3. Xandor
Chapter 3
Xandor
Engine
K aanus lets out a bitter laugh, each cackle an ominous foretelling. “Void, the Mutalisk Hammer doesn’t have a fourth-generation hyperdrive engine,” he continues, his laughter growing more intense and half-mad. “I couldn’t afford that! So, I made adjustments, giving it the appearance of one.”
My fists clench in fury, and I round on the Captain, my claws itching to rip out his treacherous heart. Noroth shakes with rage, approaching the still-laughing Captain with his claws extended. “You lying bastard!” he roars.
“Don’t harm him!” Tyrxie leaps to stand in front of Noroth, her arms spread wide, blocking his path. “Please!”
What good would killing Kaanus serve now? I place a halting hand on Noroth’s chest, an unspoken gesture of peace. The terrible truth is we need the Captain. But the situation is now grave. I gambled on the speed of a fourth-generation engine, not whatever inferior ancient engine it actually possesses.
“Kaanus, you wait until now to tell us this fact!” I yell, glaring at the broken form of the Captain, feeling like I’m berating a drunk beggar. “Your treachery may spell our doom.”
Kaanus shows no remorse. For him, death may be a welcome reprieve. My eyes shift to the console screen. The Seeker Swarm drones closing in with haste. It’s evitable—they will catch us, and an unwinnable battle will commence.
Void, this is bad!
“Noroth, Logarn, take the Captain’s rifle, open the docking hatch and create a killing zone in the cargo hold,” I command, already expecting the questioning looks being exchanged by the others. “Better to let the drones onboard than have them tear through the hull,” I explain, hoping my assumption is correct.
“Fight with honor,” Noroth intones, as the pair salute before donning their warvisors.
“Fight with honor, brothers.” I salute back, feeling the Rush bubbling within me. The pair take the plasma rifle and move to exit until Hyanxa embraces Noroth for an intimate moment, a whispered exchange I cannot hear. Then my warriors depart the room, their thundering footsteps echoing my frantic heartbeat.
“Enemy closing in, nearly within firing range,” Kaanus informs, his voice growing more worried.
“Hyanxa, support the Captain. Take evasive maneuvers and get us to Nebia as fast as this heap of junk can go,” I command, gesturing at the fierce Jungarian, who, to my surprise, nods her head and moves to join Kaanus.
“That leaves us two.” I peer down at Tyrxie, offering what I hope is a reassuring smile. She glances back, resolute but with fear lurking beneath the surface. But now’s the time for strong hearts, brutal savagery, and unbreakable resolve. “I’ll operate the ship’s missiles. You take the railguns.” I move towards the weapons console, smirking back at Tyrxie. “I know you’ll not miss.”
Tyrxie joins me, our hands darting across the controls that spring to life. “Hey, it was you who claimed to never miss,” she states with a level voice as I marvel at the bravery she possesses in the face of such danger. “I only miss sometimes,” she chuckles, moving her delicate hands over the blue glowing controls.
“Good enough,” I retort. My attention, already consumed by the screen, seeing an endless line of drones shimmering towards us, growing closer with each passing second. A small sense of reprieve soothes me. Our ship might still be fast enough to prevent being overwhelmed and swarmed. Maybe we have a chance?
The Seeker Swarm surges forward, their ominous red lenses glowing in the void of space. I waste no time lining my targeting reticle to the front of the eager pack. “Fire!” I roar over the deafening tense silence. The ship shudders with satisfying reverberation as two twin-mounted rockets hurtle toward my targets. I grimace with despair, watching the agonizingly slow projectiles reach their targets, knowing how nimble the drones are.
The fusion reactor missiles land, granting me a fleeting moment of joy. As the first few drones rock back, their blue shimmering shields bathed in explosive flames that die in an instant, consumed by the unforgiving icy void of space. The drones remain operational, however, only tumbling to the back of the oncoming pack.
Amidst my onslaught, Tyrxie unleashes hails of rapid-firing railgun bullets, aiming at the swirling mass of chasing drones. Their blue plasma shields sparkle, absorbing much of the damage. Only the kinetic force pushing them back buys us any reprieve.
I waste no time aiming my next barrage, again targeting the front, hoping to send the malevolent orbs crashing into each other, delaying them as long as possible. The rockets come barreling out propelled by less-than-impressive thrust. Watching with bated breath, I see the leading two drones explode this time, their shields wilting before my deadly aim.
“Wow!” Tyrxie exclaims beside me, prompting me to smile, “Nice shot,” she praises.
“It’s your railgun that’s weakening their shields,” I retort, already locking in my next target. Then I notice blue plasma bolts streaming from the back of the ship, crashing into some of the hatred Scythian drones. “Seems Noroth and Logarn are joining the fray,” I say, feeling pride swell within me.
Yet the drones are endless, pressing in despite our best efforts to crush them, struggling just to delay them. They surge forth, clambering over each other in their desperate need to murder the ship and everyone onboard. The closest ones now near enough unleash their own heavy plasma blast towards the ship. I watch in despair as the simmering blue supercharged blasts crash into the hull. The ground beneath shudders and our vessel groans like some ancient wounded animal.
I steady Tyrxie, who almost stumbles as the ship lurches. Hyanxa or the Captain must be taking evasive actions now that the battle has truly begun. Only victory or death awaits us.
Aiming becomes more difficult as the ship tilts and swerves in random directions. The cold, calculating drones match our shifting course with frightening agility and consistency. Still, we return fire, with frantic frequency, trying to buy as much time as possible. Bullets, rockets, and blasts tear through the void of space, a cosmic dance amidst the backdrop of nothingness.
Our lives flicker, struggling to stay aflame within the nothingness, as time fades before the din of battle. How much longer until we reach Nebia? How long can we last? These questions repeat over and over, like the constant stream of missiles I unleash. Shearing plasma blasts rock the ship, causing unknown damage, while others whiz past, just avoided by our dodging vessel.
Tyrxie gasps next to me, seeing the same thing as I do: the leading Seeker drones now reaching the docking hatch. I grimace, hoping my war brothers can repel them, but I can spare only the faintest moment of concern as our battle rages on.
“Void, we’re halfway!” Hyanxa shouts over the thumping missiles and impacts, her usual fierce tone now laden with worry.
We won’t make it, not like this.
But there’s no untapped strategy, no cunning move left to play. Our situation is dire, with meager resources and warriors. I harden my resolve, trusting in the will of the Gods. They will guide us to victory or honorable deaths. I fire off more missiles into the writhing, endless mass of Seeker drones, their stream edging dangerously close to the docking hatch. My rockets erupt among their number, blasting a few to bits and forcing others spinning backward.
I smile, watching some junked drones being ejected out of the docking hatch, torn to ribbons by Noroth and Logarn’s wrath. My Rush surges within, yearning to join them in glorious battle. Alas, I cannot, as my eyes shift to Tyrxie. Her eyes are focused, her body glistening with concentrated effort, filling my heart with fierce pride.
The ship vibrates from the constant battering of plasma blasts, and from the corner of my eye, I see blue molten streams of arcweave leaking from the hull. Even the reinforced plating cannot withstand this onslaught.
Worse is yet to come as the drones press onward, lacking any self-preservation, driven only by a desire to kill. A small number now swarm the back of the ship, unleashing their cutting limbs. They cut and chop against the hull with frantic, jerking movements. Among the cacophony of zaps, bullets and rockets is now the clanging and banging reverberating through the entire interior.
It’s amazing the ship is still functioning, lumbering onward like an old beast. With desperation, I unload missile after missile into the drones hacking at the ship, risking the proximity of the blasts, judging it worth the risk. Many drones are dislodged but more take their place, an endless tide washing away all life.
“Void, we’re all going to die,” Hyanxa declares in a rushed panic. “Multiple hull breaches in the crew’s quarters and adjacent corridor.”
The Rush leaks from my eyes, my heart pounds in my chest, and I realize my worst fear—I have no option but to repel them. “Hyanxa, take over the missiles. Keep killing the bustards,” I gesture towards Kaanus as I rush towards the door. “Captain, seal the doors and deploy atmospheric fields around the breaches. I will hold them off.”
“I’m coming too,” Tyrxie states, her eyes brokering no argument. If time wasn’t so critical, I would deny her and never put her in harm’s way. But time is more precious than raw Elerium now.
I frown, gazing at Tyrxie’s fierce, determined eyes. “Remember your promise?” I remind her.
“Remember yours,” she retorts, causing us both to smile.
Donning my warvisor, I don’t wait another moment, hoping my sweet bonded female can somehow survive this crumbling situation. I clutch her hand, and together we march down the rumbling corridors. The warvisor overwhelms my senses, revealing the extent of the breaches—the whole rear of the ship is almost overrun by drones.
I reach out to Noroth via the warvisor. “Do you feast with the ancestors, or do you yet crave battle, you big lump of borack arse?” I send with humor, hoping he still lives.
For a moment, no reply comes, and I fear the worst. Then, to my relief, his voice comes through. “Xandor, the cargo hold is lost. We’re executing a fighting retreat outside the mess hall corridor.”
“Excellent brother,” I reply, pleased they both are alive. “Bleed them until you reach the engine room. There, we make our last stand.”
The ship shudders and rocks, forcing me to brace myself and Tyrxie against the corridor. Worry gnaws at me as we continue with haste. I take a steadying breath, squeezing Tyrxie’s hand as my warvisor informs me. “Two drones down this corridor. Stay behind me at all times, understood?” I implore.
Tyrxie gives a solemn nod. Content, I round the corner to witness two large drones hacking and slashing savage rents with their four bladed limbs. I waste no time firing shoots from my arc blaster. It’s molten fury, a reflection of the Rush pulsing through my veins. The blue, searing blasts distort the very air as they crash into the first drone’s shields.
Blue sparks erupt in a blinding flash until the hated drones’ shields buckle. My continual stream of plasma blasts punch through, melting the machine into a blue-gray steaming slop. I smile with satisfaction until the second drone rounds on me. Its red lens shines with ominous intent as it unleashes a plasma blast in our direction.
With a smooth motion, honed from a thousand battles, I catch the blast with my arc shield, which sparks and hisses, absorbing the jarring blow. Then, to my shock, before I can retaliate, a red streaking beam punches straight through the Seeker drone’s shield, penetrating the entire machine, and causing it to collapse in an instant.
Tyrxie stares at her gun with a look of amazement. “Told you it was worth hanging onto,” I jest with a smile.
“It’s incredible,” Tyrxie declares, our eyes meeting briefly. But there’s no time to waste. My warvisor fills my awareness with the location of the surging drones pouring through the hull breaches.
I turn, knowing two more drones are approaching. Before they round the corridor, I’m already firing blasts from my arc blaster. Their plasma shields sparkle and shimmer, absorbing my deadly shots. Still, they spin with frantic jerking movements, carving up the interior in a deafening screeching dance.
They release their own searing plasma bolts, but as the Rush burns within me, stoking my already heightened skills to new heights, time seems to slow. The blue hazy blasts move with languid grace as I catch them with my shield, protecting Tyrxie behind me. Then, like an experienced fighting unit, Tyrxie fires pinpoint accurate shots with her laser pistol, punching straight through the enemies’ shields and disabling them in an instant.
Tyrxie screams as the gangway beneath our feet erupts, sending her and my heart into a panic. Turning in a flash, I see a drone has exploded from below, now between us. “Tyrxie!” I roar, noticing her sprawled on the ground, groaning. In a frantic panic, I pounce onto the orb’s back, raking my arc claws in a murderous fury. Each slash is my savage retribution. The despicable machine’s shield blinks out of existence, absorbing my first strike, and my others rend it to ruined pieces.
I dash to Tyrxie’s side, relieved to see she’s righting herself, just a little dazed. But more drones are coming, spinning around the corner and erupting from the floors. Grabbing Tyrxie’s arm, I race down the corridor, now fighting a desperate running retreat. The tight corridors are the only thing preventing us from being overrun.
A stream of machines lines the halls, their red lens glaring with the promise of our deaths. We return fire, killing some as I dodge and block the molten blue murder directed at us. The clamor is deafening as the ship rumbles and shakes, the floor almost toppling us over. I steady Tyrxie, who kills many, her accurate shots streaking from behind, piercing their shields and mechanical bodies.
Kaanus’s voice echoes through a sound system I never knew this ship possessed. “Scythian Voidbanes and Nebian Starcrusiers...” his voice trails off, full of wonder. We must be very close to Nebia. “The way they move through the void... Beautiful.” There’s no beauty here for us, caught in a brutal struggle for survival, not just for ourselves but for the entire crew.
Drones crash against my plasma shield, their frantic bladed limbs spinning with darting motion. I clench my teeth, muscles bulging, resisting the pressing weight of the mass. Buying Tyrxie the time and safety she needs to destroy them with pinpoint accuracy. The endless tide pushes us back, but they pay dearly for each step, each inch. The air swirls with thick smoke and the acrid scent of melted arcweave and smoldering vapors.
“Void!” Kaanus exclaims over the internal comms system. “A Voidbane just went nova, a Nebian Starcrusier is on an intercept course with us!”
To save us or finish us? There’s no time to dwell. I can only trust in the others and in the Gods that we will prevail. The golden fury of my Rush leaks from my eyes as my wrath reaches new gorgeous heights, muscles rippling with newfound strength, my focus and awareness heighten beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.
It must be Tyrxie. Our bond! I slash in a flurry of lightning-fast blows, dodging the orbs’ feeble, clumsy attacks that seem to float through the air. Plasma blast erupts from behind their fallen in their haste to kill us, but I see them coming, blocking them in my shield. Any opening I create, Tyrxie exploits, raining laser death upon them, delivering coordinated destruction.
Our ship rocks and groans until a shuddering, horrendous snapping sound echoes. Followed by a deafening zapping noise that reminds me of Tyrxie’s laser pistol, if her gun were battleship-sized. “The Nebians are attacking. Abandon ship, I’ll draw them off!” Kaanus yells through the sound system, confirming my fears.
I watch in amazement as the Scythian drones retreat in a rush, leaving through the breaches they’d created only moments ago. “Tyrxie, we need to reach the escape pods. The ship is done for!” I roar over the dim, clutching her.
But she shrugs me off, her eyes laden with desperate concern. “I can’t leave Kaanus!” she yells, dashing towards the bridge in a frantic pace.
I grimace, following her, contemplating carrying her against her will. “We don’t have time for this,” I plead, but my words don’t reach her, lost in her irrational desire to save a male who abused her for years.
Sirens wail, hydraulics hiss, exposed wires snap and spark, the ship lurches and moans. It feels like we’re trapped in the body of an immense dying monster, hoping to avoid the same fate. Approaching the bridge door, we pass a fleeing Hyanxa, who urges us to join her in the escape pod. “Not without Kaanus,” Tyrxie affirms.
“Don’t be a voiding idiot!” Hyanxa calls back, but her words fall on deaf ears. Moments later, we arrive at the bridge, and my eyes immediately draw to the viewport. A cosmic battle rages in the distance, hulking Scythian Voidbanes blast arc cannons at the nimbler, sleek Nebian Starcrusiers, which return punishing precise laser fire. Kaanus was right. It’s a beautiful sight, one I’d seen often enough—too often.
Kaanus turns at our arrival, his face full of shock. “Tyrxie, what the void are you doing here?” he asks, now lacking any trace of his earlier inebriation.
“Kaanus, come with us!” Tyrxie pleads with outstretched hands, her eyes moistening.
“I can’t do that,” Kaanus asserts, shaking his head. “Someone has to lead them away.” His milky white eyes leak tears as he continues. “The least I can do for all the pain and suffering I’ve caused.”
Tyrxie crumbles in despair. “No, please,” she howls as I place a comforting arm around her.
My eyes dart to the viewport. A Nebian Starcrusier is maneuvering closer to our vessel. “Quick, we need to leave. Now!” I roar, picking up the distraught Tyrxie.
I drag her sobbing beauty out the door, “I forgive you Kaanus,” Tyrxie cries through weepy eyes.
“I’ve always loved you, Tyrxie.” The almost inaudible response reaches us, the last words of the Captain of the Mutalisk Hammer.
“Hurry, or his sacrifice will be in vain,” I urge, carrying Tyrxie as quick as I can, knowing another strafing attack is imminent. Moments later, rushing through the chaotic maelstrom, we near the escape pods, which sit next to the engine room. Then my senses detect the same deafening laser cannon firing. Some instinct, some knowing, compels me to throw Tyrxie forward with all my might.
She screams, hurtling far through the air as my consciousness is bathed with scorching, agonizing pain. I watch in horror as a blinding beam of red laser, as wide as a borack, evaporates my outstretched arm. But I don’t have time for shock as the blast explodes the entire corridor, sending me hurtling backward to crash against a wall.
My vision swims, hazy, as I struggle to remain conscious, aided by the intense stabbing pain of a thousand blades where my arm should be. I stare at the cauterized remnant of my left arm, missing below the elbow, in dumb disbelief.
Rylar would love this! I chuckle, wily, half-delirious with scorching agony.
The ship is a ruin, creaking under its own weight, rocking, and spinning, lost in space, most likely cut in twain by the ruthless laser blasts. It won’t be long now until I die, exposed to the unforgiving elements of the void.
I had a good run.
My foggy thoughts turn to my beloved Tyrxie, hoping she made it to the escape pod intact. A desperate curiosity prompts me to reach out to Noroth via my warvisor. “Brother, soon I’ll rest with the ancestors. Does Tyrxie live?” I ask, not knowing if any of my warriors have survived either.
After a moment of watching parts of the ship break off, as small explosives cascade through the corridor, I rise on shaking legs, struggling to stand amidst the spinning, swaying turbulence. “She lives, brother. We’re all aboard the escape pod, except you and the Captain.” His gruff voice is now the sweetest music to my ears.
I breathe a sigh of relief before immediately wincing from the savage pain of my destroyed arm. “Good, tell her I love her, and please watch over her, Noroth. It’s all that matters to me now,” I reply, my thoughts carrying great weight.
“I swear it, Xandor,” Noroth’s reply comes laden with sadness. “May you rest with the ancestors in peace, knowing Logarn and I carry your honor within us.”
“Farwell Noroth,” I intone, watching the ship further disintegrate. It’s almost peaceful standing amongst the ruin, being a ruin myself, accepting my fate.
The wreckage violently tilts to one side, spilling me sideways, jarring me and, worst of all, my agonizing wound. I can tell the ship’s gathering momentum as if being pulled towards somewhere. My vision spins and the atmosphere grows very hot suddenly.
Is this what dying feels like?