Galactic High

Jack sat at the back of the train alone in his thoughts. They hadn't gotten anything else out of the Oracle after that, as it had well and truly been shaken by the fact that an unknown third party had somehow manipulated its memory and archive of knowledge without it even knowing, at least until the right question began to unravel everything. Anything related to outsiders from another plane had been corrupted somehow, only leaving behind common knowledge.

What the Oracle had pledged, however, was to inform them of any changes and discoveries related to Jack as it attempted to heal itself with the aid of the Greenwardens, who had not hesitated to call for serious backup once the Oracle had alerted them to its discovery.

Jack looked at his Dominator in his hand and thought back to the moment he had been told that returning to Earth was impossible. He had been so close to blowing his brains out of sheer grief, Alora and the others being the only reasons why he didn't just do it then and there.

But the disturbing realisation that followed was even worse, replacing his grief with a cold rage that threatened to overwhelm him. Whoever or whatever had gotten to the Oracle first had deliberately prevented the group from learning anything useful, only leaving them with more questions instead of answers. And what the hell could essentially lobotomize an ancient, powerful being like that anyway?

The 'dog' that was laying down next to him raised its muzzle, sniffing at Jack while looking up at him with bright, intelligent eyes, sensing his distress. Jack could never bring himself to shoo the ‘dog’ away, so after repeated nudges for some attention, he finally relented and started scratching the 'dog' behind the ears.

"I'm surprised he didn't stay with the Oracle.” Alora spoke from behind as she sat down next to Jack and put a comforting arm around him. "He looked so peaceful lying down among the roots, and the Greenwardens looked so surprised when he didn't hesitate to come with us."

The Eladrie forced Jack to look at her. "Chiyo tells me you shouldn't be on your own right now."

Jack snorted. "Oh really? Why would that be? The fact that this entire trip was a waste of time despite all the shit we had to go through just to get there in one piece?"

"Not a waste," Alora comforted. "We now know that there might have been a possible inquiry for 'humans' before."

"Yeah, it's worrying if true, but that doesn't necessarily mean much," Jack replied uncertainly. "Whoever got to the Oracle first could have just heard about me. We have no idea when they got there before us."

"That wouldn't explain why they'd go to such trouble to corrupt the Oracle to be unable to answer," Alora reasoned. "And I think you're smart enough to know that deep down."

"Yeah," sighed Jack. "But that leaves us with a lot of disturbing questions."

Alora nodded. "Which comes down to just….why?" She sighed and leaned into their embrace. "I know it's not what we hoped, but the others and I are with you. As long as we can move forward along the winding path, we will. We'll all go home and plan our next move with the others and get through this together!"

"Thanks, Alora," Jack quietly replied, as they just sat there in silence, with nothing but the quiet hum of the train for company.

*****

Chiyo was very meticulous in her examination of the cauldron, trying not to think about the horror she had seen in Jack's aura. She so desperately wished she could talk to him herself, but she trusted Alora to do what she did best in her stead. She felt sorry for him being away from the rest of his own kind, and couldn’t imagine how she’d cope if the roles were reversed.

“So!” Sephy plopped down on the seat next to her. “All the craziness and mysteries we've gotta deal with and you want to deal with the cauldron that Dubakuu didn't even get to really use apart from putting a barrier up?"

Who's driving the train? Chiyo asked with raised eyebrows.

"Nika is, I'm technically on guard duty. Relax!" Sephy grinned. "Since we've got no possible ambush spots down this stretch of track I figured I could get away with stretching my wings."

You know this for certain?

"Give me some credit, Chiyo, I ran a mapping program on our way here. If Alora insists on talking to the Temple of Hope people about this place so they can investigate, I might as well charge them for a map and the access codes to the train."

Yet more credits and treasure? Chiyo grinned at her friend. We weren't even expecting anything coming on this trip!

"Well what can I say?" Sephy laughed as she made the two of them drinks. "I never like seeing a good opportunity go to waste. Case in point…" Sephy unslung her new gun the Greenwardens gave her. "Hopefully this bad gal'll be better at taking down Risen!"

The Greenwardens had little use for a smartlinked plasma burst rifle, considering they stayed away from any kind of cyberware whatsoever. Sephy tried her best to keep a good poker face and not look too excited when Nika pointed out that it had been heavily modified to reduce recoil and kickback, though some teasing from the others about selling it quickly broke down Sephy's facade when she immediately laid claim to it. There weren't many longer-range guns she could use that packed a punch like this, after all. ”Though…" she added solemnly, "I think we'll need some funds to get some more information. Hire a few brokers, investigators and researchers to help Jack out."

Yeah. Chiyo replied in agreement. That's why I'm on the cauldron right now trying to find out what it is and what it does. Everything else will need a group discussion when we get home.

"What have you found out so far?" Sephy asked innocently as she handed Chiyo her drink.

I originally thought it helped Dubakuu augment his divine magic. Chiyo speculated, sounding unsure. Nekdon's been dead for a while, so at most Dubakuu should only have had a finite amount of bestowed power left, only enough to cast basic cantrips without aid. But nothing about the cauldron suggests it specifically enhances or bestows power at all.

"Is it possible that his cyber messes with his magic in some way?" Sephy speculated, not quite believing it herself. "Making Dubakuu think he was casting divine spells instead of arcane?"

We don't know the nature of the cyberware. Chiyo thought. But I do know that, historically, Nekdon's priesthood considered cyberware taboo because it messes with the whole 'undeath after life' spiel. Masking one type of magic for another isn't something I've ever heard of, so I wouldn't know too much about it, but I do know that any attempts to use cyberware to grant magical abilities and knowledge of powerful spells have all failed.

"Worth a thought," Sephy replied. "Maybe he got juiced up from the Spawn of Nekdon - he did wake it up, after all."

Perhaps. Chiyo allowed. But we just don't know for sure. I feel we'll never get the whole picture by ourselves.

"I think the Cyber is our best lead, as battered as it is I might be able to pull some information off of it," Sephy replied thoughtfully. "Relax!" she added, seeing Chiyo's knee-jerk reaction. "No way am I letting it out of a suppression field. I have a few contacts that might be able to help me with the proper equipment."

That's good. Chiyo sighed. Maybe it'll reveal other pieces of the puzzle as well.

"Yeah," Sephy agreed solemnly.

"But either way, I have a bad feeling about all of this."

******

"Finally there!" Nika called out to the others.

It had taken several uneventful hours for the group to take the train back to the eerie station they had liberated it from, electing to carry on, albeit more slowly, as Jack, Chiyo and Nika did their best to clear the tracks of debris, with Sephy simply ramming anything too stubborn to be shifted. Though the train had suffered a little bit of damage, it could still move, which was all that really mattered. Future trips wouldn't be a problem for the factions that wanted to investigate their discovery of a Spawn of Nekdon.

"Finally!" Alora called out. "I've got water for you all, then we'd better get moving. We're making very good time, but I think we can all agree that the sooner we get back home, the better!"

"Don't forget the drinks!" Sephy added, looking to Jack a little concerned. "I know we didn't get what we wanted in the end, but we still accomplished a lot! We can rest and cheer up a bit!"

"We'll need to tell the Temple of Hope what's happened first and foremost," Alora argued not unkindly, knowing that Sephy only wanted to try and cheer Jack up. "And the sooner we get some answers the better. We're not done yet!"

Some of it can wait a little. Chiyo conceded. While I agree that we should report to the Temple, we also need to wind down from our ordeal. Some more than others. She looked to Jack, who didn't notice her part of the conversation until Nika summarised it for him. Though the human was putting on a brave face, he couldn't hide his aura from her.

And it was in tatters.

"I don't need to rest," Jack just muttered. “The sooner I know the better.”

“That will still take some time,” Nika told him as they picked up their stuff from the train and stepped out onto the platform. “And I agree with the others. Sucks how it ended, so stiff drinks are needed. We’re done for now, but at least we still have a trail to follow.”

Jack didn’t say anything, just keeping to himself as they ascended the stairs, confirming that they could now bypass the door that had previously trapped them in. He knew deep down the others were right; however, they had gone through a lot more than they had bargained for, so blowing off some steam was important, even if they did have school the next day…

The first signs of morning light were upon them, the solar plate above that provided the night cycle close to fully passing over them. It was far from a traditional sunrise from Earth that gradually peeked over the horizon due to planetary rotation; here it was either completely dark due to an eclipse-like event, or it was fully bright, with little in between.

Still, despite that, there was apparently still some light coming off some of the buildings in the abandoned town, with a few reflected colours lighting up the floors, and rapidly moving to shine on Alora as the ‘dog’ began to growl….

Wait.

Jack wasted no time, tackling Alora out of the way as the shot zipped past them, before quickly lifting his plasma rifle and immediately opening fire at the spot the light came from, panicking the others before more of the inaccurate fire of the would-be snipers pinged around them.

“Shit! Get to cover!” Nika yelled, as she laid down some covering fire, as Sephy picked Alora up and ushered them to the nearest building, which was far closer than the tunnel they had just left.

"Who the hell are these guys? Scavengers?" Sephy asked.

I detected no auras. Chiyo added, wide-eyed with worry. I should be able to tell now that the Spawn of Nekdon is dead.

"So an ambush," Alora groaned, conjuring a few protection spells. "They must have found out we'd be here and masked themselves."

"Do we know how many there are? " Nika asked worriedly. "Chiyo?"

I can't tell! They have a spellcaster blocking me!

Suddenly the undisciplined gunfire ground to a halt.

"Glenphyranix!" A rasping sound growled out. "Why so scared?!"

"Kralk," Nika growled, before adding with a whisper, "Don't reveal our position, Alora."

"Try that misdirection thing you can do!" Sephy suggested, to which Alora nodded in acknowledgement while casting a quick spell, before replying to Kralk.

"How many times must we do this before you give up, Kralk?" Her voice carried from lower down in the building they were in to echo out. “I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve beaten you!

"Until I win Glenphyranix!" Kralk snarled. "But today is business first. Hand over the Deathworlder and we won't kill you when we have fun with you and your friends. I know Xharl here wants to put that loud mouth Kizun bitch in her place!"

"LOOK HERE! LOOK LISTEN!" they heard another voice bellow out. "Y'ALL CAN'T DO SHIT AGAINST 20 GUNNERS AND OUR MAGE, SO Y'ALL BETTER GET OUT HERE NOW REAL TAWK!"

"The Redeemer,” Jack muttered as they quietly ascended the flight of stairs, with Sephy slapping a few anti-personnel mines around and behind them for good measure. "I was wondering if we'd see him again."

"At least we know their numbers now," Nika grimly replied.

"That's not going to happen, Redeemer," Alora called back. "Find another job, you're in over your head."

"THAT AIN’T HAPPENING! Y'ALL CAN'T HIDE FROM US!" he roared back.

“What’s our gameplan?” Jack asked quietly, and when he didn’t immediately get an answer he followed up with “Do we have one?”

“I can try and contact Luvia and see if she can fly over here and help…” Alora finally answered, sounding unsure.

“I don’t think we have time for that,” Sephy whispered. “I can see their matrix signatures, we’re gonna have to hold out here and reduce their numbers.”

“They’re here for me, I can try and lure them away from you,” Jack suggested.

That won’t work, they want us as well! Chiyo warned, translated by Nika. We’re better off sticking together and waiting for an opportunity to break out. These guys are undisciplined, we need to take advantage of that!

“We have all the time in the galaxy!” Kralk yelled out at them, clearly wanting to keep them talking. “Come out and face us!”

“Reckon you can rile them up and get them to try coming to us?” Nika suggested. “Get them to Sephy’s mines if you can! Chiyo, try astrally projecting!”

“Too scared to come and get us? I thought that those wanting to join the Red Legion had to have balls!” Alora taunted to their attackers, still using her ventriloquist trick.

There was surprisingly a brief pause, with several muffled voices surrounding the building before they heard the voice of Xharl yell out to someone unseen. "Nobody asked what you think! The only reason I haven't killed you is your magic so make yourself useful! There won’t be anybody else to tell of what’ll happen here, I’ll make sure of that!”

He then shouted louder, “We’re gonna have some fun using you girls for all the trouble you’ve given us!”

“WHY ARE Y’ALL JUST STANDING OUT HERE! WE GOTTA PUSH THESE GUYS, I AIN’T SHARING THE BOUNTY OR THE POON WITH PUSSIES!”

"I'm in charge Redeemer, not you!" Kralk roared back, though that declaration came with some voices of protest. "We all get an equal share in the bounties. Just keep their bodies intact and warm when we attack and we'll all get a turn with them!”

"NAH FUCK THAT! HEY BOYS! FIRST ONE TO KILL THE OUTSIDER GETS FIRST PICK OF THE GIRLS! GET IN THERE!"

With roars of approval, several of the combatants surrounding them could be heard rushing into the building as both Kralk and Xharl yelled over one another to try and regain order.

“They’re taking the bait!” Sephy grinned despite herself as several small explosions went off. “Now we pick them off and make ourselves an opening to escape."

"Wait for them to make their way up, I have some grenades from the Greenwardens that'll help," Nika added.

Save a few to blast us a way out if we need to. Chiyo warned. We don't want to be….

"Why are you aiming over there, idiot?" They heard Kralk yell out at someone. "They were last heard on the ground floor!"

"I know exactly where he is,” hissed the voice of Svaartal, which only Chiyo could barely sense as the 'dog' started to give a panicked whine.

Fireball! Take cover! Chiyo telepathically yelled to the others, and they immediately braced for impact.

All except for the human boy that couldn't hear her.

Jack saw what the others were doing and moved a split second after they had, dodging away from the group into the next room.

But a split second wasn't enough, and Jack had no idea what was coming.

The powerful blast of fire smashed into the building, ripping apart the room Jack was in, billowing dust and smoke.

The last thing the girls saw was the form of Jack falling….

"Jack! No!" Alora yelled in despair. "I'll kill you all!" she screamed out at the attackers.

He might still be alive! Chiyo told the others as she drew upon her power.

"Then we've got to help him!" Alora commanded.

"We've got hostiles!" Nika yelled as she returned fire to one of the hunters who had appeared down the only surviving corridor.

"Shit!" Sephy yelled as she backed away from the blast site, several rounds of laser and a few plasma shots missing her. "We aren't going anywhere for now! Jack, if you can hear me, hide!" she called into the comms.

No answer.

"Damn it!" Sephy yelled as she sprayed plasma fire back with her rapid-fire pistols.

Alora was shaken by the loss of Jack, before resolve took over her and she began casting her protection spells on the others.

This would be a hard fight.

*****

His potent fireball having ripped into the side of the building where the human was, Svaartal cursed under his breath. He wasn’t sure where to place the blame for the utter foolishness of their group’s plan of attack - the stupidity of Kralk, The Redeemer and Xharl’s plan of throwing people at the problem, or the many idiots that decided to follow them.

It had not been a fun or productive time deciding who was in charge of the operation, and nobody seeing themselves as a leader seemed to be willing to back down or concede as they travelled to Gladespring to pick up the trail. Svaartal certainly hadn’t been amused when most of the group were swayed by outrageous propositions and false promises by the other three, but the fact that Kralk had the local contacts and seniority meant that he was first among equals, though none of the others would ever publicly admit it. The cyber-wolf had relished spending the trip to this abandoned town hyping his followers up about the money and the other ‘perks’ they were sure to get under his leadership.

Still, none of the posturing and group politics mattered to him for now. Svaartal had nothing personal against the girls, and definitely had no intention whatsoever of allowing the idiots to follow through on their disgusting threats and promises to them, assuming they could even overcome Glenphyranix’s capable group. He had no doubt that they’d bunker down well enough to maintain a stalemate before attempting a retreat, which was fine with him. He just needed them to be kept busy, after all.

“Svaartal, where are you?” Kralk growled into the comms. “Stupid mage! You were right! They’re on the third floor! We need your magic to break through and….”

Svaartal turned off his burner commlink and tossed it to the side, having never had any intention of taking orders from the ‘leadership’ that had snubbed him. He had no doubt that the use of his magic would indeed turn the battle in their favour, but Svaartal had no intention of helping his side beyond achieving his personal goal, and he certainly had no intention of sharing the bounty. For the Nirah, the idiots were just there to provide a distraction while he faced the human alone in battle, though he did hope that a few of the more reasonable members that had looked to him for operational leadership heeded his tactical advice and kept themselves alive. He had certainly warned them not to interfere with his efforts, at least.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Svaartal sighed. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted. He had to do this, though he knew that his sister would disapprove. The ever-increasing bounty represented a life-changing opportunity for them to make something of themselves and live well, as their mother had intended and wished for them before their father showed his true colours. Svaartal’s personal revenge on the human just made him want this victory that much more.

He saw what he was looking for as he floated unseen in the air, a shifting in the rubble several stories below, right in the middle of the collapse.

Good. In spite of his goal, his pride definitely didn’t want Jack’s death to be that quick and easy.

His prey was in sight, and he was prepared.

The human would die. Painfully.

*****

Jack groaned as he shifted his body, pushing some rubble off of him and knowing he’d have to move. He had no idea what had hit them, but he had enough sense in him to know that the others were in danger and he needed to get to them. Stumbling to his feet he picked up his axe and checked that he had indeed still had his Dominator holstered on his hip, but there was no immediate sign of his plasma rifle. Shaking himself loose, he looked up to see the flashes of gunfire from above.

“Alora!” He yelled out.

“Jack! Thank the Mother Tree you’re alright!” He heard her call back via comms, though there was a lot of static buzzing in his ears as she spoke. “Chiyo? Can you get him up?”

“Don’t,” Jack whispered in his comms, getting his wits together. “I’ll go around and ambush them, I’ve still got my axe and pistol"

"Chiyo has your rifle. We're pinned down for now, but they're being sloppy."

"Blast a hole through the ground if you need to escape," Jack panted as he started moving. "We can-"

Jack slammed to the ground as something grabbed his leg and tripped him up. Looking at what it was, he panicked as soon as he saw the wire wrapped around his ankle.

"I don’t think so human!" He heard a familiar hiss echo from all around him, as the wire snapped taut and he was dragged hard along the ground…

*****

"Jack? What's going on?" Alora called back, having heard some noise of fighting on his end.

"You heard him!" Nika yelled as her grenade took out two of the hunters. "We can't stay here for too long! They're pushing up on us!"

"Agreed," Alora growled. "Chiyo?"

The Ilithii quickly swapped places with Sephy, who was now fully attuned to her smartlinked rifle as she peeked with it around the corner, without needing to stick her head out. The desk that several of the gunners were carrying to shield themselves ate several shots, but eventually Sephy was able to melt it enough to injure one, forcing them to duck into another room.

Chiyo concentrated for a moment as she felt the fault lines of the floor they were on. By expanding and pushing in the right places, she created a hole in the ground big enough for all of them.

"Sephy! You go first and take point!" Nika told her, unleashing with covering fire that stopped their attackers from pushing up.

"Don't fall behind!" the Skritta called back. "I'll get my drone so we can get a better viewpoint."

"Good idea if you can do it quickly and safely," Alora replied. "Chiyo, cover her!"

Sephy dipped down first, checking her corners with her plasma rifle, before carefully checking the corridor outside.

"Clear!" She replied, before quickly moving back to unpack her drone from the bag, setting it to thermal as Chiyo moved down to cover her with her powers.

That floor is ready to completely collapse with the right amount of force. Chiyo pointed out.

"Alora's way ahead of you," Nika called back as she heard the familiar whispering of Alora's casting.

"Ignatae," Alora finished, pointing her arms up and placing her 'Pyro Glyph' on the ceiling. "Hope this works!" she whispered before asking the others, "Ready?"

"Ready," Sephy replied, now covering the room with her pistols. "Get out of there!"

We have an emergency exit nearby we can use. Chiyo added. I can cast a displacement to help, but they probably have someone watching it.

"As long as we can break out, it's worth it!" grunted Nika as she was the last one to quickly slide through the hole, not missing a beat as she reloaded with a fully charged battery before taking cover in the small corridor they were in besides Sephy, training their guns into the room they just left.

"No need to double tap or finish off any of the downed unless you think they're still in the fight." Nika whispered as she calmed herself down in anticipation. "If they have buddies stopping them from bleeding out, that's more people not shooting us."

"Gotcha," Sephy replied, not even thinking of making a joke about it. "That doesn't apply to the leaders though. Take them out and the rest will run!"

"Good girl," Nika growled in approval as they heard heavy footsteps running in from above.

"GET A GRENADE DOWN THAT HOLE!" someone above them yelled.

"Get ready!" Alora whispered before activating the glyph she'd placed, blasting anyone in the room to smithereens and collapsing the floor. Sephy and Nika quickly blasted the ones that fell down while Chiyo took out anyone unfortunate enough to fall down in the corridor.

"Good job everyone, now let's get out of here and find Jack!" Alora spurred them on, letting Nika take point as they made their way to the exit.

She hoped Jack was okay…