ADRIFT.

Once the Excalibur Blue reached the coordinates that Eli had calculated, the engines cut off and the ship came to a stop.

"We're here," Amara said, as she stood at the command table with the other, "Now what?"

"Now we go into hyperspace." Astrid said while bringing up her star chart,

"According to the data we extrapolated from the star charts, the hyper-streams in this location should hold the current that is carrying the Red," Eli informed,

"I know it might be a little late to say this, but what if the Red got displaced, like the Salvation?" Kiva added

[The data takes that into account,] Merlin said, [there is little known about temporal distortions cases, but from what I could gather, it only happens during a hyper storm, and the conditions needed for one to occur isn't here.]

"This is a shot in the dark at best," Aria said, reading the data from her band

"Sometimes, a shot in the dark is all you need," Astrid said, her voice full of hope

"So, who's doing the deed?" Kiva asked, "I can't go, I need to keep the generator active."

"I'll go," Astrid said, "I was always going to be the one going."

"You're not going alone this time," Eli said, "I'll go with you."

"No, you need to stay here and coordinate with the sensors," Astrid said

"I'm coming too," Amara said, "And I won't hear any objections."

"I support that idea," Eli said, "you need the help,"

"Fine," Astrid sighed

Later, in the hold of the ship, Astrid, Amara, Eli, Kiva and Merlin were in front of the hyperspace generator. Astrid and Amara were both wearing their combat suit, with added armor.

"As soon as you guys are in there, I'm going to have to close it," Kiva said,

"We know," Amara said, "You do what you need to, just keep safe."

"I should be saying that to you," Kiva said

"This is incredibly stupid," Eli said as she checked on Astrid's gear, "I should be going with you."

"You don't need to see mom like that," Astrid said

"I'm not a little kid anymore, you and Morgan don't need to keep protecting me." He huffed

"You may not be a little kid, but you're still our baby brother," Astrid said, "We're always gonna look out for you."

"I could handle it, y'know," Eli said, "Seeing mom, even if it's just what's left of her."

"I know, but I don't want you to see what might happen if there isn't anything left of her," Astrid said as she checked her bag which carried explosives.

"As soon as you have something, call us," Eli said, "even if you're in another dimension, the beacon I set up should allow us to detect you."

"We will," Amara said, "keep the ship safe for me, will you?'

[It's in good hands,] Merlin said, [Bring our girl home.]

"We'll do our best," Astrid said as she hugged Eli.

She and Amara then walked into the interior of the generator,

"Okay, let's do this," Kiva said as she placed her hand along the outside of the generator, at the back, the complex machinery started to hum with activity as a fissure opened up in front of it, sucking both women into it before is swiftly snapped closed.

"Good luck," Eli said

* * *

Astrid wasn't sure what to expect when the fissure swallowed her and Amara, but within seconds, when she once stood on solid ground, she now found herself floating in a vast emptiness.

What she saw was similar to a nebula, a vast multicolored void of clouds floating about, roiling and exploding with color whenever they touched with pinpricks of light scattered in the distance that didn't seem like stars… more like holes in the void to what lay beyond. Although they were technically in space, it felt like they were underwater, there was a syrupy texture to the environment that rippled with their every movement. Every so often, there would be a spark of energy, like a bolt of lightning passing from one light pinprick to the other.

"So this is hyperspace?" Amara asked over the internal comm. "I didn't think it'd be so… colorful."

"I know," Astrid said, "It's kind of beautiful,"

"What is this stuff?" Amara asked as she waved her hand through a small red-green cloud, leaving a silhouette of her hand and a trail as the cloud passed by her.

"I think it's mana," Astrid theorized, "This whole place seems to be made of mana… I've never felt so much before."

A sudden gust blew a massive cloud their way, once they were swallowed by it, they were swept up by a current that dragged them along with the cloud. For a few moments, they spiraled out of control, but their retro boosters stabilized them long enough for the cloud to pass.

"That was weird," Amara said, "I felt that through my suit. It was tingly."

"Me too," Astrid said as she held out her hand, seeing sparks of energy flowing between her fingers, she could feel them in her bones. This was an experience unlike any she'd ever felt… and she'd felt a lot of things.

"So where's the Red?" Amara said, refocusing on the mission. "Shouldn't it be here?"

A few moments later, one of the lightning bolts shot out from a far off pinprick of light, as it came closer, it got much bigger. Passing by them it was the size of a moon as it went to another pinprick of light. When the bolt had passed, there were different bits of debris caught in its wake and following its trajectory, among which was what, at first glance, appeared to be a small pebble but quickly grew as it careened towards them, becoming the massive hulking wreck that was once the Excalibur Red.

"This place is so weird." Amara said

"C'mon, let's go." Astrid said as she used her retro boosters to thrust her towards the craft.

As expected from the massive onslaught that the Excalibur had delivered, the Red's hull was in pieces. There were holes big enough for a frigate to fly right through with ease. Peering inside one of these holes, they could see fleshy vines growing throughout the innards of the ship, there didn't seem to be any activity inside, and nothing was registering on their radar.

"Let me scan for life signs," Amara said, activating her suits sensors. On her HUD, the ship then started flashing red, "Dammit, it looks like the Maja was still alive. My sensors register the whole ship as one solitary lifeform."

"It was techno-organic in nature, makes sense that it would assimilate the wreck after taking all those people." Astrid surmised, "Let me try something."

She closed her eyes, letting the rampant mana of hyperspace flow through her as she expanded her sensory ability. She felt the Maja, a grotesque tumorous mass of flesh and technology, a cybernetic colony, alive but not really. As she peered deeper, she felt something different, something familiar. It was faint, barely even registering within her perception, but she recognized the presence none the less; it was her mother.

"She's alive." Astrid said, her voice projecting how elated she felt

"Are you sure?" Amara asked, "It could be a trick of the Maja."

"No, it's faint, but mom's still retaining just enough individuality to not be completely taken over." Astrid said, "She must've been holding out for years, fighting."

"Then let's not keep her waiting," Amara said, "Where is she?"

"On the bridge," Astrid said as the two women made their way around the outside of the ship until they approached the bridge.

The massive view screen at the front of the bridge was gone, shattered by cannon fire. The two women floated inside the bridge to find the entire room also overrun with fleshy vines, overgrown from the different stations and consoles, all the vines went towards the captain seat, where sat the remains of Nya Crimson.

"Mom…" Astrid gasped

Nya was mostly naked; her biotic suit was in tatters exposing her pale flesh to the thorny vines that grew over her. Her eyes were sunken and dull, and her hair was ratty and unkempt, but despite that she looked the same. The vines covered her, securing her to the seat as their thorns pierced her skin and grew into her, yellow circuits were visible across her body, sometimes flickering red before disappearing before reappearing somewhere else.

"Nya?" Amara asked as they approached, their boots magnetically sticking to the floor.

"There seems to be a paper thin atmoshell around her," Astrid noted, "No doubt the Maja is keeping her alive."

"We have to get her out," Amara said as she drew her knife and cut the first vine.

In response, the entire network of vines trembled and let out a collective shriek.

"I don't think you should've done that." Astrid comments, as she could hear the sound of shuffling come from deeper within the ship.

"There's no way we can hold off all of them," Amara said, "And we won't be able to cut all the vines in time."

"We'll have to burn through them," Astrid said as her hand suddenly caught fire, crackling with blue flames. She had only meant to conjure a small fireball, yet there was so much ambient mana she almost set herself ablaze.

"Wont that hurt your mom?"

"I'll be careful." Astrid said as she launched a burst of flames at the chair. The flames, fueled by the mana of hyperspace, burned hot and bright, burning through the shrieking vines of the Maja, around the bridge, the other vines ripped themselves from the walls and floors and started to convulse, squirming in mid-air as they crept closer to the burning chair.

"Oh no you don't," Amara said as she drew her plasma blasters and started firing at vines

Astrid was solely focused on controlling the flames so that they destroyed the vines, but didn't harm her mother. as the vines restraining Nya quickly burned away, Astrid extinguished the mana flames and grabbed her mom's arm, yanking her off the seat, and ripping several vines that had grown into her out.

"I got her," Astrid said

[NOOO!] screamed a monstrous voice through the vines, [Nya Crimson cannot leave the collective. The hive-brain must remain!]

"I'm taking my mom back, you fucking hive-mind asshole," Astrid said as she ignited the blue flames once more, setting alight every single vine in the bridge, "And there's nothing you can do about it."

Taking a respirator from her emergency pack, Astrid fitted the device around her mother's mouth and nose, allowing her to breath, then she created a cocoon for her made from nuform to keep her insulated, now that the atmoshell was gone.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Astrid said

"Not yet," Amara said, as she took the pack of explosives, plasma mines, and set off the timer on one and leaving the bag containing a dozen on the burnt captain's seat. "This'll blow this place to kingdom come."

With Nya firmly recovered, they started out the hole in the view screen, but outside they were met with Maja golems, drone creatures made form patchwork of flesh and machinery, all intent on stopping them

[The hive-brain must remain!] the screamed, [the Maja must grow!]

"This might be a problem," Amara said

As they stared down the horde before them, Astrid let loose a wave of psionic energy that should know back any living thing, she then blasted her retro boosters at full thrust, rocketing up and away from the hull.

"A warning would've been nice," Amara chides as she catches up, "And it looks like they're not giving up that easily."

Below them, vines started to extend from the breaches in the hull and the golems started to climb the vines.

"Leave us alone!" Astrid yelled as she took out her blaster and started firing at them.

"I'll call our ride." Amara said as she triggered the beacon Eli made.

Some distance away, a fissure opened up.

"There's our exit." Amara said, "I don't think it'll stay open very long."

"I don't think we want it to," Astrid added as more Maja golems exited the wreck, in pursuit.

They fought off as many golems as they could, but more just kept coming. Eventually, they'd be overwhelmed.

"Hang on," Astrid said as she grabbed onto Amara and using her psionic powers, pushed them forwards much faster than their boosters could take them.

The fissure was starting to close as they shot towards it, barely making it, as the fissure snapped closed behind them.

Moments later, the timer on the plasma mines expired and the bridge was engulfed in a massive explosion, that rippled through the ship, the blast tore through the weakened hull, causing it to come apart and ripping the wreck in two.

* * *

"AAARGH!" the sound of Amara's screams filled the air as the three women came crashing back into real space, inside the hold of the Excalibur Blue.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked as she got her bearings and checked on her mother.

"Oh my god, Amara." Kiva cried as she went to her wife.

As Astrid looked over at them, she finally saw what was wrong; both of Amara's legs were gone. They seemed to have melted just above then knees, leaving just burning fleshy stumps behind.

"What happened?" Kiva demanded looking at Astrid

"I-I-I don't know," Astrid stammered, "We were being swarmed by the Maja, so I used my powers to shoot us through the rift as it was closing.

[It must've closed on her, severing her legs and leaving them in hyperspace.] Merlin suggested as she went to Amara, projecting lasers from her eyes to cauterize the wounds.

Amara's screams reached a new pitch from the pain of being burned, so Merlin knocked her out with sedative shot from her hands.

[She's stable,] Merlin said, then turned to Astrid, [Is Nya okay?]

"I don't know," Astrid said as she held Nya in her arms, her mother was unresponsive, "something may be wrong with her."

"Medic," Kiva yelled, calling two officers that were waiting nearby, "Take them to the medical ward immediately, make sure they are properly taken care of."

"Yes ma'am," the medics affirmed as the produced two hover stretchers out of nuform to carry the two ailing women away.

As she watched the stretchers leave Astrid felt worried for Amara, and guilt for her injury, but she couldn't help but smile, "I can't believe we did it," she said with a jovial grin on her face, "We saved mom."

"Now's not the time to celebrate." Kiva told her

"Why, what happened?" Astrid asked

[We have guests.] Merlin informed

As they got to the executive lounge, Astrid saw that there was a group of people waiting for them.

"Well fuck," she groaned

"That seems appropriate." Morgan said as she took a sip of tea, she was sitting there with Valla, Eli, Aria, and a holo-comm. of Terror.

"Obviously we have a lot to discuss," Terror started

"Let me just start by saying; I was right," Astrid said, "Mom was still alive, and I rescued her. Me, when the rest of you had given up hope, I still believed."

"Don't think that just because you brought back her body that everything you've done has been forgiven," Morgan growled as she stood up, her eyepatch still covered the part of her face that Astrid scarred.

"I warned you to get out of my way," Astrid growled back, "at least you still have the two-thirds of that pretty face left,"

"You bitch." Morgan snarled as she barred her fangs

"so, you want to lose the rest of your face then?" Astrid said as her hand glowed with psionic power

"ENOUGH!" Eli yelled, attracting the attention from the room, "Look at the two of you; the first time we've all been together in years and you already want to fight and kill each other?"

"How did they even find us?" Astrid scoffed while folding her hands

"I called them," Eli revealed

"You what?" Astrid demanded

"Morgan is our sister, and has just as much right to see the results of our efforts as you do." Eli reasoned, "Now the two of you are going to behave, or do I have to lock you in a room until you decide to calm down?"

"She thought mom was dead!" Astrid snarled, "She doesn't have any rights at all!"

Morgan backed off, glaring at Astrid, but kept quiet. She couldn't refute what her sister accused her of, and neither could Eli.

"That doesn't matter now," Eli pleaded, "she's still our sister, and still Nya's oldest daughter."

Astrid glared daggers at him, the same kind of glare her mother used to give, to anyone else it would've been withering, but Eli stood his ground against the psionic powerhouse before him.

"Whatever," Astrid sneered turning away

"Alright," Morgan sighed

"Look at you being the responsible one and standing up to them," Terror chuckled as he simulated patting Eli on the back, "You've grown strong,"

"Astrid, I believe you have something to apologize for?" Eli began

She immediately wanted to argue, but the look on Eli's face told her that the time for fighting was over.

She sighed, relenting, "Morgan, I'm sorry for running off, and for scarring your face."

"Good," Eli said, "And Morgan?"

"Astrid, I'm sorry for hunting you like an animal, shooting at you… and trashing your room that one time."

"That was you?" Astrid demanded

"Not the time," Eli said

"Fine," Astrid huffed

"Now, we have bigger problems that just the two of you," Eli said, "Morgan?"

"It seems that Primark Morag has issues with our family." Morgan confirmed, "the arrest order for Astrid, I agreed with, and the detainment for Amara, Kiva and Eli, I understood, but when he called to have me and Valla arrested, that was crossing a line."

"I haven't been on Avalon much lately, what do you know about this new Primark?" Kiva asked

"He's an effective leader," Terror commented, "he's more geared towards militarization than Mari, but he's policies are fair. And he's in support of the centralism movement."

"So he wants to give the privatized corporations less leeway. It'll makes the authority of the High Order more absolute, but I don't really see a problem with it," Valla said

"You're a vampire now?" Astrid noted sensing something different about her

"Yeah," Valla said flashing her fangs, "A thing happened. Where's Admiral Amara"

"There was an accident in the recovery mission," Kiva said, "she's undergoing medical treatment."

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Valla said, "I hope she pulls through,"

"So, how is mom?" Morgan asked

[So far, she still non responsive.] Merlin said materializing beside her, [there are signs of physical and psychological trauma from her time with the Maja, and because of how unpredictable hyperspace is, I can't tell how long it has been for her.]

"Do you think she'll ever recover?" Kiva asked

[Time will tell,] Merlin said, [her physical condition is improving, but it's too early to see if she might suffer any post-traumatic stress.]

"I think we should get her back to her ship," Morgan explained,

"I agree," Astrid said, surprising everyone

"You do?"

"The Excalibur is her home, our home, where else would be better for her to rest in?" Astrid said

"Alright," Morgan said, "So, when should we leave."

[We can't leave, not yet,] Merlin said

"Why not?"

[I'm still running calibrations on the Mk 2 stellar drive.] she explained,

"Mark 2?" Terror queried

"We gave it an upgrade," Eli declared, "We can give one to the Excalibur too, if you want. Light speed travel, very convenient."

"Light speed? No way," Valla said

"Yes way," Eli replied showing her the data collected from their last trip

"How long would it take to upgrade the Excalibur?" Valla asked

"A couple days at the most, now that I know what I'm doing." Eli said

"Can we?" Valla asked Morgan

"I don't see why not," she replied

"What happened to Dax?" Terror asked

"He's being detained for trying to arrest me without reason." Morgan said.

"I'll see what I can find out about this from here, but I'd consider it a sign that the High Order isn't on our side this time. Be careful," Terror said as his holo-comm. vanished.

"Well, I guess I have a lot of work to do," Eli said, "Aria, would you like to join me?"

"Just the two of us?" Aria asked, "Like a date?"

"Of course," Eli said as she took his arm,

"Our little brother's got himself a girlfriend?" Morgan mused with a grin

"It's a surprise she was that hot," Valla comments

"Should I be jealous?" Morgan asked

"Maybe a little," Valla grinned, "It'll make you appreciate me more."

"I'm gonna go," Astrid said, "I'm really tired, I should get some rest."

As she left, Morgan turned to Kiva

"How is she?"

"You should've asked her yourself," Kiva replied

"I don't think that'll be the best thing right now," Morgan said

"For her, or for you?" Valla questioned

"Not you too," Morgan whined

"You need to settle things with your sister, now." Valla said, "Even if it doesn't end well, you can proudly say you did everything you could."

"Alright," Morgan said as she ran after her sister,

Morgan found Astrid not too far away, slumped against the wall, sobbing.

"Hey," she greeted

"What do you want?" Astrid said as she wiped her eyes and stood up

"This," Morgan said as she wrapped her younger sister in a hug.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You're my sister, and I love you," Morgan said,

"But I blinded your eye," Astrid said

"I know, and I forgive you for that,"

"I betrayed your trust,"

"And I forgive you." Morgan said softly

"I was such a terrible sister to you," Astrid said as tears continued to fall down her face

"So was I," Morgan said, her own eye tearing up, "but we can fix that. I had lost hope in ever seeing mom again, you gave that back to me, made me believe we can maybe get things back to how they used to be."

"I'm so sorry, Morgan," Astrid said, crying freely

"Me too, Astrid," Morgan said as the two sisters hugged and cried in the hallway.

* * *

A few days later, Morgan, Astrid and Eli went to see Amara in the medical ward. She was lying on a hospital bed, the stumps of her legs were covered in bandages, she was with Kiva when they entered the room.

"As I live and breathe, you three are in the same room without killing each other," she said weakly

"She's on heavy pain killers," Kiva informed them,

"Can't you heal her?" Astrid asked

"No, not with a wound this sever and complex." Kiva explained sadly, "It's not like her legs were just severed, they're in another dimension, the differing spatial energies complicates things."

"You're considering prosthetics?" Morgan asked

"She decided," Kiva said

"Legs are legs," Amara said, "doesn't matter if they're made of flesh or plastic."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you," Astrid said

"It's not your fault," Amara said with a weak smile, "if anything, it's your mother's fault, and I plan on griping to her about it, a lot."

"Let me know if I can do anything," Eli said, "I could upgrade your prosthetic,"

"I'm fine," Amara said, "Just look after your sisters, I heard you really took charge."

"Yeah,"

"Alright, you three, go on," she said, "You have someone else to see."

"We thought we should let her rest some more."

"Go."

"Alright," Morgan said with a smirk, "get better soon,"

After a quick shuttle ride, they arrived onboard the Black Excalibur, where Nya had been moved to recuperate.

The three of them gathered at the door to her suite, which had been undisturbed since her disappearance, aside from regular cleaning.

"That's weird," Eli noted, "the door's privacy setting is on. It's sealed tight."

"Makes sense she'd want some privacy." Astrid noted, "So we can't see her?"

"I can override it," Eli said, a few moments later, the door beeped and unlocked.

When the door slid open, they found the room to be dimly lit, the form of their mother was on the bed, seemingly asleep.

When they came closer to the bed, her eyes snapped open and she jumped out of bed, screaming.

"GET AWAY!" she screamed at them, throwing a lamp over their heads.

"Mom. Mom what's wrong?" Astrid said

"G-get away," she said a she scrambled into a corner and assumed the fetal position, mumbling to herself "not safe, can never be safe. No sleep no pain, no sleep no pain, no sleep no pain. The monsters are out the cage is empty, my monsters are out my cage is broken. Voices are gone. Quiet. Too quiet. No quiet,"

"Mom…" Eli started

"Not mom. Broken. Empty. Alone." She snapped, ""

"You are our mom," Morgan said, "You're Nya Crimson."

"NO!" she yelled, "Nya hurt. Hurt bad. Nya, bad. Me not Nya, me not hurt."

"You are Nya," Astrid said, "and we're your kids; Morgan, Astrid and Eli."

"NO! Nya monster. Not monster. You monster!" she snarled at them,

[What are you doing here?] Merlin demanded as she appeared behind them, [the privacy setting was on for a reason.]

"Merlin, what's wrong with her?" Morgan demanded as Merlin went to the cowering woman

[Shh, shh.] she soothed, embracing her, [it's okay, go and rest. Rest good.]

"Rest… good," Nya said softly as she was sedated. Then Merlin carried her back to the bed and tucked her in.

"What the fuck was that?" Morgan demanded, "Because that wasn't my mother."

[Come with me] Merlin said

The jinn led them to one of the executive lounge.

[Her time with the Maja left more than just physical wounds.] Merlin revealed, [she was constantly subjected to the collective consciousness of all the victims the Maja]

"But she's already subjected to voices in her head?" Eli said

[Yes, but then she meditates to maintain control.] Merlin said, [and the Maja didn't just show her voices, whatever she witnessed as its prisoner, it broke her mentally,]

"Are you saying that she's never going to get better?" Astrid asked

[I'm saying that if she ever regains her sense of self, she might not be the same Nya we lost twelve years ago.]

"Oh god," Morgan exclaimed

[I'm looking after her, trying to rebuild what's left of her mind, but it's a slow process.] Merlin informed them.

As they left the lounge, Morgan and Astrid were morose, contemplating the implications of what they'd just heard, then Eli spoke up,

"Cheer up you guys," he said,

"Cheer up? How? Our mother is a quivering pile of meat." Morgan snapped

"Yeah Eli, you heard Merlin, it doesn't look good." Astrid added

"What I heard Merlin say was that she was trying to put mom's mind back together." Eli said, "And we can help."

"What are you getting at?" Morgan demanded

"All those old family photos and records we have, we can use them to help fix mom."

"that could work," Astrid said

"Let's gather what we got and see what we can do with it," Eli said enthusiastically, "I gotta go; Aria is probably looking for me on the Blue. See you guys around."

As he ran off, Morgan and Astrid watched him go,

"He's a good kid," Astrid said, "trying to cheer us up like that,"

"Especially when he feels just a bad as we do," Morgan revealed

"He did?"

"Yeah, his micro expressions gave him away," Morgan said, "he's devastated."

"I didn't notice," Astrid said,

"He was trying to hide it from us," Morgan sighed, "he's always been like that."

There were a few moments of awkward silence, as the two had not been alone together since their tearful reconciliation.

"… so?" Astrid started

"Hmm?" Morgan asked

"You and Valla, how long has that been a thing?"

"A while now," Morgan said, "got a problem with it?"

"No, I just didn't think you'd be into girls,"

"Neither did I," Morgan admitted, "but one night we got really drunk and hooked up, then when I woke up in her bed the morning after, it just felt right."

"And the whole vampire thing?" Astrid said

"I was honestly a little worried at first, but she seems to be adjusting well to the life of an omen." Morgan smiled warmly, "and it's really nice to be with someone who would go that far just to share the experience with me."

"Well you look like you're enjoying yourself." Astrid smirked

"What about you?" Morgan asked, "seeing anyone?"

"No, not really,"

"I could set you up?" Morgan offered, "I know a lot of guys who would be interested."

"I'm doing just fine on my own." Astrid remarked,

"With meaningless hook-ups,"

"Mom had meaningless hook ups, and it seemed to work for her," Astrid shrugged, "besides, I've been an outlaw for the last couple of years; not that easy to build a lasting relationship when you're on the run."

"Well, whatever floats you boat." Morgan said, "I'll be seeing ya."

Eli was in the engine room of the Black Excalibur, finishing up the final touches on the newly upgraded Mk 2 stellar drive. He stands up from a panel he was working on, lifting the large welding visors from over his eyes.

"How's it looking from your end?" He asks into his earpiece. It was considered an antiquated piece of communication technology in this day and age, but Eli had been awakened to a love of the classics and sought to re-popularize them.

"You're looking good." Aria cooed back in his ear, "I love the whole 'grizzled mechanic' look you have going on. Very sexy."

"Are you watching me through the security cams?" he asked as he wiped the sweat and oil off his face.

"360-degree coverage from here," Aria replies, she was in the server room and was watching him from the primary control table.

"How's the diagnostics on the new upgrades looking?" he rephrased his question

"Energy reading have increased, and the plasma transference has been further optimized. It's looking good." Aria replied,

"Alright, now begin recalibrations on avionics, once that's done I can stress test this puppy before I start her up."

"Doing it now," Aria said

Eli had promised Morgan a week before the Mk 2 upgrade was ready, and a week was what he had accomplished. During that time, the ship had been stationary in this empty corner of space. The fact that they were technically in elven controlled space kept them on their toes, but so far no trouble had occurred. While the Excalibur was stuck in place, the Blue retreated outside the elven boundary, but still kept close.

On the bridge, Morgan was in the captain's chair when she got a call on her band, accepting, showed a screen with the words 'ADUIO ONLY'

"The modifications are finished, just need to recalibrate and she'll be ready to move." Eli informed her

"Great work, baby bro." Morgan congratulated,

Then, one of the navigations officers reported, "Major, sensors are reading several power signatures approaching."

"What are their tags?" Morgan ordered

"They do not have any registered ship tags." The officer reported

"What?" Morgan said, then she turned to the communications officer, "patch me through to the Blue, I want to speak to high master Kiva"

"At once," the officer replied quickly

As the communication line was established, a holo-comm. of their elven friend appeared before Morgan,

"What's the problem?" she asked

"Long-range sensor are picking up energy signatures approaching, but there aren't any identifier tags to tell what ships they are."

Kiva is silent for a few moments as her face grows serous.

"Those are elven star chariots," Kiva informed, "The Theocracy doesn't use the standardized identifiers as every other ship operating in Hyperion."

"I don't suppose they're gonna be friendly?" Morgan said, already knowing the answer

"Doubtful." Kiva said, "They're coming for a fight. And Elven star combat style is to overwhelm the enemy."

"Lovely," Morgan said, "Our primary engines are still offline, so our heavy guns aren't going to be much use in the long run, but we still have the auxiliary generators working and the point attack systems, so we can hold off for a bit. Can you offer us a hand?"

"We're caught in a solar storm at the moment," Kiva said, "we can turn around when it passes, but it'll be a while before we can be of any practical help."

"Thank you." Morgan said, then she turned to the officers at their stations, "You heard the lady; we've got elves on the way to meet up, let's roll out the red carpet."

A red alert was announced and all across the ship, red lights flashed across all terminals. All crew members ran to their assigned stations as the hallways, lounges, cafeterias and terrarium were cleared.

In one of the many labs, Merlin's physical form looked up from an experiment she was running as the screen before her flashed 'RED ALERT'

[Dammit, it was just getting good.] she groaned as her body disintegrated, her component bytes being reabsorbed by the ship. Her consciousness uploaded into the ship's internal network, overriding her AI shard, in an instant, she was aware of everything that was going on and began issuing commands to the different systems of the ship.

[Eli, how much longer until the recalibrations are done?] she asked, speaking to him through the intercom

"Another hour," he replied,

[I'm diverting power from all non-essential systems,] she then informed Morgan

"Can we keep using the plasma batteries and rail-guns with that?" Morgan asked

[Not for long,] Merlin said, [we really should get a dedicated generator just for the weapons systems.]

"We can discuss that after we survive this." Morgan replied as she went back to giving orders

With nothing else to do in the ships systems, she reconstructed her body and downloaded herself back into it.

She ran to Nya's room, where she was once again sleeping. Morgan, Astrid and Eli had visited her multiple times, trying to help heal her mind, while Merlin had been syncing to her prime crest and tried to rebuild her psyche from her mindscape. The process was slow going but Merlin was confident this was the best means to reawaken the Grand Marshal within her.

[Wake up, dear,] she called softly

Nya opened her eyes and looked up at Merlin, "pretty lady,"

After they had calmed Nya down, she had regressed to a child-like state, as evident when she tried to hug Merlin

[Why thank you,] Merlin beamed at the compliment, [come now, we need to go,]

"treatment time?" she asked

[Yes, I want to take you to a special room for you to get better in.] Merlin lied. She wanted to secure Nya in a room no other living creature could physically access

"I get better… for pretty lady." Nya said innocently, as she got out of bed,

Now with her cooperation, Merlin led Nya by the hand out of her suite and down the hall to a blank section of wall.

"where special room, pretty lady?" Nya asked

[Right here,] Merlin replied as the entrance to the zero room appeared

"It dark." She whimpered as the door opened, "dark bad."

[No, dear,] Merlin said, talking to her like a child, [the dark is safe. Nothing can hurt you in there.]

"No hurt?"

[No hurt.]

"Okay,"

Merlin led her inside, projecting a light from her eyes so Nya could see her mediation seat.

"is that for me?"

[Yes, just sit there and think.] Merlin said, [wait for me to come and get you.]

"the dark safe, right?"

[Yes, very safe.] Merlin said, [would I lie to you?]

"Okay, I sit." Nya said as she sat in the chair

[Now be a good girl until I get back,] Merlin said [when I get back, we'll go get some snacks.]

Nya grinned happily and nodded her head, "Snacks."

As the door to the room closed, Nya was plunged in complete darkness.

The pretty lady had told her to sit here and think, so that's what she did. She thought about all sorts of stuff; the nice people that called her 'mom' the nice room that smelled like her, the strange toys she found inside the room, how nice everyone she met treated her and the delicious food they always brought when they wanted to play. She thought about the person in the pictures they showed her, the person they say used to be her. How strong that person looked, she wasn't someone who was afraid of the monsters; the monsters were afraid of her.

'Aw, isn't that precious…' a sudden voice in the darkness whispered, 'an empty shell that used to hold so much, now broken,'

"Who is there?" she asked surprised, she thought she was alone

'We're your friends,' another voice in the dark said

"Friends? But I don't know you."

'Well we know you, would you like to be our friend?' a third voice spoke

"Yes." Nya nodded, "I like friends."

'Good, cuz we're gonna help you get better.' Another voice added, 'we know what happened to your monsters, we can put them back where they belong.'

"Are you friends of pretty lady?"

'No, just you for now.' Yet another voice said, 'that's why we want you to get better; so we can make friends with everybody.'

'We want to make you whole again; don't you want that?' a new voice said

Nya touched her chest, ever since she woke up like this, she knew something was missing, like she was incomplete,

"Yes," she nodded, "I want to be whole."

'Very well then, let's begin.' A final voice said

* * *

As the moment finally came, seventeen elven crafts dropped out of hyperspace before the Excalibur, but these were like no ships Morgan had ever seen. Instead of engines and thrusters, the ships each had long pylons that stretched out in front of the ships. Between most of the pylons were large orbs of energy that served as their propulsion, but several of the crafts had massive beasts leased to the pylons with energy bindings. The beasts all had long serpentine bodies with large fins/wings along their flanks, one had long wriggling tentacles along its body and another sported massive crab claws that could crush asteroids, but their size was what made them truly monstrous, the largest of them looked able to wrap any normal ship in its long body easily.

"What in the hell are those things?" Valla demanded as she looked on in shock

"Leviathan," Astrid says as she entered the bridge, "they're cosmic lifeforms that evolved to survive in space, feeding off cosmic energies like solar radiation. They also possess a high concentration of mana. I thought they were extinct."

"That's just cheating," Morgan chuckled ruefully

The largest beast, which was leashed to the largest ship roared, showing its maw filled with rows of flesh rending teeth. Although sound couldn't be carried through a vacuum, the Excalibur trembled at the sheer power the monsters roar released

"They are going to fight us with that?" Valla gulped

"Gunners, let's see if those leviathans enjoy the taste of hot plasma." Morgan instructed sternly

On her order, the plasma batteries fired at the elven ships, the high-powered weapon shot multiple bolts of plasma which did absolutely nothing to the leviathans aside from piss them off. The railguns were doing much more damage, blasting salvo after salvo through the hull of enemy crafts, and even managing to wound one of the leviathan who, even though they were fitted with massive custom made armor, were susceptible to piercing attacks from projectiles moving at light speed.

For the first twenty minutes, the heavy guns did their job of keeping the enemy at bay, but eventually, they ran low on sufficient power and froze up. It was at that time, where the lightly damaged elven fleet pressed their attack. From their functional ship, scores of fighter-like mini crafts swarmed the battlefield.

"Point attack systems," Morgan ordered, "Get those torrent rolling and launch scrambler mines."

The twenty large cannon torrents that were scattered across the outer hull opened fire. Their wider range of motion made them ideal for dealing with the swarms of mini-crafts which were flying all around the area. From the torpedo chutes, spiked orbs were launched around the ship, and whenever a mini craft got close, the orbs discharged a pulse of energy that disabled all enemy crafts within range.

"How dense is the armor plating on the hull?" Valla asked

"My mom never gave an exact answer, but she said it was comparable to urm." Morgan replied

The mini crafts started to open fire, using energy based projectiles. Firstly, destroying the numerous mines that still remained, then they directed their attention to the ship itself. Their energy blast started to disable the cannon torrents, and each exploding torrent caused the armor to buckle.

"What the fuck are they using?" Morgan said, "Plasma-based weaponry of that scale shouldn't have this much effect on our hull."

[They're not using plasma weapons] Merlin confirmed over the intercom, [scans show no artificial energy signature. This is mana-based; they're using mage-tech.]

"All elves are adepts," Astrid said, "and they're huge technophobes, so it makes sense they'd have access to and use powerful magitek."

"Eli, how's that engine coming?" Morgan asked again

"Almost there" Eli said.

All of a sudden, the mini crafts stopped their swarming and cleared the vicinity of the Excalibur.

"What are they doing now?" Valla demanded

They didn't have to wait long for a response as the massive leviathans all opened their maws wide, showing the light that was gathering from within their throats.

"Oh fuck." Morgan groaned

The leviathans all released their breath attacks, firing beams of energy at the ship, beams that tore across the armor plating, destroying their primary weapons and breaching the hull.

Emergency alarms started blaring as the Excalibur reeled from the attack.

"Fuck this." Morgan snarled, "Eli, start the engines now."

"But—"

"I SAID NOW!" Morgan yelled

"Alright," Eli signed

A minute later, the main engines started up, evident when the primary flight stations came back online.

"Get us out of here." Morgan ordered the two pilots

"Right," the pilots replied as they grabbed the controls.

The pylons at the rear of the ship glowed to life as the kinetic oars opened up. The Excalibur started to pull back from the battle zone, as what was left of their main guns returned fire.

"Contact the Blue," Morgan ordered the communications officer, "inform them that we are in distress and are in need of support, our hull is compromised and we are making a hasty retreat."

"Yes," the officer said as she began to work at her station,

As they backed farther and farther away from the elven forces, the lead craft, which had leashed three leviathans shot out a pulse of green energy. The pulse raced towards the fleeing Excalibur at rapid speed and when it passed through the ship, it immediately came to a stop.

"What the hell was that?" Morgan ordered

"Major, stellar drive is nonresponsive." One of the pilots informed her,

"Weapons and defenses are offline." The gunnery officer added

"Communications are gone." The communications officer informed

"We're dead in space." Morgan said

"Do the intercoms still work?" Astrid asked

"No, all power has been sucked from the ship somehow." One officer informed, "the only things still on are the hardwired life support systems."

The Excalibur was stuck; it's wounded hull illuminated by the light of a nearby sun. to make matters worse, the mini craft swarm had returned. As they drew nearer, a telepathic message was broadcast to every member of the crew

{Soldiers of Avalon, your ship has trespassed on holy territory controlled by the Alfheim Theocracy. We have disabled your ship, resign yourselves to surrender and prepare to be boarded.}

The officers on the bridge all turned to Morgan for orders. They were looking at her to lead them out of this situation, like her mother would have. She took a deep breath before speaking.

"The elves think they have us beat. Sure, they disabled our ship and outnumber us, but they forgot one important fact; we are Spartans, the best of the best, trained by the Grand Marshal herself. If they want to board our ship, they're going to learn what stubborn assholes we are."

The bridge erupted in cheers as Morgan and Valla started to give out orders. With internal communications down, they contacted the rest of the crew via their bands, organizing forces to repel the boarding.

* * *

Merlin regained consciousness in her physical body, she was not aware she could be knocked out like that. Looking around, she discovered that her android body was only half formed, still partially fused to the wall from whence it came from.

Forcing her way out of the wall took time as she had to reconstruct her body along the way. Once free, she tried to upload to the ship's systems, only to discover that she couldn't.

[Something must've knocked out the power.] she mused to herself. With the ship down, she had no eyes on anyone, and became worried. She knew Nya was completely safe within the zero room, but she was concerned for Eli, Astrid and Morgan.

As she was considering what to do next, the outer wall suddenly collapsed, as something had just forced its way through. It looked like the front end of a shuttle pod, and when it opened, a dozen elves, dressed in armored robes and combat gear stormed in

"Submit," the leader ordered as they held up a staff with energy glowing thought it

[I don't think so.] Merlin said as lasers shot from her eyes, slicing through the entire invading force.

she inspected the bodies, they were all dark elves, with chocolate skin and silvery hair. They each had a tattoo at the base of their necks.

[Hmm] Merlin mused as she stuck her finger into the forehead of the lead elf. Even though they were dead, their brains still retained some functionality, and she was absorbing the fading neural impulses between their synapses; she was reading their mind.

[Ugh, all fanatic nonsense and religious rhetoric.] she scowled [you elves are so indoctrinated into you beliefs that you're repressed… hmm, what's this? The leader of your chapter possesses an origin? that's very helpful.]

She retracted her finger from the elf's skull and proceeded on her way, she needed to find the kids and fast.

* * *

In the zero room, Nya opened her eyes.

The last thing she remembered was being grabbed by the Maja and teleported away, then her mind was filled with nothing but suffering. She didn't even know how long it had been since then, but she knew she felt different.

Looking around she recognized the darkness of her zero room, which meant she was back on the Excalibur, the room was specially shielded so she couldn't sense anything outside.

Stepping off her floating seat, she stretched, feeling the pop as her bones realigned themselves. Then she took a deep breath, letting it out with a heavy sign.

In her head, she could hear the whispering of voices, but these weren't the usual voices she was used to. The voices all sounded like her.

"Quiet down all of you." She ordered and the whispering stopped,

As she walked towards the entrance, she smiled warmly, "I wonder what the kids are up to?"

* * *

Squads of elves, boarded the Excalibur from different levels as their landing pods breached the hull.

They were met with heavy resistance from the crew, who were all trained and certified Spartans and took heavy losses, but their overwhelming numbers compensated for that.

They had been given two missions by the High Priest; 1: secure the ship and its crew, 2: capture the blessed child that was onboard.

Most of the elves weren't sure what this 'blessed child' even looked like, but their absolute loyalty to their leader kept them from questioning his orders.

Astrid had gone to get Eli and Aria, who were both noncombatants and needed to be protected

"C'mon, I know a safe place where the two of you can hide," Astrid said as she led them down a corridor.

"This is insane," Aria hissed, "we're being attacked by elves."

"How did they knock us out like that?" Eli muttered as he tried to work out what they used to disable them so completely.

"Worry about that later." Astrid barked as she led them towards an open area, there were in the middle of the ship, which was a huge open space with balconies and bridges the offered views of several levels.

They suddenly stopped in the middle of the bridge as a squad of elves had just turned the corner right in front of them.

They tried to go back the way they came, but that side was also blocked by another squad of elves. They were pinched.

"Submit." They ordered

"Fuck you." Astrid snarled back as her eyes glowed and her hands gathered mana

"The blessed child," the leader muttered in awe. They had never seen someone with such command over mana, this had to be their target, "capture her."

"Eli, Aria, get ready to jump." Astrid said

"What?" Aria cried

"Okay," Eli replied

"On my mark… Now!"

Eli grabbed Aria's arm and jumped off the edge as Astrid released a wave of psionic energy in both directions that knocked down the two squads.

Eli and Aria landed on the bridge on the level below, then looked up, "Astrid, come on." Eli called

"Go, I'll catch up," Astrid said back, as more elves appeared to lend support to the downed elves.

"Capture the blessed child." One decreed

"It is by the will of the High Priest." Another said

"Alright, you want me? Come and get me." Astrid said as she charged at the elves, determined to push through.

Eli and Aria ran with all their might down the corridors and hallways.

"Where are we going?" Aria demanded after they stopped briefly to rest

"To meet Morgan." Eli replied,

As they turned the corner, they ran into a squad of Spartans led by Valla

"Are you two okay?" she asked

"We're fine," Eli replied, "where's Morgan?"

"Holding the bridge." Valla replied, "I came looking for Merlin. What happened to you two?"

"We were with Astrid but we got separated," Aria explained, "there were too many elves."

"Alright, we'll got get her," she ordered, "get behind me."

With Eli and Aria in the middle, the group proceeded back the way the two researchers had come.

It didn't take long until the encountered a squad of elves.

"Submit or die." The elves ordered

"get off our ship," Valla said back

"mongrel scum." The lead elf snarled, "take them"

The elves use of mana and mage-tech quickly overpowered the Spartans, the omen amongst them found their phantasms sealed by some strange power. Even though the Spartans fought valiantly with everything that had, taking as many elves down as they could, they were soon subdued.

"Execute the vermin," the commander said as she pointed to the kneeling Valla, as well as the other captured omen.

"No, you can't do this," Eli begged, "we've surrendered,"

"Silence," the commander barked as she struck Eli across the face

Three elves positioned themselves in front of Valla, their hands glowed with energy that was building to a lethal force.

Valla simply closed her eyes, accepting her death. she let a single red tear fall as she whispered under her breath, "I love you, Morgan."

Before the elves could carry out their execution, a voice rang out from down the hall.

"Well, well well, so this is what all the racket was about?" the feminine voice said

Everyone looked towards the source of the voice to see a single woman approaching.

"Mom!" Eli called out in elation

Nya was wearing her full uniform; a long custom black military coat with gold and red designs, a blood red mantle with a golden Avalon crest embroidered onto it adorning the right shoulder, a pair fitted black pants and thick jackboots with raised heels. A fancy military cap was perched on her head and her hair was done in a simple and long fishtail braid.

"Eli?" she said surprised, "M-my, how big you've gotten. I must've been out for a long time."

"Over twelve years," Eli said as his eyes got watery

Nya looked shocked, she was out for a dozen years? She suddenly was full of regret for not having witnessed her kids growing up.

"Halt." The commander ordered her,

Nya looked at the elves, "Y'know, I've heard a lot about you elves. Frankly, I'm not impressed." She said, she then saw the bruise on Eli's cheek from when the elf struck him, "But you messed with my ship and hurt my kid, so by the time I'm done with you, there won't be enough of you to bury."

"Mongrel, you do not scare us." The commander sneered

"I don't?" Nya asked with a shrug, "Let's see if that's still true after this,"

She closed her eyes and took a breath. When she opened her eyes, they were pitch black. In that moment, the air itself turned heavy and cold, chilling everyone present to the bone.

No one could stay up, elves and Spartans alike were all brought to their knees. The pressure she released was beyond overwhelming, it was like mice in the presence of a lion, a primal fear made even worse by the curious grin plastered on her face.

"Do I scare you now?" Nya asked in a voice that was no longer human.

The elf commander was in tears, her eyes wide in terror. A visible wet spot was growing larger on her skirt, soaking it through.

"Well, that answers that question." Nya chuckled as her eyes went back to normal, "I like this one, I think I'll keep her,"

Nya then turns to the other elves, "In fact, I think I'll keep all of you."

Behind Nya, a red fissure opened up, from the fissure, dozens of chains made from blood aura spewed forth. The chains slithered like snakes as they coiled around the terrified elves who tried to claw their way free as the chains dragged them back into the fissure which sealed itself shut afterwards.

[NOTICE! LIVING BEINGS HAVE BEEN DRAWN INTO ALTERNATE SPACE [CRIMSON VOID]! THIS ACTION HAS CREATED A NEW VARIANT OF DIVINE SANCTION [GATES OF PURGATORY] TO DEVELOP!]

[NOTICE; [GATES OF PURGATORY: PANDORA'S BOX] IS NOW AVAILABLE!]

When she was done, she turned to the stunned Spartans,

"This is no time for you to be sitting on your asses," she ordered "ON YOUR FEET!"

"YES MA'AM!" the all yelled as they jumped to attention.

Nya approached Valla, using her hand to inspect her face, "Hmm, a vampire. Morgan's been busy I see?"

"Y-yes ma'am" Valla said, "I don't know if you remember me but—"

"Of course I remember you, lieutenant Valla Nepton," Nya said

"Uh, it's major now." Valla corrected

"Congratulations," Nya beamed, then she sniffed the air, "and I see you and Morgan have gotten very close?"

Valla blushed and nodded, "She's on the bridge as we speak."

"Well then," Nya said as she pat Valla on the shoulder, "Let's go retake my ship, shall we?"