Bayleaf woke to the sound of screeching metal as her infirmary was lit aflame and exploding around her.
It was about what she expected when she heard the panic from Meras and the tall tale signs of an emergency warp.
All while we were inside the damn thing, what the hell are those suicidal lizards thinking?
Shaking her head didn’t seem to help straighten her thoughts as the after effects of the massive teleport scrambled her brains. Being mostly Terasi now must have come with more fluid dynamics then she was used to.
Bay took a moment to solidify her presence, shifting her body and focusing her form down to her familiar self.
It still came out as her younger teenage body, despite her insistence to maintain her adult physique.
Stupid alien bullshi-
The sliding door to her infirmary opened to reveal one of her fellow Harriers, the dedicated sniper and gun expert of their group Arrose.
Rose took a moment to check the room before she turned back to Bay, “Lieutenant, good to see you breathing.”
Bay smiled, “considering the state of the infirmary, it is. Is fire control on their way?”
Arrose, or Rose to her team, placed a hand to her visor as she relayed the situation. Bay finally pulled herself from the floor, dusting herself off as the call ended.
“They’re on the way, but we have bigger problems. Multiple Hoods are inbound according to the ship’s sensors, and the crew still have whiplash from the warp. Most of our crew are still active, but the rest are still fighting off the warp sickness.”
“Whats that give us in terms of preparation time?”
Rose checked her wrist, a small tablet in the shape of a scroll feeding her information as she checked the systems inside the ship.
“Maybe ten minutes before hostiles arrive.”
Bay cursed, “get the crew that are ready to fight suited up. The rest, send them to cargo, I’ll do my best to heal them before the enemy’s on us.”
“Yes ma’am!” Rose gave her a salute before rushing back into the hallway. A few seconds later crew members arrived and began to put out the fires inside the infirmary.
Bay took that moment to grab her staff and a few medical supplies before heading to the cargo hold.
She placed a finger to her head as she tried to reach the ship’s core, Meras, relaying her intent as the message hit all the scrying tablets in the ship.
Alright, now where's… oh shit!
She tried to use the same trick to reach Chimera through their connection, the mind palace she called it.
Except Chimera was so far away that the connection wasn’t picking up where she could be.
She checked the palace to see if it had an answer, as all of their collected knowledge was hosted there as well.
The connection works if they are nearby, but the reach is… five miles?
The ship wasn’t that long, so if she was still on the ship, she should have been able to sense Mera.
Which meant she wasn’t on the ship.
Where could she have gone?
“Meras, do you have anything on her position? Did she leave to fight the Hood on the dome?
Meras arrived in the palace, a girlish woman shaped with tree limbs and ivy snaking around her body in a mesh of thorns. Her face resembled Mera’s own, but green eyes peered instead of the red that Bay recognized.
A dryad core like the Meras could make herself look however she pleased, so it showed a bit that She adopted Mera’s look to an extent.
The ship’s core shook her head while she pulled up a recording from the ship’s bridge.
“What’s this about?”
The image stilled as the warp activated, showing a fast moving image smacking against the bridge’s glass shield, which then slipped past it into the vacuum.
Meras then showed an image of Chimera before the warp, sitting in her chair without the straps.
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When both images began playing, Bay finally realized why she couldn’t sense Chimera anymore.
“Holy Goddess… is she dead?”
Meras shook her head, gesturing to the walls around her in the mind palace.
It took a minute to realize what she was trying to say by gesturing to the room of the palace, only for her to smack herself in the head.
Right, the palace is centered around Mera. If she was dead then the whole place would be gone.
Which meant she was alive somehow.
Can she survive in a vacuum? Thoughts for later, the crew have to be healed and we need to brace for the Hood.
“Meras, thanks for the update, and get the guns ready. We’re about to have company.”
…
Bargo gripped his spear as Rose and the rest of the Harriers that weren’t spewing their guts rushed to the airlocks. Just under a hundred of them while the rest of the crew was preparing for bigger threats to arrive, and Bargo didn’t envy them one bit.
Even as their ship was tangled in the midst of the enemy’s Motherdome, he felt pretty incredible after watching his arm regenerate from the damage he sustained from the warp jump.
If he could survive something as crazy as that, it would take a lot more than some blaster fire to kill him, and that went for the rest of his fellow soldiers.
Raising his spear aloft, he turned to face the group as they turned their eyes to him.
“Harriers, the Hood will be here in minutes. We’ve got wounded behind us and a whole arsenal of magic as back-up. Let’s show them the mercy of those who harm the Empress’ people.”
“Ho!” The Harriers answered back as they rushed into a perimeter around the vessel, putting up their weapons and creating barricades from the wreckage and roots around them.
Rose and Tessa, the Harrier’s hacking expert, grouped up next to him as he took one of the many doors surrounding them.
“Anyone see this as a great opportunity, or is it just me?”
Tessa looked at him and Rose as she tapped the ground with her staff, her dryad core staff that by all accounts should have had her back behind bars in the Imperial Palace.
“Care to elaborate Tessa?” Rose spoke without staring back as she set up a rifle that was long as she was tall. Being part fairy made the cannon that she was wielding look closer to a gun battery than a magical rifle compared to her height of four feet.
Tessa rolled her eyes, “we are in the middle of a goldmine of data, all from the source of one of the Verdant Hood’s most guarded ships. If we can find their core, I’m betting we can commandeer the entire thing. Not to mention all that juicy data!
Her eyes were so lit up that Bargo swore he saw stars in them. He smirked as he checked the door in front of them.
“It would be suicide no? Who knows how many we got between us and that core you’re talking about. Not to mention we would be leaving our crew to fend off all of their security detail.”
Bargo shook his head, “it wouldn’t work.”
Tessa seemed deflated by his reason, but only for a moment as another joined them.
High General Lysandra, princess and sister to the Empress of Steros and the Elfari Empire’s most decorated soldier, stood beside them with her spear in hand. With a glare, she eyed Bargo with the iron gaze of a ruler.
It was the same he would often see on the Empress’ face. Turning that gaze towards Tessa, she wondered how the young girl didn’t flinch under that oppressive stare.
“What is this plan exactly, convict?”
Tessa stuck her tongue out at the princess as she relayed to her what she just said to Bargo and Rose. However, rather than deny her plan, the High General placed a hand on her chin as she seemed to ponder.
“Perhaps with this group it would be possible.”
“My General, the men and women here need-”
With a hand she silenced Bargo, “what we need is to stop the enemy from reinforcing, and this raid to their core would serve both as an end game, and a distraction. It is exactly what we need to help our people here.”
Bargo considered it for a moment before Tessa spoke, “that’s what I was saying.”
Seeing as they were convinced, Bargo spared a glance for Rose as the diminutive woman huffed, lifting the cannon with very little trouble.
“Just when I got all set up.”
The General turned her steely gaze to Rose as the specialist began making their way to the door, “is that insubordination Harrier?”
Rose turned around while she was still walking towards the door, “no High General, I love my job! Love blasting serpents and lugging cannons around.”
Bargo tried his best to stifle the laugh he felt rise, doing his best to disguise it as a cough.
The General caught it though, and he could feel the training he would no doubt be subjected to once this was all over.
If they survived that is.
For once in his long career, Bargo wondered if he should consider letting himself be shot.
At least then he would have an excuse to avoid the training, maybe even get a medal.
As he picked up his spear and joined his new team, High General included, Bargo readied himself for the gauntlet.
The door slid open to a row of Hood placing armor on themselves, all who froze like a deer with a hunter in their sights.
Bargo considered what they should do before watching them all place their hands in the air.
“No shoot! We give up!”
“Please no kill!”
“Why did it have to be next to our damn barracks?! Damn the goddess!”
“Mari, no blasphemy!”
“Screw you all, we’re gonna die and it's all that damn egg suckers fault! I’m getting this off of my chest before I go, fuck the Verdant Goddess and her crappy ass saints! This whole war is asinine!”
Bargo’s stoic face betrayed nothing as the ridiculousness of the situation in front of him registered.
When did my life become so unhinged?
An image of a young Elfari with red hair and eyes filtered in his head, giving him the answer he didn’t really want.
Captain, really wish you were here right now.
…