//------------------------------// // The Exodus // Story: [Forlorn Ascension]|[Rites of Dominion] // by Desrium //------------------------------// “I thought messing around with their stuff is what landed us in this mess,” Alikir grumbled. He lay back in his gunner seat, arms crossed and his legs kicked up, resting on the consoles arranged in front of him. “Not everything about their tech is inherently harmful in use,” Elysia said, tapping away on a keypad and shifting holographic windows around. After a short pause she added, “It’s how we beat them in the first place, remember?” “Yeah, and it only makes it worse, in my opinion,” the tall ranger retorted. “We basically decided to integrate their weakness into a fleet already skirting the edge of oblivion.” “It only became a weakness after the victory in the Eolaythe asteroid field,” the female ranger corrected him. “Before that, they occupied parsecs of space but were able to organize their forces precisely with trillions of miles in between the closest fleets without having their communications intercepted.” “I still don’t like it. What if they already have a counter, or a way to tap in?” Alikir inquired. With a shake of his head, he said: “It’s like the R and D division lost their damned minds and are just scrounging for an advantage by jamming old bits of technology together.” “From what I understand, the G.S.O techies were sure to include defenses with the system. Aside from the charm-code encryption, they also modified the conjure-source from the original Hoof-Talon machines so Hex based energies can’t influence it.” Alikir grumbled something that the smaller ranger couldn’t quite understand. “And this is supposed to let us track Phineas down?” “Track the Federation pony down… communicate with other ships with the system installed…” Elysia sat back in her seat once her pre-launch systems were initialized. The light from her display screens glimmered against her red and white armor. Alikir rolled his head to the side, looking at the battle-pod pilot from the corner of his eyes. “Then why don’t we send a message out? With the mana-whatsit thing that Uolix was telling us about?” he asked. “If the enemy can’t detect or decipher our transmissions with this system then what’s the harm in asking him to wait up?” “Because Uolix believes it has to be this way. Him going off solo, that is,” Elysia said before taking a deep breath in anticipation. “How do you know that?” Alikir asked. “Because of the way she spoke. Like it was some non-negotiable thing that she was just going with, but the fact she decided to send us as back up shows she wasn’t completely alright with sending him off on his own. But then again, the fact she told us not to intervene until it was completely necessary shows she believes he can handle himself, so it’s like she’s trying to juggle having faith in the pony and making sure nothing goes wrong…” Elysia answered. “Geez, I ask a simple question and I get some kind of psycho-analysis for a response,” Alikir joked dryly. Looking forward again, he said, “When this is all done with you might want to consider making a holo-tome in the field.” Elysia chuckled. “Don’t be an ass, Space Ranger. We’ve got work to do, after all.” “Aye, captain” Alikir said. “And get your feet off the gun controls!” she said scoldingly without looking back at the ranger. The battle-sphere descended down the chute, in the grip of the mechanical arms guiding it as they did the shuttle before it. Through her screen Elysia saw the interior of the tunnel running past her, a dark abyss down its incredible length broken only by tiny points of light shining among the plates of metal. Gradually the speed increased and Elysia felt the familiar pressure forcing her into her seat when the arms were speeding along the walls of the chute. The darkness ahead was consumed by the golden light of the nebula outside the G.S.O’s hull plating when the exit opened and the spherical fighter was jettisoned into space a fraction of a second later. It went soaring over the sky darkened by smoke and ash, leaving the tumultuous proto-planet and its gigantic satellite behind. On one of her monitors, an updated map of the galaxy appeared; it was even more fragmented and disorderly than it was before. The islands of Harmony territory were trimmed down even further than they already were, split apart into scattered tangents throughout galactic space. Some of them were lost entirely, the undead laying waste to all the Harmony had in less fortunate sections and erasing those places from the star maps across countless strongholds and ships. Elysia sighed sadly and tried to focus on Phineas’ departing signal, which was indicated by a small yellow triangle that jumped in between the points of light representing the stars every so often when the pony passed them in warp. “Our galaxy hosts billions of stars… in between them: vast empty stretches of nothingness,” Alikir stated, ending the prolonged silence inside the battle-pod’s cockpit. “That said… where do you think he’s going?” “’That said’, I can’t even begin to imagine where he could possibly be going to,” Elysia replied, “but he’s going somewhere. A straight line if the course this map is plotting is anything to go by.” “Well a straight line is the shortest distance between two points…” Elysia turned her head slightly, the light from her forward screens glinting off of her visor. Alikir knew he was shooting him an unamused look from underneath. The ranger shrugged. “It’s a fact. You can’t hold it against me for stating a fact.” Elysia turned her attention back to her display. “Uolix did tell us he knows some vital information about the enemy. Maybe this is just part of his plan…?” “If just flying across the galaxy in a line is his plan then the Federation pony might have gone insane,” said Alikir. “When put like that… I’m starting to understand why Uolix wants us to go follow him.” Elysia hummed thoughtfully, then said: “Well, we won’t find out until we get along with it. Initiating Spell-core, preparing for warp sequence…” Her fingers flew across keys and flipped switches at her sides and above her. The battle-sphere’s thrusters flared up and the fighter craft went sailing through the stellar cloud, accelerating faster and faster until energetic streaks of magic rippled across its shielding and it disappeared into an explosion of color that rippled out against a black, dotted backdrop. *** “I have readings confirming that Space Rangers Elysia and Alikir have left the system and are now in warp transit,” one of the officers reported to the Harmony’s Commander. Uolix turned away from the star map. With the latest update proving without a doubt the sad state the galaxy was in currently, she was ready to begin her countermeasures. “Good,” the Shu’badi said, “now it is our turn to leave this place. Synchronize warp initiation with the transmission.” “It has been done, Commander. Engineering bay is on standby and ready to act upon your orders.” Uolix nodded then turned back to the super projector. “Begin.” A single officer farthest away from the others started to input the command, their appendages touching glowing pads of light before the holographic interface dissipated. “It has… begun.” Deep within the bowels of the station, gigantic constructions were roaring and growling, huge concentrations of energy flowing through synthetic veins and making various computers flash. Engineers of all kinds of species hurried to tend to the machines channeling the power to warp, multiple Spell-core containment fields blindingly bright as the pylons spun around the orbs of magic sustained within them. Massive piston-like structures started to slide out from opposite walls in the huge room, humming loudly as their ends neared each other. It was not long until they met in the center and stopped, numerous spidery metal limbs wrapping around them and connecting the pistons to their ports. For a few tense minutes, the sounds of machinery ceased save for the Spell-cores and the giant rods over the engineering bay started to glow a somewhat cream –colored light. Then, after numerous engineers at their consoles gave the order, the pistons retracted, one unified mechanical tone going off as the rods went slamming back into the walls, the glow rising in intensity in a fraction of a second just before being safely contained in the massive wall enclosed power units. Viewed from outside, the station was at the center of some kind of singularity. Bolts of magical energy manifested out of nothing around it as it drew in mana from surrounding space, wisps of all colors spiraling around the station. Numerous disks of this collected energy formed and subsequently broke apart to form orbitals that wobbled erratically, shifting angles and glowing brightly. All the while, the singularity grew more violent, the magical lightning coalescing around the damaged station until it formed a barrier, the whole thing shining like a tiny star that was about to go supernova . Whiteness. That was all that was left in the nebula after the station slipped into warp space. A wave of whiteness that spread out in all directions tore across the proto-planet underneath. It swept across the smoky atmosphere, scattering the dark clouds of soot and ash at hurricane gales. In seconds the whole planet was engulfed by the energy and by the first minute the edge of the wave was extending well off into interplanetary space. The inner region of the wave was the prismatic ripple, except in the form of a lining to the explosion rather than rings expanding along a single plane. Though the light-wave stretched and grew exponentially with each nanosecond, there was one thing even faster than it, riding a quantum wind caused by the G.S.O’s warp. The message for the last bastions of hope in the galaxy to disappear and remain hidden. If the call to act was Zero Hour, then the order to retreat was Exodus.