“I never thought I would return to Terra.” Nyx said, watching the hovercars fly by. Large hovercars, big enough to fit multiple Vorchans. She missed the familiarity, and not being stared at by people too much. The Vorchans here gawked at her, but it was because she was a Blackwing (and amazingly beautiful), she thought.
“I guess it’s fitting, really.” Fawkes said.
“What is?”
“Us getting married.”
“Well of course it is!” she hissed, pressing against him.
“We aren’t doing it in the street…” Fawkes growled.
“Right, we’d get arrested wouldn’t we?” Nyx asked.
“And think of the hatchlings.” he said, beckoning at a family with two small hatchlings following behind them.
“We could live a life here.” Nyx suggested.
They both thought on that for a second, and both shook their heads, “Boring.”
“Very.”
“Emerald’s cleaner, anyways. Can you smell that smog?” Fawkes asked.
“Yeah, horrible.” She scrunched her nose.
“So I guess you’d get my last name!” Fawkes said.
“I guess I would. What is your last name?”
“I don’t have one!” Fawkes replied.
“That’s bizarre.”
“Well what’s your last name?” Fawkes asked.
“I don’t… remember.”
“Good, because you’ll get mine anyways, which means you’ll just be Nyx!”
“So nothing will change?” Nyx asked.
“Exactly, that’s why I thought it was fitting… amusingly fitting. Also—“ Fawkes wasn’t sure if he should tell her this bit now, or after they made it to their hotel room.
“Also what?” Nyx asked.
“I like how quickly you accepted the fact that I don’t have a last name.” Fawkes said.
“Well how am I supposed to know how VE names work?” Nyx replied.
“Right, well actually it’s because—“
“Look spikes!” Nyx ran for a stand that was selling colourful spikes she could put over hers.
“Amazing.” Fawkes observed, but he wasn’t talking about the spikes.
“Do you remember the time I got all that glitterlove and—“
“Oh don’t remind me of that.” Fawkes growled, tail wagging.
“We should do that again soon. Now that we’re real mates! Or going to be, soon!”
Fawkes had already made the arrangements. The marriage would be in five days. Darnell had even booked time off from the RDF to attend!
“Mates forever.” Fawkes said. “I will never leave you.”
They nuzzled in the street.
“Are you two gonna buy something or just waste my floorspace!” roared the Terran at the stand.
“Do you know who I am?” Nyx hissed.
“You’re blocking traffic lady!” the Terran growled.
Fawkes pulled Nyx away.
“That’s right, get a room.” the Terran called.
“We have a room!” Nyx yelled.
“Good!” The Terran hollered.
“And a spaceship!” Nyx screamed, but she was too far from him to be heard. All she got was stares.
“And now everyone thinks we’re crazy…” Fawkes sighed, walking into the hotel and up the stairs to their suite on the third floor.
“Well forget them…” Nyx growled euphorically.
She really was feeling much better. A little confrontation was all they needed, it seemed.
–
“Silly Fawkes…” Red sighed, flying straight to Fort VI the moment Fawkes and Nyx left on their mysterious vacation. “’Promise me you won’t go running off, Red, promise me!” she mocked.
You’re unbelievable! Allonsi scolded.
Oh whatever, you’ve been flaunting yourself about all the Descendents like a drunk party nit.
I am merely gauging my attractiveness for future mates! Allonsi replied.
Did you rehearse that one?
Of course. And I think I found a mate, too! Allonsi flashed Red a picture of one of the Descendents. He was a pale red with yellow stripes, and didn’t look to be much older than Allonsi.
Cute.
He’s still far too young to be looking, but I think I’ve got a nice shot. I have a lot of places to show him around Emerald after we get back from Fort.
Schemer… do you know anything about him?
He’s attractive!
–
Red took her shuttle to Fort II, using proper approach procedures, for once. She went straight to the spaceport where Mart had captured her.
Six months had passed, but the woman still looked the same. She didn’t recognize Red as she came into the office. “I’m looking for Mart.” she said.
“Who?”
“Mart Armstrong.”
“I don’t know anyone by that name.” the woman replied uneasily.
“Really? So if I tell the authorities that you sold pirates sensitive information… they won’t be able to discover anything?”
“Who are you?” she asked.
“You really don’t recognize me?” Red asked.
The woman looked her over. “Are you with the police?”
“Six months ago.” Red said.
The woman gasped, remembering, but unsure of what to say.
“Where is he?” she repeated.
“I don’t know. He hasn’t been around since then.”
“Do you know where I could find him?”
“I’d try Fort VI.” Hannah suggested.
“How can I get there?”
“You would need clearance.”
“How do I get that?” Red growled.
“I can get you clearance. You still have your ship, I presume?”
Red nodded.
“If you promise not to hurt me, I’ll grant you clearance.”
“Deal.”
–
Getting access to Fort VI had been interesting. Allonsi had to hold at a pre-determined location, and then transmit the code that the woman had given Red. They then got a return broadcast that was encrypted to a cipher that the woman had given her. Using that encryption, she got the spacial co-ordinates for Fort VI and the docking information.
The entire process had taken twelve hours, but she was finally aboard Fort VI, and on the prowl.
She remembered where the apartment was, and made her way straight to it, staring at the code-locked door until it opened.
Inside was a man sleeping in rags, with a long hair and beard.
“Git!” yelled the man, coughing.
“Mart?” Red asked.
“How’ya know that name. Be’gone demon!”
“Mart!” Red was sure now. The alcohol had made the scent less noticeable. She pressed up against him.
“Let go of me demon!” Mart yelled.
“Mart!”
He seemed to be returning to reality, shaking himself out of his stupor. “Red…”
“That’s right!”
“I… that bitch!” Mart growled. “That fucking bitch!”
“Who?”
“That… Mao… sh’took it! Took Reap!”
“We’ll get Reap back!” Red said. “I’m here, Mart.”
“Oh Red.” he grabbed onto her horns as she helped him stand. “It’s been… it’s…” He collapsed onto Red’s back.
Red carried intoxicated Mart to the docking port.
Time definitely hasn’t been nice to him… Allonsi observed.
–
She let Mart sleep for the day, and brought him breakfast the next morning: Bacon and eggs. She knew he loved bacon and eggs.
“I must be dreaming.” Mart said.
“No dream. Eat!”
“You can cook, too?” Mart asked.
“Well I put it in a machine and it comes—yeah I can cook!”
“That is amazing. You’re amazing.”
“I know. Eat! I’ll be back with drinks. What kind of drinks do you like?”
“Sarune’s!”
“Something non-alcoholic.” Red suggested.
“Pah!” Mart spat.
“I’ll get orange juice.”
“That sounds great.”
Red came back with orange juice, and saw Mart had already finished his food. “How long had it been since you ate?”
“Ate proper? A’while.” Mart replied.
“I missed you, Mart.” Red said simply, jumping up on the foot of the bed and settling beside him. He started petting her neck, and she went limp.
Mart winced, pushing her back.
“What’s wrong?” Red asked anxiously.
“You’re spikes are actually spikes now.” Mart replied, sucking his finger.
Red tried to lick it and Mart pulled his hand away, “Don’t eat it!”
“Vorchan saliva heals!” Red said.
“Sure it does.”
“Trust me! It’ll feel better!”
“No.”
“Let me lick it!” Red hissed.
“No!”
Red tried to pin him to the bed, but Mart knew her ticklish spots. She was on her back again, moaning euphorically.
“So… how does the bed not get damaged by those spikes?” Mart asked.
Allonsi started transmitting Red pages and pages of information about the bed’s composition and all the effort that had gone into making sheets that can’t rip.
“It’s complicated.” Red purred.
“So you decided to come back to ol’ Mart, eh?” Mart asked.
“You aren’t that old.” Red replied.
“Eh guess not. Feel old…” Mart muttered.
“We’ll get your ship back.” Red said.
“Oh Red you don’t gotta risk yourself.” Mart said politely. “And I don’t wanna be a burden.”
“You’ll never be a burden, Mart. Let me take care of you!”
“I know ya think you owe me something for saving you. But it was my fault in the first place. Your debt is repaid.” he said with a final stroke.
“Oh I don’t care about that. I want to be with you.” Red said.
“You wouldn’t wanna be with me. Not if you knew all the things I’ve done.”
“I don’t care!” Red nuzzled his face, making sure her spikes didn’t brush his fragile skin.
“Red… you’re great and everything… but you’re a scaly, four-legged, horned, spiked reptile.”
“And?”
“And you have a tail!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Red asked, suddenly realizing how horrible an idea this was.
“Everything is wrong with that, Red.”
Red jumped off the bed, feeling horrible, horribly horrible. She had never felt a pain like this before, as if all her dreams had suddenly been shattered. Lentil’s death had been tragic, and painful, but Lentil had loved her. Mart could never love her, she realized. But with Mart’s rejection, memories of Lentil returned too. She left Mart’s room before she broke down. Allonsi was trying to mitigate the pain, but Red closed up, not speaking and staying in her room.
Mart knocked. “Red!”
Red took a deep breath, transforming her countenance to one of utmost confidence and happiness. She opened the door. “Mart, sorry about that!”
“It’s… alright. So—“
“Yes?” Red asked excitedly, tail up.
“What exactly were you trying to say?” he asked.
“A relationship!” Red exclaimed.
“What kind of relationship are we talking about?”
“Err… well. I don’t know. I just want to keep an eye on you, Mart! We’ll fix you up, and get you all non-pirate. It’s not like you have anything to lose!” Red said.
“Right. What are you expecting out of this?” Mart asked.
“Petting.” she replied.
“Okay. I could do that.”
“Also… err… no that’s it.”
“Also what?”
“Nothing.”
“You seriously think this could work?” Mart asked.
“What could work?” Red asked innocently.
“Alright, let’s imagine a scene: Us, candle-lit dinner, romantic music…”
Red turned red.
“What kind of music do you like?” Red asked.
“I don’t know, Jino.” Mart replied automatically, “So we’re having this—“ Red started playing Jino over the speakers. “So… Red…”
“Go on!” Red said. “What kind of food do you like?”
“You’re vicious.”
“I’m a Vorchan!” she hissed.
“Exactly, so fast forward to a bedroom.”
“Bedroom!” she growled.
“Aye, you are littered with spikes.”
“No I’m not, my underside is spikeless! And my snout is relatively pain-free. The spikes are near my top. Keeps things from getting on top of me… you know – attacks. If I were to be jumped from the very back though… no spikes there – well except my tail, my tail’s sharp – or will be, one day. Wanna see my tail?”
“I’ve seen your tail, remember?” Mart replied.
“Right.” Red said, staring him down.
“Are you…about to jump on me?” Mart asked.
“Only if you say the word!” Red replied.
“Right… let’s… wait on that. Aren’t you four years old?”
“Five!” Red exclaimed.
“Happy… birthday.”
“Thanks!” she said, staring enthusiastically.
“Do you really find me attractive?”
Red laughed.
“What’sat mean?” Mart asked nervously.
Red nuzzled his stomach. “So I’m guessing you like lobster!”
“What?”
“For dinner tonight, lobster?” Red asked.
“I… do.”
“I can get lobster!” Red said happily.
“That’s good.” Mart said, “This is impossible, Red. What about any of the intimate stuff. Nunavit would work Red!”
“We can still have romantic dinners!” Red said.
“I guess so. That’s all you want?”
“And petting.”
“Right.”
“I pet you and in return I get… all of this…” he motioned to the ship and the music.
Red nodded. “I’m glad we have an agreement. I was afraid I’d scare you off.”
“Never, Red. I’m pretty brave!”
“You are! Very brave!” she growled.
–
So Nyx and Fawkes were married now. Darnell and Carey, his wife, had come. Gaius, Throbb, Naz, and several other Vorchans had come along as well. Of the more unexpected guests, there was Chiron, who – after hearing the news, was compelled to come and see the occasion himself.
Nyx, as usual, had spent quite a bit of money to look stunning. And the entire day had been a dream. Fawkes had hired a man by the name of Lorenzo to make the arrangements, and he had done a fantastic job.
Their honeymoon was nothing but starry-eyes and listlessness. All cares forgotten for a good few days. There were these places Nyx had always wanted to take a mate to. Memories of her past returned now, as well. Good memories. Her childhood and adolescent years weren’t all that bad, even if she was always a bit of an outcast. Their last night was spent settled at a bench overlooking a lake and a sunset.
Someone sat down beside them.
“Chiron?” Fawkes asked. “I thought you’d have left by now.”
“Eh my sons can run the planet just as well as I can. I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” Chiron said. He was a very old man, but when he spoke he summoned an energy that made people listen.
“What is it, Chiron?” Nyx asked.
“My informants tell me your daughter has been to my planet. One of my ships is tracking her now.”
“Where is she?”
“Right now she is in the Elluvian belts, out of our jurisdiction. She stayed in Fort II while you two were here, and then left. I’m sorry about not telling you earlier, but I did not want to ruin your moment. You two deserve a wonderful honeymoon.” Chiron said, looking at Nyx.
When Martock had negotiated with Chiron over Fort II’s fate, Nyx had been at his side. She wondered if Chiron recognized her as that Blackwing.
“Thank you, Chiron.” Fawkes said, looking at Nyx. “I guess we’ve got an adventure awaiting us.”
“Quite.” said Chiron, “Because there’s someone with her.”
They were both watching Chiron intently now, “Who?”
“A pirate by the name of Mart Armstrong.”
“Him…”
“Yes.”
“Why would she go back to him?” Nyx asked.
“I don’t know…” Fawkes sighed.
“I think your daughter likes the man, or feels indebted to him for what he did. I felt it an obligation that I inform you of their escapade, however.”
“Thanks again, Chiron. I hope you enjoyed Terra.”
“It was… interesting. Lots of stares.”
“Now you know what it’s like being a Vorchan in Galcore Space!” Fawkes replied.
“Indeed,” Chiron laughed, “I’ll take my leave of you two, now. It’s been a pleasure.”
He nodded to both of them and was off.
“What do we do?” Nyx asked.
“We thank the Nova we only have one hatchling intent on getting into trouble as often as possible.”
–
“Mart!” Red exclaimed, holding breakfast in a tray in her jaws. It was his third day aboard Allonsi, and Red had discovered some interesting information on GalNet.
Mart took the breakfast. It was toast this time, with juice and biscuits. “Where do you get all this amazing food?”
“My father gives me a very good food allowance.” Red replied. “Look what I found!”
Red transmitted information into the holovision by the wall. It showed a job description. “Interesting… somebody’s offering a stealth contract – small ship with jump capabilities. Sounds like my ship.”
“It does.” Red said. “I’ve already jumped us to the co-ordinates, keeping our signature low, of course.”
“Red!” Mart exclaimed, “That’s dangerous! My ship could spot jump-ins from several AU’s away.”
“It’s okay, it’s in an asteroid belt. I doubt she noticed.”
“Red, leave me to the tactical decisions from now on, alright?” he said.
“Hmph…” she growled.
Mart beckoned for her to come over and she reluctantly agreed, succumbing to the petting. “I have way more experience when it comes to chasing things around. We’ve already caught you once before, let’s not do the same mistake again.”
“You can catch me all you want, Mart…” Red hissed.
Mart laughed, “One day, you’re gonna grow outta this and realize how silly you were.”
“Oh, when I grow up: A fully grown Blackwing-Vulcan hybrid… I’ll look stunning. I’ll have a razor sharp tail, and a chrome-black hide with blood-red stripes! My blades and spikes will probably be a bright red too! And my fangs…”
“You already look fine, Red.” Mart crooned, kissing her on the forehead. “You’re keeping an eye out for my ship, right?”
“Of course.” Red said, eyes closed.
“Okay, let’s get to the bridge. I’ll let you in on some secrets in detecting the Reaper.”
“You kissed me!” she purred when they arrived at the bridge.
“I did.”
“You never kissed me before.” she was leaning against him again, which meant more petting.
“Aye, guess not. Strange feeling, kissing a reptile.” Mart said, tinkering with one of the consoles. “Look for that harmonic. It’s what the Reaper’s stealth drive gives off.
Red expanded her awareness into the space around her, scanning for that harmonic.
Nothing here but rocks. Allonsi sighed.
“It’s clear.” Red reported.
“For now.” Mart said. “She’ll come around. Reap’ll have picked up the jump-in.”
“We should try another!”
“Another what?” Mart asked.
Red got on her hind legs, and licked Mart across the cheek. “Strange feeling, kissing a mammal…”
A blip appeared on Allonsi’s nodescape. Something’s out there!
Mart noticed it on the console, watching it carefully. “That’s definitely Mao, and she knows we’re here.” The blip was on an intercept course.
“What do we do?” Red asked.
“The Reaper was never known for its firepower, but we did have a gamma laser installed.”
“Beems are immune to radiation.” Red said.
“It will still burn the hull.” Mart replied, “I’ll try and talk to her. Maybe I can convince her to give me my ship back. Your ship can jump now, right?”
“No, it’ll still be another hour before she can jump.”
“Reckless Red…” Mart sighed.
Red jumped up at him again, and Mart caught her paws, helping her stay on her hind legs. “How exactly do you Raumens move about like this? It’s so… weird.” Red said.
Mart supported her paws with one arm and pulled her back in closer. “You ever dance, Red?”
“Dance?”
“If we survive this encounter with Mao, I’ll teach ya how to dance!” Mart said.
“I look forward to it!” Red replied gleefully.
–
So I avoid eye-contact? Allonsi asked, keeping her sensors away from the incoming ship.
Yes, pretend you don’t see it.
Okay… what if it shoots me? There was anxiety in the neural band.
I don’t think it will.
What if it does?
Then… err… “What do we do if she shoots us?” Red asked. They were hiding behind crates set up by the shuttle bay. Mart always penetrated ships from the shuttle bays, as those areas had already been designed to accommodate smaller craft.
“She won’t – she’s probably just curious, and she knows Puritans are harmless.”
The Reaper snuggled up next to the shuttle bay. Its hull was cold, and made Allonsi very uneasy.
Mao exited wearing an EV suit. It looked heavily armed. “Hmm.”
“What?” Red hissed.
“That’s a mark-3. A pretty high-end suit. Let’s hope she’s only here to talk.”
Allonsi’s fear was making her afraid now. She wished Mart would pet her, but he was clutching his pistol, staring at her ingress. “She’s smart. She put a dampener on the bay doors to keep your ship from noticing the breach. Can you still sense Allonsi?”
“Yes.”
“What about this bay?”
Red tried to focus on the floor they were standing on. She scraped it with her tail, expecting a slight pain impulse to crop up. “No, I can’t feel anything.”
What did it do to me! Allonsi asked in a panic.
“Allonsi’s getting very scared.” Red said.
“Tell her it’ll be alright – I think.” Mart said.
“That’s not too re-assuring.”
“Well you decided to jump in!” Mart hissed.
Red cowered, curling up by the box.
“Sorry…” Mart said, crouching down beside her and scratching behind her ears.
“She’s going to kill us and it’s all my fault.” she whimpered.
“She won’t, don’t worry.” Mart whispered reassuringly.
The door hissed open, Mao had walked through the shuttle bay and was now making her way to the bridge.
“What does she want?” Red asked.
“I don’t know. We came here. She might think you’re interested in a job.”
“Then why not contact us? Why sneak aboard?”
“I don’t know.”
Wherever Mao went, the sensor feed for that area vanished. She was a mobile neural dampener. Even the drones nearby would stop functioning.
Allonsi, call for help. Red transmitted.
I can’t. I tried. The neural band is blocked to me. Allonsi replied.
“Stay here, Red.” he said, hugging her by the neck tightly and kissing her between the ears again. It was a long kiss, a goodbye kiss.
“Mart… where are you going?”
Mart ran across the shuttle bay to The Reaper. It was visible through the semi-transparent membrane Allonsi used as a physical pressure seal.
The ship seemed to parallel him, aware of his presence. The pressure seal suddenly opened for a split second, and Mart was sucked out. The environment equalize as quickly as it had destabilized. Red got out from behind the box and flew over to the edge of the shuttle bay where Mart was getting into the ship.
She looked at her shuttle. Allonsi. I’ll be back.
She’s on the bridge. I don’t know what she’s doing.
I promise to return. I’ll get help.
Hurry, Red!
Red got into the shuttle and flew out after Mart, who seemed to have taken over the ship with ease.
“Mart!” Red hailed him with a direct link.
“Red!” Mart transmitted. “The computer core recognized me. I have control of my ship again. Thank you!”
Suddenly Allonsi’s presence vanished. Red pointed the shuttle’s visual feed to where the Puritan was. She was still there, but completely gone from the neural feed. “That person is doing something to my ship, Mart.”
“Mao, do you hear me?” Mart broadcast.
“Ah. Mart. Nice to see you.”
“What are you doing to that ship?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m taking it over. A fair trade isn’t it? A lightly armed cruiser for a beemster?”
“I can’t let you take that ship, Mao. It belongs to someone.”
There was no response. Allonsi started accelerating away. They followed. “Mart, does your ship have a beemspace transceiver?”
“Yes.”
“Contact my father.”
“How? What’s his frequency?”
–
Fawkes and Nyx returned to Flames just in time to receive a beemspace transmission. It was from an unidentified source.
“Dad!! Mom!! Somebody!”
“Red?”
“They’re taking Allonsi, help me! Save her!”
Flames jumped back to Emerald and notified Thanatos. The three ships: Thanatos, Kite, and Macaria, began searching for her in their nodescapes. None of them were able to see her mote.
“We can’t see her, Red. What happened?”
“Someone has control of her.”
An inhibitor would remove her from most nodescapes. Flames said.
Do you know where the Elluvian belts are?
No.
Can you trace that beemspace transmission?
Maybe.
All the ships focused their efforts on tracing the transmission.
“Keep Allonsi there. We’ll try and jump to your transmission but it will take time to trace.”
–
“Okay.” Red said. “They’re going to jump to us!”
“Good, I’ll try and make the transmission easier to chase.”
Red had abandoned the shuttle for the safety of Mart’s ship. It wasn’t their shuttle anyways, and her parents had several of them. Kite built them just for the sake of having something to build.
“Why not come back, Mao? I can pay you again. I got a salary!” Mart exclaimed.
“I don’t know. Beemsters are pretty rare. I can make a decent living with one of these.”
“It won’t accept you. She already has a Captain!”
“That’s fine. I’m half-machine, remember? I just plug in directly, put the ship’s sentience aside.”
“Don’t hurt her!” Red roared.
“Oh is that your Vorchan friend? Don’t worry hun. She’ll be fine. She’ll just be taking a backseat to everything that transpires is all.”
“I’ll get you back, Allonsi. I promise!” she cried.
“I can shoot the terminals.” Mart suggested.
“What?!”
“It’ll keep the beemster from jumpin’ out. Buy us more time.”
“That’s… hurt her? I couldn’t – that’s horrible.”
“It could be our only choice. We only need to shoot one of ‘em.”
“And risk maiming her?”
“Ah she’s young she’ll survive.”
“No.”
“How long until she can jump?”
“Around thirty minutes.”
“Well in twenty minutes I’m shooting a terminal.” Mart said.
“My father will be here by then, I’m sure.” Red said.
“Hopefully.”
“Because you aren’t shooting her.”
“I’ve got no choice. If that ship jumps, we will never see it again. You will never see her again.”
Red whimpered. “I barely even knew her! She’s so quiet! We never talk!”
“Red…” Mart tried to pet her but this time she backed away with a hiss.
“This is your fault! Why do I care about you! All of this is your fault!” Red ran out of the bridge, disappearing somewhere inside the ship.
–
She wanted to run to the lounge but stopped, crying against a bulkhead in this corridor. She had failed Allonsi, again. She felt useless. “Why can’t I do anything right?” The lights seemed to redirect to a door beside her. As she looked at the light, it moved. Perplexed, she followed it along the corridor. She followed it and followed it until she reached a big set of double doors, heavily reinforced. They opened for her with a hiss.
Inside the room were pipes and conduits. She could hear liquid and sloshing, bubbling. The center of the room lit up, and sitting there, on the pedestal, were massive metallic wings. They were red, with black stripes. All the pipes and conduits led to those pair of wings, and as she approached it, the pipes and conduits snapped clear and disappeared into the ceiling. The wings opened, reaching out to her. As she examined the wings closer, she saw they were an entire suit. There were little bars with hoops that would grasp her paws, and even a section in the back for her tail. These wings were designed for a Vorchan. There was an inscription on the side of them: Tass.
Red carefully approached the wings, sniffing instinctively. She could hear its systems creaking, taking a long time to spool up. She knew these wings must have been old, ancient, but she pressed up against them anyways, overlapping her much smaller wings with the massive airfoils. The webbing constricted around her, and a visor blinded her for a moment before activating, revealing a perfect contrast view of the small room she was in. Small blips were superimposed over items of interest, and there seemed to be a map off in the corner of her vision. She could recognize the silhouette of her ship, Allonsi. As she thought of her, the blip had a line drawn to it, and more vectors appeared on her neurovision.
She took a step. The entire contraption lumbered forward, taking a moment to balance itself out on her legs. For a second she thought the weight of it all would crush her, but then all that weight vanished. She could feel artificial air entering her lungs through some sort of respirator, and was alarmed to realize that one of the walls had disappeared, showing the stars. Without thinking, she leapt through the wall. Thrusters immediately oriented her towards Allonsi and she began to accelerate. She yelped as some of the exhaust bit at her tail, teaching her to keep her tail straight and never arch it down.
“Looks like the little Vorchan learned to fly!” transmitted Mao. “It’s no use, fledgling. The hatches are sealed. There’s no way you can get in.”
Red landed on the dorsal side of her ship, walking along until she reached the upper carapace. There was a large maintenance hatch here, a vestigial from all the cross-breeding Descendents and Puritans did. This would be where Allonsi’s AHC would be, were she a Descendent.
She pried at the maintenance hatch. It wouldn’t budge.
“Open!” she hissed, glaring at the hatch. It obediently clicked after a few minutes, sliding open, and Red snaked through.
She was in! Excitement! So much excitement! She couldn’t believe she got this far. She took a deep breath, realizing she was still using reserve oxygen. Mao had depressurized all of Allonsi! That didn’t matter, though. Vorchans could handle pressure variances. She continued on, crawling through the maintenance ducts, the wings having folding in on themselves neatly to allow her the mobility required.
“You’re persistent…” Mao growled. “But you’ve gone far enough.”
Red landed in a chamber near the center of the ship. It was still mostly hollow. There was a circular platform in the center, extending out to four spokes that led to different sections of the same circular corridor. Below her hummed the koveran chamber, and above her was the maintenance hatch she’d just taken to get down here.
“Do you know what you’re standing over?” Mao asked.
Red saw blast doors come down over all of the entrances.
“I’m sure you do. And do you know what happens to that chamber during a jump?” Mao continued.
Red swallowed. It filled with koverans. She stared at the blast door, hoping it would unlock. Click. The blast door opened, revealing the main door to the corridor. She stared at that… only to have the blast door close again. She stared at the blast door, opening it. Stared at the main door… blast door slams down.
“Oh no…” Red muttered, scanning the rest of the chamber. She had to get to the maintenance hatch! She extended her wings, but it was too late, she could feel the koveran chamber discharging. Her world turned red.
–
She awoke in a world of red. Silhouettes danced past her, whispered to her in a language she couldn’t understand.
“Am I dead?” she asked, watching the spectres fly by. One of them stopped, seeming to land next to her.
“Dead?” the spectre laughed, her wings turning to mist and rematerializing. Everything seemed to be in flux here.
“Who are you?” Red asked.
The spectre took the form of a Vulcan, real in every detail. The Vulcan looked at her with those blue eyes. “You’ve grown.”
“I remember you.” Red said, recalling that night when a Vulcan had saved her from Martock.
Her world seemed to fade again. “What’s happening?”
“You’re waking up.”
“Who are you!” she called, but she called it to reality, hopping up on all fours above the koveran chamber. The entire area was a red mist from all the CKRO, CKRO that had apparently failed to kill her.
She glared at the door that led to the main corridor. The blast doors wouldn’t lower now, not with the koveran chamber depleted. She opened the door in a minute, seeing Mao standing by the door to the bridge, rifle in hand.
“Oh…” Red muttered. There was a bright flash as the rifle fired. Her wings seemed to move in front of her instinctively, shielding her. Pippers aligned themselves on Mao, and Red gave them permission. Bullets screeched out of her wings, ricocheting off a shield that Mao had erected around herself.
“Tass’ suit, huh?” Mao asked, “And you know how to use it.”
“I want my ship back!” Red roared.
“I figured as much. How did you survive the koveran discharge?” Mao asked.
Red aligned more pippers on Mao. She heard imposing clicks as she saw rockets reveal themselves from her wings.
Mao’s shield flared, preparing for the barrage.
“I want my ship back. Let her go!” Red growled.
Mao lowered her rifle, grinning. “You have… fire. I can see why Mart likes you.”
Red kept the pippers aligned. “I don’t want to hurt you… but I will.”
Allonsi’s presence re-appeared in the neural field. Red entwined herself with her ship, embracing her fully.
Allonsi! I told you I’d get you back!
I was so terrified when the koverans caught you. But all you did was glow! Allonsi transmitted, relaying the scene to Red’s neurovision.
“You’ve bested me.” Mao said.
“What are you going to do?” Red asked.
“I don’t know.” she rested the rifle over her shoulder, her skin seeming to crackle. “Find some more work. Fort VI is always looking for mercenaries. How did you unlock those doors?”
Red didn’t feel like divulging any secrets to this strange woman. “I’ll take you to Fort VI, Mao. But it will be some time before Allonsi can jump.”
“I noticed that, she’s not the best jumper.”
“No, definitely not – not yet anyways.”
They went to the lounge and waited there. Mao told Red a little about herself. How she had been born a Zemorian, but had been in a terrible accident. It had taken the greatest medical minds to mend her body and spirit, but they had demanded she be indebted to them for countless years. So she fled, and became a mercenary. That was when she’d come across Reap, The Reaper’s artificial intelligence. Through it she learnt of ship systems, and together they excelled. But she was still hired crew, and when Mart had failed to pay her again, she decided to take the ship as compensation.
“It sounds to me like you are meant to be with Reap, not with Allonsi.” Red said.
“I was hungry for the freedom a Beems offers. All that sensation and mindpower, but you’re right: It’s a little lonely. I couldn’t work with Allonsi the way I could work with Reap. Allonsi would have ousted me the moment I’d have given her any neural control.”
“I think I know how I could fix everything…” Red said.
–