Elinsys stood on the bridge of the Veneration, next to her Melora, dressed for war. Covered from feet to her neck in black and purple armor, engraved into it her rank and family crest. The helmet was resting in her hands, Melora was looking at it, examining it closely. It was mostly to distract herself from the anxiety which was present in the air. Space travel is slow, they have been travelling for a few days now, Keresa telling tall tales, telling half truths. They had to gag her, for the record so she wouldn’t spread her faith among the crew, but in reality? It was to keep her quiet.

Leferia was hanging around, now she had more people to annoy and keep track of, Elinsys was grateful for this. Melora, Fera, Bea’ti, Nilni and Elinsys herself knew about her, others were kept in the dark. They are trying to stop a cult, not found one of their own. Bea’ti was mostly confined to her quarters aboard the Interior ship, they decided to drag them along, any extra firepower is useful, even if it is nothing but a small picket ship. It probably could fit inside of the hull of the Veneration or the Javelin. The Frontier was left behind, no use dragging a science ship to a fight. And it was going to be a fight, Keresa refused to share the details, but it was easy to use her own pride against her. She wouldn’t stop talking about the army that her god is building, how they built a church in the sky and how it shall rain hellfire upon their enemies.

“Do you think Kar and the others are… alive?” Melora asked, still looking into her helmet. That question again, at first it was if Kar was unhurt, then being provided food, then if he was getting any sleep and now if he is alive. Melora was becoming more and more erratic, her husband was being kidnaped and she had every right to be, but Elinsys had to calm her down after she wanted to load enough ammunition onto the Veneration to destroy a small moon. The Admiral agreed to provide supplies for a “scouting” mission, but she couldn’t or wouldn’t risk her picket ships to go and find this cult. Defending the station was her primary concern.

“Yes, they wouldn’t dare to harm their bargaining chips.” Leferia responded. “If they kill them, we blow them up, they will use them to lure you into a trap. Do keep that in mind.”

Elinsys glanced at Leferia, but then turned back to Melora to speak. “Yes, do not worry, I will get him back. No matter the cost.”

Melora smiled and looked Elinsys in the eyes. “Thank you, I don’t know what I dread more. The fact that Kar might be hurt or that I will have to wear this helmet, my hair will be ruined.”

Fera chuckled walking up to Melora. “Now you know how it feels for me, but look forward to the good things. Hugging Kar, Henera and Rixva when we get them back and ripping apart all who try to stop us.”

Melora’s smile widened. “Fera, good news I hope?”

Fera smiled. “Our birdy sang, we have the final coordinates. I do have some good and some bad news. The coordinates belong to what once was a Roach raider base. It was a tough rock to crack back in the day, a few ships were lost.” Fera stopped smiling. “Lucky our girls blews most of it into dust back in the day, so the cultists will have only what they managed to scrounge up. Hopefully not much.”

“They have stolen multiple ships, if they took their weapons and retrofitted them onto the station, it could pack a nasty punch.” Elinsys said. If she had learned anything from her experience in the wars, invasions and quashing rebellions, it was to not underestimate anyone.

“Yes, but we have the original blueprints for the station, stolen back in the day. Provided in the care package from the Admiral.” Fera walked towards the meeting room and opened the door. “Shall we?”

***

For what perhaps will be the last time, Elinsys was sitting in the meeting room. Melora and Fera took their seats as usual, Nilni took Rixva’s while Bea’ti and Leferia took the empty ones. There was a cold in the air and it wasn’t Lefera, she seemed to look around for its source too.

“Ladies, the time has come. The ship has begun the jumping process, soon enough we will see our enemy face to face. We need to discuss our strategy.” Melora started. “Now, our objectives are simple. Rescue the kidnapped crew and destroy this cursed place. Until we extract everyone, we must not do anything to compromise the integrity of the station. Fera, would you kindly?”

Fera stood up and turned on a screen. “The station is built into an asteroid, now it used to have three main sections. The docks, mining quarter and the habitation quarter. The last report tells us that the docking area was destroyed, it is likely it has been repaired or replaced in some way. The habitation zone had its ecosystem generators blown up too, which means they repaired it. We could definitely destroy it and let them choke to death.”

“Why not just destroy the main reactor?” Bea’ti asked. “That would save us a headache? And I suppose it would be more merciful, a quicker death. The question is if they deserve it.”

“Agent Bea’ti, the reactor is built into the asteroid, unless your ship possesses mining lasers, it is unreachable. At least by us, but a ground team could place explosives. But destroying the oxygen generators would allow our marines to fight using their backup supply, meanwhile the cultists probably won’t be wearing air tight suits.” Fera responded. “Now onto the fun part, after we extract the crew. We start to tear the place apart with our new toys. Ladies, prepare yourself.”

Everyone in the room was stoic, except for Leferia, who was basically vibrating in her chair. “Yes, yes. Show them Fera.”

“Me and Rixva’s engineers were able to… modify an EXO unit with an explosive charge. It is-”

“You strapped a bomb to an EXO?” Bea’ti asked, her tone worried and angry. “Have you gone completely mad?”

“We are fighting gods, or atleast beings who claim to be gods. I don’t think this is really such a push towards madness.” Elinsys interjected.

“Yes, the sanity boat sailed and sank a long time ago.” Nilni added.

Bea’ti looked around the room, finally her eyes landed on Melora, who only produced a small shrug. “If it works. How does it work?”

“We strapped a bomb to the back of an EXO and added more armor around it. The armor around it can be removed after the bomb is placed down. If we place it close enough to the reactor, boom.” Fera answered, smiling ear to ear. “This is, of course, a backup plan. First we send in the regular EXOs and Marines. If all else fails, we send in someone with this bad boy and take care of this cult.”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“How long is the timer?” Melora asked.

Fera gave her a look, then spoke up. “We made it run on a dead-man’s switch, if the EXO is stopped, the bomb goes off. When it drops off the bomb, the pilot has a few minutes to escape. On foot.”

Melora was quiet for a moment. “If we blow up the reactor, the station will be destroyed, so how does the pilot leave, Fera?” Everyone was staring at Fera.

“They don’t.”

***

The Veneration groaned, faster than light travel was a rough thing for ships this big, especially for one as old as Veneration. Melora petted the wall next to her. “Easy, easy. You will have to take more than that soon.”

Leferia chuckled. “Talking to the ship, even when it has no AI?”

Elinsys chuckled. “Like talking to a god in your head, no real reason, a superstition, but we do it still. Also, AI are not allowed or really advanced enough for that.”

“That is smart, I heard of one who tried to take over the galaxy way back, not this galaxy, I don’t think so at least. Or was that someone pretending to be one?” Leferia asked.

“Like you pretending to be a goddess and your old friend pretending to be a god?” Melora asked, stopping her petting of the ship.

“Well, don’t worry my dear. Once I get back to full strength I fully intend to visit each one of you and reward you. A blessing.” Leferia offered her hand to Melora.

“A curse is more likely.” Bea’ti stood next to Leferia, her arms crossed.

“Why so cross, dear?” Leferia asked, with an undertone of amusement.

“Even if you weren’t some spirit or demon stuck in our heads, you do not radiate an aura of trustworthiness. That whole abomination of a body doesn’t help.” Bea’ti looked Leferia up and down.

“You see, I think it does. If I wanted to pretend to be your Goddess I could just make myself look like one of you, possibly even an older Empress. Just imagine talking to someone who has been dead for thousands of years. Almost like being back home.” Leferia chuckled and disappeared.

“Probably going to bother Fera or Nilni, huh?” Melora asked Elinsys.

“Definitely. You did your shot of Dust?” Elinsys asked back.

“Yeah, last night. I am not sure about it, but having a way to communicate even if the comms are down is really useful.” Melora answered.

“Why are you two so trusting of her? That Dust is going to make you into her slaves.” Bea’ti raised her finger at them. “Is everyone insane?”

“Do not worry, soon enough she will leave you all alone, hopefully. If we don’t stop this god we are all going to be dead meat, Leferia is going to have it even worse. I am sure of that, so an uneasy truce is needed.”

“An alliance of desperation, nothing more. Do remember that Bea’ti. We are helping her so we can save my crew and Kar. After our deal is done, I expect Leferia off my ship.” Melora added.

“Does that include Elinsys?” Bea’ti asked. “And the other one?”

“Nilni. And no, we are staying, Leferia will leave us alone or else...” Elinsys answered. “Else we will get rid of her ourselves.”

“And how will you do that? You supposedly died and yet she is still here. If death didn’t work, will anything?” Bea’ti asked, staring into Elinsys’ eyes.

“A trade, I have been planning something.” Elinsys said, now feeling Leferia’s presence around her.

“Do tell, darling.” Leferia appeared behind her, putting her claws on Elinsys shoulders and lowering her head next to Elinsys’.

“You will have to keep me alive I am afraid, we can talk about details at a later date, after my friends are returned back to us.” Elinsys removed the claws with her hands. The Veneration groaned again, soon they would be there. “Battlestations everyone.”

***

The trio of ships appeared far away from the station, they required the time to make the final preparations. Bea’ti was transported back to her ship, the battleplans were issued out to the Javelin. The weapons systems were online and ready to crack open the station. Melora stood on the bridge of the Veneration. Elinsys and Fera next to her, ready for the battle. Fera was smiling, Elinsys thought she looked feral more than dignified. She even painted some warcolours over her face, a few simple lines of red, but it did make her look more ferocious which was the point.

“Final system check. Javelin, are your systems operational?” Melora asked.

“Yes ma’am.” A shout came over the comms.

“Bea’ti are you ready?” Melora asked.

“Yes.” Bea’ti said, not wishing to drag it on.

“Fera, are we ready?” Melora asked, turning to Fera.

Fera didn’t respond at first, but then she let out a howl. The crew went wild and cheered.

“Gentlemen and ladies, advance!” Melora shouted into the comms.

The three ships moved with all haste towards the station, weapons aimed and hot, ready to deliver Melora’s fury at the cultists. As the gap between the station and the ships closed, the anticipation grew. Elinsys was ready for this, there would be no mercy if they harmed anyone. Melora would get back Kar, Henera, Rixva and Gelln; Leferia her revenge; Bea’ti would get her promotion; Fera would satiate her newfound bloodlust and Elinsys would get… something. Freedom from Leferia? Freedom from the Empire? From the Interior and whoever forced her on this path so long ago? It seemed so unimportant now, the politicking, the scheming, all the headache it caused her. It was all so distant now. There were only three ships and one station in her way. A goddess fighting a god, not with grand armies or careful manipulation, but her and her friends and Bea’ti.

Leferia was standing slightly behind them smiling devilishly. Barely keeping herself composed. Was she about to enjoy the slaughter, definitely, but would it be of the cultists or the crew? Elinsys knew one thing, Leferia was trouble even before they met and she will remain nothing but. Trouble was to be dealt with swiftly.

“Hello? Can you hear me? Commodore Melora?” A voice cracked to life over the comms.

“If you are here to plead for your lives, hand over my crew.” Melora responded.

“No. You are invited over for dinner. Your crew and husband will be present, it is near the reactor, so do hurry along to the docks. We would hate for you to be late, if you do dilly dally, your crew and husband will make for a wonderful meal. Our god welcomes you into the choir, it wishes to talk.".” The comms fell silent.

Melora looked at the station, soon they would be in range. She let out a sigh. “We planned for this. They would use them as a bargain chip, to keep us away. Is the strike craft ready?”

“Yes, the team is waiting on me.” Elinsys responded. “Shall we begin operation Dezaria's Folly?”

“Yes we shall. Fera, the bridge is yours, fight well.” Melora gave a slight nod to Fera.

“Always.” Fera responded, returning the nod. “Come back, both of you.”