"Approaching destination in 10 minutes", one of the personnel in the command room declared. The massive screen in front of the command room showed the first-person view of the ship as it cruised through a violent sandstorm.
"Sandstorm should be clearing up in 2 minutes", another report came in.
"Any updates on the situation?" Sarah asked Fukayna, whose attention was on her computer screen.
"None, the signal went cold 20 minutes ago", Fukayna replied promptly. Sarah felt a tad bit anxious from the lack of information as it was crucial for the mission's success after all.
But the captain did not care about the mission's success. If anything, her mind was on something else entirely.
Fukayna could pick up on this as she turned to peek at Sarah, who was impatiently waiting for the sandstorm to clear up entirely. Sarah squinted her eyes slightly, barely making out a slight silhouette of the village and a ship.
As the sandstorm cleared up, the entire crew witnessed an odd scene unfold before them.
Gangplank's crew seemed to struggle to get their ship off the sands.
It was as if something was anchoring the ship down.
"Zoom in on the bottom of the ship", Sarah requested. The screen started zooming in on the requested area of the ship, showing the void beast pulling the ship down.
"Holy shit", Sarah marvelled along with the rest of the crew. Fukayna covered her mouth to hide her awe as the entire crew stared at the incredible sight unfolding before their eyes. The void beast battled against the powerful thrusters of the ship with its physical strength, firmly holding its ground against the ship.
But with the thrusters slowly overpowering the beast's strength, it seemed that the battle between the beast and the vessel seemed to be coming to an end
And it look like the vessel was going to emerge victorious.
But no one dared to take their eyes off the screen.
The void beast started to slowly turn the ship, neglecting the previous plan of holding it down. The crew looked confused as to what turning the vessel could possibly do, but Sarah and Fukayna figured it out.
'She is trying to disrupt the trajectory of the ship..,' Sarah thought.
Right as the thrusters of the vessel came fully online, the beast launched it towards a massive mountain, burying it under shattered pieces of stone.
The entire crew was speechless, it felt like an action scene from a movie was just played out in front of them.
"Crew, retrieve the contents of the ship" Sarah broke the silence, causing everyone in the room to turn towards her.
"I will personally retrieve this void beast myself" The co-captain turned her attention towards Sarah, who was standing up straight, with the broadest grin that Fukayna had ever witnessed.
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The ship was hovering slowly towards the village. Its enormous size sent chills down Kai'sa's spine as it completely dwarfed the other adversary that Kai'sa had overcome with so much effort.
And now, she had to defeat an even more formidable foe with her battered, exhausted body.
"Looks like you need my help after all," Bel'Veth's voice rang in Kai'sa's head. Kai'sa's lungs lit aflame every time she breathed, she could feel her overexerted body crying out in pain.
"I-I, don't need it…," Kai'sa rejected the offer as she struggled to stand up straight. Her entire body felt an excruciating pain the moment the adrenaline died down, reducing Kai'sa to a permanent state of agony.
Kai'sa's wobbly legs made it hard for her to stand up straight, forcing her into a hunched position.
"Don't be stubborn, you can't win against them," Bel'Veth countered which made Kai'sa let out a throaty laugh.
"You don't get it, do you?" Kai'sa said as the ship got closer to the village, its actual size getting more apparent the closer it approached.
"I saved them all…, I've succeeded," Kai'sa said before finally standing straight up.
"I proved you wrong," Kai'sa finished her sentence. Her hazy vision could make out a singular figure hovering in front of the ship as she prepared to make her final stand.
But it would seem that this wasn't going to be the case, as the ship started turning away from the village, and moved towards the crashed ship.
Leaving the lone figure to approach the ship by itself.
"W-what?" Kai'sa muttered in confusion as the figure started to close in on her position. Her hazy vision struggled to make out any meaningful analyses of the figure from such a far distance.
'Do they already know I'm weakened?' Kai'sa readied herself from that thought, mustering any remaining bit of her strength to defend against the figure. Her body felt like a mountain as she struggled to move her exhausted body.
Kai'sa's wings spread feebly apart, which almost caused the latter to fall over from the imbalance as the figure drew closer to Kai'sa's position, which allowed the latter to analyse some features of her potential foe.
The figure wielded some sort of plasma weapon in each of her arms, and with a flying device on its back, it seemed unlikely that Kai'sa could escape from this encounter.
Leaving her with only one option, which was to face this enemy.
'I might be able to pull this off…' Kai'sa convinced herself and her worn-out body to fight for one last time. She stared the figure down, waiting for the figure to enter her optimal striking distance.
'A little more…' the figure was meters away from Kai'sa now, and the latter readied herself.
The figure slowed down for a possible descent, an opportunity that Kai'sa did not miss as she leapt at the figure.
Her wings released a barrage of void bolts towards the figure in point-blank range, hoping it was enough to take it down.
"Wishful thinking, Kai'sa," Bel'Veth said as a blue plasma shield appeared before the figure, absorbing the entirety of the attack.
'Shit!' Kai'sa cursed as her body reached its limits, her body dropping like a ragdoll as she tumbled down onto the sands. Now defenceless and with all her cards played, the figure finally finished her descent.
"Greetings…" the figure's helmet hissed. The figure possessed beautiful, sharp facial features and silky long ginger hair. Her azure orbs stared at Kai'sa's visor before the figure flashed a dashing smile at the void beast.
"My name is Sarah Fortune…" the figure introduced herself, kneeling to face Kai'sa.
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'It looks a little smaller in person…' Sarah thought to herself as she stared at the exhausted void beast, who was still silently gazing at her.
"What's your name?" Sarah asked the void beast, garnering the silent treatment from it.
"Ah, perhaps you don't understand me?" Sarah said as she reached into the back pouch of her flight suit, attempting to retrieve her holo device.
"Is this entertaining to you?" the void beast snarled at Sarah.
"Oh, you spoke-" the void beast feebly swung its fists towards Sarah. The slow one-two combination completely missed its target, causing the beast to fall over from imbalance.
Sarah witnessed the clumsy act unfold before taking advantage of the situation by pinning it against the sands, resulting in the Goddess mounted on top of the protesting beast.
"Whoa calm down there," Sarah said, trying her best to contain the struggling beast.
The beast grunted, trying its best to break away from its inferior position. Sarah held the beast down firmly, buying time for her crew to finish the cleanup on Gangplank's crew.
'Maybe it's because it thinks I'm working with them…,' Sarah thought to herself.
"Hey, I'm not working with those scumbags, y'know?" the Goddess reasoned with the beast. It paused momentarily after hearing that statement before prodding at Sarah's confession.
"Prove it," the void beast urged. Sarah grinned, releasing one of her hands to retrieve a holo device.
"Status update." Sarah requested before placing the device in the beast's hand, gesturing for it to listen to the device. The void reluctantly placed the device beside its ear, listening in on the report.
"Resources retrieved. The remainder of Gangplank's crew is captured." the holo device buzzed before going quiet.
"So? Are you convinced now?" Sarah asked the void beast. It still seemed reluctant to believe in Sarah.
'I wouldn't blame it too', Sarah thought to herself. After all, the beast must have witnessed something terrible for it to bear so much animosity towards Gangplank's crew.
The beast finally stopped struggling, staying down quietly, making Sarah's job easier. No further interactions occurred between the two which made it awkward for Sarah.
After all, she was sitting on top of a void beast whose name she did not even know.
"So, are you going to tell me your name?" Sarah broke the silence.
"...Kai'sa," the beast replied, garnering a grin from the Goddess.
"Kai'sa…, that's a cute name." Sarah teased. The beast did not seem impressed by the remark Sarah made about her name, but it did not miss the split second of vulnerability that the Goddess showed.
"Ever considered taking off that helmet?" Sarah playfully said, to which Kai'sa responded with silence.
'Playing hard to get?' Sarah smirked. She released one of her hands, slowly trailing down its arm to grab the beast's chin before bringing her face closer to the beast's.
"I'd think you'd look better without it," Sarah professed. The helmet of Kai'sa started to peel back, strands of void matter tearing off her face before unveiling the beauty behind it.
"You should save your confession for later," Kai'sa replied. Sarah was so surprised by the sudden reveal; that she missed a crucial detail.
Kai'sa had her tail around Sarah's waist, allowing the beast to fling Sarah off her body, sending the Goddess flying to the skies.
'S-shit!' Sarah swore from the sudden surprise attack.
"System's online!" Sarah's Exo suit activated the moment she was in the air, the suit's thrusters came online allowing Sarah to regain control of her momentum.
Her helmet materialized as the visor highlighted Kai'sa in bright blue. Sarah's plasma cannons whirred to life as she aimed them towards the flying beast with heavy reluctance.
'God dammit.' Sarah swore as her desire to bring Kai'sa in peacefully was unlikely.
Gritting her teeth, the Goddess fired away at Kai'sa as streaks of blue lit up the desert. Kai'sa weaved between the plasma fire, and part of her wings was blown off from the fire as she closed the distance between them.
Sarah maintained a considerable distance away from Kai'sa whilst increasing her firepower, making sure that the beast tired out before it had a chance to land a strike.
The beast spread opened its wings, an action that scattered purple bolts through the sky before flying towards Sarah.
The latter responded by focusing her cannon's firepower towards the bolts, blasting them off of the skies before they could hit her.
Kai'sa used this opportunity to escape from the line of sight, disappearing from Sarah's vision as the latter finished off the last of the bolts.
After making quick work of the bolts, Sarah turned her attention back to Kai'sa.
"Shit, I was too distracted," Sarah mumbled, her visor scanning every possible area to pick up any signs of Kai'sa.
Before a heavy blow to her back sent her downwards.
Kai'sa snuck behind Sarah's back and loaded up a devastating blow connecting square with Sarah's shield.
The Goddess was sent flying downwards, her thrusters struggling to offset the downward force.
"Thrusters output at hundred per cent," Exo said as Sarah's thrusters struggled to offset the downward force.
"Exo, deploy additional plasma shields at my-" the void beast interrupted Sarah's command as it landed on top of the shield.
And now with Kai'sa on top, the additional weight made it impossible for Sarah's thrusters to overcome this. Kai'sa began her counter-attack, by pounding at the plasma shield with her fists.
Sarah could feel her shield being at its last legs. She aimed her cannons directly at Kai'sa, who did not seem fazed at the prospect of death.
'Fuck!' Sarah swore before the two crash-landed on the sand.
Sarah held her breath; Kai'sa's fist landed centimetres away from her neck, her body directly above the barrel of her cannon.
"W-why didn't you shoot…" Kai'sa sluggishly said before falling on top of Sarah, causing the latter to gasp. The weight almost flattened Sarah; she struggled to move the beast with her arms, eventually resorting to using her cannons as support to lift the beast away.
"Hah…," Sarah huffed, finally getting the beast off her. A soft beep sounded in Sarah's earpiece before the Goddess lightly pressed the side of the earpiece.
"Crew en route to your position, I take it that you're successful with your recruitment attempt?" Fukayna said sarcastically, which made Sarah smile.
"Recruitment takes time, besides..," Sarah trailed off, inspecting the void beast that was lying before her.
"I was testing its abilities," Sarah added, kneeling before Kai'sa. The latter now had her helmet back on, which prevented the curious Sarah from inspecting her facial features further.
"Plasma signatures detected," Exo said, the abrupt report interrupting Sarah's thoughts. She turned her attention towards the heart of the village.
'Looks like she missed some', Sarah thought to herself as she could see the plasma signatures getting closer to her position.
"Show yourselves," Sarah dared the assailants to turn the corner as she aimed her cannons towards the corner.
There was a moment of hesitation before they eventually did.
Even though they were donning the equipment of the fallen pirates, Sarah noticed that their clothing and armour did not match the uniform of Gangplank's crew.
Some even had missing gear, which was unusual for a crew that emphasised their military might.
'They're not a part of Gangplank's crew,' Sarah thought.
"Stay away from her!" One of them yelled as pointed their rifles at Sarah, slowly advancing towards Kai'sa and Sarah's position.
'They're the villagers,' Sarah concluded as she lowered her cannons.
"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you," Sarah said but they didn't buy it.
'Stubborn bastards..,' Sarah swore as any signs of negotiations were swiftly shut down.
They were determined to get Kai'sa back, advancing closer towards Sarah before a sudden pause.
"Looks like you've got company, captain," Fukayna said. Sarah's massive vessel loomed directly behind her, sending waves of dread down every one of the villagers.
The fresh wounds of trauma from the previous sighting were enough to cause some of them to flee.
The rest were either too afraid to or accepted their fate.
"You're scaring them, Fukayna," Sarah replied.
"Well, I hope this is enough as reconciliation," Fukayna said before a massive crate dropped before the villagers.
The airlock hissed, and multiple mechanisms of the crate came to life as the contents inside pushed against the heavy duranium door, slowly spilling out of the crate.
The villagers could not believe their eyes, some even forgot about the immense fear they felt earlier as they rushed forward to the crate.
"I think it's sufficient," Sarah smiled as she witnessed the villagers retrieving their pillaged loot back.
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Author's notes:
Basileus here. Sorry for the delay on the chapter, a sudden influx of schoolwork has hindered my ability to write for a while. But these inconsistencies in updates will be prevalent in future releases and I hope I can seek your patience. I always ensure that my writings are up to par with my expectations and will ensure that this is consistent throughout every release.
Thank you for your patience and I hope you look forward to my next update.
-Basileus.
