Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 155 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 5
Uninhabited Island /Tunnels near Yard Ship
Galactic Standard Time / 1400
As she looked over her shoulder, Jess tried to keep calm and think. She knew Jinn needed help, but the new plan was something she still didn’t know. If they couldn’t handle the Spider-Worm and the Quad-Walker, then they needed to find a way to get out of there. If they just had the shell to use as a shield, then they would make do with that. Their lives were too precious a resource to spend too freely.
She looked around seeing the others standing there waiting for her. Karakpace was standing, flexing his claws as he stood there, watching her.
Before she could speak, Karakpace rumbled. “So does Jinn have a plan to deal with that new robot?”
Jess could only blink as she looked at him, dumbfounded as she stared. After a second, her eyes widened, and look behind her. She found what she was looking for, one of the two bugs that Karakpace had brought with him. She had wondered why those two, but now she knew. The answer was something that she had never expected, but it was the only thing that made sense here. And that scared her more than she thought possible. The sheer number of things that she would have to brief the rest of the security division on alone! “You can see through your bugs?! Is it just them?!”
“Only what I can control. And that’s all they are, weapons. I’ve heard stories of skills that make them more, but that’s all I know. And I can see the battle. There are more robots, fighting the big one and the monster. So what do we do?” Karakpace asked with a rumble.
Jess looked at him and then shook her head. “Later. Okay, Jinn wanted Paige to go back to that room she used to escape the apes with Sk’p. We need you to be ready to open and close the doors if Jinn needs to lead the Spider-Worm that way.”
“Got it! But I’ll need someone to come and help me,” Paige said with a hard look in her eyes.
“I’ll need to stay here,” Sara said softly.
Jess looked at her and almost took a step back, staring at her in horror. When she had left, Sara was fine. Now she looked like she had just run a marathon all day.
“She’s fine. She’s just having a problem after forcing herself to learn that Power that saved me. It’ll pass in an hour at worst,” Karakpace said softly, a look of sorrow in his voice.
Jess looked away for a moment, feeling shame that Sara was in this situation. She had been the one to tell Jess what to do, and
“I’ll go!” A voice called out from the room. They all looked up to see Sk’p standing there leaning against the wall. There was a hard look on his face as he spoke, and he carried a hard air. “I’ll go. We don’t need to show that horror to anyone else for now.”
“What do you mean, horror?!” Jess demanded and Sk’p only looked at her before shaking his head.
“Keep your mind on the battle. We’ll need everyone’s help to clean this up later. But don’t forget us, okay?” Sk’p said as he pushed off the wall and took a few steps forward, each one stronger than the last one. Finally, he pulled out his rifle and looked at Paige. “Ready to move?”
Paige nodded and without a word, they were off.
Jess looked at them and tried to keep calm, but then that was something she was good at. Looking at Karakpace, she nodded. “Looks like you’re with me big guy. We’ll see what’s going on and make a move depending on what’s happening.”
“Smart stratagem. And the best that we can do. Stay here until you can walk Ms. Sara. This place might be safer for you,” Karakpace rumbled as he stood up.
Sara made a motion to join them, but then Jess pushed her back down. “He’s right. He looks like he’s had Powers a lot longer than we have. Stay here and move once you can. One of the medical rules, treat yourself first if you can.”
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Sara looked like she was going to argue, but then she nodded. She seemed to sink down and then looked at her with a look of acceptance. “Got it, Jess. Just stay alive, okay? I can’t bring back the dead yet.”
Jess just chuckled and turned away, a smirk forming on her face. “I think I have a ‘don’t revive with magic’ on my file.”
Sara only laughed and Jess felt a bit better. Walking down the hallway, she tried to think. They didn’t have a weapon that would work for Karakpace’s build, so he was stuck with his strength. And that means that they would have to get close to the monster for that to work. And an attack from behind wouldn’t work on that thing, so there was the big robot to try. But the thing it had on its back, bothered her. There was something about that shape and what it did that set her teeth on edge. She didn’t like it at all.
“The little robots are attacking both of our enemies. And even when Jinn destroyed one of them, they left him alone,” Karakpace reported as they made it to the door.
Jess looked out and almost wished she was out there. Jinn kept ‘dashing’ around, disappearing only to reappear to attack. Depending on where he was, he slashed at the Spider-Worm the big robot.
She looked at the robots attacking the big robot and the Spider-Worm and almost did a double take. She stared in shock before she bit out. “Those are Rail Skimmers! They only made the basic model decades after this ship became obsolete! What and how are they here!?”
Karakpace only looked at the robot and scowled slightly. “I’ve heard of those. A wreck was found a decade ago. Those were the cargo. They helped a few of the darker powers build terrible things.”
Jess looked at him, her mouth dropping open. She didn’t want to need to know what he meant by that.
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Jinn landed on a balcony and looked down, grinning to himself. The smaller robots had gotten his message, focusing their fire on the Spider-worm. And he had dealt that thing a few wounds, wounds that weren’t healing. That was the best thing that could happen, but where did the robots come from? He didn’t think they were from the same force as the Quad-Walker, so what sent them?
He shook his head, and then he looked at the Spider-Worm. It had been staying there, with its back against that one position for minutes now. That bothered him more than he wanted to admit. There were little reasons, and that bothered him. To think that this thing could plan? That was opening the devil’s box here.
He shook his head and looked up, but then he looked down and saw Karakpace and Jess by the door to the hallway. He nodded as he saw them looking at him, and then he gestured at the big robot before holding up a hand.
He saw Jess nod and he grinned. She had understood what he meant, and that was enough. All they had to do was wait, and strike when the time was right. He didn’t know what the Quad-Walker would do, but that didn’t matter. They had to do everything they could to survive and protect the others.
Then he went still and felt his breath catch. Without a thought, he ‘dashed’ to where he needed to be. He looked right at the Spider-Worm as he put his head against the wall near the others, hoping he was wrong. He felt his heart go still at what he saw. “NOVA!”
He couldn’t even believe that he hadn’t even considered this. As far as he knew, that thing had gained the ability to throw its black liquid from its back. And the thing had known how to use that ability in combat! How did he even think that this thing wasn’t able to even think of using it to get away?
“What is it!?” Jess asked as she and Karakpace came up behind him.
“It’s trying to burn through the hull! And I’m not sure what’s behind it!” Jinn snarled as he aimed his pistol at the Spider-Worm and called upon his Power. “Hit it with everything you’ve got!”
“Burn through the hell!? It can do that!?” Jess asked in shock as she aimed her pistol at the Spider-Worm.
“Yeah, so fire!” Jinn barked. As the two both started to fire at the Spider-Worm, Jinn took a deep breath. “Aether Dart!”
As the energy dart formed, Jinn just fired again and again at the monster. He saw each bolt hit and damage its outer shell, but each shot only seemed to make the Spider-Worm stay in place. But then he saw something that made him almost drop his weapon. The Spider-Worm had actually burnt into the ship! That liquid it spat had burned a hole that it was using to hold itself in place, and that was why it wasn’t moving! It was already through the hull plates, and now it was only waiting to get into the circuits!
But as he watched, the monster moved even farther back until it fell away completely. The Quad-Walker dropped as Jinn ran forward, Jess and Karakpace behind him.
“FOOLISH BEAST! GO BACK TO YOUR MASTER IN THE VOID!” The Quad-Walker broadcasted before it dropped its humanoid torso forward.
As soon as Jinn made it to the hole, he looked down and saw water a few hundred feet below them. He swallowed as he realized that the hanger was built out from the ship.
“Where is it!?” Jess asked as she aimed her weapon down at the water.
“It got away! We have to find it! If that thing attacks the group on the beach! They’ll…….” Jinn trailed off as he saw bubbles form on the water. As they watched, the Spider-Worm shot into the air, and behind it, something even worse came up. All they could see was a creature a hundred feet wide with teeth. It swallowed the Spider-Worm whole in one bite. The thing fell backwards into the water, it created a large splash that reached them. “Never mind. I guess they're safe.”
Jinn looked at the water, seeing the ripple that moved around the water’s surface. That thing was almost as big as a small stellar smuggling ship! How was something that big so close to the island?! He forced his heart to keep beating and turned towards the others.
Jess’s mouth had dropped open in shock, and her eyes were wide. Slowly she turned and looked at Jinn’s eyes. “What the Blackhole was that!?”
“I don’t know! We’ve only been here for a few days! You’re the one who was by the sea!” Jinn barked and Jess glared back at him.
“I didn’t think that thing was real,” Karakpace breathed in horror.
Jinn turned around and looked at him with Jess. Both of them were staring at him in horror. “You know what that thing is!?”
“It’s a horror alright, and one we can talk about later. I think we have a more important problem,” Karakpace rumbled as he looked behind them.
Jinn turned and looked at Karakpace. He followed what Karakpace was looking at and then turned. He saw the Rail Skimmers, all of them looking at them.
Jinn swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I get it man. So any ideas?”
“I think I know. The others, they got this place working!” Jess said with a grin.
Jinn looked at the robots and nodded as well. “If you can hear us Al, we’re heading to the bridge. We’ll meet up there, see you soon. So where are the others?”
Jess followed after him as they walked towards the door to the corridor. “Sk’p and Paige are going to the doorway. And there’s something else boss. They were talking about the horror they found. I don’t like it.”
Jinn looked at her and then nodded after a moment. “Yeah. I don’t like that either. Let’s have a nice long talk with them, and get them to show what they found before. But I have a good idea what it was.”
Jess looked at him But Jinn stayed silent. He really hoped that he was wrong, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t. This was probably a pirate ship after all. And that didn’t leave many things that wouldn’t be horrifying here.