Play Testers Wanted Pt. 09

"I am sorry we encroached upon your village; we didn't know. I had no choice but to slay the rogue to defend my friends. If my life will pay for their freedom, then so be it." I offered and watched their reactions.

The pair helped their sister off the ground and healed her of her partial paralysis. They went inside and I waited. Lincalan held her head down and remained silent. This was all kinds of confusing. Yautja attack a Vanir spaceship. I am guessing that one of the three power stones were damage causing the ship to split in half. The damaged sphere cracked open releasing the star within and forming this binary moon formation. One moon has just light elves and weird vampire trees. The other has devolved Predators and Vanir living in a tribal community. Vanir that has learned the secrets of the Yautja, their tech, their nearly weightless alloy, all of it is theirs and yet they remain here. Why? Why not fix the ship and leave?

I call down more rain from the overcast sky. I wash off the mud and find a spot in one of the trees to sit and wait. Why isn't Angela or the others mopping the floor with them? I heard her laugh at one point. MJ as She-Venom was a match for at least two of them. Susan and Jenny could do some serious damage on their own. There was a reason. Between being captured and my arrival something had changed their minds or made them ally with these villagers. I sat cross legged and waited. I brought up the spells Steph had given me and began mentally practicing the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak spell and others.

"Ghost." One of the Vanir called out. "The Elder would speak with you."

"Thank you," I replied watching her expression.

The elderly light elf led me away from the ship to a large overgrown protrusion. It must be part of the ship. The elf moved slowly and for him to be showing his age he must be ancient indeed. When he stumbled, I caught him and helped him to a large rock. He adjusted his seat and faced a dark oily pool.

"I heard tales of your people." He said his voice raspy with what sounded like fluid in his lungs. "You weren't the only ones." He continued.

"Only ones?" I asked. "I've been traveling for a while now."

"I speak of the war again Asgard of course. The Vanir made war against them until the exchange of prisoners sealed the breach."

"Freya." I blurted out remember a scrap of memory about Norse Mythology.

"Aye. She was one of those exchanged." He exclaimed happily. "Our folks weren't always at odds and we stood aside during your conflict with Bor and his people. I have spoken with the others. It is only fitting that you have come for the Tamer. We can survive on one power plant. Take it with our blessings."

"What aren't you telling me?" I asked.

"You'll see soon enough. Thank you for returning the Light Singer back to us for judgement." He said grimly.

"I sense a story. Aw, come on, I can see you are bursting to share it with me." I said and he began laughing.

"Fine! I see why the ladies find you so charming." He said. "It goes back to before the Zone came into being..."

Fade In:

The ship soared between worlds faster than thought. The Storm Arrow drive propelled it by the power of the three suns. The captain's hands played over the holographic display. The navigator sang as she traced the emergency signal from the other Vanir craft. The copilot eyed the destination and their current location and called out course corrections.

"Three degrees sunward," he stated calmly. "Not long now, we are practically on top of it."

"Prepare to cut off the drive," the captain ordered. "Now!"

The Vanir ship appeared out of nowhere with a flash of scintillating energy. Its sister ship drifted powerless in near planetary orbit about an uncharted ring world with dozens of satellites. The sleek starship pulled up alongside the disabled craft and latched onto it using hard light grapples. Once they were settled a burst of propulsion sent both ships into a steady orbit.

"There is something attached to the side of the Sky Dancer," the copilot called out. "I am reading minor power fluctuations. Could be a life form."

"Scan and identify," the captain ordered.

"Weapons fire!" The copilot called out alarmed.

"Security golems to the airlock! Security officers support the golems! Full scan of the Dancer!" He ordered by the numbers.

"It is gone. The blister shaped craft is gone." The copilot said in alarm. "It might be cloaked."

"Full spectrum scan, find it copilot!" The captain growled as he rushed to the weapons locker and armed himself. "Singer... take this..." he snapped as he tossed her a dark energy pistol. "That belonged to my mother. Keep it well."

The security golems were a perfect product of technomagic. They had supported the Vanir war effort and colonization of many worlds across the realm of Midgard. Who could possibly challenge their divine might? They struck from two directions. The airlock opened and at the same moment the ship's hull was breached from outside. The blister shaped pod had moved from the Dancer and latched onto their ship. Powerful energy beams sliced through the hull of the Vanir ship with ease. The killing began instantly. Two of the six golems were cut down before the airlock door had slid all the way into the hull's interior.

"Attack!" The senior security officer ordered too late.

The enemy sliced through the last four golems seconds later. Fast. They moved so damn fast. He was attempting to take aim as the shimmering outline when the gleam of jagged metallic orders struck true and pierced the Vanir's chest cleaving his heart in twain. He dropped dead to the floor not hearing the screams of the remainder of the security team as they were massacred.

The Singer sealed the bridge as she and the copilot watched the diminishing life signs as the security and technical teams were massacred. Panic took over and she powered up the engines. As the copilot argued she shut off the hard light grabbles sending two of the invaders screaming into space. The vacuum of the void embraced them as she closed the airlock, reversed course and performed an emergency jump.

"Damn it Singer! You've cracked one of the suns!" The copilot roared. "If the containment is breeched, we'll go up like a supernova! Altering course, we need to find somewhere uninhabited and away from civilized space!"

"Life signs of the crew are dropping," she wailed. "Course correction confirmed. We should reach the desert in twenty minutes." She continued. "I'm sorry. I don't want to die."

"No one wants to die," the copilot agreed. "We have a duty to the sleepers."

The energy pulse struck seventeen minutes into their flight. The ship shuddered as the cascade failure began. Singer did the only thing she thought might save them. She tapped into the power of the Tamer to compensate for the damaged sun. It only made things worse.

"Antimatter spill! Explosion imminent!" The copilot howled in horror. "Ejecting damaged sun!"

"Emergency reentry! Oh no... a dark matter nebula!" Singer cursed as the explosion struck. Her last coherent thought was activating emergency protocols.

Fade to Black:

"So, you see the Yautja attacked and one of the suns was damaged. The power of the Tamer, a cracked sun, and an entire dark matter nebula launched us here. Wherever here is." He finished.

"Why didn't the Predators kill you?" I asked as one of them decloaked next to us.

"We came to an understanding." The light elf explained. "Mutually assured survival. We agreed to share our technologies and we are still here."

"Interesting. Yautja technology blended with Vanir technomagic, why didn't you ever return?" I asked. "Surely between the two you could build a ship capable of leaving the Negative Zone."

"We like it here." The Predator spoke in broken English. "They keep us company."

"Keep your secrets." I chuckled. "I need the Tamer to save a planet. For what it is worth, it isn't for me."

"Take... and go." The Yautja directed. "Follow me."

The old elf stumbled to his feet. I caught him before he fell. The sly fellow slipped something into my palm and winked. I slipped it into a pocket and followed the hunter into the ship. I didn't see the girls as I was led into the main gallery. It was home to thousands of skulls of various creatures from the Negative Zone. Hunting was good within the Zone. That is why the Predator didn't want to leave. There was honor aplenty to be accumulated here.

"I understand now." I said and the Yautja nodded before pointing to the left hallway.

"Red. Follow red." He said and turned back.

A rainbow pattern of lines ran along the wall of the hallway. I went forward and one by one other avenues opened, and each was marked with a different color. I followed red. Despite god only knows how long the passage was clean and free of both debris and dirt. The temperature grew a bit as I headed to what I suspected would the ship's engineering department. I found the mummified corpse of the Predator around the next turn. The heat was getting worse. I knelt and examined body. Its armor was intact, but the corpse was not just dried out but burnt as well. All that was left was a crispy remnant. When I touched the blackened flesh, it snapped off and crumbled in my hand. Something else was at work here. I brought up a force field and the heat slowly dissipated.

"Radiation of some kind," I muttered to myself. "Let's see this Tamer."

I strode into main engineering and orbiting each other above my head were two suns one a blazing white dwarf and the other a dark energy sphere.

"Praise Anackire, I found the Tamer. Ha! I get it now. A black sun that keeps two others in balance."

I looked at the six control panels surrounding the base of the magnetic field keeping the suns under control. I spied the warning lights easily enough. The rune covered controls threw me for a loop for the moment.

"Surfer. Can you make heads or tails of this?" I asked.

"The magnetic bubble is insufficient to maintain the radiation leaking out of the containment grid. If you want to retrieve the Tamer you are going to have to adjust the controls and create a singularity balance." She said before explaining how to read all six controls. "Good luck."

A puzzle to solve, great! If I fucked up one moon shattering boom. Now that I understood how the controls worked, I examined them and found that I had to repair three of the feeds leading away from the controls. Power was being siphoned away and I needed to see what it was. Green was the closest and followed the verdant stripe away from engineering to another of the ship's largest chambers. It housed hundreds of stasis pods and a full third of them were still active.

"The Sleepers," I gasped. "I have to keep your power going somehow. I'll be back. Now for blue."

I traipsed down the blue hall and found the ship's foundry. It was a fusion powered furnace and manufacturing plant. It was a giant 3D printer, but it used as an energy to matter converter. I couldn't miss the alien tech attached to the business end of the 'printer'.

"Surfer?"

"Yautja?" Surfer guessed.

"That explains the Vanir wearing Predator armor. They used this to make it." I said aloud sensing I was being watched. "Worth a peek maybe."

"You have a Tamer to claim." Surfer reminded me.

"Pity. It would have been awesome to learn how to make a nearly weightless razor-sharp dagger." I pouted as I traced the orange line out of the foundry.

The green house was glorious. I wondered if they still harvested or had they transplanted some of these plants outside. I returned to engineering. I looked at the set up and pondered how I could maintain the three power hungry rooms and still retrieve the Tamer. I checked the outer walls and their panels.

"Surfer, what is that?" I asked pointing to a dimly lit display.

"Solar battery farm. It is like the upper portion of the ship and the cryogenic chamber you jump started." She explained.

"I could do the same, but I need a line of sight to perform weather manipulation." I grumbled.

"Displaying holographic security. This one points at the sky." Surfer chuckled. "Will that help boss?"

I checked the other outer controls and found two active displays. It was clear that I needed to raise the collection panels and zap them with lightning to charge them and then take them off the grid. I moved from one holographic display to another. I conjured the storm and began with the life pods first. I felt they were the most critical. The first blast lit up the panel a third of the way. The second sent it to the eighty percent mark. If I hit it again, I'd overdo it. I went to the next and it reacted just as the first. After a mere two blasts it was near the top. In the end I had three mostly full meters. I wondered if it were enough to allow me to remove the Tamer.

"Nope." I growled as I went to the main controls. "Well fuck. How do I fill the rest without destroying the entire thing?" I sat and stared at the three glowing displays trying to puzzle it out. "Fuck!" I cursed lay flat on the deck. "Surfer... energy readouts."

"All three panels are at 80% and holding." She informed me.

"Are there any other displays available?" I asked expecting a firm resounding no.

"Yes. Shall is activated it?" She laughed. "Displaying fourth exterior camera."

It appeared above me and perfectly centered from the other three screens. What the hell was the point? I was looking up at the boiling storm cloud. Was I supposed to start over and blast the collectors from the middle? No, that made no sense.

"I'm am fucked." I ranted now. "A single blast will wreck any of them."

Three is sacred to the Yautja. They hunt in packs of three. Their targeting reticle is triangular. So, it just makes sense that there would be three areas that are powered. Why is three sacred? Does it represent body, mind, and soul? The cryogenic room could represent body quite literally. The foundry might be the soul. The samurai saw their katana as quite literally the embodiment of their soul. Food... and mind? Food as the body. The bodies as living minds. Eh. I suppose it could work. Yautja are meat eaters. Vanir are vegetarians. This is a blend of two techs. Overthinking here, three are one.

"Holy shit! The Three are One and the One are Three!" I intoned. "That has to be it. I hope this is a save point. Otherwise..."

I reached out and strengthened the storm. I looked up into the center screen. I had Surfer bring the other three screens closer so I could see all four of them at once. Let's do some magic. I imagined a single bolt of lightning coming down and then splitting into three forks so it could strike the three collectors. I played out the action several times until it felt right. I snapped my fingers and the bolt fell downwards and then at the last moment it split and divided into three separate blasts. The panels lit up green and at exactly one hundred percent.

"Booyah!" I hollered.

I was on my feet and racing around the three panels. I triggered the three switches releasing the Tamer and centered the undamaged white dwarf into its new integrated location. I caught the black sun in my hands and my HUD chimed like crazy. I was a third of my way to saving the Shi'Ar home world. I checked on the rooms I had originally visited. The life signs were all in the green. The farm looked healthy, with a steady water source, and overhead grow lights. Those were the most important and appeared in good order. I checked the forge last. I walked in and found an elegant dagger hovering above the Yautja 'anvil'. It looked like a scaled down version of Death Kiss. The alloy dagger even had the same alien runes running from the tip of the blade to the butt end of the pommel.

'Rune Knife Acquired.' Unenchanted.

I needed to figure out which Force ability or spell to attach to it. The forge came to life startling me and as I watched it crafted a dragon scale design sheath. A shaft of light appeared above the surface and a glittering effect as the alloy was created, placed, and woven together. It still left the nature of Predator steel a mystery.

"That's okay," I chuckled as the sheath continued to form. "In a little while I will hopefully figure out dark star alloy."

"Master Ghost," one of the female Vanir approached. "I was chosen to thank you for everything you and your people have given us."

"Can I ask a favor?" I replied seeing how uncomfortable she was.

"If it is within my power to help I will." She said looking more hopeful.

"I'd like to see the ship's engines." I stated and she raced over, took my hand, and tugged gently. "Excellent! What can you tell me about the vessel?"

"It has been in the Zone for over 200 cycles." She began at the beginning. "The original purpose was as a colony ship for the Vanir and their light elf slaves." I did a poor job of hiding my surprise when she dropped the word slave so casually. "Did your own people not own slaves?"

"I am an orphan. I wasn't raised by a Svartalfar." I explained and she nodded. "Are the sleepers elves?"

"They are." She explained. "They were invaluable in fashioning the pact." It all made sense now. The Vanir offered up the light elves as fodder for the Predators. They kept breeding stock on ice, and I guessed there were worlds that offered up more interesting prey so they light elves remained in stasis.

"The Hall of Honor is quite impressive!" I offered to see how she would react.

"It is glorious, isn't it!" She practically beamed. "While mine aren't as impressive as the Yautja they are a point of personal pride. I have seven seasons under my belt." She stated quite proudly. So, she wasn't a first-generation Vanir. She had mentioned 200 cycles, how long was a cycle?

"You mentioned my people helping. How did we accomplish that?" I asked trying to imagine this tall slim beauty donning Yautja armor and hunting sentients for sport.

"We are heading there. Our ability to travel is solely because of the gift of the first faster than light engine your people gave us. Without it the War against Asgard would never have been possible." She said her bitterness clearly on display. "It is a pity your folk are practically extinct."

"Oh, we are here." I said fearing for Angela's safety. "What is that?" I pointed at the long cylindrical shaft that pulsed with a prismatic radiance.

"That is the Storm Arrow," She said with pride. "Your folk taught us how to craft them."

"It reminds me of... but that's not possible." I replied and she laughed. "It is isn't it."

"YES," she roared. "The same power that grants the Asgardians their ability to travel is ours!"

"Bifrost." I said in awe as she slipped into maniacal villain mode. I did my best to ignore her, but it was becoming extremely difficult.

"When the time is right, we'll return and continue what my fool ancestors surrendered to. We will burn Asgard to the ground and rebuild it in the honor of your folk and mine!"

"One of your people rules by Odin's side." I reminded her and the venom in her voice surprised me.

"Traitorous bitch!" She screamed and I saw the unbridled effect of the Negative Zone over a peace-loving race. I am going to have kill every one of these crazy assholes.

"Is that how all of you feel?" I asked dreading the answer.

"Not all. The Yautja have no quarrel with Asgard and we respect their desire to stay out of our conflict. The Vanir are of a single mind in this." She said proudly. Her eyes rolled up in her head when the sleep spell hit her squarely between the eyes.

Thud!

"Sweet dreams you psychotic bitch." I said as I closed the hatch to the engine room.

I sat, crossed my legs, and reached out to touch the minds of the Vanir. I needed to know before I went on the war path if the rest were indeed bat shit crazy or not. I slipped into their thoughts with ease. They had never been taught anything that passed for mystic arts. All were warrior born and happy about it. As I reached the two outside guards, I detected their anticipation at sacrificing the Singer as a sign of their commitment to a bloody war. Fuck! It was easy to find Susan's mind. She was drugged as was Jenny and Angela. MJ however was playing possum. The symbiote made her immune to such things.