The Tales of the Silver Wind

"That should do it," Sebastian said wiping his brow with the back of his left hand. Looking down at the panel, to his arm, then to the open space where it once sat. He couldn't reactivate the motor cortex again. Not if those nanites were failing as that would only escalate the problem, sending what error codes that had caused said problem in the first place to the rest of those misbehaving horde of bots. Grunting as he pressed his shoulder against the panel trying to secure it back to the wall. It would have been a simple easy task if Sebastian had the use of his right arm; as it was the task before him took several minutes longer to screw in the bolts that held the panel to the wall.

"There!" Sebastian sighed wearyingly. He had to get to his people and quickly. There was no time to lose as he set his jaw as the error percentage reached twenty percent. Sebastian knew they had another three days from their current position to reach the last bastion of his people. Given the rate that his nanites were failing at Sebastian wouldn't last the three-day trek. No, he needed another alternative. One where he or his crew wouldn't have to watch as his nanites eat his body alive.

Sebastian's footfalls echoed off the gravity plating. His left hand pushed his body along using the wall to steady his betraying body. Grinding his teeth as the percentage ticked up by the second. Sebastian had hoped by shutting down the motor cortex it would delay the compounding errors. However, it would seem that those old damaged bots had made it to his central processor spreading the error code to the rest of its brethren. The door to the bridge rolled open as Sebastian approached.

Gil swung around in his chair at the sound. Eyeing Sebastian wondering why his right arm dangled at his side. Arching an eyebrow at Sebastian's odd movements.

"Sebastian are you alright?" Gil asked noticing Sebastian's labored breathing.

"Not exactly," Sebastian admitted walking over to the engineering substation. His left hand moved over the console hurriedly as the error percentage reached thirty percent. He knew if it reached fifty percent there was nothing anyone - that wasn't one of his people - could do to help him.

"Tell me what's wrong Sebastian, maybe I can help," Gil said rising from his seat. Watching how the power seem to hum as Sebastian switched on the dark matter drive.

"Call Amanda and have her power up one of the cryo pods," Sebastian said struggling to breathe.

"Sebastian!" Lulu called out as she exited her cabin when she heard the main power coming to life. She knew it wouldn't be on if Sebastian hadn't fixed her ship.

"Amanda! We have an emergency! Please come to the bridge!" Gil said over the ship's intercom. Sebastian chuckled as he heard doors rushing open, feet pounding on the gravity plating as they rushed towards the bridge.

"Sebastian?! What's wrong?" Lulu asked seeing the color of his cheeks draining away.

"Löwe!" Akasha shouted as she entered the bridge after Lulu followed by Adriana, Nathan, and Amanda.

"Sebastian," Amanda said pushing her way through the throng of bodies, "can you tell me what's wrong, where does it hurt, or is anything broken?"

"The patch has failed," Sebastian said through labored breathing, "they won't last the trip, not at this rate. The cryo pods should be able to slow them down."

"Nathan, help Sebastian to the medical bay," Amanda said her doctor instincts kicking in, "I'll run ahead and get everything powered up."

"Come on mate," Nathan said, placing Sebastian's arm along his shoulders as he helped his friend to stand. "Let's get you...," Nathan's voice died in his throat as Akasha mirrored him.

"Relax," Akasha said glancing at Nathan, "my Perämies comes before anything else."

"O-okay," Nathan said taking a dry swallow.

"Sebastian, when did this start?" Lulu asked behind him.

"Yesterday," Sebastian admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Akasha asked the hints of worry edging its way into her words.

"There was nothing anyone of you could do," Sebastian said, shutting down systems he wouldn't be needing while he was an icicle. "I didn't see a need to worry you, Akasha."

"Of course there is! Me and Lulu would be heartbroken if anything ever happened to you!"

"Yes! Are we not an item? Are we not in a relationship - albeit a very weird one - a relationship nonetheless?" Lulu said placing her hand on his back.

"Duly noted," Sebastian said with a weak smirk.

"Quickly, get him inside," Amanda ordered as they entered the medical bay. Holding open the glass door as they carried Sebastian toward her. "These pods might be out dated, but they're still functional," she said, attaching electrodes to his body so she could monitor his vitals while he was in cryosleep after she had cut his shirt open. She didn't want to waste time in having Sebastian disrobe. "Now, you don't worry about a thing, leave everything to me, Sebastian," Amanda said, smiling at him patting his chest before sealing him in. Sebastian simply nodded as the pressurized seal resounded throughout that room.

"Sebastian!" Akasha cried out as the sleeping gas flooded the pod. "Don't you dare die on me!" she yelled hoping he could hear her as the temperature began to drop. Her tears reaming her eyes, her lip trembled as Sebastian slowly rose his hand, pressing it against the glass, smirking at her before his hand fell away.

"Well, you heard him! We have three days to get to his people. I want it done in half," Lulu said taking command. Trying not to allow her eyes to fall upon Sebastian. Knowing how if she did, then she too, would be crying her eyes out as Akasha was. "Nat, Gil get my ship moving," Lulu said sternly.

"Yes captain," the two men said in unison.

"Amanda, see that you keep me informed of his status every hour," Lulu said glancing over at Akasha as she pawed at the glass of the cryo pod.

"Lulu!" Akasha cried out rushing over to her. Throwing her arms around her friend uncertain what she would do if Sebastian was gone. How could she ever face her Queen? How would Pantra take the news of his death? What sorrow would plague her people once they found out that their Löwe was no more?

"Shh," Lulu whispered as she stroked Akasha's hair. "Sebastian has survived this long, I'm sure he will be alright," she said praying her words were true. "Come. It will do you good to be on the bridge right now," Lulu said reassuringly as she gently squeezed Askasha's shoulder.

"Gil, what is our current position?" Lulu asked as she and Askasha entered the bridge.

"Currently at 38.65 by 45.98 heading towards the coordinates Sebastian plotted into the navigation computer," Gil said matter-of-fact as his eyes darted from the two screens and the main viewer.

"Nothing abnormal on the sensors, Captain," Nathan said looking up from his panel.

"Good. Gil push the engines as hard as they can go in this quagmire," Lulu said sternly as she lowered herself into her seat.

"Aye, aye. Bringing the sublight engines to three fourths thrust," Gil said. His hands taking hold of the yoke as the vibrations from the dark matter clouds resonated with the wash of the engines.

"Akasha, reinforce hull integrity with the shields, maybe it will diminish the vibrations on the ship," Lulu commanded. Her ruby eyes stared out onto that dark canvas praying they could reach them before Sebastian's time ran out.

A day had passed since Sebastian went into the cryo pod. A full day of her nerves on the point of breaking because she couldn't show how much she feared for him. Lulu couldn't allow her emotions to show while on the bridge. She knew that would only demoralize her crew. Yet there wasn't a second that didn't go by that she didn't think about how that now frozen ex-super soldier had become a part of her crew, her family, and her lover.

"Captain bogies at two o'clock!" Akasha yelled over the sound of the alarms.

"Full power to the shields!" Lulu commanded as she looked over at Nathan. Gripping her armrest as the first barrage of shots hammered the shields. "Akasha, bring the weapons online, it's time to see how well these Candary weapons function," she said with a cruel smile. "Gil, keep our nose pointed at them, we can't allow them to hit the engines," Lulu ordered knowing if they knocked out the power then Sebastian would be in danger, not only from suffocating, but also from his nanites.

"Weapons are charged and ready to fire," Akasha said the red light of her control panel shone eerily along her exposed fangs.

"Then fire," Lulu growled, "show these fools what happens when they mess with pirates of the Orion quadrant," she said giving Akasha a knowing nod. She knew how much Akasha has been worrying about Sebastian's fate.

"Captain, two more approaching from our seven o'clock," Nathan said holding on as the shields took another pounding. "They'll reach us in less than two minutes."

"I see," Lulu mused as she watched as the wreck of the first ship smoldering before silently breaking up in the ensuing explosion. "Gil, maneuver gamma, everyone brace yourself!" she said over the intercom before the Silver Wind went into a barrel roll passing millimeters below the hull of the enemy ship. Her body was thrust back into her seat as Gil fired off the thrusters at full. Snapping her ship around putting the nose of her ship well within striking distance at their exposed rear. "Fire," Lulu said coldly as she watched the two particle beams cut through the hull of the raider ship with ease. "Gil full speed ahead, Nathan what's the status of our shields? Akasha how long will it take to recharge the particle beams?"

"Shields at eighty percent and climbing," Nathan said in awe. When Sebastian first hinted at the generators on that old warship, he thought his friend mad or senile, probably both; yet as they passed the wrecks of the first two ships that preyed upon those that live within the nebula, Nathan couldn't have been more glad to be proven wrong.

"Captain, particle beam recharge in t-minus one minute, plasma cannons are fully charged and ready at your command," Akasha said looking up from her console.

"Nathan, redirect twenty-five percent of the power from the shield regeneration to the particle beams. Let's show these cowards we aren't going to be taken lightly," Lulu said smiling glad to have something to take her mind off of things.

"Enemies will be within range in fifteen seconds," Nathan said only to have his eyes widen in fear as a new contact appeared on the sensors. "Captain new contact!"

"Where...?!" Lulu begun to say only to throw her arm up to keep from being blinded by the light as the ship exited sublight space. "Shields!" Lulu yelled as the massive frigate opened fire destroying the to two raiders in a blink of an eye. Sparks flew around the bridge as the Silver Wind was caught in the wake of the two exploding dark engines. The power flickered and threatened to shut down as Gil fought to regain control over the ship as it was tossed around in that dangerous space. "Gil!" Was the only warning Lulu gave as she saw where her ship was headed. Right into the heart of a dark matter cloud!

Chapter Three

Lulu looked around in confusion as her ship's momentum stopped altogether. Alarms buzzed in her ears as her eyes gazed upon the thing that she thought would be their doom.

"Someone report! What the hell is happening out there!" Lulu shouted as she rose from her seat.

"Captain it appears we're in a tractor beam," Adriana said from the science station.

"I know that!" Lulu growled.

"It's a Venus Oculari frigate!" Nathan said trembling in fear.

"What?!" Akasha said nearly climbing over her station. Hoping, just hoping they could save her mate. "Lulu!"

"Right," Lulu nodded, "Gil, send the code Sebastian gave you. Tell them we are in need to save one of their own."

"They said they already know," Gil said his face turning ghostly white, "and that is why they are here, not to save us, but him."

"Well, isn't that just peachy," Lulu grumbled.

"Adriana see what the status of our engines are, Gil inform them..."

"No need Captain, they are going to tow us, and I don't think we have much to say on the matter," Gil said looking over at Lulu as she narrowed her eyes.

"Fine then, the rest of you see to the repairs," Lulu ordered before walking off the bridge. Her boots echoing off of the gravity plating as she headed towards her medical bay. Raising her hand as Amanda began to rise. Her ruby eyes falling on the man that slept in his icy tomb. "Sebastian, tell me are all your people like that, or has the years alone made them so guarded?" Lulu asked in a whisper as her hand ran along the frost covered glass. "Can they really help you, or am I going to be the one that watches you die?" she asked her lip trembling hoping her fears would never come to pass.

"Not if I can help it," Amanda said from behind her, "Lulu, it's okay to cry, go on I know you want to. No one here is going to hold it against you," she said sweetly placing a reassuring hand on Lulu's shoulder. "Shh, let it out," Amanda said rubbing Lulu's back as her captain cried into her chest.

"I don't know how this happened," Lulu stuttered as she wept, "how can it be that I love him? My people aren't known to love a single man, yet here I am balling my eyes out because I can't do anything for him."

"I don't know, love is a mysterious thing Captain. I thought I loved Richard only to be proven that he wasn't the man I thought he was. But if you love him, then you know you can't give up on him," Amanda said pushing Lulu back, so she could look into her eyes and see the sincerity of her words. "Have faith in him, believe that Sebastian will pull through...," Amanda's voice grew still as a group of armed men in black armor surrounded them.

"Stand aside," ordered the leader, wearing the same black armor yet a golden emblem was emblazoned on his left breast. "I wouldn't," the voice warned as Lulu reached for her new plasma pistol. "We are here for the Imperialist, our brother," the commander said sternly. "Any resistance and my men won't hesitate to kill you," he said coldly as his men brought their weapons to bear. "If you would," he said nodding to the cryo pod.

"I won't, if I bring him out there is no telling what his nanites will do," Amanda said protecting Sebastian from the man's foolishness.

"We know this, now release him."

"Do it Amanda," Lulu said never taking her eyes off the man, "seems we don't have a choice in the matter," she said shyly, waving Akasha off as she peered around the door frame. Glancing out of the corner of her eye as she tapped on her thigh giving Akasha the code to wait. She wasn't just going to allow these people to think they could board her ship and walk away scot-free. Setting her jaw as they roughly shoved Amanda out of the way. Perplexed as they placed an electronic device into Sebastian's data port pondering on what the device was.

"He's ready," one of the soldiers said as they pulled Sebastian out from the pod.

"Good. There's no time to waste," the commander said giving them the signal to transport back to their ship.

"We'll be...," the man begun to say only to feel a blade at his throat.

"Did you think I was going to stand by and let you take my mate without doing something?" Akasha hissed into the man's ear.

"Akasha take him to the cargo hold," Lulu ordered, "Amanda are you alright?" she asked as Akasha tossed the man into the hallway.

"Yeah, but I'm worried about Sebastian."

"I know, so am I. Let us see if that man can tell us why he thought it wise to board my ship," Lulu said walking over to the intercom, "Nathan bring the electronic cuffs to the cargo bay, we have an intruder onboard."

"Aye, Captain," Nathan's voice came over the com.

"You're weak." Lulu heard Akasha spat as the man was thrown against the bay door. Noting how his armor had slashes marring it's once polished surface. Knowing it was because of that, the man, he was still alive and not a beheaded bloody mess on her cargo bay floor. "Now where is my mate?!" Akasha growled ripping the man's helmet off.

"Akasha the man can't speak when you have your hands wrapped tightly around his throat," Lulu said calmly though underneath that exterior she too wanted the man's head. "I would advise you to answer her, Candaries aren't known for their patience," she said walking down the metal stairs that led to the floor of the cargo bay. "Especially when you invade my ship and take the man...," Lulu said stopping herself.

"To help," the man coughed wiping the blood from his mouth, before trying to break Akasha's hold. His eyes bulged out as he tried to draw breath into his lungs as his armor crumbled underneath Akasha's punch which was grinding the remains of his armor into his skin.

"Now, I know how special my Sebastian is," Akasha sneered in disgust at the weakness of the man.

"Captain," Nathan said rushing down the steps with the cuffs in hand. "Is that the guy?" he asked glad he had Sebastian to shield him as he viewed what Akasha had done simply out of anger.

"Yes, now to get our answers," Lulu said with determination. Pulling out her plasma pistol from her belt. The man was no good to them as a hostage if he was dead. "Now, explain what purpose does it serve to invade my ship to help a man who was already on his way to your people's territory?" Lulu asked pressing the barrel of her gun to the man's temple. "Speak or I swear you won't have a head for much longer," she said with deathly undertones.

"Captain! They really want to talk to you," Gil said his voice high over the intercom.

"In a minute!"

"Lulu! They have their batteries trained at us!" Adriana spoke rapidly.

"Your people can't be that stupid," Lulu said pressing her gun deeper into the man's scalp, "your ship should have already scanned us and knows we aren't as weak as we appear, and this close to your ship your weapons would harm you just as much as they would us."

"Doesn't matter, the Imperialist is far more important than I am. I'm just a simple altered soldier. We will die to keep him safe," the man said glaring at Lulu.

"Why is my mate so important to you?" Akasha said sticking her nose into the man's face. Now she knew why the man was so weak. He wasn't even on the level of what Sebastian was. Akasha had heard stories how their armies had mowed through ranks of their soldiers in the days before the downfall of Sebastian's home world.

"If I had known a half-breed Candary was onboard I would have brought more people," the man spat.

"Akasha!" Lulu said taking hold of Akasha's right wrist as she was posed to slash open the man's throat. "Nathan cuff him, and take him to the bridge," she ordered keeping her grip firm on Akasha's arm, "Akasha go to your cabin and cool off. You aren't any good to me or Sebastian if you're so emotional."

"Fine," Akasha said ripping her arm out of Lulu's grip.

"You want to tell me why you have my man in chains?" asked a very disgruntled captain of the frigate.

"You want to tell me why you thought it wise to raid my ship, point your guns at me and my ship, kidnap my crew member?" Lulu shot back as Nathan stood behind the kneeling man with his own laser pistol pressed against the base of the man's skull. "I would hurry, we pirates aren't known to keep hostages alive when one of our own is imprisoned."

"What?! No! You have to understand the purge had to be started," the man said his hand running down his weary face.

"Purge?!" Lulu asked in confusion.

"Since you have entered the nebula, we have been tracking the Imperialist. We knew of the failure when he did. Our commander dispatched us knowing he wouldn't make it until he reached our base. In order to save him we have to purge his old nanites from his body which is quite painful. However, the process takes a little over a day to complete, while we don't have all the tools onboard to complete the refusion of nanites. We are capable of performing the purge."