Melora stood, a rifle in her hands, peering down past the broken glass into the blue vats below. Dozens of them are placed in a perfect row, one after the other, each vat filled with a new Shil’vati, ready to serve. There was nothing but disgust on her mind: to twist the Shil’vati form so horribly and easily with such delight and craft. It made her belly turn upside down like a ship with a broken gravity field. Nothing made sense, nothing she held true so long ago was now right. Gods from an ancient religion she mostly ignored now seemed to be real. The Empire she served was doing nothing to protect its people who went missing, who were tortured and turned inside out for the pleasure of mangled scum and to further some fiend’s twisted ambition.

“Ma’am, Fera is on her way, but the hangar doors aren’t open yet. They are trying to breach them, but it might take a while. No response from Elinsys, Nilni or the pilot either.

“What should we do?” One of her four escorts asked. They were tired and suffered a few shots from enemy fire. Not enough to wound them or to penetrate, but the black stains were visible. The other three covered the hallways leading up to them.

Melora looked at the vats again, a rather underhanded idea formed in her head. “Tell me, what does Keresa love more than anything?”

The soldier looked at her. “Are you alright ma’am?” She glanced at the others, despite the helmets, they all could feel the worry they shared.

“I am wonderful, simply beautiful. Now do you know the answer?” Melora asked again.

“No, ma’am. Isn’t Keresa dead? Who is Keresa exactly?” The soldier asked. “I thought she was on the ship with us, but now she is here. I am not sure what is going on anymore.”

“Thank you for reminding me, tell whoever is in charge up there to flush her out of an airlock. Now, Keresa loves herself, she will happily trade something for her life. Perhaps a code or two, perhaps a weakness we can exploit.” Melora was smiling down at the vats.

The soldiers looked at each other again, this time the concern could be felt in the air. “Ma’am are you sure? Where are you going with this?”

Melora pressed against the glass. “I will flush them all for what they did to Kar, they turned him into a monster. I will kill every single one of them.” This time she was talking to herself. “Find an armory. Break in. And give me all the explosives they have. I will flush them out, all of them.” She moved away from the glass and the deep-seated blue glow of the vats. “Every...single...one.”

***

Fera was sitting in a very comfortable seat, only illuminated by the control panel in front of her. “Is it ready?” She asked, trying to keep her excitement and her tail from wiggling, not that it could, as it was pressed into the seat. Her blood was pumping, her teeth wished to taste some blood and she felt her hands shake with a certain charge. She can do this, she had some basic training back in her days, a promising career in the field, before she ended up here with Melora. Not that she regretted any of it, perhaps her career was dead, but she wasn’t going to let Melora, Rixva, Kar, Gelln, Henera or anyone else die. She would go in there like a knightess in shining armor and save them.

“Yes, try to launch now, ma’am.” One of the engineers responded.

Fera smiled, showing off her teeth. She pressed her claw-tip on the button. Immediately she felt everything around her roar to life, the seat shook and she felt the engine thrum with power. She grabbed onto the controls, as she moved them slightly to the left she felt herself and everything around her move too.

“Try standing up, ma’am.” Another engineer called.

Fera did so, her training back at the academy took over, even if she was rusty. She raised herself and the seat up, the shell around her moved as she commanded. “Wonderful work ladies! I think this will show those cultists what for.” She almost howled in excitement. It has been too long since she last piloted an EXO.

“Take it easy, ma’am. We need to calibrate it for you, please try and-”

“What can this bad boy do?” Fera asked, overtaken by a childlike wonder. What was an EXO but an expensive, a very expensive, toy for the nobles. Now she finally got to have some fun with one of them.

“It has a laser gatling gun one one hand, for crowd control. Don’t expect it to get past armor. If you do encounter any armored opponents, like another EXO. I suggest you-”

“Rip them apart with my claws?” Fera asked, a tinge of pure joy in her eyes.

“No, I mean yes. If you enter melee your arms are able to pull apart most things. We added extra power to them and the legs, so you could carry the bomb easier. But I was referring to the explosive canon we installed on your other hand, which should do the trick.”

Fera smiled. “So you did listen to me, very grateful.”

“Don’t expect much from it, the rounds still pack a small punch, but for armor or doors they should work. Do you remember your role, ma’am?” The engineer asked, as politely as her rank allowed.

Fera groaned. “Stick with the infantry, provide moral and fire support, carry the payload to the drop off point. Yes, I do remember. I was the one to help make the plan. Just let me have this moment?” Fera asked.

The engineer was quiet for a bit. “You do look terrifying, ma’am.”

“‘Pull apart a monster’ terrifying?” Fera asked, shifting in her seat, as to let her tail move at least a bit.

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“Even more than that! Like you could crush someone with somebody else.” Another engineer chimed in. “I wish I could see you in action.”

“There are cameras, they will allow us to monitor you and your surroundings. There is another camera on the bomb, please keep the bomb safe.” The older engineer said. “Otherwise you might go… boom.”

“Status report from Nilni or Elinsys?” Fera asked.

“Nothing from Nilni or Elinsys, sorry ma’am. They are blocking us.” The engineer replied.

Fera looked at the controls and then at the station “Bridge, do you copy? I am going in, try to hail Nilni and Elinsys. Tell them to have their helmets on. Tell my support to get their backsides to that hanger with the bomb, I have some doorbusting to do.”

***

Elinsys leaned against a wall, standing next to a doorway leading into the hallway. A soft music was drumming from the speakers, it made hearing anything moving down the hallways extremely difficult.

Keresa was hunting her and she was hunting Keresa, all for some boogeyman who wouldn’t even look her in the eye. If it had eyes or was even real and not another Keresa pretending to be a god.

Elinsys knew what she had to do, arm herself; find a weapon she could use against Keresa. She was a woman like Elinsys, maybe a bit more, but a rifle would kill her anyway. All Elinsys had to get was a good shot, an ambush would work, but first she had to get to the armory. Keresa was armed when Elinsys last saw her, with a sidearm, but still it was more than enough to kill Elinsys, or at least wound her and then finish her off.

Elinsys peeked around the corner, checking the hallways for any movement. The voice told her it was one versus one, but she knew not to trust Keresa, she would use any dirty trick she could to win. Win her god’s love, not something Elinsys wanted, she just needs to get close and then get access to the station controls, if she was lucky even kill this deity or wound it. She needed to find Leferia still, she was missing in action.

She thought if Leferia was on her side, truly behind her. Her words were honeyed and sweet, but her actions failed to prove her intentions, at least her position as Elinsys’ ally. Once she found Leferia, she would make her explain herself and if need be… kill her just like her brother.

Music stopped. “Alright you two, we don’t have the whole day you know? We are under siege. So Keresa, how about you hurry along to deal with the little nuisance?” The voice called out, before the music continued. Then Elinsys saw a blue light coming from a nearby terminal. An eye looking at her. “Elinsys, hurry along, will you? Keresa is on the left, the armory is on the right. Go on, make this interesting.” It produced a high pitched laugh.

“You sound different, why?” Elinsys asked.

“I am excited, we will meet soon, very soon. Do try and kill Keresa, will you? She is coming for you, no mercy shall come from her, darling.” The eye looked closer at Elinsys. “I will be watching, closely, Keresa is a minute away.” The terminal went dark.

Elinsys leaned out of the room again, she still couldn’t hear anything over the music. She had to go right, that is if she trusted this being. She weighed if the being really liked her more than Keresa, a loyal servant who has served him and only wishes to serve. Her judgment was a no. So she turned left and ran down the hall. Taking the turn at the end.

“Hello, rodent.” A laser hit the wall behind her.

Elinsys turned and ran back down the hall.

“Come back here, I have a gift for you.” Keresa said, half singing the words. “It is a very pleasant gift.”

Another shot, this time flying past Elinsys, missing by the smallest amount.

“Stop running, I need a clean shot!” Keresa yelled and pulled the trigger again.

Elinsys felt a kick in her back, a pain ruptured out of the spot where she was hit. She ran faster, pushing herself to the limit, she took the right turn and escaped Keresa’s field of vision.

“You can’t escape me!” Keresa started to run after her.

***

Nilni was ducked behind a crate in the hangar bay. “Have you reached Veneration?” She asked the pilot over her comms.

“No, something is blocking the signal, I can’t get anyone outside the station on the line, we need to find a way to disable the jammer.” The pilot responded, trying to boost the signal from her ship.

Nilni and the other Marines were in trouble, cultists were blocking the way deeper into the station, the hangar doors were locked and the cultists numbers grew every minute. “We need to get out of here, can you use the ship guns to blast us a way out?”

“No, I could compromise the integrity of the hangar bay, we could possibly open a hole and be sucked out into space. Even if I was able to be precise enough, it would trap us all in here.” The pilot responded.

Nilni looked at the enemy position, there were a dozen cultists just behind the first barricade, then she lost her breath. Something big was coming down the hall. Out of the shadows rose a metallic giant, ready to rip apart the intruders and slaughter each and every Marine. “EXO incoming, focus fire.” She shouted and moved her aim to the EXO. A machine painted black and red, with what appeared to have extra armor jury-rigged to the frame. ne hand packed a heavy laser rifle, more than able to punch through the ship’s hull, the other had a saw blade, more than capable to cut Nilni in half.

She pulled the trigger. The laser hit and it left no mark, the paint hid any damage, if there was any at all. Other Marines did the same as Nilni, shots hit and hit, but the armor was not moving, not bending. The looming EXO moved ever closer, as if the pilot was savouring the dread the Marines and Nilni shared now.

Nilni took cover. “Take that thing out right now!” She shouted at the pilot.

“But the structural integrity, we will-”

“If you don’t take it out it will kill us all and then destroy the ship. Fire!” Nilni ordered, looking at the ship before her.

The pilot hesitated, but did as ordered, she grabbed the controls and fired the ships weapons, they charged up and hit the EXO straight in the chest. Causing it to stop, standing still, the engines silent.

Nilni looked at it then fired again, the Marines followed in her footsteps. Another barrage from the soldiers hit the EXO , meanwhile the ship prepared to fire again. Then the engines came back to life again.

The EXO grabbed its extra armor with a hand and ripped it off, a hole clearly seen in it. Then it raised its hand with the laser, took aim and fired the salvo straight at the ship's arsenal.

Nilni and the others took cover, the red beam flowing over them and into the ship, melting away anything in its way. Then it stopped and the EXO lowered the laser. “Pilot, are you alive?” Nilni asks over the comms.

No response, the underside of the ship was melted, molten metal flowing down from what once were the guns.