Into the Black

(Throne Room, Aurum Throni, Terran Orbit)

“What do you think you are doing? Do you want me to read you down to the core? Focus, girl!”

The method of training to get the Empress’s powers in check enough for her to function was simple enough, though I doubted she’d thank me for it until later. Much later. Simply put, I forced her to play defense as I attempted to penetrate her mind. She would throw up defenses as best she could, and I would break them.

The two of us were in a black space I had the Empress conjure up in her mind. We were in the mind, so the rules of the outside world did not apply. She needed to learn that, quickly, so I had her begin with an empty space, with no walls or ground. Once she learned to maneuver and use this space, she wouldn’t be forced to rely on projections of physicality to conduct ‘business’.

This was important for a couple reasons. Invaders in her mind, if they managed to get through her outer defenses, were never going to just sit back and abide by her mindscape’s rules, like I had done on the bridge of the Purity Blade. No, physicality was useless in a mindscape unless one had the strength of will to make it real, and even then, you had to train to pull it off. Brute force could substitute for skill, perhaps, but that opened up its own problems, as that much energy and concentration going towards the environment meant that you’d be distracted (at best) against a foe who was trying to attack you. To be useful, it had to be effortless. To be effortless, you had to be skilled.

The second reason was that learning to negate physicality in her own mind would help her negating it in another’s mindscape. If you were reliant on physicality in the mindscape, then, in another’s mind, you’d be helpless as they would literally have the home court advantage, able to twist and reshape the ‘world’ around you. Again, raw power could compensate for a lack of skill, but if you were simply going to blow them away and obliterate their mind, there were easier ways to go about it. And if you were in their mind looking for information, that information would be lost with their mind. Control was necessary.

And so, with that goal in mind, we had started a sparring match. Each of us were flying about the mindspace, ducking, diving, weaving, and turning to try and avoid attacks or get an opening. It was like an anime, honestly.

I had started off slow, relatively speaking, until she had gotten a hand on the basics. It didn’t take long. Merida may have been the Empress now, but she had been an Imperial Navy officer, not too long ago. And if there is one thing that all members of any space-faring navy are taught, it is how to respond in emergencies, like when the artificial gravity is offline.

Adapting the techniques for maneuvering in zero-g was easy for her. Then, she began trying to copy my movements, as it sunk in that she didn’t need to ‘bounce’ off illusory walls to change direction or speed. Three-dimensional movement skills, combined with a quick mind and ample motivation, allowed her to adapt quickly.

That’s when the game shifted from ‘tag’ to ‘defend yourself’. I conjured what looked like fireballs in my hands, and threw them at her. I started with ones that went in a straight line, giving her time to adjust to evasive action. Then, the fireballs started tracking her movements. When she started being able to create a shield, I started upping the power.

“GAH!” The Empress yelled as another fireball crashed against her defenses, which manifested as a force-field that struggled, but held against the attack. “I’ve never done anything like this before! Cut me some slack!”

“Slack?” I scoffed. “Silly girl. Will your enemies cut you some slack if you ask them nicely? You know you have people in your empire that would gladly turn you into an obedient puppet if they could, yes? Will they give you slack? And Deus is still out there, in some form. Will it give you slack? Then we have the creatures from the chaotic dimension. Do you think they will give you slack? No? Then why are you asking it from me?”

“RAGH! FINE! TAKE THIS!” Merida roared, finally having enough of my taunting and harassment. A fireball of her own formed, several times larger than the ones I had been throwing, fueled by her frustration and raw power. Without even considering the consequences, she threw it.

I did not try and take that attack head on. Instead, I darted to the side, and was unsurprised when it began following me. Merida was no fool, and she already knew about weapons that tracked their targets. I increased my speed, using my superior control to outmaneuver the fireball which was larger than I was. It always turned to follow me, but that was fine. It was time for a final lesson.

As I looped over the fireball again, letting it pass through the space I formerly was occupying, I put on a burst of extra speed, beyond what I’d shown so far. I turned towards the Empress, and began hurtling towards her, even as her fireball followed me.

Merida’s eyes went wide as she saw me hurtling at her like a bolt of lightning, and hastily threw up a shield to keep me from hitting her. It was the expected, instinctive response, but it was the wrong one. Again, I rolled to the side, curling around Merida’s shield bubble, and coming up behind her.

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Merida whirled to face me, her eyes locked on mine, ready for whatever trick I might pull. I smiled at her, and then pointedly looked over her shoulder, to see behind her. The Empress barely had time to curse before her own fireball crashed into her hastily-erected shields, throwing her backwards, and into my arms.

Looking down at the dazed Empress, I brushed her disheveled hair from her face, and smiled. She had taken the attack, meeting her raw power with raw power. I don’t doubt that it had weakened her substantially, though she’d recover quickly enough. “So, what have we learned?”

Merida groaned. “Control. Have to keep control, or bad things happen.”

“Good. Now, establish your defenses again, clamp down as tightly as you can on your powers. When you’ve done that, I think it will be safe for us to return to the physical realm. There are quite a few people who are very eager to see you, you know.”

“Ugh. Can’t I just stay here a while longer? I never wanted to be Empress, damn it! I just wanted to be an Imperial Navy officer!”

“And I never wanted to be an interstellar business mogul who owned more slaves than I could possibly count and employed many times more people than that, across six stellar polities. I was much happier being a simple starship captain, running around doing my own thing, instead of being the Admiral of a navy that can stand toe to toe with the fleets of the major powers, with all the responsibility that implies. But that’s not something I can change, now, is it? Sometimes, the universe doesn’t give a fuck what you want. All that is left, then, is to adapt to the situation.”

Merida took a breath, and nodded. “You’re right, of course. I was just griping a little. All right, how do we get out of here? I expect Lucio is beside himself with worry, even if he won’t admit it.”

“Well, you might cut the man some slack. After all, you were doing your very best impression of a reactor about to go critical for days, before I was able to reach you. Apparently, the other psy-capable individuals who tried were overwhelmed by your power, so they had to wait for me to wake up from my own coma to help you.”

“Why not simply use tranquilizers to sedate me?”

“Because no one was sure if the shots would even reach your body, but they were quite positive that they wouldn’t survive if your subconscious reacted to the attack and responded in kind. Oh, sure, you would have felt bad about it later, everyone who knows you knows that. However, that doesn’t really matter to a dead man, does it?”

With that thought, I turned my attention from the Empress, and extracted myself from her mind, keeping careful watch to make sure that her powers didn’t surge uncontrollably as I pulled back. Thanks to that, I was able to witness the Empress beginning to rebuild the defenses that had been shattered by the psychic wave and the unleashing of her own power. I already noticed a few improvements that were clearly inspired by what she’d learned. They’d need time to be refined properly, but it was a good start.