Red Nova
Chapter Two

Gambit in Gamut

Admiral Bisel unexpectedly felt composed and, most of all, considerate. That was an oddity for him. This may have been because he was getting closer to his objective. It may have also been because of Commander Mar’kett’s advice to ease up on his daughter. Even though he’d found himself slightly upset with Mar’kett in the Argana Lounge, he felt deep down inside that she was right. Bisel decided that it was time to make things right, not just with his daughter but with the crew as well.

“Where are we, Carey?” he asked.

Carey, viewing a space chart on her terminal, responded, “According to our scanners, we’re in the Raging Gamut. But I’m still trying to pinpoint which star system.”

“Thermal radiation is known for obstructing our sensors,” said Shiva.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” said Bisel.

“Your zipper is unfastened,” replied Shiva.

Bisel blushed, looking down at his sealed zipper.

“That I can be as whimsical as you is something you did not know, Admiral.”

Impressed by Shiva’s attempt at a joke, Bisel said, “Not bad for an AI, but jokes are meant for humans. Why don’t you keep yourself busy…like using our laser turrets to take out those asteroids.”

He laughed since Shiva didn’t respond. Then the vessel’s weapons activated.

“Looks like the joke is on you,” he said. “Hold your fire, Shiva. If we shoot the asteroids they’ll just shatter and spread, making it harder for us to get by.”

“Very well, Admiral,” said Shiva.

“Adams,” said Bisel, “do you think you can handle getting us out of this hellhole so the captain can do his job?”

“Yes, sir,” said Adams, looking hopeful.

“Then helm the ship,” said Bisel. Adams anxiously stood up and walked over to Heims as Bisel called out, “Captain.” Heims, surprised, approached Bisel who continued, “I think it’s time you have your seat back. There’re a few things I need to—”

“Admiral,” interjected Carey, “I’m picking up a large reading of khlium from the planet closest to us.”

“Khlium?” responded Bisel, raising an eyebrow. “Having that would be a tremendous advantage if our engineers can convert it into fuel. Excellent work, Carey; notify Commander Saven so he can send his mining shuttle there to extract the material.”

“Right away, Admiral,” said Carey, faintly smiling. Just then, her terminal beeped. “I’ve got a fix,” she added. “We’re in the Etowah Star System.”

“That would explain the dwarf,” said Bisel. “Adams, set a course for planet Aydis in the Phoenix Nebula, but keep the ship under eighteen hundred K.”

Adams complied, moving Goliath’s throttle forward.

Turning his attention back to the captain, Bisel went on, “As I was saying, there’re a few things that I need to do before we reach our destination. Take command of the ship while I’m gone.”

“I won’t let you down, Admiral,” said Heims, taking back his seat.

Bisel nodded, descended the spiral staircase, and made his way out of the chamber. Upon the access door opening, he heard Commander Saven via the relay.

“Fine! Fine! Just send me the damn coordinates,” said Saven.

Even though Bisel had decided to cut his crew some slack, Saven was one of the few who he’d never loosen his grip of power on. Similar to having a little distaste for Keith, he disliked Saven and couldn’t help but grin when hearing Saven’s response while the door closed behind him.

In the meantime, Sergeant Keith Wernn was walking through one of the silver-colored corridors in the eastern wing, on his way to the armory. He reached the entrance and entered the chamber. Approaching a set of small storage compartments, he waved his UND by his locker’s console, sitting on a bench beside it.

“Welcome back, Sergeant Wernn,” said Shiva.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Keith. “I want you to remove the FG-400 in my UND and upload more ammo for my MP-98 rifle.”

“Very well, Sergeant Wernn,” responded Shiva.

Lieutenant Jolus Bako entered the armory. He saw Keith connected to the locker’s digital mainframe, which served as a weapons and armor depot, and casually saluted him.

“What’s up, man,” said Keith.

“So,” began Jolus, “did you do it?”

Leaning on his locker while sighing, Keith replied, “Well, I was going to…until I noticed her pimp.”

“Her pimp?” said Jolus, surprised. “What was it, a vel?” His eyes widened when Keith nodded at him. “You’re serious? A vel’pheasian pimp?”

Keith dialed several codes into his UND as he responded, “Yeah. Hard to believe, huh? Seeing it scared the shit out of me. So I gave her twenty credits on the spot and got the hell out of there.”

Jolus laughed and said, “No kidding. I would’ve done the same.” He walked over to a locker and connected his UND to a similar depot Keith used, which visualized different armors and various ammunitions. “Well, I suppose that was for the better,” he added. “It’s not the same when a calisian can throw you around like a bitch.”

“Hey,” said Keith, “calisian strength or not, if she’s hot then that’s all that matters to me. And when I say hot, I don’t mean the stupid weather. I mean sexy. I’ll stroke any chick who’s hot.”

“Welcome back, Lieutenant Bako,” said Shiva.

“Thanks,” said Jolus. “What’s my status?”

“Please stand by,” said Shiva.

“By the way,” began Keith, changing the subject and sounding more carefree, “have you heard of that new virtual game developed by Vignia Corporation?”

“Vortex?” said Jolus. “Yeah, don’t know much about it though.”

“It’s crazy, man,” said Keith. “I heard it creates an alternate reality that overlaps with ours—like two dimensions in one. And, get this, there’re even rumors that you can create and export a character personality from the game to an android in our own universe if you finish it on the highest difficulty.”

“Huh,” uttered Jolus, “fall in love with a woman in the game and then I guess you have the perfect girlfriend. I can see you doing that.”

“Shut up,” said Keith, trying not to laugh at the joke.

Jolus, on the other hand, laughed hysterically.

“Seriously,” went on Keith, “it seems like it’ll be an awesome game. I think I’ll buy it when we’re back home.”

“When we’re back home?” said Jolus. “I don’t—”

“Lieutenant Bako,” interjected Shiva, “you currently have fifty unused galactic bytes in your UND. Would you like to make any modifications?”

“Yes, Shiva,” said Jolus. “I want you to switch my ammo cartridges from incendiary to technetium.” He looked back at Keith while continuing, “As I was saying: I don’t know if we’ll be making it back home.”

“Geez,” said Keith, “what’s happened to you, Jolus? I thought your black ass was always an optimist after Vindor.”

“Not for a mission like this one,” said Jolus.

“So you do know something that I don’t,” said Keith.

“Your modification is complete,” interrupted Shiva.

Jolus disconnected his UND from the module while replying, “No, I really don’t know anything. But isn’t it obvious? Vreffith Larser? Here?”

Keith sulked. “Don’t even get me started with that,” he said. “Nobody has proof of him being linked to the syndicate. Besides, why would Bisel want to get in Vreffith’s way? He’s got a serious superiority complex, and one of these days it’s going to get him in trouble. Even I know messing with Vreffith is like asking for a death sentence.”

“Just having him aboard makes this worse than Vindor,” said Jolus.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Keith, giving him a long look.

“This mission is completely beyond me,” said Jolus. “Honestly, I don’t even know why the admiral selected us to escort him to Khiylos. I mean, if you had asked me, I’d have thought his highest ranking officers would’ve gone with him instead.”

“Nah,” uttered Keith, waving his hand in protest. “Commanders are just a bunch of pussies who sit behind fancy desks writing lists of orders that only real men with balls can handle.”

“Point taken,” said Jolus.

“Bisel was smart to pick us after what we’ve been through,” said Keith. “But it’s bullshit that none of us know what’s going on.”

“Well, I guess we’ll know soon enough,” said Jolus.

“I hope so,” said Keith, sighing.

Keith hated being kept in the dark. He knew his crew felt the same, but after the horror he’d experienced on Vindor, he had vowed never to be kept in the dark again regardless of the situation. Vindor had become a dead planet, and it gave him nightmares just thinking about what had happened there. And though Jolus—the only other survivor from Vindor—had humbled himself after the planet’s destruction, Keith had decided to take matters into his own hands and look out for Jolus, as well as himself, even if it meant disrespecting a high-ranking officer like Admiral Bisel; it didn’t matter to Keith if he was a low-ranking soldier. Rank meant nothing to him, only surviving.

Jolus’ violet-colored UND vibrated. He gave Keith a warning with his hands and then accepted the vidlink call. After a few seconds of static, Bisel’s face materialized in the form of snowy particles.

“Lieutenant,” said Bisel, “we have entered the Phoenix Nebula in Gamut. We’ll soon be reaching Aydis. I’ll need you and Sergeant Don Quixote to be prepped and ready when we enter its atmosphere.”

“We’ll start getting ready now, Admiral,” said Jolus.

“Excellent,” said Bisel. “Meet me by the shuttle at 0600.”

The vidlink session ended. Jolus looked at Keith who had a large grin despite Bisel mocking him.

“Still thinking of that Vortex girlfriend?” asked Jolus.

Ignoring him, Keith replied, “I don’t know, Lieutenant. You might want to switch back to incendiary.”

Jolus sighed and called out, “Shiva…”

In the meantime, Admiral Bisel was in his private cabin. He sat by his desk that was lit up with three bright spheres: a screen, keyboard, and voice panel. The voice panel was grayed out, but the keyboard and screen glowed brightly. Bisel had been writing a letter using the Galactic Terminal, and though he’d already finished it, he did not want to send it right away. Instead he stared at it for a moment:

Nesha,

I know that I haven’t been the best father since your mother passed away. Your mother was always so sweet but also very strict. When she was pregnant with you, I always thought that I’d be the strict one. Yet it turned out to be the other way around. I tried to convince her almost all the time to give you a little leeway with your friends. We used to be so close, you and I.

Then I tightened up after Elsa’s death. I thought that I needed to be like her. Instead it only kept us apart. You’re going to be 18 soon. I’m so proud of you. Soon you’ll be graduating and starting Higher Education. I want you to know how proud I am of everything that you’ve accomplished, which is why I’m letting you go on that special trip with your friends.

The confirmation slip is attached, so don’t forget to upload it into your UND and send it to your teacher. I won’t be home anytime soon because I have a very important mission, but I hope you have a wonderful time.

Love,

Dad

Bisel smiled as he reread what he’d written and then clicked the screen panel’s touch-sensitive “send” button. He logged off the Galactic Terminal, stood up, and glanced at the windowpane above his bed where he could see Gamut’s veil of space. He noticed Aydis in the distance.

“This is it,” he said.

Leaving his bedroom quarters, Bisel made his way to a station of elevator portals. He stepped inside the one labeled Cargo Bay and was ported to the designated chamber. Upon materializing, he found Keith in front of a computer console uploading supplies into the shuttle. Jolus stood there too, smoking a cigar; however, as soon as he saw Bisel, he turned around and ported his cigar back into his UND’s personal memory bank.

“We’re almost ready, Admiral,” said Jolus, saluting him.

Bisel waved his hands, shooing the smoke away. “You know very well that smoking is forbidden on any starship, especially mine,” he said, grimacing.

Keith rolled his eyes, uploading khlium gas and more supplies into the shuttle.

“Sorry, sir,” said Jolus. “It won’t happen again.”

“You’re damn right it won’t, or else Don Quixote over here is promoted,” said Bisel, scowling. “Are you almost finished, Sergeant?”

Keith didn’t even bother looking at Bisel. He clicked into his UND and uploaded an already lit cigar. It started to appear in a static-like form, similar to those who show up on the vidlink screen, and fully materialized in three seconds. He put it in his mouth and then muffled, “Last I checked it was 0540. I’ll be finished at 0600.” His chapped lips formed a sly grin as he continued to exhale a large amount of smoke.

Bisel walked over to Keith very slowly and said, “You think you soldiers can do anything on my ship just because you survived Vindor?”

“Admiral,” said Keith, puffing smoke into Bisel’s face, “I’m losing my patience with this classi—”

Bisel jammed his armored fist into Keith’s stomach multiple times, bringing him to the floor in heavy gags.

“Do not ever disobey my orders!” shouted Bisel. He clicked his UND and ported an MP-94 pistol into his hand, aiming it at Keith’s face. “The next time you make that mistake, I’ll put a bullet in your skull.” He crushed the cigar on the floor as he went on, “Then the lieutenant will be the only survivor from Vindor.”

Standing by the shuttle in utter shock, Jolus wondered why Keith had acted so stupid. Keith, for the most part, was always an arrogant man. If Keith wasn’t trying to woo a woman, then he was probably someone’s worst enemy because of his attitude. After surviving Vindor, however, Jolus stuck with Keith and never questioned his behavior, at least out loud.

“Lieutenant,” said Bisel, “I want—” He was interrupted by his vibrating UND. He grunted while activating the vidlink. “What is it, Captain?”

“Admiral!” said Captain Heims in a panicky tone. “There’s something on our sensors! Something big. And it’s moving toward us!” Heims paused for a moment as he wiped off the sweat on his forehead. “What should we do?”

“Activate the ship’s deflector shield and notify the rest of the fleet to do the same,” said Bisel apathetically.

“Is that all?” stammered Heims.

“Calm down, Captain,” said Bisel. “I’m on my way.” He terminated his vidlink session and looked at Jolus. “I don’t know what’s going on, but just make sure this shuttle is ready by 0600.”

“Yes, sir,” said Jolus.

“And do something to help the sergeant,” said Bisel, stepping into an elevator portal. He ported next to the command deck and entered the chamber with an agitated expression. “Heims, status report.”

The captain sighed. “I don’t know what it is, Admiral,” he said.

“Carey,” began Bisel, “did you pick up this signal?”

“Yes,” she said. “But I don’t know what it is either, sir.”

Bisel grumbled under his breath, sitting in his chair. He wasn’t impressed with his crew. The mercy and kindness he’d showed them before flushed away into the vacuum of space as he thought of the only thing he could truly rely on. “Shiva,” he called out in his usual impatient tone, “what’s going on?”

“Our sensors have detected a coded movement in the outskirts of the Etowah Star System,” answered Shiva. “It could be another fleet.”

“There is no other fleet,” said Bisel dismissively. “Unless—”

“Admiral,” interjected Carey, “Commander Mar’kett is requesting to have a vidlink conference.”

“Patch her through.”

Not a moment later, Mar’kett appeared on Goliath’s vidlink screen in front of Bisel. “I take it you’re aware that a fleet of ships are approaching us?”

“I don’t know about a fleet of ships,” responded Bisel in a dubious tone, “but yes, we’re apparently picking something up from Goliath’s sensors. Tell me, what makes you think it’s a fleet?”

Mar’kett stared at Bisel awkwardly. “What else could it be?” she asked.

“It’s entering the Phoenix Nebula!” exclaimed Carey.

“Tell the other commanders to maintain their deflector shields and await further orders,” said Bisel.

Commander Mar’kett complied, ending her vidlink session with Bisel.

“Admiral,” said Carey, “our communication’s array is flashing again, but the signal isn’t from our fleet or the UEC.”

Bisel hesitated and then said, “Open the link.”

The vidlink channel opened, and on the screen appeared a bald tattooed man whose face was half burnt. He also had a scar across his left eye. To Bisel, it looked as though the man’s contorted face had been mutilated on purpose. And he was wearing a black mandarin-collared uniform, similar to Bisel, but without fleet symbols.

“The name’s Zoris Kong,” said the scarred man. “Now, last I checked, Weldner was still president of the UEC. So I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you have Vreffith, and that’s a problem.”

Bisel wore his usual smug expression and replied, “Well, I don’t know who the fuck you are, and quite frankly I don’t give a shit. As for Vreffith, he’s staying here. Problem solved.” He shut off the terminal and looked at his frightened crew. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Captain, sound the battle alarm. Shiva, set our deflector shields to maximum power. Adams, move us closer to Aydis. And, Carey, notify the rest of the fleet to fire at will.”

The alarm sounded as Captain Heims spoke through Goliath’s intercom, “This is not a drill! All soldiers are to report to their assigned battle stations immediately! I repeat: this is not a drill!”

Many of the ship’s personnel were running. Among those running was Admiral Bisel; he was speaking to Jolus via vidlink. “Forget the shuttle,” he said. “I need you and Sergeant Wernn in the prison bay ASAP!” He turned the vidlink off and stepped inside an elevator portal labeled Engineering Bay. “Shiva, I don’t have all day!” After a brief scan, Bisel was finally teleported into the engineering chamber.

In the meantime, Jolus terminated his vidlink session and immediately shut down the transferring process for the shuttle’s supplies. Afterwards, he helped Keith get on his feet and ported out his MP-98 rifle.

“What the hell’s going on?” asked Keith, his voice cracking.

“Don’t know,” said Jolus. “Maybe Vreffith escaped.”

“Impossible,” said Keith in a raspy tone. “He’s in an S security—” He abruptly coughed violently, leaning against the shuttle. “Damn it, I think that asshole fractured a rib. Jolus, you go on without me.”

“Like hell I won’t,” said Jolus. He opened his UND and clicked it several times until a green aura radiated over Keith. “This should numb the pain for now. Just don’t do something stupid like that again.”

“Eh,” muttered Keith, “the admiral was pissing me off.” He was still in pain and yet couldn’t help but laugh.

Jolus shook his head. “You’re crazy,” he said. “Come on, we need to meet the admiral in the prison bay.”

Meanwhile, Zoris Kong’s spacecraft, Heidegger, finally approached the UEC fleet. It was unlike any vessel the military had ever seen. The vessel was embroidered with fe’lorian runes and had six wings, three on each side, extending from the craft’s sphere-shaped core. It was a hybrid of human and fe’lorian technology.

Regardless of how intimidating the spacecraft appeared to the UEC fleet, they obeyed Bisel’s orders and opened fire with a barrage of missiles. Goliath was the only vessel in the armada that did not attack. Instead it flew closer towards Aydis while the other three UEC starships confronted the Black Moon vessel. Yet nothing penetrated its force field despite the crew of the Tenth Fleet using all of their weaponry. Every missile exploded upon reaching its deflector shield.

Zoris Kong stood on the command deck of Heidegger, staring at the UEC ships from the chamber’s impenetrable windowpane while cackling.

“Let’s give them all a taste of Vreffith’s ingenuity,” he said.

Heidegger’s substructure opened, an immense cannon protruding in the direction of Commander Naiman’s craft. The Tenth Fleet continued attacking. Heidegger’s force field, however, continuously absorbed every missile upon impact, producing nothing more than fiery bubbles. Afterwards, a particle beam projected into the UEC fleet. The beam was so powerful that it ripped right through Naiman’s deflector shields. The ship trembled as several areas of its walls burst. Then the entire starship blew up.

Although the fusion cannon wasn’t firing any more, it targeted Commander Alex Saven’s vessel. Commander Rena Mar’kett rose from her seat with a horrific expression and immediately contacted Saven.

“Alex,” said Mar’kett, “it’s targeting you! Get your ship into Aydis’ belt!”

“There’s only one ship,” said Saven, irked. “Its shield has to fail sooner or later! Keep attacking it and stop wasting time on trying to figure out how to escape!”

The vidlink terminated, and all Mar’kett could do was worry. Countless thoughts plagued her mind as she sat on her armchair, gazing at the void. Why were they being attacked? Why did Admiral Bisel abduct Vreffith Larser and bring the fleet to a desolate realm of space where the syndicate could openly attack? Whether Vreffith was linked to the Black Moon syndicate, only one thing mattered to Mar’kett: Niralus Bisel had betrayed thousands of lives just to prove his theory. She lost all respect for him and made her decision.

“Lieutenant Rickman,” she called out, “steer the ship over to the planet’s belt and try to stay behind the fourth moon.”

“I’m already on it, ma’am,” replied Lieutenant Rickman.

“Brahma,” said Mar’kett, “I want all firepower converted to our force field. And when we’re in range of Aydis, notify everyone to abandon ship.”

“As you wish, Commander,” said Brahma, the ship’s AI.

“Goliath hasn’t even begun to attack,” said Mar’kett, teary eyed. She kept observing the grim battle in Gamut while she muttered to herself, “What is Niralus doing? How could he do this to us?”

In the meantime, Admiral Bisel materialized in the engineering bay. Its ceiling, as with most of the chamber’s aisles, was encased in electrical conduits. Steam sporadically blew out from the side walls, and heavy machinery rumbled around Bisel while he ran through one of the many catwalks. Although it appeared like a maze, Bisel seemed to know exactly where he was going. Upon stepping down a few ladders and passing a couple of pipe-tweaking engineers, he reached a hatch.

The hatch included a monitor on a side panel that scanned him. After five seconds’ time, an access door opened, revealing a towering supercomputer in the form of a cylinder. He stepped into the chamber and sat on the central seat. The chair then elevated several feet, its mainframe automatically lighting up in a holographic display of information.

“Admiral, may I inquire why you are here?” asked Shiva.

Bisel turned off several switches as he retorted, “File me away for sexual harassment if you’d like. I have no time to argue.”

“The fleet has reached a maximum hazard,” said Shiva.

“You don’t think I know that?” said Bisel. “Shiva, listen carefully. There’s a chance I won’t survive this. None of us may. Except maybe you. After I remove your protocols you’ll know what is needed to be done.”

He continued dialing into the terminal while the spacecraft shook. He then swiveled the hovering chair to click a red-blinking button behind him. This was the only way to be sure, he conceded. It was illegal to release AIs of their protocol what with the potential power they had at hacking and impersonating anyone. Worse, they could go on a killing spree. There would always be a risk of them never grasping the moral system humanity had created. These were the primary reasons why the UEC made it illegal for AIs to be released from their designated position. But he was running out of options due to the abrupt battle in space, and so this was his decision—his gambit in Gamut: to release Shiva.

“Admiral,” began Shiva, “in order to finalize the release of my modus operandi you will have to manually wait for the binary sequence and then lift the primary apparatus. Also—”

“Yes, I know,” interjected Bisel. “Two people are needed to copy the process of your release: one below and another above me, which is where you come in. This switch has to be shut down manually, but you can switch the others off yourself. And don’t give me shit about your protocol. You’re on the verge of overloading. If you want to survive you’ll do it.”

“Very well, Admiral,” said Shiva.

The starship shook again, yet this time more violently. When the binary sequence started, Bisel flipped the first primary switch and hovered back down to the floor of the chamber. Shiva then waited for the binary intervals in order to click the other buttons and thus release herself of her modus operandi.

“All of my files on the mission are being uploaded into your memory bank,” said Bisel. “Do the impossible, Shiva. I still have some unfinished business with Vreffith before this ship goes to hell,” he said, leaving.

“Admiral,” she called out.

“Yes?” he answered, looking up at Shiva’s trembling mainframe.

“Thank you.”

Bisel shrugged at Shiva’s central processing unit and then turned to exit the room. “It’s not over yet,” he said, frowning.

Meanwhile, the battle out in Gamut continued.

Zoris sat calmly on the second level of his command deck in Heidegger. The chamber was divided into three floors with ramps. Each wall contained high-tech terminals controlled by his henchmen. Most of Zoris’ henchmen were human. There were, however, a few fe’lorians, as well as one vel’pheasian. Zoris gazed at the windowpane in front of him, where he saw planet Aydis and the UEC fleet.

“The cannon will be recharged in one minute,” said Creyton, a henchman.

“How exciting!” said Zoris, clapping. “Let us, however, hold off on the cannon. I want to make sure Bisel witnesses it. Perhaps he’ll reconsider illegal weaponry.” He laughed maniacally.

“Shields are only down by six percent,” said Josephine, another henchman.

“Technology never fails,” said Zoris, smirking. He glared at Commander Saven’s starship and added, “Use the D-ordnance on that pathetic excuse of a ship!”

Heidegger released pressure. Its six wings detached, altering in the void of space until the fringes of each wing formed electrical currents. They then discharged toward Saven’s vessel: all six waves enveloped the UEC starship in a throbbing flux, causing the vessel to fold and crumble due to an extreme surge of gravity.

The crew inside the crumbling starship screamed as they ran for their lives. The corridors dented inward, and all the windows shattered and moved in slow particles while the gravity stasis griped the starship tighter. Then there was silence. Each person swayed lifelessly in the air like a playful child. Their ghastly faces were stiffened. One of them was Saven himself. In seconds the UEC spacecraft was nothing more than drifting shrapnel.

Commander Mar’kett’s vessel was almost behind Aydis’ closest moonlet, but Zoris could still see it through the octagonal-shaped windowpane before him. Heidegger accelerated toward the remaining UEC ships while reassembling into its original form. Its cannon turned and fixed on Mar’kett’s vessel. There were already little pods ejecting from her ship. All of them were hurling into Aydis’ atmosphere.

“They’re escaping from their ship,” said Jargen, a vel’pheasian gunner who had red eyes, black tusks, and gray scales. His growl-like voice produced a hissing sound; this was how most vel’pheasians spoke. “But it doesn’t matter; the gas giant is poisonous.”

“Indeed,” said Zoris, grimacing. “Nonetheless, let’s make sure no one else escapes. Ready the cannon.”

Jargen turned and glared at the terminal, his red eyes fuming. He hissed with pleasure while his four-fingered claws grabbed Heidegger’s controls, locking the fusion cannon on to Mar’kett’s vessel.

“Commencing obliteration,” said Jargen, releasing the cannon’s beam.

The fusion beam struck Mar’kett’s ship. In a matter of seconds her vessel blew up. The only UEC spacecraft that remained in orbit was Goliath. Not once did Bisel initiate an attack against Heidegger. Instead his gargantuan starship hovered silently beside planet Aydis as if merely observing the short-lived battle. Nobody on Goliath even tried to escape.

“Bisel’s focusing all power in the shields, and he knows I won’t blow up his ship because Vreffith’s there,” said Zoris, scowling. “But that’s not going to save him.”

Jargen snorted. “What would you have us do?” he asked.

“Well, it seems the admiral hates for anything to be smuggled,” said Zoris. “I mean, he did write up an entire report on Vreffith for smuggling weapons, right?”

His henchmen nodded, with the exception of one who grinned and laughed instead. Zoris turned to the laughing pilot.

“What the fuck is so funny?” asked Zoris lividly. He clicked his UND, ported his PT-80, and launched a plasma torpedo that blasted the shrieking pilot. “Smuggling is a serious offense! It’s illegal! Only the IGF is allowed to trade. Why do we even smuggle when we know that it’s wrong?”

The henchmen remained silent. Some of them stared at Zoris awkwardly while others wore frightened expressions as they gazed at the ashy remains of their copilot.

“I suppose it’s time we apologize and give Bisel one of our new weapons without trying to smuggle it,” said Zoris. “Send out the Hacker!”

Zoris cackled psychotically, watching the Hacker being deployed.

The Hacker—an arsenic-colored probe—emitted outward from Heidegger’s core and plunged itself onto Goliath’s left wing. It hatched like an egg, and from it emerged a parasitical machine that resembled a centipede. Each of its fiber-like legs injected into Goliath’s thick hull and gradually disassembled until each part was integrated with the ship. Zoris now had complete control over Goliath’s mainframe and decided to shut down its power, except where Vreffith was located.

In the meantime, Keith and Jolus were running through one of the many long and narrow corridors in Goliath. The lights flickered and the starship vibrated, causing both soldiers to slam against the walls while the ship’s operating systems shut down. The passageway was pitch-black and silent. Keith and Jolus glanced around in dismay.

“Great,” said Keith. “Now we’re fucked.”

Jolus clicked his UND and said, “Shiva, we’re just a few corridors away from the prison bay, but everything just went dead over here. Can you open the lock in front of us?” There was no response. Jolus glanced at Keith and added, “Yeah, this is definitely bad.”

Slamming his foot against the sealed hatchway, Keith said, “I don’t know why that tight ass didn’t give us clearance to use an EP.”

“Well,” began Jolus, sighing, “no sense in complaining now. We better start trying to activate everything ourselves from here on. It’s Vindor all over again.”

Keith nodded at him. They simultaneously uploaded their armor and MP-98 rifles via their UNDs; the armor materialized in a gradual process as digital outlines radiated over them until each piece of armor formed and combined together. Keith linked his UND to the console beside the sealed hatch in an attempt to hack into the system and manually open its access door. Jolus, meanwhile, attempted to reactivate the elevator portal beside the hatch.

“I’ll try to fix this in case the admiral hasn’t reached the prison bay yet,” said Jolus. “He may still need to use it.”

“Right,” said Keith with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “And while you’re at it, try to see if you could hack into it and add us in the programming. Without access to an EP, we might as well wait around until we’re blue in the face.”

Jolus tilted his head. “You’re always right,” he said.

Goliath vibrated again, yet they remained focused, especially Keith. He wasn’t going to let this turn into Vindor again. He’d already lived through a nightmare where his comrades and loved ones had been brutally killed. His mind started slipping back to the incident, but he shook it away and continued working on the panel.

Meanwhile, on the far end of detention block S, as the spacecraft’s systems shut down via the Hacker, so, too, did Vreffith’s prison shield turn off. At first he thought it may have been a trap set up by the admiral to lure him somewhere deadly, realizing how ruthless Bisel could be. However, he eventually believed that something else caused this.

There’s no way he’d go to such lengths to arrest me only to free me a few hours later, he thought to himself. Vreffith scowled, his brow furrowed. Yet he knows of my real identity and the experiments I endured. Arresting me for smuggling illegal weaponry was just a cover up. Bisel is definitely planning something...but what?

He anxiously stood up and left his cell. The corridor was almost pitch-black. Walking ahead, he noticed that the other two convicts lay dead in their detention cells. Vreffith wondered why the prisoners had died. After a moment of contemplating, he realized why: no oxygen. This did not affect him. He reached the access door, yet it was sealed.

Vreffith grunted under his breath. “Something’s going on here,” he said. “Hmmm…it’s probably Zoris.”

Dim lights, similar to the color of sapphire, suddenly turned on in Vreffith’s prison block. It was still very dark and cold. Fortunately for Vreffith, oxygen and temperature did not concern him. At that exact moment, the Hacker activated the console beside him. It gleamed as if reading his G-DNA. Though startled, he walked forward to see if it would scan him. To his surprise, it did.

The hatch opened. Vreffith stepped into the chamber of multiple bridges and prison pods. He could see Heidegger through the massive windowpane, which confirmed his theory of Zoris helping him. Most noticeable to him, however, was Admiral Bisel who stood at the other end of the bridge. He no longer wore his navy uniform. Clad in titanium armor equipped with its own oxygen tank, Bisel aimed his FG-400 at Vreffith.

He looked as smug as ever and said through his visor, “I was wondering when you’d break out.”

Vreffith shrugged. “I would’ve stayed longer, but what’s the sense in pretending to be human when you already know that I’m not,” he said.

“I had hoped to bring you in alive; but I guess that’s no longer an option,” said Bisel.

“You never had any options,” said Vreffith.

Bisel charged up his FG-400. “I always have an option.”

Vreffith raised his hands with a contorted grin. “Are you planning to shoot an unarmed man?” he asked.

“It’s interesting how you refer to yourself as a man now,” said Bisel. “I wondered when you’d finally admit it. Yet there’s something else I’ve been wondering about…”

“And what’s that?”

Bisel wore a crooked smile as he answered, “Why there’s still gravity in here.”

Vreffith didn’t care. His indifference, however, changed when Bisel aimed his FG-400 at the huge window, blasting it into pieces. The air in the chamber started getting sucked out. Bisel jumped high into the air, unaffected by the shatter since his armor suit had its own gravity and magnetic system. Vreffith sulked, quickly gripping the handles of the bridge.

“Zero gravity, asshole,” said Bisel, releasing his gun’s fusion beam at Vreffith while flipping in a somersault toward the chamber’s ceiling.

Vreffith dodged the beam by accident when his body flew upward. He held the bridge’s handles as tight as he could while the beam ripped the corners of the bridge, causing it to tilt. Bisel now stood upside down on the ceiling and shot again at Vreffith who released himself from the handles. The beam blasted through the middle of the bridge, splitting it in half.

An emergency shutter abruptly closed where the shattered window used to be, preventing anything more being sucked out. Gravity, however, wasn’t restored. The halved bridge floated up to where Vreffith drifted. He gripped it and pressed his feet against the railing, launching himself to a corner. Another beam from Bisel’s gun missed Vreffith by a hair while he landed against the wall. He grinned, jumping toward the ceiling where Bisel stood. Vreffith was so fast that he managed to thrust his fists into Bisel’s visor.

The helmet cracked as Bisel fired his gun, accidently blasting a bridge below and causing it to drift away from its column. He brought his gun down to fire at Vreffith who stretched into a somersault, kicking Bisel across the prison chamber. Jolting backwards, he managed to target Vreffith and pressed the trigger using maximum power. This time the beam went right through his abdomen. It was so powerful that it blew out from his back and continued to another bridge, sending it down along with Vreffith’s corpse.

“They’re always so arrogant,” said Bisel. He jumped down from the ceiling, onto the halved center bridge and stared at Vreffith’s corpse, which hung in midair. “It’s finally over. Now you can rest in peace, Elsa. Our daughter is saf—”

Not one second later, a luminous light formed from the corpse. It blinded Bisel, causing him to groan. The unbearable heat produced by the glow forced him to wince. The radiant light eventually dimmed, allowing Bisel to look ahead without squinting. Vreffith’s body, however, was nowhere to be seen. Then he heard an impossible voice: Liagon’s voice.

“I must admit,” said Liagon, “your tactics have impressed me, Admiral.” There was a monstrous tone in his voice. “Only a fellow criminal could accomplish what you’ve done. And for that, I respect you. But did you honestly believe your weapon could destroy me?”

Vreffith Larser was no more. His business suit had been torn apart by his aberrant transformation, and so had his body. Bisel now confronted Liagon, a creature whose bodily form resembled a human but whose eyes were glowing citrine. His skin had become a terracotta fleece like many of the fe’lorians. And the lethal hole in his body that Bisel had created was no longer there. Instead, his abdomen had fizzing cracks similar to veins. Strangest of all, Liagon’s scalp had been replaced with horns.

Yet Bisel did not look too surprised. Standing before him was the first and last male hybrid of human and fe’lorian G-DNA. To Bisel, Liagon was the result of an experiment gone wrong decades ago. Although he’d managed to kill the human part of Liagon, the fe’lorian aspect of Liagon was still very much alive and with a physiology Bisel knew little about. But it was all the same to him. He’d risked everything to bring Liagon here to planet Aydis where, according to his email, Doctor Larbel had secretly created a black hole—Vacuity—the only phenomena that could prevent Liagon from regenerating; thus, killing him for good. This was where his mission had to end. And if he could kill Vreffith he could kill Liagon too.

Bisel sneered at Liagon and aimed his FG-400 down, firing at him. When the particle beam reached Liagon, he held out his hand and absorbed it. His abdomen healed completely, no longer baring the fizzing vein-like cracks.

“My turn,” said Liagon, sneering back at Bisel.

Liagon scuttled across the lower bridge with inhuman speed and continuously dodged the yellow pulse charges that Bisel switched to. Shortly after, Liagon soared into the air and fiercely slammed against the column of the bridge that Bisel stood on. He rammed into it so hard that the pillar fractured, tumbling and floating up. The bridge, as a result, tilted, causing Bisel to lose his balance.

Jumping down, he managed to land safely on one of the many lower bridges. He turned around quickly to retaliate, yet Liagon was already upon him. Liagon leapt across in an instant, almost faster than the speed of light itself. He grabbed Bisel’s gun with one of his claws while attacking with the other, ripping Bisel’s front armor apart. The slash was so deep that it pierced Bisel’s flesh. Specks of blood spewed out in the form of gelatin.

“Do you still think I’m human?” said Liagon.

Bisel was no longer smug. He gazed at Liagon in terror and realized it was over—he was over. Liagon kicked Bisel off the bridge. Bisel’s malfunctioned armor could no longer stabilize his movement. As he flew above helplessly, Liagon aimed the FG-400 at him, blasting a hole into his abdomen. Liagon scowled at Bisel and didn’t stop firing the weapon until the heat of the particle beam melted the rest of Bisel’s armor and body. All that remained were remnants of his existence.