In the Andromeda things were going allot better as two Magog were put down by Dylan and Romme as they entered a new corridor Dylan was now in full combat gear armour and goggles to protect his eyes from the flash of his weapons.
"Another victory for the good guys" said Dylan
"Internal defences are back online" Came the voice of Andromeda
They continued on their way to the main hanger that housed the Maru
Mean while in the World ship Rev had reverted to his true Magog state after killing a higher ranking Magog he inherited his position and Armour, he saw his brother eating another Magog and felt the blood lust.
"Your eating one of your own" he said getting the attention of another Magog
"Grate one" he said looking back at the dead Magog "not ours it's bile throat brood we catch it alone, it weak" he said then looking at Rev "grate one want his share?" he asked
Rev felt his blood boil he wanted to taste blood on his lips he wanted to tear flesh he could feel they want and need for it. He was tempted so tempted but
"No, no you earned it eat your fill" he felt disgusted with himself one of the Magog came at him
"Grate one not want food?" he asked
"No" he shouted the other Magog began to advance on him, sniffing the air
"Grate one not smell right" another sniffed
"Grate one refuse food, smell like machine, smell like pray" the others advanced on him
"Stay back" he warned
"Maybe grate ship have traitor on board, is smell like you" he roared as the other two charged at him
On the Andromeda Beka was attaching cables and tubes witch cleaned up the signal on the main screen in time to watch the Maru depart,
"Maru is away" said Andromeda
"Show me that thing again" ordered Beka the screen changed from the retreating for of the Maru to a full view of the world ship, you could also make out the two ships still firing on ships and planets as one dodged another bomb barely the colossal ship turned at a staggering pace the bomb denting the hull plating as it passed perilously close to the hull. "A year ago I was running spare parts from Canopy to San Scott Ray, now I'm sitting in the middle of the apocalypse"
"Well look on the bright side, the world ship is heading to the known worlds anyway, before you just didn't know about it now you can face it head on" she said smiling
"That is such a warship thing to say" laughing slightly
In space closest to the eleventh planet on the world ship the Hood and Besmirch were slowly falling back, just enough to force the swarm ships to leave the relative safety of the world ships defence umbrella, there plan was also underway.
Somewhere deep inside the world ship Shamus Harper was still panicking, yanking his arms testing the strength of his bonds,
"Tyr, aw man don't be dead please don't be dead" he was panicking so badly we was losing breath "I mean crap even I'm alive, and I'm just a pathetic little thing right? You your a, a Nietzschean your an uber"
"Don't ever call me that" said Tyr in a slightly week voice
"I knew it, I knew it, and I knew you were alive" he laughed slightly
"Yes I am alive and trying to make our opponents forget about us" he said in a slightly scolding tone
"You want to make them feel over confident, then I have an idea why not let them paralyze us bind us to the wall and then infect us with their Magog eggs, o gee we did that already did that now we have them right where we want them" he said sarcastically
"Your little melodrama in not going to make things any better"
"No" he acknowledged "but it's not going to make things any worse" he said panicky rising in his words "you wanna know why" panicky and terror already filling his now almost shouting voice "because they couldn't BE any worse"
"We could be unconscious" he listed "or dead we are nether"
"Oh grate" he said looking down to his gut "now we get to be awake when the eggs hatch and little Magog larval eat their way out of us, your right that's much better"
"When your parents combined there DNA the odds of creating someone with your precise genetic pattern was in the order of ten million to one, factor in the chance of your parents growing to adult hood meeting and actually bothering to procreate and your existence has the likely hood of drawing a royal flush three times in a row in a completely honest poker, if you have already overcome those odds once who's to say you can't do it again"
"Yeah, yeah I know there's always hope, even if faint, miniscule, microscopic, virtually undetectable hope, but hope none the less"
"Shut up and let me think"
In another part of the world ship, but as close as they could get the Maru is touching down,
"Sure were close enough?" Dylan asked his companion
"As close as we can get by ship" stated Romme going over her calculations and rescanning to be sure "they are approximately four kilometres striate down"
"Four kilometres, I keep forgetting how huge this place is" as he powered down the systems
"Hmm twenty worlds joined into a single structure manipulated by artificial gravity powered by an artificial sun" she said arms folded "I guess its true what they say no matter how big or strong you are there is always someone larger, I just never thought it would apply to me"
"Scared" he asked knowing the answer
"Terrified" she answered.
In space Hood and Bismarck were dominating the swarms and had pulled back to maximum weapons range there plan was succeeding the Magog swarms had left the safety of the world ships umbrella, they were able to fully unload the ordinance, with that complete they now had total space superiority around the world ship, no swarms or fighters dared to exit there defence umbrella.
Knowing that it was secure the two ships moved in a defensive formation around the Andromeda and opened communications.
Inside the command deck Beka was surprised to see two men in high guard uniform in two separate monitors.
"Ahoy Andromeda we have total space superiority around the world ship" came the voice from the brunet man,
"Ja haben uns wir Ihre verlorene Ehre liebe Schwester gerächt; wir haben die Mischlinge bezahlen für Herabsetzen Sie gemacht" (Yes we have avenged your lost honour dear sister; we made the mongrels pay for slighting you) said the brown haired man.
"Now allow our repair ships to fix you up as good as new" said the brunet
The two vessels launched a mobile dock that completely encompassed the Andromeda, like two giant hands that touched tip to tip locking into place. Tubes came out of the finger like walls and connected with the Andromeda in each damaged or holed section. Large amounts of what appeared to be liquid metal were poured into the damaged ship via the tubes, the liquid metal had enough nano bots init to fix the Andromeda twice over but better safe than sorry, the excess would be used to restock the Andromeda's own depleted repair systems.
Starting at the outer hull and the severe damage it took about ten minutes to completely repair the hull of all damage another ten to sort out the decks and deal with any leftover over organic matter like bodies. Beka had to go into the medical bay with Trance for ten minutes as the nanobots did their work. Unfortunately they had to shut down certain systems including communications
Mean while inside the world ship Dylan and Romme were seeking out there friends,
"Dylan I can't raise myself" she paused at how absurd it sounded "I can't raise the ship" Dylan looked down at his wrist communicator hearing only static
"Too much interference" he stated as he opened the weapons locker "looks like we're on our own" grabbing another force lance and slotting it into his left holster "how long until Beka fires the nova bomb?"
"Two hours twenty one minuets" she stated
"Good up date me every ten minutes" he said as he led Romme out into the catacombs of one of the planets.
In the Andromeda Beka and trance were free from cryo and were now back in the fully restored command deck she had just witnessed what had happened to the last crew who came with her.
Meanwhile Rev was in the fight of his life against three Magog, the fight was savage but ended when Rev ripped the throat out of the last Magog. He roared triumphantly at his dead enemies but as soon as the blood lust faded he was disgusted with himself, crying out in anguish witch lefty him open to the leader of the Magog to manipulate.
Dylan and Romme were making their way through the maze of catacombs that were the home of the monstrous Magog. Blasting the Magog that seemed to come out of every shadow and wall, they were on their turf now.
"Can you pin point their exact location" he asked
"To within one hundred meters" she stated,
"Let's give this a try" he said bringing his wrist communicator "Harper can you hear me"
"Boss you, you got to get us out of here" squawked the panicked voice of Shamus Harper
"Were within a hundred meters make noise so we can find you" closing his eyes to concentrate "this way" he said leading them down another abyss and to their friends.
On the Andromeda time was running out they needed to make their attack run now.
"We have been out of contact for two hours" she stated
"Big sister is right there is a possibility that they are dead" said the brown haired AI.
"That's not a possibility" stated Beka
"Beka if we don't stop this thing we risk the lives of all the lives in the known worlds" said Andromeda
"This is not what I sign up for" she sighed in defeat
"This isn't what anyone signed on for but it is what the situation is" she said angrily "what would the commanding officer like to do"
Beka let out a sigh she couldn't see a way out this had to be done
"Arm the nova bomb" on the screen a green light signalled the arming procedure.
Andromeda moved at flank speed followed by the two war ships,
"Code ten brake alpha strike, strike, strike" spoke Andromeda using Dylan's code
"Arming nova one execution code nine five over seven blue five, arm" stated Beka giving the final arming code. Green lights lit up the screen signalling full armament. "Come on Dylan, now's the time" she hoped that he was already on his way.
Deep in the caverns
"Five minutes left Dylan we aren't going to make it"
"This place is a maze" he said searching for the source again the ducked down another cavern.
At the heart of the planet Rev was taken by the Magog leader to the place where the abyss spoke to the Magog.
"This, this is the home of your god" Rev spat in disgust
"This is where the spirit of the abyss manifest itself if it so chooses" spoke the leader reverence in his voice. "Is not the divine in all things" he stated pointed to a figure made of fire
"I, I, I, I can feel its hatred" he spoke in fear and aw
"Isn't it wonderful" spoke the leader in Revs ear "dose it fill you consume you and under the hatred beneath it feel what lies beyond"
"Love, underneath the hatred is love" he spoke in an astonished shaken voice "I understand now life is suffering chaos but there is another way" he spoke in understanding
"Harmony of transcendence of death" spoke the leader as the shadow man opened his arms and disappeared, Rev dropped to his knees.
"There is so much more to learn I am humble, I am humble" he prayed
"Fear not Red Plague" he placed his clawed hands on Rev's shoulders "I will teach you" Rev grabbed his hand like it was the only lifeline in the world
"I, I thank you" he said grabbing the hand and kissing it "I almost forgot my other friends"
"What of them" he spoke in distain
"Will you take me to them?" he smiled "that I might offer them transcendence"
