Cobalt's eyes slowly fluttered awake as he tried to remember what had happened the night before to put him in such a state of pain and confusion, nothing came to mind as he stared up at the metallic ceiling that was assembled at a slant, giving the room a streamlined design that was supposed to feel unique and stylish but was honestly overdone in this genre and had more or less become a trope at this point. He reached out his arm, admiring the cybernetics that he had built himself before sitting up slowly, his body was sore and clearly recovering, and a hand reached out to comfort him.
"Are you doing okay?" Eliana asked him. He glanced over at her, admiring her skin-tight space suit as he stretched a bit and tried to act tough, groaning and working a kink out of his neck.
"I'm just glad to see that you're okay, I'm surprised that we even made it out of that one alive," Cobalt explained. "That ice storm was almost too much for us to handle."
"Really?" Lykos shouted as he thundered into the room, his boots crashing off of the floor comprised of metal paneling, checking Cobalt's vital signs before grabbing him by the collar. "You nearly cost me the lives of half of this crew by first taking a landing party down to the planet of Atlas, and then refusing to heed my warnings about coming back immediately. The rescue party ended up in worse shape than the four of you did, and it is all your fault, so I wouldn't be so quick to celebrate." Cobalt stood up from his bed and removed the wires that were attached to him, scrambling to follow Lykos with Eliana close on his heels.
"Sir, it was a risk that we needed to take," Cobalt defended.
"No, it wasn't. It's easy to tell where she's going to show up next, after this we're stopping at the number one target of this decade, there's no way that she'd skip out on this after everything that she's done," Lykos told Cobalt. "We'll stop her at the Vytal Space Station when the majority of the Remnant Solar System shows up there to sign the peace treaty." Cobalt shook his head as he entered the bridge, he was saluted immediately by Bái and Tawney who took their seats and he sat on the captain's chair, viewing the map and the stars before him.
"How can you be so sure?" Cobalt asks. "If she gets to us before we get to the space station, we're dead. And, if you don't think that she knows that we have a VIP on board, then you're underestimating her abilities!" Cobalt shouted. Lykos put his hand up.
"We can handle this, Cobalt!" Lykos yelled at him. He took a deep breath as Cobalt stared at him wide-eyed. "I know that you don't understand her motives, and how you're angry that she killed millions of people on your home planet of Vale, but you have to remember that you're not the only one from Vale on this crew. I am too and I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you, but we have to go about it the right way."
"Sir, there's something coming upon us quickly!" Bái exclaimed. Lykos leaned forward, waving Cobalt out of the way and checking the radar.
"Can you hail them, I'd like to try and make contact," Lykos told them. "Make it happen, I want to avoid any and all conflict, we're less than an hour from the space station and it's more than likely this is an escort from the Galactic Council." Cobalt stared at the three-dimensional radar before Lykos, the incoming ship showed no sign of stopping and would reach them within a few minutes. "Bái, I need to talk to them."
"I'm trying sir, but they're either away from the bridge, or they're ignoring us," Bái told them.
"It might be them!" Cobalt exclaimed. Lykos stood up and pointed at Cobalt.
"Eliana, take him off of this bridge until we reach the space station, I don't need him causing unnecessary panic!" Lykos demanded.
"What?!" Cobalt demanded as Eliana dragged him away. "Don't do this!" Eliana left him in the corridor, mouthing an apology as she returned to the bridge and left him to his thoughts. He needed to get to the armory on the off chance that he was right, he had to be prepared. The attack on his home planet had made him more than paranoid, he had barely escaped, and though he knew that others had also felt the pain of that loss, he wondered if he was the only on that knew Her true power. The intercom in the ship sounded and roared to life with a touch of static.
"Unidentified ship arriving on our position from sector NITE, what is your call sign? This is the flagship Beacon, en route to the Vytal Space Station," Lykos declared. Cobalt slid through one of the hallways, braking hard and nearly tripping over his feet as he arrived at the armory, most of the other ship members stared up at the comm, waiting for orders or to find out what would happen next with the craft heading towards them. Something seemed off, it just couldn't be right.
"Captain Lykos!" Cobalt exclaimed but his comms link was shut down immediately. He muttered and swore as he threw open his locker and removed his sword, grabbing Eliana's guns and heading back towards the bridge in preparation for the worst.
"I ask one more time that you give a callsign and lower your shields!" Lykos demanded. "If you fail to do so, I am under the authority of the Galactic Council to shoot you down whether or not you mean to harm us. This is the flagship Beacon, en route to the Vytal Space Station." Cobalt stood at the door of the bridge, contemplating banging on it until they either threw him out of the ship or let him in. "Tawney, prepare photon cannons and fire a warning shot past the front of their ship so that they know we're serious."
"Sir, yes sir," Tawney replied. A few seconds later their warning shot zipped past the ship, still silent as it ever crawled closer, shields still engaged. Static filled the comms once more before this time a mechanical voice answered, it sounded as if it was being run through a machine, the words choppy and emotionless, despite beginning with a chuckle.
"It seems as though it was a technical difficulty on my end that kept me from answering but thankfully I've sorted it out and I haven't been completely destroyed. If it were a pass of loyalty towards the Council, I would say that you passed with flying colors, but I guess I'll give you your answer before you decide to shoot me down anyways. This is the flagship Signal, feel free to contact the Council and ensure that I am the ship that they've arranged to pick you up. I'll stall beside you until you get an answer as I would like to board the ship and take a look at it as we complete the trip to Vytal," the voice told Lykos.
"No boarding my ship until I have word," Lykos replied. Another chuckle.
"Of course," they replied. The door opened and Cobalt spilled in, landing at Lykos's feet and his captain kicked him, sending him sprawling as he looked up at his commander.
"Keep an eye on him, I'll be right back," Lykos stated. Cobalt ran to the diagnostics panel, checking the stats on the other ship and pointing out some of the numbers.
"It lowered its shields and turned off its engines, so what is it powering that it's still using over seventy percent of its power?" Cobalt asked. Bái pushed him back.
"Could be anything," Bái stated. "Oxygen production?"
"Why would a ship that large allocate so much energy for one function, in battle, it wouldn't be able to afford to," Cobalt noted.
"What's your point?" Tawney asked.
"Something's wrong!" Cobalt shouted.
"Have you considered getting help?" Tawney asked. Cobalt looked at Eliana.
"You believe me, don't you?" He asked.
"I want to," she told him. "But I don't want us to have to fight anyone."
"Even if you're right," Tawney said. "That doesn't mean that it's Her."
"I know that!" He replied. "Just be prepared." He tossed Eliana her guns.
"Committed?" Bái asked.
"I'm not willing to take another risk after I nearly got a few of my men killed on Atlas last night," Cobalt noted.
"Anyone could have made that mistake," Eliana pointed out.
"I know, it's just…" Cobalt began. Something slid hard against the side of the ship.
"What's happening?" Ilia asked as she joined them on the bridge. "Captain Lykos told me to keep an eye on Signal until he received confirmation."
"Seems that something just scraped against us," Bái declared. Suddenly the single ship before them was surrounded by other smaller ships, an entire fleet of gunships engulfed them and they were in the thick of it.
"We need to make the jump to hyperspeed now!" Cobalt shouted.
"I'm calling the shots at the moment!" Ilia reminded him.
"Well?" Bái asked.
"We don't even know who it is!" Ilia told them. "This might be part of the Galactic fleet!"
"Lykos instructed them to wait to board, but it sure sounds like they're doing it right now and by force mind you!" Cobalt yelled pointing at the map rendering in front of the captain's seat. "We have more than enough fuel to jump directly to Vytal."
"Hello…" a voice now filled the comms. It caused Cobalt to cringe and shudder, his spine tweaked as he was paralyzed by the woman's familiar tone. "Do you all remember that glorious day? The day that we liberated the people of Patch, one of the few moons that surrounded Vale, giving freedom to the people that Vale was unwilling to recognize as belonging to their planet? The screaming, the realization that once our weapon had finished firing that everyone who couldn't escape would be killed must have been a terrifying experience, but let's not dwell on the past. You say that you want to make peace, but you lie. I'm here to end another life and prove to this pathetic bit of solar system that you are all just the same as you've ever been."
"Cobalt…" Eliana said quietly as his fists balled and his face became red. He quickly grabbed the mic before he could be stopped and replied to the woman.
"Neela!" He screamed with tears streaming down his face. "You took my home from me and killed everyone that I ever loved!" She laughed and there was another banging against the ship which tossed some of them from their feet.
"One of you remembers the day that my pain and anguish was poured out," Neela said lingering on the words. "Good."
"Your pain and anguish?" Cobalt yelled. Ilia tried to wrench away the mic as Lykos dashed back in and tackled Cobalt, stealing the device back.
"Salem guides my steps now," she told them. "The rest of you that would continue to believe the teachings of Ozpin are lost causes and you deserve to be killed."
"Open fire!" Lykos shouted. Tawney did so, the photon shots tore through the large ship as Cobalt forced Lykos off of him and ran to the docking bay. "Where do you think you're going?!"
"She's not on that ship!" Cobalt yelled knowing better than any of them. Eliana and Ilia were only a step behind, racing through the corridors before the power was cut suddenly and they were left in the dark. "This can't be happening."
"Why can't it be?" Came a voice from behind them as the emergency lights kicked on. Rowan and Soya stood before Neela, each of them pinwheeling their whips as Cobalt approached, Neela's bow drawn as he came closer.
"You thought that you could stop us?" Neela asked. Neela laughed. "If not for the extra stop and emergency down on Atlas, I might not have caught you. Now, hand over Titus and perhaps I can choose to be merciful today, what do you say?"
"Over my dead body," Cobalt told her. Neela laughed and gestured towards them with her head.
"That can be arranged," she replied as confident as ever. Ilia and Eliana clashed with Soya and Rowan as Cobalt rushed forward and his sword met Neela's, energy dancing off of both as they slammed them together repeatedly, neither of them gaining ground until Neela leapt back, an explosive arrow tossing Cobalt back as he didn't expect her to move so quickly. "All of this time you harbored so much hate for what I did to you, but you haven't learned to apply it. That is why you'll never be able to beat me."
"I think you might be mistaken!" Cobalt shouted. Ilia's blade screamed past Neela's head, missing her by inches and allowing her to counter, her blade glancing off of Ilia's armored suit. Neela leapt, kicking Ilia away from her and grappling down the hall in search of Titus. Ilia began to chase after but Cobalt stopped her. "Stay here and help Elli, I need to be the one to stop Neela."
"And if you don't?" Ilia asked. Cobalt left without a word, losing wasn't an option. He fired a shot that seemed to phase through Neela as he rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks, she had a holographic decoy that he had chased after? He headed towards Titus's chambers, somehow she must have acquired the prints for the layout of the ship and learned them, Cobalt was sure she was heading directly there.
"Stop!" Cobalt called out as Neela kicked the door down and stepped in. Cobalt grabbed her shoulder as he reached the door, allowing her to turn around and plant a blow to his jaw. He reeled away and grabbed his face, wondering where Titus was, or if she'd killed him already.
"So he moved during the chaos," Neela noted.
"This ends now!" Cobalt shouted at Neela.
"Then what happened?" Eliana asked, her eyes full of intrigue as she took another bite of her toast and hung off of every word.
"The rest was pretty anticlimactic," Cobalt told her as he looked around the table at all of them.
"How so?" Lykos asked.
"Neela chopped my head off," Cobalt said.
"Oh!" Bái exclaimed.
"Sweet," Ilia replied. Neela folded her arms and laughed.
"Sounds about right," Neela told him. "You scum just don't know when to quit."
"You think you could take Cobalt in a match of life or death?" Eliana asked.
"Oh yeah," Neela replied without missing a beat.
"Hey now, I think it should be put to a vote," Cobalt said. "All for Neela?" Everyone raised their hand but Cobalt. Bái rubbed his shoulder.
"Don't think of it as a bad thing," Bái told him. "It's just the fact that you had your parents growing up and you haven't had anything too tragic happen to you yet, so none of us could see you killing someone, right guys?"
"More or less," Titus replied.
"We'll go with that," Tawney agreed.
"Did I at least kill Soya in this story?" Eliana asked.
"It was a dream," Cobalt corrected.
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Eliana hurried him along.
"I'm guessing we probably took them into custody," Cobalt replied. Eliana folded her arms.
"Lame," Eliana told him. She looked over at Bái. "If you need anything, let me know."
"Thanks, Elli," Bái replied. "I'm doing much better now just knowing that you guys are here for me."
"Glad to hear it," Titus said. "I see you decided on the fire lightning rounds after all." Ilia looked up at him from her scroll and laughed.
"Yeah, I thought I'd give them a try and they came in handy after all," Ilia pointed out to him.
"Team NITE. Team CBLT," Coco addressed them as she approached them in the cafeteria.
"Is this about the other night?" Titus asked.
"No," Coco replied.
"Is this because I cut in line this morning for breakfast?" Eliana asked. Coco rubbed her forehead.
"No," she sighed.
"Is it because I went through the line twice?" Eliana pried.
"Can I finish?" Coco asked.
"Sure," Eliana answered. Coco shook her head and tried to mask her amused laughter.
"As I'm sure that both teams are well aware, you both had very promising weeks last week with discovering new Grimm and being kidnapped," Coco told them as she winked at Neela. Neela smiled at her. "You both earned a hefty amount of points and it put both of your teams closer than they've ever been since they both started at zero at the beginning of the year."
"Did you come to tell us that we're beating NITE?" Cobalt inquired.
"Not quite," Coco added. "Next week both of you will go up against each other and whoever wins will earn that top spot. This will probably be CBLT's best chance to take the lead as we don't necessarily have any more major trainings for the rest of the year." Team CBLT all glanced at each other, picking up their trays and leaving as NITE watched on confused.
"Come on guys!" Eliana called out to them.
"We need to train for next week and we can't be having breakfast with the enemy," Cobalt said. Bái nodded.
"Can I join you for training?" Eliana requested.
"No!" Tawney yelled.
"What about having lunch with the enemy?" Titus asked with a smirk.
"Very funny!" Bái replied. Team NITE all looked at each other before looking at Coco.
"Are you stroking their ego, or should we be worried?" Ilia asked. Coco tapped her temple and walked away.
"You tell me!" She called back.
Another week, another Cobalt fantasy! Next week, Chapter 91 - NITE vs. The Fang?!
A big thank you to Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!