Drifting through the black void, CAL finds himself both weightless and unmoving. The twilight of a billion stars, his only illumination as his body floats aimlessly. His visor, though flickering and nearly completely shattered, struggles to stay alive. Granting him partial vision of the decimation around him. Entire fleets of ships, of all makes and models, lying in complete ruin. Bodies, some whole, most in pieces, float as aimlessly as his own. Escape Pods jettison from a handful of ships moments before they implode, few escape the blast radius.
Though immobile, CAL feels a cold force hit his back, flipping him around. A piece of debris comes into view, just as CAL slams into it. He barely feels it, though it is seemingly enough to reset his comm link, as hundreds of screaming, terrified voices begin rattling through his head.
“Engage Hemlock Cannons!”
“Evacuate! Evacuate! All hands, this is not a drill!”
“The Zolmen has been Broken! I repeat, the Zolmen has been broken!”
“They’re all dead… It didn’t even wait, the Yevon Rays did nothing.”
“Brothers! Charge! Their sacrifice will not be in vain!”
The last voice. A familiar voice. It brought comfort and warmth, but most importantly purpose.
“Epilo will fall, I swear this to all of you!!!
Epilo…
That name…
It brought anger, and sadness to CAL. It felt cold, empty, hateful, nothing at all like the voice from before. The more he thought about the name, the clearer the image became. Tendrils, Armor, the cold sterile air of a lab. It was slowly coming together, the image of a photograph. The foggy silhouette of friends, sharing a laugh.
The last laugh.
CAL is snapped out of his stupor as a darkness envelops him, a cold crushing feeling breaks him over and over. Into finer and finer pieces until…
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CAL jolts awake, slamming his head into the roof of his bed nook.
“Every single time!”
He yelled, looking at the sprawl of dents and craters he had placed in the roof.
“I really need to invest in a pad for this.”
Spinning around to sit on the edge of his bed, CAL took note of the disorganized mess that was his room. Storage crates, miscellaneous wires and useless pieces of scrap tech littered the left side of his room from wall to wall. A dozen computer screens sprawled across the opposite wall display hundreds of different scanners, charts, graphs and other information. The junk on both sides completely ignored the sleek metallic curvature and design of the room. Blocking the band of light wrapping around the room.
CAL began to hear a sudden buzzing, a sound both familiar and horrifying, getting louder and louder until…
The door across the room slid open, giving way for a hovering pink orb of light, no larger than a soft ball, to enter the room.
“Hello, Hello, Hello Master! Did I hear the sounds of pain and regret to start your morning?”
“Good morning to you too, Bella.”
CAL said groggily.
“And what a morning it is, master! Would you like the status reports for the day?”
“Yeah, let me hear them.” CAL said as he stood up and began to stretch. “Did you make breakfast?”
“Breakfast has been constructed to your previously established parameters! Scrambled Mull eggs, Candied aged dough stix, and Grimel meat links.”
“Cool, bring it to the cockpit and start the report.”
Bella disappeared instantly, while CAL entered the main room. The room was fairly large, a centralized data pillar being the main focus of the circular room. Several tables and poorly kept couches filled the room, with stacks of dirty plates and bloody rags strewn about. Three cardinal doors stand opposed to this bedroom door. To the North the Cockpit, the only part of the ship that looked even slightly clean and organized. Opposite the cockpit, an elevator, the burnt out sign above it a good indicator of its condition. Lastly, across for the bedroom, a storage unit.
“Master, here is the report in its totality.”
Bella’s voice spoke clearly from the intercoms in the roof as CAL made his way to the cockpit.
“Report 1 of 10: You have been asleep for 13 days. An increase of 2% since your last slumber. Indications show you are suffering gradual permanent damage to your physical form everytime you engage enemies.”
“Do you recommend I use Drenlin? Would that repair the damage?”
“I do recommend its usage. However, report 8 of 10 mentions extremely low stocks of Drenlin. Given its miraculous healing capabilities on your physical platform, you should make collecting it your primary objective over the coming days.”
“Noted, what else you got?”
“Report 2 through 5 are the discovery of three new radio stations for your personal enjoyment.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Three!? Hell yeah!” CAL ran over to the pilot seat, pulling up the radio display. “Names! Give me names!”
“Wow master, it has been several cycles since I have seen you this excited! The stations are The New TBL Association, Hunting with Hunter Job, and Blast Canyon Radio.”
“Let’s give the first one a try.”
Tapping a handful of screens and settings, a faint buzz quickly turned into the raucous cheering of the station. The sounds of a heavily accented woman speaking to a large crowd roared through the ship’s speakers.
“And what do we say to the tainted?”
The Crowd chanted, “Burn in purifying fire!”
“And what do we say to the Greedy?”
“Feel the purity of our blessed bullets!” The crowd thundered
“And to the golden idols of old, what do we scream?”
“Be smothered by the holy vines of Mother Vena, pure and blessed may they be.”
“And when the earth of Vena is pure and our seeds have grown into mighty oaks?!”
“Hail Victory! Hail VICTORY!”
“Okay that is enough of that.”
CAL said, slamming the mute button, on the console.
“That is just propaganda for the sheep. Let’s see what Hunter Job has…”
Tuning to the next station, the offbeat strums of an out of tune banjo filled the cockpit.
“Welcome back, students young and old. Name’s Hunter Job, on today’s hunt imma gonna teach ya how to hunt a Tendreon with nothing more than a spear, a couple simple traps, and a Maverick Doomshot. Now if you pay close attention, You can spot tracks almost anywhere. They look like-”
CAL tapped the mute button, “Sorry Hunter Job, but your station’s a bit too slow for me. Guess the third time’s the charm.”
With another handful of clicks, a heavy rumble of bass and rhythmic drums thundered out of the speakers.
“A heavy metal station?! Hell to the yeah, now we are playing with some fire!”
The door to the cockpit slid open as Bella entered, balancing a tray of food on top of her.
“Breakfast as desired master. May I continue with the report now?”
The lower half of CAL’s face mask opened, revealing the blue skin of his jaw, “Yep, keep it coming while I enjoy breaky.”
“Report 5 of 10: The storage room door remains damaged beyond my current ability to repair. Though scans show a humanoid android within.”
“Hmm… that could be a good defense droid for the village if I can get it. Guess I’ll have to rip it open, sorry Bella.”
“An understandable sacrifice master, I will deactivate my sensors around that area when the time comes. Report 6 of 10: I have monitored your dreams as requested, I have no records of the battle you continue to recollect in your non-waking hours. Though it has been many years since my systems have been updated. It may have occurred after my crash landing here.”
“Well, I guess we may have to wait until we are off this rock to discover more.”
“On the topic of leaving, Reports 7 through 10 are in regards to the condition of my body. Both the Havoc drives and the Rift core are still severely damaged and inoperable. Most of my essential combat systems remain running at minimal capacity. Cloaking reflectors are at 15 percent efficiency, solar generators remain our only form of continuous power. Engines are still too damaged to escape the planetary atmosphere, however evasive systems remain fully operational. Frontal cannon at current power limits has enough solar power for two rounds, while the auto turrets are fully operational thanks to your repairs last month. Armor plating across the entire ship is still under repair and unlikely to survive prolonged combat. Total ETC: 16 months, at minimum."
CAL sighed, downing the last of his breakfast, "It could be worse. 16 months is a breeze compared to how long I've already been here."
"An astute observation master, in the 5 years since you reactivated me, you have made extraordinary strides considering the primitive nature of the planet and rarity of tech."
"Besides, that just means I can spend more time keeping the villages safe."
“Oh that reminds me! Elder Tiwat sent this message:”
Her voice shifted to that of the Elder’s as she began to playback the message.
“Warrior CAL! I hope this reaches you, I have not used the transmission system in many years. Young Anaya is in good and stable health. It would appear her augments are capable of great feats of speed and strength at the cost of overheating and incapacitation. We are going to work with her to enable her to use them most strategically, but for now she is on bed rest. Do not concern yourself with her, she is in good hands. I will speak with you once you return.”
CAL sighed with relief.
“That is great to hear! I was so hesitant to leave her there, when the Elder was pushing me to leave.”
The two sat in silence for a moment, CAL letting the relief wash over him.
"If you do not mind me asking, master. What will you do once the ship is complete? Negas is still very much alive and though stranded, his pirates are well supplied. The villages will not survive prolonged conflict against them."
CAL was silent for a moment, staring out of the window as several birds flew by in the distance.
"Master?"
"I'll have to hunt Negas and kill him. The pirates follow him out of fear and greed. If he dies the rest will descend into civil war and wipe each other out as his commanders vie for control of the remnants."
Shifting in his seat, and turning down the radio he continued.
"As much as I want to get off the death world, I'll have to stay a bit longer to take down a few of the lieutenants like Calcifus and Zimone. They'll be able to inspire enough of the remnants to be just as big a threat as Negas."
"What of Anaya and Gerin's request? Do you intend on honoring it?"
Tapping several displays, CAL opened the roof of the ship. Jumping out of his seat and returning to the main room. The view of the bright royal blue sky through the skylight was a refreshing sight. One which CAL was keen to enjoy while he could before the evening storms moved in. Jumping on the centermost couch and laying himself out, he gazed into the skylight as the gentle clouds rolled through.
"Both of them want to leave with me, and I want to take them…"
"My literacy algorithms sense a ‘but’ coming."
"You're right." CAL laughed. "I don't know if it is right to take them from the village. Anaya is the most skilled warrior in the village and most likely going to be elected chief warrior. Gerin's a prodigy in hunting and tracking. Things the village needs if it's going to survive after I leave. Besides that, they are so young and may not acclimatize to space travel, and I don't even know if there are many planets with the same atmosphere as this one."
CAL exhaled loudly, slamming his pillow on his face.
"It's a lot to consider with this decision"
"Perhaps if you are able to activate the robot you cou-"
The calm blue hues of the ship’s lighting shifted to a bloody crimson as a series of alarms activated. CAL jolted off of the couch, falling face first onto the floor.
“What the hell just tripped our sensors?!”
“Not our sensors master, the long range scanners you placed in the village! They are picking up a large squad of… Oh no…”
“A squad of what?”
“Vespids, the pirates have commandeered Vespids!”