Where am I?! Why can’t I move!? What’s going on?! Pain ran throughout Seeker’s body as she laid still. Something had awoken her mind, but her body was still unable to respond. For a moment she feared she may have been paralyzed, but quickly remembered she still felt pain. It was a cold frigid pain that ran throughout her entire being. Am I frozen? That’s right. I was captured. Where in the void did they take me? I need to get out! I need to get out! Seeker tried to connect to the Khala, but to no avail. Something was preventing her from linking. Someone… anyone… please… help me!
Seeker’s prayer didn’t go completely unanswered. She felt someone was probing her mind at the moment. Who is it? Please… help me! I need to get out of here! Whoever was probing her didn’t respond. They simply dug deeper and deeper into her mind. She tried forcing them out, but her will was severely weakened at the moment.
She was able to hear the sound of decompression and a lid opening. Someone was pulling her out of the cryo pod. The pain throughout her entire body intensified as she thawed, though she was still too weak to move much on her own. The sound of an alarm filled the air, but her hearing hadn’t quite returned yet, so everything was muffled. She opened up her remaining eye as best she could, which stung as it made contact with the air.
It was a common symptom after awaking from cryo. Everything still seemed so dark, and her vision was blurry. She couldn’t tell who it was that was lifting her, but every movement increased her agony. Her wounds seemed to have mended, with the exception of a few cracked ribs, but the pain had not yet subsided. Again she was drugged and again she began to feel herself slipping.
They must have taken me back to Korhal. Void knows what they’re going to do to me. I guess I’ll be meeting up with Sovereign a lot sooner than I had expected. Her thoughts drifted away as Seeker lost consciousness. She felt the mind probe also lose its presence in her head as she passed out. The intruder wouldn’t be able to probe her while she was unconscious, but for all she knew, the intruder already had all the information they wanted.
Seeker. Wake up, said a voice.
Sovereign? Is that you? asked Seeker.
You could say that, the voice replied.
Well you sound just like him, said Seeker.
I suppose I do. Your body is still unconscious, let me take care of that, replied the voice.
Seeker felt a stinging sensation on the side of her neck. Someone had just injected her with something. Slowly she began to regain consciousness. Eventually she opened her eye to find she nearly made a full recovery. She did however bare multiple scars across her body. The most notable difference was a strange feeling she had over her right eye. As Seeker touched her face with her hoof, she realized a cybernetic eye had been attached to her eye socket. She had no idea what it looked like yet, but that didn’t matter. It allowed her to see, and that’s what was important right now.
“Sovereign where are you?” she asked. “I’m getting you out of here… wherever here is.”
Sovereign’s voice came through clearly now. “I’d worry more about yourself at the moment.”
Where is that voice coming from? she thought to herself.
“Right over here,” answered Sovereign.
Seeker turned in the direction of the voice to find a rag doll pony staring at her. It was a doll of grey wool, with long narrow rectangular grey cloth cuttings for hair, a stitched on smile and grayish blue buttons for eyes. It wore the same black robes that she had gifted onto him during his exile. The doll floated in the air, surrounded by the swirling black mist of the void.
“Sovereign?! But… how?” she asked.
“It’s not the real me, but I am here to help you escape,” explained Sovereign. “We need to get off this ship before they find out you’re awake.”
“Where am I? How did you get here?” asked Seeker. “Were you still in Consortium space the whole time?”
“Of course. When I found out you got yourself captured I came after you. Don’t worry, I have a plan to help you escape. But we need to act fast before the Diamond Dogs have a chance to respond.” The doll pointed behind her to reveal a dead Diamond Dog soldier on the ground.
“Diamond Dogs?! What they hell am I doing on a Diamond Dog ship?!” asked Seeker.
“Your associates hired them to help track down your kidnappers. They succeeded,” explained Sovereign. “Unfortunately after they had successfully retrieved you and eliminated your captors, they turned on the crew. Every Khalai on board was killed and the ship was captured.”
“That explains what I’m doing here, but how did you find out about me?” asked Seeker.
“I was hiding out on Raydin IV. Then you showed up and started making a scene. I thought Dark Templar knew how to avoid drawing attention," commented Sovereign.
"We were trying to draw you out. That or whoever kidnapped you," answered Seeker. "If you were there the whole time, why didn't you make contact?"
"I wanted to talk to you, but you disappeared. I followed the Radiance which led me here. I felt you try to reach out for help, so I probed your thoughts for anything useful on the situation,” explained Sovereign. “By the way, I took the liberty of retrieving your equipment.” The doll pointed to a counter which held her warp blade and robe.
Seeker began getting dressed. “What’s with the doll illusion?” she asked as she grabbed her warp blade.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to replicate a full sized, detailed pony?” he answered. “As for the appearance, I figured you’d be less likely to panic if it had a familiar face. Now let’s get to business. I’m waiting outside with a ship ready to pick you up, but we can’t just leave the Radiance in the hands of the enemy. I need you to damage the ship's core. An associate of mine is already making his way to the bridge to kill the captain. That should stir enough confusion for us to make an escape.”
Seeker thought about it for a moment. She wasn’t exactly sure if she should trust the illusion, but if the Diamond Dogs really did capture the ship, the last thing she wanted was to wait around for them to do whatever it is they planned on doing with her.
“Who is this associate of yours?” asked Seeker.
“I’ve made friends since showing up in Consortium space. You’ll have to trust them for now,” said Sovereign.
“Alright… I’ll get to work on it,” agreed Seeker.
“Excellent. I trust you know how to reach the reactor room?” asked Sovereign. Seeker turned invisible and made her way out the door. “I’ll take that as a yes."
Sovereign wasn’t lying when he said the ship was captured. Already she could see two Diamond Dogs patrolling the hallway. She silently charged one and sliced him through the visor. The remaining Diamond Dog tried to call for help, but she was quick to dispatch the second guard before he could respond. She turned off her blade and continued to make her way towards the reactor room, silently killing any Diamond Dogs she encountered.
“Well, it seems you have quite the capacity for violence,” commented Sovereign.
“Thanks, but I recently found out the hard way that assassination and direct combat are two different things. Still need more practice with the latter,” she admitted as she gutted open a frightened mare.
“That one didn’t look like combat personnel,” said Sovereign.
“If they’re on the ship, they’re all combat personal,” said Seeker.
“Good reasoning, but all those dead bodies you’re leaving behind are drawing attention. We want to get out of here alive, remember?” said Sovereign.
Three Diamond Dogs showed up along with a floating robot of sorts she could only assume was scanning for magical discharge.
“Ok… maybe I shouldn’t have made such a mess back there,” admitted Seeker. She deactivated her stealth and hid behind a corridor. Any use of magic right now could give her away.
“I made sure to leave all of your devices in your robe as well. You may want to make use of them,” advised Sovereign.
Seeker reached into her robe for a pulse grenade. “This should do the trick,” she whispered. Seeker rolled the grenade towards the drone which set off a psionic shockwave, sending a feedback through the drone's systems.
The Diamond Dog’s heavier armor was protected from the feedback, but the small drone wasn’t. The drone shut down, once again allowing Seeker to turn invisible. With the advantage hers, she teleported to close distance and made short work of the Diamond Dogs. The drone started to reactivate only to be shut down once again as Seeker sliced it in half.
“More will come once they realize their drone is offline. I’d proceed with less recklessness from here on out if I were you,” suggested Sovereign.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” replied Seeker.
“Captain I think your paranoia is getting the better of you,” said a mare. “There is no one on board the ship. Finding a small dent on the side of the box is hardly an indicator that we’ve been infiltrated. We’ve already swept the ship and found nothing.”
“Then sweep it again!” ordered Starsong. “And when you finish sweeping it the second time, sweep it a third time. I know they’re here.”
A message through the Khala had resonated throughout the ship. Captain. Two Templar have been found dead outside of Seeker’s room, along with the medic who was watching over Seeker. Seeker herself is now missing, and the two dead Templar were believed to have been killed using an energy blade. Another crewman was found dead in a hall not too far away, also with an energy blade.
“Bring up security footage from that hall! I want to know who was monitoring the cameras and why they didn’t report!” demanded Starsong.
One of the crewman answered with, “Captain, we’re not getting any response from the security room. The staff aren’t linked with the Khala either… they’re dead. I’m bringing up the footage now”
As was suspected, the murdered Templar seemed to be sliced open for no reason. An invisible foe was onboard after all. “Redirect the internal observers to search the halls near that area. Find that infiltrator and kill on sight! They likely have Seeker as well. Try to avoid killing her if possible, but taking out that infiltrator is your top priority.”
A few minutes passed as the security cameras were following the trail of injured ponies. Whoever this was, they were being particularly sloppy. Already a team of Templar were about to intercept him at the hallway ahead. But as the observer began scanning the hallway, an energy discharged disabled it. The three Templar was slaughtered without mercy. Shortly afterwards the observer was sliced in half.
So far Skyfall was pleased with the results of Lyra’s plan. He had woken up Seeker and left her equipment on the counter as ordered, while Lyra had dug into Seeker’s head, and turned her against her allies. Every second she stayed in her head, Lyra’s control over Seeker became more and more absolute. If all went well, this ship would be disabled long enough for them to escape with their prize. Skyfall however had a more personal vendetta. The captain who had insulted the greatest lineage of spies to ever live had to pay for his insolence with his life.
So far Seeker had caused enough of a commotion that security was being lured away from the bridge and towards her, which should leave him with an opening. Unlike that mare, he hadn’t been freely swinging away at anyone in his path. He didn’t need that kind of attention. The only ones he’d killed thus far were the ponies monitoring surveillance, as well as the pony monitoring Seeker.
While she was doing a poor job of keeping a low profile, he did admire her cold blooded killer instinct. She could make a fine agent if her loyalties could be changed. If anything, she’d at least birth some fine agents.
Skyfall had finally reached the ship's bridge where he waited by the doors. The internal observers had given him some trouble earlier, but with so many were being called away near Seeker’s last known location, Skyfall didn’t have much trouble reaching the bridge. He placed a breaching charge on the door then took cover.
Seeker was finally inside the reactor room where she had found the core. She made certain not to kill anyone else on her way here. Security had really picked up after she had destroyed that drone. But even with the elevated security, she was still a Dark Templar, as well as a natural sneak since childhood.
“Here we are,” said Sovereign. “How do you plan to do this?”
“Wait… those Diamond Dogs… they’re using the core. Only Khalai unicorns can use khaydarin technology,” said Seeker.
“They’re not Khalai,” said Sovereign. “They’re your enemy. You must kill your enemy. Seeker you can trust me. Would I ever lie to you?”
“No… no you wouldn’t,” replied Seeker.
“Of course not. Now do what you need to do. There’s no need for questions. Just do as I say. I’m your friend remember?” said Sovereign.
“Yes… you’re my friend. I can trust you,” said Seeker.
Still invisible, Seeker ran towards one of the engineers and kicked him into the crystals. He quickly exploded into a flash of light. The mare standing next to him tried to shout for help, but Seeker lifted her up and tossed her in as well. The third engineer tried to run out, but Seeker lifted her with her magic and tossed her in with the others.
“Excellent. Now finish the job,” ordered Sovereign.
Seeker didn’t say anything as she focused her will into her gauntlet. Instead of creating the typical warp blade, she used the gauntlet to fire a burst of void energy into the Khaydarin core. The pure psionic energy matrix didn’t take kindly to the void energy now stirring within. The normally healthy blue hue emanating from the crystals began to discharge green energy as the matrix destabilized.
“That should do the trick,” said Seeker. “Shouldn’t be too long before the core explodes.”
“Was there anyone on board the Radiance that could undo this?” asked Sovereign.
“Why do you need to know that?” asked Seeker.
The doll began to glow with a green light as a painful migraine overtook Seeker. “You don’t need to ask questions, only answer them. Who can undo this?”
Seeker tried to fight it, but she suddenly lost the will to resist. This was Sovereign after all. Surely she could trust him. “Only the engineers, or a powerful High Templar. The only High Templar on the ship was the captain. But you said he was dead, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” answered Seeker.
“That is correct. No one can undo this now. Head to the hanger bay. Once our associate completes his task, we’ll make an exit,” ordered Sovereign.
“Of course. Let’s go,” agreed Seeker.
Lyra continued stitching together her creation as she happily witnessed the events through Seeker’s mind. The mare had been successfully broken. As long as Lyra stayed awake, that silly little rag doll inside her head would remain to give her orders.
All that was left now was for Skyfall to finish things on his end, after which he would no doubt brag endlessly. As if it were was his plan.
Her stitching complete, Lyra looked down at her finished product. Using the sheets and pillows available, she had created a real rag doll resembling the one she created in Seeker’s mind. This would surely help to further weaken that mare's grip on what was and wasn’t real. It’s kind of hard to deny something’s existence when it’s physically in front of you. She could just use her magic to make the illusion feel real in Seeker’s head, but this could be useful in the event anyone else from Dominion Intelligence ever needed to control her.
The engineers were no longer felt within the Khala, and Starsong could feel the psionic energy of the khaydarin core reeling in pain. Someone had sabotaged the core using void magic. He didn’t want to believe it, but he had to accept the possibility that Seeker had betrayed them.
As he was about to call for a security team to follow him to the core, the door to the bridge exploded. Shortly after the breaching charge went off, a small grenade rolled across the floor. Starsong ducked for cover and covered his eyes and ears just as it gave off a blinding flash, and a deafening noise.
His ears were still ringing, but his vision remained intact. Unfortunately he felt one Khalai after another become severed from the link. Someone was killing his crew. He suddenly found he was the only remaining crewmember still on the bridge as everyone else had been gunned down. He would have been shot too had he not taken cover.
As Starsong stood up, his gauntlets began charging with psionic energy. The energy stored in his gauntlets exploded releasing a surge of psionic lightning throughout the bridge. Starsong found a lone stallion slammed against the wall, his suit still arching with some discharge. Two gauss pistols also appeared, but were knocked out of his hands as he was sent flying back.
Starsong put both of his front hooves together and extended psi-blades from his psi-casters. The blades merged together and launched a bolt of energy towards his assassin. Skyfall used his telekinesis to form a pyramid like construct in front of himself. As the bolt hit the tip, it discharged into a burst of white lightning. The lighting ran around the sides of the constructing arching harmlessly around Skyfall.
While Starsong could not visibly see the construct, he could sense Skyfall’s magic, and knew what he was doing. The small pyramid began to spin like a drill and was launched towards him. Starsong put up his blades in an X formation and blocked the attack, but the construct continued spinning, slowly pushing him back as inch by inch his hooves slid towards the wall where he would be probably be crushed between the wall and spinning construct as his chest was drilled open. He could sense Skyfall still mentally pushing the construct with everything he had.
Lightning started to gather around Starsong and the construct, which had begun to slow its spin. Skyfall could see he was starting to lose this battle of will. Rather than continue this hopeless struggle, Skyfall snapped his metallic fingers as the construct exploded, giving off a shockwave of telekinetic force and psionic energy.
Starsong was quick to erect a shield around himself just as it happened, then saw the assassin running at him with a sword in hand. The sword extended in length as Skyfall performed a vertical downward slash trying to slice his head off, but Starsong blocked with his right blade. He then attempted to drive his left blade into Skyfall’s torso. Skyfall let go of his sword with his right hand and brought it down to his torso. He then conjured a telekinetic shield in front of his hand, blocking the blade.
Starsong however counted on that. He detonated the energy in his left psi-blade as it made contact with Skyfall’s magic. The detonation sent an exploding storm of psionic lightning towards Skyfall knocking him back a second time. It also sent a magical feedback through his mind, temporarily disorienting him.
Fortunately for Skyfall, he was a rather resilient stallion, or else the disorientation would have lasted much longer. He regained his focus just in time to roll out of the way as more lightning started to arc around him. The storm melted some of the flooring, and would have certainly done worse to him had he been caught in it. But as he lay on the ground, he saw the two pistols that were knocked out of his hands earlier. He reached out his with magic, levitating them back into his hands.
Starsong saw Skyfall get back up with both pistols in his hands. The Templar barely took cover in time as the assassin began to unload on him. Normally a pony wouldn't be able to handle the recoil of a gauss pistol without the use of power armor, but he was able to use his magic to help reduce the impact of the recoil. Skyfall had the red stallion pinned down, and both stallions knew his cover would only last a few seconds before the gauss pistols ripped it to pieces.
In a desperate attempt, Starsong got out from cover to fire his psi-caster. Skyfall however already had his sights set, and emptied his last nine rounds into his chest. The stallion stumbled back and fell against the wall as he lay bleeding. He attempted to lift his gauntlet as lighting began to arc. Before he could fire his psi-caster or conjure a storm, Skyfall levitated his sword, and launched it across the room, impaling the Templar through the face.
Pleased with himself, he was about to inform Lyra. Instead he was interrupted with, Yes yes I was watching the whole thing. You got him, good job, bla bla bla, just get back over here. The ship's core is already destabilizing.
Skyfall rolled his eyes. Just like his partner to not let him celebrate his achievement. He levitated the sword back into his hand, then retracted the blade into a more portable size which he then sheathed. After which he holstered his pistols as well. He knew a security team would be here soon, so he needed to make a fast exit.
Seeing as how his suit was still mostly intact, he teleported outside the window onto the ship’s hull. His boots magnetized as he began to spacewalk across the surface of the ship towards the hanger bay.
As Skyfall left the bridge, the dead Starsong dissolved into a blue mist, revealing that it was only an illusion. The real Starsong still laid behind the cover, though with two bullets wounds in his chest. Two of the bullets had struck him before he fell behind cover. Fortunately his armor prevented them from digging too deep, so he would survive.
He used his magic to cauterize the wound as he shouted in pain. As much as his chest hurt, he needed to get to the core. He then called out through the Khala for a number of Templar to meet him at the core and to make sure they were in full armor.
Seeker wasn’t a High Templar but she could still feel the void energize clashing with the psionic matrix. Fortunately for her, she was already at the hanger bay lying in wait, hiding behind her invisibility. Her void sight had picked up something else however. A figure was covered with a familiar cyan light as he passed through the shield keeping the air in. He too was invisible, but it wasn’t void energy he was using.
“There is a ghost on board this ship!” said Seeker.
Another migraine occurred as she said that. “You’re seeing things. That's just my associate. He is here to help you,” assured Sovereign.
After the migraine subsided, she took another look to see the cyan hue was gone, and he was instead surrounded by a black mist of void energy. “Right… sorry… I don’t know why I thought I saw a ghost.”
“Just think less. Let me do the thinking for you Seeker,” said Sovereign. “Things will be simpler that way.”
Seeker became lightheaded for a moment as the doll said that. “Your right. You know what you’re doing. I should listen to you,” agreed Seeker.
The other Dark Templar began attacking some of the personnel in the hanger bay. Seeker was quick to join in. It wasn’t long before a shuttle entered the hanger bay. It opened fire on many of the remaining Templar, then opened its hatch. “Hurry Seeker, this is your chance. We need to escape now!”
Seeker complied with the dolls demands and made a run for the ship. After both she and the other Dark Templar boarded, the shuttle’s doors closed as it flew out of the hanger.
“Excellent work Seeker,” said Sovereign. “Their ship is disabled and they are unable to pursue. It’s time for us to make an exit.”
Seeker looked over to the other two Dark Templar who ignored her. “So you two are friends of Sovereign?” asked Seeker. “When will I get to see him? How long do I have to talk to him through this illusion?”
“Illusion?” said the doll. It slapped her with its fluffy limb. “Does that feel like an illusion to you?”
“No. But where are you?” she asked.
Lyra and Skyfall were doing their best not to burst out in laughter as they sat in her seats listening to her. “I’m right here Seeker,” said the doll. “You always wanted to be with me didn’t you? Well here I am.”
“But… no… you aren’t-” another migraine interrupted Seeker, this time much more intense. With Lyra so close, she had no trouble forcing her will on the mare.
“Seeker, what did I say about asking questions?” asked Sovereign.
She looked up to see the Sovereign doll was staring at her face to face with its button eyes and stitched in smile. “Don’t ask them,” she replied.
“Exactly,” said Sovereign as he reached over to gently pat her head. “I’m here for you now Seeker, that’s all that matters. We’re going to be together from now on; just like you always wanted.”
A tear began to flow from Seeker’s eye as she heard those words. She grabbed the doll and pressed it against her chest, hugging it hard. “You’re right. We’re together and that’s all that matters!”
“Exactly, now step into the cryo pod.” he demanded. At this point Lyra’s dominance over Seeker was so absolute she didn’t even need to justify her logic anymore. The teary eyed Seeker simply smiled and nodded her head as she undressed herself and once again entered the cryo pod.
“Sovereign, will you be here when I wake up?” she asked.
“Of course I will Seeker. I’ll never leave your side again, I promise,” assured Sovereign.
Seeker closed her eye as a final tear of joy ran down her cheek. The lid closed, and she felt the coldness embrace her flesh. Seconds later, she began to dream happily.
Lyra levitated the doll over towards her. “The more I do this to her, the less I’ll have to. Eventually she’ll believe this doll is alive even when I’m not around. By the way, don’t ever leave her alone with this thing. If you do, you’re washing out the stains.”
With the coordinates plugged in, the shuttle finally made the jump, leaving the Radiance behind. Lyra decided she would get some sleep now that she didn’t have to maintain control over Seeker anymore.
Starsong could feel the core coming apart. He had already purged the void magic that had destabilized it, but the damage had been done. While the core was in flux, it gathered a massive buildup of psionic energy. If that energy wasn’t released, it could rip the ship apart.
Starsong had gathered twenty-nine other Templar into the core with him, all of them were clad head to toe in full armor. “Everyone focus. We need to vent the excess energy. But if we release it too fast, the core will blow. If we don’t release it soon however, the core will blow. We’re going to use the main cannon to release the buildup. I need you to focus with me to help keep the core stable.”
No one said anything. A hint of tension was felt throughout the Khala, but everyone in the chamber was ready to give their lives for their brethren. Starsong sent a message through the Khala ordering the Radiance to fire its main cannon onto a large asteroid in the distance.
As the cannon began firing, it released a very dangerous amount of energy in the process. The ship began to vibrate across all decks, but the core in particular was experiencing the worst of it. Lighting arched across the chamber as the core threatened to release all of its energy at once. Starsong and his Templar did their best to contain the energy within the core.
Starsong could see one of the Templar's visor shatter as he screamed in agony. His armor shattered next, followed by an explosion of lightning that flayed his flesh from his bones, which turned to dust soon after. Starsong himself was under a great strain as he was taking the bulk of the discharge as he did what he could to keep the others from suffering a similar fate. The bullets still lodged into his belly exacerbated the pain. Two more Templar died the same way as their armor, bodies and minds overloaded with psionic energy. Eventually the strain began to ease as the core stabilized.
Exhausted and in pain, Starsong dropped on his side, which was unfortunately the side that had the bullet wounds in it. He was panting and sweating, and knew he was about to pass out. But he was smiling.
The Radiance had been saved.