When Anisa came to a familiar face was crouched over her, scars all over his face and exposed chest, his left eye dead and scarred in its socket. He poked her cheek a few times before she grabbed his finger and tried to break it. “Ahahah, careful…”
“I told you not to wear his face.”
He sounded surprised as he retrieved his finger sharply, “What the hell are you talking about?”
She glared at him and said, “Are you the real deal?”
He glared at her, “Unlike you, there’s only one of me.” The two glared at each other for a second before she released his finger. “Thanks….” He spaced off, “I don’t actually have a nickname for you… that’s embarrassing.” He seemed to be at a genuine loss
She growled, “I still don’t know if I trust that you are you.” He did appear very different, but this cave wasn’t natural.
“Same, but you’re better than just some random memory.” She saw him massage his finger some before cracking his neck and letting out a deep breath. “If you are the real deal, I’m glad you are okay. Barring those bruises on your neck.”
She ran her hand along her neck and felt how tender it was. Shaking the thought loose, she responded, “Glad you are alive too. Come with me. We can get out of here.”
He shook his head. “It isn’t that easy. If these are the caves where I found the crystal, your side and mine, our path will be decided for us. Just chase your goal without distraction and you will be fine.”
She wanted to ask what he meant by sides, but she asked instead, “What happened to your eye?”
As if realizing it for the first time, he turned his head in thought, “You know, I can’t remember. It was so long ago. I’ll try to remember so I can tell you when we meet up again. I’ll keep working it from this side. Take my crystal to the quarry when you can. Until then and until the end.” He offered his fist towards her.
Punching him in the arm she affirmed, “Yeah. That said, don’t lock yourself in a box, Shawn. We are going to fix this.” He nodded with a smirk and her vision seemed to grow dark.
When she opened her eyes again, the open cavern was gone and she was standing in a singular tunnel. Walking down the hall, she felt the heat from before fade, able to finally breathe.
She eventually came to a cold cavern with various scattered bits of technology, but beyond all other things she saw a brilliant vibrant pillar of light in the cavern. Approaching it, she saw a crystal that seemed to be oozing with power and was oddly shaped somewhat like a feather.
She was about to touch it when she heard Katsi’s voice, “There you are.” She turned to see her little sister climbing out of a panel in the machinery. “So, I can see what they were trying to do but Dean was right. They are missing some pieces. There is enough here to make it space worthy though. Only Dean would know if it has the necessary specs to run the blockade.”
“It does but only on the 43rd lattitude.” Anisa turned to see a face she recognized but hoped didn’t know her. Gavin noticed her surprise and rolled his eyes, “Lady, I am over the smuggling crap.” He gave a resigned sigh, “Well, outside of smuggling the parts you all needed to get this thing purring. It was some highly specific parts but I have connections and favors.”
Anisa looked ready to take out the smuggler but Katsi stepped in the way, “I’m the one who told him. The dude went through the caves just like us except more often and in secret. I don’t know what his deal is, but I trust him. So help us finish the final touches and hopefully we can get this thing going before Dean needs backup.”
Anisa sighed and admitted, “I don’t know machinery. I am good at tactics and inspirational speeches but-“
Her little sister cut her off, “Useless. Gotcha. Go sit in the captain’s chair and fiddle with the tactical panel until you are comfortable with it. We are going to need someone on it within the next few minutes.” Anisa went where she was pushed and sat down. A desk rose around the very comfortable chair, digital panels deploying from it. They seemed to be taking in all the sensor data from the area and breaking it into a cubic lattice. She started making small changes to the arrangement and making various mental notes on not just the interface but the information it was feeding her
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Dean’s helmet was heavily scuffed and his chest plate was beginning to weigh on him. He cussed under his breath before muttering, “I can’t be getting old. This world is just more hardcore.”
The bird monster stood slowly to his feet, staggering as he did so and his face dripping with black blood. “I’ve never faced a warrior like you. Not a killer instinct in sight. Cool under pressure. Pushing through the wounds you hide beneath your visage of strength.”
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Dean threw out another punch, keeping his form tight even as he felt his bones reverberate with the impact. He could feel every ragged breath. He didn’t sense he was in any real danger, but he hadn’t had to fight this long since the last time he fought the Falos.
As he was beginning to wonder how much longer before his body collapsed from fatigue, the ground beneath them began to rumble. Realizing that they must have gotten through to the ship, he smirked under his helmet. “It was fun, but we are gonna have to finish this another time. Get your beak patched and I’ll break it off later.” He pushed a button on his badge, his armor shining a bright orange before he leapt high into the air. As if it was calculated, the ship rose quickly from beneath the ground, his path landing him directly in the engine room. Reverting and collapsing on the floor, he crawled to the engineering console and placed his makeshift transformation device into the interface. Smirking as the drones came to life, he was even happier when he saw Gavin. “Son of a bitch. I didn’t think you would come.”
Gavin rolled his eyes, “You heroes need to stop pretending that you are the only normal people in a broken world. I’ve been working directly with you guys for a hot minute and I am already sick of it.”
“My bad, Gav.” The former smuggler nodded and began reading off some of the status reports. Dean nodded from the ground, directing the drones where they were needed with his mind and heart.
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“Fugue layers have finished forming. And the primary batteries have been primed. How is the navigation going?” Gavin reported from the engine room with cold intensity
Anisa asked sarcastically, “I don’t know. Katsi, can you give him the status report?”
“That isn’t fair! I’ve never flown a spaceship before, let alone one lacking any kind of aerodynamics!”
Dean spoke reassuringly through the intercom, “It’s okay, Kat. RCS doesn’t work in atmosphere on this thing and even Cap couldn’t get it to turn the way he wanted all the time. Just focus on getting us to orbit, we have tools for the rest.” Looking from the floor at Gavin he grumbled, “I told you those are the secondary batteries.”
Gavin shook his head, “Is it the weapon you lead with? No? Then it’s secondary. I’m an arms dealer. I know how these things work.”
Anisa sighed, “Do I want to know what Shawn recommended as the main gun?” She remembered half the design ideas he used to put into his stories.
Dean laughed from the floor, coughing and spluttering from the strain. Gavin informed, “If I said it was capable of punching a hole in an active supernova I would be lowballing. I wasn’t able to get it to full specs, but it is functional in a pinch.”
Anisa fiddled with the console and asked, “Is it normal for there to be a capital ship in orbit?”
Gavin asked dismissively, “What latitude?”
“26th”
Gavin pulled out a small device and fiddled with it before he shook his head, “Nope. Someone knew what we were up to. I don’t know how but someone used this behemoth as bait.” He turned to Dean who seemed to be thinking really hard as to who would know.
Anisa looked annoyed but Katsi jumped in, “You sure that no one knew what you were up to?”
“Positive. I have too many contacts to not have seen this coming. One of them would have said, ‘Hey, all those cops are surrounding that planet you were on. What happened?’ Would have been embarassing.” He looked to Dean who still seemed confused.
Anisa spoke firmly, “This works to our advantage then. Gavin, charge the central cannon to any safe amount. Katsi, I’ll be feeding you tactical data. Keep any damage to the cannon to a minimum and on my signal, face the coordinates I send you. Dean, keep the ship together.”
Gavin shouted, “Are you insane? Do you realize the damage you could do if the shot goes wide? What about civilian ships or Cosm-“
“Trust me! If we use such an impractical weapon on our way out, they will back down for now and focus most of their attention on disabling that and on us. That will take the pressure off of the CPD and the planet.” She pushed some buttons on her command console, “I’ll analyze their formation to hit the most dense formation of Falos military ships.”
The comms were quiet for a moment before Gavin grumbled, “Yes, ma’am.”
She spoke softly as they began to hit atmosphere, “I understand the risks and I feel your pain, but these are the risks we have to take to defeat evils greater than any of us.”
Gavin growled, “We will talk about this later, Zora. In the meantime, just get that data.” She nodded into the communicator, just expecting the sensation to be felt. She looked through the specs, heraldry, and call signs. Feeding flight data to Katsi’s console, her little sister still seeming nervous and tense as she saw the fleet blocking them.
Anisa saw a button labeled ‘Warn the morons’ and smirked, knowing exactly who this button was for. Pressing it, the console informed her that she was broadcasting on all known frequencies. She cleared her throat and said, “Members of the Falos and Cosmic Patrol. This is the Cosmic Bastion Ziegfried. We will be leaving the planet now. If you do not clear our flight path, we will be forced to eradicate you as obstacles to hope and change.”
The frequencies were dead in return, but a few of the ships began moving to get out of their way. She gave a silent message to Gavin to keep the cannon primed. She was hopeful they wouldn’t block them at all. Despite her worry, the capital ship moved to block their path as well as a few of their cruisers. She warned one last time, “If you do not clear a path then expect to be purged by the first light of dawn.”
She worried they hadn’t been able to hear her when a response came from a sinister female voice, “You come to my jaws, dance between my claws, and dare to speak as predator. Show me why I should fear you or I will enjoy watching you suffer.”
She saw the ships around them prime their weapons and shouted, “Gavin! Fire!” A second passed and in that still eternity, Anisa worried that he had hesitated or that it hadn’t worked. The next second was filled with a light so bright it drowned out all of Anisa’s senses. When she had finally returned, the capital ship was no more. Neither were the battleships. Neither was the moon that was once behind them. Or a large section of the next planet over. She stared in cold fear of what happened. The ships around them were either in active retreat or as shocked as she was.
You are as cold as he is. He would be proud.
Gavin shouted into the intercom to wake everyone up, “Engines at full thrust! Let’s get out of here!”
As the ship cleared orbit and traveled away from their home, the ship was as silent as space itself. Once they were at a safe distance they would take stock, but for now, they needed to process what had just happened.