Slade and Saber's screams, blending together the way they did while the twins clutched desperately at each others' hands, cut straight to Star's heart. It was almost a horrible sort of relief, when the pair of them collapsed into unconsciousness, and she and Maggie carried them back into the infirmary so they could get some rest after what they'd gone through. Tina tagged along with them on their trip, just the way she'd been expecting from the younger Space Knight, and when they all arrived back in the infirmary once again she and Maggie quickly got Slade and Saber settled again.
She didn't feel that much better about things, considering everything that had happened to the twins during the course of not only their battle against Lance, but all of the battles that the Radam's forces had forced them into during the course of their invasion; the times they had been forced to fight against Spear still stood out in her mind, since the twisted kindness of Slade and Saber's older brother stuck in her mind after all that she'd seen it.
Sighing as she settled down next to the beds where Slade and Saber were sleeping, Star looked up as Maggie leaned over her with a sad sort of smile on her face.
"Take care of them, all right?" her fellow Space Knight asked.
"I will," she said, knowing that Maggie wanted to stay beside Saber as much as Star wanted to stay beside Slade, but her fellow Space Knight also had work to do.
There were always jobs that would need doing in the Command Center, especially for an engineer of Maggie's caliber, and while she herself might have been at loose ends without the Blue Earth or any ship that needed her expertise in navigation, the same didn't remotely hold true for Maggie.
"I'll let you know if anything changes," she said, looking back at Maggie as the pair of them prepared to say their farewells for the moment.
"Thanks," Maggie said, smiling gently at her for a long moment, before she leaned down to kiss Saber firmly on his sleeping lips.
Smiling in as conciliatory a fashion as she could manage, under the circumstances, Star watched sadly as her fellow Space Knight was forced to leave. She could only be glad for the time that she was going to be able to spend with the twins; turning back to look at them, Star sighed as she settled in for a long vigil. Not a single one of them knew how long it was going to be, before the pair of them would be able to wake up again.
Star adamantly refused to let herself consider any other outcomes.
00010010010
Reaching almost reflexively for Saber's mind, Slade found that his younger twin was reaching out for him with almost the exact same urgency that Slade himself had been feeling. Ever since the pair of them had undergone that secondary transformation that the Commander had said was necessary in order to save their lives, Slade had felt a creeping sensation of pervasive wrongness. It had started when he'd been fighting Lance; when he'd reached for Saber that first time, when they had both returned to the Command Center and everything had been so strange, Slade had discovered that his younger twin had been feeling the exact same sense of creeping disorientation as he'd been feeling, himself.
When the pair of them had managed to return to some semblance of stability, it was with the knowledge of what they were going to be facing; the threat of something inside their minds, rather than outside like all of the others had been, was in its own way far more terrifying than any of the Teknomen he and Saber had found themselves up against.
(This stuff is spreading like kudzu,) Saber groused, annoyance carried all the more clearly over their strengthened mental link.
(I know,) he growled, frustrated at the lack of progress they had made. (Still, it's not like we can just leave things the way they are.)
(No, we can't,) his younger twin said, and there was a sense of determined, melancholic resolve about him. (We're going to have to stop it from spreading. Or, at least lock it down as best we can.)
Unspoken, even in the mental world that the both of them inhabited, was the price that locking away the Radam influence that had rooted itself so deep in both of their mind was going to extract from them; still, the both of them would pay it, if only to keep something far worse from happening to everyone they had left to care about…
111101110101
Looking down at the fitfully slumbering form on his bed – Sam had basically cried himself out, and Spear honestly doubted that his last remaining brother would awaken for anything but a direct order from Lord Darkon – Spear wiped away the dried tear-tracks on his face as best as he could manage.
He'd received Lord Darkon's summons just as Sam had fallen asleep, but had asked that he be granted the time to get his remaining brother settled down to sleep before he departed for the Space Ring again. Fortunately enough, Lord Darkon had been understanding, granting Spear the time he needed in order to get Sam settled into his bed so that the younger Teknoman could get what sleep he would be able to. Before all of them were inevitably called into battle once more.
Transforming once he'd made his way out of the remains of the Argos, Spear sensed the familiar presence of his mount as the creature hurried to catch up with him.
(Hello again,) he greeted, chuckling softly even though he knew that the rudimentary mind of his mount wouldn't be able to understand a word of what he was saying. (Come; we're needed elsewhere.)
Stepping up onto the back of his mount, as the creature obediently nudged the back of his left calf after he'd called it to him, Spear directed his mount to bring him back to the Space Ring again. Smiling as he began to sense the familiar presence of Kathy's mind as he drew closer to the planet that the Empire was still vying for – the planet that Lord Darkon would finally be able to lay proper claim to, once he'd disposed of the traitors who had been opposing them for so long – Spear guided his mount to a neat landing inside a nearby air lock.
(It's good to have you close again, Kathy,) he said, smiling as he stepped down from the back of his mount, passing though the air lock doors and then shedding his armor once he'd made it into the inner halls of the station.
(I'm so glad to be able to hear your voice again, my love,) Kathy said, as he locked onto her mental signature and turned his path so that the pair of them would be able to meet up once again.
Feeling a wide smile pulling at his lips as he made his way into the room where he'd sensed Kathy waiting for him, Spear made his way up to the door. Stepping through as hit the button for the door, Spear felt a certain warmth as he saw his fiancée for the first time in entirely too long. As the pair of them made their way up to each other, Spear's hands seemed to naturally gravitate towards her shoulders, as her arms wrapped around his waist. Leaning in for a long overdue kiss, Spear felt his lips almost melding with Kathy's for a long moment, before they were forced to pull away once again.
"It's been too long since I last saw you, my love," Kathy said, smiling up at him as the pair of them stepped back from each other just a bit.
"Are we going to be working together, from now on?" he asked, curious but pleased at the same time.
"Unfortunately, no," she said, smiling gently at him as the pair of them settled down before one of the many inert consoles that had been scattered throughout the Space Ring in order to give those humans who had once lived and worked in this place. "Lord Darkon has placed me in command of our Spider-crab legions, for the time being."
For a moment, as he remembered just what the traitors – his own younger brothers, though Spear knew that he couldn't afford to think of them that way anymore – had proven themselves willing to do to the rest of their family, Spear found himself feeling almost as though he should have thanked Lord Darkon for his consideration. He knew that such a thing wasn't for him, however. It only made sense; there was a clear need for more than the simple, animal intelligence of the Spider-crabs during this phase of their colonization.
"I suppose we're not going to be seeing very much of each other, then," he said, resting his right hand on the console for a moment, before he felt Kathy reaching out for him.
"I suppose not," she said, smiling gently as the pair of them wove their fingers together, holding on for a long moment. "Perhaps we should spend the time we have together, then."
"Perhaps we should," he said, smiling gently back at her as the pair of them settled down next to each other.
He knew that it wasn't up to them, however; Lord Darkon would call upon him at the Warlord's pleasure, and he would need to be prepared to depart quickly when such a time came. Still, the chance to spend at least some time with Kathy – short as it might very well have been – wasn't one that he was going to pass up easily.
001010010011
Holding Slade's left hand against the left side of her face, Star reached out for Saber's left hand so that she could weave his fingers through her own as the three of them stayed with each other. The both of them had become so precious to her, through all of the horrible things that the Space Knights had been through during the course of the Radam's prolonged invasion of the Earth, that Star couldn't help but wish that all of the horrible things that kept happening to her boys would just stop.
She knew that that wasn't going to happen, at least not until the last of the Radam's presence had been driven away from the Earth. And, she knew that that wasn't going to happen until the last of their Teknomen was dead. it was just one more horror that her boys were going to have to face, and it was all the more horrible since Slade and Saber were going to have to inflict it on themselves.
Sometimes, Star reflected, fate could be so terribly cruel to the people who least deserved it.
0100101110111
As he stepped over the threshold and made his way into the infirmary where the Wonder Twins were staying after their latest and greatest brush with death, Ringo sighed. It really did seem like those boys of theirs had pissed off someone with a grudge. Or else they were just the "lucky" recipients of one hell of a raw deal. Looking over at the chair that Star had curled up in, ever since those kids of theirs had been forced to take up a long-term residence in the place, he sighed again as he looked over at the remains of a clearly hastily-eaten meal sitting next to her.
You kids; we're all pulling for you, but it seems like you were right on the money about fate, Slade, he mused, remembering the cold, bitter sarcasm – easily a match for Saber's at the kid's most vicious – in Slade's voice as he'd made his declaration about their fate on the day he and Saber had found out what was happening to their little sister. To say nothing about what had already happened to pretty much everyone else that those kids of theirs had cared about.
Hell, anyone could see that those kids thought the people who'd died were the lucky ones; or at least they had, before Star had managed to talk them down.
Looking down at his three fellow Space Knights as they all got what sleep they could, what with all of the Radam's remaining forces poised to come down on them like one more damned avalanche in an unending line of them, Ringo sighed as he made his way over to the table and picked up the tray. Star had been taking more and more of her meals in the infirmary, and while he understood perfectly well why she was doing such a thing, there was still a part of him that couldn't help but wish that Star would just give herself a break. If only for a little while.
Still, he knew that his fellow Space Knight wasn't the kind of person who would just give up on someone she cared about the way she clearly cared about both of their boys, especially when they got into all the trouble that the Wonder Twins seemed to attract just by breathing. He supposed that it was just the kind of risk people took, falling in love during times like this. You kids get better as quick as you can, all right? I don't want Star spending all her time worrying about you.
There was still the Radam to worry about, after all.
0001010010010
When the Commander had sent her to go check on Star, to make sure that she was doing all right even if she was really sad about Slade and Saber, Tina found herself wondering again just how they would be able to help them after everything that seemed to keep happening. Sighing as she made her way back to the infirmary again – it was the place she was most likely to find Star, at least for as long as Slade and Saber were going to be forced to stay there – Tina stepped through the doors and quickly spotted Star. She was sitting in the chair that had pretty much been unofficially declared her own, her eyes half-closed and with Slade's left hand clutched in both of hers.
"Star?" she called, making her way over to where her fellow Space Knight was sitting, watching over Slade and Saber the way she'd done for so long.
"Tina," Star muttered, turning to look over at her as she made her way into the room.
"Are you doing all right?" she asked, leaning over so that she could get a better look at her fellow Space Knight where she was.
"I guess I will be, when they are," Star said, though she didn't really seem to be paying so much attention to what she was actually saying.
Nodding as she turned to look down at where Slade and Saber were sleeping, after everything that had happened to them during their battle with Lance, Tina sighed. While she was glad that Lance was dead, and that there was one less of Darkon's Teknomen to attack them, but seeing what had happened to them… It wasn't that she wanted Lance to be alive again, but she couldn't quite help wishing that Slade and Saber hadn't had to go through that second transformation of theirs.
Sighing again, as she set down the tray of food for Star while she continued watching over Slade and Saber as they tried to recover from whatever it was that their second transformation during their fight against Lance had caused to happen to them, Tina wondered just what the Commander was going to do next. He had to be planning something; he'd always managed to solve these kinds of terrible problems when they came up before.
1101010011110101
Making her way back to the infirmary, after she'd taken some time off from the work that was always having to be done in a place like the Command Center, Maggie carried a tray full of food for both her and Star to eat while they watched over the one that each of them loved so much. When she made it to the door of the infirmary where Saber and Slade were sleeping, trying to recover from whatever new disaster that had happened after their fight with Lance.
Sighing as she settled down in a chair that she herself had brought into the room, when it had become clear that Star wasn't going to be giving up the one that had originally been in the room, Maggie turned to look at her fellow Space Knight as the pair of them got settled in together.
"Have there been any changes?" she asked, once she'd managed to settle herself into the room where she and Star were watching over Saber and Slade.
"I've seen them trying to communicate with each other, sometimes," Star said, sighing as she slumped into her chair, reaching listlessly for one of the sealed cups of water that Maggie had brought in with her. "But, nothing else."
"I thought they could only use their telepathy when they were conscious," she said, glancing over at Saber and Slade, before turning her attention to Star so that the pair of them would be able to speak properly.
"I think they might be trying to wake up," Star said, her hands shaking a bit as she took a drink of water and then set the cup back down. "Still, I can't really say I know what's going on."
"I don't think any of us can really say that," she said, turning to look back at Saber and Slade where they were resting from everything that had happened to them.
Still, while she might not have known what was happening to the pair of them, but she knew that she was going to stay with them through it all. There was really nothing more to it than that.
00101000100100
When she had felt Lance's mental signature going dormant in such a violent fashion as it had, Sword had to admit that her first thought had been for Conrad. Her love cared for all of their group so deeply – even the traitors, though they had long since proven themselves unworthy of even the slightest consideration with their intractable and violently homicidal defiance – that knowing one more of their own had fallen at the hands of the traitors was bound to hurt him in that same way. The pain in his eyes when the pair of them had inevitably discussed Lance's ultimate fate just provided one more reason that the traitors and all of their ilk needed to be destroyed.
Sword could only wish that she would be able to do more than supporting her love from afar, but the orders that Lord Darkon had given her were absolute; only one of the traitors would even think to disobey.
When Conrad suddenly tensed in her arms, looking up as though he was trying to see through the ceiling of the room that the pair of them had been staying in for as long as their respective duties had allowed them to do as such, and more than that when she saw the familiar sign that one of their own was attempting to make contact in the way that only their own – and the traitors, but Sword had never known them to do so – could, she knew what Conrad was going to say before her love had spoken the first word.
"He's calling you, isn't he?" she asked, and the pair of them both knew that it was hardly a question at all.
"I'm to meet up with Sam," Conrad said, and there was the slightest hesitation in his tone when he spoke the words.
Sword understood her love perfectly: Sam was the one of the last members of their group to have escaped the notice of the traitors, and the only member of his family that Conrad truly had left. Still, she also knew that her love fully understood his duties to Lord Darkon and to the Empire as a whole, and so this uncertainty was for her eyes alone.
"You should get going, then," she said, gently disentangling herself from him as her love stood up once more.
"Yes," Conrad said, gaze lingering on the ceiling for a long moment, contemplative expression remaining on his face for a few breaths more, before he resolved himself again and began to move away. "I'll see you again."
"Of course," she said, smiling gently as she rose to see him out as well as she could, considering her own orders. "I still have your promise, after all," she continued, displaying the engagement ring that Conrad had bought for her, before any of those aboard the Argos had so much as heard of the Radam.
"Of course," Conrad said, gentle smile returning to his face, even as he turned to leave.
