12 - Something Drakh This Way Comes
The confrontation simmered as Galen stalked forward. Backpedaling, Fed retreated through the open cabin door, into the main cabin, until he backed into a large crate labelled CREW. The box shuddered. Then all became quietly still.
In his time as watcher, as he observed the Drakh menace grow, Galen also kept a wary eye on the band of fools that made up the Circle. Not closely enough, apparently. He'd been a fool to think he saw all they did. The reality was somewhere in the shadows they plotted, and moved. And, they'd shut him out. The lava of his soul bubbled. Fury at himself, mostly that he missed this and, he succumbed to Fed's crude manipulations.
Still Galen knew when to act or not. Matthew would not approve if he had it out with Fed aboard the Excalibur. And there was too much he did not know. His wrath, he held in check, and waited on Fed to make the next move.
Except Fed stood there like a deer caught in headlights.
"You can start by telling me what the Circle is doing on Mars." Galen nudged verbally.
The lights of the cabin cut off. With his eye tech, it made no difference. He could see Fed's body in infrared as clearly as daylight. Until one blink to the next Fed became a streak. A trail of dissipating heat replaced where Fed had stood. Galen had never seen a mage move that fast. A disappointing reaction, but not surprising that he ran away. It was all Fed had known since he came into his power as a technomage.
Galen sent Fed a warning. /You can't hide from me./
No response came.
Methodically following the trail, Galen walked toward the exit out of Fed's ship. In the hangar, Galen encountered a shocked tech, paused from pushing her cart of tools. When they made eye contact, her arm immediately pointed toward the tram ramp and said, "He flew that way."
Galen activated his probe network and watched Fed zoom down the the empty tram tube, barely avoid an oncoming tram and up the lift shaft toward the bridge.
For a moment Galen wondered at his goal. Until he recalled the meeting Matthew had called and the room he preferred was off the bridge. It looked like they would not be late after all.
—-
/You can't hide from me./ Completely panicked, Fed barely registered Galen's message as he sped away crouched on a platform.
"Shit," Fed said to himself, again and again. Flipping his platform from horizontal to vertical, inertia kept him on his platform as he hard-turned to thread the narrow opening into the tram tunnel.
His tech's eye scanners warned of a tram barrelling down the line at him. Another hard-turn. Followed by a hard-break. A wall pipe grabbed. He had slowed enough to use it as a handle sending him perpendicular out of the tram line, and up a side shaft. The tram zoomed by under. His right shoulder protested being used as a hinge. His brain gently lurched around in his skull. The thrill of stunt flying usually made him feel great. This time he felt like throwing up. Must be the fear. The furious look Galen gave him back in his cabin sent another chill up his spine. For a long moment, Fed thought Galen would kill him right there. Celaene's warning played through his mind.
A flannel clad arm suddenly gripped Fed's embroidered sleeve across the round silver table of the Circle's chamber. Celaene startled him but he did not pull away her. In the chair between them, Herazade faintly gasped and fell back into her chair in surprise.
With a distant whispery voice, Celaene said, "Last night I dreamed of you and Galen. Most of it, confused swirls. But one was clear."
Fed rolled his eyes at Caleane. Every seer in the Order loved to work Galen into their vague visions of future glory. Fed couldn't help himself. He patted her arm with his free hand and joked, "That's called a sex dream. It's perfectly normal at your age. Just go with it."
Her forearm flexed, grip tightening. She pulled him in closer and coldly said, "He kills you."
Fed's eyebrows jumped at that. He turned to Herazade. Silently he implored her if this is for real. Her mouth hung slightly open in shock and she did nothing but fold her hands in front of her in a silent prayer. So he laughed. "Wow, a bit melodramatic don't you think. But I'll play along. How?"
Celaene looked away closing her eyes, as she answered his question in a pained whisper. "With one of those spheres of his. You don't defend yourself. It's over instantly. The background, I didn't recognize the location. Just a pile of unlabelled gray crates."
Fed rubbed his beard and pointed out, "Maybe you missed it, but he's off saving the human race from the Drakh. And I'm sitting here playing with myself. So not seeing it."
A heavy slap on the table startled Fed. "Celaene is the best seer we have. Why do you think I made sure she joined the Circle?! For once in your life take something seriously. Listen to her," Herazade ordered him. Celaene released him and reclined managing to switch between pleased with Herazade and sneering at Fed.
Fed waved an appeasing palm at both women. "Okay, okay. I'll make note, do not hang out with Galen around crates."
Then, he hadn't believed any of it, at all. That it was vague fate bullshit. But now that he got a glimpse of Galen's fury. And he had had his back to a crate. Her prediction terrorfied him. So he ran. Like a coward. Ugh. Too much of him wanted to just take off. If he knew what was good for him, he'd double back to his ship and run. Let everything burn behind him. And at the same time, he didn't think he could live with himself. Deep in his gut he knew the cure and Vorlon hinged on Galen. Gotta ride it out. See if this fate stuff was avoidable. Maybe it was like in A Christmas Carol, and the visions were just what might be, not what will be. Besides, he survived this time. That began to calm him.
Ahead, a locked round hatch barred his way. A command sent to his daemon still camped out in Galen's probe network unlocked the door. It swung open in time to give him access into the shaft that led up to the bridge. The daemon also warned him, Galen had logged on and tracked him. If Galen meant to kill, he'd move fast to cut him off. Nope, Galen practically sauntered.
As Fed accelerated up the shaft dodging the descending elevator, he pulled himself together. What to do with this shit soup he'd created? For sure he'd have to avoid Galen until he came up with a plan or some reasonable excuse. At least give Galen time to simmer down, because as calm returned to Fed, he realized there was no way Galen would kill him. Not until he squeezed him like a tube of toothpaste for information about Mars. They were a couple days out still. Plenty of time for squeezing.
As he slowly ascended up the elevator shaft, he worked the problem. When the Order fled the Shadows, Fed witnessed, first hand, Elric puppet master their scheme to get away. The man had made it look so easy. It was not. The only easy thing was how easily Fed fucked everything up. And he'd been so sure it was all going great. Nope. He had to do better.
The problem was there was no way to beat Galen head on. Too smart and powerful. Then again, there were a few things Fed was better at than Galen. He was faster. Hacking for sure. Talking to the ladies, and socializing in general. His plan had worked until he gave something away in his cabin. Perhaps he pushed too hard, seemed too eager. And so maybe they weren't mismatched in cleverness. Anyway, he'd have to work his strengths. Otherwise, Galen would make him talk. Unless... he couldn't. What was it that Gwynn had suggested- a forced vacation. Ya.
Fed frantically patted his jacket. He'd worn this one when he left the hiding place. It had to still be in here. He found Celaene's actual gift to him for his trip to Vorlon. Not her useless paranoia inducing visions. In the breast pocket he found the small slim case she'd given him. Just incase Rhea needed sedating on Vorlon, she'd said.
Pushing the flush side button, the metal case sprang open in his palm. The row of small injectors lined the inside neatly. Mostly blue coated vials, and one green one. A full dose from a blue injector would knock out the toughest technomage for 2 days, a normal for double that, she said. The green coated injector had the counter agent to wake them back up. He removed the green one, and snapped it in half. The precious liquid slipped between his fingers. He tossed the glass halves against the shaft, smashing it and wiped his hands on his pants. He removed one of the blue injectors and admired it. As a last resort, if he had too, he'd use it. Until then, let the avoidance and delaying game start.
At the top he commanded the bridge level open. The doors parted to reveal a waiting crowd. A crewman, paying attention only to the pad in his hand, stepped in the elevator-less shaft. Everyone gasped. Fed's arm shot out and pushed the man back from walking into air.
"Watch that first step, it's a doozie," Fed said with a manic cackle. The crewman's face went white as he clutched his pad to his chest. The murmuring crowd parted to let Fed through.
Down the hall Sarah, and Captain Gideon turned toward the disturbance. Bingo. Galen would never confront him while he was in the presence of others. Either of them would make the perfect shield. He had to stay glued to one of them. And he knew which he preferred.
Fed yelled down the hall, "Sarah! Just the person I was looking for."
—-
In the swirling madness of hyperspace, the Drakh mothership signaled the Masters of the fleet to correct their course. They obeyed. And aimed to destroy their target, the Excalibur.
—-
Stepping out of the lift on the bridge level, Galen heard Fed's laughter echo down the hall. The abrupt cut-off meant Fed saw him. The crew automatically pressed themselves to the walls, out of Galen's way. By the conference room Fed faced down the hall, and, casually elbow leaned against the wall chatting up Dr. Chambers.
As he strode closer to them, he overheard them. Dr. Chambers, with her back to him, had become an unwitting shield. Galen frowned. A shrewd move on Fed's part, in the short term.
Loudly, Fed said, "Funny you should ask. I've always thought we could use an outside perspective. So I'm like 100% for it. I've got some pull, I'll see what we can arrange."
Galen silently approached Dr. Chambers from behind she answered Fed, "It'll be months before I can take a sabbatical…" She jumped startled, "Oh! Galen. Have you seen Dureena?"
With his own surprised reaction, Galen glanced about. Typically Dureena preferred to be under foot at every meeting, whether she had been invited or not.
"No," Galen said. New unease coiled around him.
The Doctor said, "Probably just sleeping in. The Captain wanted to start as soon as you got here. She'll just have to catch up." She pointed at the open door across the hall.
Jealousy ignited and stoked the fire inside Galen. As he focused on Fed's ridiculous grin, Galen couldn't help picture how Fed could've caused Dureena's sleeping in. He clamped down on his autonomic reaction, plateauing his anger.
When they locked eyes, Galen sent Fed a message. /Rather cowardly of you to use the doctor as a shield. And pointless. You and I will have a reckoning./
Fed's adam apple bobbed as he gulped hugely. Without responding to Galen, Fed said to Dr. Chambers, "Let's not keep the audience waiting." Fed held out his arm to Dr. Chambers as if to escort her into a ballroom. Not taking the offered arm, she wavered back and forth between the men, picking up on their tension.
"Ya. Let's get to it," Matthew said from inside the door, as another witness to the tense exchange. Going first, Dr Chambers made her way into the room, Fed glued to her side, Galen behind.
Even though Maximilian and Dureena were missing, the room felt full as the section heads already sat in place about the table. Matthew stoically planted himself at the side exit to the bridge.
Fed announced to the room, "Do we really need to stare at that crap the whole time?" He pointed to the big screen which showed the tactical display of the pair of Drakh cruisers he'd misdirected. "There's no way the Drakh'll catch on. Put up something interesting, like a sunset, or lolcat vids, or... oh I know, the meme stream."
While Galen seethed at Fed's tomfoolery, somehow Matthew ignored Fed's juvenile comments. Even though to Galen it was obvious that the Drakh cruisers had not wandered near far enough. They were very much still a danger to the Excalibur and her mission.
With a shout of hey oh, at the table Fed began to juggle candy bars. Well he tried to anyway. Clearly, without skill, Fed kept dropping them in the middle of the conference table next to the bemused Doctor.
"Who wants a sugar rush during the tedious parts, and by tedious parts I mean all of it?" Fed asked. The head of engineering's hand shot up immediately. Fed chucked one at him.
"Galen. Quick word," Matthew said with a head jerk to the quiet hall connecting them to the bridge.
Once they were alone together, Matthew whispered, "I don't like what I'm seeing. Whatever is going on between you and your friend, I don't want it to spill out here." Matthew pointed beneath his feet. "And when we're done, stay behind. I want to discuss-"
Galen cut him off. "Let me guess. Something about not to going to Mars." Matthew didn't react. That impressed Galen, for it meant Matthew had thought that far ahead.
"That took less time than I thought it would," Matthew said, coolly.
"You can't trust him Matthew," Galen said emphatically.
Matthew planted his hands on his hips. The annoyance oddly directed at him and not where it rightly belonged, at Fed.
The response from Matthew fell away when Fed suddenly yelled, "No way!" Frozen, wide-eyed shock replaced his jovial clown act. The candy bars landed with thumps, forgotten, strewn across the table. He kicked a chair out his way. Then sprinted out the door.
Anxiously Matthew pointed after Fed, "What was that about?"
After a frustrated exhalation, Galen said, "Perhaps he ran out of ways to make himself look like an..." Idiot. The last word died in his mind as the warning messages poured in from his ship.
/Course change detected : Darkh cruiser marked 1, Darkh cruiser marked 2. Now on intercept course./
/Perimeter warning: Darkh carrier, collision course noted. Marking hostile 3. Darkh cruiser, collision course noted. Marking hostile 4. Darkh cruiser, collision course noted. Marking.../
/Silence warnings. Show me the whole./ Galen sent back. Immediately, his ship echoed back a three dimensional view of the Excalibur cutting through hyperspace. The misdirected cruisers had corrected their course and headed for them now. And worse, directly in the Excalibur's path, an entire Drakh carrier group had appeared out of nowhere. Soon they'd be cut off, surrounded. And hours before the first whitestar would reach them. No wonder Fed ran. A rat fleeing a sinking ship.
"Talk to me Galen," An agitated Matthew demanded.
"Fed should've waited for me to say, I told you so."
—-
When the red alert flashed, everyone rushed to their stations. Alone, Galen and Matthew remained and watched the Drakh maneuver themselves on the conference room monitor.
"I don't see how we survive this," Matthew said under his breath, summing up Galen's thoughts. "Unless you have a secret fleet you've been hiding from me."
Galen didn't bother to answer with the obvious no. His problems with Fed, the Order, Mars, seemed far smaller suddenly. The Drakh had detected the ruse which meant they were cleverer than Fed supposed or they had spys either aboard the Excalibur, or high up in EarthForce. The black maw of hopelessness threatened to swallow him.
"Can you sneak past them on your ship? If you can, take the cure while we distract them," Matthew said, desperate for a plan.
There was a time when the Drakh did not react to him or other technomages. They were both products of Shadow engineering after all. Like knew like. Until Galen helped Earth survive their planet destroyer and the plague started. Since then the Drakh had evolved. The Drakh on Centauri Prime reacted to him. Gwynn, Finian and himself had to keep their distance or be heavily cloaked to stay hidden. And perfectly cloaking something the size of his ship was simply not possible.
Galen said, "That will not work as they would detect my ship."
Matthew sagged. "Any other ideas?"
"Yes," said Galen simply. Galen leaned forward and touched the screen. Sending forth a communication daemon, it used the Excalibur's system to amplify a broadcast, beamed at the incoming Drakh ships.
Superimposed on every screen, a miniature cloaked and hooded figure of Galen stood on the burning rune for destruction. The tiny figure of Galen spoke, coldly threatening, "To all Drakh. This ship and all aboard her are under my protection. Withdraw, or face my wrath. This will be your only warning." When he was done, Galen checked the trajectory of the Drakh fleet. It had not altered.
With a raised eyebrow, Matthew gave Galen a look that silently asked if Galen actually thought that would work.
"It was worth a try." Galen offered with a shrug. "Besides, this way I'll feel better after I destroy them all." Galen said with feigned arrogance.
Matthew said, "I'll be on the bridge if you come up with a real plan. In the meantime, we'll find a dense asteroid field, or ... Something to make it harder on them to hit us." Matthew double timed past. At the door Matthew stopped short to say, "And if you have anymore First Ones up your sleeve, now's the time to call in favors."
A ray of hope blossomed in Galen's chest. The Finger of God had taken a liking to Dureena. It might help defend them. Perhaps it'd call it's greater whole, it's giant mothership, the Hand of God. His feet carried him toward Dureena's quarters.
The last, and only, time he entered her space had been one of his most uncomfortable. At the time he told himself it was because of her undersized decor, and that he came hat in hand to convince her to support his mission to the Well of Forever. In truth, he'd known it'd extract a cost. It did. The worst sort of cost. An emotional one. Relentlessly, she pushed him with her keen questioning. She saw through him, and wedged him open. That lead to his admission aloud of the question that unlocked his heart. Why? The universe took Isabelle but left a wretch like him to struggle on alone.
What cost would this entering her space have this time? Perhaps a jealous outburst once he saw her after her night with Fed. And she'd notice the smallest reaction from him. Could he control himself?
At her assigned quarters, a deck below, Galen pressed the chime to gain admission. If it were anyone else, he'd let himself in. But the thought of invading her private space still made him too uneasy. Indeed, her quarters were the one place he'd deliberately not planted a probe.
When nothing happened for too long, his lingering unease evaporated. She should have heard the red alert. Really, it surprised him she did not roam the bridge already looking to help. With touch of her door, he over-road her lock.
"Dureena," he announced himself as he entered.
The lights were low, as if night hadn't ended. A disturbance obvious with her ridiculously tiny chairs thrown aside, his eyes frantically scanned as he strode to the room's center. He gasped when he found her. In the corner, by her makeshift altar, her body curled into a naked ball. Her skin bright red as if sun burned from scalp to toes. For a horrific moment he thought her dead, until rushing to kneel at her side his fingertips scanned her neck pulse. Her heart beat furiously. His scanning eyes saw the subtle sub-capillary sized weave of silver just under her skin. A loose mesh- on her back, arms, legs. Everywhere. The Sword did this.
"Dureena can you hear me?" Shallow panting met his question. He rolled her over flat onto her back. With a harsh intake of breath, he gasped when he saw her laid bare before him. Tanned muscles extended, strung like bow strings. Scars, healed slashes on her thighs, lower abdomen. No fresh wounds. Just the hard, large bosomed Artemis from his dreams tinted red. With a deliberate blink, he ended his idiotic leer and scooped her up in his arms. As he cradled her, he took a step toward the door intent on taking her to MedLab.
No. The message flashed in his mind from the Sword.
"What did you do to her?" Galen demanded aloud striding for the door. The Sword froze him. Again. Just as it had back on the orbital where they found the cure.
I'm inside her, like you are in your dreams.
The ba dum tss of a drum roll after a delivered punchline stimulated the auditory processing center of his brain. They arrived with images, crisp and detailed, from dreams Galen refused to acknowledge- Dureena and him nakedly intertwined, his arms encircling her as … Embarrassed fury blossomed in Galen's chest.
/Damn you./ Galen sent back, like a spear.
Skittering echoed in his mind. It thought all this a joke.
Your lizard brain created those images meatbag. Not me. Count yourself lucky I didn't pull the long one with you, Dureena and your dead mate.
Gritting his teeth, failing to will himself to move, Galen shot back at it. /You obscene rusty pile of old scrap./
I perfectly kept my promises. Images of Dureena and it talking played through his mind. Her eager agreement to the Sword's offer, hitting all three points precisely as Galen asked. You deserve punishment for violating our agreement.
/You've hurt her./
It's no worse than when you let your masters filled you with their meat, and chaos. Our integration will take time, but she will recover. I will not let her die.
/Good because the Drakh have found us. And they will not hesitate to kill us all if you do not help me./
No insulting answer came, as Galen waited, stiff as a corpse. When it unfroze him suddenly, the weight of Dureena in his arms, threw off his center. Galen stumbled forward. Her bunk caught their momentum. She groaned when he clumsily landed on her crosswise on her bed. Straightening up, he quickly covered her with one of the fake furs she had heaped at the foot of her bed. With a tracing finger to her neck and temple, he confirmed her pulse remained strong. The Sword would not allow her to be removed to MedLab. Not that Doctor Chambers could do much more than simply monitor her. With the coming battle, she would be safest in MedLab. He would have to use the Doctor to care for her and get her there. Maybe the Sword would allow Doctor Chambers to remove her to MedLab.
For now, what could he do? The thing compared what it did to her to what he underwent at his initiation. What had he felt afterward... Numbed pain. Disoriented. Thirsty. His feet carried him to the sink. Filling a small clay jug with water from her small sink, he returned to Dureena's side, placing it and a tiny mug next to her. Next he opened his probe in MedLab, and sent a private message to Dr Chambers- There is a medical emergency in Dureena's quarters. She is … He wasn't sure how much to say. Best to leave it vague…injured. I am unsure how severely. Come immediately, please. He finished, polite this time, and sent it off.
Once again he didn't know what more to do for Dureena, or how to get the Sword to cooperate.
Dureena stirred, with a restless moan. Galen kneeled down and spoke in her ear, "Dureena if you can hear me, you must tell the Sword to help me."
When her lips moved he strained to listen and made out a few words, " … metal … power … revenge …" Well. Focused as ever. But not helpful. On the ultra high frequency it used to communicate, he pushed and forced open communication.
/You have to help me save the Excalibur and get the cure to Earth./
Not my job.
Galen let out a disbelieving grunt. /The Drakh will not discriminate. You and Dureena are in as much danger as the rest of us. If you will not help, you must call your greater self to help me./
Not it.
Galen felt like throwing a fireball across the room. With one more push, he pleaded with it. /I need an ally. Help me defend them./
Burning runes appeared before his face. A human contribution to the technomage runic language created by the first technomages, the Taramitude. A rune used often by his fellow human mages. The burning, stylized fused f and o for fuck off danced at his eye level.
Distracted by this, he wasn't prepared when the distortion twisted his body. That sick-making sense of inversion struck and dismissed him, again.
#
He was horizontal. His sight saturated to white. His hearing overwhelmed by words sung too loud.
So always look on the bright side of death
Sight returned. Face down at a gray metal floor, he hovered for a second.
Just before you draw your terminal breath
Enough feet above the decking that, when he landed heavily,
Life's a piece shit, When you look at it
It knocked the breath out of his lungs.
Life's a laugh, and death's a joke, it's true
He rolled to his side with a groan.
You'll see it's all a show, just keep'em laughin as you go
He was back in the bright cluttered cabin.
Just remember the last laugh is on you
Sprawled by a pair of booted feet.
And … Always look on the bright side of life…
Abruptly the music faded to silent. Galen wanted to fight. Energy built within his tech, eager to help. With hands out and ready, Galen rolled sideways to his feet.
"You can teleport now." Fed stumbled back in a half-crouch, with slack-jawed awe, eyes wide.
Pulsing energy surged in Galen's spine. A fireball grew in one hand.
"I won't fight you Galen," Fed pleaded. Matching Galen's pose, Fed had one open hand and now one black-metal, skeletal one which clutched a roasted turkey leg like a defensive club.
Taking in Fed's face finally, Galen read the fear in the other man's eyes wideness. His loud flamboyant clothes replaced with a night black unitard that sparkled with tiny crystals making him look like a goth figure-skater. With no shield, and a roasted leg as his only defense, Fed cut a pathetic figure. The opposite of any one's enemy.
His tech's energy retreated and with it his fireball extinguished. When he demanded the Sword for help, the obnoxious thing dumped him here. For better or worse, probably far worse, Fed was his ally in this fight. Mars and the Circle's secret plans would have to wait for when, really if, they survived. United they'd be harder to kill. Perhaps together they could come up with a plan. If he could get Fed to stay.
After a stilling breathe, he and his tech calmed fully. Galen glanced around as he considered how to proceed. Most of crates and objects that filled the cabin had been shoved to the walls creating a clear space in the center. Beside them a giant metal sphere nested in the remnants of the unfurled faraday cage. It shone to a silvery high gloss. This must be the CREW from the crate he had scanned yesterday. An indented channel, that glowed blue, bisected it at its equator. A pair of doors stuck open at the top as if it was but a giant toy having its batteries replaced. Small cylinders and a ribbon of some sort floated through the air and fed themselves to the machine with a clicky-click through the door.
A parade of tiny, mirrored metal, square plates piled up around Fed's feet, dumped there by a trail of robotic ants crawling up out of a grate in the floor. On their own, one by one, the small plates floated and latched themselves to crystals on his unitard. They overlapped and sparkled like fish scales.
It hit Galen then. "You're not running away," Galen observed fully ending their standoff.
As his bearded cheeks reddened, Fed straightened out of his defensive crouch. Then bit a chunk out of the turkey leg, and chewed thoughtfully. With a shrug, he said, "Considered it before the escape window closed. But, I'd never live it down. Aky would never talk to me again. Neither would Gwynn, but she'd probably punch me first. Fin would talk to me even more, but only to work the word chicken into every conversation."
Galen nodded, with a confused swirl of relieved surprise, and mistrust. "The cure must make it back," His arm swept between Fed and himself, "A truce until the Drakh are dealt with. But mark my words. You will tell me everything about Mars. And you will answer my questions, either voluntarily or in a way you can not refuse." Galen hoped Fed understood the seriousness of his threat to use coercive spells if he must.
Fed took another bite, chewing on the meaning of Galen's words as much as meat. A sad smile shifted Fed's beard around, "Fair enough. … What do you think our odds are?"
With an hopeless sweep of the arm, Galen answered, "Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily."
Fed truly smiled for the first time since their confrontation. Mimicking Galen's arm sweep, he said, "I'll go with …Yippy kiay, motherfuckers."
Not quite taking his meaning, Galen assumed he meant stand and fight. Except that meant certain death unless they came up with some sort of trick or ruse. The tiny plated kites kept adding themselves to Fed's unitard. It was armor of some sort Galen suddenly realized. Caught staring Fed explained, "Miostro's toy, for those of us who aren't teched or whose shields just plain suck, like yours truly." He bowed with an arrogant smirk at Galen as if that was something to be proud of, then went on, "So I don't catch Kane's case of spikes in the chest."
A chime interrupted them with the last loaded clink of components into the CREW. Its doors snapped shut. The equator glow switched from blue to red, as it levitated up out of its nest. It shuddered and wobbled slightly. Galen arched his eyebrow at Fed. With a jerk of his head backwards, Galen retreated from the thing several steps, pulling Fed with him. The sphere began to spin in place.
Fed waved dismissively. "No worries. It's Hera's toy. Her newest version of her whirling dervish. Rock solid tech but… She left the firmware implementation to me." He waved the turkey leg at the CREW like a conductor. The shuddering stopped. "Firmware's good … mostly. I um … didn't totally debug my code." They both eyed the sphere with suspicion. "Probably should have finished that instead of binge-watching All My Circuits on my way to the Excalibur. Oh well. I'm sure it'll work out."
"Why in Weirdan's name would you …" A different louder ping interrupted Galen's judging Fed's preference for lazily watching stupid vids when there was work to be done.
"Awesome. They're done," Fed said cheerfully. The last of the tiny plates settled in place, leaving only Fed's head, hands and feet bare of metal scales.
Three tiny snarling leathery erupted out of Fed's neck, clamoring to the ground. They ran around Fed's feet cackling Ring Around The Rosy. Each carried a overly large sack, which leaked glowing gold coins.
To Galen's questioning look, Fed said, "Had my ship's navigation, weapons and tactical daemons run some sims."
All the lights went dark except one. Galen and Fed floated in a spot of light amidst darkness that extended to absolute black. Before them, the coin droppings arranged themselves in a grid. The first one grew, morphed to a vid showing a miniature simulation. Lines of the Drakh ships engaging and fighting the Excalibur lit up in a projected battle that fast forwarded. A swarm of missiles flooded from Fed's ship, destroying every Drakh fighter. But not before the cruisers discharged their lethal strikes. The simulation froze at last with the Excalibur expanding in to a cloud of fiery debris. A giant red x superimposed itself over the dead ship's projection. The next coin went through much the same battle simulation but the ships seemed to take slightly different trajectories. The end was another red x. The rest of the coins began to run their own sims.
It did not surprise Galen that under that thick clownish cloak, Fed shrewdly grasped their situation. However, that he pivoted and threw together a useful, hard analysis that might actually help, astonished Galen. For it hadn't occurred to him to model the battle's outcomes. That was a good idea. As more and more coins added themselves to the grid sims, Galen's annoyance with Fed morphed to relief.
"What criteria do the red x's use precisely?" Galen asked.
"99+ percent failure."
The start of every simulation went well. At first. The Excalibur, with the help of their technomage ships, held their own. The entire Drakh fighter wing wiped away in a blink.
"What is that missile swarm from your ship that destroys all the Drakh fighters?" Galen asked.
Fed beamed proudly, "Another one of Hera's toys. She calls them SWITCH'es- Scout With Intelligent Tactics and Considerable Hit. They're sort of a militarized version of our mini-probes. They infiltrate, burrow their way in, then disable just about any fighter class or smaller. Hera let me take all ours." A pang of envy stabbed Galen. When he left the hiding place, or more accurately, when he was told to leave, he left virtually empty handed.
Despite the technomage ships and toys, and losing all her fighters, the sheer number advantage of the Drakh fleet always overwhelmed eventually. Red x after red x filled the grid of sims. Until the end. Surrounded by red x's, the last one flicked to yellow.
"Now we're cooking with gas. That's only 60+ percent chance of failure," Fed excitedly piped up. Galen groaned.
The coins stopped. Galen reached out and touched the sole yellow marked sim. The rest Fed dismissed and then joined Galen, analyzing it. It showed their technomage ships depositing the letters F and G, which Galen assumed stood for himself and Fed near a Drakh cruiser. The letters entered the Drakh cruiser, and kamikazed the thing into its neighbor. The F and G then proceeded to the next nearest Drakh ship. This repeated until no large enemy ships were left. The simulation ended with every major ship destroyed. Unfortunately, including the Excalibur, both technomage ships and the letter F. The only things that escaped the carnage, the letter G and a shuttle, with a Cure label on it.
Not good enough, Galen thought. Taking out one Drakh ship at a time cost too much time. They needed to be faster- destroy, confuse or take control the Drakh fleet all at once. An idea stirred.
"Tell me precisely how you hacked a Drakh navigation system."
With surprise, Fed slowly explained, "I um … Snuck aboard, cloaked myself, wandered the ship for awhile. Snooped, well tried to. Their network is ultra-secure. Encrypted up the wazoo. Every port had multi-factor authentication. I sharked their bit-streams, but couldn't decrypt any of it. Then I thought when you can't hack in, you gotta get tricky. Turn to social engineering stuff." Galen's foot began to tap with impatience at Fed's long winded explanation. In this way he was too much like his old master. But he did not interrupt and instead bit his lip. "Gwynn loves to lecture me about what she's learned on Centauri Prime. She told me the Drakh are strictly hierarchical, mostly drones, controlled by a few big-brained Masters covered in keepers. When one of them gets too old or broken, they don't fix them. They keep the working bits, compost the rest. Recycling at its grossest, hurray." Fed feebly cheered.
Inside his mind, he watched the Excalibur enter asteroid filled space. Galen lost his patience, and sped along Fed's rambling lecture. "I'm well aware. I've spent considerable time with Gwynn and Finnian on Centauri Prime. Let's focus shall we on answering my actual question. How did you take control of their navigation?"
Fed rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Oh right... Went looking for their morgue. I found it," He whistled, and shuddered. "It was eeewtastic. Lots of parts on hooks. I grabbed all the keepers I could find. Had to experiment. Tried them one by one. Lucky we're compatible. Keeper umbilical fits our ports." Fed tapped the back of his neck. "Total yuckfest. Until boom, found a working navigator's keeper. Let me right in to their nav system. And better yet, decrypted their whole data stream."
That was a dangerous game Fed played. Only Master Drakhs produced keepers. Fed got lucky that the old navigator's keeper was one, compatible with their technomage neck port. And two, Fed could control the keeper and not the other way around.
Galen asked, "Could you take over more than just navigation?"
"No. The navigator's keeper was function and ship scope limited."
Galen said, "Could you see how they communicate between ships."
Fed looked at him confused but answered, "Ya."
Thinking, Galen vibrated with energy as he watched the Drakh fleet deploy to encircle the Excalibur. His plan took shape. Galen asked, "Could you see how they coordinated ships, issued new orders or changed deployments?"
"Ya. Everything between ships goes through the ships Master Darkh." Fed answered with a pinched questioning look.
Excited now, Galen asked, "Could you imitate a Master, insert yourself, release a disruption techno-virus in their inter-ship command and control?"
Fed's face soured. "Look Galen. I thought of all that already. Won't work. First, you'd need to catch a Master Drakh, then pull it apart to find the right key keeper, to unlock their com system. You were on Centauri Prime you know how impossible it is to find one of their Masters. They hide 24/7." They were back in the clutter of Fed's main brightly colored cabin now.
"But could you if you had a Master Drakh's key keeper," Galen emphasized.
"Um… huh," Fed said, a finger scratching his bearded jaw as he stared at the ceiling.
Galen grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him until he focused on Galen's face. "This is vital: yes or no?"
"Ya, ya sure. But look, I spent hours on their cruiser and never even caught whiff of its Master. Forget about how long it'd take to figure out which keeper on him is the one I need, and not to mention getting the gross thing to cooperate."
"Leave that to me," Galen said. Fed's eyes lit up with surprise and hope that Galen was beginning to feel. While Fed could not locate the Master Drakh, Galen knew. On their mission where Kane died, Gwynn told him she interrogated a Drakh drone with simple coercion spells, making the drone answer all her questions. She said the drones were easily coercible. And Galen had more skill at coercion than Gwynn. Once aboard he would find a drone and use it like a bloodhound to lead him to their Master. Coercing a Master Drakh would no doubt prove tricky, but he'd do his best.
A plan solidified. "Let us make haste to the nearest Drakh ship. Aboard you will secure their communication area and prepare a disruption spell. I will bring you a compliant Master Drakh and make it give you a compliant key keeper."
"Seriously? You can find a Master and make it hand over it's keeper? You sure?"
"No, but I have no choice. Since I must, I will."
Fed's beard shifted around, settling on a sly smile. "Wow that's… better than good, it's good enough."
Galen frowned at his joking and added, "We should leave our ships behind, to defend the Excalibur as your simulations suggested."
Fed nodded. "And slave yours to mine." Galen opened his mouth to argue but Fed cut him off pointing at the extra machinery snaking around his main cabin, "I got our latest tactical AIs, upgraded shields and weapons. Our ships'll be more effective if your ship listens to mine."
Reluctantly he had to agree. Galen conveyed the order to his ship, which bristled at the assigned subservient role but would obey.
"Let's kick some Drakh ass," Fed said, slapping Galen on the back.
The sense of calm relief, that at least he would not be alone in the horrors to come, suffused Galen. As he opened a channel to inform Matthew of their plan, he allowed himself to hope.
#
Protected in a shadow shield, Galen crouched on a platform as he sped out of his ship's airlock toward the nearest Drakh cruiser. With a glance back, he watched Fed cartwheel out, leading the CREW sphere on a cable, like dragging a lazy dog for a walk. A swarm of little metal ovoids, the SWITCHes, poured out with him. With his scaled armor, Fed sparkled like some sort of fish swimming in the middle of a school of minnows. And with the fat fanny pack buckled around his waist, Fed looked more than well prepared. Since he had not watched Fed pack, Galen could only guess at what other state of the art technomage goodies Fed had secreted in there. Meanwhile Galen carried nothing but his staff.
With an irritated huff, Galen sent. /When I left the hiding place, the Circle only provided me with a boot to the ass. You get sent out like a prince with every new clockwork, and nick-nack made by the Circle./
Fed sent him, /I told you then, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. It's still true./ Galen couldn't help but smile.
As he calculated their fastest survivable approach at the cruiser, the swarm of SWITCHes peeled off. They'd remain behind to take up their stations between the Excalibur and Drakh carrier group.
Soon they were specks in the great blackness. As they accelerated to match their speed for their rendezvous, Galen flew straight and true. While Fed, spiralled about him, all sugared toddler, complete with broadcasted whoops that Galen had to filter out. A pulse of scanning laser light lit washed over Galen. His shield hid him from the Drakh but not Fed and his toys.
/They've scanned you and when you're close enough they'll fire. I believe my shield can protect us both but only if you are directly behind me./ Galen sent hoping to calm Fed's exuberance. The cartwheeling immediately stopped. Fed settled behind Galen, sitting cross-legged on the CREW. With the CREW sphere digging into his back, Galen could barely wrap them both in a Shadow shield.
/So how we gonna board?/ Fed asked.
Galen had given that some thought. Play to their own strengths, so Galen sent to Fed, /When we hit their ship, draw their attention. I want their Master to think you are the only one of us aboard. Secure their communications relay and wait for me there./
/You got it boss. That's on the their bridge. Center-topside./ Fed sent him an image, the schematic of the ship highlighting the major sections.
Another beam from the cruiser bathed them. The energy dissipated easily. Final range finding and precise targeting. Immediately Galen cast more layers of shielding. As he added layers, several weapon beams concentrated on them at once. Followed by a great central beam. His shield layers collapsed, peeling off like onion skins, but held long enough to leave them unscathed.
/You are the King of this boss level./ Fed broadcasted to him, followed by woohoos. Galen try to ignore him.
The organic yellow-black Drakh cruiser rapidly grew ahead. As it recharged, Galen busily rebuilt his layered shields, just as another barrage hit. Layers rippled, dissolved. Once again they held long enough until they were too close for more direct fire. So far so good.
As they approached the distinct forward pincers of the giant ship Galen sent. /Go forward. I'll go aft./
Galen hurled a sphere of destruction at the front of the cruiser, pockmarking the ship's nose with a perfectly round hole. Fed surged ahead with an impressive display of speed. Swinging the CREW around so that it was before him, Fed whipped his arm like a cowboy behind it. A burst of fireworks lit him up.
/You're supposed to tell me- Use the force Luke./ Fed broadcast at him. Galen had no idea what Fed meant. The CREW streaked ahead of him, and smoothly pivoted orthogonally in the dark hole, out of view. Deliberately, Fed landed short, on the skin of the ship. He moved his fanny pack to his back. A pair of large red fanged demons burst out of his chest and charged through the breeching hole. Finally, surprisingly cautious, Fed slipped in behind them through the breech. Flashes of explosions lit up the dark hole as Galen flew pass.
Hugging the haul Galen continued along the main body. At the rear, at a hatch, Galen gently touched down, dissolving his platform. Finding an access panel, he re-tracked his shield just enough to touch the panel with a bare hand. He fused with the biocircuits, and asked for entry. It obeyed him allowing him silent access to an airlock. Completely dark at visible wavelengths, at lower infrared frequencies he could make out the spherical space. Repeating his fusion with the far doors, he left both doors opened, baiting his trap. Atmosphere seeped past him from the dimly lit hall beyond.
Galen pushed his way past into a dark yellow-walled hallway. A large hangar to his left lit dimly but hummed with activity. To the right, a hallway receded into quiet darkness. A pair of Drakh drones sprinted out from the hangar. Still hidden, they ran past Galen without notice. At the nearest ajar airlock door, one vomited thick black goo on the breach. The second shaped it, spinning tendrils across the breach to form a woven organic black skin.
Galen grabbed both by the back of the neck. Asserting his will through his tech, he cast simple coercion spells at both. STOP. OBEY. Both slowed. The only sound, the faint hiss of air escaped by the unsealed bits of the airlock. Soon an acknowledging echo of obedience reflected back from both Drakh drones. Like a pair of well trained dogs the pair obeyed and stopped.
Galen commanded the formly vomiting one. TAKE me to your Master. The echo back, a confused whimper. The Drakh drone could not obey. It had no idea where its Master was. Galen repeated his spell at the other. Same response. It was Galen's turn to be confused. Apparently the Master hid even from its own. Not anticipating this, his mind rapidly cast about for another way to find the Master. Perhaps these two were too lowly.
Rumblings vibrated the air from further up the ship.
In desperation, Galen sent to both, WHERE did you last see your Master. The answer from both, an image of a Drakh, with glowing yellow eyes, and more elaborate horns on its head stood above them in some sort of engine room overlooking them work.
WHERE is that. Their answer- central nexus, came with a precise impression of how to get there. With the schematic Fed provided, he knew it was the heart of the ship, under the bridge.
To the Drakh he commanded, FORGET. IGNORE me. END control. His spell left them to their work on sealing the hissing airlock.
Galen, hidden and shielded again, shot down the hall on a platform as fast as he could. The hallway widened as several merged. He passed slower red-eyed soldier Drakh jogging forward, rifles in hand, no doubt drawn by Fed's attack. Galen grabbed the last soldier in line. The other Drakh continued on their way without noticing. Repeating his line of questioning, this Drakh also had no idea where the Master was. When asked where he had last seen it, it showed him the Master carefully stroking and tucking this soldier Drakh into a pod, in some sort of barrack like room. Galen released the Drakh, and let it go on its way. Beginning to worry, he grabbed more Drakh as he made his way forward to the center of the ship. None knew the location of the Master.
The ship shuddered as a boom echoed and jostled the ship. A message from Fed, /They're throwing everything at me. This is NOT fun. Gonna PTSD from this shit. Tell me you're almost done./
Everyone's life depended on him. And he still had no idea how to find the Master. He was failing. Badly. In an emotional panic, he entered what the first Drakh he interrogated called the central nexus. In the center, dark tendrils converged and wrapped around a glowing spherical core. A railing-less catwalk surrounded it in a ring at its center. Some sort of reactor and an energy distribution center. It was empty of Drakh and eerily silent.
/Galen? Are you okay?/
No. The word failure burned his mind. But he could make himself to stop. Galen forced calm, letting his tech play with his blood and brain chemistry to neutralize the stress hormones.
/I'm working on it./ He answered Fed.
/Work fast. The SWITCHes took out their fighters but the Excalibur is about to get hit bad. I made it to the bridge, at the comm relay, not sure how long I can hold out./
As his tech filtered his blood and altered his mental state, Galen's mood stabilized, his mind cleared. He approached the glowing nexus and tried to think the problem through. The Master was like the captain, or brain of the ship. It had to be aboard somewhere. Yet the Master hid from its own drones, from its own people. Much like Galen did. Only his ship knew where Galen came and went. Suddenly he saw the answer. This ship. The Drakh cruiser was organic, alive. Perhaps it knew. But this thing was enormous. Far too big to coerce. Yet, he could ask. Maybe get an answer.
Long strides brought him to the encircling catwalk, and the nearest thick tendril. His staff in one hand, he sank his other hand into the nearest black cord. His tech connected and made his request clear using a shadow communication spell. The response was immediate. It has always been with you.
Galen spun around. A group of Drakh soldiers materialized out of a shimmering blackness. Behind them, a large horned yellow-eyed Drakh stepped out of the shadows. This was the Master. And it had been following Galen the entire time. Simply watched him, hidden. It stood relaxed, behind it's wall of protection. The soldier Drakh aimed their enormous needle guns at him. The soldiers fired. Their arm sized needles slammed into his shadow shield, by the dozen. His shield absorb their destructive energies. They slowed, to where he could pluck them out of the shield wall if he chose. Then they stopped. His shadow shield sloughed off the needles, sending them cascading and clinking to the floor at his feet. In his hands he formed sphere after sphere and sent one at the each soldier. In a blink they were all dead and gone.
The Master did not hesitate. It ran for the door, fading into the shadows. Dropping his shield, Galen threw his staff like a javelin ahead of the Master. His staff discharged a ball of blinding white light energy revealing the Master to visible again. The blast knocked the Master to the decking. With a platform, Galen catapulted himself at the Master. They connected with Galen landing on top of its chest. Intertwined, they grappled on the ground. Desperately, he tried to get his hands on the Master's head to cast a coercion spell on it. His tech amped his muscle strength. Like a mother lifting a rock off a trapped child, Galen broke the Master's grip on his wrists and grabbed either side of its head.
STOP. OBEY. Galen cast the basic coercion equation spell. The same one he had used on all the other Drakh.
Instead of obedience, an echoed alien scream, "Betrayer." Followed by a deep sense of loathing and murderous rage.
A tentacle emerged from the Master's shoulder. It whipped at Galen's face. With a crunching noise, Galen's head snapped back. His vision went black as he tasted blood. But he did not let go as the Drakh rolled them both over and pinned Galen to the ground. Its tentacle joined by its hands wrapped around Galen's throat. Galen threw more coercion spells at the Master, even the fourteen words. None penetrated the Master's resistance.
"Death to betrayers," The Master hissed at him as it squeezed the life from Galen. His vision went black at the edges. On instinct, Galen traced the branching tree of coercion spells. There at the root, a spell he'd never cast. The root shadow coercion spell would overwhelm and enslave another sentient. His tech saw Galen's intend and cast the base coercion spell on the Master Drakh. The tips of Galen's fingers fused with the Master's head, past bone, and tissue and into its brain. The Master threw itself backwards to flee his touch. But they had fused and so Galen's hands and body went with it. His tech's fine tendrils raced through the Master's brain, editing to break its will, to serve Galen. The Master howled, writhed and twisted with pain. To Galen it felt like ecstasy.
The glow of its yellow eyes faded to a dull red. Its hold loosened. Its tentacle went limp as it collapsed on top of Galen with one last defiant gasp. His spell finished. The tendrils, receded back into Galen's hand, ending their fusion. The release left Galen shivering with pleasure and disgust. Galen heaved the Master's bulk off him. He stood, and coughed sucking in air. Horrified by how that felt, once again Galen continued to let his tech regulate his neural chemistry. As he rubbed his aching throat, he never wanted to use that spell ever again.
The pain from his nose radiated through his head. Gingerly touching it, one nostril clogged with blood, his breathing labored Galen guess it broken. He blocked the pain receptors and ignored it.
"Get up and follow me." Galen hoarsely said testing his control. The Master immediately obeyed and stood with a disinterested vacant stare. Galen grabbed it by the scruff of its neck.
/I've got the Master. On my way./ He sent to Fed. No answer came. Galen swore. As he figured out how to get to the comm relay and Fed, he checked in with the tactical situation of the battle. The Excalibur floated recharging, having just fired its main gun crippling one of the Drakh cruisers. His and Fed's ships buzzed about the nearest Drakh ship, keeping it engaged and focused on not firing on the Excalibur. As he watched, another Drakh cruiser fired on the Excalibur, destroying its top nacelle, meaning it would no longer be able to fire its main gun.
/Do whatever it takes to keep the Excalibur safe./ He ordered his technomage ship. It echoed back a quick acknowledgment. He tried Fed again. /Fed? Are you alive?/
/Not for much longer./ Galen exhaled the breath he'd been holding.
The fastest route was up through the ceiling. With a new spell he designed after nearly losing his staff once, he summoned it. His staff hurtled back to his grip. He formed a platform under the Master and himself and shot upward. Shielded, he cast destruction ahead of him to cut through the bulkhead. He burst onto the cruiser's huge bridge through the floor and into the edge of a battle. In between, three concentric circles of ridges separated Galen from the center maelstrom. The ridges were divided by moats of viscous opaque liquid.
The bridge, a dark moist cavernous space, vented atmosphere from a hole to his left. Several drones anchored themselves at the edge of the ragged hole. They'd nearly sealed it. Their red lights cast a pale light about them. But the main light in the vast bridge came from the flashes of battle at the center. Brilliant white plasma shots from Fed's CREW failed to deter the Drakh horde pushing forward. In the center a mound of so many dead Drakh, that it looked like a raised dais to Galen at first. About it, the CREW, now quite dented and wobbling, went about its frenetic work, zipping around soundlessly. The thing shot, slammed or cut with a deployed blade into the horde of Drakh soldiers assaulting the center. Dead drakh lay everywhere. A grizzly testament to technomage might.
Fed was nowhere to be seen.
Galen raced closer with the Master in tow. "Order your soldiers to stop fighting and withdraw from the bridge." The legion of remaining Drakh froze, then moved to line up and retreat neatly from the bridge.
"Fed, where are you?" Galen shouted and sent an identical message. The center mound of bodies began to vibrate. A streak of black burst out, sending Drakh bodies roiling away. The fuzzy streaking form did a tight loop around Galen and dropped before him.
A helmeted Fed solidified before him. His bag gone, his sparkling armor broken, now mostly missing or fractured plates and covered in Drakh guts. Galen krinkled his nose at the accompanying viscera and smells.
Fed threw off his helmet, and hyperventilated. "Not sleeping well tonight. Definitely feeling the PTSD. Did you do that?" Fed said pointing to the neat line of Drakh soldiers marching out of the bridge. Fed didn't wait for an answer. "Obviously yes. You saved my pom poms. I owe you." Calming quickly, Fed smacked the middle of his chest. His fractured outer armor fell away, metallic glass shattering and cascading. The broken shards rained on his booted feet, leaving him in just a form fitting black unitard.
Giving the Master, which Galen still held by the neck, a shake like a christmas tree Galen ordered it, "Give us an obedient keeper to communicate with the rest of the Drakh fleet." The Master's hand roamed under its ample cloak.
In his mind's eye, Galen watched the space battle evolve. Many of the Excalibur's fighters tumbled, useless debris. As in the sims he watched the tide turn against the Excalibur. A Drakh cruiser had maneuvered close enough through the asteroid field to fire a salvo into the Excalibur's flank. His and Fed's ships pestered the yellow cruiser like wasps, but the onslaught would not stop. The continuous fire threatened to tear the Excalibur in two. When it fired it's main gun at the Excalibur, Fed's ship positioned itself in the line of fire, absorbing the blast, pulling through whole, and returning fire with a single warhead, that detonated with nuclear forced against its bridge. The Drakh cruiser tumbled away helplessly. The Excalibur saved but only for the moment as another Drakh ship took its place.
A message arrived from Galen's ship. /I've done all I can. May you find peace Master Galen./ He watched helplessly as his ship kamikazied into the center of the second cruiser, crippling it. The wave of pain from his ship's death staggered and blinded Galen. Only a a pair of arms wrapped around him kept him standing.
When he could see again, Fed's concerned eyes filled his vision. "I'm sorry Galen. I'll make sure you get a new ship."
The raw sense of loss sent a shudder through Galen. Still he shook off Fed's embrace and shoved him away. "Hurry, do your job." They both turned to the Master Drakh, which held out a glistening, writhing single eyed-tentacled mass. Fed scooped it up. Without hesitation, he jammed into the back of his neck. Then he shot off sideways to a console near the freshly repaired haul-breech. The dented CREW shuddered and trailed sluggishly behind Fed. Its extended blade threatening the Drakh drones working on better repairing the haul-breech.
Leaning on his staff, Galen pulled himself together. Its warmth suffused him as he joined his ally. Before him, Fed worked frantically, a swirl of tiny runes danced in the air. Fed's version of a disruptive techno-virus, manifested, and disappeared, inserting itself into the Drakh communication systems.
"It should be quick," Fed said. Galen silently returned to watch the colossal battle. The formerly orderly Drakh formation frayed, then pivoted. Their weapons fired in disorder in all directions. The movements of the Drakh ships became a confused mess. A smaller cruiser turned and clipped the tail of the carrier, sending both venting fires and off course. Sensing the turn, the Excalibur retreated and left the Drakh ships to their disarray. Quickly, the remaining Drakh ships formed jump points to disappear to hyperspace. Until only the inert Drakh ship they stood on remained. The battle had been survived.
"Ya!" Fed pumped a fist in the air. Galen sagged in relief against his staff.
"Are you hurt Galen?" Fed asked suddenly thoughtful. "Your nose-"
Galen had forgotten in the madness. With his hand, he adjusted the tip of his nose with a crunch, realigning it, and held it in place as his tech's organelles flooded the area to heal the break. "It'll be fine. The question is what to do with this ship?" Galen indicated all around.
"Destroy it?" Fed offered uncertain.
Galen reflected on what he knew of the Drakh and what he'd done to the Master. He could do with it as he pleased. "Come here," Galen called to the Master. It dutifully approached to stand vacant eyed by Galen. "After I leave, destroy all your weapons. Find a habitable planet devoid of other sentient life that will sustain you and your drones. Leave your ship in orbit. Never wage war again. Live in peace only talking what you need to live. Do you understand?"
"Yes," The Master hissed in its distant voice.
Galen focused on Fed, who silently studied him like he'd never seen his like before. "As for you… turn that off." Galen pointed at the CREW which thudded against the hull of the bridge like an out of control carnival ride.
Oddly nervous to Galen, Fed looked behind him, checking on or looking for something. There was nothing behind them but the haul. His hand raised, the CREW's blade retracted and went still as its bisecting light went from red to blue.
"This is your last chance. Please Fed, for my sake, your sake and the sake of the Order answer me truthfully. What is the Circle doing on Mars?"
Fed sighed sadly, "Or you can let it go." Hands up and out, Galen readied himself to cast. Fed answered his own question, "No? okay, then."
Too fast for Galen, Fed blurred. Hand flashed something small and blue. A vial stuck in neck. Galen lunged to grab Fed. Too slow. A smile passed over Fed's face as he crumbled to the ground.
In a small fading voice, Fed said, "Could use a, forced, … vacay…"
Galen cradled the limp body, and plucked the needlish blue vial from Fed's neck and pleaded, "You bloody clever fool. What have you done?!"