Prism and The Red Wolves

"I'll need twenty minutes to think about it." Deriges said punctiliously as he stared into the large tilted display screen above him, which both received and transmitted images and audio simultaneously.

"You have ten, and not a minute more. I'll be looking forward to your favorable reply." Vitenza said with an impish open-mouthed wink before terminating their connection.

The screens around the CCC grew black and the room again grew silent. A small quake could be felt for a moment, as if the ground was clearing its throat.

"Our jellymines didn't even detect their speedsub. Why am I not surprised? These Destructors have avoided all of our countermeasures so far. Hell, our gene-gates may as well be elaborate air conditioners to them." Deriges turned to his second-in-command and said loudly in a facetious tone. "Get me probable outcomes of both decisions, countermeasures to those outcomes, and all analytics regarding that ship. I need it all in the next five minutes, people!" Deriges yelled to the officers around the room.

His tactical officers got to work around the room's glowing tabletops devising strategies and writing up the reports that their commander asked for. Theda and Ursun's teams looked empathetically at Prism, who was numb to his surroundings. He felt a small bit of solace that Deriges hadn't simply agreed to Vitenza's demands, but he knew that the option was still on the table in the rational mind of Getla Base's cheery commander.

Ursun walked over to Deriges' side to make a case for keeping Prism out of the Queen's hands. Deriges first asked about the condition of the border guns, and if any were still salvageable.

“None of their barrels are intact, and there still might be nanites floating around in what’s left of their fire control systems.” Ursun explained.

“Hmm, then I guess it’s prudent to continue to suppress their healing functions. It’d be stupid to have some of them become functional just to be taken over by the enemy again.” Deriges said to himself before allowing Ursun to discuss Prism with him for a minute or so.

Leanna approached Remades to talk over technical ideas that could potentially help them survive an attack from the speedsub. They started by getting the technical specifications of the base’s construction, which Deriges allowed given the extreme circumstances they were all in.

The underground portion of the base, where most of its personnel were stationed, had several meters of protective material that could provide some degree of shielding against various forms of radiation and a number of directed energy and particle attacks. As the use of high-yield particle weapons was very rare, being reserved mainly to the defense of the Kingdom’s borders, Getla Base’s shielding was untested against such weapons.

Leanna and Remades’ knowledge of the Kingdom’s particle weapons came mainly from the scans and performance data that Conjunction forces had gathered from their attempted incursions into the three continents that made up the Kingdom. With its hyper-efficient infrastructure that connected every part of its territory, the Kingdom had created several dozen large particle cannons that provided an almost-absolute defense against invasion. The high-yield particle cannons sat on raised platforms that dotted the Kingdom’s borders, neutralizing any unapproved vessels that tried to enter their boundaries. It had, in fact, been the inspiration for Gnapp’s laserlith defense system.

“I find that this base’s shielding might in fact mitigate a fair amount of the high-energy particles that might be directed at us, perhaps even if those particles happen to be muons.” Remades said to Leanna and the analysts that they conferred with in their designated corner of the CCC.

The area consisted of several smaller bio-computer consoles on well-lit work desks that were segmented four ways for easier collaboration. There were five such desks in the analytics corner of the room, one of which was surrounded by four others. Leanna and Remades sat at the central desk, surrounded by four other analysts.

“The biggest issue will be the frequency of the speedsub’s particle beam. If it can sustain the beam for a significant amount of time, then our shielding will fail, and we’ll be cooked in here.” Leanna reasoned aloud before they all broke out into a fast, spirited discussion.

Theda called Testa and Risa over to her and gave them a set of secret orders that would act as a sort of contingency plan. Testa and Risa then left the room in a hurry, though few people seemed to notice.

While everyone else was strategizing, Jaik gripped Prism's shoulder and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze.

"You can leave this world whenever you want. Why stay and deal with all of this?" Jaik leaned over and asked Prism.

There was a tinge of anger in Jaik's voice. He looked around contemptuously at the room full of people who seemed eager to give Prism up.

"I made a promise to you and your people." Prism said quietly but adamantly. "Perhaps giving myself over to them would be my best and fastest way to get to the Queen directly." Prism pondered aloud with a far-away gaze.

"That's suicide. There's no way the Queen is going to let you live after you've shown how powerful you are. They'll sedate you and then kill you once you're on their ship." Jaik spoke with absolute certainty. "The only reason they want to bring you aboard their ship is so they don't damage your body with radiation. I'm sure the Queen will want you in as good a condition as possible for her research."

Jaik's words were enough to give Prism further pause. He wasn't sure if Jaik was right, but Prism also wasn't sure if he could fool the Destructors into thinking he was actually sedated long enough to get on their ship and strike back. The Destructors had proven to be quite ingenious in their planning, and it seemed to Prism that they would do all in their power to achieve their goals.

The room shook as another tremor began to make its way through the coastline. Jaik grabbed Prism and held him close until the quake subsided a few seconds later. Prism looked at Jaik's face and noticed how strong it suddenly looked. For the first time, Prism felt as if he could tell Jaik the other reason why he stayed on Æba; the reason that compelled Prism more than any other. As Jaik looked warmly down at Prism, Prism cleared his throat and began to speak.

"She needs to die for all the atrocities that she's committed, and for those that she will continue to commit. I've seen beings like her turn their worlds into industrial wastelands that serve only to spread their evil across the entirety of existence. If she were to unlock the secrets of my body, she'd have all she needed to do that and far worse."

Jaik watched how Prism's youthful face became hard and tormented while he spoke. A shiver ran down Jaik's spine when he saw that side of Prism; a side that belied the vast scope of Prism's life and the suffering that he'd endured over the span of it.

"I'm assuming you mean the Queen?" Jaik said in an attempt to bring some levity to the situation.

Prism glanced up at Jaik and scoffed at his lack of seriousness. The Elementeitan moved away from the young man, taking Jaik's hairy hands off of his shoulders before turning his back to him. Jaik apologized for the misstep, quickly understanding that Prism was not at all in the mood for silliness.

"I don't want you to think I'm incapable of taking things seriously. I was just tryi-"

"Just stop. There are more important things for us to worry about."

Jaik reeled from the Prism’s sudden coldness towards him. Jaik silently nodded down at Prism so that his words couldn't disappoint him again.

"Option 1." Deriges yelled while holding up a sheet of beige paper that his tacticians had handed him. "We give up Prism, hope that Vitenza is true to her word, and maybe live to fight another day. Likely Outcome: We hand over our alien friend to the one person on Æba who could use him to do the most harm to everyone. Vitenza irradiates the base anyway, and we all die.

Deriges smacked the paper down and then picked up another one from the table in front of him. Everyone looked at him, their eyes transfixed as though they were watching a stage performance.

"Option 2. We deny her request and call her bluff as to her ability to neutralize all of us. Likely Outcome: The base is irradiated and a few of our ships still on the coast sacrifice themselves to sink the speedsub.

Deriges dropped his eyes from the paper and looked around the room for a few seconds, further upping the drama. He leaned over and picked up another piece of paper, cleared his throat loudly, then read from it.

"Option 3. We trick her associate into believing that he has Prism. We then use that opportunity to sneak a team aboard the speedsub and neutralize it while preparing to mount an attack on the enemy ship in the event that the team fails. Likely Outcome: Potentially the same as Option 2, though success would mean the opportunity to salvage some significant tech if we can prevent it from self-destructing."

Deriges lowered the paper and looked directly at Prism, as if asking something of him. Prism's eyes narrowed at the middle-aged man, irritated by the unneeded theatrics. Deriges then lowered his eyes onto another paper that sat on the table before him.

"Our scans of the speedsub indicate a high likelihood that it can produce the power necessary to create a high-energy particle beam. Structures on its hull are indicative of particle beam capability, though those structures could also serve as a sort of directed-energy tunneling system, in theory. I will assume that it can do both. Therefore, I'm advocating for Option 3." Deriges said.

Prism was surprised to hear many sounds of relief being voiced throughout the room. It was only then that he began to question whether he was correct in his assumptions that the soldiers wanted to be rid of him. He had the urge to listen to the murmurings of their minds, but thought better of it. It would be difficult for him to do so while keeping what he heard a secret from the telepathic link he already shared with his teammates.

"Are you capable of duping Vitenza's associate, Prism?" Deriges asked Prism loudly.

"Yes. I can fool his mind and any recording equipment he might have into thinking that he is sedating me and carrying me off." Prism explained calmly. "I'll just need some sort of facsimile of a human body."

"That's quite something." The second-in-command said aloud with a rub of his gray-bearded chin.

"It sure is. Prepare to do that. Someone get him a first aid mannequin from storage. I'll tell Vitenza that we'll meet her demands. You have two minutes to come up with a plan and share it with me." Deriges said with a happy nod to Prism.

While Deriges prepared to hail Vitenza over laser, Prism began to hear some of the soldiers near to him whispering things about him. He heard them mention Eizavoba, and how he was potentially the "real" third coming of the religious figure. One of the soldiers used Prism's lightning attack on the border guns as proof of Prism’s divinity, quoting some sort of religious text that Prism was unfamiliar with. Prism was intrigued by the hushed conversation, but he was forced to draw his attention back to the task at hand when Ursun walked over to him.

"You're going to have the lives of everyone on this base in your hands. Can you really do this?" Ursun asked Prism aloud.

"I can. I’m focused and I'm ready." Prism said convincingly. "And this suit is helping me cope with the turbulent mana."

"Good. You, me, Srell, and Lorias will be the team going to the speedsub. We're all prepared to deal with the effects of unsyncing and resyncing, just as long as you keep us alive." Ursun explained.

"I honestly can't do that anymore. When I absorbed your planet's mana and incorporated it into myself, I lost the ability to use that sort of magic. One of the rules of your world that I'm now forced to obey, I'm afraid." Prism shrugged.

"What's the alternative?"

Ursun tried not to sound too upset. Losing the perfect stealth that unsyncing provided was a real strategic blow to their team, even if it had almost killed all of them the last time Prism had used it. Ursun had figured that Prism could simply learn to use the magic more safely.

"The scanners the speedsub use detect light, heat, sound, and motion, right?" Prism asked.

"Yes, primarily." Ursun nodded. "The Kingdom-tech makes it hard to be sure."

"Do you think it can completely ground a lightning strike?" Prism then asked after a brief pensive pause.

"It would have a comprehensive lightning protection system, so probably. But if the lightning was to strike one of its sensor masts and ignore everything else, the electricity would probably still reach their equipment within the ship itself." Ursun reasoned as he spoke, intrigued by what he figured Prism was proposing. "Are you going to wield lightning again to disable the speedsub?"

"Sort of. I can't manipulate the storm without making it worse, not even a little. But what I can do is turn myself into pure electricity again via the base’s restored bio-system. I'll send myself through the nerve-grid, shoot myself into the atmosphere from an antenna I saw on the base's exterior walls, and then strike the speedsub as a bolt of lightning. I'll be able to travel through its circuitry and potentially disable its weapons before I rematerialize." Prism explained simply.

"That's...far too much risk." Jaik said.

He'd been standing near the both of them, though he'd kept his mouth shut to avoid their ire. Prism and Ursun glanced at Jaik, who leaned against a wall shyly without saying another word.

"Well? What is the risk, exactly?" Ursun asked loudly, irritated by Jaik's fear-fueled lack of explanation.

"Prism keeps talking about how dangerous all of this "turbulent mana" is to him and his own magic. How can he be sure that it won't affect him while he's pure energy? Surely his Etrysian combat suit won’t come into play when it’s transformed into electrons, too. Also, the speedsub's upgrades will surely allow the ship to neutralize any harm that it would normally incur from lightning strikes. The gold components of its kingdom-tech are highly-conductive, but they'll also be able to redistribute the electricity into its self-repairing functions, thereby accelerating the speedsub's repairs. If that happens to Prism while he's in that state..." Jaik spoke as quickly as he could.

"Then my electrons will be converted into shipbuilding materials faster than I can rematerialize, effectively killing me. Prism finished Jaik’s sentence. “It’s a risk that I'll have to take. We don't have time to argue about this."

"How will you let us know that you've been successful, in case our telepathic link is severed?" Ursun asked.

"I'll make a section of the speedsub explode. That should be obvious enough." Prism imitated a large explosion with a gesture of his hands.

"And how will you get back to us?" Jaik asked with so much solicitude that Prism nearly shuddered.

"I'll fly back. I'll find my way off the ship and I'll fly back."

Prism didn't sound too convincing, but Jaik knew that he couldn't stop him from going. Ursun sensed something odd between the two of them, but he didn't have the luxury of psychoanalyzing them at the time.

"What's your plan? The clock is ticking." Deriges shouted over to the trio while a soldier brought in a simplistic-looking life-sized mannequin used to train people in CPR and simple first aid.

Ursun held up his finger at Deriges and said, "Just a few more seconds" before he put his big freckled right hand on Prism's shoulder and leaned in close to him.

"I can do this." Prism said before Ursun could ask the question one last time.

"Good kid." Ursun said contently before walking over to Deriges and explaining what they'd decided.

Deriges eyes grew wide with excitement as he heard the strange plan. When Ursun was done speaking, the base commander smiled and said, "They'll definitely think he's either the real Third Coming or Daman after this!" giddily to Ursun. Ursun chuckled and nodded his agreement before both of the men became more serious again.

"I'm accepting your proposed plan. Do what you need to do with this dummy and then head to my quarters to start your mission." Deriges said directly to Prism.

"Yes, sir." Prism replied respectively.

“And before I forget, could you rid the border guns of the inactive nanites within their fire control systems before you…”depart” the base?” Deriges asked Prism with an expectant tilt of his head.

“It’ll take some extra time, but I’ll try. It’ll be a lot easier to do if the nanites really are dormant.” Prism replied sheepishly.

Deriges nodded his head slowly before gesturing for Prism to begin his preparations. All eyes were on him yet again as Prism walked over to the tan-skinned first-aid dummy that had been laid on an otherwise empty section of floor beside the central tactics table. He got onto his knees beside the supine effigy and held his hands flat over it. Prism's eyes glowed blue while he began to run his fingertips over the surface of the male-bodied silicone mannequin. He was surprised by how life-like it felt, even as he traced his forefinger over the outline of its lips.

Prism’s fingers moved in intricate patterns all along the artificial body while he kneeled over it and chanted long verses of an ancient and alien tongue. The mannequin was soon glowing with a warm blue light. Seconds later, all of the signifiers of the mannequin's artificial nature faded away and its bodily features shifted to resemble those of Prism's. The blue light faded from the body, and what was left was a perfect replica of Prism lying on the floor. As a finishing touch, Prism conjured a set of simple clothing on the replica's body; a black t-shit and grey sweatpants.

"A miracle..." Prism heard an officer whisper loudly nearby, followed by several other murmurs that he couldn't pay attention to.

Prism leaned down and pressed his lips against the lips of the facsimile he'd created. Prism breathed air into the copy's mouth, suffusing it with a portion of his own essence. When Prism raised his head, he gripped the copy's bald head with his right hand and rubbed his thumb along its forehead.

"Awaken." Prism's magicked voice echoed slightly.

The magical clone opened its eyes and soon sat itself up on the floor. Prism looked pleased by what he'd done, and rose to his feet. He offered his hand to the clone, which took it and stood up beside Prism. Prism then looked over at Deriges, having the clone do the same.

"We're ready." Prism and the clone said simultaneously.

"Amazing, simply amazing!" Deriges said while clapping his hands together in applause for a short time. "Is he truly alive?"

"No, it's just an elaborate illusion. It has enough of my mind in it to act and sound like me, but it is merely a temporary construct that will last long enough to be brought to the speedsub." Prism happily explained.

"And after that, it will simply become a first aid mannequin again?" Deriges' second-in-command asked.

"Right. But for now, it'll act and respond in all the ways I would, once I leave it on its own. It'll bleed, cry, and be injured in all the ways that a living being would." Prism further clarified.

"Alright then, be off. I'll hail Vitenza the moment you've left the room." Deriges shooed Prism away with a hand gesture.

With a curt nod to the base commander and a last glance at his teammates, Prism was escorted out of the CCC by a white-uniformed Etrysian officer. When Jaik tried to follow him out, Ursun put his meaty left hand on Jaik's chest to stop him.

"We need you here so that things don't look suspicious. You're the team's medic, after all. We're going to need you to act torn up about all this when Vitenza’s “associate” arrives."

Ursun's words were firm and rational, which Jaik understood. But as the young doctor looked at the fake Prism standing idly with a blank expression a few meters away, Jaik couldn't help but feel conflicted by the entire situation.

"I'll go check on its vitals, see how convincing it really is." Jaik said to Ursun before withdrawing his medscanner and walking over to the facsimile.

Prism felt Jaik’s heartache claw at his mind from across the room as the CCC's large metal doors slid closed behind him. It was as if the young man was wielding his emotions in the same way that Prism slung spells. Prism found Jaik’s magical condition increasingly irritating, but still did not dare to rid Jaik of it.

“Please, keep your feelings in check, Jaik. It isn’t appropriate to force them on me like this, especially during a mission.” Prism communicated privately to Jaik telepathically.

“So it’s working, then. Sorry, I’m being childish. I’ll give you your space. Please, be as safe as you can out there.” Jaik said before closing his mind to Prism.

Prism shook his head and smirked at the admission. He knew that Jaik was right to worry about the multitude of risks he'd face on his latest mission, but Prism didn't like Jaik’s attempts at manipulation. He couldn't be too hard on Jaik, however, as Prism knew that Jaik was practically too young to completely control himself.

"His brain isn't fully-developed yet." Prism thought to himself while he walked down the hallway to Deriges' quarters.

Mere moments later, Deriges initiated laser communications with the speedsub. Vitenza's alluring face appeared on most of the CCC's monitors, though only the monitor above Deriges and across from his hologram-projecting tactical table actually transmitted visuals to their enemy.

Vitenza could only see Deriges on her screens, and Deriges could only see Vitenza on his.

"I hope that you've decided to resist us so that I can irradiate all of you." Vitenza said with a cloying smile.

"Sorry to disappoint, but we're handing the alien over to you." Deriges replied with a smile of his own.

"Are you, now?" Vitenza said with a loud flick of her golden fan. She used it to cover the bottom part of her face, showing only her slight, dark eyes. "Then I suppose all of you can live."

"How merciful of you." Deriges said sarcastically.

"I'll be sending my associate Rhonan to your base. He knows his way around, so he won't be needing an escort. He's the strong, silent type, so I know that I can rely on him. But I'll be monitoring his every movement just in case, so don't try anything. If you harm him in any way, I'll flood the area with so much radiation on our way out of here that this region will be uninhabitable for the next century."

Vitenza's threat disturbed everyone in the CCC, but Deriges simply shook his head at her. He saw her as completely and utterly ridiculous.

There were rules against such kinds of warfare; rules that were upheld ironically enough by the Queen herself. But given the fact that Vitenza’s speedsub could have only been outfitted by the Kingdom, Deriges and the others couldn’t be sure if the Queen had permitted such atrocities to be committed with her technology. It wouldn’t be the first time that Æba’s sole monarch had shirked her own Rules of War to wipe out an entire region, though she’d only done such a thing twice during the Centuries-Long War.

Fortunately for Surmil, its civilians had been evacuated to the central region of Athea, which was over a hundred kilometers away.

"If that's all, then I would very much like us to get started. The sooner this ugly affair is behind us, the better." Deriges said in a stately way while looking away from the screen haughtily.

“Aww, you’re no fun.” Vitenza said with a giggle. She then turned away from her screen, looked askance at it, and said “he’s on his way” as seriously as she could before her visual feed cut to black.

“Phew. Alright, things are set into motion now. I want what is left of our visual feeds to show me this Rhonan guy’s entry into the base and his trek through it. Leave human eyes on him as often as it is possible, but do not antagonize him in any way.” Deriges began rattling off to his command team within the room. “And you mercs make whatever preparations that you need to before he gets here.”

“He sure can be quite authoritative when he wants to be.” Srell said cheekily to Lorias.

"He knows how to keep the morale of his soldiers up, even in a dire situation like this. There's a reason that he's seen as one of the most capable base commanders of our age." Lorias stated plainly.

The two of them had been commenting on all that had transpired around them since returning to the room. They'd always managed to find entertainment in their idle hours, even if it was merely the goings-on of their allies.

Lorias' eyes watched Jaik examining the facsimile of Prism, focusing on how the facsimile responded to each of Jaik's actions. Srell noticed Lorias' fixation, and said nothing as to not interrupt him. They both watched Jaik begin speaking to the facsimile, curious as to how it would respond.

"What is your name?" Jaik asked the facsimile of Prism.

"Prism." It replied in a familiar voice; Prism's voice.

"Are you prepared to sacrifice yourself to save all of our lives?" Jaik asked rather seriously.

"Of course. I'll do whatever it takes to keep all of you safe." The facsimile said almost happily.

Jaik nodded quietly, allowing himself to be satisfied with his findings. He walked over to Ursun and explained what he'd learned. Ursun, too, was satisfied when Jaik informed him that the facsimile passed every medical scan and simple test that Jaik had managed to perform.

"Now we wait." Ursun said calmly.

As he was making his way to Deriges to discuss their plans in more detail, Ursun saw Leanna approach him from the analytics section of the room. From the eager look on her face, he knew that she had something important to share with him.

“Sir, it may be possible that the speedsub's damage is a lot more extensive than we initially thought. It might not even have the ability to submerge anymore, let alone fire a high-energy particle weapon." Leanna said with several flamboyant explanatory hand gestures.

"What makes you think that?" Ursun urged her on.

"The analysts have been getting a lot of sensor data over the past few minutes, too much to properly analyze in such a short amount of time. But running the data through my and Remades' dronepacks gave us the extra computing power we needed." Leanna began explaining.

Ursun looked over at Theda on the other side of the room and saw Remades speaking to her with the same sort of frenetic energy that Leanna had. Ursun then turned his attention back to Leanna.

"The gashes that we've found all over the speedsub's hull show that they narrowly escaped from the tunnels that collapsed after the increased seismic activity began. Several of those gashes are deep enough to reach into areas where critical systems are usually contained within Destructor speedsubs. Even with the Kingdom-tech modifications, we doubt that the overall structure of the ship has changed. Therefore, we can assume with a high likelihood that their speedsub is essentially dead in the water." Leanna's hazel eyes seemed to gleam with pride at her findings.

"How does this change the risk of them using a particle weapon on us?" Ursun asked.

"That's a little more complicated. From our measurements, the speedsub actually seems to be sinking at a very low rate. Its hull damage is so significant that the ship is still taking on water, even with its self-repairing systems still active. We know that high-yield, high-energy particle weapons require incredibly sophisticated power systems. And from the radiant energy that is coming off of that speedsub, we can be pretty sure that one or more of their fusion reactors are breached and have lost plasma confinement. If they tried to fire a muon beam at us, they'd probably completely lose power before their beam even reached us." Leanna spoke rapidly, though Ursun was able to follow her.

She'd always been impressed with his technical knowledge. It was rare that Ursun didn't understand something that Leanna explained to him, and he'd even taught her a few things about Kingdom technology in their year of working together. Bighead and Gnapp had taught him well, she thought.

"It looks like the analysts are telling Deriges the same information. This doesn't change much though, since we can't verify these findings. Nor do we have time. The risk is still too high to get this wrong." Ursun said while watching several analyst soldiers show Deriges papers detailing what they'd discovered with Remades and Leanna's help.

"But sir! We could very well be risking Prism's life unnecessarily! If he is captured, we'll b-"

He raised his right brow at her, lifted up his chin, and crossed his arms.

“Questioning my judgment again, Leanna?” He said gruffly.

“No sir, I just…”

“You just what?” He interjected.

“I just want us to make the best decision possible.” She said with a raised voice.

"We all want that. But we have to make sure that we are doing all we can to mitigate the worst outcomes that are still likely. Your findings are hopeful, but they aren't conclusive enough to take the outcomes that Deriges outlined off of the table." Ursun said thoughtfully.

Ursun’s words made sense to Leanna, and she nodded to him apologetically.

"I'll see if we can't fine-tune the sensors enough to get more conclusive data." Leanna said while looking respectfully into Ursun's eyes.

"I'm counting on you." Ursun nodded to her gratefully.

She went back over to the table where a group of analyst soldiers were still working and got back to work herself. She was soon joined again by Remades and the soldiers who'd consulted Deriges. They'd all had similar rebuttals from their leaders.

“Good, she’s back at it.” Lorias said with a satisfied nod after observing the exchange between Leanna and Ursun.

“As should we.” Srell said quietly.

"We'll have plenty to do soon, I'm sure. This is the calm before the metaphorical storm still to come."

Srell gripped his PAW hard after hearing Lorias' prediction. In all the years he'd worked alongside Lorias, Srell had almost never seen Lorias get things wrong. It was part of the reason why he'd always respected his blonde friend's judgment, even when it seemed devoid of optimism.

Moments later, Deriges’ second-in-command informed the room that Rhonan was a minute out from the CCC. They watched the live camera feed on the room's screens that showed him walking menacingly down the brown hallways leading there. He walked with a swagger that made him look both tough and confident.

“Looks like he got a new suit and gloves. Arrogant bastard kept his mask off, though.” Srell said contemptuously.

When Rhonan was let into the CCC, everyone took note of his large, empty brown eyes. Those undecipherable eyes looked out at them, sizing them all up. He looked like a muscular machine that was incapable of feeling or thought, especially while he wore the skintight silver suit. His body was built like a brick, and his short hair mirrored the style of the soldiers that got out of his way when he walked straight over to the facsimile of Prism.

After looking the facsimile up and down, Rhonan stared into its eyes while he withdrew a transdermer from a sleek silver gear belt that wrapped around his wide waist. He placed a vial of glowing pink liquid into it, which made a satisfying clicking noise. He then shook the transdermer a few times before holding it up near the facsimile’s neck.

"This isn't right!" Jaik yelled, his anger more real than he thought it should be.

Rhonan let out a low, throaty chuckle and looked over at Jaik deridingly. Jaik felt his fists tighten as hate overwhelmed his senses. Ursun once again put a hand on Jaik's chest to stop him from acting out any further.

"Are you Prism?" Rhonan asked after he turned his attention back to his task.

"I am." The facsimile said convincingly.

With a believing nod, Rhonan put the transdermer on the skin of the facsimile’s neck and pressed his hand on the transdermer's touch-sensitive handle. The pink-liquid contained within its vial was pumped into the facsimiles’ temporary bloodstream, causing the facsimile to fall unconscious. Rhonan grabbed the much-smaller alien in his thick arms and slung him over his shoulder, just as Jaik had carried Prism out of the lab where they'd found him months earlier.

"We're good. I'm on my way back." Rhonan said aloud, communicating through a device that rested on the roof of his mouth.

"Be cautious. We just got struck by lightning. They may be up to something." A man said over Rhonan's mouth comms.

Rhonan's mouthpiece allowed him to hear via the conduction of sound waves through the bones of his mouth. It worked in a similar way to the Conjunction forces' ear clasps, though the mouthpiece had several other functions that made it far more sophisticated.

Rhonan glanced around the CCC, looking out for any obvious tells. He was suspicious of the anxious faces he observed, but not enough to dissuade him from continuing his mission. He walked out of the room and made his way down the hall he'd come through until he was out of the command portion of the base. It was then that the people within the CCC allowed themselves to resume their preparations.

"Any sign of Prism's presence on that speedsub? Rhonan looked spooked for a moment, so that gives me hope." Deriges yelled to his analysts and tactical officers.

"The enemy ship was struck by lightning when Rhonan entered the CCC, sir. We estimate that the strike was about 800 million volts and about 80000 amps. We then observed a marked increase in the temperature of the waters around the speedsub, which is to be expected from a lightning strike of such high voltage and amperage." A young male analyst reported loudly to Deriges from his console.

"Is that a yes?" Deriges asked cheekily.

His second-in-command looked sternly at the young analyst, who nearly cowed before the pressure.

"It's inconclusive, sir. The speedsub is still holding its position with no significant changes in its appearance or output." The young analyst replied.

"Continue monitoring the condition of the speedsub. Inform me of any changes to it. And I want to know if our border guns are free of nanites. Also, before I forget, check on the status of the slain Sguvan cyborg. I want her body retrieved and examined as soon as possible." Deriges ordered in quick succession.

While his officers got to work on his orders, Deriges hailed Hypergeneral Aksos via laser to update him on what was going on. Leanna and Remades labored to find conclusive proof that the speedsub was incapable of doing much more than float while its systems struggled to repair its extensive damage. Ursun spoke to Theda about Risa and Testa’s mysterious disappearance, while Lorias and Srell met with the Titian’s pilots in the Command Mess to discuss all that had happened over a quick, late dinner.

With the clock still ticking until their enemies discovered their deception, the night continued to seem like a fever dream to the soldiers who'd witnessed one unbelievable thing after another. One word kept being uttered in hushed tones throughout the base as news spread about Prism's incredible acts. It was a word that most Etrysians dismissed outright, claiming it to be a vestige of the Old World. But many who no longer believed in the word still used it, if only to curse or exclaim in some dramatic fashion.

"Eizavoba," some said. "Eizavoba has returned."