YURI
“Useless.” Saif landed beside him. The Great Saif was still clad in his diamond skin, but his hair was gone, the only remains of it were burnt, black and in crispy tatters. Saif had tanked a nuclear explosion in the face and it had only pissed him off.
“Yuri, you are useless,” Saif said. “And Tom, wake up!”
Tom stirred to his feet. “I am sorry, master.”
“Alright, Tom. You did good. Sergeant Thompson, you also did good, you actually almost had them.” Saif said, walking past Thompson’s powerless combat suit, giving it a small tap before going over to Yuri, who still sat, leaned to a boulder. He was beyond tired and sore. “But you Yuri, you are a shitty disgrace. Just looking on while we fought. While we bled and hurt.”
“I saw you cracking those dragon eggs open. Eggs!” Yuri said, before realising that he had yelled it.
Saif looked surprised. “You go against me? Your power is useless, so useless that I don’t want it or even to seed your mind. Useless.”
“What? You elected me, personally for your vanguard. Assigned me to your own ship,” Yuri said, letting the little water he had left in its deposit trickle into his mouth. If he was going to die, he would go down swinging. Like his friends, when they had protested against Putin together.
“You are a waste. Tom, send him away. Launch him like a railgun ball,” Saif said. “I cannot reach them, they have escaped my mind. Launch Yuri, then we should explore this mountain. It somehow dampens my manifestation, I can only faintly touch the minds which hide within it, but I cannot actively change them or even determine who they belong to. Also, Tom, get Sergeant Thompson back to the ship. We need to find him a new combat suit.”
Tom looked at him. “Goodbye, Yuri.” He waved his hand.
Yuri was curled into a ball and launched. He flew fast through the sky and atmosphere. With a trickle of sweetness, his skin flowed into marble. He held his breath as he entered the vacuum of space. He shut his eyes tightly.
Seconds passed, but the pain made it feel like an eternity. His body crashed into something, something hard, but it gave way.
Gravity grabbed him and pulled him down, there was a whizzing sound but it lasted only for a moment. The room pressurized. Yuri opened his eyes. The lights in the ceiling were bright and the walls were bulkhead walls. This was a starship. His entry into the vessel was sealed, an emergency seal had grown over it, but the microfractures in the wall had shot out like lightning bolts, weakening the hull, but it was not actively leaking. Tom had thrown him at a starship, like a railgun ball.
“Stay still and keep your hands where I can see them,” a figure said from behind him.
There was a strange crackling sound, but Yuri turned around even so and kept his hands up. His skin was still turned into marble, so there was little reason to worry.
“Hold your hands down against the floor. Or I will shock you,” the man said.
Blue electrical currents flowed over and around the man’s body, they looked as they originated from his palms.
A second man came up behind the first. “Or I will shock you? Blue, that is so lame.” The second man came into view, and the cybernetic implants and enhancements that covered his body were distinct and just like the one that had assaulted the facility and Europe13. The man who had killed Jelena. The cyborg. A rage grew inside him.
“That is rockface,” the second man said. “Flow your skin into normal or I will splash acid over you again, Russian boy.”
“Sam, calm down,” Blue said.
Was there any honor in rage and vengeance? Yuri shoved it aside. Because sometimes times were different. As someone had told him all that time ago: he couldn’t let his hook control him. He leaped forward and roared.
A blue lightning bolt struck him in the face and everything turned black and numb.
MILO
“So here is the culprit,” Sam said and heaved the Russian up on the med bay’s operation table. The man’s white marble skin had flowed back into normal skin when the lightning bolt had knocked him unconscious. Active external attribute.
Claire, Birgitta and Beth hung around the side of the chamber. They looked happy to have been reunited. Even Diego stood by them, but stepped forward to inspect the Russian. “So, Tom threw this one at us?”
Beth looked at Milo and he returned the gaze.
“Yes,” Sam said. “At Saif’s command.”
“Like a railgun ball,” Milo added.
“He had curled into the fetal position and his skin was flowed into marble. He must have struggled to survive the stretch of space he covered,” Sam said. “The goddamn rockface.”
“He had looked surprised when seeing us,” Milo said. “I don’t think he knew where he was being thrown.”
“Bullshit,” Sam said.
“If he had any seeds in his mind, they are burnt away now,” Milo said.
Elzrig, the blue colored dragon flew into the med bay, his scales glimmered in the overhead lights, and landed by Beth’s side. The dragon traversed the corridors of the ship as a small and agile bird would have done. His movements were precise and gracious, very distinct compared to Rahgon. Rahgon was four times the size of Elzrig, and thus not able to leave the cargo hold, but one of them would have to guard the eggs they saved at all times anyhow.
Beth gave the blue dragon a stroke across its snout. They were friends, they knew each other well enough that even though the mental channel had gone dark, after Tern passing, they were amicable and understanding of each other. Milo swallowed, remembering the omf, Tern was dead and it made his throat hurt, as if he was going to cry.
“I fought this guy back at Europe13,” Sam said. “He was posted as a guard by the facility. Mean fucker, this rockface.” Sam stared at Birgitta, but she avoided his eyes.
“But if it’s as Milo describes, then this person is as subjected to Saif’s cruelty like us,” Diego said.
Claire leaned on her partner. “I agree with Diego. Wake him up and let’s talk to him.”
“It’s the least we can do,” Birgitta said.
Elzrig flapped his wings, almost hovering by the Russian’s side, it looked like the dragon smelled him. It turned to Beth and nodded.
“Wake him,” Beth said.
Sam had his acid shotgun attached to his cybernetic enhanced arm. The auto loading feed was not connected, since he was not wearing his rig, and so he manually looked over its drum magazine instead. “Goddamn, no. I say we kill him before he gets another chance to kill us.”
“You murdering cunt.” Beth stepped forward, her skin flowed into metal. “Claire and Diego have told me the bullshit you have dragged them through. The unnecessary risks. You brought a nuke to Europe13. A nuke!”
“A nuke? Sam, is that true?” Birgitta asked.
“No one is innocent when Saif’s fingers are involved. The word civilian has been re-defined. Anyone can lash out, doing his bidding,” Sam said. The Captain’s fingers were twitching again. Was he looking for a reason to pull the trigger? “If this moron would not have disassembled the detonation unit on the nuke, it would have blown. Crippling Saif’s machine of war.”
Birgitta didn’t look angry, but instead disgusted and disappointed. “You idiot. I cannot understand how I ever fell for you, thank god I opened my eyes for what you are. You maniac. I say we wake him up. He saved a lot of people on Europe13 and if it’s true that Saif discarded him, he might be an ally. And we need those.”
“You are making a mistake,” Sam muttered.
“Step down, trigger man,” Beth said.
Milo stepped forward, standing between the others and Sam. “Sam, calm down. We make decisions like we usually do. The crew has voted. Okay?”
“Alright,” Sam said, his shotgun arm lowered and his fingers relaxed.
“Thank you,” Milo said, before turning back to the others. “Diego, wake him up.”
Diego administered something into the Russian’s bloodstream. The man’s eyes opened and he sat up, raising his hands towards them. Pebbles crept out from the very pores of his arms and gathered in his palms.
Beth stepped forward and shoved him down, and held him there. “Big guy, stay down. You really need to stay down this time.”
“Okay,” the Russian said, his pebbles were absorbed into his body again and his face relaxed. “Where am I?”
“On the Final Sight, leaving the dragon’s home world. Who are you?” Milo asked.
“Yuri Gargarov, but they call me Elbrus,” Yuri said. “Tom threw me off the planet.”
“Like the Russian mountain range?” Birgitta said.
“Yes. How did you know that?” Yuri asked.
“My father loved mountains and to climb them, back on Earth. Together we have visited quite a number of them. Elbrus is a dangerous peak. Is that the reason why you are nicknamed after it?” Birgitta said.
“His manifestation is stone based and he is Russian. No wonder he is called after a Russian mountain range,” Milo said.
“A plausible reason, but no. Please, strong one, you don’t need to hold me down,” Yuri said.
Milo put a hand on Beth’s arm. “Let him go, Beth.”
Beth nodded and stepped back.
“Thank you.” Yuri sat up and stretched his legs, bowing forward, revealing a scar which went across his scalp. “A combat suit’s gauntlet struck the top of my head, they said my scream of agony sounded like when the howling winds crashed and split against Elbrus’ peaks. The mark of a warrior.”
“That sounds awful,” Birgitta said.
“I don’t remember much of those days, only the headaches,” Yuri said. “Putin and his royal guards. Saif found me and saved me, healed me and made me young again.”
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“Young again?” Milo asked.
“I was ninety two when I protested against the Putin clones,” Yuri said.
“That must have been strange, but also wonderful. Being turned back to your prime years,” Birgitta said.
“Yes, it has been a wild ride. His vanguard is a collection of assholes and bullies. Then I also saw Saif cracking those dragon eggs open and I didn’t like that. He didn’t like that I argued with him. Thus he made Tom throw me away, like garbage,” Yuri said, before he noticed Elzrig flapping around the room. “Is that a dragon? You have an alien in your crew.”
“Elzrig is a friend,” Beth said.
Sam muttered something.
“You. You, fucking, cyborg, you murdered my friends.” Yuri pointed at Sam, pebbles flowed across his arms again. “You killed Jelena.”
Milo stepped forward. “Wait just a moment.”
Sam’s fingers twitched after the trigger again. “Come on, rockface.”
“Wait, wait,” Milo said. “Before we do anything rash, let’s think it through.”
Yuri sighed. “Vengeance is not honorable. I am sorry that I leaped at you before. I just, this terrible anger rose up inside me. I pictured how the facility was on fire and that my friends were trapped underneath all that rubble and I was unable to save them. This man murdered them.”
“Those who serve under Saif’s influence are sentenced to death. Dead is dead,” Sam said.
“How can you say that? Jelena was the kindest person I have ever had the pleasure to get to know. Yes, Saif is an evil and vile man. But not everyone in his world is like him. He has deceived many of us. He saved me from the brink of death, I needed to honor that. I didn’t know how despicable he and his vanguard were until the dragon planet,” Yuri said.
“Instead of seeding you, when you rebelled, he elected to throw you out. He must have decided your power was crap, for not taking it for himself or controlling you,” Sam said.
“Cyborg, you might speak the truth,” Yuri said.
“You are goddamn right,” Sam said.
Milo put a hand on Sam. “I think you might need some rest, please. We all do. Let’s continue this conversation later. We don’t have to decide on a plan just yet.”
“I will stay with Yuri. I want to talk about Earth and mountains,” Birgitta said.
Milo nodded. It would be great having someone at Yuri’s side, in case the Russian was trying anything or Sam tried anything. Simply locking the door might not be enough, at least not when it came to Sam. His willpower never gave out and his cybernetic enhancements provided him with a new tool belt.
“Milo, I want to talk to you. Cargo bay?” Beth asked.
“Alright,” Milo said.
-
Elzrig flew through the corridors a bit ahead of them. The way he moved was pleasant to watch. It was almost as if he danced in the air, because how smoothly he transitioned from move to move.
“You look tired, Beth,” Claire said, walking by Milo’s side.
Diego leaned on Claire’s shoulder. “Yes. Beth, you need to eat and rest. Your deposits will have been drained when fighting through that battle.”
“Later,” Beth said.
Milo stepped into the cargo bay behind Elzrig. “How have you been, Beth? It has been a long time since we last met.”
A good start as any, he presumed. The moment was awkward.
“The Breach’s core overloaded and exploded. We saw it. How did you survive?” Beth asked.
“That is a bit harsh,” Milo started.
Claire added before he did. “I saved him. Technically he never died, he was trapped in a circuit board. I drenched it with power directly from the Final Sight’s reactor core. I burnt through a couple of boards before hitting the right one. But once I did, Milo popped back into human form, right then and there.”
“Trapped?” Beth looked confused.
“My adrenaline deposit was drained and with the EMP and explosion, too many pathways and electrical sources were severed. I had no way of gaining power. So, all I could do was lap through the same pathway over and over again, at the speed of light. Millions of laps,” Milo said. “Also, there was this resistor that for every lap reduced my electrical charge. Unnerving, slowly withering away like that.”
“I am sorry. We all thought you died,” Beth said. “I shouldn’t have left. I should have tried better.”
“No one knew,” Milo said. “Well, Claire tried and tried. It took a long time before she even found this method. Sam had given up hope.”
“That’s right!” Claire said.
Diego put a hand on Claire. “Don’t grab the limelight from them. Let them be, darling.”
Elzrig swooped in and around them, Milo felt how the smaller dragon’s motion dragged the air around him, but Elzrig’s wings and body never touched him.
Rahgon rearranged one of the eggs, it had started to tilt.
“I am sorry,” Beth repeated.
“You couldn’t have known,” Milo said. “It’s alright.”
“No it’s not. I was so caught up in the moment. And with Samuels’ pushing after me and Tern. It was not easy. But I shouldn’t have given up so easily,” Beth said.
Milo stepped forward and hugged her sister, a warm and familiar embrace. “Thank you. I am back. We are back. The crew is together again.”
“Tern is dead. The dragons are extinct and their home world has been overtaken,” Beth said. “These eggs might be too few. There is a high risk that they will die out. All these wars and Saif, the universe is slowly being destroyed. If we cannot stop him, no one can.”
Milo nodded. “I know, I know.”
He sat down besides the large Rahgon. The red dragon gave him a look and a small nod. Was that a sign of approval? Without the mental channel, there was no way to confirm. He dared it and leaned against her. Her body was warm against his.
“The signal Tern received all that time ago, it was you? Was it not?” Beth asked.
“Yeah. It sure was. Me and Claire jury rigged a module to our sensor array to boost a signal to him,” Milo said.
“That was how you found us. He did answer you. That is odd,” Beth said. “I told him not to do it. We couldn’t have known that it was really you and we didn’t think Claire or Diego would attempt such a thing, not with Captain Samuels at the helm. We guessed it was Saif and his goons, who sent the signal.”
“Ha, you belittle me,” Claire said. “You could have handled the Captain, if we brought him into your lap. Just look at how you dealt with him on the mountain.”
“Tern must have answered without my consent and then kept it from me,” Beth said. “Maybe that was the same signal Saif used to track us down?”
Milo shook his head. “I don’t think so. Saif went into his ‘mankind’-expansion project even before that. He was going from world to world, annihilating all alien life. He must have just stumbled into you. There was a lot of activity above your planet. A major space battle emits all kinds of signals and at vast distances. I believe that he saw that and came running, thinking he could swat two flies in one strike.”
“Maybe you are right, maybe not. It doesn’t matter anymore. I am just surprised that Tern lied to me. We had bonded deeply by that point and shared everything with each other,” Beth said. “Well, well. He is dead now and nothing can be done to undo it.”
Beth took a seat on the floor opposite him, with Claire and Diego on either side. They must have been missing each other. How long had it been? Over two years, at least. Maybe three. He wasn’t sure anymore. Both Claire and Diego were happy to see her. He let the silence simmer for a few minutes and all of them watched how Ezlrig made gracious fly maneuvers through the cargo bay. It was nice to be together again.
“You blood fueled,” Milo said.
Beth nodded.
“And fueled with adrenaline,” Milo said. “Your fist transformed into a metal monster fist. That was impressive.”
“Yeah, that was pretty cool. The surge of strength vibrated through me when I tore into the blood deposit and then even more powerful when the adrenaline flooded me. I can understand how you got hooked on it, how you grew addicted to that sense of might,” Beth said. “I am sorry. The way I treated you when you battled that addiction, it was awful of me. I was too harsh.”
Milo smiled. “You threw me into a wall and made me feel like a failure, I still have nightmares because of those bruises and that pain.”
“Sorry,” Beth said. “We are all only human and filled with flaws.”
“It’s alright, I needed the wake up call,” Milo said. “I was pretty full of myself, was I not?”
“You are goddamn right!” Claire said, impersonating Sam.
Milo laughed and he laughed like he had not done in a long while. “Spot on.”
“But you don’t feel that pull anymore?” Beth asked. “I am afraid that I might fall into the same trap, if kept unhindered.”
“That need of feeling mighty, feeling invincible, it never leaves me fully. Even though I am more aware of it now, it always tingles the back of my mind,” Milo said. “Always.”
“I will just try to be more aware of it,” Beth said.
Milo yawned. “Sounds good. I will keep an eye on you, if you keep an eye on me.”
“Deal,” Beth said.
Silence took over again and he started feeling drowsy.
-
Milo’s hand terminal chirped. It had been a long time since he had received a message. It was from Sam, and said to come over to his quarters. The others were already snoring and so he left the cargo bay without bothering them.
“Milo, come in, come in,” Sam ushered him inside.
The Captain’s quarters were dimly lit and the floor was littered with cybernetic components and bottlets of oil and antiseptic.
“I have disabled the overhead lights. I see as good in pitch black as I do in daytime,” Sam said.
Milo halted mid step, he almost stepped on a bottle with some yellowish fluid. “Well, I don’t. I am going to step on something which I will regret. You don’t have nukes laying around, do you?”
“I really should have a nuke embedded in me. That would be the best place. Not that it would even put a dent in Saif,” Sam said. “Alright, I will put the lenses over my eyeballs and dim down my hyper senses.”
The light came online. Sam’s private quarters were in more disarray than what the darkness would ever reveal. Broken furniture and smashed ceramics. What demons had risen in Sam’s mind? Were they the culprits for his new, extreme inclination for violence, instead of being natural personal growth?
Sam leaned forward from the one furniture that still remained intact; a cushioned chair. “Come closer.”
In this strong overhead light and with the Captain sitting still, his cybernetic transformation became more apparent and the true degree how far he had changed. Armor plating was scattered across his body and bolted directly to the bones beneath, the skin was pulled back and fused to the edges of the plates. Various tubes and wires ran over and inside him, but they were all tightly attached and tucked away, so they would not get snatched on anything or hinder his movements. Motor muscles, looking like the ones which were commonly used in combat suits and other exoskeletons were embedded at the joints, at every joint, there were too many to count. They were slimmer than the ones on his rig, but they looked powerful and they way he had moved and fought on Europe13 and on the dragon planet, Milo knew the full extent of speed and power inside him. There were weapon attachments directly bolted on his arms, just like his rig, but smaller in scale. He would probably not be able to attach his multi barrelled laser cannon on those, but the acid shotgun would fit very well. Then there were the embedded weapons. The hidden sawblades inside one arm and the explosive paste in the other.
“I can understand why they call you the cyborg,” Milo said. “Claire even called you a killing-frenzied cyborg. A bit mean, but I see her point. You really went all in with this transformation.”
“You died. But Saif remained. Someone had to be strong enough to finish the job,” Sam said. “I can go toe-to-toe with powered people.”
“Beth smacked you around with her adrenaline transformed fist,” Milo said.
Sam sighed.
The Captain was not open for jokes and puns anymore. Had Milo’s ‘death’ affected him so much?
“Unfair. When blood fueling, she was still struggling to keep up. Without the adrenaline, she would have lost. Diego and Claire have done a good job on my upgrades. Normal people can go up against powered people, that is the truth. With these enhancements, I am just as strong as her and Yuri. But I am smarter, and more cunning. And more dangerous when the liquid savagery courses through my veins,” Sam said.
“Was this the reason you called me over? To show off your cybernetics. By the way, you really should clean your place. It’s a mess,” Milo said.
“Fuck off,” Sam said. “No, that is not the reason. I am stepping down as Captain for the Final Sight and I am offering the position to you.”
Milo paused, the shook grabbed onto him. “What?”
“Your human ears didn’t hear wrong,” Sam said. “I can’t be the Captain any longer, you are far better suited for the job.”
“Me, the Captain? I am not trained as one,” Milo mumbled.
“Bullshit.” Sam stepped forward and put his hands on Milo’s shoulders, the extended cybernetic fingers were cold to the touch. His right hand, arm and fingers were still there, but underneath all the implants and cybernetic upgrades. “When you died, this crew cracked apart. We argued, we split up. You were the glue that held us all together. I observed how you worked the room and the people. You kept us from lashing out at each other, you kept us from fighting each other. And you did so with the voice of authority. You have grown into this role and you do it very well, so well and naturally that it escapes your own senses. You are made for this. You are the perfect Captain for this crew of misfits, Blue. No, you are not Blue anymore, you have outgrown that, you are Captain Milo. It doesn’t help that they all hate and fear me, through and through.”
“This is much to take in,” Milo said. “I cannot be the Captain. But what about you? What assignment will you move to?”
“We don’t have the luxury to be slow. Captain Milo has a nice ring to it, don’t you agree?” Sam said. Sam embraced and hugged him. “You will do marvelous things. I will be at your right side, helping you through everything. I am the trigger man, the killer and the one who blow things up. I am the cyborg, my Captain. We are still in this together.”
“Thank you, Sam,” Milo said. “You are still my best friend. I don’t care what the others say about you.”
Sam hugged tightly before ending it and stepping away. “Thank you. Captain Milo, you have a job to do. Assemble the crew and design a plan, so we can finally put Saif in the ground.”