“Evacuation order. All inhabitants and guests must evacuate the station. Repeat. Evacuation order. All inhabitants and guests must evacuate the station.” 

A klaxon blared over the emergency broadcast and the station shuddered as if two great hands had begun shaking it. Zenith fell to her knees beside BOB’s broken body and stared up at the massive crackling blade. Emotions roiled inside her, each fighting for dominance. Rage and grief for the mutilation of her friend, betrayal and disbelief for the sword poised above her head, and under them all, confusion over how the hell this was happening.

The unreadable menace of the mech kept her brother’s face from betraying his thoughts. Was he hoping to frighten her off so that he and Vaelor could continue whatever twisted shit they were doing? Was he actually planning to kill her? The mech sagged as Harlow lowered the blade. He turned without a word and flew to join Vaelor aboard the departing Tartan.

The crew swarmed to BOB as the ship took off through the particle barrier and into space. 

“BOB!” Buddy cried. “I’m so sorry, it happened so fast. I tried to get to you sooner.

“Jim!” Zenith shouted. “Can you help him?”

The crew receded from BOB as the doctor approached. He loomed above his fellow AI, studying the damage intently. His impassive expression made Zenith’s stomach twist. There was no indication whether he was about to start repairing BOB or pronounce their death.

“The motherboard has been cracked,” he said at last. “Significant damage to other structures, but the motherboard must be repaired immediately. We need to get BOB to the medical bay aboard the Sunrunner.” 

Buddy lowered her mechanical arms to scoop up her injured friend but was stopped by a hand.

“The ambulation of the mech may cause further damage,” Jim said. “I recommend dragging them on a makeshift stretcher.”

Adam vanished into the storage ring and came back a moment later holding a skid and some rope. He slapped them down next to BOB and looked at Buddy, the only one strong enough to lift the bot.

“Just be gentle,” he said, noticing her appreciation 

“I got it,” Odybrix said.

“You do?” Kron asked, looking down at the halfling who didn’t even reach his hip.

“Yeah, big guy. I do.”

A faint aura bloomed across her skin and BOB gracefully levitated off of the floor. While the others watched their fallen companion, Zenith noticed the halfling wince. The soft pink glow dimmed momentarily, then came back stronger as she gritted her teeth. BOB landed on the skid without a sound and Odybrix turned to wipe away a trickle of blood that had fallen from her nose.

“You gotta lay off the psonics, Ody,” Zenith said.

“Not many options available to us right now, ZT. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“Evacuation order,” the announcement blared. “All inhabitants and guests must evacuate the station. Repeat. Evacuation order. All inhabitants and guests must evacuate the station.” 

“What the fuck is going on?” Odybrix asked. “The place should be on lockdown to stop the mutants from getting loose.”

The station shook, and Adam ran to tie BOB’s skid to Buddy’s mech. “All the more reason to get to the Sunrunner. Move smoothly, take your time correcting course.”

“What does that mean?” Buddy asked, concerned.

“Go slower when you’re changing directions.”

“I think this is where we part ways, y’all,” Ebby said. “I’m docked three levels down. I hope to goodness your friend’s alright. I got the two sets of coordinates from Elysium. Gonna take a guess that Vaelor’s flight plan was one of them?”

“Gemheart,” Hoxley answered.

“Then I’ll meet you there. Don’t die,” Ebby said, then spun and began running.

“Nice to meet you!” Buddy called after her.

“I’m in the same boat,” Kron said. “Well, different boat, same situation. If that guy’s headed for Gemheart, I’ll be there. Thanks for saving me from that plasma cannon.”

“Likewise for the lightning,” Adam replied. “It’s like you saw it coming.”

“I did. He did the same thing on Grolvar… and worse. Here’s my channel,” Kron said, tapping a sequence on his wrist PDA. “Drop me a line when you make it to Gemheart.” Look after yourself.”

The burly orc extended a hand and Adam gave it a firm shake.

—

“You want to talk to us about Vaelor now?” Odybrix pointedly asked Hoxley.

The crew formed a protective circle around BOB and Buddy as they fought through alternating swells of fleeing station goers and mutants. The latter appeared in diminishing numbers but still required attention—i.e. the occasional rifle round through the head. Zenith didn’t give her other crewmates a chance to take the shots. She scanned the writhing crowd meticulously, throwing herself at the task so that she didn’t have to think about what was going to happen to BOB, or what had happened to her brother.

“I told you he’s not my brother!”

“I’m beginning to think ‘brother’ was being used less as indication of relationship, and more as a cult greeting.”

“I’m not in a cult either!”

“Club then. A club of people who shoot lightning from their fingers.”

“Finger buddies,” Buddy offered.

“Look, I didn’t know who that guy was until recently. I don’t know what his goals are or what he’s capable of. I can tell you my goals though: get off this station, get BOB some help, and go to bed.”

The floor jolted under their feet and knocked the crew over as an explosion tore through a section of wall above them. Atmosphere bled from the interior as the vacuum of space sucked out the innards of the stations. Zenith grabbed one of the personnel holds on Buddy’s GEM, catching Odybrix as she went airborne. A field of light filled the house-sized hole in the station a moment later, and the crew fell back to the floor. 

“Everyone alright?” Zenith shouted. “How’s BOB?”

“His bulk kept him anchored,” Jim said, standing up.

“Levisia is under attack,” Adam said. “We need to keep moving.”

—

Shattered glass and debris littered the path outside the storefronts near their dock. The number of people—normal and mutant alike—had fallen as they approached the Sunrunner, buying them precious time to disembark. That trickle of luck ran dry at the last leg of their escape. Ahead of them, just past an intersection, a section of ceiling had collapsed.

“Hell. Buddy, I know you’re hurt, but can you clear the way? We can’t get BOB through that.” Adam said.

“Yep! I don’t feel a thing right now.” Buddy said.

“‘Hell?’” Odybrix asked. “You must be flustered if you’re breaking out the swears. What would your mother say?”

“Ms. Hargr- mom, isn’t here right now. Speaking of flustered, you’re looking a little pale.”

Buddy unlatched herself from BOB’s makeshift stretcher and set to moving the clutter from their path. She was lying about not feeling anything. There was pain, sure. Dr. Jim’s quick treatment wasn’t going to undo getting mauled by a monster, but there was more. She was afraid. Not of what was going on—though, to her limited recollection, this had been the wildest day of her life—but of herself. The memories that pierced through her lost history were violent and wrathful. The anger that had surged through with those memories made her feel like she wasn’t in control of herself.

The mech’s joints creaked as she hoisted a fallen transport carriage and tossed it out of the way. The last of the obstacles big enough to block their path was a section of wall that had been torn off in an explosion. She lifted the debris and revealed a hunched figure that had been sitting behind it. Buddy was about to ask if they were okay but stopped when they turned to face her. 

The woman’s face was a twisted mockery of something that was once human. The left side of her mouth extended into a misshapen ear, baring swollen gums and too-large teeth. The goggles she wore had fused to her skull and her right eye had enlarged to fill the space within. Buddy’s thumb hovered over the trigger of the chain gun in anticipation of the mutant’s attack, but instead, the normal portion of the mutant’s mouth curled into a gleeful smile. Her hands darted deep into a pile of scrap and extracted something, then presented it to Buddy.

The object was decidedly a pistol, but Buddy’s uncanny ability to observe a weapon and miraculously know everything about it was coming up short. The spiral grip connected with the rest of the angular pistol obliquely. Aside from the trigger and what she guessed was a compartment for the power core, the object was one solid piece. The mutant—the woman—proffered the weapon to Buddy, smiling like a child. Buddy carefully plucked the pistol from the woman’s hands and watched as her monstrous benefactor ran to a corner and began furiously tinkering with an assortment of station wreckage.

“Thank you, I think…”

From behind, Odybrix said, “What the fuck are you?”

Thinking Odybrix had seen the woman and was about to shoot her, Buddy began to stammer out a, “Wait, she’s cool,” but was cut short when she saw another mech. The vehicle had somehow snuck between her and the crew at the corridor intersection. Its chassis was a muted metallic gold and more bulky than the one she was piloting. Pronounced shoulders suggested the mech had mini-rocket platforms and the compartments on the back hinted at a better-than-average jet propulsion system.

“Isn’t this a rare treat,” a smooth, haughty voice broadcast from the mech. “Three separate bounties congregating in a hallway. I’d consider this a serendipitous turn if the station wasn’t being blown apart by the Baronnet.”

Three shots rang out and projectiles pinged off the mech. The transparent top of the mech glowed a sickly green and Adam, Zenith, and Sturdy were launched brutally into nearby walls. Their bodies hung suspended from the ground, bound by a psionic glow. Odybrix flared, wresting control of her friends from the bounty hunter and allowing them to drop to the ground and rally. Zenith managed another shot before Odybrix collapsed and the green glow overtook them once more.

“Odybrix!” Hoxley yelled, running to her side.

“Not much fight left in that one it seems,” the man in the mech said.

“Let go of them, you jerk!” Buddy yelled, deploying her chain sword.

The mech spun quickly, raising a light plasma cannon at Buddy. She made to swing her sword but hesitated when she saw the front of the aggressor. A transparent dome made up the upper center of the mech, housing yellowish gel. Floating inside the dome was a brain.

“Charlie…” the voice said. “Fuck!”

Jets deployed from the back of the golden mech and it blasted away from her, cutting around a corner and disappearing. As the sound of the fleeing mech faded, the crew looked at Buddy in bruised and battered silence.

“Who’s Charlie?” Buddy asked.

—

Levisia pitched violently as the crew approached the Sunrunner. Adam staggered and nearly fell, but managed to keep his balance despite carrying Odybrix over his shoulder. Two figures stood in front of the loading ramp, one holding what looked like a gun. Zenith took aim with her rifle and then lowered it.

“What are you two doing here?” She asked.

Annie McClue answered with Vesper filming at her side, “We’re following a story and trying to get off th-” 

“You know what, I don’t care,” Zenith said, pushing past them. “Get on board if you’re coming.”

Aboard the Sunrunner, Zenith began rapidly initiating launch systems. The brain in a jar had offhandedly mentioned that the Baronnet was laying siege to Levisia. Most ships wouldn’t dare attack a fortified station, but the Baronnet was Remington’s flagship, a First Rate class vessel with access to tech from the galaxy’s foremost arms dealer. Whatever nasty toys Remington R and D had secretly developed would be brutally showcased against the station. Why, though? Are they here because of what Vaelor stole? Are the lives aboard an entire station worth keeping that weird dagger a secret?

The Sunrunner jolted as the docking clamps released and Zenith’s thoughts turned to the lives aboard her ship. She opened a display on the pilot’s console and connected to the med bay. The crew has crowded into the cramped space. No one was unscathed from their time on the station, but Ody, Buddy, and BOB had suffered the worst of it. 

“Please place BOB on the med-table carefully,” Jim told Buddy. “Adam, find something soft to support Odybrix’ head and set her down by the door. You can assist Buddy in disengaging from the mech afterward.”

“I’m fine,” Buddy protested.

“No, you have suffered multiple penetrating wounds and the stop-gap measures I have applied will soon reach the end of their efficacy. Adrenaline and a stimulant cocktail have kept your faculties at baseline. You will soon suffer significant fatigue and pain. You must stop piloting the mech and remain in a stationary position until I can treat you.”

The rare tone of authority from Jim stifled any further objection. Odybrix received an injection that would supposedly stabilize her, Buddy was sent to lay down on a cot in the hold, and BOB… An azure wave of light swept across BOB’s chassis as the med-table performed a diagnostic on the broken bot. Anxious as she was for her friend’s well-being, Zenith needed to focus on piloting.

A brilliant flash of light spread across the main display and the ship lurched from the nearby impact. Fragments of the station were blown away and its insides—mechanical debris and people alike—were pulled into space. Zenith spun the Sunrunner to port and the Baronnet came into view. Even firing at long range, the warship’s gargantuan size dwarfed those fleeing nearby.

A barrage of cannons and torpedoes slammed into the station as it returned fire. Smaller ships popped like fireworks as they disengaged from the docks. The savage attacks were so consistent that Zenith surmised the Baronnet was able to target and track every ship connected to the station. Alarms blared, warning of multiple incoming impacts, and she took the only survivable option available. 

The Sunrunner sped across the surface of the station, skirting around ships and floating structural debris. Zenith was betting that the Baronett would have trouble isolating a ship moving so close to multiple targets. A volley of plasma blasts rocked Levisia and gouged a deep wound into its surface. For a split second, Zenith caught a glimpse of the station’s innards. The attack had ripped open a door to Elysium and the breach was too large to seal with particle fields. She didn’t let her mind linger on the indiscernible specks flying out into space; she had to focus on her own people.

The frequency of the alerts diminished as the Sunrunner glided around the curve of the station. Flashes lit up the edges of Levisia as the Sunrunner sheltered behind it. Zenith allowed herself a few seconds to breathe. Her hands were steady—they always were when she was piloting—but her heart was racing. She brought up the feed from medical once again.

—

Sturdy grabbed a tube of sterilizing gel and spread it across the gash on Odybrix’ arm. In a few concise movements, the arm was bandaged and supported. For most of his professional life, his medical training had been applied to his injuries. Aiding someone else felt unusual, albeit easier—fishing out a slug from one’s own arm presented unique challenges.

 “The med-table will suspend BOB’s form and prevent further degradation,” Jim said. “The damage is severe. We will need access to an advanced medical suite for the repair.”

“So the table is going to be occupied until then? What does that mean for Buddy?” Adam asked from the cargo hold.

“The Sunrunner’s medical suite is not capable of stimulating the regrowth of spinal tissue. Buddy will also need advanced care.”

“Cool, I can keep riding the mech,” Buddy said, then shifted with a wince. “Ow, oh, that’s starting to hurt.”

“Your pain medication is wearing off. I’ll attend to your wounds next. Adam, assist please.”

“You got it, doc.”

“Sturdy, when you are done with Odybrix’ please monitor BOB and inform me of any changes.”

“Okay,” he said, standing up. 

The med-table displayed an encyclopedia’s worth of damage, program errors, and data corruption within BOB. That the bot was still online testified to its resilience. Sturdy’s eyes flicked to the right and noted the position of the med bay’s surveillance camera. Anyone looking at the feed would see his back. 

He slipped a small capsule out of a hidden compartment on his belt, then made a show of tapping the table’s display. The capsule had been one of the “additional resources” provided by Juniper Arwen, a small, concealable explosive. The bomb was invisible to most scans and could be triggered remotely at a distance of up to five kilometers. Sturdy hadn’t considered using the capsule on the bot, especially after it reinforced itself, but an internal detonation…

Sturdy rolled the bomb between his fingers, remembering what the bot had said on the elevator. I function to help others. He scowled and pushed the thought away. He had an objective. Even if the bot’s prognosis was dire, it wasn’t a sure thing. It needed to be a sure thing. He carefully affixed the bomb inside the bot, then nearly jumped when Zenith spoke over comms.

“Guys, you’re going to want to see this.”

A video appeared on the med-table display; Sturdy recognized the clean-cut image of the man on the screen.

“This is Vaughan Spectre, Chief Operating Officer of Remington Research and Development. It is with solemn regret I inform those listening that a fatal pathogen has been introduced to Levisia station. The terrorists responsible for this attack have stolen proprietary technology from Remington Corporation and weaponized it. It is our corporate duty to contain the spread of this pathogen by any means necessary. To the families of those lost aboard Levisia, please know that we shall not rest until we bring those responsible for this massacre to justice. We will be working with all galactic authorities in the Sea of Lights to capture these individuals.”

The video cut from the polished presentation to a surveillance feed. Headshots of the Sunrunner crew scrolled across the bottom as they laid waste to the Tibor’s gang in the Perihelion. The video had been edited to showcase every kill the crew made, painting them as the aggressors in the scene. It ended with a censored image of BOB toppling onto the dwarf and crushing him.

“Oh no,” Adam said.

“Are we in trouble?” Buddy asked, “Like, more than before?”

“I didn’t think it was possible, but yes.”

“We’re picking up a massive energy signature coming from the Baronnet,” Hilde said, voice dripping with curiosity. 

“It’s a massive ship,” Zenith said.

“The signature outsizes our initial scans of the vessel by at least a multiple of ten. It has been steadily building since the assault began. Oh, it’s a weapon!”

“What?!”

“Pulling it up on your displays.”

Levisia floated on their screens, wrapped in a corona of its shedding exterior. There was no sign of the Baronnet beyond the intermittent bloom of light from a torpedo strike at the edges of the station. No sound accompanied what happened next. There was no screech of shearing metal, or the thunder of explosions, or collective scream of those aboard. The mute carnage of Levisia being torn in half simply—mercilessly played on the screens.

“MRE ready for jump,” Ozzy said. “We need a flight plan.”

“Gemheart,” Zenith said. “Get us out of here!”