Chapter 20

AN: We're gonna take a break from the main group and focus on a very special someone that you're probably curious about. What, did you think she finally died? Guess again!

While I'm at it: No, I can't add Factorio because the wikis and gamepedias are useless.

In a system that has a white star, there is a wasteland planet with small seas, vast deserts and small forests. And on this planet, there is an encampment that took root in some old ruins of human design. Brown minions are seen doing some small maintenance with the red minions wielding metals together. Members of Caesar's Legion are now converted into the Salem Legion that wear black and purple instead of red. Their standard is replaced with Salem's symbol rather than the bull. They train alongside with Super Mutants, the exiles from Conan Exiles, some of the tek soldiers that didn't managed to get away, other minions, and Mordor Uruks. Some of the dinosaurs are there and are being fed with chickens with Morty's head or whatever edible plant life they can find. Many exiles are working on the farms in order to maintain the army Salem has collected. Grimm started to spawn from a nearby pool of tar in the ruins. One of the brown minions see this and runs further in the ruins.

In the center of the ruins lies a tower that stands tall yet dilapidated with many minions and exiles working on making it ship-shaped. Salem sits on a throne made of scrap and guns in a similar manner to the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones (except a lot more cooler). Salem, still as terrifying as ever, sits motionless on her throne as her banners hang high in the ceiling. Beside her are Gnarl, the Minion Advisor; Tyrian Callows, her most trusted assassin; Legate Hercules, her general; Muk-nuk, her super mutant weapons master and specialize in technology; and a Mr. Handy name Carl, who is in charge of the maintenance and more sophisticated technology. Standing on either side of the throne room are her various generals ranging from Uruks, exiles, super mutants, and legionnaires alike.

The brown minion runs up to Salem but trips, falls, roll over and lands at Salem's feet. He got back up, "Master! Master! The black tar creatures have spawned! A few of them emerged, they have!"

Salem opens her eyes and burn with a hellish red that scares the minion. She smirks, "About time." with all her fangs hanging out.

One legionnaire comes in, "My lady! We discovered one of those heaven spears and it is largely intact! Many of its machinery is intact!"

Salem stands up and many of her followers are filled with dread.

"Good." she says with an evil grin, "Very good." She looks at Carl, "Carl?"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Would you please have your fellow robots secure the ship and make repairs? Then have it delivered to the shipyards."

"Yes, ma'am." Carl heads out and get the other robots to get a new ship.

Then Salem turns her attention to Muk-nuk, "Muk-nuk?"

Muk-nuk stands straight with the look of fear in his eyes, "Y-Y-Yes, my lady." He was hesitant.

"Make sure you study and catalogue every mechanism on that ship so we can have our fleet ready to depart."

"Yes, my lady." then Muk-nuk heads out.

Legate Hercules asks, "I beg your pardon, my empress, but what is the point?"

Tyrian gets upset and threatens with his stinger, "You dare question our goddess?!"

Legate Hercules has his sword against Tyrian's tail and threaten to cut it off, "I only asks because my lack of understanding! Are we invading other worlds and conquer new territories and have slaves!? Or just to see what lies beyond this world?!"

Shadowy hands come out from the ground that force both Hercules and Tyrian to be on the ground. Salem looks at them with a threatening glare that strikes fear into them both.

Salem explains herself, "Because they are out there. Including my human self." she look up, "I can sense her. No matter the distance, her disgusting human warmth sickens me to my core. I want her dead so I can be truly free." She then address to all in the throne room, "Then, we can claim this galaxy as our own! Once we make it to space, we can do whatever the hell we want!"

Gnarl glees, "Destruction and mayhem! Death, conquest and enslavement! A new dark era shall rise in this new galaxy we live in!"

Everyone in the throne room cheer as the promise of a new dark era for the galaxy with Salem leading them. Once they find human Salem, Grimm Salem will be able to be free from her human half and able to reach her true potential as an intelligent Grimm. Unlike her human counterpart, all goodness and humanity is gone from her.

Out in the wastelands, a whole army of robots headed over to an extremely large ship that is surprisingly intact. Form the design, it is a Planet Cracker-class vessel from Dead Space. Many of the robots went in and find some areas have a few hull breaches that they got in. They search each and every deck as they toss out a few old skeletons out into the wastes and the useless junk that would be refined into something more useful. They found that the hydroponics are still functional and still has food growing with vines growing nearly everywhere.

Muk-nuk checks the bridge and found a few training simulators and manuals that might help train new crew members. Some of the robots managed to get the power online as Muk-nuk takes the helm.

"Now let me see here..." he looks at the datapad manuals after putting on his reading glasses, "I have to do this and that...and something like that. Need to do that after doing that. I think I got it." Muk-nuk then attempt to fly the ship. He radios, "Oi! Can I get some crew members up here?!"

The vessel takes up into the air and slowly makes its way towards the ruins. Yet in the outskirts, a group of armored soldiers look over the massive tower Salem built.

South asks Zero, "Are you sure about this?" she points at the tower.

"If we want to survive, we need to find the person in charge." Zero responds as he keep his attention at the tower, "For this is where the path to ultimate power resides."

Beside him are Diesel, various members of the Blues & Reds along with their leaders, Charon Industries along with Felix and including the Insurrectionists and space pirates, and Counselor Aiden Price. They all made it to the new location while heavily armed with tanks, various warthogs, and basically every driveable vehicle from the Halo games along with vehicles from Halo Wars. Even Agent Maine is there with his brute shot.

At the gates, the super mutants ready their guns as the green minions hide in place and fire minions prepare to cast their fireballs. Uruks and exiles prepare their bows and crossbows as the futuristic soldier army approach with Zero leading the way. They stop as Zero approach.

Zero says with the built-in-megaphone to address the guards, "GREETINGS, STRANGERS! WE ARE HERE TO NEGOTIATE WITH YOUR LEADER! WE ARE HERE TO OFFER OUR SERVICES IN AIDING TO GET OFF THIS PLANET!"

One of the Sgt. Gutsys called in, "Ma'am, we got more people joining us. Should we fight? ... As you order." Then he turns to the guards, "OPEN THE GATES!"

The gates open and let the new forces in.

Zero is presented in the throne room to answer any of Salem's questions. Zero kneels before her in respect. For Zero, power is everything and Salem has it in ample supply.

"What is it that you offer?" Salem asks.

"We're stranded here on this treacherous backwater. We saw that you have ships and your people lack the skills necessary to maintain them. I have the people with the necessary knowledge to help you reach for the stars."

"Oh." Grimm Salem likes that very much, "And in exchange, you get to leave this world."

"And what would become of us?" Zero asks.

Many of the army leaders are getting scared as Zero questions Salem.

"You will be part of my army for my quest. I seek to destroy my enemies. And for your reward; ultimate power."

Zero looks at Salem, "For that, I like."

In the shipyards, many Blues & Reds started helping out getting the ships repaired. Right now, there are five. Two of these ships are Minotaur-class battlecruisers from Starcraft, one is the Planet Cracker-class that was recently acquired, one Marathon-class cruiser from Halo and one Quarian cruiser from Mass Effect. The Planet Cracker-class ship will serve as the main flag ship and a resource gathering ship for processing new materials necessary for Salem's war.

Buckey asks Surge, "Is this a good idea? You know, helping probably the most dangerous woman that there is? I would bang her, but I would like to place a bag over her head."

"It is a good idea!" Surge says with patriotism in his voice, "We're gonna conquer the galaxy, boy! We're gonna find the Reds and Blues and make them eat lead medicine! Who knows. Maybe you might get some pretty ladies as a reward."

"Okay, that I'm good with."

Gene is in the planet cracker with Muk-nuk as he explains while pointing at the holoscreen, "As you can see, if you cross this wire here and have this current go here, we should get enough to power the engines without causing any overloads."

"But wouldn't that cause an energy feedback to minor electrical systems?"

"Good point. We should probably create a second generator to increase the engine output and efficiency."

"I'm thinking two nuclear generators for each engine should be good enough."

Over at the roof of the control tower of the shipyard, three members of Charon's exiles are watching the reconstruction of the ships.

Darryl asks, "Hey, guys? Is this a good idea?"

Terrill replies, "Getting off this planet?"

"I mean working with that woman. Salem, I think her name was."

Sherry looks at both of them, "Yeah, that woman is the very definition of creep-pee. But as soon as we can get those ships in order, we can just take a longsword fighter and get to wherever we can find civilization."

"That would be a bad idea." Felix comes in.

"Whoa!" the three get spooked.

Terrill is scared, "Hey, um, hi, Felix. We weren't...talking about abandoning the promise we made to the scary lady."

Darryl says, "Yes we were!"

Terrill yells at Darryl, "God dammit, Darryl!"

Darryl looks at Terrill, "I can't help it! Felix is scary! Not scary as that evil woman, but still!"

Sherry says in a disappointed tone, "Aaaand this is the part where we die."

Felix chuckles, "Relax, you three. I won't say a word."

The three sigh in relief.

"Besides, I completely agree. That woman is the scariest bitch ever. She can produce monsters, controls a vast army of freaks, has a face that gives an anglerfish a run for its money, and can use magic." Felix walks over to the windows and look over the construction, "And her name comes from a town that was infamous for its witch-trials from over a thousand years ago. But she does know where to find the Reds and Blues." He looks at the trio, "And I have a HUUUGE score to settle with those morons. So, I'm gonna be in this all the way."

Then Zachary Miller comes running in, "Guys! The Devil Woman is coming and bringing that scorpion freak with her! Stand in attention!"

"Oh shit!" Darryl swears.

The five stand in attention at the window as Salem along with Tyrian and five exiles came in.

Tyrian is upset as he sees the five, "You lot!" he walks up to them, "Don't just stand around and do nothing!" He points at the other door, "Get your asses in gear and help our Goddess' ships!" Yet he smiles as he looks at Felix and points his stinger at Felix's head, "Or I'm gonna have my way with you."

Darryl goes, "Yikes."

Tyrian uses his tail to to strangle Darryl. He madly smiles at him, "Did I give you permission to speak?" he laughs manically, "Perhaps I should kill you and have your body used for target practice."

"Tyrian, enough." Salem orders.

He lets go of Darryl. Darryl is dropped to his knees and chokes while gasping for air.

Tyrian bows to Salem politely, "As you wish, my Goddess." and runs off.

Salem approaches the five as Darryl gets up, "Care to explain? You better give me a good answer." Her right hand slowly turns into a fist and is full of fury.

Felix explains in military fashion, "We were just admiring the ships, ma'am! We haven't seen any ships for a long time."

Sherry explains further, "And we're on break for the moment! We'll get back to work in less than a minute!"

Salem just glare at the five that is striking fear into them. They can feel a great amount of pressure coming from Salem that even the exiles with her back away and show signs of fear.

"Fair enough." Salem drops her fury which is a huge relief for everyone. "Get back to work."

The five salute, "YES, MA'AM!" and run out the door.

While out of sight and earshot, Darryl says, "Jesus! I thought we were gonna die!"

Terrill whispers, "Not so loud! That scorpion-tailed freak might be nearby."

Darryl whispers, "Sorry."

Sherry says, "I think we're far enough from him, and Her." she shudders. "I'm usually good with body language, but with her though... I can't get a good read. She's just... I mean... Yikes."

Zachery says, "Man, I don't wanna get in trouble like that again. I thought she would pop my head by staring at it."

Felix states, "The sooner I get my revenge on the Reds and Blues, the sooner I leave."

Zachery asks Felix, "If you do, can I come with you?"

"Can we come along, too?" Terrill also wish to leave along with practically everyone else in the hallway.

Felix says, "Okay. But let's get to the ships before she does kill us and eat our souls or something."

Zachery says, "I heard she ate someone who gave her bad news once."

"Seriously?" Sherry asks, "That would explain the smell in her breath."

Not long after, the five ships have been repaired and ready for departure. They all levitated on the surface as rocket pods help with their ascend. Once they managed a mile off the ground, the ships headed out into the skies as the rocket pods disengage and get dropped off. Now, Salem has a tiny fleet that will get bigger if she can find more and there are plenty of ships and who knows what else there is lurking in the stars.