Among the Stars

Chapter Three

By Roofles

Ooze spurted from Isaac’s missing arm, reminding him of an old kung fu movie he and Typhon had watched together the other night.

The two spent every night together for the past three years. Every mission, they were teamed up with one another. There were only small periods of time where the two weren’t side by side. His absence was felt as heavily as Isaac felt, trudging down the hallway of the station.

His legs felt as if they were made of iron. Practically dragging his feet as he moved further into the depths of this place. It had felt so open, filled with people and now? Now Isaac didn’t see another soul as the walls around him closed in.

“Typhon,” just the thought of the Saberwolf made the pain bearable. Isaac would get through this. Like everything else he’d endured in his life. He just needed to keep trying. “I’ll do better next time,” he tried to force a smile on his battered, tired face as tears burned his eyes. “I’ll do better next time…”

It was becoming difficult to walk. Every movement was a struggle. Like going through a swamp. A bottomless swamp that he was slowly sinking into. Where was the floor? Isaac couldn’t find traction and struggled to keep upright as his weight threatened to pull him under.

Fear gripping his chest, the very thought of slipping into this swamp…

That’d be it. That’d be the end of his story. One single slip, one single mistake would be all it took to end it. A part of him looked forward to such a cruel fate. It would be an end to the struggle, to the pain. Fighting for what?

Isaac didn’t even know any longer.

“Heh, just like life.” Isaac gripped his left side, trying to support himself as there was no one else there. The swamp bubbled around him. A thick tar like substance that he was slowly being consumed by. Seeping from the cracks in the walls, it filled the dark hallway. Oozing out like pestilent wounds the ship was suffering from. Thick, black sludge that dripped into the ever-growing mass. It was already up to his thighs. “One single mistake. Won’t ever let me get over it…”

Isaac leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. Every breath became a labored chore, difficult to manage. It would be so easy to “give up…”  

“To fail is human,” Isaac smiled at the bitter though, sucking on it like a pill. “Just got to get back up and keep going.” He pulled himself up from the wall, that was the floor, pushing off it and righting himself from where he had fallen. “Every time I slip. I just got to get back up and keep going.”

“It’s alright…”

Isaac winced as he felt his mechanical joints protest against the movements. His aides now fighting against him. A hindrance, instead of a help.

“The cybernetics seem to be getting effected by this phenomenon.” The words weren’t his own and yet it sounded like the words came from his own mouth. “No matter how advance we progress, our technology can’t keep up with it. The Terran Fleet wouldn’t stand a chance against such a threat… The planet has already gone dark. We lost… the others aren’t answering our… dark as well… So many lost… Half of our systems fail even before we engage the encroaching enemy. An unknown enemy our scanners can’t even pick up...”

“The probe failed. We’ve already sent so many… the signal coming back is scrambled… we aren’t… the others aren’t answers our calls…”

“They’ve abandoned us. Planning to use us to sate it’s… we’re alone.” Words. Words said from so many different individuals. All of them were Terran, Isaac knew that much. He felt that connection to them. He might have even met these people at some point…

“I’ll take my Warbird in.”

“You can’t! It’s suicide. If the probes didn’t make it, there is no chance for you.”

“Exactly,” the man said, turning to face his father. “Send me. Everything we’ve sent into the dark mass has been inorganic. If my theory holds…” They dragged a hand through their red hair, pulling their bangs out of their face. “Trust me. I can do this…”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Time seemed to jump, and Isaac winced, closing his eyes. “There is no report. Your son is lost…”  

“Every failure is a stepping stone in the path towards success.” Isaac hated whoever that was. “Just keep putting your foot in front of the other.” And Isaac did, more out of spite than anything else. “No matter how hard the road before you may lay. No matter what the wreckage you leave behind. Never give up that struggle.”

“Because that’s the beauty of life.”  A woman’s voice said, and he felt a warmth in his chest.

Isaac opened his eyes to see a faint white light at the end of this dark tunnel he was within. Pushing forward was a struggle. Trudging through the muck and grime bubbling around him, he pushed ever forward. Fighting against it. No matter how difficult it became, Isaac never stopped moving forward.

Tar covered hands reached up for him. Black, formless hands with too few or too many fingers grasping at him. Grabbing his legs and the back of his coat. The wetness of their fingers slipped off his uniform. Isaac was wearing his Flight Uniform again, despite having abandoned it ages ago…

“Stay,” they whispered sweetly. “Sleep. Rest. No more suffering,” they promised it all. Isaac knew their words to be true. These weren’t sweet lies. This was the cold, harsh truth of life. “Sleep away the pain.” That death wasn’t something to fear, but a mercy. “You’ve done enough… Isaac. It’s alright, no one will judge you for giving in…” How he wished to do so as he took a heavy step forward, pulling his leg free of the grasping hands entangled his limbs and wrapping around them. “Give in and rest. You’ve come such a long ways. You’ve already done enough. You’ve done enough…”

“Not enough,” Isaac voice choked out. “I haven’t done anything, yet. Not a fucking thing! Nothing worth noting…. But…” He stared forward at that light that grew brighter before him, the closer he drew towards it, the warmer he became. Like a moth to a flame, not minding to be burned if it meant he’d be doing something.

Something instead of nothing.

“I want to see it.” Isaac voiced broke as he spoke, tears running down his face as he reached out. “There are so many things I want to see still…” He struggled and fought, pressing forward as the hands grabbed at him. Clung to him. Trying to pull him down into their sweet embrace. With them.

“Dream of it,” they promised him with soothing words with no source from which they were coming from. Voices without mouths to speak. “Dream of such things. You don’t need to struggle. To fight. Give in and rest… Isaac. Sleep. Just let go and sleep, Isaac… My Isaac…” They whispered his name. Pleading for him to stop with familiar voices calling out to him as the tunnel continued to drip around him. Oozing, sloshing, and churning as if it were alive. “You don’t need to hurt…”

“Life is pain,” he said thinking of his father’s cold words to him. As harsh as those words were, they were true. And truth seemed to keep these hands at bay. “It hurts. I’m trying. I’ll do better, next time.” He’d promise them, himself, everyone. So long as he got that second chance.

Then there was a crash as something was knocked over and Isaac found himself on the floor. Floating on the mass of pulsating fleshy ooze. Isaac pushed himself up and felt a presence above him.

On his hands and knees, his father stood over him.

“Resorting to hallucinations now?” Isaac laughter broke as he felt a hot warmth from above. A burning bright light and as he opened his eyes there was the red dirt of his home planet under his hands and knees. He could smell it. The dryness of the dirt as the sun beat down overhead.

“Oh,” Isaac face fell, and his voice faltered, his conviction beginning to wane. “I’m back here…”

Sweat dripped from Isaac’s face. His arms and legs ached from where his father had hit him during the sparring practice. No mercy. No remorse for his actions. Beating his son to a pulp and blaming him for his inadequacies. That is was the young man’s fault that he couldn’t keep up with a trained general.

“Get stronger, do better.” His father demanded of him. Commander Mayhew’s always looked down on his youngest son. He’d never be able to live up to the expectations placed on him. Isaac’s brothers sneering at him from the sidelines. Laughing at his weakness. His failures.

“I’ll do better next time, father.” Isaac could practically see those memories being replayed to his side as he was forcibly snapped back to where he was. Within this dark tunnel there was a flick of a switch and the flap of an old film reel spinning as the video began to play.

The film reel playing his life story on repeat. Reminding him of every failure he’d ever done and everything he’d never achieved.

Back in the courtyard of The Academy. Long after the school had closed. He was out there until the sun began to set. Running laps, doing pull ups on the bars that had been set up on the training course. Sparring with wooden poles and feel the sharp slap of them against the training uniform he wore from the trainers hired by his father.

Isaac had been given so much and still couldn’t keep up.

Even after his father left him. Even after his brother’s sneering faces were gone, and his trainer said he was a “lost cause,” Isaac continued to train. To push himself.

“There are limits to what you can do,” the voice hugged him from behind. Holding him in place. Preventing him from going any farther. Tapping into his insecurities and fears and feeding off them, growing larger and stronger as the arms tightened over his chest. Squeezing the air from his lungs. “You’ve already done so much…” The words were so familiar, Isaac knew that voice but refused to look back at the person whispering them.

“Limits?” Isaac paused, if only for a fraction of a second. “Heh, limits… Terrans have so many limits, don’t we? No wonder why everyone else in the universe looks down on us. Mock us. Ridicule us…” It didn’t have to be his family or his fellow students at The Academy. Everyone looked down on them, on him. For being born the way he was. A Terran. “Mediocre stock… from a mud planet.”

Isaac passed his classes. He never got last place during the physical course. He was always in the middle of the road. Never a failure, never a success… and yet, that’s all they saw him as. A failure. Because he was born with this accursed name.

“Second place is a fancy word for loser,” they’d ridicule him. “He’ll never be like his brothers.”

“That boy is a Mayhew? As in General Mayhew?” The others in class would whisper behind Isaac’s back or within the hallways.

Hallways that resembled this dark tunnel he was in now. Past the seeping walls, Isaac could make out the lockers of those hallways. This thing eating away at him inside had brought him back there. To that hell. To that school he didn’t belong in. Forcibly reminding him of every failure he’d ever done.  

Eyes appeared in this dark tunnel. Locker’s snapped opened and eyes stared at him, opening from the walls, and sprouting from the ceiling like white tumors. The eyes of his peers, his fellow students, friends, and their families… all leering at him. Judging him. Looking down on him. Expecting so much from him, without ever taking his limits into consideration.

“He should be better.”

“Sorry,” Isaac would say to his teachers after class after they stopped him at the door, calling him out in front of everyone else.

“It’s not that you’re failing your classes, Isaac. It’s just… we expected more from a Mayhew- from you…” The teacher tried to correct, but by then it was too late.

“I’ll do better next time.” He’d promise them, pushing himself beyond the breaking point. He’d study after hours, staying late in the library after everyone else went to bed. He’d alternate days of working out and studying, sometimes doing the two at the same time.

Until he hurt himself, until Isaac threw up and gagged on the bile in his throat. His stomach clenching from the pain. Panting and breathing painfully hard as he struggled back to his tired feet, forcing himself to do at least one more lap around the training course after emptying his guts in the grass.

It wasn’t until his left arm broke that he decided where his “limits” were at. A physical bone snapping would’ve been a wake-up call to anyone else. Not for Isaac. He couldn’t afford to lose any time.

“Remove it.” Isaac told them. “Remove it and give me an arm that can keep up with me…”

Isaac could hear it. Hear the saw blade spinning, turning as it was brought down and-

Sitting there in that nurses station at The Academy. Isaac opened his eyes and he saw it. The walls were the same beige as they had been back then, the floor an ugly gray tile that was scuffed from the gurney they brought in and out of the room transporting injured students. Isaac wasn’t the only one forced to push himself and the nurses station was never empty…

Until now.  

Stumbling through the dark corridor, the walls turned metal and the door in front of him looked familiar. Isaac recognized it, or thought he did, as he pushed forward through the metal corridor and into the room. Isaac threw himself onto the first chair he came across, trying to catch his breath as sweat trickled down is forehead as if he’d been out running on the track again.

His face felt warm, like back then. The warmth of the sun burning onto the back of his neck. Isaac touched it and felt how raw it was…

“Am I dreaming…?” Isaac wondered, looking around the room. “Is any of this real? Were any of them… real?” Isaac wasn’t even sure he was real anymore.

The chair wobbled and he braced himself. It barely stood standing, just like the rundown shack it was in. This wasn’t the nurses station back in The Academy. It had looked so similar, at first. Did it change? Was Isaac just going insane?

The film reel stopped, and the flap of the end hit the metal casing over and over again. The sound filling the room before silence replaced it. Isaac glanced behind him. The corridor looked so dark he couldn’t even see where he had come from.

“At least the, uh, oozing stopped.” Isaac touched his cheek. He looked like a mess and needed a shower. It was far harder navigating the station without his cybernetic implants. His eye still malfunctioning. “The station,” he said suddenly. “B6… right… right, I’m at the station. Not The Flight Academy. I’m… here. Focus, dammit Isaac. Focus…”

He needed to sort this out. He was slipping further, and he couldn’t let those hands, those whispering promises pull him away. To pull him under. Drowning… drowning… drowning beneath the dark waves.

“It’s just depression,” Isaac took a slow breath. “That’s all… Just mental shit, as usual… Just where the hell am I?” Isaac needed to get his bearings. “Focus… focus…”

Isaac had been looking for something. No one was there to help him, just like back then. All alone, pushing himself. Isaac had needed some medical attention, a fresh shower and something warm to drink… then he could regroup with the others.

“That’s right. I left to get help… The others,” Isaac took a second. “Juke. Sphinx. Samson… Typhon,” he let out a exhausted sigh, resting back in the chair with a heavy groan. “Typhon. Fuck, I left him behind. He’s going to be so needy and clingy after this,” he almost laughed, forcing his tired eye to open. The lights above him hummed softly with a dim glow.

No matter how much he wanted to just sleep. To close his eyes and never open them again… Isaac refused to do so.   

Glancing towards the wall, he saw a mirror on it. Or rather, it was a picture frame. The glass was cracked, and he could see his reflection in it. In it, between the cracks.

“Run…” A voice whispered from the cracks. “Don’t stop…”

“Bite me,” Isaac spat back, actually spitting onto the floor as he waited to be seen. With his head lowered, he stared between his knees at the floor. It was solid, at least. The numbness had faded from his fingers and toes, and he could feel the pain in his body, again. “Lovely.”  

Funny, how he was relieved to feel something like pain.

“Better than feeling nothing at all?” Isaac shrugged, shaking his head back and forth as he rested back in the chair, looking towards the ceiling of the makeshift med bay someone had set up.

He had been looking for the nurses station and ended up here. At least it was some kind of medical facility. No matter how crappy it was.

It was a crummy shack built from old scrap pieces of metal that had been crudely bolted together by a rivet gun. Isaac could practically see the person now. In a grungy lab coat with dried blood stains on the front of it. With a furless tail, a potbelly and ratty gray fur the rodent would be holding up a fresh piece of metal they had found before bolting it directly onto the wall…

In fact, Isaac could see that. Right there in front of him. A fat gray rodent with a white whiskery face working to keep this crummy shack from falling apart. Standing before him, bolting on another slab of metal to the shaky shack, the rodent didn’t even notice he had a customer.

“That isn’t exactly structurally sound,” Isaac pointed out and the rodent looked over at him with a yellow bucktooth grimace.  

“After all that fighting out there, you get what ya’ get! Damn crazy bastards shook the entire station. Shack fell over. Again. It happens.” The rodent shrugged before getting back to work. Isaac wearily looked up at the ceiling, waiting for it to cave in on them. “Who shoots through blast proof glass?”

“It’s not blast proof if you can blast through it…” Isaac got another queer look and he apologized. “Sorry… force of habit.” He lowered his head. “When is the doc getting in?”

“What do you need?” The rodent set down the rivet gun and turned to face him. He walked over to pick up a fallen room divider, then over to wipe his hands off on a greasy rag. The clock on the wall continued to tick back and forth.

“Uh, well, I rather talk to the doctor about it, thanks…” Isaac offered a weak smile, trying to be polite but feeling too tired to give a shit at that moment if he was or not. “No offense. I’ll wait for the doc.”

“You’re looking at him.” The rodent lifted an unkempt eyebrow at him. It was as ratty as the doctor himself was. Isaac should’ve figured as such. “You able to pay?” The greedy rodent asked, rubbing two greasy fingers together.

“I got some funds…” Isaac left that open ended not wanting to be scammed so easily. “Help me and I’ll see what I can send your way.”

The rodent licked over his front teeth, turning to the side to think about it. Seeing the wreck his home was in, the rodent ended up just agreeing with a shake of his head.

“Fine. I’m in need of some funds.” The doc rested back against the wall. The structure swayed dangerously, and the doc quickly stepped away from the wall.

“Clearly.” If Isaac had the strength, he’d have gone anywhere else.

“What seems to be the problem?” The rodent asked, turning away to rummage through a med kit. Most likely planning to give Isaac the generic stim boost that most these quacks used. Any soldier could jab themselves with a stim and boost back up. No medical experience required.

“Uh, I’m not sure how exactly to explain it.” Isaac blinked his eye several times. He could feel his implants trying to turn back on. It was like a gear trying to turn but was unable to as something was jamming it from turning. Covered in a thick sludge… “I’ve been seeing things. Hearing things. Whispers… in the cracks on the wall and in the, uh, mirror.”

“Sounds like space madness,” the doc reached for his canteen and tossed it to Isaac who barely managed to catch it without dropping it. It was difficult to only use one hand. “Take a few drinks of that, find an arm to plug in, go hook up with someone and sleep it off. Anyone else,” the rodent added giving Isaac that queer look again as if knowing Isaac’s preferences. “Then walk it off after a night of raunchy shame. Like everyone else does to get through life these days. You ain’t special, kid.”

Isaac hated the way they said that. It wasn’t the first time someone had reminded Isaac how much of a nobody he was.

“You don’t expect me to pay for this… advice. Do you?” Isaac did take a swig of the canteen and it tasted like hot moonshine. It burned on the way down and felt like magma settled in his stomach. He hated that it did kind of help. “This is why people drink. To drown their misery at a bottom of a bottle. I hate that Juke was right…”

“A bandage,” the rodent said, and Isaac looked up. “That’s all that is.” He shrugged. “You see, it just covers the wound. Doesn’t fix it. Doesn’t get down to the problem itself. Just helps you get by. One day at a time. Nothing wrong with that.”

“Right…” Isaac looked around the room, only now noticing what a wreck it was in. The clock on the wall didn’t even work. The small hand ticked back and forth, the other three hands refusing to move as if frozen in place. “This place has seen better days,” he voiced his thoughts aloud. It felt strange not being able to scan things. His left eye wasn’t working, and it felt like someone had slipped an eyepatch over his vision.

Blinding half his view of things. Blinding half the world. Leaving it only in darkness.

“Looters, thieves, pillagers, raiders, pirates? You name it. All different names. All the same thing in the end. They can sniff out these places,” the doc limped over to the counter to look over what little supplies he had left. The rodent’s right leg was mechanical but unlike Isaac’s arm, it was just a metal rod that served to move with. A crutch… just like Isaac’s cybernetics. “Medical bays? Med ships? Hospitals? Hell, even the Med Corps can’t keep up with their raids! We try to keep the supplies for emergencies, but those bastards just swipe what isn’t bolted down. They even raid our damn ships! Then they tear up the floor to get the things we do bolt down!” The rodent let out a wet laugh, spitting to the side after as if they’d been chewing tobacco. Isaac wouldn’t be surprised if they had been.   

“I’m sorry to hear that. That must be very challenging… why do you stay in this line of work, if you don’t mind me asking?” Isaac inquired. “Wouldn’t it be easier…?” To give up. To give in and just… rest.

“To quit?” The rodent looked at him before shaking his head. “It’s all I know how to do. Put band aides on things. I was a field doctor, you know. Triage. Right there, behind the front lines. Soldiers would be brought in during the war and I’d tend to them.” The rodent chuckled sadly, wiping his hands off on a greasy rag, again. “No end to that. Just death. Only ones profiting from the wars are the Big Seven.”

“Big Seven?” Isaac had to wrack his brain to think of who they were. It was difficult not being connected to the tablet and the Galactic Web to search for such info. “You mean the seven major corporations…? The Big Seven. They haven’t been called them that in ages.” He laughed. Isaac’s laughter died seeing the rodent just standing there. Unmoving.

At first Isaac thought he was lost in his thoughts, but the doctor hadn’t even taken a breath since he said the words.

“W-which war was that again? Remind me…” Isaac swallowed heavily.

The rodent’s body jerked, restarting after the lull it had come to. Isaac could hear a film reel spinning…

“Fringe Wars. Against the outer planets that sought to form their own union. Or freedom. Greedy bastards. Back in my day, you’d work, work, work and be thankful you had a job!” The rodent said, beginning to move again. Isaac watched him carefully, following the strange movements he made.

It took Isaac a second, but after the third time he realized the doctor was following a pattern, a set routine. Like a robot. A preprogram route around the small shack. Bolted something to the wall, picked up a fallen room divider that kept reappearing on the floor again, and then went back to check his supplies. Each task took roughly ten to fifteen seconds to accomplish before he moved to the next thing… then began to repeat.

Repeating and repeating, on an endless loop.

“Uh, right. Those fringe wars were terrible… Big Seven… got cha’,” Isaac carefully stood up from the chair and backed away towards the door. “You know what? I’m feeling a lot better. Thanks, doc…”

“Anytime. Not often I see one of you Terran folk around here. After what happened to your planet.” The rodent rubbed the same greasy rags over his hands, looking up at Isaac. He seemed old, his dirty gray fur fraying and falling out in chunks. Isaac could only smell something in the air. Past the medical supplies and the overpowering stench of disinfectant.

He could smell the residual smell of laser fire, of burnt flesh and fur. Of death and burned corpses. The left side of the rodent’s face was burned, his fur was singed, and his eye was leaking a strange, dark fluid…

“Are you… going to be, okay?” Isaac hesitated in the doorway, looking back at the man.

“I’ll be here.” The doctor said without ever giving his name. The rodent going back to checking the supplies for a fifth time.

“Right…” Isaac hesitated in the doorway. “I… do you have anyone I can call?” That made the rodent stop. His ear twitching, looking back at Isaac as if only now seeing him. “To let them know… how you are doing? Any… any last words?”

“Call…?” The rodent hesitated, fumbling with the word as he tried to get his brain to think. To process past this point of time he seemed to be stuck in. Repeating. Forced to repeat these last moments of his life over and over again. Trapped in this war that had no end.

“Friends? Family? A coworker? A jilted lover?” Isaac offered. The rodent just looked at him.

“I. No. No one is left. They’re all… where are they?” The rodent turned, looking around the room he was in. “Where is this? Do you know where I am?” Isaac just looked at him. “Who I… am?”

“I don’t even know where I am… let alone that. I’m sorry…” Isaac let out a weak laugh in an apology as he took a single step out of the room. Clenching his hand, he turned back around, about to say something else… only to see the crumbled remains of the shack that had once been. Of the doctor that had fought during the Fringe Wars. All nothing more than a fleeting memory lost in the past. Or stuck there. “I…” He took a step back. “Couldn’t do anything.”

Isaac could only look at the burning wreckage, still smoking from laser fire. The smell of death hung heavy in the air and Isaac felt the creeping slither of something against his leg.

The film reel continued to play loudly in the background.

He was still in that dark corridor. He’d never left. These were just fragments, memories of things that it had been taken and consumed.

“What a hell of a way to go,” Isaac wasn’t sure what else to say or do. “Am I trapped here too…?” The thought wasn’t comforting. “Whatever this is…? Am I stuck in this… this…?”

“It’s a time loop.” A deep voice growled behind him, and Isaac spun around, reaching for his blaster that he’d dropped during the fight. “Easy, kid.” There was the clunk of metal against metal as with heavy steps, a single fanged Saberwolf stepped out.

Lifting up his hands, Captain Cyclone Defang stepped out from within the darkness. In one hand, he held up a small bright white crystal. It’s glow penetrated the dark. It retreated, the darkness pulling away like roaches exposed to the light. Crawling and skittering over the ground. The darkness seeping back into the cracks it had oozed out of, back into the station revealing the world around Isaac. He was still in the station. Further within. Lost within these metal walls as the lights flickered on and off above them.

The ground shook and Isaac braced himself against the wall as an explosion went off somewhere in the distance.

“The hell was that?” Isaac pushed himself away from the wall, looking up as if expecting the ceiling to cave in. He was reminded of what happened to that rodent. His shack caving in as it was hit by laser fire. A premonition of the future? It that what was going to happen here?

Cave in and bury all those within this station alive.

“Just a couple of idiots trying to fight back,” Cyclone shrugged a shoulder as he tossed the crystal up, caught it and stashed it away in one of the numerous pockets on his vest. Isaac shot him a look, glaring at him. Cyclone let out a gruff laugh, keeping his hands up. “Relax. I come in peace, kid.”

“That has to be the most cliché line there is.” Isaac snorted, giving him a strange look. Looking up and down the mechanized Saberwolf.

“That’s why I said it.” Cyclone offered a sneer of a smile. It was a mixture between friendly and hostile somehow both at the same time. The bottom part of his muzzle was mechanized, which didn’t help his appearance any.

Isaac thought he’d been through hell. After seeing this guy, he knew otherwise. Whatever this stranger had been through was far worse than anything Isaac had been in.

“You’re real… right?” Isaac kept his distance. He was thankful this stranger had also kept their distance, not approaching Isaac any further. Respecting what little space Isaac did have.

Captain Cyclone lifted a fuzzy eyebrow at that, the dark blue furred Saberwolf tilting his head to one side regarding what Isaac had said, as if processing the words. Then his one good eye looked at the wreckage behind the Terran and nodded.

“Last time I checked.” The Saberwolf even patted himself down as if to show how physical and solid he was. “Though, not every part of me is real-real.” He laughed with a harsh tone as he lifted up his left arm, showing the clawed clamp like hand at the end. The wrist spun around, and the clamps clamped together several times to emphasis his point. “Lost this guy in a pit fight.” Cyclone glanced over at the confused Terran. “What? Not familiar with that yet?”

“Well…” Isaac didn’t want to admit he couldn’t access the tablet hanging from his side. He’d have to manually search up the term and go through the countless results until he found the right reference. Normally Isaac could use his implants, but they were currently offline. “No,” he admitted weakly.

Isaac hated not knowing. Back in The Terran Flight Academy ignorance was no excuse for failure. Knowing was half the battle, as they said. There were countless aliens species out there. Most weren’t friendly and several were hostile towards Terrans, let alone just dangerous being around. Ignorance of that fact could be lethal. Some races exuded radiation that could be lethal in long exposures to a Terran’s body.

Clenching his hand tightly, Isaac turned away.

Cyclone’s diamond shape ear twitched at that. “Seems like you have had it as rough as I have…” The Saberwolf looked Isaac over. Focusing on his missing arm, the sludge smeared body and his beat-up face. “One hell of a fight you put up back there.”

“You a cop?” Isaac snapped back, keeping his weak side turned away from the Saberwolf. “Part of security? Who do you work for? Or you just another hired bounty hunter…?”

Cyclone chuckled at that, the sneer returning to his face. “Why would a bounty hunter go after someone without a price on their head…?” The Saberwolf coldly brought up and Isaac flinched as if physically slapped by his words.

“I’m sure my father would’ve…” Isaac mumbled, more to himself than the Saberwolf.

“That asshole wouldn’t give two shits if you dropped dead out here.” Cyclone didn’t hold back his words, shrugging as he spoke and shook his head side to side. “He’d use your death to start another war if anything else.”

“I…” Isaac stuttered. Swallowing, he looked at the Saberwolf. Really looking at him. Making sure this wasn’t another… whatever the fuck that was before. “Are you… do I know you?” Isaac felt his throat grow dry as his hand grew clammy. Nervous. He was a nervous wreck.

Lost, helpless, disarmed and without his blaster… Isaac wouldn’t stand a chance against this strange alien. He doubted he would even if his cybernetics were working. If they were, he’d at least be able to call the others for help.

Unable to do anything himself… Knowing his limits, Isaac was helpless as he took a timid step away.

“You don’t recognize me?” Cyclone stepped forward, further into the lights buzzing from above. He took off his hat and offered a forced smile. “How could you forget a face like this.” The Saberwolf sneered. His metal jaw had thick teeth jutting up the sides of his muzzle.

“I, uh, don’t. Sorry. No. I wouldn’t forget a, uh, smile like that… I think you’ve mistaken me for some other… Terran.” Isaac took another step away. Sweat trickled down his face as he looked at the Saberwolf, wishing Typhon were here.

At least Typhon was about the same size as this guy, even if he wasn’t mechanized. 

“Relax.” Cyclone put his tricorn hat back on and adjusted it until it fit. It leaned slightly to the left, over his eyepatch. Isaac glanced around, looking for help. Regarding Isaac, the Saberwolf spoke up. “Your partner went the wrong way.”

“What?” Isaac jumped at that. “What did you do!” Isaac glared accusingly. It would explain why it took Typhon so long to find him. Usually, Typhon would sniff him out, but he was no where to be seen.

“I told you to relax, kid. You’re disarmed… get it?” Cyclone snorted as he took another step closer. “You and me have business, anyways. Don’t want that mutt getting in our way. Don’t want no third party involved, ya’ hear? Yours or mine,” he added as if to level the playing field. “I told my partner to bugger off. He got pissed and started attacking the station. It happens,” Cyclone shrugged with no concern as the station shook around them from another explosion. “He’s an impatient guy, and your mate?” Isaac wasn’t sure if he was referring to their relationship or a ship’s mate. “I got that bugger to head in the wrong direction. Scent bombs,” Cyclone explained pulling out a small squishy ball. “Easy enough,” he tossed it to the side and the squishy ball exploded into a cloud of particles. “It happens. He’ll catch up to you in no time… I’m sure. It happens,” he repeated yet again and Isaac grew more unnerved by the situation. “Best if that mutt kept his distance. I’m only sparing him out of convenience.”  

Cyclone’s eye darkened at the thought. Clearly having some sort of animosity towards Typhon. Isaac wasn’t sure if it was because they were Saberwolves or what.

“What do you want?” Isaac took another step back, bumping into the wall behind him. Trapping him between the wreckage on one side and the approaching Saberwolf on the other. Cyclone was a large man and he easily cut off Isaac escape route.

Cyclone took another heavy step forward. His metal foot clunking against the ground as he did so. The mechanized Saberwolf was large and terrifying up close. His jaw was missing, he had an eyepatch over his left eye and his clamp arm spun several times with the whirl of gizmos inside it turning. It looked like someone had built the arm out of random pieces of salvage they’d come across. It wasn’t the sleek, functional design Isaac’s old arm had been. It was worn, with burnt marks on the metal framework and didn’t seem to belong to just one faction.

“You look like the freaking terminator,” Isaac stammered a bit as he felt that helplessness sink in. And with it, the icy touch that crept up his legs. Sinking. Sinking below the surface as it bubbled and churned around him as his strength of will began to die, resigning to his fate.

“Well,” Cyclone chuckled. “That isn’t far off, I suppose. I’m hurt that you don’t remember me. After I gave you that purty gift,” Cyclone motioned down with his muzzle and Isaac looked at the band on his wrist.

“You… no.” Isaac stated as a fact, but he struggled to keep it believable. “M-my brother gave me this.” Isaac hesitated. “I needed something. Anything, to keep up with the others. My little cheat. My brother, he… I think…? No. That’s not right. I know. He… right?” Isaac felt the pain in the side of his head. Like an ice pick drilling into the side of his skull. It made it impossible to think, to remember the details with that pain shooting behind the back of his left eye.

Black ooze bled from the socket, dripping down his cheek and Isaac broke into a fit of coughs. Wiping the black sludge from his lips. It tasted as foul as it looked.  

“Would your brother give you something so valuable?” Cyclone asked, folding his arms over his chest, and tilting his head to one side looking down on the Terran. Isaac hated that. Feeling smaller than he was when this Saberwolf, or even Typhon, did that to him. How much it bothered him.

“What do you want?” Isaac repeated, gritting his teeth. “You still haven’t told me that. Why chase me all the way out here if I don’t have a bounty on my head? Why do you claim to have given me this,” he held up the band. “What’s the point in giving it to a fucking Terran. To me! I’m useless. Dammit all, I’m just… I have no connections, despite my name. You won’t get any money for kidnapping me. You’ll get nothing because I am… nothing.”

Isaac felt that in his chest. That pain, that numbness that followed and swore he could feel the socket of his left arm leaking again. The further he fell into despair, the worse his condition became.

“Damn,” Isaac cursed gripping the opening and felt the ooze between his fingers. It was freezing cold, and his fingers grew numb touching it.  

“Nah,” the single fanged Saberwolf said. Isaac gave him a look. “I don’t buy it. Surely there is something of value about you. Why else would your blue boy be so taken with you?” The alien lifted up a furry eyebrow at him. “And that brother of yours…” Cyclone growled, low and deep and it sounded like metal against metal making Isaac wonder just how mechanical this cyborg Saberwolf was. “That brother is nothing more than a liar. Stabbed both of us, in the back.” Cyclone shook his head.

“You saw me and Typhon…?” Isaac blushed, thinking of Typhon.

Cyclone gave him the same look that rodent doctor had before.

“He seemed to be rather enraptured by you, kid. You some kind of space siren? Luring him in?” Cyclone leaned forward, grabbing hold of Isaac’s chin with a hand as he gave Isaac a once over, sniffing at him. Then a wink. “You’re a bit small for my taste… chew you up and spit you out…”  

“Bite me.” Isaac glared back, roughly pulling free. Cyclone’s claws scratched his cheek and Isaac could feel the fresh blood drip down his chin.

Cyclone snorted at that, licking his finger off. Even his tongue was mechanical.

“As you wish.” Cyclone bared his fangs and Isaac pulled back, nearly hitting his head against the wall making Cyclone laugh. “Heh, I told you to relax. I’m just messing with you.” The man took a step back, opening his arms. “See, I’m unarmed. Figurately speaking.” The Saberwolf spun his wrist again. “I have both arms, unlike you.” He chortled.

Cyclone wasn’t worried about Isaac in the least, and it only annoyed the Terran further.

“…why?” Isaac struggled to understand that. “Why come here? TO mock me? How do you know me? About this!” Isaac motioned to the wreckage. “About that… whatever that was.”

“Time loop.” Cyclone roughly explained. “It happens when things don’t go as plan, let’s say. See. The universe has this whole cosmic order bullshit to it, right? It keeps things… stable. When other things pop up,” Cyclone gave Isaac an accusing look. “Then things get a bit… wacky. That cosmic balance is thrown off and we end up with things like this… or like you.”

“Wacky…?” Isaac frowned at the crude way of putting it. “That man was trapped in that hell!” He motioned towards the wreckage.

“Sucks to be him.” Cyclone laughed. “Well, he’s more of an echo than anything else, if it makes you feel any better. A shadow of his former self…” Cyclone rubbed his chin, looking at the dilapidated shack. “See. That’s more of a ripple, a ripple repeating in time… of what he once was. Who he once was. It’s sort of on repeat. Someone just forgot to turn it off. Repeating the last moments of their life over and over again as if trying to change that cosmic order thing I mentioned before, see. Repeating right before the shack collapse on him,” Cyclone sniffed the air. “Ah, burning flesh and laser residue. Brings back old times. Pity we can’t change the outcome, right?”

Cyclone glanced at Isaac, staring at him for several agonizing seconds before pulling his gaze away. Isaac didn’t know what that was all about.

“Trying to change the outcome?” Isaac looked over, the two staring at the wreckage. “He… he wasn’t trapped, was he? In that… time loop? That was just an echo… it wasn’t… him, was it?” Cyclone shrugged. “Wow, helpful.”

“I try.” Cyclone sneered, crouching down. “I just came here to confirm a couple of things. Don’t mind me…” He sifted a hand through the wreckage. Lifting up a piece to inspect. The burnt metal shook in his hand before disappearing and reappeared where Cyclone had taken it from. “Interesting… Here, try and take it,” Cyclone motioned at the metal.

“Uh, no?” Isaac laughed. Cyclone glanced over at him. “How about fuck no?”

“Take. The. Piece.” Cyclone snarled, that mechanical grinding building in his chest like a grinder turning. Isaac was already walking on thin ice here and decided it might be best for his survival to obey.

Moving closer, Isaac bent down and picked up the same piece of burnt metal. It was slightly warm to the touch and smoke was still coming off the end.

“This doesn’t belong here…” Isaac stated as Cyclone watched him look it over. “This metal is different from the rest of the station. This is outer fringe metal,” he added reading over the serial number on the side of it. “They liked to print their name on everything they have. Sort of a stab at the inner galaxies. A sort of ‘fuck you, we can do it ourselves’ kind of mentality.” Isaac didn’t even notice how the piece of metal hadn’t returned to where he had grabbed it, unlike when Cyclone did.

The Saberwolf just shook his head.

“Put it back,” He ordered, and Isaac did. “Those touched by the void tend to have this lingering effect on the universe, even after they’re gone. A residual effect… that lingers,” the Saberwolf looked back at the metal. Isaac had just tossed it back onto the pile and there it sat. On top. It didn’t move back to where it was before. It had changed. Isaac had changed its cosmic fate by simply touching it. “You changed the course of its fate by simply touching it…” Cyclone stated, thinking it over. “That… that doesn’t happen. It’s nothing more than an echo.”

“A space echo,” Isaac almost smiled at that. Cyclone did smile as he looked over at him.

“See. I knew you’d get it.” Cyclone grinned.

“Why?” Isaac pressed further, not about to let this stranger dance around the subject any further. “Why me? How can I do this…? Why are you… interested in me.”

“More like obsessed.” Cyclone corrected, standing back up. Isaac wasn’t sure what to say to that. Who just blurts something like that out? “See. I have a sort of… bet, going on, let’s say. I placed all my chips on you winning this race. Even helped you get a few little toys to help you along the way,” the Saberwolf motioned at the band around Isaac’s wrist. “Indirectly. If I interfere too much, things could get… ugly. Especially if they find out I’m here.”

“A bet? Against whom? What do you expect me to do. I’m just… me.” Isaac frowned at that.

Isaac might’ve hoped to be someone special his entire life when he was a child. The hero, the chosen one, all the fantasy troupes he ever read about. Isaac knew otherwise. The older he got, the more he learned what kind of silly fantasies and dreams those were at the end. There were trillions of stars in the universe, and he was only one small star... All Isaac would ever amount to be was the side character. The nobody. It should be someone like Typhon that should be front and center. Not him.

“It should be Typhon,” Isaac said his thoughts aloud. After living with him for over three years and seeing all he could do, Isaac believed Typhon was capable of so much more than anything Isaac could or would ever amount to. “He’s the one that can win this… bet of yours, not me. I’m just holding him back.”

“Is that why you ran away?” Cyclone asked. His voice had grown cold as he stared down at Isaac. Waiting for an answer.

Hesitating, Isaac did answer him.

“No…” He admitted. “I would have loved nothing more than to stay by his side until… the end.” Isaac felt a sting of tears in his eyes. “Whatever the fuck is happening to me? However long I have left…? I’d be okay with it… if it meant I could be with him, if only a little longer...”

“Why did you run then?” Cyclone asked, yet again. Pressuring him to answer.

“I… I…” Isaac knew he was afraid, scared of Typhon in a way. Of this. Of space. Of so many things. One small Terran out here in the middle of the vast, endless universe? That wasn’t the reason though, not in the end. “I heard it…”

“Heard it?” Cyclone eyebrow lifted as he waited for Isaac to finish.

“A voice. I think it was… mine? Or someone familiar. I knew that voice. It… it told me to run.” Isaac grimaced, turning away. “I’ve heard it before. Back then. It warned me… back then at The Academy. Told me to run away. Run as fast and far as I can. Into the stars. Run away from it all… don’t let it catch me and just… just keeping running.” Isaac exhaled. “I know it sounds insane. All of this is, in a way, is insanity. The actual definition of the word! I don’t even know if your real…”

Isaac looked at him and the Saberwolf’s ears folded back.

“Oh, Isaac…” Cyclone took a step forward, his mechanical foot clunking against the metal ground. “I am very real…” And the Saberwolf brushed his hand under Isaac’s chin, lifting it up so they could look into each other’s eye. The two of them only had their right eyes left. The scars marred over their face; through all the difficulties they’d been through. “Let me prove it to you… before it’s too late.”

Cyclone had the same eye as Typhon did. All Saberwolves must’ve had similar cosmic eyes like those. Deep blue wells filled with bright lights. Isaac could see the stars… he could also see something else. Something deeper, the emotions Cyclone felt for him? Was it a trick? A lie? Isaac wanted to say so, but he knew that look.

It was the same look Typhon had for him. Maybe that was why he had fallen for Typhon. If Cyclone had the same kind of eyes as he did… then…

“Isaac…” Cyclone said as he tilted his muzzle to the side. Isaac instinctively moved his head the other way, so their lips could form perfectly together when they met. “I came to save you…” He whispered the words and Isaac could feel the heat of his breath wash over his cold skin. “I…”

Isaac wasn’t sure what was happening as his eye flutter shut and Cyclone leaned closer.  Leaning over him, their bodies about to press together.

“Isaac…”

“Isaac!” A voice shouted out behind Cyclone and the two stopped, Isaac pulling away from Cyclone as they turned to look to see Typhon standing there.

Panting heavily, the other Saberwolf was glaring at Cyclone in a mad fury and rage. Typhon’s fur rose, blue sparks bursting from his fur as the Saberwolf bared his fangs at this intruder. Typhon’s entire body seemed to grow larger as his fur stood on end, the dark blue fur glowing with a blue crackling light as energy surged through his body.

“Step away from him!” Typhon howled in anger, his claws glowing with that same blue light. The energy concentrating in his claws, making them glow. “I’ll tear you apart if you touch him!” His voice boomed like thunder around them and Cyclone’s ears twitched, folding back as the air itself crackled with static electricity.

“Stay here,” Cyclone said as he shoved Isaac away. Isaac hit the wall painfully hard, his elbow stinging from the blow. “I’ll handle this…” The mechanized Saberwolf faced Typhon. The two were nearly the same height, Cyclone have a couple inches on Typhon thanks to his enhancements.

“Typhon!” Isaac called out in warning. Unfortunately, it had the wrong effect on the Saberwolf. Typhon, hearing Isaac’s voice, turned towards him and took his eyes off Cyclone. His inexperience fighting costing him. If only for a split second, it was all Cyclone needed.  

With a burst of speed, Cyclone lunged forward. His metal feet releasing a fiery blast of energy, launching him forward. Closing the distance between the two in a flash. Landing before Typhon, Cyclone braced himself. Twisting his mechanical arm inwards, he brought it up in an uppercut.

His fist connected with the bottom of Typhon’s jaw and the other Saberwolf was lifted off his feet as he was punched.

“Rising dragon fist!” Cyclone said and Isaac stopped, gawking at the idiocy of it as the Saberwolf was tossed backwards from the blow.

Typhon landed off balanced on his feet, barely able to remain stand. Cyclone didn’t give him a chance to recover as he closed back in. Bringing his fist against Typhon’s stomach.  The mechanical clamp connected with Typhon’s stomach and, with a spinning punch, sent Typhon flying backwards.

Typhon was thrown backwards, coughing as the punch caved his stomach in. Barely able to land on his feet, Typhon keeled over and puked out what he had eaten earlier. Coughing and sputtering, he wiped his lips off. Spitting to the side, Typhon wobbled as he stood back to his feet.

“T-that’s all you got?” Typhon snarled, baring his fangs as electricity jumped around his fur.

“Is that all you’re capable of doing? Getting all charge up? What good that’ll do you in a real fight.” Cyclone sneered as he twisted his mechanical arm. Sparks ran up and down its length from where he’d hit Typhon. The blue electricity releasing from Typhon’s fur trailing up and down its length in retaliation for the attack. It should’ve electrocuted Cyclone, but instead the energy was quickly absorbed into the mechanical arm. The power cells recharging from the stolen energy. “I got this neat little guy to deal with freaks like you.” Cyclone held up his arm. “A perfect counter to a guardian’s light.”

“The fuck?” Typhon spat to the side, rubbing his chin where he’d been punched. He nearly bitten off his tongue when Cyclone hit him. He tasted blood.

“Typhon, be careful!” Isaac called out behind Cyclone. “Half of his body has been replaced by cybernetics. He’s a freaking cyborg Saberwolf!”

“A cyborg?” Typhon faltered at that. “That’s… that’s…” His eyes widened, just staring at Cyclone. Typhon hadn’t even noticed he was a fellow Saberwolf. “That’s against everything we stand for. You’re… that’s…”

“Unnatural?” Cyclone sneered with a mocking laugh following the word. “I did what I had to do, pup. Fuck the Saberwolves. Fuck Saber! They can all be consumed by the void for all I care…” He spat out the words in a snarl, the grinder in his chest turning viciously. “You’re all pathetic cowards. I’ll kill you. You pathetic disgrace. I’ll take Isaac and be done with all of this!” Cyclone swung his arm in front of him. “The entire universe can go dark for all I care! I don’t care about any of it, not anymore…”  

“Don’t you dare.” Isaac tried to do something, step forward. Without his arm or his blaster, all he had was the barrier shield from the band. It wouldn’t do much other than annoy the cyborg Saberwolf.

The band stuttered at his side and Isaac glanced down at it. The dimly lit blue glow seemed weaker than before. Without its presence, without it’s light Isaac could feel the cold darkness sinking in.

Coughing, Isaac hugged himself. He was shivering. He was so cold…

“You think I’d just roll over and let you take Isaac from me?” Typhon was the one to sneer, mocking Cyclone as he stood up. “I’ll cook you from the inside out.” Typhon slashed the air with his nails, leaving electrified trails in their wake.

“Go ahead, dare ya’ to try.” Cyclone growled, lifting his left arm up as a shield against it. “I’ll drain you dry… Once you’re nothing more than a husk, I’ll shoot you into space. Be lost with the rest of space debris out there.”

“Typhon!” Isaac shouted behind the two, from the sidelines. “His a-arm can absorb your electrical charge. Focus on other parts of his body that aren’t mechanized. Concentrate your energy and delivery it to the organic parts of his body. That’ll stun him, like you did with the crustaceans.” Isaac stammered out, his teeth chattering from the cold seeping into his body.

“Right!” Typhon said back, letting Isaac know he heard. Cyclone’s ear twitched and he shot a glare at the Terran. “See. This isn’t me verse you, you cyborg freak. This is us verse a cocky dickhole,” Typhon laughed. “No matter what. You’ll always be outnumbered.” And Typhon threw out his arm towards Isaac.

For a second, it didn’t make sense. Until Sphinx jumped from the Saberwolf’s wrist band and jumped through the air to reconnect with Isaac. Isaac could feel his optical implants restarting and powering up as Sphinx rejoined him, giving him a much-needed recharge.

Ooze dripped from his eyes, spurting out as the energy filled him, expelling the toxic waste from his systems.

“Didn’t know you could do that,” Isaac laughed nervously as his optics began to reconnect.

“Gross, gross, gross! What did you do while I was gone?” Sphinx said as Isaac blinked several times. His left eye lighting up as a “reloading” screen appeared in front of it.

“Long story.” Isaac said as he kept his distance from the two. “Typhon! I’m rebooting, buy me some time.”

“It changes nothing. You can’t change anything, Typhon…” Cyclone guttural growl grew louder, the engine in his chest charging up and heating the very air around him until steam rose off his body. “I knew Isaac would be your ace in the hole. You’re still weak. Inexperienced, Typhon.” Cyclone sneered.  “A failure back then. A failure now. Can’t even protect a lone Terran… You don’t stand a chance.”

Cyclone stepped forward, his foot hitting the ground hard as he twisted his left hand around. It spun faster and faster, sparks flying as the blue energy he’d stolen from Typhon energized the arm. “I’ll show you what I can do!” Jumping into the air, Cyclone came crashing down against the ground. His left fist punching the floor. Blue energy burst forth in cascading waves as Typhon shielding himself with his arms. Knocked off balance, Cyclone jumped forward. “Busta… Wolf!” Cyclone punched against Typhon’s arms, wrist twisting as the built-up energy was released from within, launching Typhon backwards.

“Typhon!” Isaac cried out as the Saberwolf was thrown tail overhead, rolling over himself several times until he laid motionless on the ground. “What did you do?”

“Just something I learned,” Cyclone spat to the side and stalked towards Isaac. “Now then,” he grabbed Isaac’s arm. The barrier formed but the Saberwolf’s arm easily slipped through, not even offering resistance against it. “I decided to rush things. I’ll claim my prize early.”

“I’m not something to be won,” Isaac laughed as he pulled back. “Swallow…” He whispered the words. “Into nothingness.” And with the arm he didn’t have, pressed it against Cyclone’s chest as he had done before. Repeating the process. Letting the nothingness sink into his body before pushing it outwards into Cyclone.

Cyclone’s body became rigid and, the next second, he spewed blood as the hand Isaac didn’t have grabbed hold of his insides, twisting them.

“Fucking got to be kidding me,” Cyclone gritted his teeth as dark blue blood dripped from his metal fangs. Struggling, Cyclone reached down to touch the band on Isaac’s wrists. Pressing one opal in, he did the third opal on the band and finally the last.

The three opals pushed into the silver band and with a sudden blast of energy, the two were thrown apart from each other.

“Isaac!” Sphinx called out as the Terran landed, hard, on his back. Groaning loudly, Isaac blinked several times.

“I-I’m fine, I think.” Isaac looked down at the band. It was glowing brightly, again. The blue light was vibrant and blue electricity bounced off the band. It surged through it, up his arm and into his chest.

And it hurt. It hurt so bad that Isaac turned over and hurled his guts out as his insides fried. The electricity burning the infection out as he spewed a torrent of black sludge onto the ground. Coughing, sputtering and trying not to cry, Isaac forced himself back to his feet.

“Holy, ow, ow… ow…” He held his chest. “Haven’t… thrown up like that… since I got into a drinking match with Juke.” He spat once more, feeling better after. “What happened?”

“The band expelled the substance from your system… I didn’t know it could do that…” Sphinx appeared at his side, the holographic lion looking down at the band with Isaac.

“I didn’t either.” Isaac laughed as he held the wall for support. The band continued to crackle with energy. “How did it do that? What did it do?”

“Energized,” Cyclone coughed as he stood back up, holding his chest. “See, that little toy of yours was nearly completely drained. That’s why you were losing it,” Cyclone tapped the side of his head. “Without the band’s energy, you’d already be consumed, kid.”

“Oh, uh… thanks?” Isaac looked down at the band. “You’re right…” He said. “I’m not cold anymore,” he looked up at the mechanized Saberwolf staring at him. “Is that why my brother… why you gave me this band?”

“Just a failsafe. To keep my prize safe,” Cyclone stood back up. Looking back at Typhon, Isaac stepped forward. Cyclone’s diamond shaped ear twitched and he turned back towards the Terran. Isaac was holding up the band. “A shield isn’t going to do much against me, kid. Even energized.”

Cyclone didn’t move, he simply waited.

“You know, in theory, the shield itself? Was formed.” Isaac held out his hand and closed his fingers together, forming a point with them. “In practice, I wonder, if I could change that shape. I never needed to with my other arm. But now? Well, now I have a reason to. Sphinx,” he commanded, and the holographic blue lion moved down his arm to touch the band with his small paw padded paws.

The opal shield began to soften and change shape. Reforming into that of a pointed star before reforming and elongating down into a sharp point. Energy hummed over Isaac’s fingers as he swung the makeshift blade in front of him several times. The light cut through everything it touched. The blade humming with energy as the band crackled and sparked.

“The band can recreate energy in any form or shape. Why not a sword?” Isaac lifted up his hand, facing towards Cyclone. “En garde, you robotic bastard.”

“Look at you,” Cyclone chuckled with a strangely warm smile on his face. “Learning new things on the spot. You’ve always been incredibly smart, Isaac. Considerably ingenuity. Whenever faced with a problem, you can always come up with some kind of solution… Something I never could manage…”

Cyclone turned on the spot. Giving one last look at Typhon.

“I’ll leave him in your care. If you don’t wish for me to take him from you in the future, get stronger. Or die. I don’t really care,” Cyclone began to walk away. “I’ve stayed too long.”

“Wait.” Isaac stepped forward. Cyclone paused, glancing back at him. “I… will I see you again?” Isaac wasn’t sure why he asked such a thing.

“Me? You won’t ever be able to get rid of me,” Cyclone laughed before he headed off with a half-hearted wave. “I’ll take care of my partner, for now. Make sure the others don’t track you, my future comrade. You best get out of here before those crazy bastards blow the station up.” With heavy clunk steps, the mechanized Saberwolf left the trio behind.

“Who the hell was that?” Sphinx reappeared next to Isaac.

“I honestly have no clue… Typhon!” Isaac jumped, just recalling his injured companion. Running over, he knelt down by Typhon’s side. “Are you okay?”

“That was… so cool…” Typhon coughed. “He kung fu’d me Isaac…” Typhon winced, sitting up slowly. “Wait!” He yipped. “Don’t touch me, I might-,” but Isaac was already holding one of his arms. The electrical sparks bounced off his fur without burning Isaac this time around. The band on his arm humming softly. “How…?”

“Honestly? I really have no clue what the fuck is going on,” Isaac laughed.

“The band is a conduit,” Sphinx said as he looked down at it again, studying it further. “That robo-Typhon somehow turned the thing into a siphon. It absorbed the energy he had stolen from Typhon into the band, recharging it. Now it acts an insulator between sparky sparky boom man Typhon and squishy soft Terran boy Isaac.”

“Fuck you,” Isaac told Sphinx who just grinned at the insult. Helping Typhon back to his feet. Once he was standing, Isaac moved his arm around and turned his back side to side. “Holy fuck, I feel amazing. A new man!” He held up the band. “I haven’t felt this good in years. So, uh, yeah… I guess without this thing? I’d be dead… I guess?”

“Worse,” Sphinx frowned at him. “Whatever the hell all that was? It wouldn’t have killed you. That creepy black parasite stuff wanted you, to feed on you and do other nasty stuff with your body.”

“Parasite…?” Isaac asked as Typhon sniffed him over, the Saberwolf making sure he was truly alright. Isaac just lifted his arm up for Typhon at this point, not even trying to stop him from sniffing him everywhere.

“That black slug stuff.” Sphinx shrugged, floating in front of him. “When you’re band depowered, that stuff began to pour into you… or rather, seep into you. Just like how the band insulates you from Typhon’s energy? It also shields you from that stuff. After it got juiced, it expunged the stuff from your system,” Sphinx motioned over to the spot Isaac had hurled. “I didn’t know it needed to be charged,” Sphinx inspected the band. “This technology is foreign to me… I can’t even sense the substance that came out of you. If I didn’t see it with my own optical sensors, I wouldn’t have believed it!”

“The super computer AI doesn’t know about it?” Isaac held up the band. The opals had popped out again, standing on the top of it. “Huh…” He looked at one. Blue sparks bounced around inside the middle one. “Robo-Typhon pushed the opals in and it kind of absorbed the energy he stole… recharging it. I didn’t know it had that function.”

“Robo-Typhon must’ve known something we don’t.” Sphinx nodded. “We’ll need to ask Robo-Typhon about it next time we run into him.”

“Stop calling him that!” Typhon whined next to them.

“Fleshy Typhon might be able to recharge the band in the future,” Sphinx continued with Isaac.

“My very own personal battery! Thank you Fleshy Typhon!” Isaac smiled at Typhon who whined louder. “You doing alright?”

“After getting your ass handed to you?” Sphinx snorted a laugh, giggling about watching Typhon get thrown around.

“I’m fine,” Typhon grumbled. “I’m built tougher than you are… The only thing hurt is my pride.”

“Like you had much of that,” Isaac rolled his eyes, nudging Typhon’s side. The Saberwolf’s ears splayed out. “Look!” Isaac touched him. “I can touch you again.” He ran his hands all over Typhon’s body.

“Ew, get a room!” Sphinx gagged, bouncing away in midair. “I’ve already mapped out a route back to the ship. Away from those zealots.”

“Zealots?” Isaac asked, confused. Typhon and Sphinx looked at him.

“Don’t you know what’s going on?” Typhon asked, confused that Isaac seemed to be out of the loop for once.

“Look, I was sort of in a whole thing,” he waved off the scary fucked up episode he’d been having from earlier. “Explain to me what’s going on.” He said as he took hold of Typhon’s hand and dragged him after Sphinx.

Isaac felt recharged, like a new man! He was bursting with energy and wanted to run laps around the station.

“Well, after you blasted through the blast proof glass,” Sphinx started up.

“It’s not blast proof if you can blast through it!” Isaac shouted back as the trio ran down the halls, looping around the donut shaped station towards the other side as Sphinx led them to the spaceport.

“Right, anyways, as you blasted through it,” Sphinx continued. “There was a disturbance in the aerial space around the station. Several fighter class ships jumped into the area after detecting the discharge of energy and began firing on the station.” The station shook again to emphasis this point. “They released a message on loop,” the lion spun in the air, floating in front of Isaac as he ran down the elongated, curved corridor.

Opening up his hands, a screen appeared before Isaac on Sphinx’s belly. A very angry looking black scaled reptile was screaming something into the video. Their voice was muted, and Isaac gave Sphinx a confused look.

“The, uh, guy forgot to turn the volume on.” Sphinx shrugged before tapping on his belly with both his paws. “Here we go, I connected the audio feed. Even if it isn’t working on their end, it will on ours.”

In mid rant, the reptilian commander stood on one of their crewmembers to stand higher up than they naturally were.

“-release the anomaly to us and we will spare the rest of you sinful beings!” The scaled general posed, placing an arm over their chest as their cape billowed in the breeze on their ship. Isaac could see someone holding a massive fan barely off-screen to create the wind effect. “We have come to save your light from this dark threat. Do not trust its lies and surrender it, and yourself, to our holy light! Be brightened together! In one name! In one body! In one light!” The reptile continued their rant.

“The hell is he talking about?” Typhon asked, leaning over Isaac’s shoulders while holding them with both hands. Isaac had to admit Typhon was good at keeping pace with him as they ran down the hall. Typhon didn’t even trip over Isaac’s feet, despite standing so close to the Terran.

“What’s the anomaly their talking about?” Isaac sweated at the thought it might be him.

“Unsure,” Sphinx shrugged as the feed continued, the reptilian commander asking the others if he did a good job and if he looked menacing enough on camera or if they should do a second take. “They keep ranting on and on about their holy crusade through the stars, seeking impurities and plan to purge it from their universe. Yadda, yadda, yadda.” He shook his head. “They sound like religious nutjobs. Light, dark, stars. Bunch of nonsense in the end.”

“Lovely,” Isaac sighed, shaking his head. The trio stopped, turning down a side path and began going downstairs, planning to use one of the lower floors to make their way back to the ship. “This is the worst possible news to get.”

“Why’s that?” Typhon asked, sticking close to Isaac. Now that he could touch the Terran, Typhon was resisting the urge to pick him up and nuzzle his face against Isaac’s entire body as if he were a teddy bear.

“Religious nutjobs are the worse because you can’t reason with them. Logic and reasoning go straight out the window with these type of crazies.” Isaac shook his head. “They’re dogmatic. They follow their dogma and will resort to killing at the slightest provocation because of it.”

“Dogs?” Typhon asked, confused about it.

“It means they have strict rules to follow, no matter what.” Sphinx explained as they began climbing down a utility ladder. The area shook and Isaac struggled to hold on, only having one arm.

“Wait,” Typhon told Isaac. Pushing against the railing, Typhon spread his legs open and grabbed the side of the utility ladder.

Typhon slid down past the Terran, using his elongated length to get around Isaac. Zipping his jacket open, Typhon motioned for Isaac to come down and climb inside it. Typhon wearing the suit underneath his outrageous outfit, just in case. Begrudgingly, Isaac did. Not wanting to fight with Typhon over it. Stepping down from the ladder into Typhon’s suit, Isaac was pulled close against him as Typhon button it back up. Leaving just the upper torso of Isaac free to assist if needed.  

“Been a while since we’ve done this.” Typhon cheekily said, tail wagging as he slid the rest of the way down the ladder and took off jogging down the metal scaffolding underneath the station.

The domed glass structure circled around the station, allowing the trio to run along the underbelly of it. Rows of pipes hung from above as they went through the industrialized area, usually used for, and reserved for the repair crew. Typhon tore off the “keep out” sign and kicked down the “employees only” doorway, moving through the spare utility room and onto more scaffolding.

“I’m detecting several hostiles ahead,” Sphinx warned, blinking red as he turned around to face them.

“Roger that,” Typhon even gave a mocking salute as Isaac rolled his eye.

Three reptiles stood before them. With elongated, curved spiked tails, claws feet and sharp teeth, they snarled at the group. Each struggled to keep balance on the small unstable metal planks and poles keeping the walkway together. There might’ve been three of them, but the condensed space forced only one to reach them at a time.  

“Halt in the name of her holy empress!” One of the black guards raised up the twin pronged spear in front of them. They were nothing more than sacrificial pawns that would gladly give their life for their empress. Isaac would explain this to Typhon at a later date, seeing as how the Saberwolf was raring for a fight.

After losing to Cyclone, Typhon was on edge to prove himself to Isaac, and himself, for his failings.

Energy gathered at the end of one of the twin pronged spears and Isaac didn’t need to warn Typhon of the incoming attack.

The trio didn’t even wait for Typhon to respond before open fire on them.

One shot went straight through Sphinx’s body, and he sputtered out as Typhon swung over the railing and jumped down below. Isaac clung to his chest as Typhon landed hard on the blast proof glassing below. It cracked under his weight and the two exchanged a look before the Saberwolf was running for it.

“Why the fuck would you jump down here!” Isaac shouted at Typhon as the scale guards above fired down at them. Their shots bounced off the glass, ricocheting around the room. The glass deflecting the energy and sending it right back at them.

One scale guard was hit in the face and the other was clipped on the shoulder, letting out a series of shrieking yelps that reminded Isaac of a raptor from the other movie they watched just the other night. The reptile calling for others. A primitive way to go about it, for sure.

“That’s what blast proof glass is supposed to do.” Sphinx popped back up, reforming into a running lion as they worked their way over the glass flooring. “It deflects the energy, preventing it from breaking through.”

“What about my gun?” Isaac asked and Sphinx just gave him a look. “Samson? Samson overcharged my gun to penetrate blast proofing? Hot damn…” He cursed. “I dropped my gun back during the, uh, episode… Damn. That thing was a beast!”

“I got your arm!” Typhon motioned at his back. Typhon had Isaac’s cybernetic arm strapped to his back and was waiting for the Terran to ask for it. Delivering it to him like a dog would bring a newspaper for their master. Isaac patted his chest as the Saberwolf weaved through the raining energy blasts from above.

“Yes, thank you.” Isaac rolled his eyes. “Good job.”

“Yes!” Typhon jumped, wagging his tail energetically as red blasts of energy rained down around them.  

“Service exit ahead,” Sphinx called out as he flew ahead of the two and marked it out for them. “Boost up here,” he pointed towards a ladder. “Go through there and you’ll be right next to the port. I already informed Juke and Samson to your arrival.”

“Understood,” Isaac relayed the orders. “Start the ship and activate the defense system. We’ll meet you there.” Sphinx blinked out of existence as Typhon came to a stop under the ladder.

A spear blast, aimed directly for the Saberwolf’s head, bounced off as Isaac activated the barrier shield above Typhon’s head. Covering for Typhon.

“You move, I’ll cover you.” Isaac said and Typhon was already pushing off the ground. His boots released a blast of energy and he jumped upwards, high enough to grab the bottom of the ladder. The drop ladder released above them at his weight and Typhon let out a startled yelp as it began to drop down.

Climbing in place, Typhon fought against the descending ladder until it came to a halt. He bolted up the side of it as Isaac kept up the half shield in front of them. Jumping over the railing, Typhon landed past the scaled guards who had turned on them. The closest one charged them as Isaac had an idea.

Pressing down the opals as Cyclone had done, he told Typhon to “let loose.”

Worried about Isaac safety, Typhon had to trust the Terran as he supercharged himself. His fur stood on end, electricity bursting from his fur like static electricity. The energy made the air around them hum and Isaac lifted up the band in front of them.

Isaac could see the energy siphoning into the band, being drawn into it as it drained Typhon’s energy directly from his fur. The opal’s began to glow with a bright blue light and Isaac concentrated, focusing on the band and, using his cybernetic implants, gave the simple order into it.

“Unleash.”

Energy burst out of the front of the band in a sweeping wave, blasting the three scale guards off the scaffolding in a bright wave of blue energy. Isaac had to close his eyes, turning away from the blast as the opal’s popped back out with a soft hissing sound as steam released from each one from the heat released.

“Wow,” Isaac looked at the damage done. The scaffolding was a wreck. Half of it had collapsed and the closest part had been blown away from the energy unleashed. “Well, that’s a neat trick to have.”

“Done admiring your work?” Typhon panted above him; Isaac gave him a look. Typhon waved it off. “Don’t mind me. Just a bit… drained,” he chuckled weakly, and Isaac frowned at that. “Having you and that cyborg freak sap my energy isn’t exactly pleasant to have. You know when you get me off and I blow my load all over your face?” Typhon used as comparison and Isaac just gawked at him. “Well, it’s like that… then you try and get me off again and again, and I know I can do it up to four times but after that I’m completely spent and you-,”

“Just keep walking!” Isaac covered his face in embarrassment.

“Just give me a second, damn it’s just like last night.” Typhon panted.

“I can walk if need be if I’m too draining for you!” Isaac scoffed, getting disgruntled about it now.

“Oh no you don’t! I can still get you off if need be. I’m drained, not dead!” Typhon growled in frustration as he began climbing up the next ladder. “Just… just stay close to me. That’s all I need. You always got my back.”

“And you got mine.” Isaac agreed, feeling exhausted himself as the latch above them turned and Typhon pushed it open.

Climbing out of the hatch was no better than down below. There were several merchants fighting against more of these reptilian aliens. They all had black scales, wearing regal uniforms of silvers and grays. The higher-ranking officers wearing brighter outfits than the lowly blackguard that were up front, being used as meat shields for the others.

Laser fire flew threw the air as both sides engaged with each other.

The defense drones had released from the facility and were making a mess of everything, attacking anyone and everything. Even those just trying to defend themselves.

Isaac always thought the peacekeeper drones were non-lethal but was quickly proven otherwise as a scorched merchant fell in front of them. Another drone flew over head with what looked like a saw blade on the underside, cutting up anyone it flew close enough to.

Everyone that hadn’t left the station already were in the middle of a fight for their life, trying to get to the space port that was being overrun both from inside and outside. It was the only way off the station and Isaac and Typhon would have to cut through to escape.

The station shook again, and they knew they didn’t have much time left.  

“The hell are we going to do?” Typhon asked, ducking to the side to get out of the fighting going on. Laser blasts flew through the air and energy shields crackled as the two sides fought against each other in utter chaos.

Some merchants were trying to keep their goods while others were trying to steal things. It was anarchy and the chaos made it easy for the scale guard to overrun the station.

“I have no clue,” Isaac began before his left eye rebooted, turning back on. Blinking several times. “Hey, my eyes back!” He said only to get several warning messages popping up on it. Red screens flashing, warning of incoming “Dropships…?” He asked, confused.

The entire station shook as he and Typhon looked upwards towards the new arrivals.

“The fuck is that?” Typhon mouth fell open, staring at the new threat.

Isaac would describe them as “pods” later on. Living, fleshy escape pods that had been on several of the Terran “Birds” back within Terran controlled space. They were long bean shapes pods with twisting roots growing out of one end of them. A swirling mass of purple tentacles that coiled and lashed out, springing forth and piercing onto the station sides with hooked tendrils.

The front of the pod, that had pierced through the glass, split open and blackish beans began falling from each other. Splattering on the ground, the mass of purple and black flesh began to writhe and move, squirming as they broke free of the fleshy mass they fell from. Distorted arms and twisted legs, those with too many eyes and others with no eyes at all. Shapeless, formless creatures sprouted forth. Growing arms and limbs to move with as everyone stopped what they were doing to address the new threat that had, literally, fallen amongst them.

“The hell-,” Typhon opened his mouth, but a scale guard shouted out.

“Void spawn!” Their words resonated with the other scale guard and every reptilian soldier, black guards, and sacrificial pawns of the holy empire, turned on their sworn enemy. Beginning a fight in this endless struggle.

The first reptilian managed to warn the others before the closest void spawn latched onto their face. Tendrils flailed as their eyes grew wide, the thing strapping itself to the reptilians face before crawling and squeezing it’s way forcibly inside their mouth and down their throat like a twisted version of an octopus crawling into a pot.

Their stomach bulged, moving, and squirming as they cried out as it ripped through them, sprouting and “birthing” new miniature horrors as Isaac and Typhon just watched in revulsion of what was happening. A spider nest full of tiny horrors bursting forth like an egg sack rupturing, spawning more of these things.

With the last of their strength, the scale guard lifted up an incendiary grenade above their head in a shape of a curved horned cross.

“Is that a holy hand grenade?” Isaac’s jaw dropped at the sight.

“For the… queen.” And with a press of a button ignited themselves and the creepy crawlers climbing out of their stomach in holy flames.

Brilliant red flames consumed their body and the smell of burning flesh filled the air as every scale guard pulled out similar devices, tossing them or shooting them at the open pods above.

Scarlet flames ignited the market place. They didn’t release any kind of smoke, just consuming all they touched and burning them to a crisp. Reducing them to ash, as they were purged. Friend or foe alike, no one was spared as the “purge” began. Sweeping through the station as the ships outside opened fire on the pods, not caring if it broke through the protective dome of the station.

Isaac could feel one breach opening as the air around them got sucked out.

“It’s not fun when someone else does it!” Typhon yelled over the roaring winds around them.

“We need to leave. Now!” Isaac ordered and Typhon dropped down to all fours, crawling along the floor towards the space dock.

Several merchants were swept off their feet as the scale guards connected their boots to the ship’s hull like Isaac had done earlier. Metal masks slid over their faces with a press of a button and their entire bodies became sealed off from any other “invader” trying to get to them.

The swarming mass concentrated their efforts on the armor guards. Jumping on and lashing out with barbed tentacles at the soldiers standing their ground against the endless threat.

“For the queen!” The scale guards roared in unison, egging each other on. “For the Holy Light! For Egg Chamber!” They shouted and cried out, opening fire on the waves of enemies pouring out towards them.

Using the dead bodies as fuel, the horrors quickly multiplied their numbers into a wave of crawling legs and bodies.

“Peace can only be obtained by the fires of democracy!” The soldiers were really getting into it, getting high off the thrill of combat, and pressed forward instead of holding their ground. Sweeping their lasers across the bloody battlefield and tore apart the station around them.

With the scale guard distracted, Typhon clawed his way over the metal ground and towards the stairs leading up to the raised space port.

“Can we go one place, one station, without blowing the damn thing up!” Isaac closed his eyes, pressing against Typhon’s front as the Saberwolf sparked with energy.

A squid-like horror crawled towards them, suction cups keeping it from being pulled out of the station. Each suction cup had a hooked nail inside as it slapped its disturbingly wet tentacles over the ground towards Typhon, leaving black stains behind as if it’d crawled out of a pitch-black sea.

The Saberwolf didn’t even need to react as the sparks covering his body leapt out, burning the creature even before it could try, and grab hold of him. The electricity arcing outwards and electrocuting any of these abominations that drew close enough to the tesla coil that Typhon’s body had become.

“At least I got the sparky sparky boom boom going on,” Typhon grunted.

“That’s it!” Isaac said as he pulled himself up Typhon’s chest and got closer to his head. “I’m going to need a bit more of your juice. Juice me, Typhon!” He yelled and Typhon nodded with a whimper, already feeling spent.

Pressing the opals down, Isaac felt more than saw the energy being siphoned into the band from his companion.

Holding it up, he tried to create an image of his head. “Coil the electricity, around and around again,” Isaac said the words to help create the picture he had in mind. Wrapping the electricity around the band over and over again he released the energy and felt the band smack against the metal flooring. “Holy shit. I magnetized it!” He gleefully said before, with Typhon’s help, lifted up the band and pointed it at their ship. “I didn’t think the principle would work so easily. Maybe just the image or picture of what I want works with the energy?”

“Sure,” Typhon groaned above him, eyes practically rolling into the back of his head. His fur wasn’t as full as it had been before, the energy dissipating and Isaac knew Typhon was nearly spent.

“Around and around,” Isaac recalled his class on magnetism. “Positive. Negative. Aim and… fire!” The band erupted as a bolt of electricity shot forth, zig zagging through the air before sticking to the side of their ship up above. “Okay, there we go. Now I just change the polarity and…” and like a rubber band pulled tight, it snapped both him and Typhon towards the ship as the two cried out. The coil of energy springing them towards the ship at alarming speeds.

“Shield, shield, shield!” Typhon cried out.

Isaac barely managed to break the connection, forming a shield around the two as they hit the side of the ship with a pain “oof,” falling to the ground before slowly being dragged backwards towards one of the breaches in the stations shielding.

“It worked.” Isaac cheered.

“A little too well,” Typhon snagged Isaac’s hand and kept him from slipping further away. “Now to get the door open. Don’t look at me!” He added, glaring at Isaac. “You’ve drained me enough for one evening.”

The door opened and a rather large bear poked their head out.

“Whose draining who?” Samson gave the two a disappointed look, as if asking them not to do it in public.

“Samson!” Isaac cried for help. “Am I glad to see your grumpy face!”

The bear grunted, disappearing inside before reappearing with what looked like a fishing rod. Samson cast the line towards the two. The end of it had a giant magnet and the two felt themselves being pulled towards it as Samson reeled them in. 

“Not exactly what I had in mind, but thanks.” Isaac said as he was peeled off the device by Typhon, who glared at Samson. The bear just nodded, shutting the door as they made their way to the front.

“What happened to your arm?” Samson asked, seemingly more concerned by Isaac’s cybernetic arm than of the Terran’s well-being.

“Long story.” Isaac didn’t have the time as he jumped into the pilot seat. “Sphinx,” he said, and the holographic ship’s computer reappeared in the form of a lion next to him. “Going to need some help,” and the hologram was already buckling in next to him.

“Numerous hostile vessels have surrounded the station.” Sphinx said as they started the ship up.

“Can we jump?” Isaac was afraid of that. Not every ship had jump capabilities as The Stellar Drift did. It was still standard procedure to block any jump routes for enemies to use, just in case.

“Not until we get past them.” Sphinx shook their head. “They already formed their anti-jump formation around the space port.”

“Figures,” Isaac leaned back in the seat. “Samson. Juke. Take control of the turrets. We need to clear a path before we can get the hell out of here!”

“Understood,” Samson was already heading down as Juke popped open a top hatch and a ladder folded down for him to use.

“Finally!” Juke smiled like a madman. “First time we’ll get a chance to test these guns out!”

Connecting into the comms, Isaac let the others know “not to worry about holding back. These guys already marked the station for their purge. These holy crusaders will be glad to die in the heat of battle,” he rolled his eyes. “Just wipe them out.”

“Ruthless. I like it.” Juke said back over the comms.

“Hey! If they were prepared to kill us? They should also be prepared to be killed.” Isaac said, recalling the lessons from The Academy. “Engine online. Shields fully charged. Powering cannon turrets…” Isaac pulled up an overview of them to the side, trying to figure out what kind of weaponry The Stellar Drift had on it. “Huh, those don’t look like any cannons I’ve seen before.”

“Don’t fire them anywhere close to the ship,” Sphinx warned the other two. “I’ll make sure they don’t end up sending up into a black hole.”

“Heh, you’re surely exaggerating.” Isaac said but saw Typhon strapping into the seat next to him. “He’s exaggerating, right? Please tell me he is…”

The ship shook and Typhon and Isaac ended up screaming like little girls as a squid’s underbelly latched onto the front of the ship giving them a horrifying look at the numerous curved hook teeth underneath and at the beak snapping at the window.  The two ending up hugging each other as Sphinx turned on the windshield wipers.

“Why does a space craft have windshield wipers?” Isaac asked, watching as the squid was pulled one way then wiped the other before being flung off by another swipe.

“Space squids.” Typhon shrugged as the ship shook, rising off the platform and turned towards the exit.

“It’s always something.” Isaac sighed, shaking his head as he took hold of the steering wheel with one hand. “Sphinx, I’ll need a hand.” The AI snorted next to him.

“Aye, aye captain… or one eye. One arm. One eye. Not looking so good, cap E ton.” The AI just couldn’t help himself as the hologram plugged in. The control before him lit up and the ship flew forward.

The airspace was a cluttered mess of destroyed ships. Several vessels that had been fleeing had been cut down by the invading Scale Guard before they could escape. Scrap metal, crates of merchandise, and sadly numerous bodies floated in the space around them. Floating silently in the dark sea of space, being drawn in by the gravitational pull of the station.

Or bouncing off their hull, making Isaac wince.  

“So many dead,” Isaac couldn’t help himself from feeling something at the sight.

“Better them than us,” Juke coldly reminded him as he flicked each of the switches, turning the turret on.

On top of the diamond shaped spacecraft, a small mound rose up. From the mound a rod jutted out, a coil spinning around it towards the orb at the end of it. Energy flowed from the ship’s core into the coil, charging the orb until it glowed with a bright orange light.

“The ship is powered by a miniature sun trapped inside Condensed Space.” Isaac said, reading over the screen he pulled up about the weapon systems. “The turrets draw energy from the core and… fires the heat equivalent to a freaking star!” He shouted at the end as Juke pulled the trigger. “It’s like using a solar flare as a weapon. The fuck is this ship?”  

The Scale Guard ships were large with curved fronts, designed for ramming into other ships. The boarding vessels were commonly used by the Holy Empire. The threat of being boarded, or just having a ship ram into you, was a fear they used during space combat. Willingly sacrificing the black guard during the fight to keep their enemies on edge while the higher ups fired their laser cannons or their photon torpedoes from safety. Not caring about friendly fire.

That didn’t matter when you could cut down their pawns with a single shot.

The coiled turret fired, unleashing a wave of heated energy that lashed out in an ever-growing wave of photon energy. Engulfing the closest craft in the sun’s rays. Overwhelming the crafts shields, those inside were reduced to cinders as the ship’s hull began to melt from the intense heats burning inside as the wave of radiation licked over the vessel like flames over a log. Consuming everything touched as they curled, hitting another nearby ship, and forcing them to turn course.

“Holy shit!” Isaac covered his face from the bright light, thankful the blast window was shielded against such bright rays and radiation.

“That was awesome!” Typhon cheered.

“Got another one where that one came from!” Juke laughed manically over the comms. The second shot drained their energy cells and the ships lights flickered.

“Samson’s turn,” Sphinx grinned as the Ursa Major down below turned his unique turret on the other ships on the starboard side of the craft.

Where Juke’s turret was like a tesla coil, Samson’s turret was an elongated point with a spherical opening at the end. The two spherical orbs at the end began to spin, faster and faster, nearly colliding with each other, before it fired. A black mass fired forth, spinning faster and faster into a spherical orb of dark energy.

The sphere connected with the closest ship and every part of the vessel began to cave in where it had hit. Imploding in on itself. The ships wings, the curved spikes in the front, the thick tube-like structure bent and turned inwards. Being sucked in by the black mass until the entire vessel was sucked out of existence as The Stellar Drift flew harmlessly by.

“It shoots miniature black holes?” Isaac was trying not to scream at the war crime they were flying in. The ship spun, flying forward like a fired arrowhead through the enemy fleet as Juke and Samson fired on any ship that drew close enough.

Engulfing them in radiated photon flames or swallowed into black holes. Leaving a trail of empty space or burning vessels in their wake. Their shields repelled the enemy blasts, and The Stellar Drift easily outflew any approaching ship with it’s speed. The much smaller craft easily maneuvering and weaving through the dozen warships surrounding the station.

They tried to fire on them but ended up missing, hitting each other and forced to split apart before they rammed into each other. Isaac spun the ship again, spinning it through the narrow space between the ships and broke free on the other side.

“Almost clear-,” Isaac was beginning to think they’d get out without a scratch.

“Income!” Sphinx warned just as a massive ship blocked their route. It was so large it blocked the sun from view, casting a dark shadow over The Stellar Drift.

“Fuck!” Juke shouted from above as he jostled the controls. “The turret is recharging,” he complained.

Before Isaac could reroute additional power, the ship shook as it was hit by a wave of energy that began shutting down their systems. It washed over the side of the ship in a blue wave of translucent energy that sparked with red lightning.  

“They hit us with a disabler.” Sphinx was already trying to restart the systems from the EMP that hit the ship. “We’re sitting ducks out here,” he said using a Terran reference he’d picked up and copied from Isaac.

“Shields still online,” Isaac said as the blue opal shields activated around the ship as a barrage of laser blasts hit it. The flat side of the flag ship opened up and numerous turrets turned on them. The entire ship shook as it drifted in space. “Down to seventy percent already!” He called out, hoping Sphinx could at least get the engines working again.

While strong, the shields weren’t designed for this kind of firepower. They were made to block the first few rounds before they flew away. Stuck floating here, they were helpless against the relentless attack.

A salvo of missiles shot forth from the flag ship, aimed straight at them. Isaac was already refocusing the shields for where they were predicted to land. Sphinx triangulation the location for each one as the spiked bombs spun through space in arcing curves, leaving a trail of particles behind in their wake.

The spiked bombs flashed with green lights, threatening to detonate on impact.

“Brace yourself!” Isaac called back, holding onto the seat as he waited for the inevitable salvo to hit the ship.

It never did.

Isaac cracked an eye open, looking around to see what was happening. The missiles had fired, aimed straight for them but had been intercepted by pustulant masses of flesh. Like floating bean pods made of flesh, the missiles had been intercepted by these pods. The pods flying between them and the flag ship, taking the assault for the crew and exploded in chunks.  

“The hell?” Isaac questioned what was going on as Sphinx got the engines back up.

“The turrets take an extreme amount of power,” he warned. “I had to disable them to get the engines going.” The feline tapped away randomly at the console in front of him, keeping up the appearance while he worked underneath the surface to get the ship operational. It just looked like a cat playing with a keyboard otherwise.

Spinning fleshy pods flew towards the flag ship, aiming to embed themselves in it’s hull and unleash their horrors within. The turrets turned from The Stellar Drift and began shooting down the invaders swarming the space around their crafts.

Isaac couldn’t figure out where these things were coming from. They were like living creatures, swimming through space. Hideous unknown alien lifeforms that were getting involved in their affairs. Isaac couldn’t figure out what they gained for helping them. Or maybe they just wanted to infect the flag ship? It was hard to tell.

A massive cannon appeared on the flag ship, aiming straight for the station where the pods seemed to be originating from. Warning signs popped up on screen, telling them the flag ship was gathering energy and they could see the crimson red light forming at the end of the cannon.

That light looked familiar, Isaac just couldn’t put his finger on it as it crackled and sparked with energy.

“We need to jump before they fire!” Sphinx said over the coms, focusing intently on his work.

“Understood,” Isaac turned the ship, flying with the fleshy pods as if they were a school of fish in the sea of space and the whale of a flag ship on the other side. With the enemy focused on the station, they could make their escape. “Activate jump drive,” he ordered, and Sphinx got it ready as they turned the tip of The Stellar Drift into open space. “Three… two…. One… jump!”

Space pulled around them, the stars elongating into streaks of light as the ship jumped. Compressing the space around them and snapping forward in an instant. It would be taxing on their power, especially after using the weapon systems of the craft. It was worth it to get them and the enemy galaxies apart as Isaac continued the jump forward.

A streak of light through the stars.

“Fuck,” he sighed resting back as Sphinx took control of the ship. “The hell was all that?”

“A parting gift?” Typhon shrugged.

“Something like that,” Isaac feared the truth as he got up, feeling a dull ache behind his left eye. “I’m going to take a shower,” he groaned, rolling his shoulder several times. “I feel like I got sucked into a black hole and spat out again.”

“Suck you into my black hole,” Typhon teased as he fussed with his seatbelt.

“Kinky,” Juke slid down from the ladder above and pushed it back up, closing the hatch behind him. With a stretch he looked at the others. “Good run. No crew members lost. I’ll take it as a win.”

“Whatever,” Isaac pushed past him. “I need. Shower. Now…”

“I’ll come!” Typhon practically tore the seat belt off, jumping up to quickly join Isaac.

“I don’t want to hear about you coming for that the captain,” Juke gagged, walking over towards the bar. Typhon flipped him off, having no time to argue back as he followed after Isaac with a giddy skip to his step.

Walking into the captain’s quarter, Isaac was already undressing before he stopped seeing someone on their bed.

“Who-,?”

“Don’t stop on my account,” the mechanical voice growled back as Isaac dropped his shirt back down and jumped back, holding up his arm defensively. “Still unharmed, huh?”

Cyclone got up from the bed, stretching out and gave Typhon a wave as the Saberwolf came in, jaw dropping before his fur began sparking again. It “poofed” out and Typhon nearly fell over from exhaustion, panting heavily.

“What in the hells are you doing here?” Typhon panted, trying to growl, and having little strength to do so.  

“Space hells,” Cyclone corrected and gave them a cheeky sneer. “My ship was, let’s say, impounded.” Cyclone shrugged. “You guys were going my way,” he added getting a look from the pair. “Hitched a ride.”

“Juke!” Isaac shouted from the room. “Bring my gun. The big one!”

“On it boss,” Juke, taking another sip of his drink, went down into the underbelly of the ship where Samson kept their guns to work on.

“You really need to learn to relax,” Cyclone chortled. It sounded like a grinder revving up as he lifted up his mechanized arm. “Now then,” he typed on the small keypad, struggling to manage the inputs on the small screen. “Our contact wanted to say something.”

“Contact?” Typhon growled at Cyclone before asking Isaac. “Who dat?”

“The guy we were supposed to be meeting up with on the station. I uh, sort of forgot all about them...” Isaac sighed, rubbing his temple with a hand. “I’m too damn tired for this,” he began until the screen turned on and a recording played out for them.

Unsure if it was, at first, Isaac stood up quickly and tried to look professional. Even combing back his messy hair with a hand before he saw it was just another recording.

“Isaac, darling, this place is becoming SO drab. This is no way for us to conduct business together. It’s grimy and greasy and do you see the decor they went for? Shame. Shame on all of them! Then the fighting broke out and ruined my fleece, that really nice white one I got form Omega 22? So primitive, that planet. They do make a good fleece, who needs trees anyways? Overrated when it comes to fashion. Can’t drink my cocktail in peace with all that noise out there.” A flamboyant moth on the other screen said, batting their eyelashes at Isaac several times as if they were butterfly kisses. “I’ll give you my new address, nectar pot, and you can come and give me those beauties you found in person! They’re look wonderful when I turn them into earrings.” They said, talking about the pearls Isaac had planned to pawn off. “I’ll be on my yacht, waiting with driiiiinks!”

The line disconnected and the three were left somewhat speechless after that.

“Space yacht,” Typhon snorted, shaking his head. “She’s an, uh, what do you call it? Eccentric. She’s very eccentric.” He nodded his head.

“He.” Isaac corrected with a roll of his eye. The screen clicked back on and another recording after the first played.

“Blasted thing cut me off again,” the moth cleared their throat before striking a pose, kicking a spindly leg up into the air as they rested back in their chair. “We’ll sail through the stars; drink those mimosas you told me about. I canNOT, even wait to try them! Then we’ll girl talk and kick up our feeties on the beach and just forget about this ugly, pitiful little, ugly, disgusting, dirty, wretched station...” The screen turned off again. Isaac waited and, sure enough, it turned back on. “Oh! You must change those disgusting clothes of yours. I love you darling, but I will NOT be seen in public with you wearing those… things. I have a whole wardrobe picked out for you already, you’ll just DIE to see it. Be a dear and pick it up on your way.” It turned off again.

“Did he… did he just tell us to pick up his fucking laundry?” Typhon’s eye twitched.

“What kind of space yacht has a beach?” Isaac groaned, rubbing his face with a hand as he shot Cyclone another glare. “The things I put up for money… And you…”

The screen turned back on, cutting them off for a fourth time.

“Okay, kisses, I’ll see you there, bye darling!” The moth batted their very long eyelashes. “Oh, and darling? Make sure to bring your little blue friend. I have to meet this mysterious hunk of a man of yours. Just want to sink my sucker into that toosh,” Isaac gagged at the imagery that conjured as the feed cut off and the trio waited for the video to continue.

Thankfully, it never did.

Leaving just two Saberwolves, one mechanized, and a Terran standing in the captain’s quarters as Juke showed up, giving Isaac a large laser rifle.

“Thank you,” Isaac took it, spun it around and cocked it in the process before pointing it at Cyclone. It was needless to do but Samson had a flare for the guns he created, and this reminded him of a pump action rifle. It just shot lasers instead of bullets. “Now then. I’m going to count to three and you’re going to spill everything. Or I’m going to blow off that purty face of yours.”

“You can blow me any day.” Cyclone offered and Isaac fired.