The Province Of Terrans 2

A Starshatter adventure

(Art source unknown)

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Index: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 15 Chapter 16

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Chapter 14

To feed a Kosmovoi

There was a lull in the actions of patrons and guests. Some were so full of delectable food and drink, that they shifted into a more relaxed posture sitting in their comfier seats. However, no matter how heavy they felt, it was still a wonderful story day and they... they would not miss it for the galaxy!

The Spacer showed them a slide collection of him, Niv, and the lady priestess readying themselves for battle, stocking on spare supplies from the cargo hold of FSS Bird Of Hope. Indeed, he himself grabbed a bunch of spare power packs, locking these on his belt and made sure that the Vaugn were properly supplied.

However, when it came to arming Lady Taia, she as an Egyptian many years apart from space age weaponry, could wield no modern arms. Nevertheless, Northstone made sure to bestow her with one of his spare energy shield belts. One which was perhaps not that powerful, yet still, quite helpful in a fight. Quite easy it was to operate a button or click a switch than know the intricacies of particle-beam weaponry and the fine calibration dynamics of a hand scanner.

More, the Roundabout’s audience could clearly feel that Taia, although an ancient person, was learning swiftly. She received Northstone’s dagger; a trusty blade, this shortish and lightweight vibroweapon, the lady could wield with apparent ease. Most Egyptian temple servants, she mentioned in passing, let alone the combat ready priesthood, were quite apt when it came to the Dolchkampf or dagger fight.

“Now, we must be quick.” – Northstone began his explanation on holo-vid, his visage of now smiling as his wife fed him a traditional Egyptian pastry, stuffed with smoked fish – “We have the scan-data and know exactly which cyborg to nab. The rest are to be vanquished by any way possible and without suffering wounds. Of course, if we can lessen the damage dealt, all the better.”

“Lessen the damage?” – the priestess of then asked with a bit of confusion – “Aren’t we questing to slay and utterly destroy the apparitions which posses them?”

“Why, yes, lady Taia, we do, but...” – began Northstone and his sentence was completed by Niv’s grumbling and jaw snapping – “Their broken self, our new weapons... or... armor.”

The lady priest was, for a short while, lost in thought. When she opened her mouth, it was with a short grin and audible enthusiasm, so she said – “Lord star-walker, I clearly remember what you had mentioned earlier about these cybergzs. They do have some flesh still, one maintained by some weird bionic alchemy. Which means liquids, no?”

“These ancient machines are reliant on some form of lubrication and certain cyber-gear, it does indeed require special oils. Everything is cycling throughout their bodies, constantly being recycled and reused.” – the Spacer gave an explanation, reinforced with detailed zooms of said cyborgs.

“This is quite similar to what certain sorcerers, those who kiss the boot of Unlife entities in exchange of borrowed power, manifest out of mummified or rotting corpses. Good! I am rested and will add my mind’s power to your strength of arms, my dear lord star-walker.”

There was a second where people noticed how Northstone paused and looked Taia when she said “my dear”, yet she did not even blink. Not then and not today, the lady priestess and now Spacer wife, whispered something in his ear which made him smile. ‘Twas a hearty grin, which many knew in their own lives; one to induce it and one, to smile it.

Northstone made sure to go over their simple plan of attack, projecting the same holo-slides and bits of scan-data he acquired earlier from the sensors of FSS Bird Of Hope. Their target was a small, but spacious hangar bay. Containers and crates hopefully full to their lids of fuel lay secured near the walls, behind what was once a thick energy field. Now, only a few flickering bits of it remained and this fact was quite impressive, for some modern generators could not maintain a stable field geometry for an hour, let alone over Universe knew how many eons.

“I will not go off on a tangent about the practicableness of strike craft in space combat. Sentients wiser than I had already proved this concept and many times over. Suffice to say, having a warship of this size without a massive starfighter screen and some attack craft to back up its main batteries, going to war would be folly of epic proportions. In this massive derelict warship’s case, not only did it sport multiple hangar bays, but these housed craft who need neither sustenance, nor sleep. Maintenance?! Perhaps this too was left to whatever dark deal the degenerate engineers and scientists of this ancient Imperium sealed with their patron deity. However, nothing could fly without sufficient fuel...”

The Roundabout witnessed Northstone of then instructing everyone what each of them was supposed to do. Because his integrated shield was the best and his shooting hand the quickest and most accurate, he placed himself at the tip of that attack. The Spacer would project some ghost targets in advance to confuse the hangar’s automatic sentry turrets. Niv and his soldiers would proceed after him and, by use of their shields create cover for themselves and lady Taia.

While Niv would shoot the turrets with his beam rifle and Northstone fell specter after specter by use of his Ghost Sweeper 2000, the lady priestesses was to employ her telepathic powers and ruin whatever strength still remained in these debased cyborgs. Cyber-enhanced corpsified warriors they were, possessed by ghostly monstrosities giving their vibroblades and guns terrifying, otherworldly bite, yet invulnerable they most certainly were not.

The most heavily-armed cyborg was their primary target and not to be blasted with too many particle-beams or risk losing what made him “ambrosial”...

“There are eleven of them and five of us.” – said with serene calm the Spacer, a camp-going smirk on his chiseled face as he checked the pistol for one last time, giving lady Taia a look – “Without you lady priestess, we would’ve probably suffered wounds and the protracted firefight denied us valuable supplies.”

“Wield the blade if you will, but beware...” – warned him lady Taia pointing at the Khopesh sheathed on his waist – “Whichever wraith-possessed you slay, the monster within shall be vanquished by the emanation of Heps’Thwa.”

“Then cut big ship, easy kill ghost?” – Niv snapped his jaw and nodded at the nearest bulkhead.

“I think that is not possible. From what I peered inside Saksulan’s vile mind, that being is ancient, powerful, and only manifesting itself when something of great value can be attained.” – thought her sad thoughts the priestesses and looked in her feet.

“Nary a single hair of your fair head they shall harm, this I swear!” – promised Northstone Firehand as he gently lifted Taia’s chin up and, after a long look in her eyes, offered more words of tranquil – “Still... I hope that Jaern wretch was actually insane! That her demented imaginings became all too real even for her to deny.”

A hopeful sentiment, which put a soft smile upon priestess’s bonny face.

“Let us all hope that this was exactly what I saw! That, in her deranged quest for power, the sorcerous wretch embraced her dreamings so tightly that she could no longer tell reality from fiction.”

The Spacer uploaded a new selection of holo-slides which depicted him and his party making their way towards the small hangar. Everyone who knew their way around salvage witnessed Northstone ogling the wrecks, their permanent landing around his Bird Of Hope. Spaceship captains knew full fell that she could not transport this number of humans and Vaugn passengers, no matter how wondrously well designed Spacer craft were.

Indeed, the man soon pointed at one hulk and projected the scan-data from his starship’s earlier detailed scan. It was a long and wide transport shuttle of obscure alien design, yet the hull was quite sturdy for its age. Only the vessel missed its main engine assembly, reactor, and pretty much every other system needed for it to be alive and sailing across space once more. Some, the Spacer could perhaps cobble up by salvaging the rest of these hulls, however, the engines and mainframe had to be built from scratch.

“Come,” – he beckoned them, the flickering holo-lights of his new plan vanishing from view – “let us hope that in this dangerous hangar, there is some ancient engine or a CPU which I can still make use of.”

He proceeded to explain what most of it was and in easy terms, which both Egyptian priestess and the Vaugn men could understand. For the rest of their short trip, they remained quiet and heads on a swivel. Though the Spacer’s excellent scans did not show any danger laying between his spacecraft and their destination, this meant not that one couldn’t materialize in the mean time.

“My friends,” – began Northstone as he prepared another collection of pictures and shortish vids – “earlier I did plan to assault the hangar myself. Though I am quite confident in my steady hand and eagle eye, having a number of faithful friends and allies is never a bad thing. Witness our swift and decisive battle, one made significantly less painful thanks to the presence of Lady Taia, Niv, and his men.”

At the side of that large corridor there stood a gate. Tore open by some explosive device in ages past, whatever bits of metal could be salvaged and repurposed, were. Sand of metal, of flesh, and of bone had long since settled across airless floor-plating, which somehow still provided stable artificial gravity. Charred, rent, and broken, in their hundreds of tiny bony piles, the remains of those who had once attempted to conquer the hangar made Dust, this mighty overlord of all that is, was, and would be dead, eternal company.

The Roundabout’s main holoprojector became once more alit with the glow of beams and the swift moves of cyber-enhanced monstrosities. Confused by Northstone’s apt use of sensor ghosts, neither of the hangar defensive turrets would fire an accurate shot. Which allowed Niv’s two soldiers to plant their thick metal shields, covering his flanks and Lady Taia.

The priestess recited a prayer to her ascended ancestors, a soft halo manifest above her helm. Hands aimed at the band of cyber-enhanced and eyes aglow with golden light, she chanted:

“Gone you are, oh fools misbegotten! Once of flesh now of metal broken, your ghastly spectres are all rotten! Through my will Nile’s mighty waters thine doom I shalt seal!”

Invisible, only seen by those of telepathic quality, a wave of energy tugged upon the cyborgs’ olden flesh. Internal organs long since maintained by aged cyber-gear ceased to operate. Limbs lost much of their strength and legs, their swiftness stolen, stumbled. Debilitation spread among the vile sentients; a righteous punishment brought by ancestral Egyptian blessing, enabled by Taia’s cerebration.

Northstone’s combat movements had no unnecessary panache.

Flying into battle with a masterful maneuver, a chaotic and unpredictable dance of engine plasma trails, he finished off two of the cyborgs in but a flash. Though their reaction was perhaps superior, due to cyber-tech and spectral aim, everything of theirs was sterile, hollow. Aim near perfect, these long lost sentients showered the Spacer with weapons fire. Beams crisscrossed everything around him and yet, only a few of these actually hit him!

Niv and his troopers proceeded to scrap all six of the automated turrets. Immediately, as the two soldiers kept shooting their beamguns, holding the shields up, Niv’s goal now was to make the Spacer’s back as safe as possible. Slow and steady, his aim good, the Vaugn “disarmed” and “tripped” two of the possessed cyborgs. First he hit their integrated weapons or outright melted through arm joints and then, did the same with their legs.

Wondrous to behold, his fiery reply ended two more of the cyborgs, their unpossessed remains still stood up; statues of plastic, embalmed flesh, and metal. One, two, three, nine of the cyborgs now fell, the doom of their spectral pilots sealed. Northstone was about to clash with their leader, when Taia warned:

“Beware, the wraith calls for aid!”

By force of most vile nature, some ancient techno-devilry, nine new cyber-enhanced folded behind Niv and his soldiers, while two more materialized to help the wraith-controlled cyborg leader. Had Northstone been alone, he might have very well shared the same grim fate of all whose charred remains now lay across the floor-plating. However, his back was now secure and, a single look behind so he was sure of Lady Taia’s safety, the Spacer commanded:

“Soldiers, set your beamguns on overcharge! Niv, keep them at bay blade in hand!”

The power pack of his Ghost Sweeper 2000 replaced, Northstone drew the Deathknell and, both guns aimed at the newly arrived cyborgs, opened fire. Before their leader could cleave at him with his olden vibroblade, the Spacer had blasted one to burning pieces and was in the process of melting the second one’s armored head. By using both pistols at the same time, he not only wrecked their cyber-enhanced bodies, but sent the specters in command to oblivion.

His body suffering severe malfunctions, nevertheless, the wraith-possessed cyborg proceeded to attack. With a single and, quite deceptive swipe of his vibroblade, he managed to surprise Northstone. Not the sword itself, but a blast of Unlife energy hit the Spacer and drained what was left of his energy shield away!

Yet if the Stygian ghost assumed imminent victory, it was sorely mistaken. Once more, the stalwart explorer proved his quality. The man’s bloody spittle made his faceplate crimson; one second away from another and much more vicious sword hit, he unsheathed the Khopesh and holstered the Deathknell almost with one single, fluid move. A darkly ray shrouded in violet energy aimed to further lay waste to his body, but the olden blade in his hand made that Unlife power, impotent.

Meanwhile, Lady Taia unleashed more of her powers, this time at the new attackers.

“Spectres of old, thy will is weak! Who souls abandon, their fate is bleak! Be drowned and crushed, until of ye there is no sound!”

What still flowed inside the newly arrived cyborgs, it abruptly refused to obey. Oils, actuator fluids and such, in a flash most of it became possessed by Taia’s will. Tearing through metal and embalmed flesh, blades of liquid ripped two, and fell upon three, cleaving them to bits.

Niv, his blade drawn, leapt at the rest, as his two soldiers maintained a relentless wall of particle-beams, making sure that their leader’s flanks were safe. Set on overcharge, the beams they fired blasted apart reinforced metal and turned whatever flesh underneath into dust. It did not take them long to viciously and permanently wipe out the otherwise furtive sneak attack. What could’ve been a trap most deadly, became yet another row of bony piles on the floor-plating. Though these reinforcements still smoldered, bits of molten metal gleaming like tiny stars, Dust would soon smother everything.

Everything, even the most powerful and the vilest of olden evils, they all had an end.

The audience had front row seats, observing this epic clash between a vile Unlife wraith and one of Humanity’s most stalwart explorers. Viewed from his faceplate, some battle aspects recorded via scan-data or through the helms of Niv and his soldiers, the entire Roundabout skipped a heartbeat when Northstone spoke:

“Heps’Thwa and Ghost Sweeper ready, I faced the abomination, a bloody smile on my face. Pain, there was lots of it, yet I feared not its evil, for my allies were beside me. More... my trusty gun would handily rip whatever excuse of power this demented specter wielded. Using the Khopesh, I relied on my modest fencing skills and made sure to block, deflect, or parry the enemy’s blade. Cleave he did and with great might, the edge of his vibroblade crackling with Unlife power! Yet as soon as it descended upon my helmeted head, Heps’Thwa gently moved as if with a life of its own. Doused by invisible waters, all those vile flames became naught as I shot beam after beam at my enemy, until half its body lay ruined under my feet.”

Everyone watched how at the holo-vid’s end, the Spacer unlocked his jerry-rigged spectral prison. Visible on his augmented by scanning rays faceplate, the audience witnessed a most hideous being. The wraith attempted to cut its bonds with cyber-enhanced corpse, yet it was far too late to do so. Ensnared by a powerful energy field, the nightmare-inducing creature was dragged into a science-made prison from which, weakened and its power broken, there was no escape.

Maglocked on his back, the box was secure and Northstone gave the hangar a thorough scan. Only when he was absolutely sure and Lady Taia claimed they were safe from danger did he and the Vaugn begin to loot. Fortune favored not only the furtive, Terran said, but also the bold. In this case, a trio of dinosaur-like warriors, their scales covered in vicious scars, a fair Egyptian priestess, and a resolute man clad in beautified spacesuit.

First he made sure, quickly transported by Taia’s mind, to feed the Kosmovoi. Without delay, the being proceeded to open the box and, one glowing tentacle snatching the wriggling wraith. Shrouded by Kosmovoi’s energies, the foul specter became visible for the naked eye and all of Northstone’s audience witnessed its doom. Ripped to thousands of tiny blobs of energy, what had otherwise ruined Universe knew how many innocent lives, disintegrated in a flash.

While the Kosmovoi floated and waved happily with his tentacles, the Spacer had to trek back to the hangar. Uneventful walking, looting, and carrying were acts rather mundane; also, somewhat time consuming. Northstone, being a storyteller of great renown and skill, he knew that his audience need not see or be told that. Instead, they would be treated to the aftermath of that victory...

Dear reader, what exactly would our stalwart explorer do next? It is for you to decide!

(One) “On the heels of our victory, there was an ample supply of crafting materials, fuel, and even one usable spacecraft engine. I proceeded to focus all my crafting time and energy into making the big transport shuttle spaceworthy. Us Spacers, we are experts when it comes to repairing and refurbishing ships, therefore, I would not need that long. Two star-weeks at worst. Of course, I made sure my Egyptian kin had their basic melee weapons and armored spacesuits, so that Niv and his soldiers could train them to defend themselves. Between me, the Kosmovoi, my Vaugn allies, and Taia, I firmly believed that whatever devilry our Jaern adversaries were plotting, it could be foiled.”

(Two) “These armed to the faceplates hanging mummies gave my weary mind no respite. I kept asking myself a question over and over again: ‘What if wraiths took them over and used their advanced gear to slay my kin?!’ I rather have my Vaugn friends outfitted with their kit, clad in their thick armor, armed with improved beamguns and better swords. We would be ready when that Jaern wretch and her footpads, their empty bellies growling, crawled out of her catacomb-like lair to assail us. I would invest every waking star-hour outfitting and training all Egyptians of fighting age, personally. They needed much better gear than a couple of simple vibroblades and lightweight spacesuits. Long vibrospears, broad shields, armored spacesuits, and magnetically accelerated crossbows would do wonders!”

(Three) “Witnessing Lady Taia’s prowess, I, someone who’d often fought beside and against telepaths, chose to invest time and resources into outfitting her. My reasoning was that when, mind you it was only a question of time, Saksulan attacked, the wretch would unleash everything at us. That foul stave of hers was no joke! Regardless if what the Jaern zealot believed in was real, I would empower lady Taia to the best of my crafts. Armor and items which she could imbue with her telepathic power would serve to protect all of us and ensure our survival. Not only could Taia counter and even vanquish Saksulan herself... In the terrifying case that indeed, a dreaded being possessed the derelict warship, my bonnie Egyptian priestess was our best hope. This would leave my kin fitted with basic melee arms and light spacesuits, the Vaugn soldiers with what gear they had now. Niv and his men would train the Egyptians while I and Lady Taia worked over her telepathic gear back on FSS Bird Of Hope.”

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Dear reader, please do not forget to post your pick in the comments below, and elaborate upon why you think our protagonist should do so.

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