Normally, since his shield was made of energy, it wouldn’t have done anything since the shields surrounding the droids deflected energy, but Alex had used it as a purely physical attack. The shields didn’t protect against that. Thus, the two droids were quickly crushed thanks to a combination of the wall and the Alex’s overwhelming strength, bolstered by the Angelisian crisis suit that he wore.

  Unable to maintain the shield, Alex let it shatter like so much glass as he stumbled backward. His shoulders heaved as he took several deep breaths. While his ability to create small weapons had improved, creating a shield still took way too much effort. The problem was that he had to continuously pump energy to maintain it, and then he had to feed it even more energy every time it received damage. He wondered if there was a more efficient method of projecting a shield.

  “That was quite impressive,” Captain Tanner said, studying Alex as he wiped sweat from his forehead. “I had not realized you were half-angelisian.”

  “It’s not something I go around advertising,” Alex said.

  “Indeed.” Captain Tanner addressed her men. “Let’s continue moving!”

  Everyone clambered into one of the elevators, which slowly ascended. Alex was in the back with Nyx. Sweat covered his forehead. He had plenty of energy left over, but the problem was dealing with the mental exhaustion that came from creating and maintaining a barrier.

  “Are you okay?” asked Nyx.

  Alex smiled at her. “I’ll be fine.”

  They continued on, and while they did run into a few more battle droids, Alex was put on edge when he noticed that they hadn’t run into any people. There should have been soldiers on top of droids. Where were they? How come they were only being faced with minimal opposition? Something was definitely suspicious about this. It caused the hairs on the back of Alex’s neck to prickle.

  The group came upon another door. It was locked. Captain Tanner gestured toward one of her men, who came up and inspected the door before pulling a plug from his vambrace and hooking it into an outlet beside the door. Alex realized that the man’s vambrace had a console built into it. As some type of code flashed across the screen, the soldier began typing, until there was a soft ping and the door slid open.

  Everyone hustled into the bridge, sweeping their guns across the area as they moved. Alex and Nyx followed after everyone else.

  The bridge was smaller than the one on the Excalibur. It had the same general scheme, a command station overlooking the rest of the crew from above. There weren’t as many stations, perhaps signifying that this ship didn’t have as many guns, or maybe it was because of the smaller size. Consoles beeped and booped. In the center of the bridge was the command chair.

  It was empty.

  So was the rest of the bridge.

  “What is going on here?” asked one of the soldiers.

  “This is spooky. It’s like a ghost ship,” another said.

  “Pipe down,” Captain Tanner barked. “Keep your eyes peeled. There’s no telling what’s going to happen.”

  Alex looked at the many empty consoles as the soldiers spread out. Not all of them were empty, but the ones that weren’t were being operated by droids instead of people.

  The hairs on his arms prickled as well.

  “Captain!” one of the soldiers called. “I’ve just hacked into the logbooks. It seems the Clarent was being manned by a skeleton crew that made use of the escape pods half an hour before we arrived.”

  Skeleton crew was a term used to describe when a vessel was operated by the barest minimum necessary to maintain its primary functions. If this had been operated on such a crew, it would explain why no one was around to oppose them. However, the fact that everyone had escaped suggested something else.

  “Ma’am!” Another soldier spoke up, her voice high-pitched with fright. “This ship is set to self-destruct in several seconds!”

  “WHAT?!”

  Alex barely had time to grasp the situation, but the moment he heard the word “self-destruct”, he reaction on instinct. He grabbed the Nyx and Captain Tanner, who were the only people next to him, and pulled them into him. His Aura of Creation activated as he called upon it. Then a large dome of blue energy surrounded him. He pumped as much energy into the dome as he could, hardening it until he could see nothing outside.

  And then it happened.

  To Alex, it felt like an intense pressure was pushing down on him from all sides, like he was slowly being crushed into a tiny cube by a trash compactor. As if in response to this sensation, the barrier he’d put up shrank. Alex gritted his teeth and spread his arms as he shoved more energy into the shield, as he concentrated harder on maintaining the barrier.

  It hurt. This was nothing like creating that single panel shield to crush the battle droids. Every fiber in his body was screaming at him. Having his nerves boiled in lava would have hurt less than this. He wanted to cry, to scream, to curl up in a ball, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Nyx and Captain Tanner were with him, and if he didn’t maintain the barrier, they would all die.

  “Dragon’s breath,” Captain Tanner murmured as the explosion surrounding their dome died down. Alex thought it was a term used by her people to describe their shock.

  He understood what she was feeling.

  The dome that he was keeping up was partially translucent, so they had a clear view of the outside, and what they saw was ruin. Destruction. The bridge they had been standing on was gone. Of course, it wasn’t fully destroyed, but what remained were chunks and warped durasteel. About 3/4ths of the bridge had been destroyed, while the part they were still next to spun around them in lazy circles.

  No one else had survived.

  As he turned his head, Alex saw that none of the people who came with them were alive. A few burnt out corpses drifted by them. However, there weren’t enough bodies to account for the five others. Some had probably been vaporized, or maybe they were blasted off into space.

  “This is… terrible,” Captain Tanner muttered as she floated within Alex’s left arm.

  “It looks like this ship was rigged.” Nyx cocked her head to the side. “It seems like a waste to blow up a ship to get rid of a single squadron.”

  Captain Tanner shook her head. “I’m sure they were expecting Prince Arthur to come on board. He generally likes doing these things himself, but he deferred this position to Alexander and you. Were it not for that, Prince Arthur would have died and Lancelot could have easily claimed the throne.”

  “Alex,” Nyx said when she realized that he wasn’t speaking, “how are you holding up?”

  “N-not good,” he admitted with a grunt and a smile. “I… I’ve trapped all the oxygen I can inside with us… but maintaining an energy barrier dense enough that it doesn’t escape is… more difficult than I thought…”

  Alex was honestly surprised he could even speak. It was taking everything he had to maintain the barrier.

  Nyx nodded and reached up, cupping his face with her soft hands. Alex wondered what she was doing. However, when she began wiping off the fluid dripping from his mouth and nose, he finally recognized the damage that erecting and maintaining this barrier was causing him.

  “It looks like the mental strain is beginning to cause you damage.”

  Sh… shut up. I’m trying to concentrate…

  “I am sorry. A task like this would have been easy if you and I weren’t separated by the seal.”

  “You’d still have to contend with me. Even if you became one, your powers wouldn’t work properly unless you subdued me.”

  “Yes… I suppose that is true.”

  “Of course, I don’t expect that to ever happen. Angels like you don’t have what it takes to turn me into a sub.”

  Can you two… shut up!

  Alex was already struggling to keep the barrier up, and these voices were breaking his already fragile concentration.

  “Can you contact the Excalibur?” asked Nyx.

  Captain Tanner shook her head. “I have a communicator capable of doing that, but all of the wrecked equipment is interfering with it. I’ve turned on the transmitter, which should be sending an SOS. We’ll see if that will do anything.”

  “Alex, how long can you maintain the barrier?” asked Nyx.

  Alex shook his head. Not only did he not know, but he could no longer afford to speak. Sweat was beading along his forehead, soaking into his crisis suit, and his body was beginning to shiver from a combination of physical exhaustion and mental stress.

  “You are reaching your limit,” Nyx observed.

  Still unable to speak, Alex could do nothing but offer her a pained smile.

  “I understand. Please allow me to help.”

  Alex would have wondered what she meant, but he wasn’t even given time to ponder the words, for barely a second had passed before Nyx leaned up and pressed her lips to his.

  It took Alex several seconds to understand that Nyx was kissing him. On any other occasion, he probably would have panicked. He couldn’t right then. It wasn’t just because he didn’t have the strength.

  As Nyx kissed him, Alex felt something flow from her into him. It wasn’t just her tongue, which had pushed its way inside of his mouth, but something else. Power. Energy. It rushed through his body, sending his fatigue away. The infusion of energy allowed him to concentrate harder, to increase the strength of his barrier.

  All the while, Nyx’s mouth never left his.

  4

  Help did eventually arrive in the form of an emergency shuttle, which picked the three of them up about fifteen minutes after the Clarent exploded. As the shuttle ferried them back to the Excalibur, Alex noticed that Nyx kept leaning against him. Whatever she had done to him must have exhausted her. He tried to hold her hand, but he couldn’t find it for some reason.

  The shuttle soon entered the Excalibur’s docking bay. It set down, the systems were shut off, and he, Nyx, and Captain Tanner were allowed to exit.

  “ALEX!”

  “Gabrie--oof!”

  Almost before he could even speak, Gabrielle slammed into him like a speeding shuttle. Alex’s feet tingled as he felt a moment of weightlessness. Then he nearly swallowed his tongue when he hit the floor back first.

  Groaning, he tried to regain his senses. It his head hurt. His nose had also began bleeding again. He was about to tell Gabrielle to get off him… but he didn’t.

  “I’m so glad… you’re okay…” Gabrielle cried into his shirt. “When that ship exploded, I thought my heart was going to stop.”

  Alex closed his eyes, reached up, and placed a hand on the back of Gabrielle’s head. Thanks to the symbiotic relationship between him and the crisis suit, he could feel Gabrielle’s silky hair against his fingers, a sensation that was softer than velvet. He would have enjoyed stroking her hair were it not for the tears staining his clothes.

  “I’m sorry for worrying you,” he muttered.

  Gabrielle shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  “As am I,” Prince Arthur said, making his presence known.

  As a reluctant Gabrielle climbed off Alex, he stood to his feet and, ignoring the water on his shirt, looked at Prince Arthur. The crown prince bore a regretful expression. He inclined his head toward Alex.

  “I apologize,” he said. “I should have never let you go on this mission. Had I known that you and Nyx would incur injury, I would have gone myself.”

  Alex shook his head. “If you had gone instead of me, I doubt you’d be alive.”

  While Prince Arthur furrowed his brow at that, Captain Tanner stepped forward and saluted. “I believe Alexander is correct, Your Grace. It was only thanks to Alex that myself and Nyx survived that explosion.”

  “Is that so?” Prince Arthur closed his eyes, sighed, and then opened them again. “In that case, I am grateful you were here, Alexander. Without you, things could have been much worse.”

  Alex shrugged. “You’re welcome.”

  Even though the battle was over, there was little time for them to loiter around. Everyone went back to the bridge as the Excalibur linked up with the fleet.

  Prince Arthur took command of everything, asking for status reports on vessel conditions to a detailed oral report on how this battle started. Alex, Nyx, and Gabrielle were present. They had a first-hand accounting of what happened.

  It seemed the attack came without warning. Tristan’s fleet, which consisted of ten pendragon-class ships, two contingents of arrow-class fighters, and the blade-class battleship Clarent, had come in from an asteroid belt located on the opposite side of Winchester. The fleet had attacked them, taking them by surprise. It had been impossible to mount of defense at first because their transponders were all marked as friendly. This had allowed the enemy fleet to take out more than a third of their ships before they were able to change transponder codes.

  Orders were given for the ships that were damaged to dock at a repair station, which apparently orbited Camelot. Rescue ships would be sent out to render aid to any ships that got destroyed and bring back survivors. Meanwhile, Prince Arthur had the Excalibur settle into orbit above Camelot. He planned to disembark, leaving Nimue in charge of maintaining the fleet.

  Alex, Gabrielle, and Nyx were naturally going with him.

  They used the same shuttle that had ferried them from Mars to reach Camelot. As the ship lifted off the docking bay doors and entered space, Alex stared out the viewport.

  The blackness of space contrasted with the blue-green world that was their destination.

  Interlude

  Trouble on the Homefront - Part I

  Kazekiri’s day started the same way it always did. She woke up, got ready for school, lectured her brother, hopped onto a shuttle, and went to Atreyu Academy. It wasn’t until she arrived at the academy that the differences between her normal days and today became prominent.

  Alex and Gabrielle haven’t returned…

  Most days, Kazekiri would always see Alex, Alice, Ariel, Gabrielle, Jasmine, Nyx, and Michelle standing by the front gate, saying their goodbyes. She would always get dragged into their conversation by Gabrielle, who would welcome her with a smile and a hug.

  That didn’t happen today. Alex, Gabrielle, and Nyx were gone. They were off to a solar system called Camelot, to help the crown prince of that solar system defend his title from his half-siblings… something like that. Commander Karen had told her some of what they were doing, but she had only filled her in enough so she knew that they were leaving.

  Kazekiri walked past the school gate with a frown, entered the school building, and began walking toward her classroom.

  Atreyu Academy was a massive building with a streamlined design. While it was shaped like a rectangle, there were numerous moving walkways trailing around the outer walls, along with elevators and jump points. Since the academy was so large, nearly 2.65 square kilometers, these transportation methods were necessary for students to reach their classes on time.

  If one were to look at the academy from a bird’s eye view, they would’ve also noticed the many gardens that dotted the interior. They were marked by sunroofs. Kazekiri used to love traveling up to the roofs and peering down at the gardens through the sunroofs from behind the fence.

  It was quiet up there. No one would disturb her. She used to think peace and quiet were great.

  Now she wasn’t so sure.

  The classroom was mostly empty when she entered; Kazekiri liked to arrive early. Only five of the thirty-seven people were present.

  Walking up the first flight of steps in the tertiary seating, Kazekiri set down the bag holding all of her books and was about to sit down herself--when a pair of hands snaked around her torso and cupped her breasts.

  “KYA!!!”

  Kazekiri tore away from the hands and spun around. As she expected, the person standing behind her, grinning from ear to ear, was none other than Ryoko.

  A dark-skinned woman that even Kazekiri would admit was alluring, Ryoko was the kind of unrepentant pervert who enjoyed groping people for kicks. Vibrant yellow eyes reminded Kazekiri of a very amused cat. The cat-like smile on the other girl’s face didn’t do anything to disabuse her of this notion.

  “Ryoko.” Kazekiri scowled. “How many times have I told you not to grab people like that?”

  “Don’t know.” Ryoko’s lips split to reveal white teeth. “I lost count.”

  Kazekiri resisted the desire to rub her face.

  For as long as they had known each other, she and Ryoko had never gotten along. Ryoko would always cause trouble, either with her flagrant groping of both men and women, or her crass language. Kazekiri would always lecture her on why she should follow the rules and how not following the rules caused the moral backbone of their society to degrade.

  Naturally, Ryoko would disagree and this caused them to fight. She and Ryoko had fought over this numerous times. Back when they were younger, Ryoko had the backing of her friends, and they had taken to harassing Kazekiri whenever they had the chance. That stopped after she became a part-time employee for the Mars Police Force, but the damage had already been done. The two of them hated each other.

  Until recently.

  Over two weeks ago, Gabrielle had used one of her inventions that stuck hers and Ryoko’s hands together for a full day. They had been forced to stay together at school, go home together, take a bath together, eat dinner together, and even sleep together. During this time, she and Ryoko had talked and come to something of an understanding.

  Kazekiri still disapproved of what Ryoko did, but she no longer harangued her as she once had. Likewise, Ryoko didn’t insult her for following the rules.

  More people soon flowed into the room. Kazekiri and Ryoko conversed quietly, not really talking about any one subject, and not going near any subject that would cause either of them to start arguing. As more and more people arrived, including Selene and Serah, it became obvious that something was missing.

 

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