Chapter 16: Corruption

Krayantixx Galaxy

3rd Moon

Talwyn sprinted down the maze-like expanse of hallways in Maa'jer's base. Her muscles screamed, her lungs ached, but she didn't stop for one second for fear that he and his soldiers were right on her tail. As she turned a corner, she passed an open room with several consoles inside. It appeared empty, so she dashed in and slammed the controls to close the door. Talwyn breathed heavy as she leaned against the closed door. After a few moments of desperately sucking in air to replenish her oxygen starved lungs, she took stock of her surroundings. She approached one of the consoles, and tapped away at the keys looking for a map of the facility. Soon enough, an escape route was burned into her memory, and she turned to leave.

However, at that moment, several soldiers opened the door as they searched for the escaped prisoner. Talwyn quickly drew the pistol she had taken off of Maa'jer and fired off a few shots, each landing squarely in the middle of each of her targets. The soldiers were stunned for a few moments, but then regained their composure and returned fire. As Talwyn flipped and dodged their attacks, she continued to fire at them. Though due to the chaos and continued movement, these shots didn't fly as true as the previous ones. After leading the soldiers to the far side of the room, a hole in their formation opened for her to be able to sprint past them through the door.

Blaster shots rang out behind her as she continued down the hallway. She heard several of the soldiers calling for backup on their comms. She forced her legs to pick up the pace, not wanting to find out what would happen to her if they got ahold of her once more. According to the map she looked at, there should be a large hangar up ahead where she could steal a ship and get the heck out of here. As she turned right at a junction of two hallways, she saw more soldiers in her way. She leapt up and cartwheeled over one, using their shoulders as a vault for her. Talwyn landed on the other side, the soldiers still not quite registering what had happened. The markazian made two more turns before she saw the hanger up ahead. Finally. She ran up to one of the ships and was about to hot wire it when a voice behind her made her blood run cold.

"Now, what's the rush? We haven't had the main event yet" Maa'jer said as he stepped out from the shadows. "I may not have The Gem yet, but I'm sure Erus will slip up once he knows I have his daughter." He finished as he laughed maniacally as he climbed into a mecha-suit. Talwyn's mouth hung open as she saw the powerful machine power up before she closed her jaw and took on a fierce, determined look. This hole would not be her grave.

Maa'jer's suit charged up an ion cannon as Talwyn ducked behind some of the supply crates scattered around the hangar. She took stock of the amount of ammo in the blaster she had stolen. Not great, but also not terrible. She thought as she racked her brain to think of a best plan of action. She peered around the corner of one of the crates and eyed the machine that Maa'jer was using. It appeared to have some pretty advanced armoring, except in the areas around the joints. Most likely because the thick plating would have restricted the movement of the sockets too much. The air around Talwyn felt electrified as she sensed the ion beam was close to being released.

"Come quietly and I won't maim you, much" Maa'jer called out as she dove out from her hiding spot just before the crates exploded in a flash of light and electricity. Talwyn sprinted from one cover to the next, each time firing off a few rounds aimed at the weak points in the suit's joints. In between charges of the cannon, Maa'jer's other suit arm fired off round after round of plasma shots. At one point while Talwyn had stepped out of cover to fire at him, one of those rounds caught her in the side. Her nostrils flared at the smell of burning fabric and flesh, causing her brain to pump even more adrenaline through her system. Soon it seemed as if she was running on autopilot. Run, dodge, hide, fire, repeat. Throughout this process, the few ships that were parked in the hangar were destroyed beyond recognition, meaning that Talwyn's plan of escape was no more. But

Just as she thought she had reached her limit of her exhaustion she heard the sound that she had been hoping for. A loud, screeching sound of metal moving against metal as one of the legs of the armor snapped at the knee. Maa'jer steadied the armor into a kneeling position to keep himself from falling over, but now his ability to track Talwyn's movements was greatly reduced.

Talwyn ran around to the back of the suit and trained her blaster on the joint holding the ion cannon. Maa'jer tried to turn around to attack her, but was not able to twist far enough to get her within his sights. Talwyn kept up her assault, worried she would run out of ammo. But thankfully large arcs of electricity spouted from the cannon-arm, before it exploded in a cloud of fire and smoke. Talwyn ran towards the far side of the hangar, not looking back as she heard a loud, reverberating thud as Maa'jer's suit collapsed onto the ground. As she reached the main door, she saw that it was only operable with a keycode. Not wanting to waste any time, she pulled a page from Ratchet's book and simply blasted the controls, which caused the system to malfunction and the doors open.

Talwyn took a few tentative steps outside, staring out into the expanse of space around her. She tapped into her homing beacon on her nav unit, to send a distress signal to Ratchet. I just hope he gets it in time. She thought as she continued to search around the perimeter of the base for anything that might be helpful to her. It was then that a large booming sound accompanied with a bright blue flash of light on top of the platform drew her attention. Talwyn slowly made her way to one of the sets of stairs that adorned each side and cautiously began to climb them.

Planet Evukar

"Ratchet, I have detected a distress beacon from Apogee, Talwyn's nav unit." Aphelion communicated to Ratchet over his comm.

"What!? W-What are her vitals!? Can you call her?" Ratchet replied immediately.

"Her vitals are elevated, but I do not detect any serious injuries. Calling Apogee, Talwyn" Ratchet waited for a few agonizing moments, afraid to even breathe, until a familiar voice rang through his comms.

"Ratchet! I was just about to call you!"

"Tal! You have no idea how glad I am to hear you. Are you okay!? Clank and I have been searching forever for you!"

"What? Why are you back in this galaxy?"

"It's a long story, but look, whatever you do, do not trust Erus"

"Wha-? -atchet I couldn- -ear -ou!"

"Don't trust Erus! Tal? Do you copy? Don't. Trust. Erus." But the only reply Ratchet received was static.

"An electromagnetic anomaly is preventing any further communication." Aphelion notified the lombax.

Aphelion, can you still take us to Tal's last coordinates?"

"Affirmative."

"Great. Pick Clank and me up at our location, and then we'll warp there." Ratchet said with a mix of excitement and worry. Tal's alive, but for how much longer?

"Are you sure that the hyperspace warp drive will be strong enough for such a jump? These coordinates are clear across the galaxy." Clank questioned his furred friend with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Well normally, no. But I had installed a new upgrade in it last week, so I guess this will be do or die time." Ratchet said as he saw Aphelion descend from the sky.

"Oh, dear. I was afraid you would say something like that." Clank said as he shook his head. But he knew that there was no point in persuading the lombax into any other course of action. Not when it came to Miss Apogee. He simply buckled his seatbelt when he hopped into Aphelion and hoped that his circuit boards wouldn't be fried in the journey.

Ratchet meanwhile tapped in the coordinates into Aphelion and rose once more from the planet of Evukar. As soon as they reached space flight, Ratchet began the process of initializing the warp jump.

"Warning, unauthorized warp drive installed." Aphelion's A.I. voice said as it broke the silence in the cockpit. "Unknown warp drive accuracy. Unknown warp drive power. Do not engage warp drive." The Lombax simply ignored Aphelion's warnings.

"Sorry about this Aphelion, we just don't have the time to test this beforehand. Well," Ratchet paused for just a moment and took a deep breath. He had confidence in himself that his work on Aphelion was sound, but the fact that Talwyn's life may depend on it made him more nervous. "here goes nothing!" He yelled as he slammed the button to initiate the jump, and then held onto the yoke for dear life.

3rd Moon

"Ratchet!" the markazian yelled in a hush into her comm. "Ratchet, do you hear me!?" She asked once more, before giving up due to the building static ringing in her ear. Ugh, something must be interfering with the transmission. She thought as she continued in the direction of the boom she heard. As she crested the final flight of stairs, she saw a welcome sight; Erus.

"Erus! You have to get out of here! You- Who is that?" She started to run towards him, to warn him of Maa'jer, but then she stopped suddenly as she saw a young alien clinging to him with one arm. She looked like a markazian with the exception being that she was missing an arm and a leg. But the pale, apricot colored skin, pointed ears, and elongated tail were all a dead giveaway.

Erus' head snapped towards Talwyn, surprised to still see her alive. He had thought for sure that Maa'jer would have disposed of her as soon as he realized that she wasn't Andromeda. He held onto Adromeda with two of his arms, as she was still very unsteady in her body, and he held The Gem in his other two hands. He was about to greet Talwyn, when he suddenly decided against it. There's no way she escaped Maa'jer without making some sort of deal. He thought to himself.

"Pay her no mind, this doesn't concern you, Talwyn!" He yelled out to his friend's daughter. "Just tell me where Maa'jer is and I won't have to hurt you." His last words caused Talwyn to stop dead in her tracks. What is he talking about? She thought for a moment before shouting back to him,

"He was in an explosion, I'm not sure if he survived." Talwyn told Erus. While she thought he would feel relief at this news, to her surprise it made him seem angrier than he was a second before.

"What!? You? No! I'm supposed to avenge Galaecia!" Erus yelled "Andromeda and I are going to cleanse the hate from this world, and then I'll be able to unite the galaxy!" he continued, his eyes growing wide and wild. "I'm supposed to kill Maa'jer, ME!" At this outburst, Andromeda shrank next to him, not understanding her father anymore. If their enemy was already gone, then why was he still angry? Erus snapped his head to the side to face his daughter square on. "Are you ready my dear? Ready to fulfill your destiny?" Andromeda could only shake her head side to side in response. She never had wanted to do this. She only followed her father because she was afraid of Maa'jer. But now she was afraid of Erus.

"Please papa. I don't vant to do thiz." She pleaded with her father. "Izn't there another vay?" but Erus only yanked Andromeda's hand forward as he placed The Gem in it, and then closed her hand around it with his. Staring into her eyes, his yellow ones were wide and crazed as decades of obsession came pouring out.

"No! Andromeda, you must! He killed your mother! He killed your people! You must stop him and his followers! Do it! Do it Now! I order you to as your father!" Erus yelled, his voice raising with each point. Andromeda squeezed her eyes shut to force out the fear, the hatred from her mind, but she couldn't while Erus kept repeating his commands. Her fear gave in and she felt an electricfying sensation flow through her body once more. Her eyes snapped open, this time glowing bright blue. Her physical body started to give way to a being of pure light and energy. In this form, her hair grew ever longer, her missing limbs were reformed, and she started to float off of the ground. Erus, still holding onto her hand, and The Gem, loudly recited the prophecy.

"When all is lost and future dour,

the royal blood at the midnight hour

will call the white specter,

this galaxy's protector,

with The Gem of Fate,

to rid the hate,

bring violence to an end,

the world begins again!"

"Hear me Spirit of Marukar! You must destroy them all! Maa'jer, his soldiers, all the hate in this galaxy!" he yelled as he tried to pull his daughter closer to him. "Do this for me, Andromeda!" he urged her one final time before he noticed the gem in their hands was glowing brighter and brighter. In a flash of red light Erus was thrown backward towards Talwyn. Free from her father, Andromeda as the Spirit of Marukar grew ever larger, towering above Talwyn and the platform. Her blue glow gave way to a tinge of red, and she roared with a mixture of pain and anger.

"N-No! Why won't you listen to me?" Erus yelled, though not with nearly enough strength for the towering Spirit to hear him. Talwyn, meanwhile ran to Erus to help him up.

"It is listening to you Erus!" she yelled to him over the roar of the wind and lightning that was picking up at their location. "It's going to cleanse all the hate in the galaxy, including yours!" she finished as she dodged a flying projectile.

"No…all this time…I-" but he wasn't able to finish his sentence as the Spirit shot a beam of pure electricity towards Erus. Talwyn dove out of the way just in time, but not fast enough to avoid the shockwave from the subsequent explosion. She was flung from the platform and landed onto the hard rocky surface of the moon. The last thing she saw before passing out was the large Spirit roaring at the remainder of Maa'jer's soldiers who were coming out of the base now to inspect the explosions happening on top.