Cloud's head was pounding. He felt himself lying face down on a hard cool surface. Before he even opened his eyes, his ears were met with the sounds of metal clanking against metal. As he sat up scratching his head, his eyes slowly opened. He was in a small metal room, the walls reflecting his image as if they had been polished. There was a red bar of light that lined the middle section of the walls, and on the fourth wall there was a large transparent red field of light which Cloud assumed functioned as a door. Still sitting, he extended his arm bringing his hand closer to the pulsating red energy field. With a painful shock and a bright spark, Cloud recoiled his hand and let out a small yell.
"Great." Cloud thought to himself "I hate waking up in prison."
Standing up, Cloud tried peering through the static of the energy field to get a better idea of where he was. He could see another cell across from his, and he assumed that more lined the hallway. He looked around again at his own cell. His sword was missing, and so was his communicator. Without it he would never be able to contact the home base or be transported off whatever world he had found himself on. There wasn't a seem in the cell, nothing Cloud could break or grab onto, it was going to be tricky breaking out.
"Is anybody there?" Cloud yelled hoping someone else might be in a cell close by.
"Yep." an unfamiliar voice replied "Now would you mind keeping it down? I'm trying to get some sleep." The voice sounded like that of a young man, one with an attitude.
"Cloud?" Another voice rang out "Is that you?"
"Luke?" Cloud asked sounding a little more at ease with the situation.
"Cloud? Luke? Thank god!" The voice of Gordon Freeman sounded.
"Yes, it's me" Luke replied "I just came out of it, how long was I unconscious?"
"I don't know." Cloud replied "I just woke up too."
"Seriously, do you guys mind!?" The unfamiliar voice yelled.
"Not really!" Luke shouted back. "Do you have any idea where we are Cloud?"
"No. Do you doctor Freeman? Are we still on your world?"
"I don't think so." Gordon replied "I've never seen technology like these force fields. They're far more advanced than the ones we possess on my world. They look alien to me."
"Wow, you guys really are lost aren't you?" the unfamiliar voice chimed in. "You're not on any world. You're in space."
"Space!?" Gordon said, "How did we get here?"
"Escape first, questions later." Cloud said
"Escape?" The unfamiliar voice asked
"Luke, I've got nothing, they took my sword." Cloud said
"Not a problem." Luke said "Just give me a second."
"You're serious?" The unfamiliar voice asked.
There was silence for a moment, but then the very air around Cloud seemed to be electrified, as if an invisible steady charge was pulsing through every molecule. Suddenly, that charge seemed to jolt through the right wall of Cloud's cell, in an instant, Cloud heard a small explosion, and in another, Luke was standing in front of his cell. Through the red static, Cloud saw Luke take a step back and raise his hand parallel to the floor with his palm facing the force field of the cell. The same pulsing sensation returned. With a grimace and a pushing motion, Luke thrust his hand forward and the red field of energy imprisoning Cloud seemed to bend and bulge inward and then violently break apart, dissipating into thin air. Cloud stepped out of his cell and saw that he was in a long narrow metal hallway lined with hundreds of similar red energy fields.
"The force is with you." Cloud smiled.
Luke smiled back, then continued down the hallway and freed Gordon Freeman in the same manner.
"Now.." Cloud said "Let's find out where we are."
"Wait!" The unfamiliar voice yelled out from behind one of the cell doors. "You guys aren't thinking of leaving with out me are you?"
Luke and Cloud followed the sound of the voice to the cell that was across from the one Cloud had been in.
"I thought you were trying to get some sleep." Cloud said sarcastically
"Well that was when there was no where to go. But now I think some options have opened up."
Cloud and Luke looked at each other.
"Do you have any combat skills?" Luke asked
"Tons." The voice replied
"Do you have any information about where we are?"
"Sure. Now will you let me out already?"
Cloud turned to Luke and nodded. Using the force, Luke burst the force field in front of them. Inside was a man not much older than Cloud. His hair was slightly less spiky than Cloud's and was in between the colors of blonde and brown, and his eyes were blue. He wore black shoes, black pants, and a yellow long sleeve shirt which bore an unfamiliar badge that resembled an upside down check mark.
"First things first." The man said stepping out of the cell "The name's James T. Kirk." He held out his hand to Cloud in greeting and Cloud shook it. "Captain James T. Kirk, of the USS Enterprise, so if you don't mind, I'll be running this little outing for the duration."
"What?" Cloud said reclaiming his hand.
"Listen Mr. Kirk, we're in the middle of a mission that holds the fate of an infinite number of universes in the balance." Luke said "We don't have time for this."
"Fine, then try and find your way alone." Kirk replied. "I'm sure you know what sector of space you're in, what kind of vessel you're on, and oh, how to get out of this room for that matter?"
Before Cloud or Luke could reply, a large explosion several meters down the hallway interrupted them. The explosion seemed to have ruptured the wall, and light shone in from the hole that had been made.
"I'm guessing that's how." Gordon said.
Suddenly, a man jumped through the hole and started frantically running towards them. He had brown hair and was wearing black boots, blue pants, a white shirt and a black vest He held a small black gun in his hand, but he didn't look threatening, he looked like he was scared. Behind him another creature covered from head to toe in brown hair, jumped through the hole and started running too.
"Han!?" Luke exclaimed
"Run Kid!!" Han yelled sprinting forward even faster in their direction.
Suddenly through the hole came dozens of soldiers dressed in white and red storm trooper body armor much like that of the troopers at the home base.
"Go, go go!" Han yelled as the storm troopers opened fire.
Cloud and the others ducked down and began running down the corridor.
"Alright Kirk!" Cloud yelled over the sound of laser-fire "Where's the exit!?"
"It's actually back that way!" Kirk laughed pointing in the direction of the storm troopers.
"What!?" Gordon yelled covering his head with his hands.
"It's okay!" Kirk yelled back, "I think I see a vent up ahead we can jump down!"
Cloud looked ahead and saw that Kirk was right. There was a small black vent on the lower wall just big enough for a person to fit through.
"Think you can get your friend to blow that open?" Kirk asked Luke
"No need." Luke said extending his hand. Effortlessly, the vent cover was blown off. Kirk immediately dove in. Cloud and Gordon followed.
"Just like old times huh pal?" Luke yelled back to Han, using the force to blow back some of the stormtroopers to buy time. Han and his furry friend ran toward the vent.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Han said looking at the vent.
"It's better than staying here." Luke shrugged jumping down the vent.
"Alright Chewy, down the vent!"
"Raaaauuuuuugh!" Chewy replied
"Yeah, yeah, the smell. I know, just go!" Han yelled firing a few more lasers at the oncoming hoard before he too jumped down the dark shaft.
--
The group landed on hard crusty garbage that had been accumulating at the bottom of the vent. Chunks broke free as each body knocked against the pile, then sliding to the floor. Han was the last one to exit the shaft, slamming face first into the garbage heap and rolling to the dusty floor of the dark dirty room.
"Well at least we're not knee high in wet sewage this time." Han said getting up and rubbing his face.
"Han!" Luke said giving him a hand, "It's great to see you! What are you doing here?"
"Where is here?" Cloud said dusting himself off.
"A star destroyer." Han said holstering his blaster.
"What!?" Luke said "We're back in our universe?"
"Kinda." Han said scratching the back of his head. "Kid, ever since you left to go serve the rest of the universes out there, a lot of weird stuff has been going on. We've been getting lightning storms in space."
"Green lightning?"
"You got it. Ships have been popping up out of nowhere that no one has ever seen before. We've been meeting races and peoples that there are no records of anywhere in the galaxy. And don't even get me started on these Starfleet hotshots we have to deal with now."
"Hey!" Kirk said with a sarcastic look on his face. "I resent that."
"Ah, and you must be the one who sent out the distress signal."
"Captain James T. Kirk at your service." he said walking closer to Han
"Han Solo. The guy who's pulling your rear out of the fire. Where's your ship? 'Captain.'"
"Probably on the other side of the galaxy. I was in a shuttle when I was transported here by the lightning."
"Yeah, well you probably should have mentioned the Star Destroyer before you sent out that call for help!"
"Wait, what's going on Han?" Luke said stepping between the two. "What's Starfleet, and what's going on?"
"The galaxy's probably doubled in size since you left Luke." Han said pacing "Whatever you guys are doing out there in the other worlds must be screwing with ours."
"Our best guess is that your universe and mine are merging together." Kirk said "It's causing random shifts in space. Ships are relocated, and planets are colliding. It's nearly impossible to travel at warp speed anymore, space is virtually uncharted now."
"Do you have a ship that can get us out of here?" Cloud asked "We can discuss this later, I'd rather get out of harms way first."
"Han looked at Cloud and then back at Luke. "The Falcon's in the docking bay, but it's probably been captured by now."
"What about my shuttle?" Kirk asked "Did you see it on your way in?"
"Yeah it's there, but it'll never outrun an imperial Star Destroyer."
"Doesn't have to." Kirk said "If we can get a transmission to the Enterprise, they can come and bail us out."
"Well that's great!" Han said sarcastically, "What about my ship?"
"Han." Luke replied.
"Hey!" Gordon Freeman said "I just noticed. Where's your other friend Cloud?"
"Kaito!" Cloud exclaimed putting his hand to his forehead.
"Do we even know if he was transported with us?" Luke asked
"Wait." Kirk said, "Is your friend tall, spooky, and dressed in a black exosuit?"
"Yes." Cloud, Luke, and Gordon all answered at the same time.
"He was the first one of you to wake up. He was taken from his cell by another scary guy in black. His breathing kinda freaked me out."
"What did you say?" Luke asked
"Okay, we don't have time!" Cloud said "Luke, Kirk, come with me, we'll find Kaito and find a way to get to the docking bay. Han, you, Gordon, and your walking carpet head there first and send the transmission. We'll get to you as soon as we can."
--
Kirk punched another storm trooper in the face, knocking off his helmet. The white armor clad clone hit the hard black metal floor and a "clang" echoed down the white hallway.
"And one for me." Kirk said taking the downed trooper's blaster rifle.
Cloud, Kirk and Luke ran silently through the long corridors of the star destroyer, blasters in hand, firing only if they couldn't subdue oncoming troopers in a quieter manner. They had gone up several levels from where they had started, checking the logs of unconscious troopers to see if they held any information on the location of Kaito. Finally, Cloud found it. Kaito was being held in the level below the bridge in a large chamber that Luke said was generally used for torture. Several elevator fights later, the group was finally at the door of the chamber. The walls, and the sliding doors attached to them were semi transparent, as if they were made of fogged glass. Cloud could almost make out the image of Kaito on top of some sort of table.
The three comrades looked at one another, checking to see if the man next to him was ready for the fight that would surely lie behind the transparent doors. Kirk mouthed out the word "one", then "two", he took a breath and was about to mouth the word "three" when the silence was interrupted by the distinct sound of breathing. Only this breathing was distorted and deformed, it almost sounded like Kaito's breathing, but it was darker and deeper, and far more terrifying.
The three looked to their left, and saw at the end of the hall a tall black figure, draped in a long black cape, and clad in shining black armor from head to toe. It's black metal helmet gleaming in the artificial light of the ship. It looked like an android at first, but Cloud could see there was a human manner in which it moved, but this was all an after thought, he was fixated on the sound coming from it. That terrible sound.
"Father?" Luke said as if he was seeing a ghost. "It can't be, you died. I saw it, I was there."
"Silence young Jedi." the black metal creature said in a voice that was almost more terrifying than the sound of his breathing. "I am not your father, not all of him."
Kirk readied his blaster.
"What is this?" Luke asked taking a step closer to the dark figure.
"Get ready to break Kaito out of there Kirk." Cloud whispered under the sound of the breathing echoing down the hall. "Wait until I give the signal."
Kirk nodded as the black figure continued to speak.
"I am all the evil and malice that corrupted and festered inside Anakin's soul, resurrected and given form to serve the Void in his conquest of the space in between the stars. I am Vader. The darkness of the Sith perfect and distilled. And now." Vader activated his red lightsaber. "I will do what Anakin did not have the strength to do. I will kill the last Jedi."
"Now!" Cloud yelled opening fire on Darth Vader.
Kirk turned back to the door and blasted through, shattering the fogged glass, causing it's broken shards to cascade to the floor. As Cloud and Luke continued fruitlessly to harm Vader with blasters, Kirk could see Kaito clamped to a metal table by his wrists and ankles. A few more blaster shots and the droids surrounding Kaito were dead.
"Okay, c'mon!" Kirk said shooting the clamp holding Kaito's right wrist. "Let's go!"
Kaito groaned and shook his head "Who are you?"
"James Kirk. Nice to meet you, but we've got to move."
"I can take it from here." Kaito said ripping off the clap on his left wrist with his right hand. "There are weapons in that case behind you."
Kirk turned and behind him was what looked like an arsenal protected by security glass. Lasers still blasting behind him as Vader neared ever closer to Cloud and Luke, Kirk kicked the glass, then shot it with a blaster, and then kicked it again. Finally the glass shattered like the door to the chamber had. Kirk saw his gun that was taken from him when he first arrived on the ship, it was a futuristic looking pistol with a rounded barrel.
"Hey guys! Need weapons?" Kirk said grabbing his pistol and running back out to the hallway where he too began firing on Darth Vader who was walking ever closer. "I'll cover you!"
Luke and Cloud bolted into the chamber as fast as they could, scrambling toward the weapons case. Cloud immediately saw his buster sword and communicator, smiled and grabbed them. Luke summoned his lightsaber with the force, activating it's green blade. The newly freed Kaito grabbed his katana, and the now armed trio ran back into the hallway ready to face Vader alongside Kirk. Now only steps away, Vader deflected the last of Kirk's shots, extended his hand, and pushed Kirk back twenty feet onto the floor at the end of the hall. Cloud swung his sword low, attempting to knock Vader off his feet, but the sith lord was faster than he looked. With super-natural agility, Vader jumped over the swinging blade, and swung his own slicing off the tip of Cloud's sword like a knife through butter. Cloud looked stunned as he stared at the cooling tip of his blade.
"Better let me handle this." Luke said shifting into an attack stance. "See if you can make it to Han!"
"I've got a better idea." Cloud said remembering that he was only one floor below the bridge of the ship. Cloud crouched, and with a superhuman leap, flung his sword above his head, ripping a hole in the ceiling. Flying through the hole above him , Cloud found himself in a room filled with advanced computers and surrounded by windows on all sides, each with a magnificent view of space. At each computer were two or three officers dressed in grey uniforms, each looking very surprised to see Cloud. Cloud's feet touched the smooth floor of the bridge, and Kaito ascended from the hole behind him, flashes of green and red light shining from below as the fight between Luke and Vader ensued.
"Is there a plan here?" Kaito asked.
"We don't have any way to communicate with Han and the others." Cloud replied "If we send out a bulletin from here, we can tell them where to pick us up, and blow this bridge in the process."
"You think we can survive that?"
"We don't have much choice."
"No." A dark familiar voice said from behind them, sending a chill up their spines. "You don't have any choice at all."
Cloud and Kaito turned around to see a large throne in front of a massive circular window, with the throne chair facing it. Slowly and menacingly, the chair swiveled around, revealing the man who was seated in it. Cloud recognized his long white hair, and sinister yellow eyes immediately. He had seen them on the world of Optimus Prime.
"Xehonort's Heartless." Cloud said with a disgusted tone
"Ansem, if you please." the evil figure chuckled.
"I should have known you'd be behind this."
"But of course. Who else could conjure up Vader's darkness and give it life? Another soldier for the Void's army. We've made much progress while you've been off galavanting across the cosmos, futilely trying to build your ranks strong enough to face us. And now that the rift Sephiroth made with the ego gem has been expanded, universes are colliding, making it that much easier to conquer each and every one"
Kaito gripped the hilt of his sword. "We'll stop you!"
When Kaito spoke, Ansem's smile grew even larger. "It's already far to late for you to do anything. These two galaxies have already been all but filled with the glorious darkness of the Heartless. In fact, we're reporting back to the almighty Void himself to give him the good news. Why don't you join us?"
Ansem extended his gloved hand out in front of him, and clenched it making a fist. Suddenly, the entire ship shook as if it was going through a great deal of turbulence. Cloud turned around, and looked out the windows into space, and there in front of the star destroyer was an all to familiar sight. A massive hole, surrounded by green lightning had opened in space when Ansem closed his fist. The portal was the biggest Cloud had ever seen, lightning shot off for thousands of miles into space, and inside the hole, all Cloud could see was darkness.
"We need to get off this ship! NOW!" Cloud yelled to Kaito
In an instant, Kaito was in the air, headed straight for Ansem with his sword drawn. With the greatest of ease, Ansem grabbed the blade of Kaito's sword with his thumb and index finger, stopping it's motion dead. With a smile, Ansem backhanded Kaito into the far wall with his other arm.
Cloud ran to a computer terminal, kicking an Imperial officer in the face as he did. He accessed what looked like the com system for the entire ship, pushed a button and spoke into the microphone next to the console.
"Han! This is Cloud. The ship is headed for a black hole! Or worse! We're on the bridge, I hope you've called for some help by now!"
Ansem floated closer to Kaito, who was still in pain on the floor from Ansem's last attack.
"They really made you weaker didn't they?" Ansem said looking down on Kaito.
"Wh-what did you say?" Kaito asked in his distorted voice
"Still, I would have thought you'd put up more of a fight than this."
"Wh-what do you know about me?" Kaito asked trying to stand.
Ansem only smiled.
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY PAST!?" Kaito yelled leaping to his feet slashing at Ansem.
Ansem dodged, and extended his hand, spawning a sword from darkness, which he used to counter Kaito's next attack.
"Memory still a little fuzzy?" Ansem chuckled, fighting with only one hand.
"Tell me what you know!" Kaito shouted, swinging his blade more and more violently.
Spinning around, Ansem slammed his palm into Kaito's chest, sending a shock wave of darkness through his body, causing him to once again fly across the room. Kaito hit the ground hard, dropping his sword. Through his helmet he could see the dark hole in space drawing ever closer, and Cloud frantically trying to call for help.
"I don't care who you were. You're pathetic. And you will die here." Ansem said raising his hand, accumulating dark energy in his palm. Just as he was about to strike, flame and metal erupted from beneath him, as the body of Darth vader came ripping through the floor! With the force of an earthquake in a hurricane, both Vader and Ansem were flung into the ceiling by the force. Through the new hole in the ground in front of Kaito, Luke Skywalker leapt onto the bridge, his lightsaber bringing green light into the room.
"Are you guys ready to get out of here?" Luke asked extending his hand to Kaito.
Kaito took Luke's hand and was helped to his feet.
"And just how are we going to do that?" Kirk said struggling to climb up through the hole that Luke had made.
Cloud turned from his computer terminal and looked out the window behind him. At first all we could see was the portal of darkness still coming towards them, but then, through the growing dark, he saw a small ship. It had an interesting shape, it was very flat, rounded in the back, but with three points that stuck out in the front.
"It's the Millennium Falcon!" Luke said "Han must have found a way to free it from the docking bay!"
The ship was coming closer faster and faster.
"Brace yourselves, and take a breath!" Kirk shouted, his eyes widening
Ansem shoved Vader's body off of him and looked ahead through the window at the Falcon.
"What!?" Ansem yelled
As if on cue, a laser turret atop the Falcon, fired shots into the windows in front of them, rupturing them in a blinding flash of light and heart. In an instant, air was sucked from the room, along with Cloud, Kaito, Luke and Kirk out into the void of space.
Cloud's eyes were wide with fear. Space was colder than he imagined. He could hear nothing as he drifted in the night. He looked and saw the same expression on the faces of his friends. How long could they hold their breath? Would they die in the endless abyss? Suddenly, Cloud felt a strange sensation, his body felt a tingle in every atom. He looked above him and saw that Luke was slowly being surrounded by little white lights that were circling his body. He looked down and saw that the same phenomenon was happening to him. He almost opened his mouth in shock, but soon the circling lights began spinning around him faster and faster, until it appeared that he was wrapped in a solid wall of white light. It felt like his stomach was in his throat for a second, almost as if he was falling from a very large height. Suddenly, the next thing he knew, he was standing in a brightly lit room next to his friends, lights still circling around them. Slowly the lights disappeared, and the group looked around. They discovered they could breath again, Cloud looked at his hands, as if he couldn't believe what just happened.
Beside him, Kaito and Luke were as shocked as he was, but Kirk seemed to be relieved. He looked ahead of him and saw men and women clothed in red shirts sitting at a computer console.
"Man that was close!" kirk said stepping off the raised platform the group found themselves standing on.
"What just happened?" Cloud said still trying to catch his breath.
Kirk laughed "Welcome aboard the USS Enterprise my friends. They beamed us aboard."
"Teleportation." Luke said in amazement.
"Exactly." Kirk said motioning for the others to step off of the platform. "But there's no time for idol talk, we have to get to the bridge."
--
As Cloud and the other entered the bridge, they were met with an amazing sight. The bridge was a well sized room, lined wall to wall with computer monitors of incredibly advanced design, constantly showing read-outs and data about the ship and it' surroundings. There were computer consoles sticking up from the floor with personnel in different colored shirts operating them. At the front of the bridge was a large window that looked out into space, Cloud could see the massive portal that Ansem had created was still out there edging ever closer. As Cloud looked around, he saw Han, Gordon, and Han's hairy beast walk into the room.
"Han!" Luke said walking over to him. "Just in time as usual. How did you free the Falcon?"
"We sent out the transmission to the Enterprise, and they arrived about the time Cloud managed to call us through the Star Destroyer's intercom. We told them to fire on the ship's docking bay. That provided enough of a distraction that we managed to free the Falcon and fly up to get you guys."
"It was the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of!" Gordon said, his eyes darting about looking at the bridge.
"Kirk to Enterprise." Kirk's voice rang out over the com system. Cloud looked and saw that Kirk was sitting in the captains chair situated in the middle of the room.
"We're in a dire situation." Kirk continued "We've found ourselves stuck between an imperial star destroyer and what appears to be a black hole. It looks like our only way out is going to be through the Imperials. All hands to stations, ready all weapons. Kirk out."
"Captain." A man in a blue shirt said approaching Kirk. He had pointed ears, black hair with a hairstyle that stuck tightly to the shape of his head, his bangs flat and parallel with his mouth. "The Imperials are closing, I conclude that they are attempting to venture into the black hole."
"What?" Kirk said looking out the bridge window.
"It's true Kirk." Cloud said approaching the other side of Kirk's chair. "That's no Black hole, it's a portal."
"A portal?" Kirk said turning to the man in the blue shirt. "Spock, get some read-outs on this thing."
"Captain." Kirk replied walking to one of the computer panels on the wall.
"What's the deal Cloud, do you think we can use this thing to escape? I don't know if we have enough fire power to take out an Imperial Star Destroyer by ourselves."
"I don't know." Cloud said "Where ever this portal goes, it's no place good. I have a feeling it'll take us directly to the Void."
"The Void?" Kirk asked
"Later."
"Captain." Spock said approaching. "He's right, it's not a lack hole. The scanners have never seen anything like it. It's as if this hole is a tear in the very fabric of reality."
"That's pretty accurate." Cloud replied
"Fascinating." Spock said looking out the bridge window.
Suddenly the ship rocked from one side to the other, Cloud and the crew struggled to keep their footing.
"Captain!" A man in a yellow shirt yelled from the front of the bridge. "The hole is pulling us in!"
"What?" Kirk said
"Impossible!" Spock stated "The scanners said that this portal has no gravitational pull!"
"Give me an exterior view!" Kirk shouted.
In an instant, a holographic screen flickered to life in front of the main bridge window.
"My god!" Kirk gasped in astonishment, as a collective gasp was heard from everyone in the bridge.
There on the screen, was an exterior view of the starship enterprise, a large ship with a massive flat circular top, form the bottom of which, protruded a long thin structure which connected to a a more cylinder shaped section of the ship, and from that were connected two large rocket engines. It's design was elegant and fascinating to look at, but what caught everyone's attention, was the portal. From which extended three massive black tentacles that seemed to be made of smog. These tentacles had wrapped themselves around the Enterprise and were slowly dragging the ship closer and closer to the portal.
"What on earth are those!?" Gordon yelled
"It has to be the Void!" Luke said looking to Cloud "Cloud?"
Cloud was on his knees gripping his head with both hands.
"Cloud!" Kaito said running over with Luke. "What is it?"
"I can feel him in my head!" Cloud shouted, gripping his hair with his fist "We have to get out of here!"
Suddenly the ship jolted again, this time knocking several crew members off their feet.
"We're under fire Captain!" A crew member shouted.
"It's the Imperials sir!" Another yelled.
"Fire all weapons!" Kirk shouted "Target both the Star Destroyer and the portal!"
Two more holo-screens flickered to life in front of the bridge window, one showing the portal, the other the Imperial Star Destroyer. Like a swarm of insects descending on a field, the weapons of the Starship Enterprise burst forth from their shells and barrels in opposite directions. The lasers and missiles weaved in between those of the Imperial ship that were headed toward the Enterprise. Then, like flowers going into instant bloom, a virtual meadow of explosions covered the hull of the Star Destroyer, and then quickly faded into smoke.
"Direct hit sir!" A crew member yelled.
Now all eyes were on the second screen. The swarm of artillery exploded to life, hitting each tentacle, and the portal itself. However, each explosion soon lost it's flame and and when each blast left smoke behind, it added to the tentacle's mass, causing them to grow more and more tentacles which proceeded to grab hold of the ship.
"The weapons seem to be feeding whatever creature has a hold of us!" A man in red shirt yelled.
"Captain! The Imperials have shielding, our barrage had no effect!" Another crew member shouted.
"Spock!" Kirk said turning to his pointy eared friend. "We could break free of the tentacles if we hit warp speed couldn't we?"
"Seems logical to me Captain." Spock replied. "However I am unsure if the ship will survive the journey."
"Well it's our only option now." Kirk said activating the com system.
"So it would seem." Spock replied
"Scotty." Kirk said talking through the com system.
"Aye Captain?" a voice came back over the system.
"Warp speed."
All eyes were on the holo-screen as the crew watched the ship being hauled ever so slowly towards the black portal, all the while being pummeled by the Imperial artillery. There was silence for a moment, the explosions outside going unheard in the airless vacuum. Suddenly, the sound of the warp drive activating filled the ship, and with the biggest jolt yet, the Enterprise burst into hyperspace, ripping apart the tentacles that held it captive. In an instant, the empty black of space was washed away by the bright color of hyperspace.
Cloud let go of his head, he could finally think straight.
"It worked!" Han said laughing and hugging his hairy friend. Kirk slouched back in his seat taking a breath of relief and shaking Spock's hand.
"Status report." Kirk said
"The ship's holding up sir. I think we're going to make it." a crew member shouted from his computer terminal.
"Are you okay Cloud?" Luke asked crouching down next to his friend.
"I think so." Cloud said getting to his feet.
"What happened?" Kaito asked.
"I'm not sure." Cloud replied "As soon as those tentacles grabbed the ship, it was like my mind was overloaded. Like two minds were trying to occupy my brain. It was the Void, I know it."
"Why would the Void enter your head?" Luke asked
"The Void has made it clear that he wants to kill Cloud." Kaito said "Maybe this entire mission was a trap."
"I don't think so." Cloud said rubbing his head. "We keep stumbling into the Void's schemes. We know he's behind the rift, and we were unable to close it. And now we know that he's using it to conquer multiple worlds at a time. I think he's taunting us. Daring us to face him, thinking that there's no way we can defeat him. And you know what?"
Luke and Kaito just looked at Cloud.
"He may be right."