By the time Alena began her fight with Alan Vernes and Robin vanished into the Hubble, Ang’Tue found himself at a loss.

His captivator had fallen unconscious and he was left alone, his whole body aching. The hole in his chest had stopped bleeding and by now the stim he got earlier had fixed him up enough to allow some movement. The pain still remained, though. Not just from his punctured flesh and bones but also from his swirling head.

Before the enemy launched their attack he had managed to stabilize his condition enough to be able to participate in the upcoming fight, or so he had thought. He convinced the others to be the one who would initiate their ambush with the goal of taking out at least one of the attackers.

That went… not so well. The moment he used his stealth ability, the voice in his head exploded with full force, as if it had just waited for that moment. He had tried to complete his mission nonetheless, but wasn’t able to get hold of even one straight thought. Like a drunkard he had stumbled forward with shaky feet, seeing everything through a haze, as if his mind had been dulled by drugs.

In the end, that had led to him running into the open arms of his enemy and getting taken down like an idiot.

~This is our chance!

~Take the initiative and finish them all off in one fell swoop…

“Just shut up.” Ang’Tue cursed his inner demon, “Don’t you think you have done enough already?”

~Enough? We haven’t even started yet, right?

“You want me… You want us to strive for bigger things? You believe that we deserve better than this?” He asked scornfully and panned his gaze over the battlefield. Alena seemed to have a hard time against her opponent and he saw Robin fleeing deeper into the Hubble after he hadn’t been able to take out his enemy with the prepared explosive.

~We are born to rule! Together nothing would be able to stop us!

“Don’t make me laugh!” Ang’Tue spat, “You nearly got us killed because of your unrelenting assault. If we actually had worked together, this would have gone very differently and we wouldn’t be in such a bad state.”

~It is you who doesn’t want to team up. Your resistance brought up this mess.

Ang’Tue slowly limped to the unconscious man next to him, crouched down and began to search his pockets for the key to his cuffs.

“You are an entity of pure destruction, that’s not who I am. How could I team up with something like you, if you are dictating the rules?”

~So you are open for negotiations? Fine, I’m listening.

~State your demands!

“No.” Ang’Tue flatly declined, “The fight is mostly done. Our role… my role in this is over. I don’t need you any longer.

~The woman doesn’t look like she’s having a great time

~And do you really believe that this ‘Captain’ of yours is up to the task of taking out a trained soldier?

Ang’Tue looked over at Alena again and shook his head before he continued his search.

“She’ll manage. I trust these people. They will do their part… different from what we have accomplished.”

~Bullshit! They are nothing but baggage, dragging us down!

“You are one to talk!” He mocked his inner voice but then perked up, “Ah, there it is!”

He quickly used the key and unlocked his cuffs. Then he used one of the three stims he had found to further support the healing of his body and picked up his bracelets.

Before he could put on his suppression shackles however, the voice once more spoke up. Less crazy and wild then normal, but strong and collected.

~This won’t be your last fight. Especially if you really insist on staying with these lunatics.

~Let us at least make a deal now, so it may become the foundation of something greater in the future

Ang’Tue stopped his hands and tilted his head. After a short hesitation, he sat down cross legged.

“State your terms…”

***

Over the next few minutes, Ang’Tue remained sitting on the ground, eyes closed and lost in a discussion only he could hear.

When Alena finally managed to defeat her opponent and nearly died herself, the Eltaran opened his eyes. Slowly he stood up and took the remaining recovery stims.

Siller, the man who had shot him before, also woke up and began to look around disorientated.

Ang’Tue just threw him a quick glance, before he raised his hand and sent out a cloud of black mist that wrapped around the man. Moments later, the smoke receded back into his body, leaving behind nothing but a black puddle of goo on the ground.

After he gave Alena a first aid emergency treatment and was sure her condition had stabilized, he headed towards the Hubble. When he was halfway there, he heard a deep rumbling coming from their ship and before he could wonder what that might have been, a second rumbling reached his ears. The latter however was more like an explosion and came from the Interceptor next to Alena. He turned around but couldn’t spot anything amiss.

Not letting himself get distracted, he hurried his steps and soon reached the Hubble. As he crossed the hangar, Robin entered from the hallway on the other side. He didn’t look good at all, two screwdrivers were stuck in his arm and not only was his whole suit drenched in red, fresh blood still flooded out of a deep wound in his thigh. He wasn’t wearing his helmet any more, which allowed Ang’Tue to see his pale face.

“The enemy?” He asked and took out the last recovery stim.

“Dead.” The young man crooked with a raspy voice.

“Good, you did well. Sit down and recover for now. Alena also has won, she is heavily wounded but will survive.” Ang’Tue said and guided him to a bench, “Take your time, the fight is over!”

“Thanks…”

Robin looked a bit shaken and from his condition alone the Eltaran could deduce that his fight must have been quite the close call.

“He is heavily wounded, but that can’t be just his own blood. What has happened here?”

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Intrigued, he left Robin to rest and followed the trail of blood deeper into the ship. After he reached the closed shutter outside of the storeroom, his eyes went wide.

“Seriously, what the hell has happened here?” He gaped at the bloody scene that looked like it came straight out of a horror movie. Carefully he checked the airlock and when he got an idea where all the blood came from, he took a few steps back.

“Wow, that will haunt him in his dreams for more than one night.” Ang’Tue muttered and generated another cloud of black smoke.

“There is no need for the others to create their own nightmares…”

After a while he turned around and went back the way he had come. Behind him the ominous smoke had disappeared, along with the blood and gore, leaving the hallway in a pristine state.

***

It was already deep into the night when the team finally sat together around a small campfire. The light threw long, ominous flickering shadows through the forest but no one felt uncomfortable. Timothy was back in his laboratory, already working on a cure for Patience. The others however listened to Robin and Alena as they took turns to recount how their fights played out.

No one commented on Robin’s reservations to kill the pilot, but everyone got wide eyes when Alena explained the G-Anomaly of Vernes and how she finally managed to defeat him.

“You are as crazy as ever, little sister!” Sevastian laughed heartily.

“Too reckless, way too reckless!” Happy chided her, but couldn’t suppress a grin, “Anyways, I would have loved to see that. Damn, fighting against someone who can read your mind and evade bullets… that must have been awesome!”

Then it was Ang’Tue’s turn to give a vague explanation why he was so stable right now. It told them he had come to some kind of agreement with his inner demon. The others became curious, but since he had every chance to betray Alena and Robin but instead made sure to keep them alive after their fights, no one pressed him to go into more detail or reveal the exact terms and nature of the pact they made. The time for such discussions will come at some point, when everything has calmed down somewhat.

When Robin finished the story by going through the fight with Mason, which found its grand finale in quite a gruesome manner, silence fell over the campsite.

“How… how are you?” Happy asked in a soft voice.

“Actually? Pretty good.” Robin said and really didn’t seem too disturbed, “I needed some time to process that I literally blasted someone apart and I'm sure that the images will haunt me for more than just a few restless nights. However, it was him or me at that point. There was no way around killing him and I was so outclassed, that I had to use every means possible. I think, at the end of the day it comes down to: It was the right decision.”

The others remained silent for a long moment before Alena finally spoke up, “Yes, Robin, it was the right decision and I’m glad you did as you did.”

The others all nodded in agreement and Robin gave them a weary smile.

“Ang’Tue, thanks for the clean up by the way.”

“You’re welcome. If I may ask - I heard a second explosion coming from the enemy’s ship. Have you already inspected what that was about?”

“Yeah.” Robin said, “Seems like the organization behind them really values their secrecy. Not only have the helmets of the crewmembers these kill-switches installed, but the ship also was bound to the crew. As soon as the last registered vital signature died, an emergency protocol was activated. It ignited a few small, but well placed explosives to blow up the ship’s systems.”

“What? So the ship is completely done for?” Landom asked, “I hoped we could use it as a backup plan if we don’t get the Hubble back into the air.”

“Not completely, no. The damage is localized and concentrated on systems that had sensible data stored. Most hardware remained intact and we should be able to get some use out of the ship.”

“Good to hear.” Landom said with relief.

“Hey, while we already know that you managed to catch one of these little beasts, you never told us how you did it.” Sevastian suddenly said, “It’s not that I want to infringe on your personal matters… but I’m pretty sure I saw you running around in your birthday suit when you returned to the camp. Care to tell what had happened?”

The others had a hard time holding back their laughter and also threw curious glances at Landom who scoffed in annoyance.

“As we had assumed, Timothy doesn’t have any talent with weapons. He didn’t manage to hit the quick little beasts even on the third attempt.” He said and a collective chuckle went through the group.

“In the end, he came up with a theory based on the animal’s behavior and the strange state of the forest. To validate that theory, I had to let myself get hit once more and play dead. After half an hour of waiting, during which I just lay on the floor and did nothing, a group of four beasts actually approached me. I noticed them only when they were nearly upon me and Timothy waited until he was sure that even he wouldn’t miss.

Unfortunately these damn critters didn’t dally around and immediately began to vomit all over my suit. It turned out, they use some kind of acid to dissolve their prey to quickly get it away from the surface. I had to rip off my suit and return to the Melody butt naked while Timothy took his merry time to collect the beast he had stunned.”

While everyone broke out in loud laughter, Timothy came out of the Hubble.

“How could I have known they would be so quick at their task?” He said defensively, “It’s not my fault that… well, okay maybe. But what counts is that we got the beast, right?”

“We will talk about this later!” Landom angrily scowled and Timothy flinched back.

“Did it help?” Robin asked, silencing the others, “How is Patience?”

“Yeah.” Timothy said with a happy face, “With the data we had and the beast at hand, I could create an antidote. Patience is sleeping right now and should be back on her feet in a few hours.”

“That’s great! Thank you, man!” Sevastian cheered and took Timothy into a bear hug, not bothering his mangled arms.

“And you too, Landom.” He said after letting go, “I… uhm, appreciate your sacrifice.”

“Just shut up and go already!” Landom cursed and Sevastian immediately hurried to the Hubble.

“Thanks mate, great job.” Robin said and patted Timothy’s shoulder, “I wouldn’t have known what to do without you.”

***

That night everyone was finally able to get proper rest, with Happy and Sevastian taking turns playing guard. It wasn’t that they feared another attack but there were still enough wild animals and beasts out in the forest to not entirely drop their vigilance.

Robin slept in the next day until loud banging on his door woke him up.

“Yeah… coming…” He mumbled and rubbed his eyes.

After opening the door, a blue haired flash rushed in and nearly knocked him over.

“Damn you little bastard!” Patience shouted after giving him a quick, nearly bone-breaking hug, “I’ve heard my training paid off! You really took out the captain from the other team? Nice!”

“Uhm.. yeah.” Robin said and awkwardly scratched his head. It wasn’t that he had found much use for the close combat skills she had taught him, but the training probably helped to keep up the fight nonetheless.

“You are doing good?” He asked and gave her a scrutinizing look.

“Yeah, better than good.” She said, “Well, a bit peeved that I missed the grand finale, but hey.”

“That’s great.” Robin said with relief. With all the tension due to the impending attack, he hadn’t been able to worry as much about her as he would have otherwise. He assumed it was a closer call than he and everyone else was willing to admit. However, when his mind wandered back to the scene where he had to use the tranquilizer, he flinched.

“Have you talked to Landom yet?” He sheepishly asked and immediately her face sunk.

“No.” She sighed, “No, I’ve not. What should I even tell him? ‘Sorry that I tried to kill you’?”

“He had a few rough days.” Robin said, “I’m not sure how much of his strong, uncaring front is real, but I think he has a lot to go through. Go and talk to him. Just be yourself and it’ll be fine.”

“Just be yourself?” She asked incredulously, “That’s your advice?”

“Yeah. You are great, you’ll find the right words. What happened wasn’t your fault, he knows that as well as everyone else. So, just be yourself… well, don’t beat him up, though. That might be a bit much ‘you’.”

“Ah fuck you!” She laughed and left his room.

Later that morning, Robin checked on the generator and finally managed to get it back online. It was now on Happy to run all necessary tests to make sure to create a confident plan for their departure. She had allocated the whole day for that, giving the others some urgently needed free time.

Since he had nothing else to do and half a day to spend, Robin soon found himself in Melody’s front seat. Timothy sat behind him, his nose glued to a datapad.

“You think we’ll get it open?” He asked.

“I made some advancements with my mutation.” Robin said, “So I’m confident to provide you with some solid data.”

“A Keeper ship…” Timothy marveled, “You really didn’t promise too much when you recruited me for this mission.”