Coda sighed heavily as he returned to a neutral position. He panted heavily as the power coursing through him, and his abuse of it was starting to weigh him down. His mind felt muddy and turbulent as he struggled to reign in his rage, he had his suspicions but something was very clear to him now, he was overly emotional ever since he woke up. He'd expected it to get better but he was barely able to filter out any strong emotion.
What the hell is going on? He thought to himself. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself down but it didn't help. It was still there, running unchecked. His memories of his family, the countless atrocities he'd come across back on Earth, just hearing that they'd recovered slaves had sent him into a barely contained rage.
"You're not wrong. We made a very grave mistake when we splintered ourselves."
Not expecting someone to speak to him, though he remembered the voice. A childish, smug voice. Opening his eyes he saw nothing but white. Surprised, his eyes widened as he stood still in shock. Turning his gaze down unto himself he saw he was wearing different clothes and his saber hilts were nowhere to be seen.
"Behind you dumbass." The child spoke again with an impatient tone.
Turning around quickly he saw him, behind a glass pane that stretched beyond the horizon in all directions. Red hair, red clothes he was there, standing in ankle-deep blood surrounded by orange-red smog and destroyed buildings. The glaring difference was the fact the glass pane was cracked and blood and smog were seeping into his otherwise unblemished surroundings.
"I thought I wouldn't see you again?" Coda said with a tired expression. "Not that I don't find the idea of talking to myself a little humorous."
Shaking his head the child responded. "We don't have time for your sorry excuse for humor right now. While you've been running around doing whatever you want me and Old man Ape have found out we've made a big mistake."
Coda's eyebrow shot up. Old man Ape? Apathy? "Do tell. Is it related to my emotional state?"
A cracking sound came from the glass as cracks started to spread further. Prompting the child to click his tongue. "Yes. We're speaking now because you're drawing from me, and it's about to go out of control. But before I take over I brought you here so you can work the problem from the outside."
Coda's eyes narrowed. "Take over? What do you mean?"
A cold chuckle came from the child. "Don't worry, this isn't body snatchers or some garbage like that. I'm going to finish up these scum for you and drain your batteries, essentially knock you out by exhausting you. Don't forget, me and Old man Ape are both you."
Another crack shot through the glass as he finished speaking. "Tsk, anyway, we're on the clock so listen up you dumb piece of shit. We forgot a very simple thing when you decided to try soul surgery. Feelings aren't singular, Rage isn't JUST rage, love isn't JUST love, etc. etc."
Coda cupped his chin with his hand as the child continued. "Feelings are interchangeable, connected, there is sadness to be found in pleasure, pleasure to be found in anger and so on. What we...you...we...?"
The child aggressively rubbed his head before he continued. "Whatever! We! What we did at the time equates to removing a whole segment of a circuit board and expecting the hardware to function normally."
Coda's mouth opened slightly as his eyes widened. "Why didn't I think of that before I did it, that should be something obvious." A confused expression marred Coda's face. "Why is it so difficult to make sense of the memories of that place?"
"You're on the right track, we think our sense of crisis was somehow dulled or removed entirely when we spent time in that realm." The child's features twisted in anger as he continued. "Those creatures weren't kind, they were bored. We are just entertainment for them."
As he finished speaking the glass pane cracked heavily as the smog started billowing out of the cracks. Coda glanced over the glass pane and saw it was trembling, it wouldn't hold for much longer.
"You shouldn't use me anymore." The child said solemnly. "You need to find a way to mend us, accept us, make us whole. Nobody knows it better than all of us that the wounds run deep, but the fact is we've made it worse. This fix for a whole new world is nothing but a poison pill, we don't want to become monsters."
Coda locked eyes with the child. "Lily was right. We really are annoying when we're right." They both gave a sad chuckle. "I'll try and stay out of stressful situations, also I'll work on doing what I can."
A heavy sigh escaped Coda's lips before he added. "No promises/No promises." He just looked at the child and clicked his tongue.
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As Coda was about to speak again the child just held up his hand and spoke first. "I know, there are civilians in this part of the station. We never did hurt those in our anger, I'm not about to break that streak. I'm well aware of who our enemies are."
Coda nodded as the trembling got audible, the child glanced over the glass before putting his hand on it. "Put me away when you wake up, as I am now, I will not be of help to you."
Before Coda could respond the glass shattered and he was swallowed by a tidal wave of orange-red smog.
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Standing on the bridge of the Prometheus RG2 had just ordered a batch of tractor beams to hold the cut off section of the station in place when he felt, yes, he 'Felt' an invisible shockwave run through his systems. The digital equivalent of a primal scream of rage ran through their programming, the shock was abrupt and prompted him to run diagnostics on the double as he refocused to watch out of the bridge.
The pillar floating there was now very different. Snaking rivers of molten metal could be seen running through the length of the pillar, entering and exiting randomly all over the pillar. Explosions and tremors could be seen as segments of the now cut off part were destroyed.
Suddenly the comms came alive. -("Something is wrong with Lord Coda! Deploy the units immediately, we have to retrieve him!")- The urgency of the message understood RG2 didn't disagree, something had gone terribly wrong.
-("Right away Lady Beatrix.")-
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Dominik Rudd had found the old adage of things could always get worse to no longer be a saying, but a truth. He didn't know how the upper section of the station came loose, it didn't matter anymore. The artificial gravity had held due to the secondary reactor though the emergency lights were on now instead of the regular ones.
He had made his way back to the command bridge when they'd been separated from the station proper, he'd been watching that things progress through the security feeds. As long as they were operational that is, seeing as anything in proximity with it tended to melt. He glanced around the room and saw fear in his men. Understandable. He thought. They'd arrived at the same conclusion as them, they were already dead.
What heavy ordinance, what high explosives? How would you blow up a volcanic eruption? Why would lasers hurt heat? Looking back at the feeds he saw him flash through corridors and bulkheads as they were paper, eyes glowing with a dark orange as his face looked like a beast. The audio snippets they'd heard weren't those of a human. Just growls, snarls, and roars.
Dominik had accepted his fate, his only regret was there had been no communication, no explanation or reason. Just the inevitable approaching monster that promised death.
He started hearing sizzling as he glanced at his feet. The metal was starting to melt under them as he gave a heavy sigh. "What a shit day this has been."
Those were his last words as a river of slag ran through the command bridge.
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Three days later, Watchpoint station.
For the people of Watchpoint, the last couple of days had been a very turbulent experience. A whole army of human-like droids had occupied the station and started rounding people up, asking questions and detaining many. They hadn't been cruel or anything like that but they'd been unbending, anyone out of line soon found out that they had a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone not following orders. Status be damned.
The two emergency bunkers from the cut off segment had been retrieved two days ago and the stories from those people had been unsettling, to say the least. Thankfully they hadn't been hurt in the incident with the exception of dehydration and light burns due to the heat. But they were shaken as they told stories of a beast of some kind, though most people just chalked up their tales as fear acting up.
When Trilla and Beatrix had made their way down to the restricted part of the station a whole array of problems had occurred. What they found wasn't pleasant, at best. Scores of people with all kinds of ailments ranging from drug addiction to comae. Trilla had electrified a Hutt they discovered as he was literally eating a woman, her anger justifiable.
After that Trilla ordered the RG's to storm the entire lower part of the station at once and stop any and all activities still taking place. She'd tuned herself out from the force because staying near Coda had been suffocating but after that, she opened herself up again resulting in a flood of suffering and pain. While she managed to keep her calm she now understood what Coda had felt even through all that distance.
They came across many gruesome and unpleasant scenes as they cleared room to room, corridor to corridor. But it was nothing compared to when they found an unmapped hangar close to the bottom. Filled with bodies and a thick layer of blood on the floor. They'd just been piled up here to be disposed of for later, or at least they thought that until they'd discovered that this room doubled as an incinerator.
After that Trilla had to distance herself, she was angry enough to cry. She returned to the Dauntless to calm down running into Sev'.
As Sev' saw her she noticed her emotions through the force, though that wasn't necessary as anyone could have told she wasn't feeling well by looking at her. "What happened?" She asked in a low tone.
Trilla stopped and turned her gaze towards her, causing her to take a step back as Trilla's anger latched unto her for a brief second. "You better hope that you and the people you deemed to work for had nothing to do with this, or I'll kill you myself." She turned to an RG that was escorting her. "Show her." She shook her head. "No, Make her watch. All of it."
She turned to make her way into Coda's room. They'd retrieved him a couple of hours after he went berzerk, finding him unconscious amidst the ruins. Sev' was quite confused but under the urging of the RG's was placed in front of a monitor.
As she watched she became angry, then shocked, then numb. She now understood why Trilla was so agitated, and hell, she agreed with her.
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At the end of the third day, a strange thing happened across the galaxy. A strange, massive file was uploaded everywhere it could be. Shortly after that many feeds were hijacked across numerous worlds. Showing a man wearing what was supposed to be a white robe, but it had been bathed in blood.
The man was sitting on a chair in an open hangar, a massive vessel could be seen floating out in space behind him. He looked tired, but his gaze was even and cold. In a deep voice, he started speaking.
"Greetings."