Chapter 28

Kell Roderick fidgets in the pilot's bullpen, showered, fresh, clean bill of health from the droid-doc. He's waiting for the patrol roster to refresh. Yeah, Nixus is out there, sure. But doing a few loops around the capitals and keeping an eye on that fucking thing sounds a hell of a lot better than sitting around and waiting for it to swallow up Profundity and everyone in it.

The clock strikes 0800 and Kell bops "refresh" on his datapad.

The new 48-hour patrol roster loads. He isn't on it.

"FUCK!" He throws his device across the room.

Chen sits in one of the briefing room chairs, bare feet kicked up on her bunk. "Stop whining. Nothing even happens out there… it's just boring." She doesn't bother looking up from her own datapad. On the screen, she's playing some dumb game for toddlers.

"You still get to fly, though."

She scoffs. "Who cares? I'm just happy I haven't been shot at in three weeks."

"Happy? Cool. What makes you happiest, Chen? Our CO laid up for weeks with some weird disease? Baroness swabbing refreshers waiting for court martial? Or is it the newest member of your bomber group getting shattered on the fuckin hangar floor?"

Chen looks up from her datapad. "Do you, like… not get it?"

"Obviously I don't. Enlighten me."

"Look at Credenzo. First lieutenant since I got here. No hope at all for a promo. Now she's a captain. When the leaders burn out? When our competition gets themselves killed? That's an opportunity for us. If you stopped moping and bitching, you might get to lead the Interceptor group once Tav kicks off. It's not like Price has the charisma for it."

Kell laughs. "Holy shit. And here I was thinking Nixus was the biggest monster in the system."

"You should definitely keep talking about your imaginary friend the black hole. Very sexy. I bet your girlfriend in the mess hall loves it." Back to her screen, tap tap tapping.

"Wow, you are so fun to talk to!" Kell smiles and then flips Chen off. He leaves, needs to walk, get some air.

Girlfriend. Bullshit.

Kell's still insanely pissed about everything that' happened since they arrived in this system. He understands that the orders to land on the platform were not Amara's, that was Nixus. And yes, she landed on the platform and got him out of there. He's thankful that she did that, but literally anything else Slake had control over, she fucked up. She's been a leader in the Empire for long enough to know that she needs to keep her head on a swivel, watching for duplicitous fuckers like Exel and Virta, dangerous situations like Nixus. But she didn't. Slake's leadership always stopped cold the second she stepped out of her Interceptor.

She needed to think to protect her squadron. To protect him. To protect Pyre.

That's what leaders are supposed to do. Now Pyre's dead. And Kell's not sure he'll ever sleep well again.

Maybe Slake belongs in the mess hall. Her oversight of Obsidian has been nothing short of catastrophic. So Kell's been having his food delivered. He can't bear the thought of seeing her. He's afraid he'll tell her how he's lost every ounce of respect he had for her.

Kell… Kell… come back to me… I missss you. I missss your tassste.

And then there's this. That slithering voice creeping into his head in every quiet moment. Kell knows it's just a voice. It doesn't have control of him anymore. But Nixus is trying to claw him back. Get him in a spot where he can be taken again.

But Slake beat it. Kell has no memory of what she did. Just that it had him and he watched as it used his body to bait Slake. The details are foggy, but he remembers feeling just how old Nixus was. How powerful it was too, but moreover, it was missing something substantial, material, critical to existence. Slake found that absence, and grabbed and twisted it somehow. Nixus was forced to release him. She hurt it, and they escaped.

If someone did it once, it can be done again. And the secret to beating Nixus is on that platform. He's sure of it. One look at the security footage, and he'll know how to fuck up this monster. And he's not getting suckered by some bullshit droid this time. He'll shoot anything that even looks his way.

Kell uses a terminal in an empty meeting room to call Credenzo. "Hey Captain, request permission to fly to—"

Credenzo clicks into the channel right away. "Denied." She kills the comm before he can lie about why he wants to go.

"Fuck it," Kell says, and he swings by his bunk to grab his helmet.

Yesss. Do thisss.

He's not making it the twenty klicks to the mining platform without the two Obsidian patrollers either blasting him to dust or disabling him and having Profundity tractor beam his ass back into the hangar for the Pyre treatment. But he can make it to Ex-Factor in about 30 seconds. If he times his launch right, no one will be able to do anything about it. Then he can land there and have a little chat with the one person who can still override Credenzo.

Major Tav.

Kell puts his lid on and seals it before he hits the hangar. Now he looks like every other dick-ass in Obsidian. He finds his Interceptor and climbs the rack ladder. He pops the hatch and slips into the cockpit.

Kell straps in and puts his hands on the controls. Hell yeah. Feels like home. He's invigorated with a whole new sense of purpose.

Kell. Yesss. Go sssee Tav.

"Yeah, that's what I'm doing you big dumb fuck." He flips the ignition switches and activates his radar. He finds the two patrollers. Price and one of Credenzo's little shit slurpers. Not ideal. While the TIE pilot won't notice shit with Credenzo's hand up his ass, Price is both good and fast.

But not as fast as him. Not as good as him. He thinks.

Just before the aphelion of Price's patrol route, Kell stays off the shared Obsidian channel, and contacts hangar control through his datapad connection. "Profundity, launching from the flight deck. Quick run to the Ex-Factor."

The tower agent radios back. "Roderick? I don't have you on the schedule."

"It's a request from Exel," Kell says with annoyed authority. "Apparently he left some holos that he wants back on the frigate. Errand boy shit."

The tower agent stifles a laugh. "Roger that, Roderick. You're clear to launch." No hesitation. When idiots are in charge, protocols and double-checks are the first thing to go. Kell feels the rack unlock, and he fires the engines out of the hangar.

Kell is ready for the tug from the black hole's grav, and once it grabs him, he veers into it for an extra boost of speed. He knows just when to apply thrust, and it's as smooth as a baby's ass. Nobody can touch him.

"Roderick, is that you?" Price calls over comms.

But he's already on his approach to the Ex-Factor, hitting the reverse thrust. "Nope," he says, then deactivates his radio. He flies in through the hangar gate, and eases into a rack with his repulsors. If his datapad was still connected to the Profundity network, he figures it would be blowing up right now.

Oh well. Fuck 'em.

He climbs down to the hangar floor off the rack. The Ex-Factor is a much smaller capital than Profundity, so it's just a matter of hustling down a couple hallways and then jumping into a turbolift, where Kell punches the button to Exel's—now Tav's—penthouse office.

Kell steps out of the lift and walks into the lobby of the penthouse office. When the turbolift opens, the ceiling lights flicker and buzz overhead. It's chilly in the lobby and Kell can see his own breath.

The mining platform was more hospitable.

"Oh yeah, I'm definitely fucking up here." Kell says to himself nervously.

But still, if he wants a shot at getting Nixus out of his head, this is the ticket. Kell sees a strange black substance all over the intercom, and it feels vaguely familiar and foreboding. Rather than press the button, he knocks on the door, old timey style.

"Who's there?" garbles a strange voice from the intercom. It sounds alien. Not at all like Tav.

"It's Officer Roderick, sir. Um. Major Tav? Is that you?"

No response.

"I, uhh, was hoping we could maybe talk about the patrol schedule?"

Nothing.

"Sir?"

After a pause, the door slides open to total darkness.

"Come in, Roderick," says the voice, which does have a fair amount of Tav in it. "We have much to discuss."

Kell's heart plummets. His suspicion that this was a huge mistake is confirmed. But he's never been able to fold a sabacc hand that started out promising. And he's not about to start now.

"Major Tav, I'm sorry, but I can't really see in here. Do you mind if I turn on a light?"

"No," gurgles Tav from the far-right corner of the room. "Please don't. I'm not feeling well at all at all at allll." Tav punctuates his plea with a tittering giggle. "I'll be honest. I'm just falling apart over here, Roderick. If you could come in just a little closer."

"Sure. I could do that. But I need you to radio Credenzo first, though. Tell her that I'm going back on the flight schedule. ASAP." There's no way he's setting foot in this office. That door is going to seal shut behind him, and then he's going to be Tav's breakfast. No thanks.

"Roderick, come now. You know Slake manages all that. I'm far too busy to—" the Tav-voice breaks into a series of wracking, wet coughs that echo all over the room. Almost as if multiple throats are hacking up their contents. Kell takes another step backward from the doorway, just to be safe.

"No, of course, sir. It's just that Slake has been demoted. By, um, Exel, I think. Anyway, Credenzo is in charge now. Since you're… indisposed."

"Credenzo?" giggles Tav from a different corner of the room. Deep left corner. He couldn't have moved that fast. "She's unfit for command."

"Well, that's why I'm coming to you. I was hoping you could override her order." Kell knows this is a dead end. Tav isn't making any calls.

"Bring me Ssslake. I'll let you have whatever you want. Just bring her to me, and I'll make sure your last hours are pleasant, gentle…."

Kell draws his pistol. "Yeah that's gonna be a hard pass, bruh."

"Thought you could go to the platform and see what Ssslake did to me, did you? Thought you could copy it. You lack her power, though. You lack her intelligence. You lack everything that makes her great. You are a very stupid monkey, and I will eat you, just like I ate this ape."

A tentacle launches from the dark and wraps itself around Kell's leg, it tugs hard, and pulls Kell's feet out from under him. His ass hits the floor hard, and he drops his pistol. Terror explodes in his chest and his hands scrabble wildly at the lobby carpet to find the gun.

The tentacle begins to pull him slowly into the office.

"I'll use you up, Roderick. You'll be mine. Until the very universe unravelsss."

The memories from the mining platform flood back into Roderick's mind. He remembers the impossible torment, not just from the injuries that Nixus inflicted on him, but how the monster twisted and amplified the nerve endings in his ankle, wrists, brain. How the black hole stretched time – he was only on the platform for a few hours, but he was torn apart and chewed on for weeks. Roderick pants and screams as Nixus pulls him slowly into the dark.

He can't go back there. Not again.

His fingers brush the gun. He'll kill himself. It's the only way.

Kell turns his torso hard and pulls up his head to find the pistol. He stretches and grabs it, aligns it in his palm and puts the barrel to his head.

"FOOL!" shouts Tav from a million mouths. Kell feels his nerves fray from the cacophony of the shriek. "YOU'RE NO USE TO ME DEAD."

The pause gives Kell time to react. He points his sidearm into the dark of the office blindfires ten shots until it jams, and somehow, the tentacle releases. He kicks himself across the floor and back to the turbolift, throwing himself at the button and slapping it three times.

The door opens and he rolls into the turbolift. The door closes behind him.

Do you know your father isss in here? He begs me for death. Come back, let me have you, and I'll releassse him.

Kell's father died millions of light years away, seven years ago. There's no way Nixus could have him.

"You're a liar."

His father's voice responds. No, kiddo. I'm infinite.

The turbolift rises, taking Kell to the main level of the Ex-Factor. When the doors open, three fixers stop their conversation mid-sentence. They see a pilot, pistol in hand, hugging his knees on the floor, sobbing and moaning.