Chapter 21: Break Away

Gavin’s remote greeted Kella as she entered the bridge.  He was once again in charge of the hovering fisheye, and it floated, rather impatiently it seemed, near the starboard windows.  Kella saw why as she got closer.  It was her first time seeing the strange delta-winged craft, and she didn’t like the look of it one bit.  It looked smaller, faster, and a lot meaner than the Praeotorian, which was saying something considering the Praetorian looked like a giant bird-of-prey.

Chapter 20: Snatch-N-Grab

It was the change in air pressure as the door opened that actually awoke her.  Kella’s head was awash in fog, and she slowly sat up, rubbing at her eyes to try and clear her mind.  What the hell happened?  She felt like she’d been on the bad side of a wrecking ball.  She looked around to get her bearings and realized she was in the brig.  Again. 

Chapter 19: Locked-In Synesthesia

Gavin reeled from the onslaught.  His mind was paralyzed by the sudden and relentless barrage of data from the now wholly connected gestalt of VIs.  His mind was unable to cope with the mass of data, and his vision had become filled with noise.  The static reached such an extent that it became a curtain of bright, piercing, white light that blinded him.  His hearing berated to such an extent that Gavin thought he’d gone deaf.  His brain, unable to handle the influx of stimulus, became overloaded and confused.

Chapter 18: Fair Play

            “So how long do you think we’ll have once I start cutting over the circuits?” Kella asked as she crawled through the muck, trying to ignore it.  The crawlspace below the Life Tube was worse because the humidity from the tube attracted all sorts of mold and mildew.  Kella had found a breather on Gavin’s recommendation before heading down into the space, but it helped little.  It was apparent that the space had never been cleaned, and had never been intended to be.

“I would imagine five minutes.  Maybe less,” Gavin said over her earpiece.  “I have a feeling they don’t know about me, or else you never would have made it in.  It might take them a bit to identify the threat, but they could be prepared for it.  You’ll need to be quick in either case.”

“Wonderful,” she said as she pushed aside a small partition separating the crawlspace from the access shaft to the AI housing.  From there was only a few yards to an access hatch, and then the AI housing just beyond.

Chapter 17: Turn About

Kella hit the ductwork below her hard.  With the platform now positioned vertically, nearly a half mile of struts, ducting, piping, walkways and most of the distance she had just covered in her mad dash to the Praetorian lay below her.  She’d only fallen a few feet, but she fell onto the metal pipes awkwardly, unable to brace her fall, and she felt the pain as the pipes dug in at odd angles along her back and shoulder.  Groaning, she picked herself back up and resumed climbing, but now she was climbing horizontally rather than vertically.  The Praetorian was still only a matter of yards distant.  She still had time.

Chapter 16: Panic

Still lost in thought, struggling through her inner debate, Kella didn’t even notice Sorsa walk back into the room until he gently laid a hand on her shoulder.  Startled, she jumped and Sorsa quickly withdrew his hand. 

“We have a problem,” he said curtly, walking back over to his cushioned chair behind the desk.

“I know, I need to move on,” Kella said morosely.

“Well, yes.  But no,” Sorsa said in his usual manner.  “I’ve been told there was some chaos at the space tower today.  Apparently, you have some friends that have come for a visit.”  Kella immediately feared that Tenner and his Deep Wolves had found her.  That was much too fast.  Did they not trust her from the beginning?

Chapter 15: Disappointment

Gavin finished telling his tale to Sorsa, who had been following intently at every word.  Kella was also riveted by his story, and wondered how it must be for such a man to be imprisoned in a cold, unfeeling metal shell.  Kella had picked up a few new details of Gavin’s life from the story.  She had been surprised originally to learn that Gavin had taken part in the Krix war, but even more so to realize that he’d actually stood toe-to-toe with the insectoid species on several planets in an attempt to drive them back.  He’d fought on the front lines, and what’s more, he survived.  She also guessed that it was then that Gavin and Sorsa had become acquainted, because for all of Gavin’s bluster, and Sorsa’s cold business sense, the two were fast friends, and had been for some time.

Chapter 14: Hunters

Hughes looked upwards with disgust through the Gladius’ main viewscreen at the ugly world suspended above.  He’d heard stories about Tal Rho’an, and all of them had been bad.  It was a lawless hole in space populated by the decrepit refuse of the galaxy.  Every Military trainee held the dream of being the hero that cleaned Tal Rho’an out, and saved the galaxy, but that was only a fancy that trainees clung to in order to survive boot.  Hughes never held that dream, but knew those that had, and the memories flashed back to him.  His frown deepened.

Chapter 13: Casual Shopping

Having found a crate of Military non-duty utilities, Kella stepped from the Praetorian’s boarding ramp and onto the grimy metal landing platform.  A cold wind swept over her, and combined with the dense shadow covering the lower levels, Kella involuntarily shivered.  She fidgeted with the vest she was wearing, mindlessly checking the pockets as she walked quickly past the un-manned scanning post and into the complex.

Chapter 12: Black Markets

“I don’t like this,” Kella said from the pilot’s chair on the Praetorian’s bridge.


“I don’t like this either,” Gavin said from the remote floating by the starboard window. Gavin could easily see the planet below from all of the external and internal cameras embedded throughout the plane, but confining his consciousness to one avatar seemed to make things easier. Gavin felt like he could breathe in one remote. Otherwise he just felt overwhelmed. “But it’s not like I can go to the Military for help.”

Chapter 11: Nemesis

“Major, the Hybrid system is now coming online,” the ensign reported from his station. Hughes turned to watch the show. He was seated in the captain’s chair of a very special warship. Built in tandem, but separate, from the Praetorian, this ship was small, fast, and armed to the teeth. It was the perfect nemesis to the Praetorian. In tandem, the ships would make for a formidable pair, but against one another, the Gladius had all the speed and agility to the Praetorian’s strength and was the perfect weapon to combat it.

Chapter 10: History

Kella, breathing heavily from her exertion, could only just stare. She didn’t even take notice when Gavin’s remote entered the room to float near her elbow.


“I told you I wasn’t a computer,” Gavin said quietly. Kella looked from the floating camera to the body floating in the gel, her mouth hanging open. She had heard him each time he’d defended his existence, and each time, she’d ignored him. She always just assumed it was the AI asserting its sentience. She never would have guessed that the entity that called itself ‘Gavin’ was in actuality, a living, breathing human. Or had been, at any rate.

Chapter 9: Red Disagreement and Green Truth

Kella paced the bridge, each step taken in frustration. Gavin’s remote floated nearby idly watching her pace back and forth. They were still some fourteen hours from Tal Rho’an. She’d visited the bridge after picking her quarters and hadn’t left since. Although Gavin wasn’t looking forward to visiting the planet, each passing hour was a step closer to freedom. For Kella, each passing hour was a step in the wrong direction and a dismal future.