Echo's Path

Artemis, Lancelot, Sigurd, and Susanoo watched on as Echo fought against a fire wyvern. She had already forced it to the ground using her bow and magic by shredding its wings, but now, she was having difficulty penetrating its scales. With Nyka's help splitting its attention, it was not too hard for her to dodge the predictable attacks of the wyvern, so she forced herself to remain calm as she focused her attacks on a small cluster of scales on its long neck.

She had abandoned her bow for her sword when the wyvern was grounded. Most of the skills that she had practiced complimented ranged attacks, since she knew that Rebecca would always be on the front line when the group was fighting a serious battle, but that also meant that she was at a disadvantage when using her sword. Still, she did not let that bother her now and kept fighting her battle, since all she needed was patience to secure that final hit. Finally, after a dozen hits, the scales shattered, and Echo did not let the chance pass her. With her Territorial Domain spell in full play, there was no way for the wyvern to defend itself when she teleported next to the wound and stabbed her sword straight into the wound.

"Absolute Zero," Echo muttered, casting her spell.

While it was a cheesy manga trope to have the characters shout out whatever move that they were going to use, which Katye had a personal library of while they were living in Eden that she had read, Echo had realized that it truly did help her visualize her spells. A burst of Ice mana erupted from her sword, and rapidly froze the innards of the wyvern's body at an incredible rate. In less than a minute, the entire wyvern had frozen from the inside out and, with a twist of her sword, the ice sculpture shattered.

"You've improved again," Sigurd remarked.

"It's still not enough," Echo replied with dissatisfaction, wiping her sword clean. "It would take hours for me to break Rebecca's scales at my current level, and I would not last anywhere near that long."

"Hunting dragons is not a simple matter, or everyone would do it," Lancelot retorted. "Take the compliment from the Germanic barbarian."

Sigurd huffed, but otherwise ignored the goad of the Englishman.

"Unfortunately, your prey is simply too strong for the current you, so all that you can do is keep practicing until you overcome the impossible," Susanoo said.

"As I will," Echo replied. "Hopefully, Susanna's new training can give me an edge against her elemental nature."

"I still don't think it is a wise decision," Artemis warned. "The concepts of Order and Chaos are very powerful and very dangerous. You would be tying yourself to both if you undergo this 'assimilation' that you have told us about, by my understanding. If Katye and Rebecca are as you have told us, Gods on the level that they can create True Life, as the one who created you, then comparing yourself to them, even in this 'rebirth' that they are going through, is a foolish matter. You are incredibly talented for a Mortal embarking on the Immortal path."

"It's the Soul Bond," Echo huffed. "It's simply dragging me along."

The four holographic experts shared a look but did not argue with their ward. Their place was that of a teacher, and they had tried to correct her mentality, but there was little that they could do to help the inferiority complex that she had towards Rebecca. If she could not get over it, it would stunt her future growth as her focus would always be on beating Rebecca rather than figuring out her true path.

"Rebecca to Echo. Can you come to Janeway's Ready Room?" Echo's comm badge chimed.

"I'll be there shortly," she replied, tapping her badge.

She stored away her sword into the storage ring as Nyka walked up, shifting to her small, house-cat size.

"We can go over the battle when I return," Echo said, and the four nodded their heads. "Computer, end program."

The snow-covered grassland vanished with her command and was replaced by the holo-deck. She straightened her uniform before heading for the exit, with Nyka on her heels. It did not take long for Echo to reach the Bridge, and she crossed straight to the Ready Room, and then waited a moment for permission to enter the room. Janeway was sitting behind her desk while Rebecca was in a chair across from her with a slight frown on her face.

"Ensign Echo, thank you for coming so quickly," Janeway said.

"Of course, Captain," she replied, respectfully.

"We have a problem, and your abilities are very suited to helping us. Chakotay has gone missing. He took a shuttlecraft to survey a nearby star system, but he did not rendezvous with us at the scheduled time. I'm hoping that you can use your power to locate him," Janeway said.

{This is an episode, I'm sure of it. One of the aliens in this region is definitely one that I've seen, a Predator-looking race... It's the one where Chakotay ends up fighting for a human-looking group because they brainwashed him.} Rebecca's voice spoke directly to her mind.

"Of course, Captain, that shouldn't be a problem, but I will need to take over helm control while I'm tracking him," Echo replied, showing no reaction to Rebecca's warning.

"Not a problem," Janeway agreed, standing up.

Janeway led them back to the Bridge and instructed, "Echo, you have the conn."

Tom was surprised that he was removed but was smart enough to not vocalize it. He got up and Echo sat down while Nyka hopped up on the console. She closed her eyes and stirred her mana to activate the advanced form of her Eye of the Hunt while focusing her mind on Chakotay. It took a sizable chunk of her mana to form the trail since she was doing it without any clues of his whereabouts, but it was manageable at her current strength. She opened her eyes, which were now icy blue, and plotted a course in the direction that she felt that she was being pulled.

The trail brought Voyager to a star system that was controlled by both the Kradin and Vori. She was able to figure out which planet he was on, but as the ship approached, the Kradin hailed and warned that Voyager was approaching an active war zone. Janeway, being the diplomat that she was, talked with them and told them about the disappearance of Chakotay. They offered to help locate him and would show his picture to all of their troops, so that they could help rescue him, if possible. Janeway agreed, of course, but she also wasn't willing to rely solely on them with Rebecca and Echo at her disposal.

She asked Rebecca and Echo to take their ship, cloaked, down to the planet to find him. They agreed and launched their shuttle without a single word between the pair. Echo was pleased that Rebecca was not taking the lead as she usually did, but she still had one more test for the stubborn dragoness.

"I will beam down to the planet and secure Chakotay. You can wait for my signal," Echo said as she put the ship into orbit.

"Alright," Rebecca sighed.

Echo glanced back at Rebecca who was staring dimly at the terminal in front of her. She could see the internal struggle in Rebecca's mind, but with her not arguing, Echo felt slightly more confident. While she could not shrug off bullets and phaser beams, like Rebecca could, she knew that she could still be successful in this event. With Nyka on her shoulder, she beamed down to the planet where Chakotay was lost.

Echo took in a deep breath slowly, and reactivated her Eye of the Hunt. While the trail was easy enough to pick up, she knew that the real challenge would be keeping herself hidden from the two warring factions. With a silent command to Nyka, the fox would focus on locating anyone approaching within a fifty-meter radius of them so she could focus on the path ahead of her.

From Rebecca's memories of the episode, she had expected that it would be a simple matter to find Chakotay. What she failed to realize, due to the spotty nature of the memories, was that the scenes from the episode were two days after Chakotay's capture. Due to how fast she was able to locate him and not waiting for help from the Kradin, Chakotay was still in the facility where the Vori started their brainwashing procedure, which was at the heart of their stronghold on the planet. She realized the problem soon enough as the trail brought her to a walled-off area. This was unlikely anything that the episode had shown, but Rebecca's memories did warn her that Chakotay had undergone drugging, and other psychological treatments, to 're-program' him to fight their war.

She sat in a tree, overlooking some of the region, and weighed her options. If she called in Rebecca to act as a distraction, it would be child's play to infiltrate, but the last thing that she wanted to do was rely on her. Her Naru Darc powers would allow her to slip in unnoticed, but she could not use her Eye of the Hunt while in the Yin Realm, so she would be forced to exit to search for the commander. Unfortunately, there was not a single female among the Vori soldiers, so if she was seen, even wearing their uniform, her cover would be blown.

"There aren't many options. I need your strength," Echo sighed, looking down at the fox.

Nyka gave a soft bark which Echo understood to mean, "My strength is your strength."

While the fox did not mention it, through their connection, Echo knew that it was uncomfortable for her to fuse with her body which is why they rarely joined. There was a major disconnect between the two of them and their physical bodies, so it was difficult for them to maintain the symbiotic state, though it was more due to their lack of practice than true incompatibility. After all, Istar had created Nyka for Echo, so it was only herself holding them back from realizing their true potential.

Nyka's body fused with Echo's, strengthening her Soul and granting her the fox's spells. Both existed within Echo's mind, though Nyka did not try to control any part of her body, contributing to her discomfort when they were like this. Echo did not hesitate any longer and shifted herself into the Yin Realm. She easily bypassed the security measures of the Vori, and slipped into the base. Instead of searching for Chakotay directly, Echo looked for a barracks, of sorts, and stole a uniform then changed into it.

Illusion magic was still difficult for Echo, as it required a high level of precision, but Nyka had an innate understanding of Illusions due to her species. Combined with the proper uniform, Echo could cast a spell which could hide her gender, along with her other features, so that when normal people looked at her, they would have the feeling that she was someone familiar, but not enough to interact with, allowing her to roam freely. 

She used her Eye of the Hunt to draw close to where Chakotay was being held, but the security around the area was extremely tight. There was a total of three doors that led into the space, protected not only by two guards at each door, but also by heavy shielding which blocked her access, even using the Yin Realm. As much as she hated to admit it, she lacked the skill to fuse multiple elements together, as Katye and Rebecca could, so she had no easy way to get past the shielding.

Clicking her tongue with annoyance, she grumbled to herself, "While fighting my way through, or even simply killing the posted guards to get to Chakotay, is possible, he won't be in a condition to escape under his own strength and, if he is, I will be reprimanded for my violence by the kwelen hod daun branwoda (weak-minded fool). Any type of attack, distraction, or abduction will put this fortress on lockdown, likely strengthening the defensive around the location, meaning more people between me and my goal... Damn, it's been a long time since I have used my infiltration skills, and this technology only makes things more complicated."

Echo, who had grown up in a world without any type of technology that used electricity or black powder, had the most difficulty learning to use the computers that dominated this universe. While she had far more skill than when she first entered the universe of Voyager, her skill level was little above a teenager who had grown up with it, so there was little chance of her hacking the system that the Vori used. So, instead of hacking per say, she decided to go straight to the top and destroy his Mind so that that she could use him to enter the space where Chakotay was held; one man's 'death' was better than the dozen or more that a frontal assault would cost, and Chakotay would likely not even realize that she destroyed his consciousness.

She made her way to a console in an unoccupied room and searched for the commander of the fortress. She was able to find his information without tripping some kind of security measure, including his office. Making her way up to the floor, she scouted his office and kept walking until she was out of sight then vanished into the Yin Realm. There was no special shielding up here, so she was easily able to retrace her steps and enter the commander's office. Luck was on her side as only a single person was in the room and, when she exited the Yin Realm, she found the exact person that she was looking for.

Without a word, she placed a hand on his head and, before the commander could even react, she released a burst of mana through his brain. Mental magic was complicated due to the delicate touch that was required to not adversely affect the person it was cast upon, but if that was not a concern, it was an easy matter to scramble a person's mind. While his brain would keep his body breathing and his heart beating, he was little more than a puppet that she could control with telepathic orders now.

{Stand up. You will lead me to where the prisoners who are being brainwashed are held.}  Echo ordered.

Dimly, the commander did as he was instructed. He stood up and walked to the door leading to the hallway. Echo walked behind him, barely able to suppress the light smile on her face.

{If only I had these abilities when I was in Nia's service, I never would have had to suffer under that bedas (bitch), but I also never would have met Katye and the others... Fate is as cruel, as it is kind.} Echo mused to herself as they walked.

No one stopped the pair as they walked through the halls, and only mumbled greetings were heard whenever they passed anyone. If Echo had probed the man's mind, she would have learned that he was the original person to suggest using the brainwashing techniques to capture random aliens and have them supplement their troops to the Vori government. If that crime was not offensive enough, even his own troops feared his wrath as he had sent anyone he was dissatisfied with straight to the front lines. While Echo had shattered his mind with no sympathy or concern for his crimes, she had still removed a piece of trash from the universe.

Getting past the guards was a simple matter with the commander next to her, but she could not help but freeze when she entered the room. Over a hundred aliens, dozens of species, were strapped to metal tables with tubes connected to their bodies and some kind device strapped to their heads. Flashbacks of when she had been captured by Mount Weather could not help but surface to her mind, despite years of suppressing those memories.

For weeks, she had been stuffed in a cage that was a three-foot cube like hundreds of the other members of the Twelve Clans. They were only fed a small amount of gruel once a week and water once a day from a hose as the guards rinsed them off. The only time that they were pulled out of their cages was to be sedated then hung upside down to harvest their blood to save the lives of their captors. She had been one of the next to be drained when Rebecca came and destroyed the Mountain, saving all of her people with only a single death on their side, her lover.

{Order all of your personnel to leave. Now!} Echo ordered.

"Everyone, quit what you are doing and leave the room immediately!" the commander barked.

"But, sir..." one of the men said.

Without hesitation, Echo manipulated the commander to draw his pistol and shoot the man who spoke up. No one argued again, and they all ran out of the room, oblivious of Echo's trembling body. Despite the horrors that she had been subjected to growing up, the people that she killed on Nia's orders, nothing had ever made her feel so hopeless as she had been when she was in that cage. She no longer cared if she pissed off Chakotay and Janeway, since she knew that Rebecca would understand her decision.

{Disconnect everyone from your devices and drugs, starting with him.} Echo ordered, directing the Vori commander to Chakotay.

While she waited for Chakotay to be freed from the Vori contraption, she slowly regained her composure as she told herself that the Vori would pay for their crimes soon. Thankfully, Chakotay did not wake up immediately, so she tapped her comm badge, but the signal could not penetrate through the shielding.

{Shut down the shields that are protecting this location.} she ordered her puppet.

The commander stopped what he was doing and headed for the large terminal in the room. She knew that turning off the shields would likely set off an alarm, but that did not matter to her anymore. Once she got Chakotay out of harm's way, the slaughter would begin, and the alarm would be the lure that she needed.

Sure enough, an alarm started going off a few minutes later, but Echo ignored it and tapped her badge, "Echo to Rebecca. Do you read me?"

"Yes, I have you on sensors now," Rebecca replied.

"Good, Chakotay is in front of me. Beam him up to the ship. I'll contact you again when I'm ready to go."

"What? You only needed to…"

"I'm shutting down this operation. I don't give a damn about the Prime Directive, or that Federation bullshit. These people are worse than the Mountain Men," Echo growled, losing her composure.

Rebecca was silent for a moment, then Chakotay started materializing in front of her, and she said, "If you need any help, I'm just a call away."

"Thank you," Echo replied, retrieving her sword from her storage ring.

{Go back to freeing everyone.} Echo ordered.

The commander did as he was told, just as the first door opened. Echo released the illusion covering her body, and channeled her mana through her body to enhance her speed. While she was not as fast as Katye or Rebecca, she was still three to four times faster than an average person. By the time that the first Vori soldiers raised their guns to aim at her, she had already closed the distance between her and them.

There were five of them, each carrying a kind of automatic rifle. Although they were trained soldiers, hand to hand combat was not their specialty, while Echo had fought countless people with her sword. She killed the first with a single strike before any of them could react, then she shoved aside the barrel of another's gun and slashed the holder's chest in a fluid motion after ripping her sword out of the first.

Two attempted to retreat while one opened fire at her. Shifting to the side, she narrowly avoided the bullets and followed up with a thrust of her sword to the man's gut. The two who had moved away were about to shoot, but before they could, Nyka harnessed some of Echo's mana and launched to ice bolts at them, freezing them in place.

{Thanks, Nyka.}

Before she could even take a breath, the other two doors opened and more troops entered the room. Knowing that they would be able to shoot before she could close the distance, Echo retreated to the Yin Realm where she could approach unseen. As soon as she struck one of the men, she was forced out of the Yin Realm, but that suited her just fine, since it kept their focus on her instead of stopping her puppet from freeing the prisoners.

Like a reaper of death, she would claim a few lives and then vanish without a trace, until she came to harvest more souls. Eventually, they stopped sending soldiers into the room and attempted to set up a defensive perimeter around the room, but that only made things easier for Echo. The shields were still down, so the walls were no longer an obstacle and, in that blackened world, the golden souls were like beacons to her eyes.

During the entire time that Echo was within the fortress, Nyka remained fused with her and, once the fighting started, Nyka began using a bit of Echo's power to assist her. While neither of them realized it while they were cutting down the Vori troops, the discomfort and disconnect between them was easing at a rapid rate. What neither of them could see was the faint icy blue glow that was taking the shape of two fox ears on top of her head, and three tails from her backside. Although it was at a lesser stage than Rebecca's Black Fire Demon, this was the initial stage of Echo's Dusa form, and the first true step on her path to Godhood.