of a powerful weapon in her hands and the knowledge that she was only a small twitch away from ending a life was not a new or even particularly foreign one to her. But feeling the ship come alive and reactive to her movement and will was orders of magnitude beyond even the most sophisticated system she had operated in the past. The magnitude of destruction she had at her fingertips made the experience feel foreign… except it wasn’t even really at her fingertips. It was her fingertips, something that in moments felt as much a part of her as her own limbs. She’d expected integrating with the ship’s weapons systems to be unsettling or jolting but instead it just felt…
Well she supposed it didn’t feel like much at all. It was just there now, and seemed to her like it always had been. So seamless and natural that every integrated system she’d used before seemed little more than a clumsy attempt to force a square peg through a round hole by comparison.
That should have been the highlight of the entire experience. If Felix or Alison had sat down instead of her it would be the only thing either of them would have talked about for months.
“That’s smooth,” She commented. Her eyebrows shot up as she heard (although not really she supposed) the words. “Oh… that’s…” (edited)
She couldn’t find words. The head trauma she’d suffered had rendered the young woman mute. For years she’d been trapped in her own mind, unable to effectively communicate with anyone around her. No matter how hard she tried words just wouldn’t, couldn’t, come to her. She’d stutter, stammer, form incomplete nonsensical sentences, and then give up. She couldn’t communicate at all beyond what could be conveyed through simple gestures, motions, or the basic thoughts the Order had taught them to pass along their own mental link.
Being able to communicate coherently was…
She couldn’t even think of a word to describe it.
“Hello Ae’lan, people call me Blackjack. You uh… you may not believe me but it’s… strange for me to speak too. Not bad strange. Good strange. Very good. Stars and ancestors it’s been a long time… sorry, I’m rambling.”
There was a job to do after all. She couldn’t just relish in the feeling of communication forever.
“Can Dwight and Kane hear me too? Oh, and any tips before we’re in the thick of it?”
It felt like his breath had been taken away. Once again, for the hundredth time in one day all the stories, the wild conjecture and outright lies of the stories about the Azores were blown and washed away. In every way that mattered, he could feel himself as part of the Azores. It was a sensation and a feeling that he knew plain he would never feel again when this was over, and he could volunteer for every prototype starship and AI integration program in the Free Worlds and never come this close again. It was incredible. Beyond incredible.
Of course, he felt for a moment the childlike glee of something novel and new, something that he wanted to experiment with. It was almost overwhelming, how it all felt, having the ability to manipulate the grand ship's defenses with only the simplest of actions of his body and his mind. For now though, Dwight reminded himself to stay focused, to stay calm and wait to put himself through his paces until the time called for it. And then... he heard a voice he couldn't remember hearing before. This new being... Ae'Lan.
"Hello," he said. "My name's Dwight Lawson, nice to meetcha. Feels like this is gonna be one heck of a ride." he went on, giving the kid... construct, he supposed, a smile before he blinked and looked over towards the woman that he'd never heard speak a complete sentence before. Today was the gift that just kept on giving, wasn't it.
"Loud and clear, Blackjack. Good to properly hear ya."
"I understand Blackjack, I have your full mental and vital physiological scans from the moment you entered this ship. It is wonderful for you to communicate, they can hear you if you choose to speak to them, it is also fully understandable for you to wish to talk after so long" The girl smiled.
"It is nice to meet you as well Dwight Lawson, while I have no information about what we will face I do believe it will be tough I hope you can prepare"
After a few moments, Kane joined them, the chair rearranging to fit his form and connecting him into the ship. For Kane too like Blackjack and Dwight, it was like his mind expanded, but far more than the others. The A'Zores sensors fed straight into Kanes mind, every aspect of the EM spectrum, gravitational distortions, dimensional alignments and disturbances, psionic field readings and more gave him a vision as if his entire body was the ship itself. He could effortlessly filter through the types of sensors, highlighting disturbances he saw and focusing them with such detail that he could study the quantum fields of the fabric of reality to determine the source. It was like being able to observe every facet of reality.
"Welcome Kane" Ae'Lan calmly spoke giving him time to adjust.
But something was already giving Kane disturbances, a huge energy signature up ahead across all bands. The psionic field that surrounded them was intensely powerful although Kirayees abilities had nulled it in a bubble around the vessel, but it had an origin. And that origin was like a shining lighthouse beacon up ahead.
Already the A'Zores was picking up additional contacts, celestial objects and likely, ships.
"It seems we are finally approaching. Kane feel free to analyse closer but I am picking up eight vessels, three planetoids and several artificial bodies likely space stations. For the psionic source... I have never seen readings like this I am running additional scans"
On the viewscreen, the Golden Kolleronic plasma of the expanse partially obscured their destination, but it was there. While the planets and ships could barely be spotted, the psionic object was real.
It looked like a neutron star, glowing in coruscating ever shifting arcs of purple and gold. Patterns could be seen dancing across its emanations and Kirayees face grimaced as they drew closer.
"...Its getting hard to breath" Kirayee was breathing hard now, sweat dripping from her brow. Whatever this thing was, it was giving her a serious fight.
“See, I like you Ae’Lan. You get me already. Hello world!” Blackjack answered Dwight with an audible giggle from her seat, still giddy at her sudden ability to communicate. She shook her head, setting aside the elation of being able to communicate. As nice as it was, now was not the time for socializing. There was a job to do, but maybe when it was done they’d let her talk just a little while longer…
She listened to Par’Lan’s assessment of the situation, making out what she could through the weapons systems at her disposal. She couldn’t help but wonder what Kane must have been experiencing. Did he see everything or was it a full sensory experience? What did the golden expanse sound like she wondered…
“I can send some drones for a closer look,” She suggested, making herself heard by all. “Or you know… could just frag ‘em,”
She added almost as an afterthought.
To Alison, the idea of just fragging everything sounded like a good plan. But it was Par’Lan’s ship and she couldn’t see or feel any of the things the other’s could. It wasn’t something she was used to, or even comfortable doing, but the Exile Admiral decided to let go of any sense of command or leadership. The others would sort it out.
She turned her attention fully to Kirayee, approaching her and laying her hands on Kirayee’s shoulder.
“You got this,” She said encouragingly. “I’m here for you. Just tell me what I can do and I’ll do it…”
She hooked the strap of her kit bag with her foot and pulled it closer, offering Kirayee a place to sit if need be.
“Unless it involves fish,” She added jokingly. “You know I don’t do fish,” (edited)
Kane jumped at the A'zores sudden influence and Ae'Lan's voice speaking to him causing him to curse under his breath as he calmed down. Like a deer in headlights Kane looked at the information displayed before him and, taking up the voice's suggestion, tried to focus his attention to the incoming vessels. While he didnt know how exactly, he wanted to share the information he was receiving, and the A'zores complied to his subconscious will, sending a vague idea of what Kane was sensing, sharing his knowledge in a similar method to how a drake's two brains communicated to each other.
"Check check, Blackjack," Dwight said with a smile, happy for the sniper that she could at last make herself heard, but he brought his focus back around as Par'lan called out. He felt distantly as Maddox patted him twice on the shoulder for encouragement, but he took a slow breath and shifted his hands to a ready position.
"I say cautious f'r now," he responded as we weighed their options, mentally going through the motions to bolster the ship as fast as he could. "Get some eyes on. Drones'n'Kane oughta give us a picture, then we can frag 'em. Or not." he stated. There, his opinion was out there. Time to see what became of it, and hell, if they needed to start shooting in a hurry, then he'd be on the ball. He breathed in, and felt the power all around him, flowing through him. He let his breath out, and the motion repeated in reverse. It was truly bizarre. Like stone before the ocean unyielding.
"Ready."
A glimmer of a smile crept over Par'Lans face at Blackjacks comment, he too liked the idea of using their weapons and running.
Even as Kane struggled to understand what was entirely going on Ae'Lan guided him subconsciously. While Par'Lan concentrated on the psionic source, Kane felt his mind expand as he looked closer on the enemy ships and stations. Like being given a gods perspective Kane could detatch from his body and survey the surroundings and enemy vessels in such minute detail that it was like looking at a well painted scale minature from any angle he desired. The ships were highly advanced, completely unlike anything previously encountered and threw up no identification on the A'Zores practically monolithic IFF or ident catalogue that stretched millions of years.
The ships were elongated, segmented, and like the very ship they stood on connected via non visible means, in this case intense psionic fields and what appeared to be Solarite Strings. A powerful psionic 'core' hung in the centre, connecting to the Panopticon itself while the ships strange mirror tinted sheen belayed a hyper advanced Aurastone composite unseen by the galaxies material engineers. There were 8 in total, along with three space stations, two smaller closer to the psionic object, and one huge one further out orbiting one of the several planets.
All the planets were dead, barren wastelands. But sensors of the psionic and dimension band indicated massive quantities of Aurastone AND Duskstone on the surfaces, already capped with what seemed like mining complexes.
The Panopticon had a major base here, and already Kane could discern the 8 vessels had detected them and their 'Silence field' disturbance on the nearby psionic fields. They were moving to intercept.
"The psionic object, its a neutron star in all probability. But it is acting as a massive mandala. Power readings are off the charts, This is completely unknown to be and we should proceed with caution. I am also detecting something wrapped around it, but even our sensors are struggling to determine what. Still, I would ready weapons it seems we will be needing them"
Kirayee seemed to be taking shallower and shallower breathes, her eyes taking on a more gaunt appearance as she turned to Alison.
"Take my hand, I think... I think there's something out there, something or someone"
“Frag ‘em it is,” Blackjack commented as she audibly cracked her knuckles and wiggled her fingers. Even if speaking was the highlight of the endeavor, she still had quite the destructive potential at her fingertips, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t excited at the opportunity to make use of it all. That much was apparent from the predatory grin that broke across her face as she started making the weapons ready.
“Looks like we’ve attracted some attention…” Blackjack said. “Hey, do we have a shorthand for these guys yet? Calling them Army of the Panopticon or Panopticon seems like too many syllables to me… what about like psiboys? Or how about… psi-borgs… you get it?”
While Blackjack made use of her newfound communication to assault Dwight and Kane with lame jokes she was already readying the weapon systems. She began to wake up the spearhead drones and get them into space. She kept them close for now, she had no doubt the defenses were formidable, but it couldn’t hurt to hold the drones back for any missiles that might be sent their direction by the approaching ships.
The quantum firebolts she aimed at the mining facilities present on the barren planets. She didn’t know for sure, but she figured they’d be more than enough to wipe out the complexes. That ought to slow down whatever was going on here if they couldn’t destroy it outright.
Which just left the QAC Canons. The weapons she was most eager to use. She cycled through the eight ships on approach, going through an old nursery rhyme until she landed on the one she was going to shoot first. With no data on the ships she decided to play it cautious, and focus all of the QACs on a single vessel.
“Say the word and the fragging will commence,” She said to inform everyone she was ready.
Alison had tuned out the conversation about the battle that was about to commence. She was focusing all of her attention on Kirayee. She did as Kirayee asked, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Mind your breathing,” Alison said gently, going back to the most basic lessons the Order had given. “Whatever’s out there has nothing on you. You’ve survived being locked in a lab and poked and prodded twice. I barely managed it once, and whatever’s out there thinking it’s hot shit has probably done it zero times.”
1 June 2023
"Standing by," Dwight remarked, steadying his breathing and moving his hands to bring their shields up to the front, shifting the titanic power of this mythical fortress to protect against whatever weapons these ships might have to bring to bear. Said ships were pretty obviously moving in for a fight, and he wasn't about to give them a fair field on which to play. Not after their last run-in with the Army, he'd learned quite well there just how much of a bad idea it was to underestimate them, or give them even a single inch to work with. Rolling his neck with an audible series of pops and the shifting of his armor's systems, he barked out a laugh at the pun that had just assaulted them all.
Ah, he liked this witty Blackjack.
"Psi-borgs sounds good to me," he laughed, "But you're buying our next lunch run for that pun. Standing by to defend against Psi-borg attack, shields up and good to go."
Everything else felt ready too, like warmth and sunlight in his veins, but he didn't feel the need to say that. Not yet, if at all. He trusted the others to trust him, and that was all he needed. Confident, calm, ready. He would be lying if he said he wasn't excited like a kid on christmas to try out the drones and the singularities. All in good time, he supposed.
Kane was quickly adapting to the new perspective the ship provided him and acclimated to the technology almost as fast. Using his inhuman eyes he scanned over the enemy ships for any points he deemed a weakness and highlighted them to the others at the weapons stations. While he was fairly unfamiliar with the technology he was up against, his years of combat and harsh survival had long since given him an unnatural instinct for finding the weak points of his foes. It's why the boss chose him, why he was brought back in the first place.
Kane let out an audible groan at the suggestion of "psi-borgs" that was simultaneously amusement and irritation, but he did not answer directly. He was too focused on the display and searching for more ways to extort the enemy defenses. Without his acknowledgement Kane's tail rose to rest across Kirayee's lap, to help her relax and focus on the job at hand by stroking the surprisingly soft and familiar fur of her coyote companion. His tail was heavy, but its weight only brought a warm comfort and security for the girl.
Kanes intense scans revealed many new things to him which helped uncover both weaknesses and strengths.
The ships were totally unmanned, showing no life signs whatsoever, but their forms belied immensely powerful energy generation and given the quick running of numbers which was also relayed to Par'Lan it made his eyes narrow. While they were not on par with the A'Zores, with 8 of their number, they were a legitimate and considerable threat. These were no ships of the lesser races, the Army of the Panopticon had not been idle. Several weak points were detected, all of which locations where the vessels weapon ports supposedly manifested. Already they were coming in fast, three of them, the closest, unspooling long tendrils of Solarite with which they were moving around as if someone trying to slowly bring a whip up to full cracking speed.
"You have the signal, fire away these forces are a threat to us. Do not hesitate or hold back"
Par'Lans voice was tinged with concern, even as the Spearhead drones reacted to Blackjacks rousing. Surges of unimaginable energies flooded into each drone, sheathing the Athenite in a burning furious Kugelblitz. The drones leapt out of their launchers, dancing around the A'Zores like frolicking children ready to be guided to a foe, each one had its own mind, simple but sharp they eagerly awaited their orders.
For the other weapons, the ship seemed to hum, massive power draw even for the A'Zores set teeth on edge as the QAC cannons draw in their power reserves, filling impossible capacitors as Athenite segments locked into positions around the gun, rotating as searing light condensed and built in their non-existent chambers. There was a flash, as all six weapons reached peak charge before firing. Blinding bright beams raced across space, the fury the likes of which had not been seen since ancient days.
When they contacted the Panopticon ship, the sensor backwash was huge, visuals went white for a moment as did all EM spectrum readings. As the light dimmed, there was nothing left. No amount of Aurastone was going to save the foe from 6 simultaneous Singularity cannon direct impacts.
In response the enemy vessels began to spread out, and almost dance. Darting from position to position in random but frightening quick vectors as they closed.
The Firebolts, while not quite as impressive, fired like a volley towards the installations. It would take sometime before they impacted, but hopefully they would devastate the ongoing operations.
"Breathing yea thats a good idea" Kirayee responded, trying to control her breathes as she stroked Kanes tail. She was under intense pressure now and she could hear someone's voice.
"Oh my child. You don't have to keep us out"
"Someone is talking to me, like an old man... How... How can he?"
“Scratch one!” Blackjack informed Dwight and Kane, her tone indicating she was rather pleased with the result of her initial barrage. There was a small part of her that was relieved to see that however new and intimidating the ships may have appeared, they were not so powerful as to withstand a full salvo of the A’Zores main weapons. She would have been concerned… maybe even a little panicked if it had somehow managed to survive that.
But with that fear put to bed, she instead was able to immerse herself in the feeling of… of… well of everything really. The drones flitting around waiting for her instruction, the hum as the weapons recharged and shifted to their next target.
Par’Lan may have found himself concerned with the situation, but Blackjack wasn’t a legendary captain of an invincible ship. Having her life hanging in the balance was nothing new to her. She’d been there hundreds, maybe thousands of times. She knew what it was to be in danger. But she was certain there was nothing else like the feeling of the ship around her anywhere in the galaxy, maybe not even in the universe. She let herself get lost in the feeling of it, live in the moment and relish the experience. That was new. That was worth remembering. She was grinning, but she didn’t notice.
“Three closing in fast,” She informed Dwight and Kane as if they hadn’t already noticed. “Splitting the big guns between the two closest. Going to see how the fast movers do against the others. Kane, lemme know what the firebolts do to those installations when they hit,”
True to her word, she did as she had planned. Instead of targeting all six QACs on a single vessel she targeted three at each of the two closest. She held half the spearheads back to react to anything unexpected, and for the same reason refrained from firing the firebolts. She was still playing cautiously after all. Par’Lan probably wouldn’t be happy if they scratched the paint job…
The other half of the spearheads she sent after a third ship. Much like with her initial volley of QACs she concentrated them on one vessel instructing the drones to target the weapon ports which seemed to be a weak point, and once more she waited to see results.
Alison meanwhile was doing her best not to immediately freak out when Kirayee told her that somehow someone was speaking to her. She thought that wasn’t supposed to be possible. Alison took a moment to process that, to push away the feeling of powerlessness and uncertainty. She set her jaw, and knit her brows together. Alison had never backed down from anything in her life. She didn’t back down when Dakel challenged her to a duel. She didn’t back down when Yuris told them they were going to raid a secret facility with a handful of guys and no recon. She didn’t back down when Par’Lan took them here. She wasn’t backing down now. She wasn’t backing down later. She was Third Admiral of the Exile Fleets, she didn’t back down.
“I got no idea the kind of strain getting us in here put on you,” She said to Kirayee after she’d taken that moment for herself. “But I can see it’s straining you. If something is getting through to you it’s because you’ve already pushed so hard just getting us this far.”
She paused and squeezed one of Kirayee’s hands in both of hers.
“I don’t know about psionics and gods and all that shit but I do know people,” Alison said. “If someone’s talking shit, it’s because he’s trying to psyche you out. He wants you to choke, doubt yourself, or get intimidated and back down. But he doesn’t know you, not like we do.” She gestured to Kane, Dwight, Par’Lan and everyone else who had accompanied her this far. “Not a single one of us has ever doubted you Kirayee. So don’t you go doubting yourself.”
Kane celebrated the destruction with the mimicked whooping battle cry of an old native american warrior, a call he was well familiar with, disturbingly so as his impersonation was with a voice not his own, followed by the yips of a coyote. With new vigor he continued his task and scanned the enemy further, wondering what other ways he could make them explode. He was not afraid, not of death or of the panopticon.
"Scratch one, aye!" Dwight replied, shifting his hands to account for the closing enemy. They moved fast and reacted fast, he had to grant them that, especially with the devastation that Blackjack had inflicted on the first of their number. He couldn't resist a bark of laughter when the cannons had impacted, and a yell of victory in something of a similar vein as Kane had. It was a visceral, very human reaction. Ever since the advent of space warfare and gunpowder before it, humanity did so love a big damn boom. The pure annihilation was inspiring and terrifying in the same instant, and he used the moment of its passing to refocus, and bring his attention back to the enemy. Here they come, he thought to himself, flexing his fingers and feeling the rush of power of the A'Zores' defensive might once more. Three enemy vessels, totally unmanned in this place of madness he supposed it only made sense.
And here they were, comin' right to them.
"Tally three," he replied to Blackjack, taking a breath. He shifted his hands to bring the shields around, closed his fingers tightly and prepared to lash out with the ship's defensive drones. Frontier martial arts with ancient power beyond reckoning? He had to admit, the thought made him smile for a moment.
"Gonna give 'em a wall to chew on whilst you work the magic," he said, strengthening their shields facing the enemy like no other ship could, though he did hold off on the truly potent parts of their defenses. There would be a time for them, he was absolutely sure of that. Maybe it would even be soon.
"Got a surprise or two up the pipe too if they try t'get clever, so... let's see what you got, ya bastards." he said, staring hard at the enemy before them in the maddening void. (edited)
The three vessels that came into strike did so terrifyingly fast and aggressive.
But they had seen what had happened to their comrade, they would not underestimate their foe this time.
The closest vessel unspooled Solarite string as it also began charging up something, displays showed all three beginning to charge what was likely their main gun. But already Blackjack was working the ship. The QAC cannons spoke once more, having cycled immensely quickly the weapons opened up once more with a huge display of light and power. But while it had been easy the first time, it would not be this time.
The first ship dodged, lightning fast it was hard for anyone by Kane to follow with the A'Zores sensor systems. Two of the Kugelblitz beams lanced out into the beyond, while the third seemed to 'curve' around the vessel veering off into another direction as it erected an immensely powerful gravity bubble to protect itself. The second ship did the same, two of the beams veering off into space while the third shot was narrowly dodged, but close enough to cause sheer and outside damage to the vessel. They were learning.
It was their time to answer.
Three bright golden beams sprung from the Ramayana class, each impacted the shields of the A'Zores which dispersed the energy across a multilattice work of dimensions and sinks. Dwight could feel the energy dissipate, and had access to the vast plethora of the A'Zores history. He knew what energy levels most races weapons would cause, against a conventional fleet the A'Zores could withstand direct bombardment from thousands of ships for weeks on end. But this was not conventional, warnings appeared as the shields took a significant impact. Whatever these weapons were, they were nightmarishly potent. Already Kane could see they were not a kind of direct weapon, overpowered with psionics the weapons seemed to be trying to open a hole in real space, could they be trying to sink portions of the A'Zores directly into the Panopticon?
The third vessel now contended with the Spearhead drones, having fired its main gun it erected its gravity sheathe and began to release its own ordnance. Hundreds of small objects leapt from tiny ports across the hull, each one burning like its Spearhead counterpart. Upon closer inspection these projectiles were no larger than missiles, but contained within something horrifying. The brains of psions. As each impacted the Spearheads the brains were overcharged with energy, causing a psionic wave of anguish as they detonated. Some detonated the Spearhead drones they were intercepting, others missed as the drones deftly avoided the collision but each one that exploded did so with massive potency, some having different effects than others. But despite its defence the ship had not done enough. Punching through the gravity sheathe the remaining few drones impacted the hull, boring through the Aurastone like it was paper. The Kugelblitz warped and tore, rushing through the ship to punch through the other side, come back around and do the same again. Blackjack could watch as the Ramayana was first crippled, then destroyed as the drones did their work.
Scratch another.
"The projectiles fired towards the facilities seem to be veering off course. I am detecting more gravitational anomalies" Par'Lans voice showed that the quantum firebolts were going off mark. With no way of correction they would have to use drones likely to destroy them.
--
Do I look beautiful General Laikos?"
Of course Eraserhead, you are the prettiest girl in the entire Brotherhood of the Great State! Your looks and acomplishments are legendary. Now I have another assignment on Celefra...
Another! I enjoyed the last one thank you Laikos
Y̷̆̾õ̷̹u̶͆̋ ̷̛͑m̶̾̋e̶͂̆a̸̽̋n̵̅́ ̷͒̄t̸he world t̃͛ô̴̾ ̵̔me
--
"I... I wont give up, I wont doubt myself... I... I dont know what I can hear its like... Memories but... Not" Kirayee struggled.
"Theres someone out there who really needs help I think"
“That’s two.” Blackjack intoned across the link as the second of the Panopticon’s vessels was ripped apart by the spearhead drones. Whatever violence fueled euphoria had been present in her tone leaked out quickly as she watched the duel between the spearheads and their psionic counterparts play out. It was easier for Blackjack to forget who exactly they were fighting. She hadn’t been on Lost Star to see the way the Army twisted psion’s minds and bodies to suit their own purposes. She’d read about it in Alison’s report, and heard about it from Alison and the Free Worlders while they were training with the Order.
But seeing it was another matter entirely. Seeing highly advanced readouts tell you you were looking at brain piloting a suicide drone was nothing like reading a paragraph on a tablet screen.
She grimaced and shook the thoughts from her mind, busying herself instead with the next volley.
She bounced her right leg nervously as she tried to figure out what to do next. She’d need to focus fire to bring down the next two ships, and she would have to send away the drones if she wanted to deal with the surface facilities. Sending away the drones meant removing her safety net. She couldn’t use them to react if the next volley was as ineffective as the previous one… but it was the only way she was going to take out the facilities planet side…
How important were those facilities? Worth the risk?
She bit her lower lip, and made a decision she hoped she wasn’t about to regret.
“I’m sending the drones after the planetary facilities,” She told the others. “Ae’lan, there’s another weapon here. A quanto chromatic field if I’m reading this right? What’s the best way to make use of it?” (edited)
While she waited for her answer she set about retargeting the QACs and the Firebolts. She’d held back from firing the Firebolts a second time, but now she unleashed them. Focusing a single ship with the full force of an attack seemed the most effective use of her weapons, so much as she had with the other two ships she’d destroyed, all of the Firebolts targeted the closer of the two vessels while all of the QACs targeted the second.
The drones meanwhile, she sent after the planetary facilities.
Kane’s whooping seemed to indicate to Alison that things were going well… or at least well enough that she could keep her focus on Kirayee.
“The someone in trouble,” Alison asked, keeping her voice calm despite everything happening around them. “Do you know who it is? Or where they are?”
Or if we can even save them? She kept that last part to herself for now… but she’d seen what the Panopticon did to people. The kind if ‘trouble’ someone might be in might be the kind of trouble even Par’Lan and his ship couldn’t fix.
"Woah," Dwight breathed as the alarms appeared, almost jerking back in his chair in surprise. This was like nothing he had ever encountered before of course, even having encountered and experienced the forces of the Panopticon before, and it was concerning to say the least of it. He heard Blackjack querying Ae'lan, but he kept his focus on the weapons of the enemy. The impacts had set those alerts off even after the strengthening he'd done, the sort of power that the fleets of entire nations and empires grander than anything he had ever known could not bring to bear like this. It wasn't the same, it couldn't be, but nevertheless that was the threat he was being confronted with.
So what to do?
The simplest solution to him seemed to keep the enemy from being able to hit the shields at all, and so he brought both the quanto-chromatic fields and the drones up with movements of his hands and shifting his sudden surprise into a cool focus, a hint of annoyance towards the enemy that had assailed them. He could not show fear to them, he recited in his mind, for fear would show itself when least wanted. Shifting his hands into a sort of boxing stance to bring the drones up ahead of the ship to intercept incoming fire, bringing the shields back around to full power while he had a moment to do so. These buggers were adapting to them damn fast, and he certainly didn't like it, but that was the nature of the game now. There a lot of things he could say to Blackjack about what was coming at them, but he settled for keeping on mission.
"Gonna try to intercept any incoming before it can hit us," he said, readying his hands to lash out towards the enemy in the blink of an eye. It felt silly in a way, but more than that it felt powerful.
"Keeping th' singularity thing in the pocket until we really need it, lemme know if either of ya disagree with that." Dwight rumbled, shifting his gaze towards their inscrutable enemy.
"C'mon ya bastards. We ain't dead yet."
Kane was multitasking, a feat he was used to but without his soulshard his focus was considerably limited. While looking for weaknesses he vigilantly kept an eye on their surroundings, yet another feat that would be easier if he could still shapeshift. He did not want any more surprises, especially the kind to strike them where they cant see. The technical jargon the others spoke of was still alien to the drake, but at least the ship made it so he could do this much to aid his allies. He was used to working with mortals, he preferred them ever since he was born, and he had taken a liking to these ones. He'd be damned if anything happened to them he didnt initiate first.
The voice of Ae’Lan did not sound as calm and quiet as before, she seemed agitated as if the weapons fired at the vessel from the enemy were much more of a threat than they realised.
“Use your mind, imagine yourself like a sculptor, the fields will respond to that they are very close range but you can sculpt reality to your wish either offensively or defensively. Beware however the fields are rather close range”
As the QAC cannons spoke again the Ramanyana were already moving, the A’Zores was fast, but the enemy seemed faster almost like their vessels could momentarily blur between locations in space. Already it was showing to Kane that the vessels were ‘skipping’ through the psion field, using it to stay on one side of the A’Zores and prevent three of the main guns from having any shot on them. The three QACs that now fired lanced out, the target skipped slightly making one skip off into the Expanse. The other two were redirectly by the monstrously powerful gravity sheathe but one of the QAC beams detonated shortly after redirection, the energy washing over the enemy vessel and doing visible damage to its Aurastone framework and severing several golden strings within. The other ship as well targeted by the Firebolts managed to ‘weather’ the storm, firebolts being uncontrollable during flight flew in many directions, however one connected causing a massive explosion and blowing a chunk of the Ramanyana into oblivion.
The enemy ships responded.
A new wave of missiles were launched, a heavy volley alongside another burst of their main guns. The beams lanced out, one of them being caught by the yawning vortex of a prescision event horizon. Dwights defence had thankfully been on point there even as the other impacted causing alarms which had not been heard in Millenia to whine across the A’Zores bridge.
”Shield coverage is degraded, realigning defensive vectors” Par’Lan shouted. But it was not all, lightning fast whips of Solarite sped out, lashing against the vessel with wild intent. Some impacted the shields in bright flashes of energy or were intercepted by the black hole screen, but others managed to get through and strike the Athenite plating something that had not happened in a very, very long time.
The psionically charged infinitely sharp Kolleronic whips met the metaphasic quantumlinked substance as an unstoppable force faces an immovable object. There was a release of energy which was blindingly bright, damage alert runes that Par’Lan could barely remember sprang across the entire bridge. As the light cleared a section of the Athenite hull had been blown away, one of the QAC cannons was also reporting heavy damage and inoperability.
”I-Impossible, that interaction must be down to a metaphysical… Recalibrating quantum alignment of hull! I am also charging main drives we have to retreat we came here to observe, and we did. Dwight full auxillary power to the shields and singularity pockets, Kane I want you to do one final scan of that celestial object and tell me the moment those Spearhead drones hit. I am sorry Blackjack, weapons will be at reduced effectiveness until we can withdraw, I need all the power I can get” Par’Lans voice, the voice of a being who was immeasurably ancient and powerful was tinged with something alien.
Fear.
The Singularity core of the A’Zores burned to its maximum operating capacity as the ship danced with the Ramanyana class, it had taken damage something that was practically unheard of against these foes. At least the drones were close to their targets. But so too were the psionic missiles, now being intercepted by the few drones Dwight had the power to still launch in defence.
“I… His name… General Laikos…”
”I am Kirayee Zeltwa of the Zelic Empire”
The words and psionic strength of them shocked Kirayee to such an extent that she opened her eyes.
“We have to escape! Something terrible is going to happen! Please! PLEASE! I won’t be able to hold it!” The girl’s panic was overwhelming.
”Hold them for a few moments longer!”
“Ah well, fun while it lasted,” Blackjack answered when informed the power to weapons was being cut. Everything was happening a little too fast for her to fully process anyway. Things were going badly, that much she understood, but it hadn’t really sunk in just how bad things really had to go to force the Nakai of all things to retreat. There would be time for that later… or she would be dead and wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Either way, her focus for the moment remained on the two ships she was engaged with. The straightforward approach seemed to have run its course. The Psiborg’s ships seemed to have adapted to her various weapons as each volley became less effective than the one that had preceded it. She bit her lower lip, trying to come up with something clever, or something the Ramaya-Class wouldn’t be expecting…
She wasn’t coming up with anything, and she needed to be doing something.
She kept the spearheads on course to the planetary facilities below. With retreat imminent, dealing damage (preferably a lot of it) to whatever facility was down there was perhaps the most lasting impact she could have at this point. She didn’t bother targeting the firebolts. What power she would be left with was better used on the QACs.
“Ae’lan, I want whatever power I’m left with directed to the QACs and the chromatic field. I’m not bothering with the Firebolts again,”
Maybe, with a little luck, she could finish off one of the two Ramaya still dancing with her… but first there were those psionic missiles.
She watched them come in, thinking of the best way to sculpt the field. She hoped it would be able to react quickly, because by the sound of it she’d need to wait until the missiles were practically on top of her.
She counted the seconds as they ticked by, watching the psionic missiles close in… and then…
She went simple. She didn’t imagine something complex or hard to picture, she imagined an object she’d seen and used a thousand times before. It was easy to picture, and hopefully easy for the fields to interpret and react to. As the missiles closed in, she focused on them, and imagined a massive fly swatter whipping across the space they were occupying.
The QACs were an afterthought. Preventing the missiles from reaching their target was her main concern, but should the power allow, she waited for one of the Ramaya to present an opening before focusing all of the QACs on it.
The name ‘General Laikos’ was not one that meant anything to Alison. It wasn’t a name she could recall hearing, but it sent a shiver up her spine all the same. There was a sense of dread that hung thick in the air when Kirayee began panicking. Despite her best efforts to stay focused on the here and now, Alison found her mind and thoughts being pulled back to the diner on Lost Star. In the moments that followed Kirayee’s panic, she was lost in the memory of the golem, of all the weapons fire and how little of an effect it seemed to have…
But most of all she recalled Kirayee screaming her name as she was taken.
She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again.
She wrapped her arms around Kirayee without thinking and pulled her close.
“We’re on our way out kiddo,” She said reassuringly. “Just hold on a little while longer. I’m here, I’ve got you, and no matter what happens I’m not letting you get taken again.”
She focused everything she had on that single thought. Every bit of focus she’d learned from the Order went into it, until the link she shared with Felix, and the other Exiles compelled them to focus on the same singular thought pushing back against anyone or anything that might come to try to snatch Kirayee’s mind or body away.
“Focus on your breathing, we’re almost there,” Alison said.
"Aye aye, sir!" Dwight responded to Par'Lan, shifting like water as the A'zores reeled. This power they were lashed with was one that he knew, felt was enough to tear apart any fleet or ship he had ever seen before now, and the fear he felt was almost overwhelming. He couldn't give in to it. Not now, in the most critical of moments, and he fought it down as it loomed over him. Every brush he had ever had with death before today paled in comparison, but he was not going to give in. They'd come too far for that.
As Par'Lan commanded, Dwight brought his hands back to gather power about him, feeling like he stood on a beach before a tsunami before he pushed forward. All of the power he possibly could put into the shields he did so, willing them to be as solid walls against the power of the Ramanyana and the hell those damned ships were bring down on them. He didn't want to die. He didn't want any one of them to die, not the ancient Nakai that he barely knew, not his commander who was both a saint and a bastard, not Alison or her pirates, no matter how much they sometimes annoyed him. And certainly not Kirayee, who might just have to save them all. Like hell he was going to let the Psiborgs kill his friends like this. A moment passed that might have been an eternity or it might have been a half a second, there was no way to tell before Dwight snapped his fingers to bring the singularity pockets online, the last line of defense that had had yet to activate. He'd been waiting for the right moment to do it, and now was more than appropriate a time.
"Everything's up," he announced, gritting his teeth. "Gonna hold it as long as I can!"
-
Maddox and the other Corpsmen were not idle as Dwight poured everything he had into defending the ship, and Blackjack fought back against their attackers. The moment came and went that Maddox had the thought to tell Lewis to look up this General, but that moment passed quickly. Kirayee's panic brought it all crashing back down to reality, and he felt the singular thought that the pirates shared as Alison embraced Kirayee. This wasn't a threat they could fight with guns, he knew that, so they'd have to use what the Order had armed them with. Maddox drew on it, the focus and the strength they had been given to bolster Alison's will, a singular thought and purpose, the Corpsmen falling one by one into the wall that they and the Exiles had to be. Protect Kirayee, keep anything that would harm her out, keep it away. If this was all they could do, then they'd do it with everything they had.
"Understood Blackjack"
The power redirection response was instant, but she could feel the draining of power to the defensive and drive systems like it was energy from her own body. Still, the quanto-chromatic fields aligned to her perfectly, if a little sluggish. The space around the A'Zores seemed to shine an irridescent multitude of colours, shifting as it did like a huge swatter the psionic missiles merely came apart as it washed over them their very atoms cast aside to the Expanses winds. There was another near miss however as Dwights raising of the pockets intercepted another lashing Solarite String.
The Ramanyana were dancing like inhuman creatures now, skipping into and out of the psion like children playing. They fired in blindspots and they did not relent. Giving little to no opportunity for easy QAC barrages. Still the Spearhead drones found their mark, some were intercepted by the facilities, struck down by pulses of radiant energy while others hit home, causing blossoming explosions on the surfaces of the ruined worlds or tearing orbital stations apart. The damage looked decent, not total or overwhelming, but it was a strike to set the enemy back and that was what counted.
Kanes final scan revealled a titanic build up of psionic energy, unlike anything recorded in the A'Zores databanks, wrapped around the celestial body was definately some form of being, a monstrous serpent of monolithic size. It was alive, it was... Feeding... And the energy was only getting brighter.
"Drives charged entering superluminal travel!"
Par'Lan announced their escape, just as the psionic energy released.
Kirayee screamed, her eyes denoting pure panic for a brief moment before she collapsed.
"NO!-"
An alarm was sounding, that psionic nullification was down.
WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?
The A'Zores jumped away. Leaving the realisation of how endangered the galaxy was, and the cry of Pareidolia behind. In Borealia, trillions would awnser that most feared question.
The juxtaposition of palm trees and concrete was something that always stuck out to her. They weren’t two things that went together in her mind. Palm trees went with tropical paradises, jungles, and other wild or idyllic places to her. They seemed out of place amidst concrete boxes and cracked asphalt. Some forgotten remnant of an idyllic paradise bricked and poured over by the sprawling mire of civilization. She watched them go by through half lidded eyes, one arm hanging out the window of the car as it stopped and started its way through evening traffic. The drugs had filled her head with a comfortable haze blocking out the world beyond the sensations of the moment. The feeling of the wind on her hand, the changing pressure on her muscles as she alternated her hand between pushing against the wind and cutting through it, the glow of the setting sun as it shone between towering obelisks of concrete and steel, and her own ruminations on the surreal (surreal?) contradictions of the city around her.
The palm trees and concrete, the million credit mansions built into cliffsides lording over crowded housing projects. The glitz of fame and fortune just a stone’s throw from the filth of crime and chaos. Contradictions built on top of bad decisions.
“Man you are fucked up,” The driver of the vehicle commented to her as he pulled to the side of the road and brought the car to a stop. “I told you not to smoke the whole thing,”
“And I told you I could zero these chumps alone and blitzed,” She answered, pulling her hand back into the car and taking her feet off the dash.
The driver shrugged and turned to her as he killed the engine.
“You never did tell me who you are?”
She waved a hand dismissively.
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t need to know each other’s names for a gig like this,”
“Who are you?”
“Didn’t I just tell you…” She turned back only the haze suddenly felt wrong. Not like bad trip wrong, she knew what a bad trip felt like, just… something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The temperature suddenly went from warm to oppressive. The setting sun shone in her eyes, blinding her, and a painful pressure was building behind her eyes sending shots of pain ricocheting around her skull.
“Who are you?”
“This isn’t real.”
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again the car, the drugs, and the city of contradictions had returned to her memory. The pressure behind her eyes, and the pain bouncing around her skull remained, but as the moments passed by it relaxed from a searing pain to a dull ache.
She glanced over at her people. Blackjack was still tied into the systems, but seemed unharmed. Felix was massaging his temples with two fingers and the rest of her people were working on shaking off whatever had just occurred in their own way.
“What the fuck was that?” She cried, first looking at Par’Lan and then to…
“Kirayee?” Alison waved a hand in front of her face, and then shook her.
No reaction.
“Shit!” She called. “I need some fucking help over here!”
She ignored the bitter cynical part of her mind that told her there was nothing the medics would be able to do for Kirayee. There had to be something they could do. They were on the most advanced ship in the galaxy. There had to be something.
There had to be.
It felt like the burning of a star. No conventional heat could be like this, no fire that a world could host could sear through every nerve so completely, tear through flesh with a charring intensity. No fire of hell could compare.
He stood alone on an ashen plain without armor or weapon, beneath an angry scarlet sky. Stars in their trillions and trillions wheeled overhead, smearing and tearing through reality. The air was hot and stale, poison and fear, prickling upon his naked face and stabbing at his bare eyes, every movement a labor that lasted an eternity, an era, a moment, a second, and every effort used just a heartbeat ago in battle used now to draw a breath, to blink. The stars, stars he did not know, snapped to a standstill from their wondrous dance. From glittering points of light, so many of gold, and one flickering strong of silver, they all but that one twisted and folded into impossible shapes, burning golden eyes that looked, searched, pierced, sought, if only for a moment as a voice in volumes and multitudes boomed a question, and he was blown away on a sudden, searing wind before its power could overtake him.
But where had gone the silver light as the storm descended?
Dwight came back to himself in a violence, knocked insensate by the power unleashed against them all for only a moment or two, but that was enough for it to feel as though his entire body had been picked up, shaken hard, tossed in a blender, then pounded flat. Reaching up and fully tearing off his helmet with a jerky urgency, Dwight emptied out what felt like every meal he'd eaten in a year on to the deck in a rush of pain, blood mixing with the bile until it finally stopped and he batted away tears with the back of his gauntlet, raising his head to look around. Where was he? When was he?
The Azores. The Golden Expanse. Right.
Staggering up from the chair, Dwight looked around frantically for the others before his legs went out from under him and he crashed to the deck.
Where was Kirayee?
Get up.
The silver light, where had it gone?
Get up.
The silver light is Kirayee, you fool.
Get up.
She needs help, can't you hear Alison?
Get up.
He felt like hammered shit. He probably looked like hammered shit. He wasn't done. Dwight smashed a fist against his chest, rising up to his feet and moving forward as Lewis and Makensie burst past him at a dead run, sliding in next to Alison and tearing their kits open to do what they could, as little as it was likely to be. The link they all shared. If there was any way that Dwight could help now, it was going to have to be that. Drawing in a breath that hurt like an elephant sitting on his chest, Dwight reached out to Kirayee, calling her name through the link, extending and offering his helping hand. If there was a way to help her, any way at all, he was going to do all he could now.
They'd all simply come too far to do anything less.
It wasnt until after the jump that Kane noticed the state of things around him. The drake had been immune to the psionic assault even after Kirayee's null-field went up, and now that it was down his soulshard was finally awake, his minds were racing to understand what had just happened. His tail still on Kirayee's lap, the drake turned towards the commotion to see the girl unresponsive.
The situation was strange to him as he got closer to his ward, his mind wandered to possible courses of action. Should he try to save the girl? should he take her to the boss now before it was too late? he wasnt a healer and he feared only his brother or the boss himself could do anything at this point, the latter of which would not be happy if she died even once. Her body seemed fine, her mind was not, he could sense that much. In some ways as a drake he was a Null like she was, perhaps his proximity would help her fight whatever managed to slip through her defenses.
Leaving his station, Kane's massive form got close and gently lifted the girl's body into his arms, careful to avoid hurting her with his claws, and sitting down so the others could help in their own ways. His minds still racing to discover a solution, his face cold and expressionless. (edited)
It was pitch black.
Not like the darkest of night, or the depths of space, no. No light was here, not one singular photon.
And yet it was hot, unbearably hot. It was like she was cooking, feeling her body twist and change in ways she knew were not possible. Everything felt wet... It felt...
Like she was back in that infernal womb. In that horrendous machine. Deep in the base, stolen away by the Panopticon. How was that possible? Was this real? She had never experienced a psionic attack before, she hadn't needed to after all she was the creator of the silence field. Something so powerful as to end this very idea, and yet... She had been overpowered.
Who are you
The voice reverberated the liquid around her, make the darkness shake.
"I am Kirayee-"
Wrong answer She couldn't even finish before a jolt of pain lanced through her like hot pokers were being needled through every vein in her body. She cried out, muffled bubbling moans as the liquid engulfed her lungs.
She felt the question batter her again, causing her to squirm.
"I am the last of my people, I am a weapon, I am-”
She felt other voices calling to her, she hesitated… Kirayee could hear Dwight… Could hear Alison… Could hear Kane… They called to her.
“… I am loved”
The darkness recoiled, revelling a Golden Eye, one that she had seen before. The voice that spoke to her was the same she had heard within the Expanse.
“Who are you?” Kirayee defiantly demanded.
Armin Laikos. Little one. I assure you, we will meet again
Within a second she was ripped from the embracing liquid, the golden darkness and the pain, Kirayee woke up. Her body and head hurt, but she came to in Kanes arms.
“What… Did we escape?” She smiled at those surrounding her, before looking at Par’Lan. The Nakai’s face was gaunt, haunted utterly. Had he endured something like her? Had they all done so? He turned to nod slowly.
“We escaped. But the cost… We have to warn others. Gather the respective leaders of your factions, seek trusted allies as well. Bring them to me, we will relay what we have seen and know. The Panopticon is beyond anything that any of us can deal with alone…” He almost spoke again, but hesitated. Choosing instead to turn away and look out into the void beyond, they were out of the Expanse now, floating somewhere in the Veronis Cascade.
They had survived at least, and now they knew what they were dealing with.
The warning had to get out, what would come next would be beyond insanity.
Kirayee could feel it, tugging at the edge of her mind and it made her shiver.
It reminded her of the feelings she got while in the prison of the Army, like a tide lapping at a beach. But this time it wasnt warm and promised sweet sanctity, it promised utterly annihilation and destruction of self.
It terrified her.
Par'Lan and the others looked to her now, this was her moment. Her unique powers were meant for a reason, and she had to believe this was one of the reasons. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and willed her void into reality. The whispers, the tugging at the mind, the dull sensation, all stopped. Gone within an instant.
The glow and light inside of the A'Zores command chamber briefly flickered, the sound of power shunting became audible. Kirayee opened her eyes and looked at Par'Lan.
"Do not worry, your powers have forced this ship to anchor itself fully into this reality, it is merely the systems compensating. I detect the psionic effects have disappeared. Excellent, momentous work but we have far to go" The A'Zores once again moved, accelerating into the most hazardous space for any sentients or non sentients in the galaxy.
Thankfully none of them felt anything as they moved further, but Kirayee could start to feel a pressure building at the back of her head. She simply slowed her breathing and dismissed it.
"Once upon a time this ship was piloted by a crew. While she is more than capable of flying without any of us, I find the old girl does better when given a guiding hand. I ask you, would you be willing to assist me? I need someone to handle sensors, someone for weapons, and someone for defences. Do not worry, it is extremely intuitive, the ship will guide you in its own operation" Three reclined chairs seemed to mould like liquid from the floor and Par'Lan gestured for some to occupy them.
Of all the things he had seen, of all the things he had read about, the things he feared to meet in space, this topped the list. Out of hard wrought instinct and years of experience staring into the unknown Dwight felt the urge to draw his revolver as the unknown loomed up before him once more, but he felt deep in his gut that this was something he couldn't fight, that bullets wouldn't even register to. Even if there had been something to shoot. The instinct there was strong, until Kirayee called upon her power. In an instant, he felt the deep fear and the instinct to fight fade, if not leave completely.
This, after all, was a very bad place to be.
Taking a deep breath, he focused again on the sea and the rolling waters before opening his eyes. The great ship around them felt alive, as alive as its captain and all of them here within it, and he was damn glad for it. If they were walking into hell, then they could do worse than a good ship and good company to walk there together. Then Par'lan asked for their assistance. That threw him for a loop for a long moment. The tales of the power of the A'Zores was mythic and legendary for a reason, and here it was being offered to them almost casually. The weight behind the offer was unmistakable however, and Dwight understood plain well that if Par'Lan himself was asking for them to do this, then it was important.
It was a mighty step up from the Eagle, that was for sure.
"I'll take defense, sir." he said, drawing the gazes of the other Corpsmen with both trepidation and respect as he walked over to the right hand chair. Leaning his HAR against it, Dwight settled down into it, worried for a moment that his power armor would be too bulky, though this did not seem to be the case.
"You can do this, Dwight." he murmured to himself. "Piece of cake."
Alison put up a good front through the gnawing and scratching in her head. Even after two years of practicing with the Order she wasn’t used to the feeling of other things being in her mind. It was an unsettling invasion of personal space that she was certain she’d never really get used to.
But as quickly as it had grown, it was gone. It was the first time Alison could recall actually experiencing Kirayee’s powers. When they had rescued her from the Army on Lost Star she’d seen the effects play out on other people. The Order’s psion screaming as she was abruptly severed from her powers sprung to mind. But (barring some tailored genetics and a mechanical arm) Alison was a mundane woman possessing no supernatural abilities. The loss of such in Kirayee’s presence was never something she really got to experience.
She watched Kirayee intently as the feeling faded, trying to gauge how using her powers was affecting her, trying to judge if she was in pain or discomfort…
She only took her gaze off her when Par’Lan brought up the past crew of the A’Zores, and the ship’s apparent preference for having one. It made her wonder if the ship was really alive. She supposed she could find out. Sit down in one of the offered chairs and see what happened…
But keeping everything together was no doubt going to be taxing on Kirayee. She’d need help, or maybe just someone to be like ‘you got this kid’ and do a little dance… and Alison had been around the longest. She’d picked Kirayee off a haunted transport ship, been with her all the way to Lost Star, lost her, then found her again and been there for everything that came afterward. If anyone was going to do morale support, shouldn’t it be her?
“Blackjack, take weapons,” Alison said finally. The Subjugator glanced at her with an eyebrow quirked.
“But I wanna shoot the big guns!” Felix whined.
“I know,” Alison answered. “Which is why I’m asking someone who isn’t going to fuck around to do it,”
“Laaaaaaaaaaaame,” Felix answered with an exaggerated look and motion of distress. “You never let me have any fun!”
“Oh quit whining,” Alison said with a shake of her head. Blackjack shrugged and put her cigarette out in the palm of her hand before dropping the remnants in a vest pocket. With one final look at Alison she made her way over to the left chair. She left her bag in the care of Felix while she sat down and settled in.
It was not even a moment after Kirayee released her power that Kane lost control of his form. Just as he had on Lost Star two years prior, the drake had been forced to resume the monstrous shape he had hidden from the others all this time, clothes and all. This time however was not as hellish as it had been then, he wasnt on the ground dying, the others could get a better look at his true face.
He was massive in stature yet lean, easily standing ten feet tall at the shoulder and not counting his equally long tail, covered in sand colored fur and quills, at its end rested a rattlesnake's rattler the size of a human arm. The drake's feet were an unnatural mix between talons, hooves, and paws with two large owl-like talons and two smaller thicker clawed toes between them that gave the appearance of a sharp steel toed boot. Kane's remaining, now massive, hand had unnervingly long black claws on every digit except his pointer finger which had a segmented carapace and ended in an extended hooked scorpion's sting, whether it contained the actual animal's venom was unknown and hopefully wouldnt be found out.
Kane's face was easily recognizable as a hybrid of both the coyote the others had known for the last two years and the man they had met and fought with in Lost Star. The drake's face had uncanny features of expression which gave his true form properly sentient qualities such as eyebrows and a more developed mouth to allow proper speech, his jawline carried over his thick blond sideburns from his human form which combined with the fur on his neck gave him a particularly fluffy appearance thinning around the base of his neck where his scars were and tightened by his kerchief which draped over his chest and covered The drake's soulshard.
Kane's eyes were like a snake's only a piercing red and gold and a feint glow made clearer by the shadow cast from the wide brim of his hat, with a small line marking under each eye like an egyptian kohl. His long tufted ears were laying flat to accommodate his headware with a pair of backswept horns between them.
With his sudden change of form all of his possessions had changed with him, including his gun which was now the size of a rifle and covered in markings and names of unknown people. Kane looked it over before putting it back in its holster, then immediately reached up to check the base of his neck as though to make sure everything was still connected, seemingly relieved to find it still was. He looked around, or rather down, at the others and eventually focused on Kirayee. He certainly wasnt her pet coyote anymore, though he fought the urge to let her pet him like she had gotten used to doing as a small act of comfort. Kane Lumbered over to one of the stations and looked it over, seemingly lost at what was lying before him. (edited)
As the individuals sat down onto the smooth pedestals the Athenite seemed to mould around them perfectly, making them as comfortable as possible.
Moments later, it was like having an epiphany.
Connecting to the A'Zores, even a fraction of its systems, was like opening ones mind to the universe. Felix and Dwight both felt like mental speed accelerate, their senses sharpen and their bodies extend into the ship itself. It was an immensely strange yet thrilling sensation and one that virtually nobody in millions of years had experienced.
"Oh hello. Welcome we don't get many guests"
A teenage girl stood before them, appearing perfectly real yet it was clear Kane, Kirayee or the others could not see or sense her.
"Dont worry, I am Ae'Lan it is a pleasure to meet you. It is strange speaking in this language I have never done so before but I am here to help you and guide you in the interface. Oh and yes, I am a quantum-afterimage reconstruction and emulation of the Captains Daughter" She smiled, her avian features ruffling slightly.
For Blackjack the ship almost instinctively guided and nudged him. He could feel power within himself, far greater than anything previously experienced, it was like feeling the very power of the universe sleeping within you. With a gesture of an arm energy was channeled from the singularity core along the perfectly smooth Athenite hull ready to be fired as Quantum firebolts, with a flick of a figure hundreds of sleeping Spearhead drones could spring to life and sheath themselves in blazing Kugelblitz, with a tensing of the muscles the vessels Quanto-Chromatic Fields could be strengthened to undo matter and finally with a thought the vessels true power in the form of its Six Quantum Accelerator Cannons could be brought online to fire almost total supernova scale devastation. Such power at his fingertips, whole swathes of the galaxy would kill to experience even a fraction of this might.
For Dwight his situation was similar. He felt the ship as a sturdy rock. His very body, its smooth Athenite, every quantum-entangled metaphasic particle of it he could feel. By changing his breathing he could strengthen its own fields, or tense his hands to manipulate and reinforce the vessels massive Multi-Dimensional Shield generators, the vessels wings.He could also control the Quanto-Chromatic Fields for defensive purposes through different emotions while directing minature Spearhead Drones or Firebolts with his fists. Finally he could draw energy directly from the ships Singularity core to generate millions of tiny Singularities as a powerful protective barrier. He controlled likely the single safest place in the universe.
It was an experience, and all they needed now was a sensor operator.
"You ok Kane?" Kirayee said aloud, her voice somewhat strained as they delved further into the Maddening, her smile however showed him she fully accepted his true form. Par'Lan only seemed curious, but did not comment.
"If you are to take the seat it will very much still mould to you"
"If ya say so..." Kane replied, the voice of his true form was similar to that of his human self, but there was a subtle difference that couldnt quite be defined. A metallic echo? An ethereal whisper? A bestial growl? It was as though his very voice were struggling to find itself. The drake moved towards his station near Kirayee and as Par'Lan had promised the seat had taken an appropriate shape to accommodate his increased size and his tail. He looked at the girl and considered her question.
"I was raised in my human form, like a human, surrounded by humans." He answered. "I aint used to my own kind and this form is just a reminder of all that difference..."
Blackjack was a sniper by trade. The feeling of a powerful weapon in her hands and the knowledge that she was only a small twitch away from ending a life was not a new or even particularly foreign one to her. But feeling the ship come alive and reactive to her movement and will was orders of magnitude beyond even the most sophisticated system she had operated in the past. The magnitude of destruction she had at her fingertips made the experience feel foreign… except it wasn’t even really at her fingertips. It was her fingertips, something that in moments felt as much a part of her as her own limbs. She’d expected integrating with the ship’s weapons systems to be unsettling or jolting but instead it just felt…
Well she supposed it didn’t feel like much at all. It was just there now, and seemed to her like it always had been. So seamless and natural that every integrated system she’d used before seemed little more than a clumsy attempt to force a square peg through a round hole by comparison.
That should have been the highlight of the entire experience. If Felix or Alison had sat down instead of her it would be the only thing either of them would have talked about for months.
“That’s smooth,” She commented. Her eyebrows shot up as she heard (although not really she supposed) the words. “Oh… that’s…” (edited)
She couldn’t find words. The head trauma she’d suffered had rendered the young woman mute. For years she’d been trapped in her own mind, unable to effectively communicate with anyone around her. No matter how hard she tried words just wouldn’t, couldn’t, come to her. She’d stutter, stammer, form incomplete nonsensical sentences, and then give up. She couldn’t communicate at all beyond what could be conveyed through simple gestures, motions, or the basic thoughts the Order had taught them to pass along their own mental link.
Being able to communicate coherently was…
She couldn’t even think of a word to describe it.
“Hello Ae’lan, people call me Blackjack. You uh… you may not believe me but it’s… strange for me to speak too. Not bad strange. Good strange. Very good. Stars and ancestors it’s been a long time… sorry, I’m rambling.”
There was a job to do after all. She couldn’t just relish in the feeling of communication forever.
“Can Dwight and Kane hear me too? Oh, and any tips before we’re in the thick of it?”
It felt like his breath had been taken away. Once again, for the hundredth time in one day all the stories, the wild conjecture and outright lies of the stories about the Azores were blown and washed away. In every way that mattered, he could feel himself as part of the Azores. It was a sensation and a feeling that he knew plain he would never feel again when this was over, and he could volunteer for every prototype starship and AI integration program in the Free Worlds and never come this close again. It was incredible. Beyond incredible.
Of course, he felt for a moment the childlike glee of something novel and new, something that he wanted to experiment with. It was almost overwhelming, how it all felt, having the ability to manipulate the grand ship's defenses with only the simplest of actions of his body and his mind. For now though, Dwight reminded himself to stay focused, to stay calm and wait to put himself through his paces until the time called for it. And then... he heard a voice he couldn't remember hearing before. This new being... Ae'Lan.
"Hello," he said. "My name's Dwight Lawson, nice to meetcha. Feels like this is gonna be one heck of a ride." he went on, giving the kid... construct, he supposed, a smile before he blinked and looked over towards the woman that he'd never heard speak a complete sentence before. Today was the gift that just kept on giving, wasn't it.
"Loud and clear, Blackjack. Good to properly hear ya."
"I understand Blackjack, I have your full mental and vital physiological scans from the moment you entered this ship. It is wonderful for you to communicate, they can hear you if you choose to speak to them, it is also fully understandable for you to wish to talk after so long" The girl smiled.
"It is nice to meet you as well Dwight Lawson, while I have no information about what we will face I do believe it will be tough I hope you can prepare"
After a few moments, Kane joined them, the chair rearranging to fit his form and connecting him into the ship. For Kane too like Blackjack and Dwight, it was like his mind expanded, but far more than the others. The A'Zores sensors fed straight into Kanes mind, every aspect of the EM spectrum, gravitational distortions, dimensional alignments and disturbances, psionic field readings and more gave him a vision as if his entire body was the ship itself. He could effortlessly filter through the types of sensors, highlighting disturbances he saw and focusing them with such detail that he could study the quantum fields of the fabric of reality to determine the source. It was like being able to observe every facet of reality.
"Welcome Kane" Ae'Lan calmly spoke giving him time to adjust.
But something was already giving Kane disturbances, a huge energy signature up ahead across all bands. The psionic field that surrounded them was intensely powerful although Kirayees abilities had nulled it in a bubble around the vessel, but it had an origin. And that origin was like a shining lighthouse beacon up ahead.
Already the A'Zores was picking up additional contacts, celestial objects and likely, ships.
"It seems we are finally approaching. Kane feel free to analyse closer but I am picking up eight vessels, three planetoids and several artificial bodies likely space stations. For the psionic source... I have never seen readings like this I am running additional scans"
On the viewscreen, the Golden Kolleronic plasma of the expanse partially obscured their destination, but it was there. While the planets and ships could barely be spotted, the psionic object was real.
It looked like a neutron star, glowing in coruscating ever shifting arcs of purple and gold. Patterns could be seen dancing across its emanations and Kirayees face grimaced as they drew closer.
"...Its getting hard to breath" Kirayee was breathing hard now, sweat dripping from her brow. Whatever this thing was, it was giving her a serious fight.
“See, I like you Ae’Lan. You get me already. Hello world!” Blackjack answered Dwight with an audible giggle from her seat, still giddy at her sudden ability to communicate. She shook her head, setting aside the elation of being able to communicate. As nice as it was, now was not the time for socializing. There was a job to do, but maybe when it was done they’d let her talk just a little while longer…
She listened to Par’Lan’s assessment of the situation, making out what she could through the weapons systems at her disposal. She couldn’t help but wonder what Kane must have been experiencing. Did he see everything or was it a full sensory experience? What did the golden expanse sound like she wondered…
“I can send some drones for a closer look,” She suggested, making herself heard by all. “Or you know… could just frag ‘em,”
She added almost as an afterthought.
To Alison, the idea of just fragging everything sounded like a good plan. But it was Par’Lan’s ship and she couldn’t see or feel any of the things the other’s could. It wasn’t something she was used to, or even comfortable doing, but the Exile Admiral decided to let go of any sense of command or leadership. The others would sort it out.
She turned her attention fully to Kirayee, approaching her and laying her hands on Kirayee’s shoulder.
“You got this,” She said encouragingly. “I’m here for you. Just tell me what I can do and I’ll do it…”
She hooked the strap of her kit bag with her foot and pulled it closer, offering Kirayee a place to sit if need be.
“Unless it involves fish,” She added jokingly. “You know I don’t do fish,” (edited)
Kane jumped at the A'zores sudden influence and Ae'Lan's voice speaking to him causing him to curse under his breath as he calmed down. Like a deer in headlights Kane looked at the information displayed before him and, taking up the voice's suggestion, tried to focus his attention to the incoming vessels. While he didnt know how exactly, he wanted to share the information he was receiving, and the A'zores complied to his subconscious will, sending a vague idea of what Kane was sensing, sharing his knowledge in a similar method to how a drake's two brains communicated to each other.
"Check check, Blackjack," Dwight said with a smile, happy for the sniper that she could at last make herself heard, but he brought his focus back around as Par'lan called out. He felt distantly as Maddox patted him twice on the shoulder for encouragement, but he took a slow breath and shifted his hands to a ready position.
"I say cautious f'r now," he responded as we weighed their options, mentally going through the motions to bolster the ship as fast as he could. "Get some eyes on. Drones'n'Kane oughta give us a picture, then we can frag 'em. Or not." he stated. There, his opinion was out there. Time to see what became of it, and hell, if they needed to start shooting in a hurry, then he'd be on the ball. He breathed in, and felt the power all around him, flowing through him. He let his breath out, and the motion repeated in reverse. It was truly bizarre. Like stone before the ocean unyielding.
"Ready."
A glimmer of a smile crept over Par'Lans face at Blackjacks comment, he too liked the idea of using their weapons and running.
Even as Kane struggled to understand what was entirely going on Ae'Lan guided him subconsciously. While Par'Lan concentrated on the psionic source, Kane felt his mind expand as he looked closer on the enemy ships and stations. Like being given a gods perspective Kane could detatch from his body and survey the surroundings and enemy vessels in such minute detail that it was like looking at a well painted scale minature from any angle he desired. The ships were highly advanced, completely unlike anything previously encountered and threw up no identification on the A'Zores practically monolithic IFF or ident catalogue that stretched millions of years.
The ships were elongated, segmented, and like the very ship they stood on connected via non visible means, in this case intense psionic fields and what appeared to be Solarite Strings. A powerful psionic 'core' hung in the centre, connecting to the Panopticon itself while the ships strange mirror tinted sheen belayed a hyper advanced Aurastone composite unseen by the galaxies material engineers. There were 8 in total, along with three space stations, two smaller closer to the psionic object, and one huge one further out orbiting one of the several planets.
All the planets were dead, barren wastelands. But sensors of the psionic and dimension band indicated massive quantities of Aurastone AND Duskstone on the surfaces, already capped with what seemed like mining complexes.
The Panopticon had a major base here, and already Kane could discern the 8 vessels had detected them and their 'Silence field' disturbance on the nearby psionic fields. They were moving to intercept.
"The psionic object, its a neutron star in all probability. But it is acting as a massive mandala. Power readings are off the charts, This is completely unknown to be and we should proceed with caution. I am also detecting something wrapped around it, but even our sensors are struggling to determine what. Still, I would ready weapons it seems we will be needing them"
Kirayee seemed to be taking shallower and shallower breathes, her eyes taking on a more gaunt appearance as she turned to Alison.
"Take my hand, I think... I think there's something out there, something or someone"
“Frag ‘em it is,” Blackjack commented as she audibly cracked her knuckles and wiggled her fingers. Even if speaking was the highlight of the endeavor, she still had quite the destructive potential at her fingertips, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t excited at the opportunity to make use of it all. That much was apparent from the predatory grin that broke across her face as she started making the weapons ready.
“Looks like we’ve attracted some attention…” Blackjack said. “Hey, do we have a shorthand for these guys yet? Calling them Army of the Panopticon or Panopticon seems like too many syllables to me… what about like psiboys? Or how about… psi-borgs… you get it?”
While Blackjack made use of her newfound communication to assault Dwight and Kane with lame jokes she was already readying the weapon systems. She began to wake up the spearhead drones and get them into space. She kept them close for now, she had no doubt the defenses were formidable, but it couldn’t hurt to hold the drones back for any missiles that might be sent their direction by the approaching ships.
The quantum firebolts she aimed at the mining facilities present on the barren planets. She didn’t know for sure, but she figured they’d be more than enough to wipe out the complexes. That ought to slow down whatever was going on here if they couldn’t destroy it outright.
Which just left the QAC Canons. The weapons she was most eager to use. She cycled through the eight ships on approach, going through an old nursery rhyme until she landed on the one she was going to shoot first. With no data on the ships she decided to play it cautious, and focus all of the QACs on a single vessel.
“Say the word and the fragging will commence,” She said to inform everyone she was ready.
Alison had tuned out the conversation about the battle that was about to commence. She was focusing all of her attention on Kirayee. She did as Kirayee asked, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“Mind your breathing,” Alison said gently, going back to the most basic lessons the Order had given. “Whatever’s out there has nothing on you. You’ve survived being locked in a lab and poked and prodded twice. I barely managed it once, and whatever’s out there thinking it’s hot shit has probably done it zero times.”
1 June 2023
"Standing by," Dwight remarked, steadying his breathing and moving his hands to bring their shields up to the front, shifting the titanic power of this mythical fortress to protect against whatever weapons these ships might have to bring to bear. Said ships were pretty obviously moving in for a fight, and he wasn't about to give them a fair field on which to play. Not after their last run-in with the Army, he'd learned quite well there just how much of a bad idea it was to underestimate them, or give them even a single inch to work with. Rolling his neck with an audible series of pops and the shifting of his armor's systems, he barked out a laugh at the pun that had just assaulted them all.
Ah, he liked this witty Blackjack.
"Psi-borgs sounds good to me," he laughed, "But you're buying our next lunch run for that pun. Standing by to defend against Psi-borg attack, shields up and good to go."
Everything else felt ready too, like warmth and sunlight in his veins, but he didn't feel the need to say that. Not yet, if at all. He trusted the others to trust him, and that was all he needed. Confident, calm, ready. He would be lying if he said he wasn't excited like a kid on christmas to try out the drones and the singularities. All in good time, he supposed.
Kane was quickly adapting to the new perspective the ship provided him and acclimated to the technology almost as fast. Using his inhuman eyes he scanned over the enemy ships for any points he deemed a weakness and highlighted them to the others at the weapons stations. While he was fairly unfamiliar with the technology he was up against, his years of combat and harsh survival had long since given him an unnatural instinct for finding the weak points of his foes. It's why the boss chose him, why he was brought back in the first place.
Kane let out an audible groan at the suggestion of "psi-borgs" that was simultaneously amusement and irritation, but he did not answer directly. He was too focused on the display and searching for more ways to extort the enemy defenses. Without his acknowledgement Kane's tail rose to rest across Kirayee's lap, to help her relax and focus on the job at hand by stroking the surprisingly soft and familiar fur of her coyote companion. His tail was heavy, but its weight only brought a warm comfort and security for the girl.
Kanes intense scans revealed many new things to him which helped uncover both weaknesses and strengths.
The ships were totally unmanned, showing no life signs whatsoever, but their forms belied immensely powerful energy generation and given the quick running of numbers which was also relayed to Par'Lan it made his eyes narrow. While they were not on par with the A'Zores, with 8 of their number, they were a legitimate and considerable threat. These were no ships of the lesser races, the Army of the Panopticon had not been idle. Several weak points were detected, all of which locations where the vessels weapon ports supposedly manifested. Already they were coming in fast, three of them, the closest, unspooling long tendrils of Solarite with which they were moving around as if someone trying to slowly bring a whip up to full cracking speed.
"You have the signal, fire away these forces are a threat to us. Do not hesitate or hold back"
Par'Lans voice was tinged with concern, even as the Spearhead drones reacted to Blackjacks rousing. Surges of unimaginable energies flooded into each drone, sheathing the Athenite in a burning furious Kugelblitz. The drones leapt out of their launchers, dancing around the A'Zores like frolicking children ready to be guided to a foe, each one had its own mind, simple but sharp they eagerly awaited their orders.
For the other weapons, the ship seemed to hum, massive power draw even for the A'Zores set teeth on edge as the QAC cannons draw in their power reserves, filling impossible capacitors as Athenite segments locked into positions around the gun, rotating as searing light condensed and built in their non-existent chambers. There was a flash, as all six weapons reached peak charge before firing. Blinding bright beams raced across space, the fury the likes of which had not been seen since ancient days.
When they contacted the Panopticon ship, the sensor backwash was huge, visuals went white for a moment as did all EM spectrum readings. As the light dimmed, there was nothing left. No amount of Aurastone was going to save the foe from 6 simultaneous Singularity cannon direct impacts.
In response the enemy vessels began to spread out, and almost dance. Darting from position to position in random but frightening quick vectors as they closed.
The Firebolts, while not quite as impressive, fired like a volley towards the installations. It would take sometime before they impacted, but hopefully they would devastate the ongoing operations.
"Breathing yea thats a good idea" Kirayee responded, trying to control her breathes as she stroked Kanes tail. She was under intense pressure now and she could hear someone's voice.
"Oh my child. You don't have to keep us out"
"Someone is talking to me, like an old man... How... How can he?"
“Scratch one!” Blackjack informed Dwight and Kane, her tone indicating she was rather pleased with the result of her initial barrage. There was a small part of her that was relieved to see that however new and intimidating the ships may have appeared, they were not so powerful as to withstand a full salvo of the A’Zores main weapons. She would have been concerned… maybe even a little panicked if it had somehow managed to survive that.
But with that fear put to bed, she instead was able to immerse herself in the feeling of… of… well of everything really. The drones flitting around waiting for her instruction, the hum as the weapons recharged and shifted to their next target.
Par’Lan may have found himself concerned with the situation, but Blackjack wasn’t a legendary captain of an invincible ship. Having her life hanging in the balance was nothing new to her. She’d been there hundreds, maybe thousands of times. She knew what it was to be in danger. But she was certain there was nothing else like the feeling of the ship around her anywhere in the galaxy, maybe not even in the universe. She let herself get lost in the feeling of it, live in the moment and relish the experience. That was new. That was worth remembering. She was grinning, but she didn’t notice.
“Three closing in fast,” She informed Dwight and Kane as if they hadn’t already noticed. “Splitting the big guns between the two closest. Going to see how the fast movers do against the others. Kane, lemme know what the firebolts do to those installations when they hit,”
True to her word, she did as she had planned. Instead of targeting all six QACs on a single vessel she targeted three at each of the two closest. She held half the spearheads back to react to anything unexpected, and for the same reason refrained from firing the firebolts. She was still playing cautiously after all. Par’Lan probably wouldn’t be happy if they scratched the paint job…
The other half of the spearheads she sent after a third ship. Much like with her initial volley of QACs she concentrated them on one vessel instructing the drones to target the weapon ports which seemed to be a weak point, and once more she waited to see results.
Alison meanwhile was doing her best not to immediately freak out when Kirayee told her that somehow someone was speaking to her. She thought that wasn’t supposed to be possible. Alison took a moment to process that, to push away the feeling of powerlessness and uncertainty. She set her jaw, and knit her brows together. Alison had never backed down from anything in her life. She didn’t back down when Dakel challenged her to a duel. She didn’t back down when Yuris told them they were going to raid a secret facility with a handful of guys and no recon. She didn’t back down when Par’Lan took them here. She wasn’t backing down now. She wasn’t backing down later. She was Third Admiral of the Exile Fleets, she didn’t back down.
“I got no idea the kind of strain getting us in here put on you,” She said to Kirayee after she’d taken that moment for herself. “But I can see it’s straining you. If something is getting through to you it’s because you’ve already pushed so hard just getting us this far.”
She paused and squeezed one of Kirayee’s hands in both of hers.
“I don’t know about psionics and gods and all that shit but I do know people,” Alison said. “If someone’s talking shit, it’s because he’s trying to psyche you out. He wants you to choke, doubt yourself, or get intimidated and back down. But he doesn’t know you, not like we do.” She gestured to Kane, Dwight, Par’Lan and everyone else who had accompanied her this far. “Not a single one of us has ever doubted you Kirayee. So don’t you go doubting yourself.”
Kane celebrated the destruction with the mimicked whooping battle cry of an old native american warrior, a call he was well familiar with, disturbingly so as his impersonation was with a voice not his own, followed by the yips of a coyote. With new vigor he continued his task and scanned the enemy further, wondering what other ways he could make them explode. He was not afraid, not of death or of the panopticon.
"Scratch one, aye!" Dwight replied, shifting his hands to account for the closing enemy. They moved fast and reacted fast, he had to grant them that, especially with the devastation that Blackjack had inflicted on the first of their number. He couldn't resist a bark of laughter when the cannons had impacted, and a yell of victory in something of a similar vein as Kane had. It was a visceral, very human reaction. Ever since the advent of space warfare and gunpowder before it, humanity did so love a big damn boom. The pure annihilation was inspiring and terrifying in the same instant, and he used the moment of its passing to refocus, and bring his attention back to the enemy. Here they come, he thought to himself, flexing his fingers and feeling the rush of power of the A'Zores' defensive might once more. Three enemy vessels, totally unmanned in this place of madness he supposed it only made sense.
And here they were, comin' right to them.
"Tally three," he replied to Blackjack, taking a breath. He shifted his hands to bring the shields around, closed his fingers tightly and prepared to lash out with the ship's defensive drones. Frontier martial arts with ancient power beyond reckoning? He had to admit, the thought made him smile for a moment.
"Gonna give 'em a wall to chew on whilst you work the magic," he said, strengthening their shields facing the enemy like no other ship could, though he did hold off on the truly potent parts of their defenses. There would be a time for them, he was absolutely sure of that. Maybe it would even be soon.
"Got a surprise or two up the pipe too if they try t'get clever, so... let's see what you got, ya bastards." he said, staring hard at the enemy before them in the maddening void. (edited)
The three vessels that came into strike did so terrifyingly fast and aggressive.
But they had seen what had happened to their comrade, they would not underestimate their foe this time.
The closest vessel unspooled Solarite string as it also began charging up something, displays showed all three beginning to charge what was likely their main gun. But already Blackjack was working the ship. The QAC cannons spoke once more, having cycled immensely quickly the weapons opened up once more with a huge display of light and power. But while it had been easy the first time, it would not be this time.
The first ship dodged, lightning fast it was hard for anyone by Kane to follow with the A'Zores sensor systems. Two of the Kugelblitz beams lanced out into the beyond, while the third seemed to 'curve' around the vessel veering off into another direction as it erected an immensely powerful gravity bubble to protect itself. The second ship did the same, two of the beams veering off into space while the third shot was narrowly dodged, but close enough to cause sheer and outside damage to the vessel. They were learning.
It was their time to answer.
Three bright golden beams sprung from the Ramayana class, each impacted the shields of the A'Zores which dispersed the energy across a multilattice work of dimensions and sinks. Dwight could feel the energy dissipate, and had access to the vast plethora of the A'Zores history. He knew what energy levels most races weapons would cause, against a conventional fleet the A'Zores could withstand direct bombardment from thousands of ships for weeks on end. But this was not conventional, warnings appeared as the shields took a significant impact. Whatever these weapons were, they were nightmarishly potent. Already Kane could see they were not a kind of direct weapon, overpowered with psionics the weapons seemed to be trying to open a hole in real space, could they be trying to sink portions of the A'Zores directly into the Panopticon?
The third vessel now contended with the Spearhead drones, having fired its main gun it erected its gravity sheathe and began to release its own ordnance. Hundreds of small objects leapt from tiny ports across the hull, each one burning like its Spearhead counterpart. Upon closer inspection these projectiles were no larger than missiles, but contained within something horrifying. The brains of psions. As each impacted the Spearheads the brains were overcharged with energy, causing a psionic wave of anguish as they detonated. Some detonated the Spearhead drones they were intercepting, others missed as the drones deftly avoided the collision but each one that exploded did so with massive potency, some having different effects than others. But despite its defence the ship had not done enough. Punching through the gravity sheathe the remaining few drones impacted the hull, boring through the Aurastone like it was paper. The Kugelblitz warped and tore, rushing through the ship to punch through the other side, come back around and do the same again. Blackjack could watch as the Ramayana was first crippled, then destroyed as the drones did their work.
Scratch another.
"The projectiles fired towards the facilities seem to be veering off course. I am detecting more gravitational anomalies" Par'Lans voice showed that the quantum firebolts were going off mark. With no way of correction they would have to use drones likely to destroy them.
--
Do I look beautiful General Laikos?"
Of course Eraserhead, you are the prettiest girl in the entire Brotherhood of the Great State! Your looks and acomplishments are legendary. Now I have another assignment on Celefra...
Another! I enjoyed the last one thank you Laikos
Y̷̆̾õ̷̹u̶͆̋ ̷̛͑m̶̾̋e̶͂̆a̸̽̋n̵̅́ ̷͒̄t̸he world t̃͛ô̴̾ ̵̔me
--
"I... I wont give up, I wont doubt myself... I... I dont know what I can hear its like... Memories but... Not" Kirayee struggled.
"Theres someone out there who really needs help I think"
“That’s two.” Blackjack intoned across the link as the second of the Panopticon’s vessels was ripped apart by the spearhead drones. Whatever violence fueled euphoria had been present in her tone leaked out quickly as she watched the duel between the spearheads and their psionic counterparts play out. It was easier for Blackjack to forget who exactly they were fighting. She hadn’t been on Lost Star to see the way the Army twisted psion’s minds and bodies to suit their own purposes. She’d read about it in Alison’s report, and heard about it from Alison and the Free Worlders while they were training with the Order.
But seeing it was another matter entirely. Seeing highly advanced readouts tell you you were looking at brain piloting a suicide drone was nothing like reading a paragraph on a tablet screen.
She grimaced and shook the thoughts from her mind, busying herself instead with the next volley.
She bounced her right leg nervously as she tried to figure out what to do next. She’d need to focus fire to bring down the next two ships, and she would have to send away the drones if she wanted to deal with the surface facilities. Sending away the drones meant removing her safety net. She couldn’t use them to react if the next volley was as ineffective as the previous one… but it was the only way she was going to take out the facilities planet side…
How important were those facilities? Worth the risk?
She bit her lower lip, and made a decision she hoped she wasn’t about to regret.
“I’m sending the drones after the planetary facilities,” She told the others. “Ae’lan, there’s another weapon here. A quanto chromatic field if I’m reading this right? What’s the best way to make use of it?” (edited)
While she waited for her answer she set about retargeting the QACs and the Firebolts. She’d held back from firing the Firebolts a second time, but now she unleashed them. Focusing a single ship with the full force of an attack seemed the most effective use of her weapons, so much as she had with the other two ships she’d destroyed, all of the Firebolts targeted the closer of the two vessels while all of the QACs targeted the second.
The drones meanwhile, she sent after the planetary facilities.
Kane’s whooping seemed to indicate to Alison that things were going well… or at least well enough that she could keep her focus on Kirayee.
“The someone in trouble,” Alison asked, keeping her voice calm despite everything happening around them. “Do you know who it is? Or where they are?”
Or if we can even save them? She kept that last part to herself for now… but she’d seen what the Panopticon did to people. The kind if ‘trouble’ someone might be in might be the kind of trouble even Par’Lan and his ship couldn’t fix.
"Woah," Dwight breathed as the alarms appeared, almost jerking back in his chair in surprise. This was like nothing he had ever encountered before of course, even having encountered and experienced the forces of the Panopticon before, and it was concerning to say the least of it. He heard Blackjack querying Ae'lan, but he kept his focus on the weapons of the enemy. The impacts had set those alerts off even after the strengthening he'd done, the sort of power that the fleets of entire nations and empires grander than anything he had ever known could not bring to bear like this. It wasn't the same, it couldn't be, but nevertheless that was the threat he was being confronted with.
So what to do?
The simplest solution to him seemed to keep the enemy from being able to hit the shields at all, and so he brought both the quanto-chromatic fields and the drones up with movements of his hands and shifting his sudden surprise into a cool focus, a hint of annoyance towards the enemy that had assailed them. He could not show fear to them, he recited in his mind, for fear would show itself when least wanted. Shifting his hands into a sort of boxing stance to bring the drones up ahead of the ship to intercept incoming fire, bringing the shields back around to full power while he had a moment to do so. These buggers were adapting to them damn fast, and he certainly didn't like it, but that was the nature of the game now. There a lot of things he could say to Blackjack about what was coming at them, but he settled for keeping on mission.
"Gonna try to intercept any incoming before it can hit us," he said, readying his hands to lash out towards the enemy in the blink of an eye. It felt silly in a way, but more than that it felt powerful.
"Keeping th' singularity thing in the pocket until we really need it, lemme know if either of ya disagree with that." Dwight rumbled, shifting his gaze towards their inscrutable enemy.
"C'mon ya bastards. We ain't dead yet."
Kane was multitasking, a feat he was used to but without his soulshard his focus was considerably limited. While looking for weaknesses he vigilantly kept an eye on their surroundings, yet another feat that would be easier if he could still shapeshift. He did not want any more surprises, especially the kind to strike them where they cant see. The technical jargon the others spoke of was still alien to the drake, but at least the ship made it so he could do this much to aid his allies. He was used to working with mortals, he preferred them ever since he was born, and he had taken a liking to these ones. He'd be damned if anything happened to them he didnt initiate first.
The voice of Ae’Lan did not sound as calm and quiet as before, she seemed agitated as if the weapons fired at the vessel from the enemy were much more of a threat than they realised.
“Use your mind, imagine yourself like a sculptor, the fields will respond to that they are very close range but you can sculpt reality to your wish either offensively or defensively. Beware however the fields are rather close range”
As the QAC cannons spoke again the Ramanyana were already moving, the A’Zores was fast, but the enemy seemed faster almost like their vessels could momentarily blur between locations in space. Already it was showing to Kane that the vessels were ‘skipping’ through the psion field, using it to stay on one side of the A’Zores and prevent three of the main guns from having any shot on them. The three QACs that now fired lanced out, the target skipped slightly making one skip off into the Expanse. The other two were redirectly by the monstrously powerful gravity sheathe but one of the QAC beams detonated shortly after redirection, the energy washing over the enemy vessel and doing visible damage to its Aurastone framework and severing several golden strings within. The other ship as well targeted by the Firebolts managed to ‘weather’ the storm, firebolts being uncontrollable during flight flew in many directions, however one connected causing a massive explosion and blowing a chunk of the Ramanyana into oblivion.
The enemy ships responded.
A new wave of missiles were launched, a heavy volley alongside another burst of their main guns. The beams lanced out, one of them being caught by the yawning vortex of a prescision event horizon. Dwights defence had thankfully been on point there even as the other impacted causing alarms which had not been heard in Millenia to whine across the A’Zores bridge.
”Shield coverage is degraded, realigning defensive vectors” Par’Lan shouted. But it was not all, lightning fast whips of Solarite sped out, lashing against the vessel with wild intent. Some impacted the shields in bright flashes of energy or were intercepted by the black hole screen, but others managed to get through and strike the Athenite plating something that had not happened in a very, very long time.
The psionically charged infinitely sharp Kolleronic whips met the metaphasic quantumlinked substance as an unstoppable force faces an immovable object. There was a release of energy which was blindingly bright, damage alert runes that Par’Lan could barely remember sprang across the entire bridge. As the light cleared a section of the Athenite hull had been blown away, one of the QAC cannons was also reporting heavy damage and inoperability.
”I-Impossible, that interaction must be down to a metaphysical… Recalibrating quantum alignment of hull! I am also charging main drives we have to retreat we came here to observe, and we did. Dwight full auxillary power to the shields and singularity pockets, Kane I want you to do one final scan of that celestial object and tell me the moment those Spearhead drones hit. I am sorry Blackjack, weapons will be at reduced effectiveness until we can withdraw, I need all the power I can get” Par’Lans voice, the voice of a being who was immeasurably ancient and powerful was tinged with something alien.
Fear.
The Singularity core of the A’Zores burned to its maximum operating capacity as the ship danced with the Ramanyana class, it had taken damage something that was practically unheard of against these foes. At least the drones were close to their targets. But so too were the psionic missiles, now being intercepted by the few drones Dwight had the power to still launch in defence.
“I… His name… General Laikos…”
”I am Kirayee Zeltwa of the Zelic Empire”
The words and psionic strength of them shocked Kirayee to such an extent that she opened her eyes.
“We have to escape! Something terrible is going to happen! Please! PLEASE! I won’t be able to hold it!” The girl’s panic was overwhelming.
”Hold them for a few moments longer!”
“Ah well, fun while it lasted,” Blackjack answered when informed the power to weapons was being cut. Everything was happening a little too fast for her to fully process anyway. Things were going badly, that much she understood, but it hadn’t really sunk in just how bad things really had to go to force the Nakai of all things to retreat. There would be time for that later… or she would be dead and wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Either way, her focus for the moment remained on the two ships she was engaged with. The straightforward approach seemed to have run its course. The Psiborg’s ships seemed to have adapted to her various weapons as each volley became less effective than the one that had preceded it. She bit her lower lip, trying to come up with something clever, or something the Ramaya-Class wouldn’t be expecting…
She wasn’t coming up with anything, and she needed to be doing something.
She kept the spearheads on course to the planetary facilities below. With retreat imminent, dealing damage (preferably a lot of it) to whatever facility was down there was perhaps the most lasting impact she could have at this point. She didn’t bother targeting the firebolts. What power she would be left with was better used on the QACs.
“Ae’lan, I want whatever power I’m left with directed to the QACs and the chromatic field. I’m not bothering with the Firebolts again,”
Maybe, with a little luck, she could finish off one of the two Ramaya still dancing with her… but first there were those psionic missiles.
She watched them come in, thinking of the best way to sculpt the field. She hoped it would be able to react quickly, because by the sound of it she’d need to wait until the missiles were practically on top of her.
She counted the seconds as they ticked by, watching the psionic missiles close in… and then…
She went simple. She didn’t imagine something complex or hard to picture, she imagined an object she’d seen and used a thousand times before. It was easy to picture, and hopefully easy for the fields to interpret and react to. As the missiles closed in, she focused on them, and imagined a massive fly swatter whipping across the space they were occupying.
The QACs were an afterthought. Preventing the missiles from reaching their target was her main concern, but should the power allow, she waited for one of the Ramaya to present an opening before focusing all of the QACs on it.
The name ‘General Laikos’ was not one that meant anything to Alison. It wasn’t a name she could recall hearing, but it sent a shiver up her spine all the same. There was a sense of dread that hung thick in the air when Kirayee began panicking. Despite her best efforts to stay focused on the here and now, Alison found her mind and thoughts being pulled back to the diner on Lost Star. In the moments that followed Kirayee’s panic, she was lost in the memory of the golem, of all the weapons fire and how little of an effect it seemed to have…
But most of all she recalled Kirayee screaming her name as she was taken.
She wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again.
She wrapped her arms around Kirayee without thinking and pulled her close.
“We’re on our way out kiddo,” She said reassuringly. “Just hold on a little while longer. I’m here, I’ve got you, and no matter what happens I’m not letting you get taken again.”
She focused everything she had on that single thought. Every bit of focus she’d learned from the Order went into it, until the link she shared with Felix, and the other Exiles compelled them to focus on the same singular thought pushing back against anyone or anything that might come to try to snatch Kirayee’s mind or body away.
“Focus on your breathing, we’re almost there,” Alison said.
"Aye aye, sir!" Dwight responded to Par'Lan, shifting like water as the A'zores reeled. This power they were lashed with was one that he knew, felt was enough to tear apart any fleet or ship he had ever seen before now, and the fear he felt was almost overwhelming. He couldn't give in to it. Not now, in the most critical of moments, and he fought it down as it loomed over him. Every brush he had ever had with death before today paled in comparison, but he was not going to give in. They'd come too far for that.
As Par'Lan commanded, Dwight brought his hands back to gather power about him, feeling like he stood on a beach before a tsunami before he pushed forward. All of the power he possibly could put into the shields he did so, willing them to be as solid walls against the power of the Ramanyana and the hell those damned ships were bring down on them. He didn't want to die. He didn't want any one of them to die, not the ancient Nakai that he barely knew, not his commander who was both a saint and a bastard, not Alison or her pirates, no matter how much they sometimes annoyed him. And certainly not Kirayee, who might just have to save them all. Like hell he was going to let the Psiborgs kill his friends like this. A moment passed that might have been an eternity or it might have been a half a second, there was no way to tell before Dwight snapped his fingers to bring the singularity pockets online, the last line of defense that had had yet to activate. He'd been waiting for the right moment to do it, and now was more than appropriate a time.
"Everything's up," he announced, gritting his teeth. "Gonna hold it as long as I can!"
-
Maddox and the other Corpsmen were not idle as Dwight poured everything he had into defending the ship, and Blackjack fought back against their attackers. The moment came and went that Maddox had the thought to tell Lewis to look up this General, but that moment passed quickly. Kirayee's panic brought it all crashing back down to reality, and he felt the singular thought that the pirates shared as Alison embraced Kirayee. This wasn't a threat they could fight with guns, he knew that, so they'd have to use what the Order had armed them with. Maddox drew on it, the focus and the strength they had been given to bolster Alison's will, a singular thought and purpose, the Corpsmen falling one by one into the wall that they and the Exiles had to be. Protect Kirayee, keep anything that would harm her out, keep it away. If this was all they could do, then they'd do it with everything they had.
"Understood Blackjack"
The power redirection response was instant, but she could feel the draining of power to the defensive and drive systems like it was energy from her own body. Still, the quanto-chromatic fields aligned to her perfectly, if a little sluggish. The space around the A'Zores seemed to shine an irridescent multitude of colours, shifting as it did like a huge swatter the psionic missiles merely came apart as it washed over them their very atoms cast aside to the Expanses winds. There was another near miss however as Dwights raising of the pockets intercepted another lashing Solarite String.
The Ramanyana were dancing like inhuman creatures now, skipping into and out of the psion like children playing. They fired in blindspots and they did not relent. Giving little to no opportunity for easy QAC barrages. Still the Spearhead drones found their mark, some were intercepted by the facilities, struck down by pulses of radiant energy while others hit home, causing blossoming explosions on the surfaces of the ruined worlds or tearing orbital stations apart. The damage looked decent, not total or overwhelming, but it was a strike to set the enemy back and that was what counted.
Kanes final scan revealled a titanic build up of psionic energy, unlike anything recorded in the A'Zores databanks, wrapped around the celestial body was definately some form of being, a monstrous serpent of monolithic size. It was alive, it was... Feeding... And the energy was only getting brighter.
"Drives charged entering superluminal travel!"
Par'Lan announced their escape, just as the psionic energy released.
Kirayee screamed, her eyes denoting pure panic for a brief moment before she collapsed.
"NO!-"
An alarm was sounding, that psionic nullification was down.
WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?
The A'Zores jumped away. Leaving the realisation of how endangered the galaxy was, and the cry of Pareidolia behind. In Borealia, trillions would awnser that most feared question.
The juxtaposition of palm trees and concrete was something that always stuck out to her. They weren’t two things that went together in her mind. Palm trees went with tropical paradises, jungles, and other wild or idyllic places to her. They seemed out of place amidst concrete boxes and cracked asphalt. Some forgotten remnant of an idyllic paradise bricked and poured over by the sprawling mire of civilization. She watched them go by through half lidded eyes, one arm hanging out the window of the car as it stopped and started its way through evening traffic. The drugs had filled her head with a comfortable haze blocking out the world beyond the sensations of the moment. The feeling of the wind on her hand, the changing pressure on her muscles as she alternated her hand between pushing against the wind and cutting through it, the glow of the setting sun as it shone between towering obelisks of concrete and steel, and her own ruminations on the surreal (surreal?) contradictions of the city around her.
The palm trees and concrete, the million credit mansions built into cliffsides lording over crowded housing projects. The glitz of fame and fortune just a stone’s throw from the filth of crime and chaos. Contradictions built on top of bad decisions.
“Man you are fucked up,” The driver of the vehicle commented to her as he pulled to the side of the road and brought the car to a stop. “I told you not to smoke the whole thing,”
“And I told you I could zero these chumps alone and blitzed,” She answered, pulling her hand back into the car and taking her feet off the dash.
The driver shrugged and turned to her as he killed the engine.
“You never did tell me who you are?”
She waved a hand dismissively.
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t need to know each other’s names for a gig like this,”
“Who are you?”
“Didn’t I just tell you…” She turned back only the haze suddenly felt wrong. Not like bad trip wrong, she knew what a bad trip felt like, just… something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The temperature suddenly went from warm to oppressive. The setting sun shone in her eyes, blinding her, and a painful pressure was building behind her eyes sending shots of pain ricocheting around her skull.
“Who are you?”
“This isn’t real.”
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again the car, the drugs, and the city of contradictions had returned to her memory. The pressure behind her eyes, and the pain bouncing around her skull remained, but as the moments passed by it relaxed from a searing pain to a dull ache.
She glanced over at her people. Blackjack was still tied into the systems, but seemed unharmed. Felix was massaging his temples with two fingers and the rest of her people were working on shaking off whatever had just occurred in their own way.
“What the fuck was that?” She cried, first looking at Par’Lan and then to…
“Kirayee?” Alison waved a hand in front of her face, and then shook her.
No reaction.
“Shit!” She called. “I need some fucking help over here!”
She ignored the bitter cynical part of her mind that told her there was nothing the medics would be able to do for Kirayee. There had to be something they could do. They were on the most advanced ship in the galaxy. There had to be something.
There had to be.
It felt like the burning of a star. No conventional heat could be like this, no fire that a world could host could sear through every nerve so completely, tear through flesh with a charring intensity. No fire of hell could compare.
He stood alone on an ashen plain without armor or weapon, beneath an angry scarlet sky. Stars in their trillions and trillions wheeled overhead, smearing and tearing through reality. The air was hot and stale, poison and fear, prickling upon his naked face and stabbing at his bare eyes, every movement a labor that lasted an eternity, an era, a moment, a second, and every effort used just a heartbeat ago in battle used now to draw a breath, to blink. The stars, stars he did not know, snapped to a standstill from their wondrous dance. From glittering points of light, so many of gold, and one flickering strong of silver, they all but that one twisted and folded into impossible shapes, burning golden eyes that looked, searched, pierced, sought, if only for a moment as a voice in volumes and multitudes boomed a question, and he was blown away on a sudden, searing wind before its power could overtake him.
But where had gone the silver light as the storm descended?
Dwight came back to himself in a violence, knocked insensate by the power unleashed against them all for only a moment or two, but that was enough for it to feel as though his entire body had been picked up, shaken hard, tossed in a blender, then pounded flat. Reaching up and fully tearing off his helmet with a jerky urgency, Dwight emptied out what felt like every meal he'd eaten in a year on to the deck in a rush of pain, blood mixing with the bile until it finally stopped and he batted away tears with the back of his gauntlet, raising his head to look around. Where was he? When was he?
The Azores. The Golden Expanse. Right.
Staggering up from the chair, Dwight looked around frantically for the others before his legs went out from under him and he crashed to the deck.
Where was Kirayee?
Get up.
The silver light, where had it gone?
Get up.
The silver light is Kirayee, you fool.
Get up.
She needs help, can't you hear Alison?
Get up.
He felt like hammered shit. He probably looked like hammered shit. He wasn't done. Dwight smashed a fist against his chest, rising up to his feet and moving forward as Lewis and Makensie burst past him at a dead run, sliding in next to Alison and tearing their kits open to do what they could, as little as it was likely to be. The link they all shared. If there was any way that Dwight could help now, it was going to have to be that. Drawing in a breath that hurt like an elephant sitting on his chest, Dwight reached out to Kirayee, calling her name through the link, extending and offering his helping hand. If there was a way to help her, any way at all, he was going to do all he could now.
They'd all simply come too far to do anything less.
It wasnt until after the jump that Kane noticed the state of things around him. The drake had been immune to the psionic assault even after Kirayee's null-field went up, and now that it was down his soulshard was finally awake, his minds were racing to understand what had just happened. His tail still on Kirayee's lap, the drake turned towards the commotion to see the girl unresponsive.
The situation was strange to him as he got closer to his ward, his mind wandered to possible courses of action. Should he try to save the girl? should he take her to the boss now before it was too late? he wasnt a healer and he feared only his brother or the boss himself could do anything at this point, the latter of which would not be happy if she died even once. Her body seemed fine, her mind was not, he could sense that much. In some ways as a drake he was a Null like she was, perhaps his proximity would help her fight whatever managed to slip through her defenses.
Leaving his station, Kane's massive form got close and gently lifted the girl's body into his arms, careful to avoid hurting her with his claws, and sitting down so the others could help in their own ways. His minds still racing to discover a solution, his face cold and expressionless. (edited)
It was pitch black.
Not like the darkest of night, or the depths of space, no. No light was here, not one singular photon.
And yet it was hot, unbearably hot. It was like she was cooking, feeling her body twist and change in ways she knew were not possible. Everything felt wet... It felt...
Like she was back in that infernal womb. In that horrendous machine. Deep in the base, stolen away by the Panopticon. How was that possible? Was this real? She had never experienced a psionic attack before, she hadn't needed to after all she was the creator of the silence field. Something so powerful as to end this very idea, and yet... She had been overpowered.
Who are you
The voice reverberated the liquid around her, make the darkness shake.
"I am Kirayee-"
Wrong answer She couldn't even finish before a jolt of pain lanced through her like hot pokers were being needled through every vein in her body. She cried out, muffled bubbling moans as the liquid engulfed her lungs.
She felt the question batter her again, causing her to squirm.
"I am the last of my people, I am a weapon, I am-”
She felt other voices calling to her, she hesitated… Kirayee could hear Dwight… Could hear Alison… Could hear Kane… They called to her.
“… I am loved”
The darkness recoiled, revelling a Golden Eye, one that she had seen before. The voice that spoke to her was the same she had heard within the Expanse.
“Who are you?” Kirayee defiantly demanded.
Armin Laikos. Little one. I assure you, we will meet again
Within a second she was ripped from the embracing liquid, the golden darkness and the pain, Kirayee woke up. Her body and head hurt, but she came to in Kanes arms.
“What… Did we escape?” She smiled at those surrounding her, before looking at Par’Lan. The Nakai’s face was gaunt, haunted utterly. Had he endured something like her? Had they all done so? He turned to nod slowly.
“We escaped. But the cost… We have to warn others. Gather the respective leaders of your factions, seek trusted allies as well. Bring them to me, we will relay what we have seen and know. The Panopticon is beyond anything that any of us can deal with alone…” He almost spoke again, but hesitated. Choosing instead to turn away and look out into the void beyond, they were out of the Expanse now, floating somewhere in the Veronis Cascade.
They had survived at least, and now they knew what they were dealing with.
The warning had to get out, what would come next would be beyond insanity.