salvage phase 2

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1 Salvage Phase 2 By Cole S. Kordus

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As the new group of Friends nears Pixiu station, things become strained.

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Salvage

Phase 2

By Cole S. Kordus

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Hawking System // 2105 // DATE: 7, aug. // TIME: 1900 [GST] . . .

Erasmo T. Contaño looked up at the computer terminal happily. It had been a week since

his fateful exploration of the demolished warship Lazarus. And during that week, he had spent

almost every hour with his new friends. Darwin, a self-aware AI stuck in a service robot’s body,

and Valkyrie- Val for short- a genetically engineered woman designed for combat. Erasmo had

learned so much about them in the close confines of his small custom-built space shuttle.

Darwin was created as part of the STORM program- the same program that Val had been

created in. When the war was still going on, it had been his job to oversee the medical side of the

genetically engineered humans. A lot of special drugs and concoctions had gone into making

them and the scientists at the time only had a vague idea of what side effects might occur. So

Darwin had carefully observed the created soldiers, and over time, had grown to love each and

every one of them, considering them his family. But Val was always my favorite, Darwin had

confided to Erasmo while she was sleeping. The robot had made sure to be especially kind,

supportive, and encouraging when it came to his favorite, even going so far as to try and teach

her the occasional moral.

And Val, for her part, had listened. She had grown up with the other STORM initiates,

but had always remained the most normal of them, having learned how to be that way from a

robot (the irony of which, was not lost on Erasmo). Val was designed to be quicker, stronger, and

more determined than any other person alive. The leaders of the STORM program had not

wanted to make them smarter than others for fear of having superhuman soldiers decide that they

did not like the orders they had been given. And so, Val grew into a strong, angry, and skilled

soldier who could kill someone with both arms tied behind her back.

Erasmo had not received that much information from her- but things were improving. At

first, she would only insult him, and only waste a sentence of her time on doing so. But now, she

was insulting him for full paragraphs. It was a tremendous breakthrough, and Erasmo remained

optimistic about gaining the badass and snarky woman as a friend.

But both of his new companions were strange, flawed, and the best thing to have ever

happened to Erasmo. Who, unfortunately, was not without his own flaws. While Erasmo could

be considered a mechanical genius- he had, after all, managed to bolt on three extra engines to a

simple shuttle while maintaining system integrity- he suffered from a rare mental disease that

was slowly decaying his mind. When he had found his companions, Erasmo had been deep in the

grip of psychosis; talking to himself, inventing reasons to hide from other humans, and

occasionally even hallucinating things. Darwin had managed to momentarily halt the mental

psychosis, but it wasn’t a permanent solution. Erasmo could already feel it coming back.

Which was why he needed to get everyone to Pixiu Station; the most advanced

medical/military station in the galaxy. And even better, all of them would benefit from the trip.

Erasmo could find a cure for his mental illness, Darwin could find a body that was better suited

for him, and Val could try and find some of her fellow STORM members- as well as search for

anything left of Homeworld Shield. Yes, it was a venture that was profitable for them all.

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Erasmo checked the scanners again and nodded to himself. As luck would have it, they

had not been that far from where Pixiu Station should be. A week at full burn had brought them

within hours of it. Extraordinary luck, really. The Mass Transit Stations were down- which

meant that intersystem travel could take weeks, or even months. So it was indeed extraordinary

luck that the station happened to be so close by.

Erasmo stood up and walked out of the cramped four-seater cabin and squeezed down

one of the small hallways he had constructed with a welding unit and some sheets of plasteel. He

ducked into a rough triangular opening and sat down in the center of what could be called his

room. The room was very cramped and stuffed full of the most valuable and useful bits of

salvage he had collected including but not limited to: Scissors, Flash grenades, replacement tanks

of plasma, a medium sized computer, several dozen movies, some dried goods, a rainjacket, his

other clothes, actual leather boots, and finally, a half-eaten bar of chocolate. Erasmo sat down on

his bed- which was comprised of all the cushions from the Trans-shuttle’s seats- and nibbled off

a few shavings of chocolate into his mouth. He savored the flavors, letting out a soft moan of

pleasure.

“Dear God what are you doing?” Darwin asked, shattering his moment of euphoria.

“What? Nothing! Chocolate!” Erasmo stuffed it back into its hiding place. “What do you

want, Darwin?”

“Well,” Darwin slid into the room like an eel. “I want to talk about what’s going to

happen on Pixiu. What we might find there.”

“Alright.” Erasmo looked at the AI intently. “What sort of secret are you going to ask me

to keep?” He felt pleased with himself as Darwin seemed to shrink slightly.

“I think I preferred it when you were off your rocker,” the AI muttered. “But, to the

point.” Darwin leaned forward. “Shield Military ships were very advanced. One of the things

that they could do was jettison a special sort of black box- which as a sort of-”

“I know what a black box is,” Erasmo said crossly.

“No… I definitely liked you more when you were crazy.” Darwin shook his head, as if

mourning the loss of Erasmo’s psychosis- but his tone was playful. “Anyway, the black box

would have recorded everything that happened to the ship before the disaster, and would have

continued to observe the ship for two hours before ejecting towards the nearest Shield facility. In

this case… that would be Pixiu.”

“So what’s the problem here?” Erasmo frowned. “We should recover the black box,

right?”

“Wrong.” Darwin glanced over his shoulder nervously, a remarkably human gesture (he

knew exactly where Val was due to his sensors, so this movement was more for show). “Val…

can’t know what happened. You’ve seen how bloody sensitive she is- she was made to be a

weapon for God’s sake. The black box recording might… might set her off, if you know what I

mean.”

Erasmo rubbed his shoulder. “Yeah… I do. So, if I find this black box, I should leave it

alone? Or should I-”

“Destroy it.” Darwin said darkly. “Make it inoperable. Unable to be used. Wrecked.”

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Erasmo blinked. Damn it, now I am curious as to what he wants hidden. “Destroy it. You

got it Darwin.” He gave the robot finger guns. “You can count on me.” But, I might just take a

look at what it has to show me first.

“Good.” Darwin seemed relieved. “I’m trusting you, Erasmo.”

Erasmo suddenly felt less inclined to look inside the black box of the Lazarus. No one

had ever trusted him before- except for perhaps his mother. No one had ever been his friend,

either. Darwin patted his leg then slid out of the room, flexible body giving him an oddly snake-

like movement. Not that Erasmo had seen a snake (or even knew what one was). He pulled out

the bar of chocolate and took a bite from it.

Darwin trusts me… I guess I’ll have to do destroy it. Erasmo put the matter away from

his mind, watching a portion of one of his favorite movies. It was about a man who got turned

into a spy while his wife went insane and became a terrorist. It was an old movie, and Erasmo

liked it because it had snappy one-liners and beautiful shots of a planet. He had never seen things

like forests or mountains. But he was hopeful about managing to find some, one day.

He grew bored and decided to go down into the cargo bay. But before he left his room, he

pulled on his MICSM 9. It was a special space suit that doubled as combat armor, and over the

past week, Erasmo had figured out all of the things that it could do- at the cost of an eyebrow.

But he didn’t even know that he was missing an eyebrow; there were no mirrors on his shuttle.

Erasmo walked down the narrow hallway to the cargo bay, hopping down a stack of empty boxes

that served as the ladder for his ship.

Val was still in the cargo bay and she was sitting in a chair with a weapon before her.

Keeping her eyes closed, she swiftly de-assembled the weapon down to its base parts and then

reassembled it. Erasmo watched with his mouth agape. He still couldn’t believe how talented and

strong Val was. He also kept forgetting that she had not been born, but created- and had been

created for battle. She scooted the rifle to one side.

“Erasmo.” She said without turning around.

“How did-?”

“I heard you breathing.” Val stood and stalked over to him, standing a full head taller.

“How close are we from the Station?”

“Hours. Why?”

“Tactical information is required for every op.” Val paused. “Look. I need you to do

something for me.” She said it as if it were physically harming her to ask.

Not another secret, I hope? “Yeah?” He crossed his skinny arms. “It wouldn’t have

anything to do with a black box, would it?”

“Actually, yes.” She narrowed her eyes. “How’d you know?”

“Educated guess.” This was pretty much the truth.

“Alright.” She took a breath. “I don’t know what we’re going to encounter there, so I

don’t know if I’ll have time to look for it on my own. But… I would like your… help.” Val

winced as she said the last word.

“Well this is serious!” Erasmo blinked. “But yes, of course- you can have my help.”

“Don’t make such a big deal out of it- it’s not.” Val said this hurriedly and seemed

slightly embarrassed. “But if you happen to find that black box… give it to me. I need to find out

what happened to the Lazarus.”

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“It got blown to pieces?” Erasmo said, raising a non-existent eyebrow. “And you were

lucky enough to make it to the cryostasis pods in an intact piece of the ship?”

“Right. But I want to know who bombed my ship. And… and something that Darwin told

me doesn’t add up.” She glanced towards the entrance to the cargo bay. “He mentioned

something about the power, but I looked around before we left. And from what I gathered…”

Val took a breath. “Something doesn’t add up.”

“Just find a black box- and that’s all?”

“Affirmative.” Val looked at him with a guarded expression. “Can you do that for me?”

“I think I can.” Erasmo nodded. “If I find it.”

“Copy that.” Val looked relieved. “Thank you?” The sentiment sounded forced.

Erasmo nodded. The entire conversation had sent his head spinning out of control. He

had his two friends- more than he could have asked for- and now they both wanted the same

thing from him. He didn’t know who to trust and the more he thought about it, the more times he

changed his mind about the situation.

I should destroy it for Darwin; he has been nicer to me than Val, and is well… more

human. But… destroying seems suspicious. And all Val wants is to know what happened to her

other friends. Surely that can’t be wrong? But what if it sets her off and she shoots me- or

Darwin? Maybe I should destroy it… Arg! I can’t take this!

Erasmo wished he had a door to slam, but there were none. So instead, he wriggled his

way into the most cramped portion of the ship. It was very hot- from one of the added engines-

but had a large window on the underbelly of the ship. His face was pressed against the plastic

layer as he was considerately warmed by the heat and radiation of the engine. Outside the

viewport, he saw several Gas Giants moving past them very slowly. Straining to look ahead, he

could make out a swirling nebula of ice and ion particles.

Erasmo watched them for hours, imagining the swirling lights to be some form of alien

life. Eventually, the lights actually turned into strange beings, dancing, twirling and pointing at

him. Erasmo waggled a finger at them through the glass.

“It’s not nice to tease.” He turned to his left. “Yup, yup. Not nice at all.”

He snapped back to himself and blanched. No. No. Not now. Not so soon. He squeezed

out of the area and began to search the small area of the ship, looking for Darwin. He could not

allow himself to slide back into… what he had been. He remembered his days of psychosis as if

through a filter: everything seemed a bit more blurry and dull: lifeless. For an entire week,

Erasmo had managed to be clear-headed and intelligent. He would not become a nervous wreck

again.

Erasmo found Darwin near the cockpit. “Shock me.”

“Alright… Did you know that the bond between atoms are thousands- millions- of times

greater than the strength of Gravity?”

“What?”

Darwin scratched the base of his monitor. “That one didn’t do it for you huh… hm. How

about: Did you know that Jekyll and Hyde are the same person?!”

“Who? What? No! Listen, I need you to shock me. Zap me like earlier. Make me right,

right, right.” Erasmo took a deep breath. “Sorry.”

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“A relapse already?” Darwin flashed a frowny face. “Sorry. But here you go.” His metal

fins snapped into a strange contraption, then sent a bolt of jarring electricity through Erasmo.

He let out a grunt of pain, but soon it was over and he felt clear-headed once more.

“Thanks. What is that called again?”

“Electroshock therapy.” Darwin flashed a grin. “The genius I am, I have perfected the

technique.”

“Well it’s really something,” Erasmo muttered.

“Why thank you,” Darwin gave a snaking bow. “I do believe good sir, that we are

nearing Pixiu station.”

Erasmo ran- well, more like hopped and wriggled quickly- to the cockpit and leaped into

the pilot’s chair. He tapped on a sensor, making it buzz and flicker before finally displaying their

location in relation to the dropped nav point. He took control of one of the automated cameras

and zoomed in on the station. It was blurry, but he finally saw their salvation.

Pixiu station was comprised of a large cylindrical center with wide rings attached to it.

The biggest ring was in the center, and the ones around it grew smaller as they neared the tapered

ends of the main station. A large boxy hanger was stuck onto the top of the space station, and

each of the rings sported an array of satellites, sensors, and what appeared to be turrets. Erasmo

halted their shuttle’s forward momentum and turned around. He jumped, seeing not only Darwin,

but Val as well. How the bulky woman had entered the cockpit without making any noise

Erasmo could not guess.

“I think I see guns on the station… we don’t have any sort of defenses against that.”

Erasmo licked his lips. “And is that big box the only hangar?”

“No.” Said Val. “There’s a secret one near the base where classified or high-ranking

patients are brought in. It takes longer to get to the hub from there though.”

“Should I head there?”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Darwin said. “It’s been how many years? Very

unlikely that those turrets are still online.”

“Alright then.”

Erasmo eased the ship forward into a controlled burn towards the space station’s upper

hanger bay. The place was now large enough to see through the pilot’s window. Erasmo licked

his lips and pushed forward. He highly doubted that there were any Homeworld Shield soldiers

left on the space station. From what he had heard from everyone at his home, both militaries had

all but abandoned their posts, concentrating on survival. But apparently, this news had not

reached Pixiu station’s automated turrets. Lights on them began to glow and they turned to face

the oncoming shuttle. Erasmo of course noticed this, and turned around to glare at Darwin.

“Very unlikely? Really?”

“Sorry?” Darwin said, wincing.

The turrets opened fire, sending yellow beams of light streaking through space. Erasmo

put the shuttle in full burn and angled it down towards the base of the space station. His ship was

not built for dodging or fighting- just speed. They accelerated and Erasmo pushed their thrusters

to the max. The small shuttle began to shake as the massive engines that were not its own went

into overdrive. Erasmo’s teeth chattered for a moment before he clamped down and reached to

his right, yanking on his suit’s helmet.

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“Val! Where’s the entrance?”

“Five degrees starboard, ten degrees up.” Despite imminent doom, Val was calm.

Erasmo gripped the controls tightly, sending the shuttle in an upwards arc. So far, the

turrets had been missing them- their speed and small size made them a hard target. But as

Erasmo drew level with the secret hangar bay, he saw a single turret perched atop the doors. He

would have cursed- but there was no time. The turret fired a rapid series of shots. Some missed-

but several hit his left engine, causing it to explode and sending them spinning to their right.

Erasmo heard thumping from behind him, but could not afford to focus on what was

going on. Warnings were going off everywhere and MARK was spouting off a list of warnings

and statistics as to what was going on. The space station slid out of view, and Erasmo worked

hard, fixing their trajectory so that the space station was once again in view. The ship shuddered

violently as more turret fire struck them. Erasmo’s controls juddered underneath his hand.

Fingers flying across the screen, he put what power he had left into a single course with

max engine burn. Collision warnings flashed- as he had locked them onto a course that would

send them smashing into the side of the station. Erasmo put his hand over a switch and closed his

eyes. If they stayed out here any longer, the turrets would obliterate them. He jolted in his seat,

the cabin suffering from explosive decompression. If he had been looking, he would have seen

that a significant portion of the shuttle suddenly vanished, as if a beast had taken a bite out of the

middle. But for all that, the computer kept them locked on course. He finished his mental count.

“Three!” he shouted.

Erasmo flipped the switch. This sent a surge of power into the right engine- overloading

its capacitors with explosive force. This caused the fuel to ignite, and then the entire right engine

exploded in a quick puff of flame. But this was exactly what Erasmo had wanted. The explosion

had propelled the ship up and to the left, so that they slammed into the side of the hangar door

and snapped in half. The rear half of the shuttle spun off into space, while the cockpit and some

of the other compartments bounced off a wall, hit the ceiling, then plowed through several

deactivated loader bots.

Erasmo was thrown out a massive hole in the hull, flying through the air. As luck would

have it, his armor was prepared for something like this, and squirted a layer of impact gel into the

space between Erasmo and the suit. He slammed into a metal container and spun off to one side,

landing with a crash in a group of oxygen tanks. Several ruptured and spun in dizzy circles.

Miraculously, Erasmo was still conscious (this was not actually a miracle, but the result of the

impact gel, which had many stimulating drugs in it). He shakily lifted his head and let out a

shriek.

His right foot was inches from his face, snapped back along with the rest of his leg.

Erasmo nearly passed out then- that would have been preferable, actually, but the gel kept him

awake. He glanced to his left and saw his right arm also horrendously broken. Erasmo’s head fell

back and he let out a moan. Surprisingly, he couldn’t feel a thing (this was also the gel at work).

His head lolled to one side and he gasped.

A glowing figure emerged from the burning wreckage of his shuttle. It looked humanoid,

but was surrounded by glowing silver energy. Dark angular plates of armor occasionally

surfaced, but other than that, it had no features aside from arms, legs, and a head. The figure

waded through a large fallen girder, the metal melting around it. Then, with a large crack, the

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energy disappeared. It was Val! And she was completely unharmed. She glanced around, saw

Erasmo, and made a beeline for him. She stopped next to him, her eyes narrowing.

“Still alive?”

“Yeah,” he croaked, dangerously close to going into shock.

“Good.” She dropped to one knee and gently lifted him up. He felt her do something, and

then his entire body went completely numb. He couldn’t do a thing. “Close your eyes.”

But Erasmo did not follow orders. And to his horror and immense surprise, he watched as

his leg moved of its own volition, snapping back into place with the most terrifying set of

grinding and popping noises imaginable. His arm followed suit. And then, Erasmo found that he

could move them. He felt no pain- or anything at all- but he suddenly knew he could move. Very

shakily, he got to his feet and looked at Val.

“H-h-h-how-?”

“The combat skin you’re wearing is also known as the Zombie.” She wasn’t facing him,

but had her gun out and was scanning the surroundings. “It shuts down your nervous system and

hijacks your body using the skeleton suit inside and a collection of spikes. You’re able to move,

but you won’t be able to feel your body.”

“Am-am-am I fixed?” But even as Erasmo asked this he knew it wasn’t true. His right

hand was making an odd creaking noise as he moved it.

“No.” Her red eyes glanced towards his. “It’s still broken.”

Erasmo blanched and swayed but stayed standing. “Wonderful.”

“I’m fine guys, by the way.” Darwin said loudly. “Oh, expect I’m missing my bloody

arm!”

Erasmo turned around and saw the one-armed figure making his way towards them,

sparks occasionally flying from the shoulder stump. The AI was walking with a slight jitter but

was otherwise fine. He gave Erasmo a thumbs up and then turned to face Val.

“You okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “I need Intel, Darwin. Now.”

“Right well the turrets are online.” Darwin’s monitor displayed static for several seconds,

then his familiar emoji face returned. “This station is not empty, as we previously thought.”

“No shit.” Val said, moving towards the crash site, her pistol on her hip.

Darwin rolled his eyes at Erasmo, who was mostly still dealing with the concept of his

Zombie suit. “Actually, there is shit. From the limited remote access I have, I know that there are

130 humans living aboard this space station, mostly in the middle ring. There are humans,

therefore there is fecal matter. At any rate, they have obviously managed to turn on the outer

defenses- but have not turned on the inside defenses. My guess is that they don’t know how.”

“That gives us the tactical advantage.” Val appeared from the wreckage, now holding a

compact weapon with a large magazine, and a long rifle slung over her shoulder.

“Indeed.” Darwin paused. “Thinking what I am?”

“Affirmative.” Val cocked her small weapon, putting a round in the chamber. “130 to 3?

Not even close to a fair fight.”

“What are we going to do?!” Asked Erasmo with a hint of hysteria.

“She meant, that it was not a fair fight for them.” Darwin said, a hint of darkness in his

voice.

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⍝ Val finished yanking open a sealed door and glanced over her shoulder. Erasmo was still

hanging back near his ship and was obviously dealing with some serious post-traumatic stress.

Darwin was right behind her, displaying a more serious face than usual. She patted the pistol

strapped to her hip and looked at Darwin.

“The kid will need this.”

“He’s not trained.”

“Doesn’t have to be. Engage SMARTAIM.”

“Fine.” Darwin paused. “You didn’t tell him how long he has, right?”

“Before the painkillers wear off and he collapses in agony?” She paused. “No. But I’d

say he has just under three hours.”

“On the spot,” Darwin muttered. “I presume you have come up with a plan?”

“Affirmative.” Val looked down the dark hallway she had just opened up. “I ride the

elevator up to the middle ring, and kill everyone there.” She glanced over at Darwin with dark

red eyes glinting dangerously. “Watch after the kid and follow when I give you the green light.”

“Affirmative,” Darwin mimicked.

Val gave him a hint of a smile, then turned to the dark corridor. “Give this to him.” She

handed over the pistol.

“Be careful, Val.” Darwin said quietly, touching her arm.

She glanced over at Darwin and gave a curt nod. He let go and she strode down the

corridor, reaching the elevator at the end. Val’s armor was the absolute best in the business. It

could increase her strength by tenfold by pumping steroids into her system, conjure up an

impenetrable energy shield around her, form blades, and heal her body on demand. She would

have preferred to have her power armor as well, but one must make do with what they had.

She punched the control panel with a hand, and the elevator came down towards her. Val

was an unstoppable force. She had the third-highest kill count of the STORM soldiers, and had

been in command of a squad before the war was over. She snorted to herself as she stepped into

the elevator. War. Over. Such a thing was impossible. It was in her blood- she would always be

fighting someone for something. And she knew that other people did the same.

The elevator whizzed up the shaft, passing dozens of floors before slowing to a stop at

the middle ring. The doors slid open with a ding and she was face to face with a scruffy looking

man clutching a very, very old shotgun, who was very, very alarmed. Before he could say

anything, she thrust out an arm and picked him up by the throat. He struggled and kicked; Val

squeezed. After a wet crunch, she tossed him into the elevator behind her and took a step out into

the hall. Three more men- similarly armed.

She raised her Snub- a suppressed submachine gun that had three barrels and could fire

six bullets a second. She pulled the trigger and a burst of bullets ripped through the first man,

sending him spinning into the wall with a spray of blood. The others shouted. One was mowed

down before he could turn, and the other had managed to raise his rifle before Val grabbed the

end of it and wrenched it to one side, breaking his hand. He let out a howl that was quickly

silenced as she kicked him, caving in his chest and sending him slamming into the opposite wall.

Val threw the rifle to one side and turned a corner. As soon as she did, an alarm went off and she

began to hear people shouting. A real, vicious smile tugged at her lips.

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This. Was what she lived for. Val holstered the Snub to her thigh and dropped to a

crouch, smoothly unslinging the long rifle on her back. It was Thunder. Thunder was capable of

many things, but she always preferred to use several settings. She aimed down the long, curving

corridor and listened intently. She heard many footsteps running towards her. She gave a small

dial a small turn, then pulled the trigger. The projectile shot out with a loud boom and curved

around the long hall before reaching a man and exploding. She heard screams and smiled,

knowing it had been successful. She slung it back over her shoulder and transformed the metal

plates over her arms into long, pointed blades. Hacking and slashing would conserve ammo.

And it was more fun.

Erasmo held the gun gingerly. It wasn’t too heavy, but it was very, very dangerous, and

he didn’t know what to make of it. He supposed that he should be thankful to Val, for giving him

one of her precious weapons. But even so… the thought of actually having to shoot it made him

shiver. He let his arm drop and yelped as it magnetized to his hip. He shook his head and took a

step, trying not to think about the strange noises his leg was making.

“So, Darwin!” He said, trying to distract himself. “What are we doing?”

“Waiting for the green light.” The AI paused. “Val has already killed eight of the people

here.”

“Eight!” It had only been two minutes.

“Correct.” Darwin had an odd tone.

“What’s the matter?”

“I… I don’t like it.” Darwin sighed. “This is what she was made for, but she is so bright-

killing is a waste of her abilities. Not to mention the fact that she’s addicted to it.”

“A-addicted to killing people?” Erasmo blanched.

“All of the STORM soldiers were.” Darwin paused. “They get a… rush of serotonin and

endorphins whenever they engage in violent behavior. It’s… sick. Twisted.” His monitor was

blank- a first. “I hope you don’t have to see her for a while after this. It can take me a long time

to calm her down after a battle.”

“Why… why would someone do that to her?” Erasmo felt awful for Val. And scared.

Darwin let out a growl of anger. “Because winning the war was all that Homeworld

Shield cared about. They didn’t even-” he cut himself off. “Valkyrie is the way she is, because

someone wanted to create the best killing machine in the galaxy.”

“That’s terrible!”

“Yeah,” Darwin said, voice suddenly choked with emotion. “It is.”

The AI turned away and walked over to a computer terminal on the wall and transformed

his hand into a series of plugs. He interfaced with the terminal and code began scrolling across

his face. Erasmo turned away from the AI and sat down heavily on a piece of his shuttle. He had

known that Val was dangerous… but… after what Darwin said to him, Erasmo was deeply

worried.

What had he done? He had indirectly woken up one of the most dangerous… things in

the galaxy and had now unleashed her on these people. Sure, they had fired at them… but they

might not have really meant it! Surely they could have negotiated with them! But now… He

screwed his eyes shut. Eight people dead in two minutes. That… was frightening. And there was

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no way the people here would want to negotiate now. He put his head in his hands. If only he had

kept his head in the game after the crash. He could have prevented this.

“Oh no,” Darwin breathed (which is a true sign that the situation was bad if an AI was

mimicking human fright).

“What?”

“She’s going to-” Darwin paused. “Erasmo stay here, I need to stop her!”

“Stop her?!” Erasmo stood up. “From what?”

“Val’s probably in bloodlust right now!” Darwin was running towards the elevator.

“She’s going to kill all of the women and children- and not even know!”

Val slammed the man into the wall one last time, letting him slide to the ground. His

body left a red smear on the wall. She turned and took a shotgun blast to the face. Pellets

bounced off of the metal on her head and a good chunk of her face blasted away, revealing her

jawbone and muscles (one of the benefits of being genetically modified was having a face and

head that could withstand a bomb). The man numbly fired again- and impossibly, this monster of

a woman dodged it. Val drove her blade into his stomach and dragged up. He toppled to one side

and hit the ground with a sick noise.

But it was music to her ears.

She turned and saw a man fall to his knees and hold out his hands- he was probably

carrying some sort of suicide bomb on him. So she ripped off part of a metal girder and hit him

with it, sending him flying back with a crunch and safely putting her out of the blast zone. She

grinned. This was child’s play! She only had a part of her face missing, several stab wounds, and

one bullet in her. This could easily be her most successful mission yet. Val looked behind her

and saw a group of men running away, shouting something about protecting the others.

“Oh no you don’t!” She said to herself before sprinting after him, body already beginning

to heal itself.

Darwin skittered out of the elevator and used his sensors to hone in on Val. She was close

to the innocents. He sprinted down the hallway, claw feet digging in and avoiding the pools of

blood. He had never seen Val in action. He had only ever seen her before deployment, and after.

But as his cameras and various sensors informed his digital mind of his surroundings, mounting

horror grew in him. There was blood on the ceiling in some places. He came around a curve and

halted, horrified.

Ten dead bodies- or what was left of them- littered this bend. He stepped over a severed

arm and paused, staring at… well he wasn’t even sure. A muffled scream came from up ahead

and his head jerked up. He had to stop this now. It had never sat well with him, what she had

been forced to do for Shield. But as Darwin sprinted towards Val, he was beginning to realize

that forced was the wrong word. Valkyrie was a weapon. You pointed her at something and

fired. But Darwin loved her. And he had to save her.

Erasmo walked around, finally used to his entire body being numb. After several seconds

of being alone, he made his way over to the computer terminal and looked at the screen,

blanching. When they had arrived, 130 people had been on the station. If he subtracted two for

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himself and Val… there were now 101. As he watched, that number went down by two. He

looked away, blinking rapidly. He couldn’t just sit back here.

He stumbled down the hallway and summoned the elevator. When the doors slid open, he

was immediately confronted with a corpse, its neck turned black and blue. He clutched at his

stomach and turned away eyes screwed shut. He had seen several corpses on his various

expeditions, but the idea that this one had actually been alive only minutes before was… Erasmo

straightened, and looking at anything but the body, hit the controls for the middle ring.

He couldn’t get out of the elevator fast enough. He came out of a short hallway and was

immediately confronted with more dead bodies- and this time there was blood. He doubled over

and vomited onto the floor. Very shakily, Erasmo turned away and went in the opposite direction

from the dead bodies. This was a mistake. What had he been thinking?! He ducked into a random

room, his heart pounding. Why had he come up here?! He couldn’t stop Val! And besides,

Darwin was already doing that! He should have stayed put. There was a roar from somewhere in

the room, and a woman in combat fatigues ran at him.

“YOU BASTARD!” The woman screamed, tears of rage in her face. “YOU KILLED

THEM ALL!” She kicked him onto the floor.

Erasmo couldn’t feel any pain. But he was having trouble breathing as the girl’s hands

tightened around his neck.

Val turned a corner and was sprayed with bullets. One actually made it through before

her shield came up. She couldn’t feel it- she never felt anything- but she was still surprised. The

remaining men had a floor-mounted machine gun leveled at her and was spraying her with a

hundred rounds per second. She staggered backward and ducked behind a wall. Val unslung

Thunder and fired it around the corner. There were screams.

She moved out, dodged a knife, snapped an arm, punched, fired Thunder at point-blank

range, kicked. No one was left standing. She wiped blood from her face and looked at the

reinforced door that the soldiers had been guarding. The stab wounds were gone, and her face

had almost regenerated. Val had her metal plates encompass her fist, then punched the door. It

warped in, and she heard screams on the other side. Grinning she drew back her arm and

punched again. They had better be scared!

Darwin came around the last bend in time to see Val fire the first shot. Time seemed to

freeze. Blood practically coated the walls here, and a large metal door was hanging from a hinge.

Val had out her Snub and had just murdered a ten year old child. Another shot was fired. A

feeling of overwhelming sadness and anger came over him.

“STOP! STOP! RIGHT NOW!” He roared.

Erasmo spluttered, spots filling his vision. He beat the woman weakly with one hand, but

she wasn’t responding, her teeth clenched. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die! His

fingers scrabbled at the pistol, prying it loose. As darkness began to pull him away, he pulled the

trigger. Now, had Erasmo been the only one in control, he would have missed by a mile and been

choked to death. But, SMARTAIM had been turned on. And so, when the trigger was pulled, the

barrel titled, the bullets curved, and all three found their mark.

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He gasped and scooted backwards, the weight on him suddenly vanishing. Erasmo

focused and saw the woman slumped against a desk hallway across the room, numbly staring

down at her stomach and pelvis, which were turning red very quickly. Tears began to flow from

Erasmo.

“I’m so sorry,” he sobbed. “I’m so sorry!”

Val froze. It was her CO. She turned her head ever so slightly, and blinked in confusion.

A strange robot was standing near her. It was missing an arm, and had an overly large monitor-

but the face of her CO was on it.

“S-sir?” She asked.

“Stop right now soldier,” Her commanding officer said. “Your work is over. Well done.”

“But there are still targets-”

“We want to bring them in for questioning. An exfil team will extract them shortly.

Follow this robot, your work here is done.”

“But…” Val’s shoulders sagged. “Yessir.”

She turned away from the remaining soldiers and began to follow the robot in front of

her.

Darwin made sure that Val was following her and glanced over his shoulder. The

remaining people were staring after them in shock and horror. Darwin flashed a message on his

face. I am so sorry. Run. He was relieved to see that they immediately heeded his warning.

Unfortunately, Val noticed their behavior.

“Sir! They’re escaping!”

“They’re not your concern anymore!” Darwin ordered, having modulated Commander

Shriker’s voice from recalled data. “You don’t worry about them.”

Val’s eyes narrowed. “You… this is a trick!” Her eyes widened and seemingly instantly,

her gun was in her hand.

“Bollocks.” Darwin muttered.

Erasmo was stumbling through the corridors, crying, and not very much caring where he

was going. Eventually, he came to a stop in a large open atrium. He sank into a pristine white

chair and closed his eyes. This did not help. All he could see was the woman. He buried his head

in his hands and took several deep, calming breaths.

“I had to do it.” He whispered this, only half believing it to be true. “I had to. Sh-she was

going to kill me…”

Time slipped by like sand through a loose fist. When Erasmo finally gained the strength

to stand up and start thinking he took a look around for the first time. The large Atrium had a

series of glass windows overlooking deep space. Several large plants stood in corners of the

room, and a golden hologram flickered and changed every minute or so. He paused and walked

over to one of the windows, looking out it and absorbing the view. Mostly blackness, but a planet

could be seen, far off, and the nebula was glowing in the lower corner of the window.

He was about to turn away when he noticed that there was a light winking slowly on a

control console nearby. Erasmo walked over to it and swiped at it, activating the computer.

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Several screens popped up. He scanned them for several seconds, then gasped, and tapped in a

few brisk commands. A small white drone appeared from a hole in the wall, and drifted into a

small airlock built specifically for it. A few seconds later, it was outside in space.

Erasmo watched it as it moved down out of view. A few moments later, it came back into

view holding a strange ball with many protuberances that was a bright red. The drone came back

through the airlock and over to him. Erasmo held out his hand and it gently deposited the orb in

it before giving a bleep and drifting back to where it had come from.

“The black box,” he murmured.

Val had calmed down a little. But that wasn’t saying much. On some level, she realized

that the robot in front of her was one of her few, lifelong friends. On some level, she knew that

she shouldn’t be attacking friends. But Val wasn’t quite thinking straight, and so she was chasing

the robot down a hallway, surprised at how fast the scrawny machine could move.

His talons clacked against the floor as they sprinted past all the corpses. Val skidded to a

halt and changed directions as the robot darted down a hallway that seemed to cut through to the

center of the space station. She growled in frustration. She wanted to shoot it- but something was

holding her back… she couldn’t quite place it. She lunged at the robot and missed it by an inch-

it darted away with a small squawk of surprise.

Valkyrie redoubled her efforts.

Erasmo was studying the black box intently. It was very clear that when activated, it

would hover in the air and project the things that it recorded. It also appeared that it would be

able to accept voice commands. He was just about to start pressing buttons when a door was

smashed open, revealing a blood-drenched Val and a frightened robot. They tumbled into the

room and froze when they both saw Erasmo (who looked quite bad, and was splattered with

blood). The group of friends stared at each other for a few seconds.

“Erasmo are you-” Darwin began, before noticing the black box.

“The Lazarus…” Val’s pupils dilated and shrank rapidly. “Erasmo! Give it to me.”

“Don’t do it!” Darwin warned, moving away from Val. “Give it to me.”

Erasmo looked between them, taking a step back. “I…”

“Erasmo!” Val stepped towards him menacingly. “Give it. To me. I asked you for this,

remember?”

“Erasmo, we need to be careful. Toss it my way.” Darwin said, taking a step towards

him.

“Enough!” Val began to move towards him.

“No!” Darwin shouted, actual panic in his voice.

Erasmo, being in a very sticky situation, panicked and threw the black box up into the air.

“Project recording!” He shouted.

“No!”

“Yes!”

Holograms began to fill the air, displaying everything from camera feeds to statistics.

Erasmo was stunned by the amount of data before him. But both Val and Darwin were looking

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for things. He didn’t register the others giving orders to the black box until the holograms began

to fade away until there was only one left.

It was a feed of the cryostasis room. Erasmo watched as all of the surviving STORM

initiates leaped into their cryostasis pods after injecting a quick shot. One by one, all of the

soldiers went in for the deep sleep, with Val going in last. Darwin was in the room and tapped in

the final commands. The chambers sealed, and its occupants fell fast asleep. This was not

surprising to Erasmo. What was surprising, was after a minute, Darwin began going around to all

of the cryostasis pods and entering new commands.

Erasmo looked over at Darwin, and saw that his monitor was blank, but his figure was

slouched. Defeated. He returned his attention to the hologram just in time to see the first soldier’s

vitals flatline. And then the next. And the next. Every single man and woman who made it to a

pod died- except for Val. The Darwin in the hologram paused for a second outside of her pod,

running a hand over the glass before shutting down and hibernating.

“You… killed… everyone…” Val said slowly.

“I had to!” Darwin was looking at her, his voice wavering. “Please, allow me to explain-”

“WHAT?!” Val was suddenly furious, her face looking almost demonic with a hole in her

cheek slowly knitting together. “What would make you do this?!”

“I ran the calculations several thousand times,” Darwin said, hand raised and words

tumbling together. “With the power that we had aboard the ship and the amount of drain created

by those cryo-pods, th-there was no way that I could keep all of you alive! If all of the pods had

been active, we would have had enough power for maybe 3 weeks. But by keeping yours the

only one on the grid, I extended that lifetime to 18 years!”

A muscle in Val’s jaw was twitching.

“Val please…” Darwin took a step towards her. “I had to save you.”

Suddenly, she darted forward, wrapping her hand around his tubular chest. “Why?” She

snarled.

“I-I couldn’t.” Darwin said. His voice was begging, almost a whimper. “They were all

killing machines… but… I thought that maybe you had a chance-”

“To be different?” Her hand tightened around his body, denting it. “Well guess what,

Darwin.” Her hand tightened abruptly, crushing his chest. Pressurized air hissed out of the rend

in the metal. “I am a killing machine.”

“Val please- I love you.”

Valkyrie’s eyes widened and she abruptly let go of Darwin, and the robot crumpled to the

floor with a clatter. She turned away from Darwin, towards Erasmo, who shrank back in fear.

She had a thousand-yard stare.

“Valkyrie! Don’t!” Darwin called.

Val said nothing for a long moment. Then: “I’m leaving.” She moved away, heading

back the way that they had entered the room.

“Val! No! Val!” Darwin’s voice fuzzed, as his systems began to crash.

Erasmo watched on in horror. Before meeting them, the galaxy had seemed dark. But

now, he saw Val for what she was: a cold blooded killer. His friend. And she was leaving. And

his only other friend was heartbroken, injured, and dying.

The galaxy seemed dark once more.