The amber light of the late afternoon setting sun was streaming into the gold bridge of the Divine Retribution. After seeing snow all day, there had been a break in the weather which allowed for scenic views of the outside landscape through the Great Eagle's eye windows. Soft classical music was now being broadcast through the ship courtesy of Null. This offered a soothing counterpoint to the anxiety that the majority of the crew of the Divine Retribution was currently feeling. They were stuck. At present, all they could do was wait for their leader to reappear in order to direct them.
Five hours had passed since their captain had vanished from the galactic region to chase an unknown desire on the world named "Molech."
Alberich was currently searching for his leader again through the systems of the Great Eagle. His senses told him that she was still very far away. Aside from short breaks to stretch and eat psyker paste rations, the German Traveler had been seated on his throne for many of these five hours. He was beginning to fray in fatigue.
"Anything?" the hologram ghost man before him in grey robes asked with concern, his hands nervously clutched in his robes.
Alberich shook his head, pushing back stiffly against his throne. "She remains far away, but she's still alive," he informed those present on the bridge.
"We should have faith, Alberich. The glory of the Inheritor is a light that cannot be extinguished," Virgil offered with a bow of his head before vanishing from the bridge, likely on his way to keep an eye on Null. Most of the crew, he suspected, was still worried about the Tech-priest's motivations and sanity. Alberich suspected that Null was keeping a terrible secret from them, one that was even worse than the extermination of thousands of people. When he thought about it, Null's action to eliminate fifty thousand people in order to protect a secret of God did not sound so terrible. Back home, his former leader would have effortlessly ordered ten times as many deaths to preserve an artifact such as this vessel. However, he had been ordered not to make trouble, so the psyker kept his opinion to himself.
Aside from his seething anger toward Null, Virgil was a good and diligent crewmember. Here on the bridge, the hologram had been attempting to teach Rasputin a few lessons on what was called "astropathic communication" with mixed success. Alberich could tell that Virgil didn't enjoy Rasputin's presence, but when they were ordered to prepare for trouble by their errant lady captain, the hologram had tasked himself with doing the best he could to assist the Mad Monk with his (apparently shoddy) defensive psychic techniques. You would think that if that infamous degenerate had been in this reality for ten years he would be stronger, the German Traveler huffed.
Alberich was still nursing a mild headache after briefly losing consciousness hours ago after daring to even think about flying off without his leader. He now loyally attended himself to his duty of watching the local landscape. At times, the psyker also pulled his attention skyward, keeping tabs on the movements of the cursed vessel speeding through the system toward them at a fraction of the speed of light. The tainted ship was a little over three-quarters the way through the system now, Alberich observed, gritting his teeth. They were scheduled to arrive soon, and his leader was still on the other side of the galaxy. While he was unflinchingly loyal to his leader, it worried him that she had been gone for so long. The psyker nervously looked upward toward his display to read the description of the incoming evil ship.
Vessel name: Anguished Epiphany
Vessel craft: Human/Heretek/Chaos variant, unknown
Alignment: Chaos Undivided
Size: 4km length, 1km width, 2km depth (estimate)
Estimated Crew: 90,000+ estimate, mixed, heretek variant
Type: Explorator
Armed: yes, warning! Presence of high potency sorcerers suspected!
Warp Capable: yes
"Ninety thousand damned people," Alberich spoke, shaking his head.
"Probably more, knowing hereteks and their ilk. Maybe even into millions!" Rasputin responded nearby, overhearing him. The Mad Monk turned away from the left eye window and made his way to stand next to Alberich's throne. As he walked, the Russian pointed upward at the vessel's jagged, malevolent profile before them. This spaceship almost looked like a U-boat, but was covered in sharp hooks, spikes, and abstract spider designs. Rasputin now stood to Alberich's left, the scent of hard liquor surrounding him in a putrid miasma. He continued indicating toward the holographic display. "I do not have my library with me, but that appears to be a corrupted Imperial ship, just as Null said. Filled with people who look like Null and that Jinnicky fellow, but are tainted. Tentacles, multiple eyes, daemonic possession, that sort of rubbish. The villains of this universe, they capture the ships made by the Imperium, and convert them to this nonsense."
Alberich didn't say anything and closed his eyes. Dutifully, he directed his psychic vision outward on his watch, observing the region again. His head throbbed uncomfortably.
"I sense you are uncomfortable, German," Rasputin accurately observed. "May I offer you something?"
"I don't think you have anything that I could possibly want. And, no. I don't want your liquor," Alberich retorted, opening his eyes in irritation.
"No, I am not talking about that," the Mad Monk responded, removing a small glass vial and two metal shot glasses from his robe. The glass vial held some sort of shimmery bright green liquid within it.
"Really? Because it looks like you're talking precisely about that."
"Hush, German. One of the reasons people enjoy my services is that I can sense emotion very well. Maybe you cannot, as you appear to be more of a battle psyker and distant viewer, but I have my gifts." Rasputin grinned, and pointed upward at the display again, wagging his finger with disapproval toward the incoming vessel. "Right now, we find ourselves at a disadvantage as we see enemies from all sides. Threats from xenos, a heretek ship, it is quite awful! Soon, I sense we may be in a fight without the benefit of our golden tsarina to help us. I have something-" the Russian Traveler displayed the glass vial filled with the strange green liquid with a flourish. "-that may give you more confidence in your psychic potential during these perilous times."
Alberich watched as Rasputin telekinetically levitated the two metal shot glass-sized cups in midair before unscrewing the glass vial. He poured a small amount of viscous green fluid into each small cup. With a wave of Rasputin's bony fingers, one of the metal containers floated to Alberich, and he took it from the air. "What is this supposed to be?"
"A special enhancer of psychic gifts, my friend," the Mad Monk said with a grin as he held his own cup. "Something I take from time to time when I need a bit of a boost. It is a tincture called, 'Spook,' and it increases the potential and strength of psykers."
Alberich narrowed his eyes, suspicious. Back in his universe, he remembered that there were certain research chemicals were rumored to boost psychic potency. Himmler himself had ordered covert medical studies to research drugs that would increase mystical potential. The research never went far, but Alberich had always been curious. In this situation, taking an enhancement might actually be smart. Without his leader to help, the crew of the Divine Retribution didn't have a strong "fighting" psyker, as Virgil and Rasputin were more attuned to more passive skills. In a conflict, he might be needed for such things.
"It's a psychic aid?" the German traveler asked. "Is it safe?"
Rasputin nodded. "If I thought you could not handle it, I would not be offering it to you. Again, I say to you that our golden goddess has ordered us to get along, so I would not be trying to poison you in the least. If you still distrust me, examine this with your senses."
"Spook," Alberich said, holding the small cup to his nose. The green liquid had a cloying sweet scent. It sounded familiar, but the psyker couldn't tell where he had heard the word before. "I feel like I have heard of this before."
"It is quite common among psykers of this universe," Rasputin said before tipping his cup back and swallowing its contents in one gulp. "So, it is often talked about. Quite expensive as well. This particular variant lasts around six hours. If that ship is close, we might require all the help we can get."
Alberich swished his small metal cup of shimmery green fluid. Curious, he used his psychic senses to see if Rasputin was lying and found no overt deception. His leader had demanded that he get along with the infamous Russian and that they both stop their petty fighting. Considering their situation, an enhancement of his senses might actually be a smart move, considering the danger they were in.
He looked up again at the estimated arrival time for the Anguished Epiphany. It would be in orbit within three hours, or maybe even earlier if it sped up. Unrelated, there were also aliens with psychic powers in the region, and they had a whole city hidden under the mountains!
Steeling himself, Alberich drank the short metal cup of green fluid. It tingled with a strange warmth as it went down, almost like a mentholated liqueur. "How will I know its effects?" he asked, returning the cup to Rasputin.
"Your perception will begin to increase, as will your psychic hearing. Simply calm yourself if it becomes overwhelming on the ascent, and you will be fine. As a member of Langwidere's court, I took Spook regularly and recreationally. It is also wonderful in bed with a woman of psychic talent, which makes me have naughty dreams about our lovely tsarina!" Rasputin salaciously grinned and began to walk back to his throne.
"I don't want to hear about it," Alberich responded shortly. Luckily, Virgil returned from his short visit to check on Null, interrupting this uncomfortable moment. He then sensed that Ennoia was now climbing her way up the neck stairs, which was good. The German psyker didn't like being alone with Rasputin.
"Is the Magos still on his way, Alberich? Null states that the landscape is interfering with the ship's scan of his army," Virgil asked, now appearing to Alberich's right.
"I'll check..."
Alberich willed the Divine Retribution to locate the maddened Magos as he trundled down the snowy mountain pass. Right now, the group was walking down a gently sloping path that was cut into the side of a rocky hill. The path hugged a cliff that plunged into an area of gnarled vegetation and rough terrain about fifty meters in depth. The five-meter wide path was rough and covered with snow and debris, so groups of flamethrowing robots marched at the fore of the small army, blasting away any snow in what had to be the most inefficient way to clear a path in existence. Jinnicky directed the small contingent on the back of a giant robotic scorpion made of brass, casually lounging against the base of the creature's stinger tail like he was enjoying a lakeside retreat. He even sipped a beverage held in one of his hands. Before and behind the Magos, groups of servitors, robots, and other whirring metal creatures that he couldn't quite make out marched in lockstep. The group seemed to number at around a hundred individuals, both big and small. He estimated that they were quite close if they kept their current pace. The small army would be here within half an hour to forty-five minutes.
While the strange group seemed to be through the worst of the mountain hike, this was probably still fairly dangerous for Jinnicky considering the snow. However, this didn't seem to concern anyone else on the crew, as it appeared that the Magos wasn't well-liked because of his instability. Jinnicky was valuable because had an army, and any help they could get would be welcome, despite how rude and insane he was. But, there seemed to be an unconscious consensus that if he died, not many tears would be shed.
But, what sort of help would work against that incoming monstrosity, the psyker worried, watching the evil spaceship edge forward on the display.
Not wanting to look further within the cursed ship, Alberich took a deep breath to calm himself as he continued his vigil. He swept his vision outward again, now searching for the advancing tribesmen. They had already seen one band of savages visit their ship a while ago, and now, another was on its way. This group was now very close to the ship, and Alberich studied them thoughtfully. There were ten individuals, eight men and two women. All had tanned skin and long dark hair bundled in dreadlocks. It appeared that they were led by a witch doctor who wore heavy ceremonial furs and the skull of a large beaked creature over his brow. They trudged through snow that was about up to their shins, and they were now moving more quickly through the valley. At the very least, they seemed well-equipped for it. The snow didn't seem to bother the group too much, as they were very rugged and well-equipped to handle inclement weather.
Alberich smiled at knowing that he was even able to somewhat sense the group's intentions. This was a sort of pilgrimage for these people. Their religion spoke of a sun god that rode through the heavens on a chariot shaped like an eagle. This meant that the appearance of the Divine Retribution was a divine omen, and was confirmation that God had come to them to bless their intentions for war against their oppressors. Each band of pilgrims was led by a leader of one of their tribes, which were now mustering to the south.
Virgil asked, "What else do you see?" as he stood beside the right throne.
"The tribesmen," Alberich began to speak, his eyes still closed. "They will be here soon. They are just like the other band. They want to pray to their... god." The psyker chuckled.
Before he could offer more information, Alberich felt his attention abruptly drawn back to himself. He found himself blinking rapidly before the holographic display screen. The Great Eagle was alerting him to the movement of the spiny enemy ship. Puzzled, Alberich was about to ask the Divine Retribution what it had sensed, but then...
"Incoming transmission from vessel Anguished Epiphany. Accept?" the impassive sibilant voice of the ship intoned on the bridge.
Not this again, Alberich thought, groaning. The profane vessel had attempted to "call" them twice since their leader departed. Each time, they had been ignored. While he hadn't been given explicit instructions on what to do in this situation, it seemed logical to continue stonewalling the Chaos ship, as that is what his leader had done earlier.
"Why do they continue trying to contact us? Do they wish to threaten?" the hologram man asked, shaking his head.
"Who knows, and who cares," Rasputin replied, now sitting on the left throne. Alberich felt a wave of loathing pass over his being when he sensed the Russian's soul integrate into the vessel. Repugnance rose within him. Despite his recent friendliness, this historical character was truly detestable in person, and even worse than the Reich's files suggested. Even his recent generosity couldn't stop Alberich's disgust from having to share a space with him.
A dark thought rose within him. The rationale that his leader used in taking on Rasputin was that the ship was low on energy and their group was in bad shape. Thusly, another human battery would be useful to fuel their escape from Tar Vigaz. Maybe, if times were desperate, the vessel could be ordered to consume the filthy lecher. Alberich, having this thought, immediately cringed. The Divine Retribution could read intention, and the psyker waited for the vesselto assault his soul for thinking treacherously. However, no such punishment occurred, which caused him to sigh in relief.
He turned toward the left throne and caught Rasputin drinking from a metal flask, oblivious. Where was he getting all that liquor anyway? Perhaps if it came down to it, and they needed more energy, the Mad Monk really would do as an emergency pickled meal for the hungry machine that he was attached to...
Divine Retribution, Alberich cautiously telepathically asked the ship. Its baleful psychic eye turned toward him. Who is the highest ranking person aboard, and acting captain at the present? Respond to this in my mind and no one else's.
The ship answered telepathically. Acting captain, Alberich, alias Heinrich Weiss. Starboard throne co-navigator.
And, what can I command you to do? Alberich asked.
Acting captain, all capabilities of captain. Primary captain out of range, the gold eagle informed him with a slight warning tone, letting him know that leaving this world without its master was not going to happen.
If I were to command you to devour someone because you were very hungry and needed to fly soon, would you be able to follow my command?
Alberich felt the ship examine its damaged wings and hull. The psyker was easily able to sense that the ship was still in bad shape, but it was steadily regenerating. The Divine Retribution indicated wordlessly that a command to devour humans would be obeyed in an exceptionally difficult situation.
Rasputin, oblivious to Alberich's scheming, belched and pointed upward at the image of the evil ship. He announced, "I have no interest in what a ship full of hereteks has to say. Null said that they can harm us merely by contacting us. Knowing that, do not return their summons."
"Agreed," Alberich replied. Behind him, he could sense that Ennoia had walked onto the bridge.
In stilted English, the Blank woman asked, "New events now?" as she walked into view ahead of the psyker, watching the three large holographic screens. The Blank woman was wearing a very sweaty black exercise tunic, and her gold daggers were fastened to an improvised holder on the sash around her waist.
"No, I am afraid not, warrior woman, whatever your name is," Rasputin answered with a sniff.
"Ennoia," she responded flatly.
Virgil added, "We're still just waiting up here watching and waiting as we exercise our abilities, madam."
"She's still far away," Alberich offered his company on the bridge, massaging his temples. A strange buzzing ring briefly sang through the psyker's ears. "It's been over five hours." The German psyker glanced up at the display. "That ship. It's scheduled to be here within three hours. I'm beginning to become worried."
"I have faith. You all feel faith," Ennoia said plainly, turning around to walk back down to the bridge. The two sisters had been practicing their martial techniques with Lian down in what everyone was now calling the "training room," which Alberich had not yet seen.
"You can sense our Inheritor, can you not?" Virgil asked, turning around.
"Yes, but, sense is the only thing I can do at this distance," Alberich offered, raising his hands in a gesture of exasperation. He then reached up to massage his left shoulder and arm, which now ached with strange sympathetic pain from the Divine Retribution's injuries. "This ship, it's still grievously damaged. It can neither flee nor can it defend itself in full strength. I can feel its injuries when I am integrated."
"And our savage worshippers outside? I see through the vessel that they are nearing the forest clearing," the Mad Monk asked.
Alberich pointed forward toward the center holographic screen, which caused an overhead holographic map of their immediate area to appear before the bridge across all three displays. The tribesmen were now in the forest surrounding the valley to the south. The psyker examined the tribesmen again, and announced, "They're harmless, I can tell. They, like the others, are on a sort of religious pilgrimage. They admire the bird."
Rasputin snorted and began to laugh. "Could you even imagine? Picture that you are a primitive living on a world where your people have not invented electricity yet, and suddenly, a giant gold bird arrives on your doorstep. Naturally, it must be God!" The infamous historical figure laughed before hiccupping again. "What a situation!"
"They have a psychic with them," Alberich added. "Their religious leader. I can sense his strength."
A wave of hunger swept through the Divine Retribution as it observed the witch doctor from afar. This man was stronger than the others, and if consumed, he would greatly help their regeneration. However, he was a human, and the vessel didn't want to eat humans if they were not aggressive.
The Mad Monk laughed at Alberich again. "They are called psykers here, kolbasnik."
"No need to be rude, er, Rasputin," Virgil quietly admonished. "They appear to be harmless. They wish to see this vessel, which is perfectly understandable, considering the strength and beauty that we hold."
"Fine, fine," Rasputin groaned. "And, what about the underground aliens? Any way to see them?"
Alberich nodded and prepared to direct his vision to search for any trace of alien activity. Suddenly, his eye was dragged dramatically toward the foothills over the western forest where they had seen the crashed drone. The German Traveler didn't quite understand what he was observing until a strange low cascading tone echoed through his mind. Hearing this tone caused Alberich pain. In his body, he sensed that his nose was bleeding, but he continued pushing, concerned over why the eagle had brought his attention to this location.
After a few moments, the top of a rocky hill impossibly retracted into itself. What appeared next amazed the psyker as he witnessed flying triangular vehicles with buzzing brass insectoid wings spilling into the sky like locusts before visually vanishing in a gold flash. Each of these "insects" was about the size of a small plane, and contained at least two or more aliens as pilots and crew. Alberich was able to discern that the small aerial vehicles were still present, despite them somehow being "invisible" now.
Stealth field present, the Divine Retribution intoned in Alberich's mind, observing the group of invisible small vehicles that swarmed into the sky.
No, there were many of them! And, they did not appear friendly! Their intentions... they felt like war!
"I... I..." Alberich stuttered in horror as he watched the ships in his mind's eye!
"What is it, Alberich?" Virgil distantly asked. Alberich held his eyes tightly shut, forcing himself to follow the invisible buzzing ships.
The ships rotated in a tight whirlwind in the sky, reminding the psyker of wasps defending a disturbed nest. There had to be at least fifty small insect-plane-ships in this cluster, and aside from a slight shimmer in the air, they were nearly invisible to the naked eye. Before Alberich could put himself together enough to respond to the hologram, he watched as the swarm began to organize itself into an organized fleet a kilometer above.
The German Traveler continued to watch the scene with his eyes shut, but apparently, the holographic screen now displayed what he had witnessed. "What?!" Rasputin cried out. "What is this?! What are these dots?!"
"Throne!"
"A s-swarm!" Alberich was able to hiss as he continued watching the terrible sight, his eyes rolling back in his head! Thinking themselves doomed, the German psyker watched in surprise as the fleet then began to head northeast, ignoring their location. What?
With a great exhalation, Alberich properly returned to his body. Before him, he could see that the giant holographic screens now displayed little red dots soaring over the western foothills, making their way to the northern mountains. The psyker wiped his bloody nose with a handkerchief, and informed the bridge, "The aliens we saw earlier, they're piloting these machines. They're under a stealth field." His voice had a slight slur as he pointed to the screen.
Another smaller display opened up on Alberich's screen, and now, Null was gesturing animatedly before the German psyker, somewhere near the ship's engines and green energy crystal. "What is this small flyer fleet I see?!"
When Alberich couldn't immediately respond, Rasputin helpfully chimed in with, "Aliens, Archmagos. A fleet of alien flyers. But, it appears they are going somewhere else."
Taking a deep breath, Alberich tried to do what he had seen his leader do and requested that the Divine Retribution make an approximation of these insect ships. The ship complied with a rough, glitching image of a long and roughly triangular-bodied insect with two sets of sharp gold wings. It was vaguely similar to that of a locust or another large flying insect. Their pilots sat in the "heads" of the bugs, which appeared to be made of stained glass of many colors. Despite himself and the dangerous situation, the psyker found himself admiring the construction of the ingenious insect flying machines. The patterns on their wings were... very beautiful...
"Would these Dwemer aliens start a war over our last meeting?" Virgil asked, yanking Alberich back to reality.
"They weren't pleased with us," Alberich responded, his right ear beginning to bleed. Why did his blood feel cold and funny? "But, a war seems an overreaction in my personal experience. From what I have seen of war, I did not think that we had exhausted all diplomatic inroads after our meeting. Maybe they're just out for some recreational flying, and what I felt was wrong. What they really wanted is for us to give them Jinnicky, and..."
Alberich paused and observed the map again. The Divine Retribution now helpfully highlighted Jinnicky's tower and the winding road that the crazy metal man now traversed on his way here.
"I..." the psyker began, now beginning to understand. "I think I know what they're doing!"
The trajectory of the flying red dots was quickly calculated. It appeared that within a few minutes that the swarm would be right over Jinnicky's path down the mountain!
Rasputin began to laugh on the rightmost throne. "It seems the aliens really dislike that crazy fool. They have sent a flying army after him!"
"You're sure the Inheritor isn't with him? Is she still on Molech?" Virgil asked, worried.
"Yes, I'm sure," Alberich answered. "She's not with him. We'd be able to sense her if she was that close. Do we have any way to contact Jinnicky to warn him about this?"
No one immediately responded. Alberich could tell that his present company was uncomfortable with this topic, as no one enjoyed the mad Magos.
Null crossed all four of his arms and tapped his gold fingers against his right elbow. "Magos Jinnicky and I never bothered to set up two-way communication between him and us aside from my homunculus, Jiminy. This drone is currently with the Inheritor, and not with the Magos. At the very least, since the snow has stopped, Jinnicky's army can likely see the peril now coming for him. He isn't defenseless."
"But, they're concealed!" Alberich corrected. Ahead and to his right, a pale translucent ghost appeared. It floated past his field of vision before vanishing into smoke. Ignoring that, the psyker said, "They have a kind of stealth technology. While I was able to perceive them, they cannot be seen by the naked eye."
Null was slow to reply. "In that case, I do hope for Magos Jinnicky's sake that he installed multispectral sensors in both himself and within his aids."
There was another long pause. "My suggestion is that I would not put any resources into saving Magos Jinnicky. To be rude to a superior in his way, and to say the things he said to me would be akin to signing one's death warrant back on Mars. His madness is no excuse. We have no army on our own to help him, anyway, and the only thing he has to benefit us is his army."
"Agreed," Virgil tensely offered. "That man has-"
Alberich's psychic attention was drawn away yet again, and now, he watched as a portion of the cloaked fighters broke from the main swarm, and began heading further north. Another quick calculation by the Divine Retribution informed the German Traveler that around fifteen craft appeared to be advancing toward Jinnicky's tower!
"Wait!" Alberich interjected the chatter on the bridge, waving his right hand. Faint trails of light now moved from his fingertips. "Look!" He motioned toward the holographic screen before him which now displayed a cluster of red dots making their way to Jinnicky's tower. They would be there within five minutes, according to a calculation that spontaneously appeared.
No one spoke. The actions of the aliens were beginning to appear more directly dangerous to the motley crew of the Divine Retribution.
"But, she is not there?" Rasputin asked. "She is on some other planet in the galaxy, right? She passed through a Gate!"
"Are they also trying to kill the Inheritor now?" Virgil asked a worried pitch in his voice. "If they have Travelers in their race, would they try to steal the Divine Retribution?"
Alberich watched as the rest of the crew chattered in worry over this latest development. The ship couldn't move! They couldn't do anything in this condition! The German Traveler closed his eyes, meditating on a possible solution.
Below, he could sense the tribesmen were now beneath the left wing of the vessel. They were gesturing upward toward the ship, singing words of praise in a strange, but psychically loud language.
Above and away, Alberich watched as Jinnicky's army began to sense the aliens' approach on their triangular insect crafts, which now flashed into visibility before them. The army was, unfortunately, still on a downwardly sloping pathway that hugged the side of a cliff. This was the group's last "dangerous" portion of his hike. The fight had begun!
Rasputin's laughter and Virgil's suddenly heated conversation with Null began to blend with all the noise. Two more ghosts appeared and quickly vanished on the bridge. Alberich's pulse began to quicken, and he began to sweat. Everything was so loud! Everything was going wrong!
His leader was gone somewhere, and the ship wouldn't allow him to run if they needed to!
The German psyker flinched as he sensed bright red flashes of lasers as they struck upwards, and the worried chatter of his crewmembers heightened as disagreements flared. Metallic cries of metal slaves and metal men screeched into incoherence, overwhelming the German psyker, who desperately tried to calm himself. The chanting of the psychic witch doctor below added to the psychic noise.
Overwhelmed, Alberich felt the massive spirit of the Divine Retribution reach within him, and everything around him became very bright. Time seemed to slow down.
A strange bright ghost of a man now stood before the psyker on his throne. He had long white hair, lightly tanned skin, and blazing gold eyes. He wore a crown of glittering jewels that held staggering psychic potency on his head.
"Who are you?" Alberich asked, awed and frightened at the same time.
"A friend in the oversoul, little Traveler," the man responded as his features began to shift and change, flitting between various identities and shapes, but all had gold eyes. His features then settled back on the man with long white hair. "This particular echo has been called to strength by another action elsewhere, so I hold unique strength presently. You appear to be overwhelmed. Allow me to make a decision for you, and you will be better off."
Alberich strained. Somehow, he could tell that back in reality, people were now concerned at his current state.
Voices began to whisper through him. Words began to lash at him like insect stings. Most were nonsensical gibberish, but he could also hear some coherent phrases and statements now and again.
The luxuriant lord!
The lord of prosperity!
The diamond soul!
One statement stood out. It was spoken by a shadow of a man with long black hair and tan skin.
Don't let him in!
Alberich was now straining heavily inside his mind as he looked at the strange king standing before his throne. The man gained coherence, and it appeared now to wear luxuriantly elaborate black and gold armor. The black portions of his armor almost appeared organic, like roots in a tree reaching across the gleaming gold plates. He smiled widely, and his smile was... wrong? Why was his smile wrong?
"Who are you, really?" Alberich asked.
"I am a portion of the oversoul of this vessel. I am a face of many faces and a mind of many minds. My spirit has been called to your moment of crisis, for I have witnessed similar events. Therefore, I want to help you with a solution."
"I... I..." Alberich sputtered. People were now yelling somewhere far away, and he was beginning to panic. If he panicked and failed his Führerin, she would kill him! She would kill him and feed him to the ship for his failure! She had threatened him earlier! "You'll help?"
"Of course, but you have to let me in," the strange king said, his inhuman smile never leaving his face.
Back in his body, Alberich felt his face get slapped, but by then, he had already allowed passage into his soul.
Alberich stepped backward within himself as a pale king animated his body.
"You can't keep promising that you are well enough for duty and then lose consciousness so readily! I'm setting you up with an adrenal stimulator if you insist on saying that you're 'just fine' all the time when you obviously aren't! You look so bad that it looks like you're on Spook, for Omnissiah's sake!" Null scolded the Pale Lord through the display. He flexed his new fingers and cracked his neck. He could only sustain a few moments of this before dissipating, so this had to count.
Pale Lord said nothing and reached through the damaged body of the Great Eagle. Sensing his intention, he felt reluctance rise like steam from the oversoul. This hesitance was sidestepped by sternly reminding the vessel that it was in mortal peril and that if it died here, it would not be able to help the human race.
Sacrifices had to be made.
A shaman chanted below on the snowy ground, praising the beautiful eagle god that had returned from the heavens to be with his people. His ragged people chanted around him, their hands reaching above in adoration toward the brilliant gold wings of their God-King's chariot. Pale Lord had once ruled here eons ago, and he had eagerly begun a cult of personality on this wild and beautiful planet called Nine. The world had once been more civilized, but a natural disaster had struck the human population back to the stone age. What remained, joyously, were these primitives who called themselves the "Pale Children" after the title of their god.
Both Alberich and the Pale Lord knew immediately that these people would die for their god, and that made Pale Lord happy.
Alberich tried to protest what he was beginning to suspect what Pale Lord would do, but he found himself silenced. However, he was surprised to see that the Divine Retribution had not moved aggressively, and the ancient god-ship remained watching the group below.
"I see you," Alberich found himself speaking in two voices and telepathically from the beak of the Divine Retribution itself. "Your time has come. Join me in paradise and fly away from this world with me, for you are chosen for a divine purpose, for I am your Lord thy God. Well done, my good and faithful servants."
The witch doctor had stopped his chanting, and now held a knife of sharpened flint upward to his throat. The others that accompanied the shaman quickly followed suit, their eyes hypnotized with delirious rapture. Some had even started to weep with joy!
"Do it," Alberich heard himself order before their knives fell!
Alberich then shouted himself back to wakefulness, finally pushing the presence that had hijacked him out of his body. The Pale Lord smiled as he departed, and the German psyker received a brief vision of his leader exiting out of a strange shimmery arch gate. Immediately, he saw her face alight in shock at something that she saw before her, and she drew her magic scissors.
The vision quickly faded away, and Alberich sensed the ingestion of ten healthy, self-sacrificial souls inside the Divine Retribution. Their power was drawn into the ship like a singing whirlpool of fire. Lines of text appeared on the central display before him.
Souls accepted: 10 (52 units). Recalculating regeneration time...
Finally, Alberich alighted to full consciousness on his throne to see Virgil leaning over him. It appeared that the hologram was investigating his eyes.
"I'm back! I'm back! I'm awake!" the German psyker babbled, biting his tongue. He pointed wordlessly out the right eye window, unable to properly articulate what he had seen and perceived. A hazy ghost floated past his field of vision, unseen to everyone else on the bridge. Before vanishing, it turned to make eye contact with him; it brought a finger to its lips in a "shushing" gesture. As soon as the wraith vanished, he saw a transparent figure on the center throne, doubled over and weeping. These sobs were so loud that they made Alberich's ears ring! What was wrong with him? It felt like the volume of reality had been turned up! Desperately concentrating again with his eyes closed, the German Traveler stammered, "The tribesmen outside! They killed themselves!"
"Alberich!" Virgil shouted angrily.
The psyker opened his eyes and turned to the hologram. He discovered that his psychic halo was scintillating around him with an unusual heat. Strange transparent ghosts whirled around on the bridge, unseen to everyone but him! What had happened to him, the psyker thought in dismay, holding his hands to cover his face!
And then, he realized something!
"The drugs!" Alberich hissed angrily, pointing in the direction of Rasputin's throne. "He poisoned me with a drug called Spook!"
Rasputin appeared surprised at what Alberich had said, and held his arms up in a defensive gesture while shaking his filthy head! "I didn't poison you, German! In fact-"
"Listen to me, all of you! The ship!" Null interrupted from his display. "It is telling me that it has eaten souls! What is happening!?"
"Rasputin poisoned me with Spook, that's what is happening!" the German psyker angrily shouted. Virgil touched Alberich on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him but found himself shoved away with a telekinetic push. The hologram briefly flickered in shock.
"Null, Alberich has gone mad," Virgil announced, now floating a safe distance away from the delirious psyker. "He's raving in many voices! If he wasn't connected to the vessel, I'd say he was possessed! What should we do? Who is second in command now?"
Alberich now heard the silent rapturous singing of the sacrificed people racing through the Divine Retribution as he reeled on his throne, struggling to control himself!
"Technically, Rasputin is next in line," Null quietly answered, his animated green eyes searching. "I'm sending Lian to the bridge. Blast it, we never established a line of command, and..."
"No!" Alberich shouted again, his voice now charged with power, his halo brightening with his anger. He pointed angrily to his left. "Don't you all see? He did this on purpose! He wants control of this ship! He-"
A tingling electric sensation raced through the psyker's soul as he felt his attention point toward Jinnicky's tower. He ignored the continued noise of the bridge, and listened to the voice of his captain.
"The Dwemer! They're here!" his leader's psychic goddess voice boomed through the bridge. She sounded frantic and upset, and he could even sense that she had been injured. "I'm coming back!"