A Tale of Arcane Space: Lost & Found

The spirit faded from view -- and suddenly the sound and fury of the world in motion returned. Captain Liang looked around in confusion -- "What just happened? Cori, Snow, where are you...?"

Lin clasped his captain's shoulder. "Sir. I'm going out there to engage the DreamNought. Cori and Snowdrop are going with Danielle into that for a rescue. Danielle will explain." Without waiting for an answer, Lin grabbed an audio-comms-bud from his station, planted it in one ear, and bolted down the hall towards the airlock. Behind him, he heard the captain calling out orders to target the DreamNought. He didn't dare stop to look back -- it would have been impossible to say goodbye.

As he ran, he felt small talons settle onto his shoulder once more. "Honored Herald?" He took the corner at speed, nearly sliding along the deck, and continued his run to the airlock.

Y'shalnacht's chuckling voice echoed through his very soul. "I've decided not to leave just yet, my priest. I am not permitted to act further upon the physical world, nor have I the ability. But I have free will, and I wish to witness the work of a WarSaint's Crimson Flame. May I stay, and offer my counsel and words?"

"You may, and I thank you." Lindauriel Moonblossom opened the airlock's first door, and stepped inside. With a moment's concentration, his body was sheathed in silver fire... and a red light began to glow in the depths of that flame. He wore nothing but his black unitard, with no weapons at his hip save for the signal flare gun and the dagger given to him by his teacher. He drew the latter, tracing one finger rapidly along its intricate runes. "Honored Gathor," he said aloud, "If anyone is able -- I could use a hand -- or ten. Gnomes are attacking the asteroid belt of the Zelefon system. Please know that I act to protect the innocent." The runes glowed red, and he sheathed the knife back on his hip.

Y'shalnacht looked down at the knife in interest. "Do you think they will join your fight?"

Lin slapped at the airlock's release timer button, which began counting down. "I doubt anyone's close enough to get here quickly, but you never know." He took a deep breath of clean ship's air, trying not to think that it might be his last memory within this treasured home under the stars. A home that he'd only just found six months ago. "As you said -- it's time."

The timer reached zero, the airlock opened -- and Lindauriel shot out into space, a comet of brilliant blazing silver.

The DreamNought loomed before him as he rocketed forward, their considerable weaponry already firing on the rocks that encased GraveDancer's dormant form, blasting away at the dense layers of molecular-fused rock that protected it -- and vaporizing one of the Endurance's two shuttles that had been anchored there. He could see the rippling sky-blue haze of the thick shields that surrounded the massive ship -- he had to destroy that barrier, else his friends would have no way inside. It was time to get to work.

With arms out wide, he closed his eyes as his inner self opened, and the Crimson Flame rushed down his arms as a shot from the giant enemy passed less than five meters away from him -- followed by another near-miss -- and another. Lindauriel opened his eyes, and more ruby light erupted from them, intertwining with the silver divine fire of his chosen faith. He looked up, and saw the DreamNought before him, raining down death. Mystic force-lance shots. Plasma torpedoes. Telekinetic burst-pockets. Sweeping laser arrays. A deadly assortment of what this galaxy's alchemy of magic and science had devised as killing weapons poured out of that giant cathedral of insanity -- towards him, towards GraveDancer, towards the Endurance, and towards the Diamond Ramrod. Lindauriel was ready. For years, he'd been trained to constrain the power he'd been granted, but now, it was time to open those locks, put away the chains, and unleash what lay within.

He spoke aloud, his words echoing through space, the Creed Of Tlaketh resounding through the hulls of all three ships, and the ears of all present:

Fear not the tyrant's raging call

Fear not the wrath of hate

Fear not, for hope will never fall

WITH CRIMSON FLAME, I GUIDE MY FATE!

The light flared -- blinding all -- and when it faded, Lindauriel Moonblossom was flying even faster towards the DreamNought, the silver and red flames coalesced into a cloak that encased his shoulders and back -- a cloak of blades, the symbol of the Queen of Silence. With a roar, his hands swept out -- and daggers of fire erupted from his cloak in a storm of perfect precision, slicing out and destroying every projectile the Gnomish ship had launched, deflecting every beam, detonating every torpedo. Once again, the darkness of space was filled with a blinding red light as the Crimson Flame did its incomparable work.

***

"DAMAGE REPORT!" Dag Thurmond's voice was hoarse, rubbing spots out of his eyes as the light died down.

His helmsman Tamaki's eyes were wide with shock. "...None, sir! The Gnomish attacks heading our way -- they were all destroyed or deflected!"

"By what? The Endurance? They don't have that kind of firepower!"

Kallitrix narrowed her eyes, and with a flick of her wrist, the main display zoomed in on the face of a solitary figure hurtling through the void, sheathed in a blazing red and silver aura in the shape of a bladed cloak. "No. But it appears that their new chaplain... does." She reached up to touch the pendant around her neck, an image of a hooded woman, wearing a cloak made of endless daggers, and she shook her head with a wry smile. "So Lindauriel Moonblossom is a WarSaint. Everyone knew at the seminary that you were destined for big things, pretty-boy... but this is fucking ridiculous."

As if sensing Kalli's scrutiny, The WarSaint turned to face the Ramrod, and on their main monitor, he greeted them with a little wave. He then reached out towards the two smaller ships, his hands shining bright, and both craft were enveloped by red fire. With another nod, the WarSaint blasted forward anew, heading right for the DreamNought.

Havok, the ramrod's green-scaled Draconian tactical officer, suddenly called out in surprise. "Mister Thurmond! Shields are reading at... this can't be right... five hundred percent capacity!"

Dag Thurmond sat back in his command chair, scratching at his cheek. "Huh. Trix, remind me to buy that elf a beer, next time I see him. ALRIGHT, YA SHIT-LICKERS! Havok, find every visible gunport on that big bastard, and blow it up! Boris, you're on incoming point-defense! Tamaki, take us in hot, evasive pattern forty! Everybody else... LET'S KILL SOME GNOMES!"

***

Norrish's jaw dropped. "That sneaky smiling fucker! A WarSaint! Cap, did you know about this?"

"I did. He had his reasons for secrecy, and I respected them. We owe him our lives, everyone."

George's voice came over the speakers. "Shields have been reinforced by Lindauriel's flame, captain. Weapons are hot, and both Lin and the Ramrod just rushed into close range with the Gnomish vessel. Orders?"

Cori emerged from the hall, now fully armed and armored, with Snowdrop right at her heels. "Are the Gnomes' shields down yet?" She handed Danielle one of her spare combat suits, a pair of daggers, and a small autofire pistol.

Dani frowned as she slipped on the armored garment, the dimensions reconfiguring themselves automatically to fit her smaller frame. "Not yet -- he's just started his attack run, and I'm ready to get us in the very instant those shields drop." She holstered the daggers on her belt, and scanned the pistol, immediately analyzing its mechanisms. She nodded in satisfaction.

Captain Liang hit a switch, and a targeting array materialized before him, his lower arms poised over his console. "George -- watch for incoming shots! I'll support Lindauriel with cover fire! Mister Norrish! TAKE US IN!"

The orc helmsman gave a whooping shout, his eyes wide with almost giddy delight as he slammed the control sticks, the Endurance leaping forward with all engines firing. "SING IT, KIDS! SO, LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF THIS BEAUTIFUL NIGHT!"

With a laugh the captain raised his voice in song, firing off a salvo of plasma torpedoes. "AS WE STAND TOGETHER, WITH UNITY'S MIGHT!"

A wave of Gnomish projectiles flew in, and George expertly blew them away, the Endurance racing through the expanding firecloud as Norrish put the ship into a rolling spin, all voices on the bridge joined in: "WON'T YOU BE MINE, COULD YOU BE MINE..."

On the screen ahead, a single force-lance made it through George's point-defense, but pinged harmlessly off the crimson-reinforced shields, drawing a whoop of joy from Norrish as the crew finished in unison, "WON'T YOU BE MY COMRADE?"

***

"Your crewmates have joined the fray."

Lindauriel didn't spare a glance, concentrating on deflecting or dodging incoming fire, spinning and weaving between an endless wave of speeding death as he closed the gap to the DreamNought. "Damnit, they're supposed to wait for an opening!"

Y'shalnacht watched with interest from his perch on the WarSaint's shoulder. "I imagine they're trying to draw fire, to give you a chance to create that opening. I suggest haste, your aid to their defenses won't last forever."

"I'm--" With a grunt, Lin spun to one side, barely dodging a sweep-laser. "I'm well aware of that!" To his other side, he was shocked to see the Diamond Ramrod blasting forward as well, firing off wave after wave of destruction... and indeed, the DreamNought's attention seemed to turn towards the two attacking ships, the wall of incoming fire around the WarSaint suddenly thinning considerably. With a cry of triumph, he poured everything into forward momentum, and the cloak of blades spread wide, like a pair of fiery wings. "Okay, let's make this count." At his command, a swarm of crimson flame-blades shot forward from his cloak, striking the Gnomish shields like an endless hailstorm. Those shields visibly buckled under the onslaught, and he drew one arm back. As the wall of energy approached at unthinkable speed, he saw Cori's and Danielle's faces, both quietly smiling as they held him and each other in blissful peace. His eyes blazed, and just as he reached the shield, his closed fist shot forward. "I AM NOT ALONE!"

Across the entire length of the gargantuan ship, the shell of protective energy formed a web of crimson cracks, rushing from tip to bow of the ship in an instant -- and then the entire shield shattered like glass.

***

Danielle looked up. "He did it! We're going in!" Snowdrop and Coriolis each took hold of her shoulders, and with a millisecond's scan and computation, Danielle teleported herself and her two comrades into the lower decks of the giant ship.

The teleport-vertigo lasted only a moment. The stench inside the Gnomish ship seemed to last forever. Danielle overrode her olfactory sensors into an urgent shutdown, and Cori immediately activated the bio-weapons filters on her battle armor. Snowdrop's nostrils flared wide... and her eyes narrowed as she lifted her rotary shard-cannon. "Ohhh, I want to kill these short maniacs even more now. You don't want to know what they've been doing here."

The floors were slick. Misshapen lumps of discarded flesh and organs were scattered across the floor, in various states of decay. And on the far side of the chamber, two gnomes looked up from their work -- the exposed ribcage of an adult Dwarf, mounted on the far wall like a trophy, the stumps of his limbs spread wide and nailed to the wall like a butterfly on display. He looked up as well, his one remaining eye shaking with unspeakable pain. "END ME! PLEASE!"

The two gnomes studied the new arrivals. One raised a hand to his forehead -- and a wisp of faint violet light snaked out from his eyes, latching onto Cori's forehead. The circlet of silver fire that Lindauriel had placed around her brow shone bright, flame blazing down the violet path like a torch to a trail of oil -- and the Gnome's head exploded, showering the Dwarf, the floor, the wall, and his fellow Gnome with gore.

The remaining Gnome's eyes narrowed as he raised the scalpel in his hand. "Shielded. Forbidden. PUNISHMENT--" The Gnome fell silent, his eyes crossed as a dagger thrown by Danielle embedded itself in the center of his forehead, and the new corpse collapsed to the ground in a limp heap.

Danielle rushed to the wall, looking for a way to release the Dwarf. "Be strong, we'll have you down in a moment. This is a rescue."

But Snowdrop put one hand on Danielle's shoulder, and gently pulled her back. "Yeah. It is."

Cori stepped up to the Dwarf, looked him in the eye, and grit her teeth. "I can make it quick. Is that what you want?"

"P...pocket."

Cori reached into the Dwarf's tattered remains of his clothes, and pulled out a large wallet. She held it up. "I'm listening."

"Boulanger. Etienne B-Boulanger. Me. ME." The dwarf shuddered. "Take...to Jardin Rouge C-Colonie. Give to... Blaise Boulanger. My SON." Etienne's eyes were streaming tears. "Lie to him. Say I died in hover-freight accident on Altair. Anything but the truth. ANYTHING. Hurry!"

Danielle's jaw dropped. "We have a healer! We can take you with us! Save you!"

"Make it quick -- and you will. Please. PLEASE!" His face jerked -- and his eye suddenly took on a sickly violet glow. "PUNISH THE DREAMERS! PUNISH..." He shook, and his eye faded to normal. "Do it now. While I am still... Etienne."

With a nod but without another word, Coriolis slid her stiletto deep into his remaining eye like a striking cobra -- and he immediately went silent and limp. She put the leather wallet into her belt, sheathed the stiletto, and drew her pistol. "The nine are through here. Let's get them -- and us -- the fuck OUT of this insanity."

***

Captain Liang was shouting over an open channel to the Diamond Ramrod. "Thurmond! Target the shield generators! Don't give them a chance to restore defenses!"

A raspy laugh echoed across the bridge. "Just like old times, eh Guan? Almost makes me not want to take back the ship you stole from my fleet! ALMOST. Okay, bilge-suckers! Do what the bug said -- target the big shield-spires!"

As Norrish banked the Endurance to present their strongest shields to the next wave of fire, Liang prepared another wave of torpedoes. "This is bigger than you or me, Dag! If my boarders don't get nine captives off that ship, the entire galaxy is endangered!"

"Your crew went IN there??? And you fuckers call ME crazy! Fine! I'll kill your four-armed ass some other time!"

***

The Crimson Flame was ecstasy. Faster and faster, Lindauriel Moonblossom swept across the endless surface of the DreamNought like a winged red comet. Here, a sweep of his arm caused his bladed cloak to slash across an exposed turret, ripping it open with explosive force. There, a new storm of red knives swarmed from his back, slicing through the unshielded hull with pure fury, impaling many Gnomes inside. It was incredible power unleashed, cathartic, unstoppable, and Lindauriel shivered with righteous fury as he could practically taste the fear and confusion emanating from the sadistic murderers within.

A hatch opened, and a lone Gnome stepped out, wearing an enviro-suit with cling-boots, He was hefting a huge shard-cannon in Lin's direction with one hand, and making mystic gestures with another. A burst of blurred projectiles shot out at the WarSaint, and he swirled his cloak before him to block the shots, grunting as he felt their impact. With a contemptuous laugh, Moonblossom gestured, and his cloak sliced out and removed the gunner's head from his shoulders. He felt the pinch of raven's talons on his shoulder. "Remember, WarSaint, that you too are mortal. Take care not to let this extraordinary power rule you, even as it aids your cause."

Cupping his hands at his side, Lindauriel concentrated for a moment -- and then brought those hands forward, unleashing the red and silver fire that had gathered in his grasp, a river of destruction that blew through another turret and the shield-spire that lay behind it. The WarSaint gasped in the visceral pleasure of seeing his might in action -- but grit his teeth, and nodded in acknowledgement. "...Thank you, Honored Herald. Blessings upon you."

The spirit on his shoulder bobbed its head. "Just a little longer. Your comrades have nearly succeeded."

***

"Running low on ammo! Cori, what's going on with that lock?" Snowdrop pulled her trigger, and another short burst erupted from her rotary-barrel, eviscerating two Gnomes that had charged through the open door.

Cori threw up her hands in frustration. "I can't force it! Whatever mages they have on board reinforced this with so many mystic shields that it's taking forever to dispel them! And if I blast or mage-laser the wall instead, we'll likely kill the people on the other side that we're trying to save!"

Danielle stepped forward, and placed her palm against the wall next to the door. "I can't teleport us inside there, the cell block has a portal-shield all around it. We need a new approach." A small stream of what looked like glitter slithered off her wrist and into the seam around the doorway. "My nano-crafters need twenty seconds!"

After another burst, Snowdrop slung the empty cannon along her back, and eyed the corridor as she drew a pair of pistols. She could hear the sound of at least a dozen more Gnomes approaching their position. "Twenty seconds, aye!" One Gnome came into view, and she put a force-bullet right through his nose, the back of his skull exploding... but there were eight more right behind him. "Cori! A little help here?"

Coriolis stepped forward, drawing her longsword from her belt. With a touch on the hilt, the tip of the blade sprouted a translucent flat plane of force, extending the blade's reach by nearly a third of a meter. "This is for Etienne, you crazed assholes." She dove forward, slicing in a wide sweep that opened the throat of the first Gnome, and as the momentum of her cut carried the blade around, she ducked her head under it, the flat of the sword now sliding and spinning on the back of her shoulders as she waded in further.

As the sword-tip sliced through the skull of another Gnome without slowing, her free hands were busy casting -- one firing off a swarm of force-missiles that thudded into three enemies and dropped them in their tracks, while her other hand swept a short mage-laser burst across the chests of two more, their severed torsos and arms falling away from their lower bodies. The last Gnome charged in, pistols firing, but Cori cartwheeled over the shots, grabbed the free-spinning sword from her shoulders, and performed a flawless "Wheel Cutter" downward sweep, the force-blade tip slicing right down the center of her target and cutting him into symmetrical halves. She landed on one knee, sword in hand -- and saw twenty more headed their way. "Snowdrop! Incoming! Time for the heavy artillery!" She dove backwards, running to get behind her comrade.

"On it!" Snowdrop flexed her shoulders back, her barrel-torso expanded, she opened her jaws wide -- and she inhaled. A long, roaring wind seemed to rush in from the hallway, filling her maw and leaving glittering crystals in its wake, all heat in the room in front of her and the hallway beyond sucked into her Draconian gullet. The first five Gnomes entering the room at that moment froze solid, their skin cracking like the thin ice of a winter pod -- but when another dozen Gnomes flowed into the room around them, Snowdrop exhaled -- and now that stolen heat rushed back out, a torrent of fire that scorched the floors, the walls, the ceiling, and the flesh of the swarming Gnomes. The ones she'd frozen then exploded, killing seven more Gnomes that had survived the flames by diving behind the standing corpses for cover -- and finally the hall was still. Snowdrop gave a chuckle of satisfaction. "Gonna need a lozenge when we get back," she said with a raspy cough. "Grandma would be livid if she saw how pathetic that was. Been skipping Lung Day for too long."