Voyagers Saga
Season of the Dracolich
Chapter 2
"Contamination emergency...a bio alert has been issued...all hands abandon ship," said the AI, several haggled NSC marines running down the corridor as fast as they could.
"Jones, move it! It's right behind us" yelled one of them .
"I'm moving as fast as I damn well can!" snapped Jones.
A shrieking noise caused the marines to pale and double their pace, arriving at a row of escape pods. They'd been part of a skeleton crew, the majority in stasis when the ship flew into a radioactive nebula by accident, the weird rads passing through even the shields. "Come on, come on," Jones said desperately, before the AI said "I'm sorry...under quarantine protocol, escape pods are offline."
"You can't leave us trapped with these things!" snapped one of them.
"I'm sorry...due to threat of contamination...all escape pods are offline," repeated the computer, the two turning and lifting their pistols as a shadow ran round the corner, followed by 12 more, screaming and firing as the shadows lunged...
Ship of Nightmares
"This is demeaning," said Matt dully, something called a bio-stabilizer replacing his holo cloak, which allowed him to have his human and full dragon forms back, though he'd been told that once he was allowed to leave, he would have to give it back...so naturally he and Aria had scanned it for a blueprint at a later date.
"It wouldn't hurt you to have a refresher on some basic knowledge," said Aria, "You might pick up something you'll find useful later."
"Shut up, Aria!" snapped Matt, causing the recruiter for the academy in front of him to jump.
"I'm sorry?" she asked carefully.
Matt said angrily, "I'm telling the voice to shut up."
The registrar gave him an odd look before asking, "Are they medical concerns we should be aware of?"
Matt stopped before grinning evilly. "Well I do like to collect fresh skulls from the town center," he said evilly .
"Er, uh, er..." said the registrar with uncertainty.
"Why don't you get a breath of fresh air?" suggested Matt. The registrar nodded weakly, walking out to see a Center agent outside. "Two minutes, you're slowing down," he laughed, a laugh that stopped as a fuming Mom walked in. "Hey, if I have to stay here, I'm making everyone regret it," he said casually .
"That's the second registrar you've forced us to adjust their memory," said MOM sternly.
"Yeah, I barely making yesterday's quota," said Matt.
MOM glared before walking in, Matt finally noticing she was wearing a teacher's uniform. "Erm..." he said before MOM said "Very well...I'll conduct your registration." ignoring the fact that Matt grinned evilly and cracked his knuckles "You want a go too?"
"Try anything with me, and it's your brain we'll be modifying," said MOM.
"Sounds like a challenge, bring it on," said Matt.
"He really told her everything?" asked Chris with disbelief.
"Everything from his SS number to the safe combination for the coffee vault," said Kala, eyeing the twitching mess that was Matt's psyche.
"The slime...so much slime…" said Matt distantly.
"We should get a more permanent alliance with these guys, they really know their stuff," said Chris, quite impressed.
"Yeah...anyone that can halt Matt in mid rant is ok with me," said Techo, the duo having landed jobs on the maintenance staff at the academy.
"So who do you think will be the first to crack?" asked Chris before adding, "From all the schoolwork, I mean."
"I don't care. The sooner something happens, the sooner we can pay off the-" began Chloe before her wrist comp beeped.
"This is a general distress from NSS New Kalos to all NSC and mercenary forces...autopilot offline...stasis'ed crew of 18.000 in mortal danger...unidentified lifeform aboard...estimating impact with local earth in 87 hours...message repeats...general distre-" said a female voice calmly, Chloe muting it and also Matt's, Techo and Chris copying before anyone could notice .
"Think there's any chance of us getting excused from classes today?" she asked.
"If the ship's as close at that, well...3...2...1..." said Techo, counting before Martin and Diana came up. "Guys, the Center's calling," said Martin.
Matt shot up. "Yes...do work...get out of this crazy outfit ASAP!" he said panicked.
The portal to the Center was ingeniously conceal within the janitor's closet. However, after stepping in, there were a few complications. "Intruder alert, preparing to fire," said an automated voice before several autoguns appeared.
WE'RE TEMPS!" screamed Matt, blowing them up on reflex before noticing the others glares. "Goes on the tab?" he said weakly.
"We're trying to work off our debt, not add more onto it!" snapped Chloe.
"It's fine. We hadn't got round to adding you to the system yet," said a cheerful voice behind them, causing the group to jump, Kala turning to see a little green man in a hover seat, her yell dying as she said "Erm..."
"Hey Billy," said Martin, Diana, and Java.
"What...I...what, what, what..." began Matt, stuck in a loop of 'what's' till Chloe slapped the back of his head. By that point though they were at the office, and MOM could be heard arguing with someone.
"I told you, that ship does not belong to us. We've never seen anything like it," said MOM's voice.
"Then explain why it's made completely out of Earthen materials!" snapped the other voice.
"I don't know..." began MOM only for a catlike alien on the viewscreen to snap, "Look at it." the image changing to a huge vessel flying slowly forward, earth a dot in the distance. "My teams that went aboard sent only screams back. This is murder. We will destroy this ship then come for you!" snapped the creature, the image changing to what was clearly a Center satellite. The boxy ship began firing green plasma pulses, only the first causing damage before a shield slapped down.
The voice from the wrist comps was heard saying, "Scavian vessel...you are endangering a quarantine...cease fire immediately."
MOM turned towards the mercs and asked, "Would you happen to know that ship?"
"Only saw it once at a shipyard a year ago. You gotta get that ship to stop. They're doing the worst thing you could do to an AI in quarantine mode," said Matt desperately, the scavian ship having settled in front of the ship, concentrating its fire and ignoring the glowing MAC guns...before it fired. The first shot caused its shields to ripple, the second to buckle...the third went clean through, causing an explosion and the last one went clean through the ship, causing a row of blasts before he ship exploded, the giant vessel flying through the wreckage
The group winced before MOM said, "This is direr than I thought, especially since we've calculated the course of that ship and determined that it's going to land right on top of New York City."
"Why is it always New York?" muttered Chloe.
"Because the universes hate us," said Matt, with a twitch before saying, "An attack on that ship'll be suicide. What I read on it was that it was meant to replace our planet crackers. That worries me too...something's on there."
"Is there any way to change its course or stop it?" asked MOM.
"No, that thing can probably weather through a supernova," said Techo, "And the only reason I can think of for it heading to New York is because someone's switched off the auto-pilot."
"Meaning we go in and switch it on," said Chloe, surprising everyone.
"Hey, mad ideas are my thing," complained Matt .
"Why would it even allow you to get onboard?" asked Diana.
"Because it's an NSC hip. It'll let us in," said Matt confidently .
"And what about all the space zombies onboard?" asked Martin.
"Space zombies?" asked Diana skeptically.
"Yeah, that's probably the reason why it's quarantined," said Martin.
"Oh we have worse than space zombies: infected, kalaxian space slugs, conservatives," said Techo.
"This is so awesome!" said Martin, "We get to go on an alien ghost ship!"
"Hey, who said you were coming along?" asked Chris.
"Yeah, NSC is off limits," said Chris .
"It would be prudent to have backup," said MOM.
"Yeah, but they're not what I would pick," said Matt.
Mom glared before saying, "Your mission, agents, is to stop that ship from reaching Earth. Even if it survives the landing I do not want to know what's on board." Matt opened his mouth before a portal opened, apparently to the bridge of his ship, if the shocked crewmen on the other side were any indication
"We won't let you down, MOM," said Diana.
"I'm not so sure..." started Chloe.
"Millions of lives are at stake, there's no time to worry about minor things," said MOM, "Get going, all of you."
As soon as the portal closed behind the gang on the bridge, a dozen or so laser sights were suddenly aimed at Martin and co. "Say the word, boss," said a technician, holding a tesla pistol .
"No, they're on our side," said Matt, "And we've got a mission to do. That ship's going to be doing a nosedive right into the middle of Times Square if we don't do something about it."
"What ship?" asked a techie, before Matt glared and pointed to his viewport.
"That one," he said angrily, pointing to the blip on the edge of the screen, before looking at Chloe, "I thought it was your job to keep these guys on the ball."
"What? I'm supposed to inform them of every obvious thing?" asked Chloe dryly.
"Erm...yeah...you're the second in command. It's your job. Aria, get us close to that ship and keep broadcasting my merc code. I don't wanna be blown apart by a MAC cannon any time this week," said Matt .
"Yes, captain," said Aria.
"So where's the bridge on that thing?" asked Martin.
"Center section, top deck behind anti-teleport fields," said Techo, showing a blueprint, "The landing bays, 3 decks below that and our only entrance."
"Hope elevators work," said Java.
"They should. Ships like this are over engineered with a thousand backups...sometimes literally," said Chris calmly .
"Yeah, I'm not sure we can fight through three decks of space zombies in time," said Martin, "Not that it wouldn't be fun."
"It's 30 decks...and we should, still got a few days," said Techo calmly
"I hope it's not going to take that long," groaned Diana.
"Welcome to the CPS!" kidded Matt.
The ship itself was even more intimidating in person. Another few ships had apparently tried to stop it though were only disabled, scavian ships by the look of things. "Give em credit, they're persistent cats," said Matt gloomily, flying past before the comms lit up.
"Unidentified vessel...this ship is quarantined...please state ID or cease approach."
"Aria, transmit ID," said Matt.
There was a nervous silence as the code was transmitted, the side of the giant cruiser bristling with weapons before the voice said, "ID confirmed...access granted...be aware...hostile lifeforms have brea-brea-brea...Unidentified vessel...you are not cleared."
"Ok, let me try," said Martin before grabbing the wheel. When the ship lurched forward, almost everyone was knocked over. "This is gonna be close," said Martin.
"Give me the wheel, you maniac!" snapped Matt.
Several rounds were already shooting out, missiles and heavy shells shooting past the ship before it smashed through the closing cargo doors, sliding to a halt. "Martin...I'm going to kill you...is that ok?" said Matt in an insanely sweet voice .
"Hey, I got it here in one piece," said Martin.
"YOU CRASHED MY NEW SHIP!" yelled Matt.
"Oh, nothing a paint job and some elbow grease can't fix," said Martin.
"DIIIIE!" screamed Matt, tackling Martin, Diana and Chloe sighing in unison .
"Look on the bright side, if we win, we can claim this ship," said Techo.
Matt paused mid-choking at that as his brain processed this before his grin became a lot more cheerful and less manic .
"I second that idea," said Aria cheerfully, "Moving into the database of a ship this side will be like upgrading to a mansion."
"Ok, everyone get a gun. We dunno what to expect so let's be careful," said Chris calmly .
"Shouldn't we look for survivors?" asked Diana.
"At this point, there wouldn't be any left," said Kala grimly.
The corridor leading out of the cargo bay was pitch black, the only light being the lights the group had, highlighting spent shell casings and bulletholes everywhere, sometimes on purple smears on the walls .
"Uh, won't the ship try to shoot us now that we're inside?" asked Diana.
"If it could, it'd be doing so." said Matt, pointing a thumb up to where a twin-barreled autogun was clicking futile at them, its ammo long since spent .
"That mean monsters dead too?" asked Java.
"Nope, I don't think so. There'd be bodies and the quarantine alarm wouldn't still be active," said Matt darkly, looking round a corner
"So just shoot at anything that moves?" asked Kala.
"More or less..." said Matt, checking a wall computer and sighing, "Most of the crew's alive. Looks like they had to go in stasis after an accident."
"Well, that makes it less grim...unless they were planning on invading some poor innocent planet," said Martin.
"The NSC weren't invaders. They used to be defenders," said Matt darkly, kicking a door open and shining a light in...before shutting the door quick. The last thing the agents needed to see was a mess like that...not that much blood.
"Well, maybe the plague might have gotten into their life support systems," said Martin, "That's how it got unleashed in 'The Deadly Cough from Space'."
"This is not a dead space reboot. Zombies only exist in dimension Z-414," snapped Chris before stopping, shining a light up to highlight a figure in a marine uniform, his back to them and head hung, rocking side to side .
"Er, should we check what he died from?" asked Kala, a little nervously.
"Bodies don't move. HEY! NAME AND RANK, MARINE!" said Chris, yelling the last part at the marine . A dry rattling wheeze was heard from the figure. "Hey! I said name and rank!" yelled Chris harshly before the creature began to chuckle insanely .
"Java no like this," said Java, hiding behind Martin.
Matt, however had paused, turning to fix the marine with horror. "No...not these things again," he said weakly before the marine span to reveal he was practically white, had red eyes and more importantly, fangs.
"SPACE VAMPIRE!" yelled Martin before saying, "I was pretty close."
"SHOOT IT!" yelled Matt, the gang opening fire with a mix of bullet, lighting, fire, and plasma, shredding the marine who just took it, still laughing .
"Aim for the heart!" yelled Martin.
"How would you know?!" snapped Chloe.
"Heart wounds are fatal to everything, particularly vampires!" shouted Martin.
"I tried shooting these things in the heart, just pisses them off. Fall back!" yelled Matt, trying to find the time to find his old solarite pistol.
The thing continued to laugh madly as the gang continued to fire at it, only for their guns to eventually run out of ammo. "You quite finished?" sneered the vampire before lunging forward and dissolving as Matt finally found the solarite blaster and hit him dead center.
"You couldn't have done that sooner?" asked Diana.
"I had a lot of weapons to go through," said Matt, "And this one is the only one that works on revenites."
"Great, you have more?" asked Martin.
"No...when I made this I was by myself and it takes at least 3 days to make the ammo," said Matt sternly, walking up to the dust. "Revenites...joy," he said gloomily .
"So what kind of vampire are revenites?" asked Martin.
"They aren't precisely vampires outright," said Matt, "More like the aliens who inspired the vampire legend on dozens of worlds. Their conversion of other races is more connected to a virus than unholy power."
"I heard about them, had a bit galactic empire till they tried to conquer the multiverse. Combine and NSC took em down at a huge loss...and one's on board?" snapped Chloe, losing her cool, nobody noticing one of her eyes turning yellow and blue .
"Not one, dozens," said Matt, "The crew that aren't in stasis would have been converted long ago."
Techo checked the controls. "Nope...looks like the AI sealed the stasis decks. Those things musta gone nuts trying to get inside," he said cheerfully, adding, "First piece of good news."
"Great, now we have to deal with whatever's left until we get to the control room," said Diana dryly.
"Probably not. Looks like the crew who remained awake tried to deal with these guys. Something in the lab according to these notes," said Techo carefully.
"How far is it between the lab and the bridge?" asked Martin.
"Half a mile...don't worry, there's a tram system," said Techo .
"Whoa, I knew this ship was city-sized, but I didn't think it'd have its own subway," said Martin.
"It's over 5 and a half thousand meters long, mate," said Techo, the group walking on, poor Matt shoved to the front as he had the only useful weapon.
"Maybe we should have taken that car you had," said Diana.
"Which car?" asked Kala.
"That red dune buggy," said Diana.
"Oh, well, if we're in a desperate fix, I'm sure we can have him come to us," said Matt. The trio looked confused at that, Matt turning on his comm. "Dune Runner, make sure nothing gets in the ship that looks pale. In fact, don't let anyone on," he said .
"Not even you, mon?" asked a Jamaican-accented voice.
"No...nobody," said Matt, turning off the comm.
"Hey...I didn't hear a Jamaican on the ship before we left," said Diana suspiciously.
"Maybe you weren't listening well enough," said Matt rudely before Kala elbowed him and he sighed, "Alright, when we get back, I'll introduce you to all my freaky crewmates. Er, don't mention 'freaky' though. Some of them take that pretty badly."
"Yeah...maybe I can meet who owns that bird," said Diana cheerfully.
The mercs chuckled at that and Techo said, "I wouldn't want to miss that."
A door came into view, half open, a sign saying 'transport terminal' above it. "Ok...let's go," Chris said, peering in to see several subway style cars sitting in the dark.
"This is safe, right?" asked Martin, "I've seen plenty of video games where subway cars become death traps."
Matt nodded, before firing several rounds along the length of the tram. "All clear," he said when a shriek was heard that became a sizzle .
"Uh, how many shots do you have with that gun?" asked Diana.
"200 per clip..." said Matt, opening the door and heading inside .
"Good, just don't waste them all in a panic," said Kala.
"I've met revenites before..." said Matt, Techo setting the destination.
"He spent some time in the uncharted sectors. He doesn't like to talk about it. Poor guy lost his entire team," he said gloomily .
"That was the same mission you met Aria, right?" asked Chris.
"Yes, but don't ask her for details," said Matt, "She knows when to keep out of others' privacy."
The tram shot along at that, Chris wincing, spotting Martin about to talk...never a good sign.
"You know you shouldn't-" started Matt before Chloe zapped him a bit. "Ow, what was-" started Matt before Chloe zapped him again.
"Well, I guess we've already passed the worst of it," said Martin, "Should be smooth sailing now."
Matt span at that and pushed Martin back. "Are you kidding? If there is a prime revenite on board, we'll be lucky to survive the day. I've seen firsthand how tough these things are and I survived by sheer dumb luck. They can rip a tank in half if they feel like it and survive being blown up. All we can do is hope the prime doesn't know we're here and whatever the crew made actually works," he growled.
"Prime?" asked Java.
"You didn't think that they just grabbed some random space rock from outside, brought it in, and let it let loose a plague, do you?" asked Matt, "No, there's an original revenite around here somewhere and it'll want us very, very dead."
Two minions walked towards the captain's quarters. "It's your turn, Jones..." snapped one of them.
"And get my head ripped off? No thanks," said the other minion.
"Get in there!" snapped the first one, pushing his companion in to reveal a humanoid woman, wearing a grey dress with a low cut that left little to the imagination.
"Well? Have you finally broken into the stasis chambers?" the woman said calmly, looking out the viewport .
"Well, no, mistress, but there has been...a development," said Jones nervously.
"The ship that entered the hold. I presume you are here to say they have joined our ranks," said the woman in an equally calm voice .
"Well, no, they're actually, er, having greater success than most at repelling us," said Jones.
"Oh? So why are you here telling me?" said the woman turning to fix the minion with a seductive look, walking forward, before calmly tearing his head off, the minion reducing to dust. "JONES!" she yelled .
"Erm, that was Jones," said the other minion hesitatingly.
"Oh...well, you humans all look the same. Do you have a name for their leader?" said the woman, icily .
"Well, I've heard the others referring to him as 'Matt'," said the minion.
The woman paused at that, before smiling. "The one who killed my deadbeat mate?" she said coyly .
"Possibly," said the minion, "It's a pretty common name so I wouldn't be that sure."
"Bring him to me...alive preferably. I need a replacement and anyone who can best my idiot husband is worthy," said the woman calmly .
"Er, that might not be so easily," said the minion, "He's well-armed and has several teammates."
"Are you revenites or not? DO IT!" snapped the woman, getting demonic eyes as she screamed the last part .
The minion quickly rushed out as fast as he could. "Very soon..." said the woman with a toothy smirk.
"Next stop, laundry, food department...mad super weapons in a science lab," said Matt as the tram came to a stop, opening up to a true mess, bones everywhere. "Ick, well, I was expecting worse," said Matt.
The main lab wasn't far, a coffin-shaped pod sitting on a table and...bits laying around. Apparently its occupant had awoken in a very bad mood.
"I can think of about five reasons never to bring a coffin onto a ship," said Chris.
"Do all of them involve undead/plague?" asked Chloe.
"All but one, that one's regarding possible time paradoxes," said Chris.
Martin was staring at the coffin though. "Oh...it's just like attack of the space mummies," he said happily.
Matt facepalmed before Techo called "Hey...what does solarite look like?"
Matt shrugged. "Glowing yellow crystal...why?" he replied.
"Cause I found a detonator console and cam views showing these crystals all over the ship ."
Matt took one look and said, "Oh, that's great. We just need to push the button and bye-bye vampires." "But won't we be deep-fried as well?" pointed out Kala.
Mats smile froze in place, remembering the last solarite blast he'd seen. "Point taken, let's save this for plan B," he said, nodding to Chris who took the detonator console, folding it up like a laptop .
"And what would be Plan A?" asked Diana.
"We go to the bridge and try to shoot the monster," said Matt .
"Is there enough solarite for spare ammo or spare guns?" asked Kala, looking around.
"A few," said Techo, holding up a laser rifle modified to hold a solarite payload .
"Great, so, if we finish the prime quickly, will that cure us in time before we succumb to the bloodlust?" asked Martin.
"We haven't been infected yet," said Chloe.
"There's never a vampire movie where everyone gets through unscathed," said Martin before whispering, "I bet it'll be Diana."
"We'll be fine. I don't think the revenites ever made their virus airborne," said Matt cheerfully, adding, "I think."
"Yeah, but you know someone's gonna get bitten," said Martin.
"Java no want to be bitten," said Java nervously.
"Martin, stop scaring Java," scolded Diana.
"Martin, stop tempting fate. Nobody's gonna get bit..." snapped Matt before a vent cover fell on his head, a voice saying "Oh bugger" before several converted dropped down.
"LET HER RIP!" yelled Matt as he shot at the revenites.
The first infected though slapped his gun away, the others charging at the gang, hissing to Matt. "Our lady wants to see you." before he grabbed Matt by the neck and leapt back into the vent .
"Matt!" cried Kala before glaring at the others, her eyes burning. The revenites paused at that, before shrugging and making their final mistake: they laughed at her.
That laughter soon turned to screams as they all combusted. Perhaps they couldn't be kill that way, but being set on fire is universally painful, excepting fire creatures of course. Kala, however, just kept up the flame until all that was left was ash. "This is ENOUGH!" she snapped, her hair smoking .
"Whoa, when I said she was hot before, I didn't know how literal that was," said Martin. Kala gave him a sharp look that made Martin take cover behind Chloe.
"Techo...can you track Matt's nanites?" she said in a cold voice that contrasted her current state .
"Shouldn't be a problem," said Techo as he got to work.
"We probably don't have to go too far out of our way," said Chloe. "If 'their lady' is who I think it is, she'll be waiting at the captain's quarters and that isn't too far from the bridge, right?"
"When I get my hands on that SLUT!" roared Kala, shifting to her anthro/half elemental form, wrecking most of her uniform .
"That would be so awesome if it weren't so dangerous," said Martin in an awestruck voice.
Matt groaned, coming too to find himself stuck to the ceiling, his feet cemented in place. "Oh boy..." he groaned, getting a headache .
A finger was pressed to his lips as a seductive female voice said, "Shh...save your energy."
"Oh crap...you realize my girlfriend's a fire elemental, right? She's going...to...roast you alive," said Matt, before adding, "Just take the damn blindfold off, you fetish-loving freako."
"If you insist," said the voice before the blindfold was removed and Matt was able to take a very good look down the front of a woman's dress. Technically, it was up, but this wasn't the time to think about such things.
"You know...put it back on. Plausible deniability when Kala comes in and tears you apart," said Matt bluntly
"Kala...oh, you mean the salamander," said the vampiress. There was no doubt she was a vampiress. If the setting wasn't a dead giveaway, the pale skin, red eyes, pointed ears, and fangs would have been. "If she think she can immolate me as easily as my minions, she's going to be disappointed," she said, "I'm going to have to be very rough with her. But then again, every lord, even a vampire lord, needs a few concubines."
"Oh, kiss my ass!" snapped Matt before burping a burst of plasma flame in her face, causing her to shriek . As the revenite prime (oh, like that wasn't blatantly obvious) put out her face, Matt asked, "So, even though I'm considered quite a stud among plasma dragons, I do have to wonder, why pick me?"
"Oh, you remember a member of my glorious race, by the name of Vanka?" said the woman coyly, her face visibly healing .
"Well...he was the only other revenite I've ever met, so I guess that would be him," said Matt, "Did you know him?"
"He was my husband," said the woman, adding, "Oh, don't look so nervous. He was a two-timing womanizing sludge, unworthy to be revenite. That's why I sabotaged his ship."
"Oh, so, this revenge thing would be more out of a matter of racial honor or something," said Matt.
"Revenge? Don't be silly. You're his replacement," laughed the woman in a happy tone that somehow was chilling .
"Replacement, hmm... You know, some of the other guys would make a better match. I think I heard that Martin's the reincarnation of a vampire queen's lover or something," said Matt.
"Huh, weakling, a traitor who escaped our execution squads," sneered the woman, "Oh, where are my manners? I nearly forgot to introduce myself. I am Lady Scyta."
"Never heard of you. I wasn't around for your race being nuked," said Matt pleasantly, causing Scyta to hiss, "Peasant."
"Look, if you can just let me down, get into an escape pod, and go to as distant a corner of the universe as you can, I'll let you live," said Matt, "I normally don't offer this, but I guess you're kind of a lady and I suppose I have to be a little polite."
Scyta stared before laughing hysterically. "Are you serious? This warship is under my control. I will easily survive its impact," she managed .
"You are terminally underestimating my crew," said Matt, "I had difficult with your ex because I was stranded on a planet with limited tech. They've got plenty of tech available, including the sunshine bullet that'll make your day just awful."
"Oh, you mean the gun you haven't got...or the bombs my minions defused?" sneered Scyta.
"My friends have plenty more guns," said Matt, "Besides, I'm a plasma dragon, descended from the sun dragons. So...I guess I'm wondering why I'm bothering with talking and shouldn't be cremating you right now."
"Because you just tried that?" said Scyta with a happy smile, her teeth actually looking normal .
"Oh, I was holding back. Now I'm going to actually mean it," said Matt.
"Ok...take your best shot," said Scyta with a bow, the blast hitting her dead center.
"Ok, that's taken care of," said Matt, "Now to just melt my feet loose and-"
Suddenly, a taloned hand grabbed his throat tightly. He was forced to look into the deep-fried face of a creature that looked close to a bat than a woman. "I tire of these little games," she hissed, "I considered you to be strong enough to be a fine replacement for my worthless mate. And I was not proven wrong. But your attitude is something I find too noisome to stomach. But we'll have centuries to work on that. But for right now, I need to heal a little faster than before." With that, she opened her fang-filled mouth wide and Matt felt a flash of white-hot pain in his neck before he blacked out.
Following Kala was quite easy as she was lighting up the corridor and frying any minion that she spotted . It was fortunate that Kala had taken to wearing his asbestos underthings under her armor or Martin would probably be attracting space vampires by the dozen from his nosebleeds. Still, it was a bit hard to make him focus.
"Martin, if you don't stop staring I may mistake you for a vampire, comprende?" said Kala angrily .
"I can't help it, you're just so hot," said Martin.
"Can you at least start using another word besides that?" asked Chloe, more than a little annoyed.
When Martin didn't respond, Chloe looked both ways before muttering "Ants in your pants." clicking her fingers .
Martin jumped and started dancing around. "What Martin doing?" asked Java.
"Hmm...I have no idea," said Chloe with a smile .
"Martin, stop clowning around. We have a vampire queen to kill," said Diana.
"Oh, you think she'd want me like the last one?" asked Martin.
"In your dreams," said Diana.
"Oh...visitorsss…" said a voice from the dark, an anthro dragoness walking forward, with a figure that caused Martin to get a nosebleed again .
"So you're the vamp who's snatched my bushi bu," growled Kala, her flames leaping up.
"Bushi bu?" said the dragoness, in a confused tone .
"My boyfriend!" snarled Kala.
"Oh...well you could still be together. All it takes is one quick bite," sneered the dragoness, revealing two extended canines .
"I've beaten a banshee who wanted him for herself, what makes you think you can do better?" growled Kala.
"I already have him," sneered the dragoness .
"I've set people alight for less than that," growled Kala.
"It's true, I can personally attest to that," said Chris.
The dragoness smirked before blurring, Kala being sent flying into the gang. "Silence," she snarled .
Kala scrambled back up and said, "I dare you to try it when I'm looking." The second blow sent Kala into the wall, the dragoness smirking . "Ok, you can hit good, but I bet you can't do this," said Kala before breathing fire at her.
The dragoness didn't even try to dodge, though she screamed and fell over. "Wow, that was easy," said Kala, "I guess vampires are still vulnerable to fire, no matter what form they take." Kala strolled up with Diana. "Far...too eas-" she began before the 'body' shot back up and grabbed them both.
"You really should read up on revenites," the revenite snarled, biting Diana while another dragon revenite hopped down beside Kala and bit her on the shoulder.
Java growled and snapped, "Nobody bites Java's friends!" He charged at the dragoness like a linebacker.
The dragoness turned before blurring, appearing to the side of Java. "We were masters of nullspace. Before the NSC, before the Atlanteans before even the damn Akati. You will obey me, worms. I am Lady Scyta, mistress of the crescent planets," she snapped
"Where?" asked Java.
"You will learn," Scyta snapped before the other dragon said. "Scyta, dear, don't spoil your meal. We still have the crew to feast on."
Just then, Kala let out one large burst of flame, that cause both the vampiric dragons to be thrown away from her, badly scorched. Martin quickly went over to Diana and asked, "Diana, are you alright?"
"I don't...feel so well," said Diana a little dizzily. Matt and Scyta were already getting up before they began to shudder, two autoguns firing.
An electronic voice said, "This way," before a door opened near the group.
"Do we dare take it?" asked Techo.
"Well, couldn't be worse than here," said Martin, picking up Diana, "We need to find another place to think up a new plan."
The group ran down the corridor, the hatch closing behind them, but not before a claw punched through. "Take the next left...follow the lit path...do not deviate," said the voice .
"Who's that voice?" asked Java.
"Do we care?" snapped Chris, the two running round a corner.
A crash was heard behind them, the voice saying more urgently, "Get on the tram that arrives...don't argue, just do it." The group quickly piled on, just as a roar was heard. The tram shot out just as the two revenite dragons ran into view, Scyta roaring in frustration as the tram left.
"Ok, I don't think our solarite guns are able to get through that hide," said Chris.
"And we're not detonating those solarite bombs," said Martin sternly, "Not while they still could be toasted."
"Hey...I think we're stopping," said Chris, the hatch opening and a crack hear, Chris spinning, clutching his shoulder and three NSC marines running in, screaming to get down.
"Figures, outrunning vampires to be captured by McNeil," grumbled Techo as he got down.
"Any of you bit? I said any of you fucking bit!" yelled one of the marines, his face hidden by a drop trooper helmet.
"My stepsister..." started Martin before hesitating.
As expected the three troopers turned their guns on Diana, only to get a shock as Chris, Techo, and Chloe turned their attentions on them.
"Nobody's shooting anyone," growled Chloe.
Several clicks from outside were heard, the light revealing the silhouettes of more troopers before a female voice snapped, "That's enough. She's not a fangface yet so calm the fuck down." The group parted to let a female figure in armor to pass. The figure removed her helmet, revealing the feline-featured face of the scavians, with mostly white fur, brown hair and stripes. "I'm Dr. Cathy Macska," she said, "I apologize for my colleagues' rudeness, but you can see why we can't allow too many chances."
"Are you a medical doctor? Can you help my stepsister?" asked Martin.
"I don't know. Best we can do is get her in a stasis unit. There's a few...spare. I came aboard with a scavenger team. These are all that's left of the team," said Cathy, gesturing to the 'marines'. "We couldn't even call the ship for a transport gate because the computer shut off out comms," she said, frowning as the computer said "A quarantine is in effect."
"It's gonna be worst when this ship kamikazes New York City," said Chris, "Is there any way to access the auto-pilot away from the bridge?"
"I lost half of what was left of the team even getting close. We tried everything, even quantum disruption cannons...didn't even slow her down," said Cathy gloomily, as two of her men helped Diana over to an empty booth .
"You try furnace?" asked Java.
"The reactor? That's the other end of the ship. We found those energy weapons. Logs say it worked till she overwhelmed the skeleton crew. Most of the crew are asleep here. She can't get past the lights and apparently the AI rigged the reactor to blow if she tries to turn it off," said Cathy .
"What does the reactor run on?" asked Martin.
"Never seen anything like it, crystal matrix. We were gonna fly this thing back to one of our docks and strip it..." said Cathy, before noticing the glares from Kala and company, "But I'm guessing you lot are some of the original owners."
"Not quite," said Techo, "But this thing is NSC property and we're...representatives of NSC's best interests."
"We can discuss this when this is over," said Cathy, her nice side vanishing at that.
Chris sighed, sitting down, "We need a plan. Straight up guns won't work. We lost Matt's solarite gun in the lab..."
"Maybe we don't need a gun," said Martin, "This thing's a vampire right? What if we put a stake in her?"
There was a few stares before everyone laughed. "You gotta be kidding. That thing's a genetic killing machine," laughed Techo before yelping as Martin put his hand in Techo's tactical vest's pocket and pulled out one of the solarite crystals from the lab .
"I'm not talking about an old wooden take," said Martin, "I'm talking about driving this thing right into her, after some sharpening of course."
Cathy looked thoughtful before saying, "My teams still got some magnetic harpoon guns. We could mount that on the end of a few of the javelins."
"Problem is she moves faster than we can aim," said Chloe.
"How long ago did she feed?" said Cathy sternly .
"A few minutes ago," said Chris.
"Good, in a few minutes she'll come off her DNA ingestion high and be stuck at normal speed. That's our window," said Cathy .
"That mean she not dragon anymore?" asked Java.
"No, she will be, but this javelin went through the hull of this ship so that scale cover will be no trouble," sneered Cathy.
It is a well-known fact that dragons are sore losers. And vampires get really upset when their prey gets away. Putting them together made it a lot harder for Matt to deal with Scyta, even if he was technically undead at the moment.
"My dear, they're stuck on the ship with us. It's just a matter of time," said Matt soothingly, ignoring Kala making gagging noises .
"We have a limited amount of time!" snapped Scyta, "The ship will crash and they'll all be destroyed in the explosion."
There was a long pause during which Matt and Kala exchanged glances and shrugged before Matt said, "I fail to see your point."
Kala raised a hand and said, "Why not just stop the ship, eat them, then crash the ship?"
"Hmm...not a bad idea," said Scyta, "Though I have a reputation to maintain."
"What reputation?" asked Kala, "You're probably the last revenite in existence."
"Not for long," said Scyta, winking coquettishly at Matt.
Matt raised an eyebrow. "Let's just park the ship first," he said, walking over to the controls, and re-engaging the safeties, the trio staggering as the ship engaged breaking boosters.
"Now, those pesky peasants have been defying me for too long," said Scyta, "But with our combined dragonfire, we shall put an end to them once and for all."
"My dear, corpses are hard to rule over. We only look like their undead," said Matt.
"We can get more minions when we get to the next planet," said Scyta dismissively, "Better still, there's a veritable army asleep in those stasis pods. Once we've disposed of the ones who are barring us from them, we'll infest their life-support system and let them awaken as new members of our army."
"Bad idea. NSC ships like this have very...final responses to that. It would be easier to go into orbit and invade the planet," said Matt calmly .
Scyta gave Matt an annoyed look and said, "You know, it's very bad form to always be naysaying your leader's plans."
"You leader? Ha!" said Kala dismissively, "Matt's got twice more dominance than you can ever muster."
Matt nodded. "My plan will result in us not being nuked by NORAD," he said, scooting forward and grabbing Scyta by the throat when she hissed. "Is there a problem?" he said calmly, Kala clapping .
"I am the true revenite, I am the one that converted you, I...should...be..." Scyta's voice petered out and her face went blank as Matt's glowing eyes started into hers. "Fine," she snorted finally, Matt smirking. "Good...let's get this ship on its way and to a shuttle. Humans happily believe vampires don't exist. By the time they realize their mistake, we'll control half the US," he said smugly before a security alert was sounded, an intercom coming up.
"Oh, now what?" asked Scyta with annoyance.
Matt called up a holoscreen showing Martin a few corridors away waving at the camera. "He's saying something," he muttered, finding the controls for sound .
When the sound came on, they heard Martin's voice saying, "Hey, vampire queen, I'm not sure if you've heard, but the best guy a vampiress could want. Oh, Matt might seem tough, but he doesn't have as much charm as I do."
Scyta and Kala leaned in, looking shocked. "Is he...hitting on me?" said Scyta in confusion.
"You know with a guy like me, I can make the night twice as fun," said Martin.
"Yeah, he's hitting on you," said Kala dryly.
"Hey, come on over to my place and let's really get some blood pumping," said Martin.
Scyta hissed before looking at Matt on her new minion reflex, something she instantly hated. "I'm coming too, should be fun to watch. Might even see my sister," he said cheerfully
Scyta growled and said, "That pest needs eliminating, even if it's only to get him off the comm channels."
"Of course. I just want to watch and make sure you don't kill any potential minions," said Matt loftily . Scyta growled in greater annoyance, not liking that his will was starting to supersede hers.
Matt looked at her, his eyes glowing yellow. "Are you still here? I'm sure I gave an order but you're still here," he said, his voice becoming a hiss .
Scyta snarled and said, "I'll be right back after dealing with him. And when I do, we'll be settling who will be giving who orders around here."
"Yes...that'll be me..." hissed Matt, baring his fangs angrily . Scyta gave a final hiss before she slinked off.
Matt nodded before locking the door. "Good...now she's out the way," he said, turning to smirk coyly at Kala, "Might as well have some fun."
"You sure this'll work? I mean, he's a pain in the arse but revenites apparently have really high stress tolerance," said Chris quietly, the group hiding behind various covers
"No girl will resist the urge to slap him when he's like this," said Chloe dryly, though she was itching to do that herself.
"Ok, we wait till she comes in then hit the fire alarm. Those blastdoors can withstand a SLAM missile launcher so keeping her in won't be too much trouble. Then we stake the slimeball," said Techo quietly .
"Does it have to be directly through the heart or will any part of her torso do?" asked Chris.
"Let's go for general torso first," said Chloe carefully, before calling out, "Keep it up, Martin. Try not to get eaten."
"Once you've dated the best, you'll dump the rest," said Martin boastfully.
Chloe glared, making a strangling motion before ducking back down as an angry shriek was heard, Scyta stomping into view and spotting Martin. "YOU!" she hissed ,
"Oh, hey there," said Martin, "It took you longer than I thought. Bet you had to go freshen up before you met me in person."
Scyta twitched at that before shifting to her bat form and lunging at Martin, only to spin as the firedoors came down like guillotines.
"NOW!" shouted Chloe before jumping out and firing her harpoon.
Scyta turned at the noise, barely dodging, the harpoon going clean through one of her wing membranes, causing her to scream. "You'll pay for that," she hissed, running at Chloe . Chris had also gotten out from behind cover and fired his harpoon, which went into Scyta's lower back. Scyta screamed at that, before reaching back and pulling it out. "Someone forgot the solarite," she sneered before a 'shik' was heard behind her and she got a crosseyed expression.
She managed to turn her head a bit to see Martin grasping a large shard of solarite that had been stabbed into her. "Sorry to string you on like that, but I lost my taste for vampire chicks after the last one," said Martin.
Scyta just stared before starting to laugh, cracks of solarite energy shooting across her form before the PA said, "Explosive detected...sector 3...all squads evacuate."
"Oh, probably should have expected this," said Techo before calling, "Martin, get away from her quick!"
"Radius is 400 meters...overriding firedoors," said the computer calmly as the cracks spread, the light now spilling out of Scyta's eyes and still laughing mouth . Chloe shifted into dragon form, grabbed everyone, and took off as fast as she could away from Scyta.
A second later, the ship shook with an explosion, hat looked like pieces of charcoal flying around. "Scanning...all class Z lifeforms neutralized...quarantine lifted..." said the AI before a blast hit the intercom and the device seemed to swirl in on itself before vanishing.
Cathy lowered her weapon, her men behind her. "Now then, about my salvage, I think we can add some of the Center's best to it."
Oh, and I thought we were getting close," said Martin in the same tone that broke Scyta's patience.
"Shut up. We saw your other friends. Where are they?" she snapped.
"Oh boy," said Techo grimly, Kala and Matt looking embarrassed, wearing their kit rather messily. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess what they'd been up to...meaning in about 4 seconds, Chloe was going to kill someone.
"Really? The second that vampire left, that was the first thing you did?!" snapped Chloe.
"I wasn't thinking straight. Apparently I'd just demoted her to minion," said Matt before noticing the Cathy and her men, "Weren't these guys blown up?"
"No, these were from the one scavengers crew that made it aboard," said Chris rudely.
"Shut it. Gavon, get some cuffs on these...what's that blinking light?" Cathy asked, noticing a control blinking.
"Quarantine has been lifted...the crew have thawed out and an intruder alert is now underway. You will be arrested in...now." said the computer a little sarcastically before several of the bridge doors burst open and the real deal marines charged in, taking cover and all aiming, a splitter in a admiral's uniform and a lightning orb at the ready strolling in.
"I'd suggest you drop those weapons, my men aren't morning people," said the splitter. The scavians gave complaining groans and reluctantly dropped their weapons.
The admiral nodded in contentment as his men cuffed the luckless scavengers before looking at the others. "Well, this is unusual. Me and my crew go into stasis to avoid a rad storm and we come to a year later to find a Center agent in an empty booth and scavian scavengers on the bridge," he said cheerfully, looking at the cuffs on the gang and sending some low level sparks out to short them open
"Well, there's a long story behind that," said Matt.
The admiral paused, sniffed the air, and frowned before saying, "And someone has very recently been-"
"Er, we might not want to make that story that long," said Kala a bit embarrassedly.
The admiral looked before smirking. "You two lovebirds...Admiral Valus at your service. This was supposed to be just a shakedown for the Novus. Did we miss anything?" he asked cheerfully as several crewmen took over the controls .
"Er, what was the stardate when you put into stasis?" asked Techo.
"Year ago according to our logs, same day you took that piece of junk, the Bladestorm, out. Good little ship," said Valus, his cheerfulness not dropping .
"Ok, you might want to sit down, there's quite a bit to catch up on," said Matt.
"That rat bastard. Never trusted him but he was higher up. Hell, he gave us the route. Wouldn't be surprised if he planned this little outbreak," snapped Valus, the gang's hair standing up from the static the angry reptilian was giving off
"I'm not sure I could say that he planted that revenite, but he definitely would have wanted you of the way," said Matt.
"Urgh...and I get the feeling he won't want an old frontier pounder like me turning up and putting him down. I got 20,000 men aboard and that's not including the support ship crews. Where am I gonna go?" said Valus gloomily .
"Avalar," said Kala promptly.
"That place? It's neutral buuut...you know what? That's the best idea I've heard. We might even pick up a few stragglers. I've lived 400 years and seen my fair share of hostile take overs in the consortium. You never get everyone to just convert," said Valus confidently, adding "You need a ride?"
"Well, if you don't mind towing our ship..." started Matt.
A male humanoid appeared on a hologram at that. "Admiral...someone just tried to hack me...made them regret it but they are requesting to talk to the captain here...The Center's administrator apparently."
"Er, I'm sure it's nothing really important," said Matt unconvincingly.
On cue MOM's angry face appeared, several theme tunes heard in the background that caused Valus to grin. "I think someone's just learnt that AI's are petty," he chuckled
MOM's face turned Valus and asked in a civil tone, "The captain of this vessel, I presume?"
"Admiral, ma'am." said Valus coolly .
"Admiral then, while I hope you and your crew in good health and do not mean to impede if you wish to leave, but you should know the man before you is on parole," said MOM.
Valus looked at Matt before laughing out loud. "I wouldn't be surprised. He has the nickname 'demolition ball' in the officer's mess," he laughed.
"An apt nickname," said MOM coolly.
"I believe I have plentiful credits to cover for his damages..." started Valus.
"It's not repayment I'm looking for, it's reforming," said MOM, "His unprovoked assault on our headquarters, which could have been avoided by simply asking for the prisoner they seek, has resulted in the release of several dangerous creatures and has lead me to believe that I could not trust him to take away any prisoner, no matter what their crimes are. I intend to make him work off his debt so he learn some basic humility and that violence shouldn't be the first option in every problem."
"He wouldn't be demolition ball then," grumbled Valus to himself before looking at Matt, "Looks like you get off here. We'll stick in orbit to save you fuel but then you're on your own."
Matt groaned and said, "I was so close."
"You were close?" came Aria's voice from his wristcomp, "A little community service to teach you some responsibility wouldn't have been bad, but I was this close to moving-" before Matt hastily muted her.
Matt grinned manically, "I'll take that lift to earth."
The brig of the new North Star was somewhat more spacious then one would expect. Of course, it had been expecting to bring back an extra-large prisoner, so the cell that Zyvar had been locked in was quite roomy.
"Urgh...stupid fools. If I had my powers...but I know for a fact my spell didn't work. Last thing I want is to be...that again." said Zyvar to himself.
"Well, well, well...the mighty butcher of Avalon...stuck in a cell," said a female voice before a Jabberwock appeared just outside the cell in a flash of light, wearing the shirt and hat of a stereotypical tourist and taking pictures with a camera. "So majestic in captivity," she taunted
Zyvar glared at her and said, "I know your voice. You're the one who ruined my manipulation of the council."
"Oh yeah...and I recognize the echo of that empty skull. You know, you look alot better with a pulse," laughed the Jabberwock, taking another photo
Zyvar gave a disdainful sniff and said, "You haven't seen me in my prime. I was considered quite dashing among Dracons."
"Sure...silver runt," said the Jabberwock, using an old nickname from Zyvar's childhood that caused him to cough .
"Well, have you came only to gawk or pull some one-sided funny prank as your kind is known to do?" asked Zyvar bitterly.
"Oh, you've met my dad, how wonderful. I wanted to give you a couple of presents. First, some revenite dust, fresh too," said the Jabberwock.
Zyvar looked interested, "Revenite? But they went instinct ages ago, even before I was hatched."
"Oh yeah, you'll also need this if you want it done right," said the creature, holding up a book before pulling it out of range, "One condition."
"Let me guess, something crazy or silly," said Zyvar dryly.
"Nope, Matthew is out of bounds. If you hurt or torment him in any way...you...will...suffer...like this." said the creature cheerfully, clicking her fingers and causing every nerve in Zyvar's body to feel like it was on fire till she clicked her talons again ,
"I suppose I'm not to hurt him by proxy either," gasped Zyvar.
"Correct. If you do that...well...I think wrapping you as a corpse for eternity and having your old family chase you should be sufficient," said the Jabberwock.
Zyvar glared at the Jabberwock, but the offer was too much a temptation to pass up. That and he had the chilling thought that the creature was deadly serious, a first with these lifeforms. "Deal," he said before his eyes crossed as he felt a geas kick in.
"Gotta make sure you keep your word," said the Jabberwock sweetly.
Zyvar glared before saying, "Good for you," before starting to read the book, which to his shock, despite looking like a leatherbound mustery novel, was a book on advanced bio-engineering, procedures that made his head spin.
"You know the revenites weren't real undead, people just said that about them," said the Jabberwock, "They were quite an advanced race. But I'm sure a 'master necromancer' like yourself can find some way to make it work for you."
Zyvar nodded, realizing that these nanites could give him all the powers of the lich while simultaneously keeping his good looks and his pulse as well. "I have to thank..." he began, looking up to see the chimera was gone. "You," he said, looking around confused
He looked at the jar of ash that the creature had left and said, "Hmm, you're an extraordinary one, aren't you? It would seem like a waste to just you all up. Perhaps there's some more I can do with you." He paused as he heard a guard, "Ok...maybe later."
There's the next chapter. We are borrowing some material from another story of my co-authors, regarding both the revenites and the creature that appeared at the end of this fic. And as you can see, Zyvar is hardly going to be a helpless prisoner this fic. He's gonna be planning something. Check out the next update on Friday for more details about his plot. Please review.