109: The Seeker Swarms – Five
When Storlayacas separated, it was to an expanse of ships burning up as their internal atmospheres were consumed. Hundreds of them.
Relief and horror warred within Elytra at the sight - relief, obviously, at having survived this ordeal.
Horror, because she'd just helped in the slaughter of hundreds.
Her spiralling thoughts were eclipsed by an alien sense of sympathy - Lianshae reaching out to her. A memory was pulled from her mind, a moment from her youth when a vehicle collision near her school had drawn the attention of those nearby, and she and a few of her classmates had witnessed the paramedics having to amputate the arm of one of the drivers then and there, rushing the wounded away and pushing the crowd back before the hazardous materials the vehicles had been carrying blew.
A part was sacrificed in order to save the whole. This situation was no different.
"I know," Elytra said aloud, "I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Another wave of sympathy. The Storlayacas units were created to save lives, and here they were ending them in order to carry out their mission. It sat heavy within Lianshae as well.
"I'm not detecting any other ships in the system," Viatrix's voice came over the comms, rattled and relieved at the same time, "Are you all okay?"
"Alive and well," Rhea called out, "Hopefully that'll keep the Thalatte off of us for a while."
"Did any of the ships get off a distress signal or other alert?" Nevara asked.
A brief pause, and then Viatrix returned, "Negative. Looks like the EMP messed with them worse than it messed with us. They were only able to broadcast locally, nothing long range."
"Regardless, I do not wish to linger," Pryseia said, "Let us away to calmer regions."
The six of them grouped up and Viatrix dematted them back into the cargo hold shortly thereafter. Elytra had barely stepped onto the walkway before Pryseia was pulling her into a tight hug, sympathy and sorrow coming off of her like a chill breeze.
"I know it is a poor balm, but all those who had gathered to end us would not have batted an eye at our lives being snuffed. That you feel sorrow for what was necessary for our survival speaks highly of your character." She told Elytra, pulling away enough to give her a wan smile.
"The galaxy would be a better place if there was a little more empathy in it," Rhea said as she came up to them, rubbing a soothing circle against Elytra's back, "Don't let it harden you."
"Easy enough when I've got the rest of you looking out for me," Elytra said, leaning into her touch, "But for now, let's get out of here. I think I need a nap."
It was less than an hour later, the Pelekys on a course to the Quanvengier, when Viatrix unexpectedly announced, "So, uh… I think I laid an egg?"
Eyes bugging out slightly as she sat curled in one of the armchairs in the rec room while working on their next Kith script, Rhea said, "We're gonna need a little more context for that, sweetheart."
From where she'd been sprawled over the arm of one of the couches with her own data pad, Malakh swung herself into a proper sitting position as Viatrix's avatar appeared on the low table before her and asked, "Is this a metaphor for something to do with your upgrades?"
"No, it's very much literal," Viatrix clarified, a tint of panic colouring her voice, "And it has to do with the Kith broadcasting stuff."
Malakh and Rhea shared a concerned look at that, standing up and making their way to the engine room, where the broadcasting equipment had been installed.
When they arrived, Pryseia was already there, arms crossed and brows furrowed as she nodded in greeting, saying, "She alerted you to her unexpected motherhood, then?"
"Please don't tell me the Hyttan upgrades knocked you up." Rhea said to Viatrix as she and Malakh came to stand next to Pryseia, whose mechanical eye was audibly whirring.
"They did something that can blow up our lives just as completely." Was Viatrix's cryptic answer, and that's when they noticed the state of the broadcasting equipment.
Like the rest of the upgrades they'd made to the ship, the broadcast equipment had been fully integrated into the now Hyttan superstructure of the ship… and that there was an egg-like growth jutting out of it, large enough that it came up to Pryseia's waist, connected by what looked to be a thin tube.
Jaw clenched, hands gripping her biceps, Pryseia said, "That egg is full of explosive material, and my readings indicate the very same ones that the Kith planted within them to prevent tampering."
Pulling her own Longan from her jacket, Malakh crouched down and began scanning the scene before her herself.
"Yeah," she breathed after a moment, "It looks like this… extraction? It's been going on for a bit. Wild… it seems to be a similar process to how some shellfish create pearls - the explosives aren't something that the ship needs, so its getting rid of them."
"That's tampering though, right?" Rhea said, "And we were warned that if we tamper... boom."
Nodding as she leaned slightly closer, Malakh said, "That's what they said, but that was if we tampered with it. This Hyttan tech, it seems to be-"
Like a cell dividing, the thin tube connecting the explosives to the broadcasting equipment snapped, and the three of them crashed into a tangle of limbs as they each tried to bodily shield the others from the coming explosion, but the only thing that rang out was the sound of something heavy rolling and then coming to rest against the floor.
"Fuck. OFF." Rhea gasped, visibly sagging when no explosion was forthcoming, "This close to pissing and shitting myself…"
Pulling away from the others, Malakh leaned back down, placing a hand on the now separated egg, despite the others yelling at her to not.
"It's okay," she said after a few seconds, her Longan blinking softly, "It's fully isolated. Guess this isn't necessary for our mission."
"Oh, but it is," Viatrix said suddenly, sounding lightheaded, "I just got a download from this thing… a vision… this little piece of caviar is something we can feed to the Omega."
Pryseia and Rhea shot each other a look while Malakh scrambled over to where Viatrix's mainframe was, already starting up a diagnostic as she asked, "Are you okay after that? Are more upgrades going to knock you offline?"
"No, I'm good," Viatrix said, already sounding more herself, "Whoa… was not expecting to cop Augury's bit with this, but it honestly looked like the way Elytra edits them… a bunch of flashes of imagery to convey meaning. Is that how you experience things when you commune with them?"
"It's a lot of feeling and sensory stuff that they seem to use with us," Malakh told her, "But Castore did convey ideas by making me remember things I'd actually experienced. Maybe this is something similar? They're using the memory of what Augury's visions look like to show you a vision of your own?"
"Maybe," Viatrix said, but she didn't sound convinced, "It was intense, whatever it was."
"And now we've got a bomb," Rhea said with a disbelieving little laugh, "What are we going to do with it? Wrapped up as it is, I don't feel safe with it just tucked away in a closet somewhere."
"We can put it in the hold?" Malakh suggested, pulling off her Longan as she ran a shaky hand through her mane, "If this is something we're going to need for our big, eventual showdown, then I can at least fabricate a locker to store it in until that all goes down."
"Perhaps the Storlayacas will have some suggestion about how it is to be utilized?" Pryseia suggested.
Malakh let out a laugh at that, saying, "Yeah, we should probably let them know that they're going to be sharing the cargo hold with a bomb powerful enough to wipe them all out. Shit, now I need a nap!"
It didn't take long for Malakh to whip up a more secure container for their unexpected bomb, and she and Rhea brought it into the cargo hold, Rhea hoisting it on her shoulder as if it didn't weigh anything at all.
As if it didn't have enough explosive power to wipe them all out in an instant.
"So I don't know how connected to the network you all are in here," Malakh called out to the Storlayacas units as she and Rhea stepped off the dematting zone, "But we've just gotten an unexpected weapon against the Omega for when it shows."
Though they were as unmoving as always, Malakh and Rhea could feel a mixed wave of sentiment coming from the Storlayacas units, somewhere between, "Oh good." and "Wait, what?!"
"Yeah, so that whole Kith of the Void thing we do, where we play pretend in order to get money enough to stay in operation?" Rhea explained to them, "Part of that involves broadcasting that stuff live, and the Kith have some proprietary equipment that they lend out to all their crews, and it's able to broadcast instantaneously all throughout the galaxy. They're the only ones who have this kind of tech, and they don't want it falling into the wrong hands, so they rig them up with bombs so that no one will go rooting around in their secrets."
"And I guess as part of the upgrades that Viatrix and the Pelekys got, the explosives got isolated, and Viatrix got a vision about how we're to use this thing on the Omega." Malakh finished.
Like something heavy moving in the distance, the pair of them could feel the Storlayacas units conversing amongst themselves, and they left them to it while they situated the bomb container as far away from the Storlayacas as they could manage, bolting the case to the wall of the cargo hold so it wouldn't go bouncing around and bring an early end to their mission.
As they finished up, they felt the attention of the Storlayacas units shift back to them, and with it came the sense of a question.
Why had Hyttan communication equipment been rigged with explosives?
Huffing out a breath, Rhea said, "Well, it would make sense that something advanced enough to get live video from one side of the galaxy to the other would be Hyttan, in hindsight."
"Yeah," Malakh said with a stunned laugh before she addressed the Storlayacas units, "It's not something the rest of the factions out there have. The Enlightened races would for sure abuse and monopolize it, and there's worries that the Bernetigan could use it to make everyone in the galaxy like them. And I do mean that literally. I don't know if you've had a chance to look into what all the races in this time period are like."
The feeling that rolled off the Storlayacas units then made it clear that they had, and that they were as frustrated with the attitudes of those in power as the rest of the galaxy was.
"So are you all going to be okay with this in here?" Rhea asked, "Because to be perfectly transparent, with the yield on this thing, it's been a worry at the back of my mind ever since I learned it was installed on the ship."
She and Malakh were treated to an image of their own, then, of a hand holding a grenade, the arming pin of it being slotted carefully back into place. The intent of that was clear - this bomb wouldn't be a threat until they wanted it to be.
"Good," Malakh said, visibly relaxing at that revelation, "I know everyone's going to be able to rest easier knowing this thing's safely tucked away."
"Especially since we'll be able to put it to good use when the time comes," Rhea said as she reached forward to tug Malakh's hand into hers, "I've a feeling we're going to need every advantage we can get when it comes to the Omega."
As the pair of them left the cargo hold, it was to another sentiment echoing off of the Storlayacas units.
You have no idea how right you are.
Stepping into Queen Kaizoku's study, the Queen's Red Left Hand announced, "I tracked down who those thalatte were working for back on that station."
Turning away from the console she was pouring over at her desk, Kaizoku motioned for the hand to have a seat in one of the chairs before her desk.
"I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn that it was the Thalatte government themselves who had those agents sent after us," the Hand said as she settled back in the chair, throwing one leg over the other, "Seems like there's a kill order on us, and anyone associated with us. They want the Pelekys back, but they're just as happy to see it destroyed."
Leaning back in her own chair, Kaizoku smirked at that. "Given that it has been converted to Hyttan technology, the Thalatte can no longer lay claim to our ship."
"They've got no idea about that part, but they've clearly seen what the Storlayacas are capable of. They're assembling a fleet to come after us." The Hand told her.
Raising an eyebrow at that, Kaizoku asked, "What type of force are we to expect?"
"A mixed one, something that must be being kept off the record, because it's composed entirely of mercenary ships." The Hand said as she reached up to briefly touch her face-mounted device.
Kaizoku glanced down at her console, where a series of documents going into the details of the ships that were being assembled against the Pelekys were now displayed. She flipped through a few of them, a scoff escaping her before she said, "This level of overkill is certainly a testament to our reputation, if nothing else."
"So how do you want to deal with this problem?" The Hand asked, and that pulled a sinister smirk out of Kaizoku.
"The old fashioned way - brutally."
The Hand let out a single, dark laugh at that, beginning to push herself out of the chair as she asked, "Shall I inform the others?"
Kaizoku's expression changed then, something careful and guarded as she raised a hand to bid the other woman to remain in her seat. The Hand did so, though her own expression changed to one of wary confusion at the sudden shift in her Queen's mood.
Levelling her with a piercing look for a moment, Kaizoku eventually asked, "The relationship between you and Chancellor Bathory, it has solidified into something, hasn't it?"
The Hand blinked, clearly not expecting that line of questioning, but she eventually said, "Yes. It has."
Still staring at her intently, Kaizoku asked, "I trust your judgement implicitly, but still I must ask. Are her intentions towards you as sincere as yours are to her?"
The laugh that fell out of the Hand was uncharacteristically shy, though her smile spoke volumes as she said, "Against all odds, they are."
Kaizoku settled back in her seat, he posture relaxing as something dangerously close to fondness bloomed across her face as she told the Hand, "Good, for if it was otherwise, despite the mission that the Storlayacas have bound us to, I would not hesitate to deal with Bathory should her intentions towards you be anything that would result in heartbreak."
"I appreciate the sentiment," the Hand told her, giving Kaizoku a respectful nod as she brought her hand to rest against the collar of her armour, "But Bathory has proven to have my heart quite protected."
Above a cream and green gas giant with an impressive ring system, hundreds of mercenary ships had gathered. With the way they were arrayed in tight formation, it was clear that they were highly disciplined. A force this size would be sure to emerge victorious against whatever foe it was sent to subdue.
However, unseen above their holding pattern, a shadow moved in the darkness.
Like a pitch black bolt of lightning, the Pelekys dove through the gathered ships, and it wasn't until it was halfway through the crowd that the mercenaries finally noticed the ship diving through their ranks.
Chaos broke out then, ships breaking off to pursue the Pelekys individually, others forming up into smaller units to give chase, but none of them were able to pin the nimble ship down.
Once a sizeable crowd had followed in behind the Pelekys, the six Storlayacas dematted out into the void, flying in formation themselves and they merged together once again, until the single, massive Storlayacas stood before the gathered fleet.
With nothing but their energy sabre and their incredible speed, Storlayacas wove through the ships chasing it, tearing them asunder before they could train their guns on them. The void was soon full of ships rent asunder, the massive fleet of mercenary ships going from hundreds to handfuls in a matter of minutes.
The discipline of the mercenaries, at least, did not falter against this onslaught. Despite the devastating display of destructive prowess, not a single mercenary ship turned tail to flee, and so it was that this once massive fleet was completely and utterly decimated.
With the burning wreckage of their erstwhile enemies tumbling in the void around them, the unified Storlayacas broke apart into its individual parts, the vibrant colouring of each a vivid contrast to the impossibly black Pelekys swinging around behind them.
"Program, are there any survivors?" Kaizoku called out, her voice thick with triumph.
"Negative," the Program confirmed a moment later, "All enemies have been destroyed."
"As expected. And let this be a lesson to any who should be so foolish as to attempt to amass arms against us in the future," Kaizoku growled out for all to hear, "The Pelekys and her crew are not to be trifled with. To do so will result in only one thing - death - and it will not be ours."
And with that warning, the individual Storlayacas were dematted back into the Pelekys before that midnight vessel vanished into the void between stars.