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Episode 35: A Much-Needed Answer
"Stupid storm! Stupid Gamilons! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" thought Derek as he guided his plane out of the hangar and into space. "What're we doing, just sitting here? Where's the fleet we escaped from three weeks ago? Why haven't they found us again yet?"
All these thoughts and more came rolling over Wildstar as he set out to find the way through the storm, which the science team had dubbed the "Octopus Star" since it had eight orange tails swirling around its quadruple-dark-star center.
He stared at the giant thing, seeing for the first time how huge it was in comparison with the ship. Even the Argo was nothing when compared to this gigantic storm. It was miles and miles across, so huge that it seemed to envelope his entire world. When he looked to the left or right, the storm was there. When he looked ahead, the storm was there. When he looked back, he could see wisps of orange cloud that had disconnected from the main storm and reformed into tiny orange beacons.
He grimaced at the phenomena and surged on, looking for something – anything – that might suggest a way through the tumult.
He flew towards the mass. It took him over half an hour to reach it. Every time he thought he was getting close to the storm he would realize that he was nowhere near it. Its size masked how far away they really were from the giant.
The closer he got, the more he felt like a speck of dust on an elephant's back.
Finally his plane reached the wall of cloud that covered the nexus connecting the four black spheres.
"Should I go in?" he thought, beginning to regret his rash decision. His doubts were magnified when he felt his plane start to bob this way and that as a strong wind suddenly grabbed his Zero.
Derek held onto the control stick for all he was worth. He felt his plane shudder around him as the wind picked up and sucked him into the storm.
He thought he was about to die.
He looked around frantically for a way out of the storm, but he couldn't see anything. He stared at his instruments, but everything was gyrating crazily. All the dials and readouts seemed to have lost all sense of direction or meaning. They were useless.
Panic began to set in then. If he couldn't use his instruments to figure out which way he'd come… Then he was dead; and there was literally nothing he could do about it.
He froze, in his seat, hands glued to the stick, eyes glazed as he stared out the cockpit at the storm as it took him.
"Here." Dommel asked the driver to stop and let him out at an anonymous gate not too far outside the palace grounds. The driver obliged and stopped to let the General exit the aircar.
"Shall I wait for you, Sir?" the driver asked.
"No, please don't." Dommel replied, "Thank you."
The driver nodded and left, turning the car around to return to the palace.
Dommel sighed as the car left. It had been a relief to get out of the crowd that had mobbed the vehicle during his ride out of the capitol building. He wished he could return to simpler days, back when he and Elisa had been mere inn-keepers waiting for the next customer to come through their door.
Not that everything that had happened since that fateful day eleven years ago when he'd first met the Leader – though neither he nor his wide had known who the young man was at the time – was bad, quite the opposite in fact. Much good had come from that odd meeting.
Dommel looked up at the old archway that adorned the entrance to the cemetery and turned to enter.
He didn't remember a lot of the graves that now occupied the plots nearest the gate. So many had died thanks to the infestations of the tsarebetim all over the planet, but more and more were appearing even here underneath the surface of Gamilon. There were so many now that it was hard to travel too far from one's home without coming across at least one of the wretched things.
They stank of sulfur… and death. The sickly yellow streaks could even be seen from orbit now, and a number of them had congealed in places to create sulfur seas. Those areas had been cordoned off and the inhabitants of any towns near them had been evacuated.
At least he could do something about it now. Since the Leader had given him this new assignment he felt like he could do something worthwhile to help Gamilon, instead of just herding the troops along and ordering them to confront this Eratite ship, he would be the one doing it. He only hoped the Leader's faith in him hadn't been misplaced.
His footsteps fell on hard cobbled stone as he walked through the graveyard, head down, lost in his thoughts about the upcoming mission he would leave for in three days.
"Dommel!"
At the sound of Elisa's voice Dommel looked up and, despite the grim surroundings and heavy responsibilities he now bore, smiled.
"Elisa…" he went to her and wrapped her in a long-overdue hug. "You look better than when I left."
"Yes." Elisa agreed, hugging her husband fiercely, "I… feel much better than I did." She looked up at Dommel, noting the signs of concern on his face. "What is it?" she asked.
Dommel stepped back, dropping his arms to his sides. He didn't answer right away, but instead took a moment to take in the sight of his wife. She looked much like she had the last time he'd seen her. Her long blonde hair glinted in the low lamp light that lit the graveyard now that darkness had fallen. Her tender eyes were soft and warm, holding greater love for him than he knew he deserved. But now, instead of the dour gloom she'd let fall over her after their son's death, a brighter, happier look now adorned her face.
"It is nothing." Dommel replied, happy that his wife had been able to find something to be happy about. "I'm just tired."
Elisa nodded, accepting the answer. She leaned against his side, finding his hand and weaving her fingers into hers. "I wish Deror was here." She said, on a more somber note.
Dommel looked down at the small grave they now stood before. "I know." He said, "But perhaps it is good that he doesn't have to endure these troubled times."
Elisa nodded, "Yes… maybe it is."
Suddenly a loud squawk came from somewhere across the graveyard.
"Juji!" Elisa called to the bird, "Stop that!"
The sound of children's laughter floated across the dreary place, making it seem just a bit less sad.
The rockroc bird chittered at the children and hopped on top of one's head. The little girl giggled at Juji as he yodeled at the top of his bird-lungs.
"Juji." Elisa's voice grew stern and the bird turned to look at her with an innocent expression. Juji finally hopped off of the girl's head and waddled back through the gravestones to his owners. The children, visiting a grave of their own, paid a few last respects to their relative and left.
Juji saw Dommel and ran to the man, squawking excitedly. He vaulted up onto Dommel's shoulder and sat contentedly, a strange purring sound coming from his throat as he rubbing his head on Dommel's face.
"Yes, Juji. I'm happy to see you, too." He told the bird, petting the animal fondly.
"Dommel," Elisa looked around the purring bird so she could see her husband again, "Let's go home."
Dommel nodded and walked hand-in-hand with his wife all the way back to their dwelling.
Starsha sat on the stone ring circling one of the bubbling fountains outside the palace. She stared out into the gathering darkness, wondering what the Eratite ship was doing. It had been several weeks since she'd seen anything concerning the ship. Obviously they weren't in terrible danger or the engine core would have alerted her long before now. Perhaps they'd been waylaid for some reason.
She listened to the night birds and insects. Their familiar songs echoed in her mind as she thought of the last time she and Astra had come to listen to this nightly chorus. It had been over a year ago now. She only hoped that her sister was safely aboard the Argo and heading home even now.
Astra's name hadn't been on the passenger list, but perhaps she simply hadn't been able to communicate her name to the Eratites when she'd arrived on Erats. After all, Starsha had had to talk with Alex and Adam through the Interface since she had no other way of knowing what they were saying. Maybe by now Astra too had found a way to talk with the crew and tell them the story of how she had come to Erats in the first place.
At least Adam was doing better now. Even since he'd woken up he'd started getting better much more quickly. He talked with her and Alex every day now and Starsha had discovered, much to her delight that the other Eratite was, like herself, a follower of Yeshua. Alex didn't seem to be very happy with that fact, but he tolerated his friend's beliefs well enough.
She liked Alex and Adam and was glad to have someone to talk with now that Astra was gone, but she was becoming concerned with Alex's behavior towards her as of late. He seemed… a bit too interested in her. She hoped he wasn't starting to have some sort of affection for her beyond their limited friendship. She had tried not to lead the man on in any fashion. Perhaps she'd done something he'd misunderstood. She hoped that wasn't the case. If it was, she didn't know what she'd do.
"Starsha?" the voice startled the young queen and she jerked her head around to see who'd called her. To her chagrin, there stood Alex at the top of the stairs, looking down at her and smiling.
"Alex." Starsha said, pausing a moment to try to think of what to say to him, then in halting English managed, "How are you?" but it came out strangely, twisted up in her thick accent.
Alex laughed good-naturedly, dismissing the poor pronunciation, "I'm fine. How are you?"
She started to reply again in very bad English, but he stopped her, knowing it was still very uncomfortable for her to speak his language at all, "Just talk normally, please. We can practice some other time."
Starsha nodded, thankful not to have to struggle through whatever conversation they might have. Then she continued, "I was just going to go in. It's getting a bit cold out here."
Alex nodded, "Alright, I'll come with you. I wanted to ask you something anyway."
A strange chill suddenly gripped the young woman's stomach and squeezed. What could he possibly want to ask her? She didn't know why she felt such dread over his announcement of a simple question, but try as she might, she couldn't shake the strange feeling.
She was glad however that she didn't have to use the Interface as much to talk with the two Eratites now. Both of them had picked up a good amount her language and she had learned much of theirs as well. None of them could speak the others' language well enough yet, but at least they understood each other decently now.
Starsha got up from her seat on the stone and started up the steps, but a few steps up she tripped on her dress. She put her hands out to catch herself, but she never landed. Instead, Alex's strong hands reached down and caught her waist, hoisting her back up to a standing position.
"Thank you." The queen said, brushing at her dress, embarrassed to have fallen on the stairs she'd been using her whole life.
Alex gave her an odd look, "You're welcome."
The two made it back inside without incident and Starsha was just about to enter the elevator that would take her up to the floor her quarters occupied when Alex reached out and caught her arm.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Starsha apologized, "You wanted to ask me something." She turned to look at the tall Eratite, noting now in the light of the palace what she'd missed in the twilight outside. He was sweating and looked quite nervous. "What's wrong?" she asked, thinking that perhaps something had happened to Adam while she'd been outside.
Alex took a deep breath and looked at the glass floor.
Starsha was confused. What was he doing? Then, adding to her confusion, Alex suddenly knelt in front of her. Before she could pull away he took her hand and held it.
The queen looked at him strangely. On her world, this gesture was one used when one person asked forgiveness of another for some great wrong. Surely Alex hadn't done anything so terrible as to need to ask her forgiveness for it.
The knot in her stomach grew with every second Alex didn't say anything.
Finally he said, in decent Iscandarian, "I… I love you, Starsha. And I want you to be my wife." He looked up at her with hope in his dark brown eyes.
Starsha was stunned. Had she understood him correctly? She didn't reply for a long time. Her mind swirled with so many thought and feelings. How could she answer him? What could she say to this most dreaded question? Her stomach roiled as she opened her mouth to give him the only answer she could.
Derek thought he would never see anything other than angry orange and black clouds for the rest of his short life. How could he even begin to get out of here? There was no way to escape.
He started to descend into full-on panic, but just before he fell over the edge of his sanity, he saw something that tore away his despair and replaced it with glorious hope.
A star.
He stared at the glowing point, wondering if he was just seeing things now. Had all the spinning and bouncing addled his brain? He had no doubt that was a very real possibility since he'd lost track of how long he'd been stuck inside this orange monster.
He looked and looked, and as he did suddenly another star appeared and then another and another. Suddenly he was spit out of the storm and into open space. He looked around, trying to find the ship. But he didn't see it.
Certainly he hadn't just…
He let out a whoop so loud that had his comm channel been open, whoever was listening would have been deafened.
"I did it!" he celebrated, "I got through! There is a way!" He was so excited that he almost failed to see the Gamilon fleet as they started to close in on his little plane.
Suddenly the radar came back online and screeched for his attention. He cursed when he saw the enemy ships appearing on the radar. "Couldn't just let me have a minute!?" he railed at the enemy, "Just one minute to be happy about this?"
He knew he was too underpowered to fight them all and he turned his plane around. Grimacing at the thought of the ride he'd just endured and feeling like his stomach might not tolerate another bout, he plunged into the storm again, heading back the way he'd come, hoping that it would take him back to the Argo.
What seemed an eternity later he was spit back out the other side of the Octopus Star, feeling like he would puke, but otherwise, none the worse for wear. His plane wasn't damaged either, though the sensors were terribly confused and would need recalibrating now that they'd gone through what he now thought was some sort of magnetic disturbance - twice.
"Captain!" he hailed the ship as soon as his comm system came back on line.
"What did you find, Wildstar?" Avatar asked.
"There's a way through. Right through the nexus of the four spheres, but Captain, they're waiting. The Gamilon's are already on the other side, just sitting there. Once we come through, they're going to shoot us down like we're bugs."
"Get your ship back in the hangar, Wildstar. Then report to the operations room. We'll find a way to get through without ending our journey here. I promise you that." The Captain said, then the comm channel closed.
Derek pounded the seat in frustration. They could get through, he was sure. If his Zero could make it, surely the Argo could, but what then?
He guided his plane carefully back into the hangar and stowed it in its bay, telling the maintenance hands about the sensor adjustments he needed as he ran out of the hangar and up to the operations room.
"So what did Leader Desslok say to you?" Elisa asked once they were home and sitting comfortably on a couch in their living area.
"He… wants me to go back out in three days." Dommel replied.
"No…" Elisa said sadly, "So soon? You just got back and he wants you to leave again?"
"I know." Dommel kissed Elisa lightly on the forehead, "I don't want to go either, but there's something important I need to see to before I can come home more permanently."
"Oh, alright…" Elisa said, curling up next to him and letting her arm rest on his leg, then she whispered softly into his ear, "Promise me you'll come back from this…"
The General looked into his wife's eyes, seeing the concern she was trying to hide – the concern he knew she always had when he left for a military excursion of any kind. It was the same look she'd had every time he'd left the rebel encampment to take one of the Usurper's outposts two or three years ago. She was truly worried that one day he wouldn't come back.
He answered her fear just as he had many times before. He gently reached for her and pulled her close, then he kissed her lovingly, with just as much zeal as the day he'd married her.
All thoughts of what Elisa wanted to tell her husband melted away, replaced by the overwhelming presence of the man she loved.
"Colonel Gantz, it's one of the Eratite planes." The radar officer announced to his superior. "It's just come out of the storm."
"Close in. Destroy it before it has a chance to run." Gantz ordered.
The fleet quickly closed in on the small vessel, but just when they got within firing range it turned tail and jumped back into the storm.
"What in all the shamayim is the Eratite doing?" Gantz blurted, angry that they hadn't had a chance to take the plane down.
"Perhaps it went back to get the rest of them." Bane offered, trying to placate the Colonel.
He succeeded.
"Yes…" Gantz said thoughtfully, "Perhaps you're right, Bane." The Colonel replied, "Alright, all ships get away from the storm's exit channel. We'll wait for them to come through, and then, we strike."
Episode 36: Whisper of the Witch
Miezella Celestella woke suddenly. She sat up, eyes wide open. The heavy darkness surrounding her was so thick she couldn't see much more than a few feet in front of her. Why was it so dark tonight? Usually the lights in the capitol city poured in through at least one of the windows in her and her sister's quarters, but not tonight. Tonight it was as though a black cloak had been draped over the sad city, snuffing out every light, squelching life in a way that chilled Celestella to her very soul.
"You have come…" she whispered into the darkness.
"Yeeeesss…." The voice hissed, "I have come. It is time, Celestella. Take your sister and do what must be done…" the voice growled, low and guttural, like a lion about to pounce on an unsuspecting deer. "Spare none of them. And if there are any other ships near them, you must take their crews as well. There must be no witnesses to this deed. The Master wishes their deaths, but no one must know that it was you who facilitated them. We will take care of the ship once the crew is dead."
"Yes, fellow servant. I will do as the Master wishes." A thrill ran through Celestella. She had been waiting for this ever since the night she'd had that scar emblazoned on her back – ever since the Leader had last talked with that accursed Iscandari woman.
Celestella hissed at the memory of the pain that had come over her while the star was burned into her skin. She would never forget the sight of the angry red scar on her back.
She absently rubbed the mark through her clothes, wincing at the feeling of the ugly, raised flesh.
"The mark of the Enemy is upon you…" the shéd hissed, "The Master knows of that night, and he is not pleased with the Enemy's boldness. And now He will pay for His attempts to stop us from having the anointed one…" the voice trailed off in the darkness.
Celestella thought the demon was gone, but just when she was about to go rouse Mirenel she heard one last whisper from the darkness, "Beware the woman you despise, Celestella… She is not as ignorant of our efforts as she might seem…"
Celestella shuddered, but nodded, "We will be careful." She said, "We wish the Eratites' deaths just as much as you and the Master do."
"This we know," the foul spirit cooed in approval, "We thank you for your great service."
With that the demon's presence dissipated and a few small lights began to reappear through the windows, lighting Celestella's way just enough so that she didn't trip over anything on her way to her sister's room.
She knocked on Mirenel's door, softly at first, but when the young woman didn't answer Celestella knocked harder. When there still wasn't a response she started pounding on the door.
Finally a startled "Who is it?!" echoed from inside the room.
"Your sister!" Celestella bit back, "Now get up! It's time!"
Mirenel didn't say anything, but Celestella heard rustling on the other side of the door and was content that her sister was getting ready.
Celestella went back to her own quarters and put on some clothes dark enough to help hide their passage through the palace down to the lowest levels of the great structure – down to the place where they would send Death itself to walk among the Eratites and take them one by one, by fear… in the dark…
"Captain, we're through!" Venture announced once the Argo managed to break through the curious channel Wildstar had found not two hours ago. The way had been rough and dark, but in the end, they'd come through it alright. A few instruments would need recalibrating, but that was all. Thankfully.
"All hands to battle stations!" the captain ordered, knowing that within moments they would be set upon by the enemy fleet Wildstar had seen upon his arrival here.
The crew scrambled to their stations. And waited.
Nothing happened.
Surely the Gamilon fleet hadn't left the area after only two hours' wait.
Captain Avatar looked from one side of the bridge to the other. "Report." He said.
"Nothing on radar." Nova said.
"I'm not getting anything on the comm channels. No one's trying to hail us." Homer reported.
"Nothing on any of the other sensors." Sandor replied, "Captain, they're not here. Or if they are, they're so far away we can't detect them."
"Hey! What's that?" Eager suddenly shot up out of his chair and pointed excitedly at something outside the front viewport.
"I don't see anyth –" Sandor started to say, but was cut off by Wildstar's exclamation.
"Snow!" Derek said in total surprise. "How's it snowing out there?"
"Derek, there's nothing there." Nova said from her post, her stomach suddenly sinking as a strange feeling of dread overcame her.
"I see it too." Dash affirmed, pointing the same way Eager and Derek were, "It's like the snow we used to get at home.
"Are you seeing this, Venture?" Derek turned to his friend.
"Yeah…" Mark replied, utterly in shock at what he was seeing. "But how…?"
"Don't know." Derek replied, "But I'm gonna enjoy it while it's here." He stared out into space watching the white flakes rain down from somewhere out in the vast cosmos.
"Venture, Wildstar, Eager and Dashell, report to Dr. Sane immediately." Captain Avatar ordered, the firm tone in his voice suggesting he didn't like what was happening on his bridge at all. Something in the old Captain told him that this was something much more deadly than a mere onset of mass hallucination. And the same feeling of foreboding that Nova felt fell over the Captain, its dark presence threatening to overcome the entire ship.
"Aww, it's just a little snow, Captain." Wildstar dared say.
"Go. Now." The command in Avatar's voice silenced Derek who nodded and left with the other three to go to the ship's medical bay.
Once the four were gone Avatar addressed the rest of the officers, dread in his voice, "There's nothing out there." He looked at each remaining person in turn, starting with Orion, "Do you see anything?"
"Not a thing, Captain." Orion answered, just as troubled by the four's hallucination as any of them.
"What about you, Glitchman?" Avatar asked.
"Nothing's out there but space, Sir." Homer said, so nervous that he nearly dropped his headset while trying to put it back on.
"Sandor?" the Captain looked to his XO for his answer.
"No, Captain. All I see are stars. And the instruments confirm that."
"Miss Forrester?" he asked the last remaining officer.
Nova swallowed hard and was about to answer just as the rest had when the lights suddenly flickered and winked out.
"Where are the emergency lights?" The Captain asked when they didn't come on automatically.
"Don't know, Sir." Sandor said, his fingers running every which way over his work station. "The computer says they're on." He tried a few other commands then said, "Nothing's responding to my authorization codes. I can't restart any systems or stop anything that's currently running."
A sinister sound, one unlike anything any of them had ever heard, or wanted to hear again, began echoing through the ship, sending shivers through them all.
It was a song – a chilling harmony that pulled at their very beings, trying to drag them down into a river of sadness and pain and drown them in its currents of despair.
Nova couldn't help herself. She clapped her hands over her ears and cried, "Stop!"
Immediately the song ceased.
"What was that?" Homer asked from the comm station.
Nova slowly removed her hands from her ears and glanced around the room, surprised that her plea had had any effect on the strange song.
Avatar's eyes narrowed, "The four of you, split up into two teams and search as much of the ship as you can. Find anyone you think is in a condition to help and bring them here. I'll maintain the ship's functions from my station for now."
"But Captain, we're shut out of everything." Sandor protested, "It isn't safe to leave one person here alone."
Avatar looked down at the science officer, "Thank you for your concern, Sandor. I do appreciate it, but now is not the time to be concerned about an old man being left by himself. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can sense something here – something very wrong. Whatever it is, it's already taken hold of the other half of you. Don't let it take you four as well."
"Yes, Captain." All four replied in unison.
The four set out in two groups, Nova and Homer, and Sandor and Orion.
They discovered that some of the doors worked and some of them didn't. The door to the main elevator leading to the bridge was sealed tight, but the emergency stairs weren't, and they all began their journey out into the dark ship, praying that the presence they all felt would not overwhelm them.
"Alex… I can't." Starsha said to the Eratite as he held her hand and looked up at her.
The instant she said it the hope in Alex's eyes shattered, replaced by what Starsha thought was anger and she feared what he might do.
She managed to tug her hand out of the man's grip and slowly back away towards the elevator.
"I'm sorry…" she started to say when suddenly a maddening screech erupted from her Interface.
Starsha immediately pulled the device out of her pocket and pulled it on, wondering what in all the universe could have caused the usually docile equipment to make such a horrendous sound.
The instant she pulled it on, she knew what was wrong.
"It's the core!" she exclaimed, Alex's anger forgotten, "The ship is in grave danger! I must help them!" she looked back at Alex who was still kneeling on the floor in shock, both at the Queen's answer, and at the strange screeching. "I'm sorry, Alex, but I must go and help your people."
With that she ran to the elevator and quickly gave the command to take her to the sublevel where she knew she could access the palace's power source should she need to send the Eratite ship more energy.
The last thing she saw before the elevator doors closed was Alex's horrified face.
She wished she could explain to him why she'd had to answer him this way, but that would have to wait until the Argo was out of danger again.
The Interface continued to wail until she got to the sublevel and let the communications system open to tell her what was happening.
"All ship systems offline." The system droned, "All crew behaving erratically."
"Were they attacked?" Starsha asked and held her breath until the answer came back.
"Negative. No outside damage inflicted on the ship."
"Show me the crew." Starsha ordered.
Immediately images from all over the ship flowed through the air before her. She gasped when she saw groups of men and women slumped against walls in corridors or staring listlessly out viewports. Even the medical staff seemed to have fallen prey to whatever was causing this mass stupor.
Suddenly an image of a man and a woman appeared. Neither of them appeared to be affected by whatever had taken most of the crew.
Starsha stared at them for a long moment, her eyes widening when she looked more closely at the woman. "Can you get video from this distance?"
"Affirmative. Though the connection will be slow."
"Please do it. Send two minutes of video of the two in this picture," she pointed to the image that she'd seen of the two conscious crew members.
"Video transmission start."
The still image morphed into a moving one and the man and woman picked their way through the bodies of their comrades. The woman started to speak, but Starsha couldn't hear her.
"Audio as well, please. And a translation."the queen requested.
Suddenly she could hear the woman's voice. It was so like Astra's.
"What could have caused this…?" the woman asked.
"Don't know." The man replied, shaking a bit, "I feel sick – " the man looked away like he was remembering something, then his face lit up and he said, "like when that gas was chasing us."
"Come to think of it…" the woman said thoughtfully, staring at one of the unconscious crew for a moment, "It is – it's just like it."
The two exchanged dread-filled, knowing glances.
"Whatever's here, it isn't of this world, Homer." The woman's eyes narrowed and she stared down the dark corridor. "We're dealing with something much more dangerous than a plague or Gamilon weapon." She looked at her crewmate again, "This time they're on board our ship, and we're stuck in here with them."
"Video transmission end."
Starsha watched as the image became still again and more pictures of the man and woman as well as images of another pair – this one two men, one old, one young – continued to stream across her view.
"Shédim…" she whispered. "So it's come to this." The queen bit her lip, the fears of all the crew of the Eratite ship flowing over her in one great wave, "I have to help them." She finally declared.
She looked at the Interface, determination in her eyes, "Send me there. Like you did before." She commanded, then, knowing what would come, she sat on the bench near the power core.
"Engine core link loading. Estimated time to completion, five minutes."
"Hilde…?" The Colonel whispered in surprise at the sight of his daughter. "What are you doing here, child?" he reached for her as she ran to him. "This is no place for you." He gestured around the bridge of his ship, but as he looked around, the scene changed and he was suddenly home – in his own house.
"What is this?" he asked, startled at the sight of the home he hadn't seen since the Usurper had sent him away.
"This is where you will breathe you last, dear father." The girl in his arms looked up at him with glowing red eyes.
"Y – you're not my daughter." Gantz exclaimed.
"No… indeed I am not." The spectre laughed and morphed into something more terrible than anything Gantz had ever seen.
"Shéd! Shéd!" Gantz cried, scrambling away from the sight. He tripped on something and fell flat on his back. Pain radiated through him. He tried desperately to rise from where he'd fallen, but he couldn't get a grip on anything around him.
His home melted away, replaced by a burning black abyss. He screamed as blazing heat blasted into his face, charring his lips and sending the stench of burnt hair and flesh shooting through his tortured nostrils.
"No! Please, don't kill me! I'll do whatever you want – I'll help you accomplish anything, just please – please, don't –" he coughed so hard and so long he thought he would never stop. The taste of sulfur soured his tongue and he tried to spit the taste out, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get rid of the awful taste.
"Foolish, foolish man." The demon's gurgling laugh sent Gantz into a fit of uncontrolled trembling. "You think you can bargain with the Master?"
Gantz's eyes widened. What was happening to him?
"Well, do you?!" the spirit demanded of Gantz, reaching out and clutching the man's throat in its ethereal fingers.
Gantz shook his head and tried to say "No," but the choke-hold he was caught in prevented him.
"That is good, little man, since you will be meeting the Master soon enough." The shéd's grip on Gantz's throat tightened and the spirit's blood-red eyes bored into the Colonel's soul. Then in triumph it hissed, "It is time…" and closed its grip on Gantz's neck.
Aboard the Gamilon fleet's flagship the body of Colonel Gantz wilted into a pile of lifeless flesh and bone and, had any of the crew been conscious, they would have heard the sickening snap of their Captain's neck right before he died.
Starsha blinked once, then twice, adjusting to the darkness of the Eratite ship. Her body was in a partially conscious state back on Iscandar, but through the Interface and the engine core's link she could in a sense come here for limited amounts of time.
Her link would only last a maximum of half an hour – any longer than that and she could burn out the engine core, which would be disastrous.
She looked around, noting the bodies of so many people laying the hall. Some had their eyes closed, but the more disturbing ones did not, instead they simply stared into nothingness. A few had looks of terror on their faces while others smiled or seemed to be laughing.
"What have you done here, Abaddon…?" she whispered as she stepped through the tangled masses, her translucent feet passing through the bodies.
She hurried along, looking for the man and woman she'd seen earlier, hoping to connect with them and aid them in their search for whatever it was they were looking for.
Nova froze, the hair on the back on her neck stood on end and she felt the unmistakable sense of eyes staring at her. She knew who was watching. Hell itself had come here… And she knew in her heart why it had come – to kill them all.
Knowing that dark spirits were the cause of this catatonia both simplified and complicated her and Homer's search. They had no idea what they were looking for, only that it would be clear when they found it. They'd tried contacting Sandor and Orion, and then the Captain, but their communicators wouldn't work.
"It's almost like the ship's…. possessed…" Nova thought, then she realized what that meant and she repeated it out loud, "It's possessed – the ship's possessed."
"What?" Homer jumped at her sudden outburst, "H-how can that be?"
"Animals can be possessed, why not ships?" Nova asked.
Homer thought about that for a second, then nodded, "As much as I hate to say it, you might be right."
"So what's the heart of the ship?" Nova asked.
"Engine room?" Homer offered.
Nova nodded, "Let's go."
Just before they turned to head to the core of the ship something caught Nova's eye. She jerked around to look at it and saw a black shape rising up out of a pile of her ship-mates. It reached out towards her with a gnarled hand and whispered, "Mine… all mine…"
With that, something inside Nova changed and her fear turned to anger at this creature's audacity, "I am bought by the blood of the Redeemer!" she pointed back at the phantom and said with authority, "I am not now, nor will I ever be yours, Hell-spawn! By the name of Jesus, go back to the abyss from whence you came!"
The thing shrank back, throwing its hands over what were probably its ears. Then in a puff of black smoke it vanished.
Nova let out a deep sigh of relief, "Let's go, Homer," she turned to comm officer who, to her surprise wasn't shaking in terror anymore.
"Yeah, let's get these things out of our ship." He said with eyes filled with more determination than Nova had ever seen in the usually-nervous man.