Chapter 43

"So, would you mind explaining to me why you haven't fired yet?" Loyd asked as he dodged a volley from the massive cannons of the Chancellor.

The eye in front of him started to panic as Loyd's seat started getting warmer.

The fighter shook from the massive discharge of energy that had been overloading the laser cannons. A blast of pure white cut across the chest of the Chancellor and severed both of his arms from the rest of his body. The Laser cannons were reduced to little more than molten scrap metal but the Chancellor seemed to have a few more issues.

The reactor that had been embedded in his chest was glowing a similar white to the laser blasts as it started to explode. A wave of energy swept across the surface of the Crystalid ship and caused the crystal structures to tear themselves apart. The increase in energy caused a micro black hole to form that sucked the ship into the space inside the warp that the ghosts, creators, lived in.

Loyd watched as the chancellor silently cried out in pain as what was left of his arms was inverted into the black hole followed closely by his lower half and then the rest of the ship as it crashed against his back. His head survived the initial explosion for a few seconds longer as a look of pure terror crossed its face before it too was sucked into the black hole.

"I am never jumping again after we get to Earth. I don't care if it's faster if that's what can happen when you break the warp core!" Loyd exclaimed, shivering from the adrenaline and the cold. He looked over his shoulder to see that a large hole had been ripped open by the explosion of his cannons and had vented all of the air that had been keeping him reasonably warm until now.

Loyd increased the amount of energy that was being sent to his Geodite and found himself only a few hundred meters away from the rest of his group as they plummeted towards the Earth.

("Hey, we were wondering what was going on! If you turn around you can still see your battle just starting!") cried Sara as she waved from the deck of one of the crawlers.

("Really you can see… oh yeah, light speed, I just broke a fundamental part of modern physics… Sorry, Einstein,") Loyd admitted, laughing as he started turning the fighters camera to capture footage of his battle with the Chancellor.

He dodged far further than he needed to, but his piloting was still above what most other pilots could manage without a dive system. ("Oh, yeah. Hey, Sara, tell Griffon that the dive system for this thing isn't working. I think the stupid power supply fried again.")

("Alright, I'll tell him. You just make sure you don't burn up in the atmosphere.")

Loyd laughed, watching as the cable separated into several thousand different segments that could be used for an orbital bombardment of the hybrids landing site. A few bundles had been attached by a thin wire and were being pushed along by ion thrusters that Jim had decided to liberate from the elevator lift's most recent load.

The rods started to ignite as they passed through the upper atmosphere of the giant ball of water and sand below them. Bright flashes could be seen as they struck the ground and massive dust clouds started covering the landing area.

("Good, now we have lightning to contend with too. Didn't think of that, did you Loyd?") Madeline complained.

("Just watch and learn. The laser cannons would've been helpful with this but they weren't totally necessary,") Loyd said throttling towards the heart of the growing dust storm. ("Follow me in so you don't have as bumpy a ride.")

The crawlers started moving towards the planet along the path Loyd was making, using a few extra ion thrusters. The convoy fell to the planet faster and faster until they started burning in the upper atmosphere.

("I'm detecting dangerously low levels of oxygen and huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Turns out the Swarm needs to breathe!") Griffon shouted excitedly.

("Is that the equivalent of static on the radio transmission button?") Jim asked jokingly.

Loyd smiled. It was nice having everyone acting similarly to what kids should be acting like once in a while. Now he just needed his plan to unfold seamlessly.

xX inside the void Xx

"What do you mean our prey is escaping? We have complete control over this entire realm!" the large ghost shouted as it looked out towards the Crystalid's fleet.

Its ship was made of what looked like many thousands of clouds that glowed a soft white. Three large spikes protruded from the center of the craft, pointing towards the fleet, with lightning flashing between them.

"Load the gun! Make sure we are in range when it is ready! We will destroy the broken weapons!" the ghost roared, heading out of the chamber.

Outside, the lightning arcing between the prongs stopped as the prongs began to glow brightly. A large pulse of the light shot forward as the cannon misfired.

"What happened?!" The gunner shrieked.

"The Solaris tormentum has misfired. One of the control arbites is missing. Scanning for missing control arbite," a computer-like ghost drawled; its body was part of the ship allowing it both immense intelligence and access to vast portions, if not all, of the ship.

The captain stormed back into the control chamber, a slight red aura surrounding him. "What was that?! Did the Solaris tormentum just misfire?! How can that be possible?!"

"One of the control arbites is missing. Scanning for missing control arbite," the computer-like ghost restated.

"How can one of the arbites be missing? They are grounded within only a few meters of their work station! And none of us have ever been killed, so that option is not possible unless the reports on that strange entity are to be believed… Diagnostics repor-"

The computer entity started talking before the captain finished surprising him. "Several unknown entities are aboard the vessel. Redirecting centurians to their locations now. Power core destabilizing. Forward propulsion increasing. Weapon systems overloaded. Reactor breaches detected across the ship. Light systems failing. The ship's heart is at risk of overloading."

"How is that possible! We are immaterial!" the captain roared, tearing out of the chamber.

xX elsewhere aboard the ship Xx

"Are you sure this was a good idea? I don't feel all that queasy but this still feels wrong," Griffon complained.

"Well, I mean we are all having an out of body experience while the Swarm closes in on our crawlers, so I can understand your unease. And yes, I am sure this is a good idea. I'm just still confused about how I brought you two along with me," Loyd said.

"I'm not sure either but I like the sensation of this ship. Clears out your mind while you tear light apart with a piece of your own subconsciousness," Jim declared, shoving a metal pole, similar to Loyd's, in between another set of ghost plates that were being used as a reactor.

"Still doesn't explain why I've got a gun and you two have sticks," Griffon shouted as he opened fire on several of the armored ghosts that were charging their position.

"Just means your brain is much more developed than the rest of ours. I'm just confused about why I'm wearing that thing that decided to implant itself in my chest's armor. Did I actually manage to kill it?" Loyd muttered, ripping through the plates of another of the ghost's reactors.

The ship started shaking as the gravity started to shift to a single point. Bright orange stripes started showing up on the walls as a voice started to reverberate throughout the vessel. None of the hybrids could understand it but the armored ghosts started to retreat.

"Why do I feel like they're about to jettison part of their ship with us still aboard it?" Griffon asked as he fell to the floor slowly.

"That's not what you should be worried about," Loyd said staring at the ship's heart. "These ghosts captured a star and it looks like it's about to explode."

The massive ball of fire seemed to almost stare at Loyd as its containment field failed. Large jets of plasma shot out in all directions, tearing the ship apart. Arms formed out of the fiery jets and started pulling the field apart faster. Several arms stretched out towards Loyd as the flames consumed the ship.

A voice started to speak inside his mind, "Thank you."

Loyd sat up like he had when the dark ghost had tried to possess him. Jim and Griffon followed him shortly afterward.

"What the hell did we just do?" Griffon exclaimed as sweat poured from his body.

"I think we just let a sentient sun take revenge on those things for being caged for eternity but I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing," Loyd declared coming to his senses. "Maybe we should close that rift before it decides to come into real space."

"Real-space? Because that space isn't real? Felt pretty real when I had my fake body incinerated!" Jim shouted.

Tiny entered the room and looked at the three of them. "All of the refugee ships have made it through and the rift is closing."

"Good, then we don't have to worry about that sun coming and incinerating the real us now, do we?!"

Loyd smiled and lay back down on the hospital bed as the sounds of welding started making their way throughout the crawler. "Yeah, but we aren't ever going to do that again. My soul is hurting if that makes any sense."

"That feeling like some part of you just got hit with a bat but you're not sure what or where that thing is? That what you are referring to?" Griffon asked, rubbing his chest.

"Yeah, that's exactly it! So, you feel it too?" Loyd asked, sitting back up.

"Sorta, it's fading now."

"You guys seriously think that fire thing hurt our souls?" Jim asked, smirking.

"Hey, I only found out last month I wasn't human! Three weeks ago, I found out that there's an entire race that is made of energy and inhabits metal bodies," Loyd pointed at Tiny while saying this. "And a few days ago, I figured out what the hell created that race of energy beings and the Swarm. So, we can totally believe that solar being punched our souls."

Jim stopped and nodded. "Worst birthday ever, huh?" He joked.

"This is definitely up there at least," Griffon laughed.

"Well, we've killed two of our enemies now, we just need to kick the humans off Mars after we kill the Swarm."

Tiny looked around confused. "What are you guys talking about? Souls and a solar being?"

"I'll explain when you're older," Griffon joked.