The Will to Power

June 20, 2006

by: Silver Nightingale

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"...That was a grave mistake, Cherenkov. I believe I already warned you about the dangers of the Zohar. You should have been more careful while retrieving it." A menacing voice intoned amidst the flickering darkness of the Woglinde's Communication Room.

"Yes, Sir." Cherenkov lowered his head submissively as a pair of mauve eyes pierced through his own. "I'm afraid there's no excuse for the fatalities that occurred during the recovery. However, we can..."

"That's a trivial matter. Forget it." The man strongly dismissed. "The problem... is that those people touched the Zohar, and then vanished... And... in addition to that, you're still transporting it while exposed to normal space. Because of that, we've had to move the plan up two phases. We can't have the Zohar falling into the government's hands."

"Two phases..!" Commander Cherenkov uttered in bewilderment. "But why are you..."

"We've picked up local UMN activity on our EPR radar. The fleet is column jumping towards the position of your convoy. They'll cross your vector in five hours, 22 minutes."

"No... it can't be!" Cherenkov straightened in alarm. "Them!"

"I told you, you've made a grave mistake." The man's exterior was stoic despite the subtle note of aggravation that crept in his tone. "We dispatched reinforcement an hour ago. So keep it safe at all costs, until they arrive."

Cherenkov fidgeted at the unwavering stare, "W-will they make it in time?"

"Just keep it safe until they arrive. I don't care if you have to send it in hyperspace by itself. Fortunately for you, your ship is carrying that weapon. I don't know what Vector's up to, but take advantage of the situation if you can..."

"E-excuse me, Sir," Cherenkov responded, panic etched all over his face, "but they haven't even started field testing it yet!" He shook his head in fear. "It's too risky!"

"You of all people should be cognizant of its power. I don't care if it's unstable. Make them hurry."

"But, but Sir..." Cherenkov's heart raced wildly in muted shock. That weapon was not a thing to be merely toyed with.

"That is all," the man stated with an air of finality before turning away.

"Commander, wait!" The connection between them was severed and the holographic monitor melted away. Cherenkov felt cold sweat trickle from his forehead as dread settled within him. "Commander Margulis!" He helplessly called out in despair.

At the other end of the ship, Chief Engineer Shion Uzuki was having a significantly lighter argument in the safety of her room. "Like I told you before," she narrated at the image projected in the communication monitor, "I can't go anywhere until my project stabilizes. Don't you remember?" She could not believe she was having this conversation yet again.

"You know how long you've been saying that? I haven't seen you for two years now. You could at least come home for our parents' memorial. Where's your sense of filial duty?"

"Memorial?" Shion incredulously remarked after she placed her Communication Gear on a low desk beside her bed. A hanger was held between her fingers while she warily gazed at her older brother, Jin Uzuki. "Ahh... Come on! Why are you trying to resurrect obscure ancient rituals?" Her eyes widened with sudden insight, "Wait a minute, you've been reading those weird old books again, haven't you? I swear, you're so obsessed with those precious books of yours!"

"That is none of your business, thank you very much." Jin casually retorted. "How many times must I tell you not to quibble about my way of life."

"What do you mean, way of life? All that's stuff's just a stupid old hobby for you." Shion paused in consideration. "Just remember, don't expect me to take you in when you're old, senile, and all alone." She added in a playful manner, although inwardly meaning each word she said. She then stripped off her jacket and proceeded to hang it neatly aside.

"That's terribly rude of you, Shion." Jin replied, slightly upset. "Don't worry about me, just promise me you'll come home this year, okay? If you don't..."

"All right, all right, when I get some time off." Shion faked agreement to satisfy her brother's endless nagging. "Look, gotta run--see yah!"

"Hey, wait!" Jin hurriedly exclaimed, knowing that his sister was about to disconnect. "I'm not going to let you dodge the question again..." He trailed off as the transmission turned static. "Hello? Hellooo..."

Shion shut the monitor with a frown. "Honestly..." she murmured beneath her breath after taking a seat on her bed's edge, "I wish he'd consider my feelings for a change..."

The engineer heavily sighed once the day's events caught up to her one by one. "I'm a little tired," Shion reluctantly admitted to herself. "I feel bad about doing this, but I think I'll rest a bit..." Without giving her mind another moment to reconsider the thought, Shion prepared for bed. Carefully, she took off her necklace and tenderly fixed her sight on its dangling crystalline pendant. "Good night..." She softly spoke before placing the item on her desk. As soon as her body relaxed against the mattress' comfort, Shion drifted to a peaceful slumber.

The serenity, however, was short-lived as Shion's consciousness spiraled to a familiar scenery of black and white. In front of her, amidst the misty grassland, was the girl of amethyst eyes who has calmly extended a hand, motioning her to look back. Shion complied and her vision was promptly graced by a tranquilly approaching male silhouette. A sudden rush of unfathomable emotion embraced her as her awareness dwindled to a sea of chaos.

Shion twisted in her sleep, oblivious to the ethereal golden glow that now bathed her room. There, standing alongside her bed, was the enigmatic little girl who watched over her troubled form. Amethyst eyes shifted and met the vast view of space.

They were close. She could sense them...

Time passed by imperceptibly among the vessel occupants. Before long, night deepened and the Woglinde's busy corridors had been abandoned in favor of rest. Deafening silence stretched mercilessly along the path Allen Ridgely walked through. With a warm cup of coffee grasped in his hand, he made his way towards their laboratory. Upon his arrival, the mechanical door opened with its trademark hiss.

"What the..?" Allen sputtered in surprise. "You're all still here?"

Basil waved from his position at the back of a furiously typing colleague, "Hey, how's it going? We're trying to pinpoint today's problem, among other things. What about you?"

The Assistant Chief Engineer's face fell at the inquiry, "Oh, Commander Cherenkov gave me a piece of his mind earlier."

"Ouch," Togashi commented without tearing his eyes from his monitor. "Glad to see you survived. That guy's relentless..." He spun his chair in Allen's direction, cleared his throat, and continued with a deeper and rougher tone. "'You act like a bunch of college kids!' and 'What, is Vector run by a Girl Scout?'"

Allen winced at the memory, "He just went on and on."

"Man," Basil frowned, "that's just not right."

"Seriously..." Allen simply had to agree. He sat opposite of his terminal and set his cup near the keyboard. "But it isn't right to have the Chief taking all the heat..." Allen activated his console, "Still... I wonder why he seemed so nervous..." Behind him, a dull radiance of blue light emanating from within KOS-MOS' maintenance bed was left unseen.

Above, at the heart of the battleship, the navigators vigilantly monitored the journey's progress.

"Now exiting the asteroid field," the lady navigator dutifully informed.

Captain Moriyama nodded appreciatively, "That's excellent! Prepare to gate-jump."

"Aye-aye, Captain. All ships entering approach."

"19 minutes, 30 seconds to column area."

"UMN pulse received."

"Current coordinates locked. Transfer vector correction to 103. Target: Athens Column."

Surprisingly, the sound of alarms cut through the otherwise perfect air in the bridge.

A male navigator furrowed in confusion, "Captain! A warning signal!"

"It can't be... Is it them?" Moriyama worriedly questioned.

"No, Sir. The detection system is silent." The male turned to a fellow-navigator. "How's it look on your side?"

"Nothing over here, either. You sure it's not an error?"

"No, no it's not." He returned his seat to normal and examined his screen. "What... is this..?" He whispered to himself.

"Then what's causing it?" Moriyama failed to mask his growing unease and stepped forward.

"I'll run a search," the navigator announced as he hastily scanned each zone of the Woglinde. "...I've pinpointed the anomaly. It's inside the ship, Sector Three..!" Both he and the Captain were taken aback by the bizarre revelation.

The alarms intensified as red monitors blinked to life one after another throughout the bridge. They all bore an identical message--Main System Approached. The Woglinde's system was being breached by an entity within them. Who could have the ability to do such a thing? And more importantly, why?

The navigator paled once he returned his eyes on his screen, "It's... KOS-MOS!" The first question had been answered.

Warning lights flashed as similar alarms blared through the First R&D Division's Laboratory. Thick clouds of gas exuded from the prototype battle android's maintenance bed while a caution mechanism atop it steadily radiated. Astonished by the sudden change of state, everyone hurriedly went to their corresponding stations and attempted to contain the situation.

"That's impossible!" Allen shouted through the noise. He glanced around him before advancing towards the bed. "Hey! What the hell's going on!"

"I don't know! It all happened so quickly. We're checking it out right now!" Basil responded amongst the panic.

Raw terror washed over Togashi as he madly tried to stabilize the crisis to no avail. "KOS-MOS warning status, level 1! The bindings are off!" His clenched fist pounded against the keyboard, "Damn it! It's booting up on its own!"

"The countdown has started as well!" Another subordinate tensely reported.

"What the hell..! Why all of a sudden..!" Powerless, Allen could do nothing but stare as the unnatural chain of events inevitably unfurled.

Shion was startled awake by the blinding illumination that engulfed her room. Puzzled by the disquieting atmosphere that surrounded her, the Chief Engineer feverishly reached out for her Communication Gear. "Countdown! How can that be!" Pierced by a dose of lucidity, Shion kneeled by the communication monitor and tried to contact her assistant.

Currently, we are at Emergency Level 3. This circuit is reserved for Class A and B users only. Class C users, please try your call again later.

"...Oh, come on! Why now of all times!" Shion cried out in frustration. Her mind raced. Did someone activate KOS-MOS..? Wait, that's impossible. KOS-MOS wasn't supposed to wake up until she entered the activation code from her Communication Gear... That's the fail-safe they integrated... Shion's blood ran cold as reality violently struck her in the face. This... This can't be happening... not again..!"

She took a fleeting moment to pacify her rising emotions before exiting her room in full uniform. She turned to her left to access one of the sub-corridors leading to their laboratory but her effort was in vain. The system had just executed an emergency lockdown and sealed off the entrance to the said corridor. Shion miserably laid her eyes on the steadily diminishing countdown. "It's really happening... It's exactly the same as the last time..."

The image of death strewn across an entire area sailed past her mind. She recalled the way she tightly embraced the lifeless body of Kevin Winnicot against her own as a bolt of lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled in its wake, which rendered her anguished cry unheard, while she desperately touched the deceased man's still hand to her cheek. In response, Kevin's head fell limply to a side, which exposed a crystal pendant that rested beneath his uniform. A sob racked through her shivering form; her worst fear has been confirmed. The woman numbly stared forward. There, amidst the fatality, KOS-MOS stood.

At the shrill tones that pierced the entirety of the battleship, the tragic memories receded only to be replaced by an intense feeling of frightful anticipation. "Oh no! What is it now!"

"What is it now!" Captain Moriyama echoed the woman's concern as the alarm droned noisily in the compact area of the bridge.

"Detecting a large-scale spatial distortion ahead of us! An enormous mass is gating out!"

"Impossible!" The Captain exclaimed in defiance. "We're still outside the column area! That's..."

"The UMN geodesic structure is being breached!"

"The target... it appears to be interacting with the UMN somehow!"

Moriyama calm front wavered. "It's being hacked! That's possible!"

"Massive gravity fluctuations! Surface anomalies forming in space-time!"

"Impossible!" A navigator yelled at the top of his voice. "That defies all laws of physics!"

"Computing mass--the numbers are completely inconsistent! I can't get a clear reading! Whatever it is, it's huge!"

"The amplitude...the hell? It's like a tidal wave! The readings are increasing! It's entering normal space! Captain!"

"...Captain!"

"Straight ahead! There it is!"

The Captain's exterior shattered at the barrage of reports. "Gnosis!" The magnitude of the situation dawned Moriyama as the armada of spectral phantoms came within their sight. AGWS were at once dispatched to combat the hostile entities despite the lack of the 100-Series Observational Units to back them up. In compensation, the Woglinde and her fleet fired their minor cannons in support. Nonetheless, they knew that they were fighting a losing battle. The best they could hope for was to stall for time and wish for something miraculous to occur.

Armed with translucent forms, the Gnosis had started to infiltrate the Woglinde's interior. A reserve unit, which was made up of a number of AGWS together with a squad of Weapons-Grade Realians, finished their preparations in the safety of one of the hangars.

Shifting to DefCon1. Virgil, report your team to Sector D. Prevent the enemy forces from entering the reactor room.

First Lieutenant Virgil boarded his mech and observed the combat Realians steadily marching in front of him. "Going into battle without an AGWS unit. What brave little soldiers they are... bring tears to my eyes..." He sarcastically commented. "Well, let's see how they do as shields."

In another sector of the ship, Gnosis closed in on three Federation Marine Corp. personnel. The men valiantly shot their rifles in defense of the retreating civilians but the bullets simply passed right through the creatures. A sickening crunch was heard as an unsuspecting Marine was defenselessly crushed by a Gnosis that materialized from just above him. One of the remaining pair lowered his weapon and stepped away in muted shock. Another Gnosis loomed forward and snatched him up by his neck and lifted him off the floor. His weapon slipped from his grasp whilst he struggled against the Gnosis' firm hold. The last man pitiably reached out for his companion and gaped as all color was drained from the suspended body before the victim shattered into wisps of dust. Dumbfounded, he fell on his back in horror as the Gnosis turned to him. His agonized plea reverberated throughout the narrow corridor before he, too, exploded to fine white dust.

"What in the world is going on!" Shion Uzuki rhetorically voiced as Gnosis closed in on her. With slight hesitation, she transmitted her MWS and recklessly aimed a fiery ether blast at one of the two. As she expected, the shot just went through the ghostly opponent. Without the Hilbert Waves to draw the Gnosis into the physical realm, they were practically invincible. Shion backed herself to a wall and gazed evenly at the specters before her. She waited for the opportune moment and sprinted right between the two. Shion then triggered a nearby crane, which carried containers that had volatile chemicals within them, to drop its load. A low wall of flames blazed up from the floor and separated her from the Gnosis. Without sparing them a second glance, Shion immediately rushed away to the next set of corridors.

As she rounded a corner, she spied a Gnosis located midway the length of the hallway. It was coming to her direction but Shion believed that it has yet to see her. Sincerely hopeful that her intuition was right, she darted back inside the Communication Room, which she had just recently passed, and concealed herself beneath one of its many consoles. She froze once she heard the Gnosis stomp by, virtually behind her if it weren't for the wall dividing them. She held her breath, curled herself to a tight ball, and dared not even blink until she heard the stomping noise no more. Shion belatedly peeked from the wide glass panel and scanned the exterior of the room. The creature was nowhere to be seen. She sighed the lungful of air she previously held and sank back down to her knees. It looked like she managed to get past the Gnosis... for now.

"Can't we stop it?" Allen pressed his subordinates in panic amidst the loud alarms. He scanned the scrolling warning messages before him and heavily pounded his fists on the desk in frustration.

"It's no use! It's not responding!"

"KOS-MOS is starting up in Auto-Mode!"

"Huh? Wait a sec!" Allen's voice shook in utter disbelief. "We disabled that mode after the incident! Only the Chief's terminal can enable it! Damn it! Why now..? Unless... it's reacting to... Gnosis..!" He sternly faced a researcher. "Where's the Chief?"

"She should be heading this way," the researcher hoped, "but the regular UNP channels are congested and I can't reach her."

"And the emergency lines?" Allen strained.

"I'm trying it right now!" Basil complied. His fingers nimbly commanded contact to their Chief Engineer. Both Allen and Togashi warily approached him only to hear a familiar ring of playful melody blast through the air.

For an instant, no matter how illogical the notion may have been, Allen thought that his superior had already made it safely back with them. But one look at the source of the sound proved him wrong. "Oh, great!" He slapped a hand to his forehead when his sight lingered on Shion's bunny-shaped UMN phone that flashed innocently by his superior's work station. All of a sudden, the entire laboratory was plunged into darkness. "What happened?" Allen exclaimed, temporary blinded.

"I don't know! The power just suddenly..." Togashi's statement faltered as light sparked at his right.

Allen turned his puzzled self towards the source of disturbance--KOS-MOS' maintenance bed. He took a step back as its lid gradually raised. "Wha..!"

Blue light eerily illuminated the laboratory as the mentioned lid completely lifted up. Thick gas seeped from the machine and enveloped the room with a mentally suffocating haze. Laid inside it was the initial cause of the Woglinde's panic, which was none other than the prototype battle android, KOSMOS. She raised a hand and pulled herself out of her mechanical coffin. Once both her metallic feet touched the floor, she proceeded to inspect her immediate surrounding.

KOS-MOS' sensors zoomed in on the image of a male, whom she quickly identified as Assistant Chief Engineer Allen Ridgely, who was rigidly standing a few meters in front of her. Hiding, behind the Assistant Chief Engineer was another male. She detected that the entire population located within the vicinity was showing the emotion of fear, which was sharply escalating to sheer terror with each second that passed by. She pinpointed herself as the source of personnel discomfort. The degree of impediment this problem caused to her mission was minimal. KOS-MOS heightened her scanner as she continued on to more imperative matter. She searched the entirety of the partial battleship, Woglinde, and located her target. Chief Engineer Shion Uzuki was currently positioned in the Communication Room. Finally, she continued on to one of the most critical parts of the mission. Her sensors focused on the locale of the Zohar. Hangar 1 was the immediate result. She noted a couple of people anxiously intent on accomplishing a certain activity in the hangar. She deduced that they would not be a problem. She ended the heightened scan after analyzing that all needed information had been gathered.

Allen stared at the still android in horror. This was the thing that destroyed so many lives two years ago. A side of him felt relieved that his superior was not here with them. Perhaps it was for the best that she left her only means of communication with them. That way, she would not be brought to harm's way. Although, the ship could be crawling with Gnosis by now. And KOS-MOS was their only hope of victory against the phantom creatures. But...

His thoughts were interrupted when KOS-MOS' vision shield retracted within her visor, revealing her beatific yet emotionless pale face and spectral red eyes. Allen's own eyes widened as the android advanced towards them, her steps precise. For the second time that day, Allen felt powerless.

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