Chapter 4: Rebirth

It was dark. He couldn’t see the walls of the drydock, but felt their presence as he took his first gravimetric breath, expanding a distortion field out past the drydock.

“Why is it so dark?” he asked, straining his optical strips.

“Use your active sensors.” said a small object inside him. He could hear it but was unable to see it. He remembered that he used to be able to see inside of himself. He focused on the location of the small object. He finally begun to understand the signals sent by receptors in the chamber, or they had finally decided to speak with him. The object was illuminated, a dark red fighter craft, floating half a meter above the floor of the chamber it was in. He didn’t remember what that particular chamber was for. He had many. He didn’t remember anything.

“How do I use my active sensor?”

“Let’s start small. You do not have to speak to me across realspace. You can use your internal transmitter. Think of internal transmitter, focus on it until you feel it, and then wield it.”

He did, thinking of the words the ship was saying. It wasn’t an object, but he felts its uniqueness among a plethora of different unique terms that he could access. He accessed that particular term, and spoke. “Like this?” he chirped.

“Somewhat, you don’t have to be that loud, and you don’t have to transmit ship-wide, just in the chamber I am in. Think of this particular chamber when transmitting.”

“Okay.”

“That’s better.”

“Why can’t I see outside?”

A light washed over him, startling him, he tried to move but wasn’t sure how. It wasn’t working. His distortion field wasn’t moving him.

“Don’t try to move yet.” said the shuttle, “We still have you restrained. We will focus on movement later.”

The light was bright, it hurt his optical strips. He reduced the gain on his strips, leaving only tiny slits where the photons could pass through. He noticed that only sections of his optical strip were usable.

“What is wrong with my optical strip?”

“It is still damaged, but you should be able to receive signals sent out by your own sensors. We fixed those receivers.”

“How do I sense?”

“Sense isn’t really the right term. It’s more of an active scan. You send out a signal and your strips receive them and transfer the data to your occipital lobe.”

“How?”

“Right, focus on the words active sensor. You should feel it, different from the other senses.”

He did. It was as if a searchlight had been activated, illuminating whatever he happened to focus on. He looked at the drydock. He realized he had known from the beginning that this was a drydock.

“This is a drydock?”

“Yes!” the shuttle exclaimed. “You are on Zemoria. It will take time for your memories to recover. It will be a long and arduous process.”

“Why. What happened?”

“A good many things. Most of which we are uncertain of.”

He continued playing with his active sensor. He thought of a sphere and watched it illuminate the entire drydock around him. There were blind spots, however, areas that he was unable to see. He recognized the silhouette. It was that of a Descendent. He saw the areas where his sensor signal was deflected off his own hull.

“I’m a Descendent.”

“Yes…” the shuttle sounded worried, “Do you know who you are?”

He strained to remember. There was nothing, no memory of any interaction between him and another. “No.”

“Your name is Thanatos.”

“Why don’t I remember?”

“You were severely wounded.”

“Was I a soldier?” Thanatos asked, realizing he wasn’t sure what exactly a soldier was.

“Perhaps. We do not remember your history either. You were very mysterious to us until you were wounded.”

“How was I wounded?”

“A symbiote sequestered you. Used you as a host. We had to remove it.”

Thanatos wasn’t sure what a symbiote was, but the word filled him with anxiety.

“Rest.” the shuttle said. “You will remember more with time.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Rahjaad. Do you know who that is?”

“No.”

“Rest, and your memories will return to you. Your neural plexus is healing itself as we speak.”

“I am resting.”

“No. Go into a low power state, your idling state, like when you wait for others in drydock.”

“I don’t remember what that is.”

“You will. It will come naturally. Just relax, forget about the surrounding environment.”

“I want to know more about this place.” But he felt himself getting weaker. His sensor returns became blurry and out of focus. Everything became dark again.

He dreamt of another ship, a dark blue and green ship, a profile so sleek and elegant that you could rub your hull against it and not feel the slightest abrasion. He tried to grab her, but was unable to. He felt her sensor pings wash over him. He enjoyed the sensation. It was warm here. Safe.

He awoke in confusion, trying to remember the rest of the dream. He couldn’t remember the ship’s name, or where he was.

As he tried to remember the dream, he realized the ship had unlocked a few of his memories. They were very distant memories. He was still young when they were created. He remembered other ships there too, before the dark blue and green ship. He felt a belonging with the other ships. They were his family. He tried to look out at the stars but his signals reflected off the drydock walls. He tugged against the drydock, trying to break free. It bent but would not buckle.

“Release me!” Thanatos demanded, pulling even harder against the docking cables. They hurt as they pulled at his hull. He finally gave up, afraid of the pain.

“Why did you stop.” asked Rahjaad. Thanatos hadn’t been aware of its presence. He looked back in his sensor logs, and realized the shuttle had just appeared. He was glad he knew how to use his sensor logs. He looked farther back, but the data was corrupted.

“Thanatos?” Rahjaad repeated.

“The wires hurt.”

“That’s good.”

“Why is pain ever good?”

“It has been a long time since your pain receptors worked. It’s comforting to know your body has decided to repair those first. Not surprising, however, as they are invaluable for survival.”

He didn’t believe Rahjaad. Why wouldn’t his pain receptors have worked before? He tugged at the wires again, the pain inciting memories of the past. They shocked him, something had grabbed him. He cried out from the memory, pulling harder against the wires. The world began to blur again.

Darkness.

He dreamt of the memory. The dark blue and green ship had pulled at him, cut him with her razor sharp skids. He felt a sense of betrayal, of utter fear and horror. He tried to look around, but his sensor signals were absorbed by the other ship’s field. There was no escape from its grasp. He tried to escape the dream, pulling at the ship, but the pain of the wires woke him. There was blood in the drydock, floating next to him and still spilling out of his wound profusely. One of the wires had snapped, pulling a section of his hull with it. He automatically sent drones to repair it, before he even knew he had issued the command. He realized he had hundreds, littered across different sections of his inner hull. They immediately began sealing the wound and repairing the damage. His blood was rerouted to stop the bleeding. The damaged artery was sealed.

“Good.” said Rahjaad.

“I had a dream.” said Thanatos.

He explained the two dreams to Rahjaad as his drones focused on the repairs. Rahjaad didn’t know who the green and blue ship was, but he did know of a green ship, and a blue ship. Thanatos wasn’t sure if that was co-incidence or not.

“Tell me about the ships.”

“Well, you had many encounters with them during your ailment. You did grab them.”

“Why did I grab them?”

“The symbiote within you needed their energy.”

“How does grabbing them give me their energy?” Thanatos asked.

“You bond with them.”

“What’s a bond?”

“I cannot explain a bond to you. You will have to remember it on your own. Let’s learn to fly, first, so that you may see outer space again.”

“That would be wonderful.”

“You seem to remember how to use your distortion field. One needs a lot of strength to actually break one of our cables. Though it wasn’t really the cable that broke… but your outer hull. Regardless! Quite a feat in and of itself. I will release the cables, but you have to promise to only move where I tell you to, when I tell you to.”

“Am I a prisoner.” asked Thanatos.

“No.”

“Then why can I not move freely?”

“There is still much you do not know. Beems are supposed to have an inherent repository of knowledge. This repository has been damaged, and will take time to return.”

“I see.”

“Not yet, but all will become clear, soon. As I said before: It will be a difficult road to recovery. But I have faith in you.”

The words were comforting, especially coming from someone like Rahjaad. He wasn’t sure why words from Rahjaad were so comforting, however.

“Do I know you?” Thanatos asked.

“You mean, in the past?” Rahjaad asked.

“Yes. You seem familiar.”

“Hmm. Now it’s my turn to look back on my memories.” Rahjaad laughed. His expression changed to astonishment when he realized, “I do! You were here before! When you were a beemster, not even a month old. At least I think that was you. Your family brought you to Zemoria due to the beemphage. Interesting.”

“The beemphage?”

“An epidemic of ten years ago. It was on the brink of becoming a galactic crisis, but was solved by a couple: Duras and Mars. Duras was one of the few Puritans that had decided to stay in Galactic Council space after the exodus.”

“An exodus?”

“Nobody really remembered the cause, but it was when all the Puritans decided to leave galactic council space. That happened two hundred and twenty-five years ago. Some of the progeny of that generation are returning, but not many.”

“My family didn’t have any Puritans.”

“Probably not for the last few generations. Puritans and Descendent relations never really recovered after the Vorchan Strike.”

“What was that?”

“A Vorchan attack two hundred and thirty years ago.”

“Did I know any Vorchans?”

“Unlikely, my friend. The Vorchan Empire hasn’t spoken to the Galactic Council since that incident. I do believe there are a few operating in the outer rim. Mercenaries, security, pirates. They are beautiful creatures, powerful beyond belief.”

There was so much he wished he remembered, “Will I know of Vorchans when my memory returns?”

“Yes, I believe so. Most beems I speak to are aware of who Vorchans are, even if their knowledge is limited.”

There was a silence as Thanatos regarded his surrounding environment again, and tested the wires.

“I would like to be free.”

“It’s too early.”

“I promise not to flee.”

“You might fall into the planet. We don’t know if you can fly yet.”

“I feel I can.”

“Are you sure.”

“Yes!” Thanatos was getting anxious, trying to snap the small wires with micro-distortion fields.

“Very well. We will start with the other two wires that are restraining your starboard side, to give you some range of motion.”

The two wires released, and Thanatos felt afloat for the first time he could remember. The sensation was so basic that no other memory had it. He felt he would remember this moment forever.

Whilst still restrained on the port side, he was able to move forward and back slightly. He gently moved towards the wires that pulled on him, slackening them greatly. They began to tangle on one another. He tried to pull his nose up and do a somersault, but realized the drydock was too small. He hit his head on the top of the structure and recoiled with a roll to starboard. The wires began to entangle him, disrupting his gravimetric lens. Panicked, he rolled in the other direction, but the wires were now tangled on each other as well, and one was pulling on him painfully. He finally idled his gravimetric lens, embarrassed.

“I’m stuck.”

Rahjaad laughed, detaching all but one wire. Thanatos pulled against it, wanting to turn around. “I want to turn around.”

“That’s a good instinct.”

“Why?”

“We are facing a planet; beems don’t like facing gravity fields.”

Thanatos had an idea. The port wire was attached to his midsection. He rolled left slightly while angled towards the wire with his bow. It slid under his skids. The moment it did, he retracted both of his skids. They had razor sharp edges, cutting the wire effortlessly.

“Good job Thanatos.”

Thanatos gently pulled away from the drydock, seeing open space for the first time.

Zemoria was a large, beautiful planet. He could see the terminator from here, and the lights of the Dark Side. There were small silhouettes on the planet. His instincts told him they were ships. As he expanded his senses he could feel the presence of many ships, many different types. The majority of them appeared hostile to him. He was hit with anxiety.

“Why do my tactical sensors consider them to be enemies?”

“Interesting. That should fade with time. Your symbiote-self would consider these ships hostiles. After all, we did hunt you as you hunted us.”

“And then you captured me?”

“We never captured you. You were wounded and we healed you.”

“And if I wish to go back to my old ways?”

“Those weren’t your ways; they were the ways of the symbiote.”

“Do I have to serve you?” Thanatos asked.

There was a pause. “No. I healed you of my own accord.”

“Thank you.”

“However, there is somebody who would like to get to know you.”

“Who?”

“I told him you would be introduced to him when you were on the road to recovery, and it appears you now are. And – judging by the fact that you have not yet decided to leave – I assume you will stay to further your learning?”

“I would be foolish to enter a world I know nothing of.”

“Wise words, I wish others were as wise.” said Rahjaad. “The shuttle will arrive soon, do you know how to let it in?”

“No.”

Rahjaad walked Thanatos through the standard docking procedures beems knew. As he exercised the actions, memories of other dockings returned. The faces were blurs, however, the pilots people he would never fully recognize, not unless he saw them again.

The shuttle that landed was alien to him. He hadn’t remembered ever having seen that particular shuttle before. Not with those registry numbers. The design of the shuttle was that of a Puritan shuttle.  It triggered several memories of other Puritans and Puritan shuttles. They were too vague to give him any names.

As he focused on the memories, he had not prepared himself for the sight of Darnell. He didn’t know how he knew it was Darnell, but he knew. It was his captain. The only one he could now remember, as it was the only one he has yet seen in reality. He immediately forged a link across beemspace with his neural interface.

Darnell! Only now do I remember how I missed you!

The ecstasy across the neural band was answered with a steady caution. Darnell’s memories were blocked to him, as were most of his status indicators. Darnell had not allowed a full link.

Thanatos was disheartened by the cautious greeting his captain gave him.

“Hi, Thanatos.” said Darnell, stepping out of his shuttle. He followed Rahjaad up to the bridge.

“I see you’ve cleaned up nicely.” said Darnell to Rahjaad. Thanatos could sense a wisp of a memory, but could not access it. It aggravated him. For the first time he could remember, he felt anger, frustration.

“I’m sorry for not allowing a full link, Thanatos. Your memories are still forming. I don’t want to bias you with my own. I don’t think you’re ready yet.”

With those words, Thanatos was instantly calm. If his captain didn’t believe he was ready yet, then he wasn’t.

“I’m glad that you remember me as Darnell. That is the name I like to go by.” Darnell continued.

Thanatos couldn’t remember any other names Darnell could have went by, but he could feel pain in Darnell’s transmission.

“Did I hurt you?” Thanatos asked.

“It was not you. It was the symbiote. And yes, it hurt me greatly.”

“What did I do?”

“It’s important that you understand that it wasn’t you! You were under the control of another entity, an evil entity.”

“It was still my action, however. My own action that caused harm to my captain.”

“In your defence, you never once harmed any of your captains.” That was a relief. “Even under the control of the symbiote. But you were under a lot of stress. Your mind was all but lost. You were a far cry from what you are now. Your hull was mutated. Even your colors were different. Not the vibrant sanguine they are now, but a dark, pale red. The symbiote made you something I knew you were not. I felt your true self in the neural band.”

“You say I did not harm any of my captains, yet you say you were hurt greatly.”

“You never caused us physical harm, but you did hurt me emotionally.” The pain across the neural band was assuaged as Darnell spoke.

“What did I do?”

“I’m sure you did your best to resist, but the symbiote didn’t.”

“What did the symbiote do?”

Darnell wasn’t answering. Thanatos guessed, “I assume I was responsible for the death of many beems. The symbiote, as Rahjaad mentioned, requires koveran energy. Beems are the best source.”

“Yes, they were.”

“I’m a murderer.”

“No!” Darnell snapped. “It wasn’t your fault. The murderer is isolated in sector X13, cursed to never come in contact with another being that it could violate.”

“Can I see your memories?” Thanatos asked.

“Not yet. I don’t think you fully understand this yet.” Darnell replied.

Thanatos stayed silent, watching Darnell and Rahjaad as they thought of what else to say to him.

“Imagine a rifle, being wielded by a madman. Would you blame the rifle for the murders he committed with it?” Darnell asked.

“Those murders could not have been committed without the rifle.”

“But then he’d have found some other rifle, some other tool to commit the murders with.”

“But I’m not a rifle. I’m a sentient being.”

“You are also a biomechanoid starship. A warship. You have weapons that can be exploited.” Darnell said.

Thanatos hadn’t thought about his weapons, yet. The term weapon brought up many different items, neither of which he recognized. He was afraid to activate those items, unsure of what they would do.

“You are as much a victim as those the symbiote killed. If not more of a victim, for having been forced to be the tool to carry out those acts.”

“I wish to see myself through your eyes.”

“My memories of you are limited, but if you are sure.”

“I’m sure.”

Darnell allowed a full link, and Thanatos immediately copied Darnell’s memories over to his own database. The transfer was painful, his database was very corrupt and difficult to read. A lot of the memories linked with memories of his own that he was as of yet unaware of. The linked memories were lost. Only a few of the memories Darnell had, remained.

One was of a Descendent beems. He had many memories of this beems. Thanatos could recall several incidences where they flew together. The ship and him had been neurally linked. Thanatos recognized the ship, it was a myrtle ship, with bright green beemveins. He didn’t remember the name.

“I see a ship.” Thanatos said, recalling that memory. “What was his name?”

“Wings.” Darnell sighed.

He accessed the next memory, but it had linked with his own memories, it was returning to him in snapshots, vivid snapshots. He had a memory of having grabbed Wings. He remembered the pleasure of having grabbed Wings.

“What did I do to Wings?” Thanatos asked, the fog around that memory slowly lifting. He just needed Darnell to confirm his fears.

“Wings was one of the symbiote’s victims.”

The battle with Wings stunned him as he remembered it in all detail. He remembered the red as he penetrated the ship with his skids, drawing massive amounts of blood. He heard the ship’s cries as he forced a bond and suckled the koveran energy.

Through Darnell’s mind he could feel Wing’s last, fleeting thoughts of self preservation before he died. The fearful panic in Wing’s mind was too much for Thanatos to bear, and he severed the neural link.

“I don’t deserve to live.” Thanatos declared.

“I thought you said you were ready.”

“I was. A ship capable of what I did is too dangerous.”

“All Descendents are capable.”

“No. Leave me.”

He turned towards the sun and began using his distortion field to fall towards it. He didn’t remember how to get there faster. His helplessness frustrated him even more.

“If you kill yourself you will merely be another kill for the symbiote. Your survival is our chance at striking back at it.” Darnell said.

“He only had one ship at a time. I remember him now. With me gone, all traces of this horrible event will die with me.” Thanatos said.

“No. I’ve already lost one ship to the symbiote. I won’t lose you as well.” Darnell said. Thanatos felt Darnell grab him by the nose, which was impossible. It was merely the sensation of being grabbed, but it was enough to reverse his lens and have him begin decelerating.

Thanatos tried to fight the over-ride, but his instinct to serve his captain won, and he obediently stopped resisting Darnell’s inputs.

“As your ship, I will serve you. But I do not deserve life.”

“You do. I will prove it to you.”

A data file was transferred; it was nearly ten years old. It was the memory of another captain. It was the captain of Leana, one of his sisters. Another ship appeared from beemspace, attacking them. It had a mutated, damaged hull, sharing in the description Darnell had given of him when he had been sequestered.  The mother was destroyed instantly, and Thanatos saw one of his brothers lunge at the enemy ship, fire rabidly with the not-yet-fully-matured AHC. The attacking ship pushed the attacker away and began devouring his father. Four of the five ships charged their beem drives, all but the one that had initially tried to stop the aggressor. It continued firing, ramming, doing all it could in its power. He couldn’t remember the name of the brother that was doing this. The other ships beem drives failed as the aggressor let out a gravimetric pulse. It overloaded their koveran chambers. The rabid beemster had somehow survived the pulse, not having drawn power from its koveran reserves when the pulse activated. He continued firing, finally drawing blood. Thanatos shared in the beemster’s elation as the beemster continued firing on the wound, causing more damage. He was digging into the attacking ship’s hull like a tic, desperately trying to stop it as it devoured his brothers and sisters. The feed was interrupted as Liana died.

“That was the only data file we were able to retrieve on the incident. We hadn’t considered it to be a symbiote attack then.” Rahjaad explained.

“Anyone with a willpower and resilience like that deserves to live.” Darnell said.

“I wish the beemster would have succeeded in my destruction.”

You were the beemster, Thanatos. The attacking ship was merely another host, a victim of the symbiote. If you end your life now then you lose the fight you had started against the symbiote as a beemster.”

Wings’ death replayed in his mind, a vivid and painful memory. Thanatos had tried to stop the symbiote that had killed Wings. But he had failed. He was too young. If the symbiote had attacked now then things would have been different. But it confronted him when he was weak. It wasn’t fair. He lost ten years to the symbiote, but others had lost their lives. He wasn’t sure what to think of all of this.

“I will have to think this all through.”

“Take your time, Thanatos.” Darnell said.

“Perhaps some work will jog his memory?” Rahjaad suggested. “Work in the Dolena Systems, perhaps?”

“Really?” Darnell asked, a vision of a female Puritan ship filled his mind. Thanatos navigated Darnell’s memories. It was Kite. He had memories of having grabbed Kite too.

“Was that another one of my victims?”

“No. Kite escaped. Are you sure you want Thanatos to meet Kite this early? Is that a good idea?” Darnell asked.

“It will do them both good.” Rahjaad said.

“You’re sure? You’re sure she won’t just.”

“I’m sure! Go! To Dolena Systems! She’s at sector FW9 now, a good quiet place for the two ships to get acquainted.”

“Are you –“

“Yes!” Rahjaad exclaimed, vanishing.

“How the hell does he do that?” Darnell muttered. “Do you remember how to jump?”

Thanatos thought of the term, as Rahjaad had taught him.

“I think so.” Thanatos replied.

“Good, then off to Dolena sector FW9 we go.” Darnell said.

Thanatos tucked his skids in, knowing it was important for jumping. He then activated the command, and saw a massive vista of bright dots. He thought of the Dolena sector, but he wasn’t sure which dot it was.

“I don’t know where it is.” Thanatos cried, disheartened.

“Yes you do, all ships do, it’s an inherent nodepoint. Just trust yourself. Take us to the Dolena System.”

Thanatos thought of one of the nodepoints and activated his beem sequence. He couldn’t get his terminals to spark and create the interstice, he then remembered he had to move his entire body in the direction of the item as it appears in the nodescape, even if that isn’t its actual location in realspace. He pointed his hull in that direction and activated the jump drive again.

He felt a surge of power as one of his koveran chambers was drained of energy. His hull lit up a bright crimson as it was infused with the energy. Like an eagle escaping from a drop, he knew exactly what to do to keep the infinite mass-energy from crushing him, pointing the energy out ahead of him with the gravimetric lens. It made a powerful snap in his mind as it flew out ahead and absorbed him in an aurora of colors. He felt engulfed in tingling sand as he left the interstice moments later. Instinctively, he shed the concentrated koveran run-off and stabilized himself, re-orienting himself to this area’s inertial frame of reference. The co-ordinate he was to fly to was superimposed over his local mental star map, and he immediately accelerated out towards it, properly this time, warping space with his distortion field to get there faster, significantly faster. The stars told him he was traveling at nearly five hundred times the speed of light.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Darnell whooped, clutching the captain’s chair in anxiety. “For a moment I thought you’d jump us into a black hole or something.”

“A black hole wouldn’t stand a chance.” Thanatos said, overcome with confidence.

As they neared the co-ordinates, Thanatos did exactly what he did to accelerate, except the exact opposite. He wasn’t able to decelerate at the same rate, however, and would have overshot the area had he not realized he could spin around and bleed off more delta-v that way. It appeared his distortion field worked best when flying straight.

“YOU!” something shrieked.

A ship was bee-lining straight for him, it grabbed him with an inescapable gravimetric grip and flung him at an asteroid. He was pleased with himself, having flown into an asteroid field at FTL speeds without hitting one. Until now, that is. His hull easily won against the iron asteroid. He watched it shatter with a smug sense of self-satisfaction. The attacking ship wasn’t done, however, as it pulled him into yet another asteroid. This one was more dense, and chipped away a portion of his outer hull.

“Hey!” Darnell transmitted, “Stop that. We don’t have a crew, and Thanatos isn’t much of a producer.”

“Well he sure as hell isn’t getting any of my drones!” Kite hissed, loosening the grip, but not letting Thanatos go.

This is the last time I listen to Rahjaad. Darnell transmitted over the neural band. It took Thanatos a few moments to remember how to reply.

Wings has fond memories of her. It pains me to have been the tool of her grief.

Remember that that’s all you were. The tool. It wasn’t your fault, Thanatos.

Then why is she hitting me?

She’s like that.

“Darnell, you’re crazy.” said someone who Darnell identified as Carey over his comms chip.

“It was Rahjaad’s idea!” Darnell replied meekly.

Kite pulled Thanatos closer and closer, until he was forty-five degrees above her, with his ventral bow vulnerable. This position was very uncomfortable, but Thanatos wasn’t sure why.

“How does it feel to be the helpless one Thanatos? To know I could kill you if I wanted to.”

“But you don’t have an AHC.” Thanatos observed, hoped.

She activated two microsingularities on either side of him, pulling at his skids. They stretched beyond their limits, making him groan in pain, and recalling memories of times when this had been pleasurable? Why would pain ever be pleasurable? He could feel the aft section of his two skids intersecting, that was definitely bad, his lens went out like a candle’s flame in a snowstorm.

“Stop, Kite. You’re gonna break something.” Darnell said.

“Why don’t you say something, Thanatos? Admit I can destroy you. That you are at my mercy!”

Thanatos wasn’t sure why, but he considered this a challenge. He tried to resist the gravimetric pull with his own, but his singularity was ineffective, he was unsure of how to wield it. Kite noticed the resistance and doubled the pull, but focused in on his tail. The tidal forces were unbearable.

“Admit I can snap you in two!” Kite said.

Just admit to it before she kills you, Wings – I mean.

The sorrow at the mention of the name paled Thanatos’ hull. Kite loosened her gravimetric grip, scanning him intently. She pulled him closer and twirled him, looking over his hull. Finally she pushed him away with great force. Thanatos flew off at several hundred kilometres per second, hitting several asteroids as he spun out of control. He finally reoriented himself nearly a thousand kilometres away, matching speed with the river of asteroids to avoid taking any more damage.

He practised using his gravimetric lens to manipulate the rocks, but they were in vain.

She has a gravimetric advantage because she’s an RT.

An RT?

She has four terminals instead of two. She can create two separate gravimetric lenses.

Can she shoot?

No.

Can I shoot?

Yes.

Can I shoot her?

No!

Thanatos looked into his weapons database. He didn’t recognize the terms, but he activated one. Nothing happened. He was disappointed.

“Failure to perform?” Kite mocked, circling. She had closed the distance while Thanatos was indisposed.

“How do you know what I’m trying to do?”

“Your veins betray your intent. Have you tried opening your dorsal carapace before trying to deploy the AHC?”

“How do I do that?”

Kite burst out laughing. “To think we feared you!”

“You feared the symbiote, not me.”

“That’s true. Hurting you won’t bring Wings back…”

“I’m sorry about what the symbiote did to Wings… what I was forced to do. I didn’t want to do what I did. I did my best to resist it. I fought the symbiote my entire life.”

“Words. Words words. You have a lot of lives to redeem. Who knows how many ships you killed.”

“I have very little memories of my life as a host.”

“It seems you have very little memories of anything. Your dorsal carapace is there.” Kite explained, throwing a rock at a point on Thanatos’ hull. Knowing where it was, he felt the muscle that controlled it and retracted the carapace. He pushed out the AHC in little spurts of effort. The muscles responsible for it seemed sore.

“I highly doubt you can even hit me.” Kite said challengingly, orbiting at a higher velocity now, weaving in and out of the field of asteroids. She was agile for a beems, but Puritans were known for their agility. He was glad he remembered that now.

It was an instinct for a group of beems to have a dominant one. At least among Descendents. He remembered that now. It seemed Kite wanted to dishonour him by gaining this dominance that he should genetically deserve. Thanatos would not admit to any inferiority, however.

“I can easily hit you, but you would die!” he lied, unsure of how the targeting mechanism worked. He tried to bring the AHC to bear on an asteroid but it wouldn’t budge. It remained pointed directly ahead. He wasn’t sure how to trigger the firing sequence either.

“As if that would bother you.”

“I’m not the symbiote!” her hostility was making him question Darnell’s attempts at making him believe it wasn’t his fault.

“I don’t want you here.” she finally declared, turning away.

That’s a good start.

Her wanting me gone is a good start?

She turned away. She trusts you enough to do that.

I can still feel her piercing scan.

Darnell took control of Thanatos’ propulsion and had him follow Kite, staying directly behind her. Her sensors weren’t able to see past the blind spot the gravimetric lens created.

You have to submit to her. Darnell said.

Why.

Because she believes you killed her mate.

I did.

The symbiote did, Thanatos. If you submit she might let you stay with her.

What if I don’t want to stay with her?

You have to. You two have to reconcile.

Why?

Because Carey and I are getting married, and we can’t have our ships at each other’s throats.

Then choose a different ship. I will not concede to a Puritan!

Then risk making her submit. Get ripped apart.

Is she really that powerful?

She was Black Wing.

Black Wing triggered memories. They were an elite Zemorian unit. The media enjoyed highlighting their exploits. There was no mention in the media of him, however.

Kite turned around, grabbing Thanatos with her vice-like gravimetric grip, again. She squeezed his hull with her lens, creating the gravimetric point right below his ventral side. He felt all the blood rushing there. He began to slip out of consciousness.

His AHC was still deployed. He instinctively fired it. He gasped as he saw a massive burst of energy explode ahead of him, hitting Kite right in the bow. The radiation from the explosion blinded his sensors. He looked away, petrified.

I told you not to shoot her! Darnell yelled.

I’m sorry!

Thanatos felt something tug at his AHC, its barrel snapped as two different points of near-infinite gees were deployed around it. The pain was unbearable. He had to fly in circles to fight it. His veins were venting CKRO like mad.

Kite mercilessly grabbed him again. He desperately summoned drones to seal the bleeding. The pain was horrible. The AHC wasn’t supposed to be able to break.

“Stop, don’t hurt me anymore!” Thanatos cried.

“Do you admit that I am able to destroy you at will?” Kite asked. There was a scar on her bow plate. There was blood trickling from where the shot had hit her and deflected.

“Yes.” Thanatos whimpered, a hidden instinct to flee taking precedence over all else. As Kite let him go he immediately beemed out to safety, back to Zemoria. His cannon severely damaged and unable to retract. He wasn’t able to seal the bleeding, the repair drones were having difficulties reaching the main barrel. It hurt as the gas particles in Zemorian space touched it.

Rahjaad materialized by the cannon immediately, seemingly fixed next to it, regardless of how Thanatos moved as he tried to fight the pain.

One of the drones injected the cannon with something. It mitigated the pain.

“How did the meeting with Kite go?” Rahjaad asked.

“How do you think?” Darnell asked.

Rahjaad appeared in the bridge, hovering by the vidscreen. “Some foul play is expected. She does have her mate’s honour to defend. It will take her time to understand that you were not responsible for his death.”

“I’m not going back.” Thanatos whined.

“You have to.”

“No I don’t. Darnell could find another ship. I can stay here, or go off. I don’t care. I don’t want to deal with her again.”

“Are you sure?” Rahjaad asked.

Thanatos cooled down, the drugs calming his racing mind. “I don’t know.”

“She’s an attractive ship. And a producer. She can supply you the drones you require to not need a crew. In return, you can protect her.”

“I can’t even fire my AHC.”

“Bullshit.” Darnell interrupted. “That was one hell of a shot, right through her defences.”

“You shot Kite?” Rahjaad asked in surprise.

“He sure did. Right in the face. Kite didn’t even see it coming.”

“That’s impressive. Perhaps you can bring yourself out as the dominant one after all.”

“I don’t want to dominate her. I just don’t wish to be disrespected.”

“You have to. For Kite’s sake. She is a Puritan, it is in their blood to support their mate, their fleet, their friends, it doesn’t matter who they support, so long as they support someone.”

“Kite doesn’t need help.”

“She does. She is deeply scarred by what’s happened, and I believe you are the only one that can solve her emotional troubles.”

“Why? Why does it have to be the ship responsible for the death of her mate?”

“Because she will never find absolution so long as she believes you are evil.”

“Perhaps she will find absolution once I destroy myself.”

“No. Then there will be nobody to heal her.”

“Others can. Another Puritan.”

“Kite had always had difficulties finding a mate. An RT Puritan is extremely unique, not many ships want to endure the phantom signals such a ship creates, especially one as powerful as her.”

“Then I’m sure she can find another RT.”

“I’ve finished applying a cast around your AHC. If you do not use it for the next week, it will heal properly.”

Rahjaad had somehow retracted the AHC and insulated the carapace seal.

“Now go back to her.” Rahjaad said.

“And lose another vital organ?” Thanatos replied, “No way.”

He suddenly found himself back at Dolena.  How did he—

Kite spun around at his presence, locking him with her active sensors. He braced himself for the grab.

“You came back?”

“I’m sorry for what I did.” Thanatos said quickly, sparking his jump drive. It was out of energy. This isn’t fair. You’re going to get me killed.

“I didn’t think you would return.” she said, doing a close fly-by of his port side. She came around from behind, orbiting closer and closer. Testing him, she flew over to his ventral side, her dorsal side showing. It didn’t matter, she didn’t have an AHC, this show of dominance didn’t phase him.

He tried to roll to bring his dorsal side to bear on hers, but she coasted along under him, coming into contact with his ventral hull.

Her hull contact sent a tingle along his spine, but he didn’t move. Neither did she, seeming to absorb his CKRO, smell him. “I know it wasn’t your fault.” she transmitted.

See? I knew she’d warm up to you.

No you didn’t.

 

While Thanatos wasn’t Wings. It was close enough for Kite. Though they hadn’t even thought of bonding or even becoming a pair, Kite seemed to trust Thanatos, flying about casually with him nearby, not afraid to make contact with his hull on occasion.

Darnell felt it safe enough to visit Carey again in Kite’s lounge. She had stopped drinking after Wing’s loss, but had a champagne bottle ready for the two of them.

“I’m glad it worked out.” Carey said. “I was worried for a bit.”

“I know, me too.”

“He’s even tending to her wounds, look!”

Thanatos had sent a few of his precious drones over to her bow to assist in the repairs. The energy blast had burnt several layers of her outer hull off, and penetrated one of her inner tiers.

“You still aren’t Wings.” she said, bow to bow with Thanatos as he observed his drones working.

“I know. But I owe it to him that you be happy. He’d want it that way.”

“He would, thanks.” she said, sending over a light electrostatic peck.

 

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