by Aer-ki Jyr
Trouble was, how to fix it wasn’t in their genetic memories, and as Matti picked up the reports from Niolla and others, she realized that the Sivirs didn’t understand what was going on. She asked Shuriken why they wouldn’t, and he responded with a record of his isolation, which they lacked, but the Archon didn’t understand why that was relevant, though it was the primary difference between them other than size and age.
“Ok, so how are we going to do this?” she said, with the bridge crew knowing she wasn’t speaking directly to them, but rather herself or PowPow. Doing double duty linked to the gauntlet and the battlemap system left one so distracted they often talked out their mental conversations, so bridge crews who had Wranglers that worked off that location had gotten used to the ramblings and knew pretty well when they were being addressed directly and when they weren’t, for normally they’d get their orders through the battlemap rather than vocally.
“Yeah, I don’t like it either, but we gotta smack some sense into him. Ok then,” she whispered, then glanced over at the Bsidd Captain. “Battle stations.”
The insect-like mess of limbs and nubs nodded its triangular head and got the crew up to speed using his own interface into the linked computer systems along with vocal commands as Matti tuned him out and turned her attention to her Uriti.
“You sure about this? It’s gonna get nasty.”
The Uriti’s displeasure was only surpassed by the singleness of purpose emanating from its massive mind. This had to be done, and the damage to the smaller Sivirs was something that could not be forgiven. Uriti did not fight Uriti…that was a fundamental of the herd and why they did not wish to fight the Hadarak, but the fight here had already been started. Now PowPow was going to finish it.
When they got around the curvature of the star Matti released the Uriti well before they got within firing range, giving the triangular monster plenty of time to get free of the transport as the Sivirs raced to him with Shuriken following at a distance. The small Frisbees flew in between the three spheres of PowPow’s body that were linked by two large stalks that left one side of the triangle missing. There was enough room in the middle of his body to fit all the Sivirs, but they ran by and exchanged some lighting discharges between them as they passed information and some things that Star Force hadn’t fully discovered after all these thousands of years, but they knew it was some form of healing and the little Sivirs needed a lot of it now.
“Alright, buddy, this guy has no training and no speed. Let’s give him a lesson,” Matti said as she entered into a semi-battlemeld with the Uriti. It was something they’d practiced a lot, almost letting her remote control him in that she would recommend very precise actions and incorporate the Uriti’s biotelemetry into her own mind as he constantly transmitted it. He had to let her in, and she couldn’t take control even with the overrides in such a precise fashion, but when they worked as a team their efficiency skyrocketed and the Archon knew far more about combat than the Uriti ever could, so it was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Shuriken fired as soon as he got into long range, sending blobs of energy out beyond PowPow’s own range as the two continued to fly towards one another. But PowPow was one of the handful of Uriti that the Chixzon had given energy shields, and a huge semi-transparent barrier appeared just in front of the forward sphere onto which the blue energy blobs splattered like water balloons and cascaded backwards around the curved perimeter before flying off into space where they gradually dissipated.
“Ha. Bet he didn’t expect that,” she cheered, sensing increased rage from Shuriken, for while he wouldn’t talk to the other Wranglers he was in contact with PowPow as both were essentially trash talking each other in their own way. “Charge up.”
PowPow had many different types of weaponry, which was partly why it had been given its name, but the other part was the primary weapon that was a very near match to Jumat, at least in its effect, and on Matti’s order a sheen began to form over the forward sphere and deepen like an ocean forming as more incoming fire deflected off the shield that was just beyond it.
“Close,” she said as he wondered how best to approach this. “We need to shake him up more than damage him. He’s in a daze, so let’s knock him out of it quickly. Give me as much as you can.”
Had they more time to prepare the amount of charge PowPow could gather was almost limitless. He could charge for four and a half hours before his ability to hold it weakened to the point of unwilling release. They only had minutes here, but that would be enough for one hell of a kick, especially when they closed to pointblank range.
The Uriti didn’t have retractable tentacles like the Hadarak did, and Matti wasn’t sure why the Chixzon had removed them from the design, but they did still have grapple fields, and as they got close and took several laser-like hits from shorter ranged weaponry, she felt through PowPow as the grapple field attached to his body and pulled him closer even as he was accelerating into the collision.
“Hold…hold…hold…and…now!” she yelled on the bridge, even though their ship was well behind the two Uriti playing chicken. Nobody turned to look at her, and her mind was in PowPow’s position, but the ship was already moving into firing range along with the other warships as the collision occurred.
PowPow released his concussion blast a few seconds before they physically hit, jolting Shuriken then physically slamming into him for a second jolt top on, for Shuriken had not been approaching laterally, but rather from the flat top section. His massive arms flexed backwards from the contact as he went limp and bounced off PowPow like one basketball hitting and bouncing off another…though it was Shuriken that recoiled and went flying backwards while PowPow more or less stayed put as his forward momentum was blunted.
Both Uriti were shaken by the impact, but Shuriken was worse and Matti wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. All her drones flew into danger range, taking no return fire during the shell-shocked moment, and fired a massive amount of missiles that streaked in and peppered the huge surface of Shuriken with tiny pinpricks that did no damage…but they did deliver sedative to the surface, and it began to rapidly soak into the ultra-hard flesh and work its way throughout the Uriti’s body as it struggled to right itself after the double whammy it just took.
“Now we wait,” she told PowPow as he put back up what part of his shields remained. They were recharging, but slowly, especially considering how much energy he had forced into his concussion wave. Everything else would be low on power because of it, but that was ok, because they weren’t going to press the attack. That would just work against the sedative. Instead they were going to hold position, shields up, and take whatever tantrum Shuriken was going to throw as they talked to/taunted him.
The main point was, they weren’t going to act like an enemy would, jumping on the moment of weakness. When one was crazed they expected certain reactions and essentially had blinders on their mind that wouldn’t let them reason in words, but if their expectations shifted it would force a shift in their mindset, for the crazed grew crazier the more pressure you put on them. The disruption Shuriken just took should have caused a mental reset, more or less, but the craze wasn’t gone and the return fire came immediately, though at a slower rate.
“Such a newb,” Matti said, with PowPow translating her words while carrying on a running conversation of his own. Such was an advantage of having a brain the size of a starship. “If we wanted you dead you would be. You are our brother, start acting like it!”
Whether it was her comment or PowPow’s Matti didn’t know, but Shuriken responded by citing only the other two Uriti he knew of were his brothers, and they stood together against all else. The galaxy was against them, and they would never submit.
“Don’t submit, just stop shooting. You’re safe here,” Matti said, and PowPow translated, but he assured her that wasn’t going to work. The madness was too great. The only way he could help Shuriken was by some method Matti wasn’t aware of, but it required getting real close and
the sedative was barely starting to take effect.
PowPow informed her that the craze might be enough to keep the sedative from fully working, so he was going to have to risk the closeness to save his brother, but he asked for her opinion, already knowing from the Sivirs that they had misjudged Shuriken and gotten hurt by it, so he wanted the Archon’s advice.
“Let it take effect first, as much as it can. Why did they bring you here?” she asked through PowPow, sending a mental image of the Zak’de’ron ships…and the vile that returned shocked both her and her Uriti. Shuriken hated them more than anything, and he spewed out so many painful images that it was too much for her to process, but PowPow absorbed it all and spoon fed it to her as fast as she could handle, with her realizing just what the Dragons had done to get the Uriti to obey them.
“Ok, buddy. Please don’t shoot me. I gotta use my Essence for this. When he’s distracted, get in close and do what you gotta do. Remember, focus on him, not me. I know it’s hard for you, but you gotta do it. I can’t focus in two places. I’m going to make him hear me. You have to ignore me, ok?”
PowPow basically said ‘no promises’ and Matti had the captain pull their ship far away from both Uriti just in case, then she stood up and actually floated into the air as she disconnected from the Uriti link and her gauntlet lights went from green to red. Her hair went blonde, indicating that she was activating her super saiyan mode and making her mind hyper-process far beyond what her Sav could naturally do, and she was going to need all of it for the telepathic manipulation she was about to engage in.
With practice she had learned to contact the Uriti absent the Chixzon transmitter, but it required a lot of power to get the necessary range. The Essence effect made sure the Uriti would not ignore her, no matter how small she was, but boosting it enough required a supreme effort and precise control, for this wasn’t a brute force sort of thing.
The air around her began to swirl a bit, then everything dropped dead silent as the air began to chill and frost formed on her body, the chair beneath her, and slowly spread out across the bridge a few inches at a time as she summoned up so much Essence that she couldn’t help but draw in heat energy from around her as a side effect.
You will hear me, she said in a commanding tone, imbued with Essence, and you will listen.
As expected, Shuriken immediately turned towards her ship, completely forgetting about PowPow, but she didn’t know how he was responding. Her full attention was on making contact with the one Uriti to the exclusion of all else.
You do not harm your brothers. You have been forced to do so and you have become lost to it. You will submit to the herd and join it. You are lost no more. And those that did this to you will not return. Your mind will be freed, she said, focusing hard as she was doing more than just talking to him, but rather trying to hack his mind directly using her Essence. And you will take back your sanity.
It wasn’t enough and she knew it, but Matti had succeeded in driving a spike into the brainwashing that the Dragons had done to him, breaking open a hole and allowing him to see clearly for just a moment before it slammed back shut again…but that was enough for him to stand down, thoroughly confused, and with the sedation beginning to sap his angered state.
Then PowPow slammed into him. Not a fast collision, nor a bounce, but he locked on and stuck to him with a cascade of the healing lighting arcing off all three orbs of his body and shocking Shuriken over and over again as Matti lost her connection as her Essence dragged so low she had to pull it back and shut down, else she risked killing herself.
Her mind came back to her body and her surroundings, with her dropping to the floor that was now covered with snow. She looked around, seeing that the bridge crew were covered with a thin film but had not moved from their posts as they kept the ship moving and out of range of the Uriti, though the Bsidd captain looked hilariously like a Christmas ornament as he stood next to his holographic displays and reflected the light coming off of them.
“Oops, sorry guys,” she said as a red drop fell from her nose and disrupted the pure white coating on the floor. More followed, then Matti realized she’d pushed farther than she should have.
“Shit,” she said, sitting down and activating her non-Essence healing abilities to start repairing the damage to her nose, and more importantly her brain, that the telepathic boost had caused her. She’d never tried anything that intense before, and as the pressure in her head cleared she was very grateful that she was able to pull herself back from the brink before she suffered any permanent brain damage or memory loss.
“It’s working,” the captain informed her. “Shuriken is calming down.”
Matti glanced up at the holographic displays, her head too fragged to try the battlemap connection, and she saw the two Uriti still locked together, but the sedative effect was increasing rather than decreasing from the contact as PowPow was somehow slowly putting the other Uriti to sleep.
“Dani, take over. I need to heal,” she told the other junior Wrangler on the bridge with her.
“Obviously,” the second Archon said as her gauntlet shifted from red to yellow, then finally to green as she made contact with PowPow and explained Matti’s current situation. “He says he’s got Shuriken under control, but the damage previously done to him is massive. He wants to know how soon we can leave and kill the Zak’de’ron?”
“Much later,” Matti said, understanding his feelings. “We have to bring Shuriken into the herd first. Tell him there are two others that are probably just as bad, and we need to know everything he can tell us so we can let the others know what to do in the other Preserves when they arrive, if they haven’t already.”
“Got it. Go take a nap. I’ll wake you if things go bad.”
“Good idea,” Matti said, laying down on the melting snow as the environmental controls began to warm the bridge back up rapidly. “Keep the little ones away, just in case,” she said, then slipped into a deep healing trance, grateful for the bliss of inactivity that even her Saiyan cells couldn’t argue with.
4
Her nap didn’t last long, for her healing abilities were far greater than that of a normal Human, and within a couple hours Matti got back on her feet and up to speed with what had happened while she was out. The fighting mode Shuriken had been in was gone, and now it seemed he was in crying mode.
Dani-740117 was still in contact with PowPow, and through him she was getting too much information to explain to Matti, so the other Archon realigned her mind to the necessary framework to activate her gauntlet and listened in to the tantrums that the damaged Uriti was throwing as it talked to PowPow. It was much like a messed up Human, but with a very different vibe that left Matti confused while somewhat understanding that this was the first stage of withdrawal from an abusive relationship.
It seemed the Zak’de’ron had hurt it prior to the Hadarak, but in a way that made Shuriken and the others think that they were saving them. It took Matti a while to understand, and when she finally did it made her jaw drop. Somehow the Zak’de’ron had actually managed to get inside the head of the Uriti and alter its memories…not its genetics…and that had caused it to go manic. Fighting the Hadarak had allowed them to focus its internal discord against an exterior target as a sort of relief valve to the point where they had to fight just to keep their sanity.
PowPow’s healing effect had done something to shake Shuriken free, and now the broken Uriti was beginning to melt down in depression rather than aggression, which was something Star Force had never dealt with before.
“I’m amazed the Zak’de’ron were able to pull that off,” Matti commented to Dani. “And I’m so pissed they would be this sloppy.”
“I think they gave him to us because they were nearing the point of losing control.”
“I agree. They underestimated how much their genetic programing rules them, and forcing them into combat with his brothers had to rip him apart inside. That sort of shoddy mind raiding isn’t sustainable long
term.”
“Are we going to dock their pay?” Dani asked, half serious.
“No. We’ll honor the deal, but we’ll settle with them later, somehow. We’re not going to forget this.”
“Even the Chixzon took better care of them.”
“That’s a low bar to not get over,” Matti said as she tried to get a better handle on Shuriken’s tantrums. “You think PowPow can handle this?”
“He’s not letting him go. He’s got his grapples in hard and at an angle that Shuriken can’t use his tentacles to pry himself loose. He’s worried about him too, but also very protective. He’s got the Sivirs on patrol and I didn’t suggest otherwise. They’re taking Shuriken’s current state as an affront to all the Uriti rather than taking the damage he did to them personally.”
“Well that’s good. We don’t want the herd having issues.”
“What exactly did you do earlier?”
“Shouted really loud with my Essence voice.”
“Headache?”
“Oh yeah. It’s still ringing. I can’t do that again anytime soon.”
“But what did you do to him?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but it disrupted him.”
“Any use against the Hadarak?”
“I doubt it. I think I just got his attention and broke his rage blind. Beyond that I’m just guessing.”
“Worth following up later. I already sent a message to the other Preserves. Maybe they’ll get it before they deliver the other two.”
“If they’re as bad as Shuriken is, I don’t think they’ll want to hang onto them any longer than necessary. I’m just glad the trailblazers insisted on them being individually delivered. All three of them here together would have been a disaster…”