Chapter 30
The Battle of Elex
Part 5: Imposter

It must be so frustrating to have an usurper gunning for your spot. Pretending to be you. What would you say to that? Surely not nothing at all.

Federation Carrier Salachimorpha - Recon Deck

Lieutenant Kelso and Sergeant Kaiolas slipped into the Recon Deck. All eyes were on them immediately.

The Recon Deck was cramped, nestled into a lower part of the ship. It was a miracle the deck wasn't destroyed in the attack. Thankfully, it and much of the vital systems necessary to keep the Salachimorpha alive were somehow still intact.

Problem was - another volley of wave blasts from the Absolute would surely destroy the Salachimorpha. Kelso and the rest of the crew were operating on borrowed time. Any moment now, Absolute's cannons could be fully recharged and primed to fire. They barely had any estimation of how much time they had let alone a notion of what could be done.

The Federation wouldn't take failure as an option. Further, they wouldn't accept so many losses without a counterbalance. Higher-ups likely felt this mission was an easy clean-up job - let the Pirates and X thrash about, then take out whatever trash is left over. They didn't realize the severity of the fight. They expected this portion of the fleet to barely break a sweat, not to limp back home.

Kelso scanned the tight interior of the Recon Deck. No sign of Lennings. No sign of Anderson. Maybe they got out of the bridge, but didn't know we'd be meeting here/em, Kelso thought to himself. Although he barely believed those words as he thought them.

Kelso and Kaiolas squeezed through toward the center of the deck. If the main bridge was an exquisite master bedroom, the Recon Deck wasn't even in the master closet - it was the small cranny in the attic elsewhere in the house.

At the center of the deck, a large isometric map displaying the battlefield. Data streamed down the adjacent monitors. It all blurred together into one meaningless cascade. You didn't need the map or monitors to know they were screwed.

"Lieutenant Kelso." Someone was calling his attention from across the table. Kelso snapped to attention, his gaze returned by Colonel Serena Myult - sleek, jet-black hair cut short atop her olive skin, neck muscles clenching despite her calm demeanor. It looked like she hadn't slept in weeks, yet could still fight an Omega Metroid if she had to.

Colonel Myult continued. "Anderson and Lennings?"

Kelso shook his head and gestured to Sergeant Kaiolas. "The Sergeant here and I were the only ones to escape the bridge. At least, as far as I know, ma'am."

Kaiolas stood straight, hand to temple. "Sergeant Maggie Kaiolas! The Lieutenant is correct."

"At ease." Myult took a breath. Everyone else was listening already by this point, so she looked out at the whole room. "I'm Colonel Myult. Right now, it seems like I'm the highest-ranking officer aboard. So, we'll conduct ourselves as if that's the case. Is that clear to everybody?"

The room nodded in agreement. Kelso sighed, trying not to let his arms hang at his side. Kaiolas caught this, but turns her attention back to Myult.

"Let's stay collected and keep our wits about us. We don't have much time to work with, but rushing ourselves will only dig a deeper hole." Myult tapped the map, zooming in on the Salachimorpha.

"We need recon and emergency response teams at Sectors 4 and 9. 3 and 8 took residual damage, so sweeps need to be done there afterward. Engineering teams will be coordinated and routed to Reactors A-1-through-3 and B-1-through-3. Everybody else will be split between doing main and cursory-level sweeps for casualties and the injured, while the other half will maintain battle positions for response purposes."

Myult surveyed the room. "There's a good chance we won't survive the next volley. Not if we take a direct attack like that again." The room stayed quiet.

"Instructions and orders will be sent to your user drives and HUDs." Everybody began to hustle and gather what resources they could. "Is that CLEAR?" Everybody hustled harder, nodding their heads almost to the point of breaking them off.

As everybody cleared out, Kelso approached Myult with Kaiolas on his tail. Myult watched everyone scrambled out as Kelso stepped forward.

"Colonel Myult."

"Seems like you were relieved to see me, Lieutenant."

Kelso's face got a slight tinge of red, just enough to notice but fleeting nonetheless. "After we couldn't find Lennings or Anderson, after the whole bridge-I just wasn't sure who was left."

"It's alright," Myult said, cracking a smile. "I felt the same way."

The Recon Deck was now empty, which felt more concerning than ever. It was easy to forget that everyone had left to help survivors and stay battle-ready, and not that they all had perished too.

"Colonel, where do you want us?" Kaiolas chimed in.

"Here. On me. I need extra hands to sort this out." Myult clasped her hands at the small of her back. "This mess is going to take longer to clean up than we think."

Kelso and Kaiolas exchanged glances. They knew exactly what she meant. When this battle is over, it still won't really be over.

Myult tapped the receiver at her ear. "Reinforcements. Status report!"

Federation-Controlled Space, En Route to Elex

The white light disappeared - in its wake, Ridley stretched out his lanky bones and flesh, letting out a prolonged snarl. Debris swirled around him as he flapped his wings.

As he turned, he glanced at his shoulder. A bit of frostbite upon his flesh, due to being in space without any kind of protection. Beyond him, carnal wreckage - another half-dozen Federation ships obliterated. And another pack of Federation attack vessels headed his way.

Federation reinforcements for the battle above Elex had been divided into two groups - those with ships that could travel through hyperspace, and those that could not.

Those that could were larger in size, but less in number, and were steadily joining the battle when they could. The rest without hyperspace travel capacity flew in from nearby planets, stations, and outposts in this Federation-controlled space.

Which made them all the more ripe for the plucking for one interstellar space devil.

Soaring right for his location, the attacking vessels wildly picked up speed. Their trajectory was dead-set on Ridley - who hadn't moved at all.

Then, he reared back, and FIRED! A dense beam of plasma ripped through the vacuum. Several ships dodged just in time, but the core of the pack was instantly annihilated. Ridley didn't even cover his eyes, let alone move, as the destroyed ships careened past him.

One ship tumbled by, ripping itself apart, tossing its contents left and right. A limp body spun past Ridley. He snatched it and swallowed it in a single gulp, like he'd just cruised through a plate of Zebesian appetizers.

He peered back at his shoulder. In a few moments, the frostbite disappeared. Ridley grinned with satisfaction.

Ridley swooped forward, attempting to cut off another caravan of ships. The caravan was protected by a buzzing squadron of starships, none of which caught Ridley's attention-

-and neither did the small substance hanging just outside the array of debris. Steadily growing in size and mass.

Ridley tucked in, diving towards the first and largest of the next group of ships. He never flinched as tracers and energy bolts whizzed by him.

Within the ship, soldiers and pilots scrambled in large, front-facing hangar at the bow of the ship. Seconds later, a fiery explosion blinded everyone in the hangar, tearing a massive hole in the hangar's unopened front doors. No need for a welcoming mat. Beams of plasma shot out in all directions. Ridley landed right in the middle of the hangar, screeching and flapping his wings. His sadistic trance seemed gleeful, and was certainly unbroken. He looked up, opened wide, and erupted with a storm of fire that rained throughout the hangar. It didn't even seem like he had a particular target - he just wanted to set the scene for his rampant destruction.

Several bolts struck Ridley in the back. He covered himself the moment after with his wings and burst off, shredding the culprits. It seemed impossible to hit him, and even when shots landed, they felt like they had no effect whatsoever. Ridley wasn't slowing down.

Another volley of plasma blasts, throwing soldiers left and right. One rookie, unfortunate enough to be flung right in front of Ridley's glossy claws, was ripped in half and swallowed in two before he could let out the entirety of his blood-curdling screams. His comrade was clenched in Ridley's talons and dragged across the floor.

Soldiers watched in awe and agony, unable to intervene. The mangled body was then thrust into the air and vaporized by another plasma beam.

In less than a minute, over half of the occupants in the hanger had been killed. Almost half of the vessels housed in the hangar were obliterated or at least damaged beyond repair. Another quarter couldn't be expected to safely fly, either.

Underneath a destroyed ship, Ridley found another body, and was about to pierce the corpse when-

-"Wait! Please!"

Another soldier came out of cover, hands up, unarmed. Tears streamed down his face. "P-please. Don't kill him." The soldier dropped to his knees. "I can't watch him die." And indeed, the body was laying there, but still moving. The soldier was still breathing.

Ridley coyly tilted his head. Made his way over to the bawling soldier.

CRUNCH - the soldier's skull was crushed instantly.

Ridley's eyes glowed green. "As you wish." He then turned and skewered the body with his tail right through the heart.

Ridley then burst back out of the ship, and curled out and away to face the caravan again. The main ship was all but useless without its occupants, but Ridley struck it with another plasma blast just for good measure.

In the corner of his eye - the substance from earlier was an X parasite, and in that brief time Ridley was in the ship, it had grown in size twenty-fold. The mass was now at least three times larger than Ridley.

He made his way closer to the mass, keeping a safe distance but inspecting it nonetheless. His attention was entirely on the X mass, and not at all on the Federation ships trying to sneak by him in the meantime. There was something familiar he could sense.

And then it made itself apparent - from the mass, clawing itself from the ooze and taking shape, growing wings and claws-

-an X parasite in Ridley's image. Another Ridley-X.

At least, in a sense. Unlike the SA-X from earlier, still running wild in the battlefield above Elex, this X wasn't perfect. It was the size and shape of Ridley, but had none of the features or any other characteristics. Like a printed mold that hadn't been painted. It was a yellow, gelatinous mass made in Ridley's image.

His eyes glowed green again. His voice seemingly echoing in the vacuum.

"And here I was, about to curse myself," Ridley began. "For underestimating the dreaded X parasite. That which had almost taken down the Hunter herself."

The Ridley-X slowly lurched toward Ridley, snapping at the space around it like a rabid dog.

"And then, THIS. DISAPPOINTING. Trying to be something it isn't. Pitiful."

Ridley charged the Ridley-X, beating it into submission with tail swipes and claw strikes.

The Ridley-X tried to counter, grabbing Ridley's tail, but Ridley immediately spun and fired, blasting the Ridley-X so far away it slapped against the exterior of a Federation ship.

Ridley approached and fired again, blasting the Ridley-X against the ship with another plasma beam.

"HOW COULD YOU EVER HOPE TO BE ME!?"

Ridley fired again, and again, and again. He kept firing. Then wound back, held, and let loose the largest plasma beam we had seen yet. He gored a hole through the ship, and on the last blast, the ship was entirely consumed by fire and energy. And so too was the Ridley-X.

The X mass began to bulge and tighten. Another limb stretched out from the mass-

-as Ridley launched a thin plasma beam, striking the center of the mass. The mass promptly imploded and vanished before him.

Ridley leaned back, inhaling and exhaling with fury. He snorted, spitting fire like a loogie.

"There's nothing like the original," Ridley cackled, as the green faded from his eyes yet again.

On Weavel, Pirate Corvette - Near Salachimorpha

It was still utter chaos around Salachimorpha. Federation and Pirate ships alike scrambled among the debris. In the background, the menacing sight of the growing X mass was overwhelming, and past that, the Absolute lingered in the distance, preparing to fire once again.

Weavel had been previously ordered to join the other pirate vessels and hunt down the SA-X, which was busy destroying their ships in turn. The SA-X was attacking both kinds of ships, but because the Federation had already lost many of their vessels, a majority of the ships near Salachimorpha were Pirate affiliated. At this point, the percentage of losses to the SA-X was rapidly leaning toward the pirates as the SA-X plunged into one ship after another.

But he had other matters on his mind. Passing by a large Pirate vessel, he could peer right in, seeing several of his comrades plastered against the walls and floors. With that, he ejected from the cockpit, landing within the ship.

Much to his dismay, as he landed, Weavel realized all of his allies aboard the ship had already passed away.

After just a moment of hesitation, Weavel bounded to another nearby ship. This too was filled with bodies. But some were still moving, still breathing, still holding on for dear life.

Weavel tapped at the panel on his arm, then went to work on the ship's controls. Engines had already been completely destroyed, but this didn't slow him down. Thankfully, the tow line drop was a mechanical release and not one that relied on electricity. With a loud PLUNK, the hatch opened, letting the ship's tow line dangle.

Through the cockpit, Weavel watched as his ship peeled back around and made its way for the tow line. Automatically the ship fastened itself to the tow line with a line of its own.

Weavel popped out of the ship, landing on the exterior of another. He watched as his corvette towed the beleaguered Pirate vessel back towards the Absolute.

Satisfied that the ship has gone far enough, Weavel turned back and surveyed his surroundings. Standing atop the ship, he was in the middle of a truly fiery hell. Before him, a wall of lifeless ships and debris. Ghoulish hues of red and limp corpses filled the gaps between the dying starships.

Something caught Weavel's attention - a Federation ships still seemed to be mostly intact, and pressurized.

Climbing aboard, Weavel's suspicions were confirmed. The abandoned ship was not only pressurized, but it's locked shut. Weavel activated his scythe and tore open the external pressure door. He stepped in, but was unable to force the door shut behind him. Holding on tight, Weavel opened the internal door and then pulled himself inside against the ridiculous burst of pressure.

Once he was inside, and the internal door shut behind him, Weavel discovered an awful graveyard.

In the main room, over three dozen Federation soldiers lay across the floor. Weapons caked with blood and grit; bodies contorted in gruesome ways. And laying among it all, flat on his back, was the mutilated Cameron Randall.

"So this is where you ended up after that valiant exit." Weavel approached. Cameron's wide, unblinking eyes reflected in Weavel's visor. His breathing was rapid and short.

Cameron followed Weavel with his eyes, but was apparently unable to move. He blinked almost as quickly as his breathing. His eye sockets were dark pits in which his eyes could barely be held less they sunk deeper into his skull.

Weavel inspected his scythe. And looked at Cameron once more.