"That's not like you, sir. Did something happen in the regeneration chamber? Ever since we left the Foundry, you've been...different."
"I came into this fight knowing I wouldn't be leaving. That is all."
"What are you talking about, Grimshaw?"
"While in the Kragak chamber, I had a vision...a revelation. I can't remember most of it, and I can't explain the few bits I do remember, but being here feels…right.”
"I don’t understand."
"Neither do I, but I know I’m supposed to be here…though I wish you could have left with the others. Still...it could be worse."
She sighed. “So, we just wait?”
He shrugged. “What else can we do? Sometimes, we have to trust our intuition...and the universe."
The regeneration chamber had definitely changed the Captain, but she still couldn't put her finger on how. She wondered if he was going insane.
"What about the battle on Gorthore?” she prodded.
"What about it?" he said without pause.
That was strange. Merely mentioning the planet usually caused him discomfort at the very least.
"You once told me about Sergeant Richards and how he led mankind in its darkest hour. That's where our ship gets its name, remember."
"You forgot about the part where Sergeant Richards didn't make it off Gorthore. He sacrificed himself, Evans." Grimshaw stared across the bridge at her, but his mind seemed lost somewhere in the space between them. "I used to wonder what I could have done differently on Gorthore. I'd play what little I could remember about the mission over and over in my head, wondering how I could have saved the others...wondering how things would have turned out if Sergeant Richards had made it off alive instead of me. But, the events on Gorthore happened as they were meant to happen. Nothing could have changed that. I see it now."
Clio was about to bring up Colony 115 to see if it illicited a more Grimshaw-like response, but General Ovious re-appeared on the secondary display.
"Captain Grimshaw, I am pleased to see you have made good on our agreement." The Shanti's eyes flicked to Clio and Booster. "Ensign Evans. Igra will be delighted. And I see the monkey has also remained. Everything is in order. A shuttle is docking as we speak. Cooperate and you will be treated fairly. Resist...well, let's save that for the unlikely event where you choose to resist."
“What do you want with Booster?” Clio said gesturing to the Puck.
Ovious looked like he was about to cut the connection, but he spoke instead. “Our Tal'Ri colleagues have been hounding us to chase your monkey friend down ever since he escaped their custody.”
Clio looked to Booster for answers, but he shrugged. “Booster, don’t remember.”
Ovious continued. “It was a strange stroke of fate that you should find him on Colony 115 and eventually deliver him to us. The Tal’Ri will be pleased.”
Booster’s eyes filled with confusion.
"What do the Tal'Ri want with Booster?"
"I have no idea, but why don't you come on over and find out? Standby for boarding."
The channel cut before Clio could respond.
Grimshaw didn't seem intent on saying much.
His change in demeanor was starting to irk Clio and had her stimulants not worn off, she probably would have lost her temper.
Instead, she slumped into the seat next to Booster and continued the struggle to stay awake.
She opened her eyes.
Shit, I dozed off.
Grimshaw was no longer in his seat.
She scrambled from her chair in panic and found him at the command hub.
"They'll be here any second, Clio. Don't resist. Do as they command."
"I don't understand, sir. It's not like you to want to go down without a fight."
“I can’t explain, Clio. But please. Follow my lead."
"How am I—"
The doors hissed open.
Four black-clad Chimera troopers marched onto the bridge.
The troopers parted to reveal a fifth figure. He was also clad in black, but he wore a cloak that shifted directions in a way her eyes found difficult to track, and his TEK was much more ornate than the others. His helmet was twisted and disfigured, ending in a point like a beak. Without a word, he carried a gold-lined chest to Grimshaw and set it at his feet.
Clio watched for a sign from Grimshaw, but he let his arms drop by his sides as the figure took several steps back.
The other troopers cuffed Clio and Booster and pulled them aside.
"What is that?" she demanded of the strange figure.
He ignored her, his attention fixed on his SIG.
The chest hissed and mist spilled forth as it opened.
A heavy shadow filled the bridge, and the area around Grimshaw glowed a soft purple.
"What the hell are you doing to him?" she screeched. "Captain, do something!"
A trooper slapped her up the side of the head while another pulled a metal cable from her fetters and attached it to the walkway rail behind the command hub.
Booster leapt at the Chimera trooper, teeth bared, claws retracted.
The beaked figure lifted an arm and pointed at the Puck.
Booster suddenly changed direction, his body smashing into the command hub. His head struck the terminal with a crack and his body fell limp.
Clio kicked and screamed, but she couldn’t break free.
The beaked man pointed at Clio and spun his finger in circles.
The shadows around her swirled. Dark mist reached out like tendrils and slowly coiled around her body.
Her body froze, and her voice caught in her throat.
The troopers faced Grimshaw and kneeled.
Clio tried to struggle free, but the beaked trooper had paralyzed her.
"Oh, great Primelord," the beaked figure said, his voice low and rasping. "We welcome your return to this physical plane."
The purple glow around the chest intensified and Grimshaw's eyes lit up as he stared at the contents in a trance.
Ethereal tentacles unfurled from inside the box, spilling onto the bridge. They slithered to Grimshaw's feet, thrashing, coiling, and writhing in ways that defied reality.
Grimshaw watched, as unmoving as Clio.
The tendrils lashed at his legs, slithering around his body as they climbed to his head, leaving a smokey residue in their wake.
Two semi-vaporous digits pulled at Grimshaw's lips, opening his mouth wide. A third wobbled back and forth before plunging into his throat.
Discordant voices tore from Grimshaw as he finally screamed.
Clio couldn't bear to watch. She tried to close her eyes but even those were frozen in place.
The shadows on the bridge shifted and convulsed. They converged on Grimshaw and suddenly shrank as they poured into his mouth. The tendril wrapped around his body in a vortex of dark smoke.
Lightning cracked in the darkness, and the force holding Clio let go.
More discordant screams called from the vortex, but they sounded dull and distant.
The shadows retreated within Grimshaw entirely and he gasped.
He coughed and spluttered before getting a hold of himself.
Throughout it all, the troopers kept their heads bowed and their eyes averted.
While they were distracted, Clio carefully lifted a scrap of sharp debris wedged between two terminals and started sawing at the steel cable joining her cuffs.
Grimshaw smiled...a smile Clio hadn’t see before. He watched his hands and opened and closed his fingers as though for the first time. Ethereal smoke swirled under the surface of his eyes before fading.
"A Terran is far from ideal...but this will do for the time being." It was Grimshaw's voice, but it resonated with a sureness...an authority the Captain had never commanded.
For a second, Clio even thought she felt a palpable physical weight behind the words. She told herself it was all in her head.
She finally plucked words from a sea of conflicted thoughts and emotion. "What's going on
?"
The Captain ignored her as he checked his body over.
"Grimshaw, your body is in surprisingly good shape. And your mind is...interesting. Ah, you're trying to hide something from me. Don't worry," he said to himself like a man unhinged. "My strength returns as we speak. Soon I'll wrest those secrets free. I'll know everything. And then we can get back to the final ascension. Ah, yes. Don't worry about your friends. I'll see that they are taken care of...yes."
Clio watched dumbfounded as he paced back and forth, stretching his limbs at odd angles. Something flickered behind him.
Clio squinted and saw a faint ghostly visage follow Grimshaw as he walked; an echo, a faint reflection of his self that lagged for less than a second before catching up.
The visage looked more like the Grimshaw Clio remembered. It glanced in her direction with a familiar reassuring smile before catching up to whoever paced the bridge.
"Who the hell are you?" Her words felt weak and puny. "What have you done to Grimshaw?"
"Rise, my Chimerans," the Captain said, gesturing for the troopers to stand.
They obeyed, watching him intently.
"Today, we celebrate my return." He took a deep breath. "Who would have thought that fumes could smell so...refreshing?"
"Who the hell are you?"
The Captain finally turned his attention to Clio.
"Ah, yes. Evans." He gestured to the Chimeran entourage. "Some hail me as their Primelord, though I too am but a servant of the great universe. I was once called Asheroth. I think I shall use that name again."
He took several sure steps and stopped before Clio, studying her. He wove his hand through the air above her head.
"You are a strange one too." His eyes suddenly went wide and his mouth slowly formed a grin. He lifted her chin with a finger. "You have touched the Void, haven't you? How exciting. I believe you will help progress our research dramatically. This day has seen many of our plans bear fruit. Professor Munro will be most interested to meet you.”
Another shadow shifted inside the whites of his eyes before dissipating. Clio couldn't help but stare in silence, her jaw hanging ajar.
She should have snapped, bitten, or spat at the very least, but his gaze seemed to hold her there, the power emanating from him anchoring her limbs where they were.
His eyes shifted again and he held his head in both hands, his face twisting in anguish. "No!"
"Is everything okay, my Lord?" the beaked Chimeran said.
The Primelord looked around the bridge in search of something.
"You can't have it! You are no more than a pathetic Terran..." He looked back to Clio and wiped a tear from his eye and grinned maniacally.
Clio could have sworn his teeth were longer.
"Your Captain is a stubborn one."
Clio tried to respond, saliva bubbling in her mouth.
The Primelord shrugged like nothing had happened.
He tapped his temple. "But it's just a matter of time before he's extinguished."
He stopped before her again and licked his lips. He leaned into her neck and took a deep breath. "I've been locked in the void for a very long time.”
Clio felt something wet against her neck and realized he was licking her. She whimpered.
Asheroth withdrew.
"Just a taste, you're too valuable to consume." His eyes went wide and he turned his head to the command hub. "But what have we got here?"
A squeak was all Clio could manage.
The Primelord lifted Booster's limp body from the bridge floor and looked his suit over before sniffing his neck. "He's not dead yet. Good."
Clio tried to shriek as the creature that was once Grimshaw pulled Booster close and bit into his neck. No sound came out.
Control seeped back into her limbs. She thrashed against her restraints to no avail, still unable to speak.
The Chimerans took no notice and watched their Primelord.
"Ah!" Asheroth called out, dropping Booster and lifting his eyes to the ceiling. "Leave me be! I will not return."
Silence fell, and he turned back to Clio.
One Chimeran trooper looked at the others unsure, but his companions didn't seem perturbed in the slightest.
Asheroth approached, a sick smile twisting his bloody lips. "That one was barely a crumb. Perhaps I will have some of you after all. Just a little."
Clio reeled as she tried to get a better look at Booster, his legs poking from behind a command module.
She fought back a wave of tears, searching for the fury somewhere deep inside, but the flame had gone.
The Primelord's eyes shifted as he drew up next to Clio, sniffing below her ear.
He whispered soft words. They were unintelligible at first, but they slowly became clearer.
"Evans," he said, the voice familiar. "I don't have long. I'm going to pass you my blaster. I'll hold them off. Get Booster to the nearest escape pod.
The block lifted from her voice like an invisible gag had been pulled from her mouth.
Her eyes widened. "Grimshaw?"
She barely mouthed the word.
Was it really Grimshaw? Or was the insane Primelord playing a sick game?
The fetters dropped from her wrists.
"Remember the mission, Clio."
She felt his blaster press into her hands.
"Go."
"Grim—"
"Go!"
He spun on his heel and swiped his arm in a wide arch.
Three Chimerans, including the beaked trooper, fell to the ground.
The standing trooper fired a line of plasma bolts at Grimshaw.
Grimshaw threw up his other hand, stopping the sizzling plasma in midair. Beads of sweat trickled down his temple.
Clio stood there, staring at him in shock.
"Evans, what the hell are you waiting for? I can't hold him off forever...Booster. Pod!"
Grimshaw flicked his fingers and the plasma smashed into the terminals opposite.
The other troopers climbed to their feet.
"Do not fire, you fools,” the beaked Chimeran cried. "You will hit our Lord!"
Clio hurried to Booster.
Blood pumped from the wounds in his neck, soaking his fur red.
She tore a formopad from her medkit and pushed it over the wound. The patch crackled as it melted through his fur and melded with his skin.
Formopad application usually hurt like hell, but Booster didn't budge.
Clio felt for a pulse. It was there but it was weak.
Her fingers slipped as she fumbled for his suit's release switch.
The silver armor hissed and clanked as the arms and chest parted like a cracked shellfish.
She gently lifted Booster out of the suit and cradled him in the crook of one arm.
She brought the blaster up and felled the nearest Chimera.
She ducked behind the flight controls when the other two answered with rifle fire.
The shooting suddenly stopped and Clio looked up to find Grimshaw rubbing his hands together.
Both Chimerans with rifles screamed as their TEKs twisted and contracted, crushing them inside.
Their lifeless forms struck the ground and Grimshaw fell to his knees.
The beaked Chimeran sprang for Grimshaw, the open chest repelling him. The Captain shielded his eyes from the shadow within and howled as though in great pain.
Clio's eyes flicked between the escape pod on the right of the bridge and the beaked figure pressing in on Grimshaw.
She aimed her blaster and emptied a full charge.
Several blasts struck home, knocking the chest onto the ground.
The Chimeran turned and waved his hand.
An invisible forced tossed Clio against the wall, sending her blaster scuttling. She barely kept hold of Booster as she pushed off the wall, gaining no more than an inch before being pushed back, the force crushing the air from her lungs.
Gunfire rang out.
The force let her go, and she slump
ed against the wall, panting.
The beaked trooper fell, revealing Grimshaw behind holding a Chimeran rifle.
The Captain walked her way, bumping into terminals, his face turned to the ground. "Clio...Go!"
"Come with us..."
Grimshaw chuckled, face still looking at the floor. "I have to...stay. Have to kill...no...Go!"
"You've eliminated the threat. I can't leave you behind. We can get help..."
"You already left me behind on the Foundry." He cackled again, the sound tying knots in Clio's gut. "The Primelord's inside me now...Clio. He's regaining control. I need you...to...go."
Grimshaw launched, shouldering her into the pod.
Clio tripped over the lip and landed on her ass, doing her best not to upset Booster or his wounds.
Grimshaw tossed three heavy spheres into the pod. "I recorded everything with those cameras. Faye Laya will know what to do with them."
As she struggled back to her feet, Grimshaw hit the emergency lock.
Clio scrambled for the opening, but the door slammed shut.
"Dammit," she seethed.
She carefully laid Booster in one of the four resting pods.
She rushed to the door and pulled at the lock panel and tried to override the controls via her SIG, but Grimshaw had locked her out of everything.
"What the hell are you doing?" she screeched over the vox.
"It's the only way," he responded nonchalantly.
She flung herself at the door and pounded on the glass window with her fists. Clio tried to look into the bridge, but the porthole was too small, the angle too narrow.
Air hissed as the pod pressurized. Clio banged on the glass again.
"Let me out of here!"
"Sorry, Clio, but I need you to stay in there," he said, sounding a little more like Grimshaw all of a sudden. "You'll understand one day."
"You have to come with us, sir. Please!"
"The galaxy needs me to stay here, and it needs you to leave. I'll distract the Monolith for as long as I can.”
"You can’t do this," she objected, clutching at straws. "They'll use the North Star for their own ends. They'll attack the Omnion, maybe even Earth.
"You must help the Omnion and Earth. You have evidence now. Show the Confederation. Show the Galactic Council. Hopefully, it's enough to turn them on Chimera. As for the North Star. I won’t let them take her."
The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure Page 114