Galactic High

“Look at this! It’s a shrine! Even I know that’s Nekdon’s symbol!” Sephy excitedly spoke up as she wiped the gunk off the markings and effigies along the back wall where the main body of the creature was.

“Well that’s Chiyo’s dark presence alright!” Nika joined them at a limp, having finally popped her arm back into place, and waiting for Alora to finish up helping herself and Chiyo before she’d let the Eladrie see to her leg. “Holeee shit. This must have been a Spawn of Nekdon! They drew on his divine power and should have been rendered extinct when the god died.”

You are right. Chiyo steadily floated towards them. The spawn would slowly starve to death when cut off from Nekdon’s power; however, they can hibernate to conserve it for as long as they need until called back to action.

“Didn’t look like it was hibernating, Chiyo,” Alora warned.

“Yeah!” Sephy agreed. “It was totally waiting for us! If it hadn’t been for Jack it would have killed us!”

“No way I could have survived that on my own,” Jack immediately answered. “It was very much a team effort. Besides, it was your kill, Sephy!”

“Hah, all I did was fix the matrix connections and turn the power on!” The Skritta waved a hand to dismiss the praise.

None of us could have done what you did! Chiyo smiled. Well done Sephy!

“As much as I wanna praise everyone and get out of here,” Nika spoke up. “We need to catch our breath, heal up, then find somewhere that doesn’t smell like shit to camp for the night.”

“Agreed.” Alora sighed. “The ‘turning’ really drained me, but we would have been swarmed if I hadn’t done it. I’ll fix your leg while the rest can have a look around.”

“You know, I hate to say it,” Sephy started. “But I don’t think they’d be anything worth looting here. That’s why I hate monsters! They have no concept of material wealth!”

“Didn’t Sister Jieta say that the Church of Siros offers a bounty for Nekdon related artefacts and information?” Jack asked Alora, the only person who shared the Religious Studies class in question with him.

“Yep!” Alora confirmed. “Take photos and a sample of the spawn. Get as much information as we can find too. As much as I’d like to destroy the shrine, it's best if we leave it intact for them to study and pay us - unless you think it’s still a threat, Chiyo?”

It isn’t. Though the original ritual binding the creature was extraordinarily powerful, anything left is residual and will likely vanish over time as there is nothing to influence.

“Good.” Alora nodded as she worked on Nika’s leg. “We should probably let High Priestess Cornelia know about it as well. No way is she gonna trust Siros’ clergy with this, and she’s gonna be so pissed that a Spawn of Nekdon was down here less than a day away from them. The Temple of Hope will probably want to start an official investigation and find out how it came to be here.”

“Then let’s hurry up and do what we need to do, it smells like fried ass in here!” Sephy sighed, clearly exhausted. “It’s been a long day and we really need to rest!”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed before the others could disagree. He was glad Sephy had been the one to suggest it as the only one of his friends not to be seriously hurt during the fight. Nika was still moving awkwardly, Alora clearly needed to sleep off her arcane feedback and Chiyo had been hit quite badly by the Spawn.

After scouring the maintenance room for anything else, with Sephy scanning an old station map on the wall, the group set out exploring the rest of the station for a safe place to rest for the night, but the smell of the various deceased spider-creatures that died with the spawn put them off.

"Well that's the staff break room out.” Sephy sighed, looking around. "Do you think the vending machines will still have snacks in them?"

"Centuries old, maybe," Nika grinned. "We're not exactly needing to ration right now, but if you want to chow down on ancient candy be my guest!"

"Good point," Sephy replied embarrassingly.

"There might be some spare change in them though," Jack replied with a thought.

"There's no guarantee the currency would be valid today," Alora warned, even as Sephy was quickly jimmying the machine open. "But the fact remains we need to find a good place to rest, and I'd rather not be kept up by the horrible smell!"

I might have something! Chiyo finally interjected, looking at what looked like a staff announcement board. Sephy's going to love this if it pans out!

Jack walked over to where the Ilithii was looking and raised his eyebrows at the announcement.

TRAIN DOCKED FOR MAINTENANCE, REQUIRES BATTERY RECHARGE.

"Worth a look," Nika argued. "Structurally this place is sound compared to where we came in, and the dock for out-of-service trains would probably be on the outskirts of the station."

"Out of sight of the customers," Alora agreed. "Sephy?"

"You're right," Sephy confirmed, looking at the map. "Near where we came in, I remember it. Door was closed though, and I doubt I can slice my way in"

"That's unfortunate." Alora sighed.

"Buuuut!" Sephy grinned. "There's always a manual override with these things! We can probably find a way in - staff door, bent hatch, whatever!"

"Probably worth a look," Jack agreed. "Besides, I dropped my rifle around there during the fight, I kinda want it back."

It didn't take too long to find Jack's plasma rifle, now that everyone was looking and there wasn't anything trying to kill them.

"Looks like this thing took a hit," Nika called out, picking the rifle up off the ground and examining it. "A few parts jumbled around. Should be able to fix it, though it might need a little work."

"Thanks, Nika." Jack sighed in relief as they followed Sephy to where train maintenance was.

"So the bad news," Sephy started as they all met up with her. "I can't see a way we can get the gate open, and there isn't a staff entrance that I can find."

"But?" Jack prompted, knowing Sephy well enough now to know where this was going.

"See that vent up there?" She grinned.

Jack could. It was quite high, probably higher than he could jump. What was she thinking?

"You want Chiyo to lift me up there as I'm the shortest, right?" Nika rolled her eyes with a groan and Chiyo looked a little worried.

"No way, you two are hurt," Sephy replied quickly, perfectly serious. "I think I can get up there if Jack launches me and I use my wings to stabilise."

"If it's a manual crank, would you be alright shifting it on your own?" Jack asked. "If it's been like this for hundreds or thousands of years it's probably rusted."

Sephy gave Jack a playful look of outrage at his questioning her strength before grinning. "They build them to last here, since it doubles as a shelter during wartime. It should be alright, but I'll use a rope to get back up to the vent just in case."

“Alright,” Jack conceded. “So you want me to launch you in the air as high as I can?”

“Just don’t put me through the ceiling.” Sephy grinned, licking her lips as she began climbing up onto Jack, stepping onto his palms and taking some liberties with her handholds on his hair. Jack, for his part, tried to keep it together as his face ended up very close to the buttons of the Skritta’s shorts…

“Ready?” Jack asked.

“Sure we can’t stay in this pose for a little longer?” Sephy joked.

“Maybe later.” Jack awkwardly laughed. “3…2…1…GO!”

Straightening both their legs as Jack launched her high, Sephy was flung high into the air, letting out a ‘WHOOOOOO’ as she started to drop down and extend her wings to glide over to the vent, grabbing onto the lid and beginning to pull herself in before stopping.

“What’s up?” Jack asked, worried.

“Oh no!” Sephy yelled out. “I’m stuck! Help me out, stepbrother!” she joked, wiggling her ass at them.

“By the gods Sephy…” Alora facepalmed, though Jack could see her hiding her smile as Nika cackled, and even Chiyo gave a little giggle.

Get in there you utter degenerate! Chiyo retorted, giving Sephy a ‘prod’ of encouragement, the Skritta giving a little ‘eep’ as she quickly scrambled the rest of the way in. I can’t believe you actually said that with Jack around!

It took a few minutes, with Jack starting to get worried before finally they saw the gate slowly start to open as Sephy put all of her strength into turning a crank by the door, before Jack slipped in the gap and helped open the gate all the way.

“Well the good news is that the train seems to be functional, the Spawn hasn’t fucked with the area and it doesn’t smell like ass,” Sephy began.

“And the bad?” Alora asked.

“Out of juice. It’s been charging since we got the power back on, but it’ll be a few hours at least before we’re moving.”

“That’s absolutely fine, guess we’ll be resting here. I’ll need to meditate for a bit before I can continue healing.” Alora sighed in relief as she climbed aboard the train to sit down.

*****

The group had mostly spent their time resting since gaining access to the train, with Sephy occasionally keeping an eye on the charging engine as the rest of the group unpacked their stuff in the spacious back of the carriage with comfortable first-class accommodations. The seats were comfortable and even big enough to lie down on but quite dusty. The space in the centre was vast enough to allow for Alora to conjure a heat source that she used to warm them all up while they had Sephy’s drone on overwatch outside, along with a few well-placed proximity devices.

They had finished eating some of the MREs they had taken with them, which Jack found delicious. Nika had gotten them all the same meaty stew with gravy and a loaf of bread made of many different grounded seeds that reminded Jack of a lumpy mash potato, which came with several packets of gooey spreads of varying different colours. For dessert there were flat cookies of an unusually soggy consistency, backed by many hard-boiled sweets and several artificially sweetened drink powders that Chiyo seemed to be very fond of. Now the group was just sitting down, relaxing and planning their next move, while Alora did some more healing.

“I think Sephy raised a good point earlier,” Nika spoke up, wincing as Alora’s magic coursed through her leg. “That thing was fully active when we got here.”

Hibernating creatures do need to wake up once in a while. Chiyo rationalised. But the tracks we found and the fact that Sephy thinks someone tampered with the system to lock us in leaves no doubt in my mind that someone woke it up.

“The third bounty hunter that declared was a Nekdon priest or initiate,” Jack rationalised after Sephy translated Chiyo’s theory to him. “It’s got to be him, right?”

“Hmm,” Alora thought out loud. “It could be, but I’m not completely convinced.”

“How so?” Jack asked.

“You’ve seen the bounty hunters so far, right?” Alora asked, in deep thought. “They’ve been complete pushovers and we’ve had nothing to suggest that Dubakuu would be any different.”

“Yeah?” Jack prompted, realising the point Alora was trying to make.

“So why is what we’re facing so…competent?” Alora asked, looking to the others.

“That’s a good point,'' Sephy admitted, bringing up her commlink. “I ran a data-scrape program when we were in Gladespring on Dubakuu. He lives on the streets as a beggar foretelling doom and destruction in hour-long rants that get mocked on NetTube and MyFace, and as of about six months ago claims to receive visions from Nekdon that compel him to do random things, most of them bad.”

“Like publicly announcing his intention to chase the bounty on me,” Jack concluded jokingly. “Yeah, he sounds kinda nuts. Are you guys sure Nekdon’s dead? Maybe he’s just been on holiday and has only just come back to give orders to some nut job to come after me?”

“Many other gods have confirmed his death or disappearance,” Alora argued. “And Nekdon’s clergy have nearly all been decimated since then. As gods require worship to exist and bestow powers, there’s just no way. Besides, what have you even done to deserve the wrath of a god?”

“As you say.” Jack reluctantly nodded. “But he clearly left something behind.”

A former Nekdon priest could have awoken the Spawn with the proper rites! Chiyo reasoned. And their penchant for necromancy could bind Risen to their will. But I agree with Alora. Dubakuu couldn’t have been the one to lock us in or know we would even come this way.

“Yeah, there was that stuff Crill called us about earlier before Zhal Han attacked us,” Nika agreed. “Someone told a bunch of people where we were heading despite us being careful and even sent them photos! There’s definitely a code slicer at work here, maybe the same one that locked us in!”

It would not surprise me if they had diviners magically aiding them somehow. Chiyo added. Since they were impossibly quick!

“Might be the Mal’Kar’s helping them,” Alora wondered. “But I definitely think we’re missing something here.”

“Well as far as the other slicer is concerned,” Sephy added, looking a little smug. “The power surge here will have scrambled the system and forced a factory reset, which will likely take a few weeks to complete. While that means I’m not going to be able to access key systems on the network, it means the other slicer can’t either, and whatever trick they pulled to trap us in is gone. We could technically head back and jimmy the door open now that it’s not maglocked…”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Alora said, eyebrows raised.

“But we’ve come this far!” Sephy grinned. “And we’re so close! We could finally learn why Jack came to be here!”

“We’ve risked far too much already,” Jack warned. “There’s no shame in heading back after all the shit we’ve been through. I can't ask you to carry on…”

“It’s a group decision.” Nika grinned as she chewed on some jerky. “And I think Sephy’s right. Might as well go all the way now that we’re here!”

I am very curious about Jack’s situation as well, and I have been looking forward to meeting this Oracle for quite some time. Chiyo added. And I want to find whoever trapped us here, wipe the floor with them and get some answers!

Alora slowly nodded in agreement at Chiyo’s last point. “If we don’t deal with our enemies now they may come back to bite us later. Their trap failed, so now we need to press our advantage!”

“So it sounds like we’re pushing forward.” Nika nodded in determination. “We know we’ve got hostiles ahead so get as much rest as you can. Once the engine’s fully charged we start driving, and if Chiyo’s calculations are correct we should make it to where we need to be by early morning. We should have plenty of time to see the oracle and get back home before tomorrow night.”

"We don't know what lies ahead," Alora cautioned, "so we'll need to sleep or meditate in shifts and set a guard up, especially while we're moving."

"I'll do it," Jack immediately volunteered, aware that despite the healing from Alora, some of them needed to sleep off the pain. "I can probably get away with pulling an all-nighter to be honest, especially with some caffeine if we have that with us?"

"Caffeine? You use that?" Nika exclaimed, seemingly impressed. "We do have things that'll keep you up for a bit, but I think it'll be better if you guard while we're on the move since we have better detection here."

"I'll keep watch until the train's ready to move," Alora decided. "That and our counter measures should be enough. Try and get as much rest as you can before we need to go, and once we're charged I'll wake everyone up so we can get moving as soon as we can!"

"Understood," Nika reluctantly replied, clearly wanting to take first watch herself. "But once we start moving, you sleep all the way to the end, or at least until we need you. That fight took a lot out of you and we need your magic recovered."

"Yeah," Sephy agreed. "I'm gonna be the one to drive this pile of junk, and I kinda need to be awake for that, unless Chiyo wants a go?"

Only if you need a break. Chiyo smiled at her friend. I can stay on overwatch with Jack and Nika as well, though I would like to spend some time centering myself and refreshing my psionics. I fear I may have a concussion I need to fix.

"Sounds good," Alora agreed. "I'll wake you when it's time.

Jack went into the carriage with the others, brushing his teeth and unfurling the micro thin sleeping bag Nika had gotten for him. The days and nights on Hive Station Bastilla were vastly different from those on Earth, so he still felt wide awake while Nika and Sephy looked rather tired and ready to go to sleep, wrapping themselves up in comfortable-looking blankets.

Jack wrapped himself up as well, and was just about to try closing his eyes and fruitlessly counting sheep before he felt a gentle tugging on his arm.

“What’s up, Chiyo?” He asked the Ilithii now sitting down next to him.

I would like to merge with you now, please. She politely asked, looking at Jack pointedly with her wide eyes.

"Now? Like we did a few days ago before school?"

Yes please. It seems you cannot sleep either and this will help both of us.

"Sure," Jack nervously replied. "As long as we can react to danger in time I don't see why not, but you're gonna have to walk me through it again.”

Relax yourself as much as you can and open your mind. Chiyo explained. Jack immediately obeyed, and felt Chiyo slide up beside him. He reflexively put an arm around her as he felt a strange sensation gently probe his mind.

The sensation of a perception shift was less surprising than before, as the dark haziness of his closed eyes gave way to detail. A sofa appeared behind him the moment he thought to sit down, and from there a living room materialised, some parts from the one back at the house, and other parts from Jack’s home on Earth.

I want to properly talk to you. Chiyo suddenly materialised right next to him on the sofa, looking a little frantic.

“Are you ok?” Jack looked at her, worried.

No! Chiyo was visibly exasperated. That room with the Spawn isn’t something I can just purge from my mind. You have no idea what horrors I saw in its aura! And…and then I saw it try to swallow you whole and I thought it killed you!

Jack nodded, remembering Chiyo’s cry, which echoed in their shared mindscape.

“Yeah,” Jack nodded. “Its teeth shredded my hands a bit. I knew it would be easy enough for Alora to stop the bleeding, but I also knew that if I didn’t fight with everything I had it was going to get the rest of you next. I didn’t know how long Sephy would be, and everyone else was out of the fight. I couldn’t let that happen.”

That doesn’t usually happen with our group. Chiyo cautioned. A Spawn of Nekdon is one of his most powerful servants. We have never, ever faced something like that before.

“Well it’s ok now.” Jack comforted the Ilithii with a reassuring hug. “We won.”

They stayed like that for a little while longer in silence before Jack remembered something.

“So when were you planning on telling me you had a lightsaber?” Jack joked.

Chiyo giggled. The others mentioned it to me but I honestly had no idea what you meant! It’s an Ilithii Psyblade my parents gifted me for my Ilithkahl, my birthday when I became a teenager. It’s quite useful as a last resort, but I’m afraid they only attune to advanced psionic users. I’m curious what a ‘lightsaber’ is though. It was from a movie, right?

Immediately before Jack tried to explain it, a scene from his childhood popped up in the ether across from them. A flash of neon red and purple as two opponents duelled one another.

You know… Chiyo began with a cheeky smile. You probably have the entire movie recalled in your subconscious. We could watch and put the bad stuff behind us?

“Sure,” replied Jack with a grin. “And it’s more than one movie!”

They spent the rest of their merge watching the Star Wars films as Jack remembered them, having more than enough of the slowed-down mindscape time they needed to see most of them. He was a little fuzzy with his memories of the original trilogy, but Chiyo was smart enough to follow along. The prequels he recalled fondly with more clarity, and the lightsaber fights were truly epic, but fortunately Chiyo decided enough was enough when the shitty sequel trilogy came around. She wanted to make sure both of them were refreshed and knew they didn’t have much time left, and so with the promise of more films another time and an in-depth talk about Star Wars when they next had the time, Jack opened his eyes.

Jack woke up feeling a lot more refreshed than before. Worrying slightly he got up ready for trouble, but to his relief found Alora still patiently keeping watch.

"I was just about to start waking you all." She yawned as he quietly moved over to her.

“Morning,” Jack spoke in reply. “Or is it still evening?”

“Still late evening, it’s only been a few hours. Like I said, we’re making good time so don’t worry! We’ll probably be at the Oracle before the daycycle hits, so we may have to wait around until they’re awake.” Alora paused for a moment as she looked at him. “How are you holding up after…you know.”

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Jack joked, before quickly getting serious. “You constantly told me back at the temple that things would feel a little crazy for me but that feels like the understatement of the century. That…thing. It almost killed all of us. All because of me.”

“No,” Alora replied sternly. “Don’t do that thing you do where you take on the full burden of responsibility! All of us chose to be here, and none of us could have possibly predicted that something that powerful could be this close to a populated area!”

“I understand where you’re coming from,” Jack started, “but I could never forgive myself if anything happened to you or the others. Is it really this bad all the time?”

“Plenty of things have happened already.” Alora smiled in understanding. “Sure a few of us got knocked down from time to time, but we got up again. Even before you came here we took risks and collected rewards, that’s a life we all chose. We know the cost, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides…” She gave a small chuckle. “It’s the best way to pay the bills while we have to go to school.”

“Alright.” Jack nodded, not necessarily agreeing, but acknowledging that there wasn’t any stopping them. He’d remembered how he was the one to take charge when shit hit the fan. He decided to change the topic. “So what’s the plan for getting to the station we need to get to?”

“We’ll manoeuvre the train into position first and get the points on the track aligned. After that we’ll go at a steady speed where we won’t crash into anything and can react to anything ahead, but we can also get there in much better time. Still several hours, though. It's not perfect, but at least we're not trudging all the way to the oracle! Do you want a drink?”

Alora handed Jack a travel mug of warm liquid before she went to rouse the others. The beverage tasted strange, but had elements of hot chocolate and coffee in it that were familiar to him and helped him fully wake up. He’d definitely have to get the recipe from her - it was delicious!

“Alright.” Nika stretched and gratefully took her mug from Alora. “Thanks, Alora. Very nice. Once we’ve finished our drinks, Jack, Chiyo and I will walk ahead and dislodge anything that could block the train and set the points so we go down the tunnel we want. After that, we stay on overwatch while Sephy drives. Once we get going maybe we can take a few power naps if it’s quiet enough.”

Jack nodded with the others, as they then got to work.

It didn’t take long to move things aside, not that there was much to move. While it was clear that the spawn had done a little structural damage, most of what was blocking the tracks were just old bins and benches, which took them no time at all to fix, as the unusually quiet train slowly glided behind them. Changing the points was a little more difficult, but eventually Chiyo was able to find the manual override for the non-functional electrical system, a dark lever further away that Jack quickly pulled to lock them onto the right track.

“Alright ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking! We’re ready to go!” Sephy grinned. “Guards, if you would kindly take up positions and keep your arms and legs inside the ride we will now be departing!”

“Wait a moment,” Jack whispered cautiously. “I think I heard something.”

“Where?” Alora asked, pointing her wand to where Jack was looking, down the tunnel, as Nika scrambled up on top of the train to get a better sight.

“Ready to get us out of here!” Sephy called out nervously.

“It’s further down that way,” Jack whispered. “Doesn’t sound like anything big, but sounds like something is running towards us.”

“Damn it!” Alora cursed. “Chiyo, what can you…..”

She stopped, and everyone who could turned to look at the Ilithii. Chiyo had crossed her arms, and wasn’t doing anything except raise her eyebrows as high as they would go, and looking decidedly unamused.

The reason announced itself five seconds later.

“Woof!”

The ‘dog’ they had met twice previously was panting heavily, clearly tired from having run from wherever it came from. Its twin tails were wagging like crazy on having found the group again, as it went and sat on the ground a few meters from them and stared up at them with excited eyes.

“No fucking way…” Nika did her best to try not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but ended up failing miserably, with Sephy and Jack eventually joining in.

“This is getting pretty ridiculous you know…” Alora playfully told the dog.

“Woof!”

“I’m glad you agree!” Alora continued playing along. “This is a bad place, you shouldn’t be here!”

The ‘dog’ let out a slight whine at that.

I gave a strong suggestion for that beast to not follow us. Chiyo grumbled. How did it even get down here if we were trapped?

“Possibly a vent or a small breach somewhere, though you could always read its mind?” Nika suggested with barely suppressed laughter.

I’d rather not. Animals normally recall nothing else but eating, drinking and defecating.

“Why are you following us, boy?” Jack asked the ‘dog’ as he moved forward to scratch it behind the ears. The ‘dog’ loved it, and rubbed its face in Jack’s chest. “What do we do?” He asked the others. “It isn’t safe for it here, though it might be able to get out the way it came.”

The ‘dog’ whined slightly at that suggestion, looking to Alora with bright, hopeful eyes.

“I would be more happy if this creature lived as it should, free among nature,” Alora cautiously started. “But it clearly wants to stay with us, and like you said, Jack, it isn’t safe for it here. So the safest possible place for it here is with us.”

“Woof!” The ‘dog’ barked excitedly, wagging its tails even harder.

“What do we think?” Alora asked the others. “I can completely understand if you don’t want to but should we-”

“Yep,” Nika immediately answered, along with both Jack and Sephy with their own confirmations.

“Alright.” Alora grinned. “Chiyo?”

But…it’s dirty and slobbery and it’s looking right at me now! Maybe….oh alright then. But it better behave itself!

“Woof!” The ‘dog’ excitedly barked again, which surprised Chiyo. Did it know what she just said? Surely not.

“Well!” Alora dramatically announced, looking at the ‘dog’.

“Welcome aboard!”