Ara's Story

"I already told you," Said Ashia in a smooth tone, "I am no psychic, and have never possessed any such abilities."
"If you weren't a psychic, then, how precisely were you able to manifest such abilities? Were they magical? Were they technological? It's clear this Militia has been allowed to fester without our presence here. Tell me more about them." The women demanded, glaring down to the Captain.

"I speak the truth that, when I used those powers, they were not of my own caliber. I possess no psionic, nor magical, powers whatsoever. As for the powers themselves, I'm afraid I cannot tell you of their nature without giving away top secret information to our cause. Surely you would understand."

The woman grinned, and then leaned forward. "You're not exactly in a position to decide what to tell us, and what not to tell us, Captain." The IIA Agent said calmly. "We have ways of extracting information from you; you can either profit from this... or we can consider the alternatives..."

At that moment, a door opened up behind them, and two marines stepped inside carrying a bright yellow briefcase of some kind, they pulled up a table, and placed the briefcase upon it.

The Interrogator, Erin Solis stood up from her seat, and moved towards the briefcase, where several torture implements were housed. She snapped it open, and looked down at the assortment of instruements.
She turned to regard Ashia for just a moment.

Ashia Nova was a tall woman in her mid-twenties. She had a regal bearing, and somehow managed to look haughty even as the prisoner of those who destroyed her fleet. She had an olive complexion, a youthful yet cold face, long black hair and brown eyes.
Despite the thoughts of her captors, she was telling the complete truth. She had never possessed psychic abilities, but her true secret was that those powers came from her silver gauntlets. Known as the Gauntlets of Doom, they had been created by four psions who wanted to see if they could pass their abilities on to others. The result was a set of gauntlets that allowed her to short circuit technological devices, generate extreme amounts of cold, move things from far away, and fire blasts of intensely hot plasma.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.
Solis chose a small baton, and she picked it up, while the two Marines pulled the table away from Ashia.

"Now, I'll ask you again, who are you; and who do you work for?" Solis asked coldly.
Ashia managed to keep her fear under control. To give in was to be humiliated. She could give some ground, but not grovel like a dog. "My name is Ashia Nova, and I am Captain of the Militian Fleet of the Kreios Galaxy. I have offered my services to the Supreme Leader, Khorelan Gavax VII, and my loyalty cannot be swayed."

Solis offered a slight, malevolant chuckle, before she moved to bring the baton swiftly across Ashia's knees. Ashia took the blow, grunting but otherwise alright. "Hey, I did what you bastards asked."

"How did your Militia come to power on this world, especially without the Empire noticing?" Erin asked, squeezing the baton in her hand, and bringing it down on the table with a deafening snap. "What is your military strength? Where is your home world!?" Solis shouted. Her shrill voice and thick Aerilonian accent filled the room, drilling a brief moment of tension with the marine guards.
"Alright, calm down, I'll tell you. God, you guys are more insane than us." Ashia flashed a quick, sly smile, then continued. "We are on Blackrock, we're quite strong, and considering you guys were apparently semi-dormant for quite some time, it's really no surprise how we came to power."

Solis offered a slight nod, while her assistant took notations. "This world is the sovereign domain of the Aschen Empire, your Militia will not be able to rule this world for much longer."
"Well, you know what they say; finders, keepers."

Solis chuckled, and then moved to swiftly bring the Baton across Ashia's face. This time Ashia cried out, her nose crinkling with a sickening crunch. "Mind your tongue, Xenos!" She barked, and then she moved back to the bright yellow case. "As easily as you cracked... this world will be retaken easily." She said, nodding to her Marine.

"Take her back to her cell, no food rations, we'll implement the tantalus torment on her, and she will learn her place." Solis ordered, and the Marines nodded.

Her captors had unwittingly put her gauntlets with the rest of her armor. But she wasn't about to share her secret with these people. From the looks of it, they appeared to be from the Aschen Empire - Ashia found this strange, as they had been derelict for quite some time, it seemed. She intended to find this out; unfortunately, it would require much wordplay on her part.

* * * *

Sara grit her teeth against the pain as the Aurora Chair sifted through her memories like grains of sand. Currently, the Admiral was watching one of her sessions of meditation with her grandfather, from a long time ago. What right do these people think they have to look through my personal life like this?! She thought.

"Come now, my girl, make me happier with your mind, like I showed you." "Grandfather, I can't!" "Yes you can, when you put your mind to it." "Grandfather, I CAN'T!!!" "Trust me, my dear, please. You did it before, you can do it now. All you need to do is concentrate."

The woman stood in silence as she watched the display in front of her, glancing for a moment towards the Technician operating the Aurora chair, while sifting through the memories it was extracting.

"It will take some time to map this prisoner's neural pathways." The Technician said.
Whitcomb nodded. "The IIA Is interrogating the other prisoner..." She said, before she turned back to Sara.
"Go... to... hell... " Sara growled through the pain.
Whitcomb simply huffed, then she turned to the technician, and gestured with her hand. The Technician nodded, and turned up the machine.
The pain intensified, and Sara screamed.

* * * *

The escape pod smoked in the ground. It had burrowed about halfway down, and the door out was stuck. Abraxas couldn't get out.
"Help! HELP!" He screamed from within the pod. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the other side. It was a young girl with sandy hair and dark eyes. She wore an outfit consisting of a leather jacket, a loose shirt underneath and khaki pants with plastic kneepads. There was a forest green bandana tied around her head.

She took out some sort of club-like weapon. She bashed hard of the door. It started to crack. She kept going until the glass part shattered, with a hole big enough for Abraxas to squeeze throught the result.

Abraxas clambered out, in a daze. The girl stood before him, arms crossed, club on a sling around her shoulder.
"Could somebody explain what the hell all this fighting is about?" She asked him.

Sorry, there's a lot of it. Anyways, thanks for all your help!

Sara had to hand it to Ashia; she really was quite a resourceful woman. Her collar off, she could now perform her empathic abilities. She sat down on the floor cross-legged, in a trance while Ashia worked on her own collar. She tapped into her psychic pool, the part of her brain that gave her psionics. She used this to heighten the levels of boredom in everyone, making them less observant and more relaxed. That way, they could escape easier.

"Done," Called Ashia as Sara got up. Together they pulled the door off it's weakened hinges and propped it against the wall.

"We shouldn't have to worry about anyone watching us through those cameras. I made everyone less observant."

"Good job. We'd better hurry, though." They approached a door. They quietly opened it. Inside was a bored-looking guard with a gun and a box with Ashia's armor in it.

Sara made the guard go unconscious while Ashia put on her armor and gauntlets. "Alright, let's go."

They sneaked along the hallway, knocking out any guards who happened to be there. At last, they approached a small hangar with a couple space shuttles. Perfect.

As they moved towards the shuttles, they heard the movement of many feet. They turned to see a troop of Aschen soldiers with lethal weapons.

The troop opened fire on them. Ashia and Sara dove for cover. A bullet grazed Sara's ear. From behind a shuttle, Ashia clapped her hands together. Immediately, the lights went out, and the guards weapons stopped firing. There was shouting.

"Why did you do that?! Now we can't use the shuttles!" Sara whispered harshly.

"I'd never planned on using them." Ashia walked to a rack of parachutes and brought back two. "Put 'em on quickly, there's not much time."

No sooner then they had them on, the lights came back on. Ashia blasted a wave of cold that jammed the guns and froze them to the ground. She opened the bay doors, and together, they jumped out of the ship and through the sky.

* * * *

Lilith and Abraxas had been wondering why the ship had suddenly stopped when they saw two figures jump out and float safely to the ground via parachute. One figure he recognized.

"Abraxas! We must hurry!" The girl cried, running towards him. Abraxas looked behind her and saw the Admiral of the Militia behind her.

She noticed him looking. "Don't worry, I'm with you guys for now." Abraxas was still suspicious, however.

"There's not much time. We need to leave, and quickly."

Meanwhile, the others were running for cover. "Come, we must hurry!" called the girl. Abraxas hurried after, with the Commander close behind.

Suddenly, there was a shot, and Ashia cried out. Abraxas looked behind him to see that the Militian Commander had fallen to the earth, a bullet having pierced straight through her calf. "Go on!" She commanded. "I'll hold them off! Go!"

"But..." The girl started to say.

"Go, Sara!"

She hesitated, then ran off. Abraxas followed off, confused. He'd thought the Militia hated the Protectors, according to the girl, Sara. Funny, he'd known her for probably known her for maybe an hour, and he hadn't learned her name until now.

Ashia blasted away at the ship with her gauntlets, but they didn't seem to do much damage. Lilith just stayed where she was. Abraxas hoped she'd be alright, as he ran through the desolate deserts of Blackrock.

* * * *

Unfortunately for them, they did not know that while Commander Ashia blasted at the Laranga, she simultaneously contacted Supreme Leader Gavax to come in full force. Hopefully, with all their troops together - maybe 50 times the number of ships from the first encounter with the Aschen Empire - they could fend off this threat; while at the same time capturing the girl from the Protectors and the snake man. And possibly whoever that other woman was.

Ashia's lips turned upward into a cruel smile. Their mutual need had expired. Like she said, she seized every advantage she could.

The Militian Surface-cruisers crested over the badlands and sped through the landscape. This was not good.
"Damn, how's there so many of them!?" Cried Ara, the girl who had rescued Abraxas from the space pod.
Sara was muttering to herself as the three of them ran on. "This is insane, I mean we knew that they had tons of soldiers but why would they send all of their forces to get us? That seems like a lot for just us three, but I can't really affect them from inside of thei-"
She was cut off as the Surface-Cruisers sped by, followed by Battle-Fighters, War-Fighters and other fighter ships. The surface-cruisers were like scouts, figuring out the landscape so the warriors could charge on. They all flew up to the Aschen mothership and began to open fire. There were maybe five hundred of them, way more than there were in the Aschen fleet. What the Militia didn't have in power, they made up for in numbers.
"Ah..." Sara realized. Ashia was sending out all of the fleet in force, so that they could fight the enemy! She really was wise.
"Uh, guyssss?" Abraxas said, a tad bit of worry in his hissing voice. "Thosssse Ssssurface-Cruisssserssss are getting awfully closssse to ussss..."
Sara turned, and noticed that Abraxas was indeed right. A few of them were coming for them. The nosegunner began opening fire, and the group ran. "Of all of the sneakiest, worst betrayals!!!" Sara shouted, along with quite a few colorful words about Ashia's heritage.
She was right about Ashia being wise. With so many troops and Sara's mislead trust, she could take out both foes in one go. Sara began to feel annoyed at Ashia's cleverness.

* * *

As she knelt on the ground, a lone Surface-Cruiser picked her up. The team in it helped her on the ship and gave her some painkillers before taking off back to the Militia base.
To be truthfully honest, she felt a bit bad about betraying Sara. The girl really was okay, not stuffy or insufferable like the other members of the Protectors.
Ashia shook her head. No, this was right. Lord Gavax would want this done, and she was eternally faithful to him. Over everything else.

"All ships forward! We will not yield to these pigs!"
Ashia directed her soldiers back at the Militia, commanding them and trying her best to keep them from harm even as the surgeons worked on removing the bullet lodged in her leg. She grit her teeth through the pain as she spoke.
"T5 through 8, on your left! T6 barrel roll now!" These words would hopefully warn the Militian battle-fighters of incoming enemies or missiles.
A small part of her had already lost hope. It knew that the Aschen fleet had too many ships, with too advanced weaponry, and that it was unlikely that they would win. Her more faithful part shoved those thoughts down. Her men counted on her.
She could only hope they would live to see the rising sun.

* * *

"Quickly! Into that cave!" Shouted Sara. The group ran for a small cave opening, only big enough for them to squeeze through and not the surface-cruisers hot on their trail.
They slipped into the cave opening, and went behind a small ridge. Ara was breathing heavily. Abraxas looked a bit dazed; he'd been running for a while.
Suddenly, something clanked down and rolled over to them, and Sara could hear the surface-cruiser speeding away. They all stared at the object.
It was a grenade.
Quick as lightning, Abraxas snatched up the grenade and tossed back outside the cave, where it soon exploded. The ground shuddered, but fortunately there was no cave-in.
"Nice reflexes," Ara remarked.
"Thankssss. When you live on the sssstreet, you ssssoon learn that it'ssss kind of a necessssssssity."

Now, hundreds of C.O.R.e detachments were marching all across the desert. A detachment had unluckily heard the explosion and went to the cave. This C.O.R.e detachment had 30 version 1 Soldier bots and 4 Engineer bots all equiped with anti-organism blasters. The C.O.R.e surrounded the cave and then with a loud boom, a dark synthetic male voice started. "Organism scum, exit the natural forming, that you call a cave. Come out now and you will be killed quickly and efficiently. You will also have the honor of being studied on. Or, you could be killed the preferred way that you organism-scum like. With 'Honor'?" The robot made a crackle sound with glee. "I 'love' the curious way Organic's minds think."

"Holy sssshit, what the hell?!" Abraxas whispered sharply. He was panicking. It wasn't that he was cowardly, oh no - it took a great deal of bravery to be a criminal on Blackrock. He just really valued living. The maniacal glee in whatever stood outside frightened him to his core. It was... unnatural.
Sara was quiet. She was thinking. Her stasis ability... it was one of her two psionic abilities. It allowed her to keep her body in a trance which protected her from any harm short of complete and utter annihilation - like a black hole, for example. She could do it to other people, but it drained her quite a lot.
According to that strange robot, it was either die or die. So, she had nothing to lose.
"Guys." She whispered. "Huddle up."
Abraxas and Ara huddled up near Sara. She took a deep breath, then froze.

* * *

From the C.O.R.e unit's point of view, there would be only silence.

Leida was getting the heck out of here, Hugging the ground as she glanced up at the chaos in the sky while she headed to the opposite side of the planet. She saw some of those robots that attacked earlier surrounding a cave and, Feeling a bit vindictive she nudged her trajectory for a run above them. doing a quick drive by strafing run with the singular weapon her craft had, A 40mm chaingun. Dropping a line of fire on these inferior robots before disappearing into the distance as she made her way to the other side of the planet and left using the celestial body as a visual cover, The craft disappearing with it's jump drive.

"Loss report Unit-89459?" Screeched one of the Engineer bot in binary . "Only 13 mangled bodies and your damaged central processor" Another Engineer bot screeched back. "Enter the natural forming and wait for that 'Shell' to dissipate. 15 Soldier bots went in and surrounded the shell, taking out heavy anti-organic blasters and aiming ready to fire.

"This is Unit-38453, we have been attacked from the air, confirming a heavy bombardment on all organics."

****

The C.O.R.e Angel decender roared to life and opened it's chest allowing hundreds to pour out and destroy any organics that it could about 71% of the Space charges went against the Aschen Empire and whatever was left, went after the Militia fighters.

Sara had been prepared to keep her stasis going for an hour, maybe two. She'd only needed it for under a minute.
The trio stared at the wreckage of robotic parts. They were speckled with so many bullet holes it had looked like the things had switched their paint job to "polka dots". Abraxas noticed something in the ground. He knelt down and picked it up. A bullet, the type that would come from a chain or machine gun. The plot thickens, he thought bemusedly.
The girl, Ara, started carefully cutting off the weakened parts of the robots and storing them in the large pack she wore on her back. When Abraxas inquired about what she was doing, she explained that her family collected scrap and made gear out of it. She would take this home and study it.
"Yeah, but how are we gonna get home!?" Abraxas fretted.
"My Sand-Trekker 90 is a little ways over west. We're not too far from it now." She paused as the others stared at her. "What? Where did you think we were running anyways?"
"Uhh, anywhere away from thosssse Militian mofos?"
"It doesn't matter," stated Sara matter-of-factly. She was a bit tired, but not much compared to how much she would have been if she'd kept the stasis going for an hour or more. "We're sitting ducks out here. Ara, if you've got a vehicle, then let's get the hell out of here in it."
A couple minutes of walking would take them there. It was a well-worn but sturdy Sand-Trekker, an all-terrain vehicle suited to the rough-and-tumble land of Blackrock. They hopped in and sped away from the battle.

* * *

"We're being attacked on two fronts, ma'am!" Squawked the lieutenant through the hologram. "By the Aschen, and by some strange and apparently life-form hating-"
The soldier was cut off as an explosion blasted through his battle-fighter, cutting off the transmission. Attacking the Aschen was hard enough; but now they faced an enemy on two fronts?!
Ashia pressed hard on the speaker button. "All war-fighters, form a defensive barricade between us and those newcomers. Everyone else, fire everything you've got!!!"

* * *

The C.O.R.e units would soon find themselves cut off from the Militia by a bastion of War-fighters. These mammoth ships were great in defense, and extremely hard to penetrate. They would wear away at and keep the robots distracted while the Battle-fighters whittle down the numbers of the Aschen Empire. The Aschen would soon find themselves hard-pressed.

Abraxas and Sara watched all this from the back of the Sand-Trekker, staring as their new robotic overlords took over the planet. Ara kept her eyes on the road, and the C.O.R.e seemed to ignore them for the most part, busily creating large turret-like structures drilled into the mottled ground. The place was changing, and fast.
"Sssso..." Abraxas mused, "what do you think the new leaderssss will be like? Maybe they'll just let ussss live out normal livessss."
Sara's response was a swat to the back of his head. He yelped out. "Don't be a fool!" she hissed. "Those creatures seem to loathe all organic live with a vengeance. Chances are they'll either kill us all or turn us into cyborg soldiers working in their huge army."
"Hey guys!" Ara called from the front of the Sand-Trekker. "We're here!"
The two of them turned to see they were approaching a ramshackle house. Looking down on it from the hill they were on, they could see it was made of wood, but that wood was old and weather-worn, and many newer planks boarded up holes and window slots. A cloth tarp stood as the door, and there was another building attached to it, where a rusty chimney belched out smoke and ash. A large wooden fence, bespeckled with barbed wire, surrounded the house. It maybe stood 6 or 7 feet.
Ara drove up to a gate-like structure. Suddenly, a panel in the wood opened up, revealing a small metal panel with a camera screen. Abraxas started. Where would they get technology like that in a place like this?
The camera scanned Ara's face with a red laser, then the panel closed and the gate opened for them. Ara drove in, and it closed behind them.
Ara turned off the vehicle and jumped out. Sara and Abraxas followed. She strode through the tarp and into the house, shouting "MA!!! I'M HOME!"
The two of them followed her inside, and were greeted with the scent of fresh muffins. Abraxas' stomach rumbled. He realized he hadn't eaten in possibly 3 or 4 hours.
Ara could be seen inside, being hugged by a massive woman. The woman had perhaps the height, weight and width of a full-grown adult grizzly bear, and had a face of similar appearance. Her hair was ratty and gnarled, like a curly hairstyle gone bad. This differed from Ara's smoother and darker hair, which she tied in a long braid possibly to keep it from looking like this woman's 'do.
"Ma, cut it out!" yelped Ara, red from embarrassment. "We've got company, so don't get all mushy on me!"
The woman finally let her daughter from her embrace, who dashed off to another room. She then came over to the two of them. Sara seemed to be visibly breaking out into a sweat.
Ara's mother took Abraxas' hand into hers - which could have fit his entire head, and then some - and shook it heartily "Hejj 's the name," the woman croaked in a deep voice, "and who might y'all be?" She spoke with a thick accent that Sara seemed to recognize.
"You're half-giant, aren't you?" She inquired. Hejj started at the woman's rude bluntness. People seemed to do that around Sara.
"Ssssara!" Abraxas cried, aghast. He gave her a small slap of his own. "I'm very ssssorry, ma'am. Sssshe can be quite brassssh at timessss - you know how ssssome people can be that way." Sara glared at him as if to say, I'll get you for that.
Hejj just laughed. "Nah, it's fine hon. My daughter can be quite the lil devil at times."
"I HEARD THAT!!!" shouted Ara from the other room.
"You seem to be quite the sweetie-pie, arn'cha, hon?" She crooned, patting Abraxas' face. "Come on in, and hav'a muff'n or-"
Abraxas had had her at "muff'n". He dashed into the room she'd pointed to, where Ara lounged on a rickety rocking chair, eating a blueberry muffin and puffing on a long pipe, stuffed with marijuana. "That's quite a feat there, eating and smoking at the same time," Abraxas noted. Ara nodded her thanks.
Her mother rushed into the room. "Girl, you know what I've said about smoking yur father's pipe!" she scolded, snatching the pipe out of the girl's mouth. "Aw, Ma!" Ara protested.
The girl stood to perhaps her mother's stomach. She still was plenty tall - she couldn't have been more than 17, but already was 5 foot 8, which was impressive for any normal woman. Abraxas guessed that her father was probably human, so that made her, what, one-fourth giant? He didn't care for the math, he just wanted muffins.
While mother and daughter argued, Abraxas scarfed down two or three muffins.
An old man walked into the room. Despite his hunched back, balding head, white beard and liver spots, he was very muscular, with large biceps, triceps and everything in between. He wore a shirt that once was white but was black with coal dust, and torn overalls. "'Lright, what's the lil rat been up to?" He inquired in a wheezing voice.
"Grampa!" Ara said, "You're tracking ash on the floor again!"
"Who're the newc'mers?" He asked, ignoring the girl. "Got anything to buy or sell?"
A thought occurred to Abraxas. "Do you do invesssstigating of the originssss of itemssss?"
"Got coin?"
Abraxas brought out ten or so gold coins. The man took them, sniffed and bit them, then stashed them in his pocket. "'Lright, then. What's the p'ticular item?"

Ara stared out the window as the C.O.R.e left. Her grandfather was grumbling. "... what, think they can just waltz in and tell us what to do?" the old man grumbled. "Okie, sonny, now that them's gone, we'll's has a looksee at that weapon, 'kee?"
He lead them into the room he'd come from. It appeared to be some sort of cross between a blacksmith's forge and a scrap shop. Metal scrap and robotic parts littered the large work bench on the west wall. On the east was a smelter, anvil and assembler, a small device that assembled parts for you. Ara's grandfather motioned with his hand, and Abraxas handed over his bow, Firecracker.
The old man took it over to his desk, put on a lens, and started to disassemble the bow. Abraxas started to call out, but Ara grabbed his arm. "It'll be fine," she promised. "You'll get it back."
After about twenty minutes, the grandfather called out "Aha! It's both!"
"Excusssse me?" inquired Abraxas.
"Both! It uses both magic and technology."
Abraxas was quiet for a moment. Both magic and technology? That would explain a few things. But he'd been expecting it to be one or the other, not both.
"Hmmm... It 'ppears to be from Misrana, judging from the style and creation techniques."
"Missssrana? What'ssss that?" Abraxas had never heard of the planet.
The old man ignored him. He was quite, then gasped. "Why, this'n was made by none 'ther than Carrak!"
"Carrak? You mean that old smith friend of yours?" Ara asked.
"Yes! Yes! You've got a bow made by none other than him!" The old man rushed over to Abraxas. "You've got to go see him! I'se been wanting to give him this!" He pressed an aged vanilla portfolio into Abraxas' hands. "They'se be blueprints for a project me and hims was working on. You got to go take it to him, and maybe you'se 'll learn more about that bow of yurs."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Exactly how are we going to get there?" interrupted Sara.
The man was silent. "There's a ship," he said. "A ship I once tried to build."
"The spaceship?!" Ara asked, incredulous. "Pop, that piece of junk is ages old!"
"Nonsense," he soothed. "It'll work juss fine. Good defense systems too. Y'all need to get off the planet, so go 'head 'n take it!"
"We can't just leave you here!"
"You can and you will," Ara's mother said, standing in the doorway. "Dear, you are more precious to us than all the diamonds in the world. You need to get offa this hell and away from those bad robots. We'll be fine. Promise."
Ara groaned. "You guys are so dead." She turned away. "Fine, we'll take the damn ship."

* * *

The secret loading bay was located just beneath the ground. The only ship there was a long, white and orange thing with a streamlined appearance, powerful thrusters, and appeared fully functional.
"You call that a piece of junk?!" Abraxas asked Ara, incredulous.
"Well, yeah, compared to some other ships out there," she replied coolly.
"'lright, y'all, pile in," called Ara's grandfather. The group got in. As Abraxas was climbing in, the old man grasped his hand. "Promise me y'll bring him the letter. 'ts been so long since I've seen Carrack."
Abraxas nodded, then got in.
The hatch opened, and the space ship soared off into the atmosphere.

The C.O.R.e just looked, they were allowed to leave and come back whenever, so it was fine and they continued to mine the resources and melt the sand into glass.

"Huh. That's weird. I would've expected more resistance," remarked Sara.
The trio was already far away from the planet Blackrock. Abraxas was confused, too? Why did the C.O.R.e build all those big space turrets if they weren't going to use them? Maybe it had to do with their new rankings - ones they would be immediately leaving behind.
They passed many stars and planets. They caught a glimpse of Sara's homeland, New Haven. All the while, Ara gaped out the window. She'd never seen this sort of stuff before.
The spaceship they flew in was in very good condition. It streaked across the void like an arrow fired from Abraxas' bow - which he now knew to be made from Misrana. That's where they were going.
"We've got quite a while before we reach Misrana, so you guys should rest," Sara called from the front. Ara and Abraxas did just so.

Abraxas was shaken awake by Ara. "Brax, come on, wake up! Ya gotta see this!"
Abraxas grumbled. "How long hassss it been ssssinsssse we left?"
"I dunno. About two or three days."
"Two or three- WHAT?! Hassss Ssssara been driving the whole time?!"
"Nah. She occasionally takes a break, hands the reins to the autopilot, and goes to sleep."
"Well, that'ssss a relief." Sometimes, Sara seemed to be too hardworking for her own good. "Anywayssss, what wassss it you wanted me to ssssee?"
"Look! Outside, there's so many stars!" She grabbed his head and turned it towards the window.
The sight took his breath away. There were so many stars there... each one forming cluster upon cluster. It was like nothing he'd ever seen.
We must be in the space between the systems, he thought. The Aurora.
Damn, this ship sure is fast.
Suddenly, a crackly voice came to them from the loudspeaker in the spaceship's bunker-like area, where he and Ara had set up sleeping bags on each side of the area. "Hey guys," Sara said. "We'll be making a pit stop somewhere soon. Somewhere in one of these systems, not sure which yet."
From the pilot's area, Sara pondered her options. There were many hostile planets, but some that were relatively docile. She'd considered going to New Haven, but they didn't have that sort of stuff there. Besides, she couldn't go back there - not since she'd left her family to join The Protectors.
That was another place she'd considered, but she remembered how they'd spoken of Abraxas. They hadn't wanted him as an equal or soldier, but as a thief who had something they wanted. Praise them all you want, but they sure could be haughty at times.
Thus, she was wondering about where she could go. Within her mind, she reviewed her planetary knowledge.
"Hmmm..." she muttered to herself, "well, Cryo is a no, it's barely hospitable... Ooh, Celestria would do just fine, but I want to keep looking for more just in case. Illumene... eh, that's a maybe. Nowhere else in the Kreios system is going to be good either... hmmm..."
She went on like this for 10 minutes before coming to a conclusion. "Alright, guys, we're going to Celestria of the Dev'ma System. Everyone ready?"
The two in the back shouted their consent. "Okay, then lets go." The spaceship sped away towards Dev'ma.

Ashia docked their spaceship on a loading station, where people would refuel it while they took the time to eat and stretch. As soon as the trio stepped out of the ship, mechanics and assistants rushed them like vultures to a carrion, eagerly demanding payment for their services.
"I'm telling ya', they were cheating us outta our money!" complained Ara as Sara watched the workers rush to get a fuel tank.
Sara sighed. "For the last time, Ara, tax is not a way people cheat other people out of their money."
"That's a load of bull, there. We never had any of that tax crap back on Blackrock."
"That'ssss becausssse you lived in one of the issssolated rural partssss, where the government holdssss weren't assss hard," Abraxas reminded. Ara just pouted.
"Both of you, hush. Let's get something to eat." So, after buying a map of the city from the desk of the station, they set off.

"Ah, here we are," said Sara. They arrived at a small eatery on Pi'alli Avenue. This street wasn't completely empty but also wasn't flooded with tourists - thank God.
The trio walked in. A gleeful waitress greeted them, took them to their seats at a small booth on the right side, near the front, gave them menus, and left.
"I'm thinking of the steak," declared Ara after a few minutes.
"Have you ever had steak before? I never saw cows on your farm," asked Sara.
Ara was quiet a moment, and then said, "Well, I'm pretty sure they're, like, some sorta fancy-shmancy kind of mutton, right?"
Sara sighed. "Steak comes from cows, not sheep."
"Whatever. I'm still getting the steak."
"Well, fine. I will be getting..."
The two girls blabbed on, but Abraxas was distracted when someone tapped on his shoulder. He turned to see a young woman of perhaps 20 with short, dark hair, lilac eyes, lots of white foundation and a black leather biker jacket. "Hey," she said, "just warning you, you might want to duck soon."
On impulse, Abraxas ducked his head under the table, waiting for some projectile to fly over it. Nothing did.
"Not yet, you moron!" whispered the girl. "Come back up, I've got to ask you something."
Abraxas slowly came back up and met her eyes. They were like steel, almost without emotion, except her could see a bit of annoyance and curiosity in them. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Unimportant," she replied coolly. "What is important is that your friend over there could have chosen a better place."
Abraxas turned to look at Sara, who was deep in argument with Ara about how mutton was cooked. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, really? Comes to a place she's never been before and chooses the most expensive restaurant around? The only plausible reason why she'd do that would be that she had enough money to not have to worry about any large prices - which I already know she does not."
Abraxas was stunned. "Wha- how do you kn-"
"Whatever," she said, cutting him off. "It's not important. What is important is that in about a minute, a man will fire a pistol at you and a couple other patrons, and you'll dodge because of what I told you. Then he'll demand payment, but when they do he'll keep shooting people. One of your friends over there - the sandy-haired one who doesn't know what a sirloin is - is gonna get shot, and die before she even hit 18."
"What?! That'ssss horrible! Issss there any way I can sssstop that from happening?!"
"Well, you would have had enough time to catch the guy pulling out his gun and stop him before it all happened, if not for the fact I'd just wasted your time by telling you all that." She flashed him a gruesome smile that sent shivers down his spine. "Also, duck."
At that moment, a shot rang out, and Abraxas immediately ducked. The bullet zipped over his head and into the wall.
A man with an unruly beard stood up and started shooting around chaotically with his pistol. One of the bullets flew straight towards Ara's head.
Without thinking, Abraxas tackled Ara out of her chair and onto the ground. The bullet passed where her head had been. The man cocked his pistol and pointed it to the sky, shouting, "Bring out yer valuables, ur these folks here are gonna-"
He was cut off as Abraxas pulled out his bow lightning fast, notching an arrow, and firing it into the man's throat. He gurgled on his own blood for a few seconds, then fell to the floor, dead, the pistol landing nearby.
Abraxas turned triumphantly back to the other girl, to prove her wrong in what she'd said.
But she was gone.

Janet ran along one of the many dark alleyways in the Vection, looking behind her occasionally to make sure she wasn't being followed. She did this sort of thing about every day.
It was kind of fun to watch, too. You'd tell them something horrible was going to happen to a friend or loved one, and watch as they'd change their own fate. It was something Janet loved to watch; watching as the unfolded future ahead of her would scramble to readjust itself all because of a fate-changer.
That's what Janet was, or at least what she called herself. Somehow, she'd been born with the ability to see into the future, to see how everything could happen. She could know the lines of fate to a person, what they would do, how they would die.
This unfortunately meant that Janet knew when she was to die.
But she'd decided long ago that if she were to die, she'd go down knowing she'd made the world a better place. That was her sort of mentality; live fast, die young, but make a difference in the small amount of time she had.
She stopped at a dumpster to catch her breath. How long had she been running? Farther than she'd needed to, based on her location. This was her home. There was a little shelter she'd made, where she hid some food, water and other necessities. Nobody ever came back here. Not even the muggers, or whores, or beggars or cops looking for someone to throw around their weight with.
She mulled about the situation a bit while eating some stale bread. Then, she got to packing up some supplies. She'd packed them beforehand, and was ready to go in about two or three minutes. She was running a bit behind, due to fatigue. Damn. She really had to watch it when doing stuff like that, so she didn't accidentally change her own fate.
Soon, she set off, walking at a leisurely pace. She knew where the three people had been.
Somehow, despite all the changes and divergences over the years, one thing had remained; her fate was always intertwined with those three. Especially the snake-like one. She knew him all too well. Thought himself a thief, a knave, a lady's man. Soon, his reality had shattered, and now he'd come right up on her doorstep.
She'd sneak onto his ship. They'd let her stay. Over time, she and him would grow closer. She'd come to love him, and he to her.
And then she'd die so he could live.
But she was fine with that. There had been a point in her life where she'd been afraid of her own fate and had tried to avoid it, but now she just accepted her fate. She was going to die. Well, so was everyone, so why should she fear it?
But enough mulling over thoughts, she chided to herself. I've got a flight to catch.

"Come on! Let's go," called Sara, rushing back to the loading station. The restaurant had been so thankful to Abraxas that they'd given him and his friends a meal on the house, but Sara had it to go. She apparently didn't want to stay a second longer at that place. There had thankfully been no casualties, but the cops had come and ordered everyone out about 30 minutes later. They were lucky they got their free meals in time.
"I can't wait to have that steak..." whispered Ara to herself. Abraxas chuckled, earning Ara's ire towards him. Sara kept them walking at a brisk pace.
Abraxas was still confused about that girl. Who was she? How did she know about the events - or at least have a general idea of them? She'd known the guy with the gun would start shooting.
Soon, they reached the loading station. Their ship was their, all oiled up and ready to go. Sara tossed the manager the tip, and then climbed in. The bay area opened in the back, and Ara and Abraxas clambered in. There was a flash near his eye, but he ignored it. Soon, they were all ready, and the spaceship took off into the sky.
"Mmm! I love this cow meat sirloin!" cried Ara, busily munching on your meal.
"Mind if I have any of it?" asked a voice.
Both Abraxas and Ara stared at the source of the voice. A small form was huddled against the far left corner. As the figure exposed herself, Abraxas recognized her as the girl from the restaurant. She must have been that flash that Abraxas saw, and she must have slipped onto the spaceship. But how had she known where to find them?
There was an awkward silence, and then the girl asked again. "Come on, won't you share a little? All I've got is some stale bread, and that's hardly a meal."

The spaceship kept going through space. It had been about an hour since they found the girl, Janet, on their ship. Initially, Sara had flipped out, demanding Janet leave their ship. She refused, saying that she wouldn't get off because she knew they'd keep her. The conversation had went something like this:

Get off.
No.
Yes.
No.
Why?
Because I know you won't kick me off.
How do you know?
Because I'm a psychic.
Really?
Sorta.
Well, I don't care. Get off.
Look, lady, I'm a street urchin. All I have to eat is this stale bread, and besides, you guys owe me a favor.
Fine. Stay on, I don't care.

Thus, they rode in silence while Janet hungrily ate some of Ara's steak. She wasn't too messy about it, but it was obvious she hadn't had much to eat as of late.
After a bit, Abraxas asked, "If you're a sssstreet urchin, then why do you have all the makeup?"
"I stole it, or got it from favors," she replied.
"Issss thissss ssssomething you ussssually do? Go around, telling people ssssomething horrible issss gonna happen, which doessssn't?"
"Pretty much." Janet continued to eat.
"Well, why are you on our sssship?" he inquired.
"Because our fates are set in stone."
"Pardon?"
Janet sighed and set down her plate. "My ability, it allows me to see mine and nearby people's fates. I know everything that has or will happen to them, up to their single point of death."
"Wait, does that mean you can see your own death?" asked Ara.
"Yep."
"Oh..." Ara was silent, then said, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Everyone dies eventually. There's nothing any of you can do to stop it from happening. Anyways, about the set in stone part, some parts of fate never change, despite all that goes on around them. Like my death, meeting you guys and some other things. Now, if you don't mind, I need to go reapply my eyeshadow." She moved off to another part of the bay.
More silence. Then, Ara leaned over and whispered, "She's a weird one, ain't she?"
"I've met sssstranger," Abraxas muttered back.
There was something that drew him to Janet. The way she spoke so casually of her demise, like she'd seen so much of it. Which she probably had, considering her abilities. He wanted to go back there and ask her about herself, how she was even able to handle knowing when and how she would die....
"Uh, Brax?" It was Ara. "You okay, man? You've got a sort of dreamy look in your eyes."
"It'ssss nothing," Abraxas chided. "I'm gonna go get ssssome sssshut-eye."
"Kay. G'night."
"G'night."
Abraxas curled up in his sleeping bag, as the spaceship they dwelled in soared further through the Aurora.

One month after takeoff from Dev'ma System

Sara gently landed the ship down on the spaceport loading bay, then she, Abraxas, Ara and Janet all got out.
Sara took out a little sack and took out some change. "I'm going to go pay for our stay here. You guys just stay put."
"Uh, exactly how long are we sssstaying here again?" Abraxas inquired.
"Possibly, the time it will take to show your bow to Ara's grandfather's item crafter friend. Equally possible, we stay here indefinitively, until someone manages to get those robots out of there. Now, I have to go." She walked off.
"Don't forget to change in the money for the currency they use here!" Janet called after here. Sara just rolled her eyes.
Janet smirked. She liked Sara. A bit of a stick in the mud, but those types were always fun to play with.
She caught Abraxas looking at her again. He'd been doing that for most of the month on that blasted ship, and it had started to get on her nerves - even though she knew she was fated to get with him eventually. For now, she could ignore him all she wanted. "You mind?" she asked, adding all the dryness she could in her voice.
Abraxas started. "Uh-"
"Whatever. I'm going to go see if they have a decent soda machine in this place." She walked off, leaving Abraxas with Ara.
He turned to her. "Sssso, what do you think of-"
"Actually, I'm gonna go see if they have any cigarette vending machines."
"Hey, you can't just leave me here all by mysssself!"
"Fine. Then come with me. I've been staving off the addiction for over two weeks, I deserve this privilege. Don't tell Sara, would you?"
Abraxas groaned, but followed Ara in her quest for a decent drag.

12:51 ISP: "Captain Ashia Nova to RFE-Militia HQ. Recon requested ASAP. Battle outcome assessment requested as well. Current location: Kreios Galaxy X159, Y650, Z489. Over."

* * *

15:30 ISP: "This is Captain Ashia Nova to RFE-Militia HQ. I request recon immediately. Battle outcome assessment requested ASAP. Current location: Kreios Galaxy X159, Y650, Z489. Over."

* * *

18:59 ISP: "Captain Ashia Nova to RFE-Militia HQ, please respond ASAP. I request recon immediately. Battle outcome assessment would be welcome as well. Current location: Kreios Galaxy X159, Y650, Z489. … Please respond soon. Over."

* * *

22:55 ISP: "... Shit on a stick."

Ashia clicked her intercom off sharply. This was the twentieth time she had attempted to call for recon from the RFE-Militia HQ in the... how many hours? Ten? It didn't matter. The current situation was rather dire; stranded out in the middle of space with half of a power battery keeping her running, no allies (or even enemies; at this point, the former tyrant captain would have welcomed any sign of life, human or otherwise) anywhere in sight, and no idea what had happened in the prior battle.
While it was a horrible - and painful - idea to think, Ashia was almost certain that the RFE-Militia had lost. If it had been just them versus the Aschen, they might have won - a very, very slim chance of course, but a possibility. But then those damn rebels had to intervene... on the plus side, the Protectors had most definitely been steamrolled by the Aschen. The bad news was, so had her army.
Ashia spared a thought for Rome, perhaps the greatest leader she'd ever met - no, the greatest man she'd ever met. Calculating without being cold-hearted, and a great listener as well, he had been able to lead a strong army against their greatest foes. And he had loved her not for her looks (or for just being a woman in a high position on the social ladder) but for who she was. And he had understood her - that was without a doubt.
And now he was almost certainly dead.
Ashia was surprised to feel a tear roll down her cheek. Since when had she become so damn emotional? Ever since that business with that snake-man troubadour and the psychic Protector, her entire life had been turned on its head, with said head then being bashed against the wall of suffering until it was a bloody pulp. There was nothing left for her. Everything she had worked for... gone. In less than a month too. She should just give up, and-
NO!!! she thought. I cannot give up! I have not come this far only to give up and die! There are still things I can do. That I must do.
And it came to her so suddenly that it seemed her own body was knock back a few feet from its former position: she still had a mission to do; it was all coming together. Abraxas and his crew; her mission had been to hunt them down. Then, of course, the Aschen intervened, and everything fell apart. But the mission still remained. And it was a mission she had to do, if not for duty then for her sheer sanity.
I will fulfill my duty, if it is the last thing I ever do in this life, Ashia reckoned. Come blood or bane, woe or wave. For the Militia, for Blackrock, for my family... for Rome. For myself. I swear upon it with all of my force of will.
Immediately after this, in an event Ashia would not be sure actually happened even long afterwards, her Gauntlets of Doom seemed to vibrate, to hum with some psionic agreement. To become more... attuned to her. And she could sense the path the trio had taken... where they were now. Even though she had no idea how, she could all the same.
The Zanzarian Port. Misrana. I will find them. And with that, Ashia Nova blasted off into the depths of the Multiverse once again, on the mission that could save her life... or doom it.

Warren Aulare departed his private vessel and made his way across the busy port. He didn't look too out of place here. He was always smartly dressed.

As he made his way through baggage and other departments the white haired man tapped at a device on his wrist. It was leading him in a specific direction, having detected a concentration of a specific type of energy. It wasn't too easy to come across, and he wasn't sure it was what he needed, but it was one of his best chances towards success.

After all, he already had the first piece of the puzzle delivered. He just had to go and pick it up.

"Ahhh..." Ara said, taking a long drag on her cigar. "That's the good stuff. They sure roll their tobacco well here in... where the hell are we again, Abra?"
Abraxas paused for a moment to think, stroking his scaly chin with a gloved hand. "I'm pretty ssssure this place is called... Missssrana? Yeah, I'm pretty ssssure it'ssss that." He took an appraising look at the port around him, with its tall chrome spires and geometric patterns. "And wherever thissss issss, they've got ssssome damn good architects."
Looking around, he noticed Janet and Sara approaching them and nudged the teenaged girl next to him. "Yo, they're back. You'd better ssssnuff that out before Sara sees." Ara did what he told her to with a quick, practiced efficiency; neatly dropping it to the floor and crushing it with a large, well-worn leather boot.
"I have rented our ship to be docked here for one week, and we have enough currency to last that amount of time," Sara said as she came over to them. Taking out a large purse, the woman split a large amount of coinage between herself, Abraxas, Ara and Janet. "We will rent a room at a hotel, and then continue on our mission."
"What was our mission again?" Janet asked, hands stuffed in her pockets. "It feels like its been two years since we left Rorian Grand."
Sara gave the urchin an exasperated look. "We had learned that Abraxas' bow was made by the friend of Ara's grandfather, a master artisan and weaponsmith. They had been working on plans for what I presume to be some sort of powerful weapon, but the artisan took the plans with him when he left Blackrock. We are here to retrieve the blueprints and / or get him or someone else to help build it, and then presumably use it to defeat the C.O.R.e. legions who have taken over Blackrock. We are also going to gather information on Abraxas' bow, and its peculiar properties."
Janet shrugged her shoulders, her straight black hair bouncing along to the movement. "I guess we'd better get going then. Lead us onward, oh fair leader!" This last part she said with a sarcastic cry of elation, a sly smirk upon her lips. Abraxas, once more, found himself attracted to the woman's force of personality.
Grumbling under her breath, Sara trudged along through the port as a light drizzle began to dampen the ragtag foursome's clothes - but not their spirits.