“Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a long time coming, but thanks to your hard work, we are now ready to launch lord Ronin’s ship, Homecube. He wanted to invite you all too…”
“Homecube? Lord Ronin?” A familiar voice asked, from the crowd, as Aurex stood to interrupt the speech. “What makes this ship his? Didn’t we all work to make this launch possible? What did he even do? I didn’t see him once the entire time we were working, probably living it up in his hotel room, while we did all the work.”
“I assure you that…” Xerox tried again, only to be cut off by a wave of murmured agreement, from several people, including the minotaur, and dwarf, who Ronin finally remembered was named Greg, along with a few others, and he knew if he let this continue, the sacrifice of the old Daoist would have been in vain. He was seriously wondering why Xerox had put on this show at all, considering how ungrateful these people were and the time crunch they were in.
“Enough,” Ronin said, not bothering to climb to his feet. His words echoed throughout the large room, and everyone, even Aurex, looked at him in surprise. Ronin was surprised too, he’d had no idea Xerox had hooked him up to a speaker system, now he was just glad he hadn’t said anything embarrassing. “We don’t have time for this, Xerox, Sam, get us out of here, now… and turn this mic off dang it.” He added angrily, only to find the mic had already been shut off. His final words only being heard by those immediately surrounding him.
“Very well my lord,” Xerox said with a bow, as Samantha opened her eyes, and the entire ship around them vanished. No, it didn’t vanish. Ronin could still see the tables and the guests, who were gasping and chattering questions at each other in just as much shock as him. It was the walls, the ceiling, and the floor that had changed. Every surface must be some kind of projection screen or something, since it looked to Ronin like they were floating inside the cube hangar. He looked around, taking in the hangar for the first time in a while.
None of the beetle dropships were visible anymore, likely all in Homecube’s hangars. Neither did he see any of the materials or the work equipment, as for the ships around them, it looked like the closest one had been stripped to the bone, and several of the others had large holes cut from them, exposing their gutted interiors. Elyria hadn’t been joking when she said they’d gathered a lot of material under her supervision.
“What do you think?” The moon elf in question asked, her smile spreading from ear to ear. “Xerox knew how much you hated being stuck inside a ship you couldn’t see out of, so we prioritized this room’s construction. Do you like it?” The way she asked the question made Ronin all but certain it had been her pushing for this room’s completion, not Xerox, and he smiled at her in genuine pleasure.
“I love it,” he said, as Sam lifted her arms, and the ship rose from the ground in a shaky wobble none of them felt but could see on the screens. It stabilized quickly, and with another motion, Sam moved the ship towards the lake that had flooded the passage to the hangar, who knew how long ago. Ronin looked down, along with everyone else on the bridge, as the ship floated out over the water. Once they were centered over the lake, that was far larger than Ronin realized, but still tiny when put into context of a mile cubed spaceship, Sam flipped her hands over, and lowered her arms.
Like an orchestra following the orders of a conductor, the ship followed those hand signals and dropped into the still water. It was an awe-inspiring sight, watching as the floor, then the walls, were surrounded by slowly rippling waves. Lastly followed by the roof as Homecube entered the tunnel proper. Turning around, Ronin could see the current rushing into the ship from behind them, though he couldn’t feel anything at all from his seat on the bridge.
“Would meow like a drink, meowster?” Ronin jumped at the voice, spinning around in his chair to see Mei had snuck up on him. She had to be as quiet as a… catgirl, to get away with that.
“What did you…?” He asked, seeing several other catgirl maids moving between the tables, handing out drinks to the guests. Ronin had been so captivated by the screen he hadn’t noticed them at all. He looked at Elyria in confusion to see her alternating her glare, between Ronin, and the pink eared Mei before she turned back to him in a huff.
“Mei is one of the catgirls who’s… I don’t want to say master, but the person who anchored the pocket world, like you I guess, died. She, and one other… Rem, over there with the blue ears,” Elyria pointed at another catgirl, who looked almost identical to Mei apart from her ears and tail color. “They were the only pair this otaku guy brought over; he made them special, compared to the others. So, we assigned them to be your personal maids. I couldn’t disagree, after testing their skillset myself, but still, keep your hands to yourself White Flame.” K3 let out a chuckle from the other side of the table.
“I swear boss,” he said, his deep voice carrying easily to Ronin’s ears despite the low volume he spoke at. “You sure you aren’t a story book hero? Women seem to flock to you wherever you go.” Ronin glared at his friend, wondering how any of this was his fault? He didn’t ask for a catgirl maid, besides, what special skills could she possibly have to make Elyria ok with this whole idea, considering the way she was glaring at him, hard enough to peel the paint from his armor.
“Look,” someone closer to the front of the ship, or at least the direction it was currently moving in, said pointing. “It’s a shipwreck,” they continued, and Ronin turned his attention away from the two women, thankful for the distraction, to see they’d been talking long enough for the ship to pass completely through the tunnel and enter the lake. He looked down, along with everyone else, as the ship moved over the shattered wrecks of a beetle dropship, and over a dozen lizard small craft. The results of when Sam crashed the dropship into their pursuers. The resulting damage to the environment being the only reason the lizards had been attacking through the caves at all, rather than underwater. Some biological command prevented them from causing more damage to the environment than they could help. A restriction Sam clearly didn’t share, because she’d crashed several cube ships using kamikaze tactics already.
Ronin looked up, as the wreckage below them was swallowed in the gloom. They were moving towards the sky, as evidenced by the ever-lightening color of the water. Soon, he could see the sun, shining down at him for the first time in over a month. As the top of Homecube exited the water, Ronin wasn’t the only one who gasped when he took in the area around the lake. There were no less than six cube ships, parked in a small pyramid, with four ships on the ground, and two resting on top of them side by side. Not to mention the hundreds of small troop craft that littered the ground around them for miles.
Ronin snapped his head to the right, as the view from that side shifted. It now looked out from the back wall of the hangar he’d landed in. He could tell, because he recognized the dropship that carried him here, it was the red one Doctor Mycroft had when they met, and the shower stall he’d used to clean up. Thankfully, his armor had been removed for maintenance because the hanger doors were opening. As soon as they cleared the water, the doors slid apart, along with another set of hangars below them, cutting off most of Ronin’s view of the lake, now slowly dropping away.
He thought he knew what was coming when the two government issue ships Leo and he had captured, along with the Doc’s ship, lifted off and flew from the hangars. Sam’s hands moved wildly, as if she were controlling the ships with them instead of her mind. Everyone gasped when those three ships rammed themselves at full speed into the center of the cube ship pyramid. It felt to Ronin like he was there, as the ships went up in an explosion that painted the sky black with smoke. For one brief moment, Ronin thought they’d destroyed those six ships in one go. Sadly, his hopes were dashed as the smoke cleared. They were all damaged, but the beetle dropships were just too small to realistically destroy such giant craft. The damage had been extensive though, and everyone whooped and cheered as they flew higher into the air, heading for space.
They hadn’t escaped that easily, and as the hangar doors slid closed a lizard small craft darted inside. Ronin was afraid it would ram the inside wall of the hangar, causing a rupture they couldn’t fix this close to the atmosphere, but instead, the craft settled into a docking position, and hundreds of lizards flooded from the back as the doors finished closing. The blue surrounding the ship gradually darkened as Homecube exited earth’s atmosphere and shot off into space, the moment now going largely unnoticed by those on the bridge.
“Lizard shuttlecube in hangar three, yokai teams please respond to hanger three, contain and neutralize the threat.” Ronin heard Elyria say from beside him, and when he looked at her, she shrugged. “What? I’ve been stuck on this ship for weeks while you were off having fun. I needed something to do, so I learned ship protocol… actually invented some of it myself,” she added with a wink.
Ronin’s attention was captured by the hangar, along with everyone else present, as yokai, armored suits, twilight court, red and blue soldiers, and Ian’s remaining teams engaged the lizards. Leaping to his feet, he moved towards the door the others had entered from, when he saw Sam collapsing from the corner of his eye.
“Sam?” He asked, and turned from the door to dart up the platform, grabbing the convulsing woman, who had blood seeping from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Her eyes were open, but Ronin couldn’t see anything but the whites, since they’d rolled back into her head. “Sam?” He asked again, holding her tight to his body, and trying to keep her from bashing her head open on the floor. She was burning up, Ronin could feel the heat even through the thick chitin on his fingers, and he just stared at her, not sure what to do.
“Now,” snapped a voice Ronin recognized, and he looked up to see that Bartholomew, Genevieve, Orpheus, and Amaris, along with Ian, Karr and Red and Blue had already rushed from the room, likely heading for the hangar to help with the invasion. It had been Aurex who’d shouted, and Aurex who was now charging towards Ronin, armed with a short, collapsible baton. He wasn’t alone either, as Fabius, the minotaur, and what looked like more than half the assembled guests followed right behind.
Ronin, still panicked over Sam, wasn’t sure what to do, and he looked to K3, who was standing over him, Elyria hovering a few feet over head. All the people who might have supported Ronin had left, the ship had reached space, and Ronin had already served his purpose as captain by getting the ship airborne. It was the perfect time for an attack, and Ronin, who’d half expected them to try something, was now well out of position to respond thanks to the lizard invasion.
Some of the guests hadn’t attacked. Ronin could see them huddling under tables, or heading for the door, but enough had that it was unlikely Ronin and K3 could handle them all bare handed. So, Ronin didn’t even try, all he could think to do was hold Sam to himself and watch them come. Elyria, who’d seen which way the wind was blowing, dropped down to hold onto him, while K3, loyal to the end, positioned himself between Ronin and the mob, preparing for the attack.
“Reserve yokai teams, maid assets, please engage. Remember to be mindful of the screens.” Ronin heard Xerox, who’d somehow ended up on the platform with them, speaking into his comm, and he looked up, wondering what he was thinking. He didn’t have to wait long for an answer, as several hidden doors burst open, concealed behind the screens showing outside, and around fifty yokai stormed in, carrying clubs. Mei, who’d still been standing next to the table with the glass of nutrient fluid on a tray, burst into action at the same time, along with her blue eared counterpart, Rem.
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Ronin held the thrashing Samantha, orange blood covering his armor and watched as yokai that shouldn’t be here, and a pair of insane ninja-catgirl maids, demolished the coup attempt before it ever really got started. He was having flashbacks to the day he’d ordered Safie and her family’s execution. Aurex, who fancied himself a martial artist, hadn’t fought anything Ronin had ever seen, and he fell quickly to Mei’s assault. She was all flips and kicks, and she wasn’t alone, Rem took down the minotaur almost as quickly. In a matter of moments, the fighting was over. None of the rebels had been killed that he could see, a good thing, since their bodies were more valuable to him alive.
That thought wasn’t one Ronin would have normally had in this instance, and he shook it away, focusing instead on the screen into the hangar. That fight had been wrapped up already as well, another fifty yokai having joined the battle from nowhere.
“Xerox,” Ronin said, once Sam had stopped convulsing so bad. Doctor Mycroft had arrived now and was ministering to the woman with her tentacle monsters. “Why do we have close to a hundred more yokai on board than I was aware of?” He asked, voice calmer than he believed possible in this situation.
“I hooked up the teleporters in a compartment hidden from the others.” He said, standing beside them calmly. “I got in contact with the yokai teams who’d gotten into human controlled settlements, and when it became clear they were no longer distracting the enemy, I had them teleport back. We only recovered half the yokai teams that went out to fight though.” Ronin frowned at his words thinking them through. Finally, he nodded.
“I suppose that makes sense.” He said at last, looking down with disgust at Aurex. “It seems like no matter what we do, people will betray us. Overwhelming might seems to be the only way to avoid it.” As he spoke, Elyria and K3 both looked at him curiously, the moon elf was the one to speak, however.
“What? You don’t believe that.” She said, looking at him oddly. “What about the humans who lived in those settlements, did they come along too?” She asked pointedly, “and why, if we had this many able-bodied fighters, didn’t we use them to hold off the lizards, instead of sending the Priest out to die? I watched the footage from back home too. Both times, Owl Two baited Eric and then Hunter into rebelling, here, well these entitled ass holes are hardly a good ruler to measure loyalty. It’s that damn manipulative AI who’s maneuvered everything to play out like he wants it too.” Now it was his turn to frown, looking from her to Xerox.
“I’m not sure, you might be right, but if it wasn’t for these troops, we’d have all died…” his mind raced, seeming to do battle with itself as he contemplated her words. Giving up with a shake of his head he continued. “But now isn’t the time to talk about it… what are we supposed to do with all these people? I don’t really want them in my pocket world, or shipworld, or homeworld? Hell, this is getting confusing. Maybe we should just chuck them out an airlock? Their followers would fall in line without them around I bet.” He was frustrated now, angry at being played by more people, he’d gone out of his way to save, like so many times before. It seemed like his fate, to go too soft on everyone, and be forced to rely on Owl Two, or Xerox now, to clean up his mess. Maybe it would be better if he just went along with their plans from the start, that way he wouldn’t have to regret his actions later. The small voice in the back of his head poked away at the insecurities he’d been feeling, and Ronin wondered if he had been doing things wrong this whole time.
“Would we even have had to deal with a rebellion if the bridge wasn’t emptied of all the fighters? If Xerox hadn’t hid the yokai teams, you wouldn’t have had to stay on the front lines so often, then people would have at least noticed you were here. Get a hold of yourself, White Flame.” Elyria snapped, looking at him with real worry now.
“This is exactly why you shouldn’t be in charge of this ship,” Aurex spat, from where Mei held him face down on the ground, one arm pulled behind him in a hold. “You’re all delusional and paranoid… aagghh,” he grunted as Mei pulled his arm back farther but kept talking. “You think you’re better than me? You’re just doing whatever you think you need to in order to survive, regardless of who you hurt along the way. Then, justifying your actions by blaming someone… else. There is no evil AI orchestrating your downfall, it’s just you and your horrible decision-making skills. You aren’t a leader, you should quit now, since you clearly don’t care about those under your command. Why is that so hard for you…?” Mei finally wrestled Aurex into submission, but not before his words resonated in Ronin’s mind.
Could that be true? Had everything he’d done been his own weakness driving his choices? That couldn’t be right, Xerox had troops he could have sent to relieve Ronin, but he’d held them in reserve. A move that had proved useful in saving Ronin’s life, but at the expense of others. Of course, there was no way humans could survive on a ship whose atmosphere scrubbers didn’t pump oxygen, and without any food they could eat. So, in all likelihood they would have died anyway. Come to think of it, all the decisions that hurt people had been made in order to either help Ronin, or to ensure the ship would make it off the planet. Shaking his head, Ronin flipped the switch in his brain that allowed him to push the emotions down. He’d figure this all out soon, but first, he had to take care of the mess happening around him on the ship.
“I’m willing to hear you out, Elyria.” He said, looking down at Aurex as he spoke. “But we need to figure out what to do with these, people, first.”
“My lord,” Xerox said, as soon as Ronin settled his mind, almost as if he’d been waiting for him to reach a decision. “While on the colony ship, we gathered information on those who were on the planet with you. I believe I have the solution to this problem, if you would follow me?” Looking at Sam, who was stable, thanks to the ministrations of Doctor Mycroft, Ronin nodded. Following the Xerox, Ronin stopped to watch Elyria, who’d bent down, and was having a quick conversation with the redheaded doctor. Nodding her understanding, Elyria stood up and turned to K3.
“I want you to stay with Doc and Sam for now, ok big guy? Help the Doc with whatever she asks, and I’ll be back soon.” The giant, clearly not wanting to leave Ronin’s side, hesitated a moment, looking at Ronin. Who was confused but trusted Elyria at least, so he nodded. K3, seeing that nod, finally agreed with a low grunt. That settled, Ronin walked over to Xerox, who looked even less happy about leaving K3 behind than the giant, if the way he fidgeted was any indication.
“Ready to go?” He asked now that Elyria had joined them at the hatch.
“Of course, my lord,” the bio-machine said. “But wouldn’t you feel more comfortable with K3 by your side. We just had a coup attempt after all.”
“No, I think he’ll be fine, the traitors have been dealt with, I have no doubts you invited everyone with ill intent to this meeting, similar to what your original did with Eric and Andona.” “Elyria said pointedly, answering for Ronin. Now it was his turn to look at her strangely, but again, he trusted her, so he nodded. Xerox tried once more to convince him, but Ronin was firm on the subject and eventually, he gave up. Leading Ronin out of the bridge. Before he left the compartment, Ronin stopped, and took a long look around the room. Taking in the beauty of outer space, and the planet they were leaving behind.
He’d seen pictures of earth from orbit in books, he’d also looked at the globe representing the pocket world in his hotel room. But that isn’t what the world below him now looked like. This earth was still blue, most of its surface being made of water, but the land was brown, dead, and barren. No lights shined up at him from human cities, and the only greenery were the thousands of individual crystal trees, surrounded by patches of rainbow grass. They were so big Ronin could see each tree distinctly, and wondered what would happen now. The planet hadn’t been terraformed completely, the process had been halted before it had really begun, and now the lizards had arrived, and a large debris cloud circled the earth where the colony ship had once been. Large chunks of that ship even now Flamed into brilliant light as they entered the atmosphere. Would he ever get a chance to come back here? If so, what would the world look like on his next visit? Pushing down the thoughts, he turned his back on earth, and walked out of the room.
“So where are you taking me?” He asked sometime later, as he and Elyria followed Xerox, who wound his way through the square corridors, with their right angle turns, and square hatches. It was maddening to look at, with everything being the dull grey of unpainted metal. There were hints of black and white paint here and there, but for the most part, everything was an ugly grey. He’d have to see if they could fabricate some paint for the more used areas of the ship, or else they would go insane.
“We’re almost there, my lord.” Xerox said, and Ronin exchanged a glance with Elyria. A lot had happened since he came on board, and the pair hadn’t had as much time to catch up as they would have liked. He didn’t know if he liked the look she was giving him now. Still, they were in space. They’d left the lizards behind and didn’t have any pressing reason to do anything for a while, so they’d have time to talk things out.
“Here we are,” the copy said, as he opened a hatch to let them all into a room. Stepping inside, Ronin looked around with interest, taking in the long, narrow tables, each holding dozens of fist sized crystals, with small plaques in front of them. Walking over, Ronin looked at the first one.
“Leo Dawson?” He read the plaque as a question, aimed at Xerox, who nodded, walking over to stand beside Ronin and Elyria.
“This is the solution, my lord.” He said, pointing at the stone. “That is Leo Dawson’s stasis stone.” He said indicating the remaining stones with a wave of his hand, “these are the stasis stones of everyone on board the ship who has one, and quite a few besides. My original made them available to me when he realized who was being sent to the planet. It took some time to find them all, as the physical sorting of stasis stones on the colony ship after you humans got a hold of it, well, anyway, we can hook these up to power and put everyone away in their own worlds. When power is removed, it’s like time stops for those inside. They won’t know anything has changed at all, until we connect them back to a power source.” Ronin, after giving it some careful thought, nodded his head in agreement.
“Ok, I like it. It also opens their bodies up to be repurposed, by people who I can actually trust. When we get access to the syndicate again.” Ronin said, not being able to find any shady aspects to the plan. Elyria’s muttered, ‘if Owl Two didn’t see the syndicate destroyed,’ had him worrying a bit though.
“Yes, of course my lord,” Xerox said with a salute. “I will get the yokai to bring the prisoners down in batches. Bear in mind however that we will have to keep the empty vessels connected to a power source, and they will need nourishment, a largely reduced amount thankfully, but if we don’t, they will die.”
“We’ll keep that in mind, thank you Xerox, but I will handle the yokai and prisoner transport. You don’t need to concern yourself with it.” Elyria said, grabbing Ronin’s elbow and staring into his eyes.
“Ok,” Ronin said, nodding his agreement, wondering what had gotten into Elyria lately. Still, this seemed important to her, and she hadn’t steered him wrong yet.
“My lord, it is no trouble for me too…” Xerox began arguing, again. Ronin was getting tired of the constant back talk. What was with this damn robot? Even the voice in the back of his head, telling him it was all for his own good was silenced when Ronin reached the end of his patience.
“Am I your lord, Xerox?” Ronin interrupted, as calmly as he could.
“Of course, you are my lord. Why would you…”
“Then do as I say, please.” Ronin said, interrupting him again. “Elyria will give orders to the yokai, you and I will stay here and get prepared to receive the guests. Can you do that for me?”
“… yes, I can do that my lord.” Xerox said after a long moment of silence.
“Wonderful, thank you so much. Now, if you will excuse me, I’d like to have a quick word with Elyria.” That said, Ronin left the room, Elyria right behind. They closed the door on a clearly confused Xerox, whose body language was easy to read, despite not having a face. Ronin stopped right outside the hatch, but Elyria motioned for him to follow her further down before she stopped and turned to him.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” She asked, worry clear in her tone.
“Me? What’s gotten into you? You’re the one who’s acting all weird lately it was you who...” He shot right back at her, getting confused as he tried to remember what they’d been arguing about earlier.
“Something is going on, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet. Can I ask you to just trust me for now? I need to check out a few things, see who is doing what and ask questions. Will you watch Xerox for me please? Just, make sure he doesn’t give any orders. Maybe get him to teach you the process while he puts people into their stasis stones?” Elyria asked, grabbing his head between her hands as he tried to remember what the argument was about on the bridge.
“I… I’ll do that for you.” Ronin said, after staring into her eyes for a long moment. “But I expect a full explanation later, you hear me?” He added, playfully.
“Thank you.” She said giving him a light kiss on the cheek. “Just, keep an eye on him, and I promise I’ll fill you in soon, ok?” After she finished speaking, Ronin swooped in for a quick kiss. They both blushed at the newness of whatever they were doing, and he turned away. Only to be halted by a crackle in his earpiece.
“Hey kid, it’s Doctor Mycroft, I got some news.” She sounded grim, and Ronin felt dread in his belly as he wondered why she was calling him now. “It’s… you better come to the bridge, it’s bad kid.” Looking at Elyria, who’d gotten the call too, Ronin gave her a helpless shrug. He was already running back the way they’d come, wondering what in the world had gone wrong this time, before Elyria had a chance to comment.