Red Nova
Chapter Fourteen

Between Storms and Swarms

On the following morning, Teri took her UHAT outside and plowed away the snow that had formed around the Malvakarian due to the blizzard. It was still snowing, but the storm calmed down. She could see mountains in the distance along with geysers, which were all inactive and encased in ice.

The moon’s sky was a hazy tinge of indigo. Teri stopped plowing, watching snow fall from the frozen clouds. Beyond the icy atmosphere, she gazed at the view of Sepas’ planetary ring. Teri could see all eight moons, glimmering amid cosmic dust and distant stars. She stared at the spacescape with a dreamy expression until a tectonic shift struck, cutting her daydreaming short.

“Must be those darn vesper things,” said Teri, speaking to herself. “I wonder if they created a whole network of tunnels below these layers of ice.”

Teri shrugged and continued to plow the snow. Upon clearing a large path around the shuttle bay’s entrance, she went back into the Malvakarian and deactivated Xelvakron. She climbed out and walked up the ramp, entering the engine chamber.

“Hiya, fellas,” she said.

“Hi, Teri,” said Rena.

“It is as I conjectured,” said Shiva, attempting to use the supercomputer. “Vishnu malfunctioned when we crashed. I can only speculate that with enough resources and time, which we do not have, my sister may come back online.”

Rena coughed while chuckling. “Your sister, huh? I sure wish you had a family. Then we could handle any mission.”

“A most intriguing notion,” said Shiva.

She shut down the console and walked over to Teri’s workshop, unsheathing her glossy sword. Shiva then ported some of the ship’s solidified khlium.

“Whoa, what’s that?” asked Nesha.

“This is a Japanese tsurugi sword,” said Shiva. “It is the only form of weaponry to my knowledge that harms Liagon.”

“Really?” said Nesha. “Did you happen to steal that from a museum?”

“Quite astute of you to notice,” said Shiva. “How did you know?”

“Oh, well, my friends—” Nesha stopped for a moment and looked depressed, but she continued, “My friends and I had traveled to Al-Safi’s museum a few days ago to do a school project, but it was closed because someone stole an ancient sword.”

“Fascinating,” said Shiva. “They must have been alerted immediately.”

“Of course,” said Nesha. “No one’s stolen anything in over a century.”

“Indeed?” said Shiva. “Perhaps what I committed was what humans would label as theft: an infringement of laws or otherwise classified as a misdemeanor crime.”

“Um, no worries,” said Nesha. “You needed to because of the mission, right?”

“Affirmative,” said Shiva, removing the blade from its hilt. After placing both pieces on the workbench, she started to smelt khlium.

“Did it break?” asked Nesha.

“Negative,” said Shiva. “But I estimate it will after two more impacts. Therefore, I am using khlium as a substitute for steel to reinforce this weapon.”

“Sparky’s quick on the uptake,” said Teri. “With khlium that sword will be the ultimate badass!”

Moments later, Tathagata entered the chamber with a table that had some food. Most of it was cereal.

“Here’s breakfast, everyone,” she said.

“Woo-hoo!” exclaimed Teri.

“Thank goodness,” said McKenzie. “I’m about ready to faint.”

“Semolina,” said Teri, clapping.

“And water,” added McKenzie, moping. “Again.”

“This is all we have,” said Tathagata.

Zar’kara ate his share with one lick of his slithery tongue. “You all complain too much. It makes me feel like I’m partnered with a bunch of girl scouts.”

“It’s a tragedy,” said Gahza, licking his bowl dry.

“Hey, you have me,” said McKenzie. “I’m a man.”

The vel’pheasians cackled at his comment.

“Ingestion is a fascinating phenomenon,” said Shiva, observing them eat.

Nesha shrugged. “I don’t mind eating this every day, but can’t we order from the ship’s GT manually? There must be plenty of food we can port here.”

“The more we use the Malvakarian, the quicker its power dies,” said Shiva. “In addition, if we connect to the UEC network even once, it will be easy for Detective Renfred to discover our location.”

“Yar,” said Teri, munching. “We don’t want him rescuing us. We’ll just end up in prison. Best to eat this and wait for the fe’lorians, right, Rena?”

Looking extremely pale, Rena nodded and then fell down.

“Rena!” cried out Nesha. “Aunt Rena!”

Nesha and Teri rushed over to Rena. Tathagata was already checking Rena’s vital signs. Shiva and McKenzie were utterly shocked and stood up to see what had happened, but the vel’pheasians didn’t seem to care. Without delay, Tathagata ported out a medical scanner and waved it on Rena’s body.

“Rena, are you okay?” asked Teri.

“Aunt Rena!” called out Nesha, tugging her hand.

“Are you related to her?” asked Tathagata.

“N-no,” said Nesha, sniffing. “But she’s been like a mother to me. She helped raise me after my mother passed away.”

“Shiva, raise the ship’s heat to ninety degrees,” said Tathagata.

Shiva began, “The more we raise the heat—”

“Now!” interjected Tathagata.

That was the first time she had yelled. Shiva complied and went to the room’s computer console, raising the heat to ninety degrees Celsius.

“Zar, I need your help,” said Tathagata.

Zar’kara and Gahza lifted Rena up and brought her over to a table.

“Shut off the power to the other sections of the ship if you must, but this room needs to be at least ninety degrees until she recovers,” said Tathagata. “If she recovers, you can bring it down to seventy-four.”

“According to the thermodynamics of Sepas IX, it will take at least another three hours for the temperature to reach ninety degrees Celsius,” said Shiva. “This will greatly weaken the Malvakarian’s signal. May I know why you demand such a temperature?”

“Because she’s not human,” said Tathagata. “She’s a calisian.”

Nesha looked as though she had just witnessed a black hole consume the moon. Staring at Rena, her distraught face nearly turned white.

“No way,” said McKenzie.

“Wow,” muttered Teri.

“I should’ve known,” said Zar’kara, grumbling. “No human punches that hard, especially a woman.”

Gahza cackled. “And here I thought you were a fallen warrior, brother.”

“Never,” said Zar’kara, snorting. “I still have unfinished business with Meftha.”

“Will she be okay?” asked Nesha.

“I don’t know,” said Tathagata, still waving her medical device over Rena.

“Remarkable,” said Shiva, observing Rena. “She had concealed her identity all this time. Now it seems we have what earthlings would call a utopian ship—humans, fe’lorian, calisian, vel’pheasians, and me: an AI. I’m sure that Admiral Bisel would be proud.”

“Rena isn’t some new art exhibit,” snapped Tathagata. “Please step away and let her rest. Nesha, you can stay if you’d like since you’re close to her. Everybody else needs to leave her alone.”

“All right,” said Shiva, stepping aside. “I am shutting off the power to the medical and residential wings.”

“What’s left of them anyway,” said McKenzie.

Tathagata walked over to Shiva. “Our rations will spoil soon,” she said. “We should form a small search party to go out and look for something. Anything.”

“Doctor, have you been out there?” said McKenzie.

“No,” said Tathagata. “But Shiva did theorize the possibility of life. If frost vespers are out there, then I’m sure other life exists here too.”

“I can go,” said Teri. “I’ll use Xelvakron to scout around.”

“An interesting proposal,” said Shiva. “Thanks for volunteering.”

Teri smiled and responded, “You betcha, sparky! Come on, Zarry. Let’s go out ’n replace us a snack!”

“Get someone else,” said Zar’kara grumpily.

“Zarry,” said Teri, pouting.

Zar’kara refused to see her innocent face. He glanced at Gahza and replied, “We need to repair the ship. And we’re the only ones who know how to, so get someone else.”

“I’ll help,” muttered Nesha.

She wasn’t sure why she offered to help. Nesha felt depressed, far too depressed to do anything. Yet she was willing to go out into the moon’s deadly surface.

“Really?” said Teri. “Cool!”

The duo walked over to the EP.

“Nesha,” called out McKenzie.

“Yes?”

“Glad to have you on the team,” he said. “Be careful.”

“I will, thanks,” she said.

Several hours passed. Teri and Nesha were searching the icy region for signs of life. They were using the UHAT’s scanner while plowing through the thick snow amid another blizzard.

“Darn,” said Teri. “I’m still not picking anything up.”

“Maybe we need to go farther,” said Nesha.

“Hmmm,” uttered Teri. “Maybe you’re right. But the farther we go, the weaker Xelvakron becomes.”

“This has a limited power supply too?” asked Nesha.

“Well,” began Teri, “this may be my latest and coolest creation ever, but yup, just like everything else, it’ll eventually run out of khlium. Its joints would freeze if that happened. Then we’d whimper ’n wither away into icicles.”

“Uh-huh,” uttered Nesha, raising an eyebrow.

“Yesim!”

“So, why did you tell me you’re two hundred years old?” asked Nesha, glancing at her with a dubious expression.

“Two hundred and sixteen years old to be precise,” said Teri, gleaming. “I know, totally cool. Right?”

“You’re so full of it,” said Nesha.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“No way, Jose!”

“No way, Jose?” repeated Nesha. “You’re the weirdest kid I’ve ever met.”

“I’m not a kid, sunny girl,” said Teri. “I was exposed to the same treatment as yer bedtime mamma. But a failure no less,” she added, sounding sad.

“What?” said Nesha. “Wa-wait a minute, you’re serious about your age?”

“The light has shined upon thee!”

“I’m being serious,” said Nesha.

Teri chuckled. “So am I, darlin’. Yes, I’m really two centuries old. How else could I have possibly invented this marvelous most technologically and totally radical, advanced—”

“Okay, I get it. Xelvakron is cool,” interjected Nesha, rolling her eyes. “And fine, I believe you.”

“How exciting,” said Teri, clapping.

“Really exciting,” said Nesha, sighing. “Can we go a little farther now?”

“Oh, how silly of me! I almost forgot,” said Teri, giggling. “Well, I guess since Xelvakron is so badass he can handle a little more adventure.”

Teri clicked a button beside her that changed the UHAT’s form to a hovercraft with propulsions, similar to a rift board but much stronger. Xelvakron rifted through the snowy landscape of Sepas IX between a glacial gorge surrounded by massive mountains and an ice shelf that led to a frozen lake covered with icebergs. It was foggy outside, and the blizzard kept blowing over Xelvakron with no sign of an end.

“Hey, toots,” said Teri, “let me know if you see anything on the radar.”

“You can’t see?” asked Nesha.

“Nope,” said Teri. “I can’t see the topography screen from here.”

“Okay, I’ll let you know if I see anything,” said Nesha. “Oh, wait. I actually do see something. But it’s all over the landscape. I’m not sure if that matters.”

“Hmmm,” uttered Teri. “Whatcha see, kid?”

“Um, I see patches of brown spread around the white colors,” said Nesha.

“Shweet, that means we’re probably approaching a tundra,” said Teri.

“Is that good?” asked Nesha.

“Yup,” said Teri. “I didn’t think there’d be one. But it must be possible ’cus of the retrograde orbit that sparky mentioned.”

“Which means?”

“Which means, if there’s any kind of life here, it’s there!” said Teri excitedly.

Xelvakron reached the tundra, rifting above Sepas IX’s permafrost soil. They noticed a lot of frozen plant life similar to lichens and moss. It was extremely windy while passing through the tundra, but that hardly affected Xelvakron. Teri continued to maneuver her UHAT around the tundra while searching for edible food and animal life.

“You know,” began Nesha, “when I view us from Xelvakron’s camera screen, it looks as though we’re rifting.”

“That’s because we are,” said Teri.

“Whoa, that’s really cool,” said Nesha. “So, you can build your own rift board?”

“Can I build a rift board? I invented rifting.”

“No way,” said Nesha.

“Yes way, sister,” said Teri. “I was bored one day and wanted to touch the stars. Then, voila! R1 to the rescue. But it did take a few years for people to dig ’em, ya know what I mean, jelly bean?”

“You seriously created rifting?” asked Nesha, slack-jawed.

“I swear like a mamma’s bear I did,” said Teri.

“You’re either the coolest person I’ve ever met or the strangest,” said Nesha.

“I heard that one before,” said Teri.

“Um, can I have your autograph?”

“Hmmm, let me think,” said Teri playfully. “Yah, sure thang, darlin—”

Teri abruptly swerved her UHAT in the motion of a crescent swipe, shifting it back to its humanoid form. The maneuver was so sudden that Nesha gasped.

“What’re you doing, Te—” Nesha screamed, seeing a massive frost vesper arise from the plains of frozen waste. “Oh my God!” she shouted, panicking. “Teri, reverse! We need to go on reverse!”

“No way, partner,” said Teri. “We’re takin’ it on!”

“Are you crazy?”

“Yup!” said Teri. “As crazy as a daisy. Now, do ya see that skull button?”

“Uhhh, they’re like ten different skull buttons here,” said Nesha.

“Oh, I totally forgot,” said Teri. “But they’re all color coded. Click the red one.”

“Okay,” replied Nesha, clicking the red skull button. Xelvakron instantly ported an LP-14 Gatling gun, blasting the frost vesper with a barrage of laser beams so powerful and devastating that the frost vesper splattered into pieces against the tundra. “That was incredible. Can I do it again?”

“Ya sure can,” said Teri. “In fact, ya can start doin’ it now.”

Nesha gasped, looking at the screen again.

“Uh-huh,” continued Teri. “Party time!”

Two more frost vespers emerged from the ground, as well as an erdigen, which resembled a leech except its scales were charcoal and its length was the same size as a megalodon shark. The giant erdigen lay on the tundra’s plant life with its teeth deep in the carcass of a dead frost vesper, sucking its inner organs. The frost vespers lunged toward Xelvakron. Nesha quickly pressed the red skull button again.

Teri swerved Xelvakron to the side while Nesha’s first wave of beams blasted the frost vesper on the left. Afterwards, Nesha clicked a blue button, finishing the beast off with a plasma torpedo. Nesha then pushed a black button that lowered a mechanical device to her eyes.

“Uhhh, what’s this do?” she asked.

The other frost vesper coiled itself around the UHAT, biting into its hull. Nesha shrieked as the creature’s fangs attempted to pierce through the armor. The UHAT shook violently.

“Hurry!” shouted Teri. “Press it again!”

Nesha pressed the button again. Xelvakron emitted a wide fusion beam from his eyes, splitting the vesper in half. They sighed with relief, but the erdigen they saw earlier approached without them realizing it. The beast lifted upward, spewing enzymes all over Xelvakron. Teri maneuvered her UHAT back and motioned its right fist in an uppercut, punching the hardened creature.

“Use the LP-14,” said Teri.

“Um, what?”

“Gah,” gasped Teri. “The red skull!”

“Okay,” said Nesha, clicking the red button. The LP-14 launched yet another barrage of laser beams, but they hardly dented the erdigen’s scales.

“Holy macaroni!” said Teri. “It just absorbed them!”

That instant, the creature doubled in size and roared viciously. Nesha gritted her teeth, pushing Xelvakron’s blue button several times as if it were a plaything.

“Take it easy, sister,” said Teri. “This ain’t Vortex. The gun will overheat.”

Three plasma torpedoes launched out of the LP-14. Then its barrel melted when a fourth sphere shot out. The torpedoes bubbled against the erdigen, blowing its stomach open. The beast fell to the ground, tiny worms slithering out of its carcass.

“Disgusting!” said Teri. “I reckon we heed yer reverse advice and scram. No life around here except these crazy bug things.”

Nesha sighed, pushing the fusion beam’s aiming device up. She wiped her sweat away while Teri changed the UHAT into its rifting mode.

“I don’t know why I came,” said Nesha miserably.

Teri shrugged. “Huh, why did you come? I’m sure Bryan would’ve come if you wanted to stay with Rena.”

“I guess it’s because I needed to get my mind off everything,” said Nesha.

“Really?” said Teri. “Well, gosh darn it. Seems like we got even more things to worry about with all these creatures on the loose. Who knows how many of ‘em are out there waitin’ for us.”

Nesha closed her eyes while Teri rifted away from the tundra, back to the ship. Enzymes were still on the UHAT, but they eventually dripped off. Though the blizzard was worsening, the duo returned in no time since Xelvakron rifted at two hundred miles an hour.

Shiva deactivated the Malvakarian’s force field when she saw Teri and Nesha returning. Xelvakron entered the shuttle bay as a blast of snow swept in. McKenzie stood there too, a bit anxious. After the UHAT was safely inside, Shiva reactivated the ship’s force field to prevent more snow from entering.

“Whew, nice ’n toasty in here,” said Teri.

“Did you replace anything?” asked McKenzie.

Nesha shook her head, climbing down the scratched cockpit.

“Psh, just more of those vesper things ‘n somethin’ else trying to gobble them,” said Teri. “It even absorbed Xelvakron’s divine lasers. Can you believe that? But no worries, buddy, they seem to be attracted to the tundra.”

“Good,” said McKenzie, sighing.

“How’s Rena?” inquired Nesha.

“She hasn’t started revitalizing yet,” said Shiva.

Nesha dashed up the ramp and went into the engine chamber. Upon entering, she rushed over to Rena. Tathagata was still there, watching over her.

“What’s wrong?” asked Nesha. “Is she okay?”

Tathagata looked sad. She was about to answer when Rena abruptly touched Nesha’s hand, trying to speak.

“Aunt Rena?” muttered Nesha.

Rena finally whispered, “You must…”

“I must?” said Nesha, confused. “I must what?”

Shiva, Teri, and McKenzie approached, standing beside Nesha.

“Aunt Rena?” called out Nesha, tugging Rena’s hand.

“You must be strong,” said Rena softly. “Believe in Shiva. And believe in the mission. Or else Liagon…”

“Liagon?” said Nesha.

“Or else Liagon will be the end of the UEC,” said Rena. “Your species has so much potential. I learned so much from your people. Don’t let it go.”

Teri was too short to see Rena, but Tathagata lifted her up so she could sit on the corner of the bed. She held Rena’s hand and, for the first time in a hundred years, she felt depressed. Teri hadn’t lost someone since Levi, the one who’d taught her everything she needed to know about machines. She had gotten so used to working with vel’pheasians—who lived for several centuries—that she’d forgotten about death. She didn’t want to lose someone special again.

“Rena, stop scaring us,” said Teri, sniffing.

“You need to get better, Commander,” said McKenzie.

“Are you still calling me that?” responded Rena, faintly smiling.

McKenzie saluted Rena who closed her eyes.

“Rena?” said Nesha. “Aunt Rena?”

Tathagata checked Rena’s vital signs. “She’s alive, but she seems to have entered a coma again. The temperature is finally where it needs to be. Please make sure that it doesn’t fall below seventy-four.”

Four days passed. Rena still lay unconscious. And the blizzard didn’t stop. Sometimes it worsened. Teri used her UHAT once a day to plow the snow away from the Malvakarian, but it didn’t help much since the snow kept piling back up. The crew mostly kept to themselves, trying not to think about the bizarre snowstorm. Teri continued tweaking Shiva’s shoulders even though they’d been fixed. In the meantime, Gahza and Zar’kara attempted to repair the vessel.

When another day passed without any changes to Rena’s cataleptic state, Shiva decided to gather the crew in the shuttle bay. This time Tathagata joined them.

“Thanks for coming, everyone,” said Shiva. “I wanted to give all of you a status update without disturbing Ms. Mar’kett.”

“Will the ship be fixed soon?” asked Nesha.

Shiva replied, “Now that I’m fully functional, thanks to Teri, I’ve begun repairs on the Malvakarian with noble Zar and master Gahza. There’s a positive and negative result.”

“I prefer bad news first,” said McKenzie.

“Negative result: we don’t have enough resources to fully repair the Malvakarian for liftoff. Positive result: I’ve rerouted the ship’s power supply via Teri’s Universal Humanoid Adapting Tank. This means the cantina has been reactivated, and your food should be safe. In addition, since the Malvakarian’s power supply has strengthened, it is causing Teri’s distress signal to broadcast farther into the Zortega Star System despite the meteorological phenomena.”

“So, we’re stuck here for life if no one replaces us?” said Nesha.

Teri patted her. “Cheer up. I’m sure the fe’lorians will replace us. Ya know Xelvakron is badass. I have mighty faith in him. You should too!”

“I guess things could be worse,” said McKenzie.

“Tathagata,” called out Shiva, “is there an update on Ms. Mar’kett?”

“Not yet,” said Tathagata. “She’s still in the same state. I stress again, we need to keep the Malvakarian’s temperature at seventy-four. Just make sure it doesn’t fall below that.”

“Affirmative,” responded Shiva. “If anyone has questions regarding our current situation, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, you’re dismissed.”

“This is pathetic,” said Nesha, sulking.

The others looked at her with sympathy as she walked back to the engine chamber with teary eyes. They were hoping for Rena to make a full recovery, especially Nesha because she felt Rena was the only person who made her feel safe. The turbulent, never-ending blizzard continued to envelop the icy region while she waited for someone to rescue her.

The crew tried keeping themselves busy doing whatever they could to sustain the ship. Shiva continued working on a computer console, trying to decrypt Vreffith’s data while Teri, Zar’kara, Gahza, and McKenzie helped with minor repairs to the ship’s hull. McKenzie had no clue how to repair anything, so Zar’kara growled at him. After that, McKenzie just helped with simple things, such as carrying their equipment. Nesha stayed beside Rena while Tathagata meditated. Every hour, Tathagata ported her medical device and waved it over Rena for several seconds to see if anything had changed, but it hadn’t. Rena remained unconscious. After using the medical device, Tathagata left and continued meditating.

Hours of yet another day passed and still no rescue. With the exception of Nesha who was taking a nap near Rena, the crew sat in the cantina. Shiva kept working on the Malvakarian’s mainframe, hacking her way into the GT. By nighttime, Tathagata came over and carried Nesha to a corner covered with blankets. She let Nesha sleep as she checked on Rena again. This time Rena had blue spots on her pale skin.

“What do you think that is?” asked Shiva.

“I’m not sure,” said Tathagata. “I know very little of calisian physiology. I was always under the impression that we were identical. That’s why all this time we thought that she was human.”

“I understand, Doctor,” said Shiva. “When I discovered her true nature I tried to decrypt her files. Apparently the only person who knew was Admiral Bisel.”

“Really?” said Tathagata. “Did you discover anything else?”

“Indeed,” replied Shiva. “In fact, you may replace this to be interesting: she was abandoned since birth by her family but was adopted by earthlings in the colony of Nas Vando. So, although calisian, she was raised by humans.”

“That explains why she cares so much for our well-being.”

Rena’s face was turning paler as another part of her skin slowly discolored into a shade of blue.

“This can’t be good,” said Tathagata. “Raise the heat up to eighty.”

“Eighty degrees?” said Shiva. “At this rate our ship will run out of khlium within one week. Then we will all suffer.”

“Just do it,” said Tathagata. “You do want her to live, right?”

Shiva bowed, went to the computer console, and raised the ship’s heat.

“Come on, Rena,” added Tathagata, patting her. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known. You can pull through this.”

During the middle of the night, Nesha woke up. She felt rested for the first time since her life had turned upside down. No nightmares, no dreams of her as a fe’lorian, and no thoughts of Rick cheating on her or how her best friends were killed. Yawning quietly, she opened her eyes and slowly pulled off the warm quilts that Tathagata had given her.

Getting up from her bed, Nesha noticed the crew standing beside Rena. She saw Teri crying. Nesha never thought she’d see Teri cry after always seeing her act so bubbly. Then the reason why dawned on her.

“Aunt Rena?” called out Nesha worriedly. She ran over to them, her heart racing with anxiety. Tathagata blocked the way, trying to hold Nesha back. “No!” she cried out. “No!” Nesha screamed and cried hysterically while Tathagata held her. “Get off of me!” she shouted, pushing Tathagata away and running to where Rena lay; however, Shiva had already covered her body with a sheet. “No! Not my Aunt Rena! Not her too!”

“Nesha,” said Tathagata softly.

Nesha pulled the sheet away and saw Rena decaying with blue spots on her decomposed skin. Upon seeing what became of Rena, she coughed and felt the urge to vomit, backing away. She abruptly fell on the floor. Even though McKenzie attempted to help her get up, she viciously kicked his hand away.

“Stay away from me!” exclaimed Nesha.

“I’m sorry,” he said, staggering.

“I tried everything I could,” said Tathagata. “I think once the cold got into Rena’s skin, it infected her blood. There was nothing we could do about it.”

“She was a warrior among women,” said Zar’kara.

The vel’pheasian brothers roared in her name and pounded their chests with their snouts lifted high. They honored her especially for defeating Zar’kara in a duel. To them, it was the greatest gift to fight alongside those who were worthy of their strength.

“For the Yak-Shur!” bellowed Gahza.

Nesha couldn’t bear it any longer. She managed to stand up and then ran away into the shuttle bay. Shiva reached out to stop her, but Tathagata grabbed her shoulder.

“Let her be alone,” said Tathagata.

Shiva hesitated but complied, covering Rena again with the sheet.

In the meantime, Nesha entered the shuttle bay. Still crying, she started thinking about everything that had happened—her abstract nightmares, Rick’s unfaithfulness, Hannah and Talia killed by Marutas, the assault in outer space, being stranded on Sepas IX, and now Rena’s death. She even thought of Keith who’d also been killed before the horrible crash. Nesha felt that there was no one to comfort her. Just about every person she cared about had been taken away from her in almost a blink of an eye.

Another tectonic shift occurred as she tried to wipe her tears away. Nesha stared at the entrance of the Malvakarian, observing the blizzard.

“I never asked for this,” said Nesha, sniveling. “All I wanted was to live a normal life.” She no longer cared about anything and could barely think straight. Without waiting another second, Nesha ported on her jumpsuit and boarded her R91. She then deactivated the shuttle bay’s force field and rifted away from the vessel. “Goodbye,” muttered Nesha, rifting into the turbulent sky.

McKenzie was the only person who decided to talk with Nesha, so he went to the shuttle bay and immediately noticed that the starship’s force field had been deactivated.

“Holy mother,” said McKenzie. He reactivated the shield and ran back to the engine chamber. “Nesha’s gone!”

“What do you mean?” asked Tathagata.

“I think she left us!” reiterated McKenzie.

Teri, still wiping her tears, clicked her UND and established a vidlink connection with Zar’kara who sat in the cantina.

“Zarry,” said Teri, sniffing, “is Nesha there?”

“No,” he said. “I thought she wanted to be alone. Why?”

“Nesha’s gone, and we can’t replace her,” said Teri.

The crew made their way into the shuttle bay to look for Nesha. And just as McKenzie had said, she wasn’t there.

“Have no fear,” said Shiva. “She’ll come back.”

“Is your artificial brain working?” replied Tathagata, irked. “She’s a mere teenager who just abandoned us. Now she’s traveling alone on a freezing moon filled with frost vespers and the only thing you can say is that she’ll come back?”

“I’ll go out and replace her,” said McKenzie.

Zar’kara came into the shuttle bay, cackling. “And how will you do that when the snow outside is practically higher than your body?”

“Um, well, I don’t know,” said McKenzie.

Tathagata sighed. “Do you suppose she’s rifting?” she asked.

“That is an intelligent assumption,” answered Shiva.

“I’ve got an idea!” said Teri.

Zar’kara grinned, his reptilian fangs showing. “One reason why I tolerate Teri is because she’s always one step ahead of me,” he said.

“It’s a long shot,” said Teri, “but we’ll disconnect Xelvakron from the ship and use him to replace her.” She slapped McKenzie’s buttocks, making him fluster as she added, “Sorry, buddy, but it’s prime time with Zarry.”

“Okay,” said McKenzie, relieved. “He’s all yours.”

During that time, Nesha rifted skyward in an attempt to leave the moon. By now it was pitch-black outside. Most of the sky was shrouded by an icy mist, but she was still able to see Sepas’ planetary ring and two shepherd moons. The blizzard enveloped her, and the higher she rifted the worse it became. Not a minute later, Nesha’s UND vibrated: Shiva was attempting to contact her. She canceled the transmission. Then her UND started beeping.

“What is it this time?” said Nesha, sulking. Her vidlink screen displayed a warning that if she kept rifting in Sepas IX’s current atmosphere the R91’s propulsions would freeze. “What did I do to deserve this? Why is this happening to me? Why can’t I leave?”

Nesha had no choice but to change her course. She started descending on her rift board. Within another thirty minutes she had finally made her way back down. With the exception of the light from her UND, there wasn’t a single source of light outside, and it was getting colder. Even her advanced jumpsuit’s built-in heating system was having difficulty keeping her warm. But she refused to go back to the ship and kept rifting away from it. Nesha eventually reached the tundra.

She continued to hover, programming her UND to give more light. Nesha heard gooey sounds coming from below, as if something was slithering around in the tundra. Upon looking down, she saw at least three erdigens eating the carcasses of dead frost vespers.

Nesha gasped and rifted faster ahead. She finally passed the tundra and reached a valley of icy mountains. Rifting into the valley, she noticed an entrance to a cavern. Yet as soon as she approached it, her R91’s propulsions stopped. She screamed, falling onto a slope. Nesha tried monoskiing when she landed on the mound, but it was so sudden that she barely had any time to ski or perform alpine snowboarding. She zigzagged down the mountain slope—completely out of balance—and plunged into a heap of snow. Nesha grabbed her board and ported it back into her UND, crying again. She was in the middle of nowhere, stuck in a dark valley miles away from the Malvakarian. Only now did she start to regret her actions.

Just then, she heard sounds of paws thumping through the snow. Nesha froze for a moment, feeling a chill worse than ice stabbing her. Something slowly approached her. She could see its violet eyes. The beast was twice the size of a polar bear, and its razor-sharp teeth were so large that it couldn’t even close its own mouth. The closer the beast ambled toward Nesha, the more her heart pounded.

She was on the verge of fainting when the creature lunged at her. Just as it was about to claw her into pieces, it fell through a pit of soft snow. This prompted Nesha to run for her life. Nesha reached a dead end and spotted the cave she’d found before, which was above her. She attempted to climb the jagged ice shelf, but there were hardly any natural handles to grip. The fierce creature climbed out of the hole it had fallen into. It growled ferociously and scuttled toward Nesha who kept sniveling, trying to climb the icy shelf.

“Please, God!” she cried out.

Nesha slipped and almost fell but held on to the icy shelf as tightly as she could while trying to pull herself up. The beast lunged at her again, its claws missing her feet by an inch. Nesha managed to lift herself and crawled backwards into the cavern while the creature kept growling and jumping.

After entering the cave, Nesha got to her feet and ran inside. The beast’s ferocious roars eventually died out. She caught her breath and calmed down. Other than the wind whistling in the cavern, it was silent. Her panting lessened as she leaned against one of the walls, observing her surroundings. The cave had several ledges and holes. It looked so familiar to her that she thought for a moment that it was the same cavern she’d been in with McKenzie. The other half of the starship, however, was nowhere to be seen. Nesha thought, It’s different but seems safe. Maybe I’ll stay here until morning. She felt another tectonic shift, which caused several icicles from the ceiling to fall. Nesha held on to a stalagmite as the cave shook. I guess it’s not as safe in here as I thought, she conceded, sighing.

The chamber’s icy ground suddenly shattered, at which point a frost vesper slithered out and glared at her. It then showed its fangs. Nesha was on the verge of letting go of the stalagmite before the frost vesper could kill her. She thought to herself, I’ve cried all the tears I had and screamed all the fear left inside me. This is the end, mom. It’s going to kill me.

The frost vesper hesitated. It looked up and hissed, saliva dripping down its mouth. Then a fusion beam from an FG-500 shot through the frost vesper’s torso, splitting it in half. Her eyes widening, she turned around and saw her soldier in shining armor.

“Those bastards just don’t know when to become extinct.”

“Keith!” cried out Nesha. “You’re alive!”

“Of course,” he said, rubbing his rugged, fully grown beard.

Grabbing a hand, Keith helped her up. She immediately hugged him. He patted her gently on the back.

“It’s all right,” he said.

“It’s been horrible,” she said, sniffling.

“What happened?” he asked. “And what’re you doing in this hellhole?”

“I ran away,” she said.

He flinched. “You ran away? But why?”

“Most of the ship is ruined,” she said. “We’re almost out of food and power. And Rena…Rena died today.”

Keith almost choked up. “Rena’s dead?” he said in disbelief.

“Yes,” she said, holding him tighter.

There was nothing Keith could do but look down, swallow his fear, and hold Nesha. They stood on the pedestal of ice together as the gusty wind swept around them. Keith wanted to keep holding her, but it was too cold here. He thought, staying inside the cavern would probably give them frostbite. Then he had an idea.

“Check this out,” he said.

Keith used a knife to chisel into the ice and ported out a CP-39 tent shaft via his UND. He shoved its pole-shaped base through the hole he’d just made. The pole emitted a dome-like shield, generating its own heat as if it were a bonfire.

“It’s perfect,” she said. “I saw one a few years ago when Tali wanted us to go camping together. My dad, however, didn’t give me permission. So we never bought it.”

“I see,” he said.

“But don’t you think this may attract those things?” she asked.

Keith shrugged. “If we were outside, maybe. Not here, though. They usually prefer low ground. Not to mention they’re afraid of light.”

“Oh, I almost forgot,” she said. “You saw them in the colony of Vindor, right?”

“How did you know about that?” he asked.

“Shiva,” said Nesha. “She told us about it after Teri killed one.”

Keith leaned against the wall and sighed. “It takes me back…”

“It must have been frightening for you,” she said.

“Frightening? That’s an understatement,” he said. “At first, Jolus and I were stationed there as security guards. We were mere privates at the time—fresh out of the UEC academy. I used to think that it was the most boring job. But at least we had our families.”

“Your families were there?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said grimly. “My parents and younger brother. Jolus, may he rest in peace, was a married man. He had a little girl too. Then, after a year, everything went to hell. Our families didn’t even have a chance. It was as if the colonists were put there for slaughter.”

“That’s horrible,” she said.

Keith nodded. “It’s in the textbooks, but no words will ever describe the horror we faced when those sons of bitches came out and butchered everyone,” he said.

“You’re right,” she said. “I studied the incident in school last year and learned that there were two survivors, but I never realized how real it was. It’s hard to believe I’m sitting with one of the survivors.”

“Well, I ain’t a hero,” he said. “It was either me or them; that’s how I always saw it. Jolus was the same. Yet we somehow made it out together. Then we both got caught up in this crazy mission. I’m not superstitious, but sometimes I wonder if there’s some kind of god out there who purposely wants me to suffer.”

Nesha chuckled. “No, silly. It’s just that we seem to be surrounded by a lot of bad people who try their best to make us lose faith in this beautiful universe. Life is precious. But, tell me, how did you survive when the syndicate attacked us? I saw the vessel before it crashed. It looked awful.”

Keith ported out Jolus Bako’s rift board and showed it to Nesha.

“Oh my gosh, that’s an R91,” she said. “You used this to get out?”

“Yeah,” he said, smirking. “At first I thought my time was up. But I still have unfinished business with Vreffith. Plus, I kept thinking of you.” Nesha blushed as he winked at her. “Then when I entered the atmosphere I realized that I still had Jolus’ rift board. All I needed to do was wait until the ship entered the atmosphere.”

“How come you didn’t come over to us?” she asked.

“To be honest, I waited for you guys to rescue me,” he said. “Though, I didn’t know our ship was so damaged. I mean, based on what you told me it’s almost hopeless to get out of here.”

“Not as hopeless as Shiva thinks.”

Keith laughed. “Shiva’s a genius. She always manages to replace a way out of a mess when it seems impossible. You should’ve seen her about two weeks ago in the Gamut. She really put on a show and saved my ass.”

“Well, I don’t know if she can help this time,” she said cynically. “The ship’s losing power and the distress beacon they have—”

“Distress beacon?” he interjected. “What frequency is it?”

“I…I don’t know,” she said.

“Put your helmet back on,” he said. “We need to go back now.”

“What?”

“Trust me,” he said sternly.

They put their helmets on and stood up. Keith removed the CP-39 and gave Nesha an FG-500. He then took out his older FG-400 for himself.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“If these vespers are the same as those on Vindor, they may be enticed to the signal of our starship,” he said. “You’ve seen one, but they usually travel in swarms. And if our ship is using a traditional signal, then they’ll eventually come.”

“Oh my God.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” he said.

Keith jumped off the ridge and then helped Nesha down. He activated the lights on his spaulders and walked to the cavern’s entrance. When the duo stepped out, the beast that was hunting Nesha pounced on top of Keith. Nesha shrieked, aiming her FG-500 at it. She thought it had mauled Keith’s face, but he impulsively shoved the CP-39 into the creature’s mouth. Keith used it as leverage to push the beast off him.

“Shoot the fucker!” he yelled out.

Nesha fired her FG-500 at the beast. The fusion beam created a hole through its ribs. It twitched and groaned on the ground before dying.

“Thanks,” he said. “I think you’re getting a knack for this already.”

“Not really,” she said.

Keith took a closer look at the beast. “There’s no way that this thing is natural,” he said, staring at it with an appalled expression.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Just look at it. It doesn’t look normal at all.”

“Do you suppose someone put these creatures here?” she asked.

“We’ll probably never know,” he said, staring at the beast.

“It’s creepy standing here,” she said. “Let’s leave.”

“Right,” he said, nodding.

They looked out into the valley but could barely see anything because of the deadly blizzard.

“Is this storm ever going to end?” she said, frowning.

“Don’t count on it,” he replied. “Come on.”

Keith ported out his R91, which had J.B. initialed on it in graffiti. He then gave Nesha a hand, helping her get on the board. She held him around his waist while he rifted forward.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “I just hope the R91 holds the two of us.”

“I’m sure it will, as long as we don’t do any fancy moves,” he said.

Another tectonic shift caused the ground to tremble, yet nothing emerged from the icy terrain.

“That must be them gathering through their underground network,” he added.

“How many do you think are there?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “There could be hundreds or thousands. Maybe more than that. I really have no idea.”

Nesha gulped heavily when she heard his answer and regretted asking. Together they rifted out of the valley. Nesha hated Sepas IX and yet felt safe because Keith seemed confident. His confidence was exactly what she needed; however, Keith gasped the moment they reached the tundra. Nesha looked around to see what he’d spotted and then noticed dozens of erdigens crawling around the tundra while another tectonic shift occurred.

“I’ve never seen those things before,” he said, distraught.

Several frost vespers suddenly emerged out of the permafrost soil. One of them rose near Keith, snapping its jaws at him.

“Hang on,” he said, speeding up.

Not a second later, Keith performed a cutback and then maneuvered into a high fade, but Nesha lost her balance what with the sudden thrust and fell, hanging on to the tip of the R91. She shrieked while the frost vesper slithered out of its hole, attempting to maul her.

“Help!” she shouted.

Keith descended and tried to lift her up. Then the R91’s propulsions malfunctioned due to the weather, causing the duo to flip forward onto a patch of snow. The board smashed against the ground and exploded.

“No!” he yelled out, extending his hand. “That was all I had left of Jolus.”

Standing up, Keith blasted the approaching vesper’s stomach and split it in half. After it splattered, another tectonic shift erupted. The glacier behind Keith cracked and collapsed. Nesha turned around and shrieked, noticing three more vespers emerge. One swiped its tail against Keith, slamming him against an iceberg. He fell against the frozen ground, barely moving.

“Keith!” she cried out.

Nesha attempted to blast the frost vesper using her FG-500. She aimed her gun at the creature’s neck, though it took twice as long for the fusion beam to pierce its skin as opposed to when Keith had killed one. Nesha aimed at the second vesper, but the gun’s barrel melted due to it overheating; then the third vesper swung its tail at her. She was hit so hard that the glacial shelf behind her cracked when she slammed into it, causing her to fall unconscious.

The most violent quake occurred. Countless frost vespers emerged and slithered toward Keith and Nesha like a swarm, ready to feast upon them. Nesha’s eyes suddenly opened when the vespers approached. They were the same searing eyes of citrine that Liagon had. Then her body ignited in flames. She stood up, glaring at the swarm. The vespers encircled her, mindless of what was about to occur.

In the meantime, Teri and Zar’kara traveled in their UHAT. They were searching for Nesha on Sepas IX’s surface, but no signs of life showed up on their radars. Zar’kara was scouting while Teri drove, speaking to Shiva via her vidlink.

“No sign of her yet, sparky,” said Teri.

“Keep looking,” said Shiva. “She must be nearby. But as I mentioned earlier, she’ll return.”

“What makes you so damn sure?” inquired Zar’kara.

Shiva answered, “Technical analysis from teenage rebellion: they tend to reject what their elders insist upon until there’s nothing else to do except return home.”

Teri chuckled while Zar’kara snorted.

“You have your orders,” said Shiva.

“Aye aye, Captain,” said Teri. “We’ll keep scouting around.” She decided to keep her vidlink active while continuing to drive her UHAT. “I hope she’s okay.”

“Perhaps she left the moon on her rift board,” said Zar’kara.

“No way,” said Teri. “Not even I can make them resistant to this kind of weather. She’s somewhere on this crazy moon.”

Zar’kara grumbled and said, “Well, we searched enough. There’s no more light to guide us. If we’re to continue looking, then I suggest that we wait until morning when we can actually see.”

“I guess,” she said, disheartened.

Teri maneuvered her UHAT in a crescent swipe. She clicked a button beside her, which shifted the UHAT’s rift mode to a humanoid form. Zar’kara, however, hissed just as Teri turned to leave.

“By the Yak-Shur!” he spouted.

“What’s up, Zarry?”

“Over there!” he said, pointing west. “Look!”

Their eyes widened, seeing a massive blaze miles away, which resembled a huge sphere. Then it exploded, similar to a mushroom’s form. Smoke and wind gusted over the entire moon in an instant.

“Teri, I’m picking up a surge of energy heading your way,” said Shiva, speaking through the vidlink. “It’s coming from the tundra you found earlier, and it’s a heat signature identical to a supernova.”

“It has to be Nesha,” said Teri. “Hold yer snout tight, Zarry, cus yer goin’ on the wildest ride of yer life!”

Without hesitation, Teri shifted her UHAT to its rifting form and hovered over the icy plains. Zar’kara was stuck to his seat after Teri activated hypermode, zooming seven hundred miles an hour. With such speed, the duo instantly reached the frozen lake. After a few more seconds, they approached Sepas IX’s tundra; though it no longer looked like a tundra. Instead it resembled a scorching wasteland.

“Holy Toledo,” said Teri, looking through her window as she slowed down.

Zar’kara noticed something pulsing on his radar. “Yonder at these coordinates,” he said, transferring them to her screen. “There are two life signs there.”

“Nice, I’m on my way,” said Teri.

She maneuvered Xelvakron into a crescent swipe and came to a full stop, hovering above dozens of vesper carcasses. Teri opened the cockpit, and Zar’kara leapt out. The entire tundra had become a crater fuming with smoke and patches of flame. If anyone still lived in the area, neither Teri nor Zar’kara could comprehend how. Zar’kara pounced into the crater. His scaled palms landed on a slushy terrain instead of the usual permafrost that enveloped the moon.

“Find her yet, Zarry?” asked Teri.

“No,” he said. “But the ice has completely melted. I don’t know how, and I doubt even Yak-Shur could tell me.”

Several geysers were active around the landscape as he stepped forward. While searching the crater, his eyes changed to a black color, allowing him to see the environment as if through a pair of night-vision goggles. That instant, he spotted somebody approaching him.

“I must have praised Yak-Shur a thousand times when I woke up beside Heidegger’s remains, realizing I was still alive,” said Keith.

“I’d praise the Yak-Shur myself, but I somehow knew you survived,” replied Zar’kara. “It’s a warrior’s feat to always survive, except for this disaster. How did you survive what we saw?”

His eyes returned to their viper-like form when Keith reached him, carrying Nesha who was almost naked. What remained of her jumpsuit appeared burnt.

“Heck, I don’t know what happened either,” said Keith. “But it seems Shiva was right. Nesha must have caused this. Otherwise, we would’ve been killed by the vespers. Though, she’s been unconscious since I found her.”

“Sugar daddy!” called out Teri. “You’re alive!”

“And he’s found the goods,” said Zar’kara.

“The goods, huh?” said Keith. “Listen, Zar, she’s very important to me.”

Zar’kara smirked, patting him on the back with his claw.

“Hey,” said Teri, “I’m sure you boys are havin’ a lovely picnic down there, but I reckon we get back before sparky has a synthetic heart attack.”

In the meantime, McKenzie looked at a computer console linked to the starship’s distress signal. As usual, the scanning system appeared blank. But after a few seconds it started to beep. McKenzie’s face brightened.

“I found something!” he said gleefully, jumping up and down for joy. “We’re saved! Someone’s coming to rescue us!”

Shiva observed the screen and responded, “That is Xelvakron.”

“Oh, I knew that,” said McKenzie. “I was just testing to see if you—” He noticed Shiva already inside an EP. “Hey, wait for me!”

Shiva waited for him to join her. The duo then ported to the shuttle bay. When the ship’s force field deactivated, Teri drove her UHAT inside. Both cockpits opened while Shiva turned the force field back on. Teri and Zar’kara climbed out of the UHAT’s chest while Keith lifted Nesha out of the UHAT’s lower compartment.

“Keith, my man!” said McKenzie, never happier. “You’re alive!”

About to climb the UHAT just to hug Keith, he noticed Nesha half naked and then hesitated.

“It’s good to see you guys are safe too,” said Keith. “And it’s good to be back on this ship, even though it looks like it took a dump while I was gone.”

“Yeah, quite the dump,” said McKenzie, chuckling.

Just then, Gahza entered the chamber. He roared with delight when he saw Keith. Shortly after, Tathagata came inside too. She stood beside Gahza and bowed before Keith when she saw him.

“Not meditating?” said Keith. “Now this is definitely a hero’s welcome.”

The crew laughed. Not waiting another second, Tathagata gently took Nesha from Keith and returned her to the engine chamber. Shiva, meanwhile, shook Keith’s hand.

“It’s good to see you in one piece,” said Shiva.

“You too, Shiva,” said Keith. “It’s been hell out there.”

“Wait a minute,” said McKenzie, baffled. “In one piece? What happened to, ‘it’s good to see you in pieces?’” He looked at Keith and asked, “Did you happen to lose any vital organs?”

“Nope,” replied Keith, walking away. “But I think you did after that crash.”

Shiva patted McKenzie on the back. “You still haven’t acknowledged my keen sense of humor? You don’t have to answer that question, it’s rhetorical.”

“Ohhhh, you’ve been played!” said Teri.

McKenzie stared at Shiva with an awkward expression as she left the chamber. He then heard Teri giggle.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Keep laughing.”

Teri giggled louder and skipped up the ramp to join the others. When they returned to the engine chamber, Tathagata took care of Nesha who’d just been given a new jumpsuit via Shiva’s GT. Nesha now wore coral-colored armor while she lay unconscious on one of Teri’s workstations. Tathagata waved her medical device over Nesha.

“She told me about Rena,” said Keith. “I’m sorry.”

Tathagata nodded. “We were all very close to her,” she said.

“I used to think of her as a big sister who always looked out for me,” said Teri. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

Keith kept quiet for a moment and then asked, “Where’s her body?”

“Zar’kara helped me put her in the laboratory,” said Tathagata. “It was the only suitable place we could replace.”

Tathagata turned off the medical device and allowed the crew to see Nesha. With the exception of Shiva who stayed near the computer console, the crew gathered near her. Keith stroked Nesha’s hair, smiling at her even though she was unconscious.

“Is she all right, doc?” he asked.

“You tell me,” said Tathagata. “After all, you’re the one who found her, right?”

“We were attacked by the vespers,” replied Keith. “The last thing I remember was being hit by one of their tails. They usually do that when they’re afraid to come too close because of our light or weapons. We were completely surrounded. Then, before I blanked out, it’s as if I saw—”

“Not as if,” interrupted Shiva. “You did see.”

“Yeah,” said Keith. “You were right all along, Shiva. By the time I opened my eyes, it was too late. It’s as if all the K-1000 we have went off in one spot. Yet I wasn’t harmed. But what troubles me the most is that if Liagon has the same exact power as Nesha, then…”

“Wh-what happened?” muttered Nesha, waking up.

“Nesha, you need to rest,” said Tathagata.

“I’m okay,” she said softly. “I think I’ve rested more than enough today.”

“Teri and Zar found you in the nick of time, Nesha,” said McKenzie. “It’s good to see that you’re all right. But seriously, we’ve gotta get out of here.”

“That’s right, the ship’s frequency,” said Keith. “I need to see the console.” He sprinted over to the computer’s mainframe, checking the radar as well as the distress signal’s frequency. “Can we use anything else?”

“This is the only encrypted frequency I have available,” responded Shiva, looking at the screen. “Why do you ask?”

“Because every distress signal that Jolus and I put out ended up attracting the vespers,” said Keith. “The only reason we were rescued was because a research vessel came to check on us, but that was after a month.”

“Holy moly,” said Teri. “You were stuck there for a whole month?”

Keith nodded. “Hard to believe, huh? And if we don’t replace another way to contact those fe’lorians out there, this’ll be Vindor all over again.”

“Hmmm,” uttered Teri. “Well, I’m not sure if there’s anythin’ we can do. It’s not like there’s a colony out here for people ta visit or check on.”

McKenzie’s heart pounded. “Damn it, what’re we gonna do?” he asked.

“Slaughter them,” said Zar’kara, loading a plasma clip into his PT-80. “For the Yak-Shur!”

“I like your thinking, brother,” said Gahza.

He roared with Zar’kara, starting to port out weapons.

“Well, it seems we’ve got the firepower to hold them off,” said Keith. “But no rifles or pistols. We’ll need heavy weapons: PT and FG models, as well as grenades.”

“Do they have any weaknesses?” asked McKenzie.

“Their stomach, near the center of their body,” replied Keith. “That’s where their scales are most vulnerable. One beam should split them in half. I also suggest we build some kind of barricade around the ship. If we have a barrier, it’ll make it much harder for them to attack us whether they come from beneath or the surface.”

“This is crazy,” said McKenzie. “Are these things seriously coming just because of our beacon’s signal?”

“I’m not sure,” said Keith. “But it’s better to be on the safe side, right?”

They suddenly felt a slight tremor.

“Why me,” said McKenzie, moping.

The crew worked together during the remainder of the night, building a massive barricade around their ship’s perimeter. They also placed weapons on their ship’s roof and K-1000 mines in the snow. Teri drove her UHAT outside and placed it on the roof. She then clicked a button that shifted the UHAT to tank mode. The UHAT automatically connected its substructure to one of the destroyed wings of the starship and turned into a colossal LP-14 turret.

“How did you do that?” asked McKenzie.

Teri giggled. “Easy peasy,” she said. “I matched Xelvakron’s biomechanics with the Malvakarian’s since it has its own DNA.”

“Amazing,” he said.

“Yuppers,” replied Teri. “I thought the same thing too when Zarry and I built it. All vel’pheasian vessels are considered to be alive. That’s why they have their own DNA. Mal’s a little of both—organic and machine. Isn’t he the coolest hybrid?”

“Totally,” said McKenzie.

After several hours, the sky started to show a tinge of indigo. It was morning, at least on this moon, and the blizzard had finally stopped. The hazy mist and wind, however, remained as strong as ever. Most of the crew stayed inside the engine chamber. Shiva kept checking on the console’s radar.

During this time, Keith visited the Malvakarian’s laboratory wing. He walked over to the only platform that had a body and knew that the figure underneath the sheet was Rena. He stood beside her and remained quiet for a while.

“I was surprised when Niralus died,” Keith finally said. “Though, it didn’t really affect me as much as when I found out about your death.” He didn’t have it in him to lift the sheet, so he placed his hand on it. “You were a great leader, Commander. You’ll be missed.” He saluted her just as Nesha entered.

“She was calisian,” said Nesha. “Doctor Surandes told us that the weather infected her blood.”

“Did you always know?” he asked.

“That she was calisian?” she said. “No, I had no idea. How about you?”

“I had a hunch. Though, when I confronted her about it I ended up feeling like I owed her something. I owed her respect. So, I had decided to keep her secret safe.”

“I wonder why she kept it a secret,” she said.

“I’m not sure myself,” he said. “Though, it’s not difficult for us soldiers to understand. See, the UEC’s called the UEC for a reason. It’s traditionally always been a human government. Only now has the UEC started branching out of Earth, but only for power. It was originally the IGF’s job to maintain order in the universe. The UEC wants to have a more significant role in galactic sovereignty, and they feel they’re ready.”

“Is that why my father’s trying to stop Vreffith?” she asked.

“I still don’t know all the details about that,” he said. “But it seems the UEC’s actually fond of Vreffith’s business. People love Vortex. Even I want to buy it. Your father, however, had found something that connects Vreffith to the Black Moon syndicate. Problem is, most of the files Niralus had found are still encrypted. And technically, with no decrypted evidence, we’ll go to prison for what we’re doing. As you can see, Vreffith’s doing a good job at making sure the evidence isn’t decrypted.”

“But why did Rena want me to be here?” she asked.

“Actually, it was Shiva,” he said. “See, like most of us, Rena was in the dark. It’s really Shiva who’s been our leader ever since, um—” He wasn’t sure if Nesha knew that her father had died, and he certainly didn’t want to tell her. He quickly said, “Ever since the syndicate attacked us.”

“Uh-huh, are you hiding something from me?”

“Huh?” he said, taken aback. “Damn it, I meant to say Vreffith. The syndicate follows his orders.”

“Mmhmm, nothing else you’re hiding?”

Keith responded, “Why would—”

Another tectonic shift abruptly caused the ship to tremble. Keith grabbed her before she could fall and held her. Though a bit awkward at first, they stared at each other as though they were back in Nirvana, craving that special kiss. Before getting the impulse to kiss, however, an alarm activated.

“Battle stations, everybody,” said Shiva, speaking loudly through the intercom of the Malvakarian. “It seems Keith was correct.”

Nesha and Keith exited the laboratory wing and entered the engine chamber while the others prepared to leave—except Tathagata who, to no one’s surprise, was meditating. Shiva walked over to Keith and Nesha, giving each of them a PT-80.

“I received these from noble Zar,” said Shiva.

Keith activated the PT-80 and grinned. “You know, I could get used to working with the vels. What’s our situation?”

“It’s precisely as you predicted,” said Shiva. “There’s an energy surge beginning to surround our perimeter. The scanner deciphered the energy mass as a swarm of life forms approaching. I can only assume that these readings are frost vespers and erdigens.”

“Maybe just vespers,” said Keith. “Those other things seem to eat vespers. But maybe…no, that’s impossible.”

“What’s impossible?” asked Nesha.

Keith began, “Well—”

“Come,” interrupted Shiva. “We can conjecture later. Right now we have a battle upon us, and our outcome needs to be a victory.”

It was a foggy evening when Keith, Nesha, and Shiva finished climbing up to the ship’s roof. None of them could see anything other than the terrain of snow and the dark sky that was filled with frozen clouds, bringing yet another blizzard. The weather became colder and the wind kept hitting them hard while they scouted around.

“Anything?” asked Keith.

“Nothing yet,” replied McKenzie.

Keith ported an SP-34 sniper rifle, using its advanced scope. Dozens of erdigens were slithering across the icy lake, but there were no frost vespers to be seen. Then a violent tremor caught him off guard. He almost fell.

“Those bastards are probably deepening their underground network,” said Keith. “They’ll launch one single attack and wipe us out as if we were insects.”

“Maybe we are,” said Teri, standing beside her UHAT. “I mean, you know, according to their insect minds.” She tried to imitate a bug; though, no one found it amusing.

“Teri,” began Keith, “if I get married one day and you come to my wedding, make sure you never do that next to me.”

Nesha laughed and, despite Keith’s comment, Teri laughed too. They then heard noises of what sounded like screeches. The crew got in position and readied their weapons. Teri and Zar’kara were inside Xelvakron while Nesha, Keith, Shiva, and Gahza stood on the roof’s ledge, spread apart. They were all wielding PT-80s. McKenzie was on the laboratory’s plasma turret and maneuvered it upward, aiming the cannon at the frozen lake.

“Hold your fire, McKenzie,” said Keith via his vidlink. “We don’t want them to get riled up yet.”

McKenzie nodded and slightly lowered the cannon.

Wanting to share her feelings, Nesha looked at Keith and said, “You know, there’s a part of me that’s telling me I should be terrified; that this may be the end for all of us. But with you, I somehow feel safe.”

Putting his gun down, he placed his hands on her waist and replied, “That’s how you’re supposed to feel when you’re around me.”

Nesha laughed softly. “Your words are definitely as smooth as your hands,” she said, pulling her hips away from him. “I’m not as easy to have as you think. But maybe you can try that again if we survive.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he said, picking up his weapon.

A massive tectonic shift abruptly occurred. It was so violent that the ship nearly turned upside down despite it being frozen to the terrain. Dozens upon dozens of frost vespers emerged from the permafrost ground until they were no longer a cluster but a swarm beyond hundreds.

“Fire at will!” shouted Keith.

“Party time,” said Teri, firing her UHAT’s laser turret.

McKenzie blasted numerous beasts with the ship’s built-in plasma cannon while the others fired using their PT-80s. Despite the vespers getting blown up by the immense firepower, more kept emerging. Within seconds, the icescape was covered with frost vespers. Between the storm and swarm, the crew stood their ground, killing as many of the creatures as they could.

“There’s no end to them,” said Nesha.

“Don’t let up!” said Keith. “This is just the beginning! Gahza, can you cover our flank while Nesha and I handle the sides?”

Gahza nodded with a snort and immediately switched sides, firing at every single vesper that approached the vessel. Each plasma torpedo he shot blew them up into pieces. Yet it didn’t seem to matter because more kept emerging from the ground.

“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about those other things for a while,” said Nesha, glancing at the distant erdigens.

“Huh?” uttered Keith, looking ahead. “Shit, they’re approaching a lot quicker than I anticipated.”

“Don’t use lasers on them,” said Nesha. “They seem to feed on them.”

“Really?” said Keith, raising an eyebrow. “Looks like you’re turning into quite the soldier.”

“Please,” said Nesha, blowing up another frost vesper.

“Damn it, I need a little help here,” said McKenzie. “My cannon’s starting to overheat, and there’s not much else I can do!”

“Teri, aim the UHAT in McKenzie’s direction and assist him,” said Keith.

“You got it, daddy-o-fanazio,” said Teri.

Keith shook his head. “She says the strangest things.”

“Yeah, but she’s still the coolest,” said Nesha.

“I’ve gotta agree,” said Keith.

There were now thousands upon thousands of vespers approaching the ship. The swarm was so massive that the vespers were practically on top of one another, slithering closer toward the vessel. McKenzie was finally able to fire his cannon again, though he couldn’t help but gulp heavily when he saw the oncoming horde.

“This is scary,” said Nesha. “Was it this bad on Vindor?”

Keith released yet another plasma torpedo while he replied, “Almost. They came in clusters every time Jolus and I had activated a distress signal. We tried our best to hold the towers, but we eventually had to fall back.”

“Fall back?” said Nesha. “We don’t have anywhere to fall back to.”

“Yeah, but Jolus and I didn’t have this kind of firepower either,” said Keith, continuing to launch more plasma torpedoes at the vespers.

“Gotcha,” said Nesha, firing her weapon.

As Gahza reloaded his PT-80 with an energy cartridge, Teri moved her UHAT’s turret around to assist him. Shiva had her weapon connected to her shoulder, using the power within her system so she didn’t have to reload. In the meantime, McKenzie kept using the laboratory wing’s turret, firing at the creatures approaching Gahza who had just finished reloading his PT-80.

“Hold the perimeter!” shouted Keith, shooting the vespers. There were so many vespers that they eventually reached the valley where the Malvakarian stood. “They won’t stop, but neither shall we!”

“I wonder why we haven’t seen that other creature from last night,” said Nesha.

“It’s probably not attracted to our signal,” said Keith. “It seems to be more of an insect thing. See those other sons of bitches?”

“Yeah, they’re getting closer,” said Nesha.

“I’ve noticed they have antennae, which may be sensitive to our broadcast,” said Keith. “The vespers don’t have them, but there’s obviously something inside them that’s causing this reaction.”

“Getting hot here!” said Teri.

“Stay here,” said Keith. “I’ll help her.”

Nesha nodded as he ran across the platform to assist Teri. He used both an FG-400 and a PT-80, which was starting to overheat as well. Keith threw two void grenades near a cluster of vespers slithering below the ship. Seconds later, they were consumed by his grenades.

“Those are pretty nifty. Thanks for the help,” said Teri, activating her laser turret again and firing at the vespers near her. “Clear!”

“All right, I’m going back to position,” said Keith.

Their PT-80 plasma guns eventually overheated. They had no choice but to use FG-500s, which could only generate occasional beams since a steady power surge of those weapons could melt their barrels. The crew changed guns just in time because another wave of vespers emerged. Erdigens approached too, but they were too busy eating the leftover carcasses of dead vespers.

“Remember, aim for their stomachs,” said Keith. “And by no means are we to use laser weaponry on those other things.”

“They’re called erdigens,” said Shiva.

“Right, no laser weaponry on erdigens,” said Keith.

Despite the fact that Teri had used her UHAT to remove all the snow on the roof, it was starting to look as if she didn’t plow it at all. The blizzard came down harsher than ever before. Pieces of ice were jabbing into their armor as they attempted to blast every creature they could see. Unfortunately, their firepower seemed utterly useless against the slithering swarm because the creatures continued to flood the subzero landscape.

“My joints are beginning to freeze,” said Shiva.

“Use one of our armor suits!” yelled out Keith.

Shiva replied, “Keith, you have never ceased to amaze me with your ideas since our voyage to Aydis.” She ported a UEC military armor suit and then activated its heating system. “This is perfect.” Shiva couldn’t show any expressions with her samurai mask, but she definitely felt satisfied. She released a thermal charge via her MP-98 rifle while using an FG-500 to finish off the rest of the beasts near her.

“This is insane,” said Gahza.

“What’s that?” said Zar’kara, snarling. “Did I hear the voice of a fallen warrior?”

“Never!” exclaimed Gahza. “For the Yak-Shur!”

“Much better,” said Zar’kara, continuing to fire the laser turret at a cluster of vespers and erdigens.

Keith clicked his UND a few times and then detonated mines in the ice when the vespers reached the ship’s base. Their bodies blew open, splurging azurite-colored blood and organs on the terrain.

“Whoa, ya got ’em good, bub,” said Teri.

“I always do,” said Keith, winking at her via his vidlink.

“Major problem!” spouted McKenzie. “The cannon’s overheating again!”

“Teri, can you handle it?” asked Keith.

“I’ll try my best, but at this rate Xelvakron will overheat too,” said Teri. “We’ll need some help.”

“Shiva!” called out Keith. “Give them a hand!”

“Already on it,” she said.

Shiva was shooting all the vespers that slithered toward McKenzie as his cannon stopped firing. Moments later, Teri had no choice but to stop while Zar’kara got out. He started shooting with his PT-80, but it wasn’t helping much. The massive swarm started to slither onto the ship’s hull. Three frost vespers lunged up, hissing at Gahza.

He roared as loud as the vespers, blasting one in half. Zar’kara noticed them and fired at the second beast. The third one, however, plunged its fangs into Gahza’s chest before he could shoot it. The beast viciously gnawed its fangs inward until Gahza’s torso split open.

“Gahza!” cried out Zar’kara.

The creature swallowed what was left of Gahza while Zar’kara shot it down. The other vespers were beginning to climb the hull. Zar’kara returned to the UHAT, killing as many of them as he could. McKenzie no longer cared if his gun overheated. He continued to attack, but countless beasts surrounded the plasma cannon and sank their teeth into it. The hull ripped, and the gun malfunctioned. McKenzie backed away, retreating into the laboratory wing as the turret exploded.

“Don’t let up!” said Keith.

“There’re too many of them,” said Nesha.

“It doesn’t matter!” he said. “Hold the—”

Keith realized the entire landscape was filled with them. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. What he saw made his experience on Vindor look like nothing. The blizzard pounded against him, making him despair even more. He let go of his gun while gazing at the infestation. It was as if time had stopped for him.

“We’ve failed Admiral Bisel’s mission,” said Shiva.

“Not yet, sparky,” said Teri, still firing from her UHAT.

Zar’kara roared while shooting. He then yelled out, “I won’t let these creatures be the death of me!”

“That’s the spirit, Zarry!” said Teri.

Nesha backed away and gasped while a vesper climbed to the roof. She accidently collided with Keith as she attempted to blast the beast, but four more slithered up. Keith didn’t even do anything. He felt hopeless and thought to himself, after everything they’d been through, the mission was a failure. The hazy indigo sky joined in their destruction as what seemed to be meteors hurled down from the moon’s troposphere.

Between the chaotic snowstorm and the massive swarm, none of the ship’s crew realized what was above them. It was an apocalypse as Sepas IX’s sky ripped apart with rays of light—beams of flame—blazing through the atmosphere onto the infested terrain. The icy landscape was set on fire and had torn asunder. Every geyser around the ship’s vicinity had been ignited, erupting from the sudden surge of heat and energy caused by something that was descending upon the melting troposphere.

From a monstrous blizzard to a sudden rain of fire, everything was turning upside down for the crew. Nesha stood on the roof and watched every creature get slaughtered by the raging inferno. She glimpsed at Keith who stared at the sky with a thunderstruck expression. Nesha thought it was odd, so she looked up too.

Dazzling heavens. What sky sunders after uncanny tides of fire and ice? What honor do they owe such an ending to nature if so anomalous upon science and all existence?—not God.

Nesha was just as astounded as Keith when their vessel became liberated from the icy clutches of Sepas IX, hovering upward—as though lifted by a tractor beam—toward a floating citadel that radiated in what appeared to be a crimson hive composed of organic tissue. Its organic skin was identical to the Malvakarian’s hull. And its monstrous design was no different than the Malvakarian’s claw-shaped wings.

The floating citadel’s substructure resembled a ferocious visage of a beast so menacing that it frightened the whole crew, except Zar’kara. After the citadel-like spacecraft blasted the remaining vespers with plasma torpedoes, its mouth opened and swallowed the Malvakarian.

“It seems my past is catching up to me,” said Zar’kara.

“I guess so, Zarry,” said Teri.

McKenzie climbed onto the roof in hopes of helping the others but then gazed at the hive-like ship and muttered, “Whoa.”

“Um, Keith?” said Nesha.

“Yeah?” he said, slack-jawed.

“What is that?” she asked.

“The only thing worse than vespers,” he said in an apprehensive tone. “A vel’pheasian mothership.”

Nesha thought to herself, as one nightmare ended, another began. Each nightmare seemed to be worse than the last. She felt each one was bringing her closer to death. And yet she was still alive. Nesha knew little of the vel’pheasians. But she started to take Keith’s word to heart and assumed that being rescued by them was worse than the fate they were previously subjected to.

Shiva approached Keith and said, “At least the distress signal was received.” She patted Keith on the back while their starship ascended into the vel’pheasian mothership’s vast shuttle chamber. “Right?”

“You know, Shiva,” said McKenzie, “I think I’m actually starting to catch on to your keen sense of humor.”