The Divine Retribution's cool dark interior was a great relief after being in the desert for two days, especially after that last hike. When my crew and I rushed inside, I almost tripped over the stooped form of a servitor polishing the floor. I was experiencing some sun blindness, so I stopped in the round foyer-type room that opened up a few meters inside the ship. When everyone was on board, I ordered the ship to close, and I felt it shift around me. It felt slower and more strained than before.
My companions gathered around me, all similarly exhausted from this latest adventure, and all of us in various states of filth. In the darkness and sun blindness, everyone was barely visible. Alberich leaned against a metal wall, and I could tell that he was breathing heavily. I hoped that he was okay. 77-X came in behind Null, holding our replacement battery.
"What now?" I asked Null, as I saw his animated eyes flicker in the dim space. Had it always been this dark in here, or was I really just this sun-blind? I blinked repeatedly, my eyes readjusting. God, it felt good to be out of the desert.
"I will now head to the engine and energy cell intake area. Do not follow me. While I and my helpers are resistant to various radiative energies, I'm not sure that any of you are. The detachment and reattachment of these energy cells is a precise operation that will take some time. We must stay here for now as we don't have enough power to lift off, so let us hope that there are no complications, and that the waking xenos below take their time. And here..." Null produced the metal cube Trazyn had carried with him and offered it to me. "I can tell that this Tesseract Labyrinth holds one occupant. I cannot discern who or what is in it, so my advice to you is to find a way to imprison whatever is released for safety. Do you know how to open it?"
I reached inside a pocket, and my fingers found both the metal disk and the ring that Orikan had given me. I held both in an open palm. "This ring here can open it, right?"
Null's expression brightened in surprise. "Where did you get these?" He reached out and grabbed both items with two snaking mechadendrites before I could close my fingers. He began examining them both with his animated eyes, which glowed a soft blue.
"Orikan did something that stopped time, and we talked. He explained that he wanted to help us, and offered these items. He said the ring there could open the cube, and that I was supposed to ask you what the disk was. He said you would know."
"Incredible," the tech-priest whispered in awe as he turned the flat disk around in his grasp. "Who we met, assuming the xenos told the truth, was an individual that the Necrons call a Chronomancer. This one, Orikan, is one of the most powerful examples of his kin known to the Adeptus Mechanicus. It was a rule that we were to avoid any chance of an encounter with him if it could be helped unless we had overwhelming military superiority. I had heard tales of his ability to manipulate time, but not to the precision that would allow another to have an entire conversation with him. Fascinating."
Null hadn't described what the disk was. "What are these things, Null?"
"Oh!" the tech-priest said, snapping back to reality. He gently tapped the disk with one of his metal fingers. "This is an information storage disk. I've seen these before. It contains moving records, pict-caps, and other pieces of information. I can decrypt it if you desire when we have more time. Were you told what it contained?"
So it was a Necron DVD. Neat. "No, he didn't elaborate. Orikan told us to watch it when we were far from here, and that it would explain some things."
"Yes, well, we are rather strapped for time. I can keep this if you wish, but I would rather we deal with this later rather than sooner. To open this Tesseract Labyrinth, simply hold the ring near the surface of the cube. An opening should present itself, and then place the ring within. But, I would strongly advise you to do this somewhere where whatever is unleashed can be caged. I cannot tell what is directly within. This may or may not hold the traitor marine, so be cautious. Even if it is the marine, he was behaving with hostility when he was captured."
My vision was adjusting for the dimmer light, and I saw that Alberich was now seated on the floor of the hallway, watching our discussion with tired blue grey eyes and filthy feathers. He didn't look so good. Null returned the ring to me, and held on to the disk. "If you would give me permission, I can read this later."
Getting covered in insect gore probably wasn't helping Alberich, I thought as I studied him on the floor. "We have water now, right?" I asked the tech-priest. A bath would probably be good for the beastman.
A slight quake below shifted my perspective. We were still on a Tomb World that was waking up.
Null had the same intuition, and motioned for 77-X to come to him. Without a goodbye, he then turned around, and began to walk down one of the metal corridors, assumingly to where the energy crystal would be installed. "Yes, we have water, but I would suggest against any leisure activities until we are gone from here. I suspect the Divine Retribution is now even lower in power than it was before. We must leave here as soon as possible, so I must replace the energy cell. I estimate that it will take approximately 29-55 minutes, give or take. I will leave you with Jiminy so that I may communicate with you. I suggest that you make your way to the bridge. We need you there just in case."
"Can I bathe? No one has a requirement of me right now, correct? My skin burns. A cold bath doesn't take power, does it?" Alberich asked on the floor beside us.
"There are a few known bathing facilities on this ship. If it is absolutely necessary, 99-Z will deliver you some cleaning implements. I regret to inform that I do not have soap specific for feathered mutants," Null said as he walked away from us, metal steps tramping. "You will have to make do. I do pray to Omnissiah that the planet does not violently wake before we are ready to depart. That would be unfortunate."
"Yeah," I said to the tech-priest's back as he departed with 77-X in tow. Jiminy appeared, buzzing back down the hallway to me, and landed on my shoulder.
"I have a bath in my quarters if you want a tub, Alberich," I offered to the Tzaangor as he stood up.
"I have discovered a shower sauna with a bath elsewhere, but thank you for the offer. I would not want to dirty your private washroom."
"Alright, well, meet with me on the bridge when you're done," I offered as I saw the slender figure of 99-Z conveniently appear from another passageway. She held the same soap brick that I had used, and a long thin cloth. Alberich took both items before hastily walking down another dark corridor. This ship was really big, and I would have to explore it when there was more light and time. That it actually had a sauna somewhere sounded fantastic. "See you all later," I said as I began walking up the stairs inside the "throat" area of the ship, whistling the tune "If I Only Had a Brain" from The Wizard of Oz.
The stairs, I theorized, were likely collapsible when the ship straightened out in flight. This vessel really was an incredible piece of machinery. I internally cursed when I realized that I hadn't been able to get much information out of Trazyn about the Divine Retribution's history. Maybe Orikan's disk would fill us in?
My whistling was off-key, and echoed in the shiny metal stairway. It appeared that the servitors had been ordered to clean and tidy the interior space when we had been gone. Now that my eyes had properly adjusted, I noted just how dark it was in here now. The track lights on the floors and ceilings that had lit our way before were dimmer, and occasionally guttered like candle flames in a light breeze. The tiny lights were barely enough to navigate by, and I trailed my hand along the plated wall to keep myself oriented. As I touched the metal of the ship with my bare fingers, I got a heavy sense that the ship was very hungry and craving energy, which I hoped it would soon have. It even caused my stomach to growl in anticipation.
As I continued whistling and climbing the long stairs to the bridge, Wolfie suddenly reappeared with a crackle, and jumped around my legs in excitement, his tail a shadowy blur of un-matter. In the dim light, he was only visible as a vague, dog-shaped shadow with two pinpoints of white fire representing his eyes. This made him look very scary, but I knew that Wolfie was a good boy, even if he was some kind of unholy Warp entity. "Hey boy!" I said, picking him up. He felt like a pile of cold ashes in my arms. The black ghost dog licked my face, very happy to see me. "That was some bullshit back in that bunker, huh?"
Wolfie did not understand what I was saying, and simply projected the emotion of, ...HAPPY...HAPPY...HAPPY... followed by the impression of great relief. I got the sense that the astral hound had been very scared when Lian had become aggressive, and that he was ecstatic that I was now safe. After scratching his ears, I placed him down as I arrived at the doorway to the bridge. I walked inside, still whistling.
Once again, I saw the three pinched vertical ellipses making up the eyes of the Divine Retribution in this tall room, along with the three elaborate metal thrones. The eyes were open, and sunlight streamed in from outside. This light appeared filtered through the transparent surface of each eye, which made it much more comfortable in here than out in the desert. Unlike the various differing metals across the rest of the ship, all the surfaces of the bridge were made up of a buffed plated gold, which reflected the late afternoon light spilling in from outside warmly. Wolfie raced happily around the bridge, bounding with his normal excitement.
My eyes fixed on the larger central throne, and I took a deep breath in anticipation. The intrusive memory of seeing Virgil's death washed through me like cold water.
Instead of immediately sitting down, I walked up to the center eye, and placed my hand against the glass, looking outside. From here, I had a view of the cool spring I had bathed in below, the twisting canyon, and the rushing river we had walked beside. Very far away on the horizon, I could see what appeared to be a column of smoke or steam rising to a great height in the sky, almost like a distant volcanic explosion. This had to be hundreds of kilometers away, but it definitely worried me. On my shoulder, I could feel Jiminy shift and flutter his wings. The metal mantis then said, "I am in the fuel intake area. My helpers and I are attempting to disentangle the old battery from its bindings. It appears to have a crack, and it is dark, no residual fuel remaining. No radiation detected at least, so we should have an easier time with disposal."
"Sounds like good news to me," I said, my voice echoing across the vast space of the bridge. Another brief quake below struck. "Do you feel the quakes?"
"Yes, I feel them. They are not from the Divine Retribution. The waking xenos are moving en-mass to surface. Directly under us, but far below, one of their capitol ships rests. I'm not certain how sky-worthy the Harvest Ship will be without that energy cell we now possess. I suppose we will see. I do hope that it takes time to rise, at least. Have no fear. I will endeavor to work most expeditiously."
My breath caught when I began to think about the situation we were in now. I didn't actually know what happened to Tomb Worlds once the Necrons inhabiting them woke up. Necrons were never really my "thing" in the real world. Did the crust of the planet fall apart, spilling metal skeletons everywhere like a broken egg? Could these aliens just teleport to the surface like we had seen earlier?
I tapped the glass of the window with my dirty fingers, and turned back around to face the three mechanical thrones. Each throne was slightly angled to face its own window. I wondered why there were three if the only requirement was a psyker on the central throne. Alberich had sat on one of the other thrones without any reaction from the ship, so that mystery was still unsolved.
Speaking of the Tzaangor, I received a mental image of him drying himself off after a quick cold bath. "Sensing" me, he said, I had been sickened by the dead insect. I needed to wash away the toxins. I apologize for abandoning my duty.
No need to apologize, I said. Come up to the bridge when you're ready.
I will do so, my leader, Alberich said, seriousness in his voice. The Tzaangor's stilted formality when it came to his actions was interesting and peculiar, but I didn't have much experience dealing with real-life Nazis in bird man bodies.
I walked back to the central throne, still reluctant to sit down, but at the same time, looking forward to escaping this planet. "My leader?" I wondered aloud, musing on what Alberich called me from time to time. That sounded way too formal. What did that translate into in German? I lightly grazed my fingers against the right arm of the seat, which gave me a strange, swimming feeling.
Another quake distracted my anxious thoughts. How bad was it under us? I declined to use my ability to see below, since I would be needing to power this ship's protective Warp shield with my own soul. It was wild was it that I was the ship's Gellar Field analog. Seriously, just me? Just some random dummy from New Jersey? Maybe this was the secret on how Warp shields worked. People from New Jersey from my age were so universally repellant that the Imperium just kept a supply of New Jersey-born psykers around in stasis, defrosting them whenever they needed to power a new Warp protective shield? They plug one of us in to a spaceship, and our snark repels daemons through sheer spite and self-will? I laughed at the stupid thought, and the sound was hollow in the tall space.
Wolfie was still looking out the central window, wagging his tail. I walked to the right-most window, and began admiring the desert landscape outside to distract myself. Listlessness crawled through me; it definitely felt too quiet in here. The last time I had taken off on a spaceship from a planet, I had rammed a daemon-possessed Statue of Liberty right before a Warp rift had opened. I had been hoping that the departure from Kolch wouldn't be as eventful, but oh well. At least Am'Erika wasn't bothering us right now.
Looking for a diversion for my nerves, I reached inside my pocket, and picked up the metal cube. Its surface sparkled in the sunlight. It was about twice the size of my fist, and covered with strange markings. I really hoped that Lian was in here, and not some other dangerous entity. That would be unpleasant. My psyker senses prickled; I turned toward the exit. Alberich was making his way up the stairs to the bridge. I reached into my other pocket, and found the small metal ring Orikan had given me. When held close to the ring, I noticed that the surface of the cube began to glow, and it swam with different runes bending like serpents swimming through a sea of metal. I didn't know much about Tesseract Labyrinths, but I did know that they could imprison things as powerful as C'tan shards.
Jiminy cheeped on my shoulder again, "Blast it! The old battery has broken, and just as we got it undone! We will need to clean the area up of debris before installing the new one. Can you sit on the throne, Scion? I wish to see something. The ship appears to be nearly completely drained of power, and now we have no backup. The lights down here are very dim."
I looked at the scary golden throne, and clenched my teeth. The waning light of the day made the various snaking metal wires, crystals, and runic embellishments appear especially intimidating. "Alright," I said to Jiminy, who chittered in an acknowledgement. Controlling my breathing and closing my eyes, I willed my anxiety to still. There was no way out of this. I would have to sit on this thing sooner rather than later. Mentally steeling myself, I took a final deep breath, closed my eyes, and sat down.
As before, I felt the throne metaphysically grasp me, reaching through my nervous system and my very being. Also as before, I saw a series of notations appear in the dark behind my closed eyes. This time, I felt the ship pull on my energy more markedly. It was definitely very hungry. Immediately, I could tell that it had managed to passively pull some spare energy from being in the sun outside, but that wasn't nearly enough fuel to sustain its proper operations. It needed that battery to properly store and route energy. The words I saw in my field of view were now somewhat glitched and filled with errors.
Operations: l...ted, danger! Full shut..own im...ent
Fuel Ca...city: .5%
E...ncy Fuel ...city: 0%
Prime Energy C...: error, replace p...
Primary systems on backup, power rerouting from weapon systems
...oid S...d C..city: 0%
...arson Shiel... Capacity: 65%, S...ning c...tain intake, b...rics
The Divine Retribution weakly scanned me, causing a chilling sensation in my bones.
Biom...rics S...n C...te
Health: fai.../p..., mo...d...t fatigue, moderate dehydra...n, pre...ce o... ne...oxins, p...hic exhaustion ...ected
...rent Psi-Lev...: Low, ...ue ...arf, Analog-Z...ta
Motivating I...ulse: ...ight
Re... I...ke: 5
War...! ...ower ...oo low ... ini...te flight!
...mend ...gency ... draw
Ba...up ...arson shield: error
Urgent! R...ace prime en...y cell
R...com... int...e: Error
Fuel rem...ning: .5% WARNING p...me ...ergy ...ell failure, em... psyker ...rve fai..., re...ended ac...n, ...place prime ...y cell, ...w s...s fr... K...
Key ...ve: 5 (9 un...)
Some of these words still didn't make sense to me, but deep within, I could definitely tell that the Divine Retribution was "starving". The little girl that had been used to jump the ship awake had been drained to death, and the only energy we were using was actually being pulled from either the sun above, or me now. The ship drank from me like a thirsty man would drink water, and I felt myself grow weaker with every moment I sat on this throne.
"Erika?" I heard a familiar voice behind me. It was Alberich, fresh from his bath and walking to me on the bridge. I tried to pull my arm up to say hello, but found myself immobile. I was absolutely stuck on the seat this time, the ship was using me as an energy life raft. My head began to ache.
"Hi. I can't move. The ship is holding me," I responded. Oh, what did Null need with me on the throne? "Null, can you hear me? I'm sitting down on the throne."
"Yes, I can hear you. The ship appears exhausted," Jiminy responded on my shoulder. "Do you feel any alternative sources of energy on the ship? The psyker girl has expired."
Hearing how Null described innocent Tailsn's death got me upset, which actually caused Null to remark, "Oh, an energy surge. Do you know where that is coming from?"
"It's coming from me, Null," I said behind gritted teeth. "The ship is pulling from me. It's getting a some small power from being in the sun, but it isn't enough. Don't take too long putting that the new battery up, alright?" I didn't want to end up a drained mummy on a golden throne like humanity's special golden boy on Terra. Could I even disengage if I forced it? I tried to move my hand with more effort, and found that I could not.
"Understood, Scion," the tech-priest responded through Jiminy. Near the center window, Wolfie had turned around and was now watching Alberich as he stepped onto the bridge, cocking his head like any curious dog.
Alberich walked into my field of vision directly in front of me, a few paces away. The scent of eucalyptus and a peculiar wet fur smell followed him. The Tzaangor only wore his farmhouse trousers here, and was bare chested. He leaned on his glaive as he watched me with a peculiar, quizzical expression. Alberich appeared deep in thought, and I noticed the swirling colors of his daemon blade reflect in the sunlight. I wondered what Valkyrie was telling him. It couldn't be good if he became too reliant on that blade.
"Are you alright, Alberich?" I asked the Tzaangor, who nodded, but said nothing.
"You are being drained," he said, his voice low and serious.
"Yeah, but, Null is putting the new battery in right now. Should be done soon." I really hoped so. My headache became worse.
A quake from below, and this one felt closer to the surface. I heard Wolfie whine and bark at the movement. Hurry up, Null.
"Does it... have to be you to feed the ship?" he said. There was a tenseness in his voice.
"Uh, yeah. Right now it does. No one else is hooked up to it, and the old battery is gone," I responded. I received an unbidden mental image of Null directing two of his larger servitors as they held a large hexagonal emerald that shone with an eldritch brilliance. Animated green light shimmered and reflected across this domed room deep inside the ship, casting animated shades that almost looked like ghostly dancers against the metal walls. In the center of the room, I saw an overhanging bundle of cables that reached down from the ceiling, and clawed upward from the floor. This, I realized instantly, was the new battery. The incredible life energy bleeding from this crystal caused me to almost feel a pang of hunger through the spirit of the ship. It was as if I was looking at a big delicious supreme pizza after not having eaten for days.
"You shouldn't have to be the only one to feed the ship," Alberich replied, bringing me back to the present. His feathers stood on end, and he clutched his weapon firmly.
"I'm not feeding you to the ship," I said, taking a breath. Null should be finished soon, don't worry, I thought nervously. Don't worry...
The Tzaangor surprised me by speaking to me in mind. You hold the man captured in the bunker, Lian. He has powerful energy. Valkyrie has told me that your life is jeopardy by currently sitting on that throne. This ship will drain you to death if Null encounters any problems. My suggestion to you is to release Lian, and immediately drain him to preserve your own energy.
Not doing that either, I said, feeling my temples ache as another quake struck us below. An unbidden mental image of a few crescent ships rising up where I had seen the column of steam in the distance. The vanguard ships had reached the surface, and were now hovering in the low atmosphere, waiting for further commands. Shit. Hurry up, Null. We have to get out of here. The ship wouldn't just drain me to death if it had no other option, would it? Would this vessel be able to prevail if the Nome King's rising fleet was mustered before we could escape?
Alberich cocked his head as he looked at me, concern across his avian features. A sigh of resolution escaped his beak. He then held out his left arm, and closed his eyes. What was he doing?
The Tzaangor took a deep breath. I felt a tickle near my left skirt pocket as Alberich telekinetically grasped the metal ring, pulling it into the air in front of me. I watched this all happen helplessly. I tried to pull my arms off the throne, but I was held fast. "Tell me what you're doing, please. You swore an oath to protect me."
"I did," the beastman responded, his eyes still closed. The ring floated to his hand, and he opened his eyes. Alberich exhaled heavily. "And I plan on keeping this oath. I will not have the throne pull all of your energy out before we are airborne. It will be the end of all of us should you die here. My apologies for not informing you, but this is a better way."
He placed the ring in his pocket, and then reached forward once again while holding his eyes closed. The Tesseract Labyrinth in my other pocket was pulled out with some effort, and began floating toward his outstretched hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" I angrily asked with more insistence, which caused Jiminy to shift on my shoulder. His antennae shifted as he faced the unfolding scene, his attention gained.
"Contingency plan. If I recall, we were in trouble last time and the metal man advocated for my death in order to feed the ship to functionality. I will not have that happen again, not to you, and not to me. Inside this cube, a man is imprisoned that can be offered as fuel for this ship in an emergency. If you cannot move, you cannot release him so that he may be devoured." Alberich traced his fingers around the surface of the metal cube.
"Mutant, stay out of this. I am connecting the battery as we speak. Your actions are foolish," Jiminy protested. "I just said downstairs that opening the Tesseract Labyrinth is an uncertain action. You do not know what is in there. It could be the traitor marine, or it could be a daemon. We need to open it in a secure area."
Alberich held his eyes closed and gripped Valkyrie in his other hand. The colors on the metal glaive whirled. He then opened his eyes. Valkyrie tells me Lian is inside this cube, and as long as you will the ship to quickly drain him, we will be unharmed. I trust in the spirit within my sacred blade, and I trust in the Great Architect, for He commands fate and has never let me astray, the beastman said to me in mind. He then took the cube, and placed it on the ground two meters ahead of me. The beastman stood aside, walking a few steps away and ahead of the rightmost throne. I will unlock this prison. Tell the ship to drain him once he is freed. I do not want to be in danger once again.
"No, don't do this..." I said, reflexively trying to move and again, finding myself unable to disengage from the throne. Deep within me, I felt a peculiar pang of hunger. Through me, the ship knew what was going on somehow, and was looking forward to a tasty canned space marine meal.
Alberich closed his eyes again, and reached inside his pocket. From his opened palm, he displayed the metal ring. I watched as it begin to float in the air. Jiminy responded by launching himself off my shoulder, and flying ahead of the small object, trying to block its path to the cube on the floor ahead of me. In a panic, I attempted to reach into my psyker abilities to stop the ring from floating toward the Tesseract Labyrinth, but a sharp pain stabbed through my head. I felt the throne grapple me further. My vision began to grey out at the edges. Oh, shit. The ship did say I was experiencing psychic exhaustion.
"Stop this at once! You endanger us all!" Jiminy yelled at Null.
In response to Jiminy's interference, Alberich made a short motion with his hand which caused the metal ring to loop around the metal drone, and fly straight at the cube, striking it with a "tink" sound. Oh no!
As the ring made contact with the Tesseract Labyrinth, I felt a push of air and force strike me, causing my ears to register a pressure change. A blinding white light filled the bridge. To my right, I saw that Alberich had stumbled in the rush of air, dropping Valkyrie on the floor. The Tzaangor then remarkably managed to trip backward over the daemon glaive that had miraculously fallen behind him, causing him to fall and land seated on the rightmost throne.
Immediately, I felt the ship respond to him, gripping him as it did me. He cried out in surprise. That's what you get for trusting Tzeentch, dude.
Ahead of me in the light, a new shadow stood facing one of the windows. "...hope to influence me with your honeyed words!" a loud male voice yelled into the bridge, echoing angrily. I blinked repeatedly, and saw the figure of Lian as he began to whirl around, confused. Wolfie began barking at the scene, but did not approach.
To my right, I heard Alberich screaming as he attempted to pull himself off where he had fallen. That other throne was active now?
"Potential secondary navigator detected, starboard throne. Emergency energy pull will initiate if negative. Allocate Key resources to initiate scan?" The distorted starved words of the Divine Retribution rang out above me. The ship wanted permission to eat him! Jiminy had been knocked to the floor, and was trying to bring himself back into the air.
It was then that I realized that I had forgotten something important that could have saved me a lot of pain if I had remembered! It had completely slipped my mind!
"Take the souls from the damn Key and don't eat anyone!" I yelled as Alberich continued to scream bloody murder on the bridge. I had fucking forgotten that my stupid Key stored souls, and that the souls within could be fed to the damn ship!
Lian stood stunned and disoriented, turning around and gaping at the sight of the bridge of the Divine Retribution. I felt the handful of monster souls we had killed rapidly filter through me and into the throne below. When the soul of the Screamer passed through my body, the ship began to feel stronger, even causing a few lights to reignite on the bridge. I felt a energy race through me, and I was invigorated. Wow, I totally messed up here. Looks like I'm the one that should ask the Wizard for a fucking brain.
The Divine Retribution's attention was now on Alberich as he struggled to rise from the throne. Just as I felt the ship's energy stabilize from the consumption of the monster souls, Lian came to his senses in front of me, and shouted "Witch!" before lunging at me. Not again!
I pulled into my slightly more substantial energy reserves, and pushed Lian back with a wall of force. Wolfie dashed out of the way, and continued barking, his tail between his legs. "Stop it! Stop!" I yelled, my voice projecting through the ship, booming around us. This time, it had the keening quality that almost resembled the noise the Screamer had made. Thinking quickly, I immobilized him by visualizing his armor locking up. It worked. Lian now stood frozen a few meters away from me, his back against the central window, his face a combination of both surprise and outrage.
"What have you done!?" Jiminy squealed in outrage over Alberich who had stopped screaming and was now frozen, his beak open and his eyes wide and unseeing in an expression of both awe and terror. He was not dead, I knew that much. I could tell that the ship was somehow looking within him. It was scanning him, just as it had scanned me back on Levant. My main attention was still on stopping Lian from killing us as I watched him growl in anger.
"Secondary navigator accepted. Sit nomen viator benedictum. Stand by for initiation. Final approval from captain?"
"Fine, just don't eat him," I said reflexively, not really thinking about what was said as I was distracted by Lian's fearsome struggling. It was taking great conscious willpower to hold the furious Fallen in place. He was actively fighting against me.
Jiminy flew into my field of vision. "I'm almost finished! Hold on for a just a bit longer! See if you can drain the traitor astartes!"
"Where... am... I?" the marine hissed between clenched teeth, his eyes blazing in fury, and his anger palpable. I watched his eyes madly search the room of the bridge.
"Our vessel, the Divine Retribution," I informed him, still psychically gripping him. My nose began to bleed. "I saved you from the aliens."
"I... will... not... capitulate... to... xenos... will!"
"I'm not an alien. The one that imprisoned you is gone. He wanted to kidnap you for a museum. I saved you, Lian. The planet we are on is doomed, and we're trying to leave. I'm sorry about your bunker, but the Necrons were going to wake up even if we hadn't arrived! I stole the dimensional prison cube you were trapped in by the alien you saw, and you've just been released," I was able to now pull my right arm off the throne, and pointed at the Tesseract Labyrinth in front of me. To my right, Alberich began moaning piteously. Feeling my grip on the Fallen lessen by my slight diversion of attention, I sternly said, "Stop trying to hurt us! We saved you!"
"Release... me..." Lian demanded, his face wearing a snarl.
"Promise you won't kill us?"
Erika, I can see through the ship now! What have you done? Alberich's voice echoed through both me and the throne, sounding of fear and confusion. What? I kept my attention on the more immediate threat, which was the angry space marine being held back from ending my life.
"Promise... nothing... to... heretics!" Lian spat at me.
Oh, please. This guy was a Fallen Dark Angel, and was definitely categorized as a heretic by the Imperium. Lian calling me a heretic was really stupid. "If you kill me, you'll die too. You'll be stuck here with an army of Necrons coming up from underground. We're trying to leave this planet!" I couldn't keep my grip on this guy forever, and I felt my left ear begin to bleed. I felt the ship began to slightly list to the side as another quake struck. The ground was starting to split! "Look, we promise that we'll drop you off somewhere later if you want. I'm still not your enemy! Would a daughter of the Emperor be your enemy? Search your feelings! Look at me, look at my eyes! You know this to be true!" I knew saying something like that was manipulative, but I wanted to live long enough to escape.
That line caused the Fallen's expression to soften. My grip on the marine began to relax, and I watched as he stumbled forward, now free. Lian righted himself, and looked around nervously. At the very least, he wasn't trying to immediately kill me. Behind him, I noticed that he still had a large wrapped sword on his back.
"This... is a spacecraft?" Lian asked hesitantly, still not immediately running up to skewer me, and his face etched with conflicting emotions. His eyes were rapidly searching the bridge. To my right, and on the other throne, Alberich's head continued to loll.
"Yeah, it is. This is-"
A rush of incredible blazing warmth surged through me, and for a moment, I was fully one with the ship again. My eyes closed as I felt heat flow back into my wings, my bones, my very essence. My great strength was returning! I was whole again! It was wonderful to feel so warm and strong after so long without adequate energy. I was a living vessel of brilliant gold, the glory of God incarnate! All evils fled from my gaze, for no corruption can touch me! I am the harbinger, the beginning and the end! I am the unquenchable fire, the kingmaker, the light of hope in the fire of remaking! I am divinity made material! I am...
"...Divine Retribution!"
Another new male voice shouted those words directly ahead of me, conveniently finishing both my earlier interrupted sentence, and my (or the ship's) thoughts. I opened my eyes and came back to myself just in time to see a ghostly figure begin to coalesce from thousands of motes of light reflecting off the now brilliantly lit golden bridge. The throne I sat upon was now saturated with heavenly light of unearthly, stunning beauty, warm and alive! The battery was finally in place! Lian held his arm up, shielding his eyes from the sudden brightness. The incomplete figure ahead of me sculpted itself into a man in robes, and his head was pitched back in exultation while his arms were spread wide in praise. The bright shade continued to focus, sculpting itself from the incredible living energy that now sparkled off the floors and walls.
He appeared to be a familiar man in his 30s wearing strange robes and some kind of elaborate metal collar around his neck. While I could see that his form had color, he had an overlay of the same shimmery gold as the light that spilled all us now. His expression was one of pained joy. As he further came into focus, I realized that I definitely recognized him. With a gasp, I remembered that I had seen this very individual on Levant! This figure was the golden ghost that had led me inside the Divine Retribution a thousand years in the past! After a few moments, the man turned his face downward toward me, his eyes still shining and his smile still wide. He began to glance around at us, and his expression tilted into mild confusion.
Jiminy had turned around, and was watching the sight as he hovered in midair ahead of me. The metal mantis made a startled noise consisting of excited clicks and beeps. "V-virgil!?" Jiminy cheeped incredulously before squealing in joy, even doing a little somersault in the air. "Virgil! How-?!"
I felt something pierce my left talon. There were tiny silver creatures on the ground, and they were trying to hurt me. Reflexively, I pulled my leg up, reengaged my defensive shield, and stomped on the metal vermin who would dare bite at me. The ship shuddered and righted itself with a groan.
The shimmering specter did not seem to notice the activity around him. "Archmagos Nemo? Why do you speak through your drone? Where are you? Am I back yet? I fear I'm currently experiencing a visual hallucination. Do inject me with an adrenal stabilizer. Green solution, please. I wish to come fully back to reality now," the shining shade spoke to Jiminy as he glanced around to each of us in the bright golden room. "Oh, I simply cannot wait to tell you what I've seen, my friend! The ship, the Great Eagle, it's alive, it's awake! I have seen the Traveler destined for us. It is a woman! I saw a halo shines like that of the light of Sol about her head! We have a new Traveler, Nemo! We have a new Empress!"