-up.

Aster groaned, the familiar voice in his head piercing his consciousness.

Wake up, Aster. Systems critical.

He tried to move but was startled when he felt a jolt of electricity. His eyes shot open, and he found himself tied to a strange machine. The construction resembled the Hive he had fought before, but slightly different. Damaged. His arms and legs were tied, and he was suspended vertically. His mind was fuzzy, and he couldn’t recall what had happened before waking up.

He was trapped in a cell.

Zeta? Where are we?

Unclear. There is some kind of interference blocking me from scanning.

I can’t move. Can you analyze the restraints?

Confirmed. They appear to be Hive in origin but more advanced.

Advanced? This stuff looks ancient.

Delivering a controlled pulse. Standby. Aster heard a muffled pwoom from his gauntlets and boots, and he had to catch himself the next moment to keep from falling.

Thanks, Zeta. Can you analyze the field? Aster stood and felt the familiar buzz of his armor as it began siphoning energy from him.

Yes. The field is harmless to you due to your Archaeon. Scans indicate that this field is made to contain prisoners of the Hive. You will likely experience some disorientation while I must reboot the suit’s systems.

Can we just carve our way out?

Your energy is low, and due to the field around us, we cannot functionally maintain Lux constructs.

Gross way it is. See you on the other side.

Copy.

With that Aster took a careful step forward. Sure enough, as his head moved through the field, he felt the room spin and saw his vision dance with stars as it narrowed to pinpricks. When his vision cleared, he was out of the doorway, hands grabbing a railing. He looked around as his eyes adjusted, and the world stopped spinning.

The hull felt similar to Hive ships, a metallic chitin. He was on the second floor of a long hallway of similar-looking cells. Hexagonal walls and panels that, to Aster’s guess, controlled the fields inside the cells.

It was then that he heard the all too familiar chittering. He whirled around and held out a hand, feeling his power rise out of him and create a pale cyan-blue bubble as he felt the very photons in the air solidify into a shield that instantly shattered as a drone swiped with its bladed weapon.

The drone was a foot taller than Aster, with reverse-jointed legs and a set of smaller arms underneath its longer ones. With strength that could allow them to carry something fifty times their weight, it was a formidable foe when in close quarters.

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Zeta, I could use a hand! Aster called out but received no answer. Instead, he ducked under another swing, concentrating Lux over his hand to a point, and punched the drone. He felt the blade pierce its exoskeleton. Before he could hit with his other hand he was knocked on the head as it swiped with its arm. He fell, bracing himself for the final blow until he felt a tug on his arm. Zeta had rebooted just in time to take control and turn Aster’s gauntlet into its Arcus form, a blaster directly over his hand. It fired without his taking aim, and as the Drone fell, he heard Zeta’s voice again.

The welcome party came early.

Who’s the welcome party in this scenario? Aster asked before hauling himself to his feet and looking around. Got a scan of this place?

What do you think?

That the Drone was the welcome party and the closest way out is gonna be loud and hot.

Aster walked down the halls, peering down cell after cell. Need a punch?

Affirmative.

Aster looked down the pathways alongside the cells, making sure there was no other patrol nearby. This is gonna be real loud, Zeta.

Then I’ll get a good scan. Aster grinned underneath his helmet as his sensors adjusted, and he struck the hull. A metal ringing sounded as his visor displayed a chunk of the Hive ship. A dot pinged on the map, far to Aster’s left, as he heard plasma guns being charged and fired.

The flap is to your left. Hurry. Aster took off, his suit amplifying his own body’s movement. As he took off, the ship’s alarmed hummed, a deep reverberating sound. As he ran, he kept peering into the other cells, most of which were empty, save for one. Aster paused and doubled back to look inside, creating a shield to cover himself from plasma fire.

There was a prisoner wearing a strange suit of armor. It looked militaristic, but from none of the factions Aster could recall. It sat suspended like he had been but twitching and spasming erratically. Zeta, you got a tag on this one?

Affirmative. It is human.

“What?” Aster said aloud. He switched his gauntlet to its Arcus form and blasted the panel, deactivating the restraints.

The restraints themselves didn’t open immediately, but as the armored figure stilled, Aster noticed the slightest of head tilts. Before Aster could blink, the restraints were broken off their limbs, and they surged forward, grasping Aster by the throat and lifting him. Zeta reacted, taking over Aster’s arm to aim a point-blank shot.

Don’t fire! Aster commanded Zeta, pushing more power into the shields and pulling apart his visor. As the two segments parted, he revealed his human face to the soldier.

“I’m… trying… to help!” He choked out. The soldier said nothing, only looking at the oncoming fire blocked by a Lux shield. He released him and looked around. Aster bent over, coughing and pointing to the body flap of the ship. “We can escape through there. Is your suit airtight? Mine’s still rebooting, but I should have some flight.”

The soldier nodded, holding a hand out to help Aster. The boy took it and they booked it towards the entrance. Aster looked back to see various Hive aiming their weapons at them. Before he could react, he felt something sweep his legs from behind, and he slid down, skidding a few feet as arcing plasma flew over their heads and hit the hull. They melted down a few layers of the hull. Aster sent Zeta a command and detached his gauntlet, handing it to the soldier. A brittle crackling blade formed over their hands as the gauntlet shaped itself over their hand. Aster focused on making a giant shield to help cover them as the soldier took to carving past the other layers. Aster looked over their flight capabilities and saw they were dismal. He could either cover them if they were shot or slow their descent, not both.

“Any chance you have a landing plan?” He shouted to the soldier, who once again just stared at him, handing him his gauntlet back. Once Aster took it and slid it over his forearm, the soldier raised a hand and punched the last few layers of the hull away. The depressurization sent them out of the hole, and down they fell onto the unfamiliar planet below.