4: Ichor

"They were expecting us. There are several half-shielded drones and a large missile drone awaiting for us."

Our little robot, Floyd was waiting there as well. He had infinite ammo, could not be killed, and alerted us to the presence and general location of drones. My first target was the missile drone, whom I killed with a missile, while Vela and Floyd focused on the shielded drones. The door opened and we found a maze of watch towers, and other high points. We avoided most of the drones and jumped up to an 'L' shaped walkway with two doors. We entered the one perpendicular from our entrance. Inside was a narrow, winding passage with only a single missile drone guard. In a little alcove, She found a cluster bomb and a sniper rifle. The passage led to a room where we were on an elevated walkway overlooking the ground. There were glass panels near us that could be broken. We broke though the set that Vela could jump up to and the passage led us to an empty room with a platform and a hallway that Floyd could access. The little robot flew up to the hallway and had to retrieve 15 oil cans and reach the end within a certain time limit.

"He's so slow. Hey, does that suit have music?"

"Yeah, mostly ancient rock. Bands like; Pink Floyd, E.L.P., and Queen."

"Oh, play Queen, and start with 'Killer Queen"

We both enjoyed the song and began to sing along when 'Somebody To Love' began to play. Floyd returned as the chorus of 'Save Me' started. I shut off the music and we returned to our elevated walkway.

"Was there any purpose to going in there?"

"No, just to explore Ichor."

We dropped down and killed the drones patrolling underneath. The door led to several colour-coded, elevated platforms with colour-coded controls. I screw attacked over the gaps and landed in front of an access panel. After she had arranged the platforms so she could get to where I was, she activated the panel. A robot similar to Floyd appeared. He said his name was Diamond Geezer, and offered us ammo and health. Vela bought some ammo, than we continued onward. We were soon back outside and met a large drone force, including full-shield drones, unmanned ships, and two machine gun turrets. We fought or way through and found another building. Inside were crystals that could heal both of us and ammunition crates. We restocked and entered a lava chamber with a narrow, elevated platform. The platform began to move as we stepped upon it. Two drones appeared and began laughing as the platform moved parallel to the lava. From behind us came a large drone queen. We were limited to one-dimensional movement perpendicular to the plane of the lava. I began scanning the queen.

"How the hell can we kill it?"

"Her arms twinkle before she attacks, that would be a good place to start."

The queen had two attacks, summoning explosive larvae and shooting at us. Her pattern was predictable and both arms were soon destroyed. The guns on her face were vulnerable now, easily destroyed by locking on to all four, and launching missiles simultaneously at them. A round of tri-rockets from Vela made her body explode, leaving just her floating head. She was defenceless, relying upon her rapid, yet predictable motion. I charged my arm cannon, twisted my arm as to fire a missile, and pulled back on the trigger, which infused five missiles with the charge beam. The deadly ball of energy had hit the queen, causing her head to explode leaving only her fleshy vertebrae, which started to explode on its own. The platform moved to allow us to leave this lava chamber. Before we left, I started playing 'Another One Bites The Dust'. We listened to it while we exited the facility. Outside we saw Lupus, her armoured dog and the same blue ship that destroyed her master ship. We offered cover fire for Lupus as he boarded the departing ship.

"The dog has paw mounted thrusters?"

"Yeah, he can fly for about five seconds."

"Do you and Juno have any special abilities like that?"

"Yes, I have gills, while Juno is unaffected by lava."

"Awesome."

Our ships awaited, ready for flight.

"My ship can make ammo for you if you need it, also heal you. I just need to authorize you to use the onboard stations."

"You are just an epic woman with awesome technology, you know that."

"You are as well, even with comparatively primitive technology, you know how to use it to efficiently kick ass."

We left for Mizar's palace feeling very good about ourselves, and each other.