Chapter Eight: Targeted


The intruder had produced his weapon and opened fire faster than any of them could react–almost any of them. Yooperlite quickly shoved her companions to the side, holding up her arms to shield herself from the onslaught of laser blasts. "Go! Get out!" she shouted to them, the others wasting no time getting to cover.

"Who is this guy!?" Emerald yelled, hiding behind a table. "What kind of maniac shows up in the middle of nowhere and shoots at the first people he sees!?"

Lefty was trying to get a better look at their assailant, which wasn't easy due to the barrage being unloaded upon them. "Who cares!? We need to find a way out of here!" Her eyes rapidly darted around the room, looking for an exit. "Let's see…there!" She pointed out a window that had been shattered by a stray laser. Unfortunately, there were far more where that came from, making it too risky to make a break for it.

The brutish Talu cackled as he produced a second blaster, keeping up the assault. "Come on. The least you can do is die with a little dignity!" The first fired rapidly, while the other shot slower, heftier projectiles. "If you won't make this satisfying for me, at least make it easy!"

Emerald began the process of pulling out her weapon. "Oh, he wants easy? I'll show him easy!"

"What? Mera, that doesn't make any–wait, what are you doing?" cried Lefty. "Don't go out there, you'll get shot!"

"Yooperlite's already getting shot!" Indeed, she was taking the brunt of the punishment, her bulky form preventing her from being destabilized. She was growing weaker with every blast, though, and likely wouldn't hold on much longer. "Have any better ideas? No? Then I'm going!"

Against Lefty's protests, Emerald leapt onto the table, further leaping towards the invader. She shouted as she thrust forward with her halberd–the Talu dodged, meaning the tip ended up lodged in the wall. "See? That wasn't so hard!" He leveled his second blaster directly at her face, and fired. The shot launched her back, where she skidded across the floor until she hit the wall.

"Emerald!" shouted Yooperlite, her concern quickly turning to ire towards the intruder. She charged at him, shrugging off several more shots before throwing punch after punch. He was surprisingly agile, avoiding her attacks as he continued taking potshots at her. "Hold still, will ya?"

He did no such thing, but his focus on Yooperlite was keeping him occupied. Emerald pulled herself up, before gesturing for Lefty to escape through the window–Lefty nodded. With that taken care of, she returned to the fray, sending out a focused pulse of electricity. It only stunned the Talu for a moment, but it was enough for her to grab her weapon, and for Yooperlite to retreat to safety.

She just barely managed to deflect another blast with her halberd, something the Talu wasn't expecting. This distracted him enough for Yooperlite to send him out the door with a punch. The two Gems converged after him, but he quickly recovered, typing something into a device on his arm. Emerald and Yooperlite split up to avoid his shots as he retreated lower into the station.

Tanzanite and Lefty had made their way out the window, away from the fray. "Okay, I'm open for ideas," the latter said. "What exactly are we gonna do–no, what can we do to stop this guy!?"

"Emerald is the only one of us with combat specifications," Tanzanite said. "Unfortunately, as inexperienced as she is, I find it unlikely she will be able to defeat him alone."

"Then let's get over there and help her! Sure, we're not fighters, but four-against-one is pretty good odds for something like…" Lefty trailed off as a shadow fell over the two. "Ooh, that's not good…"

Under most circumstances, the ship firing on the tower stopping its assault would be a good thing. In this case, when its target had changed from the tower to the pair of them, the resulting scenario was much less positive. It hovered in place for a moment, lining up its guns with the two Gems. "Evade!" cried Tanzanite, pulling Lefty aside moments before the wall behind them erupted.

They ran along the catwalk as the ship's guns ripped through the walkways behind them, reducing the base to molten metal bit by bit. "This was a bad move!" said Lefty. "Back inside, quick!" They quickly ducked through a doorway, just as the ship passed them by.

As this chase went on, Yooperlite and Emerald continued to chase after the Talu, who was almost literally running circles around them. Their Gem physiology allowed them to survive multiple shots from his blasters, but they weren't invincible. "Who the void are you, anyway!?" shouted Emerald, swinging her halberd in every direction, hoping to at least nick her opponent.

"Wouldn't you like to know," he said, jumping over a table. He kicked it towards them, using the distraction to toss a small device their way. Yooperlite kicked it away, assuming it to be a bomb, which it sort of was. Smoke billowed out from the device, filling the room until visibility was nearly zero. Both of them looked around as the sounds of footsteps came from all around the room. "All you need to know is that you and your friends won't be making it out of here alive!"

The Talu dove out of the smoke, a red-hot dagger in his hand. Just before this could slice through Emerald's form, she held up her halberd, blocking it in the nick of time. She and her opponent were now face-to-face. "Good luck taking on four of us at once!" she growled.

In response, he sent a sharp kick into her side, making her stagger back. Yooperlite came in from behind, grabbing him in a bear hug, but was forced to drop him after being repeatedly pierced with his knife. "That shouldn't be too much of an issue!" He fired several more blasts at her before retreating back into the fog.

Yooperlite's anger had reached its boiling point, and began glowing red-hot as well. "Stop hiding!" she yelled, swinging her arms in every direction. The heat and motion caused the smoke to begin dissipating–only for the Talu to then drop onto her from above. He repeatedly drove his knife into her back, causing her to cry out in pain as she tried to throw him off. Eventually, the heat was too much for him, and he leapt off, when Emerald made her move.

Using what remained of the smoke to hide her approach, she turned his tactics against him, suddenly striking when he least expected it. He only barely parried her strike with his dagger, their blades clashing over and over again. "You call that thing a weapon?" he said as he effortlessly redirected her attacks.

"No," said Emerald, "I call it a distraction." Just as he realized what she meant, Yooperlite had appeared to throw a massive punch, sending him flying out the nearest door. His knife dug into the ground, creating a glowing trail as it slowed his trajectory. He gave a quick laugh before running off to the station's exterior. "Nice one."

"Thanks," said Yooperlite. "Now let's hurry, we'd better find the other two before he–" She was interrupted as the building quaked once again, causing some of the ceiling above them to collapse. Rapid gunfire pierced through the walls: his ship was targeting them.

Emerald grabbed hold of Yooperlite, dragging her away from the incoming fire. "Hurry, this way!" The two crouched behind the table to avoid some of the blasts, before rushing to the next room. Unsure of where their enemy had gone, they focused on returning to where they had last seen Lefty and Tanzanite. And sure enough, they were soon reunited.

"Mera! Yoop!" shouted Lefty, skidding to a stop before she ran into them. "Are you guys okay? I think his ship's on autopilot or something!"

"Wh–How can you tell?" asked Yooperlite.

"Why else would a shuttle only be carrying one person?" she responded. "Listen, it's only a matter of time until this whole place comes down! We need to come up with an exit strategy, and fast!"

Tanzanite looked in the direction the sounds of the ship's cannons were coming from. "The shuttle's systems seem relatively simple–I believe I can access them. Of course, getting to it is another matter entirely."

"I can help with that!" said Yooperlite. "Also, I was gonna tell you guys earlier before we were so rudely interrupted, but I found a cargo skiff down in the lower levels! It should be big enough to carry all four of us easily."

Lefty laughed excitedly. "Fantastic! That's our ride out of here, just leave that to me. Then there's just the matter of our psychotic new friend…"

All eyes fell on Emerald. "I can handle him," she said, gripping her halberd. "Don't worry about me."

"Great. Everyone got their jobs, then?" Tanzanite, Emerald, and Yooperlite all nodded. "Good to hear. Ready? Break!" Lefty headed to the lower levels while the other three ran outside. "And be careful!"

"You don't gotta worry about us!" Yooperlite flashed a confident smile, which Lefty returned. WIth that, everybody split up to do their part.

The explosions overhead were less noticeable near the ocean's surface, but they still shook the whole foundation. It wasn't long before Lefty found the skiff in question: it was moored to a small dock, bobbing up and down with the waves. Like Yoop had said, it was designed for ferrying cargo, so it was large enough to carry a small group of Gems to their next destination–wherever that may be.

She made her way down the stairs, hopping onto the vehicle. It wasn't exactly pristine, but it was in surprisingly good condition considering its age. "Alright, Lefty, time to work your magic!" She pried off a panel near the controls, trying to rewire its internal workings as quickly as possible. "C'mon, c'mon…"

Up above, the other three climbed to the facility's roof, or as close as they could manage, while evading the circling shuttle. Strangely, neither it nor their opponent had made an appearance. Despite this, they were no less wary, perhaps even moreso. "How can something so noisy be so sneaky?" Yooperlite wondered aloud.

"He can't hide forever," said Emerald. "And once he shows himself, you know the plan, right?"

"Of course," Tanzanite said.

The attacks seemed to have stopped completely. It was as though the Talu and his ship had disappeared, something that they all knew was unlikely. Before too long, the trio reached the station's highest point, standing just beneath the satellite dish. "Alright, here we are," Emerald said. "Now where is he?"

"Closer than you think."

All three turned towards the voice. The Talu seemed to rise up through the air, until his ship rose up underneath him. He stood still for a moment, as though reveling in his advantage over them, before he leapt off onto the dish. His shuttle's cannons revved up to open fire.

Once again, Yooperlite was the first to act, pushing Emerald behind the dish and throwing herself in front of Tanzanite. The blasts swept the rooftop, damaging both the underside of the dish as well as Yooperlite herself. She groaned, falling to her knees. "Are you alright!?" Tanzanite asked.

"Argh…Don't worry, I'm built pretty tough!" She got to her feet, lifting Tanzanite over her shoulder. "Now let's take that thing down!" Before the ship had time for another strafing run, she charged forward, leaping onto the antenna and propelling off of it, landing directly onto the ship.

Both the Talu and Emerald watched the stunt with mild incredulity. "...I have to say, I wasn't expecting that," said the former. "Well, time to improvise, I suppose." Inputting more commands into his arm-mounted console, the ship stopped firing, but began to make more erratic movements.

Emerald readied her weapon. "I'm giving you one last chance to explain yourself, and why you're here." She pointed the blade at her opponent, stepping around him. He drew his knife, doing likewise. "No? Then I suppose you forfeit your life."

"As though you're in any position to demand anything of me!" he said, sneering. "If you can land a hit on me, just one, I'll tell you who I am. Deal?"

"Deal!" Emerald charged. As did he.

Yooperlite steadied herself as the shuttle began moving, holding onto Tanzanite. "Think you can handle it like this?" she asked. She helped the other Gem closer to the cockpit.

"Of course." Tanzanite climbed past the glass–as they suspected, nobody was piloting it directly–and onto its back, where its power source was located. Her fingers extended, sliding through creases in the hull before interfacing directly with the ship's core. "Just a moment…there. I now have control."

"Yeah!" Yooperlite pumped her fist, almost losing her balance. "Now let's turn this guy's own guns against him!"

As the ship continued to swerve, a concerned expression crossed Tanzanite's face. "This is odd. The ship's systems are still fighting against me. It is as though they were designed specifically to resist Gem interference!"

Yooperlite hung on for dear life as the rocking became more violent. "Well, figure it out quick, or we're both goin' in the drink! No pressure."

The Talu parried another of Emerald's strikes, the Beryl having trouble making good on his challenge. He was on the offensive, but one got the sense that he could strike back at any time–and yet he didn't. "Your approach is too clumsy. You're fighting with a spear, not a hammer. At least, I think that's a spear…" He sidestepped another attempt, throwing Emerald to the ground. "I thought Emeralds were supposed to be the cream of the crop…did you come out funny or something?"

"Big talk for an organic!" Emerald shot back, quickly standing back up. However, she still didn't have much luck, the Talu continuing to run circles around her in terms of combat. "What is with you!? Why are you so good!?"

He gave a small laugh, twirling his knife. "Years of practice, thanks for noticing! Y'know, you'd be a lot more effective if you balanced your weight with that thing. It's like you're more used to fighting with something smaller."

Down in the station's lower levels, Lefty continued working on the skiff. Sparks appeared periodically as she rewired the control panel, indicating that she was almost done. Soon enough, the panel lit up and the vehicle hummed to life, rising to just above the water. "Yes! Okay, time to get going." She gunned the throttle, sending the skiff rocketing out from under the building.

She took a sharp left turn, skidding the vehicle to a stop. "Guys, we're ready to leave!" she shouted. "Everybody get…on?" The rest of her companions weren't doing so well at their respective jobs: Emerald was losing her fight, and Tanzanite and Yooperlite were barely clinging onto the errant ship. "Yeesh, do I have to do everything around here?" She parked the skiff and began climbing up towards the antenna.

"No, no, keep your stance wide," the Talu instructed. "Lower your body, like this. Exactly! That'll give you more power to your thrusts. Give it a try." Emerald did, and although he still dodged, her movements were much quicker. "There, see? You're getting the hang of it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I am," said Emerald. "I feel much more confident now that you–" She made a sudden feint, expecting the Talu to evade as before. He did, and she followed up with a second strike. He blocked with his dagger, before pushing back and going in for another strike. Emerald charged her halberd up with electricity, ducked to the side, and swung as hard as she could–and missed by a mile. The Talu landed his attack, on the other hand, leaving Emerald with a sizable gash on her arm.

He twirled his knife again. "A valiant effort. Looks like you've still got a ways to go, though."

Emerald grinned. "Oh, do I?" The Talu followed her eyes to his own arm, where there was a slight scratch in his armor–very faint, but definitely not there before. It had likely been caused by a shockwave from Emerald's spark-charged slice.

"Well…how about that?" he said. "Making some progress after all. Alright, a deal's a deal…the name's Kiloq. I'd ask your name, but I think that much is obvious."

She dropped her guard. "And why are you here? What's your grudge against us? Who do–"

"Hey, now, I only agreed on answering one question!" he said. "And now that you know my name, I'd suggest you remember it…" Like Emerald just had, he suddenly struck. Before the Gem could react, Kiloq had thrown her to the ground, standing above her. He was atop her in a flash, pinning her down. "...because it might be the last one you ever hear!"

He raised his dagger. She reached for her halberd, but it had been knocked aside. Before the use of electricity could occur to her, he thrust the knife down, aiming for her face.

With the hiss of burning metal, the blade embedded itself in the floor inches away from Emerald's head. Both of them were at a loss as to just how Kiloq had missed, a mystery that would be solved by a glance to his left. Lefty stood over by the stairs, her arm outstretched. "Of all the…" Kiloq muttered angrily, standing up.

He drew his gun and fired at Lefty, who redirected it to the side. "Looks like I'm not a moment too soon!" she said, running to take cover behind the antenna. "You handling things okay up here?"

"Oh, y'know, I'm getting by." Emerald leapt up, sending a shock towards Kiloq. His armor took most of the hit, and focused his attention on her. "But this guy was a bit harder to handle than I was prepared for."

"Seems like he was helping you with that!" Lefty shouted from cover. Kiloq had one gun trained on each of them, keeping them on the defensive. "What are you, friends now?"

Emerald charged, distracting Kiloq from her friend. "Not exactly!" She put his training to use, compensating for her weapon's weight with her movements. But despite his advice, he was still one step ahead, parrying with his knife.

Above this battle, Tanzanite was having one of her own, trying to wrest control of the ship. "This is…urk! …taking longer than anticipated!" She almost slid off of the ship several times, just managing to pull herself back up each time. "J-just a few more moments, and I should be able to…"

"We don't have a few more moments!" said Yooperlite, looking down at the fight beneath them. "We gotta bring this thing down now!" She pulled herself up over the cockpit, moving past Tanzanite towards the engines. Her arms began to glow red as she pounded against the metal, tearing through the hull. The shuttle began to rock and shudder as its engines started to smoke.

Lefty's powers weren't strong enough to hurl Kiloq off the roof, but that didn't stop her from trying. He shot her a quick glare, letting her know that she was next, but he never took his focus off Emerald. "I'm almost sad to see you go," he said, holding her up by the neck. "But at least we can both rest easy with the knowledge that your sacrifice will bring glory to the…what are you looking at? Is my dramatic speech not interesting enough for you?" He followed her worried gaze up and behind him. "Oh…"

Kiloq's ship careened out of the sky, crashing violently through the antenna and screeching across the rooftop. Lefty dove out of the way, as did Emerald once Kiloq dropped her–he then sprinted from the incoming ship, leaping off the rooftop as both it and he disappeared over the edge. Just before it fell, Yooperlite jumped to safety with Tanzanite over her shoulder. She then scooped up Lefty, putting her over the other. "Hurry, we gotta go!"

Not needing to be told twice, Emerald ran after her as the antenna began to collapse. Both of the Gems rapidly made their way down the base, landing near the skiff. They all looked behind them as the antenna fell into the ocean below. Everything was quiet for a moment, and there was no sign of Kiloq.

"So, uh…I think we're still alive," said Lefty. A second later, she started to laugh. The others all looked at her like she was crazy, until Yooperlite eventually joined in. Emerald chuckled a bit as well, and even Tanzanite seemed happy. "We actually didn't die! I can't believe it!"

"We're only alive because of you all!" said Emerald. "I can't believe you took down that ship!"

"And I cannot believe you held off the attacker for as long as you did," Tanzanite replied. "Your combat skills are much more impressive than I previously surmised.

Lefty looked at Emerald. "Uh, apparently that was because he gave her some pointers. What was that about?"

She shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe it's just the principle of the matter with him. Now can we get out of here? This place is starting to make me uneasy."

"I get whatcha mean!" said Yooperlite. "To the open seas!" She took the skiff's controls, driving them away from the station and off towards the horizon.

However, something occurred to Tanzanite. "Hold on. I understand that merely surviving that was a victory in itself, but…where are we supposed to go next?"

Nobody really had an answer, as none of them had thought about it that much. Like she said, escape had been their main priority. "Uh, I guess we'll just keep going until we get somewhere," said Lefty. "I heard about them setting up plenty of waystations on the ocean, I'm sure at least one of them survived, right?" She didn't exactly seem confident, but nobody else had any better ideas.

Yooperlite checked the display on the skiff. "This thing should pick up a signal if there's something close enough. Provided it's still active…"

"Alright, then it's settled," Emerald said. "To the open seas!"


Standing on the seafloor, Kiloq stared at his wrist-pad, waiting for his call to be answered. The scattered remains of the satellite dish, and his ship, littered the sand around him. Finally, Votaq replied. "What is it? You were supposed to be handling the three of them!"

"About that…" Kiloq said awkwardly. "Turns out this thing might be a bit more complicated than we previously thought. There's four Gems. And one's an Emerald." He glanced over his shoulder, having the sudden feeling he wasn't alone.

Votaq stammered. "E-Emerald!? What's an Emerald doing on an abandoned old world like this one!? I–okay, no, no, we can handle this. Find out where they are, and…why are you underwater?"

Kiloq tried to decide on a worthy answer, before deciding on the truth. "I fell." Something darted past behind him, too fast to see. Votaq groaned.

"Of all the…" There was no video, but Kiloq could tell that Votaq had his hand on his face. "Change of plans: meet up with me. We'll settle this together."

"Now that I can do!" From out of the darkness, the thalassaraptor that had been stalking him emerged to strike. Without a single look, Votaq drew his blaster and shot it dead, its body coming to rest beside him. He glanced over at his fallen ship. "Oh, and Captain? I'm gonna need a ride…"