Taylor and Aleksei returned fire as Havoc squad moved throughout the ship while being pursued by a contingent of CoU soldiers.
Bullets and streaks of energy from laser-based weaponry pelted the corridor around them as the rest of the team searched for any kind of access point to gather both data from as well as their location.
Ebony had led them to one level below where they entered the ship within the mess hall before security teams converged on them and made good attempts on their lives.
Though most starships, both from the Federation and the CoU, had generic layouts. There was always a touch of personal design by the shipwrights who assisted in their designs meaning no two ships were exactly the same.
That meant their need to find any kind of console or data point for Ebony to hack into was imperative in order to get a schematic of the ship.
Aleksei laughed loudly over Taylor’s automatic gunfire as one of his explosive rounds detonated against the wall near three enemy soldiers, sending them flying into another group of soldiers kneeling against the other side of the corridor.
One thing was for certain, Aleksei was a force of destruction. “You having fun back there big guy?” Henry chimed through their comms.
“Explosions are always fun!” Aleksei bellowed in laughter as he sent another propelled grenade back behind them.
It was dangerous to move methodically through an enemy ship filled with thousands upon thousands of personnel even if they were not all combat oriented. However, it was more dangerous to rush and get caught off guard by the enemy soldiers. That did not stop it from happening though.
Ebony led them to a three-way intersection, straight ahead was a massive door while the turn led down an open corridor. If they managed to close the door, they could seal off themselves from their pursuers.
“Aw shit!” cracked through the comm from Jackson before the boom of his shotgun resonated from behind Taylor as he focused on the few enemy soldiers behind the group. He squeezed off a burst of rounds into the chest of an enemy before taking a quick glance towards the rest of the squad to find another contingent of soldiers on the other side of a large door scrambling to avoid the assault of Havoc squad.
Taylor watched as Havoc squad veered to the right into the corridor. Taylor focused on the enemy that were now behind Aleksei. As soon as they reached the adjacent corridor, Taylor grabbed ahold of Aleksei’s shoulder plate and yanked him along to follow Ebony’s direction.
It turned out the rest of the squad was already at the other end and had turned out of view. Thankfully, Stephanie poked her head out from the left corner and waved them down. “Bless that woman,” Taylor thought.
Aleksei gave Taylor a shove moving him forward as he pulled a cord on his hip. Three metallic clangs came from behind as they both jogged to catch up with their compatriots. “Have to leave present whenever you can,” his thick accent enunciating the playful sarcasm. Taylor could see the satisfied smile on the Martian’s face out of the corner of his eye.
As they rounded the corner, three explosions resonated off the walls, and to Taylor’s surprise, flames erupted from the hall they just came out of. The detonations sounded much larger than simple grenades and judging by the massive grin on Aleksei’s face, they weren’t.
Screams of agony echoed from the poor soldiers who did not die in the initial detonation leaving Taylor’s stomach churn again in horrified disgust all the while keeping his face neutral. He had to constantly remind himself that combat was gruesome and was merely a result of war though it rarely made him feel any better about the pointless deaths of the war.
While focusing on the dying screams of the men and women behind them, Taylor had not realized they had lost the rest of their squad. Looking ahead down the corridor there were two more intersections as well as a series of doors Havoc squad could have slipped into with no sign of their presence.
“Hey EB, where the hell did you guys go?” Taylor asked as the two of them slowed their pace to a brisk walk to catch their breath.
“On the other side of the first intersection, first door on your right. Seal it when you get here,” she responded crisply over the comm.
Taylor and Aleksei checked the corner of the first intersection. Finding that it was clear, they moved to the first door on the right that was labeled HUB SIX.
Aleksei let out a tsk, “such impatience. How dreary life can be when you do not take time to appreciate your own art.”
That caused Taylor to turn and give him a questioning look before pushing the corresponding button to open the door. “What art would that be?”
As the door opened, they found themselves stepping into a large room brimming wall to wall with computer servers.
Aleksei smashed the interior door control once the door shut behind them with a hydraulic hiss. He ushered Taylor forward and explained as they walked.
“What we do, each one of us has special skill set. Jackson has artistry with mending injuries. Delicate, raw and with more grace than any battlefield medic I’ve seen. Ebony has the way she worms into computers, like computer herself. Quick, fast and relentless until she catches her digital prey,” he said with a level of admiration as they walked leisurely between the rows of servers.
“Steph, she is dancer of death with blade. Even you, skilled with mechanical creations. Do not think I have not noticed you tinker in spare time.”
Taylor chuckled at that, mildly embarrassed to know the man had been observing him. Though he did not argue his point.
“And I, I create chemical and alchemical masterpieces that create beautiful displays of destruction…” Aleksei held out his massive fist and extended his fingers outward, emphasizing his love for explosives.
Taylor had to admit, for a guy whose entire pride was based on destroying things, he had a beautiful perspective. The more Taylor thought about it, the more he saw that Aleksei was right about it, and with rushing through an enemy ship, it leaves little time to appreciate their skill sets. Most of them at least.
“What about Henry?” Taylor inquired.
Aleksei barked a laugh as they came across the team.
“Henry is talentless bastard!” he laughed.
Henry gasped dramatically as he stood aiming down a path down a row of servers, feigning insult by placing his hand on his chest. “You wound me Daddy, and to think I helped you pick shrapnel out of your ass that one time.”
Everyone chuckled at that including Henry while Taylor watched Stephanie silently smirk as she wrapped Jackson’s bicep in a bandage. The faint smell of singed flesh told Taylor that Jackson was hit with a pulse by an energy weapon.
Taylor knelt down and watched as she started tying the bandage off, “you good man?” he asked Jackson.
Jackson waved him off as he leaned on the stock of his shotgun, meticulously watching Stephanie. “Yeah, just caught off guard at the door, thankfully only a graze,” he explained. Stephanie finished with the bandaged and Jackson rolled the sleeve of his shirt down over the wrapping to reveal a singed streak across the fabric of his shirt.
Taylor chuckled and rasped his knuckled on his plated forearm, “that’s why we have armored sleeves, helps with not getting hurt.”
Stephanie glanced at Taylor with furrowed brows and flourished her hands in a quick string of sign language. Jackson fought back laughter with a grin as Stephanie stood up with a smirk and stormed off, leaving Taylor completely baffled.
Pursing his lips and quirking an eyebrow he looked to Jackson.
“Essentially, she said ‘speak for yourself you idiotic meat shield.’,” Jackson explained letting some his amusement seep through. “Frankly, its hard to work on people with sleeves. So its safer without.”
Taylor shrugged and nodded before standing up to assist Jackson up. He cast a long glance at Stephanie who was busy hassling Henry for fun. “For such a deadly serious woman, she’s pretty carefree,” he thought to himself as she watched her sign sporadically which made Henry sputter before giving him a playful shove into one of the servers.
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“Hey! Could you focus! I don't know which of these are linked together,” Ebony growled as she ran her fingers across her data-slate before swapping out a full data drive with an empty one. She seemed to be the only one still in a sour mood. Even Taylor felt better despite the events of their mission, which normally would give reason for concern however, Taylor was enjoying the connection that was building between him and Havoc squad.
ΩΩΩ
Morrigan hummed a light tune as she mined the end of an offset tunnel burrow on her own, collecting all the small chunks of Viridian other inmates passed up. She rarely got to work alone without the other inmates and task master keeping an eye on her, so finding that there had been left overs in the offshoot created by another colony of Scissor bugs was a happy day for her.
It also gave her the opportunity to practice her control over her powers, especially once she had learned how little she had access to the cosmic energy.
It was an interesting concept. The way Apollyon had explained it, the subconscious emotions of someone played a large role into the amount of energy is used as well as the conscious emotions most sentient beings felt and for Morrigan, it was complicated to grasp.
By the time she picked all the loose Viridian and started practicing her control she quickly became frustrated as she felt her energy surge into the hand she held out, quickly releasing the energy before it burned up too much.
With a scoff she folded her arms, “I really don’t get it, calling the energy is easy enough now but it always comes out in a mad rush.”
You’re still raging girl. You have been since we got here. Apollyon noted.
“I’m not angry though! Sure I’m irritated that it hasn’t worked since we started practicing but this is just getting obnoxious,” she complained with a girlish huff.
Okay, pop a squat and I'll try explaining this a different way
Morrigan kicked a loose rock before falling to her butt intent on releasing her frustration before Apollyon’s explanation made it any worse.
So I’ve told you how there are four separate energies to existence yeah?
Morrigan simply nodded.
Well, way back when, when my siblings were creating shit left and right. There was obviously going to be several millennia of trial and error… not like we came into existence with a clue or anything.
Anyways, all the while on their creation binge, they experienced a slew of emotions, all revolving around four primary emotions.
“Yeah: anger, fear, sadness and happiness,” Morrigan interjected.
Correct.
While I paid half a mind to what they were doing, I noticed each of their energies reacted more strongly to specific emotions, For my sisters, it was sadness and fear and for my brother, happiness. Pretty obvious which one reacted with me and giiiirrrlll did they piss me off some times.
Morrigan had to force down the rising giggle working its way through her sternum as she listened. “But what does this have to do with me and you saying I’m angry?”
Calm your tits I’m getting there!
That earned a snort from her.
So, when they refined their creation process I noticed that some of their creations took on a natural ability to harness our ambient energy. This I found to be quite interesting so I spent many, many years studying all these creations, picking them apart, sometimes literally, damn did that piss my sisters off ha!
Morrigan smiled at that. She did not find it as amusing but she understood how Apollyon operated.
The biggest issue I found was that there was no discernible reason why some of these creations had the ability to harness that energy and others didn’t.
“You keep saying creations, do you mean something other than human or Eskarii?” she asked.
Yes, for instance, there was this tree that could harness my brother’s energy and change its shape or color rapidly without following the natural ruleset. Or these dog creatures that were essentially living batteries thanks to my own energy. However, the one thing I did notice after taking an external study of each of these creations is that they all were inherently prone to be sentient enough to have a static primary emotion.
Morrigan cocked her head to the side, in between listening to Apollyon curiously while using her nail to meticulously clean the dirt from a small rock. “What do you mean?” she inquired.
Well for instance, let’s take your pitiful species for example. Humans are inherently prone to anger. Their primal instincts are to be aggressive and territorial to survive, which is why when all those nuclear weapons went off over 100 years ago, instead of irradiating the planet and killing off everything that existed, those who got left behind were mutated.
“Mutated?!” Morrigan exclaimed in surprise.
Yes, you see, since I was trapped in that little planet of yours the planet was saturated with my destructive energy. My energy more or less fought to overpower dozens upon dozens of nuclear blasts because radiation after all is its own energy. Kudos to humanity for that one. The end result was the remnants of humanity gaining a 24th pair of chromosomes. A genetic mutation that allows the harnessing of my energy.
Morrigan scratched her head, she considered the implications of what Apollyon said and how it explained why only the bloodlines of those left on Earth can have the ability to harness magic, to a degree.
“But, the chromosomes are connected by each parent, how can a mage parent and a non-mage parent produce a mage?”
Turns out that 24th chromosome is self replicating. If it does not receive a partnered chromosome as you would say, it makes one of itself. Though that does cause stringent health issues for the human down the road.
“How does that mean anything for me though?” she asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
Don’t worry I won’t kill you, you’re a special case with me inside you. Though that brings me back to my point, I’m inside you girl, I know what you’re feeling at every second of every day. Subconsciously you are still 50 shades of pissed about being captured and being here, mad at the Federation and everything they do and etcetera…
Apollyon’s explanation put a lot of things into perspective for her. Morrigan closed her eyes and took a deep, hopefully calming breath as she tried to feel her inner emotions. She let her muscles relax as much as she could before taking another breath. Then a third breath and repeated the hypnotic action until the echoing sounds coming from the mine disappeared.
Even Apollyon remained silent though she could feel its curiosity, like a niggling tickle behind the back of her eyes. After what felt like an eternity, that feeling even left her to be replaced by a warmth that coalesced around her.
The feeling surprised her, it was as if she had been sitting in the deity’s lap, leaning against the muscled chest of the creature she has once saw briefly and had its arms draped around her in a protective cocoon.
If the mental imagery had brought a reaction out of Apollyon, she did not even hear it as even the warmth and surprise soon fell away, leaving only the sound of her heart beat in her ears. No emotions, no feeling, nothing.
For the first time in her life, Morrigan felt what she believed was true existence, nothing more than sitting in a vast space of eternity internally and externally aware of what it meant to be a living, sentient being. Pure…
With the smallest of breaths, she focused inwardly on the formless coalescence of energy that swirl within her body. Except it was not truly in her body, but a second body within her own as if her own body was an exoskeleton. It twisted and flowed in a soft eternal dance like red paint in mineral water.
She focused on the right arm and lifted her own, watching as the energy formed body mimicked her movement. With a soft smile she envisioned barriers in front of her hand, mental blocks, or emotional in this case, to hold back the flow of energy that would pour into her hand much like various dams used to control the flow of water. Four of them for each core emotion and one by one she let those feelings gently slip back in.
Fear, was a small pathetic thing of a barrier. Much like a screen used to filter heavy particles in a liquid, despite being such a tight channel.
Happiness, was some what sturdier, taking the form of a beaver dam that seeped water, unfinished.
Sadness, was considerably larger, this was the size of a dam that held back a river, similar to the Blue Mesa Dam in Colorado, holding back a large body of energy waiting for the doors to spill out.
Then there was anger, which was not something that blocked water at all but just a peaking lip over the vast basin of her energy reservoir that all but contained the mass of energy. All it would take is a single tilt to spill an enormous amount over the edge.
Morrigan realized the size and succession to each of those blocks were her primary emotions in descending order, her strongest and most volatile being anger, and the weakest and rarest being fear.
If she deduced Apollyon’s lesson properly, she would have to make herself feel any of the other three emotions to control the flow of her energy.
Forcing an image to mind, something that made her happy was Mo’Emori. The time spent around the bubbly, happy alien woman had always been a looked forward to joy in Morrigan’s life, even at her lowest points. Her long teal hair flowing over her head as she had laid in the Eskarii’s arms, the soft and beautiful tone emanating from her as she hummed to Morrigan…
As she called the power to her hand, she could feel the energy spill over anger and slam against sadness, the flood gates being consumed by the torrent that spilled from anger.
Immediately releasing the energy to dissipate, she realized she would need to try sadness only to question what made her sad?
Images of her mother and father brought soft tears to her eyes; watching as anger and sadness poured into happiness like a steady stream. This let a modest flow of power coursing through her finger tips, enough she thought comfortable yet, not safe enough to wield daily without worry.
She realized after a moment of brief happiness of her success thus far, that she didn’t have to focus any of the feelings, but had to open each gate, in sequential order, in order to control the energy and keep it from skipping over the emotional barriers.
Cycling through the mental images again led her to the gate of fear.
The real trick was fear, something she so rarely felt. It had been many years since she last felt true terror… except her time spent tortured by Amaranthe, the one time where she was truly terrified that her life was forfeit.
The thought of the psychotic Federation mage sent her energy rushing through every blockade only to be stopped at the gate of her fear where she watched wisps of energy filter through like mist.
Morrigan opened her eyes to see the faintest glow of crimson encasing her hand in the familiar shape of Apollyon’s clawed hand.
With a joyous grin she pushed the energy forward letting the spectral claws reach forward, burying into the stone wall in front of her. To her elated surprise she could feel everything the claws touched on her physical hand and dug the claws deeper to grasp a chunk of Viridian.
With a tug, the claw wretched the ore from the wall where she pivoted on her butt to metaphysically carry the haphazard sphere and drop it into her cart.
Very good kid, I’m impressed. Apollyon praised.
Morrigan lost herself into a mad fit of giggles as she took in the revelation of her accomplishment.
She finally had control over her emotions.