Crush tumbled to the ground, a rock hidden in leaf litter tripping her as she staggered on through the woods. She picked herself up and plodded on. Her frustration was growing with every step. She checked her map and estimated that the clearing where the landing skiff should be was just a quarter mile away, but she still couldn’t hear or see any evidence through the branches.
Finally, she came across the clearing. The turf was torn up and muddy. An empty oil can lay on the ground, tossed aside by a careless Collective soldier. There was plenty of evidence to confirm this was the rendezvous point, but there was no skiff. She stopped in her tracks, looking around, desperate to find some shred of information that would prove she hadn’t simply been abandoned and left to die. Surely, there was some reason the skiff was missing. However, she found no such evidence and no such reason. She had indeed been abandoned and left to die. She roared at the sky. She kicked the empty can, used up and left behind just like she had been.
Infuriated beyond words, she referenced the map and noted which way the Astralbian base was. Without stopping for rest or thought, she plunged back into the forest.
***
Drixen walked swiftly through the empty halls of the Wingspan, on his way to a well-earned lunch in the galley. Then there was a knife at his throat, simple as that. It hadn’t been there; then it was.
“Where were you when the bombs went off?” asked a commanding female voice.
“Raivyn?” he asked, turning to the diminutive psychic with a bewildered look on his face.
“Correct. Now answer the question,” she said.
“With the fighter squads. Trying to get into the hangars.”
“They said you showed up later than everyone else. Where were you?”
“On my way, I suppose. Wait - have you been putting knives to my squadmates’ throats?!”
“No, I just asked them questions.”
“Why do I get the special treatment?”
“Because you knew about the pit, then our enemies found out about it. Because you knew about the arctic mission, then our enemies found out about it. Because your eyes are just too honest.” Drixen grabbed the knife and turned, holding Raivyn’s wrist and staring into her eyes.
“A good friend died on that mission. I almost died on that mission. I warned you about the Astralbians.” Raivyn snapped a forward kick into Drixen’s upper abdomen, sending him into the wall and making him gasp for air.
“Maybe -” he said between gasps as he sat against the wall, “ - maybe my eyes are honest because I’m honest. Go on, read my mind. Can you do that? Come on, you’ve got my permission. Read my mind.”
Raivyn held his gaze a second longer, clearly fighting herself. Drixen saw the fire leave her eyes and her face crumpled. Then she leaned back against the wall, sliding down to a sitting position across from Drixen. Her body shuddered as she fought back tears.
“This was stupid,” she said angrily. “It doesn’t even add up. Call for security, I’ll go willingly. I’m sorry, Drixen, I’m really sorry.”
Drixen hung his head, shaking it. Raivyn couldn’t tell if he was indicating he wouldn’t call security, or if he was simply incredulous. She tensed, waiting for him to say something. Anything.
He laughed, and it wasn’t completely without mirth. “Now, I probably should, but I’m not telling anyone about this,” he said. Raivyn let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
“You’re doing your job,” he continued. He chuckled joylessly. “A bit poorly, maybe, but you’re doing your job. And I think you’re onto something. Not about me, but about who knew what.” His eyes widened suddenly and he grabbed his comm.
“Admiral Jasken, this is Drixen, come in! Where is the professor? It’s important!” There was no answer and Drixen sprang from where he sat, running to the Admiral’s quarters. Raivyn followed close behind.
The scene that greeted them was an ugly one, painted in red. The guard at Jasken’s door was shot, and Jasken and Chim laid in pools of blood. Jasken groaned, but Chim lay still and silent.
“The kid,” Jasken said weakly. “It’s the kid.”
“Go!” Drixen said to Raivyn. “I’ll get a medic. Go get the kid.”
Raivyn ran down the hall, jumping on the general comm channel as she went.
“Attention everyone. The Talpadarian male Grikchum is to be stopped immediately. He is armed and dangerous. Approach with caution but do not let him escape!”
***
Grikchum, meanwhile, heard the announcement but was already in an ATUC, cruising for the gate. He had shot the two garage attendants with his silenced pistol and was headed for the gate, open for a cargo vehicle returning with lumber from the woods.
He shot past the gate and was on the road before anyone knew what he’d done. He had to laugh a little as he went. The fools had no idea he had allied himself with the true rulers of the galaxy, the Astralbian Empire! Ruefully reduced to a “kingdom” today, the map to the Cornucopia Cluster would ensure their return to power.
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Checking the rear view mirror, he saw Republic soldiers in another ATUC on his tail. He casually tossed a small device back at them. The bomb exploded right under their craft and sent them flying. A second ATUC stopped to help them. He'd bought himself a few moments, so he called the Astralbians.
Raivyn hadn't waited for the whole squad when she got to the garage. When Vanbrook staggered in on her heels, they jumped into the ATUC and took off.
Driving up the mountainside road, they soon came to two ATUCs, one a smoking wreckage, the other parked blocking the road. Raivyn slammed the brakes.
"Did you get him?!" she asked.
"No, he blew up one of ours," said a young soldier, evidently in shock. “We're trying to help the wounded."
"Okay," said Raivyn, annoyed, "but one of you needs to break up this road block!" The shocked soldier looked around as though he had just been slapped, then quickly jumped in the ATUC and moved it out of the way.
Raivyn shot forward, and before long they could see Grikchum's ATUC in the distance. Vanbrook pulled his revolver but held his fire until they got into range. When he thought he had a good shot he fired, blowing out Grikchum 's windshield but missing him. Grikchum threw another bomb; Raivyn swung out to the side to avoid the explosion. The mountainous terrain by the road was unforgiving but manageable. She felt the hot, concussive blast it gave off, but she avoided any major damage or injuries.
Vanbrook took another shot, which blew Grikchum's ear off. Grikchum screamed and put a hand up to the bloody wound, but didn't let off the accelerator.
In the distance, the Astralbian loyalist saw a cloud of dust. He grinned excitedly as a small cavalry of void wasps came into view, raced past him and attacked the ATUC chasing him.
Vanbrook and Raivyn watched four mounted Astralbians, each riding a massive wasp and holding a thorn gun. Vanbrook couldn't help but grin. Close combat was his specialty. These wasps were smaller than the fighter-sized wasps bred for space, and they did not shoot beams from their eyes, but a wasp the size of a horse is still intimidating to most enemies.
He had already replaced his two spent rounds, and he leaned out to take aim at the leading wasp and its rider. A bullet smashed into the wasp's head, sending a splatter of blue-green bug brains outward as the wasp and rider tumbled to the ground. He took out a second in like fashion, but the last two got in range to fire their thorn guns.
Raivyn jerked the controls to the side, and a blast of splinters that would have mauled her face went wide. The sudden movement caused Vanbrook to miss a shot, but he recovered and fired again, blasting a leg off of one of the wasps.
He used his buckler to ward off the worst of the rider's thorn gun shot. He returned fire, knocking the rider off his wasp and watching him puff away into a blue mist. The ATUC jerked to the side again, and Vanbrook looked over to see Raivyn crushing a wasp between the vehicle and a tree. The wasp wobbled dangerously as the ATUC bounced away. The wasp’s rider lifted his thorn gun to shoot Raivyn but Vanbrook was quicker, blasting him to blue smithereens.
Vanbrook heard a buzzing noise behind him and turned in time to see the wasp he had crippled rushing towards him, stinger outstretched.
He stood and unsheathed his saber, parrying the deadly barb. The wasp grabbed him with its five remaining legs and ripped him into the air, trying to bring the stinger in to stab him at the same time.
Vanbrook managed to wedge his boot between the base of the abdomen and the stinger, fending off the lethally venomous sting while he tried to free his sword arm.
Down below, Raivyn kept glancing up, trying to keep the vehicle under the airborne combatants. The wasp drifted over towards the mountains, making it difficult to keep under it.
His sword arm finally free, Vanbrook slashed at the wasp's legs, causing it to release him. Holding on to a leg, he scurried his way into the wasp's back and locked his legs around the thin waist between the thorax and abdomen. The wasp curled to sting his lower leg, but only succeeded in scraping his shin. Vanbrook shouted in pain, but stabbed his blade down into the middle of the wasp's thorax and threw his body weight towards the ATUC.
Raivyn compensated for his shift and brought the ATUC as close as she could. The wasp plummeted and Vanbrook threw himself from the beast and into the passenger seat, gracelessly landing with his feet on the dash and the rest of him uncomfortably in the seat. The wasp crashed to the ground, unmoving.
Raivyn stopped the ATUC suddenly, further jostling Vanbrook.
"Hey, we gotta catch up with that slimeball kid," said Vanbrook.
"He's long gone," she replied. “By the time we catch up we'll be in range of any artillery the Astralbians have set up."
Vanbrook nodded in grim agreement.
"Besides, you’re injured," she said, looking at his bloodied shin. “Hopefully not stung?"
"Ah, yeah, it just scraped me with the… the stinger," Vanbrook said, suddenly feeling woozy, "I dohnn thihck… it affetted…"
Raivyn turned the ATUC around and raced back towards the fort, hoping it wasn't too late for the swashbuckler to be saved.
***
To the northwest, Crush was still navigating the swamp, heading towards the Astralbian base. As she trudged on, she stewed about the way things had gone since her promotion.
She had discovered the deep hypocrisy of the upper echelons of the Collective. The trappings of the common good were nothing more than a thin veil over common greed.
It stung her conscience to think of what she'd done to Splatter. She had justified the setup as good for the Collective, but it occurred to her that it was her own ambitions that urged her on. There was no "greater good" to be accomplished in the Collective; the benefits of Splatter's death accrued to her, and to her alone.
As she considered this, she stepped on a large, broad circle of leaves. The leaves all connected in the middle, where a thick, ropey vine hung down from the branches above. Hair-like growths grew thicker towards the center of the leaves.
The moment her feet brushed the hairs, the leaves folded in on all sides, trapping her in an airtight orb. The vine contracted into the branches simultaneously, and Crush sensed a liquid oozing from the leaves.
For a moment the forest was silent. Then a series of muffled shots rang out as Crush shot the killer vine to bits. She fell, along with a deluge of digestive fluid and vegetable matter, down into the swamp below, landing with a splash.
She laid there for a moment, then stood up, grabbing a handful of wet moss to scrub the acidic liquid off her form. She didn't seem to be significantly damaged, but she'd need a good polish and her chem sensors indicated that she probably smelled terrible.
More out of spite than fear, she shot a few more of the snaring vines to pieces as she passed them, spending an unwise amount of ammo, but gaining a modicum of satisfaction. On she went, angrier and more determined than ever.
***
Grikchum smiled gleefully as he pulled up to the guards outside of the Astralbian base. He was marched directly to Lord Raelik’s quarters on the mothership star tree. The Talpadarian trembled as he approached the noble. He bowed low, in the traditional manor, and, kneeling, offered him the puzzle box.
“Well done,” said Raelik. “Now open it.”
“My lord,” answered Grikchum, “I don’t know the code - yet.”
Raelik sneered and turned to one of the guards.
“Find our ally a suitable cell for his work.”