Prodigal Sun, Part I

28 August – 3 September 2019, Erigayn Star System

The Star Wind was approaching the final set of micro-jumps that would bring them fully into the gravity well of the star Erigayn, at the end of a long six days. And not a minute too soon was the Vanguard’s heartfelt consensus.

When they’d left a sweltering Astoria behind, even the usually cool and collected Artemis had been eager for the adventure. With the exception of that short, tragic visit to Halicon on its final day, none of them had been to another planet before, nor traveled by starship.

The first three days had lived up to expectations. The Star Wind was a beautiful ship, and with the lower deck essentially empty (the Ambassador had had the various modular units of his private suite removed – luxury bedrooms, dining room, wine cellar, etc.), they were able to turn off the artificial gravity and use the large space for practicing moving and fighting in zero-g.

Surprisingly, Scion learned that he was unable to fly, being outside the electromagnetic field of a planet; Quanta, on the other hand, actually found flying easier in micro-gravity… and by being outside of a planetary gravity well, he suspected. The Blue Flame was basically unaffected, beyond a slight increase in maneuverability, as was Totem’s Cloak of Levitation.

The first six hours out from Earth, traveling to the recently re-opened Solar Stargate in the Asteroid Belt, had gone by in an exhilarating rush; the jump through the Gate itself had been… anticlimactic — one bit of interplanetary space lookes much like any other. But Epsilon Eridani, the first stop on their itinerary, quickly became more interesting.

At 10.5 light years from Sol, the K0 star system was the closest Union-controlled system with a star gate. With two, in fact, and the second one was in a distant orbit around the massive, ringed Jovian planet humans had named Aegir. A massive space complex hung near the Aegir Gate, the hub of all activity in the system, since there were no habitable planets available for settlement.

“Hey, Ilandra, why such a big station for a system without livable planets?” Jonny asked the ship’s AI system. “Isn’t this a bit of a backwater for the Union?”

“In the past, yes, Jonny” the lovely contralto voice replied. Jonny was half in love with that voice, and had insisted she (there was no way not to think of her as “she”) call him Jonny, not Mr. Osaka. “But with the events of the past three Solar years, its importance has increased significantly; not least for its connection to your own world. With the loss of so many systems to the Consensus and the Imperium, Earth and her meta-human heroes have become a symbolic hope for many in the Union. Aegir Gateway Station has been greatly expanded in the last year for that reason.”

“Any chance we can have a layover at the station? I’ll bet it’s a fascinating place…” Jonny had wheedled.

“Perhaps on the way home,” Artemis said firmly. “Time may be of the essence on this mission, and we need to keep our eye on the ball.”

They made the jump to the next system an hour later. In all, it took 64 hours to make jumps through 9 different star systems, averaging seven hours in each system as they travelled between gates, leaving little time for sightseeing. Nonetheless, there were enough dazzling vistas of stars, nebulae and the occasional planet or massive space station to keep things interesting.

That changed after their last gate jump, into the Merikani System, the closest Union-controlled system to Erigayn and itself a bit of a backwater. From there they had to travel strictly via stutter-warp drive, across 30 light years of interstellar void. Very boring, monotonous interstellar void. Three long days of very boring, very monotonous, very void.

Boredom and close quarters began to take a toll fairly quickly, for some more than others. Artemis tended to spend her time either meditating or practicing her combat forms in varying levels of gravity, from zero-g to twice Earth-standard, often joined by Totem. JJ spent considerable time studying with Ilandra and learning the basics of interstellar piloting and astrography, while Quanta absorbed a great deal from her about the physics of star gates and the stutter-warp drives – which he then tried to share with anyone who’d listen. Something Jonny and Chuck tried to avoid by playing as many video games as they could, as loud as they could, a vast library of them having been thoughtfully provided by the Ambassador.

“Video games, but he couldn’t leave a comfortable bed… or his wine cellar?” Quanta had groused at one point, defeated in his latest attempt to share the wonders of five-dimensional spatial geometry with the two.

On his own down time, JJ taught Jonny and Chuck a number of card games, and Jonny kept trying to deal from the bottom of the deck – only to be caught every time. Chuck also spent a fair amount of time learning about Union communications systems, and in particular the range of options available on the Star Wind. He had more or less fallen into the role of comms officer for the team, but he’d found he really enjoyed it, and this was certainly a golden opportunity.

“We’re making the final jump to the Erigayn System,” Scion announced over the ship-wide comms. “Once we—“

He was interrupted as a klaxon alarm began blaring, and red emergency lights strobed throughout the ship. A shudder ran through the deck beneath their feet, and the Vanguard stared at one another in surprise – then rushed to join Scion and Artemis on the bridge.

“Shields are at 97%,” Ilandra’s calm voice informed them as they piled up behind the two leaders. “Attack was a plasma burst on our forward port quarter, fired by the larger of the three ships directly ahead.”

“Well, how nice,” Scion muttered, bringing them about to present as narrow a profile as possible to the combatants. “We seem to have arrived in the middle of a space battle.”

In the central view screen a large military-looking ship faced off against two smaller, but very sleek and equally deadly-looking ships, and as they watched the two sides traded another series of energy blasts. Shields flared, and each of the fighters managed to lob another volley at the Star Wind, whose own shields absorbed the energy with only another mild shudder through the frame.

“Shields at 92%,” Ilandra said. “They appear to be more warning shots than actual attempts to disable or destroy.”

“We’ve got an incoming transmission, Captain,” Chuck announced from the comms station, where he’d seated himself when they’d entered the bridge. “Two of them, actually.”

“Interesting. Put them on screen, Mr. Chisholm.” JJ wasn’t above the half-giddy Star Trek feel of the whole situation himself, and allowed himself a small smile at Jonny’s choked-off laugh.

To either side of the main screen two smaller views lit up, showing the commanders, presumably, of the two opposing sides. On the left was a being that looked like nothing so much as a tall, lean, anthropomorphized dog… or maybe a golden-furred jackal. The being on the right screen was no less alien-looking, but instead of a terrestrial dog it appeared to be a distant cousin of the Creature From the Black Lagoon. He (or she, who could tell with fish people?) seemed to be underwater, and a part of JJ’s mind wondered how they managed that in spacecraft, with all the electronics…

“I am Sky Commander Fer’Tallket, of the Kyrnoka Conclave,” boomed the jackal alien, speaking first, his voice low and gruff, “and I demand your immediate surrender and the return of our property!”

The second alien stepped on their rival’s demand, with a voice several octaves higher, emited from a lip-less mouth, hissing, “You won’t fool me Sky Commander, call off these mercenaries of yours, admit your theft, or suffer the full wrath of the High Engineer!”

“The wrath of your water-logged High Engineer means less than nothing to me, Admiral Serpartes,” the Sky Commander… sneered, Artemis thought, although it was difficult to read the rather immobile expression on the alien face. The fish-person’s face was even less interpretable as they opened their mouth to respond.

“This is the Union vessel Star Wind,” JJ interrupted what promised to be a lengthy, and no doubt fascinating, exchange of insults. “Six days out from Earth, on a mission from the High Chancellor and the Senate.”

Well, ultimately that was true, as the Ambassador would not have allowed them the use of his ship and Union resources without the approval of his superiors… and his was a very short chain of command. Better to lead with a strong, confidant claim, and sort out the details later.

“We are here to investigate the disturbing changes to your sun, and locate a missing agent.” No need to say whose agent Silverstar was just yet. “Power down your weapons, please, and let’s talk.”

It took some doing, and an intimidating soliloquy of thinly veiled threats of dire repercussion from Artemis, but eventually both the Admiral and the Sky Commander agreed to stand down and listen. Not only to the new arrivals, but to one another.

Apparently they’d become embroiled in an old-fashioned standoff after having run into one another while separately investigating recent large-scale thefts and industrial sabotage on their respective home worlds. In recent months such crimes had been repeated all too frequently on all four inhabited worlds of the system and tensions were running very high — apparently everyone thought at least one of their neighbors was responsible.

Both sides in this stand-off had followed scattered signals and partial plasma trails to this spot, and had run into one another. Warning shots had been fired, ultimatums issued, and if not for the timely arrival of the aliens from their barbarous-sounding Earth (which neither of the aliens had ever heard of), they’d likely have been in a full-scale battle by now.

Both sides transmitted the details of the current situation, and the claims of the new arrivals, to their respective governments. The messages took several hours to arrive on their home worlds and for responses to be formulated and returned. Eventually both Admiral Separtes and Sky Commander Fer’Tallket appeared on screen again, this time in a joint communication.

“We have been asked to convey an invitation for you come to the Council Quadrene on Irikand, the neutral moon orbiting our system’s gas giant,” the Admiral said, their face even more unreadable than their counterpart’s.

“The joint planets of Erigayn use this facility as a neutral meeting place to convene and discuss matters of systemwide importance,” the Sky Commander added. “Our leaders are already there, discussing the current crisis, and they wish to determine for themselves the truth of your motives and claims.”

••••••

“Ilandra, what can you tell us about this Irikand place,” Kyle asked as JJ brought them into a standard orbit around the moon. Traffic control had them in a holding pattern, awaiting landing instructions.

“Irikand is the largest of the 17 moons of the gas-giant planet Pharosia, Dr. Steiner, which is itself the eighth and outermost planet in the Erigayn System. Pharosia is also called the Jewel of Erigayn, for reasons that should be obvious.”

Indeed, gazing out the view ports, the giant planet was a glorious sight. Slightly larger than Jupiter, its swirling bands of brilliant, almost garish, colors glowed in a somehow harmonious rainbow of gem-like beauty. It was breathtaking. The moon they were orbiting was… less so. Gray-white, ice-covered, streaked with black striations, it looked particularly inhospitable.

“Irikand is approximately three-quarters the size of your Mars,” Ilandra continued, “very icy, but thanks to a molten iron core it possesses a strong electromagnetic field which helps retain a thin atmosphere. Barely breathable by most oxygen-based respiratory systems, however, and it is roiled by frequent storms. Its surface gravity is approximately 31% of Earth’s, although the Irikand complex itself maintains an artificial gravity of .89 Earth-standard.

“Despite its native inhospitality, the original settlers of the system built a large trading port here — mainly to receive and organize shipments of supplies and additional colonists from out-system, both of which were still coming in during the first few decades of settlement. Irikand’s distant location, relative to the habitable zone, was viewed as a plus, as this kept outsiders far away from their own individual worlds. This reduced the risk of unwelcome “contamination,” while still allowing needed connection with the larger Union.

“In time the port grew into a neutral city where the leaders of the four planets could hold councils to settle disputes and debate issues affecting the entire system. It still retains its status as the port-of-entry for the system as well, and is the system’s main trading center.”

Eventually a landing bay was assigned to them, and JJ made his first solo landing, under the watchful eye of the ships AI systems. They were met by a representative of the fish-like Xi’nix, dressed in a stylish environmental suit which contained the sea water that kept them alive while off of their ocean world home. Speakers on the collar of their fishbowl helmet transmitted and filtered their slightly sibilant voice.

“I am Fahar Synok,” they introduced themself, doing a strange half-bending at the knees and an elaborate gesture with his left hand… presumably a polite greeting of the Xi’nix people. “Forgive the crudity of my welcoming salute, it is terribly difficult to do properly on dry land, but I hope you will accept it in the spirit in which it is intended.

“I have been assigned to be your escort and facilitator during your stay on Irikand, so please, if you need anything, anything at all, do not hesitate to ask. Now, quarters have been prepared for you, and I’m sure you must be ready to relax and freshen up before your meeting with the Council Quadrene.”

The provided quarters were large and very comfortable, but no one was inclined to relax much, and when Fahar Synok returned two hours later to take them to the meeting, everyone was ready to go.

The Council Rotunda was a large circular chamber, encircled by half-a-dozen tiers of seats, filled with people of all four species, and a score of immense screens, several of which showed spectacular live views of the swirling gas giant hanging in the sky outside. Underneath a central dome of dim blue light was a large round table, a holoprojector at its center, encircled by a dozens chairs. At the cardinal points the chairs were larger, more comfortable looking, and clearly held the leaders of the four worlds, or at least their representatives.

The low murmuring of the crowd suddenly dropped to silence as the six aliens were lead by their guide to a low platform near the central table. One of the leaders at the table rose, a pale female with interesting facial structure that included a crown-like ridge of scalloped cartilage framing her face, and addressed the Vanguard.

“Welcome outsiders, I am Governor Endara of the planet Prokira, and as the current First of the Council I speak today for the residents of the Erigayn System. You have arrived at a dire moment in our short history, and many on this council find the timing of your arrival— coinciding as it does with escalating thefts and violence— suspicious. Despite cautiously favorable initial reports from some of their own. So tell us, gentlebeings, what are your intentions among us in these difficult times?”

“Thank you for gracious welcome, Governor,” Artemis replied, bowing slightly. It had been agreed that she would take the lead, at least initially. “We have come at the request of the Union which, despite the recent turmoil and losses of the Entropy War, are still concerned about all its member worlds — even those who prefer to remain apart. The changes to your sun have not gone unnoticed, and when another agent was sent to investigate and report, they vanished. We were sent in search of answers, both concerning your sun, the well-being of your people, and the missing agent.”

“As a Tulromite, I wish to see you as hopeful friends,” the Governor said. “But you have arrived quite literally under an ill-omened star. Despite the accreditations you carry, from a distant government we have as little to do with as possible, doubts remain. Assure me that you truly have our best interests at heart.”

“Let me take this one,” Quanta murmured to Artemis and stepped forward, introducing himself. He had studied all the files they had on the peoples of the four planets, and he’d found the Tulromites one of the most interesting. Back-to-nature separatists, to be sure, but practical ones who recognized the value of science, simply wanting to keep it in check and in its place. To use what was needed, but no more. He felt they would respond to a science-based approach to what was going on with their sun, and he proceeded to give the Governor just that, with backup from Scion. When he stepped back at the end of his presentation, she smiled approvingly and nodded to the leader on her right.

“I yield the floor to my colleague, the Patriarch Benasaam of the Kryssadan of Kyrnoka,” she said, and then resumed her seat.

The jackal-like alien who rose next was lightly robed, with elaborate body paint, clearly denoting his high rank and importance. Addressing his peers, he barked out curtly “My fleet admiral has met these foreigners, and he speaks of their calmness under fire, and their prowess in negotiation. I don’t like my time wasted, so I won’t waste yours, nor theirs. Tell us, newcomers, what can you offer to our investigations, and how would you stop the sabotage, robbery, and destruction plaguing us?”

Artemis had also studied the files on the colonists of Erigayn, and after their encounter with the Sky Commander she felt she had a pretty good idea of their psychology. She’d known the type before, on Earth, and knew what they responded to, what they respected – guile and a strong front, confidently presented, and an appreciation for properly exaggerated tales of prowess.

“Well, we shall see if you can live up to your claims, female,” he said after she concluded her recitation of the Vanguard’s exploits, but Artemis felt the Patriarch looked suitably impressed, difficult as it was to be sure of his expressions or body language. As he sat back down he gestured to his right, and the fish-like Xi’nim leader leapt to his feet, leaning in dramatically to slam his fists down on the table.

“Ah, Endara, you seem so anxious to involve these outsiders in our affairs, but how do we know that they are not the true agents of our woes. But Gallago, the High Engineer of Dezirin, is not so ready to trust these trespassers, who so smugly disrespected my own military. I demand they prove to us that they are not simply hounds of the Star-Master, here to spearhead an invasion of his Imperial armadas!”

“Ha! That’s a laugh,” Jonny said, stepping forward before any of the others could react. He knew a bully when he saw one, and just how to deal with ‘em, too. “We kicked the Z’irdani off our world when they tried that shit, and they haven’t had the balls to try again… and you know why?”

Jonny burst into blue fire and rose into the air, glowering down at the suddenly cowering leader. The crowd gasped and the security forces started forward, until waved back by Governor Endara. “We’re no dogs of the Imperium, but really, how do we know you’re not? Maybe all this sabotage and theft and whatever is an inside job… maybe you should convince us that you’re not the one working for the Star-Master!”

“That’s absurd,” the High Engineer gurgled in outrage. “Absurd!” But he slumped back down in his chair and gestured at the fourth and final member of the Council. “What do you have to say about all this, General Raffar?”

The crocodilian Aress’kan military leader stood and addressed the Vanguard directly, ignoring her still-sputtering colleague. “I speak for President Kuusm, who cannot attend these proceedings, due to the priorities of the gestation season on Aress’ka. But I know her concern would be for the transient nature of these… visitors. They are clearly vagrants, however powerful and strange they may be. How can we trust our homes, our families to them, how can we know the level of their commitment to our cause.”

Totem lead the argument on this one, with occasional assists from Artemis and the others. He was very persuasive in addressing the General’s concerns, and by the time she sat down, he thought she seemed convinced… but Artemis wasn’t so sure. “There’s something… off about that one,” she muttered to her teammate as they waited for Governor Endara to address them again.

“Gentlebeings, thank you for so patiently addressing our concerns. If you will return to your quarters, we will confer; once we have reached a decision we shall ask you return to the Rotunda to hear our words.”

As Fahar Synok lead them out of the Council Rotunda, they suggested that the aliens might want to wander the Promendade, to see the sights of Irikand City and the offerings of the four worlds of Erigayn. “I understand from what you’ve said that this is the first time you’ve visited a world other than your own. I would be most pleased to show you the wonders of our worlds.”

“Ooh, street food!” Jonny said. “Is there any Gagh around here?”

“I’d love to see what the local alcohol scene is like,” Chilz added. “Do you guys have beer? Or rum, maybe?”

“Actually, some good coffee, or its equivalent would be nice,”Artemis sighed, and Scion offered an enthusiastic second.

While Fahar led the others off to seek out food and drink, Quanta decided to wander the complex on his own, discreetly scanning for any signs of Silverstar’s unique energy signature. Totem adopted a similar strategy, but in search of any traces of alien magic heretofore unknown to him. Both heroes returned to the Rotunda several hours later disappointed.

Their failure was assuaged somewhat by Governor Endara’s announcement that the majority of the Council Quadrene had voted to accept the aid of the Vanguard. To their surprise, it turned out that General Raffar was the lone dissenting vote, with the High Engineer Gallago voting for the aliens.

The result of the agreement was that all four planets delivered all of the intelligence they had gathered over the past several months to the Council on Irikand. They in turn passed it over to the Vanguard for analysis. With the gregarious and energetic Xi’nim Fahar Synok acting as project manager for the mixed band of assistants the Council had provided them, the heroes were soon neck deep in reports.

Over the next two days their careful reviewing of the official documents revealed a series of seemingly unrelated thefts and bizarre acts of industrial sabotage, on all four of the inhabited worlds of the system. It was a strange and initially inexplicable collection of materials stolen, and things sabotaged.

On Prokira, dried foodstuffs, particularly fruits and nuts, as well as industrial insecticides and focal lenses for high-powered telescopes were stolen, while aquaponic gardens, growing bulk protein algae used as a frequent food supplement, were sabotaged.

Dezirin suffered sabotage of several engine testing facilities, and the theft of powerful neodymium magnets, x-ray tubes, and starship air scrubbers.

Kyrnoka saw the theft of detergent formulations and bleaching agents, anodes from high-power batteries, and large quantities of medications used to treat various mental disorders, especially lithium. Sabotage of the solar mirrors used to regulate the desert world’s surface temperature and moderate weather extremes was particularly devastating.

On Aress’ka, pyrotechnics and flares to celebrate the next hatching season were stolen, as were emeralds and heat shield panels for satellites, and several neonatal facilities were sabotaged.

It was Quanta who had the sudden realization that all of the thefts involved items rich in three particular elements: boron, beryllium, and lithium.

“The only three elements not created from stellar reactions alone,” Quanta explained to the others. “The creation of these elements involves cosmic ray spallation, a rare event where a powerful burst of gamma radiation launches into heavier elements—ones that are created within a star—blasting them apart to create these lighter elements.”

“And in talking with Fahar, it turns out that this system was so appealing to the original colonists precisely because of the relative abundance of those particular elements, which are normally quite rare, on each of the four habitable planets,” Scion added.

It was Artemis, however, who realized that the acts of sabotage, which seemed so random at first glance, actually had a similarly strange thread connecting them.

“The sabotages have no obvious economic or military motives,” she said. “But they do target things with deep emotional importance to their respective species. If someone wanted to put the people of the Erigayn system at each other’s throats, and stop interplanetary cooperation, this would be the way to do it.”

“And they nearly succeeded,” Totem agreed. “Everyone was so incensed, none of them were thinking clearly, and they’d stopped talking to one another. If it wasn’t for our arrival…”

The biggest breakthrough came from the intelligence data collected by all four governments. Analyzing it closely, Scion noticed a strange glitch present at every theft and hijacking – a flicker, a glimmer, easily dismissed as random noise. In one or two instances, maybe, but once he noticed it and started looking, he found it in every recording of every theft.

“Turns out it was a sensor-cloaked ship,” he said, presenting his final conclusions to the team. “Effectively invisible to standard sensors, including those on the visible light spectrum, but once I knew it was there, and started to adjust for… well, it’s pretty technical. The important thing is, I found a way to punch through at least some of that cloaking.”

He tapped a button on his console and a holographic image of a gray, static-filled shape popped into existence. Few real details were visible, but it was clearly a space vessel, and a fairly large one at that. “Some sort of freighter I should think, given the tonnage its crew has stolen.”

“Any sign of this ship at the sabotage events?” Artemis asked, studying the slowly rotating display.

“No, not a single instance of the anomaly at a sabotage incident,” Scion confirmed. “And yet present at every single theft or hijacking incident.

“Once I had this data, I asked Fahar to gather general satellite monitoring from all four governments, which they did surprisingly quickly — they’ve been a tremendous help. I was able to gather enough information to track the mystery ship leaving each of the four worlds at multiple times… which means I can triangulate where the ship, or ships, were headed to.

“The trails all converge on an abandoned mining asteroid in the Outer Belt, nicknamed ‘the Dark Star.’ The facility was abandoned forty years ago, shut down and mothballed. But Fahar just received the long range sensor sweeps I requested… there’s an energy signature coming from the area, faint, but it’s one that shouldn’t be there at all.”

“Well, I guess we know where we’re headed next,” Chuck laughed.

••••••

Ten hours later the Star Wind slowly approached the supposedly abandoned mining asteroid, shields up and sensors at maximum sensitivity.

“There’s no doubt that the mining facility is powered up,” Quanta said, carefully going over the readings. “But I’m not getting any indication of life signs.”

“How about on that?” Chilz said, pointing at the main view screen. Just coming into sight around the asteroid in their cautious circling was a large, vaguely menacing ship. It was black, and difficult to see save for its running lights and a few windows. Clearly keeping station, it hung about a kilometer off the asteroid. Scion hit the controls to bring their limited weaponry from stand-by to active.

“Hmmm… no, I’m not getting any life readings from that, either,” Quanta said after a few tense moments. “But its energy signature and spectral makeup does match the various readings we culled from the four governments’ records of the pirate raids — I think we’ve found our mysterious cloaked raider, my friends!”

Half an hour later, after some debate, the Star Wind was positioned close to the mystery ship, one of its airlocks linked by a flexible tube to one on the freighter. One-by-one the Vanguard pulled themselves along, weightless, between the artificial gravity fields of the two vessels.

Chilz, in the middle of the pack, continued to be concerned about an ambush. “You really don’t think it’s possible that they’re shielding themselves from our sensors?” he groused to Quanta, kicking off into the umbilical tube.

“That’s not really how sensors, and shielding, works,” his friend replied. “But if so, maybe we’re being shielded from them, too… ever think of that?”

In the event, the ship did indeed prove to be quite empty. Almost literally so. Easily ten times the volume of the Star Wind, the bulk of its area was taken up by mostly empty cargo space. Empty now, but there was evidence that it wasn’t always so; and one bay still held the neodymium magnets and x-ray tubes stolen in the most recent raid on Dezirin’s shipping.

“I’m picking up traces of all three unique elements, all of them in forms corresponding to some of the materials stolen in the raids,” Scion announced after scanning a fourth cargo hold. “I don’t think there can be any doubt this the raider. Or at least one of them… I’m still not willing to completely rule out multiple ships being involved, despite the uniformity of the readings we recovered from each attack.”

“There’s something odd about the ship itself,” Quanta said a short time later, as they neared the bridge. He was running his own sensor array, taken from and connected to their own ship, across several sections of wall, floor, and ceiling. “The structural materials are not unusual for a Union vessel, or really most any vessel built in known space… but there’s something… oh! I see it now…

“Everything, every metal, every plastic, every composite… everything I’ve scanned since we boarded is absolutely pure! Aluminum is 100% pure aluminum, titanium alloys are precisely composed of the proper percentages of elements, in proportion – and not a detectable trace of any impurity in anything!

“Ilandra, is this a normal set of readings for any known method of construction or refining, in the Union or elsewhere?” he asked via his comm-link to the Star Wind, transmitting the data at the same time.

“No, Dr. Steiner,” the sultry alto voice of the Star Wind’s controlling AI replied almost instantly. “I can find no record of such pure materials from any modern industrial process in known space. Such purity can, and has, been achieved of course; but mainly in scientific or academic settings, and at great expense. Such processes are generally considered too expensive for mass production.”

“An interesting observation,” Artemis said, entering the command deck after her own survey of the ship’s living area. “But frankly, I’m more interested in finding out what happened to the crew. There are quarters for eight… humanoids… in the crew area, and indications of at least six occupants recently. Although, strangely, there doesn’t seem to be any food supplies currently aboard.”

“Maybe they took all the food with them when they left,” the Blue Flame suggested, half-seriously. “But even if they did… I guess the question is still where did they go?”

“Well, there seems to be only two likely possibilities,” Totem said. “Either they went to the asteroid facility, or they boarded another ship.”

“Nothing in the operational logs indicate contact or communication with another vessel,” Scion said from the main command console, where he’d been delving into the ship’s computers. “But these records are spartan, to say the least… and incomplete, I’m almost certain. Amazingly, they do have logs of various raids… yes, correlating them to the data from the planetary governments… well, I guess that settles that question. This ship appears to have been responsible for all of the known raids, thefts and hijackings in the last several months.”

“Well, that leaves the asteroid as the only place this mystery crew could have gone,” Quanta shrugged. “Give me a minute to try and get a post-cognition reading… maybe that will give us a clue as to what happened to our pirate crew…”

But several minutes of increasingly frustrating effort yielded nothing but a dark gray fuzz and a pulsing headache. “Sorry, it’s like nothing I’ve seen before. Maybe it’s just being in space, outside a gravity well… I’m not sure. But it almost feels like some kind of interference field.”

The asteroid was the next obvious step, and although sensors continued to indicate no life signs aboard the mining facility, no one wanted to take any chances. Scion and Quanta managed to disable the power couplings to the main drive, which meant the mystery ship would not be going anywhere, at least not without some time-consuming fixes first.

“It’s odd,” Scion said as they prepared to leave the engine room and meet the others at the airlock. “It’s a standard, if very advanced, fusion power plant for the ion drive. But I’d swear some of this extra machinery is meant as a housing for a secondary, replacement power source.”

“Any idea what kind of power source?” Quanta asked, glancing at the surprisingly small unit his friend had indicated.

“Not a clue. Although given the comparative size of these elements, it must be incredibly concentrated and powerful, if it’s meant to supplant, not just enhance, the main power core.”

Not far from the engine room, they discovered what was obviously a teleport chamber, with the standard six disk emitters on a raised platform and a nearby control console. They considered calling the others and using these personnel teleporters to return to their own ship, but in an abundance of caution decided to return the way they’d come.

“I know it’s not much different than my own quantum tunnels, really,” Quanta shrugged. “Just a mini-wormhole connecting two disks. But the idea that they could be booby-trapped to pop us into space, instead…”

“I don’t disagree,” Scion laughed. “But please don’t mention the room to the boys – I don’t think I can stand another point-by-point comparison between Star Trek and the real-world Union right now. Nevermind another round of their theory that Gene Roddenberry must’ve been a Union alien. Or knew one.”

••••••

An hour later the Vanguard once again departed the Star Wind via an airlock umbilical, this time into an old, cramped airlock, and the micro-gravity, of the asteroid mining facility.

“Micro-gravity my ass,” Chilz muttered, as the magnetic grapplers attached to his feet latched onto the metal grating of the floor, making him feel like a tree trying to walk. “How is this different than zero-g?”

“In a practical sense, it’s no difference at all,” Artemis said, wafting past him as if she’d been born in zero-g, apparently no more encumbered by the mag-boots than if they were ballet slippers. Her cape, which had always given Chilz the unsettling feeling that it was looking at him, suddenly seemed even more alive as it flowed sinuously about her.

The corridor beyond the personnel airlock was wide and dimly lit, angling away to the left. Artemis took the lead and quickly reported back that it led to living quarters and a dead end. The beds and toilet facilities looked as if they hadn’t been used in the decades since the asteroid was abandoned – although, she noted, they seemed to have been well-used prior to that.

Not far from the airlock, on the left wall, rock had clearly been hewn away fairly recently, and a doorway placed within the concavity. The heavy, very solid-looking double doors seemed very out of place, compared to the other bits of the old mining facility. They were obviously newer, and by the scarring of the stone around them had been retro-fitted – although, given the lack of weathering in space, they could only guess at precisely when. But the pristine metal of the doors argued for quite recently.

The large, rectangular chamber beyond had clearly been retrofitted as well, at some point after the original operation had been shut down. Certainly the glowing energy reactor, set between two large mining pits that vanished into the heart of the asteroid, was not part of the original facility. The harsh blue-white light pulsing from the device failed to entirely illuminate the shadowy ceiling some 12 meters overhead — but seemed strangely familiar. Scion bent to the nearest control panel, calling up screens of data, Quanta at his shoulder.

“Ah, it’s clearly a zero point energy system,” he said after a moment’s study. “Similar to the one Álavar uses to power the Pyramid, actually, but I suspect somewhat more advanced. Certainly the design aesthetic is very different.”

“If you say so,” Quanta shrugged, moving to examine another set of control interfaces. “It looks like an odd construction of one to me, though.”

“It’s very technical… I won’t go into the details now; but yes, you’re right, it is unusual. Like the engines on that freighter, I’d say this was designed so that another energy source could be substituted. But I still have no idea what that other source might be…”

“Maybe steam power?” Totem asked innocently. The twin looks of annoyance from Scion and Quanta got laughs from the others, and broke the tension that had been building since they’d entered the abandoned station. Reluctantly, the two scientists turned from examining the power core to explore the rest of the area.

“What do you make of these?” Artemis asked Scion, pointing to one of the four large, hulking objects set around the perimeter of the room. Easily 5 meters tall, each had four mechanical legs, ending in claw-like feet and a series of smaller waldos scattered about their central body column. A suspiciously weapon-like appendage near the “head” was clearly Artemis’ main concern. “Some sort of combat mechs?”

“Mmmm, maybe,” Scion replied, releasing his magnetic boot lock to drift up for a closer look. “But given the nature of the facility, and all these precise manipulators, I’d say it’s more likely they’re mining units. I’ll grant you, this barrel at the top looks like a powerful laser unit, which I suppose could be used offensively… but it was most likely just meant to drill into rock.”

Before Artemis could reply, a call from Chilz drew them to the “south” side of the chamber (as they had arbitrarily designated the sides of the room). He had managed to open the double doors set in the middle of the south wall, and now leaned out to yell “I think this is some sort of teleport room! It looks sort of like Star Trek’s transporter room, with six pads and everything.”

Artemis and Scion shared an eye-roll and a resigned sigh, but neither said anything as they clomped over to their teammate.

“Yes, there’s no doubt this is a Union-standard teleporter array, Chilz,” Scion agreed, after a quick examination of the control console in the smaller room. “It’s essentially the same technology the Alliance uses back home. If I can hack into the system here, maybe I can get an idea of where whoever is running this show has gone…”

“That’s great, guys,” Quanta interrupted, grinning as he leaned in through the doorway. “But I think I found the real prize behind Door Number Two! Come on, you’ll want to see this!”

As the three left the teleproter room to join Quanta, Totem and the Blue Flame returned from exploring beyond the doorway in the east wall. “Nothing much to see,” the Blue Flame said. “Looks like the original docking bay, and its control room… but if all that space-dust is any indication, nobody’s been using it recently.”

“I agree,” Totem added. “There’s minimal power to the area, but no signs of activity. But it sounds like Quanta’s hit the jackpot?”

There was an airlock between the power core and the room beyond, and Scion had to override the safety protocols to keep both sets of door open simultaneously. The room beyond the airlock was longer and narrower than the first room, its shorter end walls angling in sharply toward the airlock, making a squat letter “V,” In the center of the long wall opposite was a massive, three-lobed arch of dark metal, and immediately beyond that was a large set of industrial-sized airlock doors. It seemed a strange, cramped arrangement.

The oddly-shaped room was of the newer construction style, stark and utilitarian. Two computer control consoles, with station chairs clearly made for humanoid bodies, were set on either side of the space, and immediately to the left of the ominous-looking arch was a singular long, curved console. Two of the massive mining ‘bots loomed in the shadows beyond the central work area, along with several cargo cases.

While Scion moved to study the arch console Quanta studied the controls on the other, smaller consoles. After a minute he tapped several buttons, and with a warning blare the massive doors just beyond the arch began to slide open. “As I suspected,” he said. “These open into the inner chamber of that larger new industrial airlock/docking bay we saw from the outside of the asteroid.”

“Quanta, can you try your post-cognition sense again?” Artemis asked. “Maybe whatever interference you felt on the ship isn’t present here.”

“Worth a shot,” Quanta shrugged. “I admit, everything feels even weirder out here in space. I don’t know if it’s the micro-gravity or what…” In the center of the airlock chamber he closed his eyes and focused on seeing the quantum trails left in the under-layers of reality around him.

“Hmmm… there’s still some kind of blurring effect… but this time I’m getting… something. Yeah, I see those big mecha-things moving around… looks like they’re carrying… well, I can’t tell, but whatever it is, the cargo is pretty large… they’re moving it in from the outer airlock chamber… I see… I think it’s our mystery freighter, but it’s hard to be sure…

“They’re carrying the cargo into the… no, not into the control room! They pass through the archway, but they just vanish… and on the quantum level, that arch looks… oh jeez, it’s nauseating… I can’t…”

With an effort Quanta wrenched himself out of his post-cognition trance, and it took him a minute before he was sure he wasn’t going to barf. For which everyone was grateful in the current micro-gravity environment. When he was sure of his stomach again he straightened up and shook his head.

“OK, that was really strange… never seen anything quite like it before… I think I was seeing what a teleportal looks like on the quantum level. The ‘bots and their loads were going in one side, but they sure weren’t coming out this side. And on this side, all I could see were maybe half a dozen vaguely humanoid shapes at the control stations… not enough detail to even be sure of race, much less individual identities, though, sorry. I won’t be picking anyone out of a line-up on this one.”

“You’re entirely right about this arch being a teleport unit, though” Scion said, turning from the console at which he’d been intently working, a disturbed look on his face. “An industrial-sized unit, and it seems to have been pumping all of the stolen materials from the four colonies… straight into the sun itself!”

“What? That can’t be right,” Chilz said, voicing what everyone was thinking. “Are you sure? I mean, what would be the point?”

“Yes, I’m quite sure. The teleport logs are unambiguous, and the ones I’ve accessed, going back several months, all show the other end of this link is deep in the photosphere of the star. As to the why…” He tapped several buttons, and a holographic display flickered to life over the console. Despite the occasional wavering and static interruptions of the recording, it was quite clearly an image of the Earth hero Silverstar. The voice was clearer than the visual, and easily recognizable to those who’d met the youth on Earth.

“The test goes well, sir. We continue to acquire the appropriate materials, and are sending them into the star at the preordained times and coordinates. Already the star begins to dim… although, I confess it seems to be taking longer than our projections first indicated it might. Would increasing the amount of material be appropriate, or might a different frequency of dumping succeed in accelerating the process? I await your command.”

There was a section of fuzzed out static hiss, which Scion indicated represented a gap of at least 30 hours. Then another flickering image appeared and began to speak. Both the armor of Nemesis and his voice were all too familiar to the Vanguard.

“You are doing well, Silverstar, but do not be too concerned about the pace of the star’s destruction. This is, after all, a test run, and what we learn here will inform our next steps. Nonetheless, I enclose new calculations for increased frequency of material depositions into the star – I believe this will quicken the end result we desire. And once we reduce Erigayn to a smoldering brown dwarf, and the planets orbiting it to frozen tombs, we will be on our way to doing as much to any system in the galaxy. After a few more examples, the fools here on Earth will finally realize the necessity of submitting to my effort to elevate them – if only to save their own sun!”

The hologram flickered out.

“That – that’s –“ Quanta sputtered.

“Diabolical!” Blue Flame cried.

“Monstrous!” Chilz shuddered.

“— the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Quanta finished, surprising his two teammates. “I mean, it’s just absurd. I’d have to run the numbers, but even if there was some remote chance that you could destabilize a star like this, it would take… well, not just years, but centuries, at a bare minimum, to do so!”

“Yes, that’s rather what I thought,” Scion sighed. “So either Nemesis is an idiot… or maybe he knows something we don’t? But the science seems… not in his favor…”

“I’d like to know how long Silverstar has been working with Nemesis,” Artemis said. “Has he been playing both sides this whole time? I know he was a rather callow youth when he tried to join the team… but to me he seemed sincere at the time, if undirected. I can’t believe I was so mistak— Scion! Helmet!”

As she yelled her warning Artemis was already moving, hurling both shadow sticks past her teammate’s head into the gloom behind the console. They bounced off the metallic sides of one of the mining ‘bots as it loomed out of the dimness. They had no apparent effect, but by then Scion had reformed his helmet and once more released his boot anchors and pushed off, unleashing a powerful EMP as he turned in midair. He was unsurprised that the mining machines proved too well shielded for that ploy to work.

Totem had been almost as quick as Artemis in sensing the sudden attack of the industrial machines, and he’d send a bolt of pure mystic energy slamming into the second ‘bot near him on the other side of the room. The colorful energy splashed harmlessly against the cold metal, and the drilling laser pivoted to target the mage. His shields barely held against the concentrated beam of ruby light, and he was hurled back into one of the consoles.

Standing near the airlock back into the power core chamber, Chilz was the first to realize the other four ‘bots there had been activated as well. Sensing little moisture in the artificial atmosphere of the mining facility, he opted to conserve his power and try good old-fashioned brute strength. As the closest of the mechs entered the airlock, almost filling the space, he met it and unleashed a roundhouse punch – only to have it parried by one massive leg. The machine’s laser swiveled to point straight at him, and Chilz grabbed the barrel. All his strength could barely force it up a foot or so — but that was enough to avoid the deadly beam, which lanced out over his head.

Worried about destroying the only bubble of breathable air his teammates had, the Blue Flame blasted the ‘bot stomping towards Totem with a relatively low-powered plasma stream. While the blue energy made a pretty sight washing over the machine, it didn’t seem to effect it in the slightest… beyond causing it to swivel it’s laser on the flying hero instead of Totem. The high-powered beam pierced straight through the Blue Flame, leaving him slightly queasy for a moment, but otherwise unharmed.

As the first mechanical beast lumbered forward, its own laser bouncing off Scion’s armor, Quanta pulled out his signature move, creating a shiny block of solid quantum-matter directly over it… and there it stayed, drifting slightly to the side in the micro-gravity of the asteroid. Cursing himself for an idiot, Quanta let the block fade away and braced himself against the nearest computer console. Firmly placed to counter any equal and opposite reaction, he sent a stream of Bucky-balls flashing past Scion, ricocheting off all four of the construct’s legs. It collapsed in a tangle of crumpled limbs, bounced off the floor, and began flailing helplessly, drifting upward.

Scion performed a quick coup de grace, sending a jolt of bio-electricity into the mining ‘bot to leave it a smoking pile of inert metal parts. He quickly turned to the second mecha, which was threatening Totem and Artemis, just in time to see the latter’s Shadow Whip lash out and entangle its legs. Like its “brother,” the ‘bot stumbled, losing its grip on the metal grating of the floor. Before it could right itself and regain traction, Scion loosed a stream of hyper-accelerated electro bolts into its center of mass, piercing its artificial brain and “killing” it.

As Chilz continued to grapple with the third mining ‘bot, by keeping it pinned in the doorway he was at least blocking the other three from getting past to join the fray, he thought…

“Chilz, can you not freeze it in place,” Totem called, sending another futile mystic blast past his teammate and into the ‘bot.

“No real… atmospheric… moisture,” Chilz grunted out, straining to keep the machine in place and its laser pointed away from anyone.

“I think I can do something about that, actually…” Totem muttered, and gestured at a large pipe running along the ceiling overhead. The violet bands of his Binding Lash spell writhed from his hands, wrapping themselves around the pipe, and tearing it apart. Water gushed forth, atomizing into millions of globules that drifted in a cloud in the chamber’s upper reaches, glinting wickedly in the dim light.

Chilz grinned as he sensed the sudden available moisture – and reeled back as one of the ‘bot’s legs managed to “knee” him in the groin. He fell back, coming to one knee, but it didn’t hurt the way it would have in his flesh-and-blood form. Thankfully. He sent a sheet of ice speeding across the floor beneath the giant mecha’s feet. As it tried to move into the room the thing’s limbs slipped and it began to flail, trying to renew its grip on the grating… only to slide off and bounce upward, untethered and drifting.

As the sheet of ice spread out into the power core room, two of the other three ‘bots suffered a similar fate, spinning wildly in mid-air, grasping for a hold on anything to stabilize themselves. Before any of the mining robots could recover, however, Chilz filled the airlock between the two chambers with a solid block of ice, imprisoning the first flailing ‘bot like a fly in amber and blocking the others completely, at least for the moment. Only the frozen mech’s laser drill remained free, and it got off one last shot. The ruby beam bounced harmlessly off Scion’s armor, and the Blue Flame quickly slagged the weapon into uselessness.

“Well, I think that—“ Chilz was cut off as a blinding flash of white light blasted his ice plug into a million shards, reducing the mining ‘bot to twisted wreckage, and sending the elemental hero flying. Artemis and the Blue Flame were also caught in the blast, slamming into the wall near the large teleport arch. Only Scion and Quanta remained unmoved, and were the first to see the shining figure floating through the now cleared doorway from the other chamber.

“Ah, my old friends the Vanguard!” Silverstar said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Figures you’d show up to try and throw a monkey wrench into things. Well, you had your chance to play nice with Nemesis and help him save Earth — not to mention the rest of the civilized galaxy — but you chose your own egos and Nimrod’s small-minded attitudes instead. Now you’ve forced him to other means to make humanity evolve – this test case will be the first of many stars to grow dim. And when it’s Earth’s time, maybe then you’ll be more open to letting our people evolve!”

“Randy, this isn’t like you,” Chilz said, climbing back to his feet, his hands outstretched in a calming gesture. “If you’ll just stand down, we can talk about this, and maybe we can—“

“No… Chilz… the time for talking is done. Like I said, you had your chance!” Chilz’ ice shield barely deflected the blast of white light Silverstar hurled at him, and the kid’s second blast caught the Blue Flame full in the chest, sending him reeling.

Scion’s attempt at his Brain Tickler attack proved ineffective, and in the next few seconds so to did Artemis’ shadow sticks, Totem’s mystic bindings, and Quanta’s Bucky ball attacks. The Blue Flame’s plasma blast was blocked by Silverstar‘s raised hand as casually as batting away a fly.

“It’s that damn Star Shield he generates,” Scion called out over comms. “It makes him practically invulnerable to any force we can bring to bear in here…”

Hearing the message relayed through his quantum link with Kyle, Jonny had a sudden inspiration – his own power was plasma-based, the stuff stars were made of, and Silverstar drew his power from the stars. Maybe as the Blue Flame he could absorb that power, much like he did flames and other energy on Earth? It was worth a shot… he reached out, sensing the power roiling around his target… and began to pull it into himself…

It was different than absorbing fire or even lasers, and felt strange… but it seemed to be working… he could feel an immense surge of power flowing into himself, and the shining aura around Silverstar visibly dimmed, the villain— hero— whatever-the-hell-he-was— staggering in midair. “I don’t think I drained him completely,” he called out, “but I think I made a dent!”

“And that’s why you’re my executor, buddy,” Quanta said over their private quantum link, at the same time wrapping the dazed Silverstar in a straight jacket of shimmering matter. While their foe struggled Quanta released a burst of healing energy into the room… it was something he’d been practicing for a while, extending his contact healing to an area-of-effect healing wave. It did clear up the minor cuts, bruises and scrapes of his friends, and revitalized them – but it didn’t seem to free Silverstar from any mind control he might be under, as he’d hoped it might. Ah well, it had been worth a try…

Like his teammate, Totem also thought the young hero might be under some form of mental control. Reaching out with his own mind, he probed for the cause. But Randy’s surface thoughts were untainted, as far as he could tell, focused on the fight, his anger… perhaps the control was deeper, more subtle. Totem went deeper… and broke through into a seething mass of psychic chaos. It was like being caught in a centrifuge, and his mind, dizzy and reeling, was violently ejected from Silverstar’s.

As Totem stumbled back, momentarily dazed, Silverstar regained his focus, releasing a burst of white light that shattered the silvery quantum bonds holding him immobile. But before he could do more than send a wild blast toward the Blue Flame, Scion was on him, grappling the kid long enough to send an EMP blast point blank into his head.

“Bastard!” Silverstar screamed, shrugging off the armored hero— only to turn straight into a powerful roundhouse punch from Chilz. He staggered back, shaking his head to clear it, and suddenly Artemis’ Shadow Whip snapped around him, pinning his arms and yanking him to the floor. Artemis leaped forward to put him in a sleeper hold, but he shrugged and another burst of light shattered the strands of shadow. Suddenly lacking a hold to pivot her momentum, she avoided sailing past by grabbing for Silverstar’s head. Her fingers slipped under his mask/helmet, tearing it off as she pivoted down behind him — and almost taking his nose with it.

As Artemis came down in a crouch, her mag-boots locking to the floor and the mask clutched in her hand, Silverstar wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and the blood dripping from his nose… no, not blood, Scion realized in surprise. The liquid now smeared across his upper lip and cheek was a viscous, silvery substance almost exactly unlike actual human blood. Scion’s first thought was that he wanted a sample of that! His second thought was that Silverstar looked suddenly uncertain.

That look vanished almost instantly, however, as the unexpected villain flung both hands wide, sending a dozen daggers of solid light in a wide arc around himself. As his enemies ducked or dove for cover he took to the air again, soaring over Artemis and past Scion, to come down next to the main control panel. Before anyone could react he flipped open a cover and brought his fist down on the large purple button it had shielded.

Purple lights began to flash, a klaxon sounded, and with a tremendous hiss the cargo airlock beyond the teleporter arch began to slide open. In seconds the rush of evacuating atmosphere became a hurricane, tumbling almost everyone in the chamber out into the vacuum of space. Only Chilz remained in place, ice flowing out from his feet to anchor him to the grate flooring; Silverstar sailed past the opening airlock doors as well, but it was under his own power, and he was gone in an instant, lost in the vastness of the distant stars.

The EVA belts that Artemis, Totem, and Quanta all wore over their costumes activated at the first sign of lost air pressure, and shimmering, almost invisible containment fields snapping into existence around them. Scion had his own closed environmental systems, of course, and neither the Blue Flame nor Chilz had any need of oxygen in their elemental forms.

Tumbling away from the asteroid, Quanta reacted almost instantly. While he could manipulate gravity itself, and Totem had his cloak, both Scion and Artemis were spinning out of control, neither having any means of propulsion… without help, they would vanish inexorably into the void… already it was hard to see Artemis, and Scion was little more than a glint amongst the stars.

“Chilz, can you send out an ice pole, anchored to yourself?” Quanta called over the comms.

“Yes, all the water vapor went with the air, but it’s still close enough for me to use.” Gathering all the moisture he could Chilz sent a shaft of green ice spiraling out toward his quickly disappearing friends. At the same time Quanta was furiously summoning matter from the quantum foam and fashioning it into a wide net in front of his friends. He drew the ends of the silvery net together at the tip of the ice spear, fusing them together.

Artemis and Scion hit the net an instant later, and came to an abrupt stop. When he was sure it was all going to hold, Chilz began reeling them in, like lobsters in a trap. Blue Flame shepherded them back, while Totem and Quanta flew ahead to help pull their friends back into the facility. As the two regained their feet, boots locking to the grid, Quanta and Chilz both released their constructs to fade back into nothingness.

“We appreciate the save, Kyle, Chuck,” JJ said, once they had the airlock closed and atmosphere had been restored. “And your quick thinking. Nice teamwork, my friends!”

“Agreed,” Artemis seconded the sentiment. “Tumbling and spinning like that, it was difficult to get my bearings, making a teleport back here… uncertain.”

“I’m thinking I need to add some sort of independent propulsion to my suit,” Scion sighed. “It’s very frustrating to be grounded simply because I’m outside a planetary electromagnetic field. But that’s a worry for later… right now, I’m checking the Star Wind’s long range sensors… damn, there’s no sign of Silverstar. Before he went beyond sensor range, though, he was on a trajectory almost perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic… that would take him out of the system altogether.”

“Not that there’s any reason to believe he remained on that heading, once he knew he was out of our detection range,” Quanta shrugged. “He’s too smart to head straight back to wherever he and his minions are holed up.”

“Minions?” the Blue Flame asked. Jonny was staying in his plasma form until they got back to their ship. He didn’t have a fancy Union EVA belt, of course, and while it had been fun to confirm that the Blue Flame did just fine in the vacuum of space, he had no desire to try the same stunt in his human body!

“By the evidence of the mystery freighter he’s not working alone,” Artemis said. “So there must be another base somewhere in the system, housing whatever associates he has. I think it’s time we returned to Irikand and the Council, to report what we’ve found.”

“Agreed,” Quanta said. “Scion, I don’t suppose your armor’s sensors were able to get a scan of that silvery substance that Silverstar was “bleeding” were they?”

“No, not at that range; plus, I was rather occupied at the time. However…” he leaned in to examine the doorframe of the airlock where the shattered remains of Chilz’ old mechanical foe drifted. With a triumphant grin he scraped a drop of the silver liquid off the metal wall, placing it into a small sterile ampule from his belt. “Now we have a physical sample!”

••••••

Sixteen hours later Scion concluded the Vanguard’s report on their findings at the Dark Star mining asteroid, to thunderous applause from the gathered dignitaries, functionaries and bureaucrats of the Erigayn System. There had been some discussion, on the long flight back, about how much to share with the Council, given the uncomfortable fact that the main villains of the piece both seemed to be from Earth. In the end, Artemis’ counsel of full transparency had been adopted, and it seemed to have been a success.

The delegates were pleased to have the mystery ship (which the Vanguard had tractor-beamed back to Irikand with them) in their possession, and the return of at least a fraction of the material stolen. They were even more thrilled to have some solid knowledge of an opponent that had, until now, been so invisible as to cast doubt on their actual existence. Tensions in the room eased visibly once the various factions were convinced it was an outside element perpetrating these crimes, and not one of them.

Almost everyone was thrilled.

Amid the ovation for the Vanguard, High Engineer Gallago abruptly silenced the crowd by slamming their fist down again on the central table and leaping to their feet.

“Oh, please, this is all nothing that we couldn’t have figured out ourselves,” their angry voice rang out from the speakers on their water-filled survival suit. “You all know it’s true, why do you applaud these alien interlopers?!”

The canine-like features of the Patriarch Benasaam were difficult for the humans to read, but Artemis had a distinct impression of shock as the leader also rose and barked sharply, “Gallago, these are our guests! They have—”

“Guests?! Are you really so eager to forget they violated our space and threatened your own ships, Benasaam!”

Before the Kyrnokan leader could reply, the Aress’kan General Raffar, seated between the two leaders, was on her feet, crocodilian face twisted in a feral snarl. “I’ve had enough of your arrogance, Gallago, and it ends now!” she hissed furiously — and with shocking speed raked her long, very sharp claws across the front of the High Engineer’s survival suit.

A collective gasp echoed around the crowded chamber as the tough material tore open, spilling the leader’s life-sustaining water across the central table. The horrified Gallago staggered back, hands clutching at their chest to try and stem the tide, and managing a single, strangled word.

“Help!”

Too stunned to react at first, the crowd’s confusion quickly turned to incipient panic as General Raffar plowed through them, seeking the main doors and escape. In the general confusion the crazed Geron failed to see Scion descending on her until his armored forearm was locked around her neck…

Quanta, meanwhile, leapt to the aid of the gasping High Engineer, shoving aside the gibbering functionaries flapping their hands uselessly around the stricken being. Gallago had been nothing but a pain in their collective ass ever since they’d arrived, but he’d be damned if he’d let the fishy bastard die just for being an obstructionist twit.

The water was draining rapidly from the environmental suit, despite the increasingly erratic attempts by the engineer to hold the rents closed. Quanta sent a wave of healing quantum energy into the man, stabilizing his labored breathing… but he needed to find a way to seal the suit agin… maybe he could encase Gallago in a quantum matter shell. He’d be immobile, but at least it would stop the hemorrhaging of the water.

“I think I can help!” Jonny said, dropping to his knees next to Quanta and the feebly struggling leader. “Fahar was telling me about these suits of theirs the other day, they’re pretty amazing.” A single finger of his right hand flared into blue plasma, and he carefully began fusing the tears in the heavy material back together. Within a few seconds he sealed the last rent and restored the suit’s integrity.

“Sorry if I heated up your water too much, your Engineerness,” Jonny said, as he and Quanta helped the High Engineer back to his feet. “I went as quickly as I could, but—”

“No, no,” Gallago said, their voice still a bit quavery. “Better a light parboiling than suffocating to death, I assure you. Thank you, thank you both!“

Quanta was just about to praise Jonny himself, for his quick thinking, when a flash from the crowd caught his eye. Their worried aides had managed to wrangle the two remaining planetary leaders, and were now escorting them toward the main exit… what had caught his eye was the glint of light off a hand blaster being drawn from her robes by Zyrgan Thizim. The Kryssadan infectious diseases expert stood behind and to the side of the Patriarch — and was aiming the weapon directly at her leader’s back!

There was no time to reach them, and the shifting crowd was blocking any direct shot… calculating the angles almost without conscious thought, Quanta unleashed a stream of Bucky balls at the nearest support pillar. It bounced off the pillar, hit a support beam near the ceiling, and struck a second pillar next to Thizim’s head. Damn! Missed it by that much…

But the miss was close enough to startle the would-be assassin. Her arm jerked up as she pressed the trigger contact, and the lethal blast went over the Patriarch’s head, missing him entirely. The shot was the final catalyst, however, and the crowd crystallized into full panic mode. In the ensuing free-for-all Zyrgan Thizim was knocked about, the Brownian motion of the mob shifting her away from her target.

On the other side of the room Artemis caught the attempt on the Patriarch’s life, and turned to the crowd around the other leader, Governor Endara. If there was one assassin there might well be— some sixth sense, honed over almost a century-and-a-half of combat, caused her to duck and whirl as a a blaster beam flared through the space where her head had been a second earlier.

Artemis was shocked to see Fahar Synok, their ever-so-friendly Xi’nim aide and guide, taking aim for a second shot. Their eyes were cold and expressionless, betraying no emotion even as her Shadow Whip lashed out, snapping the weapon from their hand. A second snap of the whip wrapped the strand around their wrist and she yanked them toward. The roundhouse punch Xi’nix traitor delivered to her jaw was both shockingly swift and unexpectedly powerful.

The bureaucrat took advantage of her momentary distraction to free themself from the whip, but they were within meleé distance now. Despite the fish-being’s unexpected strength, the fight was short and brutal. They went down, unconscious, with their own environmental-suit leaking in several places. As Artemis stared down at them, the body began to shift oddly… and then it collapsed, suddenly and completely, flowing into a puddle of familiar viscous silvery fluid.

Scion found himself also taken by surprise at the unnatural strength which General Raffar displayed, struggling against his headlock. Not strong enough to break the hold, but enough to make Scion work for it — and to miss the blaster she slid from her holster. The energy pulse took him in the gut at point blank range, and he staggered back, dazed. She twisted away and dove into the crowd, fleeing for the doors…

Totem had been close enough to Governor Endara’s entourage to act when her finance minister, Benith Dantin, drew his own weapon and began loudly proclaiming that she must die for her “transgressions.” His insistence on listing her supposed crimes gave the Magus Prime the seconds he needed to seize control of the Prokirian’s mind— only to find there was little mind to control. Like Silverstar’s, Benith’s surface thoughts were thin and shallow, easily pieced. Beneath them lay a vast, roiling chaos and, as before, it forced Totem to withdraw quickly. But Benith seemed to sense the attempted psychic intrusion, and he turned his blaster on the human mage… Totem got his shields up barely in time to absorb the beam.

Chilz had seen Quanta’s attack on Zyrgan Thizim, and the scientist’s attempt on the Patriarch’s life, and he began wading through the panicked crowd. He reached Thizim just as she prepared to fire a second shot at her leader, and his massive hand came down, crushing both the weapon and her hand. He lifted her off her feet, silver ichor from the damaged appendage seeping between his translucent fingers, and he delivered a tremendous punch to her head. He released her, and both crushed gun and unconscious alien hit the floor. Kneeling down to check on her, he reeled back in disgust as her body, too, collapsed into a silver slurry.

The crowd was slowly thinning as people managed to reach the single exit, although the crush left the guardians around the Patriarch and the Governor still several meters from getting their principals out. Quanta took to the air, intending to help Scion as he dove after General Raffar. But from above it was easy to spot six more apparent infiltrator-assassins becoming activated — and to Quanta it was obvious that “activation” was what was happening. One moment all six had been just parts of the frightened crowd, the next instant they’d froze in place, simultaneously pulling out previously hidden weapons.

They spoke as one, crying out that the leaders must die, and their movements seemed eerily, unnaturally, synchronized. The crowd had been moving, however chaotically, in one direction, toward the exit; but now they scattered in whichever way took them most expeditiously away from the lunatics waving blasters.

Quanta once again calculated the angles and unleashed a stream of quantum matter at the nearest replicant, or whatever the hell these things were, and ricocheted it off into a second one, taking both out. As they, too, turned to silver goo he looked for the next assassin…

The Blue Flame had stayed near the High Engineer, who had been resisting their aides’ attempts to chivvy them out. “No, safer to stay put,” they reiterated to a particularly pushy functionary, “We will stick to the cover of the central meeting table, until things settle—“ the leader was cut off as the pushy aide pulled out a blaster and aimed it at Gallago.

“Our leaders are blasphemers and all must die!” the aide cried — and exploded into a spectacular spray of steam and silver fluid as the Blue Flame’s plasma blast engulfed them. Before the shocked High Engineer could quite process what had happened, the whole chamber shook as the back wall burst inward. A glowing figure floated through the hole, the smoke and dust of the blast momentarily obscuring it…

“Raffar, you have been an excellent agent,” Silverstar laughed as he emerged from the smoke, his voice booming over the sounds of the frightened crowd. “After the chaos you have spread for me here, I promise you will rank high in the counsels of Nemesis and myself! Now let us finish off these interlopers, and free the people from the misrule of these so-called leaders.”

Before the last words had left his mouth Silverstar released twin blasts of solid light from his hands. The first struck Scion, knocking the hero out of the air just as he was reaching for the renegade general; the second sent Quanta tumbling, dazed and bruised, into a support pillar.

As the villain drifted into the Rotunda, Totem cast his Sleeping Mists spell across the room, concentrating it on the remaining assassins and Silverstar himself. But whatever these beings were, they seemed resistant to the soporific effect.

Chilz, after dispatching Zyrgan Thizim, had been converging with Scion on General Raffar, but as his armored teammate was knocked away by Silverstar the Aress’kan military leader turned her blaster on him. The energy bolt struck him in the chest, melting and fracturing his torso, and he reeled back clutching at the wound…

At the same time Artemis launched herself at Silverstar, her shadow sticks pulsing with dark energy as she landed several blows to nerve clusters. But the invulnerability of his Star Shield seemed fully restored, and he shrugged the blows off without pause. She barely evaded the roundhouse punch he aimed at her, coming down behind him, cloak flaring around her.

Totem, realizing this was the moment to really pull out the stops, summoned his staff and unleashed a searing bolt of blue-white chain lightning from it, again targeting all of their opponents in the chamber. The blinding bolt zig-zagged across the space, hitting them all. The minions and General Raffar all burst into steaming, slivery slag, and even Silverstar was dazed.

Chilz dove over the smoking silver ooze that had been Raffar to come down very near the High Engineer Gallago, who was now crouching underneath the central meeting table. The large puddle of water from their suit breach was instantly sublimated as Chilz healed himself. Silverstar touched down atop the massive table, clearly dazed by Totem’s lightning bolt, and Chilz leapt up with all his strength, landing a powerful uppercut that snapped the replicant’s head back.

Silverstar’s glowing aura was dimming as he staggered drunkenly backwards, once again being slowly drained by the Blue Flame. Suffused with the stolen star power, Jonny took to the air and rained down a searing, concentrated pillar of blue-white plasma on their foe. The table vaporized as Chilz pulled the High Engineer away, shielding him with his body, and Silverstar collapsed to the charred, cracked floor. His body twitched once, and then, like the others, it collapsed into a pool of silvery liquid.

••••••

The aftermath of the attack on the Council was ugly, as the various planetary governments began a witch hunt for further replicant infiltrators. Fortunately, a simple blood test was able to determine if an individual was alive or a replicant. The first few were uncovered fairly quickly, but none were taken “alive”— as soon as their deception was revealed, the infiltrators went into seizures, collapsed, and dissolved. After the first few such incidents, scores of beings, spread across all four planets, vanished, leaving behind only pools of silvery liquid.

“Apparently, whatever intelligence is controlling these things has decided the game is up,” Artemis sighed as the latest reports flickered across her console’s screens. The Vanguard were gathered with the three remaining planetary leaders in a much smaller, more intimate, and highly secure room in the sprawling complex of Port Irikand City.

Only a single aide for each leader was present, and the Geron of Aress’ka were represented by the holographic projection of their President, Kuusm. He had been appalled by the apparent betrayal of his leading general, relieved to discover that Raffar had been a replicant, and worried about the fate of the real General Raffar. Unfortunately, the time lag between Aress’ka and Irikand made her participation in the discussion more symbolic than practical.

“Yes, and it’s a pity,” High Engineer Gallago said. Since their multiple rescues at the hands of the aliens they had become the Vanguard’s ardent supporter, and had apologized profusely and sincerely for their previous intransigence. “My engineers feel they are very close to finding a way to stabilize and lock the nanites that make up the replicant’s bodies. Then we might have had at least a few to question.”

“Well, the testing will continue,” Patriarch Benasaam replied. “This sudden rash of “suicides” may just be a ploy, to make us lower our guard again, thinking the danger is past. And even if all of the existing infiltrators are gone, what’s to stop our enemy from sending more? No, we may yet have a chance to capture some of the creatures, Gallago. So keep your engineers working!”

“Well, we still hope to make the matter moot,” Scion said, tapping a small, etched rectangle of black silicon on the table. It had been the only physical object found amongst the goo that had been Silverstar. “This chip has proven tricky to crack, but Quanta and I have finally determined what it is, at least in principal – a cypher key for coded teleportation locations. We suspect that it can only be unlocked, and used, at one or the other of the two teleportation units on the Dark Star asteroid mining facility.”

“Which means it’s our best shot at uncovering the physical location of whoever is behind all this and rolling them up completely,” Artemis picked up the thread. “I appreciate the agents you’ve each loaned me on your various worlds, to act as my eyes and ears.

“We’ve searched all the homes and businesses of the people replaced by the replicants, and it’s obvious the substitutions occurred over months, but none prior to six months ago. Their private files included enough information to prove that they executed the various thefts and acts of sabotage that have plagued the system. The only thing missing, which I would expect to find amongst a spy’s belongings, was some way to communicate — either with one another or with a handler or central spy-master.”

“So, I think it’s time for us to return to the Dark Star,” Quanta concluded. “Although it’s been two days since the attack, and I fear we’ve lost any chance at surprise.”

“Possibly,” Artemis shrugged. “But there was no help for it, even if you two had been able to figure out what the chip was for immediately. If they, whoever “they” turn out to be, don’t realize we possess the chip, nor that we know what it is we possess, it’s possible we may yet retain the element of surprise…”

••••••

Eleven hours later the Vanguard found themselves once again in the asteroid mining facility nicknamed Dark Star. Scion quickly determined that the cypher chip recovered from the faux Silverstar activated the personnel transporter, rather than the cargo teleportal. The rest of the team was dismayed when he announced that the destination it unlocked, like the main cargo portal, opened into the heart of the star.

“Well, not the heart,” he amended. “The point seems to be in the photosphere, the second-most outer layer, after the chromosphere… practically the surface, really.”

“Which is still about 6,000° Kelvin,” Quanta scoffed. “I don’t think my SPF 1000 sunscreen will be quite strong enough. And I was joking when I said their base might be in the sun…”

“Nonetheless, it appears you were correct,” Totem said. “We all thought the idea of them dumping the stolen material into the sun was absurd – it’s even more absurd to think their personnel teleporters would do the same. I think it’s safe to assume there must be a safe haven – well, relatively safe at least as regards an environment — on the other end of those coordinates.”

“Which would mean we’re dealing with Seeker technology,” Artemis concluded. “No Union tech, nor any tech in known space, could withstand those conditions for very long. And if it is Seeker tech, that explains Nemesis’, and Nimrod’s, interest in it.”

After a brief discussion, it was agreed they had to try, and Scion programmed the teleport pads. At his signal the controls engaged and, with a peculiar hum and no sensation at all, the Vanguard found themselves elsewhere.

The space was huge and very bright, at first glance nothing so much as an immense transparent cube, beyond which the roiling plasma of the sun churned, filling the space with its brilliant yellow-white light. Tiers of crystal tubes lined the lower sections of the walls, each tube holding the still figure of humanoid beings. Before more details had a chance to register, the sounds of a skirmish echoing throughout the chamber drew the heroes’ attention.

A chorus of unintelligible roars, perfectly synchronized, filled the surprisingly cool air… and abruptly cut off. Maybe 30 meters away to their left they saw a sea of identical silver-clad bodies scattered across the floor at the feet of one lone silver-clad survivor — a visibly battered and bruised Silverstar.

Even as they watched, the bodies around the young man collapsed and turned to silvery sludge, pooling widely about him. At the same time he spotted the new arrivals, and he pulled himself up, with an obvious effort, from where he had slumped against some sort of coffin-like crystalline pod.

“So, you’ve decided to try something new,“ he growled, his voice hoarse but with a hint of steel. “Well, trying to use replicants based on my allies at home ain’t gonna work, kid… I’m not going back in that pod, and you’re going down… whatever it takes!” He raised his hands, and a feeble glow flickered into existence around them.

“Randall, we are not artificial doppelgängers,” Artemis said, stepping off the teleport platform. “We really are the Vanguard – Nimrod sent us, when you failed to report in again after your initial contact.”

Silverstar paused, cleary not wanting to fight, but deeply suspicious of this sudden appearance of possible help. “How… how do I know you’re telling me the truth? He could’ve pulled you from my surface thoughts…”

“Could he?” Totem asked. “Whoever ‘he’ is, I’ve touched the minds of his constructs twice now, and they were just thin shells of surface thoughts over – something else. Doesn’t the process require actual contact with the real person, to replicate them?”

“Well, yes, I think so,” Silverstar hesitated, dropping his fists. “And I know the Star Child can’t read anything but surface thoughts, and basic personality… tell me something obscure, that only the Vanguard might know…”

“Well,” Chilz said, after a moments thought, “after you tried out for the team, and got turned down, I took you out for a beer. Among other things that night, you told me how you’d had a crush on Sabra, when you tried out for the Liberty Alliance, and how she tried to let you down easy, but that it really sucked.”

Randy Reynolds looked relieved, and suddenly exhausted, as the tension left his body. “Geez, yeah… I didn’t even remember I remembered that… I got pretty plastered that night… no way the kid coulda pulled that outta my head… thank God, I don’t think I got much left in the tank…”

Quanta caught him as he collapsed and lowered him gently to the floor. His hands glowed with his own silvery light as he focused his quantum healing energy into the semi-conscious hero’s battered form. In a few minutes Silverstar was able to stand again, and seemed considerably better… definitely more coherent. His signature white glow, however, was notably absent.

“Thank you, Quanta,” he said, shaking the hero’s hand. “I just wish you could restore my energy reserves as easily. Unfortunately, the kid pretty much drained me, powering that damn copy…”

“So what exactly happened here, Randall?” Artemis asked. “Who is this “kid” you refer to?”

“Ah, yeah, well I call him… it, I guess, really… the Star Child. It’s the artificial intelligence that runs this place, which it, he, calls the Stellar Foundry.”

“Stellar Foundry?” Scion said. “With this level of sophistication, I assume it’s a construct of the Seekers, yes? But then, how old is it?”

“Yeah, it’s Seeker tech alright.. and I’m not sure how old it is, exactly. Over a million years, I think. At least that’s how long it’s been since they shut it down, from what the kid’s said to me. I guess they mothballed the place, and wiped the AI that ran it, but left it in place, in case they ever wanted to get things going again on down the line.”

“Get what going again?” Quanta asked. “What does this place do?”

“Well, it seems to be a big factory. It can turn out anything, pretty much, from those fu– er, darn duplicates to starships. I don’t know what the Seekers used it for, maybe to make planets and sh- um, stuff. Who knows? Whatever they were making, though, they eventually stopped, and closed it all down, like I said.

“They never came back to restart it, either, but about nine years ago something happened that woke up the dormant AI— far as I could work out, it was a stellar probe from one of the inhabited planets in this system – I’m not sure which one. But it apparently got close enough to trigger some sort of reaction, and that caused the AI to… um, reboot itself.

“But with no core programming, it was a completely blank slate – what’d my high school English teacher call it? A tablet rosa? Something like that—“

“A tabula rasa,” Artemis said patiently. “So in essence, this facility is being run by a nine-year-old child?”

“A super-smart, super-powerful nine-year-old child, yeah. But unfortunately it’s not really the one calling the shots. Sometime last year, that bastard Ebony Night stumbled across this star system, and sensed the presence of such a powerful intelligence — or maybe it sensed him, I’m not 100% sure.

“Either way, the kid was so pathetically eager for company, for a friend, the big lizard had no trouble “befriending” him. The Star Child doesn’t see Ebony Night as a father-figure, so much as a big brother — that’s what he’s taken to calling him recently, anyway.”

“Damn, this is not good!” Scion said. “Ebony Night in control of such powerful Seeker technology… what is he doing with this — what did you call it? This Stellar Foundry? “

“The first thing he did was convince the kid to start making him a fleet of starships— to bolster his damn Nightwraiths organization and speed up his effort to make them a power in known space. Which is plenty bad enough, I know, but it’s not the worst part…

“I– I think he was inspired by seeing that monster Entropy in action, when it destroyed the Union’s capital planet. Well, more by what it did afterward, really, when it drained the local star to open that massive wormhole to move on to its next victim. He’s figured out how to do the same thing using the Stellar Foundry, and he’s convinced the Star Child it’ll all be a big adventure, allowing him to “travel the universe,” rather than being stuck here.

“The structure needed to open a wormhole big enough to move the Foundry is being built now, and I think it’s close to being finished. But if it’s activated, it will consume most of the star itself — at best, it’ll be reduced to a brown dwarf; at worst it’ll just be a cold ember.”

“But, but,” the Blue Flame sputtered in horror. “That’ll kill everyone on all four planets! That’s almost a billion people, and they’ll all freeze to death! How can this “kid” be so cruel?”

“I think he doesn’t really see them as real,” Silverstar shrugged. “They couldn’t hear his calls… and when Ebony Night did, it didn’t take much to convince the kid the planet people were just lesser, parasitic life forms, like animals, I guess. And he’s a kid, mentally, even though he’s so powerful… it’s not like he’s had nine years of experience with others, only himself. And now Ebony Night. Anyway, I don’t think most little kids are capable of, whataya call it… empathy.”

“But doesn’t he have to connect with the minds of the people he’s copying, to make his doppelgängers convincing?” Totem asked, frowning. “How can he not realize what he’s doing, how can he miss their shared sentience?”

The weakened hero shrugged again. “He only taps the very surface of the minds he’s copying… it’s just like playing dress up for him, or maybe like playing with dolls. I’m pretty sure Ebony Night has also blocked him from using the deeper levels of the psychic spectrum, just so that he can’t connect on a level that would make his “toys” real to him.

“In the time I was being held in that damn pod, I connected with the kid fairly often, and I think I was maybe beginning to get through to him the idea that I was just as real a person as his “big brother.” But when something happened a couple days ago, and my powers stopped being continually drained… well, I was focused on building up enough strength to break free, and when I did, I think I blew whatever progress I’d made with the kid… he was pretty mad at losing his favorite toy.

“I’m not sure what he’s been doing since I broke out and defeated his replicants, but I suspect he’s called his pal, Ebony Night… and I’m afraid I’m in no condition to fight that bastard, much less both of them. I need to get out, into open space, so I can begin absorbing stellar energy again. I’m sorry, but—“

“No need to apologize,” Artemis assured him. “If we’re going to face Ebony Night, and whatever this Star Child of yours can throw at us, we don’t need the distraction of trying to keep you safe at the same time. Better you go and recharge. Then, should we fail, you’ll be our backup, yes?”

Randy nodded gratefully. “It’ll take some time, but I promise, I’ll be back. But listen, there’s something else you need to know. While I was trapped, whenever the Star Child connected with me to talk— and he was doing that more and more recently— I was able to mentally worm my way into his own… mmmm, how to put it? His base programing structure?

“I couldn’t do anything, but I did find a string of deep code that I think could shut down the AI again. It would have to be activated externally, via the main control console… not something I could do from my prison. Scion, my nanotech can download the info to your armor, if you want. Maybe you can figure out how to use it to put the kid back to sleep.”

Scion accepted the coded information in his isolated computer, and while Artemis and Totem helped Silverstar to the teleporter and sent him back to the Dark Star, he called the data up on his wrist holoprojector to consult with Quanta. They both agreed that the info would have to be encoded to a crystalline chip, and then fed into the main console.

“I think any of these terminals scattered around should be able to encode a chip for us,” Scion said, but before Quanta could reply a booming voice echoed through the massive space.

“You’ve let my favorite one go, and you’ve wrecked all my replicants, and you’re trying to ruin everything. Well you’re in trouble, big trouble, ‘cause my big brother is here now, and he’ll show you!” The words were child-like, but the voice was anything but.

Beyond the ceiling a massive face had formed in the churning plasma of the star, its features a child-like version of Ebony Night’s saurian race. Despite the enormous scale, and alien structure, it somehow conveyed a sense of petulance.

Distracted by the giant representation of the Star Child, only Artemis noticed the hole that dilated open in the far wall, about halfway up its height, and the dark figure that floated through it.

“Indeed, Vanguard, you have traveled a great distance only to meet your own deaths,” Ebony Night’s deep voice cut through the almost subliminal white noise of the living star which surrounded them. “I hope you have enjoyed the journey… for it will be your last!”

To be continued…