章節 121: Dark Frontiers, Part 7 (final)
I gripped Raven's Ouroboros Pendant tightly with anger. It had been three days past the 'week' that was required for the pendant to revive a person, yet my connection to Echo still severed. If Echo had not left a note explaining that she had used her question to Sancu, I likely would have already lost control of my powers by now. There had been no warning, as we did not check the pendant boxes often, so it was a statement to my control that I had not immediately destabilize.
"Echo will be okay," Katye said softly.
"How can you be sure? What if these things are nothing but fakes?" I could not help but question.
"Because Istar doesn't want us to hate him. For someone at his level, even at Sancu's level, making a revival token for New Souls, like Echo and Raven, within his Inner Realm... It's as simple as forming a mana crystal is to us. He would not lie to us about something so important for such a trivial use of his power," she assured, resting her head on my shoulder.
It was not the first time that I had doubted the pendant, nor was it the first time that Katye had used those words to comfort me. I knew that she was right, but I could not help but think of the worst. I had not lost anyone in a long time, so I was constantly remembering L'Naan's original fear when she joined our group. Could it all have been a lie, so I would learn the lesson early, much like Lincoln?
The question would gnaw at me until Katye snuggled into me. Her touch was even more hypnotic since her Telo transformation, awakening her bloodline. Whenever we touched each other, my attention would always be drawn to her as our auras intertwine, feeding and building off each other.
::Alert. A number of explosions have been detected at Unimatrix One. Communication grid was the main target.:: Fae chimed.
"Echo!" Katye exclaimed, sitting up straight. "That was to be her first target if she used the pendant to revive!"
"Hail the Delta Flyer and set a course for the space station," I ordered.
"This is Tom."
"I hope you're rested. Echo just made her move. We have half an hour to get into place and start the operation," I said.
"Got it. The Doc will make sure the Captain and Tuvok are up, and I will follow your lead," Tom replied without hesitation.
Nothing more needed to be said as they had a copy of the plans that Katye had created as well as practiced numerous times over the week, so they knew what time Echo would launch her attacks. In Katye's plan for her using the pendant, though she relabeled it as plan D before she sent it to them, hiding the fact that Echo had died to accomplish it, there was a specific time of the day when she needed to activate her traps with the first crippling their communication systems followed by their sensors and then their power systems, if they had yet to adapt.
I dropped the necklace on the couch and rushed downstairs with Katye right behind me. L'Naan was using the Mind Linker, so she needed a few moments to wake up before following us to the bridge. After the communication systems were knocked out, Echo should destroy their sensor systems in ten minutes while it would take us twenty to return to transporter range.
A secondary set of explosions rippled through the Borg space station which targeted the sensors, right on time. Echo was alive, even if our connection was broken for some reason, so I let out a sigh of relief as the ship sped towards the space station. While it was tempting to jump to warp with most of the space station's sensors crippled, numerous ships were undocking and moving into a formation around the space station, likely attempting to build a sensor net around it. Our warp trails would be easier for the Borg to detect and, based off of Katye's calculations, we should be able to get into place before the sensor net would be completed at impulse.
As we moved into range, we scanned the space station looking for the largest sources of mana. There were two that eclipsed anything else which appeared to be Raven and the Anomaly Stone. Echo's mana could not be detected, but that was expected as she was undoubtedly sneaking through the space station.
"Have you found Seven yet?" I asked after opening a link to the Delta Flyer.
"We have. She's in the room labeled Queen's Chambers. We're ready to beam over once the power grid is hit," Janeway replied.
"Perfect. Raven is in what's left of the rune factory, so we will go there and cause as much destruction as possible while recovering Raven. Let Filigree know when you're back on your ship, or if you run into problems," I replied.
"Will do," Janeway agreed.
I cut the link then turned to Filigree, who was holding Raven's pendant, and standing next to Katye. "Keep her necklace safe, Little One, and we will be relying on you. If the Fae Dragon gets detected or the core falls below fifty percent, you need to tell us right away and beam L'Naan back to the ship."
"I understand," she replied with a nod of her head.
I gave her a smile and ruffled her hair. She complained as usual, but that did not mean that I would ever stop, or that she did not really like it as there was always a hint of a smile with her pout. Katye gave her shoulder a soft squeeze and made a proud smile down at the little fairy.
"You'll do great, and our family will be whole again after we succeed," Katye encouraged.
"Yes!" she exclaimed happily.
We all shared a chuckle due to the cute fairy's antics, but our expression quickly turned serious as the final set of traps were activated. Each of us summoned our exo-suits onto our bodies then had Fae beam us as close to Raven as she could. Despite the main power being out throughout most of the space station, a spatial scattering field covered most of the factory which remained unaffected, so we were forced into a corridor that Echo had scouted before.
Each of us summoned a weapon; L'Naan had her Soul-Weapon in bow form, Katye carried a custom mana-rifle that she had created personally, and I chose a pair of heavy gauntlets which were topped with three blades, reminiscent of Wolverine's claws. We did not hesitate and rushed down the hallway with me in the lead and Katye covering the rear. It did not take long for us to come across some Borg drones, and they immediately became hostile towards us... not that they were any real threat.
Just using my physical body, enhanced only with my Soul Tattoos which allowed me to channel my Soul Power into my body easier to boost my strength, I charged the ones in front of us and threw a straight punch into the closest drone's chest. I did not use any mana or Weapon-Force, just raw strength and a bit of Soul Power, so the drone's shield held for a split second, expecting the kinetic damage, but the psi at the tips of my claws shattered the energy shield in the end and, with the remaining energy, my fist ripped apart the drone's chest and scattered the pieces in different directions due to the impact.
The other three drones could not handle a single punch of the same level, so I took them down with ease, without needing help from the others. We kept moving, but Katye was taking extra care with the path behind us, leaving her versions of Echo's trap spells. She did not use Spell Stones, but rather cast the spells directly, so if the area was disturbed, they would activate; it took significantly less mana and time to use them this way, though she lost control over them in exchange.
We fought our way through a few more basic drones before we entered the rune factory, but the remaining enhanced drones were waiting inside along with Raven. Although long-range communications were knocked out for the space station, the Hive mind was still intact, though with a delay as the ships were trying to manage far more drones than they could handle, as the space station's vinculum was ten times the size, and fifty times the strength of a traditional vinculum of a single cube. Still, enough time had passed from our appearance on the station to entering the rune factory for them to be ready.
We pressed ourselves outside the entrance, on either side, as a volley of phaser beams blasted through the opening. Katye summoned three violet mana crystals from her storage ring while I pulled out one of my own. All of them were tagged with a specific set of runes, even I had managed to get a basic understanding of the process after several months of dealing with Echo's tricks, but each crystal was endowed with a different spell.
The moment that the attacking drones started to focus on the walls which we were hiding behind, Katye and I manipulated our crystals spells and sent them into the factory. Thankfully, I had the sense to let Katye's go first while mine was a second behind hers. Katye's crystals spread out in a triangular direction and erupted with raw mana while my crystal headed straight at Raven and released a concentrated form of my Chaos Storm. We were not holding back anymore; Raven needed to return to us no matter what.
The explosion shook the space station yet again, and my Storm was released. Instantly, I connected to it and teleported myself inside. Katye's explosion of raw Order mana ripped apart numerous enhanced drones, yet as it brushed up against my own Domain, the energy obediently transformed into my own Chaos mana, further fueling the Chaos Storm unleashed within the rune factory. Unseen by everyone, except for True Gods, there was a flash of aquamarine within my eyes as I commanded my Storm.
Raven and most, if not all, of the enhanced drones were here, engulfed in my Storm. My minds divided immediately, conjuring the Storm to strike at the drones while my main body and mind focused on Raven herself. I changed my weapon to a rapier and a sai, believing that a piercing of the heart or brain death would be faster and less painful than slicing or beating her to death.
Borg Raven was expecting the attack the moment that she saw my Storm Clouds. She summoned her Soul-Construct which created an energy shield between its four claws which completely blocked my charging thrust of the rapier. Instead of following up on the attack, I jumped back, narrowly avoiding a volley of Order-enriched phaser beams from the surrounding drones. I clicked my tongue in annoyance because I knew those beams would sting and leave lasting damage if they hit me.
Thankfully, I was not alone. As I drew the attention of the drones, Katye and L'Naan burst into the room and unleased their own attacks. L'Naan kept close to the entrance as she released crystal-tipped arrows, one after another into the grouping of drones, while Katye raced around at high speed, firing her rifle at different drones with a constantly cycling mana frequency as she flew through the air.
They were in charge of thinning the numbers while I focused on Raven. Her mana reserves were shockingly on par with my own, but that only made me more furious as I knew how hard she must have been worked by the Queen. She stabbed out with two of her Soul-Construct legs while the other two fired vibrant green beams which I knew were focused with Order-mana. I deflected the two legs with my weapons and dodged one of the beams, but a single beam still hit me. I roared in pain as my whole body seized for a moment, and then I released a concentrated burst of Dragon Breath, though within the confines of our old spars, rather than my current strength.
Not surprisingly, Raven survived, but she was forced to burn more than double the mana than I had with the attack. I smirked, understanding exactly how I needed to deal with the Borg Raven by draining her reserves, then retreated, much to her shock. I switched my weapon to a great hammer with a pike end then focused on taking out the remaining drones with pure strength.
Raven tried to attack me multiple times, along with the other drones, but I would simply turn intangible, melding with my Storm. I still received some minor damage as the attack would eat away slightly at my Storm, but the scale was so minor and the ability to consume other forms of mana easily made the effects negligible.
One mind was focused on happily swinging my hammer away at the drones, while two more where focused on incoming dangers to ensure that I would meld with my Storm on time for the least amount of Soul damage. The last three were manipulating the Storm around me to lash out at the drones with crimson Lightning to destroy them one by one. Within a matter of minutes, we managed to take down the remaining seventy-eight enhanced drones. I focused my Storm around Raven and myself as I moved in closer to her while Katye was in another, further off position, ready to cut off her retreat along with L'Naan at a different angle.
"Are you going to keep spouting your 'resistance is futile line'?" I mocked as I redrew my rapier.
"No, we have another method for..." Raven said, but her words were suddenly cut off as a sword pierced her skull.
Even if I knew that I had to do it, seeing Raven brutally killed in front of my eyes, I could not help but let out a roar of anger and release a blast of gray flames from my body. By instinct, I condensed my Storm around my fist and struck at the one who had attacked the person who had killed Raven.
Black fox ears on top of her head, nine black tails ringed with a band of icy blue around each tip. Her facial features were more refined, more angular, but I could still recognize Echo's face and barely diverted my attack because it was too late to pull it back. Despite not hitting her, she was still too close to where my attack landed and was thrown back by the explosion, even I would have been as well if it was not my own mana. Flames still clung to me as I glared at the wall that Echo had been thrown into, remembering how she literally killed herself without warning any of us.
"Damn... I thought that this form would let me close the distance between me and your basic form somewhat," Echo complained through the intercom.
I was about to rush her in anger, but Katye wrapped me up in bands of violet mana. "Enough, Becca. Our goals are accomplished. We'll have Raven back in a week!" she snapped at me.
My Chaos Storm cloaked around me like armor which dissolved the bands around me. While I knew that it was Echo who did exactly what I was about to do, my anger had taken over. The clouds around my fist took on a metal sheen and condensed into thin blade-wire before I lashed out. L'Naan appeared in front of Echo, her Soul Weapon in the form of a tower shield and tried to block the attack. Her shield shattered, and she was hit with the impact of the attack, slamming her into Echo.
Stronger chains of arcane mana wrapped around me, and Katye teleported in front of me before I could break through them again. She placed a hand on the side of my head and channeled her mana into me, calming me down immediately and causing my Storm Armor to dissipate. I could not help but gasp heavily as my sanity returned, and I realized what I had done. Looking at the two of them, L'Naan's exo-suit was heavily damaged, and Echo was bleeding from her eyes and nose, having lost her transformation.
"Janeway reported that they have recovered Seven of Nine," Filigree reported through the comm system.
"Rebecca, it's time to go. We've done what we needed to do," Katye said calmly.
I scoffed, "Sure... 'what we needed to do'."
"Beam us back, Filigree," Katye said.
"I can't. The distortion field is still in place," she replied.
"If Becca is back to normal, I'm not that badly injured. It was just my first time using my Dusa form and I had barely recovered some of my Soul Power after reviving, so I've just overdrawn my reserves," Echo remarked as she slowly sat up.
"My suit is trashed for now, but otherwise, I'm fine," L'Naan added, standing up.
"Good, then let's get moving. We still have to get back to the ship and break through the Borg sensor net," Katye instructed, releasing the chains on me.
Echo and L'Naan moved towards the nearest exit, but I did not move, so Katye did not either.
"Rebecca?" Katye asked, causing Echo and L'Naan to pause as well.
I shook my head, suppressing my self-hatred at losing control, and started walking without a word. Not only had I attacked Echo and L'Naan in anger, but there was also this pressing feeling of being alone. The Borg devices were still inside of me, yet I was 'connected' to nothing for the first time since I had received them. The 'quietness' of my own mind was haunting, especially with the anger of losing control. The few drones that stumbled across our path became victims of my rage and were killed with a single punch from my clawed gauntlets.
Finally, we reached a point where Filigree could beam us back to the ship, and we all materialized inside of the engineering room. I did not engage with any of them and headed straight up to the second floor because I needed to be left alone, or unleashed on the Borg if they dared block our way. Thankfully, they were all used to my temper, especially when I allowed it to lash out at them, so they did not stop me and headed to the bridge on their own.
I sat down on my couch and let out a deep sigh, rubbing my face with a hand. It had been a long time since I lost control of my temper and attacking the people I care about was completely new, even if I had been triggered to say the least. During my previous meltdowns, first Lincoln's death and then Finn's, Raven had gone unharmed and been able to calm me down, yet Katye had to restrain me and use her mana to calm me forcibly. Just as I was debating using one of my remaining chances to talk to my 'other half', a page on the comm system stopped me.
"Rebecca, we're going to need your help. We won't be able to slip past the sensor net, so we'll have to fight. I've moved us, and the Delta Flyer, close to two small scouting ships. If you can distract them, we can get through, then the Flyer can open a transwarp conduit and we'll be able to escape," Katye explained.
"Got it. Mark the ships on my visor," I agreed, resummoning my visor out as it was the only piece of my exo-suit that I had stored away.
"You need to stay focused. We're escaping, not destroying the Borg," she reminded.
"I know," I replied, holding in my sigh, then shifted into the Yin Realm and passed through the hull of the ship.
Exiting the Yin Realm, I immediately shifted into my Dragon form and flapped my wings, launching myself at the nearest scout ship. The small ship was on par with Voyager in size and capabilities, though their phasers were more attuned with Order-mana, making them more dangerous to me. Even with the danger that they posed to me, I was more than happy to throw myself into a fight and get my mind off of my loss of control.
The nearby ships opened fire right away, but I released my Chaos Storm and fused with it to avoid physical damage. Unfortunately, I had expected the phaser beams to be similar to the drones, yet stronger, but what I had not expected was that their phaser beams were almost pure Order mana. My physical body may not have been hit, but the beams burned away a significant amount of Soul Power.
My body reformed quickly, right next to my first target, so I latched my talons onto the hull and released a blast of violet lightning from my mouth. There was an explosion right in front of my face, but closing my eyes, the damage was negligible. Charging my teeth also with Lightning, I tore a chunk of hull out of the hole that I had just made then released a jet of Blue-Fire before kicking off the ship. I barely managed to get out of range before a series of explosions destroyed the whole ship.
I pulled in my Storm, recovering some of my mana, while I flew to the next ship. It immediately started firing phaser beams at me rapidly, so I was forced to twist and weave through them in an effort to dodge. I managed to dodge over half of the blasts, but six still landed heavily on my body.
"We're through! Transform back to your normal form, and we'll beam you back to the ship!" Katye instructed through the comm system.
I smashed heavily into the scout as I was nearly there when she spoke. Glaring down at the ship under me, I reined back my rage and transformed like she told me to. Those six wounds immediately compounded on each other, making my consciousness waver, but thankfully, I was teleported away before I passed out.
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